CHAPTER ONE
MEMO FROM GENERAL GEORGE C. MARSHALL
ARMY CHIEF OF STAFF TO
PRESIDENT FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT[FONT="][1][/FONT]
January 20, 1940
Mr. President, with the declaration of war yesterday, we have given the orders (pending your approval of course) to begin shipping troops to France. The 1st US Infantry Division received their warning orders yesterday afternoon.
Last year, as per your orders, we began looking at what size military we would need to fight on multiple fronts. Initially, the War Department General Staff settled on a figure of 300 divisions. Over the past year, we have looked at this and have settled on the following numbers:
30 Armored Divisions
25 Mechanized Cavalry Division
3 Mountain Divisions
92 Infantry Divisions
Right now, we are estimating that the size of the US Army alone will be 16,000,000.
Brigadier General Lee, Chief of Staff to Lt. General Van Voorhis, gave the briefing.
Lee: General the situation is grave. The 1st & 3rd Mexican Security Divisions have either arrested their American advisers or simply killed them. Mexican insurgents now totally control the cities of Cancun, Fresnillo, Maxcanu, Puebla, Taxco, and Tula. They are in control of other areas but no other cities or major towns. We’ve taken some serious losses General – well over 3,000 dead and 4,500 wounded and missing. We are in complete control of Mexico City and we have communications with Washington. The troops of the 2nd Division have proclaimed their loyalty to the US sir.
Van Voorhis: Where is Willoughby? I want him here so I can throw him in irons into the stockade.
Lee: Sir, Colonel Willoughby is missing and believed dead sir. He was visiting the 3rd Security Division at the start of the uprising and hasn’t been heard from since.
Van Voorhis: If he’s dead, he’s damn lucky. Do we still have a secure line to Washington?
Lee: Yes we do sir.
Van Voorhis: Contact the War Department, tell them I am activating “Thunder Chief” and we are going to need reinforcements. Effective immediately, all Mexicans caught under arms and not wearing a uniform or having valid identification will be shot on sight. All those caught supporting the rebels are to be detained in prison camps without trial until such time we get this situation under control.
Colonel Leonard Wing was the briefer.
Good morning Mr. President. We are starting off with the Mexican Theatre of Operations. As you know, General Van Voorhis has asked for more troops to quell the uprising. He has also enacted Operation Thunder Chief. Thus far over 7,000 Mexican rebels have been executed and a little over 20,000 more are in detention camps.
Roosevelt: You let General Van Voorhis know, I want this problem solved once and for all. Tell General Marshall that until Mexico is taken care of, no more ground forces are to go to Europe.
Wing: On that subject Mr. President. General Marshall ordered the III Armored Corps out of Fort Hood and the IX Corps out of Fort Riley for immediate deployment to Mexico. Also the 1st Infantry Division has completed their deployment to England.
On the subject of France, only 35 French divisions were evacuated either from Dunkirk, Ostend or Marseilles. Six of those divisions are in England and are being transferred to French North Africa. The French are in the process of transferring the majority of their colonial army from Indo-China, Madagascar and the Middle East to French North Africa. They are re-equipping their divisions but could use heavy artillery and modern tanks.
There has been sporadic fighting between the Italian African Army and the French North African Army. The Germans have captured the French battleships Jean Bart and Provence and they are being rushed into service with the German Navy.
The vast majority of the British Expeditionary Force made it out of France, but without their equipment. Right now, the British are asking for our help in that matter.
Since August of last year, a total of 716,000 of Allied merchant shipping have been sunk in the Atlantic. Our losses could have been higher, but Admiral Stark took the advice of the British and we began convoying at the start of the war.
Prime Minster Reynard is urging all loyal citizens of France to protest the actions of former Foreign Secretary Pierre Laval and Marshal of France Philippe Petain. The Prime Minster and his cabinet did not surrender their positions when they moved the government to Tunis. Therefore, for collaborating with the enemy, Marshal Petain is hereby stripped of his rank and an arrest warrant has been issued for both men. Citizens of France! These men are collaborators and are not the new President and Prime Minister of France! The fight against the Germans goes on!
Announcer: Good evening and now the news. US Army spokesmen stated unofficially that the Mexican Uprising is going well for the US. The last few rebel strongholds should be destroyed within the next few weeks.
The following recording was made one week ago by UNI’s European correspondent Walter Cronkite and was smuggled out of besieged Paris.
“This is Walter Cronkite in Paris, a city under siege for over a month now. General Georges Blanchard, commander of the French 1st Army told me he had not planned on fighting in Paris, but was forced to do so when German forces cut off his retreat to Southern France. The fighting has been intense on the outskirts, but so far the French (and wayward New Zealanders, who’s 1st Brigade Group wound up in Paris during their retreat) have held the line. But at a terrible price, German dive-bombers and artillery have turned the famed Eiffel Tower into so much scrap metal, and both the Louvre and Arc de Triomphe lie in ruins. The Germans are jamming all radio broadcasts into and out of Paris, but we have heard of the French Fleet successful transporting the French Government to safety and the German peace offer to the British Government. General Blanchard is not sure how long he can hold Paris, but he will hold it as long as he can. This is Walter Cronkite in Paris.”
The last remaining French forces outside of Paris surrendered yesterday outside of Marseilles. The French 3rd Army Group; after successfully driving the Italian Army back into Italy; with its back to the Mediterranean and no hope of transport to North Africa, formally surrendered at noon.
Date: February 22, 1940
To: The Honorable Frank Knox, Secretary of the Navy
From: Admiral Harold Stark, Chief of Naval Operations
Subject: Current operations
We are in the process of transferring most of the modern capital ships to the Atlantic Fleet and transferring the older ships to the Pacific Fleet. What we will have in the Asiatic and Pacific Fleets will be able to easily handle the Japanese should anything go wrong.
The 1st Marine Division is available for deployment to the European Theatre of Operations should they be needed. We have also offered the division to the Army for operations in Mexico.
The 4th Marine Regiment is being pulled out of China and being transferred to Subic Bay in the Philippines.
The French 1st Army formally surrendered this morning to the Germans after the Germans permitted French Great War hero Marshal Phillip Petain to cross into besieged Paris. According to news coming out of France, Marshal Petain ordered General Blanchard, the 1st Army’s commander, to surrender his forces to prevent more civilian deaths, stating, “French national honor was satisfied.”
The German Government demanded the return of the German naval vessel Altmark, seized by the Norwegians back in December. They are also demanding reparations of 50 million Reich marks and that Norway allow German troops basing rights and unrestricted access through Norwegian territory. Norway has yet to reply.
EXCERPTS FROM MY WAR[FONT="][8][/FONT]
MEMOIRS OF
JONATHAN LEECH,
Lieutenant Colonel,RTD
BRITANNICA PUBLISHING
We had made it out of Frank via Dunkirk. We were luckier than those poor sods on the America; we sailed past that wreck on the destroyer that took us back to England. The Chief of the Imperial General Staff, Field Marshal Dill, met us on the Dover docks! He was not happy to see us and wanted to know why we had come back home with our tails between our legs! My senior surviving NCO, Sergeant Baker, had to restrain some of the lads from shooting Dill. Dill further stated that we would be reformed and reequipped and sent back to France as fast as he could arrange it.
We went back to Fulwood Barracks, Preston where we had our first hot meals in days, showers, clean uniforms and a nice bed. We were told we would be here for about a week before be sent somewhere else, probably Egypt. My men had a hard time controlling their “grief” when they heard that Dill had been killed in a German air raid on Dover an hour after we had left. We did go on alert for the Norwegian operations, but we never got over there.
Turns out we spent the next year training, training and more training. We trained with Free Czech and Free Polish units, French, Canadian and American units as well.
We interrupt our broadcast of the Glen Miller Orchestra to bring you this breaking news. There is a major naval battle underway in the North Sea. According to the BEBC, a Royal Navy force has intercepted a German invasion force attempting to invade southern Norway. According to this report numerous German ships and an unknown number of sailors and soldiers have been killed and wounded.
Radio Oslo was reporting that the Germans had invaded central and southern Norway and that German parachutists were reported in Oslo before Radio Oslo went off the air. They have not been heard from since.
We now resume our regular broadcast.
Prior to the German landings, the British suspected that the Germans were going to invade Norway. During some rather intense negotiations with the Norwegian Government, the Norwegians refused to allow British units to land in Norway, stating they were a neutral country, they intended to stay neutral and if they British tried to invade, the Norwegians would fight them as well. What the British, French and Norwegian governments did not know was that former Norwegian Army officer and Norwegian Nazi Party Head Vidkun Quisling had offered to help the Germans overthrow the Norwegian Government and deliver the country over to the Germans. Originally Hitler had gone along with Quisling, but was convinced by the heads of the Army and Navy not to invade, but then came the Altmark incident.
The Royal Marine Division was put on standby for deployment to Norway, as well as the entire British IX Corps. Shipping was pulled together to provide enough hulls to transport the force.
The Royal Navy organized three task forces out of the Home Fleet for operations in Norwegian waters:
Force A (Vice Admiral Lord Hornblower)
4 aircraft carriers (HMS Ark Royal, HMS Majestic (Flag), HMS Courageous, HMS Glorious
2 battle cruisers (HMS Hood, HMS St. George)
2 heavy and 4 light cruisers
14 destroyers
Force B (Admiral Charles Forbes, C-in-C Home Fleet)
1 battle cruiser (HMS Rodney)
5 battleships (HMS Agincourt, HMS King George V, HMS Prince of Wales, HMS Queen Elizabeth (Flag), HMS Warspite)
4 light and 5 heavy cruisers
16 destroyers
Force C (Vice Admiral John Tovey)
2 battleships (HMS Queen Victoria (Flag), HMS Revenge)
6 light cruisers
9 destroyers
Force A’s mission was to provide air reconnaissance and initial air strikes on both ground and sea targets. Force B’s mission was to sweep the seas of all-German ships. Force C was to provide escort for the convoys carrying the men and material of the British landing force.
Forces A & B sailed from Rosyth (Scapa Flow’s defenses were still being upgraded after the “accidental” destruction of HMS Royal Oak) at dawn on February 26 after Ultra messages were received indicating that the Germans were going to invade Norway (Operation Weserbung)
The German Naval invasion force consisted of 7 “task forces”:
Force Bergen (Capture the port of Bergen with 1,900 troops)
1 light cruiser
1 training ship
2 transports
2 large torpedo boats
5 motor torpedo boats
Force Egersund (Capture the port of Egersund with 200 troops)
4 minesweepers
Force Kristiansand (Capture the port of Kristiansand with 1,100 troops)
1 light cruiser
3 large torpedo boats
7 motor torpedo boats
1 escort ship
Force Narvik (Capture the port of Narvik with a force of 2,000 troops)
2 battle cruisers (Scharnhorst & Gneisenau)
10 destroyers
Force Oslo (Capture the capital of Norway with a force of 4,000 troops)
2 heavy cruisers (Blucher, Lutzow)
1 light cruiser
3 torpedo boats
4 transports
8 minesweepers
Force Trodenheim (Capture the port of Trodenheim with a force of 1,700 troops)
1 heavy cruiser (Admiral Hipper)
4 destroyers
A force of 18 U-boats would patrol the approaches to Norway with orders to sink all Allied naval vessels.
Transports with 18,000 soldiers of the German XXI Corps were waiting in Danish waters to follow up the initial invasion. Once suitable airfields were captured, Luftwaffe units would also move in.
The Luftwaffe’s X Fliegerkorps was tasked with the invasion of Norway with over 1,000 aircraft assigned. They would be flying out of Northern German and captured Danish air fields. There was also a parachute battalion assigned to assist in the capture of Narvik.
The Norwegian Army was a force of 5 divisions of mixed quality spread out through the country. The Army was in the process of calling up the reserves when the German invasion was launched.
The Norwegian “Air Force”, such as it was, consisted of 2 maritime reconnaissance squadrons and 1 attack squadron. The 7 German produced He-115s were the most modern aircraft in the Norwegian arsenal.
The Norwegian Navy was in better shape than the Air Force, but not by much. The backbone of the Navy was two 40-year-old coast defense ships, 3 ancient destroyers, 6 modern destroyers, 20 minelayers, 8 minesweepers, 7 submarines (most built around 1918), 17 torpedo boats, and 58 assorted patrol vessels.
Dawn, February 27, 1940. Force A turned into the wind to launch scout planes from the Ark Royal and Majestic. Minutes after the 12 Swordfish left the decks; the main strike force was brought on to the decks of Ark Royal, Majestic and Glorious. Courageous was providing CAP for Forces A & B. Courageous’ normal complement of Storms and Swordfishes had been left behind and new Sea Hurricanes loaded in their place.
Several hours later, a Swordfish found the German ships of Force Oslo and radioed a report back to the RN force. Within minutes the carriers had turned into the wind and were launching their aircraft. Unfortunately, for the Royal Navy, this brought them within torpedo range of the U-43 under the command of Kaptainleutant Wilhelm Ambrosius. The U-43 had spotted the British force several hours before hand and had been moving into a position to attack them; however, she had not been able to surface to contact with her command.
Twenty minutes later, Ambrosius launched four 22-inch torpedoes at the Majestic. The torpedoes were spotted less than a minute later by a destroyer, which radioed a warning as she turned to attack the U-boat. The warning was too late as all four fish hit the Majestic, which was mortally wounded.
Two destroyers raced to the U-43’s estimated position and began dropping depth charges. Over the next hour, the three ships played a game of cat and mouse, with the unfortunate U-43 playing the mouse. Around 10am, with her machinery smashed, her crew deafened from the exploding depth charges, and her hull leaking in countless spaces, Ambrosius gave the order to abandon ship. The British destroyers quickly picked up his men. They did have the satisfaction of watching the final moments of the Majestic. She sank less than 2 hours after being torpedoed, taking 230 of her crew with her.
While the Majestic was being attacked, Force A’s strike force had reached the Germans and launched their attack on the German Oslo invasion force. The Swordfish of 810 NAS and 811 NAS attacked the Blucher and Lutzow while the Swordfish of Ark Royal’s 826 NAS went after the transport ships. The Storms from all three carriers went after the torpedo boats and the light cruiser Koln. The Buccaneers flying high above soon found themselves tangling with Me 109s sent to protect the German ships.
The battle lasted less than 30 minutes with both sides scoring blood and being bloodied. The British managed to sink the Blucher, Koln, and one of the transport ships, while crippling the Lutzow and all three torpedo boats. Unfortunately, they were not able to prevent the Germans from landing outside of Oslo. The British Swordfish squadrons were all but decimated, the other British squadrons suffered moderate losses.
The second naval battle of the day went to the British as well. Force B encountered the Kristiansand invasion force. The German light cruiser Karlsruhe, attempting to protect her charges, took on the battleship HMS Agincourt, only to die under a hail of fifteen-inch shells. While Agincourt was concentrating on the cruiser, Rodney and the four other battleships quickly destroyed the remaining German vessels.
The third and last naval battle of the day happened in the early afternoon. 3 squadrons of Stukas followed the planes of Force A back home. Despite some rather heavy anti-aircraft fire and valiant attempts by the pilots flying the Sea Hurricanes, the Stukas were able to inflict damage on Force A. The Glorious, where Admiral Hornblower had transferred his flag, was badly damaged. Her flight deck in ruins, she was no longer capable of flight operations. Admiral Hornblower was badly wounded and had to be evacuated (his left leg would later be amputated.) to England. The Ark Royal, Hood, St. George and the heavy cruiser York also suffered some damage. The heavily damaged carrier Glorious, escorted by 2 destroyers, was ordered to return to the UK for repairs.
Alas, the poor Glorious would not make it the United Kingdom. Early on the morning of the 28th, the Scharnhorst & Gneisenau intercepted Glorious and her escorts and sent sunk them in quick order. The destroyer HMS Havant did manage to fire two torpedoes at the Scharnhorst. The Scharnhorst would be in dry-dock for the next 4 months repairing the damage.
Oslo fell after a three-day battle, fortunately for the Norwegians, as the delay gave King Haakon VII and his government a chance to flee Oslo and make their way north to Narvik. By the time they arrived in Narvik, the Royal Marine Division and the Norwegian 5th Division had control of the city.
In spite of this, the Germans were able to bring in more troops, aircraft and U-boats (which sank one out of every seven freighters bringing in supplies); eventually the British were forced to withdraw from Norway after a month of heavy fighting. Crown Prince Olav decided to stay behind with the forming Norwegian resistance, his father appointed him as Commander-in- Chief, Home Defense Forces with the rank of General.
Norway proved costly to all sides. The British lost 2 modern aircraft carriers, 2 destroyers (in addition to the 10 lost in the evacuation from France), 90 aircraft and over 4,000 dead, wounded and captured sailors, marines, airmen and soldiers.
The German surface navy took a horrible beating. 1 heavy cruiser, 2 light cruisers, 6 destroyers, 3 large torpedo boats, 10 motor torpedo boats, 7 freighters, and 4 U-Boats sunk. One battle cruiser, 1 heavy cruiser, and 4 destroyers damaged. The Luftwaffe lost 288 aircraft. Over all, the Germans lost18, 788 men killed, wounded or captured.
March 1, 1940
Army of North Africa
Army Reserves
8th Colonial Infantry Division*
2nd Brigade, Foreign Legion*
French V Corps
5th North African Infantry Division*
6th Cavalry Division*
9th Motorized Division*
French VIII Corps
2nd Light Mechanized Division*
5th Light Cavalry Division*
7th Infantry Division*
9th Colonial Infantry Division*
French XIX Corps
5th Moroccan Infantry Division*
6th Motorized Division*
71st Infantry Division*
3rd Mixed Brigade, Foreign Legion*
French XX Corps*
2nd North African Infantry Division*
5th Light Mechanized Division*
6th Indo-Chinese Infantry Division*
French XLIX Corps
15th Motorized Division*
19th Infantry Division*
28th Infantry Division*
French 5th Army
Army Reserves
1st Polish Infantry Division**
French III Cavalry Corps
1st Czech Cavalry Division**
3rd Polish Infantry Division**
4th Light Cavalry Division**
25th Motorized Division**
French XV Corps
1st Moroccan Infantry Division
2nd Light Cavalry Division**
5th Motorized Division**
99th Infantry Division**
French XXI Corps
1st Czech Infantry Division**
2nd Moroccan Infantry Division**
3rd North African Infantry Division**
18th Infantry Division**
French XXV Corps
1st Colonial Infantry Division**
3rd Indo-Chinese Infantry Division**
3rd Light Cavalry Division*
20th Motorized Division**
French 7th Army
Army Reserves
29th Infantry Division**
French I Corps
2nd Colonial Infantry Division*
9th Infantry Division**
10th North African Infantry Division**
21st Infantry Division**
French VII Corps
3rd Light Mechanized Division**
17th Infantry Division**
98th Infantry Division**
French XVI Corps
31st Infantry Division**
32nd Infantry Division**
38th Infantry Division**
41st Infantry Division*
French XLI Corps
8th Infantry Division**
24th Infantry Division**
96th Infantry Division**
101st Infantry Division**
Syrian Corps
54th Infantry Division
1st Brigade, Foreign Legion
Madagascar Corps
53rd Infantry Division (Mauritius)
68th Infantry Division
Indo-Chinese Force
37th Infantry Division
5th Foreign Legion Regiment
* Fully equipped and manned units
** Fully manned units, no heavy weapons, heavy artillery or armor
FRENCH AIR FORCE
North African Air Force
1st Bomber Wing
1st Bomber Group - 2nd, 43rd, & 77th Bomber Squadrons (Amiot 143)
4th Bomber Group - 1st (Amiot 354), 38th & 44th (Bloch MB170) Bomber Squadrons
9th Bomber Group - 14th, 22nd, 31st Bomber Squadrons (Bloch 210)
11th Bomber Group - 27th & 33rd Bomber Squadrons (Poetz 630)
4th Fighter Wing
1st Fighter Group - 1st, 9th (Dewontine D.520), 11th, & 25th (Dewontine D.500) Fighter Squadrons
5th Fighter Group - 4th, 13th, 20th, 28th Fighter Squadrons (Poetz 631)
7th Fighter Group - 3rd, 6th, 17th & 36th Fighter Squadrons (Curtis H75-C1)
Training Group - 1st Training Squadron (MS.230), 15th & 19th Training Squadrons (Poetz 631)
French Air Force Madagascar
2nd Bomber Group - 3rd & 18th Bomber Squadrons (Bloch 210)
3rd Fighter Group - 2nd, 5th, & 8th Fighter Squadrons (Dewontine D.500)
3rd Combat Wing (Syria)
2nd Fighter Group - 3rd, 87th, & 100th Fighter Squadrons (Dewontine D.500)
5th Bomber Group
17th & 90th Bomber Squadrons (Bloch MB210)
56th & 88th Bomber Squadrons (Poetz 540)
10th Bomber Group
9th & 25th Bomber Squadrons (Breuguet 19)
4th Combat Wing (French Indo China)
3rd Bomber Group
33rd & 54th Bomber Squadrons (Breuguet 19)
7th Fighter Group
48th & 77th Fighter Squadrons (Bloch MB.150)
Germany calling! Germany calling! Germany calling! I am speaking to the American sailors who arrived yesterday in England. Boys, you are fighting the wrong people. The Germans are not your enemies; you should be back home fighting the Mexicans, walking down the street with your wives and girlfriends, anyplace but helping the corrupt British Government. You should ask your hosts what happened to the Majestic, I can guarantee that the same will happen to the Enterprise and the United States.
Now back to the British. You should toss out Churchill and his cronies and make peace. Germany has no quarrel with the British; we want to be friends…
[FONT="][1][/FONT] US Army archives
[FONT="][2][/FONT] Ibid
[FONT="][3][/FONT] White House archives
[FONT="][4][/FONT] French Government archives
[FONT="][5][/FONT] UBC News, February 20, 1940
[FONT="][6][/FONT] USN archives
[FONT="][7][/FONT] Radio Ireland, February 25, 1940
[FONT="][8][/FONT]My War: The Memoirs of Jonathon Leech; Leech, Jonathan; Britannica Publishing; 1958
[FONT="][9][/FONT] UBC News, Feb 27, 1940
[FONT="][10][/FONT] The Battles for Norway, Jersey, Sir Adam; Telestar Publishing 2001
[FONT="][11][/FONT] French Army archives
[FONT="][12][/FONT]French Air Force archives
[FONT="][13][/FONT] Radio Berlin archives, Library of Congress