A New Hope

From Old to New

                                                                             French Guiana

                                                                           Port of Cayenne

                                                                            March 24th, 1942

                                                                                 1200 hours

                                                                     Operation Eagle Kralle

                                                                     (Operation Eagle's Claw)

Seagulls cry overhead as Vizeadmiral Hans Dönitz completes one last inspection over his invasion fleet. "This is it," the 30 year old naval officer thinks as he stands on his fleet flagship, the aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin. "The largest invasion fleet ever assembled since the Mongolian invasion of Japan. Five heavy cruisers, the Blücher II, Admiral Raeder, the Admiral Hipper, the Deutschland and the Admiral Scheer. Two battleships, a prototype H-class the Deutscherstolz and a sister ship to the Bismarck, the Holstein. Four Light Cruisers, the Emden, Köningsberg, Karlsruhe, and Köln. Eight destroyers, the Leberecht Maas, Georg Thiele, Max Schultz, Richard Beitzen, Paul Jacobi, Theodor Riedel, Hans Lody, and the Z23. Along with ten troop transport ships carrying one hundred thousand men, ten cargo ships carrying tanks, field pieces, and trucks, twelve supply ships loaded with everything the men and crew will need, and two tankers for the ships."

He strides across the flight deck, passing the dark gray JU-52's being prepped. "Karl," he says to his aid approaching him. "Gather the commanders of the ground forces and the ship captains and have them meet me in the briefing room to go over the plan."

"Yes, Vizeadmiral Dönitz." he replies, and hurries off to the radio room.

Vizeadmiral Dönitz proceeds to the briefing room, passing sailors and pilots on his way, saluting as he passes.

He enters the briefing room and makes his way over to the safe in the corner of the room. He swiftly enters the combination and pulls out a manilla folder.

It is as he is pulling them out that Karl enters, along with the commanders of the 126th, 319th, 711th, and the 715th infantry divisions: Generalmajor's Von Steuben, Schmidt, Bäcker, and Petersen, along with the commander of the 28th Panzer division, Generalmajor Schneider, and the commander of the 12th Fallschirmjäger division, Generalmajor Luger, and the captains of the ships Blücher II, Admiral Raeder, Admiral Hipper, Deutschland, Admiral Scheer, Emden, Köningsberg, Karlsruhe, Köln, Leberecht Maas, Georg Thiele, Max Schultz, Richard Beitzen, Paul Jacobi, Theodor Riedel, Hans Lody, Z23, Deutsche Stolz, Holstein, and the Graf Zeppelin: Captains Teller, Ulmer, Fischler, Ochsner, Schaus, Heffelfinger, Weindorf, Schaber, Weinberg, Leob, Hantzsch, Muff, Nothnagel, Essig, Kornberg, Kuntz, Schwertfeger, Wagenseil, Roehr, and Hennig.

He turns around as the last man comes in and says, "Alright men, it is time to go over the plan. In two days', time we will be in flying range with the Ju-52s. Our mission is the invasion of America, and the target city is Tampa Bay." He paused, taking a breath "The reason for this is it has a port that can be used by our Kriegsmarine, and it is the location of a U.S. Army Air Corps training base that can be used by our planes once taken over by our Fallschirmjäger units. With the Fallschirmjäger's in control of both the airfield and the port we can get the troop transports and supply ships in and unload the men and supplies to hold the town and gain a foothold here in the United States, and possibly distract them long enough for command to send more men and supplies to completely take the state of Florida and put it under the control of the Reich." He looks around "Any questions men?" No one answered. He shook his head in acknowledgment "Very well," he said "in thirty minutes we cast anchors away and make a heading for America."