IMHO what is going on here is operating on the idea that getting capitalist countries to fight each other can only advance the cause of the communist revolution. Having a battle on a land frontier is more distracting to Germany so a Holland allied with the UK is a "good" thing for the USSR.
A New Balance
- Thread starter Jim Smitty
- Start date
I agree with Sloreck, The Russians are trying to tie-down Germany on other fronts so that they cant concentrate on the Russian front.
Not a bad strategy but suspect it's going to bite them in the ass if they keep it up.
Action Reaction
Berlin
Schloss Charlottenburg
July 16 1939
Kaiser Wilhelm the Third was making his way to one of the many rooms in the Schloss Charlottenburg. Like in any war there were many crisis, but this one demanded his personal attention. When it demanded his personal attention, it was bad. The thing of it was he had an idea what this was about. He knew in his gut that it had something to do with what happened in Netherlands, but for the life of him he couldn’t think what that could have been. He seriously doubted the Dutch were dumb enough to tell Lettow-Vorbeck no. So what happened there that needed his personal touch but he couldn’t figure out what that was.
During the meeting yesterday, he held with Chancellor Hugo von Kasper, Foreign Minister Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck and Generalfeldmarshal Jochen von Friedhold that what was the plan for the Netherlands. After the firefight on the border between the two nations the day prior to that meeting, Germany was going to demand that the Dutch join the war. They would be expected to supply troops to help with the coming planned general offensive against the Soviets that had already been moved back to next year as simply too many other problems have popped up to bring the needed weight needed for that plan. If it hadn’t been for Norway and Switzerland they would have already launch a massive counter offensive against the Soviets instead of doing holding actions and local counterattacks. The scope of this war had caught Berlin by surprise and their troops were needed everywhere. However, in return for joining the war and giving troops to fight in the east Germany would help the Dutch regain control over their East Asia colonies which were the crown jewels of the Dutch Empire. Further they were only going to ask for a light garrison of the Netherlands. These troops would have been radar units, fighter and bomber squadrons, and light units of the navy.
In case for some reason the Dutch decided to be stupid they were moving the XXXI an XXXII corps to the border as a message and if need be to invade. Both units were ex-Austro Hungarian troops who have sworn allegiance to Kaiser Wilhelm the third and the German Empire almost as soon as the war started. They had been working since coming over to the control of Berlin to learn German Army tactics, plans, and reequipped with equipment that wouldn’t put more pressure on the German Army logistical network. Even through the German Army had a windfall of newly “acquired” Austro-Hungarian equipment by the swift fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, they weren’t issuing to even the newly formed units that had come from the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
All the equipment that had “acquired” by the German Army between the whole sell defections of units of the different Austro-Hungarian Armies and after its surrender didn’t fit the logistics of the German Army. The better stuff was being re-lined and machined to make it where it could accept German standard ammo. Out of date equipment was being sold to allies like Romania, Bulgaria, Denmark, and Norway on the cheap to help beef up their arsenals. That was why the newly raised ex-Austro-Hungarian units had been largely issued old but still well built Great War small arms and artillery with armor from the late 20s and early 30s. Once the war machine of Germany got going at full pace they would be reequipped with the best Germany had to offer. For both units this was their first operational assessment within the German Army.
Chancellor Hugo von Kasper was standing looking over a dispatch in his hand. Being it was blue meant it was from the foreign office. Standing next to him was Generalfeldmarshal Jochen von Friedhold. “Hugo what happened?”
“Sir, it seems that the anarchist have stuck again. They blew up a bomb by the convoy driving Paul to meet with the Dutch. He is alive but wounded. It doesn’t appear to be life threating but he is in surgery at the moment.”
“Explain what happened Hugo.” The Kaiser said. Over the next six or seven minutes Hugo explain what happened and what they didn’t know.
After hearing what his chancellor had to say the Kaiser rolled his eyes up as he started to think. It was something he did when he was deep in thought and those who knew him knew better than to stay anything when he was like this. Seconds later his eyes dropped back to normal, “Hugo somehow this and what happened in Switzerland has to be linked.”
“That does make sense sir.” Hugo admitted as it wasn’t something that had cross his mind yet.
“Hugo, inform our ambassador in the Netherlands, that along with all the demands that we were going to make, we are adding a new one. We want lead this investigation into this with the power to arrest and bring these people to trial here in Germany.”
The Kaiser than turned to his field marshal, “Jochen, I want you to step up the moment of my units to the Dutch border. I don’t want this to turn into a shooting war but I want to make it perfectly clear there is only one right choice here.”
“Yes sir!” The general said.
Unknown to anyone in that room, the De Telegraaf was running a special edition of their paper right now. They had a photo of the limo being used by Lettow-Vorbeck with German Flags flying on running over a Dutch citizen.
Schloss Charlottenburg
July 16 1939
Kaiser Wilhelm the Third was making his way to one of the many rooms in the Schloss Charlottenburg. Like in any war there were many crisis, but this one demanded his personal attention. When it demanded his personal attention, it was bad. The thing of it was he had an idea what this was about. He knew in his gut that it had something to do with what happened in Netherlands, but for the life of him he couldn’t think what that could have been. He seriously doubted the Dutch were dumb enough to tell Lettow-Vorbeck no. So what happened there that needed his personal touch but he couldn’t figure out what that was.
During the meeting yesterday, he held with Chancellor Hugo von Kasper, Foreign Minister Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck and Generalfeldmarshal Jochen von Friedhold that what was the plan for the Netherlands. After the firefight on the border between the two nations the day prior to that meeting, Germany was going to demand that the Dutch join the war. They would be expected to supply troops to help with the coming planned general offensive against the Soviets that had already been moved back to next year as simply too many other problems have popped up to bring the needed weight needed for that plan. If it hadn’t been for Norway and Switzerland they would have already launch a massive counter offensive against the Soviets instead of doing holding actions and local counterattacks. The scope of this war had caught Berlin by surprise and their troops were needed everywhere. However, in return for joining the war and giving troops to fight in the east Germany would help the Dutch regain control over their East Asia colonies which were the crown jewels of the Dutch Empire. Further they were only going to ask for a light garrison of the Netherlands. These troops would have been radar units, fighter and bomber squadrons, and light units of the navy.
In case for some reason the Dutch decided to be stupid they were moving the XXXI an XXXII corps to the border as a message and if need be to invade. Both units were ex-Austro Hungarian troops who have sworn allegiance to Kaiser Wilhelm the third and the German Empire almost as soon as the war started. They had been working since coming over to the control of Berlin to learn German Army tactics, plans, and reequipped with equipment that wouldn’t put more pressure on the German Army logistical network. Even through the German Army had a windfall of newly “acquired” Austro-Hungarian equipment by the swift fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, they weren’t issuing to even the newly formed units that had come from the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
All the equipment that had “acquired” by the German Army between the whole sell defections of units of the different Austro-Hungarian Armies and after its surrender didn’t fit the logistics of the German Army. The better stuff was being re-lined and machined to make it where it could accept German standard ammo. Out of date equipment was being sold to allies like Romania, Bulgaria, Denmark, and Norway on the cheap to help beef up their arsenals. That was why the newly raised ex-Austro-Hungarian units had been largely issued old but still well built Great War small arms and artillery with armor from the late 20s and early 30s. Once the war machine of Germany got going at full pace they would be reequipped with the best Germany had to offer. For both units this was their first operational assessment within the German Army.
Chancellor Hugo von Kasper was standing looking over a dispatch in his hand. Being it was blue meant it was from the foreign office. Standing next to him was Generalfeldmarshal Jochen von Friedhold. “Hugo what happened?”
“Sir, it seems that the anarchist have stuck again. They blew up a bomb by the convoy driving Paul to meet with the Dutch. He is alive but wounded. It doesn’t appear to be life threating but he is in surgery at the moment.”
“Explain what happened Hugo.” The Kaiser said. Over the next six or seven minutes Hugo explain what happened and what they didn’t know.
After hearing what his chancellor had to say the Kaiser rolled his eyes up as he started to think. It was something he did when he was deep in thought and those who knew him knew better than to stay anything when he was like this. Seconds later his eyes dropped back to normal, “Hugo somehow this and what happened in Switzerland has to be linked.”
“That does make sense sir.” Hugo admitted as it wasn’t something that had cross his mind yet.
“Hugo, inform our ambassador in the Netherlands, that along with all the demands that we were going to make, we are adding a new one. We want lead this investigation into this with the power to arrest and bring these people to trial here in Germany.”
The Kaiser than turned to his field marshal, “Jochen, I want you to step up the moment of my units to the Dutch border. I don’t want this to turn into a shooting war but I want to make it perfectly clear there is only one right choice here.”
“Yes sir!” The general said.
Unknown to anyone in that room, the De Telegraaf was running a special edition of their paper right now. They had a photo of the limo being used by Lettow-Vorbeck with German Flags flying on running over a Dutch citizen.
Man the Soviets aren't holding back. I don't remember did they achieve otl industrialization in ttl? If so Germany is in for a long hard fight and the Americans too. Maybe a American Far Eastern Front in Siberia
Moment of Insanity
The Hauge
Binnenhof
July 18 1939
With the story of De Telegraaf of the German convoy carrying German Foreign Minister Lettow-Vorbeck running over Dutch civilians in the aftermath of the assassination attempt on his life had caused a political shit storm in Holland. The public was pissed and wanted their government to stand strong in front of the German ultimatum that had been delivered the day after the story De Telegraaf. The Staten-Generaal was currently in overdrive as they debated the ultimatum. Prime Minister Timon Bart was currently awaiting the vote that was being held within Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal as this vote would decide his fate and more than likely the fate of his nation.
Bart didn’t have the power of other prime ministers did across Europe. As such the whole of the Staten-Generaal had a say in how the nation would answer the German ultimatum. He threw his support behind the effort to accept Germany’s terms in the ultimatum they gave. However, he didn’t know if he had the votes to accept the ultimatum. The two key sticking points were the keys ones, ones he know that the Germans would refuse to budge on. First was joining their alliance and enter the war. The other was police powers with arrest powers on their domestic soil. Even more so since the Germans when they handed the Dutch this ultimatum that they didn’t even touched on the two Dutch civilians that were run over in the failed attempt on Lettow-Vorbeck.
Then the Parliamentarian spoke, “The final vote is 47 yeys, 52 nays. The nays carry the motion.”
“Verdorie!” Bart said. One of the members of the Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal was currently in the hospital following a heart attack so they were one short from having all 100 members here. But they had voted to reject the German ultimatum as it was and go back to Germany to work out a different deal.
With that Bart stood up and walked up to the front of the room. Once there he spoke, “Its clear by this vote I have lost my mandate to lead. As such I will tender your resignation effective immediately.” At that he left to write to his monarch of his resignation. He saw there was only one way for this to end and he wasn’t going to be about a part of it. All he could do is after a short war with Germany was trying to keep the from losing territory in Europe and colonies around the world.
He briefly wonder how many people would regret this vote in the next few days.
Binnenhof
July 18 1939
With the story of De Telegraaf of the German convoy carrying German Foreign Minister Lettow-Vorbeck running over Dutch civilians in the aftermath of the assassination attempt on his life had caused a political shit storm in Holland. The public was pissed and wanted their government to stand strong in front of the German ultimatum that had been delivered the day after the story De Telegraaf. The Staten-Generaal was currently in overdrive as they debated the ultimatum. Prime Minister Timon Bart was currently awaiting the vote that was being held within Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal as this vote would decide his fate and more than likely the fate of his nation.
Bart didn’t have the power of other prime ministers did across Europe. As such the whole of the Staten-Generaal had a say in how the nation would answer the German ultimatum. He threw his support behind the effort to accept Germany’s terms in the ultimatum they gave. However, he didn’t know if he had the votes to accept the ultimatum. The two key sticking points were the keys ones, ones he know that the Germans would refuse to budge on. First was joining their alliance and enter the war. The other was police powers with arrest powers on their domestic soil. Even more so since the Germans when they handed the Dutch this ultimatum that they didn’t even touched on the two Dutch civilians that were run over in the failed attempt on Lettow-Vorbeck.
Then the Parliamentarian spoke, “The final vote is 47 yeys, 52 nays. The nays carry the motion.”
“Verdorie!” Bart said. One of the members of the Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal was currently in the hospital following a heart attack so they were one short from having all 100 members here. But they had voted to reject the German ultimatum as it was and go back to Germany to work out a different deal.
With that Bart stood up and walked up to the front of the room. Once there he spoke, “Its clear by this vote I have lost my mandate to lead. As such I will tender your resignation effective immediately.” At that he left to write to his monarch of his resignation. He saw there was only one way for this to end and he wasn’t going to be about a part of it. All he could do is after a short war with Germany was trying to keep the from losing territory in Europe and colonies around the world.
He briefly wonder how many people would regret this vote in the next few days.
Well, to cut the Dutch some slack...while joining the alliance can be accepted with some grumbling, the other provision it's unacceptable for any goverment that's not under military occupation or is just a puppet. Frankly if Germany will have stick with only the first part the vote will have been much different, but they have decided to play hardball and worse, they know that this distraction are causing problem still have decided to play the soviet games; well after Switzerland and the repeated show in Netherland i had imaginated that someone in Berlin had done the math
If the germans are smart they will agree to merely have their cops as observers in the Dutch investigation, and offer to pay generous reparations to the families of the Dutch run over by the car while making it clear they consider the assassins to be the real folks responsible for the deaths - which in western law theory they actually are the guilty ones. That might sweeten things, and show the Germans wish to respect Dutch sovereignty.
Nälkä
Helsinki, Soviet Occupied
Helsinki Cathedral
July 25 1939
For the Soviet Union their war effort hadn’t been going as well as they had hoped. Well in military means anyways. Outside of Finland they hadn’t achieved none of their goals. They were still 30 kilometers away from Tallinn and even farther away from Riga. Both of those cities were planned to had fallen to the advancing Red Army by the end of the second week of operations after pocking a German Army in the Baltic and destroying it. However, that didn’t work out and the Soviet Army was having to regroup now for another offensive that was being planned for mid August with new senior leadership after the old leadership had been moved to Siberia to guard the Soviet’s long border with the Chinese. Even through on paper that land was controlled by the Japanese Chinese puppets, that was far from the truth there. Those Chinese shot at anything that wasn’t Chinese and it was a general pain in the ass to keep them from causing too much damage to the valuable economic efforts the Soviets had made in building up their territories.
On their intelligence front of the war the Soviets have done far better. They had sparked wars between the bourgeoise led Berlin alliance and Switzerland and the Netherlands. That alone had moved tens of thousands of troops away front the Eastern Front which had allowed the Soviets to make some gains. Still not the gains that high command wanted it but every kilometer taken was a kilometer that had been liberated from the rule of the bourgeoise. But some were resistance to the joys of communism which was why the OGPU had decided to take the lessons from the Ukraine of the early 1930s and put them to practice here in Finland who was resisting the joys of communism more than most right at the moment.
During the early 1930s the Ukrainians had resisted efforts to by Yasha to bring their farms into the new Kolkhoz. Then again everyone had put up some resistance to the efforts that Yasha was making to form Kolkhoz, but none like the Ukrainians. So when the famine of 30 hit, Yasha decided to make an example out of the Ukrainians. Their rations were cut to starvation levels and allowed to die in massive numbers. Record keeping was poor, but Western intelligence agencies put the Ukrainian Famine of 30-31 death total between 5 and 9 million people. When put up against the rest of the Soviet Union during the same Famine, the Ukrainians suffers over half the deaths of said famine.
True Finland wasn’t suffering from a famine at the moment. That didn’t mean the Soviets couldn’t cut Finnish civilian rations. A war was going on after all and there were partisan bands that was hindering efforts to get food into the cities across Finland. Today was the first day of this new rationing system in Finland. For a month the normal Finnish civilian, i.e. the bulk of the civilian population outside the very small minority of the Finnish Communist Party, the monthly rations were being heavily cut. Flour was the largest amount of food items that Finns could get with it being 1.25 kilos of flour per month. Cheese and dairy was still set to a quarter kilo for a month. Meat was even worse at an eight of a kilo per month. There was no rationing for things like sugar, preserves, or butter. They were being taken totally out of the food system in Finland. For children the ration allotments were even worse than the adult allotments.
Further to keep the Finnish from being able to get their own food, the Soviets were going to great measures to stop them. All restaurants across occupied Finland were being shut down and their food being taken by OGPU units. Fishing boats were being taken over and destroyed. Because of the partisan bands the Soviets were effectible locking down the Finns in the cities they happened to be in. Further fuel was being heavily ration like food was. There was now a dusk to dawn curfew in effect for the Finns. However, the Soviets were working the Finns in the cities for the goods of communist with psychically demanding labor. Well outside bankers and other bourgeoise professions, they had already been shot for crimes against the state. The limited amount of food would quickly thin out the Finnish population and end the partisan bands.
Helsinki Cathedral
July 25 1939
For the Soviet Union their war effort hadn’t been going as well as they had hoped. Well in military means anyways. Outside of Finland they hadn’t achieved none of their goals. They were still 30 kilometers away from Tallinn and even farther away from Riga. Both of those cities were planned to had fallen to the advancing Red Army by the end of the second week of operations after pocking a German Army in the Baltic and destroying it. However, that didn’t work out and the Soviet Army was having to regroup now for another offensive that was being planned for mid August with new senior leadership after the old leadership had been moved to Siberia to guard the Soviet’s long border with the Chinese. Even through on paper that land was controlled by the Japanese Chinese puppets, that was far from the truth there. Those Chinese shot at anything that wasn’t Chinese and it was a general pain in the ass to keep them from causing too much damage to the valuable economic efforts the Soviets had made in building up their territories.
On their intelligence front of the war the Soviets have done far better. They had sparked wars between the bourgeoise led Berlin alliance and Switzerland and the Netherlands. That alone had moved tens of thousands of troops away front the Eastern Front which had allowed the Soviets to make some gains. Still not the gains that high command wanted it but every kilometer taken was a kilometer that had been liberated from the rule of the bourgeoise. But some were resistance to the joys of communism which was why the OGPU had decided to take the lessons from the Ukraine of the early 1930s and put them to practice here in Finland who was resisting the joys of communism more than most right at the moment.
During the early 1930s the Ukrainians had resisted efforts to by Yasha to bring their farms into the new Kolkhoz. Then again everyone had put up some resistance to the efforts that Yasha was making to form Kolkhoz, but none like the Ukrainians. So when the famine of 30 hit, Yasha decided to make an example out of the Ukrainians. Their rations were cut to starvation levels and allowed to die in massive numbers. Record keeping was poor, but Western intelligence agencies put the Ukrainian Famine of 30-31 death total between 5 and 9 million people. When put up against the rest of the Soviet Union during the same Famine, the Ukrainians suffers over half the deaths of said famine.
True Finland wasn’t suffering from a famine at the moment. That didn’t mean the Soviets couldn’t cut Finnish civilian rations. A war was going on after all and there were partisan bands that was hindering efforts to get food into the cities across Finland. Today was the first day of this new rationing system in Finland. For a month the normal Finnish civilian, i.e. the bulk of the civilian population outside the very small minority of the Finnish Communist Party, the monthly rations were being heavily cut. Flour was the largest amount of food items that Finns could get with it being 1.25 kilos of flour per month. Cheese and dairy was still set to a quarter kilo for a month. Meat was even worse at an eight of a kilo per month. There was no rationing for things like sugar, preserves, or butter. They were being taken totally out of the food system in Finland. For children the ration allotments were even worse than the adult allotments.
Further to keep the Finnish from being able to get their own food, the Soviets were going to great measures to stop them. All restaurants across occupied Finland were being shut down and their food being taken by OGPU units. Fishing boats were being taken over and destroyed. Because of the partisan bands the Soviets were effectible locking down the Finns in the cities they happened to be in. Further fuel was being heavily ration like food was. There was now a dusk to dawn curfew in effect for the Finns. However, the Soviets were working the Finns in the cities for the goods of communist with psychically demanding labor. Well outside bankers and other bourgeoise professions, they had already been shot for crimes against the state. The limited amount of food would quickly thin out the Finnish population and end the partisan bands.
"This won't come back to bite us in the ass at all I swear" -t. Soviets
Hostile Takeover
Hollandia
Dutch Colonial Offices
July 29 1939
Mr. Elian Coen of the Dutch Ministry of Colonies was standing in his office. But he was standing in front of his desk instead of sitting behind it. There was a reason for that. The man who he was looking at was also in civilian dress, but the military side of him was clear as day from the way he acted. Coen prior today had been the colonial governor of the Dutch New Guinea. A part of the wider Dutch East Indies, a post he had spent the better part of his life working to be posted to. Finally he had been posted to be in charge of this small part of the DEI only months ago. Normally he would had this job for years, however the times were changing.
Sitting behind the Coen’s former desk was Sir Jeffery Chance, 3rd Bt of the Imperial Federation. Chance had served in the British Army during the Great War as a leftenant in the Coldstream Guards. He fought in three different major and was mentioned in dispatches twice before he was captured by the Germans near Dunkirk halfway through the war. After being released Chance returned to a Britain in upheaval. He stated out of politics and rejoined the colonial office being his father had left him a small fortune and being a man of value he did well in the colonial office. However as the CEP creeped into every facet of life Chance came to view the CEP and their allies as nothing more than charlatans. He knew another war with the United States was going to be damn near suicidal and even in the late 1920s he saw the signs that was what the CEP was planning on doing. When it came down a suggestion came down in 1930 that all high ranking members of the colonial office should join the CEP or one of their allied parties, that had been enough for Chance.
Following that Chance resigned from the colonial office and moved to the Imperial Federation. He moved to the Imperial Federation because it was the only part of the Empire that hadn’t lost its mind in the aftermath of the defeat of the Great War. He took a job at the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney after moving to the Imperial Federation and had been employed there till only months ago. Soon after the war started the Government of Don Storm had asked Chance to take on a position within the government. To which he agreed to. Then again the Feds were digging up people like Chance who had left the British Isles because of the CEP for various reasons as they needed people with training and experience they lacked. It was how Chance found himself in this office.
Speaking in Dutch which was one of four tongues he spoke Chance said, “Mr. Coen I’m sure you understand that recent events have left us with little choice in this matter.”
There was truth in that Coen could admit. The Japanese and British had invaded the Dutch East Indies six days ago. This was as the Dutch in Europe were getting their asses handed to them by the Germans and Belgians. The last report Coen had seen there were pockets of resistance around Amsterdam and a pocket around The Hague and Rotterdam. That report was four days old through when Coen saw it three days ago. There were also rumors that the Americans and Brazilians had moved on the Dutch colonies in the New World. Simply put the Dutch Empire was in full on collapse. Coen however was a proud man, “Sir, this is nothing but a necked land grab by the Imperial Federation!”
With the invasion of the Dutch East Indies by the British and Japanese left the Feds in a tight spot. After a midnight debate it was ordered that Dutch Papua together with a few smaller islands[1] should be taken by Imperial forces. Peacefully if possible, but they were to be taken no matter what. Chance grinned, “That maybe true, but your nation isn’t in a position to do anything about it. Indeed, I very much doubt the Hague would like for you to start a third war for the Dutch Empire to fight, maybe even a fourth if you count what the Americans and Brazilians are doing in the Americas.”
Chance watched the color drain from the Dutchman’s face. He expected that the people in Canberra very much would like to keep this land after the war, but that was a very different story and Chance knew it. He spoke again first in English, “Sergeant.” He then switch back to Dutch, “Mister Coen, Sergeant Watson will escort you and your fellow Dutch citizens down to the harbor for the trip to Darwin.” He then once again switched back to English and gave his orders to the sergeant.
A few moments later he was alone in his office as the governor the new Papuan parts of the Imperial Federation. He stood up and looked out at the window and saw the flag of Imperial Federation[2] flying. He also saw a squad from the Papua Regiment moving on from hauling up the flag. Some said they were the Imperial Federation’s version of the Gorkha Regiments of the British Indian Army. Time would tell if that was true or not.
[1] See Map
[2] Any takers on what the Imperial Federation flag would look like.
Dutch Colonial Offices
July 29 1939
Mr. Elian Coen of the Dutch Ministry of Colonies was standing in his office. But he was standing in front of his desk instead of sitting behind it. There was a reason for that. The man who he was looking at was also in civilian dress, but the military side of him was clear as day from the way he acted. Coen prior today had been the colonial governor of the Dutch New Guinea. A part of the wider Dutch East Indies, a post he had spent the better part of his life working to be posted to. Finally he had been posted to be in charge of this small part of the DEI only months ago. Normally he would had this job for years, however the times were changing.
Sitting behind the Coen’s former desk was Sir Jeffery Chance, 3rd Bt of the Imperial Federation. Chance had served in the British Army during the Great War as a leftenant in the Coldstream Guards. He fought in three different major and was mentioned in dispatches twice before he was captured by the Germans near Dunkirk halfway through the war. After being released Chance returned to a Britain in upheaval. He stated out of politics and rejoined the colonial office being his father had left him a small fortune and being a man of value he did well in the colonial office. However as the CEP creeped into every facet of life Chance came to view the CEP and their allies as nothing more than charlatans. He knew another war with the United States was going to be damn near suicidal and even in the late 1920s he saw the signs that was what the CEP was planning on doing. When it came down a suggestion came down in 1930 that all high ranking members of the colonial office should join the CEP or one of their allied parties, that had been enough for Chance.
Following that Chance resigned from the colonial office and moved to the Imperial Federation. He moved to the Imperial Federation because it was the only part of the Empire that hadn’t lost its mind in the aftermath of the defeat of the Great War. He took a job at the Commercial Banking Company of Sydney after moving to the Imperial Federation and had been employed there till only months ago. Soon after the war started the Government of Don Storm had asked Chance to take on a position within the government. To which he agreed to. Then again the Feds were digging up people like Chance who had left the British Isles because of the CEP for various reasons as they needed people with training and experience they lacked. It was how Chance found himself in this office.
Speaking in Dutch which was one of four tongues he spoke Chance said, “Mr. Coen I’m sure you understand that recent events have left us with little choice in this matter.”
There was truth in that Coen could admit. The Japanese and British had invaded the Dutch East Indies six days ago. This was as the Dutch in Europe were getting their asses handed to them by the Germans and Belgians. The last report Coen had seen there were pockets of resistance around Amsterdam and a pocket around The Hague and Rotterdam. That report was four days old through when Coen saw it three days ago. There were also rumors that the Americans and Brazilians had moved on the Dutch colonies in the New World. Simply put the Dutch Empire was in full on collapse. Coen however was a proud man, “Sir, this is nothing but a necked land grab by the Imperial Federation!”
With the invasion of the Dutch East Indies by the British and Japanese left the Feds in a tight spot. After a midnight debate it was ordered that Dutch Papua together with a few smaller islands[1] should be taken by Imperial forces. Peacefully if possible, but they were to be taken no matter what. Chance grinned, “That maybe true, but your nation isn’t in a position to do anything about it. Indeed, I very much doubt the Hague would like for you to start a third war for the Dutch Empire to fight, maybe even a fourth if you count what the Americans and Brazilians are doing in the Americas.”
Chance watched the color drain from the Dutchman’s face. He expected that the people in Canberra very much would like to keep this land after the war, but that was a very different story and Chance knew it. He spoke again first in English, “Sergeant.” He then switch back to Dutch, “Mister Coen, Sergeant Watson will escort you and your fellow Dutch citizens down to the harbor for the trip to Darwin.” He then once again switched back to English and gave his orders to the sergeant.
A few moments later he was alone in his office as the governor the new Papuan parts of the Imperial Federation. He stood up and looked out at the window and saw the flag of Imperial Federation[2] flying. He also saw a squad from the Papua Regiment moving on from hauling up the flag. Some said they were the Imperial Federation’s version of the Gorkha Regiments of the British Indian Army. Time would tell if that was true or not.
[1] See Map
[2] Any takers on what the Imperial Federation flag would look like.
I could see it being very similar to the Eureka Flag with the number of points on the star possibly representing how many states there are in the Federation. I don't know if they'd have the Union Jack still, maybe they got rid of it as part of their time slowly distancing themselves from the British.
for flag: a blue field with the Southern Cross stars in white. In the upper left the canton of white with superimposed St George and St Andrews crosses in dark green. This give a nod to the British heritage, without replicating the Union Jack, and indicates the southern hemisphere location of the federation.
Mexican Stand Off
Oradea
City Hall
August 4 1939
The Romanian Army major was not pleased at the moment. He was scrutinizing the Hungarian Army captain who was the commander of the garrison here in Oradea. By an agreement[1] that had been come to back on June 5th the Hungarians would have to withdraw all of their forces from some areas of the former Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen along with all of the jointly ruled territory of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire by tomorrow. The Romanians had sent a reservist unit to supervise the transfer of Transylvania but what they had found was less then expected. The Hungarian garrison here in Oradea however what the Romanians had seen had done nothing to move to the new Kingdom of Hungary or to the front fighting the Soviets.
“What is the being of this captain? Your troops should be ready to leave but it looks like you haven’t done anything to move to your nation!” The major was looking forward to this. His family was from Transylvania but it had left the region in his teen years and moved to Romania for fear of what would happen to them. Now it seemed like the Hungarians are forgetting they agreed to the Berlin Agreement. The formal division of the territories of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire wouldn’t be dealt with till after the war but the Berlin Agreement generally set up where the new borders were going to be and they were currently standing in what will be Romanian Dirt once the war was over.
“You are mistaken Major.” The Hungarian captain put enough of an insult in the way he said major to make it clear he didn’t respect the Romanian. “This is Hungarian Clay and will stay Hungarian Clay till you pry it from our cold dead fingers!”
Pulling out his sidearm, “That can be easily arranged!” The Romanian now had the pistol pointed at the head of the Hungarian. It further answer why they couldn’t had taken the train to Oradea. The Magyars had said the Anarchist had destroyed a few key bridges which had forced the Romanians to fly these troops into Oradea. In truth the Hungarians had damaged those bridges in what they were hoping would be a powerplay to allow them to keep the Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen under the rightful rule of the Hungarians along with parts of Serbia.
At that the Hungarian Captain started to laugh like a madman. “You dumb fucking Jidan! You honestly thought it would be that easy! You are really stupid for a fucking Jidan!” Moments later three armed Hungarian soldiers came into the office the two officers were in. They had bayonets fixed to their rifles.
“You Bozgor!” The Romanian said as he tighten his grip on his service pistol to the point his knuckles were turning white.
With that the Hungarian Captain stopped laughing. “Watch your tongue you Jidan! You will put that pistol on my desk and you will join your men in jail and rot like the fucking Jidan you are.”
The Romanian major stood there for a few more moments before he safetied his pistol. As much as he would had enjoyed killing this fucking Bozgor, it wouldn’t had lasted long as he would had been dead or dying in seconds. After putting the safety on he lowered the pistol than placed it on the desk of the asshole in front of him. Not even a second after he had let his grip of the pistol one of the Hungarian soldiers swung his rifle butt into Romanian Army officers lower back causing him to drop to the ground.
“Take that Jidan out of my sights and throw him in jail!”
[1] The only ones who weren’t happy with this are the Hungarians and some Austrians of the Habsburg Clan. The latter through aren’t united in this and can’t cause many issues for Berlin the Magyars on the other hand…
City Hall
August 4 1939
The Romanian Army major was not pleased at the moment. He was scrutinizing the Hungarian Army captain who was the commander of the garrison here in Oradea. By an agreement[1] that had been come to back on June 5th the Hungarians would have to withdraw all of their forces from some areas of the former Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen along with all of the jointly ruled territory of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire by tomorrow. The Romanians had sent a reservist unit to supervise the transfer of Transylvania but what they had found was less then expected. The Hungarian garrison here in Oradea however what the Romanians had seen had done nothing to move to the new Kingdom of Hungary or to the front fighting the Soviets.
“What is the being of this captain? Your troops should be ready to leave but it looks like you haven’t done anything to move to your nation!” The major was looking forward to this. His family was from Transylvania but it had left the region in his teen years and moved to Romania for fear of what would happen to them. Now it seemed like the Hungarians are forgetting they agreed to the Berlin Agreement. The formal division of the territories of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire wouldn’t be dealt with till after the war but the Berlin Agreement generally set up where the new borders were going to be and they were currently standing in what will be Romanian Dirt once the war was over.
“You are mistaken Major.” The Hungarian captain put enough of an insult in the way he said major to make it clear he didn’t respect the Romanian. “This is Hungarian Clay and will stay Hungarian Clay till you pry it from our cold dead fingers!”
Pulling out his sidearm, “That can be easily arranged!” The Romanian now had the pistol pointed at the head of the Hungarian. It further answer why they couldn’t had taken the train to Oradea. The Magyars had said the Anarchist had destroyed a few key bridges which had forced the Romanians to fly these troops into Oradea. In truth the Hungarians had damaged those bridges in what they were hoping would be a powerplay to allow them to keep the Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen under the rightful rule of the Hungarians along with parts of Serbia.
At that the Hungarian Captain started to laugh like a madman. “You dumb fucking Jidan! You honestly thought it would be that easy! You are really stupid for a fucking Jidan!” Moments later three armed Hungarian soldiers came into the office the two officers were in. They had bayonets fixed to their rifles.
“You Bozgor!” The Romanian said as he tighten his grip on his service pistol to the point his knuckles were turning white.
With that the Hungarian Captain stopped laughing. “Watch your tongue you Jidan! You will put that pistol on my desk and you will join your men in jail and rot like the fucking Jidan you are.”
The Romanian major stood there for a few more moments before he safetied his pistol. As much as he would had enjoyed killing this fucking Bozgor, it wouldn’t had lasted long as he would had been dead or dying in seconds. After putting the safety on he lowered the pistol than placed it on the desk of the asshole in front of him. Not even a second after he had let his grip of the pistol one of the Hungarian soldiers swung his rifle butt into Romanian Army officers lower back causing him to drop to the ground.
“Take that Jidan out of my sights and throw him in jail!”
[1] The only ones who weren’t happy with this are the Hungarians and some Austrians of the Habsburg Clan. The latter through aren’t united in this and can’t cause many issues for Berlin the Magyars on the other hand…