Christopher Nuttall: Ragnarok

“I see,” he said, finally. Life had been a great deal less complicated last year, when he’d been nothing more than a factory foreman. “Can you keep thrusting forward?”

“Not until we get our logistics network up and running,” Voss said. “ Herr Chancellor , we simply don’t have the logistics to push them further back.”

“Work on it,” Volker ordered. He knew Voss was right. No one had ever seriously contemplated having to fight a civil war, of all things. The Reich had countless contingency plans — everything from an invasion of Britain to a defence of Occupied France — but none of them had ever been put into practice. “I assume we are continuing to harass them?”

“Of course,” Voss said. “But we’re reaching the point of diminishing returns. Even our air supremacy is under threat.”

Volker scowled as he contemplated the map. The Luftwaffe had largely joined the provisional government, once the Reich Council had lost its grip on power, but the air force had paid a high price for its decision. A number of bases and aircraft had been destroyed, either by sleeper agents or cruise missiles, while the remaining pilots were exhausted and running out of supplies. They had planned for an intensive operational tempo, he’d been assured, but — once again — the Reich’s planning had not matched reality. He had a nasty feeling that he would have to order the air force to reduce its operations soon, before exhaustion and poor maintenance took an even greater toll on its pilots.

A shame we can’t send the navy , he thought. The Kriegsmarine had been solidly behind the rebels from the start, save for a handful of warships that had fled harbour and escaped to the east. They’ve done very little so far .

He shook his head in annoyance. It was a foolish thought, unworthy of him. The navy couldn’t come to grips with the SS, not when the SS was largely landlocked. Maintaining a blockade of the handful of ports in Germany East was largely pointless. The Americans weren’t going to sell supplies to the SS. And if the Chinese decided to pour fuel on the fire by shipping weapons to Germany East, there was nothing the Kriegsmarine — or anyone else — could do about it.

“Order the Luftwaffe to do whatever it sees fit,” he said, finally. “If they feel they have to reduce their operational tempo, they can reduce their operational tempo.”

Voss didn’t argue. That worried Volker more than he cared to admit. He’d been a stormtrooper, but he’d never reached high command. Voss, on the other hand, was a Field Marshal. He’d never hesitated to point out the limits of Volker’s experience before…

…And if he wasn’t arguing, it meant the situation was truly dire.

Volker looked down at the map, silently translating the pencil-drawn symbols into something understandable. Berlin was safe now, ringed by panzer divisions and infantrymen who’d force-marched from the coastal defences of France to the heart of the Reich . But the SS had utterly devastated the land between Berlin and Warsaw. The reports pulled no punches, none at all. Every last bridge had been destroyed, every last village and town had been devastated… improvised mines had been scattered everywhere, covered by a handful of commando teams who’d fired a couple of shots at the advancing soldiers, then scattered into the undergrowth and vanished.

And the enemy defence lines are forming , Volker thought, coldly. They’ll be ready for us soon .

He sighed, then looked up at Voss. “If we leave them alone for six months,” he said, “they’ll be ready for us.”

“Yes, Herr Chancellor ,” Voss said.

Volker rubbed his eyes. He’d often considered emigrating to Germany East; he’d planned to emigrate, once he reached retirement age and his children were married off. And he’d visited , during his career. He knew just how tough the easterners were. Given time to raise and deploy a new army, they could make the cost of winning the war intolerable. If it had been possible, he would have accepted sundering the Reich in two. But he knew, all too well, that Karl Holliston wouldn’t accept anything less than the reconquest of the entire Reich .

There can be no peace , he thought, morbidly.

“Field Marshal,” he said. “Could we win before the first snowfall?”

Voss looked unsurprised by the question. Volker rather suspected he’d been considering the issue himself.

“Perhaps,” he said, finally. “We don’t know when the snow is going to fall.”

“But we could still chew them to ribbons,” Volker mused. “They’d either have to abandon vast tracts of land or fight us.”

He scowled at the thought. The SS — and the Heer — was good at slotting newcomers into units and relying on the old hands to teach them the ropes. There was no such thing as a unit completely composed of soldiers — or stormtroopers — fresh out of basic training. But if the SS’s combat veterans were killed, the SS would have fewer experienced soldiers to teach the newcomers how to fight. It wasn’t a pleasant thought, but it was one that had to be faced. A campaign — even a limited thrust eastwards — would make it harder for the enemy to regenerate their forces.

“Yes, Herr Chancellor ,” Voss said. “But if we waited six months, we would also be far stronger.”

Volker had his doubts. Germany Prime might possess most of the Reich’s industry, but Hans Krueger had made it clear that their industrial base was on its last legs. The demands of the war hadn’t helped, either. They needed to give the machinery a rest; instead, they’d upped the demands to support the military. Pushing the industry any harder might result in a general collapse. And even if they didn’t have a wave of large-scale failures, they’d still pay a terrifying price for occupying Germany East.

And they might get their atomic bombs up and running , he thought. It was anyone’s guess just how long it would be before the SS unlocked their own bombs. A trained engineer, he’d been warned, might just be able to remove the PAL system and improvise a replacement detonator of his own. What will they do if they have working atomic bombs ?

He cursed under his breath. The Siberian missile fields probably couldn’t be turned on Germany Prime, but they could be pointed at America. And Karl Holliston was insane. Who knew what he’d do if he thought he was losing the war? Taking the United States down too might make perfect sense to him. Or perhaps he’d reason that the Americans would retaliate against Germany Prime, giving Germany East a chance to rebuild. Stopping him from using the damned things was worth almost any price.

“We have to move now,” he said, softly. “If we give them too much time, they will use it against us.”

“Yes, Herr Chancellor ,” Voss said. “But I should caution you that we need more manpower.”

Volker sighed. Almost every male German in the Reich had some military skills — thanks to the Hitler Youth — but not all of them had gone into the military. They’d started training volunteers even before the siege of Berlin had begun, yet it would take months before the new recruits were ready for the demands of modern war. There was an entire army in South Africa, but getting it back to the mainland in time for the big offensive was impossible. Even disengaging from the South African War was proving tricky.

“See what you can drag up,” he said, finally.

“My staff did have an idea,” Voss said. “We could approach the French or the Italians for manpower.”