“The Oversight Committee believes that we will face the nuclear weapon used to shatter one of our attacking forces,” Stirling said. “It’s the only use that makes sense; they can’t get us and they probably can’t fool one of our radiation detectors.”
Hanover scowled. “I’ll have to discuss that with the President,” he said. “For the moment, what about the German research labs? Has anything been found?”
“The Germans wrecked them all pretty well,” Stirling said grimly. “We found some of their papers, however, and they seem to have enriched enough uranium for a small bomb… and there are suggestions that some material went to Russia. As for the bioweapons projects, we found most of them and shut them down.”
Cunningham nodded. “Clearly Mengele’s lab was their main lab for smallpox,” he said. “They seem to have been working on nastier bugs, but we shut them down before they could get anything into production. Teams from Porton Down are going over the German bases with a fine-toothed comb, just in case.”
“Which still leaves us with the problem of shutting down Stalin’s regime,” Hanover said. “When can we move forward again?”
Cunningham exchanged glances with Eisenhower. “In about two weeks,” he said. “Extra American divisions will have arrived by that time, which will make up for the heavy losses we suffered in the breakout. That would also give us time to stockpile and rebuild some of the expanded missiles.”
“True,” Hanover said. He frowned inwardly; the plan had been for the Moscow underground to rise up when Allied troops invaded the Ukraine, which would support the Ukrainians in their uprising. “Two weeks, you said?” Cunningham nodded.
Eisenhower coughed. “It might be a good idea to rotate some of the units out of the battle lines,” he said. “Very few units have taken such a beating as they did during the breakout.”
Which had a British officer in command, Hanover completed coldly. “We don’t have time,” he snapped. “We have to end this war before Stalin sets the world ablaze.”
Hanover sipped his tea while waiting for the call to be placed, knowing that the war was about to become a lot worse. Events were moving away from his control, heading towards a nuclear exchange. Will there be anything left of Europe? He wondered, as he studied the situation reports. The uprisings in France seemed to be being directed by the Soviet Union, designed to put more pressure on the Allies.
Quagmire, Hanover thought coldly, and shook his head. Germany, at least, seemed to be relieved to have the war over – well, most of it. Given enough time, perhaps Rommel could take over as Chancellor and Germany could become democratic, but with Himmler moving east, the Allies would just have to give chase.
I want this war over, Hanover thought, as the phone buzzed. “Good morning, Mr President,” he said. “I assume that you’ve read the information from the SHAFE?”
Truman sounded worried. “Charles, how much credence can we place on such a report?” He asked. “General Groves doesn’t believe that the threat is real.”
“I wish I knew,” Hanover said honestly. “It’s just within the realm of the possible that the Germans might have managed to compete a warhead; they seem to have finally developed a working enrichment method, but they would still have to figure out how to detonate it.”
Truman smiled grimly through the vidlink. “I assume they haven’t held a test?” He asked. “They would be gambling on an explosion first time?”
Hanover nodded. “We couldn’t have missed a nuclear explosion,” he said. “The blasted things can be seen from space, Harry.” He shook his head. “If they have a nuke, it’s untested.”
“And it’s gone into Russia,” Truman said. He scowled. “They could use it to save Vladivostok.”
Hanover considered. The port city was staving, but it refused to surrender and it was too strong for a direct attack to capture it. “I don’t think so,” he said finally. “It would be a pretty large device, if it exists, and they would need to send it on the railroad, which we’ve been breaking up constantly. Incidentally, did you find anything useful in Korea?”
Truman shook his head. “Nothing,” he said. “The Japanese might have moved both of their nuclear programs there, but they were nowhere near a bomb when they surrendered. Incidentally, how is that going?”
Hanover smiled at the question. They might be friends, but they were also rivals. Both of them knew that the other – or at least the other’s nation – would be the… competitor, if not the enemy, of their own nation. Both of them intended to keep the military and political alliance moving, because that would be helpful in ensuring a stable world, but commercially… economically?
He sighed. Would the world always be torn by rivalry?
“It’s proceeding smoothly,” he said. “Admiral Yamamoto managed to short-circuit potential resistance quite nicely, and we’re working on the demilitarisation of Japan now. Admittedly, we have only four Australian divisions – and two Indian ones – on Japan itself, but they’re the most formidable force in Japan at the moment. The remains of the Japanese Navy have been given to Australia, although I suspect that they’ll soon be scrapped.”
He grinned. “You should have read the reports on their preparations to meet our invasion, which they expected would be coming soon,” he said. “It would have been a nightmare. How are you doing?”
Truman sighed. “You know what China is like,” he said. “Half of me – and half of Congress – thinks that we should just abandon China and leave the mixture of peoples in Manchuria and Korea to sort themselves out, and the China Lobby is very keen on rebuilding China. You, of course, snatched back Hong Kong and Formosa, and your allies have occupied almost all of the Dutch East Indies.”
Hanover shrugged. “After the mess they made of themselves after the first time they became independent, I think that Prime Minister Menzies made the right choice,” he said. “With a ten-year period of development, they’ll be able to become democratic and take their place in the GODS.”
Truman chuckled. “We’re going to have to change that name,” he said. “Perhaps just ODS; Organisation of Democratic States.”
“But think of all the schoolchildren who will have to learn about this,” Hanover said. “We should give them something to laugh at.”
“I suppose,” Truman said. “My people say at least two to three weeks before we can hit Stalin,” he said. “What about yours?”
Hanover nodded. “Pretty much the same,” he said. “We need time to ensure that everyone has extra sensors designed to watch for anomalous radiation sources. Perhaps we’ll get lucky and catch the bomb before it can be detonated.”
“Let’s hope so,” Truman said. He hesitated. “You know that our own bomb is ready for use?”
Hanover concealed his surprise with an effort. It had been harder than they’d expected to predict American progress, assuming that Truman was telling the truth. No matter Parliament’s restrictions on transferring technology, Hanover knew that the Americans knew a great deal about how their original program had worked.
He sighed. “This world is not going to have any reluctance about using nukes,” he said sadly. “Perhaps it was a mistake not to simply start blasting German cities…”
He shook his head, dismissing the train of thought. “No, I didn’t know,” he said. “I assume that you intend to use it?”