The Sun, The Stars and The Sickle: Alt-WWII and a Tripolar Postwar World

[WaterproofPotatoes]

September 8th, 1939

Manila, Philippines

6:18 AM

September 8th was a day that began much like any other, and a date after which nothing would be the same.

The sun rose over Manila. Old men in barong tagalogs opened their small shops, and every tita hung her washing, much like any other day.

Douglas MacArthur leisurely sauntered into his study, a kimono draped over his pyjamas. He propped his feet up on his desk, half awake, but content. Here sat MacArthur. General MacArthur of the United States Army. Field Marshal (and the only one!) of the Philippine Army, adviser to Presidents Roosevelt (although he might not care to admit it) and Quezon. Retired until four months ago, he was once again the big boss and head honcho of damn near everything between Pearl Harbor and China. Willoughby's intelligence reports of something significant going on in Japan were probably the usual bunk, and all this fuss was purely political. Who better than MacArthur to tamp down a tense situation?


Who else would be capable of controlling things at peacetime readiness?

American eyes were on Japan. The Japanese were showing all the signs of preparing for a war- they were overhauling their navy and refusing to back down on their occupation of Manchuria- ostensibly to liberate the Manchu people from their cruel Han masters. Headlines made much ado about terrorists and militias attacking Japanese outposts and emphasis was made on how their equipment was of German or Soviet manufacture.

At the same time, this was not the aggressive Japan of ten years ago- they cracked down on radical army officers, and signed the 1935 and 1937 naval treaties which few expected that they would. They were also signing trade agreements left, right and centre- any Texas oilman who wanted a free hibachi dinner didn't have to look hard to find one.

They were also getting very cozy with the Brits- from impressively generous contracts with British companies to a delegation at King George VI's coronation that swept the tabloids- what was Willoughby doing reading tabloids anyhow? MacArthur knew that the Japanese are no fools despite what some may think at home, and must not be underestimated. The only colours MacArthur sees are red, white and blue!


Still, it never hurt to be cautious. Therefore, MacArthur, the Collossus of the Pacific, would ensure that the Philippines would be untouchable. Admiral Ernest King commanded a mighty fleet based in Subic Bay; his flagship, USS Montana, was the most powerfully armed ship in the world. King was a real son of a bitch too. MacArthur liked that in a naval commamder- those sorts were usually even tougher on the enemy than they were on their own sailors.

MacArthur had developed a working relationship with King; while he was not always easy to get along with, a stiff drink and a chance to blow off some steam did wonders for King's mood. Despite King's voracious appetite for expensive brandy and women, he drilled his men and ships hard, and made damn sure he knew what to do if the Japanese made a move.

Then, some jerk decided to shatter the peaceful mood by honking their horn right in front of his house. The car's right passenger door opened up, and a very nervous Marine corporal peeked his head out the window, scrambling to get out and open the door for his passenger.


He was too late.


An especially annoyed Admiral Ernest King threw the door open, his shirt rumpled, his tie draped around his collar, untied, and a wedge cap at an impossible angle atop his head.

King must have been really mad, thought MacArthur, because he didn't even stop to yell at the driver.

MacArthur rolled his eyes. It was way too early to deal with this. He shuffled to the door and waved his hand to Jean upstairs when she poked her head out, letting her know it was best to stay in their bedroom.

He opened the door, and as King was about to open his mouth, MacArthur motioned him into his study and closed the door.

"Now, Admiral King, what's..."

"You believe this shit?!" roared King, waving a a news paper with one hand, and rifling through a satchel with his other.

"Did you drive from Subic, or did you fly?" asked a bleary MacArthur

"No, I rode a goddamn camel; what the hell does it matter?"

"Cigarette?" offered MacArthur, lighting one of his own in a jeweled holder.

"Very fucking funny. Those goddamn Japs!"

"And what, my dear Ernest, have our Japanese friends done now?" inquired MacArthur, his cool giving way to concern.

"Read this" said King, his nostrils flaring. MacArthur read, while King narrated anyway. "Yesterday, some goddamn Jap battleship, the Hyuga blew up"

MacArthur was uncharacteristically at a loss for words, his brows furrowed as he read the paper, raising an eyebrow as King looked on.

"Hyuga. See, we name our battlewagons after states- well, not Kearsarge, but that rotten tub barely counted as a ship anyway- the Japs name theirs after the sound you make when you see the chow they dish up; seaweed and tentacles and shit like that"

"Goddamn it, Ernie! Are you fucking serious"

"Damn straight, Mac! The Japs are saying some kind of terrorists did this! And not just any Chinese terrorists. Chinese Nazi terrorists! What a load of shit! And they just declared war on the Krauts!"

"What?" was all MacArthur could manage.

King, calmly as he possibly could, pointed to a passage "Just... just read this"


A communique from the Imperial Palace reads:

"September 7th, 1939 is a day which will live in infamy.

On this day, the Empire of Japan was attacked by Chinese warlord-led terrorists from the Steel Helmet Clan (Stahlhelm-Ost). By means unknown, they smuggled a bomb onto the battleship Hyuga and detonated it. Our brave sailors, with their superior training and selfless dedication, saved their ship from a catastrophic explosion which would have killed the entire crew, and visiting sea cadets. This dishonourable attack has claimed the lives of twenty-one Japanese sailors. Never shall we forget that these heroes gave their lives for our beloved country on this day. Their spirits shall rest peacefully now, their warriors' duties fulfilled. Their names shall live forever!

It is immediately obvious that this attack was perpetrated at the behest of the terrorists' German masters. Their propaganda decrees that the Han Chinese are the true Master Race of the East, and they are ordained to rule it all. These are not the words of Chinese warlords- lies such as these are so vile, they could only come from Goebbels. Evidence in the form of German equipment discovered in Manchukuo, and propaganda such as this can mean only one thing- a trail of treachery weaving its way to Berlin! Naturally, Hitler and Ribbentrop will deny this, but the world knows their words are lies and their assurances are meaningless.

The cowardly invasion of Poland is proof positive that the Nazi regime cannot be trusted. Fight on, brave Poles! The spirit of the Winged Hussar lives on in you as the spirit of the Samurai lives on in us!

It is now clear that this is a dastardly attempt to open a second front in the East, so that Germany's position will be advantaged in Europe. Not so! We see through such facile trickery, as do our allies, Britain and France. Let it never be said that Japan has even once forsaken her friends! Together, our great empires will purge the terrorists from China and bring about lasting peace and prosperity!

Not one Nazi jackboot shall set foot on the territories which rely on our protection, from Hsinking to Hong Kong! Our ships and aeroplanes are ready to repulse any attempt at invasion of our home. Our soldiers will fight to the last and never yield so much as a grain of Japanese sand!

Conspicuously absent is any word of condemnation from Mao and his band of communists. Should they too be found responsible, then they too shall feel retribution! The Rising Sun will reveal their hideouts and blind them where they stand!

We fear nothing and no one! We will not be cowed by these dishonourable actions! Any hope Japan's enemies have that we will not react swiftly and justly are in vain. I will not allow the House of Yamato to be shamed by weakness and indecision at such a crucial time.

We have no choice but to declare war on Germany. Prime Minister Konoe and the Diet are in unanimous agreement. Our resolve will never waver as we march forward to our inevitable victory!

Dai-Nihon Teikoku Banzai!

His Imperial Japanese Majesty

Hirohito"

"Jesus Christ, Ernie. Does Kimmel know about this? And what about- "

"They know" said King cutting MacArthur off "Now, how about that cigarette?"

"Goddamn. An old soldier just can't fade away" muttered MacArthur

"Never mind fading away" said King "Put some goddamn pants on and get in the car, we have a call with the President, and I'm not talking Quezon."

 

[WaterproofPotatoes]

Firstly, I apologize for this update being a bit info-dump-y, but I feel it would be helpful in setting the direction this timeline will take.


AN: My sincere apologies, I had to do some retconning here. 21/6/2019


Excerpt from the textbook "Understanding the World" W. P. Oates, Cornell University Press, 1962



TODAY, the prospect of a major "hot" war is a daunting one. After the horrors of the Second World War, humanity has learned a harsh lesson, and resolves that such horrors never again come to pass. With the invention of the atomic bomb, such a war would destroy us all. The nations of the world must cooperate to create and keep peace. As ever, humanity cannot agree on how that peace is to be achieved and maintained.



The world is divided into three major blocs, with few other than minor nations unaligned.

The first of these is the Liberty Bloc, headed by the United States. Its influence is primarily in the Americas, with the exception of the Crown Colonies Britain retains in the Caribbean. The United States' major partners include Mexico, Brazil, the Philippines and the Union of China (Beijing). Argentina is seeking warmer relations with her neighbours, and coming closer to fully joining this bloc. Israel maintains strong relations with both this bloc and the next. These nations are firmly committed to freedom, capitalism and democracy, and stand against colonialism



The second bloc is the Imperial Bloc. The major nations in this bloc are Britain, France and the Empire of Japan. Canada and Australia are the nations closest to the Liberty Bloc and also serve as "bridges" between the two, with their smaller populations demanding more flexible policies. This bloc is influential primarily in Northern and Western Europe, where Britain and France prove instrumental in policy-making, as well as Japan in the Far East. These states maintain significant colonial holdings, although they are resolutely committed to capitalism and the containment of communism as well.

Britain retains significant interests in the Caribbean (Jamaica, Bahamas, Bermuda), East Africa (notably but not exclusively Kenya) the Far East (Hong King, Singapore), the Persian Gulf (Kuwait), and the Middle East. Relations with the then Dominion of India worsened in the 1950s (refer to later chapter for further explanation). France maintains her colonies in Indochina and North and Western Africa. Japan exerts her influence in the Far East with her satellite states in China; these are Manchukuo, Menjiang and the Shandong (rendered Kwantung in Japanese and Imperial Bloc sources) Autonomous Republic. Korea falls under Japanese influence as well, a Communist uprising having been crushed in the mid-1950s.


The third bloc is the Communist Bloc. The Soviet Union dominates this sphere, with a rump People's Republic of China in Mongolia and the former Xinjiang Province as the next most major partner. East Germany appears to be a willing partner, occupied Poland and Hungary less so. It extends its influence throughout Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The bulk of the Communist Bloc's activity to gain influence has been through attempting to sow the seeds of revolution and class conflict throughout the other nations of the world. These efforts have thus far been met with limited success; their largest claim thus far is the Communist Party of India attaining status as an opposition party. Pan-Arabism and the funding thereof is another cause that the Communist bloc has committed itself to, albeit more quietly so.


Lastly are the unaligned nations of the world. Italy, having maintained her neutrality throughout the majority of the Second World War was once the most significant of these, although after the death of Mussolini, a controversial figure to the end, relations with the Imperial Bloc have warmed. Spain, Portugal, Greece, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, the Democratic Republic of China (Xi'ning) and Yugoslavia are the most significant of these nations. Often headed by a strongman, and with poor economies or ones that rely on primary resource extraction, these nations are often troubled ones, although it would be unfair to say all of them are. Many retain rich cultures, and are simply unwilling to give these up or to compromise their national values. Others are newly independent nations, unsure of their destiny and what their place in the world will ultimately be.


----------


You, the student of history, might be wondering why things are as they are, and what they might have been if events were different. It is difficult to say exactly what would have happened even in this century, much like how a flock of butterflies will never form exactly the same pattern as it lands.

However, there are certain events that many historians agree have influenced the world greatly. These are the Treaty of Versailles and the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922.

Here, shocked by the horrors of the First World War, the major naval powers of the world gathered to prevent the outbreak of a naval arms race. At that time, the battleship was considered as fearsome of a weapon as the nuclear ballistic missile is today; it was the means by which a nation projected its power, and in the early 1920s, the United States, Great Britain and Japan were each designing or building fearsome new battleships, larger than any the world had before seen.

There were two major voices at the Washington Naval Conference, convened in 1921. One faction's views can be summarized as "To disarm, disarm!"; the other's was "On Guard For Peace". Ultimately, the latter view won out. The United States and Japan were allowed to finish most of the battleships and battlecruisers they were building, and convert others to aircraft carriers; Britain was allowed to scrap a larger number of her old ships and design and build new ones. Ultimately, Japan was allowed to have three battleships for every five that Britain and the United States had individually; France and Italy were each granted two-thirds of Japan's allotment. After a five-year period, another Naval Conference was called in Geneva, which banned the laying down of new capital ships, and placed restrictions on the size of capital ships to be built thereafter.



This treaty also had the effect of forcing Britain and Japan to terminate the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, which left Japan feeling bitter and betrayed. Radicalism permeated her armed forces, particularly her Army. However, the navy's radical faction had been largely placated- Japan was not forced to scrap a single capital ship under construction, and her rivals with more construction capacity were restrained to a far larger degree by the Treaty than Japan was; for such naval expansionism consumed, at its highest point, over half of Japan's national budget. This was made even worse by the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923.

Tensions reached a high point in 1930 after naval negotiators almost agreed to a plan that would force Japan to scrap two of its oldest battleships; this was viewed as a "selling out" and sign of weak will by elements within the Navy and especially the Army. Radicalism permeated the Imperial Japanese Army, and in 1931, Japan controversially invaded Manchuria (see Glossary for "Mukden Incident" ) , an act for which she was nearly expelled from the League of Nations in 1933, although the penalty was reduced to censure. This was to be the last major act of radicalism in the Japanese armed forces. Bolstered by a strong and more moderate Naval Establishment, Emperor Hirohito feared an increasingly powerful and difficult to control faction in the Army; a faction which did not have any qualms about using violence and assassinations to achieve their ends.

On May 14th, 1932, a plot was discovered by the Kempeitai (Imperial Japanese Army Military Police) to assassinate Prime Minister Tsuyoshi Inukai. Earlier, the same plotters had blown up the electrical transformers of Mitsubishi Bank. The plotters, mostly young junior officers, attempted to use their trial as a stage to prove their personal loyalty to the Emperor, but the Emperor repudiated them in a scathing letter; which also had the effect of turning the public against their goals.

In this letter, Emperor Hirohito wrote "You say you have crafted this plot in order to infuse our beloved Japan with Yamato Spirit, yet you would dishonourably murder a servant of the House of Yamato and our people? How dare you! Such foolish and childlike insolence is unacceptable from any grown man, let alone an army officer! How could you possibly presume to know the wishes of the House of Yamato better than your Emperor! Do you think your Emperor such a fool that he would allow a traitor to serve as Prime Minister or appoint advisors that would not notice? You have shamed yourselves, your families, the Army and Japan. I hope to never again have to write words such as these, it causes me great sorrow that I should have to at all."

In the end, only three plotters survived to their executions, suicide claiming the rest.

Japan's focus then pivoted to strengthening her economy and modernizing her navy, as many of her capital ships were aging. Imperial Japanese Navy planners determined that the United States was the greatest threat to Japan, and would be able to out-produce them in any sort of war. It was also determined that the long-held doctrine of a single decisive battle against US or British forces would more than likely end in disaster. Therefore, doctrine shifted to the use of fast fleets of combined aircraft carriers and capital ships in addition to a slower but powerful battle line.

Japan also realized that the United States and Britain were unlikely to go to war with each other, and that Britain, another empire with colonies in the Far East, and on top of this, one such power with which relations were historically good, would make a good partner. Japan slowed down her colonial ambitions- officially, the reason given was that nothing that could not be held was to be taken, as too great a loss of face would occur if any territory was lost. This, and signing the 1935 London Naval Treaty, when many nations expected Japan would not, made Britain much more favourably disposed.

Japan signed the 1937 Treaty, which capped the size of future ships at some 44 000 tons, with an "escalator clause" to 56 000 tons. Japan built her last battleships in 1940 and 1941 to this higher limit, her economy having recovered enough during wartime to permit such construction; as all of her older capital ships had received full reconstructions during the 1930s, placing considerable strain on Japan's budget and steel industry.



During this interwar period, totalitarianism took hold in Europe. First, Russia faced a Communist revolution, which led to the formation of the Soviet Union, as mentioned in earlier chapters. So too did Hitler rise to power in Germany, bitter at how Germany was treated at Versailles; and Mussolini in Italy [AUTHOR'S NOTE: As in our timeline]. In later years, Hitler and Mussolini's personal brands of fascism would differ much, and their relations became increasingly acrimonious.

In China too, there was much strife; not only between the Communists and Nationalists, but between the Western powers and Japanese, each of which exerted their own influence. To call China a mere patchwork of warlords, however, would be to do her people a great injustice. Sinologists to this day ponder what a more cohesive China would look like, and what her influence on the world would be.

 

[WaterproofPotatoes]

*If you've seen "The King's Choice"; you'll see where I've been a bit shameless

Fortress Oscarsborg,

Drøbak, Norway

April 9, 1940

4:19 AM


"RANGE, Sødem!" called out Colonel Birger Eriksen to his second in command.

The fortress Oscarsborg, and its commander, Colonel Birger Eriksen, neither young, were all that stood in the way of the Nazi assault on Oslo. They were all that stood between the attackers and the King, the Parliament and the gold reserves. However, they had both trained their whole lives for this. Now was their hour. Three ships were spotted, inching ever closer to the fortress. Three 28cm Krupp guns, forty years old and manned by recruits and too few artillerists, were made ready.

So old were the guns, they were nicknamed after the Biblical Moses, Aron and Josva


"The orograph shows 1800 metres, sir!"

Eriksen looked through his binoculars.

"Eighteen hundred? That's way too much! They're just passing Småsjkær! Set range, 1200 metres."

"Are... are we firing live ammunition, sir?" called out a young gunner nervously.

"You're damn right we are! These are enemies!" replied Eriksen. "No warning, no hesitation"

The ancient, manually-traversed Moses, creaked and groaned into position, aimed at the shadow of a ship.

"Sir" said Sødem, quietly "We're still awaiting confirmation from Kopås."

Eriksen noted the time on his watch. "On my command!" he shouted out to the crew of the gun Moses

"But what if-?" was Sødem's hushed protest

"Then I will either be decorated, or court martialed. FIRE!"


------


Bridge, German heavy cruiser Blücher

Drøbak Sound, Norway

4:21 AM

Rear Admiral Oskar Kunmetz, up until now, was a man who was very sure of what his immediate future would hold. He commanded a task force led by his flagship, the heavy cruiser Blücher. If everything went to plan, his forces would land in Oslo, unopposed, around dawn; march into the city and capture the King and parliament. Resistance would crumble. The British would moan, but offer little resistance. Their vaunted Royal Navy had become flabby and week in the interwar years, their battleship captains too cautious; the sort that would soil their whites at the word "U-Boat". Now, would the inevitable Kmight's Cross be with diamonds or just oak leaves and swords?


A flash of light appeared off the port bow, followed by the terrible sound of a shell tearing through the air, followed by the ship shuddering as the shell connected.

The bridge crew of the heavy cruiser Blücher hit the deck, still in shock at what had just happened



"You assured me they would offer no resistance!" shouted Captain Heinrich Woldag



"Intelligence indicated that we need not expect- " retorted a shocked Kunmetz, but he was cut off by the dreadful noise of shearing metal. There was a sickening crash as flaming chunks of what, just moments ago, were the Blücher's mainmast and main rangefinder fell on the deck and into the water below.

"General alarm! Damage report, now!" shouted Woldag.

Woldag was furious. "No resistance? Did the Abwehr take the day off? That 'no resistance' just"-



A second shell struck the Blücher, and explosions reverberted through the ship, much worse than the first.

As Kunmetz staggered to his feet, the ship's anti-aircraft guns began to return fire wildly, as another explosion sent a plume of flame upwards.


"Verdammt!" shouted Kunmetz. "We cannot fail! Get out of the range of their guns!"

"And what if they have mined the fjord? retorted Woldag

"Better we hit mines, than hit mines while their guns blow us to pieces! Besides, the intelligence reports in-"

"Damn your intelligence reports! Where the hell are they shooting at us from! The chart indicated some sort of ... training fortress


Just then a filthy, soot covered petty officer ran to the bridge.

"Captain! Admiral!" he saluted "Damage report"

"Well, let's have it, Herr Kraft. Where is Oberleutnant-" inquired Woldag.

"Below sir, examining the full extent of the damage." said Kraft, looking terrified. "A large caliber shell penetrated the floatplane hangar, and set fire to the fuel and set off the torpedoes stored there. Either the shell or the explosion penetrated the deck. Turbinenraum 1 is out of action; Kesselraum 1 has been damaged by the explosion and the steam pipes severed; electrical systems have been badly damaged, with power to turrets Anton and Bruno disabled. Several areas inaccessible due to fire and thick smoke. We are not sure of the extent of structural damage presently"

"Sir?" inquired Kraft. "May I speak freely?"

"Absolutely" replied Woldag

"The firefighting efforts are going badly; the Heer's men are useless and many of our recruits are just too green"

"Thank you, Kraft. To your duties dismissed. Make men out of those boys!" encouraged Woldag. "Thannemann!" he shouted into the receiver to his chief engineer "Flank speed, on whatever we've got left! Get us out of this while we still have a ship!"

Just then, another explosion rocked the Blücher...

---------

Scapa Flow, Scotland

April 9th, 1940

5:10 AM

Dawn had not yet broken, yet light danced on the choppy waters. Force Y was assembling; there was no time to waste.

The Phoney War was over. The Germans were not going to be allowed to invade Norway and use its fjords to hide her submarines; nor be counted as one more country under the Nazi yoke.


Rear Admiral Lancelot Holland, having been recalled from the Air Ministry, surveyed the bridge of his new flagship, HMS King George V. One couldn't be too careful, as it was rumoured that there were places on the ship where the paint was literally still drying.

Along with the battlecruiser Rodney, the carrier Courageous, three light cruisers, twelve destroyers, and a detachment of Royal Marines, the task would fall to them of keeping Norway from falling into Nazi hands. The old battleship Warspite would never be able to keep up with the Ugly Sisters, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, so she was left behind. Bellerophon and three heavy cruisers would screen for pocket battleships attempting to break out of the Baltic.

Holland could not be more satisfied with this force, but it was still going to be a nearly run thing...

 

[WaterproofPotatoes]

Nagoya, Japan

April 23, 1940

TWELVE year old Shimajiro Nakayama was walking to school, while his eyes were drawn to a propaganda poster pasted up on a notice board.

On the left side of the poster was a proud Samurai, with a determined facial expression, and his right hand on the hilt of his katana, ready to draw it from its scabbard. To the Samurai's right (the viewer's left), standing shoulder to shoulder with him, was a European knight, his helmet visor open and his armour shimmering; clearly meant to be ambiguously English or French. The knight's piercing blue eyes were focused and conveyed resolve. On the Samurai's left shoulder was a hulking Viking warrior. Long, wavy blond hair flowed from his horned helmet, and he wore an impressive blond beard. His gleaming battle-axe was drawn and ready for action. The flags of France, Britain, and Norway fluttered in the background behind them with the Rising Sun above them and centred.

On the right side of the poster, the figures were quite different. In the centre was a crazed Adolf Hitler, baring his greenish-yellow teeth, with a sunken chest, flaring nostrils, and bloodshot eyes with Swastikas for pupils. In his left hand, he clutched a bloody butcher's knife. In his right, he held aloft a puppet of Chiang Kai-Shek, which itself had a spherical bomb with a lit fuse in its right hand. To Hitler's right was a sallow, corpse-like, club-footed Goebbels, his brown shirt flecked with spittle, an ape-like jaw with significant underbite hinged open; his clawlike hands gesticulating wildly. To Hitler's left was a grossly obese Göring, his brown shirt festooned with medals, including a bar that extended past his chest. He had a huge, gilded pickelhaube atop his head, and a massive belly puckered the buttons of his brown shirt and overhung his belt. In his right hand, he clutched his Reichsmarshall's baton; in his left, a large sausage link with a bite taken from it. A tattered, stained swastika flag was tacked in the background.

The caption was simple. It read:

"CHOOSE YOUR FRIENDS CAREFULLY"

 

[WaterproofPotatoes]

Japanese anti-Nazi propaganda, eh? I'd make a manga joke, but I don't think we're going to have to worry about that TTL.

Oh man, the propaganda TTL is so much fun to write, there are so many opportunities that have opened up, for Japan especially!

Here's another:

I'll edit in a scene setting and date later; this is just too much fun to write!

SIR Winston Churchill was known to have particularly favoured two Japanese posters in particular, going so far as to have had one of each framed.

The first, dating from 1941, was a widely admired one of the era, praised even by artists. A simple but superbly executed ligne claire piece, it depicts a blue sea, and yellow sun rising in the top left. Two battleships are depicted sailing in formation at great speed; the wave formations on their bows and the wakes they are shown to create on the calm sea set this scene.

Except for a proportionally correct naval jack flying from each ship's bow, there are no overtly nationalistic symbols. Ship aficionados delight in the detail shown even in simplified and stylized form, leaving the identities of the ships in no doubt. They are the Japanese battleship Amagi (the pagoda mast on her sister Akagi was slightly different in its construction), and the British battleship Prince of Wales; the tiny but visible scarlet St. George's Cross in the position of her ship's badge the telltale.

The caption (given either in English or Japanese), reads: "Indestructable Fleets. Inseparable Friendship. Inevitable Victory".

The second was intended for Japanese viewership only. It depicted Churchill as an oni giant; a creature in Japanese mythology. To this end, a giant Churchill was depicted charging through the Chinese countryside as grateful Japanese and Hong Kongers looked on in the foreground.

The giant Churchill had a craggy face with the corners of his mouth downturned, chomping on an enormous cigar, the size of a factory chimney by the scale of the poster. He wore a bowler hat and a striped suit in a suitably English cut, with ill-matched hobnailed shoes, and wielded an uprooted English oak as a club.

Cresting a hill and with a foot upraised, Sir Winston was poised to crush a group of huts flying the Hammer and Sickle.

This poster had limited circulation and was quickly withdrawn.

Churchill was initially presented one of these posters as a gag gift, but sincerely appreciated it.

Churchill's life is filled with apocrypha, so it may be taken with a reasonable degree of suspicion that he actually said the following words of it in his later life:

"The only unfortunate thing I can think of about this depiction is that it has all but ruined sitting for other portraits for me. Now, each time I sit or stand with as much dignity as I can muster, all I can think of is how no other artist can ever depict my essence with quite such clarity"

 

[WaterproofPotatoes]

Bridge, German heavy cruiser Blücher

Drøbak Narrows, Norway

April 9th, 1940

4:24 AM

"OVER there!" shouted an excited seaman, pointing at a concentration of flashes, presumably where the last shell came from.

Blücher's Flakvierling light AA guns peppered the Norwegian coastline roughly in the direction of the Kopås battery, but to no effect.

Captain Woldag asked the chief artillery officer, Engelmann as to whether the main guns in turrets Cäsar and Dora could be brougt to bear on the guns at Kopås, but they could not be depressed enough.

The stricken Blücher gained speed, too slowly for Captain Woldag's liking, carrying it out of the range of Oscarsborg's main guns.

Woldag looked over at the able seaman at the helm, as Kunmetz hastily scrawled a report.

"Fifteen degrees starboard rudder" Woldag instructed the helmsman

The wheel turned, but the Blücher did not.

Captain Woldag called for his executive officer, Fregattenkapitän Erich Heymann to investigate.

Another petty officer, Haider, came to the bridge to make his report.

"Shellfire from the shore batteries has disabled the equipment for steering from the bridge, and further fire has disabled the pumps for the fire hoses. Auxiliary steering gear is operational. Generator Room 3 out of action"

"Thank you, Haider" said Woldag. "Oh, and Haider- where is Kraft?"

Haider's expression was downcast. "The infirmary, sir. He was injured while leading a firefighting party"

"Very well. To your duties dismissed. I thank you again."

Woldag's frustration gave way to grave concern. While Blücher did not appear to be in danger of sinking, his ship was on fire, without a third of its power and without firefighting pumps in unfriendly waters facing a surprisingly determined and resourceful enemy.

-----

Fortress Oscarsborg

Drøbak, Norway

April 9th, 1940

4:40 AM

The crippled Blücher slipped out of the range of Oscarsborg's guns.

Anderssen's torpedoes, weapons as old as the fortress' guns, had worked flawlessly. Eriksen was no seaman, but knew enough to know that a ship in that condition would never reach Oslo.

He checked his binoculars again. The second ship still advanced. Eriksen thought briefly about engaging it with the remaining gun Josva; Moses and Aron could not be reloaded in time. He quickly buried the thought.

"Sir?" inquired Sødem "Shall I check the orograph?"

"No, Sødem, that will not be necessary". Eriksen turned to face his men.

"The fortress has served its purpose. Our part of the fight is over. Godspeed you, and long live the King!"

As his men fell out, Sødem remained.

"Sir,"

"No need for formalities now, my friend, speak your mind" said Eriksen

"I never expected that- and with such overwhelming odds, that we should be able to-" struggled the younger officer.

"It's far from over, Sødem."

"Of course not, I was referring to this, engagement?" said Sødem, more as a question than a statement.

"Ah" said Eriksen "I would say that one day they will make a film about this, but no one would believe it"

Sødem chuckled

"Easy for you to laugh" said Eriksen "You've nothing to worry about, you're young. I hope the actor they get to play me is handsome"

-------

SS Lac Deschesnes

Somewhere in the North Pacific

April 10th, 1940

Sometime between Oh Dark Hundred and Oh Christ Thirty

ORDINARY Seaman Christopher Barton, known to his friends as "Chris" and by the boatswain and mates as "paint that", went to sea looking for adventure.

He didn't find it.

His ship, Lac Deschesnes, was carrying nickel ingots, and aluminum coils. She was sailing from Vancouver, Canada; bound for Yokohama, Japan. It was an incredibly long, incredibly dull run with none of the tropical islands he thought might lay between. At least it smelled better tham the cannery back home.

A "City" class destroyer, HMCS Montréal, and "Suburb" class sloop, HMCS Port Credit escorted convoy GZ-19 as protection against submarines.

Unsurprisingly, there were no U-boats in the North Pacific. Boredom was the only enemy

All there was out there was the vast sea in every direction.

 

[WaterproofPotatoes]

Excerpts from "Fighting Ships of the Second World War". J. Willis, Penguin Books, 1957

AFTER the Battle of Drøbak Sound, the first major naval engagements of the Second World War took place, as will be described in chapters following.

Oslo's temporary reprieve ended. German troops occupied the city. King Haakon VII, Crown Prince Olav and the loyal members of parliament fled north; Vidkun Quisling was executing his coup d'etat. The situation looked bleak for Norway on the ground.

At sea, however, Brittania continued to rule the waves.To demonstrate the disparity, a look at the Royal Navy and Kreigsmarine:


Germany possessed no aircraft carriers, and had one, Graf Zeppelin beibg built; by the time of the invasion of Norway, the Royal Navy had eight, with ten more under construction.

The Royal Navy possessed nine modern battleships built to post Battle of Jutland designs, all armed with 16" guns. Of this number, the Nelson and Triumph classes comprised four ships each, and the remaing ship, King George V was the lead ship of her class of 7. *(see insert G)

Three additional ships from the 1937 Programme (Queen Mary, Prince of Wales, Duke of York) were due to be commissioned in 1940; and two from the 1938 Programme (Lion, Temeraire) to be commissioned in 1941.

The seventh, Vanguard, was split off from the 1938 Programme, to be laid down in 1939 to a slightly revised design.

The "KGVs" were designed and built as "Treaty Battleships". The 1937 Paris Naval Treaty specified a maximum of 42 000 tons at standard load for new battleships. An escalator clause was placed into the Treaty, allowing an escalation of 33%, to 56 000 tons. In either case, main gun caliber was not to exceed 16".

The contemporary American Louisiana class battleships, and Italian Vittorio Veneto class battleships met this limit too, as did French battleships Richelieu and Jean Bart before their modernizations beginning in 1953.

Vanguard was originally intended to be a slight modification of the KGV, with a revised secondary battery and other improvements. An additional two ships, Conqueror and Thunderer, were proposed but never ordered nor assigned to shipyards.

Vanguard went through several redesigns, and the result was one quite different than the original plan; this will be addresed in a later chapter.

Germany, having signed the 1937 Treaty as well, possessed two small battleships.

Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were fast, capable ships, but were designed to counter the French Dunkerque class small battleships of some 26 000 tons; as well as operating against cruisers and as commerce raiders. Their 11" (280mm) guns simply lacked the punch to take on much larger British battleships.

To this end, Germany embarked on the construction of four new battleships, the Bismarck class. Bismarck was laid down in mid- 1935, Tirpitz in late 1935; Großer Kurfürst and Hindenburg in 1937 and 1938 respectively.

Of moderate length, great beam and shallow draughts, (848'x124'x30'), Bismarck in some ways more exhibited characteristics of older battleships. Her turrets were twin turrets, her armour was in distributed scheme as opposed to the all-or-nothing scheme favoured by the navies of Britain, the United States and Japan in particular. Her most scathing critics dismiss her as a ship designed with re-fighting Jutland in mind.

Bismarck also included a series of firsts. Capable of a rated 29.75 knots (although she achieved 30.01 on trials), her powerplant was unlike any other yet seen. She made a total of 160 000 horsepower. The wing shafts were powered by banks of MAN diesels, for 50 000 horsepower per shaft. The centre shaft was a turboelectric drive system; an electric motor was powered by a Brown-Boveri turbine with steam supplied by 4 ultra high pressure Wagner boilers, rated for 60 000 shp.

Her eight 16.5" guns were also the largest of any battleship of the time. They were originally built at a compliant 16" , but the guns were built to be bored out and barrels reseleeved. This choice was deliberate- Rheinmetall designed the hoists to be capable of accommodating both 16" (406 mm) and 16.5" (420 mm) projectiles. The turrets themselves were quite large for twin turrets, designed as such so they could accommodate separate powder and projectile hoists.

The mighty Bismarck, however, would not be ready in time for the naval battles off Norway.

The Kreigsmarine also lacked sufficient numbers of cruisers and destroyers. It is worth noting that the Imperial Japanese Navy lay down no battleships between 1937 and 1940, in order to clear the backlog of battleships requiring moderinization (and thus to learn from the innovations introduced), and to build more badly-needed cruisers.

 

[WaterproofPotatoes]

Excerpts from "Fighting Ships of the Second World War". J. Willis, Penguin Books, 1957

Appendix "G"

BRITAIN'S renowned Royal Navy, in the early 1920s, found itself in an uncomfortable position. Britain had invented the dreadnought battleship- typified by an all-big-gun armament operating under director control, and steam turbine propulsion. First Sea Lord Sir John "Jackie" Fisher also developed the battlecruiser- a faster, longer ship with cruiser-like speed and battleship sized guns. Much larger machinery was required, and in these early days, was often provided by mixed-firing boilers: coal was sprayed with fuel oil to increase its burn rate and calorific values. One can imagine how truly horrible the conditions must have been for the firemen who kept these ships in motion.

The problem Britain faced, however, was that much of her Navy was obsolescent if not obsolete.

Her battleships were generally slow; the Revenge class, the newest at the end of the Great War, were only capable of 21 knots. The ships of the preceding Queen Elizabeth class was designed to be capable of 25 knots, but in their severely overweight condition, they could only manage 24. It was also found that battleships with an intermediate speed between battlecruisers and slow battleships had little additional usefulness, as they were bound to the speed of the slower ships in the battle line.

Guns, too, were of concern. The Royal Navy's BL 15" Mark I gun, a wire-wound gun of 42 calibers, was an excellent weapon, which fired a very heavy shell for its caliber. It had a low muzzle velocity, which gave the liners a long life at the cost of vertical penetration. However, the United States and Japan had both introduced 16" guns on their Colorado and Nagato classes respectively. Britain tested an 18" gun in a single mount on the battlecruiser Furious, but the gun proved too powerful for the ship's light structure. Firing it was reported to cause a hail of rivets to fly each time.

Britain's battlecruisers were also found to be dangerously deficient in protection, as the battle of Jutland demonstrated so clearly. The final capital ship that Britain had designed in this era, Hood, had her design revised several times to improve her armour, leaving her overweight and wet, although her great length,fineness and powerful machinery nonetheless allowed her to make her rated speed.

The only way to rectify this was a new generation of ships.

A series of proposals were drawn up, one for a new class of battlecruisers, and one for battleships. Using the letters of the alphabet, split in the middle and descending for the former, and ascending for the latter, the two winning proposals were the "G3" battlecruiser and the "N3" battleship. The former was designed to displace some 48 000 tons, carry 9 new 16" in three turrets, and achieve a speed of 32 knots and protected against 18" fire,. The latter, of similar displacement, was supposed to carry 9 18" guns, protected against the same, but at a much slower speed of 23 knots.

The 1922 Washington Naval Treaty restricted newly constructed capital ships to 16" guns, and the total tonnage of Britain's fleet of capital ships to 630 000 tons. To this end, all capital ship classes armed with 13.5" or smaller guns were scrapped, and the battlecruisers Courageous, Glorious and Furious, known to sailors as "Outrageous","Laborious" and 'Spurious" or collectively as "Fisher's Follies" were converted to aircraft carriers.

The "G3" design was accepted in a modified form, and became the Nelson class. The four ships in this class carry the names of great British admirals. The modifications represent slight departure from the original; it gave up protection against 18" shellfire (since such guns were banned), in exchange for 30' extra length amidships to protect the funnel uptakes and superstructure from her own blast, as her "Y" turret was installed between the two to shorten her citadel. Their machinery was also upgraded from 160 000 to 180 000 horsepower, and their bunkerage increased. This class was laid down in 1922, and construction proceeded at a slow, peacetime pace in civilian shipyards. They were only euphamistically called "battlecruisers"; their protection exceeded every preceding class of battleship, and they were the largest and heaviest warships in the world when completed. They were the world's first fully-realized fast battleships.

The "N3" design proved a greater challenge. It would have been the preference of the Admiralty to simply order an additional four Nelsons, but Parliament balked at the cost, and the other signatories were concerned about the great destructive potential held by the former class. The solution was an "economy" battleship; but one that would not be a second class ship at the outset like the Revenge class was. Designs "O3" and "P3" were rejected; their 23 and 25 knot speeds simply too slow. The design that won out was "Q3"; it became the Triumph class and carried on the lineage of many of the Royal Navy's most famous names. These ships had a very efficient hull form with significant transom, which made them somewhat difficult to handle in following swells, but were otherwise quite satisfactory. Their reduced length of 740', some 146' shorter than the Nelsons with the same beam made them able to utilize far more docks.

The Triumph class ships displaced some 40 000 tons, and carried all of their main armament forward. They also had four shafts, but with machinery half as powerful as the Nelsons. However, this still gave them a speed of some 28.25 knots; enviable for a battlecruiser of the preceding decade. Smaller and easier to complete, two were built in HM Dockyards and two were assigned to civilian shipbuilders. Although they spent their lives in the shadows of their predecessors, they were nonetheless excellent ships, and superior to most foreign contemporaries.

British cruisers of the 1920s and 1930s were built to conventional designs, compliant with the 10 000 ton displacement limit put into place in 1922 and confirmed at the Geneva Naval Conference of 1927, where "heavy" and "light" cruisers were defined, electing not to experiment with flight-deck cruisers.

This was in contrast to the other major naval powers, and meant there was no British equivalent to the American Syren (CLV-1) class light aviation cruisers of 1935 (which pioneered the use of an angled flight deck), or the Japanese Tone class heavy cruisers.

 

[WaterproofPotatoes]

Oslo, Norway

April 20th, 1940

THE FUEHRER's birthday was today, so his German colleagues were celebrating.

Vidkun Quisling, however, was restless.

The reports from the North were becoming more desperate. The remnant of the Army that had remained loyal to the King- which was most of it- continued its advance southward, bolstered by a brigade of Royal Marines. Attempts to retake Trondheim had failed, and the Royal Navy was able to supply them by sea, virtually unchallenged. An attempt to land Gebirgsjaeger at Tromso ended in disaster- the ships were spotted by a fishing boat, of all things, which reported it to the Royal Navy via partisans. Armed transports with a torpedo boat escort do not stand up well to heavy cruisers, as it turns out.

Bergen was now threatened.


Partisans also aided them everywhere, and confounded his forces equally. One couldn't turn their head without seeing a royal cypher grafitto,


He was an unpopular man abroad, by all accounts. French editorials mocked him. He was booed during Pathe newsreels in London. In Tokyo, a special venom was reserved for him; the Japanese, with their devotion to their Emperor and rigidly defined sense of honour. Quisling did not see anything dignified about propaganda posters that displayed him gored on a Viking's horned helmet, or licking Hitler's boots either.

The Germans too, undermined him at every turn. Their toady, Terboven was a thoroughly dull-witted and disagreeable man, was nonetheless angling for power. The King had declared Quisling's government unlawful; and rejected too the Administrative Council on the 16th of April, with little deliberation. Since then, the Germans treated him like a junior partner, and he battled to remain relevant. Did they not know, he thought that it was none other than he, Quisling, who had reached out first?


The Germans, as much as they tried to hide it, also became nervous. Their navy had been, and continued to be savaged. Nearly everything larger than a torpedo boat had been sunk or damaged, and now the flow of supplies was starting to slow- five transport ships had been lost last week. The British were emboldened. Their utterly mad destroyermen would charge at anything and try to sink it. Aircraft now began to harass shipping in the Baltic.

The consequences of that, were that now supply shortages began to crop up in key places. One battalion did not receive new boots here, a company got less ammunition or three-quarters rations there.

What Quisling didn't know was that German shipyards weren't able to make good the losses. Steel was earmarked for something else. Something bigger than this...

 

[WaterproofPotatoes]

Ryojun (Port Arthur), Kwantung Autonomous Republic

October 23, 1956


FREELANCE reporter Sidney (to his mother and damn well no one else!) "Sid" Wilkes had seen a lot of places in his time, but he was setting foot in Kwantung for the first time. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, USA; and moving to Shanghai at the age of 6 as his father took up a position in a steelmaking firm over there, wanderlust took hold. He had been almost everywhere it seemed, at least once. Nobody expected a guy like him to be able to speak Mandarin either.

The OSK Airways flight from Osaka was fairly smooth, and left right on time- they were big on that over there.

Ryojun was a city that many cultures had left their mark on- China, Russia, and now, Japan. Most signage was in Mandarin and Japanese, and few in English almost as a decorative flourish.

There were a wide variety of architechtural styles, and an equally diverse group of monuments. The one at the airport of a pilot wearing a hachimaki inscribed "Nihon Ichi"/"Japan's Best", and with a plaque at the bottom reading "Funded by the generous donations of the membership of the Imperial Japanese Air Force Association, Kwantung Chapter" left little about its origin to the imagination.




The second thing one noticed about the city was the advertising. It was everywhere.

A Kwantung & South Manchukuo Railways poster advertised regular departures from Ryojun to Hsinking, Manchukuo on the "East Wind"; luxurious sleeping and observation cars were the selling point for the "Flying Dragon" to Shanghai via Tsingtao; the capital and largest city of Kwantung.

If you wanted to buy a car, there were plenty of options, most of them Japanese. The Subaru P-1 seemed to be the popular choice, along with the Toyota Crown; usually in black but the occasional baby blue or bubblegum pink. If you were a real hotshot, you could buy an American-sized Ford or Holden, assembled in Australia.

For locals in the know, Aki's Bargain Garden was the place to pick up a 100-lb sack of rice, a post-hole digger, or a bottle of "Mount Fuji" floor cleaner.

You could get a Coke pretty much anywhere too, bottled in Tsingtao in 8 and 26 ounce glass bottles; Imperial ounces, naturally.



Sid, ever a glutton for punishment, stopped at a news stand. The papers were the usual pap, no matter where you went.


Today's, on one of the local dailies, was the arrest of eight garbage men for opium trafficking; apparently trying to conceal it under one of the trucks. Some fluff about the filming of a movie about the Battle of Tsushima, yet more fluff on Crown Prince Akihito's visit to Scotland... and then two full pages of advertisements


The Tsingtao branch of the Mitsukoshi department store, which had a sizeable mail-order operation hawked the latest trends. Sid, with a body nurtured with what was probably too much of the local culinary delights of the places he had been, wasn't too keen on the latest ones for men- "Continental" cut suits, with short jackets, structured shoulders and very close-fitting trousers; rollneck sweaters in an equally constricting cut, as popularized by sailors in cold climates; bright colours, bold stripes and gravity-defying, pomade-braced pompadours. Some American influence crept in as well; through Hawaiian shirts and imported blue jeans. The Imperial bloc had also refused to give up its affinity for expensive eveningwear- the store adverised its in-house made tailcoats as well.


It took until about page 8 to get to the real news...

 

[WaterproofPotatoes]

THE NAVAL BATTLES OFF NORWAY, APRIL-MAY 1940

​

Order of Battle:

Royal Navy, Force Y

18 ships, comprising His Majesty's Ships:

Capital Ships

King George V (flag)
Rodney

Aircraft Carriers

Courageous

Light Cruisers

Aurora
Gloucester
Sheffield

Destroyers


Acasta
Daring
Diana
Delight
Fearless
Firedrake
Fury
Havelock
Highlander
Keith
Matabele
Zulu

9 April 1940:

At 6:20 AM, Force Y, under the command of Rear Admiral Lancelot Holland makes for Trondheim, Norway. Their aim is to intercept any German ships making for the northern ports of Trondheim and Narvik.
Should it be necessary, Force Y is to evacuate King Haakon VII and Crown Prince Olav. In heavy seas, their voyage will take approximately 20 hours.

10 April, 1940:

Force Y arrives off Trondheim, at approximately 4 AM. There the force is split into two elements; Rodney, under the command of Bernard Warburton-Lee will lead Sheffield, Acasta, Daring, Fearless, Firedrake , Zulu on to Narvik; the remainder will secure Trondheim. The biggest threats are the fast battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau.

At approximately 9:30 AM, the heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper's position is recorded by Norwegian fishing vessels. Swordfish from Courageous damage Hipper- she is hit with three torpedoes. One hits near her bow, causing her to ship water and list to port; a second hits her stern, causing significant structural damage; the third hits her amidships and fails to detonate. Four Swordfish are lost, three to anti-aircraft fire, one to a sudden loss of oil pressure. The damaged Hipper limps to Bergen where she puts in for temporary repairs.


That afternoon, the Narvik element encounters 10 German destroyers off Narvik, commanded by Friedrich Bonte. The enemy is no match for Rodney and her flotilla; 10 German destroyers are sunk at the cost of light damage to Daring and Firedrake.

The German battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau had been assigned to provide distant cover, but the day prior, both had sustained light damage from squalls while out in the open sea. They sail farther west to repair the damage and pump out the water they shipped, and are returning to reinforce the destroyers under their protection. When reports of British battleships arrive, they are ordered to make for the Baltic- they are not to engage a superior enemy force. They split up and make for Wilhelmshaven at their full speed of 31 knots.

Rodney sails south at full speed. She is the fastest capital ship in the fight and her quarry is Gneisenau.


Holland, in King George V, pursues Scharnhorst. Her new Mark III 16" guns fire a heavier shell with less dispersion then the Mark I guns on Rodney. She scores a hit on Scharnhorst's superstructure. Fires break out, her funnel is collapsed and splinters cause heavy casualties.

However, King George V is a brand-new ship, and one that has not had the chance to be fully worked up. The blast from her guns had caused several electrical connections to malfunction; her A and B turrets jam. Holland transfers his flag to Gloucester and orders KGV to return to Scapa Flow, accompanied by Delight and Matabele.

The damaged Scharnhorst is able to limp back to the Baltic. Heavy seas prevent Courageous from launching more aircraft; Bellerophon is ordered to sail from Scapa Flow to intercept.


Warburton-Lee pursues Gneisenau accompanied by Acasta and Zulu. Gneisenau's 11" guns are no match for Rodney's 16"s, and even at her top speed, Gneisenau is slower than Rodney.


11 April, 1940:


Throughout the night, Warburton-Lee relentlessly pursues Gneisenau. After several straddles in a fierce pursuit, at 8:11 AM, Rodney scores a direct hit on Gneisenau. The shell detonates Gneisenau's forward 11" magazines. She sinks with all but four hands, who are recovered by Acasta.

Her funnel uptakes repaired and fires extinguished, Scharnhorst makes for Wilhemshaven. Thick fog and conflicting reports render Bellerophon unable to locate Scharnhorst, who makes good her escape.

The heavy cruisers London and Cumberland escort a convoy carrying Royal Marines to Trondheim and Narvik to reinforce Norwegian forces. Hipper is still too badly damaged to make an attempt to intercept.


Grand Admiral Raeder is gravely concerned. He has so far lost a battleship, a heavy cruiser, and a large part of his destroyers. Another battleship, and two heavy cruisers are damaged. Prinz Eugen and Seydlitz aren't ready yet, nor is Bismarck.


12 April, 1940:


Warspite is being made ready. There is a place for the old lady after all...

 

[WaterproofPotatoes]

Destroyer HMS Cantonese

Off Bergen, Norway

April 15th, 1940

2:12 PM


LIEUTENANT Commander Francis Maxwell "Mad Max" de Villiers was exactly what one would expect when asked to picture a Royal Navy destroyerman.

He was taller than average, accentuated by his slender bordering on gaunt physique and thick, somewhat longer than regulation blond hair. He wore his forage cap high and back on his head to aid peering closely at the compass binnacle, and had an ever-present silk scarf around neck.

An avowedly irreligious, teetotalling, non-smoker, he was regarded as something of an enigma. He also hadn't grown up as a child of the sea- he hailed from an affluent family in Harrogate, Yorkshire. That made him even more of an oddity, even for a destroyerman.

He was known as a man generally easy to get along with, provided you didn't raise his ire by invoking one of his two pet peeves: demonstrating any sort of squeamishness for weather or action, or smoking on the bridge. The last soul foolhardy enough to do the latter was threatened with keelhauling, and the look in Mad Max's eyes as he assured the unforunate petty officer that he had no interest in commanding a battleship had many of the witnesses convinced he would have done it. Still, he had the sort of love for his crew that one may expect of an older brother.

Besides, one shouldn't trust a British destroyerman that isn't at least slightly mad anyway.


Lieutenant Commander de Villiers was standing on the bridge, his green eyes darting about as usual. He had mixed feelings about his current assignment- escorting the old battleship Warspite to bombard Bergen. He would have loved to have sailed with Rodney as she pursued Gneisenau, but England expected him to do his duty- which was escorting an old battleship on a bombardment run. On the other hand, it was much better than convoy service. He was positively itching to see some action; he hated feeling useless.


The port of Bergen was still in German hands. The heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper was being repaired there, but even the excellent intelligence given by the Norwegians could not establish how long it would take for it to be ready to sail.

The Norwegian Army and the now brigade of Royal Marines were fighting their way southward; they had Narvik and Trondheim firmly in their hands, and had just taken Tromsø.

The "Norwegian Operation" was not only very good at providing the Royal Navy with good intelligence, it was equally adept at providing the Germans with bad intelligence. As far as the Kreigsmarine knew, six destroyers, and the heavy cruiser Suffolk were escorting an ocean liner, requisitioned as a troopship with her forward derricks removed and a deckload of eight poles for a radio mast, were on a course for Narvik. With that belief, they had dispatched four small requisitioned Polish and Danish ships, escorted by two torpedo boats to reinforce Bergen with some 2 000 Gebirgsjäger.

The report came over on the radio. The words that every slightly mad destroyerman relishes. HMS Cantonese was ordered to attack the approaching enemy.

"Beat to quarters!" shouted Mad Max into the loudspeaker, using the archaic term. "All hands, action stations!" With requisite flash, he offered some words to the crew. "Tally ho, boys! Now's our chance to show 'em what for, and there's nowt they can do to stop us!". You could take the Yorkshireman out of Yorkshire, but...

He darted over to the engine telegraph and pulled the handle into the "full speed ahead" position. He rang up the chief engineer. "Yes, Barrett, the Admiralty says she's rated for thirty-six flat out, but I'm asking you what she can do!"

Cantonese's bow sliced through the sea, throwing up a huge wake as black smoke poured from her funnels. She charged down on the German convoy, hell-bent on sending it to the bottom.

---------------

The attack was a success. Cantonese claimed one Type 35 torpedo boat with her 4.7" guns, and her torpedoes claimed one transport. Suffolk claimed another 2 transports and the remaining torpedo boat; Ardent sank the remaining transport.

While undeniably a well-executed operation, the laurels of the day went to Warspite.

The old lady, looking a bit different than she did in the Great War, thicker abeam with torpedo bulges and trunked funnels and with a newer block superstructure, elevated her forward guns, loaded with armour-piercing shells (she carried mostly high explosive for this operation) and supercharges, and trained them on the immobile Hipper.

One 15" shell, flying a record-breaking 28 600 yards, penetrated through Hippper's aft deck, almost right through the damaged cruiser before exploding- which it did, to devastating effect. Bulkheads were blown out, and Hipper's keel snapped.

Hipper's back broken, she sank to the bottom at her moorings, most of her hulk still above water. Her 8" magazines were flooded, so the ship did not explode.

However, she was as broken as surely as if she had.

 

[WaterproofPotatoes]

Oslo, Norway

May 7th, 1940

10:11 AM

GENERAL Nikolaus von Falkenhorst peered over a large map, covered in pins and strings forming lines.

The lines were still not as obvious as the ones on his forehead. The situation in Norway was bad, and getting worse.

The Anglo-Norwegian ground forces now held the country as far south as Bergen. They were impossible to dislodge with the resources Falkenhorst had been allocated. The Royal Navy was able to supply them with impunity. Worse still, they were now bringing Hawker Hurricanes and flying them from hastily-cleared airfields.

The German naval situation had deteriorated. Two brand new heavy cruisers and one battleship had been destroyed, and one more of each so badly damaged, there was no hope of them sailing again for months.

Norwegian morale was better than ever. From his redoubt in the North, King Haakon VII broadcasted over the radio that he and his family were alive and well, and praised his people's efforts in resisting the invaders.

The resistance too became bolder. Every Norwegian male happened to be named Anders Anderssen. Vicious graffitti of Hitler violating an ecstatic Vidkun Quisling appeared on an unatteded Wehrmacht truck- and the truck also had nails driven through its tires and sand poured into its fuel tank. Even getting around Oslo was difficult. The locals all pretended they couldn't speak German. They switched around street signs. They would stand up on a tram, and refuse to sit next to a German; which infuriated the occupying troops.

Supply shortages led to improvisation, often with bad results. Several of his men became violently ill when the locally-procured sardines they ate were found to be contaminated with laxatives.

Three days ago, they killed Terboven. His position tracked, a truck pulled in front of his staff car. The curtain was pulled back, and to shouts of "Long Live the King", a volley of Molotov cocktails flew at the car. Falkenhorst didn't especially like Terboven, but being burned to death, trapped in a car, is a fate that no one deserves.

Supplies dwindled. Morale dwindled. Troop numbers dwindled.

And on the phone was that damned Quisling again...

 

[WaterproofPotatoes]

Love it with troop and ship transport losses, its becoming a Norway fiasco for the Germans.
Would be interesting if we can get to see the Royal Marines working with elite Japanese troops somewhere perhaps later I guess.

Not to worry, there will be a lot of joint operations TTL!

-----------------

Oslo, Norway

May 26th, 1940

2:44 PM

FALKENHORST, if he had been concerned the weeks prior, was even more concerned now.


Not an hour went by that he didn't receive a frantic message from a battalion commander. Out of food, out of ammunition, out of fuel. The supply situation was dreadful.

In some cases, they marched south. In others, they simply surrendered en masse.


The Royal Navy continued to sink transports. Oslo was the only safe port thanks to U-boat cover, although now the Fleet Air Arm became even bolder still- they began equipping planes with depth charges, mainly from the light carrier Eagle. Something was amiss too about their destroyers. The torpedo attacks they were making were too successful from too far out. The torpedoes should't have been able to connect. Yet, they did. Duds were few and far between, too.


Berlin was equally uncooperative. He asked for the Luftwaffe to fly supplies in. Instead, Himmler offered to send some wunderkind, Reinhard Heydrich, to crush the the resistance. With what exactly, mused Falkenhorst. The last thing he needed was an Allgemeine-SS detachment getting in the way and consuming precious supplies. They can go play cops-and-untermenschen where there isn't a crisis going on- and no doubt, these types would certainly try to wrest control from him. Damned vultures. They can have it, he thought. A real Meyer und Geier type of operation that would be. A



Quisling made more of a nuisance out of himself as well, as he tried to re-forge himself as the leader of the provisional government. He fancied himself some sort of modern-day Viking chieftain. That couldn't be father from the truth. The people hated Quisling.

He was regarded as not only a traitor, but an incompetent one at that. His last, unfortunate public broadcast was particularly embarrassing. In a truly bizarre and long-winded rant, Quisling spoke disparagingly of the Norwegian people for so readily embracing the English, and allowing the country to be defiled by their "Judeo-capitalistic" tendencies. He spoke disparagingly about the "racially inferior" Japanese as well, and the British alliance with them; a message which was poorly understood by many, and disdained by those who did. Nobody believed him when he said he was they only person who could save Norway. The cracks deepened.

It was then that Falkenhorst knew the situation was untenable.

The people laughed at Quisling.

For his trouble, Quisling and both his Ukrainian wife and mistress were offered falsified Swedish passports


Falkenhorst had been dreading having to do this.

At least eleven thousand German soldiers, sailors and airmen were dead. His soldiers were starving in the field. Supplies could not get through. There was no hope of retaking the North- even if he had an Army Group, it would never be able to so much as reach Norway.

He requested withdrawal.

------------------------------------------------


Oslo, Norway

May 30th, 1940

4:18 PM

Vidkun Quisling- or, Sven Torfason, as his passport declared him to be, pulled his collar up, and his cap down over his face. Having said his goodbyes to his wife, he prepared to board a ship. Sweden was too close, too dangerous. He had made far too few friends and far too many enemies.

He boarded a ship. The men boarding it were exhausted and filthy, and if anyone noticed him, they certainly didn't care.

 

[WaterproofPotatoes]

Birmingham, England, United Kingdom

June 8th, 1940

Transcript of a British Pathé newsreel



A FANFARE plays

Title card, "Victory in Norway" appears

Cuts to an aerial view of Oslo

NARRATOR: Today is truly a momentous occasion for the Norwegians, and freedom loving people everywhere!

The last Nazi invaders, bringing misery, suffering, and the evils of Nazi tyranny have been expelled from the country, slinking away in defeat at the hands of the Norwegian Army and our own Royal Marines

Music changes to "Life on an Ocean Wave"; cuts to a scene of Royal Marines in combat and then at rest in Norway

NARRATOR: Just look at our lads, aren't they splendid? Bet some of you lads watching this wish you could have been there, eh? Jolly Jack Tar has been no slouch either- we've sent a battleship to the bottom, along with two cruisers and more destroyers than you can count!

Cuts to a scene of King Haakon VII removing his cap and waving to a crowd, with Crown Prince Olav to his right and Prime Minister Johan Nygaardsvold to his left

NARRATOR: King Haakon the Seventh makes his triumphant return to Oslo, the Norwegian capital. He is beloved by his people, a father to each and every one of them! A handsome fellow too- someone ought to tell old Adolf that's how you wear a moustache! At his side are his son, Crown Prince Olav (sorry ladies, he's married!) and the loyal, legitimate Prime Minister Nygaardsvold.

With them, here stands Colonel Birger Eriksen

Cuts to a shot of Birger Eriksen in full dress uniform

Narrator: the Hero of Oscarsborg. With only a handful of raw recruits and old weapons, his fortress sunk a huge Nazi cruiser and allowed the King to carry on the fight from the country's north. Without him, one does not want to think about what may have happened.

The camera returns to the King

And now, the King speaks to his people:

KING HAAKON VII: My people, how happy am I to have returned to Oslo! You have all acted splendidly in this darkest hour for Norway, and saved our country from tyranny. The trials were many. You all gave much to our cause, and many have paid the ultimate price. I thank you on behalf of our country, with a sincerity I can scarcely express. I thank also our friends from around the world for their aid. The efforts to rebuild will be difficult, but as you have shown, difficulty is no obstacle!

NARRATOR: All Norwegians, perhaps, except for one. The notorious coward, collaborationist and traitor Quisling remains at large. His name lives in infamy!

Quisling, however, is not all Norwegians. May we all emulate their splendid bravery should we ever be faced with such trials


Outro; music plays- a verse from a version of the traditional "Men of Harlech"

On their soil we never sought them
Love of conquest hither brought them
But, this lesson, we have taught them:
Britons cannot yield!​

 

[WaterproofPotatoes]

Flensburg, Germany

June 19th, 1940



ADMIRING his new uniform, Vidkun Quisling approached the radio microphone. A new honourary colonel of the new Nordland regiment of the Waffen-SS Wiking Division (5th SS Panzer), recruiting mainly from Denmark, and to absorb future recruits from northern conquests, Quisling, at last, felt the respect he deserved. He found a patron in Heinrich Himmler, who seemed to be under the impression that Quisling was himself a Viking reincarnated, and that this seemingly useless man would somehow bolster the Nazi cause. For his own part, Quisling believed that Himmler's features were alarmingly Asiatic, but this was a belief he never spoke or wrote of.

The proud Quisling began his broadcast.


"To all true Norwegians! It is I, Quisling, your legitimate Prime Minister! My heart languishes in exile, but my body, mind and fighting spirit are unharmed! From Germany, I will carry on our struggle against those who will corrupt us from within and without.

Through their vile machinations, they have poisoned the mind of our King. They silence our voices, and use their powerful friends to twist our words. Our enemies within lurk behind every shadow, and without, they look upon our nation, licking their chops!


We must not give up in our struggle against the criminal bankers and other forces of international, rootless capital! Just look at who they befriend! The Japanese are a cruel race. The French are decadent and greedy, and no race could possibly compare to the English in their ruthless lust for treasure and conquest.

These enemies, however, pale compared to the threat which we face from the forces of international Bolshevism. From Russia, they extend their tentacles to grasp and crush us. They poison the minds of even our women and children. Unless we resist them, they will bury us!

We Norwegians do not give up so easily! Expatriates, join the SS Wiking division to take back your country! Patriots at home! I call on you to resist the occupiers in any way you can!

We must, and we will, take back our country and re-forge a pure, uncorrupted National Union!"


The response in Norway was predictable. The broadcast was met with mockery and derision. Apparently, in one of Norway's many ports, a garbage scow was briefly renamed in Quisling's honor, but few boats would agree to tow the "cursed" vessel.

The King himself weighed in on the matter in a broadcast of his own:

"Perhaps, I should apologize to Mr. Quisling for any confusion. I have spoken with Prime Minister Nygaardsvold, and have discovered that neither of us have any recollection of Mr. Quisling ever having been appointed Prime Minister. As such, no effort was made to dismiss him. He may consider his dismissal retroactive to whenever he became aware of such an appointment"

---------

As for Falkenhorst, he was "retired" from the moment his Ju-52 landed in Germany on June 7th, the day that the last German forces withdrew from Norway. 12-14 000 Germans were dead or missing, another 5 000 captured, and an accurate figure for the wounded had yet to be established. Casualties of all types actually dropped in the last days of the campaign as more troops surrendered and efforts shifted to evacuation.

Norwegian and Allied missing and dead totalled approximately 5 500. This figure also includes a number of partisans and militiamen.

Germany lost 117 aircraft of all types, the Allies 52, mostly Fairey Battles and Bristol Blenheims.

German naval losses were staggering: 1 small battleship, 2 heavy cruisers, 19 destroyers, 6 torpedo boats and 4 U-boats. 2 E-Boats were lost in a squall.

Allied naval losses amounted to 1 destroyer sunk by a U-boat while off station, and another destroyer written off as a total constructive loss, along with 3 minesweepers.

 

[WaterproofPotatoes]

Now, reflecting the leader, we'll need some technological background.

@Luminous was instrumental in the design of the American battle line TTL. Here are the ships in addition to the OTL Standards

South Dakota Class (1920)

Flag: USA

Type: Battleship

Ships in Class:

South Dakota BB-49
Indiana BB-50
North Carolina BB-51
Montana BB-52
Iowa (broken up)
Massachusetts (broken up)

Dimensions: 684' x 106' x 33' 42 000 tons standard.

Main Armament: 12 x 16"/L50 Mark 2 guns in 4 three-gun turrets

Propulsion: Oil-fired boilers, turboelectric drive. 4 shafts. 60 000 shp. 23 kn rated speed.

Characteristics:

-Hull has a raised forecastle, normal bow, and round stern

-2 16" mounts ahead of superstructure and twin "wishbone" funnels, 1 raised mount superfiring, distributed on centreline ends.

-2 16" mounts abaft superstructure and funnels, 1 raised mount superfiring, distributed on centreline ends

-16 x 6"/53 guns; 12 in casemates, distributed on sides, 4 in deck mounts.



Lexington Class (1920)

Flag: USA

Type: Battlecruiser

Ships in Class:

Lexington (CC-1)
Saratoga (CC-2)
Constellation (converted to fleet aircraft carrier)
Ranger (converted to fleet aircraft carrier)
Constitution (broken up)
United States (broken up)

Dimensions: 874' x 105' x 33' 44 000 tons standard.

Main Armament: 8 x 16"/L50 Mark 2 guns in 4 two-gun turrets

Propulsion: Oil-fired boilers, turboelectric drive. 4 shafts. 180 000 shp. 33 kn rated speed.

Characteristics:

-Hull has a long, raised forecastle, straight bulbous bow, and cruiser stern

-2 16" mounts ahead of superstructure and twin funnels, 1 raised mount superfiring, distributed on centreline ends.

-2 16" mounts abaft superstructure and funnels, 1 raised mount superfiring, distributed on centreline ends

-14 x 6"/53 guns in single mounts.




Louisiana Class (1937)

Flag: USA

Type: Fast Battleship

Ships in Class:

Louisiana (BB-55)
Maine (BB-56)
New Hampshire (BB-57)
Ohio (BB-58)

Dimensions: 760' x 108' x 42' 44 000 tons standard.

Main Armament: 10 x 16"/L50 Mark 7 guns in 2 two-gun turrets and 2 three-gun turrets

Propulsion: Oil-fired boilers, turboelectric drive. 4 shafts. 130 000 shp. 28kn rated speed.

Characteristics:

-Hull has a flush deck, straight bulbous bow, and small transom stern

-2 16" mounts ahead of superstructure and twin funnels, raised 2-gun mount superfiring, distributed on centreline ends.

-2 16" mounts abaft superstructure and funnels, raised 2-gun mount superfiring, distributed on centreline ends

-20 x 5"/38 guns in twin turrets, distributed on sides, 4 mounts raised.





Oregon Class (1939)

Flag: USA

Type: Fast Battleship

Ships in Class:

Oregon (BB-59)
New Jersey (BB-60)

Dimensions: 802' x 108' x 42' 49 000 tons standard.

Main Armament: 10 x 16"/L50 Mark 7 guns in 2 two-gun turrets and 2 three-gun turrets

Propulsion: Oil-fired boilers, turboelectric drive. 4 shafts. 130 000 shp. 28kn rated speed.

Characteristics:

-Hull has a flush deck, straight bulbous bow, and small transom stern

-2 16" mounts ahead of superstructure and twin funnels, raised 2-gun mount superfiring, distributed on centreline ends.

-2 16" mounts abaft superstructure and funnels, raised 2-gun mount superfiring, distributed on centreline ends

-20 x 5"/38 guns in twin turrets, distributed on sides, 4 mounts raised.

-Improved deck and underwater protection as compared to Louisiana Class.

 

[WaterproofPotatoes]

The votes are in! The winner, by one vote, is "Nazi Germany: Norway Fallout"

Update to follow!

To the runner up, don't worry, we'll be heading East soon

 

[WaterproofPotatoes]

The Berghof

Brechtesgaden, Bavaria, Germany

June 27th, 1940

11:50 AM


ADOLF Hitler hadn't been sleeping well. Outwardly, he boasted over Germany's triumph over Denmark, but inwardly, hewas concerned. Norway was a failure. There was no denying that.

The press told the people it that Norway was a feint, and one that successfully tied up far more Allied resources than it cost Germany.

The OKW sold it as a temporary setback; Weserübung was only postponed, not canceled, and Noway was reduced to a secondary objective after Denmark. There was also the bit about France causing the defeat, having "sunk the navy at Versailles".

Hitler may have only risen to the rank of corporal, but he knew enough to recognize the smell of bullshit.

Germany had lost, and badly. A handful of Royal Marines, partisans and the army of a neutral country humiliated Germany's military. Falkenhorst returned to the country a sad, weak, pathetic old man; beaten in body and spirit.

Such a defeat, the Führer thought, must never be allowed again.

From now on, he resolved, he would take a more direct role in supervising his generals. They allowed this to happen.


He hastily scrawled notes. The biggest problem was that not enough tanks reached Norway, nor enough Stukas. All future offensives were to employ combined arms.

Secondly, amphibious assaults were of dubious value. There was no way that enough supplies could be provided for anything other than a quick, surprise attack. They must be small in scale.

Resistance, where it is encountered, must be crushed swiftly and mercilessly. In the last days of the failed campaign, German soldiers were openly mocked in Oslo. The papers made much ado of children, who could have been no older than nine, throwing rubbish at German soldiers from a window. That would never happen again. In future campaigns, that block of flats would be leveled with a howitzer.

The surface navy had been an utter failure. They managed to sink a total of one destroyer and three minesweepers. That was unacceptable. Work on the battleships Hindenburg and Großer Kurfürst was to cease immediately, their guns landed. The carrier Graf Zeppelin was to be converted into a troop transport. The battleships Bismarck and Tirpitz as well as the heavy cruiser Seydlitz would be allowed to be completed as they were all nearly finished. Future focus would be on submarines and minelaying.


Now, more than ever, Hitler wrote, Germany must not show weakness.

Fall Gelb would commence on July 10th, as if Norway truly was no more than a minor setback.



Oh, the Allies. There was the huge problem of how few nations embraced the New World Order he sought to create. So far, the only ones in Europe were Romania, Bulgaria, and Hungary. The Chinese were nominally German allies, but only to the point they were happy to accept help in expelling the Anglo-allied Japanese from China. He meant to ask Himmler how recruiting efforts for Waffen SS- Drachen and Rechtschaffene Faust* were going, but more pressing matters were on his mind.

Mussolini remained unconvinced and unwilling to back Germany. The Mediterranean, the Mediterranean, was that all Mussolini could talk about?


The one saving grace of the defeat in Norway was that troops would now not be needed to occupy it. That freed them up for what was to come.


The losses at Versailles would be made good. Germany was coming to collect, with interest. Note that line, thought Hitler as he circled it. Save it for the speech.
-------------------------------------------------------


*"Righteous Fist", a nod to the Boxer Rebellion. Drachen is Dragon.

 

[WaterproofPotatoes]

And the runner-up topic, but one I've been itching to write about


Manila, Philippines

September 17th, 1939


THE United States of America was not at war with the Empire of Japan. Not yet, at least.


What was happening in China had General Douglas MacArthur very concerned. Tojo's Kwantung Army was making its push westward into Inner Mongolia. This was deliberate- Chiang was receiving German supplies through the Soviet Union. The Soviets themselves sponsored the Communists, who were no friends of the Japanese either, and were happy to do so- as long as the Communists and Nationalists were busy fighting each other, the Soviets' Eastern border was safe, and badly-needed cash could be raised selling the Communists old junk the Red Army didn't want.

The problem with that delicate balance is that the Japanese invasion upset it. The Japanese didn't like the Nationalists or either flavour of Communist, and decided that they were going to stomp the Chinese Communists and cut the Nationalists off from supplies and push southwards.

That's what it looked like.

It didn't make sense to MacArthur.



Japan was primarily a naval power. The Imperial Japanese Army had an excellent service rifle, excellent aircraft, and- well, that was about it. It was small, it lacked tanks in any sort of numbers, the tanks they did have were small and old designs, and nearly every full general was a prince or baron of some kind, with a French military education. That was probably why Tojo, not even a field marshal and not a royal, held the Imperial Japanese Army's largest command. He wouldn't directly bring shame to the Emperor's bloodline if he lost.

There was another thought that invaded MacArthur's mind. This wasn't the sort of army that was made to go about invading China. This was the kind of army that was meant to be charging up a beach on some island, under the cover of the navy's big guns. Islands much like the Philippines.

It didn't look like they were planning on that though. Their ships sat in Kure and Nagasaki for the most part, with only a token force of a couple heavy cruisers, an old battlewagon and some submarines in Truk. They sailed some destroyer squadrons around; five or ten destroyers following around a light cruiser like a mother duck and ducklings, between Japan and China.

None of this made sense. Their diplomats in their morning suits swore up and down they had no quarrel with the USA. That's usually a sign they're up to something- only this time, nothing seemed to be happening outside of them tying up their army in China, away from his forces.




Admiral King was less convinced.

This was a man who had gamed out War Plan Orange -fighting Japan- more times than MacArthur could count. King, however, remembered. One hundred and twenty-seven. Every time, each one of His Imperial Japanese Majesty's Ships was sent to the bottom by the mighty American battle line.

Red-Orange was even more satisfying for King. The US Navy stomped the Royal Navy so decisively, and outbuilt their foes so much, the Japanese simply surrendered.


"Those Japs, Mac" he said with an obviously deeply held conviction "You really think they want a patch of frozen dirt in Mongolia? Why else do you think they rebuilt just about every one of their battlewagons? Everything from new engines, to a goddamn Jap temple for a bridge on top of every one of them- and violating the Treaty I might add, forty-four hundred tons of improvements, my ass!"

There he goes with that treaty again, thought MacArthur. He complained about how the Navy was being held back before, but the second the Japanese are invoked he becomes its greatest advocate.

"I don't like it either" said MacArthur "There's something... off about all this"

"You're damn right there is!" replied King "That Hyuga thing. Too goddamn convenient, if you ask me."

MacArthur didn't, but King was going to go on about his favourite conspiracy theory anyway.

"Every other battlewagon gets built into a speedboat that can outrun our fleet, all of 'em except four- and it happens to be one of those four that blows up. The Japs want a piece of China, but got no reason to start a war there- they can't use the excuse that they have to liberate some ... some tribe of Mongolian throat-warblers or something this time. So, they deliberately set off a charge in one of their old ships. Don't you think if it was terrorists, they would have put a bomb on the biggest battleship they could find, and blow the magazines? Terrorists wouldn't just blow the turret off some old tub/"

"The thing is, Ernie" said MacArthur, relieved to get a word in "We don't know. We just don't know, and that's what has me worried"

"You're right, that's exactly what the problem is" said an unusually agreeable King. "Your man, Willoughby-"

"Yeah, what about him?" asked MacArthur

"Could he get us a man inside?"

"Inside where?"

"Japan" said King, ominously

MacArthur was about to ask why, but King kept going

"China is a distraction, for now at least. They want Shanghai, there's no denying that. But, think about it. They aren't going to swim across. And more importantly, we need to find out what their navy is up to. Could it be nothing? Sure it could, but are we going to trust that to luck? No, we're not, because you can't trust the Japs, and you can't trust the Limeys either. Put their ships together and you got a navy that almost equals ours."

"Not this shit again, Ernie..."

"Alright, alright. But you'll see. Anyway, what's important now, is that we find out what they're planning"

"Specifically?" MacArthur dreaded asking.

"Hyuga. They've got her hauled off in a hurry for a a refit, and, according to ONI, they've towed her to Kobe, and put her in drydock, with a big screen up around her. I want to find out what they're up to before whatever it is sets a course for Pearl"

"If anyone can do it, it's Colonel Willoughby. His methods, well, they're unorthodox, but trust me, if you need something he'll find it. He'll never be a great intelligence officer, but he's the best one there is"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"You'll see" said MacArthur slyly "Now remind me just exactly what it is you want to know?"