April 5th, 1941.
The winter of 1940/41 sees a bloody stalemate almost everywhere with constant Axis attacks being repulsed in place in most places. The German Republic is being pushed back in the eastern enclave along the Polish border, but the front holds everywhere else.
The critical defense around Hamburg in particular stand. Fitting that it is the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg that has become the center of resistance to the Hermann Göring regime
Anyone who has ever been there is likely to have visited the square in front of Hamburger Rathaus build to express the wealth and the independence of the city and Hamburg's republican traditions.
The balcony is surmounted by a mosaic of Hamburg's patron goddess Hammonia, the city's coat of arms and the inscription: "
Libertatem quam peperere maiores digne studeat servare posteritas."
The freedom won by our elders, may posterity strive to preserve it in dignity.
Appropriate for the city is now the last best hope for the Allies and possibly the future capital of a very different kind of Germany build on very different ideas.
As a result of launching futile attacks the Axis are suffering the greatest losses in a brutal war that has cost 8,32 million casualties in 18 months dwarfing even the great war of 1914 in intensity with fronts that stretches unbroken from the Baltic coast to the Mediterranean Sea.
The bottom line is that the Berlin-Moscow axis have been stopped, at least for now.
But for how long?
In the Far East, Japan has almost completed her conquest of China and seems likely to be about to add her considerable strength to the Axis cause and it is not obvious where the Allies will find the forces to oppose her.
In the horn of Africa, the stalemate may be about to be broken by, of all things, a Swedish landing behind the lines in Italian-occupied Ethiopia. The Swedes were also responsible for liberating East Prussia for the German Republic. Sweden is proving a surprising important player in the Allied collation. If The Soviet Union is eventually defeated it may be time to revive the Swedish empire.
Note that it is the Swedish Navy that is responsible for the naval blockade in the Red Sea.
Apart from the gallant Swedish effort in Africa, the only significant Allied land offensive has been in Northern Italy where a moderate amount of territory has been gained in a bloody infantry battle the old-fashioned way: One machine gun nest at a time.
While French land doctrines are terrible due to not being able to research them until mid-1939 France has focused on her Airforce and air doctrines that are both excellent.
Not only is French air power extremely effective We have also mastered aircraft production to world-class standards by focusing on Air Dominance instead of fortifications.
Concentrating The Armée de l'Air over northern Italy it gets plenty of practice and may boost some of the most experienced pilots in the war raking up impressive kills scores.
