Žáby v bouři - Operace Barbarossa naruby – Drnek Jan (2012)

The final installment of the mystifying trilogy about an alternate Second World War is hitting the bookshelves. Operation Storm is the name of the plan for the Red Army's invasion of Europe, which was indeed planned by Stalin's high command in 1941-1942. However, we are in a different, altered world that has been shaped in the previous two parts of the trilogy. Here we have a Greater German Empire cleansed of Nazism and the Czechoslovak Republic, which, after repelling the Wehrmacht in 1938, became the engine for a new unification of the Little Entente. However, this is growing beyond a mere alliance pact and is heading towards the creation of a federation, a new Danube confederation of three monarchies and one semi-secular republic. This direction particularly frightens President Beneš, who is willing to ally with anyone who can prevent the Habsburgs from returning to the throne. The Czechs do not trust the Germans or the treacherous West, they distrust the Catholic Slovaks, and ultimately even their Balkan allies. Echoes of Pan-Slavism resonate in the nation, and some Czechs still dream of a great Slavic empire and eternal brotherhood in the East. Realistic and conservative forces are trying to position Czechoslovakia alongside the Germans and allies in the struggle for Europe. In the summer of 1942, the Soviet invasion of Poland begins, and the Czechs still do not know...