Schwerpunkt “heavy point”: the main focus of effort of a military attack
SD Sicherheitsdienst = Security Service: the intelligence branch of the SS
SdKfz 221 4-ton, 4-wheel armoured car, with 7.92 mm MG
Sichelschnitt sickle: used to describe the curving line of attack towards the Channel ports
Sitzbereitschaft cockpit readiness
SS Schutzstaffeln: elite guard of Nazi Party
Standartenführer Waffen-SS Colonel
StG.40 automatic assault rifle designed around the 7.92mm Kurz (7.9x33mm) cartridge [identical to the historical StG.44 but available four years earlier]
Stuka term for a dive-bomber (Sturzkampfflugzeug) which became particularly associated with the Ju 87
Sturmbannführer Waffen SS rank, equivalent to Major
T5 see Zaunkönig
Truppenwetterdienst military weather forecasting service
Typhoon code word for operation to seize Moscow
Untermenschen subhumans (literally, underpeople): Nazi term for Slavs
Unteroffizier army rank equivalent to Corporal
Waffen SS military wing of the SS
Walther P38 standard service semi-automatic pistol chambered for 9x19 mm Parabellum cartridge.
Walter turbine experimental submarine propulsion system
Wehrmacht armed forces (translation: defence power)
Weserübung code name for the invasion of Denmark and Norway
Wolfram tungsten
Wolfsschanze “wolf’s lair”: code for the Rastenburg FHQ, East Prussia (aka Sperrkreis I)
Wolfsschlucht “wolf’s glen”: code for the Brûly-de-Pêche FHQ, Belgium
Wolfsschlucht 2 FHQ located at Margival, near Soissons, France
Würzburg fighter and gun direction radar
Würz-Laus feature which allows Würzburg to distinguish moving objects
Y-Gerät radio navigation system for aircraft
xB-dienst special section of Naval Intelligence concerned with code-breaking
X-Gerät radio guidance system used for bomber navigation
Y-Gerät radio guidance system used for bomber navigation
Zaunkönig naval acoustic torpedo (sound king); also known as T5
Zeremonienmeister Master Bomber
German Weapon Calibres
7.92 mm rifle and machine-gun cartridge (7.92x57 mm)
7.92 mm Kurz short cartridge of lower power for assault rifle (7.92x33 mm)
9 mm Luger pistol and submachine gun cartridge (9x19 mm)
2 cm Flak 38 light automatic AA weapon (20x138 mm)
3,7 cm Flak 18 medium automatic AA weapon (37x263 mm)
5 cm Pak 38 L/60 anti-tank gun (Tank version known as KwK 38) [introduced earlier in place of 3.7 cm guns]
7,5 cm Pak 40 L/45 anti-tank gun (Tank version known as KwK 40) [both guns modified to use the same ammunition: historically they were different]
8,8 cm Flak 18 L/56 anti-aircraft gun also used as an anti-tank and field gun. Tank version is KwK 36.
8,8 cm Pak 43 L/71 high-velocity anti-tank gun
10,5 cm Flak 39 high-velocity AA gun
11cm Flak 43 smoothbore heavy AA gun firing fin-stabilised HE shells
German Aircraft
Arado 234 twin-jet reconnaissance bomber [in service from 1942].
Bf 109 single-engined, single-seat fighter, designed by Messerschmitt
Dornier 217 twin-engined bomber
Dornier 317 German four-engined heavy bomber [the historical Do 317 was an experimental twin-engined bomber]
Fieseler Storch Army co-operation and spotter
Focke-Wulf 187 twin-engined single seat fighter [historically only experimental; put into production with more powerful DB engines]
Focke-Wulf 190 single-engined single-seat fighter
Heinkel He 177 German four-engined heavy bomber [the historical He 177 had two double engines driving two propellors]
Heinkel He 219 twin-engined night-fighter [developed much earlier]
Junkers Ju 52 three-engined military transport
Junkers Ju 87 single-engined two-seat dive bomber (Stuka)
Junkers Ju 88 twin-engined multi-role warplane [in service earlier]
Junkers Ju 188 refined version of the above [in service earlier]
Me 262 Messerschmitt jet fighter [in service earlier]
German Warships
Admiral Graf Spee German Panzerschiff: “pocket battleship”
Admiral Scheer German Panzerschiff: “pocket battleship”
Gneisenau German battlecruiser [not built]
Leipzig German light cruiser
Lützow German Panzerschiff: “pocket battleship”
Nurnberg German light cruiser
Scharnhorst German battlecruiser [not built]
Schleswig-Holstein German battleship of pre-Great War vintage
Type VII German U-boat, conventional type
Type X German Elektroboot [the same as the historical Type XXI, but available in 1940 instead of 1945]
Type XI coastal version of Elektroboot [the same as the historical Type XXIII, also available years earlier]
Type XII German supply submarine [the same as the historical Type XIV]
U240 Type VIIC U-boat
U470 Type X Elektroboot
Other Nations’ Terms
Allison US aero-engine firm
Betasom Italian submarine unit based at Bordeaux
Capitano di Corvetta Italian naval rank equivalent to Lieutenant Commander
Co-Prosperity Sphere The area of SE Asia which Japan planned to bring under its control
H2X American version of H2S
Hotchkiss French MG used by German occupation troops in France (and also by the UK)
IJA Imperial Japanese Army
IJN Imperial Japanese Navy
Il Duce Italian term for Mussolini, their leader
Katyusha Soviet artillery rocket
KV-1 Soviet heavy tank
Lochagos Greek Army rank, equivalent to captain
Marine Nationale French Navy
Maroszek Polish anti-tank rifle
MAS craft Italian light torpedo boats
Norden bombsight American daylight bombsight
Pershing US heavy tank with 90 mm gun [in service earlier]
Regia Aeronautica Italian Air Force
Regia Navale Italian Navy
Rodina Russian: “Motherland”
sonar American term for Asdic (SOund NAvigation and Ranging)
Stavka Soviet High Command
T26 Soviet light tank
T34 Soviet medium tank
TNHP 38 Czech light tank, used by Germans
USAAC United States Army Air Corps (to which USAAF crew belonged)
USAAF United States Army Air Force
USN United States Navy
0.5 inch Browning American heavy machine gun (12.7 x 99 mm cartridge)
1.1 inch USN automatic AA gun (28 x 199 mm cartridge)
5 inch USN dual-purpose gun (anti-ship + anti-aircraft)
Other Nations’ Aircraft
Aichi D3A Japanese dive bomber
Aichi E13A Japanese seaplane
B-17 “Flying Fortress” USAAF heavy bomber
B-25 “Mitchell” USAAF medium bomber
Mitsubishi A6M IJN single-engined, single-seat fighter (“Zero”)
Mitsubishi G3M IJN twin-engined bomber
Mitsubishi G4M IJN twin-engined bomber
Mustang see P-51
Nakajima B5N IJN single-engined bomber
P-36 USAAF single-engined, single-seat fighter
P-40 USAAF single-engined, single-seat fighter,
P-47 USAAF single-engined, single-seat fighter
P-51 USAAF single-engined, single-seat fighter
PZL P11 Polish single-engined single-seat fighter aircraft
Thunderbolt see P-47
Other Nations’ Ships
Abukuma IJN light cruiser
Akagi IJN aircraf
t carrier
Anderson USN destroyer, Sims class
Arizona USN battleship
California USN battleship
Chikuma IJN heavy cruiser
Chokai IJN heavy cruiser
De Ruyter Dutch cruiser
Dunkerque French battlecruiser, sistership to Strasbourg
Haruna IJN battleship
Hiei IJN Kongo-class battlecruiser
I-57 IJN submarine
Ise IJN battleship
Java Dutch cruiser
Kaga IJN carrier
Kirishima IJN Kongo-class battlecruiser
Kongo IJN battlecruiser
Littorio Italian battleship
Marconi class of Italian submarines
Mogami IJN light cruiser
Musashi IJN super-battleship, Yamato class
Mutsu IJN battleship (sister to Nagato)
Nagato IJN battleship (sister to Mutsu)
Pennsylvania USN battleship
Ryoja Maru Japanese troopship
Shokaku IJN carrier
Soryu IJN carrier
Strasbourg French battlecruiser, sistership to Dunkerque
Tone IJN heavy cruiser
Vittorio Veneto Italian battleship, Littorio class
West Virginia USN battleship
Yamato IJN 70,000 ton super-battleship
Zuikako IJN carrier
AFTERWORD
This book is a story written around a whole series of ‘what ifs?’. The initial premise, that anyone from the present could wake up seventy years earlier, is obviously fantasy of the purest sort, but the remainder of the speculation is intended to be as realistic as the author’s knowledge of World War 2 can make it.
What if the UK avoided giving that guarantee to Poland, which led to the declaration of war on Germany in 1939, which led to most of the British Army being based in France in 1940 – from which they later had to be evacuated via Dunkirk at great cost – which in turn meant that the forces the UK could send to Norway were inadequate?
What if the UK had used the few years before the war to prepare for it in a much more accurately focused manner, with improvements to inter-service cooperation in general and amphibious warfare capabilities in particular? Might this (along with the suggestion above) have resulted in the Germans being thrown out of Norway in 1940, rather than the British? If so, this would not only have enormously reduced the risk of the Arctic convoys to Russia, but would also have allowed the British to intervene directly in the fighting in northern Russia. It might also have allowed the British to defeat the Italians in North Africa before the Germans (in the form of Rommel and his Afrika Korps) came to their rescue, thereby avoiding years of expensive warfare before North Africa was finally secured.
What if the British had avoided the 1940 clash with the French fleet in Oran but had worked to recruit the French colonies to the Free French, to join the Allied cause instead? That also could have helped in securing North Africa quickly.
What if the UK had prepared more effectively for the Japanese invasion of Malaya and Singapore and provided the defences with adequate modern equipment? This would have been much more feasible if the fighting in North African ended quickly. Could the loss of these colonies have been avoided and the three and a half years of fighting in the Pacific been much shortened?
What if the Allies had focused on the invasion of Northern France rather than diverting so much military effort into the invasions of Sicily and Italy? Could D-day have happened a year earlier, and would it have succeeded against a stronger Wehrmacht?
What if the Allies did take seriously the German conspirators against Hitler, and avoided the ‘unconditional surrender’ demand which reportedly discouraged the opposition to Hitler and considerably toughened the resolve of the Wehrmacht to carry on fighting until the last?
There are also, of course, many matters of a more technical nature; changes which could have led to a great improvement in the capability of the Allied armed forces within the same overall level of resources and without requiring huge breakthroughs in technology (all of the proposals in the book were either developed shortly after the suggested dates, or would have been technically feasible at the time).
What if the British, who started and finished the war with some tanks of good quality but signally failed to produce anything to compete with the Panzers in between, had developed a coherent programme for a family of armoured fighting vehicle? This would include the armament for them, making earlier use of APDS technology (being developed by the French before World War 2).
What if the RAF was partly deflected from its obsession with strategic bombing and made instead to focus more on the tactical support role as well as maritime patrol? This would have resulted in earlier development of fighter-bombers and armoured twin-engined attack planes (the Brigand and Hereford in the book) as well as more long-range MP aircraft (the Warwick – rather different in the book from the historical plane).
What if the RAF had developed electronic navigation aids and other techniques for accurate night bombing at the start of the war, instead of close to the end, enabling them to attack precision targets rather than whole cities?
What if the RAF bomber fleet had focused on high-speed, unarmed strategic bombers (the Mosquito and a fictional scaled-up version in the ‘Avro Manchester’) instead of the relatively slow, armed heavy bombers?
What if the RAF had a long-range fighter available from the start, enabling bomber escorts to be provided as well as, for instance, interceptions over Norway? The designs were there on paper, but not implemented.
What if radar had generally been developed at an accelerated rate and used more widely, for example in airborne early warning systems? And especially the centimetric radar able to detect submarines – and even schnorkels – with precision.
What if guided bombs and missiles had been developed and used earlier, instead of having only a minor effect on the war (and that almost entirely in German service)?
What if the Fleet Air Arm and RAF Coastal Command were provided with adequate numbers of modern aircraft (the Beaufighter, Beaufort and Warwick in the book), instead of being last in the queue for competitive planes for much of the war? This could easily have been afforded by switching production more quickly away from obsolete or obsolescent types such as the Fairy Battle, Boulton Paul Defiant, Bristol Blenheim, Hawker Hurricane (once the Battle of Britain was over) and most of the historical bombers and naval aircraft which were of little combat value and had no development potential.
What if the RN’s aircraft carriers, given the benefit of more and better aircraft, had been designed for rapid handling of larger quantities of aircraft like the USN and IJN designs? The Invincibles would have lost their armoured decks, but gained in hangar capacity and the effectiveness of their aircraft complement. Angled flight decks (not actually introduced until the 1950s) would have assisted with this since they made it possible to fly off and recover planes at the same time. The book also assumes the conversion of the big old Hawkins class cruisers to light carriers suitable for accompanying cruiser forces, and the construction of some of the wartime six-inch gun cruisers as light carriers.
What if Merchant Aircraft Carriers (MAC ships) had enabled continuous air cover for convoys from the start of the war, instead of only being introduced relatively late?
What if the Royal Navy prepared more thoroughly for the submarine threat, with earlier development of the ‘Squid’ forward-firing mortars and their associated specialist Asdic, together with the development of a class of fast AS ‘corvettes’ (similar to the historical ‘Hunt’ class) which were built in large number, partly by limiting the number of (more expensive) fleet destroyers? Airborne AS weapons were also poor at the start of the war, and the faster development of high-resolution radar, Leigh lights, airborne depth charges and homing torpedoes would have been of great assistance.
What if the RN took the aircraft threat more seriously from the start and acquired more effective AA capability
instead of being woefully ill-equipped for much of the war? This could have involved the general use of the 4 inch AA twin mounting in destroyers rather than 4.7 inch guns in low-angle mountings intended for surface engagements. The book also proposes the replacement of the rather disappointing, slow-firing 5.25 inch DP armament, used in new battleships and the historical Dido class light cruisers, with lighter and faster-firing 4.7 inch guns in twin DP mountings. In consequence, the Dido class would have become smaller and less expensive ‘frigates’. More rapid acquisition of the 40 mm Bofors guns, plus encouraging Bofors to accelerate the development of their 57 mm automatic AA gun, are also proposed.
What if the RN economised considerably with the design and production of the new King George V class battleships by reusing existing 15 inch guns and turrets (by far the most costly and time-consuming element of a battleship to manufacture) instead of developing new 14 inch armament which proved extremely troublesome in service? This could have freed up resources to carry out the planned, but never implemented, upgrades to the battlecruisers Hood and Repulse, as could a decision not to modernise the old QE class battleships.
These are the simple ‘what ifs’. The complex ones are concerned with Germany having equivalent foresight, and the British knowing that the Germans knew…
Germany did of course make many mistakes in World War 2, the most serious (as with Japan) being to start it! However, as the story emphasises, the key strategic errors may have been very difficult to avoid as they were tied up with the ideology and psychology of the Nazis in general and Adolf Hitler in particular.
One major German error was to allow the British Army to escape from Dunkirk by relying on the Luftwaffe to prevent this, instead of instructing the German Army to go in and capture them. However, this does not arise in this book as the British Army was kept out of France.
Leaving the UK undefeated while attacking the Soviet Union created a two front war for Germany, which ultimately led to its defeat. However, expansion to the east was always Hitler’s aim; he had no particular quarrel with the UK and would (at least initially) have preferred a negotiated peace. If he believed that he had the strength to conquer the USSR and that its defeat would force the UK to negotiate (as it probably would have done), it is difficult to imagine him refraining from attack.
THE FORESIGHT WAR Page 41
