Alternate History Thread II...

[Swissempire]

*cough cough cough* sorry i have a cold

 

[Symphony D.]

CHAPTER I – “Fall Harvest”
August 6, 1894 - October 9, 1944​

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Each of us, in our own way, contribute to the great cloth of life all around us, our lives like threads, interwoven to make up a larger whole. Everyone, of whatever station in life, contributes to the whole rest of the world, like raindrops in a vast body of water, the ripples of our actions expanding, intermingling, resonating, and fading. For most individuals these extended consequences are faint, perhaps even impossible to notice. It’s true, a passing comment on the street or an exchange glance in a room might very well be a world-altering event – but it’s not likely. Most people are consigned to live their lives and be forgotten by history, their actions considered mundane and pedestrian, and their very existence forgotten except as a backdrop for greater historical events. But there are those rare few, of whom we remember not only their deeds, but indeed their names and lives; the great personas that brought about irrevocable changes and shaped our world. One could conjecture that in removing any single person from history, a new ripple would be introduced that would alter history, perhaps imperceptibly, or perhaps fundamentally. Indeed, the subject has been explored numerous times, but it has often revolved around great politicians, warriors, and so forth. What if one removed a great scientist? Not merely any great scientist either, but the most famous of them all…?

… What might happen then?

Young Albert Einstein never really knew what hit him. Well, he knew it was the antique armoire which his mother had been so terribly fond of, the one that weighed well in excess of a hundred kilograms, which he had been helping his father carry down stairs from the second floor of their Munich home. But as his grip had slipped and it had fallen forward, aside from an initial moment of panic, a loss of balance as he fell backward, the impact of it against his chest as it followed him downwards, and a final, fleeting moment of horror, he didn’t really have time to think. He died almost immediately as it crushed him, certainly quickly enough that he didn’t feel pain for any length of time. They tried to save him but it had crushed several ribs inward, and the doctors quickly pronounced him dead soon after their arrival. The year was 1894, and he was only fifteen years old. His family mourned and grieved, but eventually they moved on. Although tragic, the young man’s death appeared to have little impact on the world as a whole.

And indeed, it didn’t for the most part – unless you were a physicist – for quite some time. Things played out mostly the same. Physics marched on, though perhaps in a less revolutionary and slightly slower way. By and large, the world in 1944 was much the world we knew, with a few key crucial differences. Chronologically the first, perhaps, is the success of a daring raid on a rather strange German weapon at Mimoyecques by Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. The heroism displayed made Kennedy a national hero back in the United States, and the discovery the facility had been rendered inoperable in a prior bombing raid quite sometime later did absolutely nothing to diminish his popular image. Secondly, a certain Henry Morgenthau Jr. died in a horrible car accident in December, 1943. History records the cause as a brake failure. Perhaps one of the most notable changes was there was no Manhattan Project underway. Indeed, nobody except Werner Heisenberg and a small team of German scientists was even trying to work on a bomb, and they were failing rather miserably. The tools to figure out the binding energies of the elements, and thereby what could be used to fashion an atomic bomb, were simply not available, and it was taking a long time to work them out experimentally; far too long, as it would turn out, to be of any use to the Führer and his Third Reich. In fact, that was the major important difference: Adolph Hitler died on July 20th, 1944, as a certain bomb was not moved by a certain Colonel to a position behind a thick oak table leg in the Wolfsschanze and so Hitler was effectively blown to bits along with numerous other high-ranking officials. Unfortunately, the remainder of the plot did not succeed, and its main executors, chiefly Claus von Stauffenberg and company, were all executed as conspirators. There was a good deal of confusion over who should replace the Führer; eventually Martin Bormann came out as the clear leader however, having gathered much gravitas among the Nazi elite during his tenure as Hitler’s secretary. One notable element of the ensuing hunt for “assassins” is that despite some perculiar links to the conspiracy, Erwin Rommel was not accused or otherwise indited for any role in it – Bormann was perhaps somewhat more pragmatic than his predecessor. Unfortunately, he was to spend most of the rest of the war recouperating from severe injuries suffered on July 17th of that year. Bormann was so pragmatic, in fact, that since 1942 he had been setting up corporate flight capital, establishing off-shore companies, and so forth, in preparation for the inevitable fall of the Third Reich, working in cooperation with the very same businessmen who had so aided Hitler in achieving power. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

For all the chaos caused by the murder of Hitler, Nazi Germany fought on. Things only truly started to come crashing down on September 17th, 1944. Supreme Allied Commander Eisenhower had been operating under a strategy which favored neither of his two primary Generals, Patton or Montgomery. The results of this were rather poor, with the front stagnating everywhere for want of supplies. Operation Market Garden, a plan devised by Montgomery to advance through the “back door” into Germany and bypass the Westwall, was given the go ahead in an effort to break the stalemate. Market Garden was in many ways ill-conceived, over-optimistic, and audacious beyond all reason, just like its counterpart in our world. But through the vagaries of slight changes in history, it managed to get a somewhat greater allocation of supplies – Supreme Headquarters regarded it with a bit more seriousness. The RAF photo interpreters also did not make the mistake of believing the bridges over the Rhine to be defended by multiple flak batteries, and the drops occurred much closer to their intended targets. The Allied plan called for drops to be conducted over three consecutive days, and for all those involved, they would prove to be three of the longest days of the war. There was still disaster, with the radios failing due to heavy concentrations of iron in the soil, and the underestimation of German forces in the area – the American 82nd and 101st and British 1st Divisions, along with the 1st Polish Parachute Brigade, found themselves up against two SS Panzer Divisions and a Panzer Grenadier Battalion. But there was good fortune as well, such as the discovery of the Dutch Resistance possessing a hidden telephone network. It was a close run thing, with blunders on both sides, but on September 22nd, it was over, as the first armored elements of the British 2nd Army rolled into Arnhem. It was perhaps not the beginning of the end, but it was most certainly the end of the beginning.

Supreme Headquarters had not particularly been expecting the success of Market Garden. With its success, Eisenhower was obliged to support Montgomery’s advance and consolidate their gains, and being a practical man, he did so. Faced with a situation which favored a narrow front as opposed to the wide-front strategy his forces had thus far employed, Eisenhower made a strategic shift of his assets. Some days before Market Garden had begun, on the 12th, the Canadian 1st Army had been tasked with clearing the Scheltd estuary, in order to secure the route into the port of Antwerp, captured on the 4th. It had already been deemed essential Antwerp be put into operation, for as it stood the Allies were facing severe supply shortages, their lines running all the way back to the Mulberry harbors in Normandy. However, the German emplacements within the Scheltd had been well-prepared and the area was generally perilous to cross – clearing it would take time, and the Canadian 1st hadn’t yet been truly committed to the option. A new plan was devised for the Canadians: instead of freeing up Antwerp, it would be possible to advance on Utrecht from Arnhem, and then to Amsterdam and Rotterdam – the biggest port in all Europe – simultaneously. They would be comparatively lightly defended and taking them would also encircle Antwerp and likely force the capitulation of German forces in the Scheltd, and the Allies would have not one but three deep water ports immediately at the front. The Canadian 1st Army was immediately reassigned to Arnhem. Meanwhile, U.S. 9th Army, recently arrived from the pacification of Brest, was redirected to the vicinity of Arnhem under the command of U.S. 12th Army Group, where it began preparations for an armored thrust into Germany. U.S. 1st Army, already engaged in the area around Aachen, particularly in the Hurtgen Forest, was given the objective of securing the Allied flank by advancing through the Westwall toward the Rhine. U.S. 3rd Army, having recently captured Nancy, was designated to be relieved by U.S. 7th Army, and was to head for Arnhem to join 2nd and 9th Armies. 7th Army was to advance from former 3rd Army positions around Nancy toward Metz and then into the Saarland. Finally, the French 1st Army was to conduct operations in southern Alsace and secure the southern Allied flank. In this, Eisenhower, always the diplomat, managed to appease all his famously difficult commanders – Montgomery would be allowed to advance into Germany, as would Bradley and Patton, and Devers would have the important task of holding the Allied flank as they advanced.

The plan was simple: Eisenhower decided to employ a mixed strategy. It would initially consist of three narrow-fronts, deployed along a wide area; a narrow front gradually turning into a wide one. The Canadian 1st Army would, as noted earlier, be sent to take Rotterdam and Amsterdam. The British 2nd Army would advance with the American 3rd Army to the vicinity of Osnabruck before heading northeast to take Bremen, Hamburg, and finally Kiel. Although Montgomery initially objected to this owing to the fact it was his operation that had lead to the breakthrough, and he should therefore be allowed to advance on Berlin, Eisenhower managed to pacify him by making note of the fact this would for all intents and purposes put a permanent end to the U-Boat threat which had so ravaged the British in years past. His acceptance was grudging, but Montgomery could see the benefits – besides, it would likely be easier and if he moved swiftly perhaps he could outflank Patton and reach Berlin first after securing the Kiel Canal – if not, he could always be the first in Poland. The American 3rd was to continue east from Osnabruck on a straight shot along the Autobahn, directly through Hannover and Magdeburg and straight into Berlin. Eisenhower reasoned that at this stage, rapid advance would be a key asset and so taking the German capitol as quickly as possible would likewise lead to the quickest victory over Nazi Germany. He also reasoned that given their position, it would potentially be wise to cover as much ground as possible – despite the alliance with the Soviet Union, something just told him it would perhaps be the better course. Patton, of course, had no objections whatsoever. Neither did Bradley. Lastly, 9th Army had perhaps the most interesting target of all. Its objective would be south, into the Ruhr, that heartland of German industry. Not only could it slip right behind the Westwall and sweep through the massive industrial complexes of Essen, Dortmund, Düsseldorf, Cologne, and Bonn, but given the Wehrmacht would be preoccupied with 1st Army on the other side of the Westwall, it was not beyond reason that the forces they could be surrounded and annihilated. At that juncture, 9th Army could perhaps facilitate 1st Army’s breakthrough. Plans beyond this were somewhat tentative but called for 9th Army to continue through central Germany while 1st Army then assisted 7th Army, and 7th Army then assisted the French 1st Army. The net effect would be the total committal of all Allied forces to the offensive and the division of Germany along multiple lines of advance. If it could be accomplished, it would be all but impossible to stop.

By October 9th, sufficient supplies were scrapped together and the first armored columns of the Canadian 1st began rolling toward the Dutch coast, followed shortly afterwards by the American 9th toward the Ruhr and lastly the British 2nd and American 3rd into the Fatherland. There was no going back now.

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The start of a very long modern alt-hist I have planned out. Already, certain permutations should make themselves somewhat obvious though. Those who are "in the know" are not allowed to babble on about what I've told them of the future. Feel free to poke holes at will, I'm trying for something of a sense of realism. I'd also note, given how hard it was to find out who was doing what, where, and when, it's amazing anybody won World War II at all.

 

[Insane_Panda]

Wonderful first chapter. I can't wait until the next few

Indeed, this is a magnificent beginning of an althist.

 

[Swissempire]

Bravo

 

[Oruc]

Emu is not a sneak; he is pretty straightforward most of the times, and just attacks everybody that gets in his way. Of interest is the fact that emu is not exactly the least succesful player we have here, all-in-all; far from it.

I'd be more successful if could come up with some tactics, instead of saying "Im sure my generals can come up with somthing, I do pay them after all".

 

[Dachs]

That's better than micromanaging like I did in ITNES I. Much better. Smarter, too.

I think that I'm one of the least successful players on the forums...haven't really won much of anything.

 

[andis-1]

That's better than micromanaging like I did in ITNES I. Much better. Smarter, too.

I think that I'm one of the least successful players on the forums...haven't really won much of anything.

that makes 2 of us...

 

[Oruc]

That's better than micromanaging like I did in ITNES I. Much better. Smarter, too.

I think that I'm one of the least successful players on the forums...haven't really won much of anything.

what do you mean by won? what are you trying win? prizes?

 

[Lord_Iggy]

Awesome althist Sym!

 

[Dachs]

what do you mean by won? what are you trying win? prizes?

Yes. Exactly. You proved my point. Thank you.

 

[Oruc]

I did? huh? Im confused

 

[das]

On a somewhat related note, are you ever going to get around to giving your player impressions in that Impressions of NESing thread?

One day, one day... Possibly soon.

Anyway, back to reading the Conde alt-hist for me.

Hope you like it.

As for your althist - very well written, even though I'm not particularily fond of WWII-related althists. Bormann, however, doesn't strike me as particularily pragmatic, even compared with Hitler, though I admit that I'm somewhat out of my depth here.

Also, no matter how much territory the Allies actually secure, it doesn't really change the agreement at Yalta - just like it didn't in OTL. Now, my opinion is that a nukeless world is unlikely to avoid WWIII, but it would be rather foolish of the Americans to start one - or even risk provoking it - before finishing off Japan (which will ofcourse take more time than in OTL). I rather doubt the wisdom of securing as much German territory as possible in this case, really...

 

[Symphony D.]

Yalta occured February 4 - 11, 1945. As of the Western breakthrough ITTL, the only solid thing the Allies have agreed upon in regard to the post-war situation is the borders of Poland, and nothing else (Tehran and Cairo didn't really solve much). If the European war ends before a conference is held, the deciding factor in who occupies what will be who has their tanks and troops where. Ergo, Eisenhower's "gut feeling".

I also have only been able to dig up limited information on Bormann, but he seems somewhat more... normal... than Hitler, which isn't all that much of an accomplishment, really. And no, I don't intend to let Patton's Russian hating ways get the better of the war effort. WWIII isn't for awhile yet... nor will it be what is typically imagined...

 

[das]

Yalta occured February 4 - 11, 1945.

So it has - sorry, keep confusing it with Teheran at the time.

Bormann is IMHO just about the most orthodox of the Nazis - perhaps even moreso than Hitler, who, if we get down to it, was often quite pragmatic (for instance, for all of his rhetoric about Slavs he never hesitated to reclassify some of them as Goths). IMHO both the most likely successor AND the most pragmatic of the Nazi leadership is Goering, though he ofcourse has his own problems...

 

[Symphony D.]

A large part of why I picked Bormann was he had something of an influence on Hitler, considering he effectively controlled access to the man and rather greatly affected his view of things. Plus he was apparently fairly good at intrigue, and some seem to be of the opinion he was the "secret leader" of Nazi Germany beyond a certain stage as Hitler continued to break down. I can picture him scheming his way into it.

The second reason was he was a defeatist. Not that he gets the chance to surrender...

On a tangential note, I think going back, having Reinhard Haydrich survive the assassination attempt on him, and come to succeed Hitler after the July 20 Plot, would be interesting if rather quite sinister for another timeline, but I digress.

 

[das]

Goering, however, was the official successor, so that gives him a certain advantage. Plus he seems to have had somewhat less enemies in the NSDAP hierarchy...

 

[Symphony D.]

Goering had also quite fallen out of favor with Hitler after the failures of the Luftwaffe in Sealion and Barbarossa. As far as I can tell he didn't do much of anything from about 1943 to 1945, when, during the last days, he proposed to actually assume the leadership. Hitler had Goering expelled from the party, which somewhat displays the animosity between the two.

I think there was enough ambiguity in the party that it could've fallen on a number of different individuals, because, lets face it, the Nazis as an organization had something of a history of plotting and scheming to get to power, and so did their individual members. Goering versus Bormann would basically boil down to the second most powerful in name against the second most powerful in fact, and that type of struggle tends to work itself out in a particular way most of the time. By the time of July 20, Goering had also sunk so low in the political arena that even someone like Goebbels was considered the third most important, after Bormann and Hitler.

Bormann could also have just had Goering killed, if it came down to that. I mean, really, I've been bumping enough people off - what's one more?

 

[das]

That's a given, yes - but Bormann had more enemies, and was generally more strict and independent, whereas ailing, drugged-out Goering could be seen to be much easier to manipulate.

 

[Symphony D.]

Except the most likely person to do said manipulating would've been Bormann. Himmler was rather too much an utterly loyal tool to do anything on his own and Goebbels was rather ineffectual other than as a shrill voice. At this point in the war, there really aren't all that many people left of Bormann's actual calibre to compete against him or serve as an alternate manipulator behind Goering.

In short, even if Goering had made it into the position, he'd likely be Bormann's puppet anyway. Between that and their relative political abilities I'd rather just cut to the chase and not bother with further "secret leaders".

 

[das]

My point is, Bormann is most likely to go by the way of another - far more pragmatic, btw, and a favourite of mine - hopefully you'd let him come to power this time but its up to you - person whose last name starts with a "B".