Cauldron of Fire

PROLOGUE

“Are you certain you wish to be so forthcoming about Japanese intentions sir?” Field Marshal Sir John Greer Dill, Chief of the Imperial General Staff gave Churchill a look that spoke volumes. “It will reveal more than you might expect at first blush.”

“What is it you mean, General? This is the blow we’ve been waiting for. This attack on the American task force was a godsend. There’s simply no way the American public will let it stand unchallenged. Roosevelt will have no difficulty now insofar as the anti-war lobby goes. This has changed everything.”

“Indeed, sir, but as to Japan, and particularly the plans involving Pearl Harbor, too frank a discussion will clue the Americans in on just how much of the Japanese JN25 Naval code we’ve been reading. It could prove to be an uncomfortable subject.”

"Here, here now Sir John,” Churchill waved a dismissive hand. “We can now speak more robustly. We only had to use that kind of language when we were wooing the Americans. Now she is in the harem with us, and more than willing, I might add.” He gave his Chief of Staff a sidelong glance. “Leave the employment of any discretion in this matter to me. I believe I can navigate the waters well enough.”

“Oh, I have little doubt there, Sir Winston,” Dill smiled. He checked the time and then gestured to the door. “I believe Mr. Roosevelt is waiting then.” Churchill could not be more eager to oblige. An hour later, after the grand first handshake and all the posing for the cameras, he was delighted to have the American President with him at long last, for a private chat about the course of events that were now certain to unfold. A few pleasantries and they would get to the heart of the matter—how to survive, and then prevail in the long conflict that lay before them.

“We had several thousand gift boxes with a few tasty tidbits from the ladies back home,” said Churchill. “All for your crew here, but I’m afraid they were aboard Prince of Wales, and she took a couple of nasty hits from these new German rocket weapons. We managed to keep her afloat and seaworthy, but they tell me I might not have had the pleasure of this meeting if I had stayed in my cabin there.”

“Shocking,” said Roosevelt. “How the Germans could have developed these weapons without us knowing about it is astonishing.”

“Yet to this day Berlin is mute regarding any involvement in this affair. They claim that they have no surface raiders at sea at this time, though I can hardly give credence to anything Herr Hitler would say on the matter.”

“I would not expect them to be forthcoming,” said Roosevelt. “Well, sir, I’ll get right to the heart of it. If there was any doubt in your mind as to where the United States stands in this conflict, let me dispel it forthwith. I intend to seek an immediate declaration of war against Germany, and follow it with the same against any nation who stands with her. And I intend to get what I ask for, so let there be no doubt that we are both in this together, from this moment forward. Congress is just a formality now. After this attack on our naval forces comes to light in the news media, the nation will be enraged. So we are with you, sir…the only question now is how we best prosecute this war against an enemy who has developed a weapon as fearsome as the one unleashed upon our ships at sea.”

“They tell me, all my able generals and admirals, that this was unlike any normal explosion,” said Churchill. “It was supposedly an atomic weapon, and one of considerable magnitude and power. I’ll not bandy about, sir. We are aware of the fact that the United States has a program underway to develop such a weapon. We knew the Germans as well as the Russians were also thinking along these lines, but the shock was to learn just how advanced the enemy plans have become. The only question we have now is in regards to the extent of their weaponization programs. How many of these new bombs might they have? This we wonder.”

“My generals have asked the very same questions. I’ll be frank and confirm that we do have such a program in the early stages of development. I’m told it is still largely theoretical, and not nearly ready for any serious deployment as a weapon.”

“Our Mister Oliphant will want to discuss the matter with your technicians. We would willingly share any and all our information on the subject. We knew the Germans were on this same track when they first tried to purchase the whole stock of Norwegian Heavy Water from the hydroelectric station at Norsk, but we managed to spirit that all off through the French Secret Service and had it delivered to merry old England.”

“As part of your Tube Alloy program?” Roosevelt smiled. He was referring to the top secret code name for the program already underway in Britain, also aiming to develop an atomic bomb.

“It seems that there are no secrets between us, Franklin. My only fear is that the Germans appear to have stolen a march on us in spite of our every effort to frustrate them. We got this Heavy Water out of Norway just before the Germans invaded there, and had it safely hidden away with the Crown Jewels in the Tower of London. We first thought these experiments with Heavy Water would come to naught, then my scientists told me that they had identified a new element, and subsequently we came to believe that the development of an atomic bomb was not merely feasible, but inevitable.”

“It appears that the Germans have proven that point,” said Roosevelt. “The only question now is this—how do we survive until we can do the same?”

“Quite so,” said Churchill. “We know what to do, and how to go about it, but this program will take time. How long can we hold out? Can you imagine such a weapon unleashed on a massed army or fleet intending to land on the shores of France? And what if the Germans deploy this weapon next against the Soviets? They could knock Russia out of the war before we get our trousers on. Then where would we be when Germany turns the full force of her ire towards the West? Make no mistake about this, sir. Germany has only flexed a finger of her armed might against us thus far. She’s hit us with Goering’s Luftwaffe, but we endured and beat them off with our Spitfires. Most of the Wehrmacht is in Russia, where I hope to keep it for some time. They have only two or three divisions deployed against us in North Africa. The rest are just garrisons in France, Denmark and Norway. She’s flung the heart of the Kriegsmarine at us, and our Royal Navy was master of the situation, until this most recent sortie and the advent of these terrible new rocket weapons. Up until now it’s been all feint and jab at sea, what with this Bismarck business recently concluded. They said they would even the score, but heavens above, who would have thought they could do this? A lone raider has damaged two of our newest battleships, sunk the battlecruiser Repulse, and gutted a carrier. A few of our lighter ships were damaged as well. I’m afraid you suffered even more grievous harm.”

“That’s an understatement, to be sure,” said Roosevelt. “We’ve lost the Wasp, three cruisers, twelve destroyers, and the battleship Mississippi. Thousands died. A group of our destroyers got close enough to spot this demon ship, and they engaged her in a firefight, then came this new terror bomb. Our Task Force 16 was completely destroyed, and only a few of the ships that managed to get in close to the enemy have been accounted for. The others simply vanished. We presume they may have been swamped by the blast wave the weapon generated. Perhaps it got the enemy ship as well, though we haven’t found any wreckage.”

“The ocean is very deep there,” said Churchill. “If this ship has gone to the bottom, all the better. Odd that the Germans would use a weapon of this magnitude and power as they did, deploying it on a sea raider. We thought an aircraft would be the only way to deliver it on a target.”

“Clearly this was meant as a demonstration, Winston. They may have intended it to frighten us into capitulation, or perhaps even to prevent our union. Apparently they got wind of our planned meeting and thought to arrange a little welcoming committee. They could see what was happening in the growing alliance between our nations. I suppose they believed our union as one implacable foe was inevitable as well.”

“This ship may have had a darker mission,” Churchill suggested. “It may have been bound for your east coast, intending to put one of these rockets onto New York, or even Washington. They had no qualms about firebombing London last December. Having no bombers that can reach your shores, the only way they could deliver such a weapon would be by sea, on a U-boat, or one of the surface raiders. And these new rockets allow them to fire at ranges well beyond the guns of our ships. Our battle fleets never even set eyes on this new German ship, whatever it was. We thought it was Tirpitz, then Admiral Scheer, then Graf Zeppelin, but all those ships have been accounted for. So we’re naming this one Geronimo, a renegade from your own wild west for an easy handle, and we think the Germans were planning to strike you while you slept, perhaps even intending to coordinate this attack with the Japanese.”

“God forbid that,” said Roosevelt. “Yet what is the status of this ship? Has it sunk? My admirals seem somewhat flummoxed. They still have our cruisers and a few destroyers out hunting for this German raider, in widely dispersed groups now, so as not to present too inviting a target.”

“Quite right,” said Churchill. “Everything we know about this ship is a mystery. While it looks threatening in the photo images your PBY was kind enough to fetch for us, it hasn’t guns worth mentioning—doesn’t need them given what we have seen with these rockets.”

“Our destroyers were taking quite a pounding before that terror weapon struck.”

“Yes, but those guns wouldn’t bother our battleships. We’ve even shrugged off the damage from their rockets. Both King George V and Prince of Wales are still out there in the hunt as well, the latter a bit woozy, but still on her feet. Yet the enemy has vanished. We lost contact with her shortly after that last outrageous attack upon your Task Force 16, and we’ve seen nothing of her since. Planes from our carrier Ark Royal have scoured the sea as well, and seen nothing. Maybe she did fall upon her own sword and go down with your destroyer group.”

Roosevelt leaned in, tapping the table as he spoke. “I’d like to think one of our destroyers put a few torpedoes into the monster. My admirals would like to think it too, but they tell me the Germans might have run out of rockets and turned north again at high speed. Yet we’ve had planes out of Iceland searching as well, and seen nothing—no sign of the beast.”

“That is our only consolation then,” said Churchill. “Even if they have these weapons, they may as yet be few in number. If we’ve sunk this ship it will give them something to think about. We’ve also seen no sign of these rockets deployed on any other front. The Russian intelligence reports the same. So we are led to believe this was a prototype, a first deployment, and possibly a test. It has even been suggested, as you say, that the Germans learned of this very meeting, and intended to deliver that last awful rocket which struck your ships right here, on our thinning hair, to kill two birds with one proverbial stone.”

“Quite a stone,” said Roosevelt. “My people concur. They think this ship, its rockets and this bomb, to be a rarity. But that will change, Sir Winston. Now that its effectiveness has been proven, the Germans will ramp up production and we could be facing these weapons again in a matter of months, perhaps weeks if they have enough material in hand for extended production.”

“I doubt that, but what you say is all the more reason for us to forge ahead in the strongest possible way,” said Churchill.

“Yet how, Winston?” Roosevelt held out an empty open hand to make his point. “You said it yourself. We could assemble our armies, and then what? Would the Germans simply extinguish them in one blow with another of these rocket bombs? And what if they revisit London to finish what they started with the Blitz? As you say, these weapons could easily be delivered by aircraft as well.”

“We are already taking precautions. The government is dispersing to hardened bunkers all over the kingdom. What you say is correct. Our normal method of war will not do. We cannot concentrate mass in men or steel lest we simply present the enemy with a most inviting target. Our cities are vulnerable. But our military must operate by other means now, just as our ships determined they had to sail in a net of smaller dispersed groups instead of one centralized fleet. Something tells me that ships, planes and these rockets will be the means of waging this war now, and not massed armies arrayed in fronts on the continent. Yet one day, if we should prevail, we must eventually go to Berlin.”

“One day,” said Roosevelt, “and let us hope we both live to see it.”

The two men were silent for a moment, as if sitting with that thought, realizing their own mortality, as well as the vulnerability of their nations now in the face of this awesome German wonder weapon. Then Roosevelt spoke, his voice level and serious, and edged with steel.

“Let me be plain about this, Mister Prime Minister. We will in no way be intimidated by the Germans, not for one single minute. We have a big country. If need be we can move our factories to the heartland, or the Rocky Mountains, and no rocket could fire that distance to harm them in any way. We will build an arsenal the like of which the world has never seen. We’ll start with planes and ships, just as you suggest. I intend to get at Germany’s throat in due course, but before we do I’ll have her bombed from every airfield within range, rockets or no rockets. We’ll build three bombers for every rocket they turn out if we have to, and we’ll get the job done, so help me God.”

“Here, here,” Churchill concurred, slapping the conference table with his open palm.

“As for the Navy, I don’t think Germany can bother us on our Pacific coast, but we’ll more than likely have the Japanese to deal with there. Do you think Hitler would share this technology with Japan?”

“Never,” Churchill said confidently.

“That being the case, then I think we’ll handle the Japanese if they decide to get into it, and with little more than a third of our war effort. Germany first. We can hold Japan at bay for a time if they think we are alert and ready in our Pacific bases. I must tell you that Admiral Kimmel has put the Pacific Fleet on full alert, and MacArthur is putting his forces in the Philippines on a wartime footing as well. If the Japanese want to tangle with us, we’ll make them sorry for it.”

“Your determination and confidence are encouraging, sir. Let me be frank and tell you that we believe the Japanese are up to no good at this very minute. They have a definite plan to attack your pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor, though these events may forestall the operation, and perhaps the loss of your ships here in the Atlantic may have saved a great deal of trouble in the Pacific. That being the case, Japan’s intention is most certainly war, sir. And you must know it in no uncertain terms.”

“Yes…” said Roosevelt, reaching for the long cigarette holder he was fond of. “Well, you just leave the Japanese to us, Winston.” He tapped his cigarette holder on the table.

“Let us know if there is anything the Royal Navy might do for you,” said Churchill. “On this end, I can assure you that Great Britain will do everything in her power to drive a stake into Herr Hitler’s heart and end this misguided and obscene dream of his Third Reich. You may consider the whole of our island to be an unsinkable aircraft carrier. I suggest we also develop bases in Iceland as a logistical support for your planes as they transit the Atlantic. We’re likely to take the brunt of whatever the Germans have left in the cupboard to throw at us. It will certainly be another ordeal, and God help us if they unleash one of these rocket bombs on London. I have sent a formal warning to the Germans telling them that we also have these weapons in development, and that I will destroy Berlin, Hamburg or any other city, tit for tat, should they revisit us with their new wonder weapon. Let us see if they believe it, but I should be grateful to have something more than my squadrons of Wellingtons in the event they call my bluff.”

“You’ll have them, Winston. We’re going to put everything we have into air and sea power at the outset. And my admirals tell me a large, effective submarine fleet could be useful as well. With these weapons we believe we can keep the Germans at arm’s length while we build up strength and supercharge the development of this new atomic weaponry. I can’t tell you how long all this will take, as my generals and admirals cannot yet tell me. But it will happen, Winston. I give you my pledge. And by God, we’ll stand with England to the bitter end. There will be no separate peace, if you agree, and we’ll prosecute this war until Germany is a cinder heap.”

“That is exactly what I have longed to hear from you, sir. I have little doubt that we will prevail. Yet we must also give some thought to the Russians. The Germans are likely to go for Moscow this summer. Russia is a big country as well. Perhaps they can hold out, but considering these developments, we cannot count on that. What if they capitulate? In that event we could see the Germans taking a second look at invading our islands next year as well.”

“Winston, don’t you worry about that for one minute. I can put fifty divisions on English soil if you invite me to do so.”

Churchill smiled, raising an eyebrow. “But Franklin, the boys at Bletchley Park say you haven’t got nearly that many in hand.”

“At the moment,” said Roosevelt. “We do things quickly when we have made up our minds. The main thing is this: the United States will never accept the occupation or capitulation of England. We will fight to secure your freedom with everything we have.”

Churchill smiled broadly. “Mister President,” he said. “I think I should like to try one of those Cuban cigars, if you don’t mind. And perhaps you and I could drink to all this over a brandy.”

“We’ll shake on it first,” said Roosevelt, and he took Churchill’s hand in a firm handshake.

“I suppose we should draw up some mutual declaration concerning these matters,” said Churchill.

“Why not call it the Atlantic Charter. We have long been one people separated by that ocean, and a common language,” Roosevelt smiled. “Let the ocean be a bridge between us now, and by God, I don’t care how many of these new raiding ships the Germans have. I’ll fill that ocean with fire and steel in due course. It’s ours, Winston, all ours. We’ll stomp on these U-Boats and bottle up the German fleet in the Baltic. I think our first order of business will be to secure the Azores and Canary islands and build up long range bomber bases there, then on to North Africa to do the same. I want a ring of flying steel around Germans by the end of next year. We’ll bomb them day and night. They’ll need a thousand of those new weapons to stop us, and I don’t think they have more than a handful now, if even that many. This may have been their only existing warhead.”

Churchill took a deep breath, nodding his head. “The Atlantic Charter. It has I nice ring to it. And I agree with everything you have said. We’ll win through, I have no doubt. It is just a matter of time.”