Chapter 2: The Calm Before the Storm
Chapter 2: The Calm Before the Storm
August 23rd, 1939-The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact is signed to the shock of the world. No one could believe the Nazis and the Soviets, bitter political and racial enemies, would sign a non-aggression pact. Hitler does this to secure his eastern flank, Stalin to bide time.
In Moscow Stalin lights one of his cigars and through the cloud of smoke looks at the assembled Stavka (Soviet General Staff).
"Well comrades, the Fascists have take the bait and we must bide our time until the time is ripe to reel them in." The men nod in agreement.
September 1st, 1939- The Germans invade Poland using the new military concept of blitzkrieg.
September 3rd, 1939- England and France reluctantly declare war on Germany and its puppet state of Slovakia. Entente High Command decides not to send probing attacks into the German Westwall. The casualties that they would take for the territory they would gain would be not worth the cost.
September 17th, 1939- Under the secret arrangements of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact Soviet forces invade eastern Poland which only hastens the Polish defeat.
October 6th, 1939- Following the Polish defeat at the Battle of Kock German and Soviet forces gain complete control over Poland. The Second Polish Republic had been defeated. Refugees and survivors of the Poland military formed the Polish Armed Forces in the West and would serve the Polish government-in-exile.
October 8th, 1939- Two days after the Battle of Poland, Germany annexes the western quarter of Poland into the German Reich. Central Poland will be the German controlled administration area called the General Government; eastern Poland will be annexed into the Soviet Socialist Republics of Belorussia and the Ukraine. Slovakia also annexes a very small portion of southern Poland.
(3rd Major POD) Due to the poor performance of the Red Army in eastern Poland Stalin orders massive changes to discipline, doctrine, strategy and combat effectiveness at all military levels. This Red Army restructuring is led by the brilliant General Zhukov who's many suggestions are invaluable to the Army Restructuring, including an effective chain and command (new ranking system similar to most other countries) and the importance of tanks and motorized units. These changes are implemented at break neck speed but the finalization and completion of the Restructure will not end until late 1941 or early 1942 at the earliest.
October-November, 1939- Leaving only 10 veteran infantry divisions, with another five newly raised divisions on the way, in German occupied General Government Hitler and the German General Staff begin preparations of the invasion of the West. A modified Schlieffen Plan (the plan the German Army used to invade Belgium and France during the First World War) is the current plan to invade the West but this can be subject to change.
November 30th, 1939- Stalin wanting to create more buffer space between the Soviet Union and German influenced areas orders the Red Army to invade Finland. The Soviets use mass penetration doctrine (Soviet version of blitzkrieg, a less refined strategy). To the surprise of nearly everyone the Finns are able to hold the more numerous Red Army in many places. Soviet casualties are heavy for little gain.
December 20th, 1939- Due to the overall poor performance of the Red Army against Finland in what was becoming known as the Winter War Stalin replaces Marshal Kliment Voroshilov with Marshal Semyon Timoshenko on December 20th, 1939. Timoshenko orders all combat operations to cease, except for Red Air Force bombings and sorties, to re-evaluate the military solution.
Stalin urges Timoshenko to hurry. He has other plans waiting to be activated...
January 2nd, 1940- Timoshenko launches Operation Coffin Nail against Finland. Using a strategy strongly reminiscent of Zhukov's strategy at Khalkhin Gol against the Japanese in 1938. Timoshenko also employs concentrated armor attacks along the line the Germans used against the Poles.
January 6th, 1940- After 4 days of intense combat Soviet forces break through Finnish lines in multiple areas and using motorized units and tanks are able to surround many Finnish troops that can not be replaced.
January 18th, 1940- A week has passed and despite tough weather, logistical problems and fierce Finnish resistance the cities of Viipuri, Käkisalmi, and Sortavala have been taken, Soviet forces in other places have puntured the Mannerheim Line and moving west, nearly 220,000 Soviet troops move along the Finnish coast going west, their goal: Helsinki, capital of Finland. Marshal Mannerheim, commander of Finland's Armed Forces informs the government in Helsinki that he could hold the Soviets for another two to three weeks before the Soviets reach Helsinki. The government is shocked but reluctantly orders an evacuation to Sweden. Within days thousands of civilians will cross the border, trying to escape the Red Army and reach safety.
February 7th, 1940- With the Red Army just 70 kilometers away the government of Finland asks for an armistice. Timoshenko from orders from Stalin, agree to it.
Peace talks will begin the next day.
February 8th, 1940- Soviet diplomats arrive in Helsinki to discuss Finland's surrender.
February 10th, 1940- The Soviets state that Finland will do no less than allow the Soviet Union to annex no less than 11% of Finnish territory, particularly the land north of Leningrad and this territory included 30% of Finland's pre-war industry. This includes the cities Viipuri and Käkisalmi. The rest of Finland will be placed under Soviet military administration until such a time a (puppet) government can be formed. Failure to comply to all demands will result in the immediate resumption of the war.
February 13th, 1940- After two days trying to forge a better peace and failing Finland surrenders to the USSR. Much of south-eastern Finland is annexed by the USSR and the rest of the country falls under the dominance of the Soviet Red Army which will enact harsh martial law for the foreseeable future. It is a dark time for Finland but on the bright side Marshal Mannerheim with much of the government is able to escape to Sweden where they form a Finnish Free State. Approximately 290,000 Finns escaped to Sweden before the Red Army closed the border. Tens of thousands of these civilians will form the Finnish Free Army whose goal is to liberate Finland... eventually.
February 15th, 1940- Stalin assembles the Stavka together and informs them that he believes that with most of the German Wehrmacht in western and northern Germany it would be to the Soviet Union’s advantage to launch a preemptive strike on the Nazis. He wants to take central Poland, the Baltic States, and if possible Germany itself to be a buffer between the home of Socialism and the vile western capitalists. He knew the only reason the Nazis wanted the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was to secure their eastern flank until they dealt with the West and then take on the Soviet Union and that Stalin would avoid at all costs, the Motherland shall not come under attack, NEVER!
Stavka begins writing up plans for a new offensive, an offensive against the Germans, called Operation Red Dawn, Zhukov and Timoshenko contribute much to the invasion plans. It will be the largest invasion in Soviet history and despite that Army Restructuring not even close to finished, nor were individual Soviet units on an equal fighting level with similar German units, Stalin believed that if the Soviet Union was to strike first and hard and kept sending men and machines into the fray that the Germans would break and with it Central Europe. After all Quantity has a Quality all on its own. (Deep down he does wish to wait and allow the West to wear down the Germans but he cannot risk either side gaining an upper hand over the other. If the Entente gain the upper hand and invade Germany, somehow, than Central Europe will fall to the capitalists. If Germany won, which seemed highly unlikely but Stalin admits that their military leadership is much better than most of the French and British commands so something could happen than Germany will take out France leaving Britain to stand alone and how long would she last then? he thought. With the west taken care of than Germany could strike east with a highly trained, experienced and motivated army. No, better to strike first and gain as much territory as possible. It would be costly, yes, but it may cost more to wait.
Stalin also wants Sweden and its valuable iron ore reserves. Timoshenko waits at the Finnish-Swedish border with nearly 400,000 troops. Military plans for the invasion of Sweden are very similar to what Timoshenko did in Finland in January.
Many on the Stavka have misgivings but do not voice them, even among themselves. The Purges have shown that disagreeing with Stalin could result in death, or worse… Siberian gulags. Besides the Army Restructuring was going faster than expected and harsh lessons learned in the Polish and Finnish campaigns have bloodied the Army officers, giving them actual combat experience and discipline. The Army was still not the same as it was before the Great Purge, but it was getting closer every day and the Red Army was ever so much more loyal to Stalin and Communism.
March 5th, 1940- Disturbed by Finland's collapse and the Red Army massing on the eastern border and along with housing hundreds of thousands of Finnish refugees many who are called "enemies of the people and the state" by the Soviets, Sweden has no choice but to look for an ally or be assimilated by the Soviets. Norway and Denmark are claiming strict neutrality therefore blocking any attempt to ally with the Entente and receive any defense forces. Seeing no choice, and with the clamoring of many right-wing politicians, Sweden enters into a Defense Pact with Germany. Sweden has not joined the Axis but Sweden's shipment of iron ore which is vital to the German war machine is sold at reduced costs and many more economical benefits are created as part of the defense pact. A German infantry division along with an artillery battalion and a few squadrons of fighters are transported to Stockholm "in the interests of defending Swedish sovereignty and independence against any aggressors". Another reason Sweden joins this pact is that Germany is considered the lesser of two evils so far.
The German forces sent to Sweden are not very powerful but them being there convinces Stalin not to invade. The Red Army was not quite ready to take on the Nazis, not yet but that time was approaching fast. Stalin did want Sweden badly but he smiled. As the Americans say, he thought humorously as he put his cigar in his mouth, there are bigger fish to fry.
March 10th, 1940- In a meeting with the Soviet General Staff, the Stavka announces that the problems and failures experienced during the Finnish Campaign while severe and troublesome were not as problematic as the Soviet invasion of eastern Poland, especially when Timoshenko assumed command. New doctrine, strategies, disciplines (including the lessening of commissariat powers of the commissars in military matters) are fitting in smoothly and spreading to far reaching Army units relatively quickly. Soviet factories are hemorrhaging rifles, tanks, bullets, planes, clothes and other war material.
March 9th, 1940- On orders from Stalin Red Army troops cross the borders of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. This is acceptable as per the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact secret negotiations but this is months before the Soviets claimed they would do so. This concerns the Germans who are alarmed by the Soviet invasions of these countries so soon. As a precaution Hitler orders the 150,000 troops in Poland to a higher state of readiness. However the planned invasion of Denmark and in turn Norway will continue as planned. Over the French-German border air clashes between the Entente (French and British) air forces and the German Luftwaffe occur over western Germany. Nearly all of these ends in a German victory due to close proximity of Luftwaffe airfields, reinforcements and the AA system continuously hitting the Entente planes even if no German fighters are around; Germans keep a 1.5 K/D against the Entente pilots.
On the ground not much is happening; artillery duels and occasional skirmishes are the norm but other than this the ground combat is practically nil, so much so that the Western Front is called “the Phoney War” or Sitzkrieg. The French and the British, reminiscent of the Great War and the terrible casualties charging fixed positions caused are contented to wait for an opportunity. The Germans will not charge the Maginot; they have other plans in store…
In the United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt calls the Soviet invasions (Finland and the Baltic States) as a “prelude to worse events”. Roosevelt would like to get the United States involved on the side of the Entente but the American public would be against it and the Presidential election is coming up. Instead he is content to sell military armaments to Britain and France for two reasons. He is helping the Entente against the Germans and the selling of arms is predicted to do wonders for the American economy that was still affected by the Depression.
April 2nd-April 4th, 1940- After nearly a month of intense fighting the Soviets have complete control over the Baltic States; the Soviets install puppet governments which will quickly “vote” to join the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Meanwhile Soviet infantry and tanks move to the Lithuanian-East Prussian border. Guerrilla warfare will plague the Soviets for some time despite their harsh countermeasures.
April 7th, 1940- Just two days before Operation Weserübung, the invasion of Denmark and Norway, German intelligence agents in Belorussia and the Ukraine send intelligence dispatches to Berlin. They are alarming: tens of thousands of Soviet troops are marching west to the General Government-Soviet border. Hundreds of tanks and hundreds of planes move westward and supplies on trains chugging west build stockpiles in what was formerly eastern Poland. Marshal of the Soviet Union Semyon Timoshenko arrives in Bialystok, Poland to take command of the Soviet forces there. This is much more than an enlargement of border forces, this was the beginning of forming a massive Soviet force in eastern Poland.
Hitler after intense, heated discussions with the General Staff agrees to cancel the invasion of Denmark and Norway, at least for the time being, as the Wehrmacht is worried about a Soviet invasion from the east. Quietly, not trying to draw attention, German infantry and panzer divisions are transported east. Squadron upon squadron of fighters and bombers travel east also. The plans in to invade Western Europe are also put on indefinite hold. Better to wait and see what the Soviets will do than go half-coked against the Entente and having to look over their (German) should towards the east to see if the Soviets would stab the Reich in the back.
April 20th, 1940- As a birthday gift to Hitler the Entente launch 200 bombers escorted by 100 fighters to bomb Cologne. Immediately after crossing the border German fighter squadrons intercept the large bomber formation. Due to extensive training and a need to protect their homeland German fighter planes shoot down 71 bombers and 33 fighters. The Germans lose 36 fighters. The damage to Cologne was moderate and deemed not worth the cost. Entente Bomber Command cancel all further daylight bombings into Germany until adequate bomber defense formations and fighter plane aerial defense doctrine can be created and implemented. Göring boasts about the Luftwaffe’s dominance in the west. But Wever knows better, the Entente was merely inexperienced and the Luftwaffe had the defenders advantage, motivation, doctrine and fighter superiority but this will change over time. Of this he is certain. Wever visits the Westwall Luftwaffe airfields and talks to fighter pilots of their experiences in the air and how to improve fighter ability. He talks with fighter aces Adolf Galland and Werner Mölders about their experiences.
Hitler rages when he hears of the damage to Cologne, however small, knowing it was an insult to him and the Reich. Hitler orders three squadrons of Junker Ju 89s to do a retaliatory bombing raid. Göring gladly complies.
April 21st, 1940- On the night of April 21st 3 squadrons of Junkers Ju 89s fly west, high in the clouds. The bombers pass over northern France and head to southern England. In the early hours of April 22nd the 36 bombers reached English airspace and were attacked within an hour by British RAF night fighters (specifically modified Hurricanes and Spitfires). Despite this the bombers reach London and drop their high explosives in the general area of the industrial sector causing very light damage. The bombers are harassed their entire return flight. At first it was only the RAF (Royal Air Force) but when the bombers reached French airspace on the return trip to Germany French planes assisted the British planes in firing on the German bombers. Out of the original 36 bombers only 17 reached German airfields, many with varying degrees of damage. Hitler gives all the returning fliers Iron Cross First Class medals and congratulates them on the “Strike against the Jewish controlled British government.” The 19 bombers shot down (11 over England/English Channel) was proof of the effectiveness of radar in aerial detection. The British Radar Chain Home System worked so well that the German radar program which was lagging would receive a huge resurgence in budget and interest. Wever convinces Goering and Hitler that if Germany did not have an effective radar defense system than Germany's cities would suffer catastrophic destruction. Hitler seeing that Germany was essentially blind (A Luftwaffe squadron can not be everywhere at once, especially with how stretched the Luftwaffe was becoming and how thin it might be in the near future) authorizes the German Air Shield Program, modeled on the British Chain Home System but the Air Shield Program is very much in its infancy. Priority will be western and northern Germany and major cities. Colonel-General Ernst Udet is put in command of the Air Shield Program.
April 27th, 1940- A Soviet spy plane enters German controlled airspace. Once spotted by observers a Luftwaffe squadron goes up to meet it. The Soviet plane is heavily damaged and crash lands a few kilometers inside Soviet territory. The Germans yell accusations and the Soviets claim the pilot had faulty navigation and strayed in German territory by accident.
April 29th, 1940- German Military Intelligence notes a significant rise in the buildup of military forces on the Soviet side of the border, opposite of the General Government, which for months had been a moderate trickle was now a massive flow of men, weapons, planes and vehicles into what was eastern Poland.
May 8th, 1940- It has become obvious what the Soviets are planning to do: an invasion of German controlled Poland. There can be no doubt now. After a month of wait and see it is obvious what the Soviets are planning. Many in Berlin are worried what this could mean. Germany lost the First World War and it was two fronts, now it seemed history would repeat itself. The west would be a stalemate and the east would be the war of movement, especially with Poland’s vast flat plains which was ideal for panzers. Some in Berlin however are looking forward to the coming fight with the Communists. The Soviets are the true ideological enemy of National Socialism and a racial enemy of the Aryan race, it is the destiny of the German Reich to defeat and conquer them and make their territory into German lebensraum.
In Paris and London the reactions are mixed. Most want Germany to have a two front war, especially the Communists in the two Entente countries. But there is growing discontent with the war, especially in France. The war is eight months old and the Entente has nothing to show for it. The bombing campaign was cancelled after only a few raids into Germany with unacceptable losses; ground combat was stalemated due to the Maginot and Westwall. The French and British military commands remain halfhearted about the war. While the discontent is minor it is growing albeit glacially slowly. French and British right-wing political parties ranging from the French royalist party Action Française to the British Union of Fascists are struggling in their respected countries. These right wing/fascist parties are a minority and are being suppressed but they are being heard via radio and newspapers. They want to end the war with Germany and help Germany against the Soviet Union and some people are starting to agree. After all National Socialist Germany has private property, religion and international trade while the Soviet Union has none of these, the anathema of Capitalism.
May 11th, 1940- Colonel-General Fedor von Bock arrives in Warsaw to oversee German defenses. German strength in Poland now numbers 250,000 men, 200 panzers (mainly Panzer IIIs with some Panzer IIs and Panzer IVs) and about 600 aircraft of all types. Another 200,000 men are being assembled in Germany with another 200 panzers (about half Panzer III, the other half Panzer IV), a few dozen squadrons or fighters, bombers and dive bombers are pried away from Westwall Air Defense Command but no more can be afforded. Many fear it may not be enough for the Soviet juggernaut.
May 13th, 1940- In the Reich Chancellery Hitler tells his inner circle that he believes war with the Soviets is unavoidable and that the Third Reich and the Soviet Union will be at war within the year. To ensure Germany is ready Hitler commands that the German economy be put on a more war footing. This means stricter fuel and rubber rationing and the beginning of rationing of consumer goods. More factories will switch from consumer production to military production. Germany will within a few weeks be on a War Economy.
*The reason this is significant is that in OTL Hitler never wanted to go on a total war economical mobilization feeling it would make the German people war weary but in the ASoSaF (A Storm of Steel and Fire) timeline it is nearing mid 1940 and Germany has the Entente to the west (which the plans to conquer them similar to OTL have been put on indefinite hold due to the aggressive Soviet presence to the east and the fact that Soviet Union is planning an invasion of the General Government and in turn the German Reich. Hitler cannot ignore this and orders the German economy and industry to increase military production which means the economy had to switch to a War Economy but this is just one step short of Total War Mobilization. So within a few weeks/months Germany will be making more guns, bullets, panzers, planes and the like than it made in OTL even into 1941. Also it should be told that Italy and Japan while allies of Germany have not gone to war against the Entente, which is the same policy they did in OTL. Also the fact that Germany has not conquered Denmark and Norway gives Germany the feeling of being surrounded despite that these nations, as of now, are neutral. This also makes Germany appear less war-mongering than it did in OTL.
May 16th, 1940- First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill, after looking at the map of Europe and more particularly Scandinavia, submits a daring plan to Prime Minister Chamberlain and the Minister of War. While many cite it as risky and potentially political backfiring Churchill insists it is the only way to “strike hard at the Germans”, the plan is studied and edited. It is code named Poseidon and will be activated if the opportunity arises.
May 17th-June 21st, 1940- The situation remains static in Europe: German U-boats continue to prowl the Atlantic trying to starve Britain, German and French artillery duel erratically from across their respective borders and Soviet and German planes are fighting an unofficial air war against each other over the eastern General Government airspace. Japanese, while have had been quiet lately, prepare for another offensive into China.
Italian dictator Benito Mussolini looks at Eastern Europe with worry. He had not gone to war with the Entente, Italy was not ready, but the Soviets would not care if he wanted to stay neutral or not. He sighed than picked up his telephone and talked to the Foreign Ministry and after that some generals of the Army. Within two weeks three Italian divisions would be transported north-east to supplement the German forces there (the order went out on May 19th), it would officially be called a “training exercise”. He stared out the window; the clouds of war were growing he thought wearily.
Through secret negotiations Germany will loan rifles, machine guns, some light artillery and ammunition to the Swedish and Finnish Free Army (this is done on May 23rd, 1940)
Private Elrich Dorff of the German Army looked warily to the east on the night of June 21st, 1940. War between the Reich and the Soviet Union had not been declared… yet, but it is expected within the next few weeks or months. The Wehrmacht forces in the east have been put on the highest alert for the weeks now and the Reich Labor Service, Organization Todt, and local Poles and Jews were building trenches, anti-panzer defenses and barbed wire spread out reminiscent of the Great War, he had seen pictures of what the fronts looked like then.
But would it be enough? The Bolsheviks had taken over Finland and the Baltic States and they had so, so many men. Dorff believed that the average German soldier could take two or three Soviets with him but what about the fourth and the fifth Soviet soldier after that? He laid his head against the dirt wall in fox hole and after a while fell asleep with these questions still haunting him.
Hours later he wakes up to the sound of thunder. No, that wasn’t thunder. That was artillery! He looked over to the east from his foxhole and just a few kilometers away he could see where the border between the Reich and the USSR had been. Now it was alight with fire and due to the light the fire cast off Dorff could see panzers upon panzers with endless lines of infantry. The Red Horde have marched west!
He looked at his pocket watch his father gave him. It was four-oh-seven a.m. on June 22nd, 1940 and now the Third Reich and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics were officially at war. Dorff saw German infantry surge forward to stem the tide and he went with them. He chambered a round in his Kar98k and fired at the advancing Soviets. German panzers from behind him moved forward to engage the Soviet panzers and in the night sky he could see wave upon wave upon wave of planes heading east with German AA fire lighting up the sky with an occasional plane hit and crashing into the Polish ground. Dorff worked the bolt on his rifle and prepared himself for the days ahead…
*Hey everyone this is the end of Chapter 2. I might go through again after I upload it to clean it up a bit more, I’m going to a 4th of July party so I’m busy and then I have work so Chapter 3 will be out as soon as I can get it done. Thank you reading, I hope you enjoyed.
*(8:54 p.m, July 4th) OK everyone I have updated chapter 2. I've changed dates and a lot of information on it, it was almost a complete revise. I think this part is better and a little more realistic (not saying its a 100% accurate/realistic) but a bit more believable. Thank you for the readers that posted information that pointed out the flaws and from their insight have helped me correct/edit this. Again I appreciate constructive criticism and feedback. Even if I post something after multiple readings before hand there are bound to be flaws/inconsistencies. And you guys are like my beta test, help figure what's wrong with it and I will update the chapter as soon as possible which I have now done. Thank you all for your support. This is Chapter 2 Refined Edition.
