Shattered World - Segment 55.1

Shattered World - Segment 55.1.1(revised)

October 6th 1949 to October 13th 1949

October 6th 1949

British and American heavy bombers operating from the Canaries and the middle east hammer Tunis and Tripoli in large conventional strikes that significantly set back Axis repair efforts on the critical strategic harbors there. Alliance bomber losses are heavy in the unescorted raids.

At the same time that the large conventional raids are hitting Tunis
and Tripoli, another smaller raid approaches the Tunisian port city of
Bizerte which has become an important port and naval base for the Axis
after the atomic attacks on Tunis and Tripoli. This smaller raid,
approaching from out of the Sahara, consists of a dozen B-31 bombers
and their long ranged fighter escorts operating from British-held Libya. One of the B-31's
carries a 24 kiloton British atomic bomb. However, the Germans have
been watching and waiting for just such a small, escorted, heavy bomber raid and a
swarm of Axis interceptors of all types meet this small force
head on. Despite the desperate efforts of the British escort fighters,
5 of the 12 B-31 bombers are shot down and the rest are forced to turn
back. One of the downed bombers had been carrying the lone atomic bomb.
When the stricken bomber descends below 2000 feet in a dead spiral the
atomic bomb detonates over the barren terrain of southern Tunisia,
killing several hundred extremely unlucky villagers.For the first time in history, an atomic bomber has been lost in action with its payload. It is a heavy blow for the British, who are still struggling to produce one atomic bomb every 4 to 6 weeks. As news of the shoot down
speeds around the world, the SBC convenes a top level meeting at the
Pentagon. By order of the president, all use of atomic weapons is
suspended until such time that the procedures for atomic bomber shoot
downs can be reviewed.

October 8th 1949

Except for a few locations, Nationalist Chinese forces have succeeded in
driving the communists out of China proper and into Soviet-dominated
Manchuria. However, the fighting in China is far from over. Communist
guerrillas infest China from the interior to the coast, and the Chinese
communist regime itself lives on from an extensive network of bases on
the communist Manchurian side of the border.

October 9th 1949

With German paratroopers and Marines now arriving in direct support of the
Finnish rebellion, and Red Army forces there little more than a
skeleton garrison, the Soviets have no choice to retreat. Soviet forces
in southern Finland begin withdrawing to the defensive fortifications
north of Leningrad while those further north head east to the old
Soviet-Finnish border where they'll man aging pre-war defensive
positions. As estatic Finnish citizens celebrate in liberated Helsinki,
the German-dominated Finnish government-in-exil prepares to re-assume
power as an Axis nation.

In Casa Blanca, covert American diplomatic agents and Free French
officials conclude a lengthy series of negotations underway for several
weeks and sign a highly secretive agreement that will bring Free France
back into the war on the side of the Alliance. In exchange for
significant monetary and military assistance, Free France agrees to
declare war on the Axis Powers at a date to be determined by the U.S.
and to allow U.S. forces to enter Free France and make use of all Free
French facilities and infrastructure. The war in North Africa will soon
be getting more complicated for the Axis.

October 11th 1949

In the southern Ukraine, minor Axis forces continue to move largely
unnoposed towards Rostov, isolating and capturing tens of thousands of
Soviet soldiers along the way. Hungarian and Italian armor is now east
of Mariupol, advancing along the Black Sea coast with only the mud and
lengthening lines of supply slowing them down.

To the north, in the central Ukraine, hundreds
of thousands of Soviet soldiers continue to slog east in a bid to
escape the growing disaster that the Ukraine has become for the Red
Army. However, advance German forces have managed to reach the Dnepr
river at several points northwest of Kremenchug, blocking the escape
route for the 150,000 Soviet soldiers still in the central Ukraine. The
'Kiev pocket' now extends from Kiev itself in the north to 35km
northwest of Kremenchug in the south. Further east, the 250,000 Soviet
soldiers east of the German pincer of continue to flee on foot towards
Russia itself, their heavy equipment long since abandoned. The
worsening mud and overly stretched logistics is all that is stopping
German pincers from pocketing the entire Soviet exodus.

October 13th 1949

After another week of heavy and confused fighting in many of Chile's larger
cities, leftists and anti-Junta elements come out on top across
northern Chile and in the extreme south, aided by labor organizations
and defecting army units. The left-centrist coalition declares La
Serena as its provisional capitol, and begins seeking international
recognition as the legitimate government of Chile. The Alliance and
ODAS nations quickly recognize this government, while the SAFB and Axis
loudly condemn them as rebels and "communist pests". With both sides
consolidating power in the regions where they hold sway, the lines seem
set for a Chilean civil war.

At San Diego, the brand new Essex class carrier 'Gettysburg' quietly
begins steaming south with frigates, destroyers, cruisers, and
submarines in escort. Meanwhile, late in the day the SAFB formally
offers membership to the Chilean military government of Santiago. The
Junta remains silent on the offer, still hoping to crush the "rebels"
without outside assistance. In a strongly worded joint statement, the
ODAS openly threatens war if the SAFB interferes in the "internal
affairs of Chile".

Sergei Baryshnikov inhaled deeply from his cigarette, huddling under his harsh
woolen blanket and staring in awe at the spectacular sunrise
manifesting to the east. As a boy on a small farm east of the Urals,
Sergei had seen many sunsets but this was by far the most stunning. It
seemed that every color in the rainbow was visible to one degree or
another, and the mildly cloudy sky was alive like a multicolored flame
licking down from the heavens. It was almost enough to make him forget
about the war, or the intense cold that had him shivering under two layers of clothes and filthy blanket.

It was the coldest October that anyone could remember. It had already snowed twice, a white blanket still veiled the open field that loomed off to the west. Somewhere over there
were Germans, probably huddling in the cold and admiring the sunrise as
he was. Despite the cold, despite the beautiful sunrise, the war did not relent.

Shells burst somewhere far to the north, then another salvo of artillery
shrieked overhead to explode somewhere to the east. Gas alarms followed
that barrage, and Sergei and the other exhausted men around him donned
the chemical warfare gear with a steady, plodding, efficiency that
spoke of too much experience with the deadly German gas.

Luftwaffe and Red Airforce planes clashed overhead, and he watched the specks above circle each other and draw trails across the sky with the sort of detached observation he
might have given to birds of prey engaged in a mating ritual. In a life
that now seemed almost unreal, Sergei had delighted in watching
birds through the old field glasses his retired Russian Army father had
handed down to him before passing away one cold Russian night some
decades before. Now Sergei delighted in very little, and thought of life before the war very rarely if at all. Then the war came home once again, as it did inevitably.

"Panzers!" a gnarled old Sergeant called out. "And infantry with them, get ready Comrades!". There was little else to say. This unit was as veterean as they came, having
started the current war riding west in trucks during the initial heady
days of the offensive towards Minsk and now entrenched on the defensive
lines hundreds of miles east of where that optimistic offensive had
begun. Behind them was Leningrad. Sergei risked a quick glance over the
heaped dirt that constituted the top of the trench that he was
sheltered in. The panzers were Cougar I's, late model, the type the
Germans liked to attach to mechanized infantry to give them extra
punching power.

Even as Sergi recognized the type, rockets lanced out from the Soviet lines to strike at the advancing Panzers. The weapons, simple unguided models churned out in countless numbers
east of the Urals, were not very effective against the frontal plate
armor of a Cougar I, but sometimes if you launched enough of them
you got lucky. One Panzer did begin spewing smoke, and as the hatch
opened and the crew began to tumble out Sergei and other Soviet
soldiers coldly gunned them down one by one. Infantry across the world had no love for tank crews.

Undaunted, the rest of the Panzers rumbled forward. German infantry fanned out ahead of them, and mortars began impacting up and down the Soviet line. Rifle fire, both aimed
single shots and the contnious bangbangbangbang of fully automatic fire
filled the air. Soviet machine guns made viscious chainsaw-like ripping sounds as they sent streams of death zig zagging into the advancing German infantry. The Germans, as always, were competent and relentless. Advancing in leapfrog order, in rushes, taking advantage of all available cover. Some of them fell, most came on. The Panzers followed close behind them, belching forth high explosive rounds to explode with deadly effect on Soviet machine gun nests.

The leading German infantry were within twenty meters of Sergi's trench when artillery shells began exploding directly amongst them, right in the open space in front of the Soviet
line. Whether the bursts were perfectly aimed Soviet ones or errant
German ones he could not tell; but the effect was quite clear. Shrapnel
from the proximity fused shells cut down the German infantry in a wave
that rolled for close to a minute, leaving very few of the German infantry alive or un-harmed. The Panzers, having lost their screen of infantry and coming under intense
rocket fire, were forced to begin reversing back towards their own
line. And then, out of nowhere, one of the Panzers exploded in a
brilliant orange flame that sent its turret flying high into the air,
trailing exploding ammunition.

Then Sergei heard it, the familiar thunder of Soviet high velocity cannons. Several T-48's had broken cover from a clump of Forrest to the north and were now firing well
aimed shots into the exposed side armor of the Panzers. More of the
German armor exploded or began spewing smoke and the rest beat a hasty
withdrawal. German artillery began crashing up and down the Soviet lines, and Sergei
huddled back down at the bottom of the trench. He allowed himself to
smile as he lit up a new cigarette. You took what small breaks you
could, and tried not to think about the next clash. The war came and
went, and men had no choice but to float in the tide. Snow began to
fall again, and Sergei stared up into the lazily falling snow flakes as
they fell in their countless millions against a gray and dreary sky.
The spectacular sunrise was long forgotten but the bitterly cold mid October was not.

TO BE CONTINUED in Segment 55.2...

Shattered World - Segment 54.4

September 16th 1949 to October 5th 1949

September 16th 1949

The German position in the Atlantic continues to deteriorate as the USN and the Royal Navy conduct a campaign of aggressive joint submarine sweeps across the Atlantic shipping lanes. Now utilizing helicopters, first generation sonabouys, and the latest sonar and radar technologies, the Alliance ASW efforts have resulted in German submarine losses spiking to unsustainable levels. Not yet willing to concede the shipping lanes, the Germans continue to turn out their latest designs from yards in northern Germany at record pace. However, work on entirely newer models is so far relegated to a few half-completed prototypes.

In the cold waters of the far north, however, the situation remains more even. Over the past week, two huge Alliance convoys have been attacked and suffered severe losses in merchant shipping to German submarines and long range maritime aircraft operating in concert. Both convoys lose nearly a full quarter of the tonnage being shipped to the Soviets, every ton lost a hard blow for the teetering Soviet Union.

September 20th 1949

In western and southern Spain, two more major Axis air fields are struck by atomic bombs in a massive operation that includes heavy conventional bombing of other Iberian airfields and ports, as well as the use of radiation-homing bombs to destroy several Axis radar sites. Axis air forces in Iberia have been so degraded in terms of command & control, personnel, aircraft, and airfields that their air defense and naval aviation sorties are down by 50% compared to early August. However, Axis AAA and SAM defenses remain strong and the U.S. continues to suffer heavy losses of B-31 bombers and fighters.

September 21st 1949

After a week of pitched gun battles between the CNP and the PPC on the street's of Chile's major cities, and a lack of decisive action from the paralyzed government in Santiago, the Chilean Army seizes control of the government. The military junta quickly crushes the street fighting, begins disarming and arresting the radical elements of the PPC, and orders an end to the general strike. Decrying what they call a "fascist coup", the PPC, labor organizations, and left leaning centrist elements call for a continuation of the general strike and restoration of civilian government.

September 23rd 1949

Following the ongoing nuclear strikes and massive conventional attacks across Iberia and western France, Hitler unleashes his promised retaliation with a massive new air offensive against Britain.

Operation Angel

Just before noon, roughly 800 German A-4f ballistic missiles launch from mobile launch vehicles and fixed facilities across northern France and the lowlands. Accurate to within half a kilometer at the short distance across the Channel, the missiles fall like the hammers of god at RAF airbases across the southern portion of Britain. With two ton warheads split between air burst, ground burst, and chemical dispersion, five major RAF airbases and two spoof bases operated by the RAF as decoy facilities suffer heavy damage. Each of the air fields is targeted with over a hundred ballistic missiles, and at each facility at least a dozen of the missiles score a successful hit. The pattern of damage at each base varies due to the random nature of the missile falls, but all experience some degree of damage to aircraft on the ground, hangars,fuel supplies, and other infrastructure in addition to heavy losses of personnel and confusion sown by the sudden introduction of deadly and persistent nerve gas.

Even before the missiles began impacting at the RAF airbases, 150 German jet fighters and 100 medium jet bombers begin taking to the skies. Pausing briefly to form up, the German aircraft soon surge out over the Channel in the direction of England. Clouds of chaff fill the skies and German jamming crackles across the air waves. Despite the strikes on the RAF airbases, and despite German ECM, some 200 British jet fighters rise to confront the Germans head on. With the short distances and near supersonic speeds involved, the action comes fast and furious. While German and British jets clash in a chaotic fur ball over the Channel and southeastern Britain, German medium jet bombers streak in at low altitude to launch conventional, chemical, and radiation-homing attacks on numerous British radar stations. At the same time, one group of German jets breaks out of the growing fur ball to make a dash for three separate British ARP aircraft. Cutting through waves of British fighters, several German jets manage to engage the radar aircraft with cannon and experimental guided air-to-air missiles. Two of the three precious British ARP aircraft on patrol are downed. On the ground, all along the southeastern coast of Britain, numerous British radar stations are destroyed, damaged, or otherwise suppressed.

An hour after the first ballistic missile launch, the primary phase of the German operation begins. As German jet fighters and medium bombers return from their missions over Britain, and others continue to engage British fighters over the Channel, the first of 350 German jet and propeller fighters, and 400 Ural and Ju-588 heavy bombers begin to take to the skies. It takes most of 30 minutes for the attack force to form up, and when it finally begins moving out over the channel clouds of British fighters, as many as 400 in all, sweep in to stop them. In some of the most confused, desperate, and wide ranging air combat of the war to date British fighters will down 60 German fighters and over 25 German heavy bombers over the next half hour, in exchange for more than 90 of their own lost. British AAA will account for another 40 German heavy bombers downed. In the largest German raid on Britain to date, the 350 or so bombers that reach the city drop nearly 2000 tons of incendiary and high explosive bombs on London. Much of the city's center is destroyed in a terrific fire storm, including most of the famous government buildings. Despite the tremendous scale of the raid, casualties are relatively low due to excellent British civil defense procedures and the fact that most of the city's population lives out in the suburbs or in underground shelters if they must live in the central districts. Still, some 20,000 British civilians die in the raid.

The German operation was not without cost. In all, the Germans lose 80 fighters of all types, 35 medium jet bombers, and a devastating 65 heavy bombers. The British lose over 115 fighters in the air and on the ground, in addition to the heavy damage at five airbases and the severe degradation of their radar defense network. In the evening Hitler gives a typical blustery speech on Radio Berlin, ominously warning the British that the "chemical weapons used to gas her airbases could just as easily be turned on her cities" . The only British response is an ineffective but symbolic salvo of 50 ballistic missiles aimed at the German city of Hamburg.

September 24th 1949

Germany unleashes day 2 of its air offensive against Britain. Again, hundreds of German A-4f ballistic missiles rain down to damage additional RAF airbases, followed up by escorted medium bomber strikes on British radar and AAA sites. This is followed up again by a surge of hundreds of fighters and hundreds of heavy bombers. The British meet them again, achieving .7 to 1 kill ratios with the German jets and downing a couple dozen German heavy bombers. This time the German heavy bombers target Manchester, 250 of them dropping nearly 1500 tons of ordinance on the city's manufacturing center. The factories suffer heavy damage, and the civilian toll climbs above the losses in London with some 35,000 killed in a nightmarish firestorm that engulfs whole residential districts. German losses are again heavy, losing another 65 fighters, 20 medium bombers, and 50 heavy bombers. The British lose another 95 fighters and their airbases and air defense systems suffer further degradation.

On the Eastern Front - German forces have achieved a general breakout north of the Ukraine, having taken Bryansk and surrounded Orel. At the point of great penetration, German armored spearheads are approaching Kursk from the north as the offensive swings southward. The orderly Soviet withdrawal from the Ukraine is degenerating into a disaster as the German breakout to the north and the tentative probes of minor Axis forces to the west, threaten the total annihilation of the Red Army in the Ukraine. A thin screen of grimly determined Red Army units are holding minor Axis forces at bay at Kiev and along the Dnieper River while the rest of the Red Army lumbers east. However, a critical lack of fuel and heavy Luftwaffe bombing has torn the soviet timetable to shreds. Desperate to save the retreating army in the Ukraine, Beria orders all available aircraft to this theater.

Meanwhile, to the south the Axis advance in the Caucasus continues to accelerate as it has now broken entirely into the flat plains. The Soviets are retreating in good order here, intending to re-occupy the extensive fortifications at the post-Eurasian War German-Soviet frontier.

September 25th 1949

The first U.S. fighter squadron operating out of Britain is declared fully operational and begins joining RAF elements in the ongoing desperate battle over Britain and the Channel Front. The 'Eagle' jet fighters, the world's best in terms of pure performance, are a rude surprise for German jet pilots used to having the edge over British jets. Still, the lack of experience among the American pilots means that the first appearance of the Eagle in combat results in a 1 to 1 kill ratio with German jets. U.S. air power is on the rise in Britain, as additional air bases are being constructed and numerous U.S. bomber and fighter squadrons will be going operational across the British Isles over the coming months as the 8th Air force ramps up its capabilities. In addition, the SBC is working on two major airbases on Britain that will support B-31's and B-34's.

To the south, U.S. forces have now been massing on Madeiras and the Canary Islands for roughly four months. The islands are virtually overflowing with U.S. soldiers, weapons, and war material. B-31 and B-34 bombers operating from airbases on the islands are now routinely hammering targets in Iberia and western France, often with long range fighters also operating out of the islands along with massive carrier air power. The U.S. buildup is obvious to all, and it is equally obvious that the islands are being turned into a spring board. The question that is giving Axis intelligence fits is : will the Americans use the spring board to jump into Iberia or North Africa?

In China, the nationalists clearly have the upper hand in the fierce civil war raging there. Nationalist forces have finally crushed communist resistance in Beijing itself and the communist Chinese forces are being pushed steadily east and north towards the coast and the border with Soviet-occupied Manchuria. Behind nationalist lines, a virulent communist guerrilla movement has taken root across northern and eastern China as the Chinese communist regime methodically transitions itself into a guerrilla fighting force.

September 26th 1949

German forces capture Kursk as the rupture in the Soviet front continues to widen. With Bryansk, Orel, and Kursk in hand the Germans begin an operational pause, resting their forces after their stunning advance southeast from Smolensk. In the skies, Red Air force planes thrown hastily into the air over the front fall by the dozens and then the hundreds to German fighters and radar-guided mobile anti-aircraft systems.

In Japan - the U.S. drops a 42 kiloton atomic bomb on the already battered city of Fukuoka , killing 50,000 and destroying much of the city. Elsewhere, all around Japan, massive conventional raids by B-31's and B-34's have been hammering Japanese cities, military installations, and transportation networks on a steady and sustained basis despite relatively high B-31 losses. In the inland seas and the coastal regions south and east of Japan, American air patrols, submarine sweeps, and mine delivery have begun to severely inhibit all Japanese maritime shipping and harvesting activities. Only the sheltered Sea of Japan remains relatively open to Japanese shipping, although U.S. airborne delivery of mines and long ranged maritime attack aircraft are beginning to take their toll here as well.

September 27th 1949

Using all of their armored forces from the eastern Ukraine, and much of their remaining fuel supplies, the Soviets launch a desperate armored counter-punch, aiming northeast towards Kursk in an effort to buy time for the bulk of the 500,000 Red Army soldiers in the Ukraine to escape to the east. Outnumbered and outclassed, and with the Luftwaffe still maintaining near total air superiority in the region, 400 Soviet tanks move stoically across the open plains 75 kilometers southwest of Kursk. Moving to meet them are some 600 elite panzers with the most experienced crews in the world. Overhead, Luftwaffe ground attack aircraft of every variety swarm in their dozens while German jets drive off desperate hordes of inferior Soviet aircraft.

In Chile, the general strike devolves into massive, violent, street riots after the military junta attempts to arrest strike leaders and break up strike gatherings. In Santiago, communists and hard socialists are openly calling for revolution.

September 29th 1949

On the unseasonably cold plains southwest of Kursk, two German panzer divisions destroy the entire armored strength of the Soviet Union's Ukrainian Front in an intense 10 hours of combat, destroying some 250 tanks and forcing the rest to flee in disorder. German tank busting aircraft will destroy many more before sunset arrives. To the south, hundreds of thousands of Russian troops are marching east, mostly by horse or by foot. Their march remains orderly, despite the rain of death falling from the dominant Luftwaffe above. Yet, hanging over them is a burning pall of doom.

October 1st 1949

The German air campaign against Britain has reached its end after one full week. Following the two consecutive massive raids that began the campaign, the Luftwaffe maintained the pressure with daily operations focusing on hammering RAF and RN facilities as well as transportation infrastructure. Despite the loss or severe curtailing of much of its radar capability, British air defense command and control remains fairly effective. The damage to numerous RAF airbases has been a harder blow, with RAF sorties reduced by 40% by the end of the campaign. However, Luftwaffe losses have been painfully high, so much so that the operation is ended a full four days before the scheduled completion date. The operation has cost the Luftwaffe dearly, losing nearly 200 fighters, a hundred medium jet bombers, and more than 150 precious heavy bombers.

"The Blitz", as the British are calling it, has heavily damaged London and Manchester, rocked the RAF back on its heels, and gave the British an extremely hard pounding. Yet, the operation has been more a propaganda coup for the Germans than anything else. RAF losses, while equally painful, are mitigated by the ever increasing numbers of U.S. aircraft arriving on the British Isles.

Far to the east - despite heavy and bitterly cold rains, German panzers and mechanized infantry slog generally south from Kursk, fanning out and cutting through the withdrawing Red Army forces with ease.

From Sumy in the west to Belgorod in the east, German forces grind southwards. The only thing slowing them down is the worsening mud.

On Okinawa - the U.S. now largely controls the central and southern portions of the island, although significant pockets of Japanese resistance remain dug into the extensive underground tunnels and fortifications. In the past two weeks, two more atomic bombs have been used in a tactical role; one too reduce a particularly nasty pocket of resistance in Chinen and the other to blast a hole in a Japanese line of defense at Aha in the north of the island. U.S. losses have been staggering, with some 15,000 dead and many more wounded. Japanese losses are even higher, and include a large percentage of the civilian population.

October 2nd 1949

In Chile, the military junta begins rounding up communist and socialist activists and declares the PPC illegal. When police and military forces arrive to close down PPC headquarters in Santiago and other cities, the PPC resists. The resulting battles result in numerous deaths on both sides. Later in the day, socialist and moderate leftist parties side with the PPC, declaring in a joint statement that the junta government is illegitimate and calling for ODAS intervention to "restore democracy and sanity in Chile". The CNP and other nationalist and right-leaning parties

react swiftly, calling the left traitors and enemies of Chile. The smell of violence is in the air.

Finnish nationalist rebels launch an uprising they have been quietly planning for years. Simultaneous coordinated revolts erupt in Helsinki and other larger cities, supported by German naval bombardments, air strikes, and special forces. Soviet forces in Finland have been stripped to the bone to put more men in the defensive belts around Leningrad and despite the small size of the underground nationalist Finnish forces, they succeed in capturing parts of Helsinki and other cities by the end of the day. For the first time in years, the Finnish flag flies proudly in open defiance of Soviet rule.

October 3rd 1949

Alliance retaliation for The Blitz, so far limited to symbolic ballistic missile attacks, finally grows teeth as the RAF stages a 400 bomber raid on the German city of Hamburg, dropping 1800 tons of explosives on the already hard hit German port city. Civilian losses run to 30,000 dead and the city's naval construction yards suffer a tremendous blow. The British lose 50 B-31 bombers and 40 escort fighters in the raid while the Germans lose only 15 of their own fighters.

Heavy fighting erupts in Santiago and other cities around Chile as some elements of the police and military defect to the leftist/populist cause. In Santiago - armored forces equipped with Sherman tanks, and loyal to the military junta, move against leftist forces, adding their firepower to a pitched battle that levels part of the city. The night ends with the Chilean parliament building in flames after being shelled by a leftist artillery unit.

October 4th 1949

The fighting sputters and dies in Santiago after routed leftist elements flee the capitol, seeking to join other leftist forces around the country to form an emergency government. With the fires still being put out in Santiago, and fighting continuing in other cities, SAFB and Axis radio from Buenos Aires to Berlin hail the military junta for "moving to restore order and crush communist elements" in "defiance of the imperialist Anglo empires and treacherous international communism". At the same time, the ODAS and its allies in the Alliance declare sanctions and an embargo against Chile "until such time that civilian rule is returned and elections scheduled in accordance with democratic principles". The staff officers in the junta are decidedly not fascists, but they are Chilean nationalists and have no love of communism. When they begin receiving invitations for "consultations" with SAFB diplomats and other more covert contacts, they do not reject them out of hand but instead begin to carefully consider their options.

October 5th 1949

Exhausted German forces, becoming increasingly bogged down by the muddy terrain, none-the-less capture the critical transportation hub of Kharkov. To the southwest, the German offensive runs out of steam after desperate Soviet forces, with the aid of mother nature clearing the skies of aircraft, make stands at Pryluky and Poltava. Despite the halt of the German advance, the Soviet position remains dire. 150,000 Soviet troops remain west of the German south-pointing salient, and the Germans are only 75 kilometers east of the river Dnieper at points. Another 250,000 withdrawing troops have been forced by the fall of Kharkov to fan out across the southern Ukraine as little more than a surging mob; all abandoning heavy equipment and striving desperately to escape to the east. Only 100,000 Red Army soldiers have so far escaped east into Soviet territory.

Meanwhile, minor Axis forces are finally ready to move. Italian, Hungarian, and Romanian armored forces, bolstered by a couple German panzergrenadier divisions, launch a sharp attack, moving from positions east of the Dnieper River in the southern Ukraine and intending to plunge directly east towards Rostov. Following rolling artillery barrages that pin down the thin screen of Soviet defenders, the minor Axis forces surge ahead and simply overwhelm the Soviet rear guards by sheer numbers and greater mobility. By the end of the day, minor Axis armored forces have plunged 20 kilometers across the frontier and there are only hastily withdrawing columns of Soviet infantry ahead of them as snow begins to drape the soggy landscape.

To Be Continued in Part 55...

Shattered World - Segment 54.3

September 8th 1949 to September 15th 1949

The airstrip on southeastern Kyushu hummed with activity, the heavy continuous drone of numerous massive propeller engines combining into a single terrific roar. Flight crews scurried about the air strip, or crawled lovingly over great lumbering bombers. These aircraft were the pride of the Japanese Air forces, and represented one the few remaining strategic offensive assets that the Japanese Empire possessed. Committing the majority of the precious heavy bombers in such a large operation was a huge gamble. Yet, Japan had to show the world that it remained in the Global War. To that end, in service of Japanese honor, the last fully operational squadron of Fukoku heavy bombers had been tasked with destroying a large new airfield on Okinawa, an airfield that Japanese intelligence believes the Americans are close to completing.
With jet fighters swarming overhead, the heavy bombers climbed into the air one by one, formed up, and headed out over the Pacific towards the flaming hell that Okinawa had become.
In the east, the rising sun dominated a clear blue sky.



September 8th 1949

Moscow, gradually being reduced to rubble, suffers yet more as the German strategic bombing campaign against the Soviet Union continues. Some 400 heavy bombers launch a mixed conventional and nerve gas raid on Moscow that kills tens of thousands and heavily damages an important factory district.
Immediately after the raid, Beria broadcasts a fiery and defiant message from his command bunker deep beneath the Kremlin, vowing to "fight from the hills and the plains of mother Russia, to fight from the sewers and the rubble, until the last Russian man kills the last fascist invader".

At Okinawa - Japanese heavy bombers escorted by long range propeller fighters strike a large U.S. SBC airbase that had been nearing completion on the island. Another distracting raid targets U.S. naval forces in the area, drawing away much of the U.S. carrier air cover while being torn to shreds before it ever reaches the U.S. fleet.
Of the 50 or so Japanese heavy bombers involved in the raid, only 25 reach Okinowa to drop their mix of nerve gas and conventional explosives, causing heavy damage to the base and setting back the construction time by several weeks. Another 10 of the Japanese heavy bombers are downed on their way back to Japan. Japanese heavy bomber capability is now dead.
On the ground, U.S. forces continue to push slowly north and south into the areas of fanatically defended Japanese control.

September 10th 1949

The U.S. and Britain launch a massive conventional raid on the Portuguese capitol of Lisbon, with some 700 allied bombers attacking the city's central and port districts. The port is virtually destroyed and some 100,000 civilians are killed in a hellish firestorm. Alliance radio broadcasts blame the bombing on Lisbon's support of Germany and its membership in the Axis Powers.

As German land based fighters clash with U.S carrier fighters just off the coast of Portugal, Axis maritime strike aircraft sink one Essex class U.S. carrier with guided anti-ship rockets and moderately damage a second. Several escort ships are also damaged to varying degrees. Large numbers of German maritime aircraft are downed in this operation but Radio Berlin hails the operation as a "stunning blow" against the U.S. Navy. In secret, the German High Command warns Hitler that Axis maritime air power in western Europe is in danger of being destroyed given the ongoing pace of operations and rates of attrition.

September 13th 1949

U.S. launches massive atomic and conventional attacks on coastal Iberia. B-34's drop single 40 kiloton atomic bombs on the cities of Malaga and Huelva as well as two large Axis air fields in coastal southern Spain. In addition, large conventional raids hammer other coastal cities and military installations. Deaths from the atomic attacks on the two cities combined exceed 60,000 and Axis air power in the region suffers another terrific blow, with two large airfields destroyed along with dozens of aircraft on the ground. Axis resistance to the sweeping raids is fierce, with over 80 U.S. B-31's downed along with dozens of carrier based fighters, but their own fighter losses are substantial as well.

September 14th 1949

On the Eastern front - German forces massing southeast of Smolensk open a fresh offensive, surging southeast towards Bryansk and Orel. Two veteran panzer divisions, probably the best two panzer divisions in the German army, lead the attack with the Luftwaffe swarming overhead temporarily controlling the skies and hitting everything that moves behind the Soviet lines.

To the south, the broad German offensive in the Caucasus is beginning to gather steam as the Soviets continue an orderly withdrawal, trading land for time. At the points of greatest penetration, Axis forces have reached Georgiyevsk and Kizlyar and are breaking into flatter country.

In the Eastern Ukraine the Red Army is moving into action. There is not quite a panic in the air, yet the need for a hasty evacuation is becoming more clear by the hour as reports come in of disastrous German penetrations to the north and slower but steady German advances to the south in the Caucasus. There seems to be little to stop the Germans from taking Bryansk and Orel, and little to hold them back after that. Around the Eastern Ukraine, Soviet special teams are swinging into action, carrying out carefully pre-planned total scorched earth operations even as what remains of the civilian population are being moved east by all available means.

In the north, the front from Leningrad to east of Smolensk has settled into an uneasy stalemate as Germany halts its efforts to envelop Leningrad in the face of mounting losses. Both sides are focused on the action in the south.

September 15th 1949

The Luftwaffe, under more and more pressure from the western allies in the air over Iberia and France and taking unsustainable losses, is none-the-less preparing for large air operations directed against Britain. Hitler has demanded a retaliatory response to allied nuclear attacks in Iberia. Heavy bomber squadrons are being transferred from the east where the strategic bombing campaign against the Soviet Union is to be temporarily halted, and fighters and medium bombers are being stripped from squadrons across every front.

With a general strike continuing in Chile, and daily street clashes and riots rocking Santiago and several other major cities, an accusation surfaces that the right-wing Chilean National Party(CNP) has been penetrated by, and received funding from, SAFB agents. Communists, prodded by armed radical elements of the People's Party of Chile(PPC), go on a rampage. CNP headquarters is ransacked and conservative political gatherings are assaulted and broken up. Dozens are killed and hundreds injured.
The following day, the PPC demands that the CNP be banned, branding them as "fascist stooges". More street violence breaks out, escalating to isolated gun fights between armed CNP and PPC elements. Across Chile there is a growing sense of anarchy.

TO BE CONTINUED in Segment 54.4...

Shattered World - Segment 54.2

September 2nd 1949 to September 7th 1949

September 2nd 1949

Germany scales up mass production of its latest road and rail mobile ballistic missile system, the A-4f. This weapon is accurate to within half a kilometer out to 500 kilometers and to within a kilometer at 1200 kilometer range. This model is to replace earlier iterations of the A-4 as it is cheaper to build and easier to operate. It may be configured with a conventional 2000 pound warhead or a chemical/biological warhead. Another project, labelled as the A-6 , is a specialized variant of the multi-staged A-5(itself still in development) intended to place a small satellite into orbit. This missile is to be tested sometime in 1950.
By comparison, the best British and American ballistic missiles have ranges out to 800 kilometers and accuracies to within 2 or 3 kilometers at that range. These allied ballistic missiles require specialized launch stands and thus lack the mobility of the latest German systems. The U.S. does have a ballistic missile in development that will rival the German A-4 series but it is not scheduled for production until mid or late 1950. However, the Alliance is aware of this missile gap and the U.S. is applying its industrial and technological might to begin closing the gap.

September 3rd 1949

After several more British attempts to advance into Axis lines in Libya are repulsed, both sides once again settle down into a stubborn stalemate. Yet, to the east an ominous pall of hatred and anger lies over the land of Nile. Strikes, protests, and riots continue to sputter and flame across Egypt, increasingly drawing British and Imperial troops into constabulary work and garrison duty. Egypt, once a clear British ally, is coming more and more to look like a nation under occupation. The effect on the British front lines is clear, as infantry are transferred east and supply delivery becomes a bit less reliable, worsening week by week.
In Chile, growing tensions between communists and conservative elements boil over into small scale street fighting in the streets of Santiago, the nation's capitol. Police are forced to disperse the angry crowds, resulting in dozens of injuries and hundreds of arrests. A general strike called by socialists and communists has led to increasing political tensions in Chile after political gridlock and the fall of the moderate centrist-conservative coalition government. Political turmoil has been mounting in Chile since the dominant Radical Party, becoming increasingly influenced by communists, dissolved into three bitterly competing leftist, centrist, and right wing parties in the period between 1945 and 1947. Increasingly, the communist People's Party of Chile and the reactionary, quasi-fascist, Chilean National Party have become militant, with both secretly forming an armed cadre and engaging in more and more street protests and political violence.

September 4th 1949

On Okinawa, U.S. forces continue to pound ahead in the north and south of the island - using armor, napalm, flame throwers, massive off-shore bombardments, and the blood of infantrymen to wrest control of each square foot from the insanely determined Japanese defenders. Even Japanese civilians have become a part of the fighting there, conducting suicide bomb attacks behind the lines, on advancing armor, and resisting in every way possible up to an including sneaking up on sleeping U.S. marines with knives and bamboo spears. As a result, unofficial U.S. policy has become "shoot anything that moves".
All around the Japanese Home Islands, massive conventional B-31 raids continue on major cities, military bases, and strategic facilities. Yet, Japanese air defenses have been strengthened with more powerful and accurate AAA, improved radar systems, and more efficient command & control of air defenses in addition to increasing numbers of purpose-built interceptors capable of attacking the U.S. heavy bombers. U.S. B-31 losses have increased steadily but remain within acceptable margins. At the same time, the U.S. has stepped up efforts to mine and raid amongst Japanese coastal waters and inland seas, resulting in a sharp decline in Japanese fishing productivity and coastal shipping. Only the yellow sea and the waters north of Japan remain relatively safe although even these waters are beginning to receive more and more unwanted visitations from U.S. submarines and aircraft.
In Minsk, the last significant pocket of Soviet defenders surrenders to German forces although sporadic sniping and unconventional resistance will continue for another week.

September 5th 1949

400 British heavy bombers out of the British Isles and 200 U.S. heavy bombers out of the Canaries launch a massive coordinated raid on the Spanish port city of Vigo on the Bay of Biscay. Escorted by U.S. carrier fighters which struggle against the superior German land-based fighters, the bombers suffer heavy losses to Axis AAA and fighters yet drop roughly 2000 tons of high explosives, destroying the city's port and industrial district while igniting a firestorm and killing an estimated 50,000 people.

September 7th 1949

In the Caucasus, Axis forces launch a general offensive. The Soviet divisions here, dug into static defensive lines, are largely reserve units lacking mobility, and are relatively poorly equipped compared to the Red Army forces further to the north. The Soviets have stripped units here to the bone, gambling that the Axis lack the offensive strength in the theatre to launch a large offensive. The Axis, for their part, are lacking in armor but have several divisions of German, Italian, and minor Axis mechanized infantry. These divisions plunge ahead into the Soviet lines and begin pushing forward with the aid of Luftwaffe air support. In the skies, the Luftwaffe enjoys almost total air superiority and the German commanders are using this advantage to maximum effect. By the end of the first 12 hours of the offensive, Axis forces have penetrated as much as ten kilometers at some points.
Meanwhile, to the north the Germans have not been sitting idle during their week long operational pause. Indeed, two German panzer divisions have been resting, receiving reinforcements, and massing southeast of Smolensk. To the increasingly worried Soviet high command, the German intentions are obvious. Axis forces are attacking northwards in the Caucasus. Far to the north, Smolensk has fallen months before the Red Army was counting on, and German panzer divisions now sit east of the Beria line, casting their gaze towards Bryansk and Orel. The implication is clear; Two great pincer movements are in the works, and the Soviet army in the eastern Ukraine with its 500,000 men lies in great danger of outright envelopment. Reluctantly, Beria has already signed orders calling for a complete withdrawal from the Ukraine and the execution of pre-laid plans for a scorched earth campaign approaching the destructive levels of the one inflicted on the western half of that terribly suffering region.


TO BE CONTINUED in Segment 54.3....

Quick update...

I've added segments 53.3 and 54.1 to the 'Second World War' time line page.

Also, regarding Segment 54.2, my goal is to have it ready before the end of April.

Shattered World - Segment 54.1

August 16th 1949 to September 30th 1949

The massive bunker complex in the mountains west of Kofu, Japan, was a marvel of human engineering. Built underneath a mountain and sitting on giant shock absorbers, the facility was designed to withstand a direct atomic strike. Impressive as it was, the grandiosity of the buried Japanese High Command Headquarters was a sign of desperation rather than one of strength. The Japanese Empire was on its last legs, no one in the ornate conference room at the facility's heart could deny that. The mood in the room was as sombre as it had been since the facility became operational two months before.
The leaders of the Japanese Military elite sat arrayed around a large map table in the middle of of the room, many glared at each other, blaming one another for the disastrous series of misfortunes that Japan even now continued to suffer. These men were fanatical, cut from stone. They had defied the God-Emperor himself out of a desperate need to preserve Japanese honor. The very future of the Japanese people was now at stake. The story displayed on the strategic maps before them was grim.
Okinawa split in two, the northern and southern halves being steadily devoured by the relentless American war machine as atom bombs rained from the sky. China lost, aside from a few key port cities and strategic islands off the coast. Singapore entirely isolated and out of communications aside from radio contact and the occasional lucky plane or submarine that slipped through the Allied gauntlet. Japanese-held islands in the central Pacific entirely cut off and withering on the vine. And worst of all, Japan herself ragged with more and more cities turned into rubble, burned out cinders of their former selves; Her defenses unable to stop the fall of atomic destruction whenever the Americans chose to bring it forth between massive conventional attacks that came night after night.
Yet, Japan fought on. She was battered, exhausted, and growing more hungry by the week, but she fought on. More and more underground factories were coming online, and from those spewed the manned anti-aircraft missiles and anti-shipping rockets, the anti-tank rockets for the infantry, the jet fighters, the nerve gas, and all the other necessary weapons and tools of war. Farmers worked the fields, growing the rice that fed the people. Fishermen plied their trade when and where they could, though the risk they took increased by the day and the amount of food gathered from the sea was beginning to dwindle.
And there was Korea, heavily fortified and churning out resources and some manufactured goods, still relatively safe thanks to the exhaustion of Soviet forces in the east. And one project there in particular continued to move ahead, if slowly and not without numerous setbacks. A project that drank in well over over half of the electricity on the Korean peninsula, and that remained for the moment shrouded in the utmost secrecy, a project that carried the hopes of the defiant men assembled beneath a mountain.
Japanese war aims, once with ambition to conquer all of eastern and southeastern Asia in addition to much of the Pacific, were now focused to a single point - national survival. Hope remained to the west, where the European Axis Powers might yet conquer Russia, smash the British, and convince the Americans to accept an armistice that included an independent Japan. This was an outcome that would preserve Japan's honor and allow some hope and aspirations for the future. It was that or national oblivion. These men saw nothing in between.



August 16th 1949

In North Africa, Egyptian nationalists and Islamists launch a general strike, threatening to cripple the transportation sector and economic activity there in general. The strike's leadership, dominated by the Nationalist Islamic Movement, threatens to continue the strike until Egypt declares neutrality and British forces agree to leave the country. British and Egyptian authorities respond quickly and without hesitation, issuing a 24-hour ultimatum for the strike to be called off.
To the west, the front in Libya remains bogged down as both sides strengthen defensive lines and bring in supplies and reinforcements. The British have a substantial advantage in overall manpower, by as much as 2 to 1. However, the two sides remain at relative parity in terms of armored strength and mobility. The British have not received substantial armored reinforcements in some time whereas the Germans have transferred several panzergrenadier divisions from France over the past few months and replaced some of the losses within existing armored units. The contest in the air remains fairly stalemated as well, with larger numbers of older British aircraft countering the smaller number of superior German planes. The favored tactic of both sides here is to slip in streams of medium jet bombers flying low and fast from out of the deep southern desert; however improving radar-guided AAA systems and increasingly experienced anti-aircraft crews are making this tactic more costly by the month.

August 18th 1949

British and Egyptian police and military forces break up the general strike in Egypt, arresting many nationalist and Islamist leaders and forcibly dispersing crowds of protesters. Riots break out in Cairo and other large cities but are quickly crushed with dozens killed and wounded. Some transportation hubs west of Alexandria remain hindered by strikers and protesters, interfering to a moderate degree with British logistics into Libya. Rommel, sensing an opportunity, begins drawing up plans for an attack to be launched as quickly as possible, taking advantage of the disruptions in Egypt before the British have that situation there fully in hand.

August 19th 1949

U.S. carrier aircraft, in conjunction with heavy bombers out of the Azores and Britain, stage a massive raid on the western French port of Bordeaux. German submarine facilities, both the hardened docks themselves and surrounding infrastructure, suffer heavy damage as do French-Fascist Aquitaine military and political targets. Civilian loss of life is heavy, leading to official protests from Free France and growing anti-Anglo sentiment in the French fascist puppet states and occupied northern France.
On Okinawa, SBC bombers explode 40 kiloton atomic bombs over the city of Nama and a major nearby airfield. Japanese air power on Okinawa, what little remains of it, suffers a crippling blow. In the city of Nama, many of the hardened underground bunkers survive the atomic blast relatively unscathed although the city itself and less hardened facilities are destroyed. U.S. forces, having secured the center of the island, have been plodding south and north against fanatical Japanese resistance. In the south U.S. forces have surrounded Machinato and are approaching Shuri. In the north U.S. forces, aided several days before by a tactical atomic strike north of Kin, are driving hard towards Chuda. Casualties on both sides are horrendous and even Japanese civilians have been fighting to the death, up to and including women and children being used as 'human shields' by the Japanese defenders; forcing American soldiers to abandon all rules of engagement in favor of war to the knife.

August 20th 1949

German troops enter and capture Smolensk. Soviet forces, having only narrowly avoided being pocketed and having been forced to abandon much of their heavy equipment, continue to withdraw east with German mechanized forces harassing their rear flanks. To the west, Minsk remains a major annoyance for the Germans, but the 120,000 starving Red Army soldiers there are approaching the ends of human endurance. To the north - the front southwest of Leningrad remains stagnant with German troops now within 15 kilometers of the city proper yet still facing that city's well defended inner fortifications and still unable to make progress in enveloping the city.

August 26th 1949

After a week of hasty preparations, Army Group Africa strikes northeast from out of positions around Ajdabiya with a sharp armored thrust. Rommel intends to cut across the Cyrenaica, bypassing Benghazi altogether and forcing the British to fall back upon Tobruk while they get their lines of supply back into shape following the general strike and widespread civil violence in Egypt. In an effort to maintain secrecy, the attack is not preceded by a sustained artillery barrage or a surge of aircraft. British resistance at the point of attack is fierce, with well entrenched infantry equipped with anti-tank weaponry taking a heavy early toll on the advancing panzers. However, by the time dusk has fallen one column of panzers is streaming northeast with British forces desperately attempting to shift in order to block the thrust and threaten Rommel's flank.

August 27th 1949

The Japanese launch a major attack against the U.S. fleet off the coast of Okinawa. In the mid-morning hours, some 300 conventional Japanese aircraft from out of Kyushu conduct an attack in coordination with nearly 80 carefully hoarded kamikaze rocket bombs launched from caves and hidden bunkers around northern Okinawa. U.S. carrier aircraft savage the conventional Japanese attack, downing nearly 200 of the attackers in exchange for only 60 of their own downed. The few Japanese conventional aircraft that do manage to reach the fleet inflict only light losses, lightly damaging two carriers and crippling a destroyer and a cruiser. The massed kamikaze rocket attack is somewhat more successful, sinking three destroyers and a supply ship, crippling two destroyers, and moderately damaging half a dozen more vessels ranging from a carrier down to several cruisers and destroyers.

August 28th 1949

With Army Group Africa threatening to break out into the Cyrenaica, the British launch a massive air operation over the intense battlefield. Surging as many fighters as they can get into the air, the British launch a massive fighter sweep that over the course of the morning evolves into a dogfight of epic proportions, with hundreds of fighters from both sides locked in a struggle to the death. Just before noon the British surge bombers into the air as well, sending huge formations of heavy bombers towards the battlefield to carpet bomb while long streams of medium jet bombers penetrate behind Axis lines hammering supply depots, supply columns, and transportation hubs.
With German fighters and AAA defenses fiercely reacting to the massive British surge, one tiny formation of RAF B-31's flying particularly high is missed amongst all the chaos. It is one of these B-31's which drops a 30 kiloton atomic bomb on a particular portion of the main advancing German armored column. In an intelligence coup which will remain a closely guarded secret for decades to come, a British intelligence source has pin-pointed the precise location of Rommel's command car and relayed this information via radio to the British command. By a fortunate coincidence, the RAF had already been preparing to launch an atomic attack against the advancing German armored column and was intent on avoiding the sort of catastrophe that had happened the last time they tried to use an atomic bomb in a tactical role.
The atomic bomb detonates several hundred feet in the air, and close enough to Rommel's command car to smash it like a tin can while pulping the bodies of those inside to mush. Erwin Rommel, the Desert Viper, is dead and a good portion of his main armored thrust now lies smashed or burning, strewn across the blasted and desolate landscape.

August 29th 1949

What had been a promising Axis advance into the Cyrenaica has turned into a disastrous route. British armored forces, already shifting into position to launch a counter-attack before the atomic attack, are able to cut off and surround surviving forward elements of the German thrust with Axis forces in chaos and confusion. Axis units west of the atomic attack are in headlong retreat, returning to defensive lines along the starting point of the attack.
In Berlin, the mood is grim despite recent success at Smolensk. What had looked like the beginning of an offensive that might turn the tide in Libya has turned into an outright disaster for the Axis position in North Africa. With Germany's best armored division in North Africa now destroyed or pocketed, with the Desert Viper killed, and with the U.S. continuing to mass on the Canary Islands and Madeiras, the Axis outlook in North Africa seems bleak. After many hours of debate the search for a replacement for Rommel settles on Heinz Gustov, a young Panzer General who had made quite a name for himself over the past year. Field Marshall Gustov would have the unenviable task of commanding a battered and beleaguered Army Group Africa.

August 30th 1949

Civilian Climatologists and Meteorologists from across the Alliance have issued a special report detailing an alarming rise in the amount of dust in the upper atmosphere, the phenomena believed responsible for the spectacular sunsets and sunrises being viewed world wide over the past months. The report speculates that smoke and dust thrown up by the growing number of atomic bombings and widespread burning of cities may be responsible and that the dust may obscure some sunlight and lead to an unusually cold and prolonged winter. The report is largely dismissed by the Alliance governments but the International Red Cross does take notice, and begins making preparations for what may be a harsh winter.
In Minsk, two of the three remaining Soviet pockets of resistance have collapsed with some 80,000 soldiers captured by the Germans. One last pocket, with some 35,000 men, fights on from the dense rubble in the city's center and a network sewer tunnels and bunkers.

August 31st 1949

With yet another atomic blast on Muslim lands, and the Egyptian strike and protests brutally crushed by British and Egyptian authorities - the mood across Egypt and the rest of the middle east is tense. Now driven largely underground, groups like the Nationalist Islamic Movement and The Army of Islam secretly plot a campaign to throw out the British and topple the Egyptian government. Across the wider region, from Casablanca to Baghdad, anti-British sentiment has never been higher. There are whispers across the Arab world, whispers of revolution and blood.
Meanwhile, in the Cyrenaica, the German armored forces cut off after the atomic attack are isolated, caught out in the open, out of fuel, and coming under withering air and artillery bombardment. Just before dusk, what remains of Rommel's best panzer division, some 80 panzers and thousands of supporting infantry, surrender to British forces. To the west, German and Italian anti-tank infantry repel several half-hearted British attempts to probe the Axis defensive lines south of Benghazi. The British have smashed the Axis attack but they still lack the strength to break the Axis defensive lines.

September 1st 1949

On the Eastern front, logistical concerns have forced the Germans to stop pursuing Soviet forces east of Smolensk and instead consolidate their hard-won gains there. The Soviets, with a bit of breathing space to work with now, are already settling into their next line of defense; the recently strengthened Mozhaysk Line stretching from Kalinin towards Volokolamsk and Kaluga. At Leningrad, the Germans have been forced to halt offensive operations, out of exhaustion and lack of supplies, with their leading elements within just 14 kilometers of the city. Far to the south, Soviet intelligence has noted with concern a significant and increasing buildup of Axis forces in the Caucasus. Turkish, Chechnyan, German, and Italian forces have grown in number and increased the tempo of raids and bombardment along the static front there in recent weeks.
Meanwhile; The Kreigsmarine has been forced to concentrate its submarine activity in the northern Atlantic and the far northern sea lanes as aggressive, and increasingly effective, Alliance anti-submarine warfare efforts take a heavy toll. With Germany now concentrating its efforts on the blockade of Britain and the northern Soviet ports, and with the Italian navy having pulled its submarines back into the Mediterranean, the Alliance buildup on the Canary Islands and Madeiras is now proceeding largely unmolested. To the east, Axis naval and air assets are massing across the western Mediterranean in anticipation of a coming U.S. effort to breach the straights of Gibraltar.



TO BE CONTINUED in Segment 54.2...

Discussion Board is back!

...and now with its own domain. There may still be a few bugs to shake out, but its pretty much ready.

http://www.shatteredboard.net/forum/

Shattered World to remain my hobby

I'm dropping the 'fundable' idea as clearly the idea was rejected. I'm just going to continue on with doing this as a hobby as previously. But the pace will probably remain pretty slow.

My other hobby...

Hi all,

First of all, the new board will be back up once my brother can get it running on the new hosted service. All of the discussions and whatnot are saved to backup so we're ok there. Until then we'll use the old board.

Now, about my other hobby. If anyone is into gaming or just interested in seeing me write in a drastically different setting, check out my new gaming/fiction blog, NOT IRL

Its short for "Not In Real Life", it'll be my thoughts about the future of gaming, virtual worlds, etc, as well as a place to host my bits of fiction set in gaming/virtual world environments

Temporary Discussion Board...

Hi all,

I've changed the discussion board link to point to the old discussion board at http://com5.runboard.com/bshatteredworld

This is just a temporary measure until my brother gets the real discussion board running on the host he purchased. My brother has all the database files for the board, he just needs to get it integrated and up and running on the host he purchase

Gone for a week...

Hi all,

I'll be gone for the next week on vacation. My brother is close to getting the board running again, this time on a hosted site so we avoid these down times in the future. I would expect the board to be back up by next weekend.

Bobby

Part 1 re-polished!

I've finally started a project I've been thinking about doing for years, which is to go back and clean up all the old parts.
If you re-read part 1 you should find that the formatting has been updated to match the formatting I've used for more recent parts. But more importantly the writing is generally better now IMHO. I'm just a better writer now than I was 10 years ago when I started this thing.
I've also tried to clarify points that may have been ambiguous previously. I'll be very interested to here people's thoughts.
(you may have to refresh the Eurasian War timeline page to see the new link for part 1, it is a google hosted document just like the most recent parts)

Lastly, I'll try to see if I can make some progress to getting the board back up.