The Italo-British War began in late 1937. By that point most of Franco's best men had already been transferred. Also the Republican blockade was flimsy as hell. Their top commanders had defected and their codes were repeatedly compromised due to this.
A Better Decade - a British TL.
- Thread starter Sarthak
- Start date
Deleted member 94680
The Army of Africa either travelled over in German Ju-52s or merchant vessels. The Italian support to the crossing was bomber aircraft escorting the ships. Not all of the Navy sided with the republic, several of the larger ships rebelled with the Nationalists.
One thing to keep in mind is that Greece and Turkey will not fight on the same side. At least, from my knowledge of the Greek point of view, they'd never allow it. A lot of their nationalism was aimed against Turkey.
So if you do get them involved, it'd probably have to be either joining the Allies, being part of a third side with the Soviets or following the spirit of the Balkans and creating their own side/own war.
The greeks are fascist and a part of the axis. The turks are entirely neutral. Neither Inonu nor Ataturk wanted nothing in european conflicts
British Expeditionary Forces (BEF)
Commander-in-Chief: General Claude Auchinleck.
1. I Corps (Lieutenant General Harold Alexander)
i. I Corps Ammunition Column
ii. I Corps Ammunition Company
iii. I Corps Supply Column
iv. I Corps Supply Company
v. 1st Storage Unit
vi. 2nd Storage Unit
vii. 3rd Storage Unit
viii. 8th Storage Unit
ix. 12th Auxiliary Group
x. I Corps Artillery
xiv. 2nd Infantry Division (Major General Henry Charles Lloyd)
xv. 48th Infantry Division (Major General Augustus Thorne)
xvi. Royal Armored Force (Major General Percy Hobart)
xvii. 4th Armored Regiment
***
2. II Corps (Lieutenant General Alan Brooke)
i. II Corps Ammunition Column
ii. II Corps Ammunition Company
iii. II Corps Supply Column
iv. II Corps Petrol Company
v. 13th Storage Unit
vi. 14th Storage Unit
vii. 15th Storage Unit
viii. 16th Storage Unit
ix. 17th Storage Unit
x. 11th Auxiliary Group
xv. 4th Infantry Division (Major General Dudley Johnson)
xvi. 50th Motorized Division (Major General Giffard Martel)
xvii. 7th Armored Regiment
xvii. 10th Armored Regiment
***
3. III Corps (Lieutenant General Richard O'Connor)
i. III Corps Supply Column
ii. III Corps Ammunition Company
iii. III Corps Ammunition Column
iv. III Corps Petrol Company
v. 7th Storage Unit
vi. 9th Storage Unit
vii. 10th Storage Unit
viii. 12th Storage Unit
ix. III Artillery Corps
xiv. 6th Armored Division (Major General Charles Keightley)
xv. 10th Armored Division (Major General Charles Allfrey)
xvi. 46th Mechanized Division (Major General Vyvyan Evelegh)
***
1. I Corps (Lieutenant General Harold Alexander)
i. I Corps Ammunition Column
ii. I Corps Ammunition Company
iii. I Corps Supply Column
iv. I Corps Supply Company
v. 1st Storage Unit
vi. 2nd Storage Unit
vii. 3rd Storage Unit
viii. 8th Storage Unit
ix. 12th Auxiliary Group
- 44th Company
- 45th Company
- 61st Company.
x. I Corps Artillery
- 1st Survey Regiment
- 1st General Artillery Company
- 115th Field Regiment
- 140th Field Regiment
- 1st Heavy Artillery Regiment
- 61st Regiment
- 52nd Regiment
- 27th Field Regiment
- 98th Field Regiment
- 3rd Medium Regiment
- 5th Medium Regiment
- 63rd Regiment
xiv. 2nd Infantry Division (Major General Henry Charles Lloyd)
xv. 48th Infantry Division (Major General Augustus Thorne)
xvi. Royal Armored Force (Major General Percy Hobart)
xvii. 4th Armored Regiment
***
2. II Corps (Lieutenant General Alan Brooke)
i. II Corps Ammunition Column
ii. II Corps Ammunition Company
iii. II Corps Supply Column
iv. II Corps Petrol Company
v. 13th Storage Unit
vi. 14th Storage Unit
vii. 15th Storage Unit
viii. 16th Storage Unit
ix. 17th Storage Unit
x. 11th Auxiliary Group
- 40th Company
- 42nd Company
- 60th Company
- 2nd Survey Regiment
- 2nd General Artillery Company
- 60th Field Regiment
- 88th Field Regiment
- 53rd medium regiment
- 59th Medium Regiment
- 53rd Heavy Regiment
- 2nd Regiment
- 32nd Field Regiment
- 2nd Medium Regiment
- 4th Medium Regiment
- 58th Medium Regiment
- 51st Heavy Regiment
- 2nd Super Heavy Regiment
xv. 4th Infantry Division (Major General Dudley Johnson)
xvi. 50th Motorized Division (Major General Giffard Martel)
xvii. 7th Armored Regiment
xvii. 10th Armored Regiment
***
3. III Corps (Lieutenant General Richard O'Connor)
i. III Corps Supply Column
ii. III Corps Ammunition Company
iii. III Corps Ammunition Column
iv. III Corps Petrol Company
v. 7th Storage Unit
vi. 9th Storage Unit
vii. 10th Storage Unit
viii. 12th Storage Unit
ix. III Artillery Corps
- 3rd Survey Regiment
- 3rd General Artillery Company
- 5th Regiment
- 97th Field Regiment
- 56th Medium Regiment
- 54th Field Regiment
- 139th Field Regiment
- 65th Field Regiment
- 69th Field Regiment
- 52nd Heavy Regiment
- 214th Field Company
- 217th Field Company
- 293rd Field Company
- 514th Field Company
xiv. 6th Armored Division (Major General Charles Keightley)
xv. 10th Armored Division (Major General Charles Allfrey)
xvi. 46th Mechanized Division (Major General Vyvyan Evelegh)
***
Glyndwr01
Banned
Auxiliaries - Wikipedia
en.m.wikipedia.org
BBC - WW2 People's War - Auxiliary Units
Jo’ Holland and MI created not only SOE and Auxiliary \Units but Independent Companies — later ...
www.bbc.co.uk
Last edited:
The British Army doesn't have artillery companies - gun, troop, battery, regiment.
In the finest traditions of the British Army, we use both company and squadron (along with platoon/troop and regiment/battalion) depending on what Corps (as in capbadge grouping rather than the field formation between Division and Army) you're discussing.
I was Royal Corps of Signals for example and we use Troop, Squadron, Regiment for our group names whereas the Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers use Platoon, Company and Battalion. The SAS use cavalry naming as well strangely enough, even though they're a predominantly infantry based unit.
I’m guessing that’s because they’re a continuation of the Long Range Patrol Group and that they started out with jeeps.
Ah, I was talking more about this:-
Royal Pioneer Corps - Wikipedia
Their groups were categorized as 'x' auxiliary group
Partially yes.
Quite a butterfly there from writing the Snowman IOTL to commanding an armoured division.
BOO YAA!!!
Yes Finally someone who understands the importance of the Italo-Ethiopian war. Let the Italians be beaten into oblivion
Yes and yes.
Plus priority for the ALT Griffon should be given to single-engine types like the ALT Fulmar, ALT Battle, ALT Defiant. ALT Henley and ALT Roc/Skua.
Fair enough. I think a couple of those might be better canceled or curtailed, though.
Stalemate and Phoneys
Chapter 21: Stalemate and Phoneys
***
January 7 – 24, 1940
***
January 8:-
Today was an anxious day for all parties involved. The recent fall of Czechoslovakia in such an abrupt and fast manner was a blow to the morale of the Allied Troops and some apprehensive veterans of the Great War were very unhappy with the situation going on. However General Gamelin currently in the Saarland was ordered to hunker down and start protecting the captured territories. Gamelin had basically captured the entirety of the Saar Basin, however Witzlebin’s army had basically stopped him in his tracks.
General Gamelin.
Within Britain, the day was a day full of angry muttering as the government and the parliament convened on a decision on what to do regarding the food situation. Britain produced around 60% of her own domestic needs, much better than the 25% of the Great War, however 40% of Great Britain’s food imports from the Dominions and America were put at risk by the German U-boats. The Presence of the Yugoslav and Greek Navies, which combined together made a credible threat, was something that caused the stoppage of the transfer of Royal Navy vessels from the Mediterranean theatre to the North Sea.
Britain announced a partial rationing ham and sugar in the end to keep the imports deficit at a minimum. Britain would not conduct deficit spending in this war at all. At least, that was the plan.
January 9
The Royal Navy submarine HMS Starfish, entered the Heligoland waters and started to wreck the German merchant marine, with the Royal Navy having given proper instructions to the ships not to engage neutral ships. The Dutch and Danish ships at harbor in Heligoland was largely let go by the submarine, however around 3 German auxiliary ships were sunk by torpedo attacks before the German minesweepers arrived and unfortunately for the submarine, it was sunk by a German destroyer.
After some weeks of talks between the diplomats, the ambassadors of Turkey, France and Great Britain sign a trade deal in Ankara giving credit to Turkey in exchange for their chromium and jacked low prices. This was the beginning of a fruitful cooperation between the three powers. Turkey was extremely worried about the Fascist Greece at its doorstep and was worried that should Bulgaria join in as well, then they had already drawn up plans for general mobilization of troops.
However this could not be even close to the truth. Bulgaria had no interest in joining this war for the Axis. The inclusion of the Yugoslavs and the Greeks had shot a huge hole right into those plans. King Boris III was already disgusted by the Germans. He held them largely responsible for the defeat in the Great War, and the mere fact that even Romania seemed to be slowly aligning with Germany meant that all of Bulgaria’s enemies would be allied with Hitler, and this was something no Bulgarian would tolerate. In fact, British Ambassador to Bulgaria, Sir George William Rendel wrote in a telegraph to London that ‘The government here is in no mood to bargain with Berlin. The inclusion of Yugoslavia and Greece into the Axis Pact and the gradual Romanian turnover towards the Axis is currently alienating Bulgaria from the Axis. For all intents and purposes it is feasible to understand that Bulgaria will not join the war on the side of the Axis. In fact some ministers have already dropped hints that Bulgaria would probably like to arrange an arms deal with us and Turkey as well. It is imperative that Westminster not lose this chance in the Balkans.’
King Boris III 'The Unifier of Bulgaria' and Ally of the Entente.
January 10
True to the words of the ambassador of Bulgaria, Bulgarian diplomats entered arms deal talks with Paris and London. The Bulgarians were making grandiose demands, however these demands were not unrealistic either. The Bulgarian military had been neutered by the Great War, and their industrial capacity for these weapons was not upto par, and thus whilst most would simply buy the weapon and leave, the Bulgarians were willing to pay for logistical support too. This was the chance for the British and the French to start diplomatic channels to start make Bulgaria more aligned to the Entente. The British diplomats and the Bulgarians diplomats hammered a deal through which promised around 40,000 rifles, 1 million rounds of ammunition, 200 medium tanks, and around 50 warplanes to Bulgaria by the end of May. France also hammered a deal through which promised around 25,000 rifles, 750,000 rounds of ammunition, 120 medium tanks, and around 35 Warplanes to Bulgaria by the end of May. Bulgarian diplomats happily replied back to Sofia.
King Boris III also refused to meet Hitler when a telegraph arrived that day in Sofia asking for a meeting. He politely refused the deal but the intent was clear. Bulgaria was not going to be a friend of Germany in this war.
General Gamelin is ordered to retreat back to the French border this day. There have been aerial reconnaissance that German reinforcements were on their way, and the French could not afford to lose an entire Corps. Gamelin began to withdraw when this news was made known to him.
January 11
Prime Minister Molotov of the Soviet Union officially passes an ultimatum to Finland to cede Karelia, Petsamo and Karajala to the Soviet Union for the defense of the Leningrad and the Northern territories of the Soviet Union. Finland refused this ultimatum and by the evening, the artillery batteries of the soviets at the Finno-Soviet Border began to start and the Soviets began a massive aerial bombardment campaign of the Finnish.
Originally the plan had been for bombing the Finnish cities, however the reaction of the entire world towards the bombing of Prague had shown that this would not be an ideal option. Instead, under the command of pre-eminent Chief Marshal of the Air Force Alexander Novikov, the Red Air Force was diverted towards close air combat operations and this made the already beleaguered Finns at the border lose their cohesion as the soviets already started to advance capturing border villages and towns by the end of the day.
Alexander Novikov.
The reaction to this invasion was fierce. Hitler warily looked towards the Soviets and asked his diplomats in Moscow to conduct the non-aggression pact that he wanted quickly. In Romania, the atmosphere was downright terrible, and throughout the world, the countries looked at the Soviets with their anti-Bolshevik lenses.
January 12
The British troops continued to pour into Europe, and by this point, around 2/3 of the British forces were in France and were being deployed accordingly. General Claude Auchinleck knew that the Germans would not advance through the Maginot Line unless they wanted a bloodbath and everyone knew that the main attack would arrive from the Belgian border. However, the Belgian King Leopold III of Belgium was obstinate in his position for neutrality. He hadn’t even mobilized the military for god’s sake. British First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill announced that he would be going to Brussels to meet with the Belgian monarch to discuss the war. This was warily accepted.
Meanwhile, the French evacuation from the Saar Basin was completed and the frontlines returned to the previous situation
January 13
Admiral Andrew Cunningham finally sent his plan for the attack on Souda Bay to the Admiralty in London. The Admiralty basically found this to be a re-run of the Battle of Taranto with the Greek mixes mixed in. However no one could deny that this plan would be very effective. The Admiralty gave the go ahead order for Admiral Cunningham. Cunningham ordered the Operation, codenamed Operation Minos to happen on January 25th. The Royal Navy would destroy the Greek Fleet as a credible threat and then commit a large scale amphibious assault on Crete from Egypt using Colonial and Indian troops. Australian troops were already on delivery towards North Africa to prepare for an amphibious invasion. The British Colonial divisions were also being transferred upwards from Central Africa and South Africa.
The Soviet Red Fleet begins the Blockade of Finland using their superior fleet. However this superiority is contested as the Soviet Baltic Fleet isn’t all that bigger, and much to the Chagrin to many, the Swedish Fleet itself would have been a strong opponent to the Red Fleet to fight on equal terms. Any naval war with Germany itself would be out of the question.
The Soviets continued their ‘Deep War’ tactics into Finland, as the caught off guard Finns were now being sieged out by the Soviets at the Mannerheim Line. In the North, the Soviet Siberian troops managed to take key transit towns towards Petsamo and started to threaten the Finnish railway towards the north of Lappland.
The Danish tanker Danmar was sunk by the German submarine U-23 near the Orkney islands with most of the crew escaping alive. However much to the dismay of the Germans, the British destroyer, HMS Ajax was in near vicinity and the U-boat was sunk.
January 14
In America, the FBI agents trying to capture some members of the Christian Front were diverted as the German covert operations in America grew to find out about the economic situation and cooperation between America and Britain. This caused members of the Christian Front to remain safe, and Father Charles Coughlin announced in secret to the Front that the ‘Grand Reckoning of America’ was near, and would come about by the end of the decade. Irish-Americans were the largest group of people in this Front, as it was Catholic, and they absolutely loathed France and Britain. France for not aiding the Irish in their bid for independence and Britain for obvious reasons. But they also hated the Irish government at this time, as the government of Ireland which was currently cozying up with Britain was seen with extreme disgust. This group called for a radical Christian government in charge of the United States of America. And the unavailability of FBI agents to capture members of this Front would only spell trouble for the Americans down the road.
Charles Coughlin.
The Royal Navy finally enveloped the entirety of the North Sea and finally started to impose their blockade fully this day, as exports and imports to Germany through the seas started to be squeezed out.
British intelligence from Germany suggested that navalized versions of the Bf-109 had already begun construction along with navalized Ju-87 for the Graf Zeppelin. British intelligence stated that the Aircraft Carrier would be finished by the middle of February. It was estimated that the German Kriegsmarine would make their move then.
The city of Vilpuri was caught up in the Finno-Soviet War, as the Battle of Vilpurri began with the Soviet 3rd Army beginning to fight the finally organized Finnish troops. If the city of Vilpurri fell, the entire Mannerheim Line would be caught off guard.
January 15
This morning, the government of Romania and the government of Germany signed a deal with which Romania acceded to the Axis Pact, even though Romania did not join the war. To overturn this however Romania blocked oil sales to France and Britain, and gave full access to the Axis Pact. This was seen as a partial embargo.
Britain declared this day that they would take partial control of the Meat Industry today just in case.
January 16
Winston Churchill reached Brussels where he was unable to meet with King Leopold III on good terms. With his energy undiminished anyways, Churchill urged the Royal Commission of Belgium for an audience with King Albert I of Belgium. The man had a mountaineering accident in 1934 and had abdicated the throne to his son and remained in solitude. King Albert I who knew Churchill from the Great War permitted himself to meet the man and the two lounged around the entire day with Churchill begging the old King of Belgium to make his son see reason and that Belgium would be invaded, whether he liked it or not, because the military situation would dictate it as such.
King Albert I, King of the Belgians.
King Albert agreed on these points and arranged a meeting with his son, King Leopold III. After hours of discussion, King Leopold III finally caved in and announced in accordance with his father, the mobilization of troops of the Belgian Military, with the 600,000 troops of the Belgian military slowly being militarized. Such militarization was seen with trepidation by Hitler, and he basically forced the transfer of troops from the East to be accelerated and fast.
King Leopold III inspecting mobilized troops.
January 17
The temperature turns horribly low, as Vilpuri finally falls to the Soviets and the Finns suffer a devastating defeat with 20,000 soldiers dead. The Soviets stop to gain coherence with their logistical lines as well. In the North, Petsamo was seized and the Finnish supply route and port in the White Sea was cut off and the now stranded Finnish merchant marine found themselves to be prey for the Soviet submarines operating in the White Sea and the Barents Sea.
Poland submitted the ‘Ghetto Proposal’ in which they advocated for the murder of around 100,000 Jews in Poland, with their own stabbed in the back myth rising up as an aftermath of the Baltic War. The Polish High Council approved of the plan, and systematic murder of old Jews began in Poland much to the horror of bystanders of neutral countries.
January 18
Winston Churchill returned to Great Britain as King Albert I of Belgium announced that despite not being the sovereign of Belgium anymore, he was going to take command of the Belgian Army as the Commander In Chief of the Belgian Army. This was subject to much protests from the Belgian government as they feared for the health of the old king, however this decision was too popular among the population. King Albert was the ‘Knight King’ and ‘Warrior King’ after all.
The British destroyer HMS Grenville was sent to the Channel leading an escort group when they came across a U-boat pack of four U-boats. The destroyer leading a group of another two destroyers started to fire at the submarines. The resulting clash saw HMS Grenville was sunk with 77 members of the crew sinking to their deaths, however 108 lives were saved. The German U-boats U-26, U-28 and U-12 were sunk whilst the last U-boat retreated.
HMS Grenville.
This was a hitch in Franco-British relations as the southern Channel was supposed to be scoured by the French Navy, and the absence of this was not reflecting well on the French.
January 19
The British Air Squadrons from Cyprus and North Africa started Operation Ouranos as they began an aerial campaign over Greece. The Greek Air Force was laughable in its strength even though they were fine on paper. The Yugoslavs received requests of aerial assistance as British bombs fell down onto the military sectors of Athens and the Peloponnese.
Destruction caused in the outskirts of Athens by Operation Ouranos.
The Swedish government in Stockholm declares themselves as Non-Belligerent power within the Finno-Soviet War as they entered the war with the Swedish Volunteer Corps being set up by the government for service in Finland. Some Swedish vessels of war were also to be given to the Finnish Navy for low prices. This was seen with anger in Moscow as Molotov ordered that after the objectives of the Soviet red Army in Finland be met, then they would stop all offensive operations. This would bleed the Finns out and force them to come to the table.
The last British ship carrying the last members of the British Expeditionary Forces leave Dover.
The Irish troops in France max out at 60,000 as their troops are divided between the 1st Irish Infantry Division, 2nd Irish Infantry Division and 1st Irish Mechanized Division. Together they were a part of the Irish Corps commanded by Major General Daniel McKeena. They were placed under the overall command of the British Expeditionary Forces as well.
Major General Daniel McKeena.
January 20
In Parliament, First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill gave a speech named the ‘Speech of the First Mansions’ advocating for more unity within the French and British governments to commit into the war in a fast and decisive manner.
***
Winston Churchill's 'Speech of the First Mansions's' :-
Everyone wonders what is happening about the war. For several days past the Nazis have been uttering ferocious threats of what they are going to do to the Western Democracies-to the British and French Empires-when once they set about them. But so far it is the small neutral States that are bearing the brunt of German malice and cruelty. Neutral ships are sunk without law or mercy-not only by the blind and wanton mine, but by the coldly considered, deliberately aimed, torpedo. The Dutch, the Belgians, the Danes, the Swedes, and, above all, the Norwegians, have their ships destroyed whenever they can be caught upon the high seas. It is only in the British and French convoys that safety is to be found. There, in those convoys, it is five-hundred-to-one against being sunk. There, controlling forces are at work which are steadily keeping the seas open, steadily keeping the traffic going, and establishing order and freedom of movement amid the waves of anarchy and sea-murder.
We, the aggrieved and belligerent Powers who are waging war against Germany, have no need to ask for respite. Every week our commerce grows; every day our organization is improved and reinforced. We feel ourselves more confident day by day of our ability to police the seas and oceans and to keep open and active the salt-water highways by which we have; and along which we shall draw the means of victory. It seems pretty certain that half the U-boats with which Germany began the war have been sunk, and that their new building has fallen far behind what we expected. Our faithful Asdic detector smells them out in the depths of the sea and, with the potent aid of the Royal Air Force, I do not doubt that we shall break their strength and break their purpose.
The magnetic mine, and all the other mines with which the narrow waters, the approaches to this Island, are strewn, do not present us with any problem which we deem insoluble. It must be remembered that in the last war we suffered very grievous losses from mines, and that at the climax more than six hundred British vessels were engaged solely upon the task of mine-sweeping. We must remember that. We must always be expecting some bad thing from Germany, but I will venture to say that it is with growing confidence that we await the further developments or variants of their attack.
Here we are, and all they can do against us on the sea, with the first U-boat campaign for the first time being utterly broken, with the mining menace in good control, with our shipping virtually undiminished, and with all the oceans of the world free from surface raiders. It is true that the Deutschland escaped the clutches of our cruisers by the skin of her teeth, but the Spee still sticks up in the harbor of Montevideo as a grisly monument and as a measure of the fate in store for any Nazi warship which dabbles in piracy on the broad waters. As you know, I have always-after some long and hard experience-spoken with the utmost restraint and caution about the war at sea, and I am quite sure that there are many losses and misfortunes which lie ahead of us there; but in all humility and self-questioning I feel able to declare that at the Admiralty, as, I have no doubt, at the French Ministry of Marine, things are not going so badly after all. Indeed, they have never gone so well in any naval war. We look forward as the months go by to establishing such a degree of safe sailings as will enable the commerce of all the nations whose ships accept our guidance, not only to live but to thrive. This part-this sea affair-at least, of the Nazi attack upon freedom is not going to bar the path of justice or of retribution.
Very different is the lot of the unfortunate neutrals. Whether on sea or on land, they are the victims upon whom Hitler’s hate and spite descend. Look at the group of small but ancient and historic States which lie in the North; or look again at that other group of anxious peoples in the Balkans or in the Danube basin behind whom stands the resolute Turk. Every one of them is wondering which will be the next victim on whom the criminal adventurers of Berlin will cast their rending stroke. A German major makes a forced landing in Belgium with plans for the invasion of that country whose neutrality Germany has so recently promised to respect. In Rumania there is deep fear lest by some deal between Moscow and Berlin they may become the next object of aggression. German intrigues are seeking to undermine the newly strengthened solidarity of the southern Slavs. The hardy Swiss arm and man their mountain passes. The Dutch-whose services to European freedom will be remembered long after the smear of Hitler has been wiped from the human path-stand along their dykes, as they did against the tyrants of bygone days. All Scandinavia dwells brooding under Nazi and Bolshevik threats.
But what would happen if all these neutral nations I have mentioned-and some others I have not mentioned-were with one spontaneous impulse to do their duty in accordance with the Covenant of the League, and were to stand together with the British and French Empires against aggression and wrong? At present their plight is lamentable; and it will become much worse. They bow humbly and in fear to German threats of violence, comforting themselves meanwhile with the thought that the Allies will win, that Britain and France will strictly observe all the laws and conventions, and that breaches of these laws are only to be expected from the German side. Each one hopes that if he feeds the crocodile enough, the crocodile will eat him last. All of them hope that the storm will pass before their turn comes to be devoured. But I fear-I fear greatly-the storm will not pass. It will rage and it will roar, ever more loudly, ever more widely. It will spread to the South; it will spread to the North. There is no chance of a speedy end except through united action; and if at any time Britain and France, wearying of the struggle, were to make a shameful peace, nothing would remain for the smaller States of Europe, with their shipping and their possessions, but to be divided between the opposite, though similar, barbarisms of Nazidom and Bolshevism.
The one thing that will be most helpful in determining the action of neutrals is their increasing sense of the power and resolution of the Western Allies. These small States are alarmed by the fact that the German armies are more numerous, and that their Air Force is still more numerous, and also that both are nearer to them than the forces of Great Britain and France. Certainly it is true that we are facing numerical odds; but that is no new thing in our history. Very few wars have been won by mere numbers alone. Quality, will power, geographical advantages, natural and financial resources, the command of the sea, and, above all, a cause which rouses the spontaneous surgings of the human spirit in millions of hearts-these have proved to be the decisive factors in the human story. If it were otherwise, how would the race of men have risen above the apes; how otherwise would they have conquered and extirpated dragons and monsters; how would they have ever evolved the moral theme; how would they have marched forward across the centuries to broad conceptions of compassion, of freedom, and of right? How would they ever have discerned those beacon lights which summon and guide us across the rough dark waters, and presently will guide us across the flaming lines of battle towards better days which lie beyond?
Numbers do not daunt us. But judged even by the test of numbers we have no reason to doubt that once the latent, and now rapidly growing, power of the British nation and Empire are brought, as they must be, and as they will be, fully into line with the magnificent efforts of the French Republic, then, even in mass and in weight, we shall not be found wanting. When we look behind the brazen fronts of Nazidom-as we have various means of doing-we see many remarkable signs of psychological and physical disintegration. We see the shortages of raw materials which already begin to hamper both the quality and the volume of their war industry. We feel the hesitancy of divided counsels, and the pursuing doubts which assail and undermine those who count on force and force alone.
In the bitter and increasingly exacting conflict which lies before us we are resolved to keep nothing back, and not to be outstripped by any in service to the common cause. Let the great cities of Warsaw, of Prague, of Vienna banish despair even in the midst of their agony. Their liberation is sure. The day will come when the joybells will ring again throughout Europe, and when victorious nations, masters not only of their foes but of themselves, will plan and build in justice, in tradition, and in freedom a house of many mansions where there will be room for all.
***
January 21
The Soviets take Karjala as the Finnish Military finally organizes itself into a proper fighting force. The Red Army stops their advance into the Finnish lands, and instead Soviets begin peace talks from Sweden. The short brief war has been bloody for the Finns. They have lost around 71,000 soldiers dead, and the Soviets in comparison have lost around half that number. This was absolutely a disaster of massive proportions. Finnish general Mannerheim tried to advocate for a prolonged war, however this was shot down by the Finnish President Kyosti Kallio, who accepted the negotiations with the Soviet Union. Mannerheim was unceremoniously discharged from service.
Claude Auchinleck also began the planning of a major offensive into the German areas of the Ruhr with the plan to make the French and the Belgians hold back at reserve. The British plan being called Operation Anne began.
The British destroyer HMS Exmouth was sunk off the coast of the Shetlands by the submarine U-19. The submarine escaped unharmed despite searches for it.
January 22
The United States finally managed to seal a trade deal with the United Kingdom and France. The United Kingdom unlike the last war was not in a mood to take debts from America having just recently paid them back in full, however were now willing to transfer industries for safer and faster production in a few industrial hubs. France was ordering around 500 American made warplanes to shore up their own airforce.
German Army Group A under General Gerd von Rundstedt was ordered to invade Belgium on the first of February. The Army group began preparations for this offensive. It would mark the beginning of the French Campaign. Army Group B under Fedor von Bock would break through the Allied lines at Luxembourg and then encircle the Allied troops that would undoubtedly rush to the aid of the Belgians. The initial plans called for an invasion of the Netherlands as well, however this plan was scrapped by the German government for fear of overextension of their troops.
January 23
The British government also issued a decree from Westminster stating that Scottish regiments and divisions would not be allowed to have kilts in them except for drummers and players, because of the rightful fear that the Germans may initiate poison gas warfare again.
The Warsaw Massacre takes place today as around 20,000 Jews living in Warsaw are massacred by the Polish government much to the delight of the Nazis back in Berlin. The Soviets look on to their western border with worry and talks about a military pact between the Baltic nations and the Soviet Union are in the talks.
Meanwhile the peace talks with Finland are proceeding well and it is expected that a treaty will be in place by the end of the month.
January 24
The German Luftwaffe makes their very first attack on Paris this day as the RAF and the French Air force scramble their fighters. Around 40 Luftwaffe planes attacked the Capital of France today and around 28 of them returned after hitting several civilian centers killing around 400 Parisians in the city. The Bombing of Paris of January 24 was the first bombing of Paris. The French and the British Air Force claimed 12 German warplanes before their returned to safety however.
First Bombing of Paris.
British engineers were currently in talks about constructing radars in France for better interception and detection.
***
***
January 7 – 24, 1940
***
January 8:-
Today was an anxious day for all parties involved. The recent fall of Czechoslovakia in such an abrupt and fast manner was a blow to the morale of the Allied Troops and some apprehensive veterans of the Great War were very unhappy with the situation going on. However General Gamelin currently in the Saarland was ordered to hunker down and start protecting the captured territories. Gamelin had basically captured the entirety of the Saar Basin, however Witzlebin’s army had basically stopped him in his tracks.
General Gamelin.
Within Britain, the day was a day full of angry muttering as the government and the parliament convened on a decision on what to do regarding the food situation. Britain produced around 60% of her own domestic needs, much better than the 25% of the Great War, however 40% of Great Britain’s food imports from the Dominions and America were put at risk by the German U-boats. The Presence of the Yugoslav and Greek Navies, which combined together made a credible threat, was something that caused the stoppage of the transfer of Royal Navy vessels from the Mediterranean theatre to the North Sea.
Britain announced a partial rationing ham and sugar in the end to keep the imports deficit at a minimum. Britain would not conduct deficit spending in this war at all. At least, that was the plan.
January 9
The Royal Navy submarine HMS Starfish, entered the Heligoland waters and started to wreck the German merchant marine, with the Royal Navy having given proper instructions to the ships not to engage neutral ships. The Dutch and Danish ships at harbor in Heligoland was largely let go by the submarine, however around 3 German auxiliary ships were sunk by torpedo attacks before the German minesweepers arrived and unfortunately for the submarine, it was sunk by a German destroyer.
After some weeks of talks between the diplomats, the ambassadors of Turkey, France and Great Britain sign a trade deal in Ankara giving credit to Turkey in exchange for their chromium and jacked low prices. This was the beginning of a fruitful cooperation between the three powers. Turkey was extremely worried about the Fascist Greece at its doorstep and was worried that should Bulgaria join in as well, then they had already drawn up plans for general mobilization of troops.
However this could not be even close to the truth. Bulgaria had no interest in joining this war for the Axis. The inclusion of the Yugoslavs and the Greeks had shot a huge hole right into those plans. King Boris III was already disgusted by the Germans. He held them largely responsible for the defeat in the Great War, and the mere fact that even Romania seemed to be slowly aligning with Germany meant that all of Bulgaria’s enemies would be allied with Hitler, and this was something no Bulgarian would tolerate. In fact, British Ambassador to Bulgaria, Sir George William Rendel wrote in a telegraph to London that ‘The government here is in no mood to bargain with Berlin. The inclusion of Yugoslavia and Greece into the Axis Pact and the gradual Romanian turnover towards the Axis is currently alienating Bulgaria from the Axis. For all intents and purposes it is feasible to understand that Bulgaria will not join the war on the side of the Axis. In fact some ministers have already dropped hints that Bulgaria would probably like to arrange an arms deal with us and Turkey as well. It is imperative that Westminster not lose this chance in the Balkans.’
King Boris III 'The Unifier of Bulgaria' and Ally of the Entente.
January 10
True to the words of the ambassador of Bulgaria, Bulgarian diplomats entered arms deal talks with Paris and London. The Bulgarians were making grandiose demands, however these demands were not unrealistic either. The Bulgarian military had been neutered by the Great War, and their industrial capacity for these weapons was not upto par, and thus whilst most would simply buy the weapon and leave, the Bulgarians were willing to pay for logistical support too. This was the chance for the British and the French to start diplomatic channels to start make Bulgaria more aligned to the Entente. The British diplomats and the Bulgarians diplomats hammered a deal through which promised around 40,000 rifles, 1 million rounds of ammunition, 200 medium tanks, and around 50 warplanes to Bulgaria by the end of May. France also hammered a deal through which promised around 25,000 rifles, 750,000 rounds of ammunition, 120 medium tanks, and around 35 Warplanes to Bulgaria by the end of May. Bulgarian diplomats happily replied back to Sofia.
King Boris III also refused to meet Hitler when a telegraph arrived that day in Sofia asking for a meeting. He politely refused the deal but the intent was clear. Bulgaria was not going to be a friend of Germany in this war.
General Gamelin is ordered to retreat back to the French border this day. There have been aerial reconnaissance that German reinforcements were on their way, and the French could not afford to lose an entire Corps. Gamelin began to withdraw when this news was made known to him.
January 11
Prime Minister Molotov of the Soviet Union officially passes an ultimatum to Finland to cede Karelia, Petsamo and Karajala to the Soviet Union for the defense of the Leningrad and the Northern territories of the Soviet Union. Finland refused this ultimatum and by the evening, the artillery batteries of the soviets at the Finno-Soviet Border began to start and the Soviets began a massive aerial bombardment campaign of the Finnish.
Originally the plan had been for bombing the Finnish cities, however the reaction of the entire world towards the bombing of Prague had shown that this would not be an ideal option. Instead, under the command of pre-eminent Chief Marshal of the Air Force Alexander Novikov, the Red Air Force was diverted towards close air combat operations and this made the already beleaguered Finns at the border lose their cohesion as the soviets already started to advance capturing border villages and towns by the end of the day.
Alexander Novikov.
The reaction to this invasion was fierce. Hitler warily looked towards the Soviets and asked his diplomats in Moscow to conduct the non-aggression pact that he wanted quickly. In Romania, the atmosphere was downright terrible, and throughout the world, the countries looked at the Soviets with their anti-Bolshevik lenses.
January 12
The British troops continued to pour into Europe, and by this point, around 2/3 of the British forces were in France and were being deployed accordingly. General Claude Auchinleck knew that the Germans would not advance through the Maginot Line unless they wanted a bloodbath and everyone knew that the main attack would arrive from the Belgian border. However, the Belgian King Leopold III of Belgium was obstinate in his position for neutrality. He hadn’t even mobilized the military for god’s sake. British First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill announced that he would be going to Brussels to meet with the Belgian monarch to discuss the war. This was warily accepted.
Meanwhile, the French evacuation from the Saar Basin was completed and the frontlines returned to the previous situation
January 13
Admiral Andrew Cunningham finally sent his plan for the attack on Souda Bay to the Admiralty in London. The Admiralty basically found this to be a re-run of the Battle of Taranto with the Greek mixes mixed in. However no one could deny that this plan would be very effective. The Admiralty gave the go ahead order for Admiral Cunningham. Cunningham ordered the Operation, codenamed Operation Minos to happen on January 25th. The Royal Navy would destroy the Greek Fleet as a credible threat and then commit a large scale amphibious assault on Crete from Egypt using Colonial and Indian troops. Australian troops were already on delivery towards North Africa to prepare for an amphibious invasion. The British Colonial divisions were also being transferred upwards from Central Africa and South Africa.
The Soviet Red Fleet begins the Blockade of Finland using their superior fleet. However this superiority is contested as the Soviet Baltic Fleet isn’t all that bigger, and much to the Chagrin to many, the Swedish Fleet itself would have been a strong opponent to the Red Fleet to fight on equal terms. Any naval war with Germany itself would be out of the question.
The Soviets continued their ‘Deep War’ tactics into Finland, as the caught off guard Finns were now being sieged out by the Soviets at the Mannerheim Line. In the North, the Soviet Siberian troops managed to take key transit towns towards Petsamo and started to threaten the Finnish railway towards the north of Lappland.
The Danish tanker Danmar was sunk by the German submarine U-23 near the Orkney islands with most of the crew escaping alive. However much to the dismay of the Germans, the British destroyer, HMS Ajax was in near vicinity and the U-boat was sunk.
January 14
In America, the FBI agents trying to capture some members of the Christian Front were diverted as the German covert operations in America grew to find out about the economic situation and cooperation between America and Britain. This caused members of the Christian Front to remain safe, and Father Charles Coughlin announced in secret to the Front that the ‘Grand Reckoning of America’ was near, and would come about by the end of the decade. Irish-Americans were the largest group of people in this Front, as it was Catholic, and they absolutely loathed France and Britain. France for not aiding the Irish in their bid for independence and Britain for obvious reasons. But they also hated the Irish government at this time, as the government of Ireland which was currently cozying up with Britain was seen with extreme disgust. This group called for a radical Christian government in charge of the United States of America. And the unavailability of FBI agents to capture members of this Front would only spell trouble for the Americans down the road.
Charles Coughlin.
The Royal Navy finally enveloped the entirety of the North Sea and finally started to impose their blockade fully this day, as exports and imports to Germany through the seas started to be squeezed out.
British intelligence from Germany suggested that navalized versions of the Bf-109 had already begun construction along with navalized Ju-87 for the Graf Zeppelin. British intelligence stated that the Aircraft Carrier would be finished by the middle of February. It was estimated that the German Kriegsmarine would make their move then.
The city of Vilpuri was caught up in the Finno-Soviet War, as the Battle of Vilpurri began with the Soviet 3rd Army beginning to fight the finally organized Finnish troops. If the city of Vilpurri fell, the entire Mannerheim Line would be caught off guard.
January 15
This morning, the government of Romania and the government of Germany signed a deal with which Romania acceded to the Axis Pact, even though Romania did not join the war. To overturn this however Romania blocked oil sales to France and Britain, and gave full access to the Axis Pact. This was seen as a partial embargo.
Britain declared this day that they would take partial control of the Meat Industry today just in case.
January 16
Winston Churchill reached Brussels where he was unable to meet with King Leopold III on good terms. With his energy undiminished anyways, Churchill urged the Royal Commission of Belgium for an audience with King Albert I of Belgium. The man had a mountaineering accident in 1934 and had abdicated the throne to his son and remained in solitude. King Albert I who knew Churchill from the Great War permitted himself to meet the man and the two lounged around the entire day with Churchill begging the old King of Belgium to make his son see reason and that Belgium would be invaded, whether he liked it or not, because the military situation would dictate it as such.
King Albert I, King of the Belgians.
King Albert agreed on these points and arranged a meeting with his son, King Leopold III. After hours of discussion, King Leopold III finally caved in and announced in accordance with his father, the mobilization of troops of the Belgian Military, with the 600,000 troops of the Belgian military slowly being militarized. Such militarization was seen with trepidation by Hitler, and he basically forced the transfer of troops from the East to be accelerated and fast.
King Leopold III inspecting mobilized troops.
January 17
The temperature turns horribly low, as Vilpuri finally falls to the Soviets and the Finns suffer a devastating defeat with 20,000 soldiers dead. The Soviets stop to gain coherence with their logistical lines as well. In the North, Petsamo was seized and the Finnish supply route and port in the White Sea was cut off and the now stranded Finnish merchant marine found themselves to be prey for the Soviet submarines operating in the White Sea and the Barents Sea.
Poland submitted the ‘Ghetto Proposal’ in which they advocated for the murder of around 100,000 Jews in Poland, with their own stabbed in the back myth rising up as an aftermath of the Baltic War. The Polish High Council approved of the plan, and systematic murder of old Jews began in Poland much to the horror of bystanders of neutral countries.
January 18
Winston Churchill returned to Great Britain as King Albert I of Belgium announced that despite not being the sovereign of Belgium anymore, he was going to take command of the Belgian Army as the Commander In Chief of the Belgian Army. This was subject to much protests from the Belgian government as they feared for the health of the old king, however this decision was too popular among the population. King Albert was the ‘Knight King’ and ‘Warrior King’ after all.
The British destroyer HMS Grenville was sent to the Channel leading an escort group when they came across a U-boat pack of four U-boats. The destroyer leading a group of another two destroyers started to fire at the submarines. The resulting clash saw HMS Grenville was sunk with 77 members of the crew sinking to their deaths, however 108 lives were saved. The German U-boats U-26, U-28 and U-12 were sunk whilst the last U-boat retreated.
HMS Grenville.
This was a hitch in Franco-British relations as the southern Channel was supposed to be scoured by the French Navy, and the absence of this was not reflecting well on the French.
January 19
The British Air Squadrons from Cyprus and North Africa started Operation Ouranos as they began an aerial campaign over Greece. The Greek Air Force was laughable in its strength even though they were fine on paper. The Yugoslavs received requests of aerial assistance as British bombs fell down onto the military sectors of Athens and the Peloponnese.
Destruction caused in the outskirts of Athens by Operation Ouranos.
The Swedish government in Stockholm declares themselves as Non-Belligerent power within the Finno-Soviet War as they entered the war with the Swedish Volunteer Corps being set up by the government for service in Finland. Some Swedish vessels of war were also to be given to the Finnish Navy for low prices. This was seen with anger in Moscow as Molotov ordered that after the objectives of the Soviet red Army in Finland be met, then they would stop all offensive operations. This would bleed the Finns out and force them to come to the table.
The last British ship carrying the last members of the British Expeditionary Forces leave Dover.
The Irish troops in France max out at 60,000 as their troops are divided between the 1st Irish Infantry Division, 2nd Irish Infantry Division and 1st Irish Mechanized Division. Together they were a part of the Irish Corps commanded by Major General Daniel McKeena. They were placed under the overall command of the British Expeditionary Forces as well.
Major General Daniel McKeena.
January 20
In Parliament, First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill gave a speech named the ‘Speech of the First Mansions’ advocating for more unity within the French and British governments to commit into the war in a fast and decisive manner.
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Winston Churchill's 'Speech of the First Mansions's' :-
Everyone wonders what is happening about the war. For several days past the Nazis have been uttering ferocious threats of what they are going to do to the Western Democracies-to the British and French Empires-when once they set about them. But so far it is the small neutral States that are bearing the brunt of German malice and cruelty. Neutral ships are sunk without law or mercy-not only by the blind and wanton mine, but by the coldly considered, deliberately aimed, torpedo. The Dutch, the Belgians, the Danes, the Swedes, and, above all, the Norwegians, have their ships destroyed whenever they can be caught upon the high seas. It is only in the British and French convoys that safety is to be found. There, in those convoys, it is five-hundred-to-one against being sunk. There, controlling forces are at work which are steadily keeping the seas open, steadily keeping the traffic going, and establishing order and freedom of movement amid the waves of anarchy and sea-murder.
We, the aggrieved and belligerent Powers who are waging war against Germany, have no need to ask for respite. Every week our commerce grows; every day our organization is improved and reinforced. We feel ourselves more confident day by day of our ability to police the seas and oceans and to keep open and active the salt-water highways by which we have; and along which we shall draw the means of victory. It seems pretty certain that half the U-boats with which Germany began the war have been sunk, and that their new building has fallen far behind what we expected. Our faithful Asdic detector smells them out in the depths of the sea and, with the potent aid of the Royal Air Force, I do not doubt that we shall break their strength and break their purpose.
The magnetic mine, and all the other mines with which the narrow waters, the approaches to this Island, are strewn, do not present us with any problem which we deem insoluble. It must be remembered that in the last war we suffered very grievous losses from mines, and that at the climax more than six hundred British vessels were engaged solely upon the task of mine-sweeping. We must remember that. We must always be expecting some bad thing from Germany, but I will venture to say that it is with growing confidence that we await the further developments or variants of their attack.
Here we are, and all they can do against us on the sea, with the first U-boat campaign for the first time being utterly broken, with the mining menace in good control, with our shipping virtually undiminished, and with all the oceans of the world free from surface raiders. It is true that the Deutschland escaped the clutches of our cruisers by the skin of her teeth, but the Spee still sticks up in the harbor of Montevideo as a grisly monument and as a measure of the fate in store for any Nazi warship which dabbles in piracy on the broad waters. As you know, I have always-after some long and hard experience-spoken with the utmost restraint and caution about the war at sea, and I am quite sure that there are many losses and misfortunes which lie ahead of us there; but in all humility and self-questioning I feel able to declare that at the Admiralty, as, I have no doubt, at the French Ministry of Marine, things are not going so badly after all. Indeed, they have never gone so well in any naval war. We look forward as the months go by to establishing such a degree of safe sailings as will enable the commerce of all the nations whose ships accept our guidance, not only to live but to thrive. This part-this sea affair-at least, of the Nazi attack upon freedom is not going to bar the path of justice or of retribution.
Very different is the lot of the unfortunate neutrals. Whether on sea or on land, they are the victims upon whom Hitler’s hate and spite descend. Look at the group of small but ancient and historic States which lie in the North; or look again at that other group of anxious peoples in the Balkans or in the Danube basin behind whom stands the resolute Turk. Every one of them is wondering which will be the next victim on whom the criminal adventurers of Berlin will cast their rending stroke. A German major makes a forced landing in Belgium with plans for the invasion of that country whose neutrality Germany has so recently promised to respect. In Rumania there is deep fear lest by some deal between Moscow and Berlin they may become the next object of aggression. German intrigues are seeking to undermine the newly strengthened solidarity of the southern Slavs. The hardy Swiss arm and man their mountain passes. The Dutch-whose services to European freedom will be remembered long after the smear of Hitler has been wiped from the human path-stand along their dykes, as they did against the tyrants of bygone days. All Scandinavia dwells brooding under Nazi and Bolshevik threats.
But what would happen if all these neutral nations I have mentioned-and some others I have not mentioned-were with one spontaneous impulse to do their duty in accordance with the Covenant of the League, and were to stand together with the British and French Empires against aggression and wrong? At present their plight is lamentable; and it will become much worse. They bow humbly and in fear to German threats of violence, comforting themselves meanwhile with the thought that the Allies will win, that Britain and France will strictly observe all the laws and conventions, and that breaches of these laws are only to be expected from the German side. Each one hopes that if he feeds the crocodile enough, the crocodile will eat him last. All of them hope that the storm will pass before their turn comes to be devoured. But I fear-I fear greatly-the storm will not pass. It will rage and it will roar, ever more loudly, ever more widely. It will spread to the South; it will spread to the North. There is no chance of a speedy end except through united action; and if at any time Britain and France, wearying of the struggle, were to make a shameful peace, nothing would remain for the smaller States of Europe, with their shipping and their possessions, but to be divided between the opposite, though similar, barbarisms of Nazidom and Bolshevism.
The one thing that will be most helpful in determining the action of neutrals is their increasing sense of the power and resolution of the Western Allies. These small States are alarmed by the fact that the German armies are more numerous, and that their Air Force is still more numerous, and also that both are nearer to them than the forces of Great Britain and France. Certainly it is true that we are facing numerical odds; but that is no new thing in our history. Very few wars have been won by mere numbers alone. Quality, will power, geographical advantages, natural and financial resources, the command of the sea, and, above all, a cause which rouses the spontaneous surgings of the human spirit in millions of hearts-these have proved to be the decisive factors in the human story. If it were otherwise, how would the race of men have risen above the apes; how otherwise would they have conquered and extirpated dragons and monsters; how would they have ever evolved the moral theme; how would they have marched forward across the centuries to broad conceptions of compassion, of freedom, and of right? How would they ever have discerned those beacon lights which summon and guide us across the rough dark waters, and presently will guide us across the flaming lines of battle towards better days which lie beyond?
Numbers do not daunt us. But judged even by the test of numbers we have no reason to doubt that once the latent, and now rapidly growing, power of the British nation and Empire are brought, as they must be, and as they will be, fully into line with the magnificent efforts of the French Republic, then, even in mass and in weight, we shall not be found wanting. When we look behind the brazen fronts of Nazidom-as we have various means of doing-we see many remarkable signs of psychological and physical disintegration. We see the shortages of raw materials which already begin to hamper both the quality and the volume of their war industry. We feel the hesitancy of divided counsels, and the pursuing doubts which assail and undermine those who count on force and force alone.
In the bitter and increasingly exacting conflict which lies before us we are resolved to keep nothing back, and not to be outstripped by any in service to the common cause. Let the great cities of Warsaw, of Prague, of Vienna banish despair even in the midst of their agony. Their liberation is sure. The day will come when the joybells will ring again throughout Europe, and when victorious nations, masters not only of their foes but of themselves, will plan and build in justice, in tradition, and in freedom a house of many mansions where there will be room for all.
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January 21
The Soviets take Karjala as the Finnish Military finally organizes itself into a proper fighting force. The Red Army stops their advance into the Finnish lands, and instead Soviets begin peace talks from Sweden. The short brief war has been bloody for the Finns. They have lost around 71,000 soldiers dead, and the Soviets in comparison have lost around half that number. This was absolutely a disaster of massive proportions. Finnish general Mannerheim tried to advocate for a prolonged war, however this was shot down by the Finnish President Kyosti Kallio, who accepted the negotiations with the Soviet Union. Mannerheim was unceremoniously discharged from service.
Claude Auchinleck also began the planning of a major offensive into the German areas of the Ruhr with the plan to make the French and the Belgians hold back at reserve. The British plan being called Operation Anne began.
The British destroyer HMS Exmouth was sunk off the coast of the Shetlands by the submarine U-19. The submarine escaped unharmed despite searches for it.
January 22
The United States finally managed to seal a trade deal with the United Kingdom and France. The United Kingdom unlike the last war was not in a mood to take debts from America having just recently paid them back in full, however were now willing to transfer industries for safer and faster production in a few industrial hubs. France was ordering around 500 American made warplanes to shore up their own airforce.
German Army Group A under General Gerd von Rundstedt was ordered to invade Belgium on the first of February. The Army group began preparations for this offensive. It would mark the beginning of the French Campaign. Army Group B under Fedor von Bock would break through the Allied lines at Luxembourg and then encircle the Allied troops that would undoubtedly rush to the aid of the Belgians. The initial plans called for an invasion of the Netherlands as well, however this plan was scrapped by the German government for fear of overextension of their troops.
January 23
The British government also issued a decree from Westminster stating that Scottish regiments and divisions would not be allowed to have kilts in them except for drummers and players, because of the rightful fear that the Germans may initiate poison gas warfare again.
The Warsaw Massacre takes place today as around 20,000 Jews living in Warsaw are massacred by the Polish government much to the delight of the Nazis back in Berlin. The Soviets look on to their western border with worry and talks about a military pact between the Baltic nations and the Soviet Union are in the talks.
Meanwhile the peace talks with Finland are proceeding well and it is expected that a treaty will be in place by the end of the month.
January 24
The German Luftwaffe makes their very first attack on Paris this day as the RAF and the French Air force scramble their fighters. Around 40 Luftwaffe planes attacked the Capital of France today and around 28 of them returned after hitting several civilian centers killing around 400 Parisians in the city. The Bombing of Paris of January 24 was the first bombing of Paris. The French and the British Air Force claimed 12 German warplanes before their returned to safety however.
First Bombing of Paris.
British engineers were currently in talks about constructing radars in France for better interception and detection.
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Here's hoping that Belgium does better the IOTL and nice to see that Bulgaria is going to join the allies.