I'm having serious troubles with some modding/bugs which have delayed my planned full update even further, so I'm going to go to the effort of giving you guys a shorter one in the meantime.
Chapter 4.0 - Nursing Our Wounds
The Battle for Britain was over and lost. Surviving Allied forces began to evacuate to Canada and the defeated nations began to lick their wounds. In Britain, German occupation forces spread throughout the country, but uprisings were surprisingly few. The mood of the British people was one of somber defeat, stunned that their Empire - presumed invincible - could have fallen this far. Hitler promised mercy if the nation did not resist the new order, and for the moment it seemed resistance would not come. In spite of this, however, loyalists behind the lines continued to report on German movements of troops, ships and aircraft. They organized with existing criminal elements to procur guns and began preparing for a long, slow occupation. They would defy Hitler's men by any means necessary, and once they were fully prepared, they would begin to strike.
Twenty-six miles southeast of Scapa Flow, the sun rose over a sea of death. One German transport ship was still burning on the surface, a useless hulk soon to sink. The other casualties of war had already drifted down into the depths, taking most of their crew with them. Both fleets, presuming themselves defeated due to heavy damage and casualties, had withdrawn from one another and there was finally a silence. Luftwaffe planes sortied out from the Scottish Lowlands in search of the damaged fleet, but came under heavy RAF attack and were unable to locate HMAS Vanguard or her badly damaged forces. Most of the carrier's planes had been shot down or failed to land during the dark of the night and HMAS Adelaide had been sunk by the old pre-dreadnought battleship KMS Schlesien, but with its dying actions the Adelaide was able to launch both torpedo tubes, recently added as part of a refit in 1940 - in the dark of the night, the deadly missiles went unnoticed and broke a German transport nearly in half, sinking it almost instantly. Two others went beneath the waves due to the valiant actions of Vanguard's dive bombers, of which neither survived the ensuing battle. Over 4,000 German soldiers went missing under the waves and Admiral Saalwächter feared yet more planes from the Vanguard, unaware that the wounded carrier had launched everything it could. The German fleet was ordered to withdraw, lest more of the valuable transports be lost.
The heavily damaged Australian fleet somehow escaped Scapa Flow as victors, but this battle felt pyrhhic. If the Germans had stayed in the fight until morning, there was a very real possibility that they would have sunk the Vanguard, Adelaide and Canberra.
Although the Australian Squadron was heavily damaged, the Germans did not fare any better. Their ships had suffered heavily from torpedoes and bombs dropped from the air and HMAS Canberra had dealt a heavy blow to KMS Nürnberg, who was only saved by excellent damage control after its stern hull was blown open by two 8" shells hitting in close succession. Despite taking multiple hits, the reliable County class heavy cruiser had survived the battle intact. HMAS Sydney had been blown open in three places above the waterline by the pocket battleship KMS Admiral Scheer and HMAS Australia, the only ship to escape the battle without damage, was forced to tow her towards Belfast. With a nearly depleted air cover from HMAS Vanguard, who herself had suffered a hit from a German torpedo late in the battle, the convoy was nearly defenceless until British reinforcements could arrive. HMAS Hobart had only suffered slight damage to her deck and played reconaissance watch dog, aggressively seeking out any signs of tailing submarines. There was an intense fear of German ambush, yet the passage was mercifully safe. If the Germans were chasing them, they never caught up.
It was not enough just to survive, however. In the Balkans, the Greeks were forced to surrender, putting an end to one of the longest and bloodiest campaigns of the war so far. Italy had occupied all of Yugoslavia and Greece, bringing Mussolini one step closer to his dreams of a new Rome. It had not gone unnoticed, however, that the Italian dictator had been unable to defeat these 'lesser' nations on his own. Allied intelligence was well aware that by the end of the campaign more Germans than Italians were stationed on the Balkan front. The Allied propaganda machine mercilessly painted Mussolini as a weak failure, clinging to Hitler for protection and aid. It did not change the fact that with the Greeks gone, Hitler's Fortress Europe was nearly complete. The only threat to the dominance of the Axis Alliance now lay in the Soviet Union, a rapidly awakening bear that grew in danger yearly. The Allies prayed for war to erupt between the two soon.
The addition of Yugoslavia and Greece had significantly improved Italy's industrial output and secured Bulgaria as a reliable Axis member state, but it did little for Il Duce's defensive position.
Bulgaria and Hungary had taken their own slices of victory, yet surprisingly Germany had left Yugoslavia untouched. Italy eagerly grabbed any land it could keep its hands on and its Empire had grown impressive on paper. To the British and Americans, though, it just seemed that they had more opportunities to attack. The Italian Army was thinly spread along a very long Mediterranean coastline and it had proven underwhelming even where it held numerical superiority. The idea of a full-scale assault on the Balkans was floated by some Generals, to be spearheaded by Australian forces, but it was shot down by Australian Home Command. India was coming under increasing pressure from the Imperial Japanese Army. The ANZAC Imperial Expeditionary Force would be heading home, taking 27,000 Danish volunteer soldiers and nearly 50,000 British Army soldiers with them.
French Polynesia was now an Axis stronghold in the South Pacific, one that defied Australia's planned defensive zone and required immediate attention.
The most immediate concern for Australia lay at home: the French Toulousian State had declared war on Britain and America following the leaked plans to attack Europe through French territory. This stunning move had not only surprised the ANZAC forces, but also the French ones. Australia did not believe that the French had stationed any ships in Polynesia, but Tahiti was well-garrisoned and its naval base deemed a serious threat to the Australian coastline. Japanese, German and French ships based out of the port would be able to circumvent the defensive shield Australia had built in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, which were heavily garrisoned and fortified against any potential Japanese attack. Plans were immediately drawn to take the islands, but the British fleet was heavily engaged battling Japan and they would have to wait for the men returning from Europe...
For all of the bad news the week had brought, the British African Army had finally reported complete success. The last Italian forces had dispersed or surrendered and could offer little more than guerrila resistance. Tens of thousands of British troops had been freed up for deployment elsewhere. It was too late, however, to save Greece or Britain. Their redeployments would have to be carefully thought out, especially as the central authority of Britain had shattered and there was now little but chaos and disorganization left.
The Heart of the British Colonial Empire still stood strong against Japanese incursion - but for how long?
It was deemed by Australian Commanders that Asia should be the focus of future military operations. The Empire of Japan and the Chinese Republic had launched a continuous assault against British India. Burma was in danger of falling despite the surrender of the Thai government to Australian forces. The Indian Army fought bravely but was vastly outnumbered and Japan was beginning to win battles more frequently. If the Japanese were able to successfully cross the Himalayas and make it into India proper, there was a significant risk that they would be able to break through the lines and defeat India decisively. If India fell, then Australia would lose her most important ally in the Pacific - this could not happen. Several potential operations had been suggested using the returning Imperial Expeditionary Force, but there were weeks of arguing before the men would be in any position to launch an attack on Japan...
Australia's first female commercial aviator Nancy Bird-Walton makes her war contribution in the form of pilot training.
Patriotism and Jingoism on the home front were at an all-time high. Men and women alike volunteered for service, filling factories and mines and taking up uniform to take part in Australia's great campaign against the Axis. Although Britain had fallen, morale remained high in this distant colony where England was a far-away place few knew. Australia still felt invincible: in seven months of war, the Japanese Navy had not launched a single attack on the Solomon Islands or the Dutch East Indies. The Philippines had resisted every attack and India remained a steadfast bastion in their eyes. Japan would be inevitably defeated and then Germany would surely come later, in their eyes. The Government offered excellent wages, industrial subsidies and offers of free land to post-war servicemen. However, surprisingly to everyone, the war would also become a strong movement for the empowerment of women, largely through the determined efforts of one woman: Nancy Bird-Walton.
Nancy Bird-Walton was already somewhat of a celebrity in Australia, a retired aviatrix of some renown who was the first woman to earn a commercial pilot's licence in Australia. Upon the outbreak of war, she had attempted to enlist in the RAAF as a pilot, but was denied on the grounds of her sex. She protested heavily and publically, claiming that women were just as qualified as men as pilots - something she had proven - and that with the right training any woman could match a man in the sky. Her first appeal was denied again steadily, but this soon ballooned into a court case as she continued to pressure the RAAF to allow her to serve, in full support of her husband. On January 3rd, 1940, with the potential loss of Britain and the steadily draining manpower, Australia conceded that it needed every man and woman it could get. Nancy would undergo officer and pilot training with the RAAF and by April 24th she had achieved the commissioned rank of Captain. She requested combat duty (although in her private memoirs she admitted the concept of going into battle was terrifying to her, she deemed it the right thing to do) but was denied and placed in a training role at Alice Springs Air Force Base. This was acceptable to her, but she continued to campaign for the rights of women, and to encourage women to seek more active roles in the war. Traditionalists were astouned and frustrated by her, but the more forward-thinking men in the government's propaganda wing eagerly held her up as an example of the ideal Australian woman: a proud and strong mother, willing to serve and even die to protect the motherland and her children. Many more women would volunteer for service in the years to come thanks to Nancy's contribution, allowing more men to make it to the front lines and increasing Australia's manpower slowly but steadily.
New war industries were springing up everywhere, and a new munitions factory in Darwin had supported an impressive immigration boost in the Northern Territory.
Australians were advancing not only socially, but economically and industrially. Immigration had increased steadily in recent years due to refugees fleeing Europe and Asia and the growing fascism. One of the towns to benefit most from this was Darwin, which was designated by the government as one of Australia's prime growth zones. Darwin had grown from 2,042 men at the beginning of 1939 to an estimated 8,000 by the beginning of 1940. New neighbourhoods were coming under rapid construction and plans for a new highway and rail link from Darwin to Canberra were floated, but considered too expensive at this time. The growth of population did not come without accompanying work and on April 25th work had completed on the construction of a large ammunition factory in Darwin. These developments marked the beginning of a new era for Australia, one of positivity, strength and leadership within the Commonwealth states. Plans that the government had worked on since the war's beginning were now coming closer to fruition, and the weeks of transportation, reorganization and reinforcement of the men returning from Europe would be drowned in a cacophany of politics yet to come...
Chapter 4.0 - Nursing Our Wounds
The Battle for Britain was over and lost. Surviving Allied forces began to evacuate to Canada and the defeated nations began to lick their wounds. In Britain, German occupation forces spread throughout the country, but uprisings were surprisingly few. The mood of the British people was one of somber defeat, stunned that their Empire - presumed invincible - could have fallen this far. Hitler promised mercy if the nation did not resist the new order, and for the moment it seemed resistance would not come. In spite of this, however, loyalists behind the lines continued to report on German movements of troops, ships and aircraft. They organized with existing criminal elements to procur guns and began preparing for a long, slow occupation. They would defy Hitler's men by any means necessary, and once they were fully prepared, they would begin to strike.
Twenty-six miles southeast of Scapa Flow, the sun rose over a sea of death. One German transport ship was still burning on the surface, a useless hulk soon to sink. The other casualties of war had already drifted down into the depths, taking most of their crew with them. Both fleets, presuming themselves defeated due to heavy damage and casualties, had withdrawn from one another and there was finally a silence. Luftwaffe planes sortied out from the Scottish Lowlands in search of the damaged fleet, but came under heavy RAF attack and were unable to locate HMAS Vanguard or her badly damaged forces. Most of the carrier's planes had been shot down or failed to land during the dark of the night and HMAS Adelaide had been sunk by the old pre-dreadnought battleship KMS Schlesien, but with its dying actions the Adelaide was able to launch both torpedo tubes, recently added as part of a refit in 1940 - in the dark of the night, the deadly missiles went unnoticed and broke a German transport nearly in half, sinking it almost instantly. Two others went beneath the waves due to the valiant actions of Vanguard's dive bombers, of which neither survived the ensuing battle. Over 4,000 German soldiers went missing under the waves and Admiral Saalwächter feared yet more planes from the Vanguard, unaware that the wounded carrier had launched everything it could. The German fleet was ordered to withdraw, lest more of the valuable transports be lost.
The heavily damaged Australian fleet somehow escaped Scapa Flow as victors, but this battle felt pyrhhic. If the Germans had stayed in the fight until morning, there was a very real possibility that they would have sunk the Vanguard, Adelaide and Canberra.
Although the Australian Squadron was heavily damaged, the Germans did not fare any better. Their ships had suffered heavily from torpedoes and bombs dropped from the air and HMAS Canberra had dealt a heavy blow to KMS Nürnberg, who was only saved by excellent damage control after its stern hull was blown open by two 8" shells hitting in close succession. Despite taking multiple hits, the reliable County class heavy cruiser had survived the battle intact. HMAS Sydney had been blown open in three places above the waterline by the pocket battleship KMS Admiral Scheer and HMAS Australia, the only ship to escape the battle without damage, was forced to tow her towards Belfast. With a nearly depleted air cover from HMAS Vanguard, who herself had suffered a hit from a German torpedo late in the battle, the convoy was nearly defenceless until British reinforcements could arrive. HMAS Hobart had only suffered slight damage to her deck and played reconaissance watch dog, aggressively seeking out any signs of tailing submarines. There was an intense fear of German ambush, yet the passage was mercifully safe. If the Germans were chasing them, they never caught up.
It was not enough just to survive, however. In the Balkans, the Greeks were forced to surrender, putting an end to one of the longest and bloodiest campaigns of the war so far. Italy had occupied all of Yugoslavia and Greece, bringing Mussolini one step closer to his dreams of a new Rome. It had not gone unnoticed, however, that the Italian dictator had been unable to defeat these 'lesser' nations on his own. Allied intelligence was well aware that by the end of the campaign more Germans than Italians were stationed on the Balkan front. The Allied propaganda machine mercilessly painted Mussolini as a weak failure, clinging to Hitler for protection and aid. It did not change the fact that with the Greeks gone, Hitler's Fortress Europe was nearly complete. The only threat to the dominance of the Axis Alliance now lay in the Soviet Union, a rapidly awakening bear that grew in danger yearly. The Allies prayed for war to erupt between the two soon.
The addition of Yugoslavia and Greece had significantly improved Italy's industrial output and secured Bulgaria as a reliable Axis member state, but it did little for Il Duce's defensive position.
Bulgaria and Hungary had taken their own slices of victory, yet surprisingly Germany had left Yugoslavia untouched. Italy eagerly grabbed any land it could keep its hands on and its Empire had grown impressive on paper. To the British and Americans, though, it just seemed that they had more opportunities to attack. The Italian Army was thinly spread along a very long Mediterranean coastline and it had proven underwhelming even where it held numerical superiority. The idea of a full-scale assault on the Balkans was floated by some Generals, to be spearheaded by Australian forces, but it was shot down by Australian Home Command. India was coming under increasing pressure from the Imperial Japanese Army. The ANZAC Imperial Expeditionary Force would be heading home, taking 27,000 Danish volunteer soldiers and nearly 50,000 British Army soldiers with them.
French Polynesia was now an Axis stronghold in the South Pacific, one that defied Australia's planned defensive zone and required immediate attention.
The most immediate concern for Australia lay at home: the French Toulousian State had declared war on Britain and America following the leaked plans to attack Europe through French territory. This stunning move had not only surprised the ANZAC forces, but also the French ones. Australia did not believe that the French had stationed any ships in Polynesia, but Tahiti was well-garrisoned and its naval base deemed a serious threat to the Australian coastline. Japanese, German and French ships based out of the port would be able to circumvent the defensive shield Australia had built in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, which were heavily garrisoned and fortified against any potential Japanese attack. Plans were immediately drawn to take the islands, but the British fleet was heavily engaged battling Japan and they would have to wait for the men returning from Europe...
For all of the bad news the week had brought, the British African Army had finally reported complete success. The last Italian forces had dispersed or surrendered and could offer little more than guerrila resistance. Tens of thousands of British troops had been freed up for deployment elsewhere. It was too late, however, to save Greece or Britain. Their redeployments would have to be carefully thought out, especially as the central authority of Britain had shattered and there was now little but chaos and disorganization left.
The Heart of the British Colonial Empire still stood strong against Japanese incursion - but for how long?
It was deemed by Australian Commanders that Asia should be the focus of future military operations. The Empire of Japan and the Chinese Republic had launched a continuous assault against British India. Burma was in danger of falling despite the surrender of the Thai government to Australian forces. The Indian Army fought bravely but was vastly outnumbered and Japan was beginning to win battles more frequently. If the Japanese were able to successfully cross the Himalayas and make it into India proper, there was a significant risk that they would be able to break through the lines and defeat India decisively. If India fell, then Australia would lose her most important ally in the Pacific - this could not happen. Several potential operations had been suggested using the returning Imperial Expeditionary Force, but there were weeks of arguing before the men would be in any position to launch an attack on Japan...
Australia's first female commercial aviator Nancy Bird-Walton makes her war contribution in the form of pilot training.
Patriotism and Jingoism on the home front were at an all-time high. Men and women alike volunteered for service, filling factories and mines and taking up uniform to take part in Australia's great campaign against the Axis. Although Britain had fallen, morale remained high in this distant colony where England was a far-away place few knew. Australia still felt invincible: in seven months of war, the Japanese Navy had not launched a single attack on the Solomon Islands or the Dutch East Indies. The Philippines had resisted every attack and India remained a steadfast bastion in their eyes. Japan would be inevitably defeated and then Germany would surely come later, in their eyes. The Government offered excellent wages, industrial subsidies and offers of free land to post-war servicemen. However, surprisingly to everyone, the war would also become a strong movement for the empowerment of women, largely through the determined efforts of one woman: Nancy Bird-Walton.
Nancy Bird-Walton was already somewhat of a celebrity in Australia, a retired aviatrix of some renown who was the first woman to earn a commercial pilot's licence in Australia. Upon the outbreak of war, she had attempted to enlist in the RAAF as a pilot, but was denied on the grounds of her sex. She protested heavily and publically, claiming that women were just as qualified as men as pilots - something she had proven - and that with the right training any woman could match a man in the sky. Her first appeal was denied again steadily, but this soon ballooned into a court case as she continued to pressure the RAAF to allow her to serve, in full support of her husband. On January 3rd, 1940, with the potential loss of Britain and the steadily draining manpower, Australia conceded that it needed every man and woman it could get. Nancy would undergo officer and pilot training with the RAAF and by April 24th she had achieved the commissioned rank of Captain. She requested combat duty (although in her private memoirs she admitted the concept of going into battle was terrifying to her, she deemed it the right thing to do) but was denied and placed in a training role at Alice Springs Air Force Base. This was acceptable to her, but she continued to campaign for the rights of women, and to encourage women to seek more active roles in the war. Traditionalists were astouned and frustrated by her, but the more forward-thinking men in the government's propaganda wing eagerly held her up as an example of the ideal Australian woman: a proud and strong mother, willing to serve and even die to protect the motherland and her children. Many more women would volunteer for service in the years to come thanks to Nancy's contribution, allowing more men to make it to the front lines and increasing Australia's manpower slowly but steadily.
New war industries were springing up everywhere, and a new munitions factory in Darwin had supported an impressive immigration boost in the Northern Territory.
Australians were advancing not only socially, but economically and industrially. Immigration had increased steadily in recent years due to refugees fleeing Europe and Asia and the growing fascism. One of the towns to benefit most from this was Darwin, which was designated by the government as one of Australia's prime growth zones. Darwin had grown from 2,042 men at the beginning of 1939 to an estimated 8,000 by the beginning of 1940. New neighbourhoods were coming under rapid construction and plans for a new highway and rail link from Darwin to Canberra were floated, but considered too expensive at this time. The growth of population did not come without accompanying work and on April 25th work had completed on the construction of a large ammunition factory in Darwin. These developments marked the beginning of a new era for Australia, one of positivity, strength and leadership within the Commonwealth states. Plans that the government had worked on since the war's beginning were now coming closer to fruition, and the weeks of transportation, reorganization and reinforcement of the men returning from Europe would be drowned in a cacophany of politics yet to come...
April 21st-April 25th
Royal Australian Navy:
24 Gloster Gladiator Carrier Planes lost
31 Hawker Nimrod Carrier Planes lost
HMAS Adelaide lost
German Kriegsmarine:
3 Transport Ships lost
German Wehrmacht:
Est 4000~ men lost
Royal Australian Navy:
24 Gloster Gladiator Carrier Planes lost
31 Hawker Nimrod Carrier Planes lost
HMAS Adelaide lost
German Kriegsmarine:
3 Transport Ships lost
German Wehrmacht:
Est 4000~ men lost
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