alternatehistory.com

Ok so bare with me, updates will be posted as I get them.

Excerpted from
A HISTORY OF THE BRITISH MONARCHY
CHAPTER XXII – THE MODERN REGENCY (1941-1948)
By His Highness Prince David, Prince of Wales
Royal Printing Office 1980

With the invasion of the Russia, most of Germany’s Army and Air Force was on the Eastern Front. The Luftwaffe in the West launched numerous nuisance raids against American and British targets, mostly during the evening hours. The “Mini-Blitz” lasted most of 1941.

On July 24th the Luftwaffe launched a larger raid – targets included RAF Bomber Command HQ at High Wycombe, RAF Fighter Command HQ at Bentley Priory, Dover and London itself. Just after midnight. The Royal Family, at Windsor Castle, was informed of the approaching German bombers. On the advice of their RAF liaison officer, the Royal Family went to the bomb shelter. The Luftwaffe had previously made no effort to attack the Castle and this was considered a precaution. The two princesses immediately went back to sleep with the Queen watching over them. The King was in another part of the bunker where he was two thirds of the way through the evening’s Red Box.

RAF Fighter Command ordered six fighter squadrons into the air to intercept the German bombers. Night combat was still in its infancy and these squadrons (1 American, 1 Free Czech, and 4 RAF) were all that the fighter controllers had available.

At 12.30am, July 25th, 18 Heinkel He-111 bombers were approaching High Wycombe when they were attacked by a flight of Griffins led by Squadron Leader Douglas Bader. Squadron Leader Bader and his wingman; Flight Lieutenant Hugo Lindrum, RAAF; attacked what turned out to be the German Group Commander’s plane. After Bader destroyed the port engine, the bomber began falling out of formation. Lindrum, on his first operational sortie, collided with the bomber; and locked together, fell towards Windsor Castle.

The wreckage impacted at 12:38am into the East Terrace of Windsor Castle. Seconds later, the plane’s bomb load exploded. Two other bombers, seeing the explosion, dropped their bomb loads. The devastating explosions totally destroyed the Private Apartments and collapsed the bomb shelter beneath them.

It is believed that King George VI was fatally wounded in the collapse. Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth, who had left the princesses to get a book from her room, was badly injured by falling debris and knocked unconscious. Princess Elizabeth was killed instantly by a support beam falling on top of her. Princess Margaret was barely scratched (but she was knocked senseless); her life was saved by one of the Special Branch detectives in the shelter with the Royal Family (the other two detectives were killed as well.) Special Branch Detective Philip MacArthur, after making sure that Princess Margaret was ok, began searching for other survivors. After moving debris for roughly 45 minutes, MacArthur came across the bodies of Princess Elizabeth and Special Branch Detective Eggert. Princess Margaret had recovered her senses by then and insisted on helping MacArthur look for her parents. Queen Elizabeth was found a short time later, pinned under an armoire. Removing the Queen exhausted both rescuers and they decided to wait for help. At this point they could hear rescue crews digging down to them.

Rescuers took twelve hours to dig through the debris before they were rescued. The queen would remain in a coma for four weeks. His Majesty the King and his daughter, the Princess Elizabeth were buried three days later in the undamaged St. George’s Chapel at Windsor castle.

With the deaths of the King and Princess Elizabeth, Princess Margaret became the sovereign. But there was a problem with Margaret; she was 11 years old, which meant a Regent would have to rule in her stead until she became an adult in 1948. King George VI’s younger brother, Prince Henry was appointed Prince Regent until Margaret came of age.

Excerpts from
PRIME MINISTER’S ADDRESS TO THE NATION
JULY 25, 1941
2PM
BBC NEWS

Announcer: This is London, and now the Prime Minister will address the nation.

Prime Minister Churchill: It is with great sadness that I address you today. Earlier this morning, German bombers made a dastardly attack upon Windsor Castle. In spite of the best efforts of Fighter Command, the Germans were able to bomb the Castle. Sadly, His Majesty King George VI and her Highness, Princess Elizabeth were killed. Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth was severely injured and is in hospital now. Princess Margaret was not injured and has requested honor of addressing the nation.

Princess Margaret: I address you this afternoon in immense grief and anger. I am saddened at the loss of my father and sister, and I feel intense anger towards the Germans who did this. I am told that the RAF shot down Germans who attacked us and the Prime Minister has assured me that they will be tried for their crimes. I ask that you pray for my Mother’s recovery. I would also like to thank Detective Philip MacArthur for saving my life and that of my Mother. (There is a muffled sound and just as quickly the Prime Minister resumes speaking)

Prime Minister: This Government stands firmly behind our new sovereign; however, she is not ready to assume the responsibility and the duties of the Sovereign. I have asked Prince Henry, the brother of our deceased king, to assume the duties of Regent. He will be regent until Princess Margaret turns 18 in 1948. He will ensure that by the time she becomes Queen, that she will be able to carry out her duties.

We, along with our allies, will defeat our enemies and avenge the death of our sovereign. Thank you and God Save the Queen!

TRUE STORIES
OF THE RESISTANCE
By JB Hunicutt
Province Books 1985

The Eastern Front

1700 hours, July 28, 1941 (Local time). Colonel John Westall, RM, former commanding officer of the 1st Royall Marine Battalion, looked over the base camp of the 18th “Battalion”, 1st Guerrilla Regiment (the 1st Regiment was a component of Bor-Komoroski’s Home Army) and he was quite pleased with what he saw.

These 158 men were brave men, not quite Royal Marine material, but they were good soldiers (most had been in the pre-war Polish Army). Their base camp was 6 miles outside of Danzig and making life a living hell for the local German garrison. Tonight they were going out on another raid. This time they were hitting the main refueling station for the German Navy in this part of the Baltic. They were coordinating their attacks with the other two battalions in the “Regiment.” And they had a great surprise, three days ago; the 20th Battalion had hit a German base and came back with two of Germany’s famous Flak 37 88mm and their prime movers. Unfortunately they were only able to bring back 34 88mm shells; the plan was to lob 20 shells into the shipyard and they would use the rest up to cover the withdrawal. They were going to bring the 88s back; they could probably find more shells.

The Regimental Commander had put him in charge of the operation and he was now waiting for word from his scouts as to what he was up against. He was feeling fairly confident about the mission and his unit. His only real complaint was the lack of good English tea, these were coffee drinkers here, the sacrifices one makes for one’s country…

The scouts reported back just before 2000. The news was good. There was about a company of 2nd class infantry defending the shipyard, along with a battery of light AA guns. There were no tanks or other armored vehicles in the Gdansk area; at least that is what his scouts and intelligence people said. They had one further bit of intelligence. A convoy of three merchant ships had pulled in the harbor late that afternoon for refueling. Their agent in the harbor master’s office said their manifests indicated they were carrying art, gold and other looted valuables from St. Petersburg. Colonel Westall sent out his runners – the battalion was moving out in 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, on board the German freighter Hanna Stein; Major Heinz Black, 28th Cavalry Battalion was understandably nervous. If all went well tonight, the Polish terrorist group operating near here would be wiped out. Their agent inside the 1st Regiment had ensured that the terrorists knew how weak the garrison was and thanks to the spy in the Harbor Master’s office; the terrorists had an additional reason to attack (how the Gestapo got the man to turn was something he didn’t want to know.). The only variable was the damn 88s. How the terrorists were able to get them from the Danzig Reserve Artillery Battalion was something the Gestapo was still looking into.

Just before 1am (his agent had indicated that the Englishman leading the attack had scheduled it for 3am) he would get his men into position in the buildings covering the approaches to the shipyard. He even had a cavalry squadron on horseback as a mobile reserve.

At 1228 hours, 1st Company, 18th Battalion started their march towards Danzig. Colonel Westall followed behind them with the lead platoon of the 2nd Company. He had sent runners to the 19th Battalion with a message for the battalion commander; if at all possible, his battalion was to board at least one ship, loot her of anything of value, including code books and gold.

0225 hours; Westall had a problem. A local Pole (who had married a German) had contacted one of his cousins, a platoon leader in Westall’s battalion. According to the Pole, several hundred Germans had come off one of the ships and moved into buildings on the approaches to the shipyard. Westall didn’t know if the information was accurate or not, but he knew he couldn’t ignore it. He was tempted to order Gun #1 to open up on the shipyard, but he didn’t want to waste the ammunition. He ordered the company that was closest (1st Company) to start checking buildings, but quickly, they had a schedule to meet.

0227. Westall’s schedule (and plan) had gone to hell rather quickly. A “platoon” of 15 men, approaching a nondescript government office building had triggered an ambush and all 15 men had been killed. Westall ordered his men to fall back as he realized they were walking into a trap. He also ordered the 88s to open up (no sense in hoarding their ammo now).

0234. Major Black was unhappy. The terrorists were slipping away and they were firing at the shipyard. Sooner or later they would hit something valuable, so he ordered in his cavalry squadron to hunt down and kill those damn guns!

Over the thirty minutes small pitched battles were fought between small groups of men intent on killing each other. Westall nearly died while fighting off the German cavalry squadron, which lost 2/3 of its strength while charging Gun #2. When the partisans were able to escape their pursuers they left a bloody trail of the dead and dying. Of the 481 partisans who went into Danzig, only 191 made it back to their base camps and an additional 45 would straggle into the camps over the next few days. (Among the dead was the German spy, he was trampled to death by several cavalrymen.) Westall was able to keep Gun #1, Gun #2 kept the Germans at bay, until they were incinerated by a German flamethrower team.

The Germans fared better but only because of communications snafus that allowed Major Black’s forces to fight on their own. The last orders given to the garrison commander from Black had been not to engage the enemy until ordered to do so. The order was not received until it was too late. Of the 800 German combat troops, 265 did not see combat, of the rest, 165 were killed or injured, and six became prisoners.

While he could send men on pinprick raids, Westall knew that his command had been severely bloodied and it would be awhile before it would be combat ready again. In the meantime, it was time to shift their base camps.

Major Black received the Iron Cross 2nd Class for his exploits, on the other hand, the German garrison commander received a transfer to the Russian Front.

GRAND DUKE VLADIMIR RETURNS TO
SAINT PETERSBURG!!
RADIO BERLIN (LIVE BROADCAST)
August 1, 1941

Today Grand Duke Vladimir returned to Saint Petersburg to assume the throne stolen from him by the Godless Bolsheviks. The Grand Duke entered the city and was greeted by devoted followers. He will be crowned Tsar in a ceremony later this week.

We now go live to hear his speech:

Grand Duke Vladimir: “…you to my friend Adolph Hitler and the mighty German Army for bringing this moment possible. I ask all loyal Russians to do everything possible to help our German friends liberate our country! I ask the brave soldiers fighting for their false masters in Moscow to lay down their arms and surrender to the Germans or to turn their weapons on any officer who refuses to lead his troops in this glorious crusade….. (At this time the broadcast was interrupted by the sounds of loud explosions)

Announcer: We apologize to our listening audience, but technical difficulties are preventing us from broadcasting the rest of the Grand Duke’s speech. We will resume broadcasting from Saint Petersburg when we have corrected our technical difficulties.

Excerpt from
HQ USN DAILY REPORT
AUGUST 1, 1941

CHANGES OF COMMAND

Vice Admiral Frank J Fletcher relieved Vice Admiral William Bush as the Superintendant, US Naval Academy

Vice Admiral Alan Kirk relieved Admiral Harold Stark as Commander, US Naval Forces Europe

PROMOTIONS

Kirk, Alan; Vice Admiral; promoted to Admiral

RETIREMENTS

Bush, William; Vice Admiral
Stark, Harold; Admiral.

Excerpt from
CHAPTER XI RUSSIAN SPECIAL OPS
SPECIAL OPERATIONS IN
WORLD WAR II
by Sir Jeffery Katz
Piccadilly Press
1999

A GRU special ops team was dispatched by General Masorin to locate Marshal Zhukov. They had very simple orders:

1. Determine if the Marshal was alive or dead.
2. If he was alive, rescue him if possible.
3. If he was alive and rescue was not possible, the team was to kill him.

The GRU team located Marshal Zhukov on a farm just outside of Kiev just after a flight of German Messerschmitt Me-109 fighters had attacked the place. Zhukov had been injured in the ambush and had been held captive by the Communist rebels until they had received orders from their headquarters. In the meantime, they tended to his wounds, fed him and attempted to question him.

On August 2nd, the rebels got their answer – Zhukov was to be executed for the following crimes:

High Crimes against Stalin
Treason
Aiding the Germans

They had just taken him out to be shot when the Luftwaffe attacked the place killing or wounding most of the rebels and Marshal Zhukov. The GRU team went in and killed all the survivors and rescued Zhukov, they were also able to get actionable intelligence on the rest of the communist units in the area.

Zhukov was whisked back to Kiev, where he was put on to a waiting transport plane and flown to Moscow for treatment.

Excerpts from
CHAPTER FOUR: IN THE NAVY
MY MOTHER:
A NURSE’S TALE
By Golda Alterman
Tel Aviv Press
1980

August 3, 1940

Ensign Bonnie Lamont, USN was in London on liberty. Even though she was an American, she felt that she could not be in London and not pay her respects to the bodies of King George VI and his daughter, Princess Elizabeth.

When she got to Westminster Abbey where the bodies lay in state; she had been in line for about an hour when she noticed the crowd going quiet. Looking around she spotted a young teenage girl standing beside a tall gentlemen in a British Army uniform. She had no sooner turned to ask her neighbor who these people were, when she noticed people starting to bow. Queen Margaret and her escort were there to thank some of the mourners.

As my mother was leaving Westminster Abbey, she was stopped by a British police officer, he asked her to follow him. She quickly found herself in a small outer office in the Houses of Parliament with four other people. She had no sooner introduced herself, when the door leading to the inner office opened up and Margaret walked in and thanked them for paying their respects to her father and sister.

After talking with the Queen for 20 minutes, they were dismissed except for Mother. Margaret was interested in hearing about her experiences as a nurse and for the next hour, Queen Margaret listened as my Mother told her about being a nurse in war time. Mother was an OR nurse and she had seen quite a lot of casualties, including British civilians injured in air raids. After an hour of listening to Mother and asking questions, Queen Margaret had to go, but she took Mother’s name and unit and promised to remain in touch. My Mother thought she was a sweet young girl and figured that would be the last time she saw her. Mother was wrong. A week later, she was called in to see her commanding officer along with her Head Nurse. Waiting for her were Captain Todd Schilling, USN Medical Corps and Lieutenant Commander Dorothy Durr, USN Nursing Corps and a third man, who was introduced as Dick Helms from the Embassy. All three were naturally curious as to why an American nurse would receive an invitation to have dinner with the young British monarch on August 15 (the upcoming Friday). After explaining how she had met Queen Margaret, my Mother then pointed out to Commander Durr, that she would have to decline the invitation as she was scheduled to be on duty that night. . Commander Durr, a no nonsense career Navy nurse agreed with her and was about to dismiss her when Mr. Helms said that she would be going and that the Ambassador would back him up! Needless to say Mother went, and she remained friends with Queen Margaret the rest of her life.

Excerpt from
ABHWER INTELLIGENCE REPORT
AUGUST 3, 1941

Our interrogations of the 2 captured prisoners captured during the August 1st incident reveals the following:

1. The attack on Grand Duke Vladimir was carried out by a combined Communist/Russian Army unit.
2. The Communists and the Russian soldiers agreed to put aside their differences to plan the attack on the Grand Duke.
3. The Communists wanted to capture the Grand Duke and put him on trial for “Crimes against the People”.
4. Both groups wanted to strike a blow against us.
5. The interrogation of the one Communist captured (a political commissar) revealed that he knew the location of Zhukov and he hoped to use this as a bargaining chip with us.
6. As per the Fuehrer’s orders, the Political Commissar was handed over to the SS. The two Russian Army prisoners were handed over to the Army.

Excerpts from
FRENCH GOVERNMENT
COMMUNIQUE TO THE AMERICAN AND
BRITISH GOVERNMENTS
AUGUST 4, 1941

The French Government must strongly protest the treatment of our senior officers at the hands of Generals Marshall, Brooke, and other American and British senior officers during a recent conference where it became apparent that the Americans and British have been conspiring behind France’s back.

The leaders of France cannot understand why France is being regarded as anything less than a full ally in this war and we will not tolerate this! France has been fighting alongside her English ally since the war began and does not understand the attitudes of the British Government.

The leaders of France also do not understand the position taken by Great Britain and the United States in regards to the Russian State. Are they not allies? And why are you willing to sacrifice their soldiers against the Germans?

France is eager to hear our allies reasoning for all of this. We shall wait for your answers before we consult with our Russian allies.

NEWLY DECLASSIFIED MESSAGE
August 30, 2042

THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE WAS CLASSIFIED UNDER THE 1942 OFFICIAL SECRETS ACT BY ORDER OF THE PRINCE REGENT. AT THIS TIME IT IS NOT KNOWN IF THERE WAS AN OFFICIAL REPLY AS NONE HAVE BEEN FOUND IN THE OFFICIAL RECORDS.

The message was delivered to Her Majesty Queen Margaret via the Swiss Ambassador

August 5, 1941

To Her Majesty, Queen Margaret I

My dear, We were deeply saddened to hear about the loss of your father King George VI last month. We met your father for the first time when he accompanied his late brother, the Prince of Wales, when both visited Japan in 1926 on their world wide tour and at the state funeral for his father King George V in 1936. Both your father and grandfather were good men who knew their duties and were good sovereigns for their people and I was honored to have known them.

We have formally protested to the German Government over the deaths of your father and sister.

After this war has ended; I look forward to meeting you. In the meantime, I wish only the best for you.

Hirohito
Top