Rank and File
A Clerk’s War
Friday 7th to Thursday 13th September 1940
The benefits of the lift in public morale are already being seen. An OKM project evaluation the best way to use a fleet auxiliary carrier was completed this morning and the research team was available for reallocation. (Needless to say, this project was commenced against the protests of Minister Raeder, he is a “Schlachtschiff” supporter. Admiral Dönitz is a firm believer in the use of U-boat wolf-packs to destroy the British merchant fleet, which leads me to believe this project was instigated by the Führer himself). Rather than just one project starting, however, Minister Fricke announced that due to the large number of young graduates wishing to join our research programs, we would begin to examine two new areas of military science.
Our first carrier is nearing completion: March 15th 1941 is the tentative date for formal inclusion of the "Graf Zeppelin" in the Kriegsmarine.
The first would mainly assist our specialist troops; the Fallschirmjäger, Gebirgsjäger and Sturm-Marine divisions. By providing integrated artillery and anti-tank support to these units, we would boost their confidence and ability to perform their tasks. This should lead to more enemy units being trapped in encirclements. The second project (also an OKH priority – the other branches of the Wehrmacht are unlikely to get approval for their pet projects with the clock ticking for what is now being called “Fall Barbarossa” – the attack east) is to set up an operational level organisation structure. This will allow more rapid response times, increasing the speed with which our troops can recover from battle and resume the advance.
Better integration of support artillery such as this 7.5cm Gebirgskanone into specialist infantry units will give them the added firepower needed to respond quickly to opportunities or threats.
The air attacks on Plymouth have continued. It is now the turn of the RAF to suffer as we have in the past few months. Steele is now under immense pressure to defend his own airspace and his pilots are paying the price. Felmy led six geschwader across the Channel at 2AM and returned at 9AM. 23 British fighters were destroyed, while the Luftwaffe lost 11. While no-one is happy about the deaths of our pilots (three of them were from Ernst’s unit “Schlageter”), at least the ratio has swung in our favour. There is a lot of discussion here as to the cause of the turnaround. Whether it is the new aircraft or the better tactics I don’t know and don’t really care. What is important to me is that the odds of my brother surviving are now above nil.
Air Battle of Plymouth: 8AM 7th September
Little news from Spain, where the siege of Gibraltar grinds on. Transport documents show that increasing shipments of aviation fuel are being sent to Spain, so the defenders will be suffering a round the clock bombardment. There was late news from Generalleutnant Geisler: his two geschwader of naval bombers were intercepted while patrolling off the coast of Carvoeiro. He lost a few aircraft and was unable to bomb a fleet he identified, but he did determine it was heading south. He will maintain a close watch on the area and hope that next time he can evade the British air cover.
Air Battle of the Coast of Carvoeiro: 7PM 7th September
Saturday I decided to only work in the morning, so I was at work when we heard from Generalleutnant Sperrle following a dawn bombing raid on Gibraltar. Many of the defenders have disappeared, presumably broken by the incessant bombing and shelling. It is unlikely that so many are casualties: far more likely they have just abandoned their weapons and are hiding in the bomb shelters with the civilian population. Sperrle reports just two units remain at their post: the armour division that arrived recently and one garrison division.
Bombing of Gibraltar: 5AM 8th June
At noon Gisela and I left for the weekend and once again she insisted no work and no war (and she can be very persuasive). So I did not hear that at 1PM on Saturday General Nehring achieved a breakthrough, and discovered that only the armoured division resisted his tanks advance. The regular Tommies were putting up a good fight, but they faced two panzer and three Gebirger divisions with total air superiority. Nehring resisted the urge to put a time on the final victory, but it was obviously not too far away.
Gibraltar: 1 PM 8th September
Sunday the office staff of OKL were busy again: “Ost 1” and “Ost 2” are now “Rubin” and “Sapphir”. I suppose it was becoming ridiculous to think the RAF would be fooled by the names any more: the two interceptor geschwader have been operation in the west for a year now. Nehring’s attack was pressed home and analysis of photographs from 1st Kampffliegerkorps showed just over 8,350 men still in action against our nearly 50,000.
I found out Monday morning there had been one alarm: fleeing Francoists from Marbella had stories of thousands of invading British! Our Spanish friends reported that a huge invasion had taken place and that resistance was futile. By the time I had returned to work on Monday, however, calm and reason had returned. The “invasion” that had terrified the local mayors and collaborators was just a thousand men of headquarters defence battalion. General Rommel simply ordered a Gebirger division that had been resting in Estapona to crush the annoyance. Eppich need no encouragement: he had been frustrated that his unit had not been selected to take part in the final attack on “The Rock”. By 8PM it was over: with 93 men dead General Beck accepted defeat. It is still not clear whether the rest of the troops surrendered or were evacuated by sea. What is known is that Beck himself escaped.
Battle of Marbella: 1AM 10th September
Geisler’s promise to intensify his patrols off the Coast of Carvoeiro paid off. He relocated the British fleet and against heavy anti-aircraft fire managed to damage a few ships. At least the Royal Navy now knows we are not going to grant them the freedom of the seas. We don’t know the amount of damage inflicted, but it was enough to make Admiral Vian head north, away from Gibraltar. It may have been a ship from this group that sank a freighter heading back to La Coruña loaded with raw materials from the Canary Islands
Naval Mission off the Coast of Carvoeiro: 3AM 10th September
More of the English spy network was arrested on Sunday, reducing our research losses to 3%. The Führer is still furious about this (he called Fricke and Goebbels in for another dressing down) but the ministerial staff believe it is unreasonable to expect much better: every undercover agent in the Reich is working on this and it just takes time and a bit of luck. Still, another step towards the complete motorisation of the Heer was finalised as the third report into mechanised offensives was delivered. Several radical suggestions will improve the basic organisation of our mobile infantry substantially. The research has opened the door to a whole new area: Combined Arms Warfare. General von Blomberg and the general staff were very excited and had little difficulty in getting the Cabinet to agree it was essential that the researchers look into this.
I honestly can’t remember a thing about Tuesday and Wednesday: they must have been very humdrum. Thursday would probably have been the same except for the news from Spain. General Nehring has entered Gibraltar and been greeted by the civilian administration. Not a single soldier was to be seen. He is bewildered by this but some of the veterans from the last war here in Berlin nodded when they heard the news. After prolonged shelling and weeks of desperate fighting with no supplies and no way of escape, it was not unknown for besieged units to just disintegrate. In effect the total lack of organisation means that they cannot even surrender – they just cease to exist as a military force. The news had an immediate impact as Minister Schacht claimed with Gibraltar safely in our hands that supply production would increase by 5% and that supply consumption would reduce by a similar amount. Some equipment was captured, including all the guns overlooking the Straits. (They had been damaged but can be repaired).
Our artillery experts are excited at the prospect of inspecting the captured British equipment, including this 9.2 inch Mark X gun at Lord Airey’s battery, high above the Straits. There are 14 of these monsters on Gibraltar, and with a range of 16 miles they can reach to the coast of Tanger.
The breech of the captured gun shown above
And the adjacent plotting room, abandoned during the chaos. It looks as though the gunners simply fled, leaving everything behind.
To save us the trouble, the British even carried a spare barrel up the steep mountain and left it just outside
To further raise spirits, our technical installation specialists on the Channel coast carried out the operational testing on the new radar stations at Cherbourg and Calais and confirmed they are in full working order. More help for the Luftwaffe.
The day ended on an amusing note: Nehring’s Aufklärungsabteilung reached the docks at Gibraltar and saw the “Enterprise” and several troopships of the “Trojan Star” flotilla still in port, ignoring the fact that Gibraltar was now in German hands. Lacking the guns to do anything to the naval targets (as well as any sense of humour) Nehring requested (through Sud-Frankreich Army HQ of course) that the Nordseeflotte move down the coast from Seville to finish the task they began a few days ago.
Bombing Summary
Gibraltar: Dörstling with 6th Kampffliegerkorps (1 x Bf 109E, 2 x Ju 88):
162, 99
Gibraltar: Sperrle with 1st Kampffliegerkorps (1 x Bf 109E, 2 x Ju 88):
47, 150, 190
Gibraltar: Dörstling with 1st and 6th Kampffliegerkorps (2 x Bf 109E, 4 x Ju 88):
249, 166, 67, 82
Gibraltar: Löhr with 2nd Schlachtfliegerkorps (2 x Ju 87B):
61
Gibraltar: Löhr with 1st Kampffliegerkorps and 2nd Schlachtfliegerkorps (1 x Bf 109E, 2 x Ju 88 and 2 x Ju 87B):
205
Gibraltar: Hoffman von Waldau with 4th Schlachtfliegerkorps: (1 x Ju 87B):
9, 96Marbella: Sperrle with 1st Kampffliegerkorps (1 x Bf 109E, 2 x Ju 88):
120, 10
Gibraltar: Kitzinger with 3rd Kampffliegerkorps (1 x Bf 109E, 2 x Ju 88):
120
Gibraltar: Hoffman von Waldau with 3rd Kampffliegerkorps and 4th Schlachtfliegerkorps: (1 x Bf 109E, 2 x Ju 88, 2 x Ju 87B):
17
Unterseebootsflotte Activity Report
Coast of Carvoeiro:
1 transport (UK): Dover – Madras: Aßman with 1st U-flotte
Cape St Vincent:
1 transport (UK): Dover – Kuching: Wolf with 4th U-flotte
Eastern Azores:
1 transport (NZ): Auckland – Dover: Aßmann with 1st U-flotte
East Biscay Basin:
1 transport (UK): Plymouth – Georgetown: Dönitz with 2nd U-flotte
Western English Channel:
1 transport (UK): Portsmouth – Seychelles: von Nordeck with II U-flotte
Western Charcot Seamount:
1 transport (UK): Dover – Nicobar Islands: Fricke with 3rd U-flotte
Coast of Cádiz:
1 transport (UK): Dover – Trincomalee: Wolf with 4th U-flotte
Setubal Bay:
1 transport (UK): Dover – Tel Aviv-Yafo: Aßmann with 1st U-flotte
Iberian Plain:
1 transport (UK): Dover – Kuching: Aßmann with 1st U-flotte
Cape Peñas:
1 transport (UK): Portsmouth – Mauritius: Dönitz with 2nd U-flotte
Axis Military Situation Maps
North Africa: the supply situation is getting dire. The Italians are unable to support such large forces for more than a brief time, and have missed a golden opportunity.
Greece: at least here the Italian commanders have kept moving, allowing their primitive logistics a chance to keep supplies flowing in sufficient quantities for the front line units to fight.
Eastern China: the Imperial Japanese Army is on the move, though troop numbers are low
Indo China: The Guangxi are not giving up their conquests easily, and have steadied under the Japanese assault
Japan: at least five fresh divisions are ready for transport to the mainland
Gibraltar: the Straits are now under our control
