1942
1942
A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic...
- Josef Stalin.
One thing we must be clear about, my Führer, is that the extremely critical situation we are in now cannot be put down to the enemy’s superiority alone. It’s also due to the way in which we are led!
- Erich von Manstein.
Italian efforts to put their economy onto a war footing begun to bear fruit in 1942 . Production of vehicles, aircraft, guns and modern tanks had increased considerably with the help of the American investments and the many Leonardi-reforms. Italia is, much to the joy of Mussolini and most of the Italians, no longer a third rate nation in industrial or military terms, although the Germans, Soviets and British continue to outproduce Italia by some margin, the gap is closing.
Germany is dependent on many things oil, chrome, steel, etc., which has to be imported. As the Polesti oilfields in Romania comes under sporadic Soviet air bombardment up to the capture of the Crimean Peninsula, the German dependency on Romianian oil becomes evidenet. Eventhough the oilfields suffer little actual damage, Hitler orders von Ribbentrop in the Foreign Ministry to secure oil and other much needed raw materials from other sources. Von Ribbentrops attention turn to Italia.
Italian manufacturers are given rights to construct various aircraft engines and guns on licens. In exchange, Italia would dedicate ist substantial merchant fleet to suppling Germany with oil and raw materials. The British, naturally, protested Rome’s dealings with the Nazis, but faced with internal opposition towards taking matters further, the British had to let it rest. It is however rumored that Churchill for a while considered kidnapping Mussolini. Ironically a few British politicians and high ranking military officials actually believed in the Italian propaganda about her military capabilities. Stil with the Italians in control of Libya, Abyssinia and Djibouti, the more and more pro-Axis governemnt in Turkey and Iraq, the British government found it wise to cooperate with the Fascisti in Rome. The British were after all struggling hard to survive as an empire, with the Middle East in the shadow of Mussolinis newly created New Italian Empire, the Far Eastern under the constant threat, and later full scall assault, of Emperial Japan, and with most Europe in the hands of the Central Powers.
Besides that, Italia’s humanitarian aid to the millions of Jews ensured that no democracy could successfully sell a war with Mussolini’s regime to its population.
Following the British-led Allied landings in Morocco, Algiers and Madagascar, Italian forces moved against Vichy French positions in the Mediterrenean. As Vichy France began to crumble under the Allied and German onslaught, the Italian legions landed in Corsica and struck deep into Tunesia.
Corsica fell to the marines of San Marco division and the paratroops of the Folgore and Nembo divisions, while mobile and armoured divisions moved from Libya into Tunesia. While the Regio Esercito’s units moved rapidly and whitout serious setbacks, the Regia Marina met the sortieing Vichy French Fleet northwest of Tunis. The Battle of Tunis in which the Italian navy and air force engaged the French ditto was as bloody and intese as a naval battle can be. The Italian fleet commander, admiral Campioni, received word that the French fleet was heading east away from the british task forces landing troops in Algiers and Marokko, and agressively began to intercept. The Italian fleet, consisting of 4 Battleships and 10 cruisers of different classes, met the French at dawn. The French fought hard and with great elán. Eventhough it was obvious that the Italians would win. And the Italians did win, but the cost was high; Littorio was sunk more or less with all hand and Giulio Cesare and Conte di Cavour was damaged. The Zara and 2 light cruisers were also either sunk or badly damage. 8 destroyers and some smaller vessels were likewise sunk or damaged. The entire French Fleet was sunk, or as it is later claimed by French revisionists, scuttled.
The mobile divisions of Marshall Rudolfo Graziani’s heavily reinforced Libyan army struk north from Libya, outflanking the Mareth line and dashed north towards Tunis. The Vichy French defenders hurridly withdrew and staged a last defense in the city itself. After two days of heavy fighting and bombardement by the Italian heavy artillery and the remaining ships of the Regia Marina, the French finally surrendered to Graziani. Eventhough Graziani couldn’t use the Regio Esercito’s new superior tactics or mobility to full extent in the end of the short campaign, the rapid rise in the Italians fighting abilities were very visible indeed. When the Allied forces finally had battled their way though the French defenders in Algiers and Morocco Italian units were waiting at the Tunesian-Algerian border.
With these new victories in hand, Mussolini proclaimed the creation of The New Italian Empire, with the Italian King, Vittorio Emmanuele III, as Emperor Vittorio Emanuelle I of the New Roman Empire.
Across the Ukraine the Italians and their Axis allies worked hard to create an nationalist, but of course Axis-friendly, Ukrainian administration. The vast ressources of the Ukraine were best to be exploited under a somewhat independent Ukraine. At least that was the thoughts in Rome and Madrid. The Germans however seemed to think otherwise, and clashes between Axis administrators and officers and their German counterparts were becoming the norm. In several incidents, Axis units, with the help of the Romanians, actually disarmed and interned some overzealous SS-men. With the German Army heavily engaged on all fronts in the USSR, and all the casualties taken in considerarion, Hitler had to let the situation in the Ukraine run its own course.
Timelie 1942:
January 13, 1942: Germans begin a u-boot offensive far out in the Mid-Atlantic. So called Milk Cows aid the German u-boots in their endavour.
January 14, 1942: As the GEE-equiped Lancaster bomber is entering service the Bomber Command is issued with Directive No.22, which ends the recent period of aircraft conservation by the RAF.
January 20, 1942: SS-RSHA leader Reinhardt Heydrich holds the Wannsee Conference to coordinate the final solution to the Jewish problem.
January 26, 1942: First American Brigade of Volunteers arrive in Britain.
Febuary 12, 1942: British aircraft spot the German warships Scharnhorst, Gneisenau and Prinz Eugen as they enter the straits of Dover, and immediately launches several attacks with both MTBs and Swordfish aircraft against the German squadron. As the battles rages on, the battleship Scharnhorst hits a mine, wich only inflicts minor damage. A short time later British destroyers from the port of Harwich and aircraft from both Bomber and Coastal commands joins in. The German ships are forced to turn back, but lices to fight another day.
February-March: The British begin to reinforce their garrisons in Sumatra, Singapore and Malaya. It is considered vital to maintain control of the Straits, so a cruiser squadron is also sent.
March 3, 1942: RAF Bomber Command, under its new C-in-C, Air Vice Marshal Harris, attacks the Renault plant in the Paris suburb of Billancourt. This somewhat successful raid was a much needed morale boost for the British. On this same night, the Lancaster bomber makes its operational debut, laying mines of the French port of Brest.
March 14, 1942: Japan begins drawing up detailed plans for its war against the colonial opressors of Asia. The Japanese want to grab as much of the Southeaster Pacific as they can before the USA is able to intervene. If the Americans decide to get involved, the Japanese figures that the will meet the US Navy’s battle-line somewhere in the vicinity of the Philippines and with the help of their modern carriers destroy it there.
March 24, 1942: The 1st Axis Volunteer Army in USSR is reconstituted and reinforced with armour and anti-tank weapons and a few of the new Serveromentes. Two new divisions of Blackshirts is sent and integrated in the force. Several load of weapons and other equipment is loaded of at Odessa and given the the Ukranians.
April 23, 1942: German air raids begin against cathedral cities in Britain.
April 25, 1942: In his Easter day radio address, Hitler proudly announces: "cleansing of Germany and Poland of the Jews". He claims that the Jews are being exciled to Africa. This is partly true since many educated Jews and other people with usefull skills actually are being resettled in the Italian Colonies there. It is howevere far from all Jews that have that chance… The U.S. government, with its large Jewish population, remains silent on the issue in adherence to its strict policy of neutrality.
April 29, 1942: The Belgian resistance destroys Tenderloo chemical works. Executions by the Germans reported to be running at 25-30 a month in Belgium.
May 8, 1942: The Central Powers begin their summer offensive begins in the Crimea.
May 10, 1942: Winston Churchill warns that Britain will use poison gas on Germany if the Germans do so on the Soviet Union. The battle for Sevastopol continues with over 300,000 men fighting it out around the fortress-city. The German artillery ranges from ordinary field guns to enormous 800mm superheavy siege mortars.
May 12, 1942: Marshall Timoshenko launches his summer offensive in the Southern USSR with the aim of cutting of suurounding Kharkov with two pincers.
May 21, 1942: The Central Powers finally halt the Soviet summer offensive just short of Kharkov, and von Kleist counter-attacks ferociously. The Germans aim to pinch off the Soviet spearhead. The Soviets leaders and soldiers lack the skill to handle the fast pace of the German blitzkrieg, and the Soviet divisions crumbles under the onslaught.
May 21, 1942: Adolf Hitler plans the German summer offensive. The first priority is secure the resouces of the Ukraine, and then asserting the German rule in the area. Hitler is most annoyed with the socalled indepandent Ukrainian government.
Soviet partisans destroys railway tracks between Bryansk and Roslavl. Axis and Ukrainian forces move in to secure the area. After some fighting most of the partisans giuve up. The local population is more than eager to help rid the region af these left-over communist. An irritated Josef Goebbels diaries: "in consequence, we shall soon have to either deal with these upstart Ukarinians or simply resognize their government!”
May 22, 1942: U.S. President Roosevelt meets with Dino Grandi and Italo Balbo in Washington for talks about trade, shipping rights and the situation in Europe in general.
May 23, 1942: The Soviets plan to hit the Germans in the Kharkov area again, while ironically the Germans plan to hit the Soviets in the exeact same area. Along the Bryansk-Vyazma railway Axis, Ukrainian and some units from the Central Powers force most of the partisans either to give up or to be destroyed. After the establisment of an Ukrainian government, the partisan bands seem to be loosing ground. Around Khakov the Soviet and German offensive tear into each other with unseen agression and ferosity. Moscow admits the loss of 10,000 dead, 90,000 missing, and 500 tanks destroyed, while Berlin hardly mentions the battle. SIM estimates the Germans to have suffered some 3,000 dead, 20,000 missing, and, most worrying, the loss of nearly 150 panzers.
May 26, 1942: The Soviet Union and Great Britain sign a 20-year treaty of alliance. Both nations agree not to negotiate or conclude any armistice with Germany or her allies except by mutual consent.
May 27, 1942: SS-general Reinhardt Heydrich is attacked in Prague by British Commandos.
May 28, 1942: The Soviet forces caught in a pocket southeast of Kharkov suurenders. Some 200 Poles are taken from Warsaw to the village of Magdalenka and gunned down.
May 30, 1942: First thousand bomber British air raid against Germany. The new German fighters, amongst them the FW-190 is taking a dreadfull toll on the British bombers.
June 1, 1942: Hitler arrives at Poltava, the HQ of Army Group South to approve Field Marshal von Bocks plan for the main offensive against the oil field in Caucasus. The siege of Sevastopol continues with round-the-clock bombardment by heavy artillery and Luftwaffe bombers.
June 2, 1942: Mass murder of Jews by gassing begins at Auschwitz. Italian authorities step up evacuation and emmigration plans fro the occupied areas. More clashes between Axis and SS-forces in the Ukraine.
June 6, 1942: Some 8,000 British and Canadian troops conduct a raid-in-force against the French port of Dieppe. The raid ends in disaster, when the Germans quickly reinforce and utterly destroys the landing force. Besides the loss of 8,000 well-trained and ramed men, the RAF loses 107 aircraft and the Royal Navy lose a destroyer. In the Crimea general Erich von Manstein orders an assault on Sevastopol. The entenched Soviets resist fanatically, but the Germans do gain ground eventough they horrendous casualties.
June 10, 1942: SS-Units totally destroy the city of Lidice in reprisal for the assasination attempt on Reinhardt Heydrich. Another German offensive in the East begins as two German armies attack east from Kharkov on the Volchansk Front. The massive unstoppable panzer-assault rolls on until the 26th, shattering the opposing Soviet forces.
June 11, 1942: The court-martial of a German army captain Michael Kitzelmann begin in Orel. Kitzelmann, who won an Iron Cross, has spoken out against atrocities being committed on the eastern front, and is hence court-martialled. Kitzelmann is known to have said: "If these criminals should win, I would have no wish to live any longer." However before he is shoot, Kitzelmann is sprung from the prison. Several guards and assailants die in the ensueing gun-battle
June 20, 1942: A wounded Junio Borghese is visited by Marshall Bastico in his hospital bed in Kiev and awarded yet anothet batch of medals, and is promoted to colonel by Mussolini’s personal request.
June 25, 1942: American foreign secretary Cordel Hull and several officers arrives in London.
June 26, 1942: The town of Elista, in the central part of the northern Caucasus, falls to the Central Powers. Further north, several German advance units probe across the Volga north and south of Stalingrad.
June 28, 1942: Under the codename Operation 'Blau, the German summer offensive is launched for real. Marshal von Bock hurls three armies and 11 Panzer divisions East in a massive assault whose objective is nothing short of the Caucasus mountains and oilfields. A veteran tells Propaganda Kompanie men: "It's quite different from last year, it's more like Poland!”
July 5, 1942: Central Powers finally take Sevastopol.
July 9, 1942: Germans begin a drive toward the river Volga and Stalingrad.
July 22, 1942: First deportations from the Warsaw Ghetto to concentration camps. Treblinka extermination camp opened. Dino Grandi flies to Berlin to Protest the deportations. Sympathetic Germans apparently reveal the existens of the death camps to him.
July 24, 1942: Grandi, Mussolini and several topranking Leonardi meet in Rome. They disscus how to rid the world of Hitler without giving Stalin a free hand in Europe. Michael Kitzelmann is said to testify at the meeting.
July 30, 1942: British Foreign Secretary Halifax, who himself was informed by Ciano, tell the British House of Commons of mass executions of Jews by Nazis. The American reaction is one of disbelief and outrage. Several American politicians declare that those henious crimes will be avenged.
August 8, 1942: The Central Powers reach the Volga and begin to pound Stalingrad from the air. Hitler orders von Bock to smash the city flat, but nor to enter it! The hard earned lessons of Leningrad, Moscow and Sevastopol is haunting Hitler and the OKW.
August 12, 1942: Stalin and Churchill meet in Moscow.
August 15, 1942: Italia begins increasing the size of its garrisons in Libya and Sardinia. In a speech Mussolini refers thus to North Afrika: "it is a land destined to be ruled by the Italian people!" In thes ame speech he refers to the Mediterranean as Mare Nostrum (Our sea).
September 9, 1942: The Central Powers captures the Black Sea naval base of Novorossiysk, while other units cross the Straits of Kerch from the Crimean to Taman. Stalingrad is now suffering the same round-the-clock pounding as Sevastopol.
September 12, 1942: German forces under Fedor von Bock dig-in around Stalingrad and bring up more heavy artillery. The River Volga is now closed to Soviet traffic. In the caucasus Groznij is taken, but the surrounding oilfilelds is destroyed by the retreating Soviets.
October 8, 1942: Soviet and German armoured units clash in the Volga steppe battle. Soviet T-34 and KV-1’s is proven superior to anything the Germans has in their arsenal. German pazers is forced to fall back suffering heavy casualties.
October 16, 1942: Soviet forces tries to recross the Volga, but is pushed back with heavuy casualties.
November 1, 1942: In their advance toward Ordshonikidse in the Caucasus, German panzer-units capture Alagir on the upper Terek river.
Italian advisors begin arriving in both Iraq and Persia. The former has begun to distance itself from Britain.
November 8, 1942: Operations Paladin and Crusader begins as British forces launch an allout attack on Vichy French territories in North Africa and Madagascar.
November 12, 1942: In the Battle of Tunis the Vichy French and Italian Fleets engage and hammer way at each other for most of the day and some of the night. The new radarguided Italian guns af the capitol ships prove to be superior, and the last Frech ship is sunk at midnight.
November 11, 1942: German forces march into Vichy France. In a letter to Marshal Petain, Hitler declares that the purpose of this move is to protect France against the nefarious British.
In an interview with American journalists, Stalin describes British aid to the USSR as of little use and effect.
Japanese combined forces secure the French colony of Indochina for the Emperor in the name of peace and brotherhood. Most of the French in the Colony disapeares and is never heard from again
November 13, 1942: Italia launches oprations angainst Corsica and Tunesia.
In a speech to the Congress of Soviet Deputies, Stalin warns that the absence of more opposition the the Fascist powers of Europe may end badly for all freedom loving countries, including the USA. He furthermore declares that the aim of the USSR is to save mankind from regression into savagery and medieval brutality.
November 16, 1942: The Soviet counter-offensive at Stalingrad begins. The Red Army opens its winter offensive with a pincer movement round Stalingrad, while the forces trapped in Stalingrad tries to break out. The offensive has the aim of encircling and destroying the German forces besigeing Stalingrad. The initial attacks by the Soviets are somewhat succesful. Soviet gains in Caucasus are also announced.
November 21, 1942: Italian and British-led Allied forces meet at the Algier-Tunesian border in North Africa. All of Vichy France is now either in Allied, German or Italian hands.
November 25, 1942: Soviets are beaten back into Stalingrad and the armoured trusts north and south of the city is contained. The Central Powers is however unable to throw them back across the Volga. Axis and Ukrainian forces is being rushed forth.
December 1, 1942: Italo Balbo and Milch gains Mussolini and Bottai’s blessing for the development of jet fighters.
December 2, 1942: Professor Enrico Fermi sets up a special research project in the Department of Metallurgical Studies at Milano’s University. Fermi is working closely with other scientists from all over occupied Europe, such as Leo Slizard.
Army Group Don under Marshall von Manstein is formed to relieve and reinforce von Bock’s Army Group B around Stalingrad.
December 6, 1942: An longerange recon-aircraft spots Japanese transports steaming west off Cape Cambodia towards Malaya. The British, having feared a Japanese attack for most of the year, feel confident that they can stop the Japanese no matter what they are up to.
December 7, 1042: British Commandos make a daring and succesfull raid on Bordeaux harbour.
The Japanese Army, Navy and Airforce launches simultanious attacks on Thailand, Malaya, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore.
December 13, 1942: Thailand formally allies herself with Japan. In the battle of Lumbok Strait the Japanese destroy an Allied naval squadron which attempts to prevent Japanese landing on Bali. Japanese carrier based planes raid Darwin in northern Australia, inflicting severe damage to the habour and surrounding city.
December 15, 1942: Von Manstein lets loose with his counter-attack against the Soviets at Volga and Stalingrad, but runs headlong into a Soviet attack.
December 16, 1942: Axis forces under Marshall Bastico barely hold their ground against massive Soviet attacks along their stretch of the Volga front. Bastico contribues this to the new anti-tank weapons and the rather good M20/40 tank. Its long 50mm main gun is however deemed to small. Along the entire front the fighting is fierce and heavy, but ultimately neither side is able to decisively defeat the other.
The Battle of the Java Sea runs continuesly for three days, but eventhough the Allies fought bravely, the Japanese won in the end. The Allies, under the command of a Dutch admiral, loses five cruisers and six destroyers, while the Japanese only loses some transports.
December 26, 1942: The Japanese commander in Malaya, general Yamashita, senses that British is not as strongly entrenched as they think, and sends his troops forward in a series of rapid attacks and flanking manouvers. Determined not to allow the British any time to reorganise and counter-attack, Yamashita’s forces push forth with reckless speed. Everytime the British try to make a stand, the Japanese outflanks them through the dense jungle. The British commander in Malaya, general Montgomery, is totally unable to handle this kind of warfare.
December 30, 1942: After a 12 day sige, the Japanese storm Hong Kong. The city surrenders after nearly 20 hours of fighting. More than 12,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers is killed, missing or wounded. Over Rangoon the RAF and American Volunteer Group downs more than 70 Japanese aircraft for the loss of only 20 of their own. The Spitfire is a formidable plane compared to anything the Japanese have at hand.
In a vote the Congress Party in India supports the British war effort, which lead to Gandhi’s resignation as leader of the Party.
Planes from Admiral Kondo's five Japanese carriers attack the Royal Navy's base at Colombo in Ceylon. Kondo’s fleet, the Southern Force, is tasked with destruction of the Royal Navy in the Indian Ocean. In just 22 minutes Admiral Nagumo's 1st Air Fleet all but sink every British ship in the port. The cruiser, Cornwall, is the only ship to escape the carnage unharmed.
December 31, 1942: The Red Cross are now spending nearly £500,000 per month on food parcels for allied POWs.
In what is to become known as the Battle of the Barents Sea, the German warships, Lützow and Admiral Hipper together with 6 destroyers, attacks the Allied convoy, JW-51B, and slaughters it.
Allied merchant shipping sunk by u-boots and raiders in the year 1942 is 1,343 ships, equalling 7,154,285 gross tons. 57 of the Kriegsmarine’s u-boots were lost during the same period.
1942
A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic...
- Josef Stalin.
One thing we must be clear about, my Führer, is that the extremely critical situation we are in now cannot be put down to the enemy’s superiority alone. It’s also due to the way in which we are led!
- Erich von Manstein.
Italian efforts to put their economy onto a war footing begun to bear fruit in 1942 . Production of vehicles, aircraft, guns and modern tanks had increased considerably with the help of the American investments and the many Leonardi-reforms. Italia is, much to the joy of Mussolini and most of the Italians, no longer a third rate nation in industrial or military terms, although the Germans, Soviets and British continue to outproduce Italia by some margin, the gap is closing.
Germany is dependent on many things oil, chrome, steel, etc., which has to be imported. As the Polesti oilfields in Romania comes under sporadic Soviet air bombardment up to the capture of the Crimean Peninsula, the German dependency on Romianian oil becomes evidenet. Eventhough the oilfields suffer little actual damage, Hitler orders von Ribbentrop in the Foreign Ministry to secure oil and other much needed raw materials from other sources. Von Ribbentrops attention turn to Italia.
Italian manufacturers are given rights to construct various aircraft engines and guns on licens. In exchange, Italia would dedicate ist substantial merchant fleet to suppling Germany with oil and raw materials. The British, naturally, protested Rome’s dealings with the Nazis, but faced with internal opposition towards taking matters further, the British had to let it rest. It is however rumored that Churchill for a while considered kidnapping Mussolini. Ironically a few British politicians and high ranking military officials actually believed in the Italian propaganda about her military capabilities. Stil with the Italians in control of Libya, Abyssinia and Djibouti, the more and more pro-Axis governemnt in Turkey and Iraq, the British government found it wise to cooperate with the Fascisti in Rome. The British were after all struggling hard to survive as an empire, with the Middle East in the shadow of Mussolinis newly created New Italian Empire, the Far Eastern under the constant threat, and later full scall assault, of Emperial Japan, and with most Europe in the hands of the Central Powers.
Besides that, Italia’s humanitarian aid to the millions of Jews ensured that no democracy could successfully sell a war with Mussolini’s regime to its population.
Following the British-led Allied landings in Morocco, Algiers and Madagascar, Italian forces moved against Vichy French positions in the Mediterrenean. As Vichy France began to crumble under the Allied and German onslaught, the Italian legions landed in Corsica and struck deep into Tunesia.
Corsica fell to the marines of San Marco division and the paratroops of the Folgore and Nembo divisions, while mobile and armoured divisions moved from Libya into Tunesia. While the Regio Esercito’s units moved rapidly and whitout serious setbacks, the Regia Marina met the sortieing Vichy French Fleet northwest of Tunis. The Battle of Tunis in which the Italian navy and air force engaged the French ditto was as bloody and intese as a naval battle can be. The Italian fleet commander, admiral Campioni, received word that the French fleet was heading east away from the british task forces landing troops in Algiers and Marokko, and agressively began to intercept. The Italian fleet, consisting of 4 Battleships and 10 cruisers of different classes, met the French at dawn. The French fought hard and with great elán. Eventhough it was obvious that the Italians would win. And the Italians did win, but the cost was high; Littorio was sunk more or less with all hand and Giulio Cesare and Conte di Cavour was damaged. The Zara and 2 light cruisers were also either sunk or badly damage. 8 destroyers and some smaller vessels were likewise sunk or damaged. The entire French Fleet was sunk, or as it is later claimed by French revisionists, scuttled.
The mobile divisions of Marshall Rudolfo Graziani’s heavily reinforced Libyan army struk north from Libya, outflanking the Mareth line and dashed north towards Tunis. The Vichy French defenders hurridly withdrew and staged a last defense in the city itself. After two days of heavy fighting and bombardement by the Italian heavy artillery and the remaining ships of the Regia Marina, the French finally surrendered to Graziani. Eventhough Graziani couldn’t use the Regio Esercito’s new superior tactics or mobility to full extent in the end of the short campaign, the rapid rise in the Italians fighting abilities were very visible indeed. When the Allied forces finally had battled their way though the French defenders in Algiers and Morocco Italian units were waiting at the Tunesian-Algerian border.
With these new victories in hand, Mussolini proclaimed the creation of The New Italian Empire, with the Italian King, Vittorio Emmanuele III, as Emperor Vittorio Emanuelle I of the New Roman Empire.
Across the Ukraine the Italians and their Axis allies worked hard to create an nationalist, but of course Axis-friendly, Ukrainian administration. The vast ressources of the Ukraine were best to be exploited under a somewhat independent Ukraine. At least that was the thoughts in Rome and Madrid. The Germans however seemed to think otherwise, and clashes between Axis administrators and officers and their German counterparts were becoming the norm. In several incidents, Axis units, with the help of the Romanians, actually disarmed and interned some overzealous SS-men. With the German Army heavily engaged on all fronts in the USSR, and all the casualties taken in considerarion, Hitler had to let the situation in the Ukraine run its own course.
Timelie 1942:
January 13, 1942: Germans begin a u-boot offensive far out in the Mid-Atlantic. So called Milk Cows aid the German u-boots in their endavour.
January 14, 1942: As the GEE-equiped Lancaster bomber is entering service the Bomber Command is issued with Directive No.22, which ends the recent period of aircraft conservation by the RAF.
January 20, 1942: SS-RSHA leader Reinhardt Heydrich holds the Wannsee Conference to coordinate the final solution to the Jewish problem.
January 26, 1942: First American Brigade of Volunteers arrive in Britain.
Febuary 12, 1942: British aircraft spot the German warships Scharnhorst, Gneisenau and Prinz Eugen as they enter the straits of Dover, and immediately launches several attacks with both MTBs and Swordfish aircraft against the German squadron. As the battles rages on, the battleship Scharnhorst hits a mine, wich only inflicts minor damage. A short time later British destroyers from the port of Harwich and aircraft from both Bomber and Coastal commands joins in. The German ships are forced to turn back, but lices to fight another day.
February-March: The British begin to reinforce their garrisons in Sumatra, Singapore and Malaya. It is considered vital to maintain control of the Straits, so a cruiser squadron is also sent.
March 3, 1942: RAF Bomber Command, under its new C-in-C, Air Vice Marshal Harris, attacks the Renault plant in the Paris suburb of Billancourt. This somewhat successful raid was a much needed morale boost for the British. On this same night, the Lancaster bomber makes its operational debut, laying mines of the French port of Brest.
March 14, 1942: Japan begins drawing up detailed plans for its war against the colonial opressors of Asia. The Japanese want to grab as much of the Southeaster Pacific as they can before the USA is able to intervene. If the Americans decide to get involved, the Japanese figures that the will meet the US Navy’s battle-line somewhere in the vicinity of the Philippines and with the help of their modern carriers destroy it there.
March 24, 1942: The 1st Axis Volunteer Army in USSR is reconstituted and reinforced with armour and anti-tank weapons and a few of the new Serveromentes. Two new divisions of Blackshirts is sent and integrated in the force. Several load of weapons and other equipment is loaded of at Odessa and given the the Ukranians.
April 23, 1942: German air raids begin against cathedral cities in Britain.
April 25, 1942: In his Easter day radio address, Hitler proudly announces: "cleansing of Germany and Poland of the Jews". He claims that the Jews are being exciled to Africa. This is partly true since many educated Jews and other people with usefull skills actually are being resettled in the Italian Colonies there. It is howevere far from all Jews that have that chance… The U.S. government, with its large Jewish population, remains silent on the issue in adherence to its strict policy of neutrality.
April 29, 1942: The Belgian resistance destroys Tenderloo chemical works. Executions by the Germans reported to be running at 25-30 a month in Belgium.
May 8, 1942: The Central Powers begin their summer offensive begins in the Crimea.
May 10, 1942: Winston Churchill warns that Britain will use poison gas on Germany if the Germans do so on the Soviet Union. The battle for Sevastopol continues with over 300,000 men fighting it out around the fortress-city. The German artillery ranges from ordinary field guns to enormous 800mm superheavy siege mortars.
May 12, 1942: Marshall Timoshenko launches his summer offensive in the Southern USSR with the aim of cutting of suurounding Kharkov with two pincers.
May 21, 1942: The Central Powers finally halt the Soviet summer offensive just short of Kharkov, and von Kleist counter-attacks ferociously. The Germans aim to pinch off the Soviet spearhead. The Soviets leaders and soldiers lack the skill to handle the fast pace of the German blitzkrieg, and the Soviet divisions crumbles under the onslaught.
May 21, 1942: Adolf Hitler plans the German summer offensive. The first priority is secure the resouces of the Ukraine, and then asserting the German rule in the area. Hitler is most annoyed with the socalled indepandent Ukrainian government.
Soviet partisans destroys railway tracks between Bryansk and Roslavl. Axis and Ukrainian forces move in to secure the area. After some fighting most of the partisans giuve up. The local population is more than eager to help rid the region af these left-over communist. An irritated Josef Goebbels diaries: "in consequence, we shall soon have to either deal with these upstart Ukarinians or simply resognize their government!”
May 22, 1942: U.S. President Roosevelt meets with Dino Grandi and Italo Balbo in Washington for talks about trade, shipping rights and the situation in Europe in general.
May 23, 1942: The Soviets plan to hit the Germans in the Kharkov area again, while ironically the Germans plan to hit the Soviets in the exeact same area. Along the Bryansk-Vyazma railway Axis, Ukrainian and some units from the Central Powers force most of the partisans either to give up or to be destroyed. After the establisment of an Ukrainian government, the partisan bands seem to be loosing ground. Around Khakov the Soviet and German offensive tear into each other with unseen agression and ferosity. Moscow admits the loss of 10,000 dead, 90,000 missing, and 500 tanks destroyed, while Berlin hardly mentions the battle. SIM estimates the Germans to have suffered some 3,000 dead, 20,000 missing, and, most worrying, the loss of nearly 150 panzers.
May 26, 1942: The Soviet Union and Great Britain sign a 20-year treaty of alliance. Both nations agree not to negotiate or conclude any armistice with Germany or her allies except by mutual consent.
May 27, 1942: SS-general Reinhardt Heydrich is attacked in Prague by British Commandos.
May 28, 1942: The Soviet forces caught in a pocket southeast of Kharkov suurenders. Some 200 Poles are taken from Warsaw to the village of Magdalenka and gunned down.
May 30, 1942: First thousand bomber British air raid against Germany. The new German fighters, amongst them the FW-190 is taking a dreadfull toll on the British bombers.
June 1, 1942: Hitler arrives at Poltava, the HQ of Army Group South to approve Field Marshal von Bocks plan for the main offensive against the oil field in Caucasus. The siege of Sevastopol continues with round-the-clock bombardment by heavy artillery and Luftwaffe bombers.
June 2, 1942: Mass murder of Jews by gassing begins at Auschwitz. Italian authorities step up evacuation and emmigration plans fro the occupied areas. More clashes between Axis and SS-forces in the Ukraine.
June 6, 1942: Some 8,000 British and Canadian troops conduct a raid-in-force against the French port of Dieppe. The raid ends in disaster, when the Germans quickly reinforce and utterly destroys the landing force. Besides the loss of 8,000 well-trained and ramed men, the RAF loses 107 aircraft and the Royal Navy lose a destroyer. In the Crimea general Erich von Manstein orders an assault on Sevastopol. The entenched Soviets resist fanatically, but the Germans do gain ground eventough they horrendous casualties.
June 10, 1942: SS-Units totally destroy the city of Lidice in reprisal for the assasination attempt on Reinhardt Heydrich. Another German offensive in the East begins as two German armies attack east from Kharkov on the Volchansk Front. The massive unstoppable panzer-assault rolls on until the 26th, shattering the opposing Soviet forces.
June 11, 1942: The court-martial of a German army captain Michael Kitzelmann begin in Orel. Kitzelmann, who won an Iron Cross, has spoken out against atrocities being committed on the eastern front, and is hence court-martialled. Kitzelmann is known to have said: "If these criminals should win, I would have no wish to live any longer." However before he is shoot, Kitzelmann is sprung from the prison. Several guards and assailants die in the ensueing gun-battle
June 20, 1942: A wounded Junio Borghese is visited by Marshall Bastico in his hospital bed in Kiev and awarded yet anothet batch of medals, and is promoted to colonel by Mussolini’s personal request.
June 25, 1942: American foreign secretary Cordel Hull and several officers arrives in London.
June 26, 1942: The town of Elista, in the central part of the northern Caucasus, falls to the Central Powers. Further north, several German advance units probe across the Volga north and south of Stalingrad.
June 28, 1942: Under the codename Operation 'Blau, the German summer offensive is launched for real. Marshal von Bock hurls three armies and 11 Panzer divisions East in a massive assault whose objective is nothing short of the Caucasus mountains and oilfields. A veteran tells Propaganda Kompanie men: "It's quite different from last year, it's more like Poland!”
July 5, 1942: Central Powers finally take Sevastopol.
July 9, 1942: Germans begin a drive toward the river Volga and Stalingrad.
July 22, 1942: First deportations from the Warsaw Ghetto to concentration camps. Treblinka extermination camp opened. Dino Grandi flies to Berlin to Protest the deportations. Sympathetic Germans apparently reveal the existens of the death camps to him.
July 24, 1942: Grandi, Mussolini and several topranking Leonardi meet in Rome. They disscus how to rid the world of Hitler without giving Stalin a free hand in Europe. Michael Kitzelmann is said to testify at the meeting.
July 30, 1942: British Foreign Secretary Halifax, who himself was informed by Ciano, tell the British House of Commons of mass executions of Jews by Nazis. The American reaction is one of disbelief and outrage. Several American politicians declare that those henious crimes will be avenged.
August 8, 1942: The Central Powers reach the Volga and begin to pound Stalingrad from the air. Hitler orders von Bock to smash the city flat, but nor to enter it! The hard earned lessons of Leningrad, Moscow and Sevastopol is haunting Hitler and the OKW.
August 12, 1942: Stalin and Churchill meet in Moscow.
August 15, 1942: Italia begins increasing the size of its garrisons in Libya and Sardinia. In a speech Mussolini refers thus to North Afrika: "it is a land destined to be ruled by the Italian people!" In thes ame speech he refers to the Mediterranean as Mare Nostrum (Our sea).
September 9, 1942: The Central Powers captures the Black Sea naval base of Novorossiysk, while other units cross the Straits of Kerch from the Crimean to Taman. Stalingrad is now suffering the same round-the-clock pounding as Sevastopol.
September 12, 1942: German forces under Fedor von Bock dig-in around Stalingrad and bring up more heavy artillery. The River Volga is now closed to Soviet traffic. In the caucasus Groznij is taken, but the surrounding oilfilelds is destroyed by the retreating Soviets.
October 8, 1942: Soviet and German armoured units clash in the Volga steppe battle. Soviet T-34 and KV-1’s is proven superior to anything the Germans has in their arsenal. German pazers is forced to fall back suffering heavy casualties.
October 16, 1942: Soviet forces tries to recross the Volga, but is pushed back with heavuy casualties.
November 1, 1942: In their advance toward Ordshonikidse in the Caucasus, German panzer-units capture Alagir on the upper Terek river.
Italian advisors begin arriving in both Iraq and Persia. The former has begun to distance itself from Britain.
November 8, 1942: Operations Paladin and Crusader begins as British forces launch an allout attack on Vichy French territories in North Africa and Madagascar.
November 12, 1942: In the Battle of Tunis the Vichy French and Italian Fleets engage and hammer way at each other for most of the day and some of the night. The new radarguided Italian guns af the capitol ships prove to be superior, and the last Frech ship is sunk at midnight.
November 11, 1942: German forces march into Vichy France. In a letter to Marshal Petain, Hitler declares that the purpose of this move is to protect France against the nefarious British.
In an interview with American journalists, Stalin describes British aid to the USSR as of little use and effect.
Japanese combined forces secure the French colony of Indochina for the Emperor in the name of peace and brotherhood. Most of the French in the Colony disapeares and is never heard from again
November 13, 1942: Italia launches oprations angainst Corsica and Tunesia.
In a speech to the Congress of Soviet Deputies, Stalin warns that the absence of more opposition the the Fascist powers of Europe may end badly for all freedom loving countries, including the USA. He furthermore declares that the aim of the USSR is to save mankind from regression into savagery and medieval brutality.
November 16, 1942: The Soviet counter-offensive at Stalingrad begins. The Red Army opens its winter offensive with a pincer movement round Stalingrad, while the forces trapped in Stalingrad tries to break out. The offensive has the aim of encircling and destroying the German forces besigeing Stalingrad. The initial attacks by the Soviets are somewhat succesful. Soviet gains in Caucasus are also announced.
November 21, 1942: Italian and British-led Allied forces meet at the Algier-Tunesian border in North Africa. All of Vichy France is now either in Allied, German or Italian hands.
November 25, 1942: Soviets are beaten back into Stalingrad and the armoured trusts north and south of the city is contained. The Central Powers is however unable to throw them back across the Volga. Axis and Ukrainian forces is being rushed forth.
December 1, 1942: Italo Balbo and Milch gains Mussolini and Bottai’s blessing for the development of jet fighters.
December 2, 1942: Professor Enrico Fermi sets up a special research project in the Department of Metallurgical Studies at Milano’s University. Fermi is working closely with other scientists from all over occupied Europe, such as Leo Slizard.
Army Group Don under Marshall von Manstein is formed to relieve and reinforce von Bock’s Army Group B around Stalingrad.
December 6, 1942: An longerange recon-aircraft spots Japanese transports steaming west off Cape Cambodia towards Malaya. The British, having feared a Japanese attack for most of the year, feel confident that they can stop the Japanese no matter what they are up to.
December 7, 1042: British Commandos make a daring and succesfull raid on Bordeaux harbour.
The Japanese Army, Navy and Airforce launches simultanious attacks on Thailand, Malaya, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore.
December 13, 1942: Thailand formally allies herself with Japan. In the battle of Lumbok Strait the Japanese destroy an Allied naval squadron which attempts to prevent Japanese landing on Bali. Japanese carrier based planes raid Darwin in northern Australia, inflicting severe damage to the habour and surrounding city.
December 15, 1942: Von Manstein lets loose with his counter-attack against the Soviets at Volga and Stalingrad, but runs headlong into a Soviet attack.
December 16, 1942: Axis forces under Marshall Bastico barely hold their ground against massive Soviet attacks along their stretch of the Volga front. Bastico contribues this to the new anti-tank weapons and the rather good M20/40 tank. Its long 50mm main gun is however deemed to small. Along the entire front the fighting is fierce and heavy, but ultimately neither side is able to decisively defeat the other.
The Battle of the Java Sea runs continuesly for three days, but eventhough the Allies fought bravely, the Japanese won in the end. The Allies, under the command of a Dutch admiral, loses five cruisers and six destroyers, while the Japanese only loses some transports.
December 26, 1942: The Japanese commander in Malaya, general Yamashita, senses that British is not as strongly entrenched as they think, and sends his troops forward in a series of rapid attacks and flanking manouvers. Determined not to allow the British any time to reorganise and counter-attack, Yamashita’s forces push forth with reckless speed. Everytime the British try to make a stand, the Japanese outflanks them through the dense jungle. The British commander in Malaya, general Montgomery, is totally unable to handle this kind of warfare.
December 30, 1942: After a 12 day sige, the Japanese storm Hong Kong. The city surrenders after nearly 20 hours of fighting. More than 12,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers is killed, missing or wounded. Over Rangoon the RAF and American Volunteer Group downs more than 70 Japanese aircraft for the loss of only 20 of their own. The Spitfire is a formidable plane compared to anything the Japanese have at hand.
In a vote the Congress Party in India supports the British war effort, which lead to Gandhi’s resignation as leader of the Party.
Planes from Admiral Kondo's five Japanese carriers attack the Royal Navy's base at Colombo in Ceylon. Kondo’s fleet, the Southern Force, is tasked with destruction of the Royal Navy in the Indian Ocean. In just 22 minutes Admiral Nagumo's 1st Air Fleet all but sink every British ship in the port. The cruiser, Cornwall, is the only ship to escape the carnage unharmed.
December 31, 1942: The Red Cross are now spending nearly £500,000 per month on food parcels for allied POWs.
In what is to become known as the Battle of the Barents Sea, the German warships, Lützow and Admiral Hipper together with 6 destroyers, attacks the Allied convoy, JW-51B, and slaughters it.
Allied merchant shipping sunk by u-boots and raiders in the year 1942 is 1,343 ships, equalling 7,154,285 gross tons. 57 of the Kriegsmarine’s u-boots were lost during the same period.
This is because there's no North African war, correct?