Fall and Rise: A WW2 ISOT

Well, yes. It has to come through the Canal and then advance towards the Gulf of Taranto (~2.5 days). Once there, as outlined up thread, they have more aircraft than the entire Italian Air Force.

German submarine U-47
June 14 1940

"Report, Leutnant!"

"Herr Kapitan..." How could he put this... "We are grounded. Atop a hill, by the look of it. No ocean in sight."

"What?!" Korvettenkapitan Gunther Prien rushed to the periscope, pushing aside the clearly delusional Leutnant.

Apparently not so delusional.

They were stranded atop a small green hillock amid fields of wheat. A short way off, several farmers looked up at the U-Boat, quite astonished.

...............

German submarine U-38

"Why have we stopped?"

"We appear to have run out of water in front of us, Herr Kapitan. From what I can see, we are in some sort of duck pond. And the ducks don't seem to be too happy."

....................

"And two further German submarines, identified as U-30 and U-51, have similarly ended up in the middle of Lyonesse, the latter in the middle of a Home Guard exercise."

"Casualties?"

"Five of the German sailors were killed by machine gun and anti-tank rifle fire before their captain gave them up."

"Anything else?"

"Home Fleet are reporting two definite U-Boat contacts in the Hebrides detected by land, sea and air forces. A full search is currently underway."

Commodore Jonathan Shepherd nodded with satisfaction. At least there was some good news amid the rush of madness today.

"Well, Lieutenant More, whatever has happened, that is at least four of the blighters we don't have to worry about. Hopefully six."


...................................

Bordeaux
2230 June 15 1940

Prime Minister Paul Reynaud was a troubled man with much to be troubled about. Paris had fallen to the Boche just yesterday morning, but now...now this news from Britain could change so many things. If it were true. If it were true. Could it be true?

"I tell you, it is a trick, a damned English trick!" raged Weygand. "A ruse to seize our Empire. We must make peace! It is the only way."

"It must be admitted that seemed utterly beyond belief. Yet the telephone calls we have had from General de Gaulle and his delegation just before confirm it, or large part of it. The English have thousands of tanks and aircraft and hundreds of thousands of men that he has seen." And other...things...but one step at a time. Reynauld responded carefully.

"Previous to yesterday, had General Brooke ever seemed mad to you?"

"No, Prime Minister."

"We have also all seen the photographs of the new island."

"That is beside the point. We must act to save France from destruction. This talk is just fantastic - the English have lost their minds." Marshal Petain spoke with a quiet dignity and resignation, having already surrendered to the only solution he could see.

There was an almost imperceptible knock on the door of the ad hoc Cabinet room.

"Enter!"

"Prime Minister, it is General de Gaulle - he has returned! General Brooke and Monsieur Eden are with him and..."

The aide never got the chance to finish before the door was pushed open by de Gaulle. He was followed through by the British officials and his staff and another. He was an old figure in an old uniform, yet his stride was strong and his eyes afire.

"Mon centre cède, ma droite recule, situation excellente, j'attaque. J'attaque, gentlemen. They were dark hours twenty six years ago, but it is always darkest before the dawn."

"But Maréchal...you're dead!"

"Do I look dead, Maréchal Petain? Is this what you have become after Verdun?"

"We are defeated."

"No longer. Where I am from, the Boche had overran and conquered the whole of France, but we still fight on. Here, that may no longer happen - will no longer happen! However it has come, our deliverance is here." said Marshal Ferdinand Foch fiercly.

"Monsieur le Prime Minister, I am come from England. It is as they say. They have the armies and planes to turn the tide, even now." de Gaulle spoke slowly, as if relishing each word.

"Prime Minister Churchill has instructed me to offer an expeditionary force of at least 100 divisions and 6,000 aircraft and the full resources of the British Empire to carry on the war until we achieve final victory over Germany and Italy. Should this be sufficient, we can begin landing the first divisions in Britanny and Normandy tomorrow and begin operations to sweep the Luftwaffe from the skies of France. As a further sign of our intents and capabilities, RAF Bomber Command will be attacking Berlin tonight with 2500 heavy bombers." Eden paused, not for dramatic effect, but as the sound of a very loud aircraft overhead made conversation difficult. "That is one of our eight engined bombers on its way to Rome."

"Within two weeks, we can establish an impenetrable bastion in Britanny and the north west. Once we have built up sufficient materiel, we can begin a full scale counterattack against the Germans." General Brooke, himself still getting used to the incredible shift of fortunes, said softly.

"What about their Panzer divisions? They have cut through our lines like knives through butter!" Weygand sounded hollow, like a broken man, yet somehow, somehow, there seemed to be flicker of flame within him, rekindled.

"We'll be dealing with the two within immediate range tomorrow morning."

That is exactly what is said, just following that part, and what has been outlined in earlier planning posts.

Completely different area. Walmington on Sea is in Sussex, whereas the whole reason they've been grounded is because a large island 75% the size of Ireland has popped up.

All fine.

So, the real kicker that shifts Reynaud's position is the dramatic catalyst of Foch, but the hints are in place earlier. There is a whole island that has emerged where it shouldn't be, a lot of planes that shouldn't be around and the British acting as if both are natural. Confusion ensues until the exploratory mission (flown directly over and back in a rather fast British transport plane) confirms that yes, the British do have what (downtime) Brooke told Weygand about in the first post and aren't suffering from a sudden national outbreak of ergotism.

Will this change the direction of British policy, yet again? Of course. The sheer confusion of an ISOT often gets swept under the carpet in stories and steely purpose + extreme calm permeates all decision making; this isn't the most human reaction to a shock like this.