The Second Battle of Britain - a Soviet Sealion

Thank you very much. I had some certain ideas I wanted to play with and ran with them.
Oh there is so much which can be done with at-sea nuclear use.
I wrote the update below before you posted this but, as you'll see, great minds think alike on many of those points you've made here...
... or you are reading my notes!

The Americans are really pushing the boat out by letting the nuclear genie out of the bottle. Once the nuclear threshold has been crossed all bets are of the table .

I can understand the Americans wanting to protect the Carriers but they are now inviting the Russians to use nuclear torpedoes or worse anti ship missiles.
It looks like France may cross the rubicon as well I truly hope that they stay their hand as one Nuk becomes two then three one forever onwards.

178 – Almost out of ammunition


Meanwhile, the Second Battle of Britain was still ongoing. There were Soviet forces remaining on British soil where they were fighting those arrayed against them trying to eject the invaders from Norfolk and Suffolk. Paratroopers, airmobile troops, Spetsnaz commandos and Air Force personnel carried on regardless of the craziness going on elsewhere in the world. In the early hours of this morning, unknown to them, an order was enacted which effectively cut them off and left them to fend for themselves from now on. Marshal Ogarkov’s replacement, the new C-in-C West, made this his second official instruction following his appointment. His first had been the firing of the commanding general of the 1st Tank Division over in Belgium – that man was blamed for the unauthorised border crossing into France and stripped of his rank to make him a private before being sent to a penal unit – but his second was of more importance. There would no longer be any air support sent to directly aid the fight in Britain as well as the ending of supply flights there. Those taking part in Operation Red Eagle were on their own. The resources were reassigned elsewhere, somewhere deemed more important than East Anglia. What was there would stay but they were on their own. The men sent over the North Sea would dig-in and defend what they held. Their job had been done in tying up British and NATO forces: no longer would Soviet-led forces be distracted themselves by keeping throwing away so much to help them.

No one told those fighting in East Anglia that. Their corps commander was informed but the message didn’t trickle down from him and his staff to those on the frontlines. It would be impossible for some of them to not start noticing soon enough what was happening – or what wasn’t happening in terms of incoming flights – with those around the airheads sure to become aware. Still, nothing official would be said. The war continued on regardless of this. British attacks had stalled yesterday but the Soviets had taken a terrible beating to bring them to a halt. There was no counteroffensive capability left and so all that could be done was to dig-in and defend. When the British came at them this morning, those attacks ran into improvised but strong positions. Western Norfolk and northern Suffolk were being battlefield different from how they had been before. There was a distinct lack of manoeuvrability in the fighting by each side. Few Soviet tanks were left and plenty of their armoured vehicles had been knocked out too. British and West German tanks had never been numerous and while the British units had a lot of armoured vehicles, they wouldn’t be able to make good use of them. Trenches were behind anti-vehicle ditches. Mines had been planted too. Soviet infantry and artillery engaged British forces edging their way forward: the latter returned fire. The result was a lot of the countryside being blown to bits. The movement seen in the three previous days now gave way to a grind. Headway was slowly made in several sectors where the fighting took place but it wasn’t much. It was costly for the attackers too. The 2nd Infantry Division, joined by what was left of that West German tank battalion, took many casualties. The TA soldiers trying to push into Norfolk couldn’t overcome the paratroopers with the 76th Guards Airborne Division who would only yield when completely necessary. Where the British had their 1st Infantry Brigade and the national guardsmen of New York’s 27th Infantry Brigade with them, the fighting against other parts of the 76th Guards Division in addition to the 38th Guards Landing–assault Brigade saw similar scenes. Those on the defence were managing to hold on despite everything thrown at them. However, their air support, already thin, near completely disappeared. Soviet aircraft based at captured Norfolk airbases were too busy in the skies engaging enemy fighters to be taking part in ground attack missions. They also weren’t able to get down low to engage attacking enemy aircraft bombing and shooting-up their comrades. Air defence work was left to missile units. They managed to claim some victories and kept things from getting completely out of hand but there were only so many missiles which had been flown in. Those would eventually run out.

The supply issue with munitions especially for Soviet forces was going to really become apparent in the coming days. There was a lot of ammunition which had been flown in already but much of that had been used up while other stocks had been lost in-transit. The 15th Airborne Corps had been sent all that it was going to get. There were a lot of bullets and shells yet it was other munitions where the shortages were going to fast come into effect: missiles and rockets. The corps commander could do nothing about that after formally stating his strenuous objection to the abandonment of external support. He would carry on opposing British efforts to retake their soil and his men would fight hand-to-hand if necessary. That was his remark to his assembled command staff. In reality, the VDV officer knew that such a thing was impossible. His paratroopers were tough. They could really fight, even with their bare hands too. How were they supposed to do that though when the British would come at them with aircraft, artillery and every other weapon they would use? Privately, that general told himself that there would come a point in the coming days, once the ammunition ran out, where he was going to have to put an end to all of this. He couldn’t see good men killed for nothing. He realised now that those at Stavka and in Moscow who were responsible for the 15th Corps being sent here and who had then cut off their support wouldn’t care that his men would fight as long as they possibly could for. He wasn’t thinking about them. It was his honour and those of his men which drove him. When the ammunition ran out, it would be over then… but before then the fight went on.


Soviet forces in London had been under the overall command of the 15th Corps but were in truth independent of that supervision considering the distance between Norfolk and the British capital. The 345th Guards Parachute Regiment still had ammunition stocks with them when they surrendered yesterday. Their commander had given in because the British and Canadians fighting for London had thoroughly beaten the 345th Regiment. As part of the surrender agreement, remaining ammunition stocks were handed over along with all military equipment. Prisoners taken by the Soviets were returned too. The British began treating enemy wounded and – generally – didn’t abuse their taken captives. That cessation of the fight after less than three days of being in London had been by the VDV paratroopers. Gunfire and explosions were still being heard today though.

There had been KGB personnel who’d come with them though and the majority of them didn’t willingly give up. Some hid themselves among the liberated zone while others disguised themselves as either paratroopers or civilians: the success rate with these efforts were very low and evasion wouldn’t last very long. There were others who actively fought instead. The demolition team who were responsible for blowing up the Houses of Parliament were killed almost to a man during a last stand with a rifle section of Scots Guards infantry. That was a group of more than a dozen men who had no experience of soldiering going up against who truly knew their business. Individuals or pairs of KGB men fought on too. None held out for very long, even when making use of hostages to try to stop their certain doom. Once again, those KGB were also nearly all killed too when overcome. Not many prisoners were being taken. Standing orders were for the British to do that and they did when faced with surrendering soldiers, yet where those who chose to fight on after the surrender were encountered, and discovered to be KGB, the vast majority were either shot when wounded or ‘killed while trying to escape’. Senior officers weren’t dumb and knew this was happening. They reminded their subordinates to take KGB prisoners because they would be useful but only a trickle came in: only those who threw down their weapons, lay down on the ground spread-eagled and had luck on their side made it.

Half of the victorious liberators of London left overnight with more elements pulling out of the city today. There were some troops who were staying behind, but others were on the move. The 143rd Infantry Brigade – now nothing like its pre-war organisation – went towards the Channel Ports down in Kent. They were heading for the Continent to join the fight there. Many of the men were dead tired and needed a rest while much of their equipment including tanks & armoured vehicles likewise needed some down time. Nonetheless, they were off to France and would be sailing tonight. Joining them would be other, un-blooded British troops from elsewhere too. The need for them had been decided to be pressing and there was no time to wait.


The continuing need to maintain the push in East Anglia despite the difficulties, plus sending almost every available fighting man to the Continent, came from the British Government. The decision was made at the top. Whitelaw had assembled – some physically, other over the teleconference – many ministers for a large meeting soon after the success had in wiping out resistance from enemy paratroopers in London. Throughout the conflict, he had been governing the nation via an unofficial War Cabinet but there had come the time for a wider discussion to be had. Leaders of the main opposition parties (Labour, the Liberals, the SDP and the Ulster Unionists) were invited to hear news of the war along with Conservative ministers beyond those who were usually present for War Cabinet briefings. There was a buoyant mood following London’s liberation though that was tempered quite a bit by the destruction of the Palace of Westminster. The Miracle of Flushing was something to be welcomed though: the politicians understood the propaganda value of that over the military need. It must be said that this had all occurred late yesterday, before the usage earlier today of nuclear weapons by the US Navy. The outcome of what was agreed played out through today though.

Britain’s political leadership became aware of the utter disaster which had befallen forces on the Continent. There was some understanding that things were bad yet few had known the truth of the matter until Whitelaw had Defence Secretary Younger tell them. The British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) was almost no more. Two thirds of it had been lost in battle. What was left was trapped in two pockets with no hope of escape for them nor holding out for long. Those in Limburg could fight for another couple of days but those in the Ruhr were almost finished. There was going to be large-scale surrenders taking place where British soldiers laid down their arms en masse once the ammunition ran out. For as long as there were reasonable means to resist, those trapped would do so, but it wasn’t going to be for very long. The British Army’s pre-war West Germany-based regulars, joined by many attachments which reached them before they were cut off, was soon to be no more. These were the majority of the best-trained and best-equipped forces available. The significance of this wasn’t lost upon the audience. This was something that couldn’t be brushed off as an unfortunate consequence of war. That army would be gravely missed. Britain still had other troops though. There was that force in Iraq and then others elsewhere in the world. The former was stuck where it was due to the logistical undertaking needed to get them as complete units with heavy gear back home making such a thing impossible but the latter were being recalled. Soldiers from Ulster in large number were to be joined by those from various global garrisons: Belize, Brunei, Cyprus, the Falklands, Gibraltar and Hong Kong. Foreign Secretary Howe spoke of agreements made with allies – missing out the details of allied reactions – to ensure that regional countries didn’t make a move to seize British territory and interests meanwhile. Difficult questions were asked about Northern Ireland yet the response came that what was left behind there in the form of the volunteer Ulster Defence Regiment would have to hold the line.

There had been an idea among a couple of the politicians that this force could represent a second army. Of course, it couldn’t replace the BAOR, but there were good troops there. Such a belief was soon knocked out of them. Soldiers there were plenty of. What they were missing was heavy equipment. There were tanks, armoured fighting vehicles and artillery pieces in storage in Britain but this couldn’t just be issued direct to these soldiers to make use of. They weren’t trained to use this nor, importantly, was there the supporting infrastructure for that to occur. What that meant was that these British reinforcements weren’t going to be able to hold their own as a combined force on the battlefields of the Continent. They would be broken up and assigned to assist heavily equipped NATO units. This didn’t go down well. It brought about a lot of strong words. Accusations of incompetence were made on how the war had been fought so far. Whitelaw, the emergency PM, took a lot of flak but so too did Younger. They’d messed up, it was said, and this was going to cost Britain dear. It was put to those so animated that there were a few heavy forces coming out of London – several scoffed in retort at the low numbers – and that British infantry could be able to do a lot when deployed alongside allies over the other side of the English Channel. Back at those making that point was the question of why this reinforcement hadn’t come before? Perhaps, those troops would have been best sent several days ago to join British heavy forces before they were cut off. That, it was argued, could have starved off the disaster which came. An explanation came which pointed out how that wouldn’t have mattered, but those upset made their disbelief clear.

The meeting ended with other news such as the state of things domestically followed by a briefing on the progress of the war being fought by the RAF and the Royal Navy. There had been major loses inflicted upon the two other armed services, admittedly not as severe as the British Army had faced. Whitelaw ended that meeting by telling those he spoke with that the movement of soldiers to the frontlines over on the Continent would be taking place today, as they did, but what importance the meeting really held was the determination among many to see him replaced. Several of Britain’s politicians wanted rid of the prime minister who they saw as having led the country to a defeat. It was said that only because of the Americans and other allies doing what they had that Britain was still in this war. How much of that was really true and how much was just anger at not hearing desired news was up for debate.

Whitelaw is getting the blame unfairly, as you say, but it is happening. Too many armchair generals thinking they could have done better!
The nuke use has only just started and allies are being told it will only be at sea. They will soon see sense.
The supply to Britain was everything assigned and it took longer than planned. The units were getting replacements for what was lost in transit. But all that is now at an end.

I corrected the typo and misunderstanding. With the second, in my head it made sense at the time but I can see now it didn't.
NATO troops have been committing war crimes throughout the war. Politicians will deny this but it always happen.

I agree on Ulster. There will be violence and Soviet meddling too. But the UK Gov is thinking of Calais in enemy hands. I would expect that 'Loyalist' paramilitaries will be doing their worst at ethnic cleansing while the IRA & others hit back against the authorities and even retreating British Army troops.
There would be that global encouragement but the Americans will have managed to dissuade Argentina and Guatemala.

Chekov's gun, (the mole), has been brought out. It will be interesting to see what happens if/when they are uncovered.