The past few months have seen my forces resting a refitting ready for the upcoming invasion, it was a bold plan and I am honoured to have been giving command of the combined invasion force.
High Command unexpectedly transferred a new Regiment to my command, proof indeed of the importance they place in this campaign
I reviewed the details of new equipment that is now available
Of interest to me was the Bf109F Fighter; Faster and lighter making it more manoeuvrable and also allowing it to remain airborne for longer. This of course comes at a price, the magazines have been reduced giving them less ammunition but even more importantly with the downgrading of their canon armament they have less offensive punch...
Also of interest was the Panzer IIIG; the same armoured chassis but up-gunned, this was an easier decision.
In the end after talking directly with several of my Fighter aces I chose to remain with the tried and tested 109Es, relying on the skill of my pilots and their familiarity with their planes to gain the edge over the RAF. I did however have my Ju87s upgraded to the R model as the extended range would prove invaluable over the English beaches.
I of course also had all three of my Panzer III Regiments refitted to the up-gunned G model.
I also had a sixth wing of fighter assigned to my support Luftflotte.
In addition to my Corps High Command have assigned a Fallschirmjager Division (2 Regiments) another fighter wing (Bf109Fs) and 2 wings of Ju88A's to my command for the invasion. The bomber wings will of course be of great help in dealing with the Royal Navy.
Speaking of navies, virtually the entire Kreigsmarine has been ear marked to support my forces
The Battleship Bismark, only recently commissioned is the linchpin of the fleet (and High Command has made it quite clear that losing her will have terrible consequences for me)
Supporting the Bismark we have:
Heavy Cruiser, the Prinz Eugen (also a new build)
2 Light Cruisers, the Koln and Konigsberg
4 Destroyer Flotilla's
2 Schnellboote Flotilla's
5 U-boat Flotilla's
Notably missing are the 3 Heavy Cruisers that supported me in Norway (Admiral Hipper, Blucher and Lutzow) this is because they will be making a sortie into the North sea in an attempt to draw out the British Home fleet stationed at Scapa Flow so they are not in a position to intervene.
A meeting with my chief of staff Colonel Ax last week changed everything. First off he brought the latest intelligence update. 5 Fighter wings (2 Spitfires, 3 Hurricanes) are deployed in England along with 2 Bomber wings (Blenheims) A force I'm sure in normal circumstances my Luftflotte would deal with comfortably, however my fighters would have only limited time in the air before they have to return to France for refuelling, some good news was that he managed to pinpoint the deployment of the enemy air assets allowing us to take the initiative rather than waiting for them to hit our landing craft and the beaches.
We also monitored 2 RN Battleships (HMS Rodney and Nelson) enter the channel along with supporting vessels (I guess our build up is not as secret as we'd like)
Several more Cruisers have been spotted earlier today moving down the east coast of England luckily we received confirmation late last night that the rest of the Home Fleet has sailed north, my prayers go with the brave crews of our Cruiser squadron.
Colonel Ax also suggested a revised strategy, after much pondering and head scratching I have adopted elements of his plan (including the landing on the east coast)
Here I record my assault plan, the final objective (Oxford) remains outside of my primary objectives as I must wait to discover what sort of Defence the British can mount, ultimately I will assign at least one Division the task of capturing the city. The Fallschirmjager will remain as a reserve force, landing to either support a contested beachhead, to support a stalled offensive or possibly to capture Oxford.
Operation Sea Lion is about to begin...
