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  COPYRIGHT

  ATTACK ON THE HOMELAND

  By Nick Mariano

  Copyright © 2015 by Nicholas G Mariano

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof

  may not be reproduced or used in any manner

  without the express written permission of the publisher

  except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Printed in the United States of America

  First Printing, 2015

  ISBN

  PREFACE

  “This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.”

  I’m not quite sure how I got all the ideas for this book but as I started to write it, more and more things started to pop into my head and I managed to tie everything together so that when you finish it, it should make sense. This book is truly a work of fiction, however, many of the facts contained in it are true and I’ve tried to research factual aspects of the story to make them as accurate as they’ll fit into my book. I may have twisted a fact or two but only to help the book read better. As you read the story you may begin to think to yourself, however, is this really a fiction book or could this really happen someday?

  This is my third book and by far my most ambitious. I decided to write small chapters and tie things together as I usually like books put together like this. Many of my friends also said they like books like that. I thought to myself as the chapters ticked by that this might even make a hell of a movie or short series on TV. If you agree, drop me an email at [email protected] If on the other hand, you really disliked it, let me know too so I can do my next book differently. That book right now will be titled, “The Silo.”

  GERMANY-1943

  Hitler had retreated to a secret bunker on the outskirts of Berlin and reflected on how the war was progressing. His plans had initially gone well and his troops had launched attacks in Western Europe, France and the neutral Low Countries. Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Belgium had all been invaded and surrendered to his forces by mid-1940. The air war on Great Britain had also gone as planned, however, the British were a strong people and he had begun to lose some ground on that front. His scientists were actively working on the development of new super weapons, including the V-2 rocket which he hoped would further turn the tide of the war in Germany’s favor. His secret treaty with the Soviet Union in 1939 to divide Eastern Europe into spheres of influence was a masterpiece of workmanship. The Scandinavian countries had quickly fallen to the German and Soviet armies. Japan was involved in their own war with the Chinese and Germany had its secret treaties with Japan but would have to monitor their activities. Germany had managed to make allies with Italy, Hungary and Bulgaria and quickly divided Yugoslavia and Greece. In mid-1941 Germany and its partners invaded the Soviet Union, however, he didn’t expect the Soviets to launch such a powerful counteroffensive and eventually drive his forces out of Moscow in a disorganized retreat. Then the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and forced the United States to enter the war and he would be forced to declare war on the United States. He had felt fairly comfortable in orchestrating his war throughout Europe without the interference of the Americans but now had to concentrate on a new and stronger enemy with vast resources to quickly mobilize itself for war. The British had eventually gotten their act together and had begun to do bombing raids on his homeland of Germany and it would be just a matter of time before the bothersome Americans began raids of their own. His troops had just launched a new offensive against the Soviets and things were going in his favor again, however, the cold, brutal winters were making things difficult for his armies and the troops were loosing morale under the harsh conditions. The Italians were causing problems for his ally Mussolini and eventually would oust him from power. The Americans had landed in Salerno and the Soviets had eventually liberated Kiev and were working their way back toward Europe, driving his troops in retreat again. Hitler realized that having to deal with the Americans was a major concern and he had begun to devise ways in which he could redirect the United States’ focus back to their own country. His U-Boats were inflicting heavy losses on Allied merchant ships and occasionally got lucky and sank a few military ships. The United States didn’t foresee the capabilities of his submarines and their ability to move across the oceans and position themselves along the American coastline. The East Coast was particularly vulnerable and the Americans were suffering heavy losses along their shipping routes to Europe. This helped slow down the American involvement, however, he didn’t know how much longer Germany would remain successful on this front. During the beginning of 1942 the wolf packs had wreaked havoc on shipping and over 100 ships had been torpedoed and sent to the ocean’s bottom. His submarine crews were able to watch people walking along the beaches when they surfaced late at night. Some German agents were even able to make their way ashore and walk through some of the coastal cities and intermingle with the local populace. Plans were underway to bring mines over to the American coasts with his submarines and to lay mine fields out before the Americans could suspect anything. This would further slow down the flow of armaments and supplies to the European front and give his troops a little advantage and some needed breathing room. He just needed something else to inflict losses on the Americans and make them think less about their European campaign and more about their own homeland. He finally decided that Heinrich Himmler, Reichsfuhrer of the SS, was the man he would choice to head a secret project for developing some sort of secret weapon that he could deploy against the Americans. He had considered using his new V-2 rockets against the US, however, his scientists still hadn’t managed to develop a propulsion system capable of carrying the rockets over long distances. He decided to confer with Himmler next week and get his new project going before the Allied forces began to start turning the tide of the war even more.

  THE HIMMLER MEETING

  The following week the two men met at Berchtesgaden, Germany, which was one of Hitler’s favorite places to travel to for rest and relaxation, something he hadn’t gotten much of in the last few months. Hitler decided to host a lunch for Himmler that would be followed by a discussion on how they could inflict serious casualties on the Americans on their home front and thus slow down the US advances being made throughout Europe. Himmler thought to himself that Hitler seemed to be in especially high spirits and actually jovial compared to his usual ranting and raving self. The two men had known each other for many years and although Himmler did not personally agree with some of Hitler’s tactics and methods. He was nonetheless the Fuhrer and so he had to follow Hitler’s lead or face the consequences. Hitler talked about the successes the German army was having throughout Europe; however, he voiced concern about some of the setbacks his armies had met in the Soviet Union. He also talked about the Japanese and despite their secret treaty, how he did not trust the Japanese and felt that their only saving grace was that they were also fighting the Americans and therefore helping to divert some of its army to places beside Germany and the European fronts.

  Lunch was concluded and the two men retreated to a more private setting and began to discuss some of the many Super Weapons that Germany’s engineers and scientists were currently developing. Himmler outlined some of the more secret projects, some of which were not currently known about to even the Fuhrer. First on the list of topics to be discussed was the Fritz X, a radio controlled flying bomb which could be used against heavily fortified targets and was capable of carrying over 300 kilos of high explosives. Next was the Sonic Canon, which generated high freque
ncy pulses and could literally shake a person apart from the inside. Although the canon had been successfully tested on animals it had yet to be perfected enough in order to get it onto the battlefields and used against actual soldiers. They then discussed a new flying wing fighter-bomber that would be capable of evading the Allies radar, however, Himmler said that the actual plane would not be ready for flight for at least another year or two. They discussed the success of the Gustav cannon, which at the time, was one of the largest canons ever built and could hurl seven ton projectiles over 30 miles to its targets. The main problem with the cannon was the inability of the Germans to mass-produce it so that it could be deployed on several fronts of the war. Currently the weapon was transported by rail from one location to another, which made it highly vulnerable to detection and attack by Allied Forces aircraft. The scientists and engineers were also working on various types of aircraft that could be used for Kamikaze attacks and are equipped with several thousand pounds of explosives. Hitler said that although he didn’t trust the Japanese, he felt that their Kamikaze attacks on Allied warships were having a big effect on the Naval fleets deployed to the Pacific. Hitler thought that a similar form of attack could be designed for the Atlantic areas. They also discussed the success that Germany was having with the deployment of the V-2 rocket. Both men agreed that the likelihood of being able to fly it across the Atlantic Ocean and strike a blow at the Americans was a thing of the future. Thought was given to producing a smaller version of the V-2 and launching it from a submarine, since the Germans had had great success in defeating the American coastal defenses up to this point. The project, codenamed Prufstand, was currently underway and engineers were working on methods of launching the V-2 from either of the decks of U-boats or by developing a sort of launching tube which could be built into the submarine itself. Again Himmler pointed out to the Fuhrer that although this project was moving forward at the utmost speed, it was still several months or years from actual deployment. Scientists were also playing with the idea of developing a mirrored weapon that could focus and direct the rays of the sun and vaporize anything in its path, be it human, buildings or machine. Again, this project was several years off in development, if in fact, it ever got fully developed.

  Hitler stressed that he wanted something quickly so that it could be used against the Americans on their own soil and inflict huge casualties and fear among the general populace. Himmler suggested that they talk about some of the breakthroughs German scientists and doctors were having with medical experiments currently being conducted at numerous secret locations throughout Germany. Himmler filled Hitler in on several human experiments that were being conducted at a number of the concentration camps. Jews, Poles, Soviet POWS and even some non-Jewish Germans were being used in experiments under the direction of several well-known German doctors.

  Many of the experiments currently being conducted were for the purposes of being able to treat German soldiers for injuries suffered on the battlefield or from exposure to various gases and nerve agents they could encounter in battle, if these agents were ever unleashed. Other experiments dealt with numerous types of poison substances,which were injected into test subjects to see what the effects would be and to autopsy afterward and examine the tissues and organs of the victims. Hitler also knew that the Japanese were testing biological agents and he asked Himmler to have someone in his command contact the Japanese in hopes of obtaining some information about their testing and successes. The meeting finally drew to a close and Himmler advised the Fuhrer that he would begin to talk to various German doctors, in particular Josef Mengele, who had earned the nickname of the “Angel of Death” because of some of the experiments he had carried out, particularly at the Auschwitz concentration camp. Himmler assured the Fuhrer that this group of doctors and chemists could quickly develop some sort of super agent that could be unleashed on the American homeland and cause mass casualties and help divert their attention from the Europe theater, at least temporarily. Himmler added that such a drastic act on Germany’s part could in effect have the reverse reaction and make the Americans even more determined to defeat the German war machine. Himmler suggested that they reconvene again in a month’s time to see where they stood on this project.

  MENGELE

  Josef Mengele was born in 1911 and was the eldest son of a Bavarian family who had made their wealth in industry. He had decided at a young age that he would attend the university and made a study of human anatomy, and genetics in particular. He studied under several famous professors at Frankfurt University and excelled in biology and anthropology. After graduating, he published several papers while a student at the University of Munich and appeared to be headed for wealth and fame in academia and medicine. His studies and advancement were briefly interrupted when he had to put in his military service for Germany and was trained to be part of a specialized mountain light infantry company. He would later become a member of the medical corps and eventually be invited to become a member of a Waffan-SS unit. He rose to the rank of Captain, however, his military career came to an abrupt end when he was seriously wounded while serving on the Eastern Front. The German High Command knew that they had a valuable asset in the young Mengele and decided that rather than discharging him from the military, they would keep him on to do special research projects for them. They offered him several choices for a new assignment and the Doctor decided that the concentration camp at Auschwitz had everything to offer in affording him the opportunity to further his research on the human body. He would head a group of other elite doctors in helping the Reich conduct their research at what would become an infamous place, which conducted experiments that would later be labeled crimes against humanity. He struck an elegant poise and strolled through the camp in immaculate uniforms and highly polished boots while carrying his famous riding crop. Since he was still a member of the SS he would report to Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS, and the two men would eventually get to know each other and become good friends.

  MEETING DOCTOR DEATH

  Himmler decided to visit Mengele at Auschwitz the following week. Mengele had arrived there in 1943 after being wounded on the Eastern Front and early in his military career had been accepted into the elite SS, which Himmler now was the head. Although Himmler had yet to formally meet Mengele, he was well aware of his qualifications as a physician. Himmler had heard various rumors about some of the medical experiments that were taking place at a number of Germany’s concentration camps but wanted to see first hand what these experiments were all about. A wide range of experiments was being conducted behind closed doors and some of the information Himmler had gathered prior to this visit made even him cringe. Pain, mutilation, death and no regard for human life or humanity were the main ingredients of Mengele’s experiments. Himmler was hopeful that Mengele or one of his associates could come up with some plan to fulfill the Fuhrer’s desires to inflict serious injury to the Americans on their own shores.

  Himmler told the Doctor about his meeting with the Fuhrer the week before and that he wanted something which the Nazis could use to inflict mass casualties and instill fear into the American people on their own home land. Himmler said the Fuhrer wanted the project to move forward as quickly as possible and that the Fuhrer thought this might help turn the tide of the war which was quickly slipping from Germany’s hands.

  Mengele told Himmler about some of the experiments that he had been conducting at Auschwitz since his arrival there early that year and took him on a quick tour of some of the research areas. Experiments ran a wide gauntlet and ranged from freezing experiments where victims were submerged in ice water for long periods of time to see what the effects would be. The Doctor also had a special interest in twins and conducted numerous experiments to see how twins were formed in the human body as opposed to a single birth. They were also working on various types of transplants to determine what organs and body parts could be transplanted from one person to another. Mengele told Himmler that none of these experiments
would be helpful in fulfilling the Fuhrer’s wishes, however, they had also worked on the effects of the tuberculosis bacteria on the human body, experimented with various types of gases which could cause illness in patients and even death and on several new types of poisons which they had used to torture or kill inmates at the camp. Mengele said they had also started studies into two types of virus, which had the potential to cause mass deaths. He went on to tell Himmler about the flu virus which had killed close to 700,000 people in America in 1918 and over 21,000,000 people worldwide. He explained how the virus caused a person’s lungs to fill up with fluids and that the person actually ended up drowning himself. The Doctor also said that the virus had the characteristic of mutating over time and that even though some antidotes had been developed to counter the virus, they quickly became ineffective because of the mutation. Mengele also talked about how the plague had killed over 75,000,000 people in the 1300s and how it rapidly spread throughout the world and even managed to somehow cross oceans and infect people in cities far distances from the initial outbreaks. He explained that remedies for this infection were non-existent and that once it got started the fatality rate was almost 100%. He also mentioned that the rabies virus, which dates back to ancient times, was quite lethal and that if left untreated was almost always fatal. Smallpox was another highly contagious disease caused by a virus and was highly contagious for humans.

  Mengele told Himmler that he thought he could quickly mobilize the resources at his labs in Auschwitz and perhaps combine some of these viruses to make what would be a super virus, which would be highly contagious and for which, at the present time, there was no real cure. He thought the virus could be introduced into the American population through a number of methods and that once the epidemics started, there would be no slowing the viruses down. The end result would be just what the Fuhrer desired; mass casualties throughout the United States and a very rapid decline in the morale of the American people both on the home front and abroad. Mengele told Himmler he was confident that he could have samples ready for testing in about two months and that once everything was perfected, production of the virus would move rapidly. The two men agreed to keep in touch and to meet again in a month’s time to see what progress had been made.