Deep Blue Fleet

With the stabilization of the Indian front, the Wehrmacht turns their attention to the Urals and to Siberia, threatening Nerovitch Stalin and the rest of the Soviet holdouts. Rommel's forces move through the Pamirs in the direction of Tashkent to hit the Soviets from the south while other German units attack the Soviet lines west of the Urals. Otaka asks Deputy Prime Minister Saigo Takamori to assume his duties while he joins Maebara in traveling by train to Hairar in Manchukuo then to Lake Baikal. After an overflight of a secret intelligence station somewhere in the steppes, Maebara meets Communist icon Leon Trokki and discusses something important with him.

Manteuffel reveals his plan to defeat the Japanese. Codenamed "Sickle Iron Cross," the plan calls for control of the South Atlantic sea lanes and to establish clear lines of communication to Argentina, which has joined the Third Reich. In late 1949, the Japanese unveil the new I-3000 Kiten super-submarine, with its first voyage to a secret naval base in Iceland, where Maebara reunites with his old Naval Academy classmate, Admiral Oshii. The Germans launch Jormungands modified with jet engines out of Trondheim to attack the Japanese base, but run into heavy flak, Sorai-Kai fighters, and fighters that launch missiles with guided sub-munitions. A separate German attack on the Fleet of the Rising Run prompts Oshii to fire his vaporizer shells at them.

The Fleet of the Rising Sun faces another round of attacks by the Kriegsmarine fleet led by Admiral Alfred von Rabe. The two forces clash southeast of Greenland in early December 1949, with the Germans launching their Sea Drakken fighters and ME-462 bombers against the Yamato Takeru. The Japanese in turn, attack the German fleet carriers. Aboard the German flagship Lothringen, Von Rabe is considering withdrawing, but his junior, Wilhelm Rosenberg, knocks him out with a pistol whip and orders the battleships to cross the T and fire at the Yamato Takeru. However, the ship avoids the barrages using its advanced turbofan thrusters and special anti-torpedo cannons, allowing enough time for the I-3000 to get through and destroy the battleships. Meanwhile, the Germans push back the Allied invasion of Europe (despite the US launching a second invasion, named Operation Nirvana) and force an armistice on them. They also complete their conquest of southern England.

Rommel's mechanized forces tighten the grip on Stalin's forces in the winter of 1949. Hitler and Manteuffel consider purging Rommel when he completes the rout of the Soviets' Ural fortress. However, some dissident Nazis eavesdrop on the plan and alert the Japanese, who send IJA Maj Yoshiaki Hongo as a courier to talk to Rommel. Faced with the threat of assassination by Nazi loyalists in the Wehrmacht, Rommel encourages a good portion of his forces to join him in leaving the main invasion army. They cross the Altai mountains and head to safety in Ulanbataar despite heavy winter conditions. He is extracted to Japan for a meeting with Otaka about establishing a Free German government-in-exile. On May 1, 1950 the People's Republic of East Siberia is established at Khabarovsk with Leon Trokki as its first Premier. As Maebara returns to Jaluit, Takasugi visits the submarine base.

The I-3000 sends underwater commandos to attack a German communications base on Ascension Island to deter German movements in the South Atlantic. An Enigma codebook captured during the raid helps Maebara create a fake message to force the Germans to divide their ships, allowing the Japanese to wreak havoc with ease. The SNLF also invades St Helena. The Luftwaffe rolls out the new Do 317 Ares delta-wing strategic bomber as part of Operation "Sickle Iron Cross." The US decides to send military forces to Argentina, but are cut to ribbons by U-boats. Elsewhere, the Soviets finally capitulate, but it is not known if Stalin killed himself.

Admiral Takasugi and Commander Kawasaki meet Macarthur in Madagascar to discuss future combat missions. The Germans launch Operation "Sickle Iron Cross" using their squadron of Ares bombers flying out of Mauritania plus a fleet deploying from the south of France. Manteuffel, who is personally commanding the operation from a base in Nouakchott, said the plan's success relies on the elimination of the Yamato Takeru, which helms the fleet just 120 kilometers from Dakar. The Japanese attack the German ships while docked at a naval base by triggering an oil spill at the harbor and lighting them up. Any ship that tries to get out is destroyed. The bombers deal moderate damage to the Japanese fleet with their onboard rocket launchers. The Yamato Takeru fights off the Ares bombers and an Angrboda II flying-wing bomber with its AA weapons. The battleship is being targeted by several German torpedoes, but the I-3000 goes full throttle to shake them off. In the Siberian front, the Japanese and th

The "Sickle Iron Cross" strike force deals much damage to the Japanese fleet in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans (including the loss of the Takemikazuchi just north of Madagascar) and Admiral Oshii reorganizes the survivors. The Japanese also evacuate the population of Tristan da Cunha. Manteuffel declares his victory over the fleet to Hitler, who suddenly fumes that he failed after reading a newspaper that features the Yamato Takeru's arrival in New York on a goodwill visit. He has Manteuffel executed by the SS. A German column in the Tian Shan mountains is ambushed by IJA attack helicopters and Mongolian Tiger tanks in a delaying action, to buy time for strategic bombers to go in for the kill. In England, Japanese and British forces push on to liberate London. With the successful stopping of the Germans, Japan joins the US and Britain in Muscat for peace talks with Nazi Germany, which is a success (despite the Third Reich keeping much of its territory and forced to leave all of Siberia