WI Britain focused on one front at a time?

ReenX

Banned
I was unsure wether to post here or in ASB, since I know it would be next to impossible to do this without loosing France as an ally, but I was wondering the following:

What would happen if Britain instead of sending Expeditionary force there focused on securing Africa and Mediterranean from Italians first, clearing their navy up and removing Axis presence from Africa and the Isles (Sardinia, Corsica, Sicily, Crete)

Following that focused on assisting Chinese against Japan and confining them to their Island

And generally ignored Europe for most part until Soviets and Germans have bled each other dry, and then try to retake France?

(Options for both American entry and without American entry in the war are welcome)

Could RN deal with neutralising Italian navy within a year - year and a half of dedicated effort, with more of their Naval assets asigned to Mediterranean?

Can they tangle with Japanese fleet, and still manage to secure the Isles from potential German breakout?
 

Deleted member 1487

Do the Brits send anyone to Crete to help the Greeks in 1940? That could change a lot.
 

ReenX

Banned
Yes, they focus on that instead of BEF in France, that is they focus on confining Axis to Europe and dominating Mediterranean
 

Deleted member 1487

Yes, they focus on that instead of BEF in France, that is they focus on confining Axis to Europe and dominating Mediterranean
Wait so no BEF in France in 1939-40? Then there is no WW2, because the French wouldn't go to war without a BEF in France. Especially given that the Italians didn't join the war until June 1940.
 
Italy remained neutral until well after the BEF deployed, so why exactly would they deploy against the Italians unprovoked?
 

ReenX

Banned
Wait so no BEF in France in 1939-40? Then there is no WW2, because the French wouldn't go to war without a BEF in France. Especially given that the Italians didn't join the war until June 1940.

Or there is BEF but they retreat to the Isles before any serious fighting happens, and are re-deployed to Africa. The material losses were hard OTL, and I feel could have changed a decent ammount in the African campaign

Italy remained neutral until well after the BEF deployed, so why exactly would they deploy against the Italians unprovoked?

Have them pulled back earlier and evacuated completely, if that is how you feel. Deploy against Italians as a deterrent, and as a standby.
 
Could RN deal with neutralising Italian navy within a year - year and a half of dedicated effort, with more of their Naval assets asigned to Mediterranean?
Go from one carrier at Taranto to 3-4 and the Italian navy is essentially non existent.

In fact two carriers at Taranto could probably have done a lot better than was done historically.

Do a 3 or 4 carrier Taranto and the Italian army in North Africa will wither on the vine from lack of supplies.
 
If you want a larger British ground force with more equipment, figuring out a way to evacuate the BEF earlier isn't really the way to go. Dunkirk OTL was about as close to ideal as you could get in those circumstances.

What you CAN do however is save up, quite a lot in fact, by having H.M. Government not throw good money after bad once it was clear the Battle of France was lost.

To give a few examples:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Calais_(1940)
40 tanks and nearly 4000 men wasted for no good reason

1st Canadian Div. was landed at Brest, started moving inland, then the French signed the Armistice, and so the Canadians were ordered to evacuate, and were forced to leave all of their trucks behind. (imagine how much those trucks would have helped in North Africa)

1st Armoured Div. was also deployed to France and was wasted attacking German infantry forces protecting the German flank near the Somme.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Abbeville
250 tanks down the toilet

51st and 52nd Highland Div. had also been deployed to France after Dunkirk was encircled, and I bet you can guess what happened to a lot of their equipment.

There's also the matter of the Lancastria, which was sunk by a lucky Luftwaffe hit, claiming between 3000 - 5800 lives. Prevent that, and that's almost two new Regiments saved from just one Ju88 being shot down before hitting its target.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Lancastria
 
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