What if Hitler leaves Berlin before the Soviet Encirclement. Hitler had plans to take loyal Hitler Youth Fanatics and Waffen SS to the heavily defended Alps, as well as taking some 35,000 Allied Prisoners hostage. The Redoubt would be in parts of Southern Germany, Austria, and Northern Italy. Lets say in the last months of the war, Hitler fortifies this region for his last stand.
Here is a map I found of the Redoubt-
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/1f/Ac.redoubt.jpg
Here are some scenarios...
Scenario 1-
Hitler in Mid-March orders his best armed men to retreat to the redoubt area, as well as much of the Hitler Youth. Berlin is still heavily defended for a last stand there but a good bulk of the German reserves are emptied into the Redoubt. The war goes as OTL, and on April 20th, Hitler and his Inner Circle assemble for a last meeting in Berlin before moving to the Reich's new capitol at Innsbruck. At the same time, Mussolini retreats to the Alps as well, just days before his capture IOTL.
Hitler marries Eva Braun upon arriving at his Bavarian resort. The fortifications are strong and the fanatic SS and Hitler Youth arrive as well with the reserves. 35,000 allied troops are also brought to camps across the area, ready for ransom.
On the 2nd of May, Berlin falls, but no news of Hitler as in our timeline. They believe he is still in Berlin, and some Berlin radio reports him dead. The next day, Hitler makes a public announcement to the Germans for a last stand. One in Denmark, which is still in German hands, and the Redoubt.
Hitler contacts the allied command from Innsbruck and tells them that 35,000 Allied POWs are being held prisoner, as well as several hundred thousand Jews in the area still in some camps.
The Allies do not believe Hitler, and decide not to accept his terms. General Patton and General Zhukov both form a strategy to take over the remnants of the Reich. In June, a Joint Western-Soviet Operation starts from Munich to push into parts of the Redoubt. Upon hearing of the attack, Hitler orders the allied prisoners to be executed and their bodies be displayed to the allies.
Allied advances at first are incredibly slow. They take over a city one at a time, and taking heavy casualties. Over the month and into July, heavy guerilla fighting continues, and the allied offensives are stopped in many areas.
To ease the Allies in the North, an Allied Offensive from Italy is launched into the Redoubt, and make some ground, taking out key Axis positions. The Allies make more and more ground slowly, and as August approaches, the news of an A-Bomb reaches Stalins hands, and urges a quick use on the Axis.
Many Generals refuse to use nuclear weapons on a dense area, as many believe it will not work. In August, the first Allied troops reach Austria, still fighting the Hitler Youth in many areas. In late August, Benito Mussolini is captured by the Americans trying to retreat to Switzerland, and Hitler is captured a week later on his way to his Bavarian retreat. In September, the last of the Redoubt is captured, and much of the Inner Circle are also captured. Over 100,000-200,000 Allied forces would be killed, as well as some 300,000 Germans in this final stage of the European War. The last radical Germans still hold many areas, and fight on in fortified positions until Early 1946, where the war is finally over by February.
In Asia, with Stalin promising to enter the Asian War three months after a German surrender, does not as IOTL. The war in Manchuria is completely avoided. America, without popular support of the A-Bomb and the Hitler First strategy not going as planned, makes a coordinated invasion of Japan, and although deadly, succeeds by January of 1946. The Japanese Government retreats from Tokyo to Seoul, but Chinese nationalists start pushing into Mancuria and Northern Korea. Less than a month later, American troops land in Korea and take the entire penninsula, ending the Pacific War in April 1946. Stalin is too late to enter the war. With Pro-American forces across Korea and China, Mao Zedong looses support and his cause collapses. Communist North Korea and China never take hold, and the Asian Theatre of the Cold War is avoided.
In the months following the end of the war, Trials are arranged in Nurnburg to put Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler, and other leaders on trial. The trial lasts for months, bringing the spotlight on the two leaders in a huge trial (Like the OJ Simpson Trial). Much of it is televised or put in theatres, and as the trial progresses, Hitler learns English, and like his trial after the Beer Hall Putsh, using his powerful oratory, cuts his and Mussolini's death sentence to Life in Prison, claiming he had no knowledge of the Holocaust, and that those who organized it were working behind is back and using him as a puppet. Himmler escapes allied hands as IOTL. Goebbels and Hitler agree to put the blame on Goerring for the Holocaust to Survive. Hitler and Mussolini, as well as Rudolf Hesse, Goebbels, and hundreds of other criminals, are send to Spandau Prison, where Hitler works on Zweites Busch, as well as his Memoirs along with other Axis leaders. Hitler does some interviews on American television about the war, and his memoirs. Hitler is slightly less villified by the world community, believing he was only being used as a puppet as he claimed in his trial.
Hitler continues to be in the spotlight as a Cold War continues to rage between the Allies and the Soviet Union, claiming he tried to rid the world of the Soviet threat. The Allied leaders in the 60's use the aging Hitler as an advisor in exchange for his release. Hitler accepts and works with the Allies to bring staunch patriotism to the separated Germany. East Germany in this scenario will hold Silesia and Pommerania. Hitler will eventually die in the early 1980's as a disputed character, much like stalin is in OTL. The Nazi movement, like Communism is in Russia today is still somewhat popular, but not as much, and a massive and furthur insight into the secrets of World War II are brought to light.
Any other scenarios.
