The III Reich in World War III

[Kurt_Steiner]

From my experience with the Yogi, his AARs are never totally dead, just sleeping.

Maybe I am wrong this time but let's hope I am not.

 

[Hoyte]

CHAPTER I (Continued)
1944-45​

Post-war Europe and The end of the Pacific War​

The Final Solution reconsidered
Already as the armistice negotiations were taking place in Kiev in July and early August of 1944, Himmler realised that the Reich would have to come to some sort of understanding also with the Allies. These peace talks had resulted in a complete overturn of Germany’s geopolitic outlook; Hitler had always considered Bolshevik Russia as the implacable enemy never to be negotiated with and the Western Powers as only temporary at odds with Germany, but the current reality was just the opposite, with Roosvelts America relentlessly pursuing the war while Stalin proving to be one Himmler could negociate with. And unlike was the case with Russia, even Hitler had never dreamt of ultimate victory against the United States. A negotiated settlement, although one favourable to the Reich had always been the assumed war aim in the west.

If the Allies were to be cajoled into some sort of understanding with the Reich, that pill would have to be sugared. Assuming that the United States was the dominant partner and also that it in turn was subject to the wishes of Jewish bankers, Himmler decided to offer the release to the west of all Jews still living in the German sphere of influence as a part of an agreement. While this was not enough to push the fiercely anti-German Roosevelt to the negotiating table, it did play a role in convincing his successor Harry S. Truman that peace with Germany and her allies was unavoidable. Other factors that helped convince him of this were the now undivided strength of the Wehrmacht, the bloody looses suffered in the failed invasions at Anzio and Normandy and the massacre resulting from the storming of the Gustav Line, but the main one came as a result of the war with Japan and it’s consequences.

A Jewish State in Palestine
The exodus of European Jews resulting from the Peace of Rome posed a delicate problem for the Anglo-Americans. Both governments were unwilling to receive into their countries millions of impoverished mostly eastern-European refugees, and opted instead for making good the promises of the Balfour declaration – the creation of a Jewish State in the British mandate of Palestine. A three year period of settlement and adjustment was decided, which would lead to the foundation of a state of Israel come 1948.

The collapse of Japan
The failure of Overlord and the stalemate in Europe meant the strategic situation in the Pacific swung dramatically against Japan after mid-1944. The abandoning of the “Germany First” strategy meant that large ground and amphibious forces were made available against the Japanese, and the Americans opted for using these for a knock-out blow to quickly bring Japan to her knees, rather than continuing the gradual encroachment and mounting strategic air campaign. Fears of the USSR entering the war and extending it’s influence in East Asia also played in.

The result of these strategic considerations materialised as operation “Downfall”. Originally it had been devised as a two-stage rocket, beginning with Operation “Olympic”, the invasion of Kyshu using Okinawa as staging ground (not yet captured in the autumn of 1944). Honshu would then be invaded in “Operation Coronet”, using bases in Kyshu for air support. It was decided to forego “Olympic” entirely and go “straight for the jugular” as General Mac Arthur put it; the main landing area of “Downfall” would be north and south of Tokyo bay. In order to forestall any Russian entanglements, a subsidiary landing would later be made near Port Arthur in Manchuria, at the base of the Korean Peninsula. While achieving it’s stated objective, this operation would have dire consequences.

This bold and ambitious plan caught the Japanese entirely by surprise. The invasion took place on August 18th, 1944, when the attention of the Japanese High Command was entirely preoccupied with the lighting Australian advance on New Guinea, leading to worries of an allied campaign in the Indonesian archipelago with it’s critical natural resources, and the Japanese offensive in China, which had the Nationalist forces of Chian Kai-Shek against the ropes. It was a resounding success. Tokyo was quickly captured, and although the Emperor and the Government managed to escape, it was a blow Japan would never recover from. The northern half of Honshu and the northern island of Hokkaido fell quickly to the Americans. Honshu had been entirely captured by mid October and the entire Home islands cleared by the end of that month. The Japanese misfortunes had immediate diplomatic consequences, as Siam promptly left the Japanese camp in September and brokered an advantageous peace with the Western allies in with it was allowed to keep some areas of French Indonchina in Cambodia. The reminder of Cambodia became the staging ground for the Free French forces that liberated Indochina from the Japanese. This also led to the immediate collapse of the Japanese front in Burma, as it became cut off by the Thai defection.

The war was not yet over, but the outcome was now a foregone conclusion. American troops poured out the Port Arthur bridgehead to secure Manchuria and Korea, to the outrage of Stalin who had hoped to capture these areas himself and use as a base for the beleaguered Chinese Communists. The Americans now pushed south into China, were the Japanese troops, despite lacking every kind of supply put up a fanatical and protracted but doomed resistance leading to their complete destruction and surrender by July 1945.

The Soviet reaction
Needless to say, Stalin was outraged at the prospect of America holding most of China. Already half a year before the Japanese surrender, in January of 1945, the Soviet Foreign Commisar Vyacheslav Molotov was dispatched to Washington to issue threatening demands of American retreat from the area. Truman flatly refused to do so before an organised hand-over to “proper Chinese authorities” (ie, the Nationalists) could take place. As Russo-American relations dropped to an all time low, this proved the last straw for convincing Truman to sign a proper armistice with the German Reich in February of 1945. This in turn proved to be the last straw for Stalin in deciding for war with the West, should the Americans refuse to a quick withdrawal of Manchuria and China after the final Japanese surrender.

Himmler’s plans for the Future; The European Union and The three year plan
For Himmler, the victorious conclusion of the war meant a huge boost to his so far underwhelming popularity. After Stalingrad, most Germans had considered the war as lost; peace, and an advantageous one at that was credited to Himmler as a major achievement, worthy of the original Führer Adolf Hitler.

Thus politically strengthened, Himmler set out to solve the problems of peace. In the long run, he considered it unadvisable to maintain the military occupation of all of France and the Low Countries. On the other hand, giving them their independence, even if initially under subservient puppet governments, meant risking that nationalist feeling would ultimately assert itself and place these countries in opposition to the Reich.

Instead, Himmler decided to build on the Pan-European propaganda themes employed by Goebbles and himself in the last year of war against the USSR. A European Union would be founded, featuring a common government, common armed forces and police, and a common internal market. While Germany would be a member, it would be the only one to retain full sovereignty, all other occupied countries (and hopefully in time, allies) would be joined under one banner and one rule. The ruling body of this new union, The European Council was to be permanently presided by the German Führer and in all matters, it would be subservient to German interests and German will, but defended and policed by Union, not Wehrmacht or SS troops.

The European Union would in launched in 1948, soon to be followed by the withdrawal of all German occupation troops as Union troops were raised to replace them; in the mean time, the German economy was to be jump-started using the resources of occupied Europe. An ambitious Three-Year plan was drafted designed to augment German industrial output. A definite swing towards a planned, state-controlled economy, at least in areas critical for the war economy took place under Himmler’s Führership; the Germans had been very impressed by Soviet industrial output during the war and were trying to apply it’s tenets to their own regime.

Europe in 1945

Shaping of the Wehrmacht post war
After the war, the Wehrmacht was in great part demobilised, but the divisions were not decommissioned, and their equipment was mothballed in mobilisation depots. Production lines continued to run, and recruits continued to be trained until all war losses had been replaced and full establishment strength reached by spring 1945. The Panzer troops were by then equipped exclusively with Pzkpfw-V Panthers as the old workhorse, the PzKpfw-IV was finally withdrawn from service.

Older models were also replaced, until the Luftwaffe became a predominantly jet-proppelled air force with Me-162 and 262 fighters, Ar-234 Blitz jet bombers and He-132 jet close support planes. In keeping with the “not larger but stronger” tenet, no new Geschwaders were formed, although the number of organic escort fighter units was increased to stiffen the bomber forces. Himmler also created a new military arm within the Luftwaffe, the Rocket Troops (Raketentruppen), which were equipped with a new generation of V2 ballistic rockets. With a range of 2.400 km they were produced in great numbers in 1945. The facilities at Peenemünde were also greatly expanded and enormous funds were poured into the atomic research programme. A working experimental reactor was built near Magdeburg in the spring of 1945 and expanded twice during the year. The need for the ultimate Wunderwaffe was apparent the autumn of 1945 as Russo-American tension finally reached the boiling point.

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