FILE NW/005 — HISTORICAL NOTE

Die Glocke: The Nazi Bell and the Gate to Ilyndor

Explore the real-world WWII legend of Die Glocke and its role in the novel as a terrifying interdimensional gateway between Earth and Ilyndor.

This archive entry explores the real-world WWII myth of Die Glocke alongside its fictional counterpart in Resonance Portal Wars — Book 1 (safe to read through the middle of the novel).

What really happened: The legend of the Bell

Among the most enduring myths of Nazi wonder weapons is the story of Die Glocke, or 'The Bell'. Emerging decades after the Second World War in fringe historical circles, the legend describes a massive, bell-shaped device developed by SS scientists in absolute secrecy.

According to the folklore, the machine was housed within Project Riese, a sprawling, unfinished underground complex carved into the Owl Mountains of occupied Poland. Real history records that Project Riese was constructed using the forced labour of thousands of prisoners from the Gross-Rosen concentration camp. At the Wenceslaus Mine, researchers supposedly tested this nightmarish device. The Bell was said to be constructed of heavy metal, lined with ceramic, and fuelled by a mysterious, radioactive liquid often referred to as red mercury.

Conspiracy theorists claim Die Glocke spun this metallic substance at extreme speeds, generating a luminescent field that caused anti-gravity effects, spatial distortion, and fatal radiation poisoning to the scientists working nearby. Some versions of the myth even associate the real-world German physicist Dr Walter Gerlach—known for his genuine scientific work on magnetic fields and spin quantisation—with the project. While mainstream historians dismiss Die Glocke as a post-war fabrication born from the ruins of the Third Reich, the legend provides a perfect foundation for alternate history.

In the novel: The monster below

In the Resonance Portal Wars universe, Die Glocke is terrifyingly real, though its true purpose is far stranger than simple anti-gravity. Hidden deep within the Wenceslaus Mine, the machine is the crowning achievement of SS Obergruppenführer Hans Kammler. He views it not merely as a weapon, but as a throne wired with circuits—a dimensional key waiting to unlock the universe.

The machine roared to life. Its spinning core emitted a grinding metallic wail that reverberated through the chamber. The vibrations intensified, shaking the very foundations of the underground fortress. The violet-blue glow flared, illuminating the scientists’ faces in an unnatural light.

Built under the scientific direction of Dr Walter Gerlach, the Bell is a towering structure encased in three inches of ceramic plating and fuelled by red mercury. Yet, human engineering alone cannot tear a hole in reality. The machine requires a catalyst. That catalyst is Element 115, an impossibly dense, copper-gold crystal recovered from a crashed saucer buried in the Antarctic ice.

When Dr Gerlach’s team runs the machine with this alien crystal at its core, Die Glocke acts as a spatial lockpick. The physical toll on the human operators is horrific. The workers who handle Element 115 suffer from intense migraines, paranoia, and hallucinations. They experience extreme déjà vu, note their reflections moving a fraction of a second too fast, and see their shadows stretch in still light. But to Kammler, these are acceptable losses. Power is never given; it is taken.

The eight-minute window and the canary

The first successful opening of the Bell Gate is a bloodbath. When the shimmering, iridescent tear stabilises above the levitating Bell, it connects Earth directly to Ilyndor. Three hulking orc warriors step through the vortex. They are not mindless beasts but brutal soldiers, and they immediately slaughter the nearest guards and technicians with an axe and a war hammer. Kammler observes the carnage with chilling satisfaction, finally stepping in to execute the last surviving orc with a point-blank shot from his Luger.

Kammler realises the Reich has discovered an entire world ripe for conquest, but the portal has a severe limitation. Sustaining the dimensional tear requires astronomical amounts of energy. The plasma field devours vast reserves of uranium, meaning the gateway cannot stay open indefinitely.

Through meticulous testing, Dr Gerlach’s team determines the precise operational limit. They send a canary into the vortex; it is retrieved exactly eight minutes later, alive and blissfully ignorant of its place in history. The window is set. The Reich has exactly eight minutes to send a strike force through the portal and bring them back, or they will be stranded in an alien world forever.

The Barbarossa mandate

The sheer scale of uranium required to fuel Die Glocke completely alters the course of the Second World War. When Adolf Hitler witnesses the data and the physical proof of the portal, he is consumed by obsession. He dismisses conventional warfare, believing that armies from other dimensions will soon march beneath the Reich's banner.

To secure the massive uranium deposits in Ukraine and Kazakhstan required to sustain the plasma, Hitler orders the immediate invasion of the Soviet Union. His generals, Wilhelm Keitel and Alfred Jodl, are horrified by the strategic overreach, warning that fighting Stalin will overextend their forces. Hitler silences them, declaring that Germany will no longer rule merely the Earth. Operation Barbarossa is launched to build a "thousand-planet Reich".

The first crossing

With the rules established and the resources secured, Kammler handpicks three elite SS commandos—including veterans Kurt and Sepp Dietrich—to pioneer the crossing. They are briefed on the eight-minute window and ordered to observe, document, and return.

The commandos step into the pitch-black vortex, plunging into the green-hazed atmosphere of Ilyndor. They materialise in a cavern, stepping out into a hostile, dying forest choked with parasitic growths. However, they are not alone. Their arrival disrupts the local leylines, triggering a Resonance ward set by an elite orc war band.

The scout team is swiftly hunted by massive, horse-sized wolves known as Grimfangs, and bombarded by green spatial magic. Only Kurt survives the encounter, diving back through the portal just as the eight-minute window expires. He crashes onto the laboratory floor, a broken arrow protruding from his leg, screaming of wolves that hunt like men.

The crossing brings Kammler the proof he needs: Earth is not alone, and the inhabitants of the other side wield powers that defy human science. Yet, the portal is a two-way door. By tearing a hole between worlds, Die Glocke attracts the attention of powerful figures across Ilyndor, from the fearsome orc chieftain Durgar to the disciplined Elven Commander Lithariel. And the humming crystal at the heart of the Bell continues to whisper, waiting for the perfect moment to bend reality to its own design.

Keep reading

• Element 115 and the 1939 Antarctic Crash
• Durgar, Chieftain of the Drublog Clan
• Commander Lithariel of the Elven Vanguard