Christopher Nuttall - Ragnarok

“You will continue to hold your position, charged with organising the defence of Germany East in the short term and the reconquest of Germany Prime in the coming year,” Holliston continued. “In your opinion, what is the current situation?”

Alfred had to fight the urge to giggle. Reconquer Germany Prime? Right now, he honestly wasn’t sure they could defend Germany East . Four entire divisions had been shattered in the Battle of Berlin, their panzers destroyed, their supplies expended… Germany East had vast stockpiles of war material, but it didn’t produce much for itself. Replacing everything that had been lost in the fighting would take years . Hell, merely reorganising the survivors into new units would take far too long.

He took a moment to organise his thoughts. “The last set of updates I saw, Mein Führer , had lines being formed west of Warsaw,” he said. “Stragglers are being rounded up and funnelled into makeshift units” — thankfully, the Waffen-SS had a great deal of experience in throwing together scratch battlegroups at a moment’s notice — “while we are massing the remainder of our panzers and aircraft well behind the front lines. Small teams of dedicated commandos have been assigned to impede the enemy, directly and indirectly. As you are aware, experienced teams can cause considerable delay.”

As the enemy showed us during the march to Berlin, he thought, grimly. And blowing up bridges will make it harder for us to take the offensive too .

“Very good,” Holliston said. “And our chances of defending Germany East?”

Alfred knew the right answer. “Very good, Mein Führer .”

Gauleiter Staff Innsbruck cleared his throat, loudly. “ Herr Oberstgruppenführer ,” he said, carefully. “Is it not true that we have lost vast quantities of materiel as well as men?”

“It is,” Alfred confirmed. He’d met Innsbruck before; indeed, he was mildly surprised Innsbruck had survived Holliston’s assumption of power. The man didn’t owe his success to the new Führer . “However, there are several factors working in our favour.”

Innsbruck lifted his eyebrows. “Indeed?”

“Yes, Herr Gauleiter ,” Alfred said.

He ticked off points on his fingers as he spoke. “First, the enemy is likely just as disorganised as ourselves,” he said. “Their thrusts eastwards are already weakening as they outrun their logistics. They will need time to reorganise before taking the offensive.

“Second, the distance between Berlin and Germanica is quite considerable,” he added. “If they wish to crush us, they will have to thrust eastwards… and do it at a time when winter is coming and the roads swiftly become impassable. Our contingency plans for the defence of Germany East will only make matters worse, for them. By the time they muster the force to launch an invasion of their own, perhaps in spring, we will have our forces solidly in place and ready to stop them.”

“But that would require a massive commitment,” Innsbruck said. “We would need to conscript more and more young men from the farms.”

Alfred nodded, unsure where Innsbruck was going.

Innsbruck turned back to Holliston. “ Mein Führer , we must discuss peace.”

Holliston’s face darkened. “Peace? There can be no compromise with traitors!”

“Two-thirds of the young men in my district have already been called up,” Innsbruck said, sharply. “Garrison levels have already fallen dangerously low in some places — and winter is coming, winter… when bandit attacks are typically on the rise. My people have already faced a number of raids that came far too close to success. How long can we sustain this commitment without losing Germany East completely?”

Alfred winced. Forty years of occupation hadn’t been enough to exterminate the bandits, not the ones stubborn enough to hold on and fight back whenever they saw an opportunity. Most towns and villages in Germany East were practically garrisons, military bases in a sea of Untermenschen insurgents and bandits. And he had no doubt that the Untermenschen slaves would revolt, if given the opportunity. They were worked to death by their owners. The only thing keeping them under control was the certain knowledge that resistance was futile.

And it might not be futile now , he thought. We don’t have the manpower to keep them in check any longer .

Holliston made a visible effort to control his anger. “The traitors believe they won the war,” he said, sharply. “Do you think they would agree to any terms we might accept?”

And if they did , Alfred asked himself, how long would it be before they crushed us anyway .

He sighed, inwardly. Germany Prime had nearly seventy percent of the Reich’s industrial base, even though it had been decaying for years. Given a couple of years of peace, the traitors could simply out-produce the loyalists and resume the war when it suited them. And ideas from the west would be slipping east all the time… the ideals of the Reich would come under threat.

Because they seem easier , he thought. And very tempting.

It wasn’t a pleasant thought. Germany East was built on an ideal, the ideal of transforming a barren country into living space. It had built hard men and women, people who truly understood the harsh world around them. But Germany Prime… they’d had it easier for decades. They didn’t realise the truth, that one could either bend the world to one’s will… or be bent in turn.

“There is no prospect for peace,” Holliston said. “Do you wish to see your lands returned to the Untermenschen ?”

He tapped the table sharply. “Does anyone wish to surrender?”

No , Alfred thought. He doubted that any of the senior officers would like the thought of giving up their power, even if it didn’t lead to their execution. But do they think the war can be won ?

“As long as we have the power to preserve the ethos of Germany East,” Gauleiter Emil Forster said, “we must not surrender.”

Alfred frowned to himself. Gauleiter Emil Forster was an older man, one known to be stanchly conservative. He would have expected Forster to consider coming to terms with the rebels, if it was possible. Continuing the war might lead to defeat — or total annihilation. But then, who knew how long Germany East would survive if it still had contact with Germany Prime? Would the Easterners be seduced from their ideals?

“We will not surrender,” Holliston said. He looked at Alfred. “ You will take command of the defence. You will ready the troops to resist the coming offensive. And you will hold the line.”

“ Jawohl, Mein Führer ,” Alfred said. He found himself torn between relief and fear. Relief that he hadn’t been executed; fear that he’d been given an impossible job. But what else could he say? Defeatism was punishable by death. “Given enough time, we can make Germany East impregnable.”

“And you will have something very special to help you,” Holliston added. He smiled, unpleasantly. “But for now… I believe we have other business.”

And there was something in the way he said it that chilled Alfred to the bone.

Berlin, Germany Prime

29 October 1985

“That’s the latest set of reports, Herr Chancellor,” Field Marshal Gunter Voss said, as he tapped the updated map. “The SS lines are definitely beginning to solidify.”

Volker Schulze, Chancellor of the Greater German Reich — or at least the part of it that accepted the authority of the Berlin Government — nodded in irritation. He’d hoped, against experience, that the SS stormtroopers would have broken completely, but they were trained to rebound from defeat faster than any other military unit in the Reich . It had been years since he’d served alongside them, yet he still recalled how little difference losing the CO — or even the NCOs — had made. The SS, whatever its flaws, had been a meritocracy. A skilled stormtrooper — assuming he had good Aryan blood — had every prospect of rising in the ranks.