Early WWIII scenario. Can Germany get something back?
I doubt that Wallies are willingful make any more confession than just unification of Germanies. Perhaps with very good luck they might accept Austria joining to Germany but this probably would need WW3 happening before 1955 so perhaps if WW3 begin in 1948. But this needs much of luck. Wallies are still bit paranoid with Germany so they are not going give much if anything to Germany.
Depends. There are some scenarios for a WW3 which could see the Soviets pull off a negotiated victory (although a total victory is obviously impossible), so under those the Germans certainly aren't getting any of their eastern land back, although they might get reunified under Soviet domination, depending on the specifics. There's also the issue that by the late-50s, both the American and Soviet nuclear arsenals have advanced to the point that there might not even be any Germany left after the war is over, regardless of who (if anyone) is the victor, which renders the question a bit of a moot point.
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Well, you'll still have a geographic or administrative area called "Germany". Question is how much of contingent value is left in there.
If the war is conducted before Total Anhilation is on the table, you may see everything from status quo ante (WW3), "reunification of the Germans" which means you get reunified Germany/Austria (minus most of the eastern territories) with a heavy WAllied presence (to deter WW4 - quite possibly very welcome by the remaining germans) to a "Ostverschiebung" (without Anschluss, since Austria is neutral) which results in Germany regaining eastern territories for which the Poles get bits of the UdSSR.
If nukes are on the table, it is equally open. You may see a "german containment zone" in which there is no central authority (but plenty of wrecks and radiation), with the more intact lands annexed/unified with their neighbours (looking at you, France) or a postapocalyptic HRE-throwback incorporating most of central europe which is a unified entity on the map, but basically consists of a few cities/liveable pieces which have banded together for protection/power against non-european states (looking at you here, USA).
In my opinion a WW3 would be fought on German would result in massive destruction of Germany. Assuming a conventional war, besides the physical destruction, I am assuming that both sides would draft German soldiers to fight on their side. With the already large losses in manpower from WW2, the would be a massive shortage of German men after WW3. Also the retreating Soviets, may take the surviving German population with them as slave workers or for the brothels. It may take Germany decades to recover from the population loss.
In a WW3 during the 60s scenario the only thing Germany gets back is all the Uranium mined from Saxony for the Soviets.
Early in the Cold War if we are talking just a few years after WW2 another round of war would be deadly and destructive for Germany yes, but nothing like WW3 in the 60s or 70s where every German city of any substance gets plastered by nuclear weapons. Mentally German post war borders weren't all that fixed in the late 40s and early 50s with policy makers and the public.
If you have a Soviet first strike in the late 40s that gets blunted and slowly driven back with the support of millions of Germans and WAllied armies with the peace being had somewhere in Eastern Poland my suspicion is German post war borders with Poland would look closer to 1938 with some modifications then the borders in the East today.
If you have a Soviet first strike in the late 40s that gets blunted and slowly driven back with the support of millions of Germans and WAllied armies with the peace being had somewhere in Eastern Poland my suspicion is German post war borders with Poland would look closer to 1938 with some modifications then the borders in the East today.
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Not really as it would depend on how the war evolves and how long it goes on, but look at the map of the losses and its not hard to imagine the territory West of the Danzig being returned in a relatively short war. In a long mostly conventional slugging match where the WAllies have to really tap the German population and build a multi million man German armed force to toss into a protracted meat grider type of war as part of the price tag for full buy in the German elite will be pushing for a bigger chunk of what was for hundreds of years Prussia.
At Yalta the allies were against giving Poland Pomerania and Silesia and they were only reluctantly given those lands as compensation for the soviet's taking eastern Poland. So if the loss of the eastern lands are reversed this should not be a issue to give Germany Pomerania and Silesia and Poland get back all of its pre-1939 lands, Danzig, East Prussia and possibly Lithuania.
What about Kaliningrad? The russian population there was implanted after the war and it was directly annexed into russia. Could it be given back to Germany, or be transfered to Poland or Lithuania?
Well, the British were. The Americans didn't really care.
I imagine the timing of the world war will impact how willing the WAllies are to give Pomerania/Silesia back. If the war occurs too close to the Second World War, then the US will be more wary of handing back the Germans their eastern territories despite whatever contributions the (West) Germans might make to the war. On the other hand, if the war takes place too far away then then idea of the Oder-Neisse border as being the "natural" state of affairs in the minds of the West will also dampen the enthusiasm for readjusting the eastern border against Poland, again irrespective of the potential contributions the Germans might make.
Of course, if it's the Soviets who wind up winning our hypothetical World War then Poland's borders are liable to stay exactly as they are.