The Forge of Weyland
- Thread starter Astrodragon
- Start date
Donald Reaver
Donor
Good to see you back, and this timeline of course. Of course it not finished yet, we do need to see the ultimate battle when the U.K./France take out the Nazi moon base.
Now don't be silly, everyone knows the secret Nazi base is in Antarctica...
That's the Secret Nazi Mars Base, which is in Antarctica. The Secret Nazi Lunar Base is actually on the moon (Earth's Moon, I think.)
(Relieved to see you back by the way.
)Christus voskres.I think that is a Latin reference to Easter (resurrection of the thread from locked). Try not to get kicked for non-English posts. Not right now.
26 May 1940
26th May
Belgium
To support the Antwerp attack, 6th Army begins a series of attacks against the Dyle Line. The first mainly intended to pin the BEF divisions in place, and force them to retain their reserve formations in case of a breakthrough. While there is always hope of a breakthrough, and units are held in reserve in case one occurs, as long as the BEF is kept from interfering the objective will have been met.
Further south the attacks are stronger. While the French 1st Army have had time to dig in along their defensive line, the terrain is more suitable for mobile warfare. While 3rd and 4th Panzer divisions are not quite back to full strength, 2nd Panzer arrived this morning and will be available to back them up. The initial infantry attacks are to find any weak points in the defence, and then a thrust by the Panzer divisions will follow. If 6th Army can destabilise the Dyle line both in the north and the south, they can force the Allies to have to fall back on the Escaut line, which has far fewer pre-war defensive works, and will given them control of nearly all of Belgium. Their initial fighting against the French DLM's has confirmed that with superior tactics these can be dealt with - the DCR, with much heavier tanks, are still south near Sedan.
While the attack south of Antwerp has gone as well as expected, it is still a slow process, and the infantry are suffering badly as they press forward. The attack has, however, progressed far enough von Richenau can consider the next option, and orders are given to the 7th Air Division and 22nd Air Landing Division to prepare. While these divisions suffered badly in the initial attacks in Holland, what he has in mind for them will leave them far less exposed. He also orders two regiments of mountain troops to board the minesweepers and other small fast ships that have been waiting for them at Wilhelshaven.
Around Antwerp the German infantry are still grinding forward, and they have managed to break the defensive positions in some places. While the pre-war defences are strong, they are vulnerable to being broken, and the use of artillery and bombers has helped in stopping the Belgians from more that local counterattacks. By the afternoon, the leading elements of the advance are north of Mechelin, and worryingly close to the Scheldt. If they can reach of get across that, the forces defending the city will be in a precarious position, as there is now serious danger of splitting the Belgian Army in two.
In order to stabilise the situation, General Blanchard orders the Belgians to attack the southern flank of the attack the following day. His reserves are less that he wishes; the Belgian Army has no mobile reserve, and IV Corps has not yet returned from the Ardennes. He expects to have 1st Armoured division available tomorrow, but this may well be needed around Gembloux, aircraft have reported a worryingly heavy concentration of panzers opposite his forces there, and he recalls how close the earlier battles were. 1DLM is his only armoured reserve here, and they have not yet rebuilt their losses in the earlier fighting.
The one mobile force he has available is the British V Corps, although this only has one Brigade of armour, it has two fully motorised infantry divisions. The Corps was to have spent time getting fully operational, but under the circumstances it is his only immediate reserve, and the Corps is ordered forward to Ghent. He also requests two more French Corps, but even will railway priority they won't arrive for 2-3 days. The one piece of good news is that additional French fighters will be available from tomorrow, to help the RAF in keeping the Luftwaffe intervention to a bearable level.
Norway
German Ju 88 aircraft attack and sink the British anti-aircraft cruiser HMS Curlew off Narvik, killing nine crew members. HMS Curlew was equipped with the only early warning radar set off Norway, and with the ongoing Luftwaffe attacks on ships a replacement is required urgently. This will cause a number of problems, as the nature of the Norwegian road network means that often support and supply from the sea is far easier than by road or rail, and without the protection given by her early-warning of raids, this just got more dangerous.
Rome
Benito Mussolini informs the Italian Chief of the Supreme Staff, Marshal Badoglio, and the Governor of Libya, Marshal Balbo, that he has told Adolf Hitler that he was considering declaring war on England and France after 5th June. Badoglio was horrified and protested vehemently that crippling shortages of equipment in the Italian Army made such a military adventure a very risky business. He also pointed out that while Germany had achieved some success in the recent fighting, this was mainly against the smaller countries, and that Britain and France had not yet suffered a substantial defeat. Unless the situation changed greatly, both countries would be able to keep forces in North and East Africa, and this could prove disastrous for Italy. Between them the Royal Navy and the Marine Nationale would control the Mediterranean Sea, rendering it at best expensive and at worst impossible to supply and reinforce the Italian Army in Libya, and there was no chance that supply could be brought to East Africa. He urged Mussolini to wait until the situation in France changed in favour of Germany, and then bring the matter to the Council again. While Mussolini still wanted to show the strength of Italian arms in the Mediterranean and Africa, the details of the strength of the Allied force, especially the British armour in Egypt for which the Italian Army had as yet no matching tanks, he was persuaded to wait and see.
Belgium
To support the Antwerp attack, 6th Army begins a series of attacks against the Dyle Line. The first mainly intended to pin the BEF divisions in place, and force them to retain their reserve formations in case of a breakthrough. While there is always hope of a breakthrough, and units are held in reserve in case one occurs, as long as the BEF is kept from interfering the objective will have been met.
Further south the attacks are stronger. While the French 1st Army have had time to dig in along their defensive line, the terrain is more suitable for mobile warfare. While 3rd and 4th Panzer divisions are not quite back to full strength, 2nd Panzer arrived this morning and will be available to back them up. The initial infantry attacks are to find any weak points in the defence, and then a thrust by the Panzer divisions will follow. If 6th Army can destabilise the Dyle line both in the north and the south, they can force the Allies to have to fall back on the Escaut line, which has far fewer pre-war defensive works, and will given them control of nearly all of Belgium. Their initial fighting against the French DLM's has confirmed that with superior tactics these can be dealt with - the DCR, with much heavier tanks, are still south near Sedan.
While the attack south of Antwerp has gone as well as expected, it is still a slow process, and the infantry are suffering badly as they press forward. The attack has, however, progressed far enough von Richenau can consider the next option, and orders are given to the 7th Air Division and 22nd Air Landing Division to prepare. While these divisions suffered badly in the initial attacks in Holland, what he has in mind for them will leave them far less exposed. He also orders two regiments of mountain troops to board the minesweepers and other small fast ships that have been waiting for them at Wilhelshaven.
Around Antwerp the German infantry are still grinding forward, and they have managed to break the defensive positions in some places. While the pre-war defences are strong, they are vulnerable to being broken, and the use of artillery and bombers has helped in stopping the Belgians from more that local counterattacks. By the afternoon, the leading elements of the advance are north of Mechelin, and worryingly close to the Scheldt. If they can reach of get across that, the forces defending the city will be in a precarious position, as there is now serious danger of splitting the Belgian Army in two.
In order to stabilise the situation, General Blanchard orders the Belgians to attack the southern flank of the attack the following day. His reserves are less that he wishes; the Belgian Army has no mobile reserve, and IV Corps has not yet returned from the Ardennes. He expects to have 1st Armoured division available tomorrow, but this may well be needed around Gembloux, aircraft have reported a worryingly heavy concentration of panzers opposite his forces there, and he recalls how close the earlier battles were. 1DLM is his only armoured reserve here, and they have not yet rebuilt their losses in the earlier fighting.
The one mobile force he has available is the British V Corps, although this only has one Brigade of armour, it has two fully motorised infantry divisions. The Corps was to have spent time getting fully operational, but under the circumstances it is his only immediate reserve, and the Corps is ordered forward to Ghent. He also requests two more French Corps, but even will railway priority they won't arrive for 2-3 days. The one piece of good news is that additional French fighters will be available from tomorrow, to help the RAF in keeping the Luftwaffe intervention to a bearable level.
Norway
German Ju 88 aircraft attack and sink the British anti-aircraft cruiser HMS Curlew off Narvik, killing nine crew members. HMS Curlew was equipped with the only early warning radar set off Norway, and with the ongoing Luftwaffe attacks on ships a replacement is required urgently. This will cause a number of problems, as the nature of the Norwegian road network means that often support and supply from the sea is far easier than by road or rail, and without the protection given by her early-warning of raids, this just got more dangerous.
Rome
Benito Mussolini informs the Italian Chief of the Supreme Staff, Marshal Badoglio, and the Governor of Libya, Marshal Balbo, that he has told Adolf Hitler that he was considering declaring war on England and France after 5th June. Badoglio was horrified and protested vehemently that crippling shortages of equipment in the Italian Army made such a military adventure a very risky business. He also pointed out that while Germany had achieved some success in the recent fighting, this was mainly against the smaller countries, and that Britain and France had not yet suffered a substantial defeat. Unless the situation changed greatly, both countries would be able to keep forces in North and East Africa, and this could prove disastrous for Italy. Between them the Royal Navy and the Marine Nationale would control the Mediterranean Sea, rendering it at best expensive and at worst impossible to supply and reinforce the Italian Army in Libya, and there was no chance that supply could be brought to East Africa. He urged Mussolini to wait until the situation in France changed in favour of Germany, and then bring the matter to the Council again. While Mussolini still wanted to show the strength of Italian arms in the Mediterranean and Africa, the details of the strength of the Allied force, especially the British armour in Egypt for which the Italian Army had as yet no matching tanks, he was persuaded to wait and see.
I feel the mountaineer expedition is most likely going to be a disaster, as having to travel down the channel between fortress Holland and Blighty is perilous to the extreme.
Also the airborne operation might just meet a sticky end if the AdA has reinforced the Low Countries theatre in sufficient quantity.
Also the airborne operation might just meet a sticky end if the AdA has reinforced the Low Countries theatre in sufficient quantity.
Well, Mussolini has ambitions, and as in OTL Hitler has been working on him to join in, but so far the rest of the Italian government wants to wait and see. Of course, if he sees what he thinks is a good opportunity, Mussolini might try and bounce them into declaring war.
I was musing over the current news about the Suez Canal and I'm assuming that Astrodragon has considered the implications of certain shipping routes staying viable?
At current levels the Suez Canal handles 12% of the world's shipping. If this stays open to commercial traffic and is practical for naval transit, the savings in time, resources, and money, are going to be vast. With equally large butterflies. Even if Mussolini does something stupid, shipping can still be escorted through in Convoy, as the critical points can be covered from French North Africa.
And as things stand at the moment the British can also still run shipping through the English Channel, more or less un-molested.
Having the two busiest shipping lanes in the world still open will do wonders for industry, transportation and the state of the British Economy.
I'm not saying a massive swing, but 10-20% better production, food supply, and financial security can have significant results. The implications may not be apparent now (circa 1940) however the butterflies can start beating.
And as things stand at the moment the British can also still run shipping through the English Channel, more or less un-molested.
Having the two busiest shipping lanes in the world still open will do wonders for industry, transportation and the state of the British Economy.
I'm not saying a massive swing, but 10-20% better production, food supply, and financial security can have significant results. The implications may not be apparent now (circa 1940) however the butterflies can start beating.
Well, at the moment the Luftwaffe are nowhere near Suez. Even the channel is hard, although the southerly east coast routes are in range, atm they have other priorities
Coulsdon Eagle
Monthly Donor
Playing DA, it is good to see that the Germans can still think outside of the box.
Errolwi
Monthly Donor
As long as there is a non-minimal chance of Italy joining the war, the escorts required within range of Italian forces will need to be enhanced. OTL Italian East Africa was not a naval threat fairly quickly so this wasn't an issue in the western Indian Ocean etc for long. ITTL avoiding a submarine salvo taking out a battalion or two of Dominion soldiers will likely be a concern over a different timeframe.
Errolwi
Monthly Donor
Sure, and a decent speed is of limited use in close waters. In April 1940 no-one in the Admiralty or AU/NZ Governments considered scheduling sailing troopships (about to depart NZ and AU ports) past the submarines and destroyers of the Red Sea Flotilla a worthwhile risk (there wasn't anywhere to park that many troops on the way for a few weeks while the threat was dealt with once it helpfully became an option). There was also much quibbling about how much of a surface escort they needed crossing the ocean during which the Admiralty got techy having to explain again that they knew where the actual German warships were and a battleship escort wasn't required.
Mussolini is taking a large risk pushing the Fascist Council so hard. If the Western Democracies hold there's a good chance the council will remove him. If he tries to go behind the council's back and gets caught they will remove him.