A Storm of Steel and Fire (an alternate WW2 history)
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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.
The Germans ITTL unlike ours is on a Total War mobilization since 1940 which Germany did not go into until 1943 in OTL. Steel is being sold to the Germans much cheaper than OTL because the Swedes know if Germany loses they do to. Germany is rationing everything not just fuel and rubber. Food, clothes etc all is heavily rationed to support the war effort. Also there is no large scale concentration system as there was in our timeline. This frees up tens of thousands of soldiers and all the resources that went to build the extensive death camps. Also Luftwaffe production is something like 90% fighters, 10% bombers and this allows more and more fighters to be built to protect German industry. Also the troops that were pulled from Koenigsberg were reserve troops that were to storm the city once the siege had broken the city, the actual siege troops remained and were surprised by the amount of Germans that had burst through the Soviet lines there as Soviet intelligence did not pick up that von Rundstedt had arrived along with the force he did have. And yes the Soviets did send their troops from the German city south hundreds of kilometers away (by train i might add) but this was because Stalin did not want to weaken the lines on the Danzig Line and around Krakow. The forces pulled from Koenigsberg were not the only ones or even the most. Reserve troops from across Poland and the western Republics were also transported to the southern thrust of Talon, the troops from Koenigsberg were used as a stop gap measure and reinforcements would replace the ones that left Koenigsberg eventually. That was my reasoning and I know i did not explain as well as i should have and that is my bad. I hope you still read the timeline and enjoy it
Chapter 9: "The Russian Bear is Down"
Chapter 9: “The Russian Bear is Down”
July 12th, 1941- German forces have stopped advancing and are now building a better logistical supply network and moving up reserve units to reinforce the front. Hitler and the General Staff are content with their position in Poland. Talon was exhaustive for both sides. The Soviets might have lost much more in the way of men, tanks, planes and materials but the Germans are currently fighting in Norway, Sweden, have to keep half a million troops on the Westwall (French/Belgian-German border), 50,000 on the Dutch-German border, another 50,000 men in Denmark and almost 3,000,000 men on the Eastern Front. Recruitment (draftees and volunteers) is accelerating in the Third Reich. Factories in Germany are building panzers, rifles, pistols, ammunition, cannon shells, artillery, planes, and all the other materials needed to fight a war. Winter clothing, taking examples from captured Red Army winter supplies during the winter of 1940-1941, are starting to be produced and sent to German field units but it will take times until all units are fully equipped. Soviet generals on the frontline are thankful for the lack of German advancement in Poland. The purge was sending shockwaves through the Red Army and Red Air Force leaving barely functional. New, more loyal to Stalin, officers are arriving but many of these were inexperienced or too fanatical even for the wasteful Red Army. The front was stabilizing to just minor attacks, raids, and air combat across central Poland. Both sides are creating drafts of new offensives but none of these have been finalized or approved yet.
July 15th, 1941- In a top secret meeting in Minsk Stalin and Zhukov discuss plans for an upcoming offensive. Stalin is pushing for another large scale campaign in Poland but Zhukov tells the Soviet dictator that the Red Army has suffered immensely in Poland, twice defeated by the German Reich and it wouldn’t be able to launch an offensive on the scale Stalin wants until February or March of 1942. Zhukov instead plans three minor offensives, as part of an overall strategy, to put pressure on Germany and to win some victories to establish confidence and raise morale in the morale-depleted Red Army/Red Air Force.
Operation Pluto:
Phase I- Soviet armored forces will launch a minor offensive from Warsaw to establish better defensive lines around the Polish capital.
Phase II- 30 divisions plus adequate amounts of tanks and fighter/bomber squadrons will be transported to northern Sweden to break the Gustaf Line and occupy the mineral riches of that Axis nation.
Phase III- A couple of weeks after these have been launched whether successful or not the Soviet Union will launch an invasion of Romania from the Ukraine. About one and a half million men with some of the best tank divisions and over two thousand airplanes to quickly defeat the Romanian military and occupy the Ploiesti oil fields that are supplying the life blood to the German Wehrmacht and industry. If and when this is taken a puppet regime will be established in Romania and after a time the German war machine will start feeling the lack of oil and after a year or so will be so petroleum starved that entire divisions of panzers and entire air wings of the Luftwaffe will be unable to drive or fly due to the lack of fuel and allow Soviet forces to finally take Poland and move into Germany itself, this is the hope of Zhukov anyway. Stalin tells him he will think about it.
July 16th, 1941- Japanese Imperial Command decides that the forces for White Tiger are inadequate. Another two hundred planes from the Navy and Army will be sent to Manchukuo (Manchuria) along with another 150,000 men (mainly new recruits and men from the Home Islands) and 300 tanks of various types will be added to the Kwantung Army; this extra tanks along with the ones already in the Kwantung Army are almost the entirety of modern Japanese armored forces (in the rest of the world the Japanese medium tanks would be considered light tanks or tankettes). Yamashita will take these extra forces gladly.
July 21st, 1941- Stalin approves of Zhukov’s Operation Pluto. Key elements of the armored force are being transported to the Ukrainian-Romanian border. The one and half million infantry will be mainly new recruits (almost exclusively draftees) with some veteran armored divisions of the Polish front to lead the way. Most of the veteran infantry forces will remain in eastern Poland to prevent the Germans from getting too greedy. Pluto will begin in mid November, in the winter season to catch the Germans unaware.
July 23rd, 1941- Since the beginning of the Second Great Purge, which began on July 6th, over twenty thousand soldiers (officers and regular troopers alike) and civilians throughout the Soviet Union have been rounded up with many shot while the rest are sent to gulags in Siberia. Stalin and Beria are pleased but want to expedite the purge so they can focus on the war once again.
July 25th, 1941- Romania notices the buildup of Soviet forces on its border and hastily mobilizes its own forces but these are much smaller than the Red Army and lack much heavy equipment.
July 27th, 1941- Vilnius, Lithuania, near Red Army General Andrey Vlasov’s headquarters:
July 27th, 1941- General Andrey Vlasov and his men kill an NKVD detachment that was sent to him. Later that day Vlasov announced through Red Army radio channels that …”The time to overthrow our Soviet masters is at hand. Communism is a failed and deadly experiment. Let all those that suffered through these long, hard years of Stalin rise up and win your national independence.” Vaslov’s ‘Speech of Independence’ was the fire that ignites rebellion and insurrection throughout the Soviet Union. It begins to spread quickly despite the NKVD and loyalist Red Army units to contain it.
July 29th, 1941- Two days after the ‘Speech of Independence’ hundreds of officers who knew the purge would get them rise up in revolt killing Red Army loyalists and NKVD especially. Throughout the western Republics and Russia, and somewhat in the southern Republics and the Caucasus whole units rebel against Soviet Union, mainly, but not entirely, those whose nationalities are from the Baltic, Belarussia, the southern Republics and the Ukraine. Nationalist/Fascist/anti-Communist elements through the Soviet Union begin rising up and shooting any and all Soviet troops loyal to Stalin. Thousands of small groups of bandits ambush and steal supplies bound for the Eastern Front and every major city under Soviet control from Warsaw to Vladivostok has street fighting between Soviet loyalists and nationalist forces. The fighting in Moscow was bloody but short lived. NKVD and Red Army loyalists quash the rebelling forces easily. Heavy fighting continues to be fought in Minsk, Smolensk, Leningrad, Stalingrad, Kiev, Vladivostok and almost every city in between.
July 30th, 1941- Zhukov, on orders from Stalin, cancels Operation Pluto and authorizes all those suspected of rebellion and dissension, no matter how remote, to be arrested and shot without even a mock trial. All along the Eastern Front Soviet defenses have fell into chaos with no organized, cohesive defense line against the Germans. The German surprised at the turn of events begin gearing up for an offensive to take advantage of the chaos reigning over the Eastern Front. At this point a full third of the Red Army and Red Air Force are rebelling against the Communist regime. The Red Navy has had few losses in the war and remains loyal to Moscow. Throughout the USSR hundreds of thousands of civilians have taken up arms against the Soviet government. These civilians have practically no training and are only armed with equipment stolen from local Red Army garrisons but are highly motivated, they know if they are captured they will be tortured and shot along with their families.
August 3rd, 1941- German bombers and fighters cross over Soviet lines in large formations and devastate communication hubs, known Soviet loyalist forces, and supply depots. On the frontline itself tens of thousands of former Soviet troops cross the frontline and either surrender to the Germans or join the Germans in the fight against the Soviet Union.
August 6th, 1941- The German Luftwaffe dominates the skies over Poland, the Baltic States, Belarussia and the western half of the Ukraine. Nationalist factions destroyed nearly a thousand of Red Air Force planes and captured hundreds of them for their own use. Hundreds more were damaged or simply abandoned by the Red Air Force leaving the superior trained Luftwaffe to dominate the skies and allowing the Luftwaffe to damage or destroy hundreds of Soviet installations and bases. These air sorties are to prepare the way for the rapidly assembling German offensive codenamed Fall Grau (Case Gray/Operation Gray). In an announcement to the Reichstag Hitler states, “The
Russian Bear is Down, we only need to keep it down until it dies.”
August 8th, 1941- German transport ships begin dropping large amounts of ammo, weapons and food to the larger nationalist groups that have begun establishing defensive lines against Soviet forces, especially to the ones near Kiev. German specialists and Special Forces are also dropped throughout eastern Poland and the Baltic States to assist in damaging Soviet forces there.
August 9th, 1941- In Moscow Stalin commands Beria to assemble a force utterly devoted to Communism and him. Beria begins work immediately; these units will be under the jurisdiction of the NKVD and are quickly nicknamed Beria’s Brigades. This NKVD Army will be equipped with the best and deadliest weapons the Soviet Union can produce. The remnants of the rebelling forces in Moscow that survived will go into hiding or pretend they never wavered in their support for Stalin and wait for the next time to strike.
August 10th, 1941- Kiev falls to Ukrainian nationalists who quickly round up and execute all Communist officials. Trench lines are beginning to be built around the city to fend off any potential Soviet attacks.
August 13th, 1941- In Finland, Marshal Kliment Voroshilov, the Executioner of Finland, is shot dead by a Finnish sniper as he was exiting his headquarters in Helsinki. The Executioner was the only thing holding down large scale uprising in Finland and with him dead the Finns launch another uprising once again but this time much more coordinated and supplied with German weapons sneaked in by sea. Finnish guerrillas are stealing or destroying almost all supplies going to the Red Army in northern Sweden leaving the Soviet troops there in danger of collapsing.
August 16th, 1941- After heavy fighting most major and medium cities in the Soviet Union are back under Soviet control, the one major exception is Kiev where national elements have resisted all attempts at Soviet retaking the city and Vilnius where General Vaslov has assembled a large anti-Soviet army.
August 17th, 1941- 300 German bombers escorted by a couple hundred fighters attack the Soviet Baltic Fleet as it lies in port as it had since the war began. The damage to the fleet is extensive with every ship, save some torpedo boats and submarines, suffering various forms of damage with both battleships, one of the cruisers, eight destroyers and over twenty torpedo boats and submarines sunk; another large formation of bombers and fighters bomb Leningrad and Minsk killing tens of thousands but pushing Soviet units there to the brink of desperation as everything from ammo, fuel and spare parts to food and clothing running critically low.
August 19th, 1941- After nearly three weeks of hastily preparation and assembling forces Germany launches Fall Grau (Case Gray/Operation Gray). After a short artillery barrage over two and a half million men (2.1 million are German, the rest are allied Axis soldiers) with nearly 2000 panzers (almost exclusively German and are mostly Panzer IIIs, older and newer variants, with large amounts of IIs and moderate amounts of newer and older variants of the IVs) break through Soviet lines. Warsaw, which was the battleground of intense combat between rebels, Polish partisans and Soviet loyalists, falls quickly. In East Prussia Soviet forces are pushed out and German panzers liberate Memel and quickly push onwards towards Vilnius where General Vaslov has created the Russian Liberation Army (Russkaya Osvoboditel'naya Armiya or simply ROA). Vaslov had assembled almost 300,000 Russian soldiers into his army and controls large swathes of Lithuania, parts of southern Latvia and parts of Poland. His ROA and the Lithuanian nationalists have broken the Soviet front there. General Vatutin escapes Lithuania and makes his way to Minsk and from there he goes to Leningrad to take command of the forces there where he is ordered by Stalin to begin fortifying the city against Axis forces. In Berlin Hitler, after a conference meeting with the General Staff, announces on Radio Berlin that, “…The time is right for the nationalities that have been suppressed by Soviet terror to rise up and assist Axis forces in defeating the Judaic-Communist system.’ Shortly after this speech Hitler accepts the ROA as an auxiliary force of the Wehrmacht and tells Vaslov that when the war is won and significant parts of European Russia are taken by the Axis Powers then Vaslov will be put in power over that European Russian territory which will be a close ally of the Reich. In reality this will be nothing more than a Russian puppet state of Germany (This puppet state by Hitler is envisioned to be east of the Baltic States, Belarussia and the territory between the Baltic States and Leningrad, these will go to Germany) (The reason Hitler’s Drang nach Osten or ‘Drive to the East’ policy is not fully put in place is the racial policies of the Reich towards the Slavic people is much kinder than in OTL due to the war having two major fronts since 1940 and Hitler can consider making loyal elements of the Baltic States and Belarussia citizens of the Reich but as of now it is uncertain whether or not Germany can defeat the USSR on unconditional surrender terms, the British and French are still major powers and have not been attacked or conquered so this threat needs to be taken into account in Hitler’s foreign policy. Germany might be able to push the Soviet Union east a good deal but the military situation is not to the point to where Hitler can consider easily defeating the Soviets and annexing everything west of the Urals ITTL’s 1941 as he did in OTL’s 1941. It is his desire and ultimate goal but he understands that is not likely to happen as of yet if at all. The promise of putting Vaslov into power over a European Russia is just to solidify Vaslov’s loyalty to Germany and the Axis and is a bit of an empty promise, Hitler can actually do it or not once the war is won, if the war can be won at all). With German and ROA forces linking up they begin pushing north-east, east and south-east.
Axis units (German/Hungarian/Italian/Slovakian) break through Soviet lines in south-eastern Poland and enter the Ukraine. Thousands of rebels and partisans meet and assist the Axis forces. In every village and town the Axis forces enter in western Ukraine they are greeted as liberators and saviors. Soviet forces here are in considerable disarray, only being kept in check by the veteran tank divisions that were transported there before the July 27th Meltdown.
August 20th, 1941- Brest, Poland falls to advancing German soldiers and tens of thousands of Soviet soldiers are surrendering without a fight in many instances. Thousand more rebel soldiers are met and integrated into German auxiliary forces. The ROA is growing rapidly as thousands of the surrendering Soviet troops renounce their belief in Communism and swear allegiance to Hitler, Germany, the Axis Powers and Vaslov (who promotes himself to Supreme Commander of the ROA).
August 22nd, 1941- Lithuania is cleared of all Soviet forces. It declares independence from the USSR and shortly afterwards Latvia and Estonia do the same despite that most of these two countries are under Soviet control.
August 23rd, 1941- German forces enter the outskirts of Riga, Latvia and liberate the city from Soviet troops within a few hours. With German soldiers moving at a rapid pace all across the Eastern Front, Romania, which knew it would have been invaded by the Soviet Union if the July Meltdown did not occur looks at the weakened Soviet Union and Marshal Ion Antonescu, de facto ruler and dictator of Romania is anti-Communist and wants to expand Romania before the Germans take all of the Ukraine for themselves or worse, they give it to the Ukrainians for them to rule themselves. Romania had been threatened by the Soviet Union before Red Dawn to cede Bessarabia and northern Bukovina to the USSR. Since the war between the Germans and the Soviets started that threat was put on hold but now Romania has a chance to expand! Antonescu, which for weeks had been planning to ask Germany for membership in the Axis finally does through his Foreign Ministry. Germany immediately agrees. Romanian troops which had been on standby since the Soviet preparations for Pluto in the Ukraine, move across the lightly defended border (most of the troops that were on the Ukrainian-Romanian border have gone north-west to combat the German led Axis forces there. Romanian troops, despite lacking significant armored forces are able to move quickly in a poor attempt at blitzkrieg. By the end of the day the outskirts of Odessa are within sight.
August 24th, 1941- Throughout eastern Poland and the parts of Soviet territory the Germans have control over there have been mass graves uncovered by the Wehrmacht with tens of thousands of murdered Poles, former Soviet military personnel, and even some German POWs that were shot by machinegun fire. Doctor Goebbels of the Ministry of Propaganda uses this to sway public opinion of the world into the favor of the Axis. German atrocities against Jews and Soviet sympathizers are kept well hidden and are on a much smaller scale than the Soviet atrocities were (the SS and Waffen-SS shot many collaborators and those suspected of collaboration, this was used as an excuse to add hundreds of Jews even if they were innocent. This doesn't expand as it did in OTL due to the Germans cannot afford to use up all that ammunition with the war on the Eastern Front still in the balance).
August 25th, 1941- All of Poland is cleared of Soviet troops. Germany puts all of Poland under military occupation; there will not be a second General Government (all of Poland except for the parts that were annexed into the Third Reich).
August 26th, 1941- West of Kiev the veteran Soviet tank divisions encounter German panzer divisions and after five hours of heavy fighting the Germans come out as the victor and the veteran Soviet forces are nearly annihilated with the remnants of these Soviet forces retreating to eastern Ukraine to consolidate and wait for reinforcements. In Kiev German troops march through the streets to cheering crowds. German forces in the Ukraine take a couple days pause to consolidate gains and will advance east when their logistics have caught up with them. Further south the Romanians finally capture Odessa with help from Ukrainian and minor Axis (Italy, Hungary, and Slovakia) assistance along with some air support from the Luftwaffe. The Germans have total air superiority from the frontline all the way to Smolensk, Russia. After capturing the city Romania annexes Odessa, some territory north of the city but everything south that Romania conquered. Ukrainian nationalists are displeased with this but will allow it if it means they can be their own nation, albeit a puppet state of the German Reich, but overall its own country.
August 27th, 1941- The Kriegsmarine with heavy Luftwaffe coverage sails towards the Soviet port where the remains of the Baltic Fleet reside. Wave after wave of bombers and fighters damage and sink even more ships while the German warships sail close and after a three hour battle have destroyed the remnants of the Soviet Baltic Fleet. The Kriegsmarine loses a destroyer and moderate to heavy damage to multiple ships, most of these were from Red Air Force bombers that slipped past the German interceptor squadrons.
August 28th, 1941- Latvia is cleared of Soviet forces. Outside of Moscow the first 10,000 handpicked men that will form the nucleus of the NKVD Army, the Beria Brigades, begin training. It is a brutal regimen but indoctrinates the men to become fanatics to the Communist Party, the Soviet Union and more specifically Stalin.
August 29th, 1941- Entente High Command, worried about how much territory the Axis are taking in the East prepare for an offensive to push the Axis out of Norway and invade Sweden. Nearly 350,000 Entente troops are in Norway currently facing an estimated 190,000 German/Norwegian Loyalist/Swedish forces. The offensive will take some time to be deemed ready. Entente bombers begin heavy bombing of southern Sweden for the first time causing moderate damage and stretching Luftwaffe assets there to the limit.
September 2nd, 1941- In Kiev Ukrainian nationalist leaders, under the supervision of the German Wehrmacht, declares independence from the Soviet Union, creating the National Republic of the Ukraine, and joins the Axis Powers later that day with extensive military and economic pacts with Germany and the Axis Powers. Out of the entirety of the Ukraine only the western third is under Axis control. Kiev, which is the capital of the new National Republic of the Ukraine, is not far from the frontlines. The Baltic States might be 'independent' but will be under German military occupation while the 'independent' governments are puppets. Most people of the Baltic realize the time for an independent Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia is over. They decide to work with the Germans who are seen as the lesser of two evils and Germany may or may not give the Baltic States some sovereignty which Stalin never allowed.
September 3rd, 1941- Estonia is cleared of Soviet troops except for the Estonian capital of Tallinn where 200,000 Red Army troops that were cutoff and are dug in. German forces enter the outskirts of Minsk in Belarussia but determined Soviet infantry has deterred the Germans from taking the city. Axis forces just east of Kiev on the frontlines begin moving eastward again after their operational pause. The Soviets had a few days to establish lines of defense but these are manned, mostly, by raw units with Ukrainian nationalist behind their lines terrorizing their troops and supplies and a severe lack of armor and artillery support. Most of these are in the eastern Ukraine rebuilding their strengths. This allows the Germans to advance at a steady pace.
September 6th, 1941- The Soviet fighter planes Yak-1s, Yak-7s, and MiG-3s are being mass produced and are beginning to arrive on the Eastern Front in large numbers. These fighter designs are near the equal or are the equal of the Messerschmitt Bf-109, the only edge the current variant of the Bf-109 carries is its pilots who still have better training and more experience than their Red Air Force counterparts. The Pe-2 bomber has also becomes the dominant and more numerous Soviet bomber plane other than the Tupolev SB.
September 7th, 1941- General Rommel (he had been promoted to the rank of General some time ago) using maverick panzer tactics (he would outdistance his own supply train and supporting infantry) pierce the Soviet lines south of Minsk and rolls east by north east to encircle the city.
September 8th, 1941- Minsk is surrounded by a German ring of steel and the ring is tightening. German panzer and mechanized infantry begin moving from Estonia towards Leningrad. In Moscow Stalin after heated arguments and counter-arguments with Stavka agrees to pull Soviet troops out of northern Sweden, through rebelling Finland and for those troops in northern Sweden and Finland to begin building defensive lines on the Soviet-Finnish border (the post 1939-1940 Winter War border). The Red Army is instructed on its withdrawal to destroy anything that could be of value to the Axis Powers (a scorched earth policy if you will). German Luftwaffe squadrons of the newly produced FW-190 begin arriving in the East to counter the growing amount of new Soviet planes. The FW-190 is the equal in some ways and superior in others to the Bf-109. The Bf-109 will remain the dominant fighter of the German Luftwaffe but the FW-190 will become the Luftwaffe’s night fighter and interceptor (on the Western Front the German Westwall Air Command receives dozens of squadrons of FW-190 and this allows the Luftwaffe to send dozens of squadrons of Bf-190s to the Eastern Front. The FW-190 has some teething problems but new versions are in the works to rectify these).
September 9th, 1941- The Soviet forces in Tallinn surrender when ROA sympathizers open their defensive lines for the Germans allowing German and ROA troops to quickly storm the city with the help of the sympathizers. Out of the 200,000 soldiers 110,000 surrender, with 50,000 joining the ROA after swearing the Oath of Loyalty; 40,000 loyal Soviets soldiers died since the German Army surrounded Tallinn.
September 11th, 1941- The Second Great Purge is nearing an end in the Soviet Union. Most of the nationalist uprisings throughout the Soviet Union have been defeated or contained except for in the Soviet controlled parts of the Ukraine and Belarussia where German transport ships continue to supply these rebel factions with supplies and weapons, and in the southern Republics the uprisings there have been defeated but refuse to die out and an intense guerrilla warfare has ensued. In Russia itself the uprisings were bad but many knowing German forces might not reach them in time decide to go into hiding until a better opportunity presents itself. The Purge will continue for some time but will be mainly at civilians and lower ranking military personnel. The upper echelons of the Red Army and Red Air Force have been butchered by the NKVD. Over half were arrested on charges whether they were true or not and shot, even some members of Stavka Stalin was displeased with. At all levels of command the Red Army and Red Air Force have lost so many experienced officers that many units cannot function and are being amalgamated with units that have a working command structure; distrust and paranoia continue to run rampant but the amount of killings has ebbed. The disloyal elements of the Red Army, the Red Air Force and the Red Navy have been mainly rounded up and shot (the ones that had not already moved to the Germans side or went into hiding to wage a guerilla campaign). While the frontline has stabilized somewhat Soviet troops continue to retreat all across the front. Vast amounts of armor, aircraft, weapons, heavy equipment and other war material have been captured by the Germans and their Axis allies. These can be replaced as the Trans-Ural factories will soon be reaching full output but this takes time and these resources the Germans captured are making up for the lack they have had since the end of Talon. These supplies are one of the main things propelling the German offensive forward, that and the low morale of the Soviet military coupled with many of its veteran personnel were either dead, captured, went over to the Germans or were rounded up by their own side due to unknown loyalty (most were shot, some were sent to Siberia) and this lack of experience is obvious as much smaller German forces defeat larger Soviet forces almost easily. Marshal Zhukov, whose headquarters is now in Smolensk, is ordering entire divisions to sacrifice themselves to slow the Germans down just long enough for the Red Army and Red Air Force to get back on its feet. This will result in tens of thousands of dead Soviets but does buy Zhukov time to revitalize the flagging combat capability of the Soviet armed forces.
September 12th, 1941- In the closing hours of the 12th of September Minsk surrenders. The German swastika flag rises over the city as dusk sets in. With Minsk taken local German forces are once again able to move eastwards without a thorn in its side. The Germans drive eastward to Smolensk.
Chapter 9: “The Russian Bear is Down”
July 12th, 1941- German forces have stopped advancing and are now building a better logistical supply network and moving up reserve units to reinforce the front. Hitler and the General Staff are content with their position in Poland. Talon was exhaustive for both sides. The Soviets might have lost much more in the way of men, tanks, planes and materials but the Germans are currently fighting in Norway, Sweden, have to keep half a million troops on the Westwall (French/Belgian-German border), 50,000 on the Dutch-German border, another 50,000 men in Denmark and almost 3,000,000 men on the Eastern Front. Recruitment (draftees and volunteers) is accelerating in the Third Reich. Factories in Germany are building panzers, rifles, pistols, ammunition, cannon shells, artillery, planes, and all the other materials needed to fight a war. Winter clothing, taking examples from captured Red Army winter supplies during the winter of 1940-1941, are starting to be produced and sent to German field units but it will take times until all units are fully equipped. Soviet generals on the frontline are thankful for the lack of German advancement in Poland. The purge was sending shockwaves through the Red Army and Red Air Force leaving barely functional. New, more loyal to Stalin, officers are arriving but many of these were inexperienced or too fanatical even for the wasteful Red Army. The front was stabilizing to just minor attacks, raids, and air combat across central Poland. Both sides are creating drafts of new offensives but none of these have been finalized or approved yet.
July 15th, 1941- In a top secret meeting in Minsk Stalin and Zhukov discuss plans for an upcoming offensive. Stalin is pushing for another large scale campaign in Poland but Zhukov tells the Soviet dictator that the Red Army has suffered immensely in Poland, twice defeated by the German Reich and it wouldn’t be able to launch an offensive on the scale Stalin wants until February or March of 1942. Zhukov instead plans three minor offensives, as part of an overall strategy, to put pressure on Germany and to win some victories to establish confidence and raise morale in the morale-depleted Red Army/Red Air Force.
Operation Pluto:
Phase I- Soviet armored forces will launch a minor offensive from Warsaw to establish better defensive lines around the Polish capital.
Phase II- 30 divisions plus adequate amounts of tanks and fighter/bomber squadrons will be transported to northern Sweden to break the Gustaf Line and occupy the mineral riches of that Axis nation.
Phase III- A couple of weeks after these have been launched whether successful or not the Soviet Union will launch an invasion of Romania from the Ukraine. About one and a half million men with some of the best tank divisions and over two thousand airplanes to quickly defeat the Romanian military and occupy the Ploiesti oil fields that are supplying the life blood to the German Wehrmacht and industry. If and when this is taken a puppet regime will be established in Romania and after a time the German war machine will start feeling the lack of oil and after a year or so will be so petroleum starved that entire divisions of panzers and entire air wings of the Luftwaffe will be unable to drive or fly due to the lack of fuel and allow Soviet forces to finally take Poland and move into Germany itself, this is the hope of Zhukov anyway. Stalin tells him he will think about it.
July 16th, 1941- Japanese Imperial Command decides that the forces for White Tiger are inadequate. Another two hundred planes from the Navy and Army will be sent to Manchukuo (Manchuria) along with another 150,000 men (mainly new recruits and men from the Home Islands) and 300 tanks of various types will be added to the Kwantung Army; this extra tanks along with the ones already in the Kwantung Army are almost the entirety of modern Japanese armored forces (in the rest of the world the Japanese medium tanks would be considered light tanks or tankettes). Yamashita will take these extra forces gladly.
July 21st, 1941- Stalin approves of Zhukov’s Operation Pluto. Key elements of the armored force are being transported to the Ukrainian-Romanian border. The one and half million infantry will be mainly new recruits (almost exclusively draftees) with some veteran armored divisions of the Polish front to lead the way. Most of the veteran infantry forces will remain in eastern Poland to prevent the Germans from getting too greedy. Pluto will begin in mid November, in the winter season to catch the Germans unaware.
July 23rd, 1941- Since the beginning of the Second Great Purge, which began on July 6th, over twenty thousand soldiers (officers and regular troopers alike) and civilians throughout the Soviet Union have been rounded up with many shot while the rest are sent to gulags in Siberia. Stalin and Beria are pleased but want to expedite the purge so they can focus on the war once again.
July 25th, 1941- Romania notices the buildup of Soviet forces on its border and hastily mobilizes its own forces but these are much smaller than the Red Army and lack much heavy equipment.
July 27th, 1941- Vilnius, Lithuania, near Red Army General Andrey Vlasov’s headquarters:
Commissar Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev of the NKVD and his subordinate Commissar Tutolev along with a squad of NVKD soldiers walked down the dusty dirt road toward General Vlasov’s headquarters. Red Army men in their khaki uniforms parted the NKVD men as if they carried a pestilence, which in a way they did… death.
The NKVD men, in their khaki uniforms with blue collar patches and blue topped caps walked past more and more Red Army troops. Khrushchev frowned. This was a headquarters unit, supposed to be mainly clerks and typists, but this one had scores of armed men. Not guards carrying pistols but field troops with Mosin-Nagants. If the Germans were close he could understand but this was Lithuania, behind the lines, not eastern East Prussia. Strange, but that was beside the fact.
Khrushchev walked into the headquarters building. He went to the desk secretary who directed him to the general’s adjutant. “Where is Comrade General Andrey Vlasov?”
The man looked at Khrushchev. Something was odd in his green eyes. They seemed to lack something, thought Khrushchev. “Follow me, Comrade Commissar.” The adjutant led the NKVD men through the building to another and then another. Tutolev muttered, “Where the hell is that man?” The young commissar had a point. Where was the general? Was he tipped off that the NKVD was coming and escaped somewhere? But then why would his adjutant lead them somewhere? If it was it was a fool’s errand. He would be shot.
After yet another building they entered a small courtyard. There was Vlasov standing next to a flagpole with the Soviet national flag fluttering in the wind. He was staring at the flag, his back turned to Beria’s henchmen.
“Comrade General Andrey Andreyevich Vlasov, you are under arrest for treason against the Soviet state and the peaceful workers and peasants of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. You will come with us, now.”
His back still turned Vaslov responded, “Tell me, Comrade Commissar, why would I willingly go with you when I will either be shot and left in a mass grave or be sent to Siberia where Stalin may or may not leave me to die. I survived the Great Purge same as you did and another purge is here with the potential to be worse than the last, during a war no less. We have millions of people starving and under constant fear of Communism. As a Ukrainian you should understand that but you are too much Stalin’s pet to see it.”
Khrushchev started to go red with anger. Beside him Tutolev bristled with fury also. “How dare you talk to the Comrade Commissar in that way? You won’t even receive a trial now,” the young commissar said as he began to pull his pistol out. The pistol never made it out of its holster. A sharp crack of another pistol fired in the courtyard and blood spattered Krushchevs face. The general’s adjutant had his TT-30 Tokarev pistol out and the barrel was smoking.
“Now!” shouted General Vlasov and doors that were around the courtyard opened with dozens of Red Army soldiers with Mosin-Nagants and some with PPSh-41 submachine guns. More came from behind them, where the NKVD emerged from earlier. They disarmed the NKVD guards quickly and Vaslov himself walked to Khrushchev. Vaslov pulled the pistol from Khrushchev’s belt and held it at his side.
“Funny how you have done this many times over the years but have never seen it from the eyes of the victim; let me show you, Comrade Commissar,” the general nodded and the NKVD men were put up against a wall, a squad of Red Army soldiers with rifles were opposite of them.
The Army men raised their rifles and at a shout of “Fire” from the general and the sharp crack of rifle fire had half a dozen NKVD guards on the ground, slumped against the wall in a growing pool of their own blood. Khrushchev was on the far right but was not fired upon by the Army troops. Vaslov looked at his adjutant and nodded. The adjutant walked right up to the Ukrainian commissar and raised his pistol, “For my family, you murdering bastard.” Before the bullet left the pistol Khrushchev recognized what was in the man’s green eyes, or lack thereof. No fear, there was a lack of fear. The gun fired and blackness enveloped Khrushchev. July 27th, 1941- General Andrey Vlasov and his men kill an NKVD detachment that was sent to him. Later that day Vlasov announced through Red Army radio channels that …”The time to overthrow our Soviet masters is at hand. Communism is a failed and deadly experiment. Let all those that suffered through these long, hard years of Stalin rise up and win your national independence.” Vaslov’s ‘Speech of Independence’ was the fire that ignites rebellion and insurrection throughout the Soviet Union. It begins to spread quickly despite the NKVD and loyalist Red Army units to contain it.
July 29th, 1941- Two days after the ‘Speech of Independence’ hundreds of officers who knew the purge would get them rise up in revolt killing Red Army loyalists and NKVD especially. Throughout the western Republics and Russia, and somewhat in the southern Republics and the Caucasus whole units rebel against Soviet Union, mainly, but not entirely, those whose nationalities are from the Baltic, Belarussia, the southern Republics and the Ukraine. Nationalist/Fascist/anti-Communist elements through the Soviet Union begin rising up and shooting any and all Soviet troops loyal to Stalin. Thousands of small groups of bandits ambush and steal supplies bound for the Eastern Front and every major city under Soviet control from Warsaw to Vladivostok has street fighting between Soviet loyalists and nationalist forces. The fighting in Moscow was bloody but short lived. NKVD and Red Army loyalists quash the rebelling forces easily. Heavy fighting continues to be fought in Minsk, Smolensk, Leningrad, Stalingrad, Kiev, Vladivostok and almost every city in between.
July 30th, 1941- Zhukov, on orders from Stalin, cancels Operation Pluto and authorizes all those suspected of rebellion and dissension, no matter how remote, to be arrested and shot without even a mock trial. All along the Eastern Front Soviet defenses have fell into chaos with no organized, cohesive defense line against the Germans. The German surprised at the turn of events begin gearing up for an offensive to take advantage of the chaos reigning over the Eastern Front. At this point a full third of the Red Army and Red Air Force are rebelling against the Communist regime. The Red Navy has had few losses in the war and remains loyal to Moscow. Throughout the USSR hundreds of thousands of civilians have taken up arms against the Soviet government. These civilians have practically no training and are only armed with equipment stolen from local Red Army garrisons but are highly motivated, they know if they are captured they will be tortured and shot along with their families.
August 3rd, 1941- German bombers and fighters cross over Soviet lines in large formations and devastate communication hubs, known Soviet loyalist forces, and supply depots. On the frontline itself tens of thousands of former Soviet troops cross the frontline and either surrender to the Germans or join the Germans in the fight against the Soviet Union.
August 6th, 1941- The German Luftwaffe dominates the skies over Poland, the Baltic States, Belarussia and the western half of the Ukraine. Nationalist factions destroyed nearly a thousand of Red Air Force planes and captured hundreds of them for their own use. Hundreds more were damaged or simply abandoned by the Red Air Force leaving the superior trained Luftwaffe to dominate the skies and allowing the Luftwaffe to damage or destroy hundreds of Soviet installations and bases. These air sorties are to prepare the way for the rapidly assembling German offensive codenamed Fall Grau (Case Gray/Operation Gray). In an announcement to the Reichstag Hitler states, “The
Russian Bear is Down, we only need to keep it down until it dies.”
August 8th, 1941- German transport ships begin dropping large amounts of ammo, weapons and food to the larger nationalist groups that have begun establishing defensive lines against Soviet forces, especially to the ones near Kiev. German specialists and Special Forces are also dropped throughout eastern Poland and the Baltic States to assist in damaging Soviet forces there.
August 9th, 1941- In Moscow Stalin commands Beria to assemble a force utterly devoted to Communism and him. Beria begins work immediately; these units will be under the jurisdiction of the NKVD and are quickly nicknamed Beria’s Brigades. This NKVD Army will be equipped with the best and deadliest weapons the Soviet Union can produce. The remnants of the rebelling forces in Moscow that survived will go into hiding or pretend they never wavered in their support for Stalin and wait for the next time to strike.
August 10th, 1941- Kiev falls to Ukrainian nationalists who quickly round up and execute all Communist officials. Trench lines are beginning to be built around the city to fend off any potential Soviet attacks.
August 13th, 1941- In Finland, Marshal Kliment Voroshilov, the Executioner of Finland, is shot dead by a Finnish sniper as he was exiting his headquarters in Helsinki. The Executioner was the only thing holding down large scale uprising in Finland and with him dead the Finns launch another uprising once again but this time much more coordinated and supplied with German weapons sneaked in by sea. Finnish guerrillas are stealing or destroying almost all supplies going to the Red Army in northern Sweden leaving the Soviet troops there in danger of collapsing.
August 16th, 1941- After heavy fighting most major and medium cities in the Soviet Union are back under Soviet control, the one major exception is Kiev where national elements have resisted all attempts at Soviet retaking the city and Vilnius where General Vaslov has assembled a large anti-Soviet army.
August 17th, 1941- 300 German bombers escorted by a couple hundred fighters attack the Soviet Baltic Fleet as it lies in port as it had since the war began. The damage to the fleet is extensive with every ship, save some torpedo boats and submarines, suffering various forms of damage with both battleships, one of the cruisers, eight destroyers and over twenty torpedo boats and submarines sunk; another large formation of bombers and fighters bomb Leningrad and Minsk killing tens of thousands but pushing Soviet units there to the brink of desperation as everything from ammo, fuel and spare parts to food and clothing running critically low.
August 19th, 1941- After nearly three weeks of hastily preparation and assembling forces Germany launches Fall Grau (Case Gray/Operation Gray). After a short artillery barrage over two and a half million men (2.1 million are German, the rest are allied Axis soldiers) with nearly 2000 panzers (almost exclusively German and are mostly Panzer IIIs, older and newer variants, with large amounts of IIs and moderate amounts of newer and older variants of the IVs) break through Soviet lines. Warsaw, which was the battleground of intense combat between rebels, Polish partisans and Soviet loyalists, falls quickly. In East Prussia Soviet forces are pushed out and German panzers liberate Memel and quickly push onwards towards Vilnius where General Vaslov has created the Russian Liberation Army (Russkaya Osvoboditel'naya Armiya or simply ROA). Vaslov had assembled almost 300,000 Russian soldiers into his army and controls large swathes of Lithuania, parts of southern Latvia and parts of Poland. His ROA and the Lithuanian nationalists have broken the Soviet front there. General Vatutin escapes Lithuania and makes his way to Minsk and from there he goes to Leningrad to take command of the forces there where he is ordered by Stalin to begin fortifying the city against Axis forces. In Berlin Hitler, after a conference meeting with the General Staff, announces on Radio Berlin that, “…The time is right for the nationalities that have been suppressed by Soviet terror to rise up and assist Axis forces in defeating the Judaic-Communist system.’ Shortly after this speech Hitler accepts the ROA as an auxiliary force of the Wehrmacht and tells Vaslov that when the war is won and significant parts of European Russia are taken by the Axis Powers then Vaslov will be put in power over that European Russian territory which will be a close ally of the Reich. In reality this will be nothing more than a Russian puppet state of Germany (This puppet state by Hitler is envisioned to be east of the Baltic States, Belarussia and the territory between the Baltic States and Leningrad, these will go to Germany) (The reason Hitler’s Drang nach Osten or ‘Drive to the East’ policy is not fully put in place is the racial policies of the Reich towards the Slavic people is much kinder than in OTL due to the war having two major fronts since 1940 and Hitler can consider making loyal elements of the Baltic States and Belarussia citizens of the Reich but as of now it is uncertain whether or not Germany can defeat the USSR on unconditional surrender terms, the British and French are still major powers and have not been attacked or conquered so this threat needs to be taken into account in Hitler’s foreign policy. Germany might be able to push the Soviet Union east a good deal but the military situation is not to the point to where Hitler can consider easily defeating the Soviets and annexing everything west of the Urals ITTL’s 1941 as he did in OTL’s 1941. It is his desire and ultimate goal but he understands that is not likely to happen as of yet if at all. The promise of putting Vaslov into power over a European Russia is just to solidify Vaslov’s loyalty to Germany and the Axis and is a bit of an empty promise, Hitler can actually do it or not once the war is won, if the war can be won at all). With German and ROA forces linking up they begin pushing north-east, east and south-east.
Axis units (German/Hungarian/Italian/Slovakian) break through Soviet lines in south-eastern Poland and enter the Ukraine. Thousands of rebels and partisans meet and assist the Axis forces. In every village and town the Axis forces enter in western Ukraine they are greeted as liberators and saviors. Soviet forces here are in considerable disarray, only being kept in check by the veteran tank divisions that were transported there before the July 27th Meltdown.
August 20th, 1941- Brest, Poland falls to advancing German soldiers and tens of thousands of Soviet soldiers are surrendering without a fight in many instances. Thousand more rebel soldiers are met and integrated into German auxiliary forces. The ROA is growing rapidly as thousands of the surrendering Soviet troops renounce their belief in Communism and swear allegiance to Hitler, Germany, the Axis Powers and Vaslov (who promotes himself to Supreme Commander of the ROA).
August 22nd, 1941- Lithuania is cleared of all Soviet forces. It declares independence from the USSR and shortly afterwards Latvia and Estonia do the same despite that most of these two countries are under Soviet control.
August 23rd, 1941- German forces enter the outskirts of Riga, Latvia and liberate the city from Soviet troops within a few hours. With German soldiers moving at a rapid pace all across the Eastern Front, Romania, which knew it would have been invaded by the Soviet Union if the July Meltdown did not occur looks at the weakened Soviet Union and Marshal Ion Antonescu, de facto ruler and dictator of Romania is anti-Communist and wants to expand Romania before the Germans take all of the Ukraine for themselves or worse, they give it to the Ukrainians for them to rule themselves. Romania had been threatened by the Soviet Union before Red Dawn to cede Bessarabia and northern Bukovina to the USSR. Since the war between the Germans and the Soviets started that threat was put on hold but now Romania has a chance to expand! Antonescu, which for weeks had been planning to ask Germany for membership in the Axis finally does through his Foreign Ministry. Germany immediately agrees. Romanian troops which had been on standby since the Soviet preparations for Pluto in the Ukraine, move across the lightly defended border (most of the troops that were on the Ukrainian-Romanian border have gone north-west to combat the German led Axis forces there. Romanian troops, despite lacking significant armored forces are able to move quickly in a poor attempt at blitzkrieg. By the end of the day the outskirts of Odessa are within sight.
August 24th, 1941- Throughout eastern Poland and the parts of Soviet territory the Germans have control over there have been mass graves uncovered by the Wehrmacht with tens of thousands of murdered Poles, former Soviet military personnel, and even some German POWs that were shot by machinegun fire. Doctor Goebbels of the Ministry of Propaganda uses this to sway public opinion of the world into the favor of the Axis. German atrocities against Jews and Soviet sympathizers are kept well hidden and are on a much smaller scale than the Soviet atrocities were (the SS and Waffen-SS shot many collaborators and those suspected of collaboration, this was used as an excuse to add hundreds of Jews even if they were innocent. This doesn't expand as it did in OTL due to the Germans cannot afford to use up all that ammunition with the war on the Eastern Front still in the balance).
August 25th, 1941- All of Poland is cleared of Soviet troops. Germany puts all of Poland under military occupation; there will not be a second General Government (all of Poland except for the parts that were annexed into the Third Reich).
August 26th, 1941- West of Kiev the veteran Soviet tank divisions encounter German panzer divisions and after five hours of heavy fighting the Germans come out as the victor and the veteran Soviet forces are nearly annihilated with the remnants of these Soviet forces retreating to eastern Ukraine to consolidate and wait for reinforcements. In Kiev German troops march through the streets to cheering crowds. German forces in the Ukraine take a couple days pause to consolidate gains and will advance east when their logistics have caught up with them. Further south the Romanians finally capture Odessa with help from Ukrainian and minor Axis (Italy, Hungary, and Slovakia) assistance along with some air support from the Luftwaffe. The Germans have total air superiority from the frontline all the way to Smolensk, Russia. After capturing the city Romania annexes Odessa, some territory north of the city but everything south that Romania conquered. Ukrainian nationalists are displeased with this but will allow it if it means they can be their own nation, albeit a puppet state of the German Reich, but overall its own country.
August 27th, 1941- The Kriegsmarine with heavy Luftwaffe coverage sails towards the Soviet port where the remains of the Baltic Fleet reside. Wave after wave of bombers and fighters damage and sink even more ships while the German warships sail close and after a three hour battle have destroyed the remnants of the Soviet Baltic Fleet. The Kriegsmarine loses a destroyer and moderate to heavy damage to multiple ships, most of these were from Red Air Force bombers that slipped past the German interceptor squadrons.
August 28th, 1941- Latvia is cleared of Soviet forces. Outside of Moscow the first 10,000 handpicked men that will form the nucleus of the NKVD Army, the Beria Brigades, begin training. It is a brutal regimen but indoctrinates the men to become fanatics to the Communist Party, the Soviet Union and more specifically Stalin.
August 29th, 1941- Entente High Command, worried about how much territory the Axis are taking in the East prepare for an offensive to push the Axis out of Norway and invade Sweden. Nearly 350,000 Entente troops are in Norway currently facing an estimated 190,000 German/Norwegian Loyalist/Swedish forces. The offensive will take some time to be deemed ready. Entente bombers begin heavy bombing of southern Sweden for the first time causing moderate damage and stretching Luftwaffe assets there to the limit.
September 2nd, 1941- In Kiev Ukrainian nationalist leaders, under the supervision of the German Wehrmacht, declares independence from the Soviet Union, creating the National Republic of the Ukraine, and joins the Axis Powers later that day with extensive military and economic pacts with Germany and the Axis Powers. Out of the entirety of the Ukraine only the western third is under Axis control. Kiev, which is the capital of the new National Republic of the Ukraine, is not far from the frontlines. The Baltic States might be 'independent' but will be under German military occupation while the 'independent' governments are puppets. Most people of the Baltic realize the time for an independent Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia is over. They decide to work with the Germans who are seen as the lesser of two evils and Germany may or may not give the Baltic States some sovereignty which Stalin never allowed.
September 3rd, 1941- Estonia is cleared of Soviet troops except for the Estonian capital of Tallinn where 200,000 Red Army troops that were cutoff and are dug in. German forces enter the outskirts of Minsk in Belarussia but determined Soviet infantry has deterred the Germans from taking the city. Axis forces just east of Kiev on the frontlines begin moving eastward again after their operational pause. The Soviets had a few days to establish lines of defense but these are manned, mostly, by raw units with Ukrainian nationalist behind their lines terrorizing their troops and supplies and a severe lack of armor and artillery support. Most of these are in the eastern Ukraine rebuilding their strengths. This allows the Germans to advance at a steady pace.
September 6th, 1941- The Soviet fighter planes Yak-1s, Yak-7s, and MiG-3s are being mass produced and are beginning to arrive on the Eastern Front in large numbers. These fighter designs are near the equal or are the equal of the Messerschmitt Bf-109, the only edge the current variant of the Bf-109 carries is its pilots who still have better training and more experience than their Red Air Force counterparts. The Pe-2 bomber has also becomes the dominant and more numerous Soviet bomber plane other than the Tupolev SB.
September 7th, 1941- General Rommel (he had been promoted to the rank of General some time ago) using maverick panzer tactics (he would outdistance his own supply train and supporting infantry) pierce the Soviet lines south of Minsk and rolls east by north east to encircle the city.
September 8th, 1941- Minsk is surrounded by a German ring of steel and the ring is tightening. German panzer and mechanized infantry begin moving from Estonia towards Leningrad. In Moscow Stalin after heated arguments and counter-arguments with Stavka agrees to pull Soviet troops out of northern Sweden, through rebelling Finland and for those troops in northern Sweden and Finland to begin building defensive lines on the Soviet-Finnish border (the post 1939-1940 Winter War border). The Red Army is instructed on its withdrawal to destroy anything that could be of value to the Axis Powers (a scorched earth policy if you will). German Luftwaffe squadrons of the newly produced FW-190 begin arriving in the East to counter the growing amount of new Soviet planes. The FW-190 is the equal in some ways and superior in others to the Bf-109. The Bf-109 will remain the dominant fighter of the German Luftwaffe but the FW-190 will become the Luftwaffe’s night fighter and interceptor (on the Western Front the German Westwall Air Command receives dozens of squadrons of FW-190 and this allows the Luftwaffe to send dozens of squadrons of Bf-190s to the Eastern Front. The FW-190 has some teething problems but new versions are in the works to rectify these).
September 9th, 1941- The Soviet forces in Tallinn surrender when ROA sympathizers open their defensive lines for the Germans allowing German and ROA troops to quickly storm the city with the help of the sympathizers. Out of the 200,000 soldiers 110,000 surrender, with 50,000 joining the ROA after swearing the Oath of Loyalty; 40,000 loyal Soviets soldiers died since the German Army surrounded Tallinn.
September 11th, 1941- The Second Great Purge is nearing an end in the Soviet Union. Most of the nationalist uprisings throughout the Soviet Union have been defeated or contained except for in the Soviet controlled parts of the Ukraine and Belarussia where German transport ships continue to supply these rebel factions with supplies and weapons, and in the southern Republics the uprisings there have been defeated but refuse to die out and an intense guerrilla warfare has ensued. In Russia itself the uprisings were bad but many knowing German forces might not reach them in time decide to go into hiding until a better opportunity presents itself. The Purge will continue for some time but will be mainly at civilians and lower ranking military personnel. The upper echelons of the Red Army and Red Air Force have been butchered by the NKVD. Over half were arrested on charges whether they were true or not and shot, even some members of Stavka Stalin was displeased with. At all levels of command the Red Army and Red Air Force have lost so many experienced officers that many units cannot function and are being amalgamated with units that have a working command structure; distrust and paranoia continue to run rampant but the amount of killings has ebbed. The disloyal elements of the Red Army, the Red Air Force and the Red Navy have been mainly rounded up and shot (the ones that had not already moved to the Germans side or went into hiding to wage a guerilla campaign). While the frontline has stabilized somewhat Soviet troops continue to retreat all across the front. Vast amounts of armor, aircraft, weapons, heavy equipment and other war material have been captured by the Germans and their Axis allies. These can be replaced as the Trans-Ural factories will soon be reaching full output but this takes time and these resources the Germans captured are making up for the lack they have had since the end of Talon. These supplies are one of the main things propelling the German offensive forward, that and the low morale of the Soviet military coupled with many of its veteran personnel were either dead, captured, went over to the Germans or were rounded up by their own side due to unknown loyalty (most were shot, some were sent to Siberia) and this lack of experience is obvious as much smaller German forces defeat larger Soviet forces almost easily. Marshal Zhukov, whose headquarters is now in Smolensk, is ordering entire divisions to sacrifice themselves to slow the Germans down just long enough for the Red Army and Red Air Force to get back on its feet. This will result in tens of thousands of dead Soviets but does buy Zhukov time to revitalize the flagging combat capability of the Soviet armed forces.
September 12th, 1941- In the closing hours of the 12th of September Minsk surrenders. The German swastika flag rises over the city as dusk sets in. With Minsk taken local German forces are once again able to move eastwards without a thorn in its side. The Germans drive eastward to Smolensk.
Europe as of September 13th, 1941
Poland is under military occupation while the Baltic States are under a joint German military and local fascist government rule. The Ukraine is the most independent out of all the territory Germany took over so far. ITTL Germany's position in the war is not as strong as it was in OTL so his has to rely on volunteers from Slavic people who suffered under Stalin's rule, those who volunteer must pass racial test (must be Aryan or sub-Aryan which essentially means be white with no Asiatic or Communist background, a pure Caucasian heritage) and the volunteers from Poland and the Baltic States will be incorporated into the German Wehrmacht while the Ukrainians are beginning to form their own military with its own command structure and such it will be led by Ukrainians but will take part in German operations due to the Germans being the Axis Powers de facto leader and the most powerful military nation of the Axis. The Belarussians are a mix bag, some are joining the German Wehrmacht directly, others are forming their own auxiliary units attached to the Wehrmacht but not officially apart of it or staying as local militia to free up German troops for the frontline. The Russians of the ROA are similar to the Ukrainians in them having their own command structure but they do not have their own country. Almost like a government in exile in some ways. Another reason to give the Ukrainians their own country is Germany is focusing most of its forces in Belarussia and Russia and needs German troops there so the Ukrainians being their own country will allow them to create an army that will protect the Ukraine and possibly assist any German offensive there.
Poland is under military occupation while the Baltic States are under a joint German military and local fascist government rule. The Ukraine is the most independent out of all the territory Germany took over so far. ITTL Germany's position in the war is not as strong as it was in OTL so his has to rely on volunteers from Slavic people who suffered under Stalin's rule, those who volunteer must pass racial test (must be Aryan or sub-Aryan which essentially means be white with no Asiatic or Communist background, a pure Caucasian heritage) and the volunteers from Poland and the Baltic States will be incorporated into the German Wehrmacht while the Ukrainians are beginning to form their own military with its own command structure and such it will be led by Ukrainians but will take part in German operations due to the Germans being the Axis Powers de facto leader and the most powerful military nation of the Axis. The Belarussians are a mix bag, some are joining the German Wehrmacht directly, others are forming their own auxiliary units attached to the Wehrmacht but not officially apart of it or staying as local militia to free up German troops for the frontline. The Russians of the ROA are similar to the Ukrainians in them having their own command structure but they do not have their own country. Almost like a government in exile in some ways. Another reason to give the Ukrainians their own country is Germany is focusing most of its forces in Belarussia and Russia and needs German troops there so the Ukrainians being their own country will allow them to create an army that will protect the Ukraine and possibly assist any German offensive there.
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Good Evening Tanner151,
Another excellent post and getting better each time. Looking forward to how the British/French will react to all these events and also the Japanese. Could we have a German dominated Eastern Europe and an eventual truce in the West?
Trouble is that unless the whole of Russia is conquered, unlikely with the scale of the country (and yes I have been to some of the wilder parts), the war is likely to keep reigniting across what ever 'front' the two sides end up with. A more sensible Hitler, and we appear to have one in this story, would be better stopping at the post war Ukrainian/Belorussia/Baltic's borders and relying on the nationalist forces as a buffer for the future. And then make a truce with the British/French. Then work out a way of getting rid of Stalin.
This of course may or may not lead in the long term to peace in Europe! This is not impossible if German propaganda works on British/French/world opinion. As there is no 'Rabid British Bulldog' in the form of Churchill I could see Halifax agreeing with this. However this will bring your thread to an end too soon for my liking!
Then there is the US/Japanese angle to consider ............
Enough of my gibbering, keep up the good work mate.
VIKINGTANK.
Another excellent post and getting better each time. Looking forward to how the British/French will react to all these events and also the Japanese. Could we have a German dominated Eastern Europe and an eventual truce in the West?
Trouble is that unless the whole of Russia is conquered, unlikely with the scale of the country (and yes I have been to some of the wilder parts), the war is likely to keep reigniting across what ever 'front' the two sides end up with. A more sensible Hitler, and we appear to have one in this story, would be better stopping at the post war Ukrainian/Belorussia/Baltic's borders and relying on the nationalist forces as a buffer for the future. And then make a truce with the British/French. Then work out a way of getting rid of Stalin.
This of course may or may not lead in the long term to peace in Europe! This is not impossible if German propaganda works on British/French/world opinion. As there is no 'Rabid British Bulldog' in the form of Churchill I could see Halifax agreeing with this. However this will bring your thread to an end too soon for my liking!
Then there is the US/Japanese angle to consider ............
Enough of my gibbering, keep up the good work mate.
VIKINGTANK.
I have plans for the future of the series. The Soviet Union is not quite dead. Churchill is still a minister with quite a lot of power but Halifax and him are distancing themselves from each other. The Japanese will soon launch White Tiger, they have just been waiting for the right moment and the Japanese invasion of Siberia will have consequences, you can be assured of that. While Hitler will keep the Ukraine around as an Axis ally he does want some Lebensraum and that will be where the Baltics and Belarussia are concerned, that is if the Axis can hold on to these territories. The USSR still has millions of troops despite the July 27th Meltdown and ensuing purge. Many lack decent training and as of yet heavy equipment but a growing number of T-34s and KV-1s along with better fighter designs and special weapons are rolling off the production line. The fate of Europe is very much in the balance.
Also Hitler does not have the same god-like status he did in OTL by this point. Norway remains a battleground, France and the Low Countries are relatively untouched and the Soviets remain a great threat so Hitler's control over the Wehrmacht and General Staff is strong but not absolute, he has to listen to his generals and they are running the war as they did in OTL until 1942 when Hitler took personal control. So the Germans are a bit more effective so far. And consider this, Italy is nearing war with the West and Mussolini's Operation Caesar will send shock waves around the Mediterranean.
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Thank you. I don't know when the next part will be up because I have to go to Oklahoma for something and I don't know when I'll have time to write it up. I'll let you guys know, just an fyi it will probably be over a week but that's not written in stone or anything.
Deimos
Banned
I am glad that you are not subscribing to the cliché that the German leadership was so stupid that they were entirely devoid of any capability to be pragmatic in times of great need.
Still, the Germans will have to equip the Ukrainians with modern weapons or they will have "a soft underbelly" through which the Red Army can strike with ease and threaten the flanks of the Wehrmacht.
Still, the Germans will have to equip the Ukrainians with modern weapons or they will have "a soft underbelly" through which the Red Army can strike with ease and threaten the flanks of the Wehrmacht.
The Ukrainians so far have an ad hoc militia force made up of mainly former Red Army/Air Force units and civilians who are anti-Soviet. The Ukrainians are working on creating an actual military and most of their supplies will be former Red Army material. T-34s/KV-1s, some air squadrons, artillery, and motorized forces plus large amounts of Mosin-Nagants, pistols and machine guns. So, barring, heavy equipment the Ukrainians are okay material wise. Also there are a decent amount of factories that are undamaged which will be converted to Ukrainian military use. The most the Germans have to contribute is air support.
Nice and interesting...
BTW what is the situation in Yugoslavia - OTL the Yugslav Kingdom "almost" allied with Germany, but a coup d'etat prevented that (with dire consequences for Yugoslavia).
BTW what is the situation in Yugoslavia - OTL the Yugslav Kingdom "almost" allied with Germany, but a coup d'etat prevented that (with dire consequences for Yugoslavia).
Yugoslavia is on the sidelines. Fascist and Communist factions are fighting throughout the country and Mussolini has plans for Yugoslavia. He wants to do other stuff first, crack the harder shells if you will then he will deal with Yugoslavia, you'll see
Chapter 10: Blood Stained Snow
Chapter 10: Blood Stained Snow
September 13th, 1941- With Minsk fully secured behind them German forces in the area roll over the Soviet lines which were held by men that have been written off by Stavka. All along the front German led Axis forces are advancing steadily despite the worsening weather.
September 15th, 1941- The Soviet forces in northern Sweden and Finland receive the order to withdraw to the post-Winter War Soviet border. As the Soviet troops are withdrawing Axis air forces (German/Swedish/Free Finnish) bomb and disrupt the convoys and railroads causing heavy casualties (most Soviet fighter and bomber squadrons are pulled to the Eastern Front where they are needed more).
September 18th, 1941- To stiffen the political loyalty of the Red Army and Red Air Force Beria, with Stalin’s permission, expands the NKVD commissar’s power in the military. There will be a commissar for every significant military formation, from a regiment all the way up to an Army headquarters unit with broad powers. The military officer may lead the unit but the commissar can override the order if he feels it is not beneficial to the Communist Party and Stalin. This gives commissars extensive powers within the structure of the military and Stalin does this to ensure the loyalty of the Red Army and Red Air Force to prevent any more large scale uprisings and rebellion (nip the bud of rebellion if you will). This will ensure the loyalty of the frontline units but through fear. The commissars enact almost daily executions of “disloyal elements” usually common troopers who voice “defeatist ideals”. This order is immensely unpopular with the Red Army and Red Air Force, it stifles initiative and every commander will have to watch over his shoulder at the bloodthirsty NKVD hoping they do not get purged but no one dares utter a word of disapproval, all the purges since Stalin came to power have hammered one thing home: silence is survival.
September 19th, 1941- German panzers, with Stukas, bombers, and fighters as air support, pierce Soviet lines and rapidly encroach on Smolensk. The only thing driving the Germans forward is lack of organized Soviet resistance and their continued air supremacy. Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, head of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW) and de facto war minister to Hitler informs the German Führer that the Wehrmacht had only enough supplies for six weeks of advancement at the current pace before worse winter conditions made any large scale offensive impossible until late February or early March.
September 23rd, 1941- In a large nighttime raid German bombers bomb much of downtown Moscow. While the bombers were only carrying light bombs to increase range and the damage they caused was generally insignificant it does frighten the Soviet population in the city and is a propaganda victory for the Germans.
September 27th, 1941- Gomel, the last major city in Belarussia still in Soviet hands, is surrounded and cut off from reinforcements. German bombers and artillery continue to hammer the inner parts of the city killing thousands as German and ROA infantry enter the outer edges, using refined urban warfare tactics learned through hard lessons in the campaigns in Poland, are slowly moving to the center of the Soviet city.
September 30th, 1941- In northern Sweden with only a skeleton defense force of Soviet infantry, Lieutenant General Eduard Dietl, commander of German forces in Sweden proposes an offensive, using mainly Swedish and Free Finnish manpower but with the Luftwaffe providing most of the air cover and the German Army providing the panzers and half-tracks to quickly retake northern Sweden and advance into Finland itself to liberate it from under the Soviet boot. His plans are quickly approved. Men and material are being assembled for the offensive.
October 2nd, 1941- In Rome Mussolini’s top generals and admirals present to him Operation Caesar: The invasion and complete submission of Greece and the invasion of the British base at Malta along with landings on the large Greek island of Crete. Mussolini knows that if Malta or Crete does not fall than the war in the Mediterranean would start badly for the Italians. Greece Mussolini sees as a province of his ‘new Roman Empire’. In North Africa Italian units will remain on the defense until Greece and Malta fall to the Italians. Yugoslavia he would deal with after Caesar. He knew he would be too busy combating the French and British in North Africa and invading the Greeks to actually invade Yugoslavia but the Italian Il Duce thought he could pressure the Yugoslavs into doing what he wanted, of that he was almost certain of. Caesar will be launched on January 23rd, 1942.
October 3rd, 1941- Gomel falls to German and ROA soldiers. With the fall of the Soviet city all of Belarussia is now in German hands. German forces are now only 40 kilometers from Smolensk (While Gomel was under siege German and ROA forces continued to advance on Smolensk). Round the clock bombardment of the city is common causing widespread destruction and death. The Red Air Force is slowly rebuilding its strength but as of yet the Axis still have air superiority.
In Kiev, capital of the National Republic of the Ukraine, the newly formed Ukrainian National Army is officially activated with a nucleus of 40 divisions (400,000 men). More are on the way and most of the soldiers in the Ukrainian National Army are former Red Army soldiers (of Ukrainian descent) or partisans that fought against the Red Army during the rebellion. These troops have moderate amounts of training with some heavy equipment with a handful of tank divisions, courtesy of the Red Army who abandoned hundreds of tanks as they retreated east (they abandoned these tanks due to they broke down, lack of fuel or battle damage. Most of the tanks captured in the Ukraine by the Axis have been repaired and is now the backbone of the Ukrainian National Army. Ukrainian industry which suffered moderate damage is being rapidly repaired to help the Ukraine sustain its own armies and troops, to the relief of the Germans who cannot spare much to them. Also Ukrainian grain and other foodstuffs are being transported to Germany as part of the many economic pacts made between the two countries. The Germans receive food and pay it back with money and loans along with German engineers assisting Ukrainian engineers to modernize and rebuild Ukrainian industry in the Axis controlled third of the Ukraine. The other 2/3rds remains under Soviet domination but the lion’s share of Soviet war materials is going to Smolensk and Leningrad which Stalin deems more important than the Ukraine.
In Smolensk, Zhukov looks at the situation maps before him. The front was moving eastward, again. The damn Germans and their ROA dogs have steadily advanced and much of the peasantry supports them. Smolensk was lost, or would be when the Germans reached it. Zhukov did not have the time to properly fortify the city. A good quarter of it was heavily damaged from uprisings and much of the civilian population was wary of the Red Army. His supply situation was chaotic: railroads all across the USSR had been damaged to various degrees by rebels and diesel fuel and gasoline were critically short. Ammo, especially for tanks and soldiers was in good stock but most of his modern tanks (T-34s/KV-1s) had various degrees of damage or were suffering from lack of maintenance due to a scarcity of spare parts, his reserve tank forces, made up of mostly older tank models was fine at the moment. Stalin had ordered him to hold the city at all costs but if the Germans trapped Zhukov here, which they surely would once they reached the city, the better part of half a million men with about a third of the total surviving armored forces of the Red Army would be trapped and potentially destroyed leaving the road to Moscow easy for the Germans. The main thing Zhukov needed right now was time. Not men, tanks or even fuel but time. And he knew how to acquire it. He looked to his adjutant, “Launch Reckoning.” The adjutant nodded and went to the radio. In the background lurked Commissar Dmitry Novoborosky. He watched the man that was effectively running the war against the Fascists, if Zhukov made a call that Novoborosky thought was disloyal to Stalin or was defeatist than Novoborosky had the order from Beria himself to shoot the man. But he would not, not now at least; Zhukov was following Stalin's orders to the letter.
October 4th, 1941- Operation Reckoning is launched: 250,000 Soviet soldiers and 600 tanks (some T-34s but most are older model tanks, BT-5s/BT-7s, T-26s etc, these are much more expendable) just north-west of Smolensk launch sharp counter attacks into the Germans northern flank. This flank is held primarily by the ROA who give fanatical defense but are poorly armed in anti-panzer weapons. The ROA has a few dozen tanks here while the Germans have a couple of platoons of panzers and these Axis armored forces are all that is keeping the Soviets from breaking through and cutting the Smolensk drive in half. If the Soviets break the Axis lines here the entire German/ROA offense towards Smolensk will be in shambles. Both sides pour in reinforcements. The Soviets add more men and tanks while the Germans add more air superiority and mechanized infantry (few panzers to spare). The fate of the offensive towards Smolensk is in the balance.
October 9th, 1941- 5 days. 5 days of bloodshed and sacrifice west of Smolensk. The Soviet forces have blunted the Axis advance on Smolensk. The Axis lost almost 70,000 men (40,000 German and 30,000 ROA) and over a hundred tanks/panzers were destroyed with scores more damaged. The Soviets lose about 90,000 men and over 300 tanks (only about 200 hundred were destroyed, another 100 were so damaged that they were broken down for their spare parts). The German offensive to Smolensk had stalled and had even been pushed back 20 kilometers so the Axis forces are 60 kilometers from Smolensk. In Berlin Hitler and the General Staff are subdued by these turn of events. But when news reaches them off what is occurring in the Ukraine and near Leningrad their good mood quickly returns.
October 10th, 1941- German troops are barely ten kilometers from Leningrad. The way to Leningrad was relatively easy but the defenses around the city were strong, General Vatutin had not been idle. He allowed the Germans to take all the territory west of Leningrad so he could focus his troops and supplies in the defense of the city itself. German troops here now have to fight their way, through deadly defense networks with intercrossing fields of fire, panzer-traps and Red Army men in every nook and cranny, to move meter by meter towards the city named after the deceased Bolshevik leader Lenin.
In the Ukraine Field Marshal Wilhelm List, commander of the German forces in the Ukraine launches an offensive to take central Ukraine and if possible the Crimea well. List has only 200,000 German soldiers available on such short notice but he is able to get 350,000 Ukrainian soldiers plus another 120,000 minor Axis soldiers to assist in this endeavor. Axis forces, led by German panzers, quickly advance across the Ukraine. List wants to reach the Crimea and liberate as much of the Ukraine as possible before his fuel shortages become critical and before the Soviet ‘General Winter’ worsens.
October 11th, 1941- In a public radio announcement to the Soviet Union Stalin dictates that the Red Army and Red Air Force will be adopting a nationwide scorched earth policy in territories under threat of falling into German hands. This is relatively popular among the military leadership (but not the civilian population), particularly Zhukov who first brought up the notion (the Soviets lack of a nationwide, government enforced scorched earth policy has allowed the lands the Germans captured to remain productive to the German war machine and large amounts of Soviet military supplies to fall into German hands which has been given over to the ROA and the Ukrainians). Any and all further advancements by the Axis will be on territory that will contribute very little to the Axis forces.
October 13th, 1941- In three days the Axis offensive in the Ukraine is quite successful with much of central Ukraine taken with few losses. The Soviet forces here consist mainly of infantry with little to no armored support but they do have large amounts of artillery but most of that is being captured by Axis forces. The captured equipment will be given to the Ukrainians to bolster their military (the scorched earth policy might have been in effect officially but in many cases German panzers and infantry arrived so quick that the Soviets were unable to fully destroy their abandoned supplies or housing arrangements to prevent these from falling into German hands).
October 15th, 1941- German led Axis forces reach the northern part of the Crimea but Soviet defenses here is fanatical and List decides that Crimea is not worth taking at this time, he rather will let it wither on the vine. The Crimea is cut off from the rest of the Soviet Union but the supplies in the Crimea will keep the 380,000 Soviet troops there well fed and well armed for a long time (the Soviet troops in the Crimea are lacking tanks, fuel and air support but are good in every other category).
October 16th, 1941- The Italian fleet, with permission from Turkey, passes through the Turkish Straits to attack the Soviet Black Sea Fleet. Axis air forces from the Ukraine assist the Italian ships. The Black Sea Fleet, in port at Sevastopol to drop off supplies to the Soviet soldiers in the Crimea, is bombed and much of their craft is sunk or heavily damaged by Axis bombers. The Italian fleet destroys the remnants of the Black Sea Fleet suffering the loss of a heavy cruiser and a destroyer. The Italian fleet would patrol the Black Sea for weeks to come destroying scores of Soviet transport ships. This is all part of the process of weakening the forces of the Crimea for the eventual Axis attack. The Turks allowing the Italians through worsens Turkish-Soviet relations but rapidly improves Axis-Turkish relations. Bulgaria, sensing the growing Axis strength around them contemplates joining the Axis Powers.
October 17th, 1941- Lieutenant General Dietl and his Scandinavian Force launch their attack on Soviet held northern Sweden. The Soviets are swept aside due to lack of numbers and heavy equipment. The German/Swedish/Free Finnish troops make great strides, heavily assisted with Swedish partisans that fought the Soviet occupation.
October 20th, 1941- Sweden is completely cleared of a Soviet presence. Dielt enters north-western Finland, facing almost non-existent opposition (these Soviet troops were written off to buy time for the troops withdrawing eastward). The large scale uprising in Finland grows even larger as word reaches that Axis troops have entered the country and are quickly liberating huge swathes of Finland.
October 22nd, 1941- The attack on Leningrad has advanced six kilometers in twelve days with heavy casualties for both sides. Stalin is determined to make sure the city does not fall and that the Germans bleed themselves dry in the attempt to take the city.
October 23rd, 1941- Axis forces approach Helsinki, Finland.
October 26th, 1941- Zhukov reports to Stalin that Smolensk is a fortress near the scale of Leningrad, Stalin is quite pleased. Beria reports that the NKVD Army is nearing completion of its basic training. 30,000 more men have begun training to enter the Beria Brigades.
October 27th, 1941- After an intense house to house combat Helsinki is liberated by Axis forces. The Finnish government-in-exile quickly returns from Germany to their country’s capital and declares the Finnish Free State as over and that Finland is once again ruled by the Finnish (except for eastern Finland where the Soviets are dug in).
Marshal Mannerheim, commander of the Free Finnish State Armed Forces, now simply the Finnish Armed Forces, enters Helsinki, the capital of his homeland. The city had suffered greatly under Soviet occupation with over twenty thousand dead. The mass graves had been found outside the city. Much of the industry had either been broken down and shipped east to the USSR or destroyed completely. He may have his country, mostly, back but the Finnish will not be able to completely support themselves in the war, not yet anyway. Axis engineers were already reconstructing factories but it will take a long, long time for the Finns to be able to support themselves militarily.
October 28th, 1941- German soldiers begin advancing on Smolensk again but this time are much more cautious with heavily defended flanks, wary of counter-attacks. Zhukov is content with allowing them to approach Smolensk now that the Smolensk defenses have increased considerably.
November 3rd, 1941- To increase productivity and efficiency Hitler appoints Albert Speer as Deputy Minister of the Ministry of War Armaments and Production. Speer will soon become known as an administrative genius, his policies and tactics will eventually increase overall German production up by at least 30% and will help free up German manpower and rectify many inter-Ministry disputes and lack of coordination which allows the newer weapons in production to be simplified and standardized allowing quicker production and more of it to be produced with the same amount of materials.
November 11th, 1941- With winter worsening every day and fuel, spare parts, and ammo running critically low across the entire Eastern Front Hitler ceases all offensive operations until at least April of 1942. It will take this long to fully stock and repair the German units in the east. German troops are just three kilometers away from the Leningrad city limits, fifteen from Smolensk and ¾ of the Ukraine had been cleared of Soviet troops with the Soviet held Crimea cut off from support. The Red Navy Baltic and Black Sea Fleets were destroyed, Sweden had been cleared of Soviet troops along with most of Finland back under Finnish control. Hitler is pleased with the progress made on the Eastern Front but worried that with most of the uprisings in the USSR quashed the Soviet Union can repair itself internally (railroads and such) to the point where the Soviets vast industry can finally be able to send the resources it makes to the front much easier. It will be five months or so until the Wehrmacht is ready to launch another large scale offensive and in the meantime it will have to watch out for anything the Soviets do. But Hitler is pleased to note new and deadly weapons are finishing testing phases and will be mass produced shortly. The 75mm anti-panzer Panzer IV was quickly becoming the predominant German panzer with production of the Panzer I completely stopped, with the Panzer II only serving as a scout, partisan fighter (the Baltic States, Belarussia, the Ukraine and parts of European Russia held by the Germans and their Axis allies do have partisan groups that fight the Axis. They are mainly, but not exclusively, Jewish and/or Soviet citizens still loyal to Moscow, although these partisan groups are much, much smaller than in OTL due to Germany’s more ‘friendly’ attitude in the east) and training vehicle. The Panzer III (all new Panzer IIIs are being produced with the 50mm anti-panzer cannon) is still heavily relied on and produced but is quickly being replaced by the 75 mm anti-panzer Panzer IV. In Japan the military junta is just waiting for better weather conditions to attack Siberia and expand the Japanese Empire in the name of the Emperor, the United States watches with an apprehensive eye on the state of the world and Britain and France struggle with the growing unpopularity with the war and maintaining large international empires with native populations that would resist if given the chance or even half a chance. As the sun goes below the horizon on the 11th of November of the year 1941 as ‘General Winter’ dominates the pockmarked, battle-scarred fields of Eastern Europe the world watches as the greatest war in history continues into another day.
Chapter 10: Blood Stained Snow
September 13th, 1941- With Minsk fully secured behind them German forces in the area roll over the Soviet lines which were held by men that have been written off by Stavka. All along the front German led Axis forces are advancing steadily despite the worsening weather.
September 15th, 1941- The Soviet forces in northern Sweden and Finland receive the order to withdraw to the post-Winter War Soviet border. As the Soviet troops are withdrawing Axis air forces (German/Swedish/Free Finnish) bomb and disrupt the convoys and railroads causing heavy casualties (most Soviet fighter and bomber squadrons are pulled to the Eastern Front where they are needed more).
September 18th, 1941- To stiffen the political loyalty of the Red Army and Red Air Force Beria, with Stalin’s permission, expands the NKVD commissar’s power in the military. There will be a commissar for every significant military formation, from a regiment all the way up to an Army headquarters unit with broad powers. The military officer may lead the unit but the commissar can override the order if he feels it is not beneficial to the Communist Party and Stalin. This gives commissars extensive powers within the structure of the military and Stalin does this to ensure the loyalty of the Red Army and Red Air Force to prevent any more large scale uprisings and rebellion (nip the bud of rebellion if you will). This will ensure the loyalty of the frontline units but through fear. The commissars enact almost daily executions of “disloyal elements” usually common troopers who voice “defeatist ideals”. This order is immensely unpopular with the Red Army and Red Air Force, it stifles initiative and every commander will have to watch over his shoulder at the bloodthirsty NKVD hoping they do not get purged but no one dares utter a word of disapproval, all the purges since Stalin came to power have hammered one thing home: silence is survival.
September 19th, 1941- German panzers, with Stukas, bombers, and fighters as air support, pierce Soviet lines and rapidly encroach on Smolensk. The only thing driving the Germans forward is lack of organized Soviet resistance and their continued air supremacy. Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, head of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW) and de facto war minister to Hitler informs the German Führer that the Wehrmacht had only enough supplies for six weeks of advancement at the current pace before worse winter conditions made any large scale offensive impossible until late February or early March.
September 23rd, 1941- In a large nighttime raid German bombers bomb much of downtown Moscow. While the bombers were only carrying light bombs to increase range and the damage they caused was generally insignificant it does frighten the Soviet population in the city and is a propaganda victory for the Germans.
September 27th, 1941- Gomel, the last major city in Belarussia still in Soviet hands, is surrounded and cut off from reinforcements. German bombers and artillery continue to hammer the inner parts of the city killing thousands as German and ROA infantry enter the outer edges, using refined urban warfare tactics learned through hard lessons in the campaigns in Poland, are slowly moving to the center of the Soviet city.
September 30th, 1941- In northern Sweden with only a skeleton defense force of Soviet infantry, Lieutenant General Eduard Dietl, commander of German forces in Sweden proposes an offensive, using mainly Swedish and Free Finnish manpower but with the Luftwaffe providing most of the air cover and the German Army providing the panzers and half-tracks to quickly retake northern Sweden and advance into Finland itself to liberate it from under the Soviet boot. His plans are quickly approved. Men and material are being assembled for the offensive.
October 2nd, 1941- In Rome Mussolini’s top generals and admirals present to him Operation Caesar: The invasion and complete submission of Greece and the invasion of the British base at Malta along with landings on the large Greek island of Crete. Mussolini knows that if Malta or Crete does not fall than the war in the Mediterranean would start badly for the Italians. Greece Mussolini sees as a province of his ‘new Roman Empire’. In North Africa Italian units will remain on the defense until Greece and Malta fall to the Italians. Yugoslavia he would deal with after Caesar. He knew he would be too busy combating the French and British in North Africa and invading the Greeks to actually invade Yugoslavia but the Italian Il Duce thought he could pressure the Yugoslavs into doing what he wanted, of that he was almost certain of. Caesar will be launched on January 23rd, 1942.
October 3rd, 1941- Gomel falls to German and ROA soldiers. With the fall of the Soviet city all of Belarussia is now in German hands. German forces are now only 40 kilometers from Smolensk (While Gomel was under siege German and ROA forces continued to advance on Smolensk). Round the clock bombardment of the city is common causing widespread destruction and death. The Red Air Force is slowly rebuilding its strength but as of yet the Axis still have air superiority.
In Kiev, capital of the National Republic of the Ukraine, the newly formed Ukrainian National Army is officially activated with a nucleus of 40 divisions (400,000 men). More are on the way and most of the soldiers in the Ukrainian National Army are former Red Army soldiers (of Ukrainian descent) or partisans that fought against the Red Army during the rebellion. These troops have moderate amounts of training with some heavy equipment with a handful of tank divisions, courtesy of the Red Army who abandoned hundreds of tanks as they retreated east (they abandoned these tanks due to they broke down, lack of fuel or battle damage. Most of the tanks captured in the Ukraine by the Axis have been repaired and is now the backbone of the Ukrainian National Army. Ukrainian industry which suffered moderate damage is being rapidly repaired to help the Ukraine sustain its own armies and troops, to the relief of the Germans who cannot spare much to them. Also Ukrainian grain and other foodstuffs are being transported to Germany as part of the many economic pacts made between the two countries. The Germans receive food and pay it back with money and loans along with German engineers assisting Ukrainian engineers to modernize and rebuild Ukrainian industry in the Axis controlled third of the Ukraine. The other 2/3rds remains under Soviet domination but the lion’s share of Soviet war materials is going to Smolensk and Leningrad which Stalin deems more important than the Ukraine.
In Smolensk, Zhukov looks at the situation maps before him. The front was moving eastward, again. The damn Germans and their ROA dogs have steadily advanced and much of the peasantry supports them. Smolensk was lost, or would be when the Germans reached it. Zhukov did not have the time to properly fortify the city. A good quarter of it was heavily damaged from uprisings and much of the civilian population was wary of the Red Army. His supply situation was chaotic: railroads all across the USSR had been damaged to various degrees by rebels and diesel fuel and gasoline were critically short. Ammo, especially for tanks and soldiers was in good stock but most of his modern tanks (T-34s/KV-1s) had various degrees of damage or were suffering from lack of maintenance due to a scarcity of spare parts, his reserve tank forces, made up of mostly older tank models was fine at the moment. Stalin had ordered him to hold the city at all costs but if the Germans trapped Zhukov here, which they surely would once they reached the city, the better part of half a million men with about a third of the total surviving armored forces of the Red Army would be trapped and potentially destroyed leaving the road to Moscow easy for the Germans. The main thing Zhukov needed right now was time. Not men, tanks or even fuel but time. And he knew how to acquire it. He looked to his adjutant, “Launch Reckoning.” The adjutant nodded and went to the radio. In the background lurked Commissar Dmitry Novoborosky. He watched the man that was effectively running the war against the Fascists, if Zhukov made a call that Novoborosky thought was disloyal to Stalin or was defeatist than Novoborosky had the order from Beria himself to shoot the man. But he would not, not now at least; Zhukov was following Stalin's orders to the letter.
October 4th, 1941- Operation Reckoning is launched: 250,000 Soviet soldiers and 600 tanks (some T-34s but most are older model tanks, BT-5s/BT-7s, T-26s etc, these are much more expendable) just north-west of Smolensk launch sharp counter attacks into the Germans northern flank. This flank is held primarily by the ROA who give fanatical defense but are poorly armed in anti-panzer weapons. The ROA has a few dozen tanks here while the Germans have a couple of platoons of panzers and these Axis armored forces are all that is keeping the Soviets from breaking through and cutting the Smolensk drive in half. If the Soviets break the Axis lines here the entire German/ROA offense towards Smolensk will be in shambles. Both sides pour in reinforcements. The Soviets add more men and tanks while the Germans add more air superiority and mechanized infantry (few panzers to spare). The fate of the offensive towards Smolensk is in the balance.
October 9th, 1941- 5 days. 5 days of bloodshed and sacrifice west of Smolensk. The Soviet forces have blunted the Axis advance on Smolensk. The Axis lost almost 70,000 men (40,000 German and 30,000 ROA) and over a hundred tanks/panzers were destroyed with scores more damaged. The Soviets lose about 90,000 men and over 300 tanks (only about 200 hundred were destroyed, another 100 were so damaged that they were broken down for their spare parts). The German offensive to Smolensk had stalled and had even been pushed back 20 kilometers so the Axis forces are 60 kilometers from Smolensk. In Berlin Hitler and the General Staff are subdued by these turn of events. But when news reaches them off what is occurring in the Ukraine and near Leningrad their good mood quickly returns.
October 10th, 1941- German troops are barely ten kilometers from Leningrad. The way to Leningrad was relatively easy but the defenses around the city were strong, General Vatutin had not been idle. He allowed the Germans to take all the territory west of Leningrad so he could focus his troops and supplies in the defense of the city itself. German troops here now have to fight their way, through deadly defense networks with intercrossing fields of fire, panzer-traps and Red Army men in every nook and cranny, to move meter by meter towards the city named after the deceased Bolshevik leader Lenin.
In the Ukraine Field Marshal Wilhelm List, commander of the German forces in the Ukraine launches an offensive to take central Ukraine and if possible the Crimea well. List has only 200,000 German soldiers available on such short notice but he is able to get 350,000 Ukrainian soldiers plus another 120,000 minor Axis soldiers to assist in this endeavor. Axis forces, led by German panzers, quickly advance across the Ukraine. List wants to reach the Crimea and liberate as much of the Ukraine as possible before his fuel shortages become critical and before the Soviet ‘General Winter’ worsens.
October 11th, 1941- In a public radio announcement to the Soviet Union Stalin dictates that the Red Army and Red Air Force will be adopting a nationwide scorched earth policy in territories under threat of falling into German hands. This is relatively popular among the military leadership (but not the civilian population), particularly Zhukov who first brought up the notion (the Soviets lack of a nationwide, government enforced scorched earth policy has allowed the lands the Germans captured to remain productive to the German war machine and large amounts of Soviet military supplies to fall into German hands which has been given over to the ROA and the Ukrainians). Any and all further advancements by the Axis will be on territory that will contribute very little to the Axis forces.
October 13th, 1941- In three days the Axis offensive in the Ukraine is quite successful with much of central Ukraine taken with few losses. The Soviet forces here consist mainly of infantry with little to no armored support but they do have large amounts of artillery but most of that is being captured by Axis forces. The captured equipment will be given to the Ukrainians to bolster their military (the scorched earth policy might have been in effect officially but in many cases German panzers and infantry arrived so quick that the Soviets were unable to fully destroy their abandoned supplies or housing arrangements to prevent these from falling into German hands).
October 15th, 1941- German led Axis forces reach the northern part of the Crimea but Soviet defenses here is fanatical and List decides that Crimea is not worth taking at this time, he rather will let it wither on the vine. The Crimea is cut off from the rest of the Soviet Union but the supplies in the Crimea will keep the 380,000 Soviet troops there well fed and well armed for a long time (the Soviet troops in the Crimea are lacking tanks, fuel and air support but are good in every other category).
October 16th, 1941- The Italian fleet, with permission from Turkey, passes through the Turkish Straits to attack the Soviet Black Sea Fleet. Axis air forces from the Ukraine assist the Italian ships. The Black Sea Fleet, in port at Sevastopol to drop off supplies to the Soviet soldiers in the Crimea, is bombed and much of their craft is sunk or heavily damaged by Axis bombers. The Italian fleet destroys the remnants of the Black Sea Fleet suffering the loss of a heavy cruiser and a destroyer. The Italian fleet would patrol the Black Sea for weeks to come destroying scores of Soviet transport ships. This is all part of the process of weakening the forces of the Crimea for the eventual Axis attack. The Turks allowing the Italians through worsens Turkish-Soviet relations but rapidly improves Axis-Turkish relations. Bulgaria, sensing the growing Axis strength around them contemplates joining the Axis Powers.
October 17th, 1941- Lieutenant General Dietl and his Scandinavian Force launch their attack on Soviet held northern Sweden. The Soviets are swept aside due to lack of numbers and heavy equipment. The German/Swedish/Free Finnish troops make great strides, heavily assisted with Swedish partisans that fought the Soviet occupation.
October 20th, 1941- Sweden is completely cleared of a Soviet presence. Dielt enters north-western Finland, facing almost non-existent opposition (these Soviet troops were written off to buy time for the troops withdrawing eastward). The large scale uprising in Finland grows even larger as word reaches that Axis troops have entered the country and are quickly liberating huge swathes of Finland.
October 22nd, 1941- The attack on Leningrad has advanced six kilometers in twelve days with heavy casualties for both sides. Stalin is determined to make sure the city does not fall and that the Germans bleed themselves dry in the attempt to take the city.
October 23rd, 1941- Axis forces approach Helsinki, Finland.
October 26th, 1941- Zhukov reports to Stalin that Smolensk is a fortress near the scale of Leningrad, Stalin is quite pleased. Beria reports that the NKVD Army is nearing completion of its basic training. 30,000 more men have begun training to enter the Beria Brigades.
October 27th, 1941- After an intense house to house combat Helsinki is liberated by Axis forces. The Finnish government-in-exile quickly returns from Germany to their country’s capital and declares the Finnish Free State as over and that Finland is once again ruled by the Finnish (except for eastern Finland where the Soviets are dug in).
Marshal Mannerheim, commander of the Free Finnish State Armed Forces, now simply the Finnish Armed Forces, enters Helsinki, the capital of his homeland. The city had suffered greatly under Soviet occupation with over twenty thousand dead. The mass graves had been found outside the city. Much of the industry had either been broken down and shipped east to the USSR or destroyed completely. He may have his country, mostly, back but the Finnish will not be able to completely support themselves in the war, not yet anyway. Axis engineers were already reconstructing factories but it will take a long, long time for the Finns to be able to support themselves militarily.
October 28th, 1941- German soldiers begin advancing on Smolensk again but this time are much more cautious with heavily defended flanks, wary of counter-attacks. Zhukov is content with allowing them to approach Smolensk now that the Smolensk defenses have increased considerably.
November 3rd, 1941- To increase productivity and efficiency Hitler appoints Albert Speer as Deputy Minister of the Ministry of War Armaments and Production. Speer will soon become known as an administrative genius, his policies and tactics will eventually increase overall German production up by at least 30% and will help free up German manpower and rectify many inter-Ministry disputes and lack of coordination which allows the newer weapons in production to be simplified and standardized allowing quicker production and more of it to be produced with the same amount of materials.
November 11th, 1941- With winter worsening every day and fuel, spare parts, and ammo running critically low across the entire Eastern Front Hitler ceases all offensive operations until at least April of 1942. It will take this long to fully stock and repair the German units in the east. German troops are just three kilometers away from the Leningrad city limits, fifteen from Smolensk and ¾ of the Ukraine had been cleared of Soviet troops with the Soviet held Crimea cut off from support. The Red Navy Baltic and Black Sea Fleets were destroyed, Sweden had been cleared of Soviet troops along with most of Finland back under Finnish control. Hitler is pleased with the progress made on the Eastern Front but worried that with most of the uprisings in the USSR quashed the Soviet Union can repair itself internally (railroads and such) to the point where the Soviets vast industry can finally be able to send the resources it makes to the front much easier. It will be five months or so until the Wehrmacht is ready to launch another large scale offensive and in the meantime it will have to watch out for anything the Soviets do. But Hitler is pleased to note new and deadly weapons are finishing testing phases and will be mass produced shortly. The 75mm anti-panzer Panzer IV was quickly becoming the predominant German panzer with production of the Panzer I completely stopped, with the Panzer II only serving as a scout, partisan fighter (the Baltic States, Belarussia, the Ukraine and parts of European Russia held by the Germans and their Axis allies do have partisan groups that fight the Axis. They are mainly, but not exclusively, Jewish and/or Soviet citizens still loyal to Moscow, although these partisan groups are much, much smaller than in OTL due to Germany’s more ‘friendly’ attitude in the east) and training vehicle. The Panzer III (all new Panzer IIIs are being produced with the 50mm anti-panzer cannon) is still heavily relied on and produced but is quickly being replaced by the 75 mm anti-panzer Panzer IV. In Japan the military junta is just waiting for better weather conditions to attack Siberia and expand the Japanese Empire in the name of the Emperor, the United States watches with an apprehensive eye on the state of the world and Britain and France struggle with the growing unpopularity with the war and maintaining large international empires with native populations that would resist if given the chance or even half a chance. As the sun goes below the horizon on the 11th of November of the year 1941 as ‘General Winter’ dominates the pockmarked, battle-scarred fields of Eastern Europe the world watches as the greatest war in history continues into another day.
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Map of Europe as of November 11th, 1941
Map of Europe as of November 11th, 1941. The German led Axis forces have conquered large swathes of Soviet territory causing significant damage to the USSR but the Soviet Union is large and its people many. Will Germany be able to hold its new gains or will Zhukov be able to lead the low morale soldiers of the Red Army/Red Air Force/Red Navy (that has suffered immense casualties) to win the war.
Map of Europe as of November 11th, 1941. The German led Axis forces have conquered large swathes of Soviet territory causing significant damage to the USSR but the Soviet Union is large and its people many. Will Germany be able to hold its new gains or will Zhukov be able to lead the low morale soldiers of the Red Army/Red Air Force/Red Navy (that has suffered immense casualties) to win the war.
Materials
Would the Germans be able to buy raw materials from the West using Gold/valuables liberated in the East? Also, what about volunteer units from the West to 'fight the Bolshevik menace'? Would they be shipped in through Greece or Turkey or Scandinavia?
Would the Germans be able to buy raw materials from the West using Gold/valuables liberated in the East? Also, what about volunteer units from the West to 'fight the Bolshevik menace'? Would they be shipped in through Greece or Turkey or Scandinavia?
Not really, the British and French navies are much bigger than the Germans and the USA prefers the Entente over the Germans. The North Atlantic is a warzone, German U-boats are sinking Entente merchant ships and smaller naval ships. There are some volunteer units but not that many. Some few thousand easily that are on the Eastern Front but no large scale formations, but Britain and France do have rising fascist movements, especially France. Greece is a semi-ally of the Entente and would embargo any movement of material to the Axis, Turkey is leaning heavily towards the Axis and Scandinavia is a battleground