The Great European Civil War, Part 2

[Jekolmy]

Late June
Location: Somewhere over the North Atlantic

One of the nice things about a prop plane, Lindbergh thought, was that the drone of the props made it hard to overhear a private conversation. It also made it hard to hear the conversation one was in.

“Lindbergh, tell me what you think about this test that the Germans were going to show us. What do you think it was a test of?”

“It wasn’t an airplane that’s for sure. I’ve flown most of the German fighters, well before last year anyways when they came out with their new jet jobs. Maybe some sort of new weapon? It wasn’t a rocket because that facility is in Germany itself. Something visible at ten miles? A large explosive for one of their rockets that they’ve been attacking the British Isles? Wouldn’t they just use it over London instead? I’m stumped.”

My God, could they be working on atomic weapons? Vandenburg steels his face into a non-expression. “Yeah I’ve got no idea myself. Maybe the real spy people will have some idea.” He stares off out the window and sees a giant carrier group steaming through the North Atlantic. Then looks to his aid, “If you could can you start drafting a report detailing the German buildup along the Channel? The Brits might enjoy some extra intelligence.”

 

[Ciryandor]

IMO the Americans would not actively participate in a war unless they were attacked first; as long as no overt targeting of American assets were done by a belligerent. I could easily see them telling the Germans that as long as they don't have any interests in the Americas, they would be satisfied with not going to war.

 

[loki100]

Given the forum rules, can I strongly suggest this line of converstation stops with this post

 

[DrakenPL]

lol what's the point in playing germany from 1933... when you can conquer world with Poland from 1933 (yes whole world).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aI2lSXo27to

btw don't you want to play online we have 3 players group already.

 

[Jekolmy]

@DrakenPL: Thanks for the offer, but I'm finding it hard enough over the summer at least with work to well play or write for my current AAR. And I don't do very well online, but thank you anyways.

In general game notes I am still working on my events for the surrender of England.. should I manage to successfully invade the British Isles anyway. If it bothers me too much more I may just tell the event to annex the British then release puppets manually or something of that sort. If England were to capitulate and the Germans made an offer of peace to the rest of the Allies (note the USA is NOT in the Allies at the moment) do you think after the beatings they have taken that some sort of peace deal could be hammered out? Tell me what you think please.

 

[Nikolai]

lol what's the point in playing germany from 1933... when you can conquer world with Poland from 1933 (yes whole world).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aI2lSXo27to

btw don't you want to play online we have 3 players group already.

If you don't want to read, don't.

We others want to enjoy this tale!

Jelkomy: Yes, I do think the rest of the Allies would sue for peace if GB fell. There would be no good place to stage an invasion then, especially if Italy do well in North Africa.

 

[Jekolmy]

Late June, a few days later
Location: 10 Downing Street

“Twenty-four Corps!?!?!?!?!” Winston Churchill exclaims, “You are telling me that our spies have located 24 combat corps in and around Amsterdam? That isn’t even the worst you’ve got for me.” Winston glares at his aide. “Another carrier fleet worked up by the end of July, new assault transports ready about the same time capable of carrying how many corps?”

“Two sir.”

“Is there any good news?”

“They are ‘old’ carriers. To the Germans at least they’ll be obsolete the moment they are deployed.” His aide looks through his notes. “Oh and the Americans are offering to supply us with their style of rifles, machineguns, and anti-tank weapons in exchange for the use of several of our bases in the Caribbean and Pacific Oceans. They will take some time to arrive, but we think that they will arrive before the Germans can cross the Channel.”

“Sir Brooke, your thoughts?” Winston turns to the Army Chief of staff.

“I do not wish to sound defeatist, but we must begin the final stages of preparing for an invasion of the Home Islands. Remove street signs and remove distinctive landmarks wherever we can, prepare blocking mechanisms in urban areas, beginning the placement of weapon and vehicle caches in the countryside, and perhaps most importantly of all we need to get the Royal Family out well before London is threatened. Sir Chatfield, what can the Royal Navy do to break up landings?” Everyone there looks intently at Chatfield hoping that there is some glimmer of good news from the navy.

“As you gentlemen are likely aware the Kriegsmarine has been systematically engaging our warships in the North Atlantic and have made several daring raids against our ships in port. We are in the process of raising six battleships that were sunk in various harbors but that will take weeks to bring them to readiness. We have exactly 11 capital warships left, 1 battleship, 4 battlecruisers, and 6 heavy cruisers all of which are obsolete in the face of the Kreigsmarine In short we likely can disrupt the landings, but I hold no fantasies about stopping the landings by naval means. If we were to engage the German landings we would quickly come under the missile fire from land based bombers, much less attacks from the carriers likely to cover the landing forces. Beyond that we would arrive well after a beachhead would likely be established as the German batteries outside of Calais make the Channel near Dover dangerous to our ships, regardless the size.”

“Surely their guns cannot range the entire distance!” Brooke interjects.

“That is true, but supplementing their guns are several batteries of anti-ship missiles that can range the entire distance to Dover. Surely, one of their first landing zones will be the beaches of Dover to secure those guns and doubly close the Channel to us. In short we are not the miracle you are looking for. And the RAF won’t be that miracle either if their experiences over Europe are any example to compare to. It seems like every German unit has a supply of SAMs that radically reduce the effectiveness of our aircraft unless they are at altitude and that’s where their fighters like to pl-,” explains Chatfield before Churchill cuts him off.

“Are you all so defeatist so as to think that we cannot win should the Germans invade?” Churchill roars, furious with his cabinet members.

“Not at all Prime Minister,” Sir Brooke replies, “Do not misunderstand us, the situation will be dire indeed when the Germans get ashore, but we do have advantages. First the GHQ line will allow for our forces to fight in fortifications with far less probability of being flanked than the Maginot Line ever had. Second, although the Germans will be forced to commit far more troops than we will we can, if we react quickly can bottle them up on the beaches with an economy of force and prevent them from landing their heavier equipment, and while they are bottled up we can quickly finish our defensive works that are impractical to have established prior to an actual landing. We’ve moved our supply and petrol stockpiles away from the coast except in the harbors which are supplying troops overseas. Coastal fields have been flooded and staked to prevent paratrooper landings, airfields fortified with heavy pillboxes, the beaches laid with anti-personnel and anti-tank mines, and my personal favorite flame fourgasses, essentially a steel drum filled with petrol with a charge that when detonated launches a mess of flaming sticky fuel that clings to anything until it is completely burned off.”

“So, we are putting weapons down on the beaches that could potentially be used to fuel our enemies vehicles if the weapons were overrun and captured?” Churchill asks somewhat mollified by this explanation.

“Not in the slightest sir, actually its formulated to destroy engines should Jerry mix it in with his regular fuel supply.”

“Excellent. Continue your anti-invasion preparations and see to it that ships are available to take the Royal Family to Canada should things become that desperate.”

“But not for you Prime Minister?” Brooke asks.

“No, my fate will be shared with the people of England. I will not and I cannot abandon them in the hour of their greatest need. The Royal Family must survive and reach Canada and act as a rallying force to drive the Germans out of the Isles should they land and if I must I will die so that England will become free again. It truly will be England’s greatest hour. For without the British Isles, England and the Empire are finished.”

 

[Jekolmy]

About that same time
Location: Innsbruck, Germany

“A mountain chateau in mid-summer on a day like today is so much better than being stuffed inside a bunker in London, don’t you think Admrial Raeder?” says a very sober, very clear headed, if troubled Adolf Hitler. It was clear that the strain of leading Germany through these troubling times, even with all the victories that they had won to date was leaving its strain on him. Even while at rest his body on occasion shook with uncontrollable tremors, though to date never during a public speech only after or with the inner circle.

“Most definitely sir, now that we have finished dinner,” he gestures to the table in front of the groaning with fresh vegetables, fruits, and very nice cuts of prime meat, “Do you think that we can present our final plans for the invasion of the British Isles?”

“You may proceed.”

Field Marshal von Blomberg begins, “We have plans to make 4 simultaneous invasions on the British Isles. We will be landing in or near Plymoth, Dover, Glasgow, and Edinburg.”

Hitler holds his hand up to stop Blomberg, “Why Glasgow and Edinburg in the initial landings?”

“We need to keep the British from retreating into the hills of North Scotland, if they manage to fall back to that position they can draw out the defense of the Island for at least two months and that’s being optimistic on our part. Beyond that we have information that suggests that the British will attempt to evacuate their cabinet and the Royal Family through Scapa Flow to Canada or perhaps Africa. We must prevent that if at all possible. Reasonable?”

“Yes, I understand why now, though I am uneasy about splitting the landings so widely.” Hitler says.

“That’s a bit more on Admiral Raeder’s side of things so we’ll discuss that more in a moment. Due to the fortifications at Plymouth and Dover we will be landing troops by air before the main amphibious assault begins. We need at least one of those ports intact if we hope to supply our invasion. The ports are most definitely rigged to be destroyed and ships are sitting near the harbor entrance ready to be scuttled to block it long enough to prevent us from using the port to supply our troops. The Brits have as near as we can tell flooded many of the open areas near Dover and Plymouth and made them dangerous for glider assaults, so instead we will be landing them with a helicopter assault. Casualties should be reduced compared to a more conventional glider and airborne assault. As far as the equipment for the division of each corps that is assigned the airmobile assault we have two options. Option 1 we deploy all the troops assigned to airmobile ops in the first wave via helicopter and bring in the equipment via bomber dragged gliders. Option 2 we bring in the necessary equipment via helicopter and reduce the number of troops sent in on the first wave. Either way, the RN is unlikely to make a significant contribution to breaking up our landings as they have been significantly reduced… but the British Army can still pin us down on the beaches if we don’t interdict their movement quickly and at Dover take or disable the shore guns,” Blomberg finishes.

“I assume you’ve already come to a conclusion Field Marshal,” Carnaris says.

“OKW suggests we send two-thirds of the division in the first wave with the rest of the lift capacity being used for our heavier equipment. The second wave will provide needed reinforcements and ferry the rest of the heavy equipment or won’t go at all if the situation is that bad. I dislike condemning several thousand men to death or capture if the landings go poorly… but this is our best option. All that division needs to do is keep reinforcements from entering these cities and keep them from scuttling the docks while the other two divisions in that corps lands on the beach and encircles the city. The other corps in each landing will move to encircle the city then push into town, link up with the troops in the city, and secure the port for follow up forces. Admiral Raeder will now discuss the naval side of preparations.”

“For the last two years we have been engaging the Royal Navy under the principal of calculated risk in regards to our carrier fleet. That is to say we have only been engaging the numerically superior enemy when we will cause more damage to him than they to us,” Raeder begins. “This strategy has been rather successful, our latest intelligence reports suggest that all of the major capital ships in the RN are in port due to battle damage and will be unable to sail in a reasonable time frame. As was mentioned before we will completely close the Channel from both sides at Dover by capturing the coastal guns there and sowing the sea with mines to close the Channel long enough for things to be decided on the beaches at least.“

“Do we have sufficient sealift capacity to put enough troops ashore to establish as secure beachhead at each landing site?” Hitler asks as Raeder finishes his initial brief.

Raeder and Blomberg look at each other before Blomberg answers, “Assuming that we manage to establish a beachhead with the initial landings, yes we will be able to hold out long enough to bring in reinforcements to continue the attack or reinforce the port as necessary. It will be difficult, but we have effective naval superiority and we will have air superiority during the landings. They have shore fortifications and they will take their toll on our troops but to be successful we need to make our landings in the south and push out quickly to consolidate our gains. Our landings at Glasgow and Edinburg are simply there to be the anvil onto which we will smash their army.”

“But it seems so.. so simple,” Hitler says.

“Compared to what?” A somewhat frustrated Raeder answers, “In the course of this invasion we will be moving nearly a million men onto the British Isles. That won’t be simple so we have to keep everything else simple… Especially considering the lessons we learned in the amphib ops we made off of the Swedish coast a year or so now. Initial landings are two corps at each landing site 20,000 men at each landing site and 90,000 in the first wave.” Raeder begins to raise his voice. “A million men and more by the end of the invasion. One port supplying each invasion Brest to Glasgow, Cherbourg to Plymouth, and Wilhelmshaven will supply the Dover and Edinburg invasions.”
Blomberg clears his throat and intervenes before Raeder becomes too frustrated in front of Hitler, “Of course in the intervening month we will be conducting weekly rocket attacks on major industrial centers and telling the British people the targets long enough beforehand that they can evacuate their homes and we can do this with minimal loss of life. We do this to get them accustomed to the rapid increase in bombardment and they won’t figure anything is odd when we level London 4 hours before our helicopter troops go into Dover and Plymouth. This will throw them into disarray or so we hope, regardless it won’t hurt our position when we invade.” He takes a deep breath. “Do we have permission to begin the invasion, sir?”

“What about our atomic weapons?” ask Hitler.

Carnaris speaks up, “After the effort we’ve gone into to show the Americans that we obviously don’t have any? In all seriousness I would suggest that we stick to conventional weapons in this campaign. Whether or not the Brits will, that’s a different story.”

“All preparations to invade the British Isles will be completed no later than July 25, 1941. Amphib operations will begin August 2 assuming weather conditions support the landing of troops.” Hitler sighs and stares into the clear depths of his glass.

 

[Jekolmy]

Rocket's Red Glare

[FONT=&quot]July 4[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Location: Washington DC[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Rockets criss-crossed across the sky, explosions turned the night to day. Yet no one was fleeing, for it was an Independence Day. The war in Europe at this point had dragged on for two long years, years in which the American people continued to see it as “A European Thing” nothing for them to be concerned with. Oh there were minor spikes of panic when the Germans pushed the Soviet Army first past the Moskva River and then past the Volga. Yet little could be done other than panic as only bare weeks later the Soviets ceded all of their territory west of the Ural Mountians and began their second civil war in 30 years. Following that excitement though there was little of note that occurred with the exception of President Roosevelt losing the Presidential election of 1940, not even a year ago now. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Photo courtesy US National Park Service[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]With the American people celebrating in the streets across the country, the President Wendell Willkie and his cabinet are finally sitting down to discuss the [/FONT] Sitzkrieg in Africa and the intentions of the Japanese in the Pacific.

[FONT=&quot]“How was the trip to North Africa Lindy?” Willkie asks Charles Lindberg. “ I know you’ve been back for a week, but this is really my first chance to ask.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]“Tolerable, but that desert is just too damn hot. I can’t see why the Brits and Germans are fighting over it. Oh, I know its important strategically and its forcing the Brits to ship supplies all the way around Africa to reach their troops in India. I’m just glad we aren’t there still.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]“What exactly is the current status of the African War? The Germans have everything from Tripoli to Baki right?” The President says as he leans back in his chair. This is going to be a long meeting.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]“Not exactly,” Lindberg grimaces with his presidents knowledge of geography. “But you could ride the same train from Tripoli to Baku if you wanted to. From what I have heard the front is fairly stable, the Germans are all dug in and the British skirmish with them occasionally but never make any real gains. It’s a stalemate in Africa. Both sides can get enough supplies to their troops to keep them where they are, but neither can push enough supplies through to really advance. Europe is a different story though, as you know we came in through Casablanca and the Germans flew us over occupied Spain and took us by train through France and down into what was Italy. We never saw any real troop concentrations, but what struck me was the number of transports and landing craft sitting in Brest and Calais. As you know we passed that along to the Brits and they told us they found several armies sitting in and around Amsterdam, but no transports whatsoever.” Lindberg supports his head on his hand and looks thoughtful for a moment. “Very few nations right now have the military power to threaten what Germany thinks of the Fatherland, that is to say probably their pre-1934 borders with the exclusion of Southern Italy and Yugoslavia and the other countries in the Balkans. We I believe are one of them, assuming we could establish any sort of beachhead in Europe… a tricky task at the moment and not one I would support right now though I bow to the superior knowledge of my brothers in the regular Army, not the Army Air Corp for that. We’ve been friendly with the British for many years now, and they would be the best place to land if we were to seriously consider a direct invasion of Europe. Iceland and Greenland are distant seconds in that competition, though maybe they could be useful to stage an invasion of the British Isles. Maybe, I really don’t know, its not my area of expertise.” Lindberg lets out a sigh of exasperation and leans back in his swanky chair.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]“General Marshall, let us assume for a moment that the Germans do successfully invade the British Isles. What then can we do to influence the European Theater to ensure that America is safe from external threats?” President Willie asks, rather unhappy as an isolationist he is being for the moment at least being forced into considering these alternatives. “I don’t want to have to do anything like the business last year happen again if we can help it, we already have too many of our boys in garrisons in South America and Cuba as it is.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]“Mr. President, I’m not sure we can do anything in Europe if the British are overwhelmed, maybe the Portuguese would allow us to land troops there, but I doubt it. They do that and the Germans would overwhelm them and trap our troops more or less in the ports. Their ‘militia’ can stand up to the Portuguese regular army more than long enough to bottle us up and drive us into the sea. And that’s assuming we don’t have to fight the Portuguese on the beaches! Don’t forget this either. Our transports CAN’T completely cross the Atlantic. Any convoy that could carry troops sufficient for a landing would be seen by the Germans as a de facto declaration of war and they would be engaged at sea by the Kreigsmarine. What we need to begin doing now is fortifying and garrisoning Iceland and Greenland as heavily as we can if we want to use them as staging areas. I realize that it adds another set of projects to our overtaxed industries, but it may well be necessary if we are to have any impact in Europe. But at least we have the divisions to garrison Greenland. It is more important that we keep Greenland to prevent any attacks from reaching American soil.” General Marshal sits back, looking confident. As well he should, being rather uninformed about the German rocket program.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]“Mr. Edison, let us turn our attention to the Pacific theater. What exactly are the Japanese up to and should they be considered a threat to us?” Willkie asks seemingly satisfied with Marshall for now at least. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]“In all honesty Mr. President, we don’t know. Our communications intercepts aren’t picking up anything significant. Agents report that they are working on 2 Fleet carriers and 7 escort carriers. At least one of those Fleet carriers will put to sea this year. We have 12 Fleet carriers currently in drydock under construction and another 15 escort carriers, unfortunately due to other build requests, however there is no actual construction talking place. For the moment, we have effective fleet parity with the Japanese. Or rather I should say, they have effective parity with us.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]American Warships in Commission[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Japanese Warships in Commission[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot] I am requesting an immediate increase in the priority of naval units to counter this potential threat to our fleet,” Charles Edison says. “We need a navy for two oceans. They need a navy for one. We are severely outnumbered, if perhaps not outgunned on the high seas and that is discounting the Kreigsmarine which General Marshall just reminded us of. They have 4 battleships, 6 carriers in service, another 6 about to commission and another 12 ultra-modern carriers and 8 modern battleships that they have just laid keels on!” Edison raves.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot] “The Kreigsmarine has already swept the North Atlantic of the British Royal Navy or at least her capital warships, which was arguably the largest best maintained fleet in the world, in a matter of two years with a carrier fleet. We must expand our navy’s carriers if we are to continue this policy of non-intervention if only to protect our own shores from possible aggressors.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]German Warships in Commission[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Royal Navy Warships in Commission[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]“But its been the German battleships and land based aircraft that have been sinking the British warships, not their carrier aircraft. We need to build more battleships and of course more naval bombers.” Lindberg chimes in slyly asking for more naval bombers, thoughts of the German atomic tests just weeks ago lost for now.[/FONT]

 

[Jekolmy]

My apologies for the lack of updates over the summer and the sudden updates without warning, I was fairly busy with work and always out of town. But now that school has started back up I should be back to some more regular posting.

@Nikolai: Italy has been knocked out of the war and in fact German troops, not Italian hold North Africa against a mixed force primarily comprised of British troops, a few French divisions, and some other divisions from other Allied countries. So they might try landing in North Africa as was done historically but I'm not sure they will should they declare war on Germany.

 

[Jekolmy]

Hi again everyone. I should have an update up this weekend. The next few posts are the buildup to Sealion. Especially because I'm not sure what Germany's goals are after the British are knocked out of the war or Germany looses a lot of men and material in a failed invasion. Case 2 I try again later.. case 1 well I have no idea what Germany should set her eyes upon after Sealion with the Soviets knocked out. Then again that's what I've been saying for a while now. Thanks!

 

[Jekolmy]

Rockets Red Glare Part 2

[FONT=&quot]London[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]July the 20th[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“…As an advisory to the British people we would suggest that the residents of Dover, Plymouth, Sheffield, Liverpool, and Birmingham evacuate as they will be the subject of V series rocket attacks against the industrial and military facilities in these cities. Residents are advised to leave these areas as the British fighters will be unable to intercept these weapons on their way to their targets and these rockets are less than pinpoint weapons unfortunately. Almost makes you wish you were safe in bed in Germany or France protected by our jet fighters and SAM batteries which would be able to defeat these rockets. As it is all you have are antiquated barrage balloons that won’t even stop one of our glorious rockets.” Lord Hee Haw says with the airs of a British noble. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]“Again this is Lord Hee Haw advising the British citizens living in the cities of….”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]“Turn that drivel off,” orders Winston Churchill. “Its bad enough that half the people listen to him because of the raid warnings, but we of all British citizens and public servants should not be listening to him. Why then Mr. James should we be listening to him?”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]S.P James, an economic specialist begins, “Well for one why are they starting this series of rocket attacks only a few days ago, as opposed to oh say a year or so ago when they started producing these V2 model A-10 rockets. Hee Haw is right, we can’t shoot them down before they crash into their targets with about as much destructive damage as 4 squadrons of our own strategic bombers. Assuming of course our bombers were making it though their SAM coverage. If they meant to seriously scare us and disrupt our industry with rockets they should have been doing it as soon as they defeated the Soviets as that was about the time they developed their second series of long range rockets. They could have been hitting us for months now each day just on what we think is their spare production capacity” He shakes his head, “No, the beginning of the rocket attacks along with the working up of their new fleet carriers ensures that the invasion we have all been dreading will likely commence within a few days to weeks as the short end of the scale. On the long end I would say November as the poor weather would negate much of the advantage of German air superiority for the landings. I doubt it would affect their views of the further land battles much, though I’m an economist and not a General so take that as you will.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]“I understand Mr. James. I just can’t believe though that the Germans would tip their hands like this.” Winston Churchill replies before taking a sip of his scotch. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]“It may be that they have only now built up enough rockets to continue a sustained bombardment campaign. Coastal air recon doesn’t show any launch sites that we can go after easily so I suspect their rockets have the range to hit our industrial centers from central France or maybe even further.” He folds his hands on the table and looks down at them, finally S.P. James muses, “There has to be a way to divert some German troops from the North Atlantic Theater without weakening the defenses of the British Isles.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]“We’ve been attacking all along the Sahara Line,” Sir Alan Brooke begins, “But so far we have had little effect on the overall disposition of German troops.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]His voice is drowned out as a rapid succession of rockets overhead detonate their deadly loads overhead smashing factories, government offices, and vital rail hubs moving supplies out of the capital to British forces everywhere. When the rockets stopped this time, it was not an all clear sign that wailed into the night now the night was filled with the wails of the dive bombing Stukas and Henschels which had just left ground cover in order to avoid the radar cover of the Home Chain Radars on the English Coast. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]“Is Jerry kicking things off or just getting us to mobilize to meet a non-existent threat?” Churchill asks his voice locked down, completely devoid of all emotion.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]“We just don’t know sir. German aircraft over the last several weeks have demolished our radars along the coastline and their air cover the last few weeks has kept us from seeing how much of their fleet they’ve sorted. Give me two hours and we’ll have reports from our outposts.” Brooke speaks in a cold manner of fact tone of voice that is not helping with the tension growing in the room at all. “Sir, it simply takes time to find out what is happening. It takes time to call out to all the stations and even more when Jerry is hitting our wireless stations like he is tonight. In the meantime I will call for a general increase in readiness amongst our coastal defense units, the RAF, and a callup of the Home Guard in the guise of a drill.” He grimaces, “They won’t be issued weapons and ammunition outside of a shooting range unless Jerry makes it ashore. Better safe than sorry eh?”[/FONT]

 

[nimrod123]

Subscribed!

This is great, poor britain, and the soviets feel quickly and in spectacular fashion

 

[Jekolmy]

@nimrod123: Thank you for subscribing. I'll admit I felt a lot of trepidation when I invaded the Soviet Union and was surprised how quick it fell (but that was Rommel's Mechanized Calvary striking out for that VP in the far south east that you need to trigger the Bitter Peace. I feel a lot better about Sealion. Its just a matter of time before the island is mine and the British loose the heart of their industry.

I should be updating this weekend or sometime next week.

 

[DrakenPL]

on what patch are you playing?

And with how many tech team slots?

 

[Jekolmy]

on what patch are you playing?

And with how many tech team slots?

I believe it is AOD 1.04 and Iron Cross version 1.01 and 10 tech teams.

 

[Jekolmy]

Echoes of the Past


[FONT=&quot]Early April, 1941 0900 hours: The Baltic Coast [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]“Three months from now will start a series of rocket attacks on British factories and airfields in preparation for our invasion of the British Isles. This group is now in a strict communications blackout as are all other units that have been picked for the initial assaults. No letters or phone calls out. But you will be able to still receive your mail and packages,” a scarred Field Marshall Manstein hero of the Great War, The Austrian Unification, the Italian and Yugoslavian campaigns, and countless other campaigns since the beginning of the current hostilities. “As you know this corps dates back to the Great War and since we have picked the best men from every regiment and division in the entire Heer. Our Corps has been picked to conduct heli and glider drops on locations critical to British troop movement and organization in the first days of the landings. As such we will be scattered all over the Isles in roughly brigade strength for each major drop. This particular unit is making perhaps the singular most important assault of the entire operation, securing the Western Heights of Dover. Most of our air landings will be fairly minor a few squads here and there with dummy Fallschrimjager to confuse and divert the British. This landing will be two brigades.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]“Walk with me,” he says waving for the assembled men to follow him. Minutes later they had all assembled before a set of large sand tables, maps, and a scale model of the town of Dover and the surrounding countryside. With his Field Marshal’s baton he taps a series of buildings on the Western Heights. “These are your targets, the Drop Redoubt and the Citadel on the Western Heights of Dover. By acquiring the Heights we can direct fire on the main approaches into the city and breaking them up and delaying any ground forces headed into the city and denying the use of the heavy artillery to the enemy. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]You all know what the mission requires and we will be spending the next two and a half months learning the layout of the Redount and its grounds intimately and finding the fastest way to secure the entire facility. First we will do assault drills on the mockups, but I fully expect within the next two weeks you will be doing this under fire and at night.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]“Live ammunition?”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]“Not quite. We have been testing a new piece of equipment that should work perfectly for this situation. I hesitate to it a weapon, but It can be potentially dangerous. We call it a paint marker. I’m not a 100% sure how it works so don’t ask me, but we can more or less simulate both your weapons and Tommy’s without actually being out of action or dead after getting shot. Its not a perfect simulator, but its better than being shot. In twenty minutes we’ll begin the helicopter assault training. Questions?”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]“What is our opposition expected to be?” one Unteroffizier.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]“This will almost certainly change in the next two to three months prior to the actual landings. In the province 7 or 8 divisions including at least elements of 2 Panzer divisions, at the Redoubt we expect anywhere from one reinforced companies of troops to a light battalion with a few armored cars or panzers. To counter the threat of these armored vehicles right before you land our close air support aircraft will hit the buildings we have determined are barracks and any troop concentrations in the area. You’ll go in with your automatic rifles and Panzerfausts in the first wave while the follow-up choppers bring in your heavy weapons, extra ammunition, and reinforcements. Additionally, you’ll be supported by our shore based artillery including the super-heavy Gustav and Dora guns, though they will have other fire missions as well.” He looks around at the two assembled brigades. Somehow they will be enough at this site. They have to be. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]“Let’s begin.”[/FONT]

 

[Jekolmy]

Fortress England

[FONT=&quot]August 1, 1800 Hours[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]“You are about to embark upon the last chapter of the Great Crusade, towards which we have striven these many years. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of the German people march with you here. In the company of your brave brothers-in-arms on other Fronts you will bring about the utter destruction of the Allied war machine, the elimination of the tyranny of the British Empire of the oppressed peoples of Europe and the world, and security for the peoples of the Fatherland. Godspeed.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]-Werner von Blomberg[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]August 1, 2200 Hours, Amsterdam[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]“Final gear checks and assemble!” Hauptmann Weiss orders his company. After winning a battlefield commission in the mountains of Turkey, a promotion to Hauptmann after successes on the battlefields of the Soviet Union, and with peace at hand in the East the time was finally found to go through Officer’s School to make the rank permanent. “You heard Field Marshal von Blomberg! The world is watching. We will succeed. Our foe is worthy, he is defending his home, he is well armed and trained. Remember though, he is outnumbered. Where we are going though we will be the ones outnumbered for the first dark hours we will be the ones outnumbered. Intelligence says 1 Panzer Division and 7 Panzergrenadier divisions! Overwhelm your opponents with speed, shock, and firepower. Don’t piss on them, kill them. Attack! Attack! Attack! Board your helicopters![/FONT]


[FONT=&quot]August 1, 2200 Hours, Western Europe[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Much the same thing was going on with the helicopter-borne assault troops across the whole width and breadth of the invasion forces. Troops finished their last equipment checks and boarded their helicopters ready to deliver the blow from which England could not recover. The helicopters from the formerly French and Dutch airfields were heavily escorted by tactical and close air support bombers. The former striking key bridges and railway lines while the latter struck closer to the battlefield denying the enemy access to his ammunition and fuel dumps, exploding them and shooting fireballs into the night sky. Before the troops aboard their helicopters made their final approaches or their brethren in the landing craft upon the stormy set foot on the shores of merry old England those shores have begun to already be wetted with the blood of their brave defenders.[/FONT]

 

[Jekolmy]

My apologies for the short updates in the last couple of months.. I've been trying to drag out some of the suspense of Sealion... especially when considering all of the complexities of an amphibious operation of this scale and that it is home to the last major holdout in Europe. Thanks for sticking with me. The next series of updates should be longer.

 

[Jekolmy]

Fortress England: The First Day

[FONT=&quot]August 2, 0200 Hours: The Cliffs of Dover[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Searchlights switched on the command of Radar Command to guide the few remaining fighters and the lighter AA guns to their targets. Tracer fire lit up the night sky, but it was not directed at the low-flying helicopters rapidly approaching the Western Heights. The nearest guns were directed at the dive bombers making passes at the fortifications of the Citadel and the associated buildings and more importantly smashing up the road leading to the Redoubt.[/FONT]


[FONT=&quot]Screaming down from the sky the Herschels loosed their bombs and missiles at the defenses. Heavy and accurate anti-air fire brought down one of the Herschels straight down on the position of one of the coastal gun emplacements destroying the aircraft and rendering the gun unusable without several hours of debris removal.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]The first wave of the air assault was comprised of three elements with distinct goals for each. The first unit was tasked with the Citadel itself, the second dealing with the Western Heights and the heavy guns there, and the third group was tasked with securing or at least neutralizing Dover Castle and Fort Burgoyne just to the north of the castle. The castle protected the landward approach into the city while the Fort did much the same thing for the castle and had heavy guns emplaced as well. From seaward a small group of seaborne commandos attached to the regular landings would attempt to enter the harbor via small torpedo boats and submarines to disable as much of the explosives lacing the harbor as they could. It mattered little if they couldn’t secure the harbor intact here as long as the landing forces at Plymouth took their harbor intact and could link up with these forces. The landings up and down the coast of England were designed to bring England’s war machine to its knees even if they never advanced beyond the harbors.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]That being said no plan survives contact with the enemy.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]The Mouth of the Thames, 0200 Hours[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]It was an uneventful patrol for the the HMS Glasgow Jerry was all nestled up in Europe and the threat from U-boats had never materialized in this war so it was a rather pleasant cruise. Still the lookouts were on deck looking for enemy ships and aircraft. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“This is RAF Home Command,” the radio said crackling to life. “Be advised of heavy German air activity in the vicinity of Dover and Plymouth.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]With that the officer of the watch immediately sounded General Quarters and everyone woke from their slumber scrambling for their action stations.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“Turn on the searchlights, maybe we can bag one of those aircraft,” her captian ordered as he came into the bridge.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“All stations report secured,” One of the seamen told anyone willing to listen.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]And the big searchlights mounted on the Glasgow came to life… to her worst nightmare. There were at least 2 battleships in range of the searchlight and another 6 or so Pocket Battleships that obviously were in range of the Glasgow as their turrets were turning to fire upon her. But most terrifying of all was the sight of dozens of landing craft slowly moving towards shore. Towards England. Towards HOME.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]“All speed back! Pilot get us out of here! Guns, fire on those landing craft! Communications get on the wireless and radio Fleet. Tell them we have a large Jerry fleet here with transports.” He shakes his head to clear it. “We will attempt to avoid contact until the time that we can get a signal back from anyone acknowledging our transmission. Then we bore in on the transports.”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Minutes later with shells crashing down all around her the signal was acknowledged, but she could not close to the range of her own guns watching the invasion begin.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]The Western Heights 0230 Hours[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The air assault itself was rather successful; all of the sticks from the first wave landed without incident and immediately began their assaults on their targets. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]The men attacking the Citadel were dropped straightaway into the parade grounds allowing each stick of men to fan out to their own objectives. A company each was detailed for the Inner Citadel and its armory, another for the tunnels and the artillery batteries, while the third was detailed for the outer perimeter and the barracks with the presumably sleeping British inside. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Hauptmann Weiss led the stick he had come to England with, less two men to find the other elements of his company detailed for the assault on the Inner Citadel and the Armory inside. But he could not wait for the remainder of his company to form to hit the defenses. Casualties be dammed, anything they suffered now would be far less than if the British had time to set up their weapons and get into a proper defensive position, they had to do it now. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The doors to the armory had been upgraded from their original construction to better suit the more modern environment in which it now existed. Steel blast doors blocked their path into the armory. The sound of a raving buzz-saw ripped though the night air overwhelming even the anti-aircraft batteries for a moment. “No point in being quiet anymore. Get a satchel charge on that door and knock hard!” At this the rest of the stick took up defensive positions covering the demolitions pioneer. One of the runners returned with three other platoons. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]“Pilot started following the wrong chopper! The rest of the company is with third group starting to clear out the castle itself and set up our anti-armor weapons.” The trooper exclaimed out of breath. It looked like he ran both ways.

[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]With the charge set and the British nowhere to be seen yet, but that situation was bound to change soon. Time to act. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]“Blow the charge.” [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]With a decidedly small report the satchel charge detonated and sent the steel door to the armory went flying, bent and broken, down the narrow corridor. The newly arrived sections went in first trading fire, with the handful of men on guard duty, British pistols and German automatic rifles. The rifles and the mass of Germans carried the day.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]“Wire the armory for detonation and run at least two detonators to the explosives. I want two sections on sentry duty for this building, the rest of you secure and clear the building. I don’t want any surprises to pop out at us. Clear?”[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]The rest of the teams assigned to capture the Western Heights did not have this sort of luck. Stumbling into armed patrols, they were forced to spend precious minutes engaged in a firefight that seemed to never end. Only timely reinforcements allowed the Germans to turn the tide of battle and take the Heights. By that time however the sun was up and the garrison had long since been alerted, but it mattered only to silence the guns that would have otherwise fired on the invasion fleet. But the landings were on schedule and by 0400 hours at all invasion sites under the cover of the guns of battleships and cruisers German troops came ashore to rid the world of the tyrannical British Empire.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]The Mouth of the Thames, 1200 Hours (Noon)[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]By this time HMS Glascow had suffered multiple air attacks in addition to the shelling and was listing quite heavily and smoking, having had absolutely no impact on the progress of the invasion save to warn the defenders that the Germans were coming. Half or more of her crew was dead the rest wounded to a greater or lesser degree. She would fight no more. [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]“Disengage and beach her, we might be able to repair her later. If we have to abandon at least we’ll be closer to shore.” Her captain ordered bitterly. “We’ve done all we can do for now. Run away to fight another day or some such nonsense.”

By 1200 Hours significant progress had been made at all of the landing locations. A beachhead had been established with which to land additional troops under indirect fire only and land supplies that would be critically needed in the days ahead.

The penetration at Edinburg was perhaps the most mature of the landings, but even so they had not managed to throw the defenders completely out of the city as the local garrison fought tooth and nail with every weapon they had to stem the grey tide coming ashore.

The Plymouth landings also were showing great progress aided by more than 30 squadrons of tactical and close air support bombers. The British Armor however was dug in well and deep and the infantry was either forced to expose themselves to fire or wait for artillery or air support to knock out the dug in vehicles.

As with the Glasgow landings the local garrison force was putting up a serious fight holding out long after they should have quit the field. Reconnaissance planes from the carriers quickly found out why. There were more than a dozen divisions headed north at full speed to relieve beleaguered garrison in the city of Glasgow.

Thought the air assault in Dover against the Western Heights was nominally a success it did little to affect the garrison of this important port city. With a heavy garrison of at least 1 panzer division, 4 more motorized infantry, and 3 leg infantry divisions all coordinated by the headquarters of the 3rd British Expeditionary Force which had escaped France from some of these very same divisions only two years ago. Aided by the coastal fortifications the defenders still resistance shattered any quick hopes of a German invasion of Dover like the waves against the cliffs of Dover itself.
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