Assuming the Commonwealth can hold Benghazi and Crete, the final run-in to Malta is about 400 miles of which maybe 200 miles are at moderate risk of air attack. A stronger Med Fleet that is not worn down by Cretan defense means an Operation Vigorous is harder to see happening.
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Story 0637
June 5,1941 2334 off of Western Crete
The dark night hid the torpedo boats. The almost full moon had been hidden by low clouds for hours. A sharp eyed look out saw the British convoy minutes before anyone else could. There were two clusters of ships. The first cluster was a destroyer group escorting the merchant ships that had left Suda Bay earlier that day. They were proceeding at a steady eleven knots. They had overtaken the second group. A tug was bringing back a severely damaged heavy cruiser which was being escorted by a pair of destroyers. The merchant convoy had overtaken them and forced them further out to sea than the cruiser captain really wanted.
The six torpedo boats stayed sheltered behind Pontikinisi and they waited. The merchant convoy thundered by without noticing the six still pack predators. The destroyer escort was too numerous and too alert to try an attack. An hour later, the damaged cruiser was only seven thousand yards away creeping along at four knots. Two MAS boats accelerated and threw a rooster tail that was visible. Star shells arced through the night and the two British destroyers moved to place themselves between the threat and the damaged York. Heavy guns boomed and the MAS boats weaved, chasing shell splashes, throttling their engines up and down and then making smoke.
Four minutes after the deadly game of tag started, the other four boats began to accelerate to fifteen knots, fast enough to close the range, slow enough to not create an incredibly visible wake. Both destroyers had been pulled forward from York by 1,000 yards. There was an opening and as the range closed, the MAS boats accelerated to their full speed and rapidly closed the range. York’s secondary armament started to bark angrily as the torpedo boats closed to within 1,900 yards. One four inch shell slammed into the bow of the lead torpedo boat crippling her and throwing six Italian sailors into the sea. By now the two destroyers had wheeled back and they shifted their fire from the decoys to the attackers. The other three boats pressed in even as pom pom mounts and anti-aircraft machine guns began to lace the sea with shells.
Six torpedoes entered the water. One immediately porpoised. The other five closed the half mile quickly even as the three surviving torpedo boats skidded into a hard turn. It was not enough for the last boat as three 4.7 inch shells landed within yards of the boat, destroying it by shock and splinter damage.
York was a sitting duck. One torpedo went in front of her. Three lanced open numerous chinks in her armor.
By dawn, rescue operations had ceased. The austere cruiser had settled on the sea floor at 3:30 in the morning but she had floated for long enough to allow for her entire living crew to escape safely to the two destroyers that had been tricked to chase an alluring decoy.
Story 0638
June 6, 1941 Warsaw
The spaghetti string of railways collapsed into a ball in the city of Warsaw. The trains kept on rolling past the overstuffed Ghetto. If it was a generation earlier, the trains would have had to stop and switch gauges but the Polish government had aligned their tracks to standard gauge instead of broad gauge immediately after independence. It was an attempt to integrate with central and Western Europe as well as provide a defense against another Soviet invasion. It had failed.
Reservists and far more often young conscripts looked out the window of the train as Army Group North was assembling in East Prussia and north of the marshes. The young men were packed in tight but they had enough space to smoke, enough space to play cards, enough space to sleep fitfully. The veterans who were the backbone of the unit were able to sleep well; it was a skill that they had picked up and intended to never lose. Transit time meant sleep as they were never sure when they could get shut eye again.
As the passenger train left the city, sharp eyed privates looked up and saw an aerial train. Dozens of JU-52 transports were low and slow in the distance. Most of the 7th Parachute Division had de-trained and been trucked to the countryside outside of Warsaw over the past week. They had been in Greece and there had been rumors of a planned jump into Crete but no one knew for sure. The transport planes were starting to move forward from their maintenance depots.
The trains just kept on moving to the east.
The spaghetti string of railways collapsed into a ball in the city of Warsaw. The trains kept on rolling past the overstuffed Ghetto. If it was a generation earlier, the trains would have had to stop and switch gauges but the Polish government had aligned their tracks to standard gauge instead of broad gauge immediately after independence. It was an attempt to integrate with central and Western Europe as well as provide a defense against another Soviet invasion. It had failed.
Reservists and far more often young conscripts looked out the window of the train as Army Group North was assembling in East Prussia and north of the marshes. The young men were packed in tight but they had enough space to smoke, enough space to play cards, enough space to sleep fitfully. The veterans who were the backbone of the unit were able to sleep well; it was a skill that they had picked up and intended to never lose. Transit time meant sleep as they were never sure when they could get shut eye again.
As the passenger train left the city, sharp eyed privates looked up and saw an aerial train. Dozens of JU-52 transports were low and slow in the distance. Most of the 7th Parachute Division had de-trained and been trucked to the countryside outside of Warsaw over the past week. They had been in Greece and there had been rumors of a planned jump into Crete but no one knew for sure. The transport planes were starting to move forward from their maintenance depots.
The trains just kept on moving to the east.
Story 0639
June 7, 1941 Brewster Aircraft Factory
“We have seen the inversion of a cylinder in the Cyclone as a significant improvement in reliability as well as a decrease in turn-around time with the Buffaloes. Also, as soon as we added weight and armor, the plane became a pig to handle. Stripping them down has allowed the Finns to turn with the best of them. “ Arne Elo took a sip of water as a young intern changed the slide on the overhead projector.
Ninety men, a mixture of mechanics, engineers, designers, pilots and bankers from the Netherlands East Indies Air Force, RAAF, RAF, RNZAF, and US Marines as well as company representatives, were stuffed together in a room where fifty men would be a crowd. Three days of discussions about the Finnish combat experience with the Buffalo were starting. Arne, a former Navy lieutenant who had flown off Ranger in the mid-30s, and two other men employed by Brewster had spent the past year in Finland supporting their efforts to stand up a pair of Buffalo squadrons. Two squadrons worth of aircraft had fought in the Winter War scoring sixty five kills to three losses in the air and another five lost to Soviet bombers. The British had bought Buffaloes reluctantly as an available expedient. The Finns were the greatest source of good information on the fighter for the remaining users of the plane.
Over the next three days, tips, tactics, procedures and pitfalls on the effective utilization of the second line fighter were shared. Once the conference was over, the pilots and mechanics of half a dozen flying services departed on trains to take ship to share the lessons learned in Finland.
“We have seen the inversion of a cylinder in the Cyclone as a significant improvement in reliability as well as a decrease in turn-around time with the Buffaloes. Also, as soon as we added weight and armor, the plane became a pig to handle. Stripping them down has allowed the Finns to turn with the best of them. “ Arne Elo took a sip of water as a young intern changed the slide on the overhead projector.
Ninety men, a mixture of mechanics, engineers, designers, pilots and bankers from the Netherlands East Indies Air Force, RAAF, RAF, RNZAF, and US Marines as well as company representatives, were stuffed together in a room where fifty men would be a crowd. Three days of discussions about the Finnish combat experience with the Buffalo were starting. Arne, a former Navy lieutenant who had flown off Ranger in the mid-30s, and two other men employed by Brewster had spent the past year in Finland supporting their efforts to stand up a pair of Buffalo squadrons. Two squadrons worth of aircraft had fought in the Winter War scoring sixty five kills to three losses in the air and another five lost to Soviet bombers. The British had bought Buffaloes reluctantly as an available expedient. The Finns were the greatest source of good information on the fighter for the remaining users of the plane.
Over the next three days, tips, tactics, procedures and pitfalls on the effective utilization of the second line fighter were shared. Once the conference was over, the pilots and mechanics of half a dozen flying services departed on trains to take ship to share the lessons learned in Finland.
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David Flin
Gone Fishin'
No mention of destroyers firing star shells at MTBs? Night time, they'd have star shells loaded. And star shells are the first line of defence against MTBs. Blind their aiming.
The pounce description seems perfectly plausible.
"Star shells arced through the night "
As I envision the pounce, the decoy group is significantly ahead of the cruiser force so the star shells are fired south of the flanking attack. The flank attack uses the distraction of the destroyers to get in close and by the time they are sighted they can't be easily blinded due to both the close range and the fact that the destroyers had HE loaded in dealing with the decoy MTBs and only firing star shells as a maitenance of effort.
Driftless
Donor
In many timelines on this site, the Italian military is too often portrayed as completely inept. I'm glad to see there's some definite nose-to-nose fights in this universe.
Story 0640
June 9, 1941 Camp Miles Standish
“Drink your water... “
The corporal who had been on enough of these marches to know better knew better. He drained his canteen and made sure that the men on his machine gun team also drained their canteens. A draftee, a young boy of eighteen who still had the weakness of a man growing into his body looked up at the twenty year old corporal with respect and a slight bit of fear. Corporal Donohue had kept him in line and away from the wrath of the platoon sergeant and out of the attention of the officers. With a nod, he knew what he had to do. He collected the canteens from the rest of the machine gun team and went to the water spigot and filled them. Cold water, fresh water, clean water sloshed around in each canteen. He threw the canteens in an easy under-handed lob to each man on the machine gun and adjusted his pack once more.
Six minutes later, the entire 182nd Infantry Regiment was on the move again. The regiment had a two day fifty mile forced march scheduled. The first ten miles had gone easily and by now the men had toughened up to be able to carry their packs and their weapons at a steady two miles an hour for as long as their shoes had leather and the cooks had food.
“Drink your water... “
The corporal who had been on enough of these marches to know better knew better. He drained his canteen and made sure that the men on his machine gun team also drained their canteens. A draftee, a young boy of eighteen who still had the weakness of a man growing into his body looked up at the twenty year old corporal with respect and a slight bit of fear. Corporal Donohue had kept him in line and away from the wrath of the platoon sergeant and out of the attention of the officers. With a nod, he knew what he had to do. He collected the canteens from the rest of the machine gun team and went to the water spigot and filled them. Cold water, fresh water, clean water sloshed around in each canteen. He threw the canteens in an easy under-handed lob to each man on the machine gun and adjusted his pack once more.
Six minutes later, the entire 182nd Infantry Regiment was on the move again. The regiment had a two day fifty mile forced march scheduled. The first ten miles had gone easily and by now the men had toughened up to be able to carry their packs and their weapons at a steady two miles an hour for as long as their shoes had leather and the cooks had food.
Story 0641
June 10, 1941 Force H
Three aircraft carriers pitched and yawed in the sea. HMS Glorious turned slightly and started to steam into the wind. She had to launch thirty two Hurricanes and a trio of Sea Skuas to reinforce Malta. Ark Royal and Victorious were her escorts.
An hour later, flight operations had ceased and the three carriers escorted by a pair of battle cruisers and eleven other warships turned to the north for a four hour power run. By late afternoon, Ark Royal and Victorious had launched a forty plane raid against Cagliari.
As Force H turned back to Gibraltar, it was becoming a new unit. Renown would stay with Victorious as Ark Royal and Glorious were slated to return to Scapa Flow. The two converted carriers, Furious and Glorious, with Home Fleet would form its core until it could be reinforced with Illustrious and Indomitable. Ark Royal would have a thirty day maintenance period before heading to Alexandria to reinforce Formidable.
Three aircraft carriers pitched and yawed in the sea. HMS Glorious turned slightly and started to steam into the wind. She had to launch thirty two Hurricanes and a trio of Sea Skuas to reinforce Malta. Ark Royal and Victorious were her escorts.
An hour later, flight operations had ceased and the three carriers escorted by a pair of battle cruisers and eleven other warships turned to the north for a four hour power run. By late afternoon, Ark Royal and Victorious had launched a forty plane raid against Cagliari.
As Force H turned back to Gibraltar, it was becoming a new unit. Renown would stay with Victorious as Ark Royal and Glorious were slated to return to Scapa Flow. The two converted carriers, Furious and Glorious, with Home Fleet would form its core until it could be reinforced with Illustrious and Indomitable. Ark Royal would have a thirty day maintenance period before heading to Alexandria to reinforce Formidable.
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Story 0642
June 11, 1941 Kure Naval Arsenal
The admiral finished his speech. Asama, a revision on the same theme as Mogami was ready to leave the shipyard for the first time. Her turrets were still not mounted but the engines had been installed and training could start. She would be ready to join the fleet, fully armed and trained by the spring of 1942.
The admiral finished his speech. Asama, a revision on the same theme as Mogami was ready to leave the shipyard for the first time. Her turrets were still not mounted but the engines had been installed and training could start. She would be ready to join the fleet, fully armed and trained by the spring of 1942.
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