The Red Tide: Stalin Strikes First

World War Three 1946 — Book One — The Red Tide — Stalin Strikes First — Illustrated, Revised and Annotated edition.

An almost total re-write, including end notes that assist the reader down the path of a convincing, alternate history. An alternate history based on facts and logic.

• On the border of West Germany; Stalin has 60 mechanized divisions, composed of the battle hardened veterans.

• The US and Britain have demobilized their armies.

• Britain is bankrupt and rationing bread. Its empire is crumbling and its colonies are in revolt.

• Tens of thousands of USAAF and RAF planes have been dumped into the ocean, pushed into piles, crushed and left rotting in jungles around the world.

• Gangs of deserters roam the European country side.

• The US has entered a period of isolationism.

• The people of Europe are starving.

• The Germans are being brutally punished for their part in the war.

• The Soviet Union has acquired the major secrets of every strategic weapons system that the West has developed since 1935, including the atomic bomb. They have prototypes of every major German Wonder Weapon system produced since 1943.

• Greece, Italy and even France are in danger of turning Communist.

• The US and Britain have large Communist parties with thousands of sympathizers

• 90% of the industry in the US and Britain has been transformed from producing weapons, to consumer goods.

• Europe is in chaos and Capitalism has failed in the eyes of many.

These are facts, and this was the state of the world in May 1946. This alternate history proposes that this was the opportune time for Stalin to strike. This was his best chance of furthering the cause of Communism. This was his moment.

The Red Tide

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These books are not written in any traditional style but is a combination of historical facts, oral histories, third person and first person accounts. I was inspired by (1984 in literature1984) by Studs Terkel and Cornelius Ryan’s wonderful books “The Longest Day” and “A Bridge too Far.” There is no hero or character development. The story is the story and not the characters. We hear from those who felt, saw, ran, lost and won as well as from officials and historians. The story is told using the techniques of reporters, oral historians, historians and politicians. Although told in a short stories, vignettes and in an episodic manner, the novel builds on what has gone before.