Servants of War: Time of Despair/Axis Timeline


 * Khalkhin Gol, Mongolia, May 1939: Japan doesn't attack Soviet forces in Khalkhin Gol, preserving its forces in Manchuria.
 * Germany, July 1939: Germany updates its Enigma machine after realising that the Poles had cracked it.
 * Dunkirk, France, May 1940: Germany doesn't let the Allied troops escape Dunkirk, culminating in a battle with 350,000 Allied soldiers killed or captured. This would significantly lower British morale.
 * Vichy France, June 1940: Germany annexes Vichy France just a few days after the French surrender, capturing the French mediterranean fleet after deploying paratroopers to Toulon.
 * Italy, June 1940: Italy doesn't declare war on Britain and France, until later when Germany would already occupy the Caucasus. This means Germany wouldn't need to divert troops to North Africa in a futile effort to save Italy.
 * Britain, July 1940: Germany doesn't divert its air forces from bombing RAF airfields in Britain to bombing civilians, meaning the RAF would suffer significantly more than in our timeline. This would gradually give the Luftwaffe aerial superiority over the isles, being instrumental for Operation Sea Lion later.
 * Britain, October 1940: Operation Sea Lion is initiated; Britain falls to German paratroopers, seaborne forces and Luftwaffe airstrikes. The Royal Navy retreats to the Mediterranean. Churchill leaves for Canada.
 * Spain, January 1941: Spain refuses to accept entry into the Axis powers; as a result, Germany quickly conquered Spain and Gibraltar with air and naval superiority. Franco is put under house-arrest in his summer retreat, the Pazo de Meirás.
 * Yugoslavia, February 1941: Yugoslavia joins the Axis under Italian pressure.
 * Greece, March 1941: Germany and Italy coordinate an attack on Greece from their bases in Yugoslavia and Albania, respectively.
 * Greece, April 1941: Greece falls. The Luftwaffe establishes an air base there.
 * French Syria, April 1941: German paratroopers attack Free French Syria and capture it in weeks.
 * Levant, April 1941: The Luftwaffe provides air superiority to Rashid Ali's coup forces in Iraq. Turkey joins the Axis to avoid an attack. The Wehrmacht creates bases in Iraq and Turkey to soon attack the Caucasian oilfields under Soviet control.
 * Soviet Union, May 1941: Germany builds up its armament to prepare for Operation Barbarossa, scheduled for activation in 15th May 1941. War breaks out between the Soviets and Germany.
 * Russian Far East, May 1941: Japan launches a simultaneous attack on Vladivostok and Khabarovsk.
 * Caucasus, Soviet Union, May 1941: German forces in Turkey and Iraq move to attack the Caucasus.
 * Murmansk, Soviet Union, May 1941: Finland joins the Axis, and attacks Murmansk (cutting off US supplies to the USSR).
 * Middle East, May 1941: British forces in Africa are diverted to the Middle East to fight Axis forces in Turkey and Syria, and Iraq.
 * North Africa, June 1941: Italy declares war on Britain and Free France and attacks the undefended colonies in Africa.
 * Soviet Union, July 1941: Germany advances just like in our timeline, but doesn't pause to capture Ukraine. Baku falls, draining a significant amount of Soviet oil. Murmansk falls, cutting off the Soviets from western supplies.
 * Malta, July 1941: Italian forces storm into Malta after numerous Luftwaffe air raids.
 * Soviet Union, October 1941: Because the Siberian Divisions are preoccupied with defending against Japan, reinforcements do not come westward to protect Moscow. Artillery fire wears out Soviet forces in Stalingrad and German forces mop up the remainder of Soviet forces in the city.
 * Middle East, August 1941: After 2 months of fighting, British troops in Palestine and Transjordan are encircled by Turkish and German troops in the Levant and Italian troops in Egypt. The pocket retreats to Muscat and evacuates to India via the Arabian Sea.
 * Muscat, September 1941: Axis troops capture Muscat, which, by this time, has become deserted due to all civilians and troops fleeing to India. The Axis now has the ability to launch troopships for a possible invasion of South Asia.
 * British India, October 1941: Axis forces land in three different locations: Gwadar, Karachi, and Porbandar. They encounter artillery fire, but no serious coastal defences. Indian divisions rush into the coastal areas to halt the Axis advance.
 * Soviet Union, November 1941: German forces encircle Moscow by November. Stalin and his government is evacuated to the city of Kuybyshev (today known as Samara), and the Red Army launches a guerrilla war against Germany. German forces enter Moscow in 30th November. Army Group South moved into Central Asia and forced Afghanistan to open its borders for Axis troops. Army Group South could now invade northern India.
 * Siberia, December 1941: German forces storm into Kuybyshev and capture Stalin, who is then executed by hanging. The Soviet Union falls (except for Far-Eastern divisions centred in Khabarovsk) and is divided between Germany (West of and within the Ural Mountains, plus Central Asia), and Japan (Russian Far East, which is yet to be conquered). The area in the middle becomes a buffer zone known officially as the Russian Siberian Republic with its capital in Novosibirsk.
 * Hawaii, USA, December 1941: Japan doesn't attack Pearl Harbour. The USA doesn't have a reasonable casus belli to declare war on Japan or Germany. However, Japan still invades southeast Asia (except the Philippines).
 * Oceania, February 1942: Japanese forces in the East Indies invade Port Moresby. They then attack Australia.
 * East Asia, February 1942: Japanese forces in mainland southeast Asia push into central China. The Kwantung Army in the North retreats south to their base in Korea. The Red Army Siberian divisions follow them into Manchuria. Reserves from Korea halt the Red Army advance. German forces in Central Asia attack Xinjiang and capture Tihwa (present-day Ürümqi).
 * South Asia, February 1942: Axis forces that landed in South Asia moved north and captured Lahore. Army Group South, already with an established base in Afghanistan, regrouped with the landing forces in Peshawar. Meanwhile, Japanese and Thai forces captured Burma because of the British and Indian forces busy defending against the Axis in the west.
 * British India, March 1942: The Axis forces pushed westward, capturing Amritsar and getting closer to Delhi. Indian forces from the south were diverted north to protect the capital, and also to the east to halt Japan and Thailand.
 * New Zealand, April 1942: After conquering Australia, Japanese forces paratroop into New Zealand after bombing it.
 * British India, April 1942: Calcutta falls to the eastern Axis (Japan, Thailand). Delhi is sieged by the Western Axis (Germany, Italy, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia, Turkey, Finland, Iraq).
 * China, May 1942: Japanese forces captured Chongking. They then capture Chengdu. Reserves from Korea push back the Soviet divisions in Manchuria in a war of attrition. Axis forces in Sinkiang launch a three-pronged offensive: against Dunhuang, Ölgii, and Delingha.
 * East Asia, June 1942: Vladivostok and Khabarovsk fall to Japan, resulting in the capitulation of the Red Army remnant in the Far East. Japanese forces rapidly conquer Mongolia and western China. German forces establish contact with the Japanese at the border between Sichuan and Qinghai. With nowhere to run, the National Revolutionary Army surrenders to Japan. Chiang Kai-shek is assassinated with a bomb in his office by his own forces for his futile resistance to the Japanese resistance.
 * British India, June 1942: Colonial forces have been wore off after months of fighting. The British surrender and India becomes an independent buffer state between Japan and Germany.
 * Canada, June 1942: Canada surrenders to the Axis and extradited Churchill to Germany, where he was put in exile.
 * Lhasa, Tibet, September 1942: The Allied instrument of surrender was signed in 3rd September 1942 in neutral Tibet to commemorate the 3rd anniversary of the Allied declaration of war against Germany.
 * Aftermath:
 * Germany achieves Lebensraum. Germany annexes Sweden and the German-speaking part of Switzerland after the war. The United Kingdom, France, Iraq, Turkey, and all European Axis states except Italy become German satellite states. Below are the German-occupied territories included in Lebensraum:
 * Reichskommissariat Belgien-Nordfrankreich (Belgium and northern France, capital: Brussels)
 * Reichskommissariat Dänemark (Denmark, capital: Copenhagen)
 * Reichskommissariat Kaukasus (Caucasus and Southern Russia, capital: Tbilisi)
 * Reichskommissariat Moskowien (European Russia except Karelia and the Kola Peninsula, capital: Moscow)
 * Reichskommissariat Niederlande (Netherlands, capital: Amsterdam)
 * Reichskommissariat Nordschweiz (North Switzerland, capital: Zürich)
 * Reichskommissariat Norwegen-Schweden (Norway and Sweden, capital: Oslo)
 * Reichskommissariat Ostland (Baltic States and Belarus, capital: Riga)
 * Reichskommissariat Ukraine (Western Ukraine, capital: Rovno)
 * Finland gets back Karelia and the Kola Peninsula.
 * Italy establishes Spazio Vitale (Italian Lebensraum). Italy annexes Saudi Arabia and betrays and attacks Yugoslavia despite it being an Axis member. Below are the Italian-occupied territories:
 * Italian Arabia (Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Trucial States, and Yemen, capital: Riyadh)
 * Italian Balkans (Albania, Cyprus, Greece, and Malta, capital: Athens)
 * Italian Central Africa (Cameroon and Chad, capital: Douala)
 * Italian East Africa (Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia, capital: Addis Ababa)
 * Italian North Africa (Egypt, Libya, Sudan, and Tunisia, capital: Tripoli)
 * Japan establishes the Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere. Japan purchased Macau and Timor from Portugal and Hainan from the Chinese puppet regime. Below are the member states:
 * Australian Government General (Australia and Tasmania, capital: Sydney)
 * Ceylon Government-General (All of India south of Goa and the island of Ceylon, capital: Madras)
 * East Indies Kingdom (Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Christmas Islands, Indonesia, Northern Borneo, and Timor, capital: Jakarta)
 * Government-General of Formosa (Hong Kong, Macau, Paracel Islands, and Hainan, capital: Hong Kong)
 * Kingdom of Annam (Annam, Laos, and Tonkin, capital: Hanoi)
 * Kingdom of Cambodia (Cambodia and Cochinchina, capital: Phnom Penh)
 * Kingdom of Malaya (All of Malaya except northern Borneo, capital: Kuala Lumpur)
 * Manchukuo (Manchuria, capital: Changchun)
 * Melanesian Region Government-General (Bismarck Archipelago, Ellice Islands, Fiji Islands, New Caledonia, New Guinea, New Hebrides, Santa Cruz Islands, and Solomon Islands, capital: Port Moresby)
 * Mengjiang (Inner Mongolia west of Manchukuo, capital: Kalgan)
 * New Zealand Government-General (capital: Wellington)
 * Reorganised National Government of the Republic of China (China-proper except Inner Mongolia, capital: Nanking)
 * South Seas Government Office (Gilbert Islands, Nauru, and Ocean Island, capital: Denigomodu)
 * State of Burma (Assam, Bengal, and Burma, capital: Rangoon)
 * There are many buffer zones between the western Axis and Japan:
 * Kingdom of Afghanistan (capital: Kabul)
 * The Americas
 * Republic of India (India minus Assam, Bengal and all areas south of Goa, capital: New Delhi)
 * Imperial State of Iran (capital: Tehran)
 * Russian Siberian Republic (Russia between the Urals and the Far East; this is where Slavs were deported to for Lebensraum, capital: Novosibirsk)
 * Republic of Turkestan (Central Asia and Sinkiang, capital: Bishkek)