wwii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: A big thanks to "consulting admirals" @jsb @Luminous @hipper @RamscoopRaider @steamboy for their stellar contributions to this thread. It would not be half as interesting without them! For the uninitiated, US hull classification symbols are used as abbreviations for ship...

Let me begin by saying that, yes, I am aware that the vast majority of military manpower and materiel was used and spent on the Eastern front, and that, by comparison, what the United States did in North Africa, Western Europe, and Italy was relatively small to the efforts that the Soviets put...

There's been much discussion on how the Battle of Greece delayed the start of Operation Barbarossa, but I can't find much on the weather. Disregarding the Battle of Greece for a moment, what is the earliest date in 1941 that Barbarossa could start without getting bogged down in the spring mud?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_German_settlement_in_Central_and_Eastern_Europe http://feefhs.org/resource/germany-settlements-in-eastern-europe https://web.archive.org/web/20080302155203/http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20080301faessay87203-p30/jerry-z-muller/us-and-them.html...

https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/a-world-without-winston-churchill.164360/ Without Churchill, it would highly likely that Britain would made a peace deal with Nazi Germany. Neville Chamberlain, a predecessor of Churchill, due to his illness, he would still resign as prime...

Under what circumstances could a strategic position holder in the RAF submit advice to the civil authorities to bombard with gas (momentary / persistent / nerve) OPFOR civilians without the officer being required to resign. 1) British politics often obscures the decisive moment. This involves...

In case if the Japanese don't know how to develop a nuclear bombs, let just presume Japanese hired foreign scientist. Possibly even the same scientists that Hitler persecute them in our timeline. Also in case if Japan doesn't have enough uranium to develop, let say China has loads of...

https://www.quora.com/What-would-have-happened-in-WW2-if-Germany-had-developed-the-atomic-bomb-first?utm_medium=organic&utm_source=google_rich_qa&utm_campaign=google_rich_qa https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/what-if-nazi-germany-got-the-nuclear-bomb.76197/...

Let's operate off of the assumption that not deploying nuclear weapons against Imperial Japan at the end of WWII would have necessitated either an amphibious invasion or a long and costly blockade/conventional bombing campaign to force their surrender, which I understand to be the assumption...

I’m pretty new at naval history, but I’m quite puzzled why the British were so far behind others in battleship design by WWII. Their best battleship was the George V class that was badly outclassed by the much larger and newer American and Japanese designs. When HMS Vanguard was commissioned in...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Order_(Nazism)#Plans_for_an_African_colonial_domain Hitler's geopolitical thoughts about Africa always occupied a secondary position to his expansionist aims in Europe itself. His public announcements prior to outbreak of the war that Germany's former colonies...

Given that Japanese military communications remained open to US code breakers right up to the end of WWII, did the US top brass realize how well prepared the IJA was for an invasion of Kyushu? Conservative estimates for American casualties topped half a million, so if American leadership also...

How much earlier could the war have ended if the allies didnt demand unconditional surrender? What would be the minimum conditions of the axis powers? I think that stating that they only accept unconditional surrender only made sure that Germany and Japan would fight to the bitter end and not...

I was doing some reading and I discovered this interesting segment on Japan. On 16 February 1942, British diplomats secretly proposed a peace deal with Japan. A possible agreement was that if Great Britain formally recognised the authority of Imperial Japan over North China and Manchuria, the...

What if the French generals had been competent and had realized the weakness of the Maginot line and the unprotected Ardennes? What if they had protected or mined the Ardennes? What if the Maginot Line was extended?

What if Hitler did some really dumb thing like trying to turn Mexico against the US and the US found out? Would it be a repeat of WWI or would the situation be practically the same as OTL WWII?

Instead of killing all the Soviet High Command, Stalin promotes them and established military schools with experts from a few countries. Stalin doesn't kill too many people unless they were really trying to commit treason. How would WWII go if Germany breaks the pact?

POD: Hitler assassinated on the 8th of November, 1939 Assumptions: George Elser's assassination attempt in November 1939 succeeds. Adolf Hitler, Joseph Goebbels, Reinhard Heydrich, Rudolf Hess, Robert Ley, Alfred Rosenberg, Julius Streicher, August Frank, Hermann Esser, Heinrich Himmler, and...

Some speculation in the Moldova chat thread: So, without altering WWII immensely what are the results of Romania either neutral or one of the Allies? Does Bulgaria still go communist? What happens to Moldova/Bessarabia/Transnistria? Impact on the Balkans as a whole?

Just as a thought experiment, I was wondering what the requirements for supplying the Allied Expeditionary Force in NW Europe during WWII entirely by air would look like, in terms of number of transports per division and overall. A WWII division might require 600 tons of supply per day, just...