During World War II, what if the Nazi managed to assassinate the top three Allied leaders at the same time?

By 1943, the war hung in the balance as the Nazi pushed hard at the USSR in the Eastern front while the US is contemplating its next move. Roosevelt felt the need to convene the leaders of the three world leaders, himself, Churchill and Stalin, to plan the next step in the war. That meeting and the Nazi’s opportunistic plan to take advantage of it to turn the tide of the war is the subject of this book.

World War II is full of many tales and conspiracies. This particular story could be so significant to potentially changing the tide of the war. Some of the interesting insights I gleaned from the books are:

1. The importance of symbolisms. Maybe the meeting never needed to happen. The meeting was a half-way-around-the-world trip for Roosevelt in his polio-ridden and fragile state but he felt the significance of it. In 1943 many countries were still waiting to side with the winning side. The Allied victory was still far from certain and having the publicity of the three leaders together was deemed to project a lot of strength and unity that can sway a lot of neutral parties.
2. Symbolic weight matters. Maybe the meeting never needed to happen. However, in 1943 many countries were still waiting to side with the winning side. Having the publicity of the three leaders together was deemed to project a lot of strength that can sway a lot of neutral parties.
3. Effectivenes of Special Forces: This World War is likely the first time where small group of specialized team was shown to provide more impact and less casualty than a conventional army. Otto Skorzeny and his SS operatives managed to rescue Mussolini from his prison up in the remote mountain plateau.
4. Importance of having ultimate goals to focus all attention. FDR’s desire for resolution and peace meant he’s willing to travel far and lie to Churchill when necessary, while Stalin’s desire for victory framed his reaction and action throughout the conflict. This created an interesting intrigues between the Allied powers.
5. Importance of logistics. Iran played an important role as the logistical route for USA’s weapons to supply the USSR’s stand versus the Nazi invasion. This set the stage for the aforementioned summit to be held in this location.

This is a good revisit of the Second World War from a different perspective than the usual Western Front story. It fleshed out the lesser known aspects, from political posturing and assassination attempts, that add depth to this tragic war.