The Allied Coalition Truly Took Shape During the Year Following the Battle of Crete
May 1941-May 1942: The Wider War
While latter events would ensure that much of the tensions between the two men would be covered up in their respective memoirs and recollections future archives' opening would sow just how close the working relationship between Wavell and Churchill came to the breaking point. On May 1, 1941 the Prime Minister was strongly considering replacing the CiC Middle-East, and was finding significant support in the War Cabinet for such a course of actions. The victory in Crete, of much importance for a wartime leader seemingly always thinking of the Balkans as a significantly more important theater then it truly was, bought Wavell much good will, however, and a reprieval that latter events made permanent.
Much disagreements nonetheless remained between the two men, however. Optimistic and eager to strike while the iron was hot, for as news of the victory in Crete were the toast of London the British capital could also celebrate progress in the Horn of Africa and the colapse of the pro-German regime of Rachid Ali in Irak, Churchill reiterated its demand for a quick offensive against Rommel and Lybia (Operation Battleaxe) launched simultaneously with the conquest of the Vichy held Levant (Operation Exporter). More cautious, Wavell would have instead prefered to see Exporter cancelled altogether and for Egypt to be reinforced by men once deployed in Crete and Irak, and perhaps even some who were currently fighting the Italians further south, before striking west. As Churchill was Prime Minister the debate was mainly settled in his favour but Wavell had gained enough credit through the failure of Mercury and Ares for him to gain some concessions nonetheless. Exporter was to go forward and Battleaxe would not wait until its completion but it would be delayed until General Cunningham could dispose of many of the men who fought in Crete in Irak.
Excerpt of
The Prime Minister and the General: Winston Churchill, Archibald Wavell and the Fight Against the Axis.
While the preliminary operations had lead to mixed results, with both Allied and Germano-Italian attempts at taking key positions before the battle (Operation Brevity and Case Skorpion) both failing (1) Battleaxe's first phase did not turn that . While, by all account, a capable enough general of infantry Alan Cunningham proved to be unable to deal with the demands of a tank battle and showed himself utterly inferior to General Rommel in all respect, threatening to all but mentally collapse in the middle of the fight, forcing Wavell to replace him with one his younger protegée: General William Slim. Fortunately, Slim proved himself far more competent then Cunningham and, thanks to greater numbers in the ground and, especially, in the air, managed to salvage the situation (2). While Battleaxe was a costly victory for the British Eight Army it was a victory nonetheless. The short-lived Siege of Tobruk was lifted, Cyrenaica retaken and the Axis forces pushed back east. Thus the stage was set for Operation Crusader as, in spite of the pleas of both Erwin Rommel and of Mussolini's the German Dictator, obsessed, as always, by the newly openned Eastern Front, simply refused to take seriously the direness of the Axis' position in Lybia and the convoys supplying the Axis forces in Africa were mercilessly harassed by the Allied squadrons based in Malta (3), until it was no longer salvageable and sending the kind of reinforcements needed to save it, or at least sending them in time, was no longer possible. In many ways it was therefore an unavoidable turn of events when, a few days before Christmas 1941, Slim's troops Tripoli and, a few days later, managed to, in the words of Winston Churchill, ''Cleansing a whole continent from the stain of Fascism!'' (4).
Excerpt of
A Short History of the 20th Century.
How the Armée d'Afrique (5) and the officers and officials of French North Africa would have reacted to the entry of Allied forces in Tripoli remain a hotly debated question among historians. On one hand General Maurice Noguès and most of his subordinates had remained loyal to Vichy through the better part of 18 months but, on the other, the existence of significant Allied sympathies, or at the very least Germanophobia, among their ranks was well attested. The answer to this particular historical enigma would never be know, however, for Hitler acted before it could come to pass. Once it has become clear that the situation in Lybia was unsalveagable Hitler, convinced that to see Allied armies at the Tunisian border would lead the french to turn cloack and seeking a way to salvage the situation in Africa Hitler ordered the execution of Case Anton, the occupation of the Vichy Zone and the preparations for a transfer of German troops to French North Africa.
This decision, like so many made by their Fuhrer, proved to be disastrous for Nazi Germany, however, for it cause precisely what it sought to prevent. Throughout the summer of 1940 many in the Maghreb had toyed with continuing the fight and it was only with the most profound difficulties, as well as under the promise that the empire was to remain free of German presence, that Pétain had been able to obtain their allegiance. The occupation of the Vichy Zone, which dealt a crippling blow to Pétain's pretension of protecting France, and evidently seeming to prelude a transfer of German troops to North Africa proved to be enough to break the ties of the colonies with the old Marshall. A few supporters of Vichy tried to put up a fight but they were soon overpowered and a Comité du Salut National (6) was established with Noguès as its président. Moreover, before he was captured by the German forces Admiral François Darlan, Minister of Navy, had found the time to order the Toulon Squadron to sail for North Africa, which it managed to do with only negligeable looses. Alongside the french ships and crews interned at London and Alexandria it would soon join the Allied forces. France had now three governments, the only one not at war with Germany being the weakest of the three, and resistance was growing on the mainland as Vichy's popularity was cratering...
Excerpt of
The Dark Years: An History of France During the Second World War.
In many regards the looses taken by the Regia Marina during the Raid on Taranto and the failed landing, that was supposed to be the core part of Operation Ares, had been grievous blows from which it had never recovered. Nonetheless, as 1941 was drawing to a close the Regia Marina, inferior as it was to Cunningham's Meditterannean Squadron, was nonetheless still a threat. In a brilliant action, littleknown today due to its lack of strategic consequences due to other events, the Italian submarine Sirè and three manned torpedoes entered Alexandria's harbour undected. Despite facing a fleet on alert, as it was to depart soon thereafter, they nonetheless managed to disable one destroyer and the battleship
Queen Elizabeth (7). The rejoicing in Rome proved to be of short duration, however, for Cunningham's other vessels nonetheless sailed as planned, heading west to intercept the mighty Italian convoy heading toward Tripoli to give the Axis forces in Africa the suplies they would have needed to hold off defeat for at least sometimes as Malta's squadrons were wrecking havoc on Rommel's supply lines.
A few Allied reconnaissance planes having been sent to properly disguise the fact that the information had been sent from Enigma, the stage was set for another conventional naval battle. The details of the Battle of the Gulf of Sidra have been abundantly described elsewhere. For our purposes it is sufficient to say that it ended as other conventional battles between the two fleet had. Tripoli fell and the Regia Marina ceased to be capable of contesting the Allied mastery of the old Mare Nostrum, especially after it had been reinforced by the still significant remnant of the once mighty Marine Nationale.
Excerpt of
The Fall of the False Rome: The Last Years of Fascist Italy
As tensions in East Asia and the Pacific were rising apiece the attention of Imperial Headquarters began to turn to theaters who had been comparatively neglected in the last years, as their attention was most evidently turned toward Europe in the Middle-East. One of these territories was Burma, whom even those who had the most faith in the might of Fortress Singapore aknowledged was in danger due to the ever closer ties between Bankgok and Tokyo. To adress the situation and prepare the colony for war a favourite of Hastings Ismay, the British Chief of Staff, was sent: General Bernard Law Montgomery (8). Unimpressed by what he found upon his arrival in Rangoon, and even less so by a visit in Singapore to confer with General Percival, and receiving little ressources from London, he nonetheless sought to turn what he had in hand into as potent a military instrument as possible. Drilling his soldiers, organising his forces and having them build fortifications with almost manic energy he managed to annoy most of his subordinates, superiors and colleagues but also gained their respect, even if often only grudgingly.
General Montgomery was no miracle worker and thus, when the Japaneses came they were victorious, inflicting heavy casualties to the Allied forces in Burma and pushing them back many miles. The japanese victory was not decisive, however. Rangoon held and the assault on Yunnan and the Burma Road was stopped, ensuring that the Chinese forces would continue to receive the precious supplies coming accross the mountains. In latter year it was said that no greater victory had been won by the Viscount of Moulmein then having snatched defeat from the jaws of disaster!
Excerpt of
The Lion of Burma: A Military Biography of Field Marshall Bernard Law Montgomery
In many regards the fate of North Africa was sealed by Hitler's obessession with the Eastern Front, for it deprived the Afrikakorps and its Italian allies from ressources they would have direly needed and ensured that Berlin would only understand and try to react to the crumbling of the Axis position in Lybia when it was too late. It is nonetheless to affirm, like some historians have done, that no reactions from the Wermacht was launched until Tripoli's fate was sealed, for one was attempted but it proved to be misguided. Ordered to send some of his U-boats through the Straits of Gibraltar to support the Italians in the Medditerannean Donitz executed himself, despite his misgivings. Through the bright lights of June and July 15 U-boats were lost in these waters, a level of looses preventing those who had made it to the Axis harbours of southern Western Europe to be of much weight against the Medditerannean Squadron. Their absence from the Atlantic would prove to be a great boon for the Allies, however...
Excerpt of
Wolfpacks and Convoys: The Battle of the Atlantic
(1) In OTL Skorpion was a success. Here it failed due to higher morale among the Allied troops, lower morale among the Axis, some of the troops who were destroyed in Crete in OTL being there and a better Allied situation in the air.
(2) The butterflies are really starting to act up here, as the Siege of Crete takes significantly more from what the Axis had in Africa in OTL then what the Allied had. Moreover, Slim had been something of a protegé of Wavell throughout the war, hence why he ended in Burma. After Irak he could justify giving him a big operational command and he pretty much took the first occasion he had to do it in OTL, and in ITTL as well.
(3) Similarly, a descent chunk of the ressources used against Malta are either in Crete or were eaten up back during Battle of Crete itself.
(4) He said more or less the same thing upon the end of the Tunisian Campaign in OTL.
(5) Army of Africa
(6) Commitee of National Salvation
(7) In OTL the Raid on Alexandria was arguably the most stunning Italian victory of the war, as one submarine and three manned torpedoes made it into Alexandria's harbour and disabled two battleships for good. ITTL the Brits got a bit of luck as they were about to set sail when the raid was launched, somewhat in advance from OTL to disorganise them as to prevent whatever response against the passing of the convoy to Tripoli they could have mustered, and therefore on some degree of alert. It served as cushion of a kind, but its still wasn't the proudest day of the Navy...
(8) The impression I got from OTL is that Ismay had Montgomery in mind as the commander he wanted in North Africa for a rather long time, hence why he was more or less held in reserve commanding forces in Britain for such a long time. With Slim having things in hand, however, Ismay abandonned the notion ITTL. As he still saw Monty as one of the great hopes of the British Army he pushed for Burma for him when tensions with Japan were ratching up.
Author Notes: All fronts not mentionned here have kept their broad strokes from OTL.
