Great work, may Australia continue to Save the Queen!
Great sentiments, although right now there's a King.
Chapter 2.9 - The First of Two Betrayals
The Fall of France was a crippling blow to Allied Morale. Although the Free French and British Expeditionary Army fought hard to try and reach the ports, they were inevitably doomed. Collaborationist forces and the German Army rapidly moved to cut off their escape.
Hundreds of thousands of British forces were cut off from any easy escape.
The largest evacuation efforts would be in Brittany, where the British were rapidly converging. Slowed by the resistance of British pockets and the Free French Army, the Germans did not seem able to reach the Brittanian ports in time. Nonetheless, large numbers of men were trapped in the French Interior, and there was little hope for escape unless they could somehow make it to Bordeaux.
St. Malo was the main port that the British were using to evacuate France.
St. Malo became the site of a large-scale successful evacuation of forces. Desperate to escape the rapidly-approaching Germans, lots of military hardware was abandoned on the beaches as the Royal Navy tried to ship as many men as possible out of France. Some tanks, armoured cars and guns were saved, but within a few days German armour was approaching the city and survivors were forced to begin pulling back west.
The German Reich had ejected the Allies from the continent almost completely and with the assistance of the Italian and Spanish, a bastion of fascism was forming.
British High Command was, despite the loss of France, not worried about the outcome of the war. It was deemed that the Soviets and Germans would inevitably go to war and that the Royal Navy was invincible. Since Britain could not fall and the Red Army was so large, Australia was encouraged to maintain focus on the Mediterranean and Asian theatres.
The United Kingdom was the last fortress of freedom in Europe.
As troops arrived in England, the effort of reorganizing the military and preparing the defensive positions along the coast were immediately put into effect. Although they had little concern regarding the defensibility of the Isles, the garrisons were necessary to ensure the people's morale and gave the military a vital short-term purpose.
Australia spotted Italian ships leaving Cagliari; Vanguard was quick to respond.
South of Sardinia, Australian aircraft successfully spotted a large flotilla of Italian ships moving eastwards.
HMAS Vanguard was well-positioned to intercept and the Carrier and her squadron arrived on October 8th. The Italian fleet lacked any kind of heavy ships -- it was composed chiefly of destroyers and transport craft. Although the destroyers were equipped with torpedoes, their guns were light and the convoy was large and vulnerable.
Italy was caught with its pants down.
Vanguard's dive bombers strafed the convoy with bombs and torpedoes while the cruisers closed into gun range.
HMAS Australia and
HMAS Canberra pelted the convoy with repeated volleys from their 8 inch guns. The Australians ruthlessly targeted the Italian transport ships and the Italians were unable to respond in any meaningful way. Desperate just to try and stay alive, numerous Italian ships were sunk trying to escape. Finally night fell and the Italian armada was able to escape in the darkness. Nine of Italy's escorting destroyers and the entire transport flotilla were sunk.
Although the Italians escaped the naval engagement and returned to the relatively safety of Cagliari, the battle was far from over. The Italians were unable to find respite as Short Sunderland bombers dropped bomb after bomb on the harbour of Cagliari. Two more destroyers and a submarine were destroyed in harbour. The Italians' Navy was becoming a joke as a single ship and her escorts continued to sink Italian vessels.
The Italians were making good headway in East Africa, where the British were struggling to hold back the Ethiopian Army.
Now that the Suez was sealed, the British Army could begin to focus on more improtant efforts -- namely the collapsing front in East Africa. No Australian forces were present in the theatre and the British were struggling to beat the Ethiopian Army. Once the Italian forces in Libya were completely mopped up, there were proposals to send the Australians into Somalia to try and deal a deathblow to the Italians.
The long-awaited British reprieve never came. Hitler knew that the Italians had failed to stop the British in Libya and that they would fail in East Africa without assistance. The Germans contacted Rashid Ali under the utmost secrecy, bringing whispers of great promise and power. The Arabs of Mesopotamia were chafing under British military occupation and eagerly accepted the German offer.
Iraqi military forces immediately descended on British bases across Baghdad. The British troops were ill-equipped for combat, most didn't expect any kind of organized attack. Thousands were captured as the British embassy was stormed. Rashid Ali declared that Iraq was prepared to sign a formal alliance with the Germans and Italians against the British. Hitler had promised the Iraqis rule over all of Arabia and they saw their opportunity to shine.
Hitler's offers had been too great for Rashid Ali to refuse, and Iraq defied its treaty with Britain in order to declare war.
British plans to reinforce the Ethiopian battle were immediately called off as Iraqi forces began to move west towards Allied holdings. The Iraqi advance could only be stopped by a concerted British response -- said response would come like a hammerblow as soon as possible.
German and Italian forces continue to build up on the eastern side of the Straits of Messina.
Australian intelligence over Italy was weakening, but one thing was clear from radio traffic alone: more and more reinforcements were buliding in Calabria. Australian Command was convinced that Sicily could hold against any attack the Axis could bring, but they were still forced to watch carefully.
The Allies' situation went from bad to worse. As predicted, the Japanese retaliated against the US declaration of war by beginning a war of its own against the British Empire. The oil fields of the Dutch East Indies were their inevitable target and the Royal Navy would have to work hard to shield them from the Japanese Fleets.
Japanese forces converged on Hong Kong -- the important Chinese port would not last long in the face of such firepower.
It was clear from the very beginning that the Far East war would favour the Empire of Japan until such time as the IJN was defeated. Australian forces were too thinly spread to seriously reinforce the Asian theatre yet. Prime Minister John J. Curtin proposed an expansion of the Army as soon as possible, but most of the Australian budget was tied up in the expansion of the Navy, including the partially complete and under-construction
HMAS Commencement, the second of the
Vanguard-Class Aircraft Carriers.
It was agreed after some time that the demands of Australia's war had increased beyond her capacity. The government instituted a national state of emergency, fearing a looming Japanese invasion, and drew up plans to increase industrial output as quickly as possible. Civilian factories would be repurposed to produce armaments, Italian prisoners of war would be put to work producing civilian goods. Although it would be difficult to find the necessary resources to fuel the war economy in the long-term, Australia's output would, for the time, vastly increase. Buoyed by the new budget and war plans, the Australian Army moved to finish the fight.
Vanguard, having cleared the waters, prepares to retake Sardinia -- hopefully for the last time.
The end of the Mediterranean Theatre was closing in fast. To the south, thousands of troops were advancing into Tunisia, searching for Italian holdouts; further north, Australians began to land to the east of Cagliari. The Third Battle for Sardinia had begun.
October 4th-October 12th
Royal Australian Navy:
7x Hawker Nimrod Carrier Planes lost
2x Gloster Sea Gladiator Carrier Planes lost
1x Australian merchant sunk
Regia Marina:
11x Destroyers sunk
1x Submarine sunk
5x Troop/Cargo Ships sunk
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Not a lot of fighting this update but that'll change soon enough. Hope the naval battle whets your appetite.
