The War that Came Early Redux

[Zoidberg12]

This is a more plausible redux of Harry Turtledove's The War that Came Early series, which hypothesize a world in which WWII began eleven months earlier in October of 1938 as opposed to September of 1939. In this redux , there will be no Britain and France making peace with Germany, then allying with them against the USSR and then declaring war on Germany again, as this is all very much implausible.

Some years ago, I created a brainstorming thread for this scenario that this new thread is based on; https://www.alternatehistory.com/fo...f-turtledoves-the-war-that-came-early.400229/

Let me know what you guys think and if anything can be changed or improved.

Harry Turtledove's The War that Came Early Redux​

July 20, 1936 (POD): Spanish Nationalist leader José Sanjurjo listens to his pilot's advice and changes the conditions of his flight back to Spain. Sanjurjo does not die in a plane crash and becomes the leader of the Spanish Nationalists instead of Francisco Franco.

José Sanjurjo

September 29, 1938: Konrad Heinlein is assassinated by gunshot in Berlin by Jaroslav Stribny, the false name of Jan Opletal, a 23 year-old student of the Medical Faculty of the Charles University in Prague. Minutes after the shooting of Heinlein, Opletal is gunned down by officers of the Ordnungspolizei.

Jan Opletal

September 30, 1938: The German government of Adolf Hitler accuses the Czechoslovak government of President Edvard Beneš and Prime Minister Jan Syrový of the assassination of Konrad Heinlein. As a result, the negotiations in Munich between Britain, France, Germany and Italy fall apart and Nazi Germany declares war on and invades Czechoslovakia, thus initiating Fall Grün. As a result, World War II begins.

October 6-15, 1938: The Saar Offensive; France invades and occupies the Saar region of Germany.

French soldiers in the Saar region

October 10, 1938: The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) is sent to France.

October 12, 1938: The USSR sends begins sending aid to Czechoslovakia by plane. The USSR cannot send the Red Army through Poland or Romania.

October 16-19, 1938: Several German border towns are invaded and occupied by France.

October 20, 1938: The Phony War, a period of no major military land operations on the Western Front of World War II, begins.

October 22, 1938: France and Great Britain enter the Spanish Civil War on the side of the Republicans, with both nations beginning to send armaments and munitions to the Spanish Republicans. As a result, Nazi Germany officially enters the Spanish Civil War on the side of the Nationalists.

November 3, 1938: Prague is captured by the Germans. The Czechoslovak government relocates to Brno.

Hitler in Prague Castle, November 11, 1938, the twentieth anniversary of the end of the Great War

November 16, 1938: The Spanish Republicans win the Battle of the Ebro thanks to French armaments, munitions and soldiers that were sent to the defending republicans.

December 12, 1938: The Kingdom of Hungary under Regent Miklós Horthy and Prime Minister Béla Imrédy joins World War II on the side of Nazi Germany in exchange for the annexation of territory taken by Czechoslovakia from Hungary in the Treaty of Trianon in 1920.

January 8, 1939: Brno is captured by the Germans. The Czechoslovak government relocates to the Slovak city of Bratislava.

January 10, 1939: The Republic of Carpatho-Ukraine is declared by Avgustyn Voloshyn in Khust.

Avgustyn Voloshyn

January 12, 1939: Hungary invades the Republic of Carpatho-Ukraine.

January 15, 1939: Hungary annexes the Republic of Carpatho-Ukraine. Avgustyn Voloshyn is captured by the Hungarian army.

January 22, 1939: The Spanish Nationalists under General Sanjurjo begin besieging Gibraltar with the help of the German Condor Legion. Italian forces do not participate, as Mussolini does not yet want to become involved in the larger Second World War.

February 5, 1939: Avgustyn Voloshyn is executed by the Hungarian army.

March 6, 1939: Bratislava is captured by the Germans. The Czechoslovak government relocates to Banská Bystrica.

March 25, 1939: The Beck-Ribbentrop Pact is signed in Berlin, with the permission of President Ignacy Mościcki and Marshal Edward Rydz-Śmigły of Poland. The neutrality of Poland and the Free City of Dazing in World War II are to be respected by Germany, while the Czech city of Zaolzie is to be annexed by Poland after the fall of Czechoslovakia. Hitler still wants to invade Dazing and Poland, and then the Soviet Union, and is merely biding his time.

Ribbentrop and Beck in Berlin, March 25, 1939

April 8, 1939: Czechoslovakia surrenders to Nazi Germany. Nazi Germany annexes the Sudetenland and the rest of Czechia, the latter of which becomes the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and Reich Protector Konstantin von Neurath and the collaborationist leaders of State President Emil Hácha and Prime Minister Rudolf Beran. Hungary annexes all of the land it lost in the 1920 Treaty of Trianon, including Southern Slovakia. Poland annexes Zaolzie, Slovakia becomes the Slovak Republic, a German client state under President and Prime Minister Jozef Tiso, leader of the Slovak People's Party. The Czechoslovak government relocates to London and becomes the Czechoslovak government-in-exile.

Map of the annexation of Czechoslovakia, 1939

With the fall of Czechoslovakia, the German Reich spends the next few months consolidating its gains and rebuilding and repurposing the industry of the Czech lands, much of which has been destroyed during the German invasion of Czechoslovakia, to be used by the German war machine. As a result, the Phony War continues.

April 20, 1939: The 50th birthday of Adolf Hitler is celebrated in a massive military parade in Berlin.

The military parade for Hitler's 50th birthday in Berlin

April 29-August 10, 1939: With German infantry and armored reinforcements being sent west from the former Czechoslovak front, the German Wehrmacht successfully attacks and repulses all French and BEF soldiers in the German border towns and sends them back across the French border after over three months of stalemate.

May 1, 1939: On May Day, the government of the Soviet Union under Premier Joseph Stalin publicly denounces the Polish government and accuses the Polish government of oppressing the Ukrainian and Belorussian residents of the Second Polish Republic, most of whom live in the Eastern Voivodeships of the Second Polish Republic bordering the Soviet Union. Stalin also accuses the Polish government of being a secret ally of Nazi Germany.

May 11, 1939: The Battles of Khalkhin Gol begin along the Khalkha River in the Mongolian People's Republic, with the battles being fought between the Soviet Union with Mongolia and the Empire of Japan with the Empire of Manchukuo.

June 8, 1939: The Soviet government, represented by Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov, sends an ultimatum to the government of the Second Polish Republic and Polish Foreign Minister Jozef Beck. The ultimatum, known as the Molotov Ultimatum, demands that the Second Polish Republic hands of the majority-Ukrainian regions of Western Ukraine and Volyhnia and the majority-Belarusian region of Western Belarus to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. If no response is given by the end of the year, it will mean war between the two nations.

Vyacheslav Molotov

June 15, 1939: On the orders of Marshal Edward Rydz-Śmigły, now the de-facto leader of Poland, and in response to the Soviet ultimatum, the Polish military is mobilized in preparation for a war against the Soviet Union, and to lesser extent, in the case of war against Nazi Germany. In spite of the Beck-Ribbentrop Pact, there still exists a lot of tension between Germany and Poland as a result of the status of the Free City of Danzig, German desires for the Danzig corridor and the status of ethnic Germans in Poland.

June 24, 1939: During the Spanish Civil War, the long deadlocked Madrid front becomes active once again, with both sides having moved reinforcements to the area and with skirmishing having now begun.

Edward Rydz-Śmigły

July 1, 1939: The Polish government officially refuses the Soviet ultimatum. As a result, the Soviet Union declares war on the Second Polish Republic.

 

[Deleted member 2186]

This is a more plausible redux of Harry Turtledove's The War that Came Early series, which hypothesize a world in which WWII began eleven months earlier in October of 1938 as opposed to September of 1939. In this redux , there will be no Britain and France making peace with Germany, then allying with them against the USSR and then declaring war on Germany again, as this is all very much implausible.

Some years ago, I created a brainstorming thread for this scenario that this new thread is based on; https://www.alternatehistory.com/fo...f-turtledoves-the-war-that-came-early.400229/

Let me know what you guys think and if anything can be changed or improved.

Harry Turtledove's The War that Came Early Redux​

July 20, 1936 (POD): Spanish Nationalist leader José Sanjurjo listens to his pilot's advice and changes the conditions of his flight back to Spain. Sanjurjo does not die in a plane crash and becomes the leader of the Spanish Nationalists instead of Francisco Franco.

View attachment 669828
José Sanjurjo

September 29, 1938: Konrad Heinlein is assassinated by gunshot in Berlin by Jaroslav Stribny, the false name of Jan Opletal, a 23 year-old student of the Medical Faculty of the Charles University in Prague. Minutes after the shooting of Heinlein, Opletal is gunned down by officers of the Ordnungspolizei.

View attachment 669827
Jan Opletal

September 30, 1938: The German government of Adolf Hitler accuses the Czechoslovak government of President Edvard Beneš and Prime Minister Jan Syrový of the assassination of Konrad Heinlein. As a result, the negotiations in Munich between Britain, France, Germany and Italy fall apart and Nazi Germany declares war on and invades Czechoslovakia. World War II begins.

October 6-15, 1938: The Saar Offensive; France invades and occupies the Saar region of Germany.

View attachment 669829
French soldiers in the Saar region

October 10, 1938: The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) is sent to France.

October 12, 1938: The USSR sends begins sending aid to Czechoslovakia by plane. The USSR cannot send the Red Army through Poland or Romania.

October 16-19, 1938: Several German border towns are invaded and occupied by France.

October 20, 1938: The Phony War, a period of no major military land operations on the Western Front of World War II, begins.

October 22, 1938: France and Great Britain enter the Spanish Civil War on the side of the Republicans, with both nations beginning to send armaments and munitions to the Spanish Republicans.

November 3, 1938: Prague is captured by the Germans. The Czechoslovak government relocates to Brno.

View attachment 669833
Hitler in Prague Castle, November 11, 1938, the twentieth anniversary of the end of the Great War

November 16, 1938: The Spanish Republicans win the Battle of the Ebro thanks to French armaments, munitions and soldiers that were sent to the defending republicans.

December 12, 1938: The Kingdom of Hungary under Regent Miklós Horthy and Prime Minister Béla Imrédy joins World War II on the side of Nazi Germany in exchange for the annexation of territory taken by Czechoslovakia from Hungary in the Treaty of Trianon in 1920.

January 8, 1939: Brno is captured by the Germans. The Czechoslovak government relocates to the Slovak city of Bratislava.

January 10, 1939: The Republic of Carpatho-Ukraine is declared by Avgustyn Voloshyn in Khust.

View attachment 669831
Avgustyn Voloshyn

January 12, 1939: Hungary invades the Republic of Carpatho-Ukraine.

January 15, 1939: Hungary annexes the Republic of Carpatho-Ukraine. Avgustyn Voloshyn is captured by the Hungarian army.

January 22, 1939: The Spanish Nationalists under General Sanjurjo begin besieging Gibraltar with the help of the German Condor Legion. Italian forces do not participate, as Mussolini does not yet want to become involved in the larger Second World War.

February 5, 1939: Avgustyn Voloshyn is executed by the Hungarian army.

March 6, 1939: Bratislava is captured by the Germans. The Czechoslovak government relocates to Banská Bystrica.

March 25, 1939: The Beck-Ribbentrop Pact is signed in Berlin, with the permission of President Ignacy Mościcki and Marshal Edward Rydz-Śmigły of Poland. The neutrality of Poland and the Free City of Dazing in World War II are to be respected by Germany, while the Czech city of Zaolzie is to be annexed by Poland after the fall of Czechoslovakia. Hitler still wants to invade Dazing and Poland, and then the Soviet Union, and is merely biding his time.

View attachment 669834
Beck and Ribbentrop in Berlin, March 25, 1939

April 8, 1939: Czechoslovakia surrenders to Nazi Germany. Nazi Germany annexes the Sudetenland and the rest of Czechia, the latter of which becomes the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and Reich Protector Konstantin von Neurath and the collaborationist leaders of State President Emil Hácha and Prime Minister Rudolf Beran. Hungary annexes all of the land it lost in the 1920 Treaty of Trianon, including Southern Slovakia. Poland annexes Zaolzie, Slovakia becomes the Slovak Republic, a German client state under President and Prime Minister Jozef Tiso, leader of the Slovak People's Party. The Czechoslovak government relocates to London and becomes the Czechoslovak government-in-exile.

View attachment 669838
Map of the annexation of Czechoslovakia, 1939

With the fall of Czechoslovakia, the German Reich spends the next few months consolidating its gains and rebuilding and repurposing the industry of the Czech lands, much of which has been destroyed during the German invasion of Czechoslovakia, to be used by the German war machine. As a result, the Phony War continues.

April 20, 1939: The 50th birthday of Adolf Hitler is celebrated in a massive military parade in Berlin.

View attachment 669842
The military parade for Hitler's 50th birthday in Berlin

April 29-August 10, 1939: With German infantry and armored reinforcements being sent west from the former Czechoslovak front, the German Wehrmacht successfully attacks and repulses all French and BEF soldiers in the German border towns and sends them back across the French border after over three months of stalemate.

May 1, 1939: On May Day, the government of the Soviet Union under Premier Joseph Stalin publicly denounces the Polish government and accuses the Polish government of oppressing the Ukrainian and Belorussian residents of the Second Polish Republic, most of whom live in the Eastern Voivodeships of the Second Polish Republic bordering the Soviet Union. Stalin also accuses the Polish government of being a secret ally of Nazi Germany.

June 8, 1939: The Soviet government, represented by Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov, sends an ultimatum to the government of the Second Polish Republic and Polish Foreign Minister Jozef Beck. The ultimatum, known as the Molotov Ultimatum, demands that the Second Polish Republic hands of the majority-Ukrainian regions of Western Ukraine and Volyhnia and the majority-Belarusian region of Western Belarus to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. If no response is given by the end of the year, it will mean war between the two nations.

View attachment 669840
Vyacheslav Molotov

June 15, 1939: On the orders of Marshal Edward Rydz-Śmigły, now the de-facto leader of Poland, and in response to the Soviet ultimatum, the Polish military is mobilized in preparation for a war against the Soviet Union, and to lesser extent, in the case of war against Nazi Germany. In spite of the Beck-Ribbentrop Pact, there still exists a lot of tension between Germany and Poland as a result of the status of the Free City of Danzig, German desires for the Danzig corridor and the status of ethnic Germans in Poland.

View attachment 669841
Edward Rydz-Śmigły

July 1, 1939: The Polish government officially refuses the Soviet ultimatum. As a result, the Soviet Union declares war on the Second Polish Republic.

Looks good so far.

 

[Zoidberg12]

July 2, 1939: The Imperial Japanese Army, using the 1st Tank Corps of the Yasuoka Detachment, begins their assault against Soviet positions along the Khalkhin Gol.

July 5, 1939: As a result of the outbreak of the Second Polish-Soviet War, and after some diplomatic discussions between the governments in Berlin and Warsaw, Poland reluctantly becomes a signatory of the Anti-Comintern Pact, which already included Germany, Japan, Italy, Hungary, the last of which became a signatory of the pact on the same day it became a member of the Axis Powers alliance.

As a result of the complicated and troubled relations between Germany and Poland, Poland does not join the alliance of the Axis Powers of Germany, Hungary, Slovakia and Nationalist Spain, known officially as the Spanish State.

July 7, 1939: The Polish city of Pinsk falls to the Soviet Red Army.

The Soviet Red Army marching through Poland, July, 1939

July 9, 1939: A Soviet Red Army counterattack against the Imperial Japanese Army fails to repel the 1st Tank Corps of the Yasuoka Detachment from their positions. After this, the battle becomes a stalemate.

Japanese infantrymen near wrecked Soviet armored vehicles

July 11, 1939: The Red Army reached the Polish-Lithuanian border and begins besieging the city of Wilno.

July 14, 1939: Germany begins sending military support in the form of weapons, volunteers and Luftwaffe pilots to the Polish Republic in their war against the Soviet Union, with Hitler seeing this act as the first step in a “great crusade against Bolshevism.”

The German government still desires land from Poland and a war with Poland for ideological reasons, such as the Nazi ideological ideas of Lebensraum and Drang nach Osten, with members of the NSDAP, including Hitler himself, desiring new “living space” for the German people in Eastern Europe, including land annexed from Poland. According to numerous secret documents, the German government plans to annex the Free City of Danzig, the Polish Corridor, the region of Posen, Polish Silesia and even as far as the region around the city of Białystok. The exact status of the rest of Poland is still under debate, but all agree that the rest of Poland must be militarily occupied by Germany.

The German government and Wehrmacht High Command have numerous plans to deal with Poland in the long term. The main plan, Fall Weiß, calls for a invasion of Poland just before the country seems close to capitulating to the Soviet Union. For now, all these plans are on hold.

A map showing the proposed land to be annexed by Germany from Poland.

July 17, 1939: The Polish city of Rivne in the region of Western Ukraine falls to the Red Army.

July 21, 1939: With the governments of the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia increasingly worried about Soviet aggression in the wake of the Soviet invasion of Poland, the German government demands from the Republic of Lithuania the historically German region of Memel, also known as Klaipėda in Lithuanian.

As it should be noted, one of the terms of the Beck-Ribbentrop Pact was the Polish recognition of the German claim over Memel/Klaipėda in exchange for the German recognition of Polish control over Wilno, or Vilnius in Lithuanian.

July 27, 1939: Not wanting to face a war against Nazi Germany and possibly the Soviet Union, and after being notified by the British and French governments that neither could afford to send any military support as a result of German naval supremacy in the Baltic Sea, the Lithuanian government of President Antanas Smetona gives in to German demands and cedes Memel to Germany.

Hitler in Memel, August 7, 1939

August 4, 1939: With the world distracted by the Second World War and the Second Polish-Soviet War, the Kingdom of Italy under Duce Benito Mussolini invades the Kingdom of Albania under King Zog I.

Italian forces enter Albania

August 6, 1939: Ribbentrop and Molotov, the Foreign Ministers of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union respectively, begin to meet together in Berlin, thus beginning the secret German and Soviet diplomatic talks of 1939. During these diplomatic talks, the German government makes sure to keep its military support of Poland a secret from the Soviet delegation.

August 9, 1939: After only five days of fighting, Albania surrenders to Italy. The Kingdom of Albania is annexed into and becomes a protectorate of the Kingdom of Italy, with Victor Emmanuel III as King and Shefqet Vërlaci as Prime Minister. On the same day, King Zog flees the country and goes into exile in Athens, Greece.

Zog I

August 14, 1939: The German-Soviet Treaty in signed in secret in Berlin between Ribbentrop and Molotov. According to the treaty, the German and Soviet delegations agree that in the event of the Red Army reaching the Vistula River and the area of Warsaw, the German Wermacht would consider an invasion of Poland. In the event of a German invasion of Poland, Poland would be divded between the German Reich and the Soviet Union, with the Soviet Union annexing the majority Ukrainian and Belarussian areas of Poland. Germany also agrees to allow the Soviet Union free reign over its territorial ambitions in Finland and the Baltic states.

Unbeknownst to the Soviet delegations, the German government and Wehrmacht general is planning for an eventual invasion of the Soviet Union.

August 15, 1939: During the skirmishes in Madrid, the International Brigades decisively beat back an attempted Nationalist army take over the city.

August 21, 1939: The Imperial Japanese Army breaks through the Soviet forces on the east bank of Khalkhin Gol and reaches the Kawatama Bridge.

September 1, 1939: The Battle of Lwów between the Polish Army and the Soviet Red Army begins.

September 3, 1939: Winston Churchill is made First Lord of the Admiralty by Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain.

Winston Churchill

September 6, 1939: The Japanese-Soviet Border War along the Khalkhin Gol continues to escalate, with Soviet general Georgy Zhukov beginning a major offensive against the Imperial Japanese Army. The offensive results in more casualties for both the Soviet and Japanese forces.

Georgy Zhukov and Mongolian Premier Khorloogiin Choibalsan during the Battle of Khalkhin Gol

September 11, 1939: As a result of the escalating battles along the Khalkhin Gol and the distraction of the Soviet government and military over the Second Polish-Soviet War, the Japanese government of Prime Minister Nobuyuki Abe declarers a surprise war on the Soviet Union and the Mongolian People's Republic. Thus, the Soviet-Japanese War has begun.

This declaration of war leaves the Soviet government and military highly unprepared as a result of the Second Polish-Soviet War, not helped by Stalin's purges of the Soviet military in 1937.

September 12, 1939: The Imperial Japanese Army begins invading the Soviet portion of the Sakhalin Peninsula.

September 15, 1939: The Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy begin a besiegement and invasion of the Russian city of Vladivostok.

September 24, 1939: The Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy, including the use of Japanese Marine Infantry, begin a series of naval invasions of the Primorye region.

October 1, 1939: The Imperial Japanese Army captures the entirety of the Soviet portion of the Sakhalin Peninsula.

October 9, 1939: After months of fighting, the Battle of the Khalkhin Gol ends in a Japanese victory.

October 15, 1939: The Soviet Red Army begins besieging the city of Stanisławów, seeking to end the campaign in Eastern Ukraine.

October 27, 1939: The Soviet Red Army begins fighting the Polish Army outside of the city of Brest-Litovsk. The Battle of Brest-Litovsk begins.

November 13, 1939: After a long battle, Wilno finally falls to the Soviet Red Army. Thus, the Battle of Wilno ends in a Soviet victory.

Polish prisoners of war in Soviet custody outside of Wilno, 1939

November 16, 1939: The Imperial Japanese Army forms the Free Russian Army of the Far East (Svobodnaya Rossiyskaya Armiya Dal'nego Vostoka), a collaborationist force of White Russian emigres under Japanese command led by Grigory Mikhaylovich Semyonov, a leader in the White Russian movement who was previously supported by Japan from December, 1917 to November, 1920 during the Russian Civil War. The symbol of the SRADV is the green over white flag of the Provisional Siberian Government that lasted in Vladivostok in 1918.

Grigory Semyonov

November 22, 1939: The Soviet Red Army reaches the Neman River.

November 30, 1939: The Soviet Red Army was planning on invading Finland on this date, but due to the ongoing war in Poland, these plans were withdrawn. Joseph Stalin still wants to invade Finland, but Poland will have to de defeated first.

 

[Deleted member 2186]

July 14, 1939: Germany begins sending military support in the form of weapons, volunteers and Luftwaffe pilots to the Polish Republic in their war against the Soviet Union, with Hitler seeing this act as the first step in a “great crusade against Bolshevism.”

The German government still desires land from Poland and a war with Poland for ideological reasons, such as the Nazi ideological ideas of Lebensraum and Drang nach Osten, with members of the NSDAP, including Hitler himself, desiring new “living space” for the German people in Eastern Europe, including land annexed from Poland. According to numerous secret documents, the German government plans to annex the Free City of Danzig, the Polish Corridor, the region of Posen, Polish Silesia and even as far as the region around the city of Białystok. The exact status of the rest of Poland is still under debate, but all agree that the rest of Poland must be militarily occupied by Germany.

A thanks for the explanation, Germany has not given up on its Poland conquest, but for now Poland is the enemy of the Soviet Union and for the time being Germany ally.

 

[Zoidberg12]

December 1, 1939: Germany beings Fall Gelb and invades the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Kingdom of Belgium and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.

December 2, 1939: The Belgian government belatedly allows the BEF and French Army into the lands of Belgium in defense against the German invasion.

December 3, 1939: Luxembourg falls to the German Reich, and the Luxembourgish government of Duchess Charlotte and Prime Minister Pierre Dupong flees to London and establishes a government-in-exile.

Pierre Dupong

December 4, 1939: The Military Administration of Luxembourg is established by the German Wehrmacht.

December 10, 1939: German by Operation Weserübung – Süd, the first phase of Operation Weserübung, and invades the Kingdom of Denmark. With the Danish Army not even mobilized, after only six hours and with 16 Danish soldiers killed and 20 Danish soldiers wounded, the Kingdom of Denmark surrenders to the forces of German Reich. The Danish government of King Christian XI and Prime Minister Thorvald Stauning are allowed to remain in Denmark while the German Reich militarily occupies metropolitan Denmark.

A German panzer in Copenhagen, December, 1939

December 11, 1939: With the fall of Denmark, in the Kingdom of Iceland under Prime Minister Hermann Jónasson, the Althing passes resolutions giving the Icelandic cabinet the power of head of state and giving Iceland full control over its foreign policy and coastal surveillance. Prime Minister Jónasson also proclaims that Iceland will remain neutral in the Second World War. As a result, Iceland becomes de facto sovereign from Denmark.

December 13, 1939: The British Royal Marines launch Operation Valentine and invade and occupy the Faroe Islands.

December 14, 1939: The provisional government of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic is established in Soviet-occupied Vilnius and lays claim to the lands of the Republic of Lithuania, with Antanas Sniečkus as the first premier of the Lithuanian SSR.

Within the Soviet government, there some discussion of annexing Wilno into the Byelorussian SSR and reforming the Belarusian-Lithuanian SSR that existed in 1919, but these plans are quickly abandoned.

December 15, 1939: The German army executes Operation Weserübung – Nord, the second phase of Operation Weserübung and declares war on the Kingdom of Norway.

December 16, 1939: The German Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe begin besieging major Norwegian cities such as Oslo, Bergen, Stavanger and Trondheim, with Oslo being the main focus of these bombardments. The German Wehrmacht is still mostly focused on Fall Gelb, and so does not enough recourses for a land invasion of Norway at the moment.

December 17, 1939: The BEF and the French army sends a limit amount of forces to Norway in reparation of the inevitable German invasion.

December 20, 1939: The Battle of Lwów ends in a Soviet victory as the city falls to the Soviet Red Army, with the Polish soldiers completely evacuating the city and many of the Ukrainian inhabitants of the city greeting to the Red Army as liberators.

December 28, 1939: The Soviet Red Army reaches the Neman River in Poland.

December 31, 1939: It is the last day of the decade of the 1930s, and the war in Europe and Asia shows no signs of ending any time soon.

January 1, 1940: On the first day of the decade of the 1940s, the German Luftwaffe begins bombs the Dutch city of Rotterdam, destroying and razing much of the city in the process.

The destroyed city center of Rotterdam, photographed on Janaury 2, 1940

January 11, 1940: The German Wehrmacht captures all of Friesland and reaches the Dutch side of the North Sea.

January 29, 1940: The German Wehrmacht begins bombarding and besieging Amsterdam and The Hague.

February 1, 1940: With the German bombardment of Amsterdam and The Hague and with the German Wehrmacht advancing throughout the southern Netherlands, the Dutch government evacuates both cities in preparation to go into exile.

February 6, 1940: After weeks of intense fighting in Belgium, the German Wehrmacht reaches the outskirts of Brussels and begins bombarding and besieging the city.

February 7, 1940: After over two months of battle, the Netherlands falls to the German Reich, and the Dutch government of Queen Wilhelmina and Prime Minister Dirk Jan de Geer flee to London.

While the continental Netherlands has fallen under German occupation, the Dutch East Indies and the Dutch colonies in the Americas remain unoccupied. Thus, Batavia becomes the de-facto capital of the Dutch government-in-exile in London.

Wilhelmina

February 8, 1940: A temporary military administration led by Militärsbefehlshaber Alexander Freiherr von Falkenhausen is established over the German occupied Netherlands and the German occupied areas of Belgium.

February 10, 1940: The Imperial Japanese Army finally surrounds Vladivostok with infantry, marine infantry and some armored divisions.

February 16, 1940: With the German Wehrmacht advancing throughout Belgium and wearing down the British, French and Belgian defenses, the Belgian government evacuates the city of Brussels to the Flemish coastal city of Ostend in preparation to go into exile.

It should be noted that since the British and French armies had a larger presence in Belgium, the county holds out for longer against the German invasion.

February 21, 1940: Reichskommissariat Niederlande, officially known as the Reich Commissariat for the Occupied Dutch Territories (Reichskommissariat für die besetzten niederländischen Gebiete), the first German Reichskommissariat and civilian occupation regime, is established with Austrian Nazi and former Chancellor and Reichsstatthalter of Austria Arthur Seyss-Inquart as Reichskommissar.

February 22, 1940: The Civil Administration Area of Luxembourg is established by the German Reich, with Gustav Simon, Gauleiter of Moselland as Chief of the Civil Administration of Luxembourg.

February 28, 1940: The Japanese Imperial Army, including infantry and marine infantry divisions, finally reaches the Amur River.

March 1, 1940: The German Wehrmacht reaches the Ardennes Forrest and Franco-Belgian border.

German panzers in the Ardennes along the Franco-Belgian border, 1940

March 6, 1940: After over three months of fighting, the Belgian government of King Leopold III surrenders to the German Wehrmacht against the wishes of the Belgian government. As a result, the Belgian government of Hubert Pierlot flees to London and establishes a government-in-exile, with Charles, Count of Flanders, the younger brother of Leopold III, as regent of Belgium.

While continental Belgium has fallen under German occupation, the Belgian Congo remains unoccupied. Thus, Léopoldville becomes the de-facto capital of the Belgian government-in-exile in London.

Hubert Pierlot

March 7, 1940: The German Reich re-annexes the Belgian cities of Eupen and Malmedy, which were previously a part of Germany until after World War I when they were annexed by Belgium.

German soldiers being welcomed into Eupen and Malmedy, March, 1940

March 9, 1940: The German Wehrmacht becomes bogged down in battles along the Franco-Belgian border and in the Ardennes Forrest. As a result, the war along the Franco-Belgian border becomes a stalemate.

March 10, 1940: The Military Administration in Belgium (Militärverwaltung Deutschlands in Belgien und Nordfrankreich) is established with Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt as Military Commander of the interim occupation authority.

March 12, 1940: Germany begins the invasion of Norway through a series of naval battles and naval invasions. As a result of the German invasion of Norway and naval and aerial bombardment of Oslo, the Norwegian government, parliament, royal family and gold reserves are all evacuated northwards to the city of Tromsø.

By the end of the day, the Norwegian capital Oslo falls to the German Wehrmacht and Kriegsmarine.

March 13, 1940: In the wake of the German invasion of Norway, the BEF and French Army send some more reinforcements to Norway, with a small amount of Anglo-French forces being present in the country since the initial German declaration of war on Norway.

March 14, 1940: With the successful German campaigns in the Low Countries and the continuing German invasion of France, the Kingdom of Italy under Duce Benito Mussolini officially joins the Axis Powers and declares war on the Allied Powers.

Mussolini declaring war on the Allied Powers, March 14, 1940

March 15, 1940: With the French army still distracted by the impending German invasion, the Italian Regio Escerito invades southern France and invades the city of Nice.

March 19, 1940: The Kingdom of Italy begins sending military support in the form of weapons, volunteers and Regia Aeronautica pilots to the Polish Republic in their war against the Soviet Union. The Polish government is immensely thankful to this assistance, with President Rydz-Śmigły writting a personal letter of thanks to Mussolini, with the letter talking of the commonalities and long history between the Italian and Polish peoples, even mentioning how Italy is mentioned in the Polish national anthem Mazurek Dąbrowskiego.

March 24, 1940: General der Infanterie Alexander Freiherr von Falkenhausen becomes Military Commander of the Military Administration in Belgium.

March 25, 1940: The Italian Regina Marina and Regia Aeronautica, with assistance from the German Luftwaffe, begin bombarding the British colony of Malta.

April 1, 1940: The British Army begins raiding Italian garrisons in Italian Tripolitania. As a result, the North African front begins.

April 4, 1940: By this date, the Norwegian cities of Narvik, Trondheim, Bergen, Stavanger, and Kristiansand have all fallen to the German Wehrmacht and Kriegsmarine.

April 6, 1940: With most of Norway under German occupation, Reichskommissariat Norwegen, the German civilian occupation regime of Norway, is established as Josef Terboven is appointed as Reichskommissar of Norway.

April 7, 1940: After weeks of battle, the French city of Nice falls to the Italian Regio Escercito. As a result, the Italian government rechristens the city under its Italian name of Nizza.

Italian soldiers of the San Marco Division in Nice/Nizza, April, 1940

April 9, 1940: With the Italian army unable to break through of French defenses in southern France, the war along the Franco-Italian border becomes a stalemate.

April 15, 1940: After months of battles, the Soviet-Japanese War becomes a stalemate along the Amur River front.

April 17, 1940: With the fall of Norway to the German Reich all but imminent, the Anglo-French forces in Norway are evacuated through Tromsø and evacuated to Scotland.

April 26, 1940: After months of battle and a months-long siege, the city of Vladivostok falls to the Imperial Japanese Army.

April 30, 1940: After months of de facto soveirgenty from Denmark, the Icelandic Althing makes Sveinn Björnsson the Regent and Head of State of the Kingdom of Iceland.

Sveinn Björnsson

 

[Deleted member 2186]

While the continental Netherlands has fallen under German occupation, the Dutch East Indies and the Dutch colonies in the Americas remain unoccupied. Thus, Batavia becomes the de-facto capital of the Dutch government-in-exile in London.

First, good update, secondly, is the government in exile in Batavia ore in London.

 

[Zoidberg12]

Time for some maps;

Heres the world on September 30, 1938, the date of the start of the Second World War.

Map of the world on July 1, 1939, the start date of the Second Polish-Soviet War.

 

[Zoidberg12]

First, good update, secondly, is the government in exile in Batavia ore in London.

The government in HQ'd in London, but Batavia is the unofficial capital of the Dutch Empire with the fall of the metropolitan Netherlands.

I also added some more events about the German Invasion of Norway to the last update.

 

[BrockSampson]

Curious about the POD leading to a more successful Japanese attack on the Soviets. What’s the exact reasoning? It’s been awhile since I read the book.

 

[Zoidberg12]

May 1, 1940: On May Day, the Soviet Union launches a surprise invasion of the Baltic states of the Republic of Estonia, the Republic of Latvia and the Republic of Estonia, with Jospeh Stalin and the Red Army Stavka hoping to use the Baltic region as an additional springboard for the ongoing invasion of Poland.

May 4, 1940: After over a month of fighting, Norway finally falls to the German Reich, and the Norwegian government of King Haakon VII and Prime Minister Johan Nygaardsvold flee to London and establish a government in exile.

Haakon VII

Johan Nygaardsvold

May 7, 1940: The Italian armies in Italian East Africa invade British Somaliland.

May 8, 1940: The Soviet Red Army begins besieging and invading the Polish city of Białystok.

May 14, 1940: The Italian armies in Tripolitania launch Operazione E and invade the British Protectorate of the Kingdom of Egypt.

Italian Armored and Motorized forces invading Egypt, May, 1940

May 15, 1940: The Italian armies in Tripolitania begin an invasion of the French Protectorate of Tunisia. As a result, the Tunisian Campaign has begun.

May 17, 1940: The Estonian government surrenders to the Soviet Red Army, with Estonian President Konstantin Päts being arrested by the Red Army.

May 22, 1940: British Somaliland falls to the Italian armies in Italian East Africa.

May 23, 1940: The Latvian government surrenders to the Soviet Red Army, with Latvian President Kārlis Ulmanis being arrested by the Red Army.

May 25, 1940: French Somaliland is invaded by the Italian armies in Italian East Africa.

May 27, 1940: Lithuania falls to the Soviet Red Army. Unlike his counterparts in Tallin and Riga, President Antanas Smetona, along with Prime Minister Antanas Merkys, flee with the rest of the Lithuanian government to Helsinki, Finland.

Antanas Smetona

In spite of the Soviet occupation of the Baltic States, the Soviet Red Army is unable to use the Baltic region as a springboard for the ongoing invasion of Poland due to heavy resistance and acts of sabotage from ex-Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian army officers and soldiers, as well as unorganized partisans that would come to be known as the “Forrest Brothers.”

Lithuanian "Forrest Brothers" during the initial Soviet occupation of Lithuania, summer, 1940

June 1, 1940: French Somaliland falls to the Italian armies in Italian East Africa. With that, the whole of the Horn of Africa is under the control of Italian East Africa.

June 3, 1940: The Lithuanian government-in-exile in established in Helsinki, Finland. Some members of the government have proposed establishing a “Baltic government-in-exile” that would represent not only the government of Lithuania, but also the disbanded governments of Latvia and Estonia. However, this is ultimately decided against.

June 5, 1940: The German Wehrmacht begins invading and besieging the French city of Verdun.

June 8, 1940: The Italian invasion of Egypt ends with the Italian armies advancing as far as Sidi Barrani. While the Italian armies did not reach as far as their original goals of Cairo and the Suez Canal, the offensive still ends in an Italian victory.

June 10, 1940: According to a new decree from the German government, all German Jews are forced to wear a Yellow Star of David patch with the word Jude in the center on their clothing.

June 14, 1940: As an extension of the aforementioned decree, all Jews in the occupied nations of the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark are forced to wear a Yellow Star of David patch on their clothing, with the word for Jew in Dutch, Dutch or French and Danish in the center of the patch respectively.

June 16, 1940: The Soviet Red Army begins besieging and invading the Polish city of Lublin.

June 22, 1940: The Italian invasion of Tunisia ends in an Italian victory, with the French forces in Tunisia surrendering to the Italian Regio Esercito. As a result, Ahmad II of Tunis abdicates as Bey of Tunis and is succeeded by his eldest son Moncef Bey as Muhammad VII al-Munsif.

June 26, 1940: The Japanese Army begins a series of naval invasions with Marine Infantry of the Kamchatka Peninsula.

June 29, 1940: Białystok falls to the Soviet Red Army.

July 30, 1940: In Prague, capital of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, the German government establishes a Jewish ghetto in the Josefov or Jewish Quarter of Prague and forces all Jews in the city to live in the area.

The Jewish Quarter of Prague, circa 1942

July 1, 1940: The North African front becomes a stalemate, with the Italian Regio Esercito unable to advance further into Egypt and advance into French Algeria.

British tanks on patrol in Egypt near the Italian frontlines, summer, 1940

July 2-July 9, 1940: The German government establishes Jewish ghettos in other major cities in the the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, such as Brno.

In spite of the German influence in Poland, Germany does not pressure its co-belligerent semi-ally to enact anti-Jewish legislation.

July 10, 1940: The Soviet Red Army begins besieging and invading the Polish city of Tarnow.

July 11, 1940: The German Wehrmacht begins sending reinforcements to the Italian Regio Esercito in Libya and occupied Tunisia in an effort to hold the front and in preparation of a duel invasion of British Egypt and French Algeria.

July 13, 1940: On this night, Rudolf Hess, Deputy Deputy Führer of the NSDAP, without the approval of Adolf Hitler, makes a secret solo flight in a Messerschmitt Bf 110 from Berlin to Scotland in the United Kingdom in an attempt to meet with Douglas-Hamilton, 14th Duke of Hamilton and arrange peace talks between the British and German governments, with "Germany as the master of Central and Eastern Europe and Britain as master of the seas." Hess also plans to propose an "Anti-Bolshevist Alliance" of Germany, Great Britain, France, Italy, Poland and Hungary to all fight against the Soviet Union.

Rudolf Hess

July 14, 1940: Rudolf Hess crash lands in Scotland outside of Dunghavel House in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. Hess is then immediately arrested by local British authorities and then sent to the custody of the British Army.

While in custody, Hess proposes plans for peace between the Allied Powers and Axis Powers and the creation of an "Anti-Bolshevist Alliance." He is immediately ignored and will be held in British custody for the rest of the war.

July 16-July 20, 1940: The Japanese Imperial Army manages to capture a number of cities along the coasts of the Kamchatka Peninsula.

July 21-July 24, 1940: The Germans launch a series of large-scale air raids over northern France.

July 26, 1940: Lublin falls to the Soviet Red Army.

August 1, 1940: The provisional government of the Polish People's Republic, a planned future puppet state of the Soviet Union, is established in Soviet-occupied Białystok and lays claim to the lands of the Polish Republic, with Bolesław Bierut as the first premier of the Polish People's Republic. The army of the Polish People's Republic is known as the Polish People's Army, which is mostly made up of ethnic-Polish POWs in Soviet custody, many with pro-communist sympathies, and is led by Polish-Soviet general Karol Świerczewski.

Bolesław Bierut

August 6-August, 9, 1940: The German Wehrmacht finally manages to break out of the Ardennes Forrest and occupies a number of French cities near the Belgian and German borders, such as Sedan, which fell on August 8, 1940. As a result of these developments, the British and French government and militaries are highly worried about the German Wehrmacht gaining more ground in France.

German forces outside of Sedan, France, August, 1940

August 12, 1940: Tarnow falls to the Soviet Red Army.

August 16, August 17 and August 18, 1940: After months of battles between the Polish Army and the Soviet Red Army, the Red Army finally reaches numerous points along the Vistula River in Poland.

Soon afterwards, the Second Soviet-Polish War becomes a long and bloody stalemate along the front of the Vistula River, with the Polish government and military hoping for a “Second Miracle on the Vistula.”

 

[Polish Eagle]

August 16, August 17 and August 18, 1940: After months of battles between the Polish Army and the Soviet Red Army, the Red Army finally reaches numerous points along the Vistula River in Poland.

Soon afterwards, the Second Soviet-Polish War becomes a long and bloody stalemate along the front of the Vistula River, with the Polish government and military hoping for a “Second Miracle on the Vistula.”

And now comes the German stab-in-the-back.

 

[Deleted member 2186]

And now comes the German stab-in-the-back.

Wich the are masters at.

 

[Zoidberg12]

Map of the world on May 1, 1940.

 

[Deleted member 2186]

Map of the world on May 1, 1940.

View attachment 675641

Looks good the map.

 

[Zoidberg12]

Alright, its been a while since I updated this thread, so here goes nothing. I hope to finish this timeline by the end of this year.

August 19, 1940: With the fall of Poland seemingly imminent in the mind of Joseph Stalin, the Soviet government sends an ultimatum to the government of the Kingdom of Romania, demanding that Romania cede the lands of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina to the Soviet Union. The Romanian government has until December 1, 1940 to respond to the ultimatum.

August 21, 1940: The German Abwher intercepts the Soviet ultimatum to Romania and promptly notifies the Hungarian government.

August 23, 1940: As a result of the intercepted Soviet ultimatum to Romania, the Hungarian government sends an ultimatum to the government of the Kingdom of Romania, demanding the return of Northern Transylvania to the Kingdom of Hungary.

August 24, 1940: Not wanting to be the Prime Minister of Romania and be forced to surrender land to both Hungary and the Soviet Union, Gheorghe Tătărescu resigns as Prime Minister of Romania. King Carol II replaces Tătărescu as Prime Minister with Ion Gigurtu, member of the far-right wing of the National Renaissance Front and a German sympathizer.

August 25, 1940: The German government offers to mediate the territorial disputes between the Romania and Hungary. Meanwhile, the Romanian government of Prime Minister Gigurtu decides to ignore the Soviet ultimatum, hoping for an eventual alliance with Germany.

August 28, 1940: The Vienna Diktat is signed between the Axis Powers of the German Reich, the Kingdom of Italy and the Kingdom of Hungary and the Kingdom of Romania. As a result, Romania cedes Northern Transylvania back to Hungary.

Hungarian Foreign Minister István Csáky signing the Vienna Diktat next to Romanian Foreign Minister Mihail Manoilescu

September 3, 1940: After weeks of advances through the Ardennes, German Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS forces advance for the France coast along the English Channel and begins engaging Anglo-French forces in the city of Dunkirk. Thus, the Battle of Dunkirk begins, while the German army continues to slowly advance through northern France.

BEF forces in Dunkirk, 1940.

September 5, 1940: Romania and Bulgaria sign the Treaty of Craiova, which is mediated by Nazi Germany and forces Romania to cede the region of Southern Dobrudja back to Bulgaria. This is done in an effort to entice Bulgaria towards joining the Axis Powers.

September 9, 1940: After weeks of advances through the Ardennes, German Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS forces advance for the France coast along the English Channel and begins engaging Anglo-French forces in the city of Dunkirk. Thus, the Battle of Dunkirk begins, while the German army continues to slowly advance through northern France.

September 12, 1940: As a result of the territorial loses to Hungary and Bulgaria and an impending war with the Soviet Union, the Iron Guard led by Horia Sima and General Ion Antonescu launch a coup against the government of Prime Minister Gigurtu. As a result, Antonescu establishes the National legionary State regime with the Iron Guard and becomes Prime Minister and Conducător of Romania, with King Carol II as a puppet of the regime.

Ion Antonescu

September 14, 1940: The Soviet Red Army reaches the outskirts of Krakow and begins besieging the historical capital of Poland.

September 18, 1940: The Soviet Army begins bombing Warsaw en-masse with the squadrons of the Soviet Air Forces and Red Army artillery.

September 21, 1940: With the fall of Warsaw seemingly imminent the mind of Joseph Stalin, the Soviet government sends an ultimatum to the government of the Republic of Finland demanding the regions of eastern Karelia, Salla and part of the Rybachi peninsula of the Petsamo region. The Finnish government of President Kyösti Kallio has until December 31, 1940 to respond to the ultimatum.

Kyösti Kallio

September 24, 1940: The Finnish government of President Kallio curtly responds to and denounces the Soviet Ultimatum, refusing to give up one inch of Finnish soil to the Soviet Union.

September 30, 1940: With the Finnish denunciation of the Soviet ultimatum, the Soviet government declares war on Finland, thus beginning the Soviet-Finnish War.

With the war in Poland almost won in Stalin's mind, the Soviet premier is sure of victory in Finland as well, and no marshals, generals or officers in the Red Army are brave enough to warn the Stalin of the potential pitfalls of these wars, as well as a war against Romania or Germany.

In London and Paris, the British and French governments are concerned about Soviet aggression in Eastern Europe against the Baltic States, Poland and Finland, but with the war against Nazi Germany as the main focus, there is nothing that these governments can do to meaningfully condemn the Soviet Union or to support the aforementioned nations militarily and diplomatically, especially with the German Kriegsmarine having dominance of the Baltic Sea and the Italian Regia Marina competing for supremacy of the Mediterranean with the British Royal Navy.

October 1, 1940: Bulgaria, surrounded by Axis and pro-German nations and under German pressure, joins the Axis Powers and signs the Anti-Comintern Pact.

October 3, 1940: President Edward Rydz-Śmigły dies in Warsaw of a heart attack at the age of 54. As a result, statesman and former Prime Minister Wincenty Witos becomes the interim President of Poland.

October 9, 1940: With the chaos in Poland in the aftermath of the death of Rydz-Śmigły, the German government demands the annexation of Danzig and the Polish Corridor from Poland in exchange for Germany declaring war on the Soviet Union.

October 12, 1940: In response to the aforementioned German ultimatum, the Polish government of interim President Wincenty Witos refuses to cede any German territory, not believing their German benefactors would attack Poland while at war with their mutual Soviet enemy.

Wincenty Witos

October 14, 1940: Germany declares war on and invades Poland. Within hours, Wincenty Witos steps down as President of Poland and Leon Kozłowski, a German sympathizer, becomes the new interim President of Poland.

Leon Kozłowski

October 15, 1940: After only a day of fighting, the new Polish government surrenders to Germany, not wanting to fight both the German Reich and the Soviet Union at the same time. The Polish Republic is thus annexed by the German Reich and reorganized as the Protectorate of Poland, analogous to the Protecroate of Bohemia and Moravia, with Hans Frank as Reich Protector, pro-German politician Władysław Gizbert-Studnicki as State President of Poland and Leon Kozłowski as Prime Minister of Poland.

The German government is still unsure what to ultimately do about Poland, as well as Bohemia and Moravia (Czechia). According to secret German documents declassified after the war, the German government was eventually planning on turning Poland into the General Government of the Occupied Polish Region under a civilian occupation regime or the Military Government of Poland under a Wehrmacht occupation regime had Polish military resistance continued.

Other documents declassified after the war, including the infamous Generalplan Ost paper, showed that the German government wanted to colonize and Germanize both regions (along a possible annexation of Slovakia) sometime within twenty years after the war, along with the Baltics, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe up to the Ural Mountains, as a part of Hitler’s ideals of Lebensraum, Drang Nach Osten and the Greater Germanic Reich, which would also encompass Germany and the Germanic countries of the Netherlands, Flanders, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and German-speaking Switzerland.

October 16, 1940: Negotiations begin between German and Soviet diplomats in German-occupied Warsaw over the division of Poland between Germany and the Soviet Union. Unbeknownst to the Soviet government, these negotiations are just a ruse by the German government to justify a war against the Soviet Union. With Hitler sure of an imminent victory in the west and the fall of France in 1941, he sees this as the perfect opportunity to strike against the Bolshevik power of the Soviet Union.

October 17, 1940: The remnants of the Polish government under Prime Minister Felicjan Sławoj Składkowski escape by plane from Poland to Belgrade in the neutral country of Yugoslavia.

October 19, 1940: President Kyösti Kallio, two months after having suffered a stroke, dies of a heart attack in his office in the Presidential Palace in Helsinki at the age of 67. As a result, Prime Minister Risto Ryti becomes President of Finland and vows to fight the Bolshevik invaders of Finland.

Risto Ryti

October 21, 1940: Numerous skirmishes begin between German and Soviet military forces in occupied Poland and continue sporadically for the next few weeks,

October 25, 1940: After months of military successes in northern France, German Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS forces reach the outskirts of Paris and begin besieging the city with Luftwaffe squadrons and artillery forces. Thus, the Battle of Paris begins.

November 1, 1940: After months of negotiations, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia under Regent Prince and Paul, the teenaged King Peter II and Prime Minster Dragiša Cvetković joins the Axis Powers and signs the Anti-Comintern Pact.

Prince Paul

November 3, 1940: The remnants of the Polish government arrive by plane in London from Belgrade and establish the headquarters of the Polish government-in-exile under President Władysław Raczkiewicz and Prime Minister and General Władysław Sikorski in London.

Władysław Raczkiewicz

November 4, 1940: Due to conflicts between the Romanian monarchy and the Iron Guard regime, King Carol II is forced to abdicate by the Iron Guard regime and his replaced with his 19 year-old son Michael as King of Romania, who is a puppet of the regime.

Micheal I of Romania

November 6, 1940: With both Finland and Germany at war with and co-belligerents against the Soviet Union, Finland becomes a signatory of the Anti-Comintern Pact. In spite of this, Finland does not join the Axis Powers, as the republican and democratic government of Finland is uneasy of an alliance with the Fascist powers of Europe.

November 8, 1940: In Belgrade, Yugoslavia, a potential coup d'etat against the Yugoslav government to be led by Chief of the General Staff Dušan Simović is aborted after numerous pro-German and anti-communist officers find out about the plan and notify Prince Paul.

November 9, 1940: British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain dies of natural causes at the age of 71 in his bedroom at 10 Downing Street. As a result, civil servant and Chamberlain loyalist Horace Wilson is the new Prime Minister, but only for a day.

November 10, 1940: After much debate within the British government, Horace Wilson resigns as Prime Minister and the First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill is appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom with the consent of King George VI, over Foreign Secretary Edward Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax, who was in favor of a negotiated peace with Germany, Italy and the other Axis Powers.

During the first two years of the war, Chamberlain was a somewhat uninspiring wartime leader who failed to significantly improve the morale of the British people on the homefront. Winston Churchill, on the other hand, would be a much different story.

November 11, 1940: On the orders of Prince Paul, Chief of the General Staff Dušan Simović is removed form his post and replaced by former Chief of Staff and former Minister of War Milan Nedić.

November 12, 1940: With the German-Soviet negotiations breaking down and with the German-Soviet military skirmishes, the German government accuses the Soviet Union of attacking German soldiers and thus declares war on the Soviet Union. With this, Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, begins with numerous battles between German and Soviet forces along the Vistula River.

With the German invasion of Poland and the Soviet Union, the Polish Soviet Socialist Republic is established as a Soviet republic of the Soviet Union with Lwow as the interim-capital, while the Ukrainian and Belarusian SSRs annex the majority Ukrainian and Belarusian land from Poland.

November 14, 1940: With war with the Soviet Union imminent, Romania under Ion Antonescu joins the Axis Powers, signs the Anti-Comintern Pact and declares war on the Soviet Union.

 

[Zoidberg12]

Map of the World on November 12, 1940.

November 15, 1940: With the Battle of Paris raging on, the Italian Army begins a new offensive in southern France and drive towards the Savoyard city of Annecy. Harsh fighting between French and Italian armies, reminiscent of the fighting along the Isonzo Front between the Italian and Austro-Hungarian armies during the previous war, take place in the Alps.

November 16, 1940: Italy, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Yugoslavia all declare war on the Soviet Union. Only Bulgaria and Nationalist Spain do not declare war on the Soviet Union, the latter because of the continuing Spanish Civil War.

November 17, 1940: The German Wehrmacht drives the Soviet Red Army out of eastern Poland.

November 19, 1940: The Lithuanian capital of Vilnius falls to the German Wehrmacht.

November 20, 1940: The German Armed forces, especially the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS, begin to look at the possibility of the recruitment of foreign volunteers to fight in the war against the Soviet Union in a “crusade against Bolshevism.”

Under Reichsführer-SS Himmler, the Waffen-SS begins recruiting volunteers from the Germanic countries of the Netherlands and Flanders for the SS Regiment Westland, from Denmark and Norway for the Nordland regiment, and also accepts volunteers from Sweden, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein.

On the other hand, the Wehrmacht accepts volunteers from non-Germanic countries such as Poland, Wallonia, German-occupied France, and Nationalist Spain. Recruitment of volunteers form Czechia is not a priority due to the Czechs being seen as “politically unsuitable”, although some individual Czechs do fight in the German armed forces.

Polish volunteers are funneled into the 250th Infantry Division (Polish Volunteer Division), which also included several far-right leaning Polish generals such as Ignacy Oziewicz and Tadeusz Kurcyusz. Wallon volunteers, led by Chef of the Rexist Party Leon Degrelle, are funneled into Infantry Battalion 373. French volunteers are funneled into the 638th Infantry Regiment while Spanish volunteers are funneled into the 639th Infantry Regiment.

November 21, 1940: Lwow falls to the German Wehrmacht, while the Polish Soviet government goes into exile in Moscow. Much of the Polish and Ukrainian population naively views the Germans as liberators from Soviet Communism.

November 22, 1940: During the Battle of Paris, General Charels De Gaulle apprehensively celebrates his fiftieth birthday in a bunker on the outskirts of the City of Lights. General De Gaulle has long advocated for the increased use of tanks in the French Army and had proposed to the armored divisions to help relieve Paris and outflank the German armies.

November 25, 1940: Under pressure from the German and Italian governments, Prince Paul appoints Milan Stojadinović as Prime Minister of Yugoslavia, with the fascist Yugoslav Radical Union as the ruling party of Yugoslavia.

November 26, 1940: The Latvian capital of Riga falls to the German Wehrmacht.

November 30, 1940: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill celebrates his fiftieth birthday at 10 Downing Street and is looking towards the coming year of 1941 with worry yet resolve.

December 1, 1940: With the Battle for Paris raging on, the French government of President Albert Lebrun and Prime Minister Paul Raynaud temporarily relocates to Orleans.

December 3, 1940: With the fall of the Baltic states imminent, the German Wehrmacht begins an invasion of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.

December 4, 1940: The Battle of Pskov begins.

December 7, 1940: The Battle of Velikiye Luki begins.

December 10, 1940: British, French, and Soviet diplomats meet in London to discuss the possibly of greater cooperation between the Soviet Union and the Western Allies. Despite this, due to the Soviet invasions of Poland and Finland, Britain and France are reluctant to accept the Soviet Union as a member of the Allies. As a result, the USSR is an Allied Co-Belligerent.

December 13, 1940: Reickskomisariat Ostland, a German colony of the German Reich, is formed in the Baltic region with Hinrish Loshe as Reichskommissar.

December 16, 1940: Pskov falls to the German Wehrmacht.

December 19, 1940: The Estonian capital of Tallinn falls to the German Wehrmacht. With that, the Baltic states fall under German occupation.

December 21, 1940: With the beginning of the winter of 1940 and 1941, both the Western and Eastern front generate into a stalemate until the start of the spring of 1941. The Romanian-Soviet front is also a statement and has been since the start of the German-Soviet War. The Finnish-Soviet War has also degenerated into a stalemate, with Finnish soldiers, including snipers, inflicting numerous casualties on the unprepared Red Army.

December 24-December 25, 1940: On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, the German Luftwaffe begins a series of large-scale bombing raids over London and other regions of England. These Christmas bombings are considered the beginning of the Blitz and the Air Battle of Britain.

December 28, 1940: With the war against Germany and the Axis Powers, the Soviet Union signs the Armistice of Chita with the Empire of Japan. As per the terms of the Armistice, the Soviet Union cedes Vladivostok and the region of Primorskye Krai and the rest of Sakhalin and the Kuril Island to the Empire of Japan.

December 31, 1940: At the end of the 1940, two years into the war, most fronts of the war are at a stalemate. Both the Western and Eastern fronts are at a stalemate, with the Battle for Paris raging in the West and numerous battles raging in Russia. Czechia, the Low Countries, Denmark, Norway and Poland are all under German occupation, while France and the USSR are partly occupied. The Spanish Front and Spanish Civil War is also at a stalemate, as is the North African Front and the Finnish-Soviet War.

 

[TheLastKnight]

Glad to see this redux is back! Keep up the good work!

 

[Zoidberg12]

January-June, 1941: Numerous ethnic Poles are deported form the portions of Poland directly annexed to the German Reich into the Protectorate of Poland. Only Polish Volksdeutsche (Ethnic Germans) or Poles of German ancestry who opt to be Germanized are allowed to stay.

January 1, 1941: With the fall of Paris imminent in Hitler’s mind, Germany directly annexes the French province of Alsace-Lorraine.

January 10, 1941: With the Empire of Japan still at war with China and having just annexed land in the Far East of Russia, the United States of America under President Franklin D. Roosevelt announced a blockade against Japan.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

January 11, 1941: With the Soviet-Japanese Armistice and the American embargo of Japan, the Empire of Japan begins the final preparations for a campaign against the colonies of the western powers in Asia.

January 12, 1941: The Empire of Japan launches surprise invasions of French Indochina, the Philippines, the Dutch East Indies, British Hong Kong, British Malaya, Hawaii, and a few other minor targets.

During the Japanese attack, the Cavite-based Asiatic Fleet of the US Navy outside of Manilla is devastated by a surprise IJAAS attack. At Pearl Harbor, the forces of the United States Army were warned of the attack and so lose only the carrier USS Hammann, the battleship USS Oklahoma, and some fuel storage facilities.

The US Navy fleet being attacked by the IJAAS

January 13, 1941: With the Japanese aerial bombardments of Hawaii, the United States of America under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt declares war on the Empire of Japan and enters World War II, but only in the Pacific Theater.

January 19, 1941: Japan begins an invasion of British Burma from occupied French Indochina.

January 20, 1941: French forces in French Indochina surrender to the invading IJA. In spite of this, some French and colonial forces retreat into the jungle and wage a guerilla war against the Japanese occupiers along with other rebel groups such as the Socialist Viet Mihn led by Ho Chi Mihn.

Japanese troops advancing into Saigon on January 20, 1941

January 23, 1941: The IJA invades the island of Timor and attacks the Portuguese colony of Timor. Despite this, Portugal, under the Estado Novo regime of Prime Minister António de Oliveira Salazar does not join the Allies and remains neutral, mostly because Portugal does not want to fight a war against Nationalist Spain, which surrounds its entire land border. In addition, many Portuguese volunteers are fighting alongside nationalist forces in Spain.

January 24, 1941: Thailand signs an alliance with Japan and joins Axis Powers.

January 29, 1941: The IJA begins advancing throughout the Phillipine islands of Luzon and the capital city of Manila.

January 31, 1941: In an effort to prevent further death of American and Philippine soldiers and destruction of infrastructure and property, General Douglas MacArthur, the United States Military Advisor to the Philippines, declares the Philippine capital of Manila to be an open city.

Douglas MacArthur

February 1, 1941: Numerous ethnic-Frenchmen are deported from Alsace-Lorraine. Only French nationals of German ancestry and Frenchmen with German surnames who opt to be Germanized are allowed to stay.

February 3, 1941: British and Canadian forces in Hong Kong surrender to the IJA. Thus, the Battle of Hong Kong ends in a Japanese victory.

February 7, 1941: Manila falls to the IJA, while American and Philippine forces withdraw to the Bataan Peninsula and Manila Bay. The Philippine government of President Manuel Quezon temporarily moves to Cebu City.

February 8, 1941: With the Soviet-Finnish War raging on the Waffen-SS begins recruiting Finnish volunteers for a Finnish battalion of the 5th SS Division Wiking.

February 15, 1941: The Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS begin recruiting volunteers for police and auxiliary units from Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.

February 19, 1941: The 5th SS Wiking Division, consisting of the Westland and Nordland regiments and the Finnish Volunteer Battalion, is sent the frontlines of the Eastern front in Poland and Ukraine.

February 21, 1941: The Polish and Spanish volunteer formations are sent to the northern Russian front.

February 22, 1941: The Walloon volunteer battalion is sent to the Ukrainian front.

February 27, 1941: The French LVF is sent to the Byelorussian Front for anti-partisan duties.

February 28, 1941: Thailand declares war on the United States and the United Kingdom, after which the Thai army joins in the invasion of British Burma.

March 1, 1941: Vidkun Quisling is made “Forer” of the Norwegian nation in German-occupied Norway, but Quisling is mostly a figurehead with the Reichskommisar Josef Terboven as the real power Reichskomisariat Norwegen.

Vidkun Quisling

March 5, 1941: In preparation for the upcoming spring offensive against the Soviet Union, the Waffen-SS begins recruiting Germanic legions in the Netherlands, Flanders, Denmark, and Norway, the first of which is the Norwegian Legion.

March 10, 1941: The Volunteer Legion Netherlands of the Waffen-SS is established.

March 13, 1941: The Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL) officially surrenders to the IJA in Batavia. In spite of this, some Dutch and Indonesian colonial forces flee into the jungle and wage a guerilla war against the IJA.

March 14, 1941: The Flemish Legion of the Waffen-SS is established.

March 17, 1941: The Free Corps Denmark of the Waffen-SS is established.

March 20, 1941: British, Indian, Colonial Malay and ANZAC forces in Malaya surrender to the IJA. Thus, the Malay Campaign ends in a Japanese victory.

Map of the World on March 20, 1941

March 21, 1941: With the onset of spring, the German Wehrmacht and their Italian, Slovak, Hungarian and Romanian allies restart in earnest their offensive against the Soviet Union with a thrust eastwards in Byelorussia and against the Belorussian capital of Minsk.

March 23, 1941: During the German Luftwaffe bombing of Paris, the Eiffel Tower is targeted and successfully bombed, knocking the top 50 feet of the tower off and instantly killing the meteorologist on board. The photograph of the bombed Eifel Tower becomes one of the most famous pictures of the war and seen as symbolic of the failure of the French government to act decisively against German aggression.

March 29, 1941: Ioannis Metaxas, Prime Minister and dictator of Greece, dies of colon cancer in Athens. Alexandros Koryzis is appointed by King Goerge II as the new Prime Minister of Greece.

Ioannis Metaxas

April 1, 1941: All male German Jews are forced to take the middle name of Abraham, whie all female German Jews are forced to take the middle name of Sarah.

April 5, 1941: Anton Mussert, leader of the NSB, is made “Leider” of the Dutch nation in the German-occupied Netherlands, but Mussert is mostly a figurehead with the Reichskommisar Arthur Seyss-Inquart as the real power in the German-occupied Netherlands.

Anton Mussert

April 7, 1941: The German Wehrmacht, after reaching the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital of Kiev (Kyiv), begins besieging and attacking the Ukrainian capital city.

April 8, 1941: The German Army reaches Smolensk and begins attacking the city.

April 9, 1941: After months of battle, the BEF and French army evacuate the city of Dunkirk, thus the Battle of Dunkirk ends in a German victory. Nevertheless, the battle goes down as one where the heroism of the Anglo-French forces and their almost seamless evacuation to fallback lines becomes particularly famous.

April 11, 1941: Minsk falls to the German Wehrmacht.

The ruins of Minsk on April 12, 1941

April 15, 1941: In retaliation for the continued bombing of Paris and the destruction of the Eiffel Tower, the British RAF and French AAE begin large-scale bombing raids over the German city of Munster.

April 26, 1941: With the sudden death of Ioannis Metaxas, the Italian government sends an ultimatum to Greece, demanding that Greece surrender “lands with historic Italian ties” such as the Ionian Islands and Crete to Italy, as well as Thrace to Bulgaria, in exchange for being under Italian protection.

April 28, 1941: The Greek government of Prime Minister Koryzis refuses the Italian ultimatum with the simple answer of “No.”

Alexandros Koryzis

April 30, 1941: Smolensk falls to the German Wehrmacht.

 

[New Cleo Genesis]

@Zoidberg12 Henlein, not Heinlein.

 

[Antonio Ferrari]

Hey, didn’t Tunisia fall to the Italians in this timeline? Why is it still owned by France in the maps?