Three Kings

What should I do? It’s going to happen one way or another, with or without any action on my part. These troops were set to move out from their base at Sultan Apache. If so, then they were going to head north to ports that might be able to accommodate the movement of this tonnage. That would be a chancy move with the war heating up as it was, but they’ll try. Yes, they’ll try, and if they do go north they will run right into the thick of things, demigods on the field of battle, the Desert Rats, echoes from the future, born of a past that was playing out here and now, reincarnated in a form and shape so potent that it could change everything. They could save Egypt, prevent England from being knocked right out of this war if things continue to unravel here.

Fedorov had been deeply troubled by the news that Gibraltar had been taken, and the shadow looming over Malta. The dominoes were falling now. He knew the history so well that he could easily see the most likely outcome of these events. Even now, Admiral Volsky was out to sea with Kirov to try and bolster the British fleet as they faced those impossible odds against a combined Axis naval force twice their size. That fight we can win, he thought. With Kirov, and with Kazan out there somewhere, we can unhinge the growing Axis naval power and reset the balance here as it was, restoring the Royal Navy to a position of naval supremacy.

Yes, that we can do, but what about Rommel? How do we influence events on land? That was the dilemma he had discussed with Admiral Volsky. The Germans took Gibraltar, and they’ll likely take Malta now. Rommel will get all the tanks, fuel and supplies he needs here, and what if the Germans reinforce him further? What if they make this place their major war effort for all of 1941? We can win the war at sea, but how in god’s name do I stop Rommel?

There were two ways, one an indirect approach that was within their power-logistics. If we establish naval supremacy here, then we can sink any troop transport the other side puts to sea, and cut off Rommel’s supplies. That was one thing Kirov and Kazan could easily accomplish, particularly with the stealth of the sub.

Yet can we do this before the German force footprint here becomes too large for the British to oppose Rommel’s advance? Now he remembered what Admiral Tovey had confided to them before they put out to sea to look for their battle. He revealed that Turing had sent word that BP had wind of new German troop authorizations for North Africa. They were going to send the troops they had used to smash the Rock of Gibraltar, put that hammer in Rommel’s hand by augmenting his force with 1st Mountain Division and a newly reconstituted Grossdeutschland at full division strength! Those units and others, like the 90th Light Division, were now earmarked for North Africa, and they just might get here before this naval situation is resolved to our satisfaction. Then all we could do is try and make their lives miserable here, by cutting off their seaborne communications with France and Italy.

He considered that, and realized the Germans now had many more options open to them for supplying a force here in North Africa. Tripoli was the first port they would use, but they also had Oran, Algiers, and now the narrow straits of Gibraltar to Tangiers. Getting supplies to Egypt from those ports would be much more difficult, but if the Germans were determined… There was even the possibility that they could create an air bridge, like they tried to supply the 6th Army at Stalingrad.

And how to stop Rommel from smashing his way to the Suez Canal before Kirov and Kazan can make that vital difference? A logistics war is a long, drawn out affair, a way of killing your enemy by starving and smothering him. But there was another way, the direct solution to the problem, right here!

The answer was now right in front of him, all around him in the thundering rumble of heavy tanks and IFVs. The Desert Rats had come home again, by chance, fate or design, and if they do move north Fedorov now knew what had to happen. They would find the British holed up in Tobruk, and by god, they would learn the horrible truth of what had happened to them the hard way and, after the madness passed, they would fight. He was as certain of this outcome as he could possibly be.

So you see, he thought. You can stand here worrying about revealing this insane truth to this world, that men from a future time were here to take up arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing, end them. Shakespeare had something to say about everything, he thought, smiling inwardly as his anxiety settled down around this conclusion.