By late September, the invasion of France had been underway for about a month. Early on, it had seemed like the Germans had succeeded in sweeping across the Lowlands and into France… and would presumably continue their swing all the way through Paris!
Instead, the German sweep continued to round about its pivot at neutral Luxembourg, and continued to press against the northern end of the Maginot Line… But Paris, like a boulder on a shoreline, had broken their line of advance. German divisions seemed to lap against its sides, but could not dislodge the defenders at Paris.
This was only slightly disheartening to Germany’s Portuguese allies. It was, surely, a temporary setback. Besides, Mussolini’s Italian troops were now beginning to surge west through the Alps into southern France. There still seemed no way that this ancient country could avoid yet another drubbing – their third, in 70 years – by their able and confident German neighbors.
In China, the Japanese had beaten back a hopeful-looking Communist offensive, and had now driven south to capture Peping and Jinan, and a comfortable margin of territory around both. The Japanese, finally, seemed to be making progress. Again, whether that was a good or bad thing for Portugal and the Axis, on the long term, was a matter of some question.
Having captured Kuching was a major victory for Portugal. It was more a potential coup, as the resources which this port normally disgorged were still in the hands of the British. But, at the very least, it denied the British a nearby port from which to ship these same resources to themselves. There were rumors of a route through the jungles of Borneo to the southern Dutch port of Balikpapan, where shipping might still reach the British, but this was not too much believed as a practical possibility. Most observers agreed that no resources were leaving the British colony for Europe – not checkmate, but a decisive check, indeed.
But the British colonial forces on the island were also determined to re-open the port. On 27 September, they attacked in not insubstantial force. They certainly outnumbered the Portuguese infantry by half again, and they were also better trained and equipped. Immediately, though no Portuguese units broke, the end result was in doubt.
In Africa, the momentum still remained decidedly in Portugal’s favor. The South Africans were responding slowly against Portugal’s two neighboring colonies, and in west Africa, and in the Bight of Africa, Portuguese army units roamed here and there, and were planted by the conniving strategies of their transport captains. A garrison division was landed at Lagos, Nigeria, which had been defended earlier in the war, but whose guarding infantry division had moved west to protect against other invasions, and which was now returning slowly to Nigeria through the jungles of Dahomey.
When the Portuguese landed, they displaced the Royal Air Force bomber squadrons from their airfields. They fled to Accra, which remains the last naval base and airfield the British still have along this southern coast. They also cut off the British infantry from nearby supply, meaning that they would have to set up convoys of trucks (or more likely, camels!) to travel overland from either Freetown in the west, or from Algiers or Alexandria in the far north.
Indeed, in those tropical zones where October did not mean “winter,” that month dawned with the Portuguese still controlling most of their southern colonies at Mozambique and Angola, but also Cabinda, much of French Cameroun, most of the Ivory/Gold/Slave Coast of Africa, and much of French and British West Africa. This was a stunning defeat to the largest European colonial powers, and there seemed no plan to stop the Portuguese! The Royal Navy and French Navy were not greatly apparent in their activity in the region – they were there, but their use was ineffective and sporadic.
Portugal had rocked Europe back on its heels, the same as Germany and Italy were doing in the French homeland itself. The world was greatly impressed by the Axis juggernaut.
And we were in process of proving ourselves impressive once more – making a counterlanding behind British lines in Sierra Leone – when we were reminded just how puny and mortal we still were! Those five subrons of French submarines were stalking us again! Near disaster was averted. The destroyers were able to keep the subs away from some of the transports. Others were lost, yet more scattered, and the destroyers suffered heavily for their bravery. This fleet would need to hide and recover at Conakry. But, with some doing, they did actually get their soldiers ashore.
Everything Portugal is doing in this war is risky. We’re taking chances every day, courting disaster, but in most cases pulling away a victory. Again, in Indochina, we’re flying by the seat of our pants. We’ve pulled our infantry division out of Saigon, and given up chasing the French HQ – we could defeat them, but there are more important things to be done. We captured enough territory to form an “alarm” of sorts if the French tried to retake Saigon again. And we’ve gone to Haiphong, in the north. It’s the only other port which could supply the French military in Indochina, so we’re hoping to have them isolated and unable to fight before very long. A secondary, but very important, task, is to reach out and capture that resource-rich province at Hanoi.
Once landed at Pujehun, in Sierra Leone, our garrison begins pressuring the rear flank of the British division at Freetown.
This has the anticipated result – the British gave up the fight, and began hunkering down in the town, assuming defensive positions. Now, they’re flanked on two sides, and we have an HQ brigade moving in which we intend to use to surround Freetown and link our garrison with supply lines. Our tactical bombers continue to rain bombs down upon these troops.
In Ghana, the British have moved forward (they’re pretty mobile – the infrastructure isn’t bad in this area, and they have a brigade of motorised infantry) to retake Kumasi, but we’ve been ready for this. We land behind them, and seize the port and airbase at Accra. Now, Freetown is pretty much it, for British bases in this whole region of Africa! Between Gibraltar and South Africa, there is not a single British airbase or naval base on the continent itself. They do have the islands of Ascension and St. Helena, but they do not have airbases. Plus, they’re really just coaling stations with little military use. They’ll work in a pinch, but…
But, uh… The French are getting closer to Saigon, again. Drat…
