Keynes' Cruisers Volume 2

[fester]

Singapore Naval Base, November 14, 1944

A dozen landing ships had arrived on the high tide. The crews were making final preparations to hand their ships off to the yard for repairs, modifications and steps to increase their anti-aircraft armament. All had landed troops ashore on Gold Beach in May and had been operating as shuttle craft to keep the 21st Army supplied during the summer. The service was important, but after the first few days of the initial landings, it was not particularly dangerous as the German coastal batteries had either been destroyed or captured, the Kreigsmarine could not enter the channel and the Luftwaffe could only muster a few fighter bombers for pre-dawn raids and the sheer mass of ships in the channel, guns ashore and fighters overhead offered everyone a fair degree of protection. Now they would be heading back into danger as the next step of reclaiming the lost territory of the Empire was being prepared. Two divisions of Indian infantry and a heavy army tank brigade would be launched like a rifle bullet fired by the navy at a critical part of the Japanese maritime empire.

 

[Draconis]

Surely they are not going to Hong Kong? Or Shanghai? At this point in this TL would that be feasible? Borneo then.

 

[CaptainCalvert]

About a year ago, someone (I think in this AH forum) posted a link to a US army film showing the effect of different calibre guns on concrete bunkers. The bunkers stood up to most things quite well up to the 6" gun. It was very interesting and a reminder of why it's worth having a few big guns around.

Finally found the link I was looking for. It's actually from 1951 but gets the point across.

If you search for Firepower versus the Pillbox you should be able to find a version that doesn't need a log in.

​

 

[fester]

Finally found the link I was looking for. It's actually from 1951 but gets the point across.

If you search for Firepower versus the Pillbox you should be able to find a version that doesn't need a log in.

​

When in doubt get a bigger gun

 

[alspug]

When in doubt get a bigger gun and lead HESH. HESH is pure murder on concrete due to shockwaves. The Wombat recoilless is one I would not want to man but if your infantry it would make punching through pillboxes easier.

 

[Crowbar Six]

The British army retired their AVRE with the 165mm HESH gun because the 120mm L11/L30 gun with HESH was as good and it allowed the Chieftain/Challenger MBT carry out demolition and anti-bunker roles.

 

[CaptainCalvert]

HESH rounds are good. No more bunkers, decent HE and good anti armour performance.

 

[fester]

Southeast of Trier, November 15, 1944

"ON THE WAY" The cannon barked. Less than a heart beat later, the armor piercing shell broke against the flank armor of its target. Even before the shell struck, the loader was reaching for another armor piercing round. The other two working tanks in the platoon were also firing at absurdly short ranges where a hot shot high school centerfielder with no hopes of playing professionally could have plunked the German tank with a baseball.

"ON THE WAY" another round screamed down range. The round punched through the rear turret armor of the Tiger tank that had been holding up the advance for the past hour. The tank commander called for another armor piercing round to make sure that the enemy was truly and really dead. The rest of the platoon joined in. Within twenty seconds, the blocking tank had been holed three more times.

"HIGH EXPLOSIVE, MACHINE GUN LEFT..." Even as the tank commander called for a new round, the hull gunner was already spraying the German infantry positions manned by men in their forties or teenagers with thirty caliber fire. The infantry company that the platoon had been supporting for the past three months began their advance as well. Soon the high explosive shells rained death or at least the threat of death to keep the German defenders pre-occupied as the American infantry sprinted from cover to cover.

 

[mudhead]

A number of the German bunkers on the West wall were knocked out once outflanked by driving an SPG (I am guessing an M7?) up behind them and shooting the door or entrance area

The soldiers inside would then stagger out and surrender or more likely not know what planet they were on

Hemingway did a piece for Collier's (18 November '44), ”War in the Siegfried Line”, It's based on stuff he was told by Captain Howard Blazzard of Arizona. There's some confusion - Papa says that “the 105-millimetre Whump guns going on the tank destroyers…”. I don't think any TDs were fitted with such weapons. I think this error was Hemingway's failure to comprehend, rather than Blazzard's to properly explain.

“…The Krauts still wouldn’t come out…so we pulled that TD right up to the back of that steel door we had located by now, and that old Whump gun fired about six rounds and blasted that door in…a situation like that is the fault of the engineers who, when they designed those concussion-proof doors, did not expect to have 105-mm Whump guns come up and fire point-blank at them from behind…that was not provided for when the specifications were laid down…”

 

[Cryhavoc101]

Hemingway did a piece for Collier's (18 November '44), ”War in the Siegfried Line”, It's based on stuff he was told by Captain Howard Blazzard of Arizona. There's some confusion - Papa says that “the 105-millimetre Whump guns going on the tank destroyers…”. I don't think any TDs were fitted with such weapons. I think this error was Hemingway's failure to comprehend, rather than Blazzard's to properly explain.

Journalists even experienced hard drinking ones like Hemmingway commonly make errors like this

It was either a SP 105mm howitzer (M7?) or possibly a 3" armed TD?

Its also possible that Captain Howard of Arizona was not himself a combat officer (a significant fraction of the US Army was supporting / logistical types in the ETO) and he was not correct in his identification?

We will probably never know

 

[Finbarr the Fair]

Journalists even experienced hard drinking ones like Hemmingway commonly make errors like this

It was either a SP 105mm howitzer (M7?) or possibly a 3" armed TD?

Its also possible that Captain Howard of Arizona was not himself a combat officer (a significant fraction of the US Army was supporting / logistical types in the ETO) and he was not correct in his identification?

We will probably never know

Good points.

Weren't there a few M4 Shermans with 105mm howitzers too? Just to add another possible misidentification.

😀

 

[mudhead]

Its also possible that Captain Howard of Arizona was not himself a combat officer (a significant fraction of the US Army was supporting / logistical types in the ETO) and he was not correct in his identification?

We will probably never know

We will, actually.

He was a staff officer with the 22nd Infantry regiment, part of 4th Infantry Division. He got a DSC for the actions described, on 14 September '44.

Howard Blazzard - Recipient -

valor.militarytimes.com

Account of Hemingway's time with the Double Deucers.

 

[Trevayne]

Good points.

Weren't there a few M4 Shermans with 105mm howitzers too? Just to add another possible misidentification.

😀

Yes, there were.

from wiki

M4 Shermans armed with the 105 mm M4 howitzer were employed as a three-vehicle "assault gun" platoon under the tank battalion headquarters company along with another one in each medium tank company (a total of six tanks in the battalion)[93] to provide close fire support and smoke. Armored infantry battalions were also eventually issued three of 105 mm Shermans in the headquarters company.[94] The 105 mm-armed variants were issued the M67 high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) round; although very effective the low muzzle velocity made hitting enemy armor difficult.[95][96][97] The 105 mm Shermans were not equipped with a power-traversing turret, and this resulted in complaints from soldiers in the field.[98][99] An upgrade was not available before the end of the war.

M4 Sherman - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[fester]

western Pacific, November 16, 1944

Jaroshek was exhausted. He had been up since 0400. He had manned his antiaircraft gun from 0530 to 2115. There had been at least two dozen times the gun spat out shells at the Japanese bombers and fighters. The quad mount had fired almost three hundred clips throughout the day. His shoulders ached and his forearms hurt from the continual grasping, lifting and dropping of ammunition into the hopper. He had gone to the deck once when he lost his footing as the big battleship began a hard turn to port to dodge a kamikaze. He had been inside the citadel of the ship half a dozen times to use the head, to grab coffee and sandwiches for the rest of the gun crew, and to run a short errand for his chief. Now as yesterday turned into today, he could sleep for a few hours as the fleet was heading back into the vastness of the Pacific Ocean to rest, recuperate, resupply and then strike another target 1,000 miles away from today.

 

[fester]

Near Niigata, Japan November 17, 1944

Seven more miles and the coal fired steamer would soon arrive behind the antisubmarine nets and be covered by anti-aircraft guns that surrounded the western port city. The sailors were nervous. American submarines were increasingly operating in the interior seas while the black sky antisubmarine warfare patrols of both the navy and the air force that were effective at keeping the American sharks at bay were seldom being seen any more. A single patrol boat was leading the ship through a cleared channel. Suddenly an incredible explosion ripped open the port side of the heavily laden ship. A mine dropped by a B-29 had been missed on the last sweep. Three steel horns were crushed and now the hold of the ship that had been full of coal to fuel several factories for several weeks was flooding with cold salt water.

 

[Curtain Jerker]

Near Niigata, Japan November 17, 1944

Seven more miles and the coal fired steamer would soon arrive behind the antisubmarine nets and be covered by anti-aircraft guns that surrounded the western port city. The sailors were nervous. American submarines were increasingly operating in the interior seas while the black sky antisubmarine warfare patrols of both the navy and the air force that were effective at keeping the American sharks at bay were seldom being seen any more. A single patrol boat was leading the ship through a cleared channel. Suddenly an incredible explosion ripped open the port side of the heavily laden ship. A mine dropped by a B-29 had been missed on the last sweep. Three steel horns were crushed and now the hold of the ship that had been full of coal to fuel several factories for several weeks.

I understand what you mean here but it feels like you are missing part of a sentence at the end?

 

[mudhead]

Near Niigata, Japan November 17, 1944

Apart from the mining operations, a crucial strike against the Japanese economy was accomplished by the USN air offensive against the Home Islands (OTL starting on 10/7/45). According to Max Hastings:

The most devastating missions were launched on 14-15 July, against the sea links between Honshu and Hokkaido islands. Of twelve rail ferries, eight were sunk outright and the remainder badly damaged. Shipments to Honshu of coal, lifeblood of Japanese industry, were more than halved overnight. the Japanese had no means of replacing the ferries.

Nemesis: The Battle for Japan 1944-45, p 473-74, Harper 2008 pb ed. US title is Retribution. Very good.

 

[Coulsdon Eagle]

I understand what you mean here but it feels like you are missing part of a sentence at the end?

"... was now filled by cold salt water"?

 

[fester]

this is what I get as I write between midterms

I understand what you mean here but it feels like you are missing part of a sentence at the end?

 

[Curtain Jerker]

this is what I get as I write between midterms

Hey, I keep an email draft open and jot down rough draft paragraphs of my TL in between Zooms - I know exactly what you mean.