Campaign in Britain: 1940-41, An Alternate History Novel, by Anthony Genualdi

I have the pleasure to announce that the novel I've been pouring myself into making this summer, is on the verge of being published. I'll let you know when it hits Amazon and B&N.

This story is told by my fictional German General Horst von Halen. He is the latest in a long line of Bavarian military men, and has a hatred of the British dating back to WWI, when his older brother is killed at Loos. At the start of my novel, he fills you in on the family history and his time in the German Army up to the conclusion of the France campaign.

The divergence from our reality is that the Adlertag offensive is a success for the Germans, and the Luftwaffe runs riot over Southeastern England. I thought I'd give you a taste, and here it is:


CHAPTER TWO


S-Day



At 0400 on 15 September, 1940, the guns of the two old battleships and several destroyers sounded the opening of “Sealion,” the greatest invasion Germany ever mounted. My infantry and combat engineers got out of their landing barges and onto the beaches as day was breaking.

Just before those guns sounded, our paratroops were dropping at three places behind the invasion area. In the west, near Folkestone, they formed a roadblock and engaged enemy Vickers Mark VI tanks with grenades and antitank rifles. In the center, behind the city of Dover, they came down on the runway of a wrecked RAF base. They beat back several attacks by British and New Zealand troops, and set up a radio to direct our planes as day broke. The third group landed northwest of Whitfield, where they tried and failed to dislodge an Australian roadblock. They suffered heavy casualties and had to wait until about 1000, when reinforcements could be dropped to them, to reform and to make contact with our landing force.

I and my staff made it ashore between the first objective towns about Noon, when our first wave was fully ashore and had moved some five or six kilometers inland. We settled in a bunker which had its seaward wall blown off by one of the old battleships. It was then, with the old battleships sailed off to the west for Brighton, that we intercepted a message from one of our destroyers. They were engaging a British force of minesweepers, destroyers, and a cruiser.

Wonderful! Not all of our landing ships had offloaded, and the destroyers and torpedo boats wouldn’t be enough. We frantically radioed the Luftwaffe, “Rape! Enemy ships closing from the east! Help!” We picked up one last message from a minelayer that managed to reinforce the barrage, that the enemy cruiser and a destroyer were coming. The cruiser, which we later identified as HMS Emerald, and a Tribal-class destroyer, showed up about 1230. The destroyer kept going, while the Emerald slowed down and started shelling the area. They mostly shelled our towed artillery, a battalion of 105mm howitzers, that had landed between Dover and a blockhouse to the east of town, with our gunners engaging the enemy on either side over open sights. She threw some shells in my direction for good measure, but didn’t kill my staff.

After about five minutes of this, which felt like an hour, we looked up at the beautiful sight of two wings of Stukas coming in. Another wing of them headed west for the destroyer which was shelling our men at Folkestone. General Harnisch had broken out a of bottle of cognac that he’d been saving to drink in London, and we passed it around as the spectacle unfolded.

The Stukas peeled off, with their sirens blaring, and dropped their bombs on the Emerald. The first couple missed, but they started scoring hits and we cheered as if it were a football match. They knocked out the forward guns, and the bridge and the stern. The seventh plane in line got his bomb right down her stack, and the Emerald blew up with a glorious flash. A cheer went up and down our line as if our star striker had completed a hat trick.

We got word from Folkestone that the destroyer had also been eliminated. Unlike with the Emerald, some British sailors managed to survive and swim ashore. Unfortunately for them, they came ashore where the SS were, and they didn’t take kindly to being shelled. My brother Heinrich told me about it later. His men had done this since France, and didn’t even bother to line them up, but shot them down in the surf. I suppose part of me can’t blame then.



By the 16th, we had our second wave fully ashore, with our self-propelled assault guns, the Sturmpanzer I’s, all ashore to deal with stubborn British resistance. Their 150mm guns were ideal for engaging enemy strongpoints at point blank range. We were able to declare Dover fully secured by nightfall of the 20th. The Leibstandarte had the town of Lympne on our western flank secured on the 19th and moved on the way to making contact with our forces that had landed at Brighton. We secured Whitfield on the 20th as well. With our panzers ashore and the paratroops reinforced, we were able to flank and destroy the Australian roadblock on the 21st, as well as a supply depot near it. We were able the next day to turn northeast and engage the garrison of the port of Deal. We had that garrison subdued by the end of the next day, and had our lodgment secured by 25 September, S-Day plus 10.


Again, I'll let you know when it is available. Stay tuned.

 

Campaign in Britain, 1940-41, An Alternate History Novel

I'm happy to say my new novel is up for sale now at my publisher! The paperback is now available at Amazon and B&N, and the Kindle and Nook versions should be up by 9/11.