The Torch of the Mediterranean: A Socialist Republic of Italy Kaiserreich AAR

[talt]

So Vietnam is going to be divided between north and south ITTL as well. It probably won't last as long as in OTL (and I imagine that the outcome of TTL Vietnam War will different) as once the Japanese win in China they will have encircled the North Vietnamese pretty much.

[Milites]

Jesus, did the French DoW the Dutch on their own? Hopefully, a French guerre de eclaire through the Lowlands will stress the Germans thoroughly.

[Winner]

Jesus, did the French DoW the Dutch on their own? Hopefully, a French guerre de eclaire through the Lowlands will stress the Germans thoroughly.

I think it should be made the standard CoF strategy in Kaiserreich - analogously to OTL German strategy (thrust through the Low Countries). Otherwise the war usually bogs down pretty quickly.

[thekonkoe]

I'm curious did you make France declare war or did the AI actually figure that one out?

[TheConqueror]

Awesome AAR, just catched up with it
Keep up the good work

[talt]

I think it should be made the standard CoF strategy in Kaiserreich - analogously to OTL German strategy (thrust through the Low Countries). Otherwise the war usually bogs down pretty quickly.

Sadly France at the moment in KR even struggles just to take all of Flanders-Wallonia before German numbers get to it. Manpower growth needs to be increased (you could say that the Commune greatly modernises agriculture/provides incenetives for families to have children) before France can become a serious threat again.

[Dachspmg]

Yeah, I think that once France figures out how to properly kill Wallonia, you don't even need - or want - to take on the Dutch. You have to deal with more troops, and it doesn't actually help you encircle the Germans - it actually makes it harder, because you don't have neutral territory against which to pin them.

[Barón Rojo]

I think that the main problem that you have now is that you are over-extending your lines, you can advance easily but you don't have enough troops to defend all the new provinces that you could get.

[MercZ]

Yes, the idea of the French overextending themselves was not a good idea. I had programmed an event to get the French to do something, just to make things interesting I suppose.

The Balkans Campaign

Let no one come sing us lullabies: an entire people is now on the march with a sure step towards a magnificent destiny.

In the atmosphere of victory, confidence and discipline that extends across the country, yes, everything is possible for the daring.

Everything is possible and the workers have both the privilege and the responsibility of being carried to the head of the movement.

Let it march, let it lead, let it decide, let it execute and no obstacle will resist it!

With resistance in Austro-Hungarian held Balkans melting away and German forces distracted by the French attempt to expand the front in the Netherlands, the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s weaknesses became even more apparent. There had long been beliefs that the Austrian military had not truly learned from its Great War experience, and some of that was being shown true with the developments on its front with Italy. With German forces removing themselves to prevent a French breakthrough into northern Germany, Austria was left alone to face the forces of the Syndintern.

The first target was a small pocket created around the city of Marburg, where a thin supply route was still being maintained between the heart of the empire to the Balkans. Within a few days of fighting, the city was abandoned save for a handful of divisions cut off from their retreat route. Balbo, relocated from his unsuccessful Alpine Campaign, was given command of the battle. By January 15th, the city was secured by Syndicalist forces.

Meanwhile, French assaults into Netherlands proceeded quickly, with Dutch forces unable to hold back the tide of the Communal Army. The first major confrontation took place in Eindhoven on January 18th, and the battle quickly resolved itself in France’s favor. With the defenders unable to match France’s furious assault, there was little chance in resisting the advance by the Dutch forces.

The French advanced along both ends of the Netherlands, along its coast and into Gelderland bordering Germany. The French had found some sympathizers from the remnants of the SDAP and the various bloody strikes and rally, including Zwolle [1], and it was with these people that the Communal Forces worked with the establish Syndicates as they pushed their way into the country. German forces attempted to respond to the sudden change in fronts, deploying more units in the now compromised border with the Netherlands. The last major confrontation with Dutch forces would take place on February 15th in Nijmegen near the German border.

The battle, like much of the preceding ones, was heavily favored towards the French invaders. The fall of Nijmegen scattered the Dutch military, leaving the capital of Amsterdam vulnerable to the inevitable French annexation of the Kingdom. The government and the royal family retreated ahead of the oncoming advance, entering into Germany having been given refuge by the Kaiser. With the Dutch eliminated as a factor in the war, the forces of France were free to move to the border with Germany and begin attempts at attacking nearby cities. The first of many assaults began on February 22nd in the Imperial Province of Westphalia, focusing the thrust of its attack on the city of Cologne.

With much of German forces still positioned in Alsace-Lorraine, Cologne itself was only lightly protected, falling to French assault within a few days. On February 29th, French forces entered triumphantly into Cologne, their first step into German territory.

The success ended there however, and with it the hopes of occupying important northern cities in Germany. Imperial forces were able to prevent a major assault on Wilhelmshaven and pushed French forces back into occupied Netherlands, seizing control of Groningen in the process. Cologne was able to be held by the French after a German counterattack, but it essentially ended the French assault into Northern Germany.

Fronts established themselves with France in control of the majority of the Low Countries and the British still holding Denmark. French command now turned towards Italy to restart its Alpine Campaign and advance into the remainder of the Tyrols and expose Bavaria to an Italian advance.

While preparations were made for an assault on the Tyrols, personally over seen by Berneri after the previous failures by Balbo, the Balkan campaign neared an important step. With much of the Dalmatian coast seized and the remaining supply lines to Vienna cut, the Austro-Hungarian Empire now lacked a direct route to the sea.

Tito’s forces had begun to organize uprisings in the last major city held by the Austrians- Sarajevo. As the city was wrecked by chaos from the disruption of supplies from Vienna due to Italian assaults, administrators, local nobility, and other notables began fleeing the city in the direction of Hungarian-held Zagreb. Yugoslav resistance cells, having been formed by Tito before leaving the region, now rose into rebellion and fought against the remaining garrisons for control of the city.

Across the ocean in North America, the Combined Syndicates delivered one blow after another to the Pacific States as it focused on eliminating that remnant of the Civil War before turning all its energies to Canada and New England. On February 26th the city of San Francisco, a very important city for the Pacific States, fell to the Combined Syndicates, bringing the end of the Pacific States ever closer.

For the Syndintern, a successful resolution of the North American war would allow the Combined Syndicates to throw its weight behind the war in Europe. An intervention would be ideal, but with the Combined Syndicates’s populace already wrecked with enough war as it is, such an action would be unreasonable on the people of the Combined Syndicates.

The seizure of the Dalmatian coast by Italy also resulted in drawing the attention of Greece to the island of Kefalonia. The island was held by the Austrians and an object of desire for Greek Nationalists, hoping to remove the last trace of the embarrassing defeats of World War I. With Austria clearly in no position to retaliate against Greece, the island was occupied by Greek forces on March 1st.

De Bono’s Balkan campaign was now nearing its end, with Italian forces now nearing the outskirts of Sarajevo which was overrun by forces sympathetic to Tito’s rebellion. Italian divisions entered into Sarajevo on March 15th, finding the city only lightly defended with much of the divisions having been overrun by revolutionaries.

The fall of Sarajevo marked the end of Austria’s domination of the region, and now Italy turned its attention to the Tyrol region which had been cut off from Vienna with the capture of Graz by Balbo earlier. Acting on French encouragement and divisions, Umberto Marzocchi prepared for the People’s Army to invade the Tyrols. After consulting with the various commanders and Berneri himself, the assault began on March 21st.

The first thrust of the attack focused on the city of Innsbruck, the last significant city of the Tyrol province in the empire. Innsbruck was not as strong as it was when Balbo’s failed attempt had occurred earlier, with much of the divisions either returning to Germany or being moved to Vienna ahead of the Italian advance into the heartland of the empire.

The weather was also much more favorable than it was during Balbo’s attempt. With spring just coming to the region, the winter was going away and left a more workable environment for Italian forces. Aided with bombings and artillery strikes, the defenders could not hold the assault back this time. However, the mountains themselves still posed a significant obstacle and slowed down the rate of advance on the city. This left only a handful of mountain passes that lead into the city, aiding the defenders in that capacity as it did with Balbo’s previous attempts.
However, the defenders simply did not have the manpower to hold the passes for long. Once the mountains were overcome, the defenders had very little to do to hold back the inevitable. On April 15th, the slow push through the short mountain passes, Innsbruck itself came under direct attack by Italian forces.

There was little the defenders could do. With isolation from With Innsbruck fallen, the rest of the Tyrol region was quickly occupied by advancing Italian forces. With Graz and Innsbruck now both occupied, another attack took place against the city of Salzburg, further north near the border with the German Empire.

Salzburg was one of the main routes of supplies between the German Empire to Austria, and its capture would cut off that line and redirect it to the more distant northern ones. It would also satisfy the Syndicalist High Command’s desire to apply pressure to Germany’s vulnerable southern regions in the Bavarian Kingdom.

Salzburg’s capture proved to be more complicated than Innsbruck. Like Innsbruck, the city was only approachable through a mountain pass from Italian positions, allowing for the defenders to once again hold back the tide of Italians for longer than it would have been in other conditions.

Salzburg was reinforced with artillery divisions to bombard the valley and was aided by the German air force to prevent Syndicate air forces from eliminating defensive positions along the valley entrance.

Recounting his experience, Niccolò Gallo described the battle as a rather prlonged one.

Compared to our energy before with the capture of Venice, the advance into Austria was much slower and the soldiers were nowhere near as enthusiastic as they were in preceding battles. We had heard that the battle for Innsbruck was much the same- an arduous advance through a mountain pass that only benefitted the defenders.

We had only one advantage on our side and that was our use of new, if not unorthodox, tactics in our combat. The Austrians had been using tactics that had changed little from their methods in the first Great War, while the nature of our Republic had necessitated we look into more radical forms of warfare. For the most part, we appeared to have had much more armored units among our ranks than did the Austrians, but this did little good in the tough terrain we were moving through. We had a few mountain divisions operating with us that would insert behind positions set up by the Austrians in the mountain path to block our advance.

The same mountaineers would even scout as far as up to the outskirts of Salzburg itself, informing later our comrades in the air where important artillery emplacements and anti-air was located. They were an essential mobile element in our forces when we were otherwise moving only like a turtle.

I can see why we had to though. After Comrade Balbo’s reckless assault into Innsbruck earlier, Berneri wanted to prevent a repeat of a large loss of life. The mood was definitely on our side- the Austrian defenders simply could not remain organized or stick together as we moved ever closer. Still, it was pitched battles almost constantly, and Austrian forces had pretty much designated the whole pass for constant bombardments.

On April 20th we finally exited the main mountain pass and Salzburg was right ahead of us. The actual battle was much easier than the crawl through the mountain pass.

On April 25th, the city of Salzburg was seized by the Italian forces, giving them a good position to launch future strikes in to Bavaria. Smaller advances took place as forces moved to assume a more favorable position to strike against Vienna and prevent aid from Hungary to reinforce them.

French forces at around the same time had managed to repel yet another attack on Cologne, but were unable to dislodge the Germans from Groningen. British forces made another attempt to advance on Kiel, shortly occupying it before being pushed back to their original positions in Denmark.

Under recommendation to quickly gain more allies, the British and French began to cooperate more with socialist sympathizers in both states to join in the fight. The British admittedly had an easier time with this, with the desire of many Danish to regain parts of Schleswig, and thus could rally up support to fight against Germany. In Netherlands, no such parallel existed and made the job of the French much more difficult, considering the nature of the invasion in the first place.

Italian forces by May 1st established battlelines within striking distance of Vienna and Munich, and halted to allow their forces to recover and reorient themselves with the new formations. The usual May Day festivities, though muted, occurred in some of the cities of Italy, including Venice, as bombings from Germany became less frequent.

However, there was one notable absence from Italy’s scene. Usually in events of major victories and events such as May Day, the important figures of the government- those being Togliatti and Gramsci- would make statements and appearances. Togliatti was doing his duties as President as was expected, but Gramsci had reportedly not been seen since the beginning of April. Even though he was normally reserved and left much of the appearances to Togliatti, he wouldn’t drop off the face of the earth.

It was on this climate that the people of Italy were told to ‘listen for an important announcement’ on May 3rd.

When the time came, it wasn’t Gramsci that greeted the listeners, but Amadeo Bordiga. Informing the people he was now the new Chairman of the House of Commons and the Council of the Republic, he revealed that Gramsci had been suffering with an emergence of complicated health conditions in early April, finally dying of an intracranial hemorrhage on 27th of that month.

It had been nearly a week since the death, and while those within the government knew about the death, the news was decided not to be released until a successor for Gramsci could be picked. Bordiga, having been a President of the Republic earlier and a high-ranking member of the Anarcho-Syndicalist delegation, was the natural candidate for such a position.

In the days following various ceremonies and statements were released publically by figures of the republic. The most notable one was from Berneri, who closed his eulogy for Gramsci with an old line from L’Ordine Nuovo, published during the days of the Revolution when an alliance with the anarchists was reached: "We must never permit ourselves to be enemies of the anarchists; enemies have contradictory ideas, not merely different ones”.

With his death came the confiscation of much of Gramsci’s voluminous writings, which were eventually preserved by a group of his supporters and published for later years. The main problem however with Gramsci’s death was not so much Gramsci himself, but the solemn attitude that came over the people over how many years had passed since the Revolution of 1921 [2] and the foundation of the Republic, and the passing of the first of the “Fathers” of the Revolution seemed to mark the beginning of the entrance into a new Italy.

As May came to a close, the front lines in Italy changed little, but preparations were made to begin pushes both in to Munich and Vienna during the summer in order to relieve pressure from the French forces on the western front.

Italian Fronts at the end of May 1942

__________________________________________________ ______

[1] The SDAP (Sociaal Democratische Arbeiders Partij, Social Democratic Workers Party) was the main centre-left group in the Netherlands, representing the substantial working class there. The party itself was viewed as a bourgeois ‘collaborator’ with the monarchy by the Commune of France. After the crash of the Berlin Stock Market, unrest gripped the nation as workers demonstrated against attempts to cut their already meager living standards lower. On July 1937, a rally in Zwolle spilled into violence as a bomb thrown by an unidentified man led to deaths of three policemen, prompting the authorities to open fire on the strikers, killing 24. This led to the execution of four SDAP leaders held responsible for the rally. Shortly afterwards, a number of radical members broke with the SDAP after it backed off on the strikes.

Dutch claims of French instigation in the revolts is uncertain. Much of France’s efforts were focused among French-speaking populations and the Walloons, with little interest in the Netherlands. It could be feasible that the French government hoped to destabilize the Netherlands, but any evidence of a direct link between the protestors in the Netherlands and the Commune of France has never been found.

[2] The 20th anniversary of the proclamation of the republic was the previous year on April 25th, 1941 which was cancelled along with the May Day celebrations due to the war. Gramsci’s death only served to highlight the passage of time.

[Viden]

Hungary is quite weak.

[Winner]

And inept. Austria is on its last legs, apparently.

[Barón Rojo]

mmm... Can you release Yugoslavia?

[talt]

mmm... Can you release Yugoslavia?

He needs to capture a few more provinces I reckon but yes he should be able to. The existence of Serbia does not make the existence of Yugoslavia impossible, although it could perhaps do with another name...

[Leviathan07]

He needs to capture a few more provinces I reckon but yes he should be able to. The existence of Serbia does not make the existence of Yugoslavia impossible, although it could perhaps do with another name...

Yugoslavia means just "South Slavia". It could just as well denote a country of Slovenes, Croats and Bosniaks, couldn't it? They're all south Slavs after all. Doesn't need Serbs to be a South Slavic country. The real Yugoslavia also didn't include all South Slavs, since Bulgarians remained outside.

[Dachspmg]

Yugoslavia means just "South Slavia". It could just as well denote a country of Slovenes, Croats and Bosniaks, couldn't it? They're all south Slavs after all. Doesn't need Serbs to be a South Slavic country. The real Yugoslavia also didn't include all South Slavs, since Bulgarians remained outside.

Yeah, but in game, I don't think Yugoslavia gets cores on Bulgaria. It certainly keeps a lot of Serbian ministers and probably can't be formed without possession of Belgrade.

[talt]

Yeah, but in game, I don't think Yugoslavia gets cores on Bulgaria. It certainly keeps a lot of Serbian ministers and probably can't be formed without possession of Belgrade.

I have formed Yugoslavia without Belgrade several times as the German Empire.

[MercZ]

With regards to Yugoslavia- it is possible to make the nation via an event with out having the provinces required by the game in the revolt file. A similar case can be found with the Soviet Union when it can release the Republic of China when it annexes the Fengtian Republic. As the previous posters have said though, this would of course bring up a conundrum with its name. I think Yugoslavia would still be 'fine', as within the borders would contain Slovenes, Croats, Serbs, and Bosniaks. Just not the 'core' of Serbian territories or Macedonia.

But considering precedent in our modern times when we have two nations laying claim to the Congo title, and two Koreas, I think it could be possible for such a state to exist in this world.

Chapter VI: At the Gates of Vienna

Antonio Gramsci passed away on April 27th, 1942 early in the morning from an intracranial hemorrhage. He was 51 years old, leaving a wife, Julia and two sons, Delio and Giuliano.

Antonio Gramsci was born on January 22nd, 1891, in Ales on the isle of Sardinia to Francesco and Giuseppina Gramsci. He was born into a troublesome period for the family, with his father unable to deal with mounting financial problems in an already poor region. As a child, Gramsci had an accident which damaged his spine and left him short of height, along with numerous other diseases and conditions he would come to develop. The family had fallen further into poverty after his father was imprisoned on charges of embezzlement in 1898, causing Gramsci to drop out of school at a young age to support his family until his father was released in 1905. Gramsci returned to school afterwards.

Gramsci was able to attend secondary school in Cagliari with his brother Gennaro, a former soldier turned radical socialist who turned Gramsci to socialism- though as he would recount years later, he was more influenced by Sardinian issues than those of the working class by this point.

His scholarship to the University of Turin in 1911 due to his grades would mark a turning point in his life, both personally and politically. In Turin he would be exposed to the socialist movement, and here would meet Palmiro Togliatti, beginning their acquaintanceship. Gramsci would join the Socialist Party in 1913, and would leave the university in 1915 due to his financial problems and health issues, leaving him to commit to the party full time.

Gramsci would break into journalism, discussing culture, political topics, the workers, and plays, among other topics, in Il Grido de Popolo and Avanti! in Turin. As Italy entered into the War, Gramsci joined other socialists in opposing the war and supporting the position held by Lenin and others at the Zimmerwald Conference.

Comrade Gramsci founded this paper along with Terracini, Togliatti, and Tasca in April of 1919, shortly after the surrender of Italy to the Central Powers the previous August. As the Austrian occupiers set out to dismember the nation and crush the workers, the paper operated clandestinely, passed around by workers in Turin as they read about the revolution in Russia and the growing instability in France. With the situation as it was, the workers across Italy rose up, those in Turin influenced by L’Ordine Nuovo.

The successful revolution was not to be found in the strikes of the industrial cities of the north, but the peasant rebellion in the resurrected Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Acting on the potential, Gramsci would leave with many other socialists to the south, among them his fellow editors of L’Ordine Nuovo and revolutionary socialists such as Bordiga. Socialists who had supported the Great War, like Mussolini, would also join the rebellion.

The successful revolution catapulted Gramsci into prominence, putting him as General Responsible for Police. Following the events of the Second Congress in 1926, Gramsci was elected president of the House of Commons. In the ensuing years, Gramsci would be instrumental in constructing the republic, completing land reform, the creation of workers’ councils, the war against the Mafia and the Papacy, and eventually seeing the unification of Italy once more. He would gain much respect from his actions during the Anzio Crisis in 1936, when much of the government was away in the First Congress of the Third International at Paris.

Gramsci’s writings, from his time as a journalist to his time in government, will be available soon in the Central Library at Naples.

The last major conflict in the Balkans would be the Battle of Zagreb that began in May 25th and continued until roughly June 2nd. The battle, though relatively short compared to previous engagements in other urban centers, was chaotic and taxing on Italian forces. Despite a rapid advance into the city, the city was quickly reinforced by Hungarian divisions, creating a constant back and forth between defenders and attackers. It was only towards the end that the city was abandoned and a sole division trapped in the wake of the Italian advance.

With the Balkans mostly under control and a foothold in the heart of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Italy continued its advance towards the imperial capital of Vienna.

Mindful to the masses of French forces still stuck holding down the border with Germany, Italy also made plans to invade Bavaria.

From its positions in Austria, Italian forces crossed over the border, making its first major engagement with German forces at Augsburg on June 8th. With the speed of the advance taking the Germans by surprise, the city was only lightly defended.

It is believed that the defenders may have been in fact German divisions who had retreated back into their country after defeats suffered in the Austrian Alps. Considering the under-strength divisions that the Italian forces faced upon their entrance into Augsburg, this is the mostly likely case.

Their first step on German soil taken, the Italian forces began their plan to capture the Bavarian capital of Munich. With Augsburg occupied, a second assault took place on the city of Landshut. Like Augsburg before it, the city was only lightly defended and with divisions slightly understrength. The city fell without much of a fight, leaving Italian forces to surround most of Munich with the exception of its northern approaches, defended by a garrison as well as forces that fell back from Augsburg and Landshut.

As Munich fell under attack from artillery and air strikes on July 1st ahead of the invasion of Syndintern forces, the nobility and King of Bavaria retreated from the doomed capital to Berlin [1]. The battle for Munich was lengthened by rapid reinforcements from the Imperial Army, successfully preventing the fall of the city within the first few days.

However, the Battle of Munich would be overshadowed by another event. The bear in the east had finally awakened and made its first significant foray into International events- re-establishing its historical connections with the nations of the Entente. Their request was eagerly accepted by the monarchists in Canada, desirous of an industrial and military power like Russia.

The entrance into the war greatly complicated matters for the Syndintern. It was feared that Russia might have joined ranks with Germany, but with its ambitions in Eastern Europe as it was, this began to become increasingly unlikely. The Syndintern believed that Russia would instead turn its attention to forming an order with itself at the center, and possibly reaching an agreement with Japan in the east.

Turning back to old friends was unexpected, especially since Russia, despite its level of industrial development, would be the strongest nation in the block but still be subordinated to a weaker nation in the form of Canada. Russia may have had other intentions in mind, but what mattered for the Syndintern is that it meant that the Russian empire was now at war with the considerable armies of the Russian Tsar.

The Russian military began to mobilize on its western borders, threatening the border nations and clients of Mitteleuropa. For now, the Syndintern would only have to worry about the air forces and air emplacements of the Russians now available to attack them, but a direct confrontation with the armies of Russia would not happen unless Russia could secure military access from the nations of Mitteleuropa- something unlikely in itself. But anything could happen.

Hungarian divisions attempted to break into the Balkans to reclaim Zagreb and its surroundings, leading to fierce battles all across the front- fiercer than the Italians had expected. Much of the fighting centered on Osijek, with Italians and Hungarians exchanging control of the city at least five times until November of that year.

With the battle for Munich still raging, Italian forces remaining in Austria began to move on the Imperial Capital of Vienna. The first target would be the nearby city of Linz, located on a major supply route between the capital and the German Empire. Capturing would sever the enfeebled Austrians from the Germans, and weaken the defenses around Vienna to something more reasonable. On July 15th, Italian forces attacked, and once again facing disorganized Austrian forces, were able to quickly seize the city.

From the opposite direction, Italian force simultaneously advanced on the city of Kismarton [2] within the realms of the Kingdom of Hungary, choosing the location due to its close location right outside the capital of Austria. However, unlike the battle for Linz, the defenders were reinforced by Hungarian forces, slowing the advance of the Italian assault. It would only be nearly a full week after the fall of Linz did Kismarton fall to Italian forces.

The battle still continued in Munich as the People’s Army advanced into Austria. Imperial forces quickly reinforced the besieged capital and attempted to push the Italian forces out of Bavaria. A contingent of French forces relocated from the stagnant front in the west to aid the Italians in their push to overcome the reinforced capital.

The attempted was successful and after nearly a month of fighting, Syndintern forces entered Munich on July 30th.

French control of the Netherlands presented another opportunity for the Japanese in the far east- the colony of Indonesia lay open to them. With Germany withdrawing where it could from the far east to the European front, the entire pacific lay open to Japan’s ambitions. With the Netherlands possessing no more than a handful of colonial divisions that operated only to quell domestic rebellions, Japan felt no fear from declaring war on the nation.

An attempt to relieve forces in Osijek, an attack was opened up on the Hungarian city of Pecs to sever the main route for Austro-Hungarian forces into Italian-occupied Balkans. The attack reached its peak on August 10th, and soon the defenders were reduced to only two divisions. With a superior force attacking with massive artillery strikes, Pecs would fall within a few days.

However, Pecs itself would be recaptured only a few weeks later, much to the embarrassment of Italian commanders considering the state of the Hungarian divisions that led the counter-attack.

As the war raged away in the realms of Austria-Hungary, the scientists of Italy, led by Enrico Fermi, completed their research into the basics of nuclear physics and the order for an experimental reactor to be constructed was started by the republic on August 20th. A number of nations had already achieved this mile stone, among them the Commune of France, the Union of Britain, and the Combined Syndicates. In all likeliness, the Germans too had achieved this. For Italy though, it was a milestone that they could not imagine possible just a few years ago.

On August 25th, France managed to break through German emplacements in Groningen, and rapidly advancing past the city into Wilhelmshaven. After a short battle, the port city fell and the front, long stagnant, abruptly flared up into fierce battles as the French attempted to break through into the German Empire and encircle the forces in Alsace-Lorraine.

The French Breakthrough

The Union of Britain had also managed to exploit the situation, advancing from its stagnant positions in occupied Denmark to within reach of the important city of Kiel. Now Germany was feeling pressure from various directions and with Austria on its last legs, it began to prepare a new plan to combat the sudden breakthrough of Syndintern forces.

It was only the last defense of the German forces was a rush to Berlin prevented, but the Syndintern forces, now breaking into areas with far less defensive emplacements than those found in Alsace-Lorraine, found itself in a much better position to wage the war.

With Germany fighting to keep back British and French forces, the Italians could focus on capturing Vienna. Without significant amounts of German forces to help the Austrians keep control of their city, it was believed the battle would be a quick one. Indeed initially in mid-September when armored divisions began to attack the city, it found only a lightly defended capital with understrength divisions to fight.

Attempting to stave off defeat, Austria evacuated its holdings in Bohemia and moved its army in a last pitch defense of the ancient capital. This proved to be successful in preventing the Italians from seizing the city in September, and caused the battle to turn into a siege.

Accounts from the siege, including from Niccolò Gallo, indicate displeasure with the way the battle preceded. Many of them did not understand how the battle for the city, which seemed to be a given at first, would suddenly turn quickly against Italy’s favor and shift the battle into a protracted siege.

We were within reach of our objective, our ultimate revenge against the Austrian throne. Vienna lay before us, the Danube cutting through it and going off into the east. Our rapid advance down the road from Linz made us believe that the final battle would be no problem. Everything was in our favor.

On September 14th I was among those that entered into the communities on the outskirts of Vienna and started the fight against the garrison there. As we expected, the capital was only lightly defended, and we faced hastily recruited militias from the populace and severely weakened regiments. It should have fallen within a few days.

Instead, we faced a sudden burst of reinforcements, the remainder of Austrian forces brought in its guard duties elsewhere in the empire as well as those that had been aiding the Germans in the western front.

Why did we not strike back against them? By all accounts we still had the superiority, and yet we halted and the battle went much more slowly, much more cautiously.

I would discover later that by this point our nation had, for lack of a better word, hit its limit. Our industry was fine enough- we simply did not have the population to support the size of our military any more, much less readily reinforce what was already present.

As Italy faced a fierce last-ditch defense in Vienna, the German forces, falling back from besieged positions in Alsace-Lorraine, engaged Italian emplacements in Augsburg in mid-September. This was a large battle, pitting a large Italian force against an even larger and better trained German force, and continued well into the next month. The German forces struck furiously, and it was only with the onslaught of the French did Italy keep control of Augsburg.

The French, advancing southwards from their breakthrough in the north, began the process of severing the German military still remaining in Alsace-Lorraine from those in the heart of Germany. This also had the effect of relieving Italian defenders in Augsburg as the situation grew more critical for the Germans from the French breakthrough into the northwest of Germany.

French positions by October 5th, 1942

The Ottoman Empire, previously occupied with the Kingdom of Egypt, recognized that Germany would face difficulties if it did not receive aid immediately. As such the Ottoman Empire formally entered into the war on behalf of the German Empire, honoring agreements with the nation established earlier.

This was in part due to recognition from the Ottoman Empire that within the nations of the Syndintern existed Arab and Kurdish revolutionaries who planned to return to the empire and destabilize it [3], causing uprisings that would threaten its existence. As such a war with the Syndintern was inevitable, and the Ottoman Empire would gain nothing by sitting out the war and letting Germany stand alone as the Syndintern advanced into the throne of the world.

From its positions in Bavaria, Italy began to advance further into the south of Germany, joining with French forces on an assault on Nuremburg on October 24th.

Syndintern forces, now with their fronts essentially merged, had an easier time coordinating their strikes and overwhelming the German positions where they faced them. This gave the Battle of Nuremburg success where defeat was certain.

The British began the Synditnern’s assault on National French and Mittelafrikan holdings in Africa with its successful capture of Liberia on October 28th, giving the Syndintern their first real foothold in Africa. Attempts at landing in the north of Africa were repelled by National French forces, prompting another approach which the British took upon themselves on account of their superior naval capabilities. With Monrovia captured, the British established an important beachhead and began to pierce northwards into the National French’s vulnerable territories, riling up native populations in the process, while moving a smaller group eastward to face Mittleafrikan forces.

The Combined Syndicates of America progressed well in its efforts to end the war in North America. On November 20th Boston, the capital of the New England state, fell to Syndicate forces and positioned it to broaden its war with Canada along its border with Quebec and New Brunswick.

Shortly afterwards on December 5th, the Pacific States of America surrendered to the Combined Syndicates, its leadership hoping for mercy from President Reed and the syndicalists.

President Reed had, despite expectations otherwise, forgave the leadership of the PSA and accepted them into the new nation, recruiting their aid in technological development and military training. Reed could have easily gotten rid of the businessmen and industrialists, but had spared them recognizing their benefit, both economically and starting the process of ‘reunification’ in the former United States.

The breakaway state of Hawaii sought protection from the Entente after the collapse of the Pacific States, having no desire to find a catastrophic war with the Combined Syndicates. For the most part, the syndicalists showed little interest in Hawaii for the time being, focusing on more immediate matters.

With its focus put entirely on Canada now, the full wrath of the Combined Syndicates turned towards ending the war in North America once and for all, and increasing its aid to the nations of the Syndintern in Europe.

Fighting slowed down in December, but Italian forces made gains in Bavaria, capturing Regensburg and slowly converging on the battle lines with France nearby. The Siege of Vienna was still continuing, though commanders felt that the city would fall by January. All in all though, the war had changed quickly- only a year ago it seemed to have stagnated horribly and seemed to present Germany with a favorable position- a war of attrition. Now Germany was on the run, and for the first time the Syndicalists felt the war would end in their favor.

The Battlelines entering into 1943

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[1] Elements of the Bavarian army, however, remained behind to defend the doomed capital.

[2] Kismarton was the holding of an important Hungarian noble family, the House of Esterházy. They were among the main powerbrokers in the Kingdom of Hungary.

[3] These revolutionaries had in fact already been deployed, but were waiting for a more ‘favorable’ situation to develop.

[Viden]

I see a nice Kessel if you capture Bayreuth and the French hold Erfurt.

[Nikolai]

Nice progress.

[Milites]

Ooh nice, Denmark liberated by the British. Let's hope they set up a worker's republic that reaches all the way to the Eider!

I see a nice Kessel if you capture Bayreuth and the French hold Erfurt.

Indeed! That would be a great victory for the proletarian revolution!