Chapter 12: Mopping up, and preparations for Operation Leone Marino
As of February 1942, our forces continue to capture territory from the Soviets, and planning and procurement was still under way for our British campaign, or Operation Leone Marino (Sealion) which, would be launched in 1943. 3 divisions of Marines had become operational, and another two more were in training. This will give us 7 divisions of Marines, including our two that had both distinguished themselves in combat in Ukraine.
In March, our carrier RN Falco II will be completed, as will 4 new, state of the art light cruisers. Earlier we procured a production license to build 2 runs of 2 parallel Agano class light cruisers from Japan. Following this procurement, I instructed my staff at the armament ministry to collaborate with the Department of the Navy in order to decide the best course of action for subsequent cruiser and destroyer production. After much research, and comparing the quality of our capabilities to those of our Allies, it was decided that if we put our research energies into Anti-Sub Warfare, and light cruiser development, we would be able to produce a new class of warship that was far superior to those of either the Japanese or the Germans. Another division of paratroopers has begun training, and we are also bolstering the merchant navy to ensure our supply lines remain open after invading the UK.
A new wave of cruisers will be ordered soon, as will another carrier, as we have made or will be making improvements in the technology of our ships and their armaments. We have also made efforts to upgrade our tanks and infantry weapons.
By March, Graziani's 3rd Army troops rush east from the top of the Black Sea, down the ithsmus and towards the line set up by Guzzoni.
By early April, they link up and crush the light resistance of the Soviets between them.
Progress was swift, comparitively. With the large spaces to work with in Asia, our troops moved slowly, even our quick progress against light opposition seemed slow. By mid-May, we had begun to send both of our armies east to take as much territory as we could.
You can see how light the opposition to the German advance was on May 15. Victory was only a matter of time.
By June 11, the Germans had overrun even our positions, and we decided to allow them to continue their advance, and that our contribution to their Soviet campaign had run its course.
(we begin withdrawing our forces for deployment elsewhere)
The Soviets made peace with Germany on June 16th, and disappointingly, our German “allies” took all of the land that we had conquered in the Ukraine and the Caucasus. With no land bordering enemies in either the Balkans or Turkey , and a general quiet in the war, the time was right for reorganizing the portions of our armed forces.
We pulled back our 1st Army Group in the Balkans to Anatolia, leaving only Guzzoni's 2nd Army as defensive troops.
The 3rd Army under it's new commander, Babini, would be join the forces that were tasked for the invasion of the UK, but they had some work to do before that in cleaning up parts of East Africa that the British had usurped from us, and our client state, Ethiopia.
(3rd army heading to Beirut for transit to Africa)
Thus concluded our Soviet Campaign. We were able to maneuver far faster and effectively than our enemies. That, combined with our excellent coordination with our German allies allowed us to complete several encirclements, taking hundreds of thousands of Soviet soldiers out of the war.
In April, our Iberian Army group, under Balbo's command, consisted of 7 corps in 2 armies, with Pintor's 1a Armata with the bulk of the responsibilities, and a smaller Southern Iberia Army tasked with holding Gibraltar, and Spanish Morocco. Balbo commanded 262,000 men in 27 divisions, with 3 squadrons of air support available. However, Balbo was dallying in his plans for our UK invasion, and thus was replaced on August 31 with Beregamo, who had distinguished himself again and again in combat. In the interim, the Iberian Army Group had gained almost 53,000 men, for a total of 309,000 at the end of August.
Tobruk HQ was now in the process of being reorganized into North and East African Army Groups, under the command of newly promoted Field Marshals R. Rossi, and Mancinelli (respectively).
North African Army Group was tasked with the defense of our holdings east of Vichy France’s African holdings. East African Army Group was tasked with the defense of our East African holdings south of Port Sudan. It was also tasked with pushing the British out of Africa, and in doing so, tying up their attention leading up to our invasion of the British Islands.
(British encroachments into Ethiopia)
Graziani had been promoted to command the 1st Army Group in the Balkans, an taking his place as commander of 3rd Army was General Babini. His army was now attached to Tobruk HQ to serve as the primary offensive force taking Africa from the Allies. The ultimate objective would be to sweep through East Africa, and down through South Africa. Making this objective easier was the fact that German forces, assisting our new allies, Saudi Arabia had cleaned the British out of the Arabian peninsula.
Babini’s spearhead would be his newly minted Marine Corps of 50,000 Marines (now that three more divisions had completed training).
(The Marine Corps under General Armellini)
These five divisions succeeded in the taking of Socotra from the UK, taking away all ports they had on the Red Sea.
The plan is to advance from our current East African holdings (already we’ve taken everything east of Khartoum, and south to Muqdisho) south and west, with the Marines serving as a raiding force to take enemy ports and serve as the anvil to other 3rd Army elements’ hammer.
This way, we will be able to both supply our army through convoys as we proceed. An effort to upgrade some of the infrastructure in this region should also give us the logistical ability to supply the troops over land from as far away as Rome!
Finally, the USA have joined the Allies. They are making themselves quite a nuisance, attempting a landing against Portugal, which our nearby forces quickly suppressed, as the Portuguese seemed quite defenseless to control their own land.
My spies tell me that the US chose to land there due to the lesser defenses there. We have lost the Canary Islands to the US, however, and we must make plans to regain this territory primarily in order to deny the US a foothold in Africa with which to begin a push to dislodge our own Imperial visions!
Our Naval emphasis, as well as our powerful, fairly large army (at 168 Brigades on May 15) had allowed us to not only compete with the Royal Navy, defeat it. By May 15, we had sunk 61 vessels, to our losing of 36. Most of our losses were older ships, and we had been building our carriers and light cruisers for years, and those efforts were paying off. However, the ultimate test would come: soon, we would be taking our navy to the British's own backyard.