SS-GB is an alternative history novel by Len Deighton, set in the United Kingdom conquered and occupied by Germany during the Second World War. The novel's title refers to the branch of the Nazi SS that controls Britain. It was first published in 1978.
Synopsis
Setting
SS-GB is set less than a year after the British surrender following a successful Operation Sea Lion. In 1940, the Germans landed near Ashford, and Canterbury was declared an open city. The German advance captured London, but a British rear guard around Colchester slowed down the Germans for long enough to enable Royal Navy ships to escape from Harwich. King George VI and Prime Minister Winston Churchill became prisoners of the Germans. The British gold and foreign reserves were shipped to Canada.
In 1941, the British Armed Forces surrendered, Churchill was tried by court-martial in Berlin and executed while the King was imprisoned in the Tower of London. Queen Elizabeth and her daughters Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret escaped to New Zealand while the Duke of Windsor escaped to The Bahamas. A naval officer, Rear Admiral Conolly Abel Smith, formed a British government-in-exile in Washington, DC but struggles to gain diplomatic recognition.
The United Kingdom still has an unidentified puppet Prime Minister and Parliament, but true power lies in the hands of the German Military Commander GB and the Military Administration Chief GB. Parliament has passed an "Emergency Powers (German Occupation) Act", giving the German authorities executive power over occupied Britain. There is also considerable interservice rivalry between the German Army, the Schutzstaffel and the Gestapo. Hitler held a victory parade in London while Hermann Göring and Joseph Goebbels were on board the first nonstop Lufthansa flight from London to New York City. It was broadcast on BBC One between 19 February 2017 and 19 March 2017.
Mentions
Gavriel David Rosenfeld, a professor of history at Fairfield University, cited SS-GB in his book The World Hitler Never Made.
See also
- Hypothetical Axis victory in World War II — includes an extensive list of other Wikipedia articles regarding works of Nazi Germany/Axis/World War II alternate history.
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