The Red Shield - Union of Britain AAR

(from: Red America: History of the Second American Revolution by Fred Anderson, Chicago, 1976)

The last chapter of the Revolution began with Huey Long and his forces capturing Washington DC on the 1st of February, 1938. Realising their hopeless situation after the fall of Atlanta, Long and his forces attempted to relocate their effort northwards, hoping to capture the CSA-held industrial centers of the Eastern Coast. Initially, their plan seemed to work - AUS armored spearheads managed to outmanouver the unprepared Syndicates' rear units and entered the almost abandoned city with relative ease.

This, however, was the furthest extend of their offensive - quickly mobilised militias blocked their way out of the former capital, and a decisive counterattack in late February split the AUS forces into a number of isolated pockets. Washington was recaptured on the 23rd of March. Hundreds of tanks, heavy equipment and POWs have been captured, reducing hostile reserves and ultimately crippling the AUS war effort.

With the Washington bulge eliminated, the CSA forces proceeded southwards, enterning the State of Florida and, one by one, eliminating the last remnants of AUS forces. Difficult terrain of the Everglades and determination of Long's troops made this task a backbreaking one - but ultimately, the last Union outpost in Miami has fallen on the 6th of June, 1938. However, Long and his vice-president Fritz Kuhn managed to flee the besieged city and relocate their headquarters to Cuba. Nevertheless, this act had by no means helped the rebels; the southern states had effectively been subdued and all effort could have been relocated West, against the Pacific States.

Very weak US units would not have been able to hold the line, hadn't it been for the diffucult terrain of the Rockies and the PSA units covering their rear areas. Nevertheless, the Syndicates' forces were overwhelming in numbers and firepower. Once the bulk of general Marshall's units was deployed on the other side of the Mississippi, the steamroller started crushing all opposition. Last MacArthur's redoubt was captured on the 8th of January, 1939. The dictator, along with his followers, was sentenced to death. The execution took place a month later, at the feet of the ruined Washington's Monument.

The Second American Civil War entered its very final stage.

It seems my events have tilted the balance towards the CSA a bit too much... Guess I'll have to think about a way to reduce the goodies recieved by the Syndies if I want to have them included in new KR release

Next update will bring us back to Europe - with the cold war between Britain and Canada disturbingly close to a melting point...

@ RGB -> Dunno ^^' I play with FoW on and do not invest much in intelligence (I didn't want to have an unfair advantage over the AI). Guess I'll have to wait until the Second Great War to check it out

XXI
Melting point​

(from: Focus Special, issue 10/2008)

Atlantic Check

The decade after the Canadian-British armstice was a period of relative peace over the Atlantic. With all three potential foes - Britain, Canada and Germany - keeping one another in check and minor players - Ireland, Portugal and Denmark - belonging to their spheres of influence, the state of balance was maintained. In one of his memorandums, the imperialist admiral John Jellicoe describe this situation as a "cold war" - with all parties being technically hostile to one another, but in fact unable to act, either because of internal weakness (in Canada's case) or a threat of a two-front war (like Germany and Britain).

Many sources contribute this stabilisation to a naval arms race, simmilar to the pre-Great War one. Interesting as this concept may seem, it has very little in common with reality. For example, the British Great Reconstruction did little more than create a self-defence fleet, with only two carriers (RNS Rebecca and RNS Liburne) being designed for long-range operations. The naval buildup of 1942-1944 was only to begin. As for other two competitors - the Canadian navy was still based on old Iron Duke class battleships, with carriers and new designs being nothing more but experiments. The only country able to conduct an extensive expansion plan was, not surprisingly, Germany. The two "chancellors" - SMS Bismarck and SMS Tirpitz - are a fine proof that the shipyard industry was one of the few branches of German capitalism not ravaged by the crisis of 1936.


Nevertheless, every stable situation may be very easily disturbed, assuming a proper action is made. As for the "cold war" of 1926 - 1938, such action was the breakout of the Icelandic Crisis.

Icelandic Fuel Crisis

Danish economy was one of the most grievously devastated by the breakup of German international trade. Lacking any natural resources or fuel supplies, the minor Scandinavian country quickly fell into chaos once German goods stopped arriving in Copenhagen. Although reforms proposed by the government - reduction of budget spending, promotion of intensified trade with Sweden and so on - stabilised the situation in the first months of 1937, the crisis has already made the most grievous damage - undermined the citizens' faith in the state.

In the first days of September 1938, the Danish governor of Iceland, Sveinn Björnsson, issued a one-sided declaration of independence, with himself assuming the president's post. A mixed cabinet of Danish dissidents and Icelandic natives was established, with the newly born republic quickly being recognised by leading world powers, including the Internationale, Canada and Germany.


A surge of enthusiasm quickly passed by, and the young country had to face its economical and political situation. The most important factor was the complete lack of oil. Completely dependent on sea transport, Iceland was always in a desperate need of this resource - even more since it severed its connections with Denmark. The young republic attempted to secure a flow of this resource by leaning towards the Canadian exiles - a move that ultimately almost sparked the Second Great War.

On the 10th of October 1938, the icelandic delegation met at Ottawa with Edward VIII and his prime minister King to sign a so-called "Fuel Treaty". According to it, Canada was to supply Iceland with oil and fuel for the period of five years, in exchange for military cooperation in case of "external threat" (More precisily, in case of war with the Internationale or Mittleuropa). This caused an outrage in London - should the treaty be ratified, it would create a Canadian platform for a potential invasion of Britain. To prevent this threat, the Congress agreed to secretly supply Icelandic workers - unhappy with potential foreign presence on the island - with arms.

On the 19th of November, Icelandic police attempted to arrest several British agitators. However, a socialist sympathiser in the police leaked the information to the workers, who in turn organised themselves into small groups and went to protect the activists. A number of clashes took place, with the police gaining the upper hand, until the news reached Reykyavik docks. The fishermen, who were the group most affected by the lack of fuel yet most sceptical about Canadian presence on the island, rushed to help the workers, and soon the peacekeepers were forced back into their stations, with crowds ruling the streets. This short mayhem was subdued after a week, when the Canadian troops left their base and restored order by force. Over fifty people died in the fights, with over three hundred wounded.


To prevent such situation from happening again, Björnsson proposed to alter the treaty with Canada, agreeing for constant Canadian presence on the island until "a sizeble defence force is formed and Iceland becomes self-sufficent in terms of naval, air and land forces". In other words, the Icelandic government agreed to justify the de facto occupation of their country.

Britain on the move

The Icelandic crisis caused a turmoil in the CTU. Basically, the Canadian occupation of Iceland meant that Niclas y Glais' policy of "maintaining the distance" ended in utter failrue. Entente's presence in Icelandic waters was the first time since the capture of HMS Renown when the Royal Navy posed a direct threat to the British socialist experiment.

In a brief voting, y Glais was removed from his post. In his last address, he thanked the English, Welsh and Scottish peoples for their "devotion to the Revolution" and wished the best "for the future of our common Motherland". Nevertheless, a beautiful speech could not have erased the facts; due to his lack of confidence and initiative Iceland seemed lost to the Internationale.


The question of his successor caused a short, yet turbulent dispute; Mosley put forward William Joyce, while Blair proposed David Springhall. Joyce has proven his worth in early thirties, when his audition "Britannia Calling", broadcasted from Chicago, gathered millions of British citizens every day. Needless to say, this rather propagandic audition earned little sympathy from the US or Canadian side; Joyce, quickly dubbed "Lord Haw-Haw" by the reactionaries, was forced to leave America and flee to Britain. Springhall, on the other hand, served as a naval attacheé in Paris, but, apart from that, had little diplomatic experience. His strong sides were, with little doubt, a frim way of speech and a straightforward, almost brutish outlook on foreign politics.

The initial vote ended in a draw, with Bevin and Shinwell supporting Joyce and Crawfurd and o'Connor siding with Springhall. This check was solved during the second vote, after the arrival of initially absent admiral Cunningham. The Naval Commissar made the balance sway towards his comrade, seeing Springhall emerge as the new Foreign Commissar.


On the 30th of November the new Commissar issued his first decree; in order to prevent further strenghtening of Canadian Icelandic garrison, the Grand Fleet was to steam out of Liverpool and assemble a naval blockade, stopping all Canadian shipment heading towards the island's ports.

The fate of the British socialism was put in the hands of admiral Andrew Cunningham, who at that time had a mixed reputation of a talented naval commander, who nevertheless unwillingly let Ireland slip into Entente's sphere of influence...

Corrected, thanks for noticing

<quick db check>

Hm... Looks like Canadian vessels have HMCS in unitnames.csv... Screw this, Edward VIII would never admit defeat XD