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alternatehistory.com
Welcome to Fear and Loathing in Bruxelles - a Cold War TL based in a world where Nuclear Weapons were not fully created. The TL itself will focus more on the European Side however the entire world will be explored in some way or another. The main idea is to form a world where a alt-Cold War is developed without the threat of Nuclear Weapons hung over policy makers. I will be trying to make this as realistic as possible and will add Quotes from Real and Fake people as in my opinion it helps create a more immersive world.
My Plan is to do this in a form of history book/someone writing about it from 2015 in the TL - whether or not this will work we shall see.
Thank you for taking your time and reading this TL and any questions will be gladly welcomed.
Zrew33
Fear and Loathing in Bruxelles
Prologue: Operation Downfall
“How I wished there was another way” – Harry S. Truman,
Operation Downfall would be the last major offensive of the Second World War. The Operation was the invasion of the Japanese Home Islands by that of the Western Allies and Soviet Union. United States President Harry S. Truman accepted that it was the only way the Second World War would end in July 1945 following poor reports from the United States secret weapons programme. Current records about the project are classified the general consensus is that the weapon had apparent “God-Like” capabilities but whether or not this rumours are true are up for speculation until the United States Government releases the files the public. The invasion of Japan would be larger than that of the Normandy landings in 1944, taking several months of planning and gathering of resources to pull it off. The Nazi regime in Germany had already fallen in May allowing for reliving of European troops for the Japanese Campaign. However the operation itself relied upon Soviet co-operation to attack Japan in Manchuria and then Korea to help allow the Allies to have a better position to re-supply their Army when they landed in Japan. Truman reluctantly handed over the people of Manchuria and Korea to that of the Soviet Regime should the operation is successful – Although he was more sceptical of Stalin than Roosevelt he still required further help from the USSR.
On August 8th 1945 in accordance to the treaty signed at Potsdam the Soviet Union invaded Manchuria exactly 3 months after the fall of Germany on May 8th 1945. The Campaign itself would be a quick one, lasting around 5 weeks. Historians also note that Stalin used this invasion to train his troops for amphibious landing on Japan, with around 5 such landing occurring in Korea alone. The Red Army faced a considerably weakened Japanese army was which was easily over run. Soviet Tanks smashed through the under-manned Japanese lines. However the combat would last into November with groups of Japanese Resistance to the Red Army. Korea would be the toughest part of the operation, with the mountainous region allowing the Imperial Japanese Army to more effectively take control and defend its positions. However, as mentioned before the Soviet Amphibious landings allowed the Red Army to jump around the more heavily defended pockets of resistance. On the most part the Korean People welcomed the Red Army as liberating heroes. In the time it would take for the Allies to get ready for the invasion of the Home Islands the USSR would begin work in turning Korea into a Soviet satellite state. They used people such as Kim Il Sung to do their main work, showing to the people that they were handing control back to Korea however behind closed doors they were still effectively in control. Manchuria however was different; the USSR would effectively control that region until after the Second World War with the peace between Japan and China. The USSR took full advantage of the Pacific War gaining control of Asian Nations and land of central Asia.
“Korea haunts me to this day – How I as an ambassador of the American People allowed the people of Korea to endure such tyranny.” – Harry S. Truman, Year of the Falling Sun, 1965.
It would take several more months of waiting for preparations to be ready for the invasion to begin on March 1st 1946, the planned start have been November 1st however Truman in a desperate attempt to stave of the invasion ordered complete continued bombing over the home islands in a last ditch attempt to force the Japanese to surrender. The invasion itself would begin on March 3rd 1946 by the Allies and the Soviets invading on March 10th 1946. Two different invasions sites were chosen for the Western Allies on X-Day. The Commonwealth Forces, that of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, would attempt to take Shikoku with the United States invading the southern beaches of Kyushu. The Allied forces faced tough resistance by the battered Imperial Japanese Army and Militia while the Soviets in Hokkaido only real problem was the terrain and weather with local resistance being more of an annoyance to the red army. Although Japanese land was slowly being occupied by the Allies the Japanese Government continued to refuse to give in. Japan lost around 4 million people in the invasion most of whom were civilian militia the state had forced into battle. Soon after the initial invasions the Japanese forces drew back Honshu. Overall the combat was slow and painful. They used the limited planes they had to dive into Tank and Infantry columns as well as placing tanks in ditches to create makeshift turrets. What was worse for the Allied and Soviets was the commitment – at least in the beginning – of the Japanese Citizens who were willing to fight only using basic tools such as bamboo spears and gardening equipment. Although many were forced my officers at the local defence force it still caused more fear in the Soldiers, who didn’t know whether the people at the next village or town would be friendly or try and kill them.
On July 7th the Allies and Soviets invaded the main island. The Allies faced the brunt of the Japanese defence who did the best they could with limited resources. By July 26th the Red Army were closing in on Tokyo, they had already taken Sendai. This in itself forced the Japanese to surrender after finally conceding that his Imperial army was totally defeated. His nation was starving under the weight of the allied blockade. He announced the surrender over the Radio on July 29th and quickly invited General Douglas MacArthur with the US army into Tokyo to surrender which was done on the Battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, August 2nd 1946. It became quite obvious that they didn’t want to deal with the threat of being occupied by the Soviets – hence the hasty invitation by the Japanese Emperor to the United States. The surrender was a complete hand over of Japan to the invading forces.
Occupational Zones of Japan [1946 - 1952]
Japan was divided into occupational zones between the USA, USSR and Commonwealth Realms. Although the USSR wouldn’t occupy Tokyo they would control a large chunk of the Japanese mainland and Hokkaido, it wasn’t long before the Soviet Union started to let communist ideals seep into their zone. The USSR installed Kyuichu Tokuda to help oversee the Japanese Occupation and actively encouraged discussion about abolishing the Emperor – blaming him for the misfortune of the Japanese state. This was just showed how the USSR conducted itself following the war. They used the minor communist elements already in the nation to their advantage. Stalin himself was willing in Japan to withdraw his forces if Truman pressed hard enough in which case there would be an even larger pool of communist supporters which may turn a nation or region into a communist stronghold. He wasn’t too concerned with Asia as much as he was with Europe and hoped he could get more of what he wanted in Europe by giving up control in Asia. However the Soviet growth in Asia would continue to bother Truman through his presidency. He wanted to challenge Stalin although feared escalating issues into a further following war. He didn’t have much leverage over the USSR which was happy staying with what they got.
His careful nature against the USSR frustrated many of his generals such as MacArthur as well as concerned the Japanese Emperor. Both of them wanted the USSR off Japan entirely with MacArthur saying that his troops in Honshu were more than happy to deal with the communist threat. Truman, as expected, refused to allow MacArthur to aggressively remove communism, once again under the fear of starting another war. The Emperor was concerned with the Anti-Emperor material circulating in Soviet Occupied Japan which was starting to seep into the south – this was something Truman frankly found to be the last of current issue surrounding the region.
There wasn’t one day of peace for the United States following the Second World War. As soon as the Japanese pen signed their surrender two new superpowers of the world locked horns. The USSR was already looking at the weaknesses in the United States – testing to see how much they could get away with before the US pushed back. For Truman everything was sliding towards communism, the regions the US hoped to control were taken partly by the USSR. Now even further areas of Europe had succumbed to Communism: Italy and Greece.