List of expansion operations and planning of the Axis powers explained
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). The Kingdom of Romania, a de facto major member of the Axis with a contribution on par with Italy's, is also included.[1] [2] [3]
Operational plans of Germany, Italy and European allies
1936-1939 [before WWII]
1939–1941 [before Eastern Front]
German Operations
- Operation Weiß (German invasion of Poland. Carried out 1 September 1939)
- 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)
- Projekt Burgundy (projected creation of a "Model Aryan Pan-European State" by the SS on 1940, initially from the Franche-Comté to Burgundy, then a restoration of Lotharingia. Never carried out due to German Occupation of France not including Vichy France territories, and Himmler moving to the Eastern Front.)[16]
- Operation Sea Lion (invasion of Great Britain after September 1940, not carried out)
- Madagascar Plan (projected German occupation of French Madagascar by the SS to forcibly deport Jews of Europe to there. Planned to be carried out after September 1940. Never carried out due to British victory in Battle of Britain, cancelled on 1942)
- Operation Ikarus (invasion of Iceland, not carried out)
- Operation Felix (Spanish/German joint plan for control of Gibraltar, Canary Islands, Cape Verde, and Azores, it included the potential invasion of Portugal, Morocco and Spanish Sahara).[17] [18]
- Unnamed operation (subsequent occupation of Madeira)
- Unnamed operation (first attempt at reinforcing Italian Libya with German forces)
- Operation Tannenbaum (German-Italian invasion plan for Switzerland and Liechtenstein)
- The Fuhrmann Plan (attempted German occupation of Uruguay on 1940. Never carried out due being discovered by Uruguayan government)
- Operation Strafe (German planned invasion of Bulgaria in case they reject to join Tripartite Pact. Developed on on 30 November 1940, cancelled after get Bulgarian support)[19]
- Operation Marita (invasion of Greece via Bulgaria, Germany supporting the Italian efforts. Carried out 6 April 1941.)
- Operation Alpenveilchen (planned German invasion of Italian Albania to cross into Greece. Cancelled in favour of Yugoslav route.)
- Operation 25 (Axis 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.)[20]
- Operation Fire Eater (German-Italian plans to instigate a Pasthun rebellion against British India on the Pakistani Side and form a pro-Axis Pashtunistan state, planned to be carried out on June-July 1941. Cancelled due to being discovered by the Afghan Government with British help)[21]
- Lossberg study (projected invasion of USSR, carried out later)
- Projected German administrative divisions of occupied European territories:
- Greater Germanic Reich (theoretical planning mostly)
- German annexations
- German planned annexations
- Puppet States
Italian Operations
- Unnamed Italian plans to invade Yugoslavia in April 1940 (intended to be an outside conflict of the War between Germany and the Allies, never carried out due to joining Italy to the German war against Britain and France)[22] [23]
- Staging Plan 12 (Italian invasion of France, carried out in June 1940, there was no planning for an offensive against France beyond mobilisation)[24]
- East African campaign (Italian Operations on the Horn of Africa that were carried out since 10 June 1940)
- Italian bombing of Mandatory Palestine in World War II (Italian attack on British Palestine, carried out in July 1940)
- Operation E (Italian invasion of British Egypt from Italian Libya, carried out 9 September 1940)
- Italian bombing of Bahrain (Italian attack on British Empire's routes on Bahrain, carried out 19 October 1940)[29] [30]
- Plan Contingency G[reece] (First Italian attempt of invasion of Greece to conquer the Ionian Islands, the Sporades and the Cyclades islands to restore the old Venetian Empire, annexing the Epirus and Acarnania regions to Italian Albania, while also stablishing a pro-Axis Greek puppet state. Carried out on 28 October 1940 and start of Greco-Italian War)[31]
- Unnamed Italian plans for a future Italo-Greek invasion of British Cyprus after the war (never carried out due to Italian defeat).[32]
- Italian militar propposals to Bulgaria on 18 October 1940 (Mussolini's invitation to Tsar Boris III of Bulgaria to be part of the Operation G and re-conquer former Bulgarian Thrace in a joint-invasion, never carried out due to economical problems).[33]
- Projected Italian administrative divisions of occupied territories
1941–1944 [after Eastern Front]
- Operation Südsee (German-Japanese naval plans to seizure the Northeast Passage and prepare further invasion of Siberia. Prepared on 1941 and cancelled due to the priorities of Russo-German War)
- Operation Barbarossa (invasion of USSR, carried out 22 June 1941.)
- Operation Uzice (counter-insurgency operation by the German Wehrmacht on the occupied Yugoslavian territory)
- Operation Tiger (German plans to instigate a pro-Axis Pashtun insurrection on Waziristan to menace North India through Border conflicts with Afghanistan. Carried out since August 1942, but cancelled on 1944 due to economical problems)
- Operation Amanullah (German plans to instigate a pro-Axis Pashtun and Turkic insurrection in Central Asia by the Abwher in Afghanistan against Soviet and British sphere of influence, then German invasion of Afghanistan,through Soviet occupied territory, to form an Afghan puppet state leaded by Amanullah Khan with a main goal to invade British India in the future. Planned to be carried out on late 1942, cancelled after defeat on Battle of Stalingrad)[35]
- Operation Tibet (German plans to instigate a pro-Axis insurrection in Tibet to menace British Raj on 1942. Cancelled due to economical problems)[36]
- Operation Bajadere (disputed German-Indian special forces operation for a planned strike through the Caucasus into Iran, Afghanistan and India in January 1942.)
- German unnamed plans to invade Sweden with the 25th Panzer Division in Norway (and failed attempts to have Finnish co-operation) during March 1942 after the Februarikrisen.[37]
- Operation Wiesengrund (German plans to conquer Rybachy Peninsula by the Kriegsmarine to end the conection between Soviets and Allies. Planned to be carried out on March 1942, but cancelled in 1944)
- Amerikabomber Project (German plans to attack East Coast and Eastern United States through long-range strategic bomber from a potential occupied Azores. Developed since April 1942, never carried out due to economical problems)
- Operation Salam (German plans to instigate a pro-Axis insurrection by egiptian nationalists on May 1942. Ended in failure)
- Operation Störfang (combined German-Romanian assault supported by Italian naval units to capture the Crimean port city of Sevastopol. Carried out 2 June 1942.)
- Operation Pastorius (failed sabotage mission to destroy military, manufacturing and transportation targets throughout the United States. Carried out 12 June 1942, but foiled during the summer.)
- Operation Herkules (attempted German-Italian air invasion of British Malta on mid-July 1942. Cancelled due to priorize Afrika Korps land-force operations in North-Africa than air Force operation in the Mediterranean after near-disaster of paratroops on Battle of Crete).
- Operation Gertrud (projected German-Bulgarian-Armenian invasion of Turkey in case it joined the Allies in the beginning of the summer of 1942)[38]
- Operation Ilona (a plan aiming to counter an Anglo-American invasion of Iberia by holding north Spanish and Portuguese ports to protect German positions in France. Prepared in 1942, never carried out.)
- Operation Blau (strategic summer offensive in southern USSR. Carried out 28 June 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 S (propossed Italian attack against the US during November 1942 or any moment during 1943. Cancelled due to Italian campaign)[40]
- Operation Polar Fox (attempted invasion of Sweden from German occupied Norway during June–July 1943)[41]
- Operation Citadel (pincer offensives with the goal of encircling of Red Army forces after the Battle of Stalingrad. Carried out 4 July 1943.)
- Operation Eisenhammer (planned strategic bombing operation against power generators near Moscow and Gorky)
- Operation Theseus/Aida (invasion of Egypt and Suez Canal from Libya)
- Plan Orient (projected German invasion of Middle East and linking with Japanese forces to conquest India. Mostly by Afrika Corps in Libya and Egypt, but also troops from Bulgaria and the Balkans, and troops from Caucasus and Southern Russia)[42]
- Operation Attila/Anton (occupation of un-occupied zone of France, including French Tunis,[43] 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 François (attempt made by the German Army's Abwehr to use the dissident Qashqai people in Iran to rebelling against the British)
- Operation Pelikan (German plan for crippling the Panama Canal)
- 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 Rabat (alleged German plan of invasion to the Vatican City to kidnap or kill Pope Pius XII. Planned to begin on late 1943/January 1944. Not carried out because the worldwide disapprobation and possible reaction of catholic population against Italian Social Republic.)[44] [45] [46]
- 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 on Lapland War).
- Operation Tanne West (scheduled German invasion of the Finnish-controlled Åland. Cancelled on 3 October 1944 to avoid bad relations with Sweden)
- Operation Panzerfaust (second German invasion of Hungary to depose Miklós 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 Herbstnebel (German plans to attack in eastern Belgium and Luxembourg, east of the Meuse River. Cancelled due to election of Case Martin "big solution" plan, which formed the basis for the Battle of the Bulge.).
- 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 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:
- Projected Romanian administrative divisions in occupied eastern territories:
- Projected Italian administrative divisions in occupied eastern territories:
Operational plans of Japan and Thailand
Listed below are operations and invasion plans of the Japanese Empire from 1929 to 1942:
1929–1940
- Hokushin-ron (plans for a potential attack on the Soviet Union and the occupation of territories from Manchuria to Central Siberia, making a territorial expansion to the north).
- Nanshin-ron (plans for a potential attack in the Pacific Islands and then in Southeast Asia, making a territorial expansion to the south).
- Attempts to take the China Far East Railway
- Manchurian Invasion to conquer Northeast China, Mukden Incident
- Attempts to attack in Shanghai, January 28 Incident
- Attempts to invade the Chinese in Hebei province, Operation Nekka
- Attempts to invade Mongolia, Actions in Inner Mongolia (1933–1936)
- 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
- Franco-Thai War
1941–1943
See also
Notes and References
- [Waitman Wade Beorn]
- [David Stahel]
- https://books.google.com/books?id=jS3uCwAAQBAJ&dq=romania+Axis+satellite&pg=PA59 Dennis Deletant, British Clandestine Activities in Romania during the Second World War, Springer, 2016, p. 59
- Book: Baer, George W. . Test Case: Italy, Ethiopia, and the League of Nations . 1976 . Hoover Institution Press . 978-0-8179-6591-4 . en.
- News: Barreira . David . El plan más descabellado de la República: ceder Baleares a Mussolini para que no apoyase a Franco . 22 May 2022 . MSN . 2022-05-21 . es-ES.
- Book: Clemens, Walter C. . The Baltic Transformed: Complexity Theory and European Security . 2001 . Rowman & Littlefield . 978-0-8476-9859-2 . en.
- How War Came: The Immediate Origins of the Second World War, 1938-1939 . 2024-08-14 . The SHAFR Guide Online. 2017 . 10.1163/2468-1733_shafr_sim120130051 .
- Web site: https://acienciala.ku.edu/hist557/lect16.htm . 2024-08-14 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230404043249/https://acienciala.ku.edu/hist557/lect16.htm . 2023-04-04 .
- Web site: 2015-05-18 . Nepavyks pabėgti nuo Škirpos . 2024-08-14 . Post Scriptum . lt-LT.
- https://przystanekhistoria.pl/pa2/tematy/english-content/75481,Hungarians-towards-the-German-aggression-on-Poland.html
- Web site: http://www.holocaust-history.org/works/imt/03/htm/t021.htm . 2024-08-14 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140202194622/http://www.holocaust-history.org/works/imt/03/htm/t021.htm . 2014-02-02 .
- Web site: 2009-06-05 . International Military Tribunal "Blue Series," Vol. 2, p. 478 . 2024-08-14 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090605024800/http://www.holocaust-history.org/works/imt/02/htm/t478.htm . 2009-06-05 .
- Web site: 2009-06-05 . International Military Tribunal "Blue Series," Vol. 2, p. 448 . 2024-08-14 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090605022334/http://www.holocaust-history.org/works/imt/02/htm/t448.htm . 2009-06-05 .
- Web site: 2009-02-28 . Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression: Military Legal Resources (Federal Research Division: Customized Research and Analytical Services, Library of Congress) . . 2024-08-14 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090228091916/http://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/Military_Law/NT_Nazi-conspiracy.html . 2009-02-28 .
- Web site: ВОЕННАЯ ЛИТЕРАТУРА --[ Исследования ]-- Безыменский Л.А. Гитлер и Сталин перед схваткой .
- Book: Felix Kersten . The Kersten Memoirs: 1940-1945 . 1956.
- Book: Zabecki, David T. . World War II in Europe: An Encyclopedia . 1999 . Taylor & Francis . 9780824070298 . 1481 . registration.
- Web site: Plan de invasión a Portugal Eurasia1945 . 2023-02-02 . es.
- Web site: Strafe Operations & Codenames of WWII . 2024-08-19 . codenames.info.
- Stanley G. Payne (1987). The Franco regime, 1936-1975. Univ of Wisconsin Press, p. 314.https://books.google.com/books?id=mgDWLYcTYIAC&pg=PA314
- Web site: Глава 33 Крах операции «Пожиратель огня» / Афганская война Сталина. Битва за Центральную Азию . 2024-08-16 . www.plam.ru.
- Book: Knox, MacGregor . Mussolini unleashed: 1939 - 1941; politics and strategy in fascist Italy's last war . 1988 . Cambridge University Press . 978-0-521-33835-6 . 1. paperback ed., repr . Cambridge.
- Book: Knox, MacGregor . Hitler's Italian allies : Royal Armed Forces, Fascist regime, and the war of 1940-43 . 2000 . Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press . Internet Archive . 978-0-521-79047-5.
- Rochat . Giorgio . 2008-03-15 . La campagne italienne de juin 1940 dans les Alpes occidentales . Revue historique des armées . n° 250 . fr . 250 . 77–84 . 10.3917/rha.250.0077 . 0035-3299.
- Book: Butler . James Ramsay Montagu . Grand strategy . Gibbs . Norman Henry . Gwyer . J. M. A. . Ehrman . John . Gibbs . Norman Henry . Howard . Michael Eliot . 1976 . London : H. M. Stationery Off. . Internet Archive . 978-0-11-630095-9.
- Marcus . Harold G. . Mockler . Anthony . 1987 . Haile Selassie's War: The Italian-Ethiopian Campaign, 1935-1941 . The International Journal of African Historical Studies . 20 . 2 . 366 . 10.2307/219878 . 219878 . 0361-7882.
- Book: Petacco, Arrigo . La nostra guerra, 1940-1945: l'avventura bellica tra bugie e verità . 1995 . A. Mondadori . 978-88-04-38526-4 . it.
- Web site: "La caduta dell'impero fascista. La guerra in Africa orientale italiana 1940-1941" di Santangelo Andrea - Il Libraio . 2024-08-15 . ilLibraio.it . it.
- Web site: 2016-08-02 . Missione Bahrein . 2024-08-12 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160802231803/http://www.dodecaneso.org/bahrein.htm . 2016-08-02 .
- Web site: 2020-11-30 . Missione impossibile: attaccare le Bahrain. - AeroStoria . 2024-08-12 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201130070126/https://www.aerostoria.com/2014/04/missione-impossibile-attaccare-le.html . 2020-11-30 .
- Book: Rodogno, Davide . Fascism's European empire: Italian occupation during the Second World War . 2006 . Cambridge University Press . 978-0-521-84515-1 . New studies in European history . Cambridge (GB) New York.
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- Book: Kershaw, Ian . Fateful choices: ten decisions that changed the world, 1940 - 1941 . 2007 . Allen Lane . 978-0-7139-9712-5 . 1. publ . London.
- https://www.pravst.unist.hr/dokumenti/zbornik/200888/zb200802_265.pdf
- Web site: 2019-04-10 . РЕЗИДЕНТ АБВЕРА — Читать онлайн на Indbooks . 2024-08-16 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190410165101/http://indbooks.in/mirror3.ru/?p=555620 . 2019-04-10 .
- Web site: 2019-04-10 . РЕЗИДЕНТ АБВЕРА — Читать онлайн на Indbooks . 2024-08-16 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190410165101/http://indbooks.in/mirror3.ru/?p=555620 . 2019-04-10 .
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- 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). https://books.google.com/books?id=ttdmAAAAMAAJ&q=unternehmen+gertrud
- Web site: Kriegstagebuch der Seekriegsleitung 1939-45 . 2024-08-06 . zms.bundeswehr.de . de.
- https://web.archive.org/web/20221006201625/http://www.eaf51.org/newweb/Documenti/Storia/Operazione%20S.pdf Aprile 1942-Settembre 1943: "Operazione S" - Quando la Regia Aeronautica preparava una operazione dimostrativa per dimostrare di essere in grado di bombardare gli Stati Uniti
- Web site: Quarterly Review of Military Literature . 1946 .
- Colin F. Baxter (1996). The war in North Africa, 1940-1943: a selected bibliography. Greenwood Press, p. 31. https://books.google.com/books?id=sYgLb8te024C&pg=PA31
- Book: Carell, Paul . Le volpi del deserto . 1963 . Baldini & Castoldi . de.
- Web site: Rabat Operations & Codenames of WWII . 2023-02-02 . codenames.info.
- Web site: Online . Wiener Zeitung . - Hitler plante Entführung Pius' XII. - "Streng geheime" Berichte faschistischer Parteigrößen entdeckt . 2023-02-02 . Weltpolitik Nachrichten - Wiener Zeitung Online . de.
- Web site: 2015-02-05 . Famiglia Cristiana n. 22 del 3-6-2007 - L'uomo che voleva rapire Pio XII . 2023-02-02 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150205151811/http://www.stpauls.it/fc07/0722fc/0722fc66.htm . 2015-02-05 .
- Web site: 2011-07-16 . Piano geo-politico di Mussolini sulla Georgia PiZeroblog . 2023-02-02 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110716120537/http://pizeroblog.splinder.com/post/20727704/piano-geopolitico-di-mussolini-sulla-georgia . 2011-07-16 .
- Book: Boyd, Andrew . The Royal Navy in Eastern Waters: Linchpin of Victory, 1935–1942 . 2017-03-30 . Casemate Publishers . 978-1-4738-9250-7 . en.
- Book: Boyd . Carl . The Japanese Submarine Force and World War II . Yoshida . Akihiko . 2002 . Naval Institute Press . 978-1-55750-015-1 . en.
- Kowner . Rotem . July 2017 . When economics, strategy, and racial ideology meet: inter-Axis connections in the wartime Indian Ocean . Journal of Global History . en . 12 . 2 . 228–250 . 10.1017/S1740022817000067 . 1740-0228.
- Web site: tara . 2022-06-24 . This Day in History: Japanese attack on Panama . 2023-02-02 . Taraross . en.