A Shift in Priorities

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Transylvanian Showdown

When Hungary had split from Austria in August of 1918, the Hungarian army had received a new structure. There now were seven Hungarian corps districts, which each raised one active and one reserve corps of two infantry divisions plus one cavalry brigade and one Honvéd (territorial) division. The Croat corps districts numbered five and had the same tasks.
When on February 18th, 1920, Hungary and Croatia went to full mobilisation, not all corps districts were still completely under Hungarian/Croatian control. While mobilisation in the Budapest, Mohacs and Agram districts went as planned, in the Bratislava and Kaschau districts the Slovak reservists and territorials failed to show up, while in Temesvár and Grosswardein districts the Romanian reservists and territorials were missing, and the Hermannstadt district was a complete loss. In the Zadar, Mostar and Sarajevo districts, the Serbian reservists and territorials did not follow the call. In Belgrade district the Serbs did follow a call – the one to join the Serbian Liberation Army…
Hungarian and Croat forces thus were not at full strength when mobilisation ended on February 25th. For the deployment the idea was that the Hungarian units would make front against the Romanian Insurgency while the Croats would engage the Serbian Rebellion. Nobody ever considered leading the united force against one foe, beating him and then concentrating on the second.
General of Infantry Max Csicserics von Bacsásny would lead the Croatian force, while Field Marshal Svetozar Boroëvić was to command the Hungarian contingent. This arrangement had been made in order to avoid that the Serb Boroëvić had to fight his Serbian compatriots.

The Romanian insurgents had installed a provisory government at Karlsburg and appointed former Colonel Ciprian Barbesti as commander of the Romanian Army of Freedom. Barbesti had fought on the Italian Front during the war and after commanding a regiment and a brigade had served as chief of military intelligence in Conrad von Hötzendorf’s staff in 1918.
Barbesti had 40 rifle battalions, but was desperately short of artillery. The guns of the Hermannstadt district artillery regiments and those from the Romanian army that somehow had “migrated” over the border were not enough to even ponder the question of strong defence.
The logistics of the RAF were so weak that Barbesti could not concentrate his force, the rough equivalent of five divisions, in one location but had to spread them out. Fortunately, the population was friendly and helped to supply the fighters. Barbesti had now organised quite a number of non-combatant load bearer crews and pack-animal columns. He hoped that this would give his force some logistical back-up.
The only advantage that Barbesti had were his spies in the enemy camp. He constantly received up-to-date information about the strength, disposition and where-abouts of Boroëvić’s force.
Boroëvić’s active corps, which had been in the Bratislava campaign, had suffered notably from losses and defection. His total strength amounted to not more than eleven infantry and two cavalry divisions. But he had sufficient artillery, engineers and air support, and his logistic services were working well.
His force was presently at Arad and he intended to march to Karlsburg along the Maros River. Because of the limited road infrastructure, the army would march along the Maros valley on both sides of the river. The railway line from Arad to Hermannstadt would provide the logistic backing.
With this knowledge, Barbesti now carefully started to manoeuvre his battalions.

In contrast to Barbesti, Boroëvić had only a very scant picture of his enemy. There were weak forces in front of him that constantly delayed his advance and fell back each time he tried to concentrate his army against them. They systematically destroyed the roads and the railway line, thus slowing down his advance further. His flyers didn’t see much in the hilly, densely forested terrain on both sides of the valley. Nor had his cavalry or the detached side cover units discovered anyone yet.
The total number of the Romanian Insurgents’ army and its disposition Boroëvić did not know.

Barbesti struck first on March 2nd. He had not been able to bring together more than 20 rifle battalions in the area of the intended attack. In the early morning hours the Hungarian cavalry and side cover detachments north of the Maros were viciously attacked and the few survivors fell back on the main army.
They were immediately followed by the Romanians who managed to come into mêlée before the Hungarians really got organised for defence. The ensuing shoot-out and dogfight was as costly for the defender as for the attacker. When Hungarian reinforcements started to arrive, the Romanians disappeared into the woods.
Boroëvić was fuming. He had lost 5,500 men; 1,500 dead and the rest wounded. The Romanians had left behind 900 dead. This ratio was not acceptable. He must make his side cover units stronger.

On March 4th, the left side cover division ran into a trap, was encircled and decimated. Hardly more than a regiment remained serviceable. Boroëvić realised that his artillery was of little use in this kind of warfare. The Romanians moved like ghosts through the difficult terrain while his guns and his ammunition trains forced him to follow the river valley. Even his cavalry was bound to the valley because they needed horse fodder, which only the supply services could provide.

On March 7th, the right flank was attacked from behind. While riflemen fought it out between the trees, a strong Romanian detachment cracked down on a supply column and an engineer battalion that was working on the railway line. Again the Hungarians lost more men than the Romanians.
Now Boroëvić stopped his advance. This approach was not leading to success. His army only would slowly be worn out completely. With disgust, he ordered his army to march back to Arad. One needed more forces for the task of pacifying the Romanians than he had at present.

[trekchu]

Good old hit&run tactics. I approve.

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The Indian situation in 1920. The Warring Entities and the Former United Provinces are in constant civil war. In Bengal, there's war between Hindus and Muslims.

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The Siege of Belgrade

General Csicserics’ work was initially easier than Boroëvić’s. With leisure he finished one pocket of Krajina Serbs after the other. The Serbs did fight courageously, but the individual communities were too weak to offer more than brief resistance before they were overwhelmed. And living in an environment generally dominated by Croats, they also had no chance to switch to guerrilla warfare.
The Croats were concentrating the male Serbs between fourteen and sixty years of age in detention camps, just to frustrate any attempts to take up weapons again. The camps also rendered that no network of security posts, slowly draining the force, had to be left behind.
In Bosnia, the Serb communities became larger, but still could not muster more than riflemen. Here, about half of the men had, however, already left for Serbia proper. The mix of Serbs, Muslims and Croats in Bosnia prevented guerrilla warfare as well.
Until the end of March 1920, the Serbs in Croatia and Bosnia had been “pacified”. Now, Csicserics concentrated his force in the triangle between River Sava and River Drina.

The Serb provisory government under Prime Minister Ljubomir Davidović had appointed General Petar Bojović as supreme commander of the Serbian Army. Resignedly, Bojović had watched how Csicserics had reduced the Serb communities in Croatia and Bosnia. His “army” hardly deserved the name. Serbia had suffered terribly by three wars in sequence, epidemics and Austro-Hungarian occupation. It was an absolute wonder that her people still had the pluck to challenge fate once again.
Bojović’s force was a pure Chetnik army, riflemen without artillery. He could hope to fight the Croats in the Serbian mountains, keep them busy for some time, that was all. But the government wanted him to defend Belgrade. They argued that in the mountains, the Serbs would perish without the world taking notice. But a spirited defence of the capital was thought to capture international attention and sympathy for the Serbian cause, and by this they hoped to force the Hungarians to enter negotiations. – And there was another problem with fighting in the mountains: In 1915, the Bulgarian stab in the Serbian back had wrecked the defence, there was a great probability that this might happen again.
Reluctantly, Bojović had prepared Belgrade for defence. All his army was just sufficient for this task. The civilian population had largely been evacuated, although many volunteers remained: fire brigades, medical units, kitchens and load bearer units were manned by civilian volunteers, men and women alike.
The government would also remain in Belgrade. Supplies had been stockpiled as good as possible. Bojović estimated that foodstuffs could last five months. Medical supplies were a major problem, already now, they were insufficient. Ammunition his army had for about three weeks of stiff fighting.

With disbelief General Csicserics had reacted when his reconnaissance flyers reported that the Serbs prepared Belgrade for defence and no Serbian forces were to be seen west and south of Belgrade.
He immediately ordered bridging the Drina and started his advance on Belgrade along the right bank of the Sava.
Belgrade was a city with a population of approximately 100,000 citizens, slightly larger than Agram and about a tenth the size of Budapest.
Laying siege to the city was no major problem. The Sava and the Danube limited the town on three sides, only to the south, covering forces were required, while the river fronts could be controlled by the Danube monitors and some observation units.
Csicserics needed only three corps to beset Belgrade. The remainder of his force he could send out to “pacify” the Serbian lands.
By the end of April 1920, the Serb Revolt had ended everywhere – but in Belgrade.

An order by his government to attack Belgrade, Csicserics blandly refused. There was no point in sacrificing half of his army, one could wait and starve to Serbs into submission.
But the Hungarian government had no interest in a protracted siege. They wanted a quick end of the affair. The rebellions of the ethnic groups had already damaged Hungarian reputation considerably. The image of the proud Hungarian Empire had gone under and given way to the picture of a weak nation, which required German and Bulgarian help to control its nationals. It was already bad enough that the Romanians had dodged the Hungarians, a prolonged Serbian defiance was intolerable.
Csicserics was relieved from his position after he had refused to attack a second time. General Field Marshal Hermann Kövess of Kövessháza took over in person – and ordered attack.
But General Bojović had made his homework. The Hungarian artillery did little damage to his force. The Croat corps ran into well organised fire and were decimated without gaining ground. A second and a third assault hardly produced better results. Spirited counter attacks drove the Croats back to their starting positions.

Having lost 65,000 men in five days, Kövess now told his government that Csicserics had been correct by refusing to attack. This problem could not be solved by sacrificing the Croat and Hungarian corps. Either one starved to Serbs to capitulation – or one started to negotiate...

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Advance to Contact

On March 26th, 1920, a young American journalist named Samson Collins published the book “The Pirate Nation”. It dealt with criminal British methods during the war at sea 1914 – 1918. It was remarkably well researched and operated mainly with the testimonies of eye witnesses and official documents.
Starting with the Baralong incident of 1915, where the British Q-Ship Baralong – having set the Stars-and-Stripes and additionally having painted them on her broadsides – had attacked a German submarine, sunk it and then had hunted the surviving German sailors to death, the book explained how Britain had conducted a war at sea that hardly could be called honest or honourable.
It presented the Falaba, Gulflight and Arabic incidents in a different light, explained that the Lusitania and her sister Mauretania had been registered as armed auxiliary cruisers and troop transports – and that on her fatal journey the Lusitania had carried cartridges and shrapnel destined for the British army.
It showed that only 44 Lusitania medals had ever been produced in Germany, but that in Britain more than 300,000 had been faked and distributed to prove German barbarism.
It proved to which extend Britain had armed freighters and given order to ram submarines, show neutral flags and “catch or kill survivors” of U-Boat crews “whatever turns out to be more convenient”.
The lopsidedness of President Wilson and Secretary of State Lansing was clearly demonstrated, who constantly had glossed over British war crimes while decrying every single German malpractice, in most cases with falsified information – as in the Falaba and Gulflight cases, or in the case of the Lusitania.
The book also dealt with the effects of the illicit British blockade of foodstuffs on the German population and made clear that Germany always had seen and announced unrestricted submarine warfare as reply to this blockade. – And that the US administration never had denounced the inhuman British blockade but only the German response.
The publication led to strong reactions in the USA, not least that the Wilson administration was sued for recompense of US citizens aggrieved by the war at sea. It also brought about a sway of public opinion against Britain, neutralising the positive effect of swift regulation of Irish affairs.
Collins’ research had not been sponsored by the Germans but by the Irish Americans. The book had been directed against the British blockade of Ireland – but now came a little too late for that.
The Americans had to realise how much they had been told lies by British propaganda – and their own administration. This led to an increased agitation for isolationism.

The British Germanophobes – already agitated over the discovery of the Bergmann submachine guns in Karachi – reacted rather paranoid to “The Pirate Nation”, seeing it as another sinister German manoeuvre. However, the proposal of the secretary of defence, Winston Churchill, to incite another rebellion of the natives in German South-West Africa was not accepted. Britain had to deal with India first.

By early April 1920, the British Army in India was ready again for advance. General Sir Julian Byng had been appointed new commander-in-chief. Byng had gone into captivity in 1918 together with his army. This had led to a certain reluctance to appoint him for top positions, but finally his military reputation told. Vimy Ridge and Cambrai had been major British victories in the war.
Five extra divisions had arrived from Egypt, plus one army and three corps HQ from Britain. Byng had purged his forces from all native workers and aids, even interpreters had been banned.
On April 15th, the force started its advance. Sindh fell within three days. There was no fighting. The Sindh patriarchs having decided that fighting was only bad for the sophisticated irrigation systems of Sindh, they had ordered Setho Nawaz Bhutto and his irregulars to go north and reinforce the army of Sardar Ajit Singh Sindhu in the Punjab. The police officers in Sindh surrendered without resistance.

In Punjab – much like Sindh – there was a dense network of irrigation canals, to which were added five major rivers. Ajit Singh thought that this very much would favour defence and obstruct the offensive. His forces were numerous. North Punjab and the adjacent former North-West Frontier Province, now part of Afghanistan, had traditionally been one of the major recruiting areas of the Indian Army. He had trained soldiers and irregulars enough to seriously oppose Byng’s army. What he lacked was artillery. The Indian Army had always been kept weak in artillery by their British masters. He did have quite many machine guns, something the Pashtun and Baloch weapons dealers could provide, but almost no cannons and howitzers.
This determined the way he was going to fight.

On April 20th, Byng’s army entered Punjab, immediately engaged by strong irregular forces. The divisions deployed and the artillery barrage started, but the following attack only ran into empty enemy positions. Three miles further on, a new line of resistance was encounter. Attempts to take it without artillery preparation ended in bloody losses. – Julian Byng was starting to see what lay ahead of him...
Tanks and armoured cars were of no use, getting stuck in larger irrigation canals. Deployment of artillery was difficult and time consuming in the mesh of canals. Although he had endorsed Allenby’s old concept of advance as the best approach possible, he was now having first doubts...

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An Offer

With the hope of regaining the German and Austro-Hungarian concessions, China had finally declared war on the Central Powers in 1917 – thus giving in to pressure applied by US President Wilson. 140,000 Chinese labourers had worked for the Entente and the US in Mesopotamia, Egypt and France.
In the end, it had been Japan that obtained the German zone of influence in Shandong and had taken over fortress, town and harbour of Kiautschou (Quingdao), while the German concessions in Hankou and Tientsin (Tianjin) – and the Austro-Hungarian one in the latter city – had indeed come back to China.
Without a peace treaty, China and the Central Powers were still at war – de jure… De facto, trade had already restarted in 1918. The German industry initially used the good services of the Italian and Belgian residents at Tientsin, but soon got business going well without diplomatic representation by working through Belgian, Italian, Swiss and Swedish proxy companies.
All attempts by the Beiyang Government to resume normal diplomatic relations with Germany had not come far because the Germans pigheadedly insisted on getting their Hankou and Tientsin concessions back – and to get extra ones at Shanghai and Canton (Guangzhou).
China had no priority for the German government and no visibility in German public opinion. So, negotiations were left to Paul von Hintze, who had been the German special envoy to China from 1914 to 1917. Hintze had – against strong pressure from the Entente – managed to keep China out of the war for three years. He knew that the Beiyang Government had been receiving money from Japan for the formation of an army to be sent to Europe. He also knew that Chinese prime minister Duan Qirui, the ringleader of the Chinese war party, never had had the intention to send out this army but wanted to use it against his domestic enemies. And he had no desire to let Duan get away with these manoeuvres. He might not get the concessions, but he might succeed in causing the demise of Duan.
However, the Beiyang Government did only kind of control northern China. In the south, there was a rival group of war lords that did not follow Beiyang orders. Of these, Chen Jiongming in the western part of Canton Province (Guangdong) was the most interesting one because he proposed a pluralistic approach to govern China, not the “one man, one will” course of the others. Until now, Chen was supporting the squaller Sun Yatsen who wanted to unite China by force and rule it by means of his Kuomintang Party.
Perhaps Chen could be talked into taking a more independent course of his own? A democratic, multi-party China would not only be attractive for Hintze’s political masters in Berlin, it would also be to the liking of the Americans. Hintze had been ambassador to Mexico in 1912/13 and still entertained very good relations to US officials. In 1917, when returning from his mission in China, he had been granted free passage through the USA as “honoured guest” although the country had already been at war with Germany.
Hintze thought that a German-American cooperation for a pluralistic and democratic society in China might be very beneficial for Germany, America and China.
On April 15th, 1920, Hintze entered the US embassy in Berlin for a chat with Ambassador Ellis L. Dresel. He had an offer to propose.

[crackersncheese]

Bumped because its so good. Keep it coming!

[Wendell]

I wold have expected slightly more stability in the India of this timeline, but this is interesting, nonetheless.

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Frustrations and Postponements

In Punjab, General Byng now had found his rhythm: Push left! Push right! Consolidate! Push again! – And never leave the cover of your guns!
The enemy seemed to have no appropriate answer for this slow and methodical advance. Wherever he decided to offer resistance, he was annihilated by British artillery. Slowly, the British Army in India was approaching Lahore, the capital of Punjab.
But Sardar Ajit Singh Sindhu, the leader of the Islamic Caliphate of Punjab, had already known before that his army would not be capable of stopping the British for long. Thankfully, the elders of Sindh had sent him Setho Nawaz Bhutto and his warriors. – For supply, Byng’s force depended on one railway line from Karachi to Lahore. This line ran on the west bank of the Indus River up to Sukkur, where it crossed the river. From Sukkur to Multan, it basically ran on the east bank of the Indus and crossed the Sutlej River north of Bahawalpur. From Multan to Lahore, it ran between Rivers Sutlej and Ravi.
General Byng knew of course about the importance of this single artery. A corridor of five miles to each side of the rail line had been cleared of population. Here, cavalry was patrolling constantly. All bridges, culverts and rail stations were guarded by troops. Blockhouses had been erected near critical points.
But there were 225 miles from Karachi to Sukkur, 200 miles from Sukkur to Bahawalpur, and 50 miles from Bahawalpur to Multan. Somewhere, Nawaz’ warriors must succeed… On May 2nd, 1920, just after midnight, the tribesmen struck all along the railway line.

The attack on the Indus bridge at Sukkur was a flop. Although the commander of the Scottish company, which guarded the bridge, was one of the first victims, killed by a sniper while inspecting his men, the Scots repulsed all attacks at high costs for the irregulars.
Similarly, the assault on the Sutlej bridge became a costly failure for the Pashtun bands.
But approximately 100 miles north of Karachi, at Sehwan, a Baloch band managed to blow up a blockhouse, kill all guards and destroy a 170 yards bridge.
At twenty-three places, railway tracks were blown up. Additionally, two supply trains were derailed by remote controlled demolition charges. Bahawalpur train station was raided successfully and two railway control centres destroyed.
Several cavalry patrols were ambushed and annihilated.
Nawaz’ irregulars suffered perhaps 2,500 casualties that night, far more than the raid on Karachi had cost them, but General Byng’s supply line had been severed.

Julian Byng was fuming. His chief engineer had just left. – The engineers had no real problems with the blown up tracks, those were quick repair jobs. The railway control centres at Bahawalpur also posed no real challenge. But the bridge near Sehwan would take two weeks to be replaced. Equally, the derailed trains would take days to be removed from the tracks. One first had to bring tanks to the sites in order to drag the locomotives and wagons away from the rails.
His force depended on daily supply per rail. Without supply, he could continue for three days, thereafter, his ammunition and food stocks would be depleted.
Unfortunately, the Indus could not be used for transportation of supplies. Other than some small fishing boats, there were no ships.
While the Sehwan bridge was being repaired, food supply had to be unloaded south of the bridge, carried by hand or animal to the irrigation canal, which was to be bridged with a floating bridge of the engineers, and on to the train waiting north of the bridge. This would just suffice to keep his men fed. Ammunition re-supply was not possible during that time.
Byng made a mental note to set up some supply dumps in the Multan area, once supply was flowing again.

In the night of May 4th, rafts loaded with explosives swam down the Indus north of Sukkur. While the Scottish company managed to destroy most of them, two of them – connected by chains – hit one pillar of the bridge and detonated. The engineers later estimated that each raft must have carried 1,000 pounds of dynamite. Fortunately, the pillars were protected by deflectors against floating trees and lumber. Thus the pillar was not blown to little pieces. But the structure had taken irreversible damage nevertheless.
The engineers thought they could fix it – in four weeks of work all around the clock…

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Teetering on a Knife’s Edge

May 1920 also saw the war in Russia coming out of hibernation.
It started in the far east. Lieutenant General Yamanashi Hanzō had been entrusted with the mission to dislodge the Bolsheviks from the Armur River and force them westwards. The objective was to secure Priamurye district with its capital Blagoveshchensk. This would give all of “Outer manchuria” into Japanese hands. If Chita could be reached, where the Chinese Eastern Railway branched off from the Trans-Sib, the result of the offensive would be considered optimal.
On the Bolshevik side, General Pavel Sytin had not received priority in allocation of men and material. Now that Vladivostok was lost irretrievably, the Bolshevik leaders were ready to trade space for time. Sytin was to conduct a fighting retreat. If he did hold the Byela Never river line by onset of the next winter, this would be considered fine. That gave Sytin about 460 miles to fight a delaying action. However, he did not intent to make it easy for the Japanese.
Under the cover of their vastly superior artillery and air service, the Japanese forced the Armur on May 4th. It was conducted like an exercise copied from the manuals. First, infantry in boats traversed the river and established bridgeheads. Then field guns were ferried over, while the infantry widened the bridgeheads. Finally, floating bridges were built. The Bolshevik contribution mainly consisted of logs, which they threw into the water upstream of the Japanese water crossing site. This caused some confusion, especially when one floating bridge was actually destroyed by logs, but hardly slowed the Japanese down.
After nightfall, the Bolsheviks staged a counter attack. It wasn’t really a determined assault, nevertheless it resulted in the Japanese artillery shelling their own infantry. The shooting went on for the rest of the night. In the early morning, the Bolsheviks disengaged and disappeared.
The Japanese, still trying to disentangle the chaos resulting from the combat at night, followed only with weak forces, which quickly ran into superior Bolshevik troops that chased them back.
It soon became clear that General Yamanashi would not engage in hasty pursuit. He would first bring all of his forces to the west bank of the Armur, built up some supply dumps and only then start his advance.
Sytin told his men to dig in and fortify their positions. If the Japanese wanted it slow, they should get it…

Mikhail Frunze also had not received priority for his Central Asian Front between Orenburg, Tashkent and Semipalatinsk. He nevertheless hoped to beat the Basmachi decisively this year. After all, they were hardly more than bandits.
But first contacts already revealed that over the winter the insurgents had received substantial Turkish help. Not least several Turkish infantry divisions!
On May 7th, Tashkent fell to the insurgents and their Turkish allies. Frunze’s force was forced to retreat. He now hoped to be able to hold the line between Lake Aral and Lake Balkash.

The main focus of the Bolsheviks had of course been the western front opposite the Tsarist forces.
Here, General Ieronim Petrovich Uborevich, also known as Jeronimas Uborevičius in his native Lithuanian tongue, had been given all priority. If the front line west of the Ural Mountains could not be held, the Bolsheviks were done. The Ural industries were vital for the survival of the Bolshevik state, without them, the Bolsheviks could join the natives in the Siberian Taiga and live as hunter-gatherers.
The north of Uborevich’s front was protected by forests and swamps without transport infrastructure, the centre had been established on the east bank of the Kama River, but the south, between Perm and Orenburg, was an open invitation for an attack. Yudenich’s front was between Glasov and Samara, while Denikin’s front lurked between Samara and Uralsk. All tanks had been given to Denikin. Also Krasnov’s cavalry army was in the south.
The Tsarist air service long had gained air superiority. The German and Italian “volunteers” in their modern planes had shot down everything that the Bolsheviks had managed to bring into the air. Thus Uborevich could be sure that the Tsarists knew every visible detail of his positions. But he still hoped that during the dark days of winter, he had managed to install some details unseen.
And he had no intention to only play anvil for the Tsarist hammer.
On May 6th, the Bolsheviks attacked the right flank of General Denikin’s front at Uralsk.

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The Battle of Sorotchinsk

“That the densely wooded valley of the Ural river provided an ideal covered approach for anyone trying to avoid detection from the air had not escaped the Tsarist commanders. A Cossack “polk” (regiment) had been detached to monitor the valley. When General Anton I. Denikin’s front started its advance, the polk also moved eastwards – and ran into a Bolshevik ambush.
Bolshevik commander Iona E. Yakir had set a trap that wiped out the complete polk. – Nobody escaped, and so nobody could warn General Denikin.
Yakir now had two options. He could attack westwards in hope of hitting Denikin’s supply depots. Or he could attack into Denikin’s rear. He did not know where the depots were situated, but – correctly – estimated that they had been placed in the line Pugachyov – Samara. This would have required an advance of 200 Verst over open country, something he could not hope to execute undetected. Yakir therefore decided to attack into Denikin’s rear.
By nightfall of May 5th, Yakir’s corps exited the Ural valley and manoeuvred into the back of General Denikin’s front. The Bolsheviks were noticed by quite a lot of people, but in the darkness just mistaken for another Tsarist formation moving to the east.
In the early morning of May 6th, 1920, Yakir’s corps attacked into the supply columns, baggage trains and heavy artillery units that formed the tail of Denikin’s advancing front.
Yakir had his three cavalry divisions extend to maximum width and charge. The chaos this created with Denikin’s units is beyond words. The Tsarist rear guard, a Cossack division, now realised that Yakir’s force was not friedly and attacked ino Yakir’s rear. The flank guard, a Cossack corps, was alerted and also intervened.
By noon, Yakir’s corps had ceased to exist. But the damage done to General Denikin’s front was immense. The Tsarists were forced to stop their advance on the whole front, while General Denikin tried to replace the losses.
His heavy artillery, the siege train destined to batter the Bolshevik field fortifications, however, was irretrievably lost. New guns had to be ordered in Germany. It would take weeks, if not months, before they could possibly arrive.
With his daring raid, Iona E. Yakir, who escaped unscathed and managed to rejoin the Bolshevik main forces, had not only bought precious time but also had kicked out some of the Tsarist’s most dangerous carnassials.”

From “Benchmarks of Glory” by Victor P. Kolpachov, Omsk, 1928

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What Now?

It was a gloomy company that met in Buda Castle, overlooking Budapest, on May 6th, 1920. Was Great Hungary about to become Little Hungary? Serb and Romanian insurgents had triumphed over the Hungarian forces. Upper Hungary and Montenegro had only been secured by German and Bulgarian help.

Móric, Count Esterházy of Galantha, who had replaced the ailing Sándor Wekerle as prime minister, opened the meeting and asked interior minister Gyula Count Andrássy Junior for his appreciation of the situation.

Andrássy explained that all attempts at Magyarisation could be considered failed. In this age of nationalisms, one could not hope to force a foreign language to be accepted by a national group. In Hungary, the Croats had a special status, using Croatian language in office inside Croatia and in the Croat army units. This was the least what the other nationalities expected as well. But, for sure, the Montenegrins and Serbs wanted to leave Hungary, as did the Slovaks and the Romanians. He favoured recognising the national languages on a regional basis, but did not think that Hungary could afford the secession of the nationalities.

Foreign minister István Burián spoke next. The Germans were peeved. They had believed that the Hungarians could manage the Balkans affairs. Their assistance had only be very reluctant, the socialists had initially not supported intervention. There was a clear preference for national selfdetermination in all three ruling parties. – The Bulgarians had apparently quite successfully Bulgarised their Serbs, but the two languages were very close, as were the religious beliefs. The Bulgarians might be trusted to keep Montenegro if Hungary was not able to solve the crisis. Romania so far had shown laudable restraint, King Ferdinand and his government had effectively restrained the nationalist hotheads. But the Romanian Insurgents in Hungary might issue a manifest of joining Romania every moment. Slovenia and Italy sympathised with national self determination, but would not act out of their own. The wider world favoured the insurgent nationalities and thought that Hungary had been too repressive.

Army commander and war minister Hermann Kövess of Kövessháza said that the army already had reached its limit. The now existing forces could not be expanded without provoking economic collapse. There was no hope of dislodging the Serb army from Belgrade. The Romanian forces might be crushed by a combined action of Csicserics’ and Boroëvić’s armies, but only if they accepted battle, which they most probably wouldn’t do. The terrain was very difficult and favoured guerrilla warfare.

Minister of economy Sándor Simonyi-Semadam stated that the Hungarian economy had already arrived at the border to collapse, there were serious shortfalls in industrial and agricultural production. One could bypass these shortfalls by buying abroad, but only for a short time. A solution was urgently required.

It was the Croatian representaive, Ivan Ribar, who stopped the general whining. The Serbs and Montenegrins in Coatia had equal rights like everybody else, the language of Croats, Serbs and Montenegrins was identic, nobody’s faith was encumbered. So, why had they revolted? Because of Great Serbian hubris. The bearers of this hubris were now gathered in Belgrade. Therefore, Belgrade had to be starved into submission. The two Bosnian corps under General Sarkotić were sufficient for this task. Montenegro could be taken over by the newly formed Croatian Domobran Corps under General Kvaternik. The rest of the Croat Army could move to Transylvania and help suppress the Romanian Insurgency. – He had no doubt that in the long run the Croats could assimilate the northern Serbs and Montenegrins as successfully as the Bulgarians were assimilating the southern Serbs. Right now, from the Serb males that had been interned, more than two thirds had already been released again for their word of honour never to raise arms again. – He could not advise the Hungarians in their language and nationality problems with Romanians and Slovaks, but for the Croatian part of the state, there was no language problem, and no real nationality problem, only one artificially erected by Serb chauvinists.
It was up to the Hungarians to act. – The Croats were ready to fight it out.

After some more discussion, Count Esterházy summed up the agreed course of action:
1. Slovaks and Romanians would be offered the same status for their languages, which the Croats already had.
2. No secession would be recognised.
3. The siege of Belgrade was to be continued.
4. The bulk of the Croat army was to be transferred to Transylvania, while Bosniak and Domobran corps were to control Serbia and Montenegro.
5. The Romanian Insurgency was to be smashed with first priority.
6. The Slovak Insurgency was to be suppressed thereafter.

[rast]

State Visit

Emperor Wilhelm III. was not the erratic and obsessive traveller that his father had been during his rule. Nor was he an incessant and ranting orator. For eight months, Wilhelm had been almost invisible and inaudible for the public. He had been present when the great cruiser SMS Mackensen had been commissioned in February of 1920, but the speaches had been delivered by General Field Marshal von Mackensen and Chancellor Ebert. He regularly attended church service on sundays and religious holidays, and he took a ride through the Tiergarten in Berlin every morning – if he resided in the town palace.
Generally, Wilhelm commuted between Potsdam, where he spent the week-ends together with his familiy, and Berlin, where he worked during the week.
Wilhelm’s wife had taken residence at the palace named after her “Cecilienhof”. His four sons went to school at Potsdam, while the two daughters were still too young for school. Empress Cecilie had decided to ignore the “girlies” and “ladies”, which Wilhelm frequently had “entertained” before and during the war. After he had succeeded his father, his conduct had become truly impeccable.

During the week, Wilhelm usually had daily second breakfast together with Chancellor Fritz Ebert. Sometimes, Ebert was accompanied by other ministers or important persons. But most of the time, the two had a talk without witnesses. Ebert would brief Wilhelm about all important issues that concerned the government. In response, Wilhelm would provide his opinion and advice, which Ebert had come to appreciate although he often could not heed it.
The Emperor was still a very conservative man, trying to safeguard the Prussian legacy, but he was intelligent enough to realise that things had changed and he had to accept these changes. His co-operation with Ebert therefore was unpretentios and matter-of-factly. This combined with his extremely polite and accommodating manners made him a pleasant interlocutor. Ebert had come to enjoy the daily discussion, a true relief and respite from the “urgent urgencies” of political business.
And it had been Ebert, who had brought forward the notion that it had become time for some state visits.

So, on May 7th, 1920, one day after the Germans had celebrated “Kaisergeburtstag” (Emperor’s Birthday), Wilhelm’s special train arrived at the Gare Centrale in Brussels.
The Belgians anticipated this visit with high tension. After the Germans had invaded Belgium in 1914, had killed more than 6,000 Belgian civilians and had thoroughly ruined the Belgian econmy, Belgium had been forced to become a German ally in 1918. The alternative would have been the complete demise of Belgium as a sovereign state.
It was true that the Germans had behaved after the treaty of alliance had been signed. Recompense had been paid and much damage had been repaired. It was also true that the Belgian economy – thanks to the membership in the German sphere of influence – was doing very well, recovering old markets and gaining new ones, in great part because the infrastructure and machinery was brandnew and state-of-the-art.
Nevertheless, there still were many who had bitter feelings and some who wielded outright hatred. The battlefields in Flanders still were a swampy wasteland, many villages in Wallonia lay still destroyed by the fires of 1914.

King Albert I. of Belgium and his spouse, the Bavarian Princess Elisabeth, were the first to greet Wilhelm and Cecilie. It was noted favourably that Wilhelm appeared in civilian attire, while the handsome and fashionable Cecilie even attracted appreciatory comments.
The car ride (one had agreed in the run-up to the visit to do away with horse-drawn carriages) through the town showed a numerous and exultant public. But people somehow conveyed the message that they were cheering Albert and Elisabeth, not Wilhelm and Cecilie. However, this didn’t keep the German couple from saluting the bystanders and displaying gracious cordiality.
Now, Wilhelm’s speech at the Brussels town hall was awaited with eagerness.

After the usual phrases of salutation, Wilhelm came to the point:
“I beg the pardon and the forgiveness of the Belgian people for what Germans have done to Belgium and her population from August 1914 until the armistice between our armies. Today, we know that Belgium was not in league with the Entente and was only trying to defend herself. But then, in these August days, we thought you had sided with our enemies and we were very angry. I will and cannot excuse what has been done, but I will also not condemn those who committed acts that we today may come to view as war crimes. I have been in the war myself, and I know how confusing and deceptive situations can be. A military leader must decide and act. His decision may turn out be wrong, but this he does not know beforehand.
You certainly are aware that a parliamentary commission in Germany is currently enquiring about these matters. I expect that as a consequence judicial proceedings will follow. I gladly leave the juridic appraisal to the judges, and I can affirm that neither the work of the commission nor that of the courts will be restricted in any direction, and that all findings will be made public.
We cannot turn back the clock and make things undone. We can and we will punish those that acted out of malice. But we will not chastise those who acted out of good faith. Sadly, in war, tragedies are unavoidable.
Again, I ask for your pardon and forgiveness.”

[trekchu]

Yup. It's official. He is a much better Kaiser than his Dad. NO one expected t´hat speech.

[rast]

War Council

Sardar Ajit Singh Sindhu had capitalised the success of stopping the British Army of India (which was mainly owed to Setho Nawaz Bhutto and his tribal warriors) to convene an All-Indian War Council.
General Byng’s force had retreated to Bahawalpur and just held a bridgehead north of the Sutlej. Thus, a meeting in Lahore could be arranged without fear of British interference.
One Indian problem was the fragmentation of the nation. The Indian National Congress Party had not survived the turbulences of the 1918 riots but had split into regional and religious sections.
There were separatist entities like Bengal, Greater Mysore, the Burmese Kingdom and the Baloch Anarchy, which had no intention to join an Indian Union, and entities that might support a kind of union.
The Bengalis had united again into one Bengali speaking country, but were divided along religious lines, the Hindu majority trying to destroy the Muslim minority.
The Dravidian speakers in the south had united into Greater Mysore and the Hyderabad Monks’ Republic. Greater Mysore was a gerontocratic democracy (only men above the age of 59 could be elected for parliament). The Monks’ Republic was a hierocratic state run by Hindu monks, which showed some willingness to join their Hindu brothers in a greater India.
The Buddhists in Burma had formed the Burmese Kingdom, bringing the ancient Konbaung dynasty to power again. The kingdom voiced some claims for taking into re-possession Assam, but otherwise wanted to stay separate.
The Balochs had fallen back into traditional anarchy with each tribal chief doing what he wanted. They talked about liberating their brothers in Persia (this part of Persia still being occupied by the British), but saw no purpose in joining a greater India.
The Punjab Caliphate and the now British occupied Sindh Republic were Islamic states. Sindh was almost exclusively Muslim, while Punjab was mixed Muslim, Sikh and Hindu, which had allowed the Sikh Ajit Singh to become head of state, balancing a mixed government. Despite its title, the Caliphate was a democracy with an elected national assembly. Both states did not object an Indian Union.
Kali’s Empire was an oligarchic Hindu republic with strong religious influence, which also was pro-union, over the ruling families.
The Despoty was a classical tyranny. Bal Gangadhar Tilak, ruled here under the title “Lokmanya” (accepted by the people as their leader). Gangadhar was an old Indian National Congress member and had already announced his willingness to lead the Despoty into an Indian Union.
The oligarchic and plutocratic republic of Assam was also very much interested in an Indian Union. They feared imminent Burmese conquest.
A second Indian problem was the unsolved status of the former United Provinces and the area called “The Warring Factions”. Here, small regional entities still competed for dominance. The general consensus was disagreement. Violence was not the rule, but also not excluded from day-to-day politics.
However, everybody agreed that a return of the British Raj was not wanted. The Bengalis had tried to storm Calcutta, but had been warded off three times by the strong British garrison. The Lokmanya had laid siege to Bombay, but his troops had quickly learned to stay out of reach of British naval artillery.
Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the head of the All Indian Muslim League, proposed to proclaim Jihad bil Saif against the British. The Jihad might spread and infect other Muslim countries under British control, such as Egypt, Oman and Aden.
Rash Behari Bose, one of the leaders of the Bengal Feudal Republic, proposed to let the British advance.
“They’ll be strung out from Karachi to Lahore to Delhi to Calcutta. They’ll have to guard every inch of railway and every single toilet, otherwise we’ll blow up their arses. We can easily mobilise 10,000 men against each single British soldier. – So, just let them come. And when they are nicely distributed all over the country, we rush them and kill them.”
Lala Lajpat Rai, one of the Punjab Hindu leaders, supported this proposal.
“Yes, this is the best way. Let the invaders drown in the sea of the Indian people. – They have lost the backing they used to have by the Maharajas and other princelings – and by their docile Indian collaborators. And they have not yet realised that they alone now face a nation of more then 300 million people. Whatever they do, they cannot win. We’ll overcome them.”

[Bmao]

Man, the shits really hitting the fan in India now.

This all Indian Muslim league particularly interests me. Their idea of spreading 'Jihad' to destablize British possessions in the Middle East could receive support from the Ottoman Empire who would be more than keen to have Egypt, Aden and Oman fall into their sphere of influence, and also could help throw Persia into anarchy.

[Terlot]

Strange that Britain experiences such violent revolts, but German Empire subdues other nations without much problems. Or are you seeing revolts in the future in Mitteleuropa ?

[rast]

We just experience a (rather successful) revolt in Great Hungary. We had already a Polish revolt (not so successful).
The rest of Great Germany is - just German. (The few Danes in the north won't revolt, nor the few Frenchmen in Lothringen). - Mitteleuropa may see some more upheavals, but not in Great Germany, they will regulate changes by electional results (if not the military gets agitated).
The Brits are confronted with those revolts because they lost the war (perhaps not in their own perception but certainly in that of their 'former' subjects). This has seriously ruined their reputation.
The Jihad will be proclaimed. The Dar ul-'Ulum Deoband is (at least) the second highest theological centre of Islam.

[trekchu]

It's sad to see the British Emüpire crumble away even earlier....

[rast]

Baba Yaga

Starshiy Unterofitser (senior NCO) Ivan Ivanovich Prototopov was the proud commander of the Mk.IV male tank “Baba Yaga” in the III. Platoon, 2nd Company, 4th Tank Battalion. The platoon had two male and three female tanks, all clad in gaudy camouflage with the Tsar’s coat of arms, the double headed golden eagle on red ground, painted on the side armour plates close to the track tensioning devices.
Prototopov was looking forward to the battle that soon was about to commence. It would not be his first combat, but before he had fought as infantryman. Now, he was a tank commander.
It had not been easy. The German instructors, Oberleutnant Volckheim, Leutnant Kubrich, Feldwebel Klein, Vizefeldwebel Löwenstein and Vizefeldwebel Wenninger, had known no mercy. These stone faced Germans had pitiless weeded out all those who did not meet their standards. Prototopov still believed that these men were soulless representatives of a kind of German technical hell. He had known infantry training in the Russian army. That had been quite tough. But it had been a cakewalk compared to the training applied by the “Muchiteli” (tormentors), as the Germans had been known by their training audience.
For three days, they had practised “Mount vehicle!” and “Bail out!”. Whoever refused, was sent away. Who complained got extra training when the rest took a short break – or in the evening or the night. After three days, they had practised “Mount vehicle!” and “Bail out!” with bags over their heads. After five days, they had practised “Bail out!” with bags over their heads under life machine gun fire.
They had taken apart their tanks and assembled them again. Then they had taken apart their tanks and assembled them again in the middle of the night. Everyone had learned to operate the Lewis machine guns and the Vickers six pounder cannons.
When they had thought they were ready, the tanks had been taken away and the crews had learned to form an instant assault team. They had learned to throw hand grenades, to roll up a trench and to fight in close combat.
Only when all these “basics” had been learned, did real combat training with the tanks start.
The three female tanks were the initial attack section of the platoon, they would advance while being covered by the cannons of the two males. The males would follow the attack by leap-frogging from surveillance position to surveillance position.
While machine guns could and should be used freely while moving, the cannons were only allowed to fire when a tank was stopped.
After the platoon drill had been complete, they had started company attack drill. Then they had conducted company attack drill together with the infantry.
Then the whole exercises had been repeated at night.
Then they had learned to carry and drop fascines in order to facilitate trench crossing. After this, they had learned to salvage tanks.
Finally, the company assault exercise together with infantry was conducted in a terrain that had been prepared to resemble the conditions of the front in France in 1917.
After they had stood this final test, they had received their tank badges, which they now proudly wore sewed on their upper arms.

The two Tsarist fronts had now eventually closed in on the Bolshevik positions and were preparing their attack. General Denikin had decided that he would employ the tank force half way between Ufa and Orenburg in the vicinity of Sterlitamak. Here he intended to break through the Bolshevik field fortification with the help of the tanks, and then he would turn left and roll up the front to the north.
General Yudenich would simultaneously attack up north between Ufa and Perm. His task was to bind as many Bolshevik troops as possible, while Denikin was manoeuvring to come into their back.

On the evening of May 28th, 1920, “Baba Yaga” and her sisters rumbled into their starting positions. Camouflage by foliage was not considered necessary because the Bolsheviks no longer had planes that they could bring into the air. The nine-man crew prepared their sleeping places below “Baba Yaga” and then had a chicken barbecue and some vodka. At about 21:00 hours, they went to sleep. Artillery preparation was scheduled to start at four o’clock on the next morning. Their own attack would not commence before 08:00 hours. So, there was ample time to catch some sleep. The next few days might not offer this chance.