Hitler ist dead!

"Hitler ist dead!"
On March 4th, 1943, Adolf Hitler died from a stroke. As much as he boasted of his iron nerves, it appears that stress bested him. A week later, there was an immense funeral as Germany mourned the death of their admired leader, attended by numerous government functionaries.

It also meant one thing: who will succeed him?

Hitler's Last Will and Testament indicated he wanted Goering to succeed him and the offices of President and Chancellor to be separated. Despite what Hitler thought, he did not own Germany. Bormann's influence within the Nazi Party allowed to him be elected Chancellor and to withhold Hitler's will from the public. Without a President, Bormann would assume the duties of that office as well as per the Constitution.

However, many did not like Bormann, least of all Goering who would have become the leader of the Reich. Bormann's policies were becoming more brutal then Hitler's, churches were being closed and there were rumors within the army that there will be a Soviet-style purge. Those rumors were likely false given the state of war, but it allowed for the impetus of a coup orchestrated by Beck, Canaris, Goebbels, Guderian, Speer, and others.

On May 4th, reserve units instituted military control, disempowering the Gauleiters and the Party. Goebbels made a speech over the radio, soothing the German people during the turmoil of the coup and pledging democratic rule after the war is over.

Beck, Goering, and Speer lead the Council of Regency, functionally the administrative equivalent of the Reichstag, Presidency, and the Chancellory combined into one office. Goebbels would become Foreign Minister. The German Military Staffs were given free reign, although were dependent on strategic decisions made by Speer over war equipment.

Conditions in the concentration camps were decreed to change, becoming more like American internment camps, except that prisoner labor was required. German war production was set to increase rapidly, as housemaids, women, POWs, and more were to be integrated into the total war economy, and industrial output was set to be expanded in the occupied territories.

While the damage has been done, with partisan resistance throughout Russia caused by the brutal occupation, efforts were made to expand local and ethnic sovereignty, along with the dissolution or privatization of collective farms.

The air war was to be dealt with through an increase of fighter production at the expense of bombers.

The operational tempo in the war in the east was to be reduced.

A tentative peace offer was declined by the allies.
 
Beck, Canaris, Goebbels, Guderian, Speer, and others.


umm Beck serving with Goebbles = asb
Beck serving with Goering = asb
Beck serving Guderian = asb

Goering holding any position of power at that moment in time, given the huge embarassment he had just participated in at Stalingrad = asb


what you have proposed here needs to be tought out a lot more and some reseach has to be done about the men whom you are involving in the story
 
Where is Himmler in all of this? I would say by 1943 he is the second most powerful man in Germany after Hitler. I think he would take over the government and the SS would guarantee it in a blood bath. Bormann would be the first to die, then Goering. I am sure Himmler would try for peace. But would fail .
 
I always assumed that Himmler would take power if Hitler died.I assumed that there would be a power struggle between the SS and the army that would help the allies. I also assumed that Himmler would emphasize the Soviet front and unsuccessfully try to make peace with the UK and the US. I think he would send troops into Northern Italy but let most of it fall to the Allies. I do have to give ryackov credit. I never picture Hitler dying a natural death.
 

Hyperion

Banned
So how many Nazi bigwigs are going to literally stab each other in the back after this.

That or how many Nazi bigwigs are going to get shot point blank by by the German generals and admirals.
 
ryackov:
Operation Reinhard was well under way by March/April '43 :(. The government viewed it as an efficient and effective project :mad:. Because of this it's unlikely that there would be the sort of concentration camp reform you describe taking place in a Nazi led Germany :(.


Where is Himmler in all of this? I would say by 1943 he is the second most powerful man in Germany after Hitler. I think he would take over the government and the SS would guarantee it in a blood bath. Bormann would be the first to die, then Goering. I am sure Himmler would try for peace. But would fail .

Agreed; also, Beck and Canaris would quickly find themselves labeled as traitors to the Reich and die during the bloodbath.
 
thered probaly be a civil war in the party, and possibly, in the country itself...the people who opposed hitler in secret could make their move whilst the heir is still being decided, and the allies would definatly see this as a chance to take the offensive and do some good hits...

the heir might be less idiotic thing in prolonging and exppaning concentration camps and continuing to blow resources on killing people for no reason like hitler did until the final days, which could prolong the war if they succeded in taking power smoothly...

but whoever took power it wouldnt change the outcome...nazi germany would still fall
 
I fear this is just becoming another cliched 'Germany immediately transforms into heroic Prussia' scenario, this Government is still Nazi dominated, it's ASB that they would, on a whim, end the Final Solution or promote nationalism in the occupied Soviet Union.
 
I always assumed that Himmler would take power if Hitler died.I assumed that there would be a power struggle between the SS and the army that would help the allies. I also assumed that Himmler would emphasize the Soviet front and unsuccessfully try to make peace with the UK and the US. I think he would send troops into Northern Italy but let most of it fall to the Allies. I do have to give ryackov credit. I never picture Hitler dying a natural death.

Himmler would take power how? The powerful waffen ss divisions are in russia subordinated to the army; there are a few training brigades in France, also subordinated to the army

Himmler had the political charisma of a wet fart, he would be a ripe purge/shooting target in any scenario were hitler isn't calling the shots

in May 43 his local assets would be the guard battalion, and the local gestapo and sd (little more than school yard thugs given uniforms)... they would promptly be supressed by Guderian who had enough equipment, men (and loyal men at that) at potsdam to flush out a panzer regiment

SD and gestapo equipped with pistols and rifles versus... panzers 4's and Tigers; I don't think that would go so well for anyone in the SS who wanted to try to resist
 
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