Long has been the great struggle of man in this, this tragedy of war. From the day, December 1st, 1941 up to May 17th, 1949 have we seen the true, ugly and relentless face of war. I propose, as to end and abolish war forever from this planet, the formalisation and indefinite protection of a New World Moral Order.
- President Roosevelt's address to Congress, 1950.Introduction
The year is 1952, and in most parts of the world the sting of war is still present.
The Second World War began in late 1941, following two years of suspiscion towards Germany following the rise and power of the Nazi regime. Almost immediately most of Eastern and Northern Europe fell to the German 'Blitzkrieg' tactic, twinned with the German's superior technology. Wonder weapons such as the Me-262 and the Konigstiger quickly put to rubble the armies of Europe in the early stages of the war. By February 1942, France, Britain, Spain and Portugal remained free. The four countries hastily formed an alliance, and raced to defend the French border, but they were beaten to it by the advancing Nazis. What followed were a series of heavily fought battles, desperate at halting the German advance before it could take Paris, and in the summer of 1942, the Allied force by some miracle - succeeded this mission by halting the Germans only 20 miles from Paris. The war at this point stalemated, neither the Allies or Nazis could mount a decisive attack without a chance of it failing. The Allies needed much more manpower before an attempt at liberating France could be put forward. And the Germans were bogged down fighting the Soviet's in Eastern Europe, who were invaded by the Germans during the 1942 summer.
But by 1943, the Allies gained a much needed adversary into the war - The United States of America, had finally entered the war after the Japanese failed to catch the US Navy at anchor in Pearl Harbour. America's biggest concern was Japan, but also sent volunteers and equipment to the UK. Operation Vertigo, was now ready to begin. The Allies launched an all out attack at the German forces along the French border, who had fortified it with devastatingly effective weaponry - long range cannons, machine gun traps, miles of barbed wire and planted mines hindered the Allied advance. But by July in the same year, at the Battle of Lille, the Allies finally managed to punch a sizeable hole in the German defensive line, and millions of troops funneled through to put an end to the German presence on the French land. Finally, on the 7th November in the same year, the German defensive line collapsed entirely, but at a great cost to the Allies, for every town liberated, gun battery destroyed, airfield, ammo dump, barracks or Headquarters captured, the Germans made fully sure the Allies paid dearly in blood.
1944 saw the USA advance in the Pacific, were they met the routed Japanese fleet who had began to adopt rocket and suicide based practices. Kamikaze aircraft struck, and sank the USS Enterprise in the Battle of the Phillipine Islands, but this loss was overshadowed by the tremendous loss of 4 Japanese Carriers, plus the mighty Battleship Yamato in the same battle. Japan at this stage was now too underpowered to fight America on the ocean and began to fortify its island positions. With Japan now on the ropes, America devoted much more manpower to the war in Europe, as well as assisting the Chinese and Indian armies in repelling the Japanese on land. Italy devoted itself to fighting alongside the Nazi's in Europe, and invaded France at Marseilles in late 1944. The Allied forces were now met with a serious problem, there could be no advance in Germany if the rear was unsecured. By decision of the Allied command, British General Bernard Montgomery - fresh from his duties in North Africa during the African Civil War in 1939 was put in command of defending France from Italy, and then invading Italy itself.
As the war progressed into 1945, the Allies managed to push back the Italian forces out of Marseilles, before initating a British led counter-invasion into Italy, it's focal point being at Genoa, where the Allies would eventually advance, and liberate Rome later that year. After Rome fell in August that year, Mussolini made a decision to massacre more than 20,000 of his own countrymen - he blamed them for Italy's failure. As the Allied ring closed in around Southern Italy, the massacres increased before Mussolini attempted to flee via ship to Turkey to claim amnesty, but he was met by the Allies in conquered Sicily, and was executed by firing squad, ordered by Montgomery. With Italy now secured, the advance in Europe could finally begin. The Soviet Union were approaching at speed from the East, and were essentially racing to beat the Allies to Berlin. With Monty advancing from Italy, American General George Patton led the Allies from France, and across into Germany. The advance of both the Soviet and Allied forces began Germany's most fierce defensive battles, and became more reliant on their technology to stall the advances.
1946 through to 1947 saw Germany boosting its technological capacity to halt the Allied and Soviet advances. With great sucess, the Germans managed to stop Patton's 3rd Army at Dusseldorf, by use of guided rockets and Armor superiority. But Patton bit back at the later Battle of Essen, by capturing some of Germany's most top secret weaponry, including the X-163 Komet, an experimental but far superior variant of the earlier Messerschmitt 163 Komet as well as several revolutionary weapons, and even blueprints for the next stage of the Vengeance weapons programme. Montgomery broke out of Occupied Switzerland at around the same time, and liberated Munich in late 1946, but both Patton's and Montgomery's armies were yet to understand just how far Hitler was prepared to go to defend the Fatherland. As Patton moved on Hanover, and Montgomery on Nuremberg in Operation Destiny in 1947, The Luftwaffe detonated two atomic bombs above the city, claiming thousands of both Allied and enemy lives in an instant. This one fatal blow was enough to force the Allied forces to retreat back to the French border.
As the war took a sudden turn in Europe, in the Pacific, Japan was ready to fold. Operation Downfall, the US invasion of Japan went underway in late 1947, Tokyo being the target to force Japan's surrender. The fighting on Japanese home soil was tough, both armies took incredible losses. The succesful Battles of Yokohama and Chiba opened the way for the US to walk into Tokyo, where the fighting was that much more fierce. But eventually in early February of 1948, Japan unconditionally surrendered to the US. In Europe, the Soviet Union was unhindered by the explosions at Nuremberg and Hanover, and pressed on against the Nazis, winning a Decisive Battle at Poznan before continuing into Germany from the East. The Allies proposed to the Soviets that due to the inevitable losses the Soviets would recieve at the Battle of Berlin, that the Allies link up with the Soviet's through liberated Hungary and support the Soviet drive to Berlin. The Soviet's agreed on the condition that they recieve Berlin as a postwar prize, the Allies accepted but with hesitation.
Late 1948 saw Operation Red Liberty commence, the full invasion of Germany. The SOVALLCOM (Soviet-Allied Command) thwarted a breakout at Dresden, before making a final push to Berlin. Upon arrival they realised that the entire area of Inner Berlin had been turned into a walled up fortress, where the Nazis unleashed more of their secret weapons on the SOVALLCOM but provided to be much less effective. It took the SOVALLCOM 3 months to punch a big enough hole in the defense around Berlin, partly due to disagreement in the American and Soviet commanders. But finally in April that year, the SOVALLCOM managed to push through, and in the following month, Germany finally surrendered and the war was won.
Post-war efforts supported containing and an immediate quarantine of Germany, Italy and Japan from the outside world, to purify and clean the brainwashed minds of the Axis nation's people. Germany was given full administration under the USSR. Italy was administered by the British, whilst Japan was occupied and later administered by the United States.
Several post-war changes in the world also took effect, America inherited Canada in return for Britain recieving most of the East Indies and several dominions on the African Continent. The USSR was allowed to bolster along Eastern Europe and the Far East. India, was granted Independence from Britain owing to its involvement in the Second World War, and most other continents were formatted under a single government, a collection of United States.
But the year is now 1952, and the world is changing. A cornered China faces off against the Republican bully of India. Fears grow in Africa of a second Civil War, and nations belonging to the USSR demand change, to form into a new European Alliance. For most politicans, this seems like the powder keg necessary to kick start World War Three...
