Warriors of the North said:
Chapter 4: January-June 1939
The increased work being put into modernizing every aspect of Sweden, was bound to have problems eventually. The railroads were being pushed to their limits in transporting materials to the docks, or troops to their new stations. Unsurprisingly, the railroad unions were tired of the work with the old wages and safety regulations. With all the money flowing in from the materials trade, they demanded better wages.
While the government could have ignored them or sent in the army, events abroad made even a large workers strike rather less of a problem than it should have been, so the government merely agreed to the demands. It would mean a bit less money and supplies while work was put into improving things to satisfy the unionists, but it was better than nothing.
After all, there was a rather more important issue that would soon come up.
The partitioning of Czechoslovakia
Germany had finished the job they had started the previous year. Czechoslovakia, a nation that had only existed for twenty years, was no more. The formal government had fled to Britain, while the rump that remained was ruled by an 'independent' Slovakia. The whole world was shocked by this turn of events. The Sudetenland had been German...but the rest of the nation wasn't. This was a blatant act of disregard for Germany's neighbors, even more so than the Anschluss had been.
It also left the volunteers in Sweden without a home to return to. The Czech tanker's were given the option to return home, with Swedish escorts to make sure they weren't accosted by any Germans. However, the trainers elected to stay in Sweden (with the caveat that the now-defunct embassy in Prague work with the new one in Bratislava to get their families out of Germany). These Czechoslovak volunteers became the crews of the first tank division in Sweden, by virtue of having more experience with the LT 34's than the Swedes did.
The First Volunteer Brigade. There was a second Czech Brigade, and a single Slovak Brigade in the Volunteer Division
These troops had a valid reason to fight, and a valid reason to want to stay in Sweden. If they had gone home, they would have (at best) been forced to disarm and turn their weaponry, tanks and all, over to the Germans who had occupied their homeland. Alternatively, the Slovaks amongst them would have to serve the German puppet Tiso, something they were leery of. So they elected to stay as an independent force, albeit under the overall command of the Swedish Army, until such time as the 'Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia' was removed and Czechoslovakia reinstated.
While the Swedes were communicating with the Czechoslovak Government in Exile about the volunteers, Britain and France finally showed they had
not, in fact, lost their respective spines. The partitioning of the Czech's was the final straw, and both of these nations knew that Poland (specifically Danzig) would likely be the next target. To cut this off, the Entente powers guaranteed the borders of the Poles, and offered them admittance to the new alliance being tossed around in the western capitals.
The Polish government gladly accepted...despite taking a chunk of Czechoslovakia themselves, they didn't want to run the risk of Germany coming for Danzig next. Especially with the work being put into rearming the German war machine...something the Poles stood little real chance against, bolstered as it was by Skoda and Austrian materials.
Moving away from Europe for a time, we come to Japan. The Chinese had been forced back to a relatively small enclave around their capital, the Quanxi Clique, and a larger pocket north of Yunnan's territory. Most of the Japanese Army was tied up in trying to break these pockets, and the last of the Ma's resistance. Only a token force was left on the border with the Soviets and their puppets in Mongolia. Even this token force managed to ignite a border conflict however.
This quickly ignited into a full declaration of War between the Soviets and their puppets (Mongolia and tiny Tannu Tuva) and the Japanese with
their puppets in Manchuko and China proper. After less than a month of fighting however, the war was called off. Japan didn't have the troops to commit to a full-scale war in the north, not with the Chinese Republic continuing to fight in the south. And Stalin had crippled his officer corps to the point that he wasn't willing to risk a war either.
However, one nation was willing to fight a war with a mighty opponent...
Evidently defeating the Ethiopians wasn't enough for Mussolini and the Italians. The next target was little Albania, a state that couldn't possibly stand up to a Great Power...even a relatively weak one like Italy. However, Zog and his people were made of sterner stuff than the Italians expected. Despite lacking a Navy, and maintaining an army of only a pair of Militia Divisions. Certainly not enough to stand up to a determined assault by the Italians.
Yet, Albania would remain independent, a couple months after the demands for annexation. The Italians did not launch any attacks, seemingly content with letting the Albanians run themselves dry. Nor did any nation actively help the Albanians. It was a stalemate, though the only option that was likely was the defeat of Zog.
The World was inching closer to War, and the only question was...would Sweden be ready?
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Interesting note, though I'm not including a screenshot...Italy was influenced by Britain to the point where it was halfway up the pyramid to the
Allied side at one point. I've never seen an Allied Italy, and that would have been quite interesting (Germany would certainly overrun them, but it would open another front at least). However, Hitler decided he didn't like that and started influencing Italy back to the Axis camp. It's kinda stuck in the middle (though moving slowly towards the Axis) due to the competing influences now.