Pretty much off the subject but I'm glad that menstrual synchrony has been disproven. As a guy I'd really go a long way to avoid the Sisterhood's period week.
I'l get me coat.
I'l get me coat.
Stupid Luck and Happenstance.
- Thread starter Peabody-Martini
- Start date
FBKampfer
Banned
Ah, but young Gerstle is bold, sturdy, and quick-witted with cunning hands. And Mischner blood is in his veins, so it would seem he is slated for leadership. He's managed to impress not merely his company level officers, or even his Regiment's Oberst, but the inspector of the Panzerkorps "Mad Dog" von Horst himself.
Tests perhaps, but most have already been all but passed showing he's more than the average Soldat.
"Behind these doors is an agony greater than all others; you will remain in here for eternity listening to: Whiny protest songs from the 60's!"
(Yes, I KNOW we aren't there ITTL yet)
The point is WHERE the clusterfuck will pop up?
There is no communism, and the Germans have proved to be rather smart to the hour of finding solutions that leave the locals happy, their pockets growing, and whoever invited them either looking like utter idiots or patting themselves in the back for the sheer genius in doing that, South Africa and Argentina textbook examples.
The only thing that comes to mind is that the Decolonization of India goes dead wrong and it kicks off a Indian Continental War.... Or the French screw up and ignite the Vietnam War.....
There is no communism, and the Germans have proved to be rather smart to the hour of finding solutions that leave the locals happy, their pockets growing, and whoever invited them either looking like utter idiots or patting themselves in the back for the sheer genius in doing that, South Africa and Argentina textbook examples.
The only thing that comes to mind is that the Decolonization of India goes dead wrong and it kicks off a Indian Continental War.... Or the French screw up and ignite the Vietnam War.....
If we follow what was going on IOTL then we must look at the Middle East because it looks like it is more unstable ITTL.
There is no "Atlantic Alliance" between Great Britain and the United States as it was IOTL and the competition for access to the oil is going to fierce and I think that Germany wants to be a player in that region in order to secure future oil exploration rights.
Also the Palestinian Mandate seems to be a powdered keg with what I think is an increase of Jewish immigrants who were former members of the Communist Party in European countries.
Still another area of concern is the former Soviet Union with unresolved border disputes as a possibility.
I think trolling in this timeline will be called "mischnern". First Kat and Hans and now Stefan.
When will we have Ilse's troll moment?
How is the situation in North Africa?
While I don't think that there is mass emigration to the Mandate, I do think that there is an increase of immigration from Eastern Europe and Germany of Jewish members of former Communist Parties because of traditional Anti-Semitism in those countries and being used as scapegoats for the last war.
IOTL one of the reasons that the British had severe restrictions on the number of Jewish immigrants to the mandate before the war was to placate the Arabs so they would not support Nazi Germany, I think that ITTL without the threat of a Nazi Germany, the British allowed for a higher number of immigrants but not enough to make it too threatening for the Arab population.
Without the OTL Shoah, there is not the desire of Jews to go to the mandate but for former members of Eastern European Communist Parties there is really nowhere else for them to go.
As always we must leave the final word on this to the High Commissioner of the Palestinian Mandate Peabody-Martini.
Part 58, Chapter 815
Chapter Eight Hundred Fifteen
10th April 1950
Berlin
“Imagine if your Grandfather saw you living in an unmarried relationship with a Gentile” Sarah’s father said to Sarah absently. Carla was absolutely horrified by this turn in the conversation.
“I thought you told your parents that…” Carla started to say only to get cut off by Sarah.
“I think that is the least about this thing that my Grandfather would have had a problem with” Sarah replied, “He didn’t like you either because you were a disobedient child who ran off to join the Navy rather than follow him into the Rabbinical life.” Jacob just smiled at the reference, the idea of a man who’d spent much of his life at sea living that sort of life was absurd.
Sarah’s father had shown up unexpectedly this evening. Sarah had mentioned that he was a high ranking Naval Officer but had not mentioned that he was the highest-ranking Admiral, as in in charge of the entire Navy. Carla had assumed that he would be stuffy and conservative but even though it must have only taken him a few seconds to see the real nature of Sarah and Carla’s relationship, he didn’t seem to have a problem with it. Carla found this turn more disturbing than if he had behaved as expected.
“So, Carla, I understand that you are a second chair Cellist in the Berlin Philharmonic?” Jacob asked, “Are you also one of the players in the Reinhardt Orchestra?”
Carla sat there unsure of how to answer that, “The Reinhardt Orchestra is Sarah’s thing, I mostly stick to the classics.”
“Really?” Jacob replied, “One of my aides has been doing flight training in Kiel. He says that the other pilots love to play the classics over the radio, particularly Wagner’s Flight of the Valkyries, when they are practicing attack runs. That’s such a stereotype but it’s understandable.”
“I didn’t know that was a stereotype” Carla replied.
“You’d be amazed”
“Why are you here Papa?” Sarah said, interrupting, “You never do anything unless you have an ulterior motive or Nessa has outsmarted you.”
“Your mother asked be to tell you that an invitation has been extended to you to attend an argument celebrating election night. So far, those present are mostly composed of political radicals and free thinkers” Jacob said, completely ignoring the bit about Nessa outsmarting him.
“So, Aunt Rhona is having a family dinner?” Sarah asked.
“Exactly” Jacob replied, “The invitation is extended to your, how shall I say this, significant other as well.”
Carla was surprised by that. She had been there when Sarah had told her parents that they were just sharing an apartment and that was the extent of it. Apparently, Sarah’s parents had known better.
Cam Ranh, Vietnam
Two years of impossibly demanding work here in Vietnam and more than a decade in Pomerania had all come down to this. They had a launch window and clear skies. When there had been delays earlier this year it had become a concern that the launch would come too late and that annual monsoon would have started by then, delaying things, possibly for months. Werner von Braun looked at the Aggregat 14 that was sitting on the pad waiting for launch. In the spotlights the orange and white rocket glowed, it was his masterpiece. When the countdown reached zero, thousands of moving parts would work in concert and man would challenge the heavens as never before. This was possibly to most powerful machine ever devised. Three kilometers away in the control room Werner looked out the window and the shutters that were designed to slam shut in the event of an overpressure wave if this rocket exploded on the pad. The minutes passed, and the clock ticked down.
The radio traffic was intense as those manning the control stations ran through the check lists. Warner felt a bit giddy when the Launch Director gave the go ahead. Then when the clock reached zero the early morning silence was spit with a deep roar that gathered in intensity, the sky turned orange as Aggregat 14 lifted slowly off the pad and began to accelerate on a column of fire and steam. Warner watched it as it gathered speed a raced towards the eastern horizon, becoming a glowing dot. Them he heard the voice behind him say that separation and second stage ignition was successful, he visualized that as it was happening over the Pacific Ocean. Then the seconds ticked by as they waited for the next step. Then it was announced, they had separation and were getting signals from Passat One…
Tigard, Oregon
Walter “Wally” Davis was sitting in the back room of his house with his amateur radio set. His wife didn’t even pretend to understand his hobby, but she tolerated it so long as he didn’t spend too much money on it and kept the mess confined to this one room. Today, sweeping through the frequencies he heard a pulsating beeping noise that grew louder, calls to Seattle and Berkley revealed that they were hearing it as well. After a few minutes it faded, and Wally noted the anomaly. Then calls came that other radio operators across the country were hearing the same thing before it faded out. Calculations were made that whatever this was it moving at 18,000 miles per hour and was located in earth orbit. Wally thought that couldn’t possibly be right. He asked if someone was pulling a prank here and that triggered a debate for the next hour and half until he realized he was hearing it again…
10th April 1950
Berlin
“Imagine if your Grandfather saw you living in an unmarried relationship with a Gentile” Sarah’s father said to Sarah absently. Carla was absolutely horrified by this turn in the conversation.
“I thought you told your parents that…” Carla started to say only to get cut off by Sarah.
“I think that is the least about this thing that my Grandfather would have had a problem with” Sarah replied, “He didn’t like you either because you were a disobedient child who ran off to join the Navy rather than follow him into the Rabbinical life.” Jacob just smiled at the reference, the idea of a man who’d spent much of his life at sea living that sort of life was absurd.
Sarah’s father had shown up unexpectedly this evening. Sarah had mentioned that he was a high ranking Naval Officer but had not mentioned that he was the highest-ranking Admiral, as in in charge of the entire Navy. Carla had assumed that he would be stuffy and conservative but even though it must have only taken him a few seconds to see the real nature of Sarah and Carla’s relationship, he didn’t seem to have a problem with it. Carla found this turn more disturbing than if he had behaved as expected.
“So, Carla, I understand that you are a second chair Cellist in the Berlin Philharmonic?” Jacob asked, “Are you also one of the players in the Reinhardt Orchestra?”
Carla sat there unsure of how to answer that, “The Reinhardt Orchestra is Sarah’s thing, I mostly stick to the classics.”
“Really?” Jacob replied, “One of my aides has been doing flight training in Kiel. He says that the other pilots love to play the classics over the radio, particularly Wagner’s Flight of the Valkyries, when they are practicing attack runs. That’s such a stereotype but it’s understandable.”
“I didn’t know that was a stereotype” Carla replied.
“You’d be amazed”
“Why are you here Papa?” Sarah said, interrupting, “You never do anything unless you have an ulterior motive or Nessa has outsmarted you.”
“Your mother asked be to tell you that an invitation has been extended to you to attend an argument celebrating election night. So far, those present are mostly composed of political radicals and free thinkers” Jacob said, completely ignoring the bit about Nessa outsmarting him.
“So, Aunt Rhona is having a family dinner?” Sarah asked.
“Exactly” Jacob replied, “The invitation is extended to your, how shall I say this, significant other as well.”
Carla was surprised by that. She had been there when Sarah had told her parents that they were just sharing an apartment and that was the extent of it. Apparently, Sarah’s parents had known better.
Cam Ranh, Vietnam
Two years of impossibly demanding work here in Vietnam and more than a decade in Pomerania had all come down to this. They had a launch window and clear skies. When there had been delays earlier this year it had become a concern that the launch would come too late and that annual monsoon would have started by then, delaying things, possibly for months. Werner von Braun looked at the Aggregat 14 that was sitting on the pad waiting for launch. In the spotlights the orange and white rocket glowed, it was his masterpiece. When the countdown reached zero, thousands of moving parts would work in concert and man would challenge the heavens as never before. This was possibly to most powerful machine ever devised. Three kilometers away in the control room Werner looked out the window and the shutters that were designed to slam shut in the event of an overpressure wave if this rocket exploded on the pad. The minutes passed, and the clock ticked down.
The radio traffic was intense as those manning the control stations ran through the check lists. Warner felt a bit giddy when the Launch Director gave the go ahead. Then when the clock reached zero the early morning silence was spit with a deep roar that gathered in intensity, the sky turned orange as Aggregat 14 lifted slowly off the pad and began to accelerate on a column of fire and steam. Warner watched it as it gathered speed a raced towards the eastern horizon, becoming a glowing dot. Them he heard the voice behind him say that separation and second stage ignition was successful, he visualized that as it was happening over the Pacific Ocean. Then the seconds ticked by as they waited for the next step. Then it was announced, they had separation and were getting signals from Passat One…
Tigard, Oregon
Walter “Wally” Davis was sitting in the back room of his house with his amateur radio set. His wife didn’t even pretend to understand his hobby, but she tolerated it so long as he didn’t spend too much money on it and kept the mess confined to this one room. Today, sweeping through the frequencies he heard a pulsating beeping noise that grew louder, calls to Seattle and Berkley revealed that they were hearing it as well. After a few minutes it faded, and Wally noted the anomaly. Then calls came that other radio operators across the country were hearing the same thing before it faded out. Calculations were made that whatever this was it moving at 18,000 miles per hour and was located in earth orbit. Wally thought that couldn’t possibly be right. He asked if someone was pulling a prank here and that triggered a debate for the next hour and half until he realized he was hearing it again…
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The Germans just punched a hole in space and that is going to freak everyone out, hopefully it will be looked as a challenge instead of a threat but who are we kidding?
There are going to be politicians who are going to see this as an opportunity to portray Germany as a threat to the peace and stability and this will cause a potential arms race that will cause a whole host of unforseen consequences.
There are going to be politicians who are going to see this as an opportunity to portray Germany as a threat to the peace and stability and this will cause a potential arms race that will cause a whole host of unforseen consequences.
Hoorah! Huzzah! Yahoo!
Thank you, @Peabody-Martini!
This is what Wally Davis was hearing.
Thing is, I can remember Sputnik (yeah, I'm an Old Fart). Being a SF reader the idea wasn't much of a surprise, just excitement that it was happening while I was aware of it.
Thank you, @Peabody-Martini!
This is what Wally Davis was hearing.
Thing is, I can remember Sputnik (yeah, I'm an Old Fart). Being a SF reader the idea wasn't much of a surprise, just excitement that it was happening while I was aware of it.
Part 58, Chapter 816
Chapter Eight Hundred Sixteen
11th April 1950
Washington D.C.
Monday had not been a particularly enjoyable day, Tuesday wasn’t shaping up to be much better. Just when the world order had seemed to stabilize the Germans had not only changed the game, they had pulled out a flame thrower and torched the board.
“They wanted the entire world to know what they have done, Sir” Allan Dulles said as he presented what they knew so far, which wasn’t as much as Truman might have liked. “Every ninety minutes this thing, Passat One is the name that was announced, passes overhead and broadcasts its position.”
“What are the implications?” Truman asked, it was the question that he wanted answered. There was a reason why this had caused so much consternation among the Joint Chiefs of Staff that Truman thought he knew but he wanted to hear it.
“If the German A-14 Rocket is weaponized then there is not a corner of the globe that they won’t be able to send an atomic bomb” Allen said.
The room went silent when that got said. “Are you saying that we are behind the 8-ball here?” Truman asked.
“You could say that, Sir” Allen replied.
It was echoing his various frustrations. If the public knew about how far they had been allowed to fall behind as a country the entire Administration would be run out of town on a rail. When he’d talked with General Bradley just the day before about how the modernization of the Army had fallen behind it had been obvious how bad the situation was. The Generals were dragging their heels on the planned implementation of reforms. Worse of all the Springfield Arsenal had suddenly broken out in a case of “Not invented here” when it came to examinations of the Mauser rifles that had been acquired at great expense from China. At Springfield they were also listening to Eugene Stoner, who was saying that they could innovate their way out of the current predicament after John Garand’s latest ideas had proven to be a little too innovative. It was like the Department of the Navy saying that they could help achieve nuclear parity by now, but they kept having delays. It seemed that was what became of innovation, if it wasn’t based on real understanding it was a house built on shifting sand.
Rural Germany, West of Frankfurt
It was billed as the largest mobilization since the Second World War. Every army in Western Europe was being sent to participate in France. Oddly, it was near to where some of the largest battles of the First World War had taken place. The Panzer Corps along with regular Infantry Divisions and even some Landwehr Divisions were going west. One might think that this would be the big story but all anyone was talking about was that rocket that had just been launched in Vietnam.
“But does this artificial satellite do anything?” Dirks asked.
“You can pick in up on a radio” The Unteroffizer who’d been reading aloud from the newspaper.
“Yeah, I get that” Dirks replied, “But does it do anything?”
The Unteroffizer just shrugged and went back to his newspaper.
“Just getting it up there is an accomplishment” Stefan observed.
“I don’t get what it’s supposed to do though” Dirks said, “What about flying around beeping is so great. I could do that driving around my neighborhood while honking the horn of my car, except the neighbors would call the police.”
“When you can drive your car all the way around the Earth in ninety-One minutes I’ll be impressed” Stefan replied.
“As if they would ever let a Panzer Dragoon into outer space” Dirks said, “It will be some waste of space from the Luftwaffe, you mark my words. And we’ll see this asshole everywhere for months on end.”
Stefan then remembered the books that Dirks was always reading, science fiction. Would he would be the sort that would volunteer for that sort of thing. “You’d volunteer if they asked you to? To go to space?” He asked.
“In a heartbeat” Dirks said.
“Really?” Stefan asked, “Sort of dangerous, isn’t it?”
“As opposed to what we do?”
“I guess” Stefan said.
“It’s like this” Dirks said, “In school, in history, they talked about this Spaniard, an Admiral named Magellan who led an expedition around the world. Only one ship made it back and it paid for the expedition. It’s like that, the exploration, discovery and being the first one to do it.”
Stefan didn’t bother to correct Dirks by telling him that Ferdinand Magellan was Portuguese and that he’d perished on that expedition in the Philippines, but Dirks did have a point. Whoever got strapped into that rocket and shot into orbit would have people talking about him centuries from now.
“You take on a different sort of danger though” Dirks said with a smirk, “Everyone saw you dancing with Mad Dog von Horst’s little girl.”
“It was two songs” Stefan said, “Five minutes, tops.”
“I hope those five minutes were worth dying for.”
Stefan made a face, this wasn’t the first time in the last few days that he’d been ribbed for dancing with Nizhoni. Mostly it was about how there was such a fine line between suicidal bravery and rank stupidity.
“I’m still here” Stefan said, “von Horst hasn’t come after me.”
“Not yet” Dirks said, “I’d say that it’s because he’s been busy planning this little party we’re going to and when he’s free this Squad ‘ll need a new gunner quick after we finish burying your remains. I ought to call dibs.”
Real funny, Stefan thought even as he had the sinking feeling that Dirks was probably right.
11th April 1950
Washington D.C.
Monday had not been a particularly enjoyable day, Tuesday wasn’t shaping up to be much better. Just when the world order had seemed to stabilize the Germans had not only changed the game, they had pulled out a flame thrower and torched the board.
“They wanted the entire world to know what they have done, Sir” Allan Dulles said as he presented what they knew so far, which wasn’t as much as Truman might have liked. “Every ninety minutes this thing, Passat One is the name that was announced, passes overhead and broadcasts its position.”
“What are the implications?” Truman asked, it was the question that he wanted answered. There was a reason why this had caused so much consternation among the Joint Chiefs of Staff that Truman thought he knew but he wanted to hear it.
“If the German A-14 Rocket is weaponized then there is not a corner of the globe that they won’t be able to send an atomic bomb” Allen said.
The room went silent when that got said. “Are you saying that we are behind the 8-ball here?” Truman asked.
“You could say that, Sir” Allen replied.
It was echoing his various frustrations. If the public knew about how far they had been allowed to fall behind as a country the entire Administration would be run out of town on a rail. When he’d talked with General Bradley just the day before about how the modernization of the Army had fallen behind it had been obvious how bad the situation was. The Generals were dragging their heels on the planned implementation of reforms. Worse of all the Springfield Arsenal had suddenly broken out in a case of “Not invented here” when it came to examinations of the Mauser rifles that had been acquired at great expense from China. At Springfield they were also listening to Eugene Stoner, who was saying that they could innovate their way out of the current predicament after John Garand’s latest ideas had proven to be a little too innovative. It was like the Department of the Navy saying that they could help achieve nuclear parity by now, but they kept having delays. It seemed that was what became of innovation, if it wasn’t based on real understanding it was a house built on shifting sand.
Rural Germany, West of Frankfurt
It was billed as the largest mobilization since the Second World War. Every army in Western Europe was being sent to participate in France. Oddly, it was near to where some of the largest battles of the First World War had taken place. The Panzer Corps along with regular Infantry Divisions and even some Landwehr Divisions were going west. One might think that this would be the big story but all anyone was talking about was that rocket that had just been launched in Vietnam.
“But does this artificial satellite do anything?” Dirks asked.
“You can pick in up on a radio” The Unteroffizer who’d been reading aloud from the newspaper.
“Yeah, I get that” Dirks replied, “But does it do anything?”
The Unteroffizer just shrugged and went back to his newspaper.
“Just getting it up there is an accomplishment” Stefan observed.
“I don’t get what it’s supposed to do though” Dirks said, “What about flying around beeping is so great. I could do that driving around my neighborhood while honking the horn of my car, except the neighbors would call the police.”
“When you can drive your car all the way around the Earth in ninety-One minutes I’ll be impressed” Stefan replied.
“As if they would ever let a Panzer Dragoon into outer space” Dirks said, “It will be some waste of space from the Luftwaffe, you mark my words. And we’ll see this asshole everywhere for months on end.”
Stefan then remembered the books that Dirks was always reading, science fiction. Would he would be the sort that would volunteer for that sort of thing. “You’d volunteer if they asked you to? To go to space?” He asked.
“In a heartbeat” Dirks said.
“Really?” Stefan asked, “Sort of dangerous, isn’t it?”
“As opposed to what we do?”
“I guess” Stefan said.
“It’s like this” Dirks said, “In school, in history, they talked about this Spaniard, an Admiral named Magellan who led an expedition around the world. Only one ship made it back and it paid for the expedition. It’s like that, the exploration, discovery and being the first one to do it.”
Stefan didn’t bother to correct Dirks by telling him that Ferdinand Magellan was Portuguese and that he’d perished on that expedition in the Philippines, but Dirks did have a point. Whoever got strapped into that rocket and shot into orbit would have people talking about him centuries from now.
“You take on a different sort of danger though” Dirks said with a smirk, “Everyone saw you dancing with Mad Dog von Horst’s little girl.”
“It was two songs” Stefan said, “Five minutes, tops.”
“I hope those five minutes were worth dying for.”
Stefan made a face, this wasn’t the first time in the last few days that he’d been ribbed for dancing with Nizhoni. Mostly it was about how there was such a fine line between suicidal bravery and rank stupidity.
“I’m still here” Stefan said, “von Horst hasn’t come after me.”
“Not yet” Dirks said, “I’d say that it’s because he’s been busy planning this little party we’re going to and when he’s free this Squad ‘ll need a new gunner quick after we finish burying your remains. I ought to call dibs.”
Real funny, Stefan thought even as he had the sinking feeling that Dirks was probably right.