|
Updated Sunday 15 May, 2011 12:18 PM |
|
|
Join Writer Development Section Writer Development Member Section
This Day in Alternate History Blog
|
What Really
Happened: Before
Stalingrad, when it looked like the Russians were going to lose the war and that
the allies were doing nothing to assist, FDR and Churchill were under heavy
pressure to launch something – anything – to assist the Russians and
distract the Germans. They finally
settled on an invasion of French North Africa, called Operation Torch.
Over 100,000 Vichy troops were stationed in Africa and it was hoped that
the French troops would not attempt to resist the Allied invasion.
On 7th November 1942, Eisenhower had a secret meeting with General Giraud
in Gibraltar. Eisenhower told Giraud about Operation Torch and persuaded him to
become commander of French forces in Africa after the invasion of North Africa. The following
day Allied forces landed in Casablanca, Oran and Algiers. The French troops
fought back at Oran and General Mark Clark immediately began negotiations with
Admiral Darlan, overall C-in-C of Vichy forces, in an attempt to negotiate a
ceasefire. Adolf Hitler
threatened Petain that the German Army would invade Vichy if his troops did not
resist. When Darlan surrendered on the 11th November, Hitler carried out his
threat and occupied the rest of France. French troops in Morocco stopped
fighting but some joined the Germans in Tunisia. Operation Torch
had a significant effect on the axis war effort.
Over 150’000 prisoners were taken and crucial axis asserts, such as a
whole air fleet, were tied up where they could not return to Russia, where the
worst disaster of the war was brewing: Stalingrad.
What Might
Have Happened: Operation
Torch had three major problems and a whole host of minor ones.
1)
The invasion depended upon the French offering little resistance.
If they had dug in and fought bravely, they might have held up the
invasion until the allies ran out of resources. 2)
Alternatively, if the French gave in, Hitler would occupy the reminder of
France, denying to the allies what stocks Vichy had accumulated and denying the
allies a chance for an unopposed landing in France later 3)
There were hundreds of German and Italian forces in Africa.
Even if they were able to get ashore, someone like Rommel could hand out
a humiliating defeat to green American troops (which he did in OTL even if it
was not disastrous at Kasserine Pass). American
morale might not be able to take such a defeat.
Therefore, lets
assume that some combination of American chiefs, British men who want the glory
of kicking Rommel in the nuts to themselves, and Churchill defeat the proposal
of Operation Torch. That still
leaves the difficulty of choosing the target.
An invasion of France would be suicide, an invasion of Italy would be
difficult, but an invasion of Norway would be simpler.
Best of all, the Germans only have 10’000 troops there and the allies
can put more than 100’000 forces. It
should be a walkover. Given German
skill at arms, its not. The fleet
of over 500 ships, many of them jerry-rigged and seven battleships and five
carriers to provide air support launched a three-prong invasion into Norway.
Planes from Britain bomb Norway and the German bases there.
The battleship Massachusetts sails directly into the Oslo fiord in
order to bombard German positions and gets roughly handed by German aircraft and
German guns. General Patton, who
bright idea this bit of craziness was, is sacked by FDR.
Far more exciting is the battle between the German Battleship Tirpitz
and two British battleships, which result in the Tirpitz being sunk.
<AN: serve
him right. That whole idea was
ludicrous. > However, the
air-sea equation is vastly against the Germans and the last German forces is
captured or wiped out by the end of November 1942. This has important effects
for the battle of Stalingrad, but we’ll look at those later.
Far more
important for an interesting Alternate History is the effect on Finland.
Forced into WW2 by Russia, then allied to Germany in order to recover the
stolen land, Finland has been having doubts about the side they are on since the
battle of Moscow. Since then,
they have been looking for a way to switch sides, and now they think they have
one. General Eisenhower plays host
to a Finnish delegation and he is sympathetic to their needs.
The deal is simple. The
Finns will switch sides and attack the German forces in their country and the
Americans will guarantee their 1939 borders.
All that is needed is a proper soviet victory and the Americans can roll
into Finland, meanwhile the Finns content themselves with getting the Germans to
reduce their forces in Finland as much as possible.
Unfortunately, the soviet victory may be some time in coming In wartime,
particularly one when all the fields of combat are linked, actions in one front
can affect actions in another. Operation
Torch was a prime example of this; it lured a large amount of German equipment,
planes, tanks and infantry away from the eastern front just before Stalingrad
became really desperate for them. Most
of those forces ended up being trapped and ended up surrendering to the allies
while the army at Stalingrad died. In
this timeline, however, the speed of the allied advance and the swift collapse
of the German forces in a country that is terrible for the kind of warfare that
the Germans excel at makes it difficult for the Germans to land reinforcements
and soon it becomes impossible. While
Hitler orders some German fighters to Germany, most of the forces are soon sent
back to the east, where the jaws of Stalingrad are closing. The addition of
the extra forces is not enough to allow the Germans to capture Stalingrad.
What it is enough to do is allow most of 6th army to escape
the trap and retreat to more defensible positions.
Some German forces are caught, but most of the army escapes.
Manstian and Zhukov duel it out on the steppe above Stalingrad, but the
extra German forces allow the lines to be stabilised and Hitler and Stalin both
declare victory. The allies are
swift to build up in early 1943. Forces
that would have gone to the pacific in OTL are sent to Norway instead, placing a
huge strain on logistics in a country that has very little of the infrastructure
used for supporting a large army. Units
of the RAF and USAF bombing units are soon moved, making it easier to hit any
point in Germany and bits of Poland. The
allies put heavy pressure on Sweden to join them, or at least be more helpful in
their neutrality, but the Swedes refuse. Hitler,
however, is unwilling to bank on the Swedes and orders a build-up of German
forces in Finland to attack Norway. This
tips the Finns hands and they order their forces to attack the Germans and call
the Americans for support. Since Norway's
fall, the west has had a contingency plan to assist the Finns at short notice
and they now put a version of that into operation.
Allied bombers attack German concentrations in Finland and ship troops
ands supplies in to Finland. The
Finns withdraw their units in the USSR to the 1939 borders and announce their
withdrawal from the war and the American terms.
This severely annoys Stalin, but he can’t do much for now, as he is too
dependent upon lend lease. The Americans
move tanks and supplies into Finland and help the Finns remove the reminding
German forces. Some are interned,
but the reminder have to be wiped out or at least chased towards Leningrad.
This presents the allies with an opportunity to assist their ally by
attacking downwards and reliving Leningrad.
Stalin is unenthusiastic, for a number of reasons, but he gives his
consent for the moment. However, in
private, Stalin is unsure of his actions and has plans for the post-war world,
which have been upset by the allies. He
also sees a ghost from the USSR’s past reappearing.
The USSR had two
centres of communism. Moscow and
Leningrad. In 1935, Stalin crushed
most of the Leningrad party and subdued it until it toed the party line.
However, it was implied that Stalin allowed the siege of Leningrad to go
on so that most of the citizens would die out, which the allies have just upset.
The Americans are already talking about arming the people of Leningrad
and the surrounding region, Stalin knows that, after the war, the weapons will
be turned on the communists and make the USSR’s transition to a superpower far
more difficult. Therefore, he
comes up with a brilliant and cunning scheme.
It involves betraying the allies, but that’s no problem to him.
Therefore, in March, he opens secret channels of communication to Hitler
and offers a three-month truce. Hitler
agrees, largely because this offers the chance to crush the Americans and
British in Finland and North Africa, and Stalin might just drop his guard and
allow Hitler to attack him again. The allies
discover the agreement shortly before the two sides agree to it.
ULTRA communications intercepts allow them to discover that Stalin has
sold them down the river. They
don’t understand quite why, but they do know that the Germans are going to be
coming at the Finnish territory with everything they have.
The allies order a build-up in Finland and general Montgomery is ordered
to finish off Rommel in the desert before significant supplies can reach him.
Rommel, pushed hard, retreats into Tunis, provoking a confrontation
between the Vichy French and the British. The
British order the Vichy French to intern Rommel and his forces, or lose their
empire. French pride, always a
problem, leads to Vichy forces firing upon Monty’s forces.
Enraged, Churchill orders Tunis and Algeria to be invaded.
The Vichy French
are uncertain fighters and they have no plans for joint operations with Rommel.
They fight well in some places and surrender in others.
Monty, however, has better weapons, better support and more skill.
Not trusting the French, he also (over the objections of DeGuaule) arms
the Algerians and provides training for their militia forces so they can aid the
allies. He also hands over
governing power to the Algerian notables upon promises of support and democratic
reform. By June, the final part of
the North African war is over. The
French empire is destroyed. Vichy France
declares war (again) upon the allies. French
ships sortie into the med (about half of them desert) and attempt to break the
British blockade. Most of the ones
that fight are too old to make much headway and the procedures for co-operation
with the Italians are non-existent. The
end result is that most of the French navy is sunk and most of the Italian navy
with them. This does not please
Hitler, who removes Petain (pretty much a puppet now anyway) and replaces him
with Darlan. Vichy land forces soon
appear as rear-area support on the eastern front.
The most
important part of the conflict, however, is the battle of Leningrad, which is
looming in may 1943. Hitler orders
the German army to besiege Leningrad again and drive the allies out of the east
altogether. The allies, meanwhile,
know that they need to hang on to Finland in order to defeat Nazi Germany at
least cost and also punish their deserting ally, even though Stalin has no idea
that his treachery is known.
|
