Chapter Summaries

Oscar secured the European countries’ participation in the German-led Allied Powers, promising Italy the removal of its military restrictions. With the coalition assembled, the story moved to integrating its members and resources for the coming war.

• Oscar welcomed Mussolini and Vittorio Emanuele III’s declaration and abolished restrictions on Italy’s military forces.
• Kemal declared that Turkey would join the Allied Powers and obey German command unconditionally.
• King Arthur pledged the Kingdom of England and Wales to Germany’s leadership, and Oscar welcomed it into the coalition.
• King Gustav V declared that Sweden would join and heed Germany’s orders.
• Other European countries followed suit, and Oscar celebrated their unity before leaving the conference.
• Prime Minister Wachth took over the meeting to coordinate the coalition’s forces and resources.

At the Allied Forces General Staff Headquarters conference, Manstein assigned troop mobilization quotas to the Allied Powers’ member nations, and their leaders accepted Germany’s demands. The chapter ended with Germany planning to coordinate the multinational forces through the Allied General Staff Headquarters so they could support German troops and secure supply lines.

• Manstein ordered Italy to mobilize three million troops after war broke out, and Mussolini agreed despite the expense.
• Manstein set Turkey’s quota at 1.2 million troops, and President Kemal accepted.
• Manstein required England and Wales to mobilize three million troops, and King Arthur agreed; Spain, Romania, the State on Southern French Territory, Bulgaria, Sweden, Portugal Industrial State, the Netherlands, Greece, Denmark, Norway, and Luxembourg also accepted their assigned quotas.
• Germany’s plan calculated that its allies and controlled nations could field more than twelve million troops early in the war and more than thirty million overall alongside Germany.
• The Allied Powers established the Allied General Staff Headquarters to coordinate and command the multinational forces.

Oscar and his officials secured European nations’ agreement to a shared military mobilization and wartime resource plan, then discussed how Germany would train, equip, and direct their forces. Oscar invited the leaders of several supportive powers to dinner, and Mussolini urged König Vittorio Emanuele III to use the invitation as an opportunity for Italy.

• Wachth reported that the member states had accepted the military mobilization and unified wartime resource allocation plans.
• Oscar instructed Field Marshal Manstein to prepare allied armies and commanders for coordinated service under German command, and agreed that Germany could supply equipment on credit.
• Oscar urged officials to secure the allied nations’ cooperation, and Gustav Stresemann recommended that Oscar personally receive the powers that had supported the meeting.
• Oscar invited the leaders of the Kingdom of Italy, the Republic of Turkey, the Kingdom of England and Wales, and the Kingdom of Sweden to dinner.
• Mussolini told König Vittorio Emanuele III that Italy must seize the opportunity presented by Oscar’s invitation.

At a Berlin Conference dinner, Qin Tian secured the European rulers’ support for Germany’s coming war against Buru, the United States, and Britain by promising them a share in global power. King Arthur and President Kemal pledged troops and military support, while Qin Tian assured them of Britain’s destruction and the Persian Gulf’s defense.

• Qin Tian toasted the gathered kings and presidents, and Vittorio Emanuele III and Gustav V pledged their countries’ support for Germany against Buru and the United States.
• Qin Tian promised Germany’s allies they would share in ruling the world, satisfying the rulers who had joined the rebuilt Allied Powers.
• King Arthur asked whether Germany would destroy Britain and the United States, and Qin Tian assured him that Britain would be destroyed and his throne protected.
• King Arthur promised three million troops equipped at England and Wales’s expense and placed under German command.
• Kemal pledged Turkey’s full support and proposed attacking the Caucasus to help protect the Persian Gulf; Qin Tian welcomed the plan.

Yezhov reported that Germany had rebuilt the Allied Powers and arranged for its members to mobilize over twenty million troops, alarming Joseph and Buru’s leaders. Joseph ordered contact with the United States as Buru prepared to confront Germany and its allies.

• Yezhov told Joseph that nearly every European country had joined Germany’s Allied Powers and that its members were required to mobilize over twenty million troops.
• Voroshilov warned that Germany was integrating the alliance’s armies, while Molotov proposed sowing discord among reluctant members.
• Joseph dismissed the threat from the other Allied Powers and said Buru’s army could defeat them if it defeated Germany.
• Chicherin suggested contacting the United States to resist Germany, and Joseph agreed to try.

After learning that Germany had united much of Europe under the Allied Powers and set vast wartime troop quotas, President Roosevelt gathered American officials to discuss the threat. They decided the United States needed allies against Germany, and Roosevelt ordered contact with Buru.

• American spies reported Germany’s European integration to President Roosevelt, who summoned Cabinet and military leaders, along with Mr. Hopkins.
• After reading the intelligence, Roosevelt and his officials discussed Germany’s growing strength and the United States’ heavy debt from its armaments buildup.
• Secretary of State Hull urged the United States to form a genuine alliance with the Island Nation and seek cooperation with Buru.
• Secretary of War Woodring argued that Buru’s industry and population could make it a major force against Germany.
• Roosevelt agreed and ordered American representatives to contact Buru.

Oscar inspected Germany’s military forces and watched the 8th Army Corps demonstrate its armored capabilities. The chapter ended with a detailed account of the powerful Panther V tanks equipping the German Army.

• Germany required Allied Powers member states to adopt German-standard weapons and set a two-year goal for integrating and training their forces.
• Oscar began inspecting the Empire’s land, sea, and air forces to assess their strength before war.
• Oscar visited the 8th Army Corps training grounds near Warsaw, where its tanks demonstrated rapid assaults and accurate fire.
• Oscar spoke with armored troops about their equipment and learned that the Army mainly fielded improved Panther V medium tanks.
• The chapter described the Panther V’s engine, suspension, road wheels, gun, armor, and periscope-based viewing system.

Oscar reviewed the German Army’s advanced Panther tank and ordered production expanded to prepare for war. The chapter ended with the Tiger III heavy tank entering mass production as a limited-run spearhead for armored forces.

• General Guderian praised the Panther tank’s superiority, and Oscar confirmed that he had helped improve its design.
• Manstein reported that monthly Panther production stood at 300 tanks and could rise to 900, but Oscar ordered preparations to increase it to 1,200 or even 1,500 per month.
• Oscar spent three days with the 8th Army Corps before returning from Warsaw to Berlin.
• The German Arsenal’s Berlin factory produced Panther tanks while the German Army began mass-producing the more powerful Tiger III, also called the Mighty Tiger, for heavy tank units.

Oscar inspected Germany’s newly produced Mighty Tiger tank and urged his generals to prepare for future enemies with even more advanced armor. At a General Staff seminar, he proposed Blitzkrieg, and the generals refined the concept into tactics ready for battlefield testing.

• Oscar inspected a newly completed Mighty Tiger tank and discussed its production and role with General Guderian and General Rommel.
• Oscar warned his generals that enemy technology would improve during wartime and called for developing even more powerful tanks.
• Oscar told General Guderian, General Rommel, and the other generals that he expected them to win the Empire’s future wars.
• Oscar presented Blitzkrieg at a General Staff seminar, describing air attacks followed by armored breakthroughs, encirclements, and infantry cleanup.
• The generals used sand-table simulations to refine Oscar’s proposal into Blitzkrieg tactics for testing after war broke out.

The German Navy launched Zeus, the lead ship of the new Sovereign-class aircraft carriers, as Emperor Qin Tian reviewed its capabilities and construction schedule. Oscar left confident in Germany’s naval buildup while planning to attack Buru first in the coming war.

• The German Shipyard launched Zeus, and Emperor Qin Tian addressed the officers, sailors, and workers gathered for the ceremony.
• Oscar asked Marshal Raeder when Zeus and the other Sovereign-class carriers would enter service, and Raeder described the expected schedules for the first and second batches.
• The chapter detailed the Sovereign-class carriers’ size, aircraft capacity, angled recovery deck, and improved defenses.
• Oscar judged the Sovereign-class superior to American carriers and said Germany would target Buru first, while the Navy protected the Empire.
• Marshal Raeder promised that the Navy would safeguard Germany as the Army and Air Force dealt with Buru.

Oscar inspected the German Navy’s carrier aircraft and watched them destroy a target ship, then returned to Berlin to review the Air Force’s nearly finalized FW-190 fighter. He left confident in Germany’s aircraft advantage as tensions rose and war approached.

• Oscar’s weapons philosophy emphasized simplicity and reliability to make German equipment easier to mass-produce, repair, and maintain.
• After the Zeus launching ceremony, Oscar watched carrier-based BF-109 fighters, Stuka dive bombers, and torpedo bombers perform a live-fire demonstration that sank a target ship.
• Marshal Raeder told Oscar that the naval FW-190 was behind schedule but should enter mass production the year after next for the second batch of Sovereign-class carriers.
• Oscar returned to Berlin after inspecting the Home Fleet and visited an Air Force base where FW-190 fighters were completing their final test flights.
• Air Marshal Albert Catherine reported that the FW-190 would begin mass production next month, with greater speed, range, and firepower than the BF-109 but limited ammunition for sustained attacks.

Oscar discussed the German Air Force’s fighter and bomber production plans with Field Marshal Albert Kesselring and pressed for a strategic air force capable of striking enemy industry. The chapter ended with Kesselring assuring Oscar that the Air Force was prepared to bomb Buru’s relocated factories if war broke out.

• Oscar asked Kesselring how many FW-190 fighters Germany could produce, and Kesselring said output would begin at 150 a month, with wartime capacity potentially reaching 800.
• Oscar asked when the next-generation H-21 heavy bomber would enter mass production, and Kesselring said it was expected by the end of next year.
• Oscar emphasized that the German Air Force should focus on strategic bombing as well as air superiority and support for the army.
• Oscar explained that long-range fighters were being developed to protect heavy bombers on deep raids, and that he would not accept inferior aircraft to speed up production.
• Oscar warned that Buru had moved heavy-industry plants to Urra and said Germany should bomb those strategic factories in a war.
• Kesselring assured Oscar that the Imperial Air Force was ready to deploy heavy bombers and destroy Buru’s important factories.

Oscar visited Germany’s secret Super Bomb research base, where Oppenheimer reported that the atomic bomb program was theoretically complete and that a first bomb might be ready by 1940. Oscar approved the progress and ordered the commander to protect the scientists’ living conditions and keep the base secret.

• Oscar and Manstein arrived at the restricted military base, where Professor Oppenheimer and the base commander welcomed them.
• Oppenheimer led the project team’s report, explaining that the base’s scientists were developing nuclear weapons under the Super Bomb Project.
• Oppenheimer reported that the theory was largely complete and that Germany would build heavy-water and centrifuge plants to produce weapons-grade uranium.
• Oppenheimer estimated that Germany could assemble its first Super Bomb in three years and detonate it in 1940 if all went smoothly.
• Oscar praised the progress and ordered the base commander to provide for the scientists and maintain the facility’s secrecy.

Oscar reviewed Field Marshal Manstein’s five-stage plan for Germany’s war against Buru and approved it by signing his name. Operation Barbarossa was finalized, though details could still change, and Oscar hoped the campaign would succeed in one stroke.

• Field Marshal Manstein submitted the finalized Operation Barbarossa plan to Emperor Qin Tian at the end of 1936.
• The plan called for German forces to destroy Buru’s western armies, hold defensively while Buru mobilized, then resume the offensive and advance beyond the Urals.
• Oscar read the plan for a day and judged that it matched his intentions, with German forces leading the first and third stages and Protectorate and vassal-state troops carrying much of the rest.
• Oscar found no flaws in the plan and signed it, finalizing its overall framework.
• Oscar set down his pen and hoped Germany would succeed in one stroke.

The chapter described why Ukrainians and Russians in Ukraine preferred German rule, while drought and harsh grain seizures drove Russians in Buru to flee across the border. On June 14, 1939, Yakov led a group of starving villagers toward Ukraine, unaware that Buru border troops had already changed shifts and were waiting for them.

• The chapter explained that Ukrainians prospered under German rule, while ordinary people in Buru suffered under oppressive policies and food shortages.
• A severe drought in 1939 worsened hunger in Buru, and Joseph ordered border troops to shoot anyone caught fleeing to Ukraine or the Kingdom of Belarus.
• Yakov gathered dozens of starving villagers and hid them near the border, planning to cross during a shift change.
• After waiting in a ditch, Yakov led the refugees toward Ukraine before dawn.
• The refugees walked into the hands of Buru Army border troops because the shift change had happened half an hour earlier.

Yakov and a group of refugees tried to flee across the border into Ukraine, but Bolshevik Border Guards shot those who stopped and brutalized the women they captured. A Ukrainian soldier finally opened fire on the guards, triggering a firefight that left the Ukrainian squad and Border Guards exchanging shots.

• Yakov urged the refugees to keep running toward Ukraine as Border Guards discovered them and opened fire, killing several people.
• The frightened refugees stopped, and the Border Guards captured and killed many of them while assaulting the women.
• Ukrainian soldiers watched from across the border and waited for instructions, wary of provoking a conflict with Buru.
• A Ukrainian soldier shot the Bolshevik company commander after he dragged a woman near the border and abused the Ukrainian troops.
• The Ukrainian squad opened fire with rifles and a Squad Automatic Weapon, killing several Border Guards.

After Ukrainian soldiers killed Kabosky during a border clash, Colonel Alexander ordered the 2nd Regiment to attack Ukrainian forces and fabricate a heroic story about Kabosky. The Bolshevik border guards were routed, but their cross-border assault further escalated the conflict.

• Ukrainian soldiers killed several Bolshevik border guards with machine-gun fire after Kabosky had been killed, then withdrew without losses.
• Colonel Alexander learned that Kabosky, the nephew of a Buru corps commander, had died and ordered the 2nd Regiment to attack the Ukrainians to avenge him and provide a cover story.
• Lieutenant Colonel Zhelkav led the 2nd Regiment in a surprise attack on the Ukrainian 3rd Battalion on the evening of June 14.
• Ukrainian troops recovered from their initial confusion and used artillery, machine guns, and their German-trained tactics to inflict heavy losses.
• After losing several hundred men, the Bolshevik border guards collapsed and fled back into Buru, escalating the conflict.

After Buru’s border guards clashed with Ukrainian troops, Ukraine’s leaders feared a larger invasion and sought Germany’s protection. Oscar convened Germany’s leaders and considered whether escalating the conflict could give Germany an excuse to go to war with Buru.

• Andrei and General Maxim warned Prime Minister Feldorov that Ukraine might not withstand a Buru attack and ordered preparations for an emergency.
• Feldorov contacted German Prime Minister Wachth, who promised that Germany would defend Ukraine if Buru attacked.
• Wachth reported the clash to Oscar, who convened the Cabinet and military leaders late at night.
• Manstein said Buru was unlikely to attack, while Stresemann raised the possibility that Buru believed it could win.
• Oscar learned that Germany’s war preparations were nearly complete and asked whether Ukraine could escalate the crisis to justify war with Buru.

Oscar planned to use the clash between Buru and the Kingdom of Ukraine as a pretext for Germany to begin a war this year. He ordered secret military mobilization and measures to escalate the dispute, leaving Germany preparing to attack Buru.

• Wachth warned Oscar that Buru’s attack on Ukraine was too small to justify a war.
• Manstein suggested creating a larger dispute, and Oscar declared his intention to launch war within the year.
• Oscar ordered Manstein to secretly mobilize the 13th through 24th Army Corps within three months.
• Oscar instructed Gustav Stresemann to lodge a forceful protest against Buru and make demands it could not meet.
• Oscar ordered Manstein to send people to Ukraine to tell General Rommel and the Ukrainian side to find an opportunity to escalate the conflict.

Molotov met with German representative Ribbentrop, who accused Buru of sending troops into the Kingdom of Ukraine and threatened further action unless Buru explained itself. Molotov promised to investigate and report to Joseph, while Ribbentrop left intending to press Buru with harsher demands if it compromised.

• Molotov received Ribbentrop at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Moscow.
• Ribbentrop accused Buru of violating the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk by sending a regiment across the border to attack the Kingdom of Ukraine.
• Molotov said he knew nothing about the attack and promised to report it to Joseph and provide Germany with an explanation.
• Ribbentrop warned that Germany would take further action unless Buru gave the Kingdom of Ukraine a satisfactory explanation.
• Ribbentrop left, planning to press Buru with additional demands if it yielded.