Return to Glory: A Germania AAR

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trekaddict: Oh, yes!!!! I suppose that poster could go both ways when you think about it.

Kurt_Steiner: What he lacks in charm, he makes up for with results.

All: Next update coming up.

 

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From the moment that the first wave of German marines stormed ashore in the Holderness area of East Yorkshire, the British army in England had begun scrambling to come up with a response. Troops began being pulled from their posts in Scotland and along England's western coastline in order to respond to the invasion. By early April the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Northern Command, General Ronald Adam, had gathered together thirteen infantry divisions and one armored division (the 8th Armoured Division)- giving him a total of between 140,000 and 150,000 men. On the morning of April 3, 1941 he used this force to hit back against the German invaders.

General Sir Ronald Adam

Due to what limited aerial reconnaissance the German had been able to conduct as well as information gathered from British prisoners, the commander of the German invasion army, Generaloberst Ferdinand Schörner, was aware that the British would soon be launching their counterattack. When reports began to trickle in during the night of April 2 that the engines of enemy panzers could be heard, Schörner was even able to surmise that the attack would come on the 3rd. However, even with this forewarning, the German forces in Britain were rocked by the sheer size and force of the attack.

The attack began with an artillery barrage that struck the entire length of the German line which ran from Malton on the River Derwent in the north to Stamford in the south. Following that was a massive show of aerial power. The RAF, far from being in the beaten down state that the Germans would have hoped for, put hundreds of Spitfires and Hurricanes in the air. The squadrons of Bf 109s that the Germans had managed to base in East Yorkshire rose to meet them, but were overwhelmed quickly and the British fighters were soon strafing the German lines and rear areas. Also present for the first time since being withdrawn following losses over France and Holland were formations of British bomber aircraft that pounded German positions with impunity once the Bf 109s were cleared from the skies.

British ground units then moved forward and contacted the German front defensive lines at around 8:00 am. The Germans found themselves under attack all along the line, but as the day wore on it became obvious that the heaviest attacks were being directed against the town of Malton and the city of Lincoln.

The Matilda II

Malton, which was defended by the IV. Marine Division, was under attack chiefly by the 50th "Northumbrian" Division which included a battalion of Matilda II tanks. The German marines possessed some artillery pieces, but no anti-tank weapons of any kind and found themselves unable to stop the advance of the British tank battalion. The Northumbrian Division pushed them back past the old battlefield at Stamford Bridge and forced some of the marines to pull back into Malton itself where the British tanks would be less effective. The Northumbrian Division then divided it's efforts with it's 25th Infantry Brigade pushing into Malton to engage the Germans in house-to-house fighting while the Division's other two brigades (the 150th and 151st) continued past the town and began trying to force their way across the River Derwent accompanied by the force of Matildas. The river provided a serious obstacle to the British tankers that allowed the German marines to finally slow the advance. The British would make repeated attempts to cross as the day wore on but the Germans would still hold their positions at the end of the day. Though the attack on the area surrounding Malton had not gone as well as hoped, it was still a success. The Germans had been pushed back over the river and around 1500 German marines were trapped within the town with no hope of breaking out and no credible hope that their comrades would break through to them.

Farther south the I. and III. Fallschirmjäger Divisions as well as the VI. Marine Division were defending Lincoln and it's environs against the largest of the attacking British formations. Spearheaded by the 8th Armoured Division, the attacking force also consisted of the 2nd, 4th, and 6th Infantry Divisions. The Crusader tanks of the 8th Armoured Division enjoyed success similar to that of the Matilda IIs to the north. The German defenders fought against their attacks desperately, but they lacked the kind of heavy equipment necessary to stop the British tanks. One position after another was overrun with the German paratroopers and marines being able to do little other than slow the enemy down. By the end of the day elements of the 8th Armoured had broken through completely to both the north and south of the city of Lincoln forcing the majority of German forces of the area to pull back into the city.

The Crusader

As April 4th dawned a bad situation seemed to be getting worse. British troops were able to cross the River Derwent and were pushing into the Holderness area while engineers quickly built bridges so that the Matildas could follow the infantry and continue the attack. The street fighting between the marines in Malton and the 50th Division's 25th Brigade- most notably the Royal Irish Fusiliers- that had continued throughout the night and on into the new day began to reach it's climax with resistance in the town being reduced to isolated pockets. The by now severely mauled IV. Marine Division pulled back to the town of Pocklington where they were immediately engaged once again. Elements of the I. Marine Division raced north to help them hold the line and the British advance was slowed. This bit of good news was marred somewhat by the surrender of what remained of the defenders of Malton later that day.

Members of The Royal Irish Fusiliers fighting to reclaim Malton


To the south things weren't going any better. The British continued to exploit their breakthrough around Lincoln and both wings of the advance began turning inward toward one another. The Germans fought hard for every inch of ground, but were being pushed back continuously. Before long Lincoln being surrounded began to look like a very serious possibility.

Faced with an ever darkening situation, the commander of German forces around Lincoln, Generalmajor Alfred Sturm, sent an urgent message to Generaloberst Schörner described his desperate situation and asking for permission to withdraw from Lincoln. Permission was refused outright with Schörner ordering Sturm to defend Lincoln to the last man. Though the battle was going against the invasion force now, Schörner knew that reinforcements which included three panzer divisions were even now on their way. He just needed to hold on until they arrived. Accordingly, he issued an order for all forces under his command to hold their current positions no matter the cost.

Generalmajor Sturm

Schörner did, however, issue one order for a portion of his forces to withdraw from their current positions. The II. Fallschirmjäger Division was ordered to retreat from it's positions around Stamford on the southern extreme of the German line and pull back to the north. The order was in response the possibility that the British breakthrough to the south of Lincoln could reach the coast and cut off the division. Throughout the rest of April 4, the II. Fallschirmjäger Division extracted itself from combat with the 10th Indian Infantry Division and moved north where it and a detachment of Waffen-SS paratroopers was able to push the British 6th Infantry Division back and establish a link with the defenders of Lincoln. In addition, Generalleutnant Kurt Student was sent to Lincoln to take direct command of the city's defense.

By the end of April 4 and throughout April 5, German forces managed to stabilize the situation. The British attack, despite inflicting heavy casualties on the Germans and driving them from all of their front line positions began to bog down as the German defenders turned every town and village in East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire into a fortress. As British attacks continued the focal point of their attacks became the city of Lincoln. It's capture would mean the collapse of the entire left of the German line and General Adam began shifting more and more of his forces in that direction. As the battle around the city increased in intensity, the defenders dug in their heels and fought with a grim determination.

Meanwhile, a fleet of transport ships sped toward the English coastline. Crammed into their holds were 60,000 infantry and the three divisions of the I. Panzerarmee under Generalleutnant Erwin Rommel.

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

Panzers?

Ottol Wolf comes to rescue his lil'bro?

Haadrade... remember Spain... remember Trekkie et al banting and teasing... Now it's your turn to take revenge!

 

[trekaddict]

That's it then... Everyone's favourite Magnificent Bastard will turn the tide as usual.


But wouldn't that mean a possible meatup between the brothers in the field?

 

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Kurt_Steiner: Believe me, trekaddict's relentless teasing is fresh in my mind as the invasion progresses.

trekaddict: We'll see. Rommel's arrival could certainly swing things in my direction definitively. No, the brothers won't meet. Otto is wrapping up General Staff training right now and is not with the I. Panzerarmee. There will be more on him soon.

All: If it's OK with everybody I should have the next update ready to go later today or tomorrow (I'm on vacation right now so expect updates to be posted pretty rapidly for awhile).

 

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A little note on the next update. I decided to break it into two parts so the first one is coming up.

 

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Admiral Chatfield- Commander of the British Home Fleet

As the troops of the British Home Army's Northern Command continued to hammer German defensive positions on land on April 6, their counterparts in the Home Fleet were heading south from Scapa Flow- ready to take another swing at the German Nordsee Flotte. Stung by their quick defeat at the hands of the German fleet in their first encounter, Admiral Chatfield and his men were determined to drive the enemy from British waters once and for all and prevent the enemy from being able to ship supplies and reinforcements to the beleaguered invasion force. All of the ships damaged during the previous encounter had been repaired and put back into action with the exception of the Furious, which would need more time in port. That is not to say that Chatfield was going into battle without any aircraft carriers. For this operation he had seen to it that the carriers Illustrious, Victorious, and Ark Royal were added to his force. In addition, he was moving to engage the enemy with an additional three battleships and four cruisers. In total his force numbered three carriers, ten battleships, three battlecruisers, eleven cruisers and nearly three dozen destroyers.

When radar aboard the ships of the Nordsee Flotte picked up this force in the early morning hours of April 6, the commander of the German Fleet, Großadmiral Erich Raeder, immediately moved his forces to intercept and launched all of his aircraft. His natural inclination was actually to withdraw in the face of such an overwhelming force, but the present military situation was forcing his hand. The men of the invasion force depended on him to hold the waters off of eastern England as did the convoy of troop ships that was even now heading toward the English coast. As Raeder prepared for the battle ahead, his thoughts turned to the troopships to the south. More accurately, they turned to the ships that he had been obliged to detach from his own force in order to escort them. He feared that they would be sorely missed in the coming battle.

The HMS Ark Royal launching Swordfish on April 6, 1941
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To the south........


While the Nordsee Flotte turned itself toward the massive British fleet, a much smaller German force was making for the coast of East Yorkshire with all speed. Ships laden down with tens of thousands of men and tons of supplies and equipment huddled together inside of the protective screen made up by the cruisers Prinz Eugen and Admiral Hipper, as well as the six destroyers that rounded out the group of escorting warships.

The commander of this small force, Admiral Lütjens, had been continuously launching his complement of Arado Ar 196 reconnaissance aircraft in order to scan the seas around the vulnerable troopships. While this was standard practice, it had taken on an air of urgency after Lütjens had received word from Raeder of the battle about to take place to the north. Lütjens wanted to make sure that there wasn't another British fleet waiting to pounce on him.

An Arado Ar 196 prepares to launch from the Admiral Hipper

Tense hours passed by with the pilots of the reconnaissance aircraft reporting no sighting of any enemy vessels. Just after 11:00 am, Lütjens received a short message from Raeder indicating that he had engaged British warships and urging him to push the troopships to their destination. Not long after this message was received, ship based radar aboard the Admiral Hipper detected enemy surface vessels to the southwest.

Lütjens immediately directed his reconnaissance aircraft to move along the heading provided by the radar operators and investigate. While waiting for word from the pilots of those aircraft he began positioning his ships to protect the vulnerable troop and supply ships from the threat.

Thirty minutes after the initial detection of the unidentified vessels by the Admiral Hipper, the Ar 196 piloted by Leutnant Günther Oels spotted the enemy force. At first glance the force was considerable- Oels and his observer counted twenty-one ships. Most were destroyers, but the three massive ships cruising in the center of the protective bubble made by the destroyers could only have been battleships. Oels was not able to immediately identify the ships below, however, as the class seemed unfamiliar to him. Seeing that there were no enemy aircraft in the vicinity, he decided to drop down lower and take a closer look. As he swooped down the enemy ships began putting up anti-aircraft fire, but Oels ignored it and continued on. As he passed above one of the battleships her battle ensign was caught by a sudden wind and snapped outward.

Lütjens was on the bridge of the Admiral Hipper when Oels radioed in what he had seen. The ship's captain, Kapitän zur See Helmuth Brinkmann took the report from the radio operator and brought it to the Admiral. The ensuing exchange would shock Lütjens to his core- "Sir, one of our scout pilots has confirmed visual contact with enemy warships. The enemy fleet consists of eighteen destroyers and three battleships." When Lütjens asked if they were British, Brinkmann shook his head and replied, "American."

 

[trekaddict]

O deary me.

 

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O deary me.

Let's not get smug here. Sure it looks kind of bad... two large fleets pressing in from two directions.... but ummm.... yeah........ whatever.

 

[trekaddict]

Let's not get smug here. Sure it looks kind of bad... two large fleets pressing in from two directions.... but ummm.... yeah........ whatever.

Not only that, but you have pissed off the two biggest Naval Powers on the globe.

Somehow this seems fitting.

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

Horaay! The Yanks had DoW on Britain!

I don't think so...

*puzzled* What do you mean, Peti?

Erm... anyway, Haardrade. Whatever you do, rememenber Don't loose your head.

Neither your ships.

 

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trekaddict: Pfft... I can take them both!

Kurt_Steiner: I'll certainly try not to lose either.

Results of the naval encounter later today

 

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The confrontation that took place on April 6, 1941 would become known as the Battle of the North Sea, but was actually two separate battles between the naval forces of three nations. The first battle, which took place off the coast of East Yorkshire, was between the British Home Fleet and the German Nordsee Flotte. The second battle, which took place off the coast of Suffolk, was between an American battleship task force and a group of German warships escorting a troop convoy to it's destination in England. The German naval forces committed to these battles found themselves at a distinct disadvantage. Not only were they seriously outnumbered in both engagements, but they were in the position of having to win both of them. It would do no good, for example, for the German escort force to successfully drive off the Americans if the Nordsee Flotte was defeated because the troopships would be prevented from reaching England by the Home Fleet. Conversely, if the Nordsee Flotte prevailed but the Americans succeeded in driving off the escort force, the whole invasion would be jeopardized as the invasion force would might not be able to hold on long enough for another troop convoy to be arranged.

HMS Victorious

The two separate engagements commenced at nearly the same time, the northernmost of the two opening with aircraft from HMS Victorious appearing above the German fleet. By the time that these aircraft arrived the KMS Friedrich der Große had already launched it's own aircraft. The German carrier's complement of Bf 109Ts immediately engaged the British aircraft while the Stuka dive and torpedo bombers headed off in the direction of the British Home Fleet. The aerial engagement initially went well for the Germans. As they had in the previous engagement, the more advanced German fighters inflicted serious losses on the flights of B-24 Skua fighter/dive bombers and the Swordfish torpedo bombers and were more or less able to keep them from reaching the ships of the Nordsee Flotte. The British pilots, despite the losses, could not be prevented from drawing first blood in the battle, however.

Several Swordfish managed to break through the German fighters and make a run at the German Fleet. Anti-aircraft fire filled the sky around them as they flew and two of the pilots decided that, rather than run through this heavy fire to reach the larger ships of the German fleet, to settle for attacking one the destroyers on the outer edge of the fleet. Both launched torpedoes at the destroyer Anton Schmitt and though the destroyer tried to evade the projectiles, both hit. The Anton Schmitt was rocked by the two explosion and completely broke apart. The destroyer sank within minutes taking over 300 sailors with her. The Anton Schmitt would be the only casualty of the first British attack, but more was to come. The Nordsee Flotte's fighter cover was only just reforming above the fleet when radar detected two large flights of aircraft heading their way.

Fairey Swordfish


While the German fleet awaited this new attack it's own air arm was preparing to attack the British fleet. The Stuka pilots had orders to focus their attacks solely on the British aircraft carriers, Raeder knowing full well that his only chance of winning the battle was to disable the carriers. The Stukas began their attack and were immediately intercepted by B-24 Skuas as well as the newer Fairey Fulmar fighters from the HMS Ark Royal. Dogfights broke out above the British fleet as the Stukas tried to break through the fighter screen and attack the carriers. They might have succeeded in doing serious damage, but the fighter arms of the three British carriers proved to be too much. Heavily outnumbered, the German aircraft were overwhelmed and only a few managed to make bombing runs on the fleet. Three Stukas attacked the Illustrius. Only one of the bombs hit and all three of the Stukas were shot down afterward. The bomb struck one of the QF 4.5 inch gun emplacements and killed the crew manning it, but otherwise did no serious damage. Attempts were made to strike other ships, but none were successful and the Stukas began heading back home, nearly two thirds of them having been lost already.

The HMS Illustrious under attack

While the Nordsee Flotte awaited the next wave of British aerial attacks, the battle to the south was in full swing. The American fleet, commanded by Admiral Royal E. Ingersoll, had been en route to England to fulfill a promise made to the British to assist them in repelling the German invasion of Britain. Since the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States had been rapidly gearing itself up for war, but was in no position to send men or aircraft to England's defense as most of the prewar US army had immediately been sent to the Pacific coast. What the Americans had been able to do was send a contingent of it's Atlantic Fleet to help patrol the waters off England. In a bit of good fortune for the Allies, the American fleet- named Task Force 2- happened to run across the German troop convoy on it's way.

Admiral Royal E. Ingersoll

The commander of the German escort force, Admiral Günther Lütjens, upon being informed of the threat posed by the American ships, immediately ordered the troopships to move a safe distance away while his warships turned to confront the larger enemy fleet. The American fleet moved to attack with the eighteen Clemson-class destroyers racing ahead of the three New Mexico-class battleships New Mexico, Mississippi, and Idaho.

The battle went badly for the Germans from the start. Shells from the New Mexico and the Idaho first bracketed and then found the destroyer Karl Galster. The shells that slammed into the Karl Galster disabled her completely and she came to a halt. Her crew would try desperately to get her underway again, but the stricken ship would be finished off by a torpedo launched from the USS Dahlgren. The Karl Galster was only the first of the German ships to be lost in the battle.

While the Admiral Hipper and Prinz Eugen engaged the battleships, the remaining destroyers tried to fend off their more numerous American counterparts. The Americans adopted the tactic of engaging the German destroyers at range while sending others of their number to close within torpedo range. The destroyers quickly broke through, sending the destroyers Wilhelm Heidkamp and Diether von Roeder to the bottom in the process.

Admiral Günther Lütjens


Admiral Lütjens realized that the battle was lost at this point, but gamely continued the fight while sending a message to the troop convoy directing it to turn back for Germany. He and the fleet would have to hold out a little longer in order to guarantee them a chance to escape. With American destroyers having breached his own destroyer screen, Lütjens directed the Admiral Hipper to engage them while the Prinz Eugen continued blasting away at the battleships.

Shells from the Admiral Hipper hit and sank the USS Edsall, costing the Americans their only lost ship of the encounter. Soon after the Edsall went down Lütjens received word that the troop convoy had made it a safe distance away. By this time both of the German cruisers had taken several hits from from the guns of the American battleships- with the Prinz Eugen even beginning to list slightly. Of the destroyers only one, the Hans Lüdemann, was still afloat and it was burning and taking on water from multiple torpedo hits. Lütjens gave the order to withdraw and the Admiral Hipper and Prinz Eugen turned away and made for Germany. The crew of the Hans Lüdemann, scuttled their ship and were taken prisoner.

The USS Edsall under attack and sinking

News of the disaster to the south reached Großadmiral Raeder as his fleet was under heavy air attack. His force of Bf 109Ts had been overwhelmed and shot down as had his remaining Stukas. The Friedrich der Große had by this time taken three bomb hits and fires were burning in two places on the ship. Aside from that, two more destroyers had been sunk and both the Bismark and Tirpitz as well as the light cruiser Königsberg had taken hits. Though the battleships had not been seriously damaged the same could not be said of the Königsberg. It was listing heavily and the order was given to abandon her even as British aircraft continued to assault the stricken vessel.

Now that the troop convoy had been turned back, Raeder lost most of his reason for continuing this fight and ordered the fleet to withdraw. British aircraft- both naval and land based- pursued the retreating Nordsee Flotte and managed to sink three more destroyers, but the capital ships managed to escape without much further incident.

Jubilant Royal Navy sailors celebrate after the battle

The Battle of the North Sea was an unmitigated disaster for the Kriegsmarine. Twelve destroyers had been sunk as well as the light cruiser Königsberg, and most of the Nordsee Flotte's capital ships had been damaged to one extent or another- especially the Friedrich der Große which would be out of action for months. The carrier's entire aerial contingent had also been lost along with dozens of experienced naval pilots. In terms of loss of life the battle was equally devastating. Over 4600 German sailors were killed, wounded, or captured by the British and American force. Against this the Allied fleets suffered losses of only one ship- the USS Edsall- and casualty figures for both fleets were around 400 killed or injured.

It was the single worst defeat in German naval history and one the Kriegsmarine would not come back from any time soon if ever. Of course, the battle also had the consequence of leaving the invasion force stranded in England.

 

[trekaddict]

There is simply nothing else to say.




Yet.

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

Pah!

Helmuth will take the Brit royals prisoners singlehanded and with a fork. Who needs reinforcements now?!?!








My gosh, what a bad situation...

 

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*hums Ride of the Valkyries softly*

 

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trekaddict: :rofl: Alright, alright.... don't get your knickers all bunched up just yet. As they say, it's not over till the fat lady sings.

Kurt_Steiner: I'll admit that it doesn't look good right now. But hey, Helmut's pulled himself out of bad situations before right? Maybe not as bad as this, but... um... yeah.

KaiserMuffin: I'm sure that you and trek are very excited about this unfortunate turnaround, but it's not over yet. England will fall!

 

[dashstar1972]

YAY!! Rule Britannia!

 

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Rule Britannia !​

 

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dashstar1972 & TemplarComander: Yeah, yeah. It's not over yet you know.

All: Update later today.