The Man with the Iron Heart

A decent parallel between a "What if..." after the the end of the fighting in Europe in WWII and what is going on in Iraq. A good book to just sit back and enjoy.

The Man With the Iron Heart (2008) is a standalone alternate history novel set after the end of the war in Europe. In May, 1942, two Czechs attempted to assassinate Reinhard Heydrich on his way to the Castle of Prague. In the real world, they were successful. But not so in this tale. In February, 1943, the Reich was mourning the defeat at Stalingrad. Heydrich saw the possibility of losing the war and went to Heinrich Himmler with a plan for a stay-behind force to terrorize their enemies after the war. Himmler was very reluctant to even think of losing the war, but he agreed to authorize the organization. Still, he insisted that information about the effort should not be shared with Hitler. In this novel, after VE Day, the Werewolves start a campaign of terror in all four zones of occupation and elsewhere in what had been Greater Germany. They start with improvised explosive devices. Then they send suicide bombers among the enemy troops with explosives strapped under their coats. Lieutenant Lou Weissberg is a Counterintelligence Corps officer in occupied Germany. He is called in to examine the scene of the initial attack on two American soldiers. He and his superior -- Captain Howard Frank -- become the American lead investigators on the Werewolves situation. After months of fruitless efforts, Weissberg and Frank both want to share information with the Russians, but are rebuffed by their superiors. Comrade Captain Vladimir Bokov is an NKVD officer in the Russian Zone. He is assigned to investigate the death of Marshal Koniev by the Werewolves. He and his superior -- Colonel Moisei Shteinberg -- become the Russian lead investigators on the case. Soon both NKVD men ask to share their information with the Allies, but are threatened with deportation to the Arctic zone if they persist in such Fascist thinking. In this story, an early victim of the Werewolves was Patrick Jonathan McGraw. Upon receiving a telegram from the Department of War, his mother is shocked at the news of his death. After thinking about it, Diane McGraw is even more upset over the timing. Jerry Duncan is the congressman for the district in which Diane McGraw lives. He is also a Republican at a time when the Democrats seem to have a lock on the White House and Congress. After receiving a visit from Diane McGraw, Duncan sees this death -- and others like it -- as a tool to gain political power. Diane starts Mothers Against the War in Germany to protest the postwar deaths and to demand that the troops be brought home. Reporters see such demonstrations and sound bites as sensational news which will sell even more papers (and promote their careers). Then violence occurs during a demonstration and panic causes more injuries. Wonderful headlines! This tale is a cautionary story about terrorism. It has been said that those who know no history are doomed to repeat it, but this saying is more of a sound bite than a truism. Knowledge of history provides warning

I got into Harry Turtledove after reading "Guns of the South" and have enjoyed his books over the years, but his latest foray into alternate history/counterfactual deftly applies what might have happened in 1945 had the remaining Nazis launched an insurgency against occupation forces on both the U.S. and Soviet (as well as the British and French) zones of of post-WW II Germany. This book is a compelling and believeable tale that takes the contemporary events in Iraq and Afghanistan and applies them to Europe after V-E Day. Having served in Iraq twice, I was able to identify with a lot of the various themes and events in the book. I would have perhaps enjoyed seeing Turtledove spend some time with a U.S. military character dealing with the challenges of nation re-building, as so many of our military professionals have done in the Middle East. The difficulties in dealing with the different cultures, who to trust and how to navigate the various bureaucracies of the U.S. military, government and host nation would have added an extra dimension to what is a highly entertaining and thought-provoking read. Kudos to the author for coming up with a real page-turner and one that I found realistic given my own experiences serving against the insurgency in Iraq. This is the most entertaining book I've read this year- solid two thumbs up from me.

This novel is a little darker than Turtledove's other works, but considering the subject matter, this shouldn't come as such a surprise. Imagine a post-WW II Europe where the Nazis managed an effective insurgency like the one we face in Iraq now. How would it change our postwar attitudes? Would the constant threat of explosions and terrorist bombings rattle America's resolve to occupy Germany? Would a continuing death toll forment a 'get the boys home' movement? Turtledove handles all of these issues with thoughtfullness and versimillitude. I think it was very interesting that one politician brings up the thought of staying in Germany for 40 years. Another replies, "Can you even think of keeping American troops in Germany until 1986?" It's funny how we are still have a troop presence in several countries 60 years after the end of hostilities. Did our presence stabilize Europe? This book definitely makes you think. An excellent use of alternate history to discuss modern-day dillemas in a sideways fashion.

In 1942 Reinhard Heydrich, the evil designer of the Holocaust, was assassinated in Czechoslovakia by a partisan who hated the Nazis. However, on an alternate earth, Heydrich survived the attempt on his life and received permission from Himmler to create a guerilla army to harass the allies into leaving Germany so the Reich can rebuild. During the next three years, he dropped out of sight and ammo vanished as Heydrich formed the German Freedom Front secretly. On VE Day, just like Heydrich predicted, the government signed the declaration ending the war in defeat. However, hostilities were not over as Heydrich and his Freedom Front force began their campaign; their efforts killed thousands of occupying allied soldiers. When Mrs. Diana McGuire receives a call that her son died after VE Day, she started a movement that grew rapidly to bring the men home. Meanwhile German POWs are going to go on trial in a courthouse in Nuremburg charged with war crimes, but the facility is destroyed. The trials move to Frankfort, but a suicide bomber blows himself up with a radium bomb that makes the city uninhabitable. They turn to the Russian occupation next, but the guerillas again succeed in disrupting the trials. Germans do not consider the war lost and the allies fear the Nazis like a Phoenix will return to power to continue the fight. What is happening in Iraq and occurred in Viet Nam transposed to late 1940s Germany in THE MAN WITH THE IRON HAND. The German people help the Freedom Front because they seek the removal of foreign occupiers from their soil. The treaty is a piece of paper that some ignore as being worthless (President Bush did so with the Nonproliferation treaty so is plausible); the tactics obvious while the allies ponder a surge of more troops and for how long or withdrawal. Heydrich is sinister and brilliant as he will do anything to force the occupation army to leave and return the Reich to power. This alternative historical showcases Harry Turtledove at his thought provoking best as the question is how long does a surge (by definition temporary) remain in place and what happens afterward if conditions fall back? Harriet Klausner