The new jet airliner, the Komet, was an unpatrolled success. It had entered service at the beginning of 1950 and was being purchased by the world’s airlines as fast as the factory could turn them out. The jet age had been ushered in by German ingenuity.
The German national airline, Lufthansa, was considerably larger than the next largest airline in the world. Part of this success was due their unquestioning faith in, first the Starflight, then the Komet.
If copying is a form of flattery, then the American aircraft manufacturer, Boeing, had flattered the Germans by designing an almost exact copy of the Komet. They were calling it the Boeing 707. It would be ready to enter service in another two years.
While still on the subject of weapons, after many years of trial and error, the Luftwaffe’s stand-off bomb guidance system had finally been perfected. It was classified as top secret, so von Altendorf knew almost nothing about the technical details. He knew only that it was a reported as a devastatingly effective weapon.
There were hints of a truly terrible future weapon. A super-bomb being developed in conjunction with the atomic energy project that Albert Speer believed had such great potential. Von Altendorf thought that he would rather not know about it. Let me die with a clear conscience.
Von Braun had greatly improved his ballistic missiles. The older, intermediate range A4, had a range of up to three hundred and twenty kilometres, accuracy to within one hundred metres, and delivered a one thousand kilogramme explosive warhead. The newer, longer range A5, had a range of up to one thousand kilometres, far enough to reach Moscow, Leningrad and Stalingrad from Alliance territory. It was accurate to within two and fifty hundred metres and delivered a one thousand five hundred kilogramme warhead.
Von Braun had said he could design and build bigger missiles with greatly increased range if called upon to do so.
There was no defence against these weapons. Maybe the Soviets had got wind of them, and it was this that had persuaded them to be co-operative with the west!
The successful multiple firing of A4 rockets from an experimental U-boat last year, added a new and sinister dimension to sea warfare. Apparently no other nation had, as yet, even contemplated such a thing.
Perhaps even more spectacular was von Braun’s newest toy, called Bluerock. This was basically a more sophisticated version of the A5 missile, and was designed to lift a small payload into orbit around the earth. Mankind’s first step into space!
Where this would lead to, von Altendorf did not know. He thought it was unlikely he would live to see any spectacular results from this.
Baron von Altendorf often wondered what secrets his friend had Walther harboured about the manner of the death of Adolf Hitler. ‘I will never know. Perhaps it is just as well’. He missed his friend.
On matters closer to home, von Altendorf’s son, Klaus, was now a General, and still commanding tank brigades. It was a source of immense pride to him when he had heard Klaus described as the finest commander of armour since Rommel. To be compared to the legendary Rommel!
Erica, his beautiful daughter, remained happily married to the Englishman, Jeremy Blackstone, who was now providing invaluable assistance to General Sieckenius. So he had been informed by the Defence Minister.
They had a permanent home in Berlin, but spent at least every other alternate weekend with their three children, at the family estate. Keeping the old man company. He considered himself very lucky in respect of his family.
The Baron stared into the distance. So many memories!
He had now finished writing his memoirs at last. He had decided to call it PAX GERMANICA. The title was inspired by one immutable fact that was crystal clear to him.
The last decade had been THE GERMAN PEACE.
AUTHORS NOTE
With 200 million war and war related deaths in the twentieth century, it could well go down in history as ‘The century of death’.
Can it happen again? The answer is YES! And will remain so until the world’s weak, incompetent, self-seeking, power-hungry, or just plain corrupt politicians start to learn from history.
Not that I think there is much chance of that happening!
‘LIES, NOTHING BUT LIES’. That is what springs into my mind when I read the latest sayings of politicians. There is a huge gap between the rubbish they utter for public consumption, and what they actually think.
It is my utter contempt for the vast majority of the world’s ruling elite that partly motivated me to write this book.
When one looks at the carnage and damage inflicted upon the world by one man, Adolf Hitler, it defies comprehension. His legacy — the communist superpower of the Soviet Union, later followed by communist China — has a baleful effect on the world to this day.
Without the rise of the communist superpowers there would have been no Korean War or Vietnam War. Chairman Mao would not have caused the deaths of millions of his own citizens through his insane domestic policies. There would be no rogue North Korea with a mad man for a president developing nuclear weapons and the missiles to deliver them.
Two years ago I visited my wife’s family in Russia. Really nice, warm hearted, normal people. I subsequently learned that three of her mother’s brothers were sent off to fight the invading Germans in World war II and, along with countless other Russian soldiers, they never returned. The manner and place of their death is unknown to this day.
Knowing of the bestial treatment meted out to Russian prisoners of war by the Nazis, one can only hope they died on the battlefield.
This discovery left me with a feeling of infinite sadness. It was also another motivation for me to write The German Peace.
This book should not be considered an anti-war novel. If a label has to be applied it should be thought of as an indictment of the world’s ruling political elite.
Could World War II have been avoided? Of course it could! And this is what THE GERMAN PEACE is about. It is the story of what SHOULD have happened.
Facts, actual events, and real people are woven throughout the story. One thing is for sure, this story is considerably more plausible than the incredible world shattering events that actually happened from May 1940 onwards.
Copyright
Copyright © 2017 Derek Pennington
All rights reserved
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, or by any means, without the prior written permission of the author.
This is a work of fiction, portions of which are based on actual events and real historical figures.
Derek Pennington