AHC: WW2 Eastern Front delayed 6 months

What is the latest PoD that allows the Wehrmacht to hold off the Red Army in the East for a further 6 months?

Any convenient delay in the Western Allies opening a second front is acceptable, either as cause or effect, but a second front in the West must be opened. Extra credit if you can achieve this with a PoD after the launch of Operation NEPTUNE.

There is no requirement for the Wehrmacht to survive the experience as a functioning entity. It would be preferable, however, if Germany is demographically viable and governable postwar.
 

Deleted member 1487

What is the latest PoD that allows the Wehrmacht to hold off the Red Army in the East for a further 6 months?

Any convenient delay in the Western Allies opening a second front is acceptable, either as cause or effect, but a second front in the West must be opened. Extra credit if you can achieve this with a PoD after the launch of Operation NEPTUNE.

There is no requirement for the Wehrmacht to survive the experience as a functioning entity. It would be preferable, however, if Germany is demographically viable and governable postwar.

Probably having them take Stalingrad early and thus be strong enough not to get trapped there in late 1942. Saving the 6th army from the bloodshed and capture around Stalingrad probably helps drag out the Eastern front for another 6 months if the Germans play their cards right.
 

Angrybird

Banned
The Wehrmacht starts to construct one defensive line after another after March 1943 + allowing a flexible defence and not attacking at Kursk.
 
Taking Leningrad and allowing supplies to be shipped closer to the front for the Wehrmacht to beef up the Northern and Central Army Group Fronts...
in late 41.
 
When I first read the thread title I was baffled as to why anyone would want the OKW to initiate Barbarossa on Christmas Day 1941. :eek: :p
 
When I first read the thread title I was baffled as to why anyone would want the OKW to initiate Barbarossa on Christmas Day 1941. :eek: :p

Yep, same reaction Tom. I think 'prolonged' in the title rather than 'delayed' might have made it clearer ;)
 
It's really really simple have a military logistics expert plan the attack . The Centre of the Soviet Unions rail network is Moscow . take it and Leningrad for example will wither on the vine .

The centre of Oil production is the Caucasus's , ignore Stalingrad and go straight for the oil jugular , take out those oil fields and the Soviet Union will have to import oil which removes lend lease vehicles


In reality to make this possible you need to have the mass production of a reliable truck in Germany in the mid 1930's . You need to have logistics minded experts deciding the path of all advances . avoid the numerous Russian bogs etc . I doubt you could keep the Soviet Union from eventually gaining the upper hand but if you managed to get Germany to take Moscow and the front line to stretch from Leningrad to Moscow , from their down to Rostov and then across to Astrakhan . They don't at this point actually need to take Tbilisi for example but they do need to have E-boats and aircraft intercepting any oil tankers . As a bonus the Iranians would likely help the Germans as would the Iraq's . Turkey would be an interesting dilemma as the experience of supporting Germany in ww1 was the loss of most of their Empire .
 
It's really really simple have a military logistics expert plan the attack . The Centre of the Soviet Unions rail network is Moscow . take it and Leningrad for example will wither on the vine .

The centre of Oil production is the Caucasus's , ignore Stalingrad and go straight for the oil jugular , take out those oil fields and the Soviet Union will have to import oil which removes lend lease vehicles


In reality to make this possible you need to have the mass production of a reliable truck in Germany in the mid 1930's . You need to have logistics minded experts deciding the path of all advances . avoid the numerous Russian bogs etc . I doubt you could keep the Soviet Union from eventually gaining the upper hand but if you managed to get Germany to take Moscow and the front line to stretch from Leningrad to Moscow , from their down to Rostov and then across to Astrakhan . They don't at this point actually need to take Tbilisi for example but they do need to have E-boats and aircraft intercepting any oil tankers . As a bonus the Iranians would likely help the Germans as would the Iraq's . Turkey would be an interesting dilemma as the experience of supporting Germany in ww1 was the loss of most of their Empire .

The snag is taking Moscow. The Germans tried pretty damn hard OTL.

In fact they would have been better off halting and digging in after their opening phase sense that nabbed them quite a bit of Soviet men and material. It was after the battle bogged down that the losses started.
 
When I first read the thread title I was baffled as to why anyone would want the OKW to initiate Barbarossa on Christmas Day 1941. :eek: :p

Well i think every right thinking person would. Given a shorter war with the Nazis pummeled is better for everyone, including the Germans.
 
What is the latest PoD that allows the Wehrmacht to hold off the Red Army in the East for a further 6 months?

There isn't one. Because if the Germans hold off the Soviets for six months, they must also hold off the U.S./UK. And the U.S. must refrain from decapitating Germany with an atomic bomb at the beginning of August 1945, which is only three months later than OTL V-E Day.

And yes, the U.S. would use the Bomb on Germany even in extremis. Every day the war went on, thousands of people died. Just the Allied KIA in the last three months OTL were over 100,000.
 
There isn't one. Because if the Germans hold off the Soviets for six months, they must also hold off the U.S./UK. And the U.S. must refrain from decapitating Germany with an atomic bomb at the beginning of August 1945, which is only three months later than OTL V-E Day.

And yes, the U.S. would use the Bomb on Germany even in extremis. Every day the war went on, thousands of people died. Just the Allied KIA in the last three months OTL were over 100,000.
You've rumbled what I'm trying to achieve here - a reason for the Allies to use the A-bomb on Germany. Can't speed the bomb up, so the Soviets need to be slowed down.

A 6 month delay means that in August 1945 the Soviets have just reached the Oder.
 
Last edited:
Top