I gave mine away during my frequent service-related relocations. I always prefer books written by non-Germans on German (military) history to be more objective and thus more readable than the auto-flagellation many German authors seem to indulge in.
Wagner’s Germany: An Axis Victory TL
- Thread starter CrimsonKing
- Start date
I gave mine away during my frequent service-related relocations. I always prefer books written by non-Germans on German (military) history to be more objective and thus more readable than the auto-flagellation many German authors seem to indulge in.
That just about sums it up.
I've read similar things about capacity losses during convoying, which as I understand it was one of the reasons behind early resistance to the practice during WW1.
The Bv 138 was chosen because it had a longer range and greater structural integrity.
The goings-on at Gibraltar will be covered in the next update, I promise.
Correct. It was designed as an airliner to begin with, and ITTL its military role is as a transport.
Is the Blohm & Voss BV 222 Wiking being used ona larger scale?
Originally powered by Bramo 323 Fafnir radial engines, later aircraft were powered by six 746 kW (1,000 hp) Jumo 207C inline two-stroke opposed-piston diesel engines. The use of diesels permitted refueling at sea by special re-supply U-boats. C-13 aircraft was a sole example fitted with Jumo 205C and later Jumo 205D engines.
Early aircraft were identified as V1 to V8. Production examples were designated C-09 to C-13.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blohm_&_Voss_BV_222
It is being used, but in TTL the main means by which U-boats are resupplied is the Type XIV "milk cows."
I thought he was a Brit. But whatever
Intriguing discussion.
I'll see if I can get ahold of a copy.If there's going to be war with the US, then you're going to have to avoid attacking Pearl Harbor, or indeed, anything that could be perceived as a 'sneak attack'. On the part of ANY of the Axis, otherwise Germany and Italy will both be tarred by association with Japan. Even breaking the alliance won't work: the Americans would sneer and even see it as proof of 'Axis perfidy'.
Preferably though, Japan shouldn't attack the US. Instead, have the Germans help the Japanese get their armor (and industry) tech-up, and then after tensions spike let the Japanese pull all but skeleton forces out of Indochina as an SoP to the Americans...but in reality, put them in position for a joint attack on the USSR with the rest of the Axis.
That's the ideal though. And even then while America's already hostile to Communism - IIRC Dewey won ITTL partly by attacking Wallace's pro-Soviet tendencies - I doubt it'll be very friendly to an otherwise fascist world.
Preferably though, Japan shouldn't attack the US. Instead, have the Germans help the Japanese get their armor (and industry) tech-up, and then after tensions spike let the Japanese pull all but skeleton forces out of Indochina as an SoP to the Americans...but in reality, put them in position for a joint attack on the USSR with the rest of the Axis.
That's the ideal though. And even then while America's already hostile to Communism - IIRC Dewey won ITTL partly by attacking Wallace's pro-Soviet tendencies - I doubt it'll be very friendly to an otherwise fascist world.
The idea was the Uboat could refuel the aircraft to extend the aircraft range, not the aircraft refuel the U Boat.
An idea I had a while back for improving Japan's armored forces was to have them adopt the Jagdpanzer or StuG anti-tank concept from the Germans, a tank they could convert about this time in this TL is the Chi-HA by removing its turret and adding the Type-90 75mm cannon.
With a sloped glacis plate in the front, this Hetzer-like AFV would'nt be equal to the T-34 but would be better than anything the Japanese had IOTL and in the hands of well trained crews (trained by the Germans maybe?) would give the T-34 a run for its money and would lead to better designs in the future.
Another idea I had was that if the Butterflies in North Africa could lead the Germans to develop the JU-87 tank buster a couple of years earlier, the Germans could give this idea to the Japanese and they could do something similar with the Mitsubushi - Ki-51-Sonia.
I think these two adaptions are easily within Japanese capabilities at this time and would help to give their army a bit more of a bigger punch against the Soviets and would have a surprise benefit since the Soviets had already trounced the Japanese earlier in 1939 and won't be expecting the Japanese to have come with not one but two new anti-tank weapons systems.
An idea I had a while back for improving Japan's armored forces was to have them adopt the Jagdpanzer or StuG anti-tank concept from the Germans, a tank they could convert about this time in this TL is the Chi-HA by removing its turret and adding the Type-90 75mm cannon.
With a sloped glacis plate in the front, this Hetzer-like AFV would'nt be equal to the T-34 but would be better than anything the Japanese had IOTL and in the hands of well trained crews (trained by the Germans maybe?) would give the T-34 a run for its money and would lead to better designs in the future.
This would have been a great concept for the IJA in both offense and defense roles. I'm sure they could have developed a variant with a howitzer weapon in the 75 - 90mm size that would have fit this chassis. (Similar to the StuH 42) I don't know why but I never went down this thought path in regards to Japanese armor. This type fit their operations style extremely well.
Well done Cortez#9!
Thank you! I've given a bit of thought to how the Japanese could have improved their AFVs and I think turret-less TDs was their best option post 1939 and I agree with you that SPGs would've helped as well.
I and a few friends have done some designs of alternate Japanese AFVs and other nations as well over at the Alt-AFV thread, here's a link if anyone here is interested - https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/alterntive-history-armoured-fighting-vehicles.218561/ part 1 and https://www.alternatehistory.com/fo...ory-armoured-fighting-vehicles-part-2.357730/ part 2.
I've done a few Italian alt AFVs as well but they're actually a little harder to improve and I think they would have done better just using German designs but I understand that this too would have been difficult due to Ferdinando Ansaldo's monopoly in Italy's armor industry and his stubbornness against building foreign designs.
A friend of mine Uruk who also likes to redesign AFVs and aircraft once suggested that Germany should have given their rejected AFV designs such as the VK series of tanks to their Axis partners such as Hungary and Romania, a pretty good idea IMO.
If anything, Dewey's win could butterfly the entire oil embargo on Japan. If the Rising Sun isn't seen as hostile to them or the British, then the US might concentrate more on the Germans once the inevitable Cold War occurs and seek to warm relations with Japan
It's certainly correct that managing relations with the US is currently one of the most important but tricky issues for the Axis. I'm afraid I can't comment further though due to spoilers.
My bad. To the question, then, the Bv 222 is in use to a somewhat greater extent than in OTL, but in a still supplementary role to the Bv 138.
An idea I had a while back for improving Japan's armored forces was to have them adopt the Jagdpanzer or StuG anti-tank concept from the Germans, a tank they could convert about this time in this TL is the Chi-HA by removing its turret and adding the Type-90 75mm cannon.
With a sloped glacis plate in the front, this Hetzer-like AFV would'nt be equal to the T-34 but would be better than anything the Japanese had IOTL and in the hands of well trained crews (trained by the Germans maybe?) would give the T-34 a run for its money and would lead to better designs in the future.
Another idea I had was that if the Butterflies in North Africa could lead the Germans to develop the JU-87 tank buster a couple of years earlier, the Germans could give this idea to the Japanese and they could do something similar with the Mitsubushi - Ki-51-Sonia.
I think these two adaptions are easily within Japanese capabilities at this time and would help to give their army a bit more of a bigger punch against the Soviets and would have a surprise benefit since the Soviets had already trounced the Japanese earlier in 1939 and won't be expecting the Japanese to have come with not one but two new anti-tank weapons systems.
I can only second Tonrich. These are excellent suggestions, which overall improved German-Japanese coordination in TTL will facilitate.
Understood about the Italian armor monopoly, I hope it's plausible enough that in TTL the general level of closer inter-Axis association results in a willingness in Italy to accept the Panzer III as laid out earlier.
A few notes.
I deeply regret to say that I haven't had the time for an update this weekend as usual. The next installment will have to wait for the weekend after next.
I have taken the suggestion to reinstate the Ju 87.
Do readers have a preference for what they want to see next, the development of German-Soviet relations, or the Second Battle of El Alamein (as promised earlier, the situation at Gibraltar will be covered in either case)?
I deeply regret to say that I haven't had the time for an update this weekend as usual. The next installment will have to wait for the weekend after next.
I have taken the suggestion to reinstate the Ju 87.
Do readers have a preference for what they want to see next, the development of German-Soviet relations, or the Second Battle of El Alamein (as promised earlier, the situation at Gibraltar will be covered in either case)?
Take all the time you need....you can't rush excellence!
I actually would like a more comprehensive world view at this point to get a feel of other areas.
Maybe man on the street type reports from;
I actually would like a more comprehensive world view at this point to get a feel of other areas.
Maybe man on the street type reports from;
- The US. What is the government thinking and what the people are thinking
- Great Britain. ditto
- Scandinavia. What's going on there?
- Balkans. What's going on there?
- The rest of Africa.
- Japan.
- Asia in general
Second battle of El Alamein, followed by the round the world update
Finish the Mediterranean Theater, and then global update alongside the British reaction
Yup, do the 2nd El Alamein, then the global situation update. I suspect that the likely forthcoming British defeat and loss of Alexandria is going to create major turmoil around the world and be interesting to hear about in your global update.
The Fiat-Ansaldo (F-A) duopoly apparently had a stranglehold on Italian AFV development and production. F-A and most of the other corporatist monopolies were resistant to outside technological ideas, often even ones developed in-house. This pattern of highly centralized, technologically conservative, corporate monopolies, each dominating its own industrial sector, was the norm in most industrial sectors of Italy's economy. The situation was largely a direct consequence of ideologically-driven economic policies of Mussolini's corporatist fascist regime, made even worse by widespread corruption, patronage and obstructionism in government, industry and the military.
Top leadership in the military were opposed to technological innovation, especially in the Navy. Admiral Cavagnari in the 1930s and into WW2, as Chief of Staff of the Navy and then later as the Secretary of the Navy, actively resisted development of radar and its deployment on Regia Marina warships. Here's a link to the relevant Regia Marina wiki. Scroll down to the "Interwar years" section.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regia_Marina
Mussolini's corporatist fascist regime should rightfully be blamed for most of the problems afflicting Italy's underperforming industrial sectors, its crippled military, and its irrational, unpredictable, disastrous military campaigns.
Here's a thought. Perhaps the Abwehr should get busy and foment regime change in Italy? Make Italy a puppet state? What's Skorzeny up to these days? Just saying.