After spending much of your life on a massive aircraft carrier, ships usually lose all appeal. But when standing on the bridge of the British Battleship HMS King George V, that proved not to be the case. Despite being much smaller than their school ships, the battleship inspired awe in the mind of every girl aboard.
The battleship was leading the relief convoy to North Africa, the convoy consisted over over 50 transport ships, escorted by 37 destroyers, 16 cruisers, 3 battleships, and two aircraft carriers. German U-boats had been spotted at various points during the voyage, but stayed away from the immense fleet. A few land based aircraft had attempted to attack the fleet, but were beaten off by fighters from the two carriers.
At the mouth of the Mediterranean, the convoy was met by ships from the French fleet, upping their contingent by another 20 destroyers and 12 cruisers. It took them almost three weeks, but on the 29th of May, in the dead of night, the fleet arrived at Tobruk.
#
'There it is' though Brigadier Erwin, 'The one city that caused so much trouble for the Desert Fox. The city which saved the British in North Africa, without them even knowing it.' Erwin was eager to land, she wanted to face off against the famous Desert Fox, the man she had admired for years. Many of the soldiers and sailors she had encountered during the voyage had questioned he choice of attire, even Major General Somerset had. But she defended it saying that despite him being the enemy, Rommel was to be admired given his tactical ability. The soldiers soon gave up when they realised their officers knew the girl and trusted her, when asked the officers told them that they had trained under all the girls. Whilst many of the rank and file had doubts about serving under the girls, all the officers and tank crews had trained under them so knew their abilities.
In the distance the flash of artillery fire could be seen, the sound of the guns echoing out seconds later. Erwin knew that Rommel was due to attack tomorrow, she also knew that he would be more determined to succeed having most likely heard about the imminent relief force. Erwin knew that if Rommel broke through before they could land, their mission would get that much harder.
She was so engrossed in the view that she almost didn't notice Miho walk up beside her in her British officers uniform, with the pips denoting her rank gleaming brightly on her shoulder. Despite being uncomfortable with the rank, Miho looked right at home in the military uniform. Even Erwin could never look like that in her uniform, despite wearing a German uniform every day for years. 'It must be a Kuromorimine thing' she thought, remembering how comfortable Erika and Maho looked in theirs.
"I've read about this. The siege of Tobruk, the campaign for North Africa. It was a major area for armoured warfare so was taught often in Kuromorimine. But I never thought I'd be here," said Miho quietly
"None of us did. I mean who could expect a storm right out of a movie to appear and send us back to 1940."
"I suppose, but we seem to have adapted well."
"Indeed we have," The two girls looked into the bridge of the HMS King Geoge V, where Winston Churchill stood with Major General Somerset, Admiral John Tovey, and the rest of the Senshado commanders, "We've trained for real combat for almost a year, and we've also all seen real combat, not much, but we've all be under fire and fired upon an enemy."
Miho nodded, "That is true, but this is war, real war, not the little firefight we had in France. Here we'll be under heavy, almost constant fire, live fire, not the Senshado rounds we are used to."
Erwin brought up the elephant in the room, "It is quite possible that some of us will not make it out of this alive."
"I know, I had been avoiding that thought, but looking at the city, I can't any more."
They lapsed into silence, just watching the city.
They sensed more than heard the person behind them, "It's a horrendous sight isn't it girls," said Nigel Somerset, looking at the city, "I really wish you girls weren't here."
"We chose to be here General, to fight the Nazis is our choice. Defeating the Nazis would be the best thing for both our nations." said Miho, not looking away from the city.
"I know that, I just don't like the idea of young girls such as yourselves being in war."
"Well we were most likely going to end up in a war anyway, things back home were tense, and war seemed imminent. At least here we have an advantage. And there are no nuclear weapons capable of wiping out entire cities, at least not yet."
Knowing it was some future thing, Somerset didn't ask about the nuclear weapons but kept the term in mind, "Anyway," he said, "It it what it is. And to that end, we'll be heading ashore soon. In about an hour the artillery stationed in Tobruk will open fire on the German positions. We are to land ashore under cover of darkness, and move up to the defences. Hopefully we'll land unnoticed, but I doubt it."
"How many will be landing?" asked Erwin
"Well there are enough docks for four ships to dock at once, and they'll take about 2 hours to unload everything, so around twelve or sixteen ships should unload before we lose cover of darkness."
Erwin looked thoughtful, "If I may General, I believe we should cut the number of ships landing."
The general raised and eyebrow and looked at her, "Why?" he asked.
"Rommel likes to perform extensive reconnaissance before a battle. If we were to land around 12,000 troops he would notice. If we want to goad him into a battle he's going to need to think that the fleet hasn't been able to land yet. To ensure that, I would recommend that only eight ships dock in the port and unload, but that they then load up a full compliment of troops from the shore, and then sail to the very rear of the fleet. This way there has been no overall increase in the number of troops in and around the city, not a noticeable one anyway. If the new tanks are hidden well enough, Rommel need never know that reinforcements have already landed. If, when dawn breaks, you can make the fleet either seem like it just arrived, or have it actually sail from the horizon, then Rommel will assume that we haven't been able to land the relief force and will launch the attack he invariably has planned if recent reports from the city are correct."
Miho took up the trai of thought, "And if he launches the attack, the relief forces will repel his assault, due to them being fresh and better equipped."
"Exactly, and if the German troops take losses even half as heavy as I predict, then a counter attack should break the encirclement. Rommel will throw everything he has into this attack, he wants to take the city before we can land. We don't have the facilities or equipment to conduct a seaborne invasion, so we wouldn't be able to shell the city for fear of hitting our own men, or damaging the dock facilities."
Somerset stood stock still, his brain still trying to catch up with the plan made by the girl. When his brain finally started working, he realised that the plan could quite possibly work. He turned to go and tell the Prime Minister, but the Prime Minister was already stood behind him with Admiral Tovey. The Prime Minister was smiling proudly, "What did I tell you, tactical geniuses, all of them."
The admiral nodded, "Any doubts I had about them are gone now, that plan is brilliant. And well within our capabilities. I also agree that having the fleet just arrive, maybe halfway through the battle, would reinforce the idea."
"Get on the horn then Admiral, let the city know."
#
It was decided that Brigadier Erwin's brigade would be the one to land and repel Rommel. Despite the obvious honour, Erwin was nervous about it. She would be the first to face real combat, to have command of men in a real combat situation. As ordered, an hour after the plan was decided, the artillery barrage began and the first four ships made for shore. Over the next eight hours, eight transports docked at Tobruk, unloading and reloading 6,000 men and over 1500 mechanised and armoured units.
Erwin made sure to be the first off the ship, with her Stug III painted in British colours, the tank rolled down the ramp and onto the dock. It wasn't too hot inside the tank, but Erwin knew that when day broke the heat would rocket. The obviously German tank drew some strange looks from the crowd of soldiers gathered on the dock, the tension wasn't helped when Erwin raised her head, revealing the German officers hat. She could see some of the soldiers fingering their weapons, but before they could raise them the commander of Tobruk stepped forward, "Brigadier Riko Matsumoto?" asked Lieutenant General Leslie Morshead.
"Yes sir, you are Lieutenant General Morshead I presume?"
"I am, when I heard I would be receiving reinforcements I didn't think it would be a woman driving a German tank. Has the promotion gone to General Somerset's head or did he loose his mind after being driven from France."
"Neither. He had his own reservations but at the end of the day is following orders," replied Erwin
"Orders from whom? The fairies?"
"That would be me General,"
Morshead looked behind Erwin and immediately came to attention, "Mr Prime Minister sir, it's an honour."
"That it may be," said Winston Churchill, walking down the ramp of the transport ship, "These girls have my full confidence and have proven themselves before both myself and his royal highness."
"Girls, Mr Prime Minister, as in more than one?"
"Yes general, there are around thirty being deployed if I remember correctly, five of which have been given the Brigadier rank. Brigadier Matsumoto here is the first."
"Matsumoto? Now that I think about that sounds Japanese, what the bloody hell is a Jap doing here, and in the British army?"
"None of that general, these girls offered their services, and have constantly proven themselves both able and willing. Whilst they may not wish to fight against their own countrymen should it come to war with Japan, they are more than willing to fight Hitler and his Nazi hordes."
Chastised, but still unhappy, Morshead meekly replied, "Yes sir."
"Hmm," said Churchill, "Now, let's unload these ships and get these weary men on board."
With that British soldiers and tanks began to flood down the ramps, moving quickly to the areas which had been made ready for them in the main square. When the entire brigade had disembarked, it would move into the area vacated by the brigade being evacuated. Erwin and her crew made sure that their men were in position and ready and waiting for the order to move out.
The disembarkation went faster than they had expected, and within six hours the entire force was on land. Churchill, Erwin and Morshead had watched over the process, ensuring that everything went smoothly.
With the force ready in the square, Erwin met with Morshead and Churchill, "The men are ready sir," she said, saluting, "Permission to move out?"
"Granted Brigadier," said Churchill, "And remember the plan."
Erwin nodded, and left.
Climbing onto her Stug Erwin muttered to Caesar, "I can see why his men called him 'Ming the Merciless'". Chuckles echoed from within the tank.
"At least we don't answer to him," said Caesar.
"Agreed," turning to the men Erwin shouted, "Infantry move out, you'll be taking up the defensive position, tanks and tank destroyers you will be staying out of sight. Remember to use your camoflauge netting, the entire plan revolves around Rommel not knowing that reinforcements are already here."
Erwin thought about the plan, the infantry were to take up the positions those who had been evacuated had vacated, her armour support was to remain hidden, hopefully Rommel wouldn't notice their presence. When the attack began the next morning, they would be a surprise.
An engine rumbled close to them, and a Bren Gun Carrier pulled alongside, standing in it was Major Howard, now Brigadier, he had been promoted following the Battle for France. He had been assigned to their division, and was chosen by Major-General Somerset to accompany the first brigade ashore. He had been placed under Erwin's command for the duration of the battle for Tobruk.
"What are our orders when we reach the front line sir?" he asked, shouting over to Erwin.
"If the reports are correct, there should be a line of trenches and bunkers, the men will take up positions in them, make sure that they hide their regimental symbols and badges, we want to keep Rommel in the dark. There should also be six anti-tank guns there, 6 pdrs if I remember correctly, I want those guns manned. You Brigadier Howard will be in charge of co-ordinating the fire from those guns."
"Yes sir. How do you want the guns to fire?"
Erwin thought, the 6 pdr was a good anti-tank weapon, but might not be able to penetrate the frontal armour of the German tanks, depending on what tanks came at them.
"Split the guns into three teams of two, each team will cover a third of the front. The guns of each team will only fire one at a team, the first gun will target the treads of the German tanks, immobilising them. Theoretically the tanks should also spin off course when the tread breaks, thereby exposing the weaker armour for the second gun to hit."
"Understood sir,"
#
The deployment of the force took around an hour, by the time dawn broke, all the troops were in position. The armour had been kept back from the line, hidden behind rocks, dunes, and ruined buildings. Each tank was also covered by a camouflage net. The only tank that wasn't was the Stug III of Hippo team, having been repainted in British colours, the tank was dug into a defilade, covered with a camouflage net, and disguised to look like an anti-tank gun from a distance.
As dawn broke, the sun rising over the distant dunes, Erwin watched the horizon through her field glasses. Refusing to be anywhere but the front line, Erwin watched carefully for any approaching enemies. Caesar, Saemonza, and Oryou stood next to her, each of them with field glasses of their own. The desert was silent, the only sound being the slight chatter of men and the rustle of wind over the dunes.
Brigadier Howard came up the them and saluted, "Sir,"
"Brigadier, what's the supply situation like?"
"We have 100 shells for the anti-tank guns, more are on the way from the town, but it'll be at least half an hour."
"And the infantry?"
"Full compliment sir, each man should have at least 50 rounds for their rifles, and we've got at least 1500 rounds for the Bren Guns."
"Good, make sure every man makes each shot count, especially the anti-tank guns."
Brigadier Howard was about to reply when a series of thuds could be heard in the distance.
"Take cover," he screamed at the men, all of them quickly diving into their foxholes, which were now deeper than they had been previously. Erwin, like Rommel, didn't underestimate the value of the spade.
Hippo team quickly scrambled back into their Stug to sit out the bombardment.
"So it begins," said Caesar