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This is the timeline of the Five Earths, All in a Row setting of 2014 August.
(1942 on Earth-2, 1880 on Earth-3, 1556 on Earth-4, and 518 CE/1269 AUC on Earth-5)
(timeline in flux)
August 1[]
In Dsp-Fawcett City, Wis., Dr. Beautia Sivana completes a series of operations to give her half-sister Georgia a more pleasing appearance, due to her belief that 'everyone has a right to be beautiful, if they want to.' On Earth-4, the Beriev Altair from July 3, 2014, being slower than other Earth-1 spaceplanes due to errors in the upgrade process, finally arrives, landing at sea north of Mérida, Clp-Mexica.
Aug. 3[]
A 'wake-reducing' device (limited psychokinetic control of seawater) is developed by Axis scientists in Dsp-Königsberg - the equipment is bulky, and does not scale down well. In Dsp-UK, the RAF accept delivery of the Boulton Paul Reliant, a 'modernized' version of the company's Defiant turreted fighter. Originally intended to be a new Mark of the Defiant, the Reliant is so different that it needed a new designation: the fighter uses a jet engine based on that of the MiG-15, a pair of forward autocannons based on the NR-23 from that aircraft (while retaining the Defiant's four-gun turret), as well as swept wings, head-up displays, low-light and infrared cameras and targeting sensors, and missile hard-points based on Inp-US and Inp-UK technology delivered by MIRV (see June 13, 2013), generally equivalent to Earth-1 1960s equipment (albeit using multiplex vacuum tubes, rather than transistors). Missiles include both air-to-air (for anti-bomber duties) and air-to-surface (primarily radar-seekers). Earth-1 observers are somewhat dubious about the use of a turret on this fighter.
Aug. 5[]
The Soviet Navy is observed using aircraft practically identical to the Vought F5U (see April 20, 2014). OSS analysts determine that in order for the Soviets to have them in the numbers observed, they must have gotten examples, if not full production plans, months before the first losses at sea. Hermann Goering gives in to the pleading of his brother and, after completing negotiations with Il Duce, sends the inmates from those concentration camps that still exist to Italy by train. He also arranges for his family to take a vacation in Switzerland, though he himself must remain in Berlin.
Aug. 7[]
In Dsp-USA, United States Rocket Academy opens its doors; the school fight song, 'We are the Rocketeers of the Academy,'[1] plays well on the radio. The Red Skull assassinates Goering, assumes the position of Führer, and orders the trains carrying concentration camp prisoners to be stopped. He is mostly too late, as Goering and Mussolini made the trains run on time, such that most of them are already in Italy.
Aug. 8[]
Dsp-German rat-bomb paranoia reaches its highest point, after a Wehrmacht soldier witnesses a rat enter an ammo dump in Dsp-Paris, shortly before said dump explodes (the soldier only survived because his patrol route took him behind a sturdy stone wall just after seeing the rat; he was deafened for some hours, however). It is very likely that the rat had nothing to do with the explosion, but the SOE has little interest in enlightening them. The Red Skull threatens war with Dsp-Italy if the concentration camp prisoners are not returned. Mussolini sends a coded message to the Allies: 'Alea iacta est.' Allied personnel in North Africa, Malta, and the British Isles begin loading onto troopships within a few hours of the transmission.
Aug. 9[]
Italy declares war on Dsp-Germany, and officially joins the Allies. On Earth 1, after a disturbing and rather painful conversation with the thoughtform of Chloe Sullivan, Allison Mack arranges for a lawyer to contact the FBI on her behalf, on the matter of testifying against NXIVM.
Aug. 10[]
The Perisid meteor shower occurs over Earth 1; some of the meteor fragments that reach the surface continue to glow faintly in various colours, even after cooling. Early in the morning, Allied troops begin landing in northern Dsp-Italy. Pius XII sends out an encyclical condemning the Nazis, and copies of the summary thereof are dropped as propaganda leaflets on southern Dsp-Germany.
Aug. 11[]
The Red Skull officially charters the Waffen-SS Psikorps, a currently regiment-sized paramilitary unit of psychics (mostly telepaths), with company or battalion-sized 'divisions,' mostly trained by the Cythereans, and a very few already-skilled native Dsp-German psykers. To aid in deceiving the Allies as to the number of active psykers in the SS, the SS-Psikorps is somewhat light on junior officers, having about as many men and women ranked at SS-Sturmbannführer (equivalent to a Major) as at SS-Untersturmführer (equivalent to a Second Lieutenant). Enlisted and NCO members of the SS-Psikorps tend to have rather weak abilities, or in some cases, no active power, but training in assisting psychics in some manner.
Aug. 12[]
In Inp-USA, the Z-95 Headhunter prototype (see Nov. 3, 2013) takes its first flight, though it does not break atmosphere at this time. In Dsp-Egypt, Chief Warrant Officer Theodore Adams, an American adventurer, occultist, thief, tomb-robber, murderer, and US Army deserter stumbles upon the tomb of the Pharaoh known in modern times as Narmer or Menes, though in his own time he was called Tethadom, and his kingdom was called Kahndaq. Dsp-German troops attempting to invade Dsp-Italia are surprised by fully armed and operational Italian artillery brigades where there should have been only a few incomplete and understrength battalions, backed by Allied units.
Aug. 14[]
On Earth-5, the Arthurian expedition to Fa-America leaves the port of Londinium. On Earth-2, the 79th Armoured Division is formed by the British Army, and given responsibility for, among other alternative tank designs, the experimental infantry section tanks (see May 19, 2014).
Aug. 15[]
The third Operation Pencil Sharpener mission begins gathering in Earth-1 orbit.
Aug. 16[]
First flight of the Saunders-Roe SR.A/2, a hydrofoil variant of Earth-1's Saunders-Roe SR.A/1, from the River Severn near RAF Filton on Earth-2; the aircraft performs quite well. Also on Dsp-Earth, a Russian fleet and a Chinese fleet, both believed to be heading to attack Australia, instead suddenly turn west to attack the more lightly-protected Philippines. Battle off Luzon occurs, followed by the Battle of Manila. Douglas MacArthur dies at the Battle of Manila. The third Operation Pencil Sharpener expedition leaves Earth-1 orbit on the way to Earth-2.
Aug. 19[]
Kriegsmarine aircraft carriers are spotted using a very similar design to the Soviet F5U ripoff, above (Aug. 5), during the Battle of Suðuroy. The battle is a British victory, with German ships Graf Zeppelin and Jade (the only operational Dsp-German aircraft carriers at this time) are sunk along with the destroyers Z4 Richard Beitzen, Z10 Hans Lody, and Z20 Karl Galster, while the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen is crippled and taken in tow; on the Royal Navy side, HMS Brighton is sunk, HMS Dasher and HMS Badsworth are crippled and have to be towed back to port, and HMS Revenge will need her forward turret replaced, but is capable of navigation. In Inp-Russia, Vladymir Putin dies in a car accident.
Aug. 21[]
Gedankenpolizei (Thought Police) 'division' (company-size) of the SS-Psikorps activated. This unit consists of high-power, high-skill telepaths with great 'ideological purity.' Their duty is to investigate the minds of the rest of the Psikorps, and sometimes of the SS and Wehrmacht, for opinions contrary to Nazi doctrine, and to correct such if necessary. SS-Oberführer Alfred Bester is promoted (on paper) to SS-Gruppenführer und Generalleutnant der Waffen-SS, to command the rather officer-heavy 'division' (the Gedankenpolizei literally have slightly more officers than enlisted men at this time, though the number of NCOs somewhat balances this).
Aug. 23[]
Sarah Michelle Gellar and Eliza Dushku begin writing the biography of Mary Peabody of Texas, a Slayer and amateur inventor who lived in the Dsp-Republic of Texas (briefly) and the USA of Earth-2 from 1843 to 1862. Miss Peabody is notable for having invented a bullet-sized wooden rocket able to kill vampires after being fired out of a revolver (provided it had time to accelerate), and for the Council waiving her Cruciamentum due to the fact that she killed two vampires using clever traps before she was Called in 1857.
Aug. 26[]
Black Widow meets Captain America, but escapes after a significant conversation. Apollo Applications Program, Incorporated (a company of empowered NASA fans, mostly pre-Space Shuttle) is founded in Orlando, FL, Inp-USA.
Aug. 30[]
Second Battle of the Heligoland Bight (1942) occurs on Earth-2. Just before the battle, Commodore (First Class) Sir Rupert John Hornblower, KBE, RN, signals that 'England expects that every man will do his duty.' Following the RN and RAF victory, the Royal Marines are landed on Heligoland, beginning the Battle of Hauptinsel (named for the main island of the Heligoland archipelago). Shortly thereafter, the German garrison surrenders to the British. Stone frigate HMS Heligoland commissioned.
Notes and References[]
- ↑ 'We are the Rocketeers of the Academy' is the first line of a song my mother listened to as a child in the 1950s, close enough to this period that the same artist might have written it. I am unable to find anything about the song itself online.