The Whale Has Wings Vol 2 - Taranto to Singapore (30 page)

2nd June

The USS Long Island, Aircraft Escort Vessel Number 1 (AVG-1), the first USN escort aircraft carrier, is commissioned at Newport News, Virginia. The Long Island was a flush-deck escort aircraft carrier converted from the cargo ship SS Mormacmail in 67 working days. She will be used to give the USN experience of operating this type of ship, which the RN have been using successfully in the Atlantic.

After examination of the damage she sustained in the German breakout, it is decided not to put Glorious through a full repair and refit. Dockyard space is full, and she is already old. Instead she will be repaired sufficiently to be able to act as a training carrier - the increasing numbers of aircrew needed mean that the Furious needs help, and the light carriers which were originally intended for training are proving more useful as convoy escorts.

It had originally been intended to build a second light carrier for Australia to supplement HMAS Melbourne, however at the moment the building slips are full of new construction and repairs. It is agreed that the Australians will take over HMS Theseus, allowing HMS Eagle to be brought back for a badly needed refit. The RN currently has adequate heavy ships; when the new carrier goes out to the Far East, HMS Renown will accompany her to bolster the strength in the area and allow the carriers to exercise and work with a capital ship.

The prototype of the Canadian Ram tank finishes testing, with a generally satisfactory result. The tank has been ordered off the drawing board; while modifications are desired after the completion of the testing, these will be brought in after the initial batch. The tank will be named the Grizzly as it comes into service with the British Army and the Free French, and will mount the new 6pdr gun. It is expected to have the first models available by the end of August. The prototype is now to be sent to Britain for study and evaluation against the latest model Valentine; it is hoped that the turret can be fitted in place of the 2pdr currently on the Valentine. If this proves successful, a new version of the Valentine will be produced with this turret.

Meanwhile the USA expects to be delivering the first of the French order for the M3 tank (with 2pdr gun) in June. They will also be supplying parts for the Canadian tanks until Canada is in a position to produce them locally.

3rd June

From today until the 6th of June the Finnish and German military leadership will be negotiating at Helsinki on cooperation in event of a Russo-German war. An agreement regarding the Finnish Army and Air Force is reached. Although formally the idea of a Russo-German war is hypothetical, the Finns have already worked out that the Germans are in all probability about to invade the USSR.

In the Atlantic Ocean, the Royal Navy has now sunk four of the support and replenishment ships prepositioned for the abortive breakout by the German heavy ships.

4th June

Air Marshal Park arrives in Egypt after his review of the Maltese air defence system. He has left recommendations there for implementation, and is expecting to be asked to do the same thing for Crete. Instead he finds himself in conversation with General Blamey.

Blamey has been concerned for some time with the state of the defences in Malaysia and SE Asia in general, as these have long been seen as the outer defence line for Australia. He has also been asked by Menzies to find out what the current state is, and advise if the British preparations are all they could be. Having met some of the RAAF men moved to the Middle East, he is becoming more and more concerned as to the condition of the admittedly insufficient forces there. He has also been introduced to a British army officer currently recovering from a somewhat embarrassing wound in Cairo. He wants the two of them to fly out and give the defences in Malaya and Burma an unprejudiced look, and report back to him and to General Wavell. His also points out that with the recovery of North Africa some limitations that have been assumed in the past might not apply any more. The two of them are to be back with their recommendations in no more than six weeks.

7th June

French Morocco formally declares for the Free French. As with the earlier declarations, those senior officials and their families, plus others who want to leave, are given transportation to France. The French are currently arguing about what to call themselves. Since Algeria is technically a part of France, not a colony, should they still call themselves the Free French or just the French Army?

It has been agreed that once the army has listed the military resources available in its new acquisitions, a new plan will be drawn up for a new Army, although it isn't expected that this will be fully formed until next year, mainly due to supply constraints. The current expectation is that they will be able to field some eight divisions, two of them armoured, provided that the equipment can be supplied.

11th June

At a Liaison conference between army and navy, the Naval Chief of Staff Nagano Osami astounded his colleagues when he vehemently calls for the Southward Advance. He and the navy's powerful "First Committee" were anxious to move before the American navy's huge "two-ocean" building programme was completed, although the preparations for the planned attacks will take some 6 months to complete.

The USA agrees to garrison Iceland in place of the British force. This will free up a division for use elsewhere.

130 Army divisions are reported to be massed on the border facing Russia. The official news agency TASS says "rumours of a German intention to attack the USSR are without foundation."

14th June

Discussions are taking place with the French in Cairo about the most efficient way to start to run convoys through the Mediterranean again. The obvious way is to run the convoys through by sea, but this will involve having to escort and probably fight them through the Sicilian narrows. The final decision is to run all normal (i.e. bulk) shipping through in convoy, however high value cargoes, such as military equipment, will be landed at Oran to go on by rail (or in the case of aircraft unpacked and flown on where necessary. In order to ease supply in Egypt, XIII Corps will relocate to Tunisia/West Cyrenaica, where they can be supported via the rail link. The committee is also investigating the resumption of exports from North Africa to Britain, in particular some items such as iron ore which are badly needed by the British steel industry. These exports will reduce the load on shipping across the North Atlantic, and will be more efficient as the ships will be loaded in both directions (many ships on the North Atlantic route travel west in ballast). Having most shipping use the Mediterranean rather than the Cape route will also amount to saving over a million tons of shipping. It is expected these changes will start to take place in about a month, allowing for the placements and loading of shipping to be prepared in advance. There is also the suggestion of joining the rail line in Tunisia as far as Egypt, but this will take a considerable time, and require items such as rails to come from the USA. It is being looked at as a long term action.

18th June

The first of a series of bombing raids on German ports starts with a heavy raid on Hamburg. The RAF has been carrying out limited attacks over the last four months, mainly in order to keep the Germans devoting effort to air defence. The bulk of their effort has been in gardening (which has caused considerable loss and disruption to coastal shipping in particular), and in heavily escorted daytime raids against limited targets in the Low Countries and France. These daytime raids have suffered casualties, heavy in some cases, but have also been shooting down a considerable number of German fighters. Although the loss ratio favours the Germans, it is not by much (although the Germans do save more pilots). There have also been a number of experimental raids on inland waterways by bombing and mining.

The main direction has been to allow Bomber Command to build up its strength in heavy and medium bombers, and to improve the accuracy of its bombing. The new pathfinders have steadily been gaining experience, although their methods are by no means perfected, and the new raids are intended to see how well the new system works with heavy raids. In order to simplify the navigation problems, coastal or near-coastal cities such as Hamburg have been selected.

The US government formally adds Greece to the countries which will be supplied with lend-lease. It has been agreed that for practical reasons they will use British equipment and ammunition where possible, and as the supply situation eases in the Middle East it is intended to make the Greek troops on Crete into two divisions plus some auxiliary units. The local population fought fiercely in defence of their island, and surplus Italian equipment will be used to equip the local equivalent of the Home Guard

21st June

In response to a failed attack on the US battleship Texas Doenitz instructs his U-boats thus:

"Fuhrer orders avoidance any incident with USA during next few weeks. Orders will be rigidly obeyed in all circumstances. In addition attacks until further orders will be restricted to cruisers, battleships and aircraft carriers and then only when identified beyond doubt as hostile. Fact that warship is sailing without lights will not be regarded as proof of enemy identity."

Soviet fighter pilots are ordered not to fire on a German plane which flies over Soviet airspace. The border guard is put on alert, but forbidden to take any "provocative" action.

In Ethiopia the Italian garrison at Jimma surrenders to Ethiopian troops under British command.

The U.S. State Department informs the Italian Ambassador that all Italian consulates in U.S. territory are to be closed by 15 July 1941 at which point all Italian diplomats will have to leave. The German consulates have already been closed

22nd June

The German attack on the Soviet Union, Operation Barbarossa, begins, taking the Soviets (or at least their leadership) almost completely by surprise. The Germans have 140 of their own divisions, including 17 Panzer and 13 motorized divisions.

There are also 14 Rumanian, two Hungarian, and 21 Finnish divisions. Facing them are the 230 division of the Soviet Army. 170 divisions are in the western part of the Soviet Union and 134 are directly opposing the Germans. The attacks began at 0300 hours with ground and air attacks. Most German operations are going according to plan.

24th June

A new version of the Supermarine 318 high altitude bomber enters testing. This has now incorporated the lessons learnt from the High Altitude Wellington program. Due to Supermarine now being fully occupied with the Spitfire, the program is now being run directly by Vickers. Preliminary arrangements have been made for production, as it is being seen as an integral part of the future bombing campaign against Germany.

In Berlin the German News Bureau announced:

"An attempt by the Soviet air force on Tuesday morning to fly weak forces into East Prussia has been frustrated by the German air defence. The enemy aircraft encountered such accurate flak fire that they were forced to turn around at once and to jettison their bombs over open country."

"Since early Monday morning the Luftwaffe has continued its successful attacks on Soviet military airfields. Large numbers of Russian aircraft were destroyed on the first day of battle, and we can now report that a great many more aircraft have been shot down on the same day."

Vilna and Kaunas fall to the Germans on the Eastern Front while another assault is begun on the citadel of Brest Litovsk.

The USA starts delivery of Brewster Buffalo fighters to the Dutch East Indies. These fighters are no longer considered a first-rank fighter by the USA, and have now been completely replaced in the USN by the more powerful Wildcat. A modified version of the Corsair is undergoing trials; reports of the combat in Europe have speeded up the need for a high performance fighter, and work has been speeded up on fixing some of the problems with the aircraft.

27th June

Stalin accepts Churchill's offer of an alliance to fight Hitler. It has been agreed that military collaboration between the two nations will be on a "mutual and reciprocal basis." Military and economic missions are to be sent to Moscow to coordinate the joint war effort.

In his broadcast last Sunday after receiving the news of the German invasion, Churchill, who has been outspoken in his opinions of the USSR, said that no-one had been a more consistent opponent of communism than he. "I will unsay not a word that I have spoken about it," he said, "But all this fades away before the spectacle which is now unfolding."

"Any man or state who fights against Nazidom will have our aid. Any man or state who marches with Hitler is our foe... We have but one aim and one irrevocable purpose. We are resolved to destroy Hitler and every vestige of the Nazi regime."

He forecast an even greater alliance: "The Russian danger is therefore our danger and the danger of the United States, just as the cause of any Russian fighting for his hearth and home is the cause of free men and free peoples in every quarter of the globe."

The Soviet Information Bureau announced:

"Our troops are fighting fiercely against large Fascist armoured units in the Minsk area. The battle is still going on. Violent armoured conflicts have been waged all day near Lutsk. Our operations have proceeded favourably."