Introduction - Part III - Military
January 1st, 1936, 12:45 AM
"Hello everyone. Along with my joint chiefs, I have a report of our current military status. First up, our strategic situation and tactical goals." Manuel Manchón passed out papers as he spoke. "This first document shows our current force deployment, along with individual nations and current objectives.
"Our short-term goal is securing our lines and redeploying the bulk of our force. As you can see, I have marked this map with two kinds of dots. The line of blue dots marks our defensive line in Africa. There is no industry past that line, so our forces beyond that will fall back and dig in, forming an impassable boundary for enemy advance. The red dots mark locations where small regional defensive groups will be formed. These will each include three infantry divisions for the time being and will protect our homeland from rebels and enemy invaders. Now, Etienne will brief us on our naval situation."
Etienne Schlumberger stood, "Hello everyone. In my short time as the Chief of Navy, I have assembled a short report for you. Here is a current listing of ships under command of us and our allies.
"As you can see, our ships are limited by the Treaty of Thrace, same with our allies. We will commence shipbuilding as soon as we have researched newer designs. I have organized the Navy into two seperate fleets. We have the Main Fleet, commanded by Grand Admiral Faglade. Along side, we have our smaller Submarine Squadron, commanded by Rear Admiral Bethouart.
"Our navy is outdated by modern standards, but equal to other navies throughout the world. Most of our ships are at least a decade old, but we won't scrap them until our new navy is assembled. Speaking of which, we are already starting work on designing new battleships. Our modern navy will be made-up of surface attack groups- SAGs from here on out. " Etienne sat down and motioned to Marcel Deat, Head of the Air Force, who stood promptly.
"It is my belief that despite being on par with other contingents, both enemy and ally, that we need to immediately start work on modernizing and expanding our Air Force. With air superiority, we can control the skies, making our troops feel safe and increasing moral. Our current force is meager but here's the statistics anyways.
"Our 1600 planes have been organized into 400 plane groups. They are farther divided by role, be it Interceptor or Bomber. Here's the final assignments. Jean?"
Jean Bertin-Boussus stood. A grizzled veteran of the First and Second Great European wars, along with the Mozambique Insurrection and the APR-Coalition war, he was certainly experienced enough to lead the army. "Since my two colleagues have done the same, I have a list of current divisions here for you.
"As you can see, the Treaty has limited numbers to enough for border defenses, nothing more. Due to their large island holdings, Australasia has very large numbers. Unfortunately for them, their force is spread thin and ill-able to mount any offensive. Our own forces are more than adequate. We are currently redeploying most of our coastal defenses to the main front in Europe. Once our redeployment is complete in exactly 24 hours, we will have two infantry divisions in each province on the front. We will at that time assign commanders. Our armored divisions are currently based in Paris but will be moving to the front presently. They are split into two separate corps with three divisions each.
"We have medium sized detachments located on our island claims. Most of these will be swiftly removed, as they would be of more use on the front. Our garrisons in The Azores and Cape Verde will stay put to hold the military based located there. The remaining troops will be transfered to Europe." Jean gave a small sigh as he sat down. Those present were unable to tell if it was a sigh of weariness or a sign of lust for the upcoming war.
