List of expansion operations and planning of the Axis powers

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.Waitman Wade Beorn: The Holocaust in Eastern Europe: At the Epicenter of the Final Solution, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2018, p. 134David Stahel: Joining Hitler's Crusade, Cambridge University Press, 2017, p. 84

Operational plans of Germany, Italy and European allies 1936–1939 [before WWII]

Mussolini's plans to conquer Egypt and Sudan since 1935 (postponed in favour to avoid British entrancy in the Italo-Ethiopian Conflict). De Bono's invasion of Ethiopia (Italian military operation to annex Ethiopian Empire) Italian conquest of Absinia after the Second Italo-Ethiopian War in 1936 Axis operations and territorial ambitions during Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) Italian military intervention in Spain Italian occupation of Mallorca (included the intention of annexing the Balearic Islands, Ceuta and Spanish Morocco, and then creating a client state in Spain) Operation Schulmeister (proposed cession of the Balearic Islands by the Spanish Republic to Italy in exchange of neutrality in the Spanish Civil War). German involvement in the Spanish Civil War Proposed cession of the Balearic or Canary Islands by the Spanish Republic to Nazi Germany in exchange of neutrality in the Spanish Civil War. German plans to colonize Argentine Patagonia. German march into Austria (annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany as Ostmark on 12 March 1938) Operation Otto (cancelled planned invasion of Austria, never carried out due to pacifical Anschluss) German Occupation of Czechoslovakia (German annexation of the Sudetenland and establishment of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia in 1938, and of the puppet Slovak Republic in 1939) Fall Grün (planned invasion of Czechoslovakia, to be carried out in September 1938. Averted by the signing of the Munich Agreement. Not to be confused with the military plan to invade Ireland by the same name, see below) First Vienna Award, Slovak–Hungarian War and Hungarian invasion of Carpatho-Ukraine (annexation of southern Czechoslovak territories and Transcarpathia to Hungary in March 1939) 1939 German ultimatum to Lithuania (German plans to invade and conquer Lithuania if they don't give Memelland to Nazi Germany, which happened in March 1939) Nazi proposals of a German-Lithuanian military alliance to invade Poland during Danzig crisis, returning the Vilnius Region to Lithuania in exchange of being turned into a German Puppet State. Danzig crisis (German plans from January to August 1939 concerning Poland before the start of Polish-German War) "little solution" proposed by Albert Forster (German invasion and annexation of Free City of Danzig to the Reich as a "Korperschaft", while also forcing Poland to join to Anti-Comintern Pact, making them a client state with the rest of its borders intact and renovation of German–Polish declaration of non-aggression). "big solution" supported by Nazi Party (German conquest of Danzig and Polish Corridor to the Reich, then compensating Poland, turned into a landlocked and German Puppet state, with German support to annex parts of Soviet Ukraine in a future Nazi-Soviet War, giving Poland an exit to the Black Sea). Italian occupation of Albania after the Italian invasion of Albania in April 1939 Nazi–Soviet Union relations and Nazi–Soviet economic relations [1934–1941] (Russo-German plans to develop a partition of the Eastern Hemisphere, or at least Eastern Europe, since 1 September 1939 to 1941). Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact (First partition of Eastern Europe: Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Eastern Poland and Bessarabia to USSR's Sphere of influence. Lithuania, Western Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Romania to Nazi Germany's one) German–Soviet Boundary and Friendship Treaty (Second Partition of Eastern Europe: Exchange of Lithuania to USSR, and Central Poland to Nazi Germany) German–Soviet Border and Commercial Agreement (Final Partition of Eastern Europe: Baltic states, Eastern Poland, Bessarabia and Bukovina annexed to USSR. Western Poland and Bohemia annexed to Nazi Germany while Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria are puppet states. Finland stays independent) German–Soviet Axis talks (considered plans to join the Soviet Union to the Axis powers and its New World Order) First Offer from Axis to the Soviets in Partitioning the world (Soviet Baltic states, Eastern Poland, Moldovian SSR, Eastern Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, British India and Mongolia in Soviet Sphere of Influence. Finland and Sakhalin being a neutral zone between German and Japanese Empires) Second Offer from Soviet to Axis in Partitioning the world (the same, but Bulgaria, Finland, Western Turkey and Sakhalin included in Soviet Sphere of Influence)

1939–1941 [before Eastern Front] German operations

Fall Weiss (German invasion of Poland. Carried out 1 September 1939) Operation Himmler (false flag operation to provide a casus belli for the invasion of Poland, including the Gleiwitz incident) German invitations to Slovakia, Lithuania, Hungary and the Ukrainian Nationalists to be part of the Fourth Partition of Poland on 4–10 September 1939. Consisting of Lithuania receiving the Vilnius Region, Hungary the Turka and Sambir citys, and Ukraine the southern Kresy (cancelled due to Soviet approachments). Slovak invasion of Poland (Slovakian invasion and annexation of Polish disputed territories) Canaris Memorandum of September 12, 1939 (German outlines to support the Ukrainian national uprising in Western Ukraine, before Soviet occupation of Eastern Poland, to create a pro-Nazi Ukraine puppet state against southern USSR's sphere of influence). German proposals to Kazys Škirpa to transform Lithuania into a German Protectorate in the north, and the rest of Central Poland as another German Protectorate (never carried out due to 2nd Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact). 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) Case Brown (projected German-Italian invasion of Southern France through the Rhône and possibly Switzerland to avoid Maginot Line. Modified in lesser extensions after the great success of Gelb and Rot Operations) Projekt Burgundy (projected creation of a "Model Aryan Pan-European State" by the SS in 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.)

Unnamed Abwehr-Ossewabrandwag operation (projected pro-Nazi Afrikaner nationalist revolt against the Union of South Africa and British Empire after August 1940, not carried out)

Operation Sea Lion (invasion of Great Britain after September 1940, not carried out) Operation Herbstreise (a planned series of deception operations to support Sea Lion) Operation Green (invasion of Ireland in support of Sea Lion, also known as Fall Grün. Not to be confused with the military plan to invade Czechoslovakia by the same name, see above) Operation Whale (German Operations to instigate nationalist uprisings and support Scottish independence and Welsh independence movements) Mediterranean Plan (Projected invasion of Gibraltar, Malta, North Africa, Suez, and the Middle East by German, Italian, Spanish and Vichy French forces to cut off British naval supremacy in the Indo-Mediterranean and menace Soviet Caucasian Front in the Black Sea, plus the capture of the Canary Islands, the Azores and the Cape Verde islands to destroy British and American commerce in the Atlantic as also Free France control of French Africa. Planned to be carried out after September 1940. Never carried out due to not achieving Plan Z and Hitler's preference over Operation Barbarossa) 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 in 1942) German military mission in Romania (Deployment of German forces to protect the oil refineries at Ploiești and to turn the remnants of Romania in the German Sphere of influence against Soviets in Bessarabia, carried out in September and October 1940). 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). 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 in 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) 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) Erwin Rommel mandate of 10 April 1941 (German attempted invasion of Egypt to conquer Egypt and occupy the Suez Canal) Führer Directive No. 30 (Projected German intervention in Anglo-Iraqi War in support of Arab nationalists in the Kingdom of Iraq after the 1941 Iraqi coup d'état) Paris Protocols (Vichy France-German cooperation in the Middle East with the goal of a projected invasion of British Iraq through French Syria and maybe German occupied Caucasus. Never carried out due to British offensive on Syria–Lebanon) Unnamed German operation involving Iran (Attempted German pressure over Iran to force them join the Axis and invade Iraq in support of Rashid Ali al-Gaylani. Rejected by Iranian authorities that were skeptical due to Axis-Soviet partnership) 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.)Stanley G. Payne (1987). The Franco regime, 1936–1975. Univ of Wisconsin Press, p. 314. 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) 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 Czechoslovak areas annexed Reichsgau Sudetenland Polish areas annexed Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia Reichsgau Wartheland Bialystok District and Zichenau annexation to Gau East Prussia Belgian areas annexed Eupen and Malmedy to Gau Cologne-Aachen French areas annexed Civil Administration Area of Alsace to Gau Baden Civil Administration Area of Lorraine to Gau Westmark Civil Administration Area of Luxembourg to Gau Moselland