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The Greatest Germany: The Formation of the Pan-Germanic Union, 1836-1936

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L - Operation Pastorius
1928

Stauning made an address to the Reichstag, telling them of the declaration, before announcing it over the radio.

"Germanians!

Last week our friends and allies in the United Kingdom declared war on the United States. As someone who has worked with the British government for some time, I can assure you this was the last option considered.

The United States has violated the will of the international community for several years, and continues to hold territories which are claimed by other nations. It has established a violent and oppressive puppet government over our Germanic brothers in Norway, and holds undue influence over Sweden and Italy.

After the declaration I went to the Reichstag and called a vote on the issue: every single representative from across the Reich attended the session. They voted in favour of war.

Already we have large forces assembled in Canada to assist our British allies. I have no doubt they will triumph as they have done so many times before...

May we pray for a quick and favourable peace..."

This was the first time such a major event had been broadcast over the radio in Germania, although many would only learn of it with the morning papers - radio ownership was below 20% at this time. The following day, once he was certain of a successor, Stauning would announce his resignation as Chancellor, again over the radio. His successor, with the most support in the Reichstag, was Gustav Stresemann.

Despite Stauning's resignation, the cabinet remained otherwise the same. It had been shaped largely by Stauning's decisions.

Chancellor - Gustav Stresemann - National Liberal
Vice Chancellor - Karl Renner - SDP
Minister of the Interior - Carl Severing - SDP
Minister of Defence - Gustav Noske - SDP
Minister of Foreign Affairs - Herman Adriaan van Karnebeek - National Liberal
Minister of Justice - Erich Koch-Weser - National Liberal
Minister of the Treasury - Rudolf Hilferding - SDP
Minister for the Economy - Robert Schmidt - DFP
Colonial Secretary - Johannes Bell - Zentrum
Minister of Germanic Unity[1] - Thomas Madsen-Mygdal - Independent
Minister for Transport - Gottfried Treviranus - Conservative
Minister for Food and Agriculture - Rudolf Minger - Independent
Minister for Post and Communications - Vincent Schumy - Conservative

Stauning had also created two extra positions for the war:

Minister of Armaments and Ammunition - Fritz Todt - NSDAP
Minister for Reconstruction and Civilian Protection - Heinrich Häberlin - DFP

And there were several other Ministries and Ministers without Portfolio included, mostly from the Conservatives and National Liberals.

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Four of the most important men in Germania: Stresemann, Renner, van Karnebeek and Severing.

As had happened in the Great War, a Supreme Command was created, several members of whom were already in Canada. However, this time, working with the other European leaders was crucial: for this reason, a European Supreme Command was established with representation from all countries participating.

Chancellor Stresemann was immediately met with several major blows to the war effort. Despite the best efforts of the European League, Italy declared war on Germania. They were quickly followed by Norway and Sweden. Between the vote amongst European nations and the declaration of war, Serbia had experienced a stunningly fast military coup, and sided with the Americans against Hungary, which joined Germania.

On the 11th of May, the US Navy quickly overpowered the fleet protecting the Panama Canal and blocked it to shipping. At the same time, a united force of Central American countries invaded the north of Panama, before arriving at the canal. They were able to overpower the small garrison of just 3,000 men with ease. This was a crucial moment - Ludwig von Reuter, recently promoted to Großadmiral, was under extreme pressure to defeat the American fleet, or the entire war effort would be in jeopardy and more coastal areas would probably fall.

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An American ship in the canal, shortly after the battle.

The Baltic Fleet, however, did do well against the enemy. Importantly, it was able to decisively defeat the combined Swedish Navy off the coast of Gotland, whilst in the German Sea the Royal Navy made short work of the Norwegians within the opening days of the war. The Germanians, now aided by the Hungarians, were now able to execute Operation Tyr and make landings on the coast of Scandinavia.

On land, as European soldiers began moving across the border, Operation Pastorius - the invasion of the United States - was put into action. It was supposed to be a fast, deadly blow to the United States in coalition with the Confederates. As now ex-Chancellor Stauning would say to a friend, in a conversation that would only be made public after his death, success of the operation was "impossible" and a "fantasy."


[1] A relatively new position, this ensured that there was no dissent amongst the many ethnicities of the Reich.



 
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How come the crucial post of Armaments is given to a NSDAP man ?
Otherwise I don't know much about the different men to give an opinion

And that operation Pastorius looks doomed ....
 
Attalus said:
How come the crucial post of Armaments is given to a NSDAP man ?
Otherwise I don't know much about the different men to give an opinion

And that operation Pastorius looks doomed ....
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Hmm. I am unsure about Hjalmar and whether he would be the right man for the job. Someone please correct me, I don't object to making a minor change if he should be replaced. I did briefly consider giving it to Speer, before realising he was in his early 20's at this point!

As for Pastorius, well, we shall see...
 
Schacht should not be responsible for Armaments, he is an economist - if anything, he should be Minister of Finance or Economy. Also, given the prosperity and international standing of Germania, I believe he would not have joined a fringe movement like the NSDAP.

Armaments should be handled by this guy: Fritz Todt. He is a technical expert and fills the role of token Nazi in the government.
 
Also there is the irony to consider of giving the position of Minister of Armaments to a man who lost favour due to being against rearmament :p
 
You are both right, Todt is a much better fit for the job. I did consider him briefly but I have no idea as to how one chooses an armaments minister. Thank you.
 
The US can throw a crazy amount of men at you if you land in the New World. Germania and her allies are in for a serious challenge.

Italy could be problematic, too, because the slightest mistake and you'll end up having to attack them in the Alps for huge casualties.
 
do you have plans to invade Italy? I believe Todt to be a competent man... he did not as well as Speer because he followed Hitler's orders to not go for total war economy... a stupidity we should thank him
 
Hopefully NSDAP won't ever get more influence than they've got now.
 
metalinvader665 said:
The US can throw a crazy amount of men at you if you land in the New World. Germania and her allies are in for a serious challenge.

Italy could be problematic, too, because the slightest mistake and you'll end up having to attack them in the Alps for huge casualties.
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The UK does have some strong fortifications in Canada, so hopefully if the initial push does not succeed we can sit and soak them up. As for the Alps, I agree, they could prove disastrous.

guillec87 said:
do you have plans to invade Italy? I believe Todt to be a competent man... he did not as well as Speer because he followed Hitler's orders to not go for total war economy... a stupidity we should thank him
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I do have a plan to invade Italy, but whether or not I will execute it depends on how well we do. As for Todt, I must admit I know little about the man.

Nikolai said:
Hopefully NSDAP won't ever get more influence than they've got now.
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I think they may fluctuate around the 25 seat mark, their success or failure may be dependent on goings-on in the far left as well. The Conservatives may be able to pull back voters from them but they have a long way to go. If we lose this war, however, welcome to Nazi Germany.
 
LI - Brave Little Burlington
1928

Nobody has ever really ascertained how popular the war was in Germania. Most citizens were strongly aware that a conflict with the same enemy, just under a decade ago, had led to a near revolution in the country. Scandinavia had been captured, but nothing had come of it. America had withstood the toughest attacks Germania could throw at it. The Kaiser had been forced to abdicate. Civilians were unhappy, but as Defence Minister Noske pointed out: "if a third of people are against the war, but don't speak out against it, then that's a third of people who might as well be supporting it."

The absurdity of the war, a sign that the Germanian government had clearly failed to truly change, was nonetheless certain to spark physical dissent. In Berlin, a huge march of KPD supporters took place (many communists were furious that they had been excluded from the government). Marching towards Unter den Linden, they were suddenly confronted by armed police, who failed to calm the situation down and within an hour order began to collapse. Extra police were brought in, warning shots were fired, and eventually the protesters dispersed. Berlin, however, was placed under a state of emergency and localised rioting occurred for three days afterwards.

Most major cities experienced some sort of civil disorder - Berlin being the worst. But, particularly in Prussia, the secret police were able to be one step ahead of any serious terrorists, and the regular police - apart from in Berlin - were able to cope with ordinary rioters. What the events did raise (as a side issue) was the possibility of a unified Germanian police force to possibly tackle dissent with greater ease - but at this time, the topic was unimportant and most people were content with the status quo of each state having an individual police force.

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The Prussian police patrol the streets as Berlin is shut down.

The war drew the greatest support from the right wing, almost unanimously from the far-right (24 of 25 NSDAP representatives had voted in favour of war). The state was eager to encourage any marches in support of the army, and as a result one may be mistaken, walking down a street in Prag or Vienna, that the entire nation was cheering for war. In some cities pro-war "celebrations" almost reached levels not seen since the Great War.

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A pro-war demonstration in Stuttgart.

Chancellor Stresemann was on the surface unsympathetic towards the pacifists and took measures to crack down on their resistance to conscription. But the government could not afford to spend too much time on pacifists at this time. The fronts were far more important.

On the Italian border, the Generals of the High Command decided to take up defensive positions rather than attack into Italy. They had realised for some time that Venice, their loyal ally, could not be defended as the country itself did not have the defensive infrastructure to repel an attack without huge casualties. Instead, Germanian troops accumulated in Slovenia where forts formed a defensive line and supply lines could be maintained.

In Switzerland, the famous military preparations of the state came into full swing. Since the late 19th century, a series of fortifications running from east to west had been constructed against a potential attack, and were now ready. Explosives were planted by most major bridges. Many Swiss citizens were already prepared for the invasion, but they were joined by conscripts from other Germanian provinces to boost their numbers.

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Fort du Scex, in southern Switzerland.

The first major battle of the war in America occurred in the town of Burlington. After advancing incredibly quickly over the border, through the town of St Albans, Germanian troops were confronted with a large detachment of American army regulars and militia, numbering about 40,000. Despite there being 72,000 well equipped Germanian troops in the area, attempts to dislodge the enemy from the town failed and heavy causalities were taken. Lone-wolf attacks, despite being nearly suicidal, were successful in picking off scores of the invading forces if they entered the town. A fuel shortage meant that tanks were useless.

Peter Droste, leader of the attacking troops, made his decision: he requested support from the Luftstreitkräfte, the Germanian Air Force. With the small amount of fuel they had, the planes were able to take to the skies, the smaller fighters going in first to clear the few and far between American planes, before the Dornier bombers wrecked havoc on the town.[1] Although not incredibly accurate, they were usually more effective than long-range artillery (and safer for any troops fighting below).

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The Arado Ar 65 (left) cleared the skies for the Dornier Do P, a bomber.

"Brave little Burlington," as it became known amongst the American press, fell on the 21st.

Whilst Droste was being held up in Vermont, similar difficulties were being experienced elsewhere. American troops destroyed the bridges over the Niagara River, making crossing it virtually impossible. At the same time, the Canadian towns around the Lake Ontario region - including, at times, Toronto - were subject to shelling from American forces. The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) focused the small number of planes at its disposal in this area with great intensity, creating heavy Germanian and civilian causalities. With a lack of fuel, the European air forces became grounded and were unable to counter the assaults, whilst the Germanian artillery across Lake Ontario was too inaccurate to attack Buffalo without either becoming a menace through friendly fire, or being damaged by being too close to the fighting.

The news that British troops were bogged down around Detroit did not bode well for the campaign in Southern Ontario. If either the British or Germanians were to break, the other force would be destroyed by a pincer movement and the road to Toronto would be wide open. News also surfaced that American ships were being launched on Lakes Ontario and Erie, and soon they were shelling the Canadian cities.

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Close up of European troop positions in the opening stages of the war.

Finally, in late May, the High Seas Fleet was able to engage the USN in open waters, off the coast between Maine and Nova Scotia. Confident that they would be able to defeat the smaller Germanian fleet, the USN had followed recent reports of the Germanians being in area and aimed to attack them. They remained unaware, however, of a much larger British fleet to the north, believing (largely due to attempts at deception by the British) that the majority of the Royal Navy was still defending the Cabot Straight between Newfoundland and Nova Scotia.

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Location of the battle.

Initially the Germanian fleet took heavy losses. Although having perfected their strategies since their previous disastrous encounter with the American Navy, and fixed the numerous problems that had plagued their ships, they still struggled to do the Americans any serious damage. Three German battleships were sunk within an hour. However, by the time the Royal Navy arrived, the Germanians had begun to fight back and had almost split the American formation to the point of chaos.

However the Germanian Admirals would have liked to have dreamed that the High Seas Fleet would have been able to turn the tide of battle, it was the Royal Navy that shredded the increasingly disorderly and panicking USN. Totally unprepared for the arrival of the British, the Americans broke formation and were scattered By sunset, the battle had been won and the remaining American ships limped back to harbour, where they would remain for some time. Although splitting open the overseas supply routes to the Americas, the Battle of Nova Scotia would lead the Americans to declare unrestricted submarine warfare - something nobody was certain how to counter.

At the same time (although not a direct consequence of), supplies of fuel finally came to those fighting in south Canada. Immediately, the combined European air force took to the skies and were successful in repelling American attacks on the Canadian towns. After seeing a break in the American forces, Germanian troops were able to finally carry out a crossing of the Niagara and across the border. Circling around to the north of Buffalo, they lay siege to the city within days. The result was predetermined: demoralised, low on supplies and aware the city was in ruins, the defenders did not take long to lay down their arms.

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Buffalo in ruins.

The level of destruction seen in Buffalo would lead to a new slang word entering the American dialect: to Buffalo, meaning to wreck completely. It would be a sad sign of warfare to come.


[1] At this time, anti-aircraft guns were virtually non-existent or very ineffective in the American towns.

 
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I try and provide details of opening and important battles, however over the next few updates I will try not to focus too much on individual battles anymore (I personally find them difficult to describe, as you may be able to tell). Before I pass out from sleep deprivation I am going to bed!
 
I liked the little tidbit about to Buffalo.:)
 
I'm officially rooting against you now.
 
Nikolai said:
I liked the little tidbit about to Buffalo.:)
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Thanks, it's interesting to think how different slang and language might be here.

My inspiration came from the word "coventrate," which entered the British language after the German bombing of Coventry. It means to completely destroy.

Wolf6120 said:
Let's hope High Command doesn't buffalo this up :D
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You mean the flawless High Command? Of course not! :D

99KingHigh said:
I'm officially rooting against you now.
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Is that because you think I'll lose, or because you want me to lose?
 
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