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    Black Hornet

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    1. Italians had 800 tanks in east Africa in 35-36. The equipment for the build-up alone included 6,000 machine guns, 2,000 pieces of artillery, 595 tanks, and 390 aircraft. Before these arrived, the Italians had 3,300 machine guns, 275 artillery pieces, 200 tankettes, and 205 aircraft. Thanks to the Royal Navy (Regia Marina), the Italians had tons of ammunition, food, http://www.thefullwiki.org/Italian_conquest_of_Ethiopia
    2. The Italians recruited in Yemen. https://books.openedition.org/cfee/1400?lang=en Similar enlistment of indigenous locals from across the colonial border took place in the Somali R.C.T.C. Apart from the usual enlistments in Colonia Eritrea and Ethiopia, in this case, army recruiting offices also worked on the Arabian Peninsula, particularly in Yemen. Already, from the birth of Italian Somalia on 5 April 1908, the recruits were seen as a heterogeneous mass. This can be read into a note sent from the Foreign Minister Tittoni to Salvago Raggi, the then Governor of Eritrea: “I am working with H.M. consulate in Yemen on the enlistment of a further five hundred askaris with over one thousand already recruited
    3. Part 2.................1st move would be to take British held Somaliland, & Japan had an interest in Madagascar with it's huge natural harbor, so with Yemen & Somaliland in Italian & German hands, it becomes easier with friendly ports nearby to invade Madagascar. & the NW corner of the Indian ocean becomes an Axis lake.
    4. Well, since I'm knockin em dead so far with these, I'll try 1 more. Germany does oil exploration in Yemen in 30's, builds refineries, then lands forces in Italian held Somaliland & with Italian naval participation invades Yemen in 1939 & chokes off Red Sea to British naval traffic, ( Japanese might have to get involved) & use Yemen as a base for invading Egypt from the south, or go east. I dunno how feasible this is, but it does solve one huge problem for German desert travel, ( gas ), & gets around the nagging problem of the chokepoint of Qatarra depression & med sea, 40 miles wide where they got stuffed in 42, El Alamein. Germany had interest in the region going back to 1914. Just before war broke out in 1914, British and German companies had negotiated joint participation in the newly-founded Turkish Petroleum Company that held prospecting rights in Mesopotamia. https://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/185-general/40479-great-power-conflict-over-iraqi-oil-the-world-war-i-era.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_Somaliland
    5. JU 86, 900 built https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junkers_Ju_86 I'd venture a guess that 3-400 DO 19 could have been built in place of these. In 1974, a mock-staged Operation Sealion was done with Galland as a judge, it was decided to be a fail based on fuel re-supply issue
    6. 370 mph in 1937, better than ME 110, decent range. These could operate minus fighter protection often, ( diving attacks from British fighters could still hit them ). But then they could operate at both low & high altitude. These plus a German version of Operation Pluto, ( fuel lines dragged across channel ), make an interesting what if. Para attacks on airfields was done in mock attacks by the British with very good results I read in I think it was Crosley's book, They gave me a Seafire. One could add JU 86 not built, ( several hundred were ), & in it's place the 4 engined DO 19. These would have better survivability than twins for the simple reason they often can fly home on 2 engines, ( the FW 200 was designed this way for example ). http://airpigz.com/blog/2010/2/11/1937-german-heinkel-he-119-with-2350hp-armrest.html?fbclid=IwAR09NHpBQeZCcw9utRSiGXjC14ZpR_Ayy470V_Haa38ePcisOdj8XGRdAj4 And Japanese copy is reported to have a top speed of 447 mph https://oldmachinepress.com/2012/12/11/yokosuka-kugisho-r2y1-keiun/?fbclid=IwAR1Dh4ja5XDJ99Qn0LH4nJZQ7YBUdaoQY-IcNcY7shAbTluq-BOZ8c_5rkM
    7. As to the original post question,Iceland ran fish to the UK, I forget how much, but a large tonnage per year, many ships lost, it was very dangerous. There was also 1 Spit Ace from Iceland as I recall. Technical data re Faeroes Two Spitfires were stationed here in 1943 but again with the Luftwaffe flying in low level, radar would not pick them up so success from this station was non-existant. http://www.crashsiteorkney.com/shetland-airfields-and-airbases http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peoples ... 8990.shtml Of the eighteen Faroe Islands, only one, Vágar, is flat enough for aeroplanes to land. the Pioneer Corps arrived in April 1942 to start building roads and an airport and extending the harbour at Sørvágur. The first aeroplane landed here in Autumn 1942 Quote
    8. As to air operations, it is the essential key to a German move on Iceland as they must have a quick answer to the Royal Navy when they arrive to sink the cargo ships, 6 & 8 inch guns mounted aft of these ships would provide one quick response, but as to air ops, how quick could they be up & running? well in Spain they did it in a day............... On 9 August we started the job of rebuilding our six He 51s, On 10 August, the first He 51 was fully assembled and ready for operations. The aircraft stood in the open, replacement parts, ammunition and fuel and oil laying protected from the sun under tarpaulins at the edge of the forest. http://surfcity.kund.dalnet.se/germany_trautloft.htm Plus they had plank wood instant runways used quite a bit in Norway. http://s16.photobucket.com/user/Kjetil_ ... 0.jpg.html http://s16.photobucket.com/user/Kjetil_ ... _.jpg.html http://s16.photobucket.com/user/Kjetil_ ... 1.jpg.html
    9. This is camp Skipton, it has paved roads surrounding it, each one viable as runways to single engine planes. If one looks close at road on left, it is 2 lane wide. Link about the camp https://roddyfox.com/2013/10/27/alfred-fox-iceland-1940-42-some-detective-work-finds-skipton-camp/
    10. Where's the edit button? http://books.stonebooks.com/history/iceland/ As an asides, it was warmer than unusual in 1940 in Iceland. following the warm climate between 1930 and 1940. https://notendur.hi.is/oi/icelandic_glaciers.htm
    11. Construction of naval facilities at Hvalfordhur began soon after the occupation and these gradually grew into a large and important complex: amine depot, major pier and several jetties, major accommodations, a fresh water supply system, ammunition storage, a fleet bakery, bulk naval storage warehouse, recreation facilities, a direction-finding station, and a naval camp. Later, the installation included a major fuel farm,
    12. Good question John. I will dig up where I got that, though I doubt those specifics are obtainable. One thing I learned last night was from Crosley's They Gave me a Seafire book was that the Royal navy didn't deploy Air Direction finding radar as RAF did in 1st 2 years of the war as they were afraid it would give away the Fleets position. Therefore, the Luftwaffe would have little to fear from Royal navy crossing from Norway to Iceland.
    13. The British built a fuel farm when they were there, Germans could've done the same had they gone prior to operation Fork. It would seem they had a 2 week window with south Norway under control before British landed. On the subject of setting up air ops, they did it in 1 day at Spain in 37, they operated without hangars in the open.
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