Nazi Germany vs The Bugs (RAR!)

[Zor]

It is May 25th, 1940. The armies of Nazi Germany has invaded France when suddenly something unexpected happens in France, a portal twenty meters across opens in the forests of rural Bavaria connecting this world with another similar to earth in many ways, but divided by several thousand lightyears. Though it opened without much notice by the humans around it, it did get the notice of those in charge of the military base of the locals on the other side, who decide to send out an expeditionary group to investigate and establish a beachhead to consider population. On May 27th local days latter their scouts come across a few humans in the forest, their is a scuffle. One of the humans kills a scout despite it's attempts to communicate which fell on deaf ears, as is one of the humans which is taken back to base along with it's firearm. On May 28th into Nazi Germany come marching an army composed of thousands of these creatures...

Whom are unsurprisingly will become known to humans as Wanzen, Punaise, Oshibka, Pluskwa and Bugs.

Bugs are a species of sapient eusocial creatures with some external features that make them bear a resemblance to terrestrial insects, though they have an internal lattice endoskeleton, three six chambered hearts and a pair of lungs. Bugs communicate using biological radio. The average range of said communication is about 300 meters, though amplifiers exist. Bugs have human level intelligence but are hardwired to fufill certain functions (warriors, scouts, nurses, artisans, farmers, workers, mariners, administrators, queens and drones). Bugs usually live for about forty to fifty years and can regrow a lost limb in about a year. Bug technology is similar to human technology at the time, though it is more advanced in some fields (namely the applications of radio and plastics) and less advanced in others (bugs are only beginning to experiment with basic phonograph technology to record sound and their cars are 10 to 15 years less advanced (though their trains are just as good)). Bugs do have a systems of writing which make sense to them, but would be hard for a human to understand as well as an easier to comprehend base 12 number system.

This is a warrior bug, it stands 1.3 meter tall and weighs about 200 kilos are tied with workers as the being the largest bug strain. It can maintain a pace of twenty kilometers per hour. Warrior bugs are aggressive and utterly fanatical in carrying out their duties. Their standard infantry weapon is a select fire belt fed 7.2mm automatic weapon firing 10 gram steel projectiles at 830m/s. Their carapace offers some protection against shrapnel and often reinforced by steel armor. Heavier 14mm bolt action rifles are also employed as sniper weapons and they also have 11.37mm semi automatic pistols as sidearms. A few of them also carry 117.6mm mortars. They also both tow and man the 134.4mm cannons, rocket clusters and double barreled 28mm autocannons for anti-aircraft work. They can also vomit up hydrochloric acid up to five meters and have claws and jaws. In cold weather bugs will wear warm clothes.

On the other types of bugs...

• Scout bugs are smaller (0.75 meters tall and weighing in at 70kg) and are capable of fight though they generally avoid it. They have keener eyes and ears than warrior bugs. They are armed with lighter 7.2mm bolt action rifles and 11.76mm sub machine guns. Scout bugs can eat a wider variety of food than most bugs. Bug scouts are the vangaurd of the invasion force. They also man bug fighters (canard configuration, 12 meter wingspan, 820 kilowatt pusher prop radial engine, top speed of 503 km/h and armed with two 14mm machine guns, one 28mm autocannon and hard points for either a 117.2 kilogram bomb or four rockets).
• Artisans are medium sized bugs about 1 meter tall and weighing about 120kg on average. They have foreward oriented eyes and are very dexterous. They are the artisans, artists, engineers, mechanics, scientists and skilled workers of bug society. They are also distinctly non martial normally avoid combat.
• Workers are Warrior sized bugs who do brute force labor. They are stronger than warriors but are also slower and non martial in behavior.
• Farmers are slightly large bugs (1.1 meters tall and weighing 150 kilograms) that look like a cross between artisans and workers. Farmers tend crops and manage livestock.
• Nurses are medium sized bugs the size of artisans that have two specialized functions in Bug society: raising young bugs and serving as doctors. Nurses can create several antibiotic secretions and are born with a good working understanding of bug anatomy aided by medical science.
• Mariners are medium sized bugs about 0.9 meters tall, and weighing about 100kg on average with more dexterous feet. Bug Mariners on Bugworld man ships and boats, but here they man bug tanks (which weigh 22 tonnes, have 173kw engines, mount either a turret mounted 67.2mm low velocity cannon or a 28mm autocannon along with three machine guns (one in the turret and two in side mounts) and have a five bug crew) and drive bug trucks.
• Administrators are medium sized bugs the size of workers. Administrators bugs are generalist in build but have distinct ability to command other bugs who will in most cases obey the commands of their hive's administrators without question. Administrators are the politicians, bureaucrats, managers, diplomats and generals of bug society. Among themselves, Administrators determine policy by forming groups, discussing the issue and voting, which is how bugs of other castes do things in absence of Administrative command.
• Queens are huge 5 tonne bugs with bloated abdomens who have one purpose: lay eggs. A queen can lay an egg every ten minutes, which will hatch into a nymph who will be cared for by nurse bugs for twenty months who determine what caste they will mature into which then mature over a period of fifteen months into adult bugs who are trained in their new jobs.
• Drones are scout sized male bugs who's only purpose in life is to mate with a queen. Drones are exchanged between hives as part of the complex inter-hive politics.

The Bugs have developed RADAR.

Bugs are omnivorous and can eat both terrestrial plants and animals. For logistical purposes they also have 1.2 tonne eight legged herbivorous herd dwelling creatures that they use both to pull wagons of supplies and as living larders. To bugs the proper way to dispose of the dead that have not gone all rotten is to eat them, why let good meat go to waste?

The invasion is being carried out by "The Southern Continent Union of Hives", a nation occupying a small continent 1.5 times the size of Australia with some seven hundred and thirty hives each with an average population of 250,000 bugs. The initial wave of the invasion force consisted of some 16,000 warriors, 6,000 scouts, 60 tanks, 80 fighters, 150 cannons, 100 rocket clusters, 100 AA guns, 150 2 tonne trucks (30kw engine), 10,000 draft herd beasts and 20,000 civilian bugs for support. An additional 3,000 warriors and scouts along with as many various support bugs and materiel will come through every day for the next five or six weeks, which will double afterwards as their economy gears up for war. They also plan on bringing some queens through to colonize the new world. That said they don't feel that the native barking tool using squishy tetrapods need be exterminated, at least not yet. The portal linking earth with bugworld will close at 16:28 October 7th, 1946.

What happens?

Zor

[Simon_Jester]

The timing is... not good for the Reich. Practically the entire army capable of intense combat is on the Western Front, and is very much stuck in heavy combat operations- they've got the BEF and something like 100-200 thousand Frenchmen bottled up in a pocket around Dunkirk, but the Dunkirk evacuations haven't happened yet. If the Germans take off the pressure, those troops could still rally and break out from their encirclement.

The main body of the French army is, likewise, still in play.

So if the Germans shift any truly significant forces to contain the bridgehead, it's going to be a problem.

On the other hand, the bug invasion force consists of roughly one and a half divisions, with a brigade coming through each subsequent day, at least for the next 30-40 days. They can't simply overrun all of eastern Germany at a brisk marching pace under those conditions.

...

I will note that inferior Bug car technology suggests their tanks and airplanes will also be behind the curve...

[U.P. Cinnabar]

Their aircraft are comparable to the Me-109, while their tanks are more heavily armed than the Panzer III and IV. Bug fighters would be outmatched by the FW-190, if enough of them can be brought into the field in time.

Are war machines(other tanks and fighters) coming through with other reinforcements? And, what about naval vessels?

[Zor]

Are war machines(other tanks and fighters) coming through with other reinforcements? And, what about naval vessels?

Yes they have some twin engine bombers and 5 tonne machine gun equipped armored cars. However while the bugs do have a naval tradition and warships on Bugworld, bringing a 40,000 tonne battleship into Bavaria is not exactly practical for them.

Zor

[Simon_Jester]

Their aircraft are comparable to the Me-109, while their tanks are more heavily armed than the Panzer III and IV.

Actually they strike me as very closely comparable to the German tanks in armament. Except, and this is very much consistent with them being behind in automotive technology, that the engines they're using to propel a 22-ton medium (by 1940 standards) tank are less powerful than that of the comparably heavy Panzer III. Incidentally this means we can probably expect broadly equivalent armor and inferior mobility compared to a Panzer III.

Bug fighters would be outmatched by the FW-190, if enough of them can be brought into the field in time.

They can't, really; the '190 did not enter series production until well into 1941.

[U.P. Cinnabar]

Are war machines(other tanks and fighters) coming through with other reinforcements? And, what about naval vessels?

Yes they have some twin engine bombers and 5 tonne machine gun equipped armored cars. However while the bugs do have a naval tradition and warships on Bugworld, bringing a 40,000 tonne battleship into Bavaria is not exactly practical for them.

Zor

I was thinking into the North Sea or the Baltic, but, okay.

[Sea Skimmer]

The Germans would wipe the floor with that invasion force, the bugs don't have enough artillery and supporting arms to make the large small arms matter, and the invasion force isn't even a proper army corps, while Germany has 140 divisions fielded in the west. As in ~70 times the force ratio.

Then they absurdly easily isolate a mere 20m wide portal and prevent any reinforcements from arriving. Invading back through the portal would be near physically impossible though for the same reason, even a small bug force, if the bugs aren't utter morons, would destroy anything that could pass through such a portal, and even Maus like tank's would fail because each one being disabled in turn would form a huge obstruction. The Germans might give a it a try anyway while preparing for operations against England, but even Hitler would probably give up on this after one or two divisions got wiped out one platoon at a time and suspend operations until I dunno, if the P1000 would fit it might actually make sense for this. Except it'd still just hit a big landmine ect.. or fall into a ditch. 100x portals spread across all of France would avoid this problem.

[Simon_Jester]

Hmyeah.

I'd figured it might be a few days, at most a week, before the Germans could get significant forces to the area since it is rural Bavaria, but that still only gives the Bugs two or three divisions of infantry in a roughly round bridgehead around the portal. That's not even enough to hold a long enough perimeter to keep the portal out of range of German artillery. So the Germans detach two army corps to contain this, smash the Bugs back to their portal, and set up umpty-ump machine guns and artillery pieces zeroed on it.

Now, I stand by what I said about this being a very bad time for the Germans to cope with aliens teleporting into their rear areas- a major diversion of force from the Western Front might well result in the British and French recovering their balance and launching a counterattack. But this wouldn't actually cause a significant diversion of force, assuming the Germans don't overreact.

Although come to think of it, by this point the Dunkirk evacuations are already in motion and it might not be possible for the Allies to rally those troops and switch over to counterattack even if the Germans gave them a few weeks to prepare, and the main body of the French army is something of a hash by this point as I understand it.

...

I hadn't been confident enough about the level of supporting arms required to talk about whether the Bugs are adequately armed in that respect.

[Sea Skimmer]

The Germans still had several army corps in Bavaria facing the Maginot Line. By May 25th the Allies had already completely lost. The Germans could halt all offensive actions for several weeks and still nothing would exist the allies could to win.

The troops that retreated to the Channel retreated with at best divisional equipment, they had no bulk of supplies and abandon a lot of other assets. Continuing to fight would be impossible without a massive sealift of supplies and equipment, much of which is now in depots physically overrun by the Germans. It was just not going to happen. A major intervention, which this isn't even, would need to take place at least a week earlier to save the Allies ass from mathematically certain destruction.

[Simon_Jester]

Hm, okay, that's fair, I hadn't thought nearly as much as I should about the consequences of the abandoned supplies.

So I guess the real consequence of this is that in college I wind up reading Georg Grossjohann's memoir Five Years, Five Fronts, recounting when his unit facing the Maginot line was temporarily detached to contain a small alien invasion.

[Sea Skimmer]

That was a bonus flaw of the Dyle plan, even more then usual amounts of supplies were stockpiled far forward so they could be moved into Belgium. Though it really just wasn't going to matter anyway.

The Germans had almost all their very heavy+ caliber artillery facing the Maginot line too, actually less for the purpose of defeating the line (most calibers too small!) then for countering the very large French supply of railroad guns that could in principle shell some fair sized German cities. Some of this artillery was in fixed positions, three 305mm guns come to mind mounted on pivots, but most was mobile or relocatable. So real fast a bunch of huge German weapons which were irrelevant to the 1940 campaign are actually going to have the most perfect target ever for artillery.

[JamesStaley]

How do the "aliens" view us? Are we the "insects" to them? Was this just some random portal that they opened and they just expected to walk in and take over the place, because (in THEIR arrogance) they are the TRUE "Master Race"!??

I think your race of bugs sounds more like what Robert Heinlein had in mind in the Starship Troopers book.