Board Thread:Timeline Discussions/@comment-4919678-20160106175738/@comment-3428312-20160114003550

First PoD is the standardization of German armored production in 1938 in favor of the Panzer IV over the III, granting them greater numbers of the more verastile IV as well as setting the precendent at leats for the Tank forces of favoring one or a few designs instead of the OTL approach of making multiple different designs that largely ended up ineffective due to lack of sufficient development and production. Instead of Tigers and Panthers, we get large numbers of sloped armored IVs equipped with OTL Panther guns and using more powerful engines to handle the additional weight.

Next is that the Iron Guard is more effectively decapitated in late 1938 during the purges by the Romanian government, who then go on to reaffirm their alliance with Poland. When Hitler attacks in 1939, Romania joins the Anglo-French in declaring War on Germany. Romanian reinforcements, better deployment of Polish forces, and large scale Entente aid via Constanta allows for a longer, as well as much more costly campaign in Poland for the Germans. Hitler is able to compel Hungary to attack Translyvania, while the Soviet intervention in Poland (A week later in OTL due to slower Wehrmacht advance) is also done in conection with an attack into Bessarabia. A stronger Polish defense combined with a likewise stalwart Romanian defense in Bukovina and Foscani-Braila line inflict startingly casualties on Stalin as well. This compels him to put off his moves against Finland until the spring and nearly causes the USSR to declare war on the Anglo-French.

The spring 1940 campaigns go mostly OTL for the Germans, despite their heavier losses the previous fall to less material available for the Entente's own use and no ability to evacuate the 100,000+ Polish soldiers that got to the West in OTL (Thanks to the Soviets attacking Constanta). The Soviets, however, face an insanely bloody campaign against the Finns. This is due to the respite the Finns recieved giving them time to fix their artillery and anti-tank production, the spring thaw turning Southern Finland into a marsh land, and the Germans being delayed in imposing the weapons ban to them and thus allowing large numbers of Italian as well as Hungarian weapons to be imported (including ultra-modern fighters, which prove horrific to the Red Air Force). Enraged at a casualty rate double that of OTL, Stalin orders an occupation of all of Finland, which ties down significant Red Army forces in a anti-insurgency campaign that proves brutal. With twin disasters against the Romanian-Polish alliance and now Finland, Stalin begins another purge in late 1940 that leaves the Red Army totally unprepared when the Axis come knocking in 1941.