History, Politics And Current Affairs

Chapter 203



3rd March 1942

London, United Kingdom




The Prime Minister was clearly deadly tired. He had slept little on the expedient voyage back from America when HMS Hood had raced back so fast that she had been forced to leave her escorts behind and now, scarcely a day later he was attending a conference that hadn't even planned, never mind the next one that he hadn't been meant to attend in the first place. Right now he was listening to a report that Field Marshal Auckinleck had communicated in from Delhi.

“So let me summarize, Marshal Gort.” the PM said. “Heavy fighting in northern Burma with the Nips pushing us back by sheer numbers, the Frogs are loosing Indochina as fast as they can run and Slim is conducting a fighting retreat down the Peninsula.”

“In essence yes, Prime Minister. The Nips have cut the telephone line between Singapore and Delhi yesterday, but the long-range transmitters in Singapore itself still allow us contact, and General Slim has used this route.”

Churchill ignored this and asked then: “Has the Palace been briefed?”

“Yes, Sir. I did myself.”

“Good.”

The Prime Minister leaned back and closed his eyes as most of the Civil servants and Officers left the room. For the next hour Churchill worked as if he hadn't been deprived of sleep for most of the last week and prepared the next meeting which, at least in his own opinion, was far more important for the bigger picture than the war in the Far East, given that the latter was merely days old and that there was nothing in the very short term that hadn't already been done.

Parts of Force A were patrolling the Indian Ocean, allowing the main force to refuel before they moved on to Australia from where they would fight the expected thrust of the Japanese towards the Dutch East Indies, elderly reserve Crusader Tanks were moving the same way to equip additional Indian and Australian Armoured Units, supplementing the Sentinel, of which the Australians could never produce enough as it seemed. Crated Fighters, bombers and all sorts of war materials from the scarce reserves the Empire had were on their way into the pacific, and for the moment that was all that could be done. Here on the other hand the war was raging as violently as ever. The Allied Forces were still unable to break through the Gothic Line, but at least they had cleared away the stop lines in front and were now pitted against the main line of resistance. Churchill had not been there, but reports said that it was eerily resembling the Western Front the last time around.

And now he had to be diplomatic to ambassadors and heads of state from around the allied powers and juggle all their demands and wishes to come to a satisfactory conclusion, never mind that he sometimes felt as if this was too early to talk about these things. Alas, there was nothing to be done about that, and it was nothing special anyway, only the occupation policies and plans for Germany. Since the early bird caught the worm the Foreign Office, the IGS and the Ministry of Defence had created a study group almost immediately after the invasion of Italy, and now they were negotiating the plans. He knew that the Poles were more than willing to go with the plan, he had already talked it over with President Raczkiewicz who knew that after the war Poland would simply be unable to manage, occupy and pacify a real, full-sized zone in addition to the territorial compensations, especially with the war against Russia still going on, same went for the Belgians and the Dutch that would simply be part of the British Occupation forces in the sectors of Germany that bordered them. The CANZACs had a similar problem, only they would get an Enclave somewhere in the north, probably in Schleswig or around Bremen. No, the real problem were once again the French. They would most certainly demand the full annexation of the Saar Region into France, and that was something that would repeat the mistakes that had been made at Versailles. Lower down in the folder he found the map, the map of how Germany was to be divided.



There were many other problems. In Germany, unlike Italy, one could not rely on having a whole sector of the population sympathetic with ones own cause, there the occupation would have to be conducted and upheld against a hostile civilian population, and in Germany too the politics that had lead to the war itself were ironically rooted far deeper than in Italy where, unlike in Germany a viable opposition still existed and had managed to survive even throughout the purges and repressive measures. Then there was the matter of Austria... It was all a nightmare.

Aeronautical Testing Centre, exact location secret


“You see Marshal Dowding, I have been working on this design since January 1940. On and off, since I have other work to do, but I finished the drawings about half a year ago, and now at last we have three dummy prototypes for testing in the air.” Barnes Wallis was enthusiastic when explaining his work as always.

Dowding just nodded and pretended he was interested in the technical explanation that followed.

“The bomb itself is based on a scaled-down version of our 2000pounder AP bomb, with a strengthened casing for increased armour penetration and of course more external modifications to allow the bombardier to steer it into the target.”


“What about guidance?” asked Dowding, more to keep the conversation going than for anything else.

Wallis swallowed and answered tentatively after a few moments.

“That is what we are working on right now, Marshal. The electronic parts are delicate and as a result can be unreliable, but the principle is perfectly feasible.”

Dowding raised an eyebrow in response before Wallis continued.

“If...or rather when we make it work, we can theoretically attack enemy shipping from two to three miles away, and as long as the launching aircraft does not manoeuvre too wildly we should achieve reasonable accuracy.”

That commanded Dowding's full attention and his eyes gleamed with the interest of a man who made a living out of preventing what the good bombmaker was proposing. “Are you sure? Three miles?”


“Well, under perfect conditions of course, and I know how seldom those are actually there, but it should indeed be something thereabouts in most cases. The most important thing is that the weapon itself cannot be intercepted, since it is moving too fast, and it would give the chaps that fly against enemy ships from land bases a weapon beyond the torpedo.”

Dowding was even more interested now. Since he came from Fighters he detested the thought of flying a torpedo attack into the teeth of the enemy defences, and anything that saved men and aircraft in Far Eastern War was something that had at the very least be considered – RAF Malaya Command was hard pressed. Even though they had suffered relatively few losses in men so far, thanks to the Malaya Volunteer Air Force, the stocks of pre-positioned spares would not last forever, never mind in Burma where the air war was just as intense as it was over Italy itself.

“I see.” Dowding said and mused over the implications of such a weapon for a few minutes while Wallis kept looking out of the window. “So Mr Wallis, you say you have two prototypes ready for testing?”

“Yes, Sir. We have one with a new experimental guidance system, and one with the old, dodgy one. Before Air Marshal Harris left Bomber Command we were ready for testing, but he decided that there was no application for the weapon for Bomber Command, convinced that it was too small to be of any use against the U-Boat bunkers the Germans are building or against any other form of land target. That was two weeks ago, Marshal.”

“So when you telephoned his successor you were hoping to get in touch with me instead?”

Wallis nodded. He took off his glasses and cleaned them vigerously for a while.

“The point being that I...we felt that Coastal Command might be more receptive to new types of weapons, especially in the far east.”


Dowding just nodded. “And what about tests?”

Wallis smelt the morning air, now only one more hurdle needed to be climbed.

“We have conducted some, we can look at the films made.” Wallis looked at Dowding again and decided that he had to play for keeps. “I would first like to show you the bomb itself.”

Wallis led the Marshal out of the room and through the long corridors before they entered one of the many small rooms where the Special Weapons Sections, inherited from the Air Ministry were now creating special toys for the Ministry of Defence. What Dowding saw in the room did not look exceptionally special. It was a bomb casing surrounded by several boffins that were working on it feverishly. At a closer look one could see that the bomb had been altered. Short, stubby wings, presumably to keep it level, fins at the back to give it steerage and the changed nose section that contained various electronic items.

“We have lined up a test for tomorrow, Sir.” Wallis said while the Marshal inspected the weapon as close as he dared without touching anything. “Given all goes well and meets with approval we can start series production within less than four months.”

“That fast?”

“Yes, Sir. After all, we would need very little retooling, and production could, with the exception of the electronic components of course run largely parallel with the normal bombs. We would most likely take normal bomb casings off the production line and then refit them to turn them into these. Now, if you would follow me into the projection room please...”

Minutes later Dowding was watching as a Wellington, carrying the weapon opened it's bomb bays and dropped the weapon using a specific manoeuvre to make it come out from under the aircraft. He watched as the bomb began to glide in a ballistic curve. At this point Wallis changed the roll and then he watched a mountainside somewhere that had been painted with the outline of a warship. Suddenly the focus of the camera changed and it caught a fast moving black shape that raced downwards in a curve and hit the painted shape somewhat forward of the 'smokestack'. Had that been a real ship and a real bomb the warship would have suffered massive damage to it's machinery spaces.

Wallis began to explain some more. “You see these bits falling off? They were parts of the bomb casing. We conducted this test a week ago and we have the second prototype prepared...”

“With actual explosives?”

“Yes. Short of an actual target vessel we had to rely on calculations for an estimate of penetration abilities, but we could base that on the properties of the actual bomb this was based on so we estimate that it should be able to penetrate or at the very least cause very high damage to the armour belts of most escorts and smaller capital ships.”


Dowding thought about the proposition that was laid out before him even though Wallis had not said a thing. He was the only one who could authorize the bomb for production. He was already convinced, and if he knew the Prime Minister correctly so would Churchill be as soon as he saw these films.

“If all things go as I think they will you might get some visitors for the tests.”




[Notes: Now, next week I have to start studying. This means that until after the exams all my AAR work is on hold as of Sunday evening. I will try to get something else out before then, but no promises.]

[1] Of course I can't discuss Harris' proposals, but methinks he theories are known to be of a rather controversial nature, they certainly are here in Germany. Let's just presuppose that there has been something of a scandal within the service about this. My reasoning is that Churchill is against it this time because the Army is already in Europe, so ITTL Bomber Command at this point is no longer the only way to hit back at the enemy.

[2]Formerly the Air Staff.

Nice bit of work. Btw WSC and Portal were also in favour of Area Bombing, plus I'd think that if the Luftwaffe has bombed cities across Europe in TTL as in @ the British public are going to demand retaliation. Watch 'The War Game' and you'll see just how bloodthirsty even the average British housewife can be (they were suggesting that we should nuke the USSR in it).
Even with a Fritz-X type weapon area bombing is really the only way to attack German industry, the sort of accuracy we have now, or even in 1945 just didn't exist for most of the war. It's all very well having a PGM aboard your Wellington, but if you can't find Germany, never mind the Ruhr then you might as well not bother.
The methods the Pathfinders eventually developed were as probably as about as accurate as bombing was going to get in the period. I also think that those pesky clouds would make it difficult for Bomber Command to use PGMs of the time.



In 1942 the scandal would be if ACM Harris had suggested that we not bomb German cities. I hate to say it but there was zero sympathy for German civilians in the Empire; they were all considered to be Nazis and that was that. Besides they were the one's in armament factories making weapons to kill British servicemen and civilians.

That's mostly a side effect from area bombing of cities being a taboo subject on the paradox forums for some reason.

Anyhow, ITTL the British are conducting a daylight bombing campaign against occupied Europe and a night campaign against Germany, mainly in the Ruhr area, where the bombers can be escorted to by all sorts of fighters, from Mosquitoes to Spits with drop tanks. The effects are what you might expect, losses are moderate. Anything else simply wouldn't fly on the paradox forums. The scandal (never mind that I simply forgot to edit the footnote) is more that Harris was turning BC into his personal fiefdom than anything else. Since the British have caught the whole Combined Arms stuff somewhat earlier that of course was not well received in Aldershot and Whitehall. The whole navigation issue of course leads to the irony that while there is no official area bombing, the end effects are the same, I simply skip over that part because of the above mentioned forum rules. Of course I know that there isn't much sympathy for German civilians, BC has no official area bombing policy more because of "We are better than them" than anything else, moral high ground and all that.


(That this also means that fewer firestorms ravage German cities which I admittedly let influence things early on before I realized that that how I wrote it back then was utter humbug.)

The as yet unnamed Glide bomb is more meant as an anti-shipping weapon than meant against German industry.

Once it's working, if it (and the apparatus to control it) then it can be refined into something that an A/C like the Mossie can carry (a thought, how about a 2 plane package, one carrying the bomb and the other the controls?).

Assuming this can be done, when as the launch platform has a higher survivability it's more feasible to think about using it against land targets. It's not suitable for city bombing etc, but could have a use supporting the Army - for example taking out targets like bridges (to delay enemy reinforcements/prevent a retreating enemy escaping).

Alternatively, thinking more strategically a more widespread use as a bridge buster can disrupt enemy supply lines to soften them up prior to an Army offensive. Say a specialist wing of 2-3 squadrons is formed, assigned to one theatre/sector of the front, then tasked to hit 1-2 "transport" targets (bridges, ferrys, canal locks) every day. A couple of weeks of this and the enemy supply lines will be of suffering.

What you think 617 Squadron is for? They are not only flying Lancs.


Chapter 204

March 1942

Burma

The Burma Campaign was deteriorating, and fast. The Chinese were willing to take extremely heavy losses in order to push the 3rd Mountain and the 101st Division back and were slowly managing to do so, in spite of terrain that favoured the defenders immensely they forced the British back. From the 2nd to the 4th The 101st Division made a fighting retreat that made the Asiatics pay dearly for every inch gained, but all the same they retreated. On the 5th however three things happened that would influence the course of the campaign. One, the commander of French Indochina surrendered and Japanese Marines began to pour into Siam, secondly the Japanese landed half of an SNLF on the eastern coast of Malaya, forcing Slim to pretty much give up everything north of Kuala Lumpur and disperse the militia into the countryside from where it would fight on as guerillas. Secondly the Japanese began landing three Divisions in the northern Phillipines, making it clear once and for all that their target were the Dutch East Indies, and thirdly aerial reconnaissance spotted a trail of Asiatic troops climbing over the mountains of North-Eastern Burma, aiming directly for the gap between the 101st and 56th Divisions. Jacomb was forced to bring his reserves into play to try and plug the gap he had intentionally left open in the assumption that the Japanese would only attack in Western Burma and not through Keng Tung, one of the Shan States. The reserves consisted of part of the still arriving 77th Indian Division, four of it's Regiments that had been organized in the 1st Provisional Brigade until the rest of the Division arrived. Having disembarked at Rangoon on the 4th, they were ordered to move early in the afternoon of the 5th. The troops were mainly recruited from Peshawar and northern India, and so were not acclimatized and used to the terrain and progress was slow. This was not aided by the constant Japanese Air Raids on the transportation network in Burma that, whilst small and largely ineffective thanks to the efforts of RAF Burma Command, were still enough to disrupt the movement of men, weapons and supplies to the front. So when the 1st Provisional Brigade arrived in position the Japanese had already taken the capital of Kengtung, placed their Artillery guns on the relatively open space around the city and had begun shelling the Brigade as it approached them. Even so the Indian troops managed to get into position and when the Japanese attacked with the bulk of two Brigades, all that had crossed these mountains so far they found the enemy prepared and as the battle developed and raged through the 7th and 8th March both sides found it to be even. Wave after wave of Japanese Infantry hurled itself against the line of the British forces that bent, fell back, held the next line, but did not break.

When Auckinleck was informed of this on the 9th and asked Jacomb what he was about to do about this, the General had already ordered the withdrawal of the 56th Division from the Siamese border to a position that was roughly 90° to the right flank of the 101st Division which left the 1st Provisional Brigade hanging in the air. It was also potentially dangerous if the Siamese decided not to wait for the Japanese to be in position alongside their forces and instead just lashed out at the 56th as it was retreating. This did not happen, but the Japanese, pulverizing the 1st Provisional Brigade in a pitched battle over the last few days at the cost of horrible losses to themselves advanced southwards, utterly unaware that they had an opportunity to throw almost a third of the British forces in Burma into utter disarray. The battle and death of the 1st Provisional Brigade would have consequences that went far beyond the Battlefield, but for the moment the news that the Japanese could hit his very, very exposed flank 'any second' sent the inexperienced commander of the 56th into a frenzy and he ordered the speed of the withdrawal increased. The Japanese battled the 1st Provisionals for the next few days and failed to incite a rout within the 56th Division and the British withdrew in good order into their new line, going roughly from the flank of the 101st Division in the north to where the remnants of the 77th Indian Division and the 12th Australians and an Independent Brigade of New Zealand Infantry, with the New Zealanders screening Rangoon until more units could be mobilized or brought into the theatre. This meant that eastern Burma was given to the Asiatic Powers without much of a fight. The bad news for the British did not stop there, because the Siamese and the Japanese had combined their forces and at last crossed into Burma proper. The 77th was weakened because a huge part of it's strength was dying in the mountains farther north and rest was not really in any fighting trim considering that they had been sent to the front straight off the boat and were down to two Regiments in strength, forced to hold a stretch of the front that had been intended for the entire Divisions full strength. At least the 12th Australian Division was adept in Jungle and mountain Warfare, having spent much of 1941 on duty in Papua New Guinea. It was on this Division that Jacomb placed most of his hopes on. The New Zealanders that defended the approaches to Rangoon were not as well suited for their task, but they were heavy in artillery for such a small formation thanks to Australian Surplus from the last war that had been replaced by new 25 pounders and other British made guns when the Australian Forces had shipped out to Europe.

The Japanese on the other hand, represented in the theatre by the 15th Army under General Shōjirō Iida found that the units in Burma were a mess of epic proportions, even though they were supposed to be under a unified command. The Siamese and the Japanese forces, the bulk of the 15th Army (33rd Infantry Division , 55th Infantry Division and the Siamese Phayap Army) were working together reasonably well when one considered that the Siamese King was at all times surrounded by Japanese 'advisers'. In the north however the troops were only under nominal command of the 15th Army, and there was absolutely no co-operation at all. Luckily for the Japanese the terrain did not allow for much manoeuvre warfare anyway, and even uncoordinated troops could try human wave attacks against prepared positions. The Asiatics there slammed into the 3rd Mountain again, again and again, but the Indian troops stubbornly held their positions and gave no further ground. Similar attacks were launched against the 101st Division and there, where the Japanese could rely on resupply and support over the Burma Road the British were slowly forced back. The left flank of the Division held on, but the rest was gradually forced back and in the second week of March the Divisions commander ordered a full retreat. The 12th was the black day for the British Army in Burma and henceforth known as 'Black Thursday' in the Asian parts of the Empire. Not only did Hong Kong surrender on that day, but also because the 101st Division broke apart. On that day the Division was forming a rough bulge of Regiment-sized units that stretched from the edge where the front connected to the still holding 3rd Mountain to a spot roughly three-hundred miles to the north of Rangoon. Here the thinness of the British lines became apparent to even the most casual observers where Divisions had to cover the better part of 100 miles each, and gaps developed. However for the most part these were of no consequence because the lions share of the fighting took place where the few roads were, this being before the construction of the India-Burma-Singapore railway after the war. However the fact that the unit holding the centre of the line broke under the strain of more than a week of constant fighting had a domino effect on the rest of the front, especially in the south where one after another the Japanese broke through and captured one roadblock after another.

In central Burma it was worst where the already demoralized 77th and 56th Divisions were caught up in the retreat and turned the whole thing into a rout as the Japanese began to cut towards the coast – threatening to cut off Rangoon where General Jacomb still had his headquarters from the rest of Burma. Even though the New Zealanders still held the line to the east of Rangoon the population of the city took to the streets in an effort to get out before the Japanese cut the roads. At this point the situation in Burma itself briefly needs to be explained. Before the war the established majority of Burma was becoming restless and in other circumstances might have refused to fight for the British establishment, but now the nascant Burmese Government, debating amongst itself whether to leave Rangoon and make for India called for 'all Burmese to united behind the King, the Government and the British Community of free Peoples' – a speech made by the Leader of the Legislative Council (With elections for the first Parliament and the Prime Minister being sheduled for June that year) in attendance of the Governor-General and General Jacombs.

The General on the other hand was not as sure about what to do. Should Rangoon be defended with the New Zealanders and the smattering of the Australian troops in the city? While he was trying to come to a decision, the Japanese were about to make that redundant when they cut through the fleeing mass of British units and refugees, making through the jungle and along the few streets that were cleared mercilessly of whatever it was that slowed the Japanese march down towards the coast.

Auckinleck was growing increasingly impatient. Both he and Jacombs knew that giving up Rangoon would mean giving up Burma to the east of the Irrawaddy River, more than half of the country, never mind the population that was still streaming over the roads towards India. The decision to evacuate Rangoon and leave it to the Japanese was made on the 18th, with the advanced Japanese units having engaged the New Zealanders who had in turn formed a hook to the east and north of the city. The Japanese failed to break through and were at the end of their logistical tether, on the verge of withdrawing back north. The Japanese Commander on the scene had already prepared for the withdrawals and ordered a diversionary attack along two roads that led towards Rangoon. That attack went in at dawn the next morning found no enemy forces, only empty trenches and positions. Cautiously advancing the Japanese General soon realized that the Commonwealth Forces had slipped away and when the Japanese marched into Rangoon, the SNLF Special Detachment (of which more will be heard later on) in front they found only those that had been too slow or unwilling to evacuate. The Japanese took over Rangoon with all the pomp and circumstance that was to be expected, but it was a ghost town for the most part.


Japanese Marines marching into Rangoon

The British meanwhile tried to retreat out of the bag that the Asiatic Forces were about to close using streets clogged with refugees and military forces. Total communications breakdown not only between the units extended itself up to the other services. General Jacmombs was among the first to evacuate and this left the Army without means to call for air support, never mind that the RAF itself was scrambling to re-deploy men and machines from eastern Burma to behind the river. Due to that the Japanese had free reign, and many a marching column and refugee group fell victim to roving Japanese aircraft. So a mass of men, women, children and machines of all imaginable form and make streamed west while stay behind parties began to trash and destroy everything that might be of value to the Japanese, often turning over ammunition and weapon stockpiles that could not be moved over to the Militia that was now, as ordered, going into the woods while on the 20th the British main force, such as it was, established itself behind the Irrawaddy River to await the inevitable Japanese onslaught.



21st March 1941

Malaya



The bunkers of A Battery of the Royal Artillery Singapore Detachment were the biggest on the Island, and they had their guns facing northwards, and right now they were preparing to help shelling one of the Japanese flanking landings that they had used to drive the rest of the Army down the Peninsula, now they were trying to do the same to force the Army to retreat towards Singapore proper. Alas, the newest landing was just so within range of the heavy Naval Guns that were the teeth of the fortress. In later days Slim would often wonder if the Japanese Intelligence was really that bad, but right now he seized the opportunity, and as a result from this the gunners in the Battery were sitting there, waiting for orders. “Gunner Milligan?”


“Sir?” said the man the Commander had spoken to.

“You may open fire at your discretion, Fire plan Alpha.”

That meant that they were simply blanketing the area. Milligan was enough of a gunner to know that at that range any form of aimed fire was less than likely. Only the western half of the battery could reach the landing zone in the first place, and those that could were at the far edge. So Milligan pulled the trigger and winced as the roar of the gun came even through his protective headgear. The 16 inch High Explosive shell raced towards the Japanese positions in a flat trajectory, the slight wind only marginally altering it's course. It slammed into the ground at the southern edge of the Japanese landing zone, a mere thirty yards from where the few flank guards were trying to contain the Japanese landings. Of the nine guns only four could reach the small beachhead, but these were of a high calibre, and shelling did unsettle the Japanese. The interdiction effects were minimal, with only 1.5 rounds per gun and minute, but it was enough to disrupt the landing of supplies and further men from the three freighters off shore. The Japanese landing was covered by a Heavy Cruiser as no form of naval opposition was expected. Distant cover was neither existing nor needed since there was no naval presence of any significance at Singapore. The Royal Navy however was about to prove them wrong.

HMS Belfast and three of the Thames Class Gunboats were slowly closing in on the latest Japanese beachhead. Slim had decided to commit Belfast and the boats to help defeat this landing, mainly because he realized that the Army up north, heavily engaged would have to be pulled back into the Fortress itself within the next few days, and that would be next to impossible if the Nips had Marines sitting all over the coast. Air cover was no problem, since the landing was within easy range of Singapore's Spitfires.

Now for the first time the Thames Class was doing what it was designed for. Belfast's RDF set had clearly told apart the two groups and the experienced crews had correctly deduced that the group closer to shore were freighters and/or troopships, easy prey for the gunboats while Belfast would take on the cruiser in a classic fashion, torpedoes first and then in with guns blazing. On Belfast everyone could see the shells of the guns of Singapore exploding at irregular intervals, and farther inland the sparks of small arms fire could be seen, clearly one side or another was attacking. Belfast was less than three miles from the coast, with the Japanese ships further up towards the main line of resistance. The British separated at this point, Belfast swung around and prepared to fire the torpedo tubes. Three 21'' steel fish were bounced into the water and made their way towards the Japanese. Beattie had decided against swinging around for another salvo and instead adjusted course so that he would open the range to the coast in order to unmask his rear turrets. The torpedoes were aimed at the assembly of freighters, and now the turrets that could bear locked onto the Japanese Cruiser.

The Cruiser was the Kinugasa, a Furutala Class Cruiser that had been completed in 1926 just like all the others in her class, and since they were the first heavy Cruisers in the Imperial Japanese Navy, and were fast becoming obsolete. What would become their downfall today was that they had no RDF sets, and so the first sign of trouble was when torpedo tracks were sighted as they passed the cruiser. Before her Captain could send out a warning one of the freighters was hit in the stern. The Explosion ripped open the rear areas of the vessel, the destroyed driveshafts instantly flooded the engine rooms and doomed the ship. As the Kinugasa accelerated, her turrets swung around and the crew scanned the sky for enemy aircraft, because initially the Captain thought that it was an air-raid by Swordfishes from Singapore. Then however RDF guided 6'' shells began to fall around them. HMS Belfast was widely known as the best shot in the Mediterranean Fleet and was once again showing her talents as the first salvo straddled the Japanese. The British went to rapid fire even before the Japanese were knowing where the fire was coming from. Soon though the muzzle flashes gave the position of Belfast away and the six 8'' guns fired in reply. Both ships were roughly evenly matched, the smaller calibre of the British guns cancelled out by the smaller number of the Japanese guns. Superior gunnery soon began to tell as Belfast was seriously outshooting her opponent. The Japanese prided themselves with their night fighting skills, but so did the Royal Navy, and RDF gunnery was something that the Japanese had not yet faced and had no counter for. The superstructure of the Kinugasa was soon peppered with hits, while Belfast suffered only few in return. Soon fires began to take hold as both her floatplanes caught fire and soon the damage control on the Japanese cruiser was overwhelmed, and no less than fifteen minutes after the torpedoes had left the tubes on Belfast the cruiser stopped as her machinery spaces were opened up to the sky and burning aviation fuel incinerated her crew – loss of power followed and the turrets froze in position. Beattie could easily see that as the Japanese Cruiser was illuminated by her own fires and was finished off with torpedoes, while the Gunboats hunted down the freighters, sinking every one of them. All involved knew that the next time would not be this easy, even though this landing would surely be defeated.

Over the next few days the Army retreated ever further towards Singapore itself and when March turned into April, Singapore was laying under siege, and both sides prepared themselves


On the political scene back in Britain the war in Europe had for the moment taken a backseat, after all it was not going anywhere. Field Marshal Alexander had decided to wait until the weather was better before he assaulted the Gustav Line again, so naturally the air war and more importantly the Far Eastern War were taking over the headlines. Rangoon had fallen, heavy fighting along the Irrawaddy River and political troubles in India.

India was the first of the Imperial Dominions that had sent observers to Parliament in lieu of the system proposed in the Empire Act being in force. Said observer was Rajendra Prasad and on the day HMS Belfast opened fire he rose in the House of Commons. At this point the Dominion Observers were just that, officially they had no actual powers and yet they were considered to be Mps by the Government and were therefore allowed to speak. The fate of the 1st Provisional Infantry Brigade had sent a fit of rage through India, and the political Establishment in Britain had taken up on that. In the presence of the Prime Minister Prasad told a story of troops being abandoned to their fates, as being found unworthy of getting the aid and support they deserved, and even though this went against the military realities of the situation as it had been back then, this caused quite a stir in a country that was just now becoming used to the fact that the Empire as they had known it was gone. Militarily the result of this was that Jacombs was sacked from his post and replaced by Lt. General O'Connor who took over the newly designated British 14th Army, arriving there in the first week of April.

Military things taken care off the Prime Minister took care of the political side of this affair. Like many of the Conservatives he was surprised at the public outcry that the fate of a reinforced Indian Infantry Brigade had produced, but unlike many of the older hard-line Imperialists in London he was willing to do something about that.

The speech he held in the backup facility of the House of Commons on 5th April was one that would help shape and define the way the British Empire would see itself for the rest of the Century. Many did not expect much more than the usual post-colonial and wartime rhetoric, but when the PM started to speak it was clear that this was not one of his ordinary speeches. The entire speech is beyond the scope of this work, but the closing paragraph sums up the spirit of the speech and what Winston Churchill was probably actually feeling at this point even though History would never be any the wiser.



“The struggle currently raging in the Far East is not one of masters and colonies that just happens to be against a foe of one of them as it was in the past. This time it is a struggle against a vicious enemy against equal, loyal subjects of the British Crown, fighting side by side under the Union Flag against the enemy. The British Empire is a nation of many equal peoples, of many men women and children. In the past this was different, and the British Empire cannot go on like this and we must face up to the realities: The Empire of old is dead. What we have now is a New Empire, one not built upon gunpowder and gold, but rather upon the principles of Democracy and freedom. The Empire is dead, long life the Empire, long live the New Empire!”








[Notes: That's it then. Two to three weeks of hiatus, as much as I don't like it. I will still slip in now and then and comment, but no writing. God I so hate exams.]

I remember my exams, so understand completely. Good luck with them.

NO! You've sent Spike to Singapore, he might never meet the rest of The Goons!

Michael Thanks.

JNiemczyk1 Oh I wouldn't be so sure about that, after all this is going to be a long siege.

To meet the others he needs to suffer from shell shock and be transferred to Combined Services Entertainment (CSE), where he met Harry Secombe, though how the met seems to be different depending on what you read. According to his biography they met when Milligan allowed a howitzer to fall off a cliff, narrowly missing Secombe, while in 'Mussolini, His Part in My Downfall', Spike claims to have first met Secombe after being in the camp for PTSD sufferers; he says he thought Secombe was a Pole for the first week he knew him, so difficult was he to understand.

Btw have you read Spike's war memoirs? They're brilliantly funny, though the events he described have to he taken with a pinch of salt.
They consit of:

Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall
Rommel? Gunner Who?: A Confrontation in the Desert
Monty, His Part in My Victory
Mussolini: His Part in My Downfall
Goodbye Soldier (War Biography)
Peace Work

I think I have most of them (several copies of some of them).
Where Have All the Bullets Gone?

Meant to add, good luck with your exams. I know what a pain they can be.

Thanks, thanks.


As for the Goons, considering that O'Connor of all people is leading the 14th Army in Burma locations, units and places to be of famous people in @ are less than set in stone in the AAO-verse.

Ah, the joys of scheduling changes. Exams are a week later than initially expected, so I decided to take the weekend off.



Chapter 205


6th March 1942

Italy

This time Ian was driving, given that Felix did not know the way. Once again the SOE station for the Mediterranean was moving it's Headquarters. Ian was less than pleased, because he hated moving the entire operation whenever someone was having the idea that the SOE needed to be closer to the front. That however had been worse before he had red the latest message from London, because it was no longer 'SOE Mediterranean Sea' but rather 'SOE Central Europe', a daunting Command for a Captain, but Ian didn't complain, because this was the work he was made for, and if he was being honest with himself, he was getting somewhat too old to dash around the war like he had back in '39 and '40. The sort-of promotion had had other advantages because he had been allowed to search for his own accommodations among the many locations that had been vacated by their owners or simply requisitioned by the Army. Ian had found the place they were heading for now a week ago, and had made sure that the credentials from Admiral Mountbatten had done their work before some rear area service took it for it's Officers. It was up in the mountains, almost directly on the central spine of Italy and halfway between Rome and Anzio. The weather was atrocious and the road was slippery, but the Land Rover that acted as Station hack ever since Ian had 'borrowed' it from the Army car pool at Taranto. Thanks to a few buckets of paint and some creative writing in the files of the SOE station it was now RN property, and as it crept up the icy roads towards their destination Ian refused to feel any guilt about the affair. 'Lost on Battlefield' was a common reason for missing equipment, just as 'Found on Battlefield' was one for things that were not in the official inventory. The road they were driving on was, as previously described, winding itself upwards in a valley that reminded Ian of Jamaica. Soon enough though they reached a small plateau the size of roughly six football fields. The area was filled, at least from the road it seemed like that. Trees that were now devoid of leafs surrounded a modest but still relatively expansive mansion. The mansion itself was three storeys high and half a mile from the road with which it was connected by a now iced over gravel road that ran straight towards the open area in front of the mansion. The property itself was surrounded by a low brick wall, the road closed off by an Iron Gate that was faced with marble pillars that were 'decorated' with the insignia of the Italian Fascist Party. The Mansion was made of some sort of White Stone that must have cost a fortune to import from somewhere. When Ian drove through the gate his papers were checked by a guard who froze away in an un-heated hut and who belonged to the Royal Military Police. When the Landy began to move again both the men saluted and Felix huddled deeper into his seat as he was still not too comfortable with cold.

Beyond the trees was an open space that stretched in front of the house and on a flagpole beyond which a few more cars were parked. Ian placed the Landy close to them and the two got out. Felix, always being the Sailor, still managed to fit all the belongings he needed into a sea sack and walked up and down a few steps between the Landy and the flagpole while Ian gathered his belongings.

When Ian had caught up with him he turned and asked:

“Where did you find this place, Ian?”

“Apparently this was the Summer residence of some local Party chief, and when the Army arrived he duely vacated the Premises before our lads could catch him. When I came around it seems that the Army Catering Corps wanted this as a billet for some of the higher Officers who help keep the staffers in Rome fed, but when push came to shove my contacts were better than theirs. I even managed to pinch some of their supplies.”

Felix grimaced and turned around to Ian once more.

“Bloody hell Ian, what were you thinking? We will never fill this place up, and what about personnel? You know I can't cook worth beans.”

Ian knew that Felix was a bit cranky when it was cold and decided not to care about how Felix had just talked to him just now. “That's not a problem my dear friend. For the moment it's pretty normal Navy shore establishment food, courtesy of the NID and the Fleet Station down at Taranto, albeit with locally produced supplies come spring.”

Felix did not reply and just grunted instead. Felix knew that this was as much of an apology as he was going to get. As they walked inside Felix could see that Ian had used the time well, because the lowest floor was already occupied with the various low-security support staffs, the second storey with those who had medium security clearance while he himself and Ian made their way up the marble staircase to the third floor past the long rows of rooms he saw that those with the highest security clearance, so far only three people aside from the two of them had their offices on the top floor. When he looked out of the rear windows at the mountains in the distance he suddenly realized that Ian was talking to him.
“As you can see it is a bit big for the Station as it was then, but since we are being massively expanded we will have some additional friends very soon, Offices from MI6, NID and every other bloody service imaginable, all on the orders from the Powers that be.”

Now Felix could not help but laugh. “So they actually know now what you are doing, eh?”

When Ian only replied with a annoyed grunt Felix knew that he had been spot on.

“So anyway,” Ian said, “our own Office and Quarters are over there.”

He led Felix down the corridor where the walls were decorated with all sorts if hideous fascist art and dark wood panelling. The carpet on the floor was of a red colour that was more burgundy than anything else, overall not what Felix would have used for his own home, but for the moment it would do.

Ian and Felix would share an Office with Quarters on the same floor, conveniently located near a separate staircase that led straight down to the lowest level where the kitchen was located. All in all it was a decent billet and after a while Felix felt that he would feel just fine here.


The same day, near Ferrara, Italy


The 7th German Panzer Division was without doubt the best unit within the German Ground forces – if not the entire Armed Forces. It had spearheaded the German prongs of the attack into France, had spearheaded the attack into Yugoslavia and had played a critical role in the defence of Italy, failed as it had so far. The Division had taken disproportional losses in men and vehicles and had been pulled out of the line for rebuilding after the fall of Rome.

After spending most of the winter on the southern slope of the Alps the Division had been selected for re-equipment with the newest kit. Rumour had it that the Führer himself had graced them with this special status and had declared the 7th to be his favourite Panzer unit in the Heer.

For the first time since the beginning of the war the unit had it's full compliment of mechanized vehicles, Sd.Kfz. 251 for the Infantry and the Divisonal troops had been reinforced by a Company of Flakpanzer Is to improve it's defences against aircraft, because these days one could not count on the Luftwaffe to keep the skies clear. More importantly though a new type of Panzer was being introduced, listed as Sd.Kfz. 171 in the ordnance inventory, otherwise known as the Panzer V Panther with the troops. When one looked at it from the outside it was clearly influenced by the Soviet T-34, mainly it's wide tracks and the sloped armour that would make it a tougher nut to crack than the IV had been.[1]

When the first had been delivered to Italy for field tests in late January it had been clear that this design had been rushed into service far too early and with so many teething problems that the Officer in command of the Regiment that had tested them had claimed that it would make more sense to take his son into battle who was currently also teething. They had gone back to the factory and now an improved model had come back, improved and simplified, the latter with the help of a Soviet delegation that had been working in Germany as a return gift for a few T-34s a while back. Now that at last the factories that had produced attrition replacement Panzer IV and other assorted vehicles had been re-tooled more and more of them were finding their way to the front, but even so only one battalion had been fully equipped with them.

The Soviets too were working on improving the T-34, but for the moment the Panther ruled the Battlefield. The Battalion that had them was the 1st Battalion/Panzerregiment 25/7. Panzerdivision, commanded by Major Kramer who had been with the Division since before the war.

Said Battalion was currently fighting against yet another British attempt to gaud the Germans on the right flank of the Gothic Line into leaving their positions. They never actually assaulted the line, they shelled it, bombed, strafed and threw everything they had in distance weapons at it, but they never tried to breach it. Some thought this was because the war in the Pacific was soaking troops away from Italy, some said the British did not dare, and some, Kramer included, thought that it was simply because no one did large-scale armoured warfare in winter, not even the Soviets, in reserve twenty miles behind the line did that. No, this latest attack was nothing more than tempting and it was in no way different than ones that the Divisions on both sides had fought for weeks.

Kramer was standing up in his seat and looked at the winter landscape stretched out before him. Before the war this had been a small dent in the landscape and filled with trees. Now it was instead littered with shell craters, burnt out vehicles and dead bodies. In the distance Kramer could see a British Cromwell hiding behind the charred remains of one of his comrades. Kramer gave a terse order and the turret of 'Antonia' moved a fraction to the right. The gun was the same as the one on the Panzer IV, but improved optics had considerably increased accuracy, never mind that the crew was highly experienced. Kramer buttoned up again and as soon as he was sitting down again, the gun barked and the shell smashed into the charred remnants of the Cromwell and exploded. Before Kramer could say anything Menlicher slightly corrected the turret. The still living Cromwell backed out from behind the cover in reverse, so the second shot also missed. Kramer had to admit that whoever drove that Panzer was experienced.

However like every other he had to stop to fire, and when he did so, Menlicher shot first. The shell slammed into the frontal armour and easily pierced it at this range, setting yet another English Tank aflame.

“Back! Back!” Kramer yelled. He was sure that someone had seen him, and staying in any given location for too long was a bad idea, even when like right now neither side could accurately spot for Artillery or anything else due to the lighting conditions and the overcast, but the only old soldier was a prudent and cautious soldier. The heavy Maybach engine roared in the back and Antonia sprung into live and moved backwards towards the edge of the trees where the rest of the Battalion was waiting.



Three hours later he walked into the Officer's mess back at camp and loudly cursed about the weather as he always did when it snowed. On the inside the Officers of the Regiment were singing, drinking and enjoying their time, but Kramer had no mind for that. He made a beeline for the bar where he ordered 'Panzer Special Mixture' or '75er Lubricant' as some jokers called it: Two parts steaming Coffee (real if some was to be had), one part of beer and two parts of distilled Spirits. Kramer was the only one in his unit to drink this horrible mixture and he pretended not to know that his men were talking about it behind his back. Such equipped he decided to take a seat in the area of seats near the fireplace in the rear of the long, low hall that was informally reserved for Major and above. To his surprise he saw his mentor from the Panzer School, now-Generalmajor Otto Schneider-Mannheim whom Kramer had not seen for almost a year.

They greeted and sat back down. Schneider-Mannheim looked his old pupil. He could see the Campaign Badges from Belgium, France, Yugoslavia and the new one from the Defence of southern Italy, along with his decorations, lead by the Iron Cross Second Class that he had been given ages ago in the early days of the British Invasion of Italy. The '75 Engagements' Panzer assault badge rounded out the picture of an experienced and dedicated Soldier of the Fatherland.

Even so Schneider-Mannheim was not sure if it was the right thing to approach Kramer this way. He knew that the Major was not political but he had sworn the oath like every other German soldier and might find himself more bound to it than to anything else. At the very least Kramer could be trusted not to talk to the wrong people about their conversation but care had to be taken anyway.

First things first.

“You know Willi, when they told me that you had made Lieutenant I couldn't believe it. I had you made for the perfect career NCO.”

Kramer took a swig from his drink and was puzzled.

“Why is that Sir?”

The General smiled and took his cap, placing it on his right thigh as he often did. “No respect for Officers, knowing all the tricks even before you graduated and you were...are a very skilled Panzer Commander. From what I have heard you ran rings around the French and the Yugos.”

Kramer even blushed.

“I did my best for the Fathe..”

“Rubbish. You didn't get that EK II for being faithful to the Fatherland, you got it because you are a damn good solider. Not many rise from the ranks like you did and even fewer do as good as you have. We will need men like you in the future.”

Normally Kramer would not have thought much about that last remark but something in the General's voice made Kramer look up and for a second there was something in how the General looked at them. He felt that the older man had a burden to carry and a quick gesture of reassurance did a lot in these cases. After less than three seconds it was gone and the subject was changed.

“I hear you have tested the new versions of the Panther? Field Marshal Guderian is most interested.”

So the rumours were true after all. Kramer had heard more than once that Schneider-Mannheim was now working for OB West in Berlin in the Person of Field Marshal Guderian. Most interesting.

“It's a far cry from what the bloody things where when we first got them, the pre-series models were just awful. Most is fixed by now but I still think that the suspension is a liability.”

“How does it compare to the English tanks?”

“The armour is clearly superior to the Panzer IV and the Cromwells, but their 17 pounder gun is deadly, and it is possible for them to go through the front armour if they meet the correct circumstances. The race is still on, Sir.”


[Notes: The Mansion is a bit of a stretch, but a) I felt it would fit with the mood I am going for and b) with Ian's personality. Besides, they will spend a long time there, so why not make it comfortable? ]


[1] I believe that the case for the early introduction of the Panther is sound. After all, the T-34 has been clearly seen and extensively tested by the Germans, and they even bought the plans from the Soviets. TTL's Panther does have fewer teething troubles than when they were first introduced ITTL but is still far from perfect. The downside of this is that the gun they had historically isn't available yet, but it will most likely be introduced into production at a later date.

One person you might want to include as a cameo is Alan Whicker, who served in the Army's Film and Photo Unit in @ in Italy.

I just might, thanks for the tip.

Is Kramer the same character as played by Robert Shaw in "Battle of the Bulge"

Ahoj!
Seeing that you are gifting Poland with East Prussia, you might throw in parts (i.e. most) of Upper Silesia. Basically the Versailles plebiscite area.
From a Polish perspective the Oppeln (Opole) district - due to the coalfield and the Polish speaking part of the local population - is much more interesting and desirable than Koenigsberg.

Meh - I'd give everything beyond the Pregel River to Lithuania ...
Borys

No. While he is a bit inspired, my Kramer an NCO who was battle-field promoted to Lieutenant for bravery. If anything he is more inspired by that American Tank Sergeant in Red Storm Rising.



That plan is pretty much only the negotiation basis, but my basic aim is something like the pre-war borders minus East Prussia and the Germans forced to officially renounce all claims on what they loose.

Chapter 206

8th March 1942

German Airspace, south of Hamburg



War in Asia, stalemate in Italy, nothing deterred the British from their goal. The Luftwaffe pilots that flew with the 'Reichsverteidigung' or Defence of the Reich had no mind for that, all they had to do was to defend against the British and Allied Bombers that penetrated into German and occupied airspace almost daily. Whenever the British came the German Fighters of Luftflotte 1-3 and the 5th and 9th Red Air Force Air Armies had to fight not only through the screen of Spitfires and Typhoons (if the targets were in occupied Europe or western Germany) and in rarer cases when they bombed targets like ball-bearing factories in central Germany, large numbers of Mosquito fighters.

The numbers of Airfleets were deceiving, because for example Luftflotte 1 had three Geschwader (Groups), two day and one night interception, while the Soviets had only two apiece. The British on the other hand were forced to make do with a smaller number of Bombers than expected, the other fronts of the war were just soaking too many resources away.

[url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans-Joachim_Marseille"]Hans-Joachim Marseille[/url] was leading a Squadron from JG 52 on the hunt for a group of Halifaxes that had taken part in a raid on the Kraft-durch-Freude factories north of the city that had the same name. He had led them against the main group earlier on and now his 190s were attacking again. Thanks to the RDF guidance from the Freya sets he was again vectored on the British.

Their bombers had the weakness that they had no belly turrets, but the British had taken to station a large number of their escort fighters to the side and after bombing also under them, so in spite of the turrets on the back it was the best to attack from ahead and above. I/JG52 therefore dove at the British from that position and Marseille was in range soon enough. He was an expert marksman, but here nothing of his skill was needed. He placed his gunsight on the cockpit section and pressed the trigger. He was flying a A-3 version, so he had four 7.92mm MG17s and two 20mm MG151. By default he had the 20mms selected when fighting bombers and these now spat shells that walked over the bomber. The first four were spot on and turned the cockpit into a charnelhouse of death and blood, and hole after hole after hole appeared. He held the trigger for no more than six seconds, and it was enough. Both pilots were dead and the controls shot to tiny bits with the appropriate results. Marseille raced through the formation and found himself faced with a formation of sixteen Mosquitoes that were only now splitting up to attack the Germans. He levelled out his plane and fired again. The bullets slammed into the left engine and set it aflame along with most of the wing. Marseille still missed his old 109, but the punch this one packed was something he liked, and as a result of the the Yellow 14 had scored yet again. He looked around and banked left just as a Mosquito was trying to get a line on him. He put his engine to full power and flew upwards as fast as his plane would go. He ignored the gunfire that came from the rear turrets of one of the bombers as he performed an almost perfect Immelmann turn. Marseille balanced out his fighter and pumped some more ammunition into a bomber before he decided to break it off due to lack of fuel.

Even so the air defence systems in Western Europe were stronger than one might expect from a quick look. The day fighter force was smaller, but so was Bomber Command, even with all the Commonwealth and Allied Squadrons added together the bomber force barely numbered seven hundred, and that included roughly a hundred training and other obsolete planes. Resulting from this was that even the low numbers of Axis Fighters that were not fighting the Air War in the Mediterranean Area were adequate to defend against the smaller number of Allied bombers. In daylight the system was not that different from the British one, only that the Germans lacked a central Fighter-Command type information centre and instead relied on their Airfleets to do the job. The Kammhuber line was nit easily adapted to day fighting, but the same RDF stations that did the job when it was dark also worked when it was not and gave the Axis forces a similar amount of early warning as the British had enjoyed during the Battle of Britain even though Axis RDF systems would never be as capable as their counterparts. The Allied bombing campaign would never defeat Germany on it's own, never mind the Soviet Union that was simply out of range of these early-war bombers, but it did drain resources away from the front by forcing the Germans to keep a large number of ackack guns in all calibres away from the front, forced them to keep fighters and pilots back from Italy where they could be used against the increasing strength of the Allies and gave the occupied nations of Europe one thing: Hope. After the war a young Jewish girl who had spent most of the war hidden behind a filing cabinet in the rear house of what had been her father's company would say that whenever she heard the roar of the Merlin and Hercules engines overhead she felt hope and knew that the Germans were getting what was coming to them.[1]


San Francisco, Marxist Union of Pacifica, UAPR
The Radio broadcast from Radio Washington was blaring out of the loudspeakers at maximum volume. The recruits belonging to the 1st Infantry Division of the American People's Army who prepared to deploy into the Pacific Theatre. The plan was to intervene in the Phillipines and both kick the Japanese out again and force McArthur from his seat, thereby gaining bases from which the Battle could be carried to China and Japan itself. The informal understanding with the British (The Central Committee refused to call it a Gentlemen's Agreement) had allowed the APN to strip the Atlantic of ships and so the American Pacific Fleet was back up to full strength now, the ships reprovisioning here and in San Diego since Pearl Harbour was out of action after the Japanese had damaged the fuel feeding systems for the capital ships. Decision processes in Washington were cumbersome, or at least had been but now that the War Emergency legislation had passed through the house (Thereby eliminating the last remnants of Democracy) and now the Central Committee had decided that the Volunteer Principle was not enough and had widened the draft to include every able-bodied male and, in rear area combat support role even women were accepted if they volunteered. The West Coast was a massive military training camp and only the fact that the UAPR had been on a reduced war footing since 1939 and the APR had already been relatively large, this allowed the Americans to assemble four Divisions almost instantly. Transport Capacity was harder to come by what with the slaughtering of much of the American Merchant Navy either by war or by ships defecting to the various countries they had been moored in. Still, weeks of scratching everything together had allowed them to assemble enough transports in working condition to move two Divisions to the Phillipines with the entire Pacific Fleet as escort. At least that had been the plan. Now however Wake Island and Midway had fallen to twin assaults and the Phillipine expedition scrapped even though the general idea would float around Foggy Bottom for years to come. Right now the soldiers of the 1st Infantry were listening to the filtered news of how the evil Imperialist Japanese were fighting against the also Imperialist but honourable British in Burma and how the Government wanted the British to win in order to facilitate the liberation of their colonies because unlike the Japanese the British could be reasoned with and since they were true capitalists they could be bought over if it was in their interest.

Private third Class Jack Harold Martin was still homesick since he had never been away from Providence in the Iowa District, but that was the case with most of his buddies in the Army. While he listened to the broadcast he was lining up with the rest of the Division in a long hall with an incredibly high ceiling to be issued with new Equipment to replace his elderly issue from bootcamp and specialized Pacifican things.

“One M1 Steel Helmet, one M1 Semi-Automatic Rifle, one pair of boots, one example of webbing...”[2]

It went on and on and after almost five minutes Martin was weighed down with a lot of equipment, thankfully he had been stripped of his old stuff earlier. All the way down the hall men were doing the same at a long, long line of tables while another one was on the other side where the men had to hand in their equipment piece by piece and each at another table, just like he had gotten the new things. Like most of them he had never fired a single round with the new Rifle even though they had been instructed on maintenance and handling earlier on, and was also not familiar with most of his other Equipment.

What seemed like hours later he was idling about with the rest of the Division on a large, open field and was waiting for
transport. He could see over the bay and the charred remains of the Golden Gate Bridge that still had not been removed even though access was restricted. In the bay ship after ship was being loaded with soldiers and moved off, probably towards an assembly area for a convoy to Hawaii which was acting as the staging ground for the eventual attacks on Japan. San Francisco, like Hawaii had been all but taken over by the Military and would continue to be so for the duration and were would see millions of men, tanks, ships and guns going through.


Cabinet Bunker, London

The Prime Minister and his highest Military leaders were doing what they had been doing since the war had started, conducting their by-monthly secret meeting during which the various secret military projects that were meant to win the war or at the very least help winning it at a reduced expense. All of the Service Chiefs were present and all of them had presented one or another utterly ridiculous scheme that would utterly destroy the enemy. For Example Grand Admiral Pound had just reviewed the idea of building a gigantic Aircraft Carrier out of nothing less than Ice. The Prime Minister, acting as Minister of Defence had remarked a carrier made out of water that was brought into the desired form simply by virtue of it being cold would work exceptionally well in the Pacific, and moved on. Up next was film footage of the tests of Wallis' pet project and Churchill had been very much impressed, and funding for 'Project Firedart' was tripled on the spot and production approved. Then the talk grew more and more secret, so secret that the men almost whispered even though the room was daily swept for bugs as a matter of cause.

The Prime Minister lit a Cigar and leaned forward.
“So what about Torchwood?”
The Programme was under the supervision of the RAF, so Dowding answered.
“Professor Einstein sent his latest report with the courier six days ago, Sir. They have much of the facilities up and running by now and are proceeding as planned.”
Of those present in the room only Churchill and Dowding were fully aware of just how large and expansive Torchwood was, even the codename was new.
“I should hope so.” said the PM. “I get nightmares when I think how many tanks and ships we could build with the money and resources sunk into this project. And for what? A theoretical science and a mystical weapon of immense destructive power.”
Churchill sighed and went on: “I can remember the times when the same was said about the heavy Bomber, and that didn't exactly work out as planned either.”
“Do you think this might develop into another Douhetian theory, Prime Minister?”
“I don't believe so.” The PM shook his head. “No I don't believe so at all – after all, the basics have been proven. From what I have heard from the Professors before they left for Africa the main reason for the Complex and the Torchwood programme was that the theories need to be weaponized. So if this weapon is really possible then we must be the first to possess it, Gentlemen, we must.” He paused and smoked his cigar for a few moments. “Imagine the Germans or the Soviets with it...”
This horrible possibility was contemplated by the military leaders of the Empire for a few minutes – each had their own nightmares about this weapon and everyone knew that the Germans and the Soviets had their own gifted Physicists and it was known that the Germans at the very least had a programme of their own. MI6 was unsure about just how large or focused it was, given that many of the pre-war networks in Europe had been destroyed and couldn't be fully rebuilt during wartime, but there were some sources left. Signal Intelligence was only one of them no matter what Bletchley Park might think and the British were to some extent aware of the whereabouts and acts of Professor Heisenberg and his group, and the great fear was that the Germans would merge their efforts with that of the Soviets, and the Axis powers with this sort of weapon in their hands was the nightmare.
The PM decided that a change of subject was needed.

“So Marshal, what does the Imperial General Staff propose to do to break the deadlock in Italy?”

“We have our ideas.” Gort rose and began to pace up and down the room in front of the other Service Chiefs.
“I am going by memory because the plans are so secret I myself have given orders that no piece of paper must leave the IGS headquarters.” He cleared his throat and stopped pacing. After turning around he said:

“Gentlemen, I present you Operation Jubilee, nothing less than the complete destruction of all Axis forces in Northern Italy.”


[Notes: This is the bit I started on Sunday but couldn't get done until today, even though I wrote bits and pieces here and there. It's far from the best for the most part, so sorry. As it happens as I was writing the bit with Torchwood I had Episode 2x02 “Tooth and Claw” running in the background. ]


[1] *salutes in tribute*

[2] It's called M1, but is slightly different from the Garrand we know. For one it uses the .30-03 Springfield round, and the receiver is slightly different due to that. The man the rifle was named after in OTL was unceremoniously booted out of the country when the Communists took over the arsenal, leaving the designs for the M1 behind.

Nice work.
Torchwood = Manhattan District?

Yup. I was looking for a sinister name for the new effort, and guess what popped into my mind?