Dec 45 – March 46: The starvation winter
Losses from Operation Downfall were equivalent to the numbers that were estimated. About a quarter million casualties were suffered and experts believed that the Japanese home islands themselves would hold off until at least the summer, with probably another million casualties. After the defeat in France, plus the large amount of casualties in both Europe and Japan, it was hard to sell to the public that defeating the Axis was some matter of existential importance. With Democrats fearing a Republican landslide 1946, Truman was pushed to start making peace. Little did they know that if they literally sat and waited, Japan and Germany would starve by the summer.
The decision was made to drop an atomic bomb a month (which is roughly the rate they were produced) on Japan’s port cities in order to prevent food from reaching the home islands from Korea, Manchuko, and mainland China. Some sort of peace would be made with the Germans and Italians.
The peace posed to Italy was that Sardinia and Sicily would be returned in exchange for an independent Yugoslavia (though Italy would retain their direct occupation zones in these lands). Italy would be returned their African colonies, but they would have to allow for an independent Greece and Dodecanese. French acquisitions would have to be surrendered and trivial reparations paid to them. Essentially, Italy lost hundreds of thousands of men and billions of lire for some trivial acquisitions in the Balkans. Mussolini, seeing this as an allowance of Italy to sit at the table in the post-world order accepted the deal. By Christmas, Italy was out of the war.
Germany was offered another Versailles deal, something the conservatives in the military refused even at this late a date. A sort of insanity had taken over German thinking. The kinks would be worked out of their electric U-Boats. The newest ME-262 was actually reliable and would turn the tide in the skies. The relentless bombing campaigns were already decreasing thanks to the Wasserfall and new anti-aircraft shells (though B17s and B29s with jamming devices were beginning to hamper the Germans). V1-F2s would drop higher chemical payloads. The TA-183 would be unmatched in the skies. Romanian oil imports and synthetic fuel facilities in Silesia were increasing and would improve the agricultural as well as the military situation. The Allies did not have the heart to fight the quagmire in Japan for long.
New developments emboldened the Germans. In a sudden, unanticipated move, the Soviets unleashed an offensive not into Germany or Poland, but against Manchuria. The Soviets had amassed 1.2 million men. Manchuko had about 700,000 defenders. It was the winter and progress was slow, but steady. By March, Soviet forces have reached Korea and Japanese resistance was weak. The Soviets experienced about 100,000 casualties, the Japanese about twice as much, as they withdrew under the onslaught to Korea.
Many in the West were shocked by this dastardly move and wanted to cut off lend lease entirely. However, if this were done, chances were the Soviets would never cede Manchuria to China. So, the threat was made that this would be done. Stalin called off plans, that were never serious, to invade Korea. Lend lease continued to Russia.
With Italy leaving the war, Germany was able to begin importing more through Italy, who was returned their merchant marine. Germany had largely ran out of capital, and so they licensed advanced weapons technology to Italy including proximity fuses for antiaircraft guns, the ME-262, and the Tiger tanks. These weapons were chosen specifically because of both their advanced nature but also defensive utility. They would have little offensive value through the Alps. The Germans were aware that Italy would likewise sell intact versions of all of these to the Allies, but this made little difference as they had already captured all of these.
Through Italian imports, Germany barely avoided complete and utter starvation. The average German lived under a constant barrage of chemical warfare and they were running out of unskilled slave labor to starve to death (as the skilled labor was barely at subsistence level). In retrospect, if the Allies had not dropped atomic weapons, terror bombed Germany, and gassed its people, starvation would have forced a peace as it had in WW1. However, due to the justified feeling that the Wallies were intent from erasing them from existence, the average German was determined to fight on. It was that or the death of everyone they held dear.
The decision was made to drop an atomic bomb a month (which is roughly the rate they were produced) on Japan’s port cities in order to prevent food from reaching the home islands from Korea, Manchuko, and mainland China. Some sort of peace would be made with the Germans and Italians.
The peace posed to Italy was that Sardinia and Sicily would be returned in exchange for an independent Yugoslavia (though Italy would retain their direct occupation zones in these lands). Italy would be returned their African colonies, but they would have to allow for an independent Greece and Dodecanese. French acquisitions would have to be surrendered and trivial reparations paid to them. Essentially, Italy lost hundreds of thousands of men and billions of lire for some trivial acquisitions in the Balkans. Mussolini, seeing this as an allowance of Italy to sit at the table in the post-world order accepted the deal. By Christmas, Italy was out of the war.
Germany was offered another Versailles deal, something the conservatives in the military refused even at this late a date. A sort of insanity had taken over German thinking. The kinks would be worked out of their electric U-Boats. The newest ME-262 was actually reliable and would turn the tide in the skies. The relentless bombing campaigns were already decreasing thanks to the Wasserfall and new anti-aircraft shells (though B17s and B29s with jamming devices were beginning to hamper the Germans). V1-F2s would drop higher chemical payloads. The TA-183 would be unmatched in the skies. Romanian oil imports and synthetic fuel facilities in Silesia were increasing and would improve the agricultural as well as the military situation. The Allies did not have the heart to fight the quagmire in Japan for long.
New developments emboldened the Germans. In a sudden, unanticipated move, the Soviets unleashed an offensive not into Germany or Poland, but against Manchuria. The Soviets had amassed 1.2 million men. Manchuko had about 700,000 defenders. It was the winter and progress was slow, but steady. By March, Soviet forces have reached Korea and Japanese resistance was weak. The Soviets experienced about 100,000 casualties, the Japanese about twice as much, as they withdrew under the onslaught to Korea.
Many in the West were shocked by this dastardly move and wanted to cut off lend lease entirely. However, if this were done, chances were the Soviets would never cede Manchuria to China. So, the threat was made that this would be done. Stalin called off plans, that were never serious, to invade Korea. Lend lease continued to Russia.
With Italy leaving the war, Germany was able to begin importing more through Italy, who was returned their merchant marine. Germany had largely ran out of capital, and so they licensed advanced weapons technology to Italy including proximity fuses for antiaircraft guns, the ME-262, and the Tiger tanks. These weapons were chosen specifically because of both their advanced nature but also defensive utility. They would have little offensive value through the Alps. The Germans were aware that Italy would likewise sell intact versions of all of these to the Allies, but this made little difference as they had already captured all of these.
Through Italian imports, Germany barely avoided complete and utter starvation. The average German lived under a constant barrage of chemical warfare and they were running out of unskilled slave labor to starve to death (as the skilled labor was barely at subsistence level). In retrospect, if the Allies had not dropped atomic weapons, terror bombed Germany, and gassed its people, starvation would have forced a peace as it had in WW1. However, due to the justified feeling that the Wallies were intent from erasing them from existence, the average German was determined to fight on. It was that or the death of everyone they held dear.
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