Weltkriegschaft

[dublish]

A British biplane? A Gladiator?

Well, better a Gladiator than a Camel...

Last we heard, the British were using Gloster Gauntlets. I don't know if they can be outfitted with bombs...

Of course, last we heard, the British had less than 150 fighters to defend all of Britain, let alone raid the Netherlands.

And speaking of fighters, whatever happened to Ihlefeld? Is he languishing in a POW camp somewhere?

[Enewald]

Cruel Brits!
Someone shoot those bastards down!

[TheExecuter]

Good scene...I felt the heat of summer and the farcical urgency of actually having to FIGHT those idiots in the allies using such antiquated means to...try...to...KILL...ME!

Seriously, an 1860s riverboat? Did this kind of thing actually happen?

Looking forward to seeing those roundels again!
TheExecuter

[TheHyphenated1]

frigidmagi - Indeed. Welcome and thanks for commenting!

KLorberau - Thank you! Well Heilmann is under orders to try to break out on foot to German lines if not reached soon.

dublish (1) - Yes, this is certainly a setback. Interesting thoughts about Eddi. He's innocent, but I think in a somehow worldly way. Going by pure war story tropes, people like that usually end up either wind up with a bullet through the head or blown up, but of course you know how I try to discourage meta-thinking .

trekaddict (1) - Heh.

dublish (2) - If a position opens up at the Reich Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, I'll let you know .

trekaddict (2) -

dublish (3), trekaddict (3) - Oh, the repartee!

Kurt_Steiner - Gladiator development has been sidelined in favor of monoplane designs. The Hawker Hurricane, as it happens, is scheduled to be delivered to squadrons in spring or summer of 1937.

dublish (4) - The planes in III:XX are actually Vildebeests. Less than 150 fighters means less than 150 in J.M. Steel's ADGB. As Baldwin assured parliament, more planes from throughout the Empire are being sent to the Home Islands. Also, 150 only counts aircraft considered useful in a defensive role. At the start of the Netherlands Campaign, Britain has deployed some of these planes that were just then being transferred. The Vildebeests, for example, come from the newly-reactivated No.42 Squadron from Scotland. Ihlefeld is indeed languishing - the British have made much about capturing Germany's first and initially most prominent ace.

Enewald - They're trying to!

TheExecuter - Thank you kindly! The riverboat is actually 1880s vintage, but yes. Of course, it would have looked more like the vessel shown in the foreground of the bridge picture than a classical American riverboat from the Mississippi. The Netherlands armed these hastily as part of their Southern Defense - to protect a frontier they never expected to defend.

[SeleucidRex]

Ee! The ground war begins! Took you long enough :P.

Mahler is one of my favorite characters, and I always enjoy Eddi. I'm wondering though whether the riverboat would have simply been able to destroy the bridge, rather than wait to shoot at the Germans as they crossed.

[TheHyphenated1]

SeleucidRex - Yes, they're great characters to write. The riverboat would not have been able to destroy the bridge with its guns, however. The British aircraft were specifically equipped for the task.


Happy 50,000 Views, everyone! A hearty thanks to all the readers that have made this possible!

[TheHyphenated1]

A bonus photo -- the Luftwaffe rains down destruction upon Fortress Holland. View from the cockpit of a Ju-52.

[Enewald]

Everyone, remember to vote in the ACA!

[dublish]

A bonus photo -- the Luftwaffe rains down destruction upon Fortress Holland. View from the cockpit of a Ju-52.

Holland?

*squints*

They get a lot of snow in Holland in September?

[KLorberau]

Nice..........did the entire company fall into the river? Unfortunate bastards......weighed down with equipment and all. I think I would rather die in a hail of bullets / shells than drown.......I wince everytime I see Saving Private Ryan during the initial assault on Omaha Beach and the GIs jump in the water to get away from the fire of the MG42s.......only to drown....................

KLorberau

[trekaddict]

Holland?

*squints*

They get a lot of snow in Holland in September?

Looks more like sand and rock to me.

[dublish]

Looks more like sand and rock to me.

My mistake. I should have recognized the famous beaches of Friesland.

[trekaddict]

I was thinking North Africa. But then again, they aren't painted in DAK colours.

[Atlantic Friend]

Holland?

*squints*

They get a lot of snow in Holland in September?

Could be water shining - a flooded area maybe ?

[TheHyphenated1]

Just ducking in to do what I can to settle the controversy. Based on my best sourcing for this picture, it appears that OTL it was taken somewhere over the Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt delta. From this, I believe what we're seeing is in fact water.

[dublish]

Could be water shining - a flooded area maybe ?

That's what I thought at first, but it looks like there are tracks of some kind on the ground.

EDIT: Huh. Color me surprised.

[TheHyphenated1]

Those strike me as channel buoys of some kind, because of their rounded shape. Based on the apparent altitude of the planes, it would make the tracks of a motor vehicle too small for scale, as it appears to me.

[TheHyphenated1]

Enewald - Thanks for the reminder, Enewald! I'll post a link to the thread soon.

dublish (1) - Haven't we already had a discussion about your monitor settings? =P

KLorberau - Thank you very much as always! Some members of the company managed to stay dry, but many of them suffered even worse fates. Luckily they were traveling fairly light. The biggest problem, as the picture indicates fairly well, I think, is that the Keizersveerbrug was quite tall. Those who landed the wrong way could easily be hurt badly enough not to be able to make their way to the surface and swim to land. That scene from Saving Private Ryan is chilling indeed!

trekaddict (1), dublish (2) -

trekaddict (2) - True enough.

Atlantic Friend - Yes, Atlantic Friend, this seems to be the right track.

dublish (3) - See my previous post. ADDITION: I blew up the picture and studied it closely in photoshop. It's hard to tell anything conclusive but the lines of objects do seem to be round.

[Hardraade]

Just got myself cauhgt up once again. Great updates all around as usual.

[TheHyphenated1]

Great to hear from you again, Hardraade! Thank you very much.


III:XXI goes up in roughly fifteen minutes.