POD: IOTL, on November 24th, 1941 Erwin Rommel narrowly missed capturing an essential British supply depot by going 6 KM in the wrong direction.
ITTL Rommel gets lucky and captures the supply dump. The British under Auchinleck, now denied their own fuel, withdraw. Siegfried Westphal, seeing this withdrawal, presses forward instead of withdrawing as OTL. Tobruk, with no hope, then surrenders. On Jan 5, 1942 Rommel receives 55 new tanks and presses them into service. Auchinleck withdraws to Mersa Matruh. Rommel bypasses the port-fortress, catching the British off-guard and taking the little-known rail juncture at El Alemein. The British fleet leaves Alexandria. On Feb 15, 1942 Auchileck believing Rommel's forces to be several times larger than they are surrenders in what is the second most devastating battlefield catastrophe in British history, ironically the same day as the fall of Singapore. With the British defeated in the field, Rommel hits the Nile and then stops. He is whisked away to Germany due to injuries sustained in the fight.
Hitler, ecstatic over the coup in Africa in light of failings in Russia, parades Rommel around and then personally meets with him. In the process of building up the story of his own heroism to his Fueher, Rommel non-nonchalantly boasts that he simply attacked the British where they did not expect it--that's all.
Little known to Rommel, Dr. Morrell had given Hitler a larger-than-usual shot of a concoction of heroin, methamphetamine, and crushed bull testicles. Having not slept in two days, Hitler had misunderstood what Rommel had told him--"Attack them where they expect it."
Forty eight hours later, after Hitler awoke from his drug-induced coma, he immediately went to action telling his general-staff his plans for the East. Germany must knock Russia out of the war in 1942 before American forces can come to bear in 1943. He was not concerned about oil, as the Afrika Korps was to thrust into the Middle East "in a month" and capture the oil reserves in Iraq.
(In reality, Rommel's supply line was so stretched, and British naval power from Lebanon too formidable to simply bring whatever was needed straight to Alexandria, that when Rommel finally attacked again in May it quickly stalled thanks to a formidable defense put up by General Montgomery, freshly supplied with green American troops, British reserves, and new Lend-Lease weapons. Rommel's forces would never make it past the Sinai peninsula, unable to outflank the British. Malta soon falls, but unable to press the advantage into the Middle East, North Africa becomes a sideshow and it becomes obvious the real fight in the West will be in France in 1943.)
Hitler's plan to beat Russia is simple. Having attacked the Soviet Union with over 3 million men in 1941, barely 2.5 million are ready for service come March 1942. A front-wide offensive is impossible. To accede to Hitler's wishes the easter front is to be stripped bare. Every available German military unit other than the minimal required to hold the line in the north and south are to be taken on a death ride in front of Moscow, forcing the Russian military into a decisive battle resulting in the collapse of Russian fighting power once and for all. As far as Hitler knew, this just worked in Africa. It was going to work again.
ITTL Rommel gets lucky and captures the supply dump. The British under Auchinleck, now denied their own fuel, withdraw. Siegfried Westphal, seeing this withdrawal, presses forward instead of withdrawing as OTL. Tobruk, with no hope, then surrenders. On Jan 5, 1942 Rommel receives 55 new tanks and presses them into service. Auchinleck withdraws to Mersa Matruh. Rommel bypasses the port-fortress, catching the British off-guard and taking the little-known rail juncture at El Alemein. The British fleet leaves Alexandria. On Feb 15, 1942 Auchileck believing Rommel's forces to be several times larger than they are surrenders in what is the second most devastating battlefield catastrophe in British history, ironically the same day as the fall of Singapore. With the British defeated in the field, Rommel hits the Nile and then stops. He is whisked away to Germany due to injuries sustained in the fight.
Hitler, ecstatic over the coup in Africa in light of failings in Russia, parades Rommel around and then personally meets with him. In the process of building up the story of his own heroism to his Fueher, Rommel non-nonchalantly boasts that he simply attacked the British where they did not expect it--that's all.
Little known to Rommel, Dr. Morrell had given Hitler a larger-than-usual shot of a concoction of heroin, methamphetamine, and crushed bull testicles. Having not slept in two days, Hitler had misunderstood what Rommel had told him--"Attack them where they expect it."
Forty eight hours later, after Hitler awoke from his drug-induced coma, he immediately went to action telling his general-staff his plans for the East. Germany must knock Russia out of the war in 1942 before American forces can come to bear in 1943. He was not concerned about oil, as the Afrika Korps was to thrust into the Middle East "in a month" and capture the oil reserves in Iraq.
(In reality, Rommel's supply line was so stretched, and British naval power from Lebanon too formidable to simply bring whatever was needed straight to Alexandria, that when Rommel finally attacked again in May it quickly stalled thanks to a formidable defense put up by General Montgomery, freshly supplied with green American troops, British reserves, and new Lend-Lease weapons. Rommel's forces would never make it past the Sinai peninsula, unable to outflank the British. Malta soon falls, but unable to press the advantage into the Middle East, North Africa becomes a sideshow and it becomes obvious the real fight in the West will be in France in 1943.)
Hitler's plan to beat Russia is simple. Having attacked the Soviet Union with over 3 million men in 1941, barely 2.5 million are ready for service come March 1942. A front-wide offensive is impossible. To accede to Hitler's wishes the easter front is to be stripped bare. Every available German military unit other than the minimal required to hold the line in the north and south are to be taken on a death ride in front of Moscow, forcing the Russian military into a decisive battle resulting in the collapse of Russian fighting power once and for all. As far as Hitler knew, this just worked in Africa. It was going to work again.
Last edited: