War makes for Strange Bedfellows – A Second World War timeline

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Map of Europe, June 1940
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    • BurkeanLibCon

    BurkeanLibCon

    courtesy of @tastethesword

    Europe as of 23 June 1940. Shortly after the Fall of France
    J 1940.PNG


    Apologies for the slight blur and the black line at the bottom, the only way I could upload it was with snipping tool.
     
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    • Blyatnik

    tonycat77 said:
    air superiority you had the Yak-1s, LaGGs which could be better designed and tested before becoming the flying coffins they became famous for
    Click to expand...
    They were famous for being flying coffins because they were not well piloted and not designed for survivability in case of being hit. Barbarossa struck right in the middle (the best time) of a massive rearmaments program by the USSR, right when they had decommissioned too much of their old equipment and introduced too little of their new equipment. With a smoother and more focused rearmament program, the LA-5 and LA-7 are almost certainly to be developed earlier and kinks worked out faster.

    Without the disaster of Barbarossa, the USSR will be both militarily and economically much better. Their fighting in the Middle East and India will cut their teeth, if not with heavy casualties as they learn and reorganize after the purges, and their alliances with Germany and Japan will shape their officers and doctrine as well. Economically the difference is even bigger, as the Soviet industry will balloon with German investment in both factories and technology, and the massive amount of natural resources and without the need to have every man on the front means that Soviet industry will be able to keep operating at full capacity with skilled workers and less stressed working conditions for much longer. The T-34 won't be known for shoddy welds and hastily put-together transmissions, instead they will be the fast, deadly tank that the Germans knew them as IOTL. I think the IL-2 will become a famous and feared weapon by the Allies and Soviet heavy artillery is going to be horrible for the Allies in the mountains of Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan.
     

    Blyatnik

    ChadMachine999 said:
    It would be funny if the Germans try to outsource some of their wartime manufacturing to the Soviets.
    Click to expand...
    No they wouldn't outsource their arms production at all, they wouldn't need to. I mean the investment and technical assistance in building new factories, as well as natural Soviet economic growth continuing as planned instead of dropped because of Barbarossa. I can definitely imagine Soviets being a USA counterpart, handing out weapons and vehicles from their (relative) safety, but OTL the British didn't move their arms factories to the US, I don't see why this Germany, while less safe than Britain was OTL, would have to or want to move arms industry to the Urals. That would only play into Stalin's hand for when he decides that the titanic potential of the USSR does not require the Axis powers anymore.
     

    Lalli

    Alpha-King98760 said:
    Looking at the map, I wonder if the Baltic States will get liberated at the end of the war?
    Click to expand...

    At this moment Allies (at this polint practically only just Britain and Free France) have not even way enter to mainland Europe. And even if USA enters to the war, it would be still hard to get foothold. And if they get some foothold, way to Baltics or even to Berlin is not easy. Now Germans have not worry with another front.

    Only way I could see is that Stalin decides betray Hitler. But for that he would need secure his conquests so not way that Baltic countries are liberated.
     
    BurkeanLibCon

    BurkeanLibCon

    Hello everyone.

    I know it's been a while since the last major update, but I want to reassure you all that the timeline's not dead. Updates are in the making, but I'm starting a new job tomorrow and you probably won't see an update until the weekend. Other than that, the next update is in the pipeline.

    BurkeanLibCon
     
    Chapter 22 – Gremlins, Gunners and God Brothers
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    • BurkeanLibCon

    BurkeanLibCon

    So yeah, this update is pretty short. I've been very busy recently and this is what I've just gotten done today. The Battle of Britain updates are taking a while to write up since it's mostly in line with OTL and I just get a bit bored. Anyway, more updates are in the pipeline, probably over the weekend. Also, sorry about the table at the bottom, I was trying something out and I can't get rid of it.

    Chapter 22 – Gremlins, Gunners and God Brothers
    Battle of Britain (Part 1)
    June – August 1940    ​

    The Battle of France was over, the Battle of Britain was about to begin [1]. As soon as E. F. L. Wood [2] was thrust into the role of Prime Minister, he was forced to contend with an ever-intensifying fight over the skies of southern England between the German Luftwaffe and the Royal Air Force (RAF). Due to the losses of the Western campaign, the Luftwaffe had been forced to rebuild its strength before a full attack on the RAF could be launched, limiting German attacks as of July to “Kanalkampf” daylight attacks against British shipping in the English Channel following a series of Störangriffe (“nuisance raids”) against British towns and cities [3]. With these minor attacks, the Germans discovered that the ideal bombing strategy was to use large amounts of small bombs, whilst the RAF gained useful time, training and target practice for their fighters and anti-aircraft defences [4].

    1656716307718.png

    Luftwaffe planes attacking a British convoy, July 1940

    In Germany, Göring continued to resist the possibility of an invasion of Britain, insisting that Britain would be forced to sue for peace after the destruction of the Royal Air Force. Luftwaffe intelligence under Abteilung 5 (headed by Generalleutnant Joseph Schmidt) showed that RAF defences were weak and could be defeated extraordinarily quickly, days at most. This only added to Göring’s confidence. On 19th of July, he ordered the campaign against the RAF to be escalated with the aim of totally destroying British air power. The main attack on the RAF, codenamed Adlerangriff (“Eagle Attack”), was to begin as near to the 5th of August as the weather would permit.
    As it turned out, the intelligence was faulty. The British defences were not certainly not crippled by any estimation. In fact, the RAF had a secret weapon waiting for the Germans. One which Schmidt had in fact failed to mention in his intel reports at all [5].

    The attack, codenamed Aldertag, began on the morning of the 13th of August.

    Footnotes
    - [1] Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.
    - [2] In OTL known as Lord Halifax, see chapter 21 for more info.
    - [3] The OTL German strategy in the early Battle of Britain as well.
    - [4] So far, all OTL.
    - [5] Just as in OTL as well. Guess what this secret weapon was?

    Sources
    Adlertag - Wikipedia
    Battle of Britain - Wikipedia

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