Great AAR so far, I especially like the amount of detail given to every campaign. As a point of correction, there would not be a Jacobin general serving the Sorelians; the Sorelians hate the Jacobins, and purge them upon taking power.
-
We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.
Thank you for the kind words and the corrections!
I tried to research as much about Kaiserreich lore as possible before writing this, and real history as well, and I have included many references to the IRL Spanish Civil War. I felt Andre Marty would make a good Totalist villain and actually wrote him as a Sorelian at first, but then felt like he would more likely be a Jacobin. That being said, if the lore of Kaiserreich has the Sorelians purging the Jacobins, I will go back and edit that to correct my mistake.
Last edited:
- 2
When the country was torn apart by civil war, millions of Americans, many of whom were good people who wanted a better life for themselves and their families made the same choice after suffering years of abuse at the hands of business leaders and their private security forces such as the Pinkertons.
Chapter 6: The Enemy of my Enemy
Chapter 6: The Enemy of My Enemy
The Deal with the Devil
The Deal with the Devil
As civil war raged in America, across the Atlantic in Europe, similar tensions were brewing. The same day the Army of Texas had launched its offensive into New Mexico, another civil war had erupted in Spain, drawing the attention of the Third Internationale away from the North American continent into its own backyard. Ukraine had fallen to Syndicalism when a revolution in Kiev had toppled its pro-German regime, and the Balkans were once again turning into a flash point for Europe with the formation of the Belgrade Pact between Serbia, Romania, and Greece, which stood united to regain lands lost to Bulgaria during the First Weltkrieg. The Commune of France, under the harsh nationalism of Georges Valois, had pressured Switzerland into giving up Savoy, while the Germans, still recovering from Black Friday and afraid that another Weltkrieg could shatter their delicate hold on Europe, refused to intervene. In Scandinavia, Army Chief Oscar Nygren had seized power to overthrow a coalition government made up of Social Democrats and Radical Socialists, before he too was assassinated by the National Populist SRNS Party under the leadership of the ruthless, ambitious Army officer and Olympic sports shooter, Colonel Axel Gyllenkrok. Colonel Gyllenkrok was sympathetic to the American Union State and the Reichspakt and had agreed to send a volunteer ski unit called the Vikingbrigaden to support Huey Long’s war effort.
Pictured: A newspaper article on the start of the Spanish Civil War.
Pictured: A newspaper article on the rise of Syndicalism in Ukraine.
Pictured: A newspaper article on the Founding of the Belgrade Pact.
Pictured: A newspaper article on the Savoyard Crisis.
Pictured: An OSS memo on Sweden joining the Reichspakt.
Pictured: The Swedish Vikingbrigaden in Colorado, Winter 1937.
On the home front of the United States, citizens had experienced severe hardship from endless bloodshed since the beginning of the Thirty Day Deadline back in February, and many were suffering from disease and starvation as a result of the collapse of supply lines. A debate had raged in Congress throughout the month of June, with the conservative Democrats and the military arguing that supplies had to be diverted to the war effort, while the Republicans and Farmer-Laborers argued for providing relief to the suffering civilian population. In the middle were moderate Democrats who were undecided on how to vote, as the war effort was of the utmost importance, but the population being left to their fates could potentially lead to increased support for the enemies of the Federal government. On June 25th, President Olson intervened into the debate with a speech before congress.
In the speech he stated, “The people of the United States deserve a government which provides for them during these times of unimaginable hardship. If we cannot provide the basic needs to our own people to help them survive, how are we expected to reconcile with those misguided citizens that currently support our enemies? How can we convince them that they would be better off back under the flag of the United States? If we allow our people to starve, perhaps we do not deserve to win the war.” Olson’s speech convinced the majority of the moderate Democrats to break with their party’s conservative leadership and vote for a relief package.
Pictured: White House memo regarding civilian suffering from June 1937.
On the Eastern Front, General Bradley finally called off his attack on Pittsburgh on June 5th. The Army of Delaware had spent nearly a week failing to gain any ground and taking heavy casualties fighting the International Brigades and American Syndicalist units of CSA General Robert Hale Merriman’s Seventh Army and General Milton Wolff’s Fifth Army, which had been brought up to plug the gap and take control of the few surviving divisions of the now destroyed Sixth Army which had managed to escape the encirclement in the Keystone Pocket.
Pictured: Pennsylvania Front, June 1937.
On June 10th in Virginia, General Moseley once again ordered General Ridgeway to attack and dislodge the 29th “Blue and Gray” Division defending Petersburg. Having been reinforced by fresh volunteer divisions from Maryland, Delaware, and Connecticut, instead of simply holding the line against the Army of North Carolina’s assault on Virginia, General McNair ordered the Army of the Potomac to counterattack. The Longist 81st “Wildcat” Division quickly found its attack on Petersburg unsupported, as North and South Carolinian volunteer divisions on either of its flanks were overwhelmed by their Northern counterparts’ fierce attacks supported by overwhelming artillery and air support. The 81st Division suffered massive casualties and lost over 80% of their artillery batteries to counter battery fire and air attacks before being forced to retreat when they were threatened with encirclement. By June 20th, the Army of the Potomac had pushed the Army of North Carolina back to Virginia’s Southern border, retaking the towns of Emporia, Franklin, and Hampton, and threatening the port of Norfolk which was now in range of Federal artillery.
Pictured: The Virginia Front in June, 1937.
Back on the Western Front, General Patton was, once again, far more successful than General Moseley. The Army of Texas had pushed the Army of the Colorado back to the Pecos River from the Texas-Mexico border in the South all the way up to the town of Santa Rosa, New Mexico in the North. From there they controlled the Northwestern corner of New Mexico up to the town of Raton, and had entered Colorado, capturing the Southwestern corner from the town of Trinidad to the town of Holly along the Kansas border before being stopped by the newly formed and recently arrived 49th (California) Volunteer Division which ambushed the 32nd (Texas) Volunteer Division’s vanguard M2 Scout Car recon battalion with M3 37mm anti-tank guns in the Battle of the Spanish Peaks Wilderness on June 20th.
Pictured: The Colorado and New Mexico Front, June 1937.
Pictured: AUS troops of the Army of Texas advancing under artillery fire in New Mexico, June 1937.
In the North on the Kansas-Nebraska border, the Army of Oklahoma, supported by Russian Cossacks and the German Legion Schwarzer Adler assaulted the town of Lincoln, Nebraska with a fierce attack. The Federal defenders of Lincoln, made up of Nebraskan militia, police forces, and Sioux volunteers from South Dakota put up a brave defense, yet were pushed out after savage hand to hand fighting in the town center on June 16th by the 45th Infantry Division of the Oklahoma National Guard. Despite the loss of Lincoln, more and more Federal volunteers were being trained and brought up to the front from across the Western United States, and it was clear to Huey Long, Patton, and the generals of Army Group West that their days of having an overwhelming advantage against their Federal enemy would soon be behind them.
Pictured: The Fall of Lincoln Nebraska, June 16th, 1937.
Pictured: AUS cavalry of the Army of Oklahoma enter Nebraska, June 1937.
While the war raged across the country, the United States received good news on June 13th that the governor of Puerto Rico had successfully put down anti-American rebellions and was formally requesting to rejoin the United States and send his now battle-hardened troops to support the Army on the Eastern Front.
Pictured: A White House memo regarding Puerto Rico's return to the United States.
Huey Long and Jack Reed were both increasingly concerned with the war situation. The loss of the Port of Philadelphia, the destruction of the Sixth Army, and the Federal bombing campaign against factories in the Red Belt had dramatically reduced the CSA’s industrial capacity and fighting capability, while the defeat of the American Union Navy and the US Navy’s blockade of Southern ports had crippled the Southern economy and had prevented the AUS from getting vital resources needed for the war effort. Both sides had experienced defeats to the US Army on the Eastern Front and were in danger of suffering total collapses. In the Central Front, there had been a costly stalemate as the AUS and CSA had attacked each other back and forth across the Ohio River Valley, leading to large-scale trench warfare that had turned the fertile valley into a muddy, cratered wasteland reminiscent of the fields of France twenty years before, and it was clear neither side would be gaining an advantage anytime soon. On the Western Front, the CSA had barely managed to stop a Federal assault towards the Great Lakes, while the AUS’s initial successes and freedom of movement were quickly coming to an end as seemingly endless waves of Federal volunteers from the Western states and aircraft produced by the Hughes Aircraft Company in Los Angeles arrived to shore up the Army of the Colorado’s positions. In early June, Jack Reed had put aside his hatred of Long to reach out in the hopes of arranging a cease fire so that the two could focus on their more powerful mutual foe. Huey Long, with his intense hatred for Syndicalism, had initially refused to respond, but as the Federal blockade tightened, and his army’s offensives ground to a halt or were beaten back, he was forced to reconsider.
Both men called together meetings with high ranking government officials and top military commanders to discuss the idea of arranging for a truce to focus on the Federal government. The Unionist (Syndicalist) and Federalist (Radical Socialist) factions of the CSA supported Reed’s effort, while the Centralist (Totalist) protested that doing so was a betrayal of the revolution. General Smedley Butler and General Herbert Heitke both agreed that a truce with the AUS would be beneficial to the war effort and could allow the CSA to reverse the defeats it had suffered in the first months of the war. General Maurice Rose, the Progressive commander of the Fourth Army in Western Kentucky, and General Milton Wolff, the Centralist commander of the Fifth Army in West Virginia, had long hated the AFP and had fought a bloody, merciless war against the vicious General del Valle of the Army of Georgia. Neither wanted to stop the fighting against their hated foe and both vigorously protested against the idea. Smedley Butler personally traveled to the Eastern Front to speak to General Rose and General Wolff and managed to convince them that it was only a temporary measure to turn the tides of the war, and that both men would have their chance to destroy the AUS once the CSA had recovered from its initial losses.
Huey Long was likewise heavily criticized by William Dudley Pelley, the leader of the Silver Legion, who accused him of sympathizing with Syndicalism and threatened to pull his support from the war effort. General Patton criticized the idea as well, saying that Syndicalists could not be trusted to maintain the truce, and that it would be better to make a truce with the Federal government to destroy the CSA than vice versa. General Moseley, despite his bitter hatred of the Syndicalists, was in desperate need of relief on the Eastern Seaboard and agreed that a temporary ceasefire would be a necessary evil that would allow his Army Group East to finally take Virginia once and for all and would even give the AUS the opportunity to capture Washington DC and cripple the Federal government. General Moseley, who had been at odds with Huey Long ever since his initial failure to capture Virginia, used his close relationship with General del Valle to convince Pelley to reconsider, and promised him that when the time came, he would support Pelley in an attempt to remove Long from power. He also promised that he would use his influence over Army Group East to grow the Silver Legion and ensure that key positions were in the hands of Pelley supporters instead of Longists. With these promises, Pelley dropped his opposition to the truce and on June 22nd, the “Deal with the Devil”, as it was known on both sides, was made. The guns fell silent across the Ohio River Valley and both armies began to redeploy the majority of their forces to the battlefields of the East and the West against the Federal government.
Pictured: Newspaper article on the truce between the AUS and the CSA.
Last edited:
- 3
War makes some strange bedfellows it would seem. Hopefully your lines will hold, it'd suck if this is how the Federal government will be defeated. An Anerica that has Pelley taking over is a grim one.
It would indeed be a grim world if Pelley gained control of the United States.
I wouldn't say they are together as much as they are temporarily directing their efforts elsewhere. Both sides absolutely intend on slaughtering the other as soon as the balance of power is restored.
Love this AAR, it's very engaging and descriptive! Also thought adding the 'A' to the AUS F35 was a nice little touch. Well done, and looking forward to following more.
Thank you! I am glad you noticed. I suck at photoshop and it took me forever to get that A in the right spot. I also added the star to Andre Marty's hat, and I had a bunch of other ideas of photoshopping actual photos of American cities from the 1930s to look damaged, but unfortunately I lacked the skills to pull it off so I substituted them with photos of damaged European cities from the Spanish Civil War and World War 2.
- 1
Chapter 7: To the Barricades
Chapter 7: To the Barricades
The Washington Uprising of ‘37, the July Offensives, and the Reformation of the Armies
The Washington Uprising of ‘37, the July Offensives, and the Reformation of the Armies
By July 1937, the war had taken a heavy toll on the forces of all three sides. In only three and a half months, the United States military had suffered 56,000 casualties killed, captured, wounded, or missing. The American Union military had lost over 78,000 killed, captured, wounded, or missing. The Consolidated Syndicates had lost a staggering estimated 124,000 killed, captured, wounded or missing. All three sides had taken nearly twice as many civilian casualties due to collateral damage, disease, famine, and other depredations of war. Despite these heavy losses, the conflict showed no sign of ending anytime soon.
Pictured: Total military casualties as of July 1st, 1937, as well as estimated division and industrial strength
The need for new tactics and doctrines was apparent to all but the most stubborn and unimaginative generals on each of the three sides. At the start of the war, the battles had seen masses of infantry being thrown into the carnage of battle using tactics not that much different than the days of Napoleon’s campaigns in Europe. The Americans, who had avoided the horrors of the Weltkrieg, had also avoided learning its painful lessons. Throughout the early months of the war, foreign advisors and heavy casualties taught the Americans new lessons on modern fighting. Storm trooper tactics for infantry assaults, creeping barrages for artillery bombardments, and squadron tactics for aircraft slowly turned the three militaries into modern fighting forces. The United States military, with the advice of Canadian officers, adopted a doctrine of superior firepower utilizing artillery and air support to win control of the battlefield. Even with these changes, there were deficiencies, so General McNair was tasked with analyzing the US Army and finding weaknesses that could be improved upon. By July 7th, McNair had completed his report detailing the flaws in the US Army’s doctrine and recommendations for reform. McNair’s reforms would prove vital in turning the US Army from a mostly ad hoc formation of poorly trained volunteers into the professional fighting force it would later become.
Pictured: General McNair's Report on the State of the Army.
Just as the US Army had been reformed on a doctrine of superior firepower based on advice from the Canadians, the American Union State’s high command, advised by German and Russian Cossack officers, opted for a grand battleplan doctrine, one that relied on meticulous planning to carry out complicated operations; a system that would allow the AUS to capture several important cities in the coming months. General Patton dissented against the doctrine, believing that maneuver warfare would be the key to victory, especially on the Western Front he commanded where cavalry and the few armored units he controlled had achieved great success against their Federal adversaries. Long, fearing the further alienation of Pelley who now had close relations with the Russian Vozhd, Boris Savinkov, rejected Patton’s complaints and maintained the AUS’s reliance on the advice of the Russians and Germans.
The Second Continental Army, advised by British and French officers, and benefitting from control of much of the American auto-industry, formed a doctrine based around the idea of mobile warfare that General Patton had desired for the AUS. Using trucks and cars, the SCA developed plans to speed through enemy territory, bypassing enemy strongpoints to capture strategic locations and resources. This would prove critical in the coming offensives on the Western Front as Syndicalist and Longist forces prepared to strike towards the United States.
News of the truce between the AUS and the CSA had reached President Olson on June 23rd, and he quickly ordered all offensives to be called off and all positions fortified for the inevitable onslaught that would come with the fresh enemy divisions brought from the Ohio River Valley Front to the Federal frontlines. Though his foresight would prove correct, he had not predicted another threat which was about to be unleashed upon the country.
Ever since Ernest Hemingway’s speech on May 4th, the Third Internationale had been planning for ways to help their American comrades. Direct intervention had been out of the question, and with the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, any new volunteers that were eager to fight for global revolution had been diverted to the Iberian Peninsula to help the CNT-FAI combat the Spanish Army and the Carlist Requetés. That had not stopped the Third Internationale from creating a risky, yet ambitious plan to turn the tide of the war in favor of the CSA, and the truce between the Syndicalists and Longists in North American had only opened the door for greater opportunities. By July 1937, the Bharatiya Commune had been smuggling small arms, anti-tank guns, and field artillery pieces into the Pacific Northwest to supply the half-Black and half-Indian former resident of the Bharatiya Commune, Federalist (Radical Socialist) General Edward A. Carter Jr., with the equipment he would need to lead an uprising that hoped to seize control of the West Coast of the United States. This would allow the opening of ports from which the Third Internationale could once again deliver fresh supplies, as well as divert Federal troops away from the Minnesota Front. The stockpiles of weaponry were stored in the remote Oregon Butte of Southeastern Washington and Northeastern Oregon where the Pacific Northwest Syndicalists awaited coded orders from Chicago.
The OSS, which had infiltrated General Heitke’s headquarters and was desperately trying to crack the Second Continental Army’s military code sensed something was wrong. The CSA’s radio network had been established by General James Patrick Murphy, an expert at radio communications who was functioning as the second in command of the Syndicalist forces in the Pacific Northwest. His ingenious code had frustrated the OSS for the first three months of the war, and it would be another whole year before the OSS would finally break it.
OSS agent Hamilton Bee, in charge of intelligence operations within the CSA, believed the SCA was planning a big operation on the Western Front into Minnesota. His sources within the CSA’s government and military had informed him that thousands of troops and supplies were being transferred from General Merriman’s Seventh Army in Michigan to General Cannon’s First Army on the frontlines of Minnesota and Iowa, and contact was being made with an “Eight and Ninth Army” behind enemy lines. He suspected that an uprising would take place in Federal-controlled Minnesota and Iowa just behind the front lines, and advised General Truscott to keep some divisions of the Army of the Mississippi in reserve to control key towns and supply lines to the front.
OSS agent Ulysses Barnum, in charge of counterintelligence operations throughout the United States, believed that a Syndicalist uprising would take place in Upstate New York. The OSS had detected an increase in Syndicalist activity and organization in the Northeastern United States and Agent Bee had also received word from his contact in General Heitke’s headquarters that General Oliver Law’s Fourth Army was being moved from the Kentucky Front up into Pennsylvania. He believed that the SCA would attempt to slip weapons and troops across Lake Erie to seize Buffalo or Dunkirk, New York, just behind the Army of the Delaware’s frontlines around Erie, Pennsylvania. Agent Barnum, just as Agent Bee had with General Truscott, advised General Bradley to keep the Army of the Delaware prepared for a surprise attack to its rear.
At sunrise on July 2nd, 1937, the newly formed Syndicalist Eighth Army under the command of General Edward A. Carter Jr. rose up in open rebellion across Eastern Washington, seizing control of towns along the Columbia and Snake Rivers including Walla Walla, Spokane, White Bluffs, Hanford, and Kettle Falls. Nearly all of Eastern Washington from the Oregon border to the Canadian border was quickly under the control of the Syndicalist forces as they erected roadblocks, overwhelmed police garrisons, and cut telephone and rail lines. The United States had been caught completely off guard. Freshly recruited volunteer divisions from Oregon and California that had been preparing to ship off to the Great Plains were hastily rerouted to Southern Oregon, and reserve divisions from the Army of the Mississippi and the Army of Colorado were detached and sent West by railway. General Walter Krueger, the author of War Plan Blue who had been put in charge of organizing and training new troops in California, was given command of the newly formed Army of the Columbia and sent North to his new headquarters in Portland, Oregon.
Pictured: Map of the Washington Uprising
Pictured: Map of the Second American Civil War, July 2nd, 1937.
Several hours later at noon on the Western Front, General Butler ordered the First and Second Armies to begin their offensive into Minnesota and Iowa. Six Syndicalist gunboats of the now landlocked Second Continental Navy under the command of Admiral Youngblood Nance, steamed up the Mississippi River, shelling Federal positions as combat engineers from the SCA’s 7th “Hourglass” Infantry Division constructed pontoon bridges to cross the river near the town of Lake City. Farrell Dobbs, a Syndicalist Commissar attached to the 7th Infantry, recalled the events of the day in his report back to Chicago:
Pictured: Syndicalist Gunboat CNS Twentieth of February, July 1937.
The 7th Infantry Division had been one of the few regular army units that had joined the CSA when the war began. They were well trained and well equipped, and supported by armored gunboats, easily overwhelmed the 35th (Iowa) Volunteer Infantry Division which opposed them on the other side of the river. By July 3rd, they had established a firm foothold on the Western bank of the Mississippi, and by July 10th, they were on the outskirts of Minneapolis.
Pictured: Beginning of Syndicalist July Offensive.
In Chengwatana Forest, North of Minneapolis-St. Paul, one of the largest cavalry battles of the war, and one of the last successful cavalry charges in history took place. The US 2nd (Colored) Cavalry Division had been pulled off the Kansas-Nebraska Front after taking heavy casualties in April, and had been sent to Northern Minnesota where they had performed well, raiding Syndicalist militias camps and supply lines and capturing hundreds of Red Guards. The Army of the Mississippi’s commander, General Truscott, had been encouraged by their performance and had sent cavalry reinforcements, the 7th (North Dakota) Volunteer Cavalry Regiment with the hope that the two divisions might be able to break through the First Army’s lines and reach Lake Superior. The commander of the First Army, General John Cannon, had seen the effectiveness of the 2nd Cavalry in the woods of Minnesota, and responded by raising cavalry units of his own. The 1st (Illinois) Volunteer Cavalry and the 2nd (Minnesota) Volunteer Cavalry were deployed near the town of Hinckley, Minnesota to track down and defeat their Federal counterparts.
Pictured: US 2nd Cavalry Division in Minnesota, July 1937.
On the early morning of July 4th, a recon patrol of the 1st (Illinois) Volunteer Cavalry crossed the St. Croix river and encountered a column of cavalry from the US 2nd (Colored) Cavalry Division along a dirt road in the Chengwatana Forest. The Syndicalist recon patrol began firing on the column who responded with a saber charge, which succeeded in dispersing the Syndicalists. Survivors from the patrol reported the location of the column back to command. General Cannon, hoping to catch the American cavalry off guard, immediately ordered the rest of the 1st (Illinois) Volunteer Cavalry Division and 2nd (Minnesota) Volunteer Cavalry to cross the St. Croix river and converge on the area to annihilate their Federal counterparts. The column from the 2nd (Colored) Cavalry Division likewise reported the engagement, and expecting a counterattack, dismounted, and dug in along a wood line overlooking Redhorse Creek. General Truscott ordered the 7th (North Dakota) Volunteer Cavalry, stationed in Pine City, to ride out to support the 2nd Cavalry who were an hour and a half away.
The 1st (Illinois), though made up of rural farmworkers with plenty of experience around horses, were aligned with the Federalist (Radical Socialist) faction and lacked a clear command structure. They moved en masse down the roads right into the 2nd Cavalry’s skirmish line around 10AM. Hit by machine gun, carbine, and light howitzer fire, they were caught by surprise and took heavy losses. They regrouped a few miles down the road and the various regiments argued about how to handle their opponents for nearly an hour before they eventually voted to dismount and attack on foot. They attacked again, assaulting the Federal lines at noon just in time for the Federal 7th (North Dakota) to arrive and reinforce the 2nd Cavalry’s lines. Once again, the 1st (Illinois), now outnumbered two-to-one, was driven back with heavy losses. The demoralized 1st (Illinois) again voted on how to proceed and decided to dig in on the other side of Redhorse Creek and wait for reinforcements. By 3PM the 2nd (Minnesota) arrived to support the 1st (Illinois). The 2nd (Minnesota) was led by Centralist (Totalist) officers who had military experience from their time with the US Cavalry. They proposed the 1st (Illinois) launch one more diversionary attack on the entrenched Federal cavalry while they swung to the North and attempted to cross Redhorse Creek unopposed. The 1st (Illinois)’s troops were unsurprisingly not pleased with the plan, but having suffered losses already, when the Centralists threatened them with their carbines, they begrudgingly agreed to it.
The gamble paid off. The 1st (Illinois) succeeded in distracting the Federal cavalry divisions long enough for the 2nd (Minnesota) to ride around behind their lines and assault their Northern flank, driving the 7th (North Dakota) nearly a mile to the South before one of the Federal regiments of Mandan volunteers managed to finally stop their advance on a wood line before a large clearing in the forest. The Federal line was now bent into a V shape, with the 7th (North Dakota) facing the North opposing the 2nd (Minnesota), and the 2nd Cavalry facing East against the 1st (Illinois). Both sides were fighting dismounted, using carbines, submachine guns, light machine guns, and light howitzers against each other through dense woods and open clearings along the front line, pushing back and forth through the woods throughout the afternoon and into the evening. By nighttime, as the dead littered the forests and began to attract wolves, it became clear that neither side was going to drive the other from the field without outside help.
The Army of the Mississippi was spread thin from the Canadian Border all the way down to Northern Missouri and was being heavily attacked along the entire front line by Syndicalist forces in the North, and Longist forces in the South. The SCA’s First Army, on the other hand, had been reinforced as a result of the ceasefire with the AUS, and had reserve divisions ready to advance to dislodge Federal resistance. General Cannon ordered the 26th (Wisconsin) Volunteer Infantry Division and the “Henry Ness” Red Guard Division to move into the Chengwatana Forest overnight to support the cavalry. The 26th (Wisconsin) and the “Henry Ness” divisions were equipped with far more artillery than the 1st (Illinois) or the 2nd (Minnesota), and the “Henry Ness” Division had six up-armored Q9 trucks with anti-aircraft guns mounted on the back to provide support and fend off Federal air attacks.
Pictured: Q9 truck of the kind modified and up-armored by the "Henry Ness" Division.
On the dawn of July 5th, the 2nd Cavalry and the 7th (North Dakota) awoke to fierce Syndicalist attack led by fresh infantry and supported by heavy artillery fire and the armored trucks. Though they fought bravely to hold the line, they suffered many casualties and were driven from their positions. General Truscott received word of the attack and ordered the two battered divisions to pull back to St. Paul to avoid getting cut off. The 1st (Illinois) and the 2nd (Minnesota) pursued them, attacking and overrunning several rear-guard detachments before the Federal cavalry reached the relative safety of St. Paul. The 26th (Wisconsin) and the “Henry Ness” Division advanced West, beating back the 31st (Iowa) Volunteer Infantry Division and capturing the town of St. Cloud on July 29th in heavy fighting with the help of the armored trucks, gaining another foothold on the Western banks of the Mississippi River.
Pictured: Minnesota frontlines at the end of July 1937.
Further to the North, the Syndicalist 32nd and 33rd (Minnesota) Volunteer Infantry divisions, along with the 89th Infantry Division that had defected to the Syndicalists after the election of ‘36, defeated the Federal 34th “Sandstorm” Division at the Battle of Red Lake despite being under heavy Federal air attack throughout the battle. The Second Continental Army was now on the advance across the entire Minnesota Front causing General Truscott to realize he could not hold his current frontline. He ordered all Federal units to pull back and dig in behind the peatlands of Northern Minnesota, the town of Detroit Lakes and its surrounding namesakes, and the Mississippi River where the terrain was more defensible, while in Southern Minnesota the Army of the Mississippi was pulled back to the Cedar River to prevent a complete Syndicalist breakthrough and the encirclement of Minneapolis. The Army of the Mississippi was in a tenuous spot, and General Truscott was worried that unless reinforcements arrived soon, Minneapolis would be cut off, and the entire state of Minnesota would fall back in Syndicalist hands.
At the same time as the Syndicalist offensive into Minnesota began, the Army of Oklahoma began a renewed offensive into Nebraska, led by the German Legion Schwarzer Adler, which hammered Federal lines from the air and infiltrated using storm trooper tactics devised during the First Weltkrieg. It also saw the first use of German Kätzchen tanks in battle, which helped German and Southern troops to break through the 36th (Nebraska) Volunteer Infantry, overrun the town of Grand Island, and advance as far as the Loup River before they were finally halted and the offensive stalled. The Kätzchens light armor had allowed them to travel quickly across the Prairie, but had made them vulnerable to anti-tank guns, and their success was cut short when they encountered a battalion of Nebraska Volunteers with a battery of M3 37mm anti-tank guns on the banks of the Loup River who knocked out four Kätzchens and disabled another three, finally halting the German armored advance.
Pictured: German Kätzchen tank in Nebraska, July 1937.
Pictured: Map of the Nebraska Front at the end of July 1937.
The Washington Uprising and the truce between the AUS and the CSA had increased anxiety among Federal commanders, and soon reports of Federal terror behind the lines against suspected enemy sympathizers crept out into the media, marring the image of the Federal government and weakening its criticisms of the actions of some of the Syndicalist Commissars in the Red Belt and the Pacific Northwest, and General del Valle’s Army of Georgia’s rampage through Kentucky. President Olson, under pressure from military leadership, denied the accusations, stating “Only discretionary violence was used, any commander capable of true brutality has already become a rebel.” Historical evidence, however, has since shown that Federal forces were not as innocent during the war as President Olson portrayed, and that high command often turned a blind eye to excesses committed by Federal officers and units against rebel partisans.
Pictured: OSS memo on Loyalist Terror.
As July, 1937 came to an end, the United States had once again found itself spread thin, unable to contain enemy offensives, and deeply paranoid about the enemy within its territory. The end of the Second American Civil War had disappeared over the horizon, and once again the question of whether the United States and its democratic system could even survive the war began to be whispered on the lips of its loyal citizens.
Last edited:
- 4
- 2
July looked very grim for the Federal government indeed.
- 1
The Feds need some more direct support from compassionate nations abroad to turn the tide of this war. Who has officially pledged support to each side (ie lend lease or volunteers?)
Unfortunately my save file is long since out of date, but I can tell you with certainty that at this point in the war, the CSA had volunteer divisions from Syndicalist Italy, France, Britain, Finland, Norway, Centroamerica, Chile, and the Bharatiya Commune and as they did not control any ports at this point in the war, I do not think they were receiving lend-lease from anyone (unless the game does not work the way I thought?)
The AUS had received volunteer divisions from Germany, the Russian State, Integralist Brazil, and Natpop Sweden. I am fairly certain they were receiving lend-lease from Germany and Russia as well at the very least. Possibly others as well.
The US had received volunteers from only Japan, the Peru-Bolivian Confederation, and Mexico at this point in time, though they had lend-lease from those countries as well as the leading nations of the Entente, who were too busy fighting a war in Nepal to send volunteers of their own.
