Defending the Realm

Chapter One: Opening Moves
Hello all, I've been visiting this forum for quite a while now and I have decided to start my own timeline. So, without further ado, I present to you the first entry of my timeline, Defending the Realm.

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On June the 22nd 1940, the French Republic signed an armistice with Nazi Germany, leading to a German occupation of Northern France, an Italian occupation of the South East, and a rump French state, known as Vichy France, in the South, led by Philip Pétain – once a French war hero, now a collaborator with Hitler’s regime. This left only one power at war with Germany – the British Empire and Commonwealth.

In the final days of the Battle of France, shortly after the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) at Dunkirk and before the fall of Paul Reynaud’s Government, Winston Churchill, recently appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, gave a speech to the House of Commons, declaring: ‘We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender’. This, more than anything, gave a clear indication that Britain would continue to fight Germany and Italy (known collectively as the Axis Powers, while Britain and her allies were known as the Allied Powers throughout the war) until they came out triumphant. In spite of this, however, the Nazi Government initially sent terms to Britain – these were quickly rejected by the determined British Government, and so the Second World War continued.

In Berlin, Hitler ordered the preparation of an invasion of Britain, so as to conquer the United Kingdom and bring the war forcibly to an end. This plan, known as Operation Sealion, was incredibly demanding, and required many factors to be in place for it to be remotely feasible – most importantly, the Luftwaffe (the German Air Force) required air superiority over the English Channel and Southern Britain, so as to allow the invasion force to cross. This would never happen, so long as the British Royal Air Force (RAF) continued to hold supremacy over the Home Islands, and so Hitler ordered Hermann Goering, the head of the Luftwaffe, to launch an aerial campaign over Britain to achieve air superiority.

The subsequent aerial campaign became known as the Campaign in the Air, the first phase of the Battle of Britain. During the Campaign in the Air, the RAF and the Luftwaffe fought each other over the skies of Britain, in an event which would determine the eventual outcome of the Battle. The first phase of the aerial conflict, known as Kanalkampf, began on July the 10th, and saw the Luftwaffe organise bombing raids on British shipping in the Channel – the Germans were able to damage many convoys and other ships, yet as the aerial combat began to move on land, the tide began to turn in the RAF’s favour. During fighting above Southern England, the RAF held numerous advantages – for example, the Dowding System (named after Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding) allowed the RAF to quickly move to an area which was under threat, while RAF plans were able to fly flexibly while the Luftwaffe was in a strict formation, which hindered its ability to respond to RAF attacks. These advantages (along with several others) enabled the aircraft of the RAF, primarily the the Hawker Hurricane and the Supermarine Spitfire, to defeat the aircraft of the Luftwaffe, primarily Messchermitt fighters and Juncker bombers, when the two sides entered combat. With these numerous advantages, the Campaign in the Air ended in a British victory, culminating with the Action of September the 15th, which saw the RAF, under the command of Keith Park, decisively defeat the Luftwaffe in a large-scale aerial battle. Following September the 15th, the Luftwaffe campaign was called off, and thus Britain had retained air superiority over the Channel and the Home Islands.

In the aftermath of Germany’s defeat in the War of the Air, Hitler was furious with Goering for failing to secure control of the skies, yet the Führer did not abandon his plans for Sealion. Since the Fall of France, Hitler had considered himself something of a military genius, and the Luftwaffe’s defeat had done nothing to bring down the hubris he had gained since entering Paris. In addition to this, Hitler was determined to strike east at his main enemy, the Soviet Union, and, in his mind, the only way to do this was to neutralise Britain first – regardless of the cost. This was something which the German leader speculated on for several days, until, on September the 21st, he came to the fateful, and largely misguided, decision that air superiority was not needed for Sealion to go ahead, and simply landing an army in Britain would be enough to scare the British Government into requesting terms. Historians have en masse criticised Hitler’s thinking in the past, and will inevitably do so in the future, so this work will not focus on something which has already been explained heavily elsewhere. When Hitler ordered Sealion to be launched, his generals initially urged their leader to re-consider, as such an invasion was impractical, especially since RAF control of the skies had not only been sustained, but reinforced. Yet Hitler refused to heed the advice he was given, insisting that the Luftwaffe was still in a position to combat the RAF while the battle took place, and so his generals, aware of what outright protest against the Führer would bring, reluctantly agreed to launch the plan.
 
The devil in me wants the Germans to succeed just so I can hear the collective fury from the anti Sealion brigade
 
Chapter Two: Fighting on the Beaches
On September the 28th, the German Armada set off from several ports along Northern France and Belgium – Ostend, Dunkirk, Calais, Boulogne, Le Havre, and Cherbourg, with specific landing points designated across Southern England. Yet the vast majority of these forces would not land, for the British Royal Navy was quick to confront the invasion fleet – this triggered the second phase of the Battle of Britain, the Channel Campaign. As the landing vessels attempted to cross, Royal Navy ships continually bombarded them from sea, while the RAF launched a bombing campaign from the skies to assist the attack on the German fleet. Many German transports, barges, tugs, trawlers and motor-boats were crippled by the combined air-sea bombardment, and an even greater number were sunk to the bottom of the Channel. The Channel Campaign lasted throughout the day, and saw the invasion force devastated by the bombardment, while the ships which found themselves able to continue forward were slowed down significantly by the need to avoid bombs from the sky or from across the waves. Meanwhile, the numerous Luftwaffe planes carrying paratrooper regiments were mostly shot down by RAF planes which were not deployed in the bombing campaign. Thus, the Channel Campaign was, like the Campaign in the Air, a decisive victory for Britain.

Eventually, in the evening of the 28th, a couple of German divisions from the 16th Army were able to make landfall along a few beaches in Kent, near Hythe, while a single paratrooper regiment landed near Brighton, and a single division from the 6th Army landed on a beach near Weymouth. Yet the British Army was quick to respond to the German invasion – the Southern Command, overseen by Lieutenant General Claude Auchinleck, had the V Corps under Bernard Montgomery and the VIII Corps under Harold Franklyn immediately march to the coast when news of the German crossing reached Britain. These corps were reinforced by troops from other areas of Britain, along with the Home Guard, which found itself preparing for the event which its members had been trained for since the guard’s creation. Immediately after the German soldiers stepped off of their landing craft, British troops began to open fire.

At Brighton, the bulk of the German paratrooper forces were defeated quickly by British regulars and Home Guard troops nearby - yet some paratroopers were able to escape the battle and retreated into the English countryside, eventually being uncovered and arrested by British authorities in the days and weeks after the Battle. Meanwhile, at Weymouth, after an hour of fighting, the remnants of the German division were forced to surrender in the face of significant British pressure. Yet the heaviest fighting occurred along the Kentish beaches, where German forces came along in several waves and were defeated by British troops who were positioned at the top of the beach. Eventually, after several hours of fighting, and almost at dusk, the remaining German troops agreed to surrender – thereby ending the three final campaigns of the Battle of Britain (the Battle of Brighton, the Battle of Weymouth, and the Battle of Hythe). This brought the Battle of Britain to an end, in an overwhelming British victory – the threat of a German invasion had been vanquished and repulsed, at relatively minimal cost for Britain and at a significant cost for Germany.

The Battle of Britain, in particular the Channel Campaign and the battles along the English Coast, resulted in heavy casualties and damage for the German military. Roughly 100,000 German troops were sent to cross the Channel as part of what would have been the invasion's 'first wave' - of these 100,000, 24,561 were killed during the landings while 20,439 were taken prisoner, while, during the Channel Campaign, 43,661 Germans were killed, and a remaining 11,339 troops were able to return to Nazi-controlled Europe. German military equipment and supplies were also heavily damaged during the botched invasion – the Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe were heavily damaged in the Channel Campaign (along with the Campaign in the Air for the Luftwaffe). This put an end to Goering’s initial plans for a sustained bombing campaign over Britain, as the Luftwaffe had few plans available which could carry out such a task, while the damage caused to Germany’s surface fleet meant that the Royal Navy and Commonwealth navies could focus entirely on the threat of U-Boats in the Atlantic, without having to deal with a surface fleet.

By contrast, British forces sustained minimal casualties from the Battle of Britain, particularly during the Channel Campaign and the fighting on the beaches. In the Channel Campaign, few RAF planes or Royal Navy ships were damaged significantly, while in the fighting on the beaches, only 563 Britons were killed and 322 were wounded.

Both sides responded to the outcome of the Battle of Britain accordingly – in Berlin, Hitler and the Nazi Government looked at the losses sustained by the German military with utter horror. This, combined with the wounded pride and prestige caused by the failure of the invasion led to, for a brief period, speculation emerging that Hitler would be toppled as a result of the result of the battle. Yet such a coup never came, and instead the Nazi Government decided to launch a preemptive strike on the army officers which they believed would pounce at an opportunity to overthrow Hitler. This led to the Second Night of the Long Knives, which saw the SS and Gestapo round up multiple officers on charges of treason, using fabricated evidence to do so, before executing them. Amongst the military leaders executed were Goering and Erich Raeder, who, although not involved in any coup plots, were no longer deemed useful by Hitler, after the two men had overseen the destruction of the Luftwaffe and the Kriegsmarine respectively.

However, what was seen with horror in Germany was seen with absolute jubilation in Britain. For the British people, the victory in the battle lifted the threat of invasion which had been present since the fall of France, and the British Army had proved that the seemingly unstoppable German war machine could in fact be stopped. In London, people celebrated Britain’s victory in the Battle on the streets, and the country as a whole received a large morale boost - Britain had gave the Wehrmacht its first major defeat of the war, and had defended her home soil in the process. In the Commons, Churchill, who had boosted morale during the fighting by refusing to evacuate from London when news of the German force’s embarkation arrived (thereby setting an example for the rest of the Government to follow), paid respect to the soldiers, airmen and seamen who had defended Britain by declaring in a speech: ‘Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few’. Meanwhile, the Dominions and Britain’s colonies beyond the seas breathed a large sigh of relief.

Yet both Britain and Germany both recognised that the war was not yet over, and so both sides began preparing their next moves.
 
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One minor quibble, Erich Raeder was head of the German Navy at this time, Doenitz was head of the U Boat Branch.
With the Geran surface fleet's losses, I can see a switch to U Boat based guerre de course sooner and Doenitz's appointment
as head of the Navy coming sooner.

Other than that, excellent, I've always wanted to see how this scenario would pan out in the long term.
 
A few questions:

What were the German naval losses?
Considering that most of the "landing craft" were in fact, river barges, how does
this affect German industrial infrastructure?

What how does this affect America's attitude to Britain?
With the invasion panic nipped in the but, Britain will probably
have less demand for finished military products and invest in modernising
and expanding its own industry.

How does this affect the French? They have seen that the Germans can be defeated,
so there might be more support for resistance both in the colonies and the Metropole.
 
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The efect on the general german population's moral and opinion of Hitler can't be good. The Gestapo and Goebels are going to have their hands full...

Edit: it will also put a severe cramp on preparations for Barbarossa...
 
One minor quibble, Erich Raeder was head of the German Navy at this time, Doenitz was head of the U Boat Branch.
Fixed that.

Other than that, excellent, I've always wanted to see how this scenario would pan out in the long term.
Thank you!

What were the German naval losses?
Considering that most of the "landing craft" were in fact, river barges, how does
this affect German industrial infrastructure?
German naval losses were quite severe, with the Kriegsmarine losing most of its surface fleet, and forcing the remaining vessels to remain in port for the time being (this shall make life very difficult for the U-Boats).
As for Germany's industrial infrastructure, the loss of the river barges shall have quite a detrimental impact - particularly on the economy of the Rhineland - and the effects of that shall start to be felt in Germany in early 1941.

What how does this affect America's attitude to Britain?
With the invasion panic nipped in the but, Britain will probably
have less demand for finished military products and invest in modernising
and expanding its own industry.
America, and its response to these events, shall be discussed down the line. As for your ideas about British military products and industry, they are more or less correct.

How does this affect the French? They have seen that the Germans can be defeated,
so there might be more support for resistance both in the colonies and the Metropole.
The next update shall focus on the French Colonies (involving another event in September 1940, which has a different outcome to OTL).

I'm glad to see that everyone is enjoying my timeline thus far!
 
Chapter Three: The Battle of Dakar
Throughout September 1940, the British people’s attention was almost entirely dedicated to the unfolding Battle of Britain. Yet this was not the only major theatre of the war which saw action during that month – in West Africa, British and Free French forces were preparing for an assault on Dakar, the capital of the Vichy French colony of Senegal and a valuable port.

After the Fall of France in June, the French Empire overseas had entered something of a state of disarray, as France’s colonial governors were unsure as to whom they should declare their allegiance – the Vichy French Government had been established on the mainland, yet the French Resistance under Charles de Gaulle had also been set up in June, meaning there were two possible French entities to which the colonies could declare for. Eventually, most colonial governors decided to declare their support for Vichy France, while only Cameroon and Equatorial Africa decided to take the risky option and join Free France. As a result, the majority of the French Empire was under Axis control, and thus Britain and her allies faced the task of securing control of said colonies (along with the overseas possessions of Italy) to prevent Hitler exploiting them.

It was decided by British and Free French generals to target the port of Dakar, for numerous reasons. One significant factor was that it would provide the Royal Navy, along with other Commonwealth navies and the ships of the former French navy which had joined Free France, a new base on the Atlantic. Another advantage of securing Dakar was that it could potentially lead to Vichy French control over West Africa unravelling, thereby allowing the Free French to secure a sufficient base of operations to function a government-in-exile. So, in late September, British and Free French forces (assisted by the Australian heavy cruiser HMS Australia).

Allied forces arrived at Dakar on September the 23rd, and attempts by de Gaulle and the Free French to have the Vichy French administration in Senegal peacefully turn sides quickly failed – this led to the British and Free French naval forces present organise operations to take Dakar by force. While Royal Navy ships confronted the Vichy French fleet present, Free French troops landed at Rufisque, near Dakar, with the intention of advancing towards the city from land. In spite of heavy fire from Vichy French troops, the Free French forces were able to establish a beachhead, and thus began to advance towards Dakar [1].

Meanwhile, at sea, British forces were able to successfully neutralise the Vichy French ships – several components of the Vichy French fleet were destroyed, including the submarine Bévéziers [2], thereby allowing the Allies to gain naval supremacy surrounding Dakar. Eventually, by the 25th, the battle was over, and de Gaulle’s forces had succeeded advancing towards the port and forcing the Vichy French to retreat – after the capture of Dakar, Pétain’s Government in Vichy gave the order for Senegal to be abandoned as a whole, and thus the Free French gained a new base. Amongst the Free French troops who played a significant part in the capture of Dakar was one Henri Orléans, the Orléanist claimant to the (defunct) French throne, who had joined the French Armed Forces in 1939 and, after the Fall of France, had joined the Free French. This would just be the start of one of several events which would involve Henri before the war came to a closure.

Following the capture of Dakar (and, by an extension, Senegal as a whole), de Gaulle established a Free French administration for the colony, and, during the rest of September and early October, consultation began between British and Free French officers in Dakar on the Allies’ next move in West Africa, and the potential capture of the rest of the Vichy French colonies in the region - a goal which seemed close to fruition, given the troops available to the Allies now that Britain no longer needed to focus the majority of its resources on defending the British Isles.

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[1] In our timeline, the Free French landing was partly hindered by fog, which caused it to fail. In this timeline, no such fog occurs, and thus the landing is a success.

[2] In our timeline, this submarine torpedoed the British battleship HMS Resolution, causing significant damage to it – in this timeline, it is destroyed before then, and thus Resolution remains in service throughout the battle, thereby giving extra support to the Allies.
 
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nbcman

Donor
Very good update!
This could allow the Allies to secure West Africa much earlier than OTL.
Plus the Allies just gained the Bank of France / Belgian and Polish gold reserves (1100 tons) which were stored in Dakar at the time of the invasion.
 
Chapter Four: British Response and Operation Compass
After the last German troops surrendered and thus the Battle of Britain came to a close, the British Government under Churchill began to plan the Empire’s next move – Germany had been significantly damaged by the botched invasion, and thus Britain had numerous options for how to proceed forward. While plans were drawn up by Britain’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, however, political events were also taking place in the Home Islands.

Had the war not occurred, then a general election would have been scheduled for either 1939 and 1940 – yet the outbreak of war, and the subsequent threat of invasion, led to Acts of Parliament being passed which prolonged the existing Parliament’s lifetime, allowing the Government to focus entirely on the war effort. However, now that Britain was free from the possibility of invasion and secured, many voices in both Parliament and the Government began to suggest that a general election should take place – after all, if Britain was safe, then why should British democracy be suspended? Both Churchill and his Deputy (and Labour Leader), Clement Attlee, eventually came to agree with this argument, and so, in late October, Churchill requested a dissolution of Parliament from King George VI, thereby allowing writs to be issued for a general election in November.

Prior to election day, the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberals (the three main parties in the wartime National Government) agreed that, regardless of the election outcome, the National Government should continue until the war was at an end. When polling day did indeed arrive, the British electorate, boosted by the recent wartime victories and Churchill’s leadership, with a turnout of 77.4%, voted decisively for the status quo. Both the Conservatives and Labour saw increases in support, a rare occurrence in British politics, while third parties (in particular the Liberal National and National Labour Parties, who were heavily associated with appeasement) saw drops in support. With the National Government returned by an overwhelming landslide, Churchill, delighted that he had secured a mandate and that the British people had endorsed the war effort, remained Prime Minister, while the Cabinet and Government Ministries remained largely the same. Detailed results of the 1940 general election are as follows:

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While the election campaign took place (and after it), the British Government and senior military officials focused on what Britain’s next move in the conflict with Germany should be. In the immediate aftermath of the Battle of Britain, some eager voices suggested that a counter-invasion should be staged, and British troops should land in Northern France to repulse the Germans from the country. However, while this idea was initially contemplated, it was decided that such an assault would be difficult to pull off, even after the casualties sustained by Germany in the Battle of Britain, and it could end up with Britain in the same situation as Germany after the botched attempt at Sealion.

So, instead, it was agreed by the War Cabinet and the Joint Chiefs of Staff that Britain’s focus for the time being would be on North Africa – in particular, evicting Italy from Libya and (once that goal was achieved) assisting Free French efforts to capture the remaining Vichy French colonies in West Africa. Both objectives were made easier by the fact that Britain could afford to deploy more men overseas, now that the threat of invasion was gone and, as a result, fewer troops needed to be kept in the Home Islands. So, an extra five divisions, numbering 75,000 men were sent to Egypt to assist the upcoming British offensive to repulse Italian troops from Egypt and advance into Libya, code-named Operation Compass. These extra troops meant that the British and Commonwealth forces scheduled to take part in Compass now numbered roughly 111,000.

Compass began on December the 9th 1940, as the British forces in Egypt under Field Marshal Archibald Wavell and General Richard O’Connor began to advance, quickly repulsing Italian forces from Egypt after the Battle of Sidi Barrani between the 10th and the 11th. From there onwards, British and Commonwealth troops began to advance further, with Sollum and the Halfaya Pass being captured by British forces on December the 13th, at which point fighting began to take place in Italian territory. The next major engagement of Compass was the Battle of Bardia, which occurred between New Years’ Eve and New Years’ Day – the 45,000 Italian troops defending the port were ultimately defeated by the 22,000 British and Australian troops, under the command of Australian Lieutenant General Iven Mackay [1]. Once Bardia was captured, the next target for the Allies was Tobruk, which the British 7th Armoured Division and the Australian 19th Brigade reached on January the 2nd, and captured by January the 17th.

Throughout January, British and Commonwealth troops continued to advance into Libya, securing several victories over the Italian forces defending numerous coastal cities. Eventually, by January the 26th, Italy gave the order to evacuate Cyrenaica, putting the region under British control. Yet Compass was not done yet – after the Italian forces were ordered to retreat, British and Commonwealth troops worked to intercept them, and were successful in doing so, leaving the Italian Tenth Army essentially destroyed. By February the 5th, British and Commonwealth troops had reached El Aghelia, and from there O’Connor planned a final push to capture further territory from Italy before Compass came to an end. On February the 6th, British and Commonwealth troops advanced beyond El Aghelia, and fighting began between Allied and Italian troops for control of the town of Ra’s Lanuf. Fighting between the two sides was fierce, as the Allied troops were determined to gain control of the town, while the Italian troops were desperate to maintain control - however, the Italian forces were eventually forced to retreat further, allowing the British troops, led by O’Connor, to enter the town.

Between the 6th and the 11th, further engagements between British and Italian forces took place for control of the port of Sidra and the town of Bin Jawad. Once again, both sides fought with significant determination during the two respective battles, yet eventually Britain once again came out triumphant, and orders were given for Italian troops to retreat. At this point, most Italian troops were ordered to retreat to the city of Sirte, and thus Wavell faced the option of ordering the continuation of Compass further to capture the city. However, Wavell decided against the idea, as the number of Italian forces stationed in Sirte meant that taking the city would be a costly endeavour, and Compass had already extended well passed its original goal, to force Italian troops out of Egypt, and many of the British and Commonwealth vehicles and equipment were starting to need repairs. And so, British and Commonwealth troops in Bin Jawad ceased their advance, and instead began fortifying their gains – well over half of Libya had been secured by the Allies through Compass, and plans were drawn up for a further offensive to completely push the Italians out of Libya by the end of 1941. Yet this would have to wait until the vehicles and equipment worn out in Compass were either repaired or replaced. In the meantime, a large number of British troops who took part in Compass were sent away from Libya to the Balkans, to assist Greece in its campaign against German and Italian forces [2].

Meanwhile, the Italian forces in Libya were left in a state of disarray, having lost a significant amount of land and having their morale gravely hit. Mussolini initially requested German aid to possibly repulse the Allied advances, yet Germany, still licking its wounds from the Battle of Britain, refused its ally’s request for aid. And so, the Western Desert Campaign entered a pause for the time being.

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[1] Due to the greater number of British troops, the Allies are advancing faster in this alternate Compass than in our timeline’s Compass, while Allied victories are far more decisive in this timeline.

[2] The Balkan Campaign goes the same as our timeline, aside from that, in this timeline, British and Greek troops are able to hold Crete, as Germany, having had most of its paratrooper regiments destroyed in the Battle of Britain, is unable to stage an invasion of the island.
 
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Looks like Italy is out of Africa even before it looks at the Balcans and Greece. Bad news for Mussolini's rep.
 
Uh, marching through the Sahara would be a huge logistical undertaking. Probably even more so than an amphibious assault on those ports with the same number of troops.
 
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