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Gives a whole new meaning to the derogatory 'Redneck'. :p

And fascist ones would be called "Heilbillys" :p
*is bombarded with rotten fruit*

Now Y'all we must over throw the oppressive Beorugoizee and seize the means of production for the use of the proletariat y'hear?
Y'all have got to ask y'selves if ya want to be part of the vanguard of a classless communist society or if ye want to be running dog lackeys of the international bouyasi. But first, let's have ourselves a banjo duel!

And I'll stop spamming now.
 
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I am in the middle of Flashman & the Redskins at the moment so the murder of Custer (and Libbie Custer - I assume they stayed married in this TL) hit home. Eerie stuff.

Also great work in keeping the situation so morally grey. Impossible to know who to root for!
 
Y'all have got to ask y'selves if ya want to be part of the vanguard of a classless communist society or if ye want to be running dog lackeys of the international bouyasi. But first, let's have ourselves a banjo duel!

And I'll stop spamming now.

Sadly, I wasn't quite done with this, it was merely the requirements of work that stayed my hand. :p


Picture the scene:

A stranger arrives in town, deep in the swamplands of Georgia. It used to be named after a Revolutionary War hero, but once the people understood that their town's namesake was an exploitative agent of the capitalist system, they renamed it to something more suitable: Marxville.

The stranger wanders up to a former church, which has been converted into a Proletarian Education And Productivity Enhancement Center. Two men are sitting on barrels of collectively produced tobacco. The shorter one plucks at his banjo, twanging out the opening bars of the 'Internationale'. The taller one, a burly fellow with buck teeth, is deeply engrossed in a huge, red-clad tome: a first-edition American translation of 'Das Kapital'.

The stranger makes his first mistake: "Excuse me, could one of you fine gentlemen direct me to a reputable hotel in this town?"

The burly fellow slowly gets up, still brandishing his book: "We durn't lahk hoe-tells down heyah. Them's an ayngine of ca-pi-ta-lis-tic hexploitayshun of the poor workin' mayn."

He continues: "An' we durn't lahk strayngers in this here town of ours. Tell me, boy," he threateningly waves his book: "Do you know yore 'Dahs Cap-i-tahl' by heart? 'Cos if you durn't, then you must be some kind of god-fearin', reactionary bourzwah liberal capitalist oppresor yoreself!"

The stranger makes his second, and as it turns out, final mistake: he speaks the truth. "I must admit I'm not too familiar with that book..." He senses movement behind him and turns around: a small anonymous crowd has gathered, dressed in red robes, red pointed masks covering their faces, lit torches at hand.

"Ah," grunts the disciple of Das Kapital: "The Grand Wizar... I mean, People's Commissar Steelman has arrived with the Red Guards. Ah think it's tahm for sum Revolushunaray Justice!"

And as the unfortunate stranger is dragged off into the woods, first questioning, then begging, finally screaming, the banjo plays on...



Okay, now that I've purged :)p) that out of my system, onwards with the actual story. Let's hear how the American offensive against Regina fares. :)
 
:rofl:
Though I think the good people of the Citizens Gloriously Democratic People's Republic of Dixie would find some way in which to merge Das Kapital with King James' Bible, and being way, waaaaaaay too dogmatic about them both.
Also, we need to find a recording of the Internationale performed with a banjo, an accordion and a violin, and with Johnny Cash doing the singing.
Okay, now my system's purged too.
 
Chapter 27

"American Forces attack Regina" - Sideline, Toronto Gazette, 26th June 1916

"Soldiers of Canada! We face an enemy who would destroy us. An enemy who would take away our very ways of life if we allowed them to. An enemy who has tried three times to take this city from us. Three times they have tried and three times we have beaten them. Let us face them now once more, let us face them and give them the message that our children, our grandchildren will be able to use in pride for whenever the world would seek us harm.

YOU SHALL NOT PASS!"


- Captain Terry Eastwood, 4th Day of Regina - 1968 A Pinewood Studios Film​

Regina,
Saskatchewan,
Canada
28th of June, 1916


It was unnervingly quiet. The artillery had stopped it's shelling, no soldiers were taking potshots at each other, the air was still and lifeless and there was no birdsong or dogs barking as one would expect in a city like this. The Chlorine gas on the second day had killed off the local wildlife as well as enacted a toll on the cities civilian population. At the beginning of this war such an action would have been unthinkable but by now it didn't even seem unusual. The American forces were dug in just inside the outskirts of the city, and while the artillery did it's best to flatten every building Canadian soldiers and militia continued to fight from the buildings and rubble.

As it was Cpl Jack Reed and his squad were tasked with clearing out a department store for possible Canadian soldiers. He couldn't understand why the Canadians, and for that matter the Irish, where so determined to fight against the United States. All they were doing was falling further and further under the control of the Reactionaries in London while all the United States wanted to do was help them throw off the chains of oppression from the British and help them become the Socialist Republics they deserved to be. He sighed. Not for the first time he regretted voting for Wilson for President. Socialist or not the man was just out of touch with how the world needed to be fixed.

His squad moved up to a pile of debris that offered a good piece of cover between them and the department store. He checked his Krag to make sure it was loaded and for the millionth time wished he had a rifle on par to what the Reactionaries were equipped with. Rumours were abound that a new rifle was being developed in Springfield, and something even more interesting from some ex-officer in Connecticut. But until they were in Jack's hand that's all they were. Rumours. He signalled for one of his men to make the dash over to another pile of debris to get them closer.

The man had barely moved his head out of cover when he heard the crack of a rifle and the soldier was sprawled on the ground next to him. 'Another dead soldier' Cpl Reed thought 'I hope Washington knows what it's doing.'


Saskatchewan Saver Department Store,
Regina,
Saskatchewan,
Canada
28th of June, 1916


Florence Patel worked the action on her rifle and made a mark in her notebook. Another damn Yank dead. She crawled out of her position and brought her Ross rifle up to be ready to look around the room behind her. She had learned quickly that moving was essential or else someone would figure out where you where. Her total tally of dead Yanks now was 16. 3 Captains, 5 Leftenants, and eight others. She moved to another side of the Department store and got into position. The Ross was a very accurate rifle, however it needed to be maintained constantly. Florence had grown up on a farm near the border and as such was very skilled at both shooting and cleaning, and ever since her husband had been killed near action in Vancouver she had no other desire then to kill Yanks.

Another one of them moved. He was moving carefully towards new cover. She smiled to herself. She let him get half way across the street before she pulled the trigger. The Yank flopped to the ground but at that moment the other Yanks behind the cover ran across the street and got into cover that would allow them to get to her. She could stay and hope to shoot a few more of the bastards but she knew what to do. She got out of cover and made her way out the rear entrance of the store. She had her escape routes planned and within no time what so ever was further back into the city where other Canadians were stationed, ready to hold of the Yanks with everything they had.

She was restocking on ammunition when the Yank artillery started firing again. On her way to a dugout in front of the City hall a shell threw her sideways into a wall. Her last thought before blacking out was a simple 'I forgot to mark that yank down'.



Regina,
Saskatchewan,
Canada
28th of June, 1916


Terry Eastwood was the officer in charge of the defence of Regina. The fact that he had wound up in that position die to the people above him being killed was a morbid reminder of how easily you could die. He was over-seeing a deployment of a machine gun when the latest Yank artillery barrage started up. He sighed as he got into the nearest cellar. It was a crowded dark and damp room. The place was packed with soldiers waiting out the barrage and refugees from the surface who had taken permanent shelter underground, after all that was the only thing that had saved most peoples live during the gas attack. Some of those without masks had huddled underground had gotten lucky. In some of the cellars though, well it didn't bare thinking about.

By the time the attack had ended everyone had been cramped in the small room for the better part of an hour.

"Okay folks let's go. We need to get back to our positions before the Yanks come." Terry looked around the room as he spoke. No one budged. "Come on soldiers up and at them."

He was greeted with various calls of "Bugger off Captain".

He couldn't blame them for not wanting to move. Hell if he could he would join them. But he couldn't, whether he wanted it or not he was the man in charge. And he had a duty to his country, and come hell or highwater he was going to carry out his duty. "I know you don't want to but we have to. Do you want the yanks to take over the country?" he was greeted with several variations of "no" to that. "Then move your sorry asses and get back into position. Whether or not you like it we have a duty here. And that's to tell the Yanks to go to hell. They won't get past us so move."


Regina,
Saskatchewan,
Canada
29th of June, 1916


The American offensive began the next day. The Canadians were quickly pushed back towards the centre of the city. Captain Eastwood had planned for this. All throughout the previous day he had been getting soldiers to set up choke points and dig in with machine guns. City hall was the anchor point of his defence and from there runners carried supplies of ammunition to anyone who needed it, while in the ample basements of the building the wounded were held in a make shift hospital.

Food and water was rationed carefully and the plan seemed to completely stall the Americans at first. Eventually however they started to feel the weight of the American advance as it slowly started to push them back. By nightfall on the 29th of June the Americans had pushed them back into the third line of defence after the first two had been over run. Ammunition was starting to run low but Captain Eastwood ordered that every person under arms be prepared to fight the next day. Sentry duty was assigned and food was passed out. The only foodstuff they had in any amount of numbers was potatoes.

"Hey captain. I thought the Irish were out East? Why did they leave their food here?" It was a bad joke but any humour is good in a situation like Regina.


Regina,
Saskatchewan,
Canada
30th of June, 1916


Cpl Reed fired his rifle around the corner. There was no way to be able to aim it properly but he was hoping it made some Canuck down the hall keep his head down. He was fighting inside what had been a lodging house and was currently around a corner from a hallway that the Canucks were dug in at the end of. He worked the action on his rifle and fired again. Private Gunthers tapped him on the shoulder and passed him one of the little red capsules. They were Grenades, they had started being issued only a few months before but they were not very reliable. Generally speaking even opening a box of the damn things could kill you. Reed pulled the fuse on the grenade, all the while praying to a God he didn't believe in for it not to blow up in his hands, and tossed it down the corridor.

A hollow boom signalled the grenade exploding and Reed, his bayonet already attached, lead the charge down the corridor. He moved over the remains of a few Canadians, one of them still armed came out of a room to his right. He dove his bayonet into the Canadian and felt it grate when he tried to pull it back. He swore. He had placed it into the ribcage instead the softer belly. He pulled the trigger on his rifle and used the recoil of the action to pull his bayonet free. At this point he heard another hollow boom and turned around in horror as Pvt Gunthers and the men near him, were replaced with a lump of pure carnage. One of the other grenades he was carrying must have gone off.

Reed was so shocked he didn't even notice the lump of shrapnel that had dug itself into his leg. He was found hours later on the ground of the corridor in pain and was evacuated back to a rear position.


Regina,
Saskatchewan,
Canada
1st of July, 1916


Captain Eastwood fired his revolver out the window of City Hall. The Yanks were now surrounding the building and he and his remaining soldiers were making their last stand in the building. Near him a machine started yammering away at the Yanks while rifles cracked and fired. They continued to fire for what felt like an eternity before a white flag appeared among the Yank lines.

"Cease Firing" he called out as he went down the stairs to find out what the Yank wanted. He came out the front door of the Hall, his revolver holstered, and moved towards the Yank with the flag. He was a US Army major and was offering his men the opportunity to surrender to the United States. Captain Eastwood said he would think about it and received a five minute truce. Eastwood had no intentions of taking that offer and ordered the soldiers under his command to reload.

Two and a half minutes into the truce however and he heard gunshots. "God Damn Yanks. Can't even hold up a bargain." He was about to give the order for his men to open fire when he realised that the shots were distant. They were not coming from the Americans outside. His hope took off like a bird and took flight.


~~~~~~~~~~

The Battle of Regina lasted from the 26th of June until the 1st of July when, on Commonwealth day no less, a Canadian army Brigade smashed through the encircling American lines of the city of Regina and relieved the small number of defenders left under the command of Captain Terry Eastwood. The American attackers who were understrength from a combination of the operation being rail-roaded into action and nearly a weeks worth of heavy Urban fighting had left no real troops to form a Rear-Guard. They also began to surrender en-mass to the Canadian attackers as the American troops were considerably demoralized. Only a handful of American soldiers managed to escape back South to the United States.

~~~~~~~~~~

Somewhere between Regina and the United States Border

Jack Reed rode uncomfortably in the back of the make shift ambulance. The volunteer driver, a 17 year old named Hemingway, was not a very good driver. He could have been the best driver in the world but Reed would still have been angry. He was angry at the defeat, he was angry at the army for not providing them with the equipment needed to win. Most of all though he was Angry at President Wilson. It had become clear to Jack that the Socialist party had become corrupted by Bourgeoisie elements. Headed by men who would rather get rich then help their fellow workers fight against the Reactionaries with every availability possible.

Jack Reed knew what had to be done. There needed to be changes.


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

So Questions etc?

Sorry about the delay it took me ages on how to wrap my head around how exactly this would work. Also shockingly in this Irish AAR the next update actually has the Irish in it. personally i don't think that style will catch on here though :p
 
Is it just me or did you stop using pics after few pages? Or is my computer playing with me again.
 
Is it just me or did you stop using pics after few pages? Or is my computer playing with me again.

I haven't used any for the last few updates. Mostly due to me not really having many to use as i have been writing my last few updates as soon as the idea for how struck me, this however didn't leave me much time to look up corresponding pictures.. Although I'm hoping to break that spell with the next few updates.
 
Excellent, desperate battle for Regina. The stand in the Town Hall conjured images of the Third Reich's last stand in the Reichstag (albeit without the assorted foreign Waffen-SS volunteers and the final failure, of course).

I hope this victory is a turning point in the war (preferably), or at least gives you some breathing space before the next American onslaught.

You (well, not you, Fire and Ash) say that Jack Reed is going to go Stalin on the US's ass, I say he's going to do a Lenin. Regardless of the semantics, I fear Jackieboy is going to find himself a vanguard party to bring the joys of a 'proper' revolution to the people of the United States. And then onwards to the oppressed masses in the rest of the world, if he gets that far. Whether anybody wants it or not - Jack knows what needs to be done, and if you don't agree, you're clearly and Enemy of the People. No good will come from this, of that I'm certain.
 
"Soldiers of Canada! We face an enemy who would destroy us. An enemy who would take away our very ways of life if we allowed them to.

Those dirty Yank rat bastards want to ban hockey?!
As for Reed, I have two remarks:
1) His rank and him being wounded reminds of another wounded, bitter Corporal, rather than Lenin or Stalin.
2) You should have had his preposterously huge ears be blown off. Seriously, he looks like Dumbo in every photograph there is of him.

Other than that, I should say that this was another excellent update from you :)
 
Chapter 28

"The Great War was a crucible for the British Empire and her Dominions. While in Britain it reinforced the image of the Glorious Empire it had a different affect on the Dominions. It was in the fields of Regina, Vancouver, Vimy Ridge, Guantánamo Bay and Panama that the ideas of National identity grew. Before the war the people of the Dominions, from the oldest of Ireland to the Youngest of New Zealand, were still British. After the War there was no question, they were Canadian, Australian, South African, New Zealanders and Irish."
- The Empire at War

"It is said that in expansion the Irish had mixed experiences abroad. In some territories it found native populations willing to work with their new Colonial masters. In others they met stubborn resistance. However all historians agree on one thing. Alaska was different."
- The Fifth Field, An Alaskan History​



Quebec City,
Quebec,
Canada


The ship tied up alongside the dock. It's crew disembarked and began their shore leave. From the bed of the ship the seven massive crates were loaded by cranes onto flat bed carts of a waiting nearby train. A large group of British Soldiers also made their ways towards the waiting train to the passenger carriages. When the final crate was loaded the train started forward. It was bound for the staging area for Commonwealth troops on the other side of the country. It would have been faster to sail there but not safer and the British Army wanted this train safe.


Anchorage,
Alaska


Anchorage was unlike any city Tetsuo Oshiro had seen so far in his life. he had visited both Hong Kong and Nagasaki on trips with his fathers business before he had studied in Vancouver. Even in Vancouver it was only a ferry ride to Victoria but none of them compared to Anchorage. For one it was bigger then the others by a fair margin. It had been a large town when the Irish had acquired it from the Russians. It had become a small city by the time it became a province and after the gold rushes of the last twenty years it had grown bigger again.

In Vancouver and Nagasaki all of the buildings had looked the same. In Hong Kong there had been some variation in design but in Anchorage the buildings differed from one to the other. There were Irish brick and Stone buildings standing square and unmoving but ultimately plain next to buildings lifted out of the Russian Empire they were all Multi coloured spiralling roofs and ornate glass designs. And every where door frames and window frames on any building had images carved into them all in the native style but not all of native lore like he had expected. This was all summed up with the Alaskan Parliament Building which housed the local government of Alaska and was the complete opposite of the Okinawan one he was used too. It was a big Stone building with a Russian style Spinning dome atop it with three massive stone columns outside the front entrance. On all three columns different legends were carved, One held Russian legends, One held Native and one held Irish legends.

The people of the city went about their business as calm as they wanted whether they were Irish or not. The total lack of any sort of discrimination had caught Tetsuo off-guard and after over-hearing enough Irish soldiers he realised it was catching them off guard as well. And when he said Irish soldiers he meant Irish soldiers. They were from the Motherland proper. They gawked at everything around them and nearly every day they we're in training for the upcoming operations. Tetsuo and the 35th Okinawan Rifles were not slated for training. The other Two new Ryukyuu Regiments were however. One regiment came from Okinawa and the other was made of recruits from Miyako, Ishigaki and Iriomote. Some of Tetsuo's younger cousins were in the new regiment from Okinawa. However the 35th was deemed to have enough experience that it was exempt from training.

The operations were the reason why Tetsuo was outside the Alaskan Parliament Building anyway. Since the capture of the Philippines a lot had changed. Firstly the rank of Junior Leftenant had been made redundant and so Tetsuo had become a full Leftenant. That was until the Captain he used to serve under had died while shaving. He had accidentally cut open an infected mosquito bite and had bled to death. While a distressing why to go Tetsuo had been promoted in his place. This would have caused friction to the other officers in the 35th and the two other regiments it was assigned with if Tetsuo had still been that "little jumped up Japanese runt" he had been known as before Manilla. After Manilla he was known differently.

He didn't know who had started the stories, probably Hayate but he had overheard Sgt. Connor spreading them once among the new NCO's the mustering in Alaska had introduced. Well that should be Sgt. Yaeyama and Staff Sergeant Connor. Promotions had not just come to Hayate and his Company had a few roles that needed filling. He didn't mind the stories either. They said he was the descendent of a legendary Samurai, they said he meditated every day and because of this reverence the bullets couldn't touch him, they said that he had decapitated the Spanish defenders at Manilla without any effort and had single-handedly destroyed the Naval guns and they also said he carried a magical sword that had been forged to seek out and kill and who displeased him. They were all a load of bollocks but they instilled fear and wonder into men who otherwise would have looked down on him. It also helped that the 35th had gained a reputation, and that reputation had spread to all Okinawan soldiers.

He walked into the Parliament building, his head held high. He didn't need to adjust his belt as the sword he wore no longer dragged it around on him. His sword which had seemed out of place at the beginning of the war was now somewhat normal. He wore his and funnily enough a Katana was becoming standard issue to officers of Okinawan regiments whether they were native officers or not. He walked past the reception area and took the stairs up to the meeting room that had become the somewhat chaotically organised headquarters of General Lynch. He entered the room to hear a snatch of conversation between the General and one of his Colonels.

".......they feel it will help the Canadians and they are desperate to try them out. Personally I don't think anything will come of it."

Cnl Colm Brady looked up from were he was seated to see Tetsuo. He beckoned him over to where he was sitting as the other colonel left the room. General Liam Lynch turned his attention to the pair once the other man had left the room. General Lynch had been born in 1883 [1] in Limerick. He wore round spectacles and had a somewhat forgettable face, his eyes however spoke of a hidden intellect. He was the youngest man on the Irish General staff but had earned his place on it before the war. He had been a Major in China and in the peace had climbed up the ladder by taking otherwise unpopular postings. He had been granted his generalship after volunteering to oversee operations in the Pacific (deemed a low priority theatre) and following the success of the Philippines which such low losses had solidified his position. However he was only in command of the forces in Alaska due to a clerical error causing no other General to be in the area. That coupled with increased pressure from the British and Canadians meant no other General would be able to get there quick enough to take command so the Irish military was gambling on Lynch. And gambling big, he had at his command two army corps, five divisions each, out of the total eight corps in the Irish army. Which was considerable considering he was only a Major General and not the expected Leftenant General.

"So then gentlemen I want both of your opinions on what I'm about to show you. It is also extremely confidential information so you will not mention it outside this room." He reached over and produced a map of a city and the surrounding countryside. It said "City of Vancouver and Military Lines of Commonwealth and American forces" in a corner. To the North of the city were two lines, a distance between them, one was blue for the United States while the other was red with a section of green in the middle for the Canadians and the Irish Alaskan forces along the line. It showed other lumps of blue to the south and East of the city signifying supply dumps and other rear area positions. He then slid over what looked like a piece of film over the map to show arrows from the Canadian lines pointing at the Americans while Green lines pointed from the sea to the South of Vancouver.

"The operations the troops here have been training for have been for the liberation of Vancouver from American control. However if anyone asks you we are attacking Seattle." General Lynch grinned at them "I know thats the rumour going around and I want the Yanks to believe it. In two weeks, on the 17th of July, an all out attack from the Canadian position will begin against the American positions outside Vancouver. They will be getting supported with not just their own guns but the artillery units that were here last week" He was refereeing to the regiment upon regiment of Artillery that had been in Anchorage only a week before. Rumour had said they were in Sitka training but had apparently been deployed to the Vancouver Line. "There will also be some sort of new fangled British weapon helping them in support as well but that is not important. What is important is that we will be carrying out an Amphibious landing to the south of the city were we feel they are the weakest. It is planned that from there we will get both Corps landed on the mainland and push the Yanks out of Canada. From there we should be getting reinforced with the rest of the Irish army Corps and I sincerely hope we then drive them all the way south to Mexico. However the important thing is the landing. Following the operation we will strike East to encircle the Yanks in Vancouver and out flank them and link up with the Canadians to the North and retake the city. You are learning of this gentlemen because I want the 35th to be the first on the beeches. You have experience at both fighting and landings and I fully trust in your abilities to pull off this operation. Any questions?"

Cnl Brady quickly spoke up. "With all due respect Liam" they went back a long way so Cnl Brady was allowed the privilege of calling the General by his first name in small meetings "I don't want to be the poor bastards who have to fight both on the beach and then the city. It is a heavy urban environment and will not be pleasant."

General Lynch looked at him. "Don't worry Colm. I fully expect the Yanks in the city to surrender. If not I will order the city be flattened. The Canadians won't like it but if I have to turn Vancouver into ashes to save it I will."

~~~~~~~~~~

The briefing had been a surprise for Tetsuo. He had even debated some of the finer points with both the Colonel and General and felt very happy that Colonel Brady judged his opinion so highly that he had been called in. It was not the last surprise of the day.

When he returned to where the 35th was billeted S.Sgt Conner had come up to him and informed him he had a visitor. He had entered into the small room that served as his office to find a tall man in a Leftenants uniform, the grey clothes looking almost too short for him waiting for him. He wore spectacles and had a long nose. He saluted Tetsuo as he came in and handed him a folder that contained the man's military personnel record. It said that while he was from Limerick he had been born in the United States to questionable parentage. He had been a teacher before the war and his birthplace had lead to him being denied a position in any of the main Irish regiments and as such he had been sent to the 35th to fill in Tetsuo's old rank. He spoke with a somewhat nasally voice.

"Leftenant Éamonn De Valera reporting for duty."

british-troops.jpg

Irish Soldiers during training in Alaska

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

Questions etc?

[1] in this timeline he seems to have been magically born ten years early. This is not in any way to cover up the authors lack of research from when he first started to think of how to work the character into the story at all *shifty eyes"

@Eams yeah Socialist Americans are really anti Hockey. They view it as a sport of the Capitalist Reactionary :p

He is bearing a certain resemblance to that Corporal. I figure it is a good template to work for the "Bitter Veteran Agitator" after all that certain Austrian spoke to a lot of men in a similar position. The main difference here being one of political ideology.

And yes he has ridiculously big ears. I don't know whether to do something about them or make them their own separate characters.
 
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Another excellent update, and it's becoming clear that there won't be much left of certain parts of Canada once the war is over. A true testament to your writing is the fact that an Okinawan helping his Irish countrymen plan an offensive to throw the Americans out of Canada actually seems quite believable.

Regarding Reid's ears, they can either serve as his angel and demon, one of them telling him to be bad, the other to cleanse the world of all those pesky bourgeois reactionaries, or they can have him become a part of the US' top secret Radar development program. If he was standing on a hill, Reid's ears could probably be used to detect planes several miles away.
 
There's a bit of a Vietnam-esque mentality in General Lynch's remark that he'll flatten Vancouver if that's what is needed to save it. :)

And I see that 'The Tanks Are Coming!' (sung to the tune of the U2/Green Day cover). Ambitious operation planned for Vancouver - tanks, artillery barrages, amphibious landings... I hope it all goes off well enough.
 
Chapter 29

"VANCOUVER!" - Canadian Battlecry. 17th of July 1916


American Vancouver Lines,
0527, 17th of July


It was guard time. Patrols went through the lines in a heightened sense of danger. The Canucks loved to make their trench raids in the early hours of the morning so in response US commanders had started sending out patrols through the trenches in strength during the early morning. As such this had cut down on the number of successful Canadian raids. The patrol made their way through the trenches, occasionally popping their heads over the lip of the trenches to look for movement. To the West a thick fog lay over the water between Vancouver Island and the mainland. From the Canadian positions it was all quiet. The dawn patrol finished their routine and settled down near a bubbling pot set up before they had left. It's contents were more chicory then coffee but it still did the job of helping to wake you up and put something hot in your belly. They were starting to pry open tins of chicken and beef when a clock-tower somewhere far back in the city chimed at 0530.

Canadian Vancouver Line,
42nd Anchorage Rifles,
0530, 17th of July


Sgt. Jeremy Burne had been awake an hour by now. The whole regiment had been so. The front assault trench at the line was packed with the 42nd Anchorage Rifles. To either side of their positions Canadian regiments were in position, looking the same mix of anxiousness, eagerness and dread as formed the 42nd. Metal cups of hot tea passed through the men, flasks of raw alcohol with them. He looked to his right and caught the eye of his Scots-Canadian friend Sgt. Donal McLaughlin. Both men nodded at each other. Jeremy turned his neck to the side and gave the ramp next to him another look. It was at a depression to the trench lip and was very wide. At the end of the ramp a massive metal behemoth that of all things English soldiers had been playing with for the last week.

Canadian 12th Artillery Regiment,
3rd Battery,
0530, 17th of July


The Leftenant was staring at his watch. The guns had already been aimed now all that remained was the waiting.

The second hands ticked closer to the top of the watch.

It struck 12.

"FIRE!" He screeched.

Throughout where the artillery was placed, be it Canadian or Irish, gun crews carried out similar orders spoken by their own commanders. In total over 300 artillery pieces would fire during the opening salvo.

American Vancouver Lines,
0531, 17th of July


The sound of the guns firing was thunderous. By this stage in the war the soldiers in their positions were used to artillery firing but not like this. They dove for dugouts and shelters as the artillery shells started to land amongst them.

American General Headquarters Vancouver Front,
Vancouver,
0535, 17th of July


General Charles S. Farnsworth was quickly informed of the situation. He ordered all positions to be prepared to fight off an assault from the Candian lines. Something no-one had thought could ever happen. He also ordered for all rear area units to rush forward and all artillery to start firing back.

He ignored a weather report that the fog over the water was starting to burn off.

Canadian Vancouver Line,
42nd Anchorage Rifles,
0540, 17th of July


The artillery had roared for nearly ten minutes. Officers all around Jeremy were checking their watches. Behind him the metal behemoth, or tank as it had come to be known, let out a coughing stuttering roar as it's engine came to life. Alaskan officers put their whistles to their mouths. He never heard them blow as a screeching sound came roaring out to his right. His head whipped around.

What he saw made him laugh. One of the Scots-Canadians had a bagpipes. The whistles of the officers blew and Jeremy and his men scrambled towards the ladders as the tank rumbled forward.

American Vancouver Lines,
0545, 17th of July


The machine-gunners got their positions, heavy artillery fire or not they needed to start shooting or else the Canadians were going to over run them. Rifles all along the trench front started firing out at the Canucks. The bullets reached out into the Canadian lines striking them here and there as the Americans worked their best to hold their positions. However three looming slow moving shapes came towards them across the fields. The bullets of the machine guns and rifles just bounced off the shapes.

Then the shapes opened fire. Their side mounted artillery guns smashing into the American lines. The Americans started to focus their fire on the shapes ignoring the soldiers, willing with a fervent madness to see the shapes just stop. Within moments the Canadians had crossed into the American trenches.

Sgt Jeremy Burne leapt down into the trench his bayonet before him. He caught an American just above the shoulder with the blade and flattened him to the ground. Around him boots hit the floor of the trench as Alaskan troops landed in the trench besides him. He twisted the bayonet in the Yank, removed it, and then rammed it home into the poor sods stomach to make sure he was down. He twisted and removed it again and joined his men fighting through the trench.

A group of Yanks was holed up in a dugout. He ordered a couple of grenades thrown in and they kept moving. One Yank tried to smash his head in with a shovel but Jeremy had seen him early enough to dodge the blade, and from the hip, put a round into the Yank. He continued to move forward until he was sure he had broken the Yanks Advance trench position and was into the service trenches. Before him he could see a sea of Yanks coming towards the trenches to reinforce them against the Canadians.

He didn't even feel the round that took him through the neck.

American General Headquarters Vancouver Front,
Vancouver,
0610, 17th of July


"Sir. The Canucks have taken the Trenches but we have them held there. We are trying to push them further back but reports of some weird moving water tanks are saying it's getting difficult."

General Charles S. Farnsworth sighed a sigh of relief. "Thank god it's over anyway."

~~~~~~~~~~

It is held by many Historical scholars that the Canadian Advance during the Battle of Vancouver was a textbook example of an early Great War land assault. Rudimentary armour tactics combined with a massive creeping barrage and a general Infantry advance with serious losses to both sides and limited gains on the sides of the attacker. It is also a widely held belief that if the Battle had ended there the Canadian forces would have been eventually pushed back in subsequent battles.

But of course the Battle of Vancouver did not end there. American troops continued to launch probing assaults against the Canadians until roughly 9 AM.

~~~~~~~~~~

HMIS Vinegar Hill
Off the Coast of Vancouver.
0900, 17th of July


The fog had finally burnt away and General Lynch cast the big observers glasses mounted in the observation deck towards the Canadian coastline. Irish Boats were already on the move and the turrets of the Battleships in the area had been turned towards the American rear positions.

He grinned as the ship rocked from the force of its turrets opening fire at the American rear positions.

He saw the boats carrying the 35th arrive at the beach.

"And so it begins." He said to no-one in particular

~~~~~~~~~~

So com- dodges thrown bottles.

Ok if you will all settle down this battle is being split between two updates. I should have the next one before the 11th of September. After that the update after that is a big unknown as I start back in college so they will be dependent on when I have free time again.