Sir John Valentine Carden survives.

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Fun fact about the wooden horse escape. Peter Butterworth, he of the Carry On films, had served in the navy during the war and had been captured. He was in the same camp and was on the escape committee that had organised the wooden horse escape.
Later, after the war when they were making the film, he auditioned for a part, only to be rejected as he didn't look like an officer.
 
Looking at the stats, Any engine bay made to take both the Lion and Peregrine is wide enough and tall enough to take the Meteor, but too short by at least 15 inches.

After the initial phase, the camps + sidi barrani + buq buq + point 90, o'connor had the 4th indian division removed from his command.
Which he described as "a complete and very unpleasant surprise".
It was replaced by the 6th Australian division, but the change delayed o'connors attack.
By december 15th, british + indians had taken sollum, halfaya, and fort cappuzzo.
Assault on bardia had to wait on the aussies, and the matildas, January 3rd.
Tobruk January 6th to 21st.
Derna January 26th
Beda Fomm February 6th.

Send the aussies to sudan instead, or add them to o'connor rather than replacing.
There is no reason to believe the 4th Indian division couldn't have done the job.
For Bardia, I think the attack was waiting on the Matilda's alone by the end, the Australians were in place by Christmas Day. With Valiants instead, you can move that up by probably a week, and Tobruk probable a week-and-a-half or two weeks.
 
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No , the japanese threat become apparent in early summer 1941 not before that to be honest when they occupied french indochina and not before to london asfar i can tell ? And as said before the butterflys arent big enough for holding singapore i think but putting up alot better fight than in otl and delaying the fall by a few months might be possible . The main change is a proposed better burma campaign and maybe even a imperial reconquest of singapore and maybe invasions of thailand and french indochina.
Singapore is completely saveable in the right scenario. As things stand right now ITTL I could well see North Africa being won by the British in 1941, May or June is a possibility but realistically August-ish give or take a month is more likely. If that happens then as soon as the Japanese threat becomes apparent the pressure to release the Australian and New Zealand troops to head east is going to become immense. On top of that there will be no reason for them to stay in the Mediterranean, once North Africa is secure the fighting will likely have stopped and everything will be (relatively) quiet for a time. Germany by this point is fully committed in Russia so they wont be getting up to anything and the Italians wont be able to manage anything by themselves. Realistically it will be the British who make the next move and it will take a lot of time for Britain to be in a position to be able to do anything, given the requirement for a seaborne invasion of somewhere, almost certainly Sicily.

That scenario frees up 3 Australian Divisions plus the New Zealanders, most of whom have combat experience. If some or all of them get sent to Malaya, not unreasonable because that is the front line against the Japanese and a great place for them to act as a deterrent, then that will at least slow the Japanese advance. Remember it took over 2 months for Singapore to fall OTL, more and better, combat experienced troops in Malaya will at worst slow the Japanese advance, that gives plenty of time for reinforcements to be sent. Those troops will also likely point out that tanks would be useful, if that is done soon enough a Battalion or Two of tanks showing up really help the chances, even if they are A15's or better yet Matilda II's.

The potential butterflies are more than big enough, it all depends on if the butterflies flap their wings hard enough.
 
On North Africa, a delay in the advance is likely to do some good overall, not just in allowing some rest and recuperation for the troops, and allowing things to be reorganised, it will also give some time to get production of jerry-cans started.
 

Sooty

Banned
The Japanese were operating with a creaking logistical system a couple of weeks longer fighting could have seen it collapse!
 
Just on SEA, is there any possibility that Auchinleck might try to help Percival by pushing into Thailand at some point during the campaign?
 
Just on SEA, is there any possibility that Auchinleck might try to help Percival by pushing into Thailand at some point during the campaign?
Burma was under Brook-Popham as C-in-C Far East Command until December 1941, when it was transferred to Wavell as C-in-C India (Who if he does well enough might still be in NA, leaving Auchinleck in India). There was not a lot to advance with in either Burma or India at the time. It seems unlikely he will be able to change that in the OTL timespan of the Malaya Campaign. Even if he could, the Japanese had troops dedicated to the invasion of Burma, so he will probably be on the defensive.
 
Looking at the stats, Any engine bay made to take both the Lion and Peregrine is wide enough and tall enough to take the Meteor, but too short by at least 15 inches.
We're only a couple months away from the OTL decision from Rolls Royce to start looking at the Meteor, if they haven't already given events so far ITTL. I suspect that will be substituted fairly sharpish, especially given the wait for the Merritt-Brown gearbox. The time needed to make the changes allow the gearbox to get sorted.
 
Burma was under Brook-Popham as C-in-C Far East Command until December 1941, when it was transferred to Wavell as C-in-C India (Who if he does well enough might still be in NA, leaving Auchinleck in India). There was not a lot to advance with in either Burma or India at the time. It seems unlikely he will be able to change that in the OTL timespan of the Malaya Campaign. Even if he could, the Japanese had troops dedicated to the invasion of Burma, so he will probably be on the defensive.
Okay. Still, having a relatively experienced theatre commander like Auchinleck in India will, I feel, at least partially mitigate the OTL disaster that was the early Burma campaign.

We're only a couple months away from the OTL decision from Rolls Royce to start looking at the Meteor, if they haven't already given events so far ITTL. I suspect that will be substituted fairly sharpish, especially given the wait for the Merritt-Brown gearbox. The time needed to make the changes allow the gearbox to get sorted.
Here's hoping. It'd be interesting to see just what Ricardo and Perkins can do with the Merlin.

Mentioned before that the plan was to call the cruiser tanks Reptile class, the A9 would be Krait and the A10 Cobra
I wonder what the A13 and A15 are going to end up being called then.
 
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3 December 1940. Chertsey, England.

"snip for brevity"

I know the temptation from our perspective is just to cancel them and build Valiant/Victors. I don't think the Ministry of Supply will put all their eggs in one basket yet, but presumably fewer Crusaders (~5300) and Churchills (~5600) will be built.

But why not? When the superiority of the Vickers Victor starts becoming evident is there not people in the British establishment, the Army and Ministry of Supply who can use the stick of wartime government authority and the carrot of offering generous contracts to compel the other companies to manufacture the Victor under license. Is that an unrealistic assessment in this ATL?
 
But why not? When the superiority of the Vickers Victor starts becoming evident is there not people in the British establishment, the Army and Ministry of Supply who can use the stick of wartime government authority and the carrot of offering generous contracts to compel the other companies to manufacture the Victor under license. Is that an unrealistic assessment in this ATL?
As it stands Britain still has the Doctrine of Cruiser and Infantry tanks. A universal tank is on the way and it will probably be the Victor. Thing is at the moment Britain is so short of tanks it needs all it can get. The A15 and Matilda II are good second line tanks to train on, build up formations and possibly send to garrison and secondary areas. That allows the Valiant's to be sent to where they are needed.

Things will change once the situation settles down. I doubt the A22 gets built. By the time it's ready the need for tanks will be much less acute. Add to that the time it will need to get sorted means it is going to be going up against the Victor, if it gets that far based on the latest post.
 
Hmmmmm........... What could we do with 5000 crusaders

Behold the crusader gun tractor aka a better Kangeroo

1614208706273.png
 
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