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Chapter 2
  • “The Beginning”


    bf.jpg

    Well dear readers, you can now see above, that our generic first cabinet meeting took place in New Zealand. The title of this AAR I admit is a wee bit cheesy but it does convey my denial of following the typical historical unfolding. My imagining our NZ outside of the world-factions is no great leap; we have our reasons of which I will not discuss at the present...if ever.

    So what will this New Zealand story be? As usual for me, especially nowadays...I do not know. All I can say for now is - we Kiwis will be no factional-gimme. :)

    Gov.jpg

    Here is our glorious Government and there is a small thing I should point out about the generic-speaker conversation inside our first cabinet-meeting; I think it very interesting that our Head of Government and our Foreign Minster are the same fellow. (seems a blend like today) And just as sweet, our two posts of Chief of Staff & Army Chief are also one man. Therefore, I have two heads representing four heads and that fact could change how that first meeting might read but don’t bother backtracking, because it doesn’t matter. These two men are going to drive this AAR-train and hopefully I do not suffer another coup like I did in U4U.:eek: If that happens? I reserve the right of purge.

    What I will do going forward, is give my readers the necessary game-details of what I do with our tiny nation. However, the first item on my agenda is to get NZ up and running in the best condition possible and make us a feared military powerhouse – yeah, right.

    What roadblocks will we encounter? I have no idea, I have never even considered playing a micro-power island-nation before. Fyi, I am expecting a lot of roadblocks.

    One last thing; the narrative I plan will be no grand invention this time around but I will endeavor to make it interesting by creating the conversation inside the necessary game mechanics; and of course something different may materialize. (probably not next to a stone-vault) I will not be tagging a grand tale, as I have twice before but will only tag i.e. to get necessary names inside other countries. If I give NZ a gift of any sort - I will detail that action. I.e Depending on what happens I may need a little more MP?

    Please note: I will use the in-game names provided but they will not be historical portrayals by any stretch of “my” imagination.

    Onward!
     
    Chapter 3
  • “Preparing for War”
    1 p4w.png

    What follows are brief overviews of efforts inside various sectors of New Zealand during our lead-up to WWII.

    Economy

    Resource stockpiles were improved; having Walter Nash was a big help. Neither Germany nor the Soviet-Union would trade with us and the UK was little better. We could buy some Rares from the English but that was to be expected, since that is Britain’s money-maker. However. The UK would not trade with us beyond that, i.e. when we needed to sell supplies and they needed supplies.

    The USA bought 10 Supplies from us and that made the Yanks our chief trading partner. We did trade with other weak nations, like ourselves, but these were small trades typically like the off and on nature of AI-trading; except that I approved or disapproved all trades.

    Espionage

    With Frederick Freeman’s bonus, I hoped we might steal some army/navy-techs from the Italians but the RNG was very stingy and though we quickly cleared out Italy’s counter-agents, our spies stole only Sea-Lane Defense. Of course, building Escorts would be insane for a nation possessing a tiny industry. In hindsight, we probably should have went for France but I desired to try something different and now what is done - is finis. (Btw, In past games, I have bad-luck in France as well) I wanted a few early gifts but now that we failed in Italy. I moved operations somewhere else, after a brief prior effort.:cool:


    Our Armed Forces


    Before I get into Production and Technology, I want you to see what New Zealand starts with in terms of techs & units. Be advised, neither area brims with promise.

    2 Army Start.jpg

    As you can see NZ starts with very little. We have 6 INF & 3 CAV brigades but no units to guard anything, which is not good, because to protect ourselves we would need to use fighting units; of course we build some GAR for defense and hopefully later, a few MIL for policing actions. Our navy consists of only 5 troop-transports and we have no planes, nor will we have any in the future. Whatever we do, we are very vulnerable.

    3 Other Techs.jpg

    Industry

    Of course we needed to build some convoys and targetted about 50; I need to watch that number because we must have only enough to “get-by”. A few GAR x2 divisions, enough ART to fill out our INF-divisions and later some MIL units. I also built two basic Destroyer-groups for a purpose, you will soon see.

    Research

    With 8 IC we cannot build a lot of stuff and with our Leadership only at 4.92 we cannot research much either. We can improve very little, so whatever we pursue must provide the maximum benefit.

    I decided to keep two INF techs up-to-date as far as possible. I chose what you see in the screen above. Researching all four techs would mean I would do little else, so I opted for work on Offense only for our units. Generally, with small percentages, I.e. Terrain-Equipment, the benefits are minuscule for many techs for a tiny nation. After those two infantry techs, I also wanted our ART as modern as possible. In addition I went for Radios for the Offensive power as well. We will not have many divisions, so they need to be solid fighting units.

    Regarding Industry, I am only committed to Agriculture and Supply-Production. I have a question-mark by those two additional supply techs because I “may” work them in the future but I am far from sure I will.

    This is the look behind our preparations before deciding to start WWII.:)
     
    Chapter 4
  • “A Painful Prodding”

    New Zealand’s Head of State gazed at the faces of Michael Savage and William Sinclair-Burgess in utter disbelief; “You want me to do what?!”

    I AM speaking English George. As our Head of State, I demand that you, call your old chum and ceremonially inform him that we are declaring war on his country.”

    The Viscount was shocked and it took a few moments for him to organize his imperialistic-head to form a rebuke; “But we are...”

    Mr. Savage was not about to hear once again, the long ties of friendship; “With all due respect George, the only thing you two share is the same reputation of a stern-imperialist, that’s it.”

    You are wrong there dear boy, just because we hold the same high-office and could be a bit stubborn at times, does not mean what you propose is a proper action for New Zealand to take; declaring war out of the blue, is madness I tell you – complete folly!”

    I’m afraid it only strikes you that way, because plentiful good food and drink at State-expense has lulled you to sleep. However, since I respect you in some ways, for your own benefit, I will state one obvious situation to you and hope to wake you from your contentment. If this fact, that you currently either do not see or simply ignore, does not change your mind, then I am afraid this government will have to step past you.”

    And what is this glaring and unmistakable fact that I need to see?”

    Issac Alfred Isaacs is Australia’s Head of State, correct?”

    You know he is; quit this silly-business.”

    And you are New Zealand’s Head of State?”

    My God! I think you are mad – of course I am Head of State!”

    What man leads our Government?”

    You do you blithering fool! I cannot endure this discussion a moment longer!”

    George, we are at an end of this unpleasantness if you will answer this final question; what man leads Australia’s government? You see old fellow, you are not quite equal with the man across the water, now are you...little-sister?”

    Micheal was a Savage in name and deed and the verbal-arrow hit a nerve deep inside De Vere, making the man a scowling and seething mute.

    The reason behind De Vere’s growing anger, after this unexpected and unwanted reminder, was because he believed he had hidden his bitterness behind his thwarted ambition at all times. However, his envy of Isaacs' stronger hold on power in Australia, had now been revealed to be obvious to at least one politician. (George would later discover that many more ears had heard words and or saw emotions, that betrayed his disappointed ego many times, but we delve no further.)

    A fork in the road now lay before our Head of State. He could buckle to the will of the Cabinet or take the lonely road and make his way forward the best he could. George De Vere chose to conduct his office from a comfortable distance; meaning he would not obstruct the government but he would not and could not endorse this war. He did not make the terrible call but Savage did. George now disappears from this story.

    The entire world had read the headlines concerning the actions of major & lesser powers in the press for years now, but on 27 August, 1938, an unexpected news-story pulsed the wire; New Zealand declared war on Australia.



    [A reminder: there is nothing factual about these names inside this beginning]​
     
    Chapter 5
  • 1 bf war.jpg


    “The Gamble”

    E. R. Drummond, NZ-Navy Chief: “Did either of you brilliant war-hawks trouble to see in what port our most serious threats are anchored?”

    Neither Mike nor Bill could answer the Admiral’s question but Bill, leading the ground forces, did quickly ask; “What threats?”

    Threats like the big-guns of the Heavy-Cruisers HMAS Australia and HMAS Canberra? I have only two DD Squadrons and if we meet either of the CAs, we will be blown out of the water and our troops will become instant fish-food; we could leave our islands defenseless!”

    Mr. Savage was visibly shocked and stumbled into a dazed reply; “Oh my God, I did not think of Australia’s warships!”

    General Sinclair-Burgess tried to cover the dangerous miscue; “E. R. we have no planes to scout anything, so we went with the roll of the dice.”

    The admiral was incensed; “Good grief man! You could have at least asked me for my thoughts; I could have sent a DD-group to the waters off Sydney and checked if any large ships were there!”

    Bill responded honestly; “It’s too late now...the transports are on their way.”

    Dammit!” The Admiral dashed to a car and quickly rushed to the Naval-base in Wellington.

    Drummond soon telephoned and explained his desperate plan to his renegade counterparts; “I’ve ordered 1st DD to run interference for the troop transports and I am on a course to do the same on-board 2nd DD. If the Australian fleet is at anchor to the north or south of Sydney, hopefully we will delay the Heavy-Cruisers and prevent the destruction of our transport-fleet. However, if those guns are at anchor, as I suspect they are, you better get down on your knees right now and pray till you sweat blood. You two may lose this war before our soldiers step foot on land.” <dial-tone> After the call, Mike and Bill, our bold and zealous duo, now looked as if they stood in front of a firing-squad and were about to be executed for utter stupidity.

    2 landing.jpg


    3 sb.jpg


    4 15 Battered.jpg


    5 2nd landing.jpg

    The second-landing

    6 supplies.jpg


    7 1st advance.jpg

    The 1st advance starts and thankfully, we prevent enemy bombing-runs for the moment.

    8 end.jpg

    We have a secure beachhead and a supply-convoy up and running, when the following conversation takes place sometime later.

    Savage gives the Admiral a slap on the back: “Very fine job there, keeping all our vessels afloat E. R.! You should get a medal for your actions on 2nd DD.”

    Drummond ignored Mike’s flattery: “Gentlemen, make no mistake, we are very lucky we are not about to be exterminated in short order. You two had better learn to coordinate with the rest of this, our government and create strategies that minimize risk to our meager forces, or your bold-butts will soon be behind bars, or worse.”

    Bill, the Chief of Staff & Army-Chief accepted the stern rebuke without objection; he knew he had entirely focused on his infantry alone. He now turned to another cabinet member we have not heard from in a while; “Fred, what intelligence-reports do you have concerning Australian forces we might meet on the battlefield now?”

    Mr. Freeman always wore a very serious face but now he appeared concerned and afraid; “We have no firm knowledge concerning the enemy’s land forces nor their possible locations. We have only heard outside rumors, that the Australian government has placed units on their various islands but we have not verified a single instance anywhere. And we are just as blind to the locations of their forces on the mainland.”

    Behind another fear, Fred Freeman turned back to Michael; (Mr. Savage also holds the post of Foreign Minister) “What has been the received reaction from the U. K.?”

    No change. I’m sure they are not happy with us, since we have refused their offers for us to join the allies a great many times now; but as yet, they have made no move for us to worry about.”

    The Admiral now made sure he was a part of whatever future plan; “What is the grand plan for your infantry Bill?”

    The Army-Chief did not appear confident by any stretch; “We do not know what is in front of us and can only respond to what we meet. The plan is a simple one and that is to take the Capitol and then advance and capture Sydney. Once we meet those objectives, then we need to decide from there.”

    E.R: “Good enough but remember, no more “rolling of the dice.” With our small forces, defeating Australia is not going to be simple and we had better plan-well whatever future actions we take because we can meet disaster in an instant; those Heavy-Cruisers are still in the water and we have no naval-guns to match them.”

    The Admiral had made his point frighteningly clear and he now walked over to a long wall that held a very large, framed-map of the greater-Pacific and he began to study much more than islands belonging to Australia.
     
    Chapter 6
  • “Into the Unknown”
    {14 September – 12 October, 1938}

    As reported last episode, our invasion-force narrowly escaped the large naval-guns of Australia’s two Heavy-Cruisers and an eventual watery-death and only by lady-luck’s favor, did our army manage to survive the foolish and failed attempt (my own under-sight) of invading Sydney, to instead, successfully establish a beach-head at Melbourne.

    I now introduce to you some new men inside our story. Besides, William {Bill} Sinclair-Burgess, both the NZ Army Chief & Chief of Staff and the gallant Admiral E.R. Drummond and our navy of only 2DDs and 5 Transports, we now meet the leader of our invasion, Field-Marshall Freyberg, commanding the 38,000 troops of 2nd Army-Group.

    Reporting to him are our division-commanders General Stevens 1st NZ Infantry-Division, General Inglis 2nd NZ Infantry-Division and General Duigan, Northern Military District and our first GARx2 division to defend Melbourne. At this time, we also have a CAVx3 Division that protects our Capitol of Wellington.

    --------------------

    Field-Marshall Freyberg enters his hastily-erected command tent, situated northeast of the captured city of Melbourne. Generals Stevens, Inglis and Duigan are seated already, along-side Admiral Drummond.

    Freyberg is well aware of the “lucky-break” but he is an excellent leader of men and focused on the current situation and turns to the Admiral; “The last supply-report I read informs me you have our supply-convoys running; have your vessels encountered Australian-warships?”

    Drummond replies behind his direct manner of speech and professional bearing; “The enemy did sink one of our convoys but since then, we have not lost another.”

    After the Field-Marshall’s relief of no more convoy loss at the moment, he quickly turned his mind to a question; “Do you have any idea why they sailed away E. R.?”

    No. I will guess that they left to pursue an effort to catch & sink our damaged destroyer-squadrons. However, I cannot answer with any assurance that my assumption is correct; i. e. lack of fuel could have been the reason, though I highly doubt it.”

    Well then, let us hope our luck holds and whatever the answer, we lose no more vessels.”

    Drummond gave a thin smile; “General, it already has; I received radio-communication from both squadrons, that they are safe at anchor and being repaired as we speak.” The Admiral eased back in his leather-chair and assumed the posture of a very critical listener, needing to identify any concern that may arise.

    Freyberg looked to his three seated commanders; “Have we had any contact with enemy ground-units?”

    General Stevens quickly responded; “Not yet but we saw their bombers leaving the air-field just before we captured it and watched them fly towards the northeast; we expect they will return soon from some airstrip in the north. We can make a fair guess, that it will be from their airbase in Sydney but they could have a base nearer our Front.”

    The Field-Marshall; “You each know time is precious, so very briefly, my plan is to spread out and advance on a strictly coordinated-front. Since we have had no reconnaissance of the enemy forces, as to their numbers or positions, our units must remain in contact with each other and be ready for any sudden arrivals; we cannot allow a single enemy-unit to get behind our lines anywhere along the Front, or this war will be lost. Presently our main-thrust is towards Canberra and after the capture of the Capitol-city, only then can we advance on Sydney.”

    --------------------

    1.jpg

    Our first battle

    2.jpg

    Next we hit the same unit again, which appears to be nothing more than a blocking-unit attempting to delay our Army till other Australian-troops arrive?

    3.jpg

    Units behind the lines, including HQs make sure we leave no gaps.

    4.jpg

    1. We need that GAR for Wellington.
    2. Notice that we have not the IC to build an Infantry-Division at 100%.
    3. We switch to Heavy-Industry as Japan annexes Shanxi​

    5.jpg

    Another desperate delay by the lone enemy-unit ends quickly.

    6.jpg

    We need to hug the coast as we advance.​

    7.jpg

    Because we have no air-cover, Australian-bombers have killed a total of 913 New Zealand troops
    during our march to Canberra.

    8.jpg

    An infantry-division heads to the capitol, while we hold at the river to the west.

    9.jpg

    We capture the capitol but we will need to start a resource-convoy,
    before we can get the needed stockpile-boosts back to Wellington.​

    From HQ

    * During this report we managed to finish two tech-advances, the first is Destroyer-Crew Training 1. I pursued this advance to give a “slightly longer moment” for success in accomplishing future dangerous-assignments.

    * The second was Small Arms 3. If we have very little, it must be good rifles.

    [Next: We try for Sydney again but this time from the safety of land]
     
    Last edited:
    Chapter 7
  • “The March to Sydney”
    {12 October – 7 November, 1938}



    Before we continue, for your awareness, I want you to see the change in NZ production-practicals
    between January 1936 to the start of this update.​

    1.jpg

    Everything is dropping like a rock but the only number I care about, I should add “can care about” is turn-around-time with building Inf-units. As you can see, since the start of the war, it has halved. Now add the fact that I have had to set-back my 4th Inf-div to get a convoy, those 2 destroyers (my failed transport-decoys <L>) and after building Garrison for Melbourne, I yet need another for Wellington, so I can free-up the 3 Cav-brigades there on guard-duty, to use in the invasion. That is our production.

    The other issue you can see in the screen, is we are not at 100% officer-ratio and with so little IC we will not quickly jump-to-it. If I am at 100% and stay there, no matter what happens, I will be content and research a 5th tech, instead of the current 4 techs. By the way, the Aussies have me beat hands-down in this last area. I have their Gov-screen for reference, and their off/ratio % is maxed at 140% - if we should meet any generals.

    2.jpg

    General Stevens’ division continues to be the only unit with orders to high-tail-it! The rest of the Army will gradually follow-behind in wagon-train fashion. Once we have Sydney and supplies heading there, we can march with less worry about our lines.​

    3.jpg

    The Field Marshall may not have the usual brigade or two that I like to put with my HQs but he can still claim a province for added supply-line-width. Notice, he is close enough to still report to our Theater-HQ in Wellington.​

    4.jpg

    Stevens takes Sydney making the 2 CAs & 2 CLs re-base; I’ve not seen the DD groups.
    Right about now I am thinking; “We’ve only reached 40% surrender-progress?”

    5.jpg

    A quick look at the quality of our Infantry-units. We are not an advanced army.​

    6.jpg

    Army-Chief Sinclair-Burgess grabbed the Auckland-garrison (leaving it wide-open) and transported to Sydney to free up General Steven’s 1st NZ Infantry, so it could keep marching north. A GAR-brigade finished at the same time and without letting the unit organize, General Puttick’s 1st Mounted-Rifles finally embarked for Sydney & the Front.​

    7.jpg

    Freyberg now moves his AG-HQ to Sydney. His command is just under 47,000 men.​

    8.jpg

    Sinclair-Burgess is pestered by that lone MOT-brigade and now of course,
    the mounted-rifles have the attack-delay to wait-out and cannot advance for many hours.​

    9.jpg

    General Steven’s & 1st NZ Infantry’s new orders. He will capture 3 VPs once he’s there but we have already captured twice that number and have not reached 50% SP yet.​



    [Next: I have to see what else we need to capture and how to do it
    without being sunk or losing what we already hold.]​
     
    Chapter 8
  • “A Mysterious Catch”
    {7 November, 1938}


    The first week of November had been clear skies but during the day on the 6th, a Friday, a powerful gale had blown-in and for many hours, strong winds and heavy rain blanketed a large swath of the Pacific; making travel by any means dangerous.

    Bobby Poole, a fisherman on the North-Island, was no stranger to bad-weather but he never fought against Neptune when he had a choice. During the storm, he had wisely remained in-port, staying home and enjoying the unplanned holiday with his family.

    Before heading out to sea one of Bobby’s morning routines, was to pour himself a fresh cup of hot-coffee before walking along the surf and enjoying sunrise, as it cast colorful-rays across the horizon; this sky-painting, inspired childlike wonder in the man.

    The fisherman was deep in his thoughts on where he would cast his nets that day, when he stepped on a piece of wood that had soggy-folds of canvas fastened to it. He looked-up and scanned the waves as they rolled and foamed toward him to smack the shore. After a few seconds, he recognized what looked to be a terribly twisted wing of a bi-plane. There was much wood and canvas flopping about and he could also see severed-wires still attached in places amid the wreckage. Mr. Poole was at war like all Kiwis and though he could see no markings on the broken-wing, he decided to call the local police and the local government.

    Before lunchtime that same day, agents from the office of NZ-intelligence found a wooden-box floating under the wreck and brought it to Frederick Freeman’s office unopened.

    Fred dismissed his subordinates and closed his office-door before taking his chair and handling the mystery-container. Upon inspecting the object closely, he saw two halves of what is best described, as a somewhat larger than typical briefcase but made of wood instead of leather. He next observed that an edge of one side of the case had a rubber-strip that sealed the container.

    There were no marks of identification to be see of any sort, whether by the plane’s maker or the owners initials, etc. Upon breaking the lock and opening the box, Freeman’s only expectation was that he was about to open private-property that had belonged to the now presumed-dead pilot, whose plane had been downed by the storm’s fury.

    What the Head of Intelligence took out of the case was beyond quick comprehension. It did not take long however, for him to understand what he had in his possession and he was on the phone to R. A. Cochrane’s office; Freeman needed the Air-Chief’s expertise to explain this pictorial windfall.

    Cochrane rushed to Freeman’s office and after seeing the snaps, he immediately recognized necessary sequences. We now join their discussion.

    R. A.: “You are correct Fred, you have been handed an intelligence-bonanza – that bi-plane was flying for a nation or for a very unusual-individual; whichever...for strategic-purpose.”

    Fred remained in detective-mode; “Any ideas who’s plane it was that crashed?”

    You know Fred, I do not make bets but Japan certainly fits.”

    Why Japan?”

    You tell me, are they not the most likely?”

    Fred smiled; “We cannot be certain, but no nation is rattling the ambition-saber more than Imperial-Japan.”

    Cochran nodded in agreement.

    Fred Continued; “We only have a few suspects to question. If we look at the other nations around us, we see the Netherlands, Portugal, the Brits, the Americans, in short, one neutral, one leading the Allies and the others are allied-leaning, making this mystery flight for their use, highly unlikely. However, on the flip-side, a common plane being used to gather intelligence by an Axis-member? Yes, very likely.

    E,G.: “I’ll add that there is another factor that weighs very heavy in my evaluation; Australia’s small Air-force is at war with us and we have no planes for them to fear, thus they have not been blanketing their airspace but necessarily targeting our troops.”

    Next, the Air-Marshal took the pictures and divided them into two stacks before pulling a red-pencil from his shirt-pocket. After repeatedly looking over the various locations, he then marked each picture and once he was finished, he set each group down on Fred’s desk.

    1 VPs.jpg
    2 VPs.jpg

    What I’ve done is to guess the fight-path of the bi-plane before it crashed. Follow this; the IJN has aircraft-carriers and since our war became the perfect opportunity for them, I believe they took advantage and ran a fast CV-group down to take these pictures. Now, if you planned this, what plane would you use?”

    Fred was not slow to answer; “I would use a common plane, so it could fly and draw minimal notice.”

    Absolutely, you would be crazy to use combat-aircraft and announce your presence. However, a civilian-plane, though still a risk, would be worth the gamble; that is, if you were planning on complete conquest of this entire region.”

    Fred now looked a bit taken-aback by the scale of such a plan; “And why did you separate these into two groups?”

    “The first-series reveals takeoff from the east and an island-hopping to the west for an eventual landing, probably in the waters north of Lae. The second-sequence is trickier to explain but the crash of the plane, and then the wreckage on our west-coast, makes my conclusion plausible. My guess is that the CV sat to the northwest of the main-island and went over Darwin first and then made a circle ending in Townsville. I’m sure they would have wanted to get Sydney, Canberra etc, but that was not an option, since Australian bombers were bombing the hell out of us in all those areas.”

    Freeman saw the bi-plane’s flight in his mind; “I see, the region enjoyed beautiful weather for days but then on the last leg of the recon-flight, the pilot flew into the teeth of a gale. Instead of making an easy landing on the carrier-deck, he was bashed to bits at sea.”

    I would not bet my life that it happened exactly that way, but I think it did.” Here Cochran, paused before he admitted; “There is one thing though, that I do not understand; what the hell are those points on the photos and how could a foreign-snoop, assign values? That is damned preposterous to my mind.”

    Fred smiled and pulled an envelope from his inside coat-pocket and carefully removed a badly discolored paper; “My department can answer that R. A. - take a look at this.” Cochran read the damaged document and his eyes-widened when reading the yet obvious words...Chief of Staff; “Where in the world did you get this Fred?”

    Freeman carefully took the paper back and put it back inside the envelope; “Sydney. The HQ’s papers were burned just before we captured the city, but when my agents searched the barrel, they discovered, that a charred-handful were not consumed and had protected this list; which is not an unusual result of panic. If too many papers are added at once and the fire is either not hot enough or cannot burn long enough to consume the entire stack, something can remain; I added the number-labels to the photos from their own list E.G.”

    The Commander appeared a little uneasy before he smiled; “Did I ever tell you Fred, that you are a creepy sort of fellow?”

    Yes, E.G. I have noted that several times now.”

    Cochran’s smiled vanished.

    Fred burst out laughing; “Just kidding ol’ boy; I am on your-side...remember?”

    The two men now left Fred’s office and quickly walked to inform Mike Savage of their incredible find. New Zealand’s head of government, soon held in his hands, the information that we desperately needed; fate had once again favored our army & navy.


    [Next we head back to the Advance]
     
    Chapter 9
  • “High-stakes and lucky-breaks”
    {7 November, 1938 – 15 January, 1939}

    Now that Admiral E.R. Drummond and Field-Marshall Freyberg had the vital information needed that could win the war, rather than losing it in a single-day, the two commanders devised a simple plan involving two-objectives.

    1. Hold all captured ports. Considering our troops had only met a single MOT-brigade in battle to this time – this goal would prove easily met.

    2. The second-part was the tricky-bit; so let us examine the risks:

    • Whatever island-invasion force we sent, if it met the Heavy-Cruisers HMAS Australia or HMAS Canberra or both, winning the war would become far more difficult and would likely invite a major-power to become involved at some future moment; which would be very unlikely to benefit our tiny nation.
    • We had 5 transports and considering the first point above, we needed to use one single fleet, which because of so few targets, eliminated the risk of instant-defeat.
    • All of our Infantry was on the mainland and since we had not yet won the war, our commanders were not about to gamble any unit. Therefore, we had to risk our own islands being invaded, by using a GAR-brigade in these surprise island-attacks.

    The Execution of “Plan-Bonkers”

    1.jpg

    Our Army on the mainland marches north.

    2.jpg

    After we captured Brisbane, it was time to “test the waters.”

    3.jpg

    We bypassed Buin to find an empty port and met no CA guns.

    4.jpg

    Lae was different – we didn’t kill 1 defender and fled!
    No naval-salvos splashed around us yet.

    5.jpg

    With little time to recover, the garrison “tests Perth.” Whew!...no one home.

    6.jpg

    The garrison-marines head to a new location without a port and re-boarding is slow.

    7.jpg

    Now we pull a new un-organized GAR-division from Wellington and walk-in.

    8.jpg

    Port Moresby’s capture would end the war; but it would be very risky to attack,
    so we used Infantry and hoped that no warships arrived to blast us.

    9.jpg

    The battle was iffy but then the CAs arrived and it was time to flee again.

    10.jpg

    1. We damn near lost 3 Transports, i. e. 1%
    2. We finally sent some spies to assist the Army.
    3. We won a battle at the Front
    4. We risked that same shot-up fleet and went for the “side-step landing”
    where the attack does not directly assault the port.

    11.jpg

    Admiral Drummond had used both DD-groups to lure the Heavy-Cruisers HMAS Australia & HMAS Canberra away from Port Moresby and to the SE; we suffered damage but no losses.

    [Upcoming: we meet to plan our next move]


     
    Chapter 10 - Part 1
  • “The New Picture”
    {Part One}

    Days after our creation of Greater New Zealand, the following scene occurred:

    Randall Blake, despite a disheveled-appearance that generally suggested carelessness to anyone outside the department – inside the organization, most members, no matter their level, considered “Squint” their most professional and dependable, reviewer.

    The Intel-chief saw Randall enter his office and without emotion yea or nay, pointed to a chair; ‘Take a seat Mr. Blake.’

    Both men sat down and Freeman looked at the folder on his desk and then read the written-tab label aloud, ‘Wooden shoes.’

    The chief paused and chose his words carefully; ‘After seeing the contents of this folder, I agree that wooden-shoes points to dutch-resources nearby; impossible not to make that connection. However, I would like you to explain how this was overlooked and that I am only now seeing this additional photo after your earlier report; how was it missed while the others were found?’

    Whenever Randall spoke, whether to explain or seek answers, his eyes would squint as he conversed; ‘A rookie mistake sir.’

    Whose?’

    Jack’s.’

    What happened?’

    He was not thorough.’

    Explain.’

    While I was sifting through the rubble, he removed a charred-section from the barrel and set it aside. I did not see that action but when we went back to clean-up this morning, I noticed the pile was unbroken. Jack admitted he forgot about it, after thinking it useless to examine, so I investigated it then. I saw, a very thin speck of white in the middle of the mass and we carefully broke it apart and soon discovered that a small area was still somewhat damp. We separated every bit of it and found that broken-glass, tin and other trash had shielded that small folder.’

    ‘I will speak with your supervisor later. Thank you for explaining; fine work Randall.’

    --------------------

    That afternoon, Mr. Savage began a very important Cabinet-meeting. All members were present except the Head of State; he was unable to attend; “a severe-case of insomnia.”

    When all members were seated, the Head of Intelligence went to a wall inside the room and pulled a white-screen down and walked over to a projector, that had been set there earlier and projected a single photo-slide.

    1 Wooden shoes.jpg

    Gentlemen we discovered another picture that escaped the flames but this one is of a very different nature than the others we found. Why was it taken? Thoughts?’

    Armament Minister Nash quickly looked over to the Air-Minister; ‘R. A. and I were discussing their strategic resources only a few days ago.’

    Cochrane nodded his head but his eyes remained on the screen; ‘Looks like you got your wish Walter.’

    Security-head Bill Parry; ‘Wish?’

    Walter: ‘We must get all resources in the region we can but I did not know all locations. When R.A. said “we would need airplanes to find out but added...we had not one,” I answered, I wish we could get another gift. Anyway, why was that picture needed?’

    Parry cleared his throat; ‘I think I can answer that because I had the same interest in knowing. Australian intelligence wanted that information in the case of the Dutch East Indies falling to the enemy.’

    Mike looked away from the screen; ‘They spied on them?’

    I doubt it, they probably asked for it; it was probably taken by a Dutch-crew.’

    Parry; ‘I agree. It would be touchy subject but vital to plan-ahead for all outcomes.’

    But, don’t you think that info is already known?’

    That could be, in part or whole but why gamble? Why not make damned sure and not assume neighbors have those details? What if in an instant, an ally went from helping to defend a spot, to having to invade and all those locations under Axis control? If we were overrun, could anyone at this table rattle-off precise information to an ally, listing our most valuable locations? Nash would answer yes, but that is his backyard; but what if he or all of us had been captured while losing our islands?’

    This discussion now ended and the cabinet-meeting now turned to Planning.

    [Fyi, this was my device to get the info we all need to see before planning. This idea seemed the best way to cover what did not fit in the War-update. I could have had it part of the initial-discovery but I didn't like that blending story-wise and desired both purposes to stand-alone, as quite-likely the subjects would be in different folders and tossed in to the fire accordingly...or iow total fluff from me;)]
     
    Chapter 11
  • “The New Picture” – {Part Two}​

    We now rejoin the second-half of the Cabinet-meeting.

    Mr. Savage, our Head of Government walked over to the projector and placed another slide for the members to view on the screen.

    'As you all know, I may wear two hats inside this government, however, as you can see by this information, I am also very busy compiling data for our review.'

    Security-Minister Bill Parry: 'I do not wish to offend you Mike but I have never thought you should be able to wear two hats.'

    A very brutal look came over Savage’s face but he remained in diplomat-mode; 'Why is that Mister Parry?'

    Before Parry could reply, the Chief of Staff and Army-Chief, William Sinclair-Burgess joined the discussion; 'I suppose then, that you also object to my holding two seats at this table?'

    'As a matter of fact, I do indeed Bill. Since this cabinet has submitted to making our Head of State unable to sleep now, I consider it my duty to state the obvious; that when it comes to one man holding two different offices, no matter whom the head belongs, one head is not better than two, or if you prefer, I will rephrase that to “two heads are better than one."'

    It now became obvious to the Head of Intelligence, that the discussion grew hot and it was imperative he deflected with some intelligent point to cool tempers; 'Gentlemen, it is what it is and we need to discuss our present situation.'

    Then followed dismissals or side-steps, such as; 'I agree, we need to stay on topic” or “You are correct Fred, let’s not become distracted,' which ended delving any deeper into the dangers posed by two-headed men.

    Freeman took advantage of the now silent stand-off and beckoned to the closed meeting-room door, which separated the attendees from the outside-world; 'Come in Mr. Blake.' After the summons, the only universally trusted figure entered the room and sat down in a decorative office-chair, in a corner and away from the table; 'Randall, we need your expertise, so please speak freely.'

    Blake opened his folder, tagged “Doom” and pulled the only slide from inside and walked over to the projector. He removed the Savage-slide, glanced at it for a moment, seriously squinted and donned a slight grin and put it back in the device.

    Opinion Poll.jpg

    'Before I proceed with my research, may I ask if you have discussed the matter of the U.K. guarantee?'

    Armament-Minister, Walter Nash was quick to reply; 'I saw that but we did not discuss it all.' No other member confirmed Nash’s admission but all knew they had focused on the now unfinished-argument and sat silently awaiting what Randall Blake had to say.

    Blake continued; 'Discussion would have been wasted; if we do now, as Mr. Nash previously considered, try and nab the goodies for ourselves, we would most likely not be presently meeting.” Squint’s directness was not disputed. “It is not my responsibility to decide what this group decides on that matter, however, it is my task to provide you a clear view of national Pacific “investments” and the likely specific “returns.”'

    Blake first peered over towards Sinclair-Burgess but then glanced over to the Government-head; 'I like the straight-forward victory-condition; was that your idea Mr. Savage?'

    Mike noticed the Army-chief across the table waited for the answer; 'The general and I thought it the plain truth.'

    Drummond became more irritated and his own bluntness now vented; 'I appreciate your candor Mr. Blake but would you please get to your contribution and avoid using banking-terms when you relate whatever it is you are now going to...project?'

    'Of course Admiral. You are quite right, even though most present at the table, see the world in terms of monetary-wealth.' Before anyone else could erupt inside their displeasure at such a stab, Randall quickly swapped slides and somberly boomed the plea; 'Gentlemen, please focus now on...this picture.'

    Squint.jpg

    All eyes fixed on the map and scanned the various nearby islands and which nation they belonged. After a few minutes, all members looked back to Squint, still standing behind the projection-device and saw that his eyes were narrow, as the agent reviewed the various points he needed to make.

    'The first thing you may wonder is my name for our new acquired land-mass. I must admit to you, that it is merely my own fancy, stemming from a recent report I read, that was written by an as of yet unknown strategist; within the document he coined (sorry about that Mr. Drummond) a new term...called wiki. I gathered he would like to make an interactive medium where topics such as Oceania could be defined, or possibly re-defined. All very futuristic, mind you, but I think the idea may have some merit; though I cannot prove that at some point in the future it will catch-on. However that may be, it was something else that drew my attention; it was the cryptic relation between our slang term for our own people, here I should add that it matters not whether we be fruit or birds but that we call ourselves Kiwi.' Every head, whether solo or duo, from behind their unique facial mixtures of doubt and confusion, suspiciously glared back at the intelligence-agent.

    Several men were silently asking the same question; 'What are you saying. Kiwiki means what exactly? That we need to be called something we can invent and define?'

    'Remember, I said it was my own humor. It is not for me to decide what we call our new Oceania, but for my purposes here today I could not bring myself to identify our nation as Greater...anything, or larger-fruit or birds, or say. Newer New Zealand; in light of our tiny army and our incredible luck I needed to think outside the box, so to speak.'

    No one was sure they agreed with Squint but none were sure they didn’t. Freeman was the only one that embraced the humor and the idea; 'Frankly, I think it visionary. Let’s admit that we have already redefined things and get on to the reason I wanted us to be see the big picture here. Randall would you please finish explaining the slide.'

    'Yes sir, I do need to wrap this up. I have new matters to sift.

    Back to our situation.


    A. If you decide to go for the Dutch resources, we become charred-rubble.

    B. You can sit and wait for Japan to do what it will and plea for Allied help.

    C. We can wait for Japan to enter the war and then opt to try for wooden-shoes, we will then be amid many enemy ports.

    Now notice the large red square in the lower right; I dug up an old AAR from a brilliant strategist and I discovered an encounter where he encountered a US fleet of 64 ships at anchor during that other worldly conflict. I believe, if we try to take that port...we are doomed and if we do not take that port...we are doomed.'

    Drummond added to the gloom; 'My two destroyer-squadrons rather frames your A & C prophecies.'

    R. A. Cochrane, the Air-Minister; 'Since we possess no planes in A, B or C, defeat might possibly apply to all?'

    The Chief of Staff had to offer something to sway moods; 'We have surprised the world, and ourselves, by the success our crack Garrison-Marine units, so this defeatism needs to be curtailed. Remember it is what it is and that means, even if it is likely to end badly, that does not mean it cannot end…'

    Nash: 'Goodly?'

    The meeting was at an end.
     
    Chapter 12
  • “States & Statements”

    1.jpg

    Before I proceed telling this tale, I think it no small matter that
    the 3rd Iron-Heart will not recognize our old name across this new Oceania.​

    Admiral MacNulty paced the bridge of his Destroyer when he heard his named called by a young sailor. ‘What is it?’ replied the commander. ‘A message from Admiral Drummond sir.’

    MacNulty went to his cabin and decoded his new orders; “Rebase at Darwin.”

    Wellington HQ

    The last Cabinet-meeting had ended without the group deciding what faction to join or if we would go it alone. The next day all members were called to another meeting to reach agreement.

    Mr. Savage began by asking Admiral Drummond; ‘Have you any information yet?’

    Yes. We sent our two DD-squadrons out on separate “look-about” missions. The 1st group cruised by Noumea and saw the port defended by French Infantry. Commander Horan was then re-based in the Admiralty Islands and sailed north to see the scenery in Truk. A Japanese garrison was observed beach-side and enjoying the sunny day.’

    These first reports were not good news, since we have depended entirely on lady-luck making sure the locations of our adventures were undefended, for when our GARMAR ;) landed.

    Mr. Nash frowned; ‘What from 2nd DD?’

    The Navy man used stern words; ‘Worse I’m afraid. Commander MacNulty could not see the land-defenses and dared not get closer but he could make out the shapes of what appeared to be possibly four to six warships at anchor.’

    Sinclair-Burgess leaned forward in his chair and rested his elbows on the table; ‘Are there other missions planned?’

    Not at this time General. I await that directive because I believe, the more we sail these dangerous-courses, the more we will alarm everyone else.’

    The Chief of Staff did not respond but next asked a general question intended for several at the table; ‘How are we fairing in getting landing-craft and marines?’

    Freeman offered his main contribution; ‘We are researching how to build the new vessels but we will not learn that till Christmas’

    This was Drummond’s back-yard; ‘Today is 4 April and we cannot even start building one till Christmas?’

    Freeman was just as upset as the Admiral; ‘I meant Christmas-eve 1940. You said that we needed them and we began.’

    Drummond sighed; ‘Yes, we damn well do but I did not not tell anyone how to go about it.’

    Although Security-Chief Parry had no role here, he wondered aloud; ‘We could not buy the plans from someone?’

    Fred was red-faced and too angry to reply…‘Ask Mike.’

    The Head of Government now donned his other hat; ‘No. I tried every possible nation. The Brits refused, the Americans did not possess the plans, Germany was in the same boat as the yanks and I doubt they would have sold us plans, even if they did have them. My last try was with Japan; not that I would have agreed, but I “offered” them all our gold, over five-hundred for the plans, and the deal was still impossible to make!

    Look gentlemen, we are still pursuing the plans; last night I appointed Frank Langstone as the new Foreign-Minster.’

    Everyone at the table looked around but Walter was the first to ask; ‘Why is he not here?’

    Savage was now nearly as angry as Freeman; ‘I asked Frank to stay on this and he is repeatedly calling the UK, trying to get to the right person to get approval.’

    Before anyone could object to this unexpected announcement, R. A. Cochrane noticed Viscount Galway, wearing his full-regalia, had quietly entered the room and was apparently waiting for a member to recognize his presence. R. A. stood and announced; ‘Gentlemen, our Head of State has joined the meeting.’

    Nearly every member had been looking down at papers in front of them and all were very surprised at seeing George, calm and composed, standing in his formal dress-uniform.

    Michael was the first to say; ‘We are very glad you came to the meeting Mr. de Vere. Please take your place and we can inform you of our present situation.’

    George had a very mischievous smile and it was clear to the cabinet, that something had transformed their Head of State; the man’s recent months of bitterness and seclusion, now appeared completely absent; ‘Very nice of you I am sure but I did not come here to have you inform me but rather for me to inform you sir and the rest of this wayward government.’

    More than one face looked both surprised and puzzled after this lofty address; ‘Please, explain your meaning’ queried a very interested Mr. Cochrane.

    May I remind you all of a moment, when it was not asked but demanded, that I do my duty required of my position and I refused?’

    The two responsible minds recalled the scene and saw New Zealand’s Head of State, once again, responding to their demands with “You want me to do what?!”

    Mike and Bill both looked very worried but it was Parry that asked;‘Good Lord man, what have you done?’

    A few minutes ago I made the call today, that you wanted me to...then. However, instead of more belligerence, he and I agreed to renew our friendship. I regret I could not restore Isaac to his rightful place but I did the next best option; my old friend, as you so named him, is now back in charge and heading a government, most friendly to us.

    The cabinet-meeting room now echoed; ‘How did you contact him?’ & ‘He agreed to being our puppet?’ among other exclamations, questions and comments.

    2.jpg

    George victoriously smiled: ‘An awful term that but at least he is marginally restored. I think the more he considered my proposal, the more he appreciated the notion of being freed from piloting the vessel of state though the approaching storm and is now looking forward to our next state-dinner together; I am sure we will both have much to talk about.’

    The cabinet stood from their seats but were dumb-struck.

    de Vere placed a letter down on the table and turned to walk out of the room but before he went through the door, he pleasantly feigned forgetfulness; ‘Oh dear me, I cannot remember now, if I accepted the invitation or if I refused.’

    3.jpg

     
    Chapter 13
  • “Reassessment”

    At various stations around the bridge, eyes followed the ticking second-hand on their wrist-watch, and counted down; four, three, two, one...impact! An explosion sounded at the moment the Captain uttered that last word. Soon he verified; ‘Target destroyed.’

    At nearly the same time, deck-guns fired in another direction, sending shells arcing skyward towards another enemy-ship. The gunnery-officer looked through his binoculars and waited, till he saw two blasts cause immediate destruction and the resulting fires slowly spread aboard the distant vessel.

    **********

    I regret to report, that I do not know if New Zealand’s George de Vere, our Head of State, has already joined the Allies or we remain a lone wolf. However, I can now verify, we will not be joining the Axis.

    Before we do anything else, we need to investigate George’s restoration of Australia as our puppet and what that means to our strategy.

    Our first focus is Resources
    1 Resources.jpg

    Of course resources have changed, because we do not now get all that we did.
    The orange-line separates and gives “a loose look” at the before & after in each case.

    Next is Industrial Capacity
    2 production.jpg

    1. This change more than halved our production capacity; made evident by the fact we cannot finish the 4th NZ infantry at 100% + a Convoy as before, now it is 53%.
    2. With the new addition of Australian troops, we halted militias for the mainland.
    3. Fyi, since we were in-good with the USA, earlier we bought plans for 3 Mar-brigades.
    4. After constant failed LCT-deals, this was the reason Freeman had to begin researching the vital Tech; now NZ was finally able to buy plans for the landing-craft. The value of this one change, went from a 24 Dec/39 Start-to-build, to, if we get them in queue next, we will Deploy our first vessel before that previous Start-date.
    5. We have less than 25 free convoys, so we are building another 20.

    Leadership
    3 spies & research.jpg

    1. We have 9 free-spies and I seek 1 nab. I’m not hopeful and we’ll soon end this.
    2. Since we are at 131% officers, after the switch...all now goes to techs.
    3. Supply and the Infantry techs for now. We are a tiny nation and there are very few advances in Industry that would be worth the research. 5% gain. No thank you.

    Our Combined Forces
    4 troops.jpg

    1. As El Pip suspected, George de Vere is indeed a genius. Instead of the Mot-brigade, inf-division and a few garrison-brigades we defeated...now we get 21 infantry-brigades.
    2. However, we did not get any ships or planes.

    OOB Australia
    5 oob change.jpg

    I had to tag and set-up two theaters that could actually work. Perth is not an ideal fix but the 2nd AG there could not reach the Canberra-HQ. I’ll show the infra-screen later. The A.I. will muff this effort but at least the Theater-HQ is not in the Admiralty islands and I have the best stat-generals commanding Army-groups.

    What?
    6 alliance.jpg

    I am not sure why but Australia did not act like a Puppet. I could not not give them the two GAR-units I had there, because I planned to get some of that new infantry.:cool:
    However, I had to offer them an Alliance first?o_O And I now went through the ropes.


    Expeditionary Forces
    7 tagging.jpg

    1. The half-screen above reflects my previously adding 500 Australian officers because after the switch, they were down to 4%. A. is my next addition. Note: The impact will not be seen till the next day.
    2. The lower-half is my tagging and making a 6-brigade-Corps for NZ’s use and told in sequence behind my hopes that the picture will prove helpful to new players. Also, this transfer may boost the Off-ratio above 100%.
    Fyi, when I make a Corps to transfer, I leave the new unit out of an OOB because it shows as it does.

    Garrisons for Australia
    8 GAR ef.jpg

    I have to wait for another Diplomat to arrive and then I’ll do the same in reverse.
    Btw, I am going to load them into transports first and take them where I want them.​
     
    Chapter 14
  • “George’s Earlier Action”

    Wellington HQ

    After de Vere dropped the British invitation on the table and hid his last decision, he then smugly sauntered-away, skillfully leaving most members momentarily bewildered but now growing increasingly anxious.

    An argument now erupted that changed the course of the government in navigating the future of New Zealand and Australia. The debate lasted no more than fifteen minutes and the discussion ended when Admiral Drummond concluded; ‘Then we all agree we must ask Lord Galway to return and take his place at the head of the table.’

    We can be certain that our members were divided by many different attitudes towards various personal-ends but each man had gained renewed respect for their official Head of State and saw clearly that his previous experience and present relations with the Australian-Government would not only be an asset but important in the days ahead.

    Randall Blake, the source of the documents we all viewed last update, was summoned and asked to find Mr. de Vere to request his return to the meeting. Mr. Blake did so in his new post as Fredrick Freeman’s Deputy Chief of Intelligence. The reason Squint was given this diplomatic effort, centered on the agent’s respectful address to all superiors.

    Mr. Blake found Lord Galway sitting in a large comfortable lounge-chair and sipping a dry-martini. George looked up and when he saw the young man come towards him, he thinly smiled; ‘I must say young man, I think this an odd task for your talents; would you please turn-around and inform your senders, that the ball is still in their court?’

    Randall did not hesitate; ‘With all due respect Sir, I would do as you ask but I am not here for that purpose. I was tasked with finding you and on behalf of the entire cabinet, ask that you would return to the meeting and assume your rightful chair.’

    The older man studied the messenger’s face; ‘And what is the reason for this change?’

    Randall quickly replied; ‘Forgive my bluntness but you need to return and ask them because I was not in attendance.’

    George’s face revealed curiosity; ‘My lad, be frank, are they in earnest?’

    Blake showed traces of impatience; ‘Sir, if I were a gambler, I could bet yes but if you will return now, you may soon judge for yourself?’

    de Vere was impressed by Randall’s demeanor and though he had already planned to return, he desired to know what the young man would say to; ‘Tell me, what did you think about the previous decision from our government to declare war on our neighbor?’

    I cannot say sir because I played no role and only became seriously involved after the decision had been made.’

    And had you been involved earlier?’

    With all due respect Sir, the cabinet awaits your presence.’

    **********​

    The Head of State did return to the meeting and he found a different group waiting at the conference table. Mr. de Vere believed very strongly, that one man should not make that decision and therefore he took no revenge by accepting the British invitation. This explanation further improved the man’s position and afterwards when the various members discussed the choice that New Zealand should make, he declined talking further on the matter and suggested ‘that we pause and do not decide this day.’

    As the group left the meeting, the Armament-minister asked the Navy-Chief; ‘How did the naval-training operation go E. R.?’

    If an enemy strategically deploys stationary bobbing practice-targets and sunken rusted hulks...we will prove to be a very formidable adversary.’
     
    Chapter 15
  • “At an Undisclosed Location”

    15 June, 1939

    A short list of dignitaries sat down to dine together and discuss a new development on the world’s stage. Leading the small group of officials were three Foreign-Ministers; Earnest Bevin from the UK and two new office-holders, Vernon Sturdee of Australia and New Zealand’s Frank Langstone.

    The party had finished eating when Mr. Bevin opened the meeting; ‘Gentlemen, did your respective offices receive the news that Italy and Hungary have now joined Germany and Japan by declaring their nations are now Axis members?’

    Mr. Langstone replied; ‘We have’ but then Frank respectfully avoided answering for Australia. Mr. Sturdee quickly acted on the courtesy; ‘Yes, both nations were notified the same day.’

    Bevin maintained a grim frown; ‘I do hope that announcement convinces you that we are all facing a growing danger, which needs our immediate commitment and not only our own Commonwealth but other nations around the world to unite. We need time to prepare and defend our countries and we better do it together.’

    Langstone spoke honestly; ‘No doubt you are aware of our long hesitation to decide, but in recent weeks the government I represent understands the need you expressed.’

    The British-politician sought more explanation; ‘Is there some one in particular that reversed New Zealand’s previous...he paused…a very puzzling reluctance?’

    Frank knew that Bevin could very likely already know much about the recent events and did not evade the searching-look of the British-minister; ‘In short, our Head of State decided to support Mr. Isaacs and their agreement forced our government to decide. However, Mr. Sturdee has held his post a few weeks longer than myself, so I would appreciate what he has been told regarding that meeting.’

    Vernon betrayed no personal emotion that we could or should expect but instead offered; ‘I was not a part of that call, nor have I been with the two men at the same time since but what I can say, is that both leaders believe we need to join the Allies; frankly, both have said in their own way - not joining would provide no security in the Pacific.’

    Mr. Bevin’s face changed from a hint of fear to clear impatience; ‘Ministers, as the old adage goes, “the clock is ticking.” Are the two of you willing to do as your State-leaders would have you and sign this agreement?’

    3 uk gov.jpg

    [ Readers, I have taken the easy route and joined the Allies. I planned earlier to remain neutral and side with no one but I need to bring in my mental-fences. This action and whatever follows will still provide the necessary fodder; but I do reduce the number of spells I could cast.:)]
     
    Chapter 16
  • “Our Allied Islands”

    New Zealand’s Chief of Staff, William Sinclair-Burgess and his Australian counterpart John Lavarack were ordered by both governments to coordinate our forces in preparing to defend our islands and also how we would strategically plan our contribution in fighting the Axis in our part of the world.

    This was no small effort and after many meetings, many discussions & arguments from all involved, their joint-decisions were approved and we will now see the result of nearly three months of operations. We review, a long list of considerations and implementation.

    1 near allies.jpg

    1. Since we are in the Allies now, we desired to see what friendly forces are in our neighborhood. French Noumea has a three-brigade infantry division and British Fiji, to the east of Wellington also has their own three-brigade infantry division guarding that port. To our intelligence, there are no other islands defended by either power, east of Perth, AST. NZL’s (AST & NZL are the tag-codes for our nations) Samoa is also wide-open but an American naval base is next door.

    2. In the center of the screen, you can see that the Dutch East Indies are now guaranteed by NZL as well as the United Kingdom. The Dutch have also given us military-access. Note: AST lost that access, after we made our Alliance but we went back in and asked for it again.

    2 ast prod and tech.jpg

    1. AST research was changed from various TAC and SS techs to LCT and Destroyers. The planes techs for a fighter were left in, because it would be nice to have some sort of air-defense.
    2. Regarding Production we canceled those subs and replaced them with ART. Our Australian Infantry currently has not one support-brigade. The Transports were left in for now but once they can make an LCT, they will not make any more transports.
    3. The CAS was pushed-back and the TAC halted.
    4. Once the ART is produced AST will focus on destroyers that are of decent quality, and hopefully maybe some more MAR; we should be able to buy the plans later, but I’ll have to TAG so that it is AST that trains them.

    3 AST vps.jpg

    1. This is what will need to defend regarding AST. As you can see, we did transfer two NZL 2xGarrisons to Port Moresby and Darwin.
    2. Of course we cannot cover every important place so we will focus on the two-point vps. One issue about this that arose during “our-analysis”:D was that a port such as Guadalcanal is a 2vp but has no AA, no airfield or sea-fort; however, Buin is rated 1vp and is the same? On the other hand Rabaul and Lae are also a 1 and yet both have an airbase & AA; Moresby has both and rates a 2? The point here is those airbases can trash us out and we need to control all of them if we can. We will try to get some planes but cannot count on that to happen.
    3. The mainland gets a bit more mysterious and I’ll cite Perth. An airbase, AA, and sea-fort and does connect land-wise to Canberra/Sydney and it too is a 1. Again, we need to defend all we can, or be ready to respond to invasions because if enemy ships and planes reach these places, we will have some unwanted results. Most of NZLs previous losses resulted from enemy planes and few numbers came from land-engagements. The IJN is far more potent at sea and in the air.
    4. Other than the empty Adelaide (in two ways) and the NZL garrison in Darwin the AST units you see in Perth, etc. are x3 INF-divisions. The exception is, the NZ 1st Mounted-Rifles defending Melbourne and the plains around, as well as the airbase next door. (yellow arrow)

    4 Armies.jpg

    1. We deployed the 4th NZL Infantry, lead by General Tuker a Skill-2 BM and that gives us 1 Corps of 4 divisions of 3xINF+1xART. The 1st AST-EF is a division of x3 INF that awaits the 3 ART-brigades now in production; both report to 1st Army.
    2. This is our starting forces and the number of infantry on AST will change.

    5 hq.jpg

    1. These are the new numbers under our direct control.
    2. The costly 4th Infantry-Division has finally finished and as I mentioned earlier, we have 3 brigades of Marines we bought the plans for, but because we need to start building a first UK-LCT we will make a first brigade and then switch. Once we get AST able to build LCTs NZL will stop and make faster progress with the remaining MAR-brigades for our...future adventures.

    6 upgrades.jpg

    We fight another battle and that is upgrading our troops. At this moment this also hampers our production.

    7 spies.jpg

    We had zero thefts and soon we will have no more agents.

    8 ic.jpg

    Joining the Allies raised our cost of Consumer-goods 1-IC, from 4. to 1.4. Now we have that huge hit (for us) to contend with and will take it back-down.;)

    9 nz techs.jpg

    Infantry and Supply...most things are well out of our reach.
     
    Chapter 17
  • “A Breaking Story”

    It was nearly noon when agent Blake knocked on Freeman’s door. ‘Come in’ was the response from the man at the desk. The director of Intel was surprised by the unexpected visit and possible more-so because Randall was usually very formal and always called ahead to authorize a visit before making the long walk from his own office.

    Fred looked over the agent and could not guess the reason for Blake’s agitation but it was obvious to the department-head, that something had the younger man visibly shaken.

    What is troubling you? Something you’ve seen or heard?’

    Yes sir, you are correct; I have heard and seen something that will trouble the world.’

    Well...what is this earthquake?’

    Mr. Freeman, if you recall, a few months ago, you asked the entire staff to create a list of possible candidates; would you please pull that document now?’

    Sure but what am I looking for?’

    The last name Moto.’

    Fred scanned down the names and stopped; ‘Moto, first name C, middle initial C.’ Freeman had not perused this document yet but he had known the time was rapidly nearing when he would need to expand his staff. “So, in what way did Mister CC Moto start this conversation?’

    C.C. Moto is not a man but a woman - that name is a cover.’

    Freeman, settled back in his chair and focused on the puzzle at hand; ‘Moto; as in the Asian international-inspector?’

    Correct and it is my guess, if we stay to that type of movie-character, what other current film-star fits the bill?’

    Well, it’s not Sherlock; CC is Charley Chan?’

    Yes, I do think so, however we are not talking about fictitious headliners but decoded-proof that I just received minutes ago.’ Blake handed his boss the document.

    japan.jpg

    This came from your <he paused> miss Moto?’

    Yes. That is an example of why I had her on my...short-list.’

    Well, how the hell can you prove she IS trustworthy. Knowing of the Axis plans for the world is not exactly a secret, so what is the evidence for believing this is genuine?’

    Because I have been hearing the same message from various sources around the Pacific and they come from all nations and backgrounds. We have reports that simply point to preparations for a big-play. Look at this sir, I think the recent movements of the IJN should be a part of any conclusion.’

    New Zealand’s Head of Intelligence, skimmed the notations recording the forces and movements and then he rose and walked over to the wall-map of the Pacific Ocean. Fred would look at a note for dates and locations and then mark the reported location on the map, first with a yellow and then a red push-pin to mark dates and fleet progress. In trying to get the overall view and after doing so several times, he could see those fleets were indeed on the move eastward. Next, he paused, pulled another file and reread an earlier report. With the information he now merged, he realized a few areas had many warships, where previously no significant naval presence had been observed.

    Fred turned around and asked; ‘We’ll talk about this miss Moto later but it seems we have information that verifies our worst fears. Come with me Randall, we need to inform the cabinet.’

    Within the hour New Zealand & Australian government officials, responding to their respective departments within our two countries, made both singular and joint-decisions addressing how we together would best prepare for the calamity now expected.

    Our chief foreign-ministers were working-out a diplomatic statement of caution to advise their counterparts in Washington, when the civilian-airwaves shocked their radio-audiences with an urgent news-bulletin, stating Japan had declared war on the USA. Eyewitness reports told of a sea-battle that had erupted off the west-coast of Guam in the sea-zone known as Agana Bay.

    Late that night, Fredrick Freeman fell asleep wondering how Moto gained that information; while Frank Langstone was kept awake by a feeling that he had overlooked something very important.
     
    Chapter 18
  • “A Busy Day at the Foreign Office”

    After a long night of tossing and turning in bed, Frank Langstone rose unrested, skipped breakfast and went to his office. Neither he nor anyone on his staff had returned to the office the previous afternoon and evening.

    The first thing Frank did was pick up his notebook, to review his recent international thoughts and efforts. As soon as he saw his note, Transit-rights from the USA? he knew that was last night’s bedbug. He went over to the in-box for diplomatic communiques but the box was empty. A couple of hours later, his staff arrived and he asked each of them, if they had seen a response from the American government but none had.

    Since the US was now at war, Langstone decided to call Arthur Vandenberg and get his response first hand, but before the call went through, General Sinclair-Burgess and Admiral Drummond came to his desk. Frank canceled the call and told his assistant, they would make the call in a few minutes.

    ‘How can I help you warriors this morning?’

    “You already have Frank’ replied Sinclair-Burgess. Drummond grinned and handed a communique to Langstone.

    1 transit.jpg

    Before Frank could respond, the General explained; ‘I came here last evening, hoping I might catch-you before you went home and I saw that response in the in-box. Forgive me, but I’m sure you understand; I took it straight to the Admiral here. Because of that effort of yours, we had an immediate opportunity to help defend an American-base, in an effort to slow down Japanese expansion.'

    Langstone was not upset; ‘Of course I understand but tell me what you did by it.’

    Drummond; ‘We sent 1st NZL-infantry-division on a single transport to Guam.’

    ‘Why did you choose Guam?’

    'It is only a five and half day voyage for one of our transports and Guam is an important port sitting amid several Japanese-islands. We guessed that it could be the first target, when the Pacific war began and yesterday the radio announced we guessed correctly.'

    You had our infantry already on the way to Guam, when Japan declared war on the Americans?’

    ‘Yes, as it so happened. When the vessel sailed, the war had not yet started and the Admiral thought a single transport would be the only ship needed and would not be at risk.'

    'For your information, we knew at that moment, that the U. S. only had a garrison defending the island and we believed if we deployed one of our divisions there, we could make sure that Guam would be held; thus making it a serious problem for future enemy activities. Our goal was to keep the IJN-fleets navigating in those waters, to lessen threats to our islands not far distant to the south.'

    ‘Did it pay-off?’

    ‘We do not know yet, we are still waiting and counting the hours.’

    ‘Please sit down gentlemen, since we must wait, I can show you something I have been working on.’

    2 threat.jpg

    Sinclair Burgess looked surprised; ‘Portugal sees us as a greater danger than Japan and the rest; never would have thought that would be the case. Too bad the islands they have near here are only malaria havens without value to us.'

    Drummond smiled; ‘Hmm, Siam looks promising. Maybe we could get them on our side? It could prove valuable to have an ally next door to weak French Indo-China and all the resources there.’

    Langstone’s face reflected confusion; ‘I do not understand why Australia is far more fearful of Germany than Japan.’ The other two agreed, that it made no sense.

    The discussion halted when the sounds of transmission ticked loudly inside the office.

    3 usa in.jpg

    From a far corner in the office area, a clerk yelled; ‘The USA has joined the Allies!’

    Frank now asked the General & Admiral; ‘After that development what would you say to our acting like an ally?’

    Neither man knew what Langstone meant but Drummond was the first to ask; ‘What action are you talking about?’

    After Frank made the suggestion they both agreed, Frank jumped up from this desk.

    4 guar.jpg

    The hours of this day faded away but not before more incidents came into the Foreign office.

    5 danzig.jpg


    6 sinkings.jpg

    7 actions.jpg
     
    Chapter 19
  • “Factions, Actions and Reactions”


    1 guam.jpg

    Lady-luck did not smile on our mission. When our transport finally arrived, we were too late. Since we had no idea what was happening anywhere else, we had to turn around. I considered declaring and assaulting Guam but the US fleet was leaving and no doubt our lone transport would have been immediately blown to bits.
    We decided to re-based in Rabaul and you’ll soon see why.

    2 nz laws.jpg

    With the Germans going Danzig, that kicked-in our laws. For the moment we are not at war with Japan.

    3 nzl leadership.jpg

    We now had to train more officers to get our ratio back up.

    4 ast agents.jpg

    I made strategic-corrections inside AST intelligence numbers and focus.
    Fyi, when the earlier-war ended, I still had 10 spies inside the AST government. Since that peace, our agents have supported their government, raising NU or both. 10 agents are still working and this support will continue for a long while, if not the entire war.

    5 new AST.jpg

    I made more changes. Once we get some DDs and GARs, they will focus on MAR.
    Since AST needs to be the one to build marine-divisions, I need to build that first LCT.

    6 ast techs.jpg

    The AST infantry-techs are in good shape and many Destroyer techs are underway.

    7 the wars.jpg

    I find it odd that Japan still sees NZL as the big-threat while being at war with the USA.

    8 defense.jpg

    When I sent our failed mission back to Rabaul, I did it for a reason.
    2nd AG was created with Freyberg reporting to a new theater HQ and Sinclair-Burgess took command of 1st AG in Wellington. I made this change because presently AST is entirely responsible for supplying this defensive-force. With this change, we will take a supply-hit on our islands, due to Sinclair-Burgess being a Skill-2 general but having a Skill-4 and a LW at Island-HQ, will help with the more difficult supply situation in the islands. To another future purpose, we will have this new OOB ready to move where needed for Offense or for Garrisons that may be needed in our empty ports nearby.

    Time and events will decide what this OOB does but for now it is Supply & Defense.​
     
    Chapter 21
  • “AJCO 23 July – 26 July, 1939”

    As suggested by the title of this update, Allied Joint-Command – Oceania, the AJCO are working together to coordinate the strategic actions for both New Zealand and Australia. When needed, all members of both governments will meet to decide matters and where needed, departmental leaders work together on specific tasks. The information that follows is the result of both examples of teamwork in trying to make the best decisions regarding all areas of the war.

    The Report

    23rd – The USA has no Pacific allies. NZL’s guarantee of American possessions had no affect, because the US did not “Call us to Arms” after the invasion of Guam and not the subsequent taking of Wake island. As we communicate this fact today, Midway is under attack. We submit a slide to show the current situation west of Pearl harbor.

    1 pearl.jpg

    24th – We could not declare on Japan without causing problems for our own government, when Britain would react to our move by preventing a later action for our own requirements. We called the US and asked them (tag) to call us to arms.
    * Once they did so, we accepted and then requested to receive any amount of Lend-Lease. Britain and France already do but we can guess that neither will be as effective as we will in our region of this world-war.

    2 Philippines.jpg

    We are already late in acting, as this photograph makes very clear.

    3. what.jpg

    Yes General Sebas...a very strange war indeed.

    4 our stance.jpg

    Looks like we lead the way and early to boot.

    5 france.jpg

    I am very curious to see if Indo-China goes off script. And I always enjoy it when I play as a small nation and guarantee a nation and then see the faction follow-suit.:)

    6 concern.jpg

    We need to decide what we will do...very soon.

    7 our prod.jpg

    MAR set-back and will probably not be made, unless we can get some decent LL. I had to laugh about my OOB sitting in Rabaul of which I cannot supply but yet because of the Theater, my needs are calculated. Our joint-command would become problematic if I actually could make and stick all that in the islands. I would see AST go a tad mad.​