It's not clear what Russia can do to support Canada. The fact is that our army won't be ready until 1942. We can send them supplies and perhaps Japan would help but if we go to war before we're ready we won't help anyone.
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After the Duma voted in favour i sent 5,000 units of supplies to Canada, and 2,000 to Australasia. I would give consideration to a further aid package but I would rather not have to put IC back on supplies over building and upgrading units. If war breaks out, knowing the Duma to date i'm sure they'll advocate for further assistance.
The Military wing by contrast will probably want to hold off until mid-late February, which is the earliest date the staff considers it likely that the army will be ready for war.
How many divisions does Canada have, incidentally? There's no hope of them winning but if the CSA is still fighting them when we go to war that would be incredibly useful.
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As of the end of July, it's a 53 division deficit between Canada and the CSA, though the CSA has 26 militia in their total and Canada has 12 marine divisions. Guess they wanted Britain back? The difference in how quickly they're building new divisions is pretty obscene though.
Also, I've just noticed Bulgaria is moving up in the favourite vassal rankings because they've put together a 9 unit mobile army and I think they're putting out more 1939 mot. That might actually be useful.
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Chapter 207: The July Scramble
Saint Petersburg
The heavy bolt on the door slid back and Sokhov found himself surveying the palatial interior of an apartment. The radio sung, the floor was draped in a fine Persian rug, and the furniture was all of the highest grade.
And yet, Sokhov felt sick, and sitting in the middle of it, at his desk, was the bastard himself.
Lavrentiy Beria.
“You’ve finished your revisions?”
Beria twirled a pen in one hand as he held up a binder filled with documents. “Be glad you’re a policeman General, you’d be a terrible revolutionary, or terrorist.”
Sokhov reluctantly stepped through the threshold, handing his sidearm to the door guard as he did so. “Is that so?”
Beria set down the pen and exchanged it for his glass of brown liquor, taking a small sip. “Sparking demonstrations only works if the French are soft or idiots. If they know what they’re doing you won’t get your public massacre. They’ll just identify the participants and then, slowly, over the next week or two, they’ll start to disappear. The rumours will start, confessions will get extracted, and soon no one will be willing to show their face anywhere in opposition. You need to be smarter than that General.”
Sokhov stopped on his walk across the room to take in the documents sprawled across Beria’s coffee table, and to take account of how many bottles of alcohol were now neatly stacked, empty, on the bookshelf. “So you would recommend more paramilitary actions?”
Beria let out a sigh and waved the folder again. “Boorish and blind as always; It’s all in there, who you need to kill, how to go about it all. Everything that caused us pain, everything that we know will work.”
Sohkov stepped forward only for Beria to pull the folder back from his grasp.
“I need a new assistant.”
Sokhov offered no visible response “Misha is highly capable.”
Beria scowled. “I need someone more. Feminine.”
Sokhov held the Empire’s second most coddled prisoner in his gaze. Beria just beamed back in response. “There are limits Beria.”
“And I’m sure your Czar would understand if you decided that turning Germany into a tinderbox isn’t worth allocating me someone who wears perfume.”
Sokhov stared. He fantasised for a few seconds about how exactly he would kill the man. There was a heavy lamp on the desk, he imagined blugeoning the bastard with that would be satisfying. “Done.”
Beria handed over the documents and leaned back into his chair again as Sokhov wheeled to leave.
“It won’t be enough you know.”
Sokhov stopped in the doorway and wheeled around. Beria was grinning, reclined in his chair as he poured out another glass. “Speak quickly.”
Beria just gave a little shrug and rolled his eyes. “For all this talk about werewolves, setting Germany aflame, all very strong language. It’s not going to distract them, the Internationale.”
Sokhov glared, silent.
Beria filled the void as expected. “I just don’t understand why you think it will change anything. You could turn Germany into one giant inferno and it wouldn’t change anything. The French want to win the fight in Africa, a dark continent of minions to feed resources to the French Proletariat. And with the leash on three German voting blocks and Chicago at their back, they have the votes..”
“The British.”
“Even if the arithmetic wasn’t against him, Mosley is a paranoid coward in the finest tradition of the nation of shopkeepers and bankers he now rules. He’ll sit on his island, digging ditches and finding ways to impose dominion over weaker powers. Give him a year or two and he’ll invade Ireland..”
“Why Ireland?" Sokhov knew, but ignorance always goaded Beria.
Beria laughed, actually laughed. “Because he wants the industry, because he wants to look relevant, because he needs the extra votes in the Internationale.. because he’s a British leader and invading Ireland is just tradition when a British leader wants to prove strength!”
“You better be getting to the point Beria.”
Beria sighed at having his monologue cut short. “ Never any patience General, unfortunate trait in a policeman.” He gave Sokhov that sickening smile of his, the one that made Sokhov’s fingers involuntarily curl into a fist. “My point General is that I can help you break the German States. I can tell you how to tear apart the revolutionary security structures, lift the body counts and have the whole lot ready bow, courtsy, and say ‘thank you excellency’ as you slap the reactionary chains back on.” He set his drink down and leaned forward. “But even I can’t stop America. Americans don’t care for Germany, or Europe, many of them may not even care for the revolution.”
“They care for America...and I assure you they will have a grand vision for it. From sea to shining sea, as they say”
From War, Tyranny, and Liberation
The declaration of the Internationale in relation to Alaska sent shockwaves across global diplomatic and economic spheres. Some, including many of the Dove lobby in Canada, still asserted that it was merely a negotiating technique, an attempt to show Red Unity and fortify Browder’s position in upcoming negotiations.
Others took it at face value.
In Africa, the exiled French Government did what would have been unthinkable up to that point. They began sending diplomatic feelers out to Goering in Dar Es Salaam, seeking terms for a formal end to the fighting. There was concern in Algiers that unless something was done soon, the Communards might strike them in the back from Morocco or the Mediterranean, threatening their primary bases and cutting them off from overseas supply.
That prospect, more of a threat than Mittelafrika had ever been, convinced the Generals that the time had come to talk, and talk quickly.
In Canada the Government fought to stave off an upcoming vote of no confidence, but for some in the population, the question of who governed was irrelevant. Stung by one revolution, unwilling to see another; first a trickle, and then a steady flow of emigres sold up their Canadian holdings, gathered families and savings, and set course for safer shores, most commonly in Australasia. As population and capital started to flee, supplies began arriving from Russia. Convoy after convoy arrived. Weapons and ammunition were not deemed high priority due to their incompatibility with Canadian stocks, but fuel, oil, and other vital supplies came in quantity.
For its part, the Canadian army took preparatory action on an increasingly autonomous basis. Leave was cancelled, entrenchments prepared, and planning activities moved into overdrive. Crash maintenance was carried out by the navy and RCAF to ensure maximum serviceability in the short term (budget be damned) and mobilisation ‘exercises’ were scheduled.
Browder elected not to make a protest at Russian efforts, nor did he make comment on the Exodus. He put out informal diplomatic feelers via Switzerland to confirm Russia’s neutrality, and stayed otherwise silent, while the American Red Army marshalled.
In Russia, the move caused an acceleration in the already frenetic preparations of the military. Time had been the one wish of the General Staff and there was a growing concern that time would not be forthcoming. An Internationale willing to attack Canada could not truly be predicted or contained.
The Duma would raise an additional military appropriation bill intended to pay the cost of accelerating the technical change process. Turning over earlier meant not all production could wait for final mass productive tooling and that more expensive contractors would need to be included so every factory floor that could be found was involved. The bill was christened the “Dimitri Pavlovich Memorial Military Preparation Act” and rammed through with a symbolic majority that had only the Mensheviks voting in opposition (though some moderates abstained).
The army took priority. The new uniform included a helmet, a more practical olive service uniform with improved comfort and pouch arrangements and much improved boots. While some in the staff had been arguing for at least a partial adoption of German style uniforms (perhaps for the guard units) as well as the rugged ‘line’ uniform, the pace of change ruled this out for now. For the troops, the change was more than welcome, as the new issue resolved backlogged problems of Weltkrieg uniforms in all stages of disrepair and the lack of available sizes for certain troops.
Even more exciting for the infantry was the arrival of the new small arms which were intended to finally match Russian infantry tools with the tactics and doctrine they’d been practicing since 1937.
The new core of the unit would be the Ukrainian MG-34(U). The licensed Ukranian version of the MG-34 chambered for the 3-line Russian rifle cartridge. Squad tactics centred on the use of the weapon, with the job of many of the riflemen being carrying ammo for, and providing protection to, the machine gun team. As experience during the Ukrainian war attested, the weapon was a quantum leap over the other weapons in service, and the army was already pushing forward with the design of a replacement version, working with the best among the exiled German engineers familiar with the design.
The riflemen too would receive a significant upgrade in firepower, with the army endorsing the whole-scale replacement of all bolt action rifles with the SVT-40 semi-automatic. While the weapon had proven problematic in earlier iterations, extensive field testing and development had ironed out some of the weapon’s kinks, and with time running out, full production had been initiated in 1941. Three million were on order for arrival by February 1942. With the introduction of the rifle, Russia would become the first nation to move over to a semi-automatic as its primary service rifle, beating the Americans who would be the second to make the transition once their industry further recovered from the civil war.
There were other new pieces of equipment across all units. The tank units received new heavy and medium tanks in increasing quantities, all uniformly armed with 76mm weapons. A limited delay was allowed for the medium tank units, as last minute design changes were in progress which aimed to switch the design from a Christie to a torsion bar suspension system and to enlarge the turret. Such was the demand though that factories ready to produce the older version were ultimately told to go ahead while waiting for the new design. With the rising international urgency, it was decided that simply getting the new tanks produced was worth it.
Artillery units found their upgrades quicker to arrive. The new 152mm pieces were generally a marked upgrade over the Weltkrieg era artillery and well liked by their crews who had fought for five years using the old 19th and early 20th century relics. The 76mm battery was modernised and, in the case of the cavalry, moved to self propelled mounts, and gave the army a more mobile, light weapon to augment the medium and heavy 152mm pieces.
Finally, Russian experience drove the adoption of one more novel piece of technology into the artillery units. Studies of the Ukrainian, Finnish, and Ottoman conflicts all confirmed that a majority of casualties from any bombardment occurred at its very beginning, before enemy forces had properly gone to ground.
That being the case, the army requirement called for a piece that could be maneuvered into position easily, and which was optimised for the delivery of a surge of fire in the opening moments of an attack.
The result was a piece of Russian military technology that was to become iconic for the era, burned into the memory of those that used it, and those that fought against it.
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Also, I have to say, I feel like the government giving Beria a sex slave would be a hell of a scandal when it breaks.
If it breaks. By the time that happens, a war will have been fought and hopefully won. Who will care, then, if some sacrifices had to be made? The coming war is going up be a disaster, a tragedy of personal loss, of uncounted deaths, for millions. Millions will be made orphans, widows, cripples. Soldiers will be ordered by their officers to walk into certain death. Officers ordered to lead forlorn hopes and suicide commandos. Generals will be ordered to put on brave faces, award medals to people who would in ordinary life be considered psychopaths for how they enjoy killing. They will tell lies to widows and orphans of the soldiers they ordered to die, and they will sign death sentences, many death sentences, so those under their command give their best no matter the hopelessness of the situation. Once all of that is over with, seriously, who will give a thought about whether some girls were fetched from a brothel, and ordered to render their own services for the greater good.
War is not nice. There's no escape clause that says, we will ask millions to die, but we won't really have to give up anything moral to ensure victory?
Squeamishness is not a virtue in times of war...
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Well, sure, but Vladimir's going to live for a long time. What if this is rediscovered in the 80s, for instance?
I just don't think it's a big thing. He saved Russian lives so what's the big deal?
Spy services do work like that all the time, to this day.
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War's first casualty (no matter what Napoleon said) is morality. Is it horrible what Beria will/can/is allowed to do? Yes. Is it worse (in scope, methods, and scale) than what the victorious Red columns would do to the defeated Russians? No (as proven by history). So even though it's vile, it's also necessary, if it saves the state, so I agree with Jodel here. (for the purposes of this AAR, only).
Snapshot: A letter to his Majesty
August 28, 1941
Your Imperial Majesty,
As the cold months of Russia, to which I have not yet entirely accustomed, approach us with great speed, your Majesty must be aware that an altogether colder and darker storm is soon to fall upon the American continent.
I write to you in light of the recent service of an ultimatum upon His Majesty’s Government in Canada, demanding that, in addition to the abandonment of Alaska to the Browder regime, Canada itself be handed over to a gang of revolutionary thugs 'for the protection of its workers'.
It will not surprise you to hear that it is the intention of the recently reconstituted Government in Ottawa to refuse this demand, knowing full well what that refusal will entail. While His Majesty and the Prime Minister will no doubt correspond with you shortly, I wish to exercise my remit as head of the Entente mission, to call upon your Majesty for assistance in this most pressing time.
I do so strongly and confidently because it seems to me that the vast majority of Russian citizens have recorded their conviction that the safety of Russia, and the future of our two Great Empires and the kind of civilisation for which they stand are inexorably bound up with the survival and independence of the British Empire.
It is only the combined action of the Royal and Imperial navies, both of Russia and Japan, that control of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans might be preserved in friendly hands, and the dogged advance of the Syndicalist menace may be eventually halted.
It is only by the action of the Russian army, joined with our own strength, that the red tide might eventually be swept away entirely.
Having been present now in Russia for some time, I acknowledge however the aspect of readiness that might vitiate against an immediate strike by Russia upon the nest of Syndicalism in Europe. It takes between three and four years to convert the industries of a modern state to war purposes. Saturation point is reached when the maximum industrial effort that can be spared from civilian needs has been applied to war production. The Red powers certainly reached that point by the end of 1937.
We in the British Empire, by virtue of our extensive preparation and our fighting in Africa, are now perhaps in the beginning of our third year. The Russian Empire, I should suppose, is by no means so far as advanced as we. Moreover I understand that immense programs of naval, military, and air modernisation and expansion are now on foot across Russia, the completion of which demands perhaps another year of intensive efforts.
It is thus our British duty, in the common interest of all Christian civilisation, and of our own survival, to hold the front and grapple with Totalitarian Socialist power until the preparations of the Russian Empire are complete.
This we shall do, committing to fight for every inch of our Canadian soil. We shall fight them at the border, among the forests and, if need be, in the streets of our fair cities. Should the worst eventuate, your Majesty should know that the British Empire abroad, in the Caribbean, in India, and in the Antipodes, shall carry on the struggle so long as a vessel remains afloat that bears the title of “His Majesty’s Ship.” In so doing, we anticipate that, for a time at least, the full might of the Chicago Regime must be concentrated against us, and thus away from Europe.
Our French allies in Africa too, will no doubt face off against many dozens of divisions of the European syndicalist powers, and the oceans and seas will surely see in short order a series of naval engagements quite unparalleled in our history.
In so doing we shall ensure that the full might of the international revolution can not concentrate itself in Europe. In so doing, we shall buy your Majesty the time you require.
But, I beseech your Majesty to not delay one second more than required in joining this war, nor to neglect the great aid that your Empire, even from a position of Neutrality, might provide in the form of supplies and all the panoply of war. The assistance provided by the British Empire has allowed Russia to undertake one of the greatest economic miracles in recorded history, and now places her well to supply necessary stores and arms to her friends. It should go without saying that His Majesty's Government will endeavour to supply what in turn assistance it can, including in the form of the rare ores requested, despite the great challenges it now faces.
Therefore, I submit with very great respect for your good and friendly consideration that there is a solid identity of interest between the British and the Russian and Roman Empires.
There exists now no prospect for equivocation, for there can be no doubt that, were the worst to happen and, despite all our blood and efforts, the Internationale should succeed in finally destroying an Empire that has stood strong these proud centuries, the sickness of their ideology would compel them to further conquests.
We can be certain, that on the grave of Anglo-Saxon civilisation the godless revolutionaries shall fashion an army intended to complete their aim so dramatically frustrated in the past, that being the ultimate destruction of Russia, her Empire, and her Culture.
Such an end would, I fear, spark the final end to a tradition of civilisation that has, in these past centuries and millennia, reshaped this world, advanced humanity, and shone as a beacon to all. It would plunge the world into an uncertain darkness, for how long one cannot know, until in God’s good time, a path to redemption might be revealed.
This thought, more troubling and absolute in its nature than that preceding any other war in human history, is disturbing in the extreme.
And yet I go to sleep tonight satisfied that in our darkest hour, the British Empire shall look to the horizon and hear once more the sound of trumpets and drums, as the Gendarme of Europe marches West once more.
Yours very Sincerely,
August 28, 1941
Your Imperial Majesty,
As the cold months of Russia, to which I have not yet entirely accustomed, approach us with great speed, your Majesty must be aware that an altogether colder and darker storm is soon to fall upon the American continent.
I write to you in light of the recent service of an ultimatum upon His Majesty’s Government in Canada, demanding that, in addition to the abandonment of Alaska to the Browder regime, Canada itself be handed over to a gang of revolutionary thugs 'for the protection of its workers'.
It will not surprise you to hear that it is the intention of the recently reconstituted Government in Ottawa to refuse this demand, knowing full well what that refusal will entail. While His Majesty and the Prime Minister will no doubt correspond with you shortly, I wish to exercise my remit as head of the Entente mission, to call upon your Majesty for assistance in this most pressing time.
I do so strongly and confidently because it seems to me that the vast majority of Russian citizens have recorded their conviction that the safety of Russia, and the future of our two Great Empires and the kind of civilisation for which they stand are inexorably bound up with the survival and independence of the British Empire.
It is only the combined action of the Royal and Imperial navies, both of Russia and Japan, that control of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans might be preserved in friendly hands, and the dogged advance of the Syndicalist menace may be eventually halted.
It is only by the action of the Russian army, joined with our own strength, that the red tide might eventually be swept away entirely.
Having been present now in Russia for some time, I acknowledge however the aspect of readiness that might vitiate against an immediate strike by Russia upon the nest of Syndicalism in Europe. It takes between three and four years to convert the industries of a modern state to war purposes. Saturation point is reached when the maximum industrial effort that can be spared from civilian needs has been applied to war production. The Red powers certainly reached that point by the end of 1937.
We in the British Empire, by virtue of our extensive preparation and our fighting in Africa, are now perhaps in the beginning of our third year. The Russian Empire, I should suppose, is by no means so far as advanced as we. Moreover I understand that immense programs of naval, military, and air modernisation and expansion are now on foot across Russia, the completion of which demands perhaps another year of intensive efforts.
It is thus our British duty, in the common interest of all Christian civilisation, and of our own survival, to hold the front and grapple with Totalitarian Socialist power until the preparations of the Russian Empire are complete.
This we shall do, committing to fight for every inch of our Canadian soil. We shall fight them at the border, among the forests and, if need be, in the streets of our fair cities. Should the worst eventuate, your Majesty should know that the British Empire abroad, in the Caribbean, in India, and in the Antipodes, shall carry on the struggle so long as a vessel remains afloat that bears the title of “His Majesty’s Ship.” In so doing, we anticipate that, for a time at least, the full might of the Chicago Regime must be concentrated against us, and thus away from Europe.
Our French allies in Africa too, will no doubt face off against many dozens of divisions of the European syndicalist powers, and the oceans and seas will surely see in short order a series of naval engagements quite unparalleled in our history.
In so doing we shall ensure that the full might of the international revolution can not concentrate itself in Europe. In so doing, we shall buy your Majesty the time you require.
But, I beseech your Majesty to not delay one second more than required in joining this war, nor to neglect the great aid that your Empire, even from a position of Neutrality, might provide in the form of supplies and all the panoply of war. The assistance provided by the British Empire has allowed Russia to undertake one of the greatest economic miracles in recorded history, and now places her well to supply necessary stores and arms to her friends. It should go without saying that His Majesty's Government will endeavour to supply what in turn assistance it can, including in the form of the rare ores requested, despite the great challenges it now faces.
Therefore, I submit with very great respect for your good and friendly consideration that there is a solid identity of interest between the British and the Russian and Roman Empires.
There exists now no prospect for equivocation, for there can be no doubt that, were the worst to happen and, despite all our blood and efforts, the Internationale should succeed in finally destroying an Empire that has stood strong these proud centuries, the sickness of their ideology would compel them to further conquests.
We can be certain, that on the grave of Anglo-Saxon civilisation the godless revolutionaries shall fashion an army intended to complete their aim so dramatically frustrated in the past, that being the ultimate destruction of Russia, her Empire, and her Culture.
Such an end would, I fear, spark the final end to a tradition of civilisation that has, in these past centuries and millennia, reshaped this world, advanced humanity, and shone as a beacon to all. It would plunge the world into an uncertain darkness, for how long one cannot know, until in God’s good time, a path to redemption might be revealed.
This thought, more troubling and absolute in its nature than that preceding any other war in human history, is disturbing in the extreme.
And yet I go to sleep tonight satisfied that in our darkest hour, the British Empire shall look to the horizon and hear once more the sound of trumpets and drums, as the Gendarme of Europe marches West once more.
Yours very Sincerely,
WINSTON S. CHURCHILL.
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Im shocked how well you nailed Churchill's writing style, this truly is the greatest AAR
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Chapter 208: Defence Scheme No. 1
“Oh my, what a tragedy.”
-Oswald Mosley, sarcastically
“Oh my, what a tragedy.”
-Oswald Mosley, sarcastically
HMAS Monash
September 7th -1941
HMAS Monash cruised forward like a black spot in the night. The running lights were off, all internal illumination restricted. Sub-Lieutenant Golder nervously spun a cigarette between his fingers. He couldn’t light it, smoking on deck was banned.
Ahead of him, the distant shore glowed like a fallen star. The lights seemed to stretch forever, and he could already make out the distinctive shapes of towers, little bumps rising out of the illuminated mass.
It was breath-taking to think that the equivalent of the entire Population of Australia, from Hobart to Perth, Melbourne to Brisbane, supposedly lived in this one mega-metropolis. He’d seen films, everyone had seen films, set among the skyscrapers or in the bustle of the streets, choked with motor cars and money.
From here, one couldn’t really feel the tragedy that had befallen this place. You couldn’t see red flags from here, couldn’t hear the cries of the Martyrs, couldn’t feel the soul crushing fear that, at any moment, a party official might single you out for attention.
He’d talked with a few of the other officers with Irish blood in them. Most at least knew of someone who’d come to this place. On the Isle this city had been sold as the best place in the world for a man that wanted to be free, to have a chance to make something of himself.
God he was glad his family had chosen Australia instead.
He turned back to his gun mount. His eyes took a moment to adjust back, now deprived of light pollution from the shore. While he waited for them to adjust his ears picked up the higher pitched whir of small engines against the sound of the big ships cutting through the water.
Landing craft were in the water then.
The interior of the turret was softly illuminated by a single dull electric bulb. His Queenslanders looked at him expectantly, sat in a huddle against the armour plate.
Concealed behind armour and drowned out by the exterior engines, he risked a word to his men.
“Load”
From “War, Tyranny, and Liberation”
The Canadian response to the Internationale’s declaration in relation to Alaska was public equivocation and decisive internal preparation. The Government indicated a desire to enter into negotiations with Chicago, and then spent more than a fortnight assembling a delegation.
Once negotiations commenced, the Canadians determinedly bogged proceedings down in procedure, recesses, and matters of minutiae until the American delegation issued a stern protest, demanding a declaration of willingness to surrender Alaska and discuss the status of the Canadian workers or negotiations would be ended forthwith.
American negotiators preparing to dictate terms to the Canadians
Canada issued such a declaration, only to immediately stall negotiations again on the exact process for handover, the question of a persistent security guarantee, guarantees for the relatives of any exiles and a dozen other topics. When the Americans' patience was again exhausted, Canada appeared to fold, only for the King Government to be forced into resignation having lost the confidence of Parliament. The Canadian delegation played for time, assuring the Americans that the Government would shortly be in a position to approve a final text.
By late August, Canada had maintained the charade of negotiation for more than seven weeks and military planners in Chicago were noting with alarm how the number of viable campaigning days before winter arrived were ebbing away. Browder would issue a final ultimatum on August 27th, 1941, demanding that Canada accede to wide ranging American demands within a fortnight, including the right of the CSA to station troops in Canadian territory ‘for the protection of the working classes’ or hostilities would be commenced.
Canadian diplomats engaged in desperate bargaining, but by this point the Royal Navy was already slipping its moorings.
Defence Scheme 1 had never foreseen Canada being able to permanently resist an assault by the Combined Syndicates. Canada’s industry was inferior by a factor of four or five to one compared to its southern neighbour, its manpower short by an order of magnitude. Intense manpower shortages meant that the economy could not endure mass mobilisation the way even a civil war scarred America could.
Geography was also problematic. Canada was a vast nation, but the overwhelming majority of its Industry and population was concentrated relatively closely to the US border at the end of high quality transport links that flowed straight into the CSA’s industrial and manpower heartland.
In earlier conceptions of the plan, the Imperial General Staff had considered bringing as many as sixty divisions from India and the Antipodes but not only would such a plan leave the other Dominions all but undefended, it would be beyond the ready capacity of Canada to support an additional million fighting men and support staff, especially at the end of trans-oceanic supply lines at the mercy of the Republican and Commune navies.
Instead, Defence Scheme 1 coupled a phased, dug in defence along the primary fronts with a flashing, pre-emptive punch.
On September 7th, short of the expiry of the American ultimatum, the Royal Navy entered US territorial waters.
In the dark of the pre-dawn, the Royal Navy lookouts spotted the glistening lights of the city that never sleeps. The second Centre of American Syndicalism, one of the few great cities of America that did not see apocalyptic fighting in the war, and with a population more than half that of Canada. It was a key commercial and industrial centre, the headquarters to a number of key Syndicalist Bureaus, and completely unprepared for the Royal Marines.
Royal Marine landing craft moored up in the bay as confused morning shift dockers looked on and a belated alarm was raised.
The Marines were followed by Australians of 1st AIF North American Expeditionary corps who disembarked under almost peacetime conditions before the decrepit defences finally offered some resistance.
The city’s coastal defences had been largely disarmed after the Weltkrieg, and then left stripped and decaying during the civil war. A few anti ship mortars and 12 inch guns finally roused themselves to action, only to be annihilated in turn by pinpoint dive-bombing attacks by aircraft launched from HMS Glorious and HMS Vindictive.
No regular CSA divisions were stationed in the city, all having been moved to staging points at the front, leaving just workers militia (many of whom still wore NYPD uniforms) to resist. As Canadians and ANZACs commandeered civilian vehicles and the rail system to maintain mobility, they swept through the city with near reckless speed, knowing that taking the city before a CSA response could be mustered was vital to the whole endeavour.
Only in Brooklyn was some organised resistance by militia units able to coalesce despite the initial shock of the landings. Canadian commanders, aware of the need for speed and not eager for a protracted city fight, demanded that the CSA forces either stand down or accept the designation of Brooklyn as a war-zone, open for targeting by the Royal Navy battleships and cruisers.
Local party officials delivered the surrender of the city shortly after this ultimatum was received and Brooklyn was spared bombardment for the time being.
News of the New York operation shocked the world. It was met with cheers in the Dominions, dismay in Paris, and amusement in London.
It was followed shortly thereafter by the comprehensive destruction of the North Atlantic CSA Fleet. Land and naval aviation decimated the poorly supported CSA fleet, claiming the battleships Nevada and New Mexico, Battlecruisers Constellation and Constitution, and carrier CSS Ranger among other ships. With the CSA’s larger Pacific fleet on the other side of the Panama canal, Browder would be forced to call for international support or yield the East Coast to the Royalists for now.
For all the shock of the Canadian operation however, it could not truly prevent the red tide rolling forward.
Across the whole front, American forces pressed against their opponents and broke into the opposing fortifications. Almost all American troops had served during the Civil War and had a distinctly harder edge than many of their opponents. Canadians had trained in the art of coordinating artillery and infantry assaults, the Americans had lived it, and the survivors were those who had passed the resulting tests.
Vancouver, marked as a top priority, was crushed by sixteen American and French divisions in early November after an initial assault in October was repulsed. The city was pulverised in the operation, demonstrating much less restraint than was shown on other fronts. Browder’s staff identified the city as critical to any Japanese or Russian intervention (however unlikely) and were determined that the experience of fighting the PSA not be repeated.
In the East, American divisions pushed on Toronto and Ottawa. Attacking into prepared defences, casualties mounted quickly.
At Albany, 12th Canadian Infantry took thirty percent casualties in two weeks of fighting. In the Toronto perimeter, 3rd Division (Royal Marines) alone would suffer 3,816 killed or wounded. The most bitter fighting was between two Chicago based CSA divisions and the “True Americans” division of American exiles in Canadian service. In scenes reminiscent of the Civil War, combat between the politically opposed American forces took on a character of brutality and scrappy determination that rapidly escalated the body count.
As the defenders, the casualty exchange favoured the Canadians by a factor of almost three to one. But they were running out of land to retreat into and had already practically exhausted their manpower reserves in the mobilisation effort. Replacements were not immediately forthcoming for damaged units.
The Americans had ample supplies of both, and their veterans pressed the assault even as the temperatures dropped below freezing.
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Seems like Browder is more of a brawler than a strategist. Serves the bully right, having his maritime toys and his city of shining lights be taken from him!
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Canada's days are numbered. Seems like it would be a good time for a Japanese first strike perhaps on the US Pacific Fleet
If Canada's still defending that much at the end of November they very possibly could still be in the war when Russia advances- I assume that's happening in the Spring?
We will sing the Syndicalists a song of our people.
Presumably you sell them for a fraction of their value to the vast majority of the population that don't want to leave, don't think there will be a war, or don't think America will do more than take Alaska and reparations if there is a war.
That Franco-German spat, that doesn't get to be the second Weltkrieg. The real deal is just on the horizon.
I'll take that as a great compliment. I've read several of his books and then used a few of his letters to help guide me in assembling that one. It's not perfect but he does seem to have a distinctive style that one can try to capture.
The push on other fronts seems to be going strong (but slow). Losing NYC to a rapid push and getting the fleet based there shot up by the RN and bombed by the air forces was a bit of an ooof though. Grateful to the Canadian AI for that one!
I won't be taking military control of the Japanese, so I can't guarantee they'll attempt something like that. They've rebased a task force to Hawaii though so they're in range if they want to port-strike the US West Coast. My aircraft over there are only useful for defending the islands though, nothing approaching the reach you'd need to raid the West Coast.
They don't call it "March" for no reason.
Now before I put the next chapter up tomorrow, two questions for the Duma:
First, an old question: Following the invasion of Canada and agitation by his Holiness, there is now a narrow majority in Vienna in favour of Austria-Hungary joining the Russo-Japanese alliance. Such a move is opposed by the Russian Ultranationalists (who view Austria as an enemy equal to the Syndicalists for their role in the Weltkrieg and deserving destruction) and by what remains of the Far Left (who view the Austro-Hungarians as a hopelessly backward regime and who are concerned such an alliance might spark an armed response by the Reds).
The Duma should speak now or forever hold its peace, knowing that, following a final briefing, his Majesty will make his decision on the matter known.
Secondly: To make up the numbers needed to deal with the Commune, STAVKA has begun including Romanian, Serbian, Greek, Bulgarian, and Scandinavian formations in its planning. The debate though is over how these units should be used. Some suggest attaching individual divisions to larger Russian formations in order to build interoperability and maintain Russian control. Others suggest forming entire expeditionary armies from the vassal states and assigning them their own sections of the front or objectives. Less optimistic advisors suggest that the units should be barred frontline duties and be given beach-watching and reserve duties only. There is also the question of where these units should serve, though that is only likely to be a particularly sensitive issue in the event that Austria-Hungary becomes an allied state.
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