The Dragon and the Bear: The Dawn of the Eurasian War

By Matthew W. Quinn

The Nazis began their attack on Czechoslovakia with a series of air drops to seize the Sudetenland passes and other strategic sites in the Sudetenland, followed by armored spearheads emerging from former Austria. This enables them to severely damage the forward-deployed Czechoslovak army, which was expecting a more traditional attempt to force the passes.

In Castle Tarleton, the Draka generals take note of this strategy.

In the meantime, Hungary attacks Czechoslovakia from the east and south, intent on reclaiming all of the Crownlands of St. Stephen. Italy attacks Yugoslavia, to extremely mixed results. Luftwaffe raids as far as Ploesti, attacking the Little Entente's oil supplies.

In the Far East, revolts break out against the last emperor of the Taiping, who combines ineptitude with excessive zeal in attempting to Christianize China. The Japanese, entrenched in the Manchurian territory they had occupied during the anti-Taiping "Boxer" revolt at the end of the 19th Century, begin moving southward, to the great aggravation of the United States.

The Yugoslavs begin forcing the Italians back. German units diverted from the siege of Prague to prevent full Italian defeat and Yugoslav reinforcement of Czechoslovakia. Hungary completes occupation of Slovakia and begins shifting forces west to deal with probes from the Romanians out of Transylvania.

The French move into the Saar, occupying some territory and skirmishing with German forces. Little effect had on the German operations to the east and south.

Meanwhile, the Domination begins massing Citizen and Janissary forces in northern Africa, citing the dangers of Communist subversion from Spain. The Security Directorate keeps a close watch on the Janissary armies in the area for this reason.

By late 1939, Czechoslovakia has been fully occupied, with the Germans annexing the Czech half and the Hungarians claiming the Slovak half. Many refugees stream into Russian territory. Russian forces are deployed into Poland and the Ukraine to protect the country's borders, but Russia does not declare war despite sizable support among the Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries. Kornilov, even stronger due to the retirement of Kerensky and his replacement by lesser men, thinks Russia still needs more time, especially with the possibility of an attack from the southeast from the Domination.

The Germans now turn their full attention to Yugoslavia, dismembering it in less than month. Italy gains much territory in the northwest and a puppet ally, Ustashe-dominated Croatia. Serbia is under German occupation while Bulgaria seeks to compensate for the loss of much southeastern territory to the Draka by grabbing Macedonia.

The Romanians, isolated from the Anglo-French alliance, bereft of local support, and with the Domination at their backs, sue the Axis for peace. Hitler demands the cession of Transylvania to Hungary and oil from Ploesti to fuel the coming offensive, but promises Bessarabia as the spoils of a later attack on Russia.

1940 sees the British attempt to preemptively secure Norway and the Germans surge north through Denmark. At the cost of much of their navy, the Germans eject the British from Scandinavia.

The Germans follow up their Scandinavian victories with a two-pronged invasion of France-one prong through the Low Countries and the other through the Ardennes. The Germans have it tougher than in our world due to the fact their "seize strong-points in advance via paratrooper" strategy is known. However, the Germans eventually force their way through the Ardennes and cut off the Ango-French force in the north. Dunkirk happens per OTL.

With the British ejected from the Continent and the French on the ropes, the Draka use the pretext of some Janissaries being caught with Communist literature (and being executed as a result) to launch an invasion of Spain. The Draka crush the disorganized Spanish forces in the south, following the Guadalquivir north and consuming the Andalusian Plain. The Portuguese dictator Salazar, realizing he's next if Spain falls, makes common cause with his left-wing enemies and intervenes in an attempt to outflank the Draka armies occupying southeastern Spain.

Although the bulk of the Draka war effort is focused on the southeastern part of the Iberian Peninsula, the Draka seize the Balearic Islands and use those as a base to land in the eastern parts of Spain. The coastal belt from Cartagena to Barcelona falls quickly, although Barcelona's well-organized anarchists — something the Draka commanders found somewhat shocking — exact a fearful toll from the Janissaries and Citizen troops before they go down. The Draka advance up the Ebro as far as Zaragoza before they are checked.

Meanwhile, the Draka air forces have swept the Spanish and Portuguese planes from the sky and kept Madrid and Lisbon under constant aerial bombardment. Eventually, a lucky bomb hit wipes out the Spanish Republic's top leadership, leading to a splintering of the Spanish war effort.

The Germans finish off France by August of 1940, although the French scored some late victories, especially against the Italian latecomers. The Draka take somewhat longer with Spain and Portugal due to the terrain, with Draka troops eventually meeting German and Italian ones in the passes of the Pyrenees and destroying the last Spanish and Portuguese armies between them. The Italians take particular delight due to the defeat of their Nationalist puppets some years prior.

By the time 1941 dawns, the German Luftwaffe are harrying Britain and the Draka are gruesomely pacifying Iberia, dividing it into five provinces in the manner of the Roman Emperor Diocletian. All works of left-wing literature Draka troops can find are burned although, ominously, many Janissaries read them first.

Then Italy invades Greece and finds that, like with Yugoslavia before, it has bitten off more than it can chew...