Shattered World - A Worse World War :
Part 10
May 5th 1940 to 24th August 1940
May 5th 1940
Soviet bombers operating out of recently taken airbases in northwestern
Poland bomb the city of Nuremberg in what is a largely a symbolic strike
against the Nazi party. It is the farthest west that Soviet bombers have
attacked so far in the war.
May 12th 1940
A renewed Soviet push into Stockholm reaches the city's center but stubborn
German defenders fight on in the rubble. To the west Orebro falls into Soviet
hands and German defenders are establishing new lines of defense to the south
of that city. The Red Air Force has begun to step up attacks on German shipping
in the Baltic as well as German held ports in southern Sweden in an effort
to choke off the flow of German supplies and reinforcements.
May 20th 1940
Germany launches operation "Hammerstrike", an offensive launched from southern
Poland in the direction of Warsaw along a narrow 100 km front. The relatively
compact width of the offensive allows the Germans to apply a massive amount
of firepower across the entire breadth of the push. In the initial hours Soviet
forces melt away as Panzers race north and east. The Luftwaffe makes its
largest surge since the German invasion of Soviet occupied Poland and gains
control of the skies over central Poland. Warsaw and its transportation and
supply infrastructure come under heavy Luftwaffe bombardment.
May 27th 1940
Italian arms manufacturers are given rights to construct older model German
panzer and aircraft designs. Other Axis minor powers are looking into doing
the same. Italy has begun a three year military buildup plan which will both
increase the size of the Italian armed forces and modernize their weapons
and equipment.
June 7th 1940
German panzers complete a broad sweeping movement and reach the Bug river
east of Warsaw where they force successful crossings at several points. Soviet
forces remain off balance but are beginning to regroup around Warsaw. The
Soviet supply situation has reach a critical level in Poland as the Luftwaffe
clobbers the Soviet supply lines through northern Poland.
June 18th 1940
German and Iraqi diplomats meeting in Istanbul finish a series of negotiations
in which Iraq agrees to begin selling oil to Germany via Turkey. This second
source of vital oil provides some insurance in case
the Soviets manage to heavily damage the Ploesti oil fields in Romania.
The agreement also brings Germany and Iraq closer together. Some talk of
Iraq joining the Axis powers has begun, but nothing official as of yet.
June 22nd 1940
Hungarian and German forces cross into Soviet territory in a move designed
to sieze the Polish city of Lwow and secure Hungary's eastern border. Some
Romanian units, veterans of the harsh warfare in that devastated country,
join the campaign.
July 2nd 1940
Stalin refuses to allow General Zhukov to begin to pull forces out of northwest
Poland to engage German forces near Warsaw. Stalin is still counting on unleashing
an offensive into Germany sometime in August. Zhukov privately calls the order
"a disaster" but obeys his leader.
July 13th 1940
Hungarian and German infantry enter the eastern Polish city of Lwow where street
to street fighting rages.
July 24th 1940
German panzer and mechanized infantry forces break through Soviet defenses
to the northwest of the Bug river and begin driving back westward to surround
Warsaw. Soviet resistance is beginning to stiffen as the Soviets begin shifting
units to cover Warsaw's exposed flanks.
July 27th 1940
Having taken Lwow the German/Hungarian offensive into the Ukraine is halted.
The goals of the relatively small offensive have been met, a 100km buffer
zone now protects Hungary and Germany's eastern borders in that region. Soviet
forces north and east of Lwow are content, for the moment, to hold on the
defensive as all available resources are being poured into the fighting around
Warsaw.
August 3rd 1940
Two German panzer armies launch a new thrust to the west of Warsaw. The
new attack is the second part of a huge German envelopment maneuver designed
to surround Warsaw in a ring of German steel.
August 14th 1940
On the plains of northern Poland, about 50km north of Warsaw, the German
5th and 6th Panzer armies smash into Red Army units moving eastward from out
of northwestern Poland. The engagement could determine the fate of over 1
million Soviet soldiers in northwestern Poland. The largest tank battles,
since the initial German invasion of Soviet dominated Poland, are taking place.
August 23rd 1940
With battles raging to the north and west of Warsaw Zhukov orders Soviet
forces west of the Vistula river to begin withdrawing to new positions east
of that river effective immediately. He fears the orders may have come too
late thanks to Stalin's stubborn demands. Soviet plans for an offensive into
Germany have been put on indefinite hold.
Rather, the Soviets must now concentrate on saving two army groups in northwestern
Poland from being cut off from re-supply and destroyed. Warsaw itself is under
sporadic but extremely heavy carpet bombing by Luftwaffe bombers.
August 24th 1940
Fighting north of Warsaw rages on with both sides feeding more forces into
the battle. The clash for Warsaw has now reached a scale previously unheard
of in warfare. Nearly 1 million soldiers and 3000 tanks are engaged for what
is becoming known, collectively, as the Battle of Warsaw. The Luftwaffe and
Red Air Force are fighting for air superiority with neither side quite gaining
the upper hand.
To imagine the scale of the Battle of Warsaw think Kursk on a larger scale
except that the Soviet defensive positions are nowhere near as strong as in
our Kursk. More tanks than Kursk and a much more fluid situation. Both sides
are taking massive losses in the battle which simply can't be replaced any
time soon. This battle will be a major turning point as the loser will have
lost A LOT of skilled tank crews, pilots, officers, etc. The winner will
have gained the initiative on the eastern front. Also, the loser is likely
to suffer a major hit to morale both in the military and on the home front.
This is the biggest and most important battle yet in the Shattered World
timeline.
In Berlin and Moscow the leaders of the two warring powers await the outcome
of the Battle of Warsaw nervously. The entire war hangs in the balance. If
the Red Army can hold at Warsaw then the Germans will have smashed their great
armies in Poland to no avail. Soviet forces will then be free to open a late-summer/early-fall
push into Germany itself. On the other hand, if the Germans do take Warsaw
then Soviet forces to the west will be cut off from supplies and reinforcements
and could very well be destroyed.
Hitler is aware of this as well and he has ordered the construction of the
"East Wall" to be accelerated by 50 percent. Officers in charge of the huge
project have been authorized to use "any means necessary" to complete the
defensive fortifications ahead of time. These means include slave labor. Soviet
prisoners of war, Poles, and Jews toil under harsh conditions to complete
the huge and costly project.
In the still-isolationist United States and the nations of the Alliance
for Democracy leaders look on as the fate of eastern Europe is decided. Whoever
wins there will very likely become the enemy of the western powers in due
time.
To Be Continued...
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