Stalemate on the western front

POD: 28 June 1925: Hirohito dies of a fever.

 

25 December 1926: Emperor Taisho dies.

 

25 December 1927: Yasuhito is made emperor of Japan and makes it clear he will not tolerate expansionism against the British.

POD: 17 February 1940: Erich Von Manstein when meeting with Hitler manages to convince Hitler that he is to arrogant and his plan is probably unlikely to work in the real world.

 

12 May 1940: The battle of Hannut is fought as in real time line but instead the battle with an extra 3 panzer division is a German victory when 2 German panzer divisions tie down the French while another 3 attack their far north flank and hit their rear.

 

13 May 1940: The Germans arrive at Gembloux at dawn and overrun the anti-tank positions as they are unoccupied.

 

14 May 1940: The battle of Sombreffe is a German victory when the superior German forces engage the French forces and force the French forces into a retreat.

 

16 May 1940: The remaining French forces desperately try to delay the advancing Germans. They manage to slow them down for 2 days in a series of small skirmishes until the Germans reach Charleroi where the First Army attempted to make a stand and blows a number of bridges along the Sambre although the First Army are beaten again the Germans are slowed down for 3 days attempting to annihilate the troops in Charleroi and establish a bridgehead under fire from the First Army who fled over the river. The French first army ceases to function as a major fighting force after the battle.

 

17 May 1940: The BEF and the French seventh army are ordered to fall back on mass towards the Somme. The Ninth Army army is pulled back to hold the Germans over the Somme.

 

19 May 1940: The 5th Motorized division, 1st and 4th Light cavalry division had been driving flat out to stop the Germans from crossing the Somme. The 5th arrive to block a crossing one hour before the Germans. The battle of Remaucourt is the first battle of the Germans assault on the Somme. The French manage to hold the river as the Germans lack the infantry or heavy equipment to bridge the river. The French take heavy casualties due to the airborne and artillery attacks.

 

20 May 1940: The Germans try to cross at Omissy but are driven back although again the French take heavy casualties.

 

21 May 1940: The Germans finally manage to cross at Remaucourt. The Germans establish a beachhead.

 

22 May 1940: The French 7th army manage to reach the Somme just 12 hours after the Germans establish a beachhead. The French motorized divisions counterattack and manage to knock out the engineer’s bridge as not enough Panzers had crossed the slowly assembling bridge although under heavy aircraft and artillery fire they took significant casualties. After this the Germans stop attempting to cross the river due to the casualties and lack of progress. They plan to wait until the infantry arrive before attempting to force the river again.

24 May 1940: The BEF and French Seventh army cross the Somme in a series of boats. The Low Countries and parts of northern France have been totally abandoned.

 

28 May 1940: The Germans attack at Eppeville. The Allied forces are overwhelmed.

 

31 May 1940: The BEF counterattack at the second battle of Eppeville and drive the Germans back with further heavy casualties.

 

6 June 1940: The British cross the Somme at Etouvie but are driven back in a German armoured counterattack.

 

8 June 1940: The Germans bomb Paris for the first time.

 

13 June 1940: The Germans attack at Dallon but are repulsed.

 

17 June 1940: The Italians declare war on France.

 

18 June 1940: The British start their raids on Italian lines in Libya destroying large numbers of troops and material.

 

19 June 1940: 3 French divisions start marching on Turin and have their first engagement with surprised Italian troops at Bar Cenisio and overrun the village.

 

22 June 1940: The French overrun an Italian forced stationed at Giaglione.

 

24 June 1940: The Italians counterattack at Bussoleno but break. The French attack over the Somme at Second battle of Omissy but they are defeated.

 

25 June 1940: The French push through the Italian seventh army near Sant’Antonio di Susa.

 

28 June 1940: The French take Turin having lost about a single division although the Italian army are badly humiliated.

 

30 July 1940: The Italian army counterattack Turin but in street fighting they are thrown back with heavy losses.

 

2 July 1940: The French Second Army Group attack the Siegfried line at Saarbucken and over a week long campaign they overrun the line forcing some German troops to divert.

 

3 July 1940: The French cross the Torrente Malone.

 

5 July 1940: The French fail to take the Torrente Orco.

 

10 July 1940: The Germans counterattack and throws back the French Army at Saarbucken.

 

11 July 1940: The Italians counterattack at Torrente Orco but are defeated.

14 July 1940: The Italians attack at the same point but are defeated.

 

18 July 1940: The British and French attack Libya along the coast with the Allies both overrunning the Italians.

 

23 June 1940: The French seize Zuwara.

 

24 June 1940: The British reach Tubruq.

 

28 June 1940: The French fight their way into to Tripoli. The British take Derna. After this most of Libya collapses and Mussolini is humiliated.

 

4 August 1940: Desperate to get over the debacle in Libya the Italians attack French and British Somaliland taking them.

 

5 November 1940: The British attack the Italian at Gallabat but fails to go further.

 

7 November 1940: The Italians retake Gallabat.

 

20 January 1941: The British now reinforced by troops from France and Britain counterattack. The British and French counterattack goes well with the North African reinforcements.

 

8 May 1941:  With spring arriving a massive army of commonwealth, British, French and French empire troops prepare for a massive counterattack. The French attack at Merzig, Saarbucken and Bad Bergzaberm while the British cross the Somme at Ameins and Saint Quentin. All targets are taken with overwhelming force.

 

9 May 1941: The Germans counterattack at Ameins and retake the north river bank.

 

11 May 1941: The Germans attack Saint Quentin but in the violent street battles find that Britain’s higher number of infantry means they are repulsed and the allies have a hold on the north bank of the Somme for the first time in 11 months. The Germans subsequently send in wave after wave of aircraft to destroy the city.

 

14 May 1940: The British take a number of outlying villages in Saint Quentin.

 

15 May 1941: The Germans can’t retake Merzig on foot but they encircle it and proceed to smash it with artillery.

 

17 May 1941: The French march on Genoa in the south with a single division. The Germans encircle Saaarbucken.

 

18 May 1941: The allies relieve Merzig destroying the infantry force surrounding it. The French wipe out the Italian army guarding the Torrente Orco. The British take Bellinglise.

 

20 May 1941: The Germans desperate to relieve the pressure cross the river Somme at Ameins but fail to hold a bridgehead.

 

21 May 1941: The French take Novara.

 

23 May 1941: To not to lose their gained territories in France Hitler stubbornly orders his units to drive the British out of Saint Quentin at any cost. This starts a 5 month long street battle. The French push up and down the German border. The French take Genoa after a long march.

 

24 May 1941: The French finally take Milan with the Italian army disgraced again the Fascist Council grows ever more irritated with Mussolini.

 

26 May 1941: The Germans order the retaking of all territory taken by the allies in Germany started a very violent campaign of heavy skirmishing.

 

28 May 1941: With the threat from the south now Hitler is forced to divert major forces to counter his allies disastrous fighting in France.

 

30 May 1941: The allies attack Luxembourg City and causing a threat to the German flank and the Germans are forced to deploy more troops to defend their ever stretched forces.

 

2 May 1941: A swift German counterattack retakes Milan after simply encircling the city and then separating each unit one by one.

 

5 June 1941: Panzers sweep into Turin although this time they struggle to take it so easily and are forced into a street battle with casualties.

 

9 June 1941: The Germans hoping the Italians can finish the rest of the war down south drive back up north to fight in France.

 

13 June 1941: The Panzers after having suffering minor losses return to the north western front.

 

8 July 1941: Germany’s policy of relentless fighting shows its first results with the total retaking of Merzig.

 

19 July1941: Bad Bergzabern falls to Germany.

 

21 July 1941: Saarbucken is retaken after months of fighting.

 

27 July 1941: The allies withdraw from Saint-Quentin and Luxembourg City. Both sides have suffered horrifying losses in infantry and the allies learn upon their mistakes and decide to give more resources to their armoured and air forces. No further action is able to be taken in 1942 due to the horrifying losses they have both taken.

 

24 May 1942: French reconnaissance patrols on the Alps notice major build-up of Italian forces in La Thuile. The forts in the area are reinforced by Alpine troops and major additional construction work is started.

 

28 May 1942: The German Panzerwaffe finally launches its attack on Paris with the British and the French not having the strength to garrison the Somme properly they cross at Amiens and manage to establish a bridgehead allowing large reinforcements before a sizeable counterattack could be organized.

 

1 June 1942: 6 Allied armoured divisions and 3 motorized divisions meet 8 Armoured and 4 Motorized divisions at the battle of Therain River south east of Beauvais. Both sides sent up massive air forces and during heavy fighting while the Allied army is defeated the Germans suffer 50% losses and the Allied forces harass the advancing Germans heavily. With the Germans having started their advance the Italians tired of being humiliated attack with massive forces at Bourg- Saint Maurice yet they must first take a reinforced La Redoute Ruinee. They order a massive ground assault on the fort which fails badly and they are forced to simply destroy the advanced post with massive artillery attacks.

 

3 June 1942: The Germans reach the outskirts of Paris and as the French government contemplates surrender 2 fresh British divisions attack Gournay-en-Bray which was taken during the German advance. The French government during meeting for plans to talk armistice they receive news of another battle in the Alps for Fort du Truc where the Italian forces after taking heavy casualties in the attack mutiny against their officers after the infantry commanders not wishing to be embarrassed again order a further assault which the soldiers refuse to carry out and promptly shoot their officers. After more officers give orders for their own men to shoot the mutineers it spreads and by the end of the day the entire Italian force has deserted and are heading home in small desperate groups. When the French in Paris hear this they are given a new resolve to fight on and decide to fight in the streets.

 

4 June 1942: The battle of Paris starts the Germans armour tries to hold a siege on Paris but with limited forces and all the bridges on the Seine blown they find it difficult to move troops fast enough to stop all the civilians being evacuated by French troops. The fighting and mass destruction of Paris lasts for 10 months. Both air forces play for control of the skies and try to support their troops.

 

6 June 1942: The British fight at Ons- en- Bray and defeat the Germans. The French follow up their victory at Fort du Truc with a single French division taking La Thuile.

 

7 June 1942: The French continue to march easily into Pre’ Saint Didier

 

8 June 1942: The Germans throw the British north eastern advance into Beauvais.

 

9 June 1942: The French take Aosta

 

12 June 1942: Ivrea falls to the French

 

14 June 1942: Turin is taken by the French. There is an attempted coup against Mussolni which fails but he then decides to raise another army to stop Italy from being taken by the ever growing deserters.

 

16 June 1942: Novara is taken by the French.

 

18 June 1942: Milan is taken by the French.

 

22 June 1942: No Italian troops meet French forces at Cremona. Realizing they risk overextending themselves they stop their advance and call for reinforcments.

 

25 June 1942: After heavy rebuilding a British armoured division and a motely force of French with anti-tank weapons catches and destroys a German division Antony when they are hit from both in and outside of Paris.

 

27 June 1942: Marseille- en- Beauvais falls to 3 British divisions.

 

3 July 1942:  The Germans attempt to expand their siege by taking Meaux but the French

counterattack and it just turns into another violent city battle.

 

8 July 1942: Crevecoeur- le- Grand is taken by the British.

 

9 July 1942: A random assortment of new Italian troops arrive to try and retake north Italy. The French division tracks up and down the river Po until they break into 2 units and both try and ford the river at separate points.

 

13 June 1942:  Isola Pescaroli and Sacca are where the Italians try to cross the Po. The single French division backed up by a number of small Alpine brigades smashes the Italian crossers at Isola Pescaroli and just as they defeat the attackers they launch a rapid forced march to take only 3 quarters of the Italian army on the flank and break them.

 

15 June 1942: Mussolini is arrested after a vote of no confidence is held by the Grand Council of Fascists after the disaster at the Po. The new government attempts to make peace with Britain and France but by then all of the country has broken down into regional fighting with thousands of deserters roaming the country and no military forces.

 

14 July 1942: A British tank division fights to a bloody stalemate with 2 German Panzer divisions between Paris and Meaux.

 

29 July 1942: Quevauvillers near Amiens is taken by the British.

 

7 August 1942: A German panzer division is wiped out in the open by a massive allied air attack.

 

9 August 1942: 2 allied divisions are badly damaged in an air attack by the Germans.

 

15 August 1942: An Allied armour division defeats a German division.

 

28 August 1942: The British assault Dreuil- les- Amiens and the Germans retreat from it.

 

15 May 1943: The Germans take Quevauvillers and start their drive on Rouen.

 

17 May 1943: The Germans are forced to stop their advance after the Allies attack the Germans south flank at Aumale and force them to move back and drive them off but the Allies then block their route forwards.

 

22 May 1943: The Germans stop attempting to push forwards and move their force back to Amiens.

 

28 May 1943: After 3 and a half years of sitting still while the Germans and Allies broke each other down and with both sides having suffered massive losses the USSR launches a ‘pre-emptive strike’  on German held Poland. The massive Soviet forces wipe out the surprised German border guards who were not put on alert as the idea that the USSR might attack was kept quiet. The Soviet air force starts the destruction of various railways and road’s to slow down the relief. Nearly 4.5 million troops are sent across with varying degrees of training.

 

29 May 1943: OKW and Hitler only allow 3 German Panzer and 3 motorized divisions as well as a single medium sized army group to be moved to Poland as they refuse to make peace with either the West or the East.

 

3 June 1943: The Russians march into Warsaw totally unopposed. The British and French start a heavy air superiority campaign over northen France.

 

5 June 1943: Lodz falls to the USSR.

6 June 1943: The Germans move their forces over 9 days across from Paris to Warsaw. They attack the USSR at Kutno. The Germans attempt to encircle the Soviets but the Russians at Kutno lead 3,000 tanks at the Germans swing to their north and although the Russians take large losses the Germans simply lacked the numbers and are defeated. The Germans while start to fall back are ordered to stand and die by Hitler which they do. Częstochowa falls to USSR troops.

 

7 June 1943: Bydgoszcz falls to the USSR. Almost all German troops on the German border have been wiped out and the advance through Poland is aided by the Polish who hail them as liberators.

 

9 June 1943: Poznan is taken by the Soviets while further south Wroclaw is taken.

 

14 June 1943: The first Soviet forces reach the German border where they encounter sudden resistance from militia composed of the old and young. The Allies attack and slam the German armour at Cergy. All German units in Paris are now under siege and have no ability to get more supplies. The French then decide that no offensive can be launched until all of Paris is retaken.

 

15 June 1943: All of Poland has fallen to the Russian army and they prepare to attack Germany.

 

16 June 1943: The USSR attacks Frankfurt an der Oder and begin to fight their way through the town.

 

17 June 1943: Cottbus, Bautzen and Schwedt all come under attack by the USSR but the militias fight desperately to hold the Soviet advance back.

 

22 June 1943: Cottbus falls after heavy fighting much of the Germans force in the East is decimated.

 

23 June 1943: Bautzen and Schwedt fall as well. Paris is retaken in full by the allies as the Germans fight onto the end starving.

 

24 June 1943: The battle of Furstenwalde is a bloody victory for the Soviets as the Germans refuse to fall back. Franz Halder and a number of other officers are arrested by the SS when it is revealed there was a large plan to launch a coup against Hitler. Hitler increasingly loses his mind.

 

26 June 1943: The Soviets enter the outskirts of Berlin and brutal street fighting starts. Dresden is attacked and falls as it is defended largely by civilians.

 

28 June 1943: Potsdam is taken by encircling Soviet troops.

 

29 June 1943: The remaining German forces in Paris surrender to the West.

 

1 July 1943: The British cross the Somme and start fighting in Amiens.

 

3 July 1943: Amiens falls to the British.

 

6 July 1943: All German forces west of the Somme have been neutralized.

 

8 July 1943: The Allies take Saint Quentin and start their march into the low countries while the French attack the German border but decide rather than breaking the Westwall which the Germans had been improving for years to go over their northern flank.

 

9 July 1943: The Soviets after focusing almost all of their offensive capability on Berlin finally advance into the inner districts of Berlin causing Hitler to be murdered by one of his own officers.

 

10 July 1943: The Germans in Berlin surrender to the Russians.

 

11 July 1943: The British attack Arras and the German troops were yet to be told of the surrender in Berlin so continue fighting.

 

12 July 1943: Brandenburg, Neubrandenburg and Stralsund all fall to the Russians as the German troops begin to surrender on mass. The Allies take Cambrai.

 

13 July 1943: Leipzig falls to the Soviets.

 

15 July 1943: Rostock and Magdeburg fall to the Soviets. At this point the Germans simply give up with no central command to order them and it is simply a question of where will the 2 allies meet.The British take Roubaix while the French take Valenciennes.

 

19 July 1943: The British take Brussels. The French take Namur. The Soviets take Hamburg and Hanover.

 

21 July 1943: The British take Antwerp and Ghent. The Soviets take Bremen and Nuremberg.

 

22 July 1943: The Soviets take Frankfurt

 

23 July 1943: The Soviets and British meet up at Munster.

 

25 July 1943: The French take Koblenz. The British take Arnhem. The Soviets take Munich and Stuttgart.

 

27 July 1943: The advance Soviet elements met up with the British vanguard at Lingen.

 

28 July 1943: All of Germany has been occupied by either the Soviets or West. The 3 European powers all agree to the division of Europe best on where their troops are. While the British and French are highly unhappy with this arrangement they know that with their current losses they cannot afford to fight the Soviet Union.

 

30 July 1940: Mass demonstrations in India are led by Gandhi demanding independence.

 

18 August 1943: Parliament is dissolved.

 

4 September 1943: The election is held although results are delayed.

25 September 1943: After collecting all the votes from overseas Clement Atlee takes power.