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Alright, this time another WW II TL, but with the goal of creating a three way Cold War instead of a Nazi wank. I hope everyone enjoys it.




The Death of Hitler and the Triumph of Goering



Chapter I: Triumph in Europe, September 1939 – July 1940.


“The British will soon grovel before us now we’ve defeated the mightiest of the democratic powers.”

Führer Hermann Goering, July 1st 1940.


It was 1939 and German dictator Adolf Hitler and managed to plunge Europe into a war again although he would not live to see its end. Hitler had risen to power in the turbulent political climate in 1920s Germany which was compounded by economic crisis and deep seeded hatred against the Versailles settlement that had ended the war. His demagoguery and ceaseless opposition to the democratic government which was unable to solve German problems gained him popularity. Through political scheming and support from the masses he became chancellor of Germany and then Führer after the death of Hindenburg in 1934. He had proceeded to rapidly rearm Germany and perform feats like remilitarizing the Rhineland, annexing Austria, the Sudetenland and Bohemia-Moravia, and intervening in the Spanish Civil War to support general Franco. His last feat, the annexation of Bohemia-Moravia and making Slovakia a puppet, had shown his untrustworthiness to everyone. It had been a blow in the face for the Anglo-French leadership who had only just given him the Sudetenland in the 1938 Munich Conference after which Hitler had said he had no more territorial claims in Europe. In reality, Germany needed Czech industry and resources to take pressure off the economy. When Hitler declared war on Poland when they refused to give him Danzig and the Corridor to East Prussia, he had crossed a line and so they declared war in September 1939.

After the faked Gleiwitz Incident, old German pre-dreadnought Schleswig-Holstein shelled Westerplatte and the town of Wielun was bombed into ruin. Poland, however, failed to receive meaningful support from France and Britain who would rather look on. It was at first attacked from three sides: from Germany proper, from East Prussia and from Slovakia. Germany’s forces were superior by far with modern armour, air support, good logistics and superior officers. The Polish army was pushed back and forced to abandon certain areas and had problems with equipment, ammunitions and other supplies which made sure that it could not mobilize its theoretical strength of over 39 divisions. The Germans gained a decisive advantage after the Battle of the Bzura and the Soviet invasion from the east on September 17th sealed Poland’s fate completely. Its strategy of retreating to the so-called “Romanian Bridgehead” and awaiting Allied relief was no longer possible. After the Battle of Kock which ended on October 6th in Soviet-German victory, the campaign was over after little more than five weeks. Poland was partitioned as agreed upon in the Molotov-Von Ribbentrop Pact and ceased to exist as a nation state. France and Britain failed to act and looked on as the “Phony War” progressed on the western front. Hitler’s forces continued their success streak with Operation Weserübung which would last from April to June 1940 while Stalin turned to Finland for the mistaken adventure known as the Winter War. This would fail with many deaths and minimal gains which would expose the weaknesses and shortcomings of the Red Army. Denmark fell in six hours, the shortest campaign in the war, after mere symbolic resistance which couldn’t stop German operations, more so since Danish terrain was ideal for the panzers. German forces then landed in Norway at Narvik, Trondheim, Stavanger, Kristiansand, Bergen, Oslo and Egersund most of which were occupied within 24 hours despite heroic Norwegian resistance. Germany did suffer heavy naval losses in this campaign, but this failed to dent the aura of invincibility around the German army.

France and the Low Countries were next on Hitler’s list of conquests. The initial plan by general Franz Halder was very conservative and estimated a costly march through the Low Countries toward the Somme where the army would consolidate after projected losses of some 500.000 men. Even Hitler, who had accepted a long war, was disappointed. In the meantime, certain generals realized that a long war was not doable since Germany relied on Soviet resources for now and Stalin could not be trusted. Guderian and Von Manstein, who were both lodged in hotels in Koblenz, came up with a plan. Guderian proposed putting all of his tanks in the centre to attack through the Ardennes where only second-rate Belgian and French troops were stationed since the Ardennes were deemed unsuitable terrain for tanks. The only problem was that this would leave a 300 km long uncovered flank, but Von Manstein countered this by building in spoiling attacks to the south which went against Hitler’s directive. Von Manstein wrote it down in a memorandum and purposefully downplayed the role of Guderian’s tanks because otherwise the infantry oriented command would reject it. Hitler, when he finally saw it after its initial rejection, he was enthused because it provided him with a possible quick victory over France. The attack finally took place on May 10th 1940 and began with the near destruction of the Dutch and Belgian air forces in 24 hours and missions all over the Low Countries, giving Germany air superiority. The Netherlands surrendered after five days and the Belgians lost fortress Eben Emael and strong defences on the Albert Canal. German forces pushed for the Channel after a breakthrough at Sedan and by late May the BEF was pinned down in a pocket around Calais. Over 300.000 British soldiers were evacuated by the Royal Navy, confiscated vessels and a wide variety of civilian vessels in Operation Dynamo. By early June the best units of the French army had been lost, fuel was a problem, air superiority had been lost and communications were breaking down. The Germans continued to advance from the Somme on June 5th and took Paris on June 14th which had eluded them in 1914 and by this time Italy had declared war. Hitler was overjoyed with his now inevitable victory, but he wouldn’t live to witness it. His health had been declining for a few years and his physician Theo Morell was a quack who prescribed him methamphetamine. Hitler died of a heart attack on June 18th 1940, mere days after the fall of Paris and he would go down in history as the savoir of Germany. A brief, but vicious power struggle erupted. Hess and Bormann weren’t loved and they were sidetracked almost immediately. Goering, Goebbels and the SA leadership sided with each other against the SS under Himmler while Heydrich took a waiting stance. The SS was too small to challenge the army which opposed it and was defeated. Himmler was executed and the SS disbanded while Heydrich and the Gestapo and SD sided with Goering. He was pragmatic and calculating enough to know his time hadn’t come yet.

Martial law was declared to get rid of the remnants of the SS and after a short ceremony Hermann Goering assumed the title of Führer with Goebbels as his unofficial right hand man. And so the relatively moderate Wilhelmine Imperialist faction won albeit with the support of the military with whom Goering had less authority than Hitler. The French government in Bordeaux surrendered shortly thereafter and Goering offered a more moderate peace than Hitler would have since he was more into traditional Machtspolitik. He coveted a German economic sphere of influence over Europe, 1914 frontiers and no Lebensraum plans. He was also a lot less anti-Semitic and more pragmatic than his predecessor. To give the new government some semblance of legitimacy and to curry favour from the strongly conservative army and the landed elites, Goering chose to restore the monarchy (although with himself as the power behind the throne). Emperor Wilhelm II and prince Wilhelm were still alive, but the former was too discredited due to World War I while the former was a reactionary who would get Goering in the way too much. Instead, prince Ludwig Ferdinand was made Emperor Ludwig I (Louis I when Anglicized). This had the additional effect of strengthening German-US relations due to Ludwig’s acquaintance with President Roosevelt. Ludwig accepted the throne and became Emperor although there was one key difference which foreign observers noted. With nearly all the lands of the Holy Roman Empire united, Ludwig was proclaimed Emperor of the Germans instead of German Emperor in a coronation in the Aachen Cathedral where Germany’s medieval kings had been crowned.

In the meantime, Pétain was much relieved when he got Goering’s peace terms. France lost Alsace-Lorraine and the Briey-Longwy region to Germany, and Savoy, Nice and Tunisia to Italy who received it for their as a reward for their weak performance. Furthermore, the annexation of Poland and the formation of the general-government was to be recognised. Goering established the Netherlands as a puppet state under Anton Mussert and Flanders was included. Luxembourg and Liège was were annexed by Germany and the Walloon rump state was given to France as a compensation. Norway’s puppet regime under Quisling was also recognised by France. In return for the lenient peace, however, Goering desired a French declaration of war against Britain. Pétain all too happily accepted while establishing a conservative, pro-Church military dictatorship. France declared war on Britain on July 1st 1940 which opened up French air force bases in North Africa to German and Italian use and the French navy actively joined the Axis war effort. The Regia Marina and the Marine Nationale together were a potent force and forced the Royal Navy to divert assets to the Mediterranean theatre. The continent had fallen before Germany, they completely dominated but the British refused to grovel before Berlin like Goering had believed. Even his officious contacts in London couldn’t change this. The stubborn British remained and now Goering had to decide what to do to defeat them. Goering dreamed of his Luftwaffe defeating the Royal Air Force, but the Mediterranean was also a tempting theatre and an obvious one with Italy and France in the war against Britain. Nonetheless, he could already claim to have undone the humiliation of 1918. He was quickly talked out of an invasion of Britain by his admirals who explained Britain’s overwhelming naval supremacy. In the meantime, general Kesselring and director-general of equipment Ernst Udet further explained that the size and short range of the Luftwaffe made achieving air superiority over even southern England was hard. Goering didn’t like Udet, but both he and Kesselring had been involved in the development of the Luftwaffe and knew its limitations. Goering therefore respected their professional opinion and ordered preparations for a Mediterranean campaign to support fascist colleague dictator Mussolini who, however, was not fully pleased with this as he felt belittled by Goering. With this decision taken, the Mediterranean Campaign could begin and the as of yet unnamed invasion of the Soviet Union was shelved as Goering had completely different ideas than Hitler, in spite of his reputation as an ardent Nazi.
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