For King and Country

Let me tell you guys, the end of 1939 was not a good time for me!

I'm facing what appears to be an unstoppable Germany with a Weak Incompetant Malingering P*$&y of an ally, namely France, and a collection of third rate powers that are doing thier best to help me out but aren't yet of the same caliber as the Big Boys (I'm talking about the surviving members of the Alliance).

My Royal Navy has been getting it's butt kicked the last two times it has run into the Germans, and I don't have enough transports to get my Army into the fray without running the risk of losing them while being transported.

Then I'm getting threats to the Empire from outside of Europe, and my resources are getting stretched thin.

At least my RAF is kickin' ass and takin' names and no one dares fly over British skies unless they have written permission from Fighter Command or a Death Wish.

Gee, almost kinda like RL, eh?

But... boy do I have a much better ability to rebound than the Empire of RL! My industrial complex is churning out the troops, I got hit with a few events (to answer your question Ghostwriter) that increased my manpower levels, and my resources, while thin, are still strong enough that I'm no where stressing yet.

And I still have hope that the Poles will hold out for a bit longer, the French are still building up their forces, the Soviets seem to have cooled in their relations with Berlin, Italy seems to be content to expand no further than what they've already stolen in Africa, AND Japan, while looking quite menacing, actually look to be content with what they've grabbed from China.

Sooo, what do I do next??

Well, I'm still trying to figure out how to get back into the ground war without an undue risk to my armies (I really don't wanna have spent all that money, time and resources in buildin' 'em just to have 'em lost while being transported), as well as where to put my armies. France is still pissin' me off about being W.I.M.P.s (see above), so I'm of half a mind to let 'em rot, Yugoslavia is gone, and I can't run the risk of going to Denmark or trying to force entry into the Baltic and try to land troops in Poland. That would leave Belgium, but even though they are allied with me, I haven't got military access (???).

Just to give everyone a hint, while it is dark now... it's not going to get lighter any time in the next couple of months (game time, of course ).

CHAPTER SEVENTY​

Despite the almost nightly bombing raids conducted by the RAF over northern Germany, the last month and a half of 1939 was dominated by an uneasy calm as Germany reinforced it’s armies in Denmark and Poland for the final assaults to crush the Poles and the Danes. The defenders of those two nations, worked feverishly to forestall the impending doom, obtaining as much assistance as was possible from the British and the nations of Scandinavian nations of Norway, Sweden and Finland.


Concurrently with these uneasy actions, the French maintained their strong reinforcement of the Maginot Line and other fixed fortifications and consulted with the other Allies about how best to prosecute the war against Germany and her allies, Hungary and the newly formed Croatia.

These consultations always progressed favorably until the discussions reached the topic of command of troops on French soil. The government of Marshal Pétain maintained that any foreign troops fighting in France must fall under the overall command of the French High Command, and the remaining Allies maintaining, at the behest of the British, that if that was the case, there would be no foreign troops deploying to France. It was a constant friction that caused no amount of stress among the Foreign Ministry diplomats of all the Allied governments, and it is a testimony of the ability of those diplomats (and rumors persist of the actions of the British Empire’s Office of Imperial Intelligence) that the Alliance did not break apart on those dark months.

The dawning of the new year, 1940, brought promise as the RAF was able to declare operational a complete now command within Bomber Command, Strike Command B, commanded by Air Marshal Raymond Collishaw, and comprising four full wings of the newest Vickers Wellington medium bombers, some of which still had wet paint upon their wings and fuselages as they arrived at their new bases in near York.


The dawning of the new year brought news that while not having a direct impact upon the war between Germany and the Allies, did cause a great deal of disquiet in the capitals of anti-Communist nations, especially very anti-Communist London. On the far side of the Baltic, the leader of Latvia, Kārlis Ulmanis, faced with twenty-five thousand troops of the Red Army perched on little Latvia’s frontier, caved in to demands from Moscow and ceded the provinces of Riga, Gulbene, Dagaupulis, Jekapils, Jelgana, and Mazirbe to the Soviet Union.


Again, it seemed to the subjects of the British Empire, that Communism was on the march, and Parliament was the scene of a great many debates on the merits of ceasing the war against Germany and turning the forces of the Empire against Communist Russia. Into this rapidly growing debate, growing in ferocity with each exchange between supporters of Oswald’s British Union of Fascists and the other members of both the English and rapidly growing Imperial Parliaments, the Crown refused to step.

On the very next day, January 3, 1940, arguments for a cessation of hostilities with Germany died with the news of a third naval battle taking place in the Helgoland Bight, one in which the outcome not only shocked the Royal Navy but the entire world.



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Up next: I recommend gathering up some supplies, the next set of posts are going to be very story driven. Hopefully they will be well enjoyed, if not, just sing out and let me know so I can craft some better wordsmithing, eh? Look for the beginning in the next day or so.