A Storm of Steel and Fire (an alternate WW2 history)
- Thread starter Tanner151
- Start date
Chapter 5: Poseidon
Chapter 5: Poseidon
October 28th, 1940- Due to temporary stalemate in the east (both sides are offensively exhausted until early 1941 at the earliest) the German High Command begins to reinforce its position in Sweden. Two German infantry divisions, plus a few more fighter squadrons, are sent to Sweden to reinforce the Gustaf Line.
October 30th, 1940- Through secret negotiations Norway enters into an economic pact with Germany with a mutual defensive pact proposed but not accepted. Germany wants naval base rights in Norway for its U-boats in the Battle of the Atlantic against the French and British fleets. The Norwegians just want Axis support in the case of Soviet aggression. But, for now, both sides agree to an economic agreement that benefits both sides.
November 2nd, 1940- Through British intelligence agents in the Norwegian government the Entente learn of the secret negotiations between Norway and Germany. Alarmed that Norway might join the Axis, like Sweden did earlier that year, the Entente expedites the preparation of Operation Poseidon.
November 4th, 1940- Axis forces in northern Sweden begin to assemble an attack into Soviet controlled Sweden. The Soviets had bled themselves dry trying to break through the Gustaf Line and the Germans believe a minor offensive would offset the Soviet positions and possibly intimidate the Norwegians into joining the Axis. This offensive will take a couple of months to prepare due to the worsening weather and the secondary status of the Swedish campaign.
November 5th, 1940- The up-gunned Panzer III (went from a 37mm cannon to a 50mm cannon) is arriving to German panzer divisions in Poland in large numbers. The modified Panzer IV (from an anti-personnel 75mm cannon to an anti-tank 75mm cannon) is being field tested in eastern Germany and will be mass produced within a month or two.
November 7th, 1940- A large Soviet bomber formation, consisting of 600 bombers and almost 700 fighters flies from Warsaw to Poznan. The Germans scramble over 850 fighters to stop the bomber force before it reaches Poznan.
After almost five hours of constant air combat the Soviets lose over 400 planes to the Germans 162 but the result of the high losses and the low damage causes Stalin to reconsider the bombing raids into German territory. For now, he decides, only bombings and raids on or near the front lines to deter and distract the Germans as he assembles an offensive that he believes will knock Germany out of Poland.
November 11th, 1940- The Stavka has finalized the operational details for the two new offensive operations that will be launched against the Germans. Operation Hammer will be the first attack and will focus on pushing the Germans farther west from Warsaw and to retake Lublin while Operation Sickle will push towards Krakow and Königsberg. The operations main objectives are to take Königsberg, Krakow, Lublin, Lodz, and Poznan and secondary objectives include Danzig and all of Slovakia. The Red Army is assembling four million men for this operation. These men are the experienced soldiers of Operation Red Dawn but these soldiers only number a quarter of the assembling Red Army force, the other three million are mainly new recruits or fresh divisions pulled from elsewhere in the Soviet Union. Operation Hammer (the first operation) will be launched on March 1st, 1941. Operation Sickle will be launched when most of Hammer’s objectives have been met.
November 13th, 1940- Soviet production of the T-34 begins to increase substantially due to the success of the T-34 and the lack of success of other Soviet tanks against the Germans. KV-1 production is also increased but not on the scale of the T-34.
November 18th, 1940- In the capital of Hungary, Budapest, German and Hungarian diplomats begin serious talks of Hungary joining the Axis Powers. While the talks go smoothly, and German money and military advisors begin arriving in Hungary to help modernize the Hungarian industry and military, the Hungarians are hesitant in joining the Axis. The Soviets still control parts of central Poland and most of eastern Poland and even some German territory (eastern East Prussia) and the Soviets control the Polish border that borders northern Hungary (land taken away from Czechoslovakia in 1939). The Hungarians need some more German victories to convince them joining the Axis is worthwhile.
November 19th, 1940- German High Command finishes the operational details for its new offensive, codenamed Talon. Operation Talon will be much more limited in scope compared to the Soviets offensives and will focus the German Army to surround and capture Warsaw with a follow up offensive drive towards Bialystok. Secondary objectives are: To push the Soviets completely out of East Prussia and, if possible, to advance on towards Vilnius (capital of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic). German intelligence agencies of the Wehrmacht, the SS and the Gestapo begin smuggling in weapons, supplies and explosives to resistant groups in the Baltic States and Finland via the Baltic Sea. (The Baltic States were forced to become Soviet Socialist Republics and Finland is under military occupation).
These groups, once properly armed, will help disrupt the Soviet supply line and communications behind the frontlines. Some weapons and supplies are given to anti-Communist/fascist Ukrainians but this is much more difficult due to lack of contact and the tight control the NKVD/Red Army maintains over the border between Poland and the Ukraine.
The starting date of the German offensive is March 6th, 1941.
November 23rd, 1940- In the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo (Manchuria/northern China) Japanese forces begin final preparations of an offensive into northern China. Chinese forces, Communist and Nationalist, know of the planned offensive but can do little to stop it. But both Chinese factions begin a defense in depth against the Japanese forces arrayed against them. What the Chinese lack in tanks, planes and artillery they make up in the amount of small arms and light machine guns and of course numbers. The Japanese will pay a gruesome toll to advance.
But the Japanese Imperial Command has other ideas. Orders go out and special weapons are delivered to forward air bases. The Japanese were about to launch a new kind of war in China, one that would be destructive to the human body on the cellular level.
December 4th, 1940- Over 300 Japanese bombers fly south from Japanese airbases in Manchukuo. Out of these 300 over 200 are normal bombers with incendiary and explosive bombs while the other 100 carry a special type of bomb. The Japanese bombers target Chinese cities, supply lines, and troop formations. Casualties are in the tens of thousands for the Chinese while the Japanese only lose a dozen or so bombers. It is not until hours after the Japanese bombers return to base that reports come in to Chinese commanders, Communist and Nationalist alike, of plague and disease spreading through the cities and villages targeted by the Japanese Air Force.
The special bombs that the Japanese bombers carried were filled with deadly pathogens, germs and the like. It would take hours, in some cases days, for the local Chinese authorities to realize the problem: contamination of food, water and people. The pathogens kill thousands and leave tens of thousands sick and dying.
The Japanese are content to wait a few days for the pathogens to spread, causing havoc and fear before the pathogens die out.
December 9th, 1940- Japan launches its offensive in northern China. Japanese infantry, supported by artillery and the small number of Japanese tanks taking part in the offensive, tear through the first line of Chinese defenses after heavy fighting but after the first line of defense the other lines of defense fall quickly due to these soldiers are mainly sick and/or dying due to the Japanese germ-bombs released 5 days before. Some surrender to the Japanese, some run away to fight another day, others just lay there dying where they are quickly shot by the Japanese and their bodies burned.
December 12th, 1940- The Japanese advance on all fronts in northern China. Japanese troops had been vaccinated against all the germs used against the Chinese and suffer no casualties, all Chinese bodies that were infected are burned, and those that were sick were shot then burned. The Japanese fighters and bombers dish out death and destruction on refugees leaving the cities causing road blocks and delays for the Chinese forces trying to go north to fight the advancing Japanese.
December 13th, 1940- President Franklin D. Roosevelt announces on the radio of “Japanese atrocities against the Chinese people” and cuts off all diplomatic relations with the Japanese. He also leads an international protest against the Empire of Japan.
December 16th, 1940- The international pressure does not affect the Japanese as they continue their germ warfare and ground and air offensive in China with the death toll passing 150,000 since December 5th.
Roosevelt has other plans in store to limit Japanese expansion in China, but he will have to wait until
December 20th, 1940- Entente Command is finally ready to launch Operation Poseidon. In Scapa Flow, the Royal Navy’s base in the north of the United Kingdom, a large fleet leaves port. Thirty four destroyers, sixteen cruisers (light and heavy mixed) with two carriers (with full complements of fighters) and three battleships sail and in the middle of the large British fleet are dozens of transport ships carrying supplies, weapons and French and British infantry. Their objective: Norway.
For months Britain and France have tried to convince Norway to join the Entente and for months they have failed… mostly. The government and the king officially want to stay out of the war but some members of the government and many high ranking military officers realize either the Soviets or the Germans will gobble up Norway. Neutrality will not last for them, they must choose a side and out off all three alliances out there (Axis, Entente, Soviets) the Entente are the only democratic and the most friendly. So some high ranking generals and government officials plan a coup against the government to come to power and invite the Entente in to defend it against the Axis and potentially against the Soviets.
So as the Entente fleet moves north-east to Norway radio messages are sent out to the pro-Entente faction in Norway to take over the government and ask to be invited into the Entente and allow Entente troops to land in Norway.
Hans Skaargard yawned. It was late and his shift was about to be over. He was a corporal in the His Majesty the King’s Royal Guard, which was part of the Norwegian Army. He was new in the Guard, only have been in a little over 4 months. Some of the old-timers grumble about the heightened security since the war in the south began. And that war had spread to the east to, to Norway’s cousin nation of Sweden. He was sad about that; he had extended family there, thankfully in Stockholm, away from the fighting.
In their latest letter they talked about the expansion of the Swedish Army and that there were more German soldiers arriving every day, a depressing thought that. He was just thankful that Norway wasn’t in the war but how long could that last, he thought? All the major powers of Europe were at war and it was spreading. Would Norway one day be in the war?
He shook his head, best not to think about that. Footsteps echoed through the hallways of the Royal Palace. Ah! His replacement finally, took him long enough. Hmm, that’s strange he thought. That was Haarold; it was a dozen men in normal Army combat gear. Even stranger, one of them was a colonel. Hans stiffened to attention and saluted.
The colonel returned the salute then brought out his pistol. He pointed it at Hans, “Surrender your weapon, corporal.”
Knowing he had no choice, Hans surrendered his rifle. “What are you planning to do to His Majesty?”
“Protect him of course; we are putting him under house arrest, for his protection.”
“But why?” Hans asked bewildered. “We are the Royal Guard, we protect him.”
“Of course you do but His Majesty will not go along with our plans, of this we are certain, so now we have to be… unconventional.”
Two of the soldiers took him into custody and the rest continued down the hall where the King of Norway slept. Two more Royal Guards were there. Hans could hear talking, then gunfire. Two rifle shots and three shots with a pistol in quick succession. Then silence. A few minutes passed. Eventually the colonel came around the corner with the King who was dressed in just some plain clothes. The King looked distraught. Hans was furious at the colonel; his own fellow countrymen had taken the King hostage. And he had done nothing! Shame replaced his anger. He must at least try.
Hans hit the guard behind him, grabbed his rifle and shot the closest guard standing. He rushed to the King’s side but was gunned down by the colonel’s pistol. As he lay on the floor dying the colonel shook his head, “Damn fool,” and then Hans closed his eyes… forever.
December 21st, 1940- Pro-Entente factions in the Norwegian government and military launch a coup d’état. It is over within three hours. Pro-Entente forces control all major communication and armament centers. The King, the Prime Minister, and much of Parliament (those that did not support it in the first place) are put under house arrest. A provisional government is formed within an hour and the first order of business was to invite the Entente troops in. Very shortly thousands of British and French troops land at scheduled beach heads; at most they are treated as allies and defenders of Norway, at others they are shot at by anti-provisional government soldiers. But these are few and far between.
December 23rd, 1940- After two days the Norwegian Provisional Government, with the support of the French and British declare Norway as part of the Entente, the King could not be reached for comment (under house arrest). Only a few hundred people died in the transition of government, mostly French and British troops at beach landings when facing anti-Entente forces.
In Germany and the rest of the Axis the provisional government is called illegitimate and that the Norwegian people do not have to listen to it (their voted in government had been overturned). Hitler cancels the offensive in northern Sweden and begins moving troops to the western Swedish border. Norwegian fascists and communists begin small riots throughout the country that quickly turn into 3 way battles between fascists, communists and the police. Many Norwegians are shocked at the turn of events and while not supportive of the new Provisional Government they are not actively against it. But support for the Provisional Government is very low due to the nature it came to power.
Even neutral countries, particularly the U.S., condemn the coup d’état in Norway and some members of the U.S. Congress calls that all armaments being sold to the Entente be stopped. This motion is defeated readily but the motion is there, waiting to be renewed.
The world is in chaos and the chaos is spreading like a fire. How far will it spread before it is stopped? And what will remain but ashes…
(NOTE: I will be updating/editing the last chapters to make them easier to read and such, just wanted to get the chapter out).
Chapter 5: Poseidon
October 28th, 1940- Due to temporary stalemate in the east (both sides are offensively exhausted until early 1941 at the earliest) the German High Command begins to reinforce its position in Sweden. Two German infantry divisions, plus a few more fighter squadrons, are sent to Sweden to reinforce the Gustaf Line.
October 30th, 1940- Through secret negotiations Norway enters into an economic pact with Germany with a mutual defensive pact proposed but not accepted. Germany wants naval base rights in Norway for its U-boats in the Battle of the Atlantic against the French and British fleets. The Norwegians just want Axis support in the case of Soviet aggression. But, for now, both sides agree to an economic agreement that benefits both sides.
November 2nd, 1940- Through British intelligence agents in the Norwegian government the Entente learn of the secret negotiations between Norway and Germany. Alarmed that Norway might join the Axis, like Sweden did earlier that year, the Entente expedites the preparation of Operation Poseidon.
November 4th, 1940- Axis forces in northern Sweden begin to assemble an attack into Soviet controlled Sweden. The Soviets had bled themselves dry trying to break through the Gustaf Line and the Germans believe a minor offensive would offset the Soviet positions and possibly intimidate the Norwegians into joining the Axis. This offensive will take a couple of months to prepare due to the worsening weather and the secondary status of the Swedish campaign.
November 5th, 1940- The up-gunned Panzer III (went from a 37mm cannon to a 50mm cannon) is arriving to German panzer divisions in Poland in large numbers. The modified Panzer IV (from an anti-personnel 75mm cannon to an anti-tank 75mm cannon) is being field tested in eastern Germany and will be mass produced within a month or two.
November 7th, 1940- A large Soviet bomber formation, consisting of 600 bombers and almost 700 fighters flies from Warsaw to Poznan. The Germans scramble over 850 fighters to stop the bomber force before it reaches Poznan.
After almost five hours of constant air combat the Soviets lose over 400 planes to the Germans 162 but the result of the high losses and the low damage causes Stalin to reconsider the bombing raids into German territory. For now, he decides, only bombings and raids on or near the front lines to deter and distract the Germans as he assembles an offensive that he believes will knock Germany out of Poland.
November 11th, 1940- The Stavka has finalized the operational details for the two new offensive operations that will be launched against the Germans. Operation Hammer will be the first attack and will focus on pushing the Germans farther west from Warsaw and to retake Lublin while Operation Sickle will push towards Krakow and Königsberg. The operations main objectives are to take Königsberg, Krakow, Lublin, Lodz, and Poznan and secondary objectives include Danzig and all of Slovakia. The Red Army is assembling four million men for this operation. These men are the experienced soldiers of Operation Red Dawn but these soldiers only number a quarter of the assembling Red Army force, the other three million are mainly new recruits or fresh divisions pulled from elsewhere in the Soviet Union. Operation Hammer (the first operation) will be launched on March 1st, 1941. Operation Sickle will be launched when most of Hammer’s objectives have been met.
November 13th, 1940- Soviet production of the T-34 begins to increase substantially due to the success of the T-34 and the lack of success of other Soviet tanks against the Germans. KV-1 production is also increased but not on the scale of the T-34.
November 18th, 1940- In the capital of Hungary, Budapest, German and Hungarian diplomats begin serious talks of Hungary joining the Axis Powers. While the talks go smoothly, and German money and military advisors begin arriving in Hungary to help modernize the Hungarian industry and military, the Hungarians are hesitant in joining the Axis. The Soviets still control parts of central Poland and most of eastern Poland and even some German territory (eastern East Prussia) and the Soviets control the Polish border that borders northern Hungary (land taken away from Czechoslovakia in 1939). The Hungarians need some more German victories to convince them joining the Axis is worthwhile.
November 19th, 1940- German High Command finishes the operational details for its new offensive, codenamed Talon. Operation Talon will be much more limited in scope compared to the Soviets offensives and will focus the German Army to surround and capture Warsaw with a follow up offensive drive towards Bialystok. Secondary objectives are: To push the Soviets completely out of East Prussia and, if possible, to advance on towards Vilnius (capital of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic). German intelligence agencies of the Wehrmacht, the SS and the Gestapo begin smuggling in weapons, supplies and explosives to resistant groups in the Baltic States and Finland via the Baltic Sea. (The Baltic States were forced to become Soviet Socialist Republics and Finland is under military occupation).
These groups, once properly armed, will help disrupt the Soviet supply line and communications behind the frontlines. Some weapons and supplies are given to anti-Communist/fascist Ukrainians but this is much more difficult due to lack of contact and the tight control the NKVD/Red Army maintains over the border between Poland and the Ukraine.
The starting date of the German offensive is March 6th, 1941.
November 23rd, 1940- In the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo (Manchuria/northern China) Japanese forces begin final preparations of an offensive into northern China. Chinese forces, Communist and Nationalist, know of the planned offensive but can do little to stop it. But both Chinese factions begin a defense in depth against the Japanese forces arrayed against them. What the Chinese lack in tanks, planes and artillery they make up in the amount of small arms and light machine guns and of course numbers. The Japanese will pay a gruesome toll to advance.
But the Japanese Imperial Command has other ideas. Orders go out and special weapons are delivered to forward air bases. The Japanese were about to launch a new kind of war in China, one that would be destructive to the human body on the cellular level.
December 4th, 1940- Over 300 Japanese bombers fly south from Japanese airbases in Manchukuo. Out of these 300 over 200 are normal bombers with incendiary and explosive bombs while the other 100 carry a special type of bomb. The Japanese bombers target Chinese cities, supply lines, and troop formations. Casualties are in the tens of thousands for the Chinese while the Japanese only lose a dozen or so bombers. It is not until hours after the Japanese bombers return to base that reports come in to Chinese commanders, Communist and Nationalist alike, of plague and disease spreading through the cities and villages targeted by the Japanese Air Force.
The special bombs that the Japanese bombers carried were filled with deadly pathogens, germs and the like. It would take hours, in some cases days, for the local Chinese authorities to realize the problem: contamination of food, water and people. The pathogens kill thousands and leave tens of thousands sick and dying.
The Japanese are content to wait a few days for the pathogens to spread, causing havoc and fear before the pathogens die out.
December 9th, 1940- Japan launches its offensive in northern China. Japanese infantry, supported by artillery and the small number of Japanese tanks taking part in the offensive, tear through the first line of Chinese defenses after heavy fighting but after the first line of defense the other lines of defense fall quickly due to these soldiers are mainly sick and/or dying due to the Japanese germ-bombs released 5 days before. Some surrender to the Japanese, some run away to fight another day, others just lay there dying where they are quickly shot by the Japanese and their bodies burned.
December 12th, 1940- The Japanese advance on all fronts in northern China. Japanese troops had been vaccinated against all the germs used against the Chinese and suffer no casualties, all Chinese bodies that were infected are burned, and those that were sick were shot then burned. The Japanese fighters and bombers dish out death and destruction on refugees leaving the cities causing road blocks and delays for the Chinese forces trying to go north to fight the advancing Japanese.
December 13th, 1940- President Franklin D. Roosevelt announces on the radio of “Japanese atrocities against the Chinese people” and cuts off all diplomatic relations with the Japanese. He also leads an international protest against the Empire of Japan.
December 16th, 1940- The international pressure does not affect the Japanese as they continue their germ warfare and ground and air offensive in China with the death toll passing 150,000 since December 5th.
Roosevelt has other plans in store to limit Japanese expansion in China, but he will have to wait until
December 20th, 1940- Entente Command is finally ready to launch Operation Poseidon. In Scapa Flow, the Royal Navy’s base in the north of the United Kingdom, a large fleet leaves port. Thirty four destroyers, sixteen cruisers (light and heavy mixed) with two carriers (with full complements of fighters) and three battleships sail and in the middle of the large British fleet are dozens of transport ships carrying supplies, weapons and French and British infantry. Their objective: Norway.
For months Britain and France have tried to convince Norway to join the Entente and for months they have failed… mostly. The government and the king officially want to stay out of the war but some members of the government and many high ranking military officers realize either the Soviets or the Germans will gobble up Norway. Neutrality will not last for them, they must choose a side and out off all three alliances out there (Axis, Entente, Soviets) the Entente are the only democratic and the most friendly. So some high ranking generals and government officials plan a coup against the government to come to power and invite the Entente in to defend it against the Axis and potentially against the Soviets.
So as the Entente fleet moves north-east to Norway radio messages are sent out to the pro-Entente faction in Norway to take over the government and ask to be invited into the Entente and allow Entente troops to land in Norway.
Hans Skaargard yawned. It was late and his shift was about to be over. He was a corporal in the His Majesty the King’s Royal Guard, which was part of the Norwegian Army. He was new in the Guard, only have been in a little over 4 months. Some of the old-timers grumble about the heightened security since the war in the south began. And that war had spread to the east to, to Norway’s cousin nation of Sweden. He was sad about that; he had extended family there, thankfully in Stockholm, away from the fighting.
In their latest letter they talked about the expansion of the Swedish Army and that there were more German soldiers arriving every day, a depressing thought that. He was just thankful that Norway wasn’t in the war but how long could that last, he thought? All the major powers of Europe were at war and it was spreading. Would Norway one day be in the war?
He shook his head, best not to think about that. Footsteps echoed through the hallways of the Royal Palace. Ah! His replacement finally, took him long enough. Hmm, that’s strange he thought. That was Haarold; it was a dozen men in normal Army combat gear. Even stranger, one of them was a colonel. Hans stiffened to attention and saluted.
The colonel returned the salute then brought out his pistol. He pointed it at Hans, “Surrender your weapon, corporal.”
Knowing he had no choice, Hans surrendered his rifle. “What are you planning to do to His Majesty?”
“Protect him of course; we are putting him under house arrest, for his protection.”
“But why?” Hans asked bewildered. “We are the Royal Guard, we protect him.”
“Of course you do but His Majesty will not go along with our plans, of this we are certain, so now we have to be… unconventional.”
Two of the soldiers took him into custody and the rest continued down the hall where the King of Norway slept. Two more Royal Guards were there. Hans could hear talking, then gunfire. Two rifle shots and three shots with a pistol in quick succession. Then silence. A few minutes passed. Eventually the colonel came around the corner with the King who was dressed in just some plain clothes. The King looked distraught. Hans was furious at the colonel; his own fellow countrymen had taken the King hostage. And he had done nothing! Shame replaced his anger. He must at least try.
Hans hit the guard behind him, grabbed his rifle and shot the closest guard standing. He rushed to the King’s side but was gunned down by the colonel’s pistol. As he lay on the floor dying the colonel shook his head, “Damn fool,” and then Hans closed his eyes… forever.
December 21st, 1940- Pro-Entente factions in the Norwegian government and military launch a coup d’état. It is over within three hours. Pro-Entente forces control all major communication and armament centers. The King, the Prime Minister, and much of Parliament (those that did not support it in the first place) are put under house arrest. A provisional government is formed within an hour and the first order of business was to invite the Entente troops in. Very shortly thousands of British and French troops land at scheduled beach heads; at most they are treated as allies and defenders of Norway, at others they are shot at by anti-provisional government soldiers. But these are few and far between.
December 23rd, 1940- After two days the Norwegian Provisional Government, with the support of the French and British declare Norway as part of the Entente, the King could not be reached for comment (under house arrest). Only a few hundred people died in the transition of government, mostly French and British troops at beach landings when facing anti-Entente forces.
In Germany and the rest of the Axis the provisional government is called illegitimate and that the Norwegian people do not have to listen to it (their voted in government had been overturned). Hitler cancels the offensive in northern Sweden and begins moving troops to the western Swedish border. Norwegian fascists and communists begin small riots throughout the country that quickly turn into 3 way battles between fascists, communists and the police. Many Norwegians are shocked at the turn of events and while not supportive of the new Provisional Government they are not actively against it. But support for the Provisional Government is very low due to the nature it came to power.
Even neutral countries, particularly the U.S., condemn the coup d’état in Norway and some members of the U.S. Congress calls that all armaments being sold to the Entente be stopped. This motion is defeated readily but the motion is there, waiting to be renewed.
The world is in chaos and the chaos is spreading like a fire. How far will it spread before it is stopped? And what will remain but ashes…
(NOTE: I will be updating/editing the last chapters to make them easier to read and such, just wanted to get the chapter out).
Last edited:
Chapter 6: Nations Afire
Chapter 6: Nations Afire
Captain Theodore Hamilton walked down the streets of Bergen, Norway. It had been a little over a day since the landings of French and British troops in western and parts of southern Norway. In some parts the Entente was welcomed as protectors, in others as invaders. The Provisional Government had taken over the Norwegian government and key elements of the military and the pro-Entente faction of the population had sided with the Anglo-French forces… but a little over half of the military did not and most of the population was either part of the ‘Loyalist’ faction which was loyal to the old government and the King or were cautiously neutral. Behind him he heard the clank and roar of tanks rolling past him, he cheered seeing the Matilda Mark IIs and truck after truck of infantry behind them moving east. The Loyalists had fought off and on skirmishes with the Provisional forces and the Provisional Government was screaming for Entente support.
Planes of the RAF and the French Air Force flew overhead, again, heading east. Hamilton nodded in satisfaction. He had been on the Western Front since the war began and was very unsatisfied with the progress there. Artillery duels, a handful of raids, and a few large bombing runs into Germany and that was it. The bombing runs no one in London or Paris could call a success or failure. The casualty rates that the bombers and fighters suffered would affirm that they were failures.
But here at least there was no Westwall to deter the British or especially the French. Finally the Entente seemed whole-hearted about the campaign in Norway, at least so far. He checked his wristwatch, much more convenient than a pocket watch, and nodded. His unit would be moving up in the next hour. The sergeants and the lieutenants would round them up. He would finally fight the Germans face to face.
December 24th, 1940- Thousands of Entente troops continue to land in Norway and scores of Entente fighters and bombers land in western and southern Norway.
December 28th, 1940- After a week of preparing and establishing a supply line and securing control of western Norway, an offensive in western and Norway Entente forces move east and link up with Provisional Government forces that control southern and central Norway. Norwegian units that have remained loyal to the King, who is still under house arrest by the Provisional Government, move eastward towards the Swedish border where German units begin to cross over to help the Loyalist forces against the Provisional forces but German forces are only a couple of thousand infantry with virtually no armor or artillery support. German aircraft begin arriving from Sweden however.
December 29th-December 30th, 1940- German forces, headed by a panzer division and two panzergrenadier divisions, cross the Danish border. German transport ships drop infantry and marines near Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, where heavy fighting takes place. The Luftwaffe dominates the skies as in the first hours the German Luftwaffe destroys the Danish Army Air Service planes which were on the ground, unprepared for the onslaught.
Within 36 hours the Germans have complete control over Denmark. The Germans invaded Denmark for two reasons. 1: To occupy Denmark before the Entente could, this would threaten northern Germany with a possible land invasion of Germany via Denmark. 2: To secure more airfields closer to Norway and also to secure the Baltic Sea more effectively and protect northern Germany from any potential bombers launched from southern Norway.
The Germans proclaim they invaded Denmark to “protect Danish sovereignty against Western aggression”. The Germans allow the Danish government under King Christian X and Prime Minister Thorvald Stauning to remain in power… but under German supervision and authority.
January 4th, 1941- Entente and Axis forces clash in south eastern Norway in significant numbers for the first time. The Entente have the armored forces but the Germans have the support of much of the Norwegian population (many call the Provisional Government traitors and about half of the Norwegian military left the Provisional Government and joined the pro-Axis/Loyalist faction and joined the resistance groups against the Provisional Government) and the Germans have more veteran units that make up for their lack of numbers.
January 7th, 1941- Stalin, on advice from the Stavka, decides to postpone all offensive operations in Sweden for the time being to focus on the upcoming offensives and to take away much of the Swedish campaign’s ground forces to assist in the upcoming campaigns in Poland. Throughout the USSR hundreds of thousands of troops are pulled from Reserves in the Soviet Union, from secondary posts, and the ever increasing soldiers that have been drafted. 30 divisions from the Soviet Far East Army (Mongolia, Tannu Tuva, and Siberia) are also being sent west to eastern Poland via the Trans-Siberian Railroad. (Mongolia and Tannu Tuva are Soviet puppets).
The supply situation is much better this time around, the Trans-Ural factories are not yet complete but they are nearing completion and have begun to add production output to the factories in western Russia, Byelorussia and the Ukraine. The Soviet offensives in 1940 suffered from severe lack of supplies ranging from spare mechanical parts for tanks and planes to lack of trucks, grenades, and even machine guns. But throughout late 1940 and early 1941 production output had increased significantly as total war production policies had quadrupled production output and more factories had been built and brought online along with the ever increasing productive Trans-Ural factories. So the Soviet forces of 1941 have more combat experience, more munitions, supplies, and better tank forces (T-34/KV-1 are about a 1/6 of the tank force instead of just a very small fraction, the rest are BT-2, BT-5, BT-7 and T-26s) than the Soviet forces of 1940.
The Red Air Force still uses large amounts of I-15s, I-16s, Yak-1s, a small amount of Mig-1s and the new and improved Mig-3s which are arriving in very small numbers as production for these has barely begun. The Mig-3s and Yak-1s are slowly becoming the dominant fighter planes but as of now are still outnumbered by I-15s and I-16s. Improved models of the Yak-1 are beginning to come to front. Such as the Yak-7 (which is an overall improvement of the Yak-1) and another Soviet fighter is in development which is supposed to be better than the Mig-3 and the Yak-1s/Yak-7s but this is still at least a year away from field testing and mass production. Soviet bomber pilots continue to fly the Su-2 and the Tupolev SB. A more modern bomber with overall general improvements (for the Soviets at least) is beginning to be mass produced but is only available in extremely small numbers as of yet. This is the Pe-2 bomber.
January 12th, 1941- Neville Chamberlain after months of poor health passed away in London. He had remained Prime Minister, officially, but his health had negated quickly due to his bowel cancer. He is given a state funeral and a famous newsreel shows Princess Elizabeth crying as she set a wreath of flowers on his casket.
*(The reason Chamberlain lives as long as he does ITTL is the war is not as active therefore stressful on the Western Front. The Low Countries remain neutral and France has not been invaded. So due to less stress and the situation in the war he lives for a few months more and dies while in office. He was on his way to leave the office of Prime Minister but he died before it was finalized).
January 13th, 1941- Edward Wood, Lord Viscount Halifax, becomes Prime Minister of Britain. He holds the support of the King, the nobility and the upper-class of the British society, the support of the Labour Party and some support from the military. There was only one other person that could have vied for Prime Minister but Winston Churchill who was the runner-up is viewed as “too hot-blooded” and did not have the mold of a Prime Minister. Churchill will remain as First Lord of the Admiralty.
January 16th, 1941- Entente forces in central Norway begin pushing eastwards towards Loyalist/German defensive lines but the progress is slow.
January 27th, 1941- German U-boat losses in the North Sea and the East Atlantic are rising due to better, coordinated efforts of British and French navies protecting convoys. Commander of the U-boat Force Admiral Karl Dönitz has a plan to counter this. New doctrine and planning is being finalized and put into effect and the fruits of his labor will develop soon.
February 2nd, 1941- In China Japan officially declares its offensive a success and begins to clamp down on its newly conquered territories. Northern and Southern China are firmly under Japanese control with the entire eastern coastline under Japanese control except for British holdings such as Hong Kong. Japan does continue to bomb Chinese cities with germ bombs which continue to kill tens of thousands every week.
In Tokyo the Japanese Imperial Command is taking a keen interest in the much depleted Soviet Far East Army (Siberia, Mongolia, Tannu Tuva). With 30 divisions taken from the Far East the Soviet position, while formidable, is stretched manpower wise and despite the huge increase in Soviet supply and productivity the Far East had been stripped for tanks, planes and supplies for Operation Red Dawn and as of yet had not been replaced. Japanese divisions are moved, quietly, to the Manchurian/Soviet border.
February 4th, 1941- The threat of the upcoming Soviet offensive is so large that the Hungarian government realizes that if the Soviets knock Germany and Slovakia out of the war then Hungary would be next. In Budapest, Hungary German and Hungarian diplomats hash out the terms of Hungary joining the Axis. While Hungary has not officially joined the Axis they have joined in all but name. The Hungarians and Germans will not announce of the progress of the German-Hungarian relationships to lull the Soviets in a false sense of security.
When informed of Hungary unofficially joining the Axis alliance Hitler is jubilant. This was key to Operation Talon. Now Talon would have a much better chance to seriously damage the Soviet forces in Poland. Germany begins transporting hundreds of thousands of troops to start building up its forces in preparation for Talon.
February 7th, 1941- In Italy Mussolini is glad at the progress of the improvements and reforms being initiated throughout the Army, Air Force, and the Navy. While his military is getting stronger every month it was still not strong enough to take on the Entente. He would need another year or so at least. But he can help his German allies against the Soviets. He authorizes another ten divisions to be sent to the Eastern Front. Hitler will put these to good use.
February 13th, 1941- In the North Sea near southern Norway four German U-boats working in a Rudeltaktik (wolf pack) stalks a British convoy: eight freighters taking supplies to Norway with three destroyers guarding them.
Using the new Rudeltaktik one U-boat fires torpedoes at one of the destroyers, damaging the destroyer but not enough for it to sink; the remaining two destroyers go after the U-boat that had fired on the British destroyer. As the U-boat led the British destroyers away the other U-boats fire on the convoy ships sinking 5 in less than ten minutes causing the destroyers to reverse course and go back to the remaining 3 freighters. The U-boats sink another freighter and the heavily damaged destroyer. The U-boat that was running away turns around and the 4 U-boat force sink the remainder of the freighters and destroyers. This was the most stunning victory of the Kriegsmarine, specifically the U-boats over the Entente navy. The Rudeltaktik using U-boats (in groups of 3-5) will sink over a hundred freighters/enemy ships in the next week. Both the British and the French are forced to attach more destroyers, frigates and even a British carrier for the larger convoys.
The reason the Germans did so well in this ambush was the use of 4 U-boats in one attack, the Germans had not done this before and the British were not expecting it, the destroyers chased after the single U-boat at the beginning believing it to be the only U-boat. And these U-boat crews were all veterans, not fresh recruits. The next couple of weeks will be a ‘Happy Time’ for the Kriegsmarine for the first time since the British and French started escort convoys. But this ‘Happy Time’ will not last long, the French, and especially the Royal (British), Navy are fast learners.
Chapter 6: Nations Afire
Captain Theodore Hamilton walked down the streets of Bergen, Norway. It had been a little over a day since the landings of French and British troops in western and parts of southern Norway. In some parts the Entente was welcomed as protectors, in others as invaders. The Provisional Government had taken over the Norwegian government and key elements of the military and the pro-Entente faction of the population had sided with the Anglo-French forces… but a little over half of the military did not and most of the population was either part of the ‘Loyalist’ faction which was loyal to the old government and the King or were cautiously neutral. Behind him he heard the clank and roar of tanks rolling past him, he cheered seeing the Matilda Mark IIs and truck after truck of infantry behind them moving east. The Loyalists had fought off and on skirmishes with the Provisional forces and the Provisional Government was screaming for Entente support.
Planes of the RAF and the French Air Force flew overhead, again, heading east. Hamilton nodded in satisfaction. He had been on the Western Front since the war began and was very unsatisfied with the progress there. Artillery duels, a handful of raids, and a few large bombing runs into Germany and that was it. The bombing runs no one in London or Paris could call a success or failure. The casualty rates that the bombers and fighters suffered would affirm that they were failures.
But here at least there was no Westwall to deter the British or especially the French. Finally the Entente seemed whole-hearted about the campaign in Norway, at least so far. He checked his wristwatch, much more convenient than a pocket watch, and nodded. His unit would be moving up in the next hour. The sergeants and the lieutenants would round them up. He would finally fight the Germans face to face.
December 24th, 1940- Thousands of Entente troops continue to land in Norway and scores of Entente fighters and bombers land in western and southern Norway.
December 28th, 1940- After a week of preparing and establishing a supply line and securing control of western Norway, an offensive in western and Norway Entente forces move east and link up with Provisional Government forces that control southern and central Norway. Norwegian units that have remained loyal to the King, who is still under house arrest by the Provisional Government, move eastward towards the Swedish border where German units begin to cross over to help the Loyalist forces against the Provisional forces but German forces are only a couple of thousand infantry with virtually no armor or artillery support. German aircraft begin arriving from Sweden however.
December 29th-December 30th, 1940- German forces, headed by a panzer division and two panzergrenadier divisions, cross the Danish border. German transport ships drop infantry and marines near Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, where heavy fighting takes place. The Luftwaffe dominates the skies as in the first hours the German Luftwaffe destroys the Danish Army Air Service planes which were on the ground, unprepared for the onslaught.
Within 36 hours the Germans have complete control over Denmark. The Germans invaded Denmark for two reasons. 1: To occupy Denmark before the Entente could, this would threaten northern Germany with a possible land invasion of Germany via Denmark. 2: To secure more airfields closer to Norway and also to secure the Baltic Sea more effectively and protect northern Germany from any potential bombers launched from southern Norway.
The Germans proclaim they invaded Denmark to “protect Danish sovereignty against Western aggression”. The Germans allow the Danish government under King Christian X and Prime Minister Thorvald Stauning to remain in power… but under German supervision and authority.
January 4th, 1941- Entente and Axis forces clash in south eastern Norway in significant numbers for the first time. The Entente have the armored forces but the Germans have the support of much of the Norwegian population (many call the Provisional Government traitors and about half of the Norwegian military left the Provisional Government and joined the pro-Axis/Loyalist faction and joined the resistance groups against the Provisional Government) and the Germans have more veteran units that make up for their lack of numbers.
January 7th, 1941- Stalin, on advice from the Stavka, decides to postpone all offensive operations in Sweden for the time being to focus on the upcoming offensives and to take away much of the Swedish campaign’s ground forces to assist in the upcoming campaigns in Poland. Throughout the USSR hundreds of thousands of troops are pulled from Reserves in the Soviet Union, from secondary posts, and the ever increasing soldiers that have been drafted. 30 divisions from the Soviet Far East Army (Mongolia, Tannu Tuva, and Siberia) are also being sent west to eastern Poland via the Trans-Siberian Railroad. (Mongolia and Tannu Tuva are Soviet puppets).
The supply situation is much better this time around, the Trans-Ural factories are not yet complete but they are nearing completion and have begun to add production output to the factories in western Russia, Byelorussia and the Ukraine. The Soviet offensives in 1940 suffered from severe lack of supplies ranging from spare mechanical parts for tanks and planes to lack of trucks, grenades, and even machine guns. But throughout late 1940 and early 1941 production output had increased significantly as total war production policies had quadrupled production output and more factories had been built and brought online along with the ever increasing productive Trans-Ural factories. So the Soviet forces of 1941 have more combat experience, more munitions, supplies, and better tank forces (T-34/KV-1 are about a 1/6 of the tank force instead of just a very small fraction, the rest are BT-2, BT-5, BT-7 and T-26s) than the Soviet forces of 1940.
The Red Air Force still uses large amounts of I-15s, I-16s, Yak-1s, a small amount of Mig-1s and the new and improved Mig-3s which are arriving in very small numbers as production for these has barely begun. The Mig-3s and Yak-1s are slowly becoming the dominant fighter planes but as of now are still outnumbered by I-15s and I-16s. Improved models of the Yak-1 are beginning to come to front. Such as the Yak-7 (which is an overall improvement of the Yak-1) and another Soviet fighter is in development which is supposed to be better than the Mig-3 and the Yak-1s/Yak-7s but this is still at least a year away from field testing and mass production. Soviet bomber pilots continue to fly the Su-2 and the Tupolev SB. A more modern bomber with overall general improvements (for the Soviets at least) is beginning to be mass produced but is only available in extremely small numbers as of yet. This is the Pe-2 bomber.
January 12th, 1941- Neville Chamberlain after months of poor health passed away in London. He had remained Prime Minister, officially, but his health had negated quickly due to his bowel cancer. He is given a state funeral and a famous newsreel shows Princess Elizabeth crying as she set a wreath of flowers on his casket.
*(The reason Chamberlain lives as long as he does ITTL is the war is not as active therefore stressful on the Western Front. The Low Countries remain neutral and France has not been invaded. So due to less stress and the situation in the war he lives for a few months more and dies while in office. He was on his way to leave the office of Prime Minister but he died before it was finalized).
January 13th, 1941- Edward Wood, Lord Viscount Halifax, becomes Prime Minister of Britain. He holds the support of the King, the nobility and the upper-class of the British society, the support of the Labour Party and some support from the military. There was only one other person that could have vied for Prime Minister but Winston Churchill who was the runner-up is viewed as “too hot-blooded” and did not have the mold of a Prime Minister. Churchill will remain as First Lord of the Admiralty.
January 16th, 1941- Entente forces in central Norway begin pushing eastwards towards Loyalist/German defensive lines but the progress is slow.
January 27th, 1941- German U-boat losses in the North Sea and the East Atlantic are rising due to better, coordinated efforts of British and French navies protecting convoys. Commander of the U-boat Force Admiral Karl Dönitz has a plan to counter this. New doctrine and planning is being finalized and put into effect and the fruits of his labor will develop soon.
February 2nd, 1941- In China Japan officially declares its offensive a success and begins to clamp down on its newly conquered territories. Northern and Southern China are firmly under Japanese control with the entire eastern coastline under Japanese control except for British holdings such as Hong Kong. Japan does continue to bomb Chinese cities with germ bombs which continue to kill tens of thousands every week.
In Tokyo the Japanese Imperial Command is taking a keen interest in the much depleted Soviet Far East Army (Siberia, Mongolia, Tannu Tuva). With 30 divisions taken from the Far East the Soviet position, while formidable, is stretched manpower wise and despite the huge increase in Soviet supply and productivity the Far East had been stripped for tanks, planes and supplies for Operation Red Dawn and as of yet had not been replaced. Japanese divisions are moved, quietly, to the Manchurian/Soviet border.
February 4th, 1941- The threat of the upcoming Soviet offensive is so large that the Hungarian government realizes that if the Soviets knock Germany and Slovakia out of the war then Hungary would be next. In Budapest, Hungary German and Hungarian diplomats hash out the terms of Hungary joining the Axis. While Hungary has not officially joined the Axis they have joined in all but name. The Hungarians and Germans will not announce of the progress of the German-Hungarian relationships to lull the Soviets in a false sense of security.
When informed of Hungary unofficially joining the Axis alliance Hitler is jubilant. This was key to Operation Talon. Now Talon would have a much better chance to seriously damage the Soviet forces in Poland. Germany begins transporting hundreds of thousands of troops to start building up its forces in preparation for Talon.
February 7th, 1941- In Italy Mussolini is glad at the progress of the improvements and reforms being initiated throughout the Army, Air Force, and the Navy. While his military is getting stronger every month it was still not strong enough to take on the Entente. He would need another year or so at least. But he can help his German allies against the Soviets. He authorizes another ten divisions to be sent to the Eastern Front. Hitler will put these to good use.
February 13th, 1941- In the North Sea near southern Norway four German U-boats working in a Rudeltaktik (wolf pack) stalks a British convoy: eight freighters taking supplies to Norway with three destroyers guarding them.
Using the new Rudeltaktik one U-boat fires torpedoes at one of the destroyers, damaging the destroyer but not enough for it to sink; the remaining two destroyers go after the U-boat that had fired on the British destroyer. As the U-boat led the British destroyers away the other U-boats fire on the convoy ships sinking 5 in less than ten minutes causing the destroyers to reverse course and go back to the remaining 3 freighters. The U-boats sink another freighter and the heavily damaged destroyer. The U-boat that was running away turns around and the 4 U-boat force sink the remainder of the freighters and destroyers. This was the most stunning victory of the Kriegsmarine, specifically the U-boats over the Entente navy. The Rudeltaktik using U-boats (in groups of 3-5) will sink over a hundred freighters/enemy ships in the next week. Both the British and the French are forced to attach more destroyers, frigates and even a British carrier for the larger convoys.
The reason the Germans did so well in this ambush was the use of 4 U-boats in one attack, the Germans had not done this before and the British were not expecting it, the destroyers chased after the single U-boat at the beginning believing it to be the only U-boat. And these U-boat crews were all veterans, not fresh recruits. The next couple of weeks will be a ‘Happy Time’ for the Kriegsmarine for the first time since the British and French started escort convoys. But this ‘Happy Time’ will not last long, the French, and especially the Royal (British), Navy are fast learners.
Might be worth pointing this out: http://english.battlefield.ru/red-army-tanks-prior-the-gpw.html
Thank you very much. Yes the Italians will be a power to be reckoned with once their reforms/upgrades are done. Not as effective as the British, Germans, the Soviets or Americans but they will do better in this TL then in OTL
Chapter 7: Clash of the Titans
Chapter 7: Clash of the Titans
February 16th, 1941- German Panzer IVs, the upgraded version with the anti-panzer 75mm cannon, begin arriving in large amounts to German panzer division in central Poland and Hungary. The ones arriving in Hungary arrive by night and secretly. The Germans are forming a large Army Group in Hungary. The Soviets, through their intelligence network, detect mass movement in Hungary and step up defenses on the Soviet controlled Polish-Hungary border but these are mainly just raw infantry divisions with little armor and artillery support as they just assume it is Hungary readying their military with little if any help from the Germans.
February 27th, 1941- The Kriegsmarine ‘Happy Time’ is considered over as the Entente adapt to the new German Rudeltaktik. German U-boats continue to prowl the East/North Atlantic and the North Sea but must carefully select their targets.
February 28th, 1941- In Soviet controlled parts of Poland the Soviets begin mobilizing for their offensive. German intelligence picks this up and raises their readiness status for their forces in Poland.
March 1st, 1941- The Soviets launch Operation Hammer:
Over 3.5 million Soviet soldiers with over 6,000 tanks move west after a six hour bombardment. Facing the Soviets are 1.5 million Axis soldiers, 1.2 million are German, and the rest are Slovakian, Italian and Fascist volunteers from throughout the world (also 50,000 of these are anti-communist/fascist Polish recruits who are deemed Aryan/sub-Aryan and will be granted citizenship in the German Reich after the war is over. These Poles are very loyal to their new masters and what they lack in heavy equipment they more than make up in spirit and determination). The Germans have 2,000 panzers (most are older version of the Panzer III but with a healthy amount of the up-gunned 50mm IIIs and older and newer version of the Panzer IV.
The Soviets advance due to the sheer amount of superior numbers. Operation Hammer is going smoothly with higher than expected casualties but within allowed range of losses. German 88s, which are mainly anti-air cannons, are very effective against Red Army tanks, even the T-34 and the KV-1.
Luftwaffe and Red Air Force fight in numbers not yet seen on the Eastern Front with hundreds destroyed on the first day. Within three hours of the massive Soviet bombardment Hitler authorizes the preparation for Talon. The actual operation will be launched when it is deemed the Soviets have over-extended themselves. Between now and the launch of Talon German, along with other Axis forces, make a successful defensive withdrawal, causing high casualties for the enemy and moving west to prepared positions and fighting long enough to hurt the enemy significantly then moving west to more defensive systems.
March 3rd, 1941- The Soviet advances in East Prussia are minimal but steady. The Nazi Gau (regional Party leader) of Königsberg authorizes the recruitment of local citizens for damage control and to assist the Wehrmacht whenever and whichever way possible. German civilians begin digging extensive trenches and fortifications around the German city which were already extensive.
March 6th, 1941- 5 days after the Soviet offensive commenced the Soviets have made adequate gains in southern central Poland. The German defenses between Lodz and Lublin have taken a heavy beating and even though the defense is organized and executed efficiently the sheer weight of the Soviet forces are pushing the Germans back, albeit bloody meter by bloody meter.
March 8th, 1941- Entente troops in Norway, using modern tank doctrine and coordination between planes and ground forces, are able to break through Loyalist/German lines. Due to the stalemate on the Gustaf Line in northern Sweden (not enough Soviet troops to break through) two Swedish divisions and a hastily assembled German panzergrenadier division are sent to Norway.
March 12th, 1941- Operation Sickle is launched. It is a continuation of Hammer and the Sickle forces add another million and a half of troops with another 1500 tanks. The Sickle contingents will extend Soviet control on the flanks of their offensive and to solidify positions around Krakow and central Poland.
March 14th, 1941- German forces begin the pre-Talon phase of the operation. German units in central Poland are pulled back to the Danzig Line as quietly and quickly as possible. Since the offensive has started the Soviets had advanced to the outskirts of Königsberg and are in the process of encircling it like they did the previous year where they surrounded it on the south, east and west sides; The Soviet advance in mid central Poland is a near disaster with Red Army units only 30 kilometers or so west of their pre-offensive positions. The situation in southern central Poland is faring much better. Lublin has been retaken (the Germans pulled out before the city was encircled), Lviv (which was formerly part of eastern Poland but was annexed into the Ukrainian SSR, and the only significant city that was technically a Soviet city due to the Soviet annexation of eastern Poland that had been occupied by German soldiers towards the end of Dagger) had been liberated. Soviet forces were approaching Lodz and Kielce was on the verge of falling to the Soviets. Stavka predicted that if Kielce fell than Krakow would follow soon after. Stalin was feeling confident, especially with reports of entire German army groups moving westward towards the Danzig Line. Stalin and Stavka do not realize this is all part of the Germans plan.
March 17th, 1941- Kielce, after a bloody tank and street to street battle, falls to the advancing Red Army. The Red Air Force, which had not attained air superiority as hoped, continues to contest for control of the skies.
March 18th, 1941- The Axis reinforcements in eastern Norway slow down and eventually stop the Entente offensive. Both sides begin digging in. The Entente unwilling to spend the blood necessary to force the Axis out of the small sliver of Norway they still control. The Axis just cannot commit the men and material to launch an offensive against the British and French.
March 20th, 1941- Lodz falls to the Soviets but German soldiers continue to assist Polish partisans that plague Soviet supply lines and secondary positions.
March 24th, 1941- Königsberg is surrounded except for the ports north of the city. The Second Siege of Königsberg begins.
March 26th, 1941- Soviet troops enter extreme artillery range of Krakow but stiff German defenses stall the Red Army before they could get any closer. Due to the lack of manned defenses between Lodz and the Danzig Line (this is because of the Germans pulling almost all of their troops to the Danzig Line to shorten their supply lines and to overextend the Soviets.
April 2nd, 1941- Germans forces have completely abandoned central Poland except for the area around Krakow. The Danzig Line is all that stands between the Soviets and the German Reich (Germany, Austria, Bohemia and Moravia, and the western third of Poland which had been annexed into the Reich.)
April 4th, 1941- Red Army troops, led by tanks and armored vehicles, enter north eastern Slovakia. German and Slovakian forces slow and eventually stop the advancing Bolsheviks. Stalin is content with stopping the offensive here to focus on punching through the Danzig Line.
April 8th, 1941- Soviet forces, after a heavy artillery barrage and a concentrated armor thrust pierce the Danzig Line in three places suffering immense casualties.
April 17th, 1941- Soviet forces enter the outskirts of Poznan but German defense is fanatical and the Soviets are forced to stop to assemble a force large and powerful enough to take the city.
In Moscow Stalin and the Stavka are ecstatic. Poznan had been reached, the siege around Königsberg is slowly closing in on the city but the German defenses are still too strong for the Red Army to break through. All of central (General Government) Poland is in Soviet hands except for Krakow area. Also part of Slovakia had been taken but no plans for an advance there is planned.
Reports of Hungary mobilizing its military and of increased German-Hungarian cooperation raises little alarm in Moscow but General Zhukov has pushed for increased defense forces on the Soviet-Hungarian. Stalin agrees there should be a precaution but details no significant tank forces only infantry and some light artillery. It is the opinion of Marshal Timoshenko that the Hungarians would not dare attack as the USSR appeared to be winning the war.
Stalin, wary of another operation like Dagger, orders large amounts of infantry and thousands of tanks to face the German forces near Krakow (where Dagger was launched from last year).
April 20th, 1941- Hitler’s 52nd birthday party is Berlin is subdued. Many of the Germans there did not know of the operational details of Talon or know of the operation at all. The ones that did were worried. This was Germany’s last chance. If Talon succeeded it might change the course of the war. If it failed… National Socialist Germany would be destroyed by Bolshevistic- Communism. This was an anathema to Germany. It must not happen.
April 23rdth, 1941- The Soviets had taken Lodz, Lviv, Lublin, neared Krakow, surrounded Königsberg and were on the outskirts of Poznan. Soviet bombers and fighters still did not dominate the sky but were heavily concentrated in western Poland. The Soviets had suffered heavily advancing west. Out of the combined 5 million troops and 7500 tanks (Hammer and Sickle components) the Red Army had lost almost 600,000 troops and 800 tanks (mainly older Soviet models, not a large amount of T-34s or KV-1s) to advance to the positions they held now. (Most of the tank losses were by German panzers that held adequate defensible positions and caused heavy casualties on the Red Army tank divisions. Also German 88s were very effective destroying Soviet tanks.) The Axis had lost about 130,000 (100,000 German) (some of these will return as they were just wounded not killed) and about 300 panzers (most were Panzer IIs, and old version of the III).
April 24th, 1941- A top-secret communiqué from Berlin to Budapest gives the go ahead for Operation Talon. Field Marshal von Manstein, who was in north eastern Hungary, just south of the Hungarian-Soviet border, will command the operation (right after Dagger over a score of Generals in the Luftwaffe and the Heer were promoted to Field Marshal). Operation Talon was the brainchild of Hitler with large amounts of insight and edits from the General Staff and the top field officers of the Wehrmacht. It was ambitious, very, very ambitious but if it succeeded it may save Germany from the Red Hordes of Communism. Von Manstein would lead Phase 1 of the operation while von Rundstedt and von Bock would lead Phase II and III respectively.
He looked at Colonel-General Heinz Guderian who sat in the chair across von Manstein’s desk. He read the orders the communiqué entailed to the unofficial but de facto leader of Germany’s panzer forces. Guderian listened attentively and when von Manstein finished Guderian nodded. “So it begins.”
“Correct, Heinz. Assemble the Fourth Panzer Army, we launch Talon at dawn.”
Guderian stood up, saluted his commanding officer and left von Manstein’s headquarters and preceded to the Army encampment just outside of the small town von Manstein had his headquarters. While the Kübelwagen drove through the camp Guderian saw thousands of German soldiers readying themselves, checking equipment, eating, catching some sleep or praying. Further from the camp, surrounded by ever vigilant guards, were the panzers. Hundreds of them at this camp alone, only part of the Fourth Panzer Army. The up-gunned 50mm Panzer IIIs with their underpowered Panzer III brothers with the 37mm were about a third of the assembled panzers. Most were the Panzer IV and almost all of those were the 75mm anti-panzer cannon equipped panzer, not the anti-infantry one which was quickly being replaced by the newer and much improved model.
Guderian spent the rest of the night finalizing operational reports and details. It was not until 4:00 a.m. that left his command tent and put himself in his armored car that would allow him to keep up with the leading elements of his panzers. The next 90 minutes seemed to crawl. At precisely 5:30 artillery all along the border between Hungary and the Soviet Union (USSR annexed eastern Poland) opened fire onto known Soviet positions. The barrage consisted of hundreds of German 105s and almost the entire artillery contingent of the Hungarian Army. German fighters, dive bombers and bombers flew overhead to hit Soviet supply depots and railroad junctions.
On 6:00 a.m. on the dot German panzers with the accompanying infantry, which rode in trucks and halftracks, moved north. Within twenty minutes German and Soviet troops exchanged fire but the Red Army units here were raw and inexperienced, not exactly front-line units, were defeated easily.
Guderian smiled. The operation was off to a good start. Hopefully it would continue.
Chapter 7: Clash of the Titans
February 16th, 1941- German Panzer IVs, the upgraded version with the anti-panzer 75mm cannon, begin arriving in large amounts to German panzer division in central Poland and Hungary. The ones arriving in Hungary arrive by night and secretly. The Germans are forming a large Army Group in Hungary. The Soviets, through their intelligence network, detect mass movement in Hungary and step up defenses on the Soviet controlled Polish-Hungary border but these are mainly just raw infantry divisions with little armor and artillery support as they just assume it is Hungary readying their military with little if any help from the Germans.
February 27th, 1941- The Kriegsmarine ‘Happy Time’ is considered over as the Entente adapt to the new German Rudeltaktik. German U-boats continue to prowl the East/North Atlantic and the North Sea but must carefully select their targets.
February 28th, 1941- In Soviet controlled parts of Poland the Soviets begin mobilizing for their offensive. German intelligence picks this up and raises their readiness status for their forces in Poland.
March 1st, 1941- The Soviets launch Operation Hammer:
Over 3.5 million Soviet soldiers with over 6,000 tanks move west after a six hour bombardment. Facing the Soviets are 1.5 million Axis soldiers, 1.2 million are German, and the rest are Slovakian, Italian and Fascist volunteers from throughout the world (also 50,000 of these are anti-communist/fascist Polish recruits who are deemed Aryan/sub-Aryan and will be granted citizenship in the German Reich after the war is over. These Poles are very loyal to their new masters and what they lack in heavy equipment they more than make up in spirit and determination). The Germans have 2,000 panzers (most are older version of the Panzer III but with a healthy amount of the up-gunned 50mm IIIs and older and newer version of the Panzer IV.
The Soviets advance due to the sheer amount of superior numbers. Operation Hammer is going smoothly with higher than expected casualties but within allowed range of losses. German 88s, which are mainly anti-air cannons, are very effective against Red Army tanks, even the T-34 and the KV-1.
Luftwaffe and Red Air Force fight in numbers not yet seen on the Eastern Front with hundreds destroyed on the first day. Within three hours of the massive Soviet bombardment Hitler authorizes the preparation for Talon. The actual operation will be launched when it is deemed the Soviets have over-extended themselves. Between now and the launch of Talon German, along with other Axis forces, make a successful defensive withdrawal, causing high casualties for the enemy and moving west to prepared positions and fighting long enough to hurt the enemy significantly then moving west to more defensive systems.
March 3rd, 1941- The Soviet advances in East Prussia are minimal but steady. The Nazi Gau (regional Party leader) of Königsberg authorizes the recruitment of local citizens for damage control and to assist the Wehrmacht whenever and whichever way possible. German civilians begin digging extensive trenches and fortifications around the German city which were already extensive.
March 6th, 1941- 5 days after the Soviet offensive commenced the Soviets have made adequate gains in southern central Poland. The German defenses between Lodz and Lublin have taken a heavy beating and even though the defense is organized and executed efficiently the sheer weight of the Soviet forces are pushing the Germans back, albeit bloody meter by bloody meter.
March 8th, 1941- Entente troops in Norway, using modern tank doctrine and coordination between planes and ground forces, are able to break through Loyalist/German lines. Due to the stalemate on the Gustaf Line in northern Sweden (not enough Soviet troops to break through) two Swedish divisions and a hastily assembled German panzergrenadier division are sent to Norway.
March 12th, 1941- Operation Sickle is launched. It is a continuation of Hammer and the Sickle forces add another million and a half of troops with another 1500 tanks. The Sickle contingents will extend Soviet control on the flanks of their offensive and to solidify positions around Krakow and central Poland.
March 14th, 1941- German forces begin the pre-Talon phase of the operation. German units in central Poland are pulled back to the Danzig Line as quietly and quickly as possible. Since the offensive has started the Soviets had advanced to the outskirts of Königsberg and are in the process of encircling it like they did the previous year where they surrounded it on the south, east and west sides; The Soviet advance in mid central Poland is a near disaster with Red Army units only 30 kilometers or so west of their pre-offensive positions. The situation in southern central Poland is faring much better. Lublin has been retaken (the Germans pulled out before the city was encircled), Lviv (which was formerly part of eastern Poland but was annexed into the Ukrainian SSR, and the only significant city that was technically a Soviet city due to the Soviet annexation of eastern Poland that had been occupied by German soldiers towards the end of Dagger) had been liberated. Soviet forces were approaching Lodz and Kielce was on the verge of falling to the Soviets. Stavka predicted that if Kielce fell than Krakow would follow soon after. Stalin was feeling confident, especially with reports of entire German army groups moving westward towards the Danzig Line. Stalin and Stavka do not realize this is all part of the Germans plan.
March 17th, 1941- Kielce, after a bloody tank and street to street battle, falls to the advancing Red Army. The Red Air Force, which had not attained air superiority as hoped, continues to contest for control of the skies.
March 18th, 1941- The Axis reinforcements in eastern Norway slow down and eventually stop the Entente offensive. Both sides begin digging in. The Entente unwilling to spend the blood necessary to force the Axis out of the small sliver of Norway they still control. The Axis just cannot commit the men and material to launch an offensive against the British and French.
March 20th, 1941- Lodz falls to the Soviets but German soldiers continue to assist Polish partisans that plague Soviet supply lines and secondary positions.
March 24th, 1941- Königsberg is surrounded except for the ports north of the city. The Second Siege of Königsberg begins.
March 26th, 1941- Soviet troops enter extreme artillery range of Krakow but stiff German defenses stall the Red Army before they could get any closer. Due to the lack of manned defenses between Lodz and the Danzig Line (this is because of the Germans pulling almost all of their troops to the Danzig Line to shorten their supply lines and to overextend the Soviets.
April 2nd, 1941- Germans forces have completely abandoned central Poland except for the area around Krakow. The Danzig Line is all that stands between the Soviets and the German Reich (Germany, Austria, Bohemia and Moravia, and the western third of Poland which had been annexed into the Reich.)
April 4th, 1941- Red Army troops, led by tanks and armored vehicles, enter north eastern Slovakia. German and Slovakian forces slow and eventually stop the advancing Bolsheviks. Stalin is content with stopping the offensive here to focus on punching through the Danzig Line.
April 8th, 1941- Soviet forces, after a heavy artillery barrage and a concentrated armor thrust pierce the Danzig Line in three places suffering immense casualties.
April 17th, 1941- Soviet forces enter the outskirts of Poznan but German defense is fanatical and the Soviets are forced to stop to assemble a force large and powerful enough to take the city.
In Moscow Stalin and the Stavka are ecstatic. Poznan had been reached, the siege around Königsberg is slowly closing in on the city but the German defenses are still too strong for the Red Army to break through. All of central (General Government) Poland is in Soviet hands except for Krakow area. Also part of Slovakia had been taken but no plans for an advance there is planned.
Reports of Hungary mobilizing its military and of increased German-Hungarian cooperation raises little alarm in Moscow but General Zhukov has pushed for increased defense forces on the Soviet-Hungarian. Stalin agrees there should be a precaution but details no significant tank forces only infantry and some light artillery. It is the opinion of Marshal Timoshenko that the Hungarians would not dare attack as the USSR appeared to be winning the war.
Stalin, wary of another operation like Dagger, orders large amounts of infantry and thousands of tanks to face the German forces near Krakow (where Dagger was launched from last year).
April 20th, 1941- Hitler’s 52nd birthday party is Berlin is subdued. Many of the Germans there did not know of the operational details of Talon or know of the operation at all. The ones that did were worried. This was Germany’s last chance. If Talon succeeded it might change the course of the war. If it failed… National Socialist Germany would be destroyed by Bolshevistic- Communism. This was an anathema to Germany. It must not happen.
April 23rdth, 1941- The Soviets had taken Lodz, Lviv, Lublin, neared Krakow, surrounded Königsberg and were on the outskirts of Poznan. Soviet bombers and fighters still did not dominate the sky but were heavily concentrated in western Poland. The Soviets had suffered heavily advancing west. Out of the combined 5 million troops and 7500 tanks (Hammer and Sickle components) the Red Army had lost almost 600,000 troops and 800 tanks (mainly older Soviet models, not a large amount of T-34s or KV-1s) to advance to the positions they held now. (Most of the tank losses were by German panzers that held adequate defensible positions and caused heavy casualties on the Red Army tank divisions. Also German 88s were very effective destroying Soviet tanks.) The Axis had lost about 130,000 (100,000 German) (some of these will return as they were just wounded not killed) and about 300 panzers (most were Panzer IIs, and old version of the III).
April 24th, 1941- A top-secret communiqué from Berlin to Budapest gives the go ahead for Operation Talon. Field Marshal von Manstein, who was in north eastern Hungary, just south of the Hungarian-Soviet border, will command the operation (right after Dagger over a score of Generals in the Luftwaffe and the Heer were promoted to Field Marshal). Operation Talon was the brainchild of Hitler with large amounts of insight and edits from the General Staff and the top field officers of the Wehrmacht. It was ambitious, very, very ambitious but if it succeeded it may save Germany from the Red Hordes of Communism. Von Manstein would lead Phase 1 of the operation while von Rundstedt and von Bock would lead Phase II and III respectively.
He looked at Colonel-General Heinz Guderian who sat in the chair across von Manstein’s desk. He read the orders the communiqué entailed to the unofficial but de facto leader of Germany’s panzer forces. Guderian listened attentively and when von Manstein finished Guderian nodded. “So it begins.”
“Correct, Heinz. Assemble the Fourth Panzer Army, we launch Talon at dawn.”
Guderian stood up, saluted his commanding officer and left von Manstein’s headquarters and preceded to the Army encampment just outside of the small town von Manstein had his headquarters. While the Kübelwagen drove through the camp Guderian saw thousands of German soldiers readying themselves, checking equipment, eating, catching some sleep or praying. Further from the camp, surrounded by ever vigilant guards, were the panzers. Hundreds of them at this camp alone, only part of the Fourth Panzer Army. The up-gunned 50mm Panzer IIIs with their underpowered Panzer III brothers with the 37mm were about a third of the assembled panzers. Most were the Panzer IV and almost all of those were the 75mm anti-panzer cannon equipped panzer, not the anti-infantry one which was quickly being replaced by the newer and much improved model.
Guderian spent the rest of the night finalizing operational reports and details. It was not until 4:00 a.m. that left his command tent and put himself in his armored car that would allow him to keep up with the leading elements of his panzers. The next 90 minutes seemed to crawl. At precisely 5:30 artillery all along the border between Hungary and the Soviet Union (USSR annexed eastern Poland) opened fire onto known Soviet positions. The barrage consisted of hundreds of German 105s and almost the entire artillery contingent of the Hungarian Army. German fighters, dive bombers and bombers flew overhead to hit Soviet supply depots and railroad junctions.
On 6:00 a.m. on the dot German panzers with the accompanying infantry, which rode in trucks and halftracks, moved north. Within twenty minutes German and Soviet troops exchanged fire but the Red Army units here were raw and inexperienced, not exactly front-line units, were defeated easily.
Guderian smiled. The operation was off to a good start. Hopefully it would continue.
Last edited:
Chapter 8: Talon Strikes Deep
Chapter 8: Talon Strikes Deep
Elrich Dorff, recently promoted to corporal, ran in a hunched position to the next place of cover. Beside him hundreds of German soldiers ran forward, most of them veterans of the past year. Panzers, the efficient III and the deadly new anti-panzer 75mm armed IVs moved forward shattering Soviet lines and leaving the remnants to the infantry.
Overhead hundreds of Luftwaffe planes: bombers, dive-bombers, and fighters dropping destruction upon the Bolsheviks. Dorff had fought the Soviets since they had betrayed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and had fought in Warsaw when the Wehrmacht was retreating west and in Lodz and had been in Dagger. All those paled to this. Operation Talon was Dagger on a much larger scale.
A halftrack carrying soldiers in Feldgrau moved by with a Soviet machinegun firing at it, you could tell which guns were which by the way they sounded. German machine guns were faster, some said it was like paper being ripped in half and the Soviet gun was slower. The German MG-34 was also much easier to carry than the Soviet machinegun which made supporting advancing soldiers much easier.
Dorff grabbed a grenade out of a satchel bag, prepped it and threw it at the Soviet machine gun. A few seconds later it exploded, shredding the two Red Army soldiers. A soldier in the halftrack waved in thanks. Dorff returned it.
He looked at the men of his squad, the sergeant had died earlier by one of the many bullets flying through the air. “Come on men, if we keep pushing we will break the Ivan’s back.” Dorff and his men ran over to the next piece of cover to continue the battle.
April 25th, 1941- Germany launches Operation Talon. Phase I led by Field Marshal von Manstein launches from Hungary (within an hour of the operation Hungary publicly joins the Axis and declares war on the USSR) and German armored thrusts pierce Soviet lines and move north by north west.
Phase I of Talon consists of 80 German divisions (800,000 men), with over 900 panzers (mainly the upgraded Panzer III and almost all of the upgraded Panzer IVs) along with 300,000 Hungarian and Italian troops with light artillery elements and some armored units which act mainly as secondary support.
The offensive catches Stalin and Stavka off guard. They had been expecting an offensive from Krakow not Hungary. The units on the Hungarian border were second line units, either fresh/raw troops or battle weary troops on R&R. Units from central Poland and even from western Poland are pulled to fight the German offensive but these will take time and Stalin refuses to pull troops back to better defensive positions. Most of the tank forces will remain in western Poland to watch out for a German offensive there as Stalin believes an offensive from around Krakow as the biggest threat. Luftwaffe units operating out of northern Hungary were able to surprise local Red Air Force squadrons and destroyed most of them on the ground. The Luftwaffe will dominate south-central Poland until Soviet fighter squadrons can transfer over.
The German infantry, using the new Panzerfaust (armor fist) anti-panzer weapon that is fresh off the production line, are able to contest and even defeat older model Soviet armor easily. The T-34 and the KV-1 take multiple shots from a Panzerfaust even when shot on the side where the armor is thinner but the weapon is lightweight and cheap so replacements are plentiful. German soldiers, in areas without panzer support, are able to take out scores of Soviet tanks. A new German variant of the Stuka is used for the first time with great results. The 37mm cannon armed panzer-busting Stuka is annihilating Soviet mobile units. It is destructive to all forms of Soviet tanks and motor vehicles. The Soviets might outnumber the Germans but the Germans have more panzers in the area, better anti-panzer weapons and the individual German soldier is on average much better.
April 28th, 1941- General Ernst Udet reports to Berlin that the Air Shield Program is about 30% complete. Construction of the radar installations plus interceptor squadrons assigned to each one is going along smoothly. Full completion is predicted to be early 1942 at current construction. As of now the Westwall is almost completely covered by radar but the rest of Germany has virtually no radar coverage yet.
April 30th, 1941- Reports of the progress of the German radar program alarm the British Bomber Command. Any future raids in Germany which was already costly will begin becoming more deadly. Pleas from frontline commanders on the French-German border reach Entente Command, asking, pleading, begging for large scale bombing on the Westwall to hamper/destroy as many installations as possible and to hurt the Germans. Entente fighter defense doctrine and training has improved significantly and Entente bomber crews have become much more skilled but Entente Command is not willing to lose any more pilots and planes over Germany. The Entente, other than the campaign in Norway, will do very little for a while. Better to let the Fritz and the Ivan fight each other to near death allowing the French and British to scoop up the pieces (Many in Britain and France view the Soviet Union as more evil than Nazi Germany and are content with the Germans and the Soviets to fight each other to the point to where the Germans will have to strip even more of their forces from the Westwall which will allow the French and the British to invade Germany only having to fight young boys and old men with older equipment. That is the hope anyway).
May 2nd, 1941- After a week forward German units have taken Lviv and Lublin from the Soviets who had not prepared defenses. The part of eastern Slovakia that had been taken by the Soviets is liberated but the Soviets have firm defenses near the Krakow area and that is where nearly half of their armored forces are so no major move is made to push them out. The Soviets believe this is because they are too strong there, in reality it is all part of the Germans plan.
May 4th, 1941- President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Halifax meet while Halifax is on a state visit to Washington D.C. While publicly both appear friendly the reality is Roosevelt cannot stand Halifax. Roosevelt wants Halifax to take a more aggressive stance in the war. The campaign in Norway is widely unpopular with the death toll of Entente forces reaching 40,000 (most of these are from the Entente offensive that tried to push Loyalist/German/Swedish out of Norway but a good quarter of these deaths are from partisans and guerrilla action from Norwegian civilians that are loyal to the King who still remains under house arrest by the Provisional Government), the lack of action in France and the rising amount of pro-fascist sentiment in France (the war is unpopular in Britain and especially France and France is having large scale riots and right wing/fascist parties like the Action française are having parades, rallies and speeches. The topic of their speeches is anti-Communism and how “Germany is the bulwark against Bolshevism and must be assisted in their War of Race and Ideology.” These rallies are being attended by thousands and are ever growing. Leftist parties, Communist/Socialist and Liberal fight in the streets of major French cities against the Rightist parties). Halifax and Roosevelt argue for hours. Halifax despite being the Head of Government of a world power at war he is more concerned with keeping the British Empire stable and the war contained to Europe with a minimum of British casualties. It is the opinion of Roosevelt that while Halifax might be a good leader for Britain in times of peace, in times of war he is highly ineffective.
May 5th, 1941- Phase II of Talon is launched. Field Marshal von Rundstedt with 350,000 men and about 400 panzers break through the thinly held lines around Königsberg and quickly move south retaking much of central East Prussia (tens of thousands of men that were besieging the German city were pulled south to fight the bulging German offensive there, these men are to be used as a stop gap measure against the offensive from Hungary and these troops were reserve troops and reinforcements would be on their way to Königsberg, this is why von Rundstedt is able to break through the Red Army lines).
May 8th, 1941- German elements from Danzig move eastward and the Soviet forces there, assailed from both the west and east shatter and the German forces link up and move south slowly.
May 9th, 1941- German forces from Phase I continue to advance quickly. Soviet commanders are screaming for reinforcements and are receiving much in the ways of infantry but not much in the terms of armor. Some leading elements of the German offensive are out running their supply line and reinforcements.
May 11th, 1941- Three divisions of German infantry and scores of panzers are cut off and surrounded by Soviet forces just south of Lodz. The encircled Germans scream for relief but relief cannot break through the Soviet ring of iron. These troops had far outpaced reinforcements and supplies and the Red Army took advantage of it.
In eastern Manchuria (Manchukuo) Lieutenant General Tomoyuki Yamashita looked across the horizon, east towards the Soviet Union. The Soviet city of Vladivostok, the key to the Soviet Far East, was ripe for the taking. The Soviets had stripped the Far East bare of troops, tanks and planes to fight the Germans. They are weak here, he thought. The Soviets were so worried of the Germans and so confident of the superiority of the Red Army and Red Air Force due to the Battle of Khalkhin Gol that the white men of the Soviet Union did not consider the Empire a threat. He chuckled, the Empire was ready. Operations in China, other than poison gas and germ warfare bombing to kill and intimidate the Chinese, had been put on hold. The Kwantung Army consisted of almost 700,000 men with over 800 planes of the Army Air Service and 300 Type 97 Chi-Ha tanks. The Navy would also take part in this endeavor. Admiral Yamamoto had enough pull to convince the Navy that helping the Army attack the Soviets would be beneficial to the Empire and the Emperor. The Soviet Far East Fleet was open for attack and the Naval Air Service planes would also decimate the Red Air Force contingents on the coast.
The wind was rippling the Japanese flag that he stood beside. He looked at it and he was proud The Empire would rise and dominate the Pacific, which time was approaching fast. War was coming. The Empire was ready, the resources of Siberia were too vast to ignore. He continued to look eastwards… towards the rising sun.
May 15th, 1941- The Japanese Imperial Command finalizes their offensive operations against the Soviet Far East,code named White Tiger . There is no set date as of yet, the Japanese will wait and see how the war between the Soviets and Germans go. If the Germans show signs of winning the Japanese will launch their attack. If the Germans appear to be losing the Japanese will refrain from attacking and decide on another course of action.
May 18th, 1941- German forces approach Kielce. Soviet troops are transferred from western Poland to face this threat but this weakens the Soviet defenses in western Poland.
May 19th, 1941- After eight days of fierce combat the surrounded German soldiers are forced to surrender. Out of the 30,000 German soldiers and about 70 panzers only 6500 soldiers and 8 panzers are the only ones left to surrender.
May 22nd, 1941- Kielce falls to German armored units. Marshal Timoshenko, commander of all Soviet forces in the war against Germany, petitions Stalin to pull back to better defensive lines near Warsaw. Stalin sends back a heated message refusing Timoshenko to move one soldier away from the frontlines. Stalin is committed to holding the territory Hammer and Sickle acquired, no matter the cost.
June 3rd, 1941- Phase III is launched. 1 million men and 1200 panzers drive east from just west of Poznan. The German forces while still heavily outnumbered do have better anti-panzer weaponry and better tactics with a much closer supply chain.
June 4th, 1941- Soviet infantry and tanks near Poznan are crushed by the advancing Germans. The Germans are advancing on this front due to massive use of the Panzerfaust which is destroying many tanks along with the 37mm armed Stukas.
Marshal of the Soviet Union Semyon Timoshenko looked at the reports before him. He rubbed his eyes, sleeping as of late was short and fitful. The reports were not good. The Germans had captured Lviv, Lublin, and Kielce, broke the siege of Königsberg and were approaching Warsaw and Lodz. If any of these cities fell the entire Soviet position in Poland would rupture. There was plenty of infantry and artillery in these places but almost all the tanks were in western Poland, particularly around Krakow. If Lodz or Warsaw fell then all the Soviet troops near Krakow would be pocketed and the best tank and infantry divisions of the USSR would be trapped between the jaws of the German war machine. All the petitions to Stalin to withdraw went either unanswered or a stern no was the only reply.
The Germans did not have the numbers the Soviets did but they had the tactics, the leadership (the purges had ruined the officer corps), the ferocity and the will to fight. Morale was dangerously low with tens of thousands that had deserted or in some cases rebelled but those had been put down quickly before the news spread. The NKVD had begun shooting hundreds of suspected defeatists to stop any thought of retreat. If the German advance forces of the southern prong (Phase I via Hungary) combined forces with the slower advancing northern prong (Phase II via Königsberg) in central Poland then anything west of that location would be trapped and probably destroyed by the Germans, and with it the chances of a Soviet victory for years.
Timoshenko opened a drawer at his desk and inside was a bottle of vodka and a Tokarev pistol. He could drink himself to death or shoot himself. Let some other do his job. Zhukov might be able to, if anyone can he could. But no, not yet. He closed the drawer and picked up the phone on his desk. Timoshenko began issuing orders for Soviet forces to move eastwards, towards Warsaw, to abandon everything west of the Vistula with Warsaw and Brest to become fortresses against the German tide. If enough men and tanks, especially tanks, made it then if worse comes to worse the Soviets would lose most if not all of Poland but the USSR itself would remain safe if an effective defense with troops and armor was erected but if the Soviet Union lost those tank and infantry forces there would not be much to stop the Axis from taking the Baltics and large stretches of Belarussia and possibly the western half of the Ukraine. Timoshenko defied Stalin and there would be consequences, he only hoped that he had done it in time.
June 7th, 1941- Marshal Semyon Timoshenko, against Stalin’s orders, has authorized large scale retreat from western Poland. Over 3 million men and 3500 tanks are ordered out of western Poland. Whether they can escape to Warsaw or eastern Poland is very much in doubt. Within hours orders go out negating Timoshenko’s orders but General Konev supports the withdrawal orders and the Soviet troops in western Poland, once the order was given to withdrawal it would be near impossible to stop, like a flood.
June 8th, 1941- Marshal Timoshenko and General Konev are arrested by the NKVD and flown to Moscow later that day to answer for their ‘crimes.’ Konev was arrested due to him being the Polish Theater commander and making no move to contradict Timoshenko’s orders despite that he knew they went against Stalin’s orders. General Vatutin, commander of the Baltic Theater is not arrested as his troops in East Prussia have not been forced to retreat. It was a close thing though. Stalin is unhappy with how his generals are running the war. He is contemplating another large scale purge near the scale of the Great Purge of 1936 once the frontline stabilizes. He notifies Beria to begin collecting information, false or otherwise, on many of the officer corps so their potential trials can be legitimized.
General Zhukov who has all but finished the Army Reformation program is promoted to Marshal and sent west to be overall commander of the flailing Soviet forces in Poland and the Baltic (he becomes overall commander of the entire war against Germany and assumes personal command in Poland).
June 9th, 1941- The German High Command is worried. The whole point of Talon was to trap the Soviets in western Poland and destroy systematically. The General Staff were confident that Timoshenko would follow Stalin’s orders to the letter. New orders go out. German armored elements of both Phases I and II are ordered to expedite their movement towards each other. Panzer and infantry reserves are rushed forward to protect the flanks of the two Phases and to ensure they continue to drive forward.
German bombers rain destruction on retreating Soviet columns and heavily damage roads, railroads and supply caches making entire divisions unable to retreat and forcing them to stand their ground against the oncoming Germans. The Luftwaffe and the Red Air Force continue to fight for air supremacy over Poland and is still very much in the balance. The Soviets are taking more casualties but the Soviets have more planes to replace their losses.
Marshal Zhukov arrives in Brest and realizes that there could be no reversing of Timoshenko’s order, it was too late, and hundreds of thousands of men and their equipment were fleeing east trying to escape the advancing Germans. Zhukov informs Stalin of the situation and that since the withdrawal has started it cannot be stopped and must be carried as efficiently as possible. Stalin agrees but informs Zhukov he wants a counter-offensive as soon as possible. Zhukov realizes that will be nearly impossible but promises Stalin he will launch one when the opportunity arrives (Zhukov is just saying this to please Stalin, nothing else).
June 10th, 1941- Secret negotiations with Bulgaria are rapidly improving as German victory after German victory reached the capital city Sofia. Bulgaria is on the verge of joining the Axis but needs some more victories by the Germans to ensure this. Romania is also leaning heavily to the Axis but will not join due to Romania bordering the USSR. Turkey, a long time rival of Russia and more recently the Soviet Union, takes a special interest in the outcome of the war. Prime Minister Mustafa İsmet İnönü wants to keep Turkey out of the war but militarism and nationalism is on the rise. Turkey will not join the Axis but it will remain friendly towards it. The Turkish Armed Forces will also be modernized (the Turkish military is severely behind and İnönü states that the modernization if to secure the safety of Turkey and its people.
June 12th, 1941- In a high level meeting in Rome Mussolini tells his top commanders of the Navy, Air Force, and Army that he wants to finally enter the war on a much bigger scale. The reforms, expansion and modernization of the Italian military are not quite completed but are close enough for Mussolini to contemplate an offensive against the Entente.
Mussolini wants to establish Italian hegemony over the Mediterranean. The only question was where to strike first. France was out of the question, the Maginot Line might not be as strong where Italy bordered it as it was against the Germans but it was still formidable. Italian Libya in North Africa was surrounded by the French to the west and the British to the east. Yugoslavia was an obvious choice but it could be taken once more difficult objectives had been accomplished first. Greece was not an official ally of the Entente but leaned heavily towards it and Mussolini saw Greece as nothing more than a potential addition to the Kingdom of Italy. Malta… Malta would be a problem he knew. The British controlled island in the Mediterranean would interfere with all movements by sea between Sicily and Libya. Mussolini knew that if he was to have any chance of successfully fighting the Entente on his own in the Balkans and North Africa (Germany is too heavily committed against the Soviet Union to contribute little if at all) Italy must strike hard and fast in strategic areas before Entente reinforcements arrive.
Mussolini wants an offensive, codenamed Caesar, to be ready by October. The Italian High Command quickly gets to work.
June 13th, 1941- Timoshenko and Konev, after a trial, are condemned and accused of treason, cowardice, and insubordination just to top of the list. Both men will be killed by an NKVD firing squad by the end of the day and their bodies thrown into a mass grave. Morale in the Red Army and to a lesser extent the Red Air Force is plummeting like a rock.
June 16th, 1941- German forces of Phases I and II finally link up in the city of Lodz. The Soviets were able to get a million and a half infantry out but over 2500 tanks and three million troops are trapped in the large pocket in what will quickly be called the Krakow Pocket (the Soviets had reached the outskirts of the city when Phase I launched and the Germans have made no move to push them out as of yet, their focus had been elsewhere).
June 19th, 1941- The German defenses around the Krakow Pocket but not as strong as the German High Command believes. Zhukov orders the Soviets trapped there to break out. The Red army tanks only have enough fuel for one last ditch attempt.
June 21st, 1941- Soviet forces in the Krakow Pocket attempt to break out. They are driving north east to break the defenses there and rush to Soviet territory as quick as possible. The tanks and any troops that can match pace with the armored forces will go between Kielce and Lublin. The Germans know they must not let any significant forces escape the Pocket.
The Soviets at first make solid gains in the early hours of the breakout but German dive bombers wreak havoc over the long columns of Soviet tanks and infantry. German armored forces begin attacking the flanks of the Soviets but the Soviets are holding, albeit barely. Zhukov sends armored reserves from Warsaw to try and link up with the Soviets that are trying to break out. Getting those soldiers and tanks out is the number one priority of the Soviet Marshal.
June 24th, 1941- After three days of advancing and with the Zhukov’s counter-attack from Warsaw coming as a shock the German lines between Warsaw and south east of Lodz are broken and Soviet men and armor begin flooding north east towards Warsaw. The Krakow Pocket had been relieved but this would not last. Already German panzer divisions and infantry are attempting to destroy the gap connecting the two Soviet forces.
June 25th, 1941- German infantry, spearheaded by panzers led by Guderian, are able to pierce the sliver of territory connecting the two Soviet armies and a half dozen minor attack all along the German-Soviet front has forced Zhukov to stop his counter-attack. Before the gap had been closed 300,000 men and 400 tanks were able to escape to the Soviet lines. But these tanks that do make it are suffering from lack of maintenance and lack of ammunition and fuel. The Red Army men fare no better, most of their heavy equipment was left in the Krakow Pocket and are heavily demoralized and many do not even have rifles (they dropped them to run faster to reach Soviet territory). The remaining troops in the Krakow Pocket are facing imminent destruction as the lack of fuel and ammunition hurts their already brittle defenses. The surviving Soviets in the Krakow Pocket number two million with only 1300 tanks left but many of these are breaking down and there is too little fuel left to launch another breakout attempt. Stalin orders the generals in the Krakow Pocket not to surrender and fight to the death to buy time for Zhukov to make an effective defense and to leave the Germans vulnerable to any potential counter-attack.
July 1st, 1941- After days of valiant resistance the commanders of the Krakow Pocket surrender to the Germans. There were no shortages of ammunition or fuel, there was none to be short of, it was all gone. The last three days had seen the Pocket shrink to a fifth of the size it used to be and hundreds of thousands have died since the breakout attempt. The remaining Red Army men, 1.5 million and 600 tanks surrender to the Germans in the largest surrender in the history of warfare. Most of the Soviet tanks had been purposely destroyed or rendered useless by Soviet engineers. The Red Army generals surrendering may have not seen any point of fighting anymore but they will be damned if they give the Germans useful tanks. The tanks that were recoverable will be repaired and repainted with a German cross on the side and sent to German panzer divisions. The rest will be spare parts for those tanks. The 1.5 million men that surrendered to the Germans will be put in labor camps under the direction of the SS. They will rebuild all of Poland currently in German hands. Roads, railroads, airstrips receive top priority. This large workforce will free up tens of thousands of German laborers that can either be drafted in the Army or for them to focus on constructing more factories in Germany. To keep the prisoners in check for every prisoner attempting to escape, 100 Soviets will be shot per attempted escapee, if a prisoner does escape, then 500 per escapee.
July 6th, 1941- Throughout the Soviet Union dissension with Stalin’s regime is rising. Reports of insubordination, especially from units in the Red Army and Air Force are being kept quiet, for now. Nationalist/ fascist/anti-Communist elements throughout the Soviet Union, particularly the Baltic States, Belarussia (to a lesser degree) and the Ukraine especially are beginning to institute small riots and anti-Soviet/anti-Communist propaganda is beginning to sprout up through the countryside.
In Moscow Stalin and the Stavka are apprehensive and Stalin is becoming more and more paranoid of the ability of his officers to run the war. For weeks he had been considering a purge and the surrender of the Krakow Pocket and the large scale dissension throughout Soviet Union is the last straw. Stalin unleashes Beria and his NKVD to arrest and execute any and all officers deemed insufficiently good Communists or lacking of faith in Stalin or the inevitable victory. NKVD police battalions are also sent to round up all dissenters and execute them as well.
Throughout the Soviet Union men and women are rounded up in numbers not seen since the Great Purge of 1936. Throughout the streets of Kiev, Minsk, Smolensk, Leningrad, Stalingrad and Moscow and all the other Soviet cities thousands are rounded up and sent east to the gulags of Siberia with thousands more shot after mock trials. Fear, distrust and paranoia reaches an all time high. Much of the top military officers like Zhukov, Vatutin and Voroshilov and Stavka are not liquidated as of yet but many of the lower ranking officers are suspect to arrest and execution. The Soviet Union is a powder keg, ready to be lit with the fires of revolution and nationalism.
Chapter 8: Talon Strikes Deep
Elrich Dorff, recently promoted to corporal, ran in a hunched position to the next place of cover. Beside him hundreds of German soldiers ran forward, most of them veterans of the past year. Panzers, the efficient III and the deadly new anti-panzer 75mm armed IVs moved forward shattering Soviet lines and leaving the remnants to the infantry.
Overhead hundreds of Luftwaffe planes: bombers, dive-bombers, and fighters dropping destruction upon the Bolsheviks. Dorff had fought the Soviets since they had betrayed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and had fought in Warsaw when the Wehrmacht was retreating west and in Lodz and had been in Dagger. All those paled to this. Operation Talon was Dagger on a much larger scale.
A halftrack carrying soldiers in Feldgrau moved by with a Soviet machinegun firing at it, you could tell which guns were which by the way they sounded. German machine guns were faster, some said it was like paper being ripped in half and the Soviet gun was slower. The German MG-34 was also much easier to carry than the Soviet machinegun which made supporting advancing soldiers much easier.
Dorff grabbed a grenade out of a satchel bag, prepped it and threw it at the Soviet machine gun. A few seconds later it exploded, shredding the two Red Army soldiers. A soldier in the halftrack waved in thanks. Dorff returned it.
He looked at the men of his squad, the sergeant had died earlier by one of the many bullets flying through the air. “Come on men, if we keep pushing we will break the Ivan’s back.” Dorff and his men ran over to the next piece of cover to continue the battle.
April 25th, 1941- Germany launches Operation Talon. Phase I led by Field Marshal von Manstein launches from Hungary (within an hour of the operation Hungary publicly joins the Axis and declares war on the USSR) and German armored thrusts pierce Soviet lines and move north by north west.
Phase I of Talon consists of 80 German divisions (800,000 men), with over 900 panzers (mainly the upgraded Panzer III and almost all of the upgraded Panzer IVs) along with 300,000 Hungarian and Italian troops with light artillery elements and some armored units which act mainly as secondary support.
The offensive catches Stalin and Stavka off guard. They had been expecting an offensive from Krakow not Hungary. The units on the Hungarian border were second line units, either fresh/raw troops or battle weary troops on R&R. Units from central Poland and even from western Poland are pulled to fight the German offensive but these will take time and Stalin refuses to pull troops back to better defensive positions. Most of the tank forces will remain in western Poland to watch out for a German offensive there as Stalin believes an offensive from around Krakow as the biggest threat. Luftwaffe units operating out of northern Hungary were able to surprise local Red Air Force squadrons and destroyed most of them on the ground. The Luftwaffe will dominate south-central Poland until Soviet fighter squadrons can transfer over.
The German infantry, using the new Panzerfaust (armor fist) anti-panzer weapon that is fresh off the production line, are able to contest and even defeat older model Soviet armor easily. The T-34 and the KV-1 take multiple shots from a Panzerfaust even when shot on the side where the armor is thinner but the weapon is lightweight and cheap so replacements are plentiful. German soldiers, in areas without panzer support, are able to take out scores of Soviet tanks. A new German variant of the Stuka is used for the first time with great results. The 37mm cannon armed panzer-busting Stuka is annihilating Soviet mobile units. It is destructive to all forms of Soviet tanks and motor vehicles. The Soviets might outnumber the Germans but the Germans have more panzers in the area, better anti-panzer weapons and the individual German soldier is on average much better.
April 28th, 1941- General Ernst Udet reports to Berlin that the Air Shield Program is about 30% complete. Construction of the radar installations plus interceptor squadrons assigned to each one is going along smoothly. Full completion is predicted to be early 1942 at current construction. As of now the Westwall is almost completely covered by radar but the rest of Germany has virtually no radar coverage yet.
April 30th, 1941- Reports of the progress of the German radar program alarm the British Bomber Command. Any future raids in Germany which was already costly will begin becoming more deadly. Pleas from frontline commanders on the French-German border reach Entente Command, asking, pleading, begging for large scale bombing on the Westwall to hamper/destroy as many installations as possible and to hurt the Germans. Entente fighter defense doctrine and training has improved significantly and Entente bomber crews have become much more skilled but Entente Command is not willing to lose any more pilots and planes over Germany. The Entente, other than the campaign in Norway, will do very little for a while. Better to let the Fritz and the Ivan fight each other to near death allowing the French and British to scoop up the pieces (Many in Britain and France view the Soviet Union as more evil than Nazi Germany and are content with the Germans and the Soviets to fight each other to the point to where the Germans will have to strip even more of their forces from the Westwall which will allow the French and the British to invade Germany only having to fight young boys and old men with older equipment. That is the hope anyway).
May 2nd, 1941- After a week forward German units have taken Lviv and Lublin from the Soviets who had not prepared defenses. The part of eastern Slovakia that had been taken by the Soviets is liberated but the Soviets have firm defenses near the Krakow area and that is where nearly half of their armored forces are so no major move is made to push them out. The Soviets believe this is because they are too strong there, in reality it is all part of the Germans plan.
May 4th, 1941- President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Halifax meet while Halifax is on a state visit to Washington D.C. While publicly both appear friendly the reality is Roosevelt cannot stand Halifax. Roosevelt wants Halifax to take a more aggressive stance in the war. The campaign in Norway is widely unpopular with the death toll of Entente forces reaching 40,000 (most of these are from the Entente offensive that tried to push Loyalist/German/Swedish out of Norway but a good quarter of these deaths are from partisans and guerrilla action from Norwegian civilians that are loyal to the King who still remains under house arrest by the Provisional Government), the lack of action in France and the rising amount of pro-fascist sentiment in France (the war is unpopular in Britain and especially France and France is having large scale riots and right wing/fascist parties like the Action française are having parades, rallies and speeches. The topic of their speeches is anti-Communism and how “Germany is the bulwark against Bolshevism and must be assisted in their War of Race and Ideology.” These rallies are being attended by thousands and are ever growing. Leftist parties, Communist/Socialist and Liberal fight in the streets of major French cities against the Rightist parties). Halifax and Roosevelt argue for hours. Halifax despite being the Head of Government of a world power at war he is more concerned with keeping the British Empire stable and the war contained to Europe with a minimum of British casualties. It is the opinion of Roosevelt that while Halifax might be a good leader for Britain in times of peace, in times of war he is highly ineffective.
May 5th, 1941- Phase II of Talon is launched. Field Marshal von Rundstedt with 350,000 men and about 400 panzers break through the thinly held lines around Königsberg and quickly move south retaking much of central East Prussia (tens of thousands of men that were besieging the German city were pulled south to fight the bulging German offensive there, these men are to be used as a stop gap measure against the offensive from Hungary and these troops were reserve troops and reinforcements would be on their way to Königsberg, this is why von Rundstedt is able to break through the Red Army lines).
May 8th, 1941- German elements from Danzig move eastward and the Soviet forces there, assailed from both the west and east shatter and the German forces link up and move south slowly.
May 9th, 1941- German forces from Phase I continue to advance quickly. Soviet commanders are screaming for reinforcements and are receiving much in the ways of infantry but not much in the terms of armor. Some leading elements of the German offensive are out running their supply line and reinforcements.
May 11th, 1941- Three divisions of German infantry and scores of panzers are cut off and surrounded by Soviet forces just south of Lodz. The encircled Germans scream for relief but relief cannot break through the Soviet ring of iron. These troops had far outpaced reinforcements and supplies and the Red Army took advantage of it.
In eastern Manchuria (Manchukuo) Lieutenant General Tomoyuki Yamashita looked across the horizon, east towards the Soviet Union. The Soviet city of Vladivostok, the key to the Soviet Far East, was ripe for the taking. The Soviets had stripped the Far East bare of troops, tanks and planes to fight the Germans. They are weak here, he thought. The Soviets were so worried of the Germans and so confident of the superiority of the Red Army and Red Air Force due to the Battle of Khalkhin Gol that the white men of the Soviet Union did not consider the Empire a threat. He chuckled, the Empire was ready. Operations in China, other than poison gas and germ warfare bombing to kill and intimidate the Chinese, had been put on hold. The Kwantung Army consisted of almost 700,000 men with over 800 planes of the Army Air Service and 300 Type 97 Chi-Ha tanks. The Navy would also take part in this endeavor. Admiral Yamamoto had enough pull to convince the Navy that helping the Army attack the Soviets would be beneficial to the Empire and the Emperor. The Soviet Far East Fleet was open for attack and the Naval Air Service planes would also decimate the Red Air Force contingents on the coast.
The wind was rippling the Japanese flag that he stood beside. He looked at it and he was proud The Empire would rise and dominate the Pacific, which time was approaching fast. War was coming. The Empire was ready, the resources of Siberia were too vast to ignore. He continued to look eastwards… towards the rising sun.
May 15th, 1941- The Japanese Imperial Command finalizes their offensive operations against the Soviet Far East,code named White Tiger . There is no set date as of yet, the Japanese will wait and see how the war between the Soviets and Germans go. If the Germans show signs of winning the Japanese will launch their attack. If the Germans appear to be losing the Japanese will refrain from attacking and decide on another course of action.
May 18th, 1941- German forces approach Kielce. Soviet troops are transferred from western Poland to face this threat but this weakens the Soviet defenses in western Poland.
May 19th, 1941- After eight days of fierce combat the surrounded German soldiers are forced to surrender. Out of the 30,000 German soldiers and about 70 panzers only 6500 soldiers and 8 panzers are the only ones left to surrender.
May 22nd, 1941- Kielce falls to German armored units. Marshal Timoshenko, commander of all Soviet forces in the war against Germany, petitions Stalin to pull back to better defensive lines near Warsaw. Stalin sends back a heated message refusing Timoshenko to move one soldier away from the frontlines. Stalin is committed to holding the territory Hammer and Sickle acquired, no matter the cost.
June 3rd, 1941- Phase III is launched. 1 million men and 1200 panzers drive east from just west of Poznan. The German forces while still heavily outnumbered do have better anti-panzer weaponry and better tactics with a much closer supply chain.
June 4th, 1941- Soviet infantry and tanks near Poznan are crushed by the advancing Germans. The Germans are advancing on this front due to massive use of the Panzerfaust which is destroying many tanks along with the 37mm armed Stukas.
Marshal of the Soviet Union Semyon Timoshenko looked at the reports before him. He rubbed his eyes, sleeping as of late was short and fitful. The reports were not good. The Germans had captured Lviv, Lublin, and Kielce, broke the siege of Königsberg and were approaching Warsaw and Lodz. If any of these cities fell the entire Soviet position in Poland would rupture. There was plenty of infantry and artillery in these places but almost all the tanks were in western Poland, particularly around Krakow. If Lodz or Warsaw fell then all the Soviet troops near Krakow would be pocketed and the best tank and infantry divisions of the USSR would be trapped between the jaws of the German war machine. All the petitions to Stalin to withdraw went either unanswered or a stern no was the only reply.
The Germans did not have the numbers the Soviets did but they had the tactics, the leadership (the purges had ruined the officer corps), the ferocity and the will to fight. Morale was dangerously low with tens of thousands that had deserted or in some cases rebelled but those had been put down quickly before the news spread. The NKVD had begun shooting hundreds of suspected defeatists to stop any thought of retreat. If the German advance forces of the southern prong (Phase I via Hungary) combined forces with the slower advancing northern prong (Phase II via Königsberg) in central Poland then anything west of that location would be trapped and probably destroyed by the Germans, and with it the chances of a Soviet victory for years.
Timoshenko opened a drawer at his desk and inside was a bottle of vodka and a Tokarev pistol. He could drink himself to death or shoot himself. Let some other do his job. Zhukov might be able to, if anyone can he could. But no, not yet. He closed the drawer and picked up the phone on his desk. Timoshenko began issuing orders for Soviet forces to move eastwards, towards Warsaw, to abandon everything west of the Vistula with Warsaw and Brest to become fortresses against the German tide. If enough men and tanks, especially tanks, made it then if worse comes to worse the Soviets would lose most if not all of Poland but the USSR itself would remain safe if an effective defense with troops and armor was erected but if the Soviet Union lost those tank and infantry forces there would not be much to stop the Axis from taking the Baltics and large stretches of Belarussia and possibly the western half of the Ukraine. Timoshenko defied Stalin and there would be consequences, he only hoped that he had done it in time.
June 7th, 1941- Marshal Semyon Timoshenko, against Stalin’s orders, has authorized large scale retreat from western Poland. Over 3 million men and 3500 tanks are ordered out of western Poland. Whether they can escape to Warsaw or eastern Poland is very much in doubt. Within hours orders go out negating Timoshenko’s orders but General Konev supports the withdrawal orders and the Soviet troops in western Poland, once the order was given to withdrawal it would be near impossible to stop, like a flood.
June 8th, 1941- Marshal Timoshenko and General Konev are arrested by the NKVD and flown to Moscow later that day to answer for their ‘crimes.’ Konev was arrested due to him being the Polish Theater commander and making no move to contradict Timoshenko’s orders despite that he knew they went against Stalin’s orders. General Vatutin, commander of the Baltic Theater is not arrested as his troops in East Prussia have not been forced to retreat. It was a close thing though. Stalin is unhappy with how his generals are running the war. He is contemplating another large scale purge near the scale of the Great Purge of 1936 once the frontline stabilizes. He notifies Beria to begin collecting information, false or otherwise, on many of the officer corps so their potential trials can be legitimized.
General Zhukov who has all but finished the Army Reformation program is promoted to Marshal and sent west to be overall commander of the flailing Soviet forces in Poland and the Baltic (he becomes overall commander of the entire war against Germany and assumes personal command in Poland).
June 9th, 1941- The German High Command is worried. The whole point of Talon was to trap the Soviets in western Poland and destroy systematically. The General Staff were confident that Timoshenko would follow Stalin’s orders to the letter. New orders go out. German armored elements of both Phases I and II are ordered to expedite their movement towards each other. Panzer and infantry reserves are rushed forward to protect the flanks of the two Phases and to ensure they continue to drive forward.
German bombers rain destruction on retreating Soviet columns and heavily damage roads, railroads and supply caches making entire divisions unable to retreat and forcing them to stand their ground against the oncoming Germans. The Luftwaffe and the Red Air Force continue to fight for air supremacy over Poland and is still very much in the balance. The Soviets are taking more casualties but the Soviets have more planes to replace their losses.
Marshal Zhukov arrives in Brest and realizes that there could be no reversing of Timoshenko’s order, it was too late, and hundreds of thousands of men and their equipment were fleeing east trying to escape the advancing Germans. Zhukov informs Stalin of the situation and that since the withdrawal has started it cannot be stopped and must be carried as efficiently as possible. Stalin agrees but informs Zhukov he wants a counter-offensive as soon as possible. Zhukov realizes that will be nearly impossible but promises Stalin he will launch one when the opportunity arrives (Zhukov is just saying this to please Stalin, nothing else).
June 10th, 1941- Secret negotiations with Bulgaria are rapidly improving as German victory after German victory reached the capital city Sofia. Bulgaria is on the verge of joining the Axis but needs some more victories by the Germans to ensure this. Romania is also leaning heavily to the Axis but will not join due to Romania bordering the USSR. Turkey, a long time rival of Russia and more recently the Soviet Union, takes a special interest in the outcome of the war. Prime Minister Mustafa İsmet İnönü wants to keep Turkey out of the war but militarism and nationalism is on the rise. Turkey will not join the Axis but it will remain friendly towards it. The Turkish Armed Forces will also be modernized (the Turkish military is severely behind and İnönü states that the modernization if to secure the safety of Turkey and its people.
June 12th, 1941- In a high level meeting in Rome Mussolini tells his top commanders of the Navy, Air Force, and Army that he wants to finally enter the war on a much bigger scale. The reforms, expansion and modernization of the Italian military are not quite completed but are close enough for Mussolini to contemplate an offensive against the Entente.
Mussolini wants to establish Italian hegemony over the Mediterranean. The only question was where to strike first. France was out of the question, the Maginot Line might not be as strong where Italy bordered it as it was against the Germans but it was still formidable. Italian Libya in North Africa was surrounded by the French to the west and the British to the east. Yugoslavia was an obvious choice but it could be taken once more difficult objectives had been accomplished first. Greece was not an official ally of the Entente but leaned heavily towards it and Mussolini saw Greece as nothing more than a potential addition to the Kingdom of Italy. Malta… Malta would be a problem he knew. The British controlled island in the Mediterranean would interfere with all movements by sea between Sicily and Libya. Mussolini knew that if he was to have any chance of successfully fighting the Entente on his own in the Balkans and North Africa (Germany is too heavily committed against the Soviet Union to contribute little if at all) Italy must strike hard and fast in strategic areas before Entente reinforcements arrive.
Mussolini wants an offensive, codenamed Caesar, to be ready by October. The Italian High Command quickly gets to work.
June 13th, 1941- Timoshenko and Konev, after a trial, are condemned and accused of treason, cowardice, and insubordination just to top of the list. Both men will be killed by an NKVD firing squad by the end of the day and their bodies thrown into a mass grave. Morale in the Red Army and to a lesser extent the Red Air Force is plummeting like a rock.
June 16th, 1941- German forces of Phases I and II finally link up in the city of Lodz. The Soviets were able to get a million and a half infantry out but over 2500 tanks and three million troops are trapped in the large pocket in what will quickly be called the Krakow Pocket (the Soviets had reached the outskirts of the city when Phase I launched and the Germans have made no move to push them out as of yet, their focus had been elsewhere).
June 19th, 1941- The German defenses around the Krakow Pocket but not as strong as the German High Command believes. Zhukov orders the Soviets trapped there to break out. The Red army tanks only have enough fuel for one last ditch attempt.
June 21st, 1941- Soviet forces in the Krakow Pocket attempt to break out. They are driving north east to break the defenses there and rush to Soviet territory as quick as possible. The tanks and any troops that can match pace with the armored forces will go between Kielce and Lublin. The Germans know they must not let any significant forces escape the Pocket.
The Soviets at first make solid gains in the early hours of the breakout but German dive bombers wreak havoc over the long columns of Soviet tanks and infantry. German armored forces begin attacking the flanks of the Soviets but the Soviets are holding, albeit barely. Zhukov sends armored reserves from Warsaw to try and link up with the Soviets that are trying to break out. Getting those soldiers and tanks out is the number one priority of the Soviet Marshal.
June 24th, 1941- After three days of advancing and with the Zhukov’s counter-attack from Warsaw coming as a shock the German lines between Warsaw and south east of Lodz are broken and Soviet men and armor begin flooding north east towards Warsaw. The Krakow Pocket had been relieved but this would not last. Already German panzer divisions and infantry are attempting to destroy the gap connecting the two Soviet forces.
June 25th, 1941- German infantry, spearheaded by panzers led by Guderian, are able to pierce the sliver of territory connecting the two Soviet armies and a half dozen minor attack all along the German-Soviet front has forced Zhukov to stop his counter-attack. Before the gap had been closed 300,000 men and 400 tanks were able to escape to the Soviet lines. But these tanks that do make it are suffering from lack of maintenance and lack of ammunition and fuel. The Red Army men fare no better, most of their heavy equipment was left in the Krakow Pocket and are heavily demoralized and many do not even have rifles (they dropped them to run faster to reach Soviet territory). The remaining troops in the Krakow Pocket are facing imminent destruction as the lack of fuel and ammunition hurts their already brittle defenses. The surviving Soviets in the Krakow Pocket number two million with only 1300 tanks left but many of these are breaking down and there is too little fuel left to launch another breakout attempt. Stalin orders the generals in the Krakow Pocket not to surrender and fight to the death to buy time for Zhukov to make an effective defense and to leave the Germans vulnerable to any potential counter-attack.
July 1st, 1941- After days of valiant resistance the commanders of the Krakow Pocket surrender to the Germans. There were no shortages of ammunition or fuel, there was none to be short of, it was all gone. The last three days had seen the Pocket shrink to a fifth of the size it used to be and hundreds of thousands have died since the breakout attempt. The remaining Red Army men, 1.5 million and 600 tanks surrender to the Germans in the largest surrender in the history of warfare. Most of the Soviet tanks had been purposely destroyed or rendered useless by Soviet engineers. The Red Army generals surrendering may have not seen any point of fighting anymore but they will be damned if they give the Germans useful tanks. The tanks that were recoverable will be repaired and repainted with a German cross on the side and sent to German panzer divisions. The rest will be spare parts for those tanks. The 1.5 million men that surrendered to the Germans will be put in labor camps under the direction of the SS. They will rebuild all of Poland currently in German hands. Roads, railroads, airstrips receive top priority. This large workforce will free up tens of thousands of German laborers that can either be drafted in the Army or for them to focus on constructing more factories in Germany. To keep the prisoners in check for every prisoner attempting to escape, 100 Soviets will be shot per attempted escapee, if a prisoner does escape, then 500 per escapee.
July 6th, 1941- Throughout the Soviet Union dissension with Stalin’s regime is rising. Reports of insubordination, especially from units in the Red Army and Air Force are being kept quiet, for now. Nationalist/ fascist/anti-Communist elements throughout the Soviet Union, particularly the Baltic States, Belarussia (to a lesser degree) and the Ukraine especially are beginning to institute small riots and anti-Soviet/anti-Communist propaganda is beginning to sprout up through the countryside.
In Moscow Stalin and the Stavka are apprehensive and Stalin is becoming more and more paranoid of the ability of his officers to run the war. For weeks he had been considering a purge and the surrender of the Krakow Pocket and the large scale dissension throughout Soviet Union is the last straw. Stalin unleashes Beria and his NKVD to arrest and execute any and all officers deemed insufficiently good Communists or lacking of faith in Stalin or the inevitable victory. NKVD police battalions are also sent to round up all dissenters and execute them as well.
Throughout the Soviet Union men and women are rounded up in numbers not seen since the Great Purge of 1936. Throughout the streets of Kiev, Minsk, Smolensk, Leningrad, Stalingrad and Moscow and all the other Soviet cities thousands are rounded up and sent east to the gulags of Siberia with thousands more shot after mock trials. Fear, distrust and paranoia reaches an all time high. Much of the top military officers like Zhukov, Vatutin and Voroshilov and Stavka are not liquidated as of yet but many of the lower ranking officers are suspect to arrest and execution. The Soviet Union is a powder keg, ready to be lit with the fires of revolution and nationalism.
Last edited:
How is it?
Hey everyone, I was wondering how you are liking this timeline. Is it good, is it entertaining to read? Please leave comments and some discussion on what is good, what is bad (other than my grammar, i know that's bad) and how you think the war will go because it is far from over.
Hey everyone, I was wondering how you are liking this timeline. Is it good, is it entertaining to read? Please leave comments and some discussion on what is good, what is bad (other than my grammar, i know that's bad) and how you think the war will go because it is far from over.
please keep it up, I'm really enjoying this
Oh i will, i'm doing Chapter 9 right now. Should be up in a day or so
Good Evening Tanner151,
Please keep up the good work, I for one are thoroughly enjoying your time line. One of the most thorought provoking threads for a long time. Do not worry about the grammar to much, just enjoy your story.
I can see perhaps one angle of your story is that the British and French are slowly getting more worried about the Soviets than the Germans! They perhaps need the Germans to be winning to justify the continuation of the fighting to their populations - should the Soviets reorganize and start winning then things could be different - a pact with the devil (especially with Halifax in charge) is a possibility. However you also appear to be implying that the Soviet Union is about to fall to pieces - most interesting.
What ever happens the next stage, especially if the Japanese get involved, is going to be messy. And just wondering if the Japanese will give the Americans the OTL excuse (i.e. Pearl Harbour) to get involved - must check to see if the Japanese will get their oil/resources they need without attacking the western powers (I do not include the Soviets as a Western power).
However its your story so I shall shut up. Looking forward to the next chapter.
VIKINGTANK.
Thanks VIKINGTANK. The U.S. as of now has not cut off oil and metal shipments to Japan, yet. that is coming fast though. The soviet Union is in a precarious position with millions dead or wounded in Poland and northern Sweden on a smaller scale. The USSR, especially the western Republics are unsatisfied with the war. The Baltics do not even want to be part of the USSR, the Ukraine since the induced famine of the 30s has been a powder keg waiting to be ignited and Belarussia has a growing nationalist element similar to the Baltics and Ukraine but on a lesser scale. Stalin's hold on the soviet union is not as strong as in OTL because he invaded first, he wasn't invaded by Germany so there is no 'Defend the Motherland' deal and many common Soviet soldiers feel they are fighting a pointless war.
Also the British and French are slowly becoming more aggressive in their war, albeit at a snails pace. In OTL Britain and France did not take the war seriously (Phony War) until he Low Countries were invaded. But so far the Germans havent done that, they can't the war is in the balance in the east and cannot spare the resources for two major fronts in the war so Germany is content with a semi-unactive Western Front while they focus on the Eastern Front. The Northern Front is a sideshow to Germany and the Entente civilian population see Norway as a failure with most of the Norwegian population against the Entente. They may or may not be pro-Axis but their king is under house arrest by the Entente and this is very unpopular.
And yes the Entente is more worried about the Soviets than the Germans because the Germans still have private property, religion and semi-capitalistic economy, the Soviets do not and this is an anathema to the west. And Goebbels Ministry of Propaganda is doing amazing work in convincing the world that Germany and her Axis allies are all that is holding the Communists back
Last edited:
Deimos
Banned
I subscribed to this thread because the premise is interesting but I am unsure about your numbers of troops and tanks. Could Germany support/build such an amount of tanks without having plundered the Low Countries, France and Norway? Or are the Swedes just giving them iron for free because any new German tank means less Soviets in Sweden?
Due to the importance of flak on the Western front, I guess that Germany is not abandonning its proximity fuze research - it would really help to decrease the ammo expenditure of AA guns and that directly translates into ressources which can be used elsewhere. You had a great start with introducing tech and vehicles that were not used IOTL and a different war means different needs.
On a sidenote, leaving the troops in the Krakow Pocket untouched and meeting the southern pincer of Talon with siege troops coming from what is nowadays Kalinigrad (couple more hundred kilometres away) must surely go into history ITTL as one of the greatest military blunders of the 20th century.