Expansion operations and planning of the Axis Powers

Nazi Germany (War Flag)

Imperial Japan

Kingdom of Italy

Planning for global territorial expansion of the Axis Powers; Germany, Italy and Japan, progressed before and during the Second World War. This included some special strike plans against the Allied nations (with similar intentions to the James Doolittle raid special Allied Strike).

Operational plans of Germany and Italy

1939–1940

• Fall Grün (planned invasion of Czechoslovakia, to be carried out in September 1938. Averted by the signing of the Munich Agreement. Not to be confused with the military plan to invade Ireland by the same name, see below)
• Operation Weiß (invasion of Poland. Carried out 1 September 1939)
  • Operation Himmler (false flag operation to provide a casus belli for the invasion of Poland, including the Gleiwitz incident)
• Operation Weserübung (invasion of Denmark and Norway. Carried out 9 April 1940)
• Operation Gelb (invasion of the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. Carried out 10 May 1940)
• Operation Rot (invasion of France and principal western attack. Carried out 5 June 1940)
• Operation Sea Lion (invasion of Great Britain, not carried out)
  • Operation Herbstreise (a planned series of deception operations to support Sea Lion)
  • Operation Green (invasion of Ireland in support of Sea Lion, also known as Fall Grün. Not to be confused with the military plan to invade Czechoslovakia by the same name, see above)
• Operation Marita (invasion of Greece, carried out later)
• Operation Barbarossa (invasion of USSR, carried out later)
• Italian Operations: invasion of Albania, first attempt to invade Greece (Greco-Italian War)
• Operation Ikarus (invasion of Iceland, not carried out)
• Operation Felix (Spanish/German joint plan for control of Gibraltar, Canary Islands, Cape Verde, and Azores)
• Unnamed operation (subsequent occupation of Madeira)
• Operation Gertrud (projected German-Bulgarian invasion of Turkey in case it joined the Allies)^[1]
• Unnamed operation (first attempt at reinforcing Italian Libya with German forces)
• Operation Tannenbaum (invasion plan for Switzerland)
• Projected German administrative divisions of occupied western and northern territories:
  • Reichskommissariat Norwegen (implemented in 1940)
  • Reichskommissariat Niederlande (implemented in 1940)
  • Reichskommissariat Belgien-Nordfrankreich (implemented in 1944)
  • Greater Germanic Reich (theoretical planning mostly)

1941–1944

Original German Barbarossa plan

• Operation Marita (invasion of Greece, Germany supporting the Italian efforts. Carried out 6 April 1941.)
• Operation 25 (invasion of Yugoslavia. Carried out 6 April 1941)
• Operation Merkur (invasion of Crete. Carried out 20 May 1941.)
• Operation Sonnenblume (Erwin Rommel and the Afrika Korps reinforcing the Axis defenses of Cyrenaica in 1941)
• Operation Isabella (invasion of Portugal and Spain to counter any possible landing of Anglo-American troops in the Iberian peninsula. Prepared in May 1941 and never carried out.)^[2]
  • Operation Ilona (a plan aiming to counter an Anglo-American invasion of Iberia by holding north Spanish ports to protect German positions in France. Prepared in 1942, never carried out.)^[2]
• Operation Barbarossa (invasion of USSR, carried out 22 June 1941.)
  • Operation Munich (joint German-Romanian invasion of Bessarabia. Carried out 2 July 1941.)
  • Operation Silver Fox (plan to capture the Soviet nickel mines of Pechengsky (Finnish: Petsamo) and the port city of Murmansk. Carried out 29 June 1941.)
    • Operation Reindeer (plan to occupy the mines of Pechengsky)
    • Operation Platinum Fox (plan to capture Murmansk)
  • Operation Typhoon (strategic pincer offensive against the Moscow region. Carried out 2 October 1941.)
    • Operation Wotan (tank operation with the goal of capturing Moscow)
• Operation Störfang (combined land, air and sea assault to capture the Crimean port city of Sevastopol. Carried out 2 June 1942.)
• Operation Blau (strategic summer offensive in southern USSR. Carried out 28 June 1942.)
  • Operation Fischreiher (plan to advance to the Volga river and capture the city of Stalingrad. Carried out 22 July 1942.)
  • Operation Edelweiss (plan to capture the oil fields of Baku. Carried out 23 July 1942.)
• Operation Nordlicht (scheduled operation to capture Leningrad, planned to begin on 23 August 1942. Not carried out due to the Soviet Sinyavino Offensive on 19 August.)
• Operation Citadel (pincer offensives with the goal of encircling of Red Army forces after the Battle of Stalingrad. Carried out 4 July 1943.)
• Operation Theseus/Aida (invasion of Egypt and Suez Canal from Libya)
• Plan Orient (projected invasion of Middle East by Afrika Corps)^[3]
• Operation Attila/Anton (occupation of un-occupied zone of France after allied landings in French North Africa to prevent an Allied invasion of Southern France)
• Operation Herkules (revision of previous plans to invade Malta)
• Operation Achse (German invasion of Italy after its resignation from the Axis alliance to install a puppet government under Mussolini. Carried out 8 September 1943.)
• Operation Margarethe I (German invasion of Hungary. Carried out 19 March 1944.)
• Operation Margarethe II (scheduled German invasion of Romania)
• Operation Tanne Ost (German invasion with the goal of capturing the Finnish island of Suursaari (Russian: Gogland) in the Gulf of Finland after that country signed the Moscow Armistice)
• Operation Tanne West (scheduled German invasion of the Finnish-controlled Åland Islands)
• Operation Panzerfaust (second German invasion of Hungary to depose Miklos Horthy and install a puppet government. Carried out 15 October 1944.)
• German military operations in the Slovak National Uprising to retain control of Slovakia)
• Operation Wacht am Rhein (also known as the Battle of the Bulge. German panzer attack through the Ardennes with the goal of recapturing Antwerp and encircling of British Allied forces in Belgium and the Netherlands)
  • Operation North Wind (plan to encircle and destroy the U.S. 7th Army and French 1st Army and recapture Strasbourg. Carried out 1 January 1945)
    • Operation Dentist (a planned follow-up encirclement of the U.S. 3rd Army. Never carried out due to the failure of Nordwind.)
• Operation Spring Awakening (offensive operation on the Hungarian part of the Eastern front with the goal of recapturing Budapest, while simultaneously defending the Nagykanizsa oil fields south of Lake Balaton)
• Projected German administrative divisions in occupied eastern territories:
  • Lokot Republic (implemented in 1942)
  • Belarusian Central Rada (implemented in 1943)
  • Reichskommissariat Ostland (implemented in 1941)
  • Reichskommissariat Ukraine (implemented in 1941)
  • Reichskommissariat Moskau (theorical planning only)
  • Reichskommissariat Kaukasus (theorical planning only)

Operational plans of Japan

Listed below are operations and invasion plans of the Japanese Empire from 1929-1942:

1929–1940

• planned Siberian invasion
• Attempts to take the China Far East Railway
• Manchurian Invasion, Mukden Incident
• Attempts to attack in Shanghai, January 28 Incident
• Attempts to invade the Chinese in Hopei province, Operation Nekka
• Attempts to invade the Chinese in Chahar province, Suiyuan Campaign (1936)
• Invasion into China (the "China Incident"), Second Sino-Japanese War
• Occupation of some Chinese East coastal provinces, Amoy Operation, Canton Operation, Hainan Island Operation, Swatow Operation, South Guangxi Operation
• Battles with Soviets in the Changkufeng/Khasan area, Battle of Lake Khasan
• Battles with Soviets and Mongols in Nomonhan Soviet-Japanese Border War (1939)
• Occupation of North Indochina, Indochina Expedition

1941–1943

• Control of all of Indochina
• Advances in the China Mainland, Second Sino-Japanese War
• Pearl Harbor strike
• Invasion of the Philippines
• Invasion of Thailand
• Invasion of the Dutch Indies (now Indonesia)
• Japanese Invasion of Burma
• Invasion of Guam and Wake Island
• Invasion of New Guinea/Solomons
• Christmas Island invasion
• Projected Invasion to Cocos (Keeling) Island
• Japanese Invasion of the Gilbert Islands
• Japanese Invasion of Nauru and Ocean island
• Imphal and Kohima strikes ("Operation U") (attempts to India Invasion,"21 Operation")
• Planned occupation of Ceylon ("Invasion of Ceylon")
• Occupation of Andaman and Nicobar Islands
• Capture of the Attu/Kiska islands (alternative operation together with the Midway operation)
• Intent for Hawaii Invasion (Battle of Midway)
• Renewed plans for Siberian invasion (Kantouken Operation)
• Western China invasion (Szechwan Invasion or "Operation 5")
• Indian Invasion
• Planned invasion of the island of Madagascar
• Planned total conquest of all New Guinea and Solomon Islands
• extension of south square of defensive perimeter: (Melanesia/Polynesia Areas)
  • Santa Cruz Island
  • New Hebrides
  • New Caledonia/Loyalty archipelago
  • Fiji
  • Samoa
  • Tuvalu
  • Tokelau
  • Tonga
• Rejected proposal to invade Australia
• Projected Japanese administrative divisions in occupied Asian and Pacific territories:
  • Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere

See also

• Attacks on United States territory in North America during World War II
• List of World War II military operations
• Plan Kathleen

References

1. Kurt Mehner, Germany. Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, Bundesarchiv (Germany). Militärarchiv, Arbeitskreis für Wehrforschung. Die Geheimen Tagesberichte der Deutschen Wehrmachtführung im Zweiten Weltkrieg, 1939-1945: 1. Dezember 1943-29. Februar 1944. p.51 (in German).
2. Stanley G. Payne (1987). The Franco regime, 1936-1975. Univ of Wisconsin Press, p. 314.
3. Colin F. Baxter (1996). The war in North Africa, 1940-1943: a selected bibliography. Greenwood Press, p. 31.