Post by Diarist on Jan 17, 2017 7:15:59 GMT 1
My lunch with MG Alan Brooke went well. He will now be running my Army Section in MCD but is not part of the SOE operation. I gave him the obligatory speech about OPSEC and he said that he supports it. We walked over the road and COL Wilkins had an office prepared for him. "Make him feel at home but he's not on the SOE list. He'll be working with MAJ Wales on Force Readiness. Is the conference room ready?" He nodded. "Let's take a walk there. Anything happening that I need to know, John?"
"We're restructuring the organization moving personnel to new offices. In the long term this floor will be for the HQ only, but you already know that."
"Well it was my idea."
Winston and Edward arrived first with Duff and the CIGS just after them. I opened the meeting then passed the baton to Louis and Ronald Adam. We have assigned the 44th (Home Counties) Infantry Division to Wehrkreis II. Their ports of entry are Wismar and Stralsund, the advance parties will be company-strength BG's from the Royal Marines and Royal Parachute Regiment arriving on destroyers with cruiser support. The 49th (West Riding) Infantry Division is assigned to Wehrkreis X arriving at Lübeck, Kiel, Hamburg and Bremerhaven in a similar manner. The 50th (Northumbrian) is earmarked to the XI Wehrkreis if troops from Holland or Belgium aren't assigned that mission. This will be determined at a meeting planned for mid-January. MAJ Wales added that he is coordinating it with King Leopold and Queen Wilhelmina.
"You are planning airborne assaults?" The CIGS asked.
"No, sir. We are using them because they have more firepower than regular infantry. I've reserved three companies but I will now reserve the entire regiment as well as two battalions of the Royal Marines. With your approval of course."
"This is the Code 13 operation I presume?"
"Yes, Winston. If we have a hot war situation the Royal Navy will have heavily bombarded the area before sending troops in. We are hoping to avoid this scenario," I replied.
"But you would be allocating the same forces?"
"Correct. The nature of our response will be determined by what the Germans decide upon."
"And how exactly is the peaceful variant triggered? So that we all understand." The CIGS again.
"The Germans will have first refused to sign the peace treaty or have rejected our Confederacy offer. Secondly, the German decision wasn't unanimous. If this is the case we detain those who are against an agreement and deny them access to any communication, and if those in favour are willing to pretend that Germany has accepted an equal partnership in a Tripartite Confederacy and tell that to the leadership in Berlin we implement Code 13, if Secretary Churchill decides to."
"I couldn't have said it better."
"And the hot version?"
"We rehearsed that in Italy."
"Then you have my approval. Excellent work, gentlemen."
"Thank you, Mr. Secretary. So we can now present this to the French and Belgians and invite the Dutch to join our party?"
"Correct."
"Then we treat this like the Italian preparations. No telephonic or radio communications. Only courier or coded communication. Code books are being prepared."
"Agreed," Winston and the CIGS confirmed.
"Then the meeting is adjourned. We will have the full list of units involved for Monday's meeting, Winston. Are you invited to Irvine's house on Saturday? We are saying farewell to our Crusade Team."
"Looking forward to it. I'll be bringing some Champagne."
"We're restructuring the organization moving personnel to new offices. In the long term this floor will be for the HQ only, but you already know that."
"Well it was my idea."
Winston and Edward arrived first with Duff and the CIGS just after them. I opened the meeting then passed the baton to Louis and Ronald Adam. We have assigned the 44th (Home Counties) Infantry Division to Wehrkreis II. Their ports of entry are Wismar and Stralsund, the advance parties will be company-strength BG's from the Royal Marines and Royal Parachute Regiment arriving on destroyers with cruiser support. The 49th (West Riding) Infantry Division is assigned to Wehrkreis X arriving at Lübeck, Kiel, Hamburg and Bremerhaven in a similar manner. The 50th (Northumbrian) is earmarked to the XI Wehrkreis if troops from Holland or Belgium aren't assigned that mission. This will be determined at a meeting planned for mid-January. MAJ Wales added that he is coordinating it with King Leopold and Queen Wilhelmina.
"You are planning airborne assaults?" The CIGS asked.
"No, sir. We are using them because they have more firepower than regular infantry. I've reserved three companies but I will now reserve the entire regiment as well as two battalions of the Royal Marines. With your approval of course."
"This is the Code 13 operation I presume?"
"Yes, Winston. If we have a hot war situation the Royal Navy will have heavily bombarded the area before sending troops in. We are hoping to avoid this scenario," I replied.
"But you would be allocating the same forces?"
"Correct. The nature of our response will be determined by what the Germans decide upon."
"And how exactly is the peaceful variant triggered? So that we all understand." The CIGS again.
"The Germans will have first refused to sign the peace treaty or have rejected our Confederacy offer. Secondly, the German decision wasn't unanimous. If this is the case we detain those who are against an agreement and deny them access to any communication, and if those in favour are willing to pretend that Germany has accepted an equal partnership in a Tripartite Confederacy and tell that to the leadership in Berlin we implement Code 13, if Secretary Churchill decides to."
"I couldn't have said it better."
"And the hot version?"
"We rehearsed that in Italy."
"Then you have my approval. Excellent work, gentlemen."
"Thank you, Mr. Secretary. So we can now present this to the French and Belgians and invite the Dutch to join our party?"
"Correct."
"Then we treat this like the Italian preparations. No telephonic or radio communications. Only courier or coded communication. Code books are being prepared."
"Agreed," Winston and the CIGS confirmed.
"Then the meeting is adjourned. We will have the full list of units involved for Monday's meeting, Winston. Are you invited to Irvine's house on Saturday? We are saying farewell to our Crusade Team."
"Looking forward to it. I'll be bringing some Champagne."