by David Row
In Algiers, talks between the Free French and the Vichy commanders have reached a deal, not dissimilar to that obtained in Syria. The Vichy commanders will surrender the country, and they, their families, and any other Vichy supporters who wish to will be granted safe passage back to France or a neutral country. The decision will be announced the following day.
23rd May
With only one landing left to worry about, Gen Freyberg releases his reserves to bolster his attack. The Germans continue to try and drop paratroops - the defenders are noticing that they seem to have run out of gliders, and that today few transport planes try to land. The reason for that may be the wrecked Ju52's covering a considerable part of the airfield and surrounding countryside. Despite their situation, the German paratroops hold on, fighting fiercely as their perimeter is slowly reduced. The Allied force still has to contend with attack from the air, but this is lighter than on previous days and they are getting used to it (even if it is just as much of a nuisance as before).
Late that afternoon, a convoy of small craft and lighters is spotted by a RAF patrol plane heading to Crete. Despite the daytime and the reduced availability of fighter cover, Cunningham orders his ships to sink or stop it - preferably both. He is asked by a worried Army command if he can spare the ships for such a risky operation. His reply is "It takes three years to build a ship, it takes 300 to build a tradition". The Navy will make sure the Army is supported".
The ships are in fact an Italian force from Rhodes, with some 3,000 men of the 9th division. They are first visited by the Cormorants from Illustrious, who sink two steamships and three tankers. Then, under fighter cover, the convoy sees five British destroyers. Despite ordering the ships to scatter, two reefer ships and a number of the small craft are sent to the bottom. The destroyers are attacked by dive bombers during part of the action, but their manoeuvrability allows them to survive until four British fighters arrive to chase them off.
The final attempt to reinforce by sea takes place that night, when a German convoy attempts the run to the island. They are intercepted close to dawn by the same group of destroyers, who again break up and sink many of the caiques, sending another 1,800 Mountain troops to the bottom. However staying to turn back the convoy has left the ships exposed. While they get fighter cover for an hour, the pressure and losses on the British fighters has been growing and they have to leave the destroyers to fend for themselves. As a result they only have their speed and AA guns to protect them when attacked by 24 Stukas, who managed to sink HMS Kashmir and HMS Kelly.
That evening the announcement that Algeria is now behind the Free French cause is broadcast. Gen De Gaulle states "thanks to the brave men of our army, and with the help of the British Empire, the first part of metropolitan France is recovered from the grip of Nazi tyranny". The only part of Africa now not in Free French hands is French Morocco.
24th May
While tired, the defenders on Crete continue to press the paratroops, aided by their artillery and the fact that the Greek troops are determined to drive them off the island come what may. The fighting does not seem so determined today, and in fact the paratroops were running very short of ammunition - the losses of the transport planes, and the turning back of more due to reports and interceptions by British fighters, had not allowed them to be resupplied. Additionally, as their bridgehead shrunk, more and more of the supply drops that they did get were falling outside the area and were lost to them. Although they fought on till in some cases they were completely out of ammunition, they finally surrendered at 1800 that evening.
Despite this, the defenders are still the subject of attacks from the air, but without troops on the ground the affect is fairly limited. Like the British, the Luftwaffe formations are also exhausted after five days of continuous fighting. They do take a final revenge on the Royal Navy, who have perhaps moved rather too far north in order to better support the Army and the ships making anti-convoy sweeps. A force of 20 Ju87's finds HMS Illustrious southwest of Crete, and despite her CAP, (only six planes due to the use of most of her fighters over Crete) manages to hit her twice. Fortunately for the carrier these are only 250kg bombs due to the range the divebombers have to attack from, but she takes damage to her deck, central elevator and rear hangar. While a dozen planes are destroyed in the hanger, and it takes four hours to bring the fire under control, the damage is not serious, nothing having penetrated the ships hangar deck armour, and she is escorted back to Alexandria, where her repairs will take a month.
27th May
As it is now obvious that the Germans have stopped trying to invade Crete, at least for the time being, the British start to reorganise and rebuild their forces in North Africa, in particular the air force, which has suffered heavy losses over the last few weeks (although inflicting heavy losses on the Luftwaffe as well). With the welcoming of Algeria into the Allied camp, Churchill immediately wants to know when convoys can be pushed though the Mediterranean again. The Admiralty points out that while this is indeed very desirable (the route is only some 40% of the distance around the cape, and basically halves the shipping needs), the Tiger convoy was lucky with the weather. They need time to repair the ships damaged in the previous operations, establish air bases and air cover, and reorganise. In any case, as they point out, the convoys already in operation can't just be turned off, and the recommend the possibility be reviewed in 4-6 weeks with the resumption about a month after if things are going smoothly. It is also pointed out that the FAA in the Med has been very heavily worked - indeed overworked - recently due to operational needs, and they need a short period to incorporate new pilots and give them a rest.
The losses in transport planes for the Luftwaffe in Operation Mercury have been very heavy. The gliders were expendable, but the best part of 200 Ju52's lost or seriously damaged are not. The losses to the fighters and bombers were also high, and with Barbarossa about to start, it will be difficult for the Luftwaffe to rebuild its strength quickly. The situation is not so bad for the Italians, but they are looking at defending the Dodecanese before attempting any more attacks on Allied territory. Accordingly it is decided that for the next few months the theatre will be in a defensive posture.
The British, who don't realise yet that the Axis is not going to be renewing the attack soon, is looking at building up the defences on Crete before taking any offensive actions. The Greek force there needs to be properly equipped and more defensive and infrastructure work done as a matter of urgency; the airfields will be out of action for at least a week, more due to broken German aircraft littering them that the deliberate destruction done by the defenders. Luckily they will have time to do this
In Washington today President Roosevelt today warned America of Nazi designs on the Americas. He promised to extend US patrols in the Atlantic to protect the sea-lanes to Britain, and announced that he had proclaimed an "unlimited national emergency." requiring that its military, naval, air and civilian defences be put on the basis of readiness to repel any and all acts or threats of aggression directed toward any part of the Western Hemisphere. The US was rearming "only for self-defence", he said.
Meanwhile in Germany 100 troop trains a day are heading east.
Representatives from French Morocco arrive in Algiers to conduct secret talks with the Free French. Given that the position of Morocco is untenable in the face of any allied attack now, it is expected that a similar deal will be struck to those in Tunisia and Algeria. That evening, the Vichy governor of Madagascar restates his dedication to the Vichy cause. It is thought that the governor considers himself too far away from anyone for it to matter.
30th May
British troops of the 4th Cavalry Brigade of 1st British Cavalry Division arrive outside Baghdad after travelling 500 miles across the desert from Palestine. Rashid Ali, the German and Italian diplomats in Iraq and the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem have all bravely fled to Persia. A ceasefire agreement has been signed by the remaining government with the British, whose main force is a
t Ur, and the Regent has been restored.
The British antitank gunners, disappointed that the Afrika Korps had fled before they had a chance to try out their shiny new 6-pdrs on them, has been testing them against the copious supply of dead Axis tanks, the results of which leave them quite enthusiastic. Permission is given for a couple of guns to go to Tunis and be tried out on the German tanks left there.
O'Connor has noticed that there were problems with the British tanks employed in the latest operations, in particular their tendency to break down and the lack of a decent HE round. While these points have been made already in the Cyrenaica campaign, the latest action has reinforced the point that these problems have not been fixed. According he selects a group of experienced officers to evaluate the performance of both the British and German tanks, with a view to putting out a formal request for a new (or at least modified) tank to fix these problems. As it looks unlikely they will have to conduct major armoured operations in the near future, he thinks this is a good time to review the current tank designs and policies.
2nd June
The USS Long Island, Aircraft Escort Vessel Number 1 (AVG-1), the first USN escort aircraft carrier, is commissioned at Newport News, Virginia. The Long Island was a flush-deck escort aircraft carrier converted from the cargo ship SS Mormacmail in 67 working days. She will be used to give the USN experience of operating this type of ship, which the RN have been using successfully in the Atlantic.
After examination of the damage she sustained in the German breakout, it is decided not to put Glorious through a full repair and refit. Dockyard space is full, and she is already old. Instead she will be repaired sufficiently to be able to act as a training carrier - the increasing numbers of aircrew needed mean that the Furious needs help, and the light carriers which were originally intended for training are proving more useful as convoy escorts.
It had originally been intended to build a second light carrier for Australia to supplement HMAS Melbourne, however at the moment the building slips are full of new construction and repairs. It is agreed that the Australians will take over HMS Theseus, allowing HMS Eagle to be brought back for a badly needed refit. The RN currently has adequate heavy ships; when the new carrier goes out to the Far East, HMS Renown will accompany her to bolster the strength in the area and allow the carriers to exercise and work with a capital ship.
The prototype of the Canadian Ram tank finishes testing, with a generally satisfactory result. The tank has been ordered off the drawing board; while modifications are desired after the completion of the testing, these will be brought in after the initial batch. The tank will be named the Grizzly as it comes into service with the British Army and the Free French, and will mount the new 6pdr gun. It is expected to have the first models available by the end of August. The prototype is now to be sent to Britain for study and evaluation against the latest model Valentine; it is hoped that the turret can be fitted in place of the 2pdr currently on the Valentine. If this proves successful, a new version of the Valentine will be produced with this turret.
Meanwhile the USA expects to be delivering the first of the French order for the M3 tank (with 2pdr gun) in June. They will also be supplying parts for the Canadian tanks until Canada is in a position to produce them locally.
3rd June
From today until the 6th of June the Finnish and German military leadership will be negotiating at Helsinki on cooperation in event of a Russo-German war. An agreement regarding the Finnish Army and Air Force is reached. Although formally the idea of a Russo-German war is hypothetical, the Finns have already worked out that the Germans are in all probability about to invade the USSR.
In the Atlantic Ocean, the Royal Navy has now sunk four of the support and replenishment ships prepositioned for the abortive breakout by the German heavy ships.
4th June
Air Marshal Park arrives in Egypt after his review of the Maltese air defence system. He has left recommendations there for implementation, and is expecting to be asked to do the same thing for Crete. Instead he finds himself in conversation with General Blamey.
Blamey has been concerned for some time with the state of the defences in Malaysia and SE Asia in general, as these have long been seen as the outer defence line for Australia. He has also been asked by Menzies to find out what the current state is, and advise if the British preparations are all they could be. Having met some of the RAAF men moved to the Middle East, he is becoming more and more concerned as to the condition of the admittedly insufficient forces there. He has also been introduced to a British army officer currently recovering from a somewhat embarrassing wound in Cairo. He wants the two of them to fly out and give the defences in Malaya and Burma an unprejudiced look, and report back to him and to General Wavell. His also points out that with the recovery of North Africa some limitations that have been assumed in the past might not apply any more. The two of them are to be back with their recommendations in no more than six weeks.
7th June
French Morocco formally declares for the Free French. As with the earlier declarations, those senior officials and their families, plus others who want to leave, are given transportation to France. The French are currently arguing about what to call themselves. Since Algeria is technically a part of France, not a colony, should they still call themselves the Free French or just the French Army?
It has been agreed that once the army has listed the military resources available in its new acquisitions, a new plan will be drawn up for a new Army, although it isn't expected that this will be fully formed until next year, mainly due to supply constraints. The current expectation is that they will be able to field some eight divisions, two of them armoured, provided that the equipment can be supplied.
11th June
At a Liaison conference between army and navy, the Naval Chief of Staff Nagano Osami astounded his colleagues when he vehemently calls for the Southward Advance. He and the navy's powerful "First Committee" were anxious to move before the American navy's huge "two-ocean" building programme was completed, although the preparations for the planned attacks will take some 6 months to complete.
The USA agrees to garrison Iceland in place of the British force. This will free up a division for use elsewhere.
130 Army divisions are reported to be massed on the border facing Russia. The official news agency TASS says "rumours of a German intention to attack the USSR are without foundation."
14th June
Discussions are taking place with the French in Cairo about the most efficient way to start to run convoys through the Mediterranean again. The obvious way is to run the convoys through by sea, but this will involve having to escort and probably fight them through the Sicilian narrows. The final decision is to run all normal (i.e. bulk) shipping through in convoy, however high value cargoes, such as military equipment, will be landed at Oran to go on by rail (or in the case of aircraft unpacked and flown on where necessary. In order to ease supply in Egypt, XIII Corps will relocate to Tunisia/West Cyrenaica, where they can be supported via the rail link. The committee is also investigating the resumption of exports from North Africa to Britain, in particular some items such as iron ore which are badly needed by the British steel industry. These exports will reduce the load on shipping across the North Atlantic, and will be more efficient as the ships will be loaded in both directions (many ships on the North Atlantic route travel west in ballast). Having most shipping use the Mediterranean rather than the Cape route will also amount to saving over a million tons of shipping. It is expected these changes will start to take place in about a month, allowing for the placements and loading of shipping to be prepared in advance. There is also the suggestion of joining the rail line in Tunisia as far as Egypt, but this will take a considerable time, and require items such as rails to come from the USA. It is being looked at as a long term action.
18th June
The first of a series of bombing raids on German ports starts with a heavy raid on Hamburg. The RAF has be
en carrying out limited attacks over the last four months, mainly in order to keep the Germans devoting effort to air defence. The bulk of their effort has been in gardening (which has caused considerable loss and disruption to coastal shipping in particular), and in heavily escorted daytime raids against limited targets in the Low Countries and France. These daytime raids have suffered casualties, heavy in some cases, but have also been shooting down a considerable number of German fighters. Although the loss ratio favours the Germans, it is not by much (although the Germans do save more pilots). There have also been a number of experimental raids on inland waterways by bombing and mining.
The main direction has been to allow Bomber Command to build up its strength in heavy and medium bombers, and to improve the accuracy of its bombing. The new pathfinders have steadily been gaining experience, although their methods are by no means perfected, and the new raids are intended to see how well the new system works with heavy raids. In order to simplify the navigation problems, coastal or near-coastal cities such as Hamburg have been selected.
The US government formally adds Greece to the countries which will be supplied with lend-lease. It has been agreed that for practical reasons they will use British equipment and ammunition where possible, and as the supply situation eases in the Middle East it is intended to make the Greek troops on Crete into two divisions plus some auxiliary units. The local population fought fiercely in defence of their island, and surplus Italian equipment will be used to equip the local equivalent of the Home Guard
