1941 begins with action in North-Africa and China, but Indy also takes a moment to assess the current stakes and stakeholders in the East-Asian theatre. What is sure, is that 1941 will be an eventful year!
Action in Albania. Action in North-Africa. Action in East-Africa. Action in China and action on the Mediterranean. It looks like every belligerent party is amping up its efforts to get a foothold wherever they are. And if your enemy is gaining ground? You just throw more material and men at them.
The Chinese Communists and Nationalists Clash while they're also both facing Japanese armies in the North. And although the Communists are not the obvious victor this week, the battle has bigger ramifications. Other action takes place in Cambodia and the Mediterranean.
The British offensive in East-Africa takes off with some rapid advances. Meanwhile in Eastern-Europe, Romania is the stage of fierce anti-Semitism, but also infighting between two of the groups causing the anti-Semitism.
Greek Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas dies this week as Italy is still uncomfortably wrapped up in the Albanian Mountains. Italy also finds itself in a pickle on other fronts, as Allied troops in Africa moves into Italian territory with three offensives this week.
While the Germans send one of their best generals to North Africa to bail out the Italians, Great Britain switches focus from Libya to Greece, but make symbolically important gains in East Africa.
As the British make spectacular advances in East-Africa, with even more spectacular advances on the horizon, South-Eastern Europe is getting increasingly tense.
Parts of the British forces in North-Africa are being send to Greece to strengthen the Allied position there. While the remaining British plan for the near future, others make huge advances in East-Africa and Hitler plans his attack on Greece through Bulgaria.
German troops pour into Bulgaria as they join the Axis alliance, while British troops enter Greece in anticipation of a German attack. Meanwhile, the British celebrate victories in East-Africa and on the Atlantic.
An Italian offensive into Greece is prepared, just as the Germans are preparing to also attack Greece via Bulgaria. Meanwhile, a daring and spectacular dash is made by the Nigerian Army.
While two more Kriegsmarine u-boat aces go down, the moving parts of the war are getting more complex leaving the intelligence services scrambling to separate fact from fiction - they don't always get it right.
This week, the Yugoslavia is the stage for some rather dramatic and quite consequential events. Furthermore, the Nigerian Army keeps on doing well in East-Africa, while the Italians think they can outsmart the British Royal Navy in the Mediterranean.
The British thought they would be safe for a while, but this week they are proven wrong. This week, Erwin Rommel begins his advance towards the East of North-Africa.
This week, the German Army invades Greece and Yugoslavia as it launches Operation Marita and Operation 25 respectively. They also take some remarkable captives in North-Africa.
Greece falls as Axis troops push through the last Allied defenses. New plans are made for a German invasion of Crete, and a new war breaks out between Great Britain and Iraq.
An Enigma encode is captured in the Atlantic Ocean as the Germans make plans for a new offensive in Crete. Britain is heavily bombed by the Luftwaffe and fighting continues in Iraq, China and East-Africa.
In the week that Rudolf Hess makes his flight to Britain, the Luftwaffe prepares for theirs to Crete. The British utilize their code-breaking methods and prepare for defense.
Operation Mercury commences as fallschirmjäger airborne troops land on the Greek island of Crete. A bloody and messy battle follows as it turns out to be costly in more ways than one.
This week, the Battle of Crete continues as the Bismarck and Prinz Eugen set sail to the Atlantic, starting one of the most dramatic episodes in the histories of the Royal Navy and the Kriegsmarine.
The British morale reaches new low after losses at Crete and the loss of the HMS Hood. New plans are made for North-Africa and Syria to restore the public and the soldier's faith.
Germany, Romania and Finland prepare for a gigantic invasion of the Soviet Union, whose own military is in a dire state. The Allies invade Vichy French Syria and prepare to relieve the Australians besieged at Tobruk.
The Allies continue advancing into Vichy French Syria, but they are halted and pushed back by Erwin Rommel at the Halfaya Pass in Libya. Meanwhile, the last preparations are being made for Operation Barbarossa. It will begin in two days.
June 22 1941. The first day of Operation Barbarossa begins as Adolf Hitler’s German armies invade Joseph Stalin’s Soviet Union with the largest force on the longest front ever seen in human history...
Operation Barbarossa kicks off this week with action all along the front as German panzers pierce through deep into the Soviet Union. Meanwhile, Claude Auchinleck becomes Commander of the Allied forces in the Middle East that capture Damascus.
Operation Barbarossa continues this week but is already running into problems that are gonna be hard to fix. The Japanese are thinking future war strategy, while the British set up a focused research program on nuclear power and atom bombs...
Germany keeps advancing on the eastern front, and yet by now, transport and supply problems are seriously undermining the capability of the German spearheads, even as they pull further away from the infantry. The Syria-Lebanon campaign is coming to an end, though, and an armistice is proposed which would give the Allies victory if accepted.
As the German armed forces stretch further and further into the USSR, the Wehrmacht command doesn't seem to agree where they are really going. In the Middle East, the Facsit French forces are delivered a hard blow as the Allied Syrian campaign comes to an end.
Although we may picture panzers when we think of the German Army in WW2, it was very much an army that relied on horses- especially in the east- for a large part of its supplies and logistics, and the horse situation on the Eastern Front has grown dire. Japan's economic situation has also grown dire and they are now looking south for new sources of raw materials.
Japan needs resources for its seemingly endless war in China, but where to look for them? And who might have a problem with it? Meanwhile in the Soviet Union, Hitler's forces have been diverted from the Moscow Road, and are on the move in the north and the south.
In Japan those in power are divided as to what to do as war with the Western powers looks more and more likely. Meanwhile in the USSR the war gets deadlier and deadlier, but also more and more confusing with leadership conflicts on both sides of the front.
Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt issue a charter that lays out their thoughts for the future, the Soviets are in trouble on two fronts, and Adolf Hitler repeats his orders to those who failed to heed them the first time.
Josef Stalin is forming new armies to fight off the German onslaught, and yet it continues gaining ground in the north and the south. He also issues orders Draconian orders to the Red Army concerning any form of surrender.
The British and Soviets work together invade Iran, while Barbarossa trudges ever on, with heavy losses. Bletchley Park intercepts German messages, and unease grows among the German public.
It is two years this week since Germany invaded Poland. That European conflict soon became a global one. Japan's invasion of China began two years before that, but with Japan allied to the Axis Powers, they are now the same conflict. Those Axis are all fighting together now to try and defeat the Soviet Union, but the war has grown not just in the scale of the armies fighting, but also in the scale of man's inhumanity to man. We see that this week in German occupied territory.
The German invasion of the Soviet Union has taken enormous amounts of territory, but this week the Red Army not only stops the Germans, they score a ringing victory. However, Leningrad comes under siege and Kiev is in great danger, and Adolf Hitler is issuing directives for the next phase of the Operation.
Kiev falls to the Germans, yielding hundreds of thousands of prisoners as whole armies are surrounded, but behind the lines all over German-occupied territories, partisan movements are gaining steam. Meanwhile, in China, Japan launches another campaign against Changsha.
In former Yugoslavia, the Republic of Uzice breaks free from the German occupation, even as the Germans are mopping up the masses of shattered Soviet Armies after last week's capture of Kiev. In the north, it really looks as if Leningrad will hold out for the time being, and German troops from both north and south converge on the center for the coming drive on Moscow.
Adolf Hitler's renewed drive on Moscow, the Soviet capital, begins this week, even as the Japanese drive on Changsha ends. But major news this week is the colossal amount of equipment, arms, and ammunition that Britain and the neutral USA plan to ship to the beleaguered Soviet Union.
The road to Moscow does indeed lay open before the Germans, but for how long? And can they exploit such an opportunity- since the panzers are busy encircling hundreds of thousands of Soviet soldiers near Vyazema? Georgy Zhukov arrives in Moscow to take charge of the Soviet defenses and try to shut the door.
Moscow panics as the Germans edge closer and take prisoners by the hundreds of thousands, even as the temperature drops far below freezing. At home in Germany, Josef Goebbels has a problem - he's promised victory too soon and too often. And in Japan, a government falls.
The Germans draw ever closer to Moscow, but Soviet reinforcements have begun to arrive from Siberia and the city's defenses have grown stronger. Meanwhile in the south, the Germans are sweeping into the Crimea and looking hungrily at the Caucasus.
Operation Typhoon is halted until the coming winter can freeze enough ground to increase mobility. But the ever colder weather is a disaster waiting to happen for an already over-stretched German supply line.
There is a lull now on the Eastern Front, and Adolf Hitler uses the time to plan another drive on Moscow and points beyond, but he'll be facing a larger Red Army, as reinforcements and recruits hope to nearly double its size in a matter of weeks. The British are counting down the days to their upcoming North African offensive, and the Japanese are sending out orders that will change the world dramatically in a single morning.
The British sink an entire convoy of supplies heading for Rommel in North Africa by using radar at night, something their opponents lack. In North Africa itself, the Allies are gearing up for a major offensive to begin in a few days. Meanwhile, the Germans are gearing up for a renewed drive on Moscow even as Georgy Zhukov launches small attacks there designed to spoil the larger German plans.
The long planned Allied Offensive in North Africa- Operation Crusader- begins, but the Allies are worrying about how to defend Singapore in case of Japanese aggression. The Germans renew their drive on Moscow, but their number one flying ace perishes, a major PR hit.
The German advance has pushed within artillery range of Moscow, but can they reach it- and take it- before the Red Army and the murderously cold weather halt them? Meanwhile in North Africa, both Erwin Rommel and Claude Auchinlek make daring and brilliant moves that save the fight for their sides. A mighty Japanese fleet is now secretly heading for Hawaii to make a surprise attack on American territory while the US worries where in Southeast Asia the Japanese are planning to attack.
The Wehrmacht is halted by the Red Army at the gates of Moscow. Not only that, but a Red Army counteroffensive begins pushing the Germans back decisively. The Germans are also beginning to withdraw from their siege of Tobruk in North Africa. Japan, however, is advancing all over the Pacific, sending troop transports into the South China Sea, though it is unclear just whom Japan plans to attack. The Japanese are also- in top secrecy- sending a force of aircraft carriers to soon attack the American Pacific fleet at anchor at Pearl Harbor.
Japan's meticulous planning and preparation made it possible to surprise the Americans at Pearl Harbor. Alert on Oahu is largely nonexistent. It is the deep breath before the plunge.
Desperate and shocked, American forces scramble to mount a resistance to the attack. But how effective can this be as the Japanese launch their second decisive raid?
American pilots are in the air, defending Pearl Harbor. They have already lost so much, and the Japanese show no sign of letting up the attack. How much will the Americans accomplish with their defense?
The Japanese launch attacks all over Southeast Asia and the Pacific, and launch a preemptive surprise attack on the American Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor. The war is suddenly much larger. In the USSR, the Germans find themselves now heavily on the defensive after the failure to take Moscow, while in North Africa, Erwin Rommel decides he must withdraw out of Cyrenaica to await reinforcements.
The Japanese make gains in Malaya, Burma, Hong Kong, Borneo, and the Philippines. The Allies also have trouble in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, where they are beginning to seriously suffer from a lack of capital ships. The Soviet Red Army is advancing, though, and Stalin takes personal control of planning for the upcoming counteroffensive, while Adolf Hitler takes personal control of the German Army.
The Japanese offensives and advances in Southeast Asia and the Pacific continue unabated and both Hong Kong and Wake Island fall. British and American leaders begin the Arcadia Conference to decide just how they are going to fight this war together, and there are more changes made in the German High Command on the Eastern Front, even as the Soviets make advances there.
