Stemming the Tide

[ThatOneGuy]

This doesn't work. If Britain is not at war, Churchill is a backbench MP. No one would even consider him for any ministry, much less as Prime Minister. And one does not campaign for Prime Minister, one campaigns for Party Leader within one's party. Chamberlain would be unassailable as Party Leader until his death in late 1940, or the defeat of the Conservatives in an election that year (OTL postponed because of the war). In either case, Churchill is not the man to replace him.

Ok, thought he could do something but that appears not to be the case...consider it changed

The Germans simply attacked for the port. It didn't have to be a major one, just one that could take some resources and get it to the German Army

Got it, I always heard that they used Jewish Slaves to power factories.

 

[ThatOneGuy]

I have addressed the errors in the latest update. Expect a new one later today depending on how long I can sneak in typing it up.

 

[ThatOneGuy]

Making a Move

German Military Parade during the Conference​

When they initially took power in 1938 Otto Wels suggested they call both Britain and France to Berlin to renegotiate the Treaty of Versailles but von Brauchitsch said no, not wanting to spook them from their support of the Presidency. That was almost two years ago and Germany had established itself as a powerhouse both in peace and war, so Otto once again confronted von Brauchitsch about the meeting. Now having a more stable Presidency, a stable economy, and being independent of foreign aid, von Brauchitsch agreed to the meeting, it was time to make their move. Von Brauchitsch sent telegrams to both Leburn of France and Neville Chamberlain of Great Britain inviting them to Berlin in February for a conference. Neville was skeptical at first, the last Conference almost brought Europe to war, and who says that they would adhere to the re-negotiated treaty if it didn’t go their way? These questions banged around in his mind for days before King George IV convinced him to go while calling von Brauchitsch “A better man than Hitler could ever be”. As Chamberlain accepted von Brauchitsch next asked French President Albert François Lebrun to come with them to Berlin.

France was one of the most hardest hit by the war bar Russia. Faced with political turmoil as Socialists and Fascists[1] made headway in local elections. The French Senate was also in turmoil as the slightest push for reform would be met with huge arguments from both the Far Left and Far Right. As 1939 came to a close Lebrun’s administration was getting more and more tedious and France inched more and more closer to Civil War. To counter this and score a major victory for his administration he decided to go to to Berlin. As the three powers geared up for another diplomatic showdown they all had conflicting goals. Germany wanted reduced payments and a formal remilitarization of the Rhineland, France wanted the exact opposite while Britain was willing to give some ground but not much. The stage was set for one of the greatest diplomatic meetings of all time.

Neville Chamberlain thanks King George for convincing him to go to Berlin​

With both powers set to come in a month von Brauchitsch set to make Berlin fit for foreign visitors. He was confronted by Otto once again with a proposition of a military parade to show off the German military. von Brauchitsch was abrasive to the idea and didn’t want to seem hostile so he turned down Otto’s suggestion. Otto kept badgering him for 3 more days before he caught pneumonia and was hospitalized. von Brauchitsch, who had formed a deep friendship over the years with Otto, visited him every day for 8 days before Otto died.(2) In mourning, von Brauchitsch agreed for a limited military parade. As the month began to pass von Brauchitsch, who before was usually cheerful while not attending official meetings, became more and more serious and laughed less and less.

When Chamberlain and Lebrun arrived on February 14th, 1940 Berlin was ready. The streets were lined with heroes from Germany, France and Britain, the Reichstag flew the three nations flags, The military was preparing for their parade tomorrow the arriving delegates had been put up in one of the most fancy hotels in Berlin, free of charge. The next day the delegates met von Brauchuitsch in his office and talks began. They dragged on for weeks as the three powers (according to Chamberlian, mostly Lebrun and von Brauchuitsch) bickered about how the treaty should be re-written. As Feburary came to a close Britain and France left and the Treaty of Verallies had been changed. In it now, the Germans would pay at farther intervals than previously. While he did not offically gain the Rhineland he still counted it as a victory and was hailed as a hero by the SPD. But then one crazy man changed everything.
[1]At a slower pace since 1938 but still gaining
(1)I was planning on him becoming President eventually but then I realized he was in his late 60’s

 

[ThatOneGuy]

Nothing? Well anyways I will have another update within the next week

 

[Raunchel]

A crazy man? That sounds a bit frightening to be honest. What sort of crazy people could there be in Europe around this time?

 

[ThatOneGuy]

Sorry guys my computer is acting up again, I will have a update up ASAP

 

[ThatOneGuy]

A crazy man? That sounds a bit frightening to be honest. What sort of crazy people could there be in Europe around this time?

You will have to just wait and find out

 

[ThatOneGuy]

Nothing else? It doesn't even have to be about the historical facts of the TL, like is there something I need to improve on my writing? Should I include more pictures, longer updates? Any feedback?

 

[ThatOneGuy]

Never mind, i was wrong

One Crazy Man

Philippe Petain moments before his assassination​

Lucas Astor smiled as he approached Premier of France Philippe Petain. As he ambled closer with the line of people waiting to shake his hand Lucas had a quick second to think about what brought him here. Originally a French national, born in Alsace, he was deported from France after trying to assassinate Georges Clemenceau in 1919. He ended up in Germany and was captivated by the interwar Communist fervor and was quickly admitted into the KPD. He bounced around in Germany and was forced to hide his extreme views from the SS after Hitler took power. After having his plot to kill Hitler in 1933 was busted the KPD (now underground) kicked him out of the party for his revolutionary views. He snuck back into France through Luxembourg and was now again on the path to liberating the working man. He had contemplated moving back to Germany and kill von Brauchitsch during the German Italian War but was broke and unable to do it.

He snapped back to attention as he neared Petain only to see him wave and begin to walk off, through the line and away from him. "Oh shit." Lucas said as he turned to face Petain "Hey Marshal!" he yelled. Petain turned to face him and a camera went off. Lucas took this as his chance and fired 6 rounds in quick order from his Colt 1911 at Petain. Petain screamed in pain as he tumbled to the ground, bleeding profusely. All went quiet for half a second before someone pointed at Lucas as he tried to get away "He did it! He killed the Marshal!" Lucas turned and fired once more and heard someone yell in pain before the crowd descended upon him. Suddenly all around him were fists repeatedly hitting him in the face, stomach and head. He slowly was dragged down and the the kicking came. Relentlessly he was brutalized by the crowd as the yelled obscenities at him. His sly smile as he began his escape twisted into a deep frown as his face began to bloody. He looked up and found the crowd began to part at three parts and three policemen appeared, before being ripped from the ground and out of the pool of his own blood.

Meanwhile Petain is carried away from the crowd and to a nearby hospital where he was treated for multiple bullet wounds, a punctured lung, a collapsed lung, and a broken tibula[1]. When Lebrun was told of Petains attempted assassination he hurried to the hospital to see Petain, some say out of friendship, some say for some political brownie points. Petain held on for 2 more days before finally dying of his wounds. With the death of Petain, a French National Hero, at the hands of a Communist of all people, started a new round of tensions. The right blamed the left for inciting a revolution while the left blamed the right for embellishing the truth. Lebrun struggled to find a middle-man who would not anger one side or another, but was unable to. Finally, in an act of desperation, he appointed Maurice Thorez as the new Prime Minister. In the recent years Maurice had gained a large cult like following among the working class and Leburn needed them to continue working as he feared a strike should Thorez not be elected.

This enraged the right and they up and left the National Assembly in protest, before forming another in Nice called the French Peoples Representative Body, or FPRB(1) for short. This worried Lebrun even more because his government no longer accounted for all of France as multiple parties from across the right, even the Fascists, left Paris for Nice. In an effort to quell the brewing revolt he sent in the National Gendarmerie to disband the FPRB. When they arrived in Nice the citizens were ready, a colonel who was assigned to assist the National Gendarmerie ratted the plan to the FPRB, giving them time to fortify the city. As the National Gendarmerie approached the city in cars[2] they came across the first barricade, manned by ordinary and armed citizens. The FPRB force's commander, Charles De Gaulle, personally poked his head above the barricade and asked for their opponents to surrender and join Democracy. They refused and charged at the barricade to smash it and take the defenders prisoner. It is said that De Gaulle simply nodded and ordered his men to open fire on the vehicle. In the short time between the car sped forward and when it smashed the barricade the car’s driver was killed, his passenger was seriously wounded and the after breaking through the barricade, the car smashed into a house. De Gaulle calmly walked over to the wrecked vehicle and accepted the two passengers surrender. After the incident De Gaulle “briskly walked” over to the FPRB and announced that the “Communists in Paris have attempted to destroy Democracy in France by force. In response to this I ask that I be allowed to restore the rightful people to their rightful place.” This was met with a firm “yes” and things moved quickly after that.

Two hours later a small squad of Gaullists shot up a military outpost in Languedoc-Roussillon while a larger force marched into Montpellier and deposed the Paris-leaning mayor and replaced him with a Nicer (heh, get it?) one. The Governor of the province then swore his loyalty to the Nice government. This was followed by the regions of Provence-Alpes- Cote d'Azur, Rhone-Alpes, Corsica, Auvergne, and Midi Pyrenees. By the third week in February of 1940 France was at war with itself and the peace of Europe was shattered once again.

[1] The bullet had shattered the bone on entry
[2] They expected a quick surrender so they simply drove
just say the letters, not a word

 

[ThatOneGuy]

So I done did good?

 

[Raunchel]

Ouch, that is a proper madman spoiling everything. But I find myself wondering, how would the international community react to something like this? This isn't a relatively minor country like Spain, this is France. I can see this sucking in all of Europe into some real unpleasantries.

 

[ThatOneGuy]

And Ideas on who would support who? I was thinking the Soviets moving supplies to Paris while Great Britain moves supplies to Nice and possibly Germany uses this time to take Alsace Lorraine?

 

[Raunchel]

Hmm, things could go in many ways, but I think that Nice will only get support if they show that they're more than just a splinter faction. At the moment Paris still controls the most important regions of the country, but right now a lot depends on the loyalty of the army, and specifically the body of the soldiers. The officers might lean to the right, but large left wing sympathies amongst the common soldiery could still play a major part. The industry will support Paris, they are the core of the left.

Great Britain could lean either way here, especially because Nice started the civil war, it would be hard to sell the British public on going to war, or supporting forces against the legitimate government of France. If they would help Nice, Labour would be in an uproar, and there could be crippling strikes and in extreme circumstances even revolutionary sentiments spreading throughout the country.

The Soviet Union would certainly supply Paris. Stalin want the West destabilized, and a civil war in the heart of Western Europe certainly achieves that goal. If Germany gets properly involved, he might even start to move westwards, taking Poland and the Baltic states.

Germany could lean either way I think. Or true neutrality of course. The Hitler regime could be associated with the Spanish civil war, and that might influence the decission to not intervene. Moving in to 'protect' certain regions of course would be no more than expected. And that could lead to deeper and deeper involvement, which could actually draw in the British as well, even on different sides.

Franco's Spain could give some support to Nice, but knowing him it's also possible that he keeps his hands off the whole thing. But I think that some support is likely, even if it doesn't mean all that much considering his resouces.

The Italians have been suppressed, but if they think that Germany and Britain are sufficiently distracted, they could make a move on Corsica for instance. But the biggest lure would be the colonies, especially when the civil war escalates further you could see them fighting amongst each other, and countries being given some of the less important of them in trade for support.

I presume that the Americans wouldn't really get invovled at all, at least not in an early stage. Isolationism still is a big thing after all.

 

[ThatOneGuy]

he might even start to move westwards, taking Poland and the Baltic states.

You think Stalin would risk it? He would be moving into Germany's backyard and that could be dangerous.

 

[Raunchel]

You think Stalin would risk it? He would be moving into Germany's backyard and that could be dangerous.

He coudl risk it if and only if Germany has gotten involved in the French civil war in a seriously draining way. They he could use the opportunity to take some of the countries that he wants. Especially the Baltic states are really vulnerable to this. Poland would only be done if Germany is seriously distracted. But he would indeed be mooving slowly and carefully.

 

[ThatOneGuy]

He coudl risk it if and only if Germany has gotten involved in the French civil war in a seriously draining way. They he could use the opportunity to take some of the countries that he wants. Especially the Baltic states are really vulnerable to this. Poland would only be done if Germany is seriously distracted. But he would indeed be mooving slowly and carefully.

Ok, and I was planning on Italy to move against Nice on behalf of the Paris government, any thoughts?

 

[Raunchel]

Ok, and I was planning on Italy to move against Nice on behalf of the Paris government, any thoughts?

That might be a possibility, especially when Nice gets framed as being fascist. But the Italians wouldn´t be wanting another war I think, not after the previous one. They will still be recovering from the damage done by the German army, especially to Venice. But I expect some kind of support, mostly logistically, and of course a boycott against Nice, and perhaps even a blockade. That would seriously devastate them without having to actually fight. Although the French navy could intervene, depending on who they join.

 

[ThatOneGuy]

France in Peril: The International Reaction

Neville Chamberlain gives a speech​

News of the Civil War spread like wildfire across Europe, naturally London was first to react. Having a nation embroiled in a Civil War just a stone's throw away from England, the Prime Minister immediately took an interest in the war. The day after the Civil War began, March 3rd, 1940, Neville Chamberlain appeared before a joint meeting of the House of Commons and the House of Lords. His voice was also being radioed out to every country in Europe each eager to see who Britain was going to support, although the choice was obvious. In the speech he called for Great Britain to rally behind Parisian France, just like they did not 3 decades earlier.

His speech droned on for almost 2 hours, and the world soaked up every minute, every second, of his words, waiting for the decision by the House of Parliament to vote and decide who to support[1]. After a hour of voting and debating Parliament decided to stay neutral in the French Civil War, the world breathed a sigh of relief while Paris reeled in horror. The British public acted in much the same way. The British had grew closer to the French since defending them from the Hun in WW1. Having Parliament vote for neutrality came as a huge shock for most of the British public who expected direct military intervention. Since their government wouldn’t do it, they did. A group of Brits formed the Wellington Brigade and boated to France, they saw action in every major battle in the War. Meanwhile the British government was not sitting on their hands completely. They began to smuggle weapons across the English Channel and even (allegedly) sent a brigade of official British Army grunts to fight for the Parisian government.

German Troops in the Rhineland

Germany​

After the Parliament voted to not intervene officially in the French Civil War it is said that von Brauchitsch jumped with joy. While he had publicly taken a more peaceful stance with the British and French, behind closed doors von Brauchitsch expressed his belief that Alsace Lorraine was a rightful German province. Now that the French were too busy fighting each other von Brauchitsch saw this as a perfect time to initiate Warplan Blue. Devised soon after he came to power Warplan called for a complete and total invasion of France to seize Alsace and Lorraine before the Allied powers could react. He expected the Berlin Conference to go South, giving him the perfect chance to initiate the plan, but things went better than expected.


Now the French were pre-occupied with fighting each other, and Britain was too pre-occupied keeping the War from jumping the Channel; von Brauchitsch saw this as his chance. In a public radio broadcast he officially supported the Paris government, but in secret he also made the Abwehr start smuggling the Nice government weapons. He also mobilized the Wehrmacht to the Rhineland to “protect Germany’s borders in the event of hostilities spilling over”. While the western powers’s eyes were were focused on France, the Bear was waking from his slumber.

Russian Troops begin to move into the Baltic States​

Russia​

News of the French Civil War arrived in Moscow late and Stalin rushed to make a decision. By now the Germans and the Brits have already declared support for the Parisian government, Nice seemed doomed. To save the rebels and distract the West, Stalin publicly came out in support of the Nice government. He declared the "French Communists in Paris have been corrupted by capitalism. The men in Nice are a model for Communism and truly stick up for the working man. That is why I have pledged the Soviet Union's total support for the Gaullists". The World was puzzled by this statement and was distracted while Stalin moved to annex the Baltic countries, which he see's as rightful Soviet territory.

On March 3rd, 1940 Soviet Russia initiated their master plan. The Northwestern Front simultaneously moved into Estonia and Latvia. Fabricating obviously fake reports of genocide against the Russians. The Estonians and Latvians raised feeble protests and asked Germany and Poland for help, but it fell on deaf ears. It took a week for the two countries to be overrun and their forced integration into the USSR as the Baltic SSR. 3 days later they repeated the amazing feat again on Lithuania and the Western Powers didn't raise a finger. Stalin had dipped his toes in the water and found them cold, he now had a bigger pool to swim in, Poland.

 

[ThatOneGuy]

*bumpity bump bump*

 

[ObssesedNuker]

I imagine Stalin would try to cut a deal with Brauchitsch like he did with Hitler IOTL. He isn't interested in military conflict with the Germans quite yet. Brauchitsch might go for it as it means Germany get's more of the territory it lost at Versaille back. Poland, being Poland, likely isn't going to accept either the Russians or Germans trying to "protect" them.