Tide Of Fortune (Kirov Series Book 20)

by John Schettler

  “Two of them,” said Raeder. “They are both on the Goeben now, Marco Ritter and Hans Rudel. The first one kills enemy planes, the latter their ships.”

  “Rudel?” said Goering, “Yes, he came out of the aviation training school at Crailsheim. This is the man who’s been sending British ships home for repairs? Good for him, but better to sink them. We will give him better bombs soon, you will see.”

  “Very well,” said Raeder. “To the matter at hand—Operation Condor. We were not able to conclude this matter in 1940, so now we are faced with an even bigger problem. For the time being, any operation against the Cape Verde Islands is out of the question, but Halder will be here shortly, and we will discuss the details of the Condor plan for our Canary Islands assault. I trust you have retrieved the aircraft you put at the service of Ivan Volkov?”

  “All but six planes,” said Goering. “Three had engine problems, and the others were damaged on landing in Siberia. That was a most unfortunate operation, and the Führer was very wise to prohibit the use of my Falschirmjaegers. Lending Volkov the planes was bad enough, but thankfully, we have them back. The service schedule will see them ready for this plan of yours.”

  “Good,” said Halder, stepping through the far door to the conference table. He carried a brief which undoubtedly had plans and maps all drawn up by the Army, and now it was time for the heads of all three arms to coordinate their efforts.

  After the stunning success of Operation Felix, the British had responded to the seizure of their precious Rock of Gibraltar by quickly dusting off their own long established plans for Operation Puma, the occupation of the Canary Islands. The scales of balance always had those islands on one side as opposed to Gibraltar, for as early as June of 1940, the government had summed up the situation very clearly when the issue first arose in Churchill’s mind. They knew that taking those islands would give Spain every pretext to strike at Gibraltar, but the plans were still well laid.

  “It may be said that our action in operation PUMA will precipitate an attack on Gibraltar, which will make it untenable for our fleet. But for the Battle of the Atlantic the possession of the Islands is infinitely more important than our ability to keep ships at Gibraltar, and in my opinion, the temporary abandonment of the harbor can be faced and accepted… particularly since we make so little use of passage through the Mediterranean from west to east.”

  That route was now firmly closed, for after the bold sortie by Kirov, Argos Fire and HMS Invincible, the Axis forces had taken additional measures to seal off the Straits of Gibraltar. German Stukas were now on ready alert at airfields in Gibraltar, Tangiers. and Morocco. Mines had been laid, new shore batteries installed, and stealthy U-boats lurked in the only passage that could be used by another submarine. The convoy routes to Egypt had been forced to take the long route around the Cape of Good Hope for some time now, and that would not change soon. Yet to protect that last vital link to Cunningham and Wavell, the Canary Islands had been a prize well worth taking. Sitting right astride those convoy lanes, its occupation by the enemy would have a disastrous affect on the British war effort, and so the plan to seize the Canaries was launched as soon as Britain could collect the troops and shipping required.

  There were no longer any diplomatic problems concerning Spain to complicate the issue. While still openly declaring themselves neutral, the Spanish had nonetheless openly consorted with Nazi Germany, causing Churchill to wag his finger in parliament and exclaim: “The continent where the blood of our sons has already been shed in the defense of freedom, will one day come to rue the hour when they turned their back on the light and walked instead in the shadow of Nazi Germany and Adolf Hitler. And we will not forget, for the Tide of Fortune ebbs and flows, and one day our forces will return to those embattled shores, embracing any who called themselves our friend in the darkest hours of this war, and smiting with our righteous anger all who stood opposed.”

  Renamed Operation Pilgrim, the British operation was reorganized with a much stronger attacking force. Where Puma had thought to rely on stealth and surprise in a quick raid, Pilgrim brought a hammer to make the outcome a near certainty, no matter how prepared the enemy might be. So it was that a combined army/navy force was cobbled together for action against the Grand Canary Island. General H.R. Alexander commanded the Army, and Rear Admiral L.K.H. Hamilton the naval forces group. This island had the best harbor and aerodrome in the entire group, and plans were set to seize the harbor at La Luz, and the airfields at Gando on the eastern coast.

  Submarines were positioned off each objective prior to the raid, to make a reconnaissance and also serve as a navigation beacon on the night of the attack. The Royal Navy was ready with shore bombardment groups for Gando, as well as Los Rodeos airfield on the Island of Tenerife. A cruiser was assigned to neutralize the Spanish shore battery at Arinaga. After this, destroyers raced in to take up close support positions, and Number 9 Commando was ready for the leading assault. 29th Infantry Brigade was tasked to come ashore at Gando Bay, debarking over three color coded beaches, and 1st Guards Brigade at Arinaga. A third Brigade, the 36th Infantry, was held in floating reserve, and three aircraft carriers operating about 50 miles southeast of the island provided reconnaissance and ground support, with Hurricanes up for air superiority. Twelve Blenheims were on notice to be ready to fly to the captured airfield at Gando as soon as it was safely cleared.

  Auxiliary assaults were made by Special Services Brigade. The Number 9 Commando operated from RMS Queen Emma, with 12 Commando aboard the faster destroyers, 2 Commando on the Ulster Monarch, 1 & 3 Commando on the Royal Ulsterman, and 4 Commando on the Royal Scotsman. A full rehearsal of the operation was conducted in the Orkney Islands in August of 1940, and come September the plan was launched, a full year before it would ever see ink on a page in Fedorov’s history books.

  The islands were taken with very little resistance from Spanish forces, wergild for the loss of Gibraltar, and the light footed British Commandos then used the Grand Canary Island of Las Palmas as an easy springboard to seize the entire island group. They now had troops scattered over all seven key islands, and a year had been spent in developing harbor and airfield facilities to support Royal Navy operations guarding the vital convoy lanes. The Cape Verde Islands were taken in a similar operation four months later. The loss of Gibraltar had shifted the center of gravity for fleet operations to these islands, and now the Germans intended to finally do something about the situation.

  “We are a year late,” Raeder complained again as he tapped the map with his pencil at the OKW briefing room. “As I was just telling the Vice-Chancellor and Reichsminister here, we should have taken these islands as planned, right after the successful conclusion of Operation Felix, but the three divisions promised me for the operation never materialized.”

  “Oh, but they did, Admiral,” said Halder. “The problem was that they were used elsewhere. Rommel took Goering’s troops and the Grossdeutschland Regiment on loan for a while, and Kubler’s Mountain Division went to Syria along with the 22nd Luftland.”

  “We shall need them back again,” said Raeder. “The Führer has wasted enough resources in this foolish attack on Moscow.”

  “I would not breathe a word of that around Herr Hitler,” Goering admonished. “That is if you want to keep the rest of your surface navy. And many will now say that this new operation is equally fruitless. What good ever came of this Plan Orient you were so keen on? Rommel is still sitting in Libya, and though we managed to achieve a stalemate in Syria, thanks again to the timely arrival of my Falschirmjaegers, the British took all of Iraq in compensation. As for that little plan to seize the oil fields at Baba Gugur, whatever came of it? So now you want to stage another magic trick, but first Herr Halder here must pull three rabbits out of his hat? Three divisions?”

  Halder raised an eyebrow. “I can give you only two, and I am even lucky to have those in hand. The 22nd Luftland has been relieved in Syria, and moved through Italy to France. From there t
hey will go by sea to Gibraltar.”

  “By sea?” Raeder gave him a wary look.

  “The French have arranged transport and security,” said Halder. “The second division will be a mixed force. Goering will give you one regiment of 7th Flieger Division. The rest is in Syria. To that I can add the 98th Mountain Regiment taken from Rommel, and embarked at Benghazi for transport to Gibraltar. Those forces will constitute your shock elements for the attack. Once secured, the French have promised us additional brigades in support.”

  “But we will need at least one more infantry division to garrison the islands after they are taken,” said Raeder.

  “I will need time for that,” said Halder. “Every Panzergruppe commander in Russia has been hounding me for infantry divisions to cover their flanks all summer. Now that the winter has frozen the oil in the tanks, they still want infantry to relieve their panzer divisions. Now you come to me again with the same tattered check, and how am I supposed to cash it?

  “War is an expensive operation,” said Raeder. “Considering the fact that we could have had those islands for pocket change last year after Felix, two or three divisions should not be that difficult to find. Unfortunately, the British have a substantial presence there now. They have a battleship on permanent duty at the Grand Harbor, and our intelligence reports 18 destroyers, three cruisers and the occasional aircraft carrier all operating from the Canaries.”

  “That will be the concern of the Grand Admiral,” said Halder. “My only concern was the long end of this stick. I was asked to provide the forces necessary for the assault, and that I have done. Admittedly, Herr Rommel was not pleased to learn he will be another regiment light on infantry, but in compensation, he will get the next battalion of our newest tanks, for all the good it will do him.”

  “And the short end of that stick?” Raeder smiled.

  “In your capable hands, Admiral. Goering here has promised that he can deliver the Flieger Regiment to any target we name, which must be an airfield, of course. Then he will use his transports to fly in the 22nd Luftland Division. I trust you will do a little better job of that than Ivan Volkov?” Halder looked at Goering, and the Reichsminister of Aviation smiled. “As for the 98th Mountain Regiment, it will have to either come by sea to arrive at the time of the assault, or stand by at Casablanca after an overland movement from Tangiers.”

  “Air transport will be the safest option,” said Raeder. “Assuming Goering has fighters to see to the protection of Auntie JU. Because the British will have land based fighters on all the main airfields, and Blenheim bombers—not to mention that aircraft carrier.”

  “It is 380 to 400 miles to Agadir on the coast of Morocco,” said Goering, “and another 80 miles to Safi. Even with drop tanks, the range of my Me-109s is only 528 miles, so if they fly from any of those fields, they will have to land on the islands, and there will be very little time to loiter over the battle zone.”

  “We have found you other airfields,” said Halder as he unrolled a map of the region. “There is a small landing strip here at El Aaiun, another here at Tarfaya, with a small port near Cape Juby. The third is here at Tan-Tan, and then we have fields at Goulmine, Sidi Ifini, and Tiznit just south of Agadair. The main effort will come from those last few fields, but the smaller ones to the south will prove useful. If you operate fighters from there, they can loiter a good long while. I will see that the necessary fuel is delivered by truck to sustain the planned operation.”

  “And I can contribute here as well,” said Raeder. “The Führer may have canceled the last of my heavy battleships, and he is putting the steel to good use in those new tanks you boast of so often. But I managed to pull a few fish off the cutting board before the axe fell. The French carrier we captured in 1940 is now ready for operations, the Joffre. In fact, it is ready for this operation, for I can think of no better way to use it than to provide the additional air support we need here.”

  “I have not heard of this,” said Halder. “Another aircraft carrier? Wasn’t the fate of Graf Zeppelin enough to persuade you as to the limited utility of such vessels?”

  “That was most unfortunate,” said Raeder, “and hopefully, it will not happen again. The ship responsible for that attack is no longer in the Atlantic. It has taken the polar sea route north of Siberia to go plague the Japanese in the Pacific.”

  “And while the cat’s away…” Halder smiled.

  “Precisely.” The Admiral reached into his attaché and produced a line drawing.

  Chapter 26

  “We have christened this new ship Prinz Heinrich, 20,000 tons, and capable of transporting 40 aircraft. And we have been three months training the pilots and coaxing new Me-109Ts off the assembly lines—all under the careful eye of the Reichsminister here.” He gave Goering a glance, seeing the man nod in his direction.

  “Those aircraft, along with another dozen off the Goeben, will have to do the job until the land based aircraft reach the scene. I would suggest Heinkels instead of Messerschmitts at those northern fields, Herr Goering. They have over 1,400 British miles in range. Between the fighters you move to the southern fields, and those on my carriers, we should achieve air superiority, am I correct?”

  “I can guarantee that,” said Goering, and Raeder said nothing more about the same promise he had made to Hitler concerning England.

  “And what about the Royal Navy?” asked Halder.

  “Hindenburg and Bismarck are already at Casablanca, and fit for operations. The French have moved the Normandie and Richelieu to form another Schweregruppe. I think we have more than enough with those ships to deal with the Royal Navy.”

  “We have not had much success in that lately,” said Halder with the edge of a warning in his voice.

  “True,” said Raeder, “but third time is a charm. Unlike the Italians, the French Navy has shown good fighting spirit, and they have excellent ships. Yes, the British have seen our buildup at Casablanca, though we have been moving the transports required for the operation into that port at night in small convoys. Again, we have the French to thank for those ships, and they have dealt us a very nice hand. One ship, in particular, is our Ace in the hole—the Bretagne.”

  Halder looked surprised. “And old French battleship?”

  “No, Herr General, it is a new French ocean liner, built just before the war. Perhaps you knew it by its original name, the Normandie. When the French built that marvelous battleship the designers took that name, even though the liner had already made it famous by capturing the trans-Atlantic speed record. Then, after the war, they realized having two ships at sea by the same name could be confusing, and so, when their old battleship Bretagne was sunk by the British, they renamed the ocean liner in compensation for the theft of her identity. It was in New York Harbor at the outbreak of the war, but slipped out just before the Americans got the chance to inter that ship. The French moved it to Toulon, and now it will serve nicely to transport those Mountain troops you have scraped together for this operation. With a ship like that, over 80,000 tons and fast at 30 knots, I can get those troops to the islands in no time at all. And the best news is that she will have company. The Italians have agreed to lease us the SS Rex, another fine steamship liner. Between the two of them I can transport 4500 troops, and that is with every man in plush accommodations! We can triple that number easily, and move that entire third division if you can find one for me. This operation looks sound.”

  “Interesting,” said Halder. “But there is one more thing to consider. Assuming we take these islands, you realize you will be also taking on a permanent duty to keep the troops there supplied.”

  “That is the end of my short stick,” said Raeder. “We will need to move fuel, oil, munitions, supplies, and mostly by sea. The Luftwaffe transports can help as well, and it will be a difficult operation. Yet consider the payoff, Halder. Those islands sit right astride the British convoy routes to Freetown and Cape Town. That is the lifeline to the British 8th Army in Egypt and Libya.”


  “That is the only thing that quieted Rommel when I asked him for that Mountain Regiment.”

  “Correct. Rommel has finally grasped the essence of his situation in North Africa. No more gallivanting across the desert. He finally understands logistics are the only thing that matter in that theater. So from the Canary Islands, we strangle the British supply line, and also gain a wonderful base for Döenitz and his U-boats. He has been complaining that the nice big hole in the Atlantic where his U-boats could always hide and rendezvous with tankers was filled by the British occupation of those islands. Now he is firmly in my camp on this plan. I argued all of this last year, and the Führer has finally come to his senses. Now we have the navy in a perfect position at Casablanca, and if you and Goering deliver the planes and troops as promised, this could be a decisive victory. From there, we can plan to rout them out of Dakar, which will make the French happy, and then use that as a base to attack the Cape Verde Islands.”

  “Grand plans,” said Halder. “Yet you realize what this attack will mean? Late last year the British wisely acted to seize those islands, and now there are well established airfields on Tenerife, and many other islands as well. Your initial plan eventually targets the Grand Canary Island, but we will have to take them all. Not one of those airfields can be left in British hands, otherwise your plan to supply our troops there would be in constant jeopardy. In my opinion, this is a very risky operation, and precisely for the same lesson you think Rommel has learned—logistics. Are you sure you have passed the test, Admiral?”

  “I will not say I was without qualms myself,” Raeder admitted. “Kubler will be given overall command of the Army and Luftwaffe forces used, and he has assured me that he will deliver the islands as planned. The question you raise is my concern. Yes, logistics. We are working on a plan to mount overland truck convoys to the Moroccan coast, and the new Siebel ferries are big enough to make the crossing, if we can get them there.”