“Useless subhumans,” Hitler snapped. Kesselring nodded grimly; neither Stalin nor Tokyo had declared war on America. “We have to work to make the war wider!”
“That would be solved by convincing the Americans to attack the Soviets, in either Norway or the Middle East,” Kesselring said. “If we do it properly, the two sides will bump together and…”
“The war will become much bigger,” Hitler proclaimed. “Already, the Americans are doubtful; will they have the stomach to fight both us and the Slavs?”
“That is unlikely,” Kesselring said. “For the moment, we can pull some of our troops out of Norway and allow the Soviets to take over some occupation duties. That will make President Roosevelt really wrestle with a difficult choice; and, of course, our allies will be quite happy to make his position worse.”
“Excellent,” Hitler said. His moustache twitched. “Now, what about the plans for a joint offensive?”
Kesselring winced. He had advised against Operation Mass when it had first been proposed; it was too reminiscent of the disaster at Stalingrad in the other time line. The war plan, designed by Manstein and Hitler himself, called for simultaneous German and Soviet thrusts west; into Palestine, Iraq and even into Kuwait. The Soviets had built up a ponderous mass of manoeuvre in Iran, after putting most of the population to work building defences.
Kesselring shuddered. Unlike most Germans, he knew the price of their success – and the effects of the knowledge of the future. Millions had been slaughtered already, merely because their descendents would become a threat, one day.
“We have continued building up the forces in Syria,” he said. “Despite some determined efforts by the British to interfere with our supply lines, we have managed to amass a powerful force, including one armed with the new weapons. Thanks to the recent intelligence coup” – he smiled a genuine smile of admiration at Himmler – “we have improved our own doctrine; we will be deploying the new anti-tank weapons and storm trooper tactics against the British, aided by the Luffwaffe. Even though we don’t have any jet fighters in the field, we have dozens of the new modified tactical bombers.
“According to our liaison officers, the Soviets have continued the same build-up, using their camouflage techniques” – it would hardly do to mention that they were better than the German techniques – “to hide the build-up, although the British are clearly better at spotting hidden things on the ground. Despite that, Stalin is confident that a two-prong offensive, one towards Baghdad and one though Basra into Kuwait, is possible.”
He chuckled. “Personally, I believe that the offensive will manage to take Baghdad, and perhaps the other city, but will run out of steam just past there. The Russians have improved a great deal” – something else that Hitler had ignored – “but their logistics still leave something to be desired. The British have gotten better at wrecking their logistics at the most inconvenient moment, as well.”
He tapped the map. “The Soviet offensive will seem more threatening,” he said. “It will be aimed at two vital cities, the ones that the British have promised the subhumans that they will defend, and they will swing their own forces towards the Soviets. A couple of days later, we will launch our own offensive, one intended to punch through Palestine and take the Suez Canal. If we plan it properly, we will manage to trigger off a revolt in Egypt; the British aren’t half as careful as they might be of anti-British agents.”
He scowled. If the SS had listened to him, instead of sending for the Einsatzgruppen forces, the Germans might have had Arab units fighting with them. They did have agents, allies, including Ibn Saud, but few of them were willing to work completely with the Germans. Switching sides at the right moment was a time-honoured tradition in the Middle East, and none of their allies wanted to bind themselves too closely to Germany.
“And then we will punch over the Suez and into Egypt,” Hitler said.
We’ll be lucky if we reach the Suez, Kesselring thought grimly. “In the event that the taking of Palestine is successful, we will secure the Suez and head south, into their new Republic of Arabia, and their major base in the region. Once the base is ruined, it will take them months to put together a counter-attack, time enough to secure our position and even punish the Free Italians, if we want.”
“They will pay for their failure to support the Duce,” Hitler said. Kesselring wanted to giggle; Mussolini’s troops had been fit only for target practice. If Hitler had truly understood that, would he have committed Germany to an alliance with the popinjay? Italy served as Germany’s slave now, her people worked for Germany’s success in the war… and they were much more agreeable. After what they had cost Germany, Kesselring found it hard to care.
Hitler tapped the table. “Now, what about Operation Typhoon?”
“Mien Fuhrer, is that wise?” Himmler asked. Hitler’s favourite, he could get away with anything. “I agree that stamping out the Jewish conspiracy is important, and Stalin must be destroyed before he becomes a threat, but should we not wait until we have forced the Americans back out of the war they entered so imprudently?”
“We are dependent upon that Jewish fool,” Hitler snapped. Kesselring winced; Germany was indeed dependent upon the flow of materials from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. “If Stalin decides that he wants some more of our knowledge, he will turn off the tap until we’ve sent him everything; atomic designs, jets, missiles… everything. And then he will turn on us!”
He glared around the table and none could meet his eye. “Now, what about the plans?”
“We have begun stockpiling the new tanks and guns in Poland,” Kesselring said, reluctantly. “Ideally, we want to launch in May or June; the sooner the better.” He scowled; it would be a very chancy matter indeed. “The more involved the Soviets are in the Middle East, the better. We could also send some aid to the Finnish Resistance; they could tie down a few Soviet brigades.”
Hitler rubbed his hands together. An entire Soviet army group was in Finland, officially running the country. Outside the cities, the countryside belonged to the resistance, Mannainheim’s Men. The Russians would have been losing ground, if they hadn’t had an almost unlimited supply of troops.
“Production, according to Speer, is increasing sharply now we have some of the bugs worked out of the tanks,” Kesselring continued. The Reich Minister for War Production hadn’t been able to attend. “The Panthers and King Tigers cannot be deployed in great numbers to the Middle East, so they can be massed in Poland, under the strictest security. They are capable of matching the best that the Soviets have, and we have covered the bases of our… future mistakes.”
He coughed. “Thanks to Professor Horton, we now know some of the weaknesses in our own weapons and plans, and have moved to correct them. We will have far more tanks, weapons, anti-tank weapons, lorries and other items than we had in the original timeline, many of them produced by the Soviets for us.”
Hitler chuckled at the joke. “When we hang Stalin in the Kremlin, the British will be unable to defeat us, even with the Americans to help. We will develop our own atomic weapon, and then the British islands will be turned into a radioactive slagheap.”
Jasmine Horton was still beautiful, Professor Horton knew; her long blonde hair falling over her swelling chest. She glowed with life; her womb held their third child. It would have been perfect except for one little detail; they were prisoners of the Nazis, who regarded their marriage with the kind of horror that had previously been reserved for Indian-Pakistani marriages.