The original concept of Red Alert was what if Adolf Hitler did not take control, I base this story around the same assumption except this time; I removed all of the fictitious characters and inserted real life ones and got rid of all of the fancy technologies for (what I feel) was the most appropriate technology for such an event.

In summary, consider this a (slightly) more realistic take on Red Alert, in this case though, Hitler's takeover failed and WWII as we know it did not happen.

Midnight, Dec 23, 1945, Eve of the Eve of Christmas

Potsdam War Academy,

Office of Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel

'Herr Kommandant! Shouldn't you be heading home for Christmas?' A dark haired young man with piercing blue eyes asked another man seated at a desk, the man sighed in response.

'Ja Joachim, but the recent reports of possible Soviet troop and armor movements have me very worried.' Rommel said as he clasped his hands together.

'I'm sure it is nothing Herr Kommandant, besides, isn't it little Manfred's birthday tomorrow?' Joachim smiled.

'Yes but still…these reports, should not be taken lightly, we are after all, only a few short kilometers from the border with Poland, and Poland as I'm sure you know, does not have a very able military, much less one that might even slow the tide of the Red Army.' Rommel got up from his desk, held his hands behind him and went to the window and surveyed the outside, it was snowing fairly hard, and the glass was cold and frosty.

Generalmajor Erwin Rommel was one of the few German Officers who had yet to head home to his family for Christmas, although he maintained only a command at the Potsdam war academy, he remained keenly interested in keeping up with military developments, the latest of which was quite troubling to him.

There had been reports from Poland about a large scale military buildup by the USSR, since that country was so closed off from the rest of the world due to it having a communist government, there was no way for anyone to find out more about the buildup, and most people, still remembering the horrors of war, were not apt to think about the possibility of another grinding war of attrition, this time with an enemy who could literally hurl waves of men at them.

And so Generalmajor Erwin Rommel had chosen to remain as the only High commanding officer still present at his post so close to Christmas and his child's birthday, he wanted to be able to be a part of the action when it happened, after all, he was definitely one of the closest to the border and would be able to take command in the event of any invasion.

Also, the terms of the Treaty of Versailles had only been lifted a few years ago, and the Bundeswehr had been slowly rebuilding and retraining to full strength and number under the leadership of Heinz Guderian, who was currently the chief of staff.

Rommel knew that Guderian had sent off letters and warnings to their counterparts in the United Kingdom and France, knowing that Germany could not stand on her own against a red tide. Guderian had hoped that it might warrant a response, it would be quite ironic, Rommel thought, Germany would now be standing with Western Europe against the USSR when a mere three decades ago it stood against them.

He had his doubts about the possibility of help from either France or Britain, while he maintained a healthy respect for both, even keeping up with developments in armored warfare posted by the British in articles; he knew that both were extremely keen on avoiding war at every possibility, and would probably sacrifice every country in Europe if it allowed them to do so.

'Politics…' Rommel shook his head, he detested it, and he regarded it as an occupation filled only with backstabbers and glory hounds seeking higher positions to their own benefit. He preferred very much to remain in the military; he was more comfortable dealing with the matters of soldiering than politicking.

Rommel still held memories of his participation in the Great War with the 6th Württemberg Infantry Regiment in France and Italy, he had been wounded a number of times, been highly decorated for his conduct and leadership, and had even escaped from behind enemy lines once.

Rommel chuckled at his experiences during the war, they were now but distant memories, and he had to focus on the issue at hand. He had already written off a letter to his beloved wife Lucia Maria Mollin explaining that he might be quite late home for Christmas.

Rommel sighed, while he was no warmonger, he was at heart, a practical man, and if it came to that, he would definitely see to it that his family would be protected from it, and he would be the one to do it.

'Ah, you worry too much Herr Kommandant, I'm sure it will all blow over soon, in any case, I will be taking my leave, goodnight Herr Kommandant.' Joachim saluted the general who returned it before the young man walked away.

Now alone, Rommel returned to his desk and rubbed his temples as he began reading through the reports again.

The report had been sent to Guderian from the Polish Defense Minister, and he in turn had forwarded it to the other high-ranking German commanders over the country, it had been made by several, rather deep infiltration missions as well as several spies, which would have been considered an act of war or at least some kind of Casus belli. Nothing more had been said about how or what they had to do to get the information.

It indicated how there was massive troop movements undergoing particularly at night, an estimation of the size of the forces, their composition and their equipment.

Despite being a practical person, Rommel had difficulty wrapping his head around the estimates given by the Polish.

The entire soviet force was divided into two separate formations called the "Belorussian Front" and the "Ukrainian Front". These two fronts were commanded by Mikhail Kovalyov and Semyon Timoshenko respectively with Kliment Voroshilov as Commander-in-Chief. Both formations combined totaled nearly a million men divided further into over thirty divisions and more than ten brigades. They had nearly ten thousand tanks and guns, and at least three thousand aircraft.

And that was just those arrayed against the border with Poland, there could be hundreds upon thousands more lurking behind the borders of the rest of Eastern Europe, perhaps even more waiting to sweep down from the Caucasus and into the Middle East for it's oil. They could simply burst forth and sweep through all of Europe easily due to the flat terrain; this was inclusive of the Northern German Lowlands.

The report did not go into much more detail than that other than the names of the individual formations, being such a closed off country, no one had the faintest idea of what was going on in the USSR, and conversely even less was known about the Red Army. What was the morale of their men? Or state of their equipment? What about the amount of training they had received? How about the vehicles and guns? Were the commanders competent or otherwise?

Rommel was already impressed by the information, but he was left feeling the want for so much more, there were just too many variables that had to be guessed, not enough to form a plan of action, not that there was a whole lot that could be planned other than to tell the troops to dig in as best as they could, and as the Bundeswehr were still very much infantile, there simply would not be enough manpower to even slow down a red tide, let alone try to halt it in its tracks.

'Unless the western allies come to our aid of course…and even then…' He noted disparagingly.

At the moment, they were incredibly vulnerable; most commanders were home for Christmas save himself and a few others.

He then decided to go over the Bundeswehr's own composition to see what could be done.

Most of the ground troops were well trained and well equipped with the best rifles and machine guns that could be provided, they had all been well drilled and trained in combat, they were tough, disciplined young men who could be counted on to stand fast if needed.

The Panzer divisions were only recently taking delivery of the new Panzer IV, a much improved design compared to the older models, but they would not be fully equipped with them for another year or so in the very least.

The artillery arm was equipped with numerous assault guns for supporting infantry on the offense; it would not be difficult to dig them in for defensive purposes. The 8.8cm Flak guns were powerful and accurate pieces that could blow slow targets out of the sky easily, Rommel had dabbled in the usage of them as direct-fire weapons, their high velocity shells easily penetrating most levels of armor.

It was the Luftwaffe though, that was the best equipped and most ready for the possibility of war, powerful and accurate dive-bombers, fast and able fighters, and bombers capable of carrying large loads. There were even rumors of secret weapons being developed.

But there just was not enough! If they had one more year, they would be well equipped to at least hold their own against the mass of troops, but Germany's economy was only barely recovering from the great depression thanks to large scale spending by the government, so the focus was on the economy, not the military, what was the military going to be used for anyway?

His thoughts were rudely interrupted when the phone on his desk began ringing, irritated by this sudden interruption; he grabbed it and held it to his ear.

'Hello?' He spoke into the phone.

'Herr Kommandant Rommel!' The voice almost screamed at the other end.

'Who is it? What is happening?' Rommel asked in confusion.

'It has begun Kommandant! The Reds are coming!' The voice said in a highly panicked tone.

Just a note I wanted to make, this will not be Tom Clancy-esque hyper realistic techno-thriller, this is just me imagining how different the Second World War might be.

As a direct result, all information on Erwin Rommel came from the internet; if I continue this expect to see the other famous WWII personalities appear.

Reviews and thoughts are highly, highly appreciated.

It would also be nice if you wish to include your own OCs in the story, just use this format.

Name:

Rank:

Unit:

Age:

Personality:

History: (just a summary)

Other notes: (if any)

I wouldn't mind taking from different sides and different nations, I would like the diversity. Also, try to make them more of the common soldier/officer sort, the higher ups are mostly real people.

P.S. For the Germans reading this, I apologize for any offence caused, as well as incorrect usage of words.