| abstract
| - Alamogordo Test Range, Jornada del Muerto desert. The first atom bomb test is successful. The yield of the explosion is 22 kiloton, more than expected. Sunday, June 17 1945 Pentagon President Truman is advised by his staff to use atom bombs on Japan. This may put an end to the war against Japan quickly. The Allies can then concentrate on defeating Germany. There is a possibility that an atom bomb used on Germany fails to explode and is recovered. This would give the Germans vital technological information. Truman agrees that Japan should be used for a field test. Thursday, June 21 1945 Okinawa Okinawa finally falls to the Allies after a three-month battle. Kamikaze attacks were used on a large scale but to no avail. The Allied superiority is too great. Hitler decides at once to send more support to Japan as the Americans have to keep millions of troops in the Pacific as long as the Japanese keep fighting. Complete radar stations are flown to Japan. Two Sea Wolves leave for Tokyo. Friday, June 22 1945 Luftwaffe artwork by Gino Marcomini at luft46 The transsonic Me-362 enters service in the Luftwaffe. The fighter can reach Mach 0.96 in level flight and has a ceiling of 17,000 meters. It retains the four 30 mm cannon of the Me-262 and has mounting points for unguided rockets and X-4 IR homing missiles. This is the first German jet aircraft to carry the FuG256 centimeter radar, used for target acquisition. Saturday, June 23 1945 Silverbird Dr. Sänger is introduced to Hitler by Albert Speer. He has plans for an suborbital intercontinental bomber called Silverbird. The bomber is launched from a 3 km monorail and reaches 22,100 km/h speed at 145 km altitude. It has a range of 23,500 km and a payload of 4000 kg. Speer approves on condition that the range becomes 40,000 km so the Silverbird can circle round the planet and land in Germany. Dr. Sänger gets a 100 million mark budget and is asked to work together with Von Braun. Wednesday, June 27 1945 Malta Malta is now under constant attack by jet bombers. Bombing is as bad as in the worst days in 1942. Anti-aircraft batteries and radar stations are gradually knocked out with guided bombs. Wednesday, July 4 1945 Atlantic An incredible 1.6 million tons of shipping has been sunk by U-boats in the Atlantic in two months. This is in spite of Allied countermeasures. Although losses were similar in some months in 1942 this is clearly only the beginning. A cartoon in German signal magazine shows an American soldier boarding a ship and is subtitled "going to England Yankee? take your swimsuit!" Ominously, food rations in Great Britain are further reduced. Sailors now have to be offered treble salaries to sail on the Atlantic. Only fast convoys are now used on the Atlantic. Thursday, July 26 1945 Great Britain Me-362 and Ta-183 fighters start escorting bombers over Great Britain, prowling around and challenging the RAF. German newspapers are speculating that operation Sea Lion is being planned. Monday, August 6 1945 Japan An atomic bomb is dropped on Hiroshima. Casualties are some 100,000 civilians. Some air raids have claimed more victims but not in a single explosion. There is no news from the Hiroshima area as all communication links have been destroyed. Tuesday, August 7 1945 Berlin The German/Japanese research team led by Heisenberg has heard about the atomic bomb on Japan. Observers have been sent to Japan by air. Heisenberg correctly concludes that the US has used a nuclear device. He answers a worried telephone call from Albert Speer. When he mentions that he can build an atom bomb in a few months for 100 million marks he is allocated unlimited financing immediately. Speer knows the way of scientists. They like setting up experiments and forget the big picture. Therefore he asks Marshall Milch to supervise the atomic bomb project. Up to now German efforts have been haphazard and some groups were actually competing against each other. Milch is the second most capable administrator in the Reich after Speer himself. He has successfully organized the Moscow industrial complex, the second biggest such complex in the Reich. This is the day that the German atomic bomb project gets into gear. Milch interviews scientists the whole day and realizes quickly that U-235 is the key to the atomic bomb. Over the next days Milch gives top priority to the U-235 refining project led by Diebner. Heisenberg is asked - he cannot be ordered - to investigate the details of U-235 critical mass. Some scientist remembers a computer designed by Conrad Zuse that can help with the calculations of critical mass. Thursday, August 9 1945 Japan A B-29 carrying an atom bomb is shot down over Kokura by Saburo Sakai leading the first Japanese jet squadron. The bomber was detected by a German radar station and immediately suspected of being an atom bomber. When sorting through the wreckage the Japanese find the smashed bomb. The pieces of the atom bomb are sent to Germany with the next Ju-390 transport. This is bad luck for the Allies - exactly what they had wanted to avoid. Wednesday, August 15 1945 Japan Japan rejects American demands for surrender. Axis scientists estimate that the US may have at most two atom bombs left. The Japanese need some encouragement so they are informed that plans are made to knock Great Britain out of the war. Monday, August 20 1945 Tokyo Two Sea Wolves arrive in Tokyo harbor with more on the way. Wednesday, August 22 1945 Berlin The heavy water moderated reactor in Haigerloch is modified to use enriched uranium and goes critical. There is a loud cheer as the Geiger counters start chattering. The reactor will now be used for research and more reactors on the same model will be built. Germany has an enormous supply of 3000 tons of uranium, confiscated from the Belgians in their factory at Dessel. There is enough raw material to build 200 atom bombs. The Diebner facility in the Harz mountains is producing U-235 using Harteck ultracentrifuges. An experiment to make a hydrogen bomb by using conventional explosives in opposed shaped charges is unsuccessful but research continues. The hydrogen bomb project has already produced the idea of a fuel-air bomb as a side effect. Wednesday, September 5 1945 Great Britain The First B-29 squadron arrives in Great Britain. Atom bombs will be sent by sea as they become available. Spies have reported that the atom bomb captured in Japan has been sent to Germany. The Allies are in a race against time. All Allied efforts are now directed against Germany, giving Japan a respite. Friday, September 7 1945 Oranienburg The Horten XVIIIB intercontinental jet bomber makes its first flight. It is a flying wing bomber capable of crossing the Atlantic at 1,000 km/h. Friday, September 14 1945 Oranienburg A dozen Sea Wolves patrol in the area around Malta. Shipping in the Mediterranean is now so hazardous only 10% of ships get through. The Luftwaffe is getting great practice at using Hs-293 glide bombs against shipping. The OKH considers an aerial invasion of Malta. Saturday, September 15 1945 Atlantic There are now 35 Sea Wolves blockading the Atlantic. The Allies try to keep a corridor in the Atlantic secure with constantly patrolling aircraft, conceding most of the Atlantic to the U-boats. Extremely worrying is that no U-boat of the new type has been sunk or even seen yet. A new type of homing torpedo is being developed that can track a submarine at great depth. 1.5 Million tons of shipping has been sunk in August, a new record. Wednesday, September 19 1945 Atlantic Fast cruiser Melvin is sunk in the Atlantic. Fast cruisers were thought to be immune to torpedo attack but a type 21 submarine used a WS1 homing rocket launched from underwater. Lookouts are too amazed to shout an alarm as the rocket rushes at Melvin's waterline with indecent speed. Then it is too late as the rocket hits the engine room with uncanny accuracy. The exploit is published as a minor success in Germany but in fact the cruiser was carrying a plutonium bomb. In the future atom bombs will be carried across the Atlantic by aircraft. Tuesday, September 25 1945 Great Britain The Luftwaffe concentrates on aircraft factories in Great Britain. Bombers are usually the strange looking Ju-287 and Go-229 escorted by Me-362s and Ta-183s, all second generation jets. The Ar-234 was the first jet bomber but is already obsolete. The Allied superiority in piston fighters is nullified by German jets. The few remaining P-80s and Meteors are usually attacked before they can close with bombers. Germans jets outclass Allied ones in all aspects. Particularly Ta-183s are extremely agile and frequently enter into dogfights with Spitfires. The German strategic decision to concentrate on hi-tech axial flow jets pays off. The Allies are using centrifugal flow jets which are more reliable but aerodynamically inferior. Tuesday, October 2 1945 France A squadron of Vampires on patrol over France is attacked by a Ta-183 "Huckebein" force. The Vampires are outclassed, six are shot down. Allied jets are now restricted from flying over enemy territory. Monday, October 15 1945 France A new version of the King Tiger Tank is in production. The tank has a 1,000 horsepower fuel-injected Maybach engine making the tank as nimble and fast as the American Sherman. The tank carries a massive 105mm gyro-stabilized gun with a targeting system that can reliably knock out any enemy tank at a range of 4 km. It is armored like a battleship. Thursday, November 8 1945 Germany The Ju-387 jet bomber prototype makes its first flight. The bomber has 6 Jumo-012 jet engines giving it a speed of 930 km/h and a range of 9000 km with a bomb load of 5000 kg. A true atomic bomber. The Horten XVIIIB has a wider range but cannot carry an atomic bomb. Monday, November 12 1945 Berlin 220 B-29 bombers attack Berlin using active radar countermeasures. One thousand jets scramble to intercept but only a few make contact by accident. Most jets chase phantoms all over Germany. The Allies are satisfied with the experiment. The next attack will be atomic. Tuesday, January 1 1946 GNP The GNP of Axis and Allied camps is now about even at 300 billion dollars. Axis production has more than doubled in one year, thanks to the efforts of Speer and Milch. Both sides now have serious manpower shortages. Sunday, January 6 1946 Germany Three German cities, Berlin, Hamburg and Munich are hit by atom bombs in a night raid. This is intended as a knock-out blow by the Allies. Two B-29s are shot down before reaching their targets. One of the bombs survives the crash and is recovered. Radar countermeasures were effective. Both sides are working flat-out on electronic technology which is becoming the key to modern war. Monday, January 7 1946 Germany Casualties in the atom war are 160,000. It could have been more but the stricken cities were already partially evacuated and German houses are generally sturdier than Japanese ones. The damage is actually less than that of a heavy air raid one year earlier. London is attacked in retaliation with A4 rockets carrying Sarin nerve gas. Some 70,000 casualties are reported. Sunday, January,13 1946 Germany Two more German cities are attacked with atom bombs, Bremen and Nuernberg. one B-29s carrying an atom bombs is shot down. B-29 bombers flying alone are quickly identified as atom bombers and attacked. Again casualties are heavy. The Allies send an ultimatum to Berlin demanding unconditional surrender. JG31 and JG51 are recalled for homeland defense. Tuesday, January 15 1946 London The Axis reject the surrender ultimatum with a nerve gas attack. The center of London is hit by A4 rockets delivering Soman, a new and more deadly nerve gas. Casualties are more than 300,000 even with the capital partially evacuated. The war has reached a new level of ferocity. Wednesday, January 16 1946 New York Manhattan is unexpectedly hit with a nerve gas attack. The attack was executed by a Me-264 squadron carrying 200 tons of Soman. Manhattan is a ghost town. The attack caused 400,000 casualties. The US as a nation in shocked. Civilians had thought themselves immune to air attack. The most devastating result is the total loss of the financial core executives of the US. Thursday, January 17 1946 New York President Truman condemns the killing of civilians as a barbaric crime. Coast Guard is upgraded and eventually the whole east coast will be covered by radar. Fighter squadrons are sent to East Coast cities. Some squadrons are recalled from Great Britain. The British will have to fend for themselves. Newspapers carrying the suggestion to end the war are censored. American citizens become hysterical and demand protection. Demonstrations are held in major cities, first starting off as anti-German demonstrations, then alarmingly turning into anti-war demonstrations. Thousands of citizens are arrested. Sunday, January 20 1946 Germany Aachen and Kiel are destroyed by Allied Atom bombs. Radar countermeasures were less effective this time because German radars have started frequency hopping. The bombers are tracked on the way home by an AWACS aircraft and the airfields where they land are immediately attacked with nerve gas and new experimental fuel-air bombs. Monday, January 21 1946 Kiev Kiev is evacuated and then destroyed in a German atom bomb experiment. The city was already heavily depopulated under Stalin and even more during operation Barbarossa. The practical Germans have decided that the best test of the effectiveness of an atom bomb on cities is to use a city as a target. Heisenberg has come upon the idea to add a few grams of tritium to a U-235 bomb to enhance neutron production. The idea is successful and produces a satisfactory 30 kiloton bang, obliterating the center of the ancient city. Himmler had a private meeting with Milch where he volunteered the Jewish prisoners of Auschwitz to populate Kiev and investigate the effect of radiation on sub-humans. Milch politely refused. Field Marshall Milch is a curiosity in Nazi Germany. His father was a Jew which makes him ineligible for higher office. But such is his talent that he has received an exception from Hitler himself and he has become third in command of the Reich after Göring. He disdains Jews as much as any Nazi. He is strict but not cruel and therefore had always dismissed rumors of extermination of Jews. Now the casual offer of Himmler has shocked him to the core. He mentally re-assesses Himmler from a harmless and incompetent fool to a mad and dangerous fool. He will investigate rumors in his relentless and methodical way. Tuesday, January 22 1946 Berlin Konrad Zuse is somewhat bewildered when he is put in charge of computer research in Germany with a staff of 100 engineers. His Z-4 computer was very useful in providing critical mass calculations for the German atom bomb. As a result scientists have demanded faster and more versatile computers. He starts planning a new generation computer, the programmable Z-5 running at a clock frequency of 100 kHz and a whopping two kilobytes of RAM tubes. As a side effect scientists research miniature and faster vacuum tubes for computers and even a more reliable replacement for vacuum tubes. Industrial spies have reported that Bell Labs in the USA have created a Solid State Physics Group led by Prof. Shockley. As a result the Institute for Solid State Physics is created in Berlin.
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