A Shift in Priorities

[rast]

One does not use a sword to kill a snail.
(Yoruba proverb)

Otto Kwahara glanced over his notes: Yes, this was okay. – He wondered whether people really would be interested in his story. The editor had already decided about the title: ‘My tale of woe – American atrocities’; hoping to produce a bestseller. Otto thought that many victims of US bestiality would publish reports about their experiences during the Trans-Atlantic War. Thus, his story would only be one among many to be presented to the national and international audience.

Nevertheless, Otto thought that it had been helpful to reflect about his unpleasant sojourn in the States. Aged forty-three, father of two sons and one daughter and quadruple grandsire already, having been sterilised was no grave affair for him. It didn’t impair his ability to have intercourse with Lotte, his wife.
No, it had been the way these people had treated him that required some reprocessing. Born in 1888, he still remembered German rule before the Great War. In these days, the Germans had been as arrogant and high-handed as the Americans today; but at least they had changed for the better after the war. The Americans had been getting more vicious with every bad piece of news from the war.

He had been the purchasing agent for Mannesmann Mittelafrika in the States, when the war broke out. Anticipating what might happen, he had tried to escape to Mexico, but had been seized in Southern California. Sixteen months in Camp Klamath had followed. This involuntary sojourn was the subject of his script.

Diligently, Otto put the sheets into the envelope and sealed it. The address was already written on it.
“I’m carrying my manuscript to the mail office!” he called out to Lotte.
“Hurry up, supper will be ready in one hour.” Lotte called back.

Kigoma was a very busy town on Lake Tanganyika. Already before 1914, the Germans had built the station at the end of the railway line to Tabora, the harbour and the shipyard. After 1918, a lot of industry had come to region, including the Mannesmann plant, which was intended for producing seamless steel tubes for all of Mittelafrika. Initially run by a German, the plant today was directed by Ewald Mpolongo, a forceful manager, who had learned his job at Krupp’s in Germany.

Otto mounted his bicycle and pedalled off towards the mail office. The Kwaharas lived in a detached house in the south of Kigoma, near the ancient trading town of Ujiji, which today was a suburb of Kigoma.
The mail office was about two kilometres away. Traffic on the road increased as Otto approached the main avenue to central Kigoma. There were hordes of bicyclists travelling in both directions, frequently shooed to the sides by the klaxons of slow moving lorries or busses.

The mail office had been built after the Great War, in the popular cultural integrity style fathered by Hermann Muthesius. It blended ideally into the verdant environment.
Otto parked his bicycle in one of the many bike racks and walked into the building, joining the end of the waiting line. He estimated that it would take him about half an hour to get served. It had been payday yesterday, and a lot of people were depositing money on their postal savings account.

But he soon came into contact with the person in front of him, a female railway clerk, who wanted to send a parcel to her son, who currently served with General von Bauer’s troops in the West-African protectorate.
“You know, it’s no picnic over there. They even can’t get new clothes. So, I’m sending him underpants and socks, and some vests. – Good that the mail service works at least.”
“Be glad, receiving and sending mail is good for morale, believe me.”
“You’ve been a soldier?”
“No, not quite. – But I’ve been a prisoner of war...”
“Oh, really? Let me know more about this...”

[anarchjoe]

interesting looks like we could see a fascist isolationist U.S, the situation in barcelona is very interesting as well

[Bmao]

I'm not sure just how much an impact it would have other than to generate some short term outrage, similar to Wegner's book on the Armenian Massacre's ITTL, which was received with near indifference diplomatically in Germany.

[Kitiem3000]

Originally Posted by Bmao

I'm not sure just how much an impact it would have other than to generate some short term outrage, similar to Wegner's book on the Armenian Massacre's ITTL, which was received with near indifference diplomatically in Germany.

You never know how much of it will stick. It depends on the writing style, how bad it really was. I mean, if you get sterilised just for being black the rest can't have been a pick nick. This might be TTLs (smaller) version of Anne Frank's diary.

[Kelenas]

Originally Posted by Bmao

I'm not sure just how much an impact it would have other than to generate some short term outrage, similar to Wegner's book on the Armenian Massacre's ITTL, which was received with near indifference diplomatically in Germany.

To be fair, the impression I had was that the German government of the time hushed the informations about the Massacre because they didn't want to risk losing the Ottomans as a proven ally.
With the US, there are no such considerations, and there might even be elements in the who'd find longer-lasting outrage and animosity against the American "barbarians" useful or otherwise desirable (Why, hello there, Frau Luxemburg! No, I'm not looking at you...)

Then there's also the technological advancements (radio and cinema) which increase the number of sources the population can draw its information from.

- Kelenas

[nerdknight01]

¡ HI ! ¡ WOW !.
Rast, you are really destroying China or at least creating a total diferent future for that big country, and i wonder if China have some future. Why i suspect that the japanese are involved in this buisness.
In your good timeline i see that exists two big schools of spies: the Muharip school with big operations, big booms, in style of James Bond, and the japanese school: one country with "aparent" neutrality in the buisness of the world, with cleaners, servants, etc.. making his common job and obtaining the "big secrets", and sometimes creating one incident who changes the face of some country, and i suspect that this event ocurr in China, in any way both schools of spies are magnificent and epic.

[Expat]

Originally Posted by ANARCHY_4_ALL

Nice job Expat loving your bios. Any way I could see that master list? Also if you need any help coming up with any of these I would be more than willing to. Can't wait for the other bios I requested. Also due to the recent update what's up with John Dillinger. Also how about Noam Chomsky's father. Um also any other film figure you can think of. I also still want to see a heavily detailed Eisenstein bio or see him in an update rast.

Here's the list I've been collecting (with scientists and military figures removed):

Leni Riefenstahl
Howard Hughes
Bela Lugosi
Conrad Veidt
John Steinbeck
Ernest Hemingway
Buster Keaton
Jack Reed
Iva Toguri
Albert Speer
John Wayne
Ferdinand Braudel
Louis Armstrong
Jack Johnson
Duke Ellington
George Gershwin
Django Reinhardt
Clyde Barrow
John Dillinger
Frank Lloyd Wright
Harry Houdini
Jesse Owens
Jim Thorpe
Paavo Nurmi
Ty Cobb (though with what I have planned for him, Rast may veto it before you get to see it )

I'd like to add more painters/sculptors, as well as more international figures of any kind, if anyone has any ideas. I also have a general interest in what's happened to certain artistic movements, such as Constructivism and Futurism

I know you requested Kropotkin, Anarchy, but I couldn't think of anything to add to Kropotkin. He died pretty close to the POD, though since he probably never returned to Russia and instead died in Britain, it's reasonable to postulate that a certain strain of the SUP follows his teachings.

I would also be happy to work on a follow-up for Eisenstein when a little more time has gone by.

I haven't run the list by Rast either, so some of these may be removed now.

Edit: forgot these two later additions to the list:
Woody Guthrie
Charles Coughlin
and now that I think about it, other religious figures might be fun to play with, given the (usually) abrupt way they come on the scene. Any ideas?

[Expat]

Loved the post on America. That population movement has the potential to catch a lot of people at their most desperate while at their most mobile. This could get extremely messy.

I'm not sure Japan would help assassinate General Li. After all, Chiang's the one that really scares them. I doubt even Chiang's insane enough to send the men who've arrived back to the front at this point, at least not yet. There's a lot of cleaning up to do closer to home.

The African post was great! I do hope those slice of life shots come up now and again. What's the religious picture like in Africa? Is Animism finding a place in the modern world or dying out in the face of Christianity? How about the Muslims of Mittelafrika?

[nerdknight01]

About the USA situation don´t forget that much of that emigrats people are young, wise, active people whith energy, dinamism and life who have the magic and work for change the societies who lived, i suspect that slow emigration are drained the life and energy of the american society.
About Otto´s prisioner history, maybe that tale be really popular in all Europe, and becuase the tecnologies like radio, and movies that tale be knowling in all the world, and inmagine the posibility of that that dramatic tale in the hands of Orson Wells and trasmited to Europe by english radio stations.
Finally in a more optimistic idea, when i read the alternate bio of MAE WEST, i see that in the city of N.Y., have good people with strong souls, maybe when the "american dark era" ocurrs, the salvation´s movement of USA don´t come for Washington or California, but come from the wise, good and fighting people of N.Y., thanks and good luck.

[nerdknight01]

¡ HI ! to Expat: your bio´s list are ¡ EPIC !.
Why not expand that magnificent list with this names:
1.-Charles Chaplin.
2.-Picasso.
3.-Salvador Dali.
4.-Marc Bloch (some visionary french leftist historian, he was killed in ww2 ).
5.-Bruno Traven.
6.-Lázaro Cárdenas (maybe the best 20 century mexican president).
7.-Alfred Hithcock the movie director.
Finnally about Braudel, that french historian maybe be the best historian of the 20 century, please see his wikypedia article, and i wonder how his work has changed because the french defeat in ww1, in any way is a good news know that be a Braudel´s bio.
Thanks and good luck.

[ANARCHY_4_ALL]

Originally Posted by nerdknight01

¡ HI ! to Expat: your bio´s list are ¡ EPIC !.
Why not expand that magnificent list with this names:
1.-Charles Chaplin.
2.-Picasso.
3.-Salvador Dali.
4.-Marc Bloch (some visionary french leftist historian, he was killed in ww2 ).
5.-Bruno Traven.
6.-Lázaro Cárdenas (maybe the best 20 century mexican president).
7.-Alfred Hithcock the movie director.
Finnally about Braudel, that french historian maybe be the best historian of the 20 century, please see his wikypedia article, and i wonder how his work has changed because the french defeat in ww1, in any way is a good news know that be a Braudel´s bio.
Thanks and good luck.

I also would be interested in the Charlie Chaplin bio cause of his inclusion in the Eisenstein bio. But there is a bio a couple of pages back on Hitchcock. And list looks great Expat. I tried sending you a PM sent it twice cause I don't think it sent. Didn't show up in my sent box still isn't so let me know if you got it....

[rast]

Si això és guerra, que mai vingu pau.
(If this is war, let peace never come. – Catalan proverb)

General José Sanjurjo initialed the report he had been reading and put it on the ‘out’ stack. Things looked bleak. The Spanish people in general didn’t support the military junta; the European nations were united in their damnation of it; the forces of intervention were gathering.
Was there any prospect of succeeding? – One could battle it out to the utmost, but there really was no hope of victory.
He had fought in the Spanish-American War and in Spanish Morocco, thus he knew defeat. It was a bitter feeling, something that left you filled with rage and acrimony.
He was no wimp. He had proven that. – Damn, should he go down in history as a beaten general and failed putschist?

Driven by inner unrest, he left his office and walked over to the chapel. Perhaps praying might help to ease his despair. He kneeled down in front of the Blessed Virgin, closed his eyes and prayed for ransom.

After twenty minutes, he rose again, bowed to the crucifix and the Blessed Virgin – and left. One had to accept the inevitable. No cowardice, no despair – he now was ready to die for his conviction.

In the officers’ club he met with Emilio Mola and Francisco Franco. They had an aperitive at the bar, and then went over to the refectory for lunch. Mola appeared to be unpertubed by the situation, while Franco was cursing socialists and communists for the intervention.
Franco had been one of the last Spanish soldiers escaping alive but grievously wounded from Morocco in January 1921. His promise to come back and take revenge never had been fulfilled, making him a bitter and fanatic man.

An orderly interrupted Franco’s rant, handing a message to Mola.
“The Germans have crossed the border and are marching for Madrid. Their tanks are already in Placencia and Cáceres!” exclaimed Mola.
“We must stop them!” shouted Franco. “Send out the Aeronáutica! Blow up the Tajo bridges!”
“Will you take care of this affair, Francisco?” asked Mola.
Franco jumped up, bowed briefly and left, crying for his aide-de-camp.

Mola smiled to Sanjurjo. “This is the beginning of the end.”
“I know. – But why are you so tranquil – if not even happy?”
“I do what my conscience requires me to do, nothing else. – To be frank, I never thought that we could succeed. Once Primo de Rivera and the King had agreed to the Franco-German-Italian initiative, it was clear to me that Europe wouldn’t hold still if we tried to restore dictatorship.”
“So, we fight it out – like true soldiers should, preferring death over disgrace?”
“Yes, that’s what I intend to do.”
“Me too. – I prayed for blessing, and the Virgin told me to be steadfast.”

Mola raised his glass.
“So, let’s perish in honour. Viva España!”
“Viva España!” replied Sanjurjo.

They decided that Mola should go to the north and deal with the French, while Sanjurjo would take over the front opposite the Italians. The interventionists would have to learn that proud Spaniards knew how to fight it out to the hilt.

[Expat]

Desperation may breed inventiveness, especially in Spain where the terrain can be such an effective weapon. What sort of forces are arrayed at this point?

[Expat]

Originally Posted by nerdknight01

¡ HI ! to Expat: your bio´s list are ¡ EPIC !.
Why not expand that magnificent list with this names:
1.-Charles Chaplin.
2.-Picasso.
3.-Salvador Dali.
4.-Marc Bloch (some visionary french leftist historian, he was killed in ww2 ).
5.-Bruno Traven.
6.-Lázaro Cárdenas (maybe the best 20 century mexican president).
7.-Alfred Hithcock the movie director.
Finnally about Braudel, that french historian maybe be the best historian of the 20 century, please see his wikypedia article, and i wonder how his work has changed because the french defeat in ww1, in any way is a good news know that be a Braudel´s bio.
Thanks and good luck.

Consider them included, except Hitchcock (already done) and Cárdenas (Rast is using him already in the current Mexican rebellion.) I'll keep trying to do a group of five or so every week for now. More suggestions are always welcome any time.

[Peabody-Martini]

I wonder how the men commanded by those Spanish generals will react when they discover what their commanders have in mind?

[Archangel]

Nice work, Expat!

Originally Posted by rast

Worry is the interest paid by those who borrow trouble.
(George Washington)

1930 already had been a dry year, despite some blizzards in the winter of 1930-1931; but farmers making a wheat crop had been able to manage, because wheat still had sold well. 1931 had even been drier; and just everbody had been growing wheat.
As a consequence, the price had dropped from sixty-eight cents per bushel in July 1930 to tenty-five cent per bushel in July 1931.
This was ruinous for the farmers; many went broke and were forced to abandon their land. For those still holding out, wheat still was the best choice. But only in September 1931, sufficient humidity had been in the ground for justifying planting the 1932 crop.

The farmers had been one of the groups in the US that had been winners in the Great War. Selling agricultural products to Great Britain and France had been a profitable business. Buying more land and more machinery in order to step up production had appeared to be the logical strategy.The end of the Great War had had dire consequences for US farmers, prices had gone down and the market had stagnated.
With the burst of the war time bubble, land prices had collapsed; saddling many farmers, who had bought land or machinery, with heavy debts.

Now, the wheat fiasco had effectively ruined many farmers. Due to the banking crash, new loans were not available. In addition, the consumption of agricultural products had generally declined due to the high price policy of reflation with parallel deflation. – The crisis affected the whole Midwest.

Sherrif Rosco T. Bannerman of Eddy County, North Dakota, had been watching the ongoing drama with deep concern. Desperate people tended to embrace desperate actions, like bank robbery, kidnapping and blackmail. – Apart from the distressing fact that communities sinking into poverty hardly were capable of paying adequate salaries to a sherrif and his men.

His staff had shrunk to three deputies, his car park had been reduced to one vehicle. His income had shrunk by one third over the last two years, while prices were back at pre-Black Tuesday level...
His wife was constantly complaining that she wasn’t getting enough money, the kids were unhappy because their friends were moving house with their families. – Many families were moving east, where the big armament programmes were offering jobs. Former farmers couldn’t hope for well paid jobs in shipyards, arsenals and aircraft factories, but a humble slot as unskilled worker still was preferable to unemployment and misery.

People were discontent with the situation and calling for a change. The goddamn Democrats had led America into the economic crisis and had lost the Trans-Atlantic War; it was high time that the GOP took over...
The US had to concentrate on the Americas. Let the European morons wallow in socialism, let China bog down in civil war – America for the Americans, no more adventures overseas.

America was a strong and robust country. The current crisis would be handled eventually – and prosperity would come back. Initiave, industry, inventiveness and individualism would lead the US back to the top of the world.
After all, this was God’s Own Country, dammit!

The isolationist wing of the GOP is stronger than OTL (which may mean either the progressive or conservative wings of the time are strong - given TTL Democratic support for laissez-faire politics, it could be the case for the isolationist elements in the Progressive Republicans) The more centrist Republicans of the time will be weaker ITTL.

Keep it up, rast!

[nerdknight01]

¡ Hi ! ¡ EPIC !.
About the spanish soul and character, you are very correct, the mayority (not all) of the spanish population of that era are deep and honest belivers in catolicism, ¡ no ofence please ! here in México a common joke about the spanish are represented a "little fools", very wise and genius in money and buisness, and more seriously very brave and fearless people for war and risk situations. in short, "dummies with money with nobody want for enemy".
After the spanish civil war i belived that the best and real posibility for Spain is a central wright some little conservative goverment who habe buisness with the rest of Europe and have strong tolerance for the oposition, like example they acept unions and social reforms,who not attack the living standar of the elites, or permit the existence and teaching of polemic ideas like evolution, marxism, etc... at "close doors", in short, Spain after the civil war may permit and acept ideas, groups, ideologies who not atack the goverment, the elites, etc.. Spain maybe be a country who almost is acepted in privacy, and for that time and moment is a real progress. Thanks and good luck.

[rast]

Given the same amount of intelligence, timidity will do a thousand times more damage than audacity.
(Carl von Clausewitz)

Colonel Hermann Hoth scanned the horizon with his binoculars. The road to Talavera de la Reina seemed to be open. Aerial reconnaissance had discovered nothing; signals intelligence said that no Spanish military radios were in operation in the area; his binoculars revealed nothing.
Obviously, his force was operating too fast for the Spaniards to cope.

“All right. On we go.” he hummed – and issued a series of orders to his battalion commanders. His Panzer regiment was the spearhead of the German intervention force. Behind him followed the bulk of the forces: Motorised infantry and artillery. This was considered sufficient for the task. The Spanish army wasn’t strong in tanks and artillery; their few tanks were outdated French Renaults of Great War vintage; most of their guns were even older. The planners at Wünsdorf had decided that one Panzer regiment as mailed fist of the intervention force would be enough.

The roar of more than two hundred Panzer engines being started signalled to Hoth that his regiment was getting ready. At the ordered point in time, the first column left the assembly area and turned into the road to Talavera de la Reina. It was the wet season, thus there were no dust trails, only a mass of grey-green vehicles surging forward. Some fighters were circling above, providing aerial cover.

There had been an attack by Spanish bombers yesterday afternoon. Two thirds had been shot down and the rest of them pushed away by the German fighters. Hoth’s air liaison officer had told him that the Spanish air force material was obsolete, but if a bomb hit its target it didn’t matter whether it had been dropped from an obsolete stringbag or a modern all metal monoplane. Thus, the range limitations of the German aircraft were Hoth’s primary margins. Only when the fighter squadrons had leap-frogged forward would he continue his advance.

It was two hours after noon, when the vanguard reached Talavera de la Reina – and ran into determined resistance. There were hills to north and to the south of the town, which sat on the right bank of the Tajo River. Trying to outflank the town to the north, Hoth’s Panzer companies ran into dense minefields and were shelled by artillery. When mine and artillery hits mounted without substantial progress, Hoth stopped the manoeuvre and withdrew the units.

An attack on the town with the Panzer force alone was no option. Hoth had to wait for the infantry and artillery to close up. This would not be the case before tomorrow morning.

The enemy had chosen well his defensive position. River Tajo prevented all flanking attemps to the south. And the narrow valley north of the town had been intensively mined.
Sending out reconnaissance parties into the northern hills, Hoth quickly learned that all roads were blocked by blown up culverts or bridges.

[Jotun]

Quite a long list of deficiencies in the German army to be addressed after the SCW has come to an end or by on-the-spot changes in organization which are then evaluated at home after the fact.

Materiel:
- long range transports and fighters
- paratroops
- self-propelled artillery both AA and "traditional" (for lack of a better term)
- motorized/armored engineers
- close air support

Organisational:
- integrated units (battle groups) consisting of tanks, APCs, SPAAGs etc.

Edit: A field commander inventing the battle group principle on the spot would be the best and most entertaining solution...

[Peabody-Martini]

It seems like a no win situation. The only thing that Hoth can do is hold, wait for the artillery to move up and hope that the infantry doesn't get decimated in taking Talavera.

What could be done is as was discussed before about using attack aircraft as artillery, this is the moment it's needed. By waiting for traditional artillery to move up Hoth is giving initiative to the Spanish.