Marching Through Georgia (novel)
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| Marching Through Georgia | |
| Author | S. M. Stirling |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | The Domination |
| Genre(s) | Dystopian, Alternate history, Novel |
| Publisher | Baen Books |
| Publication date | 1988 |
| Media type | Print Paperback |
| Pages | 205 p. |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-671-72069-4 |
Marching Through Georgia is the first of three books of S.M. Stirling's Alternate history series, The Domination.
The novel also attempts to educate the reader on the background of the Domination. Government, military, social structures, and the historical development of the Draka are all outlined here.
Note: The paperback edition contains the full version of Stirling's story. A hardcover version containing all three books of the trilogy was released, however it is abridged.
[edit] Main Characters
- Eric Von Shrakenberg: The main character through out the book. He is the commander of a company of Draka Citizen troops (Centurion of Century A, 1st Airborne Legion). He commands the most forward deployed unit in the first wave of Draka forces against the Nazi occupied Soviet Union. He arranged the escape of his serf daughter Anna to America, after her enslaved serf mother with Tyansha died in childbirth. This nearly lead to his execution by the Domination's Security Directorate, even though it was not technically illegal.
- Johanna Von Shrakenberg: Younger sister to Eric, she is a Flying Officer in the War Directorate Air Corps. She flies an Eagle class fighter in the alternate 1942, which is roughly equivalent to a real world late-world war 2 piston engine fighter. She is shot down early in the Draka attack on the Germans, but survives.
- William Dreiser: American war correspondent. Sent to write about Drakas fighting against the Nazi forces, he is assigned to Eric's Century A by Eric's father Karl, a senior general ("Arch-Strategos") in the Domination Forces. Dreiser's reports are published in Draka military newspapers due to Karl's intervention, to frustrate any actions planned by the Security Directorate against Eric.
- Standartenführer Felix Hoth: The Waffen-SS commander in the area where Eric's unit is deployed. He is a skilled but unimaginative commander. He keeps a Russian woman named Valentina Fedorova Budennin as a personal serving girl and sex slave. She is actually a spy in the employ of the Soviet NKVD.
- Karl Von Shrakenberg: Eric's father, Arch-Strategos in the War Directorate, based in the Draka capital city of Archona (Pretoria, South Africa). Veteran of this timeline's World War I.
- Sofie Nixon: A corporal ("Monitor") and the comtech in Eric's unit. She has a crush on Eric in the beginning of the book that later develops between the two. The book's appendix reports that they are ultimately married after the end of the "Eurasian War," the name of the Draka history's World War 2.
- Leytenant Valentina Fedorova Budennin: First appearance as a personal serving girl for Felix Hoth, turns out to be a Politruk and military intelligence officer in the First Caucasian Partisan Brigade.
- Tyansha: Eric's first serf girl concubine, given to him just after he turned 13. Eric fell deeply in love with her, far more passionately than a Draka Citizen is normally expected or allowed to feel for a serf. After some initial fear, she returned his affection. Tyansha died giving birth to Eric's daughter, Anna, who was born a serf like her mother. Eric nearly killed his father after Tyansha's funeral, when Karl attempted to beat Eric for crying at the funeral services.
[edit] Plot
The story starts with Centurion Eric von Shrakenberg in a cargo airplane with his airborne unit and the American correspondent William Dreiser, on their way to their drop point, where they will jump and parasail into Nazi controlled Georgia. The Nazis have been much more successful than in our history, since the Soviets also had to defend their southern border against the Domination of the Draka. As a result, the Nazis managed to overrun European Russia. The Soviet Union has been pushed back and only controls territories east of the Ural Mountains. However, the Germans are seriously overstretched, and vulnerable to a strong attack. During the travel to their drop zone Eric thinks back on his past and his relationship with his father, and his most recent visit home to see his family. The first visit in several years, due to his arranging the escape of his serf daughter to America. Eric's bravery in the earlier Draka conquest of Italy led to his former "mistake" being forgiven.
Eric's "Century" ends up being seriously under-supplied due to various errors during the initial Draka parachute drops. The story details how Eric's single light unit takes and holds a small town strategically located on the crucial Ossetian Military Highway over the Caucasus Mountains. Eric's unit is attacked by a far larger Waffen-SS unit under the command of Felix Hoth, but manages to hold out long enough for the delayed reinforcements to arrive. Holding this highway is the critical act of the attack, stopping Nazi counterattacks while the Draka are still securing and organizing their beachhead. This lets the Draka forces cross the Caucasus Mountains and ultimately lets the superior Draka armored and mechanized units penetrate into the plains of Southern Russia, where they can effectively destroy the overstretched German forces. It also leads to Eric being awarded the Domination's highest medal of valor, making him immune to reprisals for his earlier "indiscretion." The actions of Century A are essentially the single event that allows the Domination to win the Eurasian War (the alternate World War 2).
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