Keynes' Cruisers Volume 2

Status
Not open for further replies.

Driftless

Donor
A village near Strasbourg, June 26, 1944

Anna Marie looked over the fence. She was exhausted from a hard day working in the field. Turnips and potatoes were growing well, and the wheat was getting closer to being ready to harvest. Her papa was walking down the lane. He, and many other men in the village had been conscripted for the past three days to start building defensive positions. He left before dawn, and today the sun was still up as he was coming home, sweaty, exhausted and hungry. Mamere would have a good meal ready for everyone. Farming was hard work, and the few "guest workers" realized that this was one of the better spots to be as they were not being starved to death. One had actually gained three kilograms in the past year after nearly being starved after being captured on the Eastern Front. Anna Marie turned and started to walk to the chicken coop where a few birds remained. She needed to grab the half dozen eggs needed for tomorrow's meals.
They can hope the Germans don't requisition their harvest as they start the retreat East - providing they first don't get blown up if the battle moves through their farm....
 
North of Lyon, France June 27, 1944

Jacques D'Orlong raised his hand. He repeated an oath. He saluted an officer who was moving to the next man and repeating the oath.

The band of marquis was no more. They were now part of the French Forces of the Interior and would be acting as scouts and rangers for an infantry division of the 1st French Army. Now the men (and some women) would be somewhat protected by the Geneva Convention. Now the fighters would have the promise of medical care. Now the riflemen could be resupplied. Now the soldiers could be paid.
  • From this moment until that when the enemies have been driven from the territory of the republic, the French people are in permanent requisition for army service. The young men shall go to battle; the married men shall forge arms and transport provision; the women shall make tents and clothes, and shall serve in the hospitals; the children shall turn old linen into lint; the old men shall repair to the public places, to stimulate the courage of the warriors and preach the unity of the Republic and hatred of kin
  • National buildings shall be converted into barracks; public places into armament workshops; the soil of cellars shall be washed in lye to extract saltpeter therefrom.
  • Arms of the caliber shall be turned over exclusively to those who march against the enemy; the service of the interior shall be carried on with fowling pieces and sabers.
  • Saddle horses are called for to complete the cavalry corps; draught horses, other than those employed in agriculture, shall haul artillery and provisions
  • The Committee of Public Safety is charged for taking all measures necessary for establishing, without delay, a special manufacture of arms of all kinds, in harmony with the élan and the energy of the French people. Accordingly, it is authorized to constitute all establishments, manufactories, workshops, and factories deemed necessary for the execution of such works, as well as the requisition for such purpose, throughout the entire extent of the Republic, the artists and workmen who may contribute to their success. For such purpose a sum of 30,000,000 taken from the 498,200,000 livres in assignats in reserve in the “Fund of the Three Keys,” shall be placed at the disposal of the Minister of War (Carnot). The central establishment of said special manufacture shall be established at Paris.
  • The representatives of the people dispatched for the execution of the present law shall have similar authority in their respective arrondissements, acting in concert with the Committee of Public Safety; they are invested with the ultimate powers attributed to the representatives of the people with armies.
  • No one may obtain a substitute for service to which he is summoned. The public functionaries shall remain at their posts.
  • The levy shall be general. Unmarried citizens or childless widowers, from eighteen to twenty-five years, shall go first; they shall meet, without delay, at the chief town of their districts, where they shall practice manual exercise daily, while awaiting the hour of departure.
  • The representatives of the people shall regulate the musters and marches so as to have armed citizens arrive at the points of assembling only in so far as supplies, munitions, and all that constitutes the material part of the army exist in sufficient proportion.
  • The points of assembling shall be determined by circumstances, and designated by the representatives of the people dispatched for the execution of the present decree, upon the advice of the generals, in co-operation with the Committee of Public Safety and the provisional Executive Council.
  • The battalion organized in each district shall be united under a banner bearing the inscription: The French people risen against tyrants.
  • Such battalions shall be organized according to established decrees, and their pay shall be the same as that of the battalions at the frontiers.
  • In order to collect supplies in sufficient quantity, the farmers and managers of national property shall deposit the produce of such property, in the form of grain, in the chief town of their respective districts.
  • Owners, farmers, and others possessing grain shall be required to pay, in kind, arrears of taxes, even the two-thirds of those of 1793, on the rolls which have served to effect the last payment.

P.S. Basic source Wikimedia.
 
Last edited:
Western Allies Rough OOB June 27, 1944
GREECE
9th Army (UK Command and Logistics)
  • I Greek Corps
  • 21st Indian Corps
  • 5th (UK) Corps
  • 1st Australian Corps
ITALY/ADRIATIC LITTORAL
15th Army Group (UK Command)

8th British Army (UK Logistics)
3 Corps
~10 Divisions

5th US Army (US Logistics) (veteran units are reinforcing US 7th Army, to be replaced by green units from CONUS)
2 Corps + Brazilian Expeditionary Force
~6 Infantry Divisions

FRANCE
Operation Dragoon (US Command)
6th Army Group

1st French Army (US Logistics)
3 Corps HQ
8 Infantry Divisions
2 Armored Divisions

1st Polish Army (50% US Logistics, 50% UK Logistics)
2 Corps HQ
3 Infantry + 2 Armored Divisions

7th US Army (US Logistics)
2 Corps HQ
6 Infantry + 1 Armored Division

Operation Overlord (US Command)
21st Army Group (UK Command & Logistics)
2nd British Army
4 Corps
11 Infantry, 5 Armored, 1 Airborne Division

1st Canadian Army
2 Canadian Corps
4 Infantry, 2 Armoured Divisions
1 UK Corps
2 Infantry, 1 Armoured Division (Czech, Dutch and Belgian units included)

12th Army Group (US Command and Logistics)

1st Army
3 Corps (11 Infantry, 4 Armored Divisions)
3rd Army
3 Corps ( 8 Infantry, 5 Armored Divisions)

9th Army (follow-on force to deploy to Continent )
TBD :)

1st Allied Airborne Corps (back in barracks in England)
 
Last edited:
Fester, where's the 442 at this point? For those who don't know, the Brazilian Expeditionary Force (FEB) was a reinforced division sized force. There was also a P-47 unit from the Brazilian Air Force as well.
 
Fester, where's the 442 at this point? For those who don't know, the Brazilian Expeditionary Force (FEB) was a reinforced division sized force. There was also a P-47 unit from the Brazilian Air Force as well.
442nd is currently whoring it up in Genoa waiting for troop ships to arrive to transfer them to the 7th Army.
 
That's one hell of a battle roster.
Amazing what happens when the British Empire only has to fight a 1 hemisphere war and not find ways to supply the 14th Army in some of the least logistically friendly terrain in the world, and its Dominions are not fighting in some of the other logistically hideous terrain in the world......
 
Amazing what happens when the British Empire only has to fight a 1 hemisphere war and not find ways to supply the 14th Army in some of the least logistically friendly terrain in the world, and its Dominions are not fighting in some of the other logistically hideous terrain in the world......
53 Infantry divisions and 22 Armored divisions in France 1 month after D-Day/Dragoon is a significant improvement for sure. I'm sure there are 20 more divisions coming from the USA in the coming months as well. A larger Polish and Canadian presence also gives them both a larger seat at the table in the end too, I'm sure.
 
53 Infantry divisions and 22 Armored divisions in France 1 month after D-Day/Dragoon is a significant improvement for sure. I'm sure there are 20 more divisions coming from the USA in the coming months as well. A larger Polish and Canadian presence also gives them both a larger seat at the table in the end too, I'm sure.
Canadians aren't seeing much difference --- the big thing is that their 2 corps are all together in Normandy instead of split between Normandy and Italy.

The major sources of additional forces are 2 corps (1 Indian Army, 1 UK) from the non-establishment of the 14th Army in Burma/non-CF of the Malay Penisula campaign, an extra ANZAC corps that is not fighting in the Solomons or New Guinea, a Greek corps, about an extra Polish division, a South African division that was not destroyed at Tobruk, plus a weaker Allied presence in Italy (~27 Division equivalents OTL May 1944 vs ~16 Division equivalents). The US earlier mobilization is beefing up 1st and 3rd Army slightly, but will be readily apparent in 9th and 11th Armies.

9th Army (Greece) is effectively a 1:1 replacement of the Italian campaign on a nose count basis, so butterflies of the timeline of a far less of a CF in the Far East and SW Pacific is most of a Commonwealth Field Army (the Anzacs and Indians are in Greece, so it really means more Metropolitan troops are available for NW Europe)
 
Canadians aren't seeing much difference --- the big thing is that their 2 corps are all together in Normandy instead of split between Normandy and Italy.

The major sources of additional forces are 2 corps (1 Indian Army, 1 UK) from the non-establishment of the 14th Army in Burma/non-CF of the Malay Penisula campaign, an extra ANZAC corps that is not fighting in the Solomons or New Guinea, a Greek corps, about an extra Polish division, a South African division that was not destroyed at Tobruk, plus a weaker Allied presence in Italy (~27 Division equivalents OTL May 1944 vs ~16 Division equivalents). The US earlier mobilization is beefing up 1st and 3rd Army slightly, but will be readily apparent in 9th and 11th Armies.

9th Army (Greece) is effectively a 1:1 replacement of the Italian campaign on a nose count basis, so butterflies of the timeline of a far less of a CF in the Far East and SW Pacific is most of a Commonwealth Field Army (the Anzacs and Indians are in Greece, so it really means more Metropolitan troops are available for NW Europe)
OTL the Allies had only just captured Cassino and Rome and weren't anywhere near capable of taking on Greece. Here we see that almost all of Italy has been liberated and Greece is being slowly liberated and the Allies may even get into Yugoslavia. The butterflies caused by the Japanese faring worse in the Pacific has dramatically improved the position of the WAllies that we could see more post-war territory out of Soviet hands.
 
OTL the Allies had only just captured Cassino and Rome and weren't anywhere near capable of taking on Greece. Here we see that almost all of Italy has been liberated and Greece is being slowly liberated and the Allies may even get into Yugoslavia. The butterflies caused by the Japanese faring worse in the Pacific has dramatically improved the position of the WAllies that we could see more post-war territory out of Soviet hands.
I am pretty sure there is an update where they did already land in Yugoslavia. Mostly along the coast, defiantly Dubrovnik was liberated and I do believe there is a British infantry division there.

Just found the update, its story 2458. It also mentions a Yugoslavian armoured brigade is being formed from the communist partisans. Also the division is labelled as the 4th British infantry division.
 
Story 2512
Falaise, France June 28, 1944

Silence filled the air. If one strained their ears hard enough, they could hear tank treads squeaking in the distance and batteries of Long Toms firing. But now, there was silence on a battlefield that had led to a third of the German 7th Army to be destroyed, a third to have escaped and a third to have surrendered. German prisoners were active on the killing grounds. They wore masks and gloves as stretcher bearers moved bodies to piles where identification was attempted. Sometimes the remains had a tag or a notebook or a card in their pocket, but most bodies were unknown. More prisoners had been handed shovels and picks after they had received a hot breakfast. American and Canadian engineers had marked out half a dozen mass graves and now the prisoners were slowly moving the dirt away to bury the bodies that only luck and happenstance were not their own.
 
Story 2513
Western Ukraine, June 29, 1944

The 3rd Guards Tank Army paused for a day. Resistance had been light after two non-motorized Romanian divisions had been destroyed in place two days and over 100 kilometers ago. The spearheads were already on the left bank of the Dniester River. Ural trucks were bringing forward assault boats while Studebakers and CMPs were lugging forward fuel, food, spare parts and ammunition. The quartermasters had been operating without sleep since the maneuvering group of the southern offensive had been unleashed. They had advanced further and faster than many projected which made the demands for fuel nearly impossible to satisfy but artillery usage was a bit below expectations which gave them just enough excess capacity to keep the advance moving. A day to rest and repair would make the logistical situation go from grave to merely worrisome.
 
Last edited:
Falaise, France June 28, 1944

American and Canadian engineers had marked out half a dozen mass graves and now the prisoners were slowly moving the dirt away to bury the bodies that only luck and happenstance were not their own.
I seen what you did there Fester, Doing a shout out to Peabody Martini.
 
Paris, France June 30, 1944

"To the barricades"
So who gets to Paris first...the allies in this Time Line, or me. I'll be there on Thursday at 10:50AM local time. Going to visit my daughter who works as an au pair just outside the city. That is if the Covid test comes out negative...and everything else works out right.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top