Keynes' Cruisers Volume 2

[fester]

Near Strasbourg, France February 8, 1943


She wanted to roll into the warmth of a lover. She wanted to luxuriate in the feeling of security as a hand cupped her breast and a chest pressed against her back. She wanted to lose her thoughts in the smell of security and sex.

Instead she heard only the incessant pounding on her door. Her mother entered Anna Marie’s room and pulled the blanket off the end of the bed. Her feet pulled in, toes tucking underneath her hips as the cold air hung heavily. She shook her head and the image of her doctor soon disappeared. He had disappeared months before she had came back to her parents’ farm. Her father had handed her a letter, he was in Munich with a hope for the future and fond memories of their past.

The dust and the crumbs of a good sleep soon washed out of her eyes. Anna Marie put on heavy wool leggings underneath her dress. She tucked a cap on after she pulled her hair up. She slid fingerless gloves onto her hands before grabbing a pair of pails. The three remaining dairy cows needed to be milked well before first light. After that, a the pigs would be fed and the work of the day on the farm would truly start. Even as she did her tasks, her mother was cooking up simple, hearty vegetarian food for her family and the foreigner laborers who had been working on the farm for over a year now. Meat was still available but father would rather pocket the money from the occasional pork shank rather than eat the money. Once a week they had a little bit of meat unlike the near daily meat they enjoyed before the war.

 

[sloreck]

Minor nitpick. In WWII you would not be getting a whole blood transfusion in a field situation (near the runway), the navigator would be getting plasma - whole blood transfusions were done in medical facilities that had better blood storage facilities (this could include field hospitals but not in the field). You would likely have a doctor as well as medics there, but not nurses. Basically they would probably start an IV, begin plasma, bandage up to stop bleeding and to the medical facility ASAP.

Anna Marie is lucky to be alive. Still hasn't learned much - contacting anyone in her old network is really really dumb.

 

[fester]

Minor nitpick. In WWII you would not be getting a whole blood transfusion in a field situation (near the runway), the navigator would be getting plasma - whole blood transfusions were done in medical facilities that had better blood storage facilities (this could include field hospitals but not in the field). You would likely have a doctor as well as medics there, but not nurses. Basically they would probably start an IV, begin plasma, bandage up to stop bleeding and to the medical facility ASAP.

Anna Marie is lucky to be alive. Still hasn't learned much - contacting anyone in her old network is really really dumb.

Updated....

She has not seen the doctor. She dreamed of him. That should not be an opsec fail. The letter was delivered months before she was on the farm again and had only vague forwarding information. He is a dead end.

 

[Viper91]

Updated....

She has not seen the doctor. She dreamed of him. That should not be an opsec fail. The letter was delivered months before she was on the farm again and had only vague forwarding information. He is a dead end.

In addition to those that know or knew of her that are now dead, I'd say odds are good that at least one if not more other living individuals that know her probably aren't going to survive the war. The fact that many of her old connections are dead in the literal as well as figurative sence helps separate her. The fact that she was ultimately not a very high profile individual and is now out of the spy business doesn't hurt either.

 

[Winestu]

In addition to those that know or knew of her that are now dead, I'd say odds are good that at least one if not more other living individuals that know her probably aren't going to survive the war. The fact that many of her old connections are dead in the literal as well as figurative sence helps separate her. The fact that she was ultimately not a very high profile individual and is now out of the spy business doesn't hurt either.

Now, she only has to worry about running into her through extreme sheer dumb luck that knows or think they know what she did. At the end of the war, just to protect herself, she should leave France and head overseas.

 

[Driftless]

Oh, I don't know if she's out of the woods yet..... By luck, some of the connecting points back to her have dropped off, but are all of the loose ends tied off?

 

[Crowbar Six]

Near Strasbourg, France February 8, 1943


She wanted to roll into the warmth of a lover. She wanted to luxuriate in the feeling of security as a hand cupped her breast and a chest pressed against her back. She wanted to lose her thoughts in the smell of security and sex.

Instead she heard only the incessant pounding on her door. Her mother entered Anna Marie’s room and pulled the blanket off the end of the bed. Her feet pulled in, toes tucking underneath her hips as the cold air hung heavily. She shook her head and the image of her doctor soon disappeared. He had disappeared months before she had came back to her parents’ farm. Her father had handed her a letter, he was in Munich with a hope for the future and fond memories of their past.

The dust and the crumbs of a good sleep soon washed out of her eyes. Anna Marie put on heavy wool leggings underneath her dress. She tucked a cap on after she pulled her hair up. She slid fingerless gloves onto her hands before grabbing a pair of pails. The three remaining dairy cows needed to be milked well before first light. After that, a the pigs would be fed and the work of the day on the farm would truly start. Even as she did her tasks, her mother was cooking up simple, hearty vegetarian food for her family and the foreigner laborers who had been working on the farm for over a year now. Meat was still available but father would rather pocket the money from the occasional pork shank rather than eat the money. Once a week they had a little bit of meat unlike the near daily meat they enjoyed before the war.

If I had been in her position I would have tried to come up with an escape route out by now, she is really naive to believe she is out of the woods. The Germans have already doubled her so they can either shoot her if they find out about her previous activity or they can continue to run her as a double using her family as hostages or use her until Resistance make her go away permanently.

 

[Paternas]

If I had been in her position I would have tried to come up with an escape route out by now, she is really naive to believe she is out of the woods. The Germans have already doubled her so they can either shoot her if they find out about her previous activity or they can continue to run her as a double using her family as hostages or use her until Resistance make her go away permanently.

This is the 1940's. There are no digital databases, facial recognition and all the other modern intelligence tools available. She was a minor part of a network that got rolled up and disappeared. As long as she keeps low, she is just another part of a file cabinet that will get burned when the allies invade. The people who were after her have probably already moved on to new cases.

 

[fester]

Northern Palawan, February 8, 1943


The point man stopped.


His head moved slowly. His rifle followed his eyes. His ears opened as he tried to concentrate on the sensation at the edge of his consciousness. He focused. A few dozen yards away, a rifle barrel was barely visible. The black steel was too far out from the tree and somehow the point man had seen that.


Behind him, the main body was getting ready. BARs were being pointed left and right while the middle squad was using hand signals to prepare for a flanking attack once the base of fire was established. The rear guard was even more cautious. Too many times they had lost friends and fellow soldiers when the Japanese started a distraction ambush up front and then hit a patrolling column in the rear.


The Captain moved forward. His eyes took in the understrength platoon of veterans. Every man had been fighting for a year now although they had not been in major set piece battles for the past eight months. Their war had evolved into a war of the knife and the pistol when patrols blundered into each other or an ambush was set and they waited for days on end in no man’s land. They were ready, they were waiting and they would do well. Now the problem was figuring out what was ahead of them. The link-up point was supposed to be two miles further inland.


He reached the point man, and his eyes followed the point’s head. He saw the rifle barrel. He stood up.


“Babe”


Birds started to squawk. A few took off. More movement was near the rifle barrel. A man emerged.


“Cobb”


The countersign was real. Now the authentication had to be completed.


“Red Sox”


“Knickerbockers”


The captain relaxed. He was dealing with professionals it seemed. A dozen men soon made themselves visible. It was a well executed L-shape ambush. Two machine guns were on the flank while five rifle men were holding the short L across the trail. If they initiated the ambush, it would have been a bad morning assuming his men could eventually break contact.


Now forty men started to march. An hour later, they entered a small clearing. More signs and counter-signs were exchanged. The guerrillas welcomed their reinforcements with coconut soup and water. Within a few sips, discussions started. The brass wanted eyes on a Japanese air base and a trio of beaches. They were not saying why but given the list of information that they wanted such as the depth of the water, the slope of the beaches, the smoothness of the sand, the defenses already laid out, it was apparent that someone, somewhere was thinking about a landing party.

 

[Alanith]

Looks like the marines will be busy.

 

[StevoJH]

Did the US have specialised beach reconnaissance units by this time? Because they'll need more accurate information then what the average line infantry unit could provide.

 

[steamboy]

Superb updates as always!

 

[gallen95]

Did the US have specialised beach reconnaissance units by this time? Because they'll need more accurate information then what the average line infantry unit could provide.

I believe the US Navy had tasked their UDT with this.

 

[fester]

Northern Scotland, February 9, 1943

The obsolete bomber slowed. The engines barely push the aircraft above stall speed as it went over the broken ground at less than one hundred knots. A door opened and the wind whipped ice pellets into the faces of eight commandos. The load master slapped the lead jumper on the back. He waited a second and then jumped. Every two seconds, another man left the aircraft. As soon as the last parachute was seen to have opened, the door closed and the bomber pulled up.

Ten minutes later, seven of the paratroopers were already moving. The eighth man's chute had gotten caught in some bramble. He was hacking away at the risers and lines with a combat knife swearing that once this mission was done, he was going back to doing something safe like whale hunting from a rowboat during the Arctic summer. Now that was a respectable profession instead of jumping out of perfectly functional aircraft. Seventeen minutes after the first man landed, the patrol was heading north. They had an eleven mile hike to the assembly point where they would conduct one last trial run before they had to complete their mission for real.

 

[Driftless]

Northern Scotland, February 9, 1943
(snip) swearing that once this mission was done, he was going back to doing something safe like whale hunting from a rowboat during the Arctic summer. (snip) they would conduct one last trial run before they had to complete their mission for real.

A prelude to an Operation Gunnerside?

 

[fester]

Wake Island, February 10, 1943

Two dozen Army Air Force Liberators were circling overhead. Their target would eventually be the Japanese airbase at Parry Island. That was a small and still incomplete seaplane base. Defenses promised to be light as only seaplane fighters were being staged out of that island. The heavy machine guns and tight boxes were hoped to be enough to keep the Rufes away.

Underneath the bombers, two submarines left the tranquil, dredged lagoon. USS Amberjack was heading to the Northern Marianas for a merchant shipping patrol. Traffic to Saipan and Tinian had started to pick up. Intelligence had indicated that the Japanese were moving a division from Manchuria to the Marianas. It was not a first rate division, still light on heavy weapons and featuring more of the new class of conscripts than most of the best divisions in Manchuko but even under the most optimistic planning assumptions, that division would still have plenty of time to come together and build up formidable fixed defenses before an American assault. The submarines currently on station and their replacements were merely trying to make their job as difficult as possible without actually trying to stop the division from coming.

USS Gudgeon was heading to Tokyo Bay. Her twenty four torpedo slots were only two thirds filled. The rear torpedo compartment was reserved for mines. Another minefield would be laid somewhere near Mount Fuji. After that field was down, she would have thirty days to hunt whatever she wanted. Her skipper had brought aboard an unhealthy number of plastic explosive blocks and several rubber rafts above authorization. The crew had spent a week training on rapid deployment and recovery of those boats. Several men had started to walk around the atoll with an eye patch on.

All in all, it was just another day on the atoll.

 

[Winestu]

Wake Island, February 10, 1943

Two dozen Army Air Force Liberators were circling overhead. Their target would eventually be the Japanese airbase at Parry Island. That was a small and still incomplete seaplane base. Defenses promised to be light as only seaplane fighters were being staged out of that island. The heavy machine guns and tight boxes were hoped to be enough to keep the Rufes away.

Underneath the bombers, two submarines left the tranquil, dredged lagoon. USS Amberjack was heading to the Northern Marianas for a merchant shipping patrol. Traffic to Saipan and Tinian had started to pick up. Intelligence had indicated that the Japanese were moving a division from Manchuria to the Marianas. It was not a first rate division, still light on heavy weapons and featuring more of the new class of conscripts than most of the best divisions in Manchuko but even under the most optimistic planning assumptions, that division would still have plenty of time to come together and build up formidable fixed defenses before an American assault. The submarines currently on station and their replacements were merely trying to make their job as difficult as possible without actually trying to stop the division from coming.

USS Gudgeon was heading to Tokyo Bay. Her twenty four torpedo slots were only two thirds filled. The rear torpedo compartment was reserved for mines. Another minefield would be laid somewhere near Mount Fuji. After that field was down, she would have thirty days to hunt whatever she wanted. Her skipper had brought aboard an unhealthy number of plastic explosive blocks and several rubber rafts above authorization. The crew had spent a week training on rapid deployment and recovery of those boats. Several men had started to walk around the atoll with an eye patch on.

All in all, it was just another day on the atoll.

USS Wahoo?

 

[NHBL]

Wake Island, February 10, 1943

...SNIP...

USS Gudgeon was heading to Tokyo Bay. Her twenty four torpedo slots were only two thirds filled. The rear torpedo compartment was reserved for mines. Another minefield would be laid somewhere near Mount Fuji. After that field was down, she would have thirty days to hunt whatever she wanted. Her skipper had brought aboard an unhealthy number of plastic explosive blocks and several rubber rafts above authorization. The crew had spent a week training on rapid deployment and recovery of those boats. Several men had started to walk around the atoll with an eye patch on.

All in all, it was just another day on the atoll.

It seems that this crew might have a party on the wrong island, and have a blast. ANY plastic explosives in a deep water warship is an unhealthy amount!

 

[jlckansas]

Northern Palawan, February 8, 1943


Now forty men started to march. An hour later, they entered a small clearing. More signs and counter-signs were exchanged. The guerrillas welcomed their reinforcements with coconut soup and water. Within a few sips, discussions started. The brass wanted eyes on a Japanese air base and a trio of beaches. They were not saying why but given the list of information that they wanted such as the depth of the water, the slope of the beaches, the smoothness of the sand, the defenses already laid out, it was apparent that someone, somewhere was thinking about a landing party.

UDT beach recon is good, but if you can have someone local that knows the beach and can blend into the locals check it out, that is even better. They can tell you that at such and such time after the tide turns you have these conditions, and at this time you have this condition. This beach has sand and that one has shingle. Also this early they did not have a really good beach recon operation set up yet.

 

[Driftless]

Palawan pops up often as a great tourist location, in part for the rugged scenery of the island. Just doing a cursory look at the geography, the coastline is a mix of abrupt rocky shores and sugar sand beaches. Parts of the island have a six months of rain, six months of dry cycle.

If it can be taken before it's heavily built up, its in a great location for air bases. If its built up, its likely a real tough slog because of the rugged topography - great for defense