© Google, March 2016 – The Needles Headland and Tennyson Down – Isle of Wight
“Do you think you and your commandos can pull it off, Nick?”
The Army Sergeant chewed on his cigar filling the air with what he thought of as a “sweet-smelling aroma,” and his C.O. and good friend Captain Sam Sawyer didn’t mind the breach of protocol in his office at Allied Command.
“Why the hell not. It’s what we joined this man’s Army for, ain’t it?
Germans in Guernsey – Found at the “On the Wight” blog
“Great. You and your men will board the sub for the Isle of Wight at 23:30 hours.”
“You’re sure he’ll be there, Sam.”
“Our best intel says he’s personally inspecting the Nazi installation at Carisbrooke Castle. Your mission is to invade the castle and assassinate Adolf Hitler.”
“Just one more thing, Sam. We’ll need the Captain.”
“Me? I’m not…”
“No, not you. I mean the Captain.”
“He’ll be there with your commandos, Nick. Don’t think he’d miss this one for the world.”
Sgt. Nick Fury and His Howling Commandos with Captain America
I wrote this story for the What Pegman Saw writing challenge. The idea is to use a Google maps image and location as the inspiration for crafting a piece of flash fiction no more than 150 words long. My word count is 148.
Today the Pegman takes us to the Isle of Wight and specifically to Carisbrooke Castle.
Yesterday, I wrote an alternate history story about the origin of Captain America after reading something suggesting that actor Will Smith was initially considered to play the title role in the 2011 film Captain America: The First Avenger.
Last night, with that still on my mind, I re-watched the 2014 movie Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The previous film depicted a version of Fury’s “Howling Commandos” but without Nick of course, and the sequel mentioned them in a display at the Smithsonian.
This morning when I saw the Pegman’s location, I did what I always do, open up a couple of Wikipedia pages. I was curious about the involvement of the Isle of Wight during World War Two and I found something interesting.
There initially had been plans for the Germans to invade and occupy the Isle of Wight and use it as a staging ground for the air blitz of London and southern England. However fears of Britain’s sea superiority resulted in Hitler rejecting the plot.
Then I read the article called How the Isle of Wight could have helped Hitler win the war: Nazi leader was talked out of his plans to invade the tiny island and, having recently written a few “alternate history” tales, decided to craft my wee story around the premise of the Nazis successfully invading and holding the Isle of Wight.
Throwing caution to the winds, I included Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos or at least Nick and his C.O. Captain “Happy Sam” Sawyer with an “honorable mention” of Cap himself. How would the war in Europe been different if Fury’s team were successful and they killed Adolf Hitler sometime in 1941?
To read other stories based on the prompt, go to InLinkz.com.
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Smashing story, James. Loved how you pulled the various pieces together.
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The pieces were already floating around in my mind. I just needed a framework. Thanks.
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Reminded me a bit of the Guns of Navarone and other 60s-70s era WW2 thrillers where the ragtag team is assembled for the impossible mission. I think this was a reaction to the nightly news reports of the horror of actual way, the ineffectual American military routinely beaten by poorly-armed guerrilla forces. When Nazi combatants were interviewed, they usually said they feared American air power above all else. The Germans didn’t think much of American armor (Shermans caught fire and were undergunned) or of American infantry (overly cautious and easily overrun). Romantic notions are why Americans have such faith in its military capability despite ample evidence to the contrary.
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Well, I did base all this on a comic book, so it’s bound to be idealized. Thanks.
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Has somebody been fooling with the Forerunner time technology again? I thought you had that all wrapped up and under lock and key. Or are we looking at one of the alternate universes under investigation by one of your cross-dimensional multiverse detective agents? You’ll have to pardon me — a fella’ can get awfully confused without the guidance of a friendly magical dragon to keep track of things….
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This is a “one off” alternate history, not part of the Forerunner story arc. I wrote it just for fun.
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Fluently written piece of alternate history, James.
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Thanks, Peggy. I tried not to make it too “comic-booky” given all of the characters were created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby (which the exception of Captain America who was created decades earlier by Jack Kirby and Joe Simon).
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Nice, I love the way you combined several genres in this one. I love comic heroes and alternative history. You combined both so smoothly. I’m still surprised that Hitler thought “any” seaborne invasion of England would’ve worked well. The RN would’ve cut them to pieces. Oh sure, some troops would’ve made it to shore alive, but there wouldn’t have been enough of them and they’d be ill supplied to fight for very long.
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I think the plan was to use the Isle of Wight as a staging area for airborne strikes rather than planning a seaborne invasion for the very reason you mention. Also that’s the reason the plan was scrapped. In any event, it’s fun to play “pretend” and get to ignore the reality of these situations.
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Dear James,
Now that’s imaginative.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Thanks. Probably not everyone’s cup of tea, though.
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Great, imaginative piece, James. I like an alternative history myself – ‘what ifs’ are what fiction is powered by, after all. Thank goodness Hitler was (rightly or wrongly) scared of the Royal Navy. I might be living in a very different country if he hadn’t been.
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According to one source, the Isle of Wight might have been Hitler’s key to occupying Britain. Glad he passed on it.
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Yes, indeed. I hear he had a soft spot for the country, that he never really wanted to go to war with us in the first place. But then that might have been because he was on friendly terms with members of our royal family. Chilling
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I think Hitler considered the British “Aryans” but that didn’t stop him from ordering the Blitz, did it?
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Very true. And the aryan things is weird, as we’re a proper lot of mongrels! Bits off Viking, Roman, Anglo Saxon, Norman, French, Dutch … I guess most of the races that added to our mix in the far past were white and European – perhaps that was enough for him.
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Well done! Wouldn’t it have been grand if someone had “ofted” Hitler early in his life?
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Tons of time travel and alternate history tales about that one, Alicia.
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I like alternate histories! Good job Hitler didn’t make it to the Isle of Wight, it’s a bit too close…
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Actually a lot closer than people imagined at the time. Funny the things you learn about.
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Love the words in the dialogue – get such a feel for personality: “Why the hell not.”
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I never read any of the Sgt. Fury comic books but I read plenty of “Nick Fury: Agent of SHIELD,” so I have a pretty good idea of how he’d talk. Thanks.
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ahhhh – very good and hoping you have a nice weekend James
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You too.
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