WW2 Colonial Wars

Elisia

Banned
What if Hitler had decided that Africa, the Mid East and India Asia were far better targets and gains than anything in Europe?

Throughout the summer of 1939 German troops would have been transferred to Lybia through Italy and on September 1st 1939 would have struck against Aegypt and the French possesions in West Africa.

The Germano-Italian goal would be the conquest of Africa and the Mid East /India with all its resources and to make the Mediterranean an Italo-German domain.

Would the US aid Britain and France or even come to their help if it was just another European war for colonies?
 
What if Hitler had decided that Africa, the Mid East and India Asia were far better targets and gains than anything in Europe?

Throughout the summer of 1939 German troops would have been transferred to Lybia through Italy and on September 1st 1939 would have struck against Aegypt and the French possesions in West Africa.

The Germano-Italian goal would be the conquest of Africa and the Mid East /India with all its resources and to make the Mediterranean an Italo-German domain.

Would the US aid Britain and France or even come to their help if it was just another European war for colonies?

I'm sure the French, the British and the Poles will be very pleased...

I'm sure the Royal Navy and the Marine Nationale will transform the cruise from Italy to Lybia into a real pleasure trip.

How many troops do you think the Germans will be able to transfer from Germany to Italy without being notice by somebody ? I think that after the first german division crossed the German-Italian border, the whole world will know it.
 
I'm pretty sure the French would care if they invade their colonies (Tunisia, Algeria, or Chad), and likewise the British, if they invaded their colonies, or puppets (Egypt)
 

Cook

Banned
That would be an extremely short war; the British and French fleets combined dominated the Mediterranean.
 
Its an interesting idea, but not really practical without an earlier POD to prepare for that kind of action.

Germany would need a more powerful Navy to transfer the men and material needed to fight as well as to hold off the French & British fleets. That kind of build up would be difficult as it in itself could lead to conflict.

Then the Germans need to be preparing and building defences along their western borders to hold back any land assault from that direction. Sending the bulk of their armies to Africa (and most likely have many of them stuck in Italy until transport was practical) would run a risk of leaving them vulnerable to a counter-offensive.

Also, taking Africa and Egypt doesnt really gain the Germans anything of practical use. They have some additional resources sure, but their forces are spread out, and they are still facing the combined might of the French and British both on land and sea. Once these two nations get mobilised then the Germans are in trouble, the only way a win was in any way practical was to knock them out of the war quickly.
 
That would be an extremely short war; the British and French fleets combined dominated the Mediterranean.

What Ifs for WWII always seem to neglect the minor detail that Hitler lacked a little something called a Navy.
 
What Ifs for WWII always seem to neglect the minor detail that Hitler lacked a little something called a Navy.

The ones that focus on U-Boats also overlook that the pre-war German Navy wanted to recreate a big surface navy, and overlooked that the far bigger one of WWI didn't do anything so the newer one was even less likely to have done something. There's a reason why I tend to say if the Axis were to win the naval war Japan had to be the Axis UK and USA both.
 
I'm pretty sure the French would care if they invade their colonies (Tunisia, Algeria, or Chad), and likewise the British, if they invaded their colonies, or puppets (Egypt)

Yes, of course, the French will really care if the Germans will invade Chad or Tunesia rather than Alsace Lorraine...

In this TL, the Germans will a three fronts war :

- a west front,
- an east front, because Poland is not invaded in September 1939,
- a mediterranean front,

and Italy is even less powerful in September 39 than June 40,
 
But after the Axis gets pummeled in the Mediterranean, how long before the Allies invade Germany? I'd guess spring 1940. The Poles would probably invade, but I'm not sure if they would be successful.
 
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