Operation surprise (Morgen die ganze Welt)
From Alternative History
Timeline: Morgen die ganze Welt
Sunday, July 9 1944 Normandy
After hard fighting the British manage to occupy parts of Caen one month behind schedule.
Monday July 10 1944 Japan
Tokyo is bombed for the first time since the Doolittle raid of April, 1942.
Thursday, July 13 1944 Middle East
Rommel breaks through the Allied defenses in Jordan. A feint attack was made in the Haifa area. The Afrika Korps races for Suez. The Allies are betting all on operation Overlord and other war theaters are neglected.
Sunday, July 16 1944 Middle East
Allied forces hastily retreating from Palestine are ambushed in the Sinai when moving through the Mitla pass. The retreat becomes a rout.
Thursday, July 20 1944 Suez
The Allies entrench on the west bank of the Suez canal. The aim of denying the Suez canal to Great Britain has been achieved. Mussolini is still arguing for an invasion of Africa so the Italian Empire can be restored. The OKH decides rather to help the Japanese by moving on India, where the battle of the Imphal plain is still raging and the Japanese are hard pressed. Panzergruppe Kleist is ordered to invade India in spite of difficulties because of the long supply line.
Tuesday, July 25 1944
Normandy
Operation Cobra starts, an attempt by the US army to break out of the Normandy bridgehead. Allied air power has devastated Axis armor. Typhoon fighter-bombers armed with rockets were especially deadly even to Tiger tanks. It is not possible to stop the breakout. The OKH vetoes a plan to cut off the Allied breakout at Falaise because the Allies have air superiority over the battlefield. General Von Kluge agrees it is time to use Germany's most fearsome weapon. The nerve gas attack is called "operation surprise"
Wednesday, July 26 1944 Normandy
Axis artillery throws 2,500 tons of nerve gas at the Normandy bridgehead and especially at the American forces attacking at Saint-Lô in operation Cobra, seriously depleting the stock that has been built up over a year. The surprise is complete. The Allies have underestimated German chemical capability. Like the Russians the Americans now find gas masks ineffective. Operation Cobra is stopped dead in its tracks. Small Axis platoons in chemical suits cross the lines and set up observation posts. General Patton desperately tries to form a new defense line but his HQ is strafed by jets dropping nerve gas. He perishes together with the staff. Forward airfields are put out of action with nerve gas. The best Allied squadrons are wiped out, including the precious Typhoon squadrons. The American position disintegrates and confusion is complete. V1 cruise missiles are directed at invasion ports with nerve gas warheads. Many miss the target but the few that hit bring the supply lines to a stop.
Thursday, July 27 1944 Normandy
German jets are now dropping nerve gas on the Normandy beaches, making an evacuation impossible. Axis tank battalion 501 - equipped for nerve gas warfare - reaches the coast at Omaha beach. Allied ships are targeted by jets dropping nerve gas bombs. The crew of Duke Of York is overcome by nerve gas and the great battleship beaches itself at Omaha. When Allied command realizes what is happening all warships are quickly withdrawn.
Friday, July 28 1944 Normandy
Allied forces in Normandy are trapped. The beaches are contaminated and any resistance is crushed with nerve gas. Generals Montgomery and Bradley escape by aircraft. One million dazed Allied soldiers are rounded up, 400,000 have perished in nerve gas attacks. Stocks are now exhausted.
Saturday, July 29 1944 Normandy
Hitler in a radio speech implores the Allies to stop the war as the cemeteries are overflowing. He offers peace negotiations with the West and threatens gas attacks on England if the Allies don't accept peace terms.
Wednesday, August 2 1944 Normandy
The OKH is taken aback by the success of the battle of Normandy. Normally such a victory would be followed up with annihilation of the enemy but the Allies are still safe at the other side of the canal. General Guderian inspects the invasion beaches and he recommends copying the design of the invasion barges and building up a fleet to take the fight to the enemy. 500 Damaged or abandoned barges can be salvaged straight away. The Kriegsmarine points out that the enemy air forces have to be destroyed.
Friday, August 4 1944 London
The Allies are in a state of shock. Their best fighting forces are wiped out in one stroke. Even worse, it must now be recognized that the Germans have the potential to wipe out all life in British cities. But there is no thought of accepting German peace terms.
The Royal Air Force can keep German bombers and most V1's away from British cities. Ominously German radio has resurrected the old marching songs "bombs on England" and "We are marching against England". This must be bluff as there are still millions of US soldiers in Great Britain.
Wednesday, August 9 1944 London
Allied scientists have tested samples of Tabun and analyzed symptoms in Allied soldiers. They report That the Nazis are using a new type of gas that affects the nervous system. The gas penetrates the skin and gas masks easily. Only full-body suits offer protection. Nerve gas research facilities are immediately set up in London and Dugway Proving Grounds in Utah. The Allies are 10 years behind in the technology. Millions of atropine antidotes are ordered and protective chemical suits will be designed.
Sunday, August 13 1944 Murmansk
Finnish/German forces reach Murmansk and Archangelsk, cutting off the supply of Allied aid to the Soviet Union.
Monday, August 14 1944 RAF
The RAF starts using poison gas in its night raids as retaliation for V1 nerve gas attacks. This is more an inconvenience than a danger because most civilians have gas masks. Hitler and the general staff actually breath a sigh of relief because they now know for sure that the Allies do not have nerve gas.
Monday, August 21 1944 Ural
Axis forces reach the Ural-Volga line. Perm, Jekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk and Orenburg are captured and will be developed into strongpoints. There will be no continuous front but enemy challenges will be dealt with by combined attacks. The frontline will be the new border of Germany. A large airbase is built in Ula from where remaining industrial centers will be bombed. An armistice offer with stringent conditions is broadcast. The Soviet army must be disbanded except for a minimal force.
Tuesday, August 22 1944 Berlin
A regular air cargo service between Berlin and Tokyo is established using Ju-390 transporters. Germany sends blueprints and equipment to Japan. The return flights carry rubber and Wolfram, a very important metal for tools and jet engines.
Friday, September 08 1944 The Hague
The first V-2 rocket is launched at London from The Hague and lands at Chiswick with a terrific blast. The supersonic rocket gives no warning and many Londoners are cut down. The era of modern warfare has begun. There is some panic in Allied circles when it is realized that such a rocket using nerve gas could kill tens of thousands of people. The only remedy is to detect and attack launching sites, accepting heavy losses in the process.
Friday, September 22 1944 Atlantic
Americans are starting to use electronic countermeasures against guided bomb attacks on shipping. The German success rate drops to zero. The Allies are masters of the Atlantic.
October,12 1944 Regensburg
A futuristic looking Me-262 HGIII with a 35 degree swept wing reaches mach 0.96, transsonic speed in level flight. It uses upgraded Ju-004B engines. The standard Me-262 has a horizontal speed of mach 0.7 and a mach limit of 0.86. The results are so good that Messerschmit decides to base his next jet design on it: a supersonic fighter. The Allies are now more than 5 years behind in aircraft technology, although American engineers think they are slightly ahead. The new jet will now be used to study supersonic flight in a dive.
