The Iron Eagle - The History of the Cold War

[Kaiser of Brazil]

Alright I get your point but I still feel that the Russians are not going to have as great a time as they wished in the Ural War.

I won't say that the Germans will necessarily win, they do have many advantages when it comes to their armed forces and have already spent 20 years knowing how to fight partisan guerrillas. But never underestimate how much the leadership can ruin things through political infighting. There are many in the Reich who would benefit if the current leadership happened to lose a supposed walk in the park.

 

[Gexipro]

Could we please have some hard numbers for GDP, Army, Airforce and Navy size of the various Great Powers? Thanks in advance.

 

[Kaiser of Brazil]

Could we please have some hard numbers for GDP, Army, Airforce and Navy size of the various Great Powers? Thanks in advance.

Hard numbers are something harder to get, how does one calculate the impact of the Reich conquering the Continent and pulling a Thanos on Eastern Europe? What about the US economy without the commerce with Western Europe and the Marshal Plan? Certainly the US would be in the lead when it comes to the Economy, but by how much? And what about the Army? Should the SSK be considered when they also have their own armed forces within Germany? The Air Force and Navy would be less tricky to arrange but it is still quite a bit of data to gather or create. I can say for sure that the German Economy in 1958 here is miles better than OTL 1958, comparatively the US is also worse off than the Golden Years of Eisenhower.

 

[Megas Valens]

Hard numbers are something harder to get, how does one calculate the impact of the Reich conquering the Continent and pulling a Thanos on Eastern Europe? What about the US economy without the commerce with Western Europe and the Marshal Plan? Certainly the US would be in the lead when it comes to the Economy, but by how much? And what about the Army? Should the SSK be considered when they also have their own armed forces within Germany? The Air Force and Navy would be less tricky to arrange but it is still quite a bit of data to gather or create. I can say for sure that the German Economy in 1958 here is miles better than OTL 1958, comparatively the US is also worse off than the Golden Years of Eisenhower.

Rough estimates are completely acceptable IMO. Unless you happen to have a team of a few hundred people around capable of calculating every little statistic or something...

 

[Kloka]

Thought this might be appropriate:

 

[Gexipro]

Hard numbers are something harder to get, how does one calculate the impact of the Reich conquering the Continent and pulling a Thanos on Eastern Europe? What about the US economy without the commerce with Western Europe and the Marshal Plan? Certainly the US would be in the lead when it comes to the Economy, but by how much? And what about the Army? Should the SSK be considered when they also have their own armed forces within Germany? The Air Force and Navy would be less tricky to arrange but it is still quite a bit of data to gather or create. I can say for sure that the German Economy in 1958 here is miles better than OTL 1958, comparatively the US is also worse off than the Golden Years of Eisenhower.

Yeah didn't think that far in terms of Economy. But for the overall Militaries some rough estimates would be appreciated. Like how many Planes does the Luftwaffe command, or how many Carriers do the British or Americans have? Even a rough number for maybe the amount of Soldiers in the Wehrmacht would be cool. Personally I would estimate some 3-4 millions Soldiers seem reasonable. Still thanks for your Answer.

 

[Kaiser of Brazil]

THE IRON EAGLE
KRIEG IM OSTEN

​

For the first time in fifteen years, war had erupted in the East, some called it the "Continuation War", others called it the "Third Patriotic War", but to most of the world it was known as the "Ural War", a conflict for the control of a territory larger than Great Britain. It was an unfinished business of Adolf Hitler, who stopped his legions at the Volga river, only crossing it to capture the cities of Kazan and Samara in the last days of the Russian Civil War, taking the cities as bridgeheads for a push that did not come, stopped only by his own mortality. But after years of planning, his successor Rudolf Hess, the man who introduced the very concept of an Eastern Lebensraum into the impressionable and radicalized mind of the Führer, planned to finish the job. The Wehrmacht was ready, from land, sea and air, to continue their relentless push to achieve the perfect natural frontier, once and for all ensuring that the entirety of the Continent would be under the commands of Germania. There was no doubt to most observers that the German Army, considered an invincible force, stronger than even the US Army, with advanced doctrines and technology, would be able to easily shatter the war-exhausted Russian State once again, this time a victory would not only deprive Russia of the remaining wealth of their western territories, but would also forever bury any hopes in the Continent that a liberation of the Slavic peoples was possible.

The Tsar was determined to not let it happen, he would not have the fate of Stalin, he would not have the fate of his predecessor Nicholas and lose his throne and life to the Germans. Twice did a German State invade Russia and twice did Russia collapse into a bloody period of war which killed millions because of said invasion. From a Reactionary Empire to a Revolutionary State, both of them had once failed, he could only hope that in this third time things would be different. Russia had spent a decade preparing for this war, everything from city designs, cultural life, political system and foreign relations had in mind the idea that one day all the Tens of Millions of citizens would be mobilized. Which is why on the very day the invasion began, the "Decree of National Resistance" went into effect, activating the Clauses of the Constitution that imposed the War Time measures of Russia: Martial Law was declared, citizens could be ordered to vacate homes whenever necessary, the conscripts would have their service extended indefinitely, every weapon could be used from grenades to chemical gas, non essential business and commercial stores were shut down for the war effort. In Germania, Rudolf Hess spoke on the day of the attack with Goebbels and all the high ranking figures from Party Chancellor Wegener to SSK Reichsführer Reinhard Heydrich accompanying. He spoke passionately to a crowd about "Hitler's Last Command" to bring forth a war unlike any ever seen in the east, a war of devastation, a war that would bring the extinction of the Slavic peoples who threatened the Reich, a war which would ensure the Eastern territories would belong to Germany for a thousand years and beyond, forever cleansed from terrorist guerrilla groups. But while the Germans spoke of total war, life had continued mostly unnafected in the West, but in the East, the Empire adopted this atitude from the first moment. This would be a Total War, because if they lost, there would be no Russian Nation left.

The Command of Operation Hindenburg was given to Field Marshal Adolf Heusinger, former Chief of Operational Planning of the Wehrmacht during the last war who took the place of Heinz Guderian after his death in 1954 as Chief of Staff of the OKW. He was placed as overall commander of the Eastern Forces, in 1957 at the recommendation of Paul Wegener, while he made Hans Speidel, former Chief of Staff of General Erwin Rommel, his Chief of Staff. Speidel was a man of a certain dubious loyalty, as he had many contacts with members of the Schwarze Kapelle which attempted a coup in 1951 following Hitler's demise, yet he was found innocent of any involvement, being redeployed to the west as a sort of political exile. The Eastern Campaign began with Heusinger splitting his army into two distinct forces: Heeresgruppe Nord and Heeresgruppe Sud, Army Group North and Army Group South. The Northern Army, led by the veteran Ernst Busch, was headquartered in the former city of Niznhy Novgorod, now mostly reduced into a military center after the mass depopulation of the East with most of it's citizens fleeing across the Volga. The Southern Army, commanded by the elderly Erich von Manstein, praised as one of the greatest military minds in the Reich, was headquartered in the former Samara, which also was mostly converted into a military and logistical center after deportations. The two forces were supposed to push towards the foot of the Ural Mountains, specifically the cities of Perm and Orenburg, capturing a vast territory through a fast advance fully using the advantages of the modern Wehrmacht and it's "Shock and Awe" tactics to overwhelm the Russians right at the border in the Volga, while using the bridgeheads in Samara and Kazan to break through the Imperial defenses and encircle their forces near the river. The Germans counted on their reputation, as the Russian people would refuse to give an inch of land after knowing the fate of the west, and breaking static defenses was one of the reasons why the Wehrmacht won the first war to begin with. Heusinger gave a promise to the High Command that Russia would collapse as it once did before the first snowflake had fallen.

The War began on the 15th of May, a Thursday, at Four AM in the local time before the Sun could rise. The sound of Thousands of guns thundered in the air, while Russian radio operators detected several bomber groups crossing the border. German Jet fighter-bombers, flying at low altitude, struck the Radio and communication centers of the Russian Armed forces near the border in order to break their coordination. The Russian Air bases as far as Izhevsk and Perm would be struck by the Luftwaffe, yet the resistance proved itself above Kesselring's expectations as British-imported radar systems detected the approaching Jets, allowing the Russians to launch their own fighters in the air as thousands of planes engaged in air battles. But the battles all followed the same standard, they were short and undecisive, with the Russian planes fighting in order to flee and abandon their own bases to cross the Urals. The Tsar was awoken from his bed and immediately taken to an underground bunker as High-altitude bombers from the Luftwaffe began to unleash Incendiary bombs for morale effect against Russian cities all across Siberia. There was little resistance outside of AA fire, but the damage was also nothing compared to what happened in the previous war. The rebuilt Russian Cities had changed, with wide streets and brick houses making the combat against the flames easier, all while the population would be awoken 15 minutes before the strike, being evacuated to underground bunkers. The Planned morale damage, the tactic of a terror war, had not succeeded in the first day, and while the great majority of German bombers were able to return, they did little other than spending bombs across Siberian towns.

When the Heer began to cross the Volga, using a combination of Fallschirmjägers and coordinated artillery fire to capture bridges before they could be demolished, the Imperial army followed the same behavior of the air war. At every opportunity the Russians retreated to avoid encirclements, and while the German losses were low, so were the Russian losses, Manstein commented in a report to Heusinger that "The Russians learned", but that information was ignored at the time.What information was sent to Hess was that more territory was captured in the first day than even their best expectations, the Russian lines melted following the Werhmacht's overwhelming strikes. However, as town after town fell, there was little fighting other than the occasional resistance of the Russian rearguard, and when coming across villages, the Germans found nothing but ashes, with burned down crops and salted lands, many soldiers dying as they refilled their canteens with poisoned water. The Sewer system of the town of Yaransk was blown up in a sabotage, flooding the natural sources of water in the city with filth. A farmhouse the German troops came across near Dimitrovgrad had been abandoned by it's occupants, but a booby trap led to the entire building explode as the Methane gas of the manure was detonated under their feet. A gas station in the town of Petrovka would explode as German soldiers approached to refuel their tanks, detonated by Russian rearguard units which continued to do similar stories all across the frontlines. The Wolf was being baited deeper and deeper within Russian Territory and the noose was beginning to tighten around it's neck while the arrogance of their commanders blinded them to the danger they were in.

It did not take long for the Partisans to strike, the abandoned towns were result of a forced evacuation order, with the entire male population of some settlements, including boys as young as 13 in some cases, while in other situations many women were either conscripted or volunteered to follow their husbands, brothers, fathers and sons into a dangerous task. Weapons were distributed, while also most of the Russian populace at this point did possess experience with firearms after the Bloody decade, guerrilla units similar to the ones used to ambush convoys and scavenge resources during the war were formed. As the Germans advanced, they remained infiltrated behind the lines, with several of these groups crossing the Volga as the Reichskomissariat became undermanned, contacting old Partisan units in Moscowien, Ukraine and the Caucasus to launch strikes. Commando units of professional soldiers began to train and lead said groups to launch hit and run strikes. In the east, the number of guerrilla attacks increased to a level unseen since 1951, settlements were attacked, ammunition depots were either plundered or detonated, convoys and railroads headed to the front were detonated, the SSK quickly became overextended to deal with this level of insurgency, which was above what Heydrich expected. Naturally that would lead to reprisals, with local slavic towns being destroyed, a pattern similar to the ruthless tactics in Yugoslavia began to emerge as SSK commanders began to execute 100 slavs for every german killed, many times taking them directly from camps to be shot.

Meanwhile, the successes of the battlefield were coming to the Wehrmacht, the air superiority in the west allowed them to strike many retreating Russian columns, others made desperate defenses to allow other units to escape eastwards. It was hard to say there were proper frontlines in this conflict, as the large territory and the highly mobile forces on both sides made the conflict more fluid, contrary to the German expectations, the faster Russian forces were many times able to strike the flanks of armored columns and vanish into the forests. The Luftwaffe could only do so much as the Russian airforce engaged in similar behavior, using the faster American jets to strike at concentrated groups of German spearheads and retreat shortly afterwards. When Izhevsk was captured, the city was found to be in ruins, with the factories being detonated with explosives. But when the Germans captured the town and later continued their advance, Russian forces in the deep underground bunkers would come out and retake the city, striking at the garrisons and vanishing once again, a pattern which began to tie down several troops until said bunkers began to be cleared up. In the case of said city, a defector showed the Germans the location of the air vents and entrances of the tunnel system, which would be sealed off in concrete, only one air vent being opened for Chlorine gas to be pumped down to kill the Russians inside. However, in most of the cases there were no deserters, as all knew what would be the fate of the Slavic people if the Germans were allowed to win.

The International condemnation came quickly, in Britain the faint hopes of a detente which were fed by Hess' cuts on naval expansion and pullbacks on the Middle East were crushed alongside a Prime Minister and the entire British establishment, that would later lead to disastrous consequences in London. For now the response from Britain was condemnation of the expansion and a pledge of material support to Russia, although logistics for the Empire were costly after the loss of the Suez and India, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Hong Kong would serve as "Stops" before reaching Vladivostok, and lending support through the Middle East became Impossible after the Crisis with the Pahlavi Dynasty and the Second Levantine War. Still in Europe, the Linz Pakt members made a token gesture of support for the Reich, condemning Russia as a terroristic state threatening the peace and civility of the continent through the support of partisans and the pursuit of a nuclear program. But the actual help varied, with nations such as Romania going as far as to send an Expeditionary Force of 50,000 troops (And the Hungarians doing similar mostly to curry favor with the Reich in the old Transylvanian dispute), to Italy who was far more reserved and instead redoubled their own internal efforts to ensure the control of the Mediterranean, the aging Mussolini still being skeptical over Germania's motives and being pragmatic after the Church persecutions caused outrage across several sectors of Italian Society. Finally, the United States had changed from the Isolationism of Long's first terms, and the Ural War was seen as the first opportunity of a large-scale engagement against the Swastika, the President received large support when he declared "Support for the Brave peoples of Russia in their war against Tyranny and Slavery". Like never before since the Pacific War, tanks, planes, trucks, weapons and ammunition were loaded on cargo ships and sent across to Vladivostok, one such ships would lead to the closest the world has ever been to war since the death of Adolf Hitler.

But support would not suffice to save the Russian Imperial Army from the initial onslaught of the Wehrmacht. Rather, many times it was the conflicts within the Reich that saved many Russian units, namely the complete lack of coordination between Heydrich's SSK and Heusinger's Wehrmacht in the East. An entire encyclopedia could be written about the amount of times Russian troops managed to escape an encirclement because Waffen-SSK units had divergent goals from the Wehr units, and although Ideological doctrination was increasingly common in the Wehrmacht (namely thanks to Wegener's efforts), there was a clear divergence in the priorities between the two groups. Heydrich had seen the conquest in the East as a great boon, seeing the conquest of new territories as a way to further expand the influence of the SSK, as the newly subjugated slavs would have to be supressed by the Security Forces, he could get, as Himmler did, a Blank cheque to establish his own dominions in the territories, especially the resource-rich Volga basin and the mineral wealth of the Urals themselves. There were even proposals to go further and secure a "Buffer Zone" between the Ural Mountains and the enormous Ob river, no doubt that land would lead to a sharp increase on the budget of the Security forces as that would effectively double the conquests made since 1941 in the East in a hard terrain to be pacified. Speer had already entered in contact with the SSK Main Economic Office headed by Rudolf Lange, one of Heydrich's supporters who was placed there after Pohl went to the NSDAP treasury office (and was later retired by Wegener), the logistics were already being organized with a census of the citizens based on old Soviet Archives in Moscow, RSHA information and statistical estimates based around fertility rates. As such, the Waffen-SSK many times showed more concern in capturing refugee groups while the Wehrmacht had different tactical objectives. The SSK was planning for the Post-War world, already believing a victory to be granted, while the Wehr, more often than not, was concerned on achieving said victory, and the disdain between the two camps did not help in fostering a better cooperation.

On June 25th, the Wehrmacht came across their first major obstacle in Tchaikovsky, a city which covered one of the crossings of the Kama river, fiercely defended by Russian Forces. The 13th Panzer Division led by General Walther Wenck was ahead of it's supply lines, seeking to secure the crossing of the river in order to push eastwards across both banks of the Kama and strike Perm from both South and West. However, Russian Major General Vasily Shaknovich, a former Soviet Lieutenant who was readmitted into the Imperial Army in 1949, would not allow for the armored corps to strike, commanding a defense that on paper outnumbered the Germans, but up until that day, Panzer Spearheads were thought impossible to stop in a frontal defense. At first he ordered all bridges over the Kama river to be rigged with charges, detonating as the German troops approached, on the 28th, using Pontoon bridges, Wenck was able to cross the river to the South near Sarapul, heading Northeast in order to cut off and encircle the city. Unexpectedly, instead of retreating to avoid the encirclement, the Russians would attack the Spearhead while a tank force, mostly consisting of Light Tanks and even including old Soviet models, would come in from the south and strike the Germans from the flank. The Luftwaffe launched an attack from the air, which caused large damage on the Russian armored force, but the Infantry ended up revealing itself to be the Queen of the Battlefield, with the use of small squadrons armed with American anti-tank weaponry, and the new camouflaged uniforms helping by making the troops blend into the woods, a surprise was made when the Infantry almost suicidally attacked the tanks from behind on the battlefield, but the Germans had a critical flaw on the design of their tanks, they were made with an armored war against the massively mechanized forces of the US in mind, the E-120, one of the main German MBTs, lacked proper anti-infantry weapons, and light tanks were in many times sacrificed to develop MBT's instead in the Wehr budget. The Air superiority was what the Germans had counted on to suppress the Infantry, however the new camouflage and squadron tactics of the Russians, instructed by American officers experienced from fighting the Japanese, had proved a better counter against the German planes. The Hubris of the Wehrmacht after 20 years of Invincibility would finally backfire when the news spread of the 13th Division's disastrous failure in capturing Tchaikovsky, naturally the German press suppressed the news, but the Russian propaganda machine showed the entire world that the Panzers COULD be defeated.

There were many tactics which followed this route as the Armored Spearheads of the Wehrmacht advanced far too quickly for the infantry to catch up. Nearby SSK units could even refuse to help sometimes out of internal rivalries which had been encouraged by an essentially Social Darwinian Ideology indoctrinated from the top. There were reports of disdain by commanders, who considered those foolish enough to get harassed and even surrounded to be "intellectual mongrels which the Reich is better off without". On the Russian side, the fact it was universally known what defeat would lead made a supposedly "divided" nation look and act united, while a "united" nation faced internal squables and rivalries which were in no small part encouraged by their Hubris and the very environment where officers graduated. But even with the Wehr taking surprising losses in the first two months, a very considerable amount of land was taken, Heeresgruppe Nord was reaching the gates of Perm, although still unable to cross the River Kama, while Heeresgruppe Sud began the encirclement of Orenburg. Victory was behind schedule, but a victory was a victory either way, August was still away from the mud season or the winter season, the environment was not going to save Russia, but the delaying tactics did allow the Imperial army to form a formidable defense behind the Kama and Belaya rivers, while fighting still happened between Samara and Ufa, essentially the Imperial Army was pushed back to the Urals, yet it was relatively intact compared to more pessimistic estimates. Meanwhile, the first foreign expeditionaries began to arrive, from former Soviets in China to Frenchmen who just wanted a chance to shoot "Greyshirts", several different groups began to coalesce, arriving in ports such as Vladivostok and Magadan. Leading by far was the role of the "American Advisors", a growing number of troops which were nicknamed by the Russians as "Greysons". Why? There are theories, one of them being the fact many Americans have a surname with the suffix "-son" at the end, and so that was added to the Grey winter clothes the first volunteers used when arriving at the Frontlines. Others claim it came from a man named Zachary Grayson, commander of the first platoon of American volunteers in the American expedition back in 1947, his group became known for his surname and eventually that extended to all American troops in the conflict.

Regardless of the limited success and the growing number of volunteers, especially in the air, the German Army was still the dominant force, achieving it's first goals of reaching the foot of the Urals, but while Orenburg starved in the south, on the center the city of Ufa stood, and the City of Perm was still a formidable defense to the North. Over Two million soldiers had been mobilized all across Russia to defend the territory. Heusinger gave a halt order in July, a request by the SSK in order to divert soldiers to a counter-insurgence action against partisans striking around the village of Almat, and the city of Samara. The Wehrmacht established positions while the city of Orenburg resisted the siege, General Otto Ernst Remer was placed in charge of the encirclement of the city after the initial assault was repelled, the Ural River was another of the Russian defensive lines, this one being particularly vulnerable due to the lack of natural features to protect most of the land between the former Samara Oblast and Kazakhstan. Under the command of Prince Fyodor, the Tsar's brother and a former student in the Tsarist Army. Fyodor had grown a more experienced commander, accompanying his brother to Vladivostok and being given a command due to the critical lack of professional officers loyal to the Tsar himself, he finished his graduation and, mostly due to nepotism, ended up entrusted with the Defense of Orenburg. Despite an ill health, Fyodor proved himself worthy of a command after repealing the initial assault, devising a scheme to keep the city sustained by smuggling supplies from across the Ural river. Remer several times attempted to complete the encirclement but it would take until October for that to happen.

However, the halt order proved to be a costly mistake as it gave away something the Wehrmacht relied for years: Initiative and Speed, the basic elements of the Bewegungskrieg. The Imperial Army was under nominal command of the Tsar by this point, with every decision being made theoretically by him. In practice, the Omsk War Room, situated deep in an underground bunker to avoid the risk of bombers, was filled with people who used to slaughter one another until a decade earlier. Reds and Whites, and new Imperial officers, each had their discussions and Andrey had to consider the input of each one of them. He was no Napoleon, however he knew how to delegate tasks to those more capable than he was. The defense of the Perm-Ufa region fell down on a former Soviet Marshal Vasily Chuikov, one of the men who would spend the last ten years "imprisoned", Chuikov was a man skilled on defensive warfare, rising through the ranks during the Civil War when facing the German-supported White Army from the West. A strong defense had been established in the area while Heusinger was seen as overtly cautious by the OKW, although the German Marshal argued that it was necessary to issue a halt order to secure the logistical infrastructure broken down by Russian saboteurs and constantly harassed by Partisans. Hess began to pressure the OKW over the lack of results in July and August, except for the capture of Vyatka in the Northern Front in late August after a brutal urban defense, the city was in ruins by the time the German troops marched on the city center and the SSK moved in to round up the supposed "Partisans". The Vyatka Massacre was a return of the old days of the Commissar Order and the Einstaatzgruppen, with over 3,000 civilians being rounded up in a mass grave and executed. These Massacred continued to prove to the Russians and the World that the rumors brought by refugees of the Reich might have a scale far greater than what was imagined.

Finally in September, Heusinger ordered the Assault of the Perm-Ufa line in what proved to be the largest battle of the war up until that point. In the skies, the Luftwaffe struck down on airfields, radar stations, and defensive positions, with the Russian Air Force, growing with an increasing number of international volunteers, especially from the US, giving a bloody fight with tons of metal falling from the skies as both old propeller and new jet planes faced eachother. Anti-Air guns were brought forth as the German rocketry experiments proved themselves to be more than propaganda, many of the Flaks of old now replaced with high-speed rockets which exploded at certain atitudes, very efficient against amassed bomber formations, not so much against fast jets. On the ground, German engineers, under the cover of thousands of artillery guns exchanging fire at one another over the river, would launch pontoon bridges that allowed for the Tanks to advance. The so-called "Fall Grau" (Operation Grey) was the assault on the Russian defensive positions in September, at points overwhelming even the well-established defenses through a combination of Air and Land strikes, including Kesselring's feared Fallschirmjägers, paratroopers which captured strategic Russian air bases in the area to prevent the refueling of the Air Force. However, the Werhmacht estimates proved to be optimistic once again, as in half of the estimated crossing points, the Russian defenses held against the German assault. Bridgeheads were established on the other side of the rivers, in the Bashrikian territories further south, German troops had arrived at last on the Ural Mountains, but that would not suffice. Rudolf Hess was decisive in demanding that a statement was made, that the Slavs are shown the cost of continued defiance, and since the crossings near the city of Perm had failed, the "Gateway to the Urals" became the perfect target.

The day was October 5th of 1958, a Sunday morning in the City of Perm, a city which stood defiant against every assault that has come from the West, but in that morning everything had changed. Across the river, the Germans brought in their new weapon, a powerful canon derived from the Schewer Gustav and Dora guns which once shelled the defenses of Leningrad. It was the "Wotan", a Nuclear Artillery, one of the dozens that the Reich had in it's arsenal. Taking aim from over 40 miles away, the Canon's sound was heard from afar when it's shell was fired. The Reich did not send it through bombers, after all air raid syrens could reduce the effect of the weapon. The 30-kiloton load would head right for the City, aimed at the downtown, and for the second time in history the Atom was released on war, almost a decade of Nuclear tests leading up to this moment when the blast was a flash seen for miles. The German troops retreated from their positions on the days prior on the other side of the river. The doubts of the soldiers being silenced as they saw the Mushroom cloud, being given Iodine pills and an especialized equipment to strike the city once the heat and radiation had reduced to more liveable levels. But when they went to capture the city itself and crossed undisturbed on the 8th, the sheer terror of what happened would be told for the days to come. Perm was one of the cities which was specifically chosen in order to host an enormous network of underground bunkers and defenses. The German retreat and reports from partisans of the approaching Wotan gun warned the defenders of Perm, as a result, not more than a thousand were killed when the city was struck, and when the Vanguard crossed into the destroyed piles of concrete, Russian troops with radiation suits struck from all sides, artillery shells and air strikes catching the Germans by surprise as the Pontoon bridge was destroyed. The radiation, despite assurances, was still at a lethal level in the city, and so many of the soldiers who fought in the battle would die within the following months, and yet both sides fought ferociously on the ruins before the German Vanguard finally surrendered on the 16th. The Germans brought the most powerful weapon in the world and yet it was not sufficient to break the Russian defense in Perm, in fact it would only cause the shock of the entire world as red alerts were raised everywhere, panic spread with fears of an imminent nuclear escalation, and soon enough the Russians would launch their own retaliatory attack, for the first time in 20 years it was Germany itself which would be targeted.

On the Port City of Rostock, a Finnish vessel would approach the Harbor on the 27th of October, the city was busy and bustling with the trade on the Baltic Sea which brought in products from the Reichskomissariats in Sweden and Baltics, connecting also with the former Saint Petersburg. But now, that vessel was not Finnish, even if it had a finnish flag and name, and when it arrived at the docks, an enormous explosion shattered windows and eardrums from miles away. The "Fertilizers" were, in fact, explosives, and in a suicidal action, a group of Ukrainian former refugees, trained in infiltration tactics by the Russian Army, would detonate the ship in the largest explosion detected in Europe in over a decade, striking Germany itself as a retaliation over the Nuclear bombing of Perm. Ironically, those explosives would kill more than the feared Nuclear Weapon by striking at the German heartland itself, crippling the operations of the Rostock Harbor for over a week, while the explosion also detonated a nitrate storage, which is the main reason why it was so deathly. The failure of the SSK came mainly from the arrogance of Heydrich himself, a man who walked with few bodyguards, if any, and believed himself untouchable, and as consequence so was Germany. Any terroristic attacks were relegated to the wild eastern lands in his mind, and now he would receive the fallout by being scolded by Hess and Wegener over the security failure in the Rostock explosion, which also exploded the carefully constructed myth of invincibility, as not even during the World War did Germany ever get struck by a large-scale bombing such as that one according to the Government propaganda. Speaking of Propaganda, Goebbels would go to the Media, stroking the fears of the people about the growing Slavic beast in the East, calling upon the Germans to strike at the enemy without mercy, unleashing upon them a "Total Destruction" unlike any the world had ever seen. The Nuclear Taboo was broken to the Reich, just as their own myth of invulnerability, and all of the Continent saw that as the first weakness ever shown by Germania ever since the death of Hitler. But by the end of the Decade, Germany would no longer hold the nuclear monopoly over the Europe either. Heusinger would be sacked from his position after Case Grau failed to capture the cities of Perm and Ufa, being considered overtly cautious and replaced by his complete opposite. Field Marshal Ferdinand Scörner, the Butcher of the East, would take operational command of Operation Hidenburg, and he would be sure to follow Goebbels' words: Total Destruction.

And so, the first snowflake had fallen, and Russia was still standing.

 

[jasper the spectator]

Well, this came much sooner than i expected.

The day was October 5th of 1958, a Sunday morning in the City of Perm, a city which stood defiant against every assault that has come from the West, but in that morning everything had changed. Across the river, the Germans brought in their new weapon, a powerful canon derived from the Schewer Gustav and Dora guns which once shelled the defenses of Leningrad. It was the "Wotan", a Nuclear Artillery, one of the dozens that the Reich had in it's arsenal. Taking aim from over 40 miles away, the Canon's sound was heard from afar when it's shell was fired. The Reich did not send it through bombers, after all air raid syrens could reduce the effect of the weapon. The 30-kiloton load would head right for the City, aimed at the downtown, and for the second time in history the Atom was released on war, almost a decade of Nuclear tests leading up to this moment when the blast was a flash seen for miles. The German troops retreated from their positions on the days prior on the other side of the river.

On the Port City of Rostock, a Finnish vessel would approach the Harbor on the 27th of October, the city was busy and bustling with the trade on the Baltic Sea which brought in products from the Reichskomissariats in Sweden and Baltics, connecting also with the former Saint Petersburg. But now, that vessel was not Finnish, even if it had a finnish flag and name, and when it arrived at the docks, an enormous explosion shattered windows and eardrums from miles away. The "Fertilizers" were, in fact, explosives, and in a suicidal action, a group of Ukrainian former refugees, trained in infiltration tactics by the Russian Army, would detonate the ship in the largest explosion detected in Europe in over a decade, striking Germany itself as a retaliation over the Nuclear bombing of Perm. Ironically, those explosives would kill more than the feared Nuclear Weapon by striking at the German heartland itself, crippling the operations of the Rostock Harbor for over a week, while the explosion also detonated a nitrate storage, which is the main reason why it was so deathly.

Well shit, the war has gone nuclear. Thank god it seems thermonuclear bombs don't exist yet.

The International condemnation came quickly, in Britain the faint hopes of a detente which were fed by Hess' cuts on naval expansion and pullbacks on the Middle East were crushed alongside a Prime Minister and the entire British establishment, that would later lead to disastrous consequences in London.

Speaking of Propaganda, Goebbels would go to the Media, stroking the fears of the people about the growing Slavic beast in the East, calling upon the Germans to strike at the enemy without mercy, unleashing upon them a "Total Destruction" unlike any the world had ever seen. The Nuclear Taboo was broken to the Reich, just as their own myth of invulnerability, and all of the Continent saw that as the first weakness ever shown by Germania ever since the death of Hitler. But by the end of the Decade, Germany would no longer hold the nuclear monopoly over Europe either. Heusinger would be sacked from his position after Case Grau failed to capture the cities of Perm and Ufa, being considered overtly cautious and replaced by his complete opposite. Field Marshal Ferdinand Scörner, the Butcher of the East, would take operational command of Operation Hidenburg, and he would be sure to follow Goebbels' words: Total Destruction.

My god, this foreshadowing is making me uneasy...

 

[Kaiser of Brazil]

Well, this came much sooner than i expected.

Well shit, the war has gone nuclear. Thank god it seems thermonuclear bombs don't exist yet.


My god, this foreshadowing is making me uneasy...

Hydrogen bombs do exist, you may thank Patton for that.

 

[Amon34]

excellent chapter, at this rate the troops will be hiding in trenches while the bombs fall. Whats happen to Hitler familly

 

[jasper the spectator]

Hydrogen bombs do exist, you may thank Patton for that.

All i have to say to that is: ah shit.

 

[traveller76]

How long can the German economy sustain thus war?

 

[Kaiser of Brazil]

How long can the German economy sustain thus war?

The Germans have not really entered into a war economy, they believed the Russians would melt like the Soviets in Barbarossa and they would be able to reach the Urals before winter. To their credit, the Wehrmacht was able to capture most of the territories West of Siberia in time, but they heavily underestimated the Russians.

Plus the Germans don't really have a Taboo mentality on Nuclear Weapons, shockingly the Government doesn't care about Civilian damage and collateral damage.

 

[Rajveer Naha]

Given that Russia has thrown everything it has to the west to stop the Germans, can Mai resist the temptation to liberate Mongolia. The Russian reserves must be in the process of being pulled from the other rear areas to the West unlike Stalin who still maintained a million well trained men on the Amur during the worst days of Barbarossa.

Mongolia being mostly empty Stepped can probably be quickly taken by the Chinese, who can make it very clear that it is only interested in the restoration of the Mongolian People's Republic and get off light with only condemnations.

The Germans are planning to reach the Urals Mountains but where do they want to anchor their Southern Flank? Along the Ural River or go further from the Caspian Coast. The Russian Central Asia is like the perfect ground for large scale manuevers.

What is going on in the Russian Far North away from the main corridor to Siberia, towards the Arctic Ocean? Is there any naval action in the Kara Sea and near the mouth of the Ob river?

Does China control Taiwan? Is the US planning on sponsoring the industries of the rest of the Free World to sponsor the Russians? The Japanese, Korean and Indian industries can immediately come online.

Is Korea slowly turning Communist as you mentioned that a left leader is in charge?

 

[Kaiser of Brazil]

Given that Russia has thrown everything it has to the west to stop the Germans, can Mai resist the temptation to liberate Mongolia. The Russian reserves must be in the process of being pulled from the other rear areas to the West unlike Stalin who still maintained a million well trained men on the Amur during the worst days of Barbarossa.

Mongolia being mostly empty Stepped can probably be quickly taken by the Chinese, who can make it very clear that it is only interested in the restoration of the Mongolian People's Republic and get off light with only condemnations.

The Germans are planning to reach the Urals Mountains but where do they want to anchor their Southern Flank? Along the Ural River or go further from the Caspian Coast. The Russian Central Asia is like the perfect ground for large scale manuevers.

What is going on in the Russian Far North away from the main corridor to Siberia, towards the Arctic Ocean? Is there any naval action in the Kara Sea and near the mouth of the Ob river?

Does China control Taiwan? Is the US planning on sponsoring the industries of the rest of the Free World to sponsor the Russians? The Japanese, Korean and Indian industries can immediately come online.

Is Korea slowly turning Communist as you mentioned that a left leader is in charge?

China does control Taiwan, Mao is in a stronger position than he was IOTL overall and wants to expand his influence over Korea and Mongolia. But the US is always in there to make sure he doesn't go too far.

As for the Far North, there is little fighting in there except for the occasional U-Boat on the Arctic Sea, but in a world before large-scale operations of ice breakers and with decades of global warming yet to come, it is nothing major. Vladivostok is the port Russians mainly use to get supplies from the outside world.

The Germans aren't even sure if they will stop at the Urals. Men like Heydrich would be all too willing to take everything West of the Ob River, including Central Asia.

 

[BritishSocDem]

Will you make a chapter soon on what happened in China?

 

[Kaiser of Brazil]

Will you make a chapter soon on what happened in China?

I do intend to make a Chinese chapter, although I am also thinking of expanding on Long's Second Term.

 

[Kaiser of Brazil]

Speaking of Long, what do you think breaking the two-term tradition? And how about facing the Electoral college?

 

[Gabingston]

Speaking of Long, what do you think breaking the two-term tradition? And how about facing the Electoral college?

I could definitely see him running for a third term.

 

[traveller76]

Waiting to see what happens when the ssk and wehrmacht start blaming each other in germania. I also see guest workers in the reich as conduits for sabotage and information.

Third, it would be a shame if the Russian partisans created friendly fire incidents between the ssk and wehrmacht.