Crumbling Europa Read online

  © Max Lamirande, 2021

  Published by Max Lamirande

  © 2021 Saguenay, Quebec, Canada

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or modified in any form, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

  Credits:

  Kindle publishing

  Cover credits:

  References:

  Wikipedia, Wikicommons

  FOREWORD

  Dear readers,

  I welcome you back to the Blitzkrieg Alternate Series and thank you for continuing to read my work.

  As the story enters the second half of 1946, the war increases in intensity. A mighty battle looms over the Eastern Front that will decide the fate of the struggle between the Reich and the USSR. The front is open in Italy, and the Allies are finally poised to take Rome to throw the Italians out of the war. In France, the Wehrmacht is also about to have another challenge.

  As the story evolves, I have thought about what could be next in this alternative version of the war. The Reich’s falls' certainty gives way to other writing opportunities and ideas. Historically, things pretty much ended in 1945. Now that we have crossed the line and that the world is a very different place, interesting ideas have started to appear in my storyteller’s mind.

  For all of those who have written or reviewed that you are disappointed that Germany is losing the war, I ask you guys to be patient; you might like what I am preparing for the story’s next twist.

  As you might have seen, I have published a book on the Napoleonic era and will start writing on the second one once this book is finished. Work on number 9 of the series will also be started simultaneously.

  I will also do a quick 20 000 words storyline on the French campaign in 1940, and depending on your reactions (if you read it), I will also do one on the invasion of the UK and the North African war. Book one covers a lot of time, and the story needs beefing up there. In the end, it would be nice if book 1 is sort of a compendium with everything required to make the story work even better.

  Please visit my new author website at www.maxlamirande.com for detailed maps and stories on the Blitzkrieg Alternate Series.

  I again invite all of you readers to send me an email with comments and questions at [email protected].

  And, as always, please go and review my work.

  PROLOGUE

  Panzer Lehr assembly yards

  Vinnitsa, Ukraine, July 13th, 1946

  Colonel Erich Walder was standing tall on top of his brand-new Konigstiger. The Tiger II was advancing slowly along a road on the city's edge. While the last few months had been quite tricky with reeling defeats and retreats westward, he was feeling confident again.

  He looked backward and confirmed the reasons for his good mood. The heavy battalion had been replenished anew to its forty tanks complement. The Panzers slowly followed his lead toward their assigned starting point for the planned counter-offensive. They looked magnificent with their raised guns, camouflage paint, and tree branches adorning them. The tank procession curved toward a bend in the road further down, where the first of the Jagdtiger tank destroyers rolled along with his tanks. The battalion had been supplied with twenty units, also fresh out of the factories in Germany.

  The machine was built upon the slightly lengthened chassis of a Tiger II. Its ordnance inventory designation was Sd.Kfz. 186. The 71-tonne monster was one of the heaviest armored fighting vehicles to date by any participant nation of WWII. It was, according to its designers, the toughest tank ever built. The vehicle was armed with a 128 mm Pak 44 L/55 main gun, capable of outranging and defeating anything fielded by the Allied forces, including the dreaded Soviet SU-158 heavy tank that sported a 152mm howitzer.

  It featured hefty armor. It had 250 mm (9.8 in) armor on the front of the casemate and 150 mm (5.9 in) on the glacis plate. The main gun mount had a limited traverse of only ten degrees; the entire vehicle had to be turned to aim outside that narrow field of fire. Compared to the 120mm thick SU-158 and the 185mm thick of the Tiger II's, its front armor was in a class of its own.

  However, as the Royal Tiger's big brother, it suffered from the same ailments. Equipped with underpowered engines, it was prone to breakdown during battle, and it possessed what was considered slow speed (34km/hour) for a modern armored unit.

  Walder had never seen one in action. According to what he'd heard from General Bayerlein, the Panzer Lehr Division's commander, the monster's design had been ready since the beginning of 1945 but had been delayed in production because the Minister of Armament and Production, Albert Speer, had put priority on other machines like the Tiger II's and Tiger I. Enough had now been produced to show themselves on the battlefield. It was deemed more operationally capable than the slow, 20km an hour Maus that would be useless in the counter-offensive.

  Turning back toward his front, the commander of the Panzer Lehr's 1st heavy panzer battalion knew that whatever happened, he would have an impact on the coming battle and take a hefty toll on the enemy. As the Luftwaffe entertained a complete mastery of the skies, the Wehrmacht would be able to deploy as it wished, and for that very reason, Erich was more than confident on the coming offensive.

  He'd never seen so many Panzers in one place. The Reich assembled over 2500 armored vehicles, none lighter than Panther tanks (apart from a few leftover Panzer IVJ from older production that had survived to date), and mainly composed of Tigers and tank destroyers.

  He didn't know if the Reich would win the war, and on that very subject, he had some strong doubts. But he was confident that the attack they were about to drop down on their arch-enemies would hurt them badly.

  Extracts from Von Manstein's 1958 book, LOST VICTORY

  The race to Rome and withdrawal to the Alps, July 14th-26th, 1946

  Many historians tried to analyze and understand the reasons for so quick a collapse of Italo-German forces in Central Italy and the subsequent fall of Rome after the Allies breached the Gustav defensive line. The Americano-British, which advanced so slowly since their arrival in the Italian Peninsula, struck like lightning in the second half of July.

  The reasons are multiple, amongst other their bravery, superior numbers, and operational flexibility. But the prevailing fact was that we let them.

  After Monte Cassino's demise, I faced several difficult strategic choices. I was mainly to choose between two options. First, follow my orders and keep Rome in the Axis camp as long as possible. In order to do this, I would have had to send every last Panzer, infantry, and aircraft reserve available to the Reich in the theater. And with no reasonable chance of success at that.

  The second option was to follow sound military principles and look at facts coldly. The Allied forces were numerically superior, and while they had many lighter tanks than our forces, they had many more to attack than we did to defend ourselves. Also, the ground in the Liri Valley and up to the Po Valley was basically flat, except for the central mountainous part where the Apennines Mountains lay. There was no real natural obstacle to anchor my forces for another Gustav-type defense.

  While many historians and armchair generals have since argued that it might have been better to fight toes and nails for the Italian capital, most fail to understand the strategic predicament that we were faced with. German High Command had removed anything "that could be spared" to send to the disastrous situation on the Eastern Front. In other words, they robbed us of a solid reserve with which we would either have been able to counter-attack or entrench powerfully in Rome. While I cannot fault OKW for doing so (losing the war in Russia meant the end of the Reich), I could not defend as I could have without the troops, and most importantly, the prospects of kno
wing that there were readily available reinforcements.

  In fact, by mid-1946, Germany had scraped the bottom of the barrel so clean in terms of manpower that it could simply not fight on every front as the years prior. And OKW had chosen to put maximum effort in the east to shatter the Russian armies.

  The logical consequence for the western theater of war was that it had to fend for itself with what it had. The game was up from the moment we lost our defensive position on the Gustav, as similar events soon showed in the Pyrenes by the end of July.

  And so, dismissing every despatch from Goering himself and the insistent calls "to do something" from Mussolini, I resolved to fight while withdrawing northward, where a reasonable defense could be mounted with a minimal number of units.

  While there would still be some battles (we needed to make a show of it for morale and also not to look defeated), but overall my decision was taken. Retreat toward the north was the only reasonable option.

  The first signs of discord

  Allied meeting, Quebec City, July 13th, 1946

  Truman looked at the Soviet Foreign Minister with a blank stare, seemingly unbelieving. Churchill also had his mouth slightly open, as did the US Secretary of State, Cordell Hull. In front of them, Vyacheslav Molotov stood unmoving, with no signs of emotions on his face. The US President thought, for a moment, that the man must be a ruthless poker player. Too bad he was a damned Communist.

  The diplomat had just delivered Soviet demands and expectations for post-war Europe, and they didn't sound like the ones coming from an ally. "Could you repeat that mister Foreign Minister?" blurted out a seemingly stunned Churchill.

  Molotov did. "The peace-loving Union of Soviet Socialist Republic is demanding that Europe all the way to the 1939 Italo-French border be under its sphere of influence after the conflict". Yep. He'd repeated it and meant it since this time, he added a tiny smile. The pompous-looking General right beside him, Marshal Doctorov, completed it with a broad, menacing smile.

  "Mr. Foreign Minister," answered Truman in a slightly elevated voice, since he was getting angry. "on what ground is the USSR asking for so much of Europe and also what of the rights of people to choose their destiny?". Molotov stirred in his seat a little uncomfortably. "The Motherland has shouldered most of the weight of the conflict and as such has incurred tens of millions of dead and a devastated country. We only ask to be able to occupy the countries that sided with Germany against us." He paused for a breath. "Comrade Stalin, our beloved leader, will not be negotiable on this aspect. We, however, recognize that France and Italy should be in the Western Allied sphere of influence, as your troops are already in Italy, and the French are our allies."

  "Well, then we have a problem," answered Truman in a matter-of-fact voice. "How so, mister President," asked the Russian diplomat with an air of innocence. "Because, mister foreign minister, the US is not in the business of imperialism, and because we haven't fought this war to see Europe occupied by a different power. We fight the Reich as you do and for liberty and democracy." Churchill added, puffing loudly on his cigar: "I am afraid you Russians will have to rethink your position, as we are on the American side of things on this." "As we," added General de Gaulle, seemingly shocked.

  "The great Stalin expected this answer from all of you. But he told me to ask you to consider the cost of the war for Russia and what the USSR is contributing to final victory. There is also the fact that the Western Powers have taken a long time to open a second front to help Mother Russia, and for that, we have also greatly suffered."

  "Well," Churchill said as an answer before the US President intervened. "Did he forget to tell you how many American and British planes, trucks, and the likes have been sent to Russia with lend-lease?" Before the Molotov could answer, the British leader continued. "And has he considered what will happen if Americano-British troops are in Germany, Central Europe, and other areas when, and I must emphasize on the WHEN, we defeat the Third Reich?"

  The Soviet foreign Minister took some time to give his response. It was all deliberate and calculated, for Stalin had, of course, anticipated the Western Allies' rebuke at his bold claims. "The Great Stalin has told me to ask you to consider his demands, for the alliance's future depends on it."

  Truman was fuming and was about to explode in anger when a calming hand was put on his shoulder. It was Cordell Hull. "Ask for a recess, Mr. President. We need to cool ourselves down," he whispered in the man's ear.

  And a two-hour recess was called for both sides to cool down a little and, most notably for the Western Power to re-assess.

  "I've always known that we were making a pact with a devil in getting into an alliance with that Stalin," said Churchill standing up in front of the hotel room's window, overlooking the St-Lawrence river. "My initial assessment was that the Russian was less of a demon than the German ones. I am not so sure anymore," finished the British war leader.

  "Mr. Prime Minister, I agree with you," said General Marshall, that had been brought into the discussion as he was the top man in the US Military and pretty much the de-facto commander in chief of the rest of the alliance. "But we just can't win this war without the Soviets," finished the man.

  Truman, still pretty mad about the meeting half an hour earlier, put his whisky glass on the table he was sitting in front of. "It's pretty simple, gentlemen. I will die before trading a dictator for another one in Europe." "Me too,” simultaneously added the French De Gaulle and the British Churchill. "While we need the Reds to defeat the Germans, we need to start thinking of after the war. We are a long way from ending it right now, so let's play nice and tell them we'll consider it and ask for another conference, say in six months. By then, we'll know where we are at," added the ever-diplomatic Cordell Hull, throwing a mischievous glance at the US President that caught the message.

  Maybe it was time to talk to his allies about the new weapon the US had just developed. With a big enough show of force, the Soviets would surely back down on their ridiculous claims.

  Over Rome

  Another dogfight, July 14th, 1946

  Lamirande fired his 20mm gun in an uninterrupted burst that went forth toward the Me-262 he was trailing. The two planes skirted a large towering white cloud. Gaston's tracers went wide for a moment. He looked at the long line of shells that arced and curved in his enemy's direction. He adjusted his aim while the German pilot tried one dodging maneuver after the other, to no avail. The French-Canadian ace kept steady behind him.

  The Me-262 then plunged hard toward the cloud, and Lamirande knew that he was seconds from losing his target, so he pushed the gas to maximum power. His plane thundered in response, increasing his speed, while he also plunged, transforming his aircraft into an arrow of speed.

  All the while, he continued to fire, red tracers inching ever nearer the German plane. The Axis jet entered the cloud and, for a second, disappeared from view. But Gaston's last burst had been close behind it, and three shells connected. One of them banged right on the canopy, killing the pilot instantly, while another hit the right jet engine, igniting the plane. What Lamirande saw from that moment was a large fire burst on the cloud's whiteness, and he knew that his opponent was gone.

  His plane nonetheless entered the cloud at full speed and in no time exited on the other side in an explosion of vapor and whiteness. Lamirande was immediately stunned at the beauty before him. The whole of Rome, the eternal city, sprawled itself in his view. It didn't take long for flak guns in the city's defenses to see him and tag him as a target, so dark puffs of smoke and explosions soon ringed the Meteor jet.

  Curving his plane left and up, he retook some altitude toward the blue immensity of the cloud-dotted sky. He saw that other fighters were shooting at each other from the red tracers they produced on the bursts they fired at each other. Some planes also trailed smoke, and then unfortunately for their pilots, others were falling toward the ground, on fire.

  Another hard day's work for the knights in the sky, thought Lamirande
wearily. While the Allies seemed to finally take an edge in the Italian campaign, Berlin and peace seemed pretty far away.

  Extracts from Heinz Guderian's 1952 book, Panzer Leader

  Operation Citadel south final preparations, July 16th, 1946

  Operation Citadel was the fruit of several weeks of labor and planning and represented the very last chance of containing the Soviets in Russia. On its success – or failure – would depend the Reich's future and the war's outcome.

  Since it was a critical operation for Germany's survival, nothing was spared to put every chance on our side. From the four corners of the Nazi Empire were assembled thousands of tanks, hundreds of thousands of men, even to the detriment of other fronts, and at the risk of letting serious enemy breakthrough unchecked, like in the Baltic States and the Leningrad area.

  2500 Panzers had been assembled in the city of Vinnitsa in the Central Ukraine, spread into ten divisions crammed with the most modern tanks the Reich had to offer. Three of the units would even sport the all-new Panther II tanks and the Jagdtiger tank-killer.

  In addition, an additional 32 Infantry, mechanized, and Motorized Divisions were ready to go from their jumping-off point on the offensive. Most of them were mobile, except for a few of the units that had been transferred from Kesselring's command in Northern France, and of course, of our Balkans allies, the Hungarians, Romanians, and Bulgarians. The whole unit's assembly was under the operational name "Army Group South" and included the 12th (newly assembled), 23rd (newly assembled), and 7th Armies.

  Further south, ten depleted divisions under General Mackensen and Woehler would also support the attack. In contrast, a final 16 other hodgepodge of leftover divisions under General Hollidt in the north would flank the central attack by advancing while skirting the Pripet Marshes to make sure the Russians didn't attempt any outflanking maneuvers.