Dark Earth: A New Jerusalem

[jemhouston]

Incorporating the French into this is very complex...

That's why they invented Whiskey.

[Simon Darkshade]

Excessive spirits and nuclear weapons aren’t the best combination; the French are yet to perfect their wine powered MRBM.

[jemhouston]

Excessive spirits and nuclear weapons aren’t the best combination; the French are yet to perfect their wine powered MRBM.

The Whiskey is for after hours.

[Bernard Woolley]

Why drink whiskey when whisky is available?

That's a hell of a lot of warheads! If my maths is correct, the UK plans to potentially use something like 4,268 warheads!
How many warheads are available to the reserves?

As an aside, I wouldn't want to be anywhere near Moscow in the event of a strategic exchange!

[Simon Darkshade]

The drinking habits of Americans can be unpredictable; on a personal level, selling alcohol has largely turned me off drinking it, in any form.

Regarding warheads, your mathematics are spot on. That represents a maximum effort full strategic strike; it is unlikely to involve the Soviets and the satellites as well as China and Turkey, but contingency plans are just that. The reserve force comprises 182 warheads on the missiles and 868 gravity bombs.

This period marks the end of the peak of the bomber part of the RAF's own triad (ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and strategic bombers). With the gradual retirement of the large numbers of Vickers Valiants from the strategic role, the overall numbers of bombs/warheads will decline somewhat, offset by MIRVing the Blue Streaks and the new generation of Blue Steel and other stand off weapons. The Valiant does see a last Indian summer over South Vietnam as a purely conventional bomber.

A lot of subsequent warhead production goes towards tactical weapons for all three armed forces, with a lot being added to the defensive SAM and ABM forces of the RAF at home and the RN at sea.

For the French, currently, as of the end of 1964, for strategic range weapons they have 120 SLBMs on their 5 SSBNs; 78 ICBMs; and 196 heavy bombers. The rest of their 1268 weapons consist of 160 MRBMs (capable of hitting the western border area of the USSR) and 240 bombs for their medium bomber force; 240 SRBMs, 150 tactical nuclear bombs and 54 tactical nuclear shells; and 30 nuclear depth bombs. That translates to 316 weapons to focus on the Western USSR 'border defences' and 78 long range missiles ranging out to the Urals. Of the latter, 12-18 could be assigned to give the French a piece of the action against Moscow.

The overall target types come from this:

Soviet Bloc Target List (www.alternatewars.com/WW3/WW3_Documents ... 68_SRF.htm)

Primary Bomber, Dispersal & Fighter Control: 200 targets @ 400/533
ICBM-Soft: 125 targets @ 200/284
MRBM/IRBM: 162 targets @ 286/316
Space System Control: 5 targets @ 10/10

ICBM-Hardened: 125 targets @ 138/198
ICBM-Fully Hardened: 200 targets @ 396/659
Submarine Bases: 30 targets @ 30/38
Offensive Controls: 10 targets @ 13/13

Bomber Capable Fields: 110 targets @ 220/248
Air Defense Fields: 100 targets @ 100/300
Missile Storage: 20 targets @ 40/40
Nuclear/CBR Production: 30 targets @ 60/60
SAM Sites: 350 targets @ 406/775

National/Regional Nuclear Storage: 68 targets @ 262/363
Other Nuclear Storage: 115 targets @ 315/452

Urban/Industrial: 210 targets @ 349/349

The first figure is the number of warheads proposed by the DoD (3253) and the second is the number proposed by the USAF (4678). T
he Dark Earth situation has a far larger Soviet bomber force, more MRBM sites, more dispersed industry and more urban/countervalue targets, which accounts for the difference between the total numbers, when adjusted for relative size and defences.

The Dark Earth version of SIOP-62 called for 6247 US warheads on the USSR and Eastern Europe, which by 1964/65 has risen to ~7500; that number represents the more 'DoD style' lowballing end of the scale.

[Simon Darkshade]

A New Jerusalem Part 5

Whitehall
October 20th 1964

Stanley Barton paused in his private office. The first full Cabinet meeting of his new government would be an interesting one; whilst he had been in the shadow cabinet for a decade and knew and trusted his fellows, this would be a historic moment for the Labour Party in general. After over six and a half decades, this would be the first time that they had formed a government in their own right, albeit a minority one. He knew that for many, this would be the hour when they had long planned to bring about their plans and ambitions for a socialist future. Things had changed somewhat during his seven years as Leader of the Opposition, although he felt that he was still true to the soul of the party, which had never been something set in the stone of the late Victorian age, no matter how much the Marxians had tried to portray it as so.

However, this day would be significant for another reason as well: this would be the moment he unveiled the full details of his Grand Design to his colleagues. The basis of it had been percolating around in his head for almost four years, growing from the aftermath of the 1960 Crisis and the sea change in British strategic policy. The Tories had appraised the situation once the dust had settled and come to the same overall conclusion as him, but their subsequent reaction was substantially different to his own. Rather than progressively cut their cloth smaller to suit the limitations of the national purse, he wanted to increase the income to said purse and change the way it was spent. When faced with a mighty challenge, the only course of action was to rise to it with mighty endeavour and face the tides of fortune with hard mind and hard will, not embrace a gradual and comfortable decline to the ranks of the second-rate powers and also-rans.

He thought it a simple enough solution to a rather complex problem, but even the base issue could be broken down to a single concept: How was Britain going to solve the economic problem of the Cold War? The price of being a great power had never been small and the cost of the higher status of superpower was even more pronounced. The nuclear forces required to deter and, if need be, fight a hot war were extremely expensive; maintaining a conventional capacity for everything beyond that was also growing costlier by the year. In order to retain the former, that sine qua non of sitting at the top table, the Conservatives had begun to prune the latter, firstly in the 1961 Defence White Paper, then with subsequent measures, all the time insisting they would never countenance the very idea. In Barton’s view, it didn’t matter whether their actions were deliberate or simple misplaced economy, as the effect would be much the same: a diminution of British power that would flow onto the overall position of the country. For without real strength, there would be no British Empire, neither in its economic sense nor the political reality. Without that, they would be simply just another country in Europe, and not even the largest or richest at that. This strength wasn’t limited to the military sphere, but encompassed economic, industrial and political power; cut off one limb and the others would inevitably atrophy and wither. Give up the Middle East or Africa, let India fully drift away or fade away from South America and Asia and the rest would follow. For some, this would be an acceptable cost if they could build their own inward-looking socialist state here at home, but he viewed this too as shortsighted. A glorious utopia could be built for a little while, perhaps even decades, but then the cost of a cradle to grave welfare state would edge ever upward, just as the growth of the wealth of the nation slowed. The nation couldn’t pay itself more than it earned.

There had to be a way to provide for the people at home and maintain power around the world. He believed that he had found one. The path to both objectives came from the economic strength and wealth of Britain herself; the Commonwealth and Empire were increasingly vital contributors, but without the link of the metropole, the ties that bound them together were tenuous. If the British economy could launch itself forward into the future in a period of tremendous growth, in a new Industrial Revolution, then there would be an opportunity to remake its finances and secure the needs of peace and security at home and abroad. Specifically, this would entail using the growing windfall of oil and gas profits from the North Sea and the Middle East to create a national sovereign fund that would augment the pensions paid under National Insurance, but the greater part would come through targeted government investment and spending to drive up annual growth. This would have the effect of reducing and then eventually eliminating debt service payments and dramatically raising real spending on health and education, whilst allowing for a strong increase in the defence budget in this era of substantial capital expenditure. The great aim of Barton’s ‘Grand Design’ was to provide both guns and butter through growth; should it succeed, then the Britain of 1975 would have an economy of over £200,000 million, if not more, alongside a swelling national sovereign wealth fund to pay for the future and invest in the present.

With that type of growth, and some decent fortune from overseas assets and trade, they could afford to fund the necessary strategic nuclear deterrent and powerful conventional forces with almost twice the current level of spending. When the contributions and cooperation of the Commonwealth were factored in, then the new generation of weapons systems could be afforded in numbers large enough to make a difference, although not nearly sufficient to replace the wartime and 1950s arsenal that currently comprised the bulk of Imperial power. Sheer quantity, whilst it did retain a quality of its own, wasn't as significant as even five years ago and it did not matter if the French and Germans overtook the British Army in tanks or guns, provided that the latter continued to have the better vehicles; this was even truer when applied to their Soviet adversaries. They would have to make do with less in every category, but with the right type of development projects and acquisition programmes, they would not be left hanging and vulnerable for years at a time in the late 1970s as they may have under some postulated Conservative estimates; at least, that was how Barton and his men had characterised them. In any case, there was a looming problem of block obsolescence approaching, particularly for the Royal Navy, in the main part as a natural consequence of the large prewar and wartime fleet now reaching retirement - the Orion class battlecruisers, Battle class destroyers and Amphion class submarines would be gone in a handful of years, whilst the battleships and cruisers, as formidable as their array of missiles were at the moment, had at best a decade more of useful service. The solution to that, under the Grand Design, was to initiate and accelerate the various replacement programmes here and now, so that they could be gradually phased into service before they reached the brink; the key would be to balance the ships that the RN needed up against the resources that Britain and the Empire could bring to bear. Ideally, he wanted to provide a versatile core of highly capable equipment that could not only incorporate rapidly evolving technology but be used in a range of circumstances depending on what strategies his government or future governments may choose to implement, but reality meant that objective would likely be honoured in the breech rather than the observance. The RN wanted new nuclear attack submarines, battleships and carriers, along with steady construction of smaller ships, more offensive and defensive missiles and a new generation of aircraft; the RAF pushed for its supersonic bombers and ABMs, its tactical aircraft replacements and a panoply of impressive missiles; and the Army had its heart's desires fixed upon the MACVs, new artillery, SAGWs and helicopters and replacement of its truck park, not to mention its dreams of tanks and new infantry weapons. All of those could not be afford on £10,000 million nor even £20,000 million, but, like his old friend Professor Baldrick of Magdalen College, he had a cunning plan.

It was a simple one, but not without controversy. There were still many within the party who wished for an immediate increase in social spending and a direction of windfall profits towards health and welfare and among their ranks were some quite significant voices and factions. Barton’s response had been to attempt to defeat them in detail, playing off one group against another, mustering his support base in the unions and the Church and calling in the array of personal favours and agreements that he’d gathered over the last fifteen years. He was reasonably confident that he had the numbers to push through his Grand Design, despite the opposition from the left, but he needed to strike hard now, before they had an opportunity to prepare their action; stealing a march on those against him had been a winning tactic for many a year. The cachet he’d gained by the election victory and position as Labour’s first PM would count for little if he couldn’t rally his numbers sufficiently to get his main policy through. That meant today’s action. He knew that he had his firm backers in place in the Armed Forces' ministries, particularly Richard Pendragon at the War Office; although the bluff Barton and the dashing knight from the shires seemed as alike as chalk and cheese, they had forged a strong partnership, particularly on the defence of the realm. George Brown, the Minister of Defence, had been a close supporter since he had become leader, and Tony Crosland in the Foreign Office had been a vocal public advocate of the policy before and during the election, but he knew that the new Home Secretary Jim Callaghan leaned towards the arguments raised by those in the Outer Ministry and back benches. Beyond his more visible opponents, there was the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Denis Healey, who hadn't played his hand just yet, but beyond, his institutional support for economising and retrenchment, constituted a credible threat who could draw support from both the right and left of the party. If he overplayed his measures, on the one hand, he could lose two dozen of more of the residual Bevanites and with them government; on the other, he could lose some of the centrists to the Liberals and with them government. If he won, though, then sailing on the home front would be clear for at least his first term as Prime Minister.

It was time.

........................................................

Sir Richard Pendragon sat back in the Chesterfield armchair and took a long sip of his glass of scotch in satisfaction. It has been a good day for all of the men in the room - the Chief Whip, Joseph Wilberton; Adam Wainwright, the Minister of Works; Tom Stephens, the Minister of Social Security; the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence, George Brown; and the Prime Minister himself. The first Cabinet meeting of the newly elected Labour government had been smooth and successful, with none of the potential upsets that they had feared. The basic precepts of the Prime Minister’s ‘grand design’ had been outlined and approved after they had bounced the various factions before they had a chance to prepare their strategy. The drive for growth and forging a new and better society in the crucible of the white heat of technology and modernity was now agreed policy. Acceptable concessions and red meat tossed out to the left to satisfy them in the form of an increase in NHS funding and a wage rise agreement with the TUC.

“We have belled the cat, lads, there is no doubt. The goal now is to move forward and get some decent runs on the board. Joe, have your boys keep their ears wide open on how this goes down with the backbenchers.”

“Yes, PM. I’ll make sure that any of the waverers get shown up quick enough.”

“Good. We don’t have the numbers to lose. Anything come up since the other day?”

“Just the odd bit of scuttlebutt about a few Private Member’s Bills in the offing on the usual social stuff. There’s one on the abolition of hanging that is gathering a bit of support.”

“Kick it into the long grass. That’s no benefit for us, not just after an election when we don’t even have a bally majority. We’ve got to have some sense of difference and distance between Labour and Liberal. Find out what else they want and sit on them.”

“They’re the usual bleeding heart squad, but we’ll manage ‘em.”

“That’s what I like to hear. George, I’d like you to go to work on Jim. He’s a good chap and true, and someone I’d prefer in here with us, if you know what I mean. Nice and steady, though, mind you.”

“Consider it done.”

“Tom, I’d like you to reach out to Denis. Let him know that he has full rein and my support for whatever he needs at the Treasury. Everything we discussed before the election is on the cards and he can let loose. Use those words, mind you, “let loose”.”

“Righto, Prime Minister.”

“Very good, gentlemen. I’d just like to see Richard and Tom alone for half a tick, then I’ve got to get off to my next meeting.”

The other men left the room in short order, leaving Barton with Pendragon and Wainwright.

“Right, lads, I’ll make this quick. I’ve recently had a number of ideas that I want to put into action. I’d like you two to put your heads together, nominally for the purpose of finding old War Office facilities suitable for sale. What I’d actually like you to do is quite different.”

Stanley Barton explained the ideas to his colleagues; he couldn’t really call them his ideas, considering where and when they came from. When he was done, he could see both men understood his intent.

[Simon Darkshade]

Barton Cabinet:

Prime Minister: Stanley Barton
Chancellor of the Exchequer: Denis Healey
Home Office: James Callaghan
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs: Anthony Crosland
Minister of Defence: George Brown
Lord President of the Council: Herbert Bowden
Lord High Chancellor: Lord Blakeney *
Lord Privy Seal: Lord Rhodes
Attorney General: Sir Frederick Elwyn-Jones
Solicitor General: Sir Dingle Foot
President of the Board of Trade: Douglas Jay
Colonial Secretary: Patrick Gordon Walker
Commonwealth Secretary: Cledwyn Hughes
Postmaster General: Ted Short
Minister of Health: Kenneth Robinson
Minister of Education: Reg Prentice
Minister of Labour: Ray Gunter
Minister of Power and Energy: Roy Mason
Minister of Transport: Barbara Castle
Minister of Supply: Fred Mulley
Minister of Science and Technology: Harry Thornwood *
Minister of Food and Agriculture: Fred Peart
Minister of Information: Lord Blair of Wigan Pier
Minister of Social Security: Tom Stephens *
Minister of Space: John W. Harris
Minister of Housing and Local Government: Douglas Houston
Ministry of Works: Adam Wainwright *
Minister for Administrative Affairs: Arthur Bottomley
Secretary of State for Scotland: Willie Ross
Secretary of State for Ireland: Peter McDonnell *
Secretary of State for Wales: Jim Griffiths
Secretary of State for Lyonesse: Sir William Mallalieu
Secretary of State for War: Sir Richard Pendragon *
First Lord of the Admiralty: Christopher Mayhew
Secretary of State for Air: Lord Shackleton
Secretary of State for Space: Sir Andrew Morgan *

[Simon Darkshade]

A New Jerusalem Part 6

“It is more than just a White Paper, Richard. If we get this right, the national security policy of Britain and the security of the whole Empire will be set for a generation! We can set the path for even the Tories to follow along and emulate us, knocking them off their perch as the natural party of defence.”

Secretary of State for War Sir Richard Pendragon had seen Stanley Barton in what he characterised as his charged mood on several occasions and, as then, the cause generally tended to be his expansive interest in military grand strategy. According to some of the older mandarins at the War Office and the Admiralty, the intensity of the flow of ideas and new concepts was reminiscent of Mr. Churchill in his days as Minister of Defence before the war, albeit delivered in a far less ebullient fashion.

“I can definitely see the potential, Prime Minister, although I’d perhaps be a little more sanguine about the full extent of its secondary effect. When the Tories took their new look back in 1961, they wanted to consolidate to save money, to trim the fat; ultimately, some of their cuts went down into the flesh and bone and cost them at the ballot box.”

“You’re right enough. My thinking is simple, though - fix the funding issue before it erupts down the line, and we get the benefits to our position as one of the superpowers and get more effective hard power to keep our areas of influence. What is needed is a hard critical look at what we need to do and what forces are needed to do it. That is why I had you take your little tour last week.”

“The regional commanders and their staff were extremely forthcoming with the answers you were after, Prime Minister and that helped me put together what we needed from Home Forces.”

“Good. It is here that we’ve got to make some decisions, rather than simply paring back on our commitments in the Empire and overseas.”

“Cut backs, Prime Minister?”

“Not as such; more a case of making sure we can honour all our commitments and cover for contingencies whilst not trying to fight the last war, or the one before that. We’ve got to get ahead of the wave of development.”

“Naturally. We’ve had the same number of divisions since 1957, with the exception of the 1960 mobilisation, and before that, the same general force deployments since the end of the war. The only significant drawdown we’ve seen is from India, on account of them no longer requiring us. The same can’t be said about the Far East as long as Indonesia is a threat and there are the broader wars across the region. In the Middle East, the Arabs don’t necessarily want us there, but that is part of the reason for our presence.”

“Indeed. There will be no significant reductions in MELF and FELF at all, at least not while this Vietnam business is brewing up further. But what more is needed on top of them and around the edges? That is where we’ve got to take a hard look. We need three armies, Richard: the heavy armoured one for Europe, the lighter British Mobile Force for Scandinavia and the force for the Middle East and Orient, which lie somewhere in between. That leaves us with the strategic reserve.”

“Yes, Prime Minister. That has shifted a bit over the last few years, but the fundamentals remain the same from when the corps was pulled out of India and combined with whatever wasn’t designated for European missions from Home Forces. 1st Airborne and one of the home based Royal Marine divisions on immediate stand by and the two ready reserve infantry divisions, the Guards and the Light Division, for follow up. One heavy division, one medium and two light.
It gives us an ideal force for something in Africa or Persia, but the main idea behind it has been rapid deployment, whether for reinforcing Malaya or Burma, or for the Mediterranean and Middle East. It has to be light enough to be fast, but heavy enough to stay put. With the right support from artillery, aircraft and warships, they can do it.”

“Undoubtably, Richard. Give them the tools and they’ll finish the job. The issue goes beyond capability, though, to the question of duplication of capacity. What level of force does Field Marshal Anderson think he’d need in the Middle East?”

“It does depend, Prime Minister. If it were simply the Arab Union, Egyptians or the Turks kicking off, as he said, then they could be handled with an extra two divisions on top of what he has on the ground and the Commonwealth troops, even if the Israelis didn’t join in. If the Soviets come south through Iraq and Persia, he envisaged needing two more corps to stop them, along with the Israelis and everything the Saracs and Anzacs can get there. We wouldn’t have those two corps without full mobilisation of the reserves and Territorials. The Indian agreement only goes through to the end of next year and I’m not confident we can rely on it for more than that. However, I’m not sure that quite so many divisions are needed. Anderson’s end force there is the same size as in 1950, and I should know - I was out in HQ there when they called me back up after Korea started! It was an article of faith, almost: two divisions for Suez and two for the Nile delta; two infantry, one airborne and one armoured in Israel; and five infantry, two armoured and one airborne for Iraq, plus everything that India could send west. Things have changed a lot in fifteen years, though, not the least of which is what one modern division can do; the jump in capability from ‘50 to ‘56 was large enough, but what has been done in the last few years dwarfs that.”

“It is somewhat instructive, is it not, that none of those numbers include the Royal Marines?”

“Of course, but a large part of that simply reflects the arm wrestling over the budget share. Even without factoring them in, I'd estimate that the Army’s Middle East projections are at least double what we need.”

“I think you see where I’m getting at. What I would like to see is a reappraisal of force requirements and planning across the board, with nothing being viewed as sacrosanct simply because it is what we've done for decades. It seems to me that at the moment, we're simply not getting enough value for our money or impact from our numbers. If we have an excellent strategic reserve force in Britain, why do we keep airborne and Royal Marine divisions in Egypt and Malaya?”

Pendragon paused to choose his words carefully. “In general, Prime Minister, the rationale for the forward deployed airborne divisions has been to react rapidly to regional crises, such as a repeat of Persia or a blow up in Africa.”

“And that is exactly the case that the Admiralty makes for having a full division with each fleet. Yet we’ve got the better part of 60,000 men up in Yorkshire and Scotland for the same mission. If we can cut that type of duplication of men, money and effort, then we open up the door for being able to do more.”

Or to cut them altogether. thought Pendragon. One of the bon mots he’d picked up in his initial briefings at the War Office and his flying visits to Alexandria and Singapore was that the Army brass didn’t regard the Soviets as their greatest threat, nor even the Royal Navy (although there was a substantial amount of vigorous competitiveness with the latter) but rather the Treasury. To that end, there had developed a distinct preference for keeping certain types of contingency forces such as the Paras and the Commandos deployed away from the British Isles where possible, else they raise the ire of bean counters by seemingly “sitting around”.

Yet his loyalty was to the man in front of him, the Party, the Crown and the British people, not his department. It did make a lot of sense, the more he thought about it. The consolidation of Imperial deployments into regional brigades had been supposed to deal with exactly the same issue, yet provided another level of what had been nobly intended as insurance of security but turned out as duplication of effort. There was also a very significant technological change occurring with the advent of supersonic air travel, whereby the prospect of flying troops to Singapore in under half a dozen hours was now on the cusp of being reality.

Balancing this up would be an interesting task.

“If we choose to go down that path, Prime Minister, we could save a great deal in money and effort, whilst also raising up some questions about whether we need the same force level that we do now. I see your earlier meaning on cut backs - it is and it isn’t.”

“A shame Herr Schrodinger is dead, Richard. We could get him to write the White Paper.”

..................................................

Stanley Barton looked down at his tea. That had gone as expected, really. Richard Pendragon was a solid enough fellow with a decent mind and had been able to make the right inferences and connections. To really push forward the Grand Design, and shore it up against competing priorities, there would need to be a comprehensive and bold White Paper. Bold, but not dangerously so, mind you.

The logic had been quite inescapable, though, and he was glad he was not the only one to see it, even if glad was perchance not the best word. He had come to office on the back of arguing for the expansion of the armed services and halting what he had criticised as unnecessary cuts. Now, as he sought to justify those steps, he instead found himself contemplating the opposite; cutting overall size and numbers to build up power and capacity. On the base level, it seemed to be a quite straightforward line of logic, leading towards cutting down some of the extraneous numbers around the edge as a first step: bring home the airborne divisions and Marines from permanent foreign deployments and perhaps reduce some of the Imperial brigades in favour of the central reserve. But that wouldn’t be the end; it never was. The next targets would then be the higher numbered infantry divisions, as they were simply carrying out a role that the newly returned forces could do, all quite logical. After that, the airborne and marines themselves would once more be a target, then the wasteful notion of having two expeditionary forces or entire divisions of Gurkhas. All of which would be true and would reduce spending, allowing more to focus on extremely agile and powerful forces. Salami tactics, he’d heard it called. Slice by slice. Once past a certain point, commitments would have to be reduced and abrogated and the legions would come home, firstly in a trickle and then faster and with more momentum.

Without meaning to do so, he would radically reduce the reach and weight of British power on Earth, for it was in the nature of the Empire as he saw it. It was not like the empires of old, where the heartland was all that mattered, nor the rapacious ones of the age of colonisation, where enrichment of the metropole drove the ravenous beast ever forward. No, this new empire had to be one of equality, of fairness, of the shared betterment of mankind, mutual benefit and mutual belief. It also had to be one with heartlands across the world, not confined to these islands, however sceptred they may be. If it combined those, then it could stand out fair and proud, combining the best of tradition and the best of modernity, secure in its place in the world, the mighty old lion and its fierce pride. This could then drive the world forward to the golden sunlit uplands of peace and freedom that had been his dream of the last twenty years.

To maintain the empire or Commonwealth or whatever it needed to be called, there had to be faith in its power and faith in its promise and promises. To keep that power, Britain needed to be able to punch well above its individual weight, use every advantage it had to the hilt and maintain belief.
If Australia and New Zealand didn’t see British forces ready to stand by them, then they would look elsewhere; if South Africa and Rhodesia didn’t see how they could benefit and flourish, then they similarly drift away. Most worryingly, if Canada and Newfoundland couldn’t see how continued membership of the Empire and Commonwealth made them richer, safer and greater, then there was an absolute likelihood that they would look to the south. The inner states of the Commonwealth, the old white Dominions, were the simplest cases - the vastly more complex matters would be India and Africa. In any case, they needed to be able to keep the promises made in all of the treaties and agreements, both public and secret, that had forged the modern alliance that made up the heart of the British Empire. If any of the Dominions called, then the motherland was honour bound to answer with fleets and men. This couldn’t be done if Britain looked to her own interests alone.

Thus, he had to cut as much as possible whilst also trying to not cut as much as possible. He had to reduce forces deployed to the Far East and Africa whilst crises brewed there that threatened the direct security of several Dominions. There were half a hundred contradictions inherent in the process ahead, which was one reason why it took rather more of his focus and thought away from the affairs of the nation at home than he’d prefer. Yet here was the opportunity to save both money and the bulk of necessary capabilities. It had to be taken and seen to be taken, yet not in a manner that emboldened Britain’s foes abroad and cast doubt into the hearts of her friends.

Barton saw his way forward through the warring objectives through several broad principles: reduce the cost of the Army but not reduce its nominal active strength; restructuring reserve plans and capabilities, with a reduction of 8 Territorial divisions; removing perceptions of duplication through introducing new capabilities; consolidating forward defence; exploring the reorganisation of long established structures; and engaging the Commonwealth for specific needs and agreements.

It all seemed rather clever as far as solutions to complex issues went, a sort of shell game of ideas. A good thing there were no major issues that would further complicate the process.

Apart from the war in Viet Nam, that is.

[jemhouston]

And when the unknow unknows pop up?

[Simon Darkshade]

That is touched upon in Return to Charlotteville.

The short answer is that if there is sufficient slack in the system, both in money and will; if those in charge have flexible mindsets; and if there is some sense of awareness, then there is to capacity to react and adapt in sufficient time.

[Simon Darkshade]

Notes on Parts 5 and 6

- There is a hint of some of the Wilsonian ideas of the 1960s, albeit in a different context and from a different political angle.

- The overall aim of the Grand Design is to reform revenue so that pensions and welfare can be raised and funded into the future on a sustainable basis, which will provide for some return through economic activity.

In terms of defence, there are several objectives:
- Free up extra budget 'space' for investment in R&D, emergent technology, rising costs and equipment
- Grow the economy so that a steady and sustainable percentage rate will mean that an additional portion of that cost can be covered; a 1975 GDP of 200 billion would mean a minimum defence budget of 15 billion at 7.5%
- Reducing costs that Britain must bear on its own, such as air force training (through the revived British Commonwealth Air Training Plan); land, sea and air equipment development (the joint Anglo-American-Commonwealth ASW frigate being the first example) and joint funding of facilities
- Invest more now when times are economically favourable rather than extend the schedule into a more nebulous future

Britain lags behind the capacity of the 'continental superpowers' - the USA, Soviet Union and China. The smallest of those has a population over 250% of that of Britain by itself, which gives a long term advantage insofar as one aspect of potential economic growth. Here, up until the late 1950s, Britain had the force multiplier of India and particularly the Indian Army.

However, Britain does have the 'inner Commonwealth' of Canada (+ Newfoundland and New Avalon), Australia (+ New Zealand) and South Africa (+ Rhodesia) which cooperates at a very close level economically, politically, militarily and strategically. Whilst the DE Commonwealth isn't anything like the stereotyped Imperial Federations seen in other cases, it is:
A.) A formal military and strategic alliance
B.) An economic union that is partway between a customs union and common market
C.) A political confederation coordinated by the Imperial Council and gradually integrated through the Imperial Parliament
D.) A combined scientific and technological group incorporating coordinated space and atomic energy research and development, among other key areas

- As the remaining Crown Colonies gain independence, the structure will shift to something more equitable with Britain as primus inter pares. It will also have different levels and circles of membership so that some nations can choose the level of their interaction and integration; this is particularly aimed at India. (From a broad authorial perspective, I've left India's status somewhat nebulous and subject to change and evolution to reflect a bit of realism and also to provide for some twists and turns in worldbuilding and unfolding stories.)

- One way that the issue of manpower, at least in a direct sense, is being approached is the development of the RAF as a broader Imperial force (similar to the Second World War model) and something similar with the Royal Navy. This entails opening recruitment to the Commonwealth as a whole as well as integrating the various national forces on an operational level. So far, this has taken the form of 'fleet units' and integrated tactical air forces in the Middle East and Far East.

- A few of the little Easter eggs embedded in the Cabinet:

Lord Blakeney: A descendant of Sir Percy Blakeney, the Scarlet Pimpernel
Adam Wainwright: Husband of Samantha Stewart from Foyle’s Was
Sir Andrew Morgan: Better known as Captain Andrew “Jet” Morgan from the 1950s BBC radio series Journey Into Space; somewhat extra ironic as his voice actor in @, Andrew Faulds, became a Labour MP in 1967

And of course

Lord Blair of Wigan Pier = George Orwell


- The Labour government under Barton is definitely to the right of Labour in @ in its social conservatism, with the leading “faction” associated with quite traditionalist trade unions and religious groups. They are still left on economics, though. The perception of social investment as lower importance is confined basically to Barton and his closest supporters and only in terms of ranking below Foreign Policy/Defence (1st) and Economic Growth (2nd). Even this is pretty contentious, but the reason he prioritises growth over immediate spending is that he wants to make it secure in the medium and long term.

The NHS is quite large and significant, but not quite with the same level of prestige/importance as in @ 1964, having equal top domestic billing with education. There is probably a larger private hospital sector than historical, but the overwhelming majority is public.

The TUC, whilst slightly less powerful given slightly smaller unionisation rates, is still a key player in Labour. After some fairly bloody infighting in the 1950s, the hard left unions/union leadership have mostly been pushed out of control of some of the major industries and there is a strong anti-Communist bent.

- What is being discussed regarding pulling the party into line is simply standard use of whipping powers on ~25-30 backbenchers who are known to be potentially wobbly. This will come through a combination of political bribery and coercion, blackmail and the other tactics of intimidation from the whips. Barton is keenly aware that his is a minority government.

C.) Callaghan is generally onside and is moving gradually away from the relative leftist position of his early career (just as in @), but to have him firmly in support would bring valuable numbers.

D.) Healey has been told he can pursue some general spending across the board up to 875 million, based on calculations about surpluses and windfalls, but also to pursue the formulation of a VAT among other reforms. Part of the aim here is to bring him onside if it works, or, if it attracts public disagreement, it reduces Healey’s power base and appeal as a potential rival from the right.


E.) In the time since the secret briefing, Barton had a look at some of the data from Lapcat and decided on:

- 3 top secret alternatives to the CGWHQ at Corsham, much deeper in something of a British equivalent to Cheyenne Mountain
- Some very large fallout shelter tunnels based along the lines of Switzerland
- Some works down in the Falklands
- A special vault in South Georgia or another location to preserve knowledge and seeds in the event of a catastrophe

1. “Reduce the cost of the Army but not reduce its nominal active strength”
- This would potentially entail keeping a certain number of divisions, but reduce their active numbers
- Pulling some units back to Britain
- Alternately, replacing two airborne divisions with the “active reserve” divisions
- Considering the wider use and deployment of African troops; something akin to the Attlee era discussions of a British African Army from @ may be a basis
- Full consideration of Gurkha options

2. “Reducing reserve plans and capabilities, with a reduction of 8 Territorial divisions”
- Disbanding at least 8 and possibly more of the TA divisions tasked with home defence
- Considering all options for the remainder of the TA, including whether all should be tasked with a BAOR/Field Army role
- Reconsidering some aspects of the merger of the Army Reserve and TA

3. “Removing perceptions of duplication through introducing new capabilities”
- 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th Infantry Divisions to be potentially reworked as mountain, motorised, jungle and airmobile

4. “Consolidating forward defence”
- Reducing dispersed dedicated garrisons in favour of regional brigades with mobility

5. “Exploring the reorganisation of long established structures”
- Considering the number of active corps and their composition
- This would occur in concert with the Canadian Army for the BAOR

6. “Engaging the Commonwealth for specific needs and agreements”
- Formalising some deployments as joint Commonwealth divisions


- Barton’s interest in military affairs comes from his own Army days as well as the circumstances of a rather more militarised country.
- He does find himself torn between economy and the political necessity of a strong military presence
- The BMF is essentially the force that was deployed to Egypt in the 1956 War; its change of role shows a shift in British priorities.
- The Middle Eastern force level is based very closely on the historical Anglo-American force level assessment for holding the Soviets in the event of WW3 in some early planning. It’s size is a throwback, then, to an earlier era of less lethal military technology. The type of force that could blunt any Soviet attack is a fair bit smaller, but there are a lot of different variables at play, such as tactical nuclear weapons, chemical warfare and the second generation of guided missiles and bombs.
- There is a sense that the Treasury is getting stronger.
- Supersonic aircraft transporting troops from a central reserve does promise to transform several questions of Imperial strategy.
- Barton’s musings lay out his quandary: go too far and embolden the enemy; don’t go far enough and cost will do part of that job.
- Without giving away some other details, Vietnam provides both a problem and a solution...

[jemhouston]

Have you used Lord Peter Death Bredon Wimsey? For some reason, he just popped into my mind.

[Simon Darkshade]

Not directly yet. His oeuvre is the 1920s-late 30s on account of being born in 1890, so by the 1960s, he’d be in the Lords.

There is enough common ground for him to feature in a pre WW2 story with a young Sir Charles Ratcliffe, but I need to finish the current stories on the go before starting anything new.

[Simon Darkshade]

A New Jerusalem Part 7

Whitehall
October 25th 1964

It had been a long night, but now, after a lengthy meeting of what he thought of as the de facto War Cabinet, there had been a full agreement on the Far East. British land forces in South Vietnam were to be doubled and the 9th Infantry Division would go to Australia to ward off Indonesian adventurism, the Far East Air Force was to be reinforced and two extra carrier task forces would be deployed to Singapore from the Mediterranean. The most contentious of these steps had been the increased ground troops in Indochina, but the decision to follow through fully with the commitments made under the Pacific Treaty was a clear matter of national honour. Just as in Korea, Britain also had a responsibility to stand for freedom and right against Communist aggression. Just as last time, this would be a war involving a veritable Imperial army, with forces not only from Britain and the Dominions, but also West African, Fijian, Ceylonese, Zulu, Iroquois, Gurkha and Sikh units. They would be needed, as this was a much larger war than any of the other brushfire conflicts that had flared up since 1956; the American military reports made for grim reading, speaking as they did about a five year war and a need for a minimum of 1 million troops.

Describing the whole region as a powder keg would have been understating its potential for escalation quite markedly. Even apart from Vietnam (not to mention the messes in Laos and Cambodia), they were in an undeclared shooting war with Indonesia in Borneo along with the uneasy stand off with Australia, Malaya was starting to brew up again, Burma had been a running sore since the war and Siam was facing a growing communist insurgency in its north. Farther afield, China was making increasingly threatening noises over Hong Kong and the Russians were trying to move into the Pacific in force. About the only bright spots were the steady recovery of unified Korea and Japan stepping up its share of regional defence, although the latter evokes mixed emotions from more than a few; old memories of the war died hard. Vietnam was the great crisis de jour, but for Barton, the more vexsome issue was that of Indonesia. It was the matter of it abutting at least three separate areas of immediate British interest - Borneo, Malaya and the southern front in addition to Sukarno building up the largest military force in the region. They could deploy over one million men under arms and had been receiving the most modern Soviet equipment hand over fist for the last decade, although they still lagged behind the collected Commonwealth forces. The presence of Soviet "advisors" and "volunteers" had been an extremely disturbing development that could potentially change that factor, along with their naval squadron. If Djakarta could not be handled firmly in order to deter further aggression, then it was one of the most volatile flashpoints that could set off a Third World War. There was some hope, though, in the unanimity of the stand of both the Commonwealth and the United States in defence of Australia; the murky situation of the rump Dutch possessions in Western New Guinea and the surrounding islands would take a bit more straightening out.

The Confrontation and Vietnam were just two of half a dozen problems across the world that they now had to face. In darkest Africa, the Congo was slipping bit by bit into utter chaos, abetted by the actions of various mercenary groups and Soviet backed guerillas. Something would have to be done, but at least the majority of Central Africa could be contained geographically due to the surrounding British and Portuguese possessions. Persia still simmered after the abortive uprising of a few years ago and presented many different challenges, but its economic importance as a source of petroleum made it an area of vital interest. To its west, something was brewing up in the Middle East again - that much was plain to all observers. It would really depend on how confident the Arabs would be as to their ability to outmaneuver Britain and the other outside powers with a stake in the region. The lessons of 1956 were fading somewhat and the shifting currents of world power and opinion made something on that level a very difficult measure to contemplate; failure would mean the loss of credibility and that would have disastrous flow-on effects.

That left Aden. Troubled, complex and increasingly bloody, yet sufficiently separated from any potential Soviet influence and intervention. The enemy was also fairly limited in numerical terms and there were distinctly different battlefronts in Aden proper and the hinterlands. This was a campaign that could be fought at a reasonably limited cost and intensity yet would clearly demonstrate the will and wherewithal of Britain to wage war. There were enough forces in the Sinai and Kenya to provide for a handy and very public reinforcement of the colony and some of the ship scheduled to deploy to the Far East could take part in a show of force operation to emphasise the power that the Empire could bring to bear. Up country, in the rough border terrain and interior deserts, they could really let their firepower do the talking in conjunction with a steady counter-insurgency campaign; Anderson had reportedly been keen on trying out some new barrier concepts. It did have some elements of a gamble to it, as the protracted French Battles of Algiers over the last few years had shown, but by escalating in a theatre of least risk, Barton aimed to dissuade any tests in more serious areas. He'd talk it over with Admiral Mountbatten in the morning.

However it seemed sometimes over these first few weeks of his premiership, the lot of the PM wasn’t just a matter of the defence of the realm, jostling over grand economic strategy and dealing with world crises. For every one of those, there had been three or four meetings, briefings or papers on far more mundane matters that nevertheless merited his attention. This wasn’t to say they were not of complexity, import or interest and the business of the morning and afternoon. First up had been the Ministry of Food and Agriculture’s report on national food production and self-sufficiency. It had been an article of vital necessity for Liberal, Conservative and now Labour governments since the war that Britain should be able to feed itself, thus removing the dangerous spectre of another submarine campaign in any future war. That it would also increase the health of Britons, benefit the balance of trade and save shipping space in the event of war or crisis was icing on the cake, although the issue of atomic warfare made the matter rather more complex and nebulous; in any event, agricultural self sufficiency was something Barton viewed as a net good.

Prior to the Second World War, it said, the country had imported 93 million tons of food, or 60% of its total requirements, requiring 52 million tons of shipping a year. A total of 35% of meat, 50% of cheese and sugar, 60% of fruits, corn and cereals and 75% of butter was imported - beef and mutton from Australasia, Canada, Argentina and Prydain, butter and cheese primarily from New Zealand and Australia, fruits and sugar from the West Indies, tea and rice from India and Ceylon and corn, wheat and barley from Canada, Australasia and Argentina. In the near two decades since victory, new farming methods, yield enchantments, improved crop strains, arcane fertilizers and substantial mechanisation had dramatically increased production of meat and dairy to the point where imports in each category had dropped by two thirds, whilst cereal production now narrowly exceeded needs and the huge advances in egg, pork, chicken and potato production during the war had been further built upon.

With continuation of current subsidies and investment in emerging technologies, the report claimed, Britain would be functionally self sufficient by 1970, with the obvious exceptions of tropical crops and tea. The impact of increased availability of cheaper and improved quality foodstuffs on national health and wellbeing had built upon the advances made during wartime rationing, particularly with regard to the expanded provision of wholesome school meals and free milk and orange juice for all children. In addition, the Ministry of Food had built up considerable stockpiles of food from surplus British and Commonwealth production over the last decade, which, although sometimes criticised as 'butter mountains', 'milk lakes' and 'grain seas', gave the country sufficient supplies for up to one and a half years in some categories whilst also allowing food aid to be distributed to some allied states. A separate proposal called for the increase of emergency food stocks preserved by arcane stasis in deep underground storage to provide for wartime rationing in the event of a protracted conflict, but that question would need a more fulsome consideration in Barton's view.

The Department of Fisheries had submitted its own subsidiary report, outlining the increased catch rates and growth in the fishing fleet to the 1963 level of 36,532,749 tons from the nation's 110,000 fishermen. Further rises were forecast over the next decade from very long range expeditions to the Southern and Pacific Oceans, although these would be subject to clear quotas set by the League of Nations International Fishing Commission. A recommendation by pelagic sorcerers and oceanic druids for careful utilisation of the North Atlantic cod fishery in light of estimated stocks was fair (sea)food for thought and Barton had decided to have the matter properly examined. The Icelanders had not presented any substantial disruption to British fishing in their waters since the business of several years ago, although the Department raised the issue of French, Belgian and Dutch attempts to move in on British waters in the Channel and the Lyonesse Sea and recommended redeployment of vessels from the Fishery Protection Squadrons to deal with the matter.

The business of food and fishing was quite straightforward compared with the Home Office’s general report. Thankfully, there were no truly egregious challenges to internal security either at present or on the immediate horizon, with only a minor fringe of Communist sympathisers, fellow travelers and a smattering of silly radicals showing up as issues for the Security Service and Special Branch. There had been some occasional attempts by the equally fringe racialists to stir up trouble regarding the small coloured immigrant populace from the West Indies, India and the Far East that was concentrated in London and the major cities, but they had been quickly cracked down upon by the police. In any event, the numbers of immigrants were sufficient small and stable that there wasn't a basis for escalation. General standing plans for the unlikely event of civil disorder on a scale of the prewar Continent were due for their regular five-year update, with a proposal for a phased four level reaction involving local police forces, Special Patrol Groups, the Royal Constabulary and, at Phase 4, the Army, as well as an update of the Riot Act. That there hadn't been any incidences of such since the Cable Street affair of 1936 did not mean that it would never occur again, but Barton viewed some of the items as less than necessary - in the light of advances in crowd control spells as used in the field in Egypt in 1956 and the use of police lions, there wasn't a burning requirement for 'water-cannons' or the use of tear gas. This was Britain after all, not France or Italy! Still, the spectre of an armed outrage by the likes of the International Revolutionary Army or some of the other anarchist or communist terrorist group did nag at him, particularly in light of the events of 1960 that had been revealed to him as part of his initial Prime Ministerial secret briefing. Perhaps there would be some utility to form a special Scotland Yard unit for even the most remote of contingencies, such as this Special Wizardry and Tactics team.

General crime had been on a downward trend for six years, averaging 370,000 a year across the United Kingdom, and violent crime in particular had taken a sharp decline with the introductions of geases and the new wave of scientific policing; he did think that general affluence and the emphasis on internal security in the face of foreign threats since 1956 might have something to do with it as well. After all, when a young man has a good job, a wife or sweetheart and a family to think about and a decent home, he is less likely to get caught up in crime. Even if he did, there was less opportunity to get away with it when there were a lot of eyes watching. Murders had slightly risen in 1963 to 103, but that seemed more of a temporary aberration than a definite trend that would get Pierrepoint and his fellows dramatically busier. One always had to remember to tack on those certain crimes covered by the Office of the Witchfinder General and the Church Police to the general Home Office statistics, but they didn’t amount to much more than a thousand cases. Barton felt that law and order had always been one of Labour’s strengths in his time as Leader and he was determined to be tough both on crime and the causes of crime.

All in all, it had been a busy day and now, even though it was now late in the evening, he felt he had earned a little reward for the deeds of the day. His wife would have long since retired to their bed in the upstairs apartment at Number 10, but one of his first little achievements as Prime Minister had been to arrange for the secondment of a night cook from the Cabinet Office, given his penchant for burning the midnight oil. Time for home and a nice steak or two before bed.

Maybe three.

But no more; he wasn’t that peckish.

[jemhouston]

Good plans, but man plans God laughs.

[Simon Darkshade]

As ever, this isn't quite going into a virgin and unknowable future, but provides the late 1964 context for everything that happens from 1965-1972 'downstream' in the timeline. (As an aside, it can get a bit 'interesting' keeping up multiple ideas/storylines/research threads going from the pre WW1 era through to the 1970s; sometimes, you can end up feeling like Billy Pilgrim )

So in a sense, it is a legitimate thing to say, but we do know that subsequently, these plans were not dashed on the rocks of necessity, but came through. Aden was delayed by Vietnam, but there was a crackdown there as detailed in the very short piece on Operation Castellan; Africa continues to be difficult, as seen in the Charlotteville stories; and the Vietnam War did take a high intensity commitment of over 1 million US troops and did follow the prediction of a 5 year war from 1965, culminating in the Armistice of February 22 1970.

In the second half of the piece, the plans are more localised in scale, dealing with food, fishing and law enforcement; I'd suggest those sections are far less vulnerable to the laughter of a deity.

[Simon Darkshade]

Notes from Part 7:

- The deployment of ground troops to Australia is largely a symbolic gesture, as any real Indonesian threat would be handled in the air and on/under the sea. However, it is in line with previous plans discussed in 1960
- Tensions in the Far East continue to climb with the whole region seemingly embroiled in various campaigns that are part of the broader general conflict
- Red Indonesia has a sizeable military force and it continues to grow
- The Congo is going to start to escalate further in the final years of the decade
- Aden offers an opportunity to demonstrate British power, resolution and basic ruthlessness. However, if that works in a short term perspective, it could well create some 'interesting' long term issues. It will see use of light, medium and heavy forces, although there isn’t much scope for the use of tanks or heavy artillery beyond the initial shock and awe phase
- One off-hand reference that I slipped in was the notion of multiple Battles of Algiers, rather than the single engagement from @
- Postwar Britain's drive towards self-sufficiency in food does come with some interesting political costs and consequences, but it very much driven by the spectre of the two U-Boat campaigns. For a variety of reasons, including some detailed in earlier entries, there is increasing attention paid to a protracted war
- Here, the butter mountains and milk lakes are not a function of EEC subsidies, but are Ministry of Food stores being directed towards overseas distribution and stockpiling
- The fishing fleet is substantially larger, even counting scaling for size, reflecting the role of Ireland, Lyonesse and the Faroes
- With smaller general patterns of immigration, there haven't been the same social issues that came as a result, at least not on the scale of @. No Notting Hill riots or some of the other notable postwar incidents
- Some parts of the updated plans for civil unrest come from consideration of some of the problems experienced on the Continent. There is a general preference for avoiding the use of tanks, given their increasing size and the damage they would cause to streets, in favour of wheeled armoured vehicles; that becomes one driver (forgive the pun) for the subsequent developments in that regard
- Police lions are intelligent, talking beasts that are rather larger than ordinary lions (6ft tall) that are rather effective in making unruly people on the streets reconsider their life choices
- Special Patrol Groups are used by other forces as well as the Met
- Special Wizardry and Tactics = SWAT
- Crime is quite low for social and cultural reasons in the first instance, rather than being a function of heavyhanded enforcement
- The Witchfinder General's Office is quite widely feared
- "Tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime"
- The reference to a cook seconded to Number 10 comes from Yes Prime Minister. One of Jim Hacker's first great achievements.
- The intended target Commonwealth force level for service in Vietnam was based around the idea of a reinforced British “division” built around 4-5 brigades (Royal Marines, Commandos, Airborne, Infantry) all with supporting tanks, artillery, armoured vehicles and RFC helicopter squadron; an reinforced Indian infantry division; an Anzac Division reinforced by a South Pacific brigade; a Canadian/New Avalon/Newfoundland/West Indian Division; a South African/Rhodesian/Kenyan/Zulu Division; one of either a Gurkha or Sikh Division or East African/West African Division rotated in from Malaya; and Ceylonese, Nepalese and a combined British Commonwealth SAS brigade. In practice, this will mean four deployed divisions in the 'corps area' and two in operational reserve


As a little bonus, an extract from some WW2 material:


“Preparations for rationing began in 1936, with the Board of Trade and the Ministry of Agriculture setting up a Food Plans Department. Printing of ration books began in 1938 as the war clouds gathered over Europe. Rationing in Britain was introduced at the outbreak of war in September 1939 for petrol, bacon, ham, butter and sugar. By mid 1941, it had extended to meat, margarine, tea, cheese, eggs, fats, jam, biscuits, cereals, milk, sweets, chocolate and canned and dried fruit. Fish were not rationed, but prices rose sharply prior to the introduction of price controls in early 1941. Imports of dried and salted cod and tinned sardine from Newfoundland and Iceland increased significantly under the auspices of the Ministry of Food. Sausages, game and offal were unrestricted. Bread, potatoes, oatmeal, fresh vegetables and fruit were not rationed and served as the basis of the national diet. Pregnant women, invalids and children received priority for fruit, orange juice, milk and eggs. Rationing extended to many non-food items, such as rubber, soap, clothing, furniture, tobacco, coal, electricity and gas.

Britons were issued with ration books containing coupons as well as a points system for various goods, with each person having 32 points every month.

Food Rations
24oz tea/week
8oz bacon/week
12oz fats/week
24 oz jam or 2lb marmalade/month
2lb meat/week
12oz cheese/week
12oz sugar/week
2 packets dried eggs/month
4 eggs/week
6 pints milk/week
24oz sweets/chocolate/month
1 tin of milk powder/month

Food on Points
Rice (6 points/lb)
Sultanas (6 points/lb)
Currants (12 points/lb)
Dry Biscuits (2 points/lb)
Sweet Biscuits (4 points/lb)
Rolled Oats (2 points/lb)
Sausage Meat (8 points/lb)
Chopped Ham (2 points/oz)

Sardines (1 point/tin)
Corned Beef (4 points/tin)
Salt Pork (6 points/tin)
Skimmed Milk (4 points/tin)
Baked Beans (1 point/tin)
Herrings (2 points/tin)
Stewed Steak (16 points/tin)
Salmon (24 points/tin)“

[Simon Darkshade]

A New Jerusalem Part 8

November 15th 1964
Remarks by Prime Minister Stanley Barton at the School of Oriental Studies

"It is not for nothing that we call the lands of the Near East, the most ancient in the story of man. These are the lands that have seen countless strife, the rise and fall of empires unnumbered and the greatest events of history. This is the site of the Garden of Eden, of the Great Flood, of the kingdom of Solomon and the birthplaces of Abraham and Mahomet. Here is the ground that Christ walked upon. The lands have been holy, but the wars that have wracked them have not been. For too long, this most ancient land of peace has been reduced to a waste by the callow designs of kings and emperors lost to time just as mighty Ozymandias is but a memory of a memory.

Yet now, in these last two decades, we have seen somethings new. Prosperity. The opportunity for the advancement of mankind. The desert blooming. Peace. These are gains that we should not and will not idly put aside. Here, in this part of God's Earth where three great faiths have collided and wrought centuries of blood, they coexist. This is something we should not and will not idly put aside.

We have seen the noble Arab peoples, so long held under the boots and sandles of conquering rulers from elsewhere, find their own destiny, rule their own sovereign great nations and unite in a union of peace and glory. In the ancient land between the two rivers, the fields grow where they have been desolate and fallow for millenia. The sons of the desert can now enjoy both the fruits of security and the wealth of their lands fairly and justly.

We have seen the Jewish people return to their ancient homeland and rebuild their own home for the first time in almost twenty centuries. In but a short time, a great nation has emerged, proud and free, standing alongside the cause of liberty in our troubled world. There has been peace and understanding where some would have sought war and because of that, the words written in the Book have come to pass and the deserts have bloomed. It has been shown that men can live together.

All this has come to pass not through the harsh and iron fist of domination, but through the protection of the British Empire. We have been a fair arbiter and judge and protector of the realms of the Levant, whatever their race, whatever their faith. When external powers and threats, such as the evil spectre of Communism that now menaces the whole world or the vileness of Nazism that has rightly been blasted into the ash heap of history, have tried to cast their loathsome shadow over these holy lands, our Empire has stood against them. We fought them and beat them then and we will do so again should ever they return.

The world is changing and our role is changing. Britain welcomes the new states of the Middle East to the ranks of the free as they grow now to their strength and maturity. Where once we lead and guided, we now walk together as equals and as allies. Yet this has been won with much pain, much treasure and much blood. We will continue to offer our hand in friendship and in protection.

We have peace in these lands. This is something we should not and will not idly put aside."

November 19th 1964
Universal Newsreel

"Once again, the spotlight of the world swings to Washington D.C. with the arrival of Britain's new Prime Minister, Stanley Barton, at Washington National Airport. The new PM has already been making a stir at home and this continued when he arrived in this country, flying into the capital on board his personal RAF Hawker-Siddeley Concord supersonic jet. There he is, accompanied by Mrs. Barton, Foreign Secretary Anthony Crosland and other key officials, coming down the red carpet to be met by Secretary of State Finch. The Prime Minister is also accompanied by the members of the Imperial Chiefs of Staff Committee who are scheduled to meet with their United States counterparts tomorrow.

(Instrumental interlude of God Save the Queen and The Star Spangled Banner)

After the anthems and review of the Presidential Guard, resplendent in their ceremonial uniforms, Mr. Barton spoke

"I thank you very much for your welcome. I look forward to the opportunity to further our mutual efforts for peace and security in the world today for all of our tomorrows. The bond of friendship between Britain and the United States is so strong that it may prove to be the foundation of that peace and that hope. Through understanding our common ties and our many differences, we shall all strive for the betterment of all mankind. There are no limits to our new horizons when we work together."

And now we see him being whisked away in his Rolls-Royce, accompanied by a grand motorcade of Scotland Yard and the Secret Service. All of us wish Mr. Barton well with his visit."

November 19th 1964
White House

Stanley Barton walked through the doors of the Oval Office after his host, the formal welcoming ceremony on the South Lawn now done. Protocol was protocol, however much he occasionally became impatient with it. Finally, they were seated and the business could begin.

“Prime Minister Barton, I’m very glad we could make time for this before the more public talks.”

“Of course, Mr. President. It is always good to address matters candidly.”

Kennedy smiled slightly internally. The briefing notes were not wrong on Barton’s ‘economy’.

“I was very pleased to receive news of your agreement with the previous proposals for strategic cooperation and your resolution to stand for freedom in South Vietnam. It shows that the United States has no truer friend than Great Britain.”

“Mr. President, it was quite simple and came down to two matters - national honour and national interest. You’ve stood by us when we needed you and we simply cannot allow the Far East to fall to communism. The red tide needs to be stopped and stopped dead.”

“Precisely, Mr. Barton. We’re going to need a lot more cooperation and leadership to get Europe in the best shape and position to present a united front against the Soviets.”

“I will of course provide whatever influence we can exert over France and Germany to that end. We have a great interest in maintaining a strong, stable and friendly Continent, after all.”

Not quite the response we were looking for, but I think he knows that...

“Have you had an opportunity to consider the proposal that Ambassador Acheson delivered last week?”

“Yes. Our position is broadly similar to the preceding government, with a couple of minor differences. Firstly, we will take part in an equal regional security pact, but will retain additional capabilities and forces beyond that; and secondly, any such agreement would not supersede our current commitments and undertakings towards various Middle Eastern states."

"That seems to be a bit more than a minor difference of opinion, Prime Minister."

"It is, Mr. President. We are willing to play along and even let others set the rules, but this isn't a game for us. I cannot forsee the circumstances whereby Britain would undergo quite such a radical change in our regional commitments and interests at this time. As I said to Mr. Acheson in our first meeting, I'm sure that, with mutual commitment, we can reach a just agreement for all parties."

"I see. We're going to have to work on it. You've been quite plain on where you stand and we also have our position which we have put plainly. I'm certain that we can come to a working arrangement, like in Africa."

"Nothing would please me more, Mr. President. We have so much that unites us, so that these little things, be they the Levant or some matters of trade protection, to pick out an example, should not hold us apart."

"Let's hope so, Prime Minister. Now, I do have something new to broach with you that we definitely won't be discussing at the Combined Chiefs later on. Moscow has reached out to us, through back channels as ever, in response to inquiries as to whether they would be willing to begins discussions on strategic nuclear arms control."

"That is most interesting news."

"There is an indication that they might be interested in the matter, but it came along with a few beginning caveats; the most relevant of those is that they would see such talks occurring on a bilateral basis."

"I'm sure you know that we couldn't go along with that, Mr. President."

"Naturally, naturally. It was just an opening gambit by them, and a transparent one at that."

"Quite transparent indeed. It is really quite a coincidence - I was just discussing the matter with Premier de Gaulle three days ago over the telephone. We both quite agreed that the Soviets would try and exert pressure using the British and French strategic arsenals as bargaining chips and that it was quite unworkable to do so, given our size, role and independence."

"Now that is most interesting news, Mr. Prime Minister."

"Not quite preternaturally prescient or anything like that; one of the Deuxième Bureau's chaps in Moscow got wind of some chatter and followed it up. Fascinating what comes out sometimes."

"Yes, well, suffice it to say, we won't be letting them go down that path. If they want negotiation, we'll do it from strength and without selling any of our friends up the river."

"Mr. President, I'd expect no less from yourself or your great nation, just as I fully expect you to beat the Russians out to Jupiter."

"Thank you. I'm hoping that when we do, we don't find a Union Jack there already!"

"I don't think that's particularly likely."

"A joke, Mr. Barton, a joke. Now, if you'll forgive me, we've got to wrap things up here, have some pictures taken and then break for some lunch."

"Oh dear, that is a worry."

"What do you mean?"

"I'd never heard you still had a problem with having pictures taken from the White House. I thought we were the last ones to give you trouble with that."

"Ah."

"A joke, Mr. President, a joke."

Will wonders never cease? thought President Kennedy.

...............................................................

“All up, it was fairly much as expected, Prime Minister.”

“Yes, I quite agree, Admiral. Try to impress the new chum with their bells and whistles and sheer darn scale, then go for the selling pitch. They tried the usual with you and our delegation?”

“A guided tour of the Deep Command Center. Three miles down and it still is more lavish than anything we can offer, what with full television links to Saigon, Paris and Hawaii.”

“Count yourself lucky, I only got to see the Big Board and tea in the Tank; I’m just the politician, after all. Secretary Savage was a most kind host, though.”

“Yes, Prime Minister. General Taylor was the nice guy, talking about the benefits to joint operations of equipment integration, whilst Admiral Anderson did make the moves we predicted regarding the Med, but his heart really didn’t seem in it.”

“I liked General LeMay. He was all business and very serious, as a man in his position should be.”

“He does have that effect, sir, although I think they were hoping you’d be a bit more disconcerted.”

“He doesn’t suffer fools, doesn’t feel it necessary to be loved and knows war from the sharp end. I can certainly relate to that. No nonsense and getting the dashed job done. They did their prep, I’ll grant you that.”

Mountbatten nodded thoughtfully. Whilst the last three Prime Ministers had seen active service in the Great War and Churchill had risen high in the Territorials beforehand, Barton was the first PM to have been a general in over a century

“In any event, they were pleased that we agreed to confirm the Phantom deal. Between us and the Canadians, that will be their biggest aircraft deal since the war. Any bite on the Excaliburs?”

“Not officially, but my offer to have a squadron come over for next year’s fleet exercise got the level of interest we thought. They are fairly much wed to the Vigilante and the F-111 for their naval strike role, though.”

“Our refusal to bite on the F-111 for the RAF isn’t popular, but it simply doesn’t fill a role for us. I know it is intentional, you needn’t belabour that point, but they must see that we can’t abandon the Thunderbolt, anymore than we can drop our future planes for their Five Xs.”

“Apart from the CXX, of course.”

“Yes, naturally, Admiral. You sold me on it quite well before the election. I still want us to keep the channels open and exchange what is appropriate on the fighter projects, but the Lion serves our purposes much better than their A-X. Do we know any details about it?”

“There’s not too much to know at this point, sir, beyond the basic parameters - twin engines, large payload, armour and a 40mm Gatling.”

“The cousins do have a taste for excess, don’t they? They have been quite clear on their quid pro quos - Phantom for Harrier seems a done deal, but F-111 for TSR-2, on the other hand, does not.”

“Quite the quandary, Prime Minister. There is of course the other option - the Navy.”

“Perhaps.” Acquiring the F-111 for the RNAS would be a powerful augmentation to the Buccaneer fleet, albeit at a cost to potential procurement of the Supermarine Excalibur in the heavy strike role. The British plane had better performance, but the F-111 had a slightly better range to offset it. It would solve part of their maritime strike issue, but at a deleterious cost to British producers.

“In any case, try and hammer it out at the Combined Chiefs of Staff meeting tomorrow. I’ll have another talk with President Kennedy to see what they say to an expansion of our Phantom purchase through an order from the Argentines; that might sway them.”

“Will Buenos Aires come to the game, Prime Minister?”

“I think they will. We can sweeten matters for them with some of our surplus light cruisers. Even if they prove reticent, we have the other avenue of the Free Poles.”

“With all due respect to our Polish allies, they really aren’t in a position where they can really sustain any force level much longer.”

“You’re right, but it would be impolitic to tell them such. As matters stand, we can continue our aid to the Polish Government in Exile ad infinitum; five fighter squadrons and their nominal field force can be sustained for a few more years?”

“Only really with difficulty, Prime Minister. Sustaining them through their diaspora and a tiny colony that is their in name only was a problem in ‘55, let alone ‘65.”

“You make a good point. I think that some hard decisions are coming, for us and the Poles alike.”

It was all a matter of priorities, Barton reflected. Those of the United States and the British Empire rarely aligned; indeed, it had been a long time goal of the former to see the latter disestablished and broken up for long periods of the near two centuries of America’s existence as an independent state. As much as they were tied together by bonds of shared heritage, history and common foes - and blood was thicker than water - their interests were distinct to the point of being parallel. It was his task, as it had been every Prime Minister since Joseph Chamberlain, to achieve the geometrically difficult task of drawing the parallel closer together without setting them on a course for collision and subsumption into a single line drawn by Washington.

There were important differences of strategy, with the USA being just as much a Pacific power as it was an Atlantic one and viewing the situation of Europe through the prism of their Western hemisphere detachment. Even their production focus was different, not least of which due to the sheer scale and power of their industry; at merely a little above peacetime rate, they turned out almost triple the number of tanks, planes and guns as Britain alone. This, in concert with their superb financial resources, made for an at times incomprehensible approach to some of the other European allies. Whatever their differences, though, there were key factors that kept America and Britain together and Barton aimed to work these as best as possible in his twin aims - to be indispensable and, as much as was possible, to be a respected equal.

[Simon Darkshade]

A New Jerusalem Part 9

Amesbury
November 29th 1964

It had been a busy few days for Stanley Barton since his return from his first Prime Ministerial overseas trip to North America. In addition to the conference, state dinner and meeting with President Kennedy in Washington, he had made a flying visit to Halifax to meet with Prime Ministers Sir William Richardson of Canada, Jack Steel of New Avalon, Edmund McDonald of the West Indies and Sir Nathaniel Hudson of Newfoundland. Steel had been his mercurial self, befitting his repute as the Empire’s most individual premier, whilst Hudson and McDonald were extremely keen on expanded military cooperation and Richardson quietly dominated affairs as was his usual want. The old term of British North America had mostly been confined to the history books when he was but a boy back before the war, but it certainly felt like it was alive and well as a power bloc within the Empire. With them inside for his defence plans, persuading the other Dominion leaders would be that much easier.

He’d thought that there would be something of a brief respite after the trip, but that had been put paid by a kerfuffle with the French over tariffs and a near miss on a strike by the London dockworkers; he had called up the union leadership and made sure they knew which side their bread was buttered. If the Port of London was to maintain its position as the world's greatest port with some 124 million tons of cargo, then it would require wage restraint and improved productivity whilst the dredging and modernisation projects made margins tight; the Board of Trade's Industrial Development Subcommittee had forecast some dire portents as the coastal coal trade started to decline, but adapting the docks to the new 'Londonsize' shipping containers could hopefully provide some degree of amelioration. In the long term, as ships became larger, it was inevitable that a certain volume of trade would head out to the deepwater ports on the Channel and North Sea, but the political importance of the dockland trade and workers (and their associated powerful unions and solidly Labour constituencies) made doing something about the issue an important factor for Barton to take into account.

As if that hadn't been enough fuss, then there had been a minor diplomatic incident with the dashed Spanish. A somewhat shady wizard residing in Salamanca had got into a spot of bother over ‘borrowing’ a grimoire from the restricted section of the University library, resulting in his apartment being raided by the Spanish Inquisition; he hadn’t expected them, apparently. They attempted to take the fellow into custody for their non-too delicate interrogation, a step which he disputed, leading to a confused pursuit through the nighttime skies to Gibraltar. Upon his arrival, he claimed protection as a British subject, even as the Spanish were demanding his extradition for trial and execution. It had taken almost an entire day of high level negotiations to stand the Spaniards down, which took an agreement on arms and military fuel exports and the news that the wizard in question had suddenly discovered a long hidden desire to study penguins in Antarctica for the next decade. Madrid had tried to tie in their long-running complaints about Gibraltar to the whole business, as ever, but they had got short shrift on the issue and had settled down once Hood had made a quick dash from Agadir.

After all that, it was somewhat pleasant to get out of London into the countryside and it had been a nice little flight out to RAF Boscombe Down. However, it was only somewhat pleasant, as his visit here was to attend a meeting of what was rather banally termed the Joint Supervisory Coordination and Cooperation Group, a term that was eschewed by most of those in the loop - they preferred to simply call it the Special Committee. It gathered together key representatives all of the disparate quasi-independent ‘specially-powered’ groups of the realm, as Sir Obo had put it. Having a combined body allowed the Government to coordinate actions and policies and essentially to ensure that everyone played along nicely on the same side. In addition to representatives from departments of the Crown such as the Ministry of Magic, the Royal Legion of Frontiersmen, the Rangers of the various kingdoms and the Office of the Witchfinder General, there was the Independent Wizardly Society, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the Ancient Order of Druids, the Templars, the Grand College of Bards, the Royal Guild of Alchemists, the Super League of Great Britain and a dozen other more obscure and obscurantist groups who drew lots to get a yearly seat. Their difficult nature was matched only by their collective power and capability. To be quite honest, Barton thought of the arrangement as rather a dog’s breakfast, although that had the quite admirable features of being healthful, appreciated by the dog and over much more bally quickly than this would be.

Oh, and they had to hold the blasted meetings at Stonehenge.

Naturally.

Less than five minutes drive later, they were there. Barton walked the last fifty yards up to the meeting table alone apart from Sir Obo, who flapped along next to him, whilst his bodyguards shadowed the pair discreetly. Already he could see the lines of others tramping through the grassy field toward the stone circle, following the elaborate protocol for the Special Committee. His security detail and the Wiltshire Constabulary had the general area covered quite comfortably, maintaining their outer protective pickets at a mile. Besides, with the fellows he’d be meeting up there, he would be safe enough.

Three men stood waiting for him just before the table

“Good morning, Prime Minister.”

“Good morning to you, Sir Charles. How was the Congo?”

“ Humid, complicated and extremely dangerous. Tarzan sends his regards, Obo.”

“I’ll have to thank him for his last fruit bowl; he really went out all the way this time.” ooked the Cabinet Secretary, beating his wings furiously as he hovered in place.

Barton turned to the other two men. “Saxon. Maturin. Glad to have you here for this.”

“Naturally, Prime Minister.” replied Dr. Stephen Maturin “The agenda is rather smaller than usual this year, which is a small blessing.”

His tall and stern companion scowled, his displeasure flashing through his ice blue eyes.

“I’d rather we dealt with all of that dross somewhere else and save this for more important matters.”

Barton looked the man in his eyes and nodded. Another reason why he liked Sir Thomas Saxon, Master of the Templars of England and Maleus Maleficarum, was that he had as much tolerance for nonsense and carry on as himself - not very much.
.................................

The opening throes of the meeting were thankfully swift and streamlined thanks to the efficiency of Sir Obo as secretary and the no-nonsense approach adopted by Dr. Maturin as chairman. Even through this short span of time, Barton could see how the various factions coalesced around their natural allies. The rangers and druids were together, as was to be expected, whilst the Templars and paladins were in close agreement on most business and cooperated, albeit at arm’s length, with the Witchfinder General’s man, a dark and brooding fellow named Ezekiel Cade. The bards had thrown their lot in with the alchemists and the Hermeticists, garnering some thunderously filthy looks from both of the Indies and the little old lady from the Union of the Cunning Folk. So far, there had been general of grudging agreement on maintenance of official lines of communication through the agency of the Committee and something called the Salmagundi Protocol, ratification of the exemption of registered independent magic users from prosecution and/or persecution by the Ministry and the WGO and unanimous endorsement of the updated secret addendum to the War Book.

Now came the hard part.

“Very good, ladies, gentlemen and talking beasts, we have two final items of business, both on behest of Her Majesty’s Government. Firstly, procedures for notification of relevant local authorities and police forces of any events, activities and operations of a supernatural or magical character greater than Level Three on the Hartnell-Dunsany Scale, as outlined in Appendix 9 and 3/4, Subsection 12A.”

This lead to immediate murmurs of discontent and flummering flabbergastation. Such a step would put Britain - Britain! - on the road to being on the level of some of the more interventionist and controlling governments overseas, rather than keeping to the traditional liberties that had been enjoyed for centuries.

“This is preposterous! A massive overstepping of traditional authority!” spluttered Professor Richard Naomhssen in gathering outrage.

“Now then, Prof. We’ve got to have rules, don’t we? Where would we be if we didn’t have any rules?” Maturin’s response was as cool as a very cool cucumber in Greenland, or perhaps as collected as a rather self assured marrow , depending on the extent of your views on the side psychology of salad vegetables.

“France.” came the almost sheepish reply from a dozen chastened voices.

“And where would we be if we had too many rules?”

“Germany.”

“Indeed. For those with quite natural misgivings, please note that there is no compulsory requirement for prior notification, so that it can occur up to 3 days afterwards, and that forms can be submitted by post or messenger bird.”

This definitely seemed to ameliorate the Committee, so Maturin moved on.

“Secondly, the Special Register is to be reestablished.”

Rather than spark outrage, there was instead a moment of profound silence as all eyes turned to the Prime Minister. This was the reason he had come and his time was now.

“I am aware that this is rightly viewed as a serious step. I know that it has not been done in peacetime since just before the last war. Then, just as we mustered our armies, turned our industries of peace to factories of death and called upon all of our scientific and technical minds to join together for their King and country, the Government also called on those British subjects whose special talents and blessings set them apart from the ordinary men and women on the street.

I am issuing that call again.

This is not due to any imminent threat of war, although war may come upon us at any moment, nor a grand crisis that wracks our nation and Empire. We need you all now, while we are at peace, so that we can not only prepare for war, but actively work to prevent it. We simply cannot wait for another 1939, another 1950, another 1956 or another 1960 before we do anything. We dare not.

I charge each and every one of you to answer the call, here at the place where the lines of the land come together. We need to use every chance, every group and every man and woman we have, together. The people of Britain, your countrymen need you. We’re not going to wait this time.

What say you?”

The silence hung heavily in the air for a long instant, constraining breath and hope. Then it was broken by a loud and united chorus of cries and pledges.

Good. Now the work could begin.

................................................................................................

Sitting around the table were men from all of the services, for each had their own particular elite specialist forces. There was Lieutenant-General Sir Lorington King, better known as ‘King of the Commandos’, the bluff veteran of more than three dozen raids in World War Two alone, and next to him General “Mad Jack” Churchill, who didn’t let his position as commander of the Special Forces Regiment or his advancing years keep him out of the field and that grand old man of British special operations forces, General Sir Robert Laycock. General Stirling and his deputy Brigadier Mayne were present, as befit the meeting’s location. Admiral Sir Miles Messervy, Director of Royal Naval Intelligence and Special Warfare, was a fearsome fellow with much to be fearsome about, quite the same as Air Vice-Marshal Lord Lissie, Head of Royal Air Force Intelligence and Special Operations, the dashing monocled architect of the ingenious extraction of Von Stalhein from Soviet captivity three years ago.

“I want four principles to be absolutely clear. Firstly, if we are to continue have the best special operations forces in the world, then we will need to pay for it. You do not have what amounts to a blank cheque, gentlemen, but you have a very large cheque nonetheless. I only ask that we get absolute value and absolute efficiency for our money. Secondly, our requirements are increasing and we need larger numbers, but we cannot afford to sacrifice quality in this process. How can this be achieved? I would like details and workable proposals. Thirdly, I won’t say you are the only arm of our Armed Forces and Security services that are not subject to scrutiny by Parliamentary committee, but you are the most significant one. That behoves keeping oversight in place through the most appropriate means.”

Prime Minister Stanley Barton paused. This was another meeting that was not officially taking place, given the natural secrecy attached to the special forces. He had insisted not only that it occur, though, but that he had an opportunity to come up here to Hereford to get a better sense of the situation. Britain’s special operations forces were organised into three tiers. At the base were the Commandos from all four services, dominated obviously by the eight active brigades of the Army. The Army Commandos’ major roles were direct action, raiding, infiltration, sabotage, scouting and global light infantry operations and the Royal Marine Commandos were broadly similar, albeit with a particular amphibious focus, whilst the Royal Naval Commandos focused on combat diving, amphibious reconnaissance, underwater demolitions and maritime warfare and the Royal Air Force Commandos on reconnaissance, aerodrome assault, search and rescue, pathfinding, tactical forward air control and special strike operations.

On the middle tier was the Special Forces Regiment and the three specialist groups of the Army - the Long Range Desert Group, Long Range Jungle Group and Long Range Strike Group and the Royal Marines Assault Force. The latter was a child of the Korean War, where the deployed Royal Marine division would deploy several company strength long range penetration groups operating behind enemy lines; their current role was somewhat nebulous, including but not limited to special reconnaissance, riverine warfare and counter insurgency. The last was the meat and bread of the Special Forces Regiment, the direct descendants of the illustrious Chindits of the Burma, Siam and Indochina campaigns. Their primary mission was unconventional operations, counter insurgency, brushfire operations and guerrilla warfare; their commanders and supporters had been quite adamant that theirs was a very different mission than their American namesakes, driven more by their Empire mission in Africa and Asia.

At the pinnacle stood the SAS, the elite of the elite, and the secretive SBS. Selected from the chosen few who made it through the most gruelling selection process in the world, the Special Air Service then trained its men in combat, survival and reconnaissance to a razor sharp readiness and proficiency. For every 100 men that began selection, only 4 made it through to be part of the ultimate force. Their specialities had grown from the wartime beginnings in the Desert War of North Africa and, whilst they were still the premier long range special reconnaissance and behind enemy lines destruction force, they focussed further upon counter-revolutionary warfare, guerrilla warfare, close-quarter battle, special protection, precision raiding and clandestine intelligence gathering. Their counterparts from the Naval Service were just as deadly, but more clandestine and less well known, having carved out their own maritime niche of operations in the shadowy conflicts that had beset the world for the last two decades. Both regiments were the best that Britain could count upon in this epoch of war in peace.

“Finally, chaps, I want to emphasise that you represent what I see as the way forward. We are going to take to Cabinet a proposal to elevate Combined Operations back to its wartime status as a separate unified command responsible directly to the Chiefs of Staff Committee, combining the Army’s Special Forces Command, RAF Special Duties Force and the Naval Special Operations. I would like to see us develop our capabilities from all forces to operate together at maximum efficiency. That will entail a unified command structure. Field Marshal Wingate, I can think of no one more suited to the role than yourself.”

The slight, grizzled figure seated opposite Barton shook his head. “I’m too old, Prime Minister.”

“Not so far gone that you can’t perform this last service, I think. Two years, three tops, to get the new system running properly, and then you can hand over to new blood. We need a steady and experienced hand to get things running shipshape; your men are to be the point of the sword of the British Empire and that sword is going to war. It is your duty and you are needed.”

“You express the matter most vigorously, Prime Minister, as ever.” began Sir Richard Pendragon. “We do have a need for experience to coordinate our programmes for expansion and the needs of the military situation in the Far East, which will draw upon all three services. As outlined in the briefing paper, we will be deploying a Combined Operations headquarters to coordinate the anticipated RN squadron, RAF composite wing and ground forces, in addition to the other major elements - the joint Commonwealth Special Forces Brigade and an expanded new Gurkha field force.”

Barton nodded approvingly. The integration of Commonwealth special forces into a single unified command structure had been a tantalising prospect raised in 1956, but set aside due to the exigencies of national control. Now, with a new major war, the forces of Britain and the Commonwealth Dominions would once again be operating under a single command. If it were to prove successful, then there would be greater scope for more ambitious plans…

“Well, Prime Minister, if you do want some concrete proposals, there are some issues of armament that can be addressed immediately; my apologies to the Navy and Air Force chaps, but this is limited to our land based forces.”

“Put together a report, General Stirling, by all means.”

“I can do better. I’ve got our chief armourer, Captain Quirinus Quatermain, waiting outside.”

“Bring him in then.” Barton brightened at the prospect of discussing weaponry, as ever.

A tall, thin officer entered the conference roomafter Stirling pressed his buzzer and saluted smartly.

“At ease, Captain. How’s your great-grandfather?”

“Enjoying the Serengeti, sir.”

“He’s earned it. Now, let’s hear about what you chaps need.”

“There are a number of requirements for specialist weapons, sir. We are well supplied with our standard assault rifle for most roles, but there is a clear need for a new submachine gun/carbine for close quarter battle and similar operations. The Uzi is a fine enough weapon, but has its limitations in range and accuracy and will be two decades old in a few years.There is a very promising gun under development by Heckler and Koch in Germany that fulfils certain of our requirements.”

“Which of them doesn’t it fulfil?”

“The calibre, sir. Jerry is quite attached to his 9mm Luger, as really is most of the Continent. Our preference is for a round with higher velocity and stopping power. The good old .455 Webley doesn’t quite get the job done, nor does the American .45. The boffins at Enfield and Browning are working on a number of options for rounds with better ballistics than the Webley and more stopping power than the European 9mm options.”

“Interesting. This would also play into our requirement for a modern combat pistol.”

“True enough, Prime Minister, although we have been happy enough with the Browning in that regard.”

“If we go in for a penny, we might as well go in for a pound.”Barton knew that all of the armed service had a requirement for a new pistol and this was shared by several of the Commonwealth militaries and police forces. The potential number of orders would easily run to over one and a half millions, even taking into account the role of the new Uzi as a personal defence gun for tank crew, carrier drivers and the Royal Mining and Tunneling Corps. All well and good.

“What else?”

“Precision firepower, sir. Our sniper rifles are still based on the old SMLE and are in need of a replacement. Our preference is for something that can outshoot the Soviet Dragunov in all major respects, based on our encounters with it on the North West Frontier.”

“That would have a lot of useful crossover to the rest of the forces, so it can definitely be catered for.”

“Very good. Armstrong-Whitworth have a very promising developmental rifle that fits many of our purposes. Apart from that, we would only have general procurement items - more light machine guns, multiple grenade launchers, anti tank rifles and so forth.”

“You’ll get all of that and anything more besides. General, work out what you need and in what amount. We will give you the tools; you’ll do the job.”

[jemhouston]

Solid spade work for a good foundation.