Keynes' Cruisers Volume 2

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Draconis

For the B-29 perhaps the most important difference isn't the development timeline but where they are deployed initially.
Not the costly and ineffective basing in India and China as in OTL. There are better places becoming available. The Philippines must be liberated anyway. Expedite the liberation of the island of Luzon including Manila.

Luzon could be cleared out by the time the B-29s are ready. This would make Clark Field available for their use. With the harbours of Manila Bay a short distance away by railroad and road supplying a few B-29 wings isn't a major difficulty there. From Luzon B-29s can reach all of Japan and Korea and Manchuria. There is no need for the bloody campaign to capture Saipan and Tinian.
 

Draconis

fester said:
B29 development will be similar 2 hour timeline. Yeah maybe, repeat maybe, small random deviations.
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The deviation I'd love to see is the B-29 fitted out with the further developed and ready for use Allison V-3420 engines.
But you've mentioned that unsupportable or unfeasible changes are not going to appear here.

Well, that's what makes this TL interesting. It is quite believable.
 
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Winestu

Curtain Jerker said:
I imagine they will soon, good point. I also figure the Germans will be better prepared here simply because the ~200,000 or so members of the DAK that surrendered/were killed in OTL weren't TTL.
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True, but most, if not all, of those troops are deep in Russia right now.
 

Winestu

Draconis said:
For the B-29 perhaps the most important difference isn't the development timeline but where they are deployed initially.
Not the costly and ineffective basing in India and China as in OTL. There are better places becoming available. The Philippines must be liberated anyway. Expedite the liberation of the island of Luzon including Manila.

Luzon could be cleared out by the time the B-29s are ready. This would make Clark Field available for their use. With the harbours of Manila Bay a short distance away by railroad and road supplying a few B-29 wings isn't a major difficulty there. From Luzon B-29s can reach all of Japan and Korea and Manchuria. There is no need for the bloody campaign to capture Saipan and Tinian.
Click to expand...

Just my humble opinion, but I can see the B-29’s being deployed in both Europe and the Pacific.
There is less of a need for them in the Pacific, except for their longer range. While in Europe, I suspect that with out the North African campaign the Luftwaffe has taken somewhat less losses than OTL.
 

Major Major

fester said:
Ventiseri, Corsica, France July 19, 1943


As dawn approached, the new conscripts were running. They were running up a hill and avoiding the construction battalion that was carving a bomber field in the flats near the village, one of the first liberated settlements of occupied France. The new draftees were from the classes that would have been called up since the disaster at Sedan. They had never served and now they would be the first metropolitan replacements for the Army of Liberation; each advance would lead to deeper reserves of manpower transforming the Army from at best a static if not a wasting asset into a growing asset.


Twelve minutes after the men turned around at the top of the hill, a squadron of American built and French manned medium bombers flew overhead. The last of the Italian defenders still needed to be dug out of the positions overlooking the best port on the island.
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Question: What is the Prince Napoléon doing these days?
 
Story 2136
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    • fester


    Salisbury Plain, July 21, 1943


    The exercise was coming to an end. The 5th and 6th Armoured Brigades had been in the field for a week working against a fresh American National Guard infantry division. The reservists had won by holding their positions but the Guardsmen had defeated the counter-attack and chopped up two infantry regiments as well as a corp level tank battalion that had been attached. This was the first time that the Guardsmen were in the field with their Crusader tanks. They worked, which was far more than could be safely and politely said about the tanks that had been pulled back to the motor and training pools.
     
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    • Cryhavoc101

    VanOwen said:
    Crusaders vs. Shermans and the Crusaders won? That National Guard's tank component must have been green as grass.
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    In 1943 its likely that they are Crusader MKIII with the 6 pounder/57mm gun and many of the reliability issues found in the desert were resolved by then (mainly around lack of spare parts and tools in the desert - not a problem in UK).

    They were very mobile and the 2 Guard Brigades had been tanking for 2 years by this point - I suspect the Guards ran rings round them
     

    brazen

    VanOwen said:
    Crusaders vs. Shermans and the Crusaders won? That National Guard's tank component must have been green as grass.
    Click to expand...

    Crusaders only struggled with reliability in the desert due to poor air filters, in the UK the low profile, high speed and maneuverability will be a bonus, plus they are close to the repair depots....

    If they are Mk3 Crusaders with the 6pdr they will have a better antitank gun than the Shermans 75mm. The bigger factor here is that the Sherman has room to improve and the Crusader is coming to the end of it's development life.
     

    fester

    VanOwen said:
    Crusaders vs. Shermans and the Crusaders won? That National Guard's tank component must have been green as grass.
    Click to expand...
    Skill matters.

    The National Guard division had a single battalion of tanks and there were notable problems of coordinating arms between the infantry, artillery and armor plus the divisional anti-tank reserve had been snookered out of position as the Americans lost the recon battle.
     
    Story 2137
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    • fester

    North of Crete, July 22, 1943

    The sun was still sleeping. It was the only thing that was quiet aboard USS Wasp and four other fleet carriers. Pilots had drifted into the ready room at 0315 for coffee and breakfast. By 0400 the final briefings by the meteorologists, mission planners and squadron commanders had started. By 0500, the big engines were spinning massive propellers. Enlisted men who had never gone to sea until the start of 1942 had been working on their part of the incredible production involved in a pre-dawn fighter sweep. Engines had been tinkered with and every box on a checklist had been marked as satisfactory or the engine downchecked for rapid triage. Five aircraft were still below deck in the hanger. Replacements had been brought up to the wooden flight deck. Every big gull winged killer had a full ammunition and internal fuel load. Behind them, the bombers were heavily loaded. They would follow the fighters on both the launch and the strike.

    Major Jaroschek clambered into the cockpit and began to check his gauges and dials. He trusted his crew chief, but a lazy pilot was a dead pilot. He had three good reasons to be compliant with the extensive and ever growing book. All was good. He smiled briefly as his thumbs went up and the deck crews pulled the chocks from underneath his wheels and he began the take-off run. Even as he climbed for altitude and waited for another nineteen Marines to join him, the transports that had carried a brigade of paratroopers flew in the safe lane to his right, edging around the fleet's anti-aircraft defense zone. All the Marines were airborne now, and the strike was ready to go in.
     
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    • Draconis

    The task force is North of Crete. Where is that brigade of paratroopers going? It's not clear to me which islands are still in Axis hands and which are held by the Allies.

    Could the Allies be making a landing at or near Athens? Or is that an island too far?
     

    VanOwen

    A brigade of paratroopers. Hmmm. Too small to be an effective blocking force and way too big for a raid. An invasion of a lightly garrisoned island?
     
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