I did. Von Flegal was a jerk!
Oh, now I remember on what reminds me this shooting scene.
Casablanca anyone? When Rick shoots German officer that dies with phone in his hand?-
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Oh, now I remember on what reminds me this shooting scene.
Casablanca anyone? When Rick shoots German officer that dies with phone in his hand?
Oh, now I remember on what reminds me this shooting scene.
Very nice reference.
General Popeliucka's Mobile Headquarters, Odessa.
June 15, 1941.
General Popeliucka stood at the waterfront and looked at the bay. Two Romanian ships, a destroyer and a transport, were sunk here ten days ago. The Romanian taskforce was wiped out, most of them dying in the artillery fire. Von Flegel's car caught a direct hit too, that was a huge relief.
Ukraine capitulated on June 12, Khrushev lynched mercilessly by the Cossacks in Rostov. The country was split as previously agreed in Warsaw: although, General reiceved a report that Cossacks actually took a little more land and even a few villages which were at first Russian, omly then taken over by Ukrainians. Well, that wasn't a Mitteleuropean problem.
General Vashenko's Third Army, now without their own country, split into infantry, which stayed in the forests, and cavalry bands which pillaged the countryside and tried to bribe local peasants into joining their cause.
Most of the Ukrainian army was scattered or taken prisoners, except from a relatively large force that performed the counter-attack on Russian Voronezh. There were soon joined by the Leftist rebels and adventurous peasantry. Hopefully, Denikin's lads will cope with that threat in the near future.
General walked to the Lithuanian officers, who seemed cheerful for the Ukrainian War to be finally over.
- Gentlemen! - he said. - Congratulations with the victory! We did a good job.
- The lion's share of the work is yours, General - said Skucas, bowing to Popeliucka.
- Oh well, I just did what I have to - serve the Commonwealth.
One of the officers, a Pole, finally pulled the cork out the champagne bottle. Someone brought glasses. Popeliucka waited until everyone was ready.
- To a united, prosperous Commonwealth. To King Mindaugas!
- To King Mindaugas! - roared the officers, clanking their glasses.
Popeliucka couldn't help but examine every single General taking part in the festivity. The young Skucas, who just received his Lt.General's epaulets, General Karaszewicz-Tokarzewski, a reserved Galizian Pole with an unpronouncible name...Popeliucka felt that if need be, he would tear his own heart out, to preserve this national unity, which seemed unbelievable only a few years ago. And those Ukrainians, who haven't escaped to the Cossack or Russian parts, will join this union of nations as soon as they prove their loyalty to the crown.
...as evening drew on, a tipsy General Popeliucka made his way to the HQ bedrooms, when the telephone rang.
He groaned, the sound irritating him, and picked up the receiver.
- I hope you aren't dead drunk there, General? - asked the already familiar voice.
- Never, Your Majesty! - replied Popeliucka, stunned. - May I ask why?
- Yes, you may, General. We're at war with Romania.
- Oh, so they did...
- No - said the King. - We did. Or, to be precise, I did by a royal decree. Romanians have put a stain on our honour, and have to be corrected.
- Yes, sir.
- You're to launch a new offensive in Moldova, General, in two days. We've discussed all these matters with Sikorski and the German advisers, and it was agreed that Romania needs to be brought to its knees, or, at least, a part of it. His Majesty Wilhelm the Third, fortunately, has a lot of other issues to deal with than a little operation conducted by his loyal allies.
- But what about those...well, Balkan entanglements? - carefully asked the General.
- There's no such thing as an entanglement when you're in a tank. Those two tank divisions we've just deployed, General, are at your disposal. They're on their way to Stryj.
- Understood, sir.
- And make sure those German advisers don't bug you too much, Popeliucka. They've got to understand Lithuania isn't a buffer state anymore. We need our own buffers now....ironic.
- German...advisers?
- Yes. Wait, I thought that German colonel left for Ukraine a long time ago! He hasnt' arrived yet?
What is your plan concerning Romania?
Annexing, pupetting, keeping only a part of the country?
Annexing, pupetting, keeping only a part of the country?
Nope, it's not about oil. Lithuania somehow has enough oil, there's too much energy and it gets converted. In the Grey Brother's embrace, the Commonwealth feels no hunger for any particualr resource.
As for the fate of Romania, you shall see in a few updates. Spoiling wouldn't be fun now, would it?
As for the fate of Romania, you shall see in a few updates. Spoiling wouldn't be fun now, would it?
This monstrous Lithuania continues to impress! I'm liking the strange borders it's bringing to Eastern Europe. Very creative that you don't just annex everything to yourself - that can lead to messy borders that no-one likes.
Massive crowds gathering in Bucharest, Romania in a rally against Mitteleuropa.
Not telling about the Odessa incident, the Blackshirt National-populist government of the country started a nationwide propaganda campaign.
General Popeliucka's Mobile Headquarters
June 29, 1941
- Does anyone here have any idea what the hell this town is called? - yelled the irritated General.
- I think, I actually do, sir - answered the Pole, Karaszewicz-Tokarzewski. This must be Bender, and the river is Dniester.
- Bender?
- Indeed, sir. It's a derivative from the Persian word "harbor".
- But this slum doesn't look like a seaport?
- It's no seaport, sir. But I think it's just some mistake. This must be Bender because it's the only large town to the west of Tiraspol, and we left Tiraspol yesterday, couldn't get any further than that.
- This is the rebel place, isn't it?
- It is, sir. We were told we could enter the town without any problems.
An hour later, General's armoured car speeded down the streets of Bender. Lithuanian corps has managed to take Tiraspol a few days ago, and Skucas's force crossed Dniester and was chasing the fleeing Romanians.
Inside the armoured car, it was hot and smelled of motor oil.
- Karaz...Karzhzh....General, who are we meeting here, once again? - asked Popelucka, searching in his bag for a canteen.
- A Romanian politician called Armand Călinescu. He was one of the staunch supporters of monarchy before the Blackshirts took over, and joined the opposition. Following an assassination attempt by those thugs, he went underground and emerged once Northern Romania rioted, hearing of us approaching. He gathered a large number of supporters and seized control of this Bender town.
- He might be a monarchist, but these "supporters" are still thugs.
- Sikorski wrote that Călinescu is the only person we could actually put to power here in Romania once the war is over. After all, the Blackshirts massacred the whole royal family! He's smart and loyal to our cause, even though somewhat...eccentric.
- I never thought there is a country I could hate, General. - grumbled Popeliucka. China was cleaner than this mess, we at least had a stable front there. Of course, if we had all the Army at our disposal, we would do well here, but with this corps all we can do is just move from place to place and scare the villagefolk. After we destroyed their border forces in Soroca, I'm yet to see any organized Romanian resistance. All those armed peasants shooting armed peasants is just no proper atmosphere for a successful war. I thought they call Romania Blackshirt because everyone here wears black shirts.
- It's all very strange, General, I agree.
- And those messages Skucas sends from the North are unintelligible. He's resorted to mobile tactics, and keeps capturing and leaving towns. "Took Donduseni, left Ocnite and Briceni to local supporters, going for Edinet as soon as we make sure we won't get counter-attacked by reinforcements from Riscani."
Tons of that daily! I have no idea where those towns are or if they even exist. At this very moment, General Skucas may still be sitting in Soroca getting hammered in one of those bars.
- Hah, I really doubt that, sir. - smiled the Pole.
- And I'm sure he is! Can't you feel this silly place getting to us? We've never had this kind of chaos, even in China, even in the swamps of Ukraine. This country emanates an air of laziness and apathy.
- Well, they have oil further to the south, General, it's just Bessarabia that seems so bland.
- I hope so! I sure hope so.
The car stopped. Popeliucka jumped out and peered around him. They stood near an old, nineteen-century building that was turned into a fortified compound. In the doors stood Armand Călinescu. He wore a white uniform with countless medals and a stripe in old, pre-Blackshirt Romanian flag colours. A barnacle in his left eye intensified his humorous look. All in all, he resembled a white cockatoo with a pistol.
According to the files German Abwehr has gathered on Călinescu, he never did any kind of military service. Being a rich landowner's only son, he spent the whole Weltkrieg as a philosophy student in Bucharest and received a Ph.D in Economics after the war in Paris. As soon as Syndicalists took over in France, he was kicked out of the country. He managed to pull some strings and get into the new Romanian government, taking different posts up to Minister of Interior. While heading the country's security, he undertook a crusade against both Blackshirts and Syndicalists, signing death sentences to hundreds of radicals. This made him public enemy number one when Blackshirts seized power in the state.
- Uh, Mister Călinescu? - asked Popeliucka, hesitantly holding out his hand.
- It's Marrrrshal, Marrrshal Călinescu! Pleased to meet you, General. - answered the Romanian, shaking Popeliucka's hand as if it was a snake and he had to strangle it.
- Allright, Marshal it is, then...let go of my hand, I beg you...so, should we go inside?
- Yes, of courrrse! Of courrrse, hahah. I've hearrrd a lot about you, Generrral, you must be a wonderrrful tactician! It's a shame you're not rrrreally successful here in Rrrromania, though. - jabbered Călinescu.
- If only I had a SINGLE map I could trust, Marshal, I'd capture Bucharest in a week. What the hell happened to the country in thirty years?
- Ah, Generral, it's the Blackshirrts! Crrrrazy, crrrrazy people. They say they have faith in God, but no God could tolerrrate such blatant crrretins!
It was a pain to listen to Călinescu, but General Popeliucka had no choice. The parrot marshal poured his comrades some red wine and went on a long rant about what he would do with Romania as soon as Mitteleuropa helps him take over. He showed Popeliucka strange maps and schemes, claiming that Romanians will be more than happy to join the union of prosperous Mitteleuropean nations, and vowed that he would die for Romania, if only he had no children, but due to him being happily married and a father to three young and pretty daughters, someone else really has to die for Romania instead.
General Popeliucka missed half the speech, being sleepy and sick of travelling in the bumpy armoured car...
Unfortunately, General Popeliucka knew nothing of a Romanian cavalry division escaping encirclement and breaking through to Southern Galizia in a daring counter-attack.
You know, he does look like a cockatoo! I like him
I hope he sticks around longer then that poor german bloke.
I hope he sticks around longer then that poor german bloke.
Update tomorrow, so sleepy at the moment.
P.S. Why poor, Karaiskandar? He can become the new Mad Baron, now that Russians shot Ungern.
P.S. Why poor, Karaiskandar? He can become the new Mad Baron, now that Russians shot Ungern.
P.S. Why poor, Karaiskandar? He can become the new Mad Baron, now that Russians shot Ungern.
What a great job :rofl:
Well, at least he will keep his cool uniforms.
And shall Romanians hold the not-existing bridges over Danube?
Probably not, Danubian marshlands won't stop Lithuanian tanks.:rofl:
Probably not, Danubian marshlands won't stop Lithuanian tanks.:rofl:
General Popeliucka's Mobile Headquarters
Ismail, Romania
July 16, 1941
- Who stole my smoking pipe? Who's that little Syndicalist son-of-a? It was a good pipe and I loved it! Gimme back my pipe! - bawled General Popeliucka, walking down the halls of their new Headquarters building, that used to be a school, apparently.
He walked on and on, screaming the same words when encountering another group of Romanian rebels.
- Bah, if only anyone here knew German - muttered the General, unrolling a paper given to him by Călinescu. He cleared his throat, peered at the paper, and read:
- Cine mi-a furat pipa? Care-i syndicalistu nenorocit ce-o facut-o?! Era o pipa buna si o iubeam!
One of the rebels, a young lad with a rusty Russian rifle fumbled in his backpack and produced a smoking pipe, offering it to Popeliucka.
- This isn't my pipe, son. - answered the General.
The Romanian poked Popeliucka with the pipe, saying something funny in Romanian. The rebels around him laughed.
Popeliucka grabbed the pipe and left the room.
In what used to be the Headmaster's Cabinet, Călinescu, Skucas and a few other officers were looking at the map.
- Goood evening, Generrrral! - said Călinescu, grinning broadly.
- What's so funny?
- Well, it seems that we'rrrre in a sorrrt of uncomforrrrtable si-tuation here - explained the Romanian - now that we have to crrrross the Dunăre to get any further.
- Dunăre?
- That's Donau in our language, Generrral.
- Oh.
- We need to clear out the coastline from Romanian artillery to be able to strike in the heart of the country, General. - said Skucas.
- You see, Generral, Dunăre Delta is verrry harrd to crrross, even though you have a lot of engineer brrrigades at your disposal. To take the Rrromanian town of Tulcea, which is only twenty kilometerrrs frrom here, we have to crrrross the Dunăre twice. And we cannot choose another place, because we have this stupid lake Kovurluy to our right,so we have a narrrrow corrridor and I bet my golden tooth there will be heavy rrrrresistance there!- said Călinescu.
- How heavy?
General Skucas looked into one of the papers he had.
- Well, about nine Romanian divisions are entrenched there, and three to five brigades of different artillery, including anti-tank and long-range guns.
- Well, with enough preparatory air bombardment we'll scare their long-range guns, cross the Danube and then open fire.
- Yes, Generrral, but the weather! - said Călinescu.
General Popeliucka looked out of the window. It was raining heavily, thunders barely heard in the long distance. Wind howled in the empty streets of the town.
- Unbelievable. No air support until this is over, right?
Skucas shook his head, unhappily.
- What's wrong with this country? - groaned Popeliucka. - It's almost a month since we've crossed the border and the longer we stay here, the worse it gets..
- Well, Generral, I surre hope, that on the other side, it'll get much better. As soon as we clear this place, we can rrrrrelocate most of the firepower to Galati and Braila, and then charrrge on Bucureşti and Ploieşti. Then we'll kick those brrrrainless Blackshirts out and rrrrule Rrrromania! Just wait, just wait.
- Let's wait, then... - sighed the General.
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