While the Matucheks are besieged in the small, stone building, which is a House of Sendings, they are addressed by the demon lord of the castle who:
has adopted a human form;
has adopted a (to us) recognizable human form;
speaks, indeed shouts, declaims and chants, in German.
Matuchek wonders:
"(Why did the devil prince insist on German? There's a mystery here that I've never solved.)" (p. 271)
It is a mystery to Matuchek because his World War II was fought against the Saracen Caliphate, not against the Third Reich. For the fate of a would-be dictator in another timeline, see Obscure But Accurate Historical References and its combox. And there is yet another alternative timeline in which that historical figure became a science fiction writer.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
Yes, the analog of our WW I in the OPERATION CHAOS universe was what was called the Kaiser's War in OPERATION LUNA. But the Germany of the OPERATION timeline, however bitter and resentful over its defeat, was never taken over by some kind of National Socialist Party.
Now, I'm wondering if the Adversary used some obscure Muslim sect to help it rise to power in the ruins of the Turkish Ottoman Empire? Maybe that was the occasion for the ascendancy of the Saracen Caliphate.
Any minimally historically aware person in OUR timeline should recognize WHO this devil prince was!
And I have read Norman Spinrad's THE IRON DREAM, allegedly by a certain well known person who became an SF writer instead of entering politics.
Ad astra! Sean
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