Hi, guys! That's my first post here. I heard about this forum two weeks ago and I decided to work some ideas about a kind of a British Confederation/Federation formed in 1944. Since English is not my native language, I'd like to apologize my grammar mistakes and feel free to point them out. I have some ideas for the British Union and the world future, but suggestions are welcomed. I hope you enjoy the storyline.
1943
The Fall of Nazi Germany and the End of War in Europe
On September 11, three days after the Italian surrender, a long-planned
coup d’état is carried sucessfully in Germany, by a group of unpleased Wehrmacht marshalls and generals. Within hours, all chief members of the Nazi Party were held on custody. Göring and thousands of Nazi officials are put under arrest. Hitler, Himmler and Goebbels commit suicide in misterious circunstances. The SS, taken completely by surprise, and without a leadership, are quickly neutralized by Wehrmacht units all around Europe. Rommel is chosen the leader of the military junta, due his popularity among the German population, but most important, among the Allies, specially the British. On a national radio broadcast, Rommel announces the new government and Hitler’s death. Hours later, after the neutralization of the majority of the Nazi elements, a second proclamation outlaws “the National Socialist Party and all its symbols” and the penalty for the violation is death. Additionally, the new government assures its compromise with “a trully democratic and strong Germany” and with the “end of the war”. After a short period of hesitation, millions of Germans gather in the streets, many with “black-red-gold flags” (from now on, the official flag of Germany), to celebrate the fall of the Nazi regime. The allied strategic bombing (specially the obliteration of Hamburg by the British), the hardening of the Nazi rule, the food shortages and the bad news in the eastern front, had a deep impact on the moral of German people. Aside the Wehrmacht, the coup had the support of the Roman Catholic and Lutheran churches, monarchists, conservatives, liberals and social-democrats segments of German society.
The Allies were stunned by the developments in Germany. Roosevelt, with his orthodoxy (forcing the unconditional surrender declaration in Casablanca, despite Churchill and Stalin opposition), was not very impressed, but the Republican opposition and even part of the Democrats welcomed warmly the changes in Germany, anxiously to turn the United States war effort to the Pacific. In London, Churchill was radiant, but at the same time, apprehensive since there were no contacts on German behalf in the first hours. Stalin, pragmatic as usual, avoided any further speculation, and in a emergency meeting with the war cabinet, announced that “for while, nothing changes” and the “fight will continue”.
In the morning, of September 12, after the home front consolidation, the Germans send emissaires to Moscow and London to ask for the peace terms or at least the conditions for the cease-fire, not before order a fanatical resistance and organization of major counter-offensives as soon as possible on the Italian and Russian fronts. “The Allies shouldn’t for a moment suppose we are beaten. That’s crucial for the future of German Nation in the post-war world”, were Rommel instructions for all marshalls and generals. The Luftwaffe and the Kriegsmarine were ordered to double their activities for the next weeks. Time, thitherto, was not (or at least should not be) that crucial for the Germans whatsoever. The instructions proved be effective: in the next days, the Germans completely blockaded the Soviet advance and the Rostov and Kharkov were about to fall again under the Wehrmacht. In Italy, the Germans didn’t interfere with the new government, but the Italian Army in the country and in the Greece were quickly disarmed without any major incidents. The Allied couldn’t do any further advances in southern Italy, and the Salerno beach head became indefensable for Churchill’s despair. Anglo-American air raids over Germany suffer heavy losses, in some cases up to 20% of the attacking force. Proclamations on the occupied-territories stated that “the war soon will be over, and the civil population should remain calm to avoid further casualties. The military authorities will continue enforce the law”. There were no major uprisings in the occupied-countries, only small skirmishes. The German success cannot only be atributed to the Rommel powerful exhortations, but also the confusion and lack of coordination among the Allied politicians and commanders, which have failed to take advantage of the developments in Germany.
After many meetings in London, Moscow and Washington, the parts agree on a cease-fire from September 25 and the negotiations would take place in London. The German policy were quite simple: dissociate the current German government from the Nazi regime (the single responsible for the war and the crimes perpetrated). On that, they were helped by the immediate revelation of the Nazi crimes, soon after the first Wehrmacht reports from the concentration camps. On the other front, they will quietly explore the contradictions among the Allies, specially the Soviet expansionism, the British anti-communism/totalitarism and the American lack of world policy and anti-imperialism. However, the most important, the Allies should trust in the German intentions and for that shouldn’t be any hidden agenda. Rommel carried personally all the negotiations to ensure that. The German team were formed by people from different political backgrounds in order to explore possible affinities.
Since the early contacts, the Germans ruled out the unconditional surrender formula: “We must not repeat the same mistakes of Versailles”. The British and the Soviets didn’t object and give the Americans no choice, specially after strong internal political pressure pushing for the end of war in Europe. Germany proposed the
status quo ante bellum on Western Europe and Scandinavia. The German eastern borders would return to the 1914 lines; Austria, Bohemia, Moravia and Slovenia would be incorporated in the German Reich; Finland, the Baltic states, Poland, Yugoslavia, Albania should be declared neutral; Hungary and Slovakia would remain independent and linked to Germany by economic and military treaties. Of course this proposal met a harsh resistance from the Allied side which insisted in no less than to the return of Germany 1937 borders. However, the discussions between Soviets and British around the Soviet zone of influence undermined in the very beggining the attempt to keep a single Allied front on the negotiations table. Moscow wanted to bring under their sphere of influence, all the countries in Eastern Europe and in the Balkans, including Finland and Greece. To London, that was completely unacceptable, and His Majesty’s Government made clear “it was committed with the legitimate regimes in the region, which were overthrown by the Nazis only to after war to become Soviet republics”. The American lack of objetion to the Russian ambitions and the continuous policy to undermine the British Empire, only streghthen the Churchill’s will to keep the Soviets out of Europe as much as possible. The British quickly realized that the only alternative to the Russians in Eastern Europe would be the Germans, with their promising democrats commitments.
On October 15, the London Treaty is signed by United States, United Kingdom, Germany and Soviet Union ending the World War II in Europe, and the major stipulations are:
-The borders in Balkans will return to the 1938 lines;
-Hungary will return Transylvania to Romania; Bessarabia, Moldavia, Carpathian Ruthenia and the Baltic states will be incorporated into the USSR;
-The new borderline between Poland and USSR will follow, with minor changes, the Curzon Line;
-Bohemia, Moravia, Danzig, and Memel will be part of Germany;
-Hungary and Finland will be declared neutral states, following democratic elections;
-Poland, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Albania after German retreat, will be occupied by the Soviets and Greece by the British. Both sides ensure that democratic elections will be held as soon as possible;
-Some sections of German territory will be under Soviet (east) and British and American (west) occupation;
-Germany shall pay US$ 10 billion as compensation.
War in Pacific
As the war ended in Europe, all atentions were on Pacific. Soon after the London settlements, the US
VIII Bomber Command (current 8th Air Force) were completely dislocated to the Pacific theater, as well most of RAF’s Fighter and Bomber Commands now allocated in India and Australia. Hundreds of units of both US Navy and Royal Navy were transfered to the Pacific and Indian oceans. Secretly, the Soviets sent thousands of tanks and planes to Siberia, and by the end of the year, there were huge military concentrations along the Amur River. Both nationalists and communists Chinese launched major offensives against the Japanese Army’s positions in China.