AN: Credits to PervySageChuck and gdstriker for revisions.
For the chapter 10-12 rewrites, they will be focused on the Chinese theatre and the Aegyptian-Albish misadventures. I didn't see the point in rewriting the nitty gritty details of the Bharatian theatre that were covered in the original chapters.
The chapter 10-11 rewrites cover roughly the same plot trends in the original chapters 11-12, with many changes. The rewritten chapter 12 takes off in a new direction.
Original Chapter 10 is at the bottom of this chapter.
1944, February 18th, Nanjing:
"Luo needs to go. I can't determine his true intentions with Wang's conspiracy circle, and I don't like uncertainties and unknown factors. Then there's his augmented mage project he has withheld information from Peng, Li, and me on its development, while the dead mage body counts from his project are racking up." Kang closed the curtains in his office as Shi took his seat. "Peng couldn't find justifications to have him fired, so I need you to step in."
"You aren't going to make a move on Wang?" Shi raised an eyebrow.
"I need to catch his entire circle in a single strike, or they will scatter like rats if I pounce on one of them."
"What do you need me to do?"
"I need you to find ways to undermine Luo's work and paint him as incompetent, so he can be pushed out. Before he advances Wang's conspiracy planning, and I am well aware of how involved he is in that."
"Oh, I have an idea…" Shi smiled.
1944, February 20th, the coastal city of Tientsin, east of Peking (Beijing), CSR:
"Who's in charge?" Nasser knife-handed an Aegyptian junior officer.
"Our commanders said they would give us orders from the headquarters in Kyushu," the lieutenant sloppily snapped to attention.
"Radio communications only gets one so far and is completely inadequate for anything more than adjusting an existing plan. It would take at least one day for papers to get from here to there, and another day for it to come back, assuming no interruption in the delivery. And the communists can be quick with wiping out entire formations overnight…" Nasser then turned to look at Anwar.
"Do you have any heavy equipment? Artillery? Armored vehicles?" Anwar glared at the now nervous lieutenant.
"A few heavy artillery and armored cars…" The lieutenant's face suddenly brightened up. "We do have a few dozen mortars and machine guns!"
"Looks like we have the men and firepower we need," Anwar laughed. "Two different incompetences give us a fighting chance."
"Do you think anyone would suspect a thing if we took command?" Salem was holding back his laughter.
Anwar snorted "If the lazy cowards muster enough energy to complain, then they can come here to take charge of their men."
"So you are in charge now?" The lieutenant gulped.
"Look at me," Anwar pointed his fingers at his rank tabs while staring down a terrified lieutenant. "I am your commanding officer now. Tell your fellow officers they will report to Major Salem and Nasser."
"There you are!" A familiar, yet strained voice grabbed everyone's attention.
"Major Mohieddin… Why are you not at the hospital back in Kyushu?" Anwar slowly said.
"The doctor said I have to stay in bed," Mohieddin smirked as if gloating in his victory. "So here I am, in bed."
"But why?" A horrified and perplexed Nasser muttered. "We're about to go through hell and you can only get around with the help of your porters."
"I was disgusted by what the higher-ups have done," Mohieddin's face turned to anger. "To send the three of you to a certain death. And I would be next. I would rather die with all of you rather than alone."
"Alright," Anwar turned back to the lieutenant. "And Major Mohieddin will also be leading some of your fellow officers."
Meanwhile, somewhere in the Alps:
"Impressive how your students are avoiding the patrols from the opposition forces. They slipped right through them. Even the military dogs aren't being alerted." I stared at the map with the magic projections on it, while Visha, Koenig and instructor staff members stood beside me. "I also like how you incorporated the Chinese mage tactic of having a few mages pretend to be regular infantry, to spring a surprise if the students foolishly engage their patrol group."
"It wasn't easy replicating how you trained the 203rd mage battalion and expanding on it," Koenig nodded in reply. "The only thing I don't like about the Chinese tactic is that it requires the hidden mages to also not have their shields active, leaving them vulnerable to well planned ambushes."
"Perhaps one day we'll have stealth shield spells. Even a weak one is still far better than none."
Koenig appeared to want to say something, but held it back. After a few seconds of looking at him, I figured he really didn't want to say it.
I quietly took in the sight of the projector's radio transmitter map of the opposition force mages and regular infantry methodically searching for the students, but obviously had no clue where to focus their search. If the students keep up their competence, they should be able to capture the opposition leaders and then disappear from sight. Picking a fight would only draw in the entire opposition force like moths to a light.
"I've heard you were a huge fan of helicopters because it would put aerial mages out of work." Koenig hinted with curiosity in his voice in the midst of us monitoring a formation of unaware regular infantry with dogs walk past the hidden students. I turned and looked at him with a raised eyebrow, not really having expected him to start a conversation mid-exercise.
"Mhm." I hummed in agreement, "Which means all of the mages would have to go through your training and become special operators."
"Which means more work piled onto me," he laughed with a sarcastic tone. "Do a good job and be rewarded with more work."
"If you train competent successors, they'll do the work for you." I poked at his shoulder.
Visha momentarily tilted her head to the side in thought. "So... is that why you trained the 203rd mage battalion so hard?" She remarked with a giggle, eliciting a chuckle from Koenig.
I glared at her while she was smirking. This is the problem with having two powerful and competent subordinates who are also bold enough to undercut their superior. And combined with them being in a relationship with said superior... now that's an HR manager's nightmare.
Though said nightmare isn't too bad...
I hedged my response with a shrug, "I don't know, maybe I was planning to retire and let one of you run the 203rd mage battalion."
"Is the President retiring early?" Koenig laughed. "That's a good joke."
I rolled my eyes, of course, the crazy warmongers under my command couldn't comprehend the concept of a peaceful life. "On a side note, I've read Elya's reports about your activity in the new republics," I said, steering the conversation back to business, "But I wanted to hear from you about the cat and mouse games."
Koenig nodded and returned his eyes back to the moving projections. "It was... Interesting. The experience of never being sure of if I was being hunted while I was hunting. Or if the locals I was working with had other plans in mind. And when sometimes an allied faction hates another allied faction just as much as the communists. It takes an entirely different skill set than what I had previously been taught."
I absently hummed in acknowledgment. "I've heard the CSR's Sibyrian Army had adapted rather quickly after their first winter in Sibyria. Or that's what the widespread stories in the Rus territory claimed, which the BND picked up on." I said as Koenig nodded in affirmation.
"Yes, they have. I watched one OZEV patrol initially have the upper hand in combat against some insurgents. Then the CSR mages ended the existence of the entire patrol group with explosive spells, and after that, they went back to blending in with the insurgents and disappeared into the mountains. If I wasn't watching the insurgent group, I wouldn't have known which person was a mage. And the CSR operatives, both mage and regular infantry, are quite persistent with tracking… as if they're starving hunters after the only deer in the woods."
"Well, they hunted people for food to avoid starving during the winter, didn't they? Or that's what the Rus claimed."
Koenig nodded again, "And that's probably where they got their tracking skills from. Thankfully, I didn't see them practice cannibalism in the new republics. Probably because they were counting on the rest of the world to ignore the anti-CSR Rus factions' complaints about war crimes after what the Russy Federation did in the Second Europan War."
"What about the NKVD mages?" I asked.
"Less subtle for certain. Very aggressive with leading attacks against OZEV forces and our allies. Generally, when there's a hostile aerial mage flying in the area, it's almost always the NKVD. Sometimes what the communists would do is have the NKVD mages cause a distraction while the CSR mages quietly get into position. Oh, it looks like the students found something."
I snapped back to looking at the projection and noticed they were splitting up to surround a cave entrance.
Two of them entered the cave. Suddenly there was a burst of magic from the cave.
"What is going on?" I asked.
"...I think they forgot to check for traps." Koenig shrugged. "What a shame, the first and only mistake. But sometimes that's all it takes for a mission to spiral downward."
The OPFOR aerial mages all started to converge on the cave location, while the other OPFOR mages in stealth mode and the regular infantry started moving on foot to get into overwatch positions.
One of the instructors called out, "They killed the OPFOR leadership."
"I wonder if they'll get out alive though?" I posed the question before humming in thought, "Hmm… would you mind if I go out there to watch the exercise in person?"
Koenig looked at me for a short while, "...Just grab one of the instructor jackets so they know you're just watching." He eventually said, "Those students would have a heart attack if they thought you were one of the OPFOR mages."
"I think they would have a heart attack anyways from just her being there to watch their performance personally," Visha added, her tone amused.
As I arrived at the area where the cave was located, I noticed the firefight had already started between the students and the OPFOR aerial mages. The students weren't that bad with combat, but I quickly noticed the OPFOR mages merely harassed them instead of trying to win the fight. I hope those students realize that every second they waste just gives the other OPFOR people a chance to close in.
The students eventually got moving, but then they started taking fire from the ambushing ground forces, causing some "casualties". The OPFOR aerial mages resumed attacking now that they had ground support and the students were distracted.
In the aftermath, only a few of the students escaped, with many others being "killed" or captured. I flew back to the instructors' post to meet up with Koenig and Visha again.
When Koenig had the students all gathered up for him to ask what their thoughts were and to run through everything that the instructors observed, they all froze when they saw me and Visha walk in. Koenig, sensing an opportunity, then used this moment to turn to me and ask: "What did you think of their performance, President?"
I saw some of the students blanch at Koenig's words, which had me smirking internally in amusement. But I had wanted to address something else to the students and so took mercy and dismissed Koenig's question with a wave of my hand.
"I'll let the instructors focus on the tactics. I wanted to tell you all about the big picture of why we are doing this special operations training." I replied before putting my hands behind my back and turning to face the students fully. I took a second to look them over, which got me a bit nostalgic for the moment I first laid eyes upon the newly-formed 203rd, before speaking:
"We are approaching an era where proxy wars and insurgencies will become the more common conflicts compared to the direct state versus state conflicts. Where plausible deniability is a major factor in operations. The colonies that the Allied Kingdom, Francois Republic, Unified States, Lothiern, and Ispagna still hold onto will become the next battlegrounds for other countries fighting for influence. We already saw the Rus carve out a sphere of influence out of the Allied Kingdom's crown jewel followed by the Chinese backing them in an attempt to take the rest of Bharat. And the Chinese also have Afghanistan and Burma under their sphere of influence. The communists will not stop trying to expand their influence into continents such as the Middle East and Africa, and we will contain and roll back their expansions!"
I took a moment to breathe, and to let my words sink into the students before continuing:
"You will be a part of that counter; as the hammer to strike down our foes, and as the dagger to hit them where they least expect it. Out in the field, you will have to face situations that you haven't trained for, couldn't have trained for, and will have to think on your feet in order to survive and overcome. You will also be going up against Chinese infantry and mages who are experienced and hardened by their brutal winter war in Sibyria against hostile Rus factions. Such an enemy must not be taken lightly."
I paused for a second and then decided to finish my speech by addressing a matter that I think is important for the soldiers who will one day be granted much autonomy to know: "And speaking of the enemy, I am sure all of you have heard or read about the atrocities and war crimes perpetrated in the Bharatian war. I want to make it clear I do not want that." I swept my eyes across the audience to emphasize my point. "You must not tarnish Germania's reputation with war crimes. If it's life or death, then go for the option that ensures your survival - You can't help others if you're dead, after all. But do not take such trust, and do not make such a decision, lightly - you will be held accountable."
Now comes the part that's easy to say, but very much hard to do. "But don't make the mistake of confusing your survival with the success of the mission." I said with a shake of my head, "What we will do today and in the near future, needs to be something that Germania can be proud of for decades to come. Because if not, then I ask you this: Is it truly a victory if 50 years down the road we have to endlessly downplay, deny, or lie about what we did?"
I end my speech and let Koenig and his staff take the stage for their post-exercise analysis lecture. I cracked a smirk when Koenig said they would now be conducting a resistance to interrogation exercise due to how many of them were captured by the OPFOR, prompting a groan from the students.
He then asked if they wanted the President and the Deputy Chancellor to conduct 'remedial' training, which seemed to inspire Visha with a mischievous idea.
"Lieutenant Colonel Koenig, have you conducted any live-fire artillery training?" She asked innocently.
I couldn't help but smile when the students all froze up, though them blanching even further was a bit much in my opinion, as with Visha's and my own slightly rusty skills, we'd have to settle on lighter exercises, such as concentrating on survival tactics and some practical techniques.
Mild stuff.
In München, later that evening:
We were walking down a busy nightlife street after having dinner at a restaurant when one particular nightclub caught our attention.
"Tanya, do you see something different about the crowd there?" Visha tugged on my arm.
It was a ladies' only establishment. Strange, there was a gentlemen's only establishment we walked past several blocks earlier.
"Let's go over there. It's probably one of those establishments where the ladies don't want to deal with men looking for dates." She winked. "Let's take a look inside."
"Visha, there are plenty of other nightclubs or pubs we can vis-" I was cut off as she tugged me into the nightclub.
When we stepped inside, it quickly became apparent it was not what we were expecting. "Visha, this looks like a bit more than just a women's association meeting."
In the back of the bar, a band was getting ready for their next song.
She shrugged her shoulders. "It's fine, not like anyone is doing anything illegal. I can dance with my 'sister' and there is nothing wrong with having a bit of fun like that."
Visha continued to tug at me, this time towards the dance floor.
"I have no idea how to dance." I softly spoke.
"You mean you can't use some of your aerial combat and lacrosse maneuvers to improvise?" Visha said as she grasped me around my waist. I hastily tried to figure out a way to translate aerial combat maneuvers to dance moves, but I shouldn't have worried about that since Visha took the lead. How did that saying go again? Never trust a man - or in this case, a very beautiful woman - with a sword if they can't dance.
And Visha was a very good dancer.
It was fun for about half an hour. A few people were watching us. I wasn't sure if it was in amazement, confusion, amusement, or a combination of the three. I didn't pay much attention until I heard some loud commotion at the front door.
"Police! We're taking this place!"
I looked around and saw two people on the dance floor flash their badges before barking orders. Looks like the police had been keeping an eye on this nightclub for a little while and decided to come down on it just as Visha and I were having our night.
Just my luck.
"What should we do?" Visha whispered worriedly.
"Head to the back of the wall, drop the disguise when no one is looking, and we will greet the police," I whispered back. She quickly nodded in response.
Deputy Inspector Bruch entered the nightclub. He knew technically some laws prohibited such establishments and while he had a dislike for queers, the President's and Deputy Chancellor's relationships being made public guaranteed that such laws would be increasingly difficult to enforce and eventually abolished.
'And yet the city mayor pushed down hard on us to 'reverse the social decay'. Rage against the dying light.'
An undercover officer came up to him, with a pale-looking face.
Bruch was confused. "What's the matter? It looks like you just saw a ghost or something."
"Sir, you should come to the back of the dance floor area." The undercover officer shakily replied.
Now he was even more confused. Until he saw what the undercover officer was spooked by.
It was President Degurechaff and the defacto Chancellor Serebryakov. And they did not look happy. The last time he had the same dreaded feeling was when he stumbled straight into a meeting between some major mob leaders and dirty police officers years ago.
He turned to the undercover officer. "Get the Inspector and Chief here. Now. This is way beyond my pay grade."
Visha and I watched the police officers and the rest of the nightclub attendants become unsure of what they should do. Some time passed before someone walked up to us and introduced themselves, with the inspector and deputy inspector somewhat behind him.
"Police Chief Wolter," the police officer introduced himself. "May I ask what you two are doing here this evening?"
"Having fun dancing," Visha responded with a flat tone. Some of the color drained from the chief's face.
"We're willing to let both of you just walk out of here," He responded with sweat on his face.
"And the rest?" I asked.
"We have to arrest them," he waved his hand at the rest of the people in the nightclub.
"For what?"
"Disturbing the peace. Noise complaints. Partaking in obscene behaviors. As for the nightclub, it is strictly prohibited by the city of München's law to allow queer behaviors."
The first three were just the classical rules of lawyering. Completely amateur compared to some of the things I've done in the past. The last one was going to need a personal talk with the city's leaders. If Visha and I just walk out while everyone else gets arrested, it would still look incredibly bad on us. The police applying double standards and a nation's leaders taking advantage of that? Scandalous hypocrisy!
"Then you're going to have to arrest both of us," I put out my arms for him to handcuff me. "Or are you telling me you only selectively apply the law as you see fit?"
Visha soon followed suit. The police chief was silent for a few long seconds as sweat continued to roll down his face. The inspector and deputy inspector took a few steps back.
I put down my arms. "Besides, we've been here for over half an hour before your men showed up," I spoke in a cheerful tone with a smile on my face. "Your undercover police officers could attest to that. I saw no signs of 'obscene behaviors' or 'disturbing the peace' that you speak of. Noise violation? What, do you just shut down every pub and restaurant because of someone's cranky phone call? I'm guessing you also shut down the gentleman's only club several blocks down the street as well didn't you?"
Visha nodded in agreement. The deputy inspector and inspector had an uncomfortable look on their face when I mentioned the other nightclub they likely targeted.
The only way I could see out of this mess was to discuss it with the police right here.
I motioned to one of the seats. "Police Chief Wolter, perhaps we should take a seat. I would like to hear about the orders you received. After all, I'm sure your superiors were at least aware of your big upcoming raids. And tell the rest of your men all of the drinks are on me."
I could see the gears rapidly turn in his head. He looked back at his subordinates as if it seemed he was looking for advice from them, but they too were silent.
"I think we should get going. We have somewhere else to be. I apologize for the misunderstanding." the police chief said as he began to take a step back.
I glared at him. He froze. "No, it would be best if we clear up the misunderstanding right here, right now."
Visha pointed at the front window. "President, I think I see one or two reporters out there."
"Well, go out there to greet them, and invite them to our table! Drinks on me!" I then turned my attention to the police chief, inspector, and deputy inspector. "I insist we have a discussion. After all, we wouldn't want more misunderstanding in the future, would we?"
1944, March 3rd, in Peking, Forbidden City palace:
"Sir, the Chinese reinforcements will be arriving in about a day." A junior officer nervously reported.
"One moment," Churchill continued to sit on the imperial throne in front of a photographer.
After yet another camera flash, Churchill got up from the throne. "Excellent, everything is on schedule."
Then he looked around in the throne room. "Such a lovely place. I wonder why the communists still took good care of this palace even long after ousting their monarchy?…"
"Sir, what should we do?"
"Tell the men they have 3 more hours to loot the palace," Churchill stubbed his cigar onto the throne's armrest before skipping down the steps. "Then torch the rest of it. We're heading back to Tientsin."
Just outside of Delhi, the former territory of North Bharat:
"You want to invade Tibet?" General Romel slammed a stack of propaganda letters onto the table. "I will not have my aircraft drop these."
"No, I just want to stir up some rebellions in the Himalayas mountains to secure our northern flank while making our push into Delhi." Dutta scoffed as if it was so obvious.
"This one is targeted at the Tibetians and this other one at Buddhists," Romel pulled the offending sheets out of the stack. "You're calling for a revolt within the CSR!"
"And your point is?"
"So far this war has been focused on North and South Bharats, with limited involvement from the Chinese," Romel gritted his teeth. "We start directly threatening their homeland, and they will view this war as a matter of national and ideological survival, and fight to the bitter end even if North Bharat unconditionally surrenders!"
"First they're going to have to put out the fires the Albish set in Peking before worrying about something far away from them," Sutta mockingly retorted as he walked out of the tent. "Now if you excuse me, I have a war to win. And I will find ways to get those propaganda papers into people's hands."
A few days later, in Nanjing:
"North Bharat is crying for help," Kang sniffed with annoyance. "Some madman named 'Subha Dutta' convinced Lucknow's garrison to surrender the city without a fight and defect to his growing army, and is also stirring up local resistance in the occupied territory. Now his army is directly assaulting Delhi, North Bharat's capital city. Simultaneously, the NKVD agents in Aegyptus reported that well over 100 aircraft are flying from Germania to South Bharat, with Aegyptus being one of the refueling stops. They appear to be a completely new type of aircraft, as they have no propellers and their observed airspeed is about 700 kilometers per hour. The Germanians are calling them 'jets', which I have no idea what they are referring to."
"And we have intelligence of the Germanians building multiple defense lines behind Dutta's rapid advances, denying any opportunities for a quick counteroffensive when the South Bharatians can perform fighting retreats behind prepared positions." Peng gripped his cup of tea, his knuckles turning white.
"I told them to tone down their atrocities. Now with them on the retreat, everyone that had grievances against them sees an opportunity for revenge, and everyone else that supported them would be prioritizing saving themselves over continuing to help the retreaters." Zhang glared with fury from his tired face. "And what is the NKVD doing to bail out North Bharat from their self-inflicted mess?"
"The newly mobilized Rus reinforcements are still a few weeks away from arriving in the Bharatian subcontinent, due to the railroads in Afghanistan, Tibet, and Burma still being under construction." Kang softly said.
"The construction delays were expected due to the winter conditions in the Himalayas mountain range." Li dismissively sneered at Kang. "Five weeks ago, I lost 30,000 workers in the blink of an eye after a weeklong blizzard tore through them, and you didn't even acknowledge their sacrifices."
"Delhi will be lost then. And the pockets of what is left of their trapped army are destined for defeat if it wasn't already clear what their fate would be. It's also unfortunate the Albish and their allies are advancing towards Peking." Zhang then stared into everyone's eyes, one at a time, before speaking again. "I've said before that we are to prioritize our own homeland defense. Perhaps we should pull our forces entirely from North Bharat."
"That would be incredibly disruptive to our logistics from pulling over 100,000 men from North Bharat on short notice," Peng quickly snapped back before Kang could voice his objection, while Li hesitantly nodded in agreement. "I would instead suggest stepping up our mobilization efforts, including expanding the age range. Our Sibyrian Army detachment in Joseon just finished wiping out the last of the Albish allies and are rapidly marching back to Peking to deal with the Albish."
"And have those fresh conscripts man our coastal defenses while the rest of our available military forces are in North Bharat and the Peking area?" Zhang snorted while pushing aside his cup of tea.
Peng was about to say something before falling silent, which Zhang nodded. "I figured. And what happens if our enemies try for another amphibious landing elsewhere for more looting and razing like what they did to Peking? They will push aside the fresh conscripts. I will not tolerate the destruction of our ancestors' cultural works."
"If the Albish intended on another beach landing, they would have simply settled for a coastal raid of Tientsin instead of advancing to Peking." Kang was then cut off by an increasingly frustrated Zhang.
"I don't want to take any chances!" Zhang slammed his fist onto the table.
"There is another option," Peng tentatively spoke up. "We aggressively drive the Albish back to the sea, then spread out our home forces across our coastline to bolster our fresh recruits and further train them."
Zhang calmed down as his anger subsided from his face. "And what will we be doing with North Bharat in the meantime?"
"They're going to have to make do with what we have already provided them. When we are done with our immediate crisis and demonstrate to the Albish there is nowhere safe for them to land, we will redeploy our armies to North Bharat."
Wang Ming suddenly burst into the room, with the guards trying to persuade Wang to stop.
"What are you doing here?" Kang hissed, only for Wang to throw a stack of South Bharatian propaganda leaflets and the translated papers onto the meeting table for everyone to see.
"Subha Dutta was not content with just taking Delhi. He also wants to conquer Tibet!"
"That's outrageous…" Zhang's hands shook.
Peng grabbed one of the papers. "A revolt in Tibet by itself would be a threat to our national security, even if he doesn't take advantage of the distraction to push into our territory."
"It appears we have been dragged into a multi-front war, and our enemy wants more than a surrender of North Bharat." Li looked despondently. "Peace is no longer an option. This is a war for survival now."
"Rally our population," Zhang got up from his chair. "We will not be humiliated and subjugated again."
1944, March 9th, somewhere in the Germanian countryside:
Klaus Vogel was working on clearing the pavement of unwelcome spring snow when he heard a car come to a stop, two doors opened and slammed shut, and the crunch of snow from the footsteps behind him.
It's probably the President's henchmen. Or henchwomen. I suppose I'll be joining the fate of the unexpectedly disappeared communists even after years of retiring from the increasingly dangerous politics.
He turned around to accept his fate.
It was Johan Dressler and Andreas Becker. His old colleagues.
He blinked his eyes in confusion.
"Klaus, I know you have some questions, but the long story short is that we are going to discuss the future of Germania." Andreas Becker said with a grin. "Did you hear about what happened yesterday?"
"No, I haven't been keeping up with the news." Klaus shrugged as he tossed aside his shovel into a snow pile. "There's not much I could do even if I disliked what the President was doing."
Andreas chuckled before he continued. "The queer nightclub that the President and her deputy lover caused drama at, had burned down. The investigation is still ongoing. A pro-queer protest kicked off claiming that the nightclub fire was an act of arson, a counter-protest started in response, and it didn't take long for a riot to occur between the two groups. When was the last time you heard about a riot in Germania?"
Klaus straightened his back and shifted his previously slouching posture into an upright one at the shock of the news.
"And it gets better, the President is trying to bury all of that controversy with a storm of public announcements. Something about expanding public transportation across the country, standing up the new Ministry of Energy, and tuition assistance for veterans to go to trade schools and colleges."
"I know what you're thinking. It's unprecedented under the President's rule." Klaus nodded as he contemplated the sudden change of the political scene. "People who had been opposed to the President are coming back out into the streets, but it's way too early to celebrate. Anyways, what about the anti-queer protestors?"
"A suspected ringleader was arrested, but a contact within the München police force mentioned that there is a good possibility that they may let her go, due to a combination of those that support her crusade against queers, the difficulty with linking her to the actual cause of the riot, and there are others that strongly suspect she would use the trial as a way to raise publicity. We're still confirming her name, but she could be useful in our campaign against the President."
Dressler cleared his throat. "The Germanian Workers' Party might have been corrupted by the President and her mindless loyalists, but we can start with a new political party and pick up those that believe she is losing her mind. A friend within the party had gotten a hold of the membership roster archive and identified those who had left the party over the years. Some of my associates are also identifying dissenters within the Germanian Democratic Union party as Conrad Adenaue and Georg Dertinge are stuck between either breaking away from the President or risking having further unrest within their political party."
Andreas gestured towards their car parked off in the distance. "We could help the GDU turn against the President, with or without Conrad Adenaue and Georg Dertinge. Or at least cause a split to cripple a major pro-Degurechaff party and maybe pull some of their members away from them. I think the future for us is bright."
In Berun, a blissfully unaware Degurachaff at an OZEV meeting:
"It's one thing for all OZEV members to move towards having a common railroad track gauge, but for the new republics, isn't that overreaching?" I pushed the proposal paper away from me.
"At the very least they shouldn't be using the same track gauge that the Rus are using," Maciej Moscicki, the President of Pullska, stood up and traced his hand along the Rus border with the new republics. "If the Rus invade again, it would be convenient for us if the new republics are using our track gauge, and an inconvenience for the Rus as they would have to change the track gauge again back to their standard to sustain their military logistics."
I scanned the table and saw everyone else nod in agreement.
"Alright, we'll all equally fund the track gauge changes, and offer economic sweeteners to the new republics to make it worth their time." I sighed in resignation.
Then an idea hit me…
"If our railway system is to enable rapid military mobilization, I believe a high-speed railway system, something along the lines of triple the train speed, would be beneficial. Preferably electric powered to reduce our reliance on imported foreign oil, especially in the middle of a war."
"The trains would derail…" Istvan Ronai, Prime Minister of Hungary, was about to speak up when a suddenly enthusiastic Moscicki stopped him.
"Of course, she means an entirely new railway system, along with the trains! I read about her yesterday's public announcement of widespread improvement of public transportation within cities and between them!"
"That's just to reduce reliance on foreign oil imports in case the war in Asia escalates. Automobiles are always going to require more fuel, specifically gasoline or diesel. Transport aircraft guzzle fuel that could go to combat aircraft. In comparison, ground public transportation can use electricity from coal and nuclear power plants." I dismissively waved my hand as if it was just an obvious and insignificant project.
"Is that why also yesterday you announced the establishment of Germania's Ministry of Energy and put them in charge of upcoming future nuclear power plants, and all energy matters?"
This is getting annoying…
I glared at Moscicki. "Yes, also to reduce oil usage."
"Will there be assistance in developing our domestic oil sources?" Constantin Groza, the Prime Minister of Dacia, had a slight smile. "We've been slowly repairing the oil infrastructure in Caucasia and Kazakh Republics that the Rus sabotaged when they retreated, and have identified expansion opportunities."
"Of course, but I want to table that for a later discussion." I glanced at Groza.
Luigi Falasca, the Prime Minister of Ildoa, loudly cleared his throat. "Back on topic about the high-speed railway, I expect a lengthy feasibility study which we will all be funding. Also separately we will be changing the new republics' rail gauges for the standard train services. Does anyone have objections?"
Everyone looked at each other, with no dissenting voices.
"And that's two items approved," Falasca scribbled in his notebook.
"The next thing I wanted to discuss is the war in Asia and how it will be escalating," I glanced at my notes. "Akinese intelligence reported that the Chinese Soviet Republic has launched a massive war mobilization drive, using the looting and burning of Peking as the rallying call. Now, does anyone want to join the Albish coalition and their invasion of the CSR?"
I wasn't sure how enthusiastic they would be about fighting yet another world war. While I would like to end communism for good, I was not interested in repeating what I remembered from my previous life about the Second Sino-Japanese War and how that was misery and bloodshed for both sides.
And this time, the CSR is much more organized to put up a fierce fight.
Thorvald Buhl, the Prime Minister of Daneland, choked on his glass of water before slamming it down hard. "Absolute madness that we're barreling into another world war. And this time all for what?"
Groza nodded in agreement. "We've already contributed much to ensuring South Bharat's independence. The capitulation of the entire CSR and their population, which is comparable to Europe's entire population, is a massive shift in goals! And the Albish hasn't even bothered to ask us for our input in the first place!"
"We keep our efforts focused only on the Bharatian subcontinent," Karlo Nazor, the President of Croatia, tapped on the table. "And in fact, I would argue that trying to defeat North Bharat would only provoke the Chinese to come down south with their mobilized armies to reverse everything that we accomplished. The border should be drawn at what South Bharat has taken and held, and no more than that."
"I agree with his de-escalation plan," I gestured to Nazor. "We pressure South Bharat to cease their offensives when the Albish coalition has been pushed out of the CSR's mainland, then tell the CSR that we are willing to settle for peace. Does anyone have any objections?"
Variations of 'no' were uttered or gestured in unison among everyone.
I breathed a sigh of relief. I was worried they might have been bloodthirsty, but I guess the CSR had enough blood to drown us all in it.
1944, March 9th, somewhere on the island of Formosa:
"General Clarke's work seemed to have drawn much of the Chinese attention," General Law tapped on the map of Clarke's methodical retreat back to the sea against the identified hordes of Chinese forces approaching from all directions. "It's a shame what happened in Joseon, but at least we tied down what appeared to be their elite home guard far away from Peking long enough for the audacious colonel to sit on their throne."
Then he traced his fingers over to Shanghai, "And our reconnaissance reported minimal Chinese forces in this area…"
"As of yesterday, Congress formally approved our 'policing action' and 'all necessary means to restore peace in Bharat', probably after seeing how successful the initial landing and advance on Peking went." General Douglas Arthur blew his pipe tobacco with a chuckle. "And President Frederick Rosenvel signed off on it a few hours ago, telling me that I am free to do whatever it takes to end the war in Bharat with the volunteer forces."
"That includes occupying Shanghai?" Law smiled.
"No," Arthur removed the pipe tobacco from his mouth in front of Law's now confused expression. "We are going to Nanjing. Force the communists to sign the peace deal in their own capital city."
"That is… ambitious." A now worried Law took a step back. "I was content with a coastal raid on Shanghai and then hitting somewhere else that is exposed."
"Washington DC was impressed by your work in Tientsin before your reassignment to lead another operation," Arthur smirked as he thumped the table. "This is our opportunity to decisively and quickly end the war, and snuff communism in its cradle before it spreads outside of Asia."
Law hummed for a moment as his face twisted between different emotions of fear and excitement, before finally settling on something.
"We'll take Shanghai and if the upstream city of Nantong is lightly defended, then we can consider pushing further up the Yangtze River to Zhenjiang and Yangzhou, which are the last two cities up the river before Nanjing. One firm step at a time."
"I'm assuming we're not going to be taking the other cities further north and south to secure our flanks?"
"Our navy floating in their river will provide the heavy artillery support to smash any Chinese hordes that try to counterattack us," Law had a beam of confidence. "The Royal Navy has always been the Allied Kingdom's military backbone, and it will be no different for this operation. Although I do have a question, how many long-range bombers can you deploy from the Akinese and Formosan airfields to bomb targets in the CSR?"
"A few dozen, but I am expecting that number to grow to about three hundred. Why?"
"I need the coastal railways bombed out to prevent them from redeploying their railway artillery guns to threaten our ships, and then bomb the railways running close to the Yangtze River and the rest of the railways in central CSR to delay the redeployment of their forces from Peking to Shanghai or Nanjing."
The next day, in the far outskirts of Tientsin:
"I need artillery support! My mortar and machine gun crews are almost out of ammunition!" Nasser shouted into his phone over the gunfire, explosions and screams.
"I can't provide that," a terse reply came from the other Aegyptian battalion commander.
"I hear your artillery guns, and I see them hitting… empty dirt." Nasser put a pair of binoculars to face to look at the other battalion's position, then turned his head towards his front line. "I am staring down an ocean of bodies charging at my position with enemy mages mixed in. My minefields and barbed wires are ineffective against the enemy mages zapping the ground ahead of them to prematurely detonate the mines, and burning the wires as they walk through them. With over half of my battalion being lost to casualties and most of my soldiers equipped with bolt action rifles, I am outnumbered by about 1 to 20. I just need one artillery barrage to slow down their advance!"
"I can see what you are dealing with, but the artillery is not under my control, nor can I send my men over to your position. Just focus fire on the mages and you should be fine."
"What part of 'I am almost out of mortar and machine gun' ammunition did you not hear?!" Nasser could feel his face turn hot from anger. "They only revealed their mages after my battalion exhausted their ammunition on the earlier waves because I mistakenly thought those had to be the main offensives from how many bodies they threw at us! Bolt action rifles don't do a damn thing against their mages!"
"I need authorization from my higher command to do anything outside of what I have been instructed to do. The 2nd artillery division is following their orders from their commander on when and where to target."
"Then contact your command!" Saliva droplets flew out of Nasser's screaming mouth.
"Wait a few hours," a now exasperated voice from the other commander came through. "They insist on couriers with signed papers."
"Make an exception for just one time, I beg you!"
"Good officers follow orders, and the 2nd artillery division commander told me to have my higher command contact theirs to schedule new artillery targets for the next day. Stop wasting my time."
"I will be retreating in less than half an hour if nothing changes!" Nasser heard his telephone receiver crack from his hand gripping it tightly.
Maybe he'll reconsider his artillery support…
"…You're allowed to do that on your own? What am I supposed to do if you leave my flank open?! I can't disobey my higher command to deviate from their orders!"
And all hope is lost.
Nasser slammed down his telephone and picked up another phone, this one for Colonel Anwar.
"Major Nasser. The battalions adjacent to me are refusing to assist. What do you recommend for our ammunition problem, and what to do with Chinese concentrating on my position?"
"Retreat. I will also be ordering Salem and Mohieddin to do the same. The entire front will collapse, but I will not have another division wiped out under me."
Nasser blinked for a moment as he almost dropped his phone receiver in shock. "It's that bad?"
"Salem and Mohieddin have the same problems as you do. My peers are uncooperative, with some insisting that their subordinates are telling them everything is fine when I can see that it is not fine. The reserve divisions will not even assemble without orders, and I see their soldiers hosting a fucking wrestling match because their officers are idling. They will only take orders from their superiors, which are all across the ocean in Kyushu! And General Amer is also nowhere close to the Chinese mainland to see the disaster unfolding, not that he would want to help us."
Then Nasser heard his machine guns fall silent one by one, no longer suppressing the roaring echoes of the chants and shouts of the incoming Chinese horde that had cleared out the last of the minefields.
Hours later:
"I may need your men to assist in holding Tientsin, then falling back to holding just the harbor area, as the Aegyptian positions are rapidly collapsing. You'll have the battleships and cruisers provide heavy bombardment to support our defense." General Dudley Clarke offered a plate of sandwiches and a teacup to Colonel Churchill.
"I was looking forward to our redeployment to the upcoming Shanghai campaign, but I'll be happy to make the Chinese bleed." Churchill nodded as he accepted the offer. "What in the bloody hell is happening with the Aegyptians? My men conducted a fighting retreat that stalled the communists far longer than what the Aegyptians have done so far, and that's with a fraction of the men and equipment!"
An aide popped their head into the tent. "Colonel Anwar is here to see you."
Clarke looked down at his watch. "Ah, just in time. Have him come in."
Anwar stepped into the tent with a blank look on his face. "General Clarke, Colonel Churchill, it is a pleasure to meet you. What is the special occasion in this unfortunate time?"
"I'm inviting you here because apparently, you are the highest ranked Aegyptian officer in this area…" Clarke offered another plate of sandwiches and a teacup to Anwar. "And I need your division to support Colonel Churchill in holding the Tientsin until the transport ships have finished withdrawing all of your forces."
"What about the other Aegyptian divisions?" Anwar held his hands from accepting the offer.
"Either reduced to unorganized mobs stampeding to the harbor, and I will not allow them onboard the ships because they will jam up my retreat logistic plans. Or completely surrounded and trapped by the Chinese masses. Your division is the only Aegyptian force still available in this theatre."
"I will not abandon my people, even if their officers have failed them." Anwar clenched his fists.
"Then what do you propose?"
"Save as many as possible," Anwar's face turned to pleading. "My division will hold and fight for as long as it takes, and will keep itself sustained by reincorporating the so-called 'mobs' back into their rank and file to resume organized resistance."
"I like your attitude and plan. I wouldn't mind killing more Chinese," Churchill chuckled before Clarke could say something. "Where's your commander anyways? And your colonel peers?"
"All of them are sitting in Kyushu and issuing orders that I've been ignoring because they are detached from reality."
Churchill suddenly threw his plate and cup onto the dirt floor. "Cowards! No wonder why the other Aegyptian formations crumbled like digestive biscuits dunked in hot tea!"
"I had low expectations of them and thus only assigned them to hold static defensive positions," Clarke casually took a sip of his tea as if he had expected Churchill to make a mess or merely tolerated his antics. "I was disappointed anyways."
Churchill then grabbed his coat as he prepared to exit the tent, while an astonished Clarke looked on. "Enough chatting, let's go kill some communists."
"Wait." Clarke held up his hand. "I have a deceptive plan."
"Tricks to play on them?"
"Of course," Clarke smiled. "The Chinese will have a dim view of the Aegyptians and will commit most of their forces to break what seem to be fragile formations."
He then looked at Colonel Anwar. "You will get help with rescuing your countrymen. In return, I need you to play along with my bait plans, and to take the brunt of the initial blows."
Then he looked at Churchill. "And you will be the hammer to the anvil while the Chinese are all piled up against the anvil."
"I don't like this plan. You're using my people as sacrificial lambs." Anwar fiercely glared into Clarke's eyes. "But I will execute it as long as you uphold your promise of helping me save as many people as possible."
As Anwar prepared to walk out, Clarke cleared his throat. "General Amer insisted that you and your subordinate officers are hardliner Aegyptian nationalists and are not to be trusted. While I don't quite trust him as he's sitting far away from all of this action and letting his entire expeditionary force be wiped out, your attitude concerns me."
Anwar and Clarke stared at each other, as Clarke continued. "You either work with me or with him. Do you understand?"
"Yes." Anwar tersely replied and stormed out.
Meanwhile…
Nasser breathed heavily as he and his escorts made their way to what was left of the ruined office building that served as Mohieddin's headquarters. Peering inside, he could see piles of both Aegyptian and Chinese bodies in the foyer.
"No activity, let's go!" He beckoned to his soldiers to advance inside.
A gunshot rang from an adjacent room, prompting them to quickly make their way over, surprising and killing the few Chinese soldiers who were fatally tunnel visioned on trying to breach the room rather than paying attention to their surroundings.
As Nasser stepped into the room, he gasped.
"About time…" A bed-bound Mohieddin with multiple bullet wounds coughed up blood as he struggled to reload his pistol, while a dozen Chinese bodies lay scattered around or on top of him.
1944, March 13th, Shanghai:
"This was easier than I had expected," Arthur strolled down the street to the newly established headquarters with Law and Poulin walking next to him. "Well, it's certainly good to be back in the international settlement. I'm surprised they kept the architecture intact."
"The only thing that concerns me is how quiet the remaining populace has been after the communists evacuated much of the city. Not a single protest." Law glanced around as they walked into the building.
"What is wrong with a docile population?" Arthur scoffed.
"Believe me, coming from someone who did the dirty business of putting down unruly colonial subjects, the only reason they are docile after evacuating the rest is because they are waiting for the tide to change against us before kicking off the mother of all riots."
"We could start rounding them up…" Poulin was about to begin when he was cut off.
"That would take weeks to accomplish!" Law snapped a knife hand towards Poulin. "We would have to hold and fortify this city instead of pushing further up the river."
"Are we just going to ignore the potential partisan problem?"
"I'll have the Aegyptians garrison the city when they finish redeploying from the north. If the population does rise up, at least the Aegpytians will buy us time to respond."
The three generals froze in their tracks upon seeing a certain person sit in their lobby.
"What is a Chinese general doing here?…" Law stuttered in astonishment.
Colonel Shi Yousan, dressed in a general's uniform, snapped a finger and a translator who was waiting off the side stepped in.
Shi got up from his chair while offering a handshake. "It is good to meet you gentlemen. I've been waiting."
"For peace talks?" Law refused to take Shi's hand, while Arthur and Poulin glared suspiciously.
"No, the fools in Nanjing will never accept that reality." Shi snorted as he withdrew his handshake. "Not after what you did in Peking. Looting and torching the Forbidden City was a very forbidden thing to do. But I have no interest in a drawn out attrition war that lasts for one or two decades and eventually results in our slow defeat. I'm not interested in the misery of being on a slow losing side. After all, I survived the fall of the Shun Dynasty, and I intend on surviving the fall of yet another government."
"Do you know anything about how docile the Shanghai residents are, if you're so adamant about how controversial the battle of Peking became?" Poulin crossed his arms in front of his chest.
"I am not involved with that," Shi shrugged. "Just like me, my colleagues keep many secrets."
"What do you want?"
"A seat on the winning side. Or at least somewhere luxurious to retire away from all of this nonsense slaughter. I can provide information on the Chinese Soviet Republic's future military activities, and there are many. You still have a window of opportunity for a quick victory, but it is narrow and closing fast."
Law glanced at Arthur and Poulin for a moment, then motioned to Shi to explain.
"Luo Ronghuan, Marshal of the Army, is under immense pressure from his recent chain of failures, and has authorized a massive counterattack to begin in about a week to directly retake Shanghai. That counterattack consists of over 50,000 hastily organized militia fighters with a small core of professional soldiers. They won't have their railway artillery guns after your pilots bombed out the railways and trains, so they have nothing that can threaten your ships that would be providing shore bombardment."
As Law contemplated what Shi was saying, Shi smiled. "I also have contacts who are very familiar with the Yangtze River and the surrounding geography. And other contacts who know about the naval mines in the Yangtze River. It could be of great assistance to your march onto Nanjing, and for your fleet to support that operation."
"American ships used to sail in the Yangtze River, we don't ne-" Arthur was cut off by Shi's interjection.
"That was decades ago during the Shun Dynasty, and before grand scale flood control and canal engineering works were conducted in the river region under the new government. I shouldn't have to remind you that the ships back then were nowhere close in size compared to your fleet that is present here today."
Shi then began to casually walk to the building's exit. "I'll leave it up to your imagination of how to defend against the impending attack on Shanghai, and await to see if you prove to be the eventual winners in this war."
AN:
The nightclub scene was based on these two links:
https/watch?v=NY-DSsjbcJc
https/en./wiki/Stonewall_riots
In 1955, France demonstrated an electric train that could go up to 331 km/h: https/watch?v=bEgAgJc8Heg
Sections from the "Armies of Sand: The Past, Present, and Future of Arab Military Effectiveness" book that explain the Aegyptian military performance.
Page 6:
In battle after battle, Egypt's field commanders demonstrated almost none of the skills needed to prevail in mechanized maneuver warfare. Egyptian soldiers fought hard enough and their units typically maintained their cohesion while the Israelis were attempting to breach their fortified lines. But as soon as the Israelis had broken into their positions, let alone after they had broken through, Egyptian tactical formations became helpless. Time and again, Egyptian tactical commanders simply failed to react to Israeli penetrations or flanking attacks. They would not counterattack, they would not refuse a flank, they would not reorient their defenses to meet the new direction of the Israeli assault, they would not even withdraw from a position that had been compromised by Israeli maneuver. As a result, all across the front, once Israeli forces had penetrated an Egyptian defensive line, it was merely a matter of rolling up the rest of the line from the flank.
Similarly, it was the rare occasion when Egyptian reserves moved to reinforce or counterattack an Israeli assault. There were only a handful of latecoming, slow-moving counterattacks by Egyptian armored reserves, and these were clumsy frontal assaults into the teeth of the Israeli attack. In the vast majority of instances, however, the Israelis moved so fast and the Egyptians so slowly (or not at all) that Israeli mechanized forces caught the Egyptian reserves still in their staging areas, and crushed them effortlessly. The Egyptian mechanized forces performed worst of all in these fights because their junior officers seemed to have no understanding of combined arms cooperation, their formations could not maneuver, their armor acted like movable pillboxes rather than mobile tanks, their infantry did not seem to know either how to take out Israeli tanks or how to guard their own against Israeli infantry, their artillery was incapable of shifting fire to keep pace with the Israeli maneuvers, and their tank crews were dismal marksmen who rarely, if ever, moved to get flank or rear shots against the agile Israelis. If Egypt's tactical commanders were badly outfought by the Israelis, their senior leadership was psychologically paralyzed by the speed and extent of the unfolding catastrophe. Egypt's high command was largely manned by cronies of Marshal 'Amr, the commander-in-chief of the Egyptian armed forces. These men were chosen more for their loyalty to 'Amr than any innate ability.
Page 7:
Egyptian junior officers in Sinai contributed to that shock by thoroughly misleading their superiors. At first, Egypt's frontline commanders refused to admit that they were being defeated and instead sent glowing reports up the chain of command that they were crushing the Israelis. By midday on June 5, this misinformation left the Egyptian high command believing that its army was advancing into Israel itself, prompting Cairo to beg King Hussein of Jordan to launch his own offensive out of the West Bank in the fantastical belief that their armies could link up and cut Israel in half. Later, when it became impossible to hide the scope of the defeat, Egyptian junior officers reversed themselves and began claiming that they were being overwhelmed by enormous Israeli forces far greater than their own. 'Amr himself apparently suffered a nervous breakdown of sorts (or a drug- or alcohol-induced stupor) on the first day, overwhelmed by the defeat of his army.11 The result was chaos in the Egyptian chain of command, and paralysis in Sinai as none of Cairo's field commanders from the division commanders on down would take the initiative to act without explicit orders from the high command.
Page 68:
Egyptian junior officers still tend to show little innovation and initiative in combat. The halting movement of Egyptian units during the Gulf War, their unwillingness to adapt to opportunities presented by the course of battle, and their inability to solve unforeseen tactical problems were indistinguishable from the problems Egyptian units suffered in 1948–1973. Egyptian combat operations in the Gulf War and in training exercises since have been set-piece operations on both the offensive and defensive. According to one US military officer very familiar with the Egyptian military, "The Egyptians would make the simple complicated; something had to be done the way it was always done because they were so inflexible."9 Over-centralization remains the rule throughout the Egyptian armed forces. One Western military officer observed that "There are few observable signs of real change in the centralized command and control system in either the Army or the Air Force," despite constant US efforts to encourage the Egyptians to decentralize authority.10 Virtually all decisions must be made by a general officer, and it is nearly impossible to reverse a decision, even when it is no longer applicable because of changed circumstances—such as the insistence on executing every pre-planned artillery fire mission during Desert Storm, even against Iraqi positions known to be deserted. At times, initiative among junior officers is purposely suppressed by senior officers, but more often than not, tactical commanders display zero willingness or ability to act aggressively whenever they are delegated decision-making authority. One US military officer who has trained and advised the Egyptian armed forces remarked that "the lower you get in the chain of command the less initiative and creativity you see," while a civilian DoD official who has worked with the Egyptian military stated simply that "there is no initiative at all" among lower echelons of the Egyptian armed forces.11
Egyptian forces continue to show little understanding of combined arms operations. In most exercises, there is a complete separation of the combat arms, and there is little effort to teach their proper integration. Even the most sensationalist Israeli analyses of the Egyptian military have conceded that rather than improving their ability to integrate air and ground forces, the Egyptians have regressed since the Arab-Israeli wars.12 According to US military officers and DoD officials familiar with the Egyptian military, training rarely takes place above the battalion level, and infantry, armor, and artillery almost never train together.
Page 71-72:
A great example of the Soviet experience with Arab armies comes from Egyptian armor training for the 1973 October War. As I noted above, in the run-up to the October War, the Egyptians adopted Soviet tactics to a greater extent than ever before. At that time, Soviet doctrine was to have the commander of a tank platoon designate a single target, at which the entire platoon (three tanks including the commander's) would then fire until it was destroyed, at which point the commander would designate a new target. The Soviets calculated that, given the gunnery skills of their crews, it normally would take three salvoes from the platoon (nine shots) to kill an enemy tank. Rather than seeing this as a general guide for planning, the Egyptians turned it into a hard-and-fast rule and taught all of their tank platoons to fire three salvoes at the designated target and then move on to another target. Egyptian tank gunnery turned out to be considerably poorer than Soviet marksmanship, and as a result, during the October War, it was often the case that none of the shots fired in the three salvoes of an Egyptian tank platoon hit the Israeli tank they had targeted. Nevertheless, because the Egyptians had been taught to fire three salvoes and then move on, they would shift their fire to the next target even though they had not actually destroyed the first one. In this way, the Egyptians drove their Russian advisors to distraction trying to convince them not to take their guidelines as unbreakable laws. It was also one of many reasons that the Egyptians lost so many tank duels to the Israelis.25
Page 74:
Syria's Soviet advisors were incredulous that the Syrian brigades would halt without taking the bridges when they were so close, they faced so little Israeli resistance, and the bridges were the key to the entire war.28 This was entirely contrary to the most basic tenets of Soviet doctrine (and common sense). The very next day, Israel used those bridges to begin shifting reserve armor formations to the Golan, which first pushed back, then encircled, and then destroyed all of these Syrian brigades, enabling Israel to mount its own counteroffensive that brought them to the gates of Damascus.
Page 162:
For example, the Iraqi 52nd Armored Brigade was deployed with the rest of the 52nd Armored Division as the operational reserve of the Iraqi VII Corps, and therefore its primary mission was to counterattack a Coalition attack into one of the VII Corps infantry divisions. Late on February 24, the commander of the 52nd Armored Brigade received a frantic message from the headquarters of the 48th Infantry Division directly in front of his brigade that they were being overrun by American armored forces. Nevertheless, because he had not received orders from corps or divisional command, the commander of the 52nd Brigade did nothing. He did not execute his primary mission by moving to support the embattled 48th Division. He did not ready his brigade to move or fight; he did not even contact divisional headquarters to report the message and ask if he should counterattack. As a result, the 48th Infantry Division was overwhelmed by the US 1st Infantry Division, and the Iraqi 52nd Brigade was itself overrun by the British 1st Armored Division with barely a fight.23
Page 175: Analysis of South Vietnam military dysfunction, corruption and incompetent senior commanders. Lower ranking officers did well.
Page 205: Argentina military performance. Bad enlisted, good junior officers, really bad senior officers. Massive inter-service rivalry, with the army and navy fighting a battle against each other for control of the government.
Page 386: Arab culture analysis
Page 445: Strict military doctrine with predetermined standard solutions to anticipated problems, no deviation allowed:
During Operation DESERT STORM, the US military captured a significant number of these indigenous Iraqi manuals (along with a number of older, verbatim translations of Western, mostly British, manuals).23 They make for fascinating reading (well, for someone like me) because they demonstrate the rote, unimaginative, and unchallenging training methods of Arab forces.24 They are simplistic, step-by-step, how-to procedures for conducting even the most basic military tasks—at far greater levels of detail than corresponding British manuals. In most cases, in the indigenous Iraqi manuals, tactical situations are depicted as having only one possible "solution." Many of the Iraqi manuals tell a commander exactly how to handle a given situation with little allowance for, or encouragement of, flexibility and improvisation. For instance, in a May 1986 manual on how Iraqi armored formations were to conduct counterattacks against hasty Iranian defenses (especially earthen berms) erected after breaking through an Iraqi defensive position, the manual takes the reader through every last step in the operation, including actions that should be standard procedure in all military operations and all counterattacks. Indeed, the parts of the manual related to specific features of this particular kind of operation—how the Iranians attack and set up their hasty defenses after a penetration, their weaknesses while conducting such an operation, and how to go about attacking them—actually make up a very small percentage of the manual. Instead, the vast majority of the manual is a detailed account of how to conduct any armored offensive operation: information that should be covered in the basic manuals on armored operations and not in a supplementary manual on a specific type of operation. Although the manual is intended for brigade-level operations, it still contains instructions for the brigade artillery commander to make his registration fire appear to be part of normal operations so as not to tip-off the enemy, it warns tank and mechanized infantry formation commanders to redirect their fire to the flanks so as not to kill friendly infantry when they dismount and advance in the center, and it explains precisely when tanks are to start and stop firing.25 As an example of the level of detail contained in this manual, the section on preparation for the attack admonishes the commander:
Fourth, in order to gather information for developing objectives, the following sources of information are tapped, from which information is gathered and analyzed to come to conclusions, or they may be converted to intelligence reports by the intelligence cell at the corps or division levels or below.
1) Our front troop observation points, including reserve points for observing our artillery.
2) Overlays featuring fire plan targets for our defensive troops.
3) The overlay showing the location of the enemy mortars and artillery, kept by the artillery commanders.
4) The overlay for immobilizing enemy concentrations. The areas of his effectiveness as defined by land observation radars.
5) Aerial photography, after scrutinizing them and highlighting the information they contain about enemy troop concentration on the maps.
6) Air reconnaissance for commanders and consultants or information obtained by air observation points if available.
7) Analyzing the movement area and available information in the headquarters to use them in gathering information about the terrain, critical terrain, features, obstacles, and so on and so forth.
8) Prisoners of war who have been interrogated or those who surrendered as refugees to our troops.
9) Areas of enemy activities and his daily routine as detected by our front troops, such as distribution of rations, approaches, departure and return time for patrols and time of their return, ambushes areas, screen line, etc.
10) Headquarters location and areas of his effectiveness as determined by the technical equipment system.
11) Documents such as maps that can be obtained by our troops during a raid, combat patrol or an ambush.26 Likewise, in the 10 pages of instructions on how to conduct the artillery bombardment prior to the counterattack one finds a seemingly endless series of instructions such as this:
The concealing fire is taken off the second cover by the observation officers accompanying the attacking infantry when our troops start the attack to occupy the first cover [the first Iranian defense line] for a distance not less than 400 meters for the dismounted infantry and 200 meters for the mounted infantry. At this point the infantry soldiers prepare the assault hand grenades to hurl at the cover or behind it before climbing the cover to keep the enemy in hiding. A switch is then made to dog fight [hand-to-hand combat] and close engagement to kill the remaining enemy elements in their positions, on or behind the dirt cover [earthen berm] with a view to purging the cover. Meanwhile, firing continues at the second dirt cover during the dog fight at the first cover and the time it takes to open passes, which is about 10–15 minutes. . . .27
In short, the manual is a "cookbook" that a tactical commander can use as a step-by-step guide to conducting these operations without having to rely on any basic understanding of armored counterattack operations.
This level of detail might seem excessive in Western armed forces if found in a company-level manual, and would be simply unheard of in a brigade-level manual. Overall, the impression one gets from reading Iraqi manuals from the later years of the Iran-Iraq War is that the Iraqi high command had by then figured out how to beat the Iranians but they just could not get their tactical formations to do the things needed to win. Consequently, their training and doctrine became ever more detailed in hope that they could lead their tactical commanders by the nose through the specific actions necessary to defeat the Iranians in battle.
Food references:
https/en./wiki/Digestive_biscuit
https/en./wiki/Dunking_(biscuit)
References to the naval vessels and the historical naval operations in the Yangtze river:
https/en./wiki/Yangtze_Patrol
The Yangtze Patrol, also known as the Yangtze River Patrol Force, Yangtze River Patrol, YangPat, and ComYangPat, was a prolonged naval operation from 1854 to 1949 to protect American interests in the Yangtze River's treaty ports. The Yangtze Patrol also patrolled the coastal waters of China where they protected U.S. citizens, their property, and Christian missionaries.
1945–1949
After the surrender of Japan, some patrols on the river were resumed in September 1945. A few days after Japan's surrender, Admiral Thomas C. Kinkaid, commander of the United States 7th Fleet, sailed south aboard USS Rocky Mount to rendezvous with Task Force 73 and continue on to Shanghai. However, they were delayed due to a large typhoon and the river being swept for mines. They finally proceeded up the river and arrived in Shanghai on 19 September 1945, with the first Allied ships in over three years. The American flotilla included the command ship (USS Rocky Mount), two light cruisers, four destroyers, twelve destroyer escorts, and many PT boats and minesweepers along with a British naval contingent of three light cruisers, six destroyers, six destroyer escorts, and some minesweepers. In November the new heavy cruiser USS St. Paul joined the unit.
https/en./wiki/USS_Nashville_(CL-43)#Post-war
Nashville, with Commander TF 73 (CTF 73) embarked, entered Shanghai harbor on 19 September 1945, to resume Yangtze River Patrol.
Draft: 19 ft 9 in (6.02 m) (mean), 24 ft (7.3 m) (max)
.
Polley, Clad Elmer ed. U.S.S. Augusta Under Fire: Sino-Japanese Incident, 1937-1938, Shanghai China. Shanghai: North China Daily News, 1938. [The cruiser USS Augusta (CL-31) was the flagship of the Asiatic Fleet from November 1933 to November 1940. Much of this illustrated volume consists of "log of hostilities" entries from 13 August 1937 to 6 January 1938. The book includes information on the Japanese attack on river gunboat USS Panay (PR-5) including a list of survivors on pp.97-98, and the court of inquiry's finding of fact on the incident on pp.99-107. The copy of this volume owned by the Navy Department Library is non-circulating and must be examined at the library.].
Roberts, Stephen S. "The Decline of the Overseas Station Fleets: The United States Asiatic Fleet and the Shanghai Crisis, 1932." The American Neptune 37, no.3 (July 1977): 185-202. [In 1932 the Asiatic Fleet was comprised of the cruiser USS Houston (CA-30), 19 destroyers, 12 submarines and 9 river gunboats].
https/en./wiki/USS_Houston_(CA-30)
https/en./wiki/USS_Augusta_(CA-31)
Draft: 16 ft 4 in (4.98 m) (mean), 23 ft (7.0 m) (max)
https/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2011/october/asian-warm-cold-war
Mao's troops traded fire with a landing party of Marines from the heavy cruiser Saint Paul (CA-73) and sailors from the destroyer Tucker (DD-875) sent to retrieve him. To avoid any escalation of the situation, the Americans destroyed the plane and withdrew. The communists released the young naval aviator but only after protracted and lengthy negotiations with U.S. diplomats.
https/en./wiki/USS_Saint_Paul_(CA-73)#Post-World_War_II
Draft: 26 ft 5 in (8.05 m)
UK's last battleship to be built: https/en./wiki/HMS_Vanguard_(23)
Draught: 36 feet (11 meters) deep load
Yangtze River characteristics and how battleships could navigate in it: https/place/Yangtze-River/The-lower-course
At the edge of the Lake Liangzi plain the Yangtze widens markedly, the course of its stream wandering in the form of a large loop. The width of the river is up to 2,600 feet (800 metres), the depth is more than 100 feet (30 metres), and the water current flows at a rate of about 3.5 feet (1 metre) per second.
…
The river then turns to the northeast, passes through a widening valley, and flows out onto the southern North China Plain. The width of the river increases at this point to between 3,000 and 6,000 feet (900 and 1,800 metres), and the depth in places approaches 100 feet. In this region there are a number of large cities, including Anqing, Wuhu, and Nanjing. The Grand Canal (Da Yunhe), which, with a length of nearly 1,100 miles (1,800 km), is one of the longest canals in the world; it crosses the Yangtze in the vicinity of the city of Zhenjiang.
For context about Lake Liangzi, it is next to the city of Wuhan, which is far inland. The river distance between Wuhan and Nanjing is about 2-3 times the distance between Nanjing and Shanghai. This means the Albish fleet can sail deep inland to bombard everything within range of their guns.
https/en./wiki/Shanghai_International_Settlement
https/en./wiki/Forbidden_City
Reference to General Shi Yousan: https/en./wiki/Shi_Yousan
Shi is also notable for joining/defecting to, and subsequently betraying the forces of Wu Peifu, Feng Yuxiang, Chiang Kai-shek, Wang Jingwei, Zhang Xueliang, the Chinese Communist Party, and Japan, in that order.
For his many betrayals and defections he is known as the "Defector General" (Chinese: 倒戈將軍; pinyin: Dǎogē Jiāngjūn) or as Shi Sanfan (Chinese: 石三翻; pinyin: Shí sānfān, "Shi [who] turns three times").[1]
In 1928, Shi's troops set fire to the Shaolin Monastery, burning it for over 40 days, killing more than 200 monks and destroying 90 percent of the buildings including many manuscripts of the temple library.[2[3]
A meme video on him: https/watch?v=LEIhPddX-cY
One of the Youtube comments: Feng Yuxiang, the first warlord Shi betrayed, was famous for switching sides eight times in his life. I guess Shi must've learned something from his first master.
I'm assuming Germania's jet planes operating in South Bharat are using kerosene: https/en./wiki/De_Havilland_Goblin#Specifications_(D.H_Goblin_II_ _27)
Or on diesel or high octane aviation gasoline with oil mixed in: https/en./wiki/Messerschmitt_Me_262#Test_flights
OLD CHAPTER 10, IGNORE THE BELOW WRITING IF YOU ARE NOT INTERESTED IN SEEING WHAT MY WRITING BACK IN 2021 LOOKS LIKE
Chapter 10, A bridge too far
1943, December 12th, somewhere in the Alps:
Visha and I were watching a "behind enemy lines" exercise using a map with projections on it. A dozen academy students were somewhere in the mountains or forests. Their objective was to find the hideout of the OPFOR's leadership, capture or eliminate them, and then leave the area while losing any pursuing forces. Up against them as OPFOR were other mages who were either also in stealth mode or conducting aerial patrol, and some light infantry patrolling the area on foot. The only major rule was that everyone was to have an emitting radio transmitter so that Koenig and the other instructors could monitor the situation, and that the participants were not to use the emitting radio transmitter signals to track others.
"I've heard that you were a huge fan of helicopters because it would put aerial mages out of work." Koenig said in the midst of us monitoring a minor skirmish between the two parties. I turned and looked at him with a raised eyebrow, not really having expected him to start a conversation mid-exercise, but I then figure that the skirmish that we're on top of is coming to a close anyway.
"Mhm." I hummed in agreement, "Which means all of the mages would have to go through your training and become special operators." I responded.
"Which means more work piled onto me." He pointed out.
"If you train competent successors, they'll do the work for you." I shot back.
Visha momentarily tilts her head to the side in thought. "So... is that why you trained the 203rd mage battalion so hard?" She remarked with a giggle, which also elicited a chuckle from Koenig.
I glared at her while she was smirking. This is the problem with having a too powerful and competent subordinate that is also bold enough to undercut their superior. And combined with them being in a relationship with said superior... now that's a HR manager's nightmare.
Though said nightmare isn't too bad...
I hedge a response with a shrug, "I don't know, maybe I was planning to retire and let one of you run the 203rd mage battalion."
"The Chancellor retiring early?" Koenig laughed. "That's a good joke."
I roll my eyes, of course the crazy warmongers under my command can't comprehend the concept of a peaceful life. "On a side note, I've read Elya's reports about your activity in the new republics," I say, steering the conversation back to business, "but I wanted to hear from you about the cat and mouse games."
Koenig nods and returns his eyes back to the moving projections. "It was... interesting... the experience of never being sure of if I was being hunted while I was hunting. Or if the locals I was working with had other plans in mind. And when sometimes an allied faction hates another allied faction just as much as the communists. It takes an entirely different skill set than what I had even previously taught."
I absently hummed in acknowledgement. "I've heard the CSR's Sibyrian Army had adapted rather quickly after their first winter in Sibyria." I said, to which Koenig nods in affirmation.
"Yes they have. I watched one OZEV patrol initially have the upper hand in combat against some insurgents. Then the CSR mages ended the existence of the entire patrol group with explosive spells, and after that went back to blending in with the insurgents. If I wasn't watching that insurgent group, I wouldn't have known which person was a mage. And the CSR operatives, both mage and regular infantry, are quite persistent with tracking, as if they're starving hunters after the only deer in the woods."
"Well they hunted people for food to avoid starving during the winter, didn't they?."
Koenig nods again, "And that's probably where they got their tracking skills from. Thankfully I didn't see them practice cannibalism in the new republics. Probably because they were counting on the rest of the world to ignore the anti-CSR Rus factions' complaints about war crimes after what the Russy Federation did in the Second Europan War."
"What about the NKVD mages?" I asked.
"Less subtle for certain. Very aggressive with leading attacks against OZEV forces and our allies. Generally when there's a hostile aerial mage flying in the area, it's almost always the NKVD. Sometimes what the communists would do is have the NKVD mages cause a distraction while the CSR mages quietly get into position. Oh, it looks like the students found something."
I snapped back to looking at the projection and noticed that they were splitting up to surround a cave entrance.
Two of them entered the cave. Suddenly there was a burst of magic from the cave.
"What is going on?" I asked.
"...I think they forgot to check for traps." Koenig shrugged.
The OPFOR aerial mages all started to converge on the cave location, while the other OPFOR mages in stealth mode and the regular infantry started moving on foot to get into overwatch positions.
One of the instructors called out, "They killed the OPFOR leadership."
"I wonder if they'll get out alive though?" I posed the question before humming in thought, "Hmm.. would you mind if I go out there to watch the exercise in person?"
Koenig looked at me for a short while, "...Just grab one of the instructor jackets so they know you're just watching." He eventually said, "Those students would have a heart attack if they thought you were one of the OPFOR mages."
"I think they would have a heart attack anyways from just her being there to watch their performance personally." Visha added, her tone amused.
As I arrived at the area where the cave was located, I noticed the firefight had already started between the students and the OPFOR aerial students weren't actually that bad with combat, but I quickly noticed that the OPFOR mages were merely harassing them instead of trying to win the fight. I hope those students realize that every second they waste, that just gives the other OPFOR people to close in.
The students eventually got moving, but then they started taking fire from the ground forces that had taken up ambush positions which caused some "casualties". The OPFOR aerial mages resumed attacking now that they had ground support and the students were distracted.
In the aftermath, only a few of the students escaped, with many others being "killed" or captured. I flew back to the instructors' post to meet up with Koenig and Visha again.
When Koenig had the students all gathered up for him to ask what their thoughts were and to run through everything that the instructors observed, they all froze when they saw me and Visha walk in. Koenig, sensing an opportunity, then used this moment to turn to me and ask: "What did you think of their performance, Chancellor?"
I saw some of the students blanch at Koenig's words, which had me smirking internally in amusement. But I had wanted to address something else to the students and so took mercy and dismissed Koenig's question with a wave of my hand.
"I'll let the instructors focus on the tactics. I wanted to tell you all about the big picture of why we are doing the special operations training." I replied before putting my hands behind my back and turning to face the students fully. I take a second to look them over, which got me a bit nostalgic of the moment I first laid eyes upon the newly-formed 203rd, before speaking:
"We are approaching an era where proxy wars and insurgencies will become the more common conflicts compared to the direct state versus state conflicts. Where plausible deniability is a major factor in operations. The colonies that the Allied Kingdom, Francois Republic, Unified States, Lothiern and Ispangna still hold onto will become the next battlegrounds for other countries fighting for influence. We already saw the Rus carve out a sphere of influence out of the Allied Kingdom's crown jewel followed by the CSR backing them in an attempt to take the rest of Bharat. And the CSR also has Afghanistan and Burma under their sphere of influence. The CSR and their allies will not stop trying to expand their influence into continents such as the Middle East and Africa, and we will need a way to counter this spread of influence."
I take a moment to breathe, and to let my words sink into the students before continuing:
"You will be a part of that counter; as the hammer to strike down our foes, and as the dagger to hit them where they least expect it. Out in the field, you will have to face situations that you haven't trained for, couldn't have trained for, and will have to think on your feet in order to survive and overcome. You will also be going up against CSR infantry and mages that are experienced and hardened by their brutal winter war in Sibyria against hostile Rus factions. Such an enemy must not be taken lightly."
I paused for a second, and then decided to finish my speech by addressing a matter that I think is important for the soldiers who will one day be granted much autonomy to know: "And speaking of the enemy, I am sure all of you have heard or read about the atrocities and war crimes perpetrated in the Bharati war. I want to make it clear that I do not want that." I sweep my eyes across the audience in order to emphasize my point. "You must not tarnish Germania's reputation with war crimes. If it's life or death, then go for the option that ensures your survival - You can't help others if you're dead, after all. But do not take such trust, and do not make such a decision lightly - you will be held accountable."
I then take a breath, now comes the part that's easy to say, but very much hard to do. "But don't make the mistake of confusing your own survival with the success of the mission." I said with a shake of my head, "What we will do today and in the near future, needs to be something that Germania can be proud of for decades to come. Because if not, then I ask you this: Is it truly a victory if 50 years down the road we have to endlessly downplay, deny, or lie about what we did?"
I end my speech and let Koenig and his staff take the stage for their post-exercise analysis lecture. I cracked a smirk when Koenig said they will now be conducting a resistance to interrogation exercise due to the amount of them that were captured by the OPFOR, prompting a groan from the students.
He then asked if they wanted the Chancellor and the Deputy Chancellor to conduct 'remedial' training, which seemed to inspire Visha with a mischievous idea.
"Lieutenant Colonel Koenig, have you conducted any live fire artillery training?" She asked innocently.
I couldn't help but smile when the students all froze up, though them blanching even further is a bit much in my opinion, as with Visha's and my own slightly rusty skills, we'd have to settle on lighter exercises. Concentrate on survival tactics and some practical.
Mild stuff.
In München, later that evening:
We were walking down a busy nightlife street after having dinner at a restaurant when one particular nightclub caught our attention.
"Tanya, do you see something different about the crowd there?" Visha tugged on my arm.
It was a ladies' only establishment. Strange, there was a gentlemen's only establishment that we walked past several blocks earlier.
"Let's go over there. It's probably one of those establishments where the ladies don't want to deal with men looking for dates." she winked. "Let's take a look inside."
"Visha, there are plenty of other night clubs or pubs we can vis-" I was cut off as she tugged me into the nightclub.
When we stepped inside, it quickly became apparent that it was not what we were expecting. "Visha, this looks like a bit more than just a women's association meeting."
In the back of the bar, a band was getting ready for their next song.
She shrugged her shoulders. "It's fine, not like anyone is doing anything illegal. I can dance with my 'sister' and there is nothing wrong with having a bit of fun like that."
Visha continued to tug at me, this time towards the dance floor.
"I have no idea how to dance." I softly spoke.
"You mean you can't use some of your aerial combat and lacrosse maneuvers to improvise?" Visha said as she grasped me around my waist. I hasilty tried to figure out a way to translate aerial combat maneuvers to dance moves, but I shouldn't have worried about that since Visha took the lead. How did that saying go again? Never trust a man - or in this case a very beautiful woman - with a sword if they can't dance.
And Visha was a very good dancer.
It was fun for about half an hour. There were a few people that were watching us. I wasn't sure if it was in amazement, confusion, amusement, or a combination of the three. I didn't pay much attention until I heard some loud commotion at the front door.
"Police! We're taking this place!"
I looked around and saw two people on the dance floor flash their badges before barking orders. Looks like the police had been keeping an eye on this nightclub for a little while and decided to come down on it just as Visha and I were having our night.
Just my luck.
"What should we do?" Visha whispered worriedly.
"Head to the back of the wall, drop the disguise when no one is looking, and we will greet the police." I whispered back. She quickly nods in response.
Deputy Inspector Bruch entered the nightclub. He knew that while technically there were laws that prohibited such establishments and that while he had a dislike for queers, the Chancellor's and Deputy Chancellor's relationships being made public guaranteed that such laws would be increasingly difficult to enforce and eventually abolished. Nevertheless, the mayor of the city had pushed down hard on the chief of police to crack down on the queer friendly establishments.
An undercover officer came up to him, with a pale looking face.
Wolter was confused. "What's the matter? It looks like you just saw a ghost or something."
"Sir, you should come to the back of the dance floor area." the undercover officer shakily replied.
Now he was even more confused. Until he saw what the undercover officer was spooked by.
It was Chancellor-President Degurechaff and Deputy Chancellor Serebryakov. And they did not look happy. The last time he had the same dreaded feeling was when he had stumbled straight into a meeting between some major mob leaders and dirty police officers years ago.
He turned to the undercover officer. "Get the Inspector and Chief here. Now. This is way beyond my paygrade."
Visha and I watched the police officers and the rest of the nightclub attendants become unsure of what they should do. Some time passed before someone walked up to us and introduced themselves, with the inspector and deputy inspector somewhat behind him.
"Police Chief Wolter. May I ask what you two are doing here this evening?"
"Having fun dancing." Visha responded with a flat tone. Some of the color drained from the police chief's face.
"We're willing to let both of you just walk out of here." he responded with sweat on his face.
"And the rest?" I asked.
"We have to arrest them." he waved his hand at the rest of the people in the nightclub.
"For what?"
"Disturbing the peace. Noise complaints. Partaking in obscene behaviors. As for the nightclub, it is strictly prohibited by the city of München's law to allow queer behaviors."
The first three were just the classical rules lawyering. Completely amateur compared to some of the things I've done in the past. The last one was going to need a personal talk with the city's leaders. If Visha and I just walk out while everyone else gets arrested, it would still look incredibly bad on us. The police applying double standards and a nation's leaders taking advantage of that? Scandalous hypocrisy!
"Then you're going to have to arrest both of us." I put out my arms for him to handcuff me. "Or are you telling me that you only selectively apply the law as you see fit?"
Visha soon followed suit. The police chief was silent for a few long seconds as sweat continued to roll down his face. The inspector and deputy inspector took a few steps back.
I put down my arms. "Besides, we've been here for over half an hour before your men showed up." I spoke in a cheerful tone with a smile on my face. "Your undercover police officers could attest to that. I saw no signs of 'obscene behaviors' or 'disturbing the peace' that you speak of. Noise violation? What, do you just shut down every pub and restaurant because of someone's cranky phone call? I'm guessing you also shut down that gentleman's only club several blocks down the street as well didn't you?"
Visha nodded in agreement. The deputy inspector and inspector had an uncomfortable look on their face when I mentioned about the other nightclub that they had likely targeted.
The only way I can see out of this mess is to have a discussion with the police right here.
I motioned to one of the seats. "Police Chief Wolter, perhaps we should take a seat. I would like to hear about the orders you received. After all, I'm sure your superiors were at least aware of your big upcoming raids. And tell the rest of your men that all of the drinks are on me."
I could see the gears rapidly turn in his head. He looked back at his subordinates as if it seemed he was looking for advice from them, but they too were silent.
"I think we should get going. We have somewhere else to be. I apologize for the misunderstanding." the police chief said as he too began to take a step back.
I glared at him. He froze. "No, it would be best if we clear up the misunderstanding right here, right now."
Visha pointed at the front window. "Chancellor, I think I see one or two reporters out there."
"Well, go out there to greet them, and invite them to our table! Drinks on me!" I then turned my attention to the police chief, inspector and deputy inspector. "I insist that we have a discussion. After all, we wouldn't want more misunderstanding in the future, would we?"
1943, December 13th, in the Rajasthan province, at the Aravalli mountain range, west of Ajmer:
Georg Eschenbach knew it was just a dream. But it was too real, because it was essentially a replay of all of the atrocities that he had watched or played a role in, and he couldn't wake up to get out of it. The vision of the charred mother holding her child, accompanied by the screams, constantly occurred.
He jolted awake from the nightmare and in cold sweat. He looked around in his tent and took a deep breath before getting out of his sleeping bag to get dressed.
As he was walking to the galley tent for breakfast, he could see the defensive works that his platoon had been working on for over a week now. Digging into the rocky mountain slopes had been a slow and difficult process, especially since they also needed to build reinforcements to hold loose dirt and rocks in place so that a well placed artillery round or explosive magic bullet doesn't end up causing stone shrapnel to go flying everywhere.
A private in his platoon came up to him and asked, "Staff Sergeant, do you think we might just have to pack up and keep advancing north when the coalition breaks through Sukkur? After all, they did say we would be home by Christmas."
"Too early to say. All we can do is follow our current orders and hope that the higher ups know what they're doing. As for the 'home by Christmas' promise, that's from the other coalition partners. General Romel had already stated that we'll be here until the war is done."
After getting his breakfast and sitting down to begin eating, First Lieutenant Andrea sat next to him.
"Good morning sir."
"Good morning Staff Sergeant. Did you hear what the other coalition partners are doing?"
"Not yet I guess."
"Communists are slowly retreating from Rajasthan province."
"That's unexpected. They were putting up a stiff fight before we captured Ajmer."
"My guess is that they're probably afraid of being encircled with the other coalition forces sailing up the Indus River, and also capturing Delhi. Holding a mountainous desert area is questionable when our forces are at their capital's doorstep."
"I'm wondering why we aren't pursuing them like the rest of the coalition forces that decided to keep advancing forward. If those communist idiots are running, we shouldn't let them rest."
"Not even the battalion commander knows. All he said was we had explicit orders from the high ups to build defensive works."
Eschenbach winced. "Speaking of defensive works, I still can't shake the fucking nightmares from the bombing incident when we were dealing with the encircled communists back in South Bharat."
"Why are you still talking about that? You know the inquiry board had cleared us of all wrongdoing because we were acting on orders, had no way to determine how many civilians were in that fortress without risk getting ourselves detected, and it was the communists' fault for forcing entire families into the front line. I'm just glad they didn't outright use those civilians as bullet shields, because I've heard from some of my friends that they had to shoot through civilians to kill the communists."
Eschenbach stared at his food. Andrea put his hand on Eschenbach's shoulder. "I shouldn't have been that harsh. I'm sorry. It's a shit job. I hate this. But all we can do is make the best of this rotten situation and lead our men as best as we can."
"So what happens when the communists show up with a whole bunch of chained up civilians to march in front?" Eschenbach asked.
Andrea chewed on his food for a few seconds to think. After swallowing, he cleared his throat. "We can't save the civilians, because if we let the communists take our defensive positions, they will keep marching with those civilians until we're back into the ocean."
"I suppose there's no way to reason with people that have turned into monsters." Eschenbach remarked. "So what should we do then?"
"Stop them from using more civilians as shields, by killing them. Even if it means shooting through the civilians or calling in artillery and air strikes on them. When this war is over, we're going to hang the bastards that came up with the monstrous plans and ordered their men to do it. I would have been in favor of just executing them on sight, but that would discourage them from surrendering, and instead engage in drawn out last stands that get more of us and the civilians killed."
As they're walking out of the galley tent, they saw General Romel looking at their defensive works and gesturing to an aide.
"Why is he so interested in our defenses? Shouldn't he be leading an offensive?" Eschenbach asked.
"I have no idea." Andrea said.
At the southern outskirts of Sukkur, on the Indus River:
Miss Caldwell was no military expert, but she knew when things had gone very poorly. Just moments ago, she was asking someone a question when there were multiple large roars, everything was covered in water, and she was nearly swept overboard by the rocking of the barge and the waves of water. She was thankful that she had invested in an expensive waterproof bag to hold her cameras, films, notebooks and other materials.
The first trouble was when all of the sacrificial empty boats suddenly came to a stop. The main riverine fleet also stopped while waiting for their divers to investigate what was happening. When the divers came back, they reported that there were timbers driven vertically into the bed of the river, which caused all of the empty boats' nets to get tangled up, and would also block anything larger than the small attack craft from passing through. Then the explosions erupted from the bottom of the river.
And now the barge is sinking. All around her was strewn with sinking or burning boats, or fragments of them, and many people that were flailing in the water or motionless.
Seconds later, she heard another set of explosions some distance behind her just as the communists revealed themselves and opened fire on the stricken fleet. Bullets and shells splashed into the water every which way as she swam from one floating fragment to another. Aircraft roared overhead to suppress the communists' positions with rockets, bombs and strafing runs despite facing a significant amount of anti-air fire.
As she neared an intact barge, someone on board extended a pole into the water for her to grab onto. The pole snapped in half from a heavy caliber bullet slicing through it, but the person grabbed another pole to try again. Just as she was pulled aboard, she was about to thank him when his body ceased to exist from a large caliber shell that went through him and left a hole in the barge's armor.
After diving to the deck while holding her ears in pain, she noticed the barge was now moving backward. She opened up her bag, and tried to start the film camera, but it didn't work. She tried another one and was able to record the fierce firefight, while occasionally bullets pinged off of the barge's surface next to her. There was a nearby splash, and then an explosion in the water. She scanned the treeline and noticed that the communists had set up giant slingshots using trees to launch improvised explosives at the boats.
A rocket artillery barrage from a few of the barges caught her by surprise. Previously they would explode a few meters above the ground to rain shrapnel on the targets below. This time when they exploded in the air, the burning petroleum jelly that she was familiar with came raining down on the communist positions. And the rain was burning very brightly. She saw burning figures jump into the river, and loud crackling and popping was heard as bright light enveloped them, followed by clouds of steam and smoke.
She heard a loud explosion and turned her head and camera towards the source of the commotion. An adjacent barge was engulfed in flames from ammunition and fuel cooking off with people jumping overboard.
As the fleet continued to reverse, she watched a group of tanks charge through a group of howitzers that had been firing at the boats. She retrieved a camera from her bag and zoomed in, which she then noticed General Patton was leading one of the tanks. Using the zoomed in camera, she also identified enemy mage formations that appeared to be hauling entire anti-tank guns to reposition them.
About half an hour later, she saw the fragments of the rear of the fleet that the center section had pushed their way through to escape from the ambush.
1944, January 9th, at a mountain outpost south of Sehwān:
Smith was standing in his dugout and stared out in the cold darkness while trying to stave off boredom. He noticed a lit kerosene lamp approaching, and saw that it was Paul.
"It's been weeks and nothing has happened." Smith said. "It's like the communists that had retreated into the mountains just gave up on the war."
"Maybe they all ran to Sukkur to defend it." Paul said with a thick Frankish accent. "Some of those stories from capturing that city are just insane. The communists forced them to take every building with bullets and blood, sometimes with fighting happening on different levels or rooms within a building."
"And the rest of the city was burned to the ground instead of taking each building by force. When even the generals are getting wounded or killed, it's a bloodbath for sure. I've heard that General Patton got back into the frontline after recovering from injuries from his previous tank being blow up, and then hours later he was finally killed when a suicide bomber dove underneath his tank."
"Well they did call those 'Dare to Die' units for a reason."
"Home by Christmas. What a beautiful lie. And we barely took Sukkur as of now. Can you light up the kerosene lamp again?"
"I can't do that." Paul said. "We're short on lamp fuel."
"They're still funneling almost everything to Sukkur?"
"I guess so. I've heard there are battles raging on the three sides of the city. The communists want that city back. Whatever the hell for, the place is just rubble by now. Apparently some of the communists retreating from the Rajasthan province have also been attacking Sukkur from the east."
"Shh, did you hear that?"
They both heard a few rocks rolling. Paul lit his lamp.
"Should we go out there and search for whatever caused that noise?"
"It's probably some wild animals. I don't hear anything else." Paul said as he turned off the lamp again.
Another 20 minutes passed when Paul suddenly picked up his rifle and fired a shot. A figure suddenly went tumbling down and remained motionless. Just as Smith also picked up his rifle, three more figures emerged right in front of their dugout.
"They're right on top of us!" Smith screamed as the five people exchanged fire. The three soldiers went down, but Paul was left lying against the dugout wall holding a gunshot wound.
Just as Smith was about to consider helping his buddy, he saw many more outlines emerge from the terrain. Another coalition sentry opened up with their machine gun for a second before a magic bullet suddenly came flying out of the incoming infantry masses to silence the machine gun post with an explosive spell.
He picked up Paul and started running.
At a mountain outpost northwest of Karachi:
Edwards and his platoon mates were playing a round of poker. The area had been calm in the past few weeks with no signs of the enemy. Aerial reconnaissance further confirmed the lack of enemy sighting.
"Edwards, you're still writing to your Frankish sweetheart?"Jack called out.
Edward blushed a bit. "I got mail yesterday from her. Photos of her and her family's Christmas party."
"At least it's not her dating someone else!" Someone else laughed. "We need to see those photos!"
Edward ruffled through one of his pockets and handed the photos around. At least one person whistled upon seeing the photos.
"How did you two meet anyways?" someone asked.
"It's a very long story. Met at a university where she was studying abroad. Discovered we had a lot of shared interests. She knew a bit of Albish and I knew a bit of Frankish. I had trouble paying for tuition and with the call to arms, the military looked tempting. She said she supported my decision, especially if it's to help protect the free world from the communism menace."
John passed a photo to someone else before speaking, "I haven't heard back from my brother. The last letter I got was him complaining about his commander forcing pilots to chase the Rus planes into the mountain valleys. I hope he's doing okay."
Just as Edwards got his photos back, their staff sergeant walked in. Everyone stopped the game to look at him. "Private Jones is over 20 minutes late for watch turnover. No one knows where he is, so we're going to be searching for him."
Everyone grabbed their rifles and fanned out to begin the search. After about 15 minutes, Edwards felt a sense of unease while walking through one of the caves that they had previously dug out to incorporate into their outpost's defenses. He pointed his flashlight up at the cave ceiling and realized the source of his uneasiness that had been bothering him.
It was two people that attached themselves to the cave ceiling like spiders.
When he fired his rifle at the center mass of one of the enemy soldiers, what he expected was a crack of a rifle fire, the whizz of a bullet, spurt of blood, and a corpse falling from the ceiling to the ground. Instead, a magic shield flickered, the bullet deflected, and the sounds seemed muffled. Both of the ceiling crawling soldiers turned into a blur of erratic movement.
Four of his buddies, including Jack and the staff sergeant, just happen to walk in to investigate the commotion. He saw one of blurs descend upon them and the cave walls were quickly splattered with blood before the four men could fire a shot off.
He fired another shot as the other blur closed in on him, but still no effect.
It was the last time he felt fear.
In Berun:
I woke up early with Visha shaking me.
"Tanya, you need to get up. The coalition's Indus River offensive is on the verge of collapse, and aerial reconnaissance over the Himalayas has been stymied by Rus aircraft." She says as she places down a cup of coffee beside me. It sounds like I was going to need it.
I had been following the progress of the offensive and while they had their initial major setback and then the slow grind into the city, for it to suddenly go horribly wrong meant that the commies had sprung another surprise. And suddenly being blinded in an area means that there's also a surprise waiting for us. I immediately hopped out of bed. "Tell General Lergen and Elya to be ready in 30 minutes."
As Visha ran off, I downed the entire cup of coffee, took a quick shower and got dressed before heading to the meeting.
When I stepped into the room, Elya and General Lergen were already discussing something before they turned to me.
"What's the situation in Sukkur?" I asked.
Elya cleared her throat. "Other than aerial reconnaissance reports of a large number of possible CSR infantry being offloaded from trains that came from Quetta which would pin the coalition forces there in place, the real problem is further south of the city. Karachi has been surrounded with only the naval fire support deterring CSR forces from approaching the city. Sehwān has been completely overrun, with the last report stating that communist forces have also captured the mountains overlooking the Indus River. Hyderabad's garrison reported that their magic detectors suddenly lit up like a Christmas tree from contacts that were about 30 kilometers west of the city, and were soon attacked by a large number of CSR mages. Their forward outposts estimate that the enemy infantry would be arriving at the city in about two days based on the speed of their march now that they had revealed themselves. Also, until we get more information, we will have to assume that the CSR had captured at least some of the coalition's supply depots located along the river and maybe even docked boats or barges."
"Let me guess, they weren't detected until the last minute because the CSR Sibyrian Army was moving at night to avoid aerial reconnaissance and attacked at night? Just like the playbook they used against the hostile Rus factions?"
"That is correct, Chancellor."
"What about our aircraft to deal with their mages?"
"The Sibyrian Army's mages brought heavy equipment from the Rus, and are using them while in the air. They have also used them to great effect against the coalition's boats and barges on the Indus River." General Lergen responded.
"Oh?"
"Based on reports from our air force, the coalition air force and the Hyderabad's garrison, aerial crews of CSR mages are operating light machine guns, DShK heavy machine guns, and PTRS-41 14.5 millimeter anti-tank rifles. All of those are Russy equipment. They are also using magic ammunition with those weapons, which would explain why the uparmored barges were destroyed with ease. While those crews lack mobility, they have the firepower to establish mobile no-fly zones, threaten our mages and aircraft, and force our planes to launch their rockets from a further range. I'm still waiting on reports to see if their anti-tank rifles can outrange our rockets as they could use spells to increase the accuracy and range. They also have escorting mages with semi automatic rifles, submachine guns and shotguns."
"Since our ground forces are far away building the defensive lines, what does the coalition plan on doing?"
"General Romel stated that the forces in Sukkur were simply ordered to retreat south using the Indus River and fight their way back to Karachi."
"That's it?"
Elya spoke up. "They're more concerned about what has been happening over in Tibet. Previously they were able to get somewhat consistent aerial reconnaissance into that region. Rus aircraft that were probably built during the Second Europan War have shown up to put an end to the reconnaissance operations, and now there is also radio silence in that region. I think the CSR is using their Indus River counteroffensive as a diversion attack for a real one."
"I thought we had air superiority?"
"The Rus aircraft are only operating over Tibet and the Himalayas." General Lergen said. "That makes it risky to chase after them when they could dive down into the valleys and lead our aircraft into an anti-aircraft ambush."
I stared at the map for about a minute. "For the CSR's offensive in the Indus River area, have they brought anything more than just mages and infantry?"
"Their heaviest equipment for their infantry are some mortars, heavy machine guns and anti-tank rifles." Elya said.
My eyes wander to the country that the CSR troops traversed, "What does the road network look like in Afghanistan?"
"Bad enough that it would be difficult to get tanks through there." General Lergen responded.
"And we know that the CSR has modernized divisions using Rus vehicles and heavy equipment." I mutter out, "Would those be able to use the road networks in Tibet?"
Elya nodded, "Very likely. They've been improving them ever since the aerial reconnaissance began over Tibet."
I take a moment to organize my thoughts and put all the factors into perspective before speaking up:
"I think the CSR only split up their Sibyrian Army due to logistics considerations, so they will be fighting differently." I trace my finger along a line on the map, "Our defensive lines that are facing towards Tibet should be modified to take in consideration of an attack from a conventional army, while our other defensive lines facing the Indus River should be expecting mass infantry and mage assaults. The defensive lines around Delhi should be expecting a combination of both." I then look up to Lergen, "We will also need to tell the coalition that we have intel suggesting that the CSR will be fighting conventional warfare from Tibet with modernized divisions, and no more than that. If they reject our advice again, then that's their problem."
General Lergen nods before carefully putting out: "...Should we consider using nuclear weapons to preemptively destroy their logistics hubs and their divisions in Tibet before they commence their assault?" He asked. "It would ensure minimal civilian casualties while also crippling their military operations, instead of having to use the nuclear weapons in a more populated area."
...I wasn't sure if he was bloodlusted, or is unaware of the geopolitical nightmare from countries liberally using nuclear weapons in conventional warfare when they get theirs. I can't blame him for the second part as there hasn't been a Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombing to set a nuclear weapons precedent. There was no way of knowing how the CSR might respond. Maybe they'll immediately surrender, but given the limited scale of the war, they would be relatively intact and free to eventually develop a nuclear weapons program to use for first strike capability the next time they get into a war. Or they may declare to the world "We have reserves" and continue fighting, especially if we try to enforce harsh peace terms on them, which would also set a horrible precedent.
"No," I shake my head and firmly give my decision, "We will only use nuclear weapons if Germania itself is threatened or someone uses the nuclear weapon on us first. Even if South Bharat entirely falls, it wouldn't be a direct threat to Germania."
I look at the two people in the room and see that they're both nodding in agreement, though it would seem like Lergen has his brows furrowed in frustration.
Time to steer this conversation towards something else. "What is the status of our jet fighters?"
"Fully operational and ready for combat." General Lergen replied, quickly shaking off his previous look, "We already started building the prototypes for the next generation jet planes."
I nod in approval, "It's time we send our jets over to Bharat to crush the communists' attempts at trying to contest our air superiority. I would have liked to have carrier based jets, but the ones we have should do the job."
I heard some rapid footsteps as I walked away from the meeting room and back to my office, and I turned around to see that Visha caught up with me.
"Are you going back to South Bharat?" she asked.
"There's no point." I said. "General Romel has specific orders to dig in and wait for the CSR to come to him, and there's no need for me to micromanage him. If I did need to, I would have found a more competent general to do the job. I would like to watch the commies uselessly throw their men into the meat grinder while all we do is expend our ammunition, but I can settle for the after action reports."
Visha nodded, though I caught a small sigh of relief there. "Would you like me to make you some mochi today?"
"...Are you trying to bribe the Chancellor?"
"Maybe." Visha teased.
"You know that's illegal right?"
She grins and leans forwards so that she can whisper directly beside my ear, "Then punish me~"
My brain stopped working and had to reboot for a second. I tried to ask 'what?' but all that came out of my mouth was an unintelligent "Guh…"
Visha giggled at me being flustered and then pinched my cheek, "I'll see you tonight!" she says before skipping off.
In Hyderabad along the Indus River:
Colonel Clark Puller was staring at a map while hearing the din of artillery fire trying to deter the communists from pouring into the city. He had been skirmishing against the communist forces that were retreating east from Rajasthan when the garrison in Hyderabad requested help. By the time his forces had arrived, the CSR mages had been driven off, but the garrison was a small fraction of itself. The main CSR army was right at the outskirts of the city and had already captured the University of Sindh that was under construction before the war broke out. With no other higher ranking commanders in the area after the CSR mages had wiped out the garrison's headquarters, he took command of all of the coalition forces in Hyderabad.
The original order was to hold the city while waiting for the main coalition forces to retreat from Sukkur along the Indus River.
With the news that the coalition divisions and battalions rallying towards Sehwān to retake it had been beaten back after realizing that there were more enemy infantry pouring into the area than they could literally kill, and are now retreating westward to reach the Germanian defensive lines in Rajasthan or north to link up with the main force at Sukkur, the garrison at Gharo had gone silent, Jungshahi has been encircled and the coalition forces are skirmishing against the CSR northwest of Thatta, he decided the original order was no longer feasible.
The question is, where could he retreat?
To the north, Sehwān is firmly in the communists' hands. To the east, the enemy forces in Rajasthan are likely digging in now that the trap has been sprung. With the rough terrain and poor road networks in that area, he would only have enough fuel to make it to the Germanian line if he only used light vehicles and thus abandon his tanks and other heavy assets. To the south, the enemy forces retreating from the Gujarat province were now marching towards the Indus River and most critically, all of the available boats were being used to move the wounded so the ships waiting at the mouth of the river could pick them up. Which meant his forces would have to march alongside the river. Unfortunately the roads south of Gharo and Thatta were not in a good condition either. And to the west, it would be a race against time to save Thatta, and then he would have to fight through Gharo to reach Karachi. At least the roads are actually paved for his tanks and other vehicles to use, and there was also a supply depot located between the Keenjhar Lake and Indus River, and another one at Jhirk that he might be able to get to assuming Thatta doesn't fall.
An aide ran up to him with a telegram. He read it and smiled.
The coalition navy had decided the simplest solution was to erase Gharo off the map with naval bombardments, allowing them to recapture the ruins of the town. They are now sending a rescue column to Thatta while using naval fire to suppress any attacks against Gharo.
He told the aide, "Instruct all of the forces in Hyderabad that we're heading for Thatta. And tell our boys in Thatta that we're coming to save them."
"Sir, we are surrounded."
He nods in agreement, "We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. That simplifies things."
Back in Berun:
On my office desk was a newspaper from the Unified States and Anna's reports. It was the Unified States' streetcar conspiracy that initially came to my attention about a year ago.
How should I respond to this? Its public transit dismantling activities will become public. It's only a matter of time before someone starts digging to find how deep the rabbit hole goes, and the Volksauto will be dragged through that inevitable scandal. The interesting thing is that their competitors who survived the Great Depression and the onslaught of the cheap People's Cars were just as complicit, and also the various companies that would benefit from increased automotive sales such as tire manufacturers and oil companies.
Then there's this person named "Robert Mose" in New Amsterdam that has been a trailblazer for urban highway constructions. A newspaper article mentioned about the construction of a new park where the roads leading to the park and within the park all had overhead structures that made it impossible for streetcars and busses to get through, making the park accessible by car only. A proposal to build a train station at the park was strongly contested by him. He's also trying to scuttle a metro expansion project in favor of building more highways.
I'll need to tell Volksauto to cease their monopolistic practices, and to prepare to come out publicly to admit to wrongdoing while ensuring that the other auto companies are made to seem more guilty than them. I wonder if I should have Elya help out with that? And maybe also have Elya covertly support Robert Mose to boost automotive sales by encouraging more car-centric infrastructure?
But at the end of the day, as long as the Volksauto isn't outright banned, the company will recover. General Motors and other companies in my previous world continued to prosper until the OPEC oil crisis and the Japanese showing up with their cars. The Unified States is getting their suburban housing and highway construction boom going, and some of their cities have started planning for "urban renewal" projects that simply bulldoze portions of their downtown areas to build highways through them, so there's going to be a strong demand for cars for a few decades.
And that means I need to remain focused on securing a stable oil supply or alternative energy sources for OZEV, and encourage energy conservation before the Middle East starts having major instability. I expect the CSR to resume meddling with our new republics, especially Caucasia and Kazakh.
I heard the noise of the pneumatic tube system and the cylinder coming to a stop. It was recently installed overnight at the request of Visha, the only person I couldn't yell at for making unauthorized changes to my office. I'm not sure if her intention was to reduce the amount of interruptions from aides knocking on my office door to deliver a package, or if the pneumatic tube system was a backdoor way of shoving more paperwork onto me.
I opened up the package from the pneumatic cylinder and then looked at its contents. Interesting, I never expected to see a variation of the Plan 315 come back again. According to the BND's reports in the package, it seems the CSR is building railroads in Afghanistan and Burma to link North Bharat, Russy Confederation and themselves in a massive circular train track system, which would greatly support their logistics of waging war all across Asia. What a familiar experience from an unfamiliar perspective.
I looked at the map of Europe. The new republics were still using the Rus railroad track gauge so our trains couldn't directly travel to their country. There had been debates in the OZEV over if all of the railroad tracks in the new republics should be changed over to be compatible with OZEV, or leave them as is. Caucasia and Kazakh is completely inaccessible by railroad as any connecting rails run through the Russy Confederation territory.
I scratched my chin. I remembered the high speed rails in my previous life. For city to city travel, it was certainly more convenient than the Americans' method of either traveling by car or plane. It would sidestep the issue of incompatible track gauges as the high speed trains would need a new rail network because they would derail on many portions of the existing rail networks upon hitting a slightly too sharp curve. I would also be interested in having Legadonia Entente, Lothiern, Francois Republic, Waldstatten and Ispagna be partners with the high speed rail network. I just need to find someone that is working on high speed trains, and if not, put out a public bid for someone to try. Foreign or domestic, steam, diesel or electric, it doesn't matter.
I would also need to push for better public transportation infrastructure within cities, which would be essential to reducing OZEV's oil usage. The last thing I want is the American's fanatical love of cars and their willingness to destroy their own public transport infrastructure and cities to spread to Europe. I get that cars would be ideal for rural areas and faraway suburbs, but I've been to car-centric cities and seen their nightmares.
Hmm. I should probably create the Ministry of Energy to help manage all non-nuclear energy affairs. Once all of the major problems with the first generation of nuclear power plants are addressed, I could consider handing those over to the ministry for them to manage.
And speaking of alternative energy, I don't remember if there was any major development around the 1940's in my previous world, but it wouldn't hurt to have people check for those within OZEV and in other countries. I know for certain that wind power was still in significant use by farms that weren't connected to the electrical grid.
In the CSR:
"How many of these 'jet planes' are coming our way? Nearly 300?" Peng Dehuai asked out loud as he read the report that Kang Sheng was sharing with him.
"That's what the NKVD informats at the Aegyptus airport reported." Kang Sheng replied from where he's standing, "Those planes stopped for a refueling before continuing on. Unfortunately all we have are their words as of now because the pictures and recordings will take some time to arrive."
Peng Dehuai finds himself massaging his temples for what seems like the hundredth time this week. "What was the speed of those planes again?"
"Over 700 kilometers per hour, though it's probably higher as there's a big difference between cruising speed and maximum speed." He replies and then takes a seat with a sigh, "I spoke with the Rus air commander and he said that the number of jets is unlikely, and that at over 700 kilometers per hour is where the plane's maneuverability drops off significantly. Wang Ming reported that the Frankish naval advisors with carrier plane experience were skeptical of how well those jet planes would maneuver at such high speed. He also said Frankish agents operating in the Allied Kingdom have been monitoring their jet plane development, and the Allied Kingdom had many setbacks. If the Albish is struggling to build a single plane, I'm not sure how Germania could field that many operational jets. After all, the Albish should have good intelligence on Germania."
"Can we be certain that the informants at the airport aren't feeding us false information?" Peng Dehuai puts out, "They could be exaggerating how many jets are heading our way."
The other man shakes his head, "There's never a guarantee when it comes to intelligence operations, especially since we have no direct contact with the informants at the airport. I'm still investigating to determine how the coalition's counter-intelligence has been uprooting our efforts in Bharat."
"No point in spooking my subordinates in Bharat over some exaggerations then." Peng Dehuai pushed aside the report, favoring a change of topic that's less speculative."Anyways, how have the coalition forces been responding to our activity in Tibet?"
"They think our main attack is coming through Tibet as they have been building up forces along the Tibet front instead of sending them toward the Indus River region."
He nods, "Good. I'm having the Tibet front assault commence within a few days while our forces around the Indus River hold their positions or continue to put as much infantry as possible between the trapped coalition forces and the likely escape routes. Hopefully the Rus will finish converting their bombers into transport planes for us to use captured airfields to support our logistics effort, and I also hope that Li Kenong is ready for the drastically increased fuel usage from the tanks and planes."
"Hmm." Kang Sheng hums, "I should let you know that it would appear that the coalition has committed most of their reserves to the Tibet front so we can clean up the mess in the Indus River area."
Peng Dehuai acknowledges the information with a nod. "Speaking of reserves, do you have any idea what the Germanians are up to? None of our commanders in the Indus River area reported seeing them."
"All I know is that they seem to be most active in the rear areas." Kang marked the approximate locations of the known forces. "I'm not exactly sure what they are doing. Maybe they're acting as reserves and building up infrastructure for the coalition to deploy more vehicles, artillery, land aircraft and other assets that are a heavy strain on logistics. After the destruction of their riverine fleet in their initial offensive towards Sukkur, I wouldn't be surprised if they're pursuing a change of strategy. It's been hard to get intelligence in the past few months."
"Well if that's the case, we will need to knock out the coalition before they deploy a moving wall of steel to run down our light infantry and our far inferior modern units. Also, what's the situation with the possible religious strife in North Bharat?"
"The Chairman already told North Bharat's government that communism doesn't have to be strictly atheist and he would not tolerate a religious conflict on his doorstep, especially when we have a war to win. Then again, he doesn't mind using anything that hurts the European powers if it means keeping our country safe."
Peng Duhai hums, "Well, hopefully that doesn't come back and harm us."