November 2nd,  1949

80km northwest of Bremen, North German Plain

Brigadeführer Karl Bauer inhaled deeply from the half spent cigarette as he gazed out across the snow swept field.  From his position atop the command jeep he could see several squads of his SS men methodically tramping across the field. With the special protective gear they wore, a modified version of suits designed for nerve gas decontamination operations, they would probably be warmer than him even with the layers of winter clothes he had donned.

It was cold, colder than any November Karl had ever known. Colder even than the old men he’d spoken with could recall. Karl flicked the cigarette towards the ground and lit a new one as his mind drifted back to recent events. He shuddered at the memory of The Night. The lights in the sky, the brilliant unyielding sustained flashes of nuclear fire in all directions. It was only simple dumb luck that had kept his brigade from joining the ranks of the hundreds of thousands killed when the massive allied nuclear attack had come to Bremen with two atomic bombs. He and his men had been out of town on training. Training, as it happened, for the very operation they were conducting now.

Karl looked down at the geiger counter he’d duct taped in a handy location. The steady, ominous, clickclickclick told him more than he wanted to know. The radiation levels wouldn’t kill him, not right away. But he was glad he had already had children and that they were safe with his wife in one of the new underground cities in the East. With an effort of will he focused back to the duty at hand.

His men sweeping the fields had more sensitive instruments. They waived metallic wands in front of them as they methodically swept their assigned quadrants. Other men took notes with big pencils designed to be used by men wearing thick, cumbersome, gloves. The operation was gruelling in its monotonous repetition and relentless requirements for detail and precision. Yet he and his men knew they couldn’t flag in their efforts. Not in this. 

Karl was about to tell his driver to head to the next search location when a voice came over the radio.

“Brigadeführer, this is Oberscharführer Schneider, do you copy, over” 

“This is Brigadeführer Bauer, please report” Karl said into the microphone that extended from his headset.

“Sir, the egg is in the nest” the Sergeant said. At the words, a simple coded phrase, Karl suddenly inhaled. 

“Understood Oberscharführer, please proceed as planned, I will meet you at the rally point” he said.

“Yes sir, understood sir, out”. Karl took another deep drag from the cigarette as he sent silent thanks to a god he was less and less sure existed. If the latest find was confirmed then it would be the second piece of the unexploded atomic bomb they’d found this afternoon. He didn’t pretend to understand any of the science involved. He only knew that certain pieces of the unexploded bombs were of immense value to the Reich’s scientists. Indeed, there was enough value in this for Heydrich himself, head of the SS among many other things, to take personal overall command of the operation.

Yet, this wasn’t simply an SS operation. So many things would have to go right for the operation to have any chance of success. And, if successful, it would inevitably come at a terrible price since unexploded bombs were all too likely to come along with even more exploded ones. More city centers consumed in atomic fire. More women and children turned to ash. More radiation sickness to stalk those who managed to survive the blasts themselves and the great firestorms they birthed. 

But, here outside of Bremen, everything had come together. Apparently intel really had done its job this time with the package tracking. The same radar systems used to guide the missile that had destroyed one of the B-34’s approaching Bremen had managed to track the descending wreckage long enough to get a good fix on the probable search zone. And an initial helicopter survey had found the telltale signs. 

Not for the first time Karl wondered just how many units like his were conducting similar operations all around the Reich. Probably, he thought, more than he would have preferred given the sheer scope of the latest allied nuclear attacks. But Karl had no need to know about that. He had only his specific orders to carry out. He and his men would be combing these fields and woods for days to come, searching until command was entirely satisfied there was nothing left to find. 

And then….Karl’s cold blue eyes stared at nothing in particular as his mind traced out the paths to vengeance. He had no idea how close the Reich was to wielding the power of the atom. He had no precise idea of how much the SS’s ongoing search operations would contribute to that effort. But he could guess. The wolfish glare in Karl’s face would have worried many an allied leader if they could have seen him at that moment.