The Tide Has Turned: Chapter 6, Return of The Reich

The Tide Has Turned : Chapter 6, Return of The Reich

Hello and welcome back to The Tide has Turned. We jump straight into the push on Moscow. The German army however lacks in reserves of any kind for the final push on Moscow but with the clever us of kampfgruppen we shall be victorious! Pictured is all the motorized support vehicles for the 6. infantry which has joined up with the Stugs of the 13. Panzer division. Our tactical expertise will take us to Moscow!

The few panzer / panzergrenadier divisions available for the push on Moscow sweep aside the undermanned and ill equipped Soviet infantry divisions. The road to Moscow is being opened!

Meanwhile the Luftwaffe is relentless continuing a constant bombing of all sectors. The Soviets won't be able to pull any forces from this sector.

On the 26th of April 1946 The Second Battle of Moscow begins. It has been over 4 years but the Wehrmacht is back with a vengeance!

But one must understand the gigantic effort that went into allowing this operation. Since 1944 Germany has spent vast amounts of resources transferring the Soviet rail gauge into our own. Without this massive effort we would be unable to support our troops at the front. Not to mention the thousands of Jet aircraft that is stationed all over the front. Logistics is after all the key to all victories.

After 4 days of fighting the last Soviet forces are pushed out. Losses are relatively low thanks to the extremely effective close air support provided by the Jet bombers of the Luftwaffe. Whenever ground troops ran into any strongholds they were bombed into oblivion. A mix of explosive and firebombs proved the most effective way of driving the Soviets out of their holes. The German commanders took Stalingrad to heart. It is a mistake we will never repeat.

Over 3 years ago now Goebbels asked the German people to fight on when things seemed hopeless. To give everything for the war effort and it has paid dividends for the German state and the German people.

And so on the 2nd of May 1946 the announcement came, the war in the east was over. Millions had died for a dream and Germany has seen that dream through. A dream of a Europe free from the communist menace. A self sufficient Germany, capable of anything. People celebrated like the war was over and for many it was. Millions of men came riding back on trains away from the blasted Russian steppe, finally getting to take a long overdue extended leave.

The peace deal did have some minor issues though. Apparently the Soviets never agreed to give back all of northern Persia. It turned out however that the Soviets though we had claimed it and assumed we would be taking control. After some brief confusion and many phone calls later Persia was made whole once more. Germany after all does not abandon her allies.

Speaking of allies, the Japanese have been busy losing the Philippines over the last few months. Hopefully American morale will be shaken by the great German victory in Russia. But we must help relieve the pressure from our Asian ally before he collapses.

And so a massive expansion program beings. The new fallschirmsjäger that proved themselves in the fighting in northern Italy is being quadrupled. The British may own the seas, but we own the skies!

Despite Himmler's insistence on the implementation of Generalplan Ost many communities in the Soviet Union was spared. They would be Germanized, not exterminated. This helped out immensely with our manpower shortages. But Himmler is deeply rooted within the government and his influence is sure to spread. For how long we can protect the people in the east is uncertain but we shall try.

Also in case you missed it Italy is fucking up... AGAIN.

The new eastern recruits will be mostly spread out in the east to suppress any partisan formations that may rise. While we attempted to disarm the Red Army as best we could much of it just disintegrated into the nearby communities so a large garrison force is a must.

You'd think the Italians would have learnt their lesson after some 6 years but no. Still they send huge amounts of unsupported infantry to be destroyed in the desert. Some 140.000 Italians have surrendered to the British forces. The incompetence of the Italians never cease to amaze.

They also lost their foot hold in Tunisia.

Another 60.000 Italians walk into captivity.

Enough is enough. Rundstedt along with his 8. Armee will fully secure North Africa. The British will be driven all the way to Morocco if that is what is needed!

The Mix of nations that fight us is amazing. But they are quite outmatched by grizzled veterans of the eastern front.

After a month Rundstedt has recaptured Tobruk. A German infantry division will be left behind to hold it. We have give up all hope of the Italian Armed Forces. The army can neither attack nor defend while the navy sits in port all year round, becoming more obsolete by the day.

Yunnan joins after the defeat of the Soviet Union. Most of China is now under Axis control.

We got some interesting news today. A ME-262 pilot on his way to Tobruk saw the entire Italian army in retreat. After a few very angry phone calls to Mussolini it turns out that 50.000 Commonwealth forces have driven some 180.000 Italian troops out of southern Italy. Panzer division have yet again been put on the alert and is currently driving down through northern Italy.

But the setback in Italy will not halt us. And so on the 9th of October 1946 Franco received a ultimatum from Germany.

I. Spain will join the Axis effective immediately.

II. Spain will allow German troops complete control over their infrastructure for the drive upon and securing of Gibraltar.

III. Spain will allow German security forces to extend 'Fortress Europe' to the Spanish coast.

After the 24 hour period was over German panzer forces began moving across the border. Franco seemed to have high hopes in the Pyrenees to think he can halt the Wehrmacht!

The production of the Panther tank is now being prioritized to replace many of the outdated Panzer III's and IV's still serving with the Heer.

Franco seems to have misjudged the strength of his mountains.

In Italy the front has been stabilized south of Rome and German
forces have now begun to push the Commonwealth forces back.

The super heavy tank or 'Maus' as our engineers so cleverly named it has been put into minor production. Around 40 have been ordered to test out the concept. Many strategists have their doubts however. Since the tanks is extremely slow and heavy.

The 9th panzer ran into a Norwegian infantry division today. The division lacked anti tank arms and surrendered quickly to the German forces. The men have been packed onto trains and sent back home. Silly fools must have gotten lost in the north sea!

How hard can it be to take Afghanistan? I mean really, you roll in smash them with tanks and leave a good 40.000 Ukrainians to police them.

Spain has had a more.. Realistic leader put into place. Franco did attempt to escape via a British destroyer. But it was sunk by our Jet bombers. Franco did not survive.

See? Easy.

Italian civilians come out to cheer for the marching Germans. The only Italian soldier below Rome is Messe and staff officers who have been added to 'Further cooperation between German and Italian forces'. Mussolini sure comes up with funny ideas.

To coincide with our victories in Spain and Italy we being a new air offensive and so on the 27th of October The Second Battle of Britain began.

Gibraltar was subjected to a 4 day long air raid. Non stop bombing. Then the elite engineers moved in with the support of the King Tigers. Lacking in heavy enough anti tank guns Gibraltar was overrun in less than a day.

December just keeps getting darker for the British. Gibraltar lost, hundreds of thousands of men trapped in southern Italy with no way out. Pictured is only a few of many thousands captives marching north.

On the 27th of December it gets even darker. Some 80.000+ men are para dropped into England. They land all around port facilities and airports, all vital for Operation Sea lion, the last step to security for Germany. Pictured are Fallschirmsjäger from the 22. Luftlande-Division securing Portsmouth. They are seen opening one of the infamous boxes dropped along the troops. Unlike in Crete however the fallschirmsjäger actually drop with weapons now and the boxes bear primarily extra ammunition and the very popular Panzerfaust.

Goebbels has compared the Italian campaign to that of the Spartacus revolt. Hundreds of thousands of trapped men and no ships are coming.

The propaganda ministry was sparse with information on Operation Sealion. But on the 15th of January the information started rolling in again. The Luftwaffe had secured the English channel which allowed the landing of many panzer divisions in England. The fallschirmsjäger had secured a beachhead over the River Thames for the Panzertruppe to use to surround London.

When the assault on London began German troops were shocked to discover Polish soldiers at the forefront. Wearing their old uniforms they would once again resist the Germans. Their bravery should be admired

Bravery however can only take you so far and although the
battle was bloody it was a great victory for Germany.

On the other side of the now very long Germany our infantry divisions move into the capital of Sinkiang. Who refused to make peace along with the Soviets. To each their own I suppose.

The loss of Iwo Jima has triggered a further fervor in Japan. They are becoming desperate.

Sinkiang joins The Reich.

God save him indeed, wherever he has gone.

In India men of the Indian legion (Indian POW's retrained into the Heer) march along the German forces to liberate India once and for all!

Crammed together..

You should be happy we don't crucify you all!

Rundstedt continues his calculated push across Libya.

The exhausted fallschirmsjäger who had finally been given a chance to rest are disturbed by a huge American invasion fleet. Over 100.000 men are being landed all over Liverpool and the surrounding beaches. All nearby forces are scrambled. The fallschirmjäger seized a ton of buses for transport to Liverpool. Showing the initiative of the fallschirmsjäger!

The American troops. Primarily green troops in their first combat situation run into the 10. SS Panzer Division along with 4 divisions of fallschirmsjäger, or like the Americans prefer to call them 'Green Devils'. After 8 days of brutal street fighting the Americans are driven away. Their fleet being bombed constantly as they try to evacuate however many they can.

Outnumbered for the majority of the battle our men fought bravely to contain the Americans.

With German forces rampaging across India and the rout of the American army the British people cannot take it anymore. It would seem that the Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat was not enough to save Great Britain.

Europe is finally secured. There are no airfields for the American bombers to hide in. Germany is safe. Meanwhile pictures taken of Churchill in Canada show a broken man. One who is sure to take much of the blame for the many failed operations of the Allies.

Ireland who was 'convinced' to join the Axis are given back northern Ireland to appease them and this brings up a very important question for the German leaders. What is to be done with western Europe? Should Germany oppress western Europe like we oppress eastern Europe or will the borders of old return? Find out this and more on the next chapter of The Tide Has Turned.