Japan begins drawing up detailed plans for its upcoming Summer campaign in Siberia. The Japanese want to grab as much of Siberia as they can before the Soviets and Germans negotiate a cease fire, which is generally thought to be likely before 1943.


A Soviet attempt to break through Turkish lines in the southeast Caucasus is repulsed, the Soviets don't have enough forces in the region to break the Turks and their other minor Axis allies from well entrenched river-shore positions.


The British complete a highly secretive chain of radar stations which cover the entire eastern coastline of the British Isles, from Scotland to lower England. The British haven't even officially informed the French of the early warning radar system, though Chamberlain is beginning to lean towards making the technology available to the French. The Germans are working on radar systems of their own but are about half a year behind the British, though the Germans are gaining.


After four years of bitter oppression the Jews of the Lodz Ghetto explode into an angry rebellion. The greatest of the Jewish uprisings of the Eurasian War is under way.


Word of the uprising has spread rapidly and pockets of small riots and uprisings are breaking out all around Poland.


Most of the smaller Jewish uprisings have been crushed by brutal SS and Gestapo units.


The large, and organized, Jewish uprising in Lodz is crushed after eight days of heavy house to house fighting. As the fighting ends, the SS and Gestapo begin rounding up the entire population of the Lodz Ghetto to be shipped east to concentration camps. When word of the uprising's suppression reaches Hitler he rages for thirty minutes over how long it had taken to "restore order" and orders Himmler to initiate a "purge of all urban Jews" in Poland. Within another hour orders are being sent to SS and Gestapo units throughout Poland to begin the systematic shipping of all Jews in all the Polish Ghettoes to concentration camps in eastern Poland and western Russia, a vast and wasteful effort. The German Army is not going to be pleased when their supply lines are cut in half by rail cars carrying Jews rather than
ammunition, food, and replacements.


The German High Command completes plans for the upcoming summer offensive. Dubbed "Case Green", the operation calls for a focused offensive on the southern part of the eastern front to reach the Volga and seize the Caucasus. Stalingrad will be taken if an opportunity presents itself, otherwise if will be left alone. The German plans rely heavily on their new panzers and "tank busting" Stuka aircraft to make up for a shortage of well-trained infantry.

The Soviets, believing that a German push against Leningrad or back towards Smolensk is more likely, have concentrated their preparations in those areas. The Soviets, with three fronts to worry about, are looking to hold their ground through the summer and then go on the offensive in the winter freeze after the Germans have lost more men and equipment than they can afford in fruitless summer offensives.


The first full-strength German armored unit is equipped with the new Panzer V Cougar. The new panzers are beginning to arrive near the front in large numbers.


Hitler, in an Easter day radio address to the Reich, publicly announces the "cleansing of Germany and Poland of the Jews". He claims that the Jews are being relocated to villages and towns in western Russia where they would live "decent lives, away from the Aryan Race". The nations of the Alliance all condemn the new German policy and speculation about the real fate of the Jews is rampant. The U.S. government, with its large Jewish population, remains silent on the issue in adherence to its strict policy of neutrality.


A small clique of German army officers, who have been privately dissatisfied with Hitler and the Nazi party, gather to discuss the Jewish situation. They agree that, one way or another, Hitler and his genocidal SS must be stopped. The quickly agree that Hitler must die and the SS must be broken. They agree to continue to meet and to begin to recruit other dissatisfied officers into their ranks. A plot against Hitler has begun.


Over 400 German heavy bombers and close to 500 medium and tactical bombers, approaching one thousand aircraft in all, bomb central Leningrad with a mixture of normal bombs and incendiary bombs. The resulting firestorm destroys the heart of the city and kills an estimated 250,000 civilians. It is the single greatest civilian loss of life in the war to date. The Alliance for Democracy condemns the bombing, even the isolationist U.S. offers strong condemnation of the brutal act. The bombing is part of Hitler's campaign to hammer the Soviets as hard as possible in order to gain concessions in the peace negotiations he plans to open after his summer offensive succeeds.


U.S. President Roosevelt commissions the first of several Essex class carriers that are under construction in various naval shipping yards. The first of these, the one Roosevelt commissioned, is due to be ready for action by late 1942 or early 1943.

Congress has authorized funding for 6 Essex class carriers to be completed by 1945. By comparison, the U.S. produced over 20 of these carriers by 1946 in  OTL. The U.S. has 7 older model carriers already, so the U.S. will have a total of only 13 carriers by 1945 at the present rate, with some of those being lowly escort carriers. Things could, of course, accelerate if the U.S. gets more involved.


Japanese and Manchurian forces are massing south of the stalled front lines in the Soviet far east for a major new offensive set to begin sometime in early June. The Japanese have increased their air power in the region to make up for their lack of quality armor or experienced armor. The Soviets, sensing the oncoming assault, are sending more forces into the well-prepared defensive lines in the region.


Hitler gives the final go ahead for operation Case Green.


The Germans launch operation Case Green as waves of Stukas and heavy bombers sweep over Rostov and towards the Volga. The Germans choose not to use an initial bombardment, opting instead for the advantage of surprise. When German Cougars and MkIV's begin driving east into the Soviet lines in the pre-dawn hours the Red Army is caught, sometimes literally, napping. The Germans have succeeding beyond their wildest hopes in utterly surprising STAVKA.