Hitler annexes Austria!
MARCH 25, 1938On the night of March 12, Hitler marched his Heer, the German army, across the border of Austria. The Nazi forces were met with little resistance as they marched to and occupied Vienna. The very next day, the Nazis held a referendum in Austria to determine whether they wanted the Nazis to take power or not. While there was a 99.7% vote in favor of the Nazis, international reports state that the referendum was neither free nor fair, as the ballot was open and voters faced immense pressure from the Nazis occupying the nation. Thus Austria has been officially incorporated into the Reich, thus finally accomplishing the much-debated mission of the Anschluss: the incorporation of Austria into Greater Germany.
This was a long-anticipated move, as the Third Reich has been meddling with the internal affairs of Austria ever since Hitler came to power, such as when a Nazi assassinated the Austrian chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss in 1934.
France, the United Kingdom, and Poland all commented that they condemned the occupation, but "didn't have any empathy for the fascist regime in Austria." The United States stated that they're "watching events closely" and condemn all aggressive action. The Soviet Union declined to comment.
Czechoslovakia begs for defense pact, France, United Kingdom and Poland refuse
APRIL 2, 1938As his previous allies turn towards collapse and fascism, Czechoslovak president Edvard Beneš pleaded to France, the United Kingdom, and Poland to join them in their "new entente" alliances. The countries refused, citing that they didn't want to provoke Hitler, but that "we stand by the Czechoslovak people in the face of German aggression."
Czechoslovak citizens are worried as Hitler's rhetoric towards the Sudetenland has gotten much more aggressive. Meanwhile, Edvard Beneš praised "years of understanding and cooperation" between Czechoslovak's ethnic minorities and the parliamentary government, stating that "diversity is our strength. Germans can feel safe living in a nation which respects their cultural identity, but isn't under the iron fist of Adolf Hitler."
Tensions boil as Hitler stations troops at Czechoslovak border
April 29, 1938Hitler is mounting pressure on Czechoslovakia to give up the Sudetenland, where a large majority of ethic Germans live. It is currently a part of Czechoslovakia, but Nazi rhetoric has called for its return to the "fatherland."
Czechoslovak president Beneš has slammed these threats, stating that "the free nations of Europe shouldn't have to bend the the will of the largest power; especially one as tyrannical as Hitler. People of all ethnic groups and cultures in Czechoslovakia, whether Czech, German, Slovak, Rusyn, Hungarian, Polish, or otherwise; we can stand up against this bullying together, and live in peace, without conquering smaller nations' territory." He accused Hitler of wanting to start another "Great War," while Hitler assured that he had no intentions of taking the territory by force; but rather wants the territory to be seceded by peaceful means.
The regimes of Italy, Hungary, and Romania all commented that "while we respect borders, we also empathize with Hitler's attempts to unify all ethnic Germans under one flag." They condemn France, the United Kingdom and Poland for their "aggressive anti-German" stances. The three respective nations have stated together that they condemn German aggression, but wish to find a "peaceful and diplomatic" solution to the conflict.
France, the United Kingdom, and Poland have all signed defense pacts together, calling themselves their "allies." Czechoslovakia pleaded to be included in the agreements, but the allies called back to their fears of instigating Hitler.
INVASION! German forces cross over Czechoslovak border
October 10, 1938After months of attempted diplomacy, Hitler, Beneš, and the rest of the European leaders have failed to come to an agreement on the Sudetenland question. Fed up and impatient, Hitler has sent the Wehrmacht on a "special living space operation" to "protect the German minority of Czechoslovakia" and "dispose of the communist regime in Prague." Czechoslovakia is a multi-party parliamentary liberal democracy, with regular elections. The allies have slammed the invasion, labelling Hitler as a war-monger.
Talks between the allies and the USA have begun in relation to funneling supplies through Poland to a Czechoslovak insurgency. Allied leaders stated that "we may be weak after The Great War, but so is Germany. We must make all efforts to ensure that Hitler cannot regain strength and conquer the rest of Europe." Plans have been made with the allies, Denmark, Sweden, and The Free City of Danzig to discuss the allowance of naval passage from the North Sea to the Baltic, to get supplies to Poland.
Allies establish supply corridor to Czechoslovakia, at a cost
OCTOBER 13, 1938Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and the Soviet Union have all officially declared their neutrality, stating their non-interference with both sides of the invasion, paving way for a naval corridor to be established to the Baltic Sea. The United States has also agreed to ship weapons and supplies to Czechoslovakia, in addition to agreeing to League of Nations sanctions on Nazi Germany, giving support to the allies and condemning Hitler's totalitarian aggression.
There have been fears that Italy, Hungary, and Romania may get involved, but surprisingly, the three nations declared their neutrality. Although they did state that they wish Hitler all the best in his endeavors, they would not commit any of their own men. It is expected that they contribute through trade to the war effort, while the allies seek to economically isolate Germany through League of Nations sanctions.
As expected, negotiations with the Free City of Danzig went nowhere, as the Nazi-dominated Volkstag refused to use the city to work against Hitler. In response, the Republic of Poland marched their soldiers into the city, being met with little military resistance. Polish president Ignacy Mościcki stated that this was to expedite the shipment of supplies to Czechoslovakia, and to protect the local Polish population from harassment. "The construction of the Gdynia Seaport was a massive success, however just one port can't get allied supplies to the Czechoslovak freedom-fighters fast enough."
It is expected that a Polish occupation of Danzig will be difficult, as Danzigers hurled slurs and obscenities towards the incoming Polish army. Germany commented by saying that this is more evidence of oppression against Germans throughout Europe, and would not stand for it. While Danzigers have called for a German intervention, the Reich has yet to comment on that possibility.
Meanwhile, thousands of refugees are flocking from the Republic of Czechoslovakia, mostly to Poland. The Polish government has welcomed them with open arms, while Nazi-leaning and fascist-oriented neighbors, alongside neutral countries, seem to have mixed feelings on some of the people seeking refuge in their countries.
The Czechoslovak government has instated martial law and banned all military-aged men from leaving the country, citing their needs for national defense.
Hitler retreats kilometers away from Prague
FEBRUARY 7, 1939At the start of the invasion, the world thought that the Wehrmacht could simply walk into Czechoslovakia and take Prague. The world was wrong. Despite all odds, Hitler has been unable to capture Prague, the capital of the small central European nation. What allied leaders thought would be an insurrection against Hitler in Czechoslovakia has instead turned out to be a full-on conventional war between the two nations. "Allied supplies came just in time," states a Czechoslovak spokesperson. The Germans have rearranged their priorities, changing the official name of the invasion to the "special living space operation in the Sudetenland." Hitler has claimed that acquiring the Sudetenland was the real goal all along.
Meanwhile, Hitler has initiated a fresh call-to-arms for military-aged men to fight in the war, prompting a mass exodus of German emigrants from Germany. Despite stating their empathies for normal German citizens and anti-Hitler Germans, the allies have refused to take in any significant amount of German refugees, citing national security concerns. Observers are worried of the dangers which political opponents of Hitler could face in Nazi-sympathetic nations, and the overwhelming number of Germans attempting to enter neutral countries such as Switzerland, Denmark and Norway being too much for them to bear.
Mass burial sites found around previously Nazi-occupied lands surrounding Prague
MARCH 1, 1939Despite their recent successes defending their nation from Hitler, despair is in the air across all of Czechoslovakia. Mass grave sites have been discovered in liberated regions of the war-torn country, who has been fighting an invasion from Germany for the past five months.
Of those identified and named, almost all of them have been a member of a Slavic ethnic group, mostly Czech. Most of the fighting has been occurring in the west of the country, however it appears almost no Slavs were spared. However, it is hard to tell, as most of the bodies are unrecognizable.
Most of those killed seemed to have been done so by an execution-style bullet to the head, although some have evidence of chemical weapons having been used on them, likely in closed-off and poorly ventilated rooms. Many display signs of being beaten, tortured, and even raped.
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