Chapter 8
British Army base, Dunfermline
The Carden-Loyd Mk. VI Tankette was wildely described as “a biece of bloody and utter rubish” by the troops of the Royal Tank Corps, and many other names that were not printable,
but 1 Squadron/2nd Royal Hussars/4th Armoured Brigade/7th Armoured Division had to make do with what the Royal Tank Corps could provide. As Lieutenant Jan Niemczyk liked to say in his broad Scottish accent that belied his polish heritage: “Ours is not to reason why”, a phrase that 1 Squadron had adopted as its informal motto. The Royal Tank Corps was even smaller than the rest of the small British Army, but the members knew that they would probably be the technological, tactical and glorious edge of the Army, its Iron Fist. Unfortunately the military build-up that Chamberlain had begun suffered from the simple fact that the Navy, like it had always been throughout British History, received the bear share of the funding and therefore only two Armoured Divisions were under training, the 1st “Royal Hussars” Armoured Division and their own outfit, the 7th. The whole process was rushed up hastily, and therefore no decent tank models were developed, and now even the Germans and to everyone's horror the French were ahead of Britain in Tank warfare. The Mk. VI was only a tankette, with a two man crew, and definitely not suited to go up against other tanks on an open Battlefield. But they were what the 7th had so the 7th trained with them until better models were available. Rumour had it that the 7th would get the 'opportunity' to test out just about everything that Britain's Tank factories could produce, from native designs to copies of the Redneck* Lenin Mk. 3/5 series. Niemczyk wanted to skip all these and go directly for the Crusader Mk II design Royal Ordnance was working on, but according to a friend of his the Tank was at least several months away.
“Lieutenant!” a annoying voice screamed, belonging to the Squadron's CO, Captain Henderson. Niemczyk looked up from the engine he was currently fideling with and snapped to attention. “Yes, Sir!” “Have you finished removing these modifications of yours?” Niemczyk groaned inwardly. The Captain had been furious he had heard that his section had dared to modify their “Tanks” to squeeze a bit more power out of the small engine and had ordered these 'highly irregular' modifications to be removed immediately. Niemczyk had done so wisely choosing not to protest too loudly. Captain Henderson had always been a book-man, something Niemczyk had found out when he had transferred from Fife and Forfar Yeomanry to the newly forming 7th Armoured Division. Good good, Lieutenant. However there is some news that you and your men might like. The powers that be decided that we need new Equipment. The Colonel has ordered me to send a section of my Squadron down to Vickers to pick up a Cruiser Mk.1, and since you seem to be more than capable to get faulty equipment to work I've decided to send YOU! Report to the Colonels office in 30 minutes.” Henderson obviously intended this to be a punishment, but little did he know that Niemczyk and his men relished any opportunity to get away from Henderson who know and cared as much about Tank warfare as 'my Grandmother's cow about icefishing'.
September 9
Royal Ordnance Factory Chorley, Lancashire
Niemczyk and his section were very much annoyed. Their trip had begun at the Divisions base in northern Scotland, had taken them to Vickers where they had again been stuffed into a train and taken to this ROF with adjacent proving grounds that included a trial course through which they were supposed to take the tank they had been supposed to receive 4 hours ago. “Lieutenant Niemczyk?” a man dressed in a rumpled suit and with rings under his eyes asked. “That would be me.” the Lieutenant answered, shaking the man's hand. “Welcome to ROF Chorley. This way please.” The Soldiers followed him inside the factory and looked around at the machines that were assembling a tanks by the dozen. When they had crossed the hall the party stopped when they reached a small flat tarmac space behind the factory. “This Gentlemen is one of three ROF proving grounds in Lancashire. You will today be the first crew to field-test our new Tank, Cruiser, Mk I (A9).” Right on cue a tank came rolling out of the factory behind them and stopped. Like a proud father the man walked around the tank and recited its features: “Weight 12 tonnes, Size eight feet four inches times eight feet eight inches. A Crew of 6, with the Commander, the gunner the loader a driver and two machine gunners. Armour 14mm at the thickest point.” Niemczyk exclaimed: “14 millimetres? You must be joking!” “I never joke about my work Lieutenant.” he sighed. ” Lieutenant, unfortunately that was done to keep the tank below the fixed price the War Office has given us.” The Lieutenant nodded and motioned his tank crew to close in on their newest toy, inspecting it closely. He liked the 47mm gun, quite possibly able to punch through anything the Jerries could field, but the armour was hideously thin. “Well then old Bean, let's take her for a spin.” The soldiers mounted the tank and familiarized themselves with the tanks controls. After a few minute the engine roared and the tank slowly made its way to the entry of the trial course. By the end of the day Niemczyk had identified several faults in the construction of the tank, the biggest one the tracks that tended to break and come off at random intervals. Then came the part all soldiers liked the most: the shooting range.
*British nickname for the Communist Americans. “Yanks” no longer applies.
[Game effects: I started building the first Armoured Divisions. I plan to have at least one full Corps (4 ARM + two MOT/MEC) by the time the war starts, equipped with at least lvl III Mediums, in this case the Crusader. I also went for the American Doctrine tree. The Lieutenant is modelled after a friend of mine who coincidentally even has the same name and who is active over at the Naval Fiction Board. You should really check out “The last War” if you are a fan of alternate History.]
This is a short chapter, but I decided to end it where it ends because what i had in mind for the next paragraph simply sucked.
To celebrate both my Birthday today and yesterdays glorious victory over portugal ( to the portugese redAARs: Better luck next time.
) I announce the 2nd ReadAAR participation day.
The options for the next chapter are:
a) Ribbentrops talks in Moscow
b) American reaction to rumours about said talks ( this would take place prior to the talks )
c) Introduction of yet another character, this time a non-fictional one in the person of General Ironside.
STOP! COOKIE TIME
