Royal Carnage
Chapter XII - Operation Legion, Part II
Human Players: Germany, Italy, Japan, UK, USA, Soviet
Recap: It has been some dark months for the Axis. Japan is being pushed back in the Pacific, Italy is being punished in their own land and Germany, having to babysit their weaker ally, has problem to keep the pressure up on Soviet. Still, Axis are not out of aces...
January 10th, 1941
Alas, the hard pressure from the British forces paid off as they found a gap in the Axis defense. Suddenly, the Italians were once again caught in a pocket. A desperate journey, which started in Tivoli, just east of Rome, now seemed to get stuck in the L’Aquila pocket. Except the Italian troops, deadly weary, the Germany paratroop division and the infantry division who bravely kept the sack open, was now captured.
The Axis units outside the pocket seemed fairly few, but as they consisted only of German troops, it was not something the British leadership took lightly on.
January 10th-13th, 1941
Kriegsmarine did not flee back to the safety of the Baltic Sea after sinking the two old destroyer flotillas. Instead, they went on a killing spree with their entire might. The British leadership tried to get all the smaller sub-hunting taskforces to return to the safety of the ports but the two German taskforces managed to spy several of them, including an American transport detachment. It became painfully obvious that the Royal Navy had left the oldest ships home, believing the Germans trapped in the Baltic Sea. With Copenhagen lost, the seal was gone and the Brits were too involved in the Med to shift their forces very quickly.
The Brits won half the battles (the first loss was January 3rd) but one of the victories was in fact the most terrible loss of them all in terms of lost ships. Still, the Germans took losses too and several of their remaining capitals, including Bismarck and Tirpitz had taken quite serious hits.
Now, the Brits, used to splendid victories at sea, wanted to move on these wounded giants before they could reach safety. An ad hoc task force was assembled out of every ship around the British Isles, not currently damaged, with the aim to reach the German master task force…
For the British populace, this was a disaster. The parents, relatives and friends of all the thousands of killed sailors were completely unprepared. After victories in the Med and the Pacific, the greatest disaster came just around the corner – were it was the least expected.
On the picture: Admiral Hipper
January 12th-13th, 1941
After one of the lethal naval battles, the smallest of the German task forces had to seek refuge in Den Haag. All the remaining four ships were in a terrible state and far too close to British airbases. Bowhill immediately attacked with his three experienced squadrons of naval bombers. As Den Haag lacked anti aircraft, it was a fairly easy mission. Luftwaffe seemed to be occupied elsewhere and the two heavy cruisers Deutschland and Graf Spee were sunk within short, together with the remnants of a transport flotilla.
Then, however, when Bowhill’s naval bomber came in for Gneisenau, enemy fighters intercepted them and forced them to abort the mission with considerable losses – at least for the 15th Squadron.
This meant that Kriegsmarine now had lost 5 Heavy Cruisers to Allies 3. That made up for a little of all the smaller ships that the Royal Navy had lost. Once again, the naval bomber pilots were heroes of the day.
January 13th, 1941
Finally, the Ad Hoc Task Force of the Royal Navy managed to make contact with the main Kriegsmarine Task Force. Earlier combats had taxed their capitals dearly and they were probably sailing a safe harbor. That would not be. Even though the Brits were inferior both in number and size of ships, their ships, in difference to the Germans, were in good shape and with well rested crews. Also, the pride of the Royal Navy, HMS Nelson, was with them.
The Brits tried to close in the Germans in the freezing winter storm, but as the battered enemy wisely tried to sneak away, it was difficult to come within firing range. A few short were fired but the Germans slipped away in the storm and took refuge in the ports of Amsterdam without any ships being sunk. It was a major anti-climax for the Brits. But it was good news too. The British leadership knew exactly where they had the Kriegsmarine now, minus the u-boats, and both these ports were under naval siege. Not only that. These ports were well in range of entire RAF. It also meant that there was no German in the Baltic Sea, which opened up for some new possibilities.
With the naval bombers being grounded after the battles over Den Haag, peace came to this area just as sudden as it was broken a few days earlier.
January 15th, 1941
Denmark was taken by the Germans and three American divisions perished there. Still, the Germans had no or little navy left in the Baltic to protect the Danish Isles.
Authors note: The port of Kopenhagen is lit, as if used. Well, it is. By a British submarine unable to get out as the Sound is closed. But is still doesn’t vanish but let me see Kopenhagen and all three surrounding provinces. What a bug. Still, it is an easy prey for German bombings.
January 15th-20th, 1941
In December 21st, when Rome fell, the Tivoli pocket was created. One week later, the 28th, the Germans reopened the sack by a cunning paradrop. Fast-moving Brits extended the sack and captured the brave German paratroop division as well.
For the Italians caught in the moving pocket, these days were hell. They manage to forage supply wherever they got, and the British assaults were not too bad. The problem was that they were constantly under some sort of attack. The only break they got was under retreats – but then they always ended up in new battles.
In January 15th, the German paratrooper division who had fought so valiantly to keep the sack open succumbed. By that time, several HQs had already surrendered. The remaining infantry divisions, five Italian and one German, had become a ragged lot. The attacking Brits were fewer in number but the Axis forces in the L’Aquila pocket was extremely battle-weary after more than three weeks of constant fighting. After little less than a week more of fighting in the hilly province, the last Axis soldier threw away his rifle and gave up.
This was a grand victory. 5 Italian divisions, 4 or 5 HQs and 2 German divisions, including a paratroop division, had surrendered in what started out as the Tivoli pocket. Earlier in Operation Legion, another two or three Italian divisions, including a mountain division had surrendered. These victories, as well as the Italian stockpile, were tremendous indeed.
January 21st, 1941
But the sweet days were coming to an end. The three German panzer divisions had returned together with Italian reinforcements pulled from Balkan. The poorly equipped Americans buckled under the pressure. Soon, Axis would drive them in front of them. It was time to end the operation and pull back. The day was won.
February 1st, 1941
Death and murder! The Axis managed to pay the Allies back. The American was under too much strain with battles in the Pacific and the Med. A powerful iron-thrust by the German panzers managed to blitz through retreating Americans and as much as 8 divisions was lost. It practically equaled the Axis losses during the operation. The Brits landed some of the troops they had already pulled away. They did not manage to reach the captured Americans in time and instead ended up in a prickly situation themselves. After some maneuvering, they managed to get out of Italy, practically ending Operation Legion.
With Allied and Axis losses being more or less the same, the Operation Legion was still a victory as the Italian stockpile had been taken and considerable pressure had been taken out of Soviet for about a month. The Soviet leadership reported that the German pressure during Operation Legion and eased down to so little, the Red Army managed to get full organization back to the majority of their troops. They were prepared for new battles now.
The American losses were another matter, all together. With the three divisions lost in Denmark added to the losses in Italy, they were up in 11 lost divisions in Europe. This was a terrible loss which would significantly affect their power in the European theatre in the future.
December 17th, 1940
Before the year of 1940 was at its end, Japan retaliated against the Allied offensives in their core sphere of interest. After several naval battles around the American held Taiwan, the Janks was chased off. Soon after, the Japs landed a strong army and even dropped paratroopers right on top of the Americans guarding the only harbor.
It took a little while, but then all the Americans were either killed or captured. With the losses coming later in Europe, it mounted up to 14 lost divisions in a few months.
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