The Thousand Year Reich : Chapter 14, The Great Crusade

After the great Axis victory in Morocco most of the German troops pack up and go back to Europe. The infantry and a panzer korps will be left behind to guard this “soft underbelly” as Churchill named it. The doomed testing ground of the Americans now covered in Sherman wreckages and dead bodies.

It would seem the Brazilians missed the memo on the invasion date as they arrive 2 days after the surrender of the American troops. Needless to say they were quickly dealt with.

In India resistance is coming to an end. The rag tag Army Group India did it against all reason.

The first draft of the division of Africa between the Axis powers, Germany will keep the Middle East along with a small part of Egypt to protect the Suez Canal. The Italians will get everything south of the Gabon including the rich Congo. There was talk about retaking the old Imperial colonies but neither Hitler nor the Advisor showed any interest. After all Germany has enough ‘colonial’ land anyway.

The South is expected to be put under the control of an Italian puppet since South Africa is rather strong compared to the rest of Africa.

The United States might have mastered industry but Germany has mastered the art of war. What is a Sherman against the spirit and expertise of a German soldier?

In exchange for ceding of parts of German controlled Egypt the Italians lease us their 3 elite Folgore divisions. These men are almost the equal of the elite Fallschirmjäger and will be of great use in our invasion of England.

The huge turn around in Industry towards naval construction is aided further by the Advisor putting Albert Speer in charge of naval construction, much to the protest of Hitler. Albert Speer is rather confused at first but quickly get into the spirit of things making everything more effective.

How could he have known that an architect would be such a great administrator? Hitler thought to himself. What kind of a madman would put an architect in control of something as vital as the Minister of Armaments? Yet like all things he did it worked. A mysterious man for sure.

The first of the new Super Heavy Battleships are launched.

The German soldier must always be armed with the newest and strongest weapons in the world. From the Strumgewehr which has been distributed to the entire Wehrmacht to new Air-to-Air missiles for our fighters.

The first test flight of a new Jet bomber, the Arado Ar 234 signals the start of our Jet Bomber production. While expensive they have astonishing capabilities.

Fighting in Nepal is proving brutal beyond all belief. All in all some 150.000 Nepalese troops are held out in the northern mountains. If only there was a tool at our disposal that could provide precise strikes from above on our enemies…

REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

The bombing is enough to scare out the 13000 Nepalese troops hiding in the mountains.

The king is allowed to stay on however, the last thing we want to do is fight Nepalese partisans in the Himalayas.

The Division in Western Europe is far simpler than in A. The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and Switzerland will be wiped off the map. France will gain territory in an effort to appease them over the loss off Elsass Lothringen, along with large scale population exchanges.

The first draft of the planned invasion of Britain.

3 panzer divisions are sent to the west coast of Africa to push back the British who has been making large gains here since the French joined the war; a commando operation is also launched in the US killing a high ranking official. The Abwehr is doing well!

The Tigers and the Großdeutschland korps are sent back to France to guard for the supposed American invasion.

Keitel is giving the honor of guarding the backwater. The “promotion” came on the insistence of the Advisor who tired of this yes man at military meetings.

The British have taken to having the Brazilians fight their war for them. Where are all the British soldiers?

On the 7th of April 1944 the Advisor began a full reorganization of the German cabinet. Albert Speer was assigned Armaments Minister much to the joy of the Advisor and the head of intelligence was replaced with a more national socialist man. Finally Ernst Udet took over as Chief of the Luftwaffe from Göring. The lackluster performance of the Luftwaffe in Morocco which Göring had personally taking control of was the primary cause of this change. Göring can now move onto his hobbies like hunting, hunting for art, hunting for gold and controlling the non existent Russian Luftwaffe.

A overview of Axis Europe. Only Turkey and Great Britain remain outside the new United Europe.

The second draft of Operation Seelöwe is more intricate. The Allies will be split into many separate pockets within the country. The key is rapid advance and securing enough ports to supply the invasion. To support the rapid advance large amounts of Fallschirmjäger is available, including the Italian Folgore divisions totaling 10 Fallschirmjäger divisions 7 German and 3 Italian.

The 1.W-SS Panzer Armee is put in charge of defending France with support from the Fortress Buster Korps and the Großdeutschland korps.

Research into more armor types continue with Porsche now working on a prototype for a “Maus” tank.

Speer continues his production miracles with heavy support from the Advisor who has given him complete control over much of the Reich Industry to stem production inefficiencies.

The Abwehr who has been doing so well recently decide to go after a military official in El Salvador. The Advisor is needless to say displeased but the operation did succeed at least although succeed might be a strong word for killing a captain.

On the 6th of June it happens. The Americans and British land a huge force outside of Calais. While they face some small scale resistance on the beach the poor garrison troops stationed there are quickly pushed back. A mechanized behemoth has landed on our shores!

And Model is ready to repel them! The men who took Rotterdam, Leningrad, Moscow and many more cities all over Europe will show them what the elite of the elite can do.

After near two days of hectic fighting several American formations have already been overrun. The American troops who fear the Tiger immensely get to fight the best Tiger crews in Germany. The results are predictable.

Shortly thereafter the news that another large landing has occurred in Brittany put the Schwere Panzer Korps ‘Afrika’ into action. Time to go beat some more Americans!

The American paratroopers, a poor imitation of our Fallschirmjäger are now all that remain south of Calais. The hordes of Shermans have already fallen.

And so 4 days after they embarked on the ‘Great Crusade’ one part of Operation Overlord is repelled. The loss rates are absurd. Germany lost 9 Tiger Tanks, 4 Panther tanks and 2056 Soldiers. The Americans meanwhile have lost Shermans in the thousands along with the crushing loss of 850 300 men with over 165 000 being killed in the fighting. The city of Boulogne is a wreck, filled with dead bodies and wrecked Shermans. The name given to the Sherman in Africa continues in France, Tommy Cooker. The Americans are put to work clearing out the city that they destroyed.

In Britanny the fighting is tougher but the Tigers will repel this Mechanized horde just the same.

Practice continues in landing operations for our Marines being carried out north of Emden in north west Germany.

The Kriegsmarine has grown stronger and is soon to be joined by the Tirpitz and Bismarck to protect the naval invasion alongside the Luftwaffe.

The Finalized OOB of the Invasion force stands at 1.8 Million men. Two Panzer Armies, 10 Fallschirmjäger divisions, 5 Marine divisions and 25 W-SS Infantry Divisions, eager to show their prowess in Britain in reserve.

In Brittany the fighting comes to an end, in total over 1.3 Million American and British soldiers have been killed or captured in this ‘Great Crusade’ of theirs.

The lack of Transport planes for our Fallschirmjäger will limit our drops to 3 at a time. Stage 1 in Green and stage 2 in Blue. Their primary objective is securing the Rivers Welland and The Haven. Which divide our landings.

On the 21st The Luftwaffe is unleashed over England. At first the Allies respond in force but within a few hours they have been mostly repelled. The Luftwaffe reigns supreme.

Just south of our landing in Kings Lynn, a part of the American naval base in England is a force of 6 divisions including two Ghurka divisions. Their fighting spirit in India proved hardy and are not to be underestimated.

West of the Rivers Welland and The Haven 3 divisions stand ready to divide our landings, here our Fallschirmjäger will be the key to keeping the way open.

The battered remains of the RAF and USAF will be hopeless to resist our Invasion, the preparation are set.

And so the Marines board their ships.

The Fallschirmjäger board their planes, including some older Ju-52 designs, a trusty old plane it has served Germany since 1930 and continues to work hard along the newer designs.

Finally the great Kriegsmarine departs from Willhelmshaven ready to wreck havoc on the Royal Navy. Outnumbered and outgunned they will keep the way open no matter the cost. They will redeem their dishonorable comrades who refused to fight in 1918.

And so with the flag raised high the entire Wehrmacht embarks on their crusade towards England.