Wednesday 16 February 2011

NOW5

Chapter Five


He throttled the engine back and eased the Swift into position behind the Britannia that carried the German Minister of Defence. The Germans were certainly putting up a show for the Minister who was coming from Kiel where he had been officially welcoming the British Dreadnought Prince of Wales[1] and marvelled at how easy it would be to fire the two live Red Streaks he carried, the four turbo-propeller engines of the Britannia gave off enough heat to guide a Division of missiles in. In spite of it all though it was merely idle curiosity of a professional Fighter Pilot who saw everything other than his own plane as a potential target.


Charette was feeling some guilt over what he had said some days ago in the O-Club, but he still felt no remorse over his feelings. Admittedly these Germans weren't goose stepping with their right arm in the air or filling cattle cars with the innocent, but he felt as if in each and every one of them the beast was lurking just below the surface. Then again, if that were to happen the Brits had the V-Force for that eventuality.



Cold correctness and professionalism would sum up his relationship with the Germans in I/JG 74 perfectly, but this was only a posting like any other. The sweeping form of the Britannia began it's descent towards landing, while the display flight so hastily formed yesterday went into a holding pattern and prepared for the flyby sheduled later on.

dH. 485 of the Flugbereitschaft des Bundesministeriums für Verteidigung[2], wearing the same livery as the Britannia.


The Commodore personally commanded the honour guard and as the Britannia slowed down to near where they were waiting he gave the signal to the band even though the first few bars of the Preussischer Präsentiermarsch[3] were swallowed up by the spinning down noises of the Rolls-Royce Turbo-propeller engines. German Minister of Defence, Kai-Uwe von Hassel stepped out the door and walked down the steps, followed by the usual retinue of aides, officials and reporters.


Marseille and von Hassel exchanged the friendly words and shook hands for the photographers and as the last bars of the music faded away everyone looked up as the sound of jet engines was heard from the south. Along the runway everyone looked up, as a display like this did not happen every day. In a tight version of the classic finger-four formation, a sight that no one had seen German aircraft perform since the end of the war.



~*~---~*~


You see then Oberst that the British aren't exactly falling over themselves to help us with this, but that's hardly to be expected. Our Embassy there tells us that German rearmament is still a rather controversial issue over there.”


Marseille snorted. “That's not surprising at all, Minister.”


The Minister looked up and saw that the private Quarters of the Commodore were much more personalized than his Office and saw that Marseille had collected the first ten Novels of that series about this British Secret Agent that a lot of people were raving on about and had even made a film[4] about. The first three novels were set in the waning days of the war, and that was a rather soft portrayal of lingering resentment towards Germany and Russia in Britain. But the controversy that things like 'Rivers of Blood', a controversial Novel calling for the dissolution of Germany into six separate states created was something that poisoned the relations between London and Frankfurt almost since the inception of this young Republic.


So, what is the status of the entire Wing, Commodore?”


According to our Canadian guest we'll need some, quote: 'Realistic Combat training'.” Marseille replied, leaving out the bit where Charette had implied that it was the Germans own damn fault that the Allied Air Combat School was closed to them, something that had luckily been said behind closed doors. “Thing is, unless the Poles do a complete about face we won't get that here. This country is too damn crowded for a proper air combat school. Minister, I believe he is right, but arranging something would be well above my pay-grade.”



That is actually why I am here.” von Hassel said. “I've been coming here directly from London where the Foreign Minister and I have negotiated yet another trade agreement.”


Which probably meant that it was in reality an armaments deal of some sort was what Marseille thought.


Harold Wilson might be naïve when it comes to American intentions and might not have many friends within the Armed Forces, but at least he was willing to do a deal with us. You see....” And with that the two men talked shop.


When they were done, Marseille leaned back and said: “I must say Minister that this isn't what I would have expected. I mean I can see why they wouldn't like to have us bombing Sailsbury Plain, but the British Sudan is a bit far away, if I may say so, Sir.”

That's true, but the British are training a lot of their African Imperial Squadrons there and it does have the facilities to accommodate all our aircraft.”


Marseille nodded. “Fair enough. But how do we get them there? We don't have any tankers, and the Pal refuelling drones won't cut it, even if the Austrians and Italians give us permission to fly over. Without Tankers all the training won't help us.”


Von Hassel grimaced. The war was long since over, the 'Rape of Milan' was long since gone, but it was an election year and whenever that happened the sitting Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Italy dragged out the Rape of Milan. Admittedly one of the darker periods in a period full of War Crimes it became tedious when every two-three years or when the Italians played Germany on the Football field the Yellow Press dragged it all out again. This close to the elections getting any form of good will out of Rome would be difficult.


I am flying to Rome next.” he said, taking the coffee that was offered by an orderly. As he inserted two cubes of sugar and began to stir he went on: “The Swiss are strangely accommodating, they are letting me fly over without a hassle. Seems those Sovereignty and Friendship treaties we signed in '59 seem to be worth their price.”


That still doesn't solve the tanker problem, Minister.”


I was getting to that, Colonel.” von Hassel said, somewhat annoyed that he had been interrupted like this. “The British are sending a Wing of their new Lightnings over the day before, and we can use their Tankers based out of an that Island of theirs..Malta I think it is called.”


Hrm. I wish we had our own, but that's politics for you. The Poles would scream bloody murder, the French would probably glass Frankfurt if we had anything that could put planes over Paris for any length of time. Totally ignoring that they have probably the best and densest Air Defence system on the continent.”


I know what you mean, Colonel. Still, this is an important political opportunity for us, both at home and abroad.”



Yes, Minister.” Marseille drawled and wondered why he suddenly had an urge to laugh uncontrollably.


Kai-Uwe von Hassel, first post-war German Minister of Defence.



~*~---~*~


That man is so infuriating!” came the yells down the hallowed halls of the Peacetime Imperial General Staff Headquarters, and Field Marshal[5] Sir Richard Hull was very tempted to take the Prime Minister and lock him in an Office in the new Wartime Headquarters that was constructed under a mountain in Wales. As a veteran of the Battle of Nuremberg and the Battle of Brandenburg and countless other engagements in the war he saw the merit in trying to avoid a war when the Continent and the Empire had barely recovered from the last one, but signing away one's superiority at sea like this was infuriating even for a man who saw himself as a Cavalry Officer and thoroughly disliked the sea.


Coming out of a meeting where Prime Minister Harold Wilson had announced that the Government would cut various naval projects and freeze the expansion of the V-Force 'until further notice' which was frankly madness when one considered that the Americans were looking to withdraw from China completely and and subsequently were likely to retire their ageing B-47/51s that were stationed in the area around Beijing in favour of more B-52s flying out of various Pacific Islands and of course the continental Union. Admittedly cutting the third and fourth Illustrious Class Nuclear Carriers had been the right decision a few years back and Hull did support it then, but a moratorium on Carrier construction because 'the old ones still do.' was madness. The clapped out war variety Carriers that were the oldest were long since gone, and even though as an Army Officer he would have gladly traded the Lion Class Dreadnoughts for an additional Armoured Division he knew that every Tank in the world wasn't worth anything if the Navy couldn't keep the sea lanes open (one of the reasons why Hull had supported German Rearmament, if they raised a Navy they would surely contribute to Allied Fleets Atlantic). However the suggestion to wind down the RN China Station on Formosa and discontinue open and clandestine support for the Republic of China based out of Guangzhou, their Capital city 'lest the British presence there destabilized the region even more and lead to conflict with the PRC' was complete bollocks, something that the PM could or would not understand. The RoC was the only stable Government China had since the Japanese-dependent Chinese puppet Government had collapsed into warring factions shortly before being crushed by the American Army that had spent the last fifteen years trying to pacify the vast interior. All the while the Republic of China, backed up by British surplus weapons an an deep set hatred towards the Communists whose betrayal many saw as one of the primary reasons for the defeat of the old Republic was if not a model democracy then at least stable and it's People free and relatively prosperous.


But no, since the Americans were seemingly withdrawing from the Region, the Empire had to follow suit, never mind that the Americans, unlike the British Empire did not have territory nearby that needed to be defended properly.


In his Office the Field Marshal decided not to drown his sorrows in the Whisky that he had been given as a token of appreciation by Anthony Eden who had been PM when Hull had taken over the post. Instead he picked up the phone and called the Admiralty. They had work to do, because if the Germans were to be re-fuelled from RAF tankers they would need to use the Naval Air Station on Malta.


Sam, I need your help. Our Lord and Master has decided that we need to refuel some Gerrie Aircraft that go to our Airschool in the Sudan.”


So I believe you want to use the RAF Tankers on the NAS at Malta, correct?”


That we do, Sam.” Hull replied, and smiled. The First Sea Lord had been present at almost every engagement that the fleet had fought during The War, he had been at Java, he had been the Captain of the lead ship in the Navy's triumphant and celebrated return to Singapore when the siege had been broken, he had been present when Force Z had supported the Allied Amphibious attacks on the Great March northwards and he had been the Royal Navy's representative when the shattered remnants of Japan, ground down by years of war, hunger and incredibly bloody fighting against American Marines in the Japanese Home Islands, surrendered to the victorious Allied Powers. The devastation of Japan had humbled the man, who had commanded the British Japan Squadron for a time before returning to India and later the United Kingdom itself.


Well then, when you can keep yourself from killing a mutual...acquaintance of ours for an hour I'll come and meet you at Aldershot this afternoon. I'll have to meet my Irish Counterpart anyway, now that the Paddies have bought the two Type 12M we had left over from the latest cuts.” the First Sea Lord replied. The antagonism both men felt for the Prime Minister was an open secret within the Army and the Navy, as both services had suffered greatly, albeit in different ways.





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Comments, questions, rotten tomatoes?



[1] Yes, that Prince of Wales. The battle of Singapore was..different (keeping this close to my chest for now until the allied plans are revealed to you soon.


[2] The A-310s of the Ready Squadron of the Federal Ministry of Defence were ironically originally bought by the East-German flag carrier two years before the whole shebang came crashing down on them and ended up in federal hands, flying our evil fascist-Capitalist warmongering ministers and Chancellors around the world.


[3] Loosely: Prussian Parade March. For the interested, here is a [URL=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGHCsEswMJk]recording.[/URL]


[4] TTL Casino Royale is the first novel to be filmed, and is actually rather close to the book, as all the films will be. TTL Ian Fleming will never have a heart attack and will die at a ripe old age which I will not reveal yet. Being more active and being, shall we say, satisfied with his family life, unlike OTL, he has a lot more influence over how the films are made. The Novels are different ITTL too, for example as stated the first few are set in the last days of the war, Felix Leiter is actually former Special Branch and has been recruited to the SIS by Bond against M's wishes, also having a real-life counterpart who is best friends with Fleming, in fact he is even his Brother in Law. They worked together during the war and when Leiter was believed dead for a few months Fleming was, after a spell at sea duty, on Jamaica for a time and there started writing Casino Royale and had the first quarter done when Leiter appeared again. Basically this means that the Novels are a bit more like the Films who are in turn more like the novels. (Looking at you Moonraker with a gigantic space station and Laser weapons.) Meaning we still get the best bits of both, the much more realistic Bond Character of the Novels and the awesomeness of things like the Island from “Man with the Golden Gun.” ITTL Fleming is quoted as having said that 'Over the top or not, it makes a good Thriller, so I do it.” [/fanboy]


[5] In peacetime this rank and it's equivalents in the other services are reserved for the CIGS, a post nominally not fixed to any particular service though it will be some years before one of the other services gets the job. In wartime the CIGS is elevated to 'Marshal/Grand Admiral of the Empire, whilst theatre commanders get bumped to Field Marshal.

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