There isn't going to be a Germany.
The only Germans left will be spending the rest of their lives in labour camps in North America and Siberia.
How Silent Fall the Cherry Blossoms
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There isn't going to be a Germany.
The only Germans left will be spending the rest of their lives in labour camps in North America and Siberia.
Geon
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Last Phase of Trojan Victory
Date: December 18, 1944
Location: Paris; U.S. Command HQ
Time: 8:10 a.m. [Paris time]
“Hell’s Bells, I’m going out for a walk,” exclaimed General Dwight D. Eisenhower to some nervous staff people! For the better part of two days General Eisenhower had been sequestered in his Paris HQ as news of the Ardennes offensive and the attacks on the East Coast had come in. Now his aides were begging him to stay at the headquarters until things calmed down. There were rumors that Otto Skorzeny, who now had a feared reputation for special missions and who was known to have rescued Mussolini had been given a mission to go behind the lines to assassinate Allies military leadership including Eisenhower.
After two days of near “house arrest,” the energetic Eisenhower had declared he was going for a walk. Now with several nervous aides Eisenhower was walking the streets of Paris looking around and enjoying the first of many morning cigarettes.
A sudden explosion drew the attention of “Ike,” and several of his aides upward in time to see a large misty ball of gas begin to descend from the fragments of something that had exploded in the air. Ike’s aides started to try to hustle the general back to HQ but abruptly throughout the street people began to fall to the ground many of them vomiting and losing control of other bodily functions. Within minutes all over a 3 square mile area people were lying in the streets in buildings and in vehicles that had careened out of control twitching as their nervous systems short-circuited. As police, fire, and ambulance crews arrived they would quickly discover that 278 people had died from the attack and approximately 4,000 would be affected in some way or another from exposure to the Sarin gas in the days to come. But one casualty would especially stand out. General Dwight David Eisenhower, Commander in Chief of all Armed Forces in the west was among those listed as dead that day.
Date: December 18, 1944
Location: Paris; U.S. Command HQ
Time: 8:10 a.m. [Paris time]
“Hell’s Bells, I’m going out for a walk,” exclaimed General Dwight D. Eisenhower to some nervous staff people! For the better part of two days General Eisenhower had been sequestered in his Paris HQ as news of the Ardennes offensive and the attacks on the East Coast had come in. Now his aides were begging him to stay at the headquarters until things calmed down. There were rumors that Otto Skorzeny, who now had a feared reputation for special missions and who was known to have rescued Mussolini had been given a mission to go behind the lines to assassinate Allies military leadership including Eisenhower.
After two days of near “house arrest,” the energetic Eisenhower had declared he was going for a walk. Now with several nervous aides Eisenhower was walking the streets of Paris looking around and enjoying the first of many morning cigarettes.
A sudden explosion drew the attention of “Ike,” and several of his aides upward in time to see a large misty ball of gas begin to descend from the fragments of something that had exploded in the air. Ike’s aides started to try to hustle the general back to HQ but abruptly throughout the street people began to fall to the ground many of them vomiting and losing control of other bodily functions. Within minutes all over a 3 square mile area people were lying in the streets in buildings and in vehicles that had careened out of control twitching as their nervous systems short-circuited. As police, fire, and ambulance crews arrived they would quickly discover that 278 people had died from the attack and approximately 4,000 would be affected in some way or another from exposure to the Sarin gas in the days to come. But one casualty would especially stand out. General Dwight David Eisenhower, Commander in Chief of all Armed Forces in the west was among those listed as dead that day.
Oh shit...
Who's gonna take the reins now? I'm pretty sure the US will want to remain in command!
So, Marshall? Bradley? Patton?
Whoever takes over just saw a door open to a nomination to run in '48 or '52.
Who's gonna take the reins now? I'm pretty sure the US will want to remain in command!
So, Marshall? Bradley? Patton?
Whoever takes over just saw a door open to a nomination to run in '48 or '52.
Geon
Donor
No love for the UK?
Of course! Don't you see the German army reaching out to give them a big hug? 1940's style!
Geon
Given that Truman was the running mate on the winning ticket so legally he will become POTUS in January, I may be wrong but I can't see a major crisis as a result of this. Although I suspect there will be pressure for a constitutional amendment once all this is over, perhaps something like if in wartime the President and VP are sworn in immediately after the election. But this TL has been full of nasty surprises...
If that's a V2 then that's a very lucky hit.
And in the last two days what's happened to the Allied retaliation ???
Geon
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Alternate History is often about what would have happened with regard to good and bad luck on either side.
As to the Allied devastation er..retaliation on Germany. It's coming...it's coming.
Geon
The Electoral College hasn't convened yet, so Constitutionally, FDR has not been officially re-elected yet. It goes to Wallace until the EC makes their call, and it's up to them, nobody else. Sure, influence can be used, but legally it goes to the EC, and their mandate to pick FDR just vanished.
Wallace will run the show, and may try to push to keep the job well enough to spark a crisis.
Garrison
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Same problem as OTL I would imagine; the weather is grounding allied airpower and the strategic bombers can't really do more than they did OTL. There will also be a certain amount of gearing up to strike back appropriately but once the weather clears and the RAF and USAAF have the appropriate weapons hell will rain on Germany.
I can only see that ending very badly for Wallace, he'd be effectively usurping the Presidency, he'd probably split the Democrats in half for a beginning. The matter would probably end up in the Supreme Court and it would make the Florida 2000 case look mild mannered, and I doubt the American people will look kindly on politicians who engaged in that kind of squabbling while civilians in their homes and soldiers on the frontline were being gassed.
Just meeting. http://www.thegreenpapers.com/Hx/PresidentialElectionEvents.phtml By the time word gets out - and it wouldn't for a while to ease panic - they'll have voted.
bguy
Donor
I'm not sure why everyone is expecting Germany to be dismembered post-war. As nasty as the German attacks on the US have been, they still haven't even killed 2,000 American civilians yet. OTL the British lost 30 times that many civilians to German attacks, and it didn't cause them to become genocidal against Germany, so I don't see the US going all Mega-Morgenthau here. The US retaliation to the German attacks will certainly be... vigorous, and I would expect the Nuremburg trials to be greatly expanded post-war, but beyond that the same strategic and economic reasons for allowing Germany to recover that applied in OTL will still apply here. The US and UK are not going to beggar Western Europe just to get additional revenge on a nation they have already defeated.
About FDR
FDR is not dead yet, though certainly incapacitated. There has been no effort since Wilson to remedy this situation. Definitely a lot of opportunity for Geon to add a little bit more drama to this. As for Ike's replacement? Dunno, he had his hands full already keeping Monty and Patton on the same plan. It would have to be some well respected strategist to take his place - maybe Alan Brooke?
FDR is not dead yet, though certainly incapacitated. There has been no effort since Wilson to remedy this situation. Definitely a lot of opportunity for Geon to add a little bit more drama to this. As for Ike's replacement? Dunno, he had his hands full already keeping Monty and Patton on the same plan. It would have to be some well respected strategist to take his place - maybe Alan Brooke?
Bomb
If the Germans thought that they were being bombed before they haven't seen anything yet. They'll be lucky if they don't get a suntan soon.
If the Germans thought that they were being bombed before they haven't seen anything yet. They'll be lucky if they don't get a suntan soon.
I agree with that. My own opinion is that the Electoral College will confirm the election of Roosevelt and Truman, which means that if Roosevelt dies or is deemed to be disabled beyond recovery by Inauguration Day, Truman will become President. Wallace will have to become Acting President, because he's still the sitting Vice-President until Inauguration Day, and if Roosevelt dies in the interim, then Wallace will have to be sworn in as President for the interim period until Truman is formally sworn in. The good news is that, at most, Wallace will only be in office for a few weeks if FDR should die, so he won't have the time to do much damage. Indeed, given his lame-duck status, he may, if he's smart, just do what FDR's advisers suggest and not rock any boats. Wallace was certainly a fool as regards the Soviet Union (at least in those days), but he's no usurper, and I am morally confident that he'll respect the Constitution (as unclear as it is on this point at this time) and follow the legal line of succession.
As for who succeeds Eisenhower, the Americans will, as per tradition, insist on still having an American in overall command of SHAEF. I think Bradley is senior as 12th Army Group commander. Patton only commands a field army, 3rd Army, though of course, he's in overall command of the Allied counterattack on the south side of the Ardennes bulge. So I expect Bradley takes over. That will be interesting. Bradley and Patton were once very close friends, the former having served under the latter for years, who thence recommended Bradley for higher command, but they've been on the outs recently for various reasons, not least personality clashes.
People will want the threat from Germany to be removed permanently.
When the concentration camps are liberated expect the hatred to increase a few more notches.
"It was the Jews and Russians this time - it could be YOU next time"
will be a lot more resonant than
"Having a strong Germany will be good for trade in 20 years time"
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