Getting Ahead of Ourselves: A B-29 TL
- Thread starter Parmenion
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Oh jeez I did not think you could make the atomic bombing of Japan even more brutal. It's also both very fascinating and horrifying, how the a-bomb is being combined with conventional bombers on these raids for making ABSOLUTELY. SURE. that a given city stops existing.
Yeesh, what do they even do on the AA teams, children that small can't lift large caliber shells!
Lol hadn't thought of that, maybe they're the pointy stick yelling guys they always have in the movies.
Part 95- Guerillas
As Pattons pincer attack reached the West bank of the Elster in mid August, the situation behind the BT lines was growing worse by the day. While the number of guerilla activities in TAAT occupied West Germany can be counted on one hand, huge numbers of those in occupied Germany and Poland, as well as other nations were up in arms. Soviet treatment of these occupied territories was harsh, and many now sought to undermine their rule, if for no other reason than to be occupied by the more merciful West
Poland was by a wide margin the most active in this capacity, with General Pfeiffer leading the New Home Army against the Soviets. Not only was the NKVD rocked by the apparent death of its leader Beria in May, but had found itself completely unequipped to face a nation in arms. The 50,000 strong coup force originally planned had swollen tenfold by July, before being halved by the need for personel on the front. Huge sections of the countryside, and even small towns were under de facto Home Army control, and made life hell for the Soviet rolling stock passing through Poland.
In Germany, Hitler had made vague promises about the "Werwolf" a plan for the SS and most devout followers of nazism to form a resistance to the coming occupation. These promises were mostly empty, and the first two months of Soviet rule were mostly uncontested, despite the numerous attrocities commited by the red army. However many Germans saw the new war as a chance for either a free united Germany, or at least a respite from the Russian occupation. Huge shipments of allied aid to Germany had allowed them to build a number of resistance cells, totalling around 50,000 people in total.
Much of their work was passive, reporting units and leaking locations to TAAT. However these groups also commitied numerous acts of sabotage and frequently attacked BT troops. Many regard the German resistance as the most brutal, even eclipsing the Poles in that regard. Some went as far as purposely contaminaing bandages, to insure more Russian soldiers died of infection. Still, 500 Landwehr GI's and hundreds of Anglo-American commandos dropped into Germany over the course of the war, doing their part to train and assist them.
While it was less extreme, the communists also faced resistance in their own countries. Romania hadn't had very strong communist sentiment before the war, and resented being reduced to essentially a Soviet vassel state. Bulgaria and especially Czechoslovakia were also hit by unrest, as was Yugoslavia, whose independant communists feared being purged by Stalin. Yugoslavia kept much of its army in reserve, refusing to fully commit to war under the guise of being too devastated to do so.
Indeed Tito had pulled back his forces, of his lie was one of omission. He know believed after the atomic bombings that his lot was misplaced with Stalin. Privately he expressed his belief that war would be lost by September, and joked about fortifying Belgrade. However the dictator had also kept secrets from his "comrade" Stalin, such as various diplomatic contacts he'd had with TAAT. He'd also not told him of his plan to enter the war on a different footing when the time was right, nor of a special trip Marshal Zhukov was taking on the 25th of August.
Poland was by a wide margin the most active in this capacity, with General Pfeiffer leading the New Home Army against the Soviets. Not only was the NKVD rocked by the apparent death of its leader Beria in May, but had found itself completely unequipped to face a nation in arms. The 50,000 strong coup force originally planned had swollen tenfold by July, before being halved by the need for personel on the front. Huge sections of the countryside, and even small towns were under de facto Home Army control, and made life hell for the Soviet rolling stock passing through Poland.
In Germany, Hitler had made vague promises about the "Werwolf" a plan for the SS and most devout followers of nazism to form a resistance to the coming occupation. These promises were mostly empty, and the first two months of Soviet rule were mostly uncontested, despite the numerous attrocities commited by the red army. However many Germans saw the new war as a chance for either a free united Germany, or at least a respite from the Russian occupation. Huge shipments of allied aid to Germany had allowed them to build a number of resistance cells, totalling around 50,000 people in total.
Much of their work was passive, reporting units and leaking locations to TAAT. However these groups also commitied numerous acts of sabotage and frequently attacked BT troops. Many regard the German resistance as the most brutal, even eclipsing the Poles in that regard. Some went as far as purposely contaminaing bandages, to insure more Russian soldiers died of infection. Still, 500 Landwehr GI's and hundreds of Anglo-American commandos dropped into Germany over the course of the war, doing their part to train and assist them.
While it was less extreme, the communists also faced resistance in their own countries. Romania hadn't had very strong communist sentiment before the war, and resented being reduced to essentially a Soviet vassel state. Bulgaria and especially Czechoslovakia were also hit by unrest, as was Yugoslavia, whose independant communists feared being purged by Stalin. Yugoslavia kept much of its army in reserve, refusing to fully commit to war under the guise of being too devastated to do so.
Indeed Tito had pulled back his forces, of his lie was one of omission. He know believed after the atomic bombings that his lot was misplaced with Stalin. Privately he expressed his belief that war would be lost by September, and joked about fortifying Belgrade. However the dictator had also kept secrets from his "comrade" Stalin, such as various diplomatic contacts he'd had with TAAT. He'd also not told him of his plan to enter the war on a different footing when the time was right, nor of a special trip Marshal Zhukov was taking on the 25th of August.
True, I've always kinda thought of him as the "chaotic neutral" of the cold war.
@Parmenion as it's been a while since I read this, I got confused by the acronyms.
Who are BT and TAAT please?
Who are BT and TAAT please?
Just to clarify, according to Part 70: Final Reason (post 427), the BT (Bucharest Treat) is the equivalent of the Warsaw Pact, while the
Here are the paragraphs from Part 70: Final Reason (post 427) explaining the two groups.
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True but to be clear TAAT in particular is quite a bit different than NATO. Chiefly because it has no geographical limitations built in, and the system is much easier enter and leave.
Part 96- Unexpected Guests
Cologne, August 25th, 1945
"Anything new out of Leipzig?" General Eisenhower called out impatiently to nobody in particular. "No sir." replied an aide "General Patton still hasn't gotten any forces across the Elster." "Goddamn" Eisenhower muttered under his breath. The lightning speed of the early offensive had given him false hope, now he was paying for it. Zhukov had scrounged up any reinforcements he could find to hold Leipzig. Military police, sailors, walking wounded, even penal battalions thrown together from the gulags, anything he could find. Doolittle and Harris were turning the city into rubble, but hadn't been able to completely wipe out the BT forces stationed there
"Sir, urgent from General Bradley." Another aide said, handing him the phone. This had better be good news or I swear to god... Eisenhower thought to himself "Eisenhower here." he said into the phone. "General this is Bradley. Listen, we had some Soviet officers cross the line asking to speak with you, they want to negotiate a ceasefire." Eisenhower blinked at that "Are they willing to surrender unconditionally?" "No sir." "Then did you tell them to get bent?" "Well sir..." he only now noticed his subordinates voice was somewhat panicked "I don't want to say anything over the phone, but you need to get down here right now." "On my way."
Less than an hour later Eisenhower had arrived at the 12th Army Group's HQ, also in Cologne, where he was greeted by Bradley and led inside. "So, what's this about now?" "Well sir, the Soviet negotiator isn't who you'd expect." His curiosity only surging further, Eisenhower followed Bradley to the boiler room of the hotel serving as headquarters. As he was led down the steps, he noticed many of the guards wearing expressions ranging from anxiety to sheer bewilderment. Finally he reached the back room, and was shocked by what he saw, or rather, who he saw "Ike!!" General Zhukov said in heavily accented English "How good to see you again!"
Eisenhower was stunned, and found himself slack jawed for the first time in a very long while "Marshal Zhukov." He finally said plainly "I wasn't expecting this" "Major Zhukov actually." He smiled and pointed to the insignia on his jacket "Didn't want to look too pretty for your snipers." "I see. So what is this? A defection?" "Not quite, I'm here so we can work out the end of this nasty war." "If you want to do that" Bradley said "You should tell Stalin to surrender." "Well the thing is you, how do you say? Motherfucker. Stalin is a loony, and has a bit of a habit of killing people who express common sense in his presense."
"So why are you here?" Eisenhower asked, letting a hint of irritation show "Out with it." "Alright alright. Comrade Foreign Secretary Molotov, was recebtky informed that his wife was killed in the gulag for treason, for some reason he's unhappy about that. He plans to act on his unhappiness on the second of September, and after that Stalin won't be much of a problem. What I want is some assurance that the Soviet Union will be permitted to exist once that happens."
"You're asking a lot" said Bradley "You know we found out about those shells full of rabies the japs gave you. You really think we're gonna let you off?" "Ah, not to worry, I brought a, how you say? Sweetener, to prove myself, hense my chief of staff." He gestured to the hitherto silent officer nextvto him, who produced a large satchel. "This has the location and movements of every formation from Lübeck to Vienna. It should give you everything you need to smash my army, and by winter you'll be jacking off in the Vistula" "Alright alright" Eisenhower held up a hand to silence him "What are you asking for?"
"All we want is for the Soviet Union to be left in a state to defend itself, beyond that you can have your way with Europe." "And the japs?" "We'll try to get them to do the same, but if not you can fry them, Mao as well." "I see. Well MPs, please escort the "Major" and his friend here back to Soviet lines, we've heard enough." Zhukov nodded at him as he was led away. Moments later, Eisenhower was on the ground floor of the hotel, a million thoughts running through his head at breakneck speed. "Get me president Morganthau." He said to nobody in particular "Now."
Damn this is one MAJOR play by Zhukov. And how characteristically soviet of him to decide his fallback plan is simply to make it easier for the WAllies to kill his army. Well, that sort of hardass-ness makes sense. His proposal will be a hard sell given the "unconditional surrender" stance the WAllies had up to now, but not having to go through the trouble of occupying Russia is awfully tempting.
Then again, the yanks might just decide it'll be easier to plaster everything with nukes. The TL is named after the plane after all.
Then again, the yanks might just decide it'll be easier to plaster everything with nukes. The TL is named after the plane after all.