The Bade of 1776: A TL based off "The Grasshopper Lies Heavy"

[Imperial Advocate]

Chapter 2 Part 6 - The Great Offensive

The German grip on Europe was slowly slipping. For years, the German war machine seemed to be unstoppable, that is until now. The allied offensives in Italy and the Battle of Stalingrad was proving this. In Italy, Mussolini's regime was on edge. Low morale in the Italian army was costing them dearly in the war effort and the anti-axis faction had enough of Mussolini. In 1943, the king of Italy, Victor Emmanuel III, officially sacked Mussolini from his position as leader and he was arrested by anti-fascist police. Italy fell under a pro-allied government and they withdrew form the axis and to the allies. Pro-Mussolini factions backed by the Nazis revolted and attempted to take back Mussolini and kick our the "traitors" in Rome. The pro-Mussolini factions had little support from the Italian populous and many Italians barricaded the streets of Rome and fought against the fascists. The attempted fascist takeover was thwarted.

A devastated street in Rome after the Battle of Rome during the coup, circa 1943

With a pro-allied government in Italy, allied forces landed troops with permission. The Germans were enraged by the Italian betrayal and initiated an invasion of North Italy. German troops and allies troops faced contact in Tuscany and fought each other. Due to the mountainous terrain, the German utilized the forts and mountains to bog down the allies offensive and hold them down. The Germans were ruthless against the local Italian population and placed them under strict military occupation. The Germans even annexed chunks of Italy for punishment.

German soldiers apprehend an Italian partisan, Italy, circa 1943

The British also planned an offensive into the Balkans due to the weak German presence in Greece. In mid 1943, British marines landed in the Dodecanese Islands and, surprisingly, faced stiff German resistance. The Germans garrisons eventually capitulated after months of fighting and empty of resources, but in the meanwhile, the British successful landed troops in Greece. Most of Greece fell to the advancing allied forces relatively quickly and within months, all of Greece was liberated. This was mostly in part due to Greek partisan collaboration with allied forces and partisan sabotage of German supply routes and leaking German military information to the allies.

American soldiers fight in Thessaloniki, circa 1943

After all of Greece fell to the allies, the allies continued their advance into the Balkans. Bulgaria decided to switch sides to the allies, which greatly helped the Balkan Campaign. The allies also heavily supplied the very effective Yugoslav partisans to help them clear a way in the Western Balkan region. Allies troops para trooped into Yugoslav partisans held territory and fought off German and collaborator forces. This was very effective, with Serbia and most of Croatia being liberated by allies forces. Hitler was forced to withdraw troops from the Eastern Front to fight the allied forces in the Balkans, helping the Soviets catch a breath. After German re-reinforcements arrived, they managed to stop the offensive but by this point, the allies were turning the tide against the Axis.

Allied troops on a German destroyed bridge in Bosnia, circa 1943

In the Eastern Front, the Soviets also managed to score a victory after years of occupation and losing to the Germans. The Battle of Stalingrad finally concluded in a Soviet victory in part due to the allied support the Soviets received. The Battle of Stalingrad was one of the most hard fought battle in world history, with both sides being fanatic to take the city for themselves. With the Germans on the run, the victory helped to boost the Soviet government image somewhat better among the Soviet people. The Germans retreated from South Russia and into occupied Ukraine. The Soviets tried to take Ukraine but was against defeated by the Germans in a counterattack.

German POWs after capture the victory at Stalingrad, circa 1943

The Soviets attempted to dislodge the Germans from Moscow but fierce German resistance and a weak Soviet army was in no shape to liberate Moscow. The Second Battle of Moscow also was a bloody slog for the Soviets and Western allies alike, with house to house combat. Moscow was a battle torn mess during the Second Battle of Moscow, with many Russian symbols such as the Kremlin and St. Basil's cathedral razed by German forces or destroyed during allies bombing campaigns by accident. The Second Battle of Moscow would continue until 1944.

Europe 1943 after the allied Mediterranean Campaign and the Soviet offensives in the East

 

[Dolan]

Nice, I can't wait to get into the real meat that is US vs British Empire contention though...

 

[Imperial Advocate]

Nice, I can't wait to get into the real meat that is US vs British Empire contention though...

After I get WW2 over with though, 1946-1949 is it is all going to begin...

 

[Imperial Advocate]

Chapter 2 Part 8 - Hoppin' Islands

With the Great Offensive of 1943 in Europe against the Nazis, the Japanese were still fanatically preventing any loss of land to the allies in the allied offensives of 1943. The Japanese did manage to lose minimal land to the allies but by 1944 they were on their breaking point. The US continued to beat back the Japanese in Micronesia as part of their island-hopping strategy. By 1944, the IJN was a shadow of its former self with Japanese industry unable to replace ships at a rapid rate like how America did it. By late 1944, the Philippines Sea was dominated by the American navy. With most of Micronesia under American control, this put a liberation of the Philippines as possible.

A naval battle between the IJN and the American navy in the Philippine Sea, circa 1944

In September of 1944, allied forces land in Morotai in the Japanese occupied Dutch East Indies. Months later, the American navy fought the IJN in the Battle of Leyte Gulf in October of 1944 which concluded in a decisive American victory. American marines landed in the Philippines and began the liberation of the Phillipines. Also, with naval domination, America was able to conduct devastating bombing raids over Japanese cities. In 1944, Tokyo suffered immensely from firebombing as did many Japanese cities. This but Japanese industry at threat and made them unable to produce military weapons, making their war effort even harder for them.

American bombers firebombs Tokyo during WW2, circa 1944

In China, the Japanese planned to finally end the Chinese Nationalists. In late 1944, the Japanese launched Operation Ichi-Go, a large offensive plan to unite the Japanese army in Guangzhou and the Japanese army in Wuhan. Japanese troops scored a series of victories against Chiang Kai Shek's forces and the Guangzhou Army and the Wuhan Army united, cutting the Nationalists in half. Maoist insurgents also fought against the Nationalists in Hunan, weakening the Nationalist presence in Western China greatly. This humiliation prompted Chaing Kai Shek to give up his position of his role in the military to American general Joseph Stilwell.

Japanese troops advance against Nationalist forces, circa 1944

Even though Operation Ichi-Go was a victory for the Japanese, the war effort against the American and the British was no better. In late 1944, British and Indian forces expelled the Japanese from Burma once and for all. Japanese-Thai forces were able to hold back the advancing British/Indian forces. In the Pacific, Japanese soldiers increasingly relied on suicide charges to halt the American advance. Japanese airplanes also all the time did Kamikaze attacks on American ships. These tactics proved the Japanese were getting very desperate to save their war effort.

Asia 1944 after the Allies offensives in the Pacific and Operation Ichi-Go

Ever since 1939, the US was focusing on a project known as the "Chicago Project". Initiated by Franklin D. Roosevelt, he thought that American participation in WW2 was inevitable and that the US needed to get a head start on an atomic bomb project to defeat the Axis. In a secret compound in Chicago, the US initiated a group of atomic scientists to develop an atomic bomb. The US set up their development of the bomb in Hollomon, Arizona. Other countries such as Canada and the UK were also told of the Chicago Project and they lent resources to the effort. In December 8, 1944 in the desert of Arizona, a large scale explosion was detonated that was never seen on the scale in any explosion in history and rose in a mushroom like shape. The first atomic bomb was officially detonated.

A photo of the atomic bomb dropped in the Hollomon Test, circa 1944

 

[Imperial Advocate]

Chapter 2 Part 9 - At the Reich's Gates

With the Italian and Balkan campaigns being bogged down by the start of 1944, it seems that Churchill's Mediterranean strategy wasn't working as planned. The Germans were successfully holding back the allied offensives and the mountainous terrain provided the Germans with geographical fortresses to stop the allies from advancing any further. Many battles in the Balkans and Italy turned destructive and inflicted high casualties. American generals proposed to the British that a cross channel invasion of France from the British isles would help end the war much quicker and open a new front in Europe. With no other choice, the British accepted the cross channel invasion plan.

A map depicting the allied war plan for D-Day

British and American generals met in London in a secret location to discuss how the allies would be able to secure a beachhead in Northern France. They also needed to figure out when to enact it when the weather was perfect to the English Channel. In spring of 1944, the storms in the English channel calmed and the waves were not choppy. The allied generals decided to enact the Normandy Landings. First, the allies launched a fake decoy to the Germans that the allies will land in Calais. The allies then set up large barges to carry allied troops to Normandy and also a large fleet of ships to support them with airborne support to take down the German Luftwaffe. On March 9, 1944, allied troops landed in Normandy.

A photo showing American troops searing the beach, circa 1944

The Normandy Landing costed large amounts of allies causalities due to German fortification easily gunning down the first allied wave. When the second wave arrived on the beaches, the Germans were overwhelmed and the allies secured a beachhead in the Northern France. In Southern France, the allies launched Operation Dragoon. The operation was a success and the Northern and Southern allied armies linked up in the middle of France in mid 1944. A provisional Free French government was set up after the liberation of Paris in mid 1944. The allies went up into Belgium and liberated them but German elite troops in the Netherlands halted the allies offensive.

Parisians celebrate liberation by allied forces in Paris, circa 1944

In the Balkans, the front was stagnating for a while since 1943 but the allies offensives against Germany made their Balkan allies, Hungary and Romania, fear for a very punitive treaty imposed by the allies when they lost the war. The Romanians king decided to take action immediately and in mid 1944, sacked the fascist Iron Guard from power. The Romanian king switched sides to the allies, promising that land conquered in WW2 would be returned and pre-WW2 borders were to be restored. Hungary tried to do the same but was met with a German in invasion in mid 1944 and a coup took place in which they installed a puppet state ran by the fascist Arrow Cross party to manage civil government. Allied troops moved into Romania and fought the German/Hungarian army.

Allied troops fight the German/Hungarian army in the Carpathian Mountains, circa 1944

With Germans troops being directed to Western Europe and the Balkans, the weak Red Army managed to do offensives and liberated German held land. The Red Army managed to free all land west of the Dnieper River and free Leningrad and Moscow from German occupation. The liberation of Moscow and Leningrad boosted Soviet morale a little but the troika government was still unpopular among the Soviet people. To making things worse for the Soviets, the Germans began to arm local anti-Soviet minorities, especially the Baltic, Belorussian, and Baltic peoples against the Red Army. With many anti-Soviet sentiment among these peoples, they actively fought the Red Army.

Ukrainian pro-Nazi militias inspected by Nazi commanders, circa 1944

The Western allies continued their offensive into the Netherlands and the Rhineland. The allies grew a little too optimistic on their offensive and the Germans managed to exploit this flaw. The allied occupied Rhineland had very few troops stationed there and the Germans launched their last great offensive of WW2. The Germans striked at the allied weak spot in the Rhineland and pushed into allied occupied Belgium. The Germans used the last of their supplies as a bid to push the allies back into the sea. The German offensive eventually lost momentum by late 1944 and the allies defeat the Germans.

In late 1944, the allied nations convened in Reykjavik Iceland to discuss the future of Europe and Asia after WW2. During the Reykjavik Conference, it was decided that how the allies would treat Germany the post war era. A Soviet delegation also participated and they requested that Eastern Poland be ceded to the Soviets after victory no loss. Tugwell and Churchill reluctantly accepted that the Soviets would receive border corrections in Eastern Europe. The announcement of an American atomic weapons and also made during the conference. There were ideas floating to use it on Germany but Churchill rejected, saying that such huge explosion in Europe wouod delay the occupation of Germany and stiffen resistance. The decision was made that Germany would definitively have British and French occupation zones, America was offered an occupation zone by Churchill but Tugwell rejected, stating that American fought this war for freedom and not for a war spoils. The allies concluded that all war efforts should be primarily focused on the front with Germany.

Leaders of America and Britain in Reykjavik Iceland to discuss war plans, then president Roosevelt also paid a surprise visit to advise president Tugwell, circa 1944

British generals in late 1944 proposed a new war plan to outflank the Germans. After the failed Battle of the Bulge offensive by Germany against allies forces, the Germans diverted elite German divisions from the Netherlands to help the offensive. British generals planned a breakthrough into the Ems River due to the withdrawal of elite German forces from the region. Commonwealth troops para-trooped behind German lines near the German-Dutch border. Anglo-American troops then pursued on an offensive into the German borderland and with luck, were able to beat the German fortifications on the border. With Northern Germany open for allied troops, allied troops began to invade. This was a great loss for the Germans and after they failed to gamble on a possible victory at Belgium in mid 1944.

Europe 1944 after the Battle of the Bulge and before Operation Market Garden

 

[Waltzing Brunhilda]

Yay the third Reich is falling. May it burn hell.

 

[Dolan]

Now it seems Soviet Union doing far worse than OTL tho... guess Brits would get Russian as their puppets?

 

[Imperial Advocate]

Now it seems Soviet Union doing far worse than OTL tho... guess Brits would get Russian as their puppets?

It will be divided between Anglo-American spheres of influence.

 

[Jacob2003]

It will be divided between Anglo-American spheres of influence.

I feel that a Korean war equivalent in the Soviet Union might happen.

 

[Dolan]

I feel that a Korean war equivalent in the Soviet Union might happen.

Maybe it won't be as focused, more like Britain keeps most European Colonies intact while US tried to force decolonization.

 

[Imperial Advocate]

The Journal of Kernel George H. Altee from the Battle of Berlin

Another day of hell for my regiment I lead in this god forbidden place known Germany. We got those bastard huns on the run but even though their empire is on the verge of collapse, they won't break. Their capital of Berlin is just miles away and we finally ought to break the huns will to fight and capture the city within days. It was 4 in the morning when the barrage of our artillery woke us up. We were just told news that the Huns' defense outside their capital were finally broken and that the city was open for invasion. Me and the boys prepped our equipment and spared no time to delay. It was damn dark still, the burning ruins of buildings give the eerie glow that lit the skyline of Berlin.

We spent hours sneaking trough the suburbs of Berlin and the streets were piled up with dead soldiers and bricks of broken buildings. The RAF flew planes over us and engaged in a bombing raid against the Huns' positions and we hid inside a ruined shop. I led a continued march and soon, we faced our first contact, a minor SS division using a sandbag fortress armed with a machine gun were firing at us. A few of us got hit but I was able to avoid the gunfire. I helped save my injured lads out of this bloody mess of hell to safety. Some of my younger lads planned to toss grenades at the position while the older lads would engage in fire with the huns. While were were attacking them, we tossed a few grenades at the position and with damn good luck, were blasted the bastards out of the sandbag position and into the street. We immediately came out from hiding and shot all of the huns dead in the spot.

We continued to march and reviewed the dead huns. We came on the shocking conclusion that these were no ordinary men, they were a SS Youth Division consisted of 12-15 year old boys numbering around 22 killed, a sign of the Huns' desperate will to continue to fight the might of the allies. Our regiment had no time to investigate the scene and continued our march into Berlin. It was high noon and the remnant SS divisions were still fighting in Berlin but increasing amount of allies troops continued to reinforce us and secure victory. After hours of fighting and marching, we finally took a break and took out our beans and bread rations as lunch. After our breaks, we spared no time and continued on, by this point, we were in the heart of Berlin.

We caught sight of our huge British tanks come into Berlin. Another building, it might have been an apartment house or a store, a school or office; I could not tell -- the ruins toppled, slid into fragments. Below in the rubble another handful of survivors buried, without even the sound of death. Death had spread out everywhere equally, over the living, the hurt, the corpses layer after layer that already had begun to smell. The stinking, quivering corpse of Berlin, the eyeless turrets still upraised, disappearing without protest like this one, this nameless edifice that man had once put up with pride.

Next morning day after being exhausted from fierce fighting we encountered last night, we woke up to the most extraordinary announcement. In the speakerphone attacked to a British truck, they blared "ATTENTION ALL BERLINERS. HITLER HAS FLED TO EAST PRUSSIA AND ABANDONED BERLIN! PLEASE STOP YOUR FIGHTING!". It repeated this message over and over again but it never seemed to get over to the huns who regarded the message and bollocks and continued on as usual. A few of my men were lost in the past few days but from the look of the war, victory is near. God bless us all...

 

[Femto]

Britain needs to at least reintegrate Ireland.

 

[Imperial Advocate]

Britain needs to at least reintegrate Ireland.

Ireland is going to play a pivotal role in the Anglo-American Cold War though.

 

[Pyro]

Canada will be in a very awkward position ITTL with its cultural ties to the UK and its proximity to the US.

 

[Imperial Advocate]

Canada will be in a very awkward position ITTL with its cultural ties to the UK and its proximity to the US.

They are going to be one alright. Also, the cultural influence of American pop culture and the UK using them as a platform to threaten America is going to radically change humble Canada ITTL.

 

[Imperial Advocate]

Chapter 2 Part 10 - Endsieg

When 1945 came along, the allies prepared for a full scale invasion of the German fatherland itself. Allied troops were already in Northern Germany by late 1944 after the success of Operation Hanover. The Rhine was occupied but to slow down the allies, German troops detonated most bridges on the Rhine to halt them. Luckily for some allied regiments, some bridge failed to detonate and were also to cross. German troops found themselves to be under equipped and were scraping the bottle of the barrel to find weapons. The Wehrmacht was low in manpower so the SS began to forcefully recruit German civilians to fight. In truth, the "Volkssturm" army have very low morale in fighting the allies forces and many saw Germany's fate as good as doomed.

A regiment of "Volksstrum" armed with weapons, circa 1945

With Anglo-Americans in Germany, the Soviets took advantage of this and launched an offensive into Ukraine and Belarus in early 1945. There was barely any German soldiers in the East so the offensive was a success for the Soviets. All of Belarus and Ukraine to the pre-Barbarossa borders was liberated in a span of a month. The Balitcs were still under firm German control though and would be until German capitulation. The OUN in Ukraine fought an armed insurgency against the return of Soviet forces and this made things even worse for the Soviet offensive into Poland that was to go ahead.

A Ukrainian Insurgent Army militia, circa 1945

Meanwhile in the Balkans, not much action took place every since the D-Day landing in France and the invasion of Germany. Things changed in early 1945 in which Commonwealth troops were sent orders to invade Vienna as a pretense of rumors that the Nazis will travel to Vienna to flee to the Alps so they can set up a government in exile. Allied troops marched into Trieste without any resistance but faced fierce resistance from a SS division Ljubljana but eventually won over them. Half of Hungary was already allied occupied since the start of 1945 and a new series of offensives took place to free Hungary. The 2 months long Siege of Budapest was finally brought to an end and the allies marched trough.

A photo taken of Budapest right after liberation, circa 1945

The allies continued their offensive into Germany uncontested. The "Volksstrum" armies simply saw now point the allied armies and dropped their weapons and returned home in many instances. Only the SS and radical Nazi party militias only fought the allies by this point with everyone else giving up. By April 1945, most of Northern Germany was under allied occupied and were already outside Berlin. The Battle of Berlin began with fanatic SS division holding onto Berlin against the allies. The SS refused any type of surrender to the allies and threw every last man they had at the allied soldiers and tanks. The Battle of Berlin was fought with ferocity on both sides eventually, allied troops defeated the SS and marched trough the ruins of Berlin.

German POWS marching in the ruins of Berlin, circa 1945

Hitler and his cronies managed to flee the fuhrerbunker and to his military headquarters in Konigsberg in April 1945 as a bid to flee Europe from the allies. The allies raced to Konigsberg to capture Hitler. While the allies crossed the Oder River, the Poles under occupation rose up and rapidly retook German occupied land. The uprising was a success with allied air force aiding the Poles against remaining German garrisons and a partisan provisional government was set up in Warsaw. After cracking a code of Hitler's location, British marines landed in Konigsberg in a covert mission and raided Hitler's military headquarters. Hitler attempted to commit suicide but his gun didn't work and the British marines broke into the headquarters and apprehended Hitler himself in May 1945.

The Wolf's Lair in which Operation Crusade took place

With no other choice and Hitler under arrest, the German high command formally capitulated to the allies in May of 1945. In the weeks after, the remaining German armies in Norway, Denmark, Czechia, Slovakia, and the Baltic States would surrender. World War Two in Europe is now brought to an end. Partisans in Czechoslovakia took advantage of the German capitulation and rose up in Prague against the occupation authority. In Slovakia, the puppet government fell like a ripe fruit on a tree to partisan rebels. A new challenge emerged for the allies, the new post war order for Europe.

Europe 1945 after the formal capitulation of Germany to the allies

 

[Dolan]

I wonder if Hitler will end up executed by the most British execution?
a) Hanging
b) Hanged, Drawn, and Quartered
c) Tied under a ship and keelhauled to death
d) Force-fed with Old Tea and Spoiled English Roast until death
e) Churchill cane-smacked Hitler until death

 

[Frank Hart]

I wonder if Hitler will end up executed by the most British execution?
a) Hanging
b) Hanged, Drawn, and Quartered
c) Tied under a ship and keelhauled to death
d) Force-fed with Old Tea and Spoiled English Roast until death
e) Churchill smacked him until his death with his cane

Someone's asking the right questions.

 

[Imperial Advocate]

I wonder if Hitler will end up executed by the most British execution?
a) Hanging
b) Hanged, Drawn, and Quartered
c) Tied under a ship and keelhauled to death
d) Force-fed with Old Tea and Spoiled English Roast until death
e) Churchill smacked him until his death with his cane

Nice variety but they are probably gonna go simple and stick to option a).

 

[Prince Daemon Targaryen]

I wonder if Hitler will end up executed by the most British execution?
a) Hanging
b) Hanged, Drawn, and Quartered
c) Tied under a ship and keelhauled to death
d) Force-fed with Old Tea and Spoiled English Roast until death
e) Churchill cane-smacked Hitler until death

I endorse Churchill cane-smacked