Keynes' Cruisers

[fester]

Grozny, September 11, 1942

The Black Sea Group of Forces was a ravenous maw of men and material as hammer blows forced retreats. British, American and Russian built tanks burned in pyres next to each other. The Persian corridor was shoveling supplies to the armies as they slowly retreated along the Caspian Sea shore towards Baku. The retreat made the supply lines shorter and more secure even as more American trucks were being filled with oil refined just hours from the front.

Supplies were crossing the Caspian Sea and coming north on the raillines that emerged from Persia. A railhead at Grozny was where broken and battered armored brigades and rifle divisions could rest and recuperate. Seventy five new American tanks armed with 75 milimeter guns in a sponson mount were unloading from a set of trains. A broken tank brigade was trading in their half destroyed T-34s for the new American mounts. Mechanics would soon be swarming over the Soviet medium tanks to repair and refurbish the damaged mounts for another battalion to take them back to the front.

Anti-aircraft gunners traced patterns in the sky as another air raid warning had been called in. Sirens were blaring even as the guns started to fire at the raiders. This time they were attacking a road junction instead of the marshalling yards, so the Lend Lease tanks were being offloaded underneath the steel rain of shell fragments.

 

[mudhead]

...two of his squad mates were also getting arriving.

Forget the "getting", I think.

Even without the Soviet counteroffensives, the Caucasus campaign was ill-judged. The Germans simply didn't have enough skilled oil industry personnel, and the ones they moved to Grozny were killed by Soviet infiltrators. Daniel Yergin: The Prize has an account of this.

 

[Driftless]

Yep, Wavell is in charge and O'Connor is getting groomed for bigger and better things.

Good! Both men deserved better than what happened to them historically. Wavell for being figuratively in the wrong place at the wrong time and O'Connor literally in the wrong place at the wrong time....

 

[fester]

RAF Kirton in Lindsey, September 12, 1942


Four Typhoons raced over the runway. As the leader reached the end of the runway, he pitched his nose up and the flight ascended to 1,000 feet before they went into a slow barrel roll of celebration. Ten minutes later, the New Zealanders had taxied to a stop near their squadron dispersal area. Even as American P-38s roared into the sky for another training mission, the exuberant pilots held their fingers up.

2 1, 1. The pilot claimed their kills.
They had been circling a route that the Luftwaffe fighter bombers liked to use for their low level attacks on RAF airfields. Eight FW-190s had come in low, 300 feet off the deck. Their course seemed to be one that would allow them to hit a Bomber Command airfield which had taken in stragglers and damaged bombers from last night’s raid. The Typhoons had spotted them almost directly ahead of them and seven hundred feet below them and dove straight into the attack. The German jabos were at the most vulnerable with only their speed and the ocean as a defense. The Hawkers’ heavy cannons shredded three Germans. The flight leader’s two kills came from a string of shells ripping open the cockpit and then as he skidded to shift his fire, the tail end Charlie of the German formation attempted to wing over in a moment of panic. This move would have been wise five thousand feet higher. He realized his mistake milliseconds before his left wing tip touched the English Channel.

The other German fighter bombers broke off and ran for their coast.

 

[fester]

Novorossiysk, September 12, 1942

The Romanian merchant ship Alba Iulia picked her way through the almost ruined port. Half a dozen harbor launches had arrived earlier in the week to begin the slow process of removing mines and obstructions on the harbor bottom. A small channel had already been cleared to one of the piers that had supported the Soviet Black Sea Fleet until recently. The heavily laden merchant ship bumped into the pier and her sailors threw hawsers over the side to secure her in place. Soon German, Romanian and Italian labor battalions along with Soviet prisoners began the slow process of unloading a ship with almost no powered equipment.

 

[fester]

Kupang, Timor September 12, 1942


Outside the harbor, five American cruisers and eight destroyers were anchored. A quarter of the anti-aircraft guns were manned while the radar aboard two of the cruisers continued to spin. The other radars were down to save on wear and tear and to allow the techs time to keep the tubes and wires happy. Inside the harbor, half a dozen Liberty ships and a handful of Australian and Dutch flagged vessels were tied up. Local laborers and American Negro battalions were busy with cranes unloading supplies directly to trucks that would take the goods and supplies to depots near the front. Those truck companies had a full day of driving through the roads that formed the backbone of the Allied logistics efforts on the island. Engineering battalions were slowly building new and broader routes, but the advance of the forward battalions was enough to make the quest to have a good road network behind the front a Zeno’s paradox.


Ninety miles to the northeast, two destroyers had been detached by Admiral Spruance to escort a small convoy of three coasters that could use Pante Macassar to unload. They saw nothing of interest besides dolphins and sea turtles.

 

[Driftless]

Zeno’s paradox

I had to look up that term. Good description of the situation!

 

[Driftless]

Kupang, Timor September 12, 1942

Ninety miles to the northeast, two destroyers had been detached by Admiral Spruance to escort a small convoy of three coasters that could use Pante Macassar to unload. They saw nothing of interest besides dolphins and sea turtles.

The implication (to me...) if the situation is quiet enough for small convoy to head to a mid north shore port unruffled, that means the combined Japanese forces are really knocked back on their heels on Timor.

 

[sloreck]

Japanese "light" naval forces have been decimated, and of course the heavies are being preserved for the "decisive battle" and such a force requires destoyers and light cruisers for screening and they cannot be sent off and risked otherwise the main battle fleet will be vulnerable when the inevitable "decisive battle" occurs, which it must of course...

 

[Draconis]

Grozny, September 11, 1942

The Black Sea Group of Forces was a ravenous maw of men and material as hammer blows forced retreats. British, American and Russian built tanks burned in pyres next to each other. The Persian corridor was shoveling supplies to the armies as they slowly retreated along the Caspian Sea shore towards Baku. The retreat made the supply lines shorter and more secure even as more American trucks were being filled with oil refined just hours from the front.

In TTL the Germans were in the process of capturing Novorossiysk on the Black Sea August 25th. Just 17 days later they are attacking Grozny. An advance of about 400 miles in 2.5 weeks. That is an astounding feat. I hadn't thought they'd be near there until close to the end of the year.

How are the Germans and their allies getting resupplied? Have they captured another port but on the East coast of the Black Sea?

 

[fester]

In TTL the Germans were in the process of capturing Novorossiysk on the Black Sea August 25th. Just 17 days later they are attacking Grozny. An advance of about 400 miles in 2.5 weeks. That is an astounding feat. I hadn't thought they'd be near there until close to the end of the year.

How are the Germans and their allies getting resupplied? Have they captured another port but on the East coast of the Black Sea?

I screwed up. I have seriously rewritten the Grozny post as you're right the logistics don't work.

 

[Viper91]

Did the Japanese ever invade New Guinea? IOTL they're 30 miles from Port Moresby at this time and the fight is on for Henderson Field on Guadalcanal...whoo boy, are they getting their butt kicked here. How are things on Bataan? In North Africa we're still two months away from the original TORCH and here we are waiting for them to pile up on Cape Bon, Brits are on an Aegean cruise...the only place the Axis is ahead of the game in on the Eastern Front and that will probably cost them in the long run. Yesss.

They took Rabaul, and moved token forces into the Solomons. To my understanding they haven't landed in New Guinea at all. A lot of the islands throughout the Solomons had no defenses except for the odd coast watcher and helpful natives, so the Japanese often walked ashore with no resistance.

New Guinea to my understanding hasn't been taken, at least in part thanks to several multi carrier strikes by the US Navy against Rabaul.

The Australians to my understanding have been feeding more and more troops in along the northern coastline of New Guinea. An extra platoon here, the odd company there. No major formations, but enough to act as a tripwire if the Japanese invade.

 

[fester]

Rangoon, September 13, 1942


Two trawlers, HMT Elara and HMT Cochrane, led the convoy past the boom defense vessel that guarded the swept shipping channel. Four ships followed, their triple expansion ends puffing along, bringing another 10,000 tons of supplies that to Rangoon for shipment to Chungking. The wealth of India was heading to China, where if half of the tonnage and a third of the value arrived for the Chinese Army, that would be a very effective trip.

Hurricanes patrolled overhead. A new squadron had arrived in theatre a week ago and familiarization flights were ongoing. The rains had wrecked a number of the secondary strips, but the few new concrete and steel matted strips were overcrowded around the capital of the colony. Bostons, Blenheims, Hudsons and Wellingtons were in the air almost every day either bombing Japanese positions on the far side of the Sittang River or training with the Indian infantry brigades that would be leading the next set of attacks.

 

[fester]

Bangkok September 13, 1942


Black puffs of death erupted 200 feet below and behind the wings of the Hampden. Three squadrons of the older medium bombers had been detached from Bomber Command as the type was having more and more difficulty being effective over Germany and in the thickening integrating air defense network that the Luftwaffe could put up. Here in Asia, they were still more than sufficient for the job.


The Thai capital’s defenders were short of shells so the flak was no worse than that of a milk run over northern Germany. Half a dozen Abduls were spotted off in the distance but they were out of position. The bomb bay doors opened and soon the plane was two tons lighter as steel and explosives descended on the docks of the Thai capital.


Three hours later, one of the bombers diverted to Kota Bharu, flak had damaged an engine where the flight back to Kuanton was a questionable risk. The hard surface field just behind the front was an always valuable base. The bomber squadrons had taken to stationing a small repair and maintenance team with the Irish infantry brigade that garrisoned the seaside city. It was easier and cheaper than ransoming the air crews and bombers for cigarettes and movies.

 

[GTStinger]

The wealth of India was heading to China, where if half of the tonnage and a third of the value arrived for the Chinese Army, that would be a very effective trip.

The five finger discount is in full force along the Burma road.....

 

[Unknown]

The five finger discount is in full force along the Burma road.....

At least the Burma Road is still open, and it's more than what the Chinese Army got IOTL...

And the Allies are bombing Bangkok, too ITTL; this is probably a prelude to the Allied counteroffensives, and the Thais/Japanese are counting down the days...

 

[Ryan]

I wonder how Thailand will react once the next British offensive gets underway; The offensive will almost certainly crush Japanese forces in the region and push deep into Thailand, making a continued pro Japanese position untenable for any leadership that wants to keep its position.

 

[fester]

Bremen, September 14, 1942

A searchlight poked through the break in the clouds. Ahead, a bomber fresh from the factory and flown by men who had just come to the squadron from the OCU. The experienced pilot on his twenty third mission over Germany tried not to feel the sweat on his palms as he focused on the course he had to fly. He had some time when he was not a passenger to the bombardier’s whims. There was nothing that he could ever say that prompted him to zig a little to the right but even as he skidded the aircraft, a string of tracers came past his cockpit window. A black mass zoomed past him as a German night fighter had missed its mark.


The pilot drove his bomber into the clouds for a moment of safety as the rest of the crew looked for any more German fighters. The bombardier was ready to guide the aircraft in to the aim point. The cloud was only seven seconds of protection but it was enough for the night fighter to lose interest in him. There was a flash, and then a thousand foot long tongue of flame off to the left. The replacements were going down.


The pilot could not care, he was flying straight and level on the final bomb run before suddenly, his aircraft jumped as the bombs fell away. He jerked the controls over and began to turn for home, corkscrewing and skidding and sliding until he and his crew were safe enough over the North Sea. Behind them, the docks were on fire.

 

[sloreck]

Newbies - land/air/sea, newbies are always meat on the table.

 

[Zheng He]

Bangkok September 13, 1942


Black puffs of death erupted 200 feet below and behind the wings of the Hampden. Three squadrons of the older medium bombers had been detached from Bomber Command as the type was having more and more difficulty being effective over Germany and in the thickening integrating air defense network that the Luftwaffe could put up. Here in Asia, they were still more than sufficient for the job.


The Thai capital’s defenders were short of shells so the flak was no worse than that of a milk run over northern Germany. Half a dozen Abduls were spotted off in the distance but they were out of position. The bomb bay doors opened and soon the plane was two tons lighter as steel and explosives descended on the docks of the Thai capital.


Three hours later, one of the bombers diverted to Kota Bharu, flak had damaged an engine where the flight back to Kuanton was a questionable risk. The hard surface field just behind the front was an always valuable base. The bomber squadrons had taken to stationing a small repair and maintenance team with the Irish infantry brigade that garrisoned the seaside city. It was easier and cheaper than ransoming the air crews and bombers for cigarettes and movies.

Like that scene in Memphis Belle when the rookies' B-17 is split in half by a German fighter.