Extended WW2 scenario - feasible?

I half read some book or other about a more dangerous bulge offensive, the rationale for this was a peace treaty between Stalin and Hitler which seemed (IMO) utterly ludicrous. Anyhoo this enables the Germans to deploy greater forces to the Bulge making it a bigger threat than it was. The offensive is still defeated but only just and Rommel? has to surrender the majority of Germany's remaining armored forces, Stalin then leaps back in and the war is over.

Like I said the peace treaty seems unlikely to me, Stalin was getting increasingly worried that the Western Allies were advancing too fast and he wouldn't be able to grab as much of Europe as he wanted. I can't see him going for peace on the grounds of sparing lives and collateral damage and even if he had gone for a treaty the Germans couldn't possibly trust him to keep to it.

But what if Stalin had died?
This is where I really wish I knew a bit more about Russian politics.
So far as I know there was no clear line of succession.
The army had gained a lot of power and there seems to be a good case to be made for a really nasty power struggle between the army and the politburo, Beria vs Zhukov maybe.

So assuming post Bagration the Russian army is installed along the Vistula River having liberated Russia itself, how bad could the power struggle get? and how long could it take? Could the Red Army be paralyzed long enough to make an extended war feasible?

I'm guessing long enough to deploy a company's worth of Maus tanks (assuming they don't break down on the way) but not long enough to get Centurion Mk 3s into action. I doubt it would make much difference to the political map of Europe on the whole.

Like I said I'm interested in the Russian political power struggle - how bad and how long? The ramifications of the conflict and it's outcome are less important to me.
 
I half read some book or other about a more dangerous bulge offensive, the rationale for this was a peace treaty between Stalin and Hitler which seemed (IMO) utterly ludicrous. Anyhoo this enables the Germans to deploy greater forces to the Bulge making it a bigger threat than it was. The offensive is still defeated but only just and Rommel? has to surrender the majority of Germany's remaining armored forces, Stalin then leaps back in and the war is over.

Like I said the peace treaty seems unlikely to me, Stalin was getting increasingly worried that the Western Allies were advancing too fast and he wouldn't be able to grab as much of Europe as he wanted. I can't see him going for peace on the grounds of sparing lives and collateral damage and even if he had gone for a treaty the Germans couldn't possibly trust him to keep to it.

You have your facts a bit wrong, Hitler was dead in that situation and Himmler takes over and makes a truce with the Soviets to hand over a few countries like Greece as well as their wonder weapon designs for a temp peace.

But, Stalin agrees to it simply so he can have the Allies and the Germany Army beat the hell out of each other over the summer, fall and winter. So, he could sweep in and take out both the Germans and the Allies in one blow. The Germans take much their armies in the East for the fight in the West leaving an even better situation for Stalin when he does attack in 1945.

Of course his plan is ruined when Patton and Rommel see right through the stupidity of fighting it out to the death while Stalin is waiting in the wings to take over all of Europe.

There were some things in that book OOC, Rommel breaking down emotionally at a concentration camp instead of blowing the brains out of the commendat was OOC, but certainly not Stalin deciding to double cross the Anglo-American allies and letting the Germans have a real shot at beating the hell out of them for a few months.
 
The European front was set in the Allies favor easily by 1944(maybe earlier, Stalingrad or the Battle of Britain for example). So unless your POD is earlier, the war will end in May 1945. Now if you changed the direction of the Allied attack(Through Italy and Greece, which was one suggestion early on) you might have had a much longer war.

Also Stalin wouldn't just watch the conflict, even if it benefited him at the moment. If the Allies were to gain momentum quickly(Shorter Battle of the Bulge for example) the Allies would be in position to push into Germany. If they did that, they would be even more threatening to Stalin and his plans for Eastern Europe after the war.
 
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