With the war going "better ", the strain in FDR might lesson. He may make to the final victory.Well if Wallace is getting the VP it might not affect what they get v OTL.
With the war going "better ", the strain in FDR might lesson. He may make to the final victory.Well if Wallace is getting the VP it might not affect what they get v OTL.
When in doubt, call for Uncle Victor....
Uncle: Every single gun in the division going after a target.
Victor: Corps level barrage...
Edgewire...
EVERY
#=/#
GUN
WITHIN
RANGE
of
ENEMY
Commonwealth artillery practice to be able to have a quick massive shoot at targets of opportunity. Forward observers could call in strike from every uncommitted gun in a regiment (24 tubes), divisional artillery (72 tubes), corps ( several hundred tubes) or army (Thor's hammer incarnate) plus regular preplanned fires. Given the Western Allied way of war is to throw steel instead of blood and the sea lanes are far more productive for the WAllies, there are massive shell stockpiles that are being used to make German and Bulgarian rear guards regret their life choices
The GPMG may be the queen of the battlefield but Artillery is God. And mobile artillery ie tanks is a bunch of queens and a god deciding the fate of all around her. lol
Well, Bulgaria with its many mountains is ideal for guerilla activity. I think in a scenario like in TTL, there is a good chance that Greece will annex part of Bulgaria up to Ardas river. A more defensible border was sought out by Greece in OTL Paris Peace Conference. Since they had been invade by Bulgaria 3 times in the past 30 years (1913, 1916, 1941) and a brutal occupation of greek Thrace and east Macedonia, they wanted to anchor the border on the Rhodope Mountains.Time and the author will tell. But if the King and the Army want to keep their jobs (and heads), the British are better than the Soviets. Maybe some kind of civil war? Replacing the one in Greece OTL where the British/US and Soviet spheres of influence clashed?
I also think that Greece, due to its greater participation to the war effort might ask and receive Albanian Epirus (since Albania was theorically with the Axis). Maybe Cyprus too but that's perhaps a bit much.Well, Bulgaria with its many mountains is ideal for guerilla activity. I think in a scenario like in TTL, there is a good chance that Greece will annex part of Bulgaria up to Ardas river. A more defensible border was sought out by Greece in OTL Paris Peace Conference. Since they had been invade by Bulgaria 3 times in the past 30 years (1913, 1916, 1941) and a brutal occupation of greek Thrace and east Macedonia, they wanted to anchor the border on the Rhodope Mountains.
A potential butterfly of the timeline, is the enlargement of the bulgarian occupation zone in Greece, since there was an active front and the Germans could provide only so many divisions. That would have been... harsh for the greek civilian population. In OTL even though the Bulgarians occupied a much smaller area than the Italians and the Germans (Germans occupited most of Greece after the italian armistice), executed more Greeks than the Germans and Italians combined: 40,000 executed by Bulgarians compared to 21,000 by Germans and 9,000 by Italians. A great portion of the rest of the population were expelled from the zone in an effort to ethnic cleanse it. It is worth mentioning that this happened despite minimal guerilla activity in the Bulgarian Zone. A more extensive bulgarian occupation will produce more deaths and ethnic cleansing.
Therefore, I think greek resolve regarding future borders will be even more hardened. Moreover, in TTL Greece has a functioning army and boots on the ground at Bulgaria. If we compare this to the OTL were the greek government had just a single brigade while there was a civil war going on, it is easy to see the more advantageous greek position.
Why am I mentioning this? In OTL Paris Peace Conference, the Communist Party of Bulgaria was making territorial demands regarding not just south Dobruja but also parts of northern Greece. If the TTL is forced to sign off the area south of Ardas river, I can see the communists lead a guerilla campaign against the "bourgeois - chiflik holding traitors".
Honestly, I think Albanian Epirus would be certainly annexed. From where the frontline is located, I think that northern Epirus is already under greek occupation. The region has a greek orthodox majority and the Greeks have bled there twice over the last 4 years. It would be very tough not to annex it post-war. In OTL it was not annexed because Greece was a very minor Ally with basically no army and Albania was already communist-controlled and neither Tito nor Stalin wanted a communist state to lose territory. Now Albania, if I understand correctly, it is occupied by Italians and Greeks.I also think that Greece, due to its greater participation to the war effort might ask and receive Albanian Epirus (since Albania was theorically with the Axis). Maybe Cyprus too but that's perhaps a bit much.
I feel you in this. I think it is natural. Likewise, as a Greek, I have a soft spot for countries that had cultural ties with Greece. For us, common citizens regardless the country of origin, cultural ties and common historic experiences are more important than treaties and political ties. For example, I cannot think of better ambassadors to France than the passengers of Mataroa and (my favorite lecturer) Helene Ahrweiler. Or the ties with the Armenians, born out of common misery and catastrophe, rather than politics.In fact, as a Frenchman, I have a soft spot for Ireland, Greece, Romania, Armenia, Lebanon, Poland and paradoxically Russia (this one often saddens me since the two countries have a tragic common history). In general, I have a soft spot for countries which traditionally have cultural ties with France and a large diasporia in my country (seriously: Lebanese food... Who can live without it?).
To remember the somewhat ironic Greek paraphrasing of the beatitudes "blessed the possessing the land". If TTL the Greek army or partisans are in control of North Epirus, they likely get it. For Bulgaria I short of have my doubts, by all accounts the US state department feared Greece would just get a large not particularly friendly Muslim minority. Of course the irony is that at the time when said minority had to chose between Greece or Bulgaria with Turkey not an option it tended to lean towards Greece. But overall the full extend of Greek territorial demands against Bulgaria at Paris is entirely unlikely. The minimum that was 2,000 km with about 40,000 people mostly not ethnic Bulgarian might be somewhat more feasible.I also think that Greece, due to its greater participation to the war effort might ask and receive Albanian Epirus (since Albania was theorically with the Axis). Maybe Cyprus too but that's perhaps a bit much.
I have always loved steam locomotives, but the sparks from coal-fired locomotives have contributed to a goodly share of prairie and forest fires over the years in the often tinder-dry and combustible Western US. From that standpoint alone, diesel was a big improvement.The slowing of war orders early may well result in Fairbanks-Morse getting he OK to build the FM H-10-44 locomotive https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FM_H-10-44 earlier, and sadly, dieselization to move along faster.
The Allies already in Belgium in July? That's going to change things....East of Mons, Belgium July 26, 1944
The 5th and 6th Royal Norfolks began the morning cautiously advancing. Small rearguards had claimed a few lives here and there for the past week. Drivers were often more dangerous than Germans. This morning a trio of Austers were already orbiting overhead as the lead riflemen began to enter the city where their fathers and uncles had made their first contact with the Germans thirty years ago. By morning tea, the only impediment to the advance of the 53rd Brigade was exuberant civilians celebrating their liberation. Libations were offered in exchange for kisses, hugs, and twirling young women. The companies were delayed until after lunch as order was restored and the supply lines assured and then the riflemen kept on heading east with the goal of arriving on the outskirts of La Louviere before nightfall.
Relative to OTL, the Wallies are about 3 weeks ahead relative to D-DayThe Allies already in Belgium in July? That's going to change things....
Ahh too bad. I love Harry Truman - if I ever get the free time I want to write a book on the batshit crazy 1948 election.
Assuming you are referring to Wallace here in the part I bolded? Also assuming Roosevelt dies more or less on schedule I'm curious how a Wallce presidency shapes up.
The liberal Democrats did better in 1938 which is what is driving the change.WAllies done better shouldn't lead to Democrats party bosses thought Wallace is OK. Perhaps other OTL initial short lists candidates like Sam Rayburn etc. got selected?
There's also a seldom cover issue: how Chetniks (only briefly discussed by member at #4,224 and #4,225) doing at this moment? While many in the thread speculating Greek Civil War butterflied away, but would we got a much earlier and bloodier Yugoslavia Civil War? Which mix ideology and ethnic strife?
I've also got a feeling TTL Operation Bagration objective was Race to Balkan, which was precise opposite of OTL.
This is huge. In TTL's Courland Pocket, 2 instead of 26 divisions are trapped. The soviet thrust towards East Prussia and Poland will be slower with 200,000 Germans in two field armies escaping south.The train left the station. Almost 5,000 men with their personal gear and light crew served weapons were aboard the cards that were designed to hold in some comfort perhaps 2,000 men. The journey would not be far, just a few hours to the southwest where they would resume taking defensive positions for to cover the leaping withdrawal of Army Group North. Two divisional fragments were being left in Riga with the heavy weaponry of a corps that could not be evacuated in time. They would trade for time as two dozen divisions headed towards the fortifications and supply dumps in East Prussia.