Stupid Luck and Happenstance, Thread II
- Thread starter Peabody-Martini
- Start date
Most governments really don't care that much as long as the immigrant in question breaks no laws & pays their taxes. The only times they DO care is if said immigrant does break the law (statistically rare), fails to pay said taxes (more common) or there is an upcoming election & the conservative/nationalist political parties are on an immigrant bashing spree especially if immigrants are noticeably different (very common).
I know this to be relatively true, because that's how my step-father entered the country. He disembarked his ship in Bluff, somehow 'forgot' to re-embark, kept his nose clean & paid his taxes, then took advantage of an amnesty in the late 1980s. Helped that he is English & that the Muldoon government in the 1970s was racist as hell.
Waited all weekend for the update. Thanks @Peabody-Martini for making my Sunday night great!
With that reason is why he is in Germany doing a job that Germans won't do.
I wonder how much of his pay is going back to his family and what they are doing with it?
It may be enough to send his younger siblings to school or it may allow for his mother to quit her job in the cannery or still yet allow his family to start their own business, and this why this timeline is great because we can imagine so many different things about the lives of the characters.
So what does Frustin Katherine von Mischief-Blackwood want with Ji?
Well she does have the Russian emigre community wired in to provide her intelligence and now she is in the process of getting other ethnic communities in Berlin wired in to her network and someone like Ji is perfect to start in the Berlin Korean community.
If anybody can understand and appreciate how much power Kat is accumulating in the shadows of Berlin it would be her late father Otto and her late Abwehr handler Johannes Scultz, everybody else would be very frightened about it and should be.
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In this case, I think it really is because her daughter Marie thinks of Ji as a friend, one who helps out her other friends in the shop & with teaching her Korean. He disappeared without warning from Marie's life & she wanted to find and help him. Kat has now found him, now she has to decide if she can help him. There are limits to her power, after all. In a worst case scenario, the best that she might be able to do is make sure no harm comes to him while detained, now a given since she's taken an interest, and enable him to return to Germany at a later date instead of being banned permanently.
Of course, any TRUE (read: smart) noble, especially one post- French, Chinese & Russian revolutions, knows that keeping in touch with & helping out the people is the best way to STAY a noble. And as Fürstin Katherine von Mischner zu Berlin knows her history and that the only real difference between a noble, a politician and a mob boss is the mechanism in which they gained power, she is less likely than most to abuse or take for granted that power.
Part 102, Chapter 1644
Chapter One Thousand Six Hundred Forty-Four
31st July 1964
Munster
There were several armored vehicles parked in the field that Kurt was looking at. The first was yet another update of the legendary StuG that was a continuation of a series of vehicles that many felt went all the way back to the original Raupe Panzers of the First World War. The second was an American M-7A3 Buford that had been captured from the Chinese in Korea. Kurt approved of the choice of name that the Americans had made. Major General John Buford was one of the most important Generals that most people had never heard of. At von Wolvogle’s insistence, Kurt had read many accounts of wars fought around the world from Greeks right up to modern times. The American Civil War held a lot of lessons, both good and bad. The Old Wolf had mentioned Buford by name, saying that the Cavalry Officer who had selected the very ground upon which the later Battle of Gettysburg had been fought had been key to the Union victory there. The third vehicle was the one that Kurt was here to see though. The prototype of the new series of Panzers.
Kurt thought that the prototype was incredible, and it represented everything he had been asking for over the previous years. The Panzer VII Lynx I and II series had an extraordinary run over the previous two decades. However, encounters with American made Buford Tanks in Korea and Intelligence reports of Russian Tanks had revealed that they were fast approaching obsolescence. Now, Kurt was looking at one of the first Panzer VIIIs already designated as the Leopard.
The 12.8 cm main gun of the Jagdpanzer VIII Skorpion had proven successful in Korea, just the open turret that left the crew vulnerable was unpopular for obvious reasons. The Skorpion had only ever been intended as an interim solution and the Leopard mounted the same gun. It remained to be seen if the Heer would field another cannon armed tank destroyer now that interest in guided rockets was growing. The composite armor was a new development, it was both spaced wherever possible and the armor itself was of layers of steel and ceramic on top of the improved anti-spall lining that was already in use in most of the Panzer Corp’s vehicles. A version of it had been put into use in the last variants of the Lynx and had proven itself in Korea. The very latest fire control and optics had been installed.
The rest of Panzer seemed familiar enough. A coaxial 8mm machine gun as well as a 13mm heavy machine gun in a ring mount around the commander’s cupola and another 8mm on a flexible mount in front of the loader’s hatch. The Junkers super-charged diesel engine was a time proven design.
“You’re the expert on Panzers” Hans asked, “So, what’s your opinion?”
Hans von Mischner was the General who had perversely been put in charge of determining the equipment needs of the Panzer Corps in the coming years. Fortunately, Hans had enough sense to admit that he didn’t know enough about Panzers themselves and had asked for Kurt’s help.
“I like it” Kurt said, “You might find that you’ll have a hard time fitting one of them into your office though.”
Hans just smirked at that.
Everyone knew that Hans had a collection of the “toys” in his office, or at least the things that would fit into his office. They represented the various ideas that he had championed. The two big ones that he was pushing were an improved version of the light mortars that had been copied from the Japanese and a better way to incorporate the 40mm grenade launcher that he had personally filched from the Americans. Hans said that giving an infantryman a one-shot weapon was kind of stupid, even if it was one Hell of a shot. It seemed that the Americans were working on the same problem and Hans had been pressing most of the small arms manufacturers to find a solution.
“Beyond you saying that you like it, is there anything more that you could tell me that the Reichstag would buy into?” Hans asked, “Hoping that the unit cost is enough to give them a heart attack is not the best strategy.”
It always came down to the same questions. Could they afford the latest thing? If they could, would the politicians approve the spending? Or finally, would what they already had continue to work for a few more years? If they didn’t have ready answers for those questions, then they had better be prepared to get nothing at all. Kurt remembered that he had once chafed under that system as his superiors explained that to him. Now he was the one who had to do the explaining.
“Sir?” Kurt’s latest Aide asked nervously.
Fähnrich Aaron Kolb was just out of the Academy and Kurt had agreed to take him on as a favor for an old friend. Aaron looked out of place here, the ill-fitting grey coveralls and black beret that the rest of the Brigade had pointedly told him he couldn’t wear the Panzer Corps pin on didn’t help.
“Yes” Kurt replied.
“Your wife called” Aaron said.
“And?” Kurt asked.
Aaron gulped before saying, “She wanted me to tell you that Suse got into another fight, outside of school this time at least. Her words and she would like to know when you will be home to handle it.”
Kurt concealed his aggravation at that latest message.
“Very well” Kurt said, “Go back to what you were doing before Fähnrich Kolb.”
Hans chuckled as Aaron ran off. “Is it me or do they seem to be getting younger and dimmer as time goes on” He said, “Suse Rosa though, she’s a real firecracker.”
There were all kinds of things wrong with what Hans just said. Aaron Kolb was Fritz Kolb’s son, a man who had been on the crew of Kurt’s Panzer in Spain and the Second World War. As for Suse, she was constantly underestimated because of her small size. Her short temper and the fact that she fought incredibly mean swiftly made whoever provoked her regret it. Kurt was caught between being proud that his little girl was a fighter and wanting to brick her into her bedroom until she stopped acting like a child.
31st July 1964
Munster
There were several armored vehicles parked in the field that Kurt was looking at. The first was yet another update of the legendary StuG that was a continuation of a series of vehicles that many felt went all the way back to the original Raupe Panzers of the First World War. The second was an American M-7A3 Buford that had been captured from the Chinese in Korea. Kurt approved of the choice of name that the Americans had made. Major General John Buford was one of the most important Generals that most people had never heard of. At von Wolvogle’s insistence, Kurt had read many accounts of wars fought around the world from Greeks right up to modern times. The American Civil War held a lot of lessons, both good and bad. The Old Wolf had mentioned Buford by name, saying that the Cavalry Officer who had selected the very ground upon which the later Battle of Gettysburg had been fought had been key to the Union victory there. The third vehicle was the one that Kurt was here to see though. The prototype of the new series of Panzers.
Kurt thought that the prototype was incredible, and it represented everything he had been asking for over the previous years. The Panzer VII Lynx I and II series had an extraordinary run over the previous two decades. However, encounters with American made Buford Tanks in Korea and Intelligence reports of Russian Tanks had revealed that they were fast approaching obsolescence. Now, Kurt was looking at one of the first Panzer VIIIs already designated as the Leopard.
The 12.8 cm main gun of the Jagdpanzer VIII Skorpion had proven successful in Korea, just the open turret that left the crew vulnerable was unpopular for obvious reasons. The Skorpion had only ever been intended as an interim solution and the Leopard mounted the same gun. It remained to be seen if the Heer would field another cannon armed tank destroyer now that interest in guided rockets was growing. The composite armor was a new development, it was both spaced wherever possible and the armor itself was of layers of steel and ceramic on top of the improved anti-spall lining that was already in use in most of the Panzer Corp’s vehicles. A version of it had been put into use in the last variants of the Lynx and had proven itself in Korea. The very latest fire control and optics had been installed.
The rest of Panzer seemed familiar enough. A coaxial 8mm machine gun as well as a 13mm heavy machine gun in a ring mount around the commander’s cupola and another 8mm on a flexible mount in front of the loader’s hatch. The Junkers super-charged diesel engine was a time proven design.
“You’re the expert on Panzers” Hans asked, “So, what’s your opinion?”
Hans von Mischner was the General who had perversely been put in charge of determining the equipment needs of the Panzer Corps in the coming years. Fortunately, Hans had enough sense to admit that he didn’t know enough about Panzers themselves and had asked for Kurt’s help.
“I like it” Kurt said, “You might find that you’ll have a hard time fitting one of them into your office though.”
Hans just smirked at that.
Everyone knew that Hans had a collection of the “toys” in his office, or at least the things that would fit into his office. They represented the various ideas that he had championed. The two big ones that he was pushing were an improved version of the light mortars that had been copied from the Japanese and a better way to incorporate the 40mm grenade launcher that he had personally filched from the Americans. Hans said that giving an infantryman a one-shot weapon was kind of stupid, even if it was one Hell of a shot. It seemed that the Americans were working on the same problem and Hans had been pressing most of the small arms manufacturers to find a solution.
“Beyond you saying that you like it, is there anything more that you could tell me that the Reichstag would buy into?” Hans asked, “Hoping that the unit cost is enough to give them a heart attack is not the best strategy.”
It always came down to the same questions. Could they afford the latest thing? If they could, would the politicians approve the spending? Or finally, would what they already had continue to work for a few more years? If they didn’t have ready answers for those questions, then they had better be prepared to get nothing at all. Kurt remembered that he had once chafed under that system as his superiors explained that to him. Now he was the one who had to do the explaining.
“Sir?” Kurt’s latest Aide asked nervously.
Fähnrich Aaron Kolb was just out of the Academy and Kurt had agreed to take him on as a favor for an old friend. Aaron looked out of place here, the ill-fitting grey coveralls and black beret that the rest of the Brigade had pointedly told him he couldn’t wear the Panzer Corps pin on didn’t help.
“Yes” Kurt replied.
“Your wife called” Aaron said.
“And?” Kurt asked.
Aaron gulped before saying, “She wanted me to tell you that Suse got into another fight, outside of school this time at least. Her words and she would like to know when you will be home to handle it.”
Kurt concealed his aggravation at that latest message.
“Very well” Kurt said, “Go back to what you were doing before Fähnrich Kolb.”
Hans chuckled as Aaron ran off. “Is it me or do they seem to be getting younger and dimmer as time goes on” He said, “Suse Rosa though, she’s a real firecracker.”
There were all kinds of things wrong with what Hans just said. Aaron Kolb was Fritz Kolb’s son, a man who had been on the crew of Kurt’s Panzer in Spain and the Second World War. As for Suse, she was constantly underestimated because of her small size. Her short temper and the fact that she fought incredibly mean swiftly made whoever provoked her regret it. Kurt was caught between being proud that his little girl was a fighter and wanting to brick her into her bedroom until she stopped acting like a child.
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Love the update. We have Hans trying to figure out what the Heer needs going forward and Kurt, trying to decide what to do about his daughter while drooling over heavy metal.
As for grenade launchers, do they really need a 40mm?
They could try something like this:
Denel Inkunzi PAW-20 20mm grenade launcher
As for grenade launchers, do they really need a 40mm?
They could try something like this:
Just put Suse Rosa through the Academy when the time comes. The Panzer Corps will definitely welcome one of their own.
Marc A
Marc A
I always like it when Hans and Kurt interact with each other as they both respect each other professionally and where each one comes from in their personal life.
Hans is doing something that is not expected to be done by a General, actually listening to someone who knows what they are talking about.
I like how they both understand that in the end it is budgets that dictate strategy and they have to find a way to justify the upgrades they think that are necessary.
As for the grenade launcher problem either you have more launchers in each squad or go with something like the MM-1.
Suse Rosa needs to find a mentor who will keep her engaged and focused but mostly keep her out of trouble, Aunt Kat may have some ideas.
Hans is doing something that is not expected to be done by a General, actually listening to someone who knows what they are talking about.
I like how they both understand that in the end it is budgets that dictate strategy and they have to find a way to justify the upgrades they think that are necessary.
As for the grenade launcher problem either you have more launchers in each squad or go with something like the MM-1.
Suse Rosa needs to find a mentor who will keep her engaged and focused but mostly keep her out of trouble, Aunt Kat may have some ideas.
i'm mean in the end its authors fiat,
But someone this small would most likely risk servery injuries and chronic health issues doing panzer korps, (edit: ) especially as a woman who got a lot less upper body strength compared to men.
So anyone interested in her well being should be kind of against that.
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Yes, but those crew tend to have the muscle mass for the important tasks.
Being able to lift armored hatches single handedly. Being able to heave shells quickly, being able to sustain awkward positions/apply physical torque during in-field maintenance.
Remember, this is the sixties, the tools they will bring in the field won't be power tools.