Yugoslavia as a German Satellite...

Let's say that there is no uprising in Yugoslavia during the Second World War. There is no uprising in Yugoslavia, Yugoslavia joins the Axis Powers, which causes for there to be no reason for the invasion of Yugoslavia, which in turn suggests that forces preparing for Operation Barbarossa are not delayed.

In OTL (If I am correct) the Invasion of Yugoslavia caused for Operation Barbarossa to be delayed five weeks.

So, what happens if Operation Barbarossa comes out on schedule and invades Russia 5 weeks earlier?

What are the short term, and long term affects.

Your thoughts, good people of AH.com.
 
Yugoslavia would be a weak Axis ally for one thing the more extreme Croat nationalist movements have strong local support and would a constant irritant. If and when Germany attacks the Soviet Union you could expect Serbia blow up with widespread revolts against the government. (Indeed this happened OTL). Germany’s Yugoslav puppets would need German troops to prop them up and prevent Mussolini from trying to grab the Dalmatian Coast. Still the partisans wont be the problem they were for the Germans OTL. Italy will have some troops freed up too…

As for Barbarossa, weather had more to do with tat than the Yugoslav sideshow, through Germany will have a few extra divisions for the invasion. Now I dobt that will change much to be honest even if the Germans push a little deeper into the U.S.S.R they’ll still face a winter counter-attack as their offensives literally freeze on all fronts, the Red Army fights desperately and masses troops behind Moscow.

In fact if the Germans push a little further, whole divisions could be cut off in the Soviet counter attacks, or the retreat will be more chaotic than it was OTL.
 

Deleted member 1487

Let's say that there is no uprising in Yugoslavia during the Second World War. There is no uprising in Yugoslavia, Yugoslavia joins the Axis Powers, which causes for there to be no reason for the invasion of Yugoslavia, which in turn suggests that forces preparing for Operation Barbarossa are not delayed.

In OTL (If I am correct) the Invasion of Yugoslavia caused for Operation Barbarossa to be delayed five weeks.

So, what happens if Operation Barbarossa comes out on schedule and invades Russia 5 weeks earlier?

What are the short term, and long term affects.

Your thoughts, good people of AH.com.

I don't believe that the invasion was delayed that much, due to the rains and resulting mud. Let's say 2-3 weeks. The effect was more due to the worn out nature of the committed troops which were needed for the invasion of Russia, but later on, also the drain of occupation troops, which would have been far better used against the Russian partisans.

Does the invasion of Greece still happen? Or due the Italians take care of it themselves? I don't think the effects are really all that great in the short term, as the logistic troubles will still hamstring the Germans while the earlier start won't give enough time to get to Moscow, as the strength was not really there. Basically the Germans would have had more time before winter to realize that the thrust at Moscow was not going to work out and settle down before the weather really hits and perhaps bring up winter supplies before it get really ugly.

So not much appreciable changes, but in the long term the Germans have many more resources to commit to Russia, while the Yugoslavs are able to continue to ship the German the necessary resources that they require. This means about 3-400,000 more Germans in Russia. This is definitely not a war-winner, as these will be occupation troops, but the Soviet partisans will be that much more hard pressed, perhaps saving more German lives. It also means more supplies and resources for the Eastern front, but will this substantially change things? I doubt it. In the long run the result is the same, except Yugoslavia is now invaded by the Soviets and remains a part of the Eastern block, but with less damage. Perhaps Tito and the communists revolt later in the war and install their leader to appease the Soviets.
 
Hm, if Yugoslavia starts out in the Axis the atrocities their would be even worse as the government takes Germanies cue and builds their
own camps and starts killing Communists, revolting Croats & Serbs and basically anyone else that they don't like.
 

wormyguy

Banned
Hm, if Yugoslavia starts out in the Axis the atrocities their would be even worse as the government takes Germanies cue and builds their
own camps and starts killing Communists, revolting Croats & Serbs and basically anyone else that they don't like.
I fail to see why the Yugoslav government would suddenly become all genocidal when the exact same government wasn't before. Likely the reverse would happen, and they would be forced (similar to Romania) to grant extensive autonomy to non-Serb minorities and to consent to Italian military occupation of Dalmatia and German military occupation of Slovenia.

I also fail to see how atrocities could possibly be worse than OTL.
 
I fail to see why the Yugoslav government would suddenly become all genocidal when the exact same government wasn't before. Likely the reverse would happen, and they would be forced (similar to Romania) to grant extensive autonomy to non-Serb minorities and to consent to Italian military occupation of Dalmatia and German military occupation of Slovenia.

Because it would be a 'good' way to 'solve' some of its problems, and if Yugoslavia is a German puppet, it means its government is in line with Germany.


I also fail to see how atrocities could possibly be worse than OTL.

More time and resources.
 
Barby being delayed due to Balkan campaign is A. myth and B. moot point here as invasion of Greece still happens, yugoslavian invasion was simply tagged on to that war becasue situation demanded it. And Greece was real strain, in Yugoslavia Germans suffered few casualties.

so ifthere is no coup then Yugoslavia is in Axis camp. However I think that Germany would demand (and get) rights to base troops there. They would want them to protect Balkans from British meddling, yugoslav gov't would agree because it would see it as a guarantee against greedy hands from neighbours.

How things turn out later is anybody's guess but if SU wins something along OTL lines Yugoslavia would be something like Bolgaria, not in war against SU but because of it being in Axis camp occupied. Without homegrown resistance movement post-war it has less clout and is firmly in soviet bloc.

OTOH Wallies could attempt landing there after Italy gets pwned bringing it under Wallied occupation.

Of course that depends how E front unfolds
 
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