29th October 1944
We return to Bratislava where things have been quiet, too quiet for Tiso and Tuka's liking. The easily fatigable duo are in the Supreme Command Shed when a buzz goes through the assembled staff officers, there is news from the west!
General Kubela had drawn the short straw and walked over to Tiso and Tuka to explain the news.
"General Juranec is pleased to announce he has arrived in Clermont and rallied his division there." Kubela announced.
"And that was what all the fuss was about?" Tuka tried raising an eyebrow, but instead contorted his face terribly.
"Not quite." Kubela tried, and failed, to keep his mind on the briefing.
"So what was it then?" Tiso asked, resolutely not looking at his colleague.
"When Juranec arrived he was attacked by the Canadians." General Malar joined the briefing, giving time for his colleague to recover.
That's quite a warm welcome, the 2nd (Slovak) (Division) have only just finished retreating to Clermont. Still ,at least they weren't overrun like the 1st (Original and Best) Division were in Italy.
"We did think he had a chance of holding them off." Kubela admitted.
"Despite the Canadians having those terrifyingly modern tanks?" Tiso scoffed.
"Yes, because the Canadians were led by General Kitching and he is an utter liability. He attacked at night, during a massive storm and with nor preparation." Kubela explained.
Napoleon never said "Don't ask if a general is skilful, ask if is he lucky." Neither did Cardinal Mazarin, but Mazarin did say something remarkable similar in French. Juranec is once again facing the very worst General that the enemy has to offer, so is clearly very lucky.
"And?" Tiso prompted.
Worried that Tuka would try to raise his eyebrow again, with terrible consequences, Kublea rushed to explain.
"It turns out that even an utterly useless General can win if the enemy is utterly disorganised and doesn't have a weapon capable of hurting his tanks."
"We couldn't even hurt those Canadians?!" Tuka screamed.
"Well we could of called them rude names, said nasty things about maple syrup or pointed out how silly ice hockey is." Malar offered.
"But we couldn't actually do anything about their Comet tanks." Kubela added.
For all Juranec's luck he wasn't actually any good and so still lost. In hindsight the fact it was French figures promoting this luck based general selection system should have been a warning.
"Juranec has started retreating again, he will let us know when he gets to his destination." Kubela finished the briefing.
While Tuka loudly discussed the failings of the Slovak army's anti-tank doctrine, starting with the fact it hadn't got one, Tiso reflected that, in the absence of any decent anti-tank weapons, it didn't really matter. Pleased to have solved that problem, he reached for his hipflask.
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Notes:
In OTL Major General Kitching was commander of 4th Canadian Armoured Division. He had a bad Normandy Campaign, cocked up his part of the Falaise Pocket and ended up being sacked. He's definitely one of the worst Canadian generals and I couldn't find anyone who jumped out as worst. After facing the worst US general of the war (Gerhardt), Juranec is once again facing the worst (as in not very good) the enemy can throw at him.