Table Of Content

2 ALSO BY ERIK DURSCHMIED THE HINGE FACTOR 3 4 Copyright © 2000, 2012 by Erik Durschmied All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles. All inquiries should be addressed to Arcade Publishing, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018. Arcade Publishing books may be purchased in bulk at special discounts for sales promotion, corporate gifts, fund-raising, or educational purposes. Special editions can also be created to specifications. For details, contact the Special Sales Department, Arcade Publishing, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018 or [email protected]. Arcade Publishing® is a registered trademark of Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.®, a Delaware corporation. Visit our website at www.arcadepub.com. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file. ISBN: 978-1-61145-439-0 eISBN: 978-1-62872-503-2 Printed in the United States of America 5 For William and Alexander 6 Contents List of Maps Acknowledgements Prologue The Bible tells us so The lost legions of Varus The Divine Wind The night it rained on Paris The frozen armada A brave called Tecumseh Two bridges to cross The Great Potato Famine The white death The week the panzers froze Unexpected new developments For those in peril on the sea A deluge of fire 7 The wind factor Death in the Delta ‘Owning the Weather in 2025’ Bibliography Index 8 List of Maps Teutoburger Wald Kamikaze Paris Frozen Dutch Fleet The War in the Northwestern Theatre Napoleon’s Russian Campaign War in the Alps German Army Group Centre US Navy Task Force, Philippines Battle of the Bulge Soviet Fallout Predictions Vietnam, Tet 9 Acknowledgements An author, describing real events, does not work in a vacuum. His critique of events that have led to (sometimes avoidable) dramas builds on work that has come before him, from Latin scribes to contemporary reports, though often downplayed or suppressed. And yet, everything has been written up—after the event! Some of the events, though relatively minor in scale, can compare by their historical impact to the truly massive battles of recent memory. So, for example, while the affair in the Teutoburger Wald of AD 9 saw some 40,000 warriors facing each other, during the Battle of Moscow in 1941, 40,000 cannons thundered, and millions of soldiers died. And yet, big or small, every one of these events produced a pivotal point to history. I have solicited the advice of eminent present-day historians to guide me in my choice. Other accounts, such as that of the Roman Tacitus, are well recorded and may be found in major libraries. I wish to express my gratitude to the writers whose own efforts provided a valuable foundation and inspiration for my own, in particular the geostrategist Gen. Pierre Gallois (French Airforce, retired) and the West Point historian, Col. Ken Hamburger (US Army, retired), the former German commando leader, Col. Otto Skorzeny (deceased), the expert on Irish history, Robert Kee, the survivor of the terrible typhoon and skipper of the USS Dewey, Capt. Raymond Calhoun, (US Navy, retired). Their personal accounts were crucial in making this book a reality. 10