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Iron and Flame: an alternate history play-through of Hearts of Iron 3: Germany

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Utari Onzo:
Highly excited for the next chapter/s, writing style left me hungry for more.

Vikarion:

--- Quote from: Utari Onzo on 01 Jan 2016, 15:19 ---Highly excited for the next chapter/s, writing style left me hungry for more.

--- End quote ---

Thanks! Working on it now.

Vikarion:
Prologue

December, 1935, one day later...

Washington D.C.
6.
Harry Hopkins entered the presidential study quietly. FDR collected stamps as a hobby, and often spent time here going through and examining specimens of the postal currency, as he mulled over the events of the world outside. It was so this morning, and Hopkins hoped that Roosevelt would discover some sort of inspiration in the activity, something to address the crisis in Germany.

Roosevelt looked up as Hopkins entered, and gave him the toothy grin he was famous for. "Hello Harry. More news about our jack-booted friends?"

Hopkins nodded, and set a thin folder down on a relatively uncluttered spot on the desk. "Yes. There's a bit more news, and they've made a few announcements on the radio. These -" he tapped the folder "- are the best guesses from the State Department, the War Department, and Navel Intelligence Office."

"What's the summary?"

"Well, the Germans are saying that it was an assassination attempt, and that Hitler was badly wounded, while Himmler was killed. Apparently some other bigwig - Reinhardt Heydrich - also bought a plot. The man in charge for the moment is named Viktor Forst, and some of our sources are saying that he's arrested many, if not all, of the other Nazi leaders, and most of their military leaders as well."

"Could not have happened to nicer people" FDR observed acerbically. "So what do we think?"

Hopkins shrugged, trying to ignore the twinge in his gut from the motion. His stomach, which had been a constant source of trouble for him, was restless this morning. "It's all over the board. State is optimistic, they think that this is a coup, and that more moderate elements will come to the fore. Some are arguing that this will see a fall of the Nazi government, or at least force them to return to a coalition government. War is less positive. This Viktor fellow is a member of their SS, the ones who took out the SA, and they're the more militant wing of the party. Their opinion is that this is a coup, but in the opposite direction: that Herr Hitler has been holding the Germans down, so to speak, and so someone's decided to get him out of the way and get on with things."

"Hitler is a moderate?" the President half-laughed. 

"I don't buy it either," Harry said, suppressing a chuckle of his own. "Remember, Mr. President, I just report it. Anyway, the Naval Intel people aren't predicting much, they say it's too soon to tell. But they're coming down on the side of it being a real assassination attempt, and that Viktor Forst is just an opportunist, or a true believer, taking advantage of the situation. If that's true, then he must have acted extremely fast."

"What do you think?" Roosevelt asked, popping a stamp into a book.

"I think it's a coup. Such a fast reaction probably means planning beforehand. As for this Forst man, he's apparently third in line in the SS. Conveniently, his two bosses were at the same spot as Hitler. I think that the Fuhrer will 'die of his wounds' within a short time, probably as long as it takes to organize a new government. When he does, or if we think he has, we can afford to declare Forst's government as illegitimate. After all, no one voted for him."

Roosevelt nodded. "We'll go with that. Now, why don't you get yourself some breakfast, Harry? You're looking a little peaked."

"Thank you, Mr. President", Harry said, and headed for the door, unaware that he and Roosevelt had just made the worst political mistake of their lives.


7.
December, 1935, four days later...

Berlin Hospital

Adolf Hitler opened his eyes slowly, and groaned. The light was bright, too bright, and his eyes hurt. His head hurt. He hurt all over. It was like the time back in the hospital, after he'd been gassed. Hospital. Yes, he was in a hospital, and this time he wasn't blind. And he was lucid, now. He'd almost-woken a few times, but there had been nothing but agony and shadows.

He was thirsty, too. He moved his head, an effort, and saw a black-garbed figure sitting beside the bed. He blinked, and his vision resolved itself into a man, He knew him, Viktor Forst. SS. Good. A pitcher of water and some glasses on a small table beside him. Even better.

"Water", he croaked, rasped, really. Yes, like after being gassed.

The man - Forst, yes, certainly - filled a glass, and brought it to him. Hitler tried to move his arm to grasp it, but the pain of the attempt made him gasp.

"Don't try to move," Forst spoke, and held the glass to the Fuhrer's mouth. Hitler noticed Forst's teeth when the man spoke. They were yellowed, not like those of a smoker - Hitler despised smokers - but probably a coffee drinker. For some reason, they made him want to shiver. He felt like a wounded stag, collapsed on the forest floor, with a dangerously hungry wolf leaning over him, with long, yellow fangs.

Of course, in this case, the wolf was offering him water. He drank, and began to feel slightly better. Very slightly. When he had drained the glass, Forster replaced it on the small table.

"Do you know what happened?" Forster asked, sitting back down next to the bed.

"An explosion. A bomb, I think." Hitler refocused on Forster. "Himmler? Heydrich?"

"Dead." Forster shook his head with a regret he felt not in the least. "Their car took the brunt of the explosion. If it hadn't, you would be dead too."

"Who? Who did it?"

"It looks like a man named Josef Romer. The bomb killed him, too."

"Jew?" Certainly, it had to be a Jew.

"No, definitely not. Munich German. Communist, we think. He slipped out of Heydrich's hands, twice." Forst shrugged. "I suppose Heydrich was responsible, if we want to blame anyone. But what's the point? The man is dead."

A German! A German tried to kill his own Fuhrer. The thought was shocking. But Forst had no reason to lie. A Jew would have looked better, but...well, never mind that. "Speer?"

"Alive. You shielded him with your body. Minor injuries. We found him carrying you to the nearest hospital. He's here as well, recovering."

"Bright boy", Hitler said, thinking about the young architect with all his life still ahead of him. An artist with lights and design. "And how badly am I wounded?"

"Badly," Forst said, bluntly, surprising Hitler. "Your right arm is broken, and your left arm is sprained. You have a broken rib, which fortunately did not puncture the lung. Your left leg is fine, but your right leg has multiple fractures, which you made worse by trying to walk on. The doctor states that you will be laid up for quite some time, probably a year.

Hitler stared at the offending leg in horror. A year. A year! A year in which his underlings would be fighting for power, a year in which everything could - no, would - dissolve. The Reich was new, and fragile, and it would all fall apart in six months without him, never mind a year.

Forst must have seen the expression on his face, and smiled with those yellowed teeth of his. "Do not worry, my Fuhrer. I have things under control. I have arrested the other leaders of the party. I have also placed the leaders of the army in SS custody. I have made the necessary announcements over the radio and in the papers, and the SS is maintaining order.

Anger flashed through Hitler like white lightning. "So this is a coup. You take all I have built and..." Forster cut him off with a hand upraised. "Please, my Fuhrer. Consider the fact that you are speaking to me."

Just as quickly, the anger died. Well, the anger at Forster, at any rate. The man had a point. One did not preserve the former leader's life if one intended his overthrow and destruction. And Hitler was sure that he was far too dangerous an opponent to leave alive.

"Besides," Forster went on, "what else could I have done? Himmler and Heydrich are dead. Goebbels is not a leader, and both you and I know it. Perhaps Goering should take over, if you don't mind the country becoming a giant Carinhall."

Hitler snorted, an action he immediately regretted due to his rib. Carinhall was Goering's personal palace, grand, pompous, extravagant, and perhaps a bit baroque, much like the man. It was not the image he would care to see replicated in Germany.

He sighed, and settled back on the bed as best he might. "Well, no, I suppose. What are your plans?"

"I have declared myself unterfuhrer," Forster said, which garnered a pained chuckle. "Yes, I know. I have this room and the hospital under continual guard. Either myself or a loyal SS man will be constantly with you. No one else but your doctors and my men - oh, and Eva, too - will be permitted access without my consent."

Hitler nodded, accepting the situation for the moment. The security was necessary, of course, but controlling access was also a means of control in itself. Hitler could not oppose Forster if he wanted to, so long as he could not speak to others without Forster's consent. More importantly, Forster could grant access to Hitler or deny it, determining who was and was not in the leader's favor. How...clever. Hitler admired it, even as it worried him.

"I suppose, then, that I am to be your Lenin, the sick man in the background you ascribe your authority to," he said, with a trace of bitterness.

"I hope not," Forst said, with apparent sincerity, surprising the Fuhrer. "We need you to recover. But I do intend to inflict a bit of...what the Americans call 'Teutonic efficiency'. With your misfortune, we cannot afford our ministers competing to build personal kingdoms for themselves."

Hitler considered that. He had allowed his followers to profit off of their power, partly to retain their loyalty, and partly because those who had supported him for so long deserved a reward. This new harshness was probably necessary, but it would be unpopular with the leadership. Probably a good thing. Forster should not be allowed to become popular in the leadership.

"You must assemble a government," he rasped after a moment. "It must include Goering and Goebbels. The rest I leave to you. Bring them here, together, and I will give my blessing. And get me out of this place as soon as you can. I would prefer to recuperate in Berchtesgaden."

Forster nodded, and rose. "Give me a year, my Fuhrer. You will not regret it."

Vikarion:
Chapter 1: A single flame alight
January 1st, 1936.

1.
Viktor Forst stared down the long table occupied by his ministers. The room was cold - Viktor had ordered the heat kept down - and formal. Hitler had generally preferred a somewhat more informal and individual method of communication, but Forst wanted things laid out in the open.

He had shuffled things around quite a bit, not entirely with the Fuhrer's approval, although Hitler had given his blessing to Forst and the assembled group in a very crowded hospital room the day before. Forst had assembled them there on the last day of the year for the psychological impact of starting their efforts on the New Year. If the Night of the Long Knives had indicated the transition of the NSDAP from a revolutionary party to a ruling one, this moment would mark the transition of its leaders from self-interested thugs to dedicated leaders.

He'd made quite a few changes. The Reich's Minister of Economics - Hjalmar Schacht - was now also minister of Armaments. He had been the man to drag the Weimar Republic out of the dismal hole of inflation and poverty that had been the post-war years, only to see the Great Depression hit. In Forst's view, the most important aim of the government had to be establishing the proper industrial base for war-making, and Schacht was the one to do it.

Joseph Goebbels, with his lean, skull-like face, now had purview over the Gestapo, the concentration camps, and maintained control over propaganda. All of these had been combined into a new "Ministry of Security", intended to watch over the internal integrity of the Reich, in any form it took. Forst had removed the SS from their role as internal police and camp guards - now they would function entirely as an elite force for the Fuhrer, watching both the Gestapo and the military, and working alongside both, and under Forst's personal control, of course. He had also spoken to Goebbels about the concentration camps: in Forst's view, they were wasteful. Either the unhappy residents should be rehabilitated, or else expelled from the country as being of no use to the Reich. He had no idea what Heydrich and Himmler had been thinking, simply penning people up and feeding their useless mouths. Not that they'd fed the all that much, of course. And to what end? After a few years, they were dead or released, probably even less disposed to serve the Reich. No. Reform them or get rid of them. And Goebbels had agreed, probably not least because control over some of the Reich's police forces was something he'd probably been lusting after.

That wasn't the only concession he'd wrung out of the man, either. Forst had wanted censorship, especially of books and films, loosed a bit. His biggest worry was that the Reich might be banning actual economic and scientific works, something Schacht had brought to his attention. Goebbels had balked, but control of the Gestapo was too large a prize to give up, and thus, a small announcement in the Völkischer Beobachter, the official party newpaper, would be going out today to declare that, after further review, the Ministry of Security would be releasing a few hundred more titles for publication.

Wilhelm Frick, sitting across from Goebbels, was less pleased. He had a long, cruel face, and had been essentially Minister of the Interior up until now. Forst, valuing his capabilities but distrusting his ambition inside the Reich, had appointed him to replace Canaris as head of the now-named "Ministry of Intelligence". In time, Forst thought, Frick would come to relish his new job, especially with the plans he had for the department. Frick's former responsibilities had been consolidated under Rudolf Hess, already essentially head of government, and a man, who, if psychologically odd, was respected by Forst for his dedication and work ethic - as well as his lack of ambition.

He'd also shuffled the Army leaders around a bit, appointing Fritz Bayerlein - a personal acquaintance - as interim Chief of Staff, and Werner von Blomberg as Chief of the Army. Raeder would stay on as head of the Navy, and Goering, of course, would stay on as leader of the Luftwaffe.


[spoiler]
I'm picking these choices to maximize economic bonuses at this point in the game.
A few notes: Leadership is used for training officers (more trained officers equals more elite forces), for training spies, for research, and for diplomacy.
Manpower is just that. You need manpower for units. Infantry in particular eats it like nothing else.
IC is Industrial Capability. You cannot build more things than you have factories to build them in. Fortunately, you can build more factories.
Resources are: Power (essentially coal, and later, nuclear), steel/iron, rare materials (everything from copper to molybdenum), and crude oil.
Supplies are: Supplies, fuel, and money. Pretty self explanatory. Units need the first two, you need the last to buy resources, enact laws, and a few other minor things.

Goebbels improves leadership in the security spot, where he apparently focuses (as he did in real life) in controlling information and inspiring loyalty, as opposed to Heydrich, who in this playthrough is dead, but if placed there actually increases activity against your forces. Schacht is a gem of a minister (as he was in real life, and the Nazis were fools to dump him), and a full 10% increase in IC is huge. Blomberg reduces unit supply consumption, which is wonderful, and Bayerlein means that less supplies are lost while being transported to those units. Fewer supplies needed = less IC needed for supplies, and units that need less resupply (and thus are more mobile).
[/spoiler]

"Now," Forst said, "I shall begin." An assistant rolled a large blackboard over and Forster rose and began to write on it. "First, we must plan for the next three years. The Fuhrer desires us to be ready for war within five years. We shall do it in three. To that end, I have been speaking to Herr Schacht" - at that, Goering scowled, as Schacht and he had long been at loggerheads over the economic direction of the Reich - "and I have assembled the following dictates. Make no mistake, gentlemen, there will be no deviation from these orders. Deviation or dissension will be met with disgrace, or death."

That quieted things down a bit. Good.

"To that end, I have been impressed with the need to economically revitalize our nation. To that end, we will be concentrating on research and the building of factories capable of producing both consumer goods and military goods. We will maintain this policy for two years, while assembling four to five divisions a year."

There were nods around the table, save for Goering, but even he seemed to accept the plan.

"Politically, we have several goals. The foremost is to keep American out of any future conflict".

There was a stir at that, and Forster decided to explain.

"Yes, America has a weak army, and yes, she is struggling with the same economic issues as the rest of the world. However, both Schacht and I have been to America. They possess immense productive capabilities. Those cannot be allowed to come in on the side of our enemies, as they did in the last war. To that end, we are establishing a full-on political offensive, both openly, through diplomatic channels, and covertly, through Herr Frick's department. The isolationist element in America is very strong, and President Roosevelt's New Deal program has not eliminated the economic misery in the country. To that end, we will be funding the German-American Bund party."

There was a stir at that. The German-American Bund party was a joke. Forster continued anyway. "We will revitalize the party by stripping it of its Nazi characteristics. We must be realistic: no Americans will vote in quantity for the Nazi party. Instead, it will re-position itself as an economic party - that is, one which wishes to replicate German successes in defeating the depression. As well, it will cooperate with other parties, such as the Republican Party and the American First Committee, to run combined tickets to defeat the current president. At the same time, we will make the United States our major trading partner for raw materials, which will make us essential to their economy."

"As well, we will be working within the United Kingdom to undermine their diplomatic efforts. We are also placing agents in the Soviet Union to stir up resentment against Stalin and his government. When war comes, they will be unprepared."
[spoiler]
Hearts of Iron 3 allows you two methods besides war to influence other countries. First is to diplomatically influence them. This covers everything from expensive state dinners, to national tours, etc. It is expensive, but moves the foreign policy alignment of that nation towards your own. Get them close enough, and they may join your faction, or ally with you. At the very least, they won't be attacking you. Other diplomatic actions, such as trade deals, will also encourage a nation to like you.

The other method is espionage. This allows you to alter the internal politics of a nation. It's most effective in democracies, as a dictatorship may not even care. The important thing is that certain elected leaders, such as FDR, are disposed against certain factions, and by removing them, or making them less popular, you can alter the likelihood that they'll manage to bring their nation into the fight against you.

It's very important to keep the U.S. out of the war. Unless you think you can beat the Soviet Union and the British Empire by the end of 1942, you should make every effort to befriend the U.S. The U.S. has a HUGE IC and Leadership advantage on everyone else (which is true to life), and can easily stomp half the world if left alone through 1942. It's also almost impossible to attack before then anyway, because it possesses a huge navy, even if some of it is obsolete. It also has a huge reserve of raw materials, and will quickly acquire a great air force. Its only real difficulty is that it starts out highly neutral, which means that it won't be attacking anyone soon.
[/spoiler]

"Lastly, the military. Along with our divisions, we will be producing two or three hundred aircraft a year. We will also be standardizing all of our equipment, so that we will not face supply problems. A mix of the new fighters and tactical bombers should put our air force in fine shape. On the land, we will concentrate on medium and light armor, combined with infantry and artillery. On the sea, I have decided, after talking with Goering and Raeder, that we will not be producing a submarine fleet. Instead, we will concentrate on a small fleet of battleships and destroyers, with the Luftwaffe providing air cover."

That did earn an objection, from Goebbels. "Unterfuhrer, we can hardly expect to challenge the Royal Navy on the high seas with that."

Viktor smiled. "Indeed. But we do not intend to. It is merely intended to challenge their control of the channel."

"To what purpose?" Schacht asked. "Blocking the channel is merely an annoyance. And they'll wear us down eventually, while raiding every convoy we send to America."

This time, Viktor had to grin. "My dear Schacht," he said, "how are they going to raid our convoys if they have no ports to raid from?"

Vikarion:
Chapter 1: A single flame alight
April, 1936

The Berghof was dark and pleasantly cool in the early evening. Viktor sat in one of the armchairs, wishing he could pace the room. But the Fuhrer, sitting in his own chair, still could not walk without crutches, and so he sat as well.

"What do you have to report? Hitler asked, sipping on a cup of tea. Near his elbow was the remains of a small piece of cake. The Fuhrer's surgeon had enforced, by means of an obdurate stubbornness compounded by an air of competence, a few dietary changes. Hitler grumbled about them, especially including the introduction of a small amount of meat into his diet, but had acquiesced to even that when the surgeon claimed that he needed the protein to rebuild his muscles. He had also reduced the Fuhrer's consumption of sweets, which had irritated the man further. But the results were impressive. His right arm was full functional, and his leg was healing well, according to the doctor. This put Hitler in a fairly good mood, which was a blessing to more than the Fuhrer.

[spoiler]
Historical note:
Around 1936, Hitler was introduced to Dr. Theodor Morrell, a quack who probably did more to poison the man than anything else. Hitler ascribed to him a reduction in his stomach troubles (which were probably brought on in part by his vegetarianism and love of sweets), and trusted him as few others. It's notable that many of the drugs administered to Hitler possess psychoactive properties, and how much Hitler was influenced by these drugs is impossible to answer, but probably a non-zero amount.

A listing of most of the injections and pills Morrell administered to Hitler (from wikipedia):
amphetamines (in Pervitin and Vitamultin form)
Atropa belladonna (in Koster's Antigaspills, compound containing strychnine, subject of investigation)
Atropine (extract of seminal vesicles)
Brom-Nervacit (barbiturate, since August 1941 a spoonful almost every night)
bromides (to bring him down from amphetamine highs before sleep)
caffeine
chamolile
cocaine (via eyedrops)
E. coli
enzymes
Eukodol, or Eukodal (a trade name for oxycodone)
Eupaverinum (synthetic alcaloid)
Glyconorm (metabolic ferments)
Mutaflor (pills prescribed to Hitler for flatulence in 1936, the first unorthodox drug treatment from Morell; bacteria extracted from human faeces, see: E. coli)
methamphetamine (crystal meth)
morphine
strychnine
Oxedrine Tartrate
potassium bromide
Prophenazone
proteins and lipids derived from animal tissues and fats
sodium barbitone
sulfonamide
testosterone
vitamins

Quite a list. In this timeline, though, Hitler never meets Morrell, due to the assassination attempt. Instead, he latches onto his surgeon as his personal physician.
[/spoiler]

"Well," Viktor said, sipping his own coffee. "Things are proceeding apace. We have reorganized the military to create more established divisions with four brigades each, instead of three. We are producing two battleships at the moment, Tirpitz and Bismarck, as well as destroyers. Around 200 planes are in production."

Hitler nodded. "Good. And that trade you were so insistent on?"

"Several convoys from the Americas. The United States in particular has been delighted to trade us steel and oil. Apparently they have re-opened one steel mill just for us. We, to fund this, are exporting our own coal and goods, mostly to the USSR, our neighbors, and back to the U.S. We still have a deficit of certain materials, but that should be less of a problem once we are finished with the intensive work of setting up new factories."

Hitler considered that for a moment. "Very well. And what of this civil war in Spain?"

This was a sore spot. Hitler had wanted very much to intervene in the war between the Nationalists and the Republicans, but Forst had argued against it, vociferously and continually. Spain had nothing to offer the Reich, he'd pointed out. No major resources of note, and no military of note. Hitler had pointed out that it would hardly be advantageous to have a Bolshevik outpost controlling access to the Mediterranean, and that communism must be opposed wherever it sprang up. What had won Forst the argument, which had mostly consisted of Hitler lecturing him, was pointing out that he had neither the forces nor the supplies to send, since he was reorganizing the army and building up the Reich.

He sighed. "It looks like the Nationalists are losing. Stalin is probably contributing to the Republicans."

"We should have intervened," Hitler growled. "Now there will be another Bolshevik state to destroy."

Forst shrugged. "A Bolshevik state on someone else's borders, and one without an army worth a damn. And a sinkhole for Soviet aid. When we deal with the Soviets, they will have no one to save them."

Hitler nodded. "True." One thing he liked about this Forst fellow was the way the man simply assumed that they were going to have a war, and against the eastern foe at that. And he was just preparing for it. Competently, it seemed. Well, too bad for Spain, then. He changed the subject, instead. "I think it will be time for me to make a speech to the Reich, this January." That would give him time to finish healing. Hitler was very sensitive to his public image, and continued to remain in the Berghof, isolated from all but his closest associates.

"That, I think, would be well." Forst replied.

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