[Timmay]

Synopsis: What would happen if WWII hadn't ended in 1945? What if the Normandy landings were a failure? What if the Axis created a nuclear bomb before we did, and used it on us? What if?

Not suitable for children?

Before I begin, I should let people know this is my 3rd story, and a part 2 is coming. It isn't terrific, but it gives a fairly engaging feel of what the battlefield is like (this is based on the real accounts of WWII veteran Junior Sergeant Anton Ignatovich Leonov, my Grandfather. Rest in peace, comrade.)


"Hey Anton. Turn that shit down."

It wasn't a request; it was a command. Anton took his earphones out of his ears and wrapped them around his neck. Baba Sehgal kept rapping on.

"Why man? It's not hurting anyone."

Tyoma rolled his eyes. "I don't even know why you listen to that old shit; Baba Sehgal died like 10 years ago."

The carrier hit another bump. All the men who were sitting in the back seemed tense.

"Tyoma, I listen to them because he's a good rapper. It doesn't matter if he died."

Tyoma laughed. "What I don't get is you're about to go into battle, and you're listening to music."

Anton thought about it. "Guess it just relaxes me. What does it matter to you?"

Tyoma laughed again, but not because anything was funny; he was laughing to relieve pressure. Anton put the earphones back in his ears; he was in no rush. He looked up and closed his eyes, letting the music absorb him. Anton wondered why he was here, here being Tver, in a large armoured carrier, and in the 4th guards sapper division. When he was in school, Anton loved to learn about WWII. In high school, while prepping for the army, Anton took a theory course. His last paper was entitled, "What if Overlord Succeeded?" In Anton's paper, he asked the question. What if the Normandy landings were a success? What if, by some miracle, the boys at Omaha managed to land successfully? Anton went in-depth in his paper. He suggested that America would still be a country, not just a smoldering wreck. Anton shuddered. He always felt sick when he learned that several million people were wiped off of the planet in just a few hours. Anton's paper was so controversial and thoughtful that his teacher had used it as an example of what she wanted in future classes.

Anton made sure his Chronus's safety was on before he set it in his lap. Don't wanna blow someone's head off before the battle, Anton thought. He looked around; Anatolli was playing with a strap of Kevlar on his suit. Simeon was staring at his hand, as if he was having a conversation with it. Anton glanced at Ivan. Ivan was looking up front, where the driver was cursing about the road being bumpy. Anton didn't even have to look to know that; it was a fact that the 4th always got the worst drivers. Anton looked at Andryusha. He too was looking up front. In fact, everyone was looking up front. While he was thinking he was missing something, Tyoma kicked Anton in the shin. Anton, in a mix of anger and pain, looked at Tyoma, preparing to yell at him, when a drum magazine came flying from the front and smacked Anton on the ear. When the stars finally disappeared from his eyes, Anton looked up so see Captain Senenov looking at him sternly. "Glad to see you want to pay attention, Junior Sergeant." Anton took the earphones out again.

"I'm sorry sir, I was-"

Senenov cut him off. "You were just screwing off. You listening now?"

Anton, gritting his teeth, nodded. "Good, now throw me back my magazine."

"Yes, sir."

The Captain looked at everyone else. "O.K. Delta. We're five minutes away. Once we get into the city, this carrier is going to be under heavy fire. Once we stop, the doors are gunna open. You get your ass out of here once that happens. Confirm?"

Everyone chimed, "Yes sir!"

The Captain looked conflicted, as if he wanted to say something. He put his helmet on, and the blast screen jumped on. The Captain was reading something on the screen. He sighed and added, "Causalities are in... right now, we have 10,000 soldiers, inside of the city."

The carrier rocked as a mortar exploded several yards away from the hull. Every soldier jumped, but only partly because of the explosion.

In the beginning of the Battle for Tver, 2,000,000 soldiers, over 20 divisions, were ordered to retake and defend the city. That means that, after the siege of Tver, over 1,990,000 men died. Died trying to take a city. Anton let out a low whistle. The Captain started again.

"More good news: only 10 carriers have successfully made it into the city."

At this, Anton got up. "What the hell are we doing here then! This is bullshit!"

The Captain calmly said, "Yes Anton, I see you can do math. Ten out of 500 carriers made it into the city."

Everyone seemed as angry as Anton. "This is crap, Sir!"

"What the hell!"

"Jesus..."

The Captain angrily shouted, "Shut the hell up! We're almost there."

The Captain looked behind him. "Forty seconds. Everyone, up!"

Everyone stood up with their guns in their hands, all clearly pissed by the news they heard. "Helmets on! Check your weapons!"

There was a bustle to put on the helmets, and the metallic chinks signaled everyone was checking their weapons. "Everyone, good luck. If you get lost, look for a familiar face. Delta, let's go!"

The artillery was getting louder now. Anton could feel the carrier rocking, trying to withstand the rocks and dirt hitting it. Anton's focus turned to Fedya and the 50-kilogram Sarissa on his shoulder. It bounced along with the carrier. All of the sudden, the carrier slowed.

"Get ready!" The doors opened. And everything went black.



"...ton. ...ton. ANTON!"

Anton opened his eyes to see Lev's face only inches away from his.

Lev laughed. "HAHAHA! We thought you were dead!"

Anton crawled to his ass, looking at his surroundings. It was an irony, calling Tver a city. Cities usually imply big buildings, cars all around and people bumping into others on the sidewalks. What Anton saw was similar to what he saw during the battle of Prague: black skies exploding with mortar shells, skyscrapers ripped in two, and the deafening sounds of gunshots. Anton struggled to cover, picked up his Chronus, and started shooting in the same direction as everyone else. Anton looked around for someone else who was part of Delta. After seeing a friendly face, his Senior Sergeant, he made the long haul over to the Company sergeant. He tapped his sergeant on the shoulder.

"Sarge, what the hell happened?"

The sergeant, who was still firing his weapon, shouted (which was still only barely audible over the gunshots), "A damn mortar blew us to shit. We're scattered all around. You've been out for about two hours. We dragged you to cover. Thought you were dead."

Anton stopped to think. "And the Captain?"

The sergeant said nothing. Shit, Anton thought.

The Sergeant continued. "Gamma Company made in cleanly though. We're trying to reconnect with Beta; when we deployed, Beta led a charge. Casualties heavy. They made a nice hole for us though. The problem is," Sergeant stood up and emptied his clip. "The problem is, the Tiamats closed off their opening before we could follow Beta. They're completely surrounded."

Anton thought about it. "When did that happen?"

"As soon as our carrier was destroyed."

"Did we send a rescue team?"

Sarge grimaced. "3rd platoon went in an hour ago. Anton, Sergeant, see to your men. You are leader of 4th platoon. Get going!"

If it were any other day, Anton would have been happy to learn that he had a battlefield commission to Sergeant. But today, that meant he had to lead his men, his friends, his brothers, into a blood bath. "Sergeant, what are you still doing here? 4th platoon is over there."

Anton patted the Sergeant on his back and sprinted over to his right.



After racing around for a while, Anton could see about 14 disorganized troops just sitting, trying to not die - 4th platoon. Anton made a dash over to his men, bullets whizzing over his helmet.

"Hey there, Anton!" yelled Anatolli.

Anton disregarded the kind greeting. "O.K. guys! I'm in command! Don't ask questions, don't argue, nothing. Just listen to me."

All the men gazed at Anton, all with the same confused look. "We have to connect with Beta."

Anton looked around. He spotted Fedya.

"Fedya, give us suppressing fire as we advance. Keep your distance from each other until we get into enemy range." Anton turned to the rest of the men. "We have to cross the no man's land. No matter what, as long as you have a breath of air in your body, don't stop advancing. Once you see the Tiamats, find cover and lay down fire on them. I want fire superiority. Got me?"

Everyone nodded. Anton got right up to the K-Rail that Fedya was resting his gun on and aimed into the smoke. "Fedya, now!"

At first, the Chronus and Sarrias fired in unison, but the .50 caliber Sarrias was soon out fired by the 1400 round per minute Chronus. Once all 400 bullets of the Chronus were fired (which only took about 10 seconds), the magazine automatically ejected.

"Go, go, go!" Anton commanded.

A wave of five men sprinted into the dust. Anton saw two men fall before they made it into the cover of the smoke and debris-filled air.

"Shit..." Anton said as he loaded another 400 round drum magazine into his gun. Fedya kept firing into the fray.

"Next five, get over here."

Anatolli, Gena, Rodya, Tima, and Vitya lined up. Anton stood up and unloaded another magazine at the smoke, and as soon as he was done, the five men dashed into the haze. Anton called out the remaining three men, not including him and Fedya, to get ready. He especially targeted Yegor, who had a medical background.

"Yegor, you bring up the rear. See if anyone who fell is still alive. Got me?"

"Sir, yes Sir!"

Anton turned to Fedya. "Once you see me run, you undeploy your gun and follow. Try to give covering fire as you are running."

Fedya just nodded. Anton, brought up "gauge" on his combat visor. He looked at the bar code on his Chronus, which immediately brought up his kills. He had fired 800 bullets, and so far he had hit enemy flesh 80 times for a total of 17 kills. Hmm. Not bad.

"Covering Fire!" Anton unloaded his clip and ran into the eye of the storm.

Part 2, coming very soon.

[Timmay]

could someone give me a better title. This one sucks. "WWII never ended" ... Psh. that blows. Any suggestions?

[jerH]

Hmmmm...a title. One easy thought, pick a year for this to be set in and then call it "20XX". Another would be, if you're going to settle into a siege type scenario, you could call it something like, "The Long Russian Winter."

I think this is pretty good, but there were a few rough spots that I think could easily be polished.
--Most people probably don't know that Tver is a real city (I didn't until I googled) and not a fictional part of this alternative future. Maybe just a sentence that placed it in geographic context (Tver, north of Moscow, or on the banks of the Volga, or something).
-- Your numbers are a bit exaggerated, at least in my opinion. The US Army peaked at about 8.5 million men in WWII, spread throughout Europe and the Pacific. For 10 million men to be in one city, implies a HUGE army. And if this war has been going on so long, how have populations stayed large enough to support such a thing? Also,if 9 million are dead, I doubt a unit would still be effective and pressing an attack after a 90% casualty rate. I think you could tone those numbers down but still convey the deadliness of the situation.
-- This could just be my ignorance of Russian force structures, but you've got a Captain and the enlisted guys, but no Lieutenants.

These are nit-picks because the core is really good. Look forward to reading more!

[Timmay]

Originally Posted by jerH

Hmmmm...a title. One easy thought, pick a year for this to be set in and then call it "20XX". Another would be, if you're going to settle into a siege type scenario, you could call it something like, "The Long Russian Winter."

I think this is pretty good, but there were a few rough spots that I think could easily be polished.
--Most people probably don't know that Tver is a real city (I didn't until I googled) and not a fictional part of this alternative future. Maybe just a sentence that placed it in geographic context (Tver, north of Moscow, or on the banks of the Volga, or something).
-- Your numbers are a bit exaggerated, at least in my opinion. The US Army peaked at about 8.5 million men in WWII, spread throughout Europe and the Pacific. For 10 million men to be in one city, implies a HUGE army. And if this war has been going on so long, how have populations stayed large enough to support such a thing? Also,if 9 million are dead, I doubt a unit would still be effective and pressing an attack after a 90% casualty rate. I think you could tone those numbers down but still convey the deadliness of the situation.
-- This could just be my ignorance of Russian force structures, but you've got a Captain and the enlisted guys, but no Lieutenants.

These are nit-picks because the core is really good. Look forward to reading more!

I agree with you on some things. BTW, i like the title. Your first point i dont agree with tho. I dont really think it matters where it is. i adress that in part 3. part 2 is already done. I didnt think about your second point. one thing i can say tho is that in this near future senario (10 years after baba sehgal dies, which will be in 2068 [the story is in 2078]) is that everyone is in the army. that was why i added the whole "training for the military in high school" so, you can assume that about 1 billion people are in russia, blah, blah, blah, ya. i'll tone the numbers down. Im editing now. Your 3rd issue is adressed in part 3. in part 1, i just dont mention any lieutenant. they are there, but off screen. and actually, in russia, a highranking sergeant, like the sergeant in this story, can actually be more responsible and "higher ranked" than a lieutenant. only the russians would do something like that

[Will Dog]

im agreeing with most others, better title. Like the concept and good character interaction

[Ryan/Petey M.]

This is great. Which parts are based on your grandfather's experiences?

[Timmay]

Originally Posted by Ryan/Petey M.

This is great. Which parts are based on your grandfather's experiences?

its all kinda moulded 2gether. this section deals with the 4:30 crossing of the volga, sept 16th. section 2 (which is taking a lot of time 2 submit) deal with him having to go up a building 2 take out a flak 2 cm which was raining hell onto his troops.

ps, the battlefield commision happened