There is only one alternative for Europe: either Asiatic barbarism under Moscow's leadership will flood it like an avalanche, or Europe must rebuild Poland by putting 20 million heroes between itself and Asia in order to gain time for the accomplishment of its social revival.-Carol Marx, speech at a meeting of the Council of the International and Workers' Society in London, "Commonwealth," January 22, 1866
A collective report for the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the People's Republic of Poland on the battle between Altaras and Parpaldia and the armed forces of both countries and their effectiveness.
The infantry of the Kingdom of Altaras is divided into
Riflemen- The standard soldiers of the Altaras Army, they are the backbone of their army. They have shown great fortitude against a much more numerous enemy, both when using surprising weapons and when in close combat with the enemy in the trenches. They are dressed in jackets and coats based on the uniform wz.36 on the basis of which uniforms for LWP were sewn during and shortly after the war until the 50's. They are khaki coloured like the original.
All uniforms are made of cloth if it is winter version and denim if it is summer version. On their feet they wear boots based on pattern.31 slippers made of strong pigskin, for slippers clips were used. On their leather belt they carry two pouches for their Mosin rifle, 100 rounds in total. On their backs they carry ankle-shaped backpacks over which a sleeping bag is placed.
Under the rucksack, in which the soldier carries his things, necessary for living but not useful for fighting, on the left there are a breadbox and a canteen, the first one is also used as a place for grenades. On the right he carries a gas mask in his bag in case of a chemical attack or, more often than not, in case of fighting land dragons and viviers. The mask has proven effective to protect against the negative effects of fire from these beasts.
Above his left hip he carries a leather shovel attached to his belt, as well as a bayonet for his rifle, though it can also be used as a knife. The bayonet itself is on the shovel in a convenient place allowing it to be quickly removed and thrust into the enemy's neck. It does not interfere with pulling the shovel out of the scabbard. The bayonet is an Altaran design and is called the scissor bayonet wz.69
They went to the battle wearing hats model 31 Salamandra, or rogatywka caps.
Soldiers armed with machine guns such as hand machine guns RPD received special pouches for drum magazines, other than that they do not differ much from regular soldiers.
Sappers on the other hand receive instead of a sapper's shovel, a sapper's shovel and sapper's boots and do not carry backpacks on their backs, everything is carried on their transport. Additionally, they are armed only with submachine guns for protection, they are not supposed to fight the enemy.
The gunners themselves showed that they successfully repelled the larger mass of the enemy and quickly gathered into formation when the enemy attacked with so-called magic guns in both versions.
Stormtroopers - Specialized units of the Altaras Army, they are armed with machine guns and hand machine guns. On their uniforms they wear armour for close combat, for which they are trained and equipped. Unlike riflemen who bring their swords at their own risk, stormtroopers have them in stock and their combat doctrine is to use them.
They carry more grenades than regular soldiers and have access to special versions of them. They interact with infantry division tanks and are transported to the battlefield on their armor. Additionally, they move around in trucks unlike regular riflemen who must march. All of their expendable equipment on the battlefield is in their trucks.
Their fighting style is very aggressive and involves short ranges and close combat to prevent the enemy from opening fire. Their armor is not meant to protect them from bullets but from melee blows, so they wear protection where a blow with a white weapon would be fatal. They are composed of those men who did not achieve great success in shooting during their training or who were reluctant to do so and preferred sword fighting. Machine Pistols were more than enough to compensate for their almost non-existent ability in this area.
Some of the soldiers tend to use both sword and pistol in combat. They are mainly used to break up entrenched enemy positions and to fight in fortresses and cities. The soldiers themselves receive additional mental training to immunize them against anticipated heavy losses in assaults.
Horse Riflemen- They combine their cavalry skills with being mobile infantry. If they can, they charge at the enemy to trample him into the ground, if not, they fight like regular riflemen. They are armed with Mosin carbines and their uniforms are tailored to move quickly on horseback. They do not use armor, and operate in accordance with the regulations of the Polish cavalry from the IIRP. They were trained by those who stayed in the country and served earlier in the cavalry. They are not to be underestimated under any circumstances, they can show that cavalry in this world is not dead yet, and with the world's poor infrastructure this will not change soon.
Their job is to support tanks in the open field, which is where stormtroopers have trouble. They are supposed to avoid urban combat. Additionally they carry more anti-tank weapons mainly RPG-7s and anti-tank grenades. They also have access to more anti-tank guns, the withdrawn from the LWP but effective ZiS-3 and the newer but more expensive and bought without a license to produce them D-44 and D-48.
Tanks of the Kingdom of Altaras
4TPA- Basic reconnaissance tank and guardian angel of your own infantry and butcher of the enemy. It has received simple but life-saving upgrades making the life of the armored inside easier. It is armed with a 20mm caliber Large Caliber Machine Gun wz.38 FK-E modernized version, but at the same time adapted to the Altaras industry that is being built. One of the modernizations was the development of a new magazine with a belt for 100 rounds, at the same time the whole thing has been simplified enough that Altaras will have no problem with its production. It is recommended to see if it can be used to replace the used DSzK and NSW and to unify the armament. Additionally, it was coupled with PKT, replacing the original heavy machine gun wz.30.
Additionally, a new engine was fitted, adapted from PT-76 for 4TP, and the armour itself was thickened to 20 mm at the front and 15 mm at the sides and rear of the hull, while the turret was thickened to 15 mm on each side. The thickened armor proved to be a foresighted idea when, during the battle, shells from hand-held magical guns hit the armor. In addition, the whole construction was simplified, increasing the tank's resistance to damage.
Maximum speed after all improvements was 75 km/h on road and 70 km/h off road. Engine from PT-76 proved to be powerful enough to increase predicted speed significantly over original 55 km/h with original engine.
The crew is 2 people but thanks to the upgrades made to the turret, this is not as taxing as in the original prototype. It is manufactured under licence by the newly built Royal Motor Vehicle Factory at Le Gas in the center of the country.
The vehicle itself, with its machine guns, broke up the enemy offensive and, thanks to its speed, outpaced the enemy infantry cutting them off from their escape route.
For the enemy it was the most fearsome machine because of its literal tearing to shreds of the enemy while maintaining a high rate of fire.
9TPA- Basic Altaras tank. Like its lighter relative it underwent simple improvements improving crew capabilities. The construction was simplified on the basis of proposed proposals for improvement of the vehicle before the war. Designers from Bumar-Labędy Plant added something from themselves making the construction of the tank for Altaras even easier without weakening it.
Armor has been thickened to 40 mm in the front of the hull and turret and to 25 mm in the sides and rear. Thanks to the engine of PT-76 it was not slowed down, what is more, its speed was increased to 40 km/h. As a gun was chosen Soviet tank cannon from T-70 of 45 mm caliber. Similarly as in 4TP it has been replaced with PKT, which frees up a lot of space for more shells for the cannon and facilitates the work of the crew.
The crew consists of 3 men, but thanks to improvements the gunner can load the cannon himself, thus relieving the tank commander to focus more on commanding the machine.
It is produced under license in the same factory as 4TPA.
During the battle thanks to it's division it helped to force infantry out of entrenched positions in Parpaldia, and considering it was smaller than T-34/85 it could get in where bigger machine could not. One of the tank platoons killed one of the land dragons when it tried to escape.
T-34/85M2 - Medium Altaras tank, bought but not produced. It comes from Polish stocks of these tanks and a new series of these vehicles produced especially for Altaras. The tank is a modernized version of classic T-34/85 from the war times. It has improvements that make the vehicle easier to move and more comfortable to use on the battlefield and it can move better on lake and river beds than the original.
Data of the tank are commonly known so they will not be quoted here. The only difference from the original is that it has, like the first versions, only 4 tank operators. The role of radio operator was taken over by the tank commander. It is noted that the Altaran T-34 has an identical machine gun on the roof of the tank as the main weapon 4TPA instead of the Soviet DszK as in the Polish ones.
The tank itself was the main force that repulsed the attack of the land dragons. It was the main axis of the counterattack of the Altaras troops, and was the most terrifying for the Parladia infantrymen from the appearance of the tank. It was thanks to them that the remnants of the attackers were eventually convinced to surrender.
The Altaran tankers praise it very much, and because of the smaller than typical Polish tankers physique it is much more comfortable for them than for our tankers. Of course, it is necessary to take into account the fact that our former comrades said the same about our T-34s from the Soviet Union, East Germany and Czechoslovakia.
Altaras Air Force
No data due to not using them in battle, the air support role was taken over by our Lim-6bis.
Altaras Navy
The Line Ships - their combat effectiveness was very low, and only thanks to the overwhelming firepower of our destroyers and the Altaran chasers were losses avoided among them. The ships were too slow to catch up with our ships and on the battlefield their target was usually destroyed before they got into firing range. The Navy intends to take them out of service and use them as training and museum ships. One of them is to be the fleet's showpiece ship.
Couragex Type chasers - Lightweight ships designed for hunting enemy ships and patrolling. They turned out to be very effective in combat and the crews, contrary to pre-war fears, did not succumb to the illusion of power and acted in accordance with their training. Thanks to their mines they surprised the enemy ships. It is recommended to adapt Fala type to Couragex standard.
Parpaldia Infantry
Line Infantry- The standard infantry from the Napoleonic Wars. They quickly adapted to the new battlefield conditions. Caution is advised, their muskets have proven to be more effective than we know. They have access to so called hand-held magical cannons which serve as grenade launchers on the battlefield but with a longer range than we know. Their uniforms are subdued in color and uniform in their colors.
Their officers reacted quickly to the sniper and sharpshooter fire of the Altaras, getting rid of their rank symbols on the battlefield. On the second day of the battle, the entire officer cadre did so, and they even started dressing like regular soldiers to avoid a quick death.
The infantry itself shows a high level of discipline and is able to withstand even heavy losses when marching on the enemy. Every soldier has a close combat weapon in addition to bayonets. No soldiers are seen with body armor. They know the tactics of entrenching troops, although it is obvious that they have not practiced it on a large scale. The fortifications they built and met on the second day were very different from each other, some of them looked like an attempt to imitate Altaran fortifications, while others were probably in accordance with their military regulations.
Elite Infantry- The elite of Parpaldia's military, much better trained, with a fair amount of initiative, the soldiers themselves have weapons similar to the single shot firing pin rifles that account for most Altaran bullet losses. They are able to attack as well as regular infantry, despite the heavy losses, but because of their tactics they are able to avoid them.
On the battlefield they do not follow a linear formation, moreover it can be seen that they have been trained to fight in forests. They effectively avoided artillery fire. These soldiers were the only ones who did not panic when tanks appeared, and they supported the land dragons in the attack. They did not get caught in minefields, allowing regular infantry to clear them.
Mobile units of the Parpaldii
Cavalry- Unarmored light cavalry armed only with pistols, lances and sabers. No data related to the combat of these units. Most of these soldiers died on the transport ships, the rest were in reserve intended to chase the fleeing soldiers of Altaras, they were not used on the beach given the lack of space for charges and the lack of taming of their horses with artillery fire. On the second day it was considered pure suicide to send them into battle.
Land Dragons- The most dangerous creatures in the Paraladian army, they should be considered a priority target and it is advisable to bombard the breeding grounds of these creatures from the air. They are capable of withstanding many blows from 85 mm caliber guns. And they can withstand a very large number of shells of lower caliber. I believe that the weapons of our T-55s will clearly be effective against them but for every dragon it should take two-three shots from a T-55. The average number of shells used to kill them was 6 among T-34 crews and a platoon of 7TPA needed as many as 15 to kill one of them. Regular small arms were ineffective against them. Anti-tank grenade launchers were an effective weapon, but an entire platoon must open fire to be sure of killing one of them.
The dragons themselves are capable of withstanding considerable damage and healing, so continuous fire is recommended. An autopsy on these creatures should give more information on them and will probably improve the number of cannon rounds needed to kill one of them.
They are responsible for most of the battle losses on the Altaras side, acting as living tanks with flamethrowers but with a much shorter range than our flamethrowers on vehicles.
I suggest CROODYL as a code name.
Parpaldia Air Force
The Wyvers- For practical reasons we are combining all the Wyvers into one formation. We have no data on their combat effectiveness due to our pilots killing them all. Unlike their land-based cousins they are much less armored, Lim-6bis cannons literally ripped them to shreds.
There is no real data to support the fact that they can move at speeds of 350 km/h according to second-hand data received.
We have no information on their effective firepower range, but given the capabilities of the Land Dragons they may have similar firepower range and effectiveness.
Their default doctrine according to POW interrogations is to scout and support ground troops like our helicopters.
I suggest SALAMANDRA as the code name.
Parpaldia Navy
100-gun ships-of-the-line- The main combat ship of the Parpaldia Navy, it is a ship native to the 18th and first half of the 19th century of our world. It is no threat to our fleet as long as they keep their distance, which is possible given their low speed, even the old Altaras were faster. As well as a short firing range of only 2 kilometers. Any of our ships, even the oldest Błyskawica and Burza would be able to sink them without much trouble as long as they keep their distance.
Canyoner- Small sailing ships, they pose no threat to our forces. Their only advantage is that they are small, which makes them difficult to hit.
The Dragon Carrier - The strongest and most dangerous ship of the enemy, since it is a Carrier, or more precisely a Carrier Helicopter, since Wyverns are more helicopters than airplanes. It is recommended to destroy them immediately to avoid a possible air attack by the enemy. It is said that there are two larger ones for the strongest vivisection that reach 130 meters in length, considering that these new vivisections are too big for ordinary ones. They have no armaments in stock, their only weapons being their "aircraft".
Transport Vessel - A lightly armed vessel for transporting troops, they should be considered a secondary target to dragon transporters given that they carry the only land forces that threaten us.
The Battle of the Empty Land- It took place from November 25 to 26, 1974 and ended with the victory of the Kingdom of Altaras. The Imperial forces were completely shattered and less than a quarter of the total forces sent were taken prisoner. The few enemy ships according to orders were let loose.
The battle itself was fought on the beach and the second line of fortifications. It showed the Parpaldian land forces as dangerous to us if taken lightly. Their forces are capable of marching straight into fortified enemy positions despite expectations that they would collapse under the level of losses. They are also able to adapt quickly to new rules of engagement. The enemy's greatest asset as well as its weaknesses have been discovered.
In my opinion and that of the other comrades sent as observers, Parpaldia is a dangerous adversary thanks to its huge numbers and the fact that it can adapt quickly and has an unbreakable discipline.
Japan
Yokosuka Kino Fleet
November 30, 2015 J.C/ 1974 P.C
News of Altaras victory over Parpaldia reached Japan with little delay. The war itself was not overly noticeable in the Japanese public consciousness but it was not unknown either. There was a large group of people throughout Japan discussing it and awaiting news from the front. Among them were former American sailors from the 7th Fleet who took a keen interest in the war as a whole.
The broadcast of Gierek's speech rejecting the demands was known all over Japan and even got made into memes, mostly by foreigners who were relocated with Japan. The demands themselves had less of an impact than in Poland, given that fewer people were interested in them even though they were known.
The general support when it comes to the sides concerns those who defend themselves, that is Poland and Altaras, no one supports Parpaldia especially after what happened in Fenn. It could be said that the war has its own information window in which experts explain to ordinary people how the People's Armed Forces of Poland and the Altaras military operate.
Generally speaking, this is one of many topics in this country. Rather more important is another fact, namely the sudden explosion of interest in everything Polish since Poland came into existence. Bolesławiec pottery already known and liked in Japan, often to the point of madness, now began to beat all records of popularity.
The second was what the Japanese call Porando Anime, i.e. Polish animated cartoons for children, which quickly gained popularity not only in Japan but mainly in Japan-supported countries, where they were more popular than anime.
Especially because they don't use dubbing like Anime and the story is told without dialogues and they seem more familiar to them than foreign anime. Bolek and Lolek were particularly popular in other countries. In Japan itself, Reksio gained popularity. What helped in popularization was primarily the Polish Institute in Japan, which suddenly began to be stormed, and a private initiative of Poles living in Japan, who simply in cooperation with the Studio of Cartoon Films began to distribute these animated films.
The authorities of the Polish People's Republic, seeing this, started to support all this by not making obstacles in the cooperation and by giving more money to all film studios in Poland to make new films. The third thing was everything produced by Polish technical thought, i.e. airplanes, tanks, cars. Especially the latter became an export hit given the fact that everything is retro and cheap at the same time.
Not much less popular were of course Chopin's music, which enjoyed another renaissance, although he is a very popular composer in Japan, and Polish films. Especially new for Poles and old for them, although not widely known in the world, was Potop, a screen adaptation of Henryk Sienkiewicz's book of the same title, belonging to what in Poland is called the Trilogy.
The premiere in Japan was postponed in relation to Poland due to the fact that a newly established Polish company in Japan called simply Poltek which has the goal of releasing films in Japan has to adjust it to the technology of the 21st century. Because of that there were 4 versions of the film released. Namely, the first two are the film with the original length of 5 hours! With Japanese dubbing and subtitles, both in Japanese and English. The other two are shortened versions of the film to three hours.
The premiere itself took place on November 30th and by coincidence it coincided with the victory of Altaras quickly pushing him out of the public opinion which was waiting impatiently for this film. The story of ancient Poland, unknown to the rest of the world, was met with a considerable advertising campaign created by Poltek. Additionally, they accidentally said that this film is one of the best films in the history of Polish Film Art, nominated for an Oscar for the best foreign language film.
In short, there was a lot of interest. And the lines were long.
Especially like the one at the Fleet Cinema in Yokosuka for American soldiers. Sailors and their families were standing in line to see a film about old Poland, supposedly similar to America, as one of the film's advertising slogans proclaimed.
''Dad, how much longer?'' A little boy asked his father, impatiently standing in line. His mother just giggled at the way her son had been asking this question ever since they arrived. ''Some more Tom'' said the man to his son. Tom just looked at his dad and said, ''But Dad, you said the same thing a few minutes ago! And I want to see those winged hussars already!'' The father just shook his head ''Sorry son, but we have to wait a bit longer'' then he looked at Tom with a serious look ''And impatient boys don't watch films.''
The boy who took it seriously looked tearfully at his dad and said, ''Dad, I'm a patient boy, it's just that the line is too long.'' The father thought for a moment, then looked at his son and said, ''Tom, do you remember that movie about the PRL?'' The boy nodded. ''Did you see that in Poland boys like you stand in line politely and often all day long because there is nothing in their stores? That they can't go to the store like you and buy what they want but only have ration cards for food? And each of those queues is as long as this one and what's more it's like there every day!''
He remembered the film and was in disbelief when he saw it all, he may have been a little boy, but he was a smart boy and was surprised that something like that could happen in the world. He had seen boys like him standing politely in lines for something he knew and had in large numbers. He could not understand that such a thing was possible, that it was possible to stand all day for ordinary food and not get anything because the store had run out. He could not imagine that it was possible not to know sweets and not to be able to buy them normally in the store.
''I understand, Dad'' he replied and stopped whining. After a few minutes, he finally got his turn to buy tickets. Then he and his family bought themselves a large popcorn. There they waited until the commercials were over and the movie started. After a short while of darkness a picture appeared with three people in it, then the opening credits appeared and Kazimierz Sierocki's music came out of the speakers...
I welcome you this time to another chapter, this time a bit shorter than the previous one. As I said this chapter is more descriptive though after some thought I added what was going on in the world a bit more broadly. I slightly reworked the land dragons are tougher than the original. Well what can I do more thing time for explanations right?
Type vs Class- In Polish for the classes of the ship is said type. For example the USS Enterprise in Polish is a type Yorktown and not a class Yorktown! The class of a ship in Polish is its type. Coming back to the Enteprise, for Poles her class is an aircraft carrier!
NKM 20 mm wz.38 FK-E- an invented version of an existing machine gun, developed before the war. It was the main weapon of TKS, anyone who played WOT knows how it looks like, in the game itself 4TP also has it. The weapon itself is simply a confluence of two versions of this weapon. If it was put into production it would be called the heaviest machine gun, which is an extension of the original abbreviation. The 20 millimeter is not fiction for real this weapon had that caliber and it was intended to replace the older machine gun.
A short explanation for ATP, first of all mate I don't know if you realised but I'm also from Poland, it's hard for a foreigner to know Poland like that. Secondly, the choice for old tanks is obvious, because I can and because PRL is not going to give something that will be too difficult to produce in let's be honest now PT-76 will be more useful to PRL than Altaras considering that there will be Naval Invasion and generally for future campaigns.
Reply to Wilimeister thanks for the information, for now it will stay here, in the future I will move it there as there will be more works probably.
RPD- Manual Machine Gun produced by the USSR after the war, it fires identical bullets to the AKM but this is before they converted the AK to a machine gun version. The weapon itself became more popular abroad than in the USSR. A large batch went to Vietnam and participated in the war there. Americans acquired and liked this weapon. What is more, they began to modify it so that it could be fired from the hip with one hand. You don't believe me? Then look it up.
Bolek and Lolek - Characters from the series of the same name, the names themselves are diminutives for children Bolek from Boleslaw, Lolek from Karol. This is a series of cartoons for children and then in the 70s were without words, so if you want to see what was watched in Poland for many years as a kid, you can check it out without any problem. Generally it is a series about two little boys and their adventures. If you're looking for something for kids and don't want to play modern fairy tales, I recommend it.
Reksio- Another animated character for children, this time about a smart and resourceful dog named Reksio, as if anyone was wondering this is a diminutive of Rex, in Polish x can be written as ks. Popular character in Poland, known rather older years, not only from the PRL.
Studio Filmów Rysunkowych- state-owned, as it was in communism, studio responsible for animations, or if you prefer cartoons. It has many interesting and good animated series, not always for children, first did for adults. It was founded in 1947 and was one of five animation studios. It still exists today and continues to make cartoons for children.
Porando Anime- A brief explanation of why I highlighted this. You see first of all it's a completely different style than anime, which is obvious but it's also not cartoon like American works. I did it for one more reason, in Polish for animation, another thing that for the Japanese everything animated is anime, they say fairy tales. That's right, they say fairy tales for animation, and do you know how they say anime jokingly or maliciously in Polish? Chinese Fairy Tales!
Heavy Machine Gun wz.30 - This is an unlicensed copy and modernization of the American Browning M1917. It is enough to look at both rifles to realize that they look almost identical. The main difference lies in the bullets, the Polish rifle shoots with Mauser ammunition then the standard rifle cartridge in the Polish Army. Why the lack of licenses? Well, the Poles had been run over by a Belgian company, which offered a BAR for Poland, and that is why they were reluctant to buy weapons abroad. Fortunately, a Polish engineer discovered that the rights to which Colt referred in Poland had already expired, so without any problem we simply copied it and started producing it. If you are interested, I refer you to the story about the Polish version of the BAR, the scam that took place would discourage anyone from buying abroad.
Queues in PRL - the first and sufficient reason why Poles hate communism and socialism in general. It is visible on photos, especially meaningful is the fact that the only things that were always on the shelves were two things, vinegar and vodka. For example, there were always ration cards for toilet paper. In Radom, the ration of toilet paper could be one and a half rolls per person. And you should know that ration cards were given for a month! If you are interested, I refer you to the photos from the era, you will be surprised how long the queues could be! Those who are looking for a game for friends, I refer to the website of the Institute of National Remembrance, where the board game Pan tu nie stał! is sold. One session with this game and you will quickly learn what happened in the People's Republic of Poland.
Potop- Screen adaptation of the second book of the so called Sienkiewicz trilogy. It tells the story of the First Republic, known as the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The film itself is one of the most successful, made on a grand scale about old Poland. It was released the same year as star wars. First Star Wars. I recommend watching with subtitles, you won't find dubbing. On youtube you can find one of the scenes of this movie titled best fencer fight scene in the movie.
ZiS-3- anti-tank cannon from World War II. For some, the best anti-tank gun of the war, towering over all other guns. D-44 and D-48 are post-war anti-tank guns used even today. The last Zis served in the Polish Army until the 1980s.
Traditionally, for those who have read to the end, I wish you a pleasant reading, encourage you to leave your opinion and observe the further story. And now a short joke about Polish queues. What did Stalin die of? For luck! If you get it, let me know. And if not then read about what the USSR was according to the Soviet propaganda.