Christopher Nuttal
AXIS OF EVIL
Prologue
From: War Premier; the collected notes of Sir Charles Hanover. Pub 1970PT. (Note; these notes were apparently written in early 1941PT, and remained unpublished for twenty years. They appear to be in the correct order.)
None of us expected that Britain would somehow fall back in time to 1940. Had we expected it – and not laughed the prophet out of our homes – we might have made more preparations. As it was, we were lucky to survive. The Nazis were every bit as viscous, clever, treacherous and evil as we had been warned by history – they managed to adapt better to the Transition than we did. Despite some truly stunning military victories in North Africa, and a successful defence of Singapore, the strategic problem hasn’t really changed at all.
No one could have predicted all the changes to the world. The loss of the Americans from 2015, officially to a German strike, brought the Americans in on our side. Unfortunately, they were even more unprepared for war than we were, and they were torn apart by problems. Roosevelt might have won the battle for re-election, with Truman as his Vice President, but America is deeply divided on the issue of the war.
On the other hand, the first American troops should be arriving soon; arguing over strategy should be fun – not! The America military doesn’t want to believe half the things we tell them, even the judgement of future American historians.
Hitler, of course, had no doubts. Correctly deducing that we were the main threat, he forged an alliance with Soviet Russia and Spain, confronting us in the Middle East. For once, the Jihadis are on our side, as the Holy War rages across the desert. Even the single nuclear strike of the war (so far) failed to deter Hitler, and the purge of the German resistance means that none dare to resist him.
In the meantime, Japan went on a rampage against us (and the Dutch and the French, the Vichy French now Germany’s allies) in the Far East, striking at the remains of our Empire. The plan to give India independence at once faltered as the Japanese storm raged against Burma and Singapore; we won in Singapore, but at the cost of losing Burma and Siam to enemy control. Australia now cowers behind its defences, waiting for the invasion that many believe is inevitable. Even the Battle of the Indian Ocean, where four Japanese carriers were sunk along with four battleships, failed to reassure them.
No one knows how close Hitler is to a nuclear device. He has the services of a number of passengers on a jet that came down in German territory, as well as a complete electronic encyclopaedia, but there are many fundamental problems that remain to be solved. In Central Asia and China, a number of unexplained outbreaks of various unpleasant diseases have swept through the population – thank god they lack any major transportation network. Something called Tularemia (Rabbit Fever) got loose in Afghanistan, infecting thousands of people. Something worse called Q-fever appeared in China. For the moment, we’ve prevented the Germans from field-testing their biological weapons with a nuclear deterrent, but as the tide of war swings against Hitler, he may change his mind…
The war’s already worse than it was in OTL. The Germans have enslaved the Spanish, the Italians and the French. The Germans and Soviets have begun exterminating the Polish population, as well as many of their other future enemies. I can’t see Stalin hesitating from introducing a biological weapon into Afghanistan – he might well have started the outbreaks – and there is evidence that the two powers are cooperating on nerve gas development.
Like it or not, we’re in the war to a finish. Do I have the ruthlessness to do what must be done? I’ve already ordered one act that will haunt me for the rest of my life, and it’s become easier as time goes by. We don’t have a choice; we have to hammer our way to Berlin, to Moscow, to Tokyo, or let Hitler develop the atomic bomb and set the world ablaze. We have to do it with an uneasy coalition that could fall apart at any moment, and if we don’t do it right we’ll be fighting the war again in ten years – or an even worse one with the enemy we don’t want to fight.
I can’t help, but think that Winston Churchill had it easy…
Chapter One: Council of War
Ten Downing Street
London, United Kingdom
23rd March 1941
As he had done every day since becoming Prime Minister, when his predecessor had fallen ill with a heart attack, Sir Charles Hanover checked the report of the confidential Alpha Black Project; the research team into why Britain had suddenly appeared back in 1940. As it had said every day for the past six months, the research team had found nothing; there was no sign of UFO activity, unusual supernatural encounters or anything else that might provide a clue as to how the Transition had taken place. Every priest and medium, fortune-teller or wise woman, had attempted to provide the British with a reason, but science had failed to provide any solution – or any hint as to how the Transition might be reversed.
“It might as well be alien space bats,” Professor Bumblebee had said.
Hanover shook his head absently, staring up at the big world map. British and Allied, Commonwealth and American, units were marked clearly; enemy units, German, Soviet and Japanese, were marked at their last known position. The map was constantly updating itself as the war in the Middle East surged backwards and forwards. Turkish units, reluctant participants in the war against the British, were trying to hang back, avoiding combat as much as possible.
I wish we could have done something for the Turks, Hanover thought absently. The combination of threats and blandishments from Germany had done something that had never happened in the original timeline; bringing Turkey into the war. Using Turkey as a base, the Germans had hammered the Syrians into submission, ending the brutal civil war that had consumed the nation when French rule collapsed. The full weight of German power had fallen upon a Contemporary force in Palestine, operating at the end of a logistical shoestring, and run riot until the RAF smashed their supply lines. In the middle of a five-way war, the Soviets had completed their invasion of Iran and punched their way into Iraq.
There had been victories too, Hanover knew. The Battle of the Indian Ocean, the defeat of the Japanese carrier force that had prevented an immediate attack on Australia. Admiral Turtledove, the victor, had been castigated by the Board of Enquiry, but Hanover had suppressed the report. The public needed heroes as the war darkened, even as the Opposition went back into Opposition. Thanks to Turtledove, the war in the Pacific had stabilised, even though the ANZAC units in New Guinea were being evacuated from Port Moresby.
Behind him, the War Cabinet began to file into the room. There were changes; Kenneth Barton, the Leader of the Opposition, had been forced to leave the War Cabinet. The empty seat for Howard Smith, the former Prime Minister, had been filled by John McLachlan; Smith had passed away just after the news of the successful attack on Plosti had come in. Hanover had attended the funeral; they all had, even his political opponents.
“This meeting of the War Cabinet is now called to order,” Hanover said formally, nodding to the guard at the door. There had been a suggestion that the SS had infiltrated strike teams into Britain; the guard around the places of Government had been doubled, along with the RAF and Army bases within the United Kingdom. Just another necessary political duty, like keeping an entire force of forty thousand soldiers and their equipment in Britain, waiting for an impossible invasion.
Hanover suspected that the German infiltrators were a rumour, nothing more, but it was far too important to show that the Government was Doing Something, or Parliament would ask them hard questions and MPs would consider switching their allegiance. Such was the reality of political life; decisions made for political reasons affecting the conduct of military operations.