WI: Russia declares war on Germany April 10th 1940

The German's did have more than 10 divisions on its "eastern front " and remember in 1939-40 these divisions were at full strength -so an infantry division would have over 17,000 men. In addition the germans had fortifications and the ability to reinforce it's position in the east. The German tanks and anti-tank weapons would be very effective against the soviet armor of 1940 as the majority of tanks would be BT5/7, T-26. The Luftwaffe would also be able to help check a soviet thrust to the east. The German's could also count on their Slovkian allies to fight with them at this point.

OK, here I'm assuming that all of the Soviet Cavalry/ Tank divisions have been transferred to the German border, so this puts the Soviet mechanized and motorized strength at (1st April 1940) :

Leningrad MD (1 tank division), Bylorussian MD (2 tank corps and 1 motorized division in Moscow Special District), Kiev MD (2 tank corps), Odessa MD (1 tank corps) and Trans-Baikal MD (1 tank corps).
Each corps consisted of 2 tank divisions, 1 motorized infantry , 1 aviation sqdrn with 12 planes, 1 signal battalion and one motorcycle regiment.

The strength total is quite impressive : 468 T-35s, 7,300 BT-series tanks, 7,985 T-26s, 1,027 OT-26s (flame-tanks), and 3,228 T-38s, not counting the reserve of T-37 and T-38s and the first 243 KV-1s and 85 T-34s.

It's safe to assume that, while the offensive won't topple Germany, it will cause them reeling until at least the German-Polish border, then it will be stymied and the combined Anglo-French-German force will knock them back.
 
That does remind me of another issue that the USSR would face in attacking Germany; if they launch a major buildup of force on their border then the Germans are bound to notice at some point and begin transferring in reinforcements for their own troops.
 
That does remind me of another issue that the USSR would face in attacking Germany; if they launch a major buildup of force on their border then the Germans are bound to notice at some point and begin transferring in reinforcements for their own troops.

Will they move them fast enough? Weren't most of the German divisions already stationed to invade France?
 
OK, here I'm assuming that all of the Soviet Cavalry/ Tank divisions have been transferred to the German border, so this puts the Soviet mechanized and motorized strength at (1st April 1940) :

Leningrad MD (1 tank division), Bylorussian MD (2 tank corps and 1 motorized division in Moscow Special District), Kiev MD (2 tank corps), Odessa MD (1 tank corps) and Trans-Baikal MD (1 tank corps).
Each corps consisted of 2 tank divisions, 1 motorized infantry , 1 aviation sqdrn with 12 planes, 1 signal battalion and one motorcycle regiment.

The strength total is quite impressive : 468 T-35s, 7,300 BT-series tanks, 7,985 T-26s, 1,027 OT-26s (flame-tanks), and 3,228 T-38s, not counting the reserve of T-37 and T-38s and the first 243 KV-1s and 85 T-34s.

It's safe to assume that, while the offensive won't topple Germany, it will cause them reeling until at least the German-Polish border, then it will be stymied and the combined Anglo-French-German force will knock them back.
Not a chance of the French and British allying with the Nazis at this point.
 
The German tanks and anti-tank weapons would be very effective against the soviet armor of 1940 as the majority of tanks would be BT5/7, T-26. The Luftwaffe would also be able to help check a soviet thrust to the east. The German's could also count on their Slovkian allies to fight with them at this point.

Nah most of germanys tanks in 1940 would have been mk 1's and 2's and earlier models of the mk 3 with a few 4's. definitely no match for russian armour en masse. Plus they had smaller numbers of high claibre anti-tank guns and hadn't leanrt to use the 88mm AA gun on heavy tanks yet since in may1940 they hadn;t faced up against the matilda yet so deali ng with the KV series is going t be a problem.
I don't think the luftwaffe, despite its superiority would be able to defeat the soviet airforce, the RAF and the french all at once. Certianly it wouldn't be able to deliver a knock out blow.
I think the other problem the Germas would have is morale. I mean they attacked russia in 1941 after having won in france and in the balkans, but to suddenly go to war against every major power on the continent isn going to lead to high desertion rates and most likely some form of political coup sooner or later in short i'd give germany till 1942 tops.
 
Nah most of germanys tanks in 1940 would have been mk 1's and 2's and earlier models of the mk 3 with a few 4's. definitely no match for russian armour en masse. Plus they had smaller numbers of high claibre anti-tank guns and hadn't leanrt to use the 88mm AA gun on heavy tanks yet since in may1940 they hadn;t faced up against the matilda yet so deali ng with the KV series is going t be a problem.

They will learn to use the FlaK 88mm as an AT. The Panzer divisions did consist of mainly Pz. Is, IIs and 38(t) but why would it matter? AFAIK most of the Pz. divisions were stationed Western Germany.

Those 37mm Paks will still pack a big punch. BT-7 armor is lackluster at best, though it features some armor features of the later T-34s. The BT-7 can be knocked out by a Pak 36 within 1000m. T-26 armor is slightly heavier than the BT-7's, but again a Pak 36 can knock it out within 600-700m. The best Soviet armor available at the time en masse was the T-28. The T-28/06/1940 had 80mm frontal turret and hull armor and 40mm rear armor. Unfortunately, this 1940 modification was only available in limited numbers. Most only had 50mm front hull, but even this will cause problems with the Pak 36. Guess most tanks will be disabled by close-range infantry assaults.

The KV-1 and 2 were not available in impressive numbers yet. There were a total of 243 tanks (KV-1 = 141 and 2 = 102) by the end of 1940, so it's safe to assume there were less than 50 delivered to units by April, not enough to even equip a June 1940 requirement for a tank division (63 tanks/ division). These were plagued with transmission problems and the engine didn't produce the horsepower indicated on the tin. Not to mention these early production models had the somewhat less powerful short barrel 76mm L-11. Not quite a big difference, but...

The Soviets are not scot free from problems either. The different gauge railway tracks is just one.
 
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