I doubt its lack of lend-lease, that's basically going to be forced upon the US once they enter the war given how things are looking. I'm betting what happens is the US TTL doesn't do the 4.5 billion credit extension it did post-war OTL and the British actually go bankrupt post-war.
Ghastly Victories: The United States in the World Wars
- Thread starter RamscoopRaider
- Start date
You know thinking about it I'm starting to wonder if any PM at the time would realistically do better than Churchill TTL. It seems like a lot of the problems between the US and Britain are due to the fact no other US politician was willing to be as lenient with them as FDR was. Which extend into the 4.5 billion credit agreement which OTL the British were pissed about still since they thought it should be a gift.
RamscoopRaider
Donor
To be fair to them they were planning on ending rationing entirely on 1/1/66, but then matters changed and even the US had to go back to rationing for a few years
Taking until 1980 to end rationing is mostly on Jonathan Turner both viewing rationing as a positive leveling force and his vision for economic recovery
You know, with rationing lasting till 1980, and one of the big ration items being gas this makes me wonder if the British come up with some really fuel efficient designs. Something like 30 or so MPG designs when American cars are still getting low double digits of MPG.
The rationing system does not need to be effective like in Franco Spain.
By that could see a lot of corruption or a way to reward regime supporters that makes recovery harder.
That at least was my thoughts at first, that Britain has a very turbulent post world war 2 period and awful aftermath.
That is till news the US also undergoes rationing again in the 60s.
By that could see a lot of corruption or a way to reward regime supporters that makes recovery harder.
That at least was my thoughts at first, that Britain has a very turbulent post world war 2 period and awful aftermath.
That is till news the US also undergoes rationing again in the 60s.
RamscoopRaider
Donor
They do but that happened OTL. It's easy to get 30+mpg when you have a small light and slow vehicle. The Morris Minor got over 30 in most models and the Reliant Robin could get over 50mpg, way back in the 50's.
Of course Britain also had automobile rationing ITTL for a good part of that period as well
Ok. That makes the unqualified presentation of the "rationing until 1980" line somewhat dishonest, it invites the reader to imagine things far worse than actuality. I suspect Bodley Head has an axe to grind and A Setting Sun is not above making the British Empire look even worse than it actually was.
RamscoopRaider
Donor
The Bodley Head is just the publishing house (they existed OTL, I think they went out of business around 2013)
The author is actually extremely pro British and whitewashing things, he is just trying to over-emphasize how bad things are as part of his message that the Fall of the British Empire was a bad thing and his specific arguments for what did it in
Part 6-53 Great Naval Battles
RamscoopRaider
Donor
#86 Operation Palimpsest July 19th to 26th 1941
Palimpsest was in many ways not a naval battle, in the traditional sense, as the British and Italian fleets did not directly clash, with the primary Italian force involved being the Regia Aeronautica. It did however involve a very large British force conducting naval operations under pressure with one goal being to shape naval strategy, and there were clashes with the Italian navy as part of it. It’s importance thus makes it a great naval battle…
…The Battle of Malta and Lampedusa left Britain in a precarious position in the Mediterranean. Malta was rendered defenseless and the British Mediterranean fleet was destroyed. The key British position in the Mediterranean was in danger of falling and the British Army in Egypt was exposed to the threat of Naval bombardment.
Fortuitously the Battles of Eigeroya and Malta had temporarily crippled the Kriegsmarine and Regia Marina surface fleets. Neither navy had any modern capital ships capable of going to sea for the moment while the Royal Navy had 2 fast battleships and 4 battlecruisers that could do so, in addition to two modern slow battleships and a number of obsolete capital ships. This provided a window of opportunity to reinforce Malta and to send naval reinforcements to Egypt.
Operation Palimpsest would consist of 4 forces. Force A would consist of the carriers Leviathan, Argus and Hermes, escorted by the battleships Canopus and Majestic, with 9 destroyers and 3 light cruisers as a screen. Leviathan would play defense while between them the other two would carry 32 Hawker Headhunter fighters and 6 Boulton Paul Ballista Fighter-Dive Bombers between them which would be flown off to reinforce Malta. Force B would consist of the BattleshipDuke of York, the battlecruisers Beatty and Sturdee with 1 heavy cruiser, 2 light cruisers, 1 AA cruiser and 6 destroyers, which would bombard Pula and Cagliari before feinting North. Force C would consist of the Battlecruisers Anson and Hood, 2 light cruisers, 2 AA cruisers and 9 destroyers which would move with Force D into the Strait of Sicily and then break north to bombard Marsala before withdrawing. Force D would consist of the battleships Queen Elizabeth and Warspite, the Battlecruiser Renown, the Aircraft Carrier Audacious, one heavy cruiser, 2 AA cruisers, 3 light cruisers, 1 Minelayer and 14 destroyers. Force D would escort a convoy of 20 old merchantmen as far as Malta, where they would be abandoned to be unloaded and then would sprint at 22 knots for Alexandria to serve as a replacement Mediterranean fleet.
The assembled forces departed Britain on July 1st and successfully managed to avoid any encounters with U-Boats or German aircraft. German and Italian intelligence did pick up on the convoy, but it was assumed that the merchantmen and older ships were bound for Egypt via the Cape route, and that the newer ships were simply bound for Gibraltar. It was not until the combined force passed Gibraltar on the 13th that there was any inkling of a major Operation in the Mediterranean. The Italians were caught flat footed their submarines were predominantly in port after a burst of high intensity operations in June and their maritime aviation was undergoing a reorganization after poor performance in the opening battle of Malta and Lampedusa.
The Italians surged their submarines as fast as could be managed and set up constant air patrols, with their operational surface units moving to fortified anchorages for protection. The Italians were somewhat further hampered by the fact that they did not yet have bases set up in Tunisia and that many units were in the process of moving there. As a result they did not catch sight of the British until just before dark on the 18th, too late to do anything about it.
On the 19th they swept the area southwest of Sardinia and at noon, after losing two recon planes to the British CAP, they found the British force. A force of 30 bombers flew out of Sardinia, but took losses against the CAP and was forced by heavy AA to drop their bombs early, losing 6 planes for no hits. That night an Italian submarine attacked the trailing destroyer in the convoy, failing to get a hit but successfully withdrawing and avoiding contact.
On the 20th the Italians launched 3 larger waves of 40 bombers, all level bombers, after spotting the British early in the morning. One of the groups, not trained in maritime strike, made a navigation error and did not notice before it was too late and needed to return to base. The remainder successfully found and attacked the British fleet. Once more disrupted by the CAP and facing heavy AA gunnery, they managed only minimal accuracy, managing a near miss on a destroyer and a light cruiser, with one hit square on the roof of Beatty’s Y turret, doing no damage, alongside two more near misses and splinter damage to another destroyers, in exchange for the loss of 7 planes. On the night of the 20th a second Italian submarine managed to penetrate into the British formation and sank a pair of transports before being depth charged into oblivion by the escorting destroyers.
On the 21st the Italians managed an even larger strike, 150 level bombers and 30 Torpedo bombers. Coordination from multiple bases proved poor and rather than an overwhelming force, they struck in groups of 30. A light cruiser was hit by two bombs, but remained combat capable, a destroyer was hit by one and lost its forward guns, while two freighters were damaged but remained able to make full speed. Later Majestic took a single torpedo hit, square in the thickest part of her torpedo defenses and remained fully combat capable. The strikes however cost the Italians 14 level bombers and 8 torpedo bombers. Two submarines attempted to attack after dark, one managed to torpedo a destroyer and slip away, with her comrade being targeted and heavily damaged before escaping the next day.
Just before midnight on the 21st Force B slipped away and began its journey north. It was spotted first, by a patrol out of Sardinia looking for the main body and triggered multiple attacks by level bombers, first a wave of 30 followed by a wave of 50 and then another of 30. These proved more accurate, as they were only facing heavy AA and not any airpower. However as level bombers, and predominantly not trained in naval strike, accuracy was still poor and seven bomb hits were managed, three on Duke of York, knocking out one secondary turret and destroying her float plane, one on Sturdee doing no damage, two hits on a light cruiser doing minor damage and one hit on a destroyer knocking out its radar and jamming a turret, in exchange for 7 aircraft shot down. The main body was spotted after the third wave was being launched and it was decided to hold back the bombers as not to feed them piecemeal into a working integrated air defense.
Force B hit Pula in early afternoon, bombarding the docks there before advancing to Cagliari, sinking a half a dozen coasters, an old destroyer and a minesweeper. Around that time 30 single engine recon aircraft launched an attack with light bombs, scoring a dozen hits and causing cosmetic damage to the Sturdee and a cruiser, backed by 30 fighters performing strafing runs that killed 70 crew and knocked out several light AA positions, at a cost of a further 12 aircraft. Force B was able to continue with its mission and advanced northeast into the Tyrrhenian Sea as a feint.
Both the main body and Force B avoided encounters with Italian submarines on the night of the 22nd. During the night Force C detached from the main body and advanced on Sicily. Force C became the primary target and 90 level bombers and 30 torpedo bombers launched a coordinated strike in late morning. Two destroyers were lost, two cruisers were damaged by bomb hits and the Hood took a torpedo and several bomb hits but remained combat capable, in exchange for the loss of 9 level and 5 torpedo bombers. In mid afternoon Force C bombarded Marsala at long range and sank a pair of coasters. Shortly thereafter it was attacked by about 100 single engine aircraft, Hood took several more bomb hits and had a fighter crash on her stern, Anson took 3 bomb hits and had a main battery turret jammed and one of the AA cruisers took a single bomb hit but remained combat capable, while almost all ships took some strafing damage for the loss of 10 aircraft. In this chaos a force of 11 MAS boats attempted to attack from the Aegates islands but were spotted by the British destroyers and were driven off with 2 losses.
While the Italians were busy with Force C and hunting for Force B in midafternoon Argus and Hermes were close enough that their Headhunters, modified with temporary extra fuel tanks, could reach Malta on a one way trip. All aircraft managed to successfully take off and in a feat of navigation all 32 arrived at their destination, guided by the six Ballistas with their onboard navigators and advanced navigation systems. With this accomplished Force A turned around for Gibralar.
During the night of the 23rd Forces A&C rendezvoused and Force B turned south to join them the next day. Italian submarines found these forces too fast to target and there were unsuccessful attempts on each of them by Italian submarines. Force D was not as lucky and two merchantmen were sunk by one submarine that escaped, while Renowntook a torpedo hit that reduced her to 24 knots but left her otherwise combat capable from a submarine which did not.
The day of the 24th proved to be complete chaos in Italian command as they were unsure whether to target the modern warships of the main body or the transports of Force D. In a decision that left Sanna distinctly unamused it was decided to split the difference rather than overwhelm one force. 90 level bombers and 15 torpedo bombers attacked the retreating main body while 45 level bombers and 75 single engine aircraft attacked Force D. The situation in the air turned into a farce as 30 of the level bombers missed the main body due to a bad guess about speed and the remainder attacked in uncoordinated waves, leading to a trio of hits on Hermes that would have rendered her unable to launch aircraft, if she was still carrying any for the loss of 9 bombers. The aircraft attacking Force D were disrupted by the fact that one of their assembly points was in range of the fighters that had been delivered to Malta and the level bombers had to scrub their attacks after losing 6 aircraft due to the fighters there. The single engine aircraft did better, sinking two transports, getting a trio of hits on Audacious that failed to penetrate her armor deck and damaging two destroyers at the cost of 11 aircraft.
During the night of the 24th Force D passed Malta and the merchantmen broke off, reaching Valetta harbor at 2:00 in the morning. An additional 3 were lost to MAS boats, as was a single destroyer in exchange for the loss of two of the small boats. 11 of the 20 freighters managed to reach the safety of the harbor, bringing food, ammunition, additional AA guns, mortars, machine guns, fuel and 6 priceless AT guns, with 12 more lost.
A Token attack by 30 level bombers was made on the main body on the 25th, hitting two cruisers and forcing one to slow down to 15 knots for the cost of a single aircraft. An attack on Force D was scrubbed by bad weather and it avoided encountering any submarines on the night of the 25th.
On the 26th Force D was attacked by two waves of 60 level bombers, one from Italy and one from Libya. The Italian attacking force mistook the heavy cruiser Cornwall for a battleship and unloaded on it, scoring 7 bomb hits, disabling her main battery and reducing her speed to 18 knots. The attacking force from Libya, not being trained for maritime strike, attacked late and disjointed, unsuccessfully attacking the destroyers making the southern portion of the screen to the exclusion of the main body. Such was the lack of coordination that most of Force D did not get a chance to use their AA guns with Warspite having had the luck to avoid needing to fire them all operation. Between the two separate attacks the Italians lost a further 8 aircraft. This proved to be the last air attack of Operation Palimpsest and the last actual attack was the sinking of a Force A destroyer by an Italian submarine at 11:00PM that day and the subsequent destruction of the submarine.
In total Britain had lost 4 destroyers and 9 freighters, with 11 more written off at Malta, along with 50 aircraft due to accident and being shot down. In return they had destroyed 8 Italian freighters, a destroyer, a minesweeper, 3 submarines and 4 MAS boats with 113 aircraft shot down, written off or forced to crash-land. Malta had air cover once more and was supplied for a siege and stubborn defense, while there was now a British fleet in the Western Mediterranean. A large number of British ships were damaged, but with the existing damage to the German and Italian heavies this was not an issue that materially effected the balance of power…
…Palimpsest was critical in buoying British morale and demonstrating to the world that Britian was still in the fight and could strike back effectively…
…Palimpsest served to color future impressions of the effectiveness, or lack thereof, of land based airpower against warships…
-Excerpt from 101 Great Naval Battles, American Youth Press, New York 2010
Palimpsest was in many ways not a naval battle, in the traditional sense, as the British and Italian fleets did not directly clash, with the primary Italian force involved being the Regia Aeronautica. It did however involve a very large British force conducting naval operations under pressure with one goal being to shape naval strategy, and there were clashes with the Italian navy as part of it. It’s importance thus makes it a great naval battle…
…The Battle of Malta and Lampedusa left Britain in a precarious position in the Mediterranean. Malta was rendered defenseless and the British Mediterranean fleet was destroyed. The key British position in the Mediterranean was in danger of falling and the British Army in Egypt was exposed to the threat of Naval bombardment.
Fortuitously the Battles of Eigeroya and Malta had temporarily crippled the Kriegsmarine and Regia Marina surface fleets. Neither navy had any modern capital ships capable of going to sea for the moment while the Royal Navy had 2 fast battleships and 4 battlecruisers that could do so, in addition to two modern slow battleships and a number of obsolete capital ships. This provided a window of opportunity to reinforce Malta and to send naval reinforcements to Egypt.
Operation Palimpsest would consist of 4 forces. Force A would consist of the carriers Leviathan, Argus and Hermes, escorted by the battleships Canopus and Majestic, with 9 destroyers and 3 light cruisers as a screen. Leviathan would play defense while between them the other two would carry 32 Hawker Headhunter fighters and 6 Boulton Paul Ballista Fighter-Dive Bombers between them which would be flown off to reinforce Malta. Force B would consist of the BattleshipDuke of York, the battlecruisers Beatty and Sturdee with 1 heavy cruiser, 2 light cruisers, 1 AA cruiser and 6 destroyers, which would bombard Pula and Cagliari before feinting North. Force C would consist of the Battlecruisers Anson and Hood, 2 light cruisers, 2 AA cruisers and 9 destroyers which would move with Force D into the Strait of Sicily and then break north to bombard Marsala before withdrawing. Force D would consist of the battleships Queen Elizabeth and Warspite, the Battlecruiser Renown, the Aircraft Carrier Audacious, one heavy cruiser, 2 AA cruisers, 3 light cruisers, 1 Minelayer and 14 destroyers. Force D would escort a convoy of 20 old merchantmen as far as Malta, where they would be abandoned to be unloaded and then would sprint at 22 knots for Alexandria to serve as a replacement Mediterranean fleet.
The assembled forces departed Britain on July 1st and successfully managed to avoid any encounters with U-Boats or German aircraft. German and Italian intelligence did pick up on the convoy, but it was assumed that the merchantmen and older ships were bound for Egypt via the Cape route, and that the newer ships were simply bound for Gibraltar. It was not until the combined force passed Gibraltar on the 13th that there was any inkling of a major Operation in the Mediterranean. The Italians were caught flat footed their submarines were predominantly in port after a burst of high intensity operations in June and their maritime aviation was undergoing a reorganization after poor performance in the opening battle of Malta and Lampedusa.
The Italians surged their submarines as fast as could be managed and set up constant air patrols, with their operational surface units moving to fortified anchorages for protection. The Italians were somewhat further hampered by the fact that they did not yet have bases set up in Tunisia and that many units were in the process of moving there. As a result they did not catch sight of the British until just before dark on the 18th, too late to do anything about it.
On the 19th they swept the area southwest of Sardinia and at noon, after losing two recon planes to the British CAP, they found the British force. A force of 30 bombers flew out of Sardinia, but took losses against the CAP and was forced by heavy AA to drop their bombs early, losing 6 planes for no hits. That night an Italian submarine attacked the trailing destroyer in the convoy, failing to get a hit but successfully withdrawing and avoiding contact.
On the 20th the Italians launched 3 larger waves of 40 bombers, all level bombers, after spotting the British early in the morning. One of the groups, not trained in maritime strike, made a navigation error and did not notice before it was too late and needed to return to base. The remainder successfully found and attacked the British fleet. Once more disrupted by the CAP and facing heavy AA gunnery, they managed only minimal accuracy, managing a near miss on a destroyer and a light cruiser, with one hit square on the roof of Beatty’s Y turret, doing no damage, alongside two more near misses and splinter damage to another destroyers, in exchange for the loss of 7 planes. On the night of the 20th a second Italian submarine managed to penetrate into the British formation and sank a pair of transports before being depth charged into oblivion by the escorting destroyers.
On the 21st the Italians managed an even larger strike, 150 level bombers and 30 Torpedo bombers. Coordination from multiple bases proved poor and rather than an overwhelming force, they struck in groups of 30. A light cruiser was hit by two bombs, but remained combat capable, a destroyer was hit by one and lost its forward guns, while two freighters were damaged but remained able to make full speed. Later Majestic took a single torpedo hit, square in the thickest part of her torpedo defenses and remained fully combat capable. The strikes however cost the Italians 14 level bombers and 8 torpedo bombers. Two submarines attempted to attack after dark, one managed to torpedo a destroyer and slip away, with her comrade being targeted and heavily damaged before escaping the next day.
Just before midnight on the 21st Force B slipped away and began its journey north. It was spotted first, by a patrol out of Sardinia looking for the main body and triggered multiple attacks by level bombers, first a wave of 30 followed by a wave of 50 and then another of 30. These proved more accurate, as they were only facing heavy AA and not any airpower. However as level bombers, and predominantly not trained in naval strike, accuracy was still poor and seven bomb hits were managed, three on Duke of York, knocking out one secondary turret and destroying her float plane, one on Sturdee doing no damage, two hits on a light cruiser doing minor damage and one hit on a destroyer knocking out its radar and jamming a turret, in exchange for 7 aircraft shot down. The main body was spotted after the third wave was being launched and it was decided to hold back the bombers as not to feed them piecemeal into a working integrated air defense.
Force B hit Pula in early afternoon, bombarding the docks there before advancing to Cagliari, sinking a half a dozen coasters, an old destroyer and a minesweeper. Around that time 30 single engine recon aircraft launched an attack with light bombs, scoring a dozen hits and causing cosmetic damage to the Sturdee and a cruiser, backed by 30 fighters performing strafing runs that killed 70 crew and knocked out several light AA positions, at a cost of a further 12 aircraft. Force B was able to continue with its mission and advanced northeast into the Tyrrhenian Sea as a feint.
Both the main body and Force B avoided encounters with Italian submarines on the night of the 22nd. During the night Force C detached from the main body and advanced on Sicily. Force C became the primary target and 90 level bombers and 30 torpedo bombers launched a coordinated strike in late morning. Two destroyers were lost, two cruisers were damaged by bomb hits and the Hood took a torpedo and several bomb hits but remained combat capable, in exchange for the loss of 9 level and 5 torpedo bombers. In mid afternoon Force C bombarded Marsala at long range and sank a pair of coasters. Shortly thereafter it was attacked by about 100 single engine aircraft, Hood took several more bomb hits and had a fighter crash on her stern, Anson took 3 bomb hits and had a main battery turret jammed and one of the AA cruisers took a single bomb hit but remained combat capable, while almost all ships took some strafing damage for the loss of 10 aircraft. In this chaos a force of 11 MAS boats attempted to attack from the Aegates islands but were spotted by the British destroyers and were driven off with 2 losses.
While the Italians were busy with Force C and hunting for Force B in midafternoon Argus and Hermes were close enough that their Headhunters, modified with temporary extra fuel tanks, could reach Malta on a one way trip. All aircraft managed to successfully take off and in a feat of navigation all 32 arrived at their destination, guided by the six Ballistas with their onboard navigators and advanced navigation systems. With this accomplished Force A turned around for Gibralar.
During the night of the 23rd Forces A&C rendezvoused and Force B turned south to join them the next day. Italian submarines found these forces too fast to target and there were unsuccessful attempts on each of them by Italian submarines. Force D was not as lucky and two merchantmen were sunk by one submarine that escaped, while Renowntook a torpedo hit that reduced her to 24 knots but left her otherwise combat capable from a submarine which did not.
The day of the 24th proved to be complete chaos in Italian command as they were unsure whether to target the modern warships of the main body or the transports of Force D. In a decision that left Sanna distinctly unamused it was decided to split the difference rather than overwhelm one force. 90 level bombers and 15 torpedo bombers attacked the retreating main body while 45 level bombers and 75 single engine aircraft attacked Force D. The situation in the air turned into a farce as 30 of the level bombers missed the main body due to a bad guess about speed and the remainder attacked in uncoordinated waves, leading to a trio of hits on Hermes that would have rendered her unable to launch aircraft, if she was still carrying any for the loss of 9 bombers. The aircraft attacking Force D were disrupted by the fact that one of their assembly points was in range of the fighters that had been delivered to Malta and the level bombers had to scrub their attacks after losing 6 aircraft due to the fighters there. The single engine aircraft did better, sinking two transports, getting a trio of hits on Audacious that failed to penetrate her armor deck and damaging two destroyers at the cost of 11 aircraft.
During the night of the 24th Force D passed Malta and the merchantmen broke off, reaching Valetta harbor at 2:00 in the morning. An additional 3 were lost to MAS boats, as was a single destroyer in exchange for the loss of two of the small boats. 11 of the 20 freighters managed to reach the safety of the harbor, bringing food, ammunition, additional AA guns, mortars, machine guns, fuel and 6 priceless AT guns, with 12 more lost.
A Token attack by 30 level bombers was made on the main body on the 25th, hitting two cruisers and forcing one to slow down to 15 knots for the cost of a single aircraft. An attack on Force D was scrubbed by bad weather and it avoided encountering any submarines on the night of the 25th.
On the 26th Force D was attacked by two waves of 60 level bombers, one from Italy and one from Libya. The Italian attacking force mistook the heavy cruiser Cornwall for a battleship and unloaded on it, scoring 7 bomb hits, disabling her main battery and reducing her speed to 18 knots. The attacking force from Libya, not being trained for maritime strike, attacked late and disjointed, unsuccessfully attacking the destroyers making the southern portion of the screen to the exclusion of the main body. Such was the lack of coordination that most of Force D did not get a chance to use their AA guns with Warspite having had the luck to avoid needing to fire them all operation. Between the two separate attacks the Italians lost a further 8 aircraft. This proved to be the last air attack of Operation Palimpsest and the last actual attack was the sinking of a Force A destroyer by an Italian submarine at 11:00PM that day and the subsequent destruction of the submarine.
In total Britain had lost 4 destroyers and 9 freighters, with 11 more written off at Malta, along with 50 aircraft due to accident and being shot down. In return they had destroyed 8 Italian freighters, a destroyer, a minesweeper, 3 submarines and 4 MAS boats with 113 aircraft shot down, written off or forced to crash-land. Malta had air cover once more and was supplied for a siege and stubborn defense, while there was now a British fleet in the Western Mediterranean. A large number of British ships were damaged, but with the existing damage to the German and Italian heavies this was not an issue that materially effected the balance of power…
…Palimpsest was critical in buoying British morale and demonstrating to the world that Britian was still in the fight and could strike back effectively…
…Palimpsest served to color future impressions of the effectiveness, or lack thereof, of land based airpower against warships…
-Excerpt from 101 Great Naval Battles, American Youth Press, New York 2010
The Royal Navy is not out of the fight yet! And as competent as he his, even Sanna cannot make the Italian air force good at naval bombings. Even before the last line, I guessed this would leave people thinking air power is not decisive on the sea. Feels like Italy was hurling its entire air force repeatedly at the brits to only sink a few small ships and jam one battleship turret.
Given British CAP is competitive with Italy despite the former's air issues, it seems Italy is behind as well.
Given British CAP is competitive with Italy despite the former's air issues, it seems Italy is behind as well.
Part 6-54 Airpower, Naval History
RamscoopRaider
Donor
…By the start of August Britain was beginning to make strides in rectifying its deficiencies in aircraft, with production of all types having increased. The first phase of intermediate Bandit conversions were being produced, while upgunned Glaives, with either 6 .55 HMG or 4 20mm Autocannon were also entering service, with both aircraft receiving an overboost modification to allow them to outperform their German opponents, for brief periods. They were complemented by the first “Gunsharks”, heavy fighter conversions of the Bullshark torpedo bomber, that would serve as both night fighters and daytime bomber destroyers.
This however was insufficient to keep fighter command strength from falling from 900 to 700 by the start of August. To preserve strength it was determined that the three air bases in coastal Kent would have to be withdrawn from on the 6th of August after too many losses on the ground. This however was followed by the activation of the new London Air Defense Area on the 7th.
The rebuilt system immediately proved its efficacy on the 8th, with a 50 bomber raid escorted by 20 fighters easily dealt with, first by a squadron of Glaives attacking from a position of strength distracting the fighters, then a squadron of Bandits intercepting the bombers. The British lost 4 fighters in exchange for 9 German ones and 11 bombers. It was a performance that would be repeated on the 9th, 11th and 12th, with multiple Luftwaffe raids being hit hard. By the 15th Von Richthofen made the decision to call off all attacks on the London metropolitan area as losses were no longer favorable.
Instead he focused on the transit links leading to the area, as well as the industry outside of it, achieving notable success. Most dramatic of this was the August 17th raid on Portsmouth that destroyed the Battleship Venerable in drydock, though more impactful were the raids on railway yards. Cargoes backed up, deliveries were delayed and the industry of the London Metropolitan area began to slow down…
…Over the course of August Fighter Command began to modernize its tactics, replacing its 3 aircraft vics and rigid formations with German style wing pairs, finger fours and loose formations. This shift contributed to a reduction in losses in most tactical situations…
…Despite the activation of the London ADA and the improvements in fighter quality and tactics, the numerical strength of fighter command continued to fall over August, dropping below 600 by the 22nd. On the 24th it was decided to evacuate the two fighter command bases in Cornwall as they were simply too exposed and suffering too many losses for too little gain. This however increased the amount of British soil that was defended only by anti-aircraft batteries and allowed the Luftwaffe to act with greater freedom. If the situation continued for much longer then it would impact aircraft production, which had the potential to lead to a defeat spiral.
To avoid that the British needed to change the nature of the battle and on the 28th they received approval from Churchill to do just that…
-Excerpt from Airpower!, Dewitt Publishing, Los Angeles, 2010
…As the Battle of Britain was being waged in the skies the Battle of the Atlantic heated up on the seas. German operations increased in tempo and British losses increased. Losses before the Fall of France had averaged 120,000 GRT a month, after the battle losses climbed to 700,000 GRT a month. This was twice the rate at which the British could replace losses.
Britain however possessed a Merchant Marine of 18 million GRT, counting that of the Empire, to which 4 million GRT of Norwegian vessels were added as were 1 million GRT of miscellaneous Dutch, Belgian, French and Danish vessels, totaling 23 million tons. Britain needed at least 6 million GRT to feed itself, 10 million to wage a defensive war and 15 million to wage an offensive one according to, flawed, German estimates. At the current rate of loss Britain would be forced to massively scale back military operations within 20 months they predicted…
…In the North Atlantic, where the vast majority of the U-Boats operated, the British were able to run convoys and protect their shipping. The loss of the French navy meant that they had to run fewer convoys with less proportional escort, which proved less of a problem then they feared, but they could still protect their convoys from submarines and merchant raiders. Aircraft proved problematic as they had few vessels with effective heavy AA that could be spared for convoy duty given the need to divert the converted AA cruisers and destroyers to fleet duties and the short range of the new escort destroyers. Worse even if they did manage to scrape up AA escorts, the Kriegsmarine’s long range aircraft could simply stay out of range and call for the U-Boats.
It was proposed early on to fit some merchantmen with catapults to launch an aircraft to defend the convoy, which would then ditch and the pilot would be recovered. However losses in the Battle of Britain meant that the British could not afford to throw away even obsolete fighters. Thus it was instead proposed to build a flight deck over the deck of existing grain carriers and to carry 3-4 fighters in a deck park which could maintain a 1 plane CAP, sufficient to deal with isolated long range aircraft, while still being able to carry the vast majority of their cargo of grain. They would be followed by converted from the keel up merchant vessels as time and resources allowed which would carry 20-30 aircraft and provide protection against all types of foe, aerial, surface and submerged.
The first conversions were ordered on September 1st and construction began by the end of the month. 50 were planned so that every convoy could be protected by at least one…
…Outside of the North Atlantic the British lacked the ability to run convoys. They simply lacked the forces available to do so in 1941. These theaters were far enough away that the majority of the U-Boats could not reach, with only the relatively rare Type IX and handful of Type X able to do so, along with merchant raiders. While the latter could be hunted down, and usually were within a short time, the longer ranged U-Boats were much more difficult and wreaked havoc on the independently sailing merchantmen, mitigated only by travel time minimizing the number of sorties possible…
Excerpt From A Naval History of the European War, Harper & Brothers, New York, 2008
A/N Part 6-47 has been rewritten to be a bit more plausible, no significant changes on the macro scale
This however was insufficient to keep fighter command strength from falling from 900 to 700 by the start of August. To preserve strength it was determined that the three air bases in coastal Kent would have to be withdrawn from on the 6th of August after too many losses on the ground. This however was followed by the activation of the new London Air Defense Area on the 7th.
The rebuilt system immediately proved its efficacy on the 8th, with a 50 bomber raid escorted by 20 fighters easily dealt with, first by a squadron of Glaives attacking from a position of strength distracting the fighters, then a squadron of Bandits intercepting the bombers. The British lost 4 fighters in exchange for 9 German ones and 11 bombers. It was a performance that would be repeated on the 9th, 11th and 12th, with multiple Luftwaffe raids being hit hard. By the 15th Von Richthofen made the decision to call off all attacks on the London metropolitan area as losses were no longer favorable.
Instead he focused on the transit links leading to the area, as well as the industry outside of it, achieving notable success. Most dramatic of this was the August 17th raid on Portsmouth that destroyed the Battleship Venerable in drydock, though more impactful were the raids on railway yards. Cargoes backed up, deliveries were delayed and the industry of the London Metropolitan area began to slow down…
…Over the course of August Fighter Command began to modernize its tactics, replacing its 3 aircraft vics and rigid formations with German style wing pairs, finger fours and loose formations. This shift contributed to a reduction in losses in most tactical situations…
…Despite the activation of the London ADA and the improvements in fighter quality and tactics, the numerical strength of fighter command continued to fall over August, dropping below 600 by the 22nd. On the 24th it was decided to evacuate the two fighter command bases in Cornwall as they were simply too exposed and suffering too many losses for too little gain. This however increased the amount of British soil that was defended only by anti-aircraft batteries and allowed the Luftwaffe to act with greater freedom. If the situation continued for much longer then it would impact aircraft production, which had the potential to lead to a defeat spiral.
To avoid that the British needed to change the nature of the battle and on the 28th they received approval from Churchill to do just that…
-Excerpt from Airpower!, Dewitt Publishing, Los Angeles, 2010
…As the Battle of Britain was being waged in the skies the Battle of the Atlantic heated up on the seas. German operations increased in tempo and British losses increased. Losses before the Fall of France had averaged 120,000 GRT a month, after the battle losses climbed to 700,000 GRT a month. This was twice the rate at which the British could replace losses.
Britain however possessed a Merchant Marine of 18 million GRT, counting that of the Empire, to which 4 million GRT of Norwegian vessels were added as were 1 million GRT of miscellaneous Dutch, Belgian, French and Danish vessels, totaling 23 million tons. Britain needed at least 6 million GRT to feed itself, 10 million to wage a defensive war and 15 million to wage an offensive one according to, flawed, German estimates. At the current rate of loss Britain would be forced to massively scale back military operations within 20 months they predicted…
…In the North Atlantic, where the vast majority of the U-Boats operated, the British were able to run convoys and protect their shipping. The loss of the French navy meant that they had to run fewer convoys with less proportional escort, which proved less of a problem then they feared, but they could still protect their convoys from submarines and merchant raiders. Aircraft proved problematic as they had few vessels with effective heavy AA that could be spared for convoy duty given the need to divert the converted AA cruisers and destroyers to fleet duties and the short range of the new escort destroyers. Worse even if they did manage to scrape up AA escorts, the Kriegsmarine’s long range aircraft could simply stay out of range and call for the U-Boats.
It was proposed early on to fit some merchantmen with catapults to launch an aircraft to defend the convoy, which would then ditch and the pilot would be recovered. However losses in the Battle of Britain meant that the British could not afford to throw away even obsolete fighters. Thus it was instead proposed to build a flight deck over the deck of existing grain carriers and to carry 3-4 fighters in a deck park which could maintain a 1 plane CAP, sufficient to deal with isolated long range aircraft, while still being able to carry the vast majority of their cargo of grain. They would be followed by converted from the keel up merchant vessels as time and resources allowed which would carry 20-30 aircraft and provide protection against all types of foe, aerial, surface and submerged.
The first conversions were ordered on September 1st and construction began by the end of the month. 50 were planned so that every convoy could be protected by at least one…
…Outside of the North Atlantic the British lacked the ability to run convoys. They simply lacked the forces available to do so in 1941. These theaters were far enough away that the majority of the U-Boats could not reach, with only the relatively rare Type IX and handful of Type X able to do so, along with merchant raiders. While the latter could be hunted down, and usually were within a short time, the longer ranged U-Boats were much more difficult and wreaked havoc on the independently sailing merchantmen, mitigated only by travel time minimizing the number of sorties possible…
Excerpt From A Naval History of the European War, Harper & Brothers, New York, 2008
A/N Part 6-47 has been rewritten to be a bit more plausible, no significant changes on the macro scale
Britain's not out, but it's definitely way down. The Merchant Aircraft Carriers coming in as OTL, though with british planes still lagging in quality who knows how effective they'll be.
Thanks for the heads up. What are the biggest changes that had to be made?
RamscoopRaider
Donor
Substantially earlier than OTL for the MAC. Their planes don't have to be good, they aren't there to deal with fighters, they are their to shoot down the occasional converted airliner/flying boat and spot submarines
Basically the Italian fleet is more conservative and doesn't detach a flanking force to deal with the British cripples, so they have to be dealt with by follow up attacks from other forces
MACs are the order of the day I see and earlier than OTL give the part of the war we are in. But then again a bi-plane fighter if fast enough should be enough to deal with a Fw-200
Part 6-55 Deals with Devils, Desert War, Setting Sun, Before the Storm
RamscoopRaider
Donor
…Following the defeat of France Japan saw an opportunity to break the stalemate in China by cutting off the Chinese supply of arms and other material through French Indochina and began preparations to occupy the colony. This came to the attention of the Italian diplomatic mission in Tokyo and from there to Sanna himself, who immediately worried that this could lead to an expansion of the war that would make things more difficult to control.
Sanna therefore brokered a deal where French Indochina would remain nominally unoccupied, but that Japan would have the ability to lease a base at Haiphong for a nominal fee and station troops within 50 miles of the northern border of the colony in an “Inspection Zone”, who would be authorized to preserve the neutrality of the colony by intercepting deliveries of war material. This compromise prevented both an erosion of the authority of the Vichy government and served to keep the United States from doing anything too rash about the Japanese presence. After all the British had maintained a similar presence in Iceland and the Faroe Islands since April and the United States did not complain about that.
The United States was still very displeased by the actions, both in providing the Japanese with a stronger position and the cutting off the flow of supplies to the Chinese. Sanna’s mediation did however provide enough of a fig leaf that the United States took no action against France, Italy or Japan directly…
…Sanna followed up his mediation between France and Japan with a mediation between Siam and France. The Siamese had lost a considerable amount of territory to the French over the decades and wanted some of them back, and with a powerful military they had a chance of overrunning the French territory in question. The only way for the French to preserve control of their territory would be to either invite in the British, providing a wedge for the London Government to gain legitimacy, or to invite in the Japanese and anger the Americans.
To avoid either case Sanna, with Japanese aid, brokered a deal to sell Battambang, Pailin, Siem Reap, Banteay Meanchey, Oddar Meanchey, Preah Vihear, part of Champassak, Xaignabouli and part of Luang Prabang to Siam for a total of 150 million Francs, payable in cash or goods over 5 years. This prevented a war and served to increase Italian influence over France. It also served to increase Japanese influence over Siam in the coming months as they agreed to purchase basing right in Siam in order to provide the Siamese with the cash needed to pay for the purchase…
…With the creation of the Indochinese “Inspection Zone” all supplies from the west to China were forced to go up the recently completed Burma Road, a much more difficult journey that both increased transportation time and reduced throughput…
…Japan immediately attempted to pressure Britian into closing the Burma Road in the summer of 1941. The British were willing to do so to avoid a potential front in the Pacific and a draft agreement was made shortly before the American ambassador was informed. The British were then told in no uncertain terms that if they closed the Burma Road they would not receive the aid they were asking for from the United States.
There was a brief debate in the Foreign Office before it was decided that while the United States probably would not actually halt aid to Britian over the closure of the Burma Road, aid from the United States would be delivered later and in reduced quantity in that eventuality, while the Japanese were unlikely to actually go to war over the Burma Road at the moment. The vital supply route thus remained open…
…Vichy France was the biggest diplomatic headache for all parties involved in the latter half of 1941 but especially for the United States. While American sympathy was with Britian, it was nonetheless felt in the State Department during the latter half of 1941 that Britain had no chance of actually winning the war and that she was simply fighting for a white peace. While Britain obtaining such a peace was certainly in the interests of the United States, it would mean that the Vichy regime would remain in charge of France after the end of the war and thus it was in American interests to retain good relations with France as well as with Britain.
That meant that the United States continued to recognize Vichy as the legitimate government of France over the British puppets in London and continued the existing purchasing contracts for American weapons and material. Vichy would retain full control of French finances in the American sphere of influence and the US government stated that it would look poorly on fighting in the Western Hemisphere which served to preserve Vichy’s control over their colonies in the Hemisphere…
…The French Government in Exile in London started with only a tiny amount of territory, a score of acres of land on St. Helena, the territories in India and the Anglo-French Condominium of the New Hebrides, all territories in very close proximity to overwhelming British force. This was followed by French Polynesia in September and New Caledonia in October, after troops from Australia and New Zealand arrived in overwhelming force and convinced the French leadership of the colonies to resign in favor of pro London appointees.
Britian attempted to negotiate a deal with the United States that would allow them to do the same to French colonies in the Western Hemisphere but the United States held firm. Colonial territories in the Western Hemisphere would not change hands by force in violation of the Monroe Doctrine. Lord Halifax argued and made some progress in convincing the Americans that the colonies were not changing hands, but merely changing which administration they were reporting to, however this was not sufficient to sway the McNutt Administration. If Vichy was the legitimate government of France, which the US recognized, then by allowing the seizure of French colonies by the London government would be equivalent to aiding and abetting a rebellion…
…A key piece of British leverage was their technological developments, something that they felt was necessary to use as a bargaining chip to obtain greater aid from the United States. The British Technical Mission was sent in September 1941 with all of Britain’s latest developments to try and shift the needle in US discussions of aid…
-Excerpt From Deals with Devils: Diplomacy before and During the Second World War, Johnstone Press, Seattle, 2005
…At the start of August the Italians launch attacks out of East Africa against the British. The primary attack was on British Somaliland, where the Italians sent 25,000 men against 4,000 defenders and overran the British colony in about two weeks. Smaller spoiling attacks were launched to take buffer zones in Kenya and the Sudan, as well as the fortress and railway junction of Kassala in the Sudan. All of this was accomplished by the end of August and the Italians settled into conducting a raiding campaign as part of an active defense of East Africa…
…The Italian Flotilla in the Red Sea consisted of 8 destroyers, 2 torpedo boats, 6 MAS Boats, 8 Submarines and 10 auxiliaries. Upon the outbreak of the war they attempted to cut British supply routes through the Red Sea to Egypt. This failed miserably, the older ships assigned to East Africa had been given low quality crews and were at the bottom of the priority list for supplies. They sortied only a few times and failed to achieve anything beyond the sinking of a few armed trawlers and light to moderate damage to a few British escorts and destroyers. The submarines did slightly better, but sank less than a score of freighters between them, and British convoy operations were not affected in the slightest. By the end of 1941 the Italian Red Sea Flotilla effectively ceased to be a factor…
…Following the early offensive into Egypt the campaign turned to a static war of bombing, artillery duels and raiding. The more energetic British forces proved superior at raiding, forming small units of highly mobile offroad vehicles, while Italian air superiority allowed them to conduct an effective campaign of bombing to hamper British logistics.
It was in artillery that the situation was evenly matched. The Italians had more guns, a few longer ranged 149mm heavy guns, the benefit of aerial reconnaissance and the ability to operate unhindered on their side. The British however, thanks to their possession of a railhead going right up to their position rather a couple hundred miles behind them, had a much greater supply of ammunition and were limited only be their, ample, supply of replacement barrels. Thus while the Italians hammered any targets they could see during the daylight with short intense bursts of fire, at night the British removed their guns from hiding and dropped over the course of hours several times as much fire, albeit with much less accuracy…
…It was November before the Italians had built up their logistics to the point of being ready to take the offensive in Egypt once again…
-Excerpt from The Desert War, Harper & Brothers, New York, 2001
…The British Technical Mission was one of the biggest diplomatic blunders of the war. Instead of carefully doling out Britian’s hard earned technical secrets for maximum effect, the Cabinet decided to give over everything at once for an insultingly low price…
-A Setting Sun, the Decline and Fall of the British Empire, Bodley Head, Nottingham, 2015
…The Contributions of the British Technical Mission were of four main types.
The first was technologies that were inferior or at most equivalent to what the United States had. This included bomb sights, most forms of radar, examples of sonar systems, rockets, shaped charge designs, early prototype proximity fuses and degaussing equipment.
The second category was technologies that had a niche use or were minor improvements. These included cone gun designs, new explosive formulations, gas formulations, Lewisite antidote, gyroscopic gunsights and jet engines.
The third category was extremely important technologies of war impacting proportion, of which only two stand out. The British version of the Cavity Magnetron was two orders of magnitude superior to the Cavity Magnetrons developed by the United States and other powers of the war and enabled effective airborne radar in the early years of the war. The second was the antibiotic Penicillin, which saved an enormous amount of lives.
The fourth of course was Britian’s research into atomic weapons…
…Given the situation that Britian was in the American response to the British technical mission was surprisingly generous. Surprisingly large license fees were given for the production of magnetrons and gunsights, while fixed payments were made for Penicillin and other chemical formulations, as well as British jet engine research. These took the form of credits which Britian would use to purchase material in the United States…
…One of the most important British purchases paid in cash was the fall 1941 order for 450,000 GRT of tramp freighters to a standardized design to be built in a pair of brand new shipyards and all completed by October 1943…
-Excerpt From Before the Storm: American Neutrality in WWII, Harper & Brothers, New York, 2000
Sanna therefore brokered a deal where French Indochina would remain nominally unoccupied, but that Japan would have the ability to lease a base at Haiphong for a nominal fee and station troops within 50 miles of the northern border of the colony in an “Inspection Zone”, who would be authorized to preserve the neutrality of the colony by intercepting deliveries of war material. This compromise prevented both an erosion of the authority of the Vichy government and served to keep the United States from doing anything too rash about the Japanese presence. After all the British had maintained a similar presence in Iceland and the Faroe Islands since April and the United States did not complain about that.
The United States was still very displeased by the actions, both in providing the Japanese with a stronger position and the cutting off the flow of supplies to the Chinese. Sanna’s mediation did however provide enough of a fig leaf that the United States took no action against France, Italy or Japan directly…
…Sanna followed up his mediation between France and Japan with a mediation between Siam and France. The Siamese had lost a considerable amount of territory to the French over the decades and wanted some of them back, and with a powerful military they had a chance of overrunning the French territory in question. The only way for the French to preserve control of their territory would be to either invite in the British, providing a wedge for the London Government to gain legitimacy, or to invite in the Japanese and anger the Americans.
To avoid either case Sanna, with Japanese aid, brokered a deal to sell Battambang, Pailin, Siem Reap, Banteay Meanchey, Oddar Meanchey, Preah Vihear, part of Champassak, Xaignabouli and part of Luang Prabang to Siam for a total of 150 million Francs, payable in cash or goods over 5 years. This prevented a war and served to increase Italian influence over France. It also served to increase Japanese influence over Siam in the coming months as they agreed to purchase basing right in Siam in order to provide the Siamese with the cash needed to pay for the purchase…
…With the creation of the Indochinese “Inspection Zone” all supplies from the west to China were forced to go up the recently completed Burma Road, a much more difficult journey that both increased transportation time and reduced throughput…
…Japan immediately attempted to pressure Britian into closing the Burma Road in the summer of 1941. The British were willing to do so to avoid a potential front in the Pacific and a draft agreement was made shortly before the American ambassador was informed. The British were then told in no uncertain terms that if they closed the Burma Road they would not receive the aid they were asking for from the United States.
There was a brief debate in the Foreign Office before it was decided that while the United States probably would not actually halt aid to Britian over the closure of the Burma Road, aid from the United States would be delivered later and in reduced quantity in that eventuality, while the Japanese were unlikely to actually go to war over the Burma Road at the moment. The vital supply route thus remained open…
…Vichy France was the biggest diplomatic headache for all parties involved in the latter half of 1941 but especially for the United States. While American sympathy was with Britian, it was nonetheless felt in the State Department during the latter half of 1941 that Britain had no chance of actually winning the war and that she was simply fighting for a white peace. While Britain obtaining such a peace was certainly in the interests of the United States, it would mean that the Vichy regime would remain in charge of France after the end of the war and thus it was in American interests to retain good relations with France as well as with Britain.
That meant that the United States continued to recognize Vichy as the legitimate government of France over the British puppets in London and continued the existing purchasing contracts for American weapons and material. Vichy would retain full control of French finances in the American sphere of influence and the US government stated that it would look poorly on fighting in the Western Hemisphere which served to preserve Vichy’s control over their colonies in the Hemisphere…
…The French Government in Exile in London started with only a tiny amount of territory, a score of acres of land on St. Helena, the territories in India and the Anglo-French Condominium of the New Hebrides, all territories in very close proximity to overwhelming British force. This was followed by French Polynesia in September and New Caledonia in October, after troops from Australia and New Zealand arrived in overwhelming force and convinced the French leadership of the colonies to resign in favor of pro London appointees.
Britian attempted to negotiate a deal with the United States that would allow them to do the same to French colonies in the Western Hemisphere but the United States held firm. Colonial territories in the Western Hemisphere would not change hands by force in violation of the Monroe Doctrine. Lord Halifax argued and made some progress in convincing the Americans that the colonies were not changing hands, but merely changing which administration they were reporting to, however this was not sufficient to sway the McNutt Administration. If Vichy was the legitimate government of France, which the US recognized, then by allowing the seizure of French colonies by the London government would be equivalent to aiding and abetting a rebellion…
…A key piece of British leverage was their technological developments, something that they felt was necessary to use as a bargaining chip to obtain greater aid from the United States. The British Technical Mission was sent in September 1941 with all of Britain’s latest developments to try and shift the needle in US discussions of aid…
-Excerpt From Deals with Devils: Diplomacy before and During the Second World War, Johnstone Press, Seattle, 2005
…At the start of August the Italians launch attacks out of East Africa against the British. The primary attack was on British Somaliland, where the Italians sent 25,000 men against 4,000 defenders and overran the British colony in about two weeks. Smaller spoiling attacks were launched to take buffer zones in Kenya and the Sudan, as well as the fortress and railway junction of Kassala in the Sudan. All of this was accomplished by the end of August and the Italians settled into conducting a raiding campaign as part of an active defense of East Africa…
…The Italian Flotilla in the Red Sea consisted of 8 destroyers, 2 torpedo boats, 6 MAS Boats, 8 Submarines and 10 auxiliaries. Upon the outbreak of the war they attempted to cut British supply routes through the Red Sea to Egypt. This failed miserably, the older ships assigned to East Africa had been given low quality crews and were at the bottom of the priority list for supplies. They sortied only a few times and failed to achieve anything beyond the sinking of a few armed trawlers and light to moderate damage to a few British escorts and destroyers. The submarines did slightly better, but sank less than a score of freighters between them, and British convoy operations were not affected in the slightest. By the end of 1941 the Italian Red Sea Flotilla effectively ceased to be a factor…
…Following the early offensive into Egypt the campaign turned to a static war of bombing, artillery duels and raiding. The more energetic British forces proved superior at raiding, forming small units of highly mobile offroad vehicles, while Italian air superiority allowed them to conduct an effective campaign of bombing to hamper British logistics.
It was in artillery that the situation was evenly matched. The Italians had more guns, a few longer ranged 149mm heavy guns, the benefit of aerial reconnaissance and the ability to operate unhindered on their side. The British however, thanks to their possession of a railhead going right up to their position rather a couple hundred miles behind them, had a much greater supply of ammunition and were limited only be their, ample, supply of replacement barrels. Thus while the Italians hammered any targets they could see during the daylight with short intense bursts of fire, at night the British removed their guns from hiding and dropped over the course of hours several times as much fire, albeit with much less accuracy…
…It was November before the Italians had built up their logistics to the point of being ready to take the offensive in Egypt once again…
-Excerpt from The Desert War, Harper & Brothers, New York, 2001
…The British Technical Mission was one of the biggest diplomatic blunders of the war. Instead of carefully doling out Britian’s hard earned technical secrets for maximum effect, the Cabinet decided to give over everything at once for an insultingly low price…
-A Setting Sun, the Decline and Fall of the British Empire, Bodley Head, Nottingham, 2015
…The Contributions of the British Technical Mission were of four main types.
The first was technologies that were inferior or at most equivalent to what the United States had. This included bomb sights, most forms of radar, examples of sonar systems, rockets, shaped charge designs, early prototype proximity fuses and degaussing equipment.
The second category was technologies that had a niche use or were minor improvements. These included cone gun designs, new explosive formulations, gas formulations, Lewisite antidote, gyroscopic gunsights and jet engines.
The third category was extremely important technologies of war impacting proportion, of which only two stand out. The British version of the Cavity Magnetron was two orders of magnitude superior to the Cavity Magnetrons developed by the United States and other powers of the war and enabled effective airborne radar in the early years of the war. The second was the antibiotic Penicillin, which saved an enormous amount of lives.
The fourth of course was Britian’s research into atomic weapons…
…Given the situation that Britian was in the American response to the British technical mission was surprisingly generous. Surprisingly large license fees were given for the production of magnetrons and gunsights, while fixed payments were made for Penicillin and other chemical formulations, as well as British jet engine research. These took the form of credits which Britian would use to purchase material in the United States…
…One of the most important British purchases paid in cash was the fall 1941 order for 450,000 GRT of tramp freighters to a standardized design to be built in a pair of brand new shipyards and all completed by October 1943…
-Excerpt From Before the Storm: American Neutrality in WWII, Harper & Brothers, New York, 2000
So the Burma Road wasn't temporarily closed like it was OTL? Interesting...