I fully expect the upper leadership of the KM drawn, quartered and then sent to the future Eastern Front. In that order. 
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I fully expect the upper leadership of the KM drawn, quartered and then sent to the future Eastern Front. In that order.
Nothing as gruesome as all that, though someone will have to take the blame.
Update coming up. A bit short, but it serves to set up where things are going in light of the unfortunate outcome of the naval battle.
Reports are that when Hitler was informed of the disaster that had befallen the Kriegsmarine on April 6, he immediately flew into a violent rage. Some who were present in the Reichskanzlei that day have even said, in what was no doubt an exaggeration, that you could hear the Führer shouting throughout the entire building. On the receiving end of this tirade was Generaladmiral Alfred Saalwächter who had temporarily assumed the post of Oberbefehlshaber der Marine in Großadmiral Raeder's absence. Saalwächter endured the Führer's rage in silence, not offering any defense and certainly not mentioning that none of the Kriegsmarine men present during the planning sessions of Unternehmen Seelöwe had believed that the Royal Navy would be defeated. It would do no good, he knew, to point out that they had in fact argued against the invasion from the start and that it was Hitler that had overridden their objections and ordered the invasion to be attempted.
Once he had wound down a bit and calmed himself, Hitler dismissed Saalwächter and called for a meeting of his top military men in order to figure out what could be done to reverse the damage that had been caused by (as he put it) "the incompetence of the admirals". Within hours the top-ranking members of the Heer, Luftwaffe, and Kriegsmarine had come together to discuss the future of the invasion of Britain with their Commander-in-Chief. Before the meeting could begin, Hitler approached Saalwächter and informed him that Raeder had been relieved of his command and that he had been formally elevated to command of the Kriegsmarine. Saalwächter seemed more relieved than pleased as the other men in attendance congratulated him on the promotion. No doubt he had been expecting another unpleasant encounter like the one he had undergone previously.
Generaladmiral Alfred Saalwächter- Oberbefehlshaber der Marine
The new Oberbefehlshaber der Marine opened the meeting by reading off details of the losses that the Nordsee Flotte had suffered and giving estimates on how long repairs would take on the fleet's damaged capital ships. His audience stared back at him in shock as he went on. They had known that something had gone wrong against the Royal Navy, but none of them had been prepared to hear just how badly things had gone wrong. Saalwächter closed his report by stating that, in his opinion, the Kriegsmarine would not be able contest the Royal Navy for control of the North Sea at any time in the immediate future.
The Heer delegation, led by the Oberbefehlshaber des Heeres Generalfeldmarschall Walther von Brauchitsch, reacted strongly to this last part. If the Kriegsmarine could not hold the North Sea against the Royal Navy, then that meant that their men in England- who were even as they spoke fighting against the massive British counterattack- would not be kept in supply. Brauchitsch directly asked Saalwächter whether or not it was possible to continue supplying the invasion force. After glancing briefly in Hitler's direction, Saalwächter admitted that continuing to supply the invasion force had been made impossible by the Royal Navy's crushing victory. At that point, Brauchitsch and the Heer delegation pointed out that continuing the fight in England was useless if the invasion force could not be kept in supply and asked that something be done to effect an evacuation of the invasion force.
Generalfeldmarschall Walther von Brauchitsch- Oberbefehlshaber des Heeres
A tense silence filled the room after the request and all eyes turned to Hitler who sat quietly in his place at the head of the table. For long moments he remained silent and motionless as the rest of the men in the room braced themselves for some kind of outburst in reaction to Brauchitsch's suggestion that they admit defeat in England. Finally, Hitler asked in a level voice how long it would take the Kriegsamrine to pull together a force capable of extracting the invasion force. Saalwächter conferred with his staff for several minutes before replying that repairs would have to be made to most of the Nordsee Flotte's ships before such an undertaking could be attempted. By his reckoning, it would be several weeks before the Kriegsmarine would be ready to evacuate the invasion force.
Brauchitsch reacted with dismay to this news, knowing full well that the invasion force would not be able to hold out for that long without supply. When he said as much, the commander of the Luftwaffe, Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring spoke up for the first time in order to offer a solution. He asserted that it would be possible to fly supplies in to the beleaguered invasion force using the Luftwaffe's complement of Ju52 transports.
Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring
Most at the meeting were decidedly skeptical of Göring's plan. After all, Göring had also claimed that the Luftwaffe would completely destroy the RAF and everyone could see how well that had went. However, there were really no other options and no one openly argued against the idea. Hitler seemed to seize upon the concept excitedly and asked whether or not it was possible to continue on with the invasion in light of the Luftwaffe's ability to supply it by air. He further asked whether the invasion could be sustained long enough in this way to allow for the Kriegsmarine to rebuild it's strength enough to make another attempt at reinforcing and re-supplying the invasion force.
Saalwächter immediately voiced opposition to the idea, though he knew that bursting the obviously excited Führer's bubble could be detrimental to his new position and career as a whole. While there was a slim chance, he said, that the Kriegsmarine could evacuate the invasion force, it could not keep control of the waters off England from both the British and American fleets. If they were to bring reinforcements to Britain those men would just be trapped there as well when the Royal Navy inevitably drove his ships away.
Brauchitsch also rejected the idea in an equally careful way. A force the size of the invasion army would need a substantial amount of supplies in order to continue the fight and the Luftwaffe simply did not have the transport capacity to keep up with it's needs. If the invasion could not be supplied from the sea- and the Kriegsmarine was saying that it could not- then the battle was lost and the only sensible thing to do was to attempt an evacuation.
The Junkers Ju52
All eyes then turned to Göring. Most present expected him to bluster about and insist that his Luftwaffe was more than up to the task of supplying the army. He surprised them all, however, when he agreed that his aircraft only had the ability to supply the army with a fraction of it's needs. It would be enough to keep them going for awhile, but keeping the army supplied throughout an entire campaign was out of the question. Left unsaid by Göring was that the amount of supplies that actually arrived in England depended on how many of the transports were shot down by the RAF while en route.
Hitler seemed to deflate slightly when none of his senior commanders supported the idea of continuing the fight in England. He ordered Göring to arrange for the supply runs to begin and instructed Saalwächter to begin seeing to the details of putting together a force capable of evacuating the invasion army. With that done, he brought the meeting to a close and dismissed those present.
Haardrade, for God's sake, do something or this is going produce more jokes than the Spanish defeat! Trekkie is smelling blood!
Oh my...
Oh my...
trekaddict(1): Yeah, yeah. Whatever.
TemplarComander: It seems so, doesn't it?
Kurt_Steiner(1): I knew from the beginning that trek's smugness level would hit critical mass if the invasion failed. With that in mind, I haven't totally given up just yet. Darkest before the dawn and all that, you know.
trekaddict(2): The Kriegsmarine, no doubt, needs some bigger boats.
Kurt_Steiner(2): Indeed not. The rather poor showing from the U-boat force as of late had not endeared Dönitz to Hitler overly much.
TemplarComander: It seems so, doesn't it?
Kurt_Steiner(1): I knew from the beginning that trek's smugness level would hit critical mass if the invasion failed. With that in mind, I haven't totally given up just yet. Darkest before the dawn and all that, you know.
trekaddict(2): The Kriegsmarine, no doubt, needs some bigger boats.
Kurt_Steiner(2): Indeed not. The rather poor showing from the U-boat force as of late had not endeared Dönitz to Hitler overly much.
I'll be very impressed if you manage to save the landing force and even more if you manage to win without trying again, even so prepare for jibes whenever the KM crops up in the story.
Not you, the men in the snappy blue Uniforms and the artifical reefs at the bottom of the,.......... SEE?
April 10, 1941
Boston, England
The scene before him was one of peace and tranquility. An open field spread out before him, green and beautiful. A cooling wind blew across the field and sent rippling waves through the tall grass. Artur Nagel, however, saw none of it as he sat in the firing position he had dug for himself outside of the town of Boston. His eyes were trained on the far side of the field where the unseen British were sure to be lurking. He didn't have to look around him to know that the men on the line with him were staring across the field just as intently, their weapons tightly gripped in their hands in anticipation of the next attack.
It had been seven days since the British had launched their counterattack. Seven days of nearly continuous fighting. The SS-Jäger-Bataillon had been locked in combat with the British throughout. First they had defended Stamford until ordered to fall back toward Lincoln in order to avoid being cut off by advancing British forces. They had then held the line there until April 7. Around the same time that word began trickling down about the disastrous defeat of the of the Nordsee Flotte the Bataillon had been ordered to pull out of it's positions and begin moving east toward the coast. The British were trying to reach the coast themselves and deny it to the Germans. This had to be prevented at all costs if the invasion force was to have any hope of being re-supplied or evacuated.
German paratroopers marching toward Boston
Over the next two days the SS-Jäger-Bataillon, along with elements of the II. Fallschirmjäger Division, fought a series of running engagements with the British 6th Infantry Division. The German troopers managed to keep ahead of the British and reached the port town of Boston late on April 9. There they had dug in to await the inevitable attack. Nagel could not believe had much things had changed over the last few days. They had gone from confidently advancing south toward London and sweeping British resistance from their path to falling back and desperately trying to just hold on in hopes that the Kriegsmarine would arrive either to reinforce them, or to get them the hell out of here.
Nagel felt someone nudge his arm and looked to his left. Brauer was kneeling above him at the edge of the firing pit and extending a chunk of bread. The sight of that meager amount of food made his stomach rumble. He took the bread from Brauer and greedily took a bite. He had been hungry for several days now, both due to the constant fighting and to the severe rationing that had been implemented after their lifeline back to the Reich had been severed by the Royal Navy. He stuffed the last of the bread into his mouth and swallowed it down. It wouldn't do much to quiet his hunger, but he would feel a little better for awhile at least.
Brauer told him that groups of men were tearing Boston apart looking for food and promised to come back with something better later on, but Nagel barely heard him. His hearing was focused instead on a droning sound above. After a second Brauer heard it too and promptly dove into the pit with him. The two men were looking up at the sky expectantly when a gruff-sounding voice said from behind them, "Relax. Those are ours."
Nagel turned to see Helmut standing above him. He knelt down in much the same way that Brauer had been and went on, "Can't blame you, though. Nine times out of ten when you hear an aircraft engine these days it's British." He shook his head in disgust and, his voice turning sour, said, "Those idiots in the Luftwaffe can't do a goddamn thing right, and the less said about the Kriegsmarine the better."
After finishing his condemnation of the Wehrmacht's other branches he simply began gazing off into the distance toward the British line. Nagel took a good look at him. Helmut looked terrible, and that was being generous. Dark circles were evident under his eyes which gave testimony to a long stretch without sleep. His uniform was dirty and together with the week-long growth of hair on his face gave him a disheveled appearance. To be fair, though, Nagel was sure that he looked exactly the same way.
Nagel was about to ask if he had seen Max recently when Helmut suddenly stiffened and hissed, "Get ready. Here they come."
He quickly moved off without another word and Nagel saw him passing the word along. Looking back toward the British line he saw sunlight glinting off of the weapons of the enemy. The ground in front of him suddenly erupted and dirt poured down on him like rain. Someone shouted something about mortars, but Nagel hadn't needed to be told. The British mortar crews soon figured out the range and Nagel began to hear screams coming from wounded men in between the explosions.
Mortar team of the SS-Jäger-Bataillon in action at Boston
British infantry broke from cover soon after and they began to come out on the receiving end of a mortar barrage themselves. Nagel saw some of the British soldiers fall amid the explosions and hoped to hell that they were down for good. Machine gun teams from both sides were firing now. The peaceful field was now a killing zone. Nagel raised his rifle to his shoulder and began banging away and the oncoming British who were carefully moving forward under the cover of the machine gun and mortar fire.
Bullets kicked up dirt in front of him and flew past his head, but Nagel concentrated on methodically picking out targets and firing. The British were coming closer, close enough to make a rush. A machine gun team to Nagel's right was all that was keeping them from storming his position. The two men working the MG 34 were spraying the area in front of them with a continuous stream of bullets and were exacting a heavy toll on the enemy attackers.
Nagel was reloading his rifle when he saw two objects go flying through the air in the direction of the MG 34 crew. The grenades landed just behind the two men and exploded, killing them both. The British, now freed from that menace, jumped up and rushed forward. Nagel grabbed Brauer and raced over to the gun. With Brauer taking over feeding the ammunition belts Nagel got the gun back into service, and caught a group of British soldiers in the open. Before they fell, they twisted grotesquely as the rounds from the MG 34 tore into them.
Nagel operated the gun with deadly efficiency, swinging it left and right to counter each new threat. At one point a grenade landed next to him and exploded. Nagel felt like someone kicked him in the stomach as he was tossed to the side. Though in pain and somewhat stunned, he crawled back to the gun and continued firing. Some unknown time later, Nagel was able to see through the haze of combat that the British were running away from his position and not toward it. He squeezed off a few bursts at a group of retreating Brits before slumping back, exhausted. He had no idea how long the fight had lasted, but it had felt like days.
After taking a moment to catch his breath he decided that he needed to check on his men and get an idea of casualties. When he moved to stand, though, he felt a pain rip through his middle that doubled him right over. He clutched a hand to his middle and when he took it away it was wet with blood. The full force of the pain of the wound hit him then and he collapsed to the ground. Lying there on his back he dimly heard someone scream for a medic.
Helmut was checking on the line when he saw Nagel double over and collapse. He immediately shouted for a medic and began running toward the fallen man. Helmut dropped down to his knees next to Nagel's prone form and shouted, "Where are you hit, Artur?"
Nagel didn't reply. His breathing was heavy and his eyes were taking on a far away look as gazed up at the sky. Helmut noticed that his hands were clenched over his middle and pulled them apart to reveal a nasty wound to the young man's upper abdomen. From the look of it Helmut guessed that shrapnel of some kind had struck his friend. He looked around desperately and saw a medic racing over.
The medic dropped down on Nagel's other side and took a close look at the wound before beginning to dig through his bag of medical supplies. He came out with bandages that he asked Helmut to keep pressed to the wound while he began looking through his bag again. The bandages soaked through almost immediately and the medic tossed him some more before shouting for a stretcher bearer.
Nagel could hear people talking around him and feel hands on him, but it was all muted and coming through a haze of pain. The pain was so terrible that it seemed to make up every part of his existence. He tried to push the pain away and ignore it, but it was just too much. As terrible and all consuming as the pain was, however, it didn't stop him from noticing a new sensation. He began to feel cold as if he had jumped into a lake in winter. He felt his body begin shaking and thought that he could even hear his teeth chattering. He didn't know what was happening and suddenly began to feel very afraid.
In order to keep control of himself he reached into his memory and pulled out his favorite remembered image. He saw Amelie in her bed at the hospital. She looked tired but proud and full of joy as she gazed at the child in her arms. Nagel held onto the image of his wife and daughter fiercely and the pain began to subside. His mind began to clear and he started to smile.
Helmut had looked on desperately as Nagel's body began to shake. His lips turned blue and his skin began to look pale and waxen. The medic muttered that he was going into shock and tore off his uniform jacket and laid it over Nagel. At the medic's prompting, Helmut did the same before reaching down to take Nagel's hand. Suddenly he stopped shaking and Helmut looked up to see Nagel lying still with a peaceful smile on his face. The worst seemed over and his hopes soared until he locked eyes with the medic and the other man said, "I'm sorry, sir. He's gone."
Boston, England
The scene before him was one of peace and tranquility. An open field spread out before him, green and beautiful. A cooling wind blew across the field and sent rippling waves through the tall grass. Artur Nagel, however, saw none of it as he sat in the firing position he had dug for himself outside of the town of Boston. His eyes were trained on the far side of the field where the unseen British were sure to be lurking. He didn't have to look around him to know that the men on the line with him were staring across the field just as intently, their weapons tightly gripped in their hands in anticipation of the next attack.
It had been seven days since the British had launched their counterattack. Seven days of nearly continuous fighting. The SS-Jäger-Bataillon had been locked in combat with the British throughout. First they had defended Stamford until ordered to fall back toward Lincoln in order to avoid being cut off by advancing British forces. They had then held the line there until April 7. Around the same time that word began trickling down about the disastrous defeat of the of the Nordsee Flotte the Bataillon had been ordered to pull out of it's positions and begin moving east toward the coast. The British were trying to reach the coast themselves and deny it to the Germans. This had to be prevented at all costs if the invasion force was to have any hope of being re-supplied or evacuated.
German paratroopers marching toward Boston
Over the next two days the SS-Jäger-Bataillon, along with elements of the II. Fallschirmjäger Division, fought a series of running engagements with the British 6th Infantry Division. The German troopers managed to keep ahead of the British and reached the port town of Boston late on April 9. There they had dug in to await the inevitable attack. Nagel could not believe had much things had changed over the last few days. They had gone from confidently advancing south toward London and sweeping British resistance from their path to falling back and desperately trying to just hold on in hopes that the Kriegsmarine would arrive either to reinforce them, or to get them the hell out of here.
Nagel felt someone nudge his arm and looked to his left. Brauer was kneeling above him at the edge of the firing pit and extending a chunk of bread. The sight of that meager amount of food made his stomach rumble. He took the bread from Brauer and greedily took a bite. He had been hungry for several days now, both due to the constant fighting and to the severe rationing that had been implemented after their lifeline back to the Reich had been severed by the Royal Navy. He stuffed the last of the bread into his mouth and swallowed it down. It wouldn't do much to quiet his hunger, but he would feel a little better for awhile at least.
Brauer told him that groups of men were tearing Boston apart looking for food and promised to come back with something better later on, but Nagel barely heard him. His hearing was focused instead on a droning sound above. After a second Brauer heard it too and promptly dove into the pit with him. The two men were looking up at the sky expectantly when a gruff-sounding voice said from behind them, "Relax. Those are ours."
Nagel turned to see Helmut standing above him. He knelt down in much the same way that Brauer had been and went on, "Can't blame you, though. Nine times out of ten when you hear an aircraft engine these days it's British." He shook his head in disgust and, his voice turning sour, said, "Those idiots in the Luftwaffe can't do a goddamn thing right, and the less said about the Kriegsmarine the better."
After finishing his condemnation of the Wehrmacht's other branches he simply began gazing off into the distance toward the British line. Nagel took a good look at him. Helmut looked terrible, and that was being generous. Dark circles were evident under his eyes which gave testimony to a long stretch without sleep. His uniform was dirty and together with the week-long growth of hair on his face gave him a disheveled appearance. To be fair, though, Nagel was sure that he looked exactly the same way.
Nagel was about to ask if he had seen Max recently when Helmut suddenly stiffened and hissed, "Get ready. Here they come."
He quickly moved off without another word and Nagel saw him passing the word along. Looking back toward the British line he saw sunlight glinting off of the weapons of the enemy. The ground in front of him suddenly erupted and dirt poured down on him like rain. Someone shouted something about mortars, but Nagel hadn't needed to be told. The British mortar crews soon figured out the range and Nagel began to hear screams coming from wounded men in between the explosions.
Mortar team of the SS-Jäger-Bataillon in action at Boston
British infantry broke from cover soon after and they began to come out on the receiving end of a mortar barrage themselves. Nagel saw some of the British soldiers fall amid the explosions and hoped to hell that they were down for good. Machine gun teams from both sides were firing now. The peaceful field was now a killing zone. Nagel raised his rifle to his shoulder and began banging away and the oncoming British who were carefully moving forward under the cover of the machine gun and mortar fire.
Bullets kicked up dirt in front of him and flew past his head, but Nagel concentrated on methodically picking out targets and firing. The British were coming closer, close enough to make a rush. A machine gun team to Nagel's right was all that was keeping them from storming his position. The two men working the MG 34 were spraying the area in front of them with a continuous stream of bullets and were exacting a heavy toll on the enemy attackers.
Nagel was reloading his rifle when he saw two objects go flying through the air in the direction of the MG 34 crew. The grenades landed just behind the two men and exploded, killing them both. The British, now freed from that menace, jumped up and rushed forward. Nagel grabbed Brauer and raced over to the gun. With Brauer taking over feeding the ammunition belts Nagel got the gun back into service, and caught a group of British soldiers in the open. Before they fell, they twisted grotesquely as the rounds from the MG 34 tore into them.
Nagel operated the gun with deadly efficiency, swinging it left and right to counter each new threat. At one point a grenade landed next to him and exploded. Nagel felt like someone kicked him in the stomach as he was tossed to the side. Though in pain and somewhat stunned, he crawled back to the gun and continued firing. Some unknown time later, Nagel was able to see through the haze of combat that the British were running away from his position and not toward it. He squeezed off a few bursts at a group of retreating Brits before slumping back, exhausted. He had no idea how long the fight had lasted, but it had felt like days.
After taking a moment to catch his breath he decided that he needed to check on his men and get an idea of casualties. When he moved to stand, though, he felt a pain rip through his middle that doubled him right over. He clutched a hand to his middle and when he took it away it was wet with blood. The full force of the pain of the wound hit him then and he collapsed to the ground. Lying there on his back he dimly heard someone scream for a medic.
***
Helmut was checking on the line when he saw Nagel double over and collapse. He immediately shouted for a medic and began running toward the fallen man. Helmut dropped down to his knees next to Nagel's prone form and shouted, "Where are you hit, Artur?"
Nagel didn't reply. His breathing was heavy and his eyes were taking on a far away look as gazed up at the sky. Helmut noticed that his hands were clenched over his middle and pulled them apart to reveal a nasty wound to the young man's upper abdomen. From the look of it Helmut guessed that shrapnel of some kind had struck his friend. He looked around desperately and saw a medic racing over.
The medic dropped down on Nagel's other side and took a close look at the wound before beginning to dig through his bag of medical supplies. He came out with bandages that he asked Helmut to keep pressed to the wound while he began looking through his bag again. The bandages soaked through almost immediately and the medic tossed him some more before shouting for a stretcher bearer.
***
Nagel could hear people talking around him and feel hands on him, but it was all muted and coming through a haze of pain. The pain was so terrible that it seemed to make up every part of his existence. He tried to push the pain away and ignore it, but it was just too much. As terrible and all consuming as the pain was, however, it didn't stop him from noticing a new sensation. He began to feel cold as if he had jumped into a lake in winter. He felt his body begin shaking and thought that he could even hear his teeth chattering. He didn't know what was happening and suddenly began to feel very afraid.
In order to keep control of himself he reached into his memory and pulled out his favorite remembered image. He saw Amelie in her bed at the hospital. She looked tired but proud and full of joy as she gazed at the child in her arms. Nagel held onto the image of his wife and daughter fiercely and the pain began to subside. His mind began to clear and he started to smile.
***
Helmut had looked on desperately as Nagel's body began to shake. His lips turned blue and his skin began to look pale and waxen. The medic muttered that he was going into shock and tore off his uniform jacket and laid it over Nagel. At the medic's prompting, Helmut did the same before reaching down to take Nagel's hand. Suddenly he stopped shaking and Helmut looked up to see Nagel lying still with a peaceful smile on his face. The worst seemed over and his hopes soared until he locked eyes with the medic and the other man said, "I'm sorry, sir. He's gone."
Looks like England is a tough position now... I know what can save the United Kingdom and the rest of the Commonwealth...
It's time for the WWII version of Captain Price to come out and destroy anyone and anything that gets in his way! No one, and no thing can kill Captain Price except the Call of Duty script writers, this man is immortal! Hitler has nothing on Cpt. Price!
It's time for the WWII version of Captain Price to come out and destroy anyone and anything that gets in his way! No one, and no thing can kill Captain Price except the Call of Duty script writers, this man is immortal! Hitler has nothing on Cpt. Price!
trekaddict(1): Yeah, it happened.
KaiserMuffin: Sick 'em, Blondie!
Kurt_Steiner: Things are not good to say the least. The hard times are over for Nagel, though.
trekaddict(2): Well..well... bloodthirsty much?
volksmarschall: England's position seems pretty good right now actually.
KaiserMuffin: Sick 'em, Blondie!
Kurt_Steiner: Things are not good to say the least. The hard times are over for Nagel, though.
trekaddict(2): Well..well... bloodthirsty much?
volksmarschall: England's position seems pretty good right now actually.
trekaddict(2): Well..well... bloodthirsty much?
Just a monarchist who is a firm devotee to the cause of freedom and Democracy and yet patriot enough to defend the Federal Republic and her system to the last.