Shattered World - A Worse World War: Part 30

World War Two erupts...

May 5th 1945 to May 18th 1945

Otto Skorzeny crouched in the brushes in front of one of the massive bunkers that made up the Maginot line. The French uniform that intelligence had provided him with was a perfect fit, and yet he found that he could not make himself comfortable in it. Something about wearing the clothes of the enemy nagged at his mind, and the cloth was of an unfamiliar cut.

Still, he recognized the benefit of the disguise and he was nothing if not pragmatic. Focusing on more important matters, Skorzeny checked the elevation of the carefully concealed mortar for what must have been the twentieth time in the past hour. He had to send the shells right into the outpost two hundred meters to the east, in his beloved Fatherland. According to the plan the men manning the outposts in this vicinity were to have pulled back several hundred meters for 'surprise inspections'. If someone didn't get the orders or tried to ignore the inspections... well, that was not his concern. He had his orders and he and his men would carry them out whatever the cost.

He checked his carefully synchronized pocket watch and saw that the time had arrived. Skorzeny lifted the shell, dropped it into the firing chamber, and ducked away as the shell lifted skywards with a hollow twang. A moment later the 80mm shell exploded about ten meters in front of the outpost he was firing at.

"Damn" he muttered as he adjusted the elevation and dropped another shell into the chamber. Even as he sent the second shell into Germany he heard explosions rippling to his left and right, his team members firing their own mortars. His second round hit on target and the tiny outpost exploded into flame and debris. Now came the sounds of machine gun and rifle fire, and even some heavier mortars from inside the great concrete bunkers themselves. The French defenders, assuming their comrades were firing at an attacking enemy, were joining the fray.

Tracers lanced into and among the trenches and outposts on the German side of the border as heavier shells exploded further inside Germany. French flares were beginning to illuminate the night, casting the area in an eerie l uminescence. Some of the French heavy artillery defending this sector was opening up to counter the presumed attack. German artillery began to respond, the freight train shriek of incoming shells ripping through the sky and sending geysers of dirt towering into the air.

A wolfish grin split Otto Skorzeny's normally hard face. The French appeared to be taking the bait with a vengeance. As he made his way carefully back into his Fatherland, pausing to dodge tracers and incoming shells, he heard the roaring drone of aircraft overhead. Whether they were French or German was irrelevant. The point was that a war was well underway here in this portion of the French-German border.

" ...I repeat, Radio Berlin can now confirm that forces of the Alliance for Democracy have launched a cowardly assault on the valiant military of our Third Reich. This assault has been blunted after heavy and sustained fighting along our border with France. The Führer has authorized the armed forces of the Reich to retaliate for this dastardly and unprovoked attack on the Fatherland..."

May 5th 1945

Germany unleashes operation 'Just Vengeance', the massive and total invasion of western Europe. At 5:20 AM Berlin time a rain of ballistic missiles is sent hurtling towards the west. By 12:00 noon over 1000 A-2b and 300 A-3 ballistic missiles have been fired at targets in eastern France, southern England, and the Low Countries causing little strategic damage but creating much fear and confusion. At the same time German radar-homing glide bombs launched from medium bombers blast large gaps in the French radar line that stretches from the channel coast to Switzerland, allowing streams of aircraft to pass into France largely undetected.

Hundreds of 'Ural' heavy bombers cross the frontiers escorted by Me-275 jet interceptors and older propeller driven fighters. Paris, Brussels, London, Antwerp, Lyons, Oslo, and other major Alliance cities throughout western Europe come under bombardment as smaller medium and tactical bombers hammer at road, rail, and communication lines in the Low Countries and northeastern France.

In France many aircraft are caught and destroyed on the ground and in the Low Countries the Luftwaffe overwhelms and largely annihilates the air forces of Belgium and Holland in the early morning hours. The Royal Air Force holds its own in the opening day of combat, thanks in large part to the survival of its radar net and to the fact that the German jets are mostly limited to operations over the Low Countries and northeastern France. British radar-guided AAA and Meteor Jet fighters tear into the Luftwaffe over Britain helping the British to a 2:1 kill ratio advantage in the first full day of aerial combat.

On the seas German U-boats reap a dreadful bounty, sinking over a dozen large Alliance merchant and cruise liners in the opening hours, including the 'Queen Mary'.

A German surface raiding force, built around the battleship 'Bismark', super-battleship 'Fatherland', and the carrier 'Graf Spee', began steaming north on the evening of the 4th and by the onset of war in the early morning hours of the 5th is well into the North Sea looking to break out into the North Atlantic. A huge British fleet at Scapa Flow sorties and begins maneuvering to block the German surface force which has been spotted by air reconnaissance.

In Norway - German panzergrenadiers have struck across the border from German occupied southern Sweden and swept aside Norwegian defenders at the border in the first hours. French, British and Norwegian forces closer to Oslo are trying to mobilize and head southeast to block the German advance but the Luftwaffe is hammering anything that moves on the roads and has seized control of the skies over southern Norway. Heavy German bombardment of Oslo itself is also adding to Alliance confusion in this region.

To the south, in the heart of western Europe, the opening movement of a titanic offensive is underway. Two German army groups are moving against France and the Low Countries. Army group B with most of the armor(some 2500 panzers and 900,000 men) under Guderian and army group A. Army group B is to serve as the spear of the invasion, thrusting through the Ardennes and then striking deep into France towards the channel to cut off British and French forces in the Low Countries. 4th, 5th, and 6th panzer armies are the main armored elements of this powerful army group, with panzergrenadiers and non-mechanized infantry forces in support. Army Group A, with its million soldiers and 1000 panzers, is to act as the anvil of the western offensive, grinding into the Low Countries to hold British and French forces in place while Guderian's panzers race for the channel coast. The plan is partly the brain-child of Hitler himself, with lots of practical input from Guderian, Manstein, Rommel, and the General Staff.

Opposing army groups A and B are 2.5 million British, French, Belgian, and Dutch soldiers and 2000 tanks in the Low Countries and northern France. Most of these forces are concentrated in Belgium, with a significant reserve of mobile forces ready to counter-thrust into any German breakouts from staging bases in northeastern France. The Alliance plan is to do the nasty fighting in the Low Countries and then fall back behind the Maginot line and the newer channel line(which extends from the northern Ardennes to the channel coast) if the need should arise. The allies, though prepared for maneuver warfare after observing the Eurasian War, remain confident that the main German thrust will be through the Low Countries and toward the channel coast. The Ardennes 'are not good tank country'. There are of course hundreds of thousands of troops on both sides along the Maginot line but these are to remain, at least for the moment, on the side burner. The real action will be to the north in the Ardennes, the Low Countries, and northern France.

At 5:20 AM, as ballistic missiles and bombers pour into the Alliance, 2000 artillery pieces along the western German frontier open up as one. It is as great as any bombardment ever seen in the Great War or the Eurasian war. With artillery crashing into pre-planned zones the 4th, 5th, and 6th panzer armies smash into the Ardennes, shredding through light French and Belgian forces. Stuka dive bombers rain destruction as a form of aerial artillery and German panzers are approaching the critical transportation junction of Bastogne by the end of the first day of combat. Alliance resistance in the Ardennes, what little of it there was, has melted away by the end of that first day.

More to the north, German paratroopers manage to seize many crucial forts, airfields, and transportation hubs in Holland and Belgium. The main body of army group A crashes into the outnumbered and outclassed Dutch and Belgian armies and moves forward in spite of brave defensive fighting from these forces. In Holland where there are few British and French units German forces make rapid progress, panzers and bombers shattering the Dutch defensive positions. In Belgium combined British, French, and Belgian units are massing in their pre-planned first lines of defense along the Albert canal and the Demer river. German gains in the Low Countries on the first day are moderate but go according to the General Staff's plan.

Waves of refugees streaming west towards the perceived safety of France are clogging the roads and making movement difficult for French and British forces. German fighters and bombers are strafing and bombing civilian refugee columns completely blocking some roads. There is rioting among some civilians forced off the roads by Alliance forces further adding to the chaos behind Alliance lines.

By the end of the day all of the nations of the Axis Powers, with the exception of Japan, have declared war on all of the nations of the Alliance for Democracy, and the Alliance nations have responded in kind. Japan maintains its Axis membership and pledges full support to its allies short of actually joining the fighting. The Japanese, it would seem, will move by their own time table, not that of the Germans. Hitler goes into a fit of rage upon hearing Japan's stance, but quickly recovers his good mood when word of Guderian's racing panzers reaches Berlin.

May 6th 1945

British high level bombers attack the German surface raiding force but manage only to lightly damage the 'Bismarck' before fighters from the 'Graf Spee' drive them off. The German fleet has so far managed to elude the British and is close to reaching the open waters of the North Atlantic.

May 7th 1945

In the Ardennes on the morning of the 7th - 5th panzer army has reached the river Meuse while 4th panzer army under Rommel is close to doing so. The French have been rushing forces into the area but it is too little too late. By the evening both 5th and 4th panzer armies are securely across the Meuse and the 6th is streaking northward to block British forces which are entering the area around Dinant in an effort to help block the German penetration. The Luftwaffe is dominating the skies over this key portion of the battlefield.

To the north Alliance forces are doing better. Army group A has overrun much of southern Holland but has been largely brought to a halt by entrenched Alliance forces along the defensive line at the Albert Canal in Belgium. The Germans are keeping up the pressure forcing the Alliance command staff to keep forces on reserve rather than shifting them to cover the growing German penetration to the south in the Ardennes. Over the Low Countries the skies are up for grabs as French and British warplanes wage a desperate campaign against superior German jet aircraft. The Germans are maintaining a 3:1 kill ration against allied pilots over the Low Countries and northeastern France. However, the RAF has been so successful further north in Britain itself that Goering has called off large-scale attacks there, choosing instead to focus on France and the Low Countries where the battle now hangs in the balance.

In Norway German forces are approaching Oslo but Alliance forces are putting up a stubborn defense there in spite of the Luftwaffe's total air superiority. A German thrust to the north towards Tretten and Rena has been blunted and driven back by British and Norwegian forces, but Oslo is in grave danger of falling.

May 8th 1945

The Italian fleet sorties and heads towards French Corsica with troop transports holding thousands of Italian marines. Italian aircraft bomb several Corsican airfields. The French Mediterranean fleet begins steaming east.

May 9th 1945

Army Group B breaks out of the Ardennes and begins driving north and west across the French plains, having bypassed both the Maginot line and the newer channel line. French and British armored divisions stationed west of Belgium begin preparing to block the German breakout. In the Low Countries Holland surrenders after the fall of Amsterdam and the government is trapped preventing an organized government-in-exile from fleeing. Army group A has also managed to cross the Albert Canal at several points but the advance remains slow and very costly in men and materials. It has become clear that the success of the western offensive will be dependent on the success of Guderian's armored spearheads in northern France.

The French Air Force is on the verge of collapse but an inflow of aircraft from the RAF is providing a fresh infusion. The Luftwaffe has an edge in the skies over the Low Countries and the situation is a stalemate in the skies over northern France.

South of Iceland a British squadron of battlecruisers encounters the German surface raiding force which has been trying to break out into the North Atlantic. A terrific battle ends with the sinking of two British battlecruisers for the loss of one German cruiser and moderate damage to 'Bismark'. The 'Fatherland's overwhelming firepower along with torpedo bombers from the 'Graf Spee' manage to drive off the British taskforce. The chase is now on as the Royal Navy is in hot pursuit.

Just west of Corsica the Italian and French fleets meet in a huge naval battle. Both sides lose several destroyers, cruisers and a battleship each. The battle ends in a tactical draw but the Italians have won a strategic victory because the way to Corsica lies open.

May 10th 1945

Italian troops establish several beach heads on Corsica and meet only light resistance. Italian aircraft bomb and strafe what few French units do manage to mobilize for the defense of the island. The Italians are pushing inland over rugged terrain by the end of the day.

May 11th 1945

Guderian's armored spearheads reach St. Quentin and are now in a position to cut off the entire Alliance Army in Belgium, over 1 million British, French, and Belgian troops. The French have been massing for 48 hours just to the northwest of St. Quentin and are ready to unleash a counter attack into Guderian's extended western flank.

French and British carrier aircraft bomb elements of the Italian fleet at Taranto sinking several ships and severely damaging the harbor facilities.

May 12th 1945

The French unleash their counter attack with several armored divisions slamming into 4th panzer army just southwest of St. Quentin. The French, with their highly mobile 41t's, powerful but slow B2 'Defender's and aging B1 'Char's serving as their main armored punch, make initial headway and manage to throw much of 4th panzer army into confusion with some of it's leading elements isolated ahead of the main force. By the end of the day the French are able to throw more men and tanks into the attack which is opening up a salient into Army Group B's western flank.

May 13th 1945

Heavy and sustained armored engagements in and around St. Quentin lead to a tactical stalemate but a strategic victory for Germany. The French lose some 250 tanks in one day of battle while the Germans lose roughly 120. 4th panzer army has managed to reorient its forces to face the French and in a day of heavy fighting managed to halt the French advance despite being outnumbered by some 2 to 1 in tanks. The German '88', the most dreaded anti-tank gun in the world following the Eurasian War, proves itself once again by ripping apart French and British armored advances. The German Cougar and retrofitted Mk4 panzers have also proved themselves superior to their French counterparts in terms of overall maneuverability, firepower, and more importantly in terms of crew quality.

Meanwhile, 5th and 6th panzer armies have continued to race northward with leading elements of both approaching Arras.

May 14th 1945

Italian forces attack across the frontier into southern France putting even more pressure on the besieged French. The attack was proceeded by a long artillery barrage and Italian bombing attacks on targets around southeastern France. The Italian attack is led by upgunned Mk3's, older model Mk4's, and obsolete 30's era Italian tanks. On the same day, the last organized French resistance in Corsica surrenders. Mussolini hails the day as the "first day of the new Roman Empire". In North Africa a tense calm holds as Italy and Britain both build up their forces in the region and warily eye each other across the Libyan-Egyptian frontier. Italy has managed to mass 300,000 soldiers and 1000 tanks in Libya compared to Britain's 80,000 men and 400 tanks in Egypt.

In France the Alliance counterattack into Army group B's western flank has largely bogged down and French forces are attempting to fortify north of St. Qunetin. However, the rapid advances of 5th and 6th panzer armies further north and east appear to be making this a useless gesture. The Alliance high command issues formal orders for all Alliance forces in the Low Countries to begin withdrawing into France. In the end, the Alliance counter-attack around St. Quentin succeeded only in delaying Army Group B's advance by a day or two and chewing up most of the Alliance's armored reserves in northern France.

May 15th 1945

The Japanese offensive in China has been halted by Chinese forces in southern China. The Chinese used American-made anti-tank rockets(bazookas) to ambush and shatter a Japanese mechanized column, bringing the Japanese offensive to a halt.

The Japanese loudly protest the appearence of advanced U.S. weaponry in China but the U.S. claims that the weapons were illegally sold to the Chinese on the black market by 'South American arms dealers'. This is an obvious lie but the Japanese can't prove it. Relations between the U.S. and Japan, already very cool, are now essentially broken as the Japanese recall their ambasador to the U.S. and break all diplomatic relations with the U.S.

China has been desperately requesting entry into the Alliance for Democracy but Britain and France do not want to fight a war against Japan when they are already locked a death stuggle with Germany and so entry is denied, for now. However, shipments of supplies and weapons will continue, as will the deployment of 'volunteer' units from both the U.S. and Alliance nations.

May 16th 1945

Italian forces, which had been massing at the border of Greece since the day after the war started, now attack into Greece and are met with immediate counter-attacks by well prepared Greek and British forces. The Greek air force, with RAF support, manages to fight the Italians to a stalemate leaving the skies over Greece in contest. Bulgaria and Turkey are also massing along their Greek frontiers but neither has yet launched an attack even though the Italians are pressuring them to do so. In southern France Italian forces have pushed several kilometers into France and have suffered heavy casualties. The skies over southern France are in contest as both sides vie for air superiority. On the Mediterranean Italian submarines have essentially closed the straight of Gibraltar to Alliance shipping despite the best efforts of the Royal Navy, forcing the British to round the cape in order to reinforce the middle east.

French and British forces in Portugal cross into Spain and begin pushing towards Madrid. The Spanish are ill-equipped and begin an immediate withdrawal in the face of advancing Alliance forces. Franco begins making preparations to abandon the capitol to wage war from the countryside until his Axis allies can come to the rescue.

May 17th 1945

German panzers reach the channel coast at Dunkirk. Roughly 500,000 Alliance soldiers from France, Britain, and Belgium have escaped to French territory west of the German penetration in the past several days before the Germans reached the channel. There remain nearly 600,000 Alliance soldiers in the Low Countries and the parts of northeast France still in Alliance hands. With Alliance forces still holding a strong front in central Belgium the Alliance plan is to resupply the 'lowland pocket' via Antwerp. However, heavy German carpet bombing and ballistic missile attacks on Antwerp are going to make resupply very difficult.

In France itself Alliance forces are digging in to the west of the German salient along the river Oise and in defensive belts being established north and east of Paris. The French still hold much of the channel line and all of the Maginot line. The Germans, having reached the channel coast in a stunning 12 day campaign, now need to stop to bring up their supply lines and consolidate gains. Army group A continues to pound its way into Belgium and is approaching Brussels, but losses have been very heavy on this front and Alliance forces remain coherent behind defensive lines that have been in preparation since Belgium joined the Alliance for Democracy.

May 18th 1945

The Luftwaffe picks up activity over northern France - hammering Paris and the western channel ports with massive strategic bombing raids while lighter bombers hit everything from trains to supply convoys to fuel depots. Luftwaffe fighters are beginning to seize total control of the skies over northern France as the French air force is being destroyed faster than new aircraft and pilots can be put in the air. The RAF is busy defending Britain itself despite decreased Luftwaffe activity there.

In the North Atlantic the German surface raiding force hunts down and then slaughters a large convoy, sinking 6 merchant ships and capturing the other 21. It is a stunning success for the Kriegsmarine. The Royal Navy re-doubles its efforts to track down and destroy the force. U.S. president Dewey issues a warning to Germany not to violate U.S. neutrality.

In Greece the Italian attack has been a disaster. The Italians have gained no territory but have suffered substantial losses. The Greeks and British are making preparations to counter-attack into Italian Albania. British bombers hit several Italian cities along Italy's eastern coast forcing the Italians to halt offensive operations over Greece in order to defend Italy proper. Mussolini begins requesting aid from Hitler and other Axis allies to help against Greece. In southern France the Italian attack has mostly bogged down after gaining a few kilometers of land but the Italians throw more men into the meat grinder regardless. The Italian attack there is doing no more than holding down French forces that would be useful in the north.

In Spain British and French forces are approaching Madrid and meeting little organized resistance, Franco has already evacuated Madrid and is making preparations to resist from the country west and south of the Spanish Capitol. Franco has assurances that Alliance forces on the Iberian peninsula will be dealt with after France is knocked out.

Further north Oslo falls after 10 days of relentless German shelling and bombing. Germany has now secured most of southern Norway but is meeting fierce resistance in its probes into northern Norway.

Guy Luke checked the action on his rifle again and quickly turned his attention back to the countryside before him. The hasty line of foxholes that he and the rest of the company had dug had now become a network of shallow trenches with a few stretches of barbed wire here and there. He was well inside France and unfortunately this meant he was at the front line in this rapidly developing war. His home, indeed his family, were to the northeast and already in German occupied land. At the thought his fist clenched and his heartbeat picked up. 'Damn the Germans' he though to himself, not for the first time. Who'd have thought they'd streak though the forests and pop out to strike directly for the channel? He was supposed to be fighting deep in Belgium or along the Maginot line and the war would be a far-off dream to his wife and children safe inside beloved France. As things had turned out, this war was no dream to his family. Indeed, it had already swept them up and left them in enemy hands. And he, Guy Luke, was here 'safe' inside France. The irony of that almost made him smile grimly. Almost.

He heard the deep rumble of approaching armor then. Emerging from the trees below and coming up the gently sloping grassy plain toward their defensive position the armored beasts were surrounded by men in field gray. Germans. The panzers came to a stop while armored personnel carriers following behind them began to disgorge more infantry, just out of rifle range.

Artillery began to fall among the French positions. Guy had heard tales from his uncles about the furious bombardments of the Great War. Compared to those tales, this bombardment seemed a bit light. Still, the cries of wounded men began to fill the air. Guy pressed his body to the ground and clung to the earth. Light or not, he was terrified. The bombardment continued for what seemed like hours, but was in reality no more than five or ten minutes.

'Here they come!' an officer shouted. Guy risked a look over the mound in front of his foxhole and saw a wave of gray-clad soldiers approaching in loose order, leaning into the slope with rifles drawn and ready. A few of his countrymen began to fire at extreme range. A few Germans fell, but not many.

The German panzers sitting further down slope began to lob explosive rounds into the French positions. Guy was beginning to take aim at a young German with blonde whiskers when the roar of something overhead caught his attention. An airplane was coming in low and fast, heading directly for the French line. A few soldiers fired their rifles at the approaching plane but none seemed to hit. The plane's cannons began hammering with a sharp tat-tat-tat. Guy could see the muzzle flashes from the rapid-firing cannons as the plane streaked overhead. A Stuka! Shells kicked up dirt in two straight lines not further than ten meters from Guy's foxhole. Men fell clutching at massive wounds - some screaming, others beyond such effort.

When he finally risked looking over the edge of his foxhole again the German infantry were no more than 50 meters from the French line. They were advancing in staggered order, some men spraying bullets from their assault rifles and SMG's, while others crawled on their bellies up the slope. Guy and his countrymen began firing. A staggered, half-shocked, volley of rifle fire that seemed to have little effect on the advancing Germans. Still, guy kept firing for all he was worth as the Germans gradually grew closer. There were a few machinegun positions to Guy's left and right and they were stitching bullets back and forth among the Germans, working paths of death through them. However, shells from the German panzers still sitting below soon quieted the machinegunners.

Guy wished he had an assault rifle like some of the German infantry were using. They could fire rapidly like an SMG or in single shots like a regular bolt-action rifle, and with high accuracy. The rifle he was firing could have seen action in the Great War for all he knew. Some of his countrymen had SMG's. Not many though, not in this company anyway.

When explosions began sending geysers of dirt and gore among the advancing German infantry the French defenders put up a ragged cheer. Evidently someone had gotten some artillery to help defend this low ridge and the artillery men weren't afraid to risk hitting their own positions. The shells were impacting no more than 20 meters in front of the French line. The German advance was beginning to stall and the French fire was becoming more persistent and effective as the Germans began to hesitate. Guy was beginning to think they would hold this ridge, would stop the Germans right here.

Then a cry began to ring out.

"The Germans are behind us!" men were shouting. "Panzers broke through to the south, we're overrun!". The fire began to slacken off again as the French defenders now began to hesitate. Now came the sound of small arms fire, disturbingly coming from the east! The French defenders began to look to their officers but the officers themselves seemed lost.

"The Germans are to our east and south, we're surrounded!" someone shouted. With the Germans still slowly approaching up the slope and the sounds of battle picking up to the east the French line began to waver. Men began to slip away to the perceived safety of the north. Some men left, but most stayed. Guy felt a certain pride at that, and turned his attention back to killing Germans. He fired his rifle until he ran out of ammunition. For a few minutes he took pot shots with his pistol until the man to his left was shot dead. Guy took what ammunition the dead man had left and reloaded his rifle. Screams and intense gunfire broke out to the north. Guy saw men in field gray among the shallow trenches in that direction, he saw French defenders begin to throw up their arms in surrender. The Germans killed some, but took most prisoner.

Now was the time for Guy to make a choice. Stay here and fight to the death, or try to flee to the north? He was reloading his rifle again and contemplating his decision when a German soldier made up his mind for him by driving his bayonet into Guy's left shoulder. Pain flared white hot and ragged. His vision went white, and then faded to black as his awareness fled.

He awoke two hours later in a field hospital. The doctors and nurses spoke German, a bloody bandage was wrapped around his mangled shoulder. He began to worry about his arm. The pain was dulled behind a mask of something..., and in his state the fate of France and his family seemed like a far away concern.

To Be Continued...