Axis of Evil

Prologue

From: War Premier; the collected notes of Sir Charles Hanover. Pub 1970PT. (Note; these notes were apparently written in early 1941PT, and remained unpublished for twenty years. They appear to be in the correct order.)

None of us expected that Britain would somehow fall back in time to 1940. Had we expected it – and not laughed the prophet out of our homes – we might have made more preparations. As it was, we were lucky to survive. The Nazis were every bit as viscous, clever, treacherous and evil as we had been warned by history – they managed to adapt better to the Transition than we did. Despite some truly stunning military victories in North Africa, and a successful defence of Singapore, the strategic problem hasn’t really changed at all.

No one could have predicted all the changes to the world. The loss of the Americans from 2015, officially to a German strike, brought the Americans in on our side. Unfortunately, they were even more unprepared for war than we were, and they were torn apart by problems. Roosevelt might have won the battle for re-election, with Truman as his Vice President, but America is deeply divided on the issue of the war.

On the other hand, the first American troops should be arriving soon; arguing over strategy should be fun – not! The America military doesn’t want to believe half the things we tell them, even the judgement of future American historians.

Hitler, of course, had no doubts. Correctly deducing that we were the main threat, he forged an alliance with Soviet Russia and Spain, confronting us in the Middle East. For once, the Jihadis are on our side, as the Holy War rages across the desert. Even the single nuclear strike of the war (so far) failed to deter Hitler, and the purge of the German resistance means that none dare to resist him.

In the meantime, Japan went on a rampage against us (and the Dutch and the French, the Vichy French now Germany’s allies) in the Far East, striking at the remains of our Empire. The plan to give India independence at once faltered as the Japanese storm raged against Burma and Singapore; we won in Singapore, but at the cost of losing Burma and Siam to enemy control. Australia now cowers behind its defences, waiting for the invasion that many believe is inevitable. Even the Battle of the Indian Ocean, where four Japanese carriers were sunk along with four battleships, failed to reassure them.

No one knows how close Hitler is to a nuclear device. He has the services of a number of passengers on a jet that came down in German territory, as well as a complete electronic encyclopaedia, but there are many fundamental problems that remain to be solved. In Central Asia and China, a number of unexplained outbreaks of various unpleasant diseases have swept through the population – thank god they lack any major transportation network. Something called Tularemia (Rabbit Fever) got loose in Afghanistan, infecting thousands of people. Something worse called Q-fever appeared in China. For the moment, we’ve prevented the Germans from field-testing their biological weapons with a nuclear deterrent, but as the tide of war swings against Hitler, he may change his mind…

The war’s already worse than it was in OTL. The Germans have enslaved the Spanish, the Italians and the French. The Germans and Soviets have begun exterminating the Polish population, as well as many of their other future enemies. I can’t see Stalin hesitating from introducing a biological weapon into Afghanistan – he might well have started the outbreaks – and there is evidence that the two powers are cooperating on nerve gas development.

Like it or not, we’re in the war to a finish. Do I have the ruthlessness to do what must be done? I’ve already ordered one act that will haunt me for the rest of my life, and it’s become easier as time goes by. We don’t have a choice; we have to hammer our way to Berlin, to Moscow, to Tokyo, or let Hitler develop the atomic bomb and set the world ablaze. We have to do it with an uneasy coalition that could fall apart at any moment, and if we don’t do it right we’ll be fighting the war again in ten years – or an even worse one with the enemy we don’t want to fight.

I can’t help, but think that Winston Churchill had it easy…