“General Cunningham will present the report,” Hanover said shortly, and sat down. The General stood up and displayed a chart of Norway, covered with tactical icons, on the main display.
“This is Norway, two days ago,” Cunningham said. He tapped the remote; new icons appeared on the display. “The American forces, a combination of Marines and regular army units, went ashore at three separate locations, attempting to overwhelm the Germans by weight of numbers. Prior to this, two locations were softened up by American battleships firing at long-range and coordinated strikes by our navy and the RAF were aimed at German forces and lines of communication throughout Norway. The net result was that the Germans were forced to abandon any hope of reinforcing their forces on the Norwegian coast.
“The main landings were at Narvik and Bergen,” he continued. “Trondheim, which was playing unwilling host to a German battalion, was not considered a main target, but the opportunity of removing it from the battlefield proved too great to resist. Narvik, an operation aimed at discouraging the Soviets from pinching off upper Norway, was the only one to come close to disaster; the Germans pinned the Marines down and shot hell out of them. Fortunately, American carrier support and RAF units turned the tide and the Germans were defeated.
“Bergen presented a similar problem, but between the Marines and a FAE bomb most of the resistance was quickly crushed,” he concluded. The map changed to show icons taking up positions around Norway. “The main focus of the American effort has been to reinforce their commanding positions and march down to Oslo from Bergen and Trondheim. This operation, which looks good on the map, won’t be quite as easy as it seems – it reminds me of Afghanistan.”
He chuckled. “To be fair, the Norwegian resistance is coming out of the closet and providing us with considerable assistance,” he concluded. “With Patton in command, the advancing infantry columns are making their way southwards along passages that the Germans didn’t know so much about. Moving armour, however, is a very slow progress, even with the communication devices we’ve provided them with. Incidentally, certain American admirals who will remain nameless are blaming us for messing up the Norwegian roads, such as they were before the RAF took a crack at them.”
General Chapman, Chief of the Air Staff, coughed loudly. “This is from the people who bombed some of our tanks in the Gulf War and then refused to hand the pilots over,” he said.
“Future history,” Hanover injected, before an argument broke out. A ripple of laughter ran around the table. “General can Norway be taken then?”
“Oh, yes,” Cunningham said. “It’s only a matter of time. I’d be astounded if it takes more than a month.”
“Good,” Hanover said. “Admiral Grisham, what about Redemption I and II?”
Admiral Grisham glared impartially around the table. “We can launch Redemption I right now,” she said. “We have most of the units required for the mission already in the region, and after Malta the Germans have stepped down their air operations in the Mediterranean. Admittedly, Redemption I is a prerequisite for Redemption II, and the Germans will try to stop us, so launching it now would be the best chance we’d have to do it this year.”
Cunningham nodded. “Admiral Somerville has shown himself to be capable,” he said. “All we’re using for the mission is two units of the SBS and two Marine divisions. We can spare them; there won’t be a threat to Suez any time soon.”
Hanover steepled his fingers. One of the problems with the rapidly expanding British Army was that they had a shortage of trained officers. In the Middle East, they’d been forced to use the older units as firemen, trusting the newer units to hold their own. Crete was a bigger target than it looked on the map, far too big to be taken quickly, unless the Germans were pounded into submission first.
He scowled. The armed forces had spent most of the winter building up stocks of advanced weapons, some of which had already been expended in Norway and Germany. He didn’t begrudge the Americans their assistance – it was important to keep the alliance going – but it was costly. The economy might be doing really well for the first time in a decade, relatively speaking, but weapons were not something that could be sold.
He picked up the outline document. “I authorise Redemption I,” he said, knowing that between the two Redemptions and Norway almost all of the war stocks would be expended. “Admiral, I have every confidence that we can proceed with Redemption II as soon as it becomes practical, but for the moment we cannot proceed.”
Grisham nodded. “I understand,” she said.
Hanover smiled. “Any other business?” He asked. There was a long pause. “No? In that case… meeting adjourned.”
He allowed them all to file out, staring at the map. Redemption I was fairly conventional, in its way, although he suspected that Somerville would not have thought of it that way. Redemption II, however, was the kind of scheme that armchair generals came up with; a scheme that couldn’t hope to succeed against technologically-equal opponents. It had been Rommel who’d pointed out that the Wehrmacht couldn’t hope to react as fast as the British, and that a daring stroke might just shorten the war.
So could losing the force involved, he thought grimly, and understood how Pitt and Churchill must have felt. Steeling his mind, Hanover took one last look at the map… and strode from the room, turning the light out behind him.
HMS Warspite
Malta, Mediterranean Sea
27th May 1941
The message had the same imperious tone as many of the messages from the Admiralty that Somerville had been familiar with; it was good to know that some things had never changed. The message was also simple; PROCEED WITH REDEMPTION ONE, it read.
“We’re going back to Crete,” Somerville said. “This time, we’re going there to take it from the Germans and keep it.”
The room, the captains of the task force, cheered. They were an odd lot; ten Contemporaries, ten future personnel, and Somerville himself. A Marine General, dressed in a Marine uniform, Contemporaries dressed in Contemporary uniforms, future people dressed in their snappy uniforms – and a tough merchant skipper who had refused to don a naval uniform. Sooner or later, once the war was over, Somerville was certain that the Royal Navy would get around to instituting a single uniform, but for the moment everyone wore what they felt comfortable in.
“We will depart as soon as the Marines and supplies are loaded onboard the transports,” he said. The Marines had been stationed on Malta, but after the Battle of Malta, when so few Germans had even managed to land, they had been released for other missions. He pointed his cane at the map of Crete; he didn’t like computer-generated maps very much.
“As soon as we get within ten miles of Crete, the Daring will open fire on the pre-selected targets,” Somerville said, blessing the chance that had spared the Type-45 destroyer from the Pacific. “Its targets are German bases in Turkey and Greece; given how fast the missiles move, they should knock the German air cover down sharply. We’ll move slowly, in the night, and reach Crete at dawn.”
He chuckled. “Once we get near Crete, we’ll blast hell out of the German emplacements with the two battleships main guns, then land the Marines,” he concluded. “Once we’ve cleaned up the German troops, we can declare the island secured and bask in the glory.” There were some chuckles. “One note, and please explain this to your men.” He nodded at Brigadier Hampton. “The Germans have been deploying some new technology, and the boffins want to examine it.”