AHC: Saner, Less Evil Axis That's Still Axis

[MerryPrankster]

As for the OP, this is verging into a German WW2-wank but with "Notzi's", so you don't have to feel bad for supporting them.

I don't know how much of a wank it'd be, considering if it still follows the broad outlines of OTL's WWII they're still going to lose.

(The Allies, among other things, controlled most of the world's oil supply and I think at one point the British Empire outproduced the Third Reich in aircraft. And even without the grossest excesses of anti-Semitism, many liberal scientists are still going to leave and so the US will have the Bomb.)

 

[Kung Fucious]

I don't know how much of a wank it'd be, considering if it still follows the broad outlines of OTL's WWII they're still going to lose.

(The Allies, among other things, controlled most of the world's oil supply and I think at one point the British Empire outproduced the Third Reich in aircraft. And even without the grossest excesses of anti-Semitism, many liberal scientists are still going to leave and so the US will have the Bomb.)

I get that, but my discomfort with the idea is similar to my one with CSA-victory TL's: while you may get a good story out of it, too often it verges into Confederate/Nazi apologia (not so say I'm accusing you of that, just that it's a recurring issue).

 

[MerryPrankster]

I get that, but my discomfort with the idea is similar to my one with CSA-victory TL's: while you may get a good story out of it, too often it verges into Confederate/Nazi apologia (not so say I'm accusing you of that, just that it's a recurring issue).

Fair point.

To that end, what are some war crimes a "saner Axis" might still commit?

Here're some ideas:

*Overzealous junior officers who avoid getting purged in Japan still brutalize their men and inculcate them with pseudo-bushido nonsense, so we still get war crimes in China and abuses of prisoners in the Pacific, albeit perhaps not as widespread and with more punishment for the offenders.

*Anti-Semitic violence tolerated in occupied Soviet territory on the grounds that these are the common folk of the land avenging themselves on their Communist tormentors.

*Expulsions of Poles from German-heavy areas of interwar Poland to ensure demographic German dominance.

*Bombing civilians with the goal of getting them to pressure their governments into making peace on German terms a la Rotterdam in OTL. Given how anti-democratic many of the not-Nazis still were, this kind of terroristic attitude seems plausible.

 

[Kung Fucious]

Fair point.

To that end, what are some war crimes a "saner Axis" might still commit?

Here're some ideas:

*Overzealous junior officers who avoid getting purged in Japan still brutalize their men and inculcate them with pseudo-bushido nonsense, so we still get war crimes in China and abuses of prisoners in the Pacific, albeit perhaps not as widespread and with more punishment for the offenders.

*Anti-Semitic violence tolerated in occupied Soviet territory on the grounds that these are the common folk of the land avenging themselves on their Communist tormentors.

*Expulsions of Poles from German-heavy areas of interwar Poland to ensure demographic German dominance.

*Bombing civilians with the goal of getting them to pressure their governments into making peace on German terms a la Rotterdam in OTL. Given how anti-democratic many of the not-Nazis still were, this kind of terroristic attitude seems plausible.

That could work, though if it was me I'd bump up the Japanese Command turning a blind eye to the Junior Officers abuses (they don't encourage it, but they're fine with it unless it's REALLY egregious), and throw in the confiscation of German/Polish Jews property, and Ghetto's-in-all-but name being set up.

 

[ObssesedNuker]

Maybe they decide to pull a reverse of WW2, going after Stalin first and then turning their attention Westward to France and the UK. Since they're not bugfuck crazy like the Nazi's (just generic off the shelf Fascist assholes) they've got a slightly easier time invading the USSR

Unfortunately, not really. Not only would Stalin be better prepared for an invasion in this scenario but the Axis would be worse prepared. The Germans looted a lot of resources from Western Europe that they put to good use in the Soviet Union... for example, without captured French army trucks the Wehrmacht would only be able to partially motorize the Ostheer's logistics by taking them from the panzer forces. That would obviously adversely impact the performance of said panzer forces. But if the German's do not partially-motorize their logistics then the advance will grind to a halt around Minsk (or even further west if the Germans try to buy the populace's support by not looting their food). It's a catch-22 for the Germans similar to what they face when it comes to the issue of buying the support of the populace.

To that end, what are some war crimes a "saner Axis" might still commit?

Well in the east you are still going to get something resembling the hunger plan for simple logistical reasons alone. Even the most delusional of the planners for Barbarossa saw that it was logistically impossible if they had to ship food out to the front lines instead of stealing wholesale from the locals. It's why when Hunger Plan Ost was presented, the German General Staff almost universally supported it.

A less harsh hunger plan is technically possible, but the end result will still be harsh enough to see a lot of partisan resistance.

 

[MerryPrankster]

That could work, though if it was me I'd bump up the Japanese Command turning a blind eye to the Junior Officers abuses (they don't encourage it, but they're fine with it unless it's REALLY egregious), and throw in the confiscation of German/Polish Jews property, and Ghetto's-in-all-but name being set up.

The first one makes sense, but I think the second would depend on who Not-Hitler is.

Maybe there could be some weird situation where Jews in Germany proper are protected but those in areas occupied by the German army are mistreated to some degree or another due to allegedly being Communists, being intelligentsia, being "Christ-killers," etc.

(Think Romania, whose soldiers murdered Jews in occupied Soviet territory but never sent its own population to the ovens.)