What if the 20th of July 1944 Hitler has been "terminated"

[TinCow]

The UK's brave stand for Poland was of course before the absolute humiliation of Dunkirk, the Blitz, and being kicked around the desert for years. Louis pretty much made the point that I would have. After 5 years, the British were more than happy to cede Poland to the Russians - one of the original invaders back in '39. I don't think they would have had a problem doing the same with Germany, especially if the nation was under new leadership.

The UK ceded Poland to the Russians because they had no choice. The same applied to the US. Neither was willing to risk a war with the Soviets over Poland, or for that matter any other Eastern bloc country. That's irrelevant to the discussion though because the UK, US, and France WERE willing to fight Germany over Poland. That's the entire point.

Oh, and Overlord was far from decided in July of '44.

Caen had already fallen by July 20th. There was no longer any way for Germany to eject the Allies from France at that point. The US breakout along the coast started less than a week later. No change in leadership was going to prevent that from happening.

[PanzerJaeger]

The UK ceded Poland to the Russians because they had no choice. The same applied to the US. Neither was willing to risk a war with the Soviets over Poland, or for that matter any other Eastern bloc country. That's irrelevant to the discussion though because the UK, US, and France WERE willing to fight Germany over Poland. That's the entire point.

Well, the UK and France were willing to fight Germany for Poland in 1939. The US was only willing to fight Germany after Hitler declared war. Anyway, after 5 years, France was beaten and the UK had suffered severely. As you stated, the British did not really care about the Poles, they only wanted to contain German expansion. I think that with the Nazis out of power, Britain would have been more than willing to cede Poland for a "victorious" exit from the war, especially if it helped contain the second, now first, most dangerous threat to Western security - communism.

Caen had already fallen by July 20th. There was no longer any way for Germany to eject the Allies from France at that point. The US breakout along the coast started less than a week later. No change in leadership was going to prevent that from happening.

It wouldn't? The Normandy campaign was decisively won a month later in late August with the Falaise disaster, which was directly attributable to Hitler.

[TinCow]

Well, the UK and France were willing to fight Germany for Poland in 1939. The US was only willing to fight Germany after Hitler declared war. Anyway, after 5 years, France was beaten and the UK had suffered severely. As you stated, the British did not really care about the Poles, they only wanted to contain German expansion. I think that with the Nazis out of power, Britain would have been more than willing to cede Poland for a "victorious" exit from the war, especially if it helped contain the second, now first, most dangerous threat to Western security - communism.

You seem to be assuming that the USSR/West split had already occurred in July of 1944. That's simply not true. The Western Allies didn't begin to re-align themselves against the Soviets until early 1945, and even then the Cold War didn't really start until 1947. Despite the 'what-if' posturing a lot of people like to make, with numerous cites to Patton, there was essentially no chance whatsoever that the US and UK were going to turn on the USSR, even in 1945. The US, UK, and USSR were all extremelly committed to supporting each other against Germany in July of 1944. Unconditional surrender was first discussed at Casablanca in January of 1943, and it was all but accepted by Tehran in November of 1943. That's long, long before the events of Overlord and July 20th. Unconditional surrender was a near-certainty by that point. The Soviets had also demanded that Poland's borders be redrawn at Tehran... they would not have accepted an end to the war that left Poland in Germany's hands.