Keynes' Cruisers Volume 2

[fester]

Western Ukraine, June 23, 1944

Half a dozen T-34s paused. A moment later, their cannons started to fire. Two shells went short, three shells went over the small dug-outs sheltering a single light anti-tank gun while the last shell smashed open the sand bags. Steel shards sprayed into the gun pit, wounding two of the German rearguard gunners while another fired the gun. It missed. Even as he attempted to reload, the Soviet tank gunners were going through their reload drill, the drivers were seeking new positions and the tank commanders were spraying machine gun bullets in the general direction of the small blocking position. It was a race, and while the German gunner got off one more shot that landed a dozen meters to the left of a Soviet company commander's tank, it was a race the German gunner lost to a combination of heavy tank shells and then responsive mortar fire. The machine gunners and riflemen in the position now had nothing that could keep the steel monsters away from them besides man-portable weapons that were good enough to prevent an easy overrun but not enough to actually stop a deliberate attack. An hour later, the deliberate attack occurred.

 

[fester]

Mortain, France June 23, 1944

The battalion had been cut off for two days now. It did not matter. C-47s and towed gliders made sure that the infantry could eat and the anti-tank gunners could shoot. The radio operators were busy switching batteries on their kit as every gun in range were at their beck and call. When the artillery needed a break or the weather cooperated, the gunners restocked from the gargantuan shell stockpiles that the forges of the Ohio River Valley had created while squadrons of fighter-bombers strafed, rocketed, bombed and napalm anything that looked like a German squad. The wind was mostly still, but the few times when it blew from the valley up the hill, the scent of an abattoir overwhelmed men who had grown up in Chicago, Kansas City, Abilene and the killing factories in between.

 

[fester]

Western Pacific, June 24, 1944

"Get Jaroshek down to sickbay" The chief gave a quick order. Half a dozen men who shared the large berthing compartment with the keeled over seaman proceeded to get him moving. One man got in front of the gaggle, and another took up the rear as four other men grabbed a limb. He was cool and flush and barely paying attention as every movement caused pain.

An hour later, the surgeon had removed an inflamed appendix and had given the young man some of the new miracle drugs that had just arrived in the fleet. The antibiotics were being passed out like candy for any surgery, and so far, the surgeon had not seen enough cases to know if the drugs did anything better than prior procedure. The seaman would be his first major abdominal surgery patient with the new protocols. The doctor was curious.

 

[fester]

Near Tokyo Bay, Japan June 25, 1944

The skipper of USS Tang stepped away from the periscope tube. The submarine was on the seventeenth day of its combat patrol. The first few days were spent laying a small minefield thirty miles outside of Tokyo Bay and then dodging aircraft patrols, autogyros, blimps, and minesweepers. Two coastal convoys had been spotted. Both times, the escorts were able to be aggressive enough to keep Tang away from a reasonable firing position while the merchant ships slid behind known defensive minefields.

The boat descended to 100 feet under the sea. It continued to advance at a steady two knots between a gap in the minefields that Pacific Fleet was fairly confident was still there from radio intercepts and whatever other intelligence that it could gather. An hour later, bow planes of the submarine brushed against a steel cable that held a freshly laid mine in the middle of a field that had been laid out that morning. A moment later, two steel spikes compressed hard against the hull and a heart beat later, several hundred pounds of high explosives detonated. Within a minute, the American submarine was heading below crush depth

 

[fester]

East of Falaise, France June 26, 1944

The B-17s of the 452nd Bomb Group had a narrow corridor that they could fly in. The enemy controlled the ground underneath the sixty three bombers that had started on their final run once past the initial point. Deviations to the north or south of the narrow corridor would means tens of thousands of pounds of high explosives and steel would be exploding in either Canadian or American infantry divisions. A few German 88 crews were brave enough to fire at the thick bomber boxes. One trio of guns managed to fire eleven rounds before a forward air controller directed a squadron of Typhoons against the position. As the bomb bay doors opened up, the RAF fighter bombers were already rocketing the area around the few heavy and brave German AA gunners. The bombardier in the lead aircraft put the crosshairs on the smoke markers and then waited until everything lined up. Each Fortress dropped sixteen bombs; half The bombs had instant fuses, the other half had a fraction of a second of delay.

The men on the ground had been trying to escape a fiasco for the past three days. The elite corps of SS Panzertruppen had dashed west and then north and then had been caught in the open outside of the protection of their deeply prepared positions. American, British, Canadian, Dutch, Belgian, Norwegian, New Zealand, Australian and South African pilots were flying four or five sorties per day to hit the same battalion. Whenever the aircraft were not overhead, artillery was coming in. The few heavy tanks that were operational could shrug off shrapnel, but the infantry that kept the American riflemen away and the truck drivers that kept the Panzertruppen fed and fueled could not. The spearheads actually pierced the American lines for a dozen miles. A few moments of intense bravery from one King Tiger company had them destroy over two dozen American Shermans when the Americans tried to counter-attack a crossroads. That success failed by nightfall as another battalion of Shermans sat on their supply lines and the great steel beasts of the Ruhr became pillboxes without infantry covering the gaps in the lines.

And then the US 3rd Army turned the corner and rumors had it that a corps was on the Loire and another was outside of Paris. No one knew what was happening, besides the full weight of the Allied industry was falling on their head. Infantry units that had been able to hold from fixed positions had been obliberated by Bomber Command. Pipe led infantry regiments followed the bomb line, and behind them the Guards Armoured chomped at the bit to exploit a break in the lines. It was not just one break, it was half a dozen breaks that the carefully husbanded Allied armored divisions crashed through.

Even as the pressure on the Normandy front built from the north, a crisis that could be resolved, another corps from 3rd Army swung east and then north in a shallow cross. An option to maneuver and withdraw along a broad front became a sausage where two Allied armies in the north and an armored corps in the south were the case, and the German 9th Army was the sausage meat. The German soldiers just outside of Falaise had been shelled, bombed, bayoneted and strafed for three days now. Four divisions had already been destroyed trying to hold back the Allied advance as their units which once were divisions and brigades were now overstrength battalions and weak rifle companies attempted to get over the Seine. There was hope that the river would slow the advance. Their was hope that the river would provide the opportunity to spread out and avoid the bombers. There was hope.

And then there were 1,008 five hundred pound bombs aimed at a single cross roads. Most of the bombs missed. But even a small percentage of a 1,008 bombs created yet another killing field. And if the bombers of the 452nd Bomb Group did not succeed in killing the retreating units, the 351st Bomb Group was twenty minutes out for their run. And if those bombers missed, the entire artillery of the 21st Army Group which would have taken the hour to restock and maintain their guns could be brought to bear.

 

[fester]

East of Kotovsk, Ukraine SSR June 27, 1944

This small bump in the steppes was supposed to be a fortress. The German defenders were ordered to fight to the last bullet and once there were no more bullets, to the last bayonet. A few companies of military police and anti-partisan troopers had begun to make preparations for a full throated defense. The five thousand other defenders who were a combination of railroad troops, quartermasters, mechanics and Luftwaffe technicians were grossly underarmed and not motivated. A few bunkers and road blocks had been built over the past two days and a thin set of minefields were laid to the outskirts of the town.

The will to resist broke when over two hundred Soviet tanks and four hundred aircraft assembled for a deliberate advance on the hardpoints to the north of city. By nightfall, prisoners had been sorted; the motivated seldom lived as the locals knew who had robbed, raped and starved them. The technicians were placed in a few camps outside of the city and left under guard with the knowledge that a decade in the gulag was probably more survivable than a week on the steppes. The last supply line in the Ukraine that connected the Southern Ukrainian Army Group to Germany was cut. Now its supplies had to come through Romania.

 

[fester]

Omaha Beach, June 25, 1944

Two more freighters were nudged against the steel piers. Last week's storm had done a number on the harbor and even now, port capacity was only two thirds as high as it should be. A quartet of CHANTS were being led out to sea before they would make their way to Portsmouth independently. As the Liberty Ships were secured to the spuds, deuce and a halfs came down the whales where the labor battalions would fill their beds to the brim.

 

[fester]

A village near Strasbourg, June 26, 1944

Anna Marie looked over the fence. She was exhausted from a hard day working in the field. Turnips and potatoes were growing well, and the wheat was getting closer to being ready to harvest. Her papa was walking down the lane. He, and many other men in the village had been conscripted for the past three days to start building defensive positions. He left before dawn, and today the sun was still up as he was coming home, sweaty, exhausted and hungry. Mamere would have a good meal ready for everyone. Farming was hard work, and the few "guest workers" realized that this was one of the better spots to be as they were not being starved to death. One had actually gained three kilograms in the past year after nearly being starved after being captured on the Eastern Front. Anna Marie turned and started to walk to the chicken coop where a few birds remained. She needed to grab the half dozen eggs needed for tomorrow's meals.

 

[fester]

North of Lyon, France June 27, 1944

Jacques D'Orlong raised his hand. He repeated an oath. He saluted an officer who was moving to the next man and repeating the oath.

The band of maquis was no more. They were now part of the French Forces of the Interior and would be acting as scouts and rangers for an infantry division of the 1st French Army. Now the men (and some women) would be somewhat protected by the Geneva Convention. Now the fighters would have the promise of medical care. Now the riflemen could be resupplied. Now the soldiers could be paid.

 

[fester]

GREECE
9th Army (UK Command and Logistics)

• I Greek Corps
• 21st Indian Corps
• 5th (UK) Corps
• 1st Australian Corps

ITALY/ADRIATIC LITTORAL
15th Army Group (UK Command)
8th British Army (UK Logistics)
3 Corps
~10 Divisions

5th US Army (US Logistics) (veteran units are reinforcing US 7th Army, to be replaced by green units from CONUS)
2 Corps + Brazilian Expeditionary Force
~6 Infantry Divisions

FRANCE
Operation Dragoon (US Command)
6th Army Group
1st French Army (US Logistics)
3 Corps HQ
8 Infantry Divisions
2 Armored Divisions

1st Polish Army (50% US Logistics, 50% UK Logistics)
2 Corps HQ
3 Infantry + 2 Armored Divisions

7th US Army (US Logistics)
2 Corps HQ
6 Infantry + 1 Armored Division

Operation Overlord (US Command)
21st Army Group (UK Command & Logistics)
2nd British Army
4 Corps
11 Infantry, 5 Armored, 1 Airborne Division

1st Canadian Army
2 Canadian Corps
4 Infantry, 2 Armoured Divisions
1 UK Corps
2 Infantry, 1 Armoured Division (Czech, Dutch and Belgian units included)

12th Army Group (US Command and Logistics)

1st Army
3 Corps (11 Infantry, 4 Armored Divisions)
3rd Army
3 Corps ( 8 Infantry, 5 Armored Divisions)

9th Army (follow-on force to deploy to Continent )
TBD

1st Allied Airborne Corps (back in barracks in England)

 

[fester]

Falaise, France June 28, 1944

Silence filled the air. If one strained their ears hard enough, they could hear tank treads squeaking in the distance and batteries of Long Toms firing. But now, there was silence on a battlefield that had led to a third of the German 7th Army to be destroyed, a third to have escaped and a third to have surrendered. German prisoners were active on the killing grounds. They wore masks and gloves as stretcher bearers moved bodies to piles where identification was attempted. Sometimes the remains had a tag or a notebook or a card in their pocket, but most bodies were unknown. More prisoners had been handed shovels and picks after they had received a hot breakfast. American and Canadian engineers had marked out half a dozen mass graves and now the prisoners were slowly moving the dirt away to bury the bodies that only luck and happenstance were not their own.

 

[fester]

Western Ukraine, June 29, 1944

The 3rd Guards Tank Army paused for a day. Resistance had been light after two non-motorized Romanian divisions had been destroyed in place two days and over 100 kilometers ago. The spearheads were already on the left bank of the Dniester River. Ural trucks were bringing forward assault boats while Studebakers and CMPs were lugging forward fuel, food, spare parts and ammunition. The quartermasters had been operating without sleep since the maneuvering group of the southern offensive had been unleashed. They had advanced further and faster than many projected which made the demands for fuel nearly impossible to satisfy but artillery usage was a bit below expectations which gave them just enough excess capacity to keep the advance moving. A day to rest and repair would make the logistical situation go from grave to merely worrisome.

 

[fester]

Paris, France June 30, 1944

"To the barricades"

 

[fester]

Western Pacific, July 1, 1944

The patient in sickbay could feel the engines rumble some more as steam pushed hard against the turbines and the propellers bit deep into the sea. The battleship curved, and he saw the water in his glass tilt to starboard. The guns started to bang. First, the heavy rhythm of the dual purpose heavy anti-aircraft guns, and then the staccato chatter of the Bofors and finally the seam ripping roar of the light cannon. A bomb exploded. It felt like a near miss. No one was brought to the sick bay in the next ten minutes, so it was likely a near miss.

The fleet continued to head west after the nuisance raid was roughly handled.

 

[fester]

West of Chambery, France July 2, 1944

A pair of Austers loitered overhead. They were seeing little in front of them. The only opposition in the town was buxom and blonde.

One battalion of Polish infantry was allocated to liberate the town and suffer the kisses and cheers of pretty girls. Behind them, engineers would be working to defuse any demolition charges that the retreating Germans had laid. Over the past week, the defeated army had a habit of leaving a few bombs on twelve, twenty four or even forty eight hour fuses as well as wrecking what they could.

Another battalion would secure the rail yard. It was on fire. Supply trains that had been destined for the German army in Italy had been set to the torch. Civilians in the town had been fighting the fire and seizing whatever they could. Bread, cooking oil, and meat were in scarce supply during the entire occupation, so what was intended for a rifleman in Turin was now in the larders of a French matron.

The rest of the corps spearhead, a battalion mounted on Jeeps and half tracks, a battalion of armoured infantry with two companies of half tracked mounted riflemen and two companies of Shermans and a single independent company of Shermans along with an artillery battery and two companies of engineers would stop to refuel and eat a brisk lunch before pushing north again.

 

[fester]

Genoa, Italy July 3, 1944

A dozen ships were in the harbor taking on men and material of the 28th Infantry Division. Their journey would not be far. The infantry would be landing in Toulon while the artillery and logistics would be landing in Marseilles as the harbor was becoming somewhat functional. They would meet up, re-organize and then join the 7th Army in their race to the Rhine via the Rhone.

 

[fester]

Near Pusan, Korea July 4, 1944

The Darien Maru was quickly taking on water. A single mine had ripped open the middle portion of her port side hull. Half an hour later, over six hundred men were in the water waiting to be rescued. She was the fourth ship sunk by mines within sight of the Korean port in the past ten days.

 

[fester]

Near Pas de Calais, July 4, 1944

The trio of minesweepers had already cleared half a dozen mines. The sweep gear would bring the mines up, and then machine gun and rifle fire would detonate the steel eggs. It was nerve wracking for the hostilities only crews. They were in small wooden ships, steaming in straight lines at eight knots while within range of German coastal defense guns. Most of the German armies were retreating, but the garrisons in the Cinque Ports had not moved yet. Two minesweepers had been shelled the night before. Shrapnel had claimed the lives of three matelots in the squadron and wounded another dozen.

Tonight, the danger was not the coastal guns. Instead, a pair of E-boats had crept out the port at low power and had almost drifted with the currents until the minesweepers were detached from the MTBs that were the local covering force. The two E-boats dashed in at full speed and their guns soon lit one of the minesweepers on fire, and damaged another. Eleven minutes later, they had turned to the coast, and the heavy guns were ready to damage any steel ships that gave chase.

 

[fester]

Dundee Scotland, July 5, 1944

The yard manager sighed as he looked at the telegram. Another cancellation by the Admiralty. Work crews had been assembled to start on the keel of another Loch class frigate next Monday. They would need to be re-assigned to other work in the yard or let go. Standard cancellation charges would be forwarded to the company's accounts and the long lead items would be fully reimbursed, but three quarters of the value of the contract was gone. This was the third cancellation in the past two months.

He shook his head. The pace of the war was changing. He had gotten used to cancellations and re-orders and new priorities. The yard over the past five years had repaired merchant ships, built escorts, built transports and coastal steamers, refurbished auxiliaries and launched a single aircraft carrier. Ships had been cancelled before, but the manpower and the building slips were almost always quickly occupied by a new priority. There had been no replacement or supplemental contracts since last December.

The war was changing.

 

[fester]

Admiralty House, London July 5, 1944

The gavel banged. The committee had come to a decision. Design work was to continue on a trio of future cruiser concepts. The first concept was a minimalist trade protection cruiser of approximately 6,000 to 8,000 tons with light dual purpose armament and an extensive anti-submarine warfare coordination capability. These ships would eventually be the replacement of the Didos. Construction would not even be contemplated until 1950. The second design concept was a new, multipurpose fleet cruiser with anywhere from six to ten dual purpose six inch guns with automatic loading facilities. These ships would take over the role of the Town and Crown Colony classes in the mid-50s. One was likely to be laid down in the 1948 estimates conditional on the completion of engineering tests for the new dual purpose guns. There could be eventual requirements for over a dozen of these 12,000 to 17,000 ton ships.

The final concept was the closest for construction. Eight ships would fulfil the requirement for a fast carrier body guard as well as a ship for distant station. These large, 21,000 ton cruisers would have three twin turrets of 9.2 inch guns of a new mark as well as sixteen four inch guns. Their armor would be sufficienct against current six inch shells over the engines while the magazines would be protected by enough armor to defeat heavy American eight inch shells. The committee would approve final drawings with the intention of laying down the first pair in 1946 and then one more ship per year until the requirement was fulfilled.