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The Complete History of World WAAR Two

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"Arm yourselves, and be ye men of valour, and be in readiness for the conflict; for it is better for us to perish in battle than to look upon the outrage of our nation and our altar."
- Prime Minister Winston Churchill

"This is a fight between a free world and a slave world."
- Vice President Henry A. Wallace

"If the blood of France and of Germany flows again, as it did twenty-five years ago, in a longer and even more murderous war, each of the two peoples will fight with confidence in its own victory, but the most certain victors will be the forces of destruction and barbarism."
- Édouard Daladier, French Premier

"Ours is a war of survival and independence we will never submit... we will resist to the very end". - Generalissimo Chiang Kai Shek, Nationalist Dictator

"This war is not an ordinary war. It is the war of the entire Russian people. Not only to eliminate the danger hanging over our heads, but to aid all people groaning under the yoke of Fascism."
- Josef Stalin, Soviet Dictator

"When war comes between Japan and the United States, I shall not be content to merely occupying Guam, the Philipines, Hawaii, and San Francisco. I look forward to dictating the peace to the United States in the White House at Washington."
- Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, Commander in Chief of the Japanese Navy

"Peace is absurd: Fascism does not believe in it".
- Benito Mussolini, Fascist Dictator

"Today we rule Germany, tomorrow, the world".
- Adolf Hitler, Nazi Dictator

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Country: Germany (but this is not a German AAR, even if it is centered on Germany)
Focus: European War
Starting/Ending Date: 1936-1948, but I will focus most my posts on 1939
Patch: 1.05c
Writing Style: I will do 3-4 Pages like a textbook history, then I’ll have a shot 1.5-2.5 page story; I’ll have two prominent characters (one American and one German) that I’ll use throughout the story and onetime characters that I’ll use for specific campaigns and events.
 
The Start of the Wehrmacht 1936

Chaper One
Section One

The German Army in 1936
German rearmament began after Hitler came to power and conscription had begun the year before, but no real achievements had been made so far. Made up of 39 total divisions the German army still remained the seventh in size behind Poland, France, Nationalist China, Japan, Italy, and the Soviet Union. Of the 39 divisions; 36 where infantry and the other 3 where armor. Poland’s army had a total of 43 divisions of which 40 were infantry, 1 cavalry, and 2 were mountain troops.

But there were upsides. Although its army was smaller then other nations, it didn’t lack in technology. It infantry arm was aggressively trained and extravagantly supplied with modern weapons. The armies doctrines and training where far superior to that of its neighbors on every level. But it had many major problems as well. The army had to rely on horse for supplying over great distances; its motorized arm was no existence, despite constant lobbing from various military commanders; and the tank force was largely obsolete, modern tanks in France, England, and especially the Soviet Union, where much more modern. Even poor Poland had a few tanks better then Germany’s.

It is evident that the German army was in no shape for war against any one of it neighbors, let alone the alliances formed by the victories Western European nations.

The German Air Force in 1936
If the Army suffered from lack of numbers, then the airforce suffered from lack of technology. Second in size after UK, it was made up of mostly bomber squadrons, with a few fighter squadrons, a few transport planes, and some dive-bomber, it was effectively a paper bird. Technology was not the problem; it was equal with the other heads of the aviation. Nor was it training. It was the lack of large of a large modern fighter forcer that could destroy enemy plans and clear the way for the bombers and the dive bombers.

Although plans for an expanded air force where on the drawing board, resources where limited and needed elsewhere.

The German Navy in 1936
Always low on the military priorities list the German Navy had had a boast since Hitler had come to power. Technology equal with most of Europe, except the UK, but far behind in size, the German navy was not the feared force like the other branches of the armed forces. The development of the pocket battleship, away to get around the Versailles Treaty, and the building of the Deutschland Class had started to show results by early 1936, with the new proud of the German Navy, Admiral Graf Spee, being completed. Although many called this extensive attempt at a surface fleet wasteful, they could argue with the submarines. The Kriegsmarine had built up 6 flotillas of submarines over the last two decades, conveniently forgetting that Versailles had banned submarines.

By 1936 the Navy had taken many steps to a great Navy but was still behind the rest of the World and either size of technology.
 
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Chapter 1
Section Two

Italian-Ethiopian War
On October 3, 1935 Mussolini’s armies attacked Abyssinia from neighboring Eritrea and Italian Somaliland, thus beginning the second Italian-Abyssinian War. The war did not go as Il Duce had expected. The Italian forces of General Rodolfo Graziani where halted in their attack from north by the more numerous forces of the Ethiopians Army. In the south the larger force of General Pietro Badoglio had an advantage in numbers, modern weapons, and lavish air power and was able to push the much smaller Ethiopian Home Army back into the interior.

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Italian Troops Marching into Abyssinia

As 1936 began it looked like Mussolini’s Empire had finally gone too far as the front stabilized at the feet of the Ethiopian Highlands. Members of several thousand strong, European trained, Imperial Guard were committed to the defense of the nation’s greatest natural barrier. Wave after wave of Italian attacks faltered against firm defense of the Abyssinians, despite total lack any kind of air support or heavy artillery. In the North, were things had started out in Abyssinia’s favor, the Italians were holding on to their limited gains of early October by their fingernails, only Graziani strong defense and the arrival of reinforcements in late January kept the northern front from collapsing.

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Soldiers of the Abyssinian Imperial Guard

Italy aggressiveness meant with worldwide disapproval, but very little else. On October 7, the League of Nations collectively declared Italy an aggressor, but did not act to defend the African nation in anyway. On October, 11 the League of Nation placed an embargo on Italy, but did little since the embargo was not strictly enforced and the US, since it was not apart of the League, continued to trade oil and other valuable war materials with Italy. Britain, for fear of sparking a wider war, didn’t close the Suez Canal to Italy and still allowed the transportation of Italian soldiers and supplies to the front. It was during this time that the Emperor of Abyssinia addressed the League of Nations, making a disperate, but eloquent, plea for help. "It is us today. It will be you tomorrow."

As the war continued Italy slowly was began to regain momentum as Italian Regulars from Italy itself began to arrive. On a massive offensive beginning on February, 15, coordinated artillery and air strikes, as well as the massive use of mustard gas, finally broke the Ethiopian Front. Any kind of organized resistance, even from the elite Imperial Guard, was almost nonexistent. On March 11, Addis Ababa fell to the Italian Army, Emperor Haile Selassie fled into exile. The nation was merged with the other Italian Colonies on the horn to form “Italian East Africa” on March 12.

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The Italian Campaign against Ethiopia

Reoccupation of the Rhineland
Seeing the lack of reaction to the Italian invasion of Ethiopia and the League’s ineffectiveness, Hitler decided to take his biggest gamble to date, the remilitarization of the Rhine. When Hitler informed the Army High Command the Wehrmacht was horrified, the Army was in no condition for a war and needed time. Hitler refused to hear them, confident that the Western Powers would no act.

So it was the on the morning of March 8, 1936, barely a division of German infantry crossed into the Rhineland. Later Hitler said this time was the most nerve-racking of his life. If just two of the French divisions had crossed the border, the army would have had to withdraw and Hitler would have been as humiliated as the Kaiser, fifteen years before.

However France did not act. The French High Command had said that a call up of reservists would be needed and that the anti-air defenses of Paris and other French cities needed to be readied. The French army was positive that armed intervention would cause at least moderate casualties. With an election coming up the current French government was not going to risk a potentially very unpopular decision and backed down. So it was that barley a division of German soldiers forever destroyed Versailles and mortally wounded the League of Nations. This is the marking of the beginning of appeasement.
 
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Originally posted by Dan Cook
I get an "oops" picture. You can't do outside linking from care2. :(
Click to expand...

Ok, whats a good hosting site, the only one I could find for free made my pics really small.
 
Originally posted by Alexandru H.
geocities....just rename them to *.txt files and they will show up:)
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I'm confused, what do I change to .txt. and for some reason it has changed almost all my images to about the 1/8 the size.
 
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Originally posted by Dan Cook
I get an "oops" picture. You can't do outside linking from care2. :(
Click to expand...

Originally posted by Lightchip
Can't see the pics although this is a very interesting AAR!
Click to expand...

Originally posted by elbasto
can't see them either
Click to expand...

How about now?
 
Originally posted by Alexandru H.
they are working now...

please continue...:)
Click to expand...

Sorry I spent all day working with the pics, hopfully I'll have something up tomorrow.
 
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