Fantasque Time Line

[ciders]

[DMZ]

J'ai trouvé des infos :

https://www.navalgazing.net/Norway-Part-9

[DMZ]

D'après
http://niehorster.org/022_norway/navy_trondelag.html
cité par ciders, il y aurait un total de 7 x 210 mm.

Les canons n'ont aucune protection.

Dans l'ordre en venant du large :

Brettingen : rive droite du fjord
2 x 210
3 x 150
2 x 65 (AA ?)

Hysnes : rive droite du fjord, 3.300 m en amont
2 x 210
2 x 150
2 x 65 (AA ?)

Hambåra : rive gauche du fjord, presque en face de Hysnes
3 x 210

Brettingen
https://www.google.fr/maps/place/Brettingen+fort/@63.6591059,9.7296273,12z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0x4612b8c525607281:0x17401b3c724aec3f!8m2!3d63.6591059!4d9.8120248!16s%2Fg%2F122k663w!5m1!1e4?entry=ttu

Hysnes
https://www.google.fr/maps/place/Hysnes+fort/@63.6305857,9.7365045,12z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0x4612b898b9678b1b:0xde92f47bab9d0a93!8m2!3d63.6305857!4d9.818902!16s%2Fg%2F122zd7_5!5m1!1e4?entry=ttu

Hysnes
https://www.google.fr/maps/place/Hamb%C3%A5ra+fort/@63.6120618,9.6564353,12z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0x4612c0ba6b6edf61:0x6f7883a1b63edd5a!8m2!3d63.6120618!4d9.7388328!16s%2Fg%2F1230_8hz!5m1!1e4?entry=ttu
_________________
"Vi offro fame, sete, marce forzate, battaglia e morte." "Je vous offre la faim, la soif, la marche forcée, la bataille et la mort." Giuseppe Garibaldi

[loic]

[DMZ]

Toujours d'après ce site, il y avait OTL uniquement 48 officiers sur un effectif de 159 et 239 hommes sur 1.318 dans la forteresse (les trois forts), la batterie de Hambåra n'ayant pas de personnel. Les deux compagnies de défense n'avaient pas été mobilisée. Dans cette TL, la mobilisation même partielle et l'alerte ont dû donner beaucoup plus de mal aux Allemands et il est peu probable que les canons en sortent tous intacts que ce soit du fait des coups portés par les Allemands ou des destructions par les équipages avant reddition.
_________________
"Vi offro fame, sete, marce forzate, battaglia e morte." "Je vous offre la faim, la soif, la marche forcée, la bataille et la mort." Giuseppe Garibaldi

[Wings]

Chapter 7: The Allies strike back (the Northern Norway Campaign)

April 17th – June 1st, 1940

Narvik was essential for the German plan, because of its strategic position in controlling the iron ore supply. As such, no less than ten destroyers of the Kriegsmarine were committed in order to seize the town and railway, with 1,900 troops of general Dietl’s 3rd Mountain Division being committed.
The destroyers were lucky, as a thick fog covered the Vestfjorden on the morning of April 9th, allowing them to capture three Norwegian patrol boats almost without a shot. However, one of them managed to send a message to the two coastal defence ships ready in the harbor.

Immediately, the HNoMS Norge and Eidsvold got to battle stations, scrambling to block the fjord to the Germans. However, the German destroyer Z21 Wilhelm Eidkamp signalled that it would send an officer to negotiate. The Norge’s commanding officer, Captain Askim, however, was in no mood to do so, and fired a warning shot over the speedboat carrying said German officer.

With no choice, both Norwegian ships engaged in combat. In the dense fog, it was a brawl, but one in which the Germans, with their torpedoes, emerged victorious. The Eidsvold broke in two after a series of torpedoes ravaged her, and the Norge was forced to beach itself after suffering several hits.
But the Germans had been mauled. The Z19 Hermann Künne was sunk by a series of shells, while the Z12 Erich Giese was badly hit and had to beach itself to avoid sinking. In all, two ships had been lost on both sides, but this did not prevent the Germans from landing their troops.

The Norwegians were ready for the assault, but their commander, Konrad Sundlo, immediately withdrew from the area after seeing eight destroyers rush down the fjord, and began negotiations with the Germans, leaving the city to them.

But if the Germans had gotten the upper hand on the first day, their hopes would quickly be dashed as the Royal Navy sailed in on the second. The 2nd Destroyer Flotilla, under Commodore Warburton-Lee, entered the harbor and engaged the German destroyers, leading to the loss of two vessels on each side, and the deaths of Commodore Warburton-Lee and Captain Friedrich Bonte.

Alerted to the presence of enemy units in Narvik, Vice-Admiral Whitworth and his group, led by HMS Warspite were sent to finish off the six remaining destroyers. On the way there, the group would successfully eliminate a U-Boot, before entering the Vestfjorden. There, with one battleship and nine destroyers, the Germans had absolutely no chance. Four German destroyers were sunk outright, with the last two scuttling to avoid capture, and that without a single lost ship on the British side. On April 13th, Dietl had realized it: he had been trapped. The only upside he had gotten from these naval battles was a contingent of 1,100 poorly armed marine infantry to help him shore up the defenses…and wait for the Allied response.

The Allied forces, for their part, numbered about 28,000. General Carl Fleischer, commander of the Norwegian 6th Division, was put in overall command, due to his men being the most numerous up there. The British arrived on April 14th, with four battalions, who would soon be reinforced by four battalions of the Polish Highland Brigade of Colonel Bohusz-Szyszko and three battalions of Chasseurs Alpins of general Antoine Béthouart.
Just like at Trondheim, these forces were landed north and south of the city, but with the difference that this time, there would be no frontal attack on Narvik. The Norwegians moved first, successfully defeating the Germans along the flanks and in the mountains, waging an incredibly effective mountain warfare.

This allowed the British of general Gubbins to set up a front around Mosjøen, south of Mo i Rana, on May 2nd. By then, the Harstad area was already completely secured. In addition, the Royal Air Force transferred No. 263 Sqn, on Gladiators, to Bardufoss, in order to counter the Luftwaffe in this area.
With Mosjøen fortified, the job became much harder for the Germans. Gubbins had fortified the area, causing several German attacks to fail in front of the town. Meanwhile, the Allied themselves spurred on by Fleischer and now fully reinforced with Béthouart’s Alpine troops, had taken Bjerkvik by May 11th and then taken the railway three days later. Béthouart, supported by Fleischer, and with guarantees that the Norwegians would be able to hold the line, immediately moved south with his Chasseurs Alpins towards Beisfjord, on skis and mules.

The Germans, sensing that they would be trapped in Narvik, tried to orchestrate a breakout, attempting to punch through the Allied line towards Sweden to be interned. However, this attempt failed as Bohusz’s Poles had managed to join the line in time, making the entire Allied line a solid gap. Only some 300 Germans would manage to make it out of Narvik to be interned in Sweden, avoiding Béthouart’s Frenchmen who only arrived at Beisfjord on May 15th, completing the encirclement of Narvik.

With no escape in sight, and the British closing in from the south, Eduard Dietl ordered the capitulation of Narvik on May 19th. However, he would not be the one to do so, instead preferring to shoot himself rather than face the dishonor of having lost the town.

When the Allied entered the town on May 20th, they took more than 2,500 prisoners, both Mountaineers, Paratroopers and Sailors.

At the news, which coincided with slower than expected progress in Belgium, Hitler was enraged. He ordered to immediately mount an offensive from the south in order to take Narvik, and to punish the Norwegians for daring to stand up to Germany. On the night of May 21st, the Luftwaffe reduced Bodø and Mo i Rana to rubble, causing massive civilian casualties, and this despite the intervention of the British and Norwegian Gladiators.

Not everything was good news for the Allies, however. On May 17th, the cruiser HMS Effingham ran aground on a shoal whilst carrying equipment for the British forces on the ground. Furthermore, Gubbins’ position at Mosjøen was untenable, and had to withdraw on May 19th under German pressure.
With the city in their hands, the Germans moved up to Mo i Rana, valiantly defended by the Scots Guards and a battalion of Norwegians, who held the city for two full days before withdrawing to Bodø.

The Germans thus moved up towards the Skjerstadtfjord, but having taken serious casualties. When they reached the fjord, they realized that the opposite bank had been heavily fortified, and was firmly held by the men of the Norwegian 6th Division. Realizing that they could not cross, the Germans tried to outflank towards Nesby, only to realize that the Norwegians had been waiting for them.

In an ambush at Storjord, the Germans lost no less than six tanks and a dozen vehicles, and are sent running back to Mo i Rana. Behind them, Bohusz’s Poles firmly held the line between Nesby and Fauske, stopping any infiltration from the Gåsvatnan range.

This was not the expected place for the Allies to stop the Germans. Indeed, they had planned for the Norwegians to fight a delaying battle at Storjord, then Nordnes, to then withdraw while the Poles covered them, all the way to Fauske, in order to hold the northern side of the Skjerstadfjorden.

But having suffered heavy casualties, in the cold and rain, with overstretched supply lines and not enjoying the usual total air domination, the Heer had been completely stopped as early as Storjord: the Germans did not try to push further, and withdrew to Krokstranda, waiting for the next offensive.

In the meantime, following this success, things were rapidly evolving in France and Belgium, greatly affecting the conduct of operations in Norway. The situation had rapidly deteriorated, and both Churchill, Britain’s new Prime Minister, and Reynaud, France’s new Prime Minister (again!) wished to withdraw their troops from Norway in order to bolster the war effort.

But the constantly evolving situation, and the miracles of Oudenaarde and Montcornet had delayed this evacuation. By May 28th, Churchill and Reynaud were put in a difficult position. Both wanted their troops to evacuate to save the Western Front. But both could not abandon their Norwegian ally.

On June 1st, a solution was finally found.
_________________
"It takes the Navy three years to build a ship. It will take three hundred years to build a new tradition. The evacuation will continue." Sir Andrew Cunningham, Mai 1941
"Let me soar! [...] I need no great host, just [Tyene]" - Nymeria Sand, AFFC II

[DMZ]

Heu, comme j'ai pas mal étudié les faits autour de Narvik, je vais être un peu pointilleux... en toute amitié, bien sûr et dans le respect de ton travail.

[DMZ]

[Wings]

Merci pour les commentaires! Je vais les prendre un par un.

[Wings]

Chapter 8: Slog in the Low Countries (May 1940 part 1 – Low Countries)

On the early morning of May 10th, the residents of the Low Countries were awakened by the sound of warning sirens, aircraft engines, and for some unlucky ones, gunshots. The Germans had started their invasion of the Low Countries. But the Low Countries were ready.

As early as May 4th, Gijsbertus Sas, military attaché of the Netherlands in Berlin, met Hans Oster, of the Abwehr. This one confirmed to him that Germany was planning an attack on the Low Countries, and sent the information along to Amsterdam.

The Dutch military command, which had ignored these warnings until now, suddenly felt a lot more uncomfortable, as this coincided with the warnings from the Vatican. This information was thus passed on to the Belgians, who in turned passed it to the Luxembourgian and French. Van Overstraeten and Denis also decreed full mobilization in the wake of these warnings, which confirmed their own suspicion about an imminent German attack.

On May 9th, Oster repeated his warning to Sas: “Tomorrow, at dawn”. Immediately, all Dutch forces were placed on high alert. Belgian and Luxembourgian forces soon followed.

Therefore, when the Germans attacked, they were welcomed with heavy anti-air fire. In the Netherlands, especially around the reinforced Vesting Holland, these AA batteries took a massive toll on the Ju 52 transports, annihilating entire platoons of Fallmischjagers, and causing havoc in the German ranks.

The main thrust of the German advance, headed by four infantry divisions, also soon came into contact with the Grebbe line, considerably slowing their advance and allowing the French to reach Breda with relative ease on the evening of May 10th.

While the initial attack on the Netherlands was successful for the Germans, most of the paratrooper landings had failed. Scattered, these troops now had to become large enough nuisances to divert resources from the front line. In Rotterdam, notably, the German Fallmischjagers created enough chaos to delay the arrival of much needed reinforcements to the front line.

The French, recently arriving at Breda, were also shocked to see that the Dutch line of defense had given way under German pressure, meaning that any proper fortification of the city prior to the German arrival was impossible. Because of this, the French had to withdraw their left flank, thus leaving the road to Rotterdam open.

Despite the Dutch holding in North Brabant, leaving the road to Amsterdam closed, the encirclement of Fortress Holland seemed inevitable. With this in mind, General Winkleman, commander in chief of Dutch forces, ordered the Royal Dutch Shells depots to be set ablaze. On the night of May 13th, with the growing concern that German forces would make it to the sea, the Royal family was evacuated to England. The following day, the Germans had reached Breda.

Despite a strong attempt by French forces to hold onto the city, they could not stop the encirclement of Fortress Holland from materializing. Rudolf Schmidt, at the head of XXXI ArmeeKorps, would be responsible for crushing it with one infantry division, one panzer division and one SS motorized division at his disposal.
Schmidt’s task would not be easy however, as the reinforced lines inflicted a heavy toll on his panzers. By May 14th, the German forces still hadn’t pierced Fortress Holland, nor had they reached Hoek von Holland.

As a warning, Hitler ordered Rotterdam to be razed to the ground, which was diligently done by the Luftwaffe. However, this order only strengthened the Dutch resolve to fight. Despite being totally cut off from the French forces at Breda, Fortress Holland held. It would take three long days for the 9th Panzer to finally enter the ruins of Rotterdam.
As the fighting lasted, Hitler finally sent an ultimatum to the Dutch: either they laid down their arms, or he would raze Amsterdam to the ground, just like he had done with Rotterdam. With no escape in sight, and the Allied forces losing ground in Belgium, Winkelman was authorized to surrender, which he did on the evening of May 19th.
In the meantime, most of the government had been evacuated to England, along with the Dutch gold reserves and some remnants of the army. The navy had been evacuated, and along with it, the two Danish torpedo boats interned there for about a month.

The rest of the army, fighting in Zeeland and Ostend, withdrew with the French forces towards Terneuzen and the new Schelde line in the evening of May 22nd. The German 9th Panzer, for its part, would not be able to rejoin the fighting in Belgium, and would have to go into reserve, along with the SS-Adolf Hitler.
To the south, it was a different matter! Belgium, despite its readiness, lost the fort of Eben-Emael in the first hours of the fighting to an airborne attack, breaching the first Belgian line of defense, and thus throwing a wrench in Gamelin’s Dyle Plan!

Luckily, Van Overstraeten had managed to have secondary lines fortified. If Eben-Emael falling would have been a death sentence this January, it was far from the case now.
Despite this, the Meuse being breached was still a serious issue. British and French forces came pouring in, sometimes in between the Belgian lines, with no real coordination. It wouldn’t be until the evening of May 12th that a clear picture had finally reached Gort and Gamelin, but by then, the Germans had already taken Liege and were driving towards Brussels.

To the south, the Belgians were also taking a toll on the German advance. Having expected to punch through the poorly defended lines, the 1st Panzer found itself held up by the Chasseurs Ardennais, who put up a dogged resistance around Bastogne. Reinforced with mobilized units, these forces held up the Panzers for twenty-four hours, allowing the Belgian and French command to parry a potential breakthrough. These twenty-four hours were crucial in the events that would transpire further south, at Sedan.
However, to the north, the Germans were driving, and driving hard…the 4th and 7th Belgian Infantry Divisions, after two days of fighting, had to withdraw from the Albert Canal. The 2nd and 3rd Infantry likewise retreated from Liege. Worse, miscommunication between the BEF and the Belgian High Command led to friendly fire incidents near Leuven, where the 10th Belgian Infantry, entrenched there, saw the BEF coming and fired on them!

With neither side wanting to yield their position, the debates raged for a time. Time that the Allies were short of. Finally, Van Overstraeten proposed that Brooke maintain the link between the French 7th Army (on the Breda-Ostend axis) and the Belgian 1st Army (south of Brussels). An agreement had been found, and time had been lost.
Meanwhile, as Belgian forces scrambled to fully man the Dyle line, delaying battles were fought. At Hannut, the Germans, high on success, ran into strong resistance. This was General Prioux’s tanks of the 2e DLM, equipped with SOMUA S35s and Hotchkiss H35s. With good communication thanks to Alphonse George’s diligence, the tanks managed to deploy in good order along defensive positions, with Prioux constantly communicating with Georges himself, and General Van Overstraeten, in order to allow the Dyle to be fortified.

The 4th Panzerdivision thus launched itself into a death trap. Well countered by the Armée de l’Air, the Luftwaffe could not have the decisive impact it had until then, leaving the Germans to fight on their own. For two days, the 4th Panzer suffered under Prioux’s blows, whose S35s were superior to the German Panzer Is and IIs. Hoepner, at the head of the 4th Panzer, grew more and more worried. His tanks were being knocked out at an increasingly rapid rate, and he would soon need to stop, already far from his objective! So, Hoepner gambled. On the 14th, he sent his entire force forwards, hoping to break the French cohesion.

Despite the intervention of a brigade of Belgian light tanks, the French S35s had given much, and struggled to hold. Hoepner then revealed his trump card: the arrival of the 3rd Panzer and their more lethal Panzer IIIs and IVs.

Seeing that he was outgunned, Prioux ordered a controlled retreat. Georges assented to that, with the Belgians covering the French flank to the north, in order to stop any encirclement. Thus, if Hoepner was master of the field on the evening of May 15th, his 4th Panzer was in no state to fight. More than 200 tanks were knocked out, with less than 60 being repairable. In comparaison, the French had lost only 70 tanks, and retreated in good order. The 3rd Panzer would thus have to continue alone towards the Dyle.
These precious days were not spent in vain. To the south, the Belgian Army had managed to stall the German advance at Wanze and Namur, and the situation in Sedan seemed to have become stable.

As such, when Hoepner tried his luck on the Dyle, at Gembloux, he would once more be met with fierce resistance.
Despite the infantry having caught up, Hoepner found himself facing no less than three French motorized divisions, and four Franco-Belgian infantry divisions, all of this behind a thick screen of fortifications.

Hoepner thus asked for support from the Luftwaffe to breach this pesky holdout. On May 16th, he launched his 3rd Panzer to the assault, looking for a weak point in the line, but finding none. The French and Belgian air forces, for their part, continued to hold off the Luftwaffe, claiming several kills amongst the Stukas.

The Belgian infantry, in a bold move, also decided to wreak havoc amidst Hoepner’s infantry support! Having infiltrated through the south, at Jemeppe, the Belgians struck Hoepner’s exposed flank, causing many casualties, and forcing the 3rd Panzer to divert resources to help the infantry.

XVI Corps was losing its footing. Despite the Luftwaffe’s efforts, French forces repeatedly pushed back the German attacks. The 1st Moroccan Division even counter-attacked, claiming three abandoned Panzers (including a Panzer IV!) which were quickly brought to the rear!

French Artillery pounded at the poor infantry, and heavily disrupted Hoepner’s movements, pinning the 3rd Panzer in front of Gembloux. The French Light Motorized Divisions, coordinating with the supporting Moroccan infantry, then counter-attacked again, pushing Hoepner back three kilometres!
Hoepner was disgusted. His 3rd Panzer was quickly being annihilated as a fighting force, and the infantry wasn’t holding well, either. On the evening of the 20th, there was a real chance of XVI Corps having to stop its advance short of the Dyle!

Luckily, events in Sedan came to his rescue. With the German breach south, holding Gembloux was no longer possible for the French 1st Army. Despite having held their own, the French would have to withdraw from the city on the 21st, and rushed behind the Dyle line at Nivelles. Prioux also had to send some of his forces south, to prevent the Germans from threatening his rear towards Binche, though this would soon become a major worry for the Germans during the De Gaulle counter-attack of May 24th.
Hoepner was thus once again left in control of the battlefield, but once again with a severely depleted PanzerDivision. The 3rd Panzer had lost 50% of its vehicles and as many of its officers. It was thus decided to combine the operational vehicles of the 3rd and 4th PzDs in order to continue the drive towards the sea, but Hoepner remained very skeptic as to his capabilities. On May 22nd, he could finally move towards Charleroi and Nivelles. And while the Allied slowly retreated to the Schelde, Hoepner prayed that the 1st Panzer would manage to succeed in the south.

For in Belgium, the supposed great cavalcade towards the sea had turned into a slow and painful crawl…
_________________
"It takes the Navy three years to build a ship. It will take three hundred years to build a new tradition. The evacuation will continue." Sir Andrew Cunningham, Mai 1941
"Let me soar! [...] I need no great host, just [Tyene]" - Nymeria Sand, AFFC II

[DMZ]

Ça ne sent pas bon pour les Allemands.

Quelques remarques

[solarien]

J'ai un peu de mal a comprendre la logique.

je suis un peu comme DMZ.

Si d'un coté, l'Ada tient en respect la Luftwaffe au dessus de Gembloux, pourquoi ne peut elle pas le faire du coté de Sedan ?
Or si les Stuka ne peuvent pas soutenir les troupes au sol du coté de Sedan, surtout en muselant l'artillerie française, les allemands ne pourront jamais passé, ou avec de tel pertes et un important retard qui fait que les renforts français pourront venir combler la brêche.

or alors, si l'aviation française tient à Gembloux, c'est parce que tout la chasse française est présente et que les autres zones sont laissé à l'aviation allemande ?

[Wings]

[DMZ]

[solarien]