AHC: Soviet-Wank WW2 as much as possible without going ASB

Dont forget asia! what about:

northern iran or all of iran

an axis turkey (plus scenarios with general axis success in the middle east could lead to soviet "liberation" of said axis controlled middle east)

sinkiang

inner and outter mongolia

manchuria

other parts of northern china perhaps

korea

hokkaido and maybe northern honshu, or maybe somehow even all of japan

plus maybe afghanistan just for kicks
 
the challenge for today is I believe an interesting one. Your task is to find a way to wank things into favor for the Soviets during WW2 as much as possible without things going into the ASB territory. The goal at its farthest is for say 3/4's of Europe to be under the Sickle and Hammer by the end of WW2.

That's actually fairly modest. OTL, the USSR controlled about 63% of Europe, more or less, at the end of the war (including Yugoslavia and Albania).
Remember that 40% of Europe is Russia to start with; another 10% is the former Soviet SSRs in Europe.

To expand Soviet control to 75% requires about 1M additional sq km.
Finland, the rest of Germany, and Greece is almost enough. Throw in Austria and a slice of Italy, and there you are.

How to get there...

1) FDR has a heart attack and retires in 1940; the nomination goes to Burton Wheeler, who defeats Willkie. Wheeler, an extreme Isolationist, bars any U.S. aid or support of the Allies.

2) Stalin anticipates the German invasion in 1941, instead of insisting it can't happen. Soviet forces are fully alerted, and the initial Axis victory is merely substantial, not cosmic. The Axis forces stop E of Kiev, W of Smolensk, SW of Leningrad.

3) Soviet forces roll back the Axis starting in late 1942.

4) Meanwhile, assured of no U.S. intervention, Japan seizes SE Asia, crippling the Allies (that is, Britain and the Commonwealth).

5) Soviet troops conquer Finland, and drive to Greece, Austria, and western Germany. Partisans overthrow Mussolini; Soviet troops occupy northern Italy. Britain, which has just barely hung on with no Lend-Lease aid and has to fight Japan alone, liberates the Benelux, France, Norway, and southern Italy as Germany collapses.
 
I just feel like with a neutral USA, less involved Great Britain (having been more thoroughly thrashed by the blitz but not invaded or occupied) and with Spain and Turkey throwing more manpower, supplies and troops into the mix, the USSR is going to have a pretty rough time.

Germany isn't going to have a western front and without the USA, its very likely that operation Torch doesn't work out or never comes about, especially with a more successful blitz keeping GB on the defensive.

Agreed. And if the Germans can send and bombersthrough Turkey to the Caucasus, they can strike at Soviet oil fields from two directions and can even attack allied oil supplies in Iraq and Iran. If the Germans attacked the route through Iran, they might even be able to disrupt the only safe remaining reliable route for military supplies to the USSR. If they attacked South, they could threaten the Suez canal or prevent the allies from dislodging the forces in North Afrika. As for Spain, its entry would give the British a major headache in the form of a reasonably well equipped nation with battle-experienced troops, rough terrain and potentially good harbors for yet more submarines. Operation torch without the USA and with Spain in the fray is just out of the question. While a siege of Gibralter would probably fail, I suspect that axis aircraft so close to the base would make it far less useful. The list of setbacks goes on and that whole scenario, in addition to being unlikely to happen in the first place, is basically a massive screw of the Western allies on the assumption that the Soviets could win the war practically alone.
 
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We really should redraft that some day, it was far too generous to the western allies. :p

I also posted this scenario a little while back, partly inspired by Suvorov's 'Icebreaker'.

snip
It was an enjoyable read, but the fact that it relies on the fantasies of Suvorov doesn't do much to make it plausible. For starters, outside his book, is there any evidence at all that Hitler thought that the Soviet Union would attack Germany?
 
Officer Purges minimised

the challenge for today is I believe an interesting one. Your task is to find a way to wank things into favor for the Soviets during WW2 as much as possible without things going into the ASB territory. The goal at its farthest is for say 3/4's of Europe to be under the Sickle and Hammer by the end of WW2. Going beyond that could enter ASB territory itself, however if you can find a legitimate way for Continental Europe to end up liberated/conquered by the Soviets, then you shall receive a giant cookie.

Wouldn't the first move in improving Soviet performance in WWII be to not kill or imprison most of the officer corps? The claim 'every officer over the rank of Colonel' is one I have seen used to describe it, though this leaves the question of what about Zhukov as he seems to have been doing reasonably well for himself in Manchuria.

Say Stalin was more selective in dealing with the threat of army takeover - not necessarily just a mad fantasy of his - or have him re-instate purged officers a reasonable time before Hitler invades, say when the war with Finland shows the Red Army's problems? That would give them enough time to help organise things and look more like cold calculation rather than desperation.

Better military leadership from the start of Barbarossa would have to help. It would not be impossible, just require Stalin to see that gutting the Army would leave the USSR weak and vulnerable.
 
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