Into the Fire - the "Minor" nations of WW2 strike back

[Wings]

January 1941

Mediterranean Campaign

​

With the effective neutralization of the Kriegsmarine, the transfer of Allied assets to the Mediterranean was in full swing for most of the end of 1940, in the preparation for the war against Italy. The defection of part of the French fleet to Gibraltar also allowed for the British government to ask to send the Verdun group to Alexandria, with the hope that it would soon be allowed to enter the port of Mers-el-Kébir by the end of March.

Alongside the carrier, the ship would find its usual escorts: the battleship Strasbourg, the light cruiser Montcalm, and the destroyers Le Fantasque, L’Audacieux and Tramontane. They would be reinforced by the light cruiser Jean de Vienne (replacing the La Galissonnière still in repairs) and the destroyer Volta (replacing the Mistral, lost in Norway) [1]. These ships rallied the Egyptian port on December 17th, 1940, joining Admiral Godfroy’s “Force du Levant” [2].

But the main goal of this transfer was not for the French to show the flag in simple convoy duty, oh no. Instead, the British had something much more ambitious planned. Ever since the beginning of the war, the British admiralty had pondered the capacity of the Royal Navy to strike Taranto, and deal a devastating blow to the Italian war machine.

However, with the French defection of multiple naval assets, the preparations for such an operation were delayed, as Churchill wished to strike not only a great blow, but one that would effectively knock out the Regia Marina out of the war. The British Prime Minister would have wished to use the Dixmude, but this one was already on its way to Singapore, and, as such, he laid his eyes on the Verdun.

Such a choice made sense. This would free up the new British carrier HMS Formidable, recently commissioned, for a trip to East Asia in order to beef up the Asiatic Fleet after the near-war with Japan.

However, while the French were enthusiastic to send the experienced Verdun into the fire, they had one issue. Although they were trained for night combat, with the pilots having learned on the Béarn, they had not completely reequipped their aircraft fleet with the SB2U Vindicators and Grumman F4F Wildcats (“Rochambeau” and “Lynx” in French denomination, respectively). Thus, Churchill would have to wait for the French to receive their aircraft from the other side of the Atlantic, and for them to be properly trained for night operations on these new aircraft, which constantly delayed the timetable for the strike on Taranto: Operation Judgement.

Finally, everything had been put in place by January of 1941. With the Italians being badly beaten in Albania, and Valona now potentially threatened, Taranto had become a complete mess, with fuel and supplies accumulating on the docks, alongside a mostly inactive Regia Marina, too concerned with the disaster in Libya to care about the sparse reconnaissance flights of the RAF.

On January 11th, 1941, three carriers, carrying over a hundred aircraft, set sail from Egypt under a strong escort, all under the command of Admiral Cunningham. On January 13th, these aircraft would reach the coast of Italy without being detected by the Regia Marina. At about half past two, fifty aircraft were in the air, aiming for Taranto.

Most of the British aircraft, unlike their French counterparts, were Fairey Swordfish, which were already starting to become obsolete. The British themselves had noted the good performance of the SBU Vindicator, a dive bomber, whom they originally underestimated [3]. These aircraft were armed with a host of weapons, whether torpedoes, bombs or flares, in order to illuminate the targets. The second wave, planned for dawn, would not need these flares, and instead would just work on the job that had been done by the first one.

The Italians, sitting at their posts, do not comprehend what is happening. Some hear engines, and look up, only to see a few biplanes coming at them. They shrug it off: Fiat aircraft are common around the town. It is only when they hear the sound of gunfire and the rocking of explosions when they finally understand: they are under attack!

For the Allies, the surprise was complete. There was not a single fighter in the air, and thanks to the flares laid down, the Franco-British strike group had a field day. The Littorio was hammered by bombs and torpedoes which severely damaged it, though it still retained some fighting capacity. However, its too neighbours did not fare too well. The Caio Duilio was struck by no less than five torpedoes, making it sink to the bottom of the Mare Grande, while the Conte di Cavour exploded, sending a giant spurt of flame and black smoke high into the sky, and shattering about every window in the city.

Not only that, but the Italian cruisers were also struck hard. The cruiser Fiume was sent to the bottom, alongside the brand new Duca degli Abruzzi, which received the particular attention of the Vindicators, which ravaged its superstructures and finally hit an ammo dump, blowing up half of the ship and sending the rest to the bottom of the Mare Piccolo.

The second wave was just as devastating as the first. Guided by the fires of the burning Italian warships, like moths to a flame, the Allied bombers continued to hammer the already stricken vessels, finishing off the already sinking Fiume, and destroying a further two destroyers. Added to that, the Allied planes also struck the Taranto fuel depots, adding another veil of black smoke over the already panicked city.

For the Regia Marina, it was an unmitigated disaster. Four battleships were hit, and two were completely lost. The Conte di Cavour was just a mess of twisted metal, while the Caio Duilio was deemed a total loss. Similarly, the Littorio would need extensive repairs, which would not even be completed before the fall of Rome! Only the battleship Andrea Doria, hit by two bombs, suffered minor damage and would live to see service against the Allies.

But the Regia Marina had also lost other units. The Fiume was done for, and so were two other destroyers. The Duca degli Abruzzi would need six months of repairs, at the least, and several other units, including the cruiser Gorizia, suffered minor damage, requiring repairs lasting from a few days to six months.

On the other side, the Allies won a total victory. For the price of only three aircraft shot down (two British, one French) and two British servicemen killed, they had effectively kneecapped the ability of the Regia Marina to conduct any sort of offensive operations.

The Allies had thus secured themselves total domination on the seas, or almost.

And the nightmare was not over for the Italians, as both on land and on sea, the situation would deteriorate extremely fast.



[1] This left some naval assets in British waters, notably the older battleships, the CL La Galissonnière, 9 destroyers, and 16 submarines (including several incomplete vessels).

[2] The “Force du Levant” amalgamates all naval assets that the French had in Alexandria and Syria-Lebanon at the time of the surrender. The “Force du Ponant”, in contrast, based in Dakar, amalgamates the naval assets that defected to Malta, Gibraltar, or were taken during the fall of Dakar.

[3] OTL the Fleet Air Arm was really dubious about the true capacities of a dive bomber like the Vindicator.

 

[CV(N)-6]

I wonder if this far more devastating Taranto Raid could lead to the USN being far more paranoid about something similar happening to Pearl Harbor, with knock-on effects?

 

[justinmil22]

I wonder if this far more devastating Taranto Raid could lead to the USN being far more paranoid about something similar happening to Pearl Harbor, with knock-on effects?

u would think so but chance is 50/50 iy also may make the Japanese do a more devastating attack as well

 

[CV(N)-6]

u would think so but chance is 50/50 iy also may make the Japanese do a more devastating attack as well

I'm not so sure about that. They don't have much else they can commit to it, their focus is still the battlefleet, and as has been argued in a number of threads going after the fuel tanks or something is of debatable benefit.

 

[CV(N)-6]

If anything, there's a chance the Japanese pull a carrier or two from Pearl Harbor with the British and French reinforcing their colonies.

 

[jlckansas]

The SBU Vindicator was a dive bomber and could not carry torpedoes. The TBD Devastator was the USN torpedo bomber.

 

[Wings]

I wonder if this far more devastating Taranto Raid could lead to the USN being far more paranoid about something similar happening to Pearl Harbor, with knock-on effects?

They didn't in OTL with devastating results, so from that point of view, no. BUT with the use of American aircraft here, the USN will pay more attention to the Taranto raid than OTL (so it's not a losses thing).

The SBU Vindicator was a dive bomber and could not carry torpedoes. The TBD Devastator was the USN torpedo bomber.

Yeah, I had it right in the text, just not in the notes...

 

[Sport25ing]

Seen the sucess of the Wildcat, would the British also ask for them as well? Plus, were the Buffalos and the SBC Helldivers (the biplane one)? Deployed in other fronts?

 

[Wings]

January - February 1941

Greco-Italian War

​

Following the fall of France, Mussolini found himself in an uneasy position. The French Campaign had been hard on German resources, and the Italians themselves did not have any successes to speak for, only having managed to take the town of Menton, and this at the cost of steep casualties.

A victory was dearly needed to prove their worth to Germany, but also to enhance Mussolini’s ambitions in the Mediterranean. However, Germany blocked all of Mussolini’s ambitions, notably in Yugoslavia, which was at the time a major trading partner for the Reich. Thus, he turned his attention to Greece, of which the Allies (and Britain in particular) had been using the merchant fleet for their own needs.

In September of 1940, the Italians started an anti-Greek campaign, in both propaganda and border harassment, conducting air and naval raids along the coast. On September 12th, the cruiser Elli, off Limnos, dodged three torpedoes from an unknown submarine [1]. While the culprit was obvious, the Greeks did not openly accuse the Italians of trying to have sunk their cruiser. It did, however, cause a massive upheaval in Greece, especially in public opinion.

Mussolini continued to pressure Greece, but was constantly rebuffed by the Germans, who wished them to concentrate their forces against Britain. Delays accumulated as Italy invaded Egypt, but the major blow to the Italian war effort came in November, with the invasion of the Dodecanese by Allied forces.

This essentially cordoned off the Aegean Sea for Italian shipping, and combined with the loss of 50,000 troops, forced Mussolini to postpone his invasion once again, to December this time.

By then, Italy was in dire need of a victory. Compass had started, and the British were already making large gains. Germany had occupied Romania at the beginning of the month, trampling on Italy’s perceived sphere. While Mussolini may have been pressured to send reinforcements to Libya by sea: he was unyielding. Greece must fall, and every day wasted gave more opportunity for them to prepare! In that, he was not wrong.

For the Greeks knew war was coming. The bolstering of Italian forces on the border had fooled no one, and the Allies had kindly provided photographic evidence of massive troop convoys at Taranto. Mobilisation was declared as early as October, and when the Italians finally invaded on December 8th, they came up against fourteen fully prepared infantry divisions.

The Allies for their part had assured Greece of every support possible. Three RAF squadrons were immediately dispatched from Egypt, with plans of creating an Allied Corps once Compass had ended, utilizing mostly Australian and New Zealander divisions (notably the 2nd NZ Infantry, who had already fought the Italians in the Dodecanese). The Allies also promised Greece the restitution of the occupied Dodecanese, where Greek flags already flew alongside the French, British and New Zealander flags without any opposition.

As the Italians attacked, they were completely shocked by the resistance offered by the Greek troops. Expecting a quick victory and an even quicker breakthrough, most Italian divisions did not even manage to breach the Greek defensive positions, manned and ready for them. At the Kalpaki Pass, notably, the Greek divisions fully stopped the Italian 47th Infantry Division.

It must be said that the morale of the Italian troops was already low with news of the disastrous operations in Libya, with coastal towns falling one after the other, did not help the breakthrough. Only one division was somewhat successful, this being the 3rd Alpine Division Julia, which excelled in the Pindus mountains. However, even it did not manage any substantial breakthrough, being opposed by fierce Greek troops of the 51st Regiment, which held on to Konitsa, preventing any advance further in the hills and mountains [2]. This meant that the Greeks could hold on to their trump card: the 1st Infantry Division, which would be kept for the upcoming counter-offensive.

The Italian troops, out of options and out of supplies, stalled. Their offensive did not even reach the first major Greek cities: Igoumenitsa and Kalpaki, and the Julia only barely reached Konitsa. As such, with their divisions barely mauled and suffering from the cold, the Greeks pounced.

On December 29th, 1940, the Greeks launched a massive attack on the Italian positions, who, exhausted, did not expect it whatsoever. What’s more, the commander in chief of the Albanian front, Sebastiano Visconti, had just been fired by Mussolini, leaving the troops even further in disarray.

General Alexandros Papagos, who had been waiting for a break in the weather, took advantage of the fact that the Italian divisions, not wanting to brave the cold of the Greek mountain peaks, to overflow through the mountains, causing chaos in the Italian rear. The main thrust was directed at Korce, with the minor objectives being to take Gijrokaster and speed towards Valona.

These objectives were realized within a few days, with Korce falling and Greek elements of the 10th Infantry Division reaching Pogradec. In the meantime, to the south, the fresh 1st Infantry Division decimated the lines of the Italian 23rd Mountain Infantry Ferrara, forcing General Carlo Rossi to commit his only armored division: the 131st Centauro. The fights raged on in the valley near Gjirokaster as the Greeks tried to outflank the 51st Infantry Siena, pinned in the cauldron before Igoumenitsa. As the Greeks realized what they could do, the 1st Infantry pressed on harder, keeping the Centauro in check as they ran through the Blue Eye Pass, descending on the valley and Saranda.

On January 6th, 1941, the jaws of the beast snapped on the Siena and the remains of the Ferrara, now trapped in Sagiada. With no hope of rescue, they would surrender four days later, in another humiliating surrender to add to the list of growing ones… [3]

As for the Allies, they had not been idle.

After the end of Operation Compass, and with the upcoming Operation Simoun, it was decided to send an Allied Expeditionary Force to Greece, pending government approval. The French pledged to immediately send the 86th DIA, stationed in Lebanon, and another division once Algeria had been secured (it would be the 1st Free French Division, made up of veterans of the French Campaign and Dakar). To join them, one would add the Belgian 2nd Infantry Division from April 1941, as the Belgian government wished to participate in the action, with its soldiers begging to return to break the Hun’s nose. Although the Norwegians also wished to participate, the transfer of the 6th Division was blocked until it was reequipped and reconstituted. It would only be transferred to Greece in the later months of 1941. The British for their part would commit no less than five infantry divisions (6th Australian, 2nd New Zealand, 51st (Highland), 6th British and 10th Indian) and the 7th Armoured Division, once Libya had been taken care of. These forces would then move up to the Aliakmon River and, for some, move to Albania proper. As for the RAF, it would see its numbers grow from three squadrons to seven, including one Polish.

This, however, was not seen in a good light by the Greek Prime Minister Metaxas, who saw a potential Allied intervention as a bad thing. He feared that any Allied boots on the ground would mean that the Germans in turn would send troops, thus compromising Greece’s position. Thus, Metaxas chose to delay Allied offers of ground assistance, only allowing a few RAF squadrons to take position.

In Albania, the situation was fully to the advantage of the Greeks, who continued to push deeper into the Italian lines, with reinforcements only slowly coming into Valona and Durazzo, owing to the submarine raids of the Allied navies. However, with every day, and because of the adverse weather conditions, the offensive would steadily slow down. At Tepelen and the Klissoura Pass, the Italians of the 37th Infantry Modena would manage to keep the Greeks in check, delaying the push towards Valona, while the Greek mountain troops also found difficulties in managing to push past the mountain passes of the Tomor range.

Despite this, Papagos spurred his men onwards. With their renewed successes, and with the first British aircraft being seen in the sky, a last push was launched towards Valona. The defenders of the Modena were thus washed aside, ceding Tepelen and the Klissoura Pass, allowing for the Greek troops of the 19th Infantry and 1st Infantry to rush in the coastal plain straight towards Valona! Greek troops would enter the port on February 4th, but would have to stop there. Constrained by logistics and worn out by more than a month of hard fighting, the Greek Army had been victorious, but it was exhausted.

Papagos would have liked to pursue the retreating Italians all the way to Tirana, but he would not get the chance. He lacked motorized vehicles to exploit a potential breakthrough and the Allied troops had not yet arrived [4]. Still, in a month, the Greeks had inflicted a major defeat on the Italians, pushing them back beyond Valona, and towards Berat and Kodovjat, in the Devoli river valley. In addition, the death of Ioannis Metaxas, on January 29th, had shaken many of the troops. The Prime Minister was replaced in his duties by Alexandros Koryzis.

This one, a lot more open than Metaxas to the idea of Allied troops on Greek soil, would approve the British offer of assistance, finally allowing Allied ground units to land on Greek territory. The first Allied units would land in Greece on February 18th, 1941, a day after the logistics corps of the British Army.

And, with the first British forces of the 7th Armoured coming in to support their Greek allies, Papagos hopes that he will not have to wait too long to push northwards towards Tirana and, more importantly, Durazzo…



[1] OTL the Elli was sunk on a Greek national religious holiday, as it was in port. Delayed Fall of France and delayed Italian ambitions in Greece make it live to fight another day.

[2] OTL the Julia managed to break through Konitsa as the Greek manpower there was lacking. With almost two months delay, the Pindus Detachment is fully manned, and the Julia’s attack is much less effective.

[3] So the Julia, because it did not break through too far, is saved…but the Siena and the Ferrara are well and truly gone.

[4] Most of the Greek Army was supported with horse-drawn carriages!

 

[generalurist]

Heck yeah! Will Albania be fully liberated I wonder? IIRC OTL Greece was running dangerously low on equipment by the time Germany intervened, here's hoping the British can supply them better TTL with a more solid hold on the med.

Something I wonder: In OTL, what was the average Greek treatment of the Albanian lands they occupied before May '41?

 

[nickmn]

Heck yeah! Will Albania be fully liberated I wonder? IIRC OTL Greece was running dangerously low on equipment by the time Germany intervened, here's hoping the British can supply them better TTL with a more solid hold on the med.

Something I wonder: In OTL, what was the average Greek treatment of the Albanian lands they occupied before May '41?

A very large percentage of the lands under Greek control OTL were ethnic Greeks of the still existing minority in North Epirus

 

[Wings]

Heck yeah! Will Albania be fully liberated I wonder? IIRC OTL Greece was running dangerously low on equipment by the time Germany intervened, here's hoping the British can supply them better TTL with a more solid hold on the med.

Something I wonder: In OTL, what was the average Greek treatment of the Albanian lands they occupied before May '41?

Germany can't let Albania fall. If it comes close, it will immediately send a force to at least hold Durazzo.

 

[generalurist]

Germany can't let Albania fall. If it comes close, it will immediately send a force to at least hold Durazzo.

Is Yugoslavia close enough to the axis at this point to allow troops to transfer through?

 

[Wings]

Is Yugoslavia close enough to the axis at this point to allow troops to transfer through?

You don't need to, you can just transfer troops via sea, through Bari, Brindisi, Pescara or Ancona.

 

[generalurist]

You don't need to, you can just transfer troops via sea, through Bari, Brindisi, Pescara or Ancona.

Ah. I considered that, but I wasn't sure if the Adriatic would remain safe for long with the Italian navy smashed up. Still I don't know WW2 naval logistics that well, how well could British raiders be interdicted?

 

[Wings]

Ah. I considered that, but I wasn't sure if the Adriatic would remain safe for long with the Italian navy smashed up. Still I don't know WW2 naval logistics that well, how well could British raiders be interdicted?

The Regia Marina still has a sufficient amount of escorts to affect to convoy escorts, especially in the Adriatic.

 

[Sasza]

The fall of Greece awaits us anyway. Hitler cannot leave the Balkans alone.

Either all countries will come to his side or he will conquer them. There is only hope that in such conditions some advanced Allied bridgehead will be established on Penlopoz.

 

[Wings]

March 1941

African & Mediterranean Fronts

​

By the end of February, Nogues had finished preparations along the Mareth Line for an offensive into Libya, counting at least three divisions, and as such had informed London via the back channels. This operation, codenamed “Simoun”, was prepared for March 2nd, 1941.

But Nogues was no fool. He knew that such an action would entail the occupation of the “Free Zone” by the Germans. Thus, in coordination with Darlan, he organized the covert escape of the fleet in Toulon.

Since August 1940, French sailors had managed to fool the Germans authorities into believing that all the fuel had been sucked out of their vessels, and this despite the harsh fuel restrictions placed upon the ships. However, this did not mean that all ships were fit to sail. Notably, the older battleships, Bretagne and Provence, as well as the seaplane carrier Commandant Teste [1], were judged to be impossible to rush to Africa with the quantities of fuel available.

Darlan had plenty of ships in Toulon, but he would have to choose which ones to save, as even with the deception, not every ship would be able to make the run to Oran, and towing ships would not be an option, as it would make the tower extremely vulnerable to Luftwaffe air attacks. Darlan himself would have liked to sacrifice the small units, but, under pressure from the other admirals and London, he had to give in. Darlan thus, with a heavy heart, chose the safe option, by choosing to save the maximum number of units, rather than the larger ones.

The Battleships Bretagne and Provence would be scuttled alongside the Commandant Teste, as well as the heavy cruisers Colbert and Foch, and the light cruiser Marseillaise, along with six smaller destroyers (Brestois, Boulonnais, Baliste, Gerfaut, Vautour, Vauban). Several submarines would also need to be sacrificed, whether scuttled in port or taken to neutral Spain in order to be interned there.

In addition to the sailors, these ships would also carry weapons from the Army of the Armistice to ferry to North Africa, alongside with a select few technicians that had been left behind in France, and whom Mandel wished to extradite. All of that, of course, under the seal of secrecy.

But the Germans were not totally fooled, either, which is why the number of weapons Berlin was willing to provide to Vichy was constantly dwindling. Citing the Italian difficulties in Libya or Albania, Berlin provided a list of conditions on the transfer of weapons to the Petain government, the most notable one being the start of the deportation of Jews to Germany, which forced the London government to encourage Nogues to be much more careful in his dealings. Thus, priority was not made to the weapons, but more to the existing men: tank specialists, aviation engineers, army officers and other people willing to take up the fight from Algeria. These were easier to transfer than weapons, and much more inconspicuous too.

So, when on February 27th, 1941, Free French troops of the 191st Division started moving from their starting positions at El Aghelia towards Sirte, in the first act of “Simoun”, Darlan was ready. On March 1st, he gave the orders for the fleet to sail in the early hours of the morning, while Nogues’ troops launched their assault from the Mareth Line onto Tripoli.

The Germans and Italians were caught completely by surprise, but no one was as surprised as the French! As the three divisions crossed the border in Libya, they had expected staunch resistance from their Italian counterparts, but all they found was a half-starving army, in dire need of equipment and reinforcements that had been sent to Albania, where the situation was worsening by the day. French troops cut their path towards Tripoli, all the while the D.520s provided ample cover against the sparse Italian planes.

In Toulon, Darlan’s gamble had paid off. The admiral, who had gone to Provence to supervise the defection on board the battleship Dunkerque, was extremely pleased, although a little sad to have to leave some of his precious vessels behind.

This enraged Hitler and the German High Command, who immediately launched an invasion of southern France: Operation Attila. This operation saw German troops rush to the Spanish border and along the Rhone Valley, while Italian troops secured most of Provence and the Alps. Both did so with little regard for the populace or the Vichy troops stationed there. The Germans were furious at Nogues’ betrayal, and the Italians even more furious at the fact that Tripoli was now effectively under siege.

Vichy France did not take long to see its short existence terminated. The Army of the Armistice, who had been partly evacuated to Africa, stood down or dispersed into various maquis in the region. The officers were clear: there was no need for a useless last stand now, when one could live to fight and see the Liberation later. Hitler, for his part, having considered Petain and Laval useless, dismissed the both of them and had them sent to Germany, pending trial, with Jacques Doriot being named head of a French government that now did not really exist anymore. The Doriot regime became just like that of Quisling in Norway: a front and nothing else.

There was also the case of the remaining Armée de l'Air units in France. Most of them, dispersed and without a clue of the dealings of Darlan, had no chance against a German invasion. But some did manage to find their way to Corsica, and then to Algeria or Tunisia, carefully avoiding the fighters based in Sardinia. Of course, these units were operating on outdated aircraft, but these could always be sent somewhere else. It would take a day for Italian troops to land on Corsica and secure the island, which the London government judged too risky to hold, even as a last stand.

All of this did not really console the Italians. They might have gained Nice, Savoy and Corsica, but Libya was running away, and Hitler was calling on the Italians to intercept the rogue French fleet. Mussolini had no choice but to comply, but all that the battle fleet found was the Allied submarine line off Sardinia, and the light cruiser Alberto di Giussano was lost to a set of torpedoes launched by the Narval of commander Drogou.

In the meantime, the French divisions were pushing into Libya, while the first Free French troops were also unloading in Casablanca, followed by the Belgians and British, as well as dozens of aircraft. The heroic entry of the French fleet in the port of Mers-el-Kébir also helped boost the morale of the French troops, which took Tripoli on March 8th. This was the final nail in the coffin of the Italian army in Libya: pushed by the French from Tunisia and the French, Australians and British from El Agheila, the remainder of the Italian Army in Africa had no choice but to capitulate. Hounded from both sides, without any air cover…it was just another disaster in a long line of crushing defeats for Mussolini’s regime, who found himself already quite isolated.

The British of the 50th (Northumbrian) and French of the 4th Moroccan Division met at Misrata on March 16th, 1941, thus completing the conquest of Libya.

This news, combined with the fall of Keren and the impending fall of Tirana [2], was a gigantic punch in the gut for the overconfident Italian regime, which would largely contribute to the disaster of Cape Matapan just a few days later. Italy needed to prove its worth and it badly needed a victory.

For the Allies, the Conquest of Libya and the securing of the rest of the French fleet was a major victory. At the end of March, the French government left Dakar to install itself in its new offices in Algiers, with Mandel as its head, and De Gaulle as the ever-faithful Minister of War.

For the new government, the return to Algiers was like a triumph: Free France was now in France proper, although on the other side of the Mediterranean. It had a Fleet, an Army, an Air Force, and a large amount of legitimacy. Churchill, the Belgians and Poles had recovered their gold as well as the entirety of North Africa and a large chunk of the fleet, which would relieve Royal Navy assets in the Mediterranean.

For the French, it was now time to look to the future. Transfer of the 86th DIA to Greece was confirmed alongside the newly landed 1st Free French Division, which would join the newly released 6th Australian Division on the mainland. Nogues was promoted to Commander-in-Chief of the French Armed forces in Africa (which meant 90% of French armed assets), and Darlan was promoted to…French representative to the Allied High Command. A post which sounded like a promotion, but, for Mandel and De Gaulle, primarily meant to keep this troublesome person away from “his” Navy, which was entrusted to Admiral Emmanuel Ollive.

With the war in North Africa over, the Allies thus shifted their gaze to the other side of the Mediterranean. Greece, of course, but Italy also was right over the horizon, and the Italians were quickly running out of ships…

[1] The Commandant Teste was a special case, as it used both fuel and coal, but due to fuel needs on other aircraft, and a damaged rudder, it was decided to scuttle it.

[2] Both will be covered in future updates.

 

[Sasza]

It won't be possible to hold Greece, it's still a pipe dream. I'm not sure about Poleponnese myself.

The need to develop logistics for Greece alone will be a nightmare, it would be much better for the Allies if they and the Axis recognized that this was a private adventure, Italy and Greece would soon sign an armistice.

 

[generalurist]

all according to keikaku for the Generals' Plot. Can the naval forces available to the allies with this blockade Albania, or would attrition to aircraft and submarines in the Adriatic be too bad?

I hope the Surcouf gets to do something cool.