War makes for Strange Bedfellows – A Second World War timeline

Enjoying the timeline so far?

  • Yes

    Votes: 228 85.4%
  • No

    Votes: 13 4.9%
  • Undecided

    Votes: 26 9.7%

  • Total voters
    267
Chapter 23 – The Frozen North on Fire
Chapter 23 – The Frozen North on Fire
Scandinavian Campaign (Part 7)
June – July 1940

To say that the Westman Affair had weakened Sweden’s hand would be an understatement. The country’s failed attempt to exit the war in June of 1940 had only served to convince Germany that a closer eye needed to be kept on their northern co-belligerent. To that end, Göring sort to increase German military presence in the region. Up to now, only the Luftwaffe had units based in Sweden from Luftflotte 5, the core of which was the X Fliegerkorps commanded by Generalleutnant Hans Geisler. Berlin decided that now was the ideal time to use the shock in Sweden to begin building up for a ground attack on Norway. On the 1st of July, the German government demanded that Sweden allow for the deployment of the 163rd Infantry Division inside Swedish territory. With their diplomatic hand lost, the Swedes relented, and the division entered Sweden on the 3rd, basing themselves in Östersund.

In the meantime, the British continued to launch air attacks on Sweden from bases in Norway. After the Rotterdam Blitz of the 14th of May, Britain had extended its bombing campaigns to include Germany east of the Rhine and on larger targets outside northern Sweden. On the 21st, the RAF bombed Frösön, headquarters of the Jämtland Wing of the Swedish Air Force and home to Zerstörergeschwader 76 (ZG 76) of the Luftwaffe. ZG 76s Messerschmitt Bf 109s managed to inflict a loss of 3 Vickers Wellington bombers on the RAF. In addition, many bombs fell short of the main target, the airport, with many exploding in nearby Östersund, killing 25 civilians. On the 2nd of June, the RAF bombed Göthenburg. The bombing had ceased during the Anglo-Swedish negotiations and resumed on the 17th with a raid on Kiruna. The bombings served to harden Swedish popular opinion against the British. Despite waging what the government called a "defensive war" aimed solely at pushing Sweden of British and French troops, the Swedish General Security Service began to prepare spies and saboteurs to attack British military installations in Norway.

1656769570915.png

Aftermath of the British bombing of Göthenburg, 2nd June 1940

The war was by no means over for Sweden yet.

Conventional warfare wasn’t the only form of combat taking place in Scandinavia. The Swedish-Norwegian border was over 1,600km long and as such was difficult to fully close down after the invasions of Norway and Sweden. Within the weeks following Operation Silver, the first spies and agents began to seep through the wooded rat runs of the long border. This was soon followed by political agitators.

On the 9th of April 1940, the Norwegian Nazi-inspired Nasjonal Samling (NS) party, led by Vidkun Quisling, organised a protest march in Oslo against the British occupation. To cut a long story short, the march escalated with several uniformed NS members breaking into several Jewish-owned properties in Oslo. Soon, the march had descended into a riot with counter-protestors joining the melee. The Norwegian police were overwhelmed, and the situation was only resolved when British troops from the 1st Battalion, Green Howards arrived, causing many demonstrators and counterdemonstrators to disperse. 47 people died in the riots, including 17 Norwegian Jews, 8 counterdemonstrators and 17 NS demonstrators, 5 of the NS dead were shot by British troops. Two days later, the still-technically-neutral government of Norway outlawed Nasjonal Samling and began to arrest its members.

1656769485988.png

Vidkun Quisling, leader of Nasjonal Samling

1656769655589.png

Anti-Semitic graffiti on a Jewish-owned tailors in Oslo painted during the 9th April riots

Following the riots, the now-banned NS began to fracture. Many renounced their affiliation, others went underground. Quisling himself went into hiding, secretly crossing the Swedish border in the dead of night. Quisling hadn’t planned for the protest to turn violent but was quick to adjust to the new situation. Once in Sweden, he met with German intelligence officers, who aided his travel to Berlin arriving on the 17th of April. From Berlin, he set up residence in the former Norwegian embassy and began to send radio broadcasts back to Norway attempting to turn Norwegian public against the British. The Germans also began to secretly train other NS members in sabotage and espionage from secret bases in Sweden (so secret in fact that the Swedish government was unaware until it was too late to stop it). However, the propaganda effort was largely unsuccessful, most Norwegians were pro-Britain and blamed the chaos of the 9 April riots on Quisling and his party. The propaganda and intelligence war was well and truly on in Scandinavia.

Footnotes
- [1] The impact of the Westman Affair can be best described as similar to the impact of the Sixtus Affair on Austria-Hungary during World War I, essentially forcing Sweden into the role of German client state.

Comments?
 
Chapter 24 – Cold Waters and Cod Fish
Chapter 24 – Cold Waters and Cod Fish
Iceland & Greenland
March – August 1940

With the German occupation of Denmark on the 17th March 1940 came the dismemberment of the Danish Empire. First was the occupation of the Faroe Islands on the 20th. The remaining parts of the Danish Empire were the colony of Greenland and the self-governing Kingdom of Iceland.

Four days after the occupation of Denmark, the two sheriffs of northern and southern Greenland, Aksel Svane and Eske Brun declared Greenland to be a self-governing territory in line with the emergency clause of a 1925 law regarding Greenland’s governance [1]. Both did so with the support of Henrik Kauffmann, the Danish Ambassador to the United States, who realised that Danish sovereignty had been compromised, as well the US State Department. The main concern for the new rulers of Greenland was that either Germany, Britain or Canada would attempt to invade it. Therefore, Greenland sought protection from the United States, who had no desire to see any other nation establish a presence in Greenland.

On the 19th of April 1940, the United States established a provisional consulate in Godthaab [2] with the arrival of two US Coast Guard ships USCGC Comanche and USCGC Campbell [3]. Another concern in Greenland in 1940 was the security of the cryolite mine at Ivigtut. To this end, 15 US Coast Guardsmen were deployed to protect it, after being voluntarily discharged [4]. Another measure to ensure Greenland’ independence was the establishment of the Sirius Sled Dog Patrol, a 15-man team created to patrol the large islands [5].

The other area affected by Denmark’s capitulation was Iceland. The Kingdom of Iceland had been established in 1918 in personal union with Denmark, but had delegated the task of costal defence and foreign affairs to Copenhagen. With Denmark under German occupation, this policy was unsustainable, and the Althing voted on the 18th of March to take costal defence and foreign relations into Icelandic hands [6]. The first task of the de-facto fully independent Iceland was to ensure its neutrality. To this end, the Icelandic government, headed by Prime Minister Hermann Jónasson, consistently refused offers from Britain to join the conflict on the Allied side. There were reasons for Britain to be interested in Iceland. Its strategic position would be of great use to prevent German ships and U-boats from breaking out into the Atlantic. Additionally, German diplomatic presence in Iceland, headed by consul Werner Gerlach alarmed Britain to the possibility of German spying there.

1656786603713.png

Hermann Jónasson, Prime Minister of Iceland

Despite this, no invasion of Iceland was undertaken. The Admiralty had made plans to occupy the strategic island, but with control of Norway’s ports and bases, the need to occupy Iceland decreased.

With the Fall of France in June 1940, the Icelandic government’s concern that Britain would invade and violate its neutrality began to increase. As such, these began to reach out to Greenland and the United States for protection. On the 4th of July 1940, the Icelandic government established the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with Social Affairs minister Stefán Jóhann Stefánsson appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs. On the 15th of July, Stefánsson met with US President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Secretary of State Cordell Hull. Iceland had already established a provisional legation in New York City after the occupation of Denmark [7], but the Icelanders now looked to deepen ties with the Americans as a means to ensure their independence. On the 24th of July, an agreement was reached between the Icelandic and American governments and the authorities in Greenland, the Norwegian Sea Agreement. The Americans agreed to establish relations with Iceland and supply weapons for the founding of an Icelandic defence force able to resist any invasion. The Icelanders and Greenlanders agreed to cooperate on reconnaissance between their nations regarding ships traversing the Denmark Strait between them. Soon after the agreement was signed, the first American arms shipment arrived in Reykjavík on the 5th of August and the Icelandic Defence Force (IDF) was established on the 7th, although at this point it was little more than a small force.

1656786737242.png

Cordell Hull, US Secretary of State

In London, reactions to the Icelandic-American agreement were mixed. Prime Minister Wood was annoyed by the agreement given that it limited British operational capacity, but also recognised that the Americans were unlikely to be an unfriendly power towards Britain. Similarly, whilst the IDF could pose a challenge to any potential British landing force, it could also cause a problem for any German force, reducing British concerns of a German occupation of Iceland.
For all intents and purposes, the Norwegian Sea was secure.

Footnotes
- [1] They did this in OTL as well.
- [2] In OTL this happened.
- [3] These ships delivered the consular staff to Greenland in OTL as well.
- [4] This happened in OTL as well.
- [5] The Sled Dog Patrol was established around this time in OTL as well.
- [6] See Chapter 16 for more info.
- [7] The Icelandic legation was established in OTL as well.

Comments?
 
Last edited:
Next updates will be out over the weekend. Whilst I've been writing that, I've been furiously scribbling out plans for potential post-war worlds, one of which has enough material to become a stand-alone timeline after this. Would you all be happy for me to take the world of WMFSB into the post-war era?
 
Next updates will be out over the weekend. Whilst I've been writing that, I've been furiously scribbling out plans for potential post-war worlds, one of which has enough material to become a stand-alone timeline after this. Would you all be happy for me to take the world of WMFSB into the post-war era?
I would be delighted to follow this wacky world through life after the war after the war.
 
Could the Allies do for Franco what NATO did in 55? Buy them off.
The issue is that as far as Franco can see, continental Europe is under the Axis' stranglehold. Why would he hitch his horse to the Allied cause and risk Russo German Italian forces converging into Iberia when he can do what he did IOTL and milk concessions while maintaining neutrality?
 
Could the Allies do for Franco what NATO did in 55? Buy them off.

Allies don't really need buy Franco off since he likes be neutral what is fine for them. And for Franco is not any sense join to Allies. He might not like Soviets very much but he knows that if he joins to Allies or even begin to create closer ties, Spain is invaded. And on that time Spanish army was only just slightly more than a joke.
 
Something tells me, some other folks in the Falange, who are truer to Riveria's original world view, may try to get a part of Morocco, back!
 
Yes, probably Gibraltar is easier to bargain over. The Uk has so many other possessions, one less won't even be noticed.;
 
The issue with Gibraltar is that although small, commands a very important position. Handing it back to Spain may be something London isnt willing to risk
 
Perhaps. One thing Eden is good at, almost better than Churchil, is sheer horse trading. Iotl he tried to bargain the Duce, away from Hitler.
 
Yes, probably Gibraltar is easier to bargain over. The Uk has so many other possessions, one less won't even be noticed.;

Strategically too importants. Brits never would agree about that. But French might are fine with Morocco.

But why Franco or any other Spanish leader would take such offer only because of these places? They too want keep close relations with Axis since Brits can't secure Spain form invasion of Germany.
 
Top