DBWI: The Deutsches Pazifisches Korps does not get formed

Ak-84

Banned
I mean when the DPK got sent to the Pacific to assist the Japanese in 1942 it was on the back of several Axis victories in Egypt and at Midway, which made the transport possible.

But I think despite the ass-kicking they administered to the Australians/Americans in New Ginea, I doubt Kesselring and his men would have accomplished much long term, even if they had not been sent.

Maybe the Allies nuke Japan instead of Germany in this TL? They were nearing B-29 range of the Home islands when the Axis capitulated. Might have used that instead of the OTL Lancaster on Munich.
 
Ok, so even best case, Italy with very early German help, take Egypt and Sudan in late 40, Italian east Africa is still Italian, It would still be awkward to ship full panzer divisions across the Indian Ocean with British bases in Ceylon. Then ship parts for tanks and all that after.

If you wanted a scenario where a token German forces appears in the Pacific, then maybe a TL where the Soviet Union never gets attacked by Germany, German and the Soviet Union are closer and Germany ships a small force across the Trans Siberian. Likely this would be a radar controlled flak battery or a squadron of advanced fighters, a symbolic gesture to defend Tokyo against a USA in a Japan first policy.
 
Ok, so even best case, Italy with very early German help, take Egypt and Sudan in late 40, Italian east Africa is still Italian, It would still be awkward to ship full panzer divisions across the Indian Ocean with British bases in Ceylon. Then ship parts for tanks and all that after.

If you wanted a scenario where a token German forces appears in the Pacific, then maybe a TL where the Soviet Union never gets attacked by Germany, German and the Soviet Union are closer and Germany ships a small force across the Trans Siberian. Likely this would be a radar controlled flak battery or a squadron of advanced fighters, a symbolic gesture to defend Tokyo against a USA in a Japan first policy.

Indeed, the Japanese could barely keep themselves in fuel, let alone a German Panzer Corps...

And even if they had won Midway, the IJN would still die on schedule in '43-44. A single German Panzer Corps is not going to stop that, not least because last I checked, the King Tiger's performance against a Iowa-class's broadside was.... less then inspiring. And the German's never really mastered the art of driving a tank out to sea to pick a fight with a carrier task force.
 
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Indeed, the Japanese could barely keep themselves in fuel, let alone a German Panzer Corps...

And even if they had won Midway, the IJN would still die on schedule in '43-44. A single German Panzer Corps is not going to stop that, not least because last I checked, the King Tiger's performance against a Iowa-class's broadside was.... less then inspiring. And the German's never really mastered the art of driving a tank out to sea to pick a fight with a carrier task force.
If they're being sent to New Guinea, they aren't a Panzer Corps. The terrain is rather unsuitable...
kokoda_trail.jpg
 
So this is DBWI.... Still hard.

The only reason these units got sent to the Pacific because Germany was largely unoccupied with any active front and Japan was facing the full force of USA might largely alone. Part of the November 1940 German/Soviet deal signed in Berlin allowed the Germans a certain number of trains per week on the Trans Siberian. Plus the October 1941 German/Italian seizure of Egypt and relief of east Africa allowed the Axis to project strength out of the horn of Africa.

If the Germans were busy and the Japanese were a minor front for the Americans these forces would never have been sent. The DPK, (really only about 6000 trained alpine soldiers) were thought to be useful in the mountains of New Guinea (which was a lot different than the mountains of Bavaria as it turned out). While the soldiers were shipped across the Trans Siberian, half their equipment was sunk en route off of Aden, the forces were cut off on that island, without supply and largely forgotten OTL.

Far more useful was the radar controlled heavy anti-antiaircraft battery and the flak tower the German engineers built in Tokyo in 1945. Along with the squadron of TA152s the Germans sent.

However: If it would have never happened we never would have those epic JU 390 flights the Germans did to try and improve the morale of the soldiers there.
 
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