Interesting post
Very interesting post. I look forward to seeing the reactions of the UK and USA...Great job!!
No. Russia seeking peace in '44. simply no, even after a loos of Konev's (was it his?) army. They will regroup, rebuild and attack, even if they can't field a new major offensive in '44. By '44 Stalin and USSR were obsessed with crushing Germany and only end of war in their eyes was Red Army in Berlin.
I'm extremely annoyed by this AH.com version of Stalin that keeps agreeing on peace with Germany in '44 and '45 after first 4 years of WWII being OTL or very close to it.
In '44 Allied strategic bombing campaign is taking its tall and all industrial regions of Germany are in Allied bomber range, as well as Ploesti oil fields.
And Oppenheimer's light comes to Berlin in august of '45.
In this TL only option for new Germany is to start begging for conditional peace and pre Munchen borders.
I would not pick Mark Clark to be the Commander of Anything, He was not well like by the troops that served under him and he had the mentality of the Generals that fought WW1. He would just throw troops under his command.
I doubt if the British would be willing to put there forces under his" Supreme Command" He would have far more problems dealing with the French than did Eisenhower. It might have been a better idea to send George Marshal over as the Supreme allied commander.
Von Manstein pushed himself back from his desk, leisurely tossed a dart at the photo hitting Jackass Clark in the neck. The old Prussian grinned at his luck and fortune and went to give the order to commence operation Wacht on Rhine.
THE END!!
FDR Might have no choice in allowing Marshal to go. If Ike was fired the choice of Clark would be seen by the British as a stupid move. He was not well regarded by the British C-in- in the Med.
Of Course FDR could have ordered MacArthur to take the Post. The is no way that he would have turned down the Supreme allied command in Europe for remaining in the backwater command in the Pacific.
The is a far better choice that could be made than Mark Clark, Lt General Joseph Stillwell was available. The Man was highly respected by the Army's chief of staff and the President of the Unted States. He had worked with the British and the Chinese and unlike Clark he lead from the front not behind a desk.
There would be a lot of politican in Washington that would question the wisdom of appointing a man who was responsible for the deaths of so many Americans in the Italian Campaign. The mess at Anzio, the bombing og the monastery at Monte Casino would be brought up. did the President need that headache, besides his health was beginning a steady decline at this point(FDR).
We are going to pick the tl back up at a later date and Clark will be a linchpin character