Against all Odds: The British Empire in World War Two

[BritishImperial]

with the presence of the red army outweighing any improvements on history you may have made to the british army, i would expect this battle of france to be no more succesful. prove me wrong? actually the 'western front' you mentioned suggests that maybe it'll last longer than a month...

[Kurt_Steiner]

Dunno why, but I feel that, by the time that the Brits tanks have landed in Belgium, the German Panzers will be at Paris.

[Lord Strange]

Let the WAR begin, may those who drink the most tea win it.

[El Pip]

Quite a mongrel armoured division there (in the nicest sense of the world obviously). Niemczyk is a very Polish sound name, an early escapee from that country perhaps? On top of that the Malays that got directly mentioned.

I do hope communication issues have all been sorted, once you get outside Dominion recruits I suspect the language barrier starts getting more of an issue. Still surely that's been thought of. Surely?

Anyway now the balloon has gone up in the west I'm looking forward to a good few updates of massed French cursing and heroic British running away as things go tits up!

[Griffin.Gen]

It is time to wait until Paris fall and find out who survived the longer.
Place your bets! Warsaw or Paris? Place your bets here!

[humancalculator]

Glad to see the phony war finally end.


Keep up the good work!

[trekaddict]

BritishImperial Well, the British Army is small but well trained and equipped, and relatively well led. I expect to make a fight for France, but who knows how long they will hold.

Kurt_Steiner Well that's why I am sending the 2nd Hussars ahead of the rest of the BEF.

Lord Strange The Russians? The Japanese?

El Pip The Captain is the in-AAR avatar of a mate, and he is third-generation British, so I held it the same here. The Captain is around 30ish, so his Grandfather must have sworn an oath on a middle-aged Queen Victoria.

The communication issue has been sorted, because fluent English is a pre-requisite for joining the British Armed forces in all the dominion, all tanks have wireless sets.

Also, British soldiers never run away, they tactically retreat.

Griffin.Gen Remember, we are talking about the French.

[trekaddict]

Glad to see the phony war finally end.


Keep up the good work!

Missed yours. I was planning to reach this point with Chapter 40 or so...

[gaiasabre11]

Whoa, war's here.
I want to see General de Gaulle and his tanks in action!

[trekaddict]

Whoa, war's here.
I want to see General de Gaulle and his tanks in action!

"Merde! It's broken down again!"




Done.

[Enewald]

Oh yeah!!!
Vorwärts mit unsrem Rommel!

Finally it is spring!

*goes to an other thread while singing 'Sieg Heil Victoria'*

[gaiasabre11]

"Merde! It's broken down again!"


Done.

Ho boy, that was more than just short.
You could have added something like "Merde! It's the tenth panzer we've blown up today."

[trekaddict]

Ho boy, that was more than just short.
You could have added something like "Merde! It's the tenth panzer we've blown up today."

French Armour has the reputation of breaking down even more than a pre-production Panther.

[El Pip]

French Armour has the reputation of breaking down even more than a pre-production Panther.

French tanks don't break down. They go on strike, just like their builders and their crews.

[trekaddict]

El Pip

Chapter 88

2nd May, 1940

11:12 AM

Cabinet Bunker

The War cabinet had rushed together as soon as the first news about the invasion of the low countries filtered through to London. The War and Foreign offices were currently slogging through the information they got in to separate the myths from the facts, but Anthony Eden and the Assistant CIGS were currently briefing a rather annoyed Prime Minister, who somehow managed to stay calm amidst the chaos that was White Hall and the other relevant offices. When he had been notified of the first rumours about the invasion of Belgium, and Queen Wilhelmina's broadcast announcing the attack on the Netherlands, he had already been awake, saying to Thompson, his protection Officer, that it had been a hunch of incredible proportions that had robbed him of the little sleep he had had that night. “So, Gentlemen, what do we know?” Churchill asked, lighting his first cigar of the day.
The CIGS cleared his throat and said: “It is the big one, Sir. Jerry and Ivan have crossed the border to the low countries on the full length, and from what we know, which is very little at this point, they have smashed through their respective border defences. Luxembourg has already been totally overrun, so it stands to reason that they are simply looking for someone who is willing to surrender to them. The Belgians state that the Axis forces have penetrated deep into their lines, with German and Soviet spearheads threatening Liege, and having taken Malmedy, Bastogne and Spa. The Dutch say that German and Soviet Tanks are closing in on Nimwegen and Arnhem, where allegedly German and Soviet Airmobile forces have taken a few key Bridges over the Rhine. Both also say that their Armies are conducting a fighting retreat, sponging up reserves and volunteers as they go.” Churchill nodded and made a mental note to talk to their respective ambassadors later in the day.

“And the French?” he asked, fearing what he would hear. “The French, Prime Minister, have activated the Dyle Plan, and are racing north to re-inforce the Belgians. The French 7th Army is expected to move into position on or around the 4th, as they were already camped out near the Belgian border. The rest of their army is slower of course, but that was to be expected. In the air, our Hurricanes are fighting desperately against a surge of Axis Aircraft. Air Vice Marshal Bowhill says that the Germans and Soviets are making a concentrated effort, aimed at knocking out our Airfields. Luckily most of his Hurricanes and Bombers were either dispersed or already in the air, so our losses on the ground are relatively small, same goes for those in the air, but our lads are sorely outnumbered. Our Bombers are flying interdiction missions, and first combat reports indicate that these new Westland fighters we attached to the Bombers are worth their money. The French and Belgian bombers fly unescorted, and are being massacred, sometimes even before they got of the ground. Speaking of which, the French Air Force was badly hammered, as most of their planes were caught on the ground, but what's left fights, Prime Minister. The British Army has already reacted, and King's Order Two was activated, and the first advance units are expected to arrive in France and Belgium in about three days. Meanwhile the Navy reports no unusual activity.”

“I see.” Churchill nodded again. “And on the diplomatic front, Athony?” Eden stumped out his cigarette and rose. “What was to be expected, Prime Minister. The French are screaming blood and murder for deserting them, and my people in Paris claim that there are rumblings that say we did it on purpose because we want them to fall to the Axis.” Hushed murmur went through the room, until Eden continued. “Meanwhile the Dutch and Belgians have asked formally for entrance into the Allied Powers, and I recommend we accept, because however this whole mess turns out, we need all the allies we can get, at least they are willing to fight it out.” He sighed and leaned down, resting his arms on the table for emphasis. “Gentlemen of the War cabinet, it is my official advice as Foreign Secretary that we need to watch the French closely. Their Army is motivated, but I fear that the French General Staff lacks the will to risk losses even a small part of those of the last war.” “So you fear that the French might drop out, sign a separate peace?” “No, Minister. At least not the Government, most of them are determined, but they made the mistake of almost completely retreating from the day-to-day running of the war, and I am sure that Marshal Gort could confirm that defeatism is ripe in the higher Officers Corps of the French.” He looked at the ACIGS for confirmation and saw a nodding gesture. “The German casus belli seems to be claims that the Belgians and Dutch allowed the RAF to use their airfields for attacks on northern Germany, and so far the BBC has not bothered to respond to these claims. All in all, the situation is very confused, and will probably stay so for some time.”

“What about the rest of the world, the Italians, the Japanese, the Spanish?” Churchill asked. Sir John Simon, the outgoing head of MI6, who would however continue to head the joint intelligence committee that controlled the Special Operations Executive and all the other British Intelligence Operations, quickly re-shuffled his papers and then spoke up for the first time today. “Let me start with the Japanese. Our sources there are traditionally non-existent, but what few sources we have tell us that the Japanese are adopting a wait and see approach to the war in Europe. It seems as if they are preparing for something, but what that is.. we simply do not know. We have a bit of an intelligence shortfall since the war started, as our decryption teams are concentrating on codes closer to home.” As many around the table weren't cleared, he did not mention ULTRA, but it was true that the Far-East Section at Bletchley Park had only a fraction of the men and resources of the Europe counterparts. “However, do know that the Imperial Japanese Navy is building up it's Carrier strength, so we can assume that some sort of operation is in the offing.” He sipped his tea and shifted to Europe. “In Spain.. well, the Nationalists under Franco are closing in on the last republican strongholds, but they are simply too weak to do anything outside their own borders. Station S (Spain) of the MI6 told us that a person who has positively been identified as one of Franco's right-hand men, has approached him and said that Franco would stay neutral. It seems that one enemy at a time is enough for him. Italy however is a completely different matter, Prime Minister.” “In what way?” “As much as Mussolini says he hates the reds, in the past he was one of them. Also we have seen indications that Berlin is putting a hell of a lot of pressure on our friend in Rome, and I..we also believe that he is opportunistic enough to join the war on the side of the Axis. Since we cut off negotiations over Ethopia back in 1937, and even more since the Empire Act, the Italians are, or rather were becoming more and more pro-axis. Mussolini might be a pompous idiot, but he is not stupid. If he thinks there is something in it for him, he will join the Axis powers, that much is sure. But that isn't likely any time soon. The Italian Armed Forces are at very low levels of readiness, and Station I (Italy) thinks that they will not go to war until they have reached at least 50% readiness, because, for example, the border Artillery emplacements along the French border in the north are reported to have, at most, ten to twenty-five percent of the wartime stocks of ammunition. Only their Air Force and Navy are combat ready-ish, and both have very outdated equipment.” Churchill took a drag from his cigar when Simon had sat back down. “So let me summarize Gentlemen. Europe has gone tits-up and it is bound to get even worse. Now that are cheery prospects, and I fear I will have to tell as much to his Majesty.” He was about to rattle on, but a timely interruption by a messenger saved the others. “So anyway,” Churchill exclaimed when they were amongst themselves again, “I will have an audience with the King in an hour. We will talk to the nation this afternoon. For now my instructions stand. The BEF is to be deployed at the best possible speed, and I want to re-view these plans tomorrow, understood?” “Yes, Prime Minister.”

[Game Notes: When I played this game I made some minor mistakes, for example I assigned sitting ministers as leaders for military Units. I've decided to role-play different leaders for these units. For example Grand Admiral Backhouse is both Chief of Navy ( First Sea Lord ) and CinC Home Fleet in the game, so in the AAR CinC Home Fleet will he Sir Charles Forbes or his RL successors. Same also works into the other direction, so for example at one point I appointed A.B. Cunningham as First Sea Lord while he was still commanding Force A, so in the AAR he will second command of Force A to someone else. I will always include these instances in the game notes. I hope you don't mind. Also, this is one of the perhaps three occasions when I used military control. I mil-coned the Dutch and Belgian Armies in order to have them to a realistic fighting retreat and to by time for me to deploy the BEF.]

[Le Jones]

Oh dear - it begins... God help the BEF...

[Lord Strange]

Are the Germans carrying out "A bridge too far" in the opposite direction then? Come on the BEF.

[humancalculator]

I would just botch the French and come back in my shining glory in a few years........Although that is not very historical.

Good job with the update, and watch for the French screwing up horribly and the BEF not even being able to land before the French collapse.

[El Pip]

I think I have to agree with the previously made points, I doubt the BEF will be able to see much action before events overtake them.

Which is probably for the best, no point throwing good men into a doomed meat grinder.

[BritishImperial]

ah, if you manage to get the belgian and dutch armies out into france relatively intact then you may be able to hold them for a while.