Rank and File
A Clerk’s War
A Clerk’s War
Friday 27th to Monday 30th April 1940
In our universities and research laboratories, as well as our military colleges and study centres, thousands of our brightest minds are working to help our soldiers, sailors and airmen. On Friday two projects were successfully completed. The first was the development of tactics to allow the Luftwaffe to deliver our Fallschirmjägers more accurately to their drop-zones. This sounds terrific, but buried in the footnotes I saw it mentioned that the VVS had been using similar tactics for at least 20 years! So much for leading the world. The other project was more cutting-edge: a machining process to allow the use of 50mm thick plating as armour for our leichte panzers.
Our inadequacy in airborne assault tactics has at least been recognised, and the research team has been told to proceed with its work, which from the drafts I saw will require small groups of men to simulate parachute attacks over and over again while other groups of men stand with stop watches timing how long it took them to leap from their aircraft, travel to the earth, gather their weapon capsules and assemble into a formation capable of combat. The main expense is keeping several staffeln of transports operating for a period of months. The army lost its research team, but that was to be expected. We are losing far too many pilots (and aircraft) and something must be done. The best pilots in the Luftwaffe, together with engineers and tactical thinkers are gathered with one goal: to improve our interceptor tactics and give our Jagdfliegerkorps the edge in aerial combat.
The select group of Fallschirmjäger who will spend the next six months assisting in the development of new airdrop techniques.
It will be months before the new tactics were refined enough to be demonstrated to the front-line units, and in the meantime our pilots have to respond to our enemies. Dörstling was officer in charge of a combined 1st and 6th Kampffliegerkorps bombing mission over Almazan, his objective to suppress all opposition on the south side of the Duero. Early on Friday he was attacked by the 270 fighters of the combined 1er, 2o and 3er Grupo de Caza, but his Messerschmitt escorts held off the Spanish fighters long enough for the Ju 88s to complete their task. When Dörstling returned, he was accompanied by not only his two geschwader of escort Messerschmitts, but also the BF 109s of “Richthofen” and “Schalgeter”. Perhaps wisely, Hidalgo de Cisneros elected to not interfere: his I-15s and I-16s would not perform so well without a numerical advantage.
Air Battle of Almazan
The FARE gave our fighters a wide berth until the next day, when a single group (Casteneau’s 1er Grupo Caza FARE) suddenly appeared over Tudela before dawn, attacking Sperrle’s 1st Kampffliegerkorps. It was a short but bloody episode, the sunlight high above the ground allowing both sides a clear view even though the ground troops were still in darkness. The pilots of JG 12 “Donner” showed immense skill to continually place themselves between the attacking Spanish and the bombers, to the effect that only seven bombers were lost. But holding off 100 fighters came at a cost: “Donner” lost 9 of its own aircraft. Unconfirmed reports put the Spanish losses at 14 planes.
Air Battle of Tudela
Along the coast of the Bay of Biscay, General Model saw an opportunity to crush the Spanish 2a División. General Cordón Garcia had taken his badly beaten men to Guardo to give them rest and allow him to re-install his command structures. He did not anticipate that Model would turn his Panzer Division south, and 5th PzD tore into the disorganised and demoralised Spanish infantry. This should not really be classed as a battle, as most of the defenders fled before our tanks got anywhere near them. Nevertheless Model has claimed battle honours, and points to his 15 casualties as evidence of the fighting. Garcia lost 109 men and is once again looking for a secure spot where he can regain control of his unit.
Battle of Guardo
The never-ending struggle for control of the air over the English Channel was resumed on Friday. Fisser should have had an easy time, his two geschwader of Bf 109Es facing only Bowhill’s 9th CAG. For some reason, though, the Fulmars performed better than our Messerschmitts, and “Ruoff” lost 3 aircraft, while the British were untouched. The only positive note was that Bowhill was chased from the Eastern English Channel to the Mouth of the Thames
Air Battle of the Mouth of the Thames
More fighting has erupted in Spain, where General Jodl is moving to capture Ayerbe, the province to the north-west of the regional centre of Zarogoza. Little excitement is expected, as the well equipped men of 14.Infanterie (mot) should make short work of Serrador Santés’ 14/7a Divisíon Organica. Jodl has nearly two to one superiority, and is a far more experienced commander than his opponent.
Battle of Ayerbe
In Amazan, General von Manstein has reported that the Spanish have been able to withdraw 3/1a Divisíon Organica from Almazan and replace it with Bastov’s 6/3a Divisíon. He is full of praise for the skill with which this has been achieved, and attributes it to the veteran Batov. General Pozas Perea has pulled his whole unit back to Siguenza, forcing 3rd leichte Panzer to fight another division for the same territory. In other circumstances this could have been disastrous, but von Manstein is not concerned. Batov’s men are hardly fresh, and Nehring’s 1st Panzer Division is moving to assist from Soria. It will not be long before we have another foothold across the Duero.
Second Battle of Almazan
The 29th saw a small ceremony in Berlin to celebrate the formation of an SS cavalry unit: 8th SS Kavellerie Division “Florian Geyer”. (We don’t have many parades any more (there’s a war on!) but maybe they made an exception because it was a Sunday). Personally I find it a bit much to refer to 6,000 cavalrymen as a division, but I am an old footslogger so maybe I am biased. To me the oddest thing is the name: doesn’t anyone in the Party know that Florian Geyer was one of the leaders of a peasant revolt? And that he was hailed by Engels as a revolutionary hero? Perhaps they just like singing “Wir sind des Geyers schwarzer Haufen”. I will never understand these Nazis. General Bithou and his cavalrymen won’t have long to strut around Berlin in their long black boots, as I have already seen their transport documents. They are off to join the Frankreich Army in Paris, keeping an eye on any unruly Frenchmen. The factories that produced the equipment for the new division have been ordered to direct their efforts to upgrading existing units.
“Florian Geyer” at the march-out parade, one of the few parades we have had lately.
The Carrier Air Groups operating from the Bay of Biscay are proving just as tough as their counterparts in the Channel. Commander Tedder’s 8th CAG had been bombing 3rd leichte Panzer in Anguino with impunity for some time, until Felmy’s 2nd Jagdfliegerkorps arrived. In two air battles Felmy’s men destroyed just six enemy aircraft, losing 3 of their own.
Air Battle of Anguino: 9AM 29th April
With barely time to return to base, 2nd Jagdfliegerkorps flew north to the Mouth of the Loire, where they met Gore-Sutherland-Mitchell leading 16th and 17th CAG into occupied France. Another skirmish took place, and “Schlageter” lost another 4 fighters. The mission was a success, however, and the British turned back, ditching their bombs in the sea.
Air Battle of the Mouth of the Loire: Felmy reported a large British fleet in the area, though the darkness and cloud cover prevented any strafing attacks
General Geib, leader of 1st Küste and Grenze Army, has suddenly realised that St Nazaire, on the Bay of Biscay, is completely undefended. Von Chappuis has 9.Infanterie Division at Lorient, just to the north, but Geib is concerned that the British may see a vacant port as too tempting to resist. On Monday morning there was a brief memo advising that he has added it to his list of key defensive positions: I suppose he doesn’t want to draw attention to the fact that the port and its facilities could have been captured or badly damaged by a Royal Marine raid.
The port facilities at St Nazaire: a tempting target
I also found that early on Sunday morning de Angelis committed 20.Infanterie (mot) to a potentially disastrous attack. His 10,000 men are to cross into Aranda de Duero, across the river of the same name. General Lacaci has nearly 20,000 men on the other side of the river, and they have plenty of time to prepare their positions. To make things worse, the defenders include an elite mountain unit (the other divisions are at full strength). This could be a very bloody affair. It wasn’t long before the difficulty of the task became clear: British aircraft appeared while de Angelis was still in the process of marshalling his men. Luckily the ubiquitous Felmy was nearby and soon drove off Ludlow-Hewitt and his planes (4th CAG has suffered greatly during the past weeks and its pilots did not linger when it was clear their mission was not unopposed).
Battle of Aranda de Duero
Air Battle of Salas de los Infantes
Spain at the end of April: steady progress
Bombing Report
Luftwaffe
Abejar: Kesselring with 1st Schlachtfliegerkorps (2 x Ju 87B): 70, 143, 130, 38
Almazan: Dörstling with 1st and 6th Kampffliegerkorps (2 x Bf 109E, 4 x Ju 88): 141
Almazan: Dörstling with 1st and 6th Kampffliegerkorps, 2nd Jagdfliegerkorps (4 x Bf 109E, 4 x Ju 88): 148
Almazan: Sperrle with 1st Kampffliegerkorps (1 x Bf 109E, 2 x Ju 88): 224
Almazan: Kesselring with 1st Schlachtfliegerkorps (2 x Ju 87B): 77, 124
Tudela: Sperrle with 1st Kampffliegerkorps (1 x Bf 109E, 2 x Ju 88):107, 284
Tudela: Sperrle with 1st Kampffliegerkorps , 2nd Jagdfliegerkorps (3 x Bf 109E, 2 x Ju 88): 219
Ayerbe: Sperrle with 1st Kampffliegerkorps (1 x Bf 109E, 2 x Ju 88): 155, 269, 164
Aranda de Duero: Sperrle with 1st Kampffliegerkorps (1 x Bf 109E, 2 x Ju 88): 150, 264, 195
RAF (RN Air Arm)
Anguino: Tedder with 8th CAG: 4, 62, 60
Unterseebootsflotte Activity Report
We forget the danger our U-boat sailors face: Aßmann’s 1st Unterseebootsflotte is in close proximity to a Royal Navy force of 2 escort carriers, 2 heavy cruisers and two destroyer flotillas. Although the British fleet is probably concentrating on protecting the two troopship flotillas, the four carrier air groups are a very real threat to our submarines
Madeira: 1 transport (UK): Plymouth – South Georgia: Wolf with 4th U-flotte
Western English Channel: 1 transport (UK): Singapore – Dover: von Nordeck with II U-flotte
Coast of Porto: 1 transport (UK): Portsmouth – Mauritius: Aßmann with 1st U-flotte
Western Biscay Plain: 1 transport (UK): Plymouth - Tarawa: Fricke with 3rd U-flotte
Madeira: 1 transport (Spanish): Cádiz – Maracaibo: Wold with 4th U-flotte
Western Charcot Seamount: 1 transport (UK): Dover – Kuala Belait: Fricke with 3rd U-flotte
Coast of Cádiz: 1 transport (Spanish): Cádiz – Laayoune: Wolf with 4th U-flotte
Setubal Bay: 1 transport (UK): Dover – Kuala Belait: Aßman with 1st U-flotte
One of von Nordeck’s Type II U-boats at full speed on the surface, somewhere in the English Channel: it looks very uncomfortable to me. How 24 men live in such a small space I have no idea, but it probably explains why so many of them have crowded to get some fresh air. They are froced to spend a lot of their time submerged, given the number of Royal Navy patrols in the area.
Greece: the Italians have added Kerkyra to their tally of captured provinces
Our information from Libia was incorrect: there were at least three Italian divisions blocking the way to Benghazi. Two are now racing to prevent the British armour entering the undefended town, leaving 2a Division to hold the mountains of Adjabiya, the link to the rest of the Italian Army. It is unlikely that any assistance will be forthcoming: General Caruso is leading his 27 regiments towards the west at full speed.
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