The fierce, battered remnants of the Kriegsmarine rallied in the Mouth of the Thames, just a few miles from the shores of England.
Sixty-two units, a mere nuisance to the powerful Allied fleets. Yet they stood there, their movement undisturbed: the Allies might've long stopped patrolling the British coasts seeing as the Kriegsmarine was reduced to a few old, rusty ships. This small force, only reminiscent of its former glory, would soon play an instrumental role in the most dangerous and risky gamble Germany had ever attempted so far.
While the German fleet quietly awaited further orders in British seas, a handful of German strategic bombers left a French airbase during the night between the 3rd and the 4th of March.
The second atomic bomb produced by Germany was dropped on the city of Norwich. Allied interceptors rushed to the defence of their air space a moment too late; the city, its garrison and its fleet were devastated, leaving the shores open to German invasion.
On March 4, six German divisions assaulted the beaches of Norwich. Despite harsh weather and no experience whatsoever on amphibious assaults, the British positions were quickly overrun as their divisions were in complete disarray after the nuclear attack.
Two days later, Lt. Gen. Kuntze and his three divisions were the first ones to set foot on the British isle.
The Allied fleet stationed in Norwich had been dislodged after its occupation. The German fleet was too eager to defend its precious transport ships against Allied retaliation, which could prove fatal to the German cause.
Despite having suffered the detonation of a nuclear bomb, the eighty-nine units, comprising just too many modern aircraft carriers for the Germans to count, still managed to score a few hits against their foes.
Luck spoke German, apparently, as the Allied fleet quickly disengaged just as the night had just ended. The loss of a battlecruiser and two cruisers was well worth the successful defence of this short, yet fragile and vital route between continental Europe and the British isle. Every day with such a route secured meant more divisions and supplies shipped to Norwich: it was well known that the full might of the Allied navy would soon come in defense of the UK, that such a situation couldn't last forever; but even two weeks would've been enough for the Germans to transport sufficient men and matériel to pacify the scantily defended isle.
Even in that aspect, however, the German plans rested on frail roots. As strong as their land forces could be, the Allies enjoyed total air supremacy. Thus, swiftness was the only key to success, before the Allied air forces could prove too effective against German logistics.
The Germans continued reinforcing their foothold relatively undisturbed. It took the British a full week before recovering from the harsh blow that the nuclear bomb on one of their most important cities had inflicted.
As futile as it was, the British counter-attack still cost many casualties on the defending side, and it bought them three days of time with which they could reorganize their forces around Norwich.
No further attacks had been attempted as the German forces grew too large: the Kriegsmarine was allowed to ship thirty-six divisions to Norwich in something less than three weeks without ever facing the intervention of Allied fleets.
Therefore, after the failed British counter-attack, German forces moved on to the offensive, simultaneously attacking Birmingham, which hosted a large rocket testing site, and Dover, in the hope of cutting off the British capital of London, on March 24. Only a few divisions, seven in total, faced the German forces, yet they would give them more than a headache, especially with the air support on the Allied side that could inflict significant damage on the advancing forces.
Birmingham was the first to fall; the loss of two-thousand men at a 2:1 ratio was deemed to be more or less acceptable: Birmingham, and later on Cardiff, in German hands, would effectively seal the southern portion of the Allied land forces from the rest of the isle.
British forces in Dover, however, put up a much longer and harsher fight. It took the Germans almost a week to dislodge the defenders at the high cost of five thousand men.
On the other side of the world, while the British home island was about to face the German attack, ten divisions were pocketed after the fall of Rangoon, captured after a bloody battle in which the Germans suffered almost twenty-four thousand casualties: two divisions at the cost of ten, it now seemed to be.
On March 16, German forces attacked the Bassein pocket. While it could've been wise to just patiently wait for their enemy to starve out, it was feared that the pocket could've been evacuated in a matter of weeks. Thus, the order to attack the pocket was given only two weeks after its formation.
Even though greatly outnumbered, attacked from every possible direction and running low on supplies, the British valiantly defended their precious strip of land for days. German forces had many reserves, though, so they could easily rotate worn divisions with fresh ones.
After five days, facing insurmountable odds, a hundred thousand men surrendered to German forces, who mourned the loss of seven thousand of their own.
March had also been an eventful month for German forces in Turkey. Ankara had been taken by Lt. Gen. Crasemann; the invasion of Turkey, initially slow because of mountainous terrain in the eastern part of the country, was now gaining speed.
Technology-wise, Germany was keen on improving their marine divisions. The invasion of the British home island was to proceed with regular forces, as there was neither time nor resources to train marine divisions, but long-term strategy wasn't neglected, and in the interest of future plans, Germany pushed on the development of more modern marine divisions.
