By The Waters Chapter 2
Lucy looked at the machine's controls with amazement. "And you say that Germany will invade Poland in less than a year?" "Afirmative." "On September 1, 1939, Gemany claimed that the Polish Army had attacked one of it's radio stations. What had really happened was that the Germans had taken a number of their convicts, dressed them in Polish Army uniforms, and then shot them all. That was the pretext for invasion." "By October 6, they had forced the Polish Army to surrender, at least partially because the Soviet Union had attacked the Eastern half of Poland." Lucy asked "What happened to Jews?"
The "Bolo" replied "They were rounded up and placed in Ghettos in Warsaw and other Polish cities. Eventually they were sent to special camps where, through use of poison gas, hundreds of thousands or millions were killed." Lucy stared at the machine. "How could that Happen?" The machine replied "No one believed that people could, but no country, including England, was willing to take in the Jews. Hitler's policy made it imperative that that be done as soon as possible, no matter that he was losing the war and needed all the material he could get." "And what can you do to stop this," asked Lucy.
I calculate the strength of the German army and that of the other two partners in the Axis, and am rather shocked. Neither Italy nor Japan seem to have any tanks or armored vehicles worthy of the name! And Germany has very few compared to the number the Soviet Union and the other allied countries have, or can bring to bear. I direct my attention to Lucy Rosenblum, and prepare to tell her. "A Bolo Mark XXXIII is usually classified as a Planetary Siege Unit, and capable of taking on a regular armored Corps. With the technology of this time, I could probaby engage an entire Army Group with a good chance of victory. So yes, I can stop this.
September 1st 1939
Generaloberst Fedor Von Bock watched his tanks and men roll in, and smiled. The Fuhrer was a wise man, wanting to destroy Communism at its beginning, the Soviet Union. But first, the Reds must be lulled into a false sense of security by this. And the German Army was going to crush the Poles like bugs! But what was that.... My GOD!!
I target 60 mark Is and 30 mark IIs and only 20 mark IIIs. I fire secondary 20CM Hellbores at the division. Ten seconds later the Second Panzer Division has no tanks. I target Divisional artillery next. This time I use VLS missles and the time to target is longer. So I must wait a full 120 seconds until their artillery is destroyed. While that volley is in the air, I fire 200CM Hellbores at antitank guns and troop concentrations. The Second Panzer Division is no longer a elite armored unit, but a battered infantry force. I move on, knowing I can come back to them, but trying to maintain surprise as long as possible. The Fifth Armored Division is my next target....
By the Waters Chapter 3
September 11th, 1939
Reichstag, Berlin
The Reichstag was like the eye of storm, Heinz Guderian thought, an island of calm surrounded by panic and fear. But nothing touched the High Command's sense of complacency. This war, which had started with such high hopes, was beginning to show that, like all wars in history, that predictions before a war about a country's strength could be wrong.
And it seemed that Germany's beliefs in military superiority over Poland were totally wrong. The first reports on the Panzer divisions had been astonishing, telling of them outrunning and causing to surrender far larger forces. But then contact with the Panzer units and their Panzer Grenadier infantry regiments was lost. Then reports started coming in about units retreating! It was absurd, but the Poles were actually winning, with outdated equipment and ill-trained men. Then more reports came in on what was destroying them. Guderian had ordered to Berlin the least wounded men, for debriefing on what in god's name was destroying the cream of German Army!
Finally he reached the meeting room, and the debriefing began. "Well, Lieutnant Mueller, what happened to your unit? "Well sir, it was a tank, but a tank like none I've ever seen. It was as big as a fort, but faster then any vehicle I've ever seen, and with weapons that could smash us to pieces. It first went after tanks, then our artillery, then antitank guns. The First Panzer was gone at the end of it's attack. We couldn't even hit the damn thing!"
I examine the situation. In 10 days, I have detroyed 75% of Nazi Germany's tanks, antitank guns, artillery, and 60% of it's trucks and staff vehicles. I estimate that in another 5 day's I can be at Berlin. I stochastically calculate that Germany will then surrender, and I may attack the Soviet Union, kill Stalin, liberate the Soviet gulags, and still be 75% combat ready. I estimate that with the technological advantage I possess that humanity will achive faster-than-light travel in less than 30 years, and incalculable numbers of lives will have been saved.
I stand before the Reichstag. I look upon the great swastika that was perverted by Hitler into a symbol of death, terror, and ignorance. In my history, it was dynamited in 1945 by the Allies. Here, this symbol of Hitler's "thousand year Reich" will not even last 6. I aim and fire. I then project through my loudspeakers, in German, FOR THE HONOR OF THE REGIMENT!
The end... for now
For all those who have been waiting for an ending to By the Waters, I'm sorry I could not write a better and longer one. But I wrote By the Waters never expecting to need to finish it. I personally always hated the fact that Eastern Europe got occupied by the Soviet Union, not to mention the slaughter of millions of Gypsies, Slavs, Jews, and other ethnic and political 'undesirables'. I wanted at first a way in which the Allies could have beaten Hitler before the Holocaust could have taken place, but that wasn't really practical. So I settled on a deus ex machina. I thought of all kinds of secret weapons and impossible ways to 'win' WW2 well before it actually ended. I finally though of Bolos, and then though, what if one of them traveled through time... And that's the story of By the Waters, and anyone who wants to can use my template to write a better story.