STAVKA 20 May 1946
These 4 weeks saw the war in North America shift fundamentally in favour of the USSR and its allies. The US proved unable to mount any significant resistance to Zhukov's formations driving out from the North East - there were occasional meeting engagements and sharp battles for particular cities, but each time the US defenders were outmanouvered and overwhelmed.
In the west, even on the long fiercely contested northern edge of the Soviet holdings, the Red Army was able to make gains and resist the inevitable US counterblow. Thus Soviet riflemen pushed beyond the perenial battlefields around Paso Robles and slowly made their way up the coast towards San Francisco. To speed the US collapse on this coast, Soviet troops attacked San Francisco directly and took the city on the 14th, quickly breaking out into the hinterland and moving south to join with the main Soviet forces. Further north a fresh cavalry corps that had been held in reserve was landed between San Francisco and the Vancouver pocket. These troops were expected to live off the land and to drive into the US rear - disrupting their supply networks and giving the US command a new threat to respond to.
Canada fell on the 17th:
and was immediately allowed to join the world wide Socialist federation as an independent state. The remaining Canadian troops - mainly clustered around Vancouver - were now allies not opponents of the USSR.
Equally Mexico was approaching surrender. In an attempt to stem the drive from the north, the Mexican commanders weakened the blockade at Acapulco and immediately those divisions were able to break out and threaten Mexico City from the south. Soviet armour and mountain divisions would be in position to attack from the north by the 25th and Mexico was expected to surrender soon after its capital was taken.
For the US itself, most of its industry was now in Soviet hands or badly bombed, and its last remaining organised divisions in the south were slowly being broken up as Soviet troops took advantage of gaps. They were receiving no reinforcements, making it hard for the US to mount, never mind sustain, any significant counteroffensives:
Overall, it was expected by early June that Zhukov's and Koniev's formations would effect a link up around Oklahoma: