December 3rd,  1949

The first German u-boat of the new Type XXXII class, a large diesel-electric attack submarine fitted with the latest surface scanning radar, sonar systems, many more batteries for longer submerged operations, and 12 torpedo tubes armed with cutting edge homing torpedoes, sinks four merchant ships in its target convoy in the mid-Atlantic and escapes unharmed. It marks the beginning of a new phase in the Battle of the Atlantic, with large new German attack submarines gaining the upper hand after previous Kriegsmarine set backs by operating solo and savaging allied convoys with submerged attack runs utilizing large torpedo volleys.

December 4th, 1949

The Chilean civil war intensifies with rebel and Junta forces engaging in fierce urban combat in La Serena and Concepcion. SAFB(South American Fascist Block) aircraft have continued to hammer rebel forces and the U.S. now threatens to intervene with a “no-fly zone” if SAFB bombers continue to target civilian convoys and rebel-held cities. 

   Meeting in Buenos Aires top SAFB leadership reluctantly order their air forces to scale back operations to stave off direct U.S. intervention. In the capitals of the ODAS(Organization of Democratic American States) positions are beginning to harden against the SAFB as tensions in South America continue to escalate. 

December 6th, 1949

U.S. forces have now occupied most of Portugal and are rapidly consolidating and firming up their logistical toehold on the continent. Hundreds of thousands of U.S. soldiers now pour into the Iberian peninsula despite intermittent German ballistic missile attacks. 

  Axis forces have begun to settle into a line of defense roughly along the Spanish border, paying particular attention to the approaches to central and southern Spain. German High Command is unwilling to strip front line divisions from the East Front and instead has massed reserve divisions along with Spanish, Italian, and Fascist French forces. Despite their logistics being strained almost to the breaking point by allied atomic attacks and conventional air power the Axis have none-the-less managed to mass some 28 divisions comprising nearly 400,000 men. Though very light on armor and mechanized vehicles the Axis infantry have been heavily supplemented with anti-tank rockets and mobile radar-guided AAA elements to counter allied armor and air superiority. 

   Further to the East Axis forces have begun to construct a powerful and modern defensive line in the Pyrenees mountains with an eye to defense-in-depth to mitigate against allied atomic attacks. 

Heydrich sat in his office and read the latest SS report on operation Aurora again. Such was his satisfaction that he almost smiled. Almost. Eyes as blue and cold as a high arctic sky focused with grim intensity on the report only recently decrypted and transcribed from the raw teletype by his personal staff.

    “...pleased to report that sufficient weapons grade fissile material has now been collected by special collection teams to finish assembly of two special devices. Stop. Transportation of collected materials to prepared assembly facilities A and B is underway per planned arrangements. Stop. Utmost secrecy and security has been maintained per operational directives. Stop. Anticipate collection of sufficient weapons grade fissile material for additional one or two special devices based on the projections and initial area scouting by special collection teams after the bomber downings achieved during most recent allied nuclear attack. Stop. Progress on in-house production of weapons grade material continues on target per estimates of November 1st with production ramping up as the new enrichment facilities at sites Condor and Thor continue to add electrical generation capacity. Stop. Awaiting orders to proceed with assembly of initial special devices using collected materials. Stop. Estimate assembly of the first two devices could be completed within two weeks of receipt of go-ahead order. Stop. Awaiting further….”

Heydrich removed his spectacles and keyed the microphone on his desk. “Prepare for dictation for a report to the Fuhrer” he said crisply, putting emphasis on the last part. 

“Immediately sir!” the staff secretary replied. Heydrich placed the report back on his desk and let himself relax, easing the tension that had built in his chest and forehead since receiving the new report. Across the room the television displayed one of Goebbels’s new video dramas, something with lots of beautiful aryan women, brave soldiers on the homefront, and high personal drama. The new shows, delivered via closed-circuit lines, were proving wildly popular in the burgeoning, crowded, and monotone new underground cities that were taking root in Eastern Europe and the mountains of Austria as allied bombers and atomic bombs drove the Reich to desperate lengths to preserve industrial capacity and essential personnel. 

Per last report there were now over a million Germans living in a dozen such sites, with even more POW’s, forced labor convicts, and “undesirable persons” packed into much darker underground forced labor facilities like rats in sardine tins. All quite productive if Speer and Von Braun were to be believed. The latest production volume reports coming out of the new production lines were quite impressive he had to admit. 

Heydrich had moved his own personal office to one of the newest and largest “Reich cities” several weeks before and continued to urge Hitler to do the same. But that man was stubborn, insisting that the new bunker complex in East Prussia was sufficient and that he needed to remain in the Wehrmacht's HQ  “to stay on top of the generals and other vultures” as he’d put it. 

On the television the drama gave way to a glowing white swastika and then to a crisp news report delivered by a perfectly dressed and serious looking middle-aged NAZI Party man who spoke of Wehrmacht advances in the East and alleged allied setbacks in Iberia and North Africa. The spin the propaganda ministry could put on those dual disasters was quite remarkable. 

Continuing on the news program switched to a surprisingly clear video of a deadly-looking Wehrmacht panzer moving gracefully across a snowy field with text proclaiming “somewhere well East of Smolensk!”. Another video showed an interview with determined-sounding Wehrmacht soldiers, looking quite alien in their chemical protection masks,  in a trench “ten miles from Leningrad”.  An elongated helicopter with a bubbled canopy taking on wounded soldiers and then taking off amidst swirling dust against a nameless desert backdrop. Yet another video showed gun-camera footage from a Luftwaffe jet “over the Channel front”. 

And on the clips went; a British merchant ship sinking somewhere in the Atlantic, bombs raining down onto some Russian city from a Luftwaffe bomber, napalm engulfing some desolate plain in what was probably somewhere in Russia, a twirling radar apparatus with fierce-looking guns pointing menacingly into the air somewhere in southern Spain, on and on, then back to ministry propaganda reels extolling the virtues of recycling and conserving for the war effort….then back at last to the over-the-top drama show. 

Taking his attention away from the television, Heydrich glanced at his watch. Noting the time he got up from his desk and made his way towards his secretary’s office to dictate his update for Adolf. Twenty minutes for dictation and it would then be time to meet with his staff to plan his travel arrangements to East Prussia. He had no doubt Adolf would call in the entire inner circle to plot how to deploy the “special devices”.  

Later, in the helicopter carrying him down the Alpine valley towards the airfield where his jet transport was waiting, Heydrich thought of how much things had changed in the mere 12 years since the start of the Eurasian War and how much of Europe and Asia would be left for the Reich to rule over before the current war was over. He suspected there remained much destruction ahead. Or rather more than just suspected given the Reich’s rapidly approaching atomic revenge. In some ways, he mused, the ongoing destruction was like a cleansing of the old order, a purge paving the way for a truly new age. A New Age that Heydrich intended to usher in, come what may.