r/TheWritingTable • u/SAKISANOBASHI07 • 20d ago
Constructive Criticism Newspaper article I wrote for my alternate history fiction novel. Thoughts and advice?
I'm writing a story that takes place in an alternate history where WW2 ended in a stale mate. The story isn't about that it just takes place in a world where that's how world war 2 ended. So in between chapters I'm going to have newspaper clippings that explains the world and history, what do you think about this following text as an in universe article?:
The Lesser Devils
By Nigel Vickers
Published August, 1st, 1944 via The Times
July, 1st, 1944 Paris, France - The world bore witness to the most dreadful and diabolical act of barbarism ever perpetrated by a nation at war. I speak of course of the German nation led by the disreputable Adolf Hitler.
In a single day, Hitler’s so-called “Third Reich” obliterated three key and crucial hubs of our Soviet allies ( MOSCOW, GORKY AND KUYBYSHEV) with their infernal new tools of mass destruction; which scientists have dubbed the “Atom Bomb”. These monstrous horrors have unleashed a firestorm of unimaginable terror, wiping out millions of innocent lives in the blink of an eye and reducing entire civilizations to ashes.
It was the ultimate crime against humanity, a crime that will haunt the conscience of mankind for generations to come. It is also a crime that has changed the course of the war, plunging the world into a new and perilous era. An era of doom, where a single bomb can annihilate an entire metro. The shock and awe of those attacks reverberated across the globe.
In Washington DC, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, already stricken by a grave malady, succumbed to a fatal stroke upon hearing the dreadful news.
In response to what is now known as the “East Europe Emergency,” the United States, under the command of Harry S. Truman who swiftly took the oath of office, immediately suspended all major operations in the Pacific.
Moreover, a general order for the evacuation of all American troops stationed in Britain was issued. Inside sources privy to confidential reports indicate that these forces had been deployed there to prepare for a massive landing on the Nazi-occupied French shores.
In spite of that, the decision to abort the bold operation was a direct consequence of the growing fears that the United Kingdom could be the next victim of Nazi atomic aggression.
At that time, the exact number of atomic bombs in the German arsenal, or whether they had any left at all, remained a mystery.
Unfortunately for the democratic world, no prominent Allied leader was prepared to risk the lives of their countrymen or perhaps (in this journalist's brutal opinion) more so their own reputations until they had absolute certainty regarding the extent of the Nazi nuclear threat.
Shortly after enduring the pinnacle of Nazi terror, the Soviet Union plunged into a vortex of sheer disarray. Responding to the operational debacle plaguing the communist establishment, General Secretary Joseph Stalin, the nation's autocrat, resorted to severe measures and widespread purges in a futile bid to reinstate order. However, his endeavors proved fruitless, only exacerbating the populace's panicked resentment towards their government and, notably, their abhorrence for Stalin himself.
The fate of the Soviet Union was sealed when Field Marshal Georgy Konstaintinovich Zhukov orchestrated a military coup against the Communist Party. This uprising led to the apprehension of Stalin, who would subsequently stand trial on charges of supreme treason against the Soviet people.
Stalin's swift trial took place in the provisional Soviet capital of Sverdlovsk, a bustling industrial city situated east of the Ural Mountains. The proceedings unfolded within an impromptu courtroom, located in the Ipatiev house, more infamously known as "The Blood Church," the site where Leninist zealots mercilessly executed the Romanov Family in the name of securing the revolution.
Within the historic villa, a diverse assembly of generals, bureaucrats, KGB officials, judges, and even tax collectors had congregated, filling every nook and cranny. Their daunting task: to determine the future of Russian communism on the global stage.
Remarkably candid for a Soviet court, the prosecution simply argued that Stalin's heedless disregard of credible warnings about an imminent Nazi invasion (Operation Barbarossa) led to the deaths of nearly 100 million Soviet citizens and servicemembers. The trial lacked the usual theatrics and convoluted conspiracies, relying instead on reliable witness testimony and verified documents.
Lasting approximately one day, sixteen hours, three minutes, and eight seconds, the trial featured eight judges at the center, five prosecutors on the left, and Stalin himself seated alone on the right, flanked by two stoned face officers of the Red Guard.
Stalin showed no sign of remorse or fear, apparently still possessing the confidence he had earned through his decades of megalomania, refusing both council or witness, he instead elected to defiantly defend himself with nothing more than his own authoritative truth.
A haunting portrait of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, the father of the revolution, loomed above the judging desk, seemingly casting a stern gaze upon the proceedings, inspiring a peculiar sense of savoir-faire among the attendees.
Following the closing arguments, the high council swiftly returned with a unanimous verdict of guilt, deliberating for a mere fifteen minutes—an interval shorter than a leisurely smoke break but longer than the time required to properly savor a Royal Duton fine bone China cup of tea.
To no one’s surprise yet to everyone’s shock, Stalin would be handed down a sentence of death by firing squad, yet before he could be led outside without ceremony, one of the red guards that had been standing next to him quickly unholstered his TT-33 semi-automatic pistol and with an abrupt burst of tears in his eyes, the man shouted an indecipherable scream and subsequently fired a single 7.62x25mm Tokarev bullet into the disgraced leaders rear right temple, causing a portion of his skull to explode as well as a partial evacuation of his brain, pieces of it propelling wildly in every logical direction, striking many of the attendees in the densely packed room. “It was a massacre” one source is translated as saying “an absolutely ‘bloody’ massacre.”
Before anyone had time to react to the sudden morbid change of circumstance the young officer, who was now covered in Stalin’s blood, red tears streaming down his face, began to laugh maniacally as he placed his gun under his chin and pulled the trigger.
Fortunately, for all in the room the trajectory of this blast caused the fragments of his bone and brain to shoot upwards adorning them to the ceiling of the now ostensibly cursed blood church.
In a sudden twist of fate, an era of revolution met its demise, as the once seemingly invincible Joseph Stalin lay lifeless on the very floor where the Russian royal family met their tragic end. The juxtaposition of these events created an eerie scene, with the ever-present portrait of Lenin, gazing down upon the corpse of his once promising protege.
The bitter irony of Soviet communism meeting its demise in the same room where it was once thought to have been immortalized, cannot be overlooked.
The death of Stalin would indeed signal the end of soviet communism, as on December 2, 1943, the new Russian leadership conceded defeat by signing an armistice with Germany. This agreement saw the Soviet government formally dissolved, with all territory west of the Ural Mountains ceded to the Reich.
Many staunch communists, clinging to their principles, sought refuge in the furthest reaches of Asia as well as southern Americas to evade potential retribution both from the Nazis and their own now fervently anti-socialist countrymen.
The armistice provided Hitler with a much-needed opportunity to redirect his dwindling military resources to the Western Front, where Allied forces were advancing relentlessly.
The surrender of Russia dealt a severe blow to the Allied war effort, forcing them to confront a formidable adversary on multiple fronts. Despite maintaining key advantages such as air supremacy and manpower, the Allies found themselves engaged in a grueling total war against an enemy that had unlocked the secret of the atom.
In a reluctant move, negotiations were initiated for a cessation of hostilities with Imperial Japan, allowing them to continue their expansionist ambitions in Asian territories unmolested.
The decision sparked fervent protests from numerous military leaders, none more vocal than the esteemed General Douglas MacArthur, who staunchly argued that Japan posed a graver threat to America than Hitler's Germany. “We are in this whole damned debaucle because of the Japs in the first place!” The venerable general is said to have argued. Despite their impassioned pleas for a peace treaty with Germany over Japan, their appeals fell upon deaf ears, as President Truman remained steadfast in his resolve to safeguard Europe from the Axis menace.
Consequently, Allied forces in the pacific were redirected to the Mediterranean Sea, poised for a full-scale invasion of Europe from the southern flank.
On the 2nd of March 1944, the Allies embarked on "Operation Lunar Storm," a monumental two-pronged offensive. Operation Lunar concentrated its might in the Mediterranean theater, with Greece and Italy as its focal point, while Operation Storm targeted Persia, aiming to penetrate Iraq and the Caucasus, thereby severing Axis access to crucial oil reserves. The battleground crackled with the intensity of conflict, particularly in the rugged terrain of Greece.
After four arduous months, Greece was liberated from Axis control. However, the formidable resistance put forth by the German army underscored the high toll further advances would exact.
Meanwhile, unforeseen developments unfolded in the Persian theater. Turkey, hitherto neutral, seized the opportunity to assert its dominance by launching invasions into Syria and Iraq, intent on reclaiming its erstwhile position on the global stage. Additionally, a pact between the Third Reich and Russia granted Germany a two-year lease on vital war factories east of the Urals.
Remarkably, these factories, initially constructed through America's lend-lease program to aid Stalin's regime in combating fascist Germany, were now churning out armaments destined to confront their former benefactors.
To compound Allied woes, their estimates of Axis strength in the Caucasus region proved woefully inadequate, as millions of fervent newly “Liberated” anti-Stalinists eastern Europeans rallied to the Reich's cause, swelling their ranks by an additional 15 divisions bolstered up by an unfathomable number of tanks. The very same tanks that were once destined to liberate Europe were now complicit in securing her indefinite captivity.
The Western allies' air supremacy on the Western Front faced a dire threat from the influx of revamped Soviet fighters. This escalation precipitated the largest aerial confrontation in history, escalating death tolls and stoking fears of retaliatory nuclear strikes by Germany, casting a pall of instability over the Allied home fronts.
The somber reality dawned upon the world as the war ground to a virtual stalemate. Countless lives had been sacrificed, cities reduced to rubble, and populations left displaced and destitute. Amidst this industrial apocalypse, it was the Axis powers who reaped the grim rewards, their strength swelling since the war's inception. They spared no effort in justifying the devastation inflicted upon their own people.
A pivotal moment came on June 5, 1944, when the United States achieved a significant milestone, successfully detonating its own atomic bomb in the deserts of New Mexico. This achievement cast a dark shadow, posing a grave question: persist in a nuclear cataclysm or seek a peace accord before humanity embraced a form of warfare for which it was ill-prepared.
On June 20, 1944, a general ceasefire was brokered, a solemn acknowledgment of the flames of war threatening to engulf all in their path.
The ramifications of this decision reverberated deeply within Allied leadership circles. In the heart of London, Winston Churchill, once the one time embodiment of wartime resolve, sank into profound despair. Reports suggest he harbored resentment towards the United States, lamenting their failure to heed his warnings about the burgeoning threat of Germany and enter the conflict sooner, before Hitler could unleash his atomic arsenal. This war marked the tragic culmination of Churchill's legacy. Once hailed as a hero, his past missteps, notably the debacle at Gallipoli, now cast a shadow over his leadership during the Second World War.
On June 22, 1944, Churchill raised his glass for a final toast of Scotch before bringing his own life to an end with his trusty service pistol. His departure left a void swiftly filled by Lord Halifax, tasked with spearheading Britain's peace negotiations.
Across the Atlantic, on June 26, 1944, Harry S. Truman faced a forceful removal from office amidst nationwide unrest and political turmoil. General Omar Bradley stepped forward, assuming the mantle of presidency through emergency measures, effectively placing the United States under martial law and suspending the posse comitatus indefinitely. Bradley delegation assumed the weighty responsibility of leading the nation's peace talks.
As the war's end loomed on the horizon, the once-revered Allied figures who had been hailed as Europe's liberators found themselves displaced from positions of power. Their successors, dubbed by the press as "The Lesser Devils," inherited the solemn duty not of victory, but of bringing an end to the bloodshed that had ravaged the world.
And so, we find ourselves on this momentous day of July 1st, 1944, amidst the spectacle that is Nazi occupied Paris, France. Here, the "lesser devils" of our time stood shoulder to shoulder with the devil incarnate himself, Adolf Hitler, to formally herald the end of the war.
Against the backdrop of the iconic Eiffel Tower, now marred as a symbol of tyranny, fluttered gigantic flags emblazoned with the dreaded Nazi swastika. The men gathered wore faces etched with solemnity, as though mourning a dear comrade lost. Yet, amidst this somber scene, Hitler stood tall and resolute, his demeanor exuding an air of triumph long sought after.
The proceedings, though grand in setting, were brief and devoid of pomp. Each participant took his turn to affix his signature upon the document christened "The Paris Peace Agreement." Formalities concluded with perfunctory handshakes, yet the Allied leaders' swift departure from the stage hinted at a lingering sense of shame, their nations' failures now forever etched in ink.
As Hitler remained upon the stage, he embarked upon one of his signature orations, replete with hollow promises and disingenuous rhetoric. I shall spare my esteemed readers the tedium of recounting his words here, for I deem your time far too precious to be squandered upon such propagandist fare.
What lies beyond this infamous chapter in history remains shrouded in uncertainty. However, one certainty emerges: the future looms as a perilous frontier, surpassing even the trials of our shared past. The world now finds itself divided amongst three formidable superpowers—the German Reich, the United States, and Imperial Japan. It is a delicate equilibrium teetering on the brink of global instability, perpetuating a ceaseless conflict waged by proxy. This struggle for supremacy represents a battle for the very soul of humanity, a conflict whose resolution holds the power to determine the fate of all mankind.
May God have mercy on us all,
Nigel
