The Ten Thousand is a 1993 Possible War novel written by Harold Coyle about the trials and tribulations of the US Tenth Corps as they travel through a hostile Germany. Following a mission in the Ukraine to seize former Soviet nuclear weapons which are transported through Germany, Chancellor Johann Ruff asserts his nation’s sovereignty through hostile actions against the United States of America. Units trapped in the Czech Republic must now march through hundreds of miles of a former ally’s territory. Comparable to the Anabasis of Xenophon.
Tropes Appearing In This Novel Include:
- Aggressive Negotiations: Conducted by German paratroopers seizing nukes stored at the US Air Force base at Sembach.
- Bland-Name Product: World News Network, for the famous cable TV organization.
- Bluff the Eavesdropper: US counterintelligence efforts spread misinformation to confuse German data gathering through such methods as dummy radio broadcasts.
- Caps Lock: Used to portray the loudest shouting.
- The Chains of Commanding: Leaders on all sides are forced to make difficult decisions with terrible outcomes while suffering limited sleep or worse.
- Curious Qualms of Conscience: Many characters feel troubled by the orders they have to give or obey, especially the Bundeswehr soldiers who have been taught not to repeat the mistakes of the past.
- Distant Prologue: In 1945 Germany, with American forces driving deep into Germany.
- Emergency Authority: As the unrest in Germany worsens, martial law is imposed.
- Exhaustion-Induced Idiocy: Sleep Deprivation caused by combat and marching leads to slowed reactions and occasional missteps by officers.
- Gender Is No Object: The novel's US military is fully-integrated up to combat arms.
- Great Off Screen War: The Second Mexican Revolution, which US forces intervened in.
- Grey-and-Gray Morality: Germany has valid grievances about the use of their territory as a launchpad for unilateral American actions that violate treaties (e.g. transporting nuclear weapons through Germany). However, German forces end up initiating hostilities.
- While the US action in the Ukraine was to return Soviet nukes to Russia, said intervention was kept a secret from Germany. The option taken by US forces to march through Germany instead of disarming ends up endangering the civilian population in their areas of operation.
- Hide Your Children: Averted by the instances of children being injured in war.
- The Infiltration: US Army Rangers led by Major Ilvanich conduct covert disruption operations in Germany to support the Tenth Corps' advance.
- Just Following Orders: Soldiers and officers on both sides allow themselves to be caught up in following superior directives without examining them too closely.
- The Mutiny: Individuals up to entire units of the German armed forces refuse to follow their orders.
- My Greatest Failure: The American air force feels guilt at the surrender of the nuclear devices to the Germans.
- Next Sunday A.D.: Implied to be set in the early 21st century, about a decade or two after the novel was published.
- Nuke 'em: One Ukrainian storage bunker ends up using its nuclear Self-Destruct Mechanism.
- Obstructive Bureaucrat: In a rare heroic example, the German parliament (Bundestag) limits Chancellor Ruff's ability to carry out his plan by denying military appropriations.
- Operation: [Blank]: Operation Desperate Fumble, the action to secure Ukranian nukes, and Operation En Passant, a plan to retrieve said nukes from German custody.
- Pride: National prestige is a key motivator for the actions of the countries involved.
- Straight for the Commander: American tracking of radio signals allow their artillery units to do this several times to the headquarters of a few German units.
- Tree Cover: The forests of central Europe provide usable cover for many infantry and armor skirmishes in the book.
- Vehicular Sabotage: Numerous instances within the German military, including a Luftwaffe officer smashing the control chips of Tornado fighters.
- Tank Goodness: Germany’s Leopard 2s and US M1A1s have starring roles.
- Trapped Behind Enemy Lines
- War Is Hell: The effects of war on the body and on the mind are shown in close, unflinching detail.
- War Refugees: German civilians end up clogging roads that German military units also need.
