A Europa Alternate History Scenario

World War II was won by the Allies the day Adolf Hitler made up his mind to turn to the East without having completely defeated the Western Allies. It was to Slavic Eastern Europe that Hitler looked for the future of the Aryan race; the campaign against Great Britain, France, and the Low Countries in the spring and summer of 1940 was merely an attempt to remove an obstacle from his drive towards the East begun with the German invasion of Poland the previous fall.

While Hitler had in mind the extermination or enslavement of the peoples of the East, his attitude towards the Western powers remained strangely ambivalent. He held them in contempt as decadent and spineless, but he nevertheless had a measure of respect for them, especially Great Britain, against whom he had fought in the First World War for four years. Great Britain was one of the few countries to which Hitler in his vision of a German-dominated Europe was willing to grant a measure of autonomy.

The German dictator's ambivalent feelings towards Western Europe manifested themselves in important ways. He granted France armistice terms that at the time seemed quite harsh, but when compared to the conditions under which other conquered nations suffered were mild indeed. And after France's surrender, Hitler proposed a peace settlement with Great Britain.

Great Britain, however, now under the leadership of Winston Churchill remained resolutely committed to the destruction of Nazi Germany. This unwavering stance posed huge problems for the German military, because the German military was ill-configured to damage the island nation. The Navy, despite an ambitious naval building plan (the Z plan), had been unable to hold its own in resource allocation battles with the German Army and the Luftwaffe. It had also neglected submarine development.

Moreover, substantial elements of its small surface fleet had been destroyed or damaged in Germany's strategically dubious campaign against Norway. The Luftwaffe and the Army were similarly hampered; the Luftwaffe had no effective long-range fighter or heavy bomber, and the Army had no amphibious doctrine or even much experience in combined operations.

German unpreparedness for a war against Great Britain became evident at the close of the Battle of France. Hitler ordered his staff officers to draw up plans for an invasion of England, but no serious planning took place. On the contrary, the different services, each realizing the impracticality of such operations, concentrated on passing the buck. The Army drew up plans for a huge invasion, which it well knew the Navy could not launch, while naval officers suggested a very small invading force, which they knew the Army would not accept.

This refusal to grapple seriously with the problem created an opening which the ambitious Hermann Goering cleverly exploited, arguing that his Luftwaffe could insure victory by itself.

This notion was appealing to Hitler, because it meant he could direct his energy once more to the East. This proved a fatal mistake, however, as the Luftwaffe showed itself inadequate to the task, and Great Britain hung on to insure that Germany would fight a two-front war, one it could not win.

The events described thus far lead to an intriguing counter-factual question: what if Hitler had recognized the danger presented by the West? What if Nazi Germany had made a more concerted effort to defeat Great Britain?

This article presents a hypothetical Europa scenario which explores these questions. My original goal was merely to create more of an interest for the Europa game Their Finest Hour. Many Europa players have told me that they don't play TFH because a successful invasion is so unlikely and the air elements are not interesting enough by themselves. I decided to try to come up with some historically plausible ways to increase the chances for a successful invasion. That way, players would have a chance to fight on the landing beaches, in the hills, and so on. What I eventually wound up with, however, was a much broader and more exciting proposition: a way to link the Europa games The Fall of France, Spain and Portugal, and Their Finest Hour together into a coherent whole, a whole that is more challenging and exciting than each component part is standing alone.

Scenario

This scenario, "The Great Western War," is based on the proposition that Hitler remained committed to defeating completely the Western Allies before turning to the East. This proposition has two parts.

First, Hitler conserved his naval forces (taking the chance that either the Allies would not violate Norwegian waters to interdict Swedish ore shipments, or that he could defeat the Western Allies before the effects of interdiction could be felt).

Second, that Hitler saw the need to eject the British from Gibraltar as quickly as possible, in order to slow British units in the Mediterranean from reinforcing the Atlantic and to insure Axis freedom of movement between the two bodies of water. To do so, Hitler orders that the 1940 spring offensive be directed against Spain as well.

The scenario has one additional counter-factual twist. Historically, under the Armistice conditions between France and Germany, France was supposed to deliver all of its naval vessels into German hands, where they supposedly would be destroyed or rendered useless.

The French were under no illusions that the Germans would keep their end of the bargain, and so they kept the major elements of their fleet in North Africa, where the British, still fearing the possibility of Axis control, attacked or disarmed most of the French ships. This scenario postulates that the French would be more willing to stand by the Armistice terms, and would attempt to deliver portions of the French fleet into German hands.

"The Great Western War" has a number of things to offer. Perhaps most importantly, it makes the confrontation between the Axis and the Allies on the continent much more challenging. The Axis not only have to defeat an additional country, Spain (and maybe Portugal as well), but they must finish the campaign as quickly as possible in order to have forces available for an invasion of Great Britain.

The scenario also makes an invasion of Great Britain possible, if the Axis player has performed well, thus allowing combat in an area which rarely sees it in Europa play.

I must confess that since I prefer land operations, for me the naval elements of this scenario are merely means to an end. However, I think other people might well appreciate the more challenging naval balance in this scenario.

Caveats

Before I outline the scenario, I must present the reader with two caveats. The first is that these three games were not meant to be linked together in this way. While doing so will not make them explode' there might be a few rough edges. I have attempted to smooth all that I have found, but inevitably a few will creep in undetected. In such a case, simply use common sense.

The second warning regards the research done for this game. I tried to find the composition and whereabouts of the French and Spanish navies in May-June 1940, but ran into a number of dead ends. Most sources I found contradicted each other, which proved very frustrating. In several cases, I have just had to make an educated guess.

I would like to acknowledge the use of several articles written for various Europa publications; they all provided useful information of one kind or another. These articles include: "Spain and Portugal Comments: A Reply by the Designer," by John M. Astell, EGSC Newsletter #2; "Europa Afloat: A Review of Ships and Navies, Parts One and Two," by A. E. Goodwin, E.T.O. #s 23-24, "Britain: The Middle East, Sep 1 1939 to Dec 1 1940,' by John M. Astell, Europa: Nuts & Bolts #3, "More Missing Europa Units: The Royal Marines," by David Hughes, Europa #15; "The Spanish Army at the End of the Monarchy," by John J. Gee, Europa #12. In addition, I would very much like to thank David Hughes and Rick Gayler for the great deal of help and patience that they blessed me with.

The Great Western War

A Europa Alternate History Scenario
Scenario and Rules Changes
British Order of Battle
British Charts (slow: 214K)
Last Words: Designer's Notes