Chapter 5: A bittersweet homecoming
At the beginning of February 1939, most Britons were in very high spirits. The news from the Mediterranean was good and getting better, while the Royal Navy had proven the equal of any enemy fleet (except the Japanese, although only the most defeatist politicians were speaking about the fall of Hong Kong). The Italian/German advance into southern France was distantly worrying, true. Still, most of the high command thought that the advance would either stall, or that the Royal Marines would land, completely disrupting the enemy's strategy.
One person had a unique view of what was actually happening in France: David James, formerly attached to the Berlin embassy, now a junior official in Paris. James' reward for correctly discovering what the Germans intended was a modest pay raise. He had requested a tour in London, but his superiors considered his talents with European languages far too important to waste on clerical work in the duller (but, from James' point of view, much safer) post of London.
His new job was "liaison between the British and French high command." Although the post sounded impressive, James often complained that he was no more than an errand boy or, at best, an interpreter. Still, it gave him unprecedented access to British and French military plans, and he knew precisely where the Royal Marines were going, and it wasn't France. However, the ambassador to Paris had specifically ordered him to keep the final destination of the Royal Marines a secret. Instead, he spent most of his time discussing Field Marshal Sir John Gort's advances in the Mediterranean, a topic of much interest among the senior French officers.
Alice Digby, stationed in Rangoon now as a radar operator, was far more concerned about the Japanese, and rightly so. Her friend Cindy, who had transferred to Singapore, kept her apprised of the Japanese advance south through Malaysia.
CIndy [last name unknown said:
to Alice Digby, 6 February 1939]
Dear Alice,
Doesn't your father know William Slim? He just arrived to take command of our garrison here.
My boyfriend, Roger, who's part of the 12th Indian Brigade, tells me that Slim's here because "he'll fight to the last man." That sounds beastly! I wish I'd stayed with you in Rangoon, but you know Roger. He can't bear for me to stay away!
Oh, could you mail me another copy of the radar manual? It's so complicated, I don't know how you manage it so well. That's a dear.
Cindy
Once Kuala Lumpur fell on 8 February, however, all mail traffic was rerouted to Ceylon. Alice never read this particular letter, as a spelling error saw it delivered to an Alex Digby of Lancashire. Historians have never discovered who Cindy or Roger were; Alice didn't know Cindy's last name, and there were several "Roger"s in the 12th Indian Brigade.
8 February was a momentous day for Sergeant Larry Quentin of the Royal Marines too. They'd finally reached their destination, and it was his job to prepare the troops to land.
Quentin found this invasion much easier, as the Italians had absolutely no idea what the British were planning and had no garrisons to defend the port. The Sergeant was an eyewitness to a battle just off the coast, in the Red Sea, between the Royal Navy and the Regia Marina of Italy. At the cost of a single (empty) transport squadron, the Italians lost more tonnage in a single battle than they had in the entire war to that point.
Quentin, along with his platoon, cheered on the Royal Navy as it battered the Italian fleet into oblivion. The crew of the
HMS Royal Oak couldn't even try to buy a drink for sinking the pride of the Italian fleet. The third Italian battleship, the Conte di Cavour, managed to escape almost totally unscathed. The Sergeant also heard through the grapevine that another fleet, from India, was coming to the Mediterranean to help hunt it down. [1]
Quentin's attention returned to his own men, as he and the 3rd Royal Marines division was ordered south to help reclaim British territory. His corps was given explicit orders to work with French infantry in the area to completely neutralize Ethiopia and prevent a surprise attack on the Suez Canal.
Alice Digby, throughout most of February and the beginning of March, kept her ear on the radio for news of the battle of Singapore. As usual, she recorded her thoughts in her daily diary.
Digby Diaries said:
20 February 1939: Father wrote me today with good news! An army corps has been ordered to Portsmouth, and he thinks it's due for the Far East. Boy, what I wouldn't give to see the Japanese when they spot a whole corps crashing down on them!
22 February 1939: No more word from Father. I hate being so far away from everything! Thank goodness for the BBC; they say our boys are doing well against the Italians in North Africa and, I believe, Ethiopia as well. Although I know, like every good British girl, that the "real war" is in Europe, I can't help but think we're being ignored out here.
25 February 1939: I asked one of the army chaps about the 1st Offensive Army Corps. He stalled for a bit, but eventually told me the truth. Apparently some of the politicians talked Mr. Chamberlain out of reinforcing the Far East. I fear General Slim will have his hands full in Singapore. Fighting there started a week ago today.
2 March 1939: News from the Mediterranean! Our tanks have all but taken Misrata. That leaves the Italians only one more port in North Africa; surely they will surrender soon.
4 March 1939: Oh damn. Damn damn damn. Slim and the entire Singapore garrison have been defeated. They held out as long as they could, but they simply couldn't get the supplies they so desperately needed, and no reinforcements either.
I hope Cindy is okay. I haven't heard from her in weeks!
The fall of Singapore, "the Gibraltar of the East," was a crushing blow to British operations in the Far East. All the rest of Malaysia soon followed, along with other landings farther east in places like Fiji, Brunei, and any number of uninhabited island chains. The United Kingdom's attention, on the other hand, was riveted to events much closer to home: Hitler had declared war on Norway.
"Silent Bill" Harris, of Sir Ernie Chatfield's Naval Staff, had the privilege of drawing up the maps for the designated patrol areas for the Royal Navy. The Germans had, apparently, not factored into their plans the fact that they needed to actually reach Norway to invade it, a task the Royal Navy would not allow them to complete.
Harris also took great pride in passing other exciting news to Sir Ernie, including the defeat of Ethiopia (by France, of course, as even now absolutely secrecy was critical to keeping the Royal Marines an effective force) and further progress in North Africa with the fall of Misrata.
It was also his job to share bad news, such as Italian and German troops on the outskirts of Paris.
One individual who was perpetually happy with the way things were going was Colonel Wallace Graham of the Royal Hussars. Graham was happy to win a battle, whether or not his men were taking part. His division was vital to ensuring that the Italians did not escape after Tripoli fell.
After five days, the city surrendered, denying Italy its last possible port in North Africa (and wiping out three entire divisions in the process.) For Graham, Italy was all but beaten.
When he and the rest of the First Armored Corps arrived in Plymouth on 28 April 1939, they met a hero's welcome. At that precise moment, anything seemed possible.
Graham looked forward to leading the Armored Corps into battle again, but Sir John had other plans. Graham was promoted to Brigadier and made Gort's Chief of Staff, in both the Field Marshal's capacities as Commander of the First Armored Corps and as Chief of the General Staff. His mood rapidly darkened as he took stock of the situation and reported it in a memorandum.
Brigadier Wallace Graham said:
The United Kingdom has, in all probability, not been threatened to this degree since the Napoleonic Wars. We are, for the moment, alone. Even our successes in Africa are meaningless when compared with the overall strategic picture.
The Japanese are closing the net around India. The Nicobar Islands, Diego Garcia, and most importantly Ceylon have all been occupied by Japanese forces. They have every capability, right now, to potentially land thousands of troops in India and there is almost nothing we can do to stop it.
We have a single fleet in India right now -- the Chinese Fleet. It has won a pair of minor engagements, but has not met the best the enemy has to offer at this point. Sir Ernie has informed me that the two new carriers, scheduled for completion in the next two weeks, are earmarked for the Far East. A cruiser squadron will accompany them and, I have it on good authority, so will the Royal Marines. Retaking our islands in the Indian Ocean has to be a top priority. Meeting the Japanese in Burma is one thing: allowing them to completely outflank us is quite another.
Of course, the most dire news is the fall of France. Although the Maginot Line held, nobody considered the possibility of France getting completely pushed aside from the south. Italy has claimed military jurisdiction over France; that is preferable to direct German control, but the truth of the matter is, we cannot reasonably expect to liberate Paris in the near future. It will take months of preparation to have an air force and army capable of contributing in a meaningful way to that task. The following maps tell the grim story.
There is one final item for our consideration: Germany's decision to declare war on the Netherlands. I believe this decision to be less about taking Amsterdam than to provide Japan the opportunity to acquire the oil rich East Indies.
While a German-held Netherlands does provide them with additional bases, we cannot afford to devote significant forces to preventing their capture. We do not have them. We could muster, at most, three corps of infantry (if we pulled the two corps guarding the Suez) for such an operation. In my opinion, we would almost certainly take significant casualties.
The one bright spot is that not a single German foot has touched Norwegian soil yet. Every attempt to land troops there has been met with the Royal Navy; we have already sunk several transports, destroyers, and cruisers. We have even successfully engaged the vaunted U-boat forces and sunk two full squadrons. Our Navy is to be commended; they are the one branch currently pulling their weight.
The Army's priority, for the present, should be to gather up strength. A second full armored corps is due to be completed in the next 30 days, which would be of tremendous use in retaking France, or even conducting operations in the Far East. In any case, while the Royal Navy will be diligently patrolling the waters of the North Sea, our armies should be directed elsewhere. Retaking France now would be suicide.
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[1] Does anybody see the silly mistake I've made with this fleet? Because I didn't see it until much later.
A little more than two months, but I thought the fall of France was a good place to land. I genuinely considered landing that Infantry Corps in France, but by the time I had the transports back, Germany had made too much progress (around the time of the second France map). I do think I need to shift my attention back to the Far East. An amphibious operation from Ceylon to southern India would be child's play, and right now, I've got nothing else to defend India except what's presently in Burma. My new carriers should be extremely helpful in this regard, and I'll have a full four Marine divisions to take the islands back -- at present, Japan has two that I've seen. I might even use the Second Armored Corps as super-powered garrisons to prevent it from happening again. At the very least, I'll try to build some garrison divisions (featuring armor) at the earliest opportunity.
I'm actually somewhat pleased Italy, and not Germany, ended up with France. I don't know if the AI is bright enough to use Italian ports to launch German operations, but I remember in earlier editions of HOI3 that it wasn't the case. We shall have to see, my friends. Until next time!
