WWII continues: USA vs. USSR

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CalBear

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The Berlin Blockade in 48-49? How you'd get that to turn nasty I don't know, maybe the air bridge fails and the Allies try to run the blockade rather than withdraw?

By the time of the blockade it gets REALLY ugly if the West and USSR go to war.

The Western armies have more or less evaporated back into civilian life except for cadre while the Red Army is, while not the Fall 1945 force, still quite large in number. (frex: At the time the Blockade started the USAF had exactly two squadrons of fighters in Germany, one P-47 and one P-80). What the U.S. has, in the low triple digits, are nuclear weapons and the aircraft to deliver them (although the loss rate over the USSR would make the Daylight campaign in 1943 look like a Scout Jamboree).
 
The Berlin Blockade in 48-49? How you'd get that to turn nasty I don't know, maybe the air bridge fails and the Allies try to run the blockade rather than withdraw?

If the war starts then, the Soviets would be a lot closer to an atomic bomb, so a USA-USSR war would be a little more interesting. Also, by the end of the blockade, the Communists had pretty much taken over China. They might ally with the Soviets, making things harder for the US.
 
You guys might want to keep in mind that the US wouldn't just be able to nuke a whole bunch of Soviet cities. At the time the US dropped the atomic bombs on Japan, we only had a few. Plus since they had to be delivered by plane (no ICBMs obviously) there is a very good chance that the planes could be shot down before they reach their targets. I still think that the US would win a war with the USSR in the 40s, but the idea of the US nuking the Soviets into submission is rather ASB. I find most of the other speculation to be quite plausible though. :)
 
By the time of the blockade it gets REALLY ugly if the West and USSR go to war.

The Western armies have more or less evaporated back into civilian life except for cadre while the Red Army is, while not the Fall 1945 force, still quite large in number.

My only thinking is, that while US/UK - USSR relations are falling part toward the end of the war, they're not really soured enough for it to lead into open violence. By the time of the blockade, they are, and that's the first opportunity I can think of for things to go south.

Were the Allies pulled down that far at this stage? They were still operating various occupations, and the man power was available for the Korean war a little later.
 
Also, by the end of the blockade, the Communists had pretty much taken over China. They might ally with the Soviets, making things harder for the US.
They were also 'in charge' of a huge agrarian nation still rocking from internal conflict. It's hard to see what possible help they could be. Human shields maybe?
 
They were also 'in charge' of a huge agrarian nation still rocking from internal conflict. It's hard to see what possible help they could be. Human shields maybe?

Well, I was thinking that perhaps a couple years into the war, China would be recovered enough to fight, at least in the capacity that it did in OTL's Korean War. So not a whole lot of help immediately, but definitely trouble for the US down the road.
 
Well, I was thinking that perhaps a couple years into the war, China would be recovered enough to fight, at least in the capacity that it did in OTL's Korean War. So not a whole lot of help immediately, but definitely trouble for the US down the road.
I imagine Chinese help would depend on how well the war was going for the Russians, and the situation in North Korea. I suspect they'd prefer to help an Asian nation over the Russians.
 
I imagine Chinese help would depend on how well the war was going for the Russians, and the situation in North Korea. I suspect they'd prefer to help an Asian nation over the Russians.

If the US already has its hands full with Russia, you might see North Korea and/or China taking the whole Korean Peninsula. If China gets really ambitious, they might expand elsewhere too....
 
I imagine Chinese help would depend on how well the war was going for the Russians, and the situation in North Korea. I suspect they'd prefer to help an Asian nation over the Russians.

But the Soviets are the pillar of the communist temple, if they fall Mao can't be so sure he'll beat the KMT, let alone the Americans.
 
Agree with posters previously who said USA wins big in 45/46 - Sovs were out of manpower, dependent on lend-lease still for logistic support in many ways, and USAAF & USN go anywhere they want very quickly. Berlin timeframe 1948 takes longer, and is uglier. Paint the B-29's/B-50's black and send them in at night (radar bombing with nukes works well). Sov ability to defend against night raids in 1948 very poor. Plus you will have serious guerilla movements in Ukraine, Poland, Hungary pretty quickly - there were still some anti-Sov partisans active as late as 1948.

Even if USSR explodes first bomb a few months earlier it is a device not a deliverable bomb, and they have nothing to deliver it with anyways to the USA. Dropping one A-bomb or even 2 somewhere in Europe (unlikely they could arrange it to be London or Paris) won't help them.
 
Agree with posters previously who said USA wins big in 45/46 - Sovs were out of manpower, dependent on lend-lease still for logistic support in many ways, and USAAF & USN go anywhere they want very quickly. Berlin timeframe 1948 takes longer, and is uglier. Paint the B-29's/B-50's black and send them in at night (radar bombing with nukes works well). Sov ability to defend against night raids in 1948 very poor. Plus you will have serious guerilla movements in Ukraine, Poland, Hungary pretty quickly - there were still some anti-Sov partisans active as late as 1948.

Even if USSR explodes first bomb a few months earlier it is a device not a deliverable bomb, and they have nothing to deliver it with anyways to the USA. Dropping one A-bomb or even 2 somewhere in Europe (unlikely they could arrange it to be London or Paris) won't help them.

What if we delayed the start of US-USSR conflict to the sometime during the Korean War? The US would be more prepared from a military aspect, but the USSR would have more nukes by this point. There's still the matter of the Soviets getting the bombs over US soil, though. Maybe they'd just pound the hell out of the US's European allies. But also maybe I'm just talking out of my ass. ;)
 
Britain will probabaly have to sit this one out.
Why? Britain offered relatively substantial support for Korea, so it's not incapable of fighting. Obviously it'll not be as major a partner as during the Second World War, but at the very least I can't think of a way it could remain neutral. Any scenario that has the USSR and US coming to blows, has to intimately include the British.

If anything with another build up of American forces and equipment (I'd expect American European theatre HQ to be in Britain) you may even see a faster home island recovery.
 
The Yak 9 UU was a match for the P-51 And the Red Air force was a tactical Air force And who saids they were a generation Behind anyone .
The T-34/85 was a harder hitting tank then the Sherman Tank was .


The Red Army in the Early part of 1945 was refitting and show me facts and figures were the Germans were Getting Better then 2.5 kill ratio to the Red Army . And Rember the Red Army Was attacking into cities and in to Germany . The Red Army of 1945 kicked ASS and Took names .

The Pershing tank was just seeing battlefield deployment at the end of WWII and the engagements against North Korean T-34's showed the superiority of the Pershing. The Soviets would like push the WAllies to the Rhine, maybe even over, but get beaten back once the Pershing arrives in large numbers.

The Soviets had also pushed their supply line and manpower to the breaking limits just getting to Berlin. Any attempt to go further will result in an industrial and population collapse.
 
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