NationStates Jolt Archive

August, 1945

Hiroshima and Nagasaki smouldered, Washington had just rejected Japan's offer of conditional surrender, and the Reich would answer for its ally's grievances...

New York City

Sirens wailed through the concrete labyrinth as the menace long awaited now loomed large in the Manhattan sky, and the Iron Cross cast a vengeful shadow over the sleepless city as the Luftwaffe acted to dissuade and chastise. The Reich would shatter any misconceptions that the Americans may have if they thought to drop the bomb on Berlin with impunity.

Fighters and flak were up in force, but the defenders were to be surprised by what confronted them. Giant flying wings, all-metal bombers with pressurised cabins and remotely controlled cannons, and even strategic bombers driven by jet engines.

Piston-engined interceptors were almost useless as German bombs brought-down skyscrapers and the towering city's microclimactic winds became Hellish bearers of flaming debris.

Around the island yet more destruction was levelled against the Empire City. A huge Blohm & Voss BV P.144 flying boat had popped up from the sea and proceeded into the New York area, dropping several bombs with amazing precision. Trailing coloured smoke, the bombs appeared to be steered during their descent and all impacted on a crucial bridge rendering it impossible to cross.

The aircraft then released a large rocket, and this too veered in mid air as if directed from the plane, smashing straight into a busy ferry that immediately began to sink. The flying boat was struck by flak during this operation, apparently unable to change course while guiding the anti-ship missile to its target, and headed out to sea trailing smoke.

But these attacks were not enough to satisfy the resurgent European power, and confusion swept through the American pilots as, incredibly, Fw.190 Würger fighters descended upon them, 20mm cannon blazing.

The element of surprise with them, the Butcher Birds brought down five US fighters before the Americans realised the smallness of enemy numbers. By this time it was too late. The job was done, and the German bombers were away and clear. Following them, the Focke-Wulf fighters shortly docked with awkward-looking crane-like planes that each carried one fighter under their belly and were shuttled home to the Reich.

Still the Germans were not finished. As the all-clear sounded and people began to emerge from shelters, emergency crews tackled fires and building collapses, and people tried to get in or out of Manhattan after the destruction of a bridge and a ferry, further massive explosions erupted in the streets. Ballistic missiles were crashing down quite without warning, launched from odd trailers hauled into the North Atlantic behind all-electric U-boats.

Strategic jet bombers, intercontinental fighter escort, radio-guided bombs and anti-ship missiles, and now submarine-launched ballistic missiles left America's greatest city in a state of stunned agony, smoke rising from the Chrysler Building and bodies floating on the East River.

Berlin's message was painfully clear. America could not expect to treat the cities of the Reich as they had those of Japan and get away with it.

...Even to continue in Japan would soon prove more challenging as Reichspräsident Beck had secretly ordered a detachment of Focke-Wulf Ta.152 fighters sent to Japan as high-altitude interceptors capable of challenging the B-29.

OOC: Welcome to the thread. This is a continuation of Bitter Resistance (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=541286), and the same OOC thread (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=542519) should be used if you're interested.

It is now late 1945, and, as you can see, the Nazis have gone the way of the USSR, but the Reich remains strong. The Western Allies are in frantic retreat across northern France after the success of the Ardennes Offensive, and the Mediterranean is an Axis lake. Japan is taking every bit the kicking she suffered in reality, but things may be about to change for her, too, as Germany -the Bolsheviks essentially crushed- goes on the offensive.

If you're interested, or have any questions or comments, don't hesitate to visit the OOC thread linked above, or check out my (still limited) profile linked in my signature.

Thanks for reading this far (or skipping to the end)!

Jens Möller, veteran of more than five years of fighting, across France with glory, into England and back by the skin of his teeth, through the wicked Russian mud and now back into France once again after a brief detour to land an 8mm Mauser round on Hitler's brow. Jens Möller, a hero for escaping the British debacle and rescuing several comrades, including his shellshocked friend Willie Rabe but completely unsung for his crucial role in bringing down the Nazis and consequently reversing the Reich's disasterous fortunes in the most collosal of all wars.

Now heading into his late twenties and leading his own semi-elite infantry Platoon, Oberleutnant Möller gave his newest piece of equipment one last suspicious looking over and then checked his watch for the final time.

"On my mark, comrades." He whispered, releasing the safety catch on his brand new Mauser Sturmgewehr '45, an assault rifle of which his unit had many owing to the incredibly low cost of the weapon compared to its famous predecessor.

There was a crack, from a sniper operating in the dead of night, and then the thumping of rotorblades and the clatter of tank treads. Jens lept up and called his men on. He was at the vanguard of an operation to capture the last Allied troops free in France, a Canadian force a couple of hundred strong that was waiting for an unlikely rescue and certainly not expecting precision sniper fire, helicopter-mobile cavalry, and well-aimed tank gunnery at quarter past two in the morning. But that was what they got.

Tanks smashed into the half-made defences, blasting away with heavy guns directed by infrared spotlights that baffled the Canadians as much as flying wings, jet bombers, intercontinental fighters, and SLBMs had shocked their American allies days earlier.

By dawn, victory, and the last Allied troops to be taken into German captivity laid eyes on Königstiger II heavy tanks mounting 105mm high-velocity cannon that well explained the rapid demise of their blind Shermans. They couldn't have known at the time, but even the single 76mm round that had, by sheer chance, struck one German tank on its usually weak flank was defeated by something else new: layered armour.

In any event, it had become painfully obvious that, for Europe, the war was over.

There was no question of dropping the bomb on the Reich. Nobody could stop the ballistic missiles that rained down on London and New York. Shipping to Britain was again being cut off as all-electric U-boats barely ever showed themselves and attacked with torpedoes that somehow homed in rather than simply running straight while jet aircraft mysteriously evaded radar detection and struck with guided anti-ship missiles and bombs. Attempts to mount new bombing raids failed in any event to defeat surface to air missiles and new jet fighters that carried guided weapons of their own. Besides, several million POWs were now held in facilities across the Reich, and dropping the bomb anywhere near major German population centres or production bases would mean wiping out countless helpless British and Commonwealth, French, American, and Soviet prisoners. And Germany claimed -though it was yet to prove the assertion- to have its own bomb.

Without air superiority there was no way to even dream of confronting Königstiger II and Panther II, both with sloped layered armour and infrared gunnery control, one with a 105mm high-velocity gun the other an 88 mounted on a new turret without the old Panther's shot-trap, even if the British Centurion project was looking quite promising.

But was it possible to consider talking peace with the new leadership of the Reich after turning down so much diplomacy in the past? Would Berlin feel compelled to talk with powers that dropped atom bombs on its allies when it had the restored military might to consider a new offensive war of its own?

OOC: Just a bump. I may try starting another thread with a more concise round-up of events so far, and some sort of new challenge to the world, if this doesn't go far.