Axis Power: Could Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan Have Won World War Two?

Was the Battle of Britain a miraculous victory against incredible odds? Was it a ‘close run thing’? What about the German invasion of Russia, or the Battle of Midway? Just as important, if the Axis powers had won any of these battles or campaigns, would it have led to them winning World War II? For these and other presumed to be ‘decisive’ battles and campaigns of World War II; Axis Power looks at what did happen, what, with plausible Axis strategy changes, could have happened, and uniquely, at the consequences for the wider war of both. A terrifying analysis of what might have been.

To paraphrase Clausewitz, ‘war is interested in us’. The Allied victory in World War II caused the superpower emergence of the USA as the most powerful nation, and created the international system that still runs the world today. If the Axis had won, it would have been a change of global proportions and continuing major consequences.

Axis Power examines the following campaigns: France and Dunkirk 1940; The Battle of Britain 1940; The Mediterranean 1940-43; Barbarossa-Moscow 1941; Stalingrad-Caucasus 1942-43; Pearl Harbor and its consequences 1941-42; Coral Sea-Midway 1942 and the battle of production. The focus is on 1939-43 when the Axis had a plausible chance of winning and gives a global perspective, covering the war in the West, the Russo-German War and the Pacific War.

Among other specific strategies, Axis Power analyses the probable outcomes and wider consequences if:

1) The German panzers hadn’t halted for two days when poised to capture Dunkirk and cut the BEF off from the sea.

2) Instead of bombing London, the Luftwaffe had continued its ‘counter air’ attacks against RAF airfields during the Battle of Britain.

3) The Axis had implemented existing plans and options to attack Gibraltar and Malta, reinforce Rommel in North Africa, and invade the Middle East.

4) Hitler hadn’t invaded Russia; or, having done so, followed the advice of his generals and concentrated on Moscow, instead of diverting his forces to the Ukraine.

5) Japan hadn’t attacked Pearl Harbor nor Germany declared war on the USA; or alternatively, Nagumo had followed up with a second strike on the ‘Day of Infamy’.

6) Yamamoto had concentrated his carrier fleets for either or both of the Battles of Coral Sea and Midway, and attempted to invade Hawaii.

7) Instead of dividing his forces against Stalingrad and the Caucasus oilfields, Hitler had kept to his original plan and concentrated against each in turn.

8) Germany had avoided a little known major blunder, and properly mobilized its war production from 1939-40, instead of the actual late start in 1942.

9) The Axis had knocked out Britain, Russia, or both, before America could intervene effectively. Would Churchill’s fear of an Axis Dark Age have been realized?

There is expert analysis of the balance of forces and circumstances for each campaign. Axis Power includes the construction of alternative campaign scenarios. The alternatives that are investigated are entirely about strategic decisions, options, and actual military plans available at the time. Except for the German mobilization strategy, there are no changes to the availability of forces, technology, commanders, or the role of chance. By these methods it comes to a balanced conclusion to the obvious, big, yet controversial and unsettling question: could the Axis powers, principally Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, have won World War II?

Buy Axis Power and find out the answer.

Update:October 2012, Print Version from Amazon CreateSpace is now available. Go to Amazon.com, go to books, then type in full title, Axis Power:Could Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan have won World War Two?

Size: 125,000 words, 18 tables, includes chapter endnotes and bibliography.

Author and Publisher (2012): Dr. William Roger Townshend PhD (Lancaster UK)