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No, they couldn’t have.France had the technology. It had the industrial might. It had the largest army in Europe. It had more tanks than Germany and had the second-largest navy in Europe.Please know that the individual French soldier was no coward.Thousands fought bravely and lost their lives while the bureaucracy and disorganization left them without the means to succeed. While estimates vary, on average, during the very short German attack of just 46 days in May-June 1940, around 110,000 French soldiers died, and 180,000 wounded. This equates to something like almost NINE THOUSAND casualties per day.But still, France didn’t stand a chance against the Third Reich. Several reasons:1- France did not want war: France was among the countries that suffered the most from the First World War, just two decades before. France lost 1.7 million people; more than the sum of all the dead from the United Kingdom, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa, Belgium, and Greece. Worse yet, unlike most other countries, the bloodiest, scorched-earth battles of this war occurred in France. Horrible battles such as Somme, Verdun (at the time called “the meat grinder”):The offensives at Marnes, Arras was only slightly better. The greatest and bloodiest offensives. Towns and countryside looked like ruins set on a lunar landscape. Burnt dead trees looked like gnarly hands begging to a deaf god.Poison gas killed countless soldiers, civilians, and livestock. Germany, in contrast, lost the war, but with its social and industrial infrastructure intact. Practically no allied soldier ever set foot on German soil.The example that proves the point of France's unwillingness to enter this conflict is that, having declared war on Germany on September 1939, they never attacked them, despite the fact that Germany was distracted fighting Poland. France sat idle until they were attacked. One morning, in fact, French troops crossed the border, invaded some small German town, no shots were fired and promptly returned that same day behind their borders.2.- France was a Country Divided. Political differences had grown into an unbridgeable void. A large percent of the population, with communist inclinations, felt more kinship with the Soviet Union (then a Hitler ally) than with their own country. The fact that Hitler had made a non-aggression pact with Stalin made unity in France almost impossible.Pictured: Conflicting messages in French posters of the time:Anti-communist ones:[If the Soviets were to win the war!][Communism, Enemy of France ]And pro-Soviet (anti-American) ones:[American occupation means WAR. Free France from the Atlantic Pact! ][No! France will not be a colonized country! Americans in America! ]By the time Germany invaded the Soviet Union, the French Resistance did unite, as communist Russia and the West fought a common foe;but by then, France was divided, invaded and with a collaborationist government in Vichy.3.- France used a failed strategy: Because the Great War had been fought in trenches, and France had been on the winning side, this reaffirmed their commitment to trench warfare in the future. They created the mother of all trenches: The Maginot line, thousands of kilometers bordering the country from Switzerland to Belgium.This was a highly advanced bunker system with automatic feeding artillery, reinforced concrete, pillboxes for machine gun emplacements, with berths and galleys for thousands, underground rail transport, wired communications, etc.The Germans either went around, flew over the Maginot line, and most importantly, broke through it in a matter of hours, by crossing the Ardennes forest, thought to be impassable for any army, and hitting the line at its weakest and least manned point.In addition to that, France fell for the German trick of believing that the invasion would follow the same path than it had in WWI: Through Belgium in the northern border. Hitler did send significant armored divisions from Belgium, but the main body of the attack went through the Ardennes forest, up till then considered impassable by any significant force. It broke through the Maginot line around the town of Sedan, and in short time, cut the country in two.4- France Lacked Effective Commanders. Passive, careful and timid generals such as Maurice Gamelin, 67, or Maxime Weygand, 72; who lacked the spirit to drive a country to success.This attitude was also mirrored by France’s president, Edouard Daladier, who was almost dragged to comply to the defense of Poland by a humiliated Neville Chamberlain, British prime minister. The French failed to create a successful strategy and remained stuck to war tactics completely surpassed by the technology of the time. They also dismissed offhand the desperate requests of the pompous but undeniably brave Charles De Gaulle.As soon as they realized the campaign was not going their way, France’s leadership were just too quick to retreat, to negotiate, to capitulate, to flee with their possessions, and eventually, to infamously collaborate. Pictured below, Marshall Pétain, in his “amicable” surrender to Nazi Germany. He then became the leader of the German ally and leader of the Vichy Republic.And his successor, Pierre Laval, pictured below, who actively worked for the Germans, going above and beyond the wishes of his masters in Berlin, rounding up Jews for deportation to the Concentration Camps. He claimed he had acted in the best interests of the French people.After the war ended, both were found guilty of treason and condemned to death. In consideration of Pétain's age and honorable services during WW1, he was never executed. Laval wasn't as lucky. In a trial many have considered being biased and political, Pierre Laval faced a firing squad on a chilly Monday morning, October, 15th, 1945 at the Fresnes Prison yard. He was 62.Compare the French leadership actions with Stalin's attitude facing a similar situation just one year later. When the Huns were at the gates of Moscow, he stayed in the city and forced his cabinet to do so, under pain of death. Facing no other choice than defending the city to the last man, they, with the help of Father Winter, stopped the German juggernaut in its tracks.Thank you. Upvote it if you think it deserves it.

Final day of 2nd test of Border-Gavaskar Trophy, January 6, 2008, Sydney, Australia.India needed to survive two overs with 3 wickets in hand. Captain Kumble and Harbhajan were out there for more than 10 overs. It looked like a certain draw.Or did it?Ponting handed the ball to his part time spinner — Michael Clarke. Bhajji was surrounded by the entire troop under yellow light of fading sun.He nicked it. Harbhajan singh edged the first delivery of the over to the slip. Partnership had broken out. Aussies were jubilant.India were eight down. 11 deliveries were yet to go in the match with two wicktes remaining. On strike was RP Singh.Clarke delivered a good length one. It remained straight and hit the pads. Aussies appealed as loud as it can ever get.Umpire raised the finger. Clarke was on a Hat-trick now. Aussies were elated. They were one wicket away from the victory. Indian dressing room and fans watching here in India on TV underwent a huge amount of tension. Nobody could look away.Replay showed that it was barely clipping the bails. Devastated RP Singh didn't want to leave the ground.But he had to. He walked back with a ton of disappointment.10 deliveries were yet to arrive. In-came 20 year old, Ishant Sharma.Call it a moment of anxiety or nervousness on his first international tour, Ishant brought out two right-hand gloves.He asked them for a replacement. Aussies crowd booed the kid assuming that it was a time-wasting tactic.Carrying a huge task on his shoulder, Ishant tackled two deliveries without a harm.8 deliveries to go now.Every moment seemed like hours. Ishant needed to see off at least two more deliveries to get Kumble back on the strike for the last over.He couldn't. Damn! He tried, but the ball took a feather of an edge to end up in the hands of slip fielder.Aussies went berserk. They had won the test with minutes to spare. 9 minutes, to be precise.Look at Symonds. He was later chosen for the Man of the Match award for his innings of 162* and 61 and, on the last day, his bowling performance of 51–3.With this win, Ponting equaled his Godfather Steve Waugh's record of 16 consecutive test wins. Boy, how pumped he was!There was ecstasy on one side and agony on other. We, Indian fans, could do nothing but feel for the captain, Anil Kumble, who fought his heart out there for more than two hours to save the match. At the end, he (45* off 111) was left alone on the non-strike only to see his boat getting sunk at the dock. Yet he was busy consoling the broken young guy.Test was over. Every single Indian fan was infuriated as hell inside their heart. Not because of India’s loss but because of the fact that they felt being cheated and humiliated. There were dozen of Umpiring errors from Steve Bucknor and Mark Benson which went against India.On day one, Symonds was given not out by third umpire in a close stumping call when his foot was shown clearly off the ground in the replay. He had already survived earlier in the day when a clear caught behind was turned down by Bucknor. He went on to score 162*.Ponting was given not out against Ganguly when he edged it to the Wicket-keeper MSD.On day two, Wasim Jaffer was given out on a No ball. There were many more horrible decisions from both the umpires.Specially on the last day of test, when the host put a target of 333 against India, it was unlikely to get a result with only 72 overs left in the match. The ace commentator Tony Grieg believed that declaration was too late from Aussies captain. (After the match, during an interview, Ponting and Gilchrist openly mocked Tony Greig for his declaration remarks.)India's batters were looking well set for a draw before Dravid was given caught when ball didn't even touch his bat. Sourav Ganguly attacked back with 9 imperious boundaries and moved to 51 in just 56 balls. The real drama happened when he edged Brett Lee to the slip where Clarke took a not-so-clean catch.You won't even imagine what did Umpire do the next? He asked to Ricky Ponting about the catch. Ponting did this.Guess what? The moment Ponting signalled him, Umpire declared Ganguly out. Dada was stunned.Imagine the kind of reaction Dada would have given them if Greg Chappell hadn't changed his personality and he was still the captain of Team India. He simply walked out in a complete disbelief.Only one team was playing with the spirit of the game, that's all I can say," Kumble said it later.Test was done and dusted but talk of cheating wasn't over yet and there came The Controversy of the Decade — MonkeyGate.Harbhajan Singh, after the match, was charged with a serious crime of Racial abuse. He was banned for three matches after a few complains from Australia's players.It was utter humiliation. Integrity of Indian team was tore apart by Aussies media. It was an attack on a Country’s reputation. The entire Indian team regrouped and decided to suspend the tour. Two countries' relation were on the verge of scooping to an all time low. Emotional fans all around the corners were burning through an extreme anger.ICC had to mediate before situation got worse. They promised for a fair investigation. They appointed a commissioner to hear the appeal. On January 11, Sharad Pawar announced that tour wouldn't be cancelled.Hearing couldn't be organised before the third test. (It was done later after the series and racism charge on Harbhajn was found to be not proved because of lack of sufficient evidence.)A big relief came as Steve Buckner was sacked and replaced by NZ's Billy Bowden.Ponting's army was standing with one foot already in the history. They had equaled the world record of 16 tests win in a row. Last time it was achieved by Steve Waugh's legendary team of late 90s, and everyone knows that, how and in what amazing ways, their invincibility was stopped at Eden Garden, 2001.Talk about fate, it was Indians again standing in their way.3rd test, 16–19 January, PerthHurt and humiliated Indians held themselves together and marched to the battle ground of Perth, known for a fast and steaming surface, with an intent of showing the World what they were made of.Harbhajan didn't play. Irfan Pathan made a comeback, and boy how massive of a return it proved to be.At the packed WACA, Anil Kumble won the toss and opted to bat first.Rahul Dravid’s determined 93 and Sachin’s classy 71 put a beautiful piece of partnership.Look at the balance of the Master against one of the fastest ever to play the game, Brett lee.And if you want to know the meaning of perfection, check out the synchronisation of Dravid’s hands, head, eyes and footwork.A couple of handful contribution from Laxman(27), Sehwag(29) and Pathan(28) helped India to put 330 on the board.It still looked under par against Aussies' mighty batting line up.Tell you what! With four slips on, RP Singh, Ishant Sharma and Irfan Pathan ran their hearts out to give the World Champion side a run for their money. Australia found themselves faltering on 61–5.This was a side that felt targeted, victimised, and had a point to prove.That Ponting’s dismissal off Ishant. It was a million dollar sight.And, believe me, that was the best bowling of RP Singh I had ever seen.RP Singh grabbed 4 and Irfan, Ishant and Kumble took 2 each to bundle Australia on 212 in just 50 overs, that too because of the partnership of 102 between Symonds and Gilchrist .Symonds was again top scorer with 66. I didn’t like him at all, never understood his technique, but what an extraordinary performer he used to be.Seeking 17th test win on a trot, Aussies were left 118 runs behind in the match and day 2 wasn’t even completed yet.India lost Jaffer early in the second innings, but Sehwag (43) and the Night-watchman Irfan (46) put up an entertaining partnership causing a lot of worries in the Aussies Camp.Once Sehwag fell, collapse began. It was 160–6 and match was hanging evenly.Well, who better suited than VVS in such situations? MSD joined him. They both added critical 75 runs together to frustrate OZs to the core. Dhoni made 38. Laxman was as graceful as ever for his 79.The real fun was yet to arrive. Minutes later Kumble fell and then RP Singh arrived.His 30 runs wasn't simply a tailender's knock. It was rather a statement. The way he planted his front leg and whacked Symonds for a maximum over long on in the last over before tea, it spoke of the volume of Indians' intent.Aussies tried to claw their way back into the game until VVS and RP Singh finally put it out of their reach. Both added 51 runs more as India went on to manage 294 in 80 overs of an absolute classical piece of Test Cricket.413That was the number Aussies had to chase down to make a world record and the familiar opponent was on the driver seat with one inning remaining in the match.Indians smelt blood. They were pumped and ready to go for one final time. More than two days were left in the match, so time was never going to be a problem.The comeback boy, Irfan Pathan came out there with his all guns blazing and took down both the openers as score was 43–2 after 10 overs.There began a bit of resistance from Ponting(45) and Hussey (46). They both fought for more than two hours and added 74 together.And there arrived the moment which made Ishant Sharma an over-day sensation. On fourth day morning, 20 year old produced an extraordinary spell of 9 overs. He made one of the finest ever Ricky Ponting hop, skip and jump. Ricky Ponting persisted, persisted and persisted only to get conquered by a beauty at the end.He used every bit of his concentration to be on top of the line of the delivery but Ishant’s swing proved too much for him.Half an hour later, RP Singh got rid of Hussey. Clarke stood firm on one end, while Symonds was done by Kumble cheaply this time.177–5.Adam Gilchrist joined Clarke and they batted fearlessly during their 50 runs of partnership. They both were kind of players who could run away with the game from any kind of situation. At the moment they looked like a huge matter of concern. Anil Kumble thought of trying Sehwag.Well, quite of an inspiring bowling change it was!In his very first over of the match, Virender Sehwag went through the gate of Gilchrist.He went crazy and was mobbed by his teammates.In his next over, he took another one as Brett Lee was dismissed.The only recognisable batsman, Michael Clarke was moving flawlessly at the other end. He was taking most of the strike and scoring at his will. It was needed something special to get rid of him, and Indian Captain Anil Kumble produced one.MSD did the rest and Michael Clarke(81) perished.Australia was reeling on 253–8. The joy that Indians were showing on-field that time when they get wicket was priceless. Target was still light years away and on crease were Mitchell Johnson and Stuart Clark.Barring all the negatives about Aussies players, one aspect which made the entire world admire them was their Never-Giving-Up attitude. During a decade of their world domination, seldom they fell but whenever they did, they never went down without a fight.160 runs more was needed to win with only two wicketes in hand and their fight remained on course. The futility of the situation didn't deter Johnson and Stuart Clark. They batted valiantly and smacked Indian attack all around the park for more than an hour. They put on 73 at better than a run a ball and Indian attack looked like losing its shape.Target fell under two digits mark and there were whispers all around of both pulling off a miracle. There were signs of worries over Indian faces as thousands of Home crowd were cheering every single boundary.87 more was needed. Irfan Pathan returned with the new ball, delivered a ripper which kissed Clark’s bat and flew to safe hands of MSD.Pathan roared to the crowd, ‘Quiet Please’.(He was a class act, may be not as much by performances in his career but surely by the sheer talent he had.)India was one wicket away from a historical victory.Two overs later, RP Singh completed the formality by nailing a yorker to cannon into off stumps, and then the celebration began.It was a fantastic four days of Cricket, and without even a single Century or a Five-Fer, India halted the World Champion Australia's quest for a record 17th consecutive win yet again. Imagine what kind of a team performance they pulled off after a tough loss in Sydney!The entire country went emotional.There were hugs all around in Indian camps. Even Tendulkar looked quite animated during the celebration.A crowd of 17,500 were in attendance on the fourth and final day, eager for their team to create history by winning a 17th consecutive Test. That was not meant to be, and memorable cricket by an admired opponent was the reason.At the end, all they got to witness was a targeted and wounded Sardar, who didn’t get to play the match, running in towards his teammates, smiling and waving around a big Tricolour flag.After the drama, joy and frustration that occurred over four pulsating days of cricket, every single Indian fan watching their heroes celebrating the victory felt happy and proud.Australia realised they are not the only force to reckon with.Irfan Pathan was adjudged for the Man of the Match award for his 74 runs and 5 wickets.Today I see fans fighting over Virat or Rohit or Dhoni and abusing each others on social media, I remember those emotional and passionate days of cricket when mere seeing those warriors used to ignite my love for the country.It was such a wonderful time to be a teenager in India.Cheers!

Why stop with the Axis?In mid-1936, a Nazi SS anthropological expedition delves deep into the wilderness of Finnish Karelia led by Yrjö von Grönhagen to record pagan legends and chants in the hopes of furthering their pseudoscientific quest for information on a mythical Aryan dominion of the world. Their efforts are met with limited success until they are directed to the home of Miron-Aku, the home of a mysterious woman believed by locals to be a witch.When they arrive, instead of meeting an old woman, they find a gaunt, very tall man speaking with a softly sussurating accent amidst a hut filled with mysterious herbs and the skins and bones of animals. He claims to be a powerful seer and to have foreseen their arrival. Disappointment that Miron-Aku is not there is instantly tempered by the revelation that this man claims to know several ancient, ancestral pagan rituals for summoning ancestral spirits that can divine future events. The SS expedition quickly sets up their camera and tape recorder and records the seer’s summoning ceremony.In what appears to be a ritual trance, the seer takes a deep, rattling breath, and suddenly advances on Grönhagen to take his shoulders. Looking deep into his eyes, he intones a prophecy: trampled glory, shattered nations, mothers crying for sons, a proud people so downtrodden as to love their own slavery… and a lament for an ancient power, lost, that could be their salvation but for the skepticism of the degenerate, lost amid ancient stones and weathered rock.The seer slowly twiches and returns to lucidity, while the SS expedition, shocked at the starkness of the prophecy and the eerie resonance of their situation, asks the seer what it could mean. He shakes his head, feigning ignorance. The SS team takes photographs and sketches of the hut, and then returns to Germany to report their findings to Heinrich Himmler, head of the Ahnenerbe, his erstwhile quixotic archeology initiative.By chance, the Ahnenerbe presents the findings of the Grönhagen expedition just as the team led by Wolfram Sievers is preparing to leave for the Bohuslän petroglyph sites in Northwestern Sweden. The prophecy piques the interest of Himmler and his interest in the occult, but Sievers is intrigued by the similarity of a few symbols daubed on animal skins in the seer’s hut with the pictures of the petroglyphs that initiated interest in his Swedish expedition. The figure of a torso of two concentric circles crowned with horns on a pair of long legs in particular repeated itself throughout the hut, along with a set of concentric spiked wheels within a sunburst of eight barbed points.The motif of the man was evident throughout Bohuslän, but the sunburst and circle symbol only appeared once - at first. Through chance examination, Sievers came across it in an ancient stone, half-buried and obscured by foliage. He ordered its excavation, finding the stone densely covered with petroglyphs - undeniably writing. It is the find of a lifetime, and Sievers excitedly orders a full excavation.It is 1937, and Heinrich Himmler feels vindicated. Translation of the Bohuslän tablets has made a major breakthrough. Initially cryptic diagrams are successfully interpreted as maps of the parts of the Italian Alps, the French Pyrenees, and an ancient map of pagan Saxony denoting the location of the fabled Irmunsul, the pillar of ancient Germanic religion. Already seeking to depose Christianity from its cultural hegemony and excited at the prospect of recovering ancient religious rituals, Himmler orders his cronies in the Ahnenerbe to begin searching for the marked site in the black forest of Rhine-Westphalia. What they find is beyond their wildest dreams. Not only are there petroglyphs like at Bohuslän, but a wealth of runic inscriptions on cult practices and devotional sacrifices - runes that can be easily translated from the collective scholarship on Germanic sagas of old.Himmler quickly seizes upon the written rituals to further his transformation of the SS into a cultural force that can oppose Christianity. The first hints of neopagan cult practices are forwarded down the chain of the insular SS command, where weddings and award ceremonies are the first to feature recovered rituals to grant blessings of foresight, health and memory. Soon after, translation of the petroglyphs undergoes a major breakthrough, and academics under Himmler compile a book of cult practices and allegedly Germanic rituals.While Hitler allows Himmler what he believes to be his “nonsense” fantasies, so long as the latter displays unquestioning obedience and participates in his schemes, the Führer feels he can safely ignore the increasingly bizarre antics of the SS’s inner circle. Himmler slowly schemes to insert the SS into every aspect of daily life, even while carrying out Hitler’s orders on preparing for the final solution.Himmler’s passion for the occult and his belief in the power of the ancient Germanic religious texts his pet archeologists are rapidly translating is leading him to begin to integrate them into his daily life. In 1938, on one of his infrequent visits home to visit his wife and livestock farm in Bavaria, he stages a small ritual sacrifice of a black stork and a newborn calf. Thereafter, despite his absences, his wife’s previously failing attempts to profitably manage their farm begin to reverse as her competence rapidly, but otherwise inexplicably, increases.Elated by this success, Himmler promulgates orders that cult ceremonies begin in the Wewelsburg castle near Paderborn, where artifacts from the Irmunsul excavation have already been transported. Himmler’s inner circle reluctantly carry out the rituals, which involve animal sacrifice and invocation of ancient deities in Old Istvaeonic. He is less than successful at inspiring true devotion. Whatever the zeal of the SS’s youthful followers and the ease with which the older members of the SS’s inner circle accepted the sexual liberty and other convenient aspects of Himmler’s increasingly mystic pagan views, the grip of Christian tradition on them is strong.It is early 1942. The war has slowed the promulgation of the SS’s new neopagan religion, but it is beginning to perhaps make itself more deeply felt.In Germany, the increasing volume of pagan rituals and other finds from the Irmunsul excavation, as well as seemingly corroboratory finds from as far away as Tibet causes Himmler to order a review of the cultural practices of the SS and to purge elements that no longer have direct archaeological support. At this point, with the SS greatly expanded over the course of the war, the fervent core of believers has been diluted to 20 percent. Himmler is disappointed, but continues recruitment into his paramilitary corps; meanwhile, he is also distracted by a new project.The Führer has ordered the beginning of the final solution. Himmler’s underlings begin to carry out extermination of the population of concentration camps. Coincidentally, some of the latest rituals to come out of the Irmunsul excavation hint at greater rewards of knowledge and foresight from commensurately greater sacrifices. Himmler resolves to begin putting the degenerates in his camps to good use.The first pagan rituals take place in Buchenwald, lobotomizing terrified homosexuals and Jews to the sound of Istvaeonic chants. Most die silently. Some, however, do not. Instead, a strange energy seizes them and animates them before they die. They cry. They laugh. They snarl. They babble. And rather than the incoherent sounds of aphasia, their spittle-flecked rants have the ring of truth. Initially the jaded “scientists” of the SS dutifully record their experiments as requested from on high, convinced that these are flukes. Then one of the dying prisoners bears his teeth in a rictus of joy at a researcher hidden behind one-way glass, calls him by name, and tells him that to seek knowledge is not a sin, when it might have saved his son. Three days later he receives a telegram.Thereafter, the SS pays renewed attention to the often barely voices from their dying victims. They find, just barely, coherence within the madness. Whispers of the power to save. To heal. To prolong life. To bring prosperity. To warn. To plot. To see. And throughout the rants, always spoken of in a mixture of fear and awe, a name. Tzeentch.In early 1944, a prophecy from the Buchenwald experiments is quickly forwarded up the chain of command until it catches the attention of Himmler. It speaks of a plot to shatter the dreams of a head crowned, and of a wounded lion whose pride drives him to vengeance. Still doubtful of his prophecy factory’s capacity to produce anything beyond short-term predictions, Himmler’s doubts are removed after an investigation of the activities of senior staff officers wounded earlier in the war. Uncovering a conspiracy to assassinate Hitler, he preemptively strikes in early March, decapitating the plot as he further purges the ranks of the military’s top echelons. He allows the Führer to believe that it was his vigilance, not his experiments, that gave him the edge.Now fully aware of the power at his hands, Himmler meets with the head of his Buchenwald project, a large, wheelchair-bound, bookish and unprepossessing man who keeps his hands gloved and his lap covered with a blanket. Though disabled from a spinal wound in the last war, the man is brilliant, and Himmler is delivered a summary of the team’s efforts at reconstructing the fragmented arcana babbled forth from the sterile torture chambers in Thuringia. Though the researcher dismisses the fragments as useless, Himmler, beginning to believe that there was more power than could be had from Jews and gypsies, eagerly keeps the report.Two months later, responding to the orders of the Führer himself, Himmler forms the Oberkommando Oberrhein to deal with the Western Allies’ invasion of Normandy. Though an inexperienced military commander placed in command more for reasons of morale than actual talent, his subcommanders are surprised to find Himmler actively involved in strategic discussion and raising talented subordinates to positions of responsibility where they will be most effective without even having to consult his advisors. While he appears to be losing sleep, coming to meetings with bleary eyes and sagging skin, his talent for logistics and anticipating Allied movements become apparent. Himmler is intimately and deeply involved in the planning of the major operation to come, sleeping less than two hours per day and in some cases micromanaging the drafting of the operational orders down to individual brigade levels. In late 1944, at the orders of Hitler, the Ardennes offensive begins.At Himmler’s insistence, individual Fallschirmjager units are deployed early, and a major force is assembled by weakening key other parts of the offensive to drop additional units to seize roads east of Liege. The attack achieves complete surprise, and in the Northern sector in particular the German forces advance according to the ambitious plan. German units capture Liege and Huy along the Meuse, held up only by the prospect of their flanks being exposed after tough resistance from the undersupplied troops in Bastogne hold up the southern part of the advance. Himmler, seemingly aware of the issue despite spotty lines of communication and units lost in the fog of war, somehow convinces the Luftwaffe to commit their limited tactical assets to the roads surrounding the town with grid coordinates he specifies himself. Despite extremely poor weather, the remaining Luftwaffe assets manage to shoot up convoys of reinforcements into Bastogne. It falls in two days, and the German units held up by it begin a slow but grinding advance to the River Meuse.After 72 hours of frenetic activity without sleep, Himmler collapses in his command post and is sent to rest. Although behind schedule, the offensive is going well- until reports come in that the American 7th army is penetrating the Southern flank. Awoken from his bed where he had slept for 36 hours, Himmler, visibly agitated by his earlier collapse and muttering about the consequences of disobedience, immediately issues a set of orders he had insisted on drafting but his commanders did not envision ever using. While isolated units are left behind, over the next few days the majority of the invasion force withdraws across the Rhine.Despite the tactical victory, including considerable damage inflicted and thousands of prisoners taken, Hitler flies into a rage at the strategic loss and depletes the assets given to Oberkommando Oberrhein to send back to the Eastern Front, which was shattering under the force of the Soviet offensive that had destroyed the German Army Group Centre a few months earlier. Himmler, who by now has the respect (but not the admiration) of his commanders, leaves his staff meeting after announcing the orders without any further comment. As he departs the conference room, General Hausser whispers to his adjutant to ask if he had noticed the bony growths under Himmler’s scalp and neck before.It is April 1945, and the death of the Third Reich is at hand. Himmler has known for months that it would happen - and how. Voices whisper in his ears, even as they are painfully deformed by the bony spikes now protruding beneath his hair. The pain, though, is secondary to the power. He cuts off contact with his wife and with Hitler, trusting only in the surety of prophecy that he believes has kept him from harm. If his thoughts wander, he can see slavering maws overlaid with gleaming cities, purple flames, masked giants towering over men, a smoldering landscape, and of himself in the mirror crowned and beautiful. He has a mind to escape to Sweden, but instead heads towards the source of so much of the power he feels coursing through his body. Buchenwald.Though partially evacuated at his orders, the camp is still teeming with life and the scientific staff have left their notes. Himmler instinctively hides himself, drawing upon the whispered offers of power he hears every waking minute. He feels connected to every life sacrificed on the altar of his knowledge. He enters the building in which his gruesome experiments began. It appears abandoned. Opening a door to the operating suite, he glances briefly at a bloodstain in the corner before dropping his briefcase to the floor. The voice whispers of his place in the destiny of the world. He smiles - and is impaled from behind by a burning sword. As Himmler falls, twisted bone spikes along his spine press against and tear through his shirt.The first American elements arrive in Buchenwald within the hour.The NKVD agents that take control of Buchenwald are careful to loot all the intelligence that they can. Though the USSR’s hard-won tactical excellence, doctrine, and materiel had won the day, interrogation of SS prisoners had revealed disturbing accounts of German subcommanders with foreknowledge of events that did not seem possible, who spoke of bizarre rituals and acts of divine will.Four months later, NKVD agents execute a plan to assassinate anti-Soviet partisan leaders in the Baltics and Ukraine in less than a day. Their operation goes flawlessly. News that the German mystic rituals, even stripped of their absurd religious trappings, delivers real results is suppressed by Beria, who orders a secret operation to systematically investigate the utility of German Tzeentch worship.Soon the purges begin.American intelligence experts are quicker to discard the pagan nonsense and nearly illegible scribblings they find among Himmler’s personal papers and bloodstains in Buchenwald. Rumors of a private purge within the NKVD and the USSR’s otherwise opaque leadership structure leave them worried, but things stay strictly within the bounds of rational thought - until intelligence agents and other assets across the globe are suddenly systematically targeted or subverted. Reeling from the inhumanly effective campaign, the US Central Intelligence Group (CIG) pulls out its official cover embassy staff from Moscow. They bring with them rumors that a terrified clandestine source had brought to their attention just before the purge.It is 1956. The USSR has grown by leaps and bounds under the careful but forceful stewardship of Beria, who replaces Stalin in 1952. The clandestine power of German discoveries has taken the planned economy to new heights of productivity. A new head of Gosplan - a close Beria ally and an energetic reformer despite being disabled from war wounds - has vastly reformed the bureaucracy and increased the effectiveness of the Soviet economy by leaps and bounds. What few reports come out of the Soviet Union suggest that it is rapidly outgrowing the United States, which is met by disbelief on the part of American leadership. Boasts of missile and bomber capability are routine, but alarmed officials hear rumors of Soviet superweapons under development that surpass even the hydrogen bomb that they test in 1953.In the upper echelons of the United States, the news about weapons development in the USSR comes as a surprise, but not one entirely unexpected. While German discoveries have caused revelations in the way the nascent CIA conducts human intelligence operations and has been carefully shared with the RAND corporation, in 1954 President Eisenhower’s administration orders a halt to all occult weapons research and orders the military to standardize its strategic deterrent based on nuclear weapons. For now, the United States maintains a technological edge, even as the two nations’ wage a heavy-handed strategic grapple.The first U-2 overflights of Soviet territory confirm that the Soviets have overstated their military capabilities - at least, the ones they talk about. But U-2 overflights also confirm industrial capacity and economic activity well beyond that thought possible from such a low base. Private analysts employed by government think tanks estimate that the Soviet Union will overtake the United States economically by 1965.All of that talk suddenly becomes sidelined in October of 1956.Interrogation of the few refugees from Budapest that make it into West Germany in mid-December 1956 paint a confused picture. It is not just the incipient madness of the refugees, but the fantastical nature of what they describe in conjunction with aerial photoreconnaissance.U-2 overflights provide still images of Budapest in flames, outlying suburbs replaced by gaping chasms in a matter of days, and a disturbing lack of vehicles leaving the area. Reports from the crying refugees, however, speak of shifting, ephemeral forms, colored fire, shambling bodies, and cruel men with guns. American intelligence soon after intercepts memoranda congratulating the KGB on successful tests of Project Perun.In 1958, more than artillery shells begin to land on Kinmen and Matsu off the coast of China. While KMT troops are already used to bombardment, they are not accustomed to the fiery projectiles that land upon their bunkers as if they have a mind of their own. Nor are they accustomed to the hungry tendrils of flame reaching into their trenches and cruelly devouring them as they scream.News that the PLA is deploying occult weaponry stuns Nationalist command in Taiwan, but produces nothing but grim resolve from Eisenhower. At the urging of his national security advisors, who discard warnings from the intelligence establishment divining fire and blood, he opts to punish the Chinese Communists for the use of such forbidden weaponry with a nuclear strike. After forwarding orders to General LeMay, the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff mysteriously disappears.The news of a nuclear strike galvanizes action in the USSR. Beria, whose wavering support of the PLA is balanced by intelligence showing a low level of preparedness from the United States, unhesitatingly invokes the full power of Project Perun. At Chernobyl in the Ukranian SSR and Petropavlosk in the Russian SSR, a sacrifice of political prisoners is accompanied by the chanting of men in robes who slowly rise in the air. Finally released, foul engines, flying nightmares and hordes of slobbering chaos horrors boil forth towards Western Europe and the West Coast of the United States.Such action does not go undetected. As soon as news of the rituals reaches Eisenhower, he orders an immediate total release of nuclear weapons. NATO forces, already on high alert, mobilize across Europe - but to very little end.As nuclear fire consumes the Communist bloc and a very different kind of fire toys with what will only be the “free world” for a few days longer, a slowly chanting figure rises above the portal to the Immaterium that was Chernobyl, sprouting wings from his back, claws on his hands, and thousands of tendrils from across his body.When schemes spanning hundreds of years are a staple of the servants of the Prince of Plots, one requiring a mere three solar decades is child’s play.(I am not affiliated with Games Workshop)