The War That Came Early

The War That Came Early is a six-volume[1] alternate history series by Harry Turtledove, in which World War II begins in 1938 over Czechoslovakia. The first volume, Hitler's War, was released in hardcover in 2009 without a series title. Subsequently, the paperback edition was announced as The War That Came Early: Hitler's War.

List

The series is six volumes:

Points of divergence

In this series the initial point of divergence occurs on July 20, 1936 with Spanish Nationalist leader José Sanjurjo listening to his pilot's advice and changing the conditions of his flight back to Spain – thus averting the crash that caused his death in our timeline. However, in the following two years the course of the Spanish Civil War remains virtually the same as Sanjurjo makes identical military and political decisions that Francisco Franco did in real history; only the name of the Nationalist leader has changed. Only in 1939 does Sanjurjo make a significantly different decision, aiding the Axis conquest of Gibraltar, while in real history Franco carefully maintained cordial relations with the British. This, however, comes after the series' main point of divergence.

The timeline again — and far more significantly — diverges from history in September 1938. UK Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and French Prime Minister Édouard Daladier meet German Führer Adolf Hitler at Munich, ready to appease Hitler and force Czechoslovakia into surrender. However, their supine attitude and manifest wish to avoid war at any price arouse Hitler's predatory instinct. While his generals want to gain time for further building up Germany's armed forces, Hitler feels that the time to strike is now while his opponents are so obviously unprepared. With the extensive British and French concessions, Hitler has no pretext to launch a war; however, news of the assassination of Sudeten German leader Konrad Henlein by a Czech nationalist suddenly gives him a casus belli (in actual history, Henlein lived until 1945). Hitler jubilantly declares that there is no further room for negotiations and that his army will attack Czechoslovakia immediately. Chamberlain and Daladier erroneously believe that Hitler himself had Henlein assassinated and — much against their will — are forced to declare war in fulfilment of their treaty obligations to Czechoslovakia.

As a result, World War II starts in 1938 with a German attack on Czechoslovakia, rather than an invasion of Poland a year later. Consequently, both sides are far less prepared for war than in real history.

This timeline can be considered to have been created by the (fictional) Czech nationalist Jaroslav Stribny, who assassinated Henlein. He is never seen onstage and the reader is given no access to his thoughts and reasoning. Posterity in this timeline would link his name with that of Gavrilo Princip, whose act of assassination had set off the earlier First World War.

Hitler's War

Hitler's War
Author Harry Turtledove
Country United States
Language English
Genre Alternate history
Publisher Del Rey Books
Publication date
 August 4, 2009
Media type Print (Hardcover & Paperback)
Pages 512
ISBN 978-0-345-49182-4

The War That Came Early: Hitler's War, published in 2009, is the first book in the series. Like many of his other series, Turtledove uses multiple viewpoint characters, mostly young soldiers and junior officers. The novel follows the progression of the war between September 1938 and the spring of 1939.

Czechoslovak campaign

The German Army concentrates most of its available forces for the attack on Czechoslovakia, leaving the Siegfried Line greatly under-defended and gambling that the French will not launch any major offensive. Indeed, the French content themselves with a token offensive, conquering some minor German border towns and later evacuating them with no strategic effect, and failing to seriously relieve the pressure on their Czechoslovak ally. The Soviet Union does send airplanes to aid Czechoslovakia, but — having no shared border — cannot send ground troops through the intervening territory of Poland and Romania without risking war with these countries, a step for which Joseph Stalin is not yet ready.

Czech soldiers offer tenacious and persistent resistance to the overwhelming German forces, with Prague and other cities heavily damaged and a great toll of civilian casualties; also the Skoda works and other industrial centers are totally destroyed, denying Germany use of them for its armament program later in the war. However, the Slovak Hlinka Guard stages a pro-Nazi rebellion, and many Slovak soldiers — even if not joining this uprising — fight only half-heartedly and tend to desert en masse. After German forces cut Czechoslovakia in half and are joined by Hungarians invading from the south and Poles from the north, Czechoslovak resistance crumbles, with the country's leaders forming a government in exile in Paris. A considerable number of soldiers (mostly Czechs, with some anti-Fascist Slovaks and Ruthenians) also escape to France, where they will play a significant role later in the war.

Impact on the Spanish Civil War

The outbreak of the European war comes just in time to breathe new life into Republican Spain, which had faced imminent collapse. France reverses its former "Non-Intervention" policy and a flow of munitions across the Pyrenees helps the Republic win the Battle of the Ebro and reunite its territory which was cut in half by the Nationalist rebels some months before; the International Brigades, which had been on the point of being withdrawn from Spain, remain there "for the duration". Subsequently, however, Spain becomes a backwater, forgotten by the rest of the world with the spotlight turned elsewhere; both Spanish sides are starved of supplies by their respective patrons, who need the munitions for higher priority fronts. The Spanish war becomes stalemated, with neither side able to make any decisive move.

Sanjurjo turns his attention to conquering Gibraltar, the British enclave ceded to Britain in perpetuity by Spain under the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. Spanish Nationalist troops suffer great losses from the naval artillery of the moored British warships, but with the aerial help of the German Condor Legion British resistance is overcome and the Royal Navy ships are forced to withdraw into the open sea. Conquest of Gibraltar is a fillip to Spanish national pride and to Sanjurjo's personal reputation, and might have strategic implications for later stages of the war in the Mediterranean. However, by depriving the British Empire of a highly valued strategic asset, Sanjurjo irrevocably ties the Spanish Nationalist cause with that of Nazi Germany, foreclosing any chance of surviving in power after a German defeat.[3] Towards mid-1939 the long-deadlocked Madrid front becomes active, with both sides moving reinforcements there. The Nationalists aim to finally conquer the city, while the Republicans — who deploy to Madrid the International Brigades — seek to push them away decisively and end any further threat to the Spanish capital.

The Soviet war with Poland and Germany

After having taken a minor part in the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia, the staunchly anti-Communist Polish government openly moves to the side of Germany, considering Adolf Hitler to be a more tolerable neighbor than Joseph Stalin. Consequently, Polish-Soviet tensions grow until finally erupting into open war, with Stalin accusing Poland of oppressing its Belarusian minority and launching an invasion with the proclaimed aim of liberating these people (the true objective is to regain formerly Russian territory which the Soviet Union had to cede to Poland in 1921 following the Soviet-Polish War). The Poles ask for German aid, becoming Hitler's formal ally, and getting some military assistance, mainly in the form of Luftwaffe fighters.

The Soviet advance stalls, due to the Polish-German resistance and to the harsh mid-winter conditions. Though not committing ground troops en masse, Germany finds itself fighting a two-front war, its nightmare from the 1914–1918 war — which increases the urgency of quickly winning a decisive victory on the Western Front. It also means that for the time being Germany can spare no resources for the conquest of Denmark and Norway. While air raid regulations and wartime rationing become part of daily life in both London and Berlin, in neutral Copenhagen life goes on as usual.

Japanese invasion of Siberia

For some years previously, there had been a power struggle within the Japanese military and political establishment, with the Japanese Navy arguing for a war aimed at wrestling control of the Pacific from the US, while the generals — particularly those of the powerful Kwantung Army — preferred an attack on the Soviet Union as an extension of Japan's ongoing conquest of China. The Soviet Union's entanglement with Germany and Poland tips the balance in favour of the generals.

The Japanese shift from an undeclared, low-intensity border war with the Soviets along the Mongolian border to an all-out invasion of Siberia, with the clear strategic aim of cutting the Trans-Siberian Railway, the sole, long extended supply line to Vladivostok. Cutting the line would mean that the city — and the entire Soviet Far East — would swiftly become untenable and fall into Japanese hands. Well aware of this, the Soviets fiercely contest the Japanese advance north of the Amur River and hold the invaders away from the vital railway line. Meanwhile, the Americans present in Japanese-occupied China at the American Legation in Peking and elsewhere are worried about the increasing arrogance and expansion of the Japanese Empire. However decision-makers in Washington, D.C. are content to see the Japanese direct their aggressive energy at the Soviets, and America continues to supply Japan with fuel and scrap metal — in effect tacitly supporting the Japanese war effort.

Invasion of the Low Countries and Northern France

In the winter of 1939 world attention shifts away from the other war theatres to the Western Front, where the German Army launches its bold effort to implement the Schlieffen Plan of 1914, using the armoured striking force they lacked in the previous war, and knock France altogether out of the war. The Germans begin by launching a massive surprise attack on the neutral Netherlands. The Dutch Army, caught completely unprepared, resists as best it can, but German bombers inflict heavy damage on defenceless Rotterdam, and rather than have more of their cities suffer the same fate the Dutch government surrenders after five days.

Belgium, which earlier refused to let French and British forces deploy on its soil, belatedly allows this after the Germans invade. After three weeks of fighting Belgium is overrun and King Leopold — never enthusiastic about waging the war — surrenders. The Germans then invade northern France, by-passing the Maginot Line by way of the Ardennes. However, though the French are repeatedly driven back, the force of the German Blitzkrieg is not as overwhelming as it would have been had the German arms industry received another year of producing more advanced tanks. With the war launched in 1938, they have to rely heavily on the Panzer I, a light tank intended originally for training. Also, with an active Eastern Front against the Soviets, the Wehrmacht can't concentrate all of its forces in the west.

Much of the Allies' armaments are inadequate or obsolete as well, with artillery antedating World War I and air forces still having many biplanes (which on some occasions are able to hold their own against more modern types). Still, the Allies are not broken, and wage a fighting retreat deeper and deeper into France. Though Dunkirk and other Channel ports are conquered by the Germans, making communications with Britain difficult, the British Expeditionary Force remains united with its French ally, as well as with some Belgian forces continuing to fight despite their country's surrender, and with highly motivated Czechoslovak exiles.

Disaffection in the German Army and the Battle of Paris

The continuation of bitter fighting and the absence of the expected French collapse causes disappointment among German officers, who feel that Hitler had acted precipitously in launching the war. A conspiracy of conservative officers is foiled by the Gestapo, with the conspirators executed or sent to the Dachau Concentration Camp. In the aftermath, a widespread witch-hunt is launched throughout the German Army, targeting many officers who had not been involved in the conspiracy at all. This increases the feeling of frustration and disaffection in the German ranks, added to the increasing fatigue of the ongoing hard fighting.

The Germans advance southwards, capture Verdun without the massive toll exacted there in the previous war, advance farther south than in the Battle of the Marne in 1914 and penetrate into the outskirts of Paris. The French capital is heavily bombed, with the Eiffel Tower destroyed. Still, though neither Daladier nor Chamberlain are inspiring war leaders, resistance continues with the defiant proclamation "Paris is the front, here we will stop them". The Allies also start deploying armour effectively, having learned from their German opponents and with the French command at last listening to the advice of their best armour expert, Colonel Charles de Gaulle. The German forces prepare for a decisive push, to surround and conquer Paris, but are confronted by a massed force of determined French and British troops, as well as Czechoslovaks and African Black soldiers from the French colonies. The exhausted German soldiers are stopped and the Allies — to their own soldiers' surprise — manage to start pushing them back. The Germans are in a predicament, with no strategic achievement to show for the months of grueling fighting, overextended and their flank threatened by French forces at the Maginot Line, by-passed but not defeated.

The threatened Jews

With Nazi Germany already straining its resources for external war in November 1938, there is no Kristallnacht of Germany-wide pogroms and burning of synagogues. Still, discrimination and persecution of Jews becomes ever more intensive and oppressive. Even Jews completely assimilated in the German culture, who thought of themselves as Germans (and as patriotic Germans) are driven beyond the pale, not allowed to join the Army even when they want to (and when they had served with distinction in the previous war) nor being allowed to use the air raid shelters when Allied bombers start arriving overhead. The conquest of Czechoslovakia, the Netherlands, Belgium and Northern France expose an increasing number of additional Jews to the racist brutality from which German Jews have suffered since 1933. The Jews have no clear idea how far the Nazis intend to go, but they have many reasons to feel foreboding and start assuming that they could count themselves lucky to be still alive at the war's end.

West and East

West and East
Author Harry Turtledove
Country United States
Language English
Genre Alternate history
Publisher Del Rey Books
Publication date
 July 27, 2010
Media type Print (Hardcover)
Pages 448
ISBN 978-0-345-49184-8

The War That Came Early: West and East, published in July 2010, is the second book in the series. Both locked into two-front wars, neither Germany nor the Soviet Union makes significant progress against the other in Eastern Europe.

There is little change in the Spanish front in this book, and German Jews become forced to wear the Yellow Star even as Polish Jews are fighting alongside German soldiers.

The Siberian campaign

The Japanese successfully sever the Trans-Siberian Railway, cutting off shipments to Vladivostok. Cold weather and mosquitoes take their toll on the Japanese soldiers, and skirmishes with the Russians are commonplace. Despite the distance from the industrial areas of Russia, Soviet soldiers still maintain modest air and artillery superiority, though their accuracy is often doubtful, causing many casualties on both sides. Japanese attacks on Vladivostok proceed much like their attacks on Port Arthur in 1905, suffering tremendous casualties for very little ground gained.

The War in the West

The Germans have slowly introduced the Panzer III, a tank with thicker armor and a turret large enough for the whole gun crew. Panzer IIIs prove formidable against their French counterparts, but their arrival is delayed by a lack of resources and the diversion of most German armored units to the Eastern Front in Poland. The Germans completely occupy Denmark and fight with the British in Norway. Sweden displays its neutrality by printing both Allied and Nazi propaganda, but Stockholm is still heavily fortified in order to defend Sweden's independence. German U-boats are forced to take extra measures to avoid targeting neutral merchant ships in the hope of avoiding American involvement in the war, while experimenting with the snorkel.

The British and French successfully launch an offensive, driving the Germans into a slow retreat towards the French border. Some of the German military high command launch another coup against Hitler, but this, as well as the previous one is put down. In the aftermath, many Germans suspected of being disloyal, from ordinary privates to generals, are arrested by the SS and Gestapo.

Eastern Front

Germany increases its commitments to Poland, sending Panzers and infantry to cut off the Russians in the disputed territory. In response, the Russians escalate the war, launching a full-scale invasion that drives as far as the Vistula before being stopped and driven back.

Japanese occupation of China

Tension mounts between American forces stationed in Shanghai and the Japanese Imperial army. The Japanese and well-to-do Chinese collaborators drink in fancy bars, while the Japanese show off their success in Russia, likening it to the 1905 Russo-Japanese War.

The Big Switch

The Big Switch
Author Harry Turtledove
Country United States
Language English
Genre Alternate history
Publisher Del Rey Books
Publication date
 July 19, 2011
Media type Print (Hardcover)
Pages 480
ISBN 978-0-345-49186-2

The War That Came Early: The Big Switch, published in July 2011, is the third book in the series. The big switch referred to in the title is that of France and the United Kingdom, as they join Germany in its war against Communist Russia. At the end of the book the Japanese assault on the European colonial powers and the United States begins.

Japanese-Soviet War

The Russians at Vladivostok finally surrender due to a lack of food. Due to a shortage of trained bomber pilots in the Far East, the Soviets take experienced co-pilots and retrain them as bomber pilots. The Japanese force their captured Russian prisoners to go to a Unit 731 facility, Bataan Death March style, where they are experimented on by the Japanese. The Russians make peace with the Japanese on the basis of the new border being the current front line so the Russians can concentrate on their enemies to the west.

The War in the West

The Germans are slowly retreating as the British and French counterattack. The Allies evacuate Norway, leaving it to the Germans. Rudolf Hess parachutes into Scotland in a bid to convince Britain and France to join Germany and Poland in their campaign against the Soviet Union. Winston Churchill is the primary voice of opposition against this, but he dies, in an apparent accident, after being hit by a drunk driver. The Allies agree to this plan, sending their troops into Russia to fight the Soviets. The German Army withdraws from France, being only slightly harried by a few stubborn Francs-tireurs. The Czechoslovakians who continued to fight after their country's defeat are disgusted, and head to Spain to fight the Fascists there. A few groups in France and Britain consisting mainly of disaffected soldiers and politicians wonder if a coup may be necessary to stop their countries' descents into police states, while Roosevelt cancels all supplies sent to the British and the French.

The Advance into Russia

The Germans and their Polish allies drive the Soviets out of Poland and into Belorussia. The Soviets suffer many major defeats, and the German army is at the gates of Smolensk by the beginning of winter. British and French troops arrive to bolster the German and Polish defense against the Russian counterattacks. The obsolescent SB-2 is consigned to night bombing missions as the much better Pe-2 is now available and the SB-2 is unable to defend itself against fighters such as the Bf-109. The Soviets take a measure of revenge on the British by attacking Scapa Flow with long-range bombers. The Baltic is dangerous waters for both sides as it teems with mines and patrol aircraft.

Japanese-American-French-British-Dutch War

President Roosevelt, alarmed at Japan's aggression, freezes the flow of oil and raw materials to Japan. Shortly after, on Sunday, January 12, 1941, Japan launches surprise attacks on French Indochina, the Philippines, the Dutch East Indies, Hong Kong, Malaya, Hawaii, and a few minor targets. The Asiatic fleet is devastated, anchored at Cavite and attacked without warning. At Pearl Harbor, the Americans have warning of the attack and only lose a carrier and a battleship, as well as some fuel storage facilities.

Spanish Civil War

The Spanish Civil War is in stalemate, which does not change throughout the book. When France switches sides, the regiment of Czechs are sent to Spain to help the Republicans.

The Threatened Jews

Jews in Germany are forced to bear a new name. Jewish males will have to have the new first name of Moses, and Jewish females have the new name of Sarah, but can still live a more or less normal lives in their homes. In the Czechoslovakia, the country's entire Jewish population is consigned to a ghetto in Theresienstadt. The worst is the fate of Jews in the German-occupied parts of the Soviet Union: captured Red Army soldiers are killed out of hand, Jewish civilians in captured towns are subjected to cruel harassment, and in the American press there are stories of systematic massacres. Polish Jews remain protected by their country's being an ally of Germany, German soldiers in Poland being ordered not to interfere with local Jews.

Coup d'État

Coup d'Etat
Author Harry Turtledove
Country United States
Language English
Genre Alternate history
Publisher Del Rey Books
Publication date
 July 31, 2012
Media type Print (Hardcover)
Pages 432
ISBN 978-0-345-52465-2

The War That Came Early: Coup d'Etat, published in July 2012, is the fourth book in the series. In this volume, the situation of the war changes once again, with a military coup in Britain turning them against the Nazis and their allies fighting the Soviets. In the Pacific, throughout 1941, the Japanese gain ground throughout South East Asia with the Western powers unable to prevent it.

The War in the West and North Africa

The war in North Africa is very desultory as the reluctant and badly equipped Italians are defeated again and again by the British.

Japanese-American War

After the initial Japanese surprise attack, the US Navy deploys the Pacific Fleet to seek and destroy the Japanese navy, and retake islands captured in the opening battles. However, the plan fails, as the Pacific Fleet is continuously attacked by Japanese aircraft, flying from the captured islands. After suffering heavy losses, including the flagship USS Arizona, the Americans are forced to return to Pearl Harbour, leaving any US forces on recaptured islands stranded.. The Japanese take Midway Island away from the American forces there, and start a bombing campaign against the Hawaiian Islands. All US Navy front-line aircraft carriers, except for the USS Ranger, are sunk at the Battle of Midway. The USS Boise is assigned to escort the USS Ranger, but Japanese aircraft again attack the ship, and sink the Boise with two direct hits. Pete McGill survives the sinking, and is picked up by the Ranger.

Two Fronts

Two Fronts
Author Harry Turtledove
Country United States
Language English
Genre Alternate history
Publisher Del Rey Books
Publication date
 July 23, 2013
Media type Print (Hardcover)
ISBN 978-0345524683

The War That Came Early: Two Fronts, published in July 2013, is the fifth book in the series and spans the period 1942 – early 1943. The French and British are now fighting the Germans in Belgium, while the Germans also have to continue battling the Soviets in the east. Due to the shift of manpower to the Western Front, Germany is now starting to lose ground in Russia. On the other side of the world, Japan begins launching biological attacks against the US.

North Africa

British forces are pushed back towards Egypt when the Afrika Korps arrives under the command of Walther Model. Field Marshal Montgomery is killed when his transport plane is shot down by the Germans and is replaced by Claude Auchinlek.

Western Front

The Germans are forced to transfer substantial amounts of men and equipment from Russia to the reopened Western Front. French and British troops stranded in the Soviet Union are also shipped back to France and Belgium. After reversing the pro-Nazi coup in the British government, leaders of the plot are assigned to minor diplomatic posts far from London to prevent future collaboration, though their sympathizers remain in England, largely unknown. The 1942 US elections change little with a few Democrat seats being lost, but the USA remains out of the European theater of war. FDR does sell/send Britain some B-17 "Flying Fortress" bombers that the RAF uses for daylight bombing raids of German cities. FDR eliminates funding for work on an atomic bomb in Tennessee, on the advice that the project is unlikely to yield results for the amount of money it requires. The German U-boat (U-30) sinks the British Navy's aircraft carrier Ark Royal. Following the second insurrection in Munster, the SS begin another purge of the military, removing anyone with connection to Munster from duty.

Eastern Front

Due to the shift of manpower to the Western Front, Germany is now starting to lose ground in Russia, with just enough soldiers left to slow the Soviet advance. The biggest difference is Germany's use of Panzer IVs as medium battle tanks instead of just infantry support. They receive larger guns (75 mm vs the 50 mm of Panzer IIIs) and better armament so that they can now go toe-to-toe with Russian T-34 tanks. The bigger shock for the Russians is newer German Tiger I main battle tanks (Panzer VIs) with their 88mm guns that are true "tank killers". There is no mention of the Panzer V (Panther) tank. The German Luftwaffe also introduces FW-190s into the mix to aid the older Me-109s. The book ends with the Red Army breaking through German lines and advancing on the town of Horki in Belarus.

Japanese-American War

In the Pacific, the Japanese are at a standstill. While they now have Midway, they still haven't taken the Hawaiian Islands. The American Navy's stock of fleet carriers is reduced to a single surviving vessel (USS Ranger) to protect the Hawaiian Islands, but is later joined by two "baby flattops" (converted merchant vessels that each possess only half the aircraft capacity of the Ranger). From Midway, Japanese launch a biological attack against the Hawaiian Island by dropping canisters of plague infested fleas living on rats. However, the United States is apparently prepared for this, as it frequently issues vaccinations to servicemen, countering each new disease the Japanese send.

Spanish Civil War

Despite General Franco's death by a sniper, little changes in Spain as both sides still receive only limited support from their allies. However, now that France is fighting the Germans once again on the Western Front, the regiment of Czechs are requested by the French government to return to France to help the French Republic fight the Germans in Belgium. The Czechs, remembering France's earlier betrayal, are wary of France's intentions and continue fighting around Madrid. The Nationalist forces receive assistance from the German "Legion Kondor", though the German officers are regularly targeted by Republican snipers.

The threatened Jews

Life for the Jews in Germany, what little there is, goes on as before. Strict rules and curfews with no relief is combined with miserable treatment by the Nazi authorizes. The RAF starts daylight bombing raids on German cities that kill both Jew and German alike. On one bombing raid, the Bruck family is killed when their bakery/home is destroyed by bombs from RAF B-17s purchased from the USA. Sarah Bruck survives because she was out shopping at the time, but the Nazi government takes the remaining property and assets of the bakery just the same. A demonstration in front of the cathedral of Munster demanding the release of the city's archbishop turns into a slaughter as members of the Gestapo open fire on the crowd. Waffen-SS troops enter Munster to restore order and close off the plaza in front of the cathedral to the public. Rumors go around that the SS troops were brought in after the Wehrmacht refused to do so. Anti-SS sentiment continues to grow in Munster.

Last Orders

The last novel of the series. It takes place from late 1943 to 1944. The Americans launch an airborne invasion that retakes Midway Island, and a military coup takes place in Germany. Hitler is killed and Germany is plunged into a civil war. As the new German government negotiates peace with the Allied powers, the Baltic states become part of the USSR, and Stalin deploys troops into the eastern part of Russia, hinting at a new Russo-Japanese war to retake Vladivostok. Jews in Germany have their citizenship returned. The Americans continue their war with Japan, and Albert Einstein meets with Peggy Druce to find her ex-husband, Herbert, to try and convince him to continue funding the Manhattan Project. Vaclav Jezek kills Nationalist leader general Sanjurjo, and the Nationalist forces eventually surrender, and Spain is finally united.

Characters

Viewpoint characters

The two historical viewpoint characters are marked as such

Allied combatants:

Axis combatants:

Other:

Non-viewpoint historical characters

(* — mention only)

References

  1. 1 2 "Last Orders (The War That Came Early, Book Six)". Random House Publishing. Retrieved 2013-11-04.
  2. ↑ Silver, Steven H. "Hitler's War". Retrieved 2010-10-29.
  3. ↑ In actual history, Germany prepared Operation Felix, a plan for occupying Gibraltar, but Franco opposed its implementation.

External links

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