Chapter 287
The guide from the People's Ministry of Education was droning on about the Battle of Seattle. Felix was listening intently. He had read every account of the Civil War that he had been able to get his hands on and was looking forward to how the Reds spun the thing, as the truth was probably somewhere inbetween. If anything there were several rather accurate accounts of the Battle of Seattle. The Canadians had kept a close watch on that and more than one desperate refugee had been fished out of Puget Sound by the Canadian Navy and Coast Guard. They had spent a two days at the proving grounds and watched as the Americans exercised their tanks. The Candian tankies had remarked that while the tactics were somewhat outdated they were well executed, better than many had expected. Now they were to 'inspect' the American Naval base up there, but would first tour some of the old defence perimeter. Ian and Felix were beginning to feel the impatience that was so bad in their profession but that neither could really shake, as nothing even closely to an attempted contact had happened.
“The remnants of six Loyalist Divisions were bunched up in the perimeter, faced by the same number of units of the Liberation Army.” the guide said, “but the Artillery belonging to the Washington National Guard and the availability of supplies in Seattle from these very same stores allowed the Loyalist forces to maintain a strong defence against the Liberation Army. Also the use of unvoluntary recruitment among the progressive population of Seattle and the last aircraft of the US Army Air Corps that were still operational.”
Nothing new here either, Felix decided. At that time the aviation Industry in the belt around the Great Lakes had only just begun to work again and the air forces on both sides were extremely depleted.
He blended out the remainder of the Guide's ramble and instead looked at the positions they were observing then. He was a Naval Officer by profession but he knew enough about the history of Trench warfare to know that these had been constructed by someone who had known what he was doing. His father had been with the Cavalry during World War One and thus almost missed the AEF's service in France but transferred to the Military Police and thus been one of the few mounted American Soldiers on that particular front.
Enough of what Leiter the elder had seen had made it's way to little Felix and when that one had gone through Annapolis and spent his way in the United Kingdom while his country had torn itself to pieces.
Strangely enough it was less difficult to keep his composure than he had expected, but that was most likely because he had other things to concentrate on. They hadn't seen anything that constituted an attempt to make contact and while there were still two weeks to go, they were sure that the closer they came to going back over the border both the security measures would be stricter and their own senses would be dulled by routine.
“So, my friend, how are you holding up?”
It was Ian who had seen how Felix was intently staring at the distant haze that showed everyone where Seattle was. They were on a slight rise and not too far from the city.[1]
“Good.” Felix said but the slight quiver in his voice told Ian that Felix was mulling over something. He knew that Felix would tell him if and when he was willing and so Ian instead looked at the preserved trenches.
“Jesus.. that must have been like the Western Front.”
“It was.” a third voice said.
They turned and saw a man in the uniform of a Major of Tank Troops of the American People's Army walking up to them.
“Of course I was only a fresh young Lieutenant then, barely out of the ranks myself.”
“You were here, Major?” Felix asked as a way of making polite conversation whilst he tried to keep his hatred for the uniform the man was wearing under control.
The Major nodded. “I was, Commander. In charge of a Liberty too. These were beastly vehicles but all we had.[2] At least they had more than a Machine gun.”
Liberty Tank, Pacifica Tank Museum, near San Diego, 1987
Felix and Ian both grimaced at that. Dastardly Communists or not, as soldiers they could apprechiate fighting with little and also obsolete Equipment. The Empire had to produce full tilt to equip the Allied Armies and they never had enough as it was.
“Now things are better, but I fear in this present war I won't see much action, unlike my Comrades from the Navy.”
Felix snorted and replied: “You will not find the Japanese an easy prospect, Major. Even even half of what the papers say is true then the Nips and their Chinese friends will be a bloody damn difficult enemy, even for both our countries combined.”
All present were confident enough not to even think of the possibility of defeat and also diplomatic enough that this alliance of convenience would end as soon as the last Japanese foxhole was ground into dust.
“So, you said you were an other rank once?” Ian said to keep the conversation going.
“I was. Missouri National Guard. My unit was the first to defect to the liberation Army, and we fought against the Loyalists for most of the war.”
Ian thanked his stars that the Major was looking at the trenches and couldn't see the flash of disgust and hatred that flashed across Felix' face and said: “Cavalry I presume?”
The Major shook his head. “No. Pre-war all of our Tank Units were actually Infantry Regiments that had a Tank suffix. Typical of the old Regime.”
Felix ignored this and fought to get his feelings back under control.
'Damn you man! You are a f****ing Naval Officer!'
“Was there much Tank Combat?” was what he actually said.
“Not what you experience in Europe. We never were more than a reinforced Company in strength, and most of that time was spent supporting the Infantry. Shortages everywhere, vehicles, spares, fuel, men....”
Again something every military man understood. There had been a frightening time in 1940 when the BEF, freshly back from France had been so short of ammunition that those guns that had made it back from France had had only three shots each.
“I would like to talk more with you, but it seems you are off from more.”
With that the Major walked off.
“What the hell was that all about, Ian?”
There was no reply.
~**---**~
“So, anything special, Comrade Information Officer?”
“Nothing much, Jack.”
The two men were in a car that followed the busses with the Allied delegation at a respectable distance. Keeping tabs on them with the extensive programme that Washington had ordered was no easy task, and he had argued against getting the Imperialists here in the first place, but at the very least they had been given extra resources from all over the Republic.[3]
Whenever they stopped and were shown something or other then a different team of men was watching them. The lack of suitable cars was the biggest issue here and that was why Military Security had been forced to go hat in hand to the Information directorate who had promptly demanded joint observation team.
However unlike the rivalry between the NKVD and the GRU in the Soviet Union here the two services had gone through a bloody purge where one had informed on the other and so their rivalry was rather more friendly at the moment.
The two in this patrol had spent enough time working together on this and other assignments to be on a first name basis and this was truly helping.
The Car and it's modern contemporary
While Jack was driving his compatriot was going over his notes from yesterday.
“That Major who talked with the two Naval Officers, who is he?”
“Major Clark Nelson, 11th Tank Regiment, 2nd Armored.”[3]
“Fits. He's sharing his last name with the Imperialist's greatest Naval Hero.”
Jack studied the short rundown of the man's military career.
“He's got the Medal of Liberation twice, once for an engagement in the Industry belt, and once during Seattle.[4]”
The Driver, called Vincent, turned for a second.
“And still only a Major?”
“Well, he started out as an enlisted man with the Missouri Guard. Worked his way up the ranks, and he was made a Junior Lieutenant in '34 and commanded his Company by '36. Was promoted to Major last year.”
Some things were the same in all Armies, promotion was slow in peace time.
“Any reason to suspect him?” Vincent asked.
“None whatever, buddy.” Jack replied, “but we are paid to be suspicious. I'll phone him in this evening and we can have records run him down. His Division is stationed in the West anyway.”
There was nothing more to be said and they instead followed the vehicles that conveyed the Imperialists ever deeper into their country.
Soon they would be facing the biggest hurdle of them all. They would board a Federal American Airways PC-75/38[5] and fly to San Francisco and the Naval and Marine bases there. They wouldn't meet the Major again in any case.
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Comments, questions, rotten Tomatoes?
[1] By OTL 2010 you'd just be able to see the Space Needle. Inspired by a World in Conflict Loading screen.
[2] I was surprised to realize that even the god-awful M1 Combat Car wasn't in use until 1937 IOTL. Things are advanced slightly more here, but not much.
[3] To be perfectly honest, I did contemplate for a second to give him Kent as a last name, but I then figured that this would take references a tad too far. Never mind that it's several decades early if one goes by the most recent origin story.
[4] The Medal is more of an Equivalent to the Hero of the Soviet Union than the MoH. The Battle in the Belt was by the way fought against a loyalist mechanized unit commanded by a forgotten Loyalist Officer whose name no one ITTL knows or remembers: George S. Patton who died during the fight. It should be noted that both his revolvers were empty and recently fired.
[5] Plain Boeing 307.
