Joe German is either dead or in the Army;
Not possible. I remind you that while the army is gonna suck up large amounts of manpower, there are men who cannot be slapped into uniform and sent out to fight.
Skilled laborers for example, the factories must be kept going and they are the only ones who can. The professors, the doctors, the firemen, weapon designers, and various techs. While a good amount of the grunt assemby work can be done by women at this point and time there isn't a large pool of women engineers and skilled industrial laborers to take over if you draft the guys. Rather short sighted I agree but there you go.
Then there will be men who are simply phyiscally unfit for combat or military work. Those missing limbs, or the blind or so on.
So while a large chunk of the young men (18 to 25 at first, expanding to 15 to 30 likely near the end) were carrying rifles, the majority of their elders and more of their fellows then you think weren't.
As for Frigidmagi, I got Emu'd. I didn't see your post when I made it (my last one). So I apologize for not getting it then.
No worries, it's a busy thread right? Things fly by fast.
So, maybe the new Soviet Union will be a massive bloc containing all of these new states (India, China, Korea)?
That's how I see it honestly, the Soviets had to have launched this war of conquest to get at the manpower, resources and factories of those areas. I can't see how they can control them without direct incorporation.
Course in 20 years that may mean the USSR is in blood, spirit and all else a Asian power with no real connection at all to Europe as many of the next generation's leaders will have to come from China and India.