Didn't Churchill say, "The German is either at your throat, or at your feet", or words to that effect? I can't imagine the British of his generation accepting another Versailles-type settlement. Sure, you can always find a couple of politicians who would cave in, but who would believe ANYTHING that came out of Germany in those days? "Oh, we've changed governments, and now we want to be your friends." "Of course, why didn't you say so earlier?" No, does not compute.
And Phylo is soooo right about how the Americans will not be bullied. Bored into submission, possibly. But never bullied.
Wolery's AH question thread
Moderator: Commissar D, the Evil
Why shouldn't they fight? I can name you a half dozen reasons why off the top of my head:
1. The Germans are no where CLOSE to surrendering. They have oil, metal, coal and thanks to the me262, complete dominion of the skies over Europe. If the Luft waffe can shoot down one nuclear bomber as it did, it can shoot down another. This is not Japan, nukes by themselves cannot force a surrender.
2. Germany has plenty of Uranium. There were mines in Checkoslavakia, now it is true the Allies had a lot more, but the Germans had enough, if they poured enough resources into it.
3. Blood of the soldiers: The German army is close to retaking France in toto, endangering hundreds of thousands of American lives. Hundreds of thousands more are in Stalags all over Germany
4. Treausre: Wars cost a lot of money. What do the Americans win in the long run by pounbding down the Germans they can't get by a quick treaty? An occupation zone that's what.
5. Communist expansion: by 1945 Churchill at least is patently aware that German power is broken and that it's Communism that will be the big threat, especially if they take over Easten Europe. As is Churchill remarked famously after the war they had "slaughtered the wrong pig" and a change in governemtn might make him realize that before.
6. War exhaustion: by 1945, people were tired of the war, and without a monster like Hitler or Himmler to propel the Allied armies forward, Allied morale will collapse. Especially when they learn of the German governments offer. If Clement Atalee can get elected here during WWII, it's not unlikley anti-imperialist sentiment at least in Britian, could trigger the British govenrment seeking terms, throwing out Churchill if he doesn't agree.
And Frankly, I think you guys have a very skewed view of English speaking peoples. The way I've seen them described in this thread, you'd think we were ruthless, irrational, bloodthirsty monsters bent on glory and conquest at all costs. Well we are not Huns, we are not (medievel) Arabs, we are not Mongols. Our goal was always to get rid of Hitler, and we were always aware that sometimes things we desire come at too high a price. We even bucked the no surrender bullshit with the Japs. That's why the Emperor still sits on the throne. Decency, reason and compromise have always been the hallmarks of non-totalitarian Western civilizations.
1. The Germans are no where CLOSE to surrendering. They have oil, metal, coal and thanks to the me262, complete dominion of the skies over Europe. If the Luft waffe can shoot down one nuclear bomber as it did, it can shoot down another. This is not Japan, nukes by themselves cannot force a surrender.
2. Germany has plenty of Uranium. There were mines in Checkoslavakia, now it is true the Allies had a lot more, but the Germans had enough, if they poured enough resources into it.
3. Blood of the soldiers: The German army is close to retaking France in toto, endangering hundreds of thousands of American lives. Hundreds of thousands more are in Stalags all over Germany
4. Treausre: Wars cost a lot of money. What do the Americans win in the long run by pounbding down the Germans they can't get by a quick treaty? An occupation zone that's what.
5. Communist expansion: by 1945 Churchill at least is patently aware that German power is broken and that it's Communism that will be the big threat, especially if they take over Easten Europe. As is Churchill remarked famously after the war they had "slaughtered the wrong pig" and a change in governemtn might make him realize that before.
6. War exhaustion: by 1945, people were tired of the war, and without a monster like Hitler or Himmler to propel the Allied armies forward, Allied morale will collapse. Especially when they learn of the German governments offer. If Clement Atalee can get elected here during WWII, it's not unlikley anti-imperialist sentiment at least in Britian, could trigger the British govenrment seeking terms, throwing out Churchill if he doesn't agree.
And Frankly, I think you guys have a very skewed view of English speaking peoples. The way I've seen them described in this thread, you'd think we were ruthless, irrational, bloodthirsty monsters bent on glory and conquest at all costs. Well we are not Huns, we are not (medievel) Arabs, we are not Mongols. Our goal was always to get rid of Hitler, and we were always aware that sometimes things we desire come at too high a price. We even bucked the no surrender bullshit with the Japs. That's why the Emperor still sits on the throne. Decency, reason and compromise have always been the hallmarks of non-totalitarian Western civilizations.
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phylo_roadking
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. The Germans are no where CLOSE to surrendering. They have oil, metal, coal and thanks to the me262, complete dominion of the skies over Europe. If the Luft waffe can shoot down one nuclear bomber as it did, it can shoot down another. This is not Japan, nukes by themselves cannot force a surrender.
The Me262 was anything but a warwinner. It was horrendously vulnerable on its long approach to landing, and thats when most of those that flew were brought down, by Allied aircraft "lingering" around German airfields. By April 1945 you have the meteor in British service that in the end post-war would prove to be a VERY capable machine, far more so than the 262. Also, by the end of 1945 you'd have the DH Vampire rolling off the drawingboard... In America you'd have the P80 and for the Navy the original Phantom. Don't forget all the aircraft that fought in Korea originally were planned for fighting the Germans and Japanese...
2. Germany has plenty of Uranium. There were mines in Checkoslavakia, now it is true the Allies had a lot more, but the Germans had enough, if they poured enough resources into it.
The mines were VERY low grade, and required an overly-expensive degree of refinement. THATS why the Germans were crowing to get their hands on the Belgian stockpile from the Congo that was first moved from Brussels to Paris to avoid them...but nthanks to heisenberg's "mistake" they thought it wasn't enough. They were a bit p1ssed when they realised they wouldn't just get free reign in the Belgian Congo LMAO
3. Blood of the soldiers: The German army is close to retaking France in toto, endangering hundreds of thousands of American lives. Hundreds of thousands more are in Stalags all over Germany
And you dont thing the French wouldn't be flocking to De Gaulle at this point???
4. Treausre: Wars cost a lot of money. What do the Americans win in the long run by pounbding down the Germans they can't get by a quick treaty? An occupation zone that's what.
Yes they do. And the Americans had it to spend. They GOT an occupation zone in real life and were QUITE happy with it. They even had enough money to eventually start rebuilding it.
5. Communist expansion: by 1945 Churchill at least is patently aware that German power is broken and that it's Communism that will be the big threat, especially if they take over Easten Europe. As is Churchill remarked famously after the war they had "slaughtered the wrong pig" and a change in governemtn might make him realize that before.
No - what he WOULD realise is that IF they changed their government, the Germans thought the game was over, against them.
6. War exhaustion: by 1945, people were tired of the war, and without a monster like Hitler or Himmler to propel the Allied armies forward, Allied morale will collapse. Especially when they learn of the German governments offer. If Clement Atalee can get elected here during WWII, it's not unlikley anti-imperialist sentiment at least in Britian, could trigger the British govenrment seeking terms, throwing out Churchill if he doesn't agree.
Wolery, you've misread the 1945 "coupon" election. What happened was that Churchill's National Government promised a full Welfare State during the war, and NOT after it...and in the end the ONLY thing they even started was Beveridge's consultation report on it. The Labour Party played on THIS and said - "hey look, you're busy suffering and this guy doesn't and WON'T keep his promises, but WE will..." It had nothing to do with war exhaustion in britain, and the Americans "technically" only began to fight in the same numbers/percentages of the population on D-Day...by the way, there was VERY little "anti-Imperialist" sentiment in britain at this point - after all, despite this supposedly "evil" British Empire the Empire and Dominions flocked freely to assist the UK! There wasn't even conscription in Northern Ireland, only 22 miles from Scotland! Everywhere in the Empire EXCEPT Britain it was a "volunteers" war. And take a look at British History in the years immediately AFTER WWII - Malaya, Korea, bankrupting the nation to among other things build a nuclear deterrent, upgrading her armed forces with new technology ASAP....under a LABOUR government!!! In Britain Labour Governments have proved to be actually MORE Imperialist than the Tories/Conservatives!
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The Me262 was anything but a warwinner. It was horrendously vulnerable on its long approach to landing, and thats when most of those that flew were brought down, by Allied aircraft "lingering" around German airfields. By April 1945 you have the meteor in British service that in the end post-war would prove to be a VERY capable machine, far more so than the 262. Also, by the end of 1945 you'd have the DH Vampire rolling off the drawingboard... In America you'd have the P80 and for the Navy the original Phantom. Don't forget all the aircraft that fought in Korea originally were planned for fighting the Germans and Japanese...
2. Germany has plenty of Uranium. There were mines in Checkoslavakia, now it is true the Allies had a lot more, but the Germans had enough, if they poured enough resources into it.
The mines were VERY low grade, and required an overly-expensive degree of refinement. THATS why the Germans were crowing to get their hands on the Belgian stockpile from the Congo that was first moved from Brussels to Paris to avoid them...but nthanks to heisenberg's "mistake" they thought it wasn't enough. They were a bit p1ssed when they realised they wouldn't just get free reign in the Belgian Congo LMAO
3. Blood of the soldiers: The German army is close to retaking France in toto, endangering hundreds of thousands of American lives. Hundreds of thousands more are in Stalags all over Germany
And you dont thing the French wouldn't be flocking to De Gaulle at this point???
4. Treausre: Wars cost a lot of money. What do the Americans win in the long run by pounbding down the Germans they can't get by a quick treaty? An occupation zone that's what.
Yes they do. And the Americans had it to spend. They GOT an occupation zone in real life and were QUITE happy with it. They even had enough money to eventually start rebuilding it.
5. Communist expansion: by 1945 Churchill at least is patently aware that German power is broken and that it's Communism that will be the big threat, especially if they take over Easten Europe. As is Churchill remarked famously after the war they had "slaughtered the wrong pig" and a change in governemtn might make him realize that before.
No - what he WOULD realise is that IF they changed their government, the Germans thought the game was over, against them.
6. War exhaustion: by 1945, people were tired of the war, and without a monster like Hitler or Himmler to propel the Allied armies forward, Allied morale will collapse. Especially when they learn of the German governments offer. If Clement Atalee can get elected here during WWII, it's not unlikley anti-imperialist sentiment at least in Britian, could trigger the British govenrment seeking terms, throwing out Churchill if he doesn't agree.
Wolery, you've misread the 1945 "coupon" election. What happened was that Churchill's National Government promised a full Welfare State during the war, and NOT after it...and in the end the ONLY thing they even started was Beveridge's consultation report on it. The Labour Party played on THIS and said - "hey look, you're busy suffering and this guy doesn't and WON'T keep his promises, but WE will..." It had nothing to do with war exhaustion in britain, and the Americans "technically" only began to fight in the same numbers/percentages of the population on D-Day...by the way, there was VERY little "anti-Imperialist" sentiment in britain at this point - after all, despite this supposedly "evil" British Empire the Empire and Dominions flocked freely to assist the UK! There wasn't even conscription in Northern Ireland, only 22 miles from Scotland! Everywhere in the Empire EXCEPT Britain it was a "volunteers" war. And take a look at British History in the years immediately AFTER WWII - Malaya, Korea, bankrupting the nation to among other things build a nuclear deterrent, upgrading her armed forces with new technology ASAP....under a LABOUR government!!! In Britain Labour Governments have proved to be actually MORE Imperialist than the Tories/Conservatives!
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"Well, my days of not taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle." - Malcolm Reynolds
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phylo_roadking
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The British weren't overly bloodthirsty in the 20th Century....after 1918 this is! But for four years before that, now....And Frankly, I think you guys have a very skewed view of English speaking peoples. The way I've seen them described in this thread, you'd think we were ruthless, irrational, bloodthirsty monsters bent on glory and conquest at all costs. Well we are not Huns, we are not (medievel) Arabs, we are not Mongols. Our goal was always to get rid of Hitler, and we were always aware that sometimes things we desire come at too high a price. We even bucked the no surrender bullshit with the Japs. That's why the Emperor still sits on the throne. Decency, reason and compromise have always been the hallmarks of non-totalitarian Western civilizations
And remember where Bomber Harris learned his trade - bombing the sh1t out of frontier villages that couldn't fire back. Oh, and concentration camps in Malaya, where they "concentrated" the rural population THEN bombed the cr@p out of anything else that moved in the countryside! Mind you, that worked, so noone complains. Aggressive war without warning over the Suez Canal?? 14-yr olds back down the mines for a second time and continued rationing through the 1940s so we could build the atomic infrastructure to have our own bomb? The duck is quacking...And I won't even mention those nice democratic Americans who ended up embroiled almost constantly in wars in one place or another, one size or another!
P.S. the Emperor of Japan still sits on his tnrone because he surrendered his godhood. Reducing a GOD to a mere man? Looks like one hell of a defeat and surrender to me!
"Well, my days of not taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle." - Malcolm Reynolds
Hi Roadking! I've been busy trying to do some more research, and I'm making some progress, but I have a lot to learn yet.
Oh yes, I HAVE A BASIC COMPLETED TIMELINE! Any one care to see it?
Of course it's always easy and sometimes fun, to hit someone who can't hit back. The Germany I'm invisioning if a government more than capable of hitting back, any time, any place. More or less.phylo_roadking wrote: The British weren't overly bloodthirsty in the 20th Century....after 1918 this is! But for four years before that, now....
You're being disingenous, and you know it about the Emperor. Hirohito was more a war criminal as Mussolini ever was and we not only let him go, but technically he ran Japan until his death. That is not absolute surrender. Americans are always willing to negotiate for a deal on their terms and they got it on August 15, 1945. And that was from a country ruined, starving and prostrate. I think I could jigger a German truce; I could do so with Hitler still in power (and many before me have, witness Fatherland) but that isn't what I'm aiming for.phylo_roadking wrote:And I won't even mention those nice democratic Americans who ended up embroiled almost constantly in wars in one place or another, one size or another!
P.S. the Emperor of Japan still sits on his tnrone because he surrendered his godhood. Reducing a GOD to a mere man? Looks like one hell of a defeat and surrender to me!
Oh yes, I HAVE A BASIC COMPLETED TIMELINE! Any one care to see it?
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phylo_roadking
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No - not easy and not fun - it was POLICY LOL Examine some flyer's tales of those Colonial punishment raids...flying to bomb Pathan villages on the North-West Frontier in termite-eaten WWI Bristol Fighters with the undercarriage tied together. The BRITISH invented "Blood Chits", not the Americans....except they were called "Goolie Chits" because they specified that crashed flyers had to be returned with their genitalia intact to get the gold LMAO...NOT because they could be SHOT down, but because their aircraft were ready to fall out of the air and frequently DID. Nothing easy about it!Of course it's always easy and sometimes fun, to hit someone who can't hit back
No, they didn't negotiate - they were magnanimous which is VERY different. Even if only for their OWN reasons. Remember, they'd already turned down attempts to negotiate via Russia and were sticking EXACTLY to the script of the Potsdam Declaration of July 26th. What they DID see was that the Emperor was a force for maintaining cohesion in a surrendered Japan, and to command the Japanese military hold to the surrender. BUT they did not inform the Japanese of this AHEAD of the surrenderHirohito was more a war criminal as Mussolini ever was and we not only let him go, but technically he ran Japan until his death. That is not absolute surrender. Americans are always willing to negotiate for a deal on their terms and they got it on August 15, 1945
"Well, my days of not taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle." - Malcolm Reynolds
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panzermahn
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I would say that the best operational scenario is that the Wehrmacht dropped the only nuclear bomb they had at the Eastern Front (preferably at Moscow) where Uncle Joe and his bolshie comrades were wiped out. The Red Army snake would lose it's head and the Wehrmacht would would be at least given a breathing space at frontline.
However, with the only nuke bomb used up, the best that Germany could do was to bluff the Western Allies that they have more than 1 operational nuke so that this would forced the Western Allies back into negotiating table.
At the Eastern front, Germany would be given a 2nd chance to make good her promises to the Eastern peoples and this time, the Bolsheviks would be defeated and a new cold war would emerge from the destruction of WW2 not in Europe, but in Asia
Regards
Panzermahn
However, with the only nuke bomb used up, the best that Germany could do was to bluff the Western Allies that they have more than 1 operational nuke so that this would forced the Western Allies back into negotiating table.
At the Eastern front, Germany would be given a 2nd chance to make good her promises to the Eastern peoples and this time, the Bolsheviks would be defeated and a new cold war would emerge from the destruction of WW2 not in Europe, but in Asia
Regards
Panzermahn
Here's the timeline I'm prosing, rough draft, this should clear everything up, I hope.
La Belle Europe and the Great War
April 30, 1897-November 11, 1918
Becker is born into an Evangelical Lutheran household, first of five, on April 30 1897 in Tannenburg Germany.
His father is a junior member of the General Staff, having worked up there through campaigns in Africa, (and later the Boxer rebellion) and major ass kissing. The rest of the family is not so militant, his uncles being middle class clerks and businessmen and doctors.
Becker is raised is a classicist house like much of Europe, learning Greek, some Latin and reading the classics. Becker also sees some of the many Wild Bill's Wild West Shows and developed a lifelong fascination with America. For all his future conflicts with the Americans, he is at heart, an Americanophille and believes Germany and the US need never come to blows.
He is also pan-Hellenic hoping to soon see Constantinople restored as the rightful Greek capital.
Becker forges his father's hand to join the army in the summer of 1914, not wanting to miss out on the "grand adventure" ahead. None of his friends believed war was coming, but Becker was accepted into the army. Later he recalls seeing things so clearly he wished he'd tried to do something to stop it.
One POD is that Becker should have been killed at the Battle of Tannenburg, his home in 1914, but he didn't get hit, and was later decorated with the Iron Cross. He later tells a Hitler like story of getting knocked down and a bullet that should have hit him square only grazed him. He remembers a man asking him what he wanted. Becker said instinctively, to be great, and the man said there were too many great men, instead, he should be a good man, and greatness will follow. That's how HE tells it anyway.
Becker is transferred against his will to his father's command position. He seeing 15 year olds being drafted in 1915 and he comes to the conclusion women need to be put into non-combat roles. He convinces his dad, who in turn convinces the Staff to try it, as it could free up men to fight and shorten the war.
Becker spends 1916 as part of a group of logisticians who supervise the administration of an increasingly large group of units with women logistics, Intel and medical. This quickly breaks down as units desperate for men; settle for women, especially artillery and infantry. By 1918 the German, French, and Red Armies are de facto integrated as it gives more manpower to frontline units. Becker is so burnt out on the horrors of war that this doesn't affect him at all, though he never takes any credit for making modern sex-integrated armies possible.
Becker learns the art of logistics in WWI. More than being a great tacticians as various war games proved, he knew better how to organize men and women, food and guns and bullets. Becker tries to organize an effort to get the Cei-Rigotti battle rifle to work as a way of defeating trench warfare. He was young and the CR rifle had had too many chances before it.
By 1918, Becker is a very young but talented Lt. and is transferred to the Italian front where he meets Erwin Rommel. After Rommel saves Becker's life while the Italians counterattacked. Rommel calls him a good kid, but he should go home and get his Abitur. Becker gets shot in the leg and taken home on his father's orders. His leg heels up just as news of the Memel mutinies occur. Becker gets some staff aides together to "shoot some *******ed cock-sucking Communist sailors," but Germany collapses on November 11 and the General Staff orders them to stay put expecting and somewhat getting the quasi civil war Germany got OTL. Becker establishes a vendetta against SDs, anti-monarchists, Communists and for a while Jews. He tells his fellow staffers, in a quote that will dog him for the rest of his life: "Why should the Jews fight for us? It's not their country. So let's dump them all in Palestine and become good neighbors, with good fences” (I’m trying to make Becker a man of his time and place, so that's important to come through)
Early Weimar period (1918-1926)
In December of 1918, like many other young men, Becker gets leave from the official army to join the Freikorps, where he acts as an aide-de-camp for the Baltiche Landwehr until 1920. There his newfound anti-Semitism is replaced by a hatred of Communism, a hatred he carries for the rest of his life. The battles of Riga left him with the firm impression that the Baltic States were vital to Germany's defense.
1921: With the peace relatively secure, Becker returns home and takes his Arbitur. He scores highly enough to be admitted to the Kreigsacademie. He meets a secretary there, 22 year old Julia Schweinherd, a former Stormtrooper from Bavaria with a perpetually infected left foot from an old shrapnel wound.
1922: Mussolini comes to power in Italy
1922: England wins the Anglo-Irish war with the help of a mass reserve of loyal Irishmen opposed to the end of home rule.
1923: The Imperial Conference is held in London. Balfour declaration declares all dominions and the UK are to become a confederation. The United Kingdoms of England Scotland, Ireland, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand is formed. For the rest of the century the new Parliament will be dominated by England, and all prime ministers will be English or Scottish for the rest of the century, but the new Britain retains much of its power, and will remain a minor superpower until the Falklands War of 1981.
1923: Hitler’s Beer hall putsch. Becker is pleased that Hitler says all the things he wishes to say but can't. Julia reveals herself a war time "Trench lover" of Hitler, and claims after the armistice Hitler just "wasn't right" anymore, and she broke up with him once he got involved with the Nazis.
Nonetheless, she goes to Sandua prison with Becker to talk with her former paramour, and finds him messianic. Hitler is infuriated that Julia is with someone else, but this quickly passes.
1924: Becker graduates the academy and is selected for one of the coveted spots in the Reichswhehr. Of 50,000 officers in the post war era, there was room only for 40,000. Becker was more political than the infamously apolitical officer of the Reichswehr, but he was smart, brave, from a military family and a Prussian.
1925: May 24 Wilhelm Becker and Julia Schweinherd wed. Hitler, recently released, attends as a friend of the bride. Julia claims this is the last time she saw the Old Hitler To her dying day she believed Hitler was unbalanced and corrupted by "thugs and bigots."
1925: September 6: Eldest daughter Maria is born.
1926: Becker, now a captain is sent as a technical advisor to Persia. With in days of being there he ruthlessly asskicks a seminary student in Qom for beating a dog. He is promptly ejected from the country. That seminary student was the future Ayatollah Khomeini. For that reason alone, Becker will be loved in some circles into the 21st century.
End of the Weimar Republic
1926-1932
1926-1930: Becker's career stalls. He is assigned to East Prussia where he begins his family in earnest. Sons Julius and Augustus are born in 1927 (twins), and another son Thomas in 1929.
September 1930- June 1931: Becker, in an attempt to salvage his career, gets permission to go to America to see what he can see. Among other things he sees the River Rouge Ford plant and the Springfield Armory. There he meets with and befriends John Garand. He (somehow) arranges for a few prototypes of the Garand rifle to "fall off the truck." Later Five thousand Reichmarchs make their way to Garand's bank account, but this is not discovered until after Garand's death (Garand never made more than 12K a year historically.)
1932: Arranges a firearm demonstration to President Hindenburg, showing the faster rate of fire of the Garand. He claims that with an officer heavy 100,000 force, every soldier will need as much firepower as possible. He also demonstrates the power of the Fedov Automat and Cei-Rigotti rifle as templates for a new kind of gun, but the reception is much cooler by the President. Nonetheless, Becker is promoted to Major and his career is back on track. He oversees the project personally, and develops the Gewehr 35 "Pinger" as the standard arm of the German soldier.
1932: Eagerly votes for Nazis in the elections of that year, breaking with his traditional semi-center right National People's Party. Believes only Hitler can save Germany from Communist influence after Hindenburg dies. Also hopes for more promotion in a larger Army. Julia, his wife tells him not to, but he does it anyway. He does however vote for Hindenburg as President.
1933: Reichstag fire on February 27, dictatorial powers granted to Hitler through the Enabling Act.
End of the Weimar Republic
Early Third Reich (1933-1939)
1934: Becker meets with Hitler for the first time to show him the Gewehr 35 ‘Pinger.’ Hitler is impressed, and after being shown the Cei-Rigotti and Fedor automat rifles, is convinced these are the future of German arms. Hitler remarks that he likes Becker’s style, and the fact he talks like an Old Fighter. Becker moves his family to Berlin and is put in charge of new weapons for infantry.
1933-35: Major Becker continues to perfect the Gewehr 35 Pinger. K98 introduced as second line weapons except for snipers.
1935: Becker begins work on his thesis: Seven Ways to Serve Bear; that is seven plans to conquer the Soviet Union under any condition. In it he calls for a supremely mobile force of motorized infantry armed to the teeth and supported by self propelled (SP) artillery. Though not fully implemented, Guderian and Becker’s visions come into conflict and Hitler plays them off one another to get the best results.
Germany reintroduces conscription. Women volunteers for enlisted and NCO positions accepted in Wehrmacht. Admiral Tripitz complains and the Navy remains men only. Luftwaffe is immediately sex integrated top to bottom.
Luftwaffe Infantry and German Marine Corps refurbished along Anglo-American lines on Becker’s and other’s recommendation.
1936: General Weaver of the Luftwaffe survives a near fatal plane crash. He begins to take a serious look at the new Helicopters, especially the one codenamed Hummingbird.
1937: Becker publishes Seven Ways to Serve Bear mere months after Actung Panzer
1938: Becker unleashes his department’s newest creation: the Panzerfaust, in keeping in line with his doctrine of heavily armed infantry. Work on the ‘battle rifle’ to replace the Pinger begins. Trials begin under Becker’s direction in Spain, where Becker becomes fast friends with Francisco Franco
Becker almost resigns after Jews are stripped of their livelihoods. Again his wife interferes, telling him Germany will need men like him soon.
1939: While development of battle rifle stalls, with the Panzerfaust, the Nationalists in Spain sweep all before them. Madrid is liberated and the Spanish Civil War is a victory for Fascists and anti communists around the world. Becker and his team are given a service medal for their weapons: the Pinger and the Panzerfaust. Becker is promoted to Colonel in Germany.
Germany annexes Bohemia and Moravia. Becker is outraged, because he believes Germany has no claim on those territories. He still supports Hitler in the quest to retake the Polish Corridor.
Germany declares war on Poland. End of the early Third Reich
Second World War (September 1, 1939 to September 1, 1945)
1939: Becker is stuck behind a desk when he is contacted by a relatively young physicist named Dr. Joseph Merkwurdigliebe, who informs Becker and others of the potential power of atomic weapons. Becker is the only one to believe him fully, and convinces Hitler to begin an atomic weapons program in case of a long war or backstabbing by the Soviets. Hitler is so impressed with Becker's presentation he even names it after Becker's suggestion (Project Pluto, as in, blowing the Reich's enemies to said planet.)
September 1939: The Wehrmacht cuts a swath of destruction of through Poland, ending the campaign in a mere four weeks. Helicopter transports and Becker's toys are critical and credited with saving at least five thousand lives.
November 1939-October 1941: War continues as OTL in Europe. The exceptions are these. Becker is taken off weapons development to help in the planning of Babarossa, as he is considered an expert in the field. Becker, along with others, convinces Hitler to supply winter coats to the Wehrmacht troops to avoid a Napoleon repeat and to go to total war the second Russia is attacked.
November 1941: the StG-41, the world's first used assault rifle goes into field testing. It proves devastating even in the face of the horrid Russian winter.
Early 1942: Becker is promoted to General. He is sent under the 11th army under Manstien to subdue the Crimea. Units with StGs perform superlatively and the logistics in Becker's camp are top notch.
December 1942: Becker relives Sixth Army with the help of Romanian troops liberally equipped with Panzerfausts. Becomes known thereafter among 6th Army vets as der Weinachtmann (Santa Claus) because supplies came in at Christmas.
July 1943: Becker demonstrates tactical excellence by taking the town of Provkolovka and winning the Battle of Kursk. The Red Army is crippled temporarily, and the Axis finds documents proving Enigma is compromised.
September 1943: Becker is given control of the 10th army and crushes the Anglo-American landings at Selarno
October 1943: Becker launches operation Archimedes, the recapture of Sicily. Italy remains a firm Axis ally. Stalingrad evacuated masterfully by Paulus as the Red Army under Ursula Petrona, the USSR’s only female general, comes in. Becker promoted to Feldmarschall. Me-262 begins mass production
November 1943- July 1944: Becker is assigned to Army Group Center where his aggressive maneuvers destroy several Soviet Armies. In June of 1944, during the big thrust, Becker stakes his reputation on a retreat to Minsk, circles around and DESTROYS the central thrust of the Soviet advance. Konev is killed by a stray German bomb and Zhukov is packed off to a Gulag. Petrona remains the last of the great Soviet Marshals. Becker is relieved out of sheer exhaustion and then only after the front has stabilized. He spends a few months at the Wolf’s Lair, away from the constant, but ebbing bombing raids
December 1944, Becker leads a strike to Strasbourg through the snow that completely changes the course of the war in the west. The fragile front lines of the Anglo American force collapse and Patton, against orders to retreat, stays on to fight Becker. The third Army is utterly destroyed, and Patton is captured. Allies pushed out of the Low Countries, and the eastern part of the country, but the Germans lack enough fuel to continue to advance (and they are utterly exhausted)
1945: This is the year everything changes. Operation Merlin, the Luftwaffe’s attempt to destroy all air bases in Britain begins in earnest. Turbo-jet bombers appear in force, and the Allies are decimated. Hitler demands updates on Project Pluto, only to be stalled by Otto Han and Werner Heisenberg stating it would take too much U-235 to make a practical bomb. Hitler demands they find a way.
February: Becker, through murky means, becomes aware of the Holocaust*. Unfortunately, a massive American counteroffensive is launched in February through March, forcing Becker to put aside his new vow of killing Hitler to restore German honor. Most of the senior officers in the Wehrmacht and even some Waffen SS commanders are with him rapidly. The coup almost falls into his lap
April 30: The 10th Army is in Berlin headed back to the East Front where Hitler believes the Reds are preparing to mount a new offensive, this time in the north. Becker kills Hitler by his own hand, in front of a camera to prove that yes, a German killed Hitler.
May: Becker tries to negotiate a peace, but none of the Allies will budge, not even to ensure 15 million Germans will not be ethnically cleansed from the East. Becker must fight on, for he loses his home, hometown and history if he surrenders. On the 26, a thousand bomber raid made up of B-29s and B-24s heads for Dresden. Intelligence* is sure an atomic bomb is on one of them. The Luftwaffe engages and shoots down the offending bomber, whose crew managed to dismantle the bomb before it killed them all. Dr. Merkwurdigliebe is pleased that he was right, Heisenberg is stunned and Han reveals he knew all along but was hoping the Allies would be more civilized and not use such a weapon. Germany has enough nuclear material for four nukes, for a total of five. The American do not dare strike Germany again because Germany does threaten retaliation. Becker would LIKE to nuke American cities over this, but it would take all his bombs to do it and he needs the leverage.
June: Becker fights Petrona at Riga. They both fought here in 1922, in hand to hand combat, which Becker won, scaring Petrona in the process. He fights her to a bloody standstill, when Intelligence* gets word that Stalin is in his dacha. Becker orders a nuclear strike. Stalin, to put it politely, is reduced to ash. Becker sees an opportunity and tells Petrona he’s killed Stalin, and after 36 hours of lull Petrona realizes he’s right, and she has to move against Beria before Beria kills her (totalitiarian politics are rarely civil). She makes a hasty peace with Becker, restoring the old borders and resuming trade (Becker gives her men Panzerfausts and StGs for example.) Petrona secures the country with shocking speed, but she sees the bigger prize as the East and thus keeps her word with Becker and prepares to strike at the Japanese.
July: Armies under Manstien pocket and destroy three Anglo American armies in the Normandy peninsula, leaving France wide open. New elected PM Attlee agrees to negotiate with the Germans, as does Charles de Gaulle, as Becker promises a full pull out of France. Truman, seeing that his allies have betrayed him and Becker threatening to nuke American cities if hostilities do not cease finally relents. Negotiations begin at Massnicht in the Netherlands, where Becker demands Italian territories be restored and that Germany (1914 eastern border, Sudetenland, plus Austria) must have its territories. Becker doesn’t ask for much but he yields nothing. Finally after three days, an agreement is reached, where the Axis meager demands are met. The rest of the time is spent drawing up the treaty, one of the shorter in European history. Becker is not the chief diplomat (Von Nuemath is) but Becker does set the tone, a tone of decency, openness, rapprochement and even forgiveness. Becker is not necessarily a great politician, but he is a good man. Germany declares war on Japan (required and Becker is eager to do it to show rapprochement)
August: 06, Treaty comes into force. Celebrations all over Europe. Russian POWs freed, German POWs and other Gulag prisoners freed, Hiroshima nuked. 09: Russia attacks mainland Japanese holdings, Nagasaki nuked.
September: 01 Japanese sign formal surrender onboard USS Missouri, exactly six years to the day WWII began.
And so the cold war began, but that’s another story for another day…
Thank you for your attention, I hope I have piqued your interest.
La Belle Europe and the Great War
April 30, 1897-November 11, 1918
Becker is born into an Evangelical Lutheran household, first of five, on April 30 1897 in Tannenburg Germany.
His father is a junior member of the General Staff, having worked up there through campaigns in Africa, (and later the Boxer rebellion) and major ass kissing. The rest of the family is not so militant, his uncles being middle class clerks and businessmen and doctors.
Becker is raised is a classicist house like much of Europe, learning Greek, some Latin and reading the classics. Becker also sees some of the many Wild Bill's Wild West Shows and developed a lifelong fascination with America. For all his future conflicts with the Americans, he is at heart, an Americanophille and believes Germany and the US need never come to blows.
He is also pan-Hellenic hoping to soon see Constantinople restored as the rightful Greek capital.
Becker forges his father's hand to join the army in the summer of 1914, not wanting to miss out on the "grand adventure" ahead. None of his friends believed war was coming, but Becker was accepted into the army. Later he recalls seeing things so clearly he wished he'd tried to do something to stop it.
One POD is that Becker should have been killed at the Battle of Tannenburg, his home in 1914, but he didn't get hit, and was later decorated with the Iron Cross. He later tells a Hitler like story of getting knocked down and a bullet that should have hit him square only grazed him. He remembers a man asking him what he wanted. Becker said instinctively, to be great, and the man said there were too many great men, instead, he should be a good man, and greatness will follow. That's how HE tells it anyway.
Becker is transferred against his will to his father's command position. He seeing 15 year olds being drafted in 1915 and he comes to the conclusion women need to be put into non-combat roles. He convinces his dad, who in turn convinces the Staff to try it, as it could free up men to fight and shorten the war.
Becker spends 1916 as part of a group of logisticians who supervise the administration of an increasingly large group of units with women logistics, Intel and medical. This quickly breaks down as units desperate for men; settle for women, especially artillery and infantry. By 1918 the German, French, and Red Armies are de facto integrated as it gives more manpower to frontline units. Becker is so burnt out on the horrors of war that this doesn't affect him at all, though he never takes any credit for making modern sex-integrated armies possible.
Becker learns the art of logistics in WWI. More than being a great tacticians as various war games proved, he knew better how to organize men and women, food and guns and bullets. Becker tries to organize an effort to get the Cei-Rigotti battle rifle to work as a way of defeating trench warfare. He was young and the CR rifle had had too many chances before it.
By 1918, Becker is a very young but talented Lt. and is transferred to the Italian front where he meets Erwin Rommel. After Rommel saves Becker's life while the Italians counterattacked. Rommel calls him a good kid, but he should go home and get his Abitur. Becker gets shot in the leg and taken home on his father's orders. His leg heels up just as news of the Memel mutinies occur. Becker gets some staff aides together to "shoot some *******ed cock-sucking Communist sailors," but Germany collapses on November 11 and the General Staff orders them to stay put expecting and somewhat getting the quasi civil war Germany got OTL. Becker establishes a vendetta against SDs, anti-monarchists, Communists and for a while Jews. He tells his fellow staffers, in a quote that will dog him for the rest of his life: "Why should the Jews fight for us? It's not their country. So let's dump them all in Palestine and become good neighbors, with good fences” (I’m trying to make Becker a man of his time and place, so that's important to come through)
Early Weimar period (1918-1926)
In December of 1918, like many other young men, Becker gets leave from the official army to join the Freikorps, where he acts as an aide-de-camp for the Baltiche Landwehr until 1920. There his newfound anti-Semitism is replaced by a hatred of Communism, a hatred he carries for the rest of his life. The battles of Riga left him with the firm impression that the Baltic States were vital to Germany's defense.
1921: With the peace relatively secure, Becker returns home and takes his Arbitur. He scores highly enough to be admitted to the Kreigsacademie. He meets a secretary there, 22 year old Julia Schweinherd, a former Stormtrooper from Bavaria with a perpetually infected left foot from an old shrapnel wound.
1922: Mussolini comes to power in Italy
1922: England wins the Anglo-Irish war with the help of a mass reserve of loyal Irishmen opposed to the end of home rule.
1923: The Imperial Conference is held in London. Balfour declaration declares all dominions and the UK are to become a confederation. The United Kingdoms of England Scotland, Ireland, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand is formed. For the rest of the century the new Parliament will be dominated by England, and all prime ministers will be English or Scottish for the rest of the century, but the new Britain retains much of its power, and will remain a minor superpower until the Falklands War of 1981.
1923: Hitler’s Beer hall putsch. Becker is pleased that Hitler says all the things he wishes to say but can't. Julia reveals herself a war time "Trench lover" of Hitler, and claims after the armistice Hitler just "wasn't right" anymore, and she broke up with him once he got involved with the Nazis.
Nonetheless, she goes to Sandua prison with Becker to talk with her former paramour, and finds him messianic. Hitler is infuriated that Julia is with someone else, but this quickly passes.
1924: Becker graduates the academy and is selected for one of the coveted spots in the Reichswhehr. Of 50,000 officers in the post war era, there was room only for 40,000. Becker was more political than the infamously apolitical officer of the Reichswehr, but he was smart, brave, from a military family and a Prussian.
1925: May 24 Wilhelm Becker and Julia Schweinherd wed. Hitler, recently released, attends as a friend of the bride. Julia claims this is the last time she saw the Old Hitler To her dying day she believed Hitler was unbalanced and corrupted by "thugs and bigots."
1925: September 6: Eldest daughter Maria is born.
1926: Becker, now a captain is sent as a technical advisor to Persia. With in days of being there he ruthlessly asskicks a seminary student in Qom for beating a dog. He is promptly ejected from the country. That seminary student was the future Ayatollah Khomeini. For that reason alone, Becker will be loved in some circles into the 21st century.
End of the Weimar Republic
1926-1932
1926-1930: Becker's career stalls. He is assigned to East Prussia where he begins his family in earnest. Sons Julius and Augustus are born in 1927 (twins), and another son Thomas in 1929.
September 1930- June 1931: Becker, in an attempt to salvage his career, gets permission to go to America to see what he can see. Among other things he sees the River Rouge Ford plant and the Springfield Armory. There he meets with and befriends John Garand. He (somehow) arranges for a few prototypes of the Garand rifle to "fall off the truck." Later Five thousand Reichmarchs make their way to Garand's bank account, but this is not discovered until after Garand's death (Garand never made more than 12K a year historically.)
1932: Arranges a firearm demonstration to President Hindenburg, showing the faster rate of fire of the Garand. He claims that with an officer heavy 100,000 force, every soldier will need as much firepower as possible. He also demonstrates the power of the Fedov Automat and Cei-Rigotti rifle as templates for a new kind of gun, but the reception is much cooler by the President. Nonetheless, Becker is promoted to Major and his career is back on track. He oversees the project personally, and develops the Gewehr 35 "Pinger" as the standard arm of the German soldier.
1932: Eagerly votes for Nazis in the elections of that year, breaking with his traditional semi-center right National People's Party. Believes only Hitler can save Germany from Communist influence after Hindenburg dies. Also hopes for more promotion in a larger Army. Julia, his wife tells him not to, but he does it anyway. He does however vote for Hindenburg as President.
1933: Reichstag fire on February 27, dictatorial powers granted to Hitler through the Enabling Act.
End of the Weimar Republic
Early Third Reich (1933-1939)
1934: Becker meets with Hitler for the first time to show him the Gewehr 35 ‘Pinger.’ Hitler is impressed, and after being shown the Cei-Rigotti and Fedor automat rifles, is convinced these are the future of German arms. Hitler remarks that he likes Becker’s style, and the fact he talks like an Old Fighter. Becker moves his family to Berlin and is put in charge of new weapons for infantry.
1933-35: Major Becker continues to perfect the Gewehr 35 Pinger. K98 introduced as second line weapons except for snipers.
1935: Becker begins work on his thesis: Seven Ways to Serve Bear; that is seven plans to conquer the Soviet Union under any condition. In it he calls for a supremely mobile force of motorized infantry armed to the teeth and supported by self propelled (SP) artillery. Though not fully implemented, Guderian and Becker’s visions come into conflict and Hitler plays them off one another to get the best results.
Germany reintroduces conscription. Women volunteers for enlisted and NCO positions accepted in Wehrmacht. Admiral Tripitz complains and the Navy remains men only. Luftwaffe is immediately sex integrated top to bottom.
Luftwaffe Infantry and German Marine Corps refurbished along Anglo-American lines on Becker’s and other’s recommendation.
1936: General Weaver of the Luftwaffe survives a near fatal plane crash. He begins to take a serious look at the new Helicopters, especially the one codenamed Hummingbird.
1937: Becker publishes Seven Ways to Serve Bear mere months after Actung Panzer
1938: Becker unleashes his department’s newest creation: the Panzerfaust, in keeping in line with his doctrine of heavily armed infantry. Work on the ‘battle rifle’ to replace the Pinger begins. Trials begin under Becker’s direction in Spain, where Becker becomes fast friends with Francisco Franco
Becker almost resigns after Jews are stripped of their livelihoods. Again his wife interferes, telling him Germany will need men like him soon.
1939: While development of battle rifle stalls, with the Panzerfaust, the Nationalists in Spain sweep all before them. Madrid is liberated and the Spanish Civil War is a victory for Fascists and anti communists around the world. Becker and his team are given a service medal for their weapons: the Pinger and the Panzerfaust. Becker is promoted to Colonel in Germany.
Germany annexes Bohemia and Moravia. Becker is outraged, because he believes Germany has no claim on those territories. He still supports Hitler in the quest to retake the Polish Corridor.
Germany declares war on Poland. End of the early Third Reich
Second World War (September 1, 1939 to September 1, 1945)
1939: Becker is stuck behind a desk when he is contacted by a relatively young physicist named Dr. Joseph Merkwurdigliebe, who informs Becker and others of the potential power of atomic weapons. Becker is the only one to believe him fully, and convinces Hitler to begin an atomic weapons program in case of a long war or backstabbing by the Soviets. Hitler is so impressed with Becker's presentation he even names it after Becker's suggestion (Project Pluto, as in, blowing the Reich's enemies to said planet.)
September 1939: The Wehrmacht cuts a swath of destruction of through Poland, ending the campaign in a mere four weeks. Helicopter transports and Becker's toys are critical and credited with saving at least five thousand lives.
November 1939-October 1941: War continues as OTL in Europe. The exceptions are these. Becker is taken off weapons development to help in the planning of Babarossa, as he is considered an expert in the field. Becker, along with others, convinces Hitler to supply winter coats to the Wehrmacht troops to avoid a Napoleon repeat and to go to total war the second Russia is attacked.
November 1941: the StG-41, the world's first used assault rifle goes into field testing. It proves devastating even in the face of the horrid Russian winter.
Early 1942: Becker is promoted to General. He is sent under the 11th army under Manstien to subdue the Crimea. Units with StGs perform superlatively and the logistics in Becker's camp are top notch.
December 1942: Becker relives Sixth Army with the help of Romanian troops liberally equipped with Panzerfausts. Becomes known thereafter among 6th Army vets as der Weinachtmann (Santa Claus) because supplies came in at Christmas.
July 1943: Becker demonstrates tactical excellence by taking the town of Provkolovka and winning the Battle of Kursk. The Red Army is crippled temporarily, and the Axis finds documents proving Enigma is compromised.
September 1943: Becker is given control of the 10th army and crushes the Anglo-American landings at Selarno
October 1943: Becker launches operation Archimedes, the recapture of Sicily. Italy remains a firm Axis ally. Stalingrad evacuated masterfully by Paulus as the Red Army under Ursula Petrona, the USSR’s only female general, comes in. Becker promoted to Feldmarschall. Me-262 begins mass production
November 1943- July 1944: Becker is assigned to Army Group Center where his aggressive maneuvers destroy several Soviet Armies. In June of 1944, during the big thrust, Becker stakes his reputation on a retreat to Minsk, circles around and DESTROYS the central thrust of the Soviet advance. Konev is killed by a stray German bomb and Zhukov is packed off to a Gulag. Petrona remains the last of the great Soviet Marshals. Becker is relieved out of sheer exhaustion and then only after the front has stabilized. He spends a few months at the Wolf’s Lair, away from the constant, but ebbing bombing raids
December 1944, Becker leads a strike to Strasbourg through the snow that completely changes the course of the war in the west. The fragile front lines of the Anglo American force collapse and Patton, against orders to retreat, stays on to fight Becker. The third Army is utterly destroyed, and Patton is captured. Allies pushed out of the Low Countries, and the eastern part of the country, but the Germans lack enough fuel to continue to advance (and they are utterly exhausted)
1945: This is the year everything changes. Operation Merlin, the Luftwaffe’s attempt to destroy all air bases in Britain begins in earnest. Turbo-jet bombers appear in force, and the Allies are decimated. Hitler demands updates on Project Pluto, only to be stalled by Otto Han and Werner Heisenberg stating it would take too much U-235 to make a practical bomb. Hitler demands they find a way.
February: Becker, through murky means, becomes aware of the Holocaust*. Unfortunately, a massive American counteroffensive is launched in February through March, forcing Becker to put aside his new vow of killing Hitler to restore German honor. Most of the senior officers in the Wehrmacht and even some Waffen SS commanders are with him rapidly. The coup almost falls into his lap
April 30: The 10th Army is in Berlin headed back to the East Front where Hitler believes the Reds are preparing to mount a new offensive, this time in the north. Becker kills Hitler by his own hand, in front of a camera to prove that yes, a German killed Hitler.
May: Becker tries to negotiate a peace, but none of the Allies will budge, not even to ensure 15 million Germans will not be ethnically cleansed from the East. Becker must fight on, for he loses his home, hometown and history if he surrenders. On the 26, a thousand bomber raid made up of B-29s and B-24s heads for Dresden. Intelligence* is sure an atomic bomb is on one of them. The Luftwaffe engages and shoots down the offending bomber, whose crew managed to dismantle the bomb before it killed them all. Dr. Merkwurdigliebe is pleased that he was right, Heisenberg is stunned and Han reveals he knew all along but was hoping the Allies would be more civilized and not use such a weapon. Germany has enough nuclear material for four nukes, for a total of five. The American do not dare strike Germany again because Germany does threaten retaliation. Becker would LIKE to nuke American cities over this, but it would take all his bombs to do it and he needs the leverage.
June: Becker fights Petrona at Riga. They both fought here in 1922, in hand to hand combat, which Becker won, scaring Petrona in the process. He fights her to a bloody standstill, when Intelligence* gets word that Stalin is in his dacha. Becker orders a nuclear strike. Stalin, to put it politely, is reduced to ash. Becker sees an opportunity and tells Petrona he’s killed Stalin, and after 36 hours of lull Petrona realizes he’s right, and she has to move against Beria before Beria kills her (totalitiarian politics are rarely civil). She makes a hasty peace with Becker, restoring the old borders and resuming trade (Becker gives her men Panzerfausts and StGs for example.) Petrona secures the country with shocking speed, but she sees the bigger prize as the East and thus keeps her word with Becker and prepares to strike at the Japanese.
July: Armies under Manstien pocket and destroy three Anglo American armies in the Normandy peninsula, leaving France wide open. New elected PM Attlee agrees to negotiate with the Germans, as does Charles de Gaulle, as Becker promises a full pull out of France. Truman, seeing that his allies have betrayed him and Becker threatening to nuke American cities if hostilities do not cease finally relents. Negotiations begin at Massnicht in the Netherlands, where Becker demands Italian territories be restored and that Germany (1914 eastern border, Sudetenland, plus Austria) must have its territories. Becker doesn’t ask for much but he yields nothing. Finally after three days, an agreement is reached, where the Axis meager demands are met. The rest of the time is spent drawing up the treaty, one of the shorter in European history. Becker is not the chief diplomat (Von Nuemath is) but Becker does set the tone, a tone of decency, openness, rapprochement and even forgiveness. Becker is not necessarily a great politician, but he is a good man. Germany declares war on Japan (required and Becker is eager to do it to show rapprochement)
August: 06, Treaty comes into force. Celebrations all over Europe. Russian POWs freed, German POWs and other Gulag prisoners freed, Hiroshima nuked. 09: Russia attacks mainland Japanese holdings, Nagasaki nuked.
September: 01 Japanese sign formal surrender onboard USS Missouri, exactly six years to the day WWII began.
And so the cold war began, but that’s another story for another day…
Thank you for your attention, I hope I have piqued your interest.
Well, since you insist:
And from there on it just gets worse.
The nicest thing I can say about this is that your alternative scenarios are throughout based on ideas that fail to take reality sufficiently (or at all) into account. I would strongly suggest that if you harbor any serious notions of pursuing this, you should make a very considerable effort at acquiring a basic grasp of the conflict. A good start would be to lose the misconception that developing weapons like assault rifles has any significant bearing on the outcome, or that strategic events can be easily changed by smart maneuvers by brilliant commanders. As it is, this is a what-if on a comic-book level, and hardly even that. "A catalogue of every silly pop culture misconception about the war" would not be an exaggerated description.
cheers
This is in total contradiction to the most basic nazi ideas on the subject of women's role in society, and not just theirs - the thought would have shocked 99.9% of all Germans. It's as 1930s as Disco music. The extensive use of women in armed forces today is the result of dramatic cultural and social developments that have fundamentally altered the way we view women and their role in society. Not only had this process not begun in the 1930s, Germany was also ruled by a movement who had very firm and very reactionary views, even by the standards of the day. This, in other words, has 0% plausibility.Germany reintroduces conscription. Women volunteers for enlisted and NCO positions accepted in Wehrmacht. Admiral Tripitz complains and the Navy remains men only. Luftwaffe is immediately sex integrated top to bottom.
The Luftwaffe didn't have any infantry in 1935. In fact, it hardly even had any airplanes. And there was no German Marine Corps. Why would there be? Germany hardly even had a navy worth speaking about, and is quintessentially a continental power.Luftwaffe Infantry and German Marine Corps refurbished along Anglo-American lines on Becker’s and other’s recommendation.
Unless I am much mistaken, the Panzerfaust presupposed a very considerable development in rocketry that was not yet available in tyhe late thirties. Also, it would be designed to counter a problem that as far as anybody knew did not yet exist. Nobody develops Creme Brulee before they've discovered sugar.1938: Becker unleashes his department’s newest creation: the Panzerfaust, in keeping in line with his doctrine of heavily armed infantry. Work on the ‘battle rifle’ to replace the Pinger begins. Trials begin under Becker’s direction in Spain, where Becker becomes fast friends with Francisco Franco
The problem is that nobody thought Barbarossa would require a winter campaign. More importantly, it was generally acknowledged, including by Hitler, that if defeating the Soviet Union required a long total war then they weren't prepared for it. Hence, if Becker had convinced people that the war would be a question of a protracted total war effort, he would also have convinced people that it ought not to be attempted at all. And the German forces were supplied with winter equipment, they just weren't able to move it forward quickly enough.Becker, along with others, convinces Hitler to supply winter coats to the Wehrmacht troops to avoid a Napoleon repeat and to go to total war the second Russia is attacked.
Again you are arbitrarily speeding up the weapon development curve for no apparent reason. The assault rifle wasn't introduced as late as 1944 because it hadn't occurred to anyone before that. And it would in any case hardly have had any profound effect on events.November 1941: the StG-41, the world's first used assault rifle goes into field testing. It proves devastating even in the face of the horrid Russian winter.
What Romanian troops? They were practically all deployed to hold 6th Army's long southern flank. And contrary to what you seem to think, they aren't turned into super-dooper troopies by being given panzerfausts, which is in any case not a weapon of much use in offensive operations.December 1942: Becker relives Sixth Army with the help of Romanian troops liberally equipped with Panzerfausts. Becomes known thereafter among 6th Army vets as der Weinachtmann (Santa Claus) because supplies came in at Christmas.
What "tactical excellence" gets Becker to Prokhorovka? How on earth does taking Prokhorovka win the battle of Kursk or cripple the Red Army? Why does Soviet Army commanders walk around with proof that Enigma is compromised, something they certainly did not know?uly 1943: Becker demonstrates tactical excellence by taking the town of Provkolovka and winning the Battle of Kursk. The Red Army is crippled temporarily, and the Axis finds documents proving Enigma is compromised.
What, just like that? Does he have magic powers, or?September 1943: Becker is given control of the 10th army and crushes the Anglo-American landings at Selarno
This is completely removed from any of the realities that shaped events. Do you think a general could just magic away the objective realities by "aggressive maneuvers" and some nifty operational footwork?November 1943- July 1944: Becker is assigned to Army Group Center where his aggressive maneuvers destroy several Soviet Armies. In June of 1944, during the big thrust, Becker stakes his reputation on a retreat to Minsk, circles around and DESTROYS the central thrust of the Soviet advance.
Ditto.December 1944, Becker leads a strike to Strasbourg through the snow that completely changes the course of the war in the west. The fragile front lines of the Anglo American force collapse and Patton, against orders to retreat, stays on to fight Becker. The third Army is utterly destroyed, and Patton is captured. Allies pushed out of the Low Countries, and the eastern part of the country, but the Germans lack enough fuel to continue to advance (and they are utterly exhausted)
And from there on it just gets worse.
The nicest thing I can say about this is that your alternative scenarios are throughout based on ideas that fail to take reality sufficiently (or at all) into account. I would strongly suggest that if you harbor any serious notions of pursuing this, you should make a very considerable effort at acquiring a basic grasp of the conflict. A good start would be to lose the misconception that developing weapons like assault rifles has any significant bearing on the outcome, or that strategic events can be easily changed by smart maneuvers by brilliant commanders. As it is, this is a what-if on a comic-book level, and hardly even that. "A catalogue of every silly pop culture misconception about the war" would not be an exaggerated description.
cheers
I ask for feedback, and I get hostility and insults. You say I’m out of touch with reality? Well that’s nice; now go play in traffic you arrogant, ignorant, pompous jackass. I’ve talked with professors, read books, and dozens of articles to get a good strategic level command of the Second World War. I am aware of the population figures, industrial outputs, strategic resources, or lack thereof, etc, etc, etc. And I can answer every single one of your criticisms, hell, re-reading the TL will do that, but why bother? You won’t listen.The nicest thing I can say about this is that your alternative scenarios are throughout based on ideas that fail to take reality sufficiently (or at all) into account. I would strongly suggest that if you harbor any serious notions of pursuing this, you should make a very considerable effort at acquiring a basic grasp of the conflict. A good start would be to lose the misconception that developing weapons like assault rifles has any significant bearing on the outcome, or that strategic events can be easily changed by smart maneuvers by brilliant commanders. As it is, this is a what-if on a comic-book level, and hardly even that. "A catalogue of every silly pop culture misconception about the war" would not be an exaggerated description.
People like you have just enough knowledge to be dangerous. You have little conception of the possible, no conception of the plausible, and not a drop of knowledge of historical context. Worse still, you think you roar like a lion when you mew like a kitty-cat. If I thought you were actually trying to help me for one nanosecond, I would have kept my peace. But you are simply raising yourself up at my expence. And I am DONE dealing with your ilk.
Well, what do you expect? You asked for feedback, you got it. I wish I could have said that you just needed a bit of tweaking here and there, but the simple fact is that your scenarios are of a sort that would make any fairly knowledgeable reader throw away the book on about page 30, if he could manage it in between the fits of convulsive laughter. I didn't write this in order to embarrass you - if I had wanted to do that, the scene in which Becker enters into personal combat with the female russian general would have provided ample scope. It is painfully obvious that your scenario lines lack any grounding in any sort of comprehensive understanding of historical realities, to put it gently, but if you prefer to put in a couple of years work writing it and only come to grips with that once you've been told so by a publishing consultant, be my guest.
You didn't read the TL very well did you? That FIGHT took place in 1922 when Becker was a Lt and Petrona was a Sargent. Generals don't fight hand to hand. OK, I know that. Now, if you wish, I can PM you all the juicy details about how I DO infact understand what the @#% is going on. I can do that. But that's only if you're actually interested in "leading me to WWII enlightenment."Qvist wrote:Well, what do you expect? You asked for feedback, you got it. I wish I could have said that you just needed a bit of tweaking here and there, but the simple fact is that your scenarios are of a sort that would make any fairly knowledgeable reader throw away the book on about page 30, if he could manage it in between the fits of convulsive laughter. I didn't write this in order to embarrass you - if I had wanted to do that, the scene in which Becker enters into personal combat with the female russian general would have provided ample scope. It is painfully obvious that your scenario lines lack any grounding in any sort of comprehensive understanding of historical realities, to put it gently, but if you prefer to put in a couple of years work writing it and only come to grips with that once you've been told so by a publishing consultant, be my guest.
Oh Yeah, and if Sterling can get Marching Through Georgia published, I can get this published.
Well it seems Qvist ain't never going to help me now, poor bastard I wonder what he did.
No, no I don't really care.
But that aside, you know, if some one would actually take time and READ what I posted and give me a critique, and not just kick sand in my face, then perhaps I will be enlightened and can take appropriate corrections.
Any takers?
No, no I don't really care.
But that aside, you know, if some one would actually take time and READ what I posted and give me a critique, and not just kick sand in my face, then perhaps I will be enlightened and can take appropriate corrections.
Any takers?