We Will Conquer the Entire World!

[Zagan7]

It sounds like a nonsense. They would all be all good Romanians anyway (at least as much as hypothetical immigrant to America who utterly buys into the American dream and instantly loves the American flag - something pretty rare in reality, but it's how the Romanian magic works here), and it only makes sense to keep them in administrative units that were previously responsible for local affairs.

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Yes, it doesn't make much sense and I didn't come with the idea myself. There is a group of members on AH.com who are insisting that it's a good idea, just like splitting Prussia in its provinces would have been better for Germany (supposedly) or splitting California would make sense today in the USA (again, supposedly).

It might work to our advantage if we stage a rebellion in a country far from the capital, gather trust (ask them to help you overthrow Romania), and completely ruin a country. I'll go with yes.

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I don't think something like that would work as intended.

 

[Acantha]

I don't think something like that would work as intended.

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Yeah, something like that would work early-game when people didn't know about our powers.

 

[liberty90]

Em, that's a story, not a quest, so the word "game" is not exactly proper. Though Zagan is often open to some suggestions, as far as I can see.

 

[Acantha]

Em, that's a story, not a quest, so the word "game" is not exactly proper. Though Zagan is often open to some suggestions, as far as I can see.

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When I say early-game, I mean early-war.

 

[liberty90]

Ah, sure. I misunderstood, sorry ^^

 

[Zagan7]

Though Zagan is often open to some suggestions, as far as I can see.

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Yes, I am open to suggestions and corrections. I have occasionally made mistakes, mostly regarding logistics, and I have changed some passages for the better, following readers' advice.


Therefore, to all my readers:

Please do point out anything which seems utterly implausible (within the premise of the story, obviously), make suggestions, ask questions, etc. Every reader input is appreciated and taken into consideration. Some of them find a place in the story, others obviously don't.

Moreover, reader contributions are also appreciated. If you have an idea for an in-Universe side-story, please discuss it with me in a private conversation and it may be included with you as author. Please see the two already existing contributions (one small, the other quite extensive) to understand what I am talking about here.

Thank you.

 

[ATP]

I read "Nazi science.Myth.Truth and the German Atomic Bomb" by Mark Walker.
According to him, german mistakes made impossible to built A-bomb in 1945,becouse they never pour their money and resources into it,wasting it on V-2 instead.They still treated it as kind of experiment in laboratory,whern americans made factories to produce such bombs.

Althought,i once read article about german dirty bomb made in 1945.Unfortunatelly,i forget where.

 

[Zagan7]

1. I read "Nazi science. Myth. Truth and the German Atomic Bomb." by Mark Walker.
According to him, German mistakes made impossible to built A-bomb in 1945, becouse they never pour their money and resources into it, wasting it on V-2 instead. They still treated it as kind of experiment in laboratory, when americans made factories to produce such bombs.

2. Although, I once read article about German dirty bomb made in 1945. Unfortunatelly, I forget where.

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1. That is correct. However, in TTL, Hitler knows that atomic bombs are possible so the research is better funded. Nonetheless, the German atomic bomb won't be ready before 1947 or 1948 (and that may be too late because Germany may be defeated before that).

2. That may be a myth.

 

[ATP]

1. That is correct. However, in TTL, Hitler knows that atomic bombs are possible so the research is better funded. Nonetheless, the German atomic bomb won't be ready before 1947 or 1948 (and that may be too late because Germany may be defeated before that).

2. That may be a myth.

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Now i remember,that about dirty bomb wrote Igor Witkowski,polish researcher about german super weapons.But he also wrote about 2 kinds of german UFO using various anti-grav engines, and from 2014 is writing about good aliens who come save us from american way of life and Holy Mary,so maybe it really is myth.

 

[Zagan7]

Chapter 72. The Italian Campaign



23 - 31 August 1944, Europe

Through the presumably neutral Vatican City, the Italian Government secretly approached the Allies to request an end of the hostilities. The Allies were asked to plan a quick invasion and occupation of Italy (which would be unopposed by the Italian Army), in order to defend it from an expected Imperial attack. The Allied representatives accepted the Italian proposal and, in cooperation with the Italians, scheduled the invasion of Italy for the first week of September.

Of course, the Vatican City was not really neutral and the presumably secret negotiations were not really secret. In fact, Anne learned of the Italian overture a couple of hours before Roosevelt and Churchill. Anne informed Hitler of the Italian betrayal and of her decision to invade Italy before the Allies did. Because Hitler was unable to spare additional troops, he accepted Anne's plan and only asked for the German part of South Tyrol and the German and Slovene areas of the Julian March. Obviously, Anne happily accepted Hitler's demand. The Imperial Invasion of Italy was scheduled for the 1st of September.

Click to shrink...

In the last week of August, the situation in and around Italy was extremely complex.

Italy had de facto surrendered to the Allies who had hastily made plans to land in Malta, Sicily, Sardinia, Apulia, Calabria, Campania, Lazio and Tuscany, to quickly secure Rome and the Tyrrhenian and Ionian Sea coasts and to attempt further landings on the Ligurian and Adriatic Sea coasts if feasible. The entire Italian Navy, Army and Air Force would be placed under Allied control and command, to coordinate the defence of northern Italy against the Axis forces who were assumed to invade from France, Austria, Slovenia and Croatia. The Italian possessions in the Balkans were correctly deemed impossible to defend. The Allied landings in Italy were scheduled to take place between the 3rd and the 5th of September.

The Italians expected a major Romanian attack on the narrow Fiume front, between German Slovenia and the Gulf of Carnaro, as well as possible German and French attacks in the Alps. For the Italians, the most important threat was obviously the Empire. If the Germans or the French were to take some land, it would be recovered later with Allied help. But land lost to the Empire was lost forever or, more exactly, the people living there were lost forever. Therefore, most of the Italian forces were tasked with the defence of Fiume and Istria, leaving the Alpine passes relatively lightly defended. The rest of the Italian Army and most of the Italian Navy were sent to defend the long Adriatic Coast against any possible Romanian landing attempts. The Italian High Command was moderately optimistic that it would be able to hold its positions until the Allied forces would come and bolster their defences.

The Empire had prepared for the Italian defection for a very long time. Detailed invasion plans were available, as well as the land, naval and air forces needed for the attacks. The Imperial invasion of Italy was set to commence in force on the 1st of September. Coordinated German attacks in South Tyrol and the Julian March and French attacks in Piedmont, Liguria and Sardinia were also planned. However, the involvement of France lead to a leak which alerted the Allies of the Axis invasion plans and made clear that their own plans were known to the enemy. On the 31st of August, the Allies told the Italians that the secrecy of the operation had been compromised, presumably due to a traitor in the Italian Government or High Command (the involvement of the Vatican was not yet suspected) and promissed to start the landings as soon as possible.



1 September 1944, Italy, Albania and the Mediterranean

At 02:22, the Imperial Army started to cross the border into Albania and Dalmatia. Cattaro (Kotor), Saranda and Spalato (Split) fell during the night and Sebenico (Šibenik), Corfu and Lefkada around noon. Before the end of the day, all of Albania except Prishtina, Durazzo (Durrës) and Valona (Vlorë) and all of Dalmatia except Zara and a few islands were under Imperial control. In the north, the Romanians took Veglia (Krk) but only managed to advance ten kilometres towards Fiume before being stopped by the determined Italian defenders, with heavy casualties on both sides.


Early in the morning, a great number of British warships entered the Ionian and Adriatic Seas. After easily defeating an unprepared Imperial fleet, the British began to land in Malta, south-eastern Sicily (Catania and Syracuse), southern Calabria, Apulia (Taranto, Brindisi and Bari), Romagna (near Ravenna), Veneto (near Venezia) and Istria (Trieste and Pola). As it had been previously agreed, the Italians immediately surrendered to the British the aforementioned cities and adjacent territory, the armed forces present in those areas as well as the entire Italian fleet from the Adriatic and Ionian Seas.

The bloodless Imperial takeover of the Italian fleet and ports is probably the most famous example of military deception after the Trojan Horse legend. The daring operation worked like a charm, except in Calabria, where the local Italian commanders suspected foul play, refused to surrender and interned the British-looking ships and actual British soldiers (taken prisoners of war in Asia) while waiting for the situation to clarify. In the other occupied territories, hundreds of Imperial support and transport ships began to land soldiers and military equipment, immediately used to solidify Imperial control and expand into adjacent areas.


The Germans joined the invasion at noon, sending small elite alpine forces into South Tyrol, the Val Canale (Kanaltal), Upper Gorizia and Italian Carniola. Because South Tyrol was relatively lightly defended and because of the collapse of the Fiume front, the Germans managed to overrun most of South Tyrol, half of Trentino, all of Val Canale and Upper Gorizia, half of Italian Carniola, about one third of Lower Gorizia and a small part of Veneto north-east of Udine. The Heer stopped their advance the following day and, after removing the few ethnic Germans living in Trentino and Lower Gorizia and all the loot they could carry, the Germans began to retreat beyond the new border established with the Empire.

The French Army crossed the Alps into Aosta, Piedmont and Liguria, advancing between ten and fifty kilometres before losing their momentum. The overextended French armies were stopped by second rate Italian forces about twenty kilometres from Turin and soundly defeated in Liguria, near the town of Imperia. Aosta was overun almost completely but the French bogged down in southern Piedmont, possibly due to inaccurate topographic maps. A French landing between Savona and Genova ended in disaster with the entire landing force being forced to surrender. But the most important French military operation was the invasion of northen Sardinia from nearby French Corsica. The French managed to overrun about one fifth of the island before being stopped by the Allies a couple of days later.


While the "British" warships and the transport craft were busy in the Ionian and Adriatic Seas, the bulk of the Imperial Navy, including the two brand new aircraft carriers, were heading westwards into the Strait of Sicily, in order to engage the Allied fleet and disrupt the Allied landings in Sicily and elsewhere. The Imperial carriers, whose existence was not even suspected by the Allies, puzzled them because of an apparent paradox: they were clearly inspired by the American Midway-class carriers (as even their names alluded - Mediavia for Midway and Coelenterata for Coral Sea) but, no matter how fast and efficient Imperial shipbuilding was, they must have been laid down before USS Midway was even ordered. That the Empire had spies in the higher echelons of the US Navy, while unfortunate, was at least fathomable. That they used time-travel to acquire the plans was not.

The main naval battle was fought in the Strait of Sicily, between Pantelleria and western Sicily, and, by all contemporary accounts, it was a clear Allied victory. While the initial fleets were about equal in strength, after fourteen hours of savage naval and aerial engagements, the Allies established naval superiority in the Central Mediterranean, albeit with great losses. The Allies lost almost one third of their fleet and two of their three aircraft carriers were seriously damaged but the Empire lost more than half of its fleet, IS Coelenterata sustained severe damage and IS Mediavia had to be abandoned and sunk on the submerged Graham Island, at a depth of only 17 metres. Hundreds of planes were lost on both sides and thousands of sailors were killed.

However, if we look at the immediate results of the battle , a rather different picture emerges. Sure, the Empire lost both its carriers and a large amount of its Mediterranean fleet but, despite the massive losses, it achieved most of its objectives. Instead of landing troops in Italy, the Allies lost an entire day fighting at sea, numerous Allied landing craft were sunk or damaged, the Allied positions in Tunisia were bombed, albeit rather ineffectually, and the Imperial troops in Malta and eastern Sicily were temporarily protected.



2-11 September 1944, Italy, Albania and the Mediterranean

The Imperial Army mopped up the remaining pockets of resistance in Albania and Mainland Dalmatia and conquered the remaining Dalmatian and Ionian Islands, plus Saseno and Cherso (Cres).

Albania was admitted to the Empire as an Imperial State. The Ionian Islands and Saseno (Sasona) were annexed to Greece. Most of the Cattaro (Kotor) exclave, including its homonymous capital, was annexed to Serbia (Autonomous Region of Montenegro). The rest of the eastern Italian possessions were annexed to Croatia -- a small part of the Cattaro exclave, Mainland Dalmatia, including Zara (Zadar), all the Dalmatian Islands, including Lagosta (Lastovo) and Cazza (but not Pelagosa), Veglia (Krk) and Cherso (Cres), the Fiume Hinterland and Fiume itself. Further Croatian annexations in Istria were vetoed by the Empress. Thus, Italy lost all its eastern possessions, including Fiume, Zara and Saseno which had been part of Italy since the early 1920's.


The bulk of the Italian Army was isolated around Fiume, caught between the Gulf of Carnaro in the south, the Germans in the north, the main Imperial armies in the east and the Imperial forces landed in Istria in the west. Five days after their last retreat route was severed by the Romanians, the 400,000 strong Italian Army surrendered to the Empire.

In the meantime, the Imperial Army overran Northern Italy and the entire Adriatic Coast meeting the Allies along the Appenines. Both the Germans and the French retreated, transferring in good order the small pieces of territory they controlled in northern Italy to the Empire. Remnants of the Italian Armies from northern Italy retreated into the easily defendable Valtellina from where tens of thousands of soldiers managed to escape into neutral Switzerland during the following days, where they were interned, according to the laws of war.

The Allies landed in western Sicily, southern Sardinia, Calabria, Campania, Lazio and, one day later, also in Tuscany. The Imperial forces from eastern Sicily fought bravely but they were ultimately defeated because the Allied fleet blocked all Imperial attempts to resupply them. The Allies completed the conquest of Sicily on the 9th, taking 22,000 prisoners. In Sardinia, the French fought until the 11th when their remaining forces surrendered to the Americans who began to plan the invasion of Corsica.

On the 11th of September, the Empire controlled Istria, Veneto, Trentino, Lombardy (without Valtellina, other small mountainous areas at the Swiss border and the Italian exclave of Campione d'Italia), Piedmont (including Aosta), Liguria, almost all of Emilia-Romagna, almost all of Marche, most of Abruzzo and Molise, all of Apulia, half of Lucania, Malta and the nominally independent Republic of San Marino (which was treated as a de facto Italian Province). The Allies controlled Sicily, Sardinia, most of Tuscany, Umbria, Lazio, Campania and Calabria and parts of Abruzzo, Molise and Lucania. The very long frontline ran along the Appenine Mountain Range, from northern Tuscany all the way to the Gulf of Taranto. Thus, the Allies had Rome, Florence and little more of value while the Empire had the entire industrial heartland of Italy, the rich agricultural region of the River Po and more than two thirds of the Italian population.


The Allies and the Empire engaged in another naval battle, this time in the northern Ionian Sea. The Allies had the advantage in numbers but had difficulty operating so close to the Imperial shores due to the marked Imperial air superiority and the battle was inconclusive. The Allies managed to inflict further losses on the Imperial Navy but their own losses were unsustainable so they had to call off further incursions in the Eastern Mediterranean.

In the Western Mediterranean however, Allied naval superiority turned into outright supremacy after the Allies all but obliterated the French Navy in the Ligurian Sea and forced the battered remnants of the Marine Nationale to take cover in Toulon and act as a fleet in being.



12 September - 4 October 1944, Italy and Corsica

After the destruction of the French Navy, the defenders of Corsica became isolated from the Mainland and, following landings accros the Strait of Bonifacio, the French garrison surrendered after an almost two weeks-long desperate defence. The Allies did not enjoy the same success in Malta, who was much smaller but heavily fortified and, importantly, more isolated than Corsica. Despite being bombed every night, Malta resisted, an Imperial forward bastion in an Allied Sea.

In Peninsular Italy, the Imperial Army had the major advantage of being close to home. Unlike the Allies, who had to ship everything from thousands of kilometres away, the Empire could easily support millions of soldiers from the other side of the narrow Adriatic Sea, whom it fully controlled, not to mention the land connection in Istria. After building up sufficient strength in its part of Italy, the Empire began to force the Appenines. The Romanians were extremely successful in the north, where they pushed the Allies out of Tuscany and Umbria and into Lazio, but less so in Abbruzzo, where they gained less than twenty kilometres of sparsely inhabited mountainous land. In the south, the push in Calabria ended in the only major Allied victory of the land campaign as the Romanians lost 18,000 men and almost all of Lucania.

At the end of September, the Empire controlled all of Peninsular Italy except Calabria, Campania, most of Lazio and Lucania and small parts of Abruzzo and Molise. In the north, the frontline reached some points less than thirty kilometres from Rome. The Italian Campaign was put on hold because the Empress thought that the remaining territory was not worth the high number of casualties. Her Field Marshals disagreed forcefully but futilely until grave events elsewhere forced the Empress to change her mind.

 

[Zagan7]

Italy
September 1944
The Italian Campaign
Previous map from this series: August 1944.

​

Faint Greenish Area: The Apennine Mountain Range (in Peninsular Italy)
Violet Lines and Hatches: Imperial control after the first 24 hours of the Italian Campaign (1 September 1944).
Orange Lines / Gray Hatches: German and French control in the first days of the Italian Campaign (1-3 September 1944).
Red Lines: Frontlines on 11 September 1944 (with the Allies in the Appenines and with the Italians in Valtellina).
National Colours: Situation at the end of the Italian Campaign (4 October 1944).

 

[Zagan7]

Chapter 73. The Autumn of 1944



While the Western World was more interested in the Italian Campaign, important events took place in other parts of the World during the autumn of 1944.



September - December 1944, Pacific Ocean

A major Allied offensive in Micronesia captured the Marshall Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands and Guam, although isolated Japanese garrisons remained on some of the less strategically important islands. Nauru, Wake and Marcus Island (Minami-Tori-shima) were bypassed altogether. The capture of the Marianas was especially important as it allowed American heavy bombers to target the Japanese Home Islands. A parallel campaign in the South Pacific ended the Japanese occupation of the Solomon Islands (including Bougainville Island) and expanded the Allied foothold in Papua, securing the important Torres Strait.

Because of the stubbornly fanatical Japanese resistance in some of the islands, the Allies decided to ignore the Japanese garrisons outside the operational area of the Japanese Navy (which became nearly impossible to supply and posed no threat), and focus on the Japanese Home Islands. To that end, the Allies devised plans to conquer either the Bonin Islands or the Volcano Islands (or both), followed by an attempt to get a foothold in the Okinawa Islands, located between Taiwan and the southern end of the Japanese Archipelago. That offensive was scheduled for the second quarter of 1945.



August - November 1944, Indian Ocean

The Axis Powers wanted to dislodge the Allies from the northern part of the Indian Ocean (Ceylon, the Maldives, Portuguese India) but lacked the means to do so. Therefore, in collusion with neutral India, they devised a plan to replace the enemy control of those territories with a benign Indian control. India, which claimed all those territories, cooperated with the Axis, with the understanding that temporary Indian protection for the duration of the war would eventually turn into a permanent annexation.

Thus, starting in late August, Japan feigned a second attack on Ceylon while the Empire executed several bombing raids against Goa, Daman, Diu and Malé. India immediately protested the Axis actions, citing the danger posed to its territory as well as its solidarity with the Indians living in Portuguese India and the kindred peoples of Ceylon and the Maldives. Moreover, India claimed its right to protect those territories and their people from Axis aggression. The Japanese and the Romanians obviously countered that the Allied presence there posed risks to their own security. Therefore, the Indians asked the Allies to entrust them with the protection of Ceylon, the Maldives and Portuguese India for the duration of the war.

The British could have dispatched more forces in the Indian Ocean but they eventually accepted the Indian offer and transferred Ceylon and the Maldives to Indian control. Portugal adamantly refused to allow the Indian Army to enter Portuguese India but the Indians simply ingnored them and took Goa, Daman and Diu. The small Portuguese colonial forces put up a token resistance and surrendered after three days of intermittent low-level fighting while the British forces present there did not intervene. One month later, the newly established People's Assembly of Goa, Daman and Diu asked for unification with India. After a referendum showed almost unanimous support, India admitted Goa, Daman and Diu as a new Indian Federal State. Portugal continued to claim that Portuguese India was its sovereign territory under illegal Indian occupation. Nobody else seemed to care.



September - December 1944, China

After the highly successful Operation Ichi-Go (February-June 1944) and two months of much needed rest, the Japanese continued their war against China with Operation Ni-Go, the conquest of Western China.

Western China was a vast, underpopulated area, consisting of East Turkestan (Sinkiang), Tsinghai, Kansu and Ninghsia, relatively lightly defended provinces under the rule of the powerful Ma Clique who professed nominal allegiance to the weak central government from Chungking. The Japanese wanted to take it in order to further weaken China, to deny it land and manpower, to shorten the frontlines, to attain a common border with Tibet and to put more pressure on Chungking, that time also from the west. The Mongols wanted to end the power of the Ma Clique and stop their repeated incursions into Mongolian territory.

As the central government was unable or unwilling to help the Ma Clique, the combined Japanese and Mongol armies defeated them in three months, taking more of East Turkestan (but not the Tarim Basin), most of Kansu, all of Tsinghai and the rest of Ninghsia. The Kuomintang Army retreated from a small area of Shensi and entered Kansu, fighting a series of inconclusive battles with the Japanese in south-eastern Kansu and north-western Szechuan until the frontlines stabilized again in mid-December.

During the same time, a parallel Japanese offensive captured the large Chinese pocket from south-east China (at the borders of Canton, Fukien, Chekiang and Kianghsi), taking more than one hundred thousand prisoners of war.

At the end of 1944, completely isolated from the outside World, lacking both food and military supplies and relentlessly pounded by Japan and its allies, China was on its last legs and the Kuomintang Government of Chiang Kai-shek was on the verge of collapse.

Worried of a possible Japanese invasion, Tibet approached India, asking for protection. The Indians asked the Romanians and the Japanese who declared that they had no designs on Tibet. The 16th of December official proclamation of Indian Protection of Tibet was accepted by the Axis Powers but vehemently contested by China who was still viewing Tibet as its rightful territory. When India refused to discuss the issue of Tibet's sovereignty, the moribund Chungking Government declared war on India, hoping to bring India into the Axis and have it invaded by the Allies. India rejected the Chinese declaration of war as utterly meaningless when China had absolutely no means of harming India in any way. Indeed, no bullets were ever fired in the purely theoretical Sino-Indian War.



September - October 1944, Africa

The Imperial Armed Forces were so large that the Empire continued its military operations in Africa as if the Italian Campaign did not exist. In fact, in all its campaigns, the limiting factor for the Empire had always been the logistics, never the number of available troops.

In Libya, the Empire lost Sirte and was pushed back to Cyrenaica, losing ground in both Tripolitania and the Fezzan. The losses in Libya were the only ones of the campaign.

In the Sahel, the Empire took the rest of the Darfur and most of Chad, getting close to the border of West Africa (Niger). The Imperial tanks and trucks were clearly superior, both in quantity and in quality, to the Allied ones but the increasingly longer distances from the Nile slowed down the westwards advance.

In the Horn of Africa, the Empire conquered most of Ethiopia (except the Ogaden), the northern part of Somalia (the former British Somaliland) and entered Kenya from the north. At that point, both the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden were internal bodies of water of the Empire.

In Equatorial Africa, the Imperial forces finally reached the area inhabited by the African Loyalists in early September. Vast amounts of weapons, ammunition, explosives, radios and various other supplies began to pour generously deeper and deeper into Africa. The presence of millions of African Loyalists greatly aided the progress of the Imperial armies, both southwards and westwards. In less than two months, the Empire and the Pan-Africans liberated half of Ubangi-Shari, a third of Congo and almost all of Equatoria and entered Uganda from the west.

In late October, the African Loyalists started a second general insurrection against their oppressors in the still occupied parts of their African Empire. Helped by superior and plentiful weapons, capable Imperial officers and supported by the Imperial Air Force and the relentlessly advancing Imperial Army, the African insurrection had good chances of success.

Soon, the Africans started to find mass graves with thousands upon thousands of their former comrades, captured by the Allies and machine-gunned into narrow ditches. It appeared that, when faced with the Imperial Effect in action, far away from the "Civilized World" and the watchful eye of the war correspondents and when dealing with "inferior Blacks" instead of Europeans, many Allied soldiers and officers dishonoured their uniforms by perpetrating war crimes similar to those of the Nazis and of the IJA. The criminal behaviour of the Allies in Equatorial Africa contrasted markedly with their civilized and correct conduct in Sicily, where the Imperial Loyalist civilians remaining after the surrender of the Imperial Expeditionary Force were placed under surveillance and the men of fighting age were interned but no attrocities were committed.

After the knowledge of the mass murders spread through Africa, the war became even uglier. Ignoring their orders, many Africans summarily executed captured Allied soldiers, especially when their accents betrayed a heritage from South Africa, Rhodesia or the American South, because racists from those areas had perpetrated the most crimes. Soon, no quarter was requested or given in most situations where an Imperial officer was not present. In fact, one Rhodesian officer infamously declared that "these Africans are no better than dangerous animals who must be culled to more manageable numbers."

After small border changes in favour of Egypt and Libya (sparsely inhabited northern Darfur and the Abyei Region of Equatoria), both Darfur and Equatoria were awarded to the Empire of Africa. At the same time, Ethiopia (without the Ogaden) and Libya (currently only Cyrenaica) were annexed to the Empire as Imperial States.

With war coming to the borders of British East Africa, the American military took control of that British Protectorate as well as of Madagascar and other British islands from the western Indian Ocean. Mozambique was also placed under military control, American in the north and Rhodesian in the south, separated by the Zambezi River.



September - October 1944, the Empire

The Imperial economy started to show the first timid signs of improvement despite the continuation of the total war spending and economic planning. The reasons for the slight improvement were (i) the significant increase in population and, thus, workforce, (ii) the injection of capital from the trade with India and Japan and (iii) the creation of a new fiat currency (also called Leu) in place of the defunct one. Soon, private initiative mushroomed in all areas which were not considered vital for the war effort, injecting more fresh air into the economy.

The Allied bombardments of the Imperial heartland took place during the night and were mostly limited to Croatia, Serbia and Greece. Their effectiveness was rather limited because most populated places and industrial areas were well defended by highly efficient flak (using state-of-the-art proximity fuzes) and superb jet engine Imperial fighters who frequently neutralized the threat without the need to sound the aerial alarm and wake up the civilians. Nonetheless, some bombs found their targets and over 700 civilians were injured in the bombings, with 119 losing their lives.

The Imperial Family grew with a new member, Imperial Princess Cleopatra Alexandra Porphyrogenita, the third daughter of Mihai and Anne, after four years old Victoria Augusta and two years old Mihaela Iulia.

With the Atomic Programme nearing completion, the test of the first Imperial atomic bomb was tentatively scheduled to take place in the Arabian desert in late November.



September - October 1944, Western Europe

Hitler rewarded France for its loyalty, giving it Wallonia, while Flanders was joined to the Netherlands, with plans to annex it to the Reich.

Both halves of Italy had to endure numerous bombing raids, resulting in thousands of deaths and untold destruction. France and the western and central parts of Germany were also bombed regularly by the Allies, with the Germans retaliating against the United Kingdom, especially against the more easily accessible London. Because of the clear Allied air superiority, the Germans resorted to firing V2 rockets which were impossible to intercept but quite imprecise.



29-30 September 1944, Moscow, Soviet Russia

Comrade Anne, thank you again for helping us in our life and death strugle against the murderous fascist invaders. However, either the fascists are too strong or your help, while extensive, was still insufficient. But the past does not matter now, but only the future. And the future is crystal clear. We lost. The Great Patriotic War is lost. We lost our homeland, we lost millions of Soviet people, we lost everything. Moscow will fall in a couple of weeks, one month at the most. The Kama and the Volga will soon freeze and our valiant armies are too weak to withstand a renewed German assault. The fascists will reach the Urals this autumn, Omsk in the spring and the upper Ob next summer. Less than one year from now, the Germans and the Japanese will meet on the Yenisey and Russia will cease to exist.

I believe we can safely assume that the complete destruction of Russia is not in your interest. And you can still help us. Not with oil, food, clothes and weapons, but with accepting Russia into your Empire and, thus, protecting us from the fascists. Yes, I believe that it is in our best interest to join your Empire. We should have done that from the very beginning and conquer the World together. But alas, what's done is done and cannot be changed. Or can it?

So, I am willing to announce the unconditional surrender of Soviet Russia to the Empire of the Romans. I understand that that may prompt a German invasion of your Empire and I plan to give you a reasonable amount of time to prepare for that eventuality. Nonetheless, I am convinced that, should war start between your Empire and Germany, you would undoubtedly prevail. I will direct all the Soviet citizens from the free area as well as those still loyal to us from the occupied areas to accept the Soviet surrender to the Empire and transfer their loyalty to you and your Empire.

In exchange for our surrender, I am only asking three favours. One, I humbly ask you to use your powers to extract me from Moscow as you promissed and guarantee my life, freedom and safety from prosecution or unlawful assault. Two, I expect your word that, when the situation permits, you would fight for the liberation of Russia from the fascist occupation. Three, I would like, if altogether possible, that the most important victories of the proletariat be maintained and a return to full capitalist oppression be averted. With all I have come to know about you and your Empire, I strongly believe that you would grant me these three wishes.

Please answer quickly because time is running out. Stalin.


Anne tried to buy more time but Stalin was right. For Russia, time was indeed running out. While the imminent fall of Moscow could not be averted anymore, the Germans could still be stopped on the left bank of the Volga and the Kama if the Russian surrender occured before the freezing of the rivers. They had at most eight weeks, perhaps less.



8-9 October 1944, Moscow, Soviet Russia

Stalin informed Anne that all resources had been thoroughly exhausted and Moscow would have to surrender the following day.

At five o' clock in the morning, Elaine came to Stalin's bedroom to check her mail. She read Stalin's latest letter and frowned. While utterly repugned by that cold-blooded mass murderer, she ought to save him, for the sake of Anne and of the Empire. She looked at Stalin who was sleeping, apparently disturbed by a bad dream or, possibly, by a very heavy conscience. Elaine did her best to emit a nice, soothing light and coughed lightly to wake him up.

Stalin jumped to his feet, rubbed his eyes, opened his mouth and looked in awe at Elaine, unable to utter a single sound.

Elaine: "Yes, I am an Angel of God Whom you renounced decades ago. While I abhor your countless crimes against both men and God, I am not here to judge you. I am not here to save your soul, only your body. You have ten minutes to pack your bags."

Stalin: "I am going to Hell."

Elaine: "Yes, there is a fair chance that you would. I believe that a proper and sincere repentance is rather unlikely. However, that's not my call to make but God's. Anyway, you won't go to Hell while you're still alive so, don't worry, we aren't going to Hell right now."

Stalin: "I am so going to Hell..."

Elaine: "Yes, I heard that. Do you have anything to pack? I don't have all day."

Stalin: "Let me dress... Where are we going?"

Elaine: "Name a place and I'll fly you there."

Stalin: "Omsk? No. Tsargrad. I really want to talk to Anne, face to face."

Elaine: "Are you sure that she would receive you? No, disregard the question, it was rhetorical. That's not my call either and I don't care. We can always go to Omsk later. If you're afraid of heights, you should close your eyes. Are you ready?"

Stalin: "I guess."

Elaine: "Well, jump on my back and hold tight. We'll be in Constantinople in ten minutes. Don't worry, we'll be flying through hyperspace, you won't feel the wind or anything."


Later in the morning, when Stalin's aide knocked at the locked door, nobody answered. A couple of hours later, when there was still no answer, two soldiers were called to break the door as everybody presumed that Stalin had committed suicide. To everybody's bewilderment, the room was empty, with the door and windows locked from the inside.

With no means to solve the mystery and no time to lose, Marshal Ivan Konev who, by virtue of being the highest ranked Soviet officer present in the Moscow Pocket, had become the de facto Military Commander of Moscow after Stalin's disappearance, announced the surrender of the Soviet Capital to the Wehrmacht.

The fall of Moscow freed over one hundred thousand German soldiers and significantly improved the road and rail communications in German-occupied Central Russia. The almost starving population of Moscow received rations meant to keep them alive until the Nazis had the time to decide whom to kill and whom to put to work first and kill later.



9-13 October 1944, Constantinople, the Empire

Stalin was housed in an empty suite of the Imperial Palace and was received by Anne later in the afternoon. At first Anne mocked Stalin for his defeat and castigated him for his crimes but, in the end, the two dictators found common ground and, during the following days, discussed the conditions and exact timing of the Soviet surrender until every detail was apparently taken care of.

In the morning of the 13th of October, Anne was informed that the Imperial spies in Russia learned that a special meeting of the Politburo was taking place in Omsk that morning to discuss the surrender of Soviet Russia to the Axis.



13 October 1944, Omsk, Soviet Russia

The room was small and dark. Seven men sat at a wooden table, listening to the speech of an eighth who was standing up, gesticulating wildly. The largest chair, placed at the head of the table, was empty because Stalin, the undisputed leader of Soviet Russia, had gone missing in Moscow.

Beria looked at Molotov and stifled a yawn. Everybody knew that Stalin was dead and that they had to surrender. The Red Army was clearly unable to hold its ground and the Germans were going to cross the Volga within weeks. Yet Malenkov kept talking about the merits of the Soviet system.

Malenkov was rather annoyed by the continuous murmurs from the room signifying that his colleagues were not polite enough to listen to his speech. Suddenly though, there was perfect silence. Malenkov felt a gush of pride thinking that he had finally touched an interesting subject but something was not right. Everybody was staring to the head of the table. Malenkov rised his gaze from his papers and looked to his left... Stalin himself was sitting in his chair, his fists clenched, an angry look on his face. While the other members of the Politburo were sitting, Malenkov was not and he fell backwards, knocking his chair off.

Stalin stood up and said: "There will be no surrender today and surely not to the Axis as a whole. We'll surrender to the Empire, at the right time. This meeting is adjourned."


To allow the Empire more time to prepare for a swift takeover of Russia and a possible confrontation with Nazi Germany, as well as for the maximum psychological effect, the surrender of Soviet Russia was scheduled to take place in the morning of the 7th of November.

And, just one week after deciding that taking the rest of Italy was not worth the effort (and one month after giving birth), Anne began to reconsider her choice. Surely a two-front war had to be better than a three-front war, right?

 

[Zagan7]

Oceania
January 1945
Previous map from this series: March 1944.

​

Red Line: Maximum Japanese advances in Oceania (September 1943)
Orange Line: Allied advances by March 1944
Violet Line: Allied advances by December 1944

Notes:

• The British territories in Oceania are under the temporary war-time administration of Australia (Fiji, New Hebrides, Solomon Islands), New Zealand (Tonga, Pitcairn) and the United States of America (Ellice Islands, Gilbert Islands, Pheonix Islands, Line Islands). They have not been annexed to those countries.
• The former French territories in Oceania have been annexed by Australia (New Caledonia), New Zealand (Wallis and Futuna, French Polynesia) and the United Kingdom (the French share in the New Hebrides Condominium).
• Indonesia and the Philippines are Japanese Puppet States. The territorial extent of Indonesia is not well defined.
• There are several isolated pockets of Japanese resistance in the Allied-controlled area (islands bypassed by the Allied advance and left to wither on the vine).

.

 

[Zagan7]

China
January 1945
After the Operation Ni-Go
Previous map from this series: July 1944 (including Indochina).


Indochina has been cropped out of the map. No territorial changes have occured there.​

Note: The names of the Chinese cities and provinces are those normally used in the English-speaking countries in the 1940's, using the Wade-Giles romanization system for Mandarin Chinese.
The currently used Hanyu Pinyin official romanization system for Standard Chinese did not exist at that time.


Orange Lines: Frontlines at the end of Operation Ichi-Go (June-July 1944).

Faint Grey Lines: Province borders in China / Former borders in Thailand.
Faint All Capitals Names: Chinese Provinces.


Notes:

• Kwantung is a Japanese territory.
• Taiwan is a Japanese colony (part of Japan).
• Manchukuo, Vietnam, Burma and Wang Jingwei China are Japanese puppet states.
• Thailand and Mongolia are otherwise independent Japanese client states.
• Inner Mongolia is an integral part of Mongolia.
• Laos and the Shan State are integral parts of Thailand.
• India and Tibet are neutral; Tibet is under Indian amical protection.

.

 

[Zagan7]

Africa
30 October 1944
Previous maps from this series: September 1940, June 1941, November 1941, August 1942, March 1944, August 1944.

​

Red Line: Limit of area with significant Pan-African insurgent activity.
Orange Line: Frontlines in August 1944.

Notes:

• West Africa, Tunisia, Somalia, Madagascar and Ruanda-Urundi are United Nations Protectorates under American administration.
• Katanga is a United Nations Protectorate under South African administration. Barotseland is a Rhodesian Protectorate.
• Egypt, Ethiopia and Libya are Imperial States.
• Parts of Somalia, Uganda and Kenya are under Imperial occupation.

.

 

[ATP]

Now, USA would fight in Africa till all english colonies there become either their or Empire puppets.Poor british,they should mimic Stalin and surrender to Ann.

 

[january1may]

Poor british,they should mimic Stalin and surrender to Ann.

Click to shrink...

The king is already on Ann's side, IIRC. The problem is that he has very little power.

...Which reminds me, India isn't an Imperial puppet, correct?

 

[Zagan7]

Now, USA would fight in Africa till all English colonies there become either theirs or Empire puppets. Poor British, they should mimic Stalin and surrender to Anne.

Click to shrink...

Yes, like in OTL, the British Empire is gone. Just a little sooner than in OTL.

1. The king is already on Anne's side, IIRC. The problem is that he has very little power.

2. Which reminds me, India isn't an Imperial puppet, correct?

Click to shrink...

1. That is correct.

2. Correct. India is a neutral country (slightly Axis-leaning), content to trade with both the Allies and the Axis.

As a rule, Imperial puppets are always shown with the Romanian gold colour on maps. Unlike de jure Imperial territory though, they are separated from the Empire by hard borders (black, not gray). Now, the only Imperial puppets are the Vatican City (too small to show on maps) and the Empire of Africa (visible on the last map).

 

[Zagan7]

Chapter 74. The Surrender of Soviet Russia



14 October - 7 November 1944, Omsk, Soviet Russia

The members of the Politburo, besides being absolutely shocked by Stalin's sudden materialization in his previously empty chair, were ultimately relieved that the dictator shared their will to surrender (as, otherwise, they would have been surely executed for treason). For the next three weeks, the miserable life of the Soviet citizens went on with little changes.


On the 21st of October, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet announced a series of territorial-administrative changes, some of whom concerned areas which were no longer under Soviet control:

• The remaining Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics and Autonomous Oblasts were dissolved, merged with existing Oblasts / Krais or turned into regular Oblasts. In practice, the only affected administrative units (still under Soviet control) were the Bashkir ASSR and the Oyrot AO (Altai).
• The Byelorussian SSR was merged into the Russian SSR (with no more ASSRs, the word "Federal" from the Russian SFSR was quietly dropped). The measure was purely theoretical because all of Byelorussia was under German occupation.
• The border between the Russian SSR and the Kazakh SSR was changed in favour of the former, incorporating into Russia all contiguous Kazakh oblasts and rayons with an European majority (Russians, Ukrainians, Byelorussians, Germans, etc). The area added to Russia roughly corresponded to the northern third of Kazakhstan and represented about two thirds of the Kazakh territory still under Soviet control.

.
Unlike Stalin's earlier resurfacing in Omsk, the Supreme Soviet decrees attracted almost no international attention.


On the 25th of October, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet announced that the annexation of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and the occupation of Finland and Turkey had been illegal and null and void ab initio. The Estonian SSR, the Latvian SSR, the Lithuanian SSR and the People's Republics of Finland, Turkey, Mongolia and Tuva and their Governments in Exile were dissolved. The independence of Finland, Mongolia and Tuva were officially recognized (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania were under German occupation and Turkey was an integral part of the Empire).


On the 31th of October, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet announced the dissolution of the Soviet Union. All central institutions of the Soviet Union were transferred to the Russian SSR or dissolved altogether if no longer needed. Finally, the Presidium dissolved the Supreme Soviet and then dissolved itself. Thus, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922-1944) ceased to exist. The Russian SSR and the other nine SSRs (represented by their Governments in Exile), became de jure independent countries.

Soviet Russia (the Russian SSR) announced that it was the successor state of the defunct Soviet Union, declared that it had no responsability for and no claims towards the other SSRs and informed their Governments in Exile that they were on their own.


The Red Army (now the Russian Army) quickly vacated the rump Kazakh SSR, retreating behind the new border. The Imperial Army advanced unopposed to the new Russian border and annexed the occupied area, joining it to the already existing Imperial State of Kazakhstan.

The Imperial Army did not cross the northern Kazakh border but crossed its western one, into the rump Astrakhan and Stalingrad Oblasts. The Russians manning the Volga Front were caught in the narrow strip of land between the Volga and the Kazakh border, with the Germans on the other side of the river and the Romanians coming from behind. They surrendered in less than 24 hours after the start of the Imperial invasion. Thus, on the 5th of November, the Germans were faced by Romanians instead of Russians on the lower half of the Volga front, from the Caspian Sea in the south almost to Saratov in the north.


During the following days, the nine non-Russian, de jure independent, Soviet Socialist Republics reacted to the new situation, according to a pre-established plan:

• The Governments in Exile of the Georgian SSR, Armenian SSR, Turkmen SSR, Uzbek SSR, Tajik SSR, Kyrgyz SSR and Kazakh SSR took notice that their whole territory was an integral part of the Empire of the Romans, declared their republics extinct and dissolved themselves (on the 2nd of November).
• The Government in Exile of the Azerbaijan SSR took notice that most of its territory was an integral part of the Empire of the Romans (with the exception of Baku and its hinterland), declared the Azerbaijan SSR extinct, stated their hope for a future reunification of Azerbaijan and dissolved itself (on the 3rd of November).
• The Government in Exile of the Ukrainian SSR asked for annexation to the Empire of the Romans and unification with the Imperial State of Ruthenia, anounced that it transferred all its prerogatives to the Government of the Imperial State of Ruthenia, then dissolved itself (on the 5th of November).

.
On the 6th of November, Soviet Russia announced that:

• It recognized the new border with Finland in the Karelian Isthmus, Lake Ladoga, Svir River, Lake Onega, Eastern Karelia and the White Sea.
• It unilaterally ended the state of war with Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark, asking those countries to reciprocate.
• It recognized the border changes in favour of Poland and Ukraine.
• It recognized the annexation of Crimea, Azov and Cossackia to the Empire of the Romans.
• It wanted to discuss surrender terms with the Axis Powers.

.
The German Reich and the Empire asked for unconditional surrender.

On the 7th of November, instead of celebrating the 27th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution, Soviet Russia announced that it accepted the Axis demands for unconditional surrender. The signing of the Soviet Instrument of Unconditional Surrender was scheduled to take place in Omsk in the evening of the 9th of November.



9 November 1944, Omsk, Soviet Russia

The sombre ceremony was attended by the Russian Premier Joseph Stalin and by representatives of the major Axis Powers: the German Reich, the Empire of the Romans and the Empire of Japan. It was broadcasted live both in Russia and in the Empire.

Stalin opened the proceedings with a short speech then, to the horror of the German and Japanese delegates, he announced the Unconditional Surrender of Soviet Russia to the Empire of the Romans alone, not to the Axis Powers as a whole. "This is the revenge of Russia, from beyond its grave. That her mortal enemies kill each other over its corpse," he said, before erupting in a short burst of maniacal laughter.

All Russian soldiers and partisans were ordered to surrender immediately to the first Imperial officer they encountered. All Russian civilians were asked to keep calm and obey the instructions of the Imperial Occupation Authorities as soon as they arrive in their cities, towns or villages. All institutions and organs of the Russian State were ordered to cease functioning and transfer all their attributions, personnel and archives to the Imperial Occupation Authorities when demanded to.

At the end of his seven minute speech, Stalin personally surrendered to the Imperial representative. He ended the broadcast with "May God have mercy upon the Russians."



9-12 November 1944, Russia

Large effectives of the Imperial Army, mainly composed of ethnic Russians, former soldiers of the Red Army taken into Imperial captivity, immediately crossed the border into Russia, advancing northwards as fast as possible. At the same time, hundreds of Imperial transport planes, carrying more soldiers and supplies, took off from Central Asia to land in all functional Russian airports. An expedition was sent to reassert control over the large remote lawless parts of the Krasnoyarsk Krai.

Before Hitler could properly digest the implications of the Russian surrender, much less react in any coherent way, most of rump Russia was under solid Imperial control.

Moreover, soon it became apparent that an unknown but probably large part of the Russian partisans and civilians from the German and Japanese-occupied parts of Russia had become loyal to the Empire. The situation in German-occupied Ukraine was similar.


The Communist Russian Government was deposed and the Imperial Army took over the administration of the country. Stalin and his daughter Svetlana were relocated to a small island in the Sea of Marmara where they were allowed to live in peace and relative comfort. Other members of the Soviet nomenklatura were indicted but the trials were postponed sine die. Beria was summarily executed, not because of his crimes as a Soviet official but because he was a psychopathic criminal and serial rapist.

The Supreme and local Soviets as well as the Communist Party and all related organizations were dissolved and outlawed. The Republic was abolished and the Russian Empire was restored. Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich of Russia, who was in German captivity, was proclaimed Emperor of All Russia. The Germans were asked to release him.


Anne contacted Hitler and Emperor Hirohito and proposed to convene and discuss the issue of the millions of Imperial subjects living in horrifying conditions under German and Japanese rule.

Hitler could not control his rage as he yelled continuously at Anne, insulting and threatening her repeatedly, before abruptly ending the call.

Hirohito immediately sent Foreign Minister Shigenori Tōgō to Constantinople with instructions to do his utmost to come to an understanding with the Romanians.



14-17 November 1944, Constantinople, the Empire

To the great relief of the Japanese delegation, Anne was extremely conciliant and her demands were very reasonable, far below what the Japanese have feared. With common ground being rapidly found, a treaty was signed in just three days.

The hastily signed Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation between the Empire of the Romans and the Empire of Japan had several important geopolitical provisions:

• Japan renounced all claims on the area between the Yenisey and the western borders of Buryatia and Yakutia, recognizing it as sovereign Russian territory. The Japanese Central Siberian Colony was dissolved.
• Japan allowed for limited Russian self-rule in Irkutsk, Chita, Blagoveshchensk, Khabarovsk and other areas with compact East Slavic majorities.
• Japan solemnly promissed to end any and all persecution against Russians and other Europeans living in Japanese-controlled areas.
• All Russians and other Europeans living in Japanese-controlled areas were allowed to emigrate if they so desired, without being compelled to do so.
• Japan renounced all claims on East Turkestan and ceded it to the Empire.
• The Empire of the Romans officially recognized the current Japanese control and borders in East Asia and the Japanese claim on the remainder of China.
• The signatories recognized and pledged to support the continued independence and neutrality of Yakutia, Tuva and Tibet.

.
Thus, the Empire had completely defused a potentially dangerous crisis in the East while gaining additional territory. The crisis in the West, however, was much harder to defuse.


The Empire sent a note to Berlin in which it claimed Ukraine, the Rostov, Stalingrad and Astrakhan Oblasts and Kalmykia, Dagestan, Chechnya and Ingushetia for itself and the rest of European Russia and Byelorussia on behalf of the Russian Empire, while being open to good faith negotiations. The immediate and complete end of all German abuses directed against the new Imperial subjects was non-negotiable. The Germans did not answer and war between the Reich and the Empire seemed unavoidable.



25 November 1944, remote location in the Arabian Desert, Nejd, the Empire

The Empire performed the first test of a nuclear weapon, a plutonium-based implosion device with a uranium tamper. The bomb fizzled, creating an explosion estimated at three kilotonnes of TNT which, while still being the largest man-made explosion in history, was about one order of magnitude below the desired yield.

After the design flaw was identified, a new test was scheduled for the 19th of December.



The progression of the Italian Front (16 October - 12 November) and of the African Front (November-December) will be presented in the next chapter.

 

[Zagan7]

Russian Empire
25 November 1944
Previous map from this series: September 1944.

​

You may want to open the map in a new tab and zoom in to better see the small text.

 

[ATP]

1. 3 KT bomb ? i thought,that they were unable to made weaker then 10 KT with their technology. Well,they still could turn Berlin into graveyard.
Interestic - german mysthic, Teresa Neumann, saw Berlin destroyed and abadonned after 3 WW. She died in 1960,interesting,what she would think about Ann.

2.Reasonable Japan and mad Hitler - at least Japan is smart in this TL. Hitler...interesting,what he would do now. Germans arleady was in occult shit - maybe they try to get help of Nordic gods or demons from Agharta, i read, that he belived that he was meeting their/Agharta/ envoys.

3.Now, i think that USA would condemn Ann - but later divide world between her and FDR. At least this time they sold people to ruler far better then Stalin.

 

[Zagan7]

1. 3 KT bomb? I thought, that they were unable to made weaker then 10 KT with their technology. Well, they still could turn Berlin into graveyard.
Interestic - german mystic, Teresa Neumann, saw Berlin destroyed and abandonned after WW3. She died in 1960, interesting, what she would think about Anne.

2. Reasonable Japan and mad Hitler - at least Japan is smart in this TL. Hitler... interesting, what he would do now. Germans arleady was in occult shit - maybe they try to get help of Nordic gods or demons from Agharta, I read, that he belived that he was meeting their /Agharta/ envoys.

3. Now, i think that USA would condemn Anne - but later divide world between her and FDR. At least this time they sold people to ruler far better then Stalin.

Click to shrink...

1. It was a fizzle, a much larger bomb which didn't work as intended and wasted precious fissile material. The flaw was identified and the next one would deliver the expected yield of c. 25 kt TNT.
From what I can tell, Teresa Neumann was a fraud.

2. Hitler wants to invade the Empire but that is not easy, at least not while he has to fight the Allies as well. Therefore, he tries to have a ceasefire with the Allies first. Those issues will be discussed in Chapter 76.
Oh, yes, we'll have some demons in the story, but first in Britain, courtesy of Vahktang. I will post the last two parts of his contribution soon. And we'll talk about the Nazi occult studies in Chapter 76 or 77.

3. Roosevelt is going to die very soon. In OTL he died in a few months from now, in TTL he is under more stress. We'll see what Truman is going to do.

 

[Zagan7]

Contributed by Vahktang



Looking for Alternatives (Part VI)
Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII.


14 May 1943, Hutchins Hospital, the Highlands of Scotland, United Kingdom
Memoir of Charles Carmichael, former captain of the Royal Army (unpublished, excerpt)

I would have to say that it started at approximately 7 pm on February the 14th.

Dinner was finished and those off duty had retired to their respective mess, to smoke, read, play cards and do the things soldiers have done since there have been soldiers: tell stories about encounters with women. And these stories had grown progressively, well, debauched over recent times, fellow officers naming names and acts that common soldiers may have spoken upon, but most officers were publicly more discreet about, usually.

I was in the officers mess listening to one fellow about, well, something, when the lights got noticeably brighter, and then most of them blew up. The remaining few lights were much dimmer, with some strobing and others fading or brightening at random. This turned out to be so throughout the site.

Lieutenant Colonel Stephens, who was present, ordered a squad to the generator, with additional reinforcements at the radio room, the armory, and other key points, as a precaution. He went to his office to receive and begin a report.

Soon the news started coming in, civilians missing or wounded, prisoners, including captured troops that were now under the Imperial Effect, released, kennels emptied, violence occurring, as well as odd actions. The Lieutenant Colonel did not hesitate and had put the site at full alert upon the first reports.

Earlier in the week he had ordered additional ammunition to be issued to those on duty. At this time he ordered full issuance of all equipment, and that the site be sealed, allowing no one to leave or escape.

We discovered we were incommunicado, phone lines seemingly cut, the radio room not answering.

A reinforced squad was sent to the radio room and telephone exchange to reestablish communications.

Runners came in to tell us of shots fired, of wounded, civilians held hostage. While we dealt with all this, there had been no communication with the radio room.

I was ordered to take a squad and see to it, as I had technical skills.

I left with two riflemen and a Naik who was more expert at electric repairs than I.

The most direct route was blocked by a thick metal security door that was locked when it should not have been. We could not continue that way despite our best efforts, so we found another.

Eventually, we found ourselves in the main courtyard, where the kennels were located. Light was from a pale moon though I had my torch. I dared not use it out in the open. We could see but barely.

They had been emptied of their occupants, dogs, baboons, and other animals. The dogs had been less than a hundred, many of them of great size, and you could hear howling and barking, some of it echoing off the stones, so you could not discern their origins. Some of the monkeys I could see despite the darkness, scampering on rooftops and in the eaves. Poor tykes probably would not last more than a few days in Scottish winter, even with some protection. Several lynxes, a pair of golden eagles, and several great white pelicans were also out of their cages, the latter two types being dead on the ground, probably because their wings had been clipped, as was usual for such keeping.

We were rounding some cages, Naik Garung trailing, when we heard a sound, like he had dropped his rifle.

We turned and saw him shuddering, not three yards from us, his weapon on the ground. He would not answer my whispered orders to pick up his weapon, but gave off a gurgle and a hiss. I risked it and turned on my torch and sighted it on him.

A spindly baboon had braced himself on a cage and was on Naik Garung, holding him up, and it opened up the naik's throat. I can still see steam rising in the cold night air from the wound.

The two riflemen fired immediately, missing initial shots, but winging it with subsequent ones, and it fled.

We checked the body and found him dead. We could do nothing more for him, partly because the shots fired had attracted dogs.

I gave orders to kill the dogs and any other animals that would come near us as we moved to a set of doors to continue our mission.

Before we reached the doors, a pack was upon us, two dozen or more of the creatures. Shots fired missed or wounded and were otherwise ineffective, as the pack trailed and attacked.

I reached the door and opened it, a dozen feet ahead of my riflemen when one went down. The other emptied his rifle then went after the attacking canines with rifle and kicks, while the one down pulled out his khukuri and began using that. They were quickly surrounded and overwhelmed, but never made a sound louder than a grunt. I emptied my pistol as they were being attacked, using my torch on one that had gotten too close, breaking it.

And I still had my duty, see about reestablishing communications. And I saw that I could not do anything more for my riflemen now, either. I went through the door and closed it, but I could not close my ears from the savaging the dogs were doing to my men. I remember it still.

I reloaded my weapon and continued, being cautious. As I continued down a wide hallway, I heard a sound to one side and turned. In an off room, lit by a dim bulb, was a great beast of a dog, eleven stone if he was one. He was tupping a toy poodle, less than two stone only because it was obese. I recognized it as it being the pet of one of the civilians, normally not out of her presence. It whined in pain upon the actions of the beast, who stared at me, as if daring me to act, but otherwise continued his action without pause.

I continued down the hall to a staircase. The upper end of this staircase had another of those metal security doors. If it proved unlocked, my journey would be that much shorter.

I heard talons on stone behind me and turned in the dim light, the great beast almost upon me, having not even growled as it approached. I got off two shots and those did not even slow it down as I did not hit despite the range. It got a hold of my gun hand and was attempting to bring me down. If it got me prone, that would be the end of me.

I somehow fired again, but this time the muzzle was nearly against the stone floor. The impact threw up shards that did hit the great beast as I saw wounds appear. Maybe it was the wounds or the loud report right next to its ears, but it retreated. I fired off two more shots as he did so before he disappeared into the darkness. They seemed to have missed, too.

I surveyed my arm, finding it bloody. My thick leather winter coat probably saving it from being broken or even ripped off. It was quite painful.

I reloaded the gun and looked around when a voice came out of a dark room.

"I can dress that wound," it said.

I looked and could see nothing, until a set of bright white human teeth appeared just about four feet off the ground. They were filed to points.

"Captain Carmichael? I am Mammen Vista. I can dress that wound. Please come in, I have medical supplies."

A bright light turned on that only illuminated a few feet around it and I could now see the short, Nigerian fellow I had spoken to several times. There was a chair, a tray, and upon the tray I could see bandages, gauze, alcohol, and other instruments.

I went inside, noting the lack of door, as they were laying on both sides of the entrance and that the light illuminated only a small space in a much larger room.

He did not smile, then, but he normally liked to, showing off teeth that had been filed to points. On occasion he had spoken fondly of cannibalism and there were bets whether he was serious or not. The money was that he was serious.

I holstered my weapon and began by shucking my thick, leather coat and then taking off my shirt, then sitting down facing the entrance.

He examined the wounds and made a tsk sound.

"Your coat undoubtedly saved your arm further damage. You will need some stitches, but there does not seem to be any muscle damage. I would advise shooting with your off hand as best you can until it can be seen further."

He pulled out a syringe and began to fill it from a tiny ampule.

"Just a local," he said, injecting me. "Pain can be your friend but too much will be your enemy, shading your judgement and reactions. This will take the edge off."

I heard a sound from the corridor and went to pull my gun.

"The beast," I said.

"The symbol of Jhebbal Sag keeps out beasts and other influences. I placed it on the floor."

I looked and could see some scratches on the floor that made no sense. I kept my hand near my pistol.

"All the animals here were cleared of rabies, so you do not have to fear about that."

I had not considered it but was glad of the fact. He talked while we waited for the injection to take effect.

"Less than thirty feet from this door there was an attack. Over twenty with makeshift weapons against less than half that number of armed soldiers and a non commissioned officer. They sent out four women to distract them," he said, starting the cleaning. He put a stinging powder on the wound and I was glad of the injection because I felt it but it did not hurt.

"'Help us, save us,' the women said, but the NCO would have none of it, having them stay back. And then the others attacked, leaping from the stairs, coming out of dark rooms and from further down the corridor."

Mammen Vista began some simple stitches on my arm.

"The NCO ordered his men to fire and they did."

"He fired on unarmed women," I said.

"He ordered them down and fired around them. They proved to be armed and also attacked, so he fired on them, too."

"Your soldiers maintained discipline but not without casualties, but the attackers broke and fled."

The lights flickered and came on fully and I could see the room completely for the first time. Three bodies were laid out covered along one wall, two injured were on cots in another room, while six were on tables about the room, their body cavities open, their hearts had been removed and placed on another table. I saw bites taken from each of the hearts.

I stood and unholstered my gun holding it upon him. He dropped what he was holding and held his hands up and out, and smiling his toothy smile, attempting to look friendly but instead looking more fearsome.

"My God. You are eating them."

"Of course I am. It is the only way to ensure that they do not rise from the dead and attack us."

I wanted to pull the trigger.

"And I only do it with those at risk. Our soldiers lay otherwise untouched," he said, gesturing at the bodies on the floor. "And I have to take care of the wounded that cannot be moved," he continued, gesturing at the two in the next room. "Please, check them out."

Strange things had been occurring and he could have easily injured me while he had been caring for me. I kept my weapon on him as I checked all the bodies as he kept speaking.

"The Romanian forces are also in darkest Africa. There are some things there that no white person had ever seen and few can even imagine. But we also did not know of the Imperial Effect itself until it occurred."

All the bodies had wounds, the ones on the ground lethal, but only one had a wound near the heart and no sign of removal among any of them. I finally lowered my weapon and returned to the chair for him to complete his doctoring.

"I still have a mission to complete."

"And I must stay here. I will be safe, my symbol and my doctoring. I do not believe that they are out of their mind enough to take a doctor."

"And, even if they are, I have very strong oaths that include caring for the sick and treating the injured. In our studies we have seen no sign that those change."

He completed the stitching and began to bandage me up.

"About a hundred feet down on this floor is an entrance guarded by officers and soldiers. I would recommend you go there. You may find assistance there."

He smiled and meant it to be reassuring and it almost was. He had completed the bandaging and I stood to leave.

"Go with God, Captain Carmichael."

I checked the corridor carefully and noted no opponents.

I said my farewells and moved in the suggested direction.

A few minutes of travel, a turn, a heavy door later and I could see the makeshift fortifications and the armed men.

They called out a challenge and I answered with today's password. They replied that passwords were no good but that I should come forward. The sentry who disarmed and searched me was a Havildar who then passed me to his officers, two men I knew, regular army.

They were Lieutenant Stewart and Lieutenant Lethbridge, distant cousins, I understand, commissioned on the same day and they had a reputation that they came as a unit. They took me to a side room and had me verify my loyalties, which included me singing all the verses of God save the King as they watched me closely. I had been to enough birthday parades to get it correct.

They then told me their situation. A number of civilians were down a side corridor and in several rooms, and they were being protected by the men at the entrance. Among those civilians were walking wounded enlisted and officers.

The still hale guarded makeshift fortifications of furniture and doors and such and their orders were to let no one out until Lt. Col. Stephens himself ordered otherwise. All other exits to the site are sealed or otherwise guarded.

Their opponents consisted of some civilians and freed prisoners of the various projects at the site, armed with mostly makeshift weapons but a few captured firearms. They had sent a squad to report and to retrieve more ammunition which had not returned and was feared captured or dead. They could spare me not a single man to go with me but could make an attack to cover my own continuation.

I accepted and offered them the majority of my ammunition, mindful of my own and their needs. They also told of information from a civilian, a worker here from before the military took over, who had told them of a hidden staircase that would bypass the main halls and shorten my journey considerably. I received a replacement torch, also.

So, a few minutes later we were behind barricades with my sortie squad, five men all named Jenkins. Arrayed against us a short distance away, taking what cover they could were a dozen or so. Amongst our opponents we saw a soldier dressed as a fairy, fabric wings, halo of leaves, dressed in colored silks, but also armed with a rifle. He was known as a tough opponent and a leader.

"Jenkins," said Lieutenant Lethbridge.

"Sir," they replied in unison.

"Chap with the wings, there."

"Five rounds, rapid," said Lieutenant Stewart.

They all fired and the man ducked back. We advanced, firing, and they fired back. Two of the Jenkinses were hit and wounded, but some of our opponents were also wounded and all did fall back.

A moment of searching and I found the secret door that led to a narrow hall and which also featured a staircase, narrow, and turning.

I bid goodbye and received a 'good fortune' from one of the lieutenants in return. The door was closed after me and I made my way up the stairs.

Almost immediately I heard the door behind me open and voices ordering men in to follow, some up the stairs. I went forward, got to a turn, went up a little more, turned out my light and waited. I heard them approaching, them whispering, cursing that their light was a held lighter, the stair creaking as they advanced.

I waited until three had turned the corner and their dim light was almost upon me when I shined my much brighter light into their eyes, opened fire, hitting the one with the lighter first, then the one with a pistol next, then firing into the trio, hitting them all, emptying my pistol. All three lay dead or wounded, their bodies blocking the passageway, and I heard the reminder retreating.

I turned off my torch and continued up the stairs as quickly as I could. I only risked my light again when I got to where the exit had been described, and found it after a moment's search, closing it behind. I took a moment to reload and continued.

There was smoke on this floor, a fire had occurred but the fire suppression system must have put it out, because I felt no heat, nor saw any actual fires. One bit of luck.

I came upon an intersection, halls beyond, rooms open nearby, a servant's stairs now empty. About lay bodies, one ghurka with a khukuri in hand, who seemed to have made a good accounting of himself, as seven bodies lay about him, all with wounds that looked as if they had been made from his weapon.

As I was low on ammunition and did not have another weapon myself, I thanked the spirit of the soldier, then took the weapon from his grasp, which was not easy. I examined it and found it had decoration upon it of chased silver, as well as a family name on it, Shah, common enough for a gurkha. I put it on my belt and continued.

I used up almost the remainder of my ammunition in firing at spooks spectres and shadows in my journeys, my imagination getting the best of me as there were no good results. I was down to a few shells and considered if I should save one from myself and was near where the radio room was located when I heard human sounds, a chanting.

I looked from a hiding place and could see another combat had occurred here, the squad sent to investigate with one survivor, the others laying dead about the floor with their opponents doing the same.

The survivor was on the floor but his back was to a wall, he seemed to have wounds, left leg, right arm, upper chest, head, but kept repeating the same phrase. I recognized it as a sutra of protection.

I went up to him and asked him what occurred. He kept repeating the sutra.

I went to go around him to examine the radio room myself when he grabbed at my leg, while continuing the chanting.

I backed away, freeing myself. Normally, I would have used my best sergeant major voice to remind him that I was a British officer and that I now made an order for a report. But this was a gurkha, who respond differently.

I squatted across from him and spoke to him as an older brother despite him being older than I, encouraging him, reminding him of his duty and responsibilities, and that 'I could really use that report.'

That stopped his chanting and he began to get to a standing position, making to get to attention. I was horrified into silence when I noticed his left leg wound featured a tourniquet and his leg from calf down was missing.

 

[Zagan7]

Contributed by Vahktang



Looking for Alternatives (Part VII)
Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII.


14-15 May 1943, Hutchins Hospital, the Highlands of Scotland, United Kingdom
Memoir of Charles Carmichael, former captain of the Royal Army (unpublished, excerpt)

I recovered quickly and ordered him to lay at rest. He saluted, complied, and began his report as I examined his wounds and did what little I could.

When they had arrived they had found that the guard was gone and that the man at duty was gone, too, the doors wide open. A grenade had gone off in the radio room, wrecking it, and it would take hours and spares to repair it. While attempting to effect repairs they were attacked, multiple times. They had emptied their weapons and were resorting to their knives.

He said: "I want to single out Pratap Shah for exemplary action. His use of his weapon was exceptional and effective. It was a gift from his mother."

I said: "Of course. I saw the results of his activities already. And your name?"

"Prithvi Shah, sir."

I looked at the older man and remembered that the other man was younger and noted that there was a family resemblance.

"Your son?"

"My eldest, sir. But my statement is without influence. He truly did his duty."

I assured him I would see to it and I have. I have already recommended him for a medal, which was refused, as I did not actually see the actions taken. Even if the military will not recognize this particular action, I will do what I can so his family can receive a small pension.

I looked into the radio room and found the mess that it was in.

"Radio room is truly wrecked," I said.

"The phone lines are cut, too," said Shah.

I looked again and did not see them. I looked back at him and he pointed down the hall, to another door.

I walked down to it and found it unlocked, but the equipment inside was intact. Only the wires leading to the radio room had been cut.

This I could work with, what I was trained for. I salvaged tools from the radio room and began to work. In a matter of minutes I had an outside line. I was able to reconnect to Lt. Col. Stephens via his outer office phone.

After telling him of my success he ordered me to connect him to the outside, then cut the lines again after 10 minutes, then return to his office with further orders.

Shah had had the worst of it and had died when I checked him. I did what I could, noted down his information, then did as ordered, cutting the telephone lines again and then returning to the Lt. Col. office. I had no encounters en route, seeing no one alive, but catching glimpses of people running or hiding.

He was not there, but there was an envelope with my name on it on the desk. I unsealed it and inside were his orders. Remove the majority of the files from the secure safe, put them in a fireproof box, then place that box in a further, larger secure, fireproof box. Then I was to report to him with the box in the solarium.

There were no guards at the entrance area to the solarium and the inner doors of glass were propped open. I entered and they closed behind me with a click of a lock. I tested it and found it so. I heard voices beyond, a droning chorus that proved to be Crowley's wireless recorder through speakers, as well as the Lt. Col, Crowley himself and another.

This last voice was rich, enticing, with a smoky sound to it that one would notice and tend to follow.

I continued on to the solarium proper and glanced around, a large chamber, three walls of glass panes, a high ceiling of the same, doors to the outside gardens, light furniture and still an abundance of living plants about, carefully maintained.

An open skylight let in the cold and would not do the plants well, I thought.

In the center was a table, large, bare, marble, its chairs to the sides of the room. On one side of the table was Lt. Col. Stephens and on the other were two figures, one being Aleister Crowley, mumbling and whispering to himself, dressed in a stained nightshirt, as well as another.

The last was a handsome man with a very good voice and seemingly fine manners, dressed in prewar coat and tails, but holding two sticks to assist him in his walking. He was amused and seemed in fine spirits.

I went towards the Lt. Col. to report but before I could approach he signaled me to be at ease and to stay apart from him, which I did.

He was engaged in a conversation with the last figure and, due to my association with him, knew he was also paying attention to the skylight.

The conversation my commanding officer had with the stranger was rapid fire and verbose, touching upon culture and psychology, using words and phrases I was not familiar with I could not hope to replicate, but though I knew Lt. Col. Stephens to be a man of extraordinary intellect and talent, the other man seemed to toy with him, leading Lt. Col. Stephens to misspeak, back off, correct himself, something I had never seen him do before. Crowley seemed to be indisposed, only adding to the conversation here and there with little of impact or sense.

As they talked my mind sort of wandered. My thoughts went to my wife, and then, oddly, to our wedding night. Finding this distracting and inappropriate, my listening returned to the conversation, but again, wandered, this time to my daughter, who she was older enough to see young men now, and what actions she would take with these men as they grew more familiar.

I do not write this to seem at all salacious, but to demonstrate the influences that were about at this time and in this place, that could lead to the wills of the strongest men to weaken.

And then my thoughts were interrupted when she flew through the skylight, which closed behind her.

She looked like an angel, out of the cinema or the story books. Gorgeous, but not terribly feminine, blond hair, wings of feathers from her back, wearing sandals and a white robe that covered and concealed. She landed on the table and looked around.

I gasped as I saw her and Crowley made a vulgar oath, and she seemed surprised for a moment, maybe that we saw her at all, or maybe she was displeased at what Crowley said. I noticed that Lt. Col. Stephens subtly relaxed a little.

The unintroduced person in the room did not like her entrance at all, and his expression changed to one of anger, then interest and anticipation, dismissing Lt. Col. Stephens from his considerations.

But then his body began to change, too. While retaining the torso and a head of a man, though the former growing much larger, two other heads appeared, one of a ram and a third of a bull, while he grew the tail of a large serpent and the legs of a rooster. Despite all that he still had the voice of a man, but now even more impressive and alluring.

"One called Elaine," said the beastly figure.

"One called Asmodeus," said the angelic figure, Elaine. "You should not be here."

"I was invited," it said, indicating Crowley.

"You should leave," said Elaine.

"Are you going to," said Asmodeus, "make me. You are no Raphael. You are not even a Solomon. If you were to attempt to force me, it would be the worse for you."

Elaine seemed to consider, but Asmodeus continued.

"Not that I would not enjoy it," he said with a smile that was more than a leer, but which Elaine took with neither shock nor disdain, but more calculating.

Crowley said something about knowledge and Asmodeus replied with something that I will always remember.

"There are things man was not meant to know," said Asmodeus. "I am one of those things."

Elaine spoke to Asmodeus, mostly in English, but sometimes in words I did not understand. I went to get closer to Lt. Col. Stephens, but he motioned me stay where I was. Crowley interjected at occasion, but his words were met by the otherworldly figures with amusement or disdain or were just ignored, depending on the person and his words.

This continued on for just a few minutes when the sound of the droning changed, not as if a different recording had come on, but a different pitch from a different location. Suddenly, the outside was lit up brighter than any day I had seen while I had been stationed at the site, though it was still before midnight.

"What is this," said Asmodeus, "dawn is hours away. And would not be this sudden nor this bright."

He looked accusingly at her, who looked at the grounds outside the glass and at her now well illuminated surroundings, before coming to a conclusion.

"Flares," she said, "military flares."

A snort and then an odd laugh from Crowley got their attention.

"Yes, my Elaine," he said. "Military flares, from a pathfinder bomber. And the droning from above is a squadron of planes."

He looked towards Lt. Col. Stephens and stood up straight. He seemed more sober and sane than I had ever seen him.

"This is your doing, isn't it? They're going to bomb us, aren't they? What, explosives and incendiaries?"

Lt. Col. Stephens gave no reply, either from word or action.

"Yes, yes," said Crowley, "I saw it in a magazine. Two racks of bombs, next to each other, explosives and incendiaries. The explosive drops and opens the building, followed immediately by an incendiary that goes through the hole the explosive made, to burn all inside. To burn the place down."

"The rituals were done," said Asmodeus. "I was invited and have arrived. I mean to stay. Destroying this place will be nothing to me."
"No fire kindled by mortals could harm such as we."

I think I heard a bit of fear in Elaine's voice when she spoke, or maybe just resignation.

"They have bombs now that could cause steel to melt, that cause stone to flow like water."

"But they cannot affect such as us," said Asmodeus. "Their actions are futile."

"If you are here," said Crowley, "if you can affect our world, then you can be affected by our world. Injured. Perhaps even slain."

"No. You are wrong. You cannot even hold me," said Asmodeus.

He turned and faced the outer wall of glass and a gout of flame spewed from his human head, charring the plants, destroying planters, but the glass walls themselves were unharmed.

"'Symbols like walls,'" said Crowley, quoting himself. "When did you have time to do this, Lt. Col. Stephens? Who did this?"

He was looking at his surroundings, not moving otherwise, but pointed at the floor.

"You did the floors, too."

"Quiet, Crowley," said Lt. Col. Stephens in a low voice that still carried.

Asmodeus slid over to Crowley, towering over him, grasping him by his night shirt.

"You will open the door," it said, pointing to an exterior door. "So that I may egress. You mortals cannot trap me here."

Crowley twisted and stepped back, then looked at Asmodeus, then at Elaine, who had not moved from on top the table, and was peering around, seemingly looking for a weakness.

"This is not a trap for you, Sakhr," said Crowley. "It is a trap for her."

"Shut up, Crowley," said Lt. Col. Stephens.

"You're just bait," said Crowley. "It was always about her, wasn't it? You and your smart fellows at the War Office figured out she existed."

Asmodeus was listening intently, while Lt. Col. Stephens kept on encouraging Crowley to cease speaking, but he just prattled on.

"You think that with her destruction the Imperial Effect will also cease. But you are killing all your own men for this, as well as yourself. An excellent strategic turn."
"Well played, Lt. Col. Stephens, well played."

"There must be a way out," said Asmodeus. "He cares for those under him, those around him. He would especially not sacrifice himself. I will not be trapped."

"He would sacrifice a lot more to get rid of that supernatural threat," said Crowley, indicating Elaine.

"For God's sake, Crowley, shut up. They must not find out about the secret..."

And Crowley did shut up. But the damage was done. Asmodeus crossed to the room as the first rumbling as the bombs hitting the site were felt by us all.

"Where is it," said Asmodeus, taking up Lt. Col. Stephens, who fought back. The larger figure quickly disarmed him, then held him in a tight and painful grasp, violent enough that Lt. Col. Stephens' monocle finally fell to the floor.

"You have a way out," said Asmodeus. "I have power. I can offer you that. Riches, too. The way with any or every woman you see. What is the way, Lieutenant Colonel? Tell me the way!"

It was a ruse, of course, and it worked. As I have reported, 'Tin Eye' Stephens was one of the smartest people I ever knew, a master of psychology, and he proved it here. There was no escape, none for any in the room. He had played Crowley and he had played Asmodeus, causing the latter to waste time with him. Elaine remained standing on the table and prayed to herself, also impotent.

The bombs were getting close, the explosions more frequent, we could now hear them as well as feel them. The brightness of the flares was added to by the brightness of the flames from the site.

Asmodeus threatened, cajoled and came to pleading, while Lt. Col. Stephens had enough mind and discipline to dissemble, deflect, delay, and otherwise continue to hold the attention of Asmodeus.

He also had enough mind to tell me to "See to the papers, Captain Carmichael."

I took that to mean that they should survive the best they could, so our research could be found by others and used. I went to the interior wall and managed to tip over a large, heavy stone table onto its side, blocking a cubbyhole, then hopped over it, bringing the heavy case, holding it dear with both arms and legs. They would be looking for bodies after all this, I had figured, and my grip on the case would signify its importance.

A moment later one of the explosives hit the solarium. The table I was behind was broken, but still made a barrier. The case pressed against me as I was flung against the back wall and I felt bones break, but felt no real pain.

I clung to it as tightly as possible and the incendiary hit a moment later, bathing the room in blinding light and more heat than a kiln has. For a moment I was not affected by the direct heat, but the heat would sear my lungs in just a moment, as well as further physical damage that would give me a painful but quick death.

But then time just stopped for me. I saw flames that did not flicker, and Elaine was there, with me.

What Crowley had said must have been correct because the bare moment of heat she must have experienced had given her skin the hue of the worst sunburn you have ever seen, the tips of the feathers of her wings were blackening and her garments were smoldering. She must have been in a great deal of pain, but she took the effort to give me a smile.

She said: "The Asmodeus that was here and the others are slain. The bombs have broken the seals. I can escape even as injured as I am. And I can take you with me. But you have to ask for it. Now."

I had my duty, I had my family, I had orders to 'see to the papers' and I did not want to die.

We soldiers and civilians of the site had discussed what we would do if we had to succumb to the Imperial Effect. I had made my decision, then, but this was now.

I held out my hand to accept and she took it. I like to think I saw sorrow in her eyes as she did, knowing that our plan for her had failed, and what this would mean to me personally and my empire in general. But, she was still the enemy, and I was undoubtedly just seeing my own feelings reflected in her eyes.

As to the experience itself, all I could say was that I was spirited away, next finding myself against the perimeter fence, Elaine next to me. The entire complex was aflame, the building just burning rubble, the bombs having done their job and the planes having left.

She tried to take the case, but I held on with a death grip, and I am sure her actions were even less than half heartedly.

She then flew off and I was left there, very injured, but alive.

Eventually, the nearby townsfolk, and fire equipment arrived, brought forth by the flames. The police found me first and I was transported by ambulance to hospital, then transferred to a military hospital after less than a day. My injuries were serious but not critical, I spent some weeks recovering. I hung on to the case until relieved of it by a full colonel.

Months later, I was telling this tale to an informal inquiry and also stated my conclusion from our findings.

The only way to resist the Imperial Effect is to never give up, never surrender. Fight them on the beaches, on the landing grounds, in the fields, the hills and in the streets. Just, never surrender.

 

[Zagan7]

Chapter 75. Ignoring Danger



Before we return to the critical situation between the German Reich and the Empire, caused by the surrender of Soviet Russia, we have to discuss various events which took place during that crisis in Italy, in Africa and elsewhere.



4-16 October 1944, Italy

Before the 4th of October, the Allies feared that the Empire would keep throwing bodies at their defence lines in Peninsular Italy, to eventually overwhelm them and push them to Sicily by sheer force of numbers. But, starting with the 4th of October, the Imperial attacks slowed down to a trickle as the large Imperial Army dug in in Lazio and in the Appenines, seemingly content with their share of Italy. The Allies probed the Imperial defenses a couple of times but failed to dislodge the Romanians. During that relative lull, both the Allies and the Empire continued to bring more men, equipment and supplies in Italy to reinforce their positions. Because the Empire could not contest the Tyrrhenian and the Allies did not contest the Adriatic, neither side had any difficulties supplying their forces.



16-28 October 1944, Italy

The Allies could understand neither why the Empire had suddenly stopped attacking on the 4th nor why it had resumed its attacks twelve days later against significantly reinforced Allied positions. If they knew what was about to happen in Soviet Russia, they would have surely understood.

The three million-strong Imperial Army in Italy, supported by tanks and constant air raids, launched multiple coordinated attacks on the entire length of the Italian Front, from northern Lazio to the Gulf of Taranto. While the Allies were well prepared and entrenched in the Appenines, the Empire enjoyed a three to one numerical advantage as well as a slight air superiority. Still, the Allies repelled or stopped most Imperial offensives and large sections of the front held but the Empire managed to break the Allied lines in several places, the largest breaches being in Molise and in Lucania.

During the following days, the Imperial armies continued their advance into Allied-held territory, despite the desperate Allied defence and the tens of thousands of casualties. On the 25th, the Romanians reached the Tyrrhenian Sea, at first near the border between Lazio and Campania and, two days later, also in Lucania. The Allied forces in Peninsular Italy were thus divided into three pockets: one in Lazio, defending Rome, another one in Campania, defending Naples, and a third one in Calabria, trying to keep the Romanians away from the Strait of Messina.

In those conditions, the Allied High Command reasoned that Lazio and Campania were impossible to hold and decided to evacuate their forces by sea.



29 October - 12 November 1944, Italy

The Empire continued to advance into Lazio and Campania, albeit slower, avoiding major engagements with the retreating Allies. The Imperial Air Force attacked the Allied transport ships and harassed the Allied troop gatherings on the Tyrrhenian shore while they were waiting to embark for Sicily. At the same time, heavy battles were fought in Calabria, where the Romanians paid dearly for every mile they gained.

While the first part of the Italian Campaign had been so fast and unexpected that few Italian civilians managed to flee, the current pace of the Romanian advance allowed tens of thousands of refugees to leave their homes and congregate on the beaches, begging the Americans to take them to safety. However, the Allied ships were barely able to evacuate the hundreds of thousands of Allied soldiers. Therefore, a large part of the Allied military hardware could not be removed in time and had to be destroyed and most of the Italian refugees were left behind on the beaches.

Of course, Italians VIPs, like the Royal Family, members of the government, generals, etc, were relocated to Sardinia, which was completely safe from Imperial invasion. The only notable missing member of the Royal Family was Princess Mafalda who had been with her husband in Hesse at the time of the Italian defection and had been detained by the Germans as an enemy national.

When the Romanians were approaching Rome, the Allies offered to evacuate the Pope and key Vatican personnel. After less than 24 hours of pondering the pros and cons of leaving the Vatican, the Pope accepted the Allied offer and the Holy See relocated to the safety of the still neutral and thoroughly Catholic Argentina.

Rome and Naples were declared open cities and the Imperial Army marched in unopposed. On the 3rd of November, all of Lazio and Campania were under Imperial control but fierce fighting continued for another nine days in Calabria, until the Imperial Army reached the Strait of Messina and the campaign in Peninsular Italy came to an end.

At the cost of 185,000 casualties, of which 37,000 killed in action, the Empire closed an active front, decreased the likelyhood and severity of Allied bombardments against its heartland and gained millions of new subjects and additional land, including the city of Rome, which had a special significance to all Romans.

Despite the looming war with Germany, the Empire left most of its forces in Italy and began preparations for the invasion of Sicily. The deeply unnerving message sent to both the Allies and Germany was that the Empire was so strong that a possible German attack was not considered important enough to make it stop its offensives in Italy and Africa and relocate its armies to protect the Imperial heartland.



22-30 November 1944, Sicily, Italy

After the Imperial Air Force gained superiority over the narrow Messina Strait and bombed the Allied defences to pieces, small landing craft began to debark Imperial soldiers on the Sicilian shore, while paratroopers were dropped further inland. The operation was one of the bloodiest in Imperial history, with the first waves of attackers being decimated by the Allied defenders. All in all, 13,000 lives were lost in the first three hours alone, while the entire campaign cost the lives of almost 45,000 soldiers. And that was just an invasion over a two kilometres wide strait, not over the English Channel or, God forbid, the Atlantic Ocean. It became increasingly clear that conquering anything of value outside of Mainland Afro-Eurasia would be either impossible or a nightmarish hecatomb.

During the following week, the Romanians advanced on the northern and eastern coasts of Sicily, taking Palermo, Catania and Syracuse. The Allies began to evacuate their forces to Tunisia on the 28th and finished the operation on the 29th. Of course, invading Pantelleria was not possible at that point and Sardinia or Corsica even less so. Elba had been taken two days before, as it lay close to the Tuscan coast.

The loss of Mainland Italy and Sicily, coupled with further defeats in Africa (see below), contributed to a significant drop in morale, both on the frontlines and on the home front. For the first time since joining the war, a significant part of the American population began to realize that the war was unwinnable. In the United Kingdom the situation was obviously even worse because almost the entire war had been nothing but a long string of humiliating defeats. At that point, the only thing preventing the British to send peace feelers to the Axis (which the King was already advocating) was the hope that the German-Imperial conflict would flare into open warfare.



November-December 1944, Africa

The Romanians advanced westwards in Tripolitania, retook Sirte and were finally stopped by the Allies before reaching Misrata. The Empire began to deploy even more troops and tanks in North Africa, planning for a renewed campaign after Christmas to finally break the Allied defences and conquer the rest of Tripolitania and open the road to Tunisia. Further south, in the vast open spaces of the Sahara and the Sahel (Fezzan and Chad), the Imperial tanks advanced westwards against weak Allied opposition, entered West Africa in Niger and stopped when threatened by dwindling fuel supplies, which was difficult to transport over such great distances.

In the Horn of Africa, the Empire took the remainder of Ethiopia and a large part of Somalia, before being defeated just outside Mogadiscio. Somalia was annexed to the Empire and the Somali majority Ogaden Region of Ethiopia was added to it. It is presumed that Ethiopia would have kept the Ogaden and would have remained an Empire instead of being downgraded to a Kingdom if Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie had not fled the country with the retreating Allied forces and if the Ethiopians had supported the Imperial offensives like the Somalis did.

Unlike the first one, which was eventually defeated by the Allies, the Second African War of Independence was successful in driving the relatively limited Allied forces out of the areas inhabited by the African Loyalists. Benefitting by significant Romanian help, including but not limited to military hardware, modern strategy and tactics and important air support, the African Army managed to liberate the remainder of Ubangi-Shari, the remainder of the Congo (except Léopoldville and Boma), the Middle Congo (except Brazzaville and Pointe-Noire), Gabon, Río Muni, Cameroon (except Douala), Cabinda, most of Angola (except Luanda), most of Katanga and part of Barotseland.

Subsequently, together with the regular Imperial Army, which had been slower to advance in the African jungles, the Africans pressed further eastwards, into East Africa, and westwards, into Nigeria. Before the end of the year, the two Sisterly Empires overran Ruanda-Urundi, Uganda, the north-western third of Kenya, a small part of Tanganyika and the eastern third of Nigeria. All lands south of the Imperial States of Libya, Egypt, Ethiopia and Somalia were considered part of the African Empire.



16-23 December 1944, Africa

When the spearheads of the regular Imperial Army reached the Southern Front in Angola, Barotseland and Katanga, the South Africans sent peace feelers to the Empire (also on behalf of Rhodesia who had just voted to join the Union of South Africa as its sixth Federal State). The South Africans (and Rhodesians) were desperate to get out of the war before the Empire could muster sufficient forces and adequate logistics in the African interior, because a future Imperial conquest would undoubtedly result in the enpowerment of the Black majority. The Empire would have preferred to conquer all of Africa but a successful invasion of South Africa could not be attempted before a significant upgrading of the infrastructure in Equatorial Africa which was estimated to take at least one year. Because of that and because of the continuing German threat, the Empire agreed to end the state of war with South Africa (and Rhodesia), despite the vigurous protests of the Pan-Africans who felt betrayed by the abandonment of their brethren under racist rule.

The peace negotiations started immediately in Livingstone, just north of the Zambezi River and close to the majestic Victoria Falls. The South Africans insisted for a white peace, reasoning that no blood had been spilled between them and the Empire. The Romanians, however, pointed out that they were allied with the Pan-Africans which had been at war with South Africa and Rhodesia for years and had been at the receiving end of mass murder and countless other attrocities. The South Africans countered that the Empire of Africa was an unrecognized state and the Pan-Africans were not a regular army but merely insurgents. Nonetheless, the Empire asked for reparations and guarantees for the safety of the Black population in South Africa. The South Africans grudgingly accepted the former but categorically refused the latter as they correctly reasoned that it could be used for Imperial interference in the internal affairs of South Africa as well as for a possible future casus belli.

The Peace of Livingstone was signed on the 21st of December by representatives of the Empire of the Romans, the Empire of Africa, South Africa and Rhodesia (which had just joined South Africa but signed the treaty nonetheless). The signatories recognized that South Mozambique was under South African Protection and in its sphere of influence. South Africa and Rhodesia agreed to pay important reparations to the families of the civilians and prisoners of war killed during the war by elements of their armed forces. The South African and Rhodesian armies quickly vacated the southern parts of Angola, Barotseland and Katanga which were immediately taken over by the Pan-Africans.

The Peace of Livingstone saw two more British Dominions leave the Allies (after India nine months before) and significantly weakened the Allied position in East Africa. Because the border between American-held Zambezia and the previously South African and Rhodesian-held Barotseland and Katanga was practically undefended, the Imperial and African forces invaded Zambezia from the west and quickly advanced an average of 150 kilometres eastwards before the frontline stabilized one week later. While the Allied positions in West Africa were relatively secure, those in East Africa were not and the Americans began to contemplate an evacuation of the difficult to support and strategically less unimportant region.



20 December 1944, remote location in the Arabian Desert, Nejd, the Empire

The second Imperial atomic test was a success, the device exploding with an yield of 28 kilotonnes of TNT. The yield was much larger than the predicted 22 kilotonnes due to unexpected further fission of the uranium tamper.

The Empress decided to wait until the Empire had at least four functional atomic bombs (which was estimated to happen by the end of January) before making a demonstration of their collosal destructive force. If Hitler were to attack, the demostration ought to be advanced, of course.



26 December 1944, Windsor Castle, United Kingdom

Prime Minister Winston Churchill had begrudgingly accepted His Majesty's invitation to dine at the Windsor Castle. As Churchill had expected, the dinner quickly devolved into passionate arguments for and against the merits or demerits of quitting the war against the Axis Powers.

George VI: "[...] and, as you can see, the much awaited German attack on Romania had not materialized. Therefore, we must realize, even belatedly, that we have absolutely no chance of defeating the Axis and no chance of ever getting our beloved colonies back. And, in the meantime, thousands of our subjects are dying senselessly in German bombardments, including these new and devastating missile attacks. [...]"

Churchill was no longer listening to the defeatist rhetoric of his sovereign. Instead, he was absentmindedly looking at the young princesses who were engrossed in quiet girl talk. Churchill noticed their grown-up, well-toned bodies with clearly visible muscles on their forearms. He then looked at the aging and ailing king and something clicked in his mind. Churchill excused himself and went to the bathroom. On his way, he talked with the MI5 officer responsible for watching the princesses, then returned to the dining room.

Churchill: "Sire, I'm teeply sorry for the interruption. While what you were saying wass inteet fery interesting, I cannot put worry apout Your Machesty's health. Maype you are working too much or you are unter too much stress lately."

George VI: "Thank you for your concern but I'm feeling rather fine. Why are you worried? Am I looking exceedingly pale?"

Churchill: "If you forkife me, Sire, put I am worriet that you may be sick. You are certainly looking fery frail. I would pet that your marfellous younk taughterss are stronker than you."

The King went even paler, exchanged a quick look with his daughters who seemed equally unnerved and started to stutter.

George VI: "Wh... Wh... What.... are you try... trying to say?"

Churchill: "Oh, nothink, Sire. I wass chust wontering whether your taughterss were stronker than you or not. Like in, let's say, if you were to wrestle them, who woult prefail?"

Princess Elizabeth's nostrils were flaring with the adrenaline rush. She knew they were in danger. She knew she had to act, quickly and decisively. She had to save her father. So, she stood up, grabbed her chair by its back and, with a quick move, swung it over the table, hitting Churchill in the forehead, knocking him out instantly.

Hearing the commotion, four armed guards entered the room. Elizabeth yelled to her father to do something and charged towards the guards, swinging the chair around wildly. Margaret got up to help her sister and began to hurl plates towards the guards. King George and Queen Elizabeth stood up as well, but with their hands above their heads.

George VI: "It's over, my dears. Please, calm down... It's over."

And it was indeed over as the guards managed to subdue the princesses without further serious injuries. A doctor arrived quickly, tended Churchill's concussion and assured him that he would be fine. The princesses were locked in their rooms and Churchill continued his talk with the King, with the guards still present in the room.

George VI: "I will abdicate tomorrow."

Churchill: "Ant your taughterss?! Will they apticate as well? To we neet a succession crisis in the mittle of this tamnet war?! No, you won't ket out of this so eassily!..."

George VI: "Will you prosecute us? Depose the monarchy? Will this country become a republic?"

Churchill: "Oh, no! That woult only help that monster in Constantinople! No, you will continue to act as king put you will only talk when asket to and you will only reat what we put unter your nosse! Unterstoot? Yes, you and your family are prissonerss. Yes, this country iss a repuplic put nopoty will know that while we are still fighting this war. Unterstoot?"

And Churchill stormed out the room, without even saying goodbye. King George took his head in his hands and started to cry. His wife, who had been silent through the entire crisis was already crying. The Princesses continued to yell and pound on the doors until they got tired. They had no hope since the MI5 and the army were loyal to the British people and to their elected government and not to the treacherous British Monarchy.



The next chapter will present the crisis created between the Empire and the German Reich by the Soviet Surrender, as it unfolded during November and December, as well as a point by point comparison between the strengths of the two powers in various fields. Whether the crisis would ultimately result in a negotiated settlement or in war will be known at the end of the chapter. Further suggestions about the most probable outcome of the crisis are still welcome.