Det som går ned må komme opp-An Alternate Royal Norwegian Navy TL

A few thoughts :

Norway :
  • The Norwegian Navy will be concentrated in the North Sea to protect the country. If they get enough forces, they might participate in the protection of the convoys from the UK to support the RN. They might also use their submarine force to block any raider (u-boot mostly) from breaking in the North Sea. Since the Kriegsmarine surface fleet is basically gone and their submarine force will be limited, the reconstituted Norwegian Navy might be rapidly up to the task with limited support from the RN.
  • We already spoke about the air and land defenses of Norway. Basically, the Norwegian will be rapidly capable of taking care of themselves, with the support of a few allied units. On the other hand, the use of Norway as an offensive base will take time and will require RAF bombers and an improved infrastructure.
  • The Norwegian merchant marine will probably still be the biggest contribution of Norway, as OTL. ITTL, we have a major difference with continued access to Norwegian manpower to man the ships. The limited access of the Kriegsmarine in the North Atlantic and the North Sea might lead to less merchant losses. If Barbarossa comes around, the convoys to Northern Russia will run essentially unchallenged.
  • I don't think we will see any Norwegian military unit outside of the country or the waters around it. The exception might come with training for specialized units or (pilots, new ships bought abroad, tank, marines and parachute forces, ...).

Sweden and Finland :
  • OTL, those two countries were essentially cut from the rest of the world by the German conquests in Norway and Denmark. ITTL with Norway free, they still can trade with other countries through land (Norway in Narvik but also Oslo and then Bergen) and possibly sea (there will be some neutral convoys run by Sweden in the North Sea).
  • The UK will probably try to buy as much iron from Sweden as they can, forcing Germany to pay much more for their. This give a bonus in saving shipping for the Allies since Sweden (along with French North Africa and Spain) is far closer to the UK than alternative sources like the US and Canada.
  • Continued trade might give enough political liberties to Finland so that they won't feel the need to participate in Barbarossa.

France :
  • The French government have decided to continue the fight. They come with the whole Empire, the Fleet, the merchant navy and the gold, plus whatever they managed to pull out of mainland France. And will be France using the gold to buy US arms and planes.
  • Depending on when they made the decision, whatever they managed to pull out of mainland France can mean a few hundred thousand mix of soldiers and civilians to almost one million people with some heavy material and specialized workers (from the southern parts of France). OTL, the majority of the Armée de l'Air was withdrawn to North Africa by the time of the Armistice. So, at first, the problem might not be the lack of planes, but a lack of spare parts.
  • Outside of the Courbet class battleships, the French fleet was pretty decent and adapted to fight in the Med. It's main weakness was in anti-submarine warfare, but, with the help of the RN and air power, the Marine Nationale will be a big player against Italy. The Richelieu is about to enter service, if need be, the French will use parts from the unfinished Jean Bart (which in turn might be finished as an aircraft carrier).
  • At least at first, the French will probably be able to keep Corsica, since the Italians don't have the airborne or the amphibious capacity to invade. As long as the Luftwaffe don't deploy en masse in Southern France and in Italy, the French can use the island as a way station for boats and planes which don't have the capacity to reach North Africa.
  • Tunisia is a good base to support Malta in blockading Italian convoys to Tripoli (2/3 of Libya's port capacities).
  • The French North African Army is far from being the best army on earth, but they will force the supply starved Italian Army in Libya to fight on 2 fronts. And, with Tripoli only 80 km from the Tunisian border, the port is in range of the French reinforced with with evacuated forces from France and what ever the US will spare. The most important US contribution here won't the tanks (the M2 were abysmally bad), but the trucks, the old equipment (used OTL to arm the British Home Guard) and ammunition. Once Tripoli is in Allied hands, the North African Campaign is won for the Allies.
  • There was one French Corps in Syria which was intended to support Balkan countries if they choose to support the Allies. Those forces can be transported in Egypt to support the British offensive against Libya from there.

The UK :
  • With Norway in Allied hands, the RAF will be able to concentrate in the South of England. Plus, with the Kriegsmarine surface fleet nonexistent and France still in the fight, the invasion scare of 1940 will be widely reduced. So the UK industrial mobilization will be more efficient.
  • With the Kriegsmarine surface fleet nonexistent and Norway in Allied hands, the RN will concentrate on blockading the U-boots coming from the French coast and Germany. I don't think the Home Fleet will have that much heavy units during the war, but mostly escorts and cruisers forces.
  • With the lesser losses in aircraft carriers for the RN, they will be able to make a 3 carriers attack on Tarente (possibly also earlier). This might mean that the Italian surface fleet won't be a problem for long too.
  • With North Africa on Allied control early on, the Allies will probably be able to run fast convoys in the Med all through the war under the umbrella of Allied aircraft all the way. And Malta won't be such an isolated base.
  • It means that the RN will have the possibility to concentrate its forces if Japan makes a move in the Far East.

Germany :
  • Germany, despite its failure in Norway, is now in control of Western Europe. I think AH will still try to force a British surrender (or negotiated peace) with a Battle of Britain, but ITTL there is even less chances of success.
  • AH still has a non-healthy obsession with the USSR so I'm pretty sure he will launch Barbarossa, preferably in 1941 as OTL. But, to be able to do so, the Nazis will need to secure their Southern flank. So they need to take Corsica in 1940 or early 1941. They probably also need to sent so Luftwaffe forces in Southern Italy to attack Allied convoys (and block any possibility of Allied landing in Sicily). And, depending on Italy's actions, the Nazis might need to secure Yugoslavia and Greece as OTL.

Italy :
  • Italy is in deep problems. They will almost certainly loose Libya rapidly. East Africa is isolated and will fall at one point or an other. Their Fleet is desperately outnumbered by the Anglo-French (and it might be sunk at anchor pretty quickly). And, the bonus is that the Dedocanese Islands are isolated by Greece.
  • The big question in 1940 is if Benny is dumb enough to invade Greece as OTL. If yes, the Allies will have the forces to reinforce Greece in early 1941. If not, he might loose the Dedocanese Islands at some point in 1941.

Japan :
  • Japan is still deeply involved in China. But, contrary to OTL, they won't be able to invade Indochina without the UK getting involved and declaring war. So, war materials will continue to flaw into China from Haiphong.
  • I still think that Japan is on a collision course with the US in the region, but the butterflies are flapping so it's hard to predict.



Essentially you are right, but it means war between Japan and the UK the moment Japanese forces invade. The British can't afford to let Indochina fall or let the French Colonial Empire fall apart for political and strategic reasons. So you might have an escalation a year earlier in the Far East.


I'm not sure I get it. Where is the two fronts war for Germany ? They just kicked the Allies from the continent in France and they have no hope to come back until 1943 at least (without the US).
Norway: The armed forces stay in Norway for the time being, the Germans still have a foothold and could try something.
Sweden+Finland: They won't be as trapped and pressured as OTL.
France: No French surrender memes (dang!), they can free up a lot of British assets, especially Naval, from the Med, and will be using their gold reserves liberally.
UK: Not as stretched, less defeatism, Japan won't have it as easy.
Germany: BoB will still happen, the next German plans concerning Norway will come soon.
Italy: Still in war as OTL, will have a harder time
Japan: This somewhat butterflies OTL, I'm not really going to cover it (this is a Norway TL after all)
 
Not sure about that. All Norwegian forces will be needed in Norway in case Germany is tempted for a round 2.
OTL, UK forces in Iceland were limited to a brigade. With the lesser threat and with less stress on their land forces, I think the UK can spare a second line battalion or two in Iceland.
Yup.
This is maybe more of a question for our author: how long-legged were the (surviving)Norwegian destroyers? I would imagine during design, there wasn't much requirement for very long range.
RN C+D class could do 5,850 n. miles at 15 knots, Norwegian ships are variants with enclosed bridges, Bofors guns, and home built torpedoes, they chopped a little range off but I'd still rate the ships just under 5,000.
Of course, where are replacements coming from for ships lost during the campaign? Norway, UK, US, ?
The issue of replacing losses will come up.
 

Driftless

Donor
I believe the Kongsberg Vaapenfabrikk (the linked site is in Norwegian) was/is a highly capable weapons manufacturing facility, but limited in size in 1940. That operation probably gets a big expansion with time.

*edit* On further thought, both Kongsberg and Horten (1940 Norway's two primary defence manufacture locations) are in easy reach of German bombers flying out of Aalborg. Would any expansion or new construction likely be done farther upcountry? Bergen, Trondheim?
 
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If a little common sense could come into focus in the US, a modified Treasury class cutter makes a lot of sense as an escort ship...additionally, refurbished 4-pipers (install DP 3 inch 50 cal as OTL, land the torpedo tubes, remove two boilers, improve accommodation and range) would be a good short term solution for both France and Norway.

in the 1944 time frame the way this time line is going, I could see the US providing a squadron of Fletcher class destroyers to Norway in exchange for participation in the Pacific. How about a Norwegian logistic task group?

Norway would also be able to continue producing merchant ships, which may turn out to be more valuable than producing destroyers...ITL I don't see the US producing the massive number of destroyer escorts and escort carriers as in OTL...and as far as US produced merchant shipping, I'd hope that the Liberty was never produced and the design went straight to something like the Victory...
 

Paternas

Donor
Germany: BoB will still happen, the next German plans concerning Norway will come soon.
How would the Battle of Britain still happen without a German navy to invade Britain? Isn't Germany more likely to focus on other theaters? They might try a terror bombing campaign, altough that is not going to work.
 

Driftless

Donor
How would the Battle of Britain still happen without a German navy to invade Britain? Isn't Germany more likely to focus on other theaters? They might try a terror bombing campaign, altough that is not going to work.

I could see the Germans trying to rock the British back on their heels, by further damaging the RAF. Buy some security from that direction for a time. Still, I can't see them pushing the British out of the war, without an invasion.
 
I just realize that with France fighting on there won't be bad blood because of attack on
Attack on Mers-el-Kébir or British forcing the french navy to either be disarmed or join the British against Germans also will Germans still try to create a pro German French puppet state with fascist/pro german French?
 
He DID NOT have a land war on 2x fronts already going on.
At the moment he has two fronts going, counting all of the Fall Gelb as one front--it is not clear yet exactly how far along the reduction of the Netherlands and Belgium has gotten, but one would presume as OTL calendar, perhaps with half a week or a full week delay maybe. Though the Netherlands has defensive options that might have kept a major part of it unoccupied, walled off by flooding the polder land between the mainland and their speculative western bastion. But we've had no word of such ATL developments in the Low Countries.

France shall clearly fall, and then the mainland European front is down to zero. No front there.

As for Norway, the other front--it seems clear that the German invasion shall be neutralized, it is a matter of time. Soon, no front there either.

Norway, with remnant German occupiers, is nothing but a loss to Hitler as a front anyway; he should have euthanized the whole miscarried attempt and pulled back as many troops as possible much earlier. With all Norway liberated, it hardly counts as a "front" any more than Britain remaining intact across the Channel counted as one OTL. Not less to be sure; that was a front of sorts, but mainly air and to the desultory degree German sea power counted for something, naval. Same will be true of Norway; they sit across the water, and aircraft can clash above those waters or intrude on bombing runs over each other's territory; wherever Allied air cover prevails the RN and Norwegian ships patrol with near impunity if they stay out of shore gun range and keep an eye and sonar ear out for U-boats; closer in where shore artillery and Luftwaffe gaining the upper hand prevail is navally speaking no man's land and what passes for a safe shore hugging corridor for U-boats. Same as OTL with Britain across the channel. Liberating Norway basically means extending a new wing of Britain then. Neutral Sweden can remain neutral through the whole war as OTL, and even if the Swedes were to jump into the Allied bed one evening and turn all Sweden into another war zone, one much more threatening from an air strike point of view to the north tier of the Reich--that's still not a land frontier, either side would be hard put to land troops on the other side of the strait. But the Swedes probably don't want to stick their hand into that fire even if it means being on a glorious and prosperous winning side.

Soon then it will be down, as OTL, to zero land fronts for Hitler, until and unless the Allies invade Italy.

OTL there was also the North African campaign. We have every reason to suppose though that the Italians are already on a back foot, what with the French Mediterranean fleet staying loyal to the government in exile and thus incorporated into Allied strategy; communications between Italy and Libya are going to be quite difficult, whereas French forces in North Africa will be attacking Libya, or anyway holding a firm defensive line, instead of merging and giving the Italians and Germans free transit all across the shore. A strong Italian defense might keep the NA front hot for a while, but any Italian or German forces there must run a gauntlet of combined British and French naval interdiction, while holding off an attack out of Egypt and another out of Algeria. I don't think Libya will last long and the Ethiopian venture is pretty much doomed as well. OTL Vichy also had a foothold in Lebanon and Syria, this is Allied here. I won't speculate on the chances that Greece can be defended or that sections of Yugoslavia might hold out, Romania has problems even if it remains under pro-Allied leadership, which I am not sure it was by 1940 anyway. Hungary is of course Axis. So it is conceivable I guess that in lieu of a North African front, there might be a southeast European one, a damned thing in the Balkans--if Greece can be shored up enough and soon enough.

But that corner of Europe was supposed to be Mussolini's problem, not Hitler's, and perhaps if the Allied navies seal off Libya soon enough, so any Italians there have to surrender and be written off, and Mussolini can keep enough of his fleet in being on the defensive, the diversion of forces that OTL went south to the Balkans instead might mean any Allied footholds there are tied down and neutralized by Italy alone. (I expect Tito's Communist Partisans to be somewhat effective, as OTL, even in such adverse conditions--conceivably Tito himself takes a round and someone else, who might be less effective, or conceivably though not likely more so, leads the Partisans).

So--the situation will have the dust settle with Hitler facing essentially the same situation as OTL, with some rearrangements less in his favor to be sure. He doesn't get the benefits of occupying Norway but neither does he pay the same liability in terms of a tying down so many troops as he did OTL--many of those are liable to be sitting on Denmark instead I guess, which by the way would make Denmark a poor invasion route versus the much wider options of NW France. Instead of an African front, German forces might be drawn in to a Balkan front, but in these early days I think the advantage there would tend to be to the Axis. I presume that like Sweden, Turkey is likeliest to stay neutral the whole war. The Allied navies can probably secure the Greek islands for the most part, while Mussolini with some German help can seize control of the Greek mainland; any actual Balkan front would be a matter of Allied footholds on this or that Greek port, and fighting out of those to form a major front would be difficult for the Allies; just holding them would be a major drain and distraction. For both sides, but certainly no worse for the Axis than the attempt to hold North Africa OTL. Trying to go up through Italy would be as hard a slog for the Allies as it was OTL, and probably harder if early assertion of Allied naval supremacy in the Med causes Mussolini to pull his naval horns in early and concentrate on coastal defense.

In terms of number and cost of fronts then, Hitler will be no worse off than OTL, and he is apparently managing to get most of the resources he took OTL in Europe to fund buildup for Barbarossa. Balkans being in lieu of North Africa suggests to me that a year hence, the Axis would prevail in expelling Allied footholds on the mainland, and thus avoid the OTL distraction that delayed Barbarossa a month OTL. Troops and armor and so forth lost in NA OTL will either be lost securing the Balkans or not lost at all; he could, despite losing some OTL assets, wind up with more force against the Soviets, sooner. I remain confident that even so the USSR will not collapse and will ultimately piston back to crush the Reich, but few people in OTL 1941 would have that confidence, and about as few or perhaps fewer still here.
 

Driftless

Donor
In terms of number and cost of fronts then, Hitler will be no worse off than OTL, and he is apparently managing to get most of the resources he took OTL in Europe to fund buildup for Barbarossa. Balkans being in lieu of North Africa suggests to me that a year hence, the Axis would prevail in expelling Allied footholds on the mainland, and thus avoid the OTL distraction that delayed Barbarossa a month OTL. Troops and armor and so forth lost in NA OTL will either be lost securing the Balkans or not lost at all; he could, despite losing some OTL assets, wind up with more force against the Soviets, sooner. I remain confident that even so the USSR will not collapse and will ultimately piston back to crush the Reich, but few people in OTL 1941 would have that confidence, and about as few or perhaps fewer still here.

At this point of the revised war, I'd agree that Norway's gain is the USSR's eventual penalty. Hitler should have more troops to throw against the Soviets (no manpower and equipment sinks in Norway and North Africa), the Luftwaffe will likely be about the same (roughly - losses over Norway offset by lack of losses over North Africa), but the Kriegsmarine will offer little help in damaging the Arctic convoys. Still, the Soviets are going to start farther back in the Lend-Lease and cash-and-carry resupply queue; after France, Britain, Norway and others. Stalin will demand immediate help, and get some, but the supply line will likely be more sparse.
 
Norway: The armed forces stay in Norway for the time being, the Germans still have a foothold and could try something.
Sweden+Finland: They won't be as trapped and pressured as OTL.
France: No French surrender memes (dang!), they can free up a lot of British assets, especially Naval, from the Med, and will be using their gold reserves liberally.
UK: Not as stretched, less defeatism, Japan won't have it as easy.
Germany: BoB will still happen, the next German plans concerning Norway will come soon.
Italy: Still in war as OTL, will have a harder time
Japan: This somewhat butterflies OTL, I'm not really going to cover it (this is a Norway TL after all)

I'm having a hard time seeing Japan going to war in Q4 1941 in this timeline. The decision to go to war was based that the Colonial Powers were a tottering edifice that only needed one strong push to knock over and then the Japanese could fort up and bleed the weak willed Americans to a reasonable peace arrangement. The French are still fighting and by mid-1941, there is a sufficient force pool to reinforce the Far East.

In this timeline, in 1940, the combination of the RN and MN should be able to defeat the Italian fleet or force the Italians to stay in port. by the end of 1940. The Western Desert Force plus the reinforced French Army in Tunisia should at the very least keep the Italians in Libya if not conquer both Tripoli and Benghazi by the end of 1940. Under one scenario, the Italian invasion of Greece never happens. In another, it happens, but the French Levantine Army could move to reinforce the Greeks fairly early on while making Crete a secure rear base. The RN aircraft carriers are not getting plinked by Stukas while resupplying Malta or covering the seaside flank of the WDF.

The lack of a Battle of the Denmark Straits has significant force generation implications. By May 1, 1941, the British strategy of Main Fleet East is quite plausible. 5 modern capital ships (KGV, POW, Richelieu, Dunkerque, Strasbourg), 3 fast battlecruisers (Hood, Renown, Repulse) plus Nelson and Rodney could head east accompanied by at least four fast carriers (Ark Royal, Formidable, Victorious, Illustrious) with the modernized Queens and Furious and Glorious available as a second wave of reinforcements or the core of either Home Fleet or Mediterranean Fleet. Now the RN and RM won't send all of that force to Singapore, but KGV, POW, Renown, Richeleau along with Ark Royal, Formidable and Victorious plus a dozen cruisers, three squadrons of modern destroyers (including half a dozen large French destroyers) and three squadrons of submarines is a very plausible force. Throw in the 4th Indian Infantry Division heading Malaya along with another division or two of veterans (perhaps the Australian 6th Division and the UK 6th Infantry Division) and an off-balance, tottering edifice can be quickly shored up and balanced regained. This is before the actual reinforcements of the III Indian Corps and most of the 8th Australian Division.

Now the French may have to make economic concessions to Japan from Indochina, but they aren't going to roll over in July 1940 if they are still fighting on and the French Fleet is still loyal and fighting. If Indochina is still under effective French control in Q3 1941, the entire South China Sea is going to be heavily patrolled by both aircraft and Western Allied submarines.

The IJN won't be looking at a smash and grab operation and that will dictate decision making.
 
I'm having a hard time seeing Japan going to war in Q4 1941 in this timeline. The decision to go to war was based that the Colonial Powers were a tottering edifice that only needed one strong push to knock over and then the Japanese could fort up and bleed the weak willed Americans to a reasonable peace arrangement. The French are still fighting and by mid-1941, there is a sufficient force pool to reinforce the Far East.

In this timeline, in 1940, the combination of the RN and MN should be able to defeat the Italian fleet or force the Italians to stay in port. by the end of 1940. The Western Desert Force plus the reinforced French Army in Tunisia should at the very least keep the Italians in Libya if not conquer both Tripoli and Benghazi by the end of 1940. Under one scenario, the Italian invasion of Greece never happens. In another, it happens, but the French Levantine Army could move to reinforce the Greeks fairly early on while making Crete a secure rear base. The RN aircraft carriers are not getting plinked by Stukas while resupplying Malta or covering the seaside flank of the WDF.

The lack of a Battle of the Denmark Straits has significant force generation implications. By May 1, 1941, the British strategy of Main Fleet East is quite plausible. 5 modern capital ships (KGV, POW, Richelieu, Dunkerque, Strasbourg), 3 fast battlecruisers (Hood, Renown, Repulse) plus Nelson and Rodney could head east accompanied by at least four fast carriers (Ark Royal, Formidable, Victorious, Illustrious) with the modernized Queens and Furious and Glorious available as a second wave of reinforcements or the core of either Home Fleet or Mediterranean Fleet. Now the RN and RM won't send all of that force to Singapore, but KGV, POW, Renown, Richeleau along with Ark Royal, Formidable and Victorious plus a dozen cruisers, three squadrons of modern destroyers (including half a dozen large French destroyers) and three squadrons of submarines is a very plausible force. Throw in the 4th Indian Infantry Division heading Malaya along with another division or two of veterans (perhaps the Australian 6th Division and the UK 6th Infantry Division) and an off-balance, tottering edifice can be quickly shored up and balanced regained. This is before the actual reinforcements of the III Indian Corps and most of the 8th Australian Division.

Now the French may have to make economic concessions to Japan from Indochina, but they aren't going to roll over in July 1940 if they are still fighting on and the French Fleet is still loyal and fighting. If Indochina is still under effective French control in Q3 1941, the entire South China Sea is going to be heavily patrolled by both aircraft and Western Allied submarines.

The IJN won't be looking at a smash and grab operation and that will dictate decision making.
Again, I won't cover that in this TL (one in the future is possible, we'll see), as this is a Norway TL. I'm sure the war in the Pacific(if there is one) will be different, but the focus for the story is Europe.
 

SwampTiger

Banned
Both Pratt & Whitney and Allison will be tooling up in TTL. All major aircraft types had experimented with American and British engines OTL. Maybe the French adopt the .50 Browning, or get started on the FN version, which was considered for the heavy MG by the French. The H-81 will be arriving on schedule. All French orders will be honored. Will French armaments construction move to Canada as well as North Africa? If the French order the Hispano 404 built under their guidance in the US or Canada, would this butterfly the US mistake with the gun?
 
Chapter XLII
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Chapter XLII: North or East?

June-July 1940
With France soon to be entirely in German hands, Adolf Hitler once again looked north, where Kristiansand, Arendal, and several other sizable cities were still occupied by his forces. Kjevik Airport represented a fairly safe way to ferry men to Kristiansand, while the sea route was less exposed than the one to Stavanger. Thus, against the advice of his commanders, Hitler ordered a new offensive in Norway, aiming to take Oslo by December, determined not to be driven from the country, and come up with a victory yet. Historians concur that Hitler (and Goering) were far too optimistic about the German ability to supply Kristiansand by air and sea.

During June and July of 1940, British, French, Polish, and Norwegian submarines sank their teeth into the convoys, escorted by what the Kriegsmarine had left, which wasn’t much. Germany, without enough shipping to realistically build up quickly, was now critically low on transports and cargo vessels. In the sky, Kristiansand was far enough from the nearest Allied field capable of operating fighters that the flights of Ju 52’s successfully reached the city for the most part.

In a series of meetings in July, the senior officers of the Heer and Kriegsmarine attempted to talk Hitler out of renewing the offensive in Norway, emphasizing that the offensive would delay the invasion of the Soviet Union, as well as being very difficult to pull off with the now very small transport and cargo fleet, which would only shrink if operations continued. Goering attempted to argue that the Luftwaffe could continue to supply Norway, but it was pointed out that the losses to the transport fleet in Fall Gelb had greatly weakened it. Those in favor of the offensive argued that the time was now, since Germany still held a substantial strip of coastline in southern Norway. Those against the offensive argued that it would waste time and resources, and the USSR was a much better target, which would be more reformed and better equipped the longer the invasion was delayed. Some attempted a compromise: continue to hold the area between Kristiansand and Arendale, while attacking east and returning later, with more resources and a bridgehead already made. An attack on the positions would be extremely difficult considering the Allies would have little air support, their nearest air bases being in Oslo and Stavanger, while Kristiansand had Kjevik, which could operate most frontline aircraft. The Allies would also have to come by land, where there were limited roads and difficult terrain, allowing the garrisons to be alerted with plenty of time to prepare and receive reinforcements, as well as making repelling the attack fairly easy with prepared defenses.

Hitler chose the compromise, which allowed him to destroy the Bolshevik enemies fairly soon while keeping the option of attacking Norway later open. Of the men and equipment transported to the area, a good deal of the former would return to Germany via air, while the equipment would stay to help fortify the positions. In this time period, probably at the urging of Karl Doenitz (Raeder’s successor) about the great strategic position of French ports on the North Atlantic, Hitler also lifted the restrictions on U-Boats, though the stoppage of work for nearly three months and the scrapping of many incomplete submersibles greatly stalled production of the craft, allowing the British to have more escorts ready before great numbers of the U-Boats entered service.

Plans for the invasion of the Soviet Union were continued, France was mopped up, U-Boat production was ramped up, and the Kristiansand-Arendal line was reinforced through the summer months on the German side of things. The Allied side was a bit different and less calm.
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Excellent update, the Germans are still trying to hold on but their's really no way to supply them and its stubborn pride keeping the Germans there. France and the Low Countries have fallen but with France fighting on harder in the South this would delay any conquest and increase German casualtes.

Now the question is what's next. Benny's joined in so Italian Africa is going to be gobbled up by Anglo-French forces. But where do the bombers of the Luftwaffe go next? Do they seek a BoB to force the UK to the table or would they be turned on a far more vulnerable Norway?
 
the Germans are still trying to hold on but their's really no way to supply them
They are low enough maintenance that the Luftwaffe can keep up fairly easily(that's a first)-the garrisons are just that, garrisons, and aren't going anywhere, much of what they need was delivered during the brief, abandoned attempt to build up for an offensive, food is the biggest issue but it can be supplied by air.
But where do the bombers of the Luftwaffe go next? Do they seek a BoB to force the UK to the table or would they be turned on a far more vulnerable Norway?
They will attempt to bomb the British into submission. How it goes will be detailed in two chapters iirc from looking at the doc I'm writing this on.
 
I'm having a hard time seeing Japan going to war in Q4 1941 in this timeline.
I agree, but the Japanese want to keep invading and their relative strength compared to the Entente+USA is waning every day. Their government is still capable of making a bad decision.
 
Would it be realistic for the RN to sneak in a couple of times a month and bombard the crap out of German positions?

What about Surcouf? Pop to the surface in the evening and drop a few rounds...

Not too much fun being a German in such a scenairo...
 
Kristiansand-Arendal line
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Are the Germans contained in the pocket behind the Kristiansand-Arendal line? That's close enough for a naval invasion to be launched and landed while the sun is down, and if the Allies can get a secret airbase built up somewhere it's going to be easier for them to support any attack.
 
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