The Moscow Option: An Alternative Second World War

232 Pages·2001·35.95 MB·English

by  David Downing

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MOSCOW
OPTION
AN SECOND WORLD WAR
ALTERNATIVE
DOWNING
DAVID
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• Convincingalternate history of
the Second World War
# The ThirdReich's realoptions
%How thefallofMoscow changes
the course ofthe War
This provocative alternate history
looks at the Second World War from
a new angle - what might have hap-
pened had the Germans taken
Moscow in 1941. Based on authentic
history and real possibilities, this
unique speculative narrative plays
out the dramatic consequences of
opportunities taken and examines
the grotesque possibilities ofa Third
Reich triumphant.
On 30 September 1941, the
Germans fight their way into the
ruins of Moscow and the Soviet
Union collapses. Although Russian
resistance continues, German ambit-
ion multiplies after this signal suc-
cess and offensives are launched in
Africa, the Mediterranean and the
Middle East. Hitler's armies, assured
ofvictory,make theirleader'sdreams
reality and Allied hopes of recovery
seem almost hopelessly doomed.
David Downing convincingly
blends actual history with the stim-
ulating world of alternate events.
The Moscow Option is a chilling
reminder that history might easily
have been very different.
David Downing is a noted histori-
an ofWorld War II. His other works
include TheDevil's Virtuosos: German
Generals at War, 1939-45.

MOSCOW
THE OPTION

MOSCOW
THE OPTION
AN ALTERNATIVE SECOND
WORLD WAR
David Downing
Greenhill Books, London
Stackpole Books, Pennsylvania
This book club edition ofTheMoscow Option is manufacturedunderlicense
from Greenhill Books, Lionel Leventhal Limited, London
and
Stackpole Books, 5067 RitterRoad, Mechanicsburg, PA 17055, USA
Copyright © David Downing, 1979, andwith revisions, 2001
The moral right ofthe authorhas been asserted
All rights reserved. No part ofthis publication maybe reproduced, storedin a
retrievalsystemortransmittedinanyformorbyanymeans, electronic, mechanical
or otherwise, without thewrittenpermission ofthe Publisher.
ISBN 1-85367-463-X
Typeset byMHLTypesetting Limited, Coventry
Manufactured in the USA
CONTENTS
List ofMaps 7
Alternative Wars - An Introduction 9
Prologue - 4 August 1941 13
1 'Moscow before the snow falls' 22
2 Premature Crusade 42
3 Sayonara 58
4 Winter 68
5 The Fall ofMalta 90
6 'The pyramids are larger than I imagined' 103
7 Tsushima Revisited 125
8 FallSiegfried 137
9 Feeding the Flood, Raising the Dykes 152
10 High Noon offPanama 171
11 Panzers Three Miles fromJerusalem 187
Epilogue - 12 September 1942 209
Notes and References 218