well ive read a few aars here thought i may have a go ... i doubt there will be a backstory nor much rambling or polictcal stuff ... just what happened and why 
well here it goes, ill keep updating to addlike chapters was there done
The First Engagement
The war is only a week old, but the top brass have ordered the Navy to blockade German ports and try and draw the German fleet out for a decisive action.
The Home Fleet was ordered to take position west of the island of Bornholm and the Reserve Fleet to take up position north of Rostock.
The French Navy, which is currently patrolling the Mediterranean, has been ordered to join up with our ships.
Force X, which is made up of our most modern Carriers, Battleships, the Hood and our latest Light Cruiser’s (essentially this fleet is the replacement for the Home fleet) is still docked at Liverpool waiting for the completion of the remaining Light Cruiser which is due December, will then replace the Reserve Fleet in this blockading position.
Kiel and Wilhelmshafen will be blockaded by several destroyers as there was no capital ships in port there.
The Reserve Fleet had been in position for several days and there had been no sign of the German ships, then as the sun came up on the 15th, the German fleet was spotted. The planes aboard the HMS Argus and Hermes were prepped for launch, the guns of the fleet turned to face the enemy.
At 0600 the German fleet opened fire, at a range of 26kms they were outside the range of the guns of our ships.
Our planes took off and started to attack the Hipper and another cruiser.
Grand Admiral Pound, a great tactician tried to manoeuvre the fleet closer to the Germans but to no avail they kept their distance and were able to take there time hitting our ships.
Our planes making several sorties had still yet to take out any ships of the German Fleet.
A few hours into the engagement The Bismarck struck the HMS Cumberland’s magazines, she torn herself apart, soon afterwards several Destroyers took some critical hits and went down.
The Bismarck and the Admiral Hipper still out of range of our ships then sunk 2 Light Cruisers, the Graf Spee then showing up at of no where stuck the Argus, which attempted to limp away but another shot and then another from the Graf Spee soon sent her to the bottom.
Before nightfall a few more ships had been destroyed before the Fleet was able to slip away in the darkness.
With that the Battle of Store Balt, came to an end. The cost had been for us, 1 aircraft carrier lost, the other critically damaged, 1 Heavy Cruiser sunk and another slightly damaged, 4 Light Cruisers lost and a further 4 heavily damaged and 3 destroyers lost and another damaged.
And on the German side, we had not been able to sink a single German ship, we had slightly damaged some after continuous sorties from our aircraft but after the carriers had been taken out of the equation we had no offensive.
The fleet was ordered to get to the southern coast of Norway as fast as possible, there the Home Fleet would link up with them and escort them back to Scapa, on the way the Home Fleet ran across a few German destroyers and were able to dispatch one, in a sense saving our pride somewhat.
The Denmark Campaign
On the 12th of March 1940 Germany declared war on Norway and Denmark. The Home Fleet, Force X and 2 French fleets which had all been patrolling the southern coast of Norway to make sure no German ships escaped into the North Sea where ordered to move south.
For the British ships this meant heading back to Store Balt whereas the French ships would set up camp east and south of Copenhagen. The reason for this being, the Royal Marine Corp was on its way to reinforce the Danish army and we don’t want the German fleet attacking our troop carriers.
Later that day the fleet had taken up positions, soon after the KMS Prince Eugen all by itself headed towards our ships. The King George V soon dispatched her with a broadside.
A few hours later the rest of the German fleet arrived, out for revenge, at close range both fleet blasted at one another for several hours before the Germans withdraw in the cover of darkness. 3 ships in our fleet had been damaged but we unable to determine if any Germans ships had been.
On the 14th the transporters arrived untouched, they offloaded the Marines, the 2nd Ghurkha Rifles and a Territorial Army unit. The Marines where order to move west to the island of Odense as soon as possible while the Ghurkhas and the TA boys were given the order to hold the port and the retreat route (if its needed).
At around noon on the 14th a severely mauled German fleet arrived to attempt to push back the Royal Navy from their blocking position. Shots where fired at one another for a few hours before the Germans again withdrew with the loss of a destroyer but also with the majority of there fleet now hardly seaworthy, a result we had long been hoping for. We on the other hand came off better off, only losing the HMS Emerald (which was also already damaged from the pervious skirmish), although several other cruisers and destroyers were somewhat damaged.
Since our troops arrival there had been continuous German air raids but the effective Danish AAA system was making there mark, inflicting heavy losses on the German Stukas.
In the early morning of the 18th the marines where in position and were given the order to attack the lead elements of the German advance.
In a fight that lasted all day the untested Marines were able to stop the German advance inflicting heavy casualties amongst the German mountain troops they fought and sent them heading back towards the German border.
On the 19th, even after the victorious first engagement and the fact that there was over 40 000 British troops on there soil fighting for them, the Danish government surrendered to the Germans.
With our troops in a very dangerous situation a complete withdrawal was ordered, the marines would head back to Copenhagen and load up on the transporters with the other troops and head for Norway under the cover of the entire British fleet.
The transporters were in-fact able to dock at a small port at Odense and pick up the marines there, as they started their trip back to Norway the German fleet again attacked.
The Fleet was able to see the Germans off, sinking the Blucher and a destroyer at the same time we lost 2 destroyers but were able to save the troop transporters.
On the 22nd, the transporters, on there return trip to pick up the remaining troops, where given the order not to enter Copenhagen. A German Army Korp had attacked the city and was then supported by a second. The TA soldiers and Ghurkhas fought for most of the day to stop the German advance but eventually had to retreat from the city and the port. The TA unit had nearly been wiped out in the fighting and the Ghurkhas suffered heavy casualties as well.
The fleet remained in position though as it seemed some of the territorial’s had managed to get hold of some boats and where heading out towards them, while the Ghurkhas were pulling back towards Odense.
The remains of the territorial unit where picked up by the fleet which then set sail for Oslo, it seemed that the 2nd Ghurkha Rifles was lost, soon they would be surrounded and ships would not be able to make it through to them to pick them up if the Germans occupied Copenhagen which they surely will.
On the 26th of March a small flotilla of ships arrived in Odense to pick the Ghurkhas up who had just arrived there. As the Ghurkhas were heading for the port the Germans attacked, thousands of tanks were pouring across the Danish countryside towards them and several divisions of German infantry where able to occupy the ports, our ships left just in time and now the Ghurkhas after receiving more casualties were left to march back towards Copenhagen and there only hope of evacuation.
On the 27th it was all over for them, Copenhagen was occupied by German forces that morning, what was left of the original force would now sit out the rest of the war in POW camps.
With this, the British fleet set sail for Scapa to receive some much-needed repairs after the continuous fighting and air raids.
The French fleet, which had, not saw action would keep up the blockade but from the north end of Denmark now.
The Denmark campaign had cost us several ships and entire division of mountain troops but more importantly we had lost Denmark itself, not a good omen nor a good job done, at least we had tried our best.
It had though cost the Germans, several hundred troops dead or wounded, hundreds of aircraft shot down and there main battle fleet, which was now completely un-seaworthy
The Norwegian Campaign
At the beginning of April, 5 mountain divisions were landed in Norway to reinforce the marines and the Norwegian army. The 4 Air wings of Number 1 Air Command soon joined them.
A French mountain division was due to arrive in several weeks as well to bolster the defences even more so.
During the first few days of the month, there were continuous German air raids on Norwegian and British positions. They did experience some losses to AAA positions, but with the arrival of Number 1 Command there losses soon started to steadily increase.
Into the 3d week of April and the 4 wings of Number 4 Air Command joined the Norwegian garrison.
On the 16th, transporters bringing the French mountain division to Narvik spotted a large submarine fleet in the North Sea, every ship at Scapa Flow was ordered there at once, this included the Home and Reserve Fleet, Force X, several destroyer squadrons as well as numerous Canadian destroyers. French units around Denmark were also given the order to head north to engage these subs.
Since the beginning of the war German submarines had been sinking merchant ships all over the place, we were however replacing the losses far quicker then they were being sunk but this was still a grave nuisance which had to be dealt with, destroyers and cruisers on anti submarines patrols had taken several out but now we had the chance to engage and destroy what seemed to be there main force!
Those German subs must have been a diversion force, as for late on the 16th what must have been a German paratrooper force landed north of Oslo.
The British force was spread out as followed:
III Corps, consisting of the 9th, 12th and 18th Mountain divisions in Stavanger
The Marine Corp, made up of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd marine divisions positioned west of Oslo
Finally VIII Corps, made up of the 1st and 3rd Ghurkha rifles where stationed in Oslo.
III corps was ordered north to Bergen to protect the transporters in dock there, VIII corps was ordered to attack the German position and the marines would stay where they are and act as the reserve force.
By the 18th the main fighting between the Norwegian army and the Ghurkhas against the German paratroopers was over, over the next few days mop up operations would take place around the area they landed to round them all up.
As for the submarines they had somehow escaped. A massive perimeter had been set up around the area they had been sighted using nearly every available ship but somehow they slipped away. The Fleets were given the order to return to there original assignments.
On the 22nd mopping up operations where complete, the remaining German troops had been rounded up and where put on ships for England.
Thanks to the French fleet we had found where the Germans troop transporters have been hiding, RAF strategic and tactical command sent every available bomber to Norway and the entire British fleet was ordered to join up with the French fleet. A Naval and Air force combined strike would take place against the German ships.
By the end of April these attacks where called off, they had managed to sink a few German Cruisers and the odd troop carrier but we had lost numerous planes. The air strikes had not had the major impact we had hoped for.
The strategic and tactical bombers as well as the fleets were sent back to continue with their original tasks.
This would be the last act in the Norwegian campaign as on the 4th the Battle for France begun …
hmmm ill try n get bigger pics next time
well here it goes, ill keep updating to addlike chapters was there done
The First Engagement
The war is only a week old, but the top brass have ordered the Navy to blockade German ports and try and draw the German fleet out for a decisive action.
The Home Fleet was ordered to take position west of the island of Bornholm and the Reserve Fleet to take up position north of Rostock.
The French Navy, which is currently patrolling the Mediterranean, has been ordered to join up with our ships.
Force X, which is made up of our most modern Carriers, Battleships, the Hood and our latest Light Cruiser’s (essentially this fleet is the replacement for the Home fleet) is still docked at Liverpool waiting for the completion of the remaining Light Cruiser which is due December, will then replace the Reserve Fleet in this blockading position.
Kiel and Wilhelmshafen will be blockaded by several destroyers as there was no capital ships in port there.
The Reserve Fleet had been in position for several days and there had been no sign of the German ships, then as the sun came up on the 15th, the German fleet was spotted. The planes aboard the HMS Argus and Hermes were prepped for launch, the guns of the fleet turned to face the enemy.
At 0600 the German fleet opened fire, at a range of 26kms they were outside the range of the guns of our ships.
Our planes took off and started to attack the Hipper and another cruiser.
Grand Admiral Pound, a great tactician tried to manoeuvre the fleet closer to the Germans but to no avail they kept their distance and were able to take there time hitting our ships.
Our planes making several sorties had still yet to take out any ships of the German Fleet.
A few hours into the engagement The Bismarck struck the HMS Cumberland’s magazines, she torn herself apart, soon afterwards several Destroyers took some critical hits and went down.
The Bismarck and the Admiral Hipper still out of range of our ships then sunk 2 Light Cruisers, the Graf Spee then showing up at of no where stuck the Argus, which attempted to limp away but another shot and then another from the Graf Spee soon sent her to the bottom.
Before nightfall a few more ships had been destroyed before the Fleet was able to slip away in the darkness.
With that the Battle of Store Balt, came to an end. The cost had been for us, 1 aircraft carrier lost, the other critically damaged, 1 Heavy Cruiser sunk and another slightly damaged, 4 Light Cruisers lost and a further 4 heavily damaged and 3 destroyers lost and another damaged.
And on the German side, we had not been able to sink a single German ship, we had slightly damaged some after continuous sorties from our aircraft but after the carriers had been taken out of the equation we had no offensive.
The fleet was ordered to get to the southern coast of Norway as fast as possible, there the Home Fleet would link up with them and escort them back to Scapa, on the way the Home Fleet ran across a few German destroyers and were able to dispatch one, in a sense saving our pride somewhat.
The Denmark Campaign
On the 12th of March 1940 Germany declared war on Norway and Denmark. The Home Fleet, Force X and 2 French fleets which had all been patrolling the southern coast of Norway to make sure no German ships escaped into the North Sea where ordered to move south.
For the British ships this meant heading back to Store Balt whereas the French ships would set up camp east and south of Copenhagen. The reason for this being, the Royal Marine Corp was on its way to reinforce the Danish army and we don’t want the German fleet attacking our troop carriers.
Later that day the fleet had taken up positions, soon after the KMS Prince Eugen all by itself headed towards our ships. The King George V soon dispatched her with a broadside.
A few hours later the rest of the German fleet arrived, out for revenge, at close range both fleet blasted at one another for several hours before the Germans withdraw in the cover of darkness. 3 ships in our fleet had been damaged but we unable to determine if any Germans ships had been.
On the 14th the transporters arrived untouched, they offloaded the Marines, the 2nd Ghurkha Rifles and a Territorial Army unit. The Marines where order to move west to the island of Odense as soon as possible while the Ghurkhas and the TA boys were given the order to hold the port and the retreat route (if its needed).
At around noon on the 14th a severely mauled German fleet arrived to attempt to push back the Royal Navy from their blocking position. Shots where fired at one another for a few hours before the Germans again withdrew with the loss of a destroyer but also with the majority of there fleet now hardly seaworthy, a result we had long been hoping for. We on the other hand came off better off, only losing the HMS Emerald (which was also already damaged from the pervious skirmish), although several other cruisers and destroyers were somewhat damaged.
Since our troops arrival there had been continuous German air raids but the effective Danish AAA system was making there mark, inflicting heavy losses on the German Stukas.
In the early morning of the 18th the marines where in position and were given the order to attack the lead elements of the German advance.
In a fight that lasted all day the untested Marines were able to stop the German advance inflicting heavy casualties amongst the German mountain troops they fought and sent them heading back towards the German border.
On the 19th, even after the victorious first engagement and the fact that there was over 40 000 British troops on there soil fighting for them, the Danish government surrendered to the Germans.
With our troops in a very dangerous situation a complete withdrawal was ordered, the marines would head back to Copenhagen and load up on the transporters with the other troops and head for Norway under the cover of the entire British fleet.
The transporters were in-fact able to dock at a small port at Odense and pick up the marines there, as they started their trip back to Norway the German fleet again attacked.
The Fleet was able to see the Germans off, sinking the Blucher and a destroyer at the same time we lost 2 destroyers but were able to save the troop transporters.
On the 22nd, the transporters, on there return trip to pick up the remaining troops, where given the order not to enter Copenhagen. A German Army Korp had attacked the city and was then supported by a second. The TA soldiers and Ghurkhas fought for most of the day to stop the German advance but eventually had to retreat from the city and the port. The TA unit had nearly been wiped out in the fighting and the Ghurkhas suffered heavy casualties as well.
The fleet remained in position though as it seemed some of the territorial’s had managed to get hold of some boats and where heading out towards them, while the Ghurkhas were pulling back towards Odense.
The remains of the territorial unit where picked up by the fleet which then set sail for Oslo, it seemed that the 2nd Ghurkha Rifles was lost, soon they would be surrounded and ships would not be able to make it through to them to pick them up if the Germans occupied Copenhagen which they surely will.
On the 26th of March a small flotilla of ships arrived in Odense to pick the Ghurkhas up who had just arrived there. As the Ghurkhas were heading for the port the Germans attacked, thousands of tanks were pouring across the Danish countryside towards them and several divisions of German infantry where able to occupy the ports, our ships left just in time and now the Ghurkhas after receiving more casualties were left to march back towards Copenhagen and there only hope of evacuation.
On the 27th it was all over for them, Copenhagen was occupied by German forces that morning, what was left of the original force would now sit out the rest of the war in POW camps.
With this, the British fleet set sail for Scapa to receive some much-needed repairs after the continuous fighting and air raids.
The French fleet, which had, not saw action would keep up the blockade but from the north end of Denmark now.
The Denmark campaign had cost us several ships and entire division of mountain troops but more importantly we had lost Denmark itself, not a good omen nor a good job done, at least we had tried our best.
It had though cost the Germans, several hundred troops dead or wounded, hundreds of aircraft shot down and there main battle fleet, which was now completely un-seaworthy
The Norwegian Campaign
At the beginning of April, 5 mountain divisions were landed in Norway to reinforce the marines and the Norwegian army. The 4 Air wings of Number 1 Air Command soon joined them.
A French mountain division was due to arrive in several weeks as well to bolster the defences even more so.
During the first few days of the month, there were continuous German air raids on Norwegian and British positions. They did experience some losses to AAA positions, but with the arrival of Number 1 Command there losses soon started to steadily increase.
Into the 3d week of April and the 4 wings of Number 4 Air Command joined the Norwegian garrison.
On the 16th, transporters bringing the French mountain division to Narvik spotted a large submarine fleet in the North Sea, every ship at Scapa Flow was ordered there at once, this included the Home and Reserve Fleet, Force X, several destroyer squadrons as well as numerous Canadian destroyers. French units around Denmark were also given the order to head north to engage these subs.
Since the beginning of the war German submarines had been sinking merchant ships all over the place, we were however replacing the losses far quicker then they were being sunk but this was still a grave nuisance which had to be dealt with, destroyers and cruisers on anti submarines patrols had taken several out but now we had the chance to engage and destroy what seemed to be there main force!
Those German subs must have been a diversion force, as for late on the 16th what must have been a German paratrooper force landed north of Oslo.
The British force was spread out as followed:
III Corps, consisting of the 9th, 12th and 18th Mountain divisions in Stavanger
The Marine Corp, made up of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd marine divisions positioned west of Oslo
Finally VIII Corps, made up of the 1st and 3rd Ghurkha rifles where stationed in Oslo.
III corps was ordered north to Bergen to protect the transporters in dock there, VIII corps was ordered to attack the German position and the marines would stay where they are and act as the reserve force.
By the 18th the main fighting between the Norwegian army and the Ghurkhas against the German paratroopers was over, over the next few days mop up operations would take place around the area they landed to round them all up.
As for the submarines they had somehow escaped. A massive perimeter had been set up around the area they had been sighted using nearly every available ship but somehow they slipped away. The Fleets were given the order to return to there original assignments.
On the 22nd mopping up operations where complete, the remaining German troops had been rounded up and where put on ships for England.
Thanks to the French fleet we had found where the Germans troop transporters have been hiding, RAF strategic and tactical command sent every available bomber to Norway and the entire British fleet was ordered to join up with the French fleet. A Naval and Air force combined strike would take place against the German ships.
By the end of April these attacks where called off, they had managed to sink a few German Cruisers and the odd troop carrier but we had lost numerous planes. The air strikes had not had the major impact we had hoped for.
The strategic and tactical bombers as well as the fleets were sent back to continue with their original tasks.
This would be the last act in the Norwegian campaign as on the 4th the Battle for France begun …
hmmm ill try n get bigger pics next time
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