Ion Antonescu, The Conducător of Romania
Hungary & Romania
Hungarian dictator Admiral Horthy did not waste any time taking advantage of his nation’s membership in the Axis alliance. Romania had recently been forced to cede Bessarabia to the Soviet Union after threats of war so the Hungarians smelled blood in the water. Horthy ordered Bucharest to hand over Transylvania or face war, normally the Romanians had little to fear from the poorly trained and badly equipped Hungarian Army but the presence of General Verdillac’s 1st Tank Army in Budapest discouraged any thoughts of resisting. The last thing King Carol II of Romania wanted was a war so he negotiated directly with the Horthy’s envoys and they finally agreed on a compromise, ‘only’ northern Transylvania would be ceded, something that would prove to be his undoing. The Romanian army withdrew from the area and Hungarian troops seized it on the 12th of September 1940. All strata of the Romanian society were outraged and under intense pressure, King Carol was forced to appoint General Ion Antonescu as his government’s new Prime Minister on the 14th. Only two days after his appointment, Antonescu forced King Carol to abdicate; Carol's son, Mihail, became the new King. Antonescu assumed dictatorial powers and inspired by Mussolini he proclaimed himself Conducător (Leader), relegating the King to a merely decorative role. The French were completely stunned by the sheer audacity of its new ally, to risk expanding the war while Germany was still fighting. Imperial Foreign Minister Alexander Maret flew to Budapest on the 15th to officially congratulate the Regent on his successful liberation of Northern Transylvania. Maret held a short speech and photos were taken of him and the Admiral shaking hands and smiling, then it was time for a private chat with just an interpreter present. The Foreign Minister hurled abuse at the shocked Hungarian dictator for half an hour and told him in no uncertain terms that if he ever tried something like that again he and his people would face the full wrath of the Imperial Army. Luckily for Horthy they were interrupted by the news that the Germans were attacking in the mountainous region of Munkacs. Hungarian General Hollósy-Kuthy’s 3 infantry divisions had recently been reinforced by the French 1st Tank Army’s two mechanized and one armored division and easily repulsed the attack. The Germans withdrew at the afternoon of the 16th of September.
Operation ‘Tilsit’
Emperor Napoleon V was certain that victory could be achieved before the end of 1940. To accomplish this he identified three objectives: the capture of Berlin and Prague and to drive the last Wehrmacht troops out of Austria, which was symbolically important. Gamelin and the conservatives in the Imperial High Command were skeptical; the forces available in Hungary and Eastern Austria were not enough to defeat the defenders of Bohemia. Their objections went unheeded and plans were hastily drawn up for the operation, aptly named ‘Tilsit’. The plans called for Berlin to be surrounded on three sides before the final assault was executed; Mola’s Spanish Expeditionary Army had been included in the plan after complaints from Generalissimo Franco following the High Command’s apparent unwillingness to allow Mola to capitalize on his previous success at Halle. In the south, French-Hungarian forces would swiftly crush Slovakia and then advance into Bohemia from the east and seize Prague. Gamelin was responsible for expelling the last German troops from Austria in one mighty blow.
The Objectives of the First Phase of Operation ‘Tilsit’
According to plan, the French renewed their advance towards the heart of Germany on the 12th of September; the First, Third and Seventh Army under Field Marshal Juin reached the outskirts of Leipzig on the 19th. Field Marshal von List was unable to halt the French advance towards Leipzig and had no illusions of holding the city so he ordered all of his forces over the river Elbe with the exception of a strong presence on the west bank of the river at Dresden; Leipzig was in French hands by midday on the 20th. At the Baltic coast the Grand Army advanced towards Rostock, sweeping aside General Strauss’ valiant but outgunned defenders. The city fell quickly and was soon followed by the captures of Stralsund, Greifwald and finally Swinemünde on the 25th of September. The German fleet was once again forced to rebase, this time to Königsberg. Meanwhile in the south, the French First and Eight Army together with the Italian First Army, all under the command of Field Marshal Gamelin attacked Linz on the 21st. German defense positions were hammered by dive-bombers and devastating artillery bombardments. The storming Axis infantry easily overran the positions and entered Linz where they fought a two-day pitched battle against the city’s determined defenders. The badly damaged city was in French hand by 11:00 on the 23rd of September.
The Battle Of Linz
In Slovakia, General Verdillac’s 1st Tank army captured Kosice after easily defeating General Catlos outdated tanks. The first phase of Operations ‘Tilsit’ had been a resounding success.
The Reichstag
The Reichstag
In Berlin, the news of the latest defeats prompted Heinrich Brüning, the President Of The Reichstag to meet with the unstable Reich President, asking him for permission to evacuate the Reichstag to Königsberg. As so many times before, Ludwig Beck flew into a fit of rage, screaming about how everyone was betraying him and the German people; including the Reichstag, who’s members were nothing more than spineless, Goerdler-loving cowards! But he promised to teach them all a lesson and then had the hapless Reichstag President thrown out of his office. If Brünning wondered what kind of lesson Beck had in mind, he didn’t have to wait for long. The Reichstag had a dramatic emergency session on the 26th; to debate the perilous situation the Reich found itself in. The deputies showed great courage, some would say foolhardiness when they refused to break the session in spite of a French air raid on the city center. They all survived the onslaught and continued the debate while bombs exploded outside. The real threat that day however, came from the Reich President himself; his troops stormed into the Reichstag building at the end of the session and seized all the deputies who unceremoniously were dragged out and forced onto army trucks waiting outside. They were driven north and could soon hear how they came closer and closer to the guns at the front. Finally the deputies were brusquely ordered to disembark under the gray skies of Stettin, the main city of Pomerania. A young Wehrmacht Lieutenant read a statement from Reich President Beck: “Members of the Reichstag, too long have you enjoyed my protection in Berlin, plotting and scheming against me. It is time you all faced the realities of our grave situation, consequently I have relocated you to Stettin where you can continue your pointless debates our prove that you are real Germans by picking up a rifle and fight the French.” The stunned deputies argued with the officer to no avail and then contacted the city’s mayor who graciously agreed to house them in city hall. They were all in agreement of two things, Ludwig Beck had to be removed from office and the lost war had to end as soon as possible…
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