The Phoney War
OR: Yay! Finally the Mechs almost see some action!
Throughout 1939, Britain continued the Mechanization of her armed forces. However, in March as Hitler marched into the rest of Czechsoslovakia, in clear violation of the Munich agreement, Britain still had only 9 fully equipped Mechanized or Armoured Divisions present in the United Kingdom. In order to increase the amount , the Imperial General Staff decided to begin a reshuffling of the divisions, which saw territorial battalions being moved from their parent territorial divisions into regular army divisions, in order to form 2 extra infantry divisions, the 7th and 8th. Each of the regular divisions (1st-6th ID) were to transfer 3 battalions, one from each brigade, to the new 7th and 8th divisions. Each division would also receive 3 territorial battalions, 2 (deemed the most combat-ready) from each of the territorial army's 12 first line divisions
On the 1st of September, when Hitler invaded Poland, only 3 territorial divisions had been mechanized, leaving Britain with 14 active, fully-equipped divisions (along with 60 divisions of French
cannon-fodder infantry and around 10 Commonwealth divisions against well over a hundred German divisions. And of the 14 divisions, 3 were territorial divisions, who had only recieved their equipment in the previous two weeks!
The 42nd "East Lancashire" territorial division receives its full complement of Lloyd Carriers to make it the first fully mechanized territorial division in the British Army. The 43rd "Wessex", and 44th "Home Counties" would receive their Lloyd Carriers over the next two weeks
Britain declared war on Germany on the 3rd of September, after Hitler refused to listen to an ultimatum sent by the foreign office. Britain immediately made preparations to dispatch all 11 of her regular divisions to France as an expeditionary force.
Lord John Gort, Commander of the British Expeditionary Force
Major-General Bernard Montgomery, commander of the British 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized), proposed a plan for an offensive before the end of September against the weak German forces around the Saar. The British Expeditionary Force, reinforced with mobile French units, would be on the left, striking through the Eifel and heading towards Cologne and Frankfurt Meanwhile, the French 7th Army (diverted from guarding the Belgian border), would be on the right of the attack, protecting the British Expeditionary striking towards Manheim as part of a feint to fool the Germans into believing that "Sledgehammer" was directed towards Nuremburg and Munich. Once the British captured Cologne, extra French divisions (also from the Belgian border) would arrive to strengthen the allied position.
General Bernard Montgomery's plan
Though initially unconvinced, the French, reluctantly agreed to the plan, after Montgomery's Corps Commander, Lieutenant-General Harold Alexander presuaded them that this attack would divert most of the fighting off French soil, and onto German soil. The French agreed, but asked that the date be fixed at September 25th, to allow them to move troops to the area.
Unfortunately, a week before Operation Sledgehammer was scheduled to begin, Poland surrendered, and Hitler immediately began diverting forces to the Western Front. The French Generals panicked, and immediately halted all French movements.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped..._Warsaw.jpg/200px-German_Troops_In_Warsaw.jpg
German troops parading in Warsaw
The British army therefore moved back from positions opposite the Saar, into rear areas.
A Loyd Carrier from the British 4th Infantry Division training in France, October 1939
Author's note: I do role-play my divisions a fair bit - it makes them feel more precious to me, and means I'm less likely to commit them into a battle where I know I'd lose them.
The British Army's active units at the start of the Second World War
1 ID (1 Gds Bde, 2Bde, 3 Bde)
2 ID (4 Bde, 5 Bde, 6 Bde)
3 ID (7 Bde, 8 Bde, 9 Bde)
4 ID (10 Bde, 11 Bde, 12 Bde)
5 ID (13 Bde, 15 Bde, 17 Bde)
6 ID (14 Bde, 16 Bde, 22 Bde)
7 ID (23 Bde, 24 Bde, 25 Bde)
8 ID (29 Bde, 30 Bde, 31 Bde)
1 AD (1 ArmBde, 4 ArmBde, 18 Bde)
2 AD (2 ArmBde, 7 ArmBde, 19 Bde)
7 AD (3 ArmBde, 8 ArmBde, 21 Bde)
Territorial:
Fully equipped
42 "East Lancashire" ID (125 Bde, 126 Bde, 127 Bde)
43 "Wessex" ID (128 Bde, 129 Bde, 130 Bde)
44 "Home Counties" ID (131 Bde, 132 Bde, 133 Bde)
Forming, in order of equipment priority (Game terms: In the build queue):
48 "South Midland" ID (143 Bde, 144 Bde, 145 Bde)
49 "West Riding" ID (146 Bde, 147 Bde, 148 Bde)
50 "Northumbrian" ID (149 Bde, 150 Bde, 151 Bde)
51 "Highland" ID (152 Bde, 153 Bde, 154 Bde)
52 "Lowland" ID (155 Bde, 156 Bde, 157 Bde)
53 "Welsh" ID (158 Bde, 159 Bde, 160 Bde)
54 "East Anglian" ID (161 Bde, 162 Bde, 163 Bde)
55 "West Lancashire" ID (164 Bde, 165 Bde, 166 Bde)
56 "London" ID (167 Bde, 168 Bde, 169 Bde)
Reserve (Not building yet):
9 "Highland" ID (26 Bde, 27 Bde, 28 Bde)
12 "Eastern" ID (35 Bde, 36 Bde, 37 Bde)
15 "Scottish" ID (44 Bde, 45 Bde,46 Bde)
18 "East Anglian" ID (53 Bde, 54 Bde, 55 Bde)
23 "Northumbrian" ID (68 Bde, 69 Bde, 70 Bde)
38 "Welsh" ID (113 Bde, 114 Bde, 115 Bde)
45 "Wessex' ID (134 Bde, 135 Bde, 136 Bde)
46 "North Midlands" ID (137 Bde, 138 Bde, 139 Bde)
47 "London" ID (140 Bde, 141 Bde, 142 Bde)
59 "Staffordshire" ID (176 Bde, 177 Bde, 178 Bde)
61 "South Midlands" ID (182 Bde, 183 Bde, 184 Bde)
66 "East Lancashire" ID (197 Bde, 198 Bde, 199 Bde)
Authour's Notes: All brigades are assigned to their historical units at the start of the war. Except for 68 Bde, 142 Bde, 149 Bde (Not formed), and those of the armoured divisions, and the 7th infantry and 8th infantry divisions.
Another Note: These are all the MEC units I'm building until 1941 (I will be building a few more ARMs, though). Wish me luck