Excerpt

2

The Fighting Ends in Europe


Suppose that lacking U.S. supplies and support, the overmatched British and Soviets were defeated by Germany?

The Alternative History . . .

A de facto occupation line was observed by both sides with no further attempted penetration by German ground forces after the spring of 1943. From March to mid-September of 1943, the Luftwaffe, enjoying complete air superiority, savagely bombed strategic and military targets, as well as most Soviet cities and towns within range. With trans-Atlantic supplies from the U.S. cut off and the unopposed Luftwaffe destruction of Soviet ground transportation systems, there was widespread starvation throughout the western part of the USSR. Stalin agreed to a truce in September 1943 that acknowledged German occupation along the de facto front in exchange for a cessation of aerial bombing that would allow rebuilding of road, rail, and canal systems.


Britain Stands Precariously Alone

After the collapse of France in 1940, the Royal Navy tried unsuccessfully to persuade fearful small boat owners to cross the English Channel in a rescue attempt under the fire of German artillery and Stuka dive bombers. Abandoned by their timid countrymen, 250,000 British troops surrendered on the beach at Dunkirk to avoid further casualties and were ignominiously marched off toward POW camps in Nazi Germany. Front-page photos in the London papers deeply shocked the British population and later caused great distress in the U.S. and Canada.

Shortly after the 1940 Dunkirk surrender, Luftwaffe bombers began attacking strategic targets in the UK in preparation for a cross-Channel invasion. All of the Chain Home air defense radar towers in the south and east of England were quickly toppled and COMINT stations listening to Luftwaffe crews were repeatedly bombed, forcing the evacuation of RAF Y Service wireless operators and analysts from their listening posts.
Although kept secret from the British public and almost all of the forces, the major disruption of COMINT operations sharply reduced the flow of intercepted German Enigma-enciphered messages to Bletchley Park. ULTRA cryptanalysis of the Enigma ciphers was dealt a serious set-back and work on Kriegsmarine U-Boat and Luftwaffe bomber communications traffic was suspended for much of 1940 after an airstrike by the Luftwaffe He.111 unit, KG-55, based at Villacoublay, France, damaged the RAF Y Service intercept station at Chicksands Priory in Bedfordshire.

Without any advanced warning capabilities, the RAF and Army anti-aircraft gunners were essentially blind until the drone of approaching enemy bomber engines could be heard. The RAF, which had first demonstrated superb gallantry against large bomber formations escorted by fighters, lost precious pilots and aircraft at an unsustainable rate. Most of Fighter Commands squadrons were dispersed to northern Scotland to stem the attrition of aircraft and crews, holding them in reserve against an expected German invasion across the Channel. Bomber aircraft were also moved to sanctuary bases in Scotland. With RAF Fighter Command basically out of the fight, the Luftwaffe enjoyed unopposed air superiority and accepted the smaller risks posed by anti-aircraft guns forced to operate without radar support.

With the RAF effectively neutralized, the Luftwaffe followed a disciplined, scripted targeting scheme for the remaining months of 1940 and well into 1941, systematically destroying RAF Bomber Commands major bases, maintenance facilities and fuel stores. Bomber Command was effectively marginalized as it was no longer able to operate from bases in England, which were within striking range of strategic German targets. The British aviation industry was repeatedly attacked from the air. Following a sudden daylight attack on the Vauxhall plant at Luton that killed 55, civilian aircraft technicians balked at working in plants that were subject to sudden bombing raids, slowing aviation production to a trickle.

Royal Navy and commercial shipping facilities from Liverpool around to Edinburgh were relentlessly attacked during this period. Stuka dive bombers knocked out key railroad bridges leading to port areas and returned regularly to strafe repair crews. Britains capacity for importing foodstuffs, oil, and raw materials became a shambles with widespread destruction of port facilities and vessels sunk alongside wharves and in harbor main channels. Although self-sufficient in coal, which was used for generating electricity and powering its railroads, Britain was cut off from customarily reliable sources of petroleum on which ships, aircraft and military vehicles were critically dependent. The British Army began rebuilding and training at camps in Scotland harder for the Luftwaffe to reach but the Dunkirk debacle had shattered confidence at all levels and most planners believed that no more than a delaying action was to be expected from the Army, if the Germans invaded. Civilian morale plummeted and Parliament, soberly considering the Armys unreadiness and the supply crisis restraining the Navy and Air Force, began debating how best to make terms with Hitler to avoid invasion and occupation.