Photos from Featherston's Confederacy/ TL-191

The Great Climax - The Second Battle of Bermuda
RAFsDarellsIslandBermudaWW2.jpg

A photo of two Royal Navy flying boats stationed in Bermuda prior to the second battle for the island, circa 1943.

Ever since it's inception in 1775 during the American Revolution, the primary enemy of the United States Navy (otherwise known as the Union Navy) for much of it's wars was the Royal Navy. During these conflict such as the Second Mexican War and the First Great War, the one island that was contested the most between both navies in the Atlantic was Bermuda, which covered an area of 20.5 square miles and was 768 miles away from Cape Hetteras, North Carolina, thus making it's location an ideal one for both sides, even more so during the Second Great War as the island featured an airfield and seaplane base. During the First Great War in 1915, the United States Navy and Marines would launch a successful assault on the British Colony, following the island's fall, the US Navy would use it as a base to impinge on British shipping between the UK and Argentina.
naval-battle-of-casablanca-large-56a61c335f9b58b7d0dff6e1.jpg

A F-3A Katzenjammer fighter preparing to takeoff from the USS Sandwich Islands during the First Battle of Bermuda in August of 1941. During that Battle, the joint Anglo-Confederate forces would trick the local US Navy forces which comprised of the aircraft carriers USS Remembrance and Sandwich Islands, the battlecruiser USS Brandywine, 2 cruisers, and 6 destroyers by forcing them away from Bermuda to pursue a British forces which comprised of the aircraft carriers HMS Ark Royal and Glorious. This move would open the island for it's quick capture by the British forces, and for the next year and a half, would be under their control.

At the start of 1943, US Naval High Command would decide that the time has come to re-take Bermuda, this was in the wake of the Confederate defeat at Pittsburgh. The potential benefits if Bermuda was taken was tempting to the Union Commanders, this would mean an airstrip and a naval base in the Middle of the Atlantic, which could cut the Confederacy off from it's European Allies on the other side of the Atlantic but also open a door to a launch a further offensive into the Confederate held Caribbean Region. For this task, Admiral Bull Halsey was in the charge of the Operation (which was by late February was codenamed Forager), one of Halsey's subordinates during the Operation would be Admiral Raymond Spruance, who was a veteran of the Pacific Northwest Campaign with experience against both the Russian and Japanese Navies. The forces under Halsey's command had included the aircraft carriers USS Enterprise, Yorktown, Ticonderoga, Independence, and St. Lawrence (The carriers Ticonderoga, Independence, and St. Lawrence were brand new carriers in the inventory of the Atlantic Fleet). In addition, the new battleship USS Maine was to be part of the fleet in addition to the older battleships USS Michigan, Washington, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Nevada and Dakota, 7 heavy cruisers, 11 light cruisers, 25 destroyers, and a large number of amphibious assault and support ships.
SCV14.jpg

An overhead photograph of the new aircraft carrier USS Ticonderoga prior to the Second Battle of Bermuda, circa March of 1943.
F6F-3_over_California_1943.jpg

Aboard the carriers Enterprise and Ticonderoga was a new fighter aircraft known as the Grumman F-4A Wildcat, which superior to the previous Katzenjammer in terms of armament and performance.

The middle of February of 1943, Bletchley Park would information about the planned Union attack on Bermuda. As a response to this, the Admiralty would put together a plan to counter to the US Navy's forces. This force which they dubbed as Force H, would be commanded by Admiral James Somerville, who too had significant experience under his belt, notably for commanding the Home Fleet in the Battle of the North Sea during the previous year, which saw the destruction of the German High Seas Fleet as a major fighting force. Somerville's forces would include the aircraft carriers HMS Illustrious, Courageous, Formidable, Victorious, and Ark Royal, the battleships HMS King Edward VIII, Nelson, Albion, Dominion, Queen Elizabeth, Valiant, the Battlecruisers HMS Renown and Repulse, 5 heavy cruisers, 7 light cruisers, and 22 destroyers. Somerville's forces would be augmented by a squadron each of land based fighters and torpedo bombers as well as the light cruiser HMS Ajax and 4 destroyers at Bermuda. After being passed on the information from the British, Jake Featherston would authorize the deployment of the powerful forces of the Confederate Atlantic Fleet to Somerville's command. These units consisted of the battlecruisers CSS Robert E. Lee and Camp Hill, 4 heavy cruisers, 5 light cruisers, and 15 destroyers.
KGVatALgeriaSummer43_80G53002.jpg.731198d1e643578d490a518dbe3eb1a9.jpg

The Battleship HMS King Edward VIII in Portsmouth, which during the Second Battle of Bermuda, would serve as Somerville's flagship.

On March 29th, 1943, the greenlight for Operation Forager would be given, in which Halsey's Second Fleet would depart from Boston, Massachusetts in the direction of Bermuda. One day later, Somerville's Force H would also depart from it's home base of Scapa Flow for Bermuda, thus setting the stage for the upcoming battle. Within two days, the Union Fleet would be within striking distance of Bermuda with it's aircraft, to which Halsey would order an air attack on the British forces on and around the island.
Douglas_SBD_Dauntless_dropping_a_bomb%2C_circa_in_1942.jpg

An SBD Dauntless dropping it's payload during the March 31st Raid on Bermuda. A large force consisting of Dauntlesses, Katzenjammers, and Avengers would assault the British at the island, where they destroy many of the coastal defenses, ground equipment, grounded aircraft, sinking a destroyer and two minelayers, and shooting down two Sea Hurricane fighters in return for the loss of two SBDs and a Katzenjammer.

The next day, the Confederate Naval Forces under Vice Admiral Willis Lee had arrived at Bermuda, in which almost immediately, Lee would order his ships to scout for the enemy fleet as well as setting a small force consisting of the light cruiser CSS Houston and two destroyers to take position for a rendezvous with Force H. On April 2nd, the forward ships of Force H would meet up with these three Confederate warships just 74 miles from Bermuda. By April 4th, the Anglo-Confederate forces would organize their warships in battlegroups and would send these groups out to go hunt down any Union warships that might be in the vicinity of Bermuda. It would not take long before on April 5th, the first naval action of the battle would take place 163 miles north-west of Bermuda where a British battlegroup consisting of the cruisers HMS Dorsetshire, Achilles, Cleopatra, and 5 destroyers would run into a US Navy force consisting of the cruisers USS Minneapolis, Baltimore, Helena, and 6 destroyers. During the two and half hour engagement, the Union ships would sink the destroyer HMS Isis and damage the HMS Achilles and another destroyer while the USS Baltimore and three of their own destroyers sustained damaged themselves. On the same day just 194 miles to the east of that battle, the air groups from the carriers USS Enterprise, Yorktown, and St. Lawrence would attack a British battlegroup that consisted the aircraft carriers HMS Illustrious and Ark Royal, the capital ships HMS King George V and Repulse, 2 cruisers and 6 destroyers. During the engagement inspite of ferocious anti-aircraft fire and the Fulmar fighters, the Union bombers managed to cause severe damage to the Illustrious and the cruiser HMS Edinburgh and would also send the battlecruiser HMS Repulse to the bottom.
Naval-targets-hit-by-Stukas-attacking-HMS-Illustrious-160km-from-Malta-1941-01.jpg

A photo taken from the HMS Arethusa of the aircraft carrier Illustrious being bombed by by USN SBD dive bombers, that caused her immense damage, forcing her to retreat back to England, thus removing her from the battle.
9072b131116ac092ce2297a38da7682e.jpg

A still photo taken aboard the HMS Nelson of the Repulse exploding following a torpedo hit from a TBF Avenger.

On April 6th, the British would launch a reprisal attack on the Union Fleet, where a flight of Blackburn Skua dive bombers and Swordfish torpedo boats backed up by Fulmars would attack Task Force 34 which had the aircraft carriers USS Enterprise and USS Independence. During this action, the British would manage to cause some damage to the Independence and the light cruiser USS Topeka as well as sinking the destroyer USS Hall for the loss of three Swordfish, two Skuas, and a Fulmar. For the next two days, there would be a lull in the fighting, where both sides took the chance to lick their wounds. On April 9th, a scout plane from the heavy cruiser USS Portland would alert Task Force 38 to the presence of a Anglo-Confederate forces consisting of the battleship HMS Valiant, the battlecruisers Renown and Robert E. Lee, the heavy cruiser CSS Virginia, 2 light cruisers, and 5 destroyers that was heading in it's direction. In response, aircraft would be launched from the USS Ticonderoga and the St. Lawrence piecemeal, and within half an hour, would meet with the enemy. In the resulting battle, the Union planes would sink the CSS Virginia and a single Confederate destroyer as well as damaging the cruiser CSS Havana and the destroyer HMS Nubian.

Later that evening, the submarine USS Darter would locate a British battlegroup which was patrolling the the north-eastern approaches to Bermuda which had consisted of some rather tempting targets. After firing a salvo of 6 torpedoes, 5 of them would make of their mark, one each on the destroyer HMS Onslaught and the cruiser HMS Sussex (in which the Onslaught would be sunk). The other three would strike the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, which list heavily to starboard. Later that night, the Ark Royal would capsize and had sunk, which would prove to be a blow to the British forces as they had lost another aircraft carrier. Around the same time that the Ark Royal slipped beneath the waves, another engagement was underway. A Union force consisting of the battleships Oregon and Nevada, the heavy cruiser Lansing, two light cruisers, and 5 destroyers would clash with a British force consisting of the battleship Valiant, the heavy cruisers Suffolk and Ulster, the light cruiser Penelope, and 3 destroyers. In that battle, the Union warships would catch the British by surprise, sinking the battleship Valiant, the cruisers Suffolk and Penelope, and 2 destroyers while only the Lansing and a single destroyer sunk and the light cruiser USS Philadelphia suffered heavy damage. The next morning, the British would get their revenge on the Union aircraft carriers, when a force of Bristol Beaufighters from Bermuda with some support of Fulmars and Skuas from the aircraft carrier Courageous would conduct and attack on Task Force 34, and during the action would destroy the USS Independence as well as damaging the Enterprise.
USS_Princeton_%28CVL-23%29_1944_10_24_1523explosion.jpg

An explosion from a torpedo hit on the USS Independence, which would go down just 15 minutes after this photo was taken, in the foreground is the light cruiser USS San Diego.

On the next day on April 11th, the most significant action of the Battle for Bermuda would take place, when the forward elements of Task Force 27 would run into a Anglo-Confederate force comprising of the battlecruiser CSS Camp Hill, the heavy cruisers HMS Ulster, Hampshire, and CSS Alabama, two light cruisers, and 7 destroyers just 90 miles west of Bermuda. Within 20 minutes, more Union warships, which comprised of the battleships USS Maine, Michigan, Oregon, Dakota, and Nevada, the 2 heavy cruisers, 3 light cruisers, and 5 destroyers. Around the same time, a Radius forces comprising of Somerville's flagship HMS King Edward VIII, the battleships HMS Albion, Dominion, and Queen Elizabeth, the heavy cruiser Dorsetshire, 2 light cruisers, and 4 destroyers would also show up on the scene. The engagement would last for three and a half hours, and it would end with a Union victory, for which the Radius would lose the battleships King Edward VIII and Albion, the heavy cruisers Ulster and Dorsetshire, the light cruisers Savannah, Richmond, Nigeria, and Cleopatra, and 6 destroyers. In return, the US battleships Michigan and Nevada would suffer heavy damage along with the loss of the cruisers USS Chicago and Scranton, and 4 destroyers.
e2986e2f8849a8979835d5750ed8b9ee.jpg

An aerial photograph taken from a TBF Avenger of the battleship HMS Albion detonating following a broadside from the USS Oregon.

For a couple of days after the April 11th action, a couple of actions would be fought, would see the the loss the HMS Courageous, two cruisers, and 4 destroyer for the British, the Union forces losing three more destroyers. On April 15th, the surviving British forces would withdraw from Bermuda and the Confederate warships shortly thereafter. By April 20th, the US Marines would hoist the Stars and Stripes over Bermuda after several days of fighting the British defenders of the island. The Union victory in Bermuda would tip the balance of naval power in the North Atlantic to the favor of the Central Powers. For the Royal Navy, it was a crippling blow that they would not recover from, indeed, Bermuda was the worst defeat in the Royal Navy's history. Half of the British aircraft carriers either sunk or badly damaged, many veteran officers, sailors, and aircrew lost, and one of it's best commanders, Admiral Sommerville, dead.​
 
Last edited:
The Great Climax - The Second Battle of Bermuda
RAFsDarellsIslandBermudaWW2.jpg

A photo of two Royal Navy flying boats stationed in Bermuda prior to the second battle for the island, circa 1943.

Ever since it's inception in 1775 during the American Revolution, the primary enemy of the United States Navy (otherwise known as the Union Navy) for much of it's wars was the Royal Navy. During these conflict such as the Second Mexican War and the First Great War, the one island that was contested the most between both navies in the Atlantic was Bermuda, which covered an area of 20.5 square miles and was 768 miles away from Cape Hetteras, North Carolina, thus making it's location an ideal one for both sides, even more so during the Second Great War as the island featured an airfield and seaplane base. During the First Great War in 1915, the United States Navy and Marines would launch a successful assault on the British Colony, following the island's fall, the US Navy would use it as a base to impinge on British shipping between the UK and Argentina.
dp-the-mighty-uss-ranger-becomes-the-navys-first-purposebuilt-aircraft-carrier-20140226

A F-3A Katzenjammer fighter preparing to takeoff from the USS Sandwich Islands during the First Battle of Bermuda in August of 1941. During that Battle, the joint Anglo-Confederate forces would trick the local US Navy forces which comprised of the aircraft carriers USS Remembrance and Sandwich Islands, the battlecruiser USS Brandywine, 2 cruisers, and 6 destroyers by forcing them away from Bermuda to pursue a British forces which comprised of the aircraft carriers HMS Ark Royal and Glorious. This move would open the island for it's quick capture by the British forces, and for the next year and a half, would be under their control.

At the start of 1943, US Naval High Command would decide that the time has come to re-take Bermuda, this was in the wake of the Confederate defeat at Pittsburgh. The potential benefits if Bermuda was taken was tempting to the Union Commanders, this would mean an airstrip and a naval base in the Middle of the Atlantic, which could cut the Confederacy off from it's European Allies on the other side of the Atlantic but also open a door to a launch a further offensive into the Confederate held Caribbean Region. For this task, Admiral Bull Halsey was in the charge of the Operation (which was by late February was codenamed Forager), one of Halsey's subordinates during the Operation would be Admiral Raymond Spruance, who was a veteran of the Pacific Northwest Campaign with experience against both the Russian and Japanese Navies. The forces under Halsey's command had included the aircraft carriers USS Enterprise, Yorktown, Ticonderoga, Independence, and St. Lawrence (The carriers Ticonderoga, Independence, and St. Lawrence were brand new carriers in the inventory of the Atlantic Fleet). In addition, the new battleship USS Maine was to be part of the fleet in addition to the older battleships USS Michigan, Washington, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Nevada and Dakota, 7 heavy cruisers, 11 light cruisers, 25 destroyers, and a large number of amphibious assault and support ships.
SCV14.jpg

An overhead photograph of the new aircraft carrier USS Ticonderoga prior to the Second Battle of Bermuda, circa March of 1943.
F6F-3_over_California_1943.jpg

Aboard the carriers Enterprise and Ticonderoga was a new fighter aircraft known as the Grumman F-4A Wildcat, which superior to the previous Katzenjammer in terms of armament and performance.

The middle of February of 1943, Bletchley Park would information about the planned Union attack on Bermuda. As a response to this, the Admiralty would put together a plan to counter to the US Navy's forces. This force which they dubbed as Force H, would be commanded by Admiral James Somerville, who too had significant experience under his belt, notably for commanding the Home Fleet in the Battle of the North Sea during the previous year, which saw the destruction of the German High Seas Fleet as a major fighting force. Somerville's forces would include the aircraft carriers HMS Illustrious, Courageous, Formidable, Victorious, and Ark Royal, the battleships HMS King Edward VIII, King George V, Albion, Dominion, Queen Elizabeth, Valiant, the Battlecruisers HMS Renown and Repulse, 5 heavy cruisers, 7 light cruisers, and 22 destroyers. Somerville's forces would be augmented by a squadron each of land based fighters and torpedo bombers as well as the light cruiser HMS Ajax and 4 destroyers at Bermuda. After being passed on the information from the British, Jake Featherston would authorize the deployment of the powerful forces of the Confederate Atlantic Fleet to Somerville's command. These units consisted of the battlecruisers CSS Robert E. Lee and Camp Hill, 4 heavy cruisers, 5 light cruisers, and 15 destroyers.
KGVatALgeriaSummer43_80G53002.jpg.731198d1e643578d490a518dbe3eb1a9.jpg

The Battleship HMS King Edward VIII in Portsmouth, which during the Second Battle of Bermuda, would serve as Somerville's flagship.

On March 29th, 1943, the greenlight for Operation Forager would be given, in which Halsey's Second Fleet would depart from Boston, Massachusetts in the direction of Bermuda. One day later, Somerville's Force H would also depart from it's home base of Scapa Flow for Bermuda, thus setting the stage for the upcoming battle. Within two days, the Union Fleet would be within striking distance of Bermuda with it's aircraft, to which Halsey would order an air attack on the British forces on and around the island.
Douglas_SBD_Dauntless_dropping_a_bomb%2C_circa_in_1942.jpg

An SBD Dauntless dropping it's payload during the March 31st Raid on Bermuda. A large force consisting of Dauntlesses, Katzenjammers, and Avengers would assault the British at the island, where they destroy many of the coastal defenses, ground equipment, grounded aircraft, sinking a destroyer and two minelayers, and shooting down two Sea Hurricane fighters in return for the loss of two SBDs and a Katzenjammer.

The next day, the Confederate Naval Forces under Vice Admiral Willis Lee had arrived at Bermuda, in which almost immediately, Lee would order his ships to scout for the enemy fleet as well as setting a small force consisting of the light cruiser CSS Houston and two destroyers to take position for a rendezvous with Force H. On April 2nd, the forward ships of Force H would meet up with these three Confederate warships just 74 miles from Bermuda. By April 4th, the Anglo-Confederate forces would organize their warships in battlegroups and would send these groups out to go hunt down any Union warships that might be in the vicinity of Bermuda. It would not take long before on April 5th, the first naval action of the battle would take place 163 miles north-west of Bermuda where a British battlegroup consisting of the cruisers HMS Dorsetshire, Orion, Cleopatra, and 5 destroyers would run into a US Navy force consisting of the cruisers USS Minneapolis, Baltimore, Helena, and 6 destroyers. During the two and half hour engagement, the Union ships would sink the destroyer HMS Isis and damage the HMS Orion and another destroyer while the USS Baltimore and three of their own destroyers sustained damaged themselves. On the same day just 194 miles to the east of that battle, the air groups from the carriers USS Enterprise, Yorktown, and St. Lawrence would attack a British battlegroup that consisted the aircraft carriers HMS Illustrious and Ark Royal, the capital ships HMS King George V and Repulse, 2 cruisers and 6 destroyers. During the engagement inspite of ferocious anti-aircraft fire and the Fulmar fighters, the Union bombers managed to cause severe damage to the Illustrious and the cruiser HMS Edinburgh and would also send the battlecruiser HMS Repulse to the bottom.
Naval-targets-hit-by-Stukas-attacking-HMS-Illustrious-160km-from-Malta-1941-01.jpg

A photo taken from the HMS Arethusa of the aircraft carrier Illustrious being bombed by by USN SBD dive bombers, that caused her immense damage, forcing her to retreat back to England, thus removing her from the battle.
9072b131116ac092ce2297a38da7682e.jpg

A still photo taken aboard the HMS King George V of the Repulse exploding following a torpedo hit from a TBF Avenger.

On April 6th, the British would launch a reprisal attack on the Union Fleet, where a flight of Blackburn Skua dive bombers and Swordfish torpedo boats backed up by Fulmars would attack Task Force 34 which had the aircraft carriers USS Enterprise and USS Independence. During this action, the British would manage to cause some damage to the Independence and the light cruiser USS Topeka as well as sinking the destroyer USS Hall for the loss of three Swordfish, two Skuas, and a Fulmar. For the next two days, there would be a lull in the fighting, where both sides took the chance to lick their wounds. On April 9th, a scout plane from the heavy cruiser USS Portland would alert Task Force 38 to the presence of a Anglo-Confederate forces consisting of the battleship HMS Valiant, the battlecruisers Renown and Robert E. Lee, the heavy cruiser CSS Virginia, 2 light cruisers, and 5 destroyers that was heading in it's direction. In response, aircraft would be launched from the USS Ticonderoga and the St. Lawrence piecemeal, and within half an hour, would meet with the enemy. In the resulting battle, the Union planes would sink the CSS Virginia and a single Confederate destroyer as well as damaging the cruiser CSS Havana and the destroyer HMS Nubian.

Later that evening, the submarine USS Darter would locate a British battlegroup which was patrolling the the north-eastern approaches to Bermuda which had consisted of some rather tempting targets. After firing a salvo of 6 torpedoes, 5 of them would make of their mark, one each on the destroyer HMS Onslaught and the cruiser HMS Sussex (in which the Onslaught would be sunk). The other three would strike the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, which list heavily to starboard. Later that night, the Ark Royal would capsize and had sunk, which would prove to be a blow to the British forces as they had lost another aircraft carrier. Around the same time that the Ark Royal slipped beneath the waves, another engagement was underway. A Union force consisting of the battleships Oregon and Nevada, the heavy cruiser Lansing, two light cruisers, and 5 destroyers would clash with a British force consisting of the battleship Valiant, the heavy cruisers Suffolk and Ulster, the light cruiser Penelope, and 3 destroyers. In that battle, the Union warships would catch the British by surprise, sinking the battleship Valiant, the cruisers Suffolk and Penelope, and 2 destroyers while only the Lansing and a single destroyer sunk and the light cruiser USS Philadelphia suffered heavy damage. The next morning, the British would get their revenge on the Union aircraft carriers, when a force of Bristol Beaufighters from Bermuda with some support of Fulmars and Skuas from the aircraft carrier Courageous would conduct and attack on Task Force 34, and during the action would destroy the USS Independence as well as damaging the Enterprise.
USS_Princeton_%28CVL-23%29_1944_10_24_1523explosion.jpg

An explosion from a torpedo hit on the USS Independence, which would go down just 15 minutes after this photo was taken, in the foreground is the light cruiser USS San Diego.

On the next day on April 11th, the most significant action of the Battle for Bermuda would take place, when the forward elements of Task Force 27 would run into a Anglo-Confederate force comprising of the battlecruiser CSS Camp Hill, the heavy cruisers HMS Ulster, Hampshire, and CSS Alabama, two light cruisers, and 7 destroyers just 90 miles west of Bermuda. Within 20 minutes, more Union warships, which comprised of the battleships USS Maine, Michigan, Oregon, Dakota, and Nevada, the 2 heavy cruisers, 3 light cruisers, and 5 destroyers. Around the same time, a Radius forces comprising of Somerville's flagship HMS King Edward VIII, the battleships HMS Albion, Dominion, and Queen Elizabeth, the heavy cruiser Dorsetshire, 2 light cruisers, and 4 destroyers would also show up on the scene. The engagement would last for three and a half hours, and it would end with a Union victory, for which the Radius would lose the battleships King Edward VIII and Albion, the heavy cruisers Ulster and Dorsetshire, the light cruisers Savannah, Richmond, Nigeria, and Cleopatra, and 6 destroyers. In return, the US battleships Michigan and Nevada would suffer heavy damage along with the loss of the cruisers USS Chicago and Scranton, and 4 destroyers.
e2986e2f8849a8979835d5750ed8b9ee.jpg

An aerial photograph taken from a TBF Avenger of the battleship HMS Albion detonating following a broadside from the USS Oregon.

For a couple of days after the April 11th action, a couple of actions would be fought, would see the the loss the HMS Courageous, two cruisers, and 4 destroyer for the British, the Union forces losing three more destroyers. On April 15th, the surviving British forces would withdraw from Bermuda and the Confederate warships shortly thereafter. By April 20th, the US Marines would hoist the Stars and Stripes over Bermuda after several days of fighting the British defenders of the island.​
Finally, this came! It was actually exciting to read.
 
1616273170730.png

a CSAF Taylorcraft CA-52 "Alligator" transport plane, easily recognized by its 3-engine configuration, approaches Allegheny Field, a former US Army Air Force base that served as the CSA's primary lifeline for supplies during the Battle of Pittsburgh. Contrary to the popular presentation of this attempt, the Airlift was never intended to be able to supply the Army of Tennessee forces surrounded in the union pocket indefinitely: rather, it was intended from the start as a temporary solution, with CSAF commander Gen. Ira Eaker stating from the start that the CSAF would only be able to supply the absolute minimum of supplies to General Patton's beleaguered forces.
Likewise contrary to the common portrayal of this decision as more of his pig-headed stubbornness, Jake Featherston intended the Airlift only to keep the Army of Tennessee afloat long enough for a breakthrough force to pierce the Yankee lines and reopen the supply corridor to the city.

Of course, in the end that relief never came, and Featherston's insistence that the AoT made no attempt to break OUT of the city didn't help matters.
 
Last edited:
Confederate Soldiers from the remnants of the Army of Northern Virginia during the final days of the Battle of Richmond; March, 1944. Although men like these, along with elements of the Freedom Party Guards, fought tenaciously, they were overwhelmed by the numbers from U.S. Army Group East.

W-94th-Div-Vet-5-HT-Feb19.jpg
 

Deleted member 77383

Anyone have ideas for a Waco analogue? Please do let me know if you’ve any.
 

selma_march_cover.jpg.jpe


a photograph of the "Remembrance Day March" of 1949, where the traditional marking of Remembrance Day took on a new Meaning: No longer was the day about the USA getting its due revenge on the Confederacy. That glorious day had, after 80 years, finally come, and long overdue.

But as the Black community took stock of its position in the wake of the Confederate Population Reduction, they quickly came to realize that they could not stand by and let those horrors slip into the background of History. A form of equality had come, if for no other reason than that the US military authorities did not want to seem to be favoring the ex-CSA, and indeed many of the once all-but-law restrictions on Blacks, North and South, had fallen by the wayside, but the survivors knew more had to be done.
a Story 400 years in the making had to be told.

The Black Community was under no illusions that the white leaders of the north truly cared about the horrors of the PR program: oh, certainly, figures like Flora Hamburger were properly disgusted and horrified, and had screamed about places like Camp Dependable from the rooftops when they had learned of them. But it didn't take an analytical genius to see that the US could have done a great deal more a great deal earlier, as Featherston had made his position on the blacks quite clear for decades.

"Say what you want 'bout Featherston, he certainly weren't no liar: he said he was gunna get rid of all the black folks in the CSA, and then he went n' did it. Almost pulled it off, too, considering there ain't too many black folks left in what was the CSA."
-Cassius Madison, Founder of the NAAACP and Featherston's executioner.

The Black community found a sympathetic ear in those same voices who had tried to raise cain about the PR camps from the start: namely, Flora Blackford and the Socialist Party. Spiritually aligned with the guttering embers of the 1st Great War's Red Rebellion and morally aligned with the cause of uplifting the Blacks after the 2nd, Blackford and her contemporaries arranged for the 1949 Remembrance Day parade to be given a new meaning: Remembering the Atrocities inflicted on the blacks, and the cruelty of the society that created them. No more would the day be one of stoking the feelings of revenge: now the Day was to truly remember the depths of their enemies' cruelty, and ensure that such an order never rose in North America again.

"The Confederates-Former Confederates- can go on all they like about how their rebellion was over "Their Rights" and "defending their institutions" but the fact of the matter is, in 1861, they had the exact same rights as their contemporaries in the North, and the only "institution" of theirs that was under any threat was that of Slavery. If all their cause was based on was the enslavement of other human beings, how can they claim any position of morality? How can they claim their rebellion was, in ANY WAY, righteous? How can they proclaim they fought for "freedom" when their "freedom" came only through the will of Featherston and their Skin color? "
-Flora Blackford, Socialist Congresswoman for New York and former First Lady of the United States.

US educational texts, in a new reprinting ordered by the US government, began to include teachings on the legacy of Slavery in the Americas, as well as first-hand accounts by black men and women who managed to escape the South before the War of Secession. Figures like Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass entered the common knowledge of the United States public. Even Abraham Lincoln's reputation began to receive something of a reevaluation.


 
I finished reading through these works and am amazed and praise all those who contribute. I do have a question though. Why do so many posts seem to indicate neo-freedmites are around long after the war. The US almost certainly would have labeled such groups as terriorists and treated them as such.
 
I finished reading through these works and am amazed and praise all those who contribute. I do have a question though. Why do so many posts seem to indicate neo-freedmites are around long after the war. The US almost certainly would have labeled such groups as terriorists and treated them as such.
I suppose the same reason why there are Neo-nazis in Germany. It's a group that you can't really destroy since they base themselves off of an idea, and ideas are something that you can't destroy, no matter how much you try to suppress it.
 
I suppose the same reason why there are Neo-nazis in Germany. It's a group that you can't really destroy since they base themselves off of an idea, and ideas are something that you can't destroy, no matter how much you try to suppress it.
That makes sense but given the fact that the U.S was already commiting atrocities and shooting civilians they wouldn't hesitate to kill those associated with that group. Also wouldn't the likely long occupation lead to a de-Freedomite policy of sorts? There was an interesting TL-191 thread called After the End that suggested one way the US was going to keep these places under control was to have military occupation and encouraging new immigrants to move to the South to settle the region.
 
I finished reading through these works and am amazed and praise all those who contribute. I do have a question though. Why do so many posts seem to indicate neo-freedmites are around long after the war. The US almost certainly would have labeled such groups as terriorists and treated them as such.

Somethings are just too hard to kill
 
qr6kbw1gfiq51.jpg

Tugboats alongside the captured Confederate battlecruiser USS Camp Hill in New York City, circa September of 1944. Following her surrender at Tampa Bay alongside with the remnants of the Confederate Navy, the Camp Hill alongside other former Confederate warships would be taken to the Brooklyn Naval Yard, where they and their components would be examined and cataloged, and some would even be removed from the ships for further study onshore. During this time, the ship would be commissioned into the US Navy as USS Camp Hill, with the hull number of IX-300. In August of 1945, the battlecruiser alongside other former Confederate warships would be used in Operation Crossroads at Vairaatea Atoll (formerly part of the French Empire) in the South Pacific, which they and old some Union warships would be used for target practice for a pair of superbombs. In the days following the Baker test, the Camp Hill, having sustained heavy damage, would take on a severe list, and on the night of 29/30th of August, the ship would capsize.
 
Last edited:
That makes sense but given the fact that the U.S was already commiting atrocities and shooting civilians they wouldn't hesitate to kill those associated with that group. Also wouldn't the likely long occupation lead to a de-Freedomite policy of sorts? There was an interesting TL-191 thread called After the End that suggested one way the US was going to keep these places under control was to have military occupation and encouraging new immigrants to move to the South to settle the region.
Military occupation doesn't completely remove a belief. Reconstruction in the South didn't work, the occupation of Germany didn't work either. All you can do is try to change a majority of the population's beliefs and hope that you don't have to deal with it again 20 years down the line.
 
Military occupation doesn't completely remove a belief. Reconstruction in the South didn't work, the occupation of Germany didn't work either. All you can do is try to change a majority of the population's beliefs and hope that you don't have to deal with it again 20 years down the line.
That's true, but reconstruction didn't make the effort to do that with all the active resistance and ended after only a decade. In Germany, the need for a long strong ally against Communism ensured that they didn't go too deep. The Soviets weren't any better of course but in this case neither side cared since as long as the government didn't officially support those ideas they would be fine. The Confederacy on the other hand is going to be annexed and become future citizens and influence the US which would be motivation enough to ensure they don't bring down the nation this way.
 
That's true, but reconstruction didn't make the effort to do that with all the active resistance and ended after only a decade. In Germany, the need for a long strong ally against Communism ensured that they didn't go too deep. The Soviets weren't any better of course but in this case neither side cared since as long as the government didn't officially support those ideas they would be fine. The Confederacy on the other hand is going to be annexed and become future citizens and influence the US which would be motivation enough to ensure they don't bring down the nation this way.
The more you try to suppress something, the more it fights back. That's just how human nature is.

Remember, the US was still worried about what Japan would do, and they were suspicious about the relationship between themselves and Germany. The most that the US Occupation and Integration Authority could realistically hope for was turn the Freedom Party, Tin Hats, Redemption League, Red-Fighters, Tennessee Volunteers, and Knights of the Grey into fringe groups that had little public support.
 
Probably around the same amount that they made OTL.
Not sure about that. I always had the feeling that the main focus for the US was the Confederacy, and carriers would not be that useful against them, especially when land-based aircraft and bombers are better protected and can carry a larger payload. They probably just had enough to protect the mainland and the Sandwich Islands and that was it.

Also, there wasn't a large focus on Japan, so there wasn't a need for carrier to support an island hopping campaign.
 
Not sure about that. I always had the feeling that the main focus for the US was the Confederacy, and carriers would not be that useful against them, especially when land-based aircraft and bombers are better protected and can carry a larger payload. They probably just had enough to protect the mainland and the Sandwich Islands and that was it.

Also, there wasn't a large focus on Japan, so there wasn't a need for carrier to support an island hopping campaign.
Right, so that means less would be produced, but still, I can still see a handful of fleet carriers being built during the war, especially to replace lost ships.
 
Top