Excerpted and summarized from "The World War Two Factbook" © Paradox Publishing, 2024
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Chapter 3: The Beginning (1940-1942)
When the Allies declared war, Germany was ready. German forces blitzed into Poland only a day after the war announcement, giving the Poles no chance to prepare. The Polish Army, while making stands when they could, stood no chance and Poland was annexed by May 19th. This rapid defeat surprised no one.
What still puzzles historians to this day is the actions of the French during this period. The French had a 4 to 1 advantage in troops on the French-German border in April 1940, yet the French did nothing. While experts are spilt on the results of a French invasion of Germany, her inaction sealed her fate.
Germany was not ready to deal with France. Instead, Hitler dropped all pretense of self-defense and declared war on Denmark on May 27th. The Danes, realizing that they had no chance against Germany and Hungary (who had joined the Axis shortly after the war started) transferred Greenland and Iceland to the United States. The Germany flag was raised over Copenhagen on June 11th.
Meanwhile, in South America, Brazil made the first moves of its conquest by annexing Uruguay and Paraguay. While the Allies protested this actions, they were too stretched by the Axis do to anymore than that.
New Year’s Day 1941 brought a German invasion of the Low Countries, in an effort to bypass the French Maginot Line. Belgium and the Netherlands were reduced to their colonies by the 14th. The token French forces on the Belgium border fought hard to stall the Germans, but Paris fell on January 24th. The Allies managed to stabilize the situation and prevented the Germans from overrunning France. Still, most of northern France fell into German control.
The Italians joined the Axis on July 29th, and immediate advanced into lightly defend southern France. Marshal Petain, then de facto leader of France, saw the writing on the wall. It was either surrender to the Axis, or perish. France formally surrendered to Germany on September 29th. Petain became leader of Vichy France, which was a Axis puppet. However, some French refused to surrender, and fought on.
The next few months were used by Germany to train troops, make alliances, and research new weapons. On April 1st, 1942, the Axis declared war on the USSR, and the real war began.
War Watch: Who was fighting whom on May 1st, 1942:
(From the OSS World Factbook, May 1942 edition)
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The France - Germany conflict started on March 7, 1940.
The internationally recognized aggressors are: France, United Kingdom, Iraq, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, Nepal, Bhutan, Belgium, and Netherlands.
The defenders are: Germany, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Italy, Vichy France, Manchukuo, Japan, Siam, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, and Persia.
The Germany - Soviet Union conflict started on April 1, 1942.
The internationally recognized aggressors are: Germany, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Italy, Vichy France, Japan, Manchukuo, Siam, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, and Persia.
The defenders are: Soviet Union, Mongolia, and Tanna Tuva.
(OOC: The OSS World Factbook is a program I’m slowly slogging through to look through the save files. Its not anywhere close to done, but its helping a little nonetheless.)
(Even more OOC: I named this AAR Aftermath for a reason... I'm going to try to highlight important events in this timeline.)