Шеттлер Джон (14)

В конце лета 1941 года на бескрайних просторах Северной Атлантики появилось секретное оружие Рейха — плавучий капут. Не успевший опохмелиться после победы над «Бисмарком» и начать подготовку к перевозке Черчилля на встречу с Рузвельтом британский флот спешно выходит в море — и наталкивается на сплошные непонятки и измены. Как немцы могут видеть их за сотни километров? Откуда у них взялись рабочие ракеты, способные поражать корабли и самолеты за эти же сотни километров, причем не с точностью «в пол-Лондона»? Почему у этого корабля лишь пара башен с мелкашками притом, что он больше любого линкора? Почему на нем, черт его дери, даже нет дымовой трубы? И почему сами немцы, судя по всему, вообще не в курсе, что рвут британский флот на британский флаг?

А тем временем в 2021 году русские, как это им свойственно, устроили очередную катастрофу. Пьяный экипаж подводной лодки К-266 «Орел» в ходе учений прикрутил на ракету ядерную боеголовку, которая рванула вместе с лодкой, отчего само море вдруг засветилось призрачным зеленым cветом… И вот экипаж флагмана Северного флота, атомного ракетного крейсера «Киров», восстановленного за счет распила трех других крейсеров проекта 1144, а именно совестливый адмирал Леонид Вольский, бывший менеджер «Газпрома» капитан Владимир Карпов, учившийся идти по трупам по Достоевскому, его начопер, бывший зэк Орлов, не утративший навыка отжима мобил у младших по званию офицеров, добрый доктор Димитрий Золкин и командир группы морской пехоты суровый бурят Кандемир Трояк, а также другие сэры, чифы, мистеры и джентльмены тоже пытаются понять, что происходит. Почему молчит штаб флота? Почему пропали все спутники, а в эфире сплошные исторические передачи? Почему их облетел британский самолет из музея?

Нет, конечно, никто из них не собирается воевать за Сталина — потому что тот не потерпит в составе советского флота корабля, названного в честь пошедшего поперек линии Партии врага народа Кирова. Да и вообще Сталин лично расстрелял миллиард человек (а по его приказу было расстреляно еще больше). Но разве этой толпе профессиональных обезьян с гранатами не удастся найти в новом мире море приключений? Особенно в свете того, что досталась им в руки отнюдь не граната, а самый мощный военный корабль в мире…

The Steel Reign of the Japanese offensive reaches its high water mark as Yamamoto launches in a bold attempt to storm the Islands of Fiji and Samoa and isolate Australia. He is opposed by a determined stand made by Admirals Fletcher and Halsey in the desperate battles of the Coral Sea and Koro Sea to decide the fate of Empires.

Meanwhile Vladimir Karpov continues his long planned invasion of Sakhalin Island, but Japan now has a powerful new champion as the Destroyer Takami is detached north to join Admiral Kurita’s task force. Now Captain Harada and the crew of Takami plot how to find and confront the dark, unseen enemy of the north that the Japanese have come to call Mizuchi, the mighty battlecruiser Kirov.

In the Atlantic, Admiral Raeder discovers the strange ship and cargo taken as a prize of war by Kaiser Wilhelm. Now he orders the Hindenburg north to Saint Nazaire to complete repairs in the only dry dock that can hold the massive battleship. But Admiral Tovey leads a plan to launch a surprise raid to destroy those facilities, and to do so he calls on the able services of the Argos Fire.

Warriors from a future time now launch themselves into the fires of WWII in a daring attempt to halt the enemy advance and end the Steel Reign of the Axis powers.

Steel Reign

Learn more about the series, and what segment of the history each volume covers at

Vladimir Karpov orders Fedorov to abort his mission to Ilanskiy, but Fedorov has other ideas. With the odds against him growing ever higher, the sudden appearance of a most unexpected visitor changes everything.

While Patton leads the fledgling US Army against Kesselring in Algeria, a major engagement at sea north of Algiers decides the fate of the Western Med. The Allies must command those seas if they are to move units to Oran for the campaign against Algiers. Meanwhile, far to the east, Erwin Rommel awakens from his gloom at Mersa Brega and hatches a plan for a new offensive to stop O’Connor’s drive into Tripolitania. He must first persuade Hitler to relinquish his stand fast order in North Africa, and then choose ground where his vaunted Afrika Korps can make one last dance in a desperate battle of maneuver.

Meanwhile, the Germans make a dramatic breakthrough at Voronezh, following the original intent of Operation Blue. Rundstedt orders Model and Hoth to drive east and then turn south to threaten the Russian line on the Don. As Sergei Kirov and his generals struggle to respond, Manstein’s attack towards the Volga secures the vital bridgehead at Kalach on the Don. Now the Russians launch a daring series of counterattacks from their Don bridgeheads in a desperate effort to unhinge the German offensive and prevent Steiner’s SS from storming the city. Manstein then calls on one of Germany’s finest division commanders with the elite 11th Panzer Division, Hermann Balck.

Germany’s newest heavy tanks lead the attacks as the Tigers head east on two exciting fronts!

Vladimir Karpov has already opened a Second Front in the north against Japan with his bold invasion of Sakhalin Island. Now the battlecruiser Kirov has come upon a most unexpected challenger in the Pacific as the crew of join Admiral Kurita in a daring attempt to sink the Siberian raider. The fast paced naval combat extends through the first six chapters here as two modern day warriors at sea duel in the waters of 1942.

Then the action moves to the frigid Norwegian Sea where Britain launches one of its biggest relief convoys ever bound for Murmansk, PQ-17. The combined British and American covering forces are soon challenged by a powerful German battlegroup centered on the battleship and the newly commissioned carrier .

Meanwhile, General Dwight D. Eisenhower puts the finishing touches on the first joint US/British offensive of the war, Operation Torch, only this time, with the Straits of Gibraltar closed, there can be no landings at Oran and Algiers. Instead the British come ashore at Lisbon when Portugal joins the Allied cause, and Patton leads the entire US Torch order of battle in a much bigger landing at Casablanca. The objective of both forces is the long lost bastion of Gibraltar, where a dangerous secret lurks in the unexplored depths of St. Michael’s Cave.

The invasion is well underway when Fedorov is alarmed to discover what he believes is an insoluble paradox looming on the near horizon. As the history of 1942 is re-written, how could Sergei Kirov ever come to power if Fedorov fails to warn him of his fate at the hands of Staliln? A mission to Ilanskiy is launched to attempt to shore up the history… But Karpov has other ideas….

The crew of returns to the South Pacific to meet with Yamamoto, and now they must undertake a new operation. A daring raid into the Indian Ocean is planned, as the Japanese aim to capture the last British outposts on Ceylon.

Lost in time, Anton Fedorov now confronts his moment of destiny in the lonesome village of Ilanskiy, and the decision he makes will decide the fate of the world he hopes to return to.

Meanwhile, the Germans now drive to the city of Volgograd, cutting it off as their troops reach the Volga in the north. There, a vital bridge links Hitler’s legions to those of Ivan Volkov, and the Germans mass their toughest Pioneers to attempt to break through at Rynok. Steiner is determined to storm this last Soviet bastion in the south, but Chuikov and Shumilov plot the stalwart Soviet defense that made this place an anvil of doom for Germany’s fortunes in the war. As the elite German divisions strike one by one to hammer upon that anvil, General Zhukov unleashes his long awaited winter counteroffensive aimed at Kursk.

In Book 28, , the war moves back to North Africa, where Eisenhower, Montgomery, Patton and the Air Marshalls plan their drive on Tunis. General Patton has ideas of his own, and they do not involve waiting for Monty to fight his way along the Algerian coast. His plan presents a major crisis for Kesselring and Von Arnim when Hitler orders the withdrawal of all Germany’s elite paratroop units. The Führer has eyes on a new prize in the Middle East, and devises a daring return to that theater in Operation Phoenix. Meanwhile, General O’Connor’s British 8th Army begins its big push to capture Tripoli, but he meets a determined and skillful defense by the Desert Fox, Erwin Rommel.

An exploration of St. Michael’s Cave at Gibraltar by Fairchild & Company leads to a hidden mystery beneath the Rock, and far to the east, the isolated atoll at Eniwetok receives some very unexpected visitors. The surprising developments set the destroyer on a dangerous collision course with Vladimir Karpov and Ivan Gromyko, when the Russians set out to cleanse the timeline of all contamination, including their own! Events lead to a dramatic battle at sea that neither side ever expected.

The adventure begins on the eve of the greatest experiment ever attempted—Time Travel.

As the project team meets for their final mission briefing, the last member, arriving late, brings startling news. Catastrophe threatens and the fate of the Western World hangs in the balance. But a visitor from another time arrives bearing clues that will carry the hope of countless generations yet to be born. Meridian is an intelligent, compelling, fast paced story that is impossible to put down.

History was not the province of the great. Fate hinged on the simplest of things: loose knots, a casual stumble, a chance meeting, something inadvertently dropped, or lost, or found.

In this compelling sequel to the award winning novel , the project team members slowly become aware of unseen adversaries at play in the Meridian of Time.

The quest for an ancient fossil leads to an amazing discovery hidden in the Jordanian desert. A mysterious group of assassins plot to decide the future course of history, just one battle in a devious campaign that will become a Nexus Point of grave danger, where even the fates are powerless to intervene.

When Nordhausen follows a hunch and launches a secret time jump mission on his own, he discovers something is terribly wrong with the Rosetta Stone. The fate of all Western History as we know it is somehow linked to this ancient Egyptian artifact, once famous the world over, and now a forgotten slab of stone. The result is a harrowing mission to Egypt during the time of Napoleon’s 1799 invasion, to find out how the artifact was changed… and why.

Volume IV in the award winning Meridian Series Time Travel novels by John Schettler.

Paul insists that Kelly has survived, and is determined to bring him safely home. Only now is the true meaning of the stela unearthed at Rosetta in made apparent—a grand scheme to work a catastrophic transformation of the Meridians, so dramatic and profound in its effect that the disaster at Palma was only a precursor. All of Western history is placed on the Anvil of Fate as the project team struggles to reverse the defeat of Charles Martel at the Battle of Tours in an intricate three part time mission to the early 8th Century.

Nordhausen is back with new research and his hand on the neck of the terrorist behind the Palma Event. Now the project team struggles to discover how and where the Assassins have intervened to restore the chaos of Palma, and their search leads them on one of the greatest naval sagas of modern history.

Season four continues with

Book 29 in the Series

With the Allied forces closing on Tunisia from two sides, the Germans conceive a bold new plan that sends Rommel west to the heartland of Tunisia where he confronts the American Army under General Patton. The Axis forces launch (Stormtide) as the famous names etched in the original history  at Kasserine, Bou Aziz, Gafsa and El Guettar will again see the rising tide of war.

At the same time, Hitler presses his daring invasion of Iraq and Syria in , while launching the cream of his airborne troops against the British outpost on Crete with a much belated . As Guderian pushes into the heartland of Persia, Hitler sets his eyes on the richest prize in the world—all the oil the Reich will ever need to fuel the fires of war. Yet before Guderian can drive south, he must first secure his lines of communication. That necessity leads to a dramatic battle for the ancient capital city of Baghdad, with both sides risking all they have to rule the hour.

Events in Russia reach the boiling point when a scheme launched by Fedorov has a profound effect. Meanwhile, Fedorov and Karpov face the grim reality of their situation and come to a decisive conclusion about how they must proceed.

Maps:

Season four continues with

Book 30 in the Series

The war continues in 1943, as Japan launches a bold new attack against the Fiji Islands that leads to a decisive battle off Yasawa. In Syria, Erwin Rommel unleashes a classic flanking attack towards Damascus with “Operation Eisenfall,” even as the Allies attack Kesselring in Tunisia with Eisenhower’s “Operation Hammer.”

Then, as the German 11th and 17th Armies slowly grind down the last of Soviet resistance in the Caucasus, tensions reach a breaking point when they meet Volkov’s forces dug in west of Maykop. The Führer has ordered his legions to take and occupy that place, and Ivan Volkov chooses to stand his ground. The war in the east now threatens to spiral out of control, with new fighting erupting on every frontier when General Zhukov opens his Spring offensive in a massive attack towards Kharkov that now threatens to reshape the entire front.

Meanwhile, Elena Fairchild finally learns the fate of the men she sent into the hidden passage beneath St. Michael’s Cave, and makes a discovery that will give her the means to find and retrieve the key lost on the Battleship . As she plans her mission, Fedorov and Karpov arrange a meeting with Volsky and Gromyko to discuss their new plan to shatter this altered meridian by traveling to 1908.

Maps:

Battlecruiser and the light carrier have stumbled upon a prize of great value deep in the South Atlantic. As they move north, the hunt for the German raiders is taken up by a pair of new British cruisers, and neither side knows how much may be at stake in the outcome.

Half a world away, the Soviets launch their winter counteroffensive in a desperate attempt to stem the German tide, and force a turning point in the bitterly contested struggle on the frozen east front of early 1942.

In the Pacific, Montgomery has stopped the Japanese and saved the embattled island of Singapore, but for how long? The rising tide of the Japanese offensive now sweeps around the Rock of the East to threaten Sumatra and Java, forcing Churchill to make the most difficult decision of the war. The battle begins with a brave challenge by Admiral Doorman in the Java Sea, yet soon both Axis and Allied forces will find their plans rudely interrupted by a force and power no one ever expected. Something has emerged from the ashes of a great disaster that now threatens to weigh heavily in the balance of the Pacific War.

Meanwhile, Generals Wavell, O’Connor, and Kinlan launch a new offensive in ‘Operation Supercharge.’ Holding nothing back, they hope to engage and defeat Rommel’s Afrika Korps once and for all, to decide the contest in Libya and pave the way for the great campaign against French North Africa.

The continuing alternate history of WWII in the amazing Kirov Saga!