New Holland

[Cockroach]

Several minutes before the Event
Major Van Tromp servayed his estate, a large but comparitivly worthless property in the far North East of New Holland. As well as being the most significant local land owner he was the commander of the local militia cavalry, a force of 250 men rought fronteersmen (comparable to OTLs Boers)... suddenly something flashed, temporeally blinded he swore it had occured mere meters away from him... As his vision returned he noticed that the landscape seemed strage, the same yet different...
several hour later
The local cavalry had been raised and Major Van Tromp had decided it was time for him to investigate what had happened. The 250 men rode across the landscape looking for anything that may suggest what had happened. It was the Major who stumbled on the first sign (quite litrally), something writen in a familiar script but in a language none of the party understood, theories flew back and forth; was it Germany, French, Latin, Danish?...
The Major and 50 men rode on and suddenly spotted some men armed with some variety of bolt action rifle, indeed the Major guess from their uniformed appearance that they were Soldiers; if they were there was even more reason to detain them. His men charged... but the soldiers noticed and opened fire... the Major noticed to one side one of the soldiers manning what looked like a rifle on a bipod with a curving magazine, this weapon suddenly emitted a burst of shot and the Major realised it was one of those "automatic guns" which he had heared about lately, he wheeled his horse around and charged at it... mere meters away from the "automatic gun" the Major felt his horse suddenly stop, he was thrown fowards and upon hitting the ground was knocked cold... his cavalry had just encountered the third battlaion of the 2nd Division of the ANZAC corp

[Cockroach]

In Tasman several hours post event
The government was in a state of complete confusion, all external telegraph wire appeared to be cut and the only recently established wirless system wasn't recieving anything meaningful. The governor's Aide-de-camp hardly thought it was the appropriot time to inform him that much of the Eastern part of New Holland was missing and that a local cavalry unit had blundered into hostile forces...

[Cockroach]

2 days post event
Trouble was clearly brewing, the situation was so desprate the the local forces had been called up and a force of 5000 VOC infantry and 500 local Cavarly was to advance from Heemskirk into the the potentially hostile territory. The coast defense ship Van Dieman had also been dispatched to head via the southern coast...

[Cockroach]

5 days post event, Somewhere in the Great Australian Bite
The battle was over before it began. Van Dieman and her escorts never stood a chance... The coast defense ship had been riddled with 13.5" rounds before it even got a shot off and had been left burning to be finished off by one of the hostile destroyers.
The dutch destroyers fared no better, while they were fast for their own time they couldn't reach the 33 knots of the RAN's destroyers and HMAS Cockatoo... neither could their 3" guns and 16" torpedos compare to the 4.7" and 4" guns of the RAN's sloops and destroyers never mind the 21" torpedos.
In less than two hours New Holland had lost 1/3 of its naval strength and had scarecly scratched the paint of the RAN...

[Ward]

Day 6 The French Sub Antiope is picking up survivers from the New Holland ships that were sunk in the naval fight on day 5 .
She is calling to New Caledonia for other ships to come help .

Day 7 the Task Force from New Caledonia has arrived and picking up survivers they were able to pick up about 200 New Holland sailors from the water .

[Cockroach]

Day 6 The French Sub Antiope is picking up survivers from the New Holland ships that were sunk in the naval fight on day 5 .
She is calling to New Caledonia for other ships to come help .
6 Days Post Event
Commander Van Ryter looked around, he was the highest ranking of the survivors pulled out of the sea by this unidentified submarine... quite possibly he was the highest ranking survivor full stop.
Less than a day back his destroyer Zeehan had taken a heavy shell amidship and had turned away from the battle hoping to reach the coast. Quite simply the ship hadn't made it, the vessel had sunk last night out of reach of both friends, the enemy and the shore. It had been a great relife to spot the vessel that had now rescued them but when the news of the loss of the rest of the fleet sunk in it was simply terrible
[OOC: Ward, the Dominion forces would have pulled most of the survivors they could find out of the water so I decided you could rescue the crew of the Destroyer that departed mid battle]

In Tasman 7 Days Post Event
The governer paced his office, the news wasn't good... the squadron of ships he had dispatched round the South Coast had failed to report for two days... his Flying Corp was suffering heavy losses at the hands of these much faster and better armed aeroplanes... and recon suggested that the army that his men were about to encounter in the North East was much better equiped...

[Ward]

The French Task Force of 2 CL and 8 DD is sailing towards the Coast of New Holland . They are Flying The the French Tri Color Flag and Calling the coast city that they have wounded on board .

[Cockroach]

7 Days Post Event, Northern Australia
The army was retreating, 214 cavalry and 1350 infantry killed and 350 infantry and 10 guns captured... To Major Van Ryter* this was the worst losses he had seen, indeed is own cavalry unit had been mauled, and there was still the threat from the enemy's aeroplanes, he had seen more than one friendly 'plane litrally be torn to pieces by the enemy's guns... Just that moment an enemy aircraft came tearing in, it had three bombs, two under the wings and one under the fuslage... first the cavalry patrol was strafed, Major Van Ryter escaped with a bullet loged in his arm, and then the bombs were released on the main collum of the army- it must have caused frightful casulties...

*yep the brother of the commander in the previous post

[Ward]

Question what is New Holland reacting to the signals from the French task force and what is the Australians reaction also .
yes there are French Subs of the coast of Australia and New Holand they are trying to find out what is going on in the world now .

[Cockroach]

Question what is New Holland reacting to the signals from the French task force and what is the Australians reaction also .
yes there are French Subs of the coast of Australia and New Holand they are trying to find out what is going on in the world now .
New Holland has only recently developed radio and so are not exactly listerning in on anything much. The UOPD, well I think they will largely ignore your subs provided you keep your distance from their major vessels.

[Ward]

New Holland has only recently developed radio and so are not exactly listerning in on anything much. The UOPD, well I think they will largely ignore your subs provided you keep your distance from their major vessels.

if they can not they will surface and Fly the French flag and head out of your way.

[Cockroach]

f they can not they will surface and Fly the French flag and head out of your way.
Well IF you remain on the surface and clearly show peaceful intention then you may get the chance to have a closer look

[Cockroach]

In Tasman 8 Days Post Event
New Holland was in dire streights, its captial blockaded and an army in retreat in the north... reports were also coming in of an enemy convoy passing along the south coast. The govoner knew the end was coming, the only choice he had was how to face it... Finally he made his decision, the 3500 fighting men defending the capital would retreat to the coastal fortress and the remaining naval vessels would anchor in the main channel into the port... Should the worst come to the worst the ships would be scuttled blocking the port...

[Cockroach]

In Tasman 9 Day Post Event
The bombardment had begun, the enemy battlecruisers hung just outside the coastal fortress' 9.4" guns range while they pounded all above ground structures in the fort into rubble... half a dozen enemy torpedo bombers zoomed in towards the coast defense ships, one was brought down by the New Hollanders ineffective flak but five of the aircraft still got throught... The last of New Holland's fighters scrambled but soon they plowed burning into the sea without taking a single UOPD plane with them...

Edit to add: The story from the other side can be found in the UOPD thread

[Grey Wolf]

Feels like Corregidor and the fall of the Philippines

Grey Wolf

[Landshark]

erm just why are they having this war?

[DuQuense]

I Assumed It was a Matter of total Confusion, and Border incedents that get out of Hand

[Cockroach]

erm just why are they having this war?
The local cavalry had been raised and Major Van Tromp had decided it was time for him to investigate what had happened. The 250 men rode across the landscape looking for anything that may suggest what had happened. It was the Major who stumbled on the first sign (quite litrally), something writen in a familiar script but in a language none of the party understood, theories flew back and forth; was it Germany, French, Latin, Danish?...
The Major and 50 men rode on and suddenly spotted some men armed with some variety of bolt action rifle, indeed the Major guess from their uniformed appearance that they were Soldiers; if they were there was even more reason to detain them. His men charged... but the soldiers noticed and opened fire...
All one big mistake, the UOPD then dispatched a force into New Holland's territory just to investigate what was going on and it grew from there...

[Cockroach]

In Tasman 11 Day Post Event
The fortress was as good as doomed: of the 27 9.4" guns that had overlooked the harbor only three were still functional; the 5.9" batteries had been incorrectly sited for this situation and all that remained of the navy was the burnt out hulk of the coast defense ship Tromp. The city had all but fallen and hostile forces held the other end of the causeway to the fort. The govenor decided that the only way to stop things now would be to threatern to execute the POWs from the sloop that the fort had sunk...

[Cockroach]

In Tasman 14 Day Post Event
After the incidents of the previous days the UOPD's troops were not inclined to show mercy to the occupants of the fortress... The entire crew of the sloop HMAS Derwent had been shot in the last three days and now that the fortress had been breached the New Hollanders were on the recieving end of the same treatment... The former governor of New Holland lay in a UOPD field hospital inimmense pain having been bayoneted by a rampaging soldier; he had signed the surrender but now stripped of his role he had little left to live for...

[Cockroach]

In Tasman, 18 Days Post Event
Four day, four days of peace... Major Van Ryter and the remenants of his cavalry squadron rode throught the streets of Tasman. The city was different in many ways since he was last there before the event and the war; was it the new and unusual uniform patrolling the streets? the unusual ships in the harbor? the lack of the VOC flag?
The Major had been suprised at how lightly New Holland had got off in the peace treaty, only a fairly small and largely worthless section of territory had been surrendered...

[Cockroach]

Tasman, 4th of October
Commander Van Ryter looked around, this ship was simply massive. He had been assigned to a visiting UOPD squadron for liason purposes. It seemed weird to be talking to people who had been responsible for the destruction of his destroyer mere weeks back. Indeed the officer commanding this squadron was responsible for that heavy shell that had sunk the Commander's ship....
Commander Van Ryter retired to an empty cabin to read a note he had recived from New Holland's government; he had been officially attatched to this UOPD squadron for the duration of its voyage, this had been also been aproved by the Pacific Dominions and a Commadore Marsh...

[Cockroach]

North Sea, 5th of November
Commander Van Ryter sat shivering on deck. He had never experianced such cold conditions in his life. Why had he decided to volenteer for this assignment? Why was he assisting the people who had crippled his nation and killed so many of his friends? And worst of all rumors were going around that the squadron was shortly to venture into the Baltic and engage in opperations against some rebel movement in Russia.
Since the "acident" in the mid Atlantic Commander Van Ryter had taken command of one of the tankers. Indeed he had taken command of the only tanker to accompony the squadron all the way. Also this tanker had 45 crated aircraft onboard... An idea was starting to form in his mind, an idea which could change the course of this war and win him honour and riches and in time maybe the restoration of New Holland as a completely independent country...

Narvik, The Night of the 14th of November
He had very nearly left it too late... only 14 airplanes, six Anzacs and eight Dingos remained aboard... Commander Van Ryter flashed a light twice... two small fishing boats pulled alongside... a small skirmish followed, a one or two rifle shots and several thrusts of bayonets and swords saw the ship's armed guard dispatched... another few blows and the few crew not ashore were captured or dead... mere minutes later the tanker was heading for the open sea and then St Petersburg...

[Cockroach]

St Petersburg, 17th of November
He had pulled it off! The tanker had managed to evade all the warships that had been dispatched to hunt it down and had reppelled several air attacks with minimal damage. Here Commander Van Ryter was in St Petersburg and most of the aircraft were unloaded.... and already he was prepearing his next blow against the Pacific Dominions. He had already managed to lay his hands on a merchnat vessel and a number of guns and even a few torpedos...

[Cockroach]

A postscript to the most recent story in http://alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=6132&page=3
St Petersburg, 18th of November
Commander Van Ryter found the scene depressing, what remained of his tanker lay smouldering and half submerged... Well so his planned raiding voyage to break the Pacific Dominion's supply lines was going to be sevearly delayed but the good news was that all but one aeroplanes had been offloaded before the attack so these Russians could manage some credible oppersition to the next airraid...