The months right after the Allied grand offensive in Northeastern France would be met with minimal action on the new contact line, with only occasional small gains by limited attacks from the Trident Alliance meant to probe the German lines for weaknesses. During this lull period in the winter of 1942, both sides would make use of this inaction to build up their defenses.

The French, still traumatized by the German offensive through the Ardennes just two years ago, began fortifying their northwestern region to blunt any chance of a second German breakthrough from the region again. Meanwhile, the Germans also began to increase the defenses of r own Siegsfried Line and across much of Belgium and the River Rhine.

While on land, both sides made no major moves, the skies above Germany would start to burn red from flames as the Allied war production intensified. Their bombing campaign over Germany also began to intensify through the introduction of new and better Allied bombers and fighters. Alongside a vast amount of manpower and resources from their colonial empires, the Allied air force was slowly chipping away the Luftwaffe's combat capabilities through attrition and disruption of their supply lines. To the point that even Berlin became the target of the Allied bombings with the help of Norwegian bases, much to the chagrin of Herman Meyer.

On the seas, the Germans continued their attempts to defy the Allied naval supremacy. However, with their prized surface fleet still sunk in port, all that the Kriegsmarine could do was intensify their U-boat campaign against Britain. This included the return of their unrestricted submarine warfare ever since the aftermath of the Allied attack on Wilhelmshaven harbor. They hoped to repeat the successes from World War 1, but just like in the previous war, that decision would bring the opposite result.

Months would pass, and the year 1943 would greet the participants. Tensions across the Balkans were growing, unrest inside the Romanian government was quickly getting out of control, the suspected Allied offensive was coming ever closer, and on the seas, American blood was being spilled.

As the Germans continued to intensify their convoy raiding campaign across the Atlantic in a desperate attempt to force at least the British out of the war, they began targeting every manner of merchant ships, including American ships. The sinking of those American ships, alongside the death of American sailors, would be used by Franklin D. Roosevelt to sway public and congressional support for joining the war to stop the German aggression against the US.

The voting inside the Congress was highly contested, as many Senators and Representatives still held fast to American isolationism. After a tense counting of the votes, the results showed that, by a small margin, the congress had voted for war against Germany, and mere days after that, on the 2nd of April, the results were broadcasted around the world.

For the members of the Trident Alliance, the news was a welcomed one, but at the same time, the members also criticized the late entry of the US into the war, especially as the news came just a few weeks before their next offensive was about to begin. For the rest of the world, the news of the American entry only made it even more obvious which side was going to win.

Then a few days after the American declaration of war, the nations of Yugoslavia and Bulgaria also declared war on Germany and on its allies of Hungary and Romania. However, the two nations hadn't joined because of the US, but because during their talks with the alliance, they had agreed to join the war during this time. After the US and the two Balkan nations joined, many other nations also began to join the war against Hitler. With the sudden entrance of Yugoslavia and Bulgaria on the side of the allies, King Michael I of Romania launched his coup and successfully ousted the Legionary government from power.

With the pro-axis government out of the picture, the new Romanian government declared a unilateral ceasefire with the Allies before re-joining the war on the side of the Trident Alliance. And as if just to increase the German misfortune, the Soviet Union also broke off any relations it had with the Nazi regime and cut all trade it had with them, effectively cutting Germany off from natural resources it now desperately needed especially oil.

In a desperate attempt to at least protect their last remaining oil fields in Hungary, the Germans scrambled much of their forces towards the new southern front in the Balkans, severely decreasing the number of forces defending their coasts. Even some of the forces on the Western Front were diverted to protect their precious Hungarian oil fields.

Yet, even though the German forces were being diverted, the alliance didn't make any moves. Days and then weeks passed until the 29th of April arrived, which marked the start of Operation Overlord, a highly complex and ambitious plan to completely overwhelm Germany from all sides.

Operation Overlord

The first phase of the offensive was the launch of wide front offensives from Italy and the Maginot Line, meant to attract the attention of the German forces into those regions. One of its main objectives was the occupation of the highly industrialized Rhineland region, which was extremely important to the German war effort. To further help with this, a series of offensives from the new Balkan front would be conducted to continue tying up forces there.

The second phase was an armored breakthrough, alongside the use of paratroopers, with the arduous task of crossing Belgium and reaching the River Rhine to cut off the German forces in the region and give the Allies access to the deep ports of Belgium and the Netherlands. This offensive would also be supported by a series of coordinated uprisings across the occupied territories of Poland, Czechoslovakia, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Denmark.

The third phase was daring naval and airborne landings on Jutland to open yet another front on Germany. To assist with these landings, a massive fleet of warships was assembled with the sole task of providing shore bombardment to the landing forces. This would also be the first operation of the newest Japanese battleships, the IJN Mikasa and IJN Shikishima.

Initially, the German forces across all fronts provided stiff resistance to the advancing Allied forces. However, with the all-out attack from all sides, the entire German logistic network was strained to its limits. Allied aircraft struck their logistic vehicles, while resistance fighters and special forces commandos sabotaged and took control of key logistical hubs, and ultimately cause the entire German supply network to collapse, taking with it the German defensive lines.

With the loss of supplies, the German forces quickly began to crumble. French tanks rolled through the Rhineland, and the 9th and 10th Waffen SS panzer divisions were encircled and destroyed in Belgium. The Trident Alliance even managed to retake the Dutch capital during their offensive without a fight. Hungary was quickly overrun by Yugoslavian, Bulgarian, and Romanian forces, and Danish Jutland was liberated as British, Canadian, and Japanese forces rushed south to capture the Kiel Canal, while ANZAC forces went east to liberate the rest of Denmark.

Farther from the frontlines, the cities of Warsaw, Krakow, and Prague were liberated by their populations, and their defenders valiantly held their lines as Allied transports plane dropped the necessary supplies to keep them in the fight.

Then, as Germany was rapidly crumbling from all sides, with the Trident Alliance advancing from all directions, and increasing fears of a potential Soviet attack on Germany, the Wehrmacht high command desperately pleaded with Hitler to accept peace with the Allies. However, the Fuhrer, now nothing more than a delusional madman, refused to listen to his military officers. With ever-increasing assassination attempts on him, he now trusted no one but himself and a select few.

As the months passed, the all-out Allied offensive slowly lost speed, but it still kept a constant pace. By November, all of the Benelux had been liberated, alongside Denmark, Czechoslovakia, and southern Poland. Even the city of Warsaw was relieved of its month-long siege by an Allied armored charge through the Polish southern plains. Austria and Schleswig-Holstein were fully occupied by the Allies, alongside many parts of Watten-Wuttemberg, Lower Saxony, and Bavaria being occupied as well.

The end of the Third Reich was near, yet the Führer refused to surrender, still believing that he could turn the tide of the war. Hitler no longer left the bunker under Berlin and, surrounded by high-ranking officials and loyal officers, he continued to give orders to paper divisions, for them to conduct a counterattack that would change the entire course of the war. It would only be when Allied artillery began to target the very heart of the Reich that the mad leader couldn't deny it anymore. Hitler would be seen for the last time as he enter his personal bunker, and then a shot could be heard from inside it.

Like a coward, Hitler committed suicide to avoid being captured by the Allies, and he had even ordered to have his dead body burned so that it couldn't be found. In his place, Karl Donitz would be appointed as the new Führer. The new Führer would attempt to make a conditional peace with the Allies, but after they refused anything less than unconditional surrender from the Germans, he had no other choice.

Without any other options, Donitz sent Admiral Hans-Georg von Friedeburg to meet with the Supreme Allied Commander for the surrender of Germany. Then, at 1:30 on the 6th of January 1944, the instrument of surrender was signed, and World War 2 would finally come to an end.

Yet, a new war was now starting...