ForgotPassword?
Sign Up
Search this Topic:
Forum Jump
Posts: 3716
Oct 29 12 2:38 AM
Born Again P-76 Pilot
Part 4
22 January 1943 Washington
“Air Chief Marshall Sir Charles Portal is here, sir. He arrived five minutes early and his appointment is due now.”
Admiral Ernest King grimaced, then rigidly schooled himself. While he had liked keeping the ‘limeys’ waiting, that had been changed. As the senior British Attache Portal was now not a man to be kept waiting. “Send him in, goddam it.” The last was merely muttered.
He did not have to be personally happy about it, though. He just had to keep his feelings under control.
Sir Charles walked in, again not showing the slightest hint of the irritation he still felt about this man. They would never get on – but the atmosphere was different. He knew the delays previously had been deliberate, so the punctuality shown now also had to be deliberate. So the rules had changed – now to find out how much.
“Ah, Admiral King, how are you this fine day?”
King gave a faint smile. “Very well, Air Chief Marshall. We are of course as busy as you are but I am happy to carve out half an hour for you. How may I assist?”
Ah, what a change that represents. Polite professional courtesy. So we can despise each other yet still work together, I recognise an olive branch when it is... not so much offered as placed on the table between us.
Portal smiled slightly. “Thank you, Admiral, I will not waste your time I assure you, and I have very good news for you. I have come here to inform you that we have invaded Norway and successfully taken Narvik and Bodo airfield, although fighting at Bodo is heavy. Elements of four divisions ashore, some fighting in the north, we overwhelmed the German garrison and took Narvik intact. They have mostly surrendered there. Minor damage to the rail but nothing the railway brigade cannot deal with very quickly: within hours, I was told. We will not be releasing this information publicly for 24 hours, as we wish to coordinate responses with your military and that of France.” He paused. Yes, worth it.`
“If that is not enough time, I believe I can swing an extension with the Prime Minister. I have just enough political capital left to be able to call him directly. Once.”
King’s face was graven in stone. “I must congratulate you, although I will be asked as to why there was no... cooperative planning with the USN?”
Portal smiled politely. “To be frank, in view of the utter balls-up we made of it back in ’40, we have kept this information very close-hold. I have been told that the troops themselves did not know until after they were at sea. It worked, we caught the Huns completely by surprise and our casualties are minimal except at Bodo. The fighting there was heavy, and continues. Who thought that a Luftwaffe infantry division would fight so well? Apparently we have even lost Arras tanks there which I am told is frankly amazing. We have taken the airfield and are flying fighters in now from the carriers. It is obviously proper to inform you of this matter well in advance of public announcement. I have been told to stress to you that we kept this in-house solely for security reasons. We and the Norwegians knew, but not many of them and rather few of us. I did not know until six hours ago when the Mercury arrived from home with a courier and these files. Apparently the actual landing dates depended entirely on the weather, and a few enemy mine-lays would have ruined the plan.”
As he was saying this, he had placed three folders on the desk. King had sat quite still while this had happened, rigidly controlling an inner turmoil.
“Thank you, Air Chief Marshall. The obvious political questions which will be asked are, why Norway, and why not include us and other Allies in the planning?”
Well, that was very civil Portal thought.
“If I may answer in reverse order, Admiral. We kept it tight as it was operationally fragile. The Norwegians had to know, it’s their country and a lot of their resistance people have been used. The French had neither resources nor interests to be involved of course, and more widely it was just application of need to know. We very deliberately used only resources in the northern UK so the operation has no implications for any Allied operation in train or in planning. I might add that Bomber Command and Fighter Command were not told, for example.”
He leaned back a little, shaking his head. “Norway. I opposed this plan when it was raised in an earlier iteration and I am most surprised that it has occurred. According to the files, such doubters received a briefing from the Ministry of War Transport, Ministry of Munitions and the Trade Division of the Admiralty which proved beyond the slightest doubt that we had the shipping to support war production, feed the population, support the buildup of US forces in the UK, maintain the French in North Africa and conduct the tasks needed to fight the Japanese in Asia. Just not all five of those tasks at the one time. We can do three of those five, only. However, if we take northern Norway and head south to, say, Trondheim then we cut our shipping demands for iron ore and timber from across the pond by millions of tons. That and some other actions to which I am not privy give us a fighting chance of doing what needs to be done.”
King glanced at the red-taped folders. “What’s in these?”
“Full briefings. One’s on the reasoning behind the invasion. The second is on the invasion plans, what we are doing and why. The third deals with the implications, especially the tonnage implications. I have been told in no uncertain terms by Sir Arthur Salter that while you and Mr Douglas of the war shipping administration certainly understand the realities of the situation and assist the maintenance and buildup of Allied power to the limit of your capability, General Somervell persists in...’, he paused, ‘... quote a degree of fantastical thinking regarding shipping unquote.”
He glanced at his watch. “Admiral, I have used the interview time allotted. I do hope that there is sufficient time and information there for you to smoothly brief your own people. You will see that there are three copies of a short briefing paper at the front of each file, it contains a good summary of each file. Please contact my office in regards of any questions, I have called all my staff in to assist so they are all available if needed, as am I, of course.”
He stood, as did Admiral King. They shook hands.
“Thank you, Air Chief Marshall. My staff will be in touch.” He paused. “How badly does this hurt the Germans?”
Portal’s face wore a savage grin. “Badly. We just cut their supply of high grade ore in half and we have about 10,000 prisoners so far. Their navy is now locked into the Baltic and southern North Sea which helps protect your troops coming over. We are moving south as fast as we can, small parties mostly at this stage, Norwegians and Royal Marines. We’ve got every coastal submarine, destroyer and MTB we can get to sea attacking the Germans from Kristiansand to the Spanish border and we are mining the hell out of the Kattegat and the Sounds. Bomber Command is pounding their northern ports. Fighter Command is flying massive fighter sweeps into France. Home Fleet is off the Leads, but I don’t think they will sortie.”
King’s head nodded slowly.
“Thank you. Anything that hurts the Germans is good by my reckoning. I have to start making calls now.”
King sat down as Portal left and then until his staff reported that he was gone. Still tightly controlled, he called Knox.
“Heard Portal visited again.”
“Yes, Mr Secretary. He left me with three files, I am forwarding one of the copies of the file briefings he provided to you by courier, right now.” He took a deep breath. “They have invaded northern Norway, taken Narvik and Bodo, and are expanding south.”
“What!? Goddam limeys!”
King grinned.
Share This