I know the possibility of Hitler invading Switzerland has been discussed around here at some length. Someone recently said that the Swiss deciding to enter WWII is truely ASBish--I'm sure others have talked about the Allies going over the alps.
But what about a Red Army conquest of those not-quite-clean-money-launderers?
The POD is no opening of a Second Front and no Allied movements on the Italian boot significantly north of the Gustav Line area--perhaps a bloody withdrawal from Salerno in '43 causes the WAllies to get all jittery about a lack of sufficient fighter cover at Normandy, they go for Calais, things go badly--anyway the Soviet's end up having a very expansive campaigning season in 1945.
Will Uncle Joe decide to invade the plucky little Swiss because he has everything in Europe east of Brittany in his sights, or might he consider invading Switzerland because he's a vicious wuss and doesn't think he can seize and hold any really surprising territories beyond maybe northern Italy above the Po, a bit of Denmark and a whole lot more of Germany--why look for atomic embarassment in the Dardanelles or the Benelux countries when you can, say, prove how well hard you are by taking over a pariah* country and boasting of having stabilised your sphere of influence along a line from Genoa to Stuttgart with a huge bulge in between.
How difficult is a Red Army campaign in these mountains, technically speaking, under either kind of strategy?
Thoughts?
*Knowing what we now know, will Molotov have an easy time convincing the West that, 'fuck it, they're reaping the wind they've sown, these fondue-eating war profiteers'?
But what about a Red Army conquest of those not-quite-clean-money-launderers?
The POD is no opening of a Second Front and no Allied movements on the Italian boot significantly north of the Gustav Line area--perhaps a bloody withdrawal from Salerno in '43 causes the WAllies to get all jittery about a lack of sufficient fighter cover at Normandy, they go for Calais, things go badly--anyway the Soviet's end up having a very expansive campaigning season in 1945.
Will Uncle Joe decide to invade the plucky little Swiss because he has everything in Europe east of Brittany in his sights, or might he consider invading Switzerland because he's a vicious wuss and doesn't think he can seize and hold any really surprising territories beyond maybe northern Italy above the Po, a bit of Denmark and a whole lot more of Germany--why look for atomic embarassment in the Dardanelles or the Benelux countries when you can, say, prove how well hard you are by taking over a pariah* country and boasting of having stabilised your sphere of influence along a line from Genoa to Stuttgart with a huge bulge in between.
How difficult is a Red Army campaign in these mountains, technically speaking, under either kind of strategy?
Thoughts?
*Knowing what we now know, will Molotov have an easy time convincing the West that, 'fuck it, they're reaping the wind they've sown, these fondue-eating war profiteers'?