A Somber Opportunity
So strange that such a big change would take place again on the ides of march (15th) 1941...
Alfred Jodl and Franz Halder the respective OKW and OKH chiefs of staff stepped into a staff car together on their way to a joint planning conference for operation Barbarossa.
Halder, so much more than Jodl, had reservations about the coming offensive, especially now that it looked like the Heer and Luftwaffe would have to make such a substantial commitment to the Mediterranean in Greece and North Africa. Unable to alter Hitler's wishes he had resigned himself to make the plan work as much as possible even in spite of his doubts
Then perhaps his guilt and anxiety where released when his staff car was rear ended, by an Opel truck driver, whose brakes had failed. Both Halder and Jodl sitting in the back had no chance. The truck had hit them with a fair amount of speed and actually mounted their small staff car completely crushing the rear of the vehicle. Both men had died before the terrified driver who was miraculously unharmed could drag them from the wreckage.
Hitler was visibly shaken when the news reached him during a military conference on the ongoing Greek and North African operations. For all his argument with Halder and to a lesser extent Jodl he did appreciate their talents.
Given the multiple operations both ongoing and upcoming it was vital that they be replaced immediately by men of strong will and character.
A teletype was sent to Army Group North's HQ in East Prussia summoning Erich Von Manstein to Berlin without any explanation. He surmised that he was being called in to give a briefing on his preparations with the 56th Panzer Corps. Manstein had his plans laid out already, his corps (8th Panzer, 3rd Motorized and 290th Infantry) would strike rapidly through the Baltic States on it's way to Leningrad which he hoped to capture within 8 weeks of the start of the campaign. When he arrived in Berlin Manstein had far more to do than just make reports on the progress of his three divisions.
Hitler needed him: I know you finally have the Panzer Command you had been requesting and I am grateful for your efforts with the troops, however we need your planning skills. We have not forgotten that it was your plan with my blessing and incites that won us our great victory in France. As Marshall Keitel explained to you on your way in, we have lost both General Halder and Jodl. I am appointing you to take over both of their posts temporarily until I can find someone to become chief of staff for OKW at which time you will revert to chief of staff OKH under Marshall Brauchitsch.
Manstein was less than pleased... again he was not going to command a panzer corps just like his snub in France but it was a Hitler order, there was no recourse to take and no higher power to complain to.
In the back of his mind the general wandered back to his time as chief to staff to Marshall Von Runstead, and how his plan for the defeat of France had been snubbed until Hitler snatched it up and made it work better than he could have imagined.
Chief of staff again! he yelled to his orderly. Despite the anger, the wheels in the mind of a genius where spinning rapidly. He had several opinions on the conduct of the upcoming campaign in Russia that he had been ignoring and not following up on because he was so focused on getting the 56th Panzer Corps ready for action. Manstein would draw those up into a plan he thought to himself. I'll teach those pompous asses in OKW(not all snubs are forgiven easily) how a real staff officer should be and at least now I can bring my ideas to the Fuhrer personally
To be continued,......
this is my first timeline and a draft so any feedback is certainly welcome and to be learned from