World War II (Mink’s World)

World War II is and was the greatest and deadliest war the world has ever seen in this timeline. This war involved two sides: the Rising Axis powers and the Allied Powers. The Axis powers contained Germany, Japan (and minor puppets) Italy and Finland pitched in as well on the Axis side. The Allied powers were Britain (and puppets), the Soviet Union and China.

Pre-War Events

There were many Pre-War events that have led up to the outbreak of the Second World War.

Italian Ethiopian War

On October 2nd, 1935, Benito Mussolini prepared troops along the Somalian-Ethiopian Border. The troops were told to cross the border the next day. On October 3rd, the troops crossed into Ethiopia. The first attempt were to take major cities along the border. The Italians did just that taking all major cities along the border withing the week. German troops couldn't make it to Italian Somaliland in time as they Italians were expected to make it to the capital of Ethiopia by Christmas.

Over the month of October Italy would make large gains. Germany gave them air support effectively whipping out the small Ethiopian air force. Meanwhile, the League of Nations stomped their feet saying this was uncalled for and violated Article X of the League of Nations. On November 14th, the Shire Offensive was ordered leading to many Ethiopian casualties but little Italian gains. The last offensive of the war was ordered on the 2nd of December. With supplies dwindling and the Italians rapidly approaching the Ethiopian Capital Haile Selassie called for a ceasefire and would accept any Italian Demands.

Soviet Coup in the Russian Empire

The Communist part in Russia has been around since the 20s after many controversial policies the tsar brought up after the First World War. Russia was in much debt and many citizens were not liking the tsar's regime. A group of Communists came together in 1933 and planned to stage a coup in the Russian Empire in about a year. They planned to storm St. Petersburg on the 22nd of October toppling the tsarist regime in Russia they planned to implement a Communist Regime (not as Communist in our timeline). There were many people involved in the coup. These people included Georgy Zhukov (a high ranking official in the tsarist army) Joseph Stalin (a Russian who was full Communist) and many more Pro-Communists. They planned to storm St. Petersburg with about 10,000 men.

On October 22nd, 1933, 10,000 Pro-Soviets stormed St. Petersburg. Within minutes, the Royal family was evacuated to Finland as in an agreement made after the Finnish Civil war. (In the event of a coup or any military action from the people of Russia Finland would accept any Royal Family Member as a refugee and they would continue their operations in Helsinki) With the Royal Family fleeing and the St. Petersburg Guard trying to get organized the citizens of St. Petersburg started to flee abroad and for some time the Finns had to deny entry of the Russians. By the late hours of the 22nd the St. Petersburg Guard were forced to the Royal palace and the grounds surrounding it. At about 1:00 in the morning the tsar got hold of the Guard and told them and called for a ceasefire. Georgy Zhukov was put into power the next day.

Lebensraum and Agreements

After Hitler's rise to power in 1933 he began to denounce the Treaty of Versailles. First he militarized the Rhineland in early March of 1936. France at this time rioted and almost came close to all out war. Next in 1938 two years after the militarizing of the Rhineland Hitler decided to invade Austria in 1938 (This tactic was called Lebensraum). Throughout the world this was seen as something good that Hitler reunited two German-speaking lands. Next Hitler looked to Czechoslovakia. Seeing an opportunity he sent an ultimatum to Czechoslovakia and negotiated for the Sudetenland with a lot of ethnic Germans. After that Hitler looked to seizing all of Czechoslovakia later the same year.During Hitler's seizure of power he looked for other partners to join him. First he looked at Italy recently winning the Italo-Ethiopian War in 1936. Hitler established relations with Benito Mussolini in 1937 signing a non-aggression pact between the two nations in August of 1937. Hitler also knew he needed the Japanese partner Hirohito and in 1937 they also established a non-aggression pact. About a year after the non-aggression pacts Hitler formed the Tripartite Pact or the Axis in late 1938. Note: Finland attended all of the meetings of the Axis but never fully signed the Pact. After the formation he knew that if he was to take down Poland he would need to sign a pact with Georgy Zhukov of the USSR in March 1939 - signing what would be called the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact.

Japanese invasion of China

he Japanese invasion of China also known as the Second Sino-Japanese War was initiated on July 7th 1937 by the Marco Polo Bridge incident. The Marco Polo Bridge incident was a incident likely staged by the Japanese where the Japanese opened fire on the Chinese Nationalists currently in a civil war. This started the Second Sino-Japanese War. Over the next two years the Japanese will battle the Chinese and would be a stalemate when the Second World War Started.

Course of the War

This will go over the course of the war.

Blitzkrieg

Blitzkrieg or German word for Lightning warfare was the tactic that Germany used during the Second World War and proved quite successful.

Invasion of Poland

The Invasion of Poland was first on the agenda. The German troops crossed the border into Poland on September 1st, 1939, marking the beginning of World War 2, Two days later Britain and France declared war on Germany. The Invasion of Poland was swift, the Polish army had very little time for general mobilization. On September 17th 1939 Russian troops crossed into Poland. By the 17th German Panzers were able to make it some 150 Miles into Poland. The Polish army wanted to regroup at Warsaw. The German Panzers were too much and with the Soviets invading from the East all hope war lost. The Polish Marshal Edward Rydz-Śmigły called for all Polish soldiers to make it through any neighbor country to hopefully make it to France. Some will make it in time to France for the Invasion.

Operation Weserübung

_{Further Information see Operation Weserübung}

Operation Weserübung was the invasion of Denmark and Norway. After the end of the Invasion of Poland Hitler ordered for no invasion and waited for the Spring of 1940 to invade the Low Countries and France. This invasion was made quickly. The Invasion of Denmark war the quickest in the war. German paratroopers flew over the Danish Capital Copenhagen on January 29th, 1940. About four hours later, Denmark surrendered.

Norway was a bit tricky for the Germans because Hitler had to somehow land troops into Norway - preferably Oslo. The Germans who were supposed to land in Norway disembarked from Rostok on January 29th 1940. They were expected to land in Oslo on the 3rd of February. Meanwhile, the German ambassador to Norway wrote to the Prime Minister of Norway Johan Nygaardsvold a declaration of war on the 3rd. He did not see this until after German troops landed in Oslo. German troops landed in Oslo on the 3rd of February starting the battle of Oslo. This was only one of the few task forces sent all across Norway. Most notable, some landed in Bergen and others landed in Narvik. Bergen started a two-week long battle which the German's ultimately won. Oslo fell within three days of the Invasion. There was not enough time for a general mobilization. Notable Brian and France started to send troops Norway's way. Narvik was tossed around a couple of times between Norwegian and German forces for three-weeks.

The Norwegians planned to evacuate to Finnmark recently given back to Norway in 1922 under a peace agreement dissolving the Swedish Empire. The Norwegians planned to fight back -the Germans holding them at Narvik. The Luftwaffe ruled the skies as the Norwegian air force was effectively eliminated on February 3. Meanwhile, the Germans in Bergen were making swift progress. It was expected for Oslo group and Bergen group to meet up within a few weeks. That happened as planned on February 7th and the Geilo Campaign followed. The French and British were stationed and retreated to Finnmark hopefully for a last minute defense. The main Norwegian army evacuated to Finnmark fo a last stand with the British ad French expeditionary forces. A British fleet of ships met them at Finnmark on the 1st of March starting the 3 day long evuecation. In the end were sent to Britain to fight when the time came. They would be known as the Norwegian legion.

The Low Countries Campaign

The low counties campaign in World War 2 was the German invasion on the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Belgium. Luxembourg put up little of a fight against the Germans as their army was little to effective against the German war machine and fell in March 3rd, 1940. Next was the invasion of the Netherlands the Netherlands had only one day to mobilize their military and little under one-quarter was mobilized. The Germans invaded on the 4th of March. A bloody battle ensued in the Netherlands while they put up a large effort to stop the Germans. The Germans overran all Dutch defenses on the 10th and proceeded to Amsterdam and on the 10th the Dutch surrendered.

By now UK was urging Belgium to join the Allies. The Belgians refused which proved to be a fatal mistake. On the 15th of March 1940, German troops crossed into Belgium. Now Belgium joined the Allies but it was to late British and French troops could not arrive to the front line in time and the German Panzers in the south surrounded the main British and French armies. This was an encirclement and the British tried to defend Brussels. The Germans immediately crossed into and forced the city to surrender. The rest of the British and French task forces were stuck in Antwerp and surrounded on all sides. There was no chance of escaping, forcing about 750,000 troops to surrender on the 18th of March.

Invasion of France

The invasion of France commenced on the 20th of March 1940. It consisted or a forward thrust through northern Belgium into northern France. Britain was only able to put few troops into France by the time of the offensive. Once German troops crossed into France it was already over. France thought they would invade through the Maginot line - a series of fortifications on the border of France and Germany. When German troops crossed into France the men in the Maginot line were forced to stay put and not retreat to a better position.

By March 25th 1940 German troops have already crossed into France and by then were already 50 miles in. British troops were given the order to evacuate if the situation became dire. On April 1st 1940 Italy was called into the war. Italy became a diversionary force forcing France to pull troops from the main front. This was the final nail in the coffin for France. By April 10th German Panzers could see the Suburbs of Paris. A four-day battle ensued in the end leaving the Germans victorious. British operation code named Operation: Red was the evacuation of all British troops from France. The operation proceeded and German troops swept through France and France finally surrendered on the 20th of April 1940.

The Blitz

The Blitz proceeded the fall of France. This Blitz was just trying to gain air superiority of the English Channel and Britain as an invasion of Britain would be suicide for the German Navy. The Germans tried to gain air superiority as early as May 2nd. Britain conditioned to be bombed for days, weeks and months on end. No peace was tossed around as the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill did not want to surrender. British Cities were bombed to the ground and the factories were rendered useless due to how much they were bombed. Many British citizens lived underground during the Blitz.

North African Campaign

The North Africa Campaign was the largest front of the war during the Summer of 1940. The front was mainly composed of Italian troops as Germany would have to move troops to North Africa. Italian troops only had to focus on a small sliver of land as most of the Desert was nearly impassible. Worth a mention during the summer of 1940 temperatures in 1940 dropped below freezing. North African temperatures were as low as 10 degrees Fahrenheit. Hitler starting to make plans for an invasion of the Soviet Union had to delay them even further as weather forecasts estimate that the freeze would last all the way to June Berlin temperatures in summer were as low as zero degrees Fahrenheit. Benito Mussolini was forced to continue the North African Campaign. Due to the troops supplies being cut short they had to entrench themselves and prepare for a British attack. On the other side the British couldn't reinforce the front themselves and couldn't attack themselves.

Operation Barbarossa

Operation Barbarossa was the largest Operation in World War II. This was the German invasion of the Soviet Union. Germany first started the Invasion in Late July as that was the best time temperatures were as high as 76 degrees Fahrenheit. Germany invaded the Soviet Union in July 23rd 1941. This was a direct violation of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and Zhukov declared war. The Soviet Union couldn't hold back the Germans so they were on a retreat but the Germans moved faster than the Soviet troops could. This led to many encirclements of the Soviets and they lost many men in the first month. By Mid-Fall 1941 Zhukov was able to stall the Germans at a many parts of the front. The loss of Stalingrad was a major morale blow to Zhukov's men.

Meanwhile, Hitler dispatched an army group to gain the valuable Caucasus oil fields. In return Zhukov moved about 400,000 men down to the Caucasus. On top of the troop movement Zhukov ordered conscription of any people in the Caucasus. This brought up the army to about 750,000 men armed with 2,500 T-34 tanks. Zhukov's flaw in the plan was winter was approaching fast and there were only about three roads into the Caucasus all others were owned by the Germans. On top of all of this the Soviet commander Ivan Tyulenev was in competent and did not have enough experience of commanding an army of that size. Hitler Blitzkrieg through the Caucasus encircling the troops by December 1941. This was the downfall as the Germans were able to win the battle for the Caucasus taking many prisoners just in time for Winter.

The Great Freeze

By Winter of 1942 temperatures on the eastern front were below zero. At that moment the Soviets starting dying of frostbite. On the German side a Soviet offensive could have brought them back to Warsaw Poland. Hitler was forced to halt any operations on all portions of the Eastern Front. The Germans had to dig in. Mean While the Soviets tried to go around the massive loss of oil since the caucuses were fully under German Control

Great Freeze in Britain

In Great Britain air operations had to stop as oil froze. One newspaper stated that "More civilians were dying of the freeze than from the Germans". German Air raids continued well into the Freeze. Blankets were issued to all Civilians. Britain halted many convoys because the ports froze over. Ships were turned into ice breakers which ultimately weakened the British Navy. These were dire times - especially for Northern Ireland and Scotland as people had to flee south only for it to be about 5-10 degrees warmer.

Oil was not able to make into Britain causing the British citizens to mine for coal in the freezing mines. This also hampered the army because many new conscripts had to hike a mile or two on freezing ice to get to a boat to the other fronts of the war such as the African front. Tanks were only being made a few per day and only a fraction of those that were being made were able to see combat.

Canada

Canada was one of the hardest hit during the great freeze. Due to the neutrality of the United States they only allowed very few Canadians into their borders. Britain did all that they could to supply Canada but all that that they did was not enough. To the Canadians this war started to look more and more pointless. Conscription was stopped as many Canadians were seen as unfit for the war. As a last ditch resort Canadians were evacuated to south Africa if possible.