BackgroundFrom Brest in the Atlantic to Burgas on the Black Sea, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. One that bears, perhaps, too much resemblance to the Atlantic Wall against which many brave men lost their lives. Behind that divide lies all the capitals of the ancient states of Europe. Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia. All these famous and heralded cities, and the populations around them and within them, now lie in what I must call the Soviet dominium, and all are subject in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and, in some cases, increasing measure of control from Moscow. Athens and Rome alone - Italy and Greece, with their immortal glories - remain free to decide their future.
"Paris, the City of Light. Berlin, a once great city laid low by tyrants. Vienna, the Imperial City. Budapest, the Pearl of the Danube. These and more, the famous and heralded cities of Europe, and the populations around them and within them, now lie in what I must call the Soviet Empire."
- Winston Churchill at Westminster College
This is an alt history BOP set in late 1946. The point of divergence is the failure of the D-Day invasion.
Poor weather and intelligence leaks cause D-Day to fail. Thousands of soldiers drown in the Channel and even more are gunned down on the beaches of Normandy. With the failure of D-Day, the Allied High Command is in disarray. Eisenhower resigns, along with other major figures, while the US and UK's political leadership suffer major setbacks. With the West failing to open up the promised Front against the Nazis, communications and promises between the allies break down.
With the UK suffering from a lack of manpower, the Allies switch focus, returning to their heavy bombing raids against German cities as advocated by the bomber barons. Troops are diverted to the more successful Mediterranean Front, which presses through Italy. Operation Dragoon is launched in early 1945, occupying most of southern France. The USA focuses more effort on the War in the Pacific, engaging in Island hoping operations from Micronesia to the Philippines, to Indonesia.
Soviet troops, however, roll on unperturbed. The fighting is slow and bloody, but by the summer of 1945 they have captured Berlin, as well as most of Germany and Austria. Adolf Hitler is dead, but resisting Wehrmacht units continue the fight into Western Germany and the Low Countries, necessitating their occupation. As 1946 begins the Red army has begun a military administration in these occupied territories.
Concurrent with Soviet advances deep into Western Europe, the French Communist Party launches an uprising against Germany occupation. Aided by Soviet brigades crossing into Alsace and Lorraine, they successfully overthrow the occupation government and declare a communist state in France.
Following the failures the Allied liberation of Germany, the promises of the Tehran Conference seem so very far away... and with Soviet troops across much of Western Europe, thoughts turn to what might come next. Western fears are realised when, reportedly to uproot Nazi positions, the Soviets stage an amphibious landing in Bornholm. The Allies quickly arrange the friendly occupation of Denmark and Norway. Sweden protests its neutrality, while Finland (seeing wisdom in not upsetting its powerful neighbour) aligns itself with Moscow.
Across southern Europe, Italy, Greece and the south of France remain in Allied hands - though questions arise over what will become of these nations, and whether with communism poised so close by, they can long remain in liberal hands, considering the right wing tendencies of mere months before. Fascist Spain and Portugal remain free; many wonder their fate in this strange new world.
France itself is the greatest symbol of a Europe divided. Although no agreement has yet been reached, the northern government seems committed to the socialist future of France - and having won its position with only the barest Soviet assistance is loathe to surrender it. Meanwhile in the south, memories of Vichy haunt the Allied government which struggles to decide a future path for France. The Free French press for the liberation of Paris, but no one is eager for war with the Soviets. Both sides also face internal turmoil... from the conservative resistance amongst the Bretons, to a variety of insurgent leftists. The French colonies, too, are in disarray, as both sides claim them. Local communists clamour for independence, despite Moscow's unwillingness to endorse it.
In the Congo, a Belgian rump state declares the Congo Free State once more - only this time as an openly white-ruled affair with much in common with South Africa. Will this be the new model for an African no longer anchored by its European colonial administrators?
The USSR finds itself holding dominion over near all of Europe - and suffering for it. The overstretch is huge, and likely to be fatal unless Comrade Stalin can devise some method to demobilise the vast Red Army without abandoning its bloody gains. The issues facing Europe are vast, from a costly rebuilding process, German refugees in the millions flooding across all borders (with more than a few Nazis hidden within their ranks), and resistance forces everywhere, and of every stripe.
More troubling still is the fate of strange camps across Germany and Poland, and the rumours that spread from them. Nothing is confirmed as yet, but what stories that can be found are filled with horrors.
In the Pacific Theatre, the Soviet Union reneges on its commitment to declare war on Japan, having shouldered the major part of the war in Europe. The USA nevertheless presses on, gaining a Japanese surrender in mid-August 1945 following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Further surrenders come across Asia in early September, with US forces making amphibious landings in Korea to secure it. With the Peninsula under control, US forces cross the Yalu River to receive the surrender of elements of the Kwantung Army in Manchuria, as well as to secure vital ports in the region.
The Chinese Civil War begins to rear its head again. With Japan defeated, the CCP and KMT clash violently once more as a race ensues to fill the power gap in Manchuria. KMT forces, assisted by the US, secure much of the area in October, but not without losing some ground to the CCP, and earning the enmity of large swathes of the Manchu population.
The situation in Indonesia is complex, with Australian forces occupying the Eastern islands, a joint Anglo-Dutch forces occupying Borneo, and British forces occupying major cities in western Indonesia as they form policy towards the nationalists seeking their independence.
A similar story can be found in Indochina, where the Republic of China has occupied the north to force the Franco-British forces to cease posturing for war with the Viet Minh, as they too press their claim to independence. Only time will tell what the future holds in store for Southeast Asia.