Faugh A Ballagh - An Irish AAR

[Agent Larkin]

[OOC]Even though DayZ is doing it's best to prevent this update from coming here it is [/OOC]

Chapter 26

Winnipeg,
Manitoba,
Canada

This plan was not the best one in the world. In fact as far as good plans were concerned this one really didn't fit the criteria. However desperate times called for desperate measures. The Prisoner of War camp was over the hill and the warehouse was here. The plan was to get a fire going here and rush the camp when that was happening, from there let the normal prisoners run for it while they fetched the target out. But well this is what Uncle Sam paid them for and Sgt. Vernon C. Miller was not one to argue with getting paid. He and his seven man squad were part of the 18th Infantry Regiment but had been assigned as part of one of the many "Rough Rider" units that had been born out of an idea by the Secretary of War. They had two armoured cars hidden away and knew exactly how to get to them from the POW camp.

"Ok boys, show time." Vernon said to his men as they threw the milk bottles full of paraffin through a window in the warehouse. The smashing glass would surely get the Canucks attention but not as much as when the last bottle, a lit rag stuffed in the neck, went in after and started a blaze. It wasn't immediate but the fire quickly started to grow around the warehouse, luckily it was not a munitions dump but a dry goods supply depot. At least that's what Army Intelligence had told them.

As the shouts and alarms started to go off Miller and his men took the route they had devised to get to the camp. They didn't carry any rifles instead carrying shotguns and pistols, they were also clad in Canadian uniforms, reproductions made for this mission. One of his men had grown up near the border and so had a Canadian-ish accent so he was doing the talking as they approached the camp.

"Jesus Christ the warehouse is on fire. We need as much help as possible before -" He didn't get to finish the sentence before a titanic BOOM roared through the air knocking people to the ground. Behind them a massive fire-ball was raising towards the sky while small bits of flaming debris could be seen falling towards the ground. The guards at the camp took one look and started running towards town. They weren't proper army they were local militia so that boom could have killed their families.

'There are times I wonder whether Army Intelligence is an oxymoron.' Miller thought while he signalled for his men to get into the camp. Within minutes the gates were open and the prisoners were running every-way except for one. They scrambled back to the cars and were well on there way back to the US border before their target finally spoke up.

"Who the devil are you men?" "Sgt. Vernon C Miller. 18th Infantry "Rough Rider" unit. Lieutenant Patton we were sent by General Pershing himself to get you back."


************

The decision by the High Command of all Commonwealth forces to arrange for all Prisoners of War in the Americas to be sent to Canada and from their Winnipeg was one that had been applauded at the time. After all it offered a nice centralised location to keep the prisoners monitored and allow for efficient care for them under the articles of the Zurich Convention of Human Rights [1]. This decision however backfired when during the "Winnipeg Explosion" of April 7th 1916, following a fire in a warehouse that had recently been converted into a munitions storage only four days before, caused a large explosion and several fires throughout the city and saw the gurads of the Camp abandon their posts to check on their families leaving it open to allow escape.

Claims that it had been a mission by forces of the United States have never been proven as any records regarding it were destroyed in Washington in 1932.

************

The Skies above Paris,
France

The Bosche could go to hell. The Spad VII seemed to agree as once again it lashed out a gout of flame from the Hotchkiss machine gun at a German aircraft hitting the pilot dead on, for a shameless rip-off on an Irish weapon the Hotchkiss did it's best[2]. René Fonck pulled his aircraft around. The German aircraft were just the flies buzzing around the backside of the cow that was the Zepplin flying over Paris. It was carrying out a bombing run and needed to be stopped. To that end René and the other pilots of Escadrille C47 had been issued experimental "Incendiary Rounds" based off the German ammunition that had been used to down the "Gran Marie" near Strasbourg by that Baron.

So far the results had been less then satisfactory. They had hit the Zepplin with them but they had failed to ignite the gases within and they were running out of ammo fast. It didn't help that the Zepplin came with a fighter escort that had also eaten up most of the ammo. Rene lined up a shot on another German fighter hitting it and causing it to start to manoeuvre strangely. The Mechanic part of his brain, the one every pilot gets quickly, came to the conclusion he must have hit the controls, the rest of his brain as well as his lungs were instead yelling "THAT'S FOR BRUGES" referencing the defeat the French had taken at the Belgian city from the German Army. However one little part of his brain piped up with a simple sentence.

"He's going towards the Zepplin you know."

René watched with horror and intrigue as the aircraft continued to fly head on into the side of the Zepplin, igniting one of the massive gas sacks with it. It was a slow fire starting from the centre and working towards both ends of the ship but it started to lose altitude quickly.

He found out hours later, after his debriefing and consequent celebration of his actions were he was informed the Zepplin only counted as One kill, that part of the tail section had hit the War Ministry. It had only had one casualty miraculously as it had hit an Army Colonel by the name of Louis Chauchat who had been there to present an idea to the requestions board. No-One knew what the idea was as the papers he had with him had caught on fire in contact with the blazing hot metal of the tail section. Whatever it was it was bound not to have been important anyway.

************
So an update from the enemies POV while I try and flesh out how I'm going to handle the next two updates.

[1] AKA the Geneva convention TTL

[2]

If any of you think the fate visited upon Colonel Chauchat is cruel and unusual, You would be correct.

Also I realised I need Patton for something later on and decided that busting him out of jail would be fun. And as to who the Secretary of War is? Well he speaks softly and carries a big stick.

[Eams]

A very excellent update.
A couple of objections though:
1. It would have been delightfully ironic if the Patton rescue mission had proved to be a bloody disaster, and the rescue party themselves got caught. A Patton-less US army would still have characters like Lightning Joe, Old Iron Tits and Vinegar Joe.
2. I don't get the hate for the Chauchat. Yes, his gun was in some ways a flawed design, particularly when chambered in 30-06, but a lot of that seems to have due to the collective genius that was the French army staff. It would have been nicer if the piece of debris had hit close to him and caused him to be covered in mud, making him go "Mud? Wait a minute..."

[Agent Larkin]

I was toying with making it a failure but I do need Patton for something further along. And by further I mean roughly 20 years. So yeah Spoiler alert he survives the war.

As for the Chauchat I absolutely loathe it. Despise it and wished for it to never exist. Hence it getting butter-flyed out. However expect in a few updates an example of how to properly make a rifle in the same style.

[Eams]

Yes, but why do you loathe it so much? Granted, it wasn't a brilliant design, but it was a lot better than nothing, and than its only viable alternative, the gruesome Hotchkiss 1909 (with the ridiculous strip feeding that Hotchkiss was so keen on).
And in what way was it worse than the truly awful tank that the French developed, the Saint-Chamond? There you have a whole design committee that could have been consumed by burning debris.

[Agent Larkin]

My thing with the Chauchat is that while it was a good theory it was so poorly executed that it actually wound up darkening the idea of giving the average soldier a rifle chambered easily portable automatic weapon. From that it in-directly caused ,what I regard as one of the biggest mistakes in firearm history, in that it caused the Huot Automatic Rifle to be cancelled out of hand. The Huot is coming up later on here and trust me I'll gladly talk at length about it and my other pet love of the Charlton Automatic Rifle then, even though the Charlton wasn't until WW2.

It wasn't worse than that pile of crap. I have a better fate in mind for the committee in charge of that. I can promise you know the only Tanks the French will be building TTL are the FT-17 which, in a bizarre case of the French designing something that worked, will be appearing later.

*edit*

Also on the Chauchat it lead to the Yanks using the BAR. And seriously, screw that gun. The Johnson was better in every possible way.

[Eams]

Yes, but then you should have killed the bastards who went "I know! Let's build it on the cheap with leftover motorcycle parts!", not poor Monsieur Chauchat. It's not your raging murderousness that I disagree with, but rather the target of that murderous rage
And wasn't the big problem with the Huot that the war ended before it could enter large-scale production, rather than the Chauchat? In which case I hope for a long war this time round, since it might involve the introduction of the Huot, the Fedorov Avtomat, the Ribeyrolle and the RSC M1917.

Actually, there were lots of French designs in the years before WWII that were really quite good, or certainly better that their British and American equivalents (yes, a lot of their early interwar bombers were hideously ugly, but at least they weren't the Handley Page Heyford, which looked like it entered production in 1916 and then everyone forgot to stop production, and the Potez was an awful lot better than the Battle). Most of the flaws were due to bureaucracy, industry and faulty doctrines.

Edit: I should point out that I don't know all that much about guns, but are relying on Wikipedia.
And yes, the BAR was no substitute for a proper light machine gun.

[Agent Larkin]

*spoilers ahead look away now if you don't want any*

Ok I don't want to get too off track here so if you want to continue this we can take it to PM.

Probably should have gone after the French bureaucracy but I felt a bit petty and I had to make sure the entire idea of it was dead. The idea of giving the infantry man mobile firepower isn't. After all just look at the Vilar Perosa M15 which was the worlds first submachine gun as early as 1915 and the theory can be traced back to as far as 1903 if not further to the advent of the self-loading rifle.

Yes the Huot, much like the (and I say this begrudgingly) BAR was introduced just too late. However the failure of the Chauchat, once again in-directly, caused the idea of the Light Machine Gun to be given a lower priority so the Huot was pushed back and missed the war by just a small margin. The main reason the Americans got the BAR was because Wilson wanted to avoid being indebted to the Europeans as much as possible so when the war was over he would be in a better bargaining position.

The Federov regrettably will be getting butterflyed. I hate that I have to but I can't have a Russia that on the one hand can't even afford helmets, and on the other has the worlds first Assault Rifle.

The Ribbeyrolle will be popping up and because feck it I feel like spoiling some stuff will be entering the war too late but will receive some serious notice and attention in inter-war France.

The RSC will be in a similar vein as the Ribbevrolle. However I wouldn't be putting bets on it showing up as a weapon that all of France will be using. Also bugger the Meunier, that is all.

I should have prefaced that with "in this war". I know the French built some cool equipment. Hell the Char D2 is one of my favourite tanks in the world due to it taking one look at the Germans Panzers and laughing in their faces. As for Bueracracy and Doctrines.... well one will be getting cut down and the other will be a single one not relying on Concrete along the border. TTL the French have learned by WW2 that the Germans are coming from Belgium.

I am also not a Firearms Expert but I am an amateur firearms aficionado (or the less polite term gun-nut) and have over the years collected a good few books and documentaries on weapons as well as talked to a lot of people who either own, or are experts on firearms. I understand I'm no expert but I try to check my sources and such. Also I take Wikipedia with a grain of salt until I can find something backed up in other sources. Forgotten weapons is a good website for some weapons like the Huot for example.

And at least on that we can agree.

[Eams]

We can apparently agree on quite a lot of things
And you just gave us the best kind of spoiler by telling us a little about what is to come, but not why, which makes it really intriguing. Just don't go all George Lucas on us by having us wait twenty years before finally getting the rest of the story

Wikipedia should always be taken with a grain of salt. Particularly articles about things outside the West.

[Sarys]

I always though there will be no benefits in war in vic1. that's what ppl are saying at least. But are they wrong :O

[Stuyvesant]

Finally caught up again. It seems the war is going fairly well for the Irish, even if Patton is liberated in a competent prison raid (more than a little ironic, given Patton's own unforgiveable dabbling in that field during World War II: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Task_Force_Baum).

Nice to see your airforce starting to take shape. And (moving from your airforce to the German bombing run over Paris), since you seem to have a taste for violently dispatching of individuals you have some kind of beef with, just make sure to include a certain Austrian Meldegänger serving in the German army, alright?

[Agent Larkin]

Thrashing out an update at the moment and hopefully will have it done tomorrow.

[Agent Larkin]

Chapter 26


"The Canadian armed forces at the outbreak of the First World War were not particularly large or well organised. While it did have a standing army it's cavalry was mostly composed of Royal Canadian Mounted Police members who would in times of war be called upon to act as soldiers. The same was almost true with with the Canadian air forces being mostly in the hands of the RCMP with the exception of the small Ottawa based Royal Canadian Flying Corps, the oldest such unit in the world, being a purely military force. While during the war the combined Commonwealth forces were able to at the main fronts hold their positions in combinations of British, Irish and Canadian troops for striking back at the United States of America, Canada needed Cavalry." - The Federation at War, Dr Jason Hammond

"The United States of America between the end of the Civil War of 1859-1863, and the election of President Jonathan Blackford in 1882, pursued a very aggressive and rapid expansion policy with regards to the West of the Country. This brought them into conflict with the Indigenous peoples living there. The four most notable cases were the Apache, Cherokee, Navajo and Sioux. The Navajo people were forced off their ancestral lands in a bid to secure over land routes to California and were sent to Reservations in the North of the American Mid-West. The Lands they were sent to were the former properties of the Cherokee people who when they attempted to fight off the encroaching Americans were completely wiped out under the command of the US Colonel George Armstrong Custer. When the Navajo seemed likely to rise up alongside the Apache peoples in 1875 Custer was deployed again but after the massacre of a full 70% of both peoples the survivors fled to Canada were the Canadian government relocated them to Saskatchewan province. Following them quickly was the Sioux people who after witnessing the way the United States had dealt with other Native Tribes feared for their lives." - The Second Ascendency, The United States between 1863 and 1932, Professor Jason Ashid

Lignite,
North Dakota,
The United States of America

Cochise Hunter, Pvt Cochise Hunter now anyway sat atop his horse as it slowly moved towards the big manor house outside the town of Lignite. In the town the Americans slept, comfortable in the knowledge that the Canadian forces were far away, there Children slept not even fully aware of a war or what it meant for them. Similar to the way Cochise's ancestors had slept before the Americans had come.

Hunter was not an Apache surname. The Apache had no need for surnames but the Canadians had insisted when his ancestors arrived that they take surnames so his Great-Grandfather had taken the surname Hunter and it had stuck. Tonight it seemed appropriate. The Canadian government had allowed Native Americans to serve in it's armed forces for several years now, however when this war had broken out they had come to where Cochise's family lived to look for volunteers for cavalry soldiers. They had been intended just for use in front-line battles but now they had a much more simple mission on hand.

To put the Americans and their war effort, to the torch.

The group Cochise was in was lead by a Major Ingram MacDouglas. He was currently near by over-watching the town, his back purposefully turned to his men as they dismounted at the house. They crept inside as quietly as they could and game upon the elderly couple in bed. They dragged the old man from his bed, waking him from his sleep with a start. His wife also awoke and started to yell at the other men with Cochise. One of them shot her. They dragged the man out of the house, dazedly after he had been punched in the face, and hung him from a tree in his garden. They hung a sign around his corpse, it simply said "murderer". Two men were left behind to burn the house down after the events in town began. No point in giving the Americans any warning.

Cochise saddled back into his horse and rode with silence behind Major MacDouglas as they came upon the town. "To kill the enemy is not murder boys. It is but your duty. Now let's have at them." Said the major to the soldiers behind him. Mutters of agreement went up and down the line but most of the men knew what they really wanted.

Revenge.

~~~~~~~~~~

Washington D.C.,
The United States of America

The newspapers were calling it the "Slaughter of Lignite". A local National Guard group had investigated the town after it had gone quiet and what they had found had sickened them to the bone. Men had been lined up and shot, their hair scalped. Mothers and Children had been herded into the town church and burned alive. All around people had been gunned down and buildings had been burnt. The most shocking thing of all however had been what they had found outside the town.

"THEY HUNG CUSTER?!?" screamed President Wilson. He had just been brought up to speed along with the rest of the cabinet on the attack on the town. Reports had come in that former US Army General Custer had been beaten and hung by the attackers. The fact he had been left with a sign that said "Murderer" around his neck pointed towards it being Indians. As did the scalping. "Good suffering Christ the Indians are gone. Your lot" and with that he pointed at the Secretary of War "were supposed to have driven them off entirely after the Civil War. Now though they are back."

The secretary calmly removed his glasses and polished them before answering. Everything about him annoyed President Wilson. Firstly he was a Republican, he was only in the Cabinet as a gesture of bi-partisanship that hadn't worked as he was still a rather loud critic of the government. If the elections hadn't been postponed due to their being a war on Wilson would have feared for his presidency. Secondly he was calm about everything. Thirdly he was much much much more popular with the Army and General Staff then Wilson was.

"Well as I see it the chances are that the Indians were in Canadian hire. It is an unusual tactic by the Canadians to do this but it is the only answer to this situation that makes any sense" He finally said.

Wilson wanted to yell at him but instead turned his attention to the Army officer in the room. "Tell me that there is a target for an offensive available now? Something that will balance this out."

The Officer cleared his throat. "Well Sir we have a planned offensive on the City of Regina in Saskatchewan, it is the Capitol of the Province and is also a vital hub of the Canadian Trans-Atlantic rail road. We believe that it is lightly defended and are currently drawing troops in to attack it. If we can capture it we will have successfully separated East and West Canada from each other which should see us make mopping up the enemy an easier task."

"If it is lightly defended why are you drawing in troops? Tell general Pershing I want the city captured in two weeks or I will see him in front of a congressional hearing. He is to attack NOW!" He screeched out the last word, a throb of pain stabbing through his head alongside it, 'Great' he thought 'A Migraine now is just what I need'.

As he withdrew from the room he heard the officer ask the Secretary his opinion on the plan. The Secretary replied with a very sarcastic "Bully". Another reason why Wilson hated him.

~~~~~~~~~~

Factory of William Foster & Co. of Lincoln Metropolitan Carriage,
Birmingham,
The United Kingdom

It was complete. It was the first of it's kind and it had been built by an agricultural company in near-total secrecy. Another nine were awaiting finishing touches as the engine on this one rumbled to life. It moved slowly forwards, clinking and crunching as it did under the control of the crew who had been training with it as it had been built and would be using it at the front.

It was named simply, Mother[1]

************

So Questions, Comments, ETC?

[1] = They are on their way.

[Stuyvesant]

While I can understand the Indian/Native American* desire for revenge, and killing Custer is a bit of publicity stunt, I fail to see what this raid/mass murder does for the Canadian war effort. It's bound to look bad in international opinion, it has enraged the Americans and it doesn't really gain Canada much. Except, perhaps, gratitude from the Native (former) Americans.

Nice to see Teddy Roosevelt make an appearance. I assume he was never (or not yet, at least) President in your history?

The final paragraph seems to indicate we're about to see some hardcore tank action. Well, as hardcore as '5-mile-per-hour-rattling-across-a-trenchline-until-the-engine-inevitably-gives-out-after-3-miles' can be.

*Which one is deemed correct seems to depend on which part of the country you're in. Out here in North Carolina, it's mostly Native American, while during my time in Minnesota, quite a few tribes preferred 'Indian'. Oh well, semantics.

[Agent Larkin]

The raid mass/murder is an escalation of sorts of the Cavalry War being raged across the mid-west. As far as International-Opinion is concerned the tale will be mostly ignored as propaganda by the Commonwealth and it's Allies and in the Entente it will be used as propaganda. The few neutral countries that are left at this point will just view it as another horrible thing happening in the world, after all most of the worlds attention is on Germany and it's fight. However the Canadian high-command will be attempting to reign them in but now that it has happened it is impossible to stop the States retaliating in a similar fashion.

Teddy has not yet been a President as the Socialists have dominated the US political scene since the 1880's. Unusual I know but thats the hand the game gave me to play.

As for tanks well I can't go giving everything away now can I? :P

[Eams]

Teddy has not yet been a President as the Socialists have dominated the US political scene since the 1880's. Unusual I know but thats the hand the game gave me to play.

Then why not make Teddy a socialist? Granted, he would never end up as a Marxist or anything, but is it really that impossible to have him be a moderate socialist with hawkish views on foreign politics?

[Agent Larkin]

Then why not make Teddy a socialist? Granted, he would never end up as a Marxist or anything, but is it really that impossible to have him be a moderate socialist with hawkish views on foreign politics?

That is what the Republican Party has become. Besides he has a future.

[Eams]

Wait, what? Is the party politics of the US divided between moderate socialists and Marxists? Because that would hilarious on so many levels.

[Agent Larkin]

It's divided between Moderate Socialists (The Socialist Party) Centre Left (Republican Party. Difference being more Pro-Market and Hawkish then the standard Socialists) and the Democrat party who make up the Political Right.

There is a Marxist party but most people are content enough not to vote for them and they only really have a holding in Detroit.

That is the IC stuff anyway.

OOC according to the game it is a nice 70-30 split between the Socialists and the Communists. I laughed so hard at that.

[Eams]

Detroit, eh? So there is a chance that Henry Ford gets assassinated by angry communists before he's had a chance to publish the Protocols of the Elders of Zion?
And communist Dixie farmers would make this AAR even more awesome

[Agent Larkin]

Detroit, eh? So there is a chance that Henry Ford gets assassinated by angry communists before he's had a chance to publish the Protocols of the Elders of Zion?
And communist Dixie farmers would make this AAR even more awesome

"And communist Dixie farmers would make this AAR even more awesome"

*moves eyes shiftily*