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MattII Since: Sep, 2009
#1: May 16th 2011 at 12:38:58 AM

I've just been reading the Alternate History trope, and noting all of the stories set in WW 2 I've decided to have a go at at least a rough timeline. It's called the Big Four because with Britain gone early, there's only going to be 4 major powers left.

1940
2 June: Air Vice Marshall Keith Park is shot down over Dunkirk. His position in 11 air group is filled by Trafford Leigh-Mallory.
10 July: The Luftwaffe begins bombing ports and ships along the south coast of England.
12 August: The Luftwaffe begins bombing airfields on the 11th group in earnest.
21 August: With German raids taking a heavy toll on the airfields, Churchill orders a new battle-plan 'Operation Mons' to be drawn up. Any ships not capable of making the journey to Canada at full power are moved down the western coast to Plymouth and Torbay.
3 September: With many Southern British airfields out of commission, the Germans begin Operation Sealion. 'Operation Mons' is put into action. All none-essential personnel and equipment is shipped to Scotland and loaded onto the waiting ships of The Mayflower Expedition.
5 September: Firm bridgeheads are established in Hastings and Brighton. The royal family moves to Scotland at the urging of Winston Churchill.
6 September: The Italian army attempts to invade Egypt, but is repulsed.
7 September: The Royal Naval squadron at Gibraltar begins evacuating the remaining population of the peninsular.
9 September: Realising the desperate nature of the situation, Sir Andrew Cunningham begins evacuating Malta.
16 September: The Mayflower Expedition lands in New York.
17 September: The Battle of Taranto, under cover of night, the Royal Navy's Mediterranean fleet attacks Taranto, scuttling battleships at the entrance to the harbour.
18 September: The House of Commons in London is captured, Winston Churchill is executed.
20 September: Second attempt by Italy to invade Egypt, but are stopped at Sidi Barrani.
25 September: Italian forces capture Sidi Barrani.
1 October: Birmingham is captured.
4 October: Italian Forces are stopped at Marsa Matrouh.
7 October: The remnants of the Royal Navy begin evacuating Egypt.
9 October: Hitler dispatched Rommel and The Africa Korps to support the Italian army.
15 October: German/Italian forces capture Marsa Matrouh.
16 October: Manchester is captured.
31 October: Edinburgh is captured, the remnants of the British government surrender.
17 November: The Royal Navy's Pacific Fleet evacuates its Singapore base For Australia.
21 October: German/Italian forces capture Alexandria.
27 October: German/Italian forces capture Tanta.
5 November: German/Italian forces capture Said, but find the Suez Canal jammed solid with scuttled ships.

That's what I have so far, is it realistic?

edited 17th May '11 1:22:02 PM by MattII

Archangel Since: Nov, 2012
#2: May 16th 2011 at 10:53:37 AM

It involves Sealion, therefore no.

nrjxll Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Not war
#3: May 16th 2011 at 1:05:34 PM

[up]What s/he said. I didn't bother with the rest - you're going to need Alien Space Bats to justify Sealion going off.

MattII Since: Sep, 2009
#4: May 16th 2011 at 1:25:05 PM

Air Vice Marshall Keith Park was the linchpin of the British air defences during the Battle of Britain, his removal could have swung the battle in favour of the Germans.

Archangel Since: Nov, 2012
#5: May 17th 2011 at 8:39:36 AM

No, it couldn't. Losing Air superiority over the channel does not mean Britain is defeated outright. the German preparations for crossing the channel were hilariously naive. They would have needed absolutely calm seas, good weather and a lot of luck to get a coherent landing off on British soil. Even suicide runs by Royal navy ships would have greatly imperiled the operations, since the landing barges the Germans intended to use had a free board of just over 30 centimeters. In other words, even a large wave would have swamped them, and that can easily be arranged by a fast running ship, such as a destroyer, driving close by. The British wouldn't even have had to use their guns.

Long story short, Sealion, as it was planned, had dismal chances of success at best and would have most likely ended in a complete disaster for the Wehrmacht.

MajorTom Since: Dec, 2009
#6: May 17th 2011 at 11:04:12 AM

But ask yourself this. Given that this is an Alternate History, What If? Operation Sealion had been planned and prepared for better as well as actually executed?

MattII Since: Sep, 2009
#7: May 17th 2011 at 1:23:32 PM

the German preparations for crossing the channel were hilariously naive. They would have needed absolutely calm seas, good weather and a lot of luck to get a coherent landing off on British soil. Even suicide runs by Royal navy ships would have greatly imperiled the operations, since the landing barges the Germans intended to use had a free board of just over 30 centimeters. In other words, even a large wave would have swamped them, and that can easily be arranged by a fast running ship, such as a destroyer, driving close by. The British wouldn't even have had to use their guns.
Ah, so noted. I'll modify the timeline when I get a chance.

edited 17th May '11 1:39:54 PM by MattII

nrjxll Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Not war
#8: May 17th 2011 at 5:12:09 PM

[up][up]Well, that's what I meant about the Alien Space Bats - you can certainly do anything you want with Alternate History in general, but what you can do with plausible Alternate History is another thing entirely, and it doesn't include a successful Operation Sealion. Thus, you'll need to make some quite improbable changes if that's what you want.

MattII Since: Sep, 2009
#9: May 17th 2011 at 6:17:37 PM

Okay, maybe a successful Operation Sealion in 1940 was a bit of a stretch, but the number of alternate histories that have the NAZ Is winning obviously means that an eventually successful invasion isn't that far-fetched.

edited 17th May '11 6:20:16 PM by MattII

nrjxll Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Not war
#10: May 17th 2011 at 6:22:27 PM

Um, you do know that most of those alternate histories really aren't that plausible either? I certainly don't know why people write them, but there's a trope somewhere around for it that might have some explanations. "Realism" isn't one of them, though - there's not a lot of ways Nazi Germany could have won the war, especially with Hitler in charge.

AdeptusAlpharius Alpha Legionnaire from Bosnia and Herzegovina Since: Dec, 2010
Alpha Legionnaire
#11: May 17th 2011 at 6:32:21 PM

A protip when writing an alternate WWII timeline: Many writers tend to overrate Germany's power, sometimes to the point of turning them into God Mode Sues. With the exeption of the Brits the rest of Europe was either neutral (Switzerland, Sweden), in a bad shape (France, Benelux, Poland, Yugoslavia, Greece etc.) or already allied with the Nazis (Slovakia, Italy, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Finland).

edited 17th May '11 6:32:48 PM by AdeptusAlpharius

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