The Celtic Reich

Hitler sets his eyes on Ireland, and gathers his foremost military commanders for the planning of Operation Green. ..

POD
With the battle of Dunkirk coming to a close, and thousands of British troops swarming back to England, Hitler has an eleventh-hour realisation of what this could mean for the future of the Reich.

He begins a badly co-ordinated Luftwaffe assault on the boats crossing the Channel, which results in minimal casualties. When reviewing figures for estimated Allied troop numbers in Britain, and wary of anticipated American participation in the war, Hitler makes the decision to eliminate Britain as quickly as possible before advancing further East.

Amassing an Army, Beginning a Battle
After the fall of France, Hitler begins preparing plans for a the downfall of Britain. With the Soviet invasion of Bessarabia, he realises he is threatened with a war on two fronts. Deciding that it will be easier to give a swift knock-out blow to Britain before gearing up for the expecting invasion by Russia, Hitler ramps up production of armaments and materiel, with factories operating at a loss to meet quotas.

Relations with the occupies territories are improved under a programme led by Wilhelm Frick, with French, Dutch and Norwegian workers put to the now state-run factories almost immediately, with wages much higher than they were recieving before. This is known as the Arbeitskraft Hilfe programme, and is a considerable drain on Nazi funds, but is considered necessary by many leading Nazi officials to prevent partisan activity. Hitler is originally opposed to the programme, and much of it is done under the table, but with French saboteur activity, he realises than brute force will only create a rallying point for freedom fighters, and gives the funding his blessing until Allied threat is neutralised, at which point funding will be redirected to German factories. A maximum of two years is given to Minister Frick for funding to Occupied Territory factories, many of which produce inferior goods or cannot meet necessary quotas to justify their existance.

Preparation for Operation Sea Lion
The Reichstag and SS are at odds with each other over preparations for an invasion of Britain; Werner von Blomberg and Wilhelm Keitel, Ministers of the Reichswehr, believe that Germany needs to wait until arms production is increased before an invasion can take place. The SS and the Wehrmacht, with the backing of Hitler, is confident from its recent victories and want to engage Britain as soon as possible. Both are concerned of a Soviet invasion due to the recent absorption of the Baltic states, and come to a compromise; with Wehrmacht troops stationed in Romania and Poland to buffer against an invasion, a full invasion of Britain will take place in April of 1941, the date decided by Hitler himself, with growing impatience.

Factories around Germany are running to full capacity: new workers are drawn in from across Europe, attracted by high wages and better living conditions than those in their home countries. In the Ruhr industrial areas, nazi racial policy is regularly unenforced, to accomodate the large number of non-aryan workers in the factories. A large manufacturing district is planned in Bohemia, to be run by Sudeten Germans and is effectively the Reich's first experimental colony. By Christmas of 1940 several steel foundries and munitions plants had been established, attracting 8,000 workers and their families. Much of the dangerous construction work is done by local Czechs, who also had to give up their housing to accomodate the German settlers. Once construction is complete on the factories, the Czechs are removed from the area and sent for labour elsewhere.

Starting in the Autumn of 1940, new vehicles are designed and produced for the invasion of Britain. Due to the reliable condition of British roads and suitable year-round weather, not much emphasis is placed on new designs for tanks or trucks, and Panzer IV's are considered to be ideal for an invasion force, and so a production quota of an extra 1000 was ordered. This was too high a demand for the already stretched German economy, and so only 600 managed to be added to the existing tank regiments by April 1941. Knowing the importance of quickly moving troops throughout British soil, Hitler personally meets Ferdinand Porsche to discuss a deal on truck production and an amphibious landing craft. Generous grants are given to have them designed and produced by April 1941, which rushes production and causes gaps in German funding.

To increase revenue, Nazi activity amongst Boer population groups increases, with German and Dutch sympathisers sent to South Africa to Increase partisan activity and resistance to South African government. This proves to be extremely effective, with Boer and Afrikaaner populations taking advantage of smuggled German weaponry to start liberation movements, with the Western Cape and areas in Transvaal becoming completely independent within weeks. This leads to expulsion of black and Indian populations from these areas, and protests in Johannesburg turn violent, with racially-motivated attacks increasing. South Africa lost control of Namibia by September, and to the surprise of the Allies, a small German fleet lands at Walvis Bay in early October, quickly subduing the local population, and by November, the colony of German South-West Africa has been re-instated.

Due to the unrest in South Africa, the German colony took effective control of the Western and Northen capes with no resistance. Quickly rallying the local white populations, the Germans are able to utilise black chattel labour to export huge amounts of diamonds and gold to re-strengthen the threatened German economy, and nickel and chromium to reduce reliance on Turkish imports. This led to Turkey trying to gain favour with Germany, feeling threatened by losing their baragining position, by allowing the stationing of German troops in the country later in the war. The situation in South Africa led to pro-indepedence movements gaining ground in the Portugese colonies of Mozambique and Angola, the former using peaceful demonstrations, the latter fearing a German invasion and setting up a reactionary government that was pro-German. This crisis caused division in the Portugese government, which led to a reduction in control of their colonies. Angola curried favour with the Germans by allowing direct oil exports southwards, allowing a more substantial German fleet to be established in Walvis Bay by January. This thwarted any hopes the Allies had of regaining control of South Africa, which was now split into a western zone of German control, and an Eastern zone of anarchic communities, tribal governments, and Boer republics, with German troops freely moving throughout the area with only small pockets of resistance.