June 22, 1941 – Hitler Calls off Invasion of Soviet Union

Upon the receipt of confirmed espionage of the military preparedness of the Soviet Union, German Fuhrer Adolf Hitler gave the last-minute order scrubbing his intended invasion. Knowledge of Stalin's military buildup was well known, but the exact numbers were suddenly daunting. As seen by Hitler then and later calculated upon declassified documents by state historian Mikhail Meltyukhov in his work, Stalin's Gift, Russians outnumbered the Germans and their allies 1.4-to-1 in infantry and artillery, 2.6-to-1 in aircraft, and stunningly more than 3.8-to-1 in tanks. Hitler had surprise on his side as Stalin, despite the advice of several spies who had given him the exact date of invasion, believed Hitler would hold longer than two years to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and wait until he finished war with Britain. Hitler had already postponed the intended Operation Barbarossa several weeks from its initial deadline in May due to logistical problems, and now he knew certainly he was too late.

Germany and the Soviet Union seemed doomed to fight each other, however. Stalin addressed military academy graduates with, “War with Germany is inevitable,” just weeks before the intended invasion. Both nations were diametrically opposed with policies in Hitler's fascism and Stalin's communism. Both were hopeful for expansion as Hitler called for “elbow room” and Stalin worked to rebuild the Russian Empire, such as dominating Finland in the 1939-40 Winter War. Because Stalin understood Hitler's need for oil to fuel his power would bring him to Baku, the Soviet leader began programs to expand the Russian military by leaps. From '39 to '41, he more than doubled the size of the army and especially built aircraft, which increased from 7,700 to 18,700.

As Hitler and his staff reviewed the numbers, he knew that Germany would be unable to maintain the blitzkrieg he had used successfully against Poland and France without control of the air and against numerically superior tanks, with Russian heavy tanks even arguably superior to Panzers one-on-one. Finally Hitler realized that the Russians were simply too powerful by weight and determined that he would need new kinds of weapons to fight, redoubling his already heavy investment in research and development for rockets, atomic bombs, and more. He let continue the lie that his massing troops on the border with the Soviet Union was keeping them away from attacks by Britain and eventually recalled them for Operation Sea Lion, which had been postponed indefinitely since September, 1940.

Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor brought Britain's near-ally America into the war fully that December. With American resources turned toward the Pacific, Hitler's invasion of Britain began, which quickly turned into a quagmire of resistance and sabotage of nearly every public work. Although Hitler held Western Europe for several years, the Allied counter-attack through Africa enabled Britain to be liberated by the D-Day landing at Devon, June 6, 1944.

In early 1945, with Hitler reeling despite some Soviet support Stalin made good on his original strategy of waiting. Called the “Icebreaker” theory by exiled historian Viktor Suvorov, Russia swept in as liberators across Europe, meeting with American and British allies as they took Berlin and continued toward the Western Front, spreading as far as France and Italy. Churchill and Roosevelt encouraged Russia to relinquish their control of Europe as soon as order could be maintained, but Stalin decided to stay. As war with Japan ended with the new A-bomb, political stakes were raised with the Americans holding a powerful card, but Russia practically fresh for a fight.

War-weary President Truman decided to leave the Russians in Europe, establishing doctrine that would work just to keep the Soviets from expanding further. This, too, would prove a blunder of waiting as the Russians would use captured German scientists, now pampered celebrities outside Moscow, to surpass the atomic bomb with an H-bomb and rocketry capable of intercontinental delivery by the 1950s. An Iron Curtain fell from East France to North Italy and across the Soviet Balkans that looked to expand through the Middle East, Africa, even Latin America, and absorb Chinese Communism into the Soviet-led World Community. Any opposition to the world superpower had to be covert, such as escapes across the Swiss border and arming of Afghan guerillas, as no nation could stand against Stalin's legacy until it eventually collapsed into corruption and civil war.


–

In reality, Operation Barbarossa proceeded. With army strengths of more than seven million, Hitler and Stalin fought bitterly over Eastern Europe for months until the Germans were finally stopped and held by sheer numbers. Eventually, the tide would favor the Russians, who would come to take much of Eastern Europe under their influence after World War II and hold it until the wave of independence movements in 1989.

March 7, 1936 – Hitler's Forces Turn About in Rhineland

In his final break with the Locarno Pact and the older Treaty of Versailles, Adolf Hitler ordered troops to march into the Rhineland, which had been formerly occupied by Allied Powers and fully demilitarized for half a decade. The move was a political gamble, and, when the dice fell, Hitler proved the loser. After a fast debate in the League of Nations, France led a campaign marching troops back into occupation, chasing German soldiers out. Hitler's career would never recover from the blunder.

The Rhineland had long been a tumultuous piece of geography since its organization in 1824. The Industrial Revolution found it rich in key minerals, which were doubly useful with the Rhine waterway for transport. Factories went up, which made the Rhine even more key than its position as a barrier to neighboring France. When the Great War raged, the Rhine served as an important staging ground for campaigns into Belgium and defense against French counterattacks. At the Treaty of Versailles, part of the demilitarizing (humiliation) of Germany was to occupy the Rhine and refuse German stations there. The German delegation famously broke the ceremonial pen after the signing to show their displeasure.

Later, the policies would prove overwhelming for Germany. Hyperinflation over reparations destroyed its economy, and already in 1925 the Locarno Pact looked to weaken French diplomatic dominance over Eastern Europe, which would favor Germany, especially in its hastening of moving French troops out of the Rhineland by 1930. Three years later, leader Adolf Hitler would reinvigorate Germany by strict economic practices and illegally rebuilding the armed forces. War-weary Europe primarily ignored the Chancellor's activities, usually too concerned with their own economic woes to deal with another expensive war. France itself became increasingly under pressure from its leftist movements and ultimately signed a new pact with the Soviet Union in 1935, which would prompt Hitler to move into the Rhineland as he felt the French had already violated the Locarno Pact.

Upon news of the German reoccupation of the Rhine, French Prime Minister Albert Sarraut decided now was the time to solidify his party's place in the government. He rallied France to the illegal actions of the Germans, gained the blessing of the League of Nations, and marched troops to chase out German soldiers. The German generals, already nervous about the action, retreated. Hitler was furious with them, but the generals knew the lackluster preparedness of the Reich's armies. German Foreign Minister Neurath went as far as demanding another push, but Hitler lost his nerve.

In his Reichstag Speech at the time of the reoccupation, Hitler said, “I would therefore like the German people to understand the inner motives of National Socialist foreign policy, which finds it painful that the outlet to the sea of a people of 35 millions is situated on territory formerly belonging to the Reich, but which recognises that it is unreasonable and impossible to deny a State of such a size as this any outlet to the sea at all,” which was taken by the French and Belgians as a notification of a policy of invasion and war. The matter was discussed in the League of Nations, and British Foreign Secretary Sir Anthony Eden's plan for bolstering the Germany economy was reexamined. Germany would win back several colonies, but it had gone too far in trying to force its hand, losing potential economic advantages along the Rhine and Danube. Military action suddenly became a terrible public relations move.

In a poll on March 29 in Germany, the Germans would come to a marginal split over whether the invasion had been a good idea. Hitler conducted the Olympics that summer, where he would again lose face after his Aryan athletes were defeated by international figures such as African American Jesse Owens. After strikes washed across France in 1936, they would spill into Germany, and Hitler's government would be voted out in favor of more moderate and left-leaning ones. Hitler himself would be appointed to a governorship in Kaiser Wilhelm's Land (internationally known as Papua New Guinea), where his fame would all but disappear from the world view, though his paintings of the tropical Pacific would later be lauded in museums in Berlin, London, and New York.

The world, meanwhile, would come to a new wave of revolutions as Socialism grew, fed by successes from the USSR, while Fascism faded in long, unwinnable wars in Spain and Italian Ethiopia.


–

In reality, Hitler dominated the Rhineland unopposed. The national referendum on March 29, 1936, showed that 98.8 percent of Germans approved the re-militarization action. Germany would gain a tremendous diplomatic victory, and Europe would proceed on a course of appeasement during the absorption of Austria and Czechoslovakia. Finally, World War II would break out through Hitler's invasion of Poland in 1939.

November 25, 1940 – Russia Joins Axis

After nearly two months of dealing, Russia announced that it would be joining Hitler’s Axis. Stalin had ordered his minister Molotov to widen the scope of the discussions in Berlin to solve potential problems with spheres of influence. Simultaneously, Soviet ambassadors appeared in Sofia, promising the Bulgarian Prime Minister that Russia’s objection to Bulgaria joining as well would be withdrawn as per the shared military rights among the Axis nations. The world was shocked by the news, especially Britain as it faced the horrors of the Blitz against an even stronger foe.

Hitler, too, was shocked. Months ago, he had ordered “Instruction Number 18” on November 13 to plan for an invasion of Russia to solidify control of oil reserves and begin the enslavement of the Slavs. Now, Stalin had agreed to Hitler’s terms with a few added secret terms:

• German troops leaving Finland in exchange for guarantee of Soviet peace with Finland as well as supplies of nickel and wood.
• A mutual assistance treaty Bulgaria.
• The southern boundary of the Soviet Union guaranteed at Baku and Batumi with special consideration given to Germany to supply oil from Azerbaijan.
• Japanese handover of Sakhalin oil and coal in exchange for compensation and similar consideration.
• Soviet bases established in Bulgaria.

While the renewed pressure on the Bosporus irked Hitler, the guarantee of oil impressed him too much. He shelved his invasion plans, for the time, and met with Stalin in Sofia for the signing ceremony December 7, 1941. Though unknown at the time, Hitler had also been pressuring Japan into a sneak attack on the United States, but, seeing his war with Britain over soon, reneged on the plan, prompting Japanese command to call back the fleet hours after its launch on November 26. Franklin Roosevelt, wary of the significance of the diplomatic dealing, referred privately to the signing of the pact as “a date which will live in infamy.”

Hitler realigned his troops into new position and re-activated the invasion of Britain through Operation Sea Lion for 1942. Though the Germans were unable to achieve full air superiority, the German Navy managed to hold off the Royal Navy long enough for the largest amphibious assault in human history behind a screen of mines. Initially, the Germans would overcome British defenses, pressing nearly to London, but Churchill kept his vow of continuing the fight from his bunker beside Parliament and held the Germans at the GHQ line. While the Royal family was evacuated to Scotland, thousands of Brits rose up in defiance with sabotage behind German lines. The Royal Navy and the RAF continually challenged German superiority at sea and in the air, leaving historians to claim that the defense of Britain counted as the longest siege of the modern day.

The Invasion of Britain would prove to be Hitler’s quagmire. At last the American people would stand against German aggression as well as Japanese invasion of the Philippines, sending thousands of troops to the British lines. Nearly 3.9 million German troops would be involved in the effort, but the resilience of the British and her allies became unbreakable over the course of two years. After the introduction of the V-2 rocket, which struck targets after sub-orbital arches and beyond the speed of sound, the Germans gained the upper hand by devastating the defending fleets. With secure supply lines, German forces finally overwhelmed the island. In 1948, Hitler would tour conquered London while the Crown established a government-in-exile in Canada.

Meanwhile, Stalin began his “liberation” of the Turks from British influence. The invasion and occupation of Turkey would lead Soviet forces to further “peacekeeping”, marching into the Middle East and securing Iraq and Iran’s rich oil fields. The sites proved instantly rebellious, and millions would die as Stalin attempted to purge any anti-Soviet thought from the deeply rooted Muslims. The continual struggle against imperialism wore down the Russian people, prompting a revolution after the Stalin’s death in 1953.

Russia turned on itself, and an aging Hitler finally saw his chance. He had been held at the Atlantic by Allied submarines, pushing southward into Africa in association with the Spanish and Italians. In 1955, under the pretext of defending German economic interests and the pledge of Russian oil, the Red Army marched on Moscow as it had meant to do 14 years before. While the various parties of Russia had fought one another, they all agreed upon the goal of ridding Russia of invaders, and the whole of the nations turned on Hitler.

Atomic bombs, which had been used by Americans to bring down the Japanese Empire, proved an ineffective strategy for Hitler’s army as the peoples of the former Soviet Union were ubiquitous rather than isolated. It is said that the stress of the Russian occupation delivered the stroke that killed Adolph Hitler April 30, 1957, at age 68. Infighting among his potential heirs weakened the Nazi regime, which would fall apart as Stalin’s had done.

With renewed opportunity, the stalemate across the Atlantic had broken, and the Allied forces charged into Europe through the rebellion of Britain. Conquered lands erupted in anti-Nazi revolution, and soldiers routinely deserted than fight for a colony whose mother country was in such peril. By 1964, the last Axis government in Bulgaria would surrender, and World War II would be declared over. Led by the United States, a new world order under democracy through the United Nations would be attempted with its founding in 1966.


–

In reality, Stalin did not offer Hitler rights to oil. Albert Speer, Minister for Armaments and War Production for Germany, would later admit “the need for oil certainly was a prime motive” for Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union. Predicting war as inevitable, Hitler signed War Directive No. 21 on December 18, just weeks after refusing to reply to Stalin’s counteroffer of an alliance.

July 25, 1940 – Guisan Insults Hitler

As war raged in Europe all around them, Switzerland began to prepare for an expected Nazi invasion. In 1939, the Federal Assembly called for an election of a General, a rank that had been granted to only three men before. Henri Guisan was named to defend the country, a monumental task for some 430,000 troops against the untold millions of Germans and Italians. The odds only became worse as France fell in June of 1940, and the puppets of the Vichy government were set up to aid the Axis powers.

Guisan set about preparing his “Reduit” defense with Operationsbefehl Nr. 10. In the case of invasion, the soldiers would fall back to the Alps and conduct guerrilla combat and paramilitary resistance measures. On July 25, he addressed the Swiss Officer Corps in a speech bolstering the Swiss national spirit despite being surrounded on all sides. He mandated that surrender was impossible, and if the army ran out of bullets, they would resort to bayonets. Finally, he slipped an insult upon Hitler's character, saying the cowardly Fuhrer should never and would never test the Swiss.

Upon hearing word of the speech, Hitler's famous temper exploded. He ordered the immediate invasion of Switzerland under Operation Tannenbaum (a battle plan developed the day France fell). While continuing the Battle of Britain, Nazi armies marched into the Alps with the speed of the Blitz into the north of Switzerland. They tried a feint of infantry into the Jura region in an attempt to draw out the Swiss, but the defenders did not budge. Instead, they used small artillery to slow German attack. Without a straight fight, the Germans simply rolled into the cities and declared anschluss as they had in Austria. Vichy France and Italy would follow suit as per their alliances, divvying up the nation along its language-borders of German, French, and Italian.

The Swiss would prove an incurable pain in the sides of the Axis. Bombings, ambushes, and assassinations would take place nearly continuously. While some of the Swiss would give to Nazi dependency, the majority of the nation would remain secretly (or publicly, in the mountains) at war. The French would lose much of their mobile army in an attempt to quell their region around Lake Geneva; Italy suffered enormous economic setbacks as Swiss destroyed shipment capabilities for their coal supply, virtually shutting down Italian industry; and Germany would dedicate hundreds of thousands of troops in attempts to pacify the Alps.

Despite the hangups in Switzerland and the failure of the Battle of Britain, Hitler continued his conquest of Europe with Operation Barbarossa invading the Soviet Union. While the Germans made great gains in 1941, the lack of available troops would cause the tide of war to turn against them. The Soviets would begin a counter-invasion, which would in turn speed the Allies' amphibious invasion of France in 1942 with Operation Sledgehammer. When Hitler was defeated in early 1944, Soviet domination of Eastern Europe would even include north of Switzerland as “occupation.”

Guisan refused to allow another invader to seize Swiss territory. The insurgency continued, and Stalin continually argued with Churchill and FDR, who demanded the pullout of Russians in Switzerland. Stalin did not blink, and war erupted as the Allies began to push Soviet troops eastward. Devastation again flowed over Europe, but the Swiss were soon liberated by British and American troops. Allies invited Swiss troops to continue, but Guisan and his soldiers refused. Their war was done, and they returned to rebuild their country and continue their tradition of independence on every level.

Meanwhile, the Soviet War would continue until 1946, when American A-bombs would destroy whatever was left of the Soviet infrastructure. Stalin would surrender, and Communism would fall.


–

In reality, Guisan did not bait Hitler with insult. His greatest scheme of defense was deterrence, showing that Switzerland would not be worth the devastation on his armies, and assuring Germany that the Swiss would not be a threat. Hitler would never invade Switzerland, sparing the Swiss of the carnage of the war, which would be seen so gravely on the Eastern Front.