WW2 Alternate History Part 6 (1944)

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Prelude to the Invasion of Occupied Europe

November 28, 1943. A strategy meeting involving Franklin D. Roosevelt, Christina J. Holloway, Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin is under way in what is now called the “Tehran Conference.” It was held in the Soviet embassy in Tehran, Iran and was the first of the World War II conferences involving “The Big Four” allied leaders (The United States, Columbian States, United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union). The four leaders arrived with differing objectives, but ultimately came to the same conclusion, of opening a second front in Nazi occupied Europe. The Bargaining was often intense, Roosevelt and Holloway had hoped that America, Britain, Columbia, Russia and China would work together once the war was over. There were other objectives to proceed with like the fate of Eastern European countries Stalin’s Soviet Union would conquer pushing the Germans back. However even though the four agreed in opening a second front, Stalin wanted the allies to open it as soon as possible, Churchill on the other hand still thought it was too soon to launch an invasion of Europe. Eventually it was agreed that the invasion would happen sometime in the spring or summer of 1944. It was also concluded that the Soviet Union would declare war on Japan within three months of Germany’s defeat.

Planning of Overlord

American, British and Columbian military planners knew that the invasion of Europe had to take place in order to liberate countries like France, Denmark and Switzerland. What's more, the Soviets were pressuring the allies to open a second front to relieve stress on their troops. There were concerns on where and when it should happen. Hitler too had long been expecting an attack on the western front, but he too is concerned about the timing and the location of it. Training for the invasion was well underway, and the British themselves had learned a very hard lesson that attacking directly at a heavily defended port would be disastrous, their abysmal failure of the Dieppe Raid was proof of it. Equally importantly, the Dieppe disaster reinforced the British theory that any attempt of an invasion of Europe could not be rushed.

So it was agreed that it would take place on a beach, and they would bring their artificial ports with them. It was also agreed that it would happen on the summer of 1944, that’s when the allies would be most prepared for a full scale invasion Nazi occupied Europe. But the Germans were too preparing for an invasion of Europe. Since the winter of 1941 they had been building an Atlantic wall, which was a massive series of fortifications that ran all along the the western European coast from Denmark to the Spanish border, Spain had also completed its Spanish wall in the northern part of Spain, though nowhere near as complex as the Atlantic Wall. Gun emplacements had been constructed at likely landing sites. Beaches had been mined and covered in barbed wire, and obstacles had been placed in strategic places to bar landing crafts. Hitler had also ordered and increase in troop numbers in the region.

But there was a dilemma. The Atlantic Wall stretched more than 2000 miles, and German Field Marshal Gerd Von Rundstedt did not have enough men to man the wall, his forces were overstretched as is. Von Rundstedt proposed holding a large force of Panzers in reserve just North of Paris. He could then send in the reserves once he knew where the invasion was happening. But the widely respected Field Marshall Erwin Rommel had a different view, his concern was allied air power, he had seen it first hand when he fought the British in north Africa and it had left a profound impression. He feared that any counter attack would be broken up by allied air power long before it could go into action. He then concluded that the panzers should be placed as close as possible to the most likely landing sites, that way an invasion could immediately be pushed back before it got a foothold. Hitler made a compromise, Rundstedt himself was given a panzer force he could hold in reserve, though Hitler himself would have the final say for when it shall be used, the rest of the additional troops were scattered across the entire Atlantic seaboard, in accordance with Rommel's wishes, but there were neither enough reserves nor enough tanks near the coast.

In Britain, there was also cause for concern for where it should happen. There were two routes the military planners realized; the Pas de Calais, and Normandy. The rout of the Pas de Calais was obviously the favorite, it offered the shortest sea crossing and it offered the shortest and most direct way into Germany. But it was also the most obvious route, and the allied commanders were sure the Germans were expecting it. So it came to the decision that Normandy would be the target to set a foothold, but it was also decided to deceive the German commanders to make it look like the Pas de Calais was the targeted landing site.

Military commanders were also aware that Spain could possibly sent troops to reinforce their German allies, spies and resistance groups made it well known that Francoist was stationing troops near the Franco-Spanish border in case of an enemy invasion. So it was concluded that Spain would be left Primarily to the Columbians and also to the Americans whereas the invasion of Normandy will be involving all of the Allies. The Americans and the Columbians had amassed very large armies to cope with the demand. The allies had also made some strange inventions specifically for this operation. Inventions like the flamethrower mounted on tanks, floating tanks, flail tanks for clearing mines, the bobby, laying firm paths across sand, armored ram for climbing sea walls, the fascine carrier for ditches, and the bridging tank for wider obstacles. But there was one invention that the Americans and the Columbians had that the axis powers were unaware of. In fact, this weapons was kept so secret, that not even the British new about it, not even until D-day. Russian-Columbian aviation pioneer Andrei Milkovich, and his Russian-American counterpart Igor Sikorsky had been working with on their seemingly outrageous inventions which would be later called helicopters.

In April of 1928 Sikorsky produced and test flew the Sikorsky R-1 Hoverfly. It was a test flight for the US Army as a new type of flying machine that is much different to the airplane. This new flying machine can move forward, backward, side to side, and hover in a single spot. This may provide a huge advantages in providing cargo and supplies for the military and ground forces in any given spot on the battlefield provided the zone is not too hot. This versus the planes which required a runway.

Just a couple of months later in Columbia in July of 1928, Milkovich test flew his first helicopter called the M-1 Dragonfly, and it received critical acclaim. But unlike the Hoverfly, which was fitted with a regular rotating propeller on the top and a tail rotor, the Dragonfly was designed with Contra-Rotating propellers. Props rotating opposite of each other which cancels out the torque of the fuselage, this also negates the need for a tail rotor. Both militaries were impressed by the new invention but the great depression and the coming years would mean the need for helicopters wouldn’t come until after 1935.

By 1944, the two competitors were already far advanced in their designs of new helicopters, and were contracted by their respective militaries to build more. What's more, the reincarnation of the massive American, and Columbian industries made mass production of these helicopters possible. By now Sikorsky had unveiled three specific helicopters. One named the Sikorsky AH-10 Tornado, which is an Attack helicopter specifically designed to engage the enemy ships, tanks, transport, bunkers and trenches and provide air support, the other called the CH-12 Rover, a large Cargo helicopter designed to transport equipment and soldiers to the warfront. And the third; a Utility helicopter for multi-purpose operations, the UH-16 Victor, smaller than the cargo helicopter but dependable. Milkovich designed the GS-15 Sigrun, an attack helicopter named after a mythical valkyrie also designed for the same purposes as the Tornado. His cargo helicopter was named the MC-15 Helgi, and his utility helicopter was named the MU-13 Kara. All of Milkovich’s helicopters incorporated the contra-rotating propellers contrary to his Sikorsky counterparts. They managed to keep of these machines a secret though by the time 1944 came around it was more difficult because of the massive industrial development of the two nations, nevertheless, the axis didn’t know about it, and that was good enough.

As the date of the invasion approached allied troop numbers in England and Ireland numbered to almost 10 million. They were supported by more than 15,000 tanks, and 60,000 aircraft, including the helicopters. Germans were well aware that invasion was imminent, but were completely taken in by the allies phony preparations in Kent, and were convinced the most likely landing spot was the Pas de Calais. Everything seemed to be going the allies way, but then the weather turned against them. Some, like the army and navy were keen to go ahead, whilst the Air Force worried that visibility would be too low to provide effective air cover. Eisenhower looked up and said “let's go.”


D-Day

    The allies began their invasion of Nazi occupied Europe with an airborne dropping of troops behind enemy lines. American forces dropped to take the French town of Sainte-Mere-Eglise. One of the most crucial battles of WW2 was underway. An hour later, horrified German sentries along the Normandy coast saw a vast armada appear out of the mist. They had no warning, the allied fleet had sailed under cover of darkness, and had fooled the Germans into thinking the main allied attack was coming further east, at the Pas De Calais. Allied warships started pounding the Normandy coast. Wave after wave of allied aircraft bombed the German held area. Under cover of artillery fire, troops began boarding their landing craft to make for the beaches. But as they approached they were mowed down by German machine guns. This is where the Americans and Columbians unveiled their new weapons, the attack helicopter. These gunships mounted with rockets and machine guns were able to strike down on the bunkers and trenches the Germans were in, and were able to provide covering fire for the troops being grounded down by the high cliffs at Omaha beach. Though there were still heavy losses at Omaha, the Germans were taken completely off guard by the allied attack helicopters. Some were shot down but nonetheless the attack chopper proved effective in the invasion of Normandy.

    In some other beaches like, Utah, and Gold Beach, and Juno Beach, defense wasn’t as strong as Omaha, in this case, they were able to link up with the airborne divisions that were dropped in earlier. In Omaha, the Americans suffered heavy casualties as it was the most heavily defended beach in Normandy. But it was eventually taken after stubborn German resistance.

    By nightfall, over 150,000 allied troops were landed on the Normandy beaches. It had been a breakthrough of planning, ingenuity, and courage. The first day of the great gamble had paid off. However there was still an invasion in Spain to take place. On the very next day, June 7th the combined American-Columbian forces launched their attack along the Northern coastline of Spain. They landed near the Spanish town of Santander and met Spanish resistance. The landings relatively went according to plan vs the near chaotic event in Normandy for the Spanish generals were mobilizing their troops to head into France to provide support for their German allies. They were expecting an allied invasion but through France, not Spain. This also created confusion within the German ranks, now thinking that Normandy was a diversion and that the real invasion is coming from Spain. As it turns out, this was indeed the true scale of the allied invasion of western Europe. An attack on two different fronts… as the true scale was becoming all too obvious Hitler gives his generals permission to release their panzers. But by then it was too late. The allies had established a foothold in Nazi occupied Europe, something that was considered near impossible.



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[Note: I'm finally back, yeah it took me too long but been pretty busy so yeah, anyways here is the D-day part, the one we've been waiting for.]