by Scott Palter
Paulus, Friedrich (1890–1957): WW1 veteran. Served with Freikorps and then Reichswehr. Staff officer until he assumed command of Sixth Army for Stalingrad Campaign. Not a decisive leader or good field commander, but the blame for Stalingrad rests with Hitler’s obsessions. Captured by Soviets and served as a stooge for them in their Free Germany front. Given a sinecure in new East German military. Related to the Romanian aristocracy.
Peiper, Joachim/Jochen: (1915-1976): Joined SS at 18 on advice of a family friend, army General von Reichenau. Became Himmler’s adjutant 1938 after a tour with LAH. Served briefly with LAH during French campaign, then went back to Himmler’s staff. Helped with administrative work in support of Einsatzgruppen. Back with LAH from October 1941 to end of war. His battalion earned the nickname ‘the blowtorch battalion’ for its treatment of Soviet villages. Good combat record to end of war, but repeatedly involved with massacres of prisoners, partisans, civilians. Responsible for Malmedy Massacre of US POW’s during Bulge. Pieper was from the old SS school of command: overaggressive, and his own casualties be damned. Sentenced to death for Malmedy. Did eleven-plus years before release. Good career with Porsche and then as a professional translator of English military histories into German while residing under an assumed name in France. Outed by French Communist press and assassinated by ‘activists’.
Percival, Arthur (1887-1966): Classic example of the Peter Principle. Excellent intelligence and staff officer who proved a disaster as a field army commander in Malaya and Singapore 1941-1942. Yes he had a difficult situation and some questionable subordinates/colleagues (RAF and RN), but he mishandled difficult situation into massive disaster. Reflect on why as author I gave him command in Kenya …
Petain, Henri Philippe Benoni Omer Joseph (1856-1951): Hero of Verdun. Savior of France after the 1917 army mutinies. Not from the traditional military aristocracy. Bachelor and womanizer into his 60’s. Marries one of the girlfriends in 1920. Her family had previously rejected Petain because his family lacked social status. Fought against defense funding cutbacks and reduction of military service time during interwar period. De Gaulle was his protégé during this period before they had a falling out over a relatively petty matter. Made ambassador to Franco’s Spain winter 1939. As such he avoided the blame for the Fall of France. Brought into the government to provide political cover to those seeking a separate peace, June 1940. They wanted a front man, but he outplayed them and became dictator of Vichy (Vichy politics are complex, and this is a massive simplification). Was against the British but never pro-German. The Nazis essentially kidnap him during the retreat from France in 1944. He voluntarily returns in 1945. Tried for treason and collaboration. Sentenced to death, commuted to fortress arrest. Lapses into senility in the late 1940’s. He was an excellent field commander and commander-in-chief, excelling at every level from brigade to supreme command. He was also more than a bit of a pessimist and very definitely a man of the 19th century, who found the mid 20th distasteful and increasingly confusing. A poor politician and in the political sphere a poor chooser of colleagues and subordinates. Since 1945 a convenient whipping boy for France’s many failures 1919-1945. He will be best remembered for twice saving France 1916-1917, and for essentially vetoing the plan to continue the war in the summer of 1940 from North Africa instead of seeking a separate peace.
Philby, Harold ‘Kim’ (1912–1988): One of the famous Cambridge spies. Journalist, MI-6, War Office, Special Operations Executive. Philby used his class and educational contacts to work through most major organs of British power during and after WW2. Penetrated OSS and CIA. Exposed numerous times by Soviet defectors, Philby was able to avoid arrest because no one believed someone of his class would betray Britain. British allowed him to flee to Moscow in 1963 when this pretense became untenable.
Puller, Lewis B. ‘Chesty’ (1898-1971): Fought in the Banana Wars of the interwar Caribbean and served as a China Marine in the Treaty Port garrisons. In WW2 and then Korea was among the most decorated Marines in US history (5 Navy Crosses and 1 Army Distinguished Service Cross plus lesser decorations). Held up as the ideal Marine, having served at every rank from corporal to divisional general.
Raeder, Erich (1876–1960): Naval officer. Rabid, narrow-minded reactionary/right-winger, but not a Nazi per se. Fanatically indoctrinated Navy in Nazi ideology, Hitler worship, and strict Lutheranism, all to avoid another set of naval mutinies as had happened in 1918. Raeder was obsessed with avoiding another such taint on the Navy’s honor. Extreme believer in capital ships. Fired as head of Navy January, 1943, over failures of capital ships in the Arctic convoy battles. Resigns in May 1943 from active service. Rallies to Hitler during Bomb Plot.
Ramcke, Herman-Bernhard (Gerhard) (1889–1968): WW1 veteran. Freikorps and Whites in Baltic postwar. Reichswehr. Transferred to Air Force and assigned to 7th Air Division (the airborne force). Hero of Crete, 1941. Led an airborne (motorized) Brigade with Rommel, 1942–43. Formed and commanded 2nd Parachute Division, 1943. Commanded Fortress Brest in Brittany, France, 1944. POW with Americans when the port fell. Saved from French war-crimes prosecution 1951 by Americans. Unrepentant admirer of Third Reich, postwar.
Richardson, James Otto (1878-1974): Commanded US Fleet/Pacific Fleet in 1940. Bright but quarrelsome. OTL FDR fired him for somewhat different reasons than in this ATL.
Richthofen (von), Wolfram: Cousin of Red Baron. WW1 veteran flyer. Engineering degree postwar, then Reichswehr. Transferred to Luftwaffe. Commanded Condor Legion in Spain. Specialist in close air support. Extremely competent, but did not suffer fools well.
Ridgway, Matthew (1895-1993): Missed combat service in WW1 just like Ike. Served a term with 15th Infantry Regiment in interwar China. In OTL most noted for commanding the XVIII Airborne Corps in ETO, and the successful counteroffensive in Korea in 1951. One of the VERY few US senior officers who liked Monty. Korea showed him to be excellent at operational level warfare. His WW2 service mostly showed he was good at training up units. He was good at maintaining the sort of democratic populist demeanor that US enlisted personnel like. Was not well liked by his peers for arrogance and over-the-top womanizing.
Riefenstahl, Leni (1902–2003): Actress and film director. Hitler groupie, but apparently not an actual Party member. Propagandist for them. Her film, “Triumph of the Will”, chronicling one of the Nürnberg Rallies, is a classic.
Robeson, Paul (1898-1976): African- American. Legendary singer (he was successful at everything from grand opera to pop tunes to gospel). Civil rights advocate / Stalinist. To what degree his Stalinism was a response to period white supremacy, and to what extent it was a true believer’s conversion, has been debated for decades.
Rommel, Erwin (1891–1944): WW1 hero with mountain Jägers (spetsnaz-level special commandos). Won Blue Max for his actions at Caporetto. Finished the war as a staff officer. Deemed not suitable for general staff training and higher command in the Reichswehr. Wrote a well-regarded book on infantry tactics, which led to him being requested as commander of Hitler’s army escort battalion. Hitler then bumped him to one-star general in US terminology, and gave him a Panzer division as a patronage appointment. Performed brilliantly in the French campaign, but repeatedly violated orders and acted more like an advanced guard commander than a divisional general. Readers should remember that the Desert Fox legend is in the future. Rommel was still, at this point, a brash storm officer promoted over his head. He still was, in OTL for his first few North African battles. It took until 1942 for him to learn how to be a higher commander. Implicated in the Bomb Plot, he was ordered to commit suicide, which he did to safeguard his wife and son.
Ronconi, Pio Alessandro (1920-2010): Born in Spain. Member of Black Roman nobility. Mother killed by Spanish Reds. Family then returned to Italy. Very bright. Knew over a dozen languages. Fought in North Africa as Italian. In Italy as Waffen SS officer. Orientalist; journalist; student of theology, fascism and occult. Moved easily postwar in both government and right radical circles. In this series
his knowledge of Catalan has brought him to DiSalo’s battalion.
Roosevelt, Eleanor (1884-1962): US First Lady during FDR’s multiple terms. The marriage as marriage was long dead by the time he reached the White House (he was endlessly unfaithful, often with people within her social circle). Think of it as a political partnership. She was his mobile eyes and ears. Also his ambassador to the US left. She could and did stake out positions more radical than he could publicly take. Hoover’s leaks painted her as both bisexual and desperate for affection. Probably true. Whether she was in this period a fellow-traveler of the Communists, a useful idiot, or an active agent, is open to question. I tend towards the fellow-traveler, but all three templates are defensible. She moderated a tad post WW,2 but that could have been tactical.
Roosevelt, Franklin Delano (1882-1945): Only man elected President four times (we changed the Constitution so it cannot happen again; or else Eisenhower, Reagan, and Obama would all have had third terms). Hereditary Democrat from the Hudson Valley. Upper Class (Groton, Harvard, Columbia Law School). Served in Wilson’s administration and ran for Vice President on the Democratic ticket in 1920. Legs paralyzed in 1921 (possibly polio, but that is now contested). Political comeback began with election as Governor of New York in 1928. Elected President in 1932 on a non-ideological ‘time for a change’ vibe. His ‘New Deal’ essentially brought lukewarm social democracy to the US. Its economic effect is still debated, but politically it probably saved the US from Revolution. Economy collapses with a second Roosevelt Depression in 1938. His political power mostly collapses as well. Enough northern Catholic and Dixie Bourbon House members team up with the Republicans to form a conservative caucus that blocks further major reforms. His attempts at packing the Supreme Court and purging the Democratic Party via primaries blows up in his face. After 1938 he tends to be very careful to guard his remaining political capital in domestic affairs. Maneuvers the US into WW2 while swearing he is doing nothing of the kind. FDR was personally charming but shallow. His style of governance was in many ways quite similar to Hitler’s. Both would appoint deputies with large but overlapping areas of authority, and then undercut them. FDR was serially unfaithful to his wife and his large cast of mistresses. He played his left supporters off against the middle class progressives. Readers should remember that the Democratic Party of this era ran from Leninists on the left, to the KKK on the right. It was a collection of disparate interests – Northern Catholics, the trades unions, Dixie, the emancipated Northern blacks, the Jews, most of the US left, the old Bryan populists of what we now call Flyover Country, and everyone aggrieved by the economic power of Big Finance and Big Business. He was regarded as a class traitor by the old moneyed aristocracy. He in turn despised them, using the IRS and FBI to pursue personal vendettas. He was a smarter warlord than Hitler. He made macrostrategic decisions and saw to relations with the British. Beyond that he let his service chiefs run the war. Thus he insisted on the Torch 1942 invasion of the French Maghreb but left all the operational matters to Marshall and King. He also never forgot that maintaining morale and civilian support for the war was his job. FDR had no scruples, and no respect for the truth. That said, beyond the press clique centered on the Chicago Tribune, who saw him as a mix of Lucifer and the Pied Piper of Hamelin, FDR was good enough at jollying the press such that they often gave him the undeserved benefit of the doubt. In short, he could charm the skin off a snake, but when you shook hands with him it was best to count your fingers afterwards. He had zero compunctions about not honoring deals he made.
Rus, Alexander / Fidel Castro (1926-2016): Bastard son of a rich planter by his house servant. Fidel was a radical, an orator, a nationalist, and a decent baseball player. He had the balls for the adventures in this ATL and was never especially smart. His success in becoming El Supremo in Cuba owed mostly to luck and timing.
Sadat, Anwar (1918-1981): Military cadet, partly of Nubian descent. Involved with many revolutionary organization including Free Officers, which he helped form with Nasser. Succeeds Nasser as President. Engineers a partly successful war in 1973 and then makes peace with Israel. Assassinated for that by Islamists. Sadat was a good plotter and bureaucrat. Lacked Nasser’s charisma.
Scharfe, Paul (1876-1942): Chief legal officer of the SS. Well-respected in legal circles. Rank: Gruppenführer in this book. In OTL he was promoted to Obergruppenführer shortly before his death in 1942 from ‘natural causes’.
Schellenberg, Walter (1910–1952): Joined the SS out of university in 1929. Protégé of Heydrich and Himmler. Amoral weasel, but extremely competent. Encouraged and abetted Himmler’s late war schemes to overthrow Hitler and do a separate peace with the West. The schemes were absurd. The desire for self-protection and self-promotion were characteristic of the both men. Was prosecution witness at Nürnberg. Given short sentence, which was commuted for ill health. May have had connections to British MI-6 from mid-war period.
Schenck, Ernst-Gunther (1904-1998): SS Doctor who ran a huge, highly successful herbal plantation at Dachau Camp. Saw some frontline duty, especially in besieged Berlin. Featured in the movie Downfall.
Schindler, Oskar (1908 - 1974): Glad-handing entrepreneur who never amounted to much as a businessman. Did good work for Abwehr 1938-1939. Parlayed that into being the Aryan front for a successful Jewish business in Cracow. Schindler glad-handed the high-ranking Nazis for contracts and protection. His Jewish managers ran the company. He was not unusual in this sort of arrangement. What was unusual was that he saved his Jews from death as the Reich imploded, by various frauds and bribes. On the order of twelve hundred Jews were saved from certain death. Postwar his business failures continued in Germany and Argentina. Honored by Israel for his wartime heroism. In this ATL he will still be fronting for competent Jews while being himself. However, this Reich is somewhat more puritan on bribery.
Seela, Max (1911-1999): Reichswehr and then Waffen SS pioneer officer. Fearless and a combat natural.
Sharett, Moshe (1894-1965): Taken to Palestine from Ukraine as a child. Career functionary in the Palestinian Jewish bureaucracy. “General Zionist”, and Israel’s Second Prime Minister in OTL. He was a pragmatist and incrementalist.
Slim, William (1891-1970): Best field commander the British produced in WW2. Naturally they buried him in the sideshow that was the Burma Campaign. We get him to Iraq by skipping his OTL service in East Africa.
Sommer, Peter (1907-1945?): Army officer and racially part Jewish. Chosen in this ATL because we needed a part Jew who had staff training (completed the course in April, 1940). Transferred to the Waffen SS in 1941. Unclear if he ever formally joined the SS, but served with them. Was Ia (operations officer/de facto operational commander) of 2nd SS Division. Highest rank: Oberst/Standartenführer (unclear if he was ever formally awarded the SS rank, because of blood lines). German Cross in Gold. Put in for Knight’s Cross but not granted. Probably Himmler’s influence. Vanishes at war’s end. Dead? Changed his name?
Speer, Albert (1905–1981): Trained architect. Joined the Nazis 1931. Protégé of Hitler. Rumored to also be his lover. Armaments Minister from 1942. Guilty of war crimes in connection with slave labor, etc. Turned on the Nazis at Nürnberg Trials to save himself. It worked. Did long prison term, but saved his life. Complete weasel. Autobiography was a laughable tissue of lies. Competence level is still debated.
Stark, Harold (1880-1972): Chief of Naval Operation (CNO) from 1939. Oversaw the huge fleet construction program. Good bureaucrat, but implicated in the Pearl Harbor intelligence failures. Kicked to London in OTL, where he got on well with British and de Gaulle. Sent to command in Europe because he did not get on well with FDR.
Steiner, Felix (1896–1966): Yes, THAT Steiner. The one from the endlessly parodied Downfall scene. WW1 veteran. Freikorps in same geographic region as Iron Division. Reichswehr. Retired as Major, 1933. Joins Nazis, the SA, and finally the SS in 1935. Meteoric rise from battalion to divisional command (5th SS Viking Division). Excelled at division and corps level.
Army command in last months of war. Good with foreign and Volksdeutsche troops and officers, which was unusual in the SS. Second best Panzer general in Waffen SS after Hausser.
Stauffenberg (von), Claus Philipp Maria Schenk Graf (1897-1944): Reichswehr. General Staff. Good service record Poland, West, Barbarossa, Tunisia. Multiple medals. Asked to join the resistance early. Joined late. Ultranationalist with strong anti-Polish and anti-Jewish feelings/statements, but found the actual Nazis crude and their level of violence against civilians repugnant. Left a semi-invalid in OTL by war wounds in Tunisia (lost eye, fingers, etc.). Aristocrat and devout Catholic. Almost managed to assassinate Hitler, and died a hero.
Sukarno [this is the name he was known by; this book chooses to skip the whole multiple spellings etc. rat hole] (1901-1970): Of Javan and Balinese descent. VERY well educated – professional certifications in civil engineering and architecture, with a successful practice of both professions before sidelined by politics. Ardent Indonesian nationalist (a choice over the regional and local nationalities most favored in his youth; Indonesia, like India, was a colonial construct of myriad prior polities of every size from kingdoms down to small villages and remote tribes). Fluent in multiple local languages and Dutch, German, English, French, Arabic and Japanese. For this ATL the Japanese is a key. Polymath with a photographic memory. Extremely skillful political operative and organizer. Was always sexually adventurous even by the standards of the interwar avant-garde; but the corrupt, dissolute playboy of his later years is a generation in the future of this book. So is the political grandiosity of the post-Bandung Conference period. In this period he is an amoral political tactician who in OTL used and allowed himself to be used by the Japanese. They got a useful pawn, and he got to establish a base of power to fight the return of the Dutch after the Japanese lost WW2 in OTL.
