Very historical as The Eagle was sunk by a uboat in 1939 IIRC.
Good luck with getting your dissent down
Good luck with getting your dissent down
-
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With the failure of the Kriegsmarine in the Atlantic did the Luftwaffe in the west start to plan for an offensive against British warships. Upon the successful sinking by US bombers of the ‘Scharnhorst’ so had the Luftwaffe tacticians plotted for a similar operation against British ships in port.
In the closing days of June did the Luftwaffe start to rebase suitable squadrons, primarily naval bombers, from their various bases trough-out Europe to bases along the French north coast. Reinforcements were brought in from as far as Sevastopol and even Luftwaffe-Kommando-Sudost in Greece had to transfer a number of squadrons. The Luftwaffe’s total strength and size in France increased with almost 100%.
In the southern sector of the eastern front did von Manstein throw a mix of divisions from the 2.Panzer-Armee, the 17.Armee and the 6.Armee against the Russian forces that had entered Kamensk-S. in an attempt to rescue Kirchners panzerkorps. Could the Russian by driven off, there was a chance and hope of getting that valuable formation out and back to safety.
The attack was successful and a race begun in order to take control over the area before Russian reserves could arrive.
On the 29th did a very large US naval force venture into Kattegat and caught the German destroyer flotillas, guarding the area from submarine attacks, by surprise and blew it completely out of the water
Gross Admiral Reader, not wanting to waste any more ships with such large enemy forces nearby, immediately called all ships back to port.
Kirchner’s panzerkorps did to the surprise of all manage to be the formation that reached Kamensk-S first. The Russians attacked the disorganized German divisions right away, but Kirchner was now aware of the fact that he had to withdraw to Rostov in order to reach German lines.
In the Artic front where the 20.Gebirgs-Armee had been holding its positions at Hammerfest since the failed campaign on 1942, and also tying up some fifty-five Russian division did the men of Germanys most northern army start to embark on trains designated for Oslo.
The OKW had in secrecy decided to withdraw all German units from Norway and redeploy them to the eastern front. Taking the geography of Norway into account so did the OKW find it reasonable to believe that the Norwegian army would be able to hold the narrow front in the north.
On the 30th did the Russian attack one of von Mansteins strong points - Kharkow. The Russian attack came from Sumy and Belgorod, and it came in force. Von Manstein knew, and had built his defensive strategy on, that Kharkov could not be lost. Kharkov had previously proved to be a good position to stop the Russians at, and in its renewed attempt to take the city so were the Russian divisions having serious trouble trying to overcome the German defenders.
The 4.Armee under General Detmerming held very good defensive positions and were during the first days of the Russian attack capable of repulsing everything the Russians threw against their defences.
The Russian attacks slowed down a little as a result of the German counter-attack against Sumy. But since the German forces attacking Sumy had no success so did the Russians intensify their attack on the morning of the 1st of July. The German defenders manned their fortifications and foxholes in the outskirts, as well as inside the city, under a massive Russian artillery bombardment. In the following assault, the German defences started to crumble and the Russians were closing in on the city itself.
Von Manstein radioed a message to the OKH and requested that Heeresgruppe Ukraine should strike from the Kiev-area in an attempt to divert Russian attention and relieve pressure from Kharkov. Von Manstein also requested that the forces at Cherkassy should be brought under his command. None of these requests were granted. Von Manstein had to get by with the resources he had, and he was also informed that Kharkov were under no circumstances what so ever be surrendered to the Russians. Von Manstein understood that too, because if Kharkov was lost so would it be impossible to keep the current positions. A withdrawal west of the Dnepr would be the only alternative in that case.
Von Manstein called of the drive towards Bilovodsk that the 2.Panzer-Armee were performing and ordered them towards Kharkov instead.
By afternoon of the 1st of July did the Luftwaffe leave Kharkov for other bases. The fall of the city was coming close.
Only a few hours after the last planes of the Luftwaffe had left their bases around Kharkov did the German defences cave in. General Detmering ordered a retreat to the south, surrendering the city to the Russians.
Meanwhile in Heeresgruppe Mitte’s sector had the LXX.Korps and LXXIV.Korps from the 2.Armee retaken Smolensk. The celebrations did however not last for long. Almost at the same time as Kharkov in the south fell, so did the Russians execute a successful attack on Smolensk and drove the two corps out of the city.
With Smolensk lost to the Russians so were von Kleist forced to start rethinking and remake his strategy for defence. Smolensk had for the past month been the scene of intense and bitter fighting and ownership over the city and its surroundings had changed several times. Casualties suffered in the battles of control over the city had been great. The location of Smolensk had made it an obvious objective to capture for the Russians, and even though Heeresgruppe had been forced to focus most of its attention of the battles of the city so had Smolensk in itself served a purpose of being a ‘bastion’ for Heeresgruppe Mitte. By holding Smolensk so did Heeresgruppe Mitte knew that the main Russian attacks against Heeregruppe Mitte would come at Smolensk. That made it rather easy for the Heeresgruppe to plan its defensive strategy.
With the loss of the city, the situation had to be re-evaluated. The German lines had only been pushed back to the southwest, where the main line of defence had been all along. Some of the ranking officers within the staff were of the opinion that their position was better now with Smolensk lost since the front had been shortened.
In the closing days of June did the Luftwaffe start to rebase suitable squadrons, primarily naval bombers, from their various bases trough-out Europe to bases along the French north coast. Reinforcements were brought in from as far as Sevastopol and even Luftwaffe-Kommando-Sudost in Greece had to transfer a number of squadrons. The Luftwaffe’s total strength and size in France increased with almost 100%.
***
In the southern sector of the eastern front did von Manstein throw a mix of divisions from the 2.Panzer-Armee, the 17.Armee and the 6.Armee against the Russian forces that had entered Kamensk-S. in an attempt to rescue Kirchners panzerkorps. Could the Russian by driven off, there was a chance and hope of getting that valuable formation out and back to safety.
The attack was successful and a race begun in order to take control over the area before Russian reserves could arrive.
***
On the 29th did a very large US naval force venture into Kattegat and caught the German destroyer flotillas, guarding the area from submarine attacks, by surprise and blew it completely out of the water
Gross Admiral Reader, not wanting to waste any more ships with such large enemy forces nearby, immediately called all ships back to port.
***
Kirchner’s panzerkorps did to the surprise of all manage to be the formation that reached Kamensk-S first. The Russians attacked the disorganized German divisions right away, but Kirchner was now aware of the fact that he had to withdraw to Rostov in order to reach German lines.
***
In the Artic front where the 20.Gebirgs-Armee had been holding its positions at Hammerfest since the failed campaign on 1942, and also tying up some fifty-five Russian division did the men of Germanys most northern army start to embark on trains designated for Oslo.
The OKW had in secrecy decided to withdraw all German units from Norway and redeploy them to the eastern front. Taking the geography of Norway into account so did the OKW find it reasonable to believe that the Norwegian army would be able to hold the narrow front in the north.
***
On the 30th did the Russian attack one of von Mansteins strong points - Kharkow. The Russian attack came from Sumy and Belgorod, and it came in force. Von Manstein knew, and had built his defensive strategy on, that Kharkov could not be lost. Kharkov had previously proved to be a good position to stop the Russians at, and in its renewed attempt to take the city so were the Russian divisions having serious trouble trying to overcome the German defenders.
The 4.Armee under General Detmerming held very good defensive positions and were during the first days of the Russian attack capable of repulsing everything the Russians threw against their defences.
The Russian attacks slowed down a little as a result of the German counter-attack against Sumy. But since the German forces attacking Sumy had no success so did the Russians intensify their attack on the morning of the 1st of July. The German defenders manned their fortifications and foxholes in the outskirts, as well as inside the city, under a massive Russian artillery bombardment. In the following assault, the German defences started to crumble and the Russians were closing in on the city itself.
Von Manstein radioed a message to the OKH and requested that Heeresgruppe Ukraine should strike from the Kiev-area in an attempt to divert Russian attention and relieve pressure from Kharkov. Von Manstein also requested that the forces at Cherkassy should be brought under his command. None of these requests were granted. Von Manstein had to get by with the resources he had, and he was also informed that Kharkov were under no circumstances what so ever be surrendered to the Russians. Von Manstein understood that too, because if Kharkov was lost so would it be impossible to keep the current positions. A withdrawal west of the Dnepr would be the only alternative in that case.
Von Manstein called of the drive towards Bilovodsk that the 2.Panzer-Armee were performing and ordered them towards Kharkov instead.
By afternoon of the 1st of July did the Luftwaffe leave Kharkov for other bases. The fall of the city was coming close.
Only a few hours after the last planes of the Luftwaffe had left their bases around Kharkov did the German defences cave in. General Detmering ordered a retreat to the south, surrendering the city to the Russians.
***
Meanwhile in Heeresgruppe Mitte’s sector had the LXX.Korps and LXXIV.Korps from the 2.Armee retaken Smolensk. The celebrations did however not last for long. Almost at the same time as Kharkov in the south fell, so did the Russians execute a successful attack on Smolensk and drove the two corps out of the city.
With Smolensk lost to the Russians so were von Kleist forced to start rethinking and remake his strategy for defence. Smolensk had for the past month been the scene of intense and bitter fighting and ownership over the city and its surroundings had changed several times. Casualties suffered in the battles of control over the city had been great. The location of Smolensk had made it an obvious objective to capture for the Russians, and even though Heeresgruppe had been forced to focus most of its attention of the battles of the city so had Smolensk in itself served a purpose of being a ‘bastion’ for Heeresgruppe Mitte. By holding Smolensk so did Heeresgruppe Mitte knew that the main Russian attacks against Heeregruppe Mitte would come at Smolensk. That made it rather easy for the Heeresgruppe to plan its defensive strategy.
With the loss of the city, the situation had to be re-evaluated. The German lines had only been pushed back to the southwest, where the main line of defence had been all along. Some of the ranking officers within the staff were of the opinion that their position was better now with Smolensk lost since the front had been shortened.
Last edited:
Metatrone: ...their position was better now with Smolensk lost since the front had been shortened.
semi-historical results are somewhat depressing! !
even so, excellent update! !
semi-historical results are somewhat depressing! !
even so, excellent update! !
I actually dont mind if the events on the eastern front is somewhat semi-historical. I personally find it a bit amusing, and its a lot more entertaining and demanding having to really fight to try to hold on to conquered territory.
Even though it would probably result in my ultimate defeat, so would I also find it rather fun if the Allies were to get their thumbs out and actually try to invade France or Italy.
Even though it would probably result in my ultimate defeat, so would I also find it rather fun if the Allies were to get their thumbs out and actually try to invade France or Italy.
Rostov, July 3rd 1944
The city of Rostov was in a complete chaos and disorder…
Von Flock observed the groups of German, Hungarian, Slovakian and Romanian vehicle columns and groups of soldiers passing by on the huge central square of the city. The city had become filled with Axis-troops after the withdrawals from the Donetz-region and it was obvious that the commanding officers had difficulties with maintaining organization and discipline. Several companies from the ‘Feldgendarmerie’ [military police], along with security units from the SD, had been deployed to uphold some form of order.
As if the city was getting prepared to be stormed by the Russians so were the constructions of fortifications and strong points going on trough-out the entire city. Several battalions had been sent to the outskirts north and west of the city to build trenches and obstacles. The defences east of the city were located along the length of the river where also pillboxes and fixed gun positions were being built.
Von Flock knew, which also had been hinted in the talks covering the planning of the defences of the city, that with the fall of Kharkov and the withdrawal of the 4.Armee to the south so would it only be a matter of time before Rostov was declared, and received the status of, ‘Festung’. Von Flock reflected over that grim possibility and the obvious fact that when the Russian artillery started to shell the city so would they not be required to aim in order to hit anything due to the high concentration and density of Axis-troops within the city.
The morale among the men had suffered a blow with the retreat into Rostov and there was a feeling spreading that the Russians could not be stopped. Rumours flourished in the city and after the defeat and withdrawal of the 4.Armee at Kharkov, there were indications of panic within some units. Some rumours went as far as saying that the Russians had already managed to fully exploit their previous victory at Kharkov and had already performed a thrust to the south and reached the Black Sea. Even though that not many believed in that rumour, so did it exist a very present fear of encirclement.
The failed assassination attempt on Hitler had also caused the soldiers, being easily influenced for the time being, to start to question how the war was being managed and dissent had started to spread in some groups against the regime, and it’s meddling in purely military matters.
Von Flock saw how a Romanian infantry detachment had to stop while trying to cross a part of the square. Civilians, from the city, who also were passing through the square quickly surrounded the Romanian soldier and started to ask questions to them. The Romanian soldiers did at first not say much and von Flock noticed that the soldiers were first rather uncomfortable with the situation, but after a few moments did they become more sympathetic towards the civilians. Von Flock realised that the gap between the enemies of Germany and the allies of Germany was shrinking. A Romanian solider cried out: “Stay well, the bastards have already taken Hitler.” The Romanian solider then continued to tell the civilians about the situation on the eastern front and how close the Russian armies were to the city. He made a big point of mentioning that the German Wehrmacht in southeast Russian had been shattered and were quickly retreating west.
Suddenly did von Flock see how a German Feldgendarm-patrol close in on the crowd. Heavy blows from rifles rained down on those who had been speaking with the Romanian soldiers in an attempt to preserve the fear among the civilian population. A furious German feldgendarm grabbed the Romanian soldier and threw him to the ground and started to beat him with a stick. The Romanian soldiers and the German feldgendarms observed and measured each other. Did situation did though not erupt into an open confrontation, because a Romanian officer appeared on the scene, walked up to the German feldgendarm and whipped him in the face – forcing him to back away.
The officer gave a command to the Romanian soldiers and lead them away. Von Flock, not wanting to interfere even though he had the rank to do so, saw how many of the Romanian soldiers grinned to the Germans feldgendarms when they marched off. Von Flock knew that what he just had seen only was the tip of an iceberg in terms of worsening relations between the Axis-allies. He also felt a bit sad over what he just had seen, because even if the Romanians had ‘won’ this confrontation so would the German military police take vengeance upon other Romanian soldiers.
Von Flock continued to make his way over the crowded square towards the headquarters of Heeresgruppe Don, which hastily had been set up in the large ‘Cathedral of Virgin’s Nativity’, which were located on the square. When he approached the cathedral so did he pass by a platoon of Feldgendarms that were guarding the entrance. They were speaking to each other about something, but he only catched a word: "...Rumänische..."
When he came in so did a grand hall packed with people meet him. Telephones were ringing and the hall was filled with cigarette smoke and activity. Von Flock started to look for the chief of staff to present the latest report regarding the Kriegsmarine’s and the Romanian navy’s ability to aid the ground forces by providing artillery support as well as the transport capacity.
Suddenly someone yelled out: “Silence….Silence!!!”
Everyone stopped to speak. Only a phone was ringing. Von Flock heard that someone was turning up the volume on a radio receiver that was in the operations room and von Flock heard that it was someone holding a speech that was being broad casted over the Grossdeutscher Rundfunk [Greater Germany radio]. He recognized the familiar voice of the speaker – Propaganda minister and Gauleiter of Berlin, Goebbles.
“…We Germans are armed against weakness and uncertainty. The blows and misfortunes of the war only give us additional strength, firm resolve, and a spiritual and fighting will to overcome all difficulties and obstacles with revolutionary élan.
Now is not the time to ask how it all happened. That can wait until later, when the German people and the whole world will learn the full truth about the misfortune of the past weeks, and its deep and fateful significance. The heroic sacrifices of heroism of our soldiers in south eastern Russia has had vast historical significance for the whole Eastern Front. It was not in vain.
The future will make clear why.
When I jump over the past to look ahead, I do it intentionally. The time is short! There is no time for fruitless debates. We must act, immediately, thoroughly, and decisively, as has always been the National Socialist way.”
Cheers and applauds could be heard from the audience trough the radio. Some officers located in the room looked at the radio speaker and shock their heads. The cheering and applauds faded away and Goebbles voice was heard again:
”…We face a serious military challenge in the East. The crisis is at the moment a broad one, similar but not identical in many ways to that of the previous winter. Later we will discuss the causes. Now, we must accept things as they are and discover and apply the ways and means to turn things again in our favor. There is no point in disputing the seriousness of the situation. I do not want to give you a false impression of the situation that could lead to false conclusions, perhaps giving the German people a false sense of security that is altogether inappropriate in the present situation…”
There was some disturbance on the radio-broadcast and none among the assembled people in the staff of Heeresgruppe Don could hear anything for a while. Suddenly, Goebbels voice re-appeared:
”When the Fuhrer ordered the army to attack the Soviet Union in June 1942, we all knew that this would be the decisive battle of this great struggle. We knew the dangers and difficulties. But we also knew that dangers and difficulties always grow over time, they never diminish. It was two minutes before midnight. Waiting any longer could easily have led to the destruction of the Reich and a total Bolshevization of the European continent.”
”It is understandable that, as a result of broad concealment and misleading actions by the Bolshevist government, we did not properly evaluate the Soviet Union's war potential. Only now do we see its true scale. That is why the battle our soldiers face in the East exceeds in its hardness, dangers and difficulties all human imagining. It demands our full national strength. This is a threat to the Reich and to the European continent that casts all previous dangers into the shadows. If we fail, we will have failed our historic mission. Everything we have built and done in the past pales in the face of this gigantic task that the German army directly and the German people less directly face.”
”I speak first to the world, and proclaim three theses regarding our fight against the Bolshevist danger in the East.
This first thesis: Were the German army not in a position to break the danger from the East, the Reich would fall to Bolshevism, and all Europe shortly afterwards.
Second: The German army, the German people and their allies alone have the strength to save Europe from this threat.
Third: Danger faces us. We must act quickly and decisively, or it will be too late.”
There was disturbance on the radio again. The officers stood silent and looked towards the speaker. Some of them whispered among themselves. Just as before, the speaker was filled with the voice of Goebbels:
”My firm conviction is that we cannot overcome the Bolshevist danger unless we use equivalent, though not identical, methods. The German people face the gravest demand of the war, namely of finding the determination to use all our resources to protect everything we have and everything we will need in the future.”
”Total war is the demand of the hour. We must put an end to the bourgeois attitude that we have also seen in this war: Wash my back, but don't get me wet!”
Everything that Goebbels now was saying got met with applause of agreement by his audience, and it was clearly heard trough the radio.
”The danger facing us is enormous. The efforts we take to meet it must be just as enormous. The time has come to remove the kid gloves and use our fists.”
Various comments of approval and agreement from the audience was heard.
”We can no longer make only partial and careless use of the war potential at home and in the significant parts of Europe that we control. We must use our full resources, as quickly and thoroughly as it is organizationally and practically possible. Unnecessary concern is wholly out of place. The future of Europe hangs on our success in the East. We are ready to defend it. The German people are shedding their most valuable national blood in this battle. The rest of Europe should at least work to support us. There are many serious voices in Europe that have already realized this. Others still resist. That cannot influence us. If danger faced them alone, we could view their reluctance as literary nonsense of no significance. But the danger faces us all, and we must all do our share. Those who today do not understand that will thank us tomorrow on bended knees that we courageously and firmly took on the task.”
A storm of applauds, carefully staged though, was heard trough the radio again and interrupted the speech. The audience has gone completely berserk in its cheers and applause.
“The Reich is threatened by a mortal danger from east and we must double our efforts to overcome and remove this threat. We can not allow that only a few are facing this threat alone, but the whole German people much join in and continue the struggle!”
More cheers from the crowd that Goebbles were speaking to in person.
An Oberst (Colonel) present in the cathedral made a loud degrading comment regarding Goebbels, but was quickly told to be quiet.
”The English maintain that the German people is resisting the government's total war measures. It does not want total war, but capitulation! ”
Chants could be heard from the audience: ”Never!”
Goebbles continued with clear exaltation, yet fully controlled, in his voice:
”I ask you: Do you want total war? If necessary, do you want a war more total and radical than anything that we can even imagine today?”
”The English maintain that the German people have lost faith in the Fuhrer. I ask you: Is your confidence in the Führer greater, more faithful and more unshakable than ever before? Are you absolutely and completely ready to follow him wherever he goes and do all that is necessary to bring the war to a victorious end?”
The audience goes wild and rise up from their chairs. All screaming:
”Fuhrer command, we follow!”
The audience starts to hail the banners that are being raised inside the great hall.
Goebbels looked down on the audience from his podium, and even though the audience still was cheering and giving air to their support did Goebbels call out:
“Now nation arise, and storm break loose!”
Someone in the headquarters turned off the radio and also commented:
“We will never be allowed to slip out of Russia alive. What we have experienced so far here in the east will be nothing of what we can expect of the future.
If the people back at home show such radical abd fanatical support, we will be whipped and forced to double our efforts. We will going to have to fight like rats and do so in unwinable battles - and probably get destroyed in the process.”
Von Flock shock his head for himself. He had realised what just had been said by Goebbels. Quietly, to himself, he said:
“The reign of Greater Germany have reached its zenith…We too are about to fade away.”
The city of Rostov was in a complete chaos and disorder…
Von Flock observed the groups of German, Hungarian, Slovakian and Romanian vehicle columns and groups of soldiers passing by on the huge central square of the city. The city had become filled with Axis-troops after the withdrawals from the Donetz-region and it was obvious that the commanding officers had difficulties with maintaining organization and discipline. Several companies from the ‘Feldgendarmerie’ [military police], along with security units from the SD, had been deployed to uphold some form of order.
As if the city was getting prepared to be stormed by the Russians so were the constructions of fortifications and strong points going on trough-out the entire city. Several battalions had been sent to the outskirts north and west of the city to build trenches and obstacles. The defences east of the city were located along the length of the river where also pillboxes and fixed gun positions were being built.
Von Flock knew, which also had been hinted in the talks covering the planning of the defences of the city, that with the fall of Kharkov and the withdrawal of the 4.Armee to the south so would it only be a matter of time before Rostov was declared, and received the status of, ‘Festung’. Von Flock reflected over that grim possibility and the obvious fact that when the Russian artillery started to shell the city so would they not be required to aim in order to hit anything due to the high concentration and density of Axis-troops within the city.
The morale among the men had suffered a blow with the retreat into Rostov and there was a feeling spreading that the Russians could not be stopped. Rumours flourished in the city and after the defeat and withdrawal of the 4.Armee at Kharkov, there were indications of panic within some units. Some rumours went as far as saying that the Russians had already managed to fully exploit their previous victory at Kharkov and had already performed a thrust to the south and reached the Black Sea. Even though that not many believed in that rumour, so did it exist a very present fear of encirclement.
The failed assassination attempt on Hitler had also caused the soldiers, being easily influenced for the time being, to start to question how the war was being managed and dissent had started to spread in some groups against the regime, and it’s meddling in purely military matters.
Von Flock saw how a Romanian infantry detachment had to stop while trying to cross a part of the square. Civilians, from the city, who also were passing through the square quickly surrounded the Romanian soldier and started to ask questions to them. The Romanian soldiers did at first not say much and von Flock noticed that the soldiers were first rather uncomfortable with the situation, but after a few moments did they become more sympathetic towards the civilians. Von Flock realised that the gap between the enemies of Germany and the allies of Germany was shrinking. A Romanian solider cried out: “Stay well, the bastards have already taken Hitler.” The Romanian solider then continued to tell the civilians about the situation on the eastern front and how close the Russian armies were to the city. He made a big point of mentioning that the German Wehrmacht in southeast Russian had been shattered and were quickly retreating west.
Suddenly did von Flock see how a German Feldgendarm-patrol close in on the crowd. Heavy blows from rifles rained down on those who had been speaking with the Romanian soldiers in an attempt to preserve the fear among the civilian population. A furious German feldgendarm grabbed the Romanian soldier and threw him to the ground and started to beat him with a stick. The Romanian soldiers and the German feldgendarms observed and measured each other. Did situation did though not erupt into an open confrontation, because a Romanian officer appeared on the scene, walked up to the German feldgendarm and whipped him in the face – forcing him to back away.
The officer gave a command to the Romanian soldiers and lead them away. Von Flock, not wanting to interfere even though he had the rank to do so, saw how many of the Romanian soldiers grinned to the Germans feldgendarms when they marched off. Von Flock knew that what he just had seen only was the tip of an iceberg in terms of worsening relations between the Axis-allies. He also felt a bit sad over what he just had seen, because even if the Romanians had ‘won’ this confrontation so would the German military police take vengeance upon other Romanian soldiers.
Von Flock continued to make his way over the crowded square towards the headquarters of Heeresgruppe Don, which hastily had been set up in the large ‘Cathedral of Virgin’s Nativity’, which were located on the square. When he approached the cathedral so did he pass by a platoon of Feldgendarms that were guarding the entrance. They were speaking to each other about something, but he only catched a word: "...Rumänische..."
When he came in so did a grand hall packed with people meet him. Telephones were ringing and the hall was filled with cigarette smoke and activity. Von Flock started to look for the chief of staff to present the latest report regarding the Kriegsmarine’s and the Romanian navy’s ability to aid the ground forces by providing artillery support as well as the transport capacity.
Suddenly someone yelled out: “Silence….Silence!!!”
Everyone stopped to speak. Only a phone was ringing. Von Flock heard that someone was turning up the volume on a radio receiver that was in the operations room and von Flock heard that it was someone holding a speech that was being broad casted over the Grossdeutscher Rundfunk [Greater Germany radio]. He recognized the familiar voice of the speaker – Propaganda minister and Gauleiter of Berlin, Goebbles.
“…We Germans are armed against weakness and uncertainty. The blows and misfortunes of the war only give us additional strength, firm resolve, and a spiritual and fighting will to overcome all difficulties and obstacles with revolutionary élan.
Now is not the time to ask how it all happened. That can wait until later, when the German people and the whole world will learn the full truth about the misfortune of the past weeks, and its deep and fateful significance. The heroic sacrifices of heroism of our soldiers in south eastern Russia has had vast historical significance for the whole Eastern Front. It was not in vain.
The future will make clear why.
When I jump over the past to look ahead, I do it intentionally. The time is short! There is no time for fruitless debates. We must act, immediately, thoroughly, and decisively, as has always been the National Socialist way.”
Cheers and applauds could be heard from the audience trough the radio. Some officers located in the room looked at the radio speaker and shock their heads. The cheering and applauds faded away and Goebbles voice was heard again:
”…We face a serious military challenge in the East. The crisis is at the moment a broad one, similar but not identical in many ways to that of the previous winter. Later we will discuss the causes. Now, we must accept things as they are and discover and apply the ways and means to turn things again in our favor. There is no point in disputing the seriousness of the situation. I do not want to give you a false impression of the situation that could lead to false conclusions, perhaps giving the German people a false sense of security that is altogether inappropriate in the present situation…”
There was some disturbance on the radio-broadcast and none among the assembled people in the staff of Heeresgruppe Don could hear anything for a while. Suddenly, Goebbels voice re-appeared:
”When the Fuhrer ordered the army to attack the Soviet Union in June 1942, we all knew that this would be the decisive battle of this great struggle. We knew the dangers and difficulties. But we also knew that dangers and difficulties always grow over time, they never diminish. It was two minutes before midnight. Waiting any longer could easily have led to the destruction of the Reich and a total Bolshevization of the European continent.”
”It is understandable that, as a result of broad concealment and misleading actions by the Bolshevist government, we did not properly evaluate the Soviet Union's war potential. Only now do we see its true scale. That is why the battle our soldiers face in the East exceeds in its hardness, dangers and difficulties all human imagining. It demands our full national strength. This is a threat to the Reich and to the European continent that casts all previous dangers into the shadows. If we fail, we will have failed our historic mission. Everything we have built and done in the past pales in the face of this gigantic task that the German army directly and the German people less directly face.”
”I speak first to the world, and proclaim three theses regarding our fight against the Bolshevist danger in the East.
This first thesis: Were the German army not in a position to break the danger from the East, the Reich would fall to Bolshevism, and all Europe shortly afterwards.
Second: The German army, the German people and their allies alone have the strength to save Europe from this threat.
Third: Danger faces us. We must act quickly and decisively, or it will be too late.”
There was disturbance on the radio again. The officers stood silent and looked towards the speaker. Some of them whispered among themselves. Just as before, the speaker was filled with the voice of Goebbels:
”My firm conviction is that we cannot overcome the Bolshevist danger unless we use equivalent, though not identical, methods. The German people face the gravest demand of the war, namely of finding the determination to use all our resources to protect everything we have and everything we will need in the future.”
”Total war is the demand of the hour. We must put an end to the bourgeois attitude that we have also seen in this war: Wash my back, but don't get me wet!”
Everything that Goebbels now was saying got met with applause of agreement by his audience, and it was clearly heard trough the radio.
”The danger facing us is enormous. The efforts we take to meet it must be just as enormous. The time has come to remove the kid gloves and use our fists.”
Various comments of approval and agreement from the audience was heard.
”We can no longer make only partial and careless use of the war potential at home and in the significant parts of Europe that we control. We must use our full resources, as quickly and thoroughly as it is organizationally and practically possible. Unnecessary concern is wholly out of place. The future of Europe hangs on our success in the East. We are ready to defend it. The German people are shedding their most valuable national blood in this battle. The rest of Europe should at least work to support us. There are many serious voices in Europe that have already realized this. Others still resist. That cannot influence us. If danger faced them alone, we could view their reluctance as literary nonsense of no significance. But the danger faces us all, and we must all do our share. Those who today do not understand that will thank us tomorrow on bended knees that we courageously and firmly took on the task.”
A storm of applauds, carefully staged though, was heard trough the radio again and interrupted the speech. The audience has gone completely berserk in its cheers and applause.
“The Reich is threatened by a mortal danger from east and we must double our efforts to overcome and remove this threat. We can not allow that only a few are facing this threat alone, but the whole German people much join in and continue the struggle!”
More cheers from the crowd that Goebbles were speaking to in person.
An Oberst (Colonel) present in the cathedral made a loud degrading comment regarding Goebbels, but was quickly told to be quiet.
”The English maintain that the German people is resisting the government's total war measures. It does not want total war, but capitulation! ”
Chants could be heard from the audience: ”Never!”
Goebbles continued with clear exaltation, yet fully controlled, in his voice:
”I ask you: Do you want total war? If necessary, do you want a war more total and radical than anything that we can even imagine today?”
”The English maintain that the German people have lost faith in the Fuhrer. I ask you: Is your confidence in the Führer greater, more faithful and more unshakable than ever before? Are you absolutely and completely ready to follow him wherever he goes and do all that is necessary to bring the war to a victorious end?”
The audience goes wild and rise up from their chairs. All screaming:
”Fuhrer command, we follow!”
The audience starts to hail the banners that are being raised inside the great hall.
Goebbels looked down on the audience from his podium, and even though the audience still was cheering and giving air to their support did Goebbels call out:
“Now nation arise, and storm break loose!”
Someone in the headquarters turned off the radio and also commented:
“We will never be allowed to slip out of Russia alive. What we have experienced so far here in the east will be nothing of what we can expect of the future.
If the people back at home show such radical abd fanatical support, we will be whipped and forced to double our efforts. We will going to have to fight like rats and do so in unwinable battles - and probably get destroyed in the process.”
Von Flock shock his head for himself. He had realised what just had been said by Goebbels. Quietly, to himself, he said:
“The reign of Greater Germany have reached its zenith…We too are about to fade away.”
Last edited:
Thank you.
Yes, it is [parts of] the actual famous "Total War-speech" given by Goebbels. Hade to edit it down quite a bit and adjust it though.
Yes, it is [parts of] the actual famous "Total War-speech" given by Goebbels. Hade to edit it down quite a bit and adjust it though.
Metatrone said:
Yes, I knew that from the first moment I read it. Nicely written and I like the subplot with the officers reacting to it
You capture the feeling of the troops wonderfully. I was feeling it! trapped like rats, doomed by the bolshie vermin exterminator!
Indeed unfortunatly for the germans it was left at a speech german economy never switched to total war output.
Great update..... keep'em coming
Great update..... keep'em coming
therev: You capture the feeling of the troops wonderfully. I was feeling it! trapped like rats, doomed by the bolshie vermin exterminator!
well said ! ! i also had picked up on that issue! !
excellent adaptation! !
however, history shows...
well said ! ! i also had picked up on that issue! !
excellent adaptation! !
however, history shows...
A couple of days into July did the Fuhrer headquarters, upon the strong recommendations of the Auswärtiges Amt (Foreign Office), grant the region of Flanders partial independence and self-government. In other words so was Flanders created as a puppet-state of Germany. It was viewed as a wise move since the popular opinion in Flanders was more or less on the same level as those of Germany. Creating Flanders would bring several advantages such as additional troops that could be used for service in the west; an important coastline that would not require the full attention of German forces. An other reason was also to limit of sources to dissent within the occupied territories.
Setting Flanders up as a puppet nation enabled the Wehrmacht to remove and transfer troops from the region. The 7.Armee that had earlier carried out occupational duties were now moved to the Cologne area as a strategic reserve. The real idea was to reorganize the Armee and later sent it to the east. Existing Security divisions that had been located in Flanders were also assigned orders to transfer to the east.
The Russians did seek to swing around Heeresgruppe Don and attacked at Poltava. The defender there did though put up a stiff resistance, and a counter-attack from Kiev against Priluki caused the Russians to both abort their attack and to fall back from Priluki with the five armoured division’s strong army. The available Luftwaffe resources were instantly assigned to perform ground attacks against the retreating tank columns.
The German advance eastwards from the Kiev area were though halted on orders from the OKH. Strong Russian reserves were closing in and no use of holding Priluki could be found which could motivate a long and drawn out battle, not mentioning losses in men and material. After having advanced a bit east the armoured columns turned back to their positions behind the Dnepr.
The withdrawal of the 20.Gebirgs-Armee did not go by unnoticed by the Russians. Only a few days after the withdrawal had been performed did they start their attacks against the Norwegian divisions defending Hammerfest. Only after several days worth of fighting, and being out manned 3 to 1 did the Norwegian divisions sort out the situation and broke the Russian attack.
Southeast Russia
On the 6th July so did strong forces of the 2.Panzer-Armee recapture Kharkov. This did though bring about Russian counter-attacks, and Russian forces struck at both Kharkov and Zaporozyhe. If successful there, the Russians would be able to make a drive towards the Black Sea coast and cut von Mansteins forces off. Von Manstein acted quickly and ordered the 6.Armee west from Rostov, assigning the army to guard the flank.
The actions of von Manstein did though play little role. On the 10th of July so did the defences at Zaporozhye cave in and the weak LV.Motorized Corps fell back. The Russians quickly followed up their capture of Zaporozhye and launched an attack against Dnepropetrovsk. The situation had quickly become very dangerous. Buchenhagen launched a major attack with his forces across the Dnepr in the vain hope that it would dislodge the Russian forces and seriously disturb the Russian drive to the southeast. After a day of bloody fighting, but without any real progress being made by Heeresgruppe Don, Buchenhagen ordered his forces back across the Dnepr.
After being informed that Heeresgruppe Ukraine had aborted its attack did von Manstein feel that he had to act, and do so quickly. Von Manstein immediately instructed his aide to prepare his aircraft and also demand a fighter-escort from the Luftwaffe. When facing the possibility that his entire, almost seventy divisions strong, Heeresgruppe would become cut with their backs to the Black Sea - von Manstein had decided to personally fly to Rastenburg and brief Hitler about the seriousness of the situation.
‘Wolfschanze‘, Rastenburg East Prussia
Von Manstein did unannounced appear in Hitler’s headquarters at Rastenburg on the evening of July 10th. The situation in the east, and also the previous assassination -and coup attempt, had caused Hitler to suspect treason and betrayal among everyone. The officers from the Wehrmacht were aware of the attitude towards them within the headquarters. When von Manstein arrived at the huge complex so was he saluted by SS-men from the Fuhrer-Begleit-Brigade. After he had done past them, he was forced to surrender his portfolio and personal sidearm before entering.
Von Manstein had to wait for a while in the staff-room before Hitler arrived with some members of his staff. Von Manstein had no time to waste and did immediately proclaim:
“Mein Fuhrer. The situation in southeast Russia and in the sector of Heeresgruppe Don demand that I in person brief you and present you with my thoughts regarding the future development of the situation."
"The entire Heeresgruppe Don is in grave danger of becoming cut off. The Russians have penetrated our left flank and are making a drive for the Black Sea. If the manage to accomplish that, almost seventy divisions will be cut off and basically encircled. This is not speculation or a possible development, mein Fuhrer - it is happening as we speak! I must demand that I receive permission to withdraw Heeresgruppe Don west of the river Dnepr and also link up with Heeresgruppe Ukraine.”
This did clearly not impress Hitler at all:
“In the situation that you are currently finding yourself in can there be no other solution than to hold out, to not budge even the slightest and to throw every weapon and every solider into the fight. You can no show your troops and other path than the one which lead to either victory or death.”
Von Manstein tried to argue his case once again, bringing up that the current positions [regardless of the risk of encirclement] were completely idiotic out of a defensive point of view.
When von Manstein had finished speaking, Hitler lost his self-control and started to yell at von Manstein in front of all present:
“Herr Generalfeldmarschall! There is no way back! The only alternative is to halt! Give up our positions around Kharkov and Rostov? That is impossible!”
Hitler continued with cancelling all previous orders that were approving withdrawals and instructed his staff, in front of von Manstein, to draw up new orders to the Wehrmacht in the east that every inch of ground should be defended to the last man.
“Have the soldiers dig trenches with howitzer shells if needed! The existing lines are to be defended.”, Hitler ended his instructions to the staff with.
He now turned to von Manstein again: “How many rifles do you have?”
“We have not counted them”, von Manstein replied.
Hitler got so irritated by that response and did subject von Manstein to some serious accusations. Von Manstein did though after a short while get enough and replied:
“Mein Fuhrer, it would be best if you in person went to southeast Russia and showed how one are to defend oneself against Russian armour with a rifle.” [historically said by Rommel to Hitler]
Meanwhile, during the same evening, so had a trap devised by the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe in the west managed to lure a large US Navy-taskforce to engage a small Kriegsmarine surface-group (two obsolete heavy cruisers) in Kattegatt. The Luftwaffe had in the days prior rebased from western France to bases along the North Sea coast. When the two cruisers reported that they were coming under attack by the US Navy taskforce, the Luftwaffe scrambled every available aircraft in the region with the intent to converge on the Allied ships in Helgoland Beight.
The US ships became very surprised when the skies above them filled up with Luftwaffe bombers. The Luftwaffe sent wave after wave in during the entire evening. By pure coincidence so did some bombers, due to navigational error, spot an other equally strong Allied task force in the waters east of Denmark. The waters and skies around Denmark now became littered with aircrafts, anti-aircraft fire and huge warships steering to avoid bombs and torpedoes.
By morning of July 11th so had the Luftwaffe lost track of the Allied ships east of Denmark. It was uncertain what kind of losses that had been caused to the Allied ships, but there were very strong indications that several bombs had manage to hit a US carrier and seriously damaged it.
The battle in Helgoland Beight continued trough the morning and the US aircraft carrier ‘USS Lexington‘ had been severely damaged.
Even though it would take several days for them to reach their destinations, so did Gross Admiral Raeder order the 13.Unterseebootsflotille and the 22.Unterseebootsflotille to leave their base at Bordeaux and relocate to Kiel. There was obviously much Allied naval activity in those waters, and two Ubootflotillas would probably come in a good position to sink Allied warships. Especially if the Luftwaffe continued to harass them from the air.
The Allied ships east of Denmark were spotted again at around 0800h by the Luftwaffe, which immediately went to attack.
At 0900h did the Luftwaffe naval-bomber group attacking the ships report that the battleship ‘USS New Jersey’ had been sunk. During mid-day were though the heavy cruiser, ‘Illmarinen’ [which had been seized by the Kriegsmarine when the Soviet Union annexed Finland], go keel up and sunk after having battled against forces fifteen times bigger. The remaining heavy cruiser, ‘Väinämöinen’, attempted to flee north.
By 2100h on the evening so did the Luftwaffe lost track of the US warships. Even though not sunk but still floating, so had the aircraft carrier ‘USS Lexington’ been reduced to a burning wreck.
To the surprise of all so did the Luftwaffe spot both of the Allied taskforces only an hour later in the waters of Helgoland Beight. Wave after wave of Luftwaffe bombers attacked the desperately firing US warships that refused to leave the obviously dangerous waters they were in. As the battle grew in size, the Luftwaffe reassigned its fighter squadrons from its prior mission of fighting off Allied fighters over the North Sea to join in the attack against the Allied ships. Swarms of Bf-109’s converged on the ships and strafed the decks and superstructures with machinegun -and cannon fire in low altitude attacks.
That move did finally bring about the sinking of the aircraft carrier ‘USS Lexington’, which went under the waves during the morning of July 12th. The improved carrier that made up the ‘4th Light Carrier Division’ met the same fate only a few hours afterwards with sinking after have been hit by several bombs and torpedoes.
On the eastern front so had Heeresgruppe Don launched an attack against Sumy, seeking to cut off the five Russian divisions that were racing towards the Black Sea coast. At noon so were the Russians forced to withdraw from Sumy and the German armour raced towards Sumy in order to close the route of escape for the Russian divisions to the south.
***
At Helgoland Beight did the battle still rage with full intensity. The tactics used by the Luftwaffe was to target only one enemy warship in each wave, and the aircraft carrier ‘USS Ranger’ had become the new victim. The US taskforce under Grand Admiral Kimmel tried to escape north, towards Skagerack. But the Luftwaffe did almost immediately spot the taskforce again and the attacks resumed. In the middle of the night, during a night attack from the Luftwaffe who was operating around the clock, did so also the ‘USS Ranger’ go under.
The Kriegsmarine, which received constant updates of the battle, did now start to prepare its most potent surface groups. The battleship ‘Tirpitz’ and her group received orders to rebase to Copenhagen, as did ‘Bismarck‘ and her supporting ships. An other group of heavy cruisers already layed in port at Rostock. Once the Luftwaffe had manage to weaken the US taskforce enough, the Kriegsmarine would send out these groups, and in combination with the U-boats heading for the North Sea - finish it off. The US taskforce were slowly becoming boxed in: The Luftwaffe above them; two Unterseebootsflotillas closing in from the west; and three strong surface groups from the Kriegsmarine ready to strike from the east.
Unfortunately for both the Luftwaffe and the Kriegsmarine so did they both loose track of the US taskforce during the night to the 14th July. The Luftwaffe high command in the west made the decision to cancel further missions over the North Sea. The entire operation had turned out to be a huge success, sinking several aircraft carriers as well as a battleship.
The sinking of these ships was up to date one of the Luftwaffes grandest victories in the war. Also, the price in terms of pilots and planes had been extremely low for the Luftwaffe. It was decided that the Luftwaffe units would remain in the region for the time being.
At about the same time had Heeresgruppe Don completed its encirclement of the Russian divisions.
Everything that was left to do was to crush the Russian pocket and seek to take advantage of the situation…
Setting Flanders up as a puppet nation enabled the Wehrmacht to remove and transfer troops from the region. The 7.Armee that had earlier carried out occupational duties were now moved to the Cologne area as a strategic reserve. The real idea was to reorganize the Armee and later sent it to the east. Existing Security divisions that had been located in Flanders were also assigned orders to transfer to the east.
***
The Russians did seek to swing around Heeresgruppe Don and attacked at Poltava. The defender there did though put up a stiff resistance, and a counter-attack from Kiev against Priluki caused the Russians to both abort their attack and to fall back from Priluki with the five armoured division’s strong army. The available Luftwaffe resources were instantly assigned to perform ground attacks against the retreating tank columns.
The German advance eastwards from the Kiev area were though halted on orders from the OKH. Strong Russian reserves were closing in and no use of holding Priluki could be found which could motivate a long and drawn out battle, not mentioning losses in men and material. After having advanced a bit east the armoured columns turned back to their positions behind the Dnepr.
***
The withdrawal of the 20.Gebirgs-Armee did not go by unnoticed by the Russians. Only a few days after the withdrawal had been performed did they start their attacks against the Norwegian divisions defending Hammerfest. Only after several days worth of fighting, and being out manned 3 to 1 did the Norwegian divisions sort out the situation and broke the Russian attack.
***
Southeast Russia
On the 6th July so did strong forces of the 2.Panzer-Armee recapture Kharkov. This did though bring about Russian counter-attacks, and Russian forces struck at both Kharkov and Zaporozyhe. If successful there, the Russians would be able to make a drive towards the Black Sea coast and cut von Mansteins forces off. Von Manstein acted quickly and ordered the 6.Armee west from Rostov, assigning the army to guard the flank.
The actions of von Manstein did though play little role. On the 10th of July so did the defences at Zaporozhye cave in and the weak LV.Motorized Corps fell back. The Russians quickly followed up their capture of Zaporozhye and launched an attack against Dnepropetrovsk. The situation had quickly become very dangerous. Buchenhagen launched a major attack with his forces across the Dnepr in the vain hope that it would dislodge the Russian forces and seriously disturb the Russian drive to the southeast. After a day of bloody fighting, but without any real progress being made by Heeresgruppe Don, Buchenhagen ordered his forces back across the Dnepr.
After being informed that Heeresgruppe Ukraine had aborted its attack did von Manstein feel that he had to act, and do so quickly. Von Manstein immediately instructed his aide to prepare his aircraft and also demand a fighter-escort from the Luftwaffe. When facing the possibility that his entire, almost seventy divisions strong, Heeresgruppe would become cut with their backs to the Black Sea - von Manstein had decided to personally fly to Rastenburg and brief Hitler about the seriousness of the situation.
***
‘Wolfschanze‘, Rastenburg East Prussia
Von Manstein did unannounced appear in Hitler’s headquarters at Rastenburg on the evening of July 10th. The situation in the east, and also the previous assassination -and coup attempt, had caused Hitler to suspect treason and betrayal among everyone. The officers from the Wehrmacht were aware of the attitude towards them within the headquarters. When von Manstein arrived at the huge complex so was he saluted by SS-men from the Fuhrer-Begleit-Brigade. After he had done past them, he was forced to surrender his portfolio and personal sidearm before entering.
Von Manstein had to wait for a while in the staff-room before Hitler arrived with some members of his staff. Von Manstein had no time to waste and did immediately proclaim:
“Mein Fuhrer. The situation in southeast Russia and in the sector of Heeresgruppe Don demand that I in person brief you and present you with my thoughts regarding the future development of the situation."
"The entire Heeresgruppe Don is in grave danger of becoming cut off. The Russians have penetrated our left flank and are making a drive for the Black Sea. If the manage to accomplish that, almost seventy divisions will be cut off and basically encircled. This is not speculation or a possible development, mein Fuhrer - it is happening as we speak! I must demand that I receive permission to withdraw Heeresgruppe Don west of the river Dnepr and also link up with Heeresgruppe Ukraine.”
This did clearly not impress Hitler at all:
“In the situation that you are currently finding yourself in can there be no other solution than to hold out, to not budge even the slightest and to throw every weapon and every solider into the fight. You can no show your troops and other path than the one which lead to either victory or death.”
Von Manstein tried to argue his case once again, bringing up that the current positions [regardless of the risk of encirclement] were completely idiotic out of a defensive point of view.
When von Manstein had finished speaking, Hitler lost his self-control and started to yell at von Manstein in front of all present:
“Herr Generalfeldmarschall! There is no way back! The only alternative is to halt! Give up our positions around Kharkov and Rostov? That is impossible!”
Hitler continued with cancelling all previous orders that were approving withdrawals and instructed his staff, in front of von Manstein, to draw up new orders to the Wehrmacht in the east that every inch of ground should be defended to the last man.
“Have the soldiers dig trenches with howitzer shells if needed! The existing lines are to be defended.”, Hitler ended his instructions to the staff with.
He now turned to von Manstein again: “How many rifles do you have?”
“We have not counted them”, von Manstein replied.
Hitler got so irritated by that response and did subject von Manstein to some serious accusations. Von Manstein did though after a short while get enough and replied:
“Mein Fuhrer, it would be best if you in person went to southeast Russia and showed how one are to defend oneself against Russian armour with a rifle.” [historically said by Rommel to Hitler]
***
Meanwhile, during the same evening, so had a trap devised by the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe in the west managed to lure a large US Navy-taskforce to engage a small Kriegsmarine surface-group (two obsolete heavy cruisers) in Kattegatt. The Luftwaffe had in the days prior rebased from western France to bases along the North Sea coast. When the two cruisers reported that they were coming under attack by the US Navy taskforce, the Luftwaffe scrambled every available aircraft in the region with the intent to converge on the Allied ships in Helgoland Beight.
The US ships became very surprised when the skies above them filled up with Luftwaffe bombers. The Luftwaffe sent wave after wave in during the entire evening. By pure coincidence so did some bombers, due to navigational error, spot an other equally strong Allied task force in the waters east of Denmark. The waters and skies around Denmark now became littered with aircrafts, anti-aircraft fire and huge warships steering to avoid bombs and torpedoes.
By morning of July 11th so had the Luftwaffe lost track of the Allied ships east of Denmark. It was uncertain what kind of losses that had been caused to the Allied ships, but there were very strong indications that several bombs had manage to hit a US carrier and seriously damaged it.
The battle in Helgoland Beight continued trough the morning and the US aircraft carrier ‘USS Lexington‘ had been severely damaged.
Even though it would take several days for them to reach their destinations, so did Gross Admiral Raeder order the 13.Unterseebootsflotille and the 22.Unterseebootsflotille to leave their base at Bordeaux and relocate to Kiel. There was obviously much Allied naval activity in those waters, and two Ubootflotillas would probably come in a good position to sink Allied warships. Especially if the Luftwaffe continued to harass them from the air.
The Allied ships east of Denmark were spotted again at around 0800h by the Luftwaffe, which immediately went to attack.
At 0900h did the Luftwaffe naval-bomber group attacking the ships report that the battleship ‘USS New Jersey’ had been sunk. During mid-day were though the heavy cruiser, ‘Illmarinen’ [which had been seized by the Kriegsmarine when the Soviet Union annexed Finland], go keel up and sunk after having battled against forces fifteen times bigger. The remaining heavy cruiser, ‘Väinämöinen’, attempted to flee north.
By 2100h on the evening so did the Luftwaffe lost track of the US warships. Even though not sunk but still floating, so had the aircraft carrier ‘USS Lexington’ been reduced to a burning wreck.
To the surprise of all so did the Luftwaffe spot both of the Allied taskforces only an hour later in the waters of Helgoland Beight. Wave after wave of Luftwaffe bombers attacked the desperately firing US warships that refused to leave the obviously dangerous waters they were in. As the battle grew in size, the Luftwaffe reassigned its fighter squadrons from its prior mission of fighting off Allied fighters over the North Sea to join in the attack against the Allied ships. Swarms of Bf-109’s converged on the ships and strafed the decks and superstructures with machinegun -and cannon fire in low altitude attacks.
That move did finally bring about the sinking of the aircraft carrier ‘USS Lexington’, which went under the waves during the morning of July 12th. The improved carrier that made up the ‘4th Light Carrier Division’ met the same fate only a few hours afterwards with sinking after have been hit by several bombs and torpedoes.
***
On the eastern front so had Heeresgruppe Don launched an attack against Sumy, seeking to cut off the five Russian divisions that were racing towards the Black Sea coast. At noon so were the Russians forced to withdraw from Sumy and the German armour raced towards Sumy in order to close the route of escape for the Russian divisions to the south.
***
At Helgoland Beight did the battle still rage with full intensity. The tactics used by the Luftwaffe was to target only one enemy warship in each wave, and the aircraft carrier ‘USS Ranger’ had become the new victim. The US taskforce under Grand Admiral Kimmel tried to escape north, towards Skagerack. But the Luftwaffe did almost immediately spot the taskforce again and the attacks resumed. In the middle of the night, during a night attack from the Luftwaffe who was operating around the clock, did so also the ‘USS Ranger’ go under.
The Kriegsmarine, which received constant updates of the battle, did now start to prepare its most potent surface groups. The battleship ‘Tirpitz’ and her group received orders to rebase to Copenhagen, as did ‘Bismarck‘ and her supporting ships. An other group of heavy cruisers already layed in port at Rostock. Once the Luftwaffe had manage to weaken the US taskforce enough, the Kriegsmarine would send out these groups, and in combination with the U-boats heading for the North Sea - finish it off. The US taskforce were slowly becoming boxed in: The Luftwaffe above them; two Unterseebootsflotillas closing in from the west; and three strong surface groups from the Kriegsmarine ready to strike from the east.
Unfortunately for both the Luftwaffe and the Kriegsmarine so did they both loose track of the US taskforce during the night to the 14th July. The Luftwaffe high command in the west made the decision to cancel further missions over the North Sea. The entire operation had turned out to be a huge success, sinking several aircraft carriers as well as a battleship.
The sinking of these ships was up to date one of the Luftwaffes grandest victories in the war. Also, the price in terms of pilots and planes had been extremely low for the Luftwaffe. It was decided that the Luftwaffe units would remain in the region for the time being.
***
At about the same time had Heeresgruppe Don completed its encirclement of the Russian divisions.
Everything that was left to do was to crush the Russian pocket and seek to take advantage of the situation…
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nice update.
how much longer is hitler going to wait before he sacks v. manstein? or is he hoping the whole HG collapses and he is taken prisoner by the russians??
how much longer is hitler going to wait before he sacks v. manstein? or is he hoping the whole HG collapses and he is taken prisoner by the russians??
Well, as pointed out earlier and also indicated by Oberst Potski so isn´t Berlin to impressed with von Manstein for the time being. How ever, finding a good replacement for von Manstein is not an easy thing to do for Berlin. An alternativ would be to replace von Manstein with Model, and then send von Manstein to Norway where his options for withdrawals would be kind of...limited.
Metatrone: ...so isn´t Berlin to impressed with von Manstein for the time being...
methinks it is time for Herr Head Nasty to succumb to syphilis... his brain is fried ! !
excellent update! !
methinks it is time for Herr Head Nasty to succumb to syphilis...
his brain is fried ! ! excellent update! !
Hmm...There has actually been some rather interestning, and surprising, development taking place during my game session yesterday evening. If everything continue to go in the same direction so would I expect that the Generalfeldmarschalls command over his HG is pretty secure.
I will see if I have time to write a new chapter this evening, but a hint to those who are actually reading this AAR is that the German armour are once again driving east.
I will see if I have time to write a new chapter this evening, but a hint to those who are actually reading this AAR is that the German armour are once again driving east.
Metatrone: ...but a hint ... is that the German armour are once again driving east.
but are they safely destroying enemy forces? ? remember, one key to winning vs. the Soviets is to win the war of attrition, as well as destroy the enemy forces...
but are they safely destroying enemy forces? ? remember, one key to winning vs. the Soviets is to win the war of attrition, as well as destroy the enemy forces...