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Was one of the companies under Lt. Col. McAuliffe commanded by a certain Capt. Winters? ;)

I am sorely tempted to do just that, but wouldn't that be somewhat cheesy?
 
Khartoum University. That renowned Institution of the British EMpire......


Also epic Paratrooper battles against useless Italians, with the threat of a German Counter-Attack: what more could a reader want?
 
Lord Strange Well, without constant civil war and ethnic troubles one might expect some places to fare far better than in real life. :D

Griffin.Gen Well, I try to put in familiar faces wherever I can.
 
@ Griffin.Gen Things could have changed under the circumstances...the relative numbers of troops could bump him up a rank or two if trek does decide to put him in.

@trekaddict
I would suggest getting either this guy or this guy as McAuliffe's subordinates if you do decide to not have Winters in. ;)

1st guy's a total bad-ass; wounded six times in France and a Medal of Honor to boot.
The other one's got the advantage of being born a bloody Scot, and had a distinguished post-war career.
 
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@trekaddict
I would suggest getting either this guy or this guy as McAuliffe's subordinates if you do decide to not have Winters in. ;)

So he actually did shoot the Sergeant. Hmm. I always thought his name was written Spears instead of Speirs. :D


Anyway, I could see him as one of the communist American Characters I plan to have in soon....
 
a certain incident in the pacific should be happening anytime time now..how is the commie navy doing?
 
Speirs as a Commie? :D Sounds nasty as hell. I like it.
 
arya126 The Japanese are stronger than real life, while the Americans are weaker. As a result of this and their victory in China the Japanese feel that they can bide their time some more. I fear 7th December 1941 will be a day like any other in the AAO-verse.


Ciryandor Very much so. :D
 
Chapter 170​

Book-4.png


Part Three


Three Squadrons of SM.79 belonging to the 132° Gruppo out of Genova were racing south, forming the first real Italian response to the landings. When Mussolini had been informed and had also learned that almost all Italian Airfield south of Rome were either out of action, under attack or too busy trying to repair what was damaged. He had sacked the chief of staff of the Regia Marina on the spot, which ( vitally for the British ) delayed the Naval response and had ordered an all-out effort to smash the Mediterranean Fleet where it was right now. The Italian Air Force was still reeling from the losses it had suffered in the months running up to the Invasion and the three Squadrons was the only thing that could be scrambled at such short notice, and eve those were understrength, with roughly seventy to eighty percent established strength, they still launched their attack. However Italian Intelligence was faulty. The latest reports coming out of Rome had the position of the British Carriers plotted somewhere to the south where they were 'bottling up the Regia Marina', and most certainly not screening the landing Fleet against exactly this sort of attack. RDF picket Destroyers were on stations and four Spitfires from Glorious were flying SCP ( Standing Combat Patrol ) between the pickets and the Carriers, their wings and fuselages heavy with external fuel tanks.

The Italian aircraft bore in at low height, hoping to escape the notice of any eventual air patrols by aircraft from Malta ( Seafires being mis-identified as their land-based brethren ) and be able to get in, launch their fish and get out again without too many losses. However, the Italians had, like Soviets and to a certain extent the Germans, failed to realize the way RDF was revolutionizing naval Warfare. Roughly a hundred nautical miles out the Type 281 air search set on HMS Fearless detected the incoming Italian aircraft. With their speed and height they were quickly identified as enemy torpedo bombers and the news was flashed to HMS Ark Royal, acting as the flagship of the Carrier Squadron. The Admiral commanding immediately had his Squadron turn into the wind and launch every available fighter at the Italians that were not far out by that point. The Seafires crawled into the air and at full military power tried to gain as much height as possible in a race between the torpedo bombers and themselves. Meanwhile the SCP Seafires dropped their tanks and dove onto the SM.79 formation in an effort to disperse them and lover their numbers. The British fighters dove in from directly ahead, but the Italian aviators were unaware that they had been spotted already and were totally surprised when the lead row was peppered with 20mm and .303 fire. Their wooden structure made the Italian bombers rugged and relatively easy to produce, but when the 20mm shells detonated against the structure of the fuselage splinters would fly through the aircraft. All of the planes that were hit caught fire and plummeted into the sea. The Seafires attacked twice more, but at that point they were running low on fuel and withdrew.

The shattered Italian formation pulled itself together again and the bombers increased power. They knew that where there was one Spitfire, there were more, and that their best chance was to try and sink as many ships as possible before the British could organize more fighters. At least they tried. When the first crew of Seafires had attacked, the Italians had inadvertently split into two smaller groups, the main group and a smaller one with five more. The cloud of British fighters now intercepted next, and in the resulting slaughter all but two of the Italian bombers were downed. However....

The second, much much smaller group of Italian bombers had managed to slip past the furball that was the air battle and snuck past the inner ring of Destroyers and cruisers. The defences on the British ships began to fire on them, but failed to down any of them before they had set their eyes on HMS Ark Royal. The British carrier began evasive manoeuvres while still shooting at the enemy torpedo bombers with all guns. Two were downed before they could launch while the other three managed to release their deadly cargo before being blotted out of the sky by the intense barrage of ack-ack. The two torpedoes ran straight and true, one missed Ark Royal outright while the other hit, but failed to detonate. No damages were reported, and for the loss of three Squadrons worth of Aircraft, the Italians had merely three destroyed an six damaged Seafires to show.

Meanwhile on land, the invasion was going more or less as planned when the Guards Infantry Division reached the outskirts of Messina after a forced march of several hours, which essentially separated Sicily from the rest of Italy, the Royal Marines has successfully landed on the larger of the Lipari Islands, finding them to be undefended. In the air the Italian torpedo attack had been the only Axis response so far, and on the surface, aside from a small attack by several MAS boats on the outer Destroyer/Cruiser Screen the Axis had not reacted at all. Admiral Somverville was worried, because as long as the Italian Surface Fleet had not made a major showing of some sort, he would be very worried that they did and as long his fleet was tied to the landing beaches, there was little he could do to avoid being ambushed. The Marines capturing the Islands was not only a measure to rob the Italians of intelligence on British fleet movements and a place for small craft forces to hide in, but also to provide the British with a picket line for Italian fleet movements.


14th October 1941

1612 hours

'Pegasus Bridge', Italy

The first warning of the presence of the German 7th Panzer Division was the artillery fire from towed 75mm guns falling onto the positions of the 1st Gurkha Paras ( as it would be popularly know soon ) from the north-east. At that point Lt. Colonel Howard was rudely awakened by a blast that knocked him from the tree trunk he had been sitting on and prompted him to run over the bridge and into the forward line of hastily dug trenches and foxholes where three of his companies were dug in in a semi circle. He dove into a foxhole and ordered: “When did this start, trooper?” to the next para he could find. “About a minute ago, Colonel.” came the reply in accented English. Howard nodded and kept his head down, waiting for the end of the shelling and for the inevitable attack. The Paras were deployed in a good position and he was confident that they would be able to deal with anything short of a determined attack by.. “PANZERS!” came the yell he had dreaded. He had every confidence in his men, but none of them had ever really faced the dread that infused one's soul when the rattle of the tracks and the roar of the diesel engines came at your position without you being able to actually see the enemy. The next thing he however heard was the massive explosion of what had to have been a German panzer roughly a mile down the windy and curvy road. It seemed that his observation post had engaged the Germans from an unexpected direction and the furious machine gun fire that slammed into the woods where the OP had been located. The shelling had stopped, so he dared to leave his foxhole and ran over to the bridge again towards the barn in the hamlet where the Regimental Command post was located. Before he reached it he could hear the fighting start on the other side of the bridge and he hoped that his men could hold. Once in the barn he realized to his satisfaction that his wireless operator was already hard at work. “Colonel, I have managed to raise Division, and they say that....” he was interrupted by the nearby impact of a shell. “...that reinforcements are on their way. No joy on any sort of ETA though.” “That'll have to do.” Howard climbed up on the roof of the barn and placed his upper body on the roof while he remained standing on the ladder. Through his binoculars he could see that his three companies were heavily engaged and and engaged by at least a regiment's worth of Panzers and Infantry. As he watched, four Panzer IIIs tried to rush the bridge, but the Paras held and smashed three of the four German vehicles with aimed fire from their PIATs, while the fourth was halted after it broke the line, by a trooper who quickly mounted it, wrestled open the hatch and placed several hand grenades inside just as the Panzer was about to cross onto the bridge. The trooper dismounted and took refuge behind one of the steel pylons the bridge was made of as the Panzer three was suddenly engulfed by smoke and shuddered to a halt. He climbed back down and looked at the map where the enemy positions were plotted based on reports from his company commanders. “Sir. Major Barnesley reports no activity to the south, he requests permission for 2 Battalion to send their reserves up here.” “Request denied. We need him to screen the southern approaches and watch out for the reinforcements.” “Yes, Colonel.” “Sir, B Company reports enemy armour and Infantry moving onto their position in strength, he estimates about company strength combined, he says he can hold though. E Company reports that so far everything is quiet on their front even though they have spotted enemy forces moving up towards the centre. A Company also reports only minor probing actions.” It was clear then, the enemy was concentrating his efforts on one company, and Howard only hoped that they could hold the line.


Meanwhile on the other side of the line Hauptmann Kramer was directing the action with much more confidence. His regiment had been chosen by the General to make the breach, and he felt honoured, yet at the same time his broken arm did not prevent him from fighting with his men. Right now his panzer had temporarely been allocated to Regimental Headquarters until he could sit straight and be in combat again. Like Howard, he was placed on an elevated position where he could overlook the entire battlefield, and he could see that his men were attacking. Much to his annoyance the rush against the bridge early on had failed when the English had managed to take the four tanks out with their rocket launchers and by rushing the fourth. He was watching the combat and winced when he saw yet another Panzer being destroyed by the British rockets after it had already passed the line. “Good god... Why aren't they falling back? We have pierced the line three times, and still they are throwing us back every time we try to push them! Who are these soldiers?” the Regimental Commander asked. “Most certainly not normal paratroopers, Colonel.” someone said. “They have been identified as 1st Parachute Regiment ( Royal Gurkha Rifles ), Colonial troops, Sir.” “What? The British must be desperate if they put colonial troops into their parachute Regiments....No matter. Send in the rest of the Regiment. Push them wherever you find them, I want that bridge!” For the next hour the Battle raged, and much to the amazement of the Germans the British line budged and bent, but did not break. When it seemed that their centre company was about to break, the British committed a reserve company. Even so, they lost ground as they were pushed back by sheer numbers, and soon the bridge was in direct sight for the advanced units. Panzers began to shell the retreating British troops.

Then Kramer heard a yell from one of the wireless operators: “Sir, enemy Panzers!” Kramer turned around as quick as he could, looked down the road. There, at the far edge of the woods on the opposing side of the bridge he could see muzzle flashes of something that was clearly larger than the British PIATs, and he then he could see the shapes of several of the new British Cromwell Tanks coming out and shooting again. The effect their guns had on the older Panzer IIIs was horrific. Frontal armour, at extended range, and the shells cracked open the Panzers like cans of sardines. In the face of enemy armour that had superior range and penetration, the German attack quickly faltered. The regiment's commander, Colonel Hausser filed a report on the action in which he praised both the tenacity and skill of the British paratroopers was praised. Even though Hitler refused to believe that mere colonial troops could be this ferocious, the Gurkha paratroopers soon had a reputation on the battlefield that would precede them wherever they went, and soon both sides saw them as the toughest, meanest and most feared soldiers on the European front.







[Notes: Air complements are: HMS Glorious: 15 Seafires, HMS Furious: 20 Seafires and 12 Swordfish, HMS Courageous: 20 Seafires and 12 Swordfish, Ark Royal: 32 Seafires, 22 Swordfish. Yes, this means that the Mediterranean Fleet has no dive bombing capability, but since I am a fan of torpedo planes and because of the increased Air threat in the Med, I opted for more fighters over a dive bombing capability of questionable value.]
 
Whoo! All I could think of is the Pegasus Bridge mission from Call of Duty 1. Damn that was a hard mission.
Speirs as a Commie? Ehhh, I dunno. I would think of him more Fascist than anything.
 
For a second I imagined the Gurkha entering into the Panzer with his kukri in hand, ready to make a bloody affair of the crew..

Excellent work!

Ayo Gurkhali!

PS: I agree on the diver bombers question.
 
Ay Gurkhali indeed!
Also, close one there for the Ark Royal.....
 
Griffin.Gen I thought of the same when I wrote that. The first time I played, I died five or six times... As for Speirs, I haven't decided yet.


Kurt_Steiner Unfortunately Panzers are too narrow for that. And thanks!

Lord Strange Indeed on all accounts. Luckily al-together the Mediterranean Fleet has almost 90 Seafires at it's disposal, never mind land based air as soon as the RAF can relocate.
 
Thank you very very much! Seen and replied to. :)
 
So the invasion goes in and the first Axis counter-thrusts are defeated. Good work.

On the dive bombers, I think it's OK for the Med but I'm not sure it's a long term solution. When going up against the Japs you will want a multi-level, multi-axis attack to try and crack open an IJN carrier group, that or overwhelming superiority to bludgen your way in. The latter would be bloody and I'm not sure even the new RN carriers would be big enough to carry all the a/c, let alone the cost in pilots, so it has to be the former.

With that in mind I'd have sent along at least a squadron of dive bombers to get some experience. If nothing else it would give the fleet the ability to support the landing ashore (while dropping torpedoes on tanks would be amusing I'm not shore it's an effective use of firepower!) That said it's probably not going to do any short term harm to the operation, just so long as somewhere there are dive bombers being trained up.
 
El Pip I see I have to write a piece on Carriers, but suffice it to say in TTL the British go for a more American approach in Carrier design, i.e. different arrangement of deck armour and so on, making the TTL Illustrious class roughly comparable with the OTL Yorktown class in terms of capabilities. This is largely the result of a different threat potential, mainly the RN fearing that one might have to go up against the American Navy in the Atlantic. I detailed that a long-long time ago, and I can see that I need to write an intermission. In reality it's of course a left over from game mechanics, since both the Illustrious and Yorktown class are both lvl 4 carriers in SKIF. The dive bomber problem is mainly that the RN does not have a proper dive bomber until the Barracuda arrives in numbers, and those that do arrive/exist already are slated for the new Carriers.


Griffin.Gen
Thanks!
 
I was aware of the change in carrier design, the point I was trying to make is that brute forcing through a dedicated screen of escorts and a competent CAP with only torpedo bombers will take a hell of a lot of aircraft as losses will be horrific. So even with several carriers with large ~100 or so air wings I don't think the RN will have enough a/c to do it! :eek:

Defending against just one form of attack is far, far easier than trying to take out two different forms of attack coming in at different levels and from different directions, even if the dive bombers don't sink much they will create the openings in the defences the torpedo bombers need.