Shattered World -
A Worse World War: Part 29
The Tension Builds
January 11th 1945 to May 4th 1945
January 11th 1945
Britain begins mass producing a new radar-guided anti-aircraft cannon. The
RAF will export the weapon to France but the first production run of the
weapon will go to British anti-aircraft forces. Germany is close to producing
a radar guided flak cannon of its own and is also nearing completion of a
radar guided anti-aircraft rocket prototype.
February 2nd 1945
Argentina and Germany begin a series of joint naval exercises in the vicinity
of the Falkland islands to the displeasure of Britain. The exercises mostly
consist of German submarines operating in conjunction with Argentinian patrol
boats and supply vessels. Germany has established a small squadron of submarines
operating out of Buenos Aires.
February 19th 1945
Germany begins using a totally new and upgraded encoding system for transmissions
which the Alliance cannot, at the present time, always intercept.
March 10th 1945
The U.S. announces new arms sales including aircraft, tanks, and ships to
Brazil and Chile, both of whom have maintained democracy in the face of growing
totalitarianism in South America.
March 14th 1945
In a speech outlining new U.S. foreign policy, U.S. President Dewey announces
a new policy of "containment in the Americas". The U.S. will seek to block
the further spread of fascism in South America by bolstering more democratic
nations with economic and military support. Unofficially, the same program
will also seek to block any possible emergence of leftist movements in south
or central America.
April 14th 1945
Argentina purchases 25 small coastal patrol submarines and five destroyers
from Germany. The ships, surplus German equipment, are to be delivered to
Argentina where Kriegsmarine advisors will train Argentinian officers and
crew. Peru has plans for a similar purchase.
April 21st 1945
Peruvian soldiers exchange fire with leftist leaning guerillas at the Bolivian
border. Several are killed on both sides. Peru, in conjunction with the SAFB,
issues a strong warning to Bolivia - Control its borders or face harsh security
measures from its neighbors.
April 23rd 1945
First shipment of 75 U.S. built Pershing tanks arrives in France. The French
army plans to use them to supplement its already formidable force of B1's
and newer B2's.
April 28th 1945
Otto Skorzeny and his team of 12 specially trained commandos successfully
cross into France and make their way into French army positions along the
central part of the Maginot line. They begin making preparations to incite
a war.
May 1st 1945
Japan launches a massive new offensive in southern China with the aim of
destroying the Chinese Army in that region and thereby crippling the war-making
capacity of the Chinese. Japan has been building up its mechanized forces
for the past year and is now unleashing this new capability against the Chinese.
The Japanese also step up strategic bombing of cities throughout China.
The Chinese Nationalist Army, freshly armed with Alliance weaponry, is in
well established defensive positions but remains relatively poorly trained,
under nourished, poorly led, and is generally in a state of poor morale.
May 2nd 1945
Argentina and Peru announce a joint effort to modernize their air forces
- including purchases of older model Luftwaaffe aircraft and expanded pilot
training programs.
May 4th 1945
Hitler gives final authorization for Operation 'Just Vengeance' to proceed.
Otto Skorzeny and his team take up final positions for their staged raid
into Germany.
Over 3500 panzers, 2000 artillery pieces, 1000 rocket artillery units, 2500
ballistic missiles, and 3000 Luftwaffe aircraft have been massed in western
Germany. Two million soldiers in two huge army groups stand ready for action.
Hundreds of German submarines from the North Sea to the south Atlantic have
orders to begin engaging the enemy at precisely 5:20 AM Berlin time on the
morning of the 5th, the same time at which artillery, rockets, bombers, and
ballistic missiles will begin raining death in western Europe.
Five hundred kilometers west of the British Isles the massive cruise liner
'Queen Mary' made its steady way east across the dark and calm early morning
waters of the North Atlantic. With most of the passengers asleep the great
passenger liner was eerily silent. On the bridge first officer Thomas Wainright
stood watch sleepily, sipping occasionally from the coffee always present
at his side. He'd taken a liking to the yank drink and had come to prefer
it over tea - something not many of the crew could understand.
A look at his pocket-watch helped wake him up a little. It was time to check
on navigation. As he stood to speak with another member of the bridge crew
he felt a sudden jolt and heard a muffled roar from somewhere behind him.
"What in God's..." he started to say. A second jolt was quickly followed
by a third. Each sent a sharp quake through the ship's entire superstructure.
"Sir, the screws aren't responding, we're losing speed. The rudders don't
want to respond either!" the young man at the ship's controls called out
in surprise as he struggled to keep the ship moving in a straight line.
The first officer hurried to the telephone at the back of the bridge to contact
the captain. Before he could make it there the old man appeared at the bridge,
a haggard look on his face. Evidently he'd been in his study when the blasts
occurred.
"We've got loss of propulsion and partial loss of rudder control captain"
he stated flatly. The thought that occurred to him next sent the hairs on
his arms on end. He gave voice to the thought.
"Torpedoes!" he exclaimed in alarm.
"No doubt" the captain responded grimly. He continued. "The new German fish
are supposed to be able to home in on the noise put out by propellers. Looks
to me like the buggers work like we heard".
"Christ, we're dead in the water" the first officer said, hardly believing
his own words as he watched the great ship's velocity slow to a few knots,
her momentum keeping her moving ahead sluggishly for another few moments.
Another jolt rocked the deck then, and another, and another. The captain
walked to the microphone at the front of the bridge.
"Attention. All hands abandon ship, I repeat, all hands abandon ship.". The
captain set the microphone down as alarms began to clamor.
"I never thought I would see this day again" he said with a degree of sorrow.
His gray eyes seemed to stare back through the mists of time. The old man
had been in the Royal Navy back in The Great War, had been wounded in the
dreadnaught clash off Jutland. The ship seemed to lurch then, listing badly
to port as smoke began to fill the bridge.
"Good God. We're starting to list, she's going to go under right fast, bloody
too fast. We're not going to be able to evacuate everyone!" the first officer
said in horror.
"See to the evacuation Mr. Wainright, I have to get on the radio at once".
The captain began to announce what was happening over the radio as Thomas
bolted out of the bridge to oversee the evacuation. The Admiralty was going
to take a keen interest in this. The thought was perhaps the most understated
thing he'd ever thought of in his entire life.
On the deck there was chaos. Passengers were beginning to wake up and notice
the ship's growing list. Passengers and crew alike scrambled with little
sense of order as a few life boats began to hastily lower towards the water.
The Mighty 'Queen Mary' was listing at least 20 degrees to port a few minutes
after the second round of blasts and Thomas Wainright realized with a growing
sense of finality that there wasn't going to be a formal evacuation. The
'Queen Mary' was going down fast, and her passengers and crew were damn well
going down with her.
Nearly a kilometer from the rapidly sinking passenger ship captain Otto Halsbrut,
in command of U-654, looked in dismay at what he had done. His orders had
been clear : Give no warning before initiating hostilities. The purpose of
that was straight forward. The element of surprise would be key in the opening
act of this war.
Twenty minutes after his torpedoes (and those of the other U-boat he was
operating with) had struck home, the huge ship had sunk beneath the cold
waves of the North Atlantic. What had the passenger compliment been? Two
thousand? Five thousand? Surely there were some survivors floating helplessly
in the murk. He could do nothing about it. Orders were orders and unrestricted
submarine warfare would mean civilian casualties. This was a nasty business,
something that he felt would be a dark stain on the honor of his beloved
Kriegsmarine.
"For the Fatherland" he muttered to himself, resigned to his duty. Not long
after Otto ducked into the submarine and closed the hatch behind him the
vessel slipped beneath the waves and began its hunt for another victim.
U-654 had fired her torpedoes at 5:18 AM on the morning of May 5th, 1945.
The torpedoes that sunk the 'Queen Mary' were the first shots fired in anger
of what would become the greatest war mankind had ever known.
To Be Continued...
Back to Part 28
Advance to Part 30
Back to Main