That strikes me as an astonishingly small advance, given how outmanned, outgunned, and just overall outmatched western ground and air forces are. Most estimates for this time place Soviet forces at reaching the Pyrenees', never mind the Rhine or Paris, after 1.5 months. The war began in July. We're in November. And the Soviets are only still in West Germany and Austria after four months? What are they doing? Sitting around and twiddling their thumbs? Why are they doing that when their doctrine tells them to strike hard and strike fast when they still have overwhelming superiority? And not in that bad of a position? The WAllies pretty much are starting in that bad of a position and they know it. This is written all over their pre-war planning...

I ended it vaguely as 'Soviets Punch Deeper into Europe' due to still needing to fill in the events of the last 4 months. The Soviet strike will be substantial though.
 
Good to know, usually a WW3 TL goes dead after a while, but hopefully not this one.
It's hard because I'm not really super knowledgeable about military stuff. I'm really trying hard to get done with writing the war. I'm really excited to write everything that comes after.
 
1948 election.png
 
CHAPTER 6: THE GROWING FLAME
CHAPTER 6
The Growing Flame

“It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it.”
Robert E. Lee

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A Torch Beside The Forest Fire

If 1939 broke the dream of a war to end all wars, 1948 completely shattered it. Not even the advent of the most destructive bomb that brought the end to the last war could deter the start of a new one. Former allies of convenience now vied for sole dominance as superpowers. Though the advent of the Third World War dominated the minds of many, it was not to be the only bloodshed to occur that year.

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The situation in the former British Mandate of Palestine escalated into an all-out war between Arabs and Jews for control over the region. Another example of the failings of the UN in the Second Interwar Period. The 1947 UN planned partition of Palestine into two Jewish and Arab states proved intolerable to the two groups who saw each other as threats. In the weeks following the May Day riots in Berlin, the British Mandate of Palestine expired and Israeli Independence was declared. This immediately led to a coalition of Arab nations led by Egypt to declare war on Israel. With the collapse of diplomacy as the Third World War began less focus was given to the middle eastern conflict, and in doing so less material shipped to either side. The Prorogation of the United Nations ended all hope of outside interference for a peaceful end to the conflict.
While initial numbers placed Jewish forces with a numerical advantage, over the course of 1948 the Arabs had built up more forces, and applied pressure prevented the Jews from reorganizing. After several failed offenses by the IDF to recapture territory connecting Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, supply lines began to grow thin and cause cracks in their own defenses. By October Egyptian Forces, and the Arab Legion were breaking through the Israeli line at multiple points leading to the fall of Jerusalem. With the last Israeli holdings on the coast, many Jews began to see the writing on the wall and started to seek refuge beyond the sea (mostly to America). The State of Israel would cease to exist before the winter came. Only lasting for around half a year.
Organizations such as Lehi, and Irgun would go on to fight a long-drawn-out guerilla campaign against the victorious Arab forces. The Arab countries would later use this as an excuse to divide Palestine between themselves to ‘stabilize’ the region, ending the dream of a free Palestine.

DqDETpaGsSWlfuotjaJANlh87Sdk8xENSAIyHavU8xI-EOr63SSJRhLq4oPehCY0yxbBXALC4Wn60AoclQFwb_iw9hCAm4OoDsFcdLlet9xzGy_PUBC-yzjLnNvq2rfSRzipuMPV


GERMANIA FALLING

The Soviet offensive in the summer and fall of 1948 was often referred to as the Red Blitz throughout Europe. Like the German offensives in the last war, speed and a well-equipped force cut through the Allies' less prepared defenses. The idea that a war could start so close to the last largely shocked the western world who was more in a state of rebuilding. The Soviets on the other hand were still on the upswing of their efforts of industrialization and military growth since the last war. It's in this period that the Allies try desperately to keep a hold on the continent.

By late fall Austria had already fallen and most of Germany too. The allies were still trying to stop the bleeding as much as possible and just hold till more personal, and guns could be shipped to the continent. Most of the fighting currently had been trying to hold the Lowlands, and Denmark just a bit longer before their inevitable fall. I had been stationed out in the Rhineland with the rest of the newly integrated 12th Field Artillery battalion. While everyone was a bit uneasy about the mixed racial composition at first, all it took was a week to realize we were all in this together. Didn’t matter what color you were if the reds were gonna kill you all the same.
I came to befriend a young man by the name of John Ashbrook from Ohio. He had been in college and decided to volunteer when the war broke out. We both had an interest in government and would discuss it in the few moments available to us. Although we came from different worlds and obviously had different views, we developed mutual respect.

As the Soviets kept pushing through what was left of Germany in the winter of 1948 we would be surrounded and captured. Brought to what they had called a prisoner of war camp. Which was nothing more than cold abandoned horse stalls. It quickly would turn from a prison to an execution chamber as the guards of the facility heard the news of the Allied Victory stopping the Soviet Offensive and pushing it back slightly outside of Aachen. While we had no idea what the commotion was at the time, we feared for our lives. Many young men died that day. including John, he helped stage a prison break and sacrificed himself so the rest of us could escape into the white haze of snow. The rest of the men and myself walked through the freezing cold till we were eventually brought in by a German family and taken care of till we were able to return to allied lines in the Spring of 1949.
  • Congressman Charles B. Rangel’s Surviving Inferno: Living and Fighting through the Third World War, Joinmeyer and Son Books, 1992​
KSHMYtk-knV5qKtu2uDQ1Mvbg9SK2Alnn_EU9Vx9bFXarpey1Ec0kz3l8oVBYhvrSr-WNjd0lJZqm_sVVGChEwJ8qX2qYXiNct-gvc4vClGbenbgGmIKos7i_McKAxgvOqhHDx7E


-

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Karl Renner’s New Job

As Austria came under total Soviet domination one familiar face would continue his hold on power: Karl Renner. A peculiar man whose destiny became so intertwined with that of Austria itself. A founder of the First Republic, he would later go on to push for Hitler’s Anschluss and eventually go on to declare its independence from that regime. Stalin saw this as his easiest appointment because it had already been made since the Second World War ended. Karl Renner would no longer be President of the Second Austrian Republic but resume the role of Chancellor (Leopold Figl would flee to nearby Italy). Renner would become the new head figure of the Austrian puppet regime, The Austrian Democratic Socialist Republic or Österreichische Demokratische Sozialistische Republik.

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THE ITALIAN SITUATION

While Germany fell to the Soviet onslaught, the Allied powers held in Po Valley. The most pressing problem they faced though wasn't the threat of the next Soviet offensive but that of Italian Partisans. Regions of Northern Italy with high levels of socialists were beginning to break down as socialist politicians began to be arrested for questioning the validity of the election last April. Many socialist leaders such as Palmiro Togliatti had already fled to Soviet Occupied Austria near the start of the war. Therewith other Italian Communists, he declared The People's Republic of Italy swearing to liberate Italy to its people just as Garibaldi once did.

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When it was ultimately realized that the position was too unstable to hold for much longer the Allies opted to begin planning for a network of resistance fighters in the north of Italy and began training for that event. This would ultimately come to be known as Operation Crosier. Many of these operations would be established throughout Europe in the case of Soviet occupation.

Eventually in the winter of 1948-49 socialist uprisings in Bologna, and Milan coupled with Soviet Offenses on the Po would cause the Allies to retreat south to Florence, and west to Turin.



UNLEASHING AMERICA

The Election of Harold Stassen was incredibly unique as it was the first time in US history that someone had defeated an incumbent wartime President in an election. While many Republican pundits had expected and prepared for Truman to give his successor the cold shoulder he did quite the opposite. Harry Truman learned the hard way the surprises of suddenly becoming President, and would after the election frequently meet with President-Elect Stassen to provide for a smooth transfer of power.

-

During one meeting after discussing the war effort and short mention of MacArthur, the now somewhat wiser Truman looked to Harold and spoke.

“ ...Harold, if there is one bit of advice above all others I got for you it would be to remember that you got a sword above you at all times in the oval office. That sword will fall on you faster than a speeding bullet if you forget that you must always be the bigger man, don't let anyone else think they're the ones in charge except perhaps your wife. I always said the buck stops here, and that's because where else will it? If not here?”

“Well certainly not Congress, I'm sure.” cracked the President-Elect

The two of them shared a laugh.

“See you're already getting it.”

-


Harold Stassen’s great task of building a cabinet at such a crisis point had not been seen since 1932. Stassen had to balance new and old, liberal and conservative. He had to use any resource he could to create not only an effective administration but an effective wartime government. The first three were already decided in advance. Ed Larson, Stassen’s right-hand man would become Chief of Staff. Thomas Dewey, Stassen’s former rival, and ticket header in 1944 would be selected to run the Justice Department. John Foster Dulles would run the state department, a role he pigeonholed himself into regardless of who the next Republican president would be. James Forrestal would stay at the new Defense Department, as a holdover. Osro Cobb, a friend of Stassen’s and Republican from the south, would be placed at Interior. James Mitchell would be recalled from working for the Army in Europe to join the administration as Labor Secretary. California Congressman Charles K. Fletcher would be appointed to Commerce. Montana Congressman Wesley A. D'Ewart would be appointed to Agriculture. Maine Governor Horace Hildreth would be appointed to Treasury.
Stassen made a point to appoint capable territorial governors for Hawaii, and Alaska who he would direct to ready both for statehood by 1950.
Somewhat controversially Stassen chose to appoint President Hoover to a cabinet-level position The Special Assistant to the President on Reorganization. Stassen hoped this would, even if still not well-liked due to the great depression, rehabilitate Hoover and exude stability in a time of such global chaos.

THE STASSEN ADMINISTRATION

President - Harold Stassen
Vice President - Earl Warren
Chief of Staff - Ed Larson
Secretary of State - John Foster Dulles
Secretary of the Treasury - Horace Hildreth
Secretary of Defense - James Forrestal
Attorney General - Thomas Dewey
Secretary of the Interior - Osro Cobb
Secretary of Agriculture - Wesley A. D'Ewart
Secretary of Commerce - Charles K. Fletcher
Secretary of Labor - James Mitchell
Governor of the Territory of Alaska - B. Frank Heintzleman
Governor of the Territory of Hawaii - Samuel King
Special Assistant to the President on Reorganization - Herbert Hoover

-

Stassen gazed across the cold morning sky in the capital. It was already inauguration day, and the already great pressure had compounded. He began his presidential run during peace and was catapulted towards the Presidency by the war. America had chosen him for none of the reasons or qualities he started his campaign on. They chose him not as a diplomat, but as their champion. It was as if a pebble had knocked everything into place out of pure luck. At 41 He would be the youngest president in US history beating the record of his hero Theodore Roosevelt. He had always been quick to the punch, and he credited it to that. He breathed in and closed his eyes and thought about his life. His parents, his hometown, his wife, his children. He re-lived it all and acknowledged his journey so far. He had come far, but there was more left to do. When he opened his eyes he walked to the podium.

“Preserve, protect, and defend the constitution of the United States”

“So help you, God”

“So help me God.”

“My fellow citizens, we are in the midst of yet another great challenge. So soon we find ourselves fighting again for the liberties of the human race. Let this tragic war steel our commitment to our founding doctrines and compassion for our fellow men no matter their circumstances. Let this like any other crisis be treated as if it were our final trial before God himself-”

“-Our world is in the process of a great change that we must be at the forefront of. In this conflict and beyond we must guide and work with nations new and old to eventually create a world our grandchildren will be thankful for. I was there when we signed the doctrine for the United Nations, and so help me god we will rebuild it stronger.”

“-We as a nation must lead by example for the world to see. Let no citizen in our great nation go without his God-given rights. Let no piece of our nation go unrepresented. We shall, before this decade is through, provide statehood for those territories who seek it.”

“-The victory we seek is not just against our enemies, but against the folly of man’s primitive tribalism. The Victory we seek will not be found just through the barrel of a gun but through the hearts and minds of man. Let us be the generation that our descendant's hundreds of years from now look back on with appreciation and respect for not only winning these wars but winning the peace that follows!”

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A SHADOW OVER THE GLOBE

One of the first things that President Stassen would do in office would be to commit to protecting the Republic of China from Communist forces in Northern China. Going against the previous Marshall doctrine when dealing with the situation in China, Stassen argued that China could not fall to Communism during the global conflict.

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The new President would get into contact with Li Zongren who assumed the Office of President the same day Stassen did. America would begin to send advisors, planes, and most importantly supplies. In return, Li Zongren would promise to implement reforms that Stassen suggested could swing opinions in China. The two new Presidents agreed to keep a consistent channel of communications, essentially making China another one of the big allied powers. Stassen was personally excited having grown a disliking of Chang Kai Shek after reading about the events in China that year, and his history before it. Chang to him was a man with too big of an ego to effectively govern.

-

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Stassen would also respond to the refugee crisis in Palestine by using the crisis to solve several other problems. Jews were not interested in returning to Europe, especially as it became consumed in war again. Stassen would work with the Republican majorities in the House and Senate to create a refugee bill for refugees affected by the fall of the short lived State of Israel, and Jewish refugees fleeing from the Soviets in Europe. The bill would create a program for settlement in The Territory of Alaska where refugees could live for 10 years before gaining citizenship. While some politicians in congress voiced opposition, President Stassen would not relent stating:

“No people have gone through such a trial, as the Jewish people this century. All they wish is to live in peace, in a place they feel safe. Our country has been the home to so many refugees. My mother was an Immigrant, as were my father's parents in fact. Let me remind you all that Lady Liberty lifts her lamp beside a golden door, which should never be locked.”

The Alaska Refugee Act would go on to be passed with added goals of not only increasing Alaska’s population with the goal of Statehood in 1950 in mind but helping further develop the area as a whole. Funding for the territory would rise higher as well due to its strategic location near the Soviet Union. Shortly afterward the first refugees would begin the long journey to their new homes.

-

President Stassen, and Secretary Dulles would begin working with France behind the scenes on what Stassen referred to as Project Precaution. It would be to work with the Việt Minh, and other native leaders in Indochina on a peaceful path to independence. Which would better alleviate strain on France, and prevent another front in the war.

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While still communist, Stassen believed that the Việt Minh and Hồ Chí Minh most of all just wanted independence and if given it would stay within the sphere of influence.

-

By early Summer of 1949 reports would come out about a possible outcropping of the plague in the Philippines. The story would be largely buried by the war, and many Filipino officials overlooked the reports as their fight against Communist insurgents grew, and they continued sending expeditionary forces to China.

-

In one of Stassen’s most significant actions in his first 100 days he would approve General LeMay’s request for his proposed Operation Moonscape. The plan would increase the development and production of tactical, and strategic bombers. LeMay’s plan would call for thousands of bombers to be deployed around the world for what he called ‘Density Bombings’ of all types to destroy enemy supply chains, infrastructure, and most of all morale.

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The General would constantly ask and sometimes beg for the President to use atom bombs, seeing them as just another payload to be dropped out of a bomber. Stassen would deny the use of atomics, going so far as to put his foot down on the issue stating that atomic bombs would only be used in the direst situations.
 
Last edited:

ferdi254

Banned
Moral bombing.... the USA is showing that learning even the hard way from drastic failures does not work in all cases.
 
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The
CHAPTER 6
The Growing Flame

“It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it.”
Robert E. Lee

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A Torch Beside The Forest Fire

If 1939 broke the dream of a war to end all wars, 1948 completely shattered it. Not even the advent of the most destructive bomb that brought the end to the last war could deter the start of a new one. Former allies of convenience now vied for sole dominance as superpowers. Though the advent of the Third World War dominated the minds of many, it was not to be the only bloodshed to occur that year.

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The situation in the former British Mandate of Palestine escalated into an all-out war between Arabs and Jews for control over the region. Another example of the failings of the UN in the Second Interwar Period. The 1947 UN planned partition of Palestine into two Jewish and Arab states proved intolerable to the two groups who saw each other as threats. In the weeks following the May Day riots in Berlin, the British Mandate of Palestine expired and Israeli Independence was declared. This immediately led to a coalition of Arab nations led by Egypt to declare war on Israel. With the collapse of diplomacy as the Third World War began less focus was given to the middle eastern conflict, and in doing so less material shipped to either side. The Prorogation of the United Nations ended all hope of outside interference for a peaceful end to the conflict.
While initial numbers placed Jewish forces with a numerical advantage, over the course of 1948 the Arabs had built up more forces, and applied pressure prevented the Jews from reorganizing. After several failed offenses by the IDF to recapture territory connecting Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, supply lines began to grow thin and cause cracks in their own defenses. By October Egyptian Forces, and the Arab Legion were breaking through the Israeli line at multiple points leading to the fall of Jerusalem. With the last Israeli holdings on the coast, many Jews began to see the writing on the wall and started to seek refuge beyond the sea (mostly to America). The State of Israel would cease to exist before the winter came. Only lasting for around half a year.
Organizations such as Lehi, and Irgun would go on to fight a long-drawn-out guerilla campaign against the victorious Arab forces. The Arab countries would later use this as an excuse to divide Palestine between themselves to ‘stabilize’ the region, ending the dream of a free Palestine.

DqDETpaGsSWlfuotjaJANlh87Sdk8xENSAIyHavU8xI-EOr63SSJRhLq4oPehCY0yxbBXALC4Wn60AoclQFwb_iw9hCAm4OoDsFcdLlet9xzGy_PUBC-yzjLnNvq2rfSRzipuMPV


GERMANIA FALLING

The Soviet offensive in the summer and fall of 1948 was often referred to as the Red Blitz throughout Europe. Like the German offensives in the last war, speed and a well-equipped force cut through the Allies' less prepared defenses. The idea that a war could start so close to the last largely shocked the western world who was more in a state of rebuilding. The Soviets on the other hand were still on the upswing of their efforts of industrialization and military growth since the last war. It's in this period that the Allies try desperately to keep a hold on the continent.

By late fall Austria had already fallen and most of Germany too. The allies were still trying to stop the bleeding as much as possible and just hold till more personal, and guns could be shipped to the continent. Most of the fighting currently had been trying to hold the Lowlands, and Denmark just a bit longer before their inevitable fall. I had been stationed out in the Rhineland with the rest of the newly integrated 12th Field Artillery battalion. While everyone was a bit uneasy about the mixed racial composition at first, all it took was a week to realize we were all in this together. Didn’t matter what color you were if the reds were gonna kill you all the same.
I came to befriend a young man by the name of John Ashbrook from Ohio. He had been in college and decided to volunteer when the war broke out. We both had an interest in government and would discuss it in the few moments available to us. Although we came from different worlds and obviously had different views, we developed mutual respect.

As the Soviets kept pushing through what was left of Germany in the winter of 1948 we would be surrounded and captured. Brought to what they had called a prisoner of war camp. Which was nothing more than cold abandoned horse stalls. It quickly would turn from a prison to an execution chamber as the guards of the facility heard the news of the Allied Victory stopping the Soviet Offensive and pushing it back slightly outside of Aachen. While we had no idea what the commotion was at the time, we feared for our lives. Many young men died that day. including John, he helped stage a prison break and sacrificed himself so the rest of us could escape into the white haze of snow. The rest of the men and myself walked through the freezing cold till we were eventually brought in by a German family and taken care of till we were able to return to allied lines in the Spring of 1949.
  • Congressman Charles B. Rangel’s Surviving Inferno: Living and Fighting through the Third World War, Joinmeyer and Son Books, 1992​
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-

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Karl Renner’s New Job

As Austria came under total Soviet domination one familiar face would continue his hold on power: Karl Renner. A peculiar man whose destiny became so intertwined with that of Austria itself. A founder of the First Republic, he would later go on to push for Hitler’s Anschluss and eventually go on to declare its independence from that regime. Stalin saw this as his easiest appointment because it had already been made since the Second World War ended. Karl Renner would no longer be President of the Second Austrian Republic but resume the role of Chancellor (Leopold Figl would flee to nearby Italy). Renner would become the new head figure of the Austrian puppet regime, The Austrian Democratic Socialist Republic or Österreichische Demokratische Sozialistische Republik.

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THE ITALIAN SITUATION

While Germany fell to the Soviet onslaught, the Allied powers held in Po Valley. The most pressing problem they faced though wasn't the threat of the next Soviet offensive but that of Italian Partisans. Regions of Northern Italy with high levels of socialists were beginning to break down as socialist politicians began to be arrested for questioning the validity of the election last April. Many socialist leaders such as Palmiro Togliatti had already fled to Soviet Occupied Austria near the start of the war. Therewith other Italian Communists, he declared The People's Republic of Italy swearing to liberate Italy to its people just as Garibaldi once did.

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When it was ultimately realized that the position was too unstable to hold for much longer the Allies opted to begin planning for a network of resistance fighters in the north of Italy and began training for that event. This would ultimately come to be known as Operation Crosier. Many of these operations would be established throughout Europe in the case of Soviet occupation.

Eventually in the winter of 1948-49 socialist uprisings in Bologna, and Milan coupled with Soviet Offenses on the Po would cause the Allies to retreat south to Florence, and west to Turin.



UNLEASHING AMERICA

The Election of Harold Stassen was incredibly unique as it was the first time in US history that someone had defeated an incumbent wartime President in an election. While many Republican pundits had expected and prepared for Truman to give his successor the cold shoulder he did quite the opposite. Harry Truman learned the hard way the surprises of suddenly becoming President, and would after the election frequently meet with President-Elect Stassen to provide for a smooth transfer of power.

-

During one meeting after discussing the war effort and short mention of MacArthur, the now somewhat wiser Truman looked to Harold and spoke.

“ ...Harold, if there is one bit of advice above all others I got for you it would be to remember that you got a sword above you at all times in the oval office. That sword will fall on you faster than a speeding bullet if you forget that you must always be the bigger man, don't let anyone else think they're the ones in charge except perhaps your wife. I always said the buck stops here, and that's because where else will it? If not here?”

“Well certainly not Congress, I'm sure.” cracked the President-Elect

The two of them shared a laugh.

“See you're already getting it.”

-


Harold Stassen’s great task of building a cabinet at such a crisis point had not been seen since 1932. Stassen had to balance new and old, liberal and conservative. He had to use any resource he could to create not only an effective administration but an effective wartime government. The first three were already decided in advance. Ed Larson, Stassen’s right-hand man would become Chief of Staff. Thomas Dewey, Stassen’s former rival, and ticket header in 1944 would be selected to run the Justice Department. John Foster Dulles would run the state department, a role he pigeonholed himself into regardless of who the next Republican president would be. James Forrestal would stay at the new Defense Department, as a holdover. Osro Cobb, a friend of Stassen’s and Republican from the south, would be placed at Interior. James Mitchell would be recalled from working for the Army in Europe to join the administration as Labor Secretary. California Congressman Charles K. Fletcher would be appointed to Commerce. Montana Congressman Wesley A. D'Ewart would be appointed to Agriculture. Maine Governor Horace Hildreth would be appointed to Treasury.
Stassen made a point to appoint capable territorial governors for Hawaii, and Alaska who he would direct to ready both for statehood by 1950.
Somewhat controversially Stassen chose to appoint President Hoover to a cabinet-level position The Special Assistant to the President on Reorganization. Stassen hoped this would, even if still not well-liked due to the great depression, rehabilitate Hoover and exude stability in a time of such global chaos.

THE STASSEN ADMINISTRATION

President - Harold Stassen
Vice President - Earl Warren
Chief of Staff - Ed Larson
Secretary of State - John Foster Dulles
Secretary of the Treasury - Horace Hildreth
Secretary of Defense - James Forrestal
Attorney General - Thomas Dewey
Secretary of the Interior - Osro Cobb
Secretary of Agriculture - Wesley A. D'Ewart
Secretary of Commerce - Charles K. Fletcher
Secretary of Labor - James Mitchell
Governor of the Territory of Alaska - B. Frank Heintzleman
Governor of the Territory of Hawaii - Samuel King
Special Assistant to the President on Reorganization - Herbert Hoover

-

Stassen gazed across the cold morning sky in the capital. It was already inauguration day, and the already great pressure had compounded. He began his presidential run during peace and was catapulted towards the Presidency by the war. America had chosen him for none of the reasons or qualities he started his campaign on. They chose him not as a diplomat, but as their champion. It was as if a pebble had knocked everything into place out of pure luck. At 41 He would be the youngest president in US history beating the record of his hero Theodore Roosevelt. He had always been quick to the punch, and he credited it to that. He breathed in and closed his eyes and thought about his life. His parents, his hometown, his wife, his children. He re-lived it all and acknowledged his journey so far. He had come far, but there was more left to do. When he opened his eyes he walked to the podium.

“Preserve, protect, and defend the constitution of the United States”

“So help you, God”

“So help me God.”

“My fellow citizens, we are in the midst of yet another great challenge. So soon we find ourselves fighting again for the liberties of the human race. Let this tragic war steel our commitment to our founding doctrines and compassion for our fellow men no matter their circumstances. Let this like any other crisis be treated as if it were our final trial before God himself-”

“-Our world is in the process of a great change that we must be at the forefront of. In this conflict and beyond we must guide and work with nations new and old to eventually create a world our grandchildren will be thankful for. I was there when we signed the doctrine for the United Nations, and so help me god we will rebuild it stronger.”

“-We as a nation must lead by example for the world to see. Let no citizen in our great nation go without his God-given rights. Let no piece of our nation go unrepresented. We shall, before this decade is through, provide statehood for those territories who seek it.”

“-The victory we seek is not just against our enemies, but against the folly of man’s primitive tribalism. The Victory we seek will not be found just through the barrel of a gun but through the hearts and minds of man. Let us be the generation that our descendant's hundreds of years from now look back on with appreciation and respect for not only winning these wars but winning the peace that follows!”

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A SHADOW OVER THE GLOBE

One of the first things that President Stassen would do in office would be to commit to protecting the Republic of China from Communist forces in Northern China. Going against the previous Marshall doctrine when dealing with the situation in China, Stassen argued that China could not fall to Communism during the global conflict.

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The new President would get into contact with Li Zongren who assumed the Office of President the same day Stassen did. America would begin to send advisors, planes, and most importantly supplies. In return, Li Zongren would promise to implement reforms that Stassen suggested could swing opinions in China. The two new Presidents agreed to keep a consistent channel of communications, essentially making China another one of the big allied powers. Stassen was personally excited having grown a disliking of Chang Kai Shek after reading about the events in China that year, and his history before it. Chang to him was a man with too big of an ego to effectively govern.

-

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Stassen would also respond to the refugee crisis in Palestine by using the crisis to solve several other problems. Jews were not interested in returning to Europe, especially as it became consumed in war again. Stassen would work with the Republican majorities in the House and Senate to create a refugee bill for refugees affected by the fall of the short lived State of Israel, and Jewish refugees fleeing from the Soviets in Europe. The bill would create a program for settlement in The Territory of Alaska where refugees could live for 10 years before gaining citizenship. While some politicians in congress voiced opposition, President Stassen would not relent stating:

“No people have gone through such a trial, as the Jewish people this century. All they wish is to live in peace, in a place they feel safe. Our country has been the home to so many refugees. My mother was an Immigrant, as were my father's parents in fact. Let me remind you all that Lady Liberty lifts her lamp beside a golden door, which should never be locked.”

The Alaska Refugee Act would go on to be passed with added goals of not only increasing Alaska’s population with the goal of Statehood in 1950 in mind but helping further develop the area as a whole. Funding for the territory would rise higher as well due to its strategic location near the Soviet Union. Shortly afterward the first refugees would begin the long journey to their new homes.

-

President Stassen, and Secretary Dulles would begin working with France behind the scenes on what Stassen referred to as Project Precaution. It would be to work with the Việt Minh, and other native leaders in Indochina on a peaceful path to independence. Which would better alleviate strain on France, and prevent another front in the war.

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While still communist, Stassen believed that the Việt Minh and Hồ Chí Minh most of all just wanted independence and if given it would stay within the sphere of influence.

-

By early Summer of 1949 reports would come out about a possible outcropping of the plague in the Philippines. The story would be largely buried by the war, and many Filipino officials overlooked the reports as their fight against Communist insurgents grew, and they continued sending expeditionary forces to China.

-

In one of Stassen’s most significant actions in his first 100 days he would approve General LeMay’s request for his proposed Operation Moonscape. The plan would increase the development and production of tactical, and strategic bombers. LeMay’s plan would call for thousands of bombers to be deployed around the world for what he called ‘Density Bombings’ of all types to destroy enemy supply chains, infrastructure, and most of all morale.

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The General would constantly ask and sometimes beg for the President to use atom bombs, seeing them as just another payload to be dropped out of a bomber. Stassen would deny the use of atomics, going so far as to put his foot down on the issue stating that atomic bombs would only be used in the direst situations.
The unraveling events is interesting. Waiting for the future updates
 
Notes, and of course The Third World War
Notes from the Author

Hey everyone, I am sure you are somewhat surprised that I am bringing this back with a time skip, but it is the best thing for this story and timeline. UNSUNKEN SUN was always supposed to be about how the world would deal with the consequences of a bloody Third World War. I am not a good war writer, to be honest, and it was very hard to write those early chapters. I have decided to resume this project which has been brewing in my mind for a very long time. The story will now resume after the war’s conclusion. The writing style will also slightly change, becoming much more chronological, taking inspiration from Gap80’s wonderful Kentucky Fried Politics timeline. Additional hope for this timeline to be a very graphic experience as well with me designing for example logos, flags, and materials to the best of my ability how they would appropriately appear.

I will provide a skeleton of events for the war below to start things off.

WW3

The start of the Third World War much more resembled the start of the First, rather than the Second.
Internal tensions and chaos would push the world over the edge and the superpowers on a collision course. What started the Berlin May Day Riots and the Airlift Catastrophe is still unknown though the general blame is put on the now-deceased Josef Stalin, and the Soviet Union.

The war would last just a few days short of 4 years and would end with both sides being scorched by the fire of atom bombs. The United States led by the young President Harold Stassen would lead the Western Allies (later the Brussels Pact) to victory against the Soviet Union, and their satellite states. While much of the War was spent in Europe, Asia (especially China), and the Middle East were both important fronts of the conflict.

-EUROPE-

Europe faced perhaps the harshest devastation of the War. The first year and a half of the war went largely in the Soviet Union’s favor with them conquering most of Germany, Austria, Denmark, The Netherlands, Greece, and large chunks of Belgium, and Northern Italy. With each inch of sovereign land, they conquered they would create the skeleton of a new Red Regime across the continent. It was in 1950 when the red tide began to be pushed back. This came following the unintentional murder of Crown Princess Elizabeth and her 1-year-old child Charles by Soviet Bombers who drifted off course of a bombing run in England and caught the Princess, and her child while they were traveling by mere coincidence. The following period of Allied victories that led to the retaking of the west bank of the Rhine would be labeled “Elizabeth’s Revenge”.

babycharles.jpg


The War would come to unite Western Europe greatly as General Eisenhower’s Volunteer Army of Germany, and later Army of Europe would become a multicultural fighting force that contributed to the liberation of Germany, and Central Europe. As the tide began to shift, Stalin would hasten the Soviet Union’s nuclear program and began work to once more defend Eastern Europe. Poland and the last bits of Eastern Germany would prove to hold tightly. The focus of the allies would turn south aiming at liberating Austria, and Greece.

Georgi Dimitrov, and Josep Tito


The Allied landings in Greece would come to represent a tidal shift in the war. Landings from British and American troops based in Allied Crete and Cyprus would quickly reconnect with monarchists and other anti-communist fighters in Greece to liberate Athens from the KKE. With a new front opening in the Balkans, and the Soviets losing ground in Europe, and the Middle East, many leaders on the left began to believe that the Soviets would be pushed back to Russia. One such leader was the leader of neutral Yugoslavia Josef Tito who saw this pivotal moment as potential to both secure safety for Southern Slavs, and distance himself from Soviet Communism. Tito would begin the now-famous Macedonia plot by secretly reaching out to the leader of Bulgaria Georgi Dimitrov, and Albanian Minister of the Interior Koçi Xoxe. While Dimitrov had long known Stalin, he too began to see the cracks forming on the Soviets side of the war. The plot would effectively have Yugoslavia declare war on the Soviets citing harassment on its national sovereignty. At the same time the Albanian and Bulgarian governments would carry out a large crackdown citing Yugoslavian influence but in actuality would lead to mass arrests of NKVD and Soviet officials. This would lead to a coup against Hoxha in Albania, and a self-coup for Dimitrov in Bulgaria. This would end in each country welcoming in Yugoslavian troops, and later Allied troops in exchange for Greek Macedonia, pardons for any involvement with the Soviet war effort, and most importantly the right to form a South Slavic Union.

The Macedonian Plot sent shockwaves throughout the whole world. While some of the Western Allies did not want to formulate any relations with communists saving their own skin, the strategic advantage it brought was too large to ignore. The Soviets were outraged, and it reportedly drove Stalin mad that Tito had not only betrayed him but stabbed a knife in the back of Communism. The Allies would later retake Istanbul and enter the Black Sea where one of the most daring campaigns of the war would take place: The Crimea Campaign. Allied troops wanted to establish a zone of control in the Black Sea to use as a base of operations against the Soviets in Eastern Europe, Ukraine, and the Caucuses. The battle would be hard-fought but lead to a triumphant allied victory in core Soviet territory. This would follow with more victories in the Balkans, and the Allies entering both Ukraine and the Caucuses.

One of the greatest hindrances to the Soviets was the taste of freedom within its occupied zones. Since the last war there had still been resistance in its territories such as the Forest Brothers in the Baltics, and several holdovers in its satellite state such as monarchist in Romania. Even those with connections to the old White Movement before the Soviet Union participated in holding the bear down little by little. The Western Allies and their intelligence agencies would work with these organizations covertly, and especially with their own leave behind resistance groups in land occupied by the Soviets in the initial red blitz through Europe. These groups and their leaders would prove to be quite influential following the War and honored for their resistance to the Soviet Union.

In January of 1952 the Soviets would send strongly worded demands for an armistice and a return to the prewar borders, or else the allies would face dire consequences. The allied response was that there would be no return to the prewar borders and that any negotiated peace would include the liberation of all governments conquered since 1936 by the Soviet Union. Seeing their demands ignored, Stalin would order the most infamous action of the War: Operation Nyet. The Soviet Airforce while small was making great strides when it came to adapting former lend-lease plane designs to their domestic equivalents during the war. One of the key adaptions to such Bombers was being able to carry atomic payloads. Operation Nyet would occur on February 7th in the early morning with over a dozen nuclear-armed bombing squadrons taking off from Soviet-held Bornholm. While many squadrons were stopped before they could hit their targets (the most significant missed target being Amsterdam) Operation Nyet was unfortunately very successful and led to a record amount of casualties in the war.

sovietatombomb.jpg


Cities hit by Operation Nyet
Paris, France
Lille, France
Le Havre, France
London, United Kingdom
Norwich, United Kingdom
Brussels, Belgium
Antwerp, Belgium
Rotterdam, Netherlands
Bremen, Germany
Cologne, Germany
Dusseldorf, Germany
Essen, Germany


This attack signaled a new deadly stage in the war that most were hoping to avoid. The war had gone nuclear and resulted in incomprehensible destruction. It also became all too clear that the Soviets were not able to be negotiated with any longer and all hope for a negotiated peace was thrown out the door. The Western Allies now demanded total capitulation. Retaliation would quickly follow and with the Western Allies authorizing the Atomic bombing of the Soviet Union. The British in fact would be the first ones to retaliate, a simple wish granted to them by the United States. An RAF nuclear-armed bomber squadron would take off from Cyprus and later hit the city with Stalin’s own name: Stalingrad. The United States and the Soviet Union would begin using the bombs tactically against each other driving up the casualties for the last months of the war. By May 1st, 1952 4 years since the May Day Riots the Western Allies have cleared most Soviets' forces from Europe, and are progressing slowly to Moscow when news of Stalin’s death emerges. This greatly demoralizes the Red Army and great gains are made for the allies. On June 1st the United States and its allies would issue the Nicosia Declaration, demanding the unconditional surrender of the Soviet Union or face the total destruction of its motherland. The Soviet Government did not produce a clear unified response with the newly declared leader Levrenty Beria silent on the matter. On June 8th a bombing squadron famously led by pilots George McGovern, and Barry Goldwater would drop the world's first thermonuclear bomb on the military research city of Obnisnk near Moscow to show what would follow if they did not further comply. What followed was the unexpected Red Army coup d’etat led by Georgy Zhukov that decapitated the Soviet Government and killed the interim leader Beria. Zhukov would then order all troops across the nation to stand down and declare unconditional surrender to the Western Allies. With the fighting officially ending on June 28th.

ivymike.jpg


-MIDDLE EAST-

The war in the Middle East would come following both the Arab victory against the short-lived Israeli state, and the slowing of the red blitz in Europe. Stalin would declare war on Turkey late in 1949 with the aim of dominating the middle east and stripping the western allies of a major source of oil. The surprise invasion from the Soviet border was followed by attacks from their forces in Thrace, and the Black Sea. The Soviets would make good process in both Eastern Turkey and Anatolia. The Soviets would go on to establish a military zone for an eventual Kurdish State as well.

As 1949 drifted into 1950 the Turkish Government would relocate to Antalya in southern Turkey and hold out there as the Allies would reinforce. Stalin still hoping to cut off oil lines would expand the war as Soviet troops entered Northern Iraq, and Syria under the pretexts of aiding a Kurdish rebellion led by Soviet ally Mustafa Barzani. The Soviet war effort would largely falter after the initial advance due to the surprising united effort of the Arab League. In 1951 the allied offensive in Turkey, the liberation of southern Greece and Yugoslavia joining the war against the Soviet Union would cause the Soviets to retreat from the Middle East with the Arab nations claiming victory. This would largely humiliate the Soviet war effort having lost to technologically inferior desert tribesmen.

arabs.jpg


-EAST ASIA-

The East Asian theatre of the war would mark the second time that China’s civil war intertwined with a global conflict. It would ultimately become one of the bloodiest fronts in the war. While it was a stated goal of the Truman administration to keep the war in Europe, and explicitly out of China he would come to face opposition from the now Stassen-led GOP, and most importantly Douglas MacArthur. His opposition to taking sides in the Chinese Civil War largely came from George Marshall’s dislike of Chang Kai Shek and his distaste for the whole conflict from his previous unsuccessful mission to China. General MacArthur would largely influence events in the early months of the war that would lead to US involvement in Asia. A great shock to the international community was the Philippines firmly allying with the Nanjing regime, an act that would have grave consequences.

The War in Korea would follow a similar note to Germany, as it would start with rival governments being created by each superpower to fight each other. As the war in Germany as well the Soviets would initially succeed through their sheer manpower advantage. By New Year’s Day 1949 the Soviets had overrun the peninsula, with the South Korean government and allied forces retreating to Japan and Jeju.

When Stassen entered office he declared a new phase of the war in his inaugural speech. He would put this new phase into motion by reaching out to a newly inaugurated president of the Republic of China, Li Zongren. President Stassen would set up a direct line of communication and seeing as Korea had been recently lost would work together to avoid communist domination of Asia. Stassen would leverage support with what he referred to as ‘strategic reforms’. While the young President knew that this was essentially America forcing changes on other countries he deemed that some reforms were necessary to advance the war effort. These would largely apply to the situation in China, and sometimes even to its European allies such as France, which he would strong-arm into giving Indochina more Autonomy to appease the Chinese and prevent another communist guerilla campaign. WWIII would truly engulf China when communist forces gunned down a group of US Marines stationed in Tsingtao. The so-called Tsingtao massacre would lead to both Chinese governments firmly falling into opposing sides of the war. America would provide countless advisors, materials, and supplies to help maintain the Nanjing regime's war effort. The US Military would even assist China in modernizing its airforce and infrastructure to better fight the war against the Communists.

One of the most infamous moments of the Asian theatre of the war was of course what would later be labeled as the Filipino Tragedy. In 1948 the Philippine Government took a hard stance against the PKP (the Philippine Communist Party) and officially outlawed the party after it saw an insurrection growing. This and the Philippine government's involvement in Chinese Nationalists' fight against the Communists in their own civil war led to the formation of the People's Liberation Army (Hukbong Mapagpalaya ng Bayan) commonly referred to as the Huks. In 1949 things would grow worse as Quirino was elected under what was largely labeled as a sham election even to those in the west. Through the smuggling of weapons, the underground insurrection grew and spread across Luzon under the leadership of Jose Lava and Luis Taruc. He preached that the final patriotic war of independence would through off the chains of American exploitation, and imperialism so that a truly free and independent Philippines could rise. Though there had been several low-level raids between the Huks and the Government things would rapidly escalate during the early hours of the 30th of December 1949. During Rizal Day celebrations the Huks would attack in a surprise decapitation strike on the government killing President Quirino and many members of the government. It is believed to this day that the Huks were able to pull this off through infiltration of the Philippine military. The Huks would go on to quickly claim the Quezon City and most of Luzon declaring the All-Filipino Revolutionary Socialist Republic on New Years' Day 1950. This would greatly disturb many in the Western Alliance and lead to yet another red scare in the middle of the war of red insurrection. MacArthur was greatly shocked by the matter and felt betrayed by men who only just a few years pledged their loyalty to the rightful Philippines Government and the United States when they were invaded by the Japanese in the last war. The Philippine Civil war though would only be a piece of the devastation that would become known as the Filipino Tragedy.

huks.jpg


The source of the plague outbreak that would devastate the Philippines already embroiled in crisis is largely unknown and thus left to the realm of rumors and hearsay. Some have hypothesized that the plague outbreak was in some way connected to Japanese biological warfare research group Unit 731 either coming to the Philippines through a communist Chinese plot, a forgotten Japanese plot, or a bioweapons depot. Some believe though that it was merely bad luck with it cropping up out of the bad conditions of both a globalized war and a civil war at home combined with a rapidly moving population. All that's known is that the first cases began to crop up in February of 1950 in the port city of Batangas and quickly spread throughout Luzon and the rest of the Philippines. Although the civil war would end in late 1951 with US troop involvement, and stability would start to return with anti-biotics being shipped in from the US the devastation would create a very different Philippines in the years that followed.

incheon.jpg


In September of 1950 with the war in China shifting to the Allies' advantage and the nationalists making gains against the communist forces focus would shift back to Korea. Macarthur would achieve one of his greatest strategic triumphs: The Landing at Incheon. Allied forces would pull off what was considered an impossible landing that would lead to the liberation of Seoul and the eventual liberation of Korea as a whole. This would spell doom as more and more of these landings and shows of naval power would slowly lead to allied forces clawing back the coasts of the orient. Later in 1951 Allied forces would conquer the Soviet’s prized possession in the east: Vladivostock. There Macarthur declared “Never will Moscow hold access to the sacred Pacific Ocean, for it has invalidated its name.”

The war in Asia would continue longer than in Europe owing to the fighting of guerilla holdouts in China, Siberia, and the Philippines. This war like the last would cement the importance of Asia to those in the west and lead to the cultures of the east being ever more present in the eyes of America.

The Third World War ended just like all wars before. Not the end of all things, but the loss of many.
 
Sorry for such a shift in things and of course the condensed shitshow that is the Third World War. I of course will have later posts reflecting on more stories from the War but this contains the essentials from the war. I understand some of these things are not realistic but crazy as they are like Thermonuclear bombs in 1952 through the wave of my magic wand they happened in this timeline through such randomness. I will be posting the first update on what will truly become this timeline soon. July 1952 to December 1952. Expect Peace, Triumph, Politics, and Stassen.
 
1948 Senate Election
As a bit of a teaser for the next update, I'll post the results of the senate races that took place during the Third World War.

SENATE RESULTS

United States Senate election results, 1948

Date: November 2, 1948
Seats: 33 of 96
Seats needed for majority: 49
Senate majority leader: Robert Taft (R-OH)
Senate minority leader: Alben Barkley (D-KY)
Seats before election: 45 (D), 51 (R)
Seats after election: 48 (D), 48 (R)
Seat change: D ^3 , R v3

Full list:
Alabama: incumbent John Sparkman (D) over Paul G. Parsons (R)
Arkansas: incumbent John L. McClellan (D) over R. Walter Tucker (I)
Colorado: incumbent Edwin C. Johnson (D) over Will Nicholson (R)
Delaware: incumbent C. Douglas Buck (R) over J. Allen Frear Jr. (D)
Georgia: incumbent Richard Russell Jr. (D) unopposed
Idaho: incumbent Henry Dworshak (R) over Bert H. Miller (D)
Illinois: incumbent Charles W. Brooks (R) over Paul Douglas (D)
Iowa: incumbent George A. Wilson (R) over Paul Douglas (D)
Kansas: Andrew Frank Schoeppel (R) over George McGill (D)
Kentucky: incumbent John Sherman Cooper (R) over Virgil Chapman (D)
Louisiana: incumbent Allen J. Ellender (D) unopposed
Louisiana (Special): Russell B. Long (D) over Clem S. Clarke (R)
Maine: Margaret Chase Smith (R) over Adrian H. Scolten (D)
Massachusetts: incumbent Leverett Saltonstall (R) over John I. Fitzgerald (D)
Michigan: incumbent Homer S. Ferguson (R) over Frank Eugene Hook (D)
Minnesota: Hubert Humphrey (D) over incumbent Joseph H. Ball (R)
Mississippi: incumbent James Eastland (D) unopposed
Montana: incumbent James E. Murray (D) over Tom J. Davis (R)
Nebraska: incumbent Kenneth S. Wherry (R) over Terry Carpenter (D)
New Hampshire: incumbent Styles Bridges (R) over Alfred E. Fortin (D)
New Jersey: Albert W. Hawkes (R) over Archibald S. Alexander (D)
New Mexico: Clinton Anderson (D) over Patrick J. Hurley (R)
North Carolina: J. Melville Broughton (D) over John A. Wilkinson (R)
Oklahoma: Robert S. Kerr (D) over Ross Rizley (R)
Oregon: incumbent Guy Cordon (R) over Manley J. Wilson (D)
Rhode Island: incumbent Theodore F. Green (D) over Thomas P. Hazard (R)
South Carolina: incumbent Burnet R. Maybank (D) unopposed
South Dakota: Karl E. Mundt (R) over John A. Engel (D)
Tennessee: Estes Kefauver (D) over B. Carroll Reece (R)
Texas: Lyndon B. Johnson (D) over Homa J. Porter (R)
Virginia: incumbent Absalom Willis Robertson (D) over Robert H. Woods (R)
West Virginia: incumbent Chapman Revercomb (R) over Mathew M. Neely (D)
Wyoming: Lester C. Hunt (D) over incumbent Edward V. Robertson (R)
 
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What will the boarders be in Europe? Will Germany still lose everything across the Oder/Neisse line for example and will Poland get any of its eastern territories back?
 
What will the boarders be in Europe? Will Germany still lose everything across the Oder/Neisse line for example and will Poland get any of its eastern territories back?
I will include a section in the next update but a compromise between the two will be made.
 
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