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#1621
April 26th, 2012, 10:30 PM
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Hopefully things will start speeding up again on the Western Front. 
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#1622
April 27th, 2012, 03:53 AM
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Happy and Glorious
continued 1945 January 1st. UK The situation in Britain on New Years Day 1945 was one of exhaustion mixed with expectation. Most people in Britain knew that the war was in its final stages and they new that peace was just around the corner. This made the V2 raids all the more difficult to endure and it produced exasperation with the government and anger at Germany. Churchill spent the New Year in Italy which was viewed unfavourably in the British press. As a filip to morale there were two new policy changes announced on January 1st. The first was the ending of the full blackout to be replaced by a partial blackout. The second was that the rest of the Home Guard would be deactivated. After many delays the keel of HMS Malta was finally laid in the first week of January. The revised design was for a carrier of 45,000 tons displacement with a 50,000 tons full load. HMS Vengeance was commissioned. The first production models of the new Martin Baker Maelstrom fighter were delivered. Germany The defeat of the 'Model Offensive' was not mentioned at Rastenberg. Hitler's health seemed to be physically declining by the day. His hair was mostly grey and he had stopped listening to bad news. Anytime now they expected the Allies to set foot on German soil. Many in the German military privately discussed opening armistice talks as their predecessors had done in World War One in order to avoid having the homeland turned into a battlefield. The manpower situation was critical. The drafting of men previously exempt from military service gave the illusion that the German army was still a large force. There were 42 divisions on Western Front, 159 in the East, 12 in Norway, 10 in Yugoslavia, 6 in greece, 16 in Italy, 5 in Denmark and 2 still in Northern Finland and finally 3 in Germany itself. A total of 255 divisions. The debate now was whether to withdraw troops from Norway or the Balkans to bolster the Western Front. Hitler was against abandoning anything but he reluctantly agreed to withdraw 3 divisions from Greece for service in the West. Japan The government of Tojo had fallen just before Christmas and had been replaced by Kuniaki Koiso who was not welcomed by anyone. The B29s were now raiding regularly and it was deemed necessary to evacuate many of the children from the cities. USA FDR's health was still not a major public issue but within government there was increasing concern about his ability to govern. Roosevelt showed no concern at all. USSR Stalin viewed the progress of the Allies with alarm and his paranoia about them making a separate peace with Germany was taking hold. He wanted another summit to decide the future map of Europe and to try to head off any separate peace. Churchill was also keen to have a summit and wanted a meeting in Cairo. Stalin said it must be in the Sovier Union. TBC Last edited by Devolved; April 27th, 2012 at 04:07 AM..
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#1623
April 27th, 2012, 03:50 PM
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Looking good!
And for those who think this is a Britwank, look at the link for a true one! http://www.alternatehistory.com/disc...d.php?t=129397
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#1624
April 27th, 2012, 04:49 PM
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this timeline is amazing and dont think enough people comment to say that
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#1625
April 27th, 2012, 05:44 PM
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Good to see Malta making it into production, if she doesn't get canned it should give the RN a more capable carrier fleet postwar.
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#1627
April 27th, 2012, 05:46 PM
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#1628
April 27th, 2012, 05:56 PM
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It would be really nice to see a Malta post war
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#1629
April 27th, 2012, 06:57 PM
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Patton racing Monty to Berlin! Hooray! My dream TTL would be the Iron Curtain on the Oder.
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#1630
April 27th, 2012, 07:15 PM
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Happy and Glorious
continued 1945 January 1st to January 15th 1945 Burma The 14th Army resumed it's small offensive into Thailand. The terrain was difficult and the Japanese were resisting effectively. The British were only able to advance 9 miles at the cost of 389 killed, 1,428 wounded and 16 missing while the Japanese lost 674 killed, 242 wounded and 28 captured. Thailand The Free Thai movement had grown to 90,000 men and had been supplied by Allied air drops for months. They had mortars, heavy machines guns and a few Amercian pack howitzers as well as weapons from the Thai army. The Thai leader Khuang Abhaiwongse and Pridi informed the British in Burma of their intentions and what help could they provide against the 230,000 Japanese in the country. Of these troops 9 divisions were on the front line facing the Allies along the frontier regions. Auchinleck was keen to help but with the terrain being so difficult it was obvious that an airlift of troops was the only way of providing direct help. There was a shortage of transport planes but he was told that there would be enough to fly in two battalions of Wingate's force onto suitable airstrips in the first 2 days plus some supplies for the rebels. He also ordered General Christison to launch an offensive towards Chiang Mai using the 17th Indian and 5th Indian plus a Chinese division. The Thais were now worried that an uprising would fail but instructions had already been given and a delay could alert the Japanese to what was happening. On Jaunary 14th The uprising began. The roads were quickly blocked and 2 small airstrips had been seized and four more were surrounded. The Philippines Leyte was declared cleared (although as usual thousands of Japanese continued to hide in thr hills) as was most of Samar. Nimitz was not sure about the desirability of landing on Luzon at all and wondered if submarine and air blockade would be enough. He already wanted to go straight for Iwo Jima followed by a landing in Okinawa. Roosevelt and the JCS saw the political gains of a landing in Luzon but without someone like a MacArthur to keep pushing for a full clearance of the islands there was a change of plan. The election had been won and so the political benefits of landing in the Philippines had already been reaped. The JCS compromised by instructing Nimitz to make two small landings on south eastern Luzon with the purpose of securing Samar and tying down Japanese forces. So on January 10th 2 divisions of the US 6th Army crossed the San Bernadino Strait and made two landings on the south eastern tip of Luzon. This gave the Japanese the impression that the Americans had begun their reconquest of Luzon. In actual fact the JCS had agreed to make a landing on Iwo Jima on January 25th. Eastern Front The Russian offensive in the center had begun running out of steam and it was with difficulty that some of Vatutin's troops reached the 1939 Polish frontier before pausing. The main theatre of operations then swung south as the troops released from the victory in the Crimea attacked towards the Southen Bug river with the ultimate objective of taking Odessa. The attack began on January 11th and had broken through the German lines on January 13th with some Red Army units crossing the river on January 14th. To the north troops released from the Finnish front helped to clear Estonia of all Germans by Jaunary 12th. Fighting on the Eastern Front cost the Russians 21,000 killed, 46,000 wounded and 1,500 captured while the Germans lost 11,120 killed, 28,412 wounded and 13,782 captured. Western Front The fighting in the aftermath of the Model offensive began to die down as the Germans recovered. The US 1st Army ended all offensive operations after taking St Vith on Jaunary 7th. The newly formed US 9th Army reached the German border close to Aachen on January 9th. To the extreme south General Keyes 7th Army plus 2 French divisions attacked from Colmar and reached the Rhine. The British 2nd Army shifted north and resumed limited operations to take Eindhoven. Greece The rapid withdrawal of 3 German divisions did not go unnoticed. The Greek resistance responded to seizing more villages and carrying out reprisals on collaborators. In some places Communist and Royalist partisans started fighting each other instead of the Germans. At Churchill's urging, Mountbatten sent private messages to Rommel expressing concern for the collapse of order in Greece. Rommel understood but informed him that short of outright defection to the Allies there was little he could do. Defection at the moment was out of the question because of possible reprisals against his family. He did agree to turn a blind eye to an increase in the number of SOE agents in certain areas. He also instructed his troops to target the Communist partisans more than the non Comunists. Above all with the reducution of the German garrison he authorized the evacuation of Naxos island on January 10th. The British arrived unmolested on January 11th. TBC Last edited by Devolved; April 27th, 2012 at 07:20 PM..
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#1631
April 27th, 2012, 08:00 PM
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#1632
April 27th, 2012, 09:11 PM
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Happy and Glorious
continued 1945 January 16th to January 31st 1945 Burma/Thailand The Thai leader Khuang Abhaiwongse made an address from an undisclosed location to the Thai people. He repudiated the alliance with Japan and called upon the Thai people to reclaim their nation. Bangkok was the scene of heavy fighting during January 15th and 16th. Most of the Thai army turned on their former Japanese Allies and 90% of the city was now in Thai hands. Elsewhere there had been heavy fighitng with the Japanese winning approximately 70% of the time. However the 30% of battles where they lost had caused the Japanese huge problems. Approximatley 300 Japanese were killed and another 1,200 taken captive by January 16th. Thousands more were cut off by road blocks. As promised the British flew in two battalions of troops onto captured airfields while supplies of sten guns, ammunition and radios were also flown in. The attacks on the airfields also helped to secure air supremacy for the Allies ( although they were winning it anyway) and Allied aircraft were now giving ground support to the Thai rebels. By January 20th 2,000 troops had been flown in. General Christison's offensive began on schedule as the Japanese defended as best they could with their supply routes cut off. Chiang Mai itself was now the scene of a battle as rebels joined with Thai troops and police to attack the Japanese. On January 18th the Japanese had devised their strategy. They would try to retake Bangkok and teach the Thais a lesson but clearly they couldn't hold the whole country. Christison's forces faced many problems in their advance but the Japanese found it increasingly difficult to mount a coherent defence in the area. Many Japanese units now found themselves fighting individual battles with some doing better than others. To the south the 14th Army resumed it's offensive in the direction of Tak. This time there was less resistance and on January 22nd Tak fell. The next day a force of 6,000 Thais joined them and together with a force of Stuart tanks they pushed along the road to the south in the general direction of Bangkok. Only the Thais expected to get that far. The main effect of the advance was to destabilize the rest of the Japnese line along the Burma frontier causing 2 divisions to retreat to the south east and towards Bangkok. By this time the Japanese had recaptured Bangkok. It s estimated that 2,000 Thais rebels and 15,000 civilians died as did 380 Japanese troops. On January 24th the Japanese forces in front of Chiang Mai collapsed and they had to abandon their equipment and fight their way through Thai rebels to escape. Chiang Mai fell to the 5th Indian division on January 25th. The Japanese retreat gathered moment rather slowed and on January 28th Allied and Thai forces took Lampang. This put the Japanese into a pincer between the forces to the south and the troops coming from the north. This forced them to move east and escape into French Indo China. Thai rebels took the towns of Phrae and Nan unaided and the north western bulge of Thailand was now cleared of Japanese. On Jaunary 30th Nakhon Sawan fell to the Anglo-Thai forces and by the next day they were just 140 miles north of Bangkok. By the end of January it was clear that the uprising had failed to liberate all of Thailand but it had dealt a major blow to the Japanese. About 25% of the country had been freed but the price had been high. A total of 9,000 Thai rebels and 55,000 civilians had been killed (mostly in Japanese reprisals) while the 14th army had lost 1,282 killed, 4,091 wounded and 63 missing. The Japanese had lost 6,311 killed, 3,950 wounded and 1,300 taken prisoner. Iwo Jima The Americans landed on January 26th. The Japanese were entrenched (but had less time to complete their defences to their extent of OTL) and inflicted heavy losses on the US Marines. Eastern Front The Russian offensive in south had cleared the east bank of the Southern Bug by Jaunary 21st while other forces had broken through. The Germans and above all their Romanian allies retreated in disorder as lack of fuel prevented counter attacks. Odessa was reached on January 28th and the next day the city was under siege. Meanwhile Vatutin's forces crossed into pre 1939 Polish territory in a symbolic gesture caught on propaganda newsreels. Western Front British Sector The British 2nd Army finally captured Eindhoven on January 22nd. The fighting in the area cost the British 1,091 killed, 3,723 wounded and 87 captured while the Germans lost 1,409 killed, 3,345 wounded and 1,111 captured. American Sector The US 9th Army began probing attacks on the Sigfried Line close to Aachen on January 19th. The Americans crossing into Germany was also caught on newreel. To the south General Keyes 7th Army Began a slow rolling up operation as they advanced north to try to clear the west bank of the Rhine in their sector. Meanwhile the 3rd Army resumed their offensive from metz towards the German border and the Saar. The Americans had lost 2,931 killed, 8,114 wounded and 156 captured while the Germans lost 3,207 killed, 7,909 wounded and 1,842 captured. Italian Front The British 56th division, 4th Indian and a Canadian brigade attacked across the Piave on January 24th. The offensive had been hastily organized and experienced major problems. Apart from a bridgehead 4 miles wide and 2 miles deep little was achieved before the offensive was halted. The operation had cost 8th Army 1,126 killed, 3,082 wounded and 82 captured while the Germans had lost 1,054 killed, 2,738 wounded and 286 captured. UK HMS Venerable was commissioned. Sydney The carrier HMS Indomitable and 2 more destroyers arrived to join the British Pacific Fleet. Greece Rommel was able to get permission from the High command to evacuate the Greek Island of Santorini. As with Naxos the German evacuation and the subsequent British occupation took place without incident. TBC
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#1633
April 28th, 2012, 12:59 AM
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Happy and Glorious
continued 1945 February 1st to February 15th 1945 Burma/Thailand The situation in Thailand stabilized as the British led forces ran short of supplies. They paused 110 miles north of Bangkok. One of the results of the fighting was the liberation by Thai rebels of a small POW camp. Over 200 British and Australian POWs were freed. Their condition was not good but they reported that others elsewhere were in an even worse state. The Japanese set about re organizing their defences. Although the number of casualties was fairly small the loss of equipment and airfields had undermined the whole strategic position. They immediately evacuated their outpost of Tavoy in Burma and planned to pull out of Amherst at the end of the month. They also decided to formally end the Vichy administration in Vietnam and set about creating their won puppet state to replace the Thais. The fighting in Thailand cost the 14th Army another 713 killed, 2,108 wounded and 11 missing, the Thais 2,411 killed and 6,000 wounded and missing while the Japanese lost 1,800 killed, 1,500 wounded and 242 taken prisoner. Iwo Jima The Americans had declared the campaign over by February 12th (although over 2,500 Japanese were still hiding underground). The battle had cost the Americans 5,238 killed, 17,431 wounded and 12 missing. The Japanese had lost 20,891 killed and 167 taken prisoner. Eastern Front The Russian siege of Odessa lasted from January 29th to February 13th. The defenders suffered from lack of fuel, cold weather and low morale. The Romanian defenders in frontline positions surrendered very quickly creating gaps that were exploited by the attackers. When the city fell 13,828 Germans and 11, 909 Romanians were taken prisoner. To the north Russian forces pushed into Latvia. The fighting cost the Russians 14000 killed, 32,000 wounded and 1,000 taken prisoner. The Germans lost 6,203 killed, 15,901 wounded and 17,200 prisoners. Western Front British Sector The British 2nd Army turned east from Eindhoven and fought it's way in small actions towards the German border. The fighting in the area cost the British 787 killed, 2,473 wounded and 42 captured while the Germans lost 932 killed, 2,219 wounded and 646 captured. American Sector The US 9th Army continued probing the Siegfried Line and found tht the defences were strong. The US 1st army resumed it's offensive in difficult terrain in cold weather through the Ardennes. Some units finally crossed the German border in the Eiffel. The 3rd Army advanced in small set pieces against well prepared German positions. This advance pushed the Germans back 12 miles. The Americans had lost 3,841 killed, 11,339 wounded and 129 captured while the Germans lost 3,708 killed, 8,855 wounded and 2,412 captured. Italian Front The Piave offensive was resumed on February 11th. The British 78th division plus the New Zealand division and 6th armoured made another crossing of the river. This time the planning was more meticulous and the determined German resistance was broken in one day. By February 15th The entire Piave position was abandoned and the Germans retreated to the Isonzo. The operation had cost 8th Army 1,242 killed, 3,711 wounded and 23 captured while the Germans had lost 1,833 killed, 3,927 wounded and 2,414 captured. UK The first Maelstrom squadron was assembled but not yet operational. The first 7 Centurion tanks were delivered to the British army. Sydney The carrier Indefatigable arrived to join the British Pacific Fleet. Greece The Germans evacuated more smaller islands. The Greek resistance now controlled most of the countryside. The German occupation was swiftly becoming untenable. The only reinforcements that could be called upon were the Bulgarians but they suddnely refused. Yalta Scheduled for February 20th. TBC
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#1634
April 28th, 2012, 10:18 AM
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I ma glad to see the Thais fighting against the Japanese so successfully, be really interesting to see allies crossing into French IndoChina
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#1635
April 28th, 2012, 09:35 PM
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Happy and Glorious
continued February 16th to February 28th 1945 Burma/Thailand The 14th Army began building up their resources and consolidating their gains in northern Thailand. In the areas under Japanese occupation Thai resistance fighters continued to tie down troops and inflict casualties. With the re occupation of Amherst on February on 22nd the whole of Burmese soil was under British control. Auchinleck was persuaded to plan for a landing on Phuket Island for Mid March as a final stepping stone for the landings in Malaya now scheduled for April 14th. Luzon American forces were engaged in heavy fighting to clear the south eastern tip of the island. The Americans had now committed 3 divisions to the battle. Iwo Jima The first B29s were making their emergency landings on the island. Okinawa The JCS set March 24th as the date for an invasion of the island. British Pacific Fleet A request to join the Americans for the initial assault on Okinawa was refused. The reason given was the still inadequate fleet train. Instead the BPF would carry out strikes on Bougainville and Rabaul. They would then support a small campaign on the Huon peninsula in New Guinea. By this time the BPF consisted of the battleships HMS Hood, Prince of Wales, Howe, Anson and Duke of York, the carriers Formidable, Implacable, Indefatigable, Indomitable and Victorious plus the light carriers Colossus and Glory. Eastern Front Following the fall of Odessa the Russians continued their push in the south. The Germans however had reinforced the area and the Russians were halted on the Dneiseter. The central front remained quiet as the Soviets built up large forces. Western Front British Sector Montgomery was concerned about the strength of the German defences facing him in during his advance to the German border. There was now a plan being discussed of trying to out flank the 'West Wall' by a attacking north and then east and perhaps seizing the bridge over the Rhine at Arnhem and then breaking onto the North German Plain. The British Army advanced 8 miles during the fighting and lost 1,031 killed, 3.342 wounded and 113 captured. The Germans had lost 1,341 killed, 3,452 wounded and 751 captured. American Sector US 1st Army was getting nowhere in its push through the Ardennes/Eiffel forest. They advanced just 5 miles into Germany and captured a few villages. The 1st Army had lost 1,187 killed, 3,903 wounded and 122 captured while the Germans 909 killed, 2,124 wounded and 912 captured. The 9th Army launched its first major assault on Aachen. It gained just 2 miles and then stopped. The Americans lost 1,403 killed, 3,762 wounded and 54 captured while the Germans lost 1,411 killed, 3,082 wounded and 1,126 captured. US 3rd Army took Thionville after a bitter battle and advanced up the Moselle valley. The 3rd Army lost 1,346 killed, 4,152 wounded and 102 captured while the Germans lost 1,943 killed, 4,092 wounded and 1,212 captured. The biggest success in headline terms came in the south where French troops attached to US 7th Army captured Strasbourg on February 24th. This cut off some German troops still West of the Rhine and caused them to surrender. The Franco-Americans lost 1,519 killed, 4,892 wounded and 38 missing while the Germans lost 2,041 killed, 4,101 wounded and 6,809 captured. Greece German forces had lost over 400 killed and 1,500 wounded in fighting against Greek partisans in February. The Germans evacuated Amafi and Santorini islands and were replaced by British and Greek troops. On February 22nd Mountbatten ordered a South African battalion to land on Ikaria. The landing was unopposed and so he dispatched another force to Kios. The island did have a small German garrison of 200 men that put up resistance to the South African and Special Boat Squadron troops. The fighting lasted a day and the Luftwaffe even launched a raid but it ended with a German surrender. The fighting 2 South African and 1 SBS dead as well as 7 Germans. Finally on February 27th Mykonos was occupied. TBC Last edited by Devolved; April 28th, 2012 at 09:40 PM..
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#1636
April 28th, 2012, 10:15 PM
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Happy and Glorious
continued Yalta February 20th 1945 Having a summit meeting at Yalta was the worst possible thing for the ailing American President. After arrivng by plane both Churchill and Roosevelt had to face a 7 hour journey by car over roads that were little better than tracks. Stalin knew this and hoped to exhaust the elderly Churchill and sick Roosevelt before negotiating with them. As expected Churchill and Stalin clashed over Poland. With Soviet forces still on the border it was not clear when the Soviets would reach Warsaw and Churchill clearly hoped for a sudden German collapse in the west before that happened. FDR was exhausted and became irritable with Churchill for discussing borders in Eastern Europe when Germany still hadn't been defeated and above all he wanted to get the Russians into the war against Japan. He left after 4 days leaving Churchill isolated as the leader of the weakest member of the Grand Alliance. In a tense atmosphere in which little went well the seeds of a future war could well have been planted. In a desperate bid to salvage something from the conference. Churchill agreed to accept Soviet rule over the Baltic republics and not to query the peace settlement with Finland. Both Churchill and FDR agreed that that the Russians could keep Bessarabia. An agreement on the government of Poland couldn't be reached and instead a vague statement to the effect that the people of Poland would determine their own fate was issued. Churchill did concede that the Russians could move their border westwards but that the 1941 frontier was not acceptable. As part of his bid to divide Roosevelt from Churchill, Stalin agreed to enter the war against Japan 3 months after a German defeat. He also talked about the way the post war world would be shaped by free nations that rejected the old imperial order that had caused so many wars. FDR liked this. The final problem was Germany. All the Allies agreed once again to reject any separate peace deals. Stalin knew about Mountbatten's communication with Rommel but he didn't let on for fear of exposing his spy networks. Post war Germany would be divided into 3 occupation zones. A British attempt to get France a zone was rejected but they compromised by allowing the French a zone in Berlin. The Russian zone would be along the Elbe. Austria would also be divided into three. The other details would wait until a final peace conference. TBC
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#1637
April 28th, 2012, 10:31 PM
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So the French are being squeezed out? Plenty of butterflies will result from that!
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#1638
April 28th, 2012, 11:06 PM
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Devolved
So Britain at least is still putting up resistance to the annexation of eastern Poland? That's a significant change on OTL, although given Roosevelt's unwillingness to support him it probably won't change matters much. However given how much slower the Russian advance has been and their heavier losses there is possibly still a chance of avoiding the worse of the OTL suppression of eastern Europe. Its possible that it could make it worse of course but I hope not. The exclusion of France from the partition of Germany could have some significant butterflies. If they know this is at the instigation of the two superpowers its likely to make them more distrustful of both. Steve
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#1639
April 28th, 2012, 11:15 PM
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#1640
April 28th, 2012, 11:24 PM
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