A Shift in Priorities
- Thread starter rast
- Start date
- Status
Invading liberia would be a mistake in long run...
Luxomburg has to be out of her mind if she thinks that Mittleafrikan industry can even hope to make up for the lost US market. I feel she's just saying that more out of her hatred for the US, and the way they treat the Africans than any objective analysis. Maybe its just me, but it just isn't worth completely alienating the US and initiating a possible decades long Cold War with them over the way they are treating the Africans in Liberia. In fact, it would be a foreign policy blunder of the highest order.
Yet perhaps the Germans have grown overconfident in their abilities after so many diplomatic successes since the end of the Great War, and don't fully think through how dangerous alienating the US can be. After all, people don't always make the rational choice. Though Chruchill is a evil boogeyman ITTL, he would not be wrong in saying that the Germans have strategic blindness.
Here is one instance where it could turn out extremely bad for the Germans. If the US loses to the Germans in Liberia, and the Chinese also fail in retaking Xinjiang against the Ottomans, who are of course a very close ally with Germany, then both countries will be seething with revenge and have a common enemy. With loss of the German market, the US will logically try and make up the difference using the Chinese market. Thus, we could potentially see a formal US-China alliance arrayed against Germany and the CPMZ, based on the premise of the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Both of these countries possess natural resources and manpower unlike anything the Germans and their allies can potentially match, and would be able to outproduce them easily.
If such an alliance were to occur, and if the Chinese can also drag along Japan and the other East Asian countries into an alliance with the US, it would be a nightmare for Germany and its allies. It could possibly lead to a potential showdown ITTL's WWII.
Luxomburg has to be out of her mind if she thinks that Mittleafrikan industry can even hope to make up for the lost US market. I feel she's just saying that more out of her hatred for the US, and the way they treat the Africans than any objective analysis. Maybe its just me, but it just isn't worth completely alienating the US and initiating a possible decades long Cold War with them over the way they are treating the Africans in Liberia. In fact, it would be a foreign policy blunder of the highest order.
Yet perhaps the Germans have grown overconfident in their abilities after so many diplomatic successes since the end of the Great War, and don't fully think through how dangerous alienating the US can be. After all, people don't always make the rational choice. Though Chruchill is a evil boogeyman ITTL, he would not be wrong in saying that the Germans have strategic blindness.
Here is one instance where it could turn out extremely bad for the Germans. If the US loses to the Germans in Liberia, and the Chinese also fail in retaking Xinjiang against the Ottomans, who are of course a very close ally with Germany, then both countries will be seething with revenge and have a common enemy. With loss of the German market, the US will logically try and make up the difference using the Chinese market. Thus, we could potentially see a formal US-China alliance arrayed against Germany and the CPMZ, based on the premise of the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Both of these countries possess natural resources and manpower unlike anything the Germans and their allies can potentially match, and would be able to outproduce them easily.
If such an alliance were to occur, and if the Chinese can also drag along Japan and the other East Asian countries into an alliance with the US, it would be a nightmare for Germany and its allies. It could possibly lead to a potential showdown ITTL's WWII.
Like sternkempe said, I think we're over-estimating the level of Industry that currently exists in Mittleafrika. I mean, as recently as the end of the Great War, MittleAfrika didn't have that much industry at all, and in a little more of a decade that it can make up the difference in the lost US market is absolutely ridiculous. The fact is, that it is much more difficult to build up infastructure in a mostly wet, tropical environment, because of the labor costs involved, the maintenence costs, etc. I think that most of the current Mittleafrkian industries are concentrated in the larger cities like Togoland, and that those that live this contemporary lifestyle are limited to those elites. Not that the Germans aren't doing a bad job at it, but 10 years is too short a time to develop a strong middle class and a proletariat industrial working population.
Furthermore, while the Germans are stressing the need to instill federalism and other democratic values, its really the military that has the most prestige amongst all Mittleafrikans and the most developed and modernized institution of the colony; that's where the best and brightest Mittleafrikans are going into after all. That isn't to say that MittleAfrika is not miles and miles better off than OTL Africa, but lets not pretend that its a Great Power yet.
A conquering army at the border will not be stopped by eloquence.
(Otto von Bismarck)
Jacob Gould Schurman had decided that upon returning to the USA he would retire. Having been a professor for English literature, political economy, psychology and philosophy, he had served his country first as ambassador in Greece, then in China and – from 1925 until today – in Germany.
Today, on February 17th, 1930, the US had cancelled diplomatic relations with Germany; and Schurman was preparing his journey home. He trusted his staff to close down the embassy while he made a last trip to Heidelberg, where he once had studied and where he had become a honorary citizen in 1928.
Just when he was about to leave the embassy building, German foreign minister Adenauer and the minister of economy Erzberger arrived – together with a young Negro.
“Dear Ambassador, let me say that I deeply regret to see you leaving.” Adenauer addressed him. “My party, the Zentrum, is not advocating conflict with the US…” At which Erzberger, chairman of the Zentrum, nodded in consensus. “… but we could not convince the Socialists to steer a more moderate course. – However, let me introduce to you Jakob Dogobé.”
The young Negro stepped forward and bowed slightly.
“Mr. Dogobé was the owner of one of the identification tags your Marines found with the alleged Middle African corpses in Liberia. As you can see, he’s quite doing fine. By chance, he’s currently studying in Tübingen and was so kind to come over to Berlin. – Mr. Dogobé, would you please tell the Ambassador where and when you lost your identification tag.”
“Well, it was in 1928 at Lomé. We – four comrades and I – had just received our commission as officers and were celebrating. Our garrison was at Kpoglu west of Lomé, and sometimes during the evening we decided to visit a night club in Lomé. So, we took a taxi to town – and made merry with some nice girls at the bar – and thereafter in a kind of brothel. I got rather drunk – and when I awoke next morning, all my money and my ID tag were gone. – If my ID card had been missing, the military police might have gotten involved. But an ID tag is no big business, just cheap metal – and the armoury NCO punches your data into a new one within few minutes. So, I reported the loss and got a new one. That’s about all I can tell.”
“Thank you, Mr. Dogobé. – You see, Mr. Ambassador, all three identification tags your Marines found were reported lost in Groß Togoland between 1927 and 1929. All three bearers all still alive; two still serve in Africa – only Mr. Dogobé happens to be conveniently at hand. – We would like you to take this message back to the States: Germany and German Middle Africa bear no responsibility for the slaughter of those poor Marines. Someone has produced false evidence. Someone, who obviously is interested in provoking a clash between your country and our country.”
“And who should that be?”
“That is the question we can’t answer. We know that our forces were not involved; but we have no clue who might be the perpetrator.”
In Liberia, the German Middle African Advance continued on February 17th. However, the infrastructure was poor and General Teraufi’s staff estimated that Monrovia could not be reached before February 25th. The US task force, which had now arrived off Harper, made troop transport by ship impossible. It therefore became necessary to make plans how to neutralise the US vessels.
The task force still consisted of 18 vessels: 2 battleships, 1 aircraft carrier, 2 cruisers, 8 destroyers and 5 auxiliaries. The carrier had lost a number of airplanes and – at best – still could launch the equivalent of one squadron. One of the destroyers was damaged but obviously still serviceable.
The Middle African Navy had nothing heavier than small cruisers at disposal. Therefore, combat against the US ships became a mission for the Air Force – and the submarines.
Unfortunately, radio contact with the submarines shadowing the Americans was at present restricted to MAU 22, which in turn had no contact to the other boats. One could only hope that they were still shadowing the US ships.
The snorkels enabled them to remain submerged over long periods, but driving under water they could neither send nor receive radio messages. One had forgotten to implement a reporting routine for the submarines. The mistake was noted as lesson learned; but for the time being one had to improvise.
In Monrovia, Colonel McKinley, after having slept off his inebriation, when reading the morning newspaper decided that he should dislocate. The road to Sierra Leone was still open. But McKinley estimated that many refugees would already be congesting this rather poor traffic lane. Dickson’s Fly Boys had already left country after they had delivered his band of criminals to the southern hills. Wally Dickson had been of the opinion that this country soon would become hot – too hot for him and his outfit.
It was no big deal to hire a fisher boat in the harbour. By early afternoon, McKinley put his feet ashore in Sierra Leone.
(Otto von Bismarck)
Jacob Gould Schurman had decided that upon returning to the USA he would retire. Having been a professor for English literature, political economy, psychology and philosophy, he had served his country first as ambassador in Greece, then in China and – from 1925 until today – in Germany.
Today, on February 17th, 1930, the US had cancelled diplomatic relations with Germany; and Schurman was preparing his journey home. He trusted his staff to close down the embassy while he made a last trip to Heidelberg, where he once had studied and where he had become a honorary citizen in 1928.
Just when he was about to leave the embassy building, German foreign minister Adenauer and the minister of economy Erzberger arrived – together with a young Negro.
“Dear Ambassador, let me say that I deeply regret to see you leaving.” Adenauer addressed him. “My party, the Zentrum, is not advocating conflict with the US…” At which Erzberger, chairman of the Zentrum, nodded in consensus. “… but we could not convince the Socialists to steer a more moderate course. – However, let me introduce to you Jakob Dogobé.”
The young Negro stepped forward and bowed slightly.
“Mr. Dogobé was the owner of one of the identification tags your Marines found with the alleged Middle African corpses in Liberia. As you can see, he’s quite doing fine. By chance, he’s currently studying in Tübingen and was so kind to come over to Berlin. – Mr. Dogobé, would you please tell the Ambassador where and when you lost your identification tag.”
“Well, it was in 1928 at Lomé. We – four comrades and I – had just received our commission as officers and were celebrating. Our garrison was at Kpoglu west of Lomé, and sometimes during the evening we decided to visit a night club in Lomé. So, we took a taxi to town – and made merry with some nice girls at the bar – and thereafter in a kind of brothel. I got rather drunk – and when I awoke next morning, all my money and my ID tag were gone. – If my ID card had been missing, the military police might have gotten involved. But an ID tag is no big business, just cheap metal – and the armoury NCO punches your data into a new one within few minutes. So, I reported the loss and got a new one. That’s about all I can tell.”
“Thank you, Mr. Dogobé. – You see, Mr. Ambassador, all three identification tags your Marines found were reported lost in Groß Togoland between 1927 and 1929. All three bearers all still alive; two still serve in Africa – only Mr. Dogobé happens to be conveniently at hand. – We would like you to take this message back to the States: Germany and German Middle Africa bear no responsibility for the slaughter of those poor Marines. Someone has produced false evidence. Someone, who obviously is interested in provoking a clash between your country and our country.”
“And who should that be?”
“That is the question we can’t answer. We know that our forces were not involved; but we have no clue who might be the perpetrator.”
In Liberia, the German Middle African Advance continued on February 17th. However, the infrastructure was poor and General Teraufi’s staff estimated that Monrovia could not be reached before February 25th. The US task force, which had now arrived off Harper, made troop transport by ship impossible. It therefore became necessary to make plans how to neutralise the US vessels.
The task force still consisted of 18 vessels: 2 battleships, 1 aircraft carrier, 2 cruisers, 8 destroyers and 5 auxiliaries. The carrier had lost a number of airplanes and – at best – still could launch the equivalent of one squadron. One of the destroyers was damaged but obviously still serviceable.
The Middle African Navy had nothing heavier than small cruisers at disposal. Therefore, combat against the US ships became a mission for the Air Force – and the submarines.
Unfortunately, radio contact with the submarines shadowing the Americans was at present restricted to MAU 22, which in turn had no contact to the other boats. One could only hope that they were still shadowing the US ships.
The snorkels enabled them to remain submerged over long periods, but driving under water they could neither send nor receive radio messages. One had forgotten to implement a reporting routine for the submarines. The mistake was noted as lesson learned; but for the time being one had to improvise.
In Monrovia, Colonel McKinley, after having slept off his inebriation, when reading the morning newspaper decided that he should dislocate. The road to Sierra Leone was still open. But McKinley estimated that many refugees would already be congesting this rather poor traffic lane. Dickson’s Fly Boys had already left country after they had delivered his band of criminals to the southern hills. Wally Dickson had been of the opinion that this country soon would become hot – too hot for him and his outfit.
It was no big deal to hire a fisher boat in the harbour. By early afternoon, McKinley put his feet ashore in Sierra Leone.
True. But large scale automatized automobile production didn't exist in Europe for quite some time into the second half of the 20th century as well. Automobile production is not necessarily a good measure of industrialization.
Absolutely true. Estimating the Mittelafrican industrial capacity is indeed difficult. BIP per capita is obviously far from German, US, Italian or Czechoslovak numbers. I'd estimate it higher than in Greece and Portugal due to cash crops and mining products from Mittelafrika finding good prices.
Furthermore, we'll likely have that BIP with a smaller contribution of manufacturing than in Europe - the economy should still be dominated by agriculture and mining. Yet both sectors should be vastly modernized in comparison to OTL Africa at that point in time.
Additionally, we see some beginning manufacturing in big cities, for example a beginning, yet still small, domestic automobile production as stated in rasts previous posts. That is a huge difference to OTL as such manufacturing can hardly be found in the region IOTL.
Construction will be a major contributor. Mittelafrikan infrastructure will be vastly superior to OTL - even if there's still much work to be done.
To conclude, I'll see Mittelafrika more in lines of a truly "emerging market". In case of war, the main contribution of Mittelafrika to the war will be raw materials and troops.
I'd also assume that Germany will lack behind in standardization and automatization. On the other side, rast already pointed out that they modernized their agricultural sector. I'd assume that the gap in automatization isn't as large as IOTL, yet still existing.
Note though that you also pointed out that economic incentives to modernize in Germany were much higher ITTL than IOTL - whereas for the US the opposite may be true.
The CPMZ, good relations to the Pan-Turan alliance, Mittelafrika and Russia provide Germany with all ressources they need. The blockade of the last war proved how vulnerable German industry is, so they will have prepared for this. Agricultural modernization provides Germany with a more efficient food production.
If Germany has labour shortage and the other CPMZ members may have also: why didn't they modernize accodingly? If the situation in Germany is as you describe - and rast pointed this out - there should already be a major modernization attempt going on as there is a clear incentive to modernize by automatization and standardization.
In fact, with unlimited access to cheap labour in the US and more expensive labour in Europe/Germany, the economic incentives that led to different approaches in standardization and automatization on both sides of the Atlantic have switched during the last years.
That is true. Germany alone cannot outproduce the US. But Germany isn't alone, and it isn't that much behind the US in industrial capacity as IOTL. Furthermore, it has unlimited access to raw materials unlike IOTL from its trading partners including Mittelafrika. In fact the oil reserves controled by German companies are higher than those of the US, just to give an example. And Germany can also rely on the production capacities of the CPMZ members - and due to German ownership, also those of France.
Effectively, we have a situation in which Germany can rely on neutral countries quite like OTL Nazi-Germany relied on Switzerland. Only that ITTL, those other countries make up much of the European industrial power and include major economic powers such as France, Belgium or Italy as well as major providers of raw materials such as Ukraine, Mittelafrika and the Ottomans.
another thing i would like to point out if i may is the force multiplyers the german military or at verry least the heer would have compared to the USA
think about it they have recently won the great war and have been sending advisors/observers to almost all major and minor conflict.
and have most definitely learned alote from that and integrated many of those leasons aboubt tatics/doctrine and needed equipment into there military.
while the USA only have realy fought in mexico and the leasons they learnen there while usefull,
are realy not the leasons they needed to learn to fight another great power.
the only branch of the USA's military that might come close in terms of combat efectivness is probarly there airforce, haveing fought all those european aces that volunteered for mexico.
all i am saying production is nice and all but if you produce more than the other guy but your basicaly producing the wrong stuff
or stuff thats realy not all that great or you use it in the wrong way you are still going to loose.
think about it they have recently won the great war and have been sending advisors/observers to almost all major and minor conflict.
and have most definitely learned alote from that and integrated many of those leasons aboubt tatics/doctrine and needed equipment into there military.
while the USA only have realy fought in mexico and the leasons they learnen there while usefull,
are realy not the leasons they needed to learn to fight another great power.
the only branch of the USA's military that might come close in terms of combat efectivness is probarly there airforce, haveing fought all those european aces that volunteered for mexico.
all i am saying production is nice and all but if you produce more than the other guy but your basicaly producing the wrong stuff
or stuff thats realy not all that great or you use it in the wrong way you are still going to loose.
abc123
Banned
Agree again.
Mittelafrica is nothing without Germanz.
And 10 years is too little for any greater result. Even for Germanz.
So, maybe 30- 50 years, but 10 years- NO WAY.
abc123
Banned
Just the opposite, warfighting in Mexico and Liberia is very similar.
Low-level conflict.
Not a massive battles of the Great War.
glowjack
Banned
Well they would first have to extend the existing colonial administration, next they have to bring people up to a minimal level of living, and then the work can start. (the present problem I see is that it's like many developing countries today, they can produce highly educated people but they don't have the industry to hire them, and resource extraction and agriculture industries leave most of the profits to foreign corporations)
Look at Japan for example, it still took them 5 decades to industrialize to a medium production level despite their cultural unity, highly centralized administration, much easier climate for infrastructure, widely available shipping access, high cultural regard for hard work with low pay , a high population, and a highly developed agriculture sector. Plus Mittleafrika will have the brain drain from de-colonization as with OTL.
Sure you can say that manufacturing industries will start in Mittleafrika but why? Why start from scratch in Mittleafrika when there are more efficient factories in Europe? Sure factories can start in Mittleafrika for it's proxy to Mittleafrikan costumers but that would require them to acquire money first.
Mittleafrika will not be able to reach that extent (maybe coastal cities) in 5 decades perhaps 7-9 (the economic incentives simple aren't that strong for resources and most of Africa's deposits haven't been discovered or made commercially feasible yet, unless the Germans are that humanitarian and selfless). (plus I think it was colonial policy to discourage manufacturing industries in colonies in OTL, so it couldn't have been that different)
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glowjack
Banned
Doesn't matter, Look at USA WWII OTL, they made alot of mistakes but the Axis wasn;t able to translate those mistakes into economic advantage and USA simply learned and made more. Losing is probably the best catalyst for improvement, as shown by history.
I think Mittelafrika will industrialize considerably faster than Japan.
Right now, Mittelafrika is an Emerging Market in the modern sense - with the added advantage of free trade into Germany and hence the CPMZ. Additionally, Germany provides education - and not only higher universitary education, which is indeed often ineffective for third world countries, but also more basic education of the workforce and the bureaucracy or police.
And then Mittelafrika already has substantial resources it can export for cash - the Belgians extracted quite some wealth from Congo, and Tansania was the only (slightly) profitable colony of Germany. They can export exotic agricultural cash crops and mined raw materials. Rather minimal education and capital is required to make these early industries more efficient and profitable. Those will provide the capital base much as silk was crucial in Japanese development.
And then there's also direct investment - particularly in infrastructure - for which Germany pays, whereas Japan had to pay and plan it itself. Just to give an example think of the modern port facilities in Daresalaam which the Germans established and the new railway lines.
Nevertheless, even considerably faster industrialization of Mittelafrika measn that they'll have decades before they reach German per capita GDP.
abc123
Banned
Centuries, not decades.
Not quite some advantage, Mittelafrican industry can't live with european competition. Miitelafrica would have some chance if they close the borders and make some replacement industry like many OTL Latin America countries or New Zealand.
glowjack
Banned
Not quite some advantage, Mittelafrican industry can't live with european competition. Miitelafrica would have some chance if they close the borders and make some replacement industry like many OTL Latin America countries or New Zealand.
Easiest thing, agricultural subsidies, Rich nations have other industries to tax to subsidize agriculture, Poor nations don't so their basic industries fail and are taken over by foreign companies and they stay poor. Unless European countries are willing to piss off their farmers and food buying citizens for the sake of fairness(which is BS, why invest so much in education, infrastructure and administration if not for an advantage) >>>> Miitelafrica stay a mud hole that is solely for the purpose of resource extraction.
The reason why so many third world nations were able to industrialize in OTL was with state capitalism and an America that was willing to take an indefinite trade deficit .
More importantly even if they do industrialize, blacks will be a poor class as anyone with a European education will have massive advantages. (Seriously, I doubt they have the educational ability across languages to educate in the quality and quantity needed for industrialization). More importantly industrialized education is not very useful in the context of rural Africa as shown when visually and written orientated education is imposed on oral orientated people, and hungry people will not have time for education this involves feeding a shitload of people who have a fertility rate of something in the 5+.
The Germans will have to dish out alot of money with no definite return for this to work out.
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Of course fertility rates are one of the quickest things to change when a population starts getting richer, and a developing country will see an even larger relative decline in family size than a developed one.
But other than that there are just so many systematic ways to go about tackling world hunger that could be tried by a non-US-style world order. IMO the continued existence of large-scale malnutrition would be seen as one of the most ASB aspects of OTL as seen by TTL, and many others besides.
But other than that there are just so many systematic ways to go about tackling world hunger that could be tried by a non-US-style world order. IMO the continued existence of large-scale malnutrition would be seen as one of the most ASB aspects of OTL as seen by TTL, and many others besides.
Which is exactly what they're doing, according to some of rasts earlier posts. Some of them dealt with the torn feelings of the German population (dislike for the amount of money flowing into the colonies to build their infrastructure, industry, etc, but also pride at the accomplishments in comparison to those of other colonial powers). Others dealt with the on-the-job training for Middleafricans in Germany as policemen, mechanics, pilots, etc.
- Kelenas
Aviation is fine as a sport. But as an instrument of war, it is worthless.
(Général Ferdinand Foch)
The Heinkel HE 22 was a fine mount. Feldwebel Anton Temedja had christened his plane ‘Clara’ – and the crew referred to it as ‘Tante Clara’ (Aunt Clara). Tante Clara was a twin engine torpedo bomber designed as medium range, land based weapons system. She could carry one 60 cm torpedo – or two depth charges if employed in the anti-submarine role.
The default attack method was ‘riding the waves’ – closing in as deep down as possible and dropping the torpedo at a distance of 500 to 600 metres from the target. The eel than took less than a half minute to home.
The squadron of 16 planes was divided into four flights of four. Usually, two planes of a flight veered to the right and two to the left of the target after a drop. For larger formations, the evasion manoeuvre had to be ordered in advance, otherwise collisions in mid-air were bound to occur.
Three squadrons had been employed in the battle off Tabou. Nine HE 22 had been lost, and three more had been damaged so badly that they couldn’t be repaired under field conditions. But an extra squadron had arrived yesterday, so that today 52 Heinkels were available.
Fortunately, the range of the HE 22 was quite sufficient, thus the torpedo bombers could remain based near San Pédro, while the fighters had had to dislocate to Tabou, where conditions were much more primitive.
There had been a debate whether to attack from the land or from the sea side. The Liberian littoral was flat, so there were no hills that could obscure the planes from US Fumeo. But some hoped that the US Fumeo (or however the Americans called it) was less effective over land.
So, they would attack from the land side. Tante Clara was in the first wave.
The first wave consisted of 24 HE 22. They would receive cover from three squadrons of Albatrosses, which would join when the Heinkels passed Tabou.
All checks had been done. The engines were running. Temedja looked at his crew. In the prow crouched Unteroffizier Dschangwe, the bombardier (or was it torpedier?), who also served the nose machine gun. Next to Temedja sat Gefreiter Lokoyo, the co-pilot, navigator and radio operator. Behind Temedja and Lokoyo stood Schütze Embe, the rear gunner and flight mechanic.
There was the signal. Tante Clara started to move as Temedja released the brakes. Quite unspectacularly, the plane took to the air and joined the flock already circling. After the last planes had joined, the attack wave started to move in direction Tabou.
After twenty minutes, the fighter wings, already awaiting them in the air, joined and the whole formation swung inland, but, after few minutes, turned again towards the sea. The torpedo bombers now went down to low level approach while the fighters remained two to three hundred metres above them.
Bringing Tante Clara to top speed Temedja was scanning the horizon for the targets. There they were! He saw flashes and smoke emitting from the big ships. – Then dirt and debris erupted in Front of Tante Clara. So much for the abilities of US Fumeo and the merits of an approach from the landside.
Fortunately, Tante Clara dodged towards the sky when the air blast of the exploding 16-inch shells hit her, giving Temedja the chance to regain control. But not all planes had been lucky.
“Three down.” reported Embe. “Four down now; and another one is burning.”
Five planes lost even before closing in on the enemy. Not good!
The enemy ships were turning now, heading towards the open sea. Temedja looked to the right. Yes, Hauptmann Sikonga, had seen it as well and had his plane veering to the right. Temedja followed in formation when the right half of the attack formation veered to the right and flew a half circle in order to attack the broadside of the enemy from the north.
Now, things seemed to accelerate. Temedja had his gaze fixed on the enemy ships – and on Dschangwe, who guided him with hand signs. Two degrees to the right, and straight on.
The ships were firing with all available weapons, but many of them were not able to point to the low angle required to catch the Heinkels. That was the advantage of riding the waves.
“Release!” shouted Dschangwe.
Now came the critical evasion manoeuvre. Going up was no good recipe; one had to turn sharply while still riding the waves. Dschangwe had now gripped the machine gun and was blasting away at the enemy.
Tante Clara passed before the prow of the enemy and finished her turn.
“Strike!” reported Embe. “Hit’em amidships!”
Tante Clara seemed to be all right. Temedja had her slowly gain height. The second wave was now closing in on the enemy.
(Général Ferdinand Foch)
The Heinkel HE 22 was a fine mount. Feldwebel Anton Temedja had christened his plane ‘Clara’ – and the crew referred to it as ‘Tante Clara’ (Aunt Clara). Tante Clara was a twin engine torpedo bomber designed as medium range, land based weapons system. She could carry one 60 cm torpedo – or two depth charges if employed in the anti-submarine role.
The default attack method was ‘riding the waves’ – closing in as deep down as possible and dropping the torpedo at a distance of 500 to 600 metres from the target. The eel than took less than a half minute to home.
The squadron of 16 planes was divided into four flights of four. Usually, two planes of a flight veered to the right and two to the left of the target after a drop. For larger formations, the evasion manoeuvre had to be ordered in advance, otherwise collisions in mid-air were bound to occur.
Three squadrons had been employed in the battle off Tabou. Nine HE 22 had been lost, and three more had been damaged so badly that they couldn’t be repaired under field conditions. But an extra squadron had arrived yesterday, so that today 52 Heinkels were available.
Fortunately, the range of the HE 22 was quite sufficient, thus the torpedo bombers could remain based near San Pédro, while the fighters had had to dislocate to Tabou, where conditions were much more primitive.
There had been a debate whether to attack from the land or from the sea side. The Liberian littoral was flat, so there were no hills that could obscure the planes from US Fumeo. But some hoped that the US Fumeo (or however the Americans called it) was less effective over land.
So, they would attack from the land side. Tante Clara was in the first wave.
The first wave consisted of 24 HE 22. They would receive cover from three squadrons of Albatrosses, which would join when the Heinkels passed Tabou.
All checks had been done. The engines were running. Temedja looked at his crew. In the prow crouched Unteroffizier Dschangwe, the bombardier (or was it torpedier?), who also served the nose machine gun. Next to Temedja sat Gefreiter Lokoyo, the co-pilot, navigator and radio operator. Behind Temedja and Lokoyo stood Schütze Embe, the rear gunner and flight mechanic.
There was the signal. Tante Clara started to move as Temedja released the brakes. Quite unspectacularly, the plane took to the air and joined the flock already circling. After the last planes had joined, the attack wave started to move in direction Tabou.
After twenty minutes, the fighter wings, already awaiting them in the air, joined and the whole formation swung inland, but, after few minutes, turned again towards the sea. The torpedo bombers now went down to low level approach while the fighters remained two to three hundred metres above them.
Bringing Tante Clara to top speed Temedja was scanning the horizon for the targets. There they were! He saw flashes and smoke emitting from the big ships. – Then dirt and debris erupted in Front of Tante Clara. So much for the abilities of US Fumeo and the merits of an approach from the landside.
Fortunately, Tante Clara dodged towards the sky when the air blast of the exploding 16-inch shells hit her, giving Temedja the chance to regain control. But not all planes had been lucky.
“Three down.” reported Embe. “Four down now; and another one is burning.”
Five planes lost even before closing in on the enemy. Not good!
The enemy ships were turning now, heading towards the open sea. Temedja looked to the right. Yes, Hauptmann Sikonga, had seen it as well and had his plane veering to the right. Temedja followed in formation when the right half of the attack formation veered to the right and flew a half circle in order to attack the broadside of the enemy from the north.
Now, things seemed to accelerate. Temedja had his gaze fixed on the enemy ships – and on Dschangwe, who guided him with hand signs. Two degrees to the right, and straight on.
The ships were firing with all available weapons, but many of them were not able to point to the low angle required to catch the Heinkels. That was the advantage of riding the waves.
“Release!” shouted Dschangwe.
Now came the critical evasion manoeuvre. Going up was no good recipe; one had to turn sharply while still riding the waves. Dschangwe had now gripped the machine gun and was blasting away at the enemy.
Tante Clara passed before the prow of the enemy and finished her turn.
“Strike!” reported Embe. “Hit’em amidships!”
Tante Clara seemed to be all right. Temedja had her slowly gain height. The second wave was now closing in on the enemy.
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