And long before that Corunna was a success, this time it was the Spaniards who held on while the British evacuated.
A Better Rifle at Halloween
- Thread starter diesal
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- britwank rifles ww1 different
Unionist to gun smuggler. And his son was President. An interesting family.
Having Childers senior, Robert Erskine, involved in a RN plan to invade Germany via the Frisian Islands is historical.
He smuggled guns to the Irish Volunteers who were Dublin based nationalists. The guns ended up being used in the riding of 1916, he was Irish Nationalist.
Sorry I wasn't clear, I meant his political stance changed from being a moderate Unionist to becoming one of the main participants in the Howth gun-running.
Rosa Plans
27th September 1914, Berlin.
The socialist agitator Rosa Luxembourg was meeting with a group of her closest allies to discuss the war its progress and how best to respond. She was nominally a member of the Social Democratic Party but with the official party supporting the war she was moving away from it. She and her nearest comrades had denounced the Kaiser’s war, they had called it a capitalist sham to enrich the blood suckers of international finance, while the poor bleed. The recent disasters suffered by the army in both Russia and on the Franco-Belgian front had swept the capital.
The Army officers in their glittering braid who had so often lorded it over the ordinary German subjects now looked downcast, their morale impacted by the stunning series of defeats. The bourgeoisie plump in their exploitation of the workers likewise were beginning to suffer, their marks drawn from the toil of honest workers availed them less. The Royal Navies blockade was already biting hard on imports, no shipping was making it past the minefields and the roving patrols of British destroyers. Some goods were being imported via Sweden, Denmark, and the Netherlands but only a little and what little was making it to Germany was prohibitively expensive. Oranges and Bananas had disappeared from the shops and even Danish bacon was becoming harder to access.
Whilst she was adamantly opposed to the capitalist system, Rosa Luxembourg had spent some considerable time studying its workings. She was fascinated in many ways by its flexibility and its ability to enable trade between disparate peoples who would never meet but linked by a chain of middlemen. The desire for a cup of coffee in Berlin would be met by a farm in Tanginika, heedless of course to the cost for the workers and peasants exploited by those same middlemen along the way. She understood the impact that the blockade, the defeats and the consequential plunge in the value of the German Mark would cause financial chaos in Germany and Austro-Hungary.
The Socialists would be tarred with the support for the war, her groups refusal to support it was a point in their favour. As the war which was already touching families across Germany worsened, how to take advantage of the wars hard hand was therefore subject of much of her thinking and planning. From all she could see the suffering would only increase, especially as winter came. The economic logic of the war would require the total subordination of the German State to the war, that subordination would entail much misery and as the people suffered, they could be brought to think of a new way to order society. One in which they were not mere serfs to be exploited, sent out to die in battle, labour endlessly in the fields for the enrichment of another, or starve in a tenement to let others gorge themselves on the fruit of their labour.
She would continue to advocate patience to her comrades, as the war went on the inherent corruption in the German state would be revealed, ripening with every dead soldier and starving civilian. The ties of loyalty to Kaiser and Empire would be weakened by defeat and demoralisation, when those ties finally snapped then her people would be positioned to act. The other advantage of not being overly active yet, was it reduced the risk of the secret police infiltrating her group and disrupting their plans.
The socialist agitator Rosa Luxembourg was meeting with a group of her closest allies to discuss the war its progress and how best to respond. She was nominally a member of the Social Democratic Party but with the official party supporting the war she was moving away from it. She and her nearest comrades had denounced the Kaiser’s war, they had called it a capitalist sham to enrich the blood suckers of international finance, while the poor bleed. The recent disasters suffered by the army in both Russia and on the Franco-Belgian front had swept the capital.
The Army officers in their glittering braid who had so often lorded it over the ordinary German subjects now looked downcast, their morale impacted by the stunning series of defeats. The bourgeoisie plump in their exploitation of the workers likewise were beginning to suffer, their marks drawn from the toil of honest workers availed them less. The Royal Navies blockade was already biting hard on imports, no shipping was making it past the minefields and the roving patrols of British destroyers. Some goods were being imported via Sweden, Denmark, and the Netherlands but only a little and what little was making it to Germany was prohibitively expensive. Oranges and Bananas had disappeared from the shops and even Danish bacon was becoming harder to access.
Whilst she was adamantly opposed to the capitalist system, Rosa Luxembourg had spent some considerable time studying its workings. She was fascinated in many ways by its flexibility and its ability to enable trade between disparate peoples who would never meet but linked by a chain of middlemen. The desire for a cup of coffee in Berlin would be met by a farm in Tanginika, heedless of course to the cost for the workers and peasants exploited by those same middlemen along the way. She understood the impact that the blockade, the defeats and the consequential plunge in the value of the German Mark would cause financial chaos in Germany and Austro-Hungary.
The Socialists would be tarred with the support for the war, her groups refusal to support it was a point in their favour. As the war which was already touching families across Germany worsened, how to take advantage of the wars hard hand was therefore subject of much of her thinking and planning. From all she could see the suffering would only increase, especially as winter came. The economic logic of the war would require the total subordination of the German State to the war, that subordination would entail much misery and as the people suffered, they could be brought to think of a new way to order society. One in which they were not mere serfs to be exploited, sent out to die in battle, labour endlessly in the fields for the enrichment of another, or starve in a tenement to let others gorge themselves on the fruit of their labour.
She would continue to advocate patience to her comrades, as the war went on the inherent corruption in the German state would be revealed, ripening with every dead soldier and starving civilian. The ties of loyalty to Kaiser and Empire would be weakened by defeat and demoralisation, when those ties finally snapped then her people would be positioned to act. The other advantage of not being overly active yet, was it reduced the risk of the secret police infiltrating her group and disrupting their plans.
Yes, I have been flat out working on a number of other projects so my writing has taken a back seat.
The Germans will definitely not fall before halloween, there is a long way to go before the British are marching down the Unter den Linden.
von Boehn in Brussels
27th September 1914, Brussels
General von Boehn was pondering his increasingly tenuous position, he was the commander of the Brussels Garrison, his parent army had already surrendered to the British and now his Corps was threatened from both the north and the west. He had already taken control of the remaining elements of IIIr Corps which had retreated towards Brussels likewise the commander of IVr Corps was accepting his orders as well. The Belgian Telegraph and telephone system had been repaired since the invasion and that and dispatch riders were tying the three corps together fairly effectively.
Boehn’s forces were unlikely to be able to remain in position for long, the Belgians had cut the main railway line between Brussels and Louvain and thus his supply options limited not as badly as those faced by Von Kluck in the week just passed but unenviable none the less. There was a single narrow gauge line which connected Louvain and Brussels, along with several single track lines which spurred off from the Louvain-Liege line which then joined the Brussels-Namur line. It might be possible to set up a circular route connecting Liege to Brussels using these single tracked lines but it would add significant complexity to his logistical position.
The options facing von Boehn were simple, remain in place and hope that he could hold Brussels against the British whilst using the forces available to him to fend of the Belgians to the north whilst Second Army parried the French. Or retire towards Louvain giving his forces secure supply lines but conceding even more ground to the Entente forces. His signals to General von Falkenhayn, who had succeeded von Moltke after the later had had the temerity to die of a stroke in the Kaisers presence, were not providing clear directions, vacillation seemed to be the order of the day at OHL. But whatever happened a decision would be needed soon before the next Entente blow fell.
General von Boehn was pondering his increasingly tenuous position, he was the commander of the Brussels Garrison, his parent army had already surrendered to the British and now his Corps was threatened from both the north and the west. He had already taken control of the remaining elements of IIIr Corps which had retreated towards Brussels likewise the commander of IVr Corps was accepting his orders as well. The Belgian Telegraph and telephone system had been repaired since the invasion and that and dispatch riders were tying the three corps together fairly effectively.
Boehn’s forces were unlikely to be able to remain in position for long, the Belgians had cut the main railway line between Brussels and Louvain and thus his supply options limited not as badly as those faced by Von Kluck in the week just passed but unenviable none the less. There was a single narrow gauge line which connected Louvain and Brussels, along with several single track lines which spurred off from the Louvain-Liege line which then joined the Brussels-Namur line. It might be possible to set up a circular route connecting Liege to Brussels using these single tracked lines but it would add significant complexity to his logistical position.
The options facing von Boehn were simple, remain in place and hope that he could hold Brussels against the British whilst using the forces available to him to fend of the Belgians to the north whilst Second Army parried the French. Or retire towards Louvain giving his forces secure supply lines but conceding even more ground to the Entente forces. His signals to General von Falkenhayn, who had succeeded von Moltke after the later had had the temerity to die of a stroke in the Kaisers presence, were not providing clear directions, vacillation seemed to be the order of the day at OHL. But whatever happened a decision would be needed soon before the next Entente blow fell.
A Cardinal Returns
27th September 1914, Mechelen
Cardinal Désiré-Joseph Mercier had returned to the Archbishop’s palace just days earlier, with the recapture of Mechelen. St Rumbold’s the Cathedral Church had been badly damaged during the German attacks and that along with the burning of the library of the University of Louvain had increased the Archbishop’s anger towards the German Army. He had already sent a detailed report to the Vatican listing the destruction and rapine which had been visited on his city and his country. He hoped this report would stir action from the new pontiff, Pius XI was mainly concerned with continuing his predecessor’s campaign against modernism, but as the horrors of the war increased it was likely that the Pope would be forced to take a side. The Pope had served previously as Papal Nuncio to Mexico and he had been witness to the start of the Mexican Revolution, a revolution whose bloody horror seemed only to be growing with massacre and counter massacre. The Cardinal hoped that he could be convinced push hard for peace between the great powers of Europe before everything was consumed in flames.
Cardinal Mercer sat down with his secretary to write a pastoral letter to all the Parishes of Belgium. In it he would call on the people of Belgium to resist the invader. By passive resistance if living under German rule and if living in free Belgium to support the war effort and their fellow Belgians with all the means available to them. He praised the support of the French, Russian and British forces in fighting against the common foe and called for Germany and Austria to recognise that the war was lost and that they should seek a negotiated peace.
Cardinal Désiré-Joseph Mercier had returned to the Archbishop’s palace just days earlier, with the recapture of Mechelen. St Rumbold’s the Cathedral Church had been badly damaged during the German attacks and that along with the burning of the library of the University of Louvain had increased the Archbishop’s anger towards the German Army. He had already sent a detailed report to the Vatican listing the destruction and rapine which had been visited on his city and his country. He hoped this report would stir action from the new pontiff, Pius XI was mainly concerned with continuing his predecessor’s campaign against modernism, but as the horrors of the war increased it was likely that the Pope would be forced to take a side. The Pope had served previously as Papal Nuncio to Mexico and he had been witness to the start of the Mexican Revolution, a revolution whose bloody horror seemed only to be growing with massacre and counter massacre. The Cardinal hoped that he could be convinced push hard for peace between the great powers of Europe before everything was consumed in flames.
Cardinal Mercer sat down with his secretary to write a pastoral letter to all the Parishes of Belgium. In it he would call on the people of Belgium to resist the invader. By passive resistance if living under German rule and if living in free Belgium to support the war effort and their fellow Belgians with all the means available to them. He praised the support of the French, Russian and British forces in fighting against the common foe and called for Germany and Austria to recognise that the war was lost and that they should seek a negotiated peace.
He really is between a rock and a hard place. The militarily sensible choice is to pull back to a secure position and dig in, however giving up an enemies capital city is probably unacceptable to Berlin.
The slightly greater success of the Belgians at liege led Cardinal Mercier to support Domenico Serafini who took the name Pius XI.
Great save!
BTW: ISTM that Mercier explicitly taking sides in the war is pushing the envelope. Also, could he or would he direct Belgian priests to withhold the sacraments from German soldiers?
Mercier was seen in OTL as strongly resisting the Germans, he is doing much the same here, but with a different pope things may be a little different. But as Stalin said, "how many divisions has the Pope"