Part II: The Die is Cast (Mar. 1938 - Mar. 1939)
Chapter 3: Military Expansion and Deployment
The Anschluss of March 1938 forced the British government to realize that war might come sooner rather than later. As such, the Committee for Imperial Defence authorized a series of redeployments in order to place the British Empire on a war footing. Most redeployments centered around the Royal Navy. Two older destroyer flotillas were assigned to escort duty, and in the course of 1938 eight more older destroyer flotillas were ordered and assigned to escort duty (the first four were completed in October of 1938, and the second four in March of 1939). Most of the warships of the Reserve Fleet at Southampton were reformed into Force H, commanded by Vice-Admiral Sommerville, flying his flag in the battleship HMS Warspite. This fleet, consisting of the Warspite, ten cruisers, and four destroyer flotillas (the old carrier HMS Hermes was briefly assigned as well, but later in 1938 was reassigned to the East Indies Station), was based at Gibraltar. In addition, the Western Approaches Command, under Vice-Admiral Dunbar-Naismith, was formed at Plymouth. Consisting of four cruisers and four destroyer flotillas, it was tasked with the interception of enemy submarines in wartimes. There were also important personnal changes, as Grand Admiral Forbes assumed command of the Home Fleet at Scapa Flow and Admiral Cunningham assumed command of the Mediterranean Fleet at Alexandria. Also, in the summer of 1938, the 1st and 2nd Submarine Flotillas were sent to Alexandria, to intercept enemy shipping in the Mediterranean. Finally, the two divisions of the Middle East Command were sent to Sidi Barrini on the border with Italian Libya. Although Italy was still formally neutral, there were fears that Mussolini might throw his lot in with Hitler if the latter provoked general hostilities.
1938 also saw the completion of several crucial research and development programmes. By April, the final tests had been completed on a new model of tank - the Crusader Mk I. It was an improved medium tank armed with a 70mm+ main gun, and it was hoped that this tank would be able to match anything in Europe. Two armoured divisions were consequently ordered that month. By June, the Hurricane multi-role fighter was ready for production, so the three fighter groups in the UK were rearmed with the new aircraft, and by September the improved naval and tactical bombers were ready. The two tactical bomber groups in the UK were the first to be re-equipped, followed shortly by the tactical bombers of Middle East Air Command. A further two fighter and one naval bomber groups were ordered by early 1939. Several more divisions were also ordered for the army, including several infantry divisions reinforced by engineer brigades and four mechanized divisions reinforced with either engineer or artillery brigades. In early March of 1939, designs were completed on an improved class of destroyers that included the latest in ASW, AA, and radar technology, and four flotillas of the new destroyers were ordered that month. Late 1938 and early 1939 also saw minor advances in infantry weapons and artillery that particularly enhanced the defensive abilities of engineer brigades.
Chapter 4: The Hour Approaches
Diplomatically, 1938 was generally not a good year for democracy and freedom in Europe. At the time of the Anschluss, Germany, though not without friends, had no formal ally. That changed on May 29th, 1938 with an announcement that stunned the British government. On that date, the Berlin-Madrid Axis was announced, as Germany and Spain bound themselves in a formal military alliance. The British now faced the prospect of a direct threat to the crucial outpost at Gibraltar. Plans were immediately made to increase the garrison, with the 4th Infantry (E) Division arriving in August and the 1st Mountain (E) Division in November. Also in November, Lieutenant-General Auchinleck was assigned as the new GOC-in-C, Gibraltar. Under his leadership, the garrison dug itself in and prepared for a lengthy siege should war break.
A further crisis broke in September, when Hitler demanded that Czechoslovakia hand over the Sudetenland. Though these provinces contained the heart of the Czech defences, they felt they had no choice but to bow before German pressure. Neither the French or the British felt themselves prepared to intervene, as in the latter case the British Empire was simply not prepared for a general European conflict. Then on January 7th, 1939, Italy announced her adhesion to the Berlin-Madrid alliance. The British Empire was now faced with three strong foes, and for France the prospect loomed of a three-front war. Several of the new infantry and mechanized divisions were diverted to Kenya and British Somaliland in order to contain any threat that might emerge from Italian East Africa should war break out.
In Asia the situation was hardly brighter. Japan launched an offensive towards the Chinese capital of Kunming in the spring of 1938, and by July had not only captured that city but had reached as far as the Chinese-Burma border. A Chinese counterattack in August and September pushed the Japanese back towards Kunming, but could not liberate the capital, and an attack to the east to isolate Kunming failed by the slimmest of margins. In the north, the Chinese launched an offensive that reached the northern border of Manchuria, but failed to liberate Beijing or reach the Pacific. Here the front lines solidified into early 1939. As a result of the Japanese advances, the 7th and 8th Indian Infantry Divisions were moved into Mandalay to watch over any further Japanese approaches to the border.
Also in 1938 war broke out between Japan and neutral Holland, as the former obviously coveted the resource-rich Dutch East Indies. The importance of this war was not noticed for some time by intelligence officials in Singapore, which was no small embarrassment. However, previous staff studies had been inconclusive over the issue of whether Japanese control of the Dutch East Indies would actually impair the British strategic situation, and regardless British attention in 1938 was focussed on the multitude of threats in Europe. In the end, the war was rather desulatory, as the Japanese were distracted by their continuing campaigns in China and the Dutch lacked any significant military presence. By early 1939 the Japanese had occupied most of Dutch New Guinea, Celebes, a few minor islands to the south, and the town of Medan on Sumatra, but neither side appeared inclined to pursue further offensive action.
There was a brief note of positive news in late February and early March of 1939. Within a week, pro-democracy mass uprisings in Greece and Bulgaria overthrew the authoritarian regimes of those states. It was a signal that the cause of democracy was not yet extinguished. The new Greek government was generally allied with the British and French, although the new Bulgarian government was more independent-minded.
However, the tone soon changed. Another crisis soon overwhelmed the British and French in the middle of March. On March 16th, Hitler announced the end of Czech independence with the formal annexation of Czechoslovakia by Germany. In addition, the Germans established a fascist puppet regime under Tiso in Slovakia. This blatent disregard of internation law and the wishes of both the Czech and Slovak peoples infuriated London and Paris. British officials quickly realized that the supreme crisis may be at hand. Numerous French officials stated that the time for armed resistance had come. The British government placed the armed forces on a war alert, and it was believed that war could break out in a matter of days.
It would take only three. On March 19th, Poland announced that it had caved in to German pressure and had handed over Danzig. Poland, having seen what had happened to Austria and Czechoslovakia, did not want to share their fate. However, for the French, this was the last straw. Germany had to be stopped, even at the price of war. With the general agreement of the British government, it was decided to act. Though France sent the formal declaration, Britain and the Commonwealth were equally resolved to resort to force. As of 06:00 on March 19th, 1939, a state of war existed between Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and France and the Triple Axis of Germany, Spain, and Italy.
