Prince Charles Ascends or how a car accident saves Europe

As far as the incident is concerned the impoverished Burmese peasants want to make any extra cash they can and delivering military goods was a good way to raise it. Not wanting to lose their best farmhands they got the grandfather of the family to drive the wagons with their 10-12-year-old boys to load and unload the goods. It seemed safe enough when they did so as the Chinese front is still far away from Burma.

How do you see the situation with Japan going? The USN is considerably weaker than OTL but the RN, the French Navy and the Italian Navy (Since the Italians know who their patrons are in the war with Russia and what they expect in return) are likely to go against them. Virtually their entire navies are available as the few U-boats Germany has left is no real threat. How does this affect the Japanese decision making if at all? The Japanese are facing a more formidable array of enemies but the US is at least as annoying to it as OTL. It is building a railroad in Burma to help send weapons to China to fight them.
 
July 20, 1941
The Char B1Ter hits the front lines on the Meus and the Germans find that it is almost invulnerable. Its thick armor bounces most shots and what they get is main M-kills. Unfortunately, the French have only 50 at the moment but that is more than enough as the line breaks.

British Valentines pour through the opening followed by Crusaders. This is followed by truck borne infantry and artillery. The German front totally caves in and retreats to the Munster-Worms line which they reach 3 weeks later. The cities of Aachen and Trier are besieged as there are fortifications around both cities. The Allies seal them off and keep going. Adolph Hitler decrees them to be "Fortress Cities" to be held to the last bullet.



July 22, 1941
The last 300 L3s finally arrive in China over the last 2 months. They are happy to get them as the Japanese have been knocking out their tanks fairly regularly. However, they prove quite useful before they are knocked out as the Japanese are short on AT guns and tanks not expecting to fight tanks. Soon the Fiat 3000s will arrive and they have actual tank guns.

The Chinese finish equipping, training and organizing a new Rifle Army of 3 corps of riflemen They also have enough tanks now to form an armor division with additional to form attached armored units here and there. They are planning something special for the Japanese next month.

July 25, 1941

The Italians buy 200 of the new Thunderbolt fighters. The British sell them 200 Hurricanes and the French 200 D520s. They shift their Kittyhawks to ground support. The French and British have air superiority and the Spitfire and D523 so they don't buy any. However, they are eager to buy the new M3 half-track GB buys 200 and the French 300. France sells another 100,000 MAS36s to Italy as the MAS40s are entering service in greater and greater numbers.

The US than buys 100,000 Carcanos to send to the Chinese. The Rome Pact buys another 300 Badgers and 200 Stuart tanks from the US. The first prototype Sherman tank is produced. The first production models come out in October.

July 30, 1941

The Soviet Counteroffensive drives the Rome Pact back where it started from but only after very heavy losses in a month-long battle. No less than 25,000 Soviets and 15,000 Rome Pact soldiers lie dead on the field by the end of it.

Stalin is increasingly frustrated. He expected a quick and easy win but he wound up with a blood bath. He never expected to have to try and go up against US weapons production, along with surplus British and French. The terrain, the resistance of the people and massive American and Allied aid have made the going very tough. The British Spitfires were particularly annoying in the air. Nothing he had matched it. This freed up Kittyhawks which ravaged his troops from the air.

The US Badger TDs were chewing up his tanks. Their 6 pounder guns were better than anything he had except for the T-34s which he didn't have that many of. Certainly not so many that he could send huge numbers of them to Romania when he had to prepare for the Capitalist-Socialist War!

He decided he had to purge the aircraft engineers again. If they couldn't design planes that equaled the West's maybe the next ones would!
 
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Aug 12, 1941

The Germans are pushed back all the way to the Bremen-Stuttgart Line. Germany really starts to unravel at this time. Too many men have been lost and too much land. Hitler's popularity is down to what it was in 1945 in OTL, with many beginning to lose faith. Not only did he not accomplish what he did OTL he didn't even accomplish as much as the Kaiser did. The war is not even 2 years old and the enemy is deep inside Germany.

The next day Hitler convenes a meeting with himself and the top leaders of the party in a large beer hall in Munich. In the middle of the meeting a big bomb goes off and he along with Goering, Himmler, Heydrich and many other top leaders are killed.

The bomb was set off by the owner of the beerhall Rudolf Weiss. Herr Weis was a Nazi Party member of long-standing and was highly loyal until quite recently. He had a wife and three sons and a daughter. His oldest son was killed on the Eschaut Line, his second son was killed at the Second Battle of the Meuse, his last son during the retreat. What finally put him over the edge was when his wife was killed by British Artillery while in Trier where she was trying to see their daughter being wed. He saw he last as crass stupidity. Trier was lost as anyone with eyes could see but his wife died because Hitler couldn't see it. Rudolf was killed in the explosion as he was standing right under the bomb when it went off. He figured that death was preferable to what the SS would do to him when they figured everything out. The only member of his family left was safe behind Allied lines so he had nothing to lose.

Aug 17,1941

The Second Battle of Nanchang begins. The Chinese 1st Army group backed up with the 1st Tank Division attacked the Japanese. The Japanese did not expect this at all, defending the city with but a single army. By the time their planes spotted them a number of key bridges were blown up by Chinese saboteurs. The Japanese soldier fought fanatically but the numbers against him were too great. The city fell within 3 days with the Japanese dead numbering 25,000 and the Chinese taking 50,000 casualties of whom only 12,500 were dead as many of the Japanese dead were those who committed seppuku or flung themselves in a last suicidal charge.

This sent shockwaves through Japan. A major Chinese city fell back into the hands fo the Nationalists. Clearly, the IJA needed to be strengthened more, even at a cost to the IJN. It is decided all the mini-subs and 2 submarines would be scrapped to produce more tanks, guns, and AT-guns.

Imperial High Command sees the main problem is a large number of supplies and weapons being supplied by the US. The huge number of rifles is particularly worrisome. Hundreds of obsolete tanks are annoying but hundreds of thousands of rifles is a threat. The Chinese are now able to stand up entire rifle armies in months. Unless the supply is somehow cut off Japan will lose the war eventually.

That same day Rudolf Hess is declared Führer. He is about the only Nazi left with high name recognition. He is also seen as relatively weak and the various politicians see him as someone who won't push them too much and someone they can overthrow when ready.

Aug 20, 1941
The US trades for 15,000 Lewis guns for 20,000 Breda 30s which it ships to China along with another 100,000 Carcanos it buys. It also trades 200 75 mm Gun M1917 for 300 cannone da 65/17 which it also ships to China. It also sends 200 M2A4s as the tank is being phased out for the Stuart. 3 squadrons of Kittyhawks are sent as well.

Aug 25, 1941
The Chinese are pleased with the new 130 Fiat 3000s that have arrived. Pretty crappy by European standards but it is the first tanks that have arrived that have an actual tank gun. The 50,000 new Carcanos that arrived over this month is being used to train a new rifle corps. The new railroad is finally clearing some of the backlogs and more modern weapons are arriving. Indeed much of what is arriving now is much-needed ammo.

Sept 1, 1941
The Rome Pact drives the Soviets back to their starting point again losing 25,000 men to the Soviets 17,000 and 30,000 prisoners. Rome Pact air superiority is proving to be of great worth. The US sells the Italians another 200 Kittyhawks along with 50 Havocs while the British sell them 100 Hurricanes and the French 200 D520s. The Americans sell them 200 Stuart tanks and 50 M2 Mediums.

The Wehrmacht high command is using backdoor channels to the Allies to see how they can settle the war. The Allies discuss amongst each other what the terms should be. Their first idea is as follows
1) German generals have to sign documents acknowledging not only their surrender but that the fact the war was hopeless.
2) The Nazi Party is to be disbanded.
3) The SS is to be disbanded with their war criminals to be delivered to the Allies
4) Heer war criminals to be handed over to the Allies.
5) All weapons are to be handed over to the Allies. Any scuttling of the Kriegsmarine will be added to the reparations, at 3 times their value.
6) All weapons factories are to be handed to the Allies, all auto factories are to be handed to the Allies, all airplane factories are to be handed to the Allies, all steel factories built after 1919 are to be handed over to the Allies.
7) By British insistance, free trade between the Allies and Germany will begin immediately. Germany is allowed to rebuild their industries after the Allies take control of all named factories.
9) Poland to be handed over to Allied troops on arrival. German troops will guard the Polish border until they arrive.
 
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That's just a mere slap on the wrist of a peace. Three invasion in living memory for the french, they are not going to settle for this.
 
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That's just a mere slap on the wrist of a peace. Three invasion in living memory for the french, they are not going to settle for this.

All auto factories, all airplane factories, and all modern steel mills is a slap on the wrist? Germany's heavy industry has just been gutted. I should have thought of all shipyards and I will throw that in now. A/L is gone. Maybe push the steel mills back to 1900. Maybe all post 1900 chemical plants as well. I don't think even the French want to push it all the way to starvation.

Obviously, CZ and Austria are gone. Maybe breaking off East Prussia and making it independent. Make Bavaria independent. Maybe splitting the rest into North Germany and South Germany.
 
All auto factories, all airplane factories, and all modern steel mills is a slap on the wrist? Germany's heavy industry has just been gutted. I should have thought of all shipyards and I will throw that in now. A/L is gone. Maybe push the steel mills back to 1900. Maybe all post 1900 chemical plants as well. I don't think even the French want to push it all the way to starvation.

Obviously, CZ and Austria are gone. Maybe breaking off East Prussia and making it independent. Make Bavaria independent. Maybe splitting the rest into North Germany and South Germany.
Definitely limits on what factories can be rebuilt as, very strict limits on military/paramilitary equipment, total ban on submarines and all armed surface vessels bar small coastal patrol boats with similar limits to the air force/Army. Basically Germany has to get out of economic areas it could use to mask rearming and have little more than an armed police/coastguard.

East Prussia probably disappears and gets added to Poland along with Danzig due to the nastiness that has occurred there being made public. Its reputation as a Nazi stronghold ( backed up by voting records ) and the enthusiasm its inhabitants signed up to mistreat Poles mean it would get little mercy.
 

Ramontxo

Donor
I think this time the French are going to take the Sarre and at the very least insist in a French military presence south of the Rin
 
Revised demands
1) German generals have to sign documents acknowledging not only their surrender but that the fact the war was hopeless.
2) The Nazi Party is to be disbanded.
3) The SS is to be disbanded with their war criminals to be delivered to the Allies
4) Heer war criminals to be handed over to the Allies.
5) All weapons are to be handed over to the Allies. Any scuttling of the Kriegsmarine will be added to the reparations, at 3 times their value.
6) All weapons factories are to be handed to the Allies, all auto factories are to be handed to the Allies, all airplane factories are to be handed to the Allies, all naval assets are given to the Allies including any equipment that can be moved. All steel factories built after 1900 are to be handed over to the Allies. All chemical factories built after 1900 given to the Allies.
7) By British insistence, free trade between the Allies and Germany will begin immediately. Germany is allowed to rebuild their industries after the Allies take control of all named factories.
9) Poland to be handed over to Allied troops on arrival. German troops will guard the Polish border until they arrive.
10) A/L is handed back to the French.
11) Czechoslovakia and Austria are made independent along with Bavaria.
12) East Prussia is given to Poland, which is to be handed over on the arrival of British troops.
13) Germany is to be occupied by the Allies for 20 years but the Germans will be allowed to conduct their internal affairs
14) No armaments factories of any sort are allowed to be built. German police will be given by GB and France.
15) Germany is to be further split into four pieces as North, South, East and West Germany.
16) Factory equipment will be considered the reparations of Germany. Any damaged, destroyed, or missing equipment will be charged triple replacement cost to the Allies.

Does anyone have any ideas on the borders of the Four Germanies or any other suggestions?
 
I think France would want Germany dismembered. The Four Germanies will be under occupation. They don't expect it to last forever but certainly the 20 years at least. After that time there will be a bunch of elites that benefit from the new governments. Reunification is probably inevitable but not overnight. Including the occupation, I figure it would be at least 2 generations before Germany is reunited.
 
A Belgium on the Allied side since October 39! It's really a boost for France. Basically the Dyle maneuver was a desperate attempt from the French high command to restore the defensive belt they lost when the Belgian got neutral.
I expect that there will be some sort of integrated command on the Allied side, but even if there isn't one, it will be infinitely better than OTL. There was basically no contact between the French and the Belgian outside some secret ones. For instance, France wasn't made aware that the Belgian changed their plans in the Ardennes and didn't intended to cover the sector (ouside some light troops).
But even now, I think the German should try the Sickle Cut. It's the simplest way for them to avoid a WW1 style campaign and associated the attrition they can't support on the long run.

A few side remarks :

FCM 36, Renault D2, and the Renault NC were to be discontinued leaving only the Renault R35/40
FCM-36 was discontinued in 38-39 after 100 or so were delivered.
Renault NC was discontinued in the early 30's!
The last batch of Renault D2 was at the end of delivery, so it's really likely that the production will stop no matter what in June or July.
Renault had switched from R35 to R40 on the production lines in the spring (Mars or April). The R40 tank have an improved gun (37 mm SA 38), giving it a real anti-tank capacity. It also have improved suspension, giving it far more reliability.
I agree with you for the B1 and the S-35.
You have forgotten the H-35/39! It's the light tank used in the armored divisions (DCR and DLM) because they were faster than the R35/40. As such, they had priority for the 37 mm SA 38. The goal was to produce 300 H39 a month from October 1940 onward. By the way, the H39 was selected for an industrial pool with the British and the Portuguese. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotchkiss_H35#Operational_history

On France ordering aircraft from the US, they have really important orders already coming in : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Purchasing_Commission

100 B17s from the US
OTL, France had already bought 120 B-24 as LB-30. They will possibly expand the command, but no B-17.

75 Vindicators Dive Bombers from the US
France has already received 40 and they have a further 50 in order, so it's possible for the Navy.
But don't forget the french made LN-401 and LN-411 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loire-Nieuport_LN.401). They have only one crew, which is a bonus given the scarce manpower of the Armée de l'Air. Their biggest problem is that they use the same engine than the D-520.
OTL, both types were trounced by the Luftwaffe (dive-bomber are very vulnerable if the airspace is heavily contested).
300 Vultee Vengeance were also on order.

Havocs ordering 150 of them
Also already on order, along Glenn Martin Model 167.


Edit : After reading your entire timeline, I have a few more remarks :

I think you get the German to deeply in France.
If the Heer is in Cherbourg and Caen, it means that the Seine has been breech, so Paris is untenable rapidly. Plus, the way you describe the Eastern France Front going from Dijon to the Swiss border means the Maginot Line is completely lost and, with it, the whole north-east of France. It's something that France and it's army can't recover from (as a significant fighting force).
Don't get me wrong it's possible to breach the Maginot Line, but OTL the German did it after the French Withdraw all the interval troops and artillery. And I think ITTL the German will use those forces to breach the Front in Belgium.

All in all, I think that their will be a line on the Somme in the West, like OTL. They will breach it and take Le Havre, but the Allied counter-attack will isolate the spearhead.
In the East, I can see the German going deep in Champagne, taking Reims, Chalon and even Troyes

June 20, 1940
I think you said 1940 instead of 1941 in all your posts since that one.

Burma-Chinese railroad
I don't know if the Burmese Road will be that predominant, there is, after all, still a railroad open from Haiphong into China.
If anything, the Japanese will probably attack this one first.
 
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You have forgotten the H-35/39! It's the light tank used in the armored divisions (DCR and DLM) because they were faster than the R35/40. As such, they had priority for the 37 mm SA 38. The goal was to produce 300 H39 a month from October 1940 onward. By the way, the H39 was selected for an industrial pool with the British and the Portuguese. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotchkiss_H35#Operational_history
Yes but is it really a good tank? ;)
 
No, not really, but neither was the R35 or the R40.
But both were better than the M2 light by a wide margin.

Agreed, which is why the Franco-Brits didn't buy too many. When they did it was after big battles when they were willing to take anything because they were short on tanks. The vast majority were sold to Italy.
 
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