An Unholy Alliance

[ryackov]

August 1939

The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact is signed. It is primarily a peace treaty with provisions for trade. There are also secret articles dealing with the division of the world into spheres of influence and the enslavement of populations.

October 1939

War breaks out in Europe. Britain and France and their colonies defend Poland from the Nazis by initiating Sitzkrieg against the Germans. The League of Nations also drafts a condemnation of the Germans. As the Nazis overwhelm Polish positions, the Soviets invade Poland. By the end of the month, Poland is no longer free.

Foreign Secretary Halifax and Chamberlain defend the Soviet invasion of Poland to Parliament, insisting that it was necessary to defend against future Nazi aggression, and that there is a historical basis for the new Soviet borders.

In other news, Secretary of State Hull has demanded the release of the Freighter City of Flint by the Russians, and requested that the Russians clarify their position of neutrality. The City of Flint was seized by the Germans while enroute to Britain and was operated by a prize crew. For some days now, the ship has been docked at Murmansk.

In the following weeks the Soviets ejected the City of Flint, and some time later the freighter was recaptured by the Royal Navy and finally returns to New York, to later be entirely forgotten.

 

[ryackov]

November 1939

Finland and the Soviets begin negotiations for new borders, which fail, leading to border clashes and the start of the Winter War.

Hitler narrowly escapes an assassination attempt, when he leaves a Munich Beer Hall early. The assassin was never caught.

Everything is going fairly historically.

December 1939

The Soviet Union is expelled from the League of Nations for their invasion of Finland.

The Red Army fails to dislodge the Finns from their defensive positions. Apparently the Soviet officer corps isn't up to the task.
On the other hand there is no chance of the army ever assassinating Stalin.

The pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spree flees from what is identified as the HMS Exeter and continues convoy raiding in the South Atlantic. The United States makes a small statement of protest at this violation of the American sphere of influence.

January 1940

A German plane crashes in Belgium, containing plans for the invasion of Belgium.

February 1940

The Red Army breaks through the Mannerheim line.
The Altmark Incident occurs. Norway conducts a partial mobilization of her armies.

March 1940

The Finns continue to suffer defeats. Stalin refuse Finnish proposals for peace talks. Finnish resistance increases, and make a plea to the British for aid and support. Soviet casualties mount, but begin to advance faster as the Spring thaw begins.

The Daladier government collapses, Reynaud becomes PM.

April-June 1940
The British mine the Norwegian corridor, Norwegian territorial waters where trade to the German Reich are transported through, taking advantage of Norwegian neutrality. Norway begins a full mobilization of her armies, but only has two days to prepare before British troops invade northern Norway as part of Plan R 4. The Plan initially called for an seizure of Narvik, Kiruna, and the railways in the area. It was revised to only occupying Narvik to avoid excessively antagonizing neutral powers, as well as the Swedes.

The Battle of Narvik was bungled by the British and French troops, they failed to use the element of surprise. Twenty thousand men fought five thousand Norwegians - later with fifteen thousand - over the City of Narvik and surrounding mountains. Some Norwegians and Swedes fighting in the Winter War withdraw from the conflict at the recent turn of events, and several thousand Swedes join the Norwegian army.

The Norwegian government agonized over Germany's offer of help. They decided to only allow the Luftwaffe to land at Norwegian airfields and accepted German material aid, to avoid an occupation of Norway by Germany. German air power prove a decisive factor in countering British and French naval support, and the Norwegian campaign drags on.

Secretly, Sweden agrees to allow material and aircraft to be transported through Sweden to Finland, but publicly condemns the invasion of Norway. Sweden however rejects a proposal to all the transport of unarmed British and French soldiers to Finland. Unemployed Swedish miners join radical causes, such as the National Socialist Worker's Party of Sweden or the Socialist Party. The Soviet Union condemns Britain and France, after a train containing several thousand new rifles from them is captured.

Neville Chamberlain survives the Norway debate in Parliament.

The Moldavian SSR annexes Romanian Bessarabia.

July 1940
Northern Norway is largely under joint French and British occupation by early July.

The bloody house to house Battle of Helsinki begins. The British and French are concerned by apparent Soviet plans to annex Finland, as well as reports from military observers that Finland is exhausted. This forces them to consider the bombing of Batum, and Grozny. Baku was out of range.

In an attempt to collapse both the Soviet Union and Germany, Operation Pike is carried out. Bombers launching from air fields in Northern Iraq were to hit the Caucasus, a site of 90% of Soviet oil production. Nearly a hundred tons of bombs were dropped over the course of two weeks via numerous sorties, however later sorties had to deal with alert local AA batteries and local aircraft patrols. Due to poor bomb sights compounded by the suppressive effect of AA fire, only 20% of all bombs reached their targets. Only half of the Caucasus oil refining and production capacity was damaged, but some of the damage was reparable within several months, titanic efforts to stifle the oil fires manage to end them within months as well.

The bombing campaign was forced to a halt after the destruction of some twenty airplanes from anti-aircraft fire. Turkey makes a small protest against the violation of their airspace.

The Soviet Union declares war on Britain and France. Chamberlain resigns after the Russia debate. Churchill becomes Prime Minister.

 

[ryackov]

August to September 1940

Western Europe

Germany invades Benelux on the 3rd, after repeated delays by German generals insisting on better weather and more equipment. France expects a repeat of the Schlieffen plan and carries out the Dyle Plan in response. Unexpectedly, the Manstein Plan is carried out. German Army Group A, attacking at the underdefended Ardennes, punches through and Panzer divisions attempt to encircle Allied armies in Belgium while Army Group B conducted a spoiling attack against allied positions in Belgium. Superior low level tactics lead to a rout of allied armies, despite the allies being quantitatively similar to the Germans.

French morale collapses. There were no reserves available to blunt the German advance. Churchill even had to reassure Reynaud over the phone. The French declare Paris an open city and vigorously attempt to defend the approaches to Paris. Paris falls on August 25th. The Luftwaffe achieves air supremacy over the Western front.

On August 27th, Norway allows German troops to assist in dislodging allied positions in Northern Norway. Engineers rig Narvik's port with explosives and blow it up as allied forces seemingly collapse on all fronts. 30,000 troops are evacuated from Northern Norway.

On September 4th, 300,000 allied soldiers surrender to German forces at Dunkirk. On the 5th, Italy declares war on France, making little progress.

Reynaud resigns on September 16th. Petain is appointed Prime Minister. He immediately moves to offer an armistice with Germany.

The Germans accept. In the same railway carriage in the same forest as the World War One armistice was conducted, the French sign a peace treaty with Hitler on September 22nd.

Some 2.2 million allied troops were taken as prisoners of war.


In the back drop of all of this, the Destroyers for Bases agreement is signed.

Eastern Europe
Finnish forces collapse, as they run out of artillery shells and ammunition, even with allied support. Helsinki is finally captured by the Soviet Union on August 8th, and the Red Army seizes Turku simultaneously. The Finnish Democratic Republic holds elections, even in areas not captured by the Soviets. The new parliament is elected with 99% of the vote, and immediately votes to be integrated as an SSR.

The Soviets invade the Baltic states, and conduct themselves similarly to Finland. They too become SSRs. The United States breaks off diplomatic relations with Russia.



Footnote of History: Prescott Bush and other oil executives lobbies in Congress to avoid war with the Soviet Union, given the vast oil exports to Russia.

 

[ryackov]

October 1940
It is felt that an invasion of Britain is inevitable. The Home Guard is established, and defensive measures are hurriedly prepared. The Battle of Britain begins as the Luftwaffe prepares Britain for invasion. An errant bomb in London leads to a British air raid of Berlin. This causes the Germans to expand the target list to include civilian areas.

Iron stocks in Germany run low. Steel production begins to taper off. Hitler opines that the intransigence of his Generals allowed Britain the initiative to capture Narvik. It would have been worth the risk of civil war in Norway in order to prevent Norwegian collapse. He decides that the next operation will be carried out regardless of the costs.

Italy invades Greece with much difficulty.

Italian forces suffer defeats in North Africa at the hands of British forces.

The Three Way Pact is concluded between Germany, Italy, and the Soviet Union. The Axis is formed.

 

[jackp95]

Will be interesting to see where is goes

 

[ryackov]

November 1940
Bulgaria and Hungary signs the Three Way Pact.

The British bomb the French fleet at Mers-el-Kébir.

The US institutes a peacetime draft. Men are expected to serve for one year.

Sweden agrees to grant transit rights to German and Soviet troops.

The Soviet-American Chamber of Commerce lobbies to Congress to maintain current trade relations.

Plans for Operation Sealion continue to be organized. The RAF is dangerously depleted in aircraft.

Joseph Kennedy resigns as Ambassador to Britain after commenting that "democracy is finished."

December 1940

In near freezing temperatures, mild snow and weather; two thousand river barges assault the beaches of Dover. The first wave consists of two army corps, and several paratrooper divisions.

60 amphibious Schwimmpanzers and 100 U-panzers are used to assist in the initial assault.

In bloody battles, Ramsgate, Dover, and Bexhill are taken. Any port equipment is destroyed by the British in their retreat.

High voltage electrical lines were shorted out by bombers dropping wires on them.

The Germans face strong resistance from the British, and many invasion routes prove to be useless due to poor battle intelligence. Civilians created blockades in the roads whenever possible and bridges were demolished.

The German advance is halted at a defensive stop line.

Churchill mulls the use of poison gas, but decides not to.

The Home Fleet faces severe casualties from the Luftwaffe, and many Home Guardsmen scatter in the face of battle. Nonetheless, in the Battle of the Channel, over fifty barges are sunk or strafed, eight German destroyers sunk, and four German cruisers sunk. A lesser number of British ships were sunk, but many more were damaged. A fair number of destroyers that had departed to guard convoys were diverted to return to England.



Italian troops are defeated in several battles in North Africa.

 

[ryackov]

Late December 1940
The German invasion is suffering from severe supply shortages. Many German troops are beginning to starve as poor weather and Royal Navy attacks disrupt shipments by barge.

Pockets of resistance remain throughout many captured towns and cities, and the countryside. German lines are gradually pushed back. In the retreat, some German units attempt a scorched earth campaign.

The Luftwaffe suffers numerous severe casualties in supporting and supplying German troops.

The German army surrenders before Christmas. Thirty thousand Germans were killed, fifty thousand were successfully evacuated, and another seventy thousand were captured.

General von Tresckow is captured in a farm house as German troops retreated. In interrogations by British Military Intelligence, he renounces Nazism. He offers to form the nucleus of a democratic German government in exile. Churchill accepts. Days later in response, his wife is arrested and he is sentenced to death in absentia.

 

[ryackov]

January 1941
Hitler fumes at Goering, Raeder, and Halder for failure. But the invasion was successful to some extent. British radars that couldn't be moved were destroyed, reducing the ability of the RAF to intercept German warplanes. The British fleet was also mauled in the Battle of the Channel.

The British finish tallying their dead. Roughly 150,000 British soldiers and guardsmen were killed in the invasion.

Bulgaria signs the Three Way Pact. Bulgarian troops soon after invade Greece. Greek troops find themselves flanked, and defensive lines crumble. Soon the Greek peninsula is overrun. The Greek government exiles itself to Crete.

The British offensive in North Africa yields 50,000 Italian prisoners of war. The British are now besieging Tobruk.

February 1941
The Afrika Korps is formed and sent to North Africa.

Roosevelt signs "An Act to Further Promote the Defense of the United States," or informally known today as Materiel Aid. The voting largely was split between party lines, with the isolationist Republicans voting against. The first nation to be approved for Materiel Aid is Britain.

Additional air strikes on Soviet oil fields and refineries are conducted by the British, but face staunch resistance by the Soviet air force. This gives meager results.

The Communist Party of Great Britain is banned and it's leaders arrested.

The House Un-American Activities Committee steps up investigations into possible Communist and Fascist threats.

March 1941

The Afrika Korps conduct a counteroffensive, forcing British forces back.

Yugoslavia signs the Three Way Pact. This is very unpopular in Yugoslavia, particularly among Serbians. A coup topples the Yugoslavian government.

The Soviet Union invades Manchuria. Japanese positions are overrun, and forces in the South withdraw to assist in the defense of the north. The Soviet pacific fleet is defeated in a battle near Sakhalin, and Japanese forces invade and take the Soviet half of the island.

Roosevelt approves sending Materiel Aid to Japan.

April 1941
Europe
Yugoslavia is invaded by German, Italian, Hungarian, and Bulgarian troops. Yugoslavia is dismembered after one week.

Greenland is occupied by the United States. Military bases are constructed.

Middle East
Rashid Ali leads a coup in Iraq. The Indian 20th Infantry Brigade is landed at Basra.
The Soviet Union begins an invasion of Persia in coordination with the Iraqi coup. More British military units are sent to Persia in quick response. A general lack of equipment in the area (with Britain and North Africa having a priority) hampers British operations. Combined, a hundred German and Soviet aircraft make battle with fifty British warplanes.

Iraqi Petroleum Company oil pipeline to Haifa halts in flow.

Asia
Soviet troops storm Corea and besiege Beiping.

The French-Thai War ends. Portions of Cambodia is annexed to Thailand.

America
A state of national emergency is declared in the United States after an American steamer is sunk.

An embargo of all trade with the Soviet Union is enacted. Talks begin in Switzerland between the US ambassador to Switzerland and the Soviet ambassador to Switzerland on restoring trade, but the US ambassador puts forward unpalatable terms: withdrawal from China, Finland, and Poland. Even before Operation Pike, the Soviet Union was a net importer for certain refined petroleum products, particularly high octane aviation fuel.

 

[ryackov]

May - July 1941

America
German U-boats open up a surprise campaign to attack US shipping on the East Coast, nearly a hundred thousand tons of shipping is sunk near the East Coast in the first month of the campaign. In response, the United States declares war on the German Reich.

Europe
German paratroopers and Italian marines capture Crete in five days through a meticulously planned operation. 30,000 allied troops were captured in the operation.


The T-41 tank is approved for production by the State Defense Committee. It is a T-34 with a hexagonal turret, with thicker armor, and a torsion bar suspension. The hull has 60mm of sloped armor at 60 degrees in the front, the slope increases armor protection by 100 to 200 percent by partially deflecting the energy of a shot and increased line of sight thickness. The main armament is a 85mm anti-aircraft gun converted for use as a tank gun. The need for a 85mm gun was developed as a result of the inability of the 76mm gun to penetrate Matilda's armor. While Soviet troops encountered few Matildas, those sent to the Soviet Union by the Germans proved their mettle in ordnance tests.


Middle East
Persia is largely taken by the Soviet Union, except for Balochistan, owing to poor infrastructure in that region. The Balochistan region is fortified by British and Indian troops, and the remaining four Persian army divisions.


Turkey is invaded by German, Bulgarian, Italian, and Soviet forces after receiving an ultimatum on revising various treaties on the Bosporus.
In the west German and Bulgarian troops attack west Marmara which is quickly annexed into Bulgaria.
In the south, Italian troops land in Antalya.
In the east, a pincer attack by Soviet forces through Iraq and Georgia enables them to take Erzurum. Soviet mechanized forces are showing their wear from near continuous operations in the Middle East, numerous mechanical failures slow down their advance. 80% of all Soviet tanks are listed as needing repair.

After one month, Turkey falls to the combined Axis forces. Certains areas of Turkey and Persia are annexed into the Azeri, Georgia, Armenia, and the newly created Kurdistan SSRs.


Rommel's Afrika Korps push the British back, and retake Tobruk.


The British organize a resistance movement by Marsh Arabs and Kurds to sabotage oil production in Iraq and Persia.

East Asia
Zhukov remarks that the Japanese are tenacious fighters. This does not do much against the onslaught of Soviet mechanized forces, but the advance of Soviet troops are greatly slowed.
Japanese businesses in Manchuria are "redistributed."

Footnotes of History:

• Ethiopia is liberated.
• A T-34 tank is examined by British intelligence. It is remarked to be superior then most armored vehicles in service.

 

[Tamandaré]

Cool TL, through I would like to see what drove Hitler to allow the Soviets to side with him. The man hated the soviets and wrote a book saying he was going to destroy the Soviet Union forever.

 

[ryackov]

Late 1941

Cool TL, through I would like to see what drove Hitler to allow the Soviets to side with him. The man hated the soviets and wrote a book saying he was going to destroy the Soviet Union forever.

You're wondering why he signs another piece of paper? Who knows what his future plans were, he did commit suicide you know. I'm just a humble historian.


----------
The Suez falls to combined Italian, German, Soviet and Iraqi troops. After Soviet troops invaded British Palestine through Iraq and Vichy Syria, British lines collapse under the threat of two fronts. German paratroopers disrupted the British retreat, and 100,000 British troops are captured.

After these events, several American divisions land in the Sudan and Persia to assist in the defense of Asia and Africa, although a few divisions were originally meant for defending Egypt. The late delay in their arrival is attributed to traveling around the horn of Africa.

The British sabotage the Suez by sinking several ships in the middle of it.

In response to the Kurdish rebellion organized by the SAS in Iraq, the Soviet Union forcefully abducts entire towns and villages, and scatters them throughout Soviet republics in Central Asia.

The Tiger tank is adopted by the Wehrmacht. Weighing in at 46 tonnes combat loaded, it mounts a 7.5 cm squeeze bore gun, and has 100mm of mostly unsloped frontal armor.
The He 274 makes it's first appearance, bombing targets in Scotland. It uses 4 radial engines of 1,500 hp each, weighs 38 tonnes and has a range of 3,500 km. Its maximum armament is 3 tonnes of bombs. It has a pressurized crew compartment, allowing for greater high altitude operations and making it nearly impossible for the RAF to intercept the plane. It's American counterpart, to be adopted in '42, is the B-29. With resources focused on the west, German aeronautics quickly advance. Soon even America shall feel the devastation of war.
The KV-3 is approved for mass production. It has a sloped turret, weighs 53 tonnes, and has a 85mm armament. It has 10mm to 20mm of armor over the KV-1.

The United States begins a steadily buildup of troops in England in preparation for Operation Roundup.


“What strange bedfellows war makes.” - Unknown
The Chiang Kai-Shek government of China signs a peace treaty with Japan, agreeing to essentially recognize Japanese sovereignty over Manchuria, Korea, and parts of Central China. Mao and his cohort of Communists continue fighting both the Nationalists and the Japanese, despite joining a common front with the former against the latter. The Nationalists send troops to assist in defending China.
Prime Minister Konoe of Japan, Churchill of England, and Roosevelt meet in the First Washington Conference to coordinate policy. Churchill demanded a Europe first strategy, while both agreed that Europe is the center of the Axis, Konoe wished for American combat troops to assist in the defense of Asia. This was controversial in Washington, not least for just two years before, the Export Control Act was enacted to condemn Japanese aggression against China. Now American troops were to defend territories of one nation occupied by another nation, to be defended against the aggressions of a third nation. Ultimately, the Philippine garrison and a few others in the Pacific are sent to China to assist in the defense against Russia.

Soviet forces link up with Mao and Manchuria is annexed into Red China. The siege of various Chinese cities, each filled with house to house battles, wear down the Soviet army. This, along with fuel shortages, slow the Red Army's advance into the Central Plains.

 

[ryackov]

1942 to be rewritten at later date.

 

[Julian]

In Asia, Soviet troops make minor advances. Stalin decides to execute Zhukov, citing "criminal ineptitude," but shortages of fuel and aeroplanes world hamper the operations of any commander.

Yeah, no, Stalin wouldn't do that. In fact, statistically he executed few army level or higher commanders even in the disasters of 1941, save for a few scapegoats and their staffs (Such as Pavlov).

Breaking things down a bit more, out of 25 Front commanders in 1941 (During the Red Army's greatest disasters):

4 ended up serving as Front commanders or STAVKA representatives until war's end, and 4 served as successful army commanders.

15 were demoted due to failures and ended the war in lower positions with mixed degrees of success, or perished later in the war.

2 died during the first six months of war, of which one was executed (Pavlov) and one was killed in action (Kirponos).

Out of 101 Army commanders during 1941:

18 were killed in action, repressed, relieved of command, or captured. Out of these only 2 were executed (Korobkov and Kachanov) and 1 was imprisoned (Ivanov).

69 were still serving as Front, Army, or Military District Commanders after 6 months of war.

14 were demoted, and either served in lower positions or were eventually returned to higher command.

Those that were executed were arrested in June or July 1941 as scapegoats as their armies collapsed around them. Even then many commanders who suffered equally catastrophic defeats survived; indeed, the vast majority did. There is no chance in hell Stalin would randomly decide to shoot Zhukov when he did no such thing to him in 1941 or to the dozens of other officers with enormous failures under their belts.

Also you do realize that during the 1920s and 1930s the Soviets were the primary supporters of Chiang Kai Shek? Thus there's no basis in reality for the Chinese to randomly ally with Japan against the Soviets.

 

[ryackov]

"When I turn a corner, I wonder if someone will shoot me with a gun." - something Stalin said once.


Wasn't Stalin simply nuts? Whether Zhukov lives or dies as well, that hardly will change the course of the war.

There is basis in reality, if Stalin shifts his support to Mao.

 

[Julian]

"When I turn a corner, I wonder if someone will shoot me with a gun." - something Stalin said once.


Wasn't Stalin simply nuts? Whether Zhukov lives or dies as well, that hardly will change the course of the war.

No, he wasn't. He was paranoid and an extremely cruel man, but he wasn't mad by any stretch of the imagination. Again, look at the statistics I posted above; only ONE front commander was executed in 1941, despite many of them presiding over multiple disasters throughout that period. Similarly, only TWO commanders were executed. And this was in a period of actual military disasters, not a slowdown in offensive operations due to logistics. Stalin recognized Zhukov's talent as an administrator and commander, and continued to trust in his skills despite multiple defeats and disasters in 1941.

There is basis in reality, if Stalin shifts his support to Mao.

Why would he promote such a radical change in policy when Chiang's Nationalists remained the strongest force fighting the Japanese, especially as it would immediately drive Chiang into the hands of the Japanese? IOTL Stalin only threw in behind the CCP reluctantly once it became clear they would win the war; before that he supported negotiation and cooperation between Mao and Chiang. Stalin believed that a strong communist China under a figure like Mao represented a threat to the Soviet Union's position as the "leader" of communism, and a potential alternative.

 

[ryackov]

Stalin recognized Zhukov's talent as an administrator and commander, and continued to trust in his skills despite multiple defeats and disasters in 1941.

I'll consider a some historical revisionism.

Why would he promote such a radical change in policy when Chiang's Nationalists remained the strongest force fighting the Japanese, especially as it would immediately drive Chiang into the hands of the Japanese? IOTL Stalin only threw in behind the CCP reluctantly once it became clear they would win the war; before that he supported negotiation and cooperation between Mao and Chiang. Stalin believed that a strong communist China under a figure like Mao represented a threat to the Soviet Union's position as the "leader" of communism, and a potential alternative.

To my memory, the timeline of historical events involved aid and support to Mao before Mao became a potential contender for Chinese rule.
My knowledge of history in the far east is a bit muddled and inadequate (if anything I think my epilogue on Latin America and Europe will be the best written part of the timeline), but I believe Chiang wouldn't respect the aid long offered by the Soviet Union, if the Soviets were surrendering captured territory to Mao, and otherwise would have the foresight to see the situation after the war with Japan was over, that it would engender a strong Communist movement.

I'll probably make a version two of the timeline once I'm done.

I'm going to edit in Sheng Shicai into the timeline.

 

[ryackov]

1943 - A Prologue

I'm going to rewrite 1942, don't know what I was thinking now that I'm reading it. Hitler is going to be still alive.

1943 - A Prologue to Operation Roundup

Preparations for Operation Roundup was winding to a close. The allied strategic bombing campaign was going to be halted temporarily, to devote all possible resources to supporting the ground invasion. The target would be Le Havre, a city at the end of the Seine.

Interviews with captured German officers revealed that logistics will be a major constraint in the campaign and could break the invasion. Thus every effort was established to ensure that the initial landing force will have enough motor vehicles to move men and materiel to the front lines. Having troops simply pool up on the beaches without sufficient transport could lead to another potential Dunkirk.

The capture of major French ports would be essential, but it took the British several months after the recapture of their own ports to repair the ports back to operational status, after the destruction of the ports by British engineers prior to their capture by the Germans.

Allied intelligence estimates believe that the Germans had partially demobilized their army after Operation Sealion, and was to some extent in a peacetime state. Fifty German divisions guarded the Soviet border, one hundred reserve divisions scattered throughout Europe, and only thirty divisions were in France.

The Atlantik Wall, for all it's propaganda value, guarded only ports from naval invasion. The ports were still vulnerable from attack to their rear flanks. The areas between the ports were poorly defended, and German intelligence believed any amphibious invasion would fail. Future historians would speculate that the Germans were believing their own propaganda.

Deception was to be fully utilized. Double agents, and a dead man dressed in officer uniform washing up in Spain were to point to multiple possible invasions against Brittany, North Africa and Norway.

General von Tresckow was also to be utilized. Over radio, he would call for the surrender of German troops at moment of invasion, and at some future point, German POWs would be organized into a German Army of Liberation. The Tresckow government over the course of invasion would be recognized as the only legitimate government of Germany, essentially requiring the actual German government to agree to unconditional surrender.

US Troops Disposition 1943, prior to Operation Roundup
Britain: 750,000
East Africa: 100,000
Persia and India: 170,000
China: 80,000
Pacific (incl. Alaska) Garrisons: 160,000

 

[ryackov]

The staff officers working on the intractable logistical problem for invasion couldn't help but conclude, that the number of divisions required to capture the number of ports required to supply those divisions is greater then the number of divisions those ports can supply. While future armchair generals would speculate what if the Americans would wait, the Americans had nothing to gain by waiting, the Germans were building up beach defenses all along the coast, and the Germans were repairing their industry. After Narvik, there were iron shortages. After Pike, there were fuel shortages. After Sealion, there were transport shortages all along the river Rhine, many of the barges were sunk through enemy action or bad weather. The Germans can only substitute so much with slave labor.
In contrast, the US, once finished fulfilling it's commitments throughout the world, could ship one million men to Europe every five months. But the initial invasion wouldn't be much larger then it is now. The port capacity wasn't there, it would have to be seized and built up.

D-day was set on May 3rd, 1943, after some delays regarding weather and sufficient supply. Operation Roundup has been set in motion.
The battleships: USS Arkansas, IJN Haruna, USS Iowa, USS Massachusetts, USS Nevada, HMS Nelson, USS New Jersey, US North Carolina, HMS Prince of Wales, USS South Dakota, HMS Ramillies, HMS Rodney, USS Texas, USS Washington, HMS Warspite, and IJN Yamato all contribute massive, overwhelming firepower in the bombardment of the beaches around Le Havre, detonating minefields, and destroying German positions. The addition of several hundred US and British bombers assisting in the bombardment caused many in the first wave of the assault to remark it looks someone lifted the land up one hundred feet and dropped it. The local road and rail net was busted to say the least.
The initial invasion consisted of four divisions, two assaulting north of Le Havre, and two assaulting the south. Several paratrooper brigades seized key areas around Le Havre. Every day afterwards, another division landed on the beaches. The deception operation was successful, Le Havre was captured within hours, and thanks to an obstructive harbormaster, few facilities were sabotaged. The facilities still suffered from lack of skilled labor, styming operations.

Amphibious tanks supported the operation.

In Operation PLUTO, a two-inch pipeline is laid across the channel, and later along roads to supply the American advance, pumping 40,000 gallons per day. Other pipelines would be laid in the following months.

The T24 Heavy Tank made it's debut, armed with a 76mm high velocity gun, and equipped with an electric transmission. Landing in the second wave, it proves a crucial match against German Tigers.

Field Marshall Rundstedt's plan to centralize a reserve was excellent in theory, but failed in practice. German doctrine emphasized the use of a reserve, but it is useless without air superiority and transportation. Threats from the air forced much movement to occur at night. For instance, ten divisions were trapped near Quiberon Bay, for lack of transport. By the time sufficient force was brought up to oppose the invasion, it was too late. A week had passed, and 250,000 American, British, and French troops had landed.
A bitter battle erupted anyway, attempting to dislodge the allied troops, focusing on destroying allied positions in detail, starting with the southern half. There were 100,000 allied casualties throughout the campaign, less then the British casualties from Operation Sealion. But the lines were held. The terrain was quickly turning into a no man's land, and a persistent bombing campaign was limiting the number of troops the Germans could send and support on the frontlines.

Troop Levels in France by July 3rd: 550,000 American, 150,000 British, and 15,000 French.
Status: Stalemate

 

[ryackov]

Two weeks after the invasion of the continent, the Nazis reveal the V-1 and V-2 revenge weapons. The V-1 is an unmanned plane, or rather the first cruise missile, a cost-efficient weapon of terror against London.

The V-2 also makes it's first appearance. It is a manned bomber, integrating concepts of the schnellbomber and the Amerika bomber, it is a wholly unreliable machine. Possessing six piston engines, and four turbines, it is prone to engine fires or shutdowns. It nonetheless appeals to the Fuhrer's obsession with gargantuan machines.

Thirty V-2 bombers depart from Morlaix airfield, with much of the allied air forces occupied in supporting the invasion of the continent, the bombers take off unopposed. Ten bombers were to target the Panama Canal using radio-guided bombs, while another twenty bombers were to bomb New York with incendiaries.

When the bombers arrive to their targets, surprised local military officials scramble fighters. Millions of surprised New Yorkers run around in panic as air raid sirens sound off, occasionally getting stuck in doorways or trampling over each other.

As the P-39 fighters close in, The bombers simply turned on their jet engines for a boost of speed, evading the interceptors. Some bombers were destroyed by mechanical failure or anti-aircraft fire.

On the return flight, the bombers rendezvous with planes converted into tankers and conduct inflight refueling.

Result of the London Bombing: Thousands are dead or missing. Half a million are trying to evacuate the city.

Result of the Panama Bombing: 3 out of four Gatun locks destroyed by the bombing. The Gatun lock closest to the Atlantic Ocean narrowly misses being hit, but the flood as Gatun lake empties destroys the lock any way.
Thousands are dead or missing.

Result of the New York Bombing: firefighters work around the clock to extinguish blazes caused by the air raid. Nearly a quarter of a square miles is destroyed.
Tens of thousands are dead or missing. Millions are trying to leave the city, industry grinds to a halt, the city is in chaos. Plans are drawn up to evacuate children to the countryside.

The United States puts in an order for an additional hundred thousand anti-aircraft artillery guns, many of them being 120mm cannons.

 

[ryackov]

Remainder of 1943

Remainder of 1943

Europe

"Compared to war, all other forms of human endeavor shrink to insignificance." - Patton

Stores of men and materiel piled up on the beaches and in the storehouses of Le Havre. Nearly a quarter of all combat troops could not be transported to the front, for a combination of reasons, including the lack of ability to supply them.

There was a breakout from Le Havre, but it was quickly contained. Montgomery failed in his objectives to capture Antwerp, and is stalled around Dieppe by entrenched German troops. Patton fails to capture Cherbourg even with the gun fire support of twenty ships. Arguably Patton advanced further then Montgomery.
Buckner succeeds in capturing Rouen in a bloody battle against German defenders. Allied tanks in Normandy encounter the Panzershreck for the first time.

The port of Fecamp was totally destroyed by retreating German troops.

Churchill lamented that the situation in Europe was another Gallipoli.

Nearly five thousand Allied combat aircraft was operating over the skies of France at this point, but efforts were being shifted back again against Axis industry and against any potential Luftwaffe airfield which could launch V-2 bombers. The chance of future V-2 attacks was small (particularly given that the piston and turbine engines both were prone to catching fire), but V-1 bombs continued to rain down against London at the rate of a dozen per day.

Allied fighters enjoyed air supremacy over Northern France.

Clandestine communications with the French military would lead to an agreement: no resistance against an allied invasion. It would remain to be seen if it would be followed.

10 million tons of shipping is sunk by U-boats.

Romania is invaded and annexed by the Soviet Union, Hungary, and Bulgaria, with German support. The Moldavian SSR is formed, Hungary annexes the remainder of Transylvania and Bulgaria annexes Wallachia. The Germans would occupy and control the Ploesti oil fields and refinery and kidnap a quarter of a million Romanians to work in German industry.

Africa
Rommel succeeds in pushing allied lines a hundred miles south, despite growing allied air superiority and numbers.

Asia
In some instances, Japanese troops forcibly kidnap Chinese citizens and send them to the frontlines to serve as porters. Allied troops in the East are forced to wonder, "What are we fighting for?"

Four million soldiers fight over the Central Plains. Half Allied, half Axis, half Chinese. Hundreds of thousands dead.

Manchurian partisans are supplied by allied transport planes after OSS operatives successfully contact several leaders in the area. First fighting against the Japanese, they now fight the Soviets and Red Chinese.

Materiel Aid constructs thousands of miles of railways throughout China, as well as numerous factories and chemical plants.

America
The US air defense system was so saturated with reports of training flights that all future training flights was ordered to take place in the interior. Part of the reason why the New York bombing was so unexpected was that the local air defense commander thought it was simply another training flight, no one would think the Germans would have an intercontinental bomber.