Chapter 68

0955 hours, local time
Saturday, 5 July, 2014
War Room, City Hall
Roanoke, Virginia

“So, there we are. Fredericksburg is secure now. We have some folks wanting to settle there, probably the first of many such settlements where people recolonize abandoned cities. We have the ASF fighting desperately to keep King William County, several units trapped and annihilated in King and Queen County, and we have some units retreating in defiance of Eckart’s orders. I almost feel sorry for those pricks, caught between the juggernaut and the firing squad. Almost. They chose their side. They knowingly sided with an avowed Nazi, so any sympathy doesn’t survive my recollection of this fact,” Austin asserted now.

“So, yes, Lopez’s men have the stormtroopers on the run, it seems. Everywhere, in James City, New Kent, and Charles City counties, in King William County, at Waynesboro, Stanardsville, Twin Lakes, Charlottesville, and now Roanoke, the foe is in disarray and rather shaken. Eckart’s corridor, his ‘Brown Belt,’ is shrinking by the day, even by the hour.

“General Lassard, your surprise night attack was inspired, no doubt of that, a real shocker to the enemy’s system. No one saw that assault coming, especially since the bulk of our forces are still being organized. The angelic and demonic work of sowing confusion in their ranks hasn’t hurt our cause, either,” I stipulated as I looked at the map and tried not to think about the past two days’ ... festivities.

“More to the point, it now threatens to cut Salem, or rather, Adolfsville, off from the rest of the Brown Belt. If trapped where they are, with no real aid coming to them, they will become rather desperate over time. They are under orders not to retreat or surrender, but how long can they really hold that city, or rather town these days? Not one of these population cities, aside from maybe Norfolk, Roanoke, and Richmond, could be considered proper cities these days,” General Lassard observed, “my thanks for your high praise, but the work is hardly done yet.”

“Nor will it be until we have crushed the Nazis for good. I won’t rest until every last Nazi thug is dead. What about you?” Munson asserted for his part, impressing me with the full extent of his commitment to the cause.

“Long term, they will fall, but we will have to build a new society from the ruins. Fredericksburg is a positive sign, even if we don’t have enough people to resettle more than that for now. It’s certainly a start. Now, looking at the defenses of Adolfsville, it appears that Spencer, who now also styles himself Gauleiter, has responsibility for the fate of the local garrison, plus some four Waffen SS brigades.

“Many of these came over from Germany, where they have been expelled, along with Austria. It seems that the Germans are done with National Socialism and don’t wish to revisit a doomed ideology. Given their history, that makes perfect sense. They thought that they could start over by linking with Eckart’s forces here in Virginia and build an American Reich. They were obviously wrong, but that was part of Heaven’s plan, to lure them into the steel jaws of the trap.