Harry Turtledove - The Man with the Iron Heart

BOOKS BY HARRY TURTLEDOVE

The Guns of the South

THE WORLDWAR SAGA

Worldwar: In the Balance

Worldwar: Tilting the Balance

Worldwar: Upsetting the Balance

Worldwar: Striking the Balance

Homeward Bound

THE VIDESSOS CYCLE

The Misplaced Legion

An Emperor for the Legion

The Legion of Videssos

Swords of the Legion

THE TALE OF KRISPOS

Krispos Rising

Krispos of Videssos

Krispos the Emperor

THE TIME OF TROUBLES SERIES

The Stolen Throne

Hammer and Anvil

The Thousand Cities

Videssos Besieged

A World of Difference

Departures

How Few Remain

THE GREAT WAR

The Great War: American Front

The Great War: Walk in Hell

The Great War: Breakthroughs

AMERICAN EMPIRE

American Empire: Blood and Iron

American Empire: The Center Cannot Hold

American Empire: The Victorious Opposition

SETTLING ACCOUNTS

Settling Accounts: Return Engagement

Settling Accounts: Drive to the East

Settling Accounts: The Grapple

Settling Accounts: In the Death

Every Inch a King

The Man with the Iron Heart

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

HARRY TURTLEDOVE is an award-winning author of science fiction and fantasy. His alternate-history works include The Guns of the South; How Few Remain (winner of the Sidewise Award for Best Novel); the Worldwar saga: In the Balance, Tilting the Balance, Upsetting the Balance, and Striking the Balance; the Colonization books: Second Contact, Down to Earth, and Aftershocks; the Great War epics: American Front, Walk in Hell, and Breakthroughs; the American Empire novels: Blood & Iron, The Center Cannot Hold, and Victorious Opposition; and the Settling Accounts series: Return Engagement, Drive to the East, The Grapple, and In at the Death. Turtledove is married to fellow novelist Laura Frankos. They have three daughters: Alison, Rachel, and Rebecca.

HISTORICAL NOTE

There really was a German resistance movement after V-E Day. It was never very effective; it got off to a very late start, as the Nazis took much longer than they might have to realize they werent going to win the straight-up war. And it was hamstrung because the Wehrmacht, the SS, the Hitler Youth, the Luftwaffe, and the Nazi Party all tried to take charge of itwhich often meant that, for all practical purposes, no one took charge of it. By 1947, it had mostly petered out. Perry Biddiscombes two important books, Werewolf!: The History of the National Socialist Guerrilla Movement 19441946 (Toronto: 1998) and The Last Nazis: SS Werewolf Guerrilla Resistance in Europe 19441947 (Stroud, Gloucestershire and Charleston, S.C.: 2000) document what it did and failed to do in the real world.

I have tried to imagine circumstances under which the German resistance might have been much more effective. The Man with the Iron Heart is the result. In the real world, of course, the attack on Reinhard Heydrich that failed in this novel succeeded. Jozef Gabcik and Jan Kubis were the assassins. They both killed themselves under attack by the SS on 18 June 1942. The SS also wiped the Czech village of Lidice off the map in revenge for Heydrichs murder. A good recent biography of Heydrich is Mario R. Dederichs (Geoffrey Brooks, translator), Heydrich: The Face of Evil (London and St. Paul: 2006).

How would we have dealt with asymmetrical warfare had we met it in the 1940s in Europe rather than in the 1960s in Vietnam or in the present decade in Iraq? Conversely, how would the Soviets have dealt with it? I have no certain answersby the nature of this kind of speculation, one cant come up with certain answers. Sometimesas here, I hopeposing the questions is interesting and instructive all by itself.

German nuclear physicists really were brought to England for interrogation and then returned to Germany as described here. And the Germans really did leave ten grams of radium behind in Hechingen. Jeremy Bernstein, Hitlers Uranium Club: The Secret Recordings at Farm Hall (Woodbury, N.Y.: 1996) is the indispensable source for the episode. To this day, no one seems to know what became of the radium.

Unwary readers may suppose that no Congressman would say a President wanted to send troops anywhere to get their heads blown off for his amusement: words Ive put in a Republican Congressmans mouth aimed at President Truman. But, as reported in the October 24, 2007, Los Angeles Times, California Democratic Representative Pete Stark did say that, aiming the charge at President Bush. Truth really can be stranger than fiction. A motion to censure Congressman Stark failed, but he did subsequently apologize.

Lichtenau was a little townnot much more than a villagea few miles south and west of Nuremberg. Charlie Pytlak walked down what was left of the main street, a BAR cradled in his arms. He had the safety off and a round chambered. He knew the Nazis had surrendered the day before, but some damnfool diehards might not have got the wordor might not care. The only thing worse than getting it during the war was getting it afterwards.

He admired the shattered shops and houses and what had probably been a church. The bright spring sun cast his shadow ahead of him. Wow, he said with profound unoriginality, we liberated the living shit out of this place, didnt we?

Bet your ass, Sarge, said Dom Lombardo. Hed liberated a German submachine guna machine pistol, the krauts called it. He kicked a broken brick out of the way. Got any butts on you?

Sure thing. Pytlak gave him a Chesterfield, then stuck another one in his own mouth. He flicked a flame from his Zippo to light both cigarettes; his unshaven cheeks hollowed as he sucked in smoke. He blew it out in a long stream. Dunno why they make me feel good, but they do.

Yeah, me, too, Lombardo agreed. Couldnt hardly fight a war without cigarettes and coffee.

I sure wouldnt want to try, Pytlak said. I

He broke off. Half a dozen German soldiers came around a corner. A couple of them wore helmets instead of Jerry field capsa sign theyd likely fought to the end. One of the bastards in ragged, tattered field-gray still carried a rifle. Maybe he just hadnt thought to drop it. Or maybe

Hold it right there, assholes! Pytlak barked. His automatic rifle and Doms Schmeisser swung to cover the enemy soldiers.

The Germans froze. Most of them raised their hands. The guy with the Mauser slowly and carefully set it down in the rubble-strewn street. He straightened and reached for the sky, too. May 1945 was way too late to die.

One of the krauts jerked his chin toward the Chesterfields Charlie and Dom were smoking. He wasnt dumb enough to lower a hand to point. Zigarette, bitte? he asked plaintively. His buddies nodded, their eyes lighting up. The past couple of years, they must have been smoking hay and horseshit, except for what they could take from POWs.

I cant give em any, Sarge, Lombardo said. I had to bum this one offa you.

Fuck. I dont wanna waste my smokes on these shitheads. A week ago, theydve tried to waste me. Pytlak looked the Germans over. They were pretty pathetic. A couple of them couldnt have been more than seventeen; a couple of the others were nearer fifty than forty. The last twoThe last two had been through the mill and then some. One of them wore an Iron Cross First Class on his left breast pocket. But they were whipped, too. You could see it in their eyes.