DRAMATIS PERSONAE
Relocated for space reasons.
Individuals in italics are deceased.
Individuals marked with (fic.) are completely the author's creations.
Germany
The Leaders
Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Benckendorff und von Hindenburg (d. 1934) - President of Germany, re-elected in 1932. In failing health, Hindenburg is a staunch monarchist. At the dawn of 1933, his greatest immediate regret is his failure to support his friend, Franz von Papen, as Chancellor throughout 1932.
Friedrich Wilhelm Victor August Kronprinz von Preußen - Elected through a bit of parliamentary chicanery to the Presidency of Germany after Hindenburg's death, Crown Prince Wilhelm is a genuinely kind man who was one of the few leading Germans to speak out against the Great War - in English, no less. He genuinely believes in doing the best that he can for Germany, and has sufficient experience to condemn the "stab in the back" myth, but lacks real leadership experience.
Wilhelm II von Hohenzollern (d. 1941) - Once German Emperor, Wilhelm II was returned to grace by the disavowal of the Versailles Treaty and instated to a position of power as his son's viceroy for East Prussia. Wilhelm's return paves the way for a general reinstatement of the former German monarchs.
Otto I von Habsburg - The first King of Austria, a constitutional portmanteau that had not previously existed, Otto von Habsburg is a genuinely decent man who harbors mixed feelings about the way he received his throne. Otto is a genuine Austrian patriot, and while he feels that Austria is strengthened by this union with Germany, he wishes that Austria had remained free and independent.
Wilhelm Friedrich Franz Josef Christian Olaf Prinz von Preußen (d. 1941) - The eldest son of Wilhelm III, Prince Wilhelm was widely viewed as the best hopes of the Monarchists until he gave up his succession rights to marry the commoner Dorothea von Salviati. He died in France in August of 1941 while visiting the Garde du Corps under Erich von Manstein. His marriage to Dorothea von Salviati became dynastic in July of 1942, a gesture on Wilhelm III's part to his daughter-in-law.
Ludwig Ferdinand Victor Albert Michael Hubertus Kronprinz von Preußen - Son of Wilhelm III, Ludwig Ferdinand is a businessman first, a royal second, due to spending most of his upbringing in exile. He is the first Hohenzollern prince to have no military affiliation whatsoever by adulthood. He marries the Grand Duchess Kira Kirillovna of Russia in 1938.
Kurt von Schleicher (d. 1936) - Chancellor of Germany, appointed in November of 1932. Von Schleicher is a career officer, but is distrusted within the Army as too "political," especially after his role in the downfall of General Wilhelm Groener and Chancellor Heinrich Bruening in May of 1932. Schleicher is widely regarded with suspicion, and at the dawn of 1933, his Cabinet is generally viewed as on the edge of disaster.
Franz Joseph Hermann Michael Maria von Papen zu Koeningen - A dilettante and cavalry officer, von Papen headed the so-called "Barons' Cabinet" of 1932, a compromise cabinet which von Schleicher had first suggested, then assiduously undermined. He is close to both the Hohenzollern royal family and the Hindenburg family; he is also widely disliked by the American government for his role in a series of espionage fiascos during the Great War. He burns with a desire to avenge himself on Schleicher and to return to Hindenburg's good graces.
The "Small Cabinet"
Oskar von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg - Son of deceased President Paul von Hindenburg, Oskar von Hindenburg is the Kaiser's spymaster, the chief of the Abwehr and the man responsible for keeping the Kaiser informed of his enemies' interests abroad. Hindenburg is a more than competent officer, but prefers to be close to the centers of power and therefore is unlikely to be seen as a combat commander.
Konstantin Freiherr von Neurath - The Kaiser's Foreign Minister, Neurath is a very cultured, civilized man, best described as an old-fashioned European diplomat. He served honorably in the Great War, but spent most of his time in the Foreign Service. He has been ambassador to Denmark, Italy, and Great Britain, and is a respected man in most European diplomatic circles.
Friedrich Werner Graf von der Schulenburg - The Kaiser's ambassador in Moscow, Graf Schulenburg is the most likely candidate to replace Neurath when the old man of Wilhelmine diplomacy finally retires. Schulenburg is architect of the plan to disassemble Russia into constituent states; while he disagrees with Papen and Neurath's program of Balkan diplomacy, he recognizes that their house-of-cards structure is temporary at best.
Hermann Wilhelm Göring - A Great War ace and sometime Nazi, the Kaiser's Air Minister stays in power mostly by shrewd appointment of subordinates, outright extortion of business interests, and a diverting personal style in dealing with the Kaiser himself rather than any natural talent at the ministerial level. While undoubtedly personally brave, he has a number of worrisome personal habits.
The Industrialists
Gustav Baron Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach - The master of the Krupp economic empire, Gustav Krupp became both the first Baron Krupp, and the Minister of Economics following the Kaiser's loss of confidence in Hjalmar Schacht. Krupp was once a notable diplomat, and married into the family following the death of Fritz Krupp before the Great War. However, his health is slowly deteriorating.
Albert Speer - The court architect, Speer rose to influence under the eye of Kaiserin Cecilie. In 1941, upon the elder Krupp's stroke, the younger Krupp refuses the Ministry of Economics. Speer, a favorite of the Kaiser's and the builder of the new Chancellory, the Reichstag, and the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, accepts the post in his place.
Alfried Felix Alwyn von Bohlen und Halbach - The heir to the Krupp name and company, Alfried is a contrast, an enthusiastic sportsman addicted to fast cars and loose women, and a serious, studious engineer who fully realizes the weight that his heritage places on his shoulders. Alfried restricts his outlandish behavior to outside of work, while he is nothing short of a machine in the office or corporate meetings. He flirted with the Nazis while still a student, but at his father's orders was one of the very first to renounce his Party affiliation.
Karl von Terzaghi, Dr. Ing. - A professor at Technische Hochschule Wien, Terzaghi is a prickly genius who has taught at universities on three continents. He has been uncomfortable with the political situation in Austria for some time, leery of the trend toward extremism. As a result, when the opportunity to work on the proposed Bosphorus rail bridge arises, he leaps at it.
Wernher Freiherr von Braun, PhD - Wernher von Braun earned his doctorate in 1934, though only part of it was released for public consumption. He is a passionate believer in the importance of rocketry, though he is also an accomplished jazz pianist and a certified glider pilot. After his doctorate, he was co-opted by the German military as an Army civilian employee, and is employed at the Peenemunde test site.
Konrad Zuse, Dipl. Ing. - Another graduate of Technische Hochschule Berlin, Zuse has been obsessed for years with the idea of machines performing calculations rather than repetetive hand calculation. He was briefly employed by the Henschel firm before being brought on board the German rocketry program to create a mechanical computer to perform ballistic calculations. His value there brought him to the attention of General Becker.
The Aviators
Wolfram Freiherr von Richthofen, Dr. Ing. (d. 1946) - A cousin of the legendary Great War ace, Wolfram von Richthofen was one of the members of the Flying Circus on the day Manfred was shot down in early 1918. Between March and November of 1918, he scored eight air-to-air kills, and on discharge trained as an aeronautical engineer. He spent the 1920s as unofficial air attache in Italy, returning to official service in 1933 as part of the expansion of the official German military during the Rising. He was instrumental in the development of Germany's bomber force during the early years of the Luftwaffe, and was rewarded with high commands in Spain and the East, culminating in promotion to Generalfeldmarschall in 1945. He died in 1946 of brain cancer.
Kurt Arthur Benno Student - A colonel in the Reichswehr whose responsibilities include planning for the next air war, Student is one of the few officers who regularly commutes to and from Russia. He scored six aerial victories in the Great War, but was denied "Experte" status by a wound in autumn of 1917. At present, Student is one of a number of aides to Major-General Ernst Udet, who leads the Deutsche Luftsportverband aeronautics organization, and maintains his license to operate gliders, though Germany is forbidden fixed-wing powered aircraft by Versailles.
Wilhelm Bittrich - A Luftwaffe officer who briefly flirted with the Nazi Party prewar, Wilhelm Bittrich has a reputation for being an able, if sarcastic, officer, whose career advanced slowly because of his Nazi links until he volunteered to lead Hermann Göring's vanity division, Germany's only parachute-qualified armored division. He has an exceptionally dim view of his superiors, but is well-liked by the rest of Germany's armored forces for his willingness to be blunt in his criticisms.
Adolf Joseph Ferdinand Galland - At twenty-two, Galland is an atypical example of the postwar generation. He developed an early interest in aviation, and even before graduation from the gymnasium in 1932, had built and flown his first glider. This allowed him to be one of twenty pilot trainees accepted by Lufthansa's in-house flight school that year; he became a member of the covert air force the following year, but was badly injured in a crash during flight training.
Hanna Reitsch - The daughter of a missionary and a doctor, Hanna Reitsch grew up wanting to be a missionary doctor, but discovered a love of sailplane flight in the early 1920s. She came to the attention of Ernst Udet in 1933, and found herself drawn into a surprisingly stable romance with Peter Volkmann starting just after the coronation.
Joachim Fitzgerald (fic.) - The son of Irish immigrants following the Rising of 1916, James Fitzgerald is a massive, barrel-chested paratrooper who is a curious mix of peacetime discipline problems and wartime heroism. He showed up for duty following St. Patrick's Day too drunk to jump, but without Fitzgerald, Wilhelm Volkmann would likely be dead in Poland.
Jan Vogt (fic.) - Vogt is a Sudeten German, a radio operator by civilian trade, who has accidentally found himself hitched to Peter Volkmann's star. He began as a Luftwaffe radioman, then, thanks to chicanery and arm-twisting on Peter's part, became a licensed pilot. He is laconic to the point of frustration for anyone attempting to deal with him, but is a keen observer when he cares to share his observations.
Otto Skorzeny, Dipl. Ing. (d. 1947) - Otto Skorzeny is a holdover from the Austrian air force's parachute test company, their former commander and a licensed engineer. He joined the Luftstreitkräfte in 1936 after a year's probation for his Nazi Party membership. After serving for a year as an airfield construction engineer, he chafed at his duties and volunteered to join the nascent parachutist program. A giant with a dueling scar running down one cheek, Skorzeny takes a very liberal view of leadership, a from-the-ranks philosophy which makes him stand out among the German officers of Student's corps after Anschluss.
Carl Francke, Dipl. Ing. - Francke is an aeronautical engineer by trade, enrolled in the 1930s in the resurgent Luftwaffe and closely tied to the strategic bomber program. He has flown every iteration of the Heinkel 177 series, and was the obvious choice to head the Silberplatte group when the time came to deploy the first nuclear weapons.
The Sailors
Erich Johann Albert Raeder - The commander-in-chief of the German Navy, Raeder has been a sailor since 1895, and a flag officer of the Reichsmarine since 1922. He established a reputation early as one of the prime thinkers of the German navy, and continues to espouse a doctrine of surface warfare, mediating the ongoing dispute between the two schools of carriers and submarines spearheaded by Wilhelm Canaris and Karl Dönitz.
Wilhelm Franz Canaris - Another Great War veteran, widely considered to be too clever for his own good, Canaris served as a communications officer, spy, and U-boat captain during the Great War, surviving a British assassination attempt in Spain. After the war, he served as a battleship captain, schoolmaster, and signals intelligence chief, showing his exceptional versatility; by 1935, he had become Germany's prime proponent of naval aviation, and commanded the converted aviation cruiser Hindenburg in Spain.
Karl Dönitz - A U-boat commander at the end of the Great War, Dönitz is a fanatical believer in the primacy of the submarine. He served as head of the torpedo school for a period in the early 1930s before he began to publish extensively within the Reichsmarine on submarine warfare. Dönitz is proponent of a radical new way of using submarines, the "wolfpack" doctrine, which uses groups rather than individual raiders.
Prinz Wilhelm Viktor Karl August Heinrich Sigismund von Preussen - Prince Sigismund is the second, and more competent, son of Prince Heinrich, brother to Kaiser Wilhelm II and a founding figure in the German Navy. Upon the completion of the Polish campaign, he returned to Germany to claim some of his naval birthright. Many in the fleet see him as a sort of good-luck charm, though he has not been commanded at sea except in a yacht since 1918.
Hans Wilhelm Langsdorff - Hans Langsdorff is a career officer who served on surface vessels from 1914 to his conversion to the effectiveness of naval aviation off the Spanish coast in 1936. Langsdorff was promoted over the head of Peter Volkmann to command the Kaiser's first carrier division, a position he held during the critical battle of Scapa Flow. His connections to the old guard of the Kaiserliche Marine have helped grant the carrier branch considerable respectability.
Günther Prien - A quiet but competent U-boat commander, Prien is chosen by the Seekriegsleitung to head the last-minute submerged reconnaissance around Scapa Flow. His submarine is therefore one of the first on hand at the declaration of war in 1941.
The Soldiers
Moritz Albrecht Franz Friedrich Fedor von Bock - Created as the new Kaiserreich's first field marshal, Fedor von Bock was once the younger Wilhelm's military aide during the Great War, and advocated a march on Kiel by the royal family to subdue the mutiny in 1918. He is not a particularly imaginative soldier, but has cast-iron nerves and an excellent instinct for operations.
Werner Eduard Fritz von Blomberg (d. 1946) - Werner von Blomberg was viewed by many as a potential for the highest commands in the German Army; however, his dalliance with the Nazis in the early 1930s made Chancellor von Schleicher suspicious of him and led to his marginalization in the early 1930s. When the elder Wilhelm, as King in Prussia and the Kaiser's viceroy in East Prussia, offered him command of the German army in East Prussia, he leaped at the chance, and was made Generalfeldmarschall in 1936. He returned to the margins of the Imperial Army after the Polish campaign, and passed into medical semi-retirement in the early 1940s. He died of a protracted battle with cancer in 1946.
Werner von Fritsch - Werner von Fritsch was, with Gerd von Rundstedt, one of Schleicher's chief instruments in maintaining order during the Rising; after the Rising he found himself assigned to the comparative backwater of Commandant at Lichterfelde when it re-opened. He served with sufficient distinction in the Low Countries, France, and Britain to be Germany's governor at Scapa Flow at the end of the war in the west.
Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck - General von Lettow-Vorbeck was the only undefeated German commander of the Great War, who marched his troops into voluntary internment rather than surrendering them at war's end. As a result, he was the only German general to receive a postwar victory parade. He spent the interwar years in retirement, returning to service with the new Kaiser and accepting the post of interim military governor of Britain before the Treaty of Wilhelmshaven. Postwar, he returned to Africa as Germany's colonial governor.
Paul Hausser - Commandant of the Berlin office of the Stahlhelm veterans' organization, Hausser is a retired lieutenant-general and is, like most officers of his time, a dyed-in-the-wool monarchist. He is, like most professional officers, suspicious of Chancellor von Schleicher; however, because he is the Stahlhelm leader for Berlin, he sits on a vast untapped manpower resource which Schleicher will need if he is to retain control of Germany.
Heinrich Alfried Hermann Walther von Brauchitsch (Ret. 1946) - Chief of the General Staff, Walther von Brauchitsch has been one of the most influential figures of Germany's rearmament. He first rose to prominence as commander of a cavalry corps suppressing the Rising in 1933, and has remained one of the General Staff's foremost members since. However, by the mid-1940s, his health is failing and he seeks a replacement to carry on his work. He retires at the end of 1946, to be succeeded by Erich von Manstein as Chief of the General Staff.
Walther von Reichenau - Walther von Reichenau was another of the German officers who flirted with the Nazis prior to the Rising; this affected his promotion chances considerably and impacted his health. He suffered a severe stroke in 1942 that left the right side of his face paralyzed, a fact which he has carefully concealed from his subordinates.
Georg Thomas - Chief of the Economic Planning Office of the General Staff, Thomas is a technocrat on the Speer model, who cares more about the restoration of Germany than the masters he serves. He is a board member of the Hermann Goering Steel Works, with the goal of keeping production diverted to the German military.
Karl Emil Heinrich Becker, Dr.Ing. - Major-General and Professor of Military Engineering and Physics, Technische Hochschule Berlin. Becker is one of the few German officers who can legitimately be considered an intellectual, a polymath in the Seeckt mold and the impetus behind Germany's new rocket program. At the same time, he is a lecturing professor at several Berlin institutions, and acts sometimes as a talent scout for the Reichswehr.
Walter Dornberger, Dr.Ing. h.c. - Dornberger is the immediate chief of Germany's military rocketry program, answering to Becker and in command of the Peenemunde installation. He is a pragmatist and views Germany's rocketry program as an extension of normal artillery, unlike von Braun, who even at this early date thinks of rocketry in terms of space travel.
Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist (the elder) - Ewald von Kleist was a staunch monarchist in the 1930s, and welcomed the restoration of the Hohenzollerns and reform of the German military. He was one of the founding fathers of the armored force, but because of personality conflicts was in direct competition with Guderian. His contributions were at least partially overshadowed by his former subordinate as a result, but he was one of the primary planners of the invasion of England.
Johannes Jürgen Christoph Ewald von Kleist (the younger) - The younger Ewald von Kleist had perhaps the most prestigious command in the Panzertruppen upon the invasion of England: he commanded the second battalion of 3. Leib-Panzerregiment, once Generalfeldmarschall von Mackensen's "Totenkopf" regiment. A combination of family connections and innate ability brought him thus far. He was at the time widely regarded as an enthusiastic amateur, but his handling of the battalion in the landing gained him significant attention and confirmed him as one of the rising stars of the Garde-Panzertruppen.
Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel - A decorated hero of the Great War, Rommel has maintained his association with the Reichswehr despite the lean times; though his advancement between the wars was slow because of his preference for field over staff service, he has found himself an instructor at Lichterfelde after the publication of his manual for small infantry units in 1935.
Heinz Wilhelm Guderian - A staff officer between the wars, Guderian was one of the main proponents of the integrated approach to warfare that marked German operations in Poland and beyond. He spent much of the prewar period as the head of the armored training command, and led the dramatic Central Asian operations of the Russian war.
Fritz Erich Georg Eduard von Manstein - Erich von Manstein is an aristocratic officer fond of power and comfort; as a cadet, he served as a Foot Guards page, and collects en-suite Garde-regiment appointments. Despite all this, he is widely regarded as a brilliant innovator and staff planner. He commands the 1. Garde-panzerkorps in France, where he is present and partially responsible for the death of Prinz Wilhelm von Preussen, which sets his career back, almost catastrophically. Only after his exceptional frontline service in England, careful management of Poland, and foresight in the invasion of the Soviet Union was he forgiven. He succeeds Brauchitsch as Chief of the General Staff at the beginning of 1947.
Adrian von Fölkersam - An East Prussian aristocrat with ties to the Baltic states, Adrian von Fölkersam is a creature out of a British romance, a noble who can vanish into the population of one of the border states, combining the best features of soldier and spy. He is one of the senior officers of the Brandenburg Division and has operated most of his wartime career deep behind Soviet lines.
Fritz Bayerlein - Fritz Bayerlein is the First General Staff Officer to Erwin Rommel, the staff officer who largely masks his superior's impatience with staff work. He is a Generalmajor in 1941, and Johann Volkmann finds himself assigned as one of Bayerlein's roving staff officers, tasked with making sure Rommel's occasionally impetuous style of command is translated into a reasonable, cohesive operational plan.
Joseph Dietrich - Joseph "Sepp" Dietrich served during the Great War as an artilleryman and later a tanker; he fell in with Hitler and the Nazis in 1928 after long association with them in Munich. By 1930, he was a NSDAP Reichstag delegate. When Schleicher banned the Nazis in mid-1933, he reported as a police informer; as a high-ranking Nazi, however, he was placed in protective custody. Schleicher approached him about leading a group of former Nazis for use as his own personal enforcement squad, hiding them at the Krupp testing ground at Meppen.
Theodor Eicke - Theodor Eicke is an Alsatian, with the personality of a bulldog. He served as an enlisted man during the Great War, and as Dietrich's first sergeant during the Rising in 1933. Since then he has slowly but steadily rising in rank, first under Schleicher's aegis, then on his own rights for actions in Spain.
The Volkmanns (fic.)
Ernst Volkmann - A forty-five-year old engineer and veteran of the Great War, Volkmann is a member of the paramilitary Stahlhelm. He has four children, aged from thirteen to twenty - in order, Annelise, Wilhelm, Johann, and Peter. During the Stahlhelm call-up as reserve police of February 1933, Volkmann plays an instrumental part in the Reichstag Fire investigation.
Peter Volkmann - Ernst's son, a third-year student in civil engineering at Technische Hochschule Berlin. Peter enrolled in Becker's artillery and ballistics class largely out of curiosity and attracted the general's attention. On impulse, Peter agreed to become involved with Colonel Student.
Johann Volkmann - Ernst's second son, a much more impetuous and hotheaded boy whose continuous reckless behavior leads Ernst to accept Alfried von Bohlen's offer to influence the admission panel at the reopened Main Cadet Academy at Lichterfelde. Johann has a young man's sense of invulnerability, leading to a natural affinity for any vehicle he can get his hands on. Thus far he has avoided killing himself.
Wilhelm Volkmann - Ernst's youngest son has a talent for languages which his father has been able to indulge on their extensive travels; however, his formal education is spotty because of those same travels. During his time in the Balkans, Wilhelm has developed a taste for adventure that rivals Johann's, though he is nowhere near as flamboyant.
Rita Volkmann (nee Zollinger) - Wilhelm Volkmann's wife, Rita Volkmann is a frustrated feminist - frustrated because the Reich is increasingly patriarchal, and a feminist because of her upbringing, which saw extensive travel. She is a sometime columnist for the Münchner Post, writing now mostly on military affairs from a spectator's view.
Annelise de Lassan (nee Volkmann) - Ernst and Lise Volkmann's youngest, their daughter Annelise, married a French armored officer named de Lassan in the spring of 1941. Her parents were furious about this, both because she did not inform them of her intent to marry, and because she married a Frenchman on the obvious eve of war. Her fate remains undetermined as of the fall of Paris.
Britain
The Leaders
EDWARD (VIII) Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David, King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain (past), Duke of Windsor - Edward VIII is a vain, capricious man raised to royal privilege. Upon elevation to the throne, his behavior and involvement with an American divorcee leads to his eventual abdication from the throne, which precipitates a constitutional crisis. He spends much of his remaining life in a frantic effort to capitalize on his onetime importance and, occasionally, tries to intrigue with foreign powers to regain the throne.
Albert Frederick Arthur GEORGE (VI) Windsor, King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain - A shy, unassuming naval officer with a speech impediment and no political ambitions whatsoever, King George VI is elevated to the throne upon the abdication of his brother, Edward VIII, and his reign is in essence one uninterrupted period of crisis for Britain, coming as it does at the conclusion of the Depression and including the German Wars. His stoicism, and his insistence that he share the plight of the common Briton, makes him one of the most beloved English royals in modern history.
Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill (d. 1942) - Winston Churchill is one of the most quixotic, prolific, and enigmatic figures in British politics - he began his career as a war hero and journalist in the Boer War, served as First Lord of the Admiralty, parliamentarian, and in a succession of ministerial positions before being elevated to the Prime Minister's seat in the political aftermath of the German invasion of Poland. His inter-war years, especially after Poland, are marked by a strident call for military readiness that goes largely ignored on Downing Street.
Clement Richard Attlee - Clement Attlee is the leader of the Liberal opposition to the Conservatives under Baldwin, Chamberlain, and Churchill. As part of Churchill's war government, he is the second-most-important man in Britain, and with the death of the old lion in 1942, he becomes Prime Minister, the man who is responsible for negotiation with Germany to conclude the war. For such a deeply patriotic man as "Captain Attlee," this is a hard blow indeed.
Robert Anthony Eden MC - A prewar Rifle officer and decorated hero of the Great War, Anthony Eden is a tall, lean man with a difficult temper. He serves as Churchill's Foreign Secretary, but departs the government for military service upon the Invasion. The Attlee Government returns him to service, but he is clearly a member of the Conservative Opposition, and one of the most staunchly anti-German members of the Government.
The Aviators
The Sailors
Andrew Browne Cunningham - "ABC" Cunningham is a phlegmatic, even-tempered officer of the old school, who has served in every appointment imaginable in the Royal Navy, culminating in command of the Mediterranean Station. During his first flag appointment in the Mediterranean, he assisted in coordinating the "neutrality blockade" with Wilhelm Canaris, of the Kaiserliche Marine. Cunningham is responsible for holding together the Mediterranean Fleet in the face of near-certain encirclement.
Bruce Austin Fraser - Admiral Bruce Fraser had the unfortunate distinction of being the commander of the Home Fleet after the assault on Scapa Flow, and led it through the most difficult period of the war. At war's end, the fleet was headquartered in Belfast, and Fraser faced difficult inquiries as to why he had failed to sortie and prevent the German invasion. Following the battles of Scapa Flow and the Three Navies, he was widely considered a scapegoat for the failure to defend the Home Islands. He was spared by the Attlee government in its desire to begin the process of reconstruction rather than recrimination.
Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas George Mountbatten, Lord Mountbatten - An enthusiastic officer who could be described as the world's foremost enthusiastic amateur, Louis Mountbatten is the second son of Britain's Great War First Lord of the Admiralty, Ludwig, Prince of Battenberg. He served with moderate distinction in the Great War, becoming involved with the Fleet Air Arm in the 1930s, and served in an intelligence capacity in the late-interbellum years, including an appointment as Admiral Cunningham's signals officer.
Ian Lancaster Fleming - A reservist and onetime stockbroker, Ian Fleming is one of those rare characters who prosper only in wartime. He has spent much of the war in the Far East, organizing commando operations against Japan. This is in inverse proportion to his prewar success; left to the peculiar conditions of wartime, he has thrived on uncertainty and deceit where in peacetime he was merely bored.
The Soldiers
France
The Leaders
HENRI (VI) Robert Ferdinand Marie Louis Philippe d'Orleans, King of France and Count of Paris - Henri d'Orleans was raised to the throne by the German terms of the Treaty of Wilhelmshaven, an unpopular monarch tasked with implementing an impossible treaty. He is devoted to France, and insofar as he can, spares the country what he may. Unfortunately, because of the conflict between the Petain and Giraud wings of the French goernment, this is next to nothing.
Henri Philippe Benoni Omer Joseph Petain - Marshal of France and hero of the Great War, Philippe Petain was one of the two men who stepped into the void caused by the collapse of the Republic an the conquest of France. He is generally the more practical of the two French party leaders; however, like the king he serves, he is crippled by the appearance of his collaboration with Germany. Petain is by now deeply senile, and the majority of "Petainist" decisions are actually taken by his former right-hand man, Admiral Darlan.
Henri Honore Giraud - The other current living Marshal of France, Henri Giraud was included in the government as a concession to the pride of France, as he continued resistance even after the collapse of France. His "resistance" was limited to broadcasts from London until it, too, was overrun, and like most of the German-imposed government, the Giraudists are deeply unpopular.
Jean Louis Xavier Francois Darlan - The officially nonpolitical head of the Marine Royale, Darlan is an ardent French nationalist, a scheming personal opportunist, and the actual head of the Petainist party. He actively colludes with foreign officials to do anything that may strengthen France, the Navy, and himself. His one great redeeming grace is that the order is roughly that.
The Soldiers
The Lassans (fic.)