1938 The confrontation with Germany

chris N

1938 was the last year that Hitler might have been stopped It was the Year that he first forces Austria to accept an annexation of it by Germany Next he turned on Czechoslovakia .and gets the British to pressure the French and Czechs to go along with his demands.

However, Suppose that the Austrian Chancellor showed more backbone and he stood up to Hitler. With the consent of the Austrian President orders the Austrian Military to resist and German Invasion.
Goring assured the Czech government that Germany had no claims against their country and that they should allow the annexation of Austria. But suppose that the Czech government decided that it could not trust Hitler or Germany. An agreement is reached between the two countries that are threaten.

Czechoslovakia announces that any move into Austria would be regaded as an attack on Czechoslovakia. Frnance announces that it would stand with its eastern Ally.
Will Hitler invade?
 

chris N

Actually according to the book Munich, 1938 By David Faber Goring did tell the Czechs that they had nothing to fear as Germany had no claims on them.

According to Otto Hapsburg there were talks between him and the past and current Austrian Chancellors (current being 1938) about a Hapsburg restoration. There were talks with the Czech government and there was some progress in getting it accepted. But even without Otto as a player there was a strong possibility that the Czechoslovakian government might have stood with Austria. If the Czechs had mobilized it would have resulted in the German Military blinking ang pressuring Hitler to back down. France might have stood by its eastern ally in this case forcing the Brits to come along or look like idots.

The Austrian President was all for fighting it out with Hitler and even Otto would have returned to rally the people.
 

chris N

Let us start back in 1936 for it was in that year that Alfred Jansa, one of the Brigade commanders was Chosen to be the new heas of the Austrian Federal army.

Jansa was an experienced officer who had served in the old Imperial Army. He was tough and smart. He basically knew that the only possible threat to the Austrian Republic came from his neighbor to the north. He decided to look at what equipment the Austrian army had, how it could be improved and what could be purchased to improve the capability of the army.

The standard rifle of the Army was the M95 straight pull bolt action Mannlicher. It was a rifle that was easily repairable and comparable to the german K98. However, since the Austrian army would be outmubered by the larger German army General Jansas turned to a new submachine gun that had been developed. It was the MG34 and unlike the submachine guns used by Germany and many others it fired rifle rounds rather than pistol ones. The only bad thing was that the SMG was more expensive to make but on the other hand it could take rough handling. As a machine gun the Austrian would still use the Schwarlose M07/12. It had proven to be an effective weapon in the First World war and it would equip each of the divisions 4 machine gun platoons plus also support a AA Machine gun company.
The General also expanded the military's reserve requiring each dof the 8 Divisional district to raise a reserve brigade.

The General could also see that warfare was changing ang that there was a requirement for much more mobile force. To that end he created a "Fast Diviiso" using cavalry Regiments. It was his hope to eventially take 2 of these cavalry Regiments abd create an armored force.

The General next looked for vehicle for which to equip his moble force and as a result the Austrian purchased the Italian CV33 tanketees. They were not suitable for modern warfare but they would give the Austrians some experience with armored vehicles. The Austrian Army looked for a true tank for which to equip its army and it obtained the Czech made LT-35. This tank was well made and armed with a 37mm gun. The Austrian Army however preferred their own 47mm gun and asked Skoda if it could make a model with thet gun (this eventually did become the Hungarian Turan tank). The Austrians also obtained information regarding another Skoda design the T-25.

The Austrians for artillery would depend upon the 76.5mm gun of the First World war which had been nicked named by some historians as the Austrian 88". It was fast light and had a high rate of fire. For a medium gun the Austrian Army would use another gun form WWI the Skoda 100mm. While not cutting edge it was capable of quickly being broken down and moved.
The Austrians did however, produce their own mortar the Austrian Brandt 81mm mortar.
For an Infantry gun it had the 47mm gun, which could also be used as an antitank gun. The Austrian also bought and produced the 20mm Soluthum anti tank rifle.

The Austrian army had an elite Alpine force which consisted of 3 Regiment each of 4 battalions. The units small arms and machine guns were the same as the rest of the army but its skoda artillery pices were mountin guns. They were well designed, rugged and longer ranged than the regular army's ones.
 

Paul MacQ

Monthly Donor
Like idea. of Germans taken down at this stage and yes Austria and the Czechs stand a reasonable chance of getting a German stand down
 
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chris N

As I see it there are several possibilities were a point of Divergent might take place. The first one takes place in 1934 when the government of Chancellor Dollfuss discovers that Nazi agents are attempting to stir up trouble withon the country between the ruling party and the Social Democrat Party. This avoids a fracturing of the country and leave open the possibility of the Right and left uniting to oppose Hitlers threat to Austria.
Possibility # 2 Chancellor Dollfuss is only injured in the assassination attempt and he recovers. He had been moving in the direction of putting Otto Hapsburg on the throne and had been holding talks with the Czechoslovakian President. Dollfuss is convinced that Hitler is a threat and that the safety of Austrian demands action. He begins the expansion of the Austrian Army an has Otto take a more public role in the Federal Republic. Dollfuss convinces the Czech toward co-operation to confront the threat from Hitler. Austria moves to undermine the influence of the Nazi's in Czechoslovakia's German minority. This result in a growing trust between the two countries. Atria and Czechoslovakia carry out joint exercises and the Austrians are allowed to purchase weapons are discounted prices.
By 1938 Austria has acquired Skoda made tanks and it has the ability to seriously challenge any German invasion. When Hitler attempts to threaten Dollfuss he is stunned when the Austrian Chancellor stands up to Him. He is angry when hours latter Otto Hapsburg is crowned as the Monarch of Austria.

His anger knows no bounds as he screams that he will teach the Austrian upstart a lesson in who is the boss. He orders German forces to prepare to invade Austria. Then comes word that Czechoslovakia has mubilized and will consider any attack on Austria as an attack on the Czechoslovakian Repun=blic.
 
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chris N

It had taken a lot of comvincing by Dollfuss and even Otto Hapsburg to convince the Czech President to go along with a restoration of the Hapsburg Monarchy, But Dollfuss was finally able to convince Benez that only Otto could unite the Austrian people so that Hither's goal could be thwarted .
Reluctantly the Czech leader went along with the idea as he had grave concerns that Hitler wanted to gobble up the border regions of Czechoslovakia. There was clear evidence that the Nazi's were seeking to dominate the ethnic German community and allowing an Austrianinfluence might counter that. Even more so Otto could very well be a symbol that the Germans might listen to.

The Austrian and Czech Military staff had been co-operating for a period of nearly two years so both had an idea as to how capable the others army would be. Austria had just purchased the Solthrun Light machine gun that already been bought by the Hungarians. It was expected to give the Austrians a light machine gun to match the Germans.

Hitler had ordered the invasion of Austria and the German Military began to move its units into place to carry it out.

There was much concern in the German general staff. The Army's Commander in Chief did not believe that Germany was ready. Too many of the units lacked the equipment and training. The army was still short of artillery and antitank guns and even in small arms there just weren't enough of the new MG34 machine guns or even the new submachine guns. Lots of old WWI era equipment had to be used and the military was discovering that all too much of it needed repairs to make them ready. The German army would have to depend upon the Pz I tank and the PZ II as there were too few Pz III and IV available.

The German army lacked enough winter clothes to outfit the army as they had barely enough of the regular uniforms to give every soldier at least one.
Some who had fought with the Austrian Army in Italy knew that the Austrian Soldier could be tough. None of the German Mountain troop coomanders looked forward to fighting the Austrian Alpine troops as these men were both rugged and would be fighting on grounds that they all knew like the back of their hands.

Admiral Canarias did not like the idea of war and he was of a mind to try to send a back channel signal to the British and French to do something that would cause Hitler to backdown.
 

chris N

Otto Hapsburg had also been very busy He had as a result of his family made a lot of contacts and he began to use them to try and help save Austria. Among the contacts he had were some contacts in the French Foreign Ministry, British Royal Family ( the current King remember the late Emperor Karl quite well and recalled that his father thought highly of him. As a result he was going to light a fire under his Prime Minister and woul even talk with Lord Halix and Winston Churchill),the Spanish Royal family and his cousins in Poland.

Otto's cousins had plenty of contacts in the Polish government and perhaps the Poles might even cause the Germans to rethink about an invasion of Austria or would force them to pull troops awy to protect their eastern border. Admiral Horthy seemed to be supporting him but Otto did not trust the man as he had let down his dad so he doubted that any support would be more than words.

The Austrian and Czrch Military high Commands were in constant contact. Czech fighters often crossed into Austrian Air space chasing a german plane out of their airspace, Tensions were rising and the question was when would the Germans move.
 

chris N

As Admiral Canaries sat in his office reading the reports he was more convinced than ever that Hitler was on the verge of making so big a mistake that the whole house of cards would come crashing down on Germany. He did not want to see Germany returned to the condition that it was in 1918.

The Admiral was not the only man working in German Intelligence that felt that way and the Admiral knew that there were those in the German Army that felt the same way. Now the question was what could they do or what should they let the other side do. Oh for the Good old days of the Kaiser. The Kaiser was at least rational this idot why fly into rages at the drop of a hat. Hum perhaps he should talk to some of the others and see how willing they would be to a coup. Still one would have to be careful.
 

chris N

While things were cooking in Berlin the German Army was moving in position in Bavaria. General Hans Guderian was gathering the panzers of his Panzer Division. This was the first mass movement of tanks and he was discovering that some of the tanks were suffering some mechanical problems. He was not exactly sure what he would be facing as the Austrians seemed to have sealed the border and intelligence from Nazi sympathizers was not ofrcoming.
(indeed the Social Democrats had heeded the cry to defend the nation and had taken great pleasure in helping to root out all of the Nazi Austrians. Indeed a lot were shot for treason).

The T-35 tanks wearing Austrian colors and mounting the Austrian 47mm gun were even now secretly moving in to catch the Germans by surprise should they cross the border.

Meanwhile Britain's monarch had called his Prime Minister in for a chat. Mr Chamberlain was somewhat annoyed but also concern as the King generally did not involve himself in foreign affairs and he assumed that that was what it was about. He had heard that Winston had been called to he palace and his friend Halifax had told him that he had also been invited in for a chat. Neville then called up the British Secret Service chief to see if he could tell him what in the hell was going on. The only thing that he could find out was that the Foreign DDiplomatic personnel were told to stay out of Bavaria, that the French Foreign office lights were on all night long as people went into the French Foreign Mininstry all night long. One of the people was the Austrian Ambassador and the other was the Czech Ambassador. The the French War office seemed to also become very active. Perhaps he said to the Prime Minister you might call the French Premier.
 
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chris N

The 9th Panzer Division commander by Hans Guderian penetrated the Austrian border its leader confident that the Austrian would not resist. They had penetrated 10 miles deep into Austria when eplosons were heard from the Rear quickly followed by the rapid fire of the Austian Antitank guns and Artillery. The Austrian 47mm guns made short work of the thinly armored Panzer I and II. Fire rained down on the German's artillery as hidden Austrian Artillery observers called in the co-ordinates of the Germans position. Then to top it all off the Austrians launched an armored attack of their own usinf the Czech made T-35 that had been up-gunned. Guderians panzer division was shattered by the attack. more than 90 tanks were destroyed and an equal number were damaged. The austrians were able to cause such a panic that they captured nearly 60 of the German machines as well as artillery pieces and most embarrassingly Hans Guderian himself.

Germany had been humilated in its first engagement. The Austrian command quickly brought his forces back into the defensive position as Austria lacked the manpower to invade Germany.
 

yourworstnightmare

Banned
I am planning a Ras Tafari less world TL, where Ethiopia is split between France, Italy and the UK after WW1. Why am I babbling about it?? Because I plan to have WW2 start 1938 over Austria of course.:D
 

Paul MacQ

Monthly Donor
Interesting you have armed the T35's with I gather the Austrian Bohler 47mm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannone_da_47/32_M35

Less powerful Anti-tank weapon than the longer barrelled 37mm the Czechs use but having the advantage of there 4.5lb low velocity HE round probably a better Duel purpose weapon when facing mostly Panzer I and II's.

The Longer Czech 47mm would probably not fit
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/47_mm_kanon_P.U.V._vz._36_(Škoda_A6).

Question now is what the Austrian can go to defend against the Luftwaffe the only Fighter they might get there hand on in a Hurry might ask some Czechs to beg for some Russian. I-16's http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polikarpov_I-16. nothing in the west will be available in numbers to supply Austria and Czechs face the BF109C/Ds that the Luftwaffe have on inventory.

The http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avia_B-534 will hardly be up to the Task.

The Luftwaffe army coordination in 1938 would be limited yet still important.

In general I am liking the timeline
 

chris N

The Austrians had prior to the war gotten the Czechs to arm the T-35 with some of their 47mm guns to make it easier to supply the tanks with ammunition. The austrians had also managed to acquire a fair amount of the Italian designed improved AT round for the 47mm gun. They had also managed to convince Baron Rothschild to finance the purchase of some Italian Made G50 fighters. Otto Hapsburg seemed to be able to smooze Mussolini out of military equipment but it was to the Chechs that Austria must turn to for assistance.

No fuel would be able to go to Germany by rail. The Poles had agreed to make sure that no supplies would travel through Poland and the Swiss and French would do the same. That would mean shipment by sea.

Still the Austrians could use all of the help that they could get and that did include asking the Czech to acquire Russian built fighters for them.

London the British Prime Minister arrived fro his meeting with the King and was stunned when he received a lecture from the King on the failure of British diplomacy to do something about that lunatic Hitler.

It wasn't until he returned to # 10 Downing Street and had his intelligence chief over that he discovered that the King had been caring out secret correspondence with someone in Austria. They were in code and it would take some time to break.
 

Paul MacQ

Monthly Donor
The G50 would be not entering service with the Italian Airforce till Oct 1938 so would not really be an option. "The initial examples were delivered to the Regia Aeronautica in the first months of 1938" They had a Massive teething tourbles early on. And production was under 20 a month by the end of 1938.

Aircraft types
Hawker Hurricain 3-5 Squadrons depending on when in 1938
French M.S 406 Series production only started late 1938

The Italian G50 Maachi 200 and Reggiane 2000 would not be options.

Looking at aircraft already in Production and entering service in 1938 the options are very very limited.
 
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chris N

Lets try this again. Austria had been looking for a modrn fighter plane for the past few years. It had acquired a number of Italian fighters and the Italians had offered to sell Austria the G-50 when it became available but that did not help when war was approaching. So over the years the Austrians had tried a number of Aircraft the British Gloster Gladiator had been purchased and 18 were available to the Austrian Air force. Otto in 1937 had suggested that the country should consider trying the Americans and as a result the Curtis company received an order for 48 P-35 A and there was talk of buying their new design the P-40. For now the Austrians would have to depend upon their 48 American Made fighters plus 24 Italian fighters and 28 British made fighters. The Czechs had gotten the Russians to agress to send some 60 of their fighter planes to Austria in return for money. For some reason Staslin appeared to be in a generous mood. Perhaps it was the fact that he wanted to stick it to the Germans.

Austrian Factories were also producing lots of their multi purpose 76.5mm guns. The Jewish community of Austria was rasing funds for the Austrian Governments arms Purchase. Even the former Bavarian Crown Prince, living in exile in Austria offered his services. They were accepted and he had managed to see the beginnings of a German Legion forming as the war was about to start.
 
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