The Sound of Drums - A British Hearts of Iron II AAR

Are my fighters performing well?

Darth_Pugwash said:

*Is performing some useless activity, possibly reading cricket manuals, notices war is still on*

Carry on chaps

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Are you a relative of Captain2, perchance?

e350tb said:

Are my fighters performing well?

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Very well, where they have engaged in combat. In fact the British-based squadrons are just about to complete another tour of duty.

Update tomorrow.

13th - 20th July 1940

Admiral Raeder was having a bad war. His First Flotte, containing the two massive Bismarck-class battleships, had been defeated in every major engagement they had been involved in, while his handling of the first invasion of Norway had been a horrific embarrassment for the Kriegsmarine. The only thing keeping his reputation - and career - from being totally destroyed was the success of the current Norwegian invasion, and the continued survival of the Bismarck and Tirpitz. It was likely for this latter reason that Raeder decided to change his tactics in the Battle for the North Sea.

Large-scale engagements were out. The First Flotte could not defeat either Cleric’s Grand Armada nor Backhouse’s Third Fleet, so the natural response was to hit the smaller British fleets or, if possible, the vulnerable resource convoys. On the 15th, the First Flotte attacked the Second ASDIC Fleet, easily destroying four of the six destroyer flotillas that patrolled the British coast for enemy submarines. By the time the Third Fleet arrived, the First Flotte was retreating back to port.


A British destroyer on its way to the bottom of the North Sea.

It was the first victory at sea Raeder had seen, but any joy felt by him quickly vanished when news came that his ships had not been able to withdraw back to Kiel as hoped. The eternal nemesis of the First Flotte, Admiral Cleric, had moved to intercept the German fleet, forcing it to flee to Rotterdam port. By the end of the 16th the Grand Armada had initiated a total blockade of Rotterdam: the major fleet of the Kriegsmarine fleet was safe but completely trapped!

In Britain, the news was met with delight. Four destroyer flotillas were replaceable, especially for the cost of permanently detaining the First Flotte in port. Orders were relayed to Cleric that the Grand Armada was to maintain their blockade of Rotterdam while it was decided how to proceed. With the First Flotte out of the picture, the North Sea was completely open to Allied command.

This was especially good news for the commanders in Norway. Even as Cleric was forcing the First Flotte into Rotterdam, the German forces in Bergen launched their offensive at Kristiansand to the south, and Hamar in the east, clearly aiming to cut Oslo off from the rest of the country. The defenders of both provinces were quickly defeated and put on the retreat to the Norwegian capital. Disaster was narrowly averted when General Brooke-Popham, commander of Allied forces in Norway, marched his own infantry division north into Hamar and halted the German advance there. It would not be enough to save Norway, but it was enough to buy some time for the incoming reinforcements from Britain.


The situation in Norway, 20th July

Those reinforcements were to be arriving within the next week. The New Zealand transports that had shuttled the Anzac forces to Norway just days before were returning to Norwich, where troops would embark and be sent out across the North Sea.

There were movements within the Britain itself. The defence of Britain’s skies depended on 4-week campaigns by the RAF Squadrons, involving continuous patrolling and interception missions. At the insistence of Chief e350tb, the fighter squadrons were to be rotated around Britain at the end of each campaign, allowing pilots who had seen more action to have a brief period of calm in calmer regions. Admittedly Britain had not seen the massive air battles predicted by Cabinet, but there were no doubt that the pilots that had fought above the Channel had seen enough combat to warrant a rest.

On the other hand, the pilots of the Third Fleet were about to launch a rather unique mission. Prime Minister Sharuminar had shared Cleric’s rather gleeful reaction to the news that the First Flotte was now trapped, and urged Darth Pugwash to pass on their delight to the Germans. The First Lord of the Admiralty acquiesced with a mission for the Third Fleet - hit Rotterdam harbour.


Bismarck under attack

With the exception of one direct hit on the Bismarck, the mission did not achieve much in the way of physical damage to the German fleet. The port facilities at Rotterdam were heavily hit, however it was believed they would be repaired in a fortnight. This was besides the point. As the Prime Minister pointed out to the Cabinet, the main objective was simply to stress to the German Commander-in-Chief of the Navy that his First Flotte was now exceptionally vulnerable to the bombs of Allied planes. The First Flotte was, as long as Admiral Cleric prevented a breakout, doomed.

The reaction of Admiral Raeder is forever lost to historians…

Kan' Sharuminar said:

Are you a relative of Captain2, perchance?

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*cleans monocle*

Not that I know of!

Crosspost!

Excellent update, Comrade Kan. Good to see the Royal Navy proving its worth.

Bloody amazing, now it's time to hit the Jerry in the left lower ribs, where it hurts like hell. The crew of a ship who sinks the Bismarck gets several casks of rum and cola. Onwards to victory sailors!

Bloody amazing, now it's time to hit the Jerry in the left lower ribs, where it hurts like hell. The crew of a ship who sinks the Bismarck gets several casks of rum and cola. Onwards to victory sailors!

O_O FFS I just clicked once. What the hell? Someone call the mods to delete these extraneous posts.

*grabs monocle back*

watch in amazement as I leave only one post!

Excellent news. Now, how is the italian fleet doing?

Are we going to use any RAF bomber squadrans in the annahilation of the First Flotte, or is out of thier range?

Cleric said:

Bloody amazing, now it's time to hit the Jerry in the left lower ribs, where it hurts like hell. The crew of a ship who sinks the Bismarck gets several casks of rum and cola. Onwards to victory sailors!

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Huzzah!

PrinceScamp said:

Excellent news. Now, how is the italian fleet doing?

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Still active. We're going to launch a renewed offensive against it to coincide with your own offensive.

e350tb said:

Are we going to use any RAF bomber squadrans in the annahilation of the First Flotte, or is out of thier range?

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The beauty of them being trapped at Rotterdam:



I think we can safely say they're in range

We have five strategic bomber wings and one tactical bomber wing in Britain at the moment. Couple with the four carriers and their airgroups I think we can begin a sustained bombardment of the port in the hopes of sinking the First Flotte.

Rotterdam is aptly named.

It would be a terrible blow to morale if Norway were to fall. The people will lose hope if we can't beat back a few German raiders. Lets hope our reinforcements are enough to throw them back into the sea.

Kan' Sharuminar said:

At sea it was a different story, the Italians always failing to land a blow on the British Royal Navy in the Mediterranean. It had been one month since the Italians entered the war, and the bulk of the British naval campaigns there were simply to gauge the strength of the Italians fleets and get some experience in fighting in the Mediterranean. It was remarkable how easily Admiral Germanicus managed to make the sea his own then - British submarines controlled the main strait at Gibraltar and preyed on Italian supply ships. The surface fleet continued to sail deep into Italian waters, the enemy rarely daring to engage the British ships in a major engagement.

The major exception was on the 2nd July, when the Italian “1st Squadra da Marina” launched a surprise attack on Germanicus’ command fleet. One of the larger Italian fleets, it contained 4 battleships and was commanded by the well regarded Admiral Campioni. As ever, it was the British carriers, in this case the Eagle and Courageous, that won the day, their planes sinking the heavy cruiser San Giogio. It was a remarkable display of Italian power, and though the 1st Squadra failed to cause any serious damage its ships managed to score several successful strikes on their British opponents. More so than the North Sea, it seemed that having smaller vessels to quickly dart in and engage the enemy before retreating was an effective tactic against the Royal Navy. Needing repairs, the First Armada returned to Tobruk.

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Well played my old nemesis.... well played.

New oorders have been posted that forbid cricket matches on carrier decks between ships, perhaps now the Italians will never surprise us again.

*walks off to ponder cancelling the water polo game between the Eagle and Courageous.*

We must bomb their navy while they are at port. I need bombers that can fly as far as Rome and bomb those ships... (in the words of the great Romans) "to the Tarpian Rock".

Failing that, can we at least assassinate that pesky friend of mine... Campioni.

There are apparently planes in Amsterdam, perhaps a quick strike to capture the airfield and retreat could be managed, as you now aim for a permanent blockade of the relevant sea zone.

Incidentally, could this be a plan by the Germans? By forcing your fleet to guard Rotterdam, they have prevented you from deploying it elsewhere and thus limited your flexibility on the ocean. They could, for example, build transports in France and shuttle them over to England in a surprise attack. Or they could rebuild their air power and force your fleet to shore.

Actually that is an interesting point, could we raid an empty province?

Or would the enemy respon in time and it would end in the destruction of a division or two.

Or would it simply cause them to further reinforce the western front which we DO NOT WANT.

Maybe we could do the raid with something cheap, that way even if we lost it the raid would be worth it because their planes are more valuable.

What is cheap? Spam?

ArneHD said:

There are apparently planes in Amsterdam, perhaps a quick strike to capture the airfield and retreat could be managed, as you now aim for a permanent blockade of the relevant sea zone.

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Would that result in the destruction of the planes there? Ever since (I think) GinandTonic suggested the raiding plan during the Battle of France I've always had it in the back of my mind. I believe it would be a perfect operation when we get our marine/airborne forces.

ArneHD said:

Incidentally, could this be a plan by the Germans? By forcing your fleet to guard Rotterdam, they have prevented you from deploying it elsewhere and thus limited your flexibility on the ocean.

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At present the Grand Armada's main objective is to hunt down and destroy the First Flotte, while the rest of the North Sea is covered by the Third Fleet and the Norwegians. By trapping them in Rotterdam Admiral Cleric no longer has to scour the North Sea in the hopes of finding the German fleet.

ArneHD said:

They could, for example, build transports in France and shuttle them over to England in a surprise attack. Or they could rebuild their air power and force your fleet to shore.

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I realise you're just using these as examples, but I'll respond

Even if that were the case, the Third Fleet can easily respond, and the Grand Armada is close enough to assist if necessary. If an invasion did happen, I would not be foolish enough to let the Grand Armada sit there in the hope of destroying the First Flotte whilst England burned.

The Axis airforce is, sadly, in no need of being rebuilt. Numerically they are still our equals, but for some reason they are not deploying that strength against us. However, the area of sea that the Grand Armada is in (Mouth of the Thames) is conveniently covered by the RAF according to e350tb's defence plan.