Faugh A Ballagh - An Irish AAR

In the year 1904 the colonial territory of South Africa became a dominion territory and as such chose to join the Commonwealth of Dominion Nations expanding the membership to three nations of Canada, Ireland and South Africa. Japan while a dominion nation had not applied for, and given Irish-Japanese relations would not have received, membership in the Commonwealth. This meant that South Africa was bound by the commonwealth tenants to treat Irish and Canadian citizens with the same level of respect and freedom as would be received in their home countries and vice versa.

In the year 1905 the colonial territory of Australia became a dominion territory and as such chose to join the Commonwealth of Dominion Nations expanding the membership to four nations of Canada, Ireland, South Africa and Australia. This meant that Australia was bound by the Commonwealth tenants to treat Irish, Canadian and South African citizens with the same level of respect and freedom as would be received in their home countries and vice versa.

On March 6th 1907. The colonial territory of New Zealand became a dominion territory and chose to join the Commonwealth. And all hell broke loose.

The main cause of all the hassle caused by New Zealand's entry is due to something from the early days of British settlement. Part of the treaties with the local Maori peoples was the respecting of the Maori's claims and extending them rights in the colonies of new Zealand. When in 1907 the Dominion of New Zealand was created the local government was forced to recognize these peoples full and equal rights as citizens of New Zealand. This caused serious reverberations in Ireland and Canada, the two Dominion nations with colonial possessions as well as South Africa. A non White race now had the same rights as other people within their nations and this led to other minority groups demanding their own rights on similar grounds. In Canada this was quickly absorbed after the initial shock with Metis and Ainu groups winning the right to full citizenship and leading to the Bonin Isles to become a Canadian Territory instead of a colonial possession. In South Africa this saw the introduction of some very reactionary policies and a major clamp down on the non-white communities.

In Ireland however things, as usual, became somewhat more complicated. Parnell's conservative party was against the granting of full citizenship to any of the colonial peoples. However following outcry from the more liberal minded conservatives a proposal was made to extend citizenship to any man, his spouse and offspring if he served in a colonial regiment. While initially viewed as an acceptable compromise pressure from Alaska and the even more liberal minded members of the Conservative party only relented briefly. The liberal minded Conservatives fell into a political bloc lead by Arthur Griffith and after challenging Parnell on the issue was informed that he should "Be gone you cretin and your supporters. We will not have you compromising the integrity of this noble establishment." This shocked Griffith and his supporters who then staged a mass resignation of the Conservative party splitting the party into half. Griffith knew he had to act fast and planned for a vote of no confidence in the government. While the support of his own bloc was secured he could not receive the necessary votes on their number alone. The almost extinct liberal party offered him their support and the Labour party agreed to the vote if Griffith would in turn not contest certain Industrial seats in the election that was sure to follow.

On the 18th of April, barely two months after the whole ordeal had started, Parnell's government was found to be lacking confidence and a General election was called for August of that year. Griffith founded his own party under an old title calling the party Sínn Féin partially harking back to the days when Universal male suffrage was enacted and partially to use the translated title "We Ourselves" to encourage unity with his party amongst the minority rights movements. Parnell began one of his famous campaigns but however as efficient as one of these might have been in his early days he was now facing people who had grown up with his high standard being the status quo and as such found himself being out-manoeuvred at every turn. Promises for welfare reform were met with deaf ears in the cities, attempts at promising military spending increases from the Curragh Army camp were trumped by Griffith promising the same from aboard the battleship "HMIS Sactwu". His attempts at offering this minority rights programme was overshadowed by the Sínn Féin dual promises of not only Full Citizenship for all Irish people, that is anyone living in an Irish territory, but also for Women's Suffrage as well, a deal worked out between the Labour party on behalf of the enigmatic Countess Markovichz, who was a personnel friend of Larkin's, and her "suffragettes".


It is no surprise then that the Conservative party last nearly 80% of their seats. The main results being that throughout Ireland SF won many seats but also that Labour gained from an original two seats an increase to 27 seats primarily from the Industrial towns and cities of Galway, Belfast, Derry, Cobh, Dublin and surprisingly enough Larne[1]. Griffith's first act in office was the "Irish Citizens Bill of 1907" which saw the introduction of automatic Full Citizenship to any person born in Irish territory and available through application to any person living in an Irish territory for a period longer then five years. He also saw the implication of Women's Suffrage to the constitution as well as allowing women to run for parliment, something that Countess Markovichz took advantage of in a by-election the following year becoming Ireland's first female MP. However surprisingly he also oversaw the introduction of the Ryukyu Islands as a State of Ireland. Citing Irish migration to the area as well as the importance of Okinawa as Ireland's main base of naval operations in the Western Pacific the Isles became a State with seats to be applicable on the 1st of December 1908, which also the election of Souta Oshiro as the first of the "New Irish" to be elected and MP.

However this honeymoon period was soon returned to business as usual, which in 1908 meant Naval expansion. Parnell's original naval expansion had been met with derision in Britain who promised to match any ship made by the Irish with four more British ships. However after the launching of HMS Dreadnought in 1906 Ireland had planned to answer with Two Irish ships of similar build christened the HMIS St Bridget and HMIS St Patrick both of which were blessed at launch by the head of the Church of Ireland and his Holiness Pope Kevin I [2]. Thus began the Anglo-Irish Naval race which saw the two nations engage in a shipbuilding contest with the shipyards of Cobh and Belfast competing with Hull and Portsmouth with the new shipyard in Achill turning out new versions of the Submarine. However the Irish army unlike their British companions deemed that the Aircraft would never be a useful tool of observation and only bought two such aircraft from the Canadian Wright Company, a complete polar opposite of the Canadians themselves who seemed to fall in love with this invention of theirs and found uses for it constantly, especially the RCMP who became quite proficient at handling their aircraft even to the point of being able to drop packages weighing up to 50lbs with an uncanny degree of accuracy.

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So the Questions, comments, sushi?

[1] Why yes I do foresee Larne becoming a running gag. In fact if I ever get this to WW2 via HOI2 (Which I'm toying around with the idea of) you can guess were the nuclear programme will be.

[2] Ireland controls Rome. It was bound to happen that we would get an Irish pope.

Anyway next chapter is going to see us leap forward in time a bit.

To 1914.

Ireland is a bit of a shining beacon and I do feel a bit Mary sueish about it however I'm trying my best here to keep it to manageable levels. I'm using the fact that New Zealand has had women's suffrage since 1893 OTL with the character of Countess Markovichz who was the first female MP to be elected to the House of Commons. Granted she didn't take the seat due to her being a staunch Irish Nationalist but the point stands.

The whole Citizenship thing however I'm really taking some gambles on. And I will be the first to stand up and say that I'm pulling it out of the air with it but in a way I can't describe with words it just seems to fit.

To the best of my knowledge a Pope has to take a saints name. I'm not calling him Pope Patrick I. Kevin was the next Irish saint that came to mind. However a Pope Brendan is down the line

Dublin, 14th July, 1914

The fact that this meeting was being called at all was a sign of how desperate the situation was. Prime Minister Arthur Griffith was cloistered with the Deputy Prime Minister John Redmond, the Minister for Work and Labour James Larkin, Admiral Seamus Gambon (First Sea Lord, Ireland), General Thomas Armour (Chief of the Irish General Staff), John Hamilton-Gordon, the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland and Jonathan McDonald, Canadian commonwealth ambassador to Ireland . And the word on everyone's lips was war, specifically three wars. "Gentlemen as you well know this announcement from Amsterdam does come at a most unfortunate time. We can only hope that it prevents a further escalation in the conflicts already arising on the Continent. However it is the view of His Majesty's Government that we continue to follow the course of neutrality in this matter." John Hamilton-Gordon turned his gaze over the room "And like it or not the British Empire and her Dominions have no interest nor need to become involved in this conflict. And with luck we will have no need to become involved. Yes the decks may currently be stacked against our gallant allies in Berlin but so far we have no need to become involved." "Oh yes no need to become involved today sure. But how about tomorrow? Or the day after? What if the weight of fighting both Austria-Hungary and Russia in the East and the Netherlands in the West becomes too much for them hmm? What then when Germany is being over-run by states not exactly friendly to us and your Empire?" James Larkin stood up from behind the table and swept his hands around the room "And of course the elephant in the room. What about France?" "James that is enough. Sit down." Arthur Griffith growled from his place in the centre of the table "You are here as a courtesy not a necessitate so either be quiet or leave."

As James Larkin grumbled back into his seat Arthur Griffith looked up at the room before him. "Gentlemen allow me to outline the situation to you so that we all understand exactly what is happening here." While phrased as a question his tone gave the indication that this was not a question but a statement. "16 days ago Arch-Duke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated in Sarajevo. Long story short Austria declared war on Serbia which was protected by Germany who declared war on Austria-Hungary who in turn was protected by Russia. While that conflict kicked off a week later the United States of America acknowledged the Mexican Socialist Revolutionary Pancho Villa as the legitimate President of Mexico and at this invitation have declared war and moved troops across the border. And now today in the Netherlands action is being taken to reclaim territory the Dutch feel is theirs in Belgium. Belgium who is protected by Germany while the Netherlands is protected by France. While neither Germany nor France have declared war in that area it is only a matter of time in which case the whole of Europe will be engulfed in a war not seen since the days of the Great War as Spain, Portugal, The Kingdoms of Italy, The Scandinavian Kingdoms and the Ottoman Empire are drawn into conflict on one side or another. This summation is correct yes?" He looked up to nods from around the room. "So far this is not a conflict that Ireland, the Commonwealth or the British Empire are involved with in any way. However what I want to know Gentlemen is what we can do if such a conflict should begin?"

Admiral Gambon was the first to speak "The fleet can quickly be brought to high alert and combat operations against the enemy nations in Europe, The Western Pacific and the African Oceans. We can quickly blockade the Dutch coast and the Atlantic French coast in co-ordination with the British Home Fleet. The Channel will of course be closed by the BHF while our additional European ships will be stationed to catch as they can any enemy shipping with the exception of the fleet operating out of Rome who will engage enemy shipping in the Mediterranean. We can also quickly have available the assets to deploy Army forces to the continent in case of a conflict." As Admiral Gambon sat down General Armour stood up. "The Army can quickly deploy 50,000 men from the Home Isle to the continent and make ready a further 100,000 troops ready to be deployed. In Africa Irish and South African forces can carry out operations against enemy colonies and territories, numbering 30,000 of our own without bringing the Dhabi Divisions into the conflict and a further 30,000 if we do. In the Western Pacific and the Orient the Okinawa Divisions can see the deployment of 20,000 for operations against enemy territories and the option of marshalling a further 60,000 from Alaska to operations if required." As he sat down Griffith nodded at the information he had been given. "Considering the situation in the Americas is it at all possible that we could wind up fighting against the United States?" Johnathon MacDonald looked at him "It is the feeling of His Majesty's Canadian government that a conflict against the United States is unlikely. Even if such a conflict should arise it is felt that while the American's superiority in numbers would be undermined in their Socialist government's chronic under-funding of her armed forces. Indeed it still comes as a shock to us, and I assume yourselves that they would even willingly invade Mexico."


Griffith nodded as this was the answer he had expected. The Canadian-American border was far too big for the under-funded US Military to even consider an action and even if they did they would have to be mad to declare war against the British Empire in such a blatant disregard for the way the world worked. A second rate military taking on the greatest Empire in the World? Madness.[1] "Well gentlemen I feel adequately satisfied that in case a hostility should brake out that we will be able to take appropriate courses of action. However as is painfully obvious we have no place in this conflict and as such I feel I must support the call for us to continue a course of neutrality. However a state of raised alert in the Armed Forces would be useful I feel? So if anyone has any further points or objections I think I shall declare this meeting over and we can all go home." The meeting was dispersed and Griffith stepped out into the wet summer's day and into the cab of the Auto-mobile that would take him back to his home. As the vehicle passed out the gates of Parliament house and left towards the O'Connell Street[2] Bridge he ignored the calls of the Newsboys selling their papers that all carried the same headlines of War in Europe or information about the conflict in the Americas. He instead focused on once again how much the city had grown in the time he had lived there. To the east the Dublin harbour was bustling with ships coming to and from as well as military ships sailing from Dun Laoghire to Howth and back again. On both sides of the River the city had sprawled outwards with old rural towns of Finglas, Sandymount and Clondalkin now being roaring centres of Industry, the auto-mobile he was riding in had been constructed in Finglas only months ago. And all around him people went about their daily lives, and dotted amongst the Irish crowds were the "New Irish" people born in the territories that had migrated to Ireland to take advantage of their new found citizenship and with them had come their own cultures. It was still no London of course but Dublin had rapidly become the Second city of the British Isles and was showing no signs of stopping. All this made Griffith wish with his entire being that conflict could be avoided. Ireland did not need a war when she was flourishing so much in peace.

The next morning word reached him that France had declared war on Belgium in support of the Netherlands and that Germany had declared in support of Belgium. He realised with dread that war was coming. It was now not a matter of "If" for Ireland and the Commonwealth to become involved but "When".

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Questions, Comments, Ridiculously out-dated Bolt Action rifles?

[1] Didn't stop them before of course.

[2] Renamed from Sackville Street in 1907.

Right so we are now starting inevitably down the precipice of war. This same precipice also leads to me trying my hand at narrative with some History book thrown in. This is mostly because i have been inspired (and definitely not ripping off) by Trekaddict's style of AAR writing in his fantastic "Against All Odd's" AAR but have been waiting for a while to try out that style. WW1 here is giving me that option so expect it to take up a few updates of hopefully the same length as this one. The war has been fought and I have a good idea of how to write it. However the involvement of the British Empire and where doesn't start till the next chapter but expect the introduction of our characters to start real soon.

Criticism taken on board and shall probably be used as i'm finding it confusing myself.

Unfortunately I left out one final tangle in the list of alliances that shall be addressed when I have the update worked out as I have planned. Although having most of the Continent V Germany is to try and stop the Germans curbstomping everyone in the first two months of the war as they often do in late game Vicky.

Of all the parts of Mexico he'd been to so far this was the one that reminded him the least of his native California, and he should know General Pershing and President Villa's forces had pushed their way through the entirety of this country in the last eight months and now it was nearly over. The last group of Mexican soldiers loyal to the old regime had been spotted in the area and now Lt. George S. Patton was determined to capture them and return home a hero. He only had ten men at his command but he was certain that with the three Armoured cars his little group would be able to over whelm any threat that came before them. Barely had the thought flickered across his mind when one of his soldiers cried out.

"Lieutenant Sir! We've got them spotted, two miles South-East and open in the field. By God we've got them." The soldier's voice was barely able to contain his excitement as their was no doubt in anyone's mind in this little group about the rewards that were due under these circumstances.

"Car three!" Patton called out "Dart back to the main body of the 6th and inform them that to move to our current location would help us greatly. And don't worry you'll get your share of the glory for this." With that he turned to the driver of his car, "Forward man! Forward to glory!"

As the two cars started towards the enemy and the third car made it's way back Patton couldn't help but let out a loud whoop of excitement as his two cars started to gain on them. He was so excited he didn't realise that his units had just crossed the border into British territory. However a nearby British Cavalry officer did notice from his hiding place behind some foliage and rocks and urged his troops forward from in front of the Mexican troops to meet the Yank forces. As the Mexicans cleared out of the cavarly's horses the officer turned to his men. "Unfurl the colours!"

"What the hell is that?" Patton growled loudly as he realised that the cavalry group riding towards was carrying a Union Jack flag from atop a pole in the middle of the group. "Come to a stop, but keep the engines running and the Machine Guns ready, I'm going to see what the hell those bastard's are doing." He hopped down from the car to the ground as the British cavalry surrounded his two cars immediately and came to a halt 15 feet away in a circle where they stayed with their rifles laying across their laps. "My name is Lieutenant George S. Patton of the 6th Infantry Regiment United States Army, I wish to speak to whoever the hell is in charge here." With that he noticed one man come off his horse and shoulder his rifle and started to walk towards him.

"Leftenat, my name is Captain Phillip Bromley of His Majesty's Army, Shropshire Light Horse [1] I don't suppose you happened to notice when you passed into sovereign British territory?" Captain Bromley stood maybe four inches shorter then Patton but he made himself sound like he was leaning over him. "Perhaps when you noticed the grass getting greener, the air fresher and generally the world being a better place, I mean surely then you would have noticed that you were in British ground?"

"No sir." Patton filled the word with as much contempt and venom as possible. "I was busy pursuing enemies of my nation and rebels against the Mexican nation." He indicated to the now rapidly disappearing Mexican force. "If you would allow me to round up those rebels I would be out of your territory in no time what so ever." The response he received was not what he wanted to hear.

"On the contrary Leftenant, for passing into British territory without permission I'm afraid I shall have to detain yourself and your men until such a time as this matter can be resolved. You may choose one of your men to stay here with your vehicles under guard until such a time as either more US troop's come to collect them or this matter is totally resolved."

"And if I refuse sir?"

"Then I'm afraid that myself and my men will have no other option but to fire upon you and your men and in case you haven't noticed you are significantly outnumbered and even with your vehicles you would still be quickly overwhelmed. I believe that this course is the one least likely to bring about any blood shed.[2] You will be detained in the town of Empire twelve miles west of here."

Patton turned back towards his car "Corporal Hannings. You will remain with the car and inform any elements of the 6th when they get here that myself and the rest of the men have been taken prisoner. We will be held in the town of Empire twelve miles west of here and immediate rescue would be appreciated. You will have a guard that will probably disperse when the 6th shows up, until then good luck." With that Patton then called out to his other men to come with him as they were carried on horseback to Empire.


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It took only two hours for advanced units of the 6th Infantry to find the abandoned cars. As they came to Corporal Hannings they could just make out the shape of troops moving away in the distance and the cars were quickly brought back to the main body of the regiment. From there it only took minutes to receive confirmation from General Pershing to go into Honduras and bring back out the captured US personnel. So the 6th marched over the border to outside the town of Empire. It was a small town but located on a plateau and was one of the last stops of the Honduras rail service. As they made camp outside the town a single soldier came out carrying a white flag. He was met with and a meeting between the commanding officers of both the US and British forces was arranged.

David Taylor had been in command of the 6th since they had crossed the border and he was in a very irritable mood. As far as he was concerned this hogswash was wasting valuable time and he was determined to see the Limey's punished for this. As he waited at the arranged location between the town and his forces he fumed more about the humidity of the area. When the British delegation finally arrived he found it was two officers and the British officers introduced themselves first.

"Hello Colonel" after a brief glance at his rank pin "My name is Major Terence Cornwall and this is-"

"I don't give a hot damn what your names are. I demand that you hand back over my men immediately. You've captured them without any sort of justification and I want them back dammit!" He was not in the mood for formalities and he hoped that this might help these Limey's understand that.

It was the other officer who then spoke with a look of grim determination on his face "Your men were captured trespassing on British soil chasing forces of the legitimate Mexican military who have permission to pass over the territory of Honduras. You have chosen to compact this transgression by bringing a full regiment of your troops here. You are in no position to make demands."

This was more then David could bare "The hell I am not. You have five minutes after you return to that pigsty you call a town to release my men or I'm coming in there and getting them. And God help you if I do." The major went to speak when the other officer looked at him and shook his head.

"Very well then Colonel our business is concluded." And they turned their backs on him and returned to the town. He and his aids made their way back to the US lines were he started giving orders for his men to get ready to assault the position. The town was in a good defensible position but it was nothing they hadn't already assaulted and cleared on the way down through Mexico.

As the five minutes ticked away and no movement was seen in the town he ordered his men forward. It was at this point the similarities to the Mexican campaign's ended. When they had been fighting the Mexicans they had been armed with Rolling-Block rifle's and scarce few automatic weapons. Now though Colonel Taylor's men were being cut down as what sounded like constant Machine Gun fire came from the town ripping into his men. By the time they had reached three quarters of the way to the town he had lost nearly half his men and his own life. His second in command tried to continue the assault but the gun fire was too much and he sounded the retreat.

As the Yanks started running, as that was it was not an organized retreat, Lieutenant Patton felt his stomach hit the floor underneath him. He had been brought up to were the senior British officers had been observing the battle.

"Machine Guns against infantry in open territory like that, it's not right." He hadn't realised until he had said it out loud until the most senior British officer turned to look at him.

"Whether it is right or wrong to use Machine Guns like that is not important for two reasons. One. In warfare the lines between right and wrong are considerably more blurred. Two. We used two Vicker's guns at most. The rest was the benefit of superior British training in the usage of the rifle, something I believe is referred to as the "Mad Minute", at least thirty rounds a minute at aimed targets from one of the SMLE's. Now though Leftenant Patton I hope you and your men will assist some of my men in recovering the wounded for treatment and burial for the dead. Also I would advise you to get used to British hospitality. After this I dare say you will be experiencing it for a while yet." Colonel Bernard Law Montgomery[3] beamed at him.

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It was barely four days since war was declared between the British Empire and her Dominions against the United States, and by extension France bringing the British Empire into alliance with Germany. Following the unprovoked invasion of Honduras it was no surprise that such an action would happen. This meant that throughout the Irish Territories the recruitment call had begun. In Ireland itself there had been near riots of men wanting to volunteer and the recruitment office's not being able to take them. In Alaska the State force's had formed up and Inuit, Irish and even some Russian soldiers were already assembling around the area. In both Africa and Abu Dhabi the army was flooded with native recruits. In Rome the Vatican guard found itself being expanded as locals joined up to battle the Red Hydra of godless Socialism in America.

However Tetsuo Oshiro[4] lived in none of those places. He had been born and raised in Okinawa an only child and the eldest Grandchild of his family.He had learnt English from a young age as his Grandfather had made it known that he viewed his family learning the language of their new Irish masters a good idea, this idea was shortly seized upon by his neighbours as well as when Grandfather Oshiro spoke very few in the area didn't listen. He had studied in Vancouver when he had received full Irish citizenship after presenting his birth-certificate to the local constabulary officer, his whole family had been there with him getting their new citizenship and all had voted during the Parliamentary elections. However more so then leaving his home to study in a foreign country today he was nervous.

He had arrived at the local RIC (Okinawa) office early. The doors were not yet open. Slowly behind him as time moved on a queue of other young men his age started to form behind him and it was not long before he was joined by his friend Hayate who took his position in line as an excuse to skip to the front.

"Tetsuo I have to admit of all people you being here is a surprise. But I suppose a man lost to adventure once is bound to go seeking it again, after all you were corrupted the moment you stepped off into Canadian soil." Hayate was grinning constantly "Myself however am just bored of this island so that's my excuse." Hayate was the youngest of a family of eight and while he had learnt with Tetsuo before he studied abroad had spent the last few years helping his father's fishing business.

Before Tetsuo could even begin his sentence in reply the doors to the office were opened and a group of soldier's in the dark green of the Irish army were standing there. One of them regarded the line that had formed, as did Tetsuo when he realised the line had grown almost double it's length from when he last saw it.

The one who had regarded the line stepped forward and with an almost theatrical movement swept himself around towards his fellow soldiers. "Gentlemen" he said "It is far to nice a day to do this indoors. Let's set up the tables out here and get to sorting through these fine recruits. O'Donnel, Maher go in and fetch the papers and ink and ask that nice Constable to come out here and give us a hand in case anyone needs translating." The desks were brought outside and the soldiers took their positions behind them as they set up. Tetsuo's heart was starting to race he didn't know why but it was. it was at this point that the man who had addressed the soldiers and was clearly in charge turned to look at the line. He then pointed straight at Tetsuo and said in a cheerfully loud voice. "You first lad."

He felt his legs walk towards the table the man in charge was behind as he saw from the corner of his eye others come forward from the front of the line to the tables. He reached the table after what seemed like an age and the man behind the desk beamed up at him.

"Top of the morning to you.[5] My name is Colm. If you give me your name and details we can get them down on paper and get this whole thing going."

"Sir?" As the man nodded at him with another smile cracking across his face "Sir. Which regiment will I be joining when I sign these" he indicated to the papers.

The man chuckled aloud and looked at him with his smile reaching up into his eyes, the Irish Tetsuo had found were notoriously bad at hiding their feelings in their facial expressions, "You will have the honour of joining the new 35th Okinawa rifles. A brand new regiment being recruited from here. The reason we advertised so much is because we need so many new recruits y'see."

This seemed to make sense to Tetsuo "Thank you sir. My name is Tetsuo Oshiro."

"Well then Tetsuo it's a pleasure to meet you. We'll just run through some details and then we'll be laughing."

At other desks people were rotating through a lot quicker, Hayate for example was already back in the line talking to some of his other friends after getting his orders. Tetsuo however was still answering this man's questions. "Any form of formal education Tetsuo?"

"I graduated in the top 5 of my class in the University of British Columbia."

The man seemed very impressed with this. "Pray tell what did you study?"

Tetsuo was feeling a lot more relaxed then at the beginning by now and answered the question immediately "Law with English."

At this the man stood up and offered Tetsuo his hand. This surprised Tetsuo and noting the look of surprise on his face the man looked him dead in the eye, no beaming smile this time but a hint of it still lingered in his eyes even if his face was now serious. "Welcome to the 35th lad. You are exactly what I'm looking for." Tetsuo was still very much confused and surprised at this sudden change of character.

"Pardon sir?"

"It's simple. You were first in line here and it was nearly an hour before someone else showed up after you. I know because I was watching and timing it. This shows you are determined. The fact you let your friend join you at the top of the queue shows that you look out for others. You are fluent in English and now you've just informed me of your University education. Lad you have "Officer" practically tattooed to your forehead. And I need a native officer because I know how much of a difference it will make. Some back home think that letting the New Irish become officers of their own regiments is asking for trouble, with my regiment however I intend to prove them wrong. Welcome to the 35th Okinawa Rifles Junior Leftenant Oshiro." With that he gestured towards him with his hand again and this time Tetsuo shook it.

"Here are your marshalling orders Leftenant and I will see you at the barracks nice and early."


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Questions?, Comments?, Dear-lord-how-bloody-long-is-this?

So it begins. Neither Monty nor Patton will become major character's here as I wish to avoid IRL figures as much as possible and those I intend to use I have planned out. I had planned for Patton to invade Honduras ever since learning about his role in the Pancho Villa Expedition. However the more I toyed with the idea that it was Monty who stopped him the more the idea appealed to me.

[1] An entirely fictitious unit I think. I'll be honest I didn't really research this.......

[2] Oh the Irony

[3] Right so why is he Colonel this early? Honduras is not an important posting and after his performance in China he was promoted to Colonel but sent to Honduras as he wasn't deemed "Senior" enough for an important posting.

[4] Our first main character. The others will be introduced shortly (shortly by my update rate that is)

[5] ........... Yeah I know

I just saw Passchendale.

Inspiration for the Canadian front couldn't be more forth coming.

Stuyvesant said:

It's a good thing you're Irish yourself, otherwise you would never have gotten away with that 'Top of the morning' stuff (I say 'stuff' because this is a family-oriented forum, another word did come to mind first).

The Honduran brouhaha was interesting. Certainly a nice way to explain war between the British Empire and the US. And certainly Patton seems the right choice as the one to light the fuse.

On the one hand, I really like the scene with the Okinawa Irish mustering so enthusiastically, on the other hand, having just read how the Americans were decimated, I can't help but feel bad. Their patriotism and excitement will soon turn out to be so horribly mistaken...

Oh, and I do really enjoy your utopian 'Everyone-is-equally-Irish' society, no matter that it's about the most unrealistic thing about the whole AAR (not trying to knock the Irish, just mankind in general).

Well, on to the Great War and on to the unbearable slaughter... I guess, at the best, it might serve as the fiery furnace that truly wields together all the disparate and far-flung parts or Ireland. But at what cost...

Click to expand...

Yes I know. I didn't want to write it but I just needed a way to project an Irish person trying to not appear intimidating. I had a certain amount of bile in my throat while typing it.

The problem was the US government has been a bit short in supplying it's army. While their military was more then advanced to defeat Mexico against the British it was a case of Quantity V Quality. If anything the Canadian front is going to look like a bizarre mix of the trench's of the Western Front and the tactics of the Eastern front. And trust me everyone is going to make mistakes in this war.

Everyone is not equally Irish. Expect that to start coming up. The 35th Okinawan Rifles are the only Regiment with officers of the same ethnicity from anywhere not Ireland or Alaska (Alaska is a special case). And even then it's only one officer.

This will change but not for a good while yet.

Following the declaration of war between the United States and Britain, with their various Allies, a serious amount of tension fell across Canada. Many feared that the American Army was about to come over the border and many choose to evacuate towns near the border. When the attack didn't come as immediately as planned many went back to their towns, somewhat nervously, and continued with their lives. After two weeks many began to relax and throughout Canada life seemed to return to normal. In Ottawa the stalling of the Americans was seen as a good thing, it gave the Canadian troops time to dig in and allow for Britain to funnel troops in to reinforce them via Newfoundland. Ireland was reluctant to send troops to help Canada as they feared an invasion by the United States into Alaska but they did offer material aid.

However the Canadians were still going to be outnumbered by the United States. The US army before the conflict in Mexico had only numbered 98,000. By the time Patton had crossed the border this had swelled to 152,000. When war was declared the numbers exploded to a massive 1,789,000 men and would increase until 1917 when it would plateau at 3,500,000. To counter this Canada had only 400,000 men in uniform at the outbreak plateauing in 1917 at 1,616,000. The British military began funnelling troops into Canada at the beginning of the war and by the 12th of March had gotten 125,000 men to Canada with plans to ship a total of over 1,000,000 by the end of 1915.

On the 12th of March is when the US began it's invasion. The battle plan was devised into three separate assaults along the East Coast, the West Coast and the Great Lakes. The plan being to strike up the East to capture Montreal and Quebec, over the Lakes to capture Toronto and link up to capture Ottawa and to strike along the West coast to capture Vancouver, Victoria and Alaska. The first battle to take place was the Battle of Cowansville which saw the US advance held up by Canadian/British troops for three days before they fell back to Bromont. After that the US pushed into Bromont and after a further 4 days of fighting captured the town. It was from the steps of the town hall of Bromont that the US read out the "Declaration of Quebéc Independence" or "Bromont Declaration" which guaranteed to establish an independent Quebéc from the clutches of Canadian and British tyranny. The fact that it was co-signed by the Presidents of the US and France was hoped to set off a reaction among the large Quebéc nationalist movement who had been supplied with rifles by the US for years.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As the British troops marched through Montmagnay there was an undeniable tension in the air. While in Newfoundland the Union Jack had flown from windows and crowds had cheered their passing in Quebéc things were much different. The 8th Royal Lincolnshire Regiment had only just been deployed to Canada and was marching West towards Quebec city and from there would be sent to the front. Considering however the US had one two victories already the outlook of the soldiers was grim.

"Regiment Halt! Fall out and rest. Ten minutes!" A sigh of relief went through the line as soldiers peeled off to sit on the ground around the town square. Cigarettes were shared and lit, conversations started and canteens refilled. However the soldiers were aware of eyes watching them from the windows around them. In a tavern of the square there were some men crowded outside and while the rank and file were discouraged from going there a few of the junior officers began to make their way over. They were stopped from the looks of the men outside except for one Leftenant who was feeling boisterous, when one of the men attempted to bar his way he attempted to push past him. This brought his companions to their feet which in turn saw the other junior officers come forward.

"Excuse me sir. I just want entry into the bar." The young Leftenant said "Also my companions would like to join me."

"There is no room for you" Came the reply in a thick accent that was a mix of French and Canadian "This is for locals only."

"In case you haven't noticed there is a bloody war on. And behind me there is a lot of armed men so if you don't let us in it will end badly for you."

"And who's war is it hm? Not ours" the man turned to his companions "Nous servons ni le roi ni le président, seul le Québec." And his companions yelled back the Québec volontaires motto to him and the officers.

The officers beat a hasty retreat to the taunts of the men in French. They had been warned to avoid Quebéc's main nationalist movement. The Volunteers were the armed wing of the Quebec nationalist movement and so far had not called for arms against the British and the Canadians. No-one wanted to provoke them so while some suspects, including the leader of the volunteers Joseph-Achille Verville, were kept under surveillance no direct action was taken. The fact they had yet to release a statement on the "Bromont Declaration" and had kept a very tight reign on their members was to some quite worrying and to others terrifying. Many in Ottawa feared that they were just waiting for the opportunity of when Canada would be weakest to strike. All this was going through the officers heads as a young boy came running across the square. This sudden movement and action brought every soldiers attention onto the boy but he seemed oblivious and the officers just stopped and watched.

"PAPA! PAPA! J'ai un message du bureau du télégraphe. C'est à partir de Québec." The child yelled as he came towards the bar and came to a halt before the leader of the small group outside the bar. He handed the telegraph over to his father who immediately started to read it while his companions all huddled in around him to see this message as well. The Leftenant who had tried to force his way into the bar started to walk towards the group again, slowly, as his curiosity was piqued by what this message could be he made it five steps when the leader spun on his heels and pointed straight at him.

"YOU!" he bellowed and then he swept his hand over the other junior officers "And you gentlemen as well. It appears we are in the same war now. Still want that drink?"


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The following is an extract from an article penned by Joseph-Achille Verville which was published in English and French in every major newspaper in Quebéc on March 20th 1915.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To the surprise of many within the US Army and Government the main Quebéc nationalist group declined the "Bromont Declaration" and while a few smaller groups would accept it the majority followed the Québec Volontaires. This announcement coupled with a Anglo/Canadian victory outside the town of Léry had the effect of changing the morale of the people of Canada who were fearing defeat to realise that they could win this war. Throughout occupied Quebéc partisans started hitting supply lines as weapons supplied to the Québec volontaires started being turned on the Americans. This lead to some reprisals but over all it helped tie the US army down and they began to dig in along the Quebéc front against their Anglo/Canadian opposites.

This also meant that on the 11th of April the Eastern army was not ready to assist the Central army in marching on Ottawa after the city of Toronto was captured. This caused a rethink of all plans and the already postponed invasion of British Columbia was pushed back again. Rescheduled to take place on the 15th of April with a reduced force as soldiers were transferred to the Quebéc front.

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

Short I know but hey you gets what you pay for. Two more updates on Canada 1915 scheduled with one more much further down the line. Some new characters coming up in the next two.

Topics to be discussed:

The British Columbian front.

Cavalry raids over the border from Dakota and Montana into Canada and the opposite way round.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police Air Corps.

The Ross Rifle.

And of course that ship.

On the 15th of April 1915 the United States crossed the border into the Canadian territory of British Columbia. While the US Army's numbers had been reduced on this front to assist the Quebéc front the same had happened to the Canadian forces. This was an unwise move as in BC the Canadians would be unable to receive reinforcements from Britain. The nearest location of friendly soldiers to the Canadians was the Irish Divisions in Alaska who the Irish Government refused to release to assist Canada as they still feared a naval attack on Alaska from the United States. This meant the Canadians were going to have to fight to the best of their abilities and did. At the battle of Campbell Valley a force of nearly 100,000 Americans was held by a force of 52,000 Canadians for a whole week. The Canadians used their surroundings to form some extremely formidable natural defences. However the same could not be said of the battle of White Rock were an American force of 250,000 overran a Canadian force of only 28,000. These battles were also the first time that Trench Warfare would be seen along the Canadian front's as the Canadian troops dug in before the advancing US forces. However these early trenches were little more then pillboxes connected by trenches and not the massive Earthworks that would come to be characteristic of the European Western Front and the Canadian front.

The US army continued it's advances until finally on the 30th of April it was at the outskirts of the city of Vancouver. The majority of the population of the city had already fled before the US troops had arrived with many taking trains out East or getting aboard the ships transporting war materials from Alaska. This meant that the Canadian forces were able to dig in, and in a stark contrast to the fighting that had taken place up until now the Battle for Vancouver would be a battle that would take place in an Urban environment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The British had their Lee-Enfield's. The Irish had their Pattern 13's[1]. Hell even the Yanks had their old Krags but what did the Canadians have? That curse unto the common soldier that was the Ross. Sgt. Michael Dunne and his men however had some common sense and had dumped the damn things while on the retreat from White Rock and so far, with the bedlam that the army currently was, they had not yet been found out. And much to their luck they had managed to "appropriate" the contents of a gunsmiths on King Edward's and now they were using a hodge podge of weaponry. This however was what had made them so good at clearing out rooms of Yanks and as such they were now stuck doing that over and over.

"Hey Sarge! Where we going now?" Pvt Thomson called as they began moving out from their make shift billet in the ruins of an old grocery store.

"Church on Maple and Broad. Higher ups think there's a Yank spotter up there so we're getting assigned with flushing him out." Sgt. Dunne replied while he motioned to his men to hug the wall, in front of them lay Victoria Street or as the soldiers had started calling it "Dead Man's Alley". A yank machine gun crew had set up shop in one of the nearby buildings and was proving quite efficient at their jobs however the handful of overturned carts, a lorry and some masonry made crossing it possible but dangerous. "Ok men two to a group. First group is me and Dwyer, second group Thomson and Wiggins, third group Turner and Stacey, Richards and Garret your fourth group. Standard drill keep your heads down and move fast. Dwyer we go on three. One, Two, Three." With that Dunne and Dwyer started running out into the street, they made it to the first wagon easy and were halfway to the second one when the Yank machine gun started to open up and the noise of it hitting the cobblestones at their feet was disconcerting as hell. They crouched down behind the second cart while the Machine Gun was paying attention to them and Dunne signalled for the next group to move.

As the Machine Guns attention was turned to the second group Dunne and Dwyer made a dash for the lorry as the second group made for the second wagon the Machine Gun split between two targets was shooting even wilder then it was before and this routine carried on until all his men were back with him on the other side of the street. "Ok boys let's move. Richards your on rear, Wiggins take point." With that his men shuffled around until Wiggins who was a Vancouver local was leading the group. After going down a seemingly endless series of alleys Wiggins came to halt some ten feet from the end of an alley.

"Ok Sarge were here." Wiggins whispered as Dunne came forward, he nodded at Wiggins and with a jerk of his thumb backwards signalled for him to move back in the squad, he then walked at a crouch towards the exit of the alley and got a look at their target. It was a small enough church that had come out of the Yank shelling's of the city unscathed however he could see that it was guarded, two sentries were out front and there was some movement inside. However he only had to look at debris strewn on the ground and the small stone wall around the church to figure out his next move. He ducked back down the alley.

"Ok Boys here's the plan. We've got two outside and god knows how many inside. As I can see it we're going to need to move in fast. We've got maybe two hours of sunlight left today and Brass didn't give me a timeline on the mission. So get comfy boys cause come darkness were moving in. So here are your details for your roles."


*Two Hours later*

As darkness fell the two US sentries had seemingly gotten more relaxed in their duty. They were now sitting on a pair of stools smoking and shooting the breeze. To Dunne this was perfect as long as they weren't payign attention to their surroundings his job got easier. He and Dwyer were very slowly creeping up towards the church that thankfully had very few lights on inside. Those that were on were out the back of the church while these two sentries were out front. He continued to move slowly forward until he was within three feet of one of the Yanks, now he moved so slow and so quietly he feared his quickly beating heart would give him away, finally he was almost right next to the sentries.

"Hey buddy got a light?" With that the nearest Yank turned towards him and was then suddenly staring down the barrel of the Browning Auto-5[2] he had taken as his main weapon. At the same time Dwyer had grabbed the other yank from behind and had his own Auto-5 jammed up against the Yank's head. "Don't move a fucking muscle." With that Dunne turned and signalled for Wiggins and Thomson to come over and take the Yanks out of there, he then signalled for the other men to take their positions near the windows of the church while he and Dwyer waited out front. He then heard the THUMP noises as from the two sentries getting knocked out as Wiggins and Thomson moved to their positions. He checked his weapon and moved one of the Yanks Krags into easy reach in case he needed it. He turned and nodded to Dwyer who cupped his hands and got the nights proceedings under way.

"WHOOT-WOW" they had chosen an Owl call as the signal to start and he almost thought he heard the sounds of the matches lighting, and then definitely heard the sound of the fuses being lit on one of his squads many tricks. It turned out that if you stuck a quarter stick of Dynamite inside an old food tin, fed the fuse in through the top and resealed the tin with string or some solvent you had a fairly handy little hand bomb or grenade as Turner kept calling them. The fuses were all cut to four seconds and he heard the sound of the glass in the windows smashing as the old food tins sailed through the windows. The sound of footsteps on the other side of the door was quickly muffled by the sound of the explosives going off. Less then a heartbeat after the explosions he had moved through the door with his shotgun held to his shoulder and was moving into the church.

Inside the church was madness, the grenades had exploded leaving a fair amount of cordite smoke lingering in the air, near the alter a pile of red mush was all that remained of some Yanks while rolling on the ground in between an aisle of pews a Yank was clutching his leg and screaming for God, Jesus or his own mother to come and save him. However Dunne had only a moment to give these sights consideration as movement to his right brought his shotgun to bare on a Yank who was coughing.

"Drop it!" Dunne called to the Yank but the man seemed not to listen and recognising the Khaki colour of Dunne's uniform started to bring his rifle to bare. Dunne fired without a moments hesitation and as the recoil hit his shoulder he was already looking around while the Yank took a 12 gauge buckshot. He heard another shotgun fire from behind him and knew it was Dwyer. He continued to look around with his shotgun ready to fire at a moments notice. However apart from the man in the aisles everything had gone quiet.

"All quiet men move in." He called out and his men who had been outside rushed into the church. "Garret get that Yank some bandages. Wiggins, Richards secure the bodies. Turner and Stacey keep an eye outside. I know explosions aren't exactly uncommon but I don't want a Yank regiment sneaking up on us. Thomson and Dwyer your with me, were going up the belltower." He avoided looking around as much as possible, he may have stopped throwing up at scenes like this but he thanked his immortal soul that he still didn't find them pleasant to look at. He fed one new shell into his shotgun as he began his ascent up the stone stares to the bell-tower, the staircase was fairly small and as such aiming with his shotgun proved useless very quickly. Instead he swapped over to the weapon that he loved. An Irish Officer's FN Model 1903[3]. As he approached the top he brought the pistol up and got ready to fire as necessary and quickly rushed into the small room near the bell.

There was no-one there. A field telescope, a map and a sand filled bowel full of cigarette ends told him that someone had most certainly been operating a spotters nest from up here but that person was no longer here.

"Ok boys come on up. Were safe. Just going to grab this map and -"

"Sarge your going to want to see this." He turned to look at Thomson who was pointing due South-West of the tower. The building offered a fairly good view of the surrounding area but as Dunne looked were Dwyer was pointing he realised he wouldn't have time to admire the view. It seemed like a whole tide of dark shapes was coming into the city and Dunne knew that many shapes had to be a massive Yank offensive and that definitely couldn't be good.

"Grab the map and get down the stairs. Now!" The three men ran down the stairs and as they burst into the room the others in the squad turned to look at them.

"What's going on Sarge?" Asked Garret from next to the Yank on the ground who had seemingly passed out but was definitely breathing.

"On your feet soldier we are out of here!" Dunne started towards the door as the rest of his men started to fall in behind him. "It appears we have a massive Yank assault coming right into the city and we are getting back to our lines before we get caught right before it. Wiggins take point and get us back home."

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The US Army launched it's main offensive into the city of Vancouver on the 4th of May and after another week of fighting captured the city with a massive loss of life on both sides. The Canadian Army was forced to retreat and was expecting another immediate offensive to finish them off. No such offensive came as the US troops were exhausted and as such US General William S. Graves called for a halt of the offensive. The fact that reinforcements were becoming difficult to acquire due to a lack of infrastructure coupled with break downs in the US supply lines meant that the next planned US offensive wasn't scheduled until the 11th of May.

The main cause of this infrastructural breakdown had been cavalry raiders crossing behind lines by using the sheer size of the front to slip through unnoticed and sabotage US railway lines as well as raid nearby farms to prevent foraging of supplies. In the early days of the war these actions were carried out by both sides in a civilised and chivalrous manner. Farmers were usually left enough food and seed to make sure their families weren't completely ruined. Supply trucks were stopped and the driver removed from the vehicle before the vehicle was then wrecked and the supplies burnt. Even attacks on train lines were published in newspapers so as to prevent any derailing of trains and loss of life. However such conditions could only continue for so long and as we shall see by Mid-1916 the so called "Cavalry War" became coated with the infamy with which it is regarded with to this day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dunne and his men had gotten out of Vancouver just and were now stationed in the trenches outside the city. They had been reissued with the damn Ross's again but they still had their weapons from the city, although now they were well hidden. Unlike previous trenches these ones were a lot deeper and better built with the engineers taking the lull in the fighting to keep expanding upon them and on this clear May day Dunne didn't give a damn about the war. Instead he looked out to sea and in a testament to how calm the weather was he could just make out the edge of Vancouver Island.

"Hey Sarge. You have a face like a thunder cloud. What are you thinking about?" One of the men behind him called out. Dunne turned slowly towards his men and looked at them. Then he jerked his thumb over his shoulder out towards the Island.

"Mark my words boys. The next major fight will be over that hunk of rock."

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So Comments etc?

[1] The Pattern 14 rifle to me or the M1917 Enfield if your an American. It will be popping up in two chapters time.

[2] Common enough weapon in OTL and a popular hunting gun TTL. Also TTL John Browning went to Belgium with all his gunsmithing ideas including his famous 1911. Which while not in US service yet will be in the future.

[3] Ireland, (Coming Soon) Italy, Germany and Austria. Are the only countries in this war with Semi-Auto pistols as standard. The FN Model 1903 is the Irish choice and considering TTL's ties with Fabrique Nationale and the Royal Dublin Armouries expect more Belgian designs to pop up.

@Treppe

Why thank you very much.

The Bromont Declaration, as we will see post war, was denied mostly due to a secret deal worked out between the British and the Quebéc leadership that would see Britain put pressure on Canada to create an independent Quebéc state post-war. Whether this will happen or not I ain't saying but the idea of a splinter group is appealing and will probably get factored in to 1916 chapters. As unfortunately I have 1915 all planned out .

USS Ohio,
Queen Charlotte Strait,
Canadian West Coast

The liberation in Vancouver had been carried out without a hitch and now the Canadians under British rule were out of the city. The US Navy was now getting ready to carry out the liberation of the city of Victoria. To Captain Easling this was more then acceptable. Intelligence said that there were no ships in the area to threaten them, especially after the Irish fleet in Alaska had set sail to the Pacific, probably in a attempt to prevent the Navy from taking Hawaii from the Japs, another reason Easling was grateful the Ohio and Maine had been spared being sent with the rest of the Pacific fleet. Now all he had to do was help the Maine escort the landing ships over to the city and after that escort the other landing ships loading up in Vancouver up to Anchorage and liberate the Alaskans from the Irish. To top it all off the sea was calm and the weather was positively summer like.

"Eh Captain. Observation says they see air planes, four of em. Guessing by the direction they came from they've gotta be Canadian."

"Nothing to worry about Lieutenant. Let them see us if they want, not like there is anything an air plane can do against a battleship. Hell pass me my binoculars I wouldn't mind having a look at them." As the Lieutenant passed him the glasses Easling made his way up the ladder to the observation area. The two sailors up there saluted him and after he returned their salutes kindly pointed out the aircraft to him. Lo and behold there were four Canuck aircraft just flying in circles above him. They made for an impressive sight even if they did belong to the enemy. This peace lasted a whole minute before he heard one of the other sailors swear very loudly.

"Sir. There's a ship out there and it ain't no yacht." Easling went over to were the sailor was standing and looked exactly were he was pointing with the powerful observation glasses. He searched the ship and saw a slight ripple atop the craft. The ripple unfurled itself for one moment as the golden harp on a blue field that was the Irish naval ensign. He quickly turned and climbed back down the ladder to the bridge.

"Lieutenant. Contact the Maine and tell her we've got an Irish ship to starboard. Suggest we both go and sink that bastard." It took only a minute for a reply, Easling marvelled at the speed of the wireless for communications, and both the Ohio and the Maine turned to starboard to intercept this Irish ship.

RCMPAC Firefly Squadron,
Based out of RCMPAC Gordon Head Aerodrome

As the two Yank ships started to turn Capt Nathan Reynolds nudged his Avro Elephant air plane out of the circle he and his squadron had been operating since coming over the top of the Yanks. The circle had been part of the plan to help the Irish locate the ships and had been a smart plan ever since the Irish captain had asked them for help. What he was about to do however was not in the plan. What he was about to do was not in anybodies plan except for his own squadron's. Over the years his squadron had gotten good at dropping flares, buoys and floatation devices to help stricken boats in the water or boats trying to smuggle goods from Alaska. Today however they weren't carrying flares.

Capt Reynolds swivelled his head around and saw his flight break into two, Stark and Saunders started off in one direction while Reynolds and Wash started towards the other American ship. They started to approach the ship and then lose altitude, finally when the ship was a fairly large blob underneath his plane he yanked on the cable that was attached to the pin that held the bar underneath the 260 pounds of bombs he had sitting underneath his plane. Bombing was in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Air Corps play book for extreme cases and if this wasn't one of them he didn't know what was.

As the bombs left his plane he felt it jerk upwards as it was suddenly lighter. He started to gain altitude and turn towards home and with another quick look saw that the rest of his squadron had fallen in behind him. He then turned to look at the American ships, grinned at the damage his men had caused and continued on home.

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The Battle for Vancouver Island is historically remarkable due to the fact that it involved the first ever recorded incident of an aerial attack against a naval target. Four aircraft under command of RCMPAC Cpt Nathan Reynolds dropped a total of 1,040 lbs of high explosive bombs on top of the USS Ohio and the USS Maine. While not all the bombs hit their intended targets the effect of the ones that did was telling. On board the USS Maine one bomb landed and exploded just behind the forward gun turret killing the crew manning the weapon and damaging it beyond repair, another bomb on the Maine hit the loaded Aft-side Torpedo tube and caused an explosion that ripped a sizeable hole causing a list. The USS Ohio suffered a direct hit to it's command bridge and another hit took out the rear gun turret.

Both ships however were still capable of offensive operations and continued their progress towards the HMIS Thunderchild in order to prevent it from intercepting the landing forces destined for Victoria.



~~~~~~~~~~

HMIS Thunderchild,
Queen Charlotte Strait,
Canadian West Coast


VICTORIA MUST NOT FALL STOP

The paper with the order was still within reach of Cpt. Thomas MacDonagh. The whole Alaskan fleet had been sent out to intercept the US fleet at Hawaii and yet the Thunderchild had been delayed due to an issue with it's engines. The delay had stopped them entirely and stuck the Thunderchild on coastal patrol. The fact that the ship even existed seemed to be God's cruel joke on Capt MacDonagh, he finally received command of his own ship and was put in charge of one of the brand new at the time Battlecruisers. The other ships in the class where the Tara and the Anchorage. His ship however? Gets named by some sad bastard from Dublin who clearly spent too much time reading[1] and not out doing something productive. The fact the author of the book the name came from had been brought on a tour at the launch had just been insult to injury. Coupled with the constant boring as hell missions the ship received MacDonagh had come to find his tour utterly detestable.

Then the wireless had brought him orders two days ago. Now he was scared. Every inch of his body was terrified as before him lay the sight of two American Battleships and beyond that his actual target of the US landing ships. The fact the American ships had been found so fast had been in the most part due to the Canadian policemen flying them in. MacDonagh had been shocked when he saw the geysers of water and flashes of explosions come from the US ships after the Canadian changed formation and started home. However he no longer had time to worry, now he had to bring his ship against the enemy.

"Range on targets?" He called.

"25,000 yards sir! Front Turrets tracking." The maximum range of the ships guns was 20,000 yrds. The two twin turrets up front were going to fire first before he turned the ship to allow the middle and rear twin turrets their chance to fire. The guns were loaded with AP rounds and he hoped he would be able to finish it before the Yanks got in range. They had more guns but at a shorter range and the less chance of the ship getting blown up the better. Minutes seemed to drag into years as the ship churned forward. He felt his foot starting to tap the deck underneath him but he couldn't bring himself to stop. Finally the smae voice that had answered him earlier called again.

"Range 20,000 yrds. Permission to fire sir?"

"Granted. Fire at will." Less then a second after he gave his permission to fire the whole ship shook and a deafening roar filled his ears as the forward turrets opened fire on the enemy. He used a pair of field glasses to watch and was dismayed as first one then three geysers of water roared out of the sea near the nearest US ship. However he suddenly felt elated when he saw a flash from one of the shells hitting the enemy ship.

"Turn to port! And inform the middle and rear turrets they may fire when ready." The ship started to turn and within moments the ship shook again as the turrets behind where he was standing fired. He looked again and the other turrets had more success with two shots hitting dead on. The US ships continued to come on and after the front turrets fired again started to turn. They suddenly flashed and then water started to spout up of the sea in front of where MacDonagh was looking. And then he heard the roaring crash and felt the shock as one of the US shells made contact. He asked for and received a damage report informing him that the shell had hit mid port-side killing four men and six were on their way to the infirmary.

The Mid and Rear turrets roared again and this time he saw one of the shells detonate on the US ship followed by another flash and an enormous roar as the ship seemed to explode and part of it get thrown into the air like a child's toy. "Dear lord. We most have hit their magazine. Press on. Only one ship now." Two more US shells hit into his ship killing a further eight men and wounding ten before the Front turrets roared and managed to hit the ship to cause it to list. As it started to list men began to abandon the ship. Normally the Thunderchild would be bound to stop and try and rescue men from the water. However the landing ships were continuing towards Victoria and had to be stopped. So while the US ship, the Ohio if MacDonagh read the hull right before it sank, started to slip under and the crew threw floatation jackets out to the US sailors the Thunderchild sailed by unable to stop due to the more important mission.

~~~~~~~~~~

The sinking of the USS Ohio and the USS Maine between the RCMPAC and the Irish Naval ship HMIS Thunderchild lead to the sinking of all six US landing ships bound from Vancouver to the city of Victoria. The HMIS Thunderchild under the shrewd leadership of Capt Thomas MacDonagh then sailed to Vancouver itself and sank nearly all the US ships docked there, the destruction of the Vancouver coastal defence battery during the Battle of Vancouver meant the US forces were in capable of firing back on the ship and while the US Destroyer USS Pentacost attempted to drive away the Irish ship it was forced back into harbour due to heavy damage. The total loss of US life from that day was over 5,000 men between all the ships sunk. The Maine went down with all hands aboard following an apparent magazine explosion and the Ohio was sunk. Crew members of the Ohio were picked up by the HMIS Thunderchild on it's way back to Victoria where they were then interned.

The crew of the Thunderchild and the men of the RCMPAC Squadron were treated to a parade in their honour in Victoria and the value of morale for the victory is inestimable. One direct consequence of the battle however was the removal of the landing ships that the US military intended to use to invade Irish Alaska and so the Irish government was finally able to release troops to assist in the defence of Canada. An agreement made between British, Canadian and Irish generals would see the Irish deployed to defend British Columbia primarily in the same way that the British were deployed to defend Quebéc primarily. The HMIS Thunderchild spent the rest of the war being stationed out of Victoria.

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Straight off I want to say sorry for the long wait for an update as I have been unwell. Also this bit was giving trouble on how to write it. The next update should be much quicker.

[1] Any resemblance to the author is purely intentional.

@Stuyvesant

Different doesn't even cover it. And you can guess taht the Irish are about to be involved. Next one is and Irish and ANZAC update. One or two more focusing on the Irish and Canadians in BCafter that then the last one of 1915 is a special one.

Thank you very much. I just threw together various things from movies and books I've read and hoped they turned out well. Nice to know they did.

Not for generations to come but there is a certain amount of destruction of natural beauty that happens through this war. It will also not be confined to only the Canadian side of the border.

The Road to Manilla,
The Spanish Philippines

For the rest of his life Tetsuo Oshiro would remember the dust. The stuff was everywhere as the Irish military forces marched towards Manilla along the dirt roads in the Dry season. The fact that the platoon he was in charge of was near the very end of the snaking column of men didn't help. So far army life was proving not to be as he had imagined it would be. The dark green uniform, or brown as it was after a week of marching, was heavy and uncomfortable. His pack constantly bit on his shoulders and his sword and pistol kept dragging his belt down. And then there was the food, the less said about that the better. As he reached to adjust his belt for the millionth time in the last week he heard the words of his Grandfather ringing through his head.

"Tetsuo. This sword has been in our family since the time of my Grandfather. I wore it when I arrived here in the service of the Emperor of Japan before the Irish arrived. I have cared for it and prayed to our ancestors at it. Now though one of our family goes to war. If our family goes to war then this sword goes with you!"

The fact that swords weren't in the Irish guidelines for equipment for officers was a fact his Grandfather refused to listen to. And now Tetsuo had the standard Irish pistol clasped on his right hip and the sword on his left hip, when they were sitting as they were supposed too instead of moving around. As he looked behind him at the men under his command he briefly met the gaze of Sgt. Ian Conner. The man was an easy six feet tall, sported a trimmed to the letter red moustache and was a veteran of every Irish action since 1886. The fact he had wound up in the 35th had been because Cnl Colm Brady had dragged him from his posting in his native Derry when he had been sent out east to raise a regiment. Sgt. Conner was also a staunch Presbyterian as witnessed by the fact that he had screamed at Tetsuo and his men for being "godless nipponese heathen bastards" when they had arrived for basic training. This was quickly followed by a very formal apology to Tetsuo when he noticed the pip on his shoulder denoting him as an officer before he turned back to the rest of the men and continued to scream at them for most of the day, and the rest of the three weeks after. He only saw him not scream once during the training and that was at the rifle range.

"THIS YOU HEATHEN BASTARDS." He then lifted up the standard Irish issue Pattern 13 rifle, a by product of an industrial dispute between Irish and Canadian gunsmiths with the British Enfield Armories. "Is the Pattern 13 rifle. It takes a 5 round clip of 303 loaded into here." He opened the bolt and showed them exactly where the bullets went, the rapidly evaporating language barrier had required a lot of practical demonstrations. "It is effective up to a range of 874 yards but in skilled hands can hit much further then that, not that I expect any of you to qualify as "skilled" in any sense of the word with the exception of being fecking eejits." With that he loaded the rifle, aimed it down range and squeezed off all five rounds on target very quickly. "By the end of this week I will have you shooting that quickly, and that accurately or God isn't an Irishman."

The reason Tetsuo had observed that whole demonstration was due to the fact he had nothing else to do. The captain in charge of his company kept brushing him off and with the exception of Cnl Brady no officers in the regiment wanted anything to do with him, as such he spent most of his time with his men. This discrimination was not new to him, he had gone through similar enough experiences in Vancouver however ever since the landings in the Philippines it had gotten worse with not only the officers but soldiers from other Irish regiments, the 3rd Ulster Rifles and the 12th Leinster Cavalry, had refused to acknowledge him as an officer, and their own officers had refused to issue any sort of punishment on their men. As such Tetsuo found himself becoming more and more isolated to the company of his men and being left out. Even now the rest of the company was marching in front of Tetsuo's group and that was just kicking up more of the god-forsaken dust. He swore quietly as he adjusted his belt again. And continued towards Manilla.


~~~~~~~~~~

Manilla was a very none-aesthetically appealing place. Or to quote Hayate "A pile of shit." The locals were staying in doors and the Irish were digging in at the town to surround Ciudad Manilla and the coastal defence batteries. The field artillery was already getting into position but the artillery from the Fort was preventing them from moving. As well as preventing everything from moving as the sounds of the shells making their freight train like noise before exploding in the ground had the effect of making everybody near by dive for the nearest piece of cover, and in the badly built Manilla there wasn't much cover to go round. Some of the churches and such were of a good strong stone and concrete but the majority of structures were either wooden buildings or shacks put together with any materials on hand. As such most of the soldiers had taken to digging foxholes and slit trenches where they waited for the Spanish guns to stop firing. As far as the rest of the campaign had gone the trenches weren't so bad, there was a lot less dust and they weren't marching so to Tetsuo and his platoon they just dug in with the rest of the 35th and waited.

This was broken however when a runner came to tell him that the Captain wanted to see him. When he returned to his men he had a hollow look to his face.

"Apparently General Lynch was able to establish radio command with some naval forces in the area and they should be equipped to turn the fort" he gestured to the structure with his hand "into rubble. Problem is those shore batteries are preventing our ships from doing it. The 35th got volunteered to take them out and our company volunteered to do it, and our platoon was chosen to carry out the mission. We are ordered to move out to the 3rd's position there and await further orders." All of the men showed some form of reaction except for Sgt Conner. The moved out and quickly made there way to the trenches dug in near the coastal batteries. The looks they got from the soldiers of the 3rd said it all, with every step Tetsuo felt his heart plummeting and pounding harder, finally his platoon of men reached the area of the trench to prepare to attack. Another runner informed him that he was to attack at five minutes past the hour, fifteen minutes away according to his watch and then he heard the Irish field guns open fire.

"This is always the worst part sir. The waiting." He looked at Sgt Conner, the sergeant spoke very rarely unless he was screaming at the men.

"You've had something like this before?" Tetsuo checked his watch again, ten minutes left.

"China sir. The bastards turned the hills black with their numbers. The whole time watching them get closer was the worst part of the whole day, not the fighting, not the route but the waiting sir." The sergeant went quiet then as the minutes ticked by. At two minutes remaining Tetsuo drew the sword from it's sheath, a child-hood spent learning how to use one suddenly coming flowing back.

"Sgt. Give the order, fix bayonets."

"Yes sir. FIX BAYONETS!" To either side of Tetsuo he heard the click sounds as bayonets were locked into place on the rifles. He placed the whistle into his mouth and looked at his watch.

The artillery stopped firing. The whistle pierced loud into the silence and the next thing he knew he was charging across the ground towards the Spanish positions. He felt his voice screaming but didn't hear it, all he heard was the sound of his heart beating like a drum in his ears. Sword held high he jumped over the little barricade the Spanish had put up before their positions and then he was standing in a small trench looking at a stunned Spanish soldier with a rifle in his hands. He never remembered sweeping the sword into the soldier or the two others that appeared, nor did he remember the way he lead his men, well the ones who had survived so far, to the coastal positions. He did remember Sgt Conner standing next to him as he sheathed the sword and drew out his pistol. Specifically he remembered him screaming for the men to check their ammunition and make sure the had bullets in their rifles. And then he charged into the gun positions with his men behind him, one Spanish soldier aimed a rifle at him but before he could get a shot off Tetsuo had raised and fried his pistol as around him his men fell on the crew of the coastal gun. They repeated it again, and again for four guns. By the time they were finished Tetsuo collapsed against a wall near the last gun. His breathing was heavy and he realised as he rubbed his hands through his head that at some point he had gotten injured along his right arm.

"We lost twelve men sir. Another six injured and I reckon only one of them is going to die from their injuries. Most have got scratches like yourself." He looked up to see Sgt Conner standing over him with his uniform covered in blood, as well as it dripping off the bayonet of his rifle. He looked monstrous and Tetsuo realised he probably didn't look much different himself. "They fought well sir. For a bunch of heathens that is." The Sgt was looking around the area as he said that.

"Our men or the Spaniards sergeant?"

"Bit of both sir. Bit of both." With that Tetsuo lost it and started laughing. He didn't know why but the sight of the blood covered Irishman still calling his men heathens was just funny.

~~~~~~~~~~

By the time the 3rd came to take over the guns Tetsuo and his platoon were being moved back to the 35th. To his relief Hayate had not been among the losses. As they returned to the 35th Cnl Brady was there to congratulate them. A while later he heard the loud unmistakable sound of a battleship firing as the HMIS Mouth of Flowers started to bombard the fort. It was at this moment Sgt Conner spoke up.

"I have to ask sir. That thing you were screaming on your way to the enemy position. What did it mean?"

"Pardon Sgt. I don't remember screaming anything."

"It sounded like Airamdu Banzeye. Sir."

With that Tetsuo grinned. "If I'm guessing correctly it was probably "Airurando banzai". Roughly translated it means Long Live Ireland."

The Sergeant nodded. "That's not a bad line at all. Even if it is in your demonic tongue. No offence sir."

~~~~~~~~~~

The City of Manilla, the seat of government for the Spanish Philippines was captured by Irish forces following the neutralisation of the Spanish Coastal Defence batteries which allowed the Irish Battleship HMIS Mouth of Flowers to open fire on the main fortress. To try and take the fortress by land would have been a costly endeavour and after five days of shelling, and a further half day of an Assault the fort fell to the Irish forces, and quickly afterwards did the whole of the Spanish Philippines. With the elimination of the main area of threat to the Irish Ryukyu Isles, the Russians were being checked to the North by the Japanese who were also fighting the French in Indochina. It now meant that Ireland could focus it's full attention to the Canadian and Western front's.

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

Questions, Comments, Complaints etc?

I know I said ANZAC's last time but their going to get put together with naval engagement next post as I decided to make this one an All-Ireland affair. I'm hoping I'm getting the discrimination of non-Irish "Irish" across without it being too heavy handed.

Also Sharpe books are really good aid on how to write the battle scenes. I hope i'm getting good at it.

Stuyvesant said:

Anyway, I enjoyed the aerial bombardment of the Americans (perhaps a bit overpowered, but we'll call it good luck - or rather the awesome skills of the Airborne Mounties ). And then you essentially wiped out their fleet with a single battlecruiser. Our Timeline's Jackie Fisher would've been in heaven with such results. Not to (potentially) detract from the narrative, but did this update reflect in-game events? Did you truly demolish a whole American fleet with a single battlecruiser?

Click to expand...

While i'm very very grateful for the positive comment on the attack on the gun positions (I was really going out on a limb on how to write that) I have wanted to explain the in game events surrounding the naval fight but didn't want to just plop it in the OOC bit.

What happened there was my single battlecruiser (since named the Thunderchild after what happened) was sitting in the coast next to Vancouver when the US Navy came along. The US Navy that attacked her was made up of two monitors (who got upgraded to battleships for the sake of narrative) one Ironclad (with a destroyer flotilla) about a half dozen steamer transports and an honest to god Men-o-War. As my Battlecruiser sat there with a relatively competent leader in command (His name has been altered as the basic names for leaders is quite annoying so I change them at will) it set about destroying everything.

I decided to write in the Canadian bombers as I'm trying to build up the Canucks as the premier air-force users ATM and I altered the American naval set up for a better narrative as the real narrative of Battle Cruiser V Men-o-War would have gone something along the lines of

"Hey look a ship with sails.
Forward Turret fire.
Who wants free Firewood?"