August 23, 1939: Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact signed. However information from an anonymous source reaches Tokyo that Hitler and Stalin have formed longterm plans for dividing the world between each other, with nothing for the other members of the Axis.
August 25: Tojo calls Hitler a "pandering weasal" and leaves the Axis, declaring that Germany is on the verge of succumbing to Communism. A copy of the anonymous information is sent to Rome.
September 1: Unphased by the loss of an ally, Hitler orders his forces to invade Poland. Future Historians will claim that this attack was actually a result the Japanese withdrawl, which caused Hitler to invade Poland as a show of military strength, to sway Britain to cooperate with the Reich.
September 3: The United Kingdom and France declare war on Germany, on cue.
September 7: Tojo begins to pressure Mussolini by letter to leave the Axis. This as well as repeated arguments by domestic and foreign military experts that Italy would surely lose it's African possessions in a war with the Allies, prompts Mussolini to consider breaking ties with Hitler.
September 10: In search of new allies, Hitler declares the Anti-Comintern pact null and void and immediately begins to make friendly overtures to Stalin. A secret proposal is sent to Moscow for a Nazi-Soviet military alliance. It is rejected.
September 12: A copy of the secret proposal is sent to Rome by an anonymous source. In a mad fury (whether real or fake is debated for years among the historical community) Mussolini claims that Hitler has "fallen under the sway of the Communist regime" and predicts that "it's only a matter of time before the Lebensraum is collectivised". Italy leaves the Axis.
September 17: Soviet Red Army begins to annex large sections of Poland. Reports begin to filter through to Britain and France of German and Russian forces working together to nuetralise pockets of Polish resistance.
September 20: Poland is now in mainly Nazi and Soviet hands.
September 28: Hitler and Stalin confer and make a secret alliance known as the Berlin-Moscow Axis. Hitler assures his assistance in the upcoming Soviet Finland invasion, in return for Soviet assistance in the invasion of France.
October 5: Hitler offers a truce to Britain and France. They decline, albeit reluctantly on the French part.
November 16: Russia invades Finland. Her armies are given increased effectiveness by the leadership of experienced German officers.
November 30: The Russian blitzreig is remarkarbly successful. Soviet troops march into Helinski. The British and French are dismayed.
December 3: Finnish S.S.R formed.
December 4-January 10: With Russian and German invasions seemingly looming on Scandinavia, the Allies descend on Norway and Sweden. Allied troops travel via railroad to occupy Narvik and Kiruna. Shore landings accompany the railroad invasion on eight cities from Narvik to Oslo. The Norwegian government, shocked, appeal to the Nazis for help, while the Swedish instead request help from the Soviets. The Norwegian manage to hold onto an area between Oslo and Trondheim. Meanwhile, the Nazi's are thinning the French defense.
January 15, 1940: The Americans are quite baffled on who to support in widening war in Europe. They, quite rightly, are against the Nazi's and the Soviets, however the Allied invasion of Norway and Sweden has turned many Americans against the Anglo-French.
January 26: The official formation of the Eurasian Co-Prosperity Sphere (ECPS). Members : Italy, Japan, Manchukuo and other vassal states. They announce nuetrality in the war in Europe, but will join against the side that attacks them first.
Febuary 14: Hitler uses a spy send a false transmission to the Danes pretending to be a British general alerting troops to ready an invasion of Denmark in order to get access to airbases near to Norway. The Danes are scared shitless by the seemingly ruthless and violent overtures by this supposed 'loyal Brit', and the public, if not the government, ends up appealling to the Germans for help. The German army begins to occupy the major cities, and the violent reaction to this by the Allies convinces the Danish that the Nazi's are the better of two evils, and generally don't resist.
April 27: Under the advisement of General Erich von Manstein, Hitler begins an offensive through the Ardennes forest. German panzer units smash jumbled Allied units. Word reaches London of Soviet hardware being used in some attacks.
April 28: German airborne troops land in Belgium and Holland and sieze airfields and bridges, as well as the famous fortress Eben-Emael.
May 1: After heavy bombing, Holland surrenders.
May 5: A man is executed by firing squad in Moscow on the charge of releasing top secret foreign relations information to Italy and Japan. His last words : "SHWI Forever!!!!"
May 7: A panzer group siezes Abbeville.
May 10: Leopold III of Belgium surrenders his army.
May 13: An attempt to rescue 300 thousand troops from Dunkirk fails when German Commander Gerd von Rundstedt orders the tanks to keep moving. Although these troops fight bravely and take out a few German tanks, they are quickly overwhelmed and dispatched. Very few prisoners are taken.
May 25: The drive into France begins. French forces in Scandinavia are pulled out to defend France, but many transport ships ferrying these troops are destroyed by the Luftwaffe in the English Channell and North Sea.
May 28: Air Chief Marshall Hugh Downing is assassinated in London.
May 31: Britain and France sign a secret military agreement with the ECPS under the cover of a trade agreement. The ECPS begins a secret Lend-Lease-esque program. Allied Propaganda begins to focus on an anti-communist message, rather than an anti-fascist message.
June 4: Paul Reynaud, French prime minister, resigns and is replaced by H. P. Petain.
June 5: Petain asks the Germans for an armistice. The Germans accept and a new state, that of the pro-Nazi Vichy France is established.
June 6: Free French territories are incorporated as protectorates within the ECPS. Petain protests, claiming that those lands should still be under French administration. Mussolini warns the French leader that these lands will "never come under the sway of thinly veiled Communism, Vichy will burn before they do".
June 8: United States occupys French Guyana and declares it a protectorate.
June-July: The British and the Germans reach an uneasy stalemate.
Summer, 1940: The Election in the US is mainly based on foreign policy, Franklin Roosevelt supporting the Allies in Europe and backing the proposal of an oil embargo against the Japanese for their co-ercing of French Indochina, and Wendell Willkie supporting isolation from the war in Europe, and cooperation with the new ECPS. At first it seems that Roosevelt will win respectably, but the emergence of a new balance of power in the now-dubbed Eurasian War and the back-lash defensive position taken by Japan and Italy along their borders with the new Axis powers causes the public to think otherwise. After the voting, Willkie wins by a narrow margin.
July 1940: Wilkie forces under threat of sanctions that Japan withdraws from Free-French Indochina. The main force vacates, but some troops remain for, in Tojo's own words, "the French Indochinese's own protection". Wilkie accepts this, but decides to keep an eye on the situation by stationing some troops there.
August-November 1940: The Battle of Britain. German Luftwaffe make short work of the RAF, with the help of some Soviet aircraft, as the RAF now stretched thinly over the British Isles and Scandinavia. Soviet forces push their way into Northern Sweden and Lapland, and eventually capture Stockholm with the help of German bombers. British infrastructure is slowly smashed away, and U-boat 'wolf-packs' prevent supplies being shipped in from the rest of the Empire and America. Having to prepare for an invasion of Britain, rather than focusing toward Russia as in OTL, large troop transports are constructed in preparation for the invasion and some are borrowed the Soviets and taken from the Vichy French. Soviet aircraft are used in addition to German Luftwaffe, which produce additional range, and allow the Axis to bomb RAF bases as well as London, which damages the RAF severely. Eventually the surviving British fighter groups are forced to withdraw to North Britain.
December 2-6: Operation Sealion begins with the support of the Luftwaffe and the German navy. Infantry divisions are landed near Plymouth using Rhine river-boats and the new transports, a few of which overturn on the way despite good weather. Poison gas is used by the British, but German spies have already found out about this and the German infantry have gas masks. British reinforcements from Canada are prevented from reaching Britain by U-boats and fighters. The Germans also use poison gas, and strike concentrated areas of troop movements, pinpointed by spies. Paratroopers land across the southern British coast, although they are defeated, they damage the British defenses. British fighters sweep down from the North to blast invasion attempts, but these don't go as successfully as would be hoped.
December 7: Soviet troops occupy Narvik and begin planning an invasion of Scotland.
December 9: The Luftwaffe are now able to bomb RAF bases from Narvik, they have increased range which covers the whole of the British Isles. Spies are planted into the RAF more frequently as the British become desperate for pilots.
December 12: Scandinavian S.S.R. formed with the assistance of the Reichkommiserat of Denmark.
December 15: The Germans manage to capture Plymouth, with great losses. The RAF begins a last-chance attack on the occupying troops, but they are simply ground up by the Luftwaffe. The Royal Navy is mobilised, and manage to prevent any supplies coming from German. The occupying forces resort to looting.
December 19: Argentina annexes the Falkland Islands.
December 24: The Royal British Navy organises a mass attack on German ships in the English Channel. They take out a large number of German vessels, but in the end the British attack is thwarted by a bombing attack on the Royal Fleet.
December 26: In what later historians call "the worst Boxing Day ever", the Germans launch another attack, by sea, by air and by land, on London. The battle rages for hours, but the Germans are ultimately victorious, capturing London.
December 27: Winston Churchill commits suicide by driving a car filled with TNT into the side of a Panzer tank in Trafalger Square. The RAF flees to Ireland, following destruction of their last bases in North Britain by Soviet and German forces.
December 30: Canada, Bermuda, Greenland and all British and French territories in Central America become protectorates of the USA, following the disbandedment of the Britsh government. British and Dutch Guyana are combined with French Guyana in the U.S. Protectorate of Guyana.
January 2, 1941: The Empire crumbles. India declares independence. Australia and New Zealand form the "ANZAC Alliance". Malta is annexed by the Italians.
January 3: Most British territories in Africa, the Middle East ally with Italy for support. South Africa signs a truce with the Axis. Some countries, such as Iraq, decend into civil war.
January 5: Japan annexes Hong Kong and Singapore, under the observation of the Americans. All other British territory within the South-East Asian and Pacific regions come under the joint jurisdiction of India and the ANZAC Alliance.
January 9: India and the ANZAC alliance, with their respective territories, join the ECPS, as well as the Free French and British states under Italian jurisdiction.
January 12: Soviet forces land near Edinborough. The German occupation of Wales is complete.
January 17: Luftwaffe begin bombing of Northern Ireland.
January 19: Northern Ireland becomes part of Eire, which allys with Italy pending it's introduction into the ECPS. Hitler, not wanting to get into a fight with the Italians yet, orders the Luftwaffe attacks to stop.
Febuary 2: The German armies meet the Soviet armies between England and Scotland. Soviet forces capture Glasgow.
Febuary 5: Sri Lanka joins the E.C.P.S. as a Junior member. The senior members, Italy, Japan, India, ANZAC, and representatives for the Free French and British states, meet in Geneva to form a council to decide whether to admit any new members into the Sphere.
Febuary 6: Free British Radio begins broadcasting from Belfast, in syncronisation of other free radio broadcasts, such as the Free France broadcasts from Dublin.
Febuary 7: Despite continued problems in the highlands, the Soviets form the Scottish S.S.R.
Febuary 12: The Reichkommiserat of England and Wales is formed.
Febuary 15: The IRA begins to supply a newly formed British Refusal Army (BRA). Neither the acronym nor the irony is lost on anyone.
Febuary 18: The Spanish notice German troops have entered Vichy Fracne and are massing near the Franco-Spanish border. Franco Francisco applies for Spanish admissions into the ECPS.
Febuary 23: Hours before the planned German attack on Barcelona, the ECPS Council (with representatives from all the major ECPS powers - Italy, Japan, India, ANZAC, the Free French and the Free British states) has a secret vote. Spain is brought into the Sphere, 4 votes to 2. The Republic of Eire is brought in as well, 5 votes to 1.
March 12: Disturbed by the rapid growth of this rival, the Axis begin a campaign into South-East Europe.
March 13-June 2: South-East European campaign. Soviet forces annex Rumania and Bulgaria with the support of the Luftwaffe. German forces are rerouted from the Franco-Spanish border and occupy Yugoslavia. Border skirmishes with Italian Albania come to nothing. A revolt in Cardiff forces the Germans to pull troops out of the South-Eastern front to keep the peace in Britain, leaving the Soviets in charge of the drive into Greece. Italians capture Crete and use it to launch strangely ineffective 'attacks' on Athens in which almost all men, ships, planes and armour are lost in the fighting, only to show up a few days later helping the Greeks fight the Soviets. Mussolini claims mass mutiny of his troops.
June 4: Turko-Soviet Nonaggression pact signed. Turks allow free passage of Soviet troops through their territory, in exchange for technological and military secrets, as well as a sizable chunk of Greece.
June 7: Soviet troops are ferried through the Turkish Memeri Denezi to begin a siege of Athens. The Soviet navy is having it's work cut out for it blockading the southern areas of the Aegean Sea from Italian supply ships, but have moderate support of German U-Boats that even the odds.
June 13: Soviet forces capture Thessaloniki and begin a rapid expansion down into the Greek heartland.
June 17: German Luftwaffe bomb Athens to aid Soviet capture.
June 19: Soviets breach main lines of Athenian defense. House to house fighting begins.
June 23: The main Soviet army destroys most of the Greek resistance in the countryside, and then begin an attack on Athens from behind.
July 2: The resistance in Athens is destroyed.
July 5: True to their word, the Soviets grant the Turks control of most of the formerly Greek islands of the Aegean Sea.
July 7: The USA and the ECPS apply economic sanctions onto Turkey.
July-November: The Eye of the Storm. The main Axis offensive ends, but the completion of the conquest is far from over. Large and proliferate pockets of resistance in England, Wales and Scotland cause the Axis to station hundreds of thousands of troops there. Reconstruction of conquered cities begin, as well as minor repairs to German towns caused RAF attacks in 1940. The Soviets organise themselves and the Rumanian, Bulgarian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Estonian, East Polish and Greek S.S.R.'s are formed, as well as the Reickkommiserat of Yugoslavia by the Germans.
The ECPS is threatened with Schism over the continued Japanese offensive in China. India, the ANZAC Alliance and the Free French and British states threaten to leave the Sphere, and almost do in September. But just in time it is revealed that the Communists are recieving support from the Soviets. The Japanese make peace with the Nationalist Chinese, returning Peking and the region of Hopeh in return for the Chinese Republic swearing allegiance to the Japanese Empire. Chiang Kai-shek agrees wholeheartedly, Chinese fighting power is down due to the cut off of weapons from formerly British Burma. The Japanese begin systematic assualts on Communist strongholds, with minor Nationalist support.
Madagascar and the north-west African Free French states rebel against ECPS rule, claiming allegiance to Vichy France. Italian, Spanish, Indian, Free British, ANZAC and the remaining Free French forces (under General de Gaulle) respond quickly, and rapidly crush the revolters in most of the main cities. However, rebel activity in the Sahara and the Madagascan jungle will continue to harass ECPS forces for years to come.
To assist them, President Wilkie begins a Lend-Lease program, selling planes, ships and tanks to the ECPS.
German U-boats begin a covert campaign of submarine warfare in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. Spies infiltrate into the South African government and manipulate the anti-negro sentiments among many people to aggravate the already high levels of sympathy to the Nazi's. A South African coastguard boat (captained by an Anglo-South African, incidentally) intercepts a boat-load of German guns to supply a White Supremisist group based in Cape Town. They are about to escort the smugglers back into port, they are mysteriously torpedoed...
Similar infiltration of foreign governments on a large scale is occuring in the Peruvian, Paraguayan and Argentinian military governments, evidence of which causes many in the governments of nearby nations to develop pro-American and pro-ECPS leanings. The Shah of Iran forcibly rebutts ECPS advances and declares his intention of cooperation with the Axis.
The Germans and the Soviets are in need of another ally at this point, and Turkey seems to be the best candidate. Not only will it give the Axis easier access to the Middle East, which is in uproar in many places, it will also bar the ECPS from getting a foothold if war breaks out with them. Constant diplomatic wrangling slowly break down the stalling Turk's resolve.
There is now a large Jewish population in Northern Africa and Southern Italy, slowly drifting south. Refugees from both Nazi Germany and from a Palestine now in throes of civil war between pro-Axis and pro-ECPS forces, in which the pro-Axis forces are winning.
A revised version of Mein Kampf is published, with all references to the inferiority of Russians cut out.
December 4: Soviet troops are sent by Stalin to back up Mao Tse-Tung in his underground capital of Urumqi, in the Chi'ang-T'ang region.
December 6: A vessel thought to be a supply ship is torpedoed by an Italian submarine on the way from Turkey to the Greek S.S.R. It was actually a luxury yacht piloted by an influential Turkish aristocrat, woh was very vocal against the induction of Turkey into the Axis.
December 7: The Turkish government, outraged, allies with Germany and the Soviet Union, forming the Berlin-Moscow-Ankara Axis. The Axis demands that the ECPS withdraw from Crete.
December 10: Emergency meeting of the Eurasian Council in Addis Abeba, debate rages through the night on whether to cede Crete to the Axis. Although the Axis is militarily more powerful than the ECPS at this time, the idea of 'Appeasement' is so repugnant to the Council members that eventually the Council declares that the ECPS can not possibly leave Crete to the wrath of the Axis hordes.
December 11: The Nationalist Chinese, using American hardware ceded to them by the Japanese, are able to smash through Communist strongholds in Central China and Inner Mongolia.
December 13: Declaration of war on Italy by the Axis. Luftwaffe bombing of Iraklion begins and Panzer regimens mobilise in Austria.
December 14: German Panzer regiments enter Italy. Soviet troops enter Italian Albania. German Rudeltaktik subs create havoc in the Mediterranean.
December 15: A declaration of war on the Axis by India, the ANZAC Alliance, the Japanese Empire, Spain, Eire, the Free French and the Free British.
December 16: Whoops! A huge German attack on Venice fails miserably. The reasons are obscure, but most historians agree that it was most likely due to a gross underestimation of the Italian military's capabilities, now more powerful from the introduction of British and American hardware into it's arsenal. The Italian Navy plays chicken with the German Navy, the Luftwaffe are not nearly as effective as they were in the Battle of Britain, and the Italians defenses have been preparing for this for two years.
December 17: The Soviets have better luck and capture Tirana.
December 19: Japanese bomb Vladivostok and blockade it with their Navy.
December 21: Japanese sieze Vladivostok.
December 23: German forces cross into Italy via the Vichy French border and pressure Petain to declare war on the ECPS, which he does.
December 24: Franco Francisco appears to have crawled into a hole. The same can be said for Eamon deValera, President of the Eire Republic.
December 27: Germans sieze Torino.
December 31: Vichy French forces halfheartedly attack Corsica and are easily dispatched.
January-April 1942: The ECPS gets it's act together. Italian Reggiane RE-2000 fighters prove to be vital defense against the German Luftwaffe, especially the Me-109E. Fiat BR-20 Cicognas bomb Marseilles regularly, and Cant seaplanes create havoc in the Aegean and Aidriatic Seas. While the Axis has unmatched control of the North Atlantic and Black Sea, in the Meditterranean their superiority isn't quite as superior as they'd like, with almost every entrance to the sea under ECPS control or influence (Gibralter, Crete guarding the Aegean, Italian hegemony over the Aidriatic, Various little islands in strateigic points, ie Malta and Corsica) Although they have a good pass into Italy via Vichy France, their forces are constantly bombarded from the air and the sea, their northern route through the Alps is not only thrown off by the presence of nuetral Switzerland, it is also threacherous enough that Hitler is compared to Hannibal, his Panzers the mighty elephants of old.
So Hitler is forced to focus his attention away from the war of attrition in Northern Italy to other, weaker points of the ECPS. Spain is invaded, Eire bombed. Turkish forces are sent into the Middle East to back up pro-Axis forces in Iraq and Palestine. The Soviets are able to spare some forces for these endeavours, but they are beginning to be stretched thin. From rebellion in the Scottish highlands to Japanese aggression in Manchuria, not to mention stirrings among the Communist elite and Indian attacks on the Central Asian S.S.R's, it was definately all go for the huge but illequipped Russian army. However, Soviet designs for aircraft and tanks were useful for the German military.
The Japanese control a great deal of the Siberian coastline, with the Soviets a more formidable force on the land, with much superior tanks, although new models of Japanese tanks have started to be made, based on American models. The Japanese have some support from anti-communist Russian exiles, which are the basis of the pro-Japan White Russian governments being formed in captured Siberia. Both the Soviets and the Japanese use armoured trains to support their troops, as they both try to blow up the other's railway's. The Communist Chinese form a new communist regime and government in Urumqi, in the newly formed People's Republic of Chi'ang T'ang.
What is later dubbed the Covert War of the Atlantic is in full swing. German U-boats and pocket battleships fight to cut off supplies going from U.S. Guyana to Africa. Although this threatens to anger the Americans, Hitler sees it as a necessary risk to take, as demonstrated by the cross-Pacific supply route giving the Japanese the advantage over the Soviets in the Far Eastern front.
A civil war begins in South Africa between pro-Axis (mainly Afrikaner) and pro-ECPS (Anglo and Black) factions. Although the pro-ECPS faction has an overwhelming advantage in numbers, the Afrikaners are much better equipped, due to the snubbing of South Africa by the ECPS Council.
April 6: Following a massive parachutist campaign, the Axis captures Crete, with heavy losses.
April 9: In a decision that shocks the ECPS, the USA and Hitler, the Scottish S.S.R. signs a ceasefire with the Republic of Eire.
April 13-May 14: With support from the Luftwaffe, the Turks manage to capture Jordan, Syria, Palestine and Lebanon and launch assualts upon ECPS Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. Indian troops are sent to Kuwait and Iraq to back up the pro-ECPS forces there. The People's Republic of Ch'ang T'ang expands into the Tsinghai region and invades Tibet. Afrikaner forces from Transvaal capture Durban.
May 15: The ECPS votes unanimously to allow Saudi Arabia into the Sphere.
May 18: Pro-Axis forces capture Capetown and set up a new government, openly racist and in support of the Axis. Blacks, Anglos, Asians, and even Afrikaners flee to Angola, Mozambique and the ECPS.
May 21: The Afrikaner Republic of South Africa joins the Axis, as well as Iran.
May 24: The United States, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Ecuador, Brazil, Bolivia, Uruguay and Chile form the Pan-American Alliance (PAA) Cuba, Paraguay, Peru and Argentina are left out because of possible Axis connections. The PAA, as first order of business, declares full support for the ECPS.
May 26: Japanese forces, using Panzer-esque formations and in American-built tanks, push back the Soviets from their gains in Manchuria.
May 31: The Japanese military comes up with a plan of turning the entire of the Manchurian region into a giant 'cheese grater' With minefields, barbed wire, fortified machine-gunner nests and even moats, they make it the worst terrain to cross, with anything. Considering they have control of the sea and the air, they don't really need to worry to much about expansion in Siberia. By stopping the Soviet offensive and pulling their forces away from the European theatre at the same time, they kill too birds with one stone. They also begin programs of supplying rebellious anti-communist groups in Russia with weapons, and begin to counter Chi'ang T'ang expansion into Nationalist China.
June 4: Indian and British Egyptian forces begin co-ordinated attacks on Turkish forces in the Middle East. A select number of Italian M13/40 tanks and British Mk II infantry tanks are made available, and are said to be the deciding factor in many battles. The Indian Navy and Air Force, although a shadow of others in the world, is able to gain control of the Iranian coastline and destroy any Iranian forces mobilised.
June 7: Hitler is worried. This isn't going well. It seems the entire world is quickly coming up in arms against him. Some of his greatest generals, the aspiring young Rommel that proved so invaluable during the invasion of Wales amongst them, have perished. His allies were floundering in their respective fronts in Asia, despite ample German assisstance. Even the moderate attacks on Ireland had failed, a year ago even the most minor offensive would have brought those damn Gaelics to their knees. Attacks on ECPS Africa weren't going any better, with the Mediterranean in ECPS hands he could barely get troop transports halfway. Why did that old fool Mussolini have to build aircraft carriers, he was dead-set against them when he was in the Axis, thought Italy itself would serve as an ample carrier. Pff. Someone, a Brit probably, must have talked some sense into him.
Things were going so bad he was even having to fear Jews. He couldn't believe it. Those Italian bastards go back on their word and start setting up bloody Jewish commando units from those refugee camps in Sicily. But he had to admit, they fought like hell. But damn their presumption! There was no way the Reich was gonna be pushed around by some Jewish dogs wearing yellow stars on their uniforms....
June 8: Commando attack on German Crete causes great loss of life for the defenders. By the time a full counter-offensive is mobilised, the commando's are gone....
June 10: South Africa annexes Mozambique and begins attacks on Portugeuse Angola and the ECPS.
June 13: Portugal and it's colonial possesions is admitted into the ECPS as a senior member. Hitler swears loudly to a crowd in Berlin when the news is given to him during a speech.
June 15: Hitler begins the main offensive into Spain. It is a huge force, but is harried by the Italians, who still have control over the air.
June 18: Germans capture Barcelona and the Aragon region.
June 20: Siege of Madrid begins, but Franco is prepared for this. He has, with Italian support, turned Madrid into the most heavily fortified, well-defended and self-sustaining city in Western Europe.
June 21: In Asia, a definate border is drawn between Communist and Nationalist China. A swath of 'No Man's Land' through the middle of China is the unofficial border. Nationalist China submits for admission into the ECPS, with Japanese backing,
June 22: A Spanish army tries to smash into the German forces encircling Madrid. With cries of "Remember Guernica!" they inflict heavy losses upon the German army, but are ultimately defeated.
June 24: Nationalist China admitted into the ECPS. Hitler shoots one of the messanger sent to tell him.
June 26: The Indians are able to expell all Axis forces from Iraq and declare it a protectorate of the 'Indian Empire'. Mussolini is said to have a slight grin on his face when told the news of this new 'Empire' and Tojo declares it "Another Victory for the Future of Asia"
June 27: German forces are able to capture everything north of the 41st apparel in Spain, up to the Portugeuse border.
June 29: Mongolia becomes a Communit state and a Soviet satellite following Soviet occupation of Ulaan Bater.
June 30: German forces extend down into Castille La Nueve, encircling Madrid and cutting off ECPS support to the city. Hitler forms a new strategy, "Let the bastards starve!".
Okay, lets recap. There's about four major fronts in this war, at the moment. The first, the Mediterranean front, deals with the fight between the ECPS and the Germans in the Mediterranean and Southern Europe. The second, the Middle Eastern front, deals with the fight between the German-backed Turks, and the ECPS states, especially the members of the former British Empire, such as India. The third front is the Asian front, and deals with the fight between the Communists and the ECPS, led by the Japanese. The final, just emerging front is the African front, with racialist South Africa threatening to sweep up into ECPS Africa and get them at their weakest. The ECPS is fighting valiantly and successfully, but they really are surrounded at all sides.
But the sides aren't set in stone yet. Their are still a few Nuetral states that could be monopolised apon, especially in Asia and South America. And the PAA could at any time enter the war, there are rumours that they are working on an Atomic superweapon that could decide this war....
July 3: Someone hears the fearful twitterings of Tibet as they are invaded by the Chi'ang T'ang. They are incorporated into the ECPS as a junior member under Indian jurisdiction. The Indians send some fighters to Hot'ien and Sulo to help in the defense.
July 6: The Soviets invade Afghanistan. It pleads for admission into the ECPS, but s vetoed by Italy and Japan. However, they are free to join the Indian Empire....
July 7: Unable to move any more in Spain due to heavy resistance, Hitler orders a mass attack on the Eire Republic.
July 8: Shock Horror! Adolf Hitler is dead! Shot in the head by an enraged BRA member as he drove down the autobahn on the way to a meeting in Berlin, he died instantly. The day s declared an ECPS holiday. National Socialist Karl Donitz becomes Chancellor, but it is really a select group of men that hold power - Heidrich Himmler, Herman Goring, Josef Goebbals, and Rudolph Hess. Although each vied for power, some more than others, they formed this council so that even if one was killed, decisions could still be made.
July 10: German offensives are postponed as the Nazi Council organises the reorganisation of the Reich in the post-Hitlar Era. Despite Himmler's loud protests, the Jewish concentration camps are to be shut down. He is appeased by the plan to deport all of them.
July 12: The Japanese invade Mongolia to set up an optimum defense standpoint. With a lot of support by locals, they are able to capture a lot of the lowlands. This support is lessened as the 'Great Cheesegrater' of Manchukuo is extended into Mongolia, right through the Mongolian cities of Matad and Huld.
July 14: The Indian Empire begins an offensive into Iran. They are able to easily capture the Persian Gulf coast and cpture most coastal cities, they come to difficulty in the mountains. Like many would-be conquerors before them, they learn that the Iranians have an excellent natural defense structure. So, the Indians change to a strategy of keeping what they have and defending it.
July 17: German offensive resumes with the invasion of Portugal. By now the ECPS has regained contact with Madrid and supplied it with ample supplies and weaponry for it to survive for a few more months.
July 18: German U-boats take out US supply ships heading for Portugal. A supply ship attempts to escape, and in a supremely stupid move, one of the Axis's most formidable vessels, the Bismarck is sent after it. It ends up getting torpedoed by an American sub.
July 19: The Nazi Council declares that the United States has breached it's nuetrality. In an international statement, Wendell Willkie declares loudly that, "If you think we're going to stand by while you wreck havoc around the world you have another thing coming!"
July 21: The Third Reich, the USSR, Turkey, South Africa and Iran declare war on the United States. The PAA declares war on the Axis.
July 24: As the Western Hemisphere prepares for war, South Africa launches a sneak offensive on South-West Africa, Botswana and Rhodesia! Namaland is captured in the initial hours of the war, as the South African army hops from town to town, quelling resistance and commandeering weaponry.
July 26: The ECPS has to turn from it's war in Iberia to stave off this threat in the South. Sub-saharan armed forces are mobilised. Squadrons of Breda Ba-65's are flown from Abbyssinia to Elizabethville to help in the war.
July 29: The War of the Atlantic begins. German U-boats versus American subs battle for supremacy over the ocean.
August 5: The PAA realise they're really in for it when Peru, Paraguay and Argentina suddenly ally to form the South American Pact of Steel (SAPS).
August 12: South African forces annex South-West Africa and Botswana but is stopped from a successful invasion of Rhodesia.
August 15: American forces come into port in Lisbon and successfully repell a German invasion attempt.
August 17: As Soviet forces clash with Indian forces in Afghanistan, it's clear that the USSR is in trouble. Although it's huge army is formidable, it has lost millions of troops to the Japanese 'Cheese Grater', to the Chinese Civil War, to the wars in Central Asia, to rebellions in Scandinavia, Scotland, Greece and Rumania. Relations with the Reich have grown cold, and the Americans have launched successful raids from Alaska and Canada into Siberia, and it is rumoured that Trotsky is working for the PAA, giving information on Russian capabilities and plans. Stalin has ordered the crushing of various revolts across the country using military force, which has turned many against him. It seems if Mother Russia is not defiled from the outside, She will break apart from the stresses of the in.
August 21: The ECPS successfully recaptures the island of Crete.
August 23: As rapidly as the South Africans spread up the continent, they seem to be folding back down again, losing Damaraland to the Americans. They set up "Cheese Grater"-esque defenses, but on a much larger scale, in order to be able to defend their coast.
August 26: The Axis is revitalised as the SAPS join it.
September 1: Himmler celebrates the 3rd anniversary of the invasion of Poland by blowing up a primary school. Goring and Hess are shocked, they always thought of Himmler as reasonably intelligent, but this was just idiocy! Schismic forces begin to brew in the Reich leadership...
September 3: The BRA celebrates the 3rd anniversary of the declaration of war on Germany by blowing Himmler's house up, while he's still in it. The Nazi Council of Four becomes the Nazi Council of Three...
September 6: The Indians take time to notice that the Chi'ang T'ang seem to have taken a large portion more of Tibet. They send troops to annex the south of the country.
September 9: The South American Theatre officially opens as the Argentinians sieze Montevideo.
September 10: Additional US troops sent to Ireland, Portugal and Angola.
September 16: After a long siege, the city of Palestine is captured by Egyptian troops. The Head of Palestinian Resistance against the Axis greets them as they enter the city - "We welcome you and celebrate your victory over the Turks. We are eternally grateful. But, know this, if you try and give our land to the Jews we will kill you all". The Egyptians got the point.
September 19: American assualts on the coasts of Wales and France fail miserably, their first loss of the war.
September 23:The flagship of the Indian fleet, the ISS Prince of Wales attacks a Turkish fleet off Beirut, with the assistance of 45 other ships, including the Indian cuiser Repulse and the United States battleship Arizona.
September 24: Beirut is captured by an Indian army. Reinforcements from Iraq invade Jordan.
September 26: Successful US landing near El Ferrol defeats a large German force sent to intercept.
September 28: The Nazi Council orders that the extremely effective 'cheese grater' technique be applied to the Franco-Spanish border. Regretabbly, this cuts off Nazi forces in Iberia from support.
October 1942-March 1943: The Beginning of the End. German forces are largely defeated in Iberia, although Bilbao remains a stronghold till the end of the war. The BRA remains a threat, but doesn't assassinate any more Nazi leaders, well, at least doesn't succeed. The only front open is the terribly neglected Italian front, which is now impossible to pierce, as the Italians have spent months boosting it's defenses. It seems that the Reich is trapped...
The problems in the Soviet Union get worse. The Eire Republic manages to show up the American troops stationed on it's soil by performing a successful attack on the Scottish S.S.R. Glasgow is captured, and the Soviet troops only just manage to escape to Edinburgh. This wouldn't be that much of a problem if it wasn't for the timing. In that exact week, the Turkmen, Tadzhik, Kirgiz and Uzbek S.S.R.'s revolted against the USSR. And just a week prior, the Japanese had attacked and captured the Eastern cities of Chita, Ulan Ude and Irkutsk.
...more to come...
