The fighting in Australia fell into a war of movement - that is, the Soviet units moved, and the Australian units struggled to. The lack of transport allowed Russian units to move with ease, outflanking Australian defensive lines, which were been thrown up as quick as possible in the way of the Soviet push southwards.
The result of this was that the Australian Army was never allowed a proper battle. It found itself in a good position, only to find out that Russian troops on the flanks had broken through, or driven around the line.
Further northwards, Soviet Marines stormed ashore at Darwin, finding no troops in the city past a scarce cadre of training troops. The garrison had been shipped out to the east, and the Australian Army caught unawares.
This set the scene for the Soviet troops entering Sydney. With the supreme command withdrawing from the city, Soviet troops driving into it, the entire east coast lost, no chance of a proper battle and the destruction of the Australian Navy, there was little else left to do but surrender.
Soviet tanks in Sydney.
The Australian Communist Party has been placed in charge of the country. All in all, Australia gains a great deal - including the greatly expanded facilites at Port Morseby.
With its southern flank now firmly set, the Soviet Navy was in a position to play the endgame of the war in the Pacific. Truk was meerly a stepping stone, and the Soviet Navy needed a strong base close to the American East Coast. Johnson Island was identifed as the first target.
It was the first encounter between American and Soviet carriers in the war, and many saw this as the straw which could break the Soviet bears back. The Russian fleet was outnumbered and without cover from land based aircraft.
The result was exceptionaly anti-climatical. The Russian fleet carried the day, but with the loss of a destroyer flottila. Both sides suffered heavy damage - including at least one American carrier, which limped to port at Johnson island. Both sides disengaged, but in a lucky stroke, the Russian carrier aircraft destroyed the damaged American carrier at port in a bold strike.
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The death of Premier Stalin was announced on the 10th of September. What followed was a classic example of a power vacuum in a totalitarian state. Despite poor health for some time, Stalin had always been invovled in affairs of the military and of state up until his abrupt end in the middle of a report on the dispositions of the Americans.
Lavrentiy Beria was seen as the natural sucessor, depsite the fact he was despised by the armed forces, and as a result Beria began preparations to move to replace Stalin. All would have been well had it not been for a group of high-ranking officals who despised Beria.
Led by a group of Army officers, headed by a young Lieutenant-General named Brezhnev and including famous figures such as Zhukov and the famed politcal figure of Nikita Khrushchev, a coup was mounted.
Tanks on a Moscow street. The enthusatic soldier atop the tank expresses common sentiment of the time - Stalin and the old regime have gone!
Zhukov, along with a detachment from the Moscow garrison, arrest Beria - and several divisons moved into the city in case troops loyal to Beria mounted an attack. However, no such support materialized, and with Zhukov providing the military backing and Khrushchev paving the politcal road the way was clear for the junior Party member and popular figure of Leonid Brezhnev to replace Stalin - with Khrushchev as the head of the government.
The composition of ministers is under consideration by the government.
