Pandit Nehru burst out laughing; the rest of the meeting looked slightly shocked. He flushed slightly and put his hand to his mouth before speaking. “I do most sincerely apologize. It is something I find most amusing; to discover that the same petty consideration that concern us in running a party at ground level are also important when considering the great affairs of international politics.”
“Please don’t tell everybody that.” Lord Linlithgow had to admit Nehru had a point. “We do try to keep such things a secret. Maintaining public confidence and all that.”
“You holding up, sir?”
Alleyne looked over at his passenger. Sir Wilfred Freeman was white-faced with shock but holding on. A .50-cal bullet from a Fiat CR.42 had struck him in the shoulder during one of the brief battles that had taken place over the last four hours. Fortunately, the bullet had been at the end of its course. It had been fired from long range and, by the time it had penetrated the cockpit of the Sunderland, it had lost nearly all its energy. Sir Wilfred had a bandage wrapped around him and his arm was in a sling. That was the best that could be done for him under the circumstances.
His condition was symptomatic of the formation as a whole. The Italian attacks had been incessant. Although each individual wave had done little damage, the cumulative effects were mounting. One Sunderland was streaming white smoke from a crippled engine. Others were reporting wounded and a handful of dead amongst their passengers and crew. The Australian Sunderlands had fought the attacks off; the G-class boats in the middle of the formation had remained untouched. That was the good news. The bad news was that the formations of Italian fighters showed no signs of giving up the battle.
“Don’t worry about me, my boy. I’ve had worse than this.” Freeman’s voice belied his words. It was unsteady, quavering slightly. “Italians don’t seem to press their attacks, do they?”
“They don’t quite know what to make of us.” Alleyne was still scanning the sky, keeping a lookout for the next group of enemies. “They’ve never come across aircraft this heavily armed before. They’re learning fast, though. They’ve stopped trying to close in and are trying to pick us off from long range. It’s working, too; they’re wearing us down, bit by bit. And we’re beginning to run low on ammunition. Once the turrets run out, it’ll get bad.”
“I said 500 rounds per gun wasn’t enough.” Freeman sounded bitter.
“I wanted at least a thousand; preferably twice that. The endurance of a bomber isn’t measured by its range, but how long it can keep its defensive fire up. We would have had the extra ammunition too, if only we’d had just a few weeks more…”
That seems to be the unending anthem, thought Alleyne. Just a few weeks more and we’d have had the new tanks, the new aircraft, the new ships. Just a little more time and we’d have turned the whole situation around. We’d have stalled the Nazis and settled in for the long term. But Halifax and Butler made sure than we never got that time.
“There they are, Squadron Leader. High and two o’clock.” It might have been twenty years since Freeman had flown with the Royal Flying Corps, but he still had pilot’s eyes and had seen the dark shapes of another group of Italian fighters.
“Six of them.” Alleyne grunted. “We can handle that. If they came at us in mass, we’d be in trouble.”
“Now there’s a sore point.” Freeman laughed, then gasped as the effort hurt his shoulder. “Fighter Command were having a major battle over just that issue when everything went to hell. Dowding in the South favored small squadrons operating independently because they could react faster; Leigh-Mallory in the Midlands favored big wings of three or more squadrons operating together to give coordinated blows. I suppose we’ll never find out who was right now.”
Despite the rank of the man in the co-pilot’s seat, Alleyne was barely listening to him. The next group of Italian fighters were firing from extreme range. Their tracers seemed to drift across the sky. Alleyne started a gentle weaving to throw the enemy pilot’s aim off. It worked. Most of the tracers never came close to his aircraft. “Standing off at long range doesn’t seem to work either.”
“Fire control. What determines range isn’t the performance of the guns, it’s the capability of the gun sights, and they’re just barely able to handle .303 machine guns. Expecting heavier guns to outrange lighter ones is futile until everybody gets better gunsights.”
“If we can just hold out a bit longer, we’ll be fine.” Alleyne was worried about Freeman; the man was visibly weakening. “We’re nearly out of fighter range now. Just a few more minutes, and it’s a clear run to Alexandria.”
Chapter Seven
EXCHANGES OF PREJUDICE
“Monsieur, this is an outrage.”
“I think not.” Secretary of State Cordell Hull was at his most diplomatic. “The President has made it abundantly clear that the policy of this administration is to support in every way practicable those countries which are defending themselves against aggression. It is our firm conviction that only by defeat of the powers now controlling the destiny of Germany can the world live in liberty, peace and prosperity; that civilization cannot progress with a return to totalitarianism.
“We have been much perturbed by reports indicating that resources of France are being placed at the disposal of Germany in a measure beyond that positively required by the terms of the armistice agreement. I have reason to believe that, aside from the selfish interests of individuals, there is unrequired governmental cooperation with Germany motivated by a belief in the inevitableness of a German victory and ultimate benefit to France. For this reason, we cannot allow some of our most modern warplanes to be delivered to France. At the very least, doing so will allow the enemies of civilization to assess those aircraft and determine their strengths and weaknesses. At worst, we may find those very aircraft being used against us.
“We cannot, in conscience, deliver these aircraft. So, we are refunding, in full, the cost of those aircraft to you. France will not suffer from this; the money will be added to the reserves of gold maintained by France and we will invest it for you to achieve the best possible return on those investments. When this war is over, your funds will be available, supplemented by the profits made on your behalf by our most able financiers.”
Monsieur Herve Alphand, Ambassador of the Republic of France, could find little to say in response. The truth of the matter was that he could see the American point of view on this, while his own sympathies were not in accord with the position adopted by Marshal Petain in Vichy. Yet he was obliged to represent their opinions. He settled on a course that turned the old principle of damning with faint praise on its head. Instead, he would praise with faint damnation. “May I know how your banks will invest those funds?”
Hull spread his hands in regret. “Monsieur, the banks in this country are independent entities. They do not tell us how they invest our money; why should they tell us how they invest yours? But, be assured, they will seek the highest returns commensurate with prudent investment practice.”
Alphand recognized that there was no more to be said on the matter.
“On another matter, Monsieur Hull, may we expect food exports from the United States to France to resume?”
Hull sighed. “The hearts of the American people go out to the people of France in their distress. As you are aware, we are continuing our efforts to arrange for the forwarding, through the Red Cross, of medical supplies and also tinned or powdered milk for children in the unoccupied regions of France. Nevertheless, the primary interest of the American people, and an interest which overshadows all else at the moment, is to see a resistance to Germany continued. The American people are therefore unwilling to take any measure which in the slightest degree will prejudice such resistance. Before the American people would be willing to permit the shipment of food to France, it would be necessary that the American people be convinced that such action would not in the slightest assist Germany. I must add that the same considerations are applied to exports to Great Britain.”