Shattered World -
A Worse World War: Part 20
Drive on the Volga! & Japan joins the Axis
May 30th 1942 to July 18th 1942
May 30th 1942
German forces surround Rostov and have the city's center under siege. German
mechanized columns have bypassed Millerovo and Shakhty and are sweeping rapidly
eastward. STAVKA, sensing that the Caucasus are about to be forcibly separated
from the rest of the Soviet Union, begins shifting forces from the north
towards the collapsing front in the south. German bombers are hammering Stalingrad
and other key transportation hubs from Saratov to the mouth of the Volga.
June 2nd 1942
The Soviet lines of defense along the Donets and lower Don rivers have been
swept clear and German and minor axis forces continue their drive for the
Volga and southward into the Caucasus.
June 3rd 1942
Turkish, Italian, Bulgarian, and Hungarian forces make a new push into the
Soviet lines along the Kura river in the southern Caucasus. The Soviet lines
hold but the Turkish push is holding down forces that could otherwise be
shifted north.
June 5th 1942
Japanese and Manchurian troops, over a million strong, smash into the Soviet
Siberian defensive lines north of Bira. Sheer weight of numbers, along with
excellent air support from the Japanese air force, allow the offensive to
begin to move forward, if slowly. The Japanese are also pushing out from
their coastal holdings to gain breathing space along the Siberian coast.
June 8th 1942
German armored spearheads reach the Volga north of Stalingrad. Other Axis
forces have penetrated as far south as Krasnodar in the Caucasus. The 7th
Panzer army, under the command of recently reassigned Field Marshall Erwin
Rommel, is smashing its way steadily east towards Astrakhan on the Caspian
Sea. Soviet forces in the northern Caucasus and along the Volga are locked
in a state of utter confusion and are near collapse.
June 11th 1942
The Japanese offensive in Manchuria is largely bogging down as the Soviets
maintain a well executed defensive strategy, sitting behind massive defensive
fortifications and hammering at the Japanese and Manchurians with heavy artillery.
The Japanese lack any significant armor and can not achieve any breakthroughs,
though they are pressing forward slowly with heavy casualties. The Red air force
is making a good showing against the Japanese air force but many Soviet aircraft
have been sent west to aid in the struggle against the Luftwaffe.
June 14th 1942
Astrakhan and Grozny come under heavy and sustained air bombardment. Rommel's
7th Panzer army has approached to within 40 kilometers of Astrakhan. Soviet
forces are massing in Stalingrad and to the east of the northern Volga for
counter operations. A report on the fighting sent to Hitler and the general
staff remarks that "...our Cougars are wrecking the T-34's in large numbers".
June 17th 1942
The Japanese offensive in Siberia has lost what little steam it had ever
managed to acquire. For the loss of over 250,000 dead or wounded, the Japanese
have managed to push 20km deeper into the Soviet trenches and fortifications
north of Bira and Obluche. Somewhat more land has been gained in the coastal
stretches where Soviet defenses are less built up. The Japanese air force
continues to wreak havoc behind the Soviet lines but the Japanese and Manchurian
armies simply cannot break the Red Army in Siberia.
June 21st 1942
7th Panzer army slams into the makeshift defense thrown up around Astrakhan
and, to nearly everyone's surprise, is halted outside of the city. Rommel
has advanced too far too fast and his supply lines have been interrupted
by small bands of Red Army men left behind in his advance. Rommel reluctantly
issues orders to secure his supply lines before making another thrust at
the city.
June 23rd 1942
The Japanese, concerned over their lack of success in Siberia and worried
that a German-Soviet peace could leave them in a war they can't win, enter
into negotiations with the German ambassador in Tokyo. At issue : A formal
Japanese entry into the Axis Powers.
June 26th 1942
The town of Elista, in the central part of the northern Caucasus, falls to
advancing Romanian soldiers ending the danger to 7th Panzer army's supply
line back to Rostov. To the north, several German probes across the Volga
north and south of Stalingrad have been met and repulsed by Soviet forces
that are beginning to recover.
July 2nd 1942
Soviet reinforcements in Astrakhan help resist another attempt by Rommel
to take the vital city. Hitler sends orders to Rommel insisting that "...the
city must fall, at any cost".
July 3rd 1942
Soviet forces launch a hastily planned counter attack into Rommel's northern
flank, hoping to relieve Astrakhan.
July 5th 1942
A massive Muslim uprising in Chechnya throws the Caucasus into chaos. House
to house fighting begins to devastate Grozny even as German troops enter
the town of Armavir in the central Caucasus.
July 6th 1942
7th Panzer army turns back the Soviet thrust on its northern flank but the
Soviets have used the time to further reinforce Astrakhan.
July 7th 1942
Soviet resistance in the southern Caucasus melts away as Turkish and other
Axis forces drive towards Baku once again.
July 10th 1942
Baku falls to Turkish and Hungarian forces, the last remnants of the Red
Army in the Caucasus have fled into the central mountains southwest of Grozny.
Chechen rebels in Grozny proclaim the Republic of Chechnya and begin fanning
out to sweep Chechnya clear of any remnant Soviet forces.
July 11th 1942
Japan announces its official entry into the Axis Powers. Within several hours
Iraq follows suit, to the outrage of the British and French. The Axis Powers
grow by two member nations in one day.
July 15th 1942
The Red Army in the Caucasus has melted away into small partisan bands as
German, Chechen, and Turkish forces gobble up the Caucasus region.
July 18th 1942
In a radio address to the Reich, Hitler proclaims his summer offensive a
success and announces an end to all offensive operations in the east. That
same day German diplomats deliver terms for a cease-fire to take effect at
12:00 PM midnight. The terms essentially end the war as things stand. Beria,
quickly assessing his situation and realizing he has no real choice, accepts
the terms. The Eurasian War is over.
Throughout the cities of the Axis Powers massive celebrations
fill the streets and central squares. In Berlin there is a great collective
sight of relief. The war, at last, is over. Germany is master of central
and eastern Europe and by extension, through the Axis Powers, much of the
middle east. The Soviets, deprived of their western territory and their major
source of oil, have been dealt a great blow. Hitler and his inner circle
do not realize just how happy they should be. They are already plotting their
next conquests : The hated west.
In Moscow things are more subdued. Beria plays up the positive, noting that
socialism has survived and the Soviet Union still holds vast amounts of territory,
including recently acquired Finland and northern Sweden. The losses, however,
are too great to comment on publicly. There are no celebrations in Red Square
or in the the war scarred Kremlin. Their is thankfulness at mere survival
and little more.
In the capitals of the Alliance for Democracy their is a mixture of relief
and dread. The Soviets have survived but have been greatly weakened. The
Axis Powers, mainly Germany, have just become the greatest Alliance in the
world, spanning from the Rhine to the western Pacific and wielding massive
armies of well trained and experience men and deadly war-making equipment.
The war has ended, but it seems likely to be a lull before the real
storm.
To Be Continued...
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