| July 10 |  |
Editor says, what if Nazi Germany had won the Battle of Britain? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s).
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In 2010, at a service held on this day in London, Führer Kurt Haldweim marked the seventieth anniversary of the Battle of Britain, recognising the ultimate sacrifice of the German airmen to who "never was so much owed by so many to so few".
The FewOnly about one hundred of the "few" who took part in the battle are thought to survive, and for many in their eighties and nineties, this could be the last major anniversary commemoration they attend. One those daring pilots was the Führer himself, because Haldweim flew the HE-100 whose use in the Battle proved key (Führer's death later that year would trigger a crisis in the Nazi High Command).
The extent of German losses mark the strategic significance of the victory; over 2,698 aircrew killed, 967 captured, 638 missing bodies identified by British Authorities and 1,887 aircraft destroyed. Of course Nazi High Command were reserving the major celebrations for the seventieth annivesary of Operation Sea Lion, and it was even suggested that the immense casaulty count of the invasion might be revealed for the first time.
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© In the Presence of Mine Enemies, Harry Turtledove (2003)Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Politicians Source: Wikipedia Labels: Germany, Battle of Britain, Luftwaffe, Germany, Churchill.
~ Would add that Haldweim flew the He-100, whose use in the Battle proved key. One of the multiple reasons the British won was the short range of the Me-109. Had some of the money wasted on useless warships been spent on the He-100 and some more on navalized versions of the Ju-87 and Ju-88 Germany's odds would have been better.
~ On the whole, I'm not partial to posts "borrowing" from published novels. there are plenty of historical alternatives to go around without that.
Harry Turtledove's "Kurt Haldweim" struck me in any case as a cheap shot. Granted, the real-life Kurt Waldheim had served in the Wehrmacht--but so did millions of others. It wasn't exactly easy to say no. And although one might quarrel with the positions Waldheim took as UN Secretary-Greneral regarding the Middle East, casting him (with his name disguised just enough to evade a libel suit) as a Nazi Fuehrer struck me as over the top. It wasn't as if there weren't plenty of genuine neo-Nazis Turtledove could have picked instead. (That said, I enjoyed the novel and have wished he'd write a companion volume set in his imagined occupied USA.)
~ I don't know...myself, in command of the Luftwaffe, I'd have gone more for cooperation with the Navy. Air-dropping mines---LOTS of mines---into British harbors, (Scapa Flow in particular would be a hoot) and collaborating with the U-boats, with the Luftwaffe going out and spotting ships for the U-boats to sink (or going after them themselves; a longer-ranged Stuka could have really ruined a ship's day pretty easily) would have done a lot more to force Britain's surrender than pointlessly blowing up London. Winston Churchill said that the U-boats were the only thing that _really_ worried him, and that was _without_ much help from the Luftwaffe..."where are OUR planes, Fatbelly Goering?" as they asked in the movie _Das Boot._ Of course, longer-ranged planes would also have been a big help in Russia...the Russians were able to move whole factories into the Urals out of range of German bombers, and showing them that they weren't safe there would have, if nothing else, disrupted things enormously for them.,
Comment from Karol Sloyan on Facebook:? Britain would be a police state now. Thank God that didn't happen....... :-P
Comment from Lars Walker on Facebook:? Yeah, they'd probably have laws against gun ownership, and cameras watching them all the time.
Comment from Karol Sloyan on Facebook: They'd also be a province of a Europe-wide Union. lol
Comment from Michael DaMota on Facebook: The great what if of WW2...! Had Hitler destroyed the remainig Brits and French at Dunkirk, of few hundred thousands men would not have fought in Britain had Gemany invaded. The German generals if given thier way, would have completed the invasion qickly after winning the Battle of Britain..
~ If the Germans had lightened a few Me-109s and perfected their drop tanks they might have suffered fewer losses. It is my belief that the Germans lost because they stopped bombing RAF airfields and moved to bombing London and other British Cities. Had they kept killing off RAF fighter command, they could have taken over the air and flown in their troops with ease and conquered Britain. With command of the air Luftwaffe bombers could make short work of the Royal Navy.
Comment from Tlotlo Masekela Senai on Facebook: wudnt that b great....
Comment from Joshua Kahler on Facebook: Hi Eric - In all accuracy Kurt Waldheim was more than just another grunt in the Wermacht. He was an intel officer active in couter insurgency in Yugoslavia and plaid an active role in the reprisals and massacres of civillians and POWs on Kozara.
~ Nazi pageantry in 2010... that'd be something to see. Lots of holograms, probably.
© Today in Alternate History, 2013-. All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
