A Blunted Sickle - Thread II

I beleive the growing and oasting of hops was/is fairly manually intensive, so insufficient labor force? As you infer, the Germans probably scooped up much of the available hop and barley crop too.

Sugar's probably not easy to come by in wartime Europe either.

The strength of beer in the UK fell by 20% during the war because of shortages and a third of the 1940 hop harvest burned after a single air raid on London as well as having problems getting people to go out to Kent and harvest what was left while the Battle of Britain was fought above them.

 
I too would join those wishing for your health.

Meanwhile (and following on from a political directive to allow the Czechoslovak forces to liberate their own capital), further west Prioux and Ritche make contact at Pilsen, occupying the town without firing a shot. This occupation degenerates into a massive party later in the afternoon, after the Měšťanský pivovar brewery throws its doors open to the newly arrived troops. While the beer is a pale imitation of what it made before the war, the troops know that the two armies having met on Czechoslovak soil means that the war is all but over – and that their part in it almost certainly is. The result is a massive party which despite the best efforts of the military police snowballs until it finally breaks up in the early hours having drunk the town dry.

A joint two-army assault on the stock of a brewery. A fine way to close a campaign everyone probably thought would be far more arduous.

Incidentally, I'd bet the major question historians debate regarding this war in this timeline is whether the Munich agreement was justified in that it bought the allies time to prepare for war and made it clear that war guilt being on anyone other than the nazis is a non-issue, or if was a foolish pact which caused unnecessary suffering in Czechoslovakia and Poland as the Germans needed the time to arm and organize their troops more.
 
Very glad to see this back. One of only three timelines I come back here to check on.

With Ostpreußen, it's worth remembering that Königsberg is pretty heavily fortified - might be another place for a last stand.
 
Very glad to see this back. One of only three timelines I come back here to check on.

With Ostpreußen, it's worth remembering that Königsberg is pretty heavily fortified - might be another place for a last stand.
I don't see why you'd need to bother. Just surround it and starve it out.
 
I don't see why you'd need to bother. Just surround it and starve it out.
If it is attacked then I see it getting the same treatment as Le Harve was in 1944 - this time with far 'less reluctance' - not that there was any with sadly 2000 French Civilians killed.

A combination of Bomber command, any battleship/monitor NGS that can be provided along with lots of Artillery, support from any analogous 79th Armoured Division 'Funnies' and Kangaroos keeping losses to the assaulting infantry to a minimum
 
Plus let the Nelrods and the QE class have one last hurrah shelling it until their gun barrels wear out.
Has the RN sent any ships into the Baltic? With the Luftwaffe no longer a factor they might want to, to forestall any Soviet funny business perhaps, but the straits would still be hazardous from mines etc.
 

Driftless

Donor
Given the far different battlefield and politico-diplomatic situation of this universe compared to our history, could the Swedes be persuaded to allow overflights, or even rail transit?
 
Apologies for the very slow rate of updates - I've been having some health problems which the medication is just starting to get on top of. I'll try to take less than 6 months to write the next update, but no promises.
Get better, pdf. Your health comes first.
 
9th January 1942



The French Sixth Army (Giraud) completes the elimination of the German pockets in front of them. In the process they capture two Army headquarters (6th at Marburg and 2nd Panzer at Jena) as well as OB West at Schloss Osterstein, just outside Gera. They face very limited resistance in the process, with even the most senior officers seeming to be in shock at the completeness with which the German Army has collapsed on the battlefield in the past few weeks.

Fantastic update again pdf27. Hope you get better soon. Take your time. As others have said, health comes first.

One minor note - this section quoted above should be referring to the Seventh Army shouldn't it?
 
Given the far different battlefield and politico-diplomatic situation of this universe compared to our history, could the Swedes be persuaded to allow overflights, or even rail transit?
I don't think overflights are much of an issue. A straight line from London or Rotterdam to Koenigsburg doesn't pass over Swedish territory. London to Koenigsburg does pass over *Danish* territory, but the Danes are far less likely to object (and if they do, swinging south to stay in prewar German territory adds a relatively small amount of distance). I think you pass over Swedish territory if you fly from Scotland (which probably has Bombers since two weeks ago in Universe, there were still Nazis in control of it)

The British, Danes and the S/F Union are probably hard at work clearing both the Sound and the Kiel Canal for Naval usage, but whether that will happen before everyone with a brain surrenders is an open question.

IMO, if Koenigsburg *really* has to be bombed, the RAF is probably going to pick one of the forward bases that they have made in Poland to support the ZWZ *or* a pre-war Polish Airport and upgrade it to handle heavier bombers.
 
Fantastic update again pdf27. Hope you get better soon. Take your time. As others have said, health comes first.

One minor note - this section quoted above should be referring to the Seventh Army shouldn't it?
Yes, brain-fart on my part.
 
Wonderful to see this back, and a fantastic update it was too! Wishing you all the best with your health, pdf – take whatever time you need.
 
I've got a question: I remember (ages ago) that there was the beginnings of a Franco-British Union in this TL when France was very much on the ropes. Is that continuing? Or has it been entirely shelved by Germany’s turn around? Could it be the core of a nascent United States of Europe post-war?
 
I've got a question: I remember (ages ago) that there was the beginnings of a Franco-British Union in this TL when France was very much on the ropes. Is that continuing? Or has it been entirely shelved by Germany’s turn around? Could it be the core of a nascent United States of Europe post-war?
There are the beginnings, but it hasn't got anywhere near a union. Essentially we're in a world where NATO and the early stages of the EEC are the same organisation, and it's currently limited to the UK and France with the Benelux countries and Norway likely to join.
There are a mix of reasons for this, primarily lessons from WW1 and a certain amount of lifeboat politics meaning that the Bank of England has essentially written the French a blank cheque and there is a lightly integrated industrial strategy (mostly driven by shipping and foreign exchange considerations). In the long term we're likely to see something like the EU emerge, but it won't be fast.
 
I suspect there will be a certain amount of "Franco-British Union? Pish posh, nothing more than a fever dream of the darkest days. Sure the realities of the world might have pushed us to peg our currencies to one another, which necessitated common monetary policy and harmonized tariffs. And yes, there's extensive work to push for the same standards and regulations, tightly bound foreign policy, and joint military planning, joint military procurement, and joint military exercises, but certainly nothing like a union."
 

Driftless

Donor
With the British armies marching across the Baltic seabord and the French armies running the Bavaria/Czech/Austria line, how might that impact post-war(cold-war?) diplomacy?
 
There are the beginnings, but it hasn't got anywhere near a union. Essentially we're in a world where NATO and the early stages of the EEC are the same organisation, and it's currently limited to the UK and France with the Benelux countries and Norway likely to join.
There are a mix of reasons for this, primarily lessons from WW1 and a certain amount of lifeboat politics meaning that the Bank of England has essentially written the French a blank cheque and there is a lightly integrated industrial strategy (mostly driven by shipping and foreign exchange considerations). In the long term we're likely to see something like the EU emerge, but it won't be fast.
Will be interesting to see what Jean Monnet does. In 1939 he was head of an Anglo-French committee on joint economic planning. Keynes might have a big role as well in creating any new economic institutions.

Wishing you all the best in your recovery.
 
Lightly or tightly?
Lightly. They aren't deliberately pushing any integration - but, well, there's a war on don't you know and we do need to collaborate with our allies on a few things. Some of this will continue after the war, and some (like the guarantees from the Bank of England for French loans) will be a pig to disentangle so will last longer than planned.

I suspect there will be a certain amount of "Franco-British Union? Pish posh, nothing more than a fever dream of the darkest days. Sure the realities of the world might have pushed us to peg our currencies to one another, which necessitated common monetary policy and harmonized tariffs. And yes, there's extensive work to push for the same standards and regulations, tightly bound foreign policy, and joint military planning, joint military procurement, and joint military exercises, but certainly nothing like a union."
Pretty much. I also think the logic is strong for the smaller European countries (Benelux, Denmark, Norway, etc.) to find themselves drawn in one way or another. However, because it's such a fuzzy "union" they probably won't all be part of all bits of it - standards and regulations is almost a certainty for instance, as are some forms of joint military procurement (as in they either buy Franco-British kit or license produce it themselves).

With the British armies marching across the Baltic seabord and the French armies running the Bavaria/Czech/Austria line, how might that impact post-war(cold-war?) diplomacy?
All sorts of ways.
  • The Soviet Union is right next door, feeling less paranoid (no Germans at the gates of Moscow) but at the same time won't be seen as such a threat yet as their most recent fighting was Finland. So right now relationships aren't in the freezer, but things will get much worse in 5-10 years when the British and French learn about First Lightning (RDS-2 ITTL).
  • The only really firm borders are in Poland - the Poles aren't going to move over to the Soviet camp post 1939 - everyone else is more or less neutral, at least to start with. That means there's quite a big buffer zone for Cold War style spy games which in OTL were limited to Austria.
  • The US aren't really involved - I'm kind of envisaging that once the Soviets get nuclear weapons they'll build up something equivalent to SAC as well as significant air defences, keep a small Navy and Marines, and more or less go back to how they were living in the 1930s otherwise. I can't envisage any troop deployments beyond small Marine garrisons outside the CONUS. That's a monstrous change.
  • Japan is still a major power, and a potential threat to everybody. They're also crazy enough and bogged down badly enough in China that something is going to kick-off sooner rather than later - the current situation isn't stable and they've got no good options.
  • Decolonisation is going to be very different - the Soviets are less likely to be trying to export revolution, the US basically doesn't care, and given that India is heading for a loose federation rather than partition I suspect they might be big players in the decolonisation process.

Will be interesting to see what Jean Monnet does. In 1939 he was head of an Anglo-French committee on joint economic planning. Keynes might have a big role as well in creating any new economic institutions.
The only mention of him so far is getting involved in the French car industry - more or less what he did in OTL, with appropriate changes due to the situation.
 
Top