There’s bound to be at least a couple ambitious and/or cowardly officers under him willing to cut a deal with either Browder to cut down Mosley, join the American government in a respectable job and bring the British republicans into the fold with them, or with London to take down Mosley and be allowed to return home with a new identity and enough cash to start a new life
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Yeah sure, but those guys whose loyalties are not rock solid, would not be members of the inner circle. They would not be in a position to "take down" Mosley. And the great majority of British syndicalist exiles would likely remain as loyal to their cause, and their leader, as the royalist exiles were during their decades in exile. They fought a world war together, killed together, relied on each other through thick and thin... their common cause will remain strong until their deaths, and maybe even beyond, as the exile movement morphs into a sect or church of its own, in the decades to come.
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I doubt they will survive decades at this point. Chicago will probably purge the lot of them when this is over.
Oswald Mosley lived until 1980 OTL, he might outlive Vladimir if Vlad's live expectancy follows the historical trend of Russian tsars from the 19th century despite being born 20 years earlier or so
(Seriously, Russian tsars, what was wrong with you!!)
Please let us get to the end of the war first of you’re planning on going on hiatus
Working on a major update for this weekend, it's just been a hard period to make updates.
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I wish you the best of luck if you’re dealing with irl issues or writers’ block dude.
No worries
Take all the time you need, we the readers have made it through worse hiatuses. Hiati? Hm. You know what I mean...
I would write another tidbit on my own to pass the time but I am officially MIA for the duration of Passover, possibly KIA if my family has its way.
Oh dear the whole duration? They only wanted me for the first sedar. Courage my friend
372: The Karachi Perimeter
“There is no alternative. The path of global revolution runs in only one direction, through Delhi to our new and inevitable greatness.”
-Chairman Oswald Mosley
From The Road to Lucknow
Calcutta’s war plans had presumed one of two scenarios for their war to unify India. With British Republican assistance, they had planned for a ‘small’ war, waged against the Dominion and Britain alone, or for a ‘large’ war, in which the wider Internationale would fight the Imperial Alliances once more.
What they had not prepared for, was for European political mobilisation to be met with mere frustration in Chicago. They had expected that the tired, increasingly disarming Imperial powers would most likely leave India to their fate, fearing troubles at home if war broke out once more. They would be greeted instead by a shockingly united Europe, answering the call of a Britain now entirely out of options other than calling on its continental benefactors for aid.
To cynics, the political mobilisation in Europe had little to do with concern for gassed Indian civilians.
The Yusupov Government entered the 1950s facing growing criticism from left and right. The right charged the Government with weakness over the continued downsizing of the Imperial military, as well as the ‘soft’ line taken on the Manchurian question, while the left argued the threat was abating, and military modernisation and expenditure remained excessive.
India seemed to offer Yusupov a chance to both rally the nation in answer to a new red enemy, while also demonstrating the Government was not soft on matters of defence. In that sense it was also the next, and perhaps most grandiose salvo in the growing post-war rift in the right-wing of Saint Petersburg politics. It was the fault line between modernisers and traditionalists. The chasm that divided those that had tolerated the germanisation of the armed forces, americanisation of the economy, advancement of technocratic education, and the Tsar’s ‘inclusive’ rhetoric of Empire out of a pragmatic desire to win the war, and those who wanted to see the Empire continue to reform on its current course.
Despite their electoral difficulties, the Russian reactionary right had begun galvanising again in the lead up to the war, alarmed by everything from the Tsar’s moves to take greater control of the Orthodox Church, push for concessions in Manchuria, to the elevation of Polish guards for the Tsarina and a growing number of minority members taking serious leadership roles in the Government. They grumbled that the Yusupov government was clearly leading the Tsar wrong, turning Russia into some” demented Anglo-influenced ideal of the future”, and attacked the Government relentlessly.
The onset of war would initially be welcomed by Rodina and the far-right, many declaring it was a chance to finally confirm Britain as a power rightfully under heel. It would be some time before they realised the depth of their folly or the political ambition of the Palace and the President.
For the fragile German Government, the war likewise seemed to present a political opportunity. It was a chance for the militarists to justify their budget by packaging it against the backdrop of a new red invasion, without any real risk to the homeland or need to contribute the full might of the German military forces. Germany’s Ceylon bases gave the Reich a chance to play at the high table of international affairs by opening those facilities up to allied use, providing useful propaganda for the surviving Imperial Project in the process.
Similar reasoning could be found elsewhere, and likely would have been apparent to Mosley’s intelligence services, had they been willing to see it.
When the Warsaw Pact leadership met on 6 February, the alliance’s fervently anti-communist leaders saw an opportunity to demonstrate both their individual relevance, and the alliance’ overall power. With relatively modest commitments requested, there was little opposition when the matter was discussed privately, and none when Marshal Markov, acting as Supreme Commander of all Pact forces, fronted the cameras to announce that the alliance would be intervening to halt the invasion of the Dominion of India at the request of London.
The public outrage over the deployment of poison gas and fear of American expansionism mobilised the people, but the politics of the whole affair was driven as much by domestic manoeuvrings and wider strategic concerns as any humanitarian instincts.
In Calcutta, news arrived just as the military leadership were planning the next phase of operations intended to threaten Delhi itself.
The Slavs were coming.
The immediate Commune response to the announcement of an intervention was to intensify offensive operations across the board. Bharatiya units were thrown forward at speed, infantry encouraged to live off the land while precious gasoline reserves were expended to get the armour racing ahead through the effectively shattered Dominion lines. Major city after major city fell, while air offensives picked up. The plan was to end the war before the Europeans could arrive in numbers, hoping that a political settlement would then be all but inevitable.
With the advance, came a growing feeling of invincibility among the red forces who, even as their casualties mounted, found themselves capable of overcoming any barrier set in their path. Delhi’s panic was palpable, as the Government there was forced to choose between surrender to the reds or going back on their desire for independence and separation from European Dominion. As Delhian army units continued to fall back, often in disarray, they chose the latter.
The Indian confederation, and Indian independence were lofty goals; survival an immediate need.
By March, the two main axis of Commune advance were at the gates of Delhi, and pushing towards Karachi respectively. Taking both, it was believed, would end the war.
VDV troops would begin arriving in Delhi on February 27th, flown in from the forward air bases in Central Asia prepared, rather ironically, to support a hypothetical invasion of the Dominion by the Empire. Meanwhile, Imperial troops from the Middle East and the major base at Kuwait would begin arriving in Karachi, along with the first shipments of modern Imperial aircraft.
While the great forces of Europe were still marshalling, it was these vanguard units that would stand alongside the remaining Dominion forces in the twin great battles of early 1951.
If the Dominion’s leadership had had its way, the battle of Karachi would never have been fought. The Indian leadership wanted its newly arriving allies to advance to prop up positions at the front and prevent as much territory as possible from falling to the reds. The newly arriving Europeans wanted to prepare for a defensive battle within range of naval gunfire and naval aviation support, after which a limited counterattack could secure and anchor a new defensive line running North.
Days of bickering and entreaties achieved little as the Dominion’s frontline continued to fall back in varying arrays of disorder. The first semi-organised efforts by arriving British regulars to steady the line faltered and did little to salvage the situation. The oft underestimated Bhartiya infantrymen and militia, for all their maligned training, were usually equipped, at least at the personal level, with equipment of American make and standards. When British regulars fired bolt-action enfields and low capacity Bren guns, the Indian reds answered with fusillades of semi-automatic rifle fire and bursts from reliable American belt-fed machine guns. Chicago’s industrial might was being felt even here, half a world away.
In the end, the Dominion had no choice. The Russian units arriving from Kuwait were determined to make their stand in the fertile lands beyond Karachi, so that’s where the fighting would take place.
The combat for the province had a kind of shocking suddenness to it. Bharatiya forces, strung out after the long offensive, moved in to take the city by storm, hoping to catch the arriving forces unprepared, much as they had earlier savaged the British division at the front.
The poorly supplied forward elements would launch their characteristic infantry assaults against a prepared position of Imperial defenders, within the range of carrier aircraft, land based bombers, and, at their most extreme offensive extent, the guns of the Kuwait station’s only battleship, Anna I and her accompanying cruisers.
Beaten back, both sides would then engage in an escalatory race to resupply. Bharatiya forces would reinforce repeatedly with units coming up along the axis of advance, while trickles of reinforcing high readiness units would arrive first from Suez, then from the Levant, and finally from the Black Sea Stations and Southern Europe. The Commune forces would give up their attacks after barely a fortnight of relatively intermittent fighting, unsure of how to crush the pocket with its lavish air and naval cover.
It was at Delhi that things would be far more fraught. The Dominion’s defenders were far more numerous there, concentrated around the seat of power, but the Bharatiya offensive was likewise more concentrated and Imperial reinforcements were fewer in number. With Delhi primarily being resupplied by air, and newly arriving heavy assets primarily pinned in Karachi, defence of the Dominion’s capital largely fell to growing numbers of Imperial paratroopers and their air-mobile artillery and heavy weapons.
Waves of assaults would strike the city’s surroundings throughout late February and into March. Air support became more available as the fight went on and new planes, mechanics, spares and fuel arrived, but the red forces turned to night attacks to keep the pressure on.
Attacking in short infantry dashes, at night, the Communard infantry acquitted themselves with courage, if not tactical sophistication.
In these desperate infantry engagements, troops of the Imperial forces fell back on their basics. Small arms firepower, discipline, and defensive determination. In the harsh arithmetic of war, it was the Reds who ultimately found themselves wanting.
They had marched too far, fought for too long, lost too many, to now take a defended metropolis from its Indian defenders and their newly arriving allies with their murderous assault rifles, machine guns, and marksmanship.
Calcuatta’s forces halted their attacks after a week of constant infantry assaults on March 2nd. Tens of thousands of Bharatiya troops had become casualties by that time, the bodies piled high before the defensive Imperial and Dominion positions. In the Imperial trenches, troops tread on solid beds of spent brass casings, while commanders wrote reports on the performance of the first cantonists to go into action.
With both sides exhausted, but resolute, they each adopted new plans.
The Imperial forces determined to anchor a defense that would hold the old, and now heavily developed railway ‘trunk’ running North from Karachi along the Indus before swinging in behind Delhi. This would put a railway at their back and base them in fertile lands, while the great Indian desert would be ceded to the reds, along with the question of sustaining troops there now that the offensive had dissipated.
In Calcutta, there remained a feeling that they remained at the cusp of victory, if only the new arrivals could be thrown out of India before the situation further deteriorated.
They, along with their Republican British counterparts, began working on a new, all out, and perhaps desperate plan to resolve the war before the immense logistical challenges facing them could be overcome. All the while, the petitioned New York and Chicago to intervene directly and ‘secure the final victory in India.’
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Fortunately, I think Markov won't be suggesting nuking vast tracts of India
But this war is definitely looking to be what gets the CSTO off the ground- especially since, unlike the DPRK India here probably will need more than token forces from Russia's allies to fully liberate the Dominion. Maybe this time Britain will finally learn the lesson that it doesn't rule the world anymore.
But this war is definitely looking to be what gets the CSTO off the ground- especially since, unlike the DPRK India here probably will need more than token forces from Russia's allies to fully liberate the Dominion. Maybe this time Britain will finally learn the lesson that it doesn't rule the world anymore.
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I rather doubt the alliance will want to commit to an outright invasion of the Commune or that Chicago could tolerate its fall, some territorial losses perhaps in the peace treaty, but there must be a limit to how far Chicago can let the Imperial Alliance beat up yet another red power into submission before they have to intervene. They could, for example, start a limited war in Africa over some "misunderstanding" or accidentally on purpose cross the border to support some minor insurgency.
Pretty sure India is heading towards partition. I doubt there is much in the way of public support for the dominion and the cost of occupying the sub-continent for British imperial aggrandisement would be prohibitive. Even holding on to the dominion post-war sounds dubious without serious reforms transforming it into an independent Indian imperial aligned state with effective sovereignty over its affairs and probably only a symbolic affiliation with the British Empire if even that.
What kind of regime that would be is a difficult question. The Princely Federation didn't prove to be an enduring concept in this timeline (or most KR games I've played come to that) so that hardly qualifies as a new model for the Dominion. Perhaps a better fit would be the Aristocratic Republic of Dimitri's days as president. At any rate, the common people would have to have a substantial say for the government to have any legitimacy, especially if the Totalists maintain their hold.
I doubt the British will go through all this trouble just to let India slip out of their grasp by only giving symbolic deference to the crown.
What they can do is have an Indian in charge, give them a (defanged) parliament, maybe even the formation of a commonwealth of nations for colonies of the crown where they’d have a seat, but the core of Indian rule, their economy, resources, cheap manufacturing, conscripted army and maybe even the heads of police, as well as rule of the city of Delhi itself at least, would probably all rest in British hand, or in the hands of loyal Indian proxies.
Also yes, I believe India will end up getting partitioned but the commune will end up being this universe’s DPRK especially since they’ll be sandwiched between the Co-Prosperity sphere and the imperial alliance and will probably be reliant on 3I help to keep control of their land. It’s so sad really, Gandhi was this close to securing a strong future India
Oh for sure, I'm not suggesting that. But the Commune has taken a lot of Dominion territory, that the Imperial powers will likely at least attempt to retake.
The British will most definitely not have a choice. They cannot, economically or socially, afford to send the kind of forces to India necessary to impose their- as opposed to Russia's- will.
Also @Aussie Perun , just discovered your youtube channel's analysis of a certain war that is against the rules to talk about- you've probably heard it before but great job on it, everyone reading this should for sure check it out.
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It certainly puts slower updates here into perspective
Congratulations on breaking the fabric of the internet via the power of genuinely informative PowerPoint presentations.
Not sure I will be able to go back to the expert panels now (though the ones the think tanks, committees, and the economist do are pretty good)
Hmm... I think you might be on to something. Not to mention that in this timeline it hardly has colonies to worry about. It's basically just this rump of India plus South Africa and Australia (on a good day) They could, in theory, pull a Chicago and resettle Canadian exiles there as experts while using cheap Indian labour in the home islands and Australia. By virtue of only having to swallow a limited portion of India as opposed to the huge challenge of the entire sub-continent, there is a lot less to account for not to mention that after being brutalized by their fellow free Indians I'd imagine even the most anti-colonial subject might stop and think.
I'd still say there will need to be a serious compromise not only with the Indian landlords but with the general population not to mention recognition of Russia's power over both Britain and India in this situation. Britain is done as a global power for the time being and possibly permanently. The best it can do is play its limited hand with the other players of the imperial alliance. Perhaps in time if it can build legitimacy in India and work on its relations with Australia and South Africa some sort of third power can emerge inside the imperial alliance but for the time being, I'd say Germany, Austria, and Japan are more potent then the Brits are.
All the Brits have left are some rusting battleships, Russian goodwill, and the prestige of once having been the world's greatest empire. Ironically, I'd say they can't afford to remain an island as in IRL either because that would really lock them into place as 2nd fiddle to Russia (just as IRL UK is to the US these days) They need to get what's left of the British Empire and somehow transform it into an enduring structure but accomplish it with practically no muscle and few carrots to offer. That would be a huge undertaking both in terms of economics and social terms and this Britain is even weaker than our IRL one so it seems doubtful.
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Damn I didn’t even think of the resettlement of Canadians thing, they could do that, coupled with a monetary incentive or a tax break for those who accept resettlement, maybe put one of the royals as the head of the dominion of India (maybe a certain Lizzy ? lol), said royal can be the face of major reconstruction/reform efforts to boost British popularity in the dominion. If the totalists keep control of a rump Commune, they could be a pretty good source of anti-syndie propaganda.It certainly puts slower updates here into perspective
Congratulations on breaking the fabric of the internet via the power of genuinely informative PowerPoint presentations.
Not sure I will be able to go back to the expert panels now (though the ones the think tanks, committees, and the economist do are pretty good)
Hmm... I think you might be on to something. Not to mention that in this timeline it hardly has colonies to worry about. It's basically just this rump of India plus South Africa and Australia (on a good day) They could, in theory, pull a Chicago and resettle Canadian exiles there as experts while using cheap Indian labour in the home islands and Australia. By virtue of only having to swallow a limited portion of India as opposed to the huge challenge of the entire sub-continent, there is a lot less to account for not to mention that after being brutalized by their fellow free Indians I'd imagine even the most anti-colonial subject might stop and think.
I'd still say there will need to be a serious compromise not only with the Indian landlords but with the general population not to mention recognition of Russia's power over both Britain and India in this situation. Britain is done as a global power for the time being and possibly permanently. The best it can do is play its limited hand with the other players of the imperial alliance. Perhaps in time if it can build legitimacy in India and work on its relations with Australia and South Africa some sort of third power can emerge inside the imperial alliance but for the time being, I'd say Germany, Austria, and Japan are more potent then the Brits are.
All the Brits have left are some rusting battleships, Russian goodwill, and the prestige of once having been the world's greatest empire. Ironically, I'd say they can't afford to remain an island as in IRL either because that would really lock them into place as 2nd fiddle to Russia (just as IRL UK is to the US these days) They need to get what's left of the British Empire and somehow transform it into an enduring structure but accomplish it with practically no muscle and few carrots to offer. That would be a huge undertaking both in terms of economics and social terms and this Britain is even weaker than our IRL one so it seems doubtful.
mother than that, need to control the educational system in India, put them on some pro-colonialist, pro-empires curriculum, you know, just control the important stuff, an autonomous Indian parliament can control domestic stuff like social programs, starting the Indian equivalent of the NHS or whatever other token powers you allow them, but you hold the purse strings and syphon a decent bit of cash towards London from Delhi every year
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