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So who has ever read the the Fox on the Rhine and the Fox at the Front a series of two alternate history novels written in the period of 2000 to 2003 by Douglas Niles and Michael Dobson beginning with a course of events over late 1944 that resulted from Adolf Hitler's death in the July 20th plot and Field-Marshal Erwin Rommel's survival of the crackdown.
Book I plot summary (Fox on the Rhine)
The first book (Fox on the Rhine) in the series of two books begins on July 20th 1944, when Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg successfully bombs the Wolfsschanze during a strategy conference and later executes Operation Valkyrie in Berlin. However, his decision to signal Hitler's death to other conspirators by code buys enough time for SS chief Heinrich Himmler to launch his own countercoup called Operation Reichssturm. While the Allies are working to break out of Normandy through Operation Cobra, Field-Marshal Erwin Rommel recovers from the injuries he suffered during a real-life strafing run three days before the Stauffenberg coup. Himmler appoints him as commander of all German forces in Western Europe, under watch from the SS, after Field Marshal Günther von Kluge dies in an air attack. He also believes that Carl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel's mention of Rommel as a possible Bomb Plot conspirator holds no weight.
Back in Berlin, Himmler takes charge of the German government and sends Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop and Wehrmacht Colonel Gunther von Reinhardt to negotiate a peace treaty with the Soviet Union. The plan, called Operation Carousel, calls for Germany to shift troops from the Eastern Front to the west, while leaving Eastern Europe and Scandinavia to the Soviets. The Nazis will also share missile technology with Moscow. The sudden implementation of the German-Soviet Armistice of 1944 angers the Allies, who promptly shift naval forces from the Pacific to the European Theater of Operations. At the same time, Rommel organizes a counterattack at Abbeville against the US 19th Armored Division using units recovered from the Normandy front. He also orders the 19th Army to evacuate southern France ahead of Operation Dragoon and regroup at the Westwall.
Having identified all of the surviving July 20 conspirators, Himmler orders the SS to kill them, in some instances posing as British Commandos. Luftwaffe general Adolf Galland is assigned to spearhead the development of the Me-262 fighter. Because of his concern for the troops, Rommel disagrees with Himmler about holding Metz as a strongpoint against the Allies. Himmler responds by sending SS troopers disguised as US soldiers to ambush a combat unit Rommel withdraws from the city.
Galland's efforts with the fighter program results in the mobilization of all surviving Luftwaffe units in a co-ordinated assault against an Allied bomber raid of almost 2,600 aircraft in November 1944. The attack severely cripples the bomber force, so much that the Allies are forced to suspend the bombing campaign. The postponement buys Rommel more time to boost his forces for a major offensive through the Ardennes. Although the operation is codenamed Wacht Am Rhein, von Reinhardt successfully proposes a change to Fuchs Am Rhein (English: Fox on the Rhine) to emphasize Rommel's role as the leader of the offensive. Heinz Guderian is also assigned to lead one of the two panzerarmees to be used in the operation, which aims to reach Antwerp.
Like the real-life Battle of the Bulge, the operation begins on the night of December 16th 1944. The capture of a major fuel dump at Stavelot allows the German forces to extend their advance much further than in the actual offensive, capturing a bridge in Dinant to keep the momentum going. Field Marshal Montgomery, who successfully reinforced 21st Army Group's side of the Meuse River against a German crossing, dies when German forces bombard his command post at Waterloo. The Germans also conquer Bastogne.
Third Army commander General George Patton assigns the 19th Armored Division to counterattack against the Germans at Dinant and to destroy the bridges. The sudden appearance of the US forces prompts Rommel to send one division that has already crossed back to Dinant and hold it with the Panzer Lehr division coming from the east. However, the Allies launch heavy air attacks against the Germans. The 19th Armored Division breaks through and destroys the bridges on December 26th 1944. Left without any option to refuel all Wehrmacht units that have crossed the Meuse, Rommel decides to surrender Army Group B to Patton. An SS general tries to kill Rommel as he prepares to meet Patton, but one of the field marshal's assistants stops the assassin in time. Himmler sees the surrender as an opening for the SS to consolidate their grip on all surviving Wehrmacht units while Joseph Stalin is pleased with the opportunity for a new attack now that the Eastern Front is almost clear of German forces.
Book II plot summary (Fox at the Front)
The second book (Fox at the Front) picks up on December 27th 1944, just minutes after the climax to Fox on the Rhine, where Field Marshal Erwin Rommel has introduced himself to George Patton and offers to surrender Army Group B to him. Both generals agree that the threat of the Soviet Union was greater than all German forces under Heinrich Himmler, who has considered him a traitor. Rommel instructs Hasso von Manteuffel's Fifth Panzer Army and Heinz Guderian at the Sixth Panzer Army to surrender their units at the first Allied unit they encounter. However, given the large concentration of Waffen-SS forces in the Sixth, Himmler orders Jochen Peiper to take over the unit at its headquarters in Namur (killing Heinz Guderian in the process) and counterattack against the Allies. After a US infantry force sent to accept Guderian's surrender is ambushed, Peiper marshals a small kampfgruppe from the Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler to attack Rommel's Dinant headquarters, but is forced to withdraw because of heavy US and German resistance. He also collects wounded German forces along the way during the trip back to the Rhine. Patton's liberation of Bastogne and the cooperation of Rommel's forces allows Third Army to race to the Rhine faster than the rest of the Allied forces by early January 1945, capturing a bridge in Koblenz to try cutting off as many SS units as they can. Some SS forces, including Peiper, make it across the Rhine. After he arrives in Berlin, Himmler puts Peiper in charge of the Das Reich division.
Rommel is also facing tension on the German side, as he is being eyed to head the government-in-exile of the so-called German Democratic Republic (GDR), but decides to stay firm and command the Wehrmacht survivors from Army Group B, who have been called the German Republican Army (GRA). Having crossed the Rhine, the GRA and Third Army keeps pushing deep into the interior. All the while, Himmler orders Field Marshal Model to randomly reassign all Wehrmacht officers to prevent any conspiracies to defect, especially after US forces coordinate with General Karl Student in overseeing the surrender of Army Group H in Frankfurt.
Meanwhile, on the Eastern Front, the Soviet Union resumes its assault across Poland as Stalin assigns political officer Alexis Krigoff to keep tabs on the attack. The zampolit also reports to the NKVD about generals who are too cautious in their attacks. Das Reich and the Sixth Panzer Army are sent to the Eastwall (a copycat of the Westwall) to help in the defense of the front.
On February 18th 1945, a reconnaissance team from the US 19th Armored Division ambushes a train going out of Ettersburg. Upon derailing the train, the group discovers thousands of corpses and few survivors whom they provide medical assistance. Rommel is alerted and goes down to Ettersburg to see it personally. He discovers that the train came from the Buchenwald concentration camp and organizes an assault under the cover of a snowstorm with German troops in the lead. The camp is liberated and the prisoners are taken care of by Allied medical units. Rommel is horrified at the depths the Nazi party have reached in Germany's name, nearly killing some camp guards in anger. Although he leads the way in the cleanup, the Allied and GDR leadership convinces Rommel to let the proper medical authorities handle the workload at Buchenwald and concentrate on capturing Berlin ahead of the Soviets, who have stumbled upon the Auschwitz camp as well.
On March 13th 1945, while Sixth Panzer tries to blunt the Soviet advance, the Allies execute Operation Eclipse - an airborne drop and ground assault on Berlin, where Sepp Dietrich surrenders all German forces in the city. A US commando raid also captures Himmler as he tries to escape to Czechoslovakia in a convoy. Enraged at having been beaten to Berlin, Stalin orders Zhukov to encircle the capital by sending his forces to the Elbe and cut off Third Army and the GRA from the rest of the Allied forces still in the west. Zhukov also uses the opportunity to heavily cripple the GRA forces in the northern outskirts while the encirclement continues. The Allied troops in the city are ordered not to attack the Soviets lest they become provoked to unleash their firepower on Berlin. Peiper, who was cut off during the Das Reich's retreat from Kustrin, is captured and sent to a reeducation camp in Siberia.
Over the next few months, the Allies carry out a massive airlift operation into Berlin, providing reinforcements and supplies while evacuating civilians. The Soviets also use the period to bring more ground forces into the blockade.
The uneasy calm is broken on July 1st 1945 when a Douglas C-47 Skytrain transport plane belonging to the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) crashes on the Soviet lines. this together with a major dogfight between USAAF P-51 Mustangs and Soviet Air Force Ilyushin Il-10 fighters is interpreted on the ground as an Allied attack. This is the beginning of the Berlin War as Soviets attack at all points throughout the blockade with the main thrust directed against the 19th Armored Division at Potsdam. However, Zhukov discovers that Krigoff was behind the assumption, having convinced the commander of the 2nd Guards Tank Army to press the attack, with the intent of capturing Gatow and Tempelhof airports. While the attack bogs down because of Allied airstrikes, Patton believes that the next Soviet attack will break through the US lines. The determined Soviet assault forces the Manhattan Project to bring the atomic bomb that was supposed to be used for the Trinity test for deployment in Berlin.
On the morning of July 8th 1945, General Groves oversees the dropping of the Fat Man A-bomb aboard a B-29 bomber called Micky Mouse Express with the Soviet artillery and armored concentration in Potsdam as the target. Although doubts persist about whether the bomb will work, the explosion erases them altogether as it obliterates Potsdam, where Zhukov and Marshal Konev's headquarters is located. The shock value from the event also forces the other Soviet attacks to stop.
In the aftermath of the A-bomb detonation and the signing of the Berlin Armistice which ended the Berlin War, Stalin agrees to withdraw all Red Army forces to the Polish side of the Oder River, but leaves behind a small force on the German side to fortify the area. British spy Kim Philby, who spent the past few months digging for information on the atomic bomb, is killed by British Intelligence as he attempts to alert the Soviets that the Berlin bomb was the only working copy (having been tricked by a fake stockpile several days before). Krigoff, who was sent to Lubyanka prison after the siege, narrates his part of the story to Stalin before he is killed in his cell. The United Nations also convenes a war crimes tribunal to try all Nazis, but Himmler himself would not make it to the courtroom, as the US soldiers who discovered Buchenwald leave him to die in a camp with Jews and other inmates.
Europe at the end of the Berlin War
With the Berlin War being over, a uneasy peace settled down over Europe, new borders had been drawn, Prussia part of Germany was now part of Poland, Czechoslovakia was partitioned into two halve, a democratic in the west called the Czech Republic and in the east a communists country called the Peoples Republic of Slovakia which over time would become one of the staunchest communists countries in the world. Greece that was part of the German-Soviet Armistice of 1944 and as a result became under Soviet influence became a country called the Greece People's Republic where democratic demonstrations where ruthlessly crushed and where the Soviet set up a major Soviet Naval base, Norway another country that was part of the German-Soviet Armistice of 1944 was more lucky despite Soviet attempts by the Soviet Union to create a true communists country, this was mainly due to geography and the proximity of the United Kingdom, through Norway wa forced to accept a communists government it did mange to retain a level of independence which was unknown in the Soviet bloc.
Book I plot summary (Fox on the Rhine)
The first book (Fox on the Rhine) in the series of two books begins on July 20th 1944, when Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg successfully bombs the Wolfsschanze during a strategy conference and later executes Operation Valkyrie in Berlin. However, his decision to signal Hitler's death to other conspirators by code buys enough time for SS chief Heinrich Himmler to launch his own countercoup called Operation Reichssturm. While the Allies are working to break out of Normandy through Operation Cobra, Field-Marshal Erwin Rommel recovers from the injuries he suffered during a real-life strafing run three days before the Stauffenberg coup. Himmler appoints him as commander of all German forces in Western Europe, under watch from the SS, after Field Marshal Günther von Kluge dies in an air attack. He also believes that Carl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel's mention of Rommel as a possible Bomb Plot conspirator holds no weight.
Back in Berlin, Himmler takes charge of the German government and sends Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop and Wehrmacht Colonel Gunther von Reinhardt to negotiate a peace treaty with the Soviet Union. The plan, called Operation Carousel, calls for Germany to shift troops from the Eastern Front to the west, while leaving Eastern Europe and Scandinavia to the Soviets. The Nazis will also share missile technology with Moscow. The sudden implementation of the German-Soviet Armistice of 1944 angers the Allies, who promptly shift naval forces from the Pacific to the European Theater of Operations. At the same time, Rommel organizes a counterattack at Abbeville against the US 19th Armored Division using units recovered from the Normandy front. He also orders the 19th Army to evacuate southern France ahead of Operation Dragoon and regroup at the Westwall.
Having identified all of the surviving July 20 conspirators, Himmler orders the SS to kill them, in some instances posing as British Commandos. Luftwaffe general Adolf Galland is assigned to spearhead the development of the Me-262 fighter. Because of his concern for the troops, Rommel disagrees with Himmler about holding Metz as a strongpoint against the Allies. Himmler responds by sending SS troopers disguised as US soldiers to ambush a combat unit Rommel withdraws from the city.
Galland's efforts with the fighter program results in the mobilization of all surviving Luftwaffe units in a co-ordinated assault against an Allied bomber raid of almost 2,600 aircraft in November 1944. The attack severely cripples the bomber force, so much that the Allies are forced to suspend the bombing campaign. The postponement buys Rommel more time to boost his forces for a major offensive through the Ardennes. Although the operation is codenamed Wacht Am Rhein, von Reinhardt successfully proposes a change to Fuchs Am Rhein (English: Fox on the Rhine) to emphasize Rommel's role as the leader of the offensive. Heinz Guderian is also assigned to lead one of the two panzerarmees to be used in the operation, which aims to reach Antwerp.
Like the real-life Battle of the Bulge, the operation begins on the night of December 16th 1944. The capture of a major fuel dump at Stavelot allows the German forces to extend their advance much further than in the actual offensive, capturing a bridge in Dinant to keep the momentum going. Field Marshal Montgomery, who successfully reinforced 21st Army Group's side of the Meuse River against a German crossing, dies when German forces bombard his command post at Waterloo. The Germans also conquer Bastogne.
Third Army commander General George Patton assigns the 19th Armored Division to counterattack against the Germans at Dinant and to destroy the bridges. The sudden appearance of the US forces prompts Rommel to send one division that has already crossed back to Dinant and hold it with the Panzer Lehr division coming from the east. However, the Allies launch heavy air attacks against the Germans. The 19th Armored Division breaks through and destroys the bridges on December 26th 1944. Left without any option to refuel all Wehrmacht units that have crossed the Meuse, Rommel decides to surrender Army Group B to Patton. An SS general tries to kill Rommel as he prepares to meet Patton, but one of the field marshal's assistants stops the assassin in time. Himmler sees the surrender as an opening for the SS to consolidate their grip on all surviving Wehrmacht units while Joseph Stalin is pleased with the opportunity for a new attack now that the Eastern Front is almost clear of German forces.
Book II plot summary (Fox at the Front)
The second book (Fox at the Front) picks up on December 27th 1944, just minutes after the climax to Fox on the Rhine, where Field Marshal Erwin Rommel has introduced himself to George Patton and offers to surrender Army Group B to him. Both generals agree that the threat of the Soviet Union was greater than all German forces under Heinrich Himmler, who has considered him a traitor. Rommel instructs Hasso von Manteuffel's Fifth Panzer Army and Heinz Guderian at the Sixth Panzer Army to surrender their units at the first Allied unit they encounter. However, given the large concentration of Waffen-SS forces in the Sixth, Himmler orders Jochen Peiper to take over the unit at its headquarters in Namur (killing Heinz Guderian in the process) and counterattack against the Allies. After a US infantry force sent to accept Guderian's surrender is ambushed, Peiper marshals a small kampfgruppe from the Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler to attack Rommel's Dinant headquarters, but is forced to withdraw because of heavy US and German resistance. He also collects wounded German forces along the way during the trip back to the Rhine. Patton's liberation of Bastogne and the cooperation of Rommel's forces allows Third Army to race to the Rhine faster than the rest of the Allied forces by early January 1945, capturing a bridge in Koblenz to try cutting off as many SS units as they can. Some SS forces, including Peiper, make it across the Rhine. After he arrives in Berlin, Himmler puts Peiper in charge of the Das Reich division.
Rommel is also facing tension on the German side, as he is being eyed to head the government-in-exile of the so-called German Democratic Republic (GDR), but decides to stay firm and command the Wehrmacht survivors from Army Group B, who have been called the German Republican Army (GRA). Having crossed the Rhine, the GRA and Third Army keeps pushing deep into the interior. All the while, Himmler orders Field Marshal Model to randomly reassign all Wehrmacht officers to prevent any conspiracies to defect, especially after US forces coordinate with General Karl Student in overseeing the surrender of Army Group H in Frankfurt.
Meanwhile, on the Eastern Front, the Soviet Union resumes its assault across Poland as Stalin assigns political officer Alexis Krigoff to keep tabs on the attack. The zampolit also reports to the NKVD about generals who are too cautious in their attacks. Das Reich and the Sixth Panzer Army are sent to the Eastwall (a copycat of the Westwall) to help in the defense of the front.
On February 18th 1945, a reconnaissance team from the US 19th Armored Division ambushes a train going out of Ettersburg. Upon derailing the train, the group discovers thousands of corpses and few survivors whom they provide medical assistance. Rommel is alerted and goes down to Ettersburg to see it personally. He discovers that the train came from the Buchenwald concentration camp and organizes an assault under the cover of a snowstorm with German troops in the lead. The camp is liberated and the prisoners are taken care of by Allied medical units. Rommel is horrified at the depths the Nazi party have reached in Germany's name, nearly killing some camp guards in anger. Although he leads the way in the cleanup, the Allied and GDR leadership convinces Rommel to let the proper medical authorities handle the workload at Buchenwald and concentrate on capturing Berlin ahead of the Soviets, who have stumbled upon the Auschwitz camp as well.
On March 13th 1945, while Sixth Panzer tries to blunt the Soviet advance, the Allies execute Operation Eclipse - an airborne drop and ground assault on Berlin, where Sepp Dietrich surrenders all German forces in the city. A US commando raid also captures Himmler as he tries to escape to Czechoslovakia in a convoy. Enraged at having been beaten to Berlin, Stalin orders Zhukov to encircle the capital by sending his forces to the Elbe and cut off Third Army and the GRA from the rest of the Allied forces still in the west. Zhukov also uses the opportunity to heavily cripple the GRA forces in the northern outskirts while the encirclement continues. The Allied troops in the city are ordered not to attack the Soviets lest they become provoked to unleash their firepower on Berlin. Peiper, who was cut off during the Das Reich's retreat from Kustrin, is captured and sent to a reeducation camp in Siberia.
Over the next few months, the Allies carry out a massive airlift operation into Berlin, providing reinforcements and supplies while evacuating civilians. The Soviets also use the period to bring more ground forces into the blockade.
The uneasy calm is broken on July 1st 1945 when a Douglas C-47 Skytrain transport plane belonging to the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) crashes on the Soviet lines. this together with a major dogfight between USAAF P-51 Mustangs and Soviet Air Force Ilyushin Il-10 fighters is interpreted on the ground as an Allied attack. This is the beginning of the Berlin War as Soviets attack at all points throughout the blockade with the main thrust directed against the 19th Armored Division at Potsdam. However, Zhukov discovers that Krigoff was behind the assumption, having convinced the commander of the 2nd Guards Tank Army to press the attack, with the intent of capturing Gatow and Tempelhof airports. While the attack bogs down because of Allied airstrikes, Patton believes that the next Soviet attack will break through the US lines. The determined Soviet assault forces the Manhattan Project to bring the atomic bomb that was supposed to be used for the Trinity test for deployment in Berlin.
On the morning of July 8th 1945, General Groves oversees the dropping of the Fat Man A-bomb aboard a B-29 bomber called Micky Mouse Express with the Soviet artillery and armored concentration in Potsdam as the target. Although doubts persist about whether the bomb will work, the explosion erases them altogether as it obliterates Potsdam, where Zhukov and Marshal Konev's headquarters is located. The shock value from the event also forces the other Soviet attacks to stop.
In the aftermath of the A-bomb detonation and the signing of the Berlin Armistice which ended the Berlin War, Stalin agrees to withdraw all Red Army forces to the Polish side of the Oder River, but leaves behind a small force on the German side to fortify the area. British spy Kim Philby, who spent the past few months digging for information on the atomic bomb, is killed by British Intelligence as he attempts to alert the Soviets that the Berlin bomb was the only working copy (having been tricked by a fake stockpile several days before). Krigoff, who was sent to Lubyanka prison after the siege, narrates his part of the story to Stalin before he is killed in his cell. The United Nations also convenes a war crimes tribunal to try all Nazis, but Himmler himself would not make it to the courtroom, as the US soldiers who discovered Buchenwald leave him to die in a camp with Jews and other inmates.
Europe at the end of the Berlin War
With the Berlin War being over, a uneasy peace settled down over Europe, new borders had been drawn, Prussia part of Germany was now part of Poland, Czechoslovakia was partitioned into two halve, a democratic in the west called the Czech Republic and in the east a communists country called the Peoples Republic of Slovakia which over time would become one of the staunchest communists countries in the world. Greece that was part of the German-Soviet Armistice of 1944 and as a result became under Soviet influence became a country called the Greece People's Republic where democratic demonstrations where ruthlessly crushed and where the Soviet set up a major Soviet Naval base, Norway another country that was part of the German-Soviet Armistice of 1944 was more lucky despite Soviet attempts by the Soviet Union to create a true communists country, this was mainly due to geography and the proximity of the United Kingdom, through Norway wa forced to accept a communists government it did mange to retain a level of independence which was unknown in the Soviet bloc.
