Stalin flees during the Moscow Panic of October 1941, which becomes general. The autumn rains hold off just long enough for the Germans to capture Moscow. The Germans have a month to recover, regroup, and dig in before the Soviets counterattack in December. The counterattack fails and Stalin purges most of the remaining generals of the Red Army.
Meanwhile - Rommel's command wagon gets strafed at the height of Operation CRUSADER. Rommel is seriously wounded and evacuated to Germany. The Panzer Armee Afrika falls apart and is mostly destroyed during the retreat across eastern Libya. There is no Axis counterattack. In June 1942, the Allies press on to Tripoli, ending the North African campaign. With general Allied success in the theater, French North Africa joins the Allies in September.
Meanwhile - the Germans launch a 1942 summer offensive from Moscow to the Volga. They are greatly assisted by Stalin's repeated "stand-fast" orders, insistence on ill-advised counterattacks, and purges of non-compliant and defeated generals (two categories which between them include nearly all remaining Red Army senior commanders). With morale collapsing, a group of junior officers launch a coup d'état which overthrows Stalin in October. Soviet President Kalinin takes power and surrenders to Germany on Vichy-like terms. Allied troops from Iran occupy Azerbaijan; Soviet forces in the area become the Free Russian Army.
Also in October - The Allies invade Sicily, conquering it by the end of 1942. In February 1943, a cabal led by the King of Italy tries to overthrow Mussolini and surrender to the Allies, but are thwarted by German intervention. The King escapes to Sicily, and calls on all Italian forces to join the Allies. The Allies gain control of Rhodes, Corfu, Cephalonia, Taranto, and parts of Sardinia and Corsica.
From these beachheads, the Allies conquer southern Europe. In 1944, a cross-Channel invasion of France. Nazi Germany falls in 1945.
Meanwhile - Rommel's command wagon gets strafed at the height of Operation CRUSADER. Rommel is seriously wounded and evacuated to Germany. The Panzer Armee Afrika falls apart and is mostly destroyed during the retreat across eastern Libya. There is no Axis counterattack. In June 1942, the Allies press on to Tripoli, ending the North African campaign. With general Allied success in the theater, French North Africa joins the Allies in September.
Meanwhile - the Germans launch a 1942 summer offensive from Moscow to the Volga. They are greatly assisted by Stalin's repeated "stand-fast" orders, insistence on ill-advised counterattacks, and purges of non-compliant and defeated generals (two categories which between them include nearly all remaining Red Army senior commanders). With morale collapsing, a group of junior officers launch a coup d'état which overthrows Stalin in October. Soviet President Kalinin takes power and surrenders to Germany on Vichy-like terms. Allied troops from Iran occupy Azerbaijan; Soviet forces in the area become the Free Russian Army.
Also in October - The Allies invade Sicily, conquering it by the end of 1942. In February 1943, a cabal led by the King of Italy tries to overthrow Mussolini and surrender to the Allies, but are thwarted by German intervention. The King escapes to Sicily, and calls on all Italian forces to join the Allies. The Allies gain control of Rhodes, Corfu, Cephalonia, Taranto, and parts of Sardinia and Corsica.
From these beachheads, the Allies conquer southern Europe. In 1944, a cross-Channel invasion of France. Nazi Germany falls in 1945.
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