On the positive side of things, Germany inherited a decent sized fleet. Unfortunately none of Japan's carriers survived but several battleships, including the Mushashi, survived. Now there is a minor detail of them being on the otherside of the world to contend with.
In northern Italy the first of the reinforcements from Russia arrive and go straight into action
Several additional units were deployed in Berlin (for some reason - I think the strategic re-deploy drops them into your capital again if the province you wanted them in is taken by an enemy. It was much nicer when they were just placed in whatever province was the next closest) and made moves to contain the Allies
In Asia, the Allies were busy splitting the spoils of war. Korea, long time subjugated by the Japanese, became an intense point of conflict. Stalin, despite his inactivity in Asia, demanded concessions for the Allied failure in Europe. In a conference in Tokyo the Allies finally gave into his verbal assaults and granted North Korea as a communist state
(Note: South Korea is also created and joins the Allies in the message box)
Stalin was incensed. His forces had been obliterated by the Germans while the Allies took their time in Asia and all he got was one measly small country. He claimed that the Allies wanted Russia to fail and his government to collapse. He demanded Manchuria and parts of western China as a buffer zone between Russia and the Allies and to make it easier to rebuild the shattered Russian economy. Roosevelt countered that those areas had been taken with American blood, that the US had taken upon itself the biggest burden of the Asiatic war and Manchuria would remain in American hands. Churchill refused to stab China in the back by giving away provinces- appeasement hadn't worked with Hitler and they weren't about to try again. The conference ended with Stalin leaving in an uproar and was not reconvened.
Back in Italy, further pressure was being exerted on the Americans
As their advances were stopped and then pushed back.
Part of their forces were trapped in eastern Italy and forced to surrender. However, additional forces continued to arrive in southern Italy.
In southern Russia a massive offensive was started to push the Russians out of the Caucuses once and for all. The forces were then to proceed into Iraq and British occupied Iran where possible.
Within hours of the attack, all forces were ordered to cease fire. They were to halt for several hours and then advance, without firing, towards their goals. They could fire only if fired upon first.
October 26th 1947 was to be a great day for Germany. In the 20 days since the disastrous end to the Tokyo Conference, Stalin had been in negotiations with Germany. The negotiations were held in secret to keep knowledge of the preceding from leaking to the Allies. It was clear that Russia was in trouble. They could drag out the war for many years to come, especially with Germany's oil problems. However, given the Allies recent failures in Europe and the almost complete destruction of the Russian army it was clear Russia could not win. That combined with the Allied refusal to grant retributions to Stalin, he felt no need to stall the Germans any longer in that no-win situation. Even so, mistrust delayed the proceedings. Stalin refused Hitler's original demands to acquire the entire Urals industrial base. Hitler claimed that letting Stalin keep such capacity would be an invitation to invade the newly acquired German territory. Finally an agreement was reached where the industrial capacity on the western edge of the Urals (which is actually quite substantial to my surprise, like three 12IC provinces) would be turned over to the Germans, Russia would retain almost 200ICs on industrial capacity and keep most of the Ural territory. In addition, Russia would turn over huge stockpiles of materials (including massive stockpiles of oil) to Germany. This nearly caused the proceedings to break down as Stalin balked at this last stipulation, but Hitler merely pointed out that this war could easily continue and that Stalin would eventually be forced to give up even more ground at the future peace talks. Stalin refused to negotiate further and left the room but let his advisors continue the negotiations. To ensure that neither side could wage war against each other in the near future, a non-aggression pact was signed. It is speculated that both Hitler and Stalin agreed that they had other matters to attend to.
Documents uncovered after the way revealed what those problems were. With Russia having tossed away their chance at victory many looked for someone to blame. Generals were retired or suffered 'accidents' but more and more eyes turned to Stalin himself. The situation was starting to get uneasy. The party members remembered his purges he used to secure his power and had no doubt that he would do so again if he thought necessary. Perhaps it was time to get rid of him before their heads were placed on the cutting blocks. The chaos brought by the downfall of the Red Army was making this look like an ever increasing possibility as they could no longer be relied on to provide stability. Stalin needed the peace to secure his power base and restore order to the already shattered remains of his country. Besides, the Stalin had the very scapegoat he needed to shift the blame….the Allies.
The announcement of the peace agreement was a shock to the Allied countries (and the Axis as well). Just as things were starting to look up for them with the fall of Japan (and being able to reloate all those resources and troops), this happens. Now they would face several million additional battlehardened Geramn troops that had been tied up in Russia.
Meanwhile celebrations were held all over Axis held Germany. Troops were elated that after 6 years of war and teetering on the brink of disaster, the Bear was defeated.
In recent weeks, a massive influx of bombers and fighters had challenged the Luftwaffe over the English Channel and operated with impunity over southern Europe. This added to the seemingly endless war in Russia, moral was taxed to the limits. There was even talk about granting concessions to the Allies in exchange for peace. But now…..now! Forces in Europe would triple and absolutely crush the Allies for sure! Massive armored forces, the most experienced in the world, would mass in Iran and strike east into India, ripping the territory from British hands, and west, into Iraq and Syria, to take the Suez from the Allies. Before were images of long, drawn-out fights. Germany would probably win, but at what cost. Now…the relatively inexperienced Allies in the Middle East would face the crème of the crop in the German Army. (A decent sized force would be kept along the borders with Russia - that Stalin is a shifty fellow and many one division units would be scattered about for partisan duty) Iraq and the Middle East was there for the taking. India would be open before them, the material riches of Southeast Asia beyond that.
Never had anyone seen the extremes of elation held by people. Germany had been at the end of the rope, pressed on both sides with the odds against them. The German people (and their allies of course) had shown the world their steel and had sloughed back, taken victory by the horns and claimed it for themselves, destroying over 370 Russian divisions. The world would never be the same and the Allies braced to reap the whirlwind……