“Also, sir…” Thorne continued, “…despite these aircraft’s great technological superiority, a sufficient number of conventional Luftwaffe fighters would still be able to overwhelm and destroy them. With a combat wing of either aircraft type we might defend England quite comfortably — provided the support systems were available, which they’re not — but two aircraft would at best prolong the inevitable…and not prolong it all that much. It’d be a terrible waste of those aircraft to lose them in such a futile gesture.”
“What do you suggest we do then?” The King asked that simple question, drawing all attention to him immediately.
“For that answer, I’ll pass you over to our resident weapons and engineering expert — Commander Eileen Donelson. Commander…”
Eileen had spent her entire adult life in the service of the Royal Navy, and during that time she’d studied extensively in the fields of engineering, mechanics and design. Her speciality was military hardware of all types, and there were few people of either gender who knew their stuff better. That fact was well known to Thorne, and he’d been a very close friend for some time. It’d been Thorne who’d personally demanded her inclusion on the Hindsight team.
The appearance of a woman in full naval uniform — not that of the WRNS (the Women’s Royal Naval Service) — had initially created mild interest among the men, particularly Tovey, but Donelson had consciously ignored it. Even in her era she’d been accustomed to some degree of discrimination lingering within the armed forces, and she’d been fully briefed on what to expect regarding attitudes to women in general in the 1940s.
“Gentlemen…” she began seriously in her Glasgow accent, ignoring the almost derisive expressions that momentarily spread across some of their faces. “As Mister Thorne here has already told you, my name is Commander Eileen Donelson. You may all be a little surprised at my uniform, so allow me to explain. In my era, women in the armed forces of the United Kingdom — as in many other ‘First World’ countries — are expected to serve in exactly the same roles as their male counterparts. We serve in combat situations and operate at every level as would any man. At the point in which we left the Twenty-First Century, women fly combat aircraft. One is executive officer on the carrier Illustrious. I can assure you, gentlemen, that I can perform the duties as well as any equivalent male in the Royal Navy, if not better.” Her prepared, ‘equality speech’ delivered, she got down to business before the shock wore off and they began throwing questions at her.
“Your Majesty, Mister Prime Minister, gentlemen…we’ve a very serious problem confronting us in regard to defence against probable invasion of Great Britain. As Mister Thorne’s pointed out, it’s unlikely we’ll be able to prevent the Germans landing on English soil. I’d also point out to you that should the Wehrmacht establish a solid beachhead anywhere on the English coast, there’s very little chance Britain could be saved from being conquered utterly.” This statement caused something of a small uproar among the military men as they voiced their disapproval of the words simultaneously. Only the Prime Minister and the King remained silent, both watchful and deep in thought.
“Gentlemen, please!” Donelson continued with a confident firmness that didn’t go unnoticed by Churchill or Edward. “As unpleasant as the idea is, all of you must accept the strength of the German War Machine. The total destruction of the French and the capture of Lord Gort’s forces at Dunkirk should be evidence enough. If they do come, all we can hope to do is prolong the inevitable as long as possible, and give them a damned good bloody nose in the process!”
“Exactly how do you suggest we do that, my dear?”
“Mister Prime Minister, in the cargo hold of one of those aircraft out there is a device known as a computer. If none of you are aware what that is — and that’s more than likely — then I’ll explain. The Oxford Dictionary of our time defines a computer as an ‘automatic electronic apparatus for making calculations or controlling operations that are expressible in numerical or logical terms’. What they actually do with varying degrees of capability and efficiency is process commands and information at speeds far beyond the abilities of human beings. They can’t make decisions, but when given a set of parameters within which to operate and sufficient information, they can work out all kinds of mathematical and logical problems in a fraction of the time it takes people to do the same task. The one we’ve got in the cargo hold out there is basically a repository for a huge amount of technical data.
“We’d originally hoped to arrive in your time just before the New Eagles in order to intercept them prior to them making contact with the Nazis here, but it’s turned out this hasn’t been possible. As a contingency plan to counter this exact eventuality, we’ve been provided with selected pieces of technical information — basically blueprints and plans of key pieces of technology — and have them stored on the hard drives of our computer. It’s kind of a scaled-down version of what the New Eagles will have done for the Germans, although we believe they also took back quite a number of actual examples, something that would’ve sped up the development process substantially in some areas. Some of us believe we’re wasting our time here, and that we should relocate immediately to somewhere safe, but a few others, myself included, feel differently about that. If the Nazis give us a bit o’ time, gentlemen — enough time to get a few bits and pieces into production — then we might be able to do a fair job of slowing ‘em down a little.”
“Might we ask what sorts of ‘bits and pieces’?” General Dill was beginning to warm to the subject.
“Gentlemen… no doubt you’ve already heard reports from the French, and your own forces in France regarding the German infantry’s use of a new type of rifle. We believe these sturmgewehrs — assault rifles –Nick has told us about here are definitely a development based on technology from our era. Infantry units equipped with these types of weapons would be able to lay down huge amounts of fire, far in excess of that of the existing British Army’s squad-level Lee Enfield rifle and Bren Gun combination.”
She paused, then directed a question to none of the men in particular. “You’ve all perhaps noticed the unusual looking rifles one or two of our men near the aircraft were carrying?” They all nodded. “Those weapons are of a type known as a Kalashnikov AKM, and were originally a design of the Soviet Union from the late 1940s. The weapon weighs less than a Number Four rifle when fully loaded, carries 30 rounds of thirty-calibre ammunition, and can fire either single shots or fully-automatic at a rate of 600 rounds per minute. It’s also a weapon that can be manufactured much easier and faster than a Lee Enfield. As I understand it, Brigadier Alpert has already been working with the Enfield Arsenal regarding the production of prototypes and ammunition, and we should have operational units in the field within a month or two.