Overview[]
World War Two was probably the most destructive conflict in the history of humanity. It resulted from the instability of the world democracies and its failured and slided into totalitarianism. By the end of World War Two, Fascism is discredited as unappealing and a ideological pariah. The Axis powers were Great Britain and its colonies, Germany, and Japan. Italy stayed neutral until the late stages of the war. On the Allied side were Russia, France, China, Iran, Kurdistan, and Turkey. Yugoslavia(plus Bulgaria), Hungary and Romania joined the Allied side in the mid stages of the war, having been invaded by Germany.
Beginning[]
In September 1, 1939, German forces plunged into Poland with a blitzkrieg attack against that country. Polish forces fought back, but their sacrifices were in vain as the Germans quickly overran large parts of Poland. Some Polish units escaped from Poland and refitted their armies in France and Russia. As a result, the Allied Powers(minus the USA) declared war on Germany and possibly its alles. Great Britain resumes its conflict against Russia from British India, invading Russian Central Asia and Russian South Pacific. Though the BUF-dominated British forces succeed in taking some parts of the Russian lands(particularly Malaya), they were hampered by guerrilla attacks from all over the countryside.
Russia launched its attack against German-held Poland in an attempt to dissuade the Germans from launcing their attack into Russian territory, but failed to do so in a series of defeats.(However, the strings of defeats were minor and not much of a problem, compared to the losses during WWI). The Baltics were kept in Russian hands, though there are some Lithuanians that wished to break away and sought German help. Lithuania actually hosted the Polish guests for the duration of the war.
For a couple of months, no nation launched attacks against each other in Europe. In Central Asia, the British kept on pouring their troops into that area so they could invade the Russian heartland and at the same time, gain control of South East Asia to secure Australia's safety. This potentially backfires as some units accidentally invaded Afghanistan, resulting in a gruesome conflict with the Afghan guerrillas.
German Invasions of the Balkans and Russia[]
By 1941, most of Europe are under German control. Britain had also invaded Ireland and occupied it within a couple of months, though the British war effort begins to buckle down once news of the gruesome battles with guerrillas in South East Asia, Central Asia and Afghanistan starts to filter through BUF censors. Hitler, Mosley, and Tojo signed the Tripartite Pact, but Mussolini is still contemplating on joining this alliance as he wasn't ready yet. Romania opted to stay neutral, but Hungary decided to join the Allied cause by launching raids into German-occupied Austria. To make matters worse, Yugoslavia had signed the Tripartite Pact but didn't ratify it, thanks to a pro-Russian coup led by Serb officers of the Royal Yugoslav Army led by General Simic. Meanwhile, Mussolini quietly sends his own troops into Albania and annex the entire country and contemplates on attacking Greece as well.
As a result of Hungary and Yugoslavia's stubbornness against Hitler's ambitions, he ordered a mass invasion of both countries. The fighting lasted around two months, but guerrilla warfare starts once Budapest and Belgrade are captured. Pro-German Arrow Cross thugs start a pogrom against Jews of Hungary, but since they were attacked along with Yugoslavia, German forces start to clear Hungarians out of Yugoslav territory. In the aftermath of the invasion, Germany dismembers Yugoslavia and awards Croatia its independence. Some of Hitler's generals would regret this decision as Croat fascists would later target Serb minorities in their vicious ethnic cleansing program. Serbs that escaped Croat atrocities eventually form Chetnik bands and harass their sworn enemies.
On July 6, 1941, Germany and its allies invaded Russia. This time, the Germans had managed to gain an upper hands in the early stages of the war despite Russian preparations, but mostly because of greater number of troops and insurrection in the Baltics. The German Army manages to liberate the Baltics, but occupy Belarus and Ukraine, bringing in a guerrilla war in their midst. The Russian government evacuates to Novosibirsk, out of the enemy's reach. Five months later on December 7, 1941, the Germans fight the Russians in Moscow and lost the battle. However, it would take at least another year until the Germans and their allies are out of Russian soil. By then, the Lithuanians have descended into civil war.
Pacific Campaign: The Beginning and the Middle.[]
At the same time the Battle of Moscow had gone underway, Japan launched a surprise attack on both the American naval base at Pearl Harbor and the Russian naval base in Manila. A few days later, Japan sent its troops to invade both the Russian Far East and Russian South Pacific. Laoag and Tugegarao have fallen in the RSP, while Vladivostok is under siege. A few days after the Japanese attack, Russia and USA have declared war on Japan.
In 1942, Japan has captured the Russian South Pacific capital, Manila. By then, the RSP Military Command moves the capital to Jakarta. During the April months, the Russian Army has suffered its worst defeat since the Crimean War at the Bataan Peninsula. The victorious Japanes troops send the captured Russian soldiers to a POW camp, but some of them die in the infamous Bataan Death March(in OTL, it was American soldiers who were brutalized in that death march.). In the Russian Homeland Front, the same occurs but it is German soldiers who treat their Russian prisoners as bad as the Japanese does.
Yet the Japanese and some British soldiers couldn't dislodge the Russian forces who had resumed their conflict as guerrillas tried to pacify them and even Australia contributed to the pacification process. In 1943, the combined Russo-American fleet had defeated the Japanese in Midway Island. Moreover, the Russians bomb Japanese cities from Khabarovsk.
1943-1945 Europe: The Beginning of the End[]
By 1943, the British public opinion had grown more negative as the news of rapid increase of casualties reaches the home front. The BUF tried its best to suppress its disgruntled citizens, but to no avail. Moreover, Great Britain is facing a revolt as pro-Allied factions establish a revolutionary government in Edinburgh. A few month later in July 1943, the pro-Allied Free Great Britain Forces and their American and Free Commonwealth allies recapture England and execute the BUF led government. In Italy, the same scenario has happened, only German troops had occupied the northern half. In the Balkans, partisan resistance increases.
By June of 1944, the Allies mount a double pronged invasion of France from England and North Africa. The invasion was a success, though there are heavy casualties on both sides. By December 1944, half of France is liberated.
In the Russian Homeland Front by 1944, the Russians mount an offensive that relieved the siege of Petrograd and Kiev.(the Russians have defeated the Germans in Volgagrad back in 1943, similar to OTL's Battle of Stalingrad, only the Germans were partially prepared for the cold.) German forces occupying almost all of Russian territory were caught off guard and quickly retreated. Their retreat is made even bloodier when both Hungary and Romania decide to expel their German minorities and the latter abandoned its neutrality and declared war on Germany. In October 1944, the joint Russo-Hungarian-Romanian armies entered occupied Yugoslavia/Bulgaria and liberated it. Pro-Russian Chetnik bands harass their fascist Croat foes out of Bosnia and Dalmatia. Mussolini still holds on his neutrality, despite the economic recessions in the Italian Empire.
Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia were also freed and the Free Polish forces crossed the border into Poland, starting the Polish Uprising. In Warsaw, the Germans and Free Poles engage each other in a street to street battle. Major cities like Paris, Amsterdam and Brussels are liberated by the Allies. By 1945, the Allies have positioned themselves in nations that border Germany and are within striking range of Berlin.
On March 22, 1945, Russian and Hungarian forces have invaded eastern Germany and Austria. Both sides suffer tremendous losses, but the Germans couldn't replace their losses any further. Berlin is attacked by April of 1945. A few weeks later, Adolf Hitler committed suicide and Germany surrenders to the Allies.
1944-1945: Pacific Campaign at its Finish[]
At the same time as the Liberation of Belgrade, the Russian Navy based in Palau(one of the Russian islands that escaped Japanese rule) set sail for the Russian South Pacific. Marshal Voroshilov and his troops land in Leyte, Sumatra and many other places in the RSP. The Japanese were decisively defeated, but not before suffering horrendous losses as they introduced the kamikaze suicide plane. By the end of the Leyte invasion, all of the island plus some islands in Indonesia are in Russian hands. At the same time, the Russians had relieved the siege on Vladivostok and forced the Japanese troops out of Manchuria, but were bogged down in Korea. Eventually, Korea itself was retaken by the Russian and Free Korean forces.
In January 1945, the Russians had launched an invasion of Lingayen and captured the city. Five days later, Russian soldiers undertook a mission to liberate hundreds of Allied POWs from their Japanese captors. Manila falls two months later, with street to street battles underway. By then, both Russia and USA have developed a secret weapon that will bring an end to the war and are ready to deploy it. Japan has been sent an ultimatum, demanding its surrender. As predicted, the Japanese government rejects it, forcing the new nuclear powers to drop bombs into Hiroshima and Nagasaki(though the Russians have dropped their atomic bomb on Niigata and Kagoshima.) The War in the Pacific is brought to an end as Japan signs the Declaration of Surrender. The terms weren't as harsh as the OTL terms since Japan was allowed to keep Taiwan.