Folks,

Here is chapter 10 of 12 in Zerosan2's incomparable and captivating story of 'what if?'.

Sealion
BY: Zerosan (the magnificent)
HWH Continued
Page 85
9/16/04

PART TEN
It might have happened this way.

00.27hrs, 30th September 1940

Windows and doors

The fight for Horsham raged into the night as the 43rd Infantry Division fought desperately to hold onto the town, and by default, the northern shoulder of the British line. The German infantry assault was supported by artillery now that sufficient had been assembled and also by almost continuous 81mm mortar fire into the town centre. In the light of magnesium flares and stars shells, the fighting was savage as the British fought desperately to prevent the Germans gaining each and every house, shop or factory. The harsh staccato of Bren guns, MG34s and Vickers guns mixed with the concussion and blast from 75mm field howitzers and the sharp crack of rifle rounds. By the early hours, British artillery had also joined in, attempting to support their comrades by counter battery fire onto German positions south of the town.

A huge pall of smoke rose into the air from the burning conurbation, visible from London as dawn broke, and those civilians who remained in the town choked the roads north to escape the inferno.
As the sun rose higher, it was clear that the British had survived and still held the majority of the town. Nevertheless, casualties were heavy. By 10.00am, Collins had suffered losses of over 40% of his original strength.

At 9th Army HQ, news of the nights fighting in and around Horsham began to be overtaken by events elsewhere sometime before dawn. Around that time, the northern horizon west of London had erupted into a crimson-orange glow as the British artillery concealed behind the river Wey opened fire. This concentrated weight of artillery fell mainly around the Lynchmere and Millard area, directly onto the rear areas of XLI Panzer Corps, causing consternation among the rear echelon troops and fleeing civilians alike.

40 minutes later, as dawn broke, 322 AFVs, mainly Cruiser Mk1s in the lead, with Matilda Is and II’s following close behind, smashed into the German line on a front of 8 miles between Grayshott and Hambledon. These were the tanks of the 1st and 2nd Armoured Divisions, supported by the 1st Canadian Division. Such was the surprise that within an hour, the British tanks had breached the German line, leaving isolated pockets of resistance behind for the Infantry, as they had learned from the Germans in France. 15 minutes later another 73 Matilda Mk II’s of 1st Army Tank Brigade supported by the 42nd Infantry Division crashed into the flank of the Grossdeutschland regiment around Milland Marsh.

As soon as he was woken by his staff officer, Janecke knew almost immediately what had happened. Surveying his maps that morning, cross referencing the incoming information with the positions of friendly and enemy units on the map, it was clear what the British intentions were. He cursed himself as he saw he had only one course of action open.

Already, aircraft of both sides were locked in combat over the centre of southern England even at that early hour. Recon reports told of large numbers of British tanks, heavies supported by Infantry, had crossed the London-Portsmouth railway and taken Haslemere. Advance units were already approaching North Chapel on the Aldershot-Petworth-Brighton road. Both Grossdeutschland and 29th MID were under severe pressure from more British Armour and were being compelled to pull in their right flank, losing contact with 13th Corps in the process, themselves under pressure from British Guards units to the north. Everywhere else, his units were already engaged. With his meagre reserve already committed to retake Horsham, there was nothing with which Janecke could tackle this. His only option was to swing 3rd Panzer through 180 degrees and counter attack into the flank of the British penetration.

Knowing that his panzers did not have the firepower to take on the British Matildas, he reluctantly issued the orders. He guessed that he had a couple of hours at most to prevent disaster. He picked up the land line to Halder to inform him of this decision.
For the first time since the outbreak of the war, the Panzers were about to come face to face with a concentrated armoured enemy.

Throughout the previous 10 days, the air battles over southern England had raged. The Luftwaffe had begun to enjoy periods of air superiority over the English Channel and inland directly over the beacheads, though the frequent scares from British naval forces, real or imagined, did much to dilute the force being rendered. The Wehrmachts constant demand for air support further weakened this tentative hold to the point where British aircraft were able to penetrate the screen at low level, singly or in pairs, causing much disruption if not damage, to the already overburdened Kreigsmarine.

By the morning of the 30th it was becoming increasingly clear to both sides that the moment of decision had arrived. Ironside pleaded with the Air Ministry not to fail him at this critical moment. If his air support failed now and the Germans were able to turn their Stukas on his armour, the battle would surely be lost.

On the other side of the Channel, similar exhortations were being made to the Luftwaffe by Halder, conscious that now only the efforts of that arm might assist Janecke in his moment of crisis.
By midday, both sides were hurling in almost everything that could fly, and an enormous aerial conflagration was taking place across the whole of southern England, from the Solent to the Thames Estuary. By early afternoon Fighter Command alone was reporting losses of 33 fighters destroyed with many more damaged, 14 pilots dead against claims of over 70 enemy aircraft destroyed. Bomber and Coastal Commands were also fully engaged, the former reporting losses of 17 aircraft before 11.00am alone. To the general mayhem were added the AA batteries, firing at literally everything that flew, so that the sky was lit from end to end with high level shell bursts and arcing flak from pom-poms and bofors guns.

Even the heavy bombers were now committed, engaging targets in daylight around the area south of London and troop concentrations near Portsmouth. To everyone involved, it now appeared that Armageddon was being visited on the green fields of England.

The Luftwaffe was suffering grievously too. Luftflotte 2 had lost 11 fighters and 16 bombers before breakfast. From every headquarters on the English side of the channel came urgent calls for air support that the air force simply could not answer. By mid-day every aeroplane in Luftflotte 3 had been engaged at least once and many of the fighters were taking off again for their third sortie that day.

Kesselring cursed the fine weather that the previous month he had so longed for.
He knew that his pilots and crews were exhausted and close to nervous collapse after almost 10 days of the most intense fighting they, and he, had ever known.

In order to answer the most desperate call of all, that being shouted plaintively down the telephone by Rienhardt, Kesselring made a decision to support the land battle raging on the Sussex –Hampshire border. Had he but known it, he may have questioned where his colleagues suddenly found the extra resources. It wasn’t until much later in the day that he found out that they had denuded the defences over the Straits of Dover to do it.

In London, a heavy calm had descended over Whitehall as the last throw of the British dice was cast. Over much of the city, law and order was a tentative thing, depending much on the strength of character of the local police and the proximity of army units. Looting was widespread and sporadic gunfire could be heard in the streets too far away from the enemy to be of a military origin.

That morning Churchill had again gone on air to appeal once more for calm. Throwing caution to the wind, he informed the public that a great counter offensive had been launched which was in the process of throwing back the enemy into the sea. He assured everyone that deliverance was at hand.
When the “on air” light was extinguished, he broke into a cold sweat. He knew that the nation’s future would be decided that afternoon.

In Horsham, Collins prepared himself for yet another attack. Throughout the morning his positions had come under intermittent artillery fire and constant probing by German Infantry. Once again his soldiers had managed to prevent tanks from gaining entry to the eastern end of the town, but his situation was deteriorating by the minute. Most of his units were now severely under strength as well as short now of ammunition and water since the towns water supply had been disrupted. To the north, contact had been lost with 21st Infantry Brigade and the division was now more or less cut off.

Things did not look good. A less well made man than Collins might have sought some other solution. But somehow, Collins knew he must fight on. Until the last man if necessary. For, if Horsham fell now, he guessed that the counter attack coming up from his right would have no left flank upon which to pin itself. And if that happened, it might be possible for the Germans to re-align their positions to threaten the encirclement that the British were attempting. And he was astute enough to realise that, once that chance had passed, there would be no more.

Reinhardts 3rd Panzer Division had turned itself around and sped eastward with all possible haste, leaving behind all unnecessary equipment including most of its organic Infantry and all its artillery in the name of expediency. With a composite Regiment from 29th MID, they formed themselves into two ad-hoc kampfgruppes and, under ever more hurried orders from Janecke, struck east from their start line around Elsted shortly after noon.

Meanwhile, the British 1st Armoured Division wheeling in an arc to their right, were approaching Petworth from the north, barely 10 miles away. At the same time, the weaker 2nd Armoured Division had struck east and south of Petworth to become embroiled with Infantry of 13th Corps as it backed up on itself with its flank in the air. Further west, Grossdeutschland and the remainder of the 29th MID were locked in battle with 1st Army Tank Brigade and the 42nd Infantry Division.

The first skimishes now began to unfold. Lead elements of 3rd Panzer spotted enemy tank formations just before 13.00hrs near Easeborne in the Amber valley, and immediately moved to engage. At first it took on the characteristics of a turkey shoot, as the Cruiser Mk1’s, caught on their flank with their paper thin armour were picked off by the 50mm L42 guns of the Panzer III’s. Within a few minutes, 9 British tanks were knocked out and several of them blazed like pyres. 3rd Panzer pushed on but soon ran into much tougher opposition.

Swinging south to meet them came several dozen Matilda Mk II’s, warned of the approach of enemy tanks, with their thick frontal armour turned toward the enemy. A head collision between the two Divisions took place north and south of the village of Selham and a vicious firefight broke out.
It was immediately clear that the L42 gun of the Pz III and even the 75mm L24 gun of the Pz IV could barely even dent the Matilda II’s armour. On the other hand, the much higher velocity 40mm L55 gun on the British tank could easily penetrate the German armour at medium ranges.
Soon the situation was reversed and no less than 11 German tanks were quickly knocked out as the British armour closed in.

Now the main bodies of both Divisions clashed to the south of Selham and a huge tank battle developed. What the Germans lacked in material superiority they made up for in tactical exploitation. The British crews were inexperienced and poorly trained but brave nonetheless. The Germans would attempt to use cover and concealment or folds in the terrain to close with the British tanks and attempt to fire into the weaker side armour or into the decking above the engine compartment. They made maximum use of hull down positions or shoot and scoot tactics, backing away into cover once they had fired and kept moving as much as possible.

All afternoon the battle raged, until the tanks were so closely engaged that range was no longer decisive. Frequently a hit would cause all of the unfortunate vehicles ammunition to explode, and flaming turrets were hurled into the air in the explosion. All across the countryside the wrecks of burning and knocked out vehicles littered the battlefield while each sides Infantry sought to support their tanks in vicious little firefights in farmyards and open fields. In the air above fighters and combat support aircraft whirled in a kind of dance of death in the acrid black smoke that reached in tortured fingers to the sky.

As the fighting raged on land another drama was about to be played out 80 miles away across the south coast. The Royal Navy, under pressure from all sides at last conceded to show its hand, knowing that now or never was the moment its contribution would be decisive. In the late afternoon sunshine, 9 destroyers and 3 light cruisers, supported at distance by the Battleship “Barham”, made at full speed for the straits of Dover.

In a smash and grab raid they tore into the shipping in the channel and another, equally vicious battle broke out. From all sides the Germans poured fire in to support their defenceless transports and barges riding helplessly in the late summer swell. Shore batteries, the last remaining destroyers, the Cruiser “Koln”, field guns and shore defences that had once covered Dover, were all turned to fire on the British ships. Eventually Ju87s and Bf110s turned up to help, but not before the damage had been done.

The British suffered mortally. No less than 3 of the destroyers sunk, with 2 more damaged, one so badly it had to be scuttled the next day. 1 cruiser sunk and another damaged. 418 sailors killed or missing.

For the Germans, it was hardly less serious. 9 transports sunk, 17 barges destroyed with countless more damaged. Equipment losses were serious, including most of that days shipment of ammunition, over 700 men, soldiers and sailors missing.

At 17.51hrs, Halder phoned Hitler and told him that he could not sustain the invasion without massive air reinforcement. He wasn’t sure at all, but he thought that the battle had been decided that afternoon in the sunny fields and orchards of Sussex.