Fallen Nations: A Shadow of a New War [Dieselpunk|IC|Open]

by **Tracian Empire** » Sun Dec 08, 2024 6:31 am

Fallen Nations: A Shadow of a New War

IC Thread

A Dieselpunk Roleplay

OP
Tracian Empire
CO-OP
Remnants of Exilvania

“The burning blasts of war have shriveled, blackened, and destroyed the world we once knew. Humanity has indulged in a terrible orgy of destruction; it must pay the price”

― Billy Hughes

]Welcome to Fallen Nations: Beyond the Great War, a roleplay set in a different timeline's 1939. More than two decades have passed since the end of the Great War that shook the entire world, and led to the death of millions. Beyond its immense human cost, the Great War radically changed the fate of the war, as the ever greater demands of the military forces embroiled in the endless battles led to a technological revolution. The demand for ever greater machines to break the stalemate of the trench warfare transformed the face of the conflict. Scientific geniuses created marvel after marvel, mechs, airships, landships, tanks and exoskeletons, super soldiers and monsters- the new world of industrial warfare, of diesel of electricity and of mutations. The war ended, but the world was forever changed. Progress continued, unrelenting, and under the cover of peace, tensions, anger and hate continued to boil. Now, a new war, even greater than the war to end all wars is poised to begin, and the world is holding its breath, as a new generation of implements of war is ready to take to the battlefields....

General Rules

1. The OP reserves the right to be subjective and will have the final world in all matters.
2. The CO-OP will enjoy the same prerogatives in the absence of the OP.
3. All site-wide rules apply.
4. No OOC writing in the IC.
5. No godmodding, metagaming, or other similar actions.
6. No flaming, trolling, or harassment in the OOC or in the IC.
7. Do not use ChatGPT or other AI tools to write your posts or apps for you, whether in the OOC or in the IC ChatGPT can have its uses, for translation as an example, but the posts should be created through their own effort and skill Suspicion of using AI tools for the actual writing of posts can be grounds for removal from the RP.

Roleplay Rules

1. There is no single, strict PoD. This is alternate history, so you can go with anything that you want, including real life nations, as long as it has a basis in history. While the dieselpunk and subsequent teslapunk and biopunk technological revolutions have changed the world, the world at its back is still our Earth - so a certain level of realism should apply.
2. Some important historical events can not be changed and will need to be respected. Most important of those is of course the Great War. While its specific details are up to the players to decide, the war would have existed within a roughly similar time-frame, ending with an armistice in November of 1918. The Great War invariably affected all nations of the globe, whether they were victors, losers, or neutral states. The Great War should as such be taken into account in the history of your nation, and it will be particularly taken into account when reviewing the current state of your country.
3. Since the main purpose of this thread will be to hopefully roleplay a dieselpunk WW2, the alliances and power blocs that will take part in this conflict will need to be decided upon. As such, the OP reserves the right to make whatever decisions are necessary in order to ensure that these power blocs are created and are well balanced. Not every nation can be neutral, and neutrality will need to be well explained.
4. Colonies and other historically autonomous areas can be applied for, however, realism will still be maintained - colonies can't rebel against their home countries on the second day of the IC. Players applying for such areas would require the consent of the player in charge of the nations that owns the colony or the autonomous areas, and players can deny such requests without having to justify themselves.
5. Political and rebel groups and organizations can be applied for, however interested players should take into account the fact that such groups are most often in an inferior position compared to the ruling government. Applicants should obtain the accord of the player controlling the nation in which they want their group or organization to operate, but considering the age and the general theme of the RP, it is likely that many revolutionary groups would exist.
6. The map is an estimation and may not be constantly updated, make sure to also check the list and do a cursory search of the OOC before reserving.

Technology

The Great War raged on for four years, tearing apart the land under its constant barrage of shells much like it has torn nations under the pressures of war. Even now, more than two decades after the last of the guns fell silent, the world is still being shaped by the changes that occurred in those four fateful years. It was the first war to fully unleash the horrors of industrial warfare on the world. Utilizing the newest tools of mass killing devised by the likes of Maxim, Tesla, Krupp, Edison and so on, it has brought about devastation on a scale never seen before, and it has created a world nearly unrecognizable from what came before.

What does this mean for you, the players? It means that all technologies, weapon and vehicle prototypes developed up until 1939 are permitted full serial production at this point and even the fixing of various reliability related issues.

But it means more yet as this is intended to be a Dieselpunk RP and as such we intend to see some amazing technology. While the RP itself is designed to be diesel punk, broadly speaking the world has three different types of technology that nations can specialize in, with the necessary justification. Dieselpunk, Teslapunk and Biopunk.

Dieselpunk is perhaps the easiest to explain, as it involves technologies fueled by diesel oil, in a race for ever bigger and ever faster war machines. The advancement of technology in this world has of course far surpassed the limits of oil in real life, and this has led to the creation of many new technologies, one of the most important being of course:

The Mech. During the war, scientists developed a new type of war-machine to more effectively cross the bombed out no-mans-lands and barricades. These are the Mechs, featuring two or more legs and having become the armoured mainstay of most armies. Mechs can be roughly categorized into four classes. There would be the fast light Mechs, generally poorly armored and armed and as such often seeing service as scouting or light attack vehicles. Then there would be the medium Mechs, the primary tools of battle, well armored and equipped with cannons and machineguns to equally eliminate infantry and armored opposition. Then there would be heavy mechs, often featuring more than two legs due to their immense weight, these are heavily armored warmachines, slow but capable of sustaining immense damage. Last but not least are titanic warmachines of vast size, easily the pride of nations and nearly indestructible by anything but sustained enemy fire or an equal threat. These however would be highly limited in number due to the massive expenses involved in their construction. Naturally, much like we did in our timeline, the chassis of Mechs has been used for more specialized applications. Heavy Cannons have been strapped to certain Mechs so they could function in a Mech Destroyer or Self Propelled Artillery role, allowing for a more mobile movement of heavy weapons as well as some degree of protection for the relatively low cost of smaller Mech chassis than the Heavy or Titanic Mechs that'd normally carry these sorts of weapons.
Of course, the Tank, the original invention to beat the trenches, has not fallen to the wayside yet. Tanks generally outperform all Mechs but Light Mechs in speed and unlike Light Mechs are much more capable of carrying heavier or multiple weapons, allowing them to continue filling a certain niche in the new armored warfare.
In the newly weaponized air, things look no better. Enterprising minds posed themselves the question of what would be if they could create a Mech that could eliminate heavy resistance from the skies before landing to mop up and take territory with more infantry oriented weaponry. These airborne mechs generally feature armor intermediate between the light and medium mechs but weaponry more comparable to the medium Mech.
Yet from the minds of one Count Von Zeppelin arose a new idea that would truly change the skies. The idea of ships in the air, fulfilling much the same purposes as those on the ground. It has led to the development of various air Battleships, equipped with armour and heavy Artillery, dominating the battlefields from the skies, though often suffering from attacks by enemy Fighters or Anti-Air Artillery, which saw increased development itself with all the new threats in the skies. Though in either case, the air Battleships and large air Transports have been developed, particularly by nations lacking access to the sea or seeking to challenge the naval domination of other powers. On the seas, few things changed initially, though the naval deadlock of the war eventually led to the rise of various new ship classes. Originally developed to intercept merchant shipping and avoid blockades, Submarine development would, alongside traditional Submarines, culminate within the creation of small submersible battleships, capable of relatively immense firepower when surfacing, with which to shake off pursuing lighter vessels which might have been used in anti-submarine warfare. Naturally, much like it bled into aircraft development, so too did militaries' mech craze bleed into the Navy and eventually the idea came up to build ships with legs, which could come from the sea onto land, providing forces there with firepower deep inland when needed.

Teslapunk technologies find their origin in the mind and inventions of Nikola Tesla, and they harness the potential and power of electricity over anything else. Tesla coils charge and power the greatest invention of their namesake, the Tesla core, which functions similarly to a battery or to a small generator. Although more expensive to create than internal combustion engines, they are smaller and can last for longer, while the power required for the Tesla coils to work and charge them can come from other things beyond oil - of great use to those nations who have the industry and the technology but lack the oil reserves to fully support a Dieselpunk future. Tesla cores however can not match the power generation of diesel however, and as such, they are most often used in different rules. While one can create mechs, tanks, and airships powered by Tesla cores, they are expensive and most often slower than their diesel counterparts. Tesla technologies find their true calling in their destructive capabilities however. Tesla guns can shoot beams of electricity and plasma, from the big defensive guns that aim at the skies to defend against airships, to smaller packages that can be carried and used by few elite infantrymen. The smaller scale of Tesla cores compared to engines has led to the development of power armors, which can allow soldiers to fight on the same level as the larger mechs, and those left without limbs or other body parts are the first to be augmented which metal and electricity - the first cyborgs of the new age.

Biopunk has come along as a rejection of the technology of the new age - of the metal, oil and electricity of the new ages, instead, focusing on the improvement of flesh and blood beyond the limits of what once used to be. Serums, surgeries and gases have canalized the spirit of science towards the creation of super-soldiers, ever stronger and ever faster, and of untold monstrosities to fight along them, the power of flesh against the metal of the enemies. Some simply focus on creating ever better soldiers, while others are planning to give mankind itself an upgrade - whether the humans want it, or not.

All these different types of specializations have their advantages and disadvantages, and in the end, each regular nation will only be able to focus on one, while great powers will be able to focus on up to two - both for OOC balance purposes and because of how this development would occur ICly. Even in such an age of technological advancement, greed, pride, and conservative views can still prevail. A nation with access to great sources of oil will of course, most likely focus on Dieselpunk technologies. Industrialized nations with limited amount of oil can still focus on Dieselpunk - through advancements in the field of synthetic oil - while still more expensive to produce than natural oil, it can serve as an alternative up to a certain points. Other industrialized nations with other sources of energy would however clearly focus more on Teslapunk and on the promises of electricity, while those lacking the industry for either can look to the past and to the future and experiment with the human body itself in the field of Biopunk. It’s not like any nation will have to only fully and exclusively use one type of technology, there can always be prototypes and small efforts, but the technology of a nation should reflect its specialization, and said specialization will need to be justified.

by **Tracian Empire** » Sun Dec 08, 2024 6:32 am

Accepted Nations

Last Updated: 23.01.2025
United States of America - Intermountain States
Empire of Macedonia - (Βασίλειον της Μακεδονίας) - Sao Nova Europa
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland - Pragia
German Empire - (Deutsches Reich) - Remnants of Exilvania
Socialist Republic of France - (République socialiste de France) - Orostan
India - (Mahājambudvīpa) - Khasinkonia
All-Russian Republic - (Всероссийская Pеспублика) - Tracian Empire
Republic of Italy - (Repubblica d'Italia) - Empire of Techkotal
Commonwealth of Nordic Socialist Council Republics - (Nordiske socialistiske rådsrepublikkenes samfundet) - Northern Socialist Council Republics
Republic of China - (中華民國) - The Manticoran Empire

Reservations

Last Updated:23.01.2025

Empire of Brazil - The Gasland
Empire of Japan - The Imperial Warglorian Empire

by **Orostan** » Sun Dec 08, 2024 3:54 pm

THE RED FORTRESS

On May 1st 1923 the second Socialist State in history - and the only one to last to the present - was proclaimed in Paris. France emerged from the Great War not as a victorious power ready to redivide the world between itself and its allies - instead it was as a state ripe for a revolution which in a few years overtook the whole of the country and much of the former French colonial Empire with it. The Bolshevik and German revolutions could have conquered Europe for Communism. With the failure of both France finds itself the only strong bastion of Communism in the world. But the First French Republic found itself in similar circumstances and fought off the reactionary hordes that tried to destroy it and went on conquer them for a time. Today France faces a similar threat from the armies of fascist Germany, Italy, and the ever present perfidious Albion.

The Communist Party of France has always recognized the threat of another Great War and has spent its time in power building up France to resist that war should it come. France retains its position at the edge of Tesla and Diesel based technology. French industry increasingly relies on both to make up for the country's demographic problems while the military makes use of a new generation of terrible war machines to match the biological abominations of Britain and Germany. What great leaps have been made in industrial and military science are mirrored by the leaps in the science of people. A divided society has been fused and transformed through the transformation of the people within it. The "New Frenchman" does not rely on the easy way of biological tricks to create the illusion of strength, instead his mind is cultivated in some of the finest educational institutions in the world and his body in the labor armies that work to erect the new Communist society. The New French man is imbued with the values of Communism and is master of the Socialist Republic. Where the rights of the working class have been expanded and reinforced, the rights of the former ruling class are nonexistent. The Red Terror slaughtered the reactionaries and supporters by the tens of thousand. While lively debates take place in the People's Assembly in Paris and in the halls of the Communist Party over policy and law they are over that policy and law which most forwards the cause of Communism in France and around the world.

Paris is also the center the Communist International that organizes every Communist party around the world into an alliance dedicated to the global victory of the working class. Wherever there are workers in the world the Communist International and the most notorious of its branches - Communist International Action (CIA) is. Russian exiles following the defeat of the Bolshevik revolutionaries by the reactionary tyrant Kolchak work most prominently in the Communist International and the head of the Communist International Action is a Georgian named Joseph Stalin. Ho Chi Minh and his Viet Minh work closely with the Communist International which daily provides them arms and funding to continue their war against the Japanese occupiers. Labor strikes in the United States, Britain, and Russia find themselves funded and organized by the CIA. The French Foreign Legion provides military training to the armies of Communism around the world and the exiled Russian and German revolutionaries who Paris hosts. Only recently has the party begun to slow its war against the capitalist powers to try to make common cause with the more progressive against the fascist threat.

It is becoming clear that there will be no peace in our time, and none can predict the course of the future.

L'Humanité
The official Newspaper of the Communist Party of France
POLITICS | INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS |ECONOMIC SCIENCE | LABOR
JANUARY 1st, 1939

COMPLETION OF DAKAR-BAMAKO RAILWAY IMPROVEMENT PROJECT IN PEOPLE'S REP. OF MALI

French supplied locomotives work in Bamako's rail yard.

Following years of work in difficult terrain the railway between the Malian cities of Dakar and Bamako was finished and the first cargo train carrying iron ore on new tracks from inland Bamako to coastal Dakar was met with much fanfare by the President of the Mali, Modibo Keïta. The development of real industry in Mali following decades of colonial exploitation represents a new era in French-African relations and indeed relations among the Socialist camp. What is good for Mali is good for France, and what is good for France is good for Mali. Where once the railway was only suitable for carrying wealth out of the country its expansion and the addition of a number of branch lines make the railway able to provide wealth to the country instead. Already there is talk of expanding the Dakar steel works to support the next five year plans for the industrialization of the independent and socialist African states. Despite improvements in infrastructure and industry Mali remains an overwhelmingly agrarian country as do most of the free colonies. The Malian Ministry of Agriculture has already begun plans to distribute farming equipment to rural areas with the establishment of the new rail system and the easier transport afforded by it. The Algerian Ministry of the Oil Industry is also expected to expand its assistance to Malian oil exploration in the Taoudeni basin that dominates much of Mali north west and Mauritania's east.

THOREZ SAYS COLLECTIVE SECURITY IS THE PRIORITY OF FRANCE IN EUROPE

The rearmament of Germany led by the fascist and militarist forces in the country has been alarming to France for some time, and since the invasion of Czechslovakia the calls for a collective security arrangement against Hitler have only increased. Thorez said today in address to the People's Assembly that a firm agreement between France and the European powers to contain Germany remains the top priority of the government. During the Munich conference France unilaterally withdrew without agreeing to the conference's conclusions, and dedicated itself to organizing opposition across Europe to fascism. The official position of the Communist International remains that a coalition of working class and progressive forces in Europe and around the world, is necessary to stop fascism. France has further pledged to oppose a German led invasion of the Polish led Promethean Federation with armed force. Despite the threat of war France has maintained its embassy in Berlin and remains committed to avoiding a repeat of the destructive beyond measure Great War in Europe.

by **Pragia** » Tue Dec 17, 2024 8:21 pm

London, United Kingdom

It was a boisterous day at Westminster, and speaker Fitzroy was having considerable difficulty maintaining decorum in the hall. There was heckling from the back benches of the Labour-led opposition.

"Gallipoli!"

"Failure of Delhi!"

"Butcher of Burma!"

The call for "Or-der" would roar from the speaker's dias, an impressively loud action from the older man. "The right honourable gentleman from Epping will have his time in full." The muttering from the high benches became softer.

"Thank you, Mister Fitzroy." The thickly-accented heavy voice of Winston Churchill boomed from his standing location "And Butcher of Burma is a new one, Mister Benson. Quite colorful" The man was short, but still in an impressively fit form. He was often mocked for his anti-eugenic behavior of heavy drinking and smoking, but his use of biochemicals and darwinist therapies have given him the body of a gracefully aging Hussar. "I am sure you are deeply concerned about how murderous things were on the subcontinent. That's why you're supporting this new legislation to give them an open opportunity to butcher another few million of His Majesty’s subjects." he'd say in a cavalier tone. A few rolls of eyes and jeers rose from the benches.

“We will not abandon Burma to a regime that has slaughtered their own people as readily as they have slaughtered ours. You shame me for the disasters I presided over while you demand conditions for even greater evils to be perpetrated. We must stand ready against these murderous madmen; even if we fully decolonized from Asia, they would still seek our deaths. Labor believes that demilitarization will reduce tension, yet whenever we have lowered our guard, they have struck us.”

“What I have yet to properly understand is why the Union men in His Majesty’s government agreed to hear this drivel argued in parliament. I am sure they would be eager to have forces on hand to help their friends on the continent, or perhaps try and sell arms to the Austrians.” He muses, turning behind him briefly. The faces in the opposition would sour, the blackshirts behind Churchill would be watching on with neutral expressions like vultures.

“No, the cordon will remain, and we will continue to grant Burmese Army forces permission to engage in darwinistic specialization of their local forces. The price of our failure to hold India is vigilance until they are willing to moderate. Not even the communards or the Nazis will dare back such an evil regime, even for their pragmatic purposes.” The statesman would assert, perhaps shortsightedly.

Burma

Colonel Ganju Thapa stood at the bridge of his Airship. The HMSS Staffordshire was a considerable asset in the Burmese forces, a command-and-control airship equipped with communications equipment and powerful radar and fire control systems. Its powerful diesel engines were keeping it aloft, heavy propellors and rockets thundering being insulated by the soundproofing in the structure.

The bridge was busy with radio activity and staff officers moving about. While it had been some weeks since the last Indian activity in the border region, the readiness rate was high. Ganju’s battalion, the 12th Gurkha Rifles, were stationed at the fortifications towards the southern flank of the Arakan Mountains. Even from the command bridge the Colonel could see the miles of prepared mechanized artillery positions and tunnel-worm bored bunker networks.

The Gurkha regiments had taken on a specific connotation in the wake of the loss of their homeland. They had only begun returning to their home and demilitarizing when their homeland turned against the empire they had just spent four years fighting and dying for. Ganju was a lieutenant then, and he had held out at the mustering grounds in Quetta for 8 months until they were evacuated. The requirements of the Empire were necessary, and that his homeland had suffered did not particularly phase the men who had seen the horrors of that technology in the trenches and on Turkish shores.

The regiments now were recruiting from top candidates from Brunei and Africa, and because of their heroism on the subcontinent, their reputation and prestige had grown in both the colonies and Britain such that they had no shortage of aspirational recruits. He had for a time trained them, many new faces from many new places, all sent to this hell on earth.

By his reckoning, the Burmese border was the most militarized on the planet. There was no armistice, no peace talks, only lulls in the seemingly endless bloodlust of his people. He knew of their reasons, the early gene-editing was… unstable to say the least. Seeing a gene-modded first gen warhound turn into a spasming puddle of biological goo spontaneously was high on his list of horrors. He could only imagine what the people of his homeland thought of such monstrosities.

Nevertheless, he was a loyal soldier of the Empire, as was the some twenty-thousand fellow servicemen entering their later years but still in the regiments that bear a name from a land which they may well never see again.

by **Tracian Empire** » Sun Jan 19, 2025 8:45 am

All-Russian Democratic Federative Republic
Всероссийская Демократическая Федеративная Республика

By this sign, conquer!
Сим победиши!

Kuskovo Palace
Moscow, A-RDFR

Кусковский дворец
Москва, ВрДФР

It was a cold and frigid winter evening in the city of Moscow. People were walking back from work, and the streets were slowly but surely quieting down. Most of the population of the city had already celebrated Christmas - under pressure from the Republican government, the All-Russian Orthodox Church had in 1923, participated in the Pan-Orthodox Congress which had decided the adoption of the Revised Julian calendar. Of course, the Old Believers and other splinters from the main Orthodox Church still celebrated Christmas in accordance with the old calendar, but the city as a whole had ended its celebrations of the holidays, and was gearing up for a new year.

The cars leaving the city were unlikely to have attracted much attention - many of the richer citizens of the capital used to retire to their country estates towards the end of the week. Despite leaving in different directions however, several of these cars eventually ended up in the Kuskovo estate, on the eastern outskirts of the city - a former noble estate which had been nationalized in 1917 by the Bolsheviks and had then been bought by the Provisional Government from its owner, Count Dmitry Sheremetev. Although officially, the estate still remained the propriety of the Sheremetev family, the estate was in practice held by the Stavka - the high command of the White Army, and was one of the estates used sometimes for important meetings of the higher military echelons, which had to be organized away from the capital in order to keep them a secret. And this was indeed just one such occasion.

A large group of military officers were gathered in the dining room of the Kuskovo palace, split apart into smaller groups that were discussing the affairs of the day. Anyone familiar with the upper ranks of the Whites would have quickly recognized the figures present there. Sitting in a chair, with his venerable mustache now well and truly white, was the old Marshal Lavr Kornilov, the Chief of Staff of the Stavka. On another chair nearby, the former chief of staff to Kornilov and the grand commander of the operation which had brought the White Army to victory and to Moscow, General Anton Denikin, talking with a tall and elegant man, dressed in a black cavalry officer uniform - General Pyotr Wrangel. Other figures present in the room included General of Aviation Vyacheslav Tkachov, Russia's first fighter ace in the Great War and the director of the All-Russian Military Air School, the commander of the All-Russian Military Air Fleet, discussing the latest rumors about the development of Japanese air carriers with Rear Admiral Georgy Stark. The Chief of the Army Intelligence Department, Pavel Shatilov, was holding a map and showing something to general Vladimir Marushevsky, who had been the commander of the Northern Army.

That is not to say that all the higher ranks of the army were occupied by the commanders of the Civil War. Decades had passed, and new figures had climbed through the ranks. General Aleksandr Vasilevsky was listening to the discussion between Denikin and Wrangel, a most interesting position for a former Imperial officer who had once been conscripted to serve into the Bolshevik Red Army, before defecting to Denikin's troops near Tula. Denikin himself was also occasionally talking to his subordinate, captain Mikhail Katukov, who had been a private during the war. On the other side of the room, general of the infantry Mikhail Drozdovsky, was debating something with the famous "soldier-general" Vladimir Kappel and with the one-handed general-major Vladimir Manstein, the Civil War's "exterminator of commissars".

All these various discussions had clearly been going on for a while, but they had been interrupted by the arrival in the room of someone wearing a white admiral's uniform - President Kolchak, followed by general Vasily Boldyrev. A man of actions more so than a man of words, Kolchak quickly took his position at the head of the table, and started talking.

"Gentlemen, I believe you all know why we have gathered here today.", the president began in a stern voice. "In many ways, this meeting reminds me of the first war council of the White Armies of Russia in Ufa - and much like then, during the civil war, our beloved Russia is in danger and it is up to us, and the military, to intervene and to save her from her enemies, both from the inside and from the outside."

The other officers all seemed to agree with Kolchak. There might have been some personal tension between them - Kolchak and Denikin in particular had clashed many times during the war, but all the officers there were patriots, and all accepted the fact that the others were just as patriotic - political views aside. In particular, Kolchak's decision to withdraw from power after the civil war had earned him quite a reputation among the military that even the former commanders of the civil war had come to respect.

"Our spies in Berlin have indicated that from their information, Germany is preparing for a potential invasion of Poland as soon as this year. With Czechoslovakia annihilated as a nation and divided between a German occupation zone and a puppet state, it seems clear that Hitler's next goal will be the so-called Polish corridor. And whether it ends in a war or not, it is clear that Germany will not stop at what they initially announce as their claims - much like how they didn't stop in the Czech border regions. This is an unacceptable danger. During the Great War, the Germans needed almost four years to push us back from Poland to Minsk, 800 kilometers deep. But if the Polish state falls to them, we will wake up with the German army on the border of the weak Belarusian Republic, 800 kilometers from Moscow, and what would stop the Germans from quickly moving in and occupying Belarus too? We might end up with German supersoldiers on the border with Belarus, a mere 60 kilometers from Smolensk, less than 500 kilometers from Moscow. This can not be allowed to happen."

The officers nodded in agreement, even if clearly some of them had their own thoughts about Russia's ability to fight the Germans so close to Moscow. Kolchak continued. "As such, after being elected as President by the State Council, I have tasked Field Marshal Kornilov and the Stavka to come up with a series of plans for us to be able to deal with the situation."

Kornilov stood up, and as he did so, general major Manstein approached the table, putting a dossier filled with files on it with his remaining good hand. "The Stavka has analyzed the situation, and in collaboration with military intelligence and with the Okhrana, we have come to the conclusion that we need to act soon, before the window of opportunity closes.", Kornilov declared. "This is the only chance we might have to recover the territories that we have lost during the Great War and to protect Russian soil before an inevitable war with Germany that will happen in a year or two at the latest if Hitler is not stopped. We need to act, and we need to act now - before the Germans invade Poland, and before the domestic situation deteriorates further. Regaining Russian territories should help us calm down the right wing of the Duma, and taking a stronger stance against the fascists and the Nazis should help us in the negotiations with the left and the democratic parties, would the President be willing to entertain such thoughts.", the old commander added, his thoughts on democracy all too clear. "I will let my subordinate detail the plans. General-major Manstein, please."

Manstein enthusiastically unfurled the map on the table, the armless officer not letting that stop him. "The overarching plan has been divided into several steps and operations which must be organized. We will start by sending an ultimatum to the Scandinavian Commonwealth. As the ultimatum is being sent, the first reserve will be mobilized under the cover of holding military exercises in Kursk. The specific contents of the ultimatum will be left to the presidential office to establish, but the requests made by the military would include everything needed in order to safeguard Russia's security and to defend the approaches to Petrograd. This would include restoring the Baltic states to Russian control or protection, returning the regions of Karelia, Kalla and Petsamo to Russia, demiltiarizing the islands of the Gulf of Finland, observing a strict international neutrality and not allowing German troops to transit or station Scandinavian territory. If the Scandinavians accept our demands, then we will simply occupy these territories and ensure that the Scandinavian neutrality and further sovereignty and territorial integrity is respected. Regardless of their response however, the next steps will be undertaken to the south. Operation Kutuzov will involve the occupation of the Belarusian People's Republic. An army group will advance over the border from Smolensk, while the air force will establish superiority, and desant forces will be airdropped to Minsk. We expect that Belarusian opposition will break down quickly, particularly since Poland is focused on Germany and will be unable to help them. "

The officer stopped his speech for a few moments, as he took a few sips of water from a glass. "Concurrently with the Belarusian operations, we believe that it is important to also deal with the Ukraine, without giving them the chance to better prepare. Operation Suvorov will include all necessary actions to be taken against Ukraine. The plan is too large to be easily described tonight, but the main parts of the operation will be two thrusts, performed by two separate army groups, one to the north, leading the Kursk front towards Kiev, and a southern army group leading the Rostov front towards Kherson. Special shock regiments will be paradropped in order to gain control over the Dniepr crossings, and we will also organize a naval attack with marine troops on the port of Sevastopol. Defeating the resistance of the Ukrainian troops will be far more difficult, but it is of imperative importance that Ukraine will never be used as staging ground for an attack against Russia. When we manage to cross the Dniepr, we expect organzied Ukrainian resistance to mostly collapse, although it is inevitable for the most fanatical of their units to stage a fighting retreat towards the border with Poland. Diplomatic pressure on Poland alongside the threat represented by Germany again means that in accordance with military intelligence, the chance of Poland intervening is very low. "

Manstein cleared his throat and used his hand to shuffle some of the papers on the table. "Moving on, if the Scandinavians refuse our ultimatum, our immediate response should be one of silence. It is likely that the invasion of the Belarus and the Ukraine will convince the Scandinavian government and high command that they have time to prepare - we can not give them any. The Baltic Fleet will be tasked with gaining control of the Gulf of Finland and the Baltic Sea in front of the Gulf of Riga - alongside the air force, they are to ensure the isolation of the Baltic states from Scandinavia proper. With that, the Scandinavian forces in the region will be cut off from supplies and reinforcements. The Northeastern theater force should be enough to occupy them - with one force advancing from Pskov to Riga, the other from Narva to Talinn - this will be the start of operation Sheremetev. At the same time, shock regiments supported by border guards are to quickly advance from Petrograd - their goal will be the occupation of the Karelian isthmus. Depending on the resistance of the Scandinavians, further reinforcements will be granted - we however believe that with the occupation of the territories that we have claimed in the ultimatum, the Scandinavians will be amendable for peace negotiations. If they are not, further plans will be undertaken to break their fighting force - from an occupation of Finland to a bombardment of Stockholm."

Field Marshal Kornilov then intervened. "The ultimate goal of these invasions will be, for as soon as enemy resistance is broken, the work will begin on establishing new defensive lines and military infrastructure. This will allow us to hopefully, by 1941 if not by mid-1940 in the best case scenario, to be prepared for a potential war with the Germans in the West."

"What about the East however?", asked rear admiral Stark, commander of the Pacific Fleet. "Can we guarantee that the Japanese will not use our wars in the west in order to request concessions or to even attempt an invasion of Siberia or of China?"

"We can not.", Kolchak replied. "However, we have been in communications with the Americans and we hope that their influence will be enough to keep the Japanese in check. Regardless of this, my office will be sending a proposal for cooperation to the Chinese. Regardless of their answer, the forces of the Far Eastern Front will be reinforced, and if the Japanese do start mobilizing for war, we will take the necessary steps. It would be much better however for Tokyo to play its hand now and to force us into a war now, than to wait for the inevitable European war.

The rear admiral nodded in agreement. Manstein then cleared his throat again, and continued. "Finally, depending on how the operations go - the final stage will be Operation Rukin. The operation envisions a wide scale of operations in Central Asia, with desant forces used to capture the main cities. The final objective would be the recovery of our former territories there, the destruction of the independent khanates and other such states in the area, and the regaining of control over the border with Macedonia."

"The potential for any of the operations to end with issues is great, however, I believe that there is no other option. We can not be passive under these circumstances, or the Germans will catch us unprepared like they did during the Great War. We need to act swiftly, and most importantly - we need to act without the oversight of the civilian government of Minister-Chairman Chernov and the bureaucracy. No delays will be tolerated - Russia's fate is at stake here."

All-Russian Democratic Federative Republic
Всероссийская Демократическая Федеративная Республика

By this sign, conquer!
Сим победиши!

To the Right Honourable Rickard Ström, Secretary-General of the Commonwealth.

Your Excellency,

We write this message as a gesture of our goodwill and of our hope of solving the differences between the Scandinavian Commonwealth and the All-Russian Democratic Federative Republic in a peaceful manner. Despite the political differences between our nations, Russia has consistently attempted to accept and to uphold the peaceful order of the continent, even in the face of the unjust Scandinavian occupation of Russian territories, made possible due to the temporary weakness of Russia due to her fight against the Bolshevik menace.

However, with the expansion of Germany and the ever rising threat of Nazism, fascism, and imperialism - Russia can no longer just stand and watch as the approaches to Petrograd are being left wide open to potential German occupation.

Because of that, we ask the Scandinavian Commonwealth to accept the return of the Baltic states to Russian control, and in addition, to return the Karelian isthmus and the Ladoga Karelia to Russian control. We also ask the Commonwealth to accept the demilitarization of its islands in the Gulf of Finland, to adopt a firm policy of international neutrality, and to forbid foreign forces, in particular German forces, from ever being deployed on the Commonwealth's territory, especially in Finland, on the Åland islands, and the island of Gotland.

In return, the All-Russian Democratic Federative Republic would firmly pledge to respect the neutrality of Scandinavia, and to ensure the further territorial integrity, security, and sovereignty of the Scandinavian Commonwealth.

We hope that the Scandinavian government will understand that through this, Scandinavia will repair the grave injustice created by its occupation of these territories, will mend its relationship with Russia, and will contribute to the security of Russia and of Europe as a whole.

Signed by,

Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak, President of the All-Russian Democratic Federative Republic

by **The Manticoran Empire** » Mon Jan 20, 2025 11:28 pm

Presidential Palace
Nanjing
Jiangsu Province
2 January 1939

Wang Jingwei, president of the Republic of China and leader of the Kuomintang, stood looking out of his office window as Premier Soong Tse-vung finished reading the Russian note. “Well,” said Kung Hsiang-hsi, the Minister of State for Industry, “They didn’t waste any time on platitudes.” Premier Soong looked at his brother-in-law, nodding slowly in agreement.
“Of course they didn’t,” replied Chang Lok, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, a bit heatedly. “They’ve got too many problems for that. The Japanese, the Poles, the Germans, the Scandinavians. They seek to secure our assistance in order to protect their own eastern provinces.”
“We could use their military assistance,” piped up Xian Tai, the only woman in the cabinet and Minister of State for Education. She held that post only because there was a lack of certainty that the Senate would approve a woman to serve as Minister for War, even when that woman possessed a shrewd understanding of strategy and the military art. “The Ministry of War’s proposal for its new building programs will be quite difficult to achieve without outside assistance.”

The entire room nodded in agreement. The proposal, which was to be presented to the Senate’s Military Affairs Committee, included a ten-year building program that wanted to build an entire new navy. Over two hundred ships, including 15 battleships and 5 aircraft carriers, were desired by the Navy, with the perhaps overly ambitious goal of building them all in only ten years. It was certainly true that the Republic’s government had spent the preceding 27 years since the Revolution expanding and strengthening Chinese industry, including its shipyards to facilitate the construction of its own warships and merchantmen, but the largest ships they had yet built had been a few cruisers of the Yat Sen and Ning Hai classes, which only displaced about 2,500 tons. The Navy was talking about ships that displaced as much as 45,000 tons and more than twice as long. Oh Jiangnan and Chongqing Shipyards had building slips big enough for it, but no Chinese worker had ever built something that big. No Chinese factory had built guns that large or armor plates of that thickness and quality. Foreign assistance would be required to make the program work and that would be expensive. Even the Navy's possibly optimistic estimates put annual costs for the project at nearly ¥108 million for the next ten to fifteen years, which amounted to nearly 10% of the Navy's budget. Chiang Tao, the Finance Minister, was firm in his opinion that the Navy was overly optimistic in their estimates. He pegged the cost closer to ¥215 or ¥320 million per year, 20% to 30% of the Naval budget. And even he called those numbers highly preliminary.

“If the Russians are willing to offer us technical assistance, it will make our naval program far more effective and likely to succeed,” said Tu Chen, the Minister of War, glowering at Chiang and Xian in turn. He had been the second choice for the War Ministry appointment and he knew it. He also knew who Wang and Soong had preferred and resented that.
“British or American help would be better,” Xian said, “They have far more experience and better shipwrights than the Russians have. The British may even be cheaper. But the Americans are less likely to demand unreasonable concessions from us.”

“Indeed,” Chang added, “We should keep our options open. In our position, we cannot afford to turn the Great Powers against us until we have the military power necessary to deter them.”

General Chiang Kai-shek, Chief of the General Staff and another brother-in-law of the Premier, nodded vigorously. “We are not in a position to alienate the Westerners. Not yet. As much as we desire to stand on our own, we have much work yet to do. The Army is still expending much of its budget on the replacement of equipment and bringing troops up to training standards. The Air Force is in little better shape. In ten, perhaps fifteen years, we will be better positioned to make demands of the Imperialists. But for now? For now we must be cautious.”

“No one denies that, General,” Wang said, turning away from the window. “The problem is that the Westerners know this as well as we do. Can we be so certain that they will allow us to build our strength without contest? Certainly the Japanese will not just stand idly by while we build our new fleet?”

“Certainly not,” Xian said, “But they may also be incapable of doing otherwise. Their military is sharply divided internally. Both want the Empire to expand but disagree about how. The Army supports a campaign in China, as the land war will require the majority of men and material be given to them, with the Navy a mere support element. Likewise, the Navy supports a campaign into the South Seas, targeting the Dutch, British, and American colonies in that region. Indochina, Indonesia, the Philippines. That would see the Navy receive the bulk of the resources while the Army is reduced to a support element.”
Chang nodded agreement. “The civilian government in Japan keeps the peace by playing them off of each other. As long as the service branches remain divided, the civilians can keep them in check. But our naval program would change that. It could unite the Navy and the Army around countering us. We would require sufficient strength to deter the Japanese. That means alliances with the West.”

“Very well, then,” Wang said, “We will make overtures to the Russians, the Americans, and the British. Defensive military alliances, technical support in rebuilding our strength, and preferential trade arrangements will be our goals. We must bring our budget proposals before the Legislative Yuan before the New Year, however, so Chiang and Tu will do that when they enter session. General, I want you to make the rounds and determine how we can improve our troop deployments to best deter a Japanese attack.” He looked around the room and then clapped his hands together. “Well then, my friends, let's be about it.”

The Great Hall of the Legislative Yuan
Nanjing
3 January 1939

The Great Hall was abuzz with conversation and activity. With both Houses present for this Joint Session, there were nearly 3,000 men and women in the hall, all waiting for the meeting to be called to order. The call came just as the clock chimed nine. “Order,” came the ringing voice of the Speaker of the Yuan, “I call this Joint Session to Order.” He paused a few moments to allow everyone to reach their seats and then spoke again. “I now yield the floor to the Government’s Representative, that they may explain their presence and purpose.”

Premier Soong rose, joined by Ministers Tu, Chiang, and Chang. “Thank you, Mister Speaker.” He turned to face the assembled Yuan. “Ladies and Gentlemen of the Legislative Yuan, we come before you as representatives of the Executive Yuan, to crave your indulgence as we exercise our Constitutional Obligation to bring before you our budget proposal for the New Year. I now pass the floor to Minister of Finance Chiang Tao, who will explain the budget for you.”

Soong and the other two ministers returned to their seats while Chiang remained standing, beginning his explanation of the budget. The Finance Ministry had, thanks to the Control Yuan, been able to maintain excellent records of China’s economic affairs for most of the last thirty years. According to their records, the total value of the Chinese Economy had been around CN¥50 billion and had grown rather rapidly until 1929, by which time it had reached just over CN¥118.5 billion. Then, a global recession had struck and the economy had contracted to around CN¥103 billion by 1933, when new fiscal policies had allowed it to begin growing again. Now, the total size of the economy sat at roughly CN¥139 billion.
For the last 26 years, the Government had been gradually growing the size of the budget. In 1913, when the Constitution entered force, the budget had been only 3% of the total economy. By the time of the US Stock Market Crash in 1929, that had grown to 6%. By 1933, a combination of interventionist measures by the government to keep people employed and keep the country working had brought the share up to 12%. Now, they were requesting the equivalent of nearly 13.5%, totaling some CN¥18.7 billion, with about CN¥3.5 billion of it, or around 18.6% of the total budget request. The Ministry of War had wanted a larger cut of it, to fund more projects, but Finance had put its foot down hard. Spending 31% of the Navy’s new budget on the building program was already going to be a tough sell. Trying to sell a military budget of over CN¥8.3 billion? Tsoon shuddered internally at the thought of the dogfight that would create. He could already hear the whispered grumblings as Chiang worked his way through the proposals.

When Chiang finished and returned to his seat, one of the Senators rose even before Chiang had pulled his chair back in. “The Chair recognizes the Honorable Senator Zhih from Shengjing,” the Speaker said. The indicated Senator was a woman in her mid-30s. From the otherside of the hall, Tsoon couldn’t make out her features all that well but she spoke with the well practiced projection of a career speech maker. “Gentlemen of the Government,” she began, “I wish to clarify the purpose of the military expenditures listed. Minister Chiang, you did quite well in explaining the civil expenditures, however I wish to hear from Minister Tu. What is this money to be spent on?”

The Minister of War rose. “Madam Senator, the monies proposed for military expenses are intended to be spent on expanding and modernizing our forces. The current proposal maintains the breakdown that has been maintained for nearly thirty years, with approximately half of all expenditures going to the Army, around a third to the Navy, and one-fifth to the Air Force. Where the difference arises, Ma’am, is that the Naval budget is now proposed to be spent on actual ships, rather than the construction of shipyards and other infrastructure.” He paused for a moment to turn a page and said, “If you will all turn to page fifty-seven of the proposal, you will see the Navy’s current proposal for its building program. By the year 1956, the Navy wishes to build fifteen modern battleships, five modern aircraft carriers, and eighteen modern heavy cruisers, as well as modern light cruisers, destroyers, and submarines. This year, they propose to order the construction of our first class of battleships, a total of three ships, as well as one carrier and a number of cruisers and destroyers. The proposed budget for this program is, according to the Finance Ministry’s calculations, three hundred and twenty-four million Yuan, approximately thirty-one percent of the Navy’s budget. The remaining funds are proposed to be spent on the recruitment, training, and salaries of personnel, the maintenance, upgrading, and expansion of infrastructure, and the procurement of weapons and ammunition for existing ships and installations.” He paused again and Senator Zhih spoke up.

“What is the Navy’s goal with seeking to build such a fleet?” she asked, her tone not incredulous or accusing but probing, seeking for him to make a misstep. “Madam Senator,” Tu replied, “the proposal is intended to enable us to reliably defend our territory and sovereignty from the Imperialist powers. For the immediate future, the target is the Empire of Japan, with a current fleet of not less than ten battleships and five fleet carriers of their own. They have three more fleet carriers and at least three more battleships under construction or fitting out, with plans for even more. The United States has its own fleet of fifteen battleships and five fleet carriers, while the United Kingdom possesses another fifteen battleships and five fleet carriers. Both navies, in their efforts to counter the Japanese, are building additional ships. The US has at least two under construction, with another class being debated. The British have five battleships under construction. They are both also building additional aircraft carriers and lighter units. These fleets represent the three largest in the world and all three of them have interests in our region of the world. The purpose of the current building program is to establish a fleet powerful enough to engage any one of these three fleets with a reasonable chance of success, preventing them from landing troops on our shores and threatening our population and industry.”

“And what of the possibility of an alliance of these Imperialist powers,” Senator Zhih asked, again in a probing tone. “We believe that to be unlikely, at least an alliance directed against us. The British are primarily focused against the Germans and the Indians and, though they have historically been friendly with Japan, Japan’s own imperial ambitions put them at odds with the British. The Americans appear to be content with containing the Japanese and have even consented to aid our own military programs in the past. One of their Air Force generals, a Claire Chennault, is currently serving with our own Air Force, training pilots and developing combat tactics. More to the point, Japan has its own ambitions, again, which place it in opposition to the United States. The more likely possibility is that the Americans and the British would form an alliance of their own to safeguard their imperial possessions. As long as we maintain a policy of non-expansion, they should see us as no threat to their interests and possessions. That leaves Japan as the most apparent and likely adversary and they must ensure that sufficient force is kept in reserve to ward off the British and American navies.”

“And how do you propose to prevent the Japanese from attacking us preemptively, to prevent us carrying out this building program?”
“To that end, Madam Senator, I direct you to Foreign Minister Chang.” The Foreign Minister rose and the Minister of War sat. “Madam, Senator, in answer to your question, we have already received an overture from the Russian Republic offering to renegotiate the treaties made with the Czarist empire, as well as offering military cooperation. We intend to offer similar negotiations to both the British and the Americans within the next week. By playing the Imperialists off of each other, we shall keep them too busy watching themselves that they will not have time to spare for us.”
“Thank you, Minister Chang,” Senator Zhih said, “Minister Tu, since you have successfully and rather thoroughly clarified the Naval expenditures, perhaps you would be so kind as to do the same for the Army and the Air Force?”
“Of course, Madam Senator,” Minister Tu said, shuffling the papers before him again. “The expenditures for the Air Force are to fund the purchase of new aircraft to replace existing stocks. In particular, we intend to negotiate production licenses rather than our previous policy of ordering kits to assemble here. Within the Ministry of War, we are currently debating between the American Curtiss P-40, the British Hawker Hurricane, or the German Messerschmitt 109. There are also the possibilities of the Bell P-39, the Supermarine Spitfire, the Lavochkin LaGG-3, the MiG-3, or the Yak-1. Given the need to manufacture them domestically, a sizable chunk of the Air Force’s funding is to be spent on the construction of aircraft factories and the training of a workforce to operate them.”
“As for the Army, General Chiang has proposed reorganizing the existing divisions of the Army to expand their artillery parks and add additional anti-tank weapons. He also proposes to stand up a fully mechanized formation, similar to the German Panzer divisions, to be equipped with armored half tracks purchased from America or Germany and the tanks we are building under license from the Czechs. He further proposes that, during the same fifteen year period in which the Navy is being expanded, the Army will be reorganized and re-equipped to establish a total of 90 infantry divisions and 28 tank divisions, these to be organized into Corps of three Infantry and one tank division, with one Corps in each province. These formations will include a training cadre to train the provincial militias which, in time of war, can be called upon to form defensive garrisons for the provinces, allowing the regular formations to be sent to the front.”

“And the new equipment?” the Senator asked. “Is to be manufactured from our existing arsenals, with some funds dedicated to expanding production at the existing and establishing new arsenals to further expand production.”

“And what of the mechanical walkers?”
“Presently we have two types in service, the light walker with a 15mm machine gun and the heavy walker with a 40mm automatic cannon and two racks of 8 centimeter mortars, for a total of 14 mortar bombs. Currently these are assigned similar to our tank formations, at the Corps level. We are currently reexamining their employment and organization.”

“Thank you, Minister.”

Tu returned to his seat and Soong rose, once again wading into the debate and answering the questions of other Senators and Assemblymen.

Weicheng Town
Yanyuan County
Liangshan Yi Prefecture
6 January 1939

Yanyuan County had been relatively peaceful for nearly a decade, thanks at least in part to the Yanyuan Militia, a formation of almost 2,200 men and women who had received basic military instruction and operated as a support arm for the local police. Weichang Town, like most others in China, was home to a Militia company of 90 men, intended to be armed similarly to the Army but more commonly only issued with rifles. In Weichang, they had only a single machine gun for the entire company. Priority had been given to militias in regions that had faced more recent attacks by the Communist insurgents, which didn’t bother the Weichang militia. After all, the Communists had been driven from their province.

On the outskirts of town were several watch posts, each manned by a half dozen militia and police. The peace the town had seen for the last decade had led to the men becoming relaxed, complacent. They gave only cursory examination to the truck that pulled up the road. The policeman on duty at this watch post, considered senior to any of the militiamen by regulations, checked the driver’s identification documents and gave the truck a cursory glance before waving it forward. The driver leaned over to shift the truck into gear then rose, holding a pistol. The policeman barely had time to recognize it before the driver fired and the 7.62mm round from a Russian built Tokarev pistol drove into his skull, right at the top of the nasal cavity. The policeman’s brains exploded out of the back of his skull as a portion of bone flapped on a chunk of flesh like a grisly banner. The policeman was dead before he hit the ground, lying in the dirt beside the road with a growing pool of blood around him.

The militiamen inside the hut leapt to their feet, turning to face the sound of the gunshot. Their rifles were leaned against the hut’s walls, utterly useless to them. They stared in mute horror at the smoking pistol in the driver’s hand and the bleeding corpse of the policeman. They barely noticed the canvas side of the truck being flung aside and a dozen other men leveling their own weapons. The Czech designed and built ZK-383 submachine guns rattled as the Communist guerrillas shredded the hut. 9mm pistol rounds splintered wood, tore flesh, and shattered bone. The militiamen inside the hut jerked around like marionettes, their limbs flailing as the impact of dozens of bullets tore at them. Then, as though their strings had been cut, they dropped abruptly and haphazardly to the dirt floor of the hut.

The Communists hopped out of their truck and set about the bodies. Each of the guerillas took a grenade, a British built Mills bomb, from their pouches, and pulled the pin, carefully placing them under the corpses so that the arming lever remained in place. Then, they climbed back into the truck and drove on into the town.

From the neighboring outposts, a dozen militiamen came running to their comrades' aid. They missed the truck, instead finding the corpses. Without thinking, they rushed to the bodies and began to move them, trying to drag them into the open so they could assess their wounds. The movement allowed the levers on the grenades to flip. Seconds later, a dozen explosions shattered the silence, destroying what remained of the hut and killing eight more militiamen, leaving the other four wounded.

Within the town, people had stopped their activity when they heard the gunfire. Many had heard before in their lives, but not so often as to be exceptionally familiar with it. Certainly not the clattering reports of a dozen submachine guns. They stared, confused and worried, in the direction of the gunfire, ignoring the truck as it drove by. When the explosions came, people screamed and ran for the safety of their homes. The police station, which also served as the militia headquarters, had people pouring out of it, carrying rifles, pistols, and shotguns. The Communist truck halted in front of them and one of the policemen, a sergeant, ran up to the driver, waving for him to drive on. He didn’t have time to notice the pistol before the driver’s second bullet of the day punched into his throat. The sergeant collapsed, his hands dropping his own pistol to clasp his throat as blood frothed from his lips. With every breath he took, blood flooded into his lungs, forcing him to cough and spit up blood just to swallow even more in the process. He was drowning, drowning in his own blood. His body began to go cold as the blood loss became more severe. He didn’t even notice the gun battle going on around him. The driver stepped out of his cab and strode past him without even a glance. It was the last thing the sergeant saw before the darkness took him.

Around the dying sergeant, the other police and militiamen were in a battle of their own. There were many more of them than there were communists, but the communists had the element of surprise and were armed with machine pistols and grenades. A dozen men were dead or wounded in the first moments of the fight, the others dragged their wounded comrades back inside the building, firing as they went. A rifle round from one of the militiamen struck one of the Communists in the head, blowing off the top of his skull and causing his trigger finger to tense, resulting in a quick burst of fire from his machine gun that hit one of his own comrades in the leg. Both men dropped. One didn’t move, the other writhed and screamed with agony. The driver ordered one of the other communist’s to treat the wounded man while directing the remaining guerillas to throw grenades into the station’s windows. Two men walked towards the building, only to be met by the chatter of a machine gun from an upper floor window. One of the men fell, the bullets having stitched a line of red circles across his torso from pelvis to shoulder. The driver ignored him, ordering his men to return fire. Rifles and pistols joined the machine gun from other windows, killing another guerilla and wounding two others. The survivors dragged their wounded comrades behind the truck, using it for cover against the rifles and the machine gun.

Outside the town, the other militiamen heard the gunfire and raced back to the station. In groups of half a dozen, they approached with their rifles at the ready. They were joined by other men and women of the town, members of the unpaid anti-communist watch patrol carrying shotguns. Their town was under attack and they were going to protect it.

Inside the police station, the Chief was on the phone, calling Yanjing. An Army battalion was present on maneuvers and he was requesting their support. Unfortunately, he was informed it would take the better part of a day for them to get there. There were not enough trucks or cars to move them faster. He asked for whatever could be sent the fastest, which would be a single company of riflemen loaded onto buses. They would be there in an hour.

Unbeknownst to the Chief or to the other townsfolk, the Communists in front of the police station were alone. Other members of their brigade, barely three hundred strong, were launching attacks in other parts of the province. This attack wasn’t going according to plan. The driver swore to himself. They were supposed to be fat, lazy, arrogant pricks who would be too slow to react. They weren’t supposed to have been clambering out of the station, armed to the teeth and ready for a fight. They were supposed to be confused, panicked, wondering what to do next. It was all going wrong.

The machine gun rattled again, bullets ripping through the cargo bed. A scream of anguish told him another of his men had fallen. The bellow of a shotgun came from his right and he looked as buckshot shattered the windshield of his truck. A crowd of people were approaching, armed with shotguns, pistols, and rifles. Leading them were other militiamen. He turned his pistol in their direction and fired. One of his bullets struck a young woman, knocking her off her feet. The crowd roared with rage and began firing more rapidly. The bellows of shotguns became an almost constant shout. Shot hissed passed, joined by the snapping of nearby rifle and machine gun rounds. More of his men screamed or simply dropped to the ground in silent, untidy heaps. The driver pulled a grenade from the pouch of one of his fallen soldiers and pulled the pin. He stood to throw it at the crowd closing in on him and was jerked around by the impact of a rifle bullet as it smashed his shoulder. The grenade fell from his hand, rolling to a halt next to a pouch of grenades. Another bullet ripped through his back, shattering two of his ribs and puncturing his lung. A pistol bullet tore into his abdomen, ripping through his intestines. A pair of shots from the machine gun tore into his side, piercing his liver, one of his kidneys, and shattering his pelvis. As he collapsed to the ground, the grenade exploded, setting off the other grenades in a tremendous explosion that tore the driver, his comrades, and their truck into tiny pieces.

The China Times

28.01

Domestic News

Government presents new budget to Legislative Yuan

3 January
Nanjing--The Executive Yuan has today presented to a joint session of the Legislative Yuan its proposed budget for the year 1939. The proposed budget has now been passed on to the Senate and Assembly Committees to draft the final form, at which point it will be returned to the joint session for debate and voting.

A copy of the proposal was provided to the media, showing what the Government views as its priorities this year. Like many budgets since the establishment of the Republic, many of the proposals are multi-year programs, which if passed by the Legislative Yuan will become law in full, with later appropriations made as a formality rather than requiring vigorous debate. Among these multi-year programs is an infrastructure program to build a Chinese equivalent of the German Autobahn, with the stated goals of facilitating interprovince commerce and the mobilization and deployment of the Armed Forces to meet foreign aggression. It joins a previous program, begun in 1925 and expanded in 1935, to expand and modernize the rail network.

Perhaps the most eye catching proposal, however, is the proposed budget for the Ministry of War. More than 44% of the Federal budget was allocated to the War Ministry in the 1939 budget, approximately CN¥3.5 billion in total. Of this, half is to be devoted to the Army, with the money to fund the restructuring of the field forces and the establishment of new armored and motorized divisions, taking direct inspiration from German and British efforts to do the same. A further 20% is to be spent on the Air Force, with the stated goal of procuring production licenses for American or British fighters to modernize the Air Force and expand their training capability.

Finally, the Navy is allocated 30% of the War Ministry’s budget, with much of it to go to funding a massive building program. The Navy desires to build 15 battleships, 5 aircraft carriers, 18 heavy cruisers, 32 light cruisers, 81 destroyers, and 75 submarines before the year 1956, a truly ambitious proposal that is estimated to cost CN¥4.9 billion over the next 15 years.

A Government spokesperson has said they are confident the budget will pass. “The Legislative Yuan was receptive to the proposal,” he said, “They had questions, of course, and those questions were answered to their full and complete satisfaction.” The Kuomintang, with their Allies in the Unity and Republican Parties, are expected to vote in favor of the budget. The Democrats and Progressives may be split on the issue, while the Socialists are expected to vote against it or abstain.

Guerilla forces strike Sichuan Province, hundreds killed, injured

7 January
Xichang--A group purporting to be the Sichuan Brigade of the Chinese Bolshevik Red Army has launched an offensive in Sichuan Province, officials in Sichuan have confirmed. The brigade launched attacks across the province, targeting police stations, militia outposts, and army barracks.

Sichuan has been quiet for many years, since the successful 1928 Campaign led by General Chiang Kai-shek, which saw the Communists insurgents in the South driven west into the more sparsely populated Tibet Area and Xinjiang Province. Since then, there has been little sign of activity from Communist forces in the province. The quiet nature of the province has seen the Government shift forces and equipment out of Sichuan to other provinces, most notably Mongolia and Heilongjiang Provinces, where Mao Zedong’s Workers and Peasants Red Army continues to attack Army barracks and depots.

The attacks in Sichuan were largely beaten back by the combined efforts of the Sichuan Militia, local police, and the assistance of the local citizenry, though at great cost in lives. At least 1,500 people have been killed or wounded in the fighting, including at least two-hundred and fifty insurgents. The Sichuan Executive Yuan has declared that they have arrested thirty-five of the insurgents alive, while an unknown number have escaped into the countryside. Elements of the Army’s 39th Division are currently being deployed to hunt them down.

The attacks mark a brazen escalation of violence by the Chinese Bolshevik Red Army, once believed to have been largely destroyed. The ZBH, led by former Mao ally Zang Wetian, had once maintained a base in Fujian and launched attacks across southern China. Now, they are believed to largely reside in the Tibet Area and Qinghai Province. These attacks could signal an effort to return to prominence.

Jia Xuefeng, a former member of the Army’s Intelligence Service and now a political and military analyst for the Nationalist Party, spoke about the likely causes for the new attacks. “For these insurgents, it is about convincing people they are powerful,” he said. “Mao, in the North, has been moderately successful at this. If he blows up a train, or machine guns a convoy of military trucks, then it looks to people like he is capable, like he has power. For Wang and the ZBH, their lack of activity for the last decade has resulted in people believing they no longer matter, that they are no threat to China or to the Government. And that deprives them of power, while giving that power over to Mao. So, to retain his credibility in the eyes of the global Communist movement led by France, Wang must be seen to have power. He must be active. So it is almost guaranteed that this is only the beginning. There will be more attacks, and those will prompt more attacks from Mao and from Zhou Enlai. But those attacks will also allow the Army to begin hunting them anew, with a better idea of where to find them.”

Police raid Communist hideout in Shanghai

8 January
Shanghai--Federal Police, with members of the Shanghai Militia and officers of the Shanghai Police, have raided a warehouse in the harbor district owned by Zhou Enlai’s May Fourth Movement insurgent group.

The raid, launched early yesterday morning, saw the Federal Police capture fifteen communists, including two men suspected to be members of the French CIA. In addition, they captured 5,800 rifles, 1,500 submachine guns, 37,000 grenades, 120 machine guns, 1 million rounds of ammunition, and a dozen mortars with approximately 1,000 shells. Much of the munitions were labeled as having been shipped from France via Ireland, marked as containing farm equipment or carpenters tools.

Deng Louyang, Chief of the Shanghai Police Department, said in a statement to the press that, “Our raid, carried out with the valiant support of the Federal Police and the Shanghai Militia, has succeeded in taking several thousand dangerous weapons out of the hands of the Communists, as well as depriving them of foreign supporters and fighters.”

Tao Jin, Chief Prosecutor for Shanghai, also made a brief statement. “The men arrested yesterday believed themselves to be fighting for the People. In truth, they were thugs and criminals, seeking to destroy the stability and prosperity we have built together as a nation. We are bringing charges against them, including smuggling, conspiracy to commit treason, treason, murder, and conspiracy to incite rebellion.”

The proposed charges carry sentences ranging from 10 years in prison for smuggling to the death penalty for treason and murder.

Foreign News

Earthquake rocks Chile, thousands missing or dead

26 January
Chillan--Late on the night of the 24th, a savage earthquake rocked the Chilean town of Chillan, leaving thousands homeless and approximately half the town in ruins. Tens of thousands of people are missing and more have already been found dead.

The earthquake happened at around 11:30 the night of the 24th and destroyed half of Chillan and almost the entirety of Concepcion. People within the towns are currently struggling to rescue those still trapped and find those missing.

American Aviation Pioneer Amelia Earhart officially dead

5 January
San Francisco--Eighteen months after her disappearance, aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart has been officially declared dead by the United States Government.

Earhart made history first by being the first woman to fly across the Atlantic in 1928. She followed this feat up with another transatlantic flight, this time being the first woman to fly the Atlantic solo in 1932.

In 1935, she became the first aviator to fly from Hawaii to California, a feat that had claimed the lives of many pilots before her attempt. She made a record non-stop flight from Mexico City to New York later that same year.

In 1937, Earhart took off on her last flight, an attempt to become the first woman to circumnavigate the globe in an airplane. Her first attempt had to be abandoned after a crash but her second attempt began well, making it to Papua New Guinea without incident. However, after taking off from Lae Airfield in New Guinea en route to Howland Island, her aircraft disappeared. No sign of the aircraft or the crew has been found.

by **Remnants of Exilvania** » Tue Jan 21, 2025 4:52 pm

Innsbruck
Tirol
January 3rd 1939

Innsbruck was a beautiful town. Covered by snow, surrounded by the majestic mountains of the alps and its streets still hung with various christmas decorations that were only being removed this week. Yet little of that was happening at this moment as night had fallen over the town, lights shining from many of the windows. Swastika flags, hung across streets and from administrative buildings swayed lightly in a nightly breeze as members of the SchuPo patrolled the streets. Yet what was truly interesting was Innsbruck's main station, which stood as a true spectacle of light and and activity as men moved about on the platforms.

Railway workers and soldiers of the Wehrmacht in their heavy wintercoats and even a few members of the SS milling about. Walking briskly, standing around in circles and stomping on the ground, rubbing their hands to keep themselves warm. One of said small groups consisted of a Wehrmacht Major, a railway official and an SS Captain, huddled around a transport manifest which the Wehrmacht Major held out, explaining to the others:

"...and we'll be taking the full route down to Palerma before embarking for Africa. It's all been cleared from up top, the highest possible authorities."

The railway official looked at the manifest critically, then back towards the train cars. They were open cars, used for transporting large, singular goods usually and filled to the brim, though the goods they were transporting were fully covered up by heavy tarpaulins which had been secured to the cars through a variety of hooks and straps.

"Yes, well, that may all be well and good but your manifest does not specify the cargo you are transporting, nor have you provided the appropriate documents for passing the border with-"

, the railway official sheepishly declared, pushing his glasses up a little higher before glancing at the train cars again, then heading over. The SS Captain then took the manifest from his hands and glanced at it, then at the Wehrmacht Major. Little love was lost in the short look but the tall, blonde man eventually said:

"Much as agree that this is a breach of the usual protocol, we live in unusual times. And I am afraid that as far as my organisation is concerned, the Major is fully within his rights to continue his journey. As a matter of fact, I am quite certain that we will be seeing more transports like these sooner rather than later."

Yet the railway official seemed unimpressed, stepping over to the train cars and unhooking some of the tarpaulins, trying to reveal the precious cargo they ferried beneath as he declared:

"Yes, well, I cannot simply let this pass without at least an inspection. Who knows what sort of cargo is being transported here, entirely without any oversight? Perhaps this is illegal business even? Treason?"

The Major was about to step in but the SS Captain was faster, putting his hand on the tarpaulin and preventing the railway man from continuing to pull it up. His voice was low and dangerous as he stared down at the railway official, who all of a sudden felt rather small compared to him, as he said:

"I think you are not quite recognising the situation you are in. As far as I can recall, the Major's papers are perfectly in order and if you continue to obstruct, I may have to arrest you for treason yourself. Perhaps a trip to Dachau will do wonders to your priorities when it comes to following commands from the party?"

The railway official's face grew pale. Even his nose, reddened from the cold seemed to turn white at the mere mention of Dachau. The camps were known among the people, though rarely talked about. Yet even despite this, they had garnered a fearsome reputation. Without another word, the official took the manifesto again, signed it and handed it back to the Wehrmacht Major, stuttering:

"All is in order. Have a safe trip to Italy."

Auswärtiges Amt

To: The Governments of Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, Poland, Lithuania & the United Kingdom

For nearly two decades the red spectre of socialism has haunted Europe and the wider world. Like a bloodstained wall it has its iron grip on Europe, from the frozen ports of Narvik to the sun scorched beaches of Cadiz. Red saboteurs and instigators have traveled across the entire world and inspired unrest and terror in the vast steppes of Russia and the industrial cities of the Ruhr. And they will continue to do so, armed, trained and funded by their brethren in Paris, Stockholm and Madrid, working to eventually realise their world revolution, the abolishment of every value our nations hold dear.

It is with this knowledge in mind that the Fuhrer has decided to attempt to consolidate the powers of Europe in their shared emnity towards the red menace. Germany would desire to officially propose a pact, the Anti-Communist Pact, to combat the spread of socialism by exchanging information among its signatory states as well as not to enter any agreements with socialist powers that would be contrary to the spirit of this agreement.

Signed, Reichsminister des Äußeren Ullrich Friedrich Willy Joachim von Ribbentrop

Signed, Führer and Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler

by **Khasinkonia** » Thu Jan 23, 2025 2:35 pm

Mahājambudvīpa

The British were never the only ones delivering radio broadcasts to the people in Myanmar. Across the Mahājambudvīpi border, in the Manipuri hills, sat infrastructure for radio broadcasting primed towards the south. Every day, without fail, three times each day, a sequence of paired radio broadcasts played across two channels. First in Burmese, then Shan and English, and last in Kachin and Tamil. Though the content varied based on current events and bits of news stolen from British broadcasting, the overall messaging remained the same. In Burmese, Shan, Kachin, and Tamil, the good people of Burma were beseeched to consider their status and look at their oppressors for who they were. In English, every Englishman was asked if the Raj was still worth it. The two voices that made these broadcasts styled themselves as Satya, but the British called them the Shillong Shirleys.

Today was no different. Piercing the quiet morning air from their broadcast station, the two women began in separate rooms.

“Aren’t you more than jewels, dear brothers and sisters? Don’t you want to be who you are? We want to help you, dear sisters and brothers. We see your plight. We remember your struggles. We are sorry that we failed to reach you when we first threw off the shackles. You are never alone. You will never be alone. The time for self-rule approaches. The time for you to hold your fate in your own hands will come. Do not despair! We have not forgotten our shared struggles! So many of your brothers and sisters are here with us, waiting to reunite with you when the time is right! The liberation is not over; it cannot be over until you are no longer forced to kneel before the so-called king of your country!

One day, the Colony of Burma will die, just like the Raj. We will be there, with open arms, to help you stand up as whatever you will become in the New Age! Do not despair! Kali Yuga will come for all of the darkness in the war, including and most of all for the shadow that looms over you, beloved sisters and brothers! Do not despair! Be prepared to stand tall! Do not despair! Be prepared to feel arms light and unshackled!”

In Burmese, Shan, Kachin, and Tamil, this message would play several times more that day, accompanied by news, retellings of old stories, and even occasionally music. The English-language messages, however, bore little in common with the others.

“Your King lies to you, Tommy! While he grows fat in his palace, he sends you into gunfire and smoke! Do you remember the Great War, Tommy? We died in your trenches by your side. But we had enough of this senseless fighting between demon-kings! Aren’t you tired, Tommy? Don’t you miss your wife, Tommy? Do you remember when your father was away, Tommy? Now your son is also without his father!

Don’t you think your family will mourn you, Tommy? Your government lies to you! Your King lies to you! He sends you to your death, while his government creates the monsters which will eat your corpse. And will he mourn you? Certainly not! He will sign another order, another draft, and bring your son to die to his monsters next! The enemy you should fear is not here, Tommy; he is at home!

Your father misses his arm more than he misses his indigo, Tommy. Your father knows he does not want to fight any longer. Do you know how tired and broken you will become? Your King is draining you, Tommy! He is taking your blood and your sweat to fill his pockets with your gold! He sent your father to his death, and he will next send your son, unless you stop him! Put down your arms, Tommy, or turn them towards your true enemy—towards the one who sends you here to bleed for him!”

Retreating further into the depths of the Regime of Violence, the messages change. In Mumbai, the pulsing heart of Mahājambudvīpa is choked by the smog of the great Tata factories. Many things in the subcontinent are pushed by gods and holy men and women, but the fires of industry, as they always have, are stoked by humans and humans alone. Like so much of Mahājambudvīpa, it has been cleaved in two and has bled until a blackened crust could form around it. There are Tatas in Britain, Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata, who have refused to have a hand in the horrors. And there are Tatas who have stayed. Navajbai Tata raised Naval Tata, and it is Naval Tata now heads the fires of industry, clawing his motherland from the wastes of poverty as he was clawed himself.

As the leaders of the land wave around their weapons and continue to seek their revenge, the Tata factories produce the cloth that sits on Dvīpi backs, the steel that goes into Dvīpi tools, and employs the stunning majority of the Dvīpi industrial workers across the entire country. With the loss of British government and British laws, there is no longer a Tata Sons Private Holding Corporation, but a Tata network, a Tata system—the Tata Mandala. As the Regime of Violence destroys, it has become the Tata Mandala that follows to rebuild, creating as Ahura Mazda does, bringing order back after the evil has been destroyed. This is the solemn duty of the fixers of the Tatas who are left. And it is one that has been wholeheartedly embraced by the Regime. For Punaryuddha herself has said many times that it is the Dark Mother’s work to protect and to defeat, not to rebuild. This cannot be her work, but it is work that must be done. So the Regime of Violence and the Smoke of Rebirth work together. The scavengers of the regime scrounge, and the Tata builders expand. There can be no room for considerations except for the transformation that is yet to come.

Smog chokes the skies as coal-power predominates. In the service of eradicating his hated enemy of poverty, Naval bargains with poison. Mumbai is dark with soot. The people who worked in the city once used to choke on this smoke, but the Regime offers its own solutions. One need not become a soldier in order to change and transform. Perhaps the most popular tincture across all of Mahājambudvīpa was the one which enabled the adaptation to the most noxious of air qualities. Across Mahājambudvīpa, the lungs of mortals clean themselves viciously, and the city-dwellers of great and terrible settlements such as Mumbai cough up black globs of mucus to purify their lungs of soot and toxins. Sheep, goats, and chickens in the countryside hack up blackness as their coats become polluted as well. There is no clean air, just as there are no clean hands. Not until the Age of Strife has ended can a permanent cleanliness return.

And as the Age of Strife marches on, so too do the armies and people that direct it. There were old acquaintances, bonded in agreement over the necessity of the old world’s fall. There were so-called enemies who feared more than they understood. And there were those brought into the claws of the colonizer, understanding not what they did. All of these men, even so, could not be ignored if the Age of Strife was to be ended. All would need to hear from the hostess of the Regime, the offerer of warm receptions, Satk’rtyata, at the behest of the Dark Mother.

by **Northern Socialist Council Republics** » Fri Jan 24, 2025 2:17 am

Christiansborg Slot, København, SR Danmark, NSRS
13:30 ST, 13th January 1939

"The first option," Secretary Rasmus, of Foreign Affairs, introduced, "let's call it Option A, is surrender. We accept the demands as presented in the Russian ultimatum. That then leads to a second choice about whether we are committing ourselves to accede to any future Russian claims on our territory, or whether we will instead use the time between this demand and the next set of territorial demands to accelerate our military preparations so that we can resist the next set of demands from a greater military advantage."

"You believe that the Russians will respond to concessions with further demands?"

"The Foreign Service considers that a near-certainty," Rasmus responded. "It is plainly obvious that the Russian demands as stated do little if anything to advance their stated objective of protecting Russia in general and Petrograd in particular from German aggression. Asking us to adopt a firm stance of neutrality is a farce when the main thing disrupting the stance of neutrality that we currently have is their own territorial revanchism. Actively antagonising us is certainly an interesting way of resolving the military threat that they feel from our territory. Russian concerns over the potential deployment of foreign troops through Commonwealth territory are probably real, but as a rationale behind these demands, they are merely smokescreens. It is the assessment of the Foreign Service that these demands are primarily motivated by Russian territorial revanchism, so there is no reason to believe that Russia will acknowledge the loss of any of its pre-1914 territory if only we give these particular bits back."

"We could, perhaps, request some kind of security guarantee for the rest of Finland, in exchange for giving up Karelia and the Baltics."

"How did that go for the Czechs?"

"Let's shelve that thought for now," the Secretary-General pressed. "Next option?"

"Option B," Rasmus stated, "we secure a foreign guarantor. We would want a European great power both capable of and interested in military action in Northeastern Europe, which has some meaningful reason to want to be on good terms with us. The assessment of the Foreign Service is that, in practice, that's going to be the British, the French, or the Germans. Because tension between the European great powers is fairly high after the German adventures through Czechoslovakia, there are notable favours that we can offer any of these powers in exchange for their support. Scandinavia is a major producer of iron ore and steel and has significant synthetic refining capabilities, which the Germans or the French may want in their orbit to counter the potential of a British blockade. We are also a major producer of pharmaceuticals and medical equipment, which our neighbouring powers may want access to if the prospect of a military conflict looms. If we are willing to set aside our military neutrality, we can also consider offering basing rights to key locations that will command important areas of the North, Baltic, and Norwegian Seas. The downside is that precisely because tensions between the great powers are so high, aligning ourselves with one will inevitably complicate our relationship with the other two."

The squabbles started immediately.

"That just puts us into a different war," argued Secretary Frederik, of Seafaring and Fisheries. "We can all see the writing on the wall; the peace between Germany and France won't last much longer, and siding with one side over the other commits us to that war. Such a partnership won't actually secure peace for us."

"It would be a betrayal of our principles," added Secretary Carl, of Justice, "to align ourselves with the brutality of the Nazi regime or the inhumane exploitation of the British colonial empire. If we are to seek foreign partners, we should instead look towards the other secondary powers desperate to protect their independence."

"German forces, especially, being based in our territory would simply reaffirm Russian paranoia--"

"We can argue over the options after they have all been presented on the table," the Secretary-General asserted. "To the diplomatic problem of Russian aggression, Rasmus has offered us a diplomatic solution of realignment. Good. What else, Secretary?"

The Secretary of Foreign Affairs cleared his throat.

"Option C," he continued, "we perform demonstrative maneuvres reminding the Russians that a war against us is likely to be costly for them. Early mobilisation should give Juho something like a hundred thousand men" - "120,000, actually" - "which we can pre-position for flexible defence along the Isthmus or offensive operations into Aunus or Vienan Karelia. This will also let us transition into Option D more comfortably if deterrence fails. We could prohibit the passage of Russian military ships or vessels carrying military supplies through the Danish Belts, interfere with Russian civilian shipping in the Southern Baltic under the excuse of searching for military supplies, and pre-position several submarines at Narvik for commerce raiding in the Arctic. Bluffing is also an option; even if we do not intend to commit ourselves diplomatically, even the prospect of German military bases around the North Cape or on our islands in the Baltic should be of some concern to Russia. The objective of these moves would be to convince the Russians of our resolve and our full willingness to escalate any militarised border dispute or limited incursion into a general war between our two countries, one in which no diplomatic obligation will bind us from seizing whatever potential advantages are availed to us."

"And the last option?"

"Naturally," Rasmus answered, "if we will not subordinate our independence to Russian will, we cannot recruit a foreign power to deter the Russians for us, and we cannot deter the Russians ourselves, that leaves Option D: war against the Russian Republic. We call partial mobilisation immediately and start preparing some trenches. I imagine Juho can tell us more about that than I can."

The room sobered up at that declaration.

"I understand your reluctance to break our position of neutrality, and I also understand your reluctance to antagonise the Russians even further. But that is the alternative under consideration; if we don't accept the terms of their ultimatum, we don't align ourselves with a foreign power that can defend us, and we don't deter the Russians with a show of our military strength, the alternative that leaves on the table is a lonely war against the Russian Republic. That is reality; let us not indulge ourselves in idealistic fantasies."

Silence reigned, until eventually the Secretary-General pushed the discussion along.

"Right, gentlemen," Rickard announced, "those are our options, as presented to us by the Foreign Service. Your opinions?"

To His Excellency
Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak,
President of the All-Russian Democratic Federative Republic

SECRETARIAT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
COPENHAGEN
19-01-1939

Excellency:

I have the honour to acknowledge receipt of your diplomatic note, dated 12th January 1939, advising the General Secretariat of the Commonwealth of the desire of your government to revisit the matter of territorial delineations agreed upon in 1919 between the then-Governments of our two respective States and the matter of the independence of our allies in the Copenhagen Internationale from Russian Imperial rule.

The position of my Government, which the Secretariat of Foreign Affairs and the General Secretariat seek to reaffirm, remains that all matters regarding the territorial delineations between the Commonwealth of Nordic Socialist Council Republics or her allies in the Copenhagen Internationale and the All-Russian Democratic Federative Republic have been settled in perpetuity by the terms agreed upon in the 1919 Treaty of Dorpat. I remain confident in the validity of that document as the basis for an amicable and eternal peace between our two States, as stated in its first article. The Government of the Commonwealth of Nordic Socialist Council Republics absolutely does not agree with the interpretation advanced by your note dated 12th January that Russia maintains any special legal interest in Western Karelia, Estonia, Livonia, or Riga nor, under the principles of national self-determination agreed-upon by all belligerent powers at the end of the Great War of 1914-1918, can in agree with the notion that the frontiers established by the aforementioned Treaty of Dorpat are in any way unjust. I must personally protest the implicit terminology used in your note describing the aforementioned regions as Russian.

I acknowledge the salience of the points of national security expressed in your note dated 12th January regarding the desire of the Government of the All-Russian DFR to avoid the stationing of German military units, or the military units of other foreign powers which may be hostile to Russia, in those parts of the sovereign territory of my State that is proximate to Petrograd, the seat of the Government which you represent. Nonetheless, with regard to the fears that no assurance against such deployment short of Russian annexations of such territory will be secure, I would like to assure you and your Government that it is the full intention of the State which I represent to oppose all foreign deployments in the Region of Karelia or the Åland Islands unless your continued denunciations of the Treaty of Dorpat makes such deployment necessary to protect the territorial integrity and sovereign independence of our State from breaches to the peace initiated by your Government. I cannot, however, make similar guarantees for the island of Gotland due to the increasingly uncertain diplomatic situation in the southeastern Baltic created by German expansionism.

Should the Government which you represent believe that the security of the All-Russian DFR will be enhanced by a significant expansion to the demilitarised zone in those areas of the Region of Karelia most proximate to Petrograd and the islands of the eastern Gulf of Finland defined in the 1919 Treaty of Dorpat, the Secretariat of Foreign Affairs and the General Secretariat remain open to bilateral discussions on such matters, but the precondition to any such discussions must be the reaffirmation by your Government of the aforementioned treaty and, by natural extension, the amicable and peaceful relations between our two States established and secured by that treaty.

You spoke of the injustice of 1917 and 1919. I can likewise speak of the injustice of 1721, to which you can no doubt respond with the injustice of 1583. There is no bottom to the pit that is historical revanchism. The fragile yet precious peace that has prevailed in the western half of our continent, with the acknowledgement of all States of the territorial delineations as they currently stand no matter how violent the process of their establishment may have been, offers a dramatic contrast to the chaos which have reigned in Eastern Europe during the previous two decades, where the new States established from the territories of the former German and Russian Empires disputed each other's territorial sovereignty over all sorts of ethnographic or historical causes. If you are truly committed to the causes of security for Russia and peace in Europe, I trust that the danger posed by the line of rhetoric which you have advanced in your note dated 12th January to those things is so self-evident as to not need explanation.

Accept, Excellency, the renewed assurance of my highest consideration.

Rasmus Nielsen,
Secretary of Foreign Affairs,

For the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth.

Enclosure:
None.

To: all foreign diplomatic missions in Copenhagen

by **Empire of Techkotal** » Sat Jan 25, 2025 4:48 am

January 5th 1939
Italy, San Pelaio

The morning sun greeted Bruno and his brother Elmo at this fine Monday morning. As they opened the door of their families home and made for the nearby city of Treviso in search of work again. They were both young and inexperienced and there was little work beside agriculture here in Veneto. The remaining jobs decreased every year, as more and more farmers employed large tractors, combine harvesters and trucks. The industrialization of the countryside had left them jobless and their parents were struggling to feed their seven children, as the oldest two it was their responsibility to look for any work opportunities in the city.

They strode alongside the road and chatted, as they approached the city. A group of young women from Paderno overtakes them to their left on bicycles and crack jokes with them, while the boys whistle. It was simple routine and a day, just like any other until they entered the city. The streets were still quiet. The milk man was bringing fresh bottles of milk to the houses and the mail man delivered the post at this early hour. Most families still sat in their home enjoying breakfast and a cup of coffee. Once they entered the town square however an unusual sight caught their attention. A long line of young and able men from the city and the surrounding villages had formed. Seeing a mutual friend at the end of the line they approach the line.

"Hey Carlo, where have you been? Has your girlfriend been plaguing you?"

Upon hearing their voices Carlo, a small man with an athletic body, black hair and glasses turned to them. Upon identifying his two friends he waves to them.

"Bruno, Elmo good morning. I see you have managed to come here today and no everything is alright with my beloved. Come here quick there are jobs."

As the magic word "job" passed his lips, the two young men sprinted towards him at the back of the line.

"Jobs! What kind of jobs and who is offering them, please tell us Carlo. Do you think we have a chance? The line seems quite long."

"Rest assured everyone can get a job today. Several officers from the esertico have come here and they seem to be recruiting again. Apparently the government sees a need for a standing army again. Considering the amount of vacant positions in the esertico, I bet they could employ the entire youth of Veneto."

"The esertico is recruiting again? How they haven't been recruiting in years, what happened?"

"I don't know exactly, but apparently tensions are high with France and our current President Mussolini and his government have told the esertico to fill its ranks and prepare again. There was a radio broadcast yesterday, on the nation and the sorry state of the army and how it is currently unable to defend itself, due to a lack of young men."

"I bet there is lack, if you don't hire for years and discharge the older soldiers, you are eventually left without soldiers. Especially considering the poor pay."

"Ah but that has been addressed, apparently the pay of soldiers was double through the initiative of the black shirts. They seem to really mean it, that the esertico is important again."

"Hm so your going to enlist with the esercito?"

"You bet! Its the only employment option I have and if I want to marry my Angelia at in two years, I need a job and a bit of money."

"And Everyone can enlist?"

"For sure, as long as the doctor there behind the desk sees you as healthy, you can enlist yourself at that officers desk. You will receive your first pay today and tomorrow you will board the first train. The instructing officer has been very clear about that. You guys have just come a bit late."

During their chat the line had moved quite considerably and they now stood in front of the doctor. He checked Carlo and made a few notes before sending him to the officer, who took his name and address, before handing a few banknotes.

As soon as they were checked and had registered the reveled in Euphoria. A nearby stand provided them with uniforms, making them look much more dignified and in their new dress they walked home, to spend the remaining day with their family, before their great adventure with the army should start.

by **The Manticoran Empire** » Sat Jan 25, 2025 1:14 pm

Ministry of State for War,
Department of the National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China
Official Technical Documentation
Specifications for Experimental Medium Battle Tank of the Year 28 Type
TOP SECRET

For the last several years, the National Revolutionary Army has been manufacturing and testing tanks developed by the Czechoslovak nation and army, most notably the Model 1935 Light Tank and the Model 1938 Medium Tank. In addition, the Army has possession of several French light tanks of the Renault FT-17 model as well as US and British built examples of the Mark series of heavy tanks.

In testing the vehicles, the Army has determined that the greater speed and range of the modern Czech tanks and the French FT are highly desirable but that the trench crossing capability and greater firepower of the Mark series tanks are more desirable. To this end, the Tank Development Council of the National Revolutionary Army Ordnance Department has prepared the following specification, to be immediately built by the Arsenals and delivered for testing.

The purpose of the Medium Battle Tank is provide general purpose support to the Infantry during the assault and protected and manevuerable firepower to the Cavalry while exploiting breakthroughs. The basis of issue is intended to be one battalion of 73 vehicles per division.

Weight: 40 tons
Length: 10.41 meters
Height: 3.62 meters
Width: 3.56 meters
Crew: Commander, Loader, Gunner in three man turret; Driver, Machine Gunner/Radioman in front hull; Gunner, Loader/Machine Gunner in each Sponson, total crew of 9
Armor: 40mm at front, 20mm sides and rear
Armament: 1x 6pdr 58-caliber gun in three man turret with coaxial 7.92mm Type 24 machine gun, Infantry Support variants swap the 6pdr for a short barrel 7.5cm or 8cm howitzer, Tank Hunter variants mount a high velocity 6pdr.
2x 6pdr 23-caliber guns in side sponsons with rear facing 7.92mm Type 24 machine guns; forward 15mm 7.92mm machine gun
Engine: 800hp V-12 diesel engine
Top Speed: 35 km/h on road, 21 km/h cross country

Ministry of State for War
Department of the National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China
Official Technical Documentation
Specifications for Experimental Heavy Battle Tank of the Year 28 Type
TOP SECRET

For the last several years, the National Revolutionary Army has been manufacturing and testing tanks developed by the Czechoslovak nation and army, most notably the Model 1935 Light Tank and the Model 1938 Medium Tank. In addition, the Army has possession of several French light tanks of the Renault FT-17 model as well as US and British built examples of the Mark series of heavy tanks.

In testing the vehicles, the Army has determined that the greater speed and range of the modern Czech tanks and the French FT are highly desirable but that the trench crossing capability and greater firepower of the Mark series tanks are more desirable. To this end, the Tank Development Council of the National Revolutionary Army Ordnance Department has prepared the following specification, to be immediately built by the Arsenals and delivered for testing.

The purpose of the Heavy Battle Tank is to provide the critical superiority in firepower necessary to achieve a breakthrough against a defended position. The basis of issue is to be one company of 23 vehicles per division.

Weight: 70 tons
Length: 14.12 meters
Height: 4.4 meters
Width: 3.9 meters
Crew: Commander, Gunner, Loader in three-man turret; Driver, Gunner/Radioman in front hull; Gunner, Loader in each sponson; Engineer, total crew of 10
Armor: 76mm at front, 50mm sides and rear
Armament: 1x 3.7 inch anti-aircraft gun on Tank Hunter Variants; 1x 8cm field gun on standard models; 1x 10.5cm howitzer on Infantry Support Variants
2x 6pdr 23-caliber guns in side sponsons with rear facing 7.92mm Type 24 machine guns; forward 15mm machine gun
Engine: 1500hp V-12 diesel engine
Top Speed: 25 km/h on road, 18 km/h cross country

Fallen Nations: A Shadow of a New War [Dieselpunk|IC|Open]

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