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~ Bill Whitcroft to John Smith
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Generaloberst William 'Bill' Whitcroft was a former US Army Officer and General of the Wehrmacht in Nazi America, serving as second in command to Reichsmarschall and later Reichsführer John Smith. An old friend of Smith, Whitcroft served alongside him in the US Army Signal Corps during World War II. After the invasion of the United States, he was among the first along with Smith to defect to the new American Reich. Following the Allied Capitulation in 1947, he joined the new American Wehrmacht, eventually becoming a general officer. He served with distinction in the African Campaign, and also at the Neutral Zone, fighting against the American Resistance. He outwardly appeared to be a loyal Nazi, enabling him to progress through the ranks of the Army.
Despite Smith's repeated clashes with other top Nazi officials, Whitcroft was unscathed. After J. Edgar Hoover's first attempt at removing Smith from power in 1963 failed and George Lincoln Rockwell was dismissed as Reichsmarschall, purged and exiled to Cuba, Smith was made his successor. Upon Smith's hasty appointment by Heinrich Himmler as the new Reichsmarschall of North America, Whitcroft became one of Smith's top advisors and remained a close confidant. Smith tried to suppress the growing resistance movement in the American Reich, but as attacks grew bolder in size and scope, the Nazis resorted to using primitive and brutal methods, which in turn only bolstered support for the rebellion. This was not helped by Jahr Null, an initiative planned by Himmler, Smith and top Reich officials to erase American history; after it began, opposition to Nazi rule was inflamed and the Furher was shot by a resistance sniper.
Though he served the Nazi regime, he was never a fanatic, and dreamed of one day restoring the old United States and throwing off the chains of fascism. This opportunity would soon present itself with the incursion by the American Reich into the Neutral Zone in 1965, led by Smith and Whitcroft. Unusual for such a senior official, Whitcroft even went so far as to privately suggest to Smith that the Reich go its own way and become fully independent from Berlin. He warned Smith about Hoover's surveillance of his family, and the fact that the ARBI had a mountain of evidence against him which the Director intended to use, but ultimately, like the last time, the plot would fail. After staging a putsch against Himmler and the Nazi high command with SS general Wilhelm Goertzmann, Whitcroft got exactly what he had wanted, as the American Reich was given complete autonomy, which now made the restoration of the US possible. Smith would finally initiate operation Fire Cross upon his return to America - a massive invasion of the West Coast. After the bullet train Smith and his wife were traveling on was ambushed by the Resistance, Smith took his own life and the nation was leaderless. Whitcroft was selected as the new leader of the flailing American Reich, and things would never be the same. Nearly two decades of Nazi rule would come to an end, and the last link with Berlin was finally severed.
Background[]
Born sometime before World War II, Whitcroft enlisted in the United States Army and was assigned to the Signal Corps. During his service, he befriended John Smith and Daniel Levine, forming close bonds with both men.
In 1946, as the war reached American soil, the unprepared and outgunned U.S. Army was swiftly overwhelmed by the invading forces of the Japanese Empire and the Greater Nazi Reich. Stationed at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, Whitcroft, Smith, Levine, Helen Smith, and the infant Thomas Smith listened to the radio broadcast announcing the U.S. government’s surrender following the detonation of the Heisenberg Device in Washington, D.C. Starving and desperate, the group was approached by their superior, Colonel Mike Holden, who relayed the grim news of General George S. Patton’s surrender to Hermann Göring at the West Point Military Academy.
Holden offered the group relief supplies and warned that those who resisted the new regime would face fatal consequences. He provided them with Nazi armbands, advising that the first to join the occupiers would receive food and favorable positions within the Reich. Despite his disdain for Nazism, Whitcroft reluctantly suggested they accept the new order with the intention of working against it from within. With heavy hearts, both Whitcroft and Smith donned the Nazi armbands, while Levine, being Jewish, was forced to go into hiding.
Unlike Smith, who eventually joined the SS, Whitcroft remained solely within the military and avoided involvement in the Reich’s more sinister activities. Although it is likely the two remained in contact, they did not reunite until the aftermath of the Battle of Denver in 1964.
Season Four[]
In 1964, Whitcroft was entrusted by Smith to lead the Nazi invasion of the Neutral Zone. Following the attempted assassination of Himmler, Nazi High Command uncovered both a growing American Resistance and a significant cache of High Castle video tapes in Denver. Despite suffering heavy losses, the superior GNR forces crushed the Resistance cell and seized the tapes, dealing a devastating blow to the insurgents.
After the battle, Whitcroft oversaw the detention and execution of prisoners before meeting with Smith, who arrived to personally supervise the destruction of the tapes. During their conversation, Whitcroft commented on the weakening hold of the Japanese Empire over the Pacific States and urged Smith to capitalize on the situation through an invasion. Though Smith humorously dismissed the idea, he warned that the Pacific States were destined to collapse, whether or not the Reich intervened.
As tensions between America and Germany escalated, Whitcroft became one of Smith’s most trusted confidants, offering counsel to the increasingly embattled Reichsmarschall. The revelation of Hoover’s wiretapping of Smith and his family, followed by Smith’s subsequent summons to Berlin to answer accusations of disloyalty, prompted Whitcroft to propose using the American Reich’s nuclear arsenal as a deterrent. While Smith expressed general support for the idea, he ultimately decided against it.
A month after the Japanese Empire announced its decision to withdraw from North America, Whitcroft participated in negotiations with Admiral Inokuchi. He directly questioned the admiral regarding Japan’s potential support for the Black Communist Rebellion (BCR). Inokuchi assured Whitcroft that Japan would not provide such support in exchange for continued oil shipments to its remaining territories. This agreement paved the way for the formal withdrawal of Japanese troops and the conclusion of the occupation of the western United States.
Following the successful Smith-Goertzmann coup, Whitcroft was present during Smith’s declaration of the newly independent American Reich, with Smith assuming the title of Reichsführer. Tasked with leading Operation Fire Storm, Whitcroft was ordered to crush the BCR and spearhead efforts to forcibly reunify the fractured nation under the American Reich.
Days into the operation, Whitcroft remained in New York City, overseeing the campaign alongside the American Reich’s High Command. Upon learning of Smith’s death, Whitcroft immediately ordered Strategic Air Command to stand down and called off the operation. In a moment of relief and defiance, he discarded his Iron Cross.
Personality[]
Unlike many of his peers and subordinates, Whitcroft was never a committed Nazi. He harbored a deep longing for the restoration of the United States and remained steadfast in his loyalty to the ideals of his homeland, even after its collapse in 1947. Though he begrudgingly accepted the Nazi regime, he dismissed the Nazi armband as “just a piece of cloth” and encouraged others to work toward toppling the occupiers from within.
By 1965, Whitcroft’s loyalty to the former United States remained unwavering. He often served as a moral compass for John Smith, who wrestled with his own conflicting loyalties to the American Reich and Himmler. Though Whitcroft reluctantly accepted his role in leading Operation Fire Storm, he viewed it solely as a means to reunite the nation under a single government.
With Smith’s death, Whitcroft saw an opportunity to fulfill his long-held vision. As interim Reichsführer, he unilaterally halted the operation and began extending peace overtures to the BCR, signaling the first steps toward reconciliation and the restoration of a unified America.
Relationships[]
To be Added
Appearances[]
| Season Four | ||||
| "Hexagram 64" Appears |
"Every Door Out..." Absent |
"The Box" Absent |
"Happy Trails" Absent |
"Mauvaise Foi" Appears |
| "All Serious Daring" Absent |
"No Masters But Ourselves" Appears |
"Hitler Has Only Got One Ball" Appears |
"For Want of a Nail" Absent |
"Fire from the Gods" Absent |
Gallery[]
Notes & Trivia[]
To be Added