(PoD 1) Immediately after the start of Uranus, Hitler has an epiphany and decides to listen to Manstein, he authorizes a retreat from Stalingrad and writes off North Africa as a lost cause. The Sixth Army breaks free from Stalingrad when Manstein makes the rescue offensive, the Axis forces pull back to the Donetz only losing the forces that were disintegrated in the initial Soviet offensive, Manstein makes his counteroffensive and stabilizes the front. Hitler and Mussolini don't send any additional troops to Tunisia, Torch and Motgomery eventually encircle and destroy the Afrika Korps but no toehr troops are lost and they are used to defend Sicily.
How fo they ''only lose forces that already disintegrated extactly?'' In this POD the Germans arnt being slowly driven back along the front, they're running. Morale is a factor here. There is every change that Germans forces are more open to attack while running than OTL.
(PoD 2) The anti-Nazi coup in March 1943 succeeds because the bomb in Hitler's plane works: the Heer takes over with limited difficulty by telling Germany that Hitler was killed by Nazi radicals, the SS mostly surrender without a fight or obey the generals as in Valkyrie. The Italian Army overthrow Mussolini soon afterwards as well. The new governments decide to ask the Allies a compromise peace, if they refuse, they shall apply a strategy to spare the Axis' residual strength and wear the Allies down. They do, so they go for an attrition war.
Limited difficulty? No I wont stand for the tired old face saving coup BS, Hitler was a military amateur but a lot of mistakes were made by his generals too. Also without Hitler’s driving will and charismatic leadership to stiffen spines and rally the German people. Combined with the sudden massive retreats on Eastern Front mean the German public's morale will decline and war-weariness will increase exponentially. A junta will be also rather unstable as well, which could lead to some serious open or backroom infighting, while the situation on all fronts deteriorates as the Allies smell blood.
So the only ''compramise peace'' the junta would get is Germany agreeing to pull back to it's pre-Nazi borders. Nothing else will happen short of the Germans bleeding all the Allied powers white, or Stalin pulling a back-stab on his US-UK allies and cutting a deal first. However
that would preclude any German territorial gains at the Soviet Union's expense.
In Russia, they discard Zitadelle and adopt elastic defense and Manstein's Backhand Blow. It works, and Stalin loses a whole army group in the failed summer offensives, while the Germans spare the bulk of their strength.
Ah yes more Invincible Heer-master-race-supermen beating the sub-human-horde with effortless ease crap we see all too often on AH.
The only way this happens is if ASBs revert the Red Army back to it's 1941 state. Short of that the Manstein's tactics wont do the wonders people think, the Soviets will be slowed a little but the Germans cant just ''save'' their strength. No matter how much you try to handeave it. The Germans will be haemorrhaging manpower at an atrocious rate simply to hang on in the face a Red Army whose morale will have soared, German morale on the other hand will be worse than OTL.That will seriously undermine the Heer’s overall fighting capacity.
In Sicily, thanks to the additional troops, the Allied landing is a bloody failure. Roosevelt pressures for rushing Overlord, despite Churchill's misgivings.
Really? So the Allies just ignore the extra 200,000 German troops, without making changes to their OTL plans in any way, shape or form? Thats just silly, stop being silly.
Good luck to the Germans in keeping Sicily and those extra troops in suppy through, given that they have no navy and their airforce is far weaker than the Allies. Sardinia likely falls before Sicily in this POD, that’s the reall big change from OTL.
In Fall 1943, the Soviets keep suffering horrible losses, while the Germans lose relatively little ground and Stalin starts to stare the exhaustion of Soviet manpower reserves in the face, with a still strong Wehrmacht deep in oviet territory. He decides to cut his losses and makes a compromise peace with Germany, accepting the Dnieper border. Germany can transfer some forces to France and Italy.
Of course the Soviets must
always lose all their manpower in hopeless zerg rush attacks, while the German suffer a couple of stubbed toes or whatever. Same old Axis-wank. In the real world the Germans will drain their own manpower pool at a faster rate than the Soviets simply to cling on. There is a good
reason why the Germans were so badly outnumbered in the East this was due to
combat losses not the commitments to other fronts. etc (Which only etx totaled 20% of German troop strength).
The Germans are not getting any land from Stalin at this stage, they're the ones looking at an utter defeat in the long-term. At best they get the 1939 borders,
if Stalin has a stroke and suddenly turns pro-junta. Otherwise 1941 borders are what the Germans are getting in any peace deal and they'd have count themselve lucky too. Stalin could press for Russia's 1914 borders if he felt like it. The Germans have a weak bargaining position and it's the
Soviets not the (west whom you seem to fixate on as a pack of witless surrender monkeys) are more likely to cut a deal.
In Spring 1944, a rushed Overlord meets a stronger Gwrman defense and becomes another bloodbath failure. The American electorate says Roosevelt "£$%& you and your war in Europe, it's an hopeless cause, let's focus on Japan", and he loses the election to an isolationist Republican candidate (Taft or Vandenberg, probably) running on a "Japan only" platform, while Churchill is overthrown by a vote of no confidence. The public doesn't have any idea the nukes are coming, and doesn't want to lose any more sons on seemingly hopeless attacks on Fortress Europe, now that the Soviets bailed out.
So they just ''stick to the plan'' in the face of this greater German build up in France eh? Also why is Overlord is failure again? Did the Allied navy and airforce all commit mass suicide just after the landings?
They's need to. Otherwise the Germans have no control over the skies or the channel, any troops commited to a forward defence of the landing beaches will still be overstretched and bombed relentlessly.
The Germans can contain the Allied landings longer and slow their breakout from Normandy, into the rest of France but stopping Overlord dead and throwing the Allied troops into the sea Overlord is just ASB.
In Fall 1944, The Western Allies and the EuroAxis sign a peace treaty that leaves the latter in control of continental Europe. Japan is nuked on schedule, but Axis Europe is not because they are already at peacewith America, there is an isolationist President in the White House who doesn't care too much if continental Europe is ruled by a German junta, and the same reasons apply why America didn't nuke the Soviet Union during the early Cold War. Say hello to a tripolar Cold War (but Hitler is dead, so Slavs under Axis rule don't fare too bad).
Oh Japan gets screwed on schedule, but your Nazi-Eu is preserved because western leaders have suddenly turned evil
and stupid? If it happans then the three way Cold War would see Germany hanging onto Austria, Sudetenland and Danzig but little else.
Poland might be screwed (they're only Slavs right) or the German junta in a fit good sense, see Poland as too much trouble to outright annex and set up a puppet goverment in the old Central Government areas. Of course the Poles will
still hate the Germans like poison and ipartisans will remain a major problem...
POD #1, Autumn, 1941. Hitler is convinced to accept the Ukrainians as cannon fodder. He also abandons North Africa, and transfers all available forces to Russia. The extra forces enable him to take Moscow weeks before the Siberian reinforcements arrive.
Ukraians hah, even the anti-Soviet ones in Westren Ukraine turned on the Germans almost instantly. Also why are the Ukrainians turning traitor in such numbers and agree to be witless cannon fodder? The old Germans greet as liberators myth no doubt. That only happened in the Baltic States and the part of Ukraine the Soviets annexed in 1941 and even then only for about a week. The best the Germans can hope for is the Ukraine dosnt turn partisan on them en-masse like OTL. And no matter what happens Germans is raising any credible fighting force using Ukrainian troops. The Soviet regimes popular support was far higher than many people seem to think otherwise it U.S.S.R would’ve collapsed after it’s early defeats.
POD #2, December 8, 1941. Instead of joining the Japanese by declaring war against the US, Hitler reproves them for not attacking Russia in Siberia instead, and declares a non-belligerent status against the United States. He also, through private channels, approaches the UK about a cease-fire. He's ceased to be a threat against the British Middle East, and reins in Mussolini in North Africa. He publicly offers the UK a guarantee that the Reich will not attempt to attack British interests in the Middle East or South Asia. Churchill says "no", but Parliament says "yes". Now it is just Germany against Russia, with no forces significantly tied up anywhere else, and Ukrainian troops as well.
Needless to say FDR will keep on annoying the Germans until Hitler snaps, a U-Boats sinks another US ship or whatever then jump on the chance to enter the war, US neutrality was illusive by 1941. And a good thing too! Thank god FDR had moral courage, even if many US of the time congressmen didn’t.
Parliament will tell Hitler to GTFO. After all Hitler was a serial treaty-breaking, warmongering, madman and the British Parliament wasn’t full of Sir Henry Stupid-Twat's. However much some people to wish it. Hitler by 1941 was perceived as a dangerous, untrustworthy, lunatic. He can say he really wubs the British Empire more than anything else in the whole wide world (except for Germany) all he wants. No-one in Britain will believe it. Viewing such an offer as a cynical German ploy to build up an invasion armada using resources loot from Europe etc.
POD #3, Stalingrad, Summer of 1942. Instead of attempting to capture Stalingrad, it is encircled and the Wehrmacht moves on beyond it. It is bombed constantly, but no German troops attempt to enter the city. When the Winter of 1942 arrives, the Germans are well situated in defensive positions all around the city.
Moves where? deeper into the Cauasus or across the Volga? Well uh oh it now sucks to be them, with Stalingrad still in Soviet hand they're in trouble. The was a
reason the city had to be taken. I.E to secure the German flank and cut Soviet shipping along the Volga.
If the Soviets counter-attack at the right place and time the Germans could lose far more than just the 6th Army. They needed to capture Stalingrad
very quickly (within a week or two) then focus in one direction in order for their campign in the Caucasus to succeed. Containing Stalingrad isnt anywhere near good enougth.
From their positions in Moscow, and east of Stalingrad, the Germans build Luftwaffe forward bases and mount constant sorties of Stukas and other light and medium bombers to attack and destroy all Russian railroad bridges, terminals, and rolling stock. The miracles of production the Russians manage in their factories east of the Urals do them little good, as they cannot move that equipment to the front for use.
If the Luftwaffe could do
that they would've done it OTL, case closed.
The Wehrmacht institutes a policy of humane treatment for all captured Russian prisoners, including massive anti-communist indoctrination. Major propaganda efforts are mounted to convince the Russians that it's all Stalin's fault, and that conscripted troops, especially troops from the Asian republics, will be welcomed if they surrender and will be helped by the Germans to free the Asian republics from the USSR. Germany even sends food shipments from the Ukraine to the Asian republics.
Hahahaha" *draws breath* hahahahah. Yeah the rolling war-crime starts ''humane treatmeant'' of POWs, sorry buko. It wouldnt work in 1941 and it sure as hell wont work in 1943 after what the Germans have already done. The Soviets have just as much chance of using German POWs in combat using ''anti-Nazi'' indoctrination, inter-war Germany had plenty of Communists after all.
Also the Asian Republics didnt provide anywhere near the manpower Russia, Ukraine and the Caucasus did. Those areas provided far more troops than say Uzbekistan. Also these ''Mongol'' troops were regarded with utmost horror by the Germans whose hyper-racism precludes any meaningful co-operation. Assuming they could even recruit any, as the Central Asians proved to be surprisingly reliable troops for the Red Army. Also if the Germans send food from Ukraine to the Asian SSRs then they're just giving stuff to the Soviets for some reason.
By 1944, factions in the Red Army assassinate Stalin, and sue for peace.
There were several factions in the Red Army, the pro-Stalin one, the other pro-Stalin one and the other
other pro-Stalin one. I could go on but you get the point I'm sure. The Red Army was gleded it had no more capacity for rebellion than a lap-dog. The Party however was a snakepit and they could remove Stalin, but only if the whole Politburo united against him and moved very fast.