Shattered World - Micro Segment 55.5.1
November 8th 1949 to November 12th 1949
November 8th 1949
New Axis offensive in Libya begins with a barrage of chemical ballistic missiles, intensive bombing, massive fighter engagements, and ground attacks up the coast towards Benghazi and northeast across the desert in the general direction of Tobruk. It is a desperate ploy by the Axis, a final effort to capitalize on British woes in Egypt before the Americans can put Army Group Africa into a vise by clamping down from the west.
November 9th 1949
With a morale boost from the Axis offensive underway in Libya, insurgent elements across Egypt step up their attacks on British troops and assets. The anti-British insurgency is no longer in a position to seize power(aside from a few isolated pockets), but it remains capable of giving the British a major headache. In addition to the violence of the insurgency itself, a general strike called by Islamists and nationalist unions continues to paraylize parts of the Egyptian economy and slow down the flow of materials. Worst of all for the British, the Suez canal and the port at Alexandria both remain closed due to ships sunk by insurgent forces and other sabotage.
November 10th 1949
In the straights of Gibraltar, the US Navy clearly has the upper hand. Despite heavy losses of destroyers and cruisers to Axis naval maritime guided rockets and bombs, the sheer numbers of U.S. ships have swamped the defending Italian navy. Italian naval forces, aided by a large German naval air presence, continue to fight desperately but they are fighting a rising tide and a torrent of U.S. airpower continues to hammer southern Spain as more and more US ships surge into the straights. By late in the afternoon, some U.S. torpedo boats and destroyers are already probing out into the western Mediterranean itself while a massive line of U.S. battecruisers virtually wipes out a smaller force of Italian cruisers in the straights proper.[The Battle of the Pillars]
Back at the Canaries, the islands seem ready to sink from the weight of U.S. men and material. Ominously, from the perspective of Axis intelligence officers scouring over aerial reconnaissance photos, the amount of transport vessels present on the islands seems to have risen considerably in the past several days. Indeed, the buildup is so sudden and so massive that a flash message goes out from Berlin to all Axis forces in Iberia, southern France, and Algeria. AMERICAN INVASION OF IBERIA, NORTHWEST AFRICA APPEARS IMMINENT. ALL FORCES OF SOUTHWESTERN COMMAND ARE TO MAINTAIN UTMOST VIGILANCE.
November 12th 1949
After a month of hellacious fighting in the tunnels and bunkers of the few remaining Japanese pockets of resistance; Okinawa is at last declared fully secure(for the third and final time).
TO BE CONTINUED in Micro Segment 55.5.2....
