AN:
Credits to Vasilisa, perfect_shade, TheBattleSage and Readhead for the revisions.
Ch 54 will come next, then Ch 4 rewrite.
I am also drafting some major plot changes for Ch 12-13, but it won't affect the rest of the story.
The old chapter 3 is at the bottom of this page.
October 13th, 1942, somewhere in Sibyria:
'Patrolling Sibyria makes me miss the forests and rice paddies of Yunnan.'
Chen Shusheng stopped to take a swig of icy water from his half-frozen canteen and glanced back at the trudging line of pack animals and porters laden with supplies for his division.
"I wonder if we'll make it through winter?" Shusheng absentmindedly asked himself, only to be startled when he noticed Cao Zuolin was standing next to him.
"Worried about tomorrow? Stick with me and you'll be just fine, boy. This is like home to me." Zuolin chuckled. "I spent years as -"
"- a bandit in Sibyria, robbing the Rus all day and night before being caught and conscripted by the Motherland," Shusheng finished, rolling his eyes. "You've already told me. Over a hundred times..."
"Because it bears repeating," the older man insisted shamelessly. "I'm a proud Honghuzi, and -"
"- I'd do it all over again," Shusheng sighed, looking far off in the distance to the site of last night's campground. "Every day of marching takes us farther away from the railways and roads. And we've been marching for more than three weeks now. When everything freezes over, we won't be able to dig up roots, forage for berries, or hunt animals. How are the Rus forces we're pursuing going to survive this winter if we're struggling?"
"Unless they have a well fortified and provisioned base, they will also struggle." Zuolin pulled out a set of binoculars and set to surveying the surrounding forest. "They keep avoiding battle, so they're likely running on empty stomachs. The real battle is who will survive the elements long enough for the spring to return. I do miss the early days when we were constantly ambushing them."
"You mean the days when we were doing those damned 'stealth' marches? Including the one where we maintained full anonymity for over a month while hunting several hundred Rus soldiers, only for them to surrender without a fight?" Shusheng grumbled, irritated and somewhat surprised that anybody could feel nostalgic for those first frantic days.
"To you, night marches without lights to show the path or warm the hands, and cookfires banked low and smokeless were a new burden, chafing and uncomfortable." Zuolin chuckled, full of the rueful self-satisfaction native to all men of a certain age. "For me, it was just business as usual. Back before my gang disbanded, we used to march like that all the time! It made ambushing Rus and Akinese camps and raiding villages so easy when they couldn't see us coming! And that meant it was always child's play to steal enough supplies to live another day. I had to feed my family after the Rus and Akinese pillaged my village two different times, after all! And now the enemy has to play guerrilla against our overwhelming forces and our Rus allies who've seen the light."
"I remember my father telling me stories about how they tried to put down the Buddhist rebellion way over in the Tibetan mountains back two decades ago," Shusheng regretfully conceded, "so I guess I can't complain too much."
"The rebellion that was such a pain that the government gave up trying to stamp them out and instead signed that joke of a peace deal?" Zuolin asked rhetorically, continuing to scan their surroundings with his binoculars.
"Yeah. Entire divisions would go in and sometimes the whole unit would be entirely wiped out. Other times, a few starving survivors would trickle back to the main camp."
"That probably explains why the officers were so damn extreme with the stealth marching," Zuolin chuckled. "Some of them may have been the survivors or witnesses of horrors like that, or knew people that were mauled in those mountains."
"You know what the damn logistics officers forgot to plan for?" Shusheng sighed.
"What?"
"Real tea. Sure we got all of these winter gear ahead of schedule, but all we've had for the past few months was pine needle tea!" Shusheng shifted his coat and scarf to block out the biting cold wind.
"Look on the bright side, we're both alive right no-"
Shusheng suddenly heard the whining buzz of a bullet flying right past him, and turned just in time to stare straight through the new bullet hole punched through Zuolin's binoculars. A second later, Zuolin's corpse slumped to the ground, a confused expression lingering on its blood-masked face, the flow already hardening in the arctic air.
Shusheng dived to the ground as the tree next to him exploded into splinters. Above him, bursts of anti-aircraft and DShK heavy machine gun fire downed a patrolling mage squadron, sending his fellow soldiers of the Motherland tumbling to earth like a shower of viscera-tailing comets.
Cursing, Shusheng brought his rifle to bear, fumbling with the old-fashioned bolt action to force a round into the chamber, and cursed again as he saw how well the enemy Rus had prepared for their ambush. A horde of Rus soldiers were already charging over the hilltop and down the slope towards the vulnerable convoy, while at least three hostile machine gunners provided overwatch in his area alone.
'If we only had the Russy semi automatic rifles and submachine guns, then we might have had a better chance. Too bad most of the good stuff that was captured from the Rus was reserved for front line soldiers.'
But for duty and self-preservation, he had to try nonetheless, and so he aimed his antique rifle at one of the machine gunners and squeezed off a round. The machine gun was silenced for about a second before another Rus soldier jumped in to resume firing. Shusheng kept cycling and firing until the entire machine gun crew was wiped out and his five round clip was emptied, but another group of Rus soldiers ran up to the machine gun to use it while he was reloading his rifle. Before he could resume shooting again, he saw one of the anti-aircraft guns repositioning to face his general direction, and a DShK crew member looking at the anti-aircraft crew and gesturing towards Shusheng's position.
This was a moment where a truly fanatical believer in the Revolution would linger, attempting to kill a few more enemies before himself being sliced up into raw meat chunks ready for a stir fry, or otherwise to fix his bayonet and charge. No true believer would consider running unceremoniously away.
'I want to live. I'm out.'
Shusheng immediately ran down the slope to break line of sight from the anti-aircraft gun and DShK crew, stepping aside to avoid a falling small tree cut down by the heavy caliber rounds slamming into it.
Attempting to find another position to fire from, Shusheng only saw that his comrades were already losing the desperate melee. One CSR soldier attempted to stab a Rus soldier with the bayonet fixed to his long rifle, but the Rus soldier grabbed the front end of the rifle, pushed it to the side, pulled it to carry the CSR soldier's momentum forward, and then elbowed the CSR soldier in the face. Another CSR soldier missed a shot while trying to use the bolt action rifle at less than four meters range, and their face was removed by the blast of a shotgun.
The anti-aircraft guns and DShK machine guns that previously tried to turn Shusheng into shredded meat had now been repositioned to rain lead on the remaining CSR holdouts. Off in the distance, he could see Rus soldiers were already killing the pack animals and lighting their supplies on fire.
He heard someone bark an order at him in a foreign language, and while he wasn't sure what they were exactly saying, he could infer that they were telling him to give up. He dropped his rifle and put his hands in the air, before being struck from behind with a rifle butt and his world turned black.
Meanwhile in Nanjing:
Zhang sat quietly at the conference table, deep in his thoughts, as a heated debate raged on around him.
"The NKVD told our agents that either we support North Bharat's upcoming war to liberate South Bharat and overthrow its illegitimate government or we won't get the Type 97 orb production schematics. They also promised that if we help them, they would provide additional assistance in crushing the hostile Rus factions attacking our forces in Sibyria, as well as helping to install a government more friendly to us." Kang had a look of annoyance on his face. "They have done a very thorough job of removing any signs of the Type 97 orb production from the Russy Federation territory and have already assassinated anyone involved with the orb that didn't come with them to North Bharat."
"And we have proof that they are manufacturing the Type 97 in North Bharat?" Li Kenong raised an eyebrow.
"They showed their manufacturing line to two of our agents as proof. They also took measures to ensure that we couldn't even obtain a photograph of their production site."
"What level of support does the NKVD require us to provide, and when do they need it?" Li Kenong asked. "If we have to chase after the orb, I intend on meeting that minimum and no more."
"Provide enough military hardware and supply shipments to equip and sustain at least several divisions, and also to provide advisors and 'volunteers' to assist the Bharatians, in particular mage 'volunteers'. They want us to send the first shipment before November. There's no way we can conceal our involvement in the war from South Bharat and the Allied Kingdom." Kang looked up from his papers. "The NKVD also requested additional weapons and supplies for their Middle East operations, with the first shipment to also be provided before November at a designated location in the Middle East. They also tried asking for support for their insurgency operations in Caucasia, but I told them to not get greedy and pick two of the three options or we would find another way to get the Type 97 orbs without their assistance."
"We need that orb!" Peng pounded his fist on the table. "There is nothing our military can do to halt an invasion by the Akinese and their potential Germanian ally without it! The US, isolationist bastards though they are, is the very heart of Capitalism and so are clearly the enemies of communists everywhere, and will not hesitate to leverage its industrial capacity and resources to assist the Akinese and Germanians! If our mages have thousands of Type 97 orbs, that would deter the capitalists from threatening our way of life!"
"...By involving ourselves directly in North Bharat's invasion, we would give the capitalists a significant incentive to invade us after they finish dealing with North Bharat, when we could instead stay quiet and avoid attention until our industrialization from our Great Leap Forward is completed. It wouldn't be just the Allied Kingdom coming after us, no, the rest of the capitalist countries will fear us and North Bharat, and act on those fears." Li Kenong shook his head dismissively. "And for the NKVD to ask us to provide weapons to the Middle East… We would be poking a sleeping tiger. We are not prepared for the tiger to awaken."
Peng turned his head at Li Kenong. "It would take us at least a decade to create an orb that can match the Type 97 orb, which itself is already an old design that dates back to the 1920's!"
"To meet North Bharat's war material demands first requires building roads and railways through Tibet. That's a massive amount of labor and material that would be pulled away from the Great Leap Forward, which isn't even including the war material itself! No industry means we'll run out of bullets in a sustained war, never mind all of the other ammunition, supplies and equipment that are needed by your military! Your mages would have to rely on swords and axes!"
"Regarding the first point, we can use cargo ships," Kang suggested, which did nothing to shift the look of deep skepticism carved on Peng's face.
"Maybe twice, three, or four times. Then they will notice a pattern and the Albish ships will put a stop to it." Peng pushed aside his tea cup. "And when North Bharat launches their invasion, the Allied Kingdom will quickly blockade North Bharat."
Zhang tapped on the table to get everyone's attention, before turning to Kang. "What makes the NKVD believe that North Bharat will succeed in their invasion, if we provide the minimum required assistance?"
"They want to undermine the capitalists across the world, starting with the Albish and Frankish overseas colonial empires," Kang smiled. "A rise in nationalism, religious and ethnic movements throughout the Middle East will weaken the Allied Kingdom, leaving them unable to defeat North Bharat. They will be forced to concede the independence of the rest of Bhrarat to stop the rest of the subcontinent from joining the world revolution. Meanwhile, the Francois Republic's has already downsized its military, and the rest of Europe is looking for an excuse to demobilize their military forces."
"I agree with his position. We hit the capitalists at their weakest state," Peng took a sip of his tea.
"If we do this and break the uneasy status quo, there will be no chance for de-escalation," Li Kenong breathed heavily. "We would no longer be able to quietly bide our time while building up our strength. And if capitalists are truly disinterested in fighting another war, we will be squandering an opportunity to focus on growing rice instead of manufacturing guns. If the capitalists remobilize from our aggression, then all we can do is bluff and hope that they don't directly challenge us."
A minute passed by. Then two.
Finally Zhang opened his mouth.
He pointed at Kang. "Support the NKVD through any means necessary, but maximize our plausible deniability should the NKVD run into problems. I want absolute assurances that they will give us what they promised. If they scam us after pulling us into a war, I don't care if their heads end up rolling on the floor: we will burn down the Russy Federation to force them to stick to the original agreement. Cut off aid to North Bharat if need be."
He turned to Peng. "You know what to do for the advisor and 'volunteer' support request. Accelerate our mage augmentation research – we may need additional combat capable mages in the event that this war degenerates into a prolonged affair."
And then to a disappointed looking Li Kenong. "Begin building the logistics network in Tibet to support North Bharat, even if it delays our Great Leap Forward plan by a year or two. Work with Kang to smuggle arms shipments across the ocean before the war cuts off North Bharat's sea supply route."
"We'll be incredibly fortunate if this invasion lasts for less than a year and doesn't escalate to outside of Bharat," Li Kenong muttered.
Back in Sibyria:
"Hey, you. You're finally awake."
Shusheng got up in confusion and his whole body was in pain, along with a throbbing head. A Chinese mage was preparing to shock him again using their spell.
"What happened here?!" the mage demanded.
"T-they ambushed us," Shusheng stuttered out, "They had concealed anti-aircraft guns to shoot down the overwatch mages right at the start of the attack, and then they rushed us. They were so close, so fast, that those damned old rifles were useless except as clubs!"
The mage cursed, "Damn it… Well, you sure are a lucky one. Some Rus was going to put a bullet in your head before we showed up."
Shusheng looked at the mage in confusion, "What do you mean, I'm a lucky one?"
The mage jerked a finger to the side. "Take a look over there."
"Huh?" Shusheng followed the mage's finger, "Wha-why is there a line of bodies… Oh..."
The mage nodded, "They were executing all of the prisoners when we arrived to investigate the source of the noise. We killed some of those bastards before the rest disappeared into the forests."
Shusheng was slacked-jawed for a moment before realizing something; "...They were burning our food and tent supplies, and if they're executing prisoners, that means they don't have enough food for us either. What do we do now?"
"I have no idea," the mage shrugged. ""We can't retreat either because all of us will starve on the march back. Pine bark is only going to get us so far, and there aren't too many animals around during the winter for us to hunt."
"So our only option is forward?"
"I hope the Rus has plenty of food for us when we defeat them, because otherwise things will get desperate very quickly."
October 29th, 1942, Berun:
My phone rang as I struggled to rise as Visha slept next to me.
Who could be calling me this early in the morning?
I pulled the handset off the phone and held it to my ears.
The secretary had a nervous tone in her voice. "President Degurechaff, I apologize for waking you up, but we have a strange situation. King Ismail from Aegyptus has flown abruptly from Londinium and just landed in Berun. He says that he wants to meet you and Serebryakov."
"What does he want to discuss?"
"He said he just wanted to invite the two of you to a morning party, before he flies to South Bharat. Expenses covered by him, including alcohol."
What… What kind of maniac randomly calls up a head of state to ask for a party and drinking in the goddamn morning?!
"Does he have an agenda? Something to discuss?" I tightly gripped the handset.
"No… The only thing he wanted to do was to eat food, drink and have fun with the two of you and other Germanian VIPs."
Great, a complete waste of everyone's time.
I sighed with a deep annoyance. "I'll call you back. I need to talk to someone else about this."
As I hung up the phone and began dialing someone else, Visha stirred awake.
"What's going on dear?" Visha rubbed her eyes.
"Nothing to worry about…" I muttered, then held a hand up for Visha to stop talking when I heard the other person answer my phone.
"Good morning Elya, do you know anything about this 'King Ismail' that wanted to party with me in the morning?"
I heard laughter on the other end before Elya recomposed herself. "I apologize for the professional lapse, but you haven't seen the tabloids about the king and his endless shenanigans all across Europe?"
"No, I have no interest in social gossip," I said with an exasperated sigh.
"Well… he enjoys keeping the company of multiple attractive women, especially European ones. He's a kleptomaniac. He pickpocketed Churbull's watch as a 'joke', and his staff got into trouble in Parisee for stealing a 16th century bronze cannon, presumably on his orders, which was only resolved after he paid a ludicrous amount of gold to the Frankish government to brush the incident under the rug."
I heard the handset crack in my tightly gripped hand as Visha looked on with concern.
"Thank you for the information," I tersely said before hanging up, and dialing the secretary.
"Tell the party boy to get lost," I spat as soon as the secretary picked up the phone.
"He said he'll party in one of Berun's nightclub anyways."
"What nightclub is open in the morning?"
"A nightclub that was offered payment with gold bars to open very early at a short notice."
I rolled my eyes. I can't remember when was the last time I had something this annoying as a HR manager. Even the offending employees in my previous life weren't this blatant. Then again, this king was probably born with a silver spoon and no one ever dared to say no to him, and so never needed to develop any sense of self-restraint, least of all when it came to spending his country's wealth for his own entertainment.
I half contemplated just kicking him back into his party plane, and telling his pilot to get moving before he causes a scandal in Berun. Then an idea hit me.
"Tell him I'm heading to South Bharat and I'll meet him at a temple or some holy site in two days, as I have a national security meeting this morning. As for the specific temple in South Bharat, I don't care, just pick a random one because I'm not going to South Bharat."
"Why a temple?"
"Perhaps with adequate spiritual guidance he will cease to be such a decadent leader; if so, he'll have more than enough time to rediscover himself while waiting for me." I rolled my eyes.
Being X, if you're still out there, it would be hypocritical of you to pick on me when there are obviously far worse people out there. Maybe you can bring some sense into them.
"Yes, President," the secretary sighed before I hung up the phone.
October 31st, 1942, Lalji Temple, Kalna, South Bharat:
"I can't believe they fooled me, having me fly halfway across the world and wasting my time!" King Ismail huffed in annoyance as he paced around at the temple's empty ground. "Absolutely inconsiderate! Damn the Germanians, no sense of respect for a king!"
An aide walked up to the king. "Your Majesty, we have to leave in about two hours unless we pay the temple staff again to keep other visitors out."
King Ismail shifted his eyes to the two golden statues of Radha-Krishna. "Those statues, I love the little details in them. The styles of them. They would look beautiful… among my private collection."
The aide blinked for a moment, while the rest of the king's staff stopped what they were doing.
"Did I stutter?" King Ismail looked back at his hesitant aide.
"No, Your Majesty, we will take care of the matter." The aide stammered as the king's staff scrambled to execute their new task. "But the temple staff… The cargo transportation from here back to Aegyptus…"
"Spend what it takes to make it happen, I don't care about the cost." King Ismail dismissively waved his hand. "I'll be heading off to Bombay, I've heard good things about an upcoming festival they have there. I better not hear any trouble about our visit at this temple."
November 6th morning, 1942, Berun:
As I made my way to the dining room for a hearty breakfast before a long morning meeting, I saw Elya waiting for me at the table, and glanced at the documents she had next to her.
"A pre-meeting before a meeting?" I chuckled as I took my seat. "I'm assuming this might take a while, so feel free to order breakfast with me. Unfortunately Visha won't be joining us for breakfast due to some late night and early morning paperwork."
"Thank you," Elya nodded before she took her seat. "The Albish cult has leaked information about Londinium's concern of events developing in North Bharat. It appears the NKVD has not given up on trying to turn all of the Bharatian subcontinent into a communist stronghold."
"The Rus must be bitter about their recent defeat and are lashing out…" I tapped my chin, then handed a note card with my order to the waiter. I hope I wasn't too spoiled by Visha's cooking to appreciate government provided food.
"According to Albish intelligence agents that are in North Bharat, there has been an unusual military buildup and increased large scale training exercises in North Bharat. Most alarming information is the presence of apparently Chinese visitors at North Bharatian military sites, which previously have not been seen before."
"I'm sure they can handle it themselves," I said dismissively. Even if I wanted to play the hero, I wasn't sure how the Albish would perceive that, considering how they were still unofficially treating South Bharat as a colony.
Elya pushed her note to the waiter with a worried look on her face. "The Albish are a bit occupied with the uprisings brewing throughout their colonial empire, and they have to put down protests, riots and occasional rebel groups in their various colonies while also demobilizing their military. The situation in their Middle Eastern colonies and puppet states has them especially worried. Their elections back home are coming up, and their citizens are war-weary. As for South Bharat, they are plagued by political dysfunction, and the only thing their newly established parliament seems to agree on is taking an aggressive foreign policy against North Bharat, due to an incident with golden statues."
I blinked for a moment. "Golden statues?"
"One of their temples had their religious golden statues stolen. The temple staff accused some local residents of being seen at the temple grounds shortly before the disappearance of the statues, and coincidentally all of the accused residents were practitioners of a different religion. A religious riot soon ignited in the city."
"I'm not sure why that warrants my atten-" I was cut off by Elya.
"But it gets worse. Initially the authorities were suspicious of the temple staff, but they uncovered one of the accused residents as a North Bharatian spy. South Bharat's government was not amused and halted the already shaky unification talks with North Bharat, accusing the communists of trying to sow internal unrest and being so callous to religion that it was willing to steal sacred golden statues. North Bharat's government fired back, accusing South Bharat's government of being so incompetent that they lost track of two heavy golden statues and that they are grasping for scapegoats."
"So South Bharat is now accusing North Bharat of stealing statues and causing religious unrest, and now they are seeking blood…" I facepalmed at the absurdity of the situation. "Is South Bharat even ready for war?"
"Their local newspapers extensively covered the political dysfunction, and one of the articles also mentioned that their military is only getting temporary funding on a short term basis. Months and even weeks. We don't have any agents in South Bharat to have a direct understanding of what is going on."
Great. Warhawk politicians that want to bite off more than they could chew off on, and then blunder into a losing war. Where have I seen that before?…
"So they won't be able to pay for training and equipment when they're not even sure if they will have enough money to pay their soldiers. And they want war anyways." I took a sip of coffee before putting back down my cup. "We might need some eyes in the Bharatian subcontinent. If the Albish is unable or unwilling to bail out South Bharat, we might have to do it ourselves. I'm not going to let the communists take control of an extremely populous country so rich in resources without any opposition worthy of the name."
Elya finished scribbling in her notes. "It might take some time, especially for a region that we previously had no interactions with, but I'll put together some teams to send overseas."
Elya's comment about the Chinese intervention bothered me for some reason… If their 'observers' and 'advisors' were already in North Bharat, what about the material and 'volunteer' support for North Bharat?
"I'd be curious of what supply routes that the CSR might be using to arm up North Bharat," I turned to thank the waiter for bringing the food to me, before turning back to Elya. "Ocean shipping would likely be done with falsely flagged ships as a ship with Chinese identifications would draw everyone's attention. Even with the ship deception, the uptick in activities would be easily observed at North Bharat's ports, or anywhere else along the shipping routes to North Bharat, and easily cut off during war. Over the Tibetan mountains would be a major hindrance for anything more than small arms and light ammunition, unless they embark on major road constructions that would be impossible to hide."
"I'll take those into consideration," Elya smiled. "I think I know the perfect person for some investigations… Millicent Caldwell."
"Good idea," I took a sip of my coffee. "Cover her travel expenses as well."
And if Millie is halfway across the world to go dig up what the communists are trying to hide, she won't be bothering me anytime soon.
I then took a bite of the food as the waiter served Elya her food.
I had indeed taken Visha's cooking for granted, and forgotten just how bad government cooking could be. I need to buy her a gift to thank her.
Elya glanced down at her notebook as she chewed her food, then downed her food with coffee. "I almost forgot to bring up something. A Russy man by the name of Igor Sikorsky had reached out to Germanian aviation companies about developing a 'helicopter', an aircraft that can vertically take off and land, and hover in place. He claimed when he was living in the Unified States, he wasn't having any success with getting funding, and the Allied Kingdom also turned him down."
The potential development of the first helicopter…
"Give the man his funding," I blurted out without thinking.
Elya blinked a few times. I coughed and cleared my throat to give me a few seconds to come up with a plausible explanation. "While mages are a very limited human resource, the only thing holding back how many helicopters a country could field is the raw material to build them, aviation fuel to keep them running, and the number of trained pilots. For every task that a helicopter can do instead of a mage, I could have mages focus on other things."
Elya clicked her pen before writing in her notebook. "I'll start establishing monitoring in the Unified States and Allied Kingdom for more opportunities of neglected research developments."
"One man's trash is another's treasure," I pushed away my plate. "While you're at that, keep an eye on overseas electronics and computer developments. It doesn't just have to be government research."
An hour later:
"The insurgency situation in Caucasia is continuing to escalate with the approaching local elections in the region, and our military has been taking losses." Lergen sourly noted as he pointed at the map of Caucasia and Kazakh, and the pinpoints of insurgency activities.
"We'll just have to ensure and continue promoting economic development and democracy in the region," My eyes darted over to Kazakh. "It's quite suspicious that there is so little activity in Kazakh."
"If we lose control of Caucasia, we will be cut off from Kazakh."
"And that's what the NKVD is probably trying to accomplish," Elya frowned. "Especially since Caucasia is a major source of oil, and denying us the ability to rebuild the scuttled oil infrastructure means economically holding back OZEV."
"Is there any way we can discourage the locals in Caucasia from working with the NKVD?" I tapped my chin. "If we can isolate them, then the NKVD agents will be much more exposed."
"For right now I am running intensive propaganda campaigns to highlight the previous Rus atrocities and that OZEV would bring prosperity and freedom to the region. But this could be a long fight."
I let out a sigh. "I suppose one little positive news from this is that the more we force the NKVD to commit resources and personnel in Caucasia, the less they will have to support North Bharat."
"I know you earlier discussed your concerns about North Bharat, but I'm not sure how we will have the assets to support South Bharat." Lergen had a look of concern. "And the Albish might not appreciate us stepping on their feet."
"Expanding our fleet isn't an option as that will take years to happen," I nodded, then smiled. "But we can accelerate the construction of naval and air bases in Malagasy and in the Seychelles. It would be cheaper to build those than to build more ships and less provocative to the Albish as it's easier for them to monitor a few remote bases than our mobile ships. The bases would provide logistics hubs for our ships and aircraft to patrol the waters for communist smuggling activities, and serve as staging grounds to support South Bharat in the event of a war."
I then nonchalantly shrugged. "And if nothing happens, we can utilize those island bases to protect our trade route with Akitsushima Dominion, while also providing a tropical retreat for our service members. Maybe get some tourism going on those islands with the infrastructure established there."
Speaking of tropical retreat and tourism, I can't wait to go exploring Malagasy and the Seychelles island chains with Visha. A long overdue vacation, and in a warm climate instead of putting up with the winter in Germania.
"Do you intend on taking South Bharat?" Lergen's eyebrows furrowed.
I chuckled at the absurdity of his question. "A free and independent South Bharat is necessary to stop communism from overtaking all of Asia and then drowning us in human wave rushes from two of the most populous regions in the world."
"The Allied Kingdom still holds influence over South Bharat," Lergen had a strange look of desperation.
"If they stop North Bharat's aggression by themselves, then I prefer that outcome. Less work for us. But I'm not going to let the communist have free land if the Albish fumbles in their response. In fact, we should let them know about our island base constructions so that they aren't being spooked by our actions."
November 27th, 1942, at the Albish embassy in Berun:
Lloyd blinked a few times at the letter on his desk, then at the map of the South Bharati Ocean.
"They wanted to tell us that they will be building up military infrastructure in Malagasy and Seychelles as a forward operating base to respond to any communist activities in Southeast Asia or East Africa." Lloyd scoffed as he dialed his telephone to Londinium. "I don't believe a damn word from the Devil of the Rhine, not when they are establishing a military base in the midst of our colonial holdings! I should have seen that coming when the frogs handed all of those islands off to her."
"Sir, what do you plan on discussing with Londinium?" An aide had a nervous look.
"If she wants to militarize the Bharati Ocean, then we'll have to do the same with our Maldives island chain to maintain an equilibrium of force. We need to keep her contained!"
"North Bharat is also a concern…" The aide stopped talking when Lloyd glared at him.
"Wherever she goes, we get hurt, hard. We can't risk allowing her to swipe South Bharat from under us from us tunnel visioning on the communist threat."
November 25th, 1942, Aegyptus:
As the various officers put away their planning for an upcoming military parade for the king's upcoming birthday, Salem suddenly slapped down a photo of various items, with one of them in particular being circled, and a newspaper from South Bharat, onto the table.
"What is that photo about?" Nasser walked over to take a closer look.
"Let's just say an associate shared a copy of a photo of King Ismail's newly acquired collection from an extended overseas vacation in Europe and South Bharat." Salem then pointed at the South Bharatian newspaper that was printed in Albish. "There's a big drama in South Bharat about two stolen religious statues, which exactly match the statues in King Ismail's collection. Coincidentally, he was also in South Bharat around the time when the theft was reported."
"How did you get that newspaper?"
"For the newspapers and magazines that I couldn't find in the Fustat, I ordered via mail from every country that the king visited."
"Eventually South Bharat, or someone outside of our circle is going to discover that our king disgraced another country's religious practices and is responsible for causing a major riot," Mohieddin groaned in annoyance as other officers quietly talked to each other in regards to the photo and newspaper. "Oh this is such an embarrassment for our country."
"If we weren't being treated as puppets by the Albish, the king would have to actually act like a king." Nasser shook his head. "Not a playboy dependent on the Allied Kingdom to bail him out of any trouble."
As discussions became more heated, Nasser decided to step out of the room and head out of the building.
'We swore an oath to the king. But does the king care about Aegyptus?' Nasser thought to himself as he walked out the front entrance and onto the sidewalk.
Two plainclothes persons approached him, one of them flashing a badge.
"State Security Service. Major Izz al-Arab Nasser, we have some questions for you. Please come along with us."
About an hour later:
"...Going through your records, everything looks like you would be on track to be a lieutenant colonel. Your commanding officer, Colonel Anwar Naguib, has extensively praised you. The only minor negative note was from General Abdel Sirri Amer, but that's more a disagreement over the direction that the military should take, rather than actual work performance and loyalty to the government." State Security Service agent, Salah Refaat, let out a puff of cigarette smoke before continuing. "I don't understand why you would jeopardize your career by conspiring against the government."
Nasser blinked for a moment. "I'm not part of any conspiracy groups."
"Some of your friends have been meeting extensively for reasons unknown," Refaat frowned as he leaned forward. "Officially we don't know for what, but suspicions alone can end careers. So help me before you end up in a bad situation."
"That's your only evidence against me?" Nasser scoffed. "What, am I supposed to be a social hermit and never meet anyone? That would put me at a disadvantage to the bootlickers that somehow promote at a rapid pace."
"Can you tell me about your friends?"
"I would be more than happy to invite you as a guest to one of our social gatherings. To have discussions over good food and drinks."
Refaat shifted in his seat and was clearly irritated. "What do you hope to accomplish by getting rid of the monarchy?"
Nasser had an annoyed look on his face. "I have never advocated for the overthrow of the king."
"Then what is your goal?" Refaat crushed his cigarette into the ashtray. "Clearly you're not in the military just to race up the ranks and amass wealth and influence. Otherwise your conflict with General Abdel Sirri Amer wouldn't have happened."
"A future where Aegyptian people don't have to obey foreign powers," Nasser smiled, then he frowned. "And I would assume the State Security Service is well aware of the Albish military performance around the world in the past few years."
"Let's say your goal is realized and we are no longer dependent on the Albish. Would our monarchy still be in charge?"
"I hope the monarchy makes the right decision before an foreign threat sees us as easy fruits to pick."
"And do you think the monarchy is making the right decision?"
"You've probably seen the foreign media reports on our king's activities in Europe and South Bharat. Would you say all of them are lies?"
Refaat let out a deep sigh and pushed a cigarette pack to Nasser, then leaned back in his chair. "You can leave now. Cause no trouble."
AN:
Reference to Zuolin's past banditry: wiki/Honghuzi
Reference for the "rice vs guns": wiki/Guns_versus_butter_model
Reference to the statues: wiki/Radha_Krishna
CSR's tactics were based on the real life Chinese military's tactics during the Korean War. The difference is that instead of having years to practice those tactics in their civil war against the Nationalists, the CSR's Sibyrian Army is getting a crash course: wiki/People_Volunteer_Army#Tactics
CSR's camouflage and night time marches: wiki/Korean_War#China_intervenes_(October_1950)
Immediately on his return to Beijing on 18 October 1950, Zhou met with Mao Zedong, Peng Dehuai and Gao Gang, and the group ordered two hundred thousand PVA troops to enter North Korea, which they did on 19 October.[226] UN aerial reconnaissance had difficulty sighting PVA units in daytime, because their march and bivouac discipline minimized aerial detection.[227] The PVA marched "dark-to-dark" (19:00–03:00), and aerial camouflage (concealing soldiers, pack animals, and equipment) was deployed by 05:30. Meanwhile, daylight advance parties scouted for the next bivouac site. During daylight activity or marching, soldiers were to remain motionless if an aircraft appeared, until it flew away;[227] PVA officers were under order to shoot security violators. Such battlefield discipline allowed a three-division army to march the 460 km (286 mi) from An-tung, Manchuria, to the combat zone in some 19 days. Another division night-marched a circuitous mountain route, averaging 29 km (18 mi) daily for 18 days.[82]
As for the inner tree bark, turns out it is edible: magazine/article/edible-trees-foraging-food-forests/
Helicopter R&D: wiki/Vought-Sikorsky_VS-300
The first "free" flight of the VS-300 was on 13 May 1940.[2] The VS-300 was the first successful single lifting rotor helicopter in the United States and the first successful helicopter to use a single vertical-plane tail rotor configuration for antitorque. With floats attached, it became the first practical amphibious helicopter.
Igor Sikorsky's quest for a practical helicopter began in 1938, when as the Engineering Manager of the Vought-Sikorsky Division of United Aircraft Corporation, he was able to convince the directors of United Aircraft that his years of study and research into rotary-wing flight problems would lead to a breakthrough. His first experimental machine, the VS-300, was test flown by Sikorsky on 14 September 1939, tethered by cables.[3]
wiki/Fustat
Fustat (Arabic: الفُسطاط, romanized: al-Fusṭāṭ), also Fostat, was the first capital of Egypt under Muslim rule, and the historical centre of modern Cairo. It was built adjacent to what is now known as Old Cairo
Context for the intelligence agent having mixed thoughts about his king, and the growing unpopularity of the king: wiki/State_Security_Investigations_Service
wiki/Battle_of_Ismailia_(1952)
Fedayeen attacks, which consisted of irregular warfare such as sabotage and raids, resulted in 33 British servicemembers being killed and 69 wounded and led to a sharp breakdown in Egypt–United Kingdom relations. These attacks, though not official supported by the government of Egypt, were highly popular among the Egyptian public; when Egyptian authorities established offices to register the names of workers who wished to resign from their jobs and "contribute to the national struggle", 91,572 Egyptians registered their names in the period from 16 October 1951 to 30 November 1951. Local contractors around the Canal Zone (the British term for their area of occupation in Egypt) also ceased to supply provisions to British forces in Egypt, then numbering in 80,000 strong, in solidarity with the fedayeen.[2][3][4]
The city of Ismailia, which was in the Canal Zone and thus under British control, was host to the headquarters of the British military and thus a target for fedayeen attacks. Egyptian security forces in the area were supportive of the fedayeen and provided them with equipment, training and supplies, which the British were aware of.
wiki/Cairo_fire
Real life example of intel agents going turncoat after being disgusted by what their government was doing: wiki/Warsaw_Pact_invasion_of_Czechoslovakia#Reactions_in_other_Warsaw_Pact_countries
One unintended consequence of the invasion was that many within the Soviet State security apparatus and Intelligence Services were shocked and outraged at the invasion and several KGB/GRU defectors and spies such as Oleg Gordievsky, Vasili Mitrokhin, and Dmitri Polyakov have pointed out the 1968 invasion as their motivation for cooperating with the Western Intelligence agencies.
wiki/Oleg_Gordievsky
Gordievsky joined the KGB in 1963, and was posted to the Soviet embassy in Copenhagen in 1966. He became outraged by the USSR's cruel crushing of the Prague Spring reform movement in Czechoslovakia in August 1968, and began sending covert signals to Danish and British intelligence agents and agencies that he might be willing to cooperate with them.[2]
wiki/Mitrokhin_Archive
Vasili Nikitich Mitrokhin originally started his career with the First Chief Directorate of the KGB (Foreign Espionage) in Undercover operations. After Nikita Khrushchev's Secret Speech, Mitrokhin became critical of the existing KGB system and was transferred from Operations to the Archives. Over the years, Mitrokhin became increasingly disillusioned with the Soviet system, especially after the stories about the struggles of dissidents and the 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, which led him to conclude that the Soviet system was un-reformable.[7]
OLD CHAPTER 3, IGNORE THE BELOW WRITING IF YOU ARE NOT INTERESTED IN SEEING WHAT MY WRITING BACK IN 2021 LOOKS LIKE
AN: Extensively edited by Gremlin Jack and Nla Eid
Regarding the "CSR's leadership is too competent" messages that I got, the chairman is a loose adaptation of the real life Zhang Wentian, and from my interpretation, he was the closest of an "economist" that the PRC had. Not surprisingly, Mao eventually got rid of him.
November 2nd, 1942, somewhere in Sibyria:
Chen Shusheng was patrolling in an area where their pack animals and porters were carrying large quantities of supplies for the division. Foraging food was simply insufficient for the winter operation, and winter had arrived early, and hard. With every day of marching away from the nearest rail line and usable roads, he could feel the energy in the entire division being sapped away by the cold. Roots are much harder to dig up, animals going into hibernation and berries being long gone meant that they could no longer "travel light". Although "traveling light" was still exhausting when it involved marching for a few weeks straight through rough terrain where there weren't even a dirt trail within the range of a day's march. If it wasn't for the local guides teaching them how to survive in this inhospitable land, things would have gone very poorly long before winter set in.
The hostile Rus factions had learned that engaging in a conventional war against other Rus factions that were backed by the CSR's mages and sheer manpower was suicide, so they switched to guerrilla warfare. Rumors had it that someone high up in the CSR command decided they don't need roads, and that they'll just run down the hostile Rus forces by having the army go on very long and enthusiastic walks no matter the terrain or distance.
He hated the stealth marches, where they would camouflage themselves and only march at night with no lights or fire. Even the mages would also march along with them to maximize stealth. One of his friends in another division had complained about doing a month-long stealth march just to hunt down several hundred Rus soldiers that simply surrendered after they got tired of trying to avoid the pursuing division.
It was a good thing that the logistics officers had anticipated that their operations against the uncooperative Rus factions could drag on for more than a year, and had been stockpiling winter gear even in the first few weeks of their summer campaigns. Except they left out one important thing.
"I could use some real tea. All we had for months was pine needle tea." he muttered to himself.
He shifted his coat and scarf to block out the biting cold wind, and suddenly heard a whizz of bullets fly right past him. He dived to the ground as the tree next to him exploded in splinters from bullets that were meant for him. Above him, bursts of anti-aircraft and DShK heavy machine gun fire downed the patrolling CSR mages.
He brought his bolt action rifle to bear and saw how well prepared the enemy Rus were for their ambush. A horde of Rus soldiers came charging over the hilltop and down towards the convoy, while at least three machine gunners provided overwatch in his area alone.
'If we only had the Russy semi automatic rifles and submachine guns, then we might have had a better chance. Too bad most of the good stuff that was captured from the Rus was reserved for front line soldiers.' He thought to himself.
But he had to try, so he aimed his rifle at one of the machine gunners and squeezed off a round. The machine gun was silenced for about a second before another Rus soldier jumped in to resume firing. He kept cycling and firing until the entire machine gun crew was wiped out and his five round clip was emptied, but another group of Rus soldiers ran up to the machine gun to use it while he was reloading his rifle. Before he could resume shooting again, he saw one of the anti-aircraft guns being repositioned to face his general direction, and a DShK crew member pointing at him.
This was one of those moments where a fanatic believer in the communism cause would try to kill a few more enemies before being sliced up into raw meat to be used in a fuqi feipian dish, or fix bayonets and charge, instead of running away. But he wasn't that type of a person, and the enemies were also communists. More specifically, the crazy communist types that if they were religious, they would have been indistinguishable from fanatical militant Buddhist monks that the CSR gave up trying to stamp out and instead signed a peace deal to leave them alone. Some of the stories his father told him when they were fighting against Buddhist rebels back in the 1920's were terrifying to this day.
He ran down the slope to break line of sight from the anti-aircraft gun and DShK crew, stepping aside to avoid a falling small tree that was cut down by the heavy caliber rounds slamming into it.
He attempted to find another position to fire from, only to see that his comrades were already in a losing melee. One CSR soldier attempted to stab a Rus soldier with the bayonet fixed to their long rifle, but the Rus soldier grabbed the front end of the rifle, pushed it to the side, pulled it to carry the CSR soldier's momentum forward, and then elbowed the CSR soldier in the face. Another CSR soldier missed a shot while trying to use the bolt action rifle at less than four meters range, and was shredded by a double barreled shotgun's blast while he was busy cycling the next round.
The anti-aircraft guns and DShK machine guns had now been repositioned to rain lead on the remaining CSR holdouts. Off in the distance, he could see Rus soldiers were already killing the pack animals and lighting their supplies on fire.
He heard someone bark an order at him, and while he wasn't sure what they were exactly saying, he could infer that they were telling him to give up. He dropped his rifle and put his hands in the air, before being struck from behind with a rifle butt and his world turned black.
November 2nd, 1942, Berun:
Vishia, Lergen, Admiral Albrecht, air force Generals Weiss and von Richtoffer, and a few other senior officers were staring at the map of the South Bharati Ocean, pictures of each island formation, and their tides. Originally I had planned on just releasing the colonies. Now with North and South Bharat accusing each other of being illegitimate governments and that they were the rightful government of both countries, and other inflammatory statements, it reminded me too much of the leadup to the Korean War where both governments perceived themselves as the rightful ruler of both halves. Having a base of operation for that conflict would be useful, as letting South Bharat entirely fall would guarantee turning the entire Asia continent into a communist bloc.
Even if they don't go to war, the CSR could end up trying to stick their nose into the Middle East and Africa when those power kegs blow, like how the USSR got involved with those continents. The Middle East's plentiful cheap oil would be an irresistible target for the CSR. And China in my previous world was aggressive with expanding their influence in Africa for mineral and agricultural resources. Unless the CSR somehow develops a navy that rivals the Allied Kingdom, having a chain of fortified islands would be a deterrent against their power projection towards the two continents, and it would be cheaper than having a dozen carriers. I remember China in my previous world had been building artificial islands and turning them into military bases as their power projection against other countries' navy forces, so why not use that same strategy against them? Albion shouldn't be concerned with some static islands, and besides, their naval arms treaty with us never specified anything about foreign military bases.
Of course should the colonies press for independence, as long as I retain the military bases in some sort of a long term lease agreement, I wouldn't care. In fact those would probably become a revenue source for them in terms of providing services for the bases. Once the leases expire and I no longer have a need for the bases, they could convert them into civilian usage, such as airports and harbors for tourists to come in. A win-win for both of us.
Admiral Albrecht spoke up. "The first thing we need to consider is where our ships can perform major maintenance and repairs, such as from collisions or wartime activity. I think Malagasy would be the best option to build a drydock and airbase, as we already had built some infrastructure last year."
I pointed my finger at Akitsushima Dominion on the map. "We could ask them for permission to also build our own drydock and airbase as well, that'll give us a footprint in the Pacific without having to take another island, and make it easier to coordinate potential joint exercises with them."
Lergen frowned at the mentioning of the Akitsushima Dominion. "Building a military base in Akitsushima Dominion? Wouldn't that be a bit provocative for the CSR?"
I could see his logic behind that. The Albion was constantly worried about other countries' navies. To park our fleet right on the CSR's doorstep would encourage the commies to develop and build their own navy to contest us, and I'd rather not get into a naval arms race like what happened with the Allied Kingdom and the Empire decades ago.
"We'll get the authorization, the land and some basic infrastructure first, then hold off on the rest of the construction. If the CSR starts to exert their influence over the ocean or threaten the Akitsushima Dominion, then we'll start the rest of the construction. Also, do we have underway replenishment capabilities?"
"Very limited." Admiral Albrecht responded. "There hasn't been a need because our navy mainly operates in the Baltic Sea with many nearby ports."
"Then we'll need to decide which ports will be able to handle cargo ships and oil tankers for underway replenishment. Although the navy would also need to practice how to do underway replenishments as there simply won't be as many deep water ports compared to the Baltic Sea. Maybe we could ask the Akitsushima Dominion and the Unified States for advice. I'd rather not bother with the Allied Kingdom ever since they tried requesting a so-called technology exchange that was tilted in their favor after they initially refused to blockade southern Ildoa. As for the rest of the islands..."
Using my orb, I shined laser dots at the Tromelin, Île du Lys, Agaléga, Réunion, and Comoros Islands.
"Generals Weiss and Richtoffer, what is your opinion of those smaller islands?"
"I think those islands should be big enough to at least accommodate a small airport or port." Generals Weiss said. "I don't think we'll need significant military assets on those islands if we have a base on Malagasy. Once we have more details about all of the islands' geography, we can narrow down the list of which places to build at. Even just a flat airstrip would be helpful in augmenting our carrier operating in the Bharati Ocean."
"Depending on the islands' geography, we might be able to build deep water ports, or we may have to dredge out sand and rocks to build them." Admiral Albrecht added. "Or build shallow water ports for small supply ships to operate out of."
"Well gentlemen." I said, "If there's nothing else to be discussed, all that's left is a detailed proposal for the Diet to vote on for the construction funding. I look forward to paying those islands a visit in the future. Let's begin the research and development discussion if no one has anything to add."
After some paper shuffling to shift to the new discussion, Admiral Albrecht started his report. "R&D said that they had problems with developing an anti-ship missile that could punch through a capital ship's armor, and still inflict severe damage behind the armor. The simplest way would be to use shaped charge warheads which are not dependent on the missile's speed to penetrate the armor. Similar to how anti-tank rockets work against tanks. But if the missile hits a sacrificial compartment, nothing serious happens to the ship other than that compartment being showered with molten metal bits and high temperature gas. Especially if they had already shut the compartment doors to contain the blast. We could use kinetic penetrators, but we haven't been able to build a missile that can fly fast enough for them to go through the armor."
The gears were turning in my head.
"General Lergen and Deputy Chancellor Serebryakov, what do people use to defeat isolated tanks if they lack mages, artillery, aircraft, tanks or proper anti-tank weapons? Such as insurgents or suicidally determined rioters?"
They both started rattling off ideas. Grenades into opened hatches. Improvised explosives planted on the tracks. Jam logs and metal bars into the tracks. Dig a deep trench and bait the tank into it for it to be stuck. Use a cutting torch to open up the hatch. Open up the engine compartment hatch to throw in an explosive or a burning bottle of flammable liquid. Light the tank on fire to smoke the crew out.
Flammable liquid.
Fire.
"Admiral Albrecht, what if the missiles carry long burning incendiary payloads and the fire can't be easily put out with water? As in engulfing the ship entirely in shrapnel and fire? If you take away a ship's radar, fire control, radios and any other components that aren't behind the armor, what good is that ship even if it's still afloat? It can't shoot at what it can't see. The crew can't fix anything when the entire top side is on fire. The captain might not be able to look outside of his bridge to see what is going on. At some point the ship is going to have ventilation problems because I'm assuming all of the air intakes are located on the top side."
Lergen hid the look of awe on his face quickly, but I saw it. Even now, he must be formulating ways for us to burn down all of our enemies. Crazy warmonger.
I better steer his imagination towards less murderous thoughts, "I understand that the missiles might be dangerous to handle for our crew, so it'll need inherently safe designs to minimize the risk of it catching on fire. I don't want a repeat of that rocket submarine. I guess the only other thing that can quickly sink a battleship are torpedoes. What was the range of our torpedoes again?"
"15 kilometers. We are still working on getting to the 30 kilometer range without increasing its size." Admiral Albrecht said. "It's already about 10 meters long."
Hmm, I never asked for the 30 kilometers range. In fact I was avoiding that so we didn't spook the Albion when we were worrying about being partitioned by the Francios Republic and Russy Federation. Why am I surrounded by jingoists?
"I think we'll need to ask the engineers, researchers and anyone else that is familiar with battleship designs and anti-battleship strategies for their inputs. We may need a different form of missile warheads or designs."
I looked at the destroyers' current anti-air armaments. They were plentiful, but there is still room for improvement. The modern navy ships in my previous world had radar guided cannons that spit out a stream of lead to knock down inbound missiles.
"Regarding air defense, could we use the Jo 87's 30 millimeter revolver cannons with a radar guidance system to replace the 37 and 20 millimeter guns? Since we don't have to worry about the weight of the aircraft, perhaps the rate of fire can be scaled up to the originally planned 1,000 rounds per minute. We might get some extra deck space from the replacements while still maintaining a powerful anti-air defense, and I'm sure you could find uses for it. If the radar guidance performs well enough, we might be able to use even less revolver cannons for more open deck space. Deputy Chancellor Serebryakov, what do you think of trying to fly towards a ship that has a few of those revolver cannons?"
While Admiral Albrecht was writing down the discussion points and underlining the radar guidance system, Visha thought for a moment before saying: , "It would probably make me hesitate for a second before following through with your orders. Well, unless the ship has something seriously wrong with it or their air defenses are fully focused on something else."
I nodded. It would be complete insanity for me to even consider flying in that wall of lead, even with the Type 95 Orb. A direct hit from a 30 millimeter shell would be enough to punch through a mage's defensive shell and mess them up badly. Mary Sioux would probably be able to shrug off the shells and sink the ship, after getting all of her fellow mages killed in the process.
General Lergen looked like he had an idea in his head.
"What is it, general?" I asked.
"We could use the same 20 or 30 millimeter rounds for air defense of ground forces and also as a fire support. Considering that our new threat is the brewing insurgency and the increasing presence of CSR mages in the Russy Federation, light vehicles with that cannon would be faster and cheaper than using tanks."
Autocannon vehicles were something I wasn't too familiar with. But it does make sense, as the insurgents would only have light vehicles and buildings or trees as cover, which would easily be destroyed by the 20 and 30 millimeter shells. Their heaviest fire support option would be mages, which would also quickly die. A vehicle that weighs less than half a tank would be useful for heavy fire support in counter-insurgency operations, such as escorting a convoy.
"If the soldiers fighting the insurgents like the prototypes, then that vehicle should be considered for mass production. We could use the destroyer's 20 millimeter cannons for the prototyping stage."
While Albrecht and General Lergen were writing things down, I traced my hand over the destroyer's surface deck section. With so many of the 20 and 37 millimeter cannons being replaced by a few 30 millimeter revolving cannons as part of the future ship upgrades, there might be some extra deck space.
I recall the early cold war ships had a few different designs for missiles. The Soviets had large anti-ship missile launchers attached to both sides of the ships and facing forward. The US relied on smaller missiles so they used rails that held two missiles and rotating missile box launchers.
"Admiral Albrecht, with the possible extra deck space from the anti-air revolver cannons, have you thought about using that for missile launchers?"
"No, I haven't. I was thinking about how to add more higher caliber cannon turrets, but then that would run into problems with the spacing below decks."
"We could have rails that hold one or two missiles or rotating missile boxes. If there is enough deck space, we could use large missile launchers like this."
I used my computational orb to render the US-style and Soviet-style missile launchers.
"Those missile launchers would be directly dependent on what our future missiles will look like and how much deck space we can clear up with the anti-air replacements. I understand that it might be messy to retrofit our current destroyers with the missile launchers, but it would be hard to justify to the Diet of a large funding bill to build a new class of destroyers that would only end up provoking the Albish into a naval arms race. We're already going to be spending a lot of money on developing the missiles, so we have to make the implementations cost efficient when those missiles are ready."
I don't know exactly how modern navy missile exchanges happen, but I figured there was a good reason why China in my previous life was running around with new anti-ship missile designs while the United States was finding ways to protect their carriers. I think the British Navy took some losses in the Falklands War from the anti-ship missiles.
"While we're on the topic about missiles, there has been a proposal in the air force for a long range missile that could travel across a continent to hit a target, with a payload large enough to carry a nuclear bomb." General Richtoffer said. "The theory is that at a high enough altitude, the air resistance would be minimal which would greatly extend the missile's range, and when it enters terminal descent, it would be too fast to try to intercept it. The proposal is a bit controversial within the air force so I think your opinion would help settle the debate, especially with the 203rd mage battalion's history of flying in rockets."
"Intercontinental ballistic missile?" I asked. Richtoffer gave me a confused look and said "That's an interesting name for the proposed missile design."
I did not want to be known as the "Queen of nuclear weapons", and would have much preferred it if someone else was the Chancellor to make that decision. I'm also afraid to keep advancing nuclear weapons because at some point, other countries will start to catch on. I don't know how they might choose to react because there aren't any atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to set a global precedence of how nuclear weapons should be used.
But, that missile could also help make the reality of launching satellites and astronauts into space sooner. Satellites that could broadcast TV signals across the world to spread our culture before the Unified States' rock-and-roll culture takes full strength would be nice. Reconnaissance satellites to watch what the CSR is doing without having to fly reconnaissance planes directly over their land and risk getting them shot down like what happened to the Americans with their U-2 spy planes. GPS satellites would also be great.
"General Richtoffer, let's start with proof-of-concept rockets that can reach the needed speed and altitude, and go from there."
Back in Sibyria:
"Hey, you. You're finally awake."
Chen Shusheng got up in confusion and his whole body was in pain, along with a throbbing head. A CSR mage was preparing to shock him again using their spell.
"What happened here?!" the mage demanded.
"T-they ambushed us." Chen stutters out, "They had concealed anti-aircraft guns to shoot down the overwatch mages right at the start of the attack, and then closed the distance to render our bolt action rifles ineffective."
The mage curses, "Damn it… Well, you sure are a lucky one. Some Rus was going to put a bullet in your head before we showed up."
Chen looks at the mage in confusion, "What do you mean I'm a lucky one?"
The mage points out to the distance, "Take a look at that tree line over there."
"Huh?" Chen followes the mage's finger, "Wha-why is there a line of bodies… Oh..."
The mage nods, "They were executing all of the prisoners when we arrived to investigate the source of the noise. We killed some of those bastards before the rest disappeared into the forests."
Chen is slacked-jawed for a moment before realizing something; "...They were burning our food and tent supplies, and if they're executing prisoners, that means they don't have enough food for us either. What do we do now?"
The mage shrugs, "I have no idea. We can't retreat either because all of us will starve on the march back. Pine bark is only going to get us so far, and there aren't too many animals around during the winter for us to hunt."
1942, December 4th:
I was sitting in my office looking through the insurgency reports and the counter-insurgency plans. Damn the CSR and the Rus factions that allied with them are good at exploiting ethnic tensions in the new republics. Suomi, Livonia and Legadonia Entente are struggling with the Rus uprisings in the Petrograd area. Major Koenig was putting up a good fight, but I'm all too aware of how many counter-insurgency operations end up being "won every battle but still lost the war". We may have bitten off more than we could chew.
I remember the Allied Kingdom not directly stating, but strongly implying during the peace talks that they did not want the Russy Federation to have access to the Baltic Sea or Black Sea. Which meant the new republics had to take land that had a majority Rus ethnic presence, and that was proving to be quite a poison pill for everyone but the Albish. I wouldn't be surprised if Albion had intentionally done that to ensure that the Russy Federation would never have a navy that would threaten them, and also keep OZEV pinned down with endless insurgency problems.
I heard a knock on my office door.
"Come on in."
An aide opened the door holding three packages. "Chancellor, Otto Lutz, General Ugar and the BND have some information for you to look at."
"BND?"
"Sorry, the Bundesnachrichtendienst."
"You can leave it on my desk. What is it?"
"They said it was only for you to know."
The aide placed the packages on my desk and exited the room. I opened the first one that was sent by Otto Lutz from the Usedom Island testing center and a "Top Secret" envelope was in it with Dr. Max Kramer's name on it. After opening that one, I could see why they took those precautions. It appears they took my suggestion of "ask everyone for their inputs" seriously and there were a few proposals from different R&D departments.
A two stage missile where a solid fuel booster is used to get it up to a certain speed, then the ramjet engine fires up to bring the missile to 4-6 times the speed of sound, with a narrow and long kinetic penetrator rod that would be made of something denser than steel to punch through the battleship's armor and multiple interior compartments.
A missile that would carry a small torpedo, where it would drop the torpedo into the water outside of ships' effective anti-air range and the missile could keep flying on in hopes of hitting an unarmored target. It could also be used against submarines if there was a way to reduce the noise from the torpedo hitting the water so that the ships don't have to get up close to the submarines to drop depth charges directly on top of them.
A missile with a shaped charge warhead that would dive into the water at the last minute to punch a hole under the ship's waterline where the armor is also usually thinner.
A missile with a home-on-emissions seeker to knock out a ships' radio and radar systems by simply looking for sources with the highest energy emissions.
A missile loaded with some sort of a petroleum jelly and white phosphorus mixture, where the mixture was demonstrated to have burned for a few hours at around 800 Celsius, then smouldered for days afterward at a lower temperature but still enough to inflict burns, difficult to remove due to its stickiness, difficult to put out with water, generated lots of dense smoke, and the fumes from the fire were highly toxic to the animals. There was also a note about possibly using sodium metal or magnesium which means any water used against the fire would cause an explosion instead of putting out the fire, which would just spread the fire even more.
I wasn't too familiar with modern naval warfare, but all of those seemed promising. Though the last one was particularly brutal for my taste as it reminded me of too much of the Americans' love of napalm in WW2 against the Japanese, then in the Korean War and then the Vietnam War. I think there was even a song that was titled something along the lines of "napalm sticks to kids."
But if those three other options fail, I still need something more than just 15 kilometer range torpedoes, dive bombers and mages to take down a battleship. The Allied Kingdom have likely begun their efforts to greatly improve their anti-air systems in response to the bombers and mages, and are probably working on something to counter our torpedoes or destroyers. The CSR would also be relying on their manpower advantage given their large population size and that they haven't been throwing away bodies in pointless wars for the past 30 years. Napalm delivered via dumb bombs or flamethrowers would be an efficient way of denying that manpower advantage, even if the missile itself doesn't work out.
Hopefully General Lergen won't consider using the napalm weapon for counter insurgency operations. He'll likely just write off the risk to civilians as 'acceptable casualties.' Germania doesn't need that sort of PR disaster.
The home-on-emissions missiles... that could be something the air force would also take an interest in. During WW2 in my previous world, a major reason why the Brits held out for so long against the Germans' Blitz was because of their radar stations that the Germans never targeted. During the Vietnam War and whatever other conflict Israel was involved with, they had to worry about anti-air radar systems. It's only a matter of time before the Albish and Americans start extensively using anti-air radar systems, and the CSR would probably try their best to steal those technology secrets as they would need something to deal with our superior airforce in a shooting conflict.
The other three I wasn't so certain about. I didn't know much about missile technology in my previous life to make a call on that. But stuffing a miniature torpedo in a missile body seems more feasible than the other two as we already have good torpedo technology, and I like the idea of how it can also be used against submarines.
I opened up the next package that was sent by General Ugar. He reported that they were making progress in developing a working nuclear reactor. It was to be moderated using graphite rods after the scientists deemed it was an efficient way to produce electricity and weapons grade plutonium at the same time, and also cheaper than using heavy water.
Graphite moderation. That sounded familiar. I remember after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster when I went down the internet rabbit hole of nuclear power and came across the topics about Windscale fire and the Chernobyl disaster. Those two power plants both used graphite moderation. And my scientists nearly got themselves killed along with General Ugar. I'm going to need to sit down and talk with General Ugar and the nuclear scientists to remind them again of their safety being something of the highest priority, and that everything else was secondary. If there's another screw up, I might have to find someone with even less tolerance for risks and brow beat the scientists and everyone else to maximize safety measures.
I picked up the phone and dialed Admiral Albrecht.
"Good afternoon Chancellor. Admiral Albrecht speaking."
"That R&D proposal you sent me? The torpedo missile seems the most promising. I recommend having the air force share the home on emissions missile research as they would have an interest in defeating anti-air radar systems. As for the emissions seeking missile and incendiary missile research, have the air force and the army look at them to see if those interest them. The petroleum jelly mix itself might be useful. I'll leave it up to you to determine how much resources to allocate for the projects as the Diet is preparing for further military spending cuts and getting the economy back on civilian footing."
Regarding the third package, I had allowed Elya to reform the intelligence operations under the new BND, the Federal Intelligence Service, and it was the first time seeing the package under that organization's name.
I opened it and my eyes opened wide when I realized what I was looking at.
The potential development of the first helicopter. The Unified States and Allied Kingdom had turned down Igor Sikorsky's proposal to develop a prototype helicopter. I couldn't blame them because aerial mages could do almost everything a helicopter could except better. Unfortunately for them, I knew from my previous world that the invention of the helicopter had a major impact on the world, almost as important as the invention of the first airplane. The United States loved their helicopters during the Vietnam War, and during the Cold War, both sides fielded thousands of helicopters.
While mages are a very limited human resource, the only thing holding back how many helicopters a country could field is the raw material to build them, aviation fuel to keep them running, and the number of trained pilots. For every task that a helicopter can do instead of a mage, I could have the mages focus on other things.
And now Sikorsky is asking if Germania could fund his research.
I picked up the phone to call Elya. Instead, someone else answered my call.
"Good afternoon Chancellor. This is Anna."
"Anna?"
"Yes chancellor, Elya is away right now. She's dealing with a time sensitive matter with the insurgency in the new republics. I can take a message for her."
Poor Elya. After all of what she has done to help ensure Germania comes out on top in the aftermath of the Second Europan War, instead of being able to take an extended vacation, now the CSR and an increasingly resurgent Russy Federation is piling more work onto her. I hope she doesn't get tired of dealing with the intelligence operations.
"Did she tell you anything about helicopter development?"
"I was the one who got in contact with Igor Sikorsky, Chancellor."
"Give Sikorsky the funding he needs for his prototype helicopter, under the condition that he works on our soil. I am curious to see how it performs and the possible applications it could be used for. It would be nice if he ends up working for us as a long term business."
"Yes Chancellor, that shouldn't be a problem."
I'm trying to search through my memories of what post-WW2 technologies that the United States and United Kingdom were developing. I remember computers and programming were a big topic, and there was a reason why Silicon Valley was established in the United States, and how the United States maintained a major computing edge for decades.
"Also, keep an eye for the Unified States' and Allied Kingdom's computer and programming advancements, such as transistors. It doesn't have to be just government research."
"Yes Chancellor. We'll… um…" A momentary pause, "I'm sorry my Chancellor, but what's a transistor?"
...Oops, I got a bit ahead of myself.
"It's a basic building block of electronic devices. The successor of vacuum tubes." I replied, hoping that they wouldn't press me for further details.
"Ah, understood. I'll let Elya know and make preparations for monitoring those two countries' research and development."
1943, January 20th, somewhere off the coast of Malagasy:
Visha and I had been hopping from island to island in the South Bharati Ocean. The official reason was to inspect the base constructions. In reality though? Well, it was a long overdue tropical island getaway that we needed from the constant work. I wish we could have come out here sooner, but that veterans bill hit some snags earlier and I had to stick around for an extra week to iron out the problems. Oh well, one less thing to worry about.
We were walking along a beach when Visha suddenly spoke up.
"Tanya, remember when you ranted about running off to Argentina with me?"
"The what?"
"It was the night after you got the Treaty of Triano cancelled."
Now I remember. The appeasement that everyone was offering while the Rus was gearing up for their adventure in Europe. And I had gotten completely drunk when I had no idea how to deal with the Rus when the Unified States and Allied Kingdom had just thrown the Francois Republic under the bus instead of just asking me to be exiled to a tropical island.
"Sort of. Why are you bringing it up now?"
"You mentioned wanting to go somewhere warm and safe. And building a villa. Raising horses here might be a bit difficult, but I don't mind going without them. Is this the "Argentina" that you were talking about?."
"Hmm. Villas." An idea then springs from the thought, "Visha, I've been thinking about making the islands as tourist destinations. We're already building ports and airfields, and other infrastructure for people to live on the island."
Visha raises an eyebrow before smiling in amusement, "Tourist destinations? Who would be coming to the islands?"
"Everyone from around the world. It won't just be limited to Germania or OZEV. Of course, for the smaller islands, this would be after when we don't really have a military need for the island to avoid having foreign spies just camp next to the ports and runways with a notebook and a pen."
Visha hums, "Speaking of tourists from around the world, I was told that you were learning Akitsushiman."
Elya must have noticed that newspaper and told Visha about it! That's the problem with having a competent intel director - they can also spy on you. Maybe I can try downplaying the situation.
"Oh it's nothing much, just some basic phrases."
"Well you were reading Akitsushima Dominion's newspapers, weren't you? Those can get complex."
I could feel my face become warm. "It is important to learn the languages of allies instead of just relying on translators."
"Maybe you are a fan of the Akitsushima Dominion's culture?"
Now I could definitely tell my face was red at getting caught. "No, Visha."
"You surprised the Akitsushiman ambassador when he had the mochi brought out, and me as well when I learned how much you knew about Akitsushiman desserts. The number of Germanians that have a remote idea about their main dishes is a minority. An even smaller minority even knew about that specific dessert." she teased me while putting her hand on my face. "Oh my, your face is very warm right now." She tilts her head and blinks prettily, "Are you having a fever?"
She was definitely right about most Germanians not knowing much about the world outside of Europe, or even the Empire's territories. There was no internet to browse through, and TVs were just starting to become commonplace which meant there was very limited broadcasting of shows featuring foriegn countries, so one had to go to a library and find specific books about foriegn countries.
I brushed her hand aside and she immediately put it on my chest. "And a rapid heartbeat. I think Elya mentioned something about rapid heartbeats and polygraphs."
I could now feel the color start to disappear from my face. The last thing I want is for Elya to inadvertently pry knowledge about my previous life from me while practicing lie detection. One, or both of us, would be declared as mentally ill and get thrown into a padded cell.
"I think we should go swimming." I quickly deflect, "I want to test out the underwater spells."
"To cool off?" Visha giggled. "I mean it's not healthy to have a high body temperature."
I rolled my eyes and took off flying from the beach, and headed towards one of the reefs. Visha followed suit.
Three days later, I was enjoying the sunset on the beach, watching the waves crash while cuddled up against Visha, when my orb came to life with a voice spell:
"Chancellor and Deputy Chancellor, you need to return to the base. There's been a situation."
AN:
CSR's tactics were based on the real life Chinese military's tactics during the Korean War. The difference is that instead of having years to practice those tactics in their civil war against the Nationalists, the CSR's Sibyrian Army is getting a crash course.
CSR's camouflage and night time marches from the Wikipedia page on the Korean War:
Immediately on his return to Beijing on 18 October 1950, Zhou met with Mao Zedong, Peng Dehuai and Gao Gang, and the group ordered two hundred thousand PVA troops to enter North Korea, which they did on 19 October.[226] UN aerial reconnaissance had difficulty sighting PVA units in daytime, because their march and bivouac discipline minimized aerial detection.[227] The PVA marched "dark-to-dark" (19:00–03:00), and aerial camouflage (concealing soldiers, pack animals, and equipment) was deployed by 05:30. Meanwhile, daylight advance parties scouted for the next bivouac site. During daylight activity or marching, soldiers were to remain motionless if an aircraft appeared, until it flew away;[227] PVA officers were under order to shoot security violators. Such battlefield discipline allowed a three-division army to march the 460 km (286 mi) from An-tung, Manchuria, to the combat zone in some 19 days. Another division night-marched a circuitous mountain route, averaging 29 km (18 mi) daily for 18 days.[82]
As for the inner tree bark, turns out it is edible.
Early RL ballistic missile projects were the RTV-A-2 Hiroc and SM-65 Atlas. Both were designed in the mid 1940's.
From the Wikipedia page on the Vought-Sikorsky VS-300, the first operational helicopter:
The first "free" flight of the VS-300 was on 13 May 1940.[2] The VS-300 was the first successful single lifting rotor helicopter in the United States and the first successful helicopter to use a single vertical-plane tail rotor configuration for antitorque. With floats attached, it became the first practical amphibious helicopter.
Igor Sikorsky's quest for a practical helicopter began in 1938, when as the Engineering Manager of the Vought-Sikorsky Division of United Aircraft Corporation, he was able to convince the directors of United Aircraft that his years of study and research into rotary-wing flight problems would lead to a breakthrough. His first experimental machine, the VS-300, was test flown by Sikorsky on 14 September 1939, tethered by cables.[3]