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#41
August 31st, 2011, 06:02 PM
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Oh sorry, forgot the purges didnt end until till the end of 1938. Should have said that their defence doctrines are pretty much unchanged from their OTL Pre-Winter War doctrines. Any change is actually slightly slowed down due to the created confidence after the perceived victory.
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#42
September 1st, 2011, 02:58 PM
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I'll try to write another entry today, so anyone with any questions should ask them and i'll llet the answer guide writing my next update. Since they are only selected events of the whole timeline and if people are interested i can focus on specific areas.
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#43
September 4th, 2011, 12:13 PM
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A meeting is held between Hitler and the top generals of the Polish operation. Included in the meeting are several first Great War veteran commanders.
The discussions revolve around a proper strategy for defeating France. No emphasis is given towards what to do with victory. Following the maxim that you must know why you fight, and what you wish to gain by fighting before you start fighting. What to do after France collapses has been debated and decided on almost 10 years prior. Now it is a matter of formulating the best strategy for accomplishing that objective with the available tools. There are three distinct military strategies proposed. First involves a direct attack through the Maginot line. Second involves declaring war on the Low Countries, one, two or all three of them, and going initially north and west along the coast. Third involves a direct attack through South Belgium and attempting to cause the collapse of the opponents military command structure. First plan has as its merits that it will not draw the low countries into the war. A successful breakthrough through the Maginot line would require a tremendous amount of artillery power and losses that Germany can not afford, so after some debate the plan is scrapped. The second plan has as its advantage preventing the BEF from escaping through the channel ports. Using such a plan will generate tremendous losses for all parties involved. The third plan has as its main advantage the low losses that will be suffered by all sides, but it almost guarantees that the BEF stationed at the northern end of the allied lines will be able to withdraw to one of the channel ports. And the third plan relies on poor coordination between the allies supreme commands. The debate rages for several days during the early days of the Norwegian intervention. As Germany needs the entire winter to re-arm after the Polish war, no attack can be attempted until early summer 1940. Eventually a compromise plan is reached where the main force of the infantry will breach the enemy lines at the very south of Netherlands and head to the coast and from there along the coast south. While the main force of armor, motorized and mechanized will attempt to breach through the Sedan area and head straight for Paris and the allies HQ’s before the front line forces can react. Following the spearhead will be a small detachment of infantry with orders to dig in along the flanks of the spearhead. First stage of combat ends once major resistance between the infantry armies near Belgium and the armored spearhead in Paris ends. At such a state the armor spearhead will head for the three most likely bastions of French resistance. Bordeaux, Marseille and Brest. Infantry will follow behind as capable and seek to tie down and encircle individual pockets of resistance. Once a pocket is established it is allowed to move but not merge with other pockets. Pockets of French or Benelux forces will be contained will pockets of UK or Commonwealth pockets will be reduced. The reasoning for this is that French and Benelux resistance will end as soon as their capitals and command structures are sufficiently overrun. But UK resistance will not as their capital is not within the reach of German forces. Therefore Benelux and French resistance will end even if no pockets are reduced, UK and commonwealth pockets must be reduced as long as UK is still in the war. Second stage of the combat ends with an offer for French surrender. Following that the German advance focuses on quick eradication of UK and Benelux resistance should these countries still be in the war. Netherlands will be engaged in the first or second stage of the conflict only as long as it is beneficial to the German immediate strategic objectives. The main objective of the plan is to fool the allies into believing that the main force of the advance comes through the main roadways in South Netherlands and North Belgium. While the real spearheads go through the very southern part of Belgium. If the allied main force turns to face the spearhead the infantry force will engage on their flank while the spearhead turns further south. The Luftwaffe is called to support ground combat operations and allow allied forces free access towards the lines and focus on forces already at the lines. Once breakthrough is achieved by the armor elements, a sudden deployment of Luftwaffe elements towards preventing ground movement away from the lines is to be attempted. The plan calls for both aiding and in fact promoting the idea that the plan is a wide front infantry offensive. While in reality the plan calls for pulling as many French elements to a difficult to traverse terrain and destroying all bridges and means of transport in the area once they are there. Bridges, boats, ferries, airports, communication centers, radio towers et cetera are to be left un damaged until the armor makes it through, at which point all of these in decreasing order of importance are to be hit at the same time regardless of losses to the Luftwaffe. In so doing the German plan hopes to trap almost the entire allied army in Belgium while the German army heads for the civilian heart of France. The Kriegsmarine is to be kept in reserve until such a time as the BEF from Norway moves towards Benelux, or until the evacuation of BEF forces from the continent to the UK. At such a time all free assets are to be deployed against interdicting such a move, with full support of all Luftwaffe assets suited for such a role. --- The first Fallschirmjäger division is given orders that call for a two pronged mission. The public mission, the one they are told is to harass and delay the allied forces in Belgium and when possible try to keep them out of balance. Seize towns, forts and small cities, forcing the allies to urban combat. They are told to stay away from the main Allied army and simply attempt to dig in and delay. The private mission, the one only the central staff knows, is to give the allies the impression that the main German aim is to delay the enemy movements into the Belgian rivers. If the enemy believes your main objective is being held by the last of a weary defenders begging to be reinforced, he will likely charge forward with great zeal. --- T0 Detachments from the first infantry army begin their advance along the northern Belgian, southern Netherlands border area. Triggering the French enter into the Belgian lowlands through the coastal high infrastructure areas. --- T+3 days The first Fallschirmjäger division is parachuted into the Middle Belgian river areas, where they seize strategic objectives and dig in directly on the path of the advancing French and Allied armies. --- T+1 week Within 2 days the German paratroopers are entirely annihilated, last battles are waged at a small town west of Nivelles. Meanwhile a second German advance begins, this time slightly to the north of the previous advance. The first advance has reached the outskirts of Leuvenen when they contact the main allied army. A wide front battle begins where the Germans are clearly cautious. The French take this is a sign of wavering support for the war by the Germans. --- T- 9 days Bulk of the French army is engaged in a battle ranging from Namur to Antwerp. Believing that the Germans are unwilling to attack the Maginot, or through the forested river areas of The Ardennes. With most of the French, Benelux and BEF field armies committed to holding the line, a secondary force is placed at The Ardennes. The German armies further north are ordered to create as much pressure on the allies as they can without sacrificing too many German lives. This leads to large artillery battles with little movement in the lines. The French are slowly winning this battle due to superior numbers. But the overall war plan is working magnificently as the allies are committing a great deal of their heavier, slow to move elements to the North. Leaving only light fast to move elements in the south, where they feel the terrain is more appropriate for light infantry and equipment. The German war plan swings into full motion with the combined previously discussed plans swinging into motion, before the days end, Luxemburg collapses and the Germans cross the Luxemburg – Belgian border, meeting with the French light infantry positioned there. Pre-planned bridging equipment is quickly moved into place and all pre-war bridges are detonated by saboteurs and the Luftwaffe, and within a day of the start of the combat, every major bridge in the area is destroyed or in German hands. Almost the entire Sedan area has only 7 allied divisions, of which 3 are fully combat ready, facing almost 100 German divisions. --- T-12 The German breakthrough through Sedan caused massive confusion in the allied war plan. There was no plan that envisioned the Germans using pre-planned and made bridging equipment to cross the rivers with such speed. High power incendiary bombs are used to affect a wall of flame between the Allies and Germans whenever possible. In OTL, Luftwaffe was used mostly as mobile artillery and CAS to support the German advance, in TTL the Luftwaffe is used more in the role of denying the allied freedom of movement and operation and far less in CAS roles. This leads to an allied army that is entirely unable to respond to the German movements, but German armor losses are significantly larger due to frequent battles with limited or non-existent air support on both sides. The Germans surprise both the world and the allied command by the ferocity of their attack and the destruction which they create. Large scale usage of incendiary weapons against populated forested areas creates a public outcry in the west and in the US in particular. As pictures of screaming and burnt naked children emerge in the Time cover the US public is first made aware of a war on the European soil. --- T-15 German spearheads reach the outskirts of Paris, badly depleted the force has to stop even though the lights of the city are in plain sight. Only a small force stands between them and the capital. But having outrun even their own motorized units the spearhead has only a few dozen thousand soldiers and a few hundred tanks at their disposal. The French are unaware to the precarious situation of the spearhead. The Germans camp literally within sight of the Eiffel tower. The allied army in Belgium is in disarray and pulling towards the coast but such a operation is made difficult with most of the Luftwaffe interdicting their movements and the majority of the German Infantry advancing quicker running up the allied South Flank. The only major port to not fall to the German infantry is Dunkerque. The area south of Calais all the way to the outskirts of Paris is essentially in German control. Most of the French and Allied armies are either in the Belgian encirclement or still manning the Maginot and the French-Italian or French-Spanish border. --- T-17. The BEF begins evacuation from the pocket due to the fall of Paris a day before. Some of the French commanders are organizing for a coordinated push south towards Paris. But the German encirclement army is digging in fast and the French are quickly running out of supplies with their main lines cut. The German Panzer Army holds its advance south and stops to repair and resupply its armor elements in Paris. Infantry and motorized units advance as far as is possible without major resistance. --- T-21 Most of the BEF has failed to escape from the encirclement before after intense fighting the ports of Dunkerque are rendered inoperative. Ports further north in Netherlands are attempting to compensate but with the destruction of bridges heavier equipment gets left behind as what was an orderly retreat quickly turns into a rout towards the ships. The Germans don’t follow the allied armies deep into Netherlands. Instead they simply announce that allowing the evacuation of the BEF armies through Dutch ports will result in the changing of those ports to military targets, and the destruction of said ports by the Luftwaffe by any and all means necessary. After the Dutch government fails to heed this warning, the Luftwaffe level the port district of the city of Bergen Op Zoom The fire spreads and within a few hours most of the city is burnt to the ground. The little harbor the city had was used to ferry infantry without vehicles to UK. After the bombardment and the dropping of fliers threatening to level the much larger city of Vlissingen, the Dutch government starts peace negotiations and institutes a full lockdown of all but Dutch military shipments. The retreating allied army does not respond kindly to this and takes control of the city of Rotterdam. At this stage in the war the allied army has withdrawn to a line with its southern flank at Antwerpen and its northern flank at Rotterdam. With the Germans at roughly the eastern side of Amsterdam and Utrecht waiting for the Dutch, French and Belgian governments to capitulate after most of France is under German control. --- T-24 German armies reach the French-Spanish border and but are beaten back by the defenders there. The small German detachment pulls back to a nearby hillside town and digs in. The Dutch-German cease-fire is agreed to, it stipulates that the allied armies are to leave Dutch territory in 30 days. Belgian-German cease-fire is still impossible due to the allied control over Antwerpen and the potential coup that such a peace agreement would cause. The allied armies would most likely topple the Belgian government if such a peace was signed. They are unable to do so for the Dutch government whose capital is still in their own hands. Only continental European power involved in hostilities besides Germany that still controls its own capital. The German panzer army moves south after a week spent re-arming, re-supplying and partying in the streets of Paris. --- T-32. France government collapses with most of the government having taken shelter in Bordeaux and Marseille. The government flees the country ahead of the German advance into the two cities. With the French government collapsing the Germans announce an end to major hostilities and ask the rest of the French army to put down their weapons and start negotiations for a return to peace. A highly respected French officer by the name of Philippe Pétain holds an impassionate Radio and Television broadcast where he rails against the French government and its defeatist mentality that doomed the war from the start. He calls for the Formation of the French Fascist Nation. Rumors about a meeting with Hitler and the German leadership some days before and after the broadcast, lead credence to the belief that this is the formation of the French 4th republic. Most of the French troops surrender without incident. Some in South escape through the Pyrenees and through ship to Algeria. Last fighting in the Belgian Bag ends. Last of the BEF forces evacuate the European continent and head for home, greatly disorganized and demoralized. Total losses for all sides are higher than in OTL. Especially so for the allies, the Luftwaffe, the Kriegsmarine and the Fallschirmjäger units. German infantry losses are less than in OTL but tank and aircraft losses are extensive. Most of the German surface fleet and U boat fleets are destroyed delaying the evacuation from Belgium by the allies. Consequently, only around 30.000 allied soldiers were evacuated from Belgium. At this stage in the war, Germany believes they are able to wither such losses while the Allies cannot. Germany has the largest trained manpower reserve of any combatant short of the USSR. Total losses for the axis are: 2200 aircraft (roughly 40% of pre-invasion strength) 1200 tanks (about 50% of pre-invasion strength) 180.000 causalities (about 5-15% of pre-invasion strength, depending on how it is counted) 85+% of U-boats and surface navy were lost in the operation. While the allied losses range in the 450.000 dead or wounded and about 2.050.000 captured. The most significant departure from OTL is that while the Germans lost a significant portion of their fleets. The allies lost considerably more so. Due to the proximity to the Luftwaffe and the specific orders to sacrifice CAS duties for purely preventing the allied escape, the Luftwaffe engaged in several large scale air to fleet actions during the evacuation. The allied navy was unprepared to operate so close to land based air assets while trying to evacuate forces. As a result the allied navies lost significant numbers of heavier ships. While the Germans lost most of their pre-war heavy ships as well as a sizable portion of the Luftwaffe. It hurts Germany a bit more since most of the allied ships crews could be evacuated while most of the German pilots could not be. But it was a transaction that resulted in almost 150.000 more captives in the Belgian Bag than would have been possible otherwise. --- With the Belgian and Dutch government having agreed to a cease-fire with Germany and with the French government having entirely collapsed, the Germans are in a position to dictate terms. Italy was pressured enormously by Germany to stay away from the conflict until France falls, or risk a pointless and potentially very costly naval engagement with the French navy in the Med. With the Fall of France, Italy now has a small window where the BEF can’t be redeployed to the middle-east and the mauled UK navy has to defend the Med alone against potentially 3 axis powers (Italy, France and Greece). The German terms are: 1st The BeFra (Benelux and France) has to pay war-indemnities and all areas with a German majority population has to be turned over to German ownership. Population distribution is counted after the peace is concluded. This gives Germany time to empty Alsace and several Belgian and Dutch border areas of their original populations and replace them with Germans. Leading to minor territorial gains in Belgium and Netherlands, while the Alsace-Lorraine area is annexed to German proper as such. 2nd The BeFra will agree to limit their militaries to crowd control and delaying operations, while transferring the removal of hostiles and larger military operations to German control. France is limited to 150.000 soldiers and the Benelux are limited to a total of 75.000. Any further military personnel will have to be of the Heer. 3rd The BeFra agree to supply 10% of their available manpower every year to Germany. In effect this means that if the class of 1941 in France has 500.000 men, then France is expected to provide 50.000 men to Germany to train for the Heer. Failure to comply will result in harsh punishments. Lack of motivation or poor quality of recruits will also result in punishments. 4th BeFra agree to give absolute priority to German firms and companies for government contracts. German companies will be paid to rebuild after the war. 5th BeFra agree to prevent the use of their territory for attacks against Germany. The Toulouse government in France is set up in the city of Toulouse in Southern France. Both the Belgian and Dutch have governments in exile and governments at home. Few of the BeFra citizens see the new German puppets as rightful governments but are willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. The Belgian and Dutch governments are instructed to hold general elections 8 months from the signing of the peace treaty. The French government is free to hold elections as it pleases. A staged German withdrawal is planned where the German garrisons eventually withdraw towards the coast and then towards Germany proper. Should the peace treaty not be followed to the letter, the German garrisons will stay. --- Japan petitions for possession of French Indochina, but is turned down swiftly by Hitler. Japan with the war now having ended several months ago, begins rebuilding her stockpiles. With the end of the war and after an official peace treaty, FDR has no choice but to lift the embargo on Japan. Following Japanese petitions to acquire goods from the Americans, especially oil and industrial goods. The hard pressed American producers are leaning strongly on FDR to open up more trade. The Japanese pay for this with the war profits. --- Finland sells anything not bolted down and re-arms as strongly as possible, after a German declaration of guarantee of independence to Finland and the Scandinavian countries. The Soviet committee stationed in Finland to oversee the peace is unceremoniously ejected from the country. The Soviet Garrison in Hanko remains but plans are underway to reinforce them. A deep chill in Soviet-Finnish relations occurs. --- Stalin eyes the collapse of France with deep worry, with the peace treaty stipulating that French soldiers have to fight side by side with Germans, there is a very real risk that a war with Germany will send many dead French home. Possibly bringing France to the German side even more strongly. --- News of the peace in Europe create both fear and apprehension in the US. With news of a new chain of puppet states rising up in the heartlands of Europe, the US leaders watch in fear. A continent unified under any dictator would be bad for their interests. A divided Europe at each other’s throats is in American interests. --- With the Fall of France and the BEF mauling, the Scandinavian countries start leaning towards Germany, both in trade and in politics. Talks underway of a Scandinavian Union progress, despite its lofty name it is little more than a common military hierarchy with some trade politics. --- Secret talks are underway between Greece, Italy and Turkey for the new deal in the Med that the fall of France makes possible. Turkey is apprehensive of joining another war and prefers to sit this one out. Greece as a relatively new nation and unscarred by previous wars is much more enthusiastic about joining. And the two are likely to hate each other too much to join together. Germany is debating which to woo more. --- German Fallschirmjäger and Italian paratroopers start gathering in Libya and South Italy. ---- Okay, that’s that update for now. Feel free to give any feedback or comments, I’ll gladly answer them. Right now the Germans are much more keen to take losses in the short term (in a war) if it means they have the upper hand in the long term (in the peace that will follow) and they are very keen to follow Bismarck’s idea of “don’t inflict every loss, just in case your enemy might be your friend tomorrow.” They are seeking to be very lenient thus far, just because they are still relatively weak and know that they need other nations on their side, for now. The German war-aim has been to paint the allies as the evil people, and try their absolute best to maneuver the allies into a position where they appear the bad guys, despite how much the Germans have to sacrifice to do so. They are doing this in the hope that it will lead to a breakup of cohesion in the allied command. If they can get the allied commanders and the politicians to act to defend their own interests, even if it harms their allies, they can attempt to drive a wedge between the alliances. One example of this was the deliberate effort to force the BEF to Belgian, and not French soil. The German leaders are aware that landing in the Isles is not only difficult, but prohibitively expensive in terms of military commitment required to either incapacitate or destroy the RAF and the Navy. Therefore their Navy can serve two purposes, interdict supplies. Which means an unrestricted submarine warfare, and that is likely to draw the US into the war, or attempt to hit troop and ship concentrations if and when possible. Since in TTL the Germans are doing all in their power to lull the US to believe that this war doesn’t concern them, the first choice will be to strike at the troop concentrations. And the evacuation from BEF provided an unbelievably good opportunity for this. The German naval planners had hoped that if the invasion plan succeeds then they could throw everything at the Brits in the Channel. While it was a risky and very expensive move, it is still better than the potential risk of another Lusitania. The naval battle was mostly between small German vessels trying to bait the allies into chasing them, and harassing the outer lines while the U-boats tried to sneak closer and hit the larger convoys and ships directly, and worry about getting out, if they can get out at all, only after they have fired their torpedoes. This battle also saw the first actual Kamikaze attacks of the war. A distraught French pilot crashed his fully loaded and armed fighter into the bridge of the Scharnhorst. The Scharnhorst was later sunk by a Free Polish dive bomber.
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#44
September 4th, 2011, 03:17 PM
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Great concept. OTL the fatal flaw with the Nazis was that, as conquered untermensch, you had nothing to lose. Your insidious social structure takes that away leading to more collaboration.
Good POD as well. OTL I regard Hitler as the first tweaker since he was being injected with crystal meth on a regular basis. I think the twitchy hand syndrome was a consequence of the drugs rather than Parkinsons. Hope you will go with the saner blockade of the UK rather than Sealion with care taken to not draw in the US. If you can get a UK peace deal then the odds on Nazis beating SU go to about 40-45% which gives them a chance but in the end is likely to result in a more drawn out and bloody conflict.
__________________
http://specialbrewrants.blogspot.com
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#45
September 4th, 2011, 03:49 PM
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Hitlers different past makes him more likely to accept death and "Join the fathers of the nation" than to take the entire nation down by risking mental instability by long term drug use.
That ofcourse makes things like civil wars and lack of coordination between the branches of government more likely. Every "pro" side also has a "down" side because of it.
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#48
September 4th, 2011, 10:04 PM
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The second most important war-goal for Germany is in Africa.
First goal is: "Destroy the Soviet Union" Second is: "Acquire lebensraum" and only after those are the lesser things like make allies and so on. And from a German perspective. That means acquire Africa. First and foremost. Its the one location where German puppets and direct enemies have considerable space to expand into. Idea being that anything north of the Red Sea = Italian. Anything West of Italy is French and anything South of Sudan or Algeria is German. That is the preliminary idea between France, Italy and Germany now that the real negotiations begin. The idea being for France-German "If it defects, we take it. If it stays loyal, you keep it" So, the German opinion right now is leaning on. "Try to close the med, from both ends if possible. And move the war to Africa." Havent exactly decided myself yet, even thought the end result is already decided. 
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#49
September 5th, 2011, 08:15 PM
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Any more comments or feedback? I'd love to hear any since, like I said, I'm a nervous writer that runs on feedback!
But seriously now, is it entertaining enough that I should continue? There are 3-5 more chapters before its done?
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#51
September 5th, 2011, 08:30 PM
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Quote:
"In for a Penny, In for a Pound." They are extremely unlikely to accept any peace on the continent that leaves Germany in control over, directly or indirectly, of France and the Benelux. They might not like their present government, and seriously thinks they should hang, but now that the war is started, it will be waged until the end basically. They might make peace, but I consider it very unlikely.
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#52
September 7th, 2011, 04:18 PM
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After the Fall, the Germans set about establishing a internationally legitimate puppet government in France.
The first step towards this goal would be national elections. There was a very real risk that a mood of revanchist or nationalist emotions would arise, leading to another continental war. Towards that end there was a lengthy discussion years before the fall as to what to do after the fall. Unlike their OTL counterparts, the Nazi’s actually had a long term plan towards a European order. France was divided into three administrative styles. Firstly, there were the French priority areas. These areas where were the French civil authority had absolute control over everything, besides things of German security concerns. After the initial peace treaty such areas were most of the rural regions, regions of little interest to Germany. As a token of good will they were quickly turned over to the French, after the German army had secured them and disarmed the local French Police, Military, Paramilitary and Militia units. All confiscated weapons were sorted by their potential use against Germans and as warranted they were coded, tagged and returned to police. If they were deemed unnecessary to the French police they were moved to Germany proper and recycled to lower quality units such as the German border guards or police. In such areas returned areas the French life returned to normal quickly. Only a few arrests for the most widely known communists and anti-German authorities took place. The Germans took great pains to appear as friendly to the French as possible. The higher authorities enforced draconian security measures against German troops pillaging, raping or generally digging into the spoils of war. --- The second administrative style was a German-French joint security areas, all the security teams had to have at least 1 German and 1 French officer. If no German speaking French officers were available then Germans would run security themselves. These zones were mostly the Capital and other metropolitan areas. The third administrative style was a pure German security area. All the laws were German laws, procedures were German and the French were in a subservient position, and they knew this. Areas that were peaceful were slowly moved from the lower tiers to the higher tiers. A pure German area could be turned into a German-French area and from that to a pure French area. This was the plan for a staged withdrawal of German armies from France. In the second and third tiers all German companies were to be given priority in contracts and reconstruction works, German investors were given priority in purchasing plots and businesses. The first tier was a French priority area, where the French were given priority and they were allowed to sell to a French citizen even if he could not offer the same amount as a German citizen could, for the same goods or services. This forced the French business and industrial elite to either pacify their countrymen, or risk losing their country entirely. The strong pressure for a return to normalcy created a immense obstacle for the French resistance to overcome. Most Frenchmen were in a mindset similar to the one they had before the war. It can be best described as “Let’s just get it over with.” A return to normalcy in France was the highest priority in France. A general election was called for the 1st of December, 1940. And the only parties banned from the elections were there French Communist Party, Party of Proletarian Unity, French Section of the Workers’ International. While campaigning was careful to not ruffle German feathers, the elections were seen as one of the calmest elections in history, with violence being kept to a minimum. While voter turnout was fairly low, at only 63% it still marked a important event in post-fall France. The new Center-Left government vowed to stay out of the European wars and instead focus on better integration of the colonies to the new government and restructuring after the previous decades wars. The French were, for all intents and purposes, out of the war for good, as far as the French voters were concerned, Alsace-Lorraine was not worth another century of near uninterrupted war. Germany can keep it! After all, France still has her empire. --- In a move that surprised many, the Germans confiscated large gold and precious metal reserves that were left when the French government withdrew. The move in itself did not surprise anyone as it is a standard practice of war. But what the Germans did with it surprised many. Since the Napoleonic wars, the Swiss federation had been lodging the French government for a return of stolen gold. Napoleons armies had stolen a large supply of gold from the Swiss banks and the modern French state had never recognized Napoleons act as their responsibility. The Germans took a roughly equal amount of precious metals and gold and shipped it to Bern, where it was distributed to the affected Cantons. The Germans neither asked for nor were compensated in any way. When the political pundits of the era were asking for a proper explanation the Fuhrer released a statement where he simply explained that since France now falls into the new German Europe, all her actions and misdeeds are also German actions and misdeed, and Germany always pays back if something is rightly asked for. But never if something is unjust. This was a move that was entirely geared towards the neutrals, and the home front. The German people needed to feel that this was a just war that the German people were wronged and they would be redeemed by this war. And a few trucks of gold and metals are a small price to pay. --- The Greek entrance into the Axis was a further blow to the Allied efforts. Despite the existence of both a Polish and a Free French government in exile in London the world community was split between which of these to recognize. With the Greek entrance into the war the whole UK Middle-East now faced a serious threat from the Axis which now threatened the Suez from across the sea as well as from across the desert. Both Italy and Greek remained outside of the war and pledged merely to remain neutral and wish for a speedy German victory. UK made plans to quickly re-deploy the BEF and as many assets of the RAF and the RN to the Med as was possible to prevent yet another defeat that would potentially end the war. The future of the Allied war effort would not be decided across the sky’s of Britain, but across the Sands of the Levant. --- With the fall of France, both Spain and Italy eye contested French possessions. With minor border corrections going in Italy’s favor, the real relevance of the corrections is miminal, but the already weakened Italian Fascist government needs any help it can get. With the embarrassing situation after Albania and with renewed German pressure the Government is particularly unstable. Even if still aligned with the Axis. --- Negotiations conclude in Sweden-Norway and Denmark about the formation of a joint military command. The Scandinavian countries form a united military command separate of the governments and crowns of their respective countries and obligated to keep fighting as long as there is any chance of preventing defeat. It is modeled after the Swiss army that is separate from the command of the cantons and the central government. The new military command receives a large grant from all 3 countries and unifying the military units and their commands quickly picks up speed. Scandinavian united military will wield approximately 700.000 armed reservists and one of the largest navies in the world in as short a time as by 1942. The three countries hope that a separate military command under the authority of a rotating military leadership composed of officers from all three countries would encourage any invader to think carefully before attempting anything. Finland gently inquired about joining but is swiftly turned down to a strong Finnish Pro-Axis alignment. --- With Greece joining the Axis, Poland having already fell and Hungary aiming it for territorial expansion and having lost a large portion of its border to the Soviet Union, Romania also joins the axis. Followed by this Yugoslavia also joins the Axis, only to suffer a coup some weeks later. The risk of the Anti-Axis coup sentiment spreading to neighboring countries causes the Axis to swing into action. Within 3 days of the coup Germany declares it a unlawful communist take-over and orders the German military to plan for a invasion. Bulgaria quickly declares in favor of the new Yugoslavian government and secretly starts Negotiations with the Soviet for their assistance covertly with arming Yugoslavia. Stalin in a fit of paranoia sees the Yugoslavian revolt as a potential danger to his control over the Communist International and agrees to supply them with low quality weapons and in low numbers. It is a decision that would come back to haunt the soviet leader. --- The German-Italian-Greek-Hungarian-Romanian Invasion of Yugoslavia ends in a total defeat for Yugoslavia within a few days of the campaigns start. Even with most of the military mobilized and supporting them the Yugoslavian revolt is crushed by such an overwhelming attack from all directions. Bulgaria quickly switches to the Axis side again. But as a indemnity for supporting the wrong side, Bulgaria lose several key border areas in what becomes known as the Belgrade Award. The former Yugoslavia is carved up into small pieces and given to Axis minors. Bound by a treaty and having no need to expand further south into potentially partisan filled territory Germany respect the southern Austrian border as the extent of her desires for the Balkans. Italy, Hungary, Greece, and Romania divide the former Yugoslavia amongst themselves. After its fall, and Greece eying her coastline, Turkey starts secret negotiations about joining the allies. If it were just Italy, Turkey might have stayed Neutral. --- With the Annexation of Yugoslavia, all the pieces are in motion for one of the largest naval operations in history. A sizable portion of the Luftwaffe along with several airborne divisions, Marines and other specialized infantry are stationed all across Italian and Greece cities and ports. Ships in Venice prepare to ship Rommel with an entire panzer army to Africa. With the improved Supply and Logistics networks of Italy, a Panzer army is about the most they can supply, in addition to what forces they already have in Libya. The Italian army is divided between High supply and Low supply elements. High supply elements are those with tanks, mechanized, motorized, airborne, cavalry or Naval elements. These are units that require a constant stream of specialized supplies to operate. These units are mostly in Italian mainland or Libya. Then there are the Low supply elements. These are units that require almost no specialized constant supply and can survive for a very long time even when completely cut off, assuming they have been properly supplied beforehand. They are stationed in Ethiopia and Somalia. With the intention of fighting a withdrawing guerilla battle in the south and attempting to advance up the Nile river into Sudan. To meet the Italians coming down the Nile river from Alexandria. The battle plan calls for a series of airdrops and landing up and down the coastline combined with a strong push towards Alexandria by the Italian units, once a semi-secure beachhead is established somewhere, the Panzer army will reinforce that beached while the Italian navy will do its best to evacuate the other beaches. --- From the firsts moments the campaign goes badly for the Axis in Africa. The UK forces in the desert have withdrawn ahead of the Axis advance and no pockets or encirclements occur. All the UK defenders have withdrawn to El-Alamein and set up extensive defenses there. While most of the Royal Navy is stationed around the same area and they wreck a terrible mess onto the Italian navy that is entirely unprepared even with German aid to face such a devastating naval battle. Despite the fact that almost a thousand axis airplanes are station in Greece and Crete, the Italian navy quickly panics and withdraws before a very real risk of being torn to shreds by the allied navy. The Royal Navy has been itching for a rematch after the fiasco at the lowlands and they have prepared for exactly this situation for almost half a year. The German navy was small but they were built to incredible standards, the Italian navy lacks even basic electronics on some of their modern ships. Not to mention entirely unworthy armor and weaponry. Before the first week of the invasion ends almost two thirds of the Italian navy is damaged or destroyed. With losses going as far as 37% before the allies manage to gain a beachhead in Palestine. While the beachhead expands quickly to cover a easily defensible area, the allies have no intension of preventing such an expansion, only of preventing more supplies from reaching the beachhead. They put up only a minimal screen around the expansion and prevent it from entirely cutting the Iraq-Alexandria routes but short of that do nothing to contain it. All the forces that can be spared have been taken by the defense of El-Alamein, and the battle there is an entirely different matter for the allies. Once the Italian navy escaped, the Germans re-prioritized to CAS and Tactical bombardment roles with the desire to ensure that El-Alamein falls. After almost 3 weeks of back and forth armor battles across the desert with massive causalities for both sides, the Allies withdraw to a secondary line of defense just outside of Alexandria. Having heavily mined and destroyed all roads and paths more than 5 km inland from the immediate coast, the Axis units are forced to a narrow bottleneck of Allied air and Naval power. While the earlier battles to the West of El-Alamein were within relatively similar flying distance from both the Axis and Allied airplanes, the second battle is very close to Allied airfields and hundreds of kilometers away from the axis field. Even with the smaller number of planes the allied airmen are able to fly as much as 4 sorties for every 1 of the Axis. And they can take off with less fuel and more armaments. Leading to a situation where the Axis airplane losses escalate rapidly. With the Axis having to keep the UK navy pushed back as well as having to support the land forces, the axis air forces quickly push themselves to exhaustion. While it takes them several weeks to rearm and reorganize their air units, the axis start clearing out the minefields further south and start to slowly advance on the south flank of the Nile Delta, with the Allied forces in the Delta supported by the UK navy. It is a tense situation where firefights are frequent but for the first time since the start of the war, the Axis units are unable to push the Allied units back. It is a tremendous moral victory for the allied cause. Alexandria become something of a rallying cry for the allies. The pictures of dozens of Italian ships burning at the same time spread across the world stage, informing the people of the world that the axis can indeed be beaten. Mussolini finds his naval designs heavily criticized and he is relying more and more on Germany for support. While Germany is less and less inclined to tolerate him. --- Germany wisely tied the African campaign to the winter months of 1940-1941. Such a summer time commitment would have quite possibly enticed Stalin to attack. But with a heavy winter and most of the Army still facing the Soviet border, Stalin is in no mood to take advantage of the situation. --- Japanese-American business ties get deeper as Japan needs foreign investment and equipment to properly utilize Manchuria and the Shanxi area. Within a year of business ties opening there are a great deal of American corporations in and around the area. --- After a few weeks of rearming and reorganizing, the Luftwaffe is tasked with protecting the German Panzer convoy from Venice to Libya. Italian navy having failed in its attempt to gain a permanent foothold in the Levant, the Panzer army has no other destination than as far towards Alexandria as it can be landed without risking destruction. Close enough to the Italian mainland the Axis air force still reigns absolutely supreme. Further east it turns into Allied control. --- There, that’s the chapter for today. Hope you guys like it, do comment!
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#53
September 7th, 2011, 05:24 PM
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Damn. I was actually hoping Yugoslavia would have been able to avoid the anti-Axis coup this time around.
As for North Africa . . . I thought the BEF was badly mangled in this version of WW2? Shouldn't they have been even weaker than OTL in the North Africa Campaign? Esepcially with the Axis able to deploy, and actually supply, more forces?
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#54
September 7th, 2011, 05:38 PM
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The BEF was, but due to there being no BoB and no U-Boat war due to axis focus on building a army to take out SU. The fields are almost even, and while the Italian army and navy was ready, it took a significant amount of time to transfer the Panzer army to Venice, And the Paras and Marine units to Greece and the Luftwaffe to get proper level of supplies and facilities in place.
From the Fall of France to the Battle of El-Alamein it is almost 3-4 months. That time allowed UK to get a grip on just how serious the situation is and re-orient its forces to the front. And since the destruction of what little navy germany had, the UK doesnt even need basic coast guard units in the UK. UK has essentially stripped the Islands of anything that can move and shipped it to the mid-east and then spent the next 4 months laying mines and traps. In OTL, the BEF was forced to stay in the UK under the small threat the Germany would actually try a sealion, and fail. In TTL, they realised that Germany has no plans to that end and they need to defend the Med. The main axis thrust in land war has been a small German unit backed by a large Italian force. This would be the time in OTL before Rommel arrives up to the first Italian defeats. Difference is that BEF was so badly mangled they were pushed to Alexandria, Italians were overconfident and got seriously hammered. Now its up to Rommel to show how its done. With no Naval backing and increasingly little Air support. But with a full Panzer Army, lets see how it goes!
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#55
September 7th, 2011, 06:17 PM
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Bulgaria is highly unlikely to support the Yugoslavs. Her interests are aligned with those of Germany, Hungary and Italy in that she seeks revision of borders in her favor - and indeed, one of her most important claims is Vardar Macedonia from Yugoslavia. I do not see Bulgaria as likely to side with Simovic and the Soviets in your TL.
Regarding the Balkans, Germany will probably annex most of Slovenia with the remainder to Italy. Italy will annex Dalmatia. Croatia, including Bosnia, will gain independence as an Axis ally under the Ustasha with an Italian king. The Banat may be split between Hungaria and Romania, with preference given to Hungary. Bulgaria will take most of Macedonia, with perhaps some areas to Greece. Greece may request Northern Epiros from Italy, in exchange for Italian Albania expanding to include Kosovo and west Macedonia. The Montengrian monarchy will be restored under the Italian aegis. I'm not sure about Serbia, as it really is the anti-Axis core. Given your scenario, though, the Nazis may try to create an ideologically-friendly regime there as well. Resistance in Yugoslavia will still be greater than anywhere else in Europe except for the USSR. However, a stable system of satellite states may lead to a better situation compared to OTL. Regarding Turkey, in OTL they were extremely gun-shy, and with a more powerful Axis I don't see that changing here in the Allied favor. Granted, they'd love to grab a couple of Dodecanese islands, but in this scenario it will be clear to the Turkish government and military that war will mean the fall of Istanbul and possibly the occupation of most or all of the country. Turkish neutrality could still be violated, but it won't be at Turkey's behest.
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#56
September 8th, 2011, 12:19 PM
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Good reply, I'll see if I can go one by one along the list and give you some justification, might not be enough but you'll see its not entirely unjustified.
Quote:
After the ball started rolling and the invasion occured Bulgaria quickly realised which way the wind is blowing and joined the Axis. But it was a minor miscalculation by them. The main reason why they were hesitant to join was because Greece had sizable claims on Bulgarian areas and were hesitant to join an alliance had its center of gravity so far away. I could rewrite it but its a minor point anyway. Quote:
The long term plan is to actually near entirely depopulate Yugoslavia. On the basis that the Nazi thinking is that "two world wars from these people is quite enough." It is one of those things that makes little sense from a strategic point of view but is ideologically motivated. To write "beliavable" axis, i've decided to write them just as ideologically motivated to do stupid things than in OTL. This TTL, they are less about extermination and more about deportation and moving away from them. And Yugoslavia (mostly slavic population anyway) is one of those areas they plan to depopulate. Quote:
Quote:
The Turkish plan is similar to Greece in OTL. A guarantee that they will join the allies the second any Axis member declares war on them, but they wont before that. They wont join the Allies until absolutely neccesary, and are in effect saying that "If you push us we'll join them but if not, we're cool!" The negotiations are a way of reminding the world that they lean on the allies but wont join unless neccesary. And the certainly wont join the Axis with Greece eying her possessions, and Germany wont allow Greece to open a Caucasian front by invading Turkey without her permission. For now, Turkey will certainly remain neutral. I'm trying to give the impression that both alliances are quite fractured and not really coordinating well yet. And UK is at a advantage in the mid-east now since it has such a long term co-operation with its commonwealth and their militaries so its now a game of "many dis-organized axis nations + Germany, against a single Allied military" Hope that answers some questions.
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#57
September 8th, 2011, 02:10 PM
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Invasion of the USSR
This is an interesting timeline--I'll be following it regularly.
When Germany invaded the USSR in OTL,they were greeted as liberators in many places, like the Ukraine. Their actions afterwards showed that they were bad news, and turned those same populations against the invaders. This Germany's different racial theories would lead to much better treatment of the civilian population--and might well keep them pro-German--or at least anti-Stalin.
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#58
September 8th, 2011, 03:01 PM
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That is the common conception, yes. But the thing is this, i'll give you two examples.
Assuming you conquer an area with a population of 10 million. You immediately set about killing the population and generally starving everyone to death. Within a year there is a population of 9 million with 8 of those too weak to do anything meaningful. You are left with 1 million people of whom, say, 50% resists You'll be left with 500.000 more or less active resisters from a population of 10 million. --- Assuming you conquer an area with a population of 10 million You do your best to keep them content but as it is war, some will die and be quite upset. Due to good treatment, in 1 year you'll have a population of 9.9 million in the area, of whom 9 million are in good condition Of those 9 million, only 10% resist You'll be left with 900.000 resisters. So, while better treatment will initially mean less hostility from the population, better treatment also means that the population that does resist, is both larger and better suited to resist. So following this, what logically follows is that better treatment will result in larger numbers of both resistors and collaborators. This is relevant not in the early war, but in the late war when most resistors and collaborators have already either joined the enemy outright, or died. And the number of people who can be drafted by the advancing red army if given food, is reduced severely. The reason the red army advanced so well was not really the resistance itself, but the ability they had to draf the civilian population to fight once the germans had already left. This was largely contingent on the Red Army being able to provide something the population wanted. In this case, food. But where the red army came to an area where the population wanted very little (Bulgaria for example) they didnt gain all that much, and found that unmotivated population isnt that suited for a draft. So, the real effect of treating the population well, isnt in reducing the immediate resistance, it will in fact almost certainly increase. But in preventing the population from turning on you wholesale after you leave. That means that while there will just as much resistance, perhapse more so, once the red army advances back to these areas, they will find a population that is just as hostile to them as they are to Germans. So, in OTL, the population turned against the Germans wholesale, while in this, it goes closer towards actually inciting a SU wide civil unrest and actual civil war in the Ukrainian areas. This leads to a seriously different world war timeline! I'm going with the "one butterfly changes the world" idea, not just re-running previous battles with X more germans and Y less commies.
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#59
September 9th, 2011, 12:03 AM
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March Third, 1941.
Following a string of defeats by the Allies in the Nile delta, British PM Churchill resigns and fades into obscurity. To be replaced by his deputy, Anthony Eden. Following a string of military defeats and political blunders, first in Scandinavia, then in the Balkans and lastly in the Nile Delta, fearing a general strike and severe lack of confidence in his party, Churchill resigns from office does the only thing left to save his party, and possible his country. PM Eden promises to wage war on Germany not with blood, sweat and tears but with wisdom, ingenuity and honesty. In his first address to the parliament and the people Eden thanks Churchill for his leadership up to the point, but to distance himself from the former PM and his personal friend, he viscerally attacks some of his predecessors policies. Calling the landings on Norway a failure that started from the Chamberlain government, and was worsened by the Churchill government, finally culminating in a pointless firefight, that alienated British allies and emboldened her enemies. While real tangible military plans were discusses sparsely in the public view, there was a very real change in planning and tactics for the allies. It was decided that the first order of business would be to drive a wedge between the International Socialists, and the National Socialists. With a soviet entrance into the war it is conceivable that Germany might be defeated entirely. Failing that, it would draw most of German military away from the middle-east. Secondly, it was decided that the US must be brought to the war as quickly as possible. German reluctance to use U-Boats made US war-entry unlikely, and the new peace in Asia made it even more so. But if any opportunity presents itself, Britain must do everything to secure US entrance into the war. Thirdly, additional funding must be secured if this war is to be prosecuted further. Fourthly, Britain must realize that the colonies must be let go now, or be taken from it. The only real tangible way to secure colonial commitment to the British cause, is to make concessions to the colonials. Perhaps going so far as to give India home rule. It is discussed and shelved for now, should the situation worsen then to save the crown, the crown jewels must go. Fifthly, to secure public confidence in the war effort, the crown is asked to donate some of their most precious artifacts and jewels for a public auction. The proceeds from this auction will be used to finance the war effort. In reality all the auction participants had been screened beforehand so that they understand that all the crown jewels will be returned to the crown at the end of the war, and the buyers will be compensated for their efforts. In a manner befitting the extraordinary situation, the royal family will walk from Buckingham palace to the auction, which is to be held outside Westminster Palace, better known as house of parliament. Following them will be the usual royal carriages, and guards. The royal carriage will be filled to maximum safe weight with royal artifacts. The situation is given wide media circulation all over the world, the British family walks in normal clothes with the royal carriage behind them, willing to do their part. German media mocks the event but such mocking is only useful for reinforcing British support for their Monarch. There British government has little trouble drafting new soldiers, and thanks to several large donation drives, the government has little need for currency at the moment. With renewed purpose and determination, the Eden government prepares to face the Axis outside Alexandria. The new Eden government faces a serious situation in the middle-east Axis forces are on the outskirts of both Cairo and Alexandria, and news is coming in of an entire panzer army landing in Libya. Eden is facing the most difficult situation of his life, and most likely the greatest threat to UK independence in almost 500 years. --- This one is a short update, to get everyone ready for the next larger update.
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