God Save Us All - Part Seven
Fall Grün
Chapter 60 - Once More Into the Breach
July 14th, 1945
Guderian, after receiving the go-ahead from Oberste Heersleitung (OHL) Chief of Staff Fedor von Bock in Berlin, wheels the bulk of his forces, including the 1st Kastenarmee, northeast towards Brussels. At the same time, Field Marshsal Hoth’s forces had finally broken the Dutch lines and turns southwest for a simultaneous push towards the Belgian capital. The Dutch had done more than what CMOCC had expected from them. Utilizing tough defensive fortifications and by flooding their country in order to slow the Prussian advance, the valiant Dutch soldiers had held up Hoth’s army a week longer than OHL or CMOCC had ever expected them too, inflicting high casualties on the largely un-mechanized Prussian force. However, a flea can only hold back a thumb for so long before it is crushed, and Queen Wilhelmina flees to England.
Despite pleas from Alexander, Leopold III refuses to withdraw from Brussels, and the Field Marshal’s superiors in London agree. They do not yet realize the disaster befalling Leipzig forces in the Low Countries. The War Office cannot wrap it’s head around the sheer size, strength and power of the Prussian force facing the battered BEF and shattered Belgian Army. Like a good soldier, Alexander prepares to fight the Prussians to the best of his ability, but he has his staff prepare orders for a withdrawal to Antwerp (and England).
July 15th, 1945
British Lancaster bombers strike the French fleet at Brest, damaging 4 capital ships, including the brand new carrier the
Bonaparte. Thus far into the conflict, the Royal Navy and French Navy have yet to see action against each other, although French submarines have joined the Prussian U-Boats in wreaking havoc on British shipping lanes. The Royal Navy, already stretched thin by the demands imposed on it by Prussian wolfpacks in the Atlantic, the Italian and French navies in the Mediterranean and the Japanese in the Pacific, fears an engagement with the French Atlantic Fleet that could endanger the British Home Isles. Unlike most nations, Britain’s navy was not a luxury, but a necessity for survival. Ever since the original Napoleon, Britons have feared an invasion across the channel, and the air strike on Brest is seen as one way to deal with this threat, and to draw French air units away from southern England.*
*(
Author’s Note: As stated before, in ATL the French and British rivalry has been so intense that the two nation’s navies would be much larger than they were in OTL. If there was a ranking on naval size, it would go: 1. UK 2. Japan 3. France 4. United States 5. Italy.)
July 17th, 1945
The Battle for Brussels begins with a ferocious Prussian artillery and air assault on the Leipzig lines. Guderian had given up the long-held strategy of Fall Grun in order to smash the British Army, and he spared nothing in order to do so. Kastens sliced into British positions. What few British boxes left are turned to smoking hulks in the fields of the Brabant province. The BEF is thrown back from their positions in the suburbs into the city itself. It is here that the tables turn, and the British give the Prussians a lesson in urban warfare. Prussian Panthers, fearsome beasts on the European plain, are almost useless in Brussels’ narrow city streets, and the British become adept at ambushing Prussian boxes with anti-box guns. The Prussians respond by keeping their valuable boxes out of the city.
A British Sikh Unit Fights In the Rubble of Brussels.
In Egypt, the Italians have reached Matruh where they encounter the famed 1st Armored Division. Not expecting to find battle until Alexandria, Graziani’s men are taken by surprise and British Cromwells rip into the Italian lines, and especially into the Italian boxes, especially those of the M17/44 variety with its 47mm cannon, although the Sahariano with its 55mm cannon and P.30 with it’s 75mm cannon fare much better, although they are still inferior to the British box models used by the 1st Armored. **
After a few hours of confusion in which many of the 11th Army’s boxes are knocked out, the Italian’s successfully punch back the British armor, which, unsupported by any other unit, is forced to withdraw. However, the effect of their strike is great. Graziani halts his advance in order to consolidate order and reorganize after the British tore great holes into his line.
**(
Author’s Note: In OTL, Italian tanks were just godawful. In ATL, they are still inferior to most makes, although there have been some advances made and the Italian Armored Corps has abandoned the tankettes that were simply deathtraps in OTL. Italian armor is still thin and their boxes are usually outgunned, but in ATL they have some of the fastest boxes around, and (just as in OTL) Italian vehicles don’t use a carburetor, so sand isn’t a problem, making them perfect for desert warfare.)
July 20th, 1945
Prussian forces have fought their way into the heart of Brussels and continue to bombard the city’s defenders with artillery and aircraft, with the RAF in Belgium having been for the most part either destroyed or re-deployed to southern England for defense against French air raids, which continue to intensify. However, Prussian attempts to encircle the city have been beaten back by ferocious Allied defenders, determined not to be subjected to siege and starvation. Alexander pleads with London to allow for a withdrawal before his forces become too weak to defend another encirclement attempt. They refuse.
July 22nd, 1945
As the defenders of Brussels continue to hold out despite high casualties and dwindling supplies, a much bigger front opens in the east.
Austria-Hungary, Romania, and Saxe-Bavaria launch Operation Odin, an assault on southern Russia. Two Army Groups, one commanded by Saxe-Bavarian Field Marshal von Leeb, the other by Austro-Hungarian Field Marshal Archduk Joseph August, consisting of over 2 million men, pour over the border with Russia after a thunderous artillery assault in the early morning hours. Warplanes of every make and model from three air forces pound Russian positions and airfields, destroying hundreds of Imperial Russian Air Force planes on the ground and attaining supremacy of the skies by the end of the day.
Austro-Hungarian Infantry Attack on the First Day of Odin. The Box Shown is a Turan III.
The Russian High Command is in shock. They were counting on Austria-Hungary’s mobilization to last as long as their own to protect their border. They did not factor CMOCC into those plans. Leipzig planners at the allied central command had been planning an invasion of Russian for years and had every detail down to the amount of vodka needed for every unit accounted for.
Odin hits Russia like a prize figher’s right hook. Border defenses, tirelessly worked on since 1908, were simply bypassed by the fast moving Leipzig forces, left for siege troops and aircraft to take care of at their leisure. Leipzig forces, like those of their Prussian counterparts, were centered on armor and mobility. The Saxe-Bavarian Bloodhound proved king of the battlefield, easily dispatching with any Russian tank it faced. Gains on the first day were remarkable. One Saxe-Bavarian Corps commanded by a Major General named Rommel had advanced more than 60 miles into Russian territory in the first day alone. Barely 37 years after the Great Eastern War had ended, the two great mammoths of the East were at it again, gearing up for what would become the bloodiest campaign in history.
To Be Continued…
Map Showing Operation Odin Inlay
