Lieutenant Thomas Sinclair of the British Army clutched the warm earth of southwestern Thailand as shells exploded around him. His company had been moving across relatively open terrain when the shelling began. The Japanese gunners were usually low on ammunition but this particular battery seemed very well stocked. Once again Thomas found himself thanking God that the Japanese didn't have proximity-fused artillery shells in any great quantity - he didn't doubt that he would be dead several times over if they had.
"Radio operator" Thomas shouted, trying to make himself heard over the roar of detonating shells. Shrapnel flew around him in random trajectories, pieces occasionally shredding his uniform and drawing blood.
"Yes sir?" the young Scottish man replied, his voice hoarse and full of fear. The kid couldn't be older than eighteen but he was doing his duty. Thomas had lost two radio operators in the past week and could only pray that God would not take another.
Not long ago calling in fire support while exposed to an artillery barrage would have been quite a task, now it was second nature. The Japanese gun positions were visible on the low rolling hills to the east. Less than a minute after he had shouted the field coordinates several shells impacted not far from the Japanese battery. Through his field binoculars the impacting shells were tiny puffs of dirt in the distance.
"Fire for effect!" the radio operator shouted after relaying the appropriate adjustments back to the artillery boys. Soon, shells began impacting among the Japanese gun positions. The impacts around his own position became less frequent and several minutes later the barrage stopped altogether. The Japanese were moving their guns to a new location. Which meant one thing.
"Forward!" Thomas shouted as he rose and began jogging east. He and the squad nearest him were entering into the sparse forest at the base of a low ridge when bullets began whipping around him and he flopped to the ground in a maneuver born out of sheer instinct. One man, a fresh faced private just in from London, was down and wailing in agony.
He was just beginning to scan the ridge for the enemy machine gunners when he noticed smoke drifting towards him, a yellow smoke that seemed to cling to the earth as it made its way towards him.
"Masks!" he shouted as loud as he could and then quickly put on his own. Thomas had been in several gas attacks and didn't relish the thought of another one. Hopefully the smoke was just that, smoke. Moments later the shouts of two men confirmed the worst. Both men had taken a bit too long to put their masks and their lungs had been exposed to a blistering agent. Mustard gas. Luckily for the men, the dose they received must have been light and they seemed capable of walking. He'd send them back to a field hospital when night came.
Ducking behind a fallen log, peering eastward through the dusty vision slit in his gas mask, Thomas Sinclair never heard or felt the mortar shell which detonated two yards to his left - a shrapnel fragment from the exploding shell severed his spine at the base of his neck, killing him instantly. The radio operator was not so lucky. Another fragment from the same shell entered the young man's torso and lodged itself in his left lung. Death came slowly for the radio operator and when he took off his gas mask in a last vain struggle for breath the Mustard gas still lingering in the area was able to have its intended effect.
February 6th 1948
In Iraq, British forces are beginning to encircle Basra as Iraqi forces begin a general retreat to the north. Some British elements have already entered the southern outskirts of Basra. Luftwaffe aircraft based at airfields there have begun to evacuate to air basesin central and northern Iraq. In the air the RAF holds the advantage over southern Iraq, freeing up British medium and heavy bombers to pound Iraqi strong points in and around Basra as well as supply infrastructure and northward-fleeing Iraqi troop columns.
On New Britain, Kimbe falls to U.S. forces and U.S. marines have entered the charred outskirts of Rabaul itself where fanatical Japanese forces have dug themselves into the ruins of the harbor and central district. The remaining pockets of Japanese resistance on New Britain and New Ireland are being bombarded around the clock by conventional and chemical weapons, including napalm and mustard gas. The Japanese forces, with little chemical warfare gear available, are being especially devastated by the mustard gas.
February 7th 1948
In southern Sweden Germany completes its 'Aurora' defensive line, a system of fortifications, dense mine fields, and pre-positioned artillery running from the Baltic coast south of Stockholm to the eastern shore of lake Vanern. It is manned largely by local Swedish units.
The Swedes are largely pro-German due mostly to the fact that they fear the Soviets more than they fear their 'fellow Aryans' to the south.
February 8th 1948
In the southeast Asia theatre the Allied drive into northwestern Thailand is lumbering forward through sheer numbers more than anything else. Japanese chemical artillery barrages have been few and relatively dispersed, causing some localized panic among the Indian ranks but having little real overall impact. Japanese and Thai fortifications, on the other hand, are having a staggering effect. Indian losses have been extremely heavy as they assault thick defensive lines with human-wave tactics and little armored support.In spite of the heavy losses, the Indians are pushing forward into the Japanese and Thai lines and bending them backwards across the entire front.
Further South, the allied attacks towards Bangkok and into occupied southern Burma are facing a determined and spirited Japanese defense. On this front the Japanese have many more chemical warheads and they are using them in short, but intense, chemical barrages and then moving the guns before British and U.S. aircraft can hammer them out of existence.
The chemical attacks cause relatively few deaths and injuries but they have an overall degrading and demoralizing effect on Alliance units, forcing them to wear bulky and uncomfortable chemical warfare protection gear and also forcing allied forces to engage in many time-consuming cleanup efforts. However, despite the large-scale chemical warfare, allied forces are moving forward and forcing the Japanese into a fighting withdrawal. Alliance forces enjoy total air superiority and a large advantage in mobility and they are making the most of it.
In Iraq, Basra is surrendered by an Iraqi general and the British are able to seize the city with little fighting. With their supply lines via Basra secure, British mechanized columns have begun to probe northward towards central Iraq. British forces attacking into western Iraq are meeting little resistance aside from the terrain itself and a few guerilla-style attacks. Iraqi commanders, agreeing with advice from the many German advisors in Baghdad, have been pulling most of their forces into central Iraq for a defense of Baghdad and northern Iraq. Luftwaffe aircraft, now concentrated around Baghdad, have been able to assert control of the skies over central and northern Iraq but British aircraft dominate in the south where the front is moving rapidly.
February 11th 1948
In Bolivia, a coalition of leftists and nationalists calling themselves the 'Front for the Liberation of Bolivia' launch an uprising against their SAFB occupiers with a string of bombings and assassinations of 'enemy sympathizers'. The group has been armed and trained by Brazil with the secret approval and aid of the U.S.
Paraguay, Peru, and Argentina immediately begin making preparations to reinforce their occupation forces in the former Bolivia.
February 12th 1948
In the first major U.S. raid against Formosa, dozens of B-31 bombers attack airfields where Japanese heavy bombers have been stationed. Japanese Shinden jet fighters manage to down 20% of the B-31's despite a large number of long range fighter escorts. All of the targeted airfields suffer varying levels of damage though the damage is not serious enough to halt all air operations and the Japanese are not shy about using forced labor to repair damaged airfields.
The latest Shinden model, optimized for the interception role and available in large numbers on Formosa, has much greater speed and climbing rate than any of the latest U.S. long-range fighter escorts. The U.S. navy has begun to push hard for carrier jet aircraft.
February 14th 1948
In North Africa, the front line has been stalemated at Gazala since early October. Since then both sides have established dense networks of fortifications while brining in fresh supplies and reinforcements. Facing each other across the defensive lines are two modern and powerful mechanized armies. The German force is smaller but is now fully equipped with the lethal Cougar IIb which outclasses by a large margin anything the British can put against it. However, the British have large numbers of their latest Centurion main battle tank as well as Pershings and older Shermans and Crusaders. Air combat has been intense and nearly constant with neither side gaining a significant advantage as aircraft losses mount.
Guderian and Wavell, the opposing commanders in the theatre, are both eager to go on the offensive and the British intend to be the first to strike. Wavell has set February 24th as the date for his offensive to begin. Guderian, for his part, is awaiting the arrival of additional forces from around the Reich. The 8th panzer army, under the command of the distinguished Erwin Rommel, is already moving into place and additional forces were being shipped across the Mediterranean every week.
February 16th 1948
U.S. submarine activity around the Dutch East Indies and in the South China Sea has become so intense that virtually all Japanese shipping has been brought to a halt in those areas. The flow of oil from the Dutch East Indies has been almost completely cut off by this blockade as well as bombing of the oil fields themselves. Japanese forces on Java and Sumatra have become virtually isolated as even the relatively narrow straight between Sumatra and Singapore has become a deadly gauntlet of U.S. and British mines and submarines. The Japanese western fleet, once dominant in the region, has now been forced to hide at anchor in Singapore - a city which the U.S. isn't likely to droop an atomic bomb on.
Rabaul falls as the last several hundred Japanese defenders there commit suicide rather than surrendering when they run out of ammunition and food.
February 17th 1948
Japanese and Thai forces in northwestern Thailand have begun to fall back under intense pressure by relentlessly advancing Indian troops. However, the Indian forces lack the mobility to fully exploit the cracks in the Japanese lines allowing Japanese and Thai forces to begin an ordered evacuation east towards the Mae Nam Ping river and the city of Tak.
To the south - In spite of some of the heaviest Japanese resistance in the theatre and the large-scale use of chemical weapons, British forces have entered the western outskirts of Nam Tok while rapidly advancing armored columns of the U.S. 2nd Army, under the command of the very eager general George S. Patton, have reached the river Mae Nam Mae Klong roughly 50km southeast of Nam Tok. The Japanese have been trying to move their armored forces to positions west of Bangkok for a counter-attack but British and U.S. aircraft have savaged the Japanese columns on the roads, leaving burning Japanese tanks and trucks clogging the already overstretched transportation system.
The British and U.S. advance south into southern Burma is moving ahead slowly but steadily.
February 19th 1948
Having built up stocks of mustard and phosgene gas in the southeast Asian theatre, British and U.S. forces now begin to make use of chemical weapons against Japanese forces. The allies have more chemical weapons available and have better means to deliver them as well.
The British, who have been suffering extremely high casualties in the ruins of Nam Tok, decide that Nam Tok is to be their first major chemical target. At 8:00 AM the British open a massive thirty minute artillery barrage consisting of a mixture of mustard and phosgene shells. Immediately following the artillery barrage, several hundred British and U.S. Lancaster, B-17, and B-31 bombers pound the center of the city with conventional bombs as well as mustard and phosgene bombs.
The Japanese had anticipated an eventual allied chemical response and most of the troops in Nam Tok had gas masks available. However, the sheer intensity and scope of the attack catches the Japanese off guard and many Japanese soldiers are killed or severely wounded with gas masks ironically nearby.
Following the chemical and conventional bombardment of the city, British infantry launch a major new push and, due partly to the disruption caused by the large chemical attack, manage to seize control of the horribly contaminated center of the city. The Japanese respond with a relatively small chemical bombardment of their own while entrenching themselves in the eastern part of the city.
Across other sectors of the front British and U.S. forces begin to use chemical attacks as a supplement to conventional bombardments, though typically not on the scale of the Nam Tok attack.
Some 2000 Thai civilians unlucky enough to be trapped in the center of the city are killed or badly wounded in the Nam Tok chemical attack, a fact that the Japanese will use in their propaganda efforts.
February 24th 1948
The British launch their long-awaited offensive in Libya, directly into the teeth of well-prepared German and Italian defenders. Wavell's plan is to simply bypass strong German/Italian positions west of Gazala, moving west on a broad front. Guderian, who had been hoping to go on the offensive first, is forced to switch to the defensive role. In the first hours of the attack, taking note of the British axis of advance, Guderian begins to form a plan.
As the day comes to an end, British commanders are pleased. The German/Italian lines have been breached in several locations. A German armored counter-thrust into the center of the British attack was even repulsed despite the loss of over 90 Pershing and Centurion tanks. A few British commanders note the lack of German armored activity on the southern portion of the front with some concern. Wavell, in particular, is worried. The British have not forgotten the German trickery of the Greek campaign. One thing, in particular, has Wavell on edge - Erwin Rommel's 8th panzer army was supposed to be in place according to intelligence but thus far there had been no sign of activity from the powerful army or its crafty commander.
In the air, late model Meteors and Vampires clash with Predators and Swallows in some of the largest and fiercest jet-on-jet clashes seen to date. With the air battle locked in a stalemate, both sides are able to slip through medium jet bombers and swarms of slow heavy bombers to hammer at each other's supply lines and troop concentrations. Both sides have begun to make use of mobile radar-guided AAA in the theatre which means a lot of lower-altitude bombers and attack aircraft are being downed.
To picture the air war over Libya, try to imagine what the air war over Germany would have looked like in a NATO vs. Warsaw Pact conflict in 1955 of OTL, except put it over a desert landscape.
February 26th 1948
With British armor now 20km into the German/Italian lines along the coast, Guderian gives Rommel the go ahead to spring the southern hinge of a giant trap. Guderian's goal is nothing less than the encirclement and annihilation of an entire British mechanized army. Since the afternoon of the 24th Rommel, under Guderian's direction, had been shifting his panzer army towards the southern sector of the front. Guderian had been carefully directing the battle, using armored feints to make the British think he was fighting his hardest in the center and along the coast. The result was a broad salient into his lines west of Gazala.
Now, in the early morning hours, Guderian gives the go ahead to counter attack. From out of the southern portion of the front Rommel will strike directly northeast with the full might of 8th panzer army plus some of Army Group Africa's best panzergrenadier divisions. It is a gamble on Guderian's part - he is throwing the bulk of his quality reserves into this sharp counter attack.
Wavell, for his part, is not entirely surprised when reports begin to filter in of German forces attacking into his southern flank. The fears he had felt on the 24th were being confirmed and he could now only hope that the precautions he had taken would prove adequate.
Well to the southeast of Gazala - Britain's best armored divisions have been waiting for their chance to get into the action. Their job is relatively straight forward : Smash the inevitable German counter-thrust wherever it might develop. Now their orders were in. Hundreds of Pershing and Centurion tanks, as well as APC's and trucks, begin rumbling south and west amid a dust cloud visible for dozens of kilometers. Overhead, wave after wave of RAF and Egyptian aircraft pass overhead in a seemingly endless stream. The RAF has had a trick up its sleeve as well.
February 27th 1948
In the mid-morning hours roughly 35km southeast of Gazala the main body of Rommel's advancing 8th panzer army makes contact with Wavell's counter-attacking armored reserve. It is an epic clash of steel, with some 250 Cougar I's and II's colliding with nearly 400 Centurions and Pershings. A massive surge by the RAF beginning on the previous day and the unexpected onslaught of British armor combine to bring Rommel's swift advance to a quick, and bloody, halt. Over 100 British tanks are ablaze by 1:00 PM for the loss of some 55 Cougar I's and II's - a loss ratio in favor of the more numerouus British forces. Rommel narrowly averts a greater disaster when a British attempt to encircle his leadingspearhead is blunted by panzergrenadiers armed with guided anti-tank rockets. By the evening another 40 British tanks are destroyed along with about 20 more German panzers.
Many of the German tanks were destroyed by roaming British ground attack aircraft, the RAF had achieved air superiority over that part of the front on the previous day.
February 28th 1948
Two Japanese submarine-carriers are sunk by U.S. anti-submarine forces in the waters some 400km west of San Francisco. Although it will never be proven, the U.S. accuses Japan of attempting to launch a bio-chemical attack on the U.S. west coast. Jittery public nerves will force the U.S. navy to beef up its patrols off the west coast.
Indeed, the submarine-carriers were going to launch kamikaze planes equipped with chemical and biological agents for a desperate raid on San Francisco - but this will never be proven.
March 1st 1948
The Battle of Gazala ends in a bloody stalemate when Guderian orders Rommel to stop and dig in. 8th panzer army had managed to recover from the initial shock of the British counter-thrust and advanced several more kilometers into the British lines in the face of heavy resistance and high casualties. The end result is the loss by all sides of some 350 total tanks, 50,000 lives and hundreds of aircraft - with no change in the strategic situation in North Africa. The front lines have shifted around a little bit, but the general situation remains the same with Axis forces entrenched to the west of Gazala.
All organized Japanese resistance on New Britain and New Ireland has been crushed, leaving only a few guerilla bands to carry on a hopeless battle. The U.S. has already begun to repair the harbor facilities and air fields around Rabaul for use in future offensive operations.
March 2nd 1948
The U.S. drops a 12.5 kiloton atomic bomb near the headquarters of the Japanese 14th Army arrayed in strong defensive positions opposite Patton's 2nd army on the east bank of the Mae Nam Mae river. The atomic blast wipes out the headquarters of the 14th army, killing commander Yamashita and his entire staff and punching a 1.5 kilometer gap in the Japanese defenses. The U.S. second army, with support from British armored divisions, crosses the river in the immediate aftermath of the atomic bombing and succeeds in driving through the shattered Japanese lines and into their rear. By the end of the day Patton's armored columns are 20km east of the river and the Japanese 14th army, consisting of some 90,000 soldiers, has mostly ceased to exist.
When word of the atomic bombing reaches Tokyo 500 U.S. prisoners of war are executed, fulfilling the threat to do so. Japan threatens to double the number again in the event of another atomic attack. Among the ranks of U.S. forces an unofficial policy begins to take shape - Japanese prisoners should not be taken alive.
The leading elements of the attack across the river actually move around ground zero in order to avoid most of the effects of radioactivity. A big priority for the U.S. Army is to develop radiation-protection suits that will allow soldiers to move freely around the atomic battlefield.
March 4th 1948
The U.S. second army, spurred on by Patton, has raced east at an astounding pace and is now only 40km west of Bangkok. The Japanese have managed to re-establish a defensive front with a patchwork of units cobbled together from the Bangkok area but the only thing stopping the 2nd Army at this point is simple logistics - Pershings need a lot of fuel. >
Since the atomic attack on the 14th army, some 70,000 Japanese soldiers of the shattered 14th army have been taken prisoner, an unprecedented and utterly humiliating defeat for the Japanese in southeast Asia. Scattered reports of widespread executions of Japanese prisoners by U.S. servicemen are squashed by the Pentagon and few soldiers will ever be prosecuted for killing Japanese prisoners of war.
Of the 70,000 prisoners of war taken from the 14th army, an estimated 5,000 were killed by vengeful U.S. servicemen. The officers mostly chose to remain officially 'ignorant' of the acts.
March 6th 1948
The Japanese launch their second bio-chemical raid on Luzon, this time attempting to hit the northern town of Aparri. The raid is far less successful than the earlier attack on Manila. The Japanese lose 28 of 44 Fokoku heavy bombers involved in the attack and only 15 manage to drop their ordinance, causing little damage and further angering the U.S. and Phillipines. Several hundred civilians are killed or wounded by mustard gas but the bio-agents have little impact thanks to the massive decontamination efforts of U.S. and Philippine authorities who have been preparing for new biological attacks.
The attack actually backfires for the Japanese since its ineffectiveness will reduce the fear of biological attacks and make them less effective as terror weapons.
March 7th 1948
A planned pro-British coup in Iraq is crushed when a team of German commandoes, led by Otto Skorzeny, storm a meeting of the coup plotters and kill or arrest all of the leading conspirators. Pro-German elements of the Iraqi army stage a simultaneous operation against several government buildings in Baghdad, arresting and killing government and military officials believed to be a part of the coup plan. By the end of the day hard line fascist, pro-German, elements of the Iraqi government are firmly in control in Baghdad.
The British, now only about 100km southeast of Baghdad, had been planning a major airborne operation to support the coup and now are forced to cancel the operation. Iraqi resistance to the British onslaught has begun to stiffen as the British lines of supply are growing very long. Some Turkish troops have begun to arrive at the front to help bolster Iraqi defenses and the Luftwaffe has prevented the Royal Air Force from gaining air superiority over central Iraq despite being heavily outnumbered.
March 9th 1948
With Patton's 2nd Army moving north of Bangkok to encircle the city, and a fear of massive allied chemical attacks gripping the population of Bangkok, Thailand puts out tentative, and highly secretive, peace overtures to the allies.
Japanese and Thai forces have begun a general retreat in northwest Thailand where the sheer weight of Indian numbers and firepower, in combination with massive British and American air support, is beginning to simply overwhelm the defenders. Indeed, the Thai forces in that region have begun to simply melt away as morale has plummeted in the face of massive mustard and chlorine gas attacks from allied bombers. To the south, things are even worse for the Japanese. Patton has fully exploited his breakout through the shattered remnants of the Japanese 14th army and the leading armored spearheads of the U.S. 2nd army are now directly north of Bangkok and are beginning to swing southeast to encircle the city. Japanese forces north of the U.S. 2nd army are in danger of being completely isolated but their orders are clear - hold for as long as possible. The eastern suburbs of Nam Tak remain in Japanese hands despite massive conventional and chemical shelling and bombing by the stalled British forces.
Further south, the allied push into southern Burma is moving ahead slowly, terrain is the best Japanese ally there. British forces have reached the coast at Samut SongKhram, cutting off the Malaysian peninsula from the rest of the Japanese Empire.
March 11th 1948
The formerly-French fascist minor axis nations of Aquitaine and Vichy announce the completion of the formation of their national armies, including a total of nearly 30 infantry divisions as well as several French-SS divisions. Gloomy, but well attended, parades display snappy new Bluish-Grey uniforms which combine French flamboyance with German practicality.
From Algiers, De Gaulle derides these 'puppet armies' as "a pack of traitors and cowards who should be spit on by every true Frenchmen" and promises to hang or shoot them all as traitors when France is liberated.
March 12th 1948
The Japanese begin to produce crude radiation-protection uniforms to be issued to sailors and soldiers who could potentially come under atomic attack(forces near key strategic locations or facilities). The gear is essentially the same as chemical warfare protective clothing and is designed to prevent flash burns and limit radiation doses to less-than-lethal levels. The atomic bombings on New Britain and in Thailand have provided some quick and harsh lessons about the short term effects of atomic blasts on the human body.
Thailand surrenders to the Allies and declares war on Japan at 12:01 AM. Heavy fighting erupts between Japanese and Thai forces within Bangkok and in other areas across Thailand.
In Indo-China Vietnamese nationalist Ho Chi Minh has seen the writing on the wall and decides to make his move against the Japanese. Within a few days Japanese forces in Indo-China will have a full-scale guerilla war on their hands and Ho Chi Minh will quickly begin receiving aid from the U.S. and Britain.
The types of things that were discovered after extensive nuclear testing in our timeline are being rapidly discovered by actual combat experience in this alternate timeline.
March 15th 1948
Several hundred British B-31 and Lancaster bombers launch a night time attack on the port of Trondheim. Several 2000 and 5000 pound bombs strike German capital ships, heavily damaging the 'Scharnhorst' and crippling the 'Prinz Eugen'. In addition, the harbor facilities suffer moderate damage as well. The British lose two dozen bombers to German radar-guided flak but the exchange is a favorable one.
The British have been steadily improving their night bombing skills.
March 21st 1948
U.S. forces enter a Bangkok that has been devastated by a week of heavy house-to-house fighting between Japanese and Thai forces. U.S. tanks and infantry receive a triumphant welcome from the weary population of the city. The Japanese garrison in the city has been reduced to scattered sniping and some have taken to hiding in the sewer system.
March 23rd 1948
Effective Japanese resistance in Bangkok comes to an end as the last few hold outs are eliminated. Elsewhere, the entire Japanese front in Thailand has collapsed and the eruption of a violent rebellion in Indo-China is preventing the Japanese from establishing any kind of new front. To the south, Japanese forces in southern Burma and Malaysia are unaffected by the Thai surrender and continue to wage a bitter defense with the aid of very defensible terrain.
March 24th 1948
The U.S. makes its first operational use of guided glide-bombs, using several such weapons launched from B-31's to sink Japanese cargo ships in the seas southwest of Formosa.
Famous photographs from March 1948...
Fuzzy black and white, taken hastily on a cheap camera by an unknown soldier of the U.S. 2nd Army. A column of worn-looking Pershing tanks, adorned with jungle camouflage painting and draped in additional camouflage netting, moving down the middle of a rough gravel road. All of the hatches are closed, the tank commanders buttoned up. To the left and right of the armored column, struggling through mud up to their shins, are U.S. infantry carrying M1 carbines, full gear, and wearing gas masks and heavy gloves. Several soldiers are staring over their shoulders into the camera, their gas masks shielding whatever expressions they may have held. More men are pointing into the distance ahead where a narrow mushroom cloud is starkly visible against the otherwise clear horizon.
A color photograph typical in quality for a U.S. army combat photographer of the era. A barren field is visible, pockmarked with shell craters and ruined equipment. Hundreds of dead Japanese soldiers are visible, as are swarms of flies. Several U.S. soldiers can be seen about twenty meters from the camera. One of the soldiers is pointing his M1 carbine at the body of a Japanese soldier, the other U.S. soldiers are smoking cigarettes. Although the U.S. government will never acknowledge the origins of the photograph, many historians maintain that it shows the scene of one of the massacres perpetrated on Japanese prisoners of war by vengeful U.S. soldiers following the disintegration of the Japanese 14th army.
In clear black and white, several Iraqi politicians are dangling from the end of ropes slung from a large tree. Around the dead men are Iraqi police, soldiers, and several men in civilian clothing who are of obvious German descent. In the lower left of the grim photograph, Otto Skorzeny is visible speaking with three Iraqi men in police uniforms.
In striking color, the 'Prinz Eugen' is listing heavily to port and spewing a huge plume of smoke. German sailors can be seen bobbing in the waters around the stricken ship. A destroyer has come alongside the 'Prinz Eugen' to render assistance. Caught frozen in time, a 2000 pound bomb can be discerned hanging in mid-air over the already stricken Kriegsmarine ship. It is the bomb that will, a second later, impact towards the rear of the 'Prinz Eugen', killing another several hundred German sailors and nearly sinking the crippled warship.
To Be Continued...
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