This is "inspired" by the Sealion Coxed thread. It depends on Hitler being as frothingly insane in the earlier period of the war as he was later on. So yes, this is somewhat ASB, but unlike the other thread, for better or worse, this is my own work.
Comments, critisism, flaming etc is welcome, and to be honest, expected.
(well, the flaming is)
---------------------------------
Sealion 41
Battle Of Britian continues as per OTL, Op Sealion postponed Sept 17th.
Autumn 40-Spring 41 London Blitz as per OTL.
April 8th 1941,
Prime Minister Churchill, as was his habit at the time, alighted to the roof to watch the raid in progress. Walter Thompson, his long standing bodyguard and the PM's Secretary accomppanied him to the roof. Thompson, ever mindfull of the effects of Shrapnel from bombs and the British Anti aircraft Artillery had asked, remonstrated and at times begged the PM not to do this, citing the numerous risks of making such observations. It was on this occasion that his warnings, while disregarded by Churchill as being "the clucks of a worried mother hen", it was on this occasion that these warnings were to be prophetic. In the words of Chief INspector Thompson, "We had been watching for some time, the PM was preparing to return below when an almighty crash went off nearby. All of us on the roof were thrown from our feet by the blast wave as, and we still to this day do not know whether it was a lucky German bomb of a stray Flak shell, whatever it was exploded not far away. As Miss Hempford and myself gathered our senses, we became aware that the PM hadn't moved. Upon checking him, I noticed he had recieved an injury to his head as there was significant blood pooling on the floor near to the wound. At this point, privately I thought that the PM was already dead, but advised Miss Hempford to call for a doctor immediately. By the time we had gotten the PM to the ground floor, he had lost most of the colour from his cheeks, (and I suspect, so had I at this point). He was placed on a strethcher and moved immediately to St Thomas' Hospital in Lambeth. On Arrival at the hospital the PM was immeditely seen by a Doctor and his room placed, at my orders under armed Police guard".
The result of the Doctor's examination was that although the wound itself was comparatively minor, it had resulted in a significant amount of bruising to the brain from which at that point, it was unclear, in the doctor's opinion, whether the Prime Minister would recover. Cabinet was informed, and in the interim, Clement Attlee, became acting Prime Minister, until such a time as either Sir Winston recovered, or died and a replacement could be selected.
April 1941
As with all such things, desite strenuous efforts to the contrary, word of the Prime Ministers condition leaked out, and equally unsurprisingly, made it's way across the channel. When the informatiuon was passed to Admiral Kanaris, he made every possible effort to varufy the information before passing it to Hitler. Hitler's reaction was predictable: With the main source of British resistance out of the way, They would offer the same peace terms as in 1940, while at the same time, orders to prepare Sealion once more were also drafted.
Through the respective diplomatic missions in Switzerland, the peace terms of 1940 were again offered, forwarded to London, and again, this time with the unqualified support of Lord Halifax, rejected out of hand.
On the 23rd of April 1941, Hitler gave the order that Operation Sealion was to proceede no later than May 15th 1941.
It must be said, that a number of senior German officers attempted to dissuade from this course of action, and in a desperate attempt to get Hitler to see sense, both Kesselring and Raeder resigned their positions, replaced by Ernst Udet and Karl Donitz respectively. Unusually for Admiral Donetz, his view of this particular order and the preparations are absent from his autobiographical book, "8 Jahre Und 20 Tag" (8 years and 20 days), although we believe through other sources, that although he felt the operation would have minimal chances of success, he could let down his comrades in the Navy, or have the deaths of German soldiers on his conscience by performing his duties in a slipshod manner.
In their initial orders from the same day, Donitz ordered a significant force of U-Boats to Scarpa flow, the mouth of the River Tyne, and to Portsmouth and Southampton in an effort to inflict losses heavy enough to reduce the Royal Navy's ability to resist an invasion in the short term, while Ernst Udet, merely dusted off the original plans for Eagle Day.
It is unfortunate for both the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe, that Station X, the British code breaking effort based at Bletchley House in Buckinghamshire had been successfull in their in their endeavours to break German codes and within 24 hours of the orders being issued, the same orders, presented in clear text were passed to the RAF and Royal Navy, and as we see, not a moment too soon.
The fleet at Scarpa Flow were by and large put to sea with immediate effect and ordered to Belfast, a token fleet, made up mostly of WWI era Destroyers recently gifted from the United States Navy, was left to act as a decoy, and following the attacks, great quantities of oil were released into the flow and set alight, giving the impression to German recconoisance aircraft, that the fleet had indeed been sunk.
The German actions against the flotillas at dock in the Tyne, at Portsmouth and Southampton among others, was mainly reduced to mine laying. The Kriegsmarine suffered significant losses among it's mine laying submarines, with official British news reels claiming that a new and improved ASDIC system was in operation, in order to disguise the breaking of German codes.
The Brititsh recieve further good news on April 29th, as Churchill regains consciousness. Unlike the news of his injury, this news is successfully kept under wraps as at this stage it is unknown to what level the Prime Minister has recovered.
May 1941.
The Luftwaffe begin concerted daylight fighter sweeps along the south coast, while at the same time bringing reserve fighters and bombers from the Ostfront reserve in order to increase the pressure on the RAF. During the sweeps, the losses in aircraft are more or less even, however, the RAF are able to recover many more of their pilots, returning them to their squadrons, German and Italian pilots are sent to POW camps. After a report is passed to Udet showing the comparative losses of machines and Pilots, he responds that this is only temporary, and the pilots will be liberated once German victory is achieved. No one notices the slight increase in Bomber losses, due to better equipped RAF Nightfighters now patrolling the skys.
Initial tests on the Prime Minister show that although there is no serious mental damage, his short term memory and balance have been seriously affected. There is no current estimate of how long it will take for him to recover.
May 7th 1941
Without consulting meteorlogical reports, Hitler sets the date of invasion to Sunday May 18th. Orders are issued immediately to all Air, Sea and Land forces.
May 9th - 17th
Station X again breaks the coded message and is able to confirm that the invasion is set for the 18th. All leave is cancelled, and where ever possible, all RN, RAF and Army units are recalled to be rearmed and re-equipped. Information coming in from agents in France, the Netherlands and Norway confirms that men and materiel previously earmarked for Sealion are being moved as a priority to towns and villages in the vicinity of Calais. RAF fighter and ground attack sweeps are scaled back, although strategic bomber raids on Germany continue as before. Many fighter squadrons are moved north out of the way of the expected air offensive prior to invasion. Coastal towns and villages already evecuated due to the invasion threat of the previous summer are quietly re-occupied by British and commonwealth units moving in only by night to avoid German reconnaissance aircraft.
SOE provide extra materials to French and Dutch resistance groups ready to begin a sabotage campaign the moment the invasion fleet sails for England.
May 14th - Royal Navy flotillas sortie from their ports under cover of darkness and rendeverous south of Ireland. RN mine sweepers clear the north and south entrances to the channel, recently sown with mines by the Germans. Destroyers report increased U Boat activity, sinking 7 for the loss of 2 destroyers and 1 frigate. 1 new Enigma machine is captured from the sinking submarines and sent to Bletchley Park immediately.
The Abwehr become aware of the change in British pattern of operation, but are informed by their agents in Britain, (captured and turned almost immediately on their arrival in Britian), that this is due to confusion in the British military, while one, claiming to work in the Ministry of war, forwards a faked document claiming that the British are moving their forces for a large scale raid on Norway. In reality, all of these agents are controlled by MI5.
Admiral Kanaris passed his concerns to Hitler suggesting that the Invasion be postponed while these new developments are examined. Himmler, wanting to take the Abwehr under the wing of the SS starts rumours that Kanaris is working for the British.
May 17th 1941
the Royal Navy Flotillas begin a coast hugging sortie towards the channel ready to intercept the German invasion fleet.
Late Afternoon, RAF fighter, ground attack and light bomber squadrons, begin to move to bases in the Midlands. Dummy aircraft are set up on the South coast airfields and given tanks of old rags, oil and kerosene. As the Luftwaffe begin their attacks on the airfields, they report that the RAF has been caught completely unawares and that almost all the fighters have been destroyed on the ground. Goering reports the destruction of the RAF to a gleeful Hitler who decrees that the British will be clamouring to surrender by the end of the week.
Midnight, 18th May 1941
The German invasion fleet begins to cross the channel. Luftwaffe bombers now concentrate their attacks on the Kent coast around the landing areas. Luftwaffe night fighers report minimal air activity by the RAF.
3.30am, with the first wave of the invasion fleet nearing the English coast, the Royal Navy launch the largest fleet action seen since WWI Crossing the T En masse and steaming backwards and forwards through the cross channel convoy. Of the 23,000 men on the barges in that crossing, less than 500 make it to the English shore. Around the same time, Luftwaffe transport aircraft carrying the airborne element of the assault are shot at by the Naval task force taking some losses, as they near the coast, they are attacked by RAF Night fighters, mostly Britol Blenheim and the new Bristol Beaufighter, inflict nearly 50% casualties. The German troops that do land, are quickly surrounded by British troops, and although they continue to fight on for up to 2 days, most are either dead or surrendured by mid-day 18th May.
At first light, mass formations of almost every available RAF aircraft capable of fighting begin raids all along the French coast. The resistance cut roads and rail links bringing down communications. Although the RAF suffer significant losses, the Luftwaffe are rendered combat incapable for nearly two days while airfields and aircraft are repaired. The biggest loss however, and one they would never fully recover from, is the loss of pilots and trained ground crew.
By Midday, 18th May, it has become clear that the Invasion is an abject failure. German Losses are upwards of 38,000 men, Hundreds of ships and aircraft. The loss of morale is greater still. Losses on the Allied side are 238 aircraft of mixed types, 823 Aircrew, 4 destroyers and numerous small motor torpedo and fast attack boats.
4.00pm - On learning that the invasion has failed, Heinrich Himmler orders the arrest of Wilhelm Kanaris and his senior officers on the charge of high treason, using the rumours he himself started as the basis for the arrests. The Abwehr is disbanded and the Intelligence service is turned over to the SS.
At the same time, Admiral Raeder meets Carl Goerdeler and Ulrich von Hassell to discuss, "hypothetically", the fate of Germany after the failure of Sealion.
End of part one.
Comments, critisism, flaming etc is welcome, and to be honest, expected.
(well, the flaming is)
---------------------------------
Sealion 41
Battle Of Britian continues as per OTL, Op Sealion postponed Sept 17th.
Autumn 40-Spring 41 London Blitz as per OTL.
April 8th 1941,
Prime Minister Churchill, as was his habit at the time, alighted to the roof to watch the raid in progress. Walter Thompson, his long standing bodyguard and the PM's Secretary accomppanied him to the roof. Thompson, ever mindfull of the effects of Shrapnel from bombs and the British Anti aircraft Artillery had asked, remonstrated and at times begged the PM not to do this, citing the numerous risks of making such observations. It was on this occasion that his warnings, while disregarded by Churchill as being "the clucks of a worried mother hen", it was on this occasion that these warnings were to be prophetic. In the words of Chief INspector Thompson, "We had been watching for some time, the PM was preparing to return below when an almighty crash went off nearby. All of us on the roof were thrown from our feet by the blast wave as, and we still to this day do not know whether it was a lucky German bomb of a stray Flak shell, whatever it was exploded not far away. As Miss Hempford and myself gathered our senses, we became aware that the PM hadn't moved. Upon checking him, I noticed he had recieved an injury to his head as there was significant blood pooling on the floor near to the wound. At this point, privately I thought that the PM was already dead, but advised Miss Hempford to call for a doctor immediately. By the time we had gotten the PM to the ground floor, he had lost most of the colour from his cheeks, (and I suspect, so had I at this point). He was placed on a strethcher and moved immediately to St Thomas' Hospital in Lambeth. On Arrival at the hospital the PM was immeditely seen by a Doctor and his room placed, at my orders under armed Police guard".
The result of the Doctor's examination was that although the wound itself was comparatively minor, it had resulted in a significant amount of bruising to the brain from which at that point, it was unclear, in the doctor's opinion, whether the Prime Minister would recover. Cabinet was informed, and in the interim, Clement Attlee, became acting Prime Minister, until such a time as either Sir Winston recovered, or died and a replacement could be selected.
April 1941
As with all such things, desite strenuous efforts to the contrary, word of the Prime Ministers condition leaked out, and equally unsurprisingly, made it's way across the channel. When the informatiuon was passed to Admiral Kanaris, he made every possible effort to varufy the information before passing it to Hitler. Hitler's reaction was predictable: With the main source of British resistance out of the way, They would offer the same peace terms as in 1940, while at the same time, orders to prepare Sealion once more were also drafted.
Through the respective diplomatic missions in Switzerland, the peace terms of 1940 were again offered, forwarded to London, and again, this time with the unqualified support of Lord Halifax, rejected out of hand.
On the 23rd of April 1941, Hitler gave the order that Operation Sealion was to proceede no later than May 15th 1941.
It must be said, that a number of senior German officers attempted to dissuade from this course of action, and in a desperate attempt to get Hitler to see sense, both Kesselring and Raeder resigned their positions, replaced by Ernst Udet and Karl Donitz respectively. Unusually for Admiral Donetz, his view of this particular order and the preparations are absent from his autobiographical book, "8 Jahre Und 20 Tag" (8 years and 20 days), although we believe through other sources, that although he felt the operation would have minimal chances of success, he could let down his comrades in the Navy, or have the deaths of German soldiers on his conscience by performing his duties in a slipshod manner.
In their initial orders from the same day, Donitz ordered a significant force of U-Boats to Scarpa flow, the mouth of the River Tyne, and to Portsmouth and Southampton in an effort to inflict losses heavy enough to reduce the Royal Navy's ability to resist an invasion in the short term, while Ernst Udet, merely dusted off the original plans for Eagle Day.
It is unfortunate for both the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe, that Station X, the British code breaking effort based at Bletchley House in Buckinghamshire had been successfull in their in their endeavours to break German codes and within 24 hours of the orders being issued, the same orders, presented in clear text were passed to the RAF and Royal Navy, and as we see, not a moment too soon.
The fleet at Scarpa Flow were by and large put to sea with immediate effect and ordered to Belfast, a token fleet, made up mostly of WWI era Destroyers recently gifted from the United States Navy, was left to act as a decoy, and following the attacks, great quantities of oil were released into the flow and set alight, giving the impression to German recconoisance aircraft, that the fleet had indeed been sunk.
The German actions against the flotillas at dock in the Tyne, at Portsmouth and Southampton among others, was mainly reduced to mine laying. The Kriegsmarine suffered significant losses among it's mine laying submarines, with official British news reels claiming that a new and improved ASDIC system was in operation, in order to disguise the breaking of German codes.
The Brititsh recieve further good news on April 29th, as Churchill regains consciousness. Unlike the news of his injury, this news is successfully kept under wraps as at this stage it is unknown to what level the Prime Minister has recovered.
May 1941.
The Luftwaffe begin concerted daylight fighter sweeps along the south coast, while at the same time bringing reserve fighters and bombers from the Ostfront reserve in order to increase the pressure on the RAF. During the sweeps, the losses in aircraft are more or less even, however, the RAF are able to recover many more of their pilots, returning them to their squadrons, German and Italian pilots are sent to POW camps. After a report is passed to Udet showing the comparative losses of machines and Pilots, he responds that this is only temporary, and the pilots will be liberated once German victory is achieved. No one notices the slight increase in Bomber losses, due to better equipped RAF Nightfighters now patrolling the skys.
Initial tests on the Prime Minister show that although there is no serious mental damage, his short term memory and balance have been seriously affected. There is no current estimate of how long it will take for him to recover.
May 7th 1941
Without consulting meteorlogical reports, Hitler sets the date of invasion to Sunday May 18th. Orders are issued immediately to all Air, Sea and Land forces.
May 9th - 17th
Station X again breaks the coded message and is able to confirm that the invasion is set for the 18th. All leave is cancelled, and where ever possible, all RN, RAF and Army units are recalled to be rearmed and re-equipped. Information coming in from agents in France, the Netherlands and Norway confirms that men and materiel previously earmarked for Sealion are being moved as a priority to towns and villages in the vicinity of Calais. RAF fighter and ground attack sweeps are scaled back, although strategic bomber raids on Germany continue as before. Many fighter squadrons are moved north out of the way of the expected air offensive prior to invasion. Coastal towns and villages already evecuated due to the invasion threat of the previous summer are quietly re-occupied by British and commonwealth units moving in only by night to avoid German reconnaissance aircraft.
SOE provide extra materials to French and Dutch resistance groups ready to begin a sabotage campaign the moment the invasion fleet sails for England.
May 14th - Royal Navy flotillas sortie from their ports under cover of darkness and rendeverous south of Ireland. RN mine sweepers clear the north and south entrances to the channel, recently sown with mines by the Germans. Destroyers report increased U Boat activity, sinking 7 for the loss of 2 destroyers and 1 frigate. 1 new Enigma machine is captured from the sinking submarines and sent to Bletchley Park immediately.
The Abwehr become aware of the change in British pattern of operation, but are informed by their agents in Britain, (captured and turned almost immediately on their arrival in Britian), that this is due to confusion in the British military, while one, claiming to work in the Ministry of war, forwards a faked document claiming that the British are moving their forces for a large scale raid on Norway. In reality, all of these agents are controlled by MI5.
Admiral Kanaris passed his concerns to Hitler suggesting that the Invasion be postponed while these new developments are examined. Himmler, wanting to take the Abwehr under the wing of the SS starts rumours that Kanaris is working for the British.
May 17th 1941
the Royal Navy Flotillas begin a coast hugging sortie towards the channel ready to intercept the German invasion fleet.
Late Afternoon, RAF fighter, ground attack and light bomber squadrons, begin to move to bases in the Midlands. Dummy aircraft are set up on the South coast airfields and given tanks of old rags, oil and kerosene. As the Luftwaffe begin their attacks on the airfields, they report that the RAF has been caught completely unawares and that almost all the fighters have been destroyed on the ground. Goering reports the destruction of the RAF to a gleeful Hitler who decrees that the British will be clamouring to surrender by the end of the week.
Midnight, 18th May 1941
The German invasion fleet begins to cross the channel. Luftwaffe bombers now concentrate their attacks on the Kent coast around the landing areas. Luftwaffe night fighers report minimal air activity by the RAF.
3.30am, with the first wave of the invasion fleet nearing the English coast, the Royal Navy launch the largest fleet action seen since WWI Crossing the T En masse and steaming backwards and forwards through the cross channel convoy. Of the 23,000 men on the barges in that crossing, less than 500 make it to the English shore. Around the same time, Luftwaffe transport aircraft carrying the airborne element of the assault are shot at by the Naval task force taking some losses, as they near the coast, they are attacked by RAF Night fighters, mostly Britol Blenheim and the new Bristol Beaufighter, inflict nearly 50% casualties. The German troops that do land, are quickly surrounded by British troops, and although they continue to fight on for up to 2 days, most are either dead or surrendured by mid-day 18th May.
At first light, mass formations of almost every available RAF aircraft capable of fighting begin raids all along the French coast. The resistance cut roads and rail links bringing down communications. Although the RAF suffer significant losses, the Luftwaffe are rendered combat incapable for nearly two days while airfields and aircraft are repaired. The biggest loss however, and one they would never fully recover from, is the loss of pilots and trained ground crew.
By Midday, 18th May, it has become clear that the Invasion is an abject failure. German Losses are upwards of 38,000 men, Hundreds of ships and aircraft. The loss of morale is greater still. Losses on the Allied side are 238 aircraft of mixed types, 823 Aircrew, 4 destroyers and numerous small motor torpedo and fast attack boats.
4.00pm - On learning that the invasion has failed, Heinrich Himmler orders the arrest of Wilhelm Kanaris and his senior officers on the charge of high treason, using the rumours he himself started as the basis for the arrests. The Abwehr is disbanded and the Intelligence service is turned over to the SS.
At the same time, Admiral Raeder meets Carl Goerdeler and Ulrich von Hassell to discuss, "hypothetically", the fate of Germany after the failure of Sealion.
End of part one.
