Pints of Sweat Gallons of Blood, Freedom Victorious

Name:Aidan Byrne
Location:European Western Front
Date:April 8th 1916​


“Here they come boys give them hell!” A moment later up and down the British line muzzle flashes could be seen. A few unlucky Germans fell, others dove for cover. Aidan Byrne looked out from little ditch that he had dug. He was part of an Irish Volunteer regiment from Dublin. Ever since the Irish had rose up in the Great War many officers from England or Scotland had looked down at Irish soldiers. They had to fight twice as hard for half the respect. He didn't like that,it made him pissed, it made him want to kill Germans.
He pulled back the bolt and fired again, this time his bullet hit the mark and a German soldier fell silently clutching his chest. Farther down the line a machine gun started to spit out bullets. Many considered the Vickers superior to the Maxim and Aidan was inclined to agree.
“How is 2nd company holding up?” Private Aidan Byrne asked his sergeant.
The Sergeant reloaded his Lee Enfield before replying. “The Belgian feckers are pushing them hard on our left. At least there are more more Belgians trying to take Saint-Omer than there are Germans. Or we would not be doing so well. Ay?”​

“Got to wonder if the Germans say the same thing about us?” Aidan said thinking out loud.
“Of course,” Sergeant Boyd said smiling, “of course where the Germans and the tommies are the Belgians.” Aidan grinned. He looked for a target and saw a Belgian running forward. Aidan fired grazing the man's arm. A bullet hit the dirt in front of Aidan causing him to duck back down into his little ditch. He saw a private down the line fall dead. They continued to stay and fight, taking more and more casualties. Eventually the Belgians started to pressure their left flank enough for the commanding officer to order a slow and fighting retreat.
Machine Guns provided suppressing fire as did artillery. They fell back to a small French village. They were about two dozen miles outside of the French City of Saint-Omer, the last great obstacle for the Portland Alliance until the major port cities. Including Calais. His squad took shelter in a ditch as machine gunners set up their gun in the window of a building directly behind Aidan and his squad. After a few moments the Belgians got with in range.​

“Wait a few seconds.” A leftenant said. A few seconds passed as the Belgians and Germans got closer. “Fire!” Aidan had a target already targeted, that soldier fell. The machine gun started to fire away. The Belgians and few Germans dove to the ground. Many returned fire. Michael Roche a good friend of his laid in the trench next to him. He fired and while pulling the bolt back slumped over. Aidan looked at him, his eyes were glazed over and a bullet wound had knocked of the corner of his head. Aidan wanted to throw up. Then he felt in raged. He looked down the sights of his gun and spotted a German running forward before diving to cover again. The soldier stood up again, Aidan fired and the German collapsed.
The Germans and Belgians kept coming, they eventually got close enough to throw their grenades. Aidan hated the name explosions-on-a-stick. They were designed to be thrown far while the Entente's grenades were designed for close quarters. In simple terms, soldiers of Alliance countries could hit them with grenades before soldiers of Entente countries could. One grenade was aimed for the machine gun above them. The grenade hit the side of the wall and fell into the ditch, the ensuing explosion killed Sergeant Boyd along with his Leftenant.
All Aidan could do was cover his head, wishing he had more than a cap to protect it. He looked back over the ditch and fired again. The Belgians and Germans had more men, especially here away from the main action were the Germans were pushing for Paris. He pulled out a grenade and pulled the pin, it was designed for defending. He lobbed it over the ditch and hoped it reached the enemy soldiers. Eventually more friendly artillery arrived and it started to pound the Belgians and Germans. The Belgians and Germans had seemed to have out ran their artillery forces because no enemy artillery answered back. And that was the deciding factor. Aidan looked and aimed, the Belgians and Germans were falling back.​


That didn't mean he couldn't stop shooting at them. The machine gun agreed. A few minuets later the Portland Alliance soldiers that had escaped were out of range. Many men still laid dead and dying. Aidan finally had a chance to actually breath. It was almost dusk, he took off his cap and wiped his forehead.
“When you think they'll attack again?” A private asked,
“I don't know Patrick. But they'll be back soon. I would guess tomorrow morning.” Aidan replied. He pulled off his canteen and took and gulped down some much needed water.
(OOC:Here is a hint on the fate of Saint-Omer, go to it's Wikipedia page and looked at its sister cities.

Pictured below
Irish Dublin Volunteer Regiment

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Date:April 8th 1916
Location:The Peninsular front​


Captain George S. Patton stood at attention outside the tent of Major General Butch Cassidy. A man came out and said that he could go in. Walking into the rather large tent Patton stopped and saluted. “Sir.” He said saluting.
“At ease Captain.” The General said nodding at him before looking back down at a newspaper in his lap. Patton eased up a little and waited for the General to speak. He looked at him before talking. “You're Captain George Smith Patton, correct?”
“Yes sir.” Patton said with a quick nod.
“So you're that Patton who was the first person in history to lead a mechanized assault?” Cassidy said raising his eyebrows. Patton was a bit confused.
“I'm not quite sure what you're referring to sir?” He asked shaking his head.
“You used Army trucks to kill banditos back in Mexico, correct? Or do I have the wrong Patton?” Cassidy said replying. Patton grinned.
“No sir that's me. You must be talking about when there was that group of bandits that attacked a farm in south Texas. They tried to get away on horseback. I ordered my men to follow in a pair of trucks. We shot at them. Killing one and wounding another, and killing the horse of the third. We then tied them behind our trucks and dragged them back to our camp. We then dragged them behind horses. They were then tried and convicted of assault, robbery, rape and murder and were hung with disgrace.”
“And I have it on good word that their hasn't been anything worse than a robbery committed by Mexican banditos in the Del Rio region since.” Cassidy said standing up and lighting a cigarette. He grinned at Patton.
Patton shrugged, “Do you blame them sir?” He said with a smirk.
“When hell freezes over.” Cassidy said shaking his head. Cassidy walked over to a desk, on top of it was a small tin toy. Something that a child would play with. It was modeled to look like an Armored Car. “Now Captain you maybe be asking yourself why I asked you to come here. Well you see for the last couple of weeks we've been trying to get past Welland Colborne line. Did you hear how the Canadians took Pembina?” Cassidy asked. Picking up the car model and holding it in his right hand.

“No sir.” Patton replied shaking his head. “Don't get much news up in the front. I heard that our boys finally made it past Leamington. That's good to hear.”
“The Canadians and British used a group of armored trucks. It was a small group but it provided enough cover for their infantry to move in and take the city. The cars were also equipped with Vickers machine guns, allowing the protected gunners to put out a good amount of death.” Cassidy looked at the model as he turned it in his hand.
“Sir, that is interesting and all. But why did you invite me up here?” Cassidy smiled and placed the Model back on top of table.”
“Follow me.” Cassidy walked past Patton and out of the tent. Patton followed, they left the command post and walked down a dirt road. After a minuet or two they reached an area where the woods by the road cleared. In that clearing a dozen strange looking vehicles stood the sun reflected off their metal armor. It was ugly as all hell. It looked like a rectangle on the bottom with a trapezoid on that with a cylinder on top. In that cylinder there was a machine gun that Patton only faintly recognized. It had four wheels and looked to be heavily armored.
“This is the Emperor Armored Truck.” Cassidy said holding his hand out to the lead vehicle. “Able to take machine gun bullets though not the best against shrapnel. Can take it off a road without getting stuck, but it might just be able to get you through the canuck lines.” Patton walked up to it and rapped his knuckles against it.
“Who made it sir?” Patton asked climbing on top of it.
“Union Motors, as usual. They got a factories in Albany and Portland. We also got Chrysler making these in their Detroit factory. Not to mention that White Motors is starting to produce their own armored truck.”
“But you said these would get stuck if they were taken off road sir. I don't know if there's any road into Welland left.” Patton said, looking at the Machine gun. Cassidy climbed up to the top with him.

“Our planes have found a road or two that should be able to be useable for the armored trucks. The airplanes will continue to do recon of those roads and I'll decided which one to advance on when the time comes. Until then I've decided to call of all artillery bombardments.” He paused to see if Patton would argue over the idea but he instead just looked over the machine gun. “It's a Lewis gun.” Cassidy said sitting down on the back of the truck. “We've been putting them into more and more of our regiments, they'll eventually replace the Maxim.”
“End of an era.” Patton murmured as he slide down into the gunner's position.
“It's the beginning of our era Captain Patton. Our era. The time of Grant, Hooker, Wolseley. The age of war having rules is going to be gone. No longer is it about the better soldier as it is about luck. We live in an age of death.”
“So, we'll just have to make this era a victory for the United States.” Patton said, lifting himself out of the gunner's position.
“What do you think the Canucks and frenchies are saying to each other. Or the Austro-Hungarians. They all believe this to be their era- well maybe not Austria-Hungary. But I digress. Captain I'm having your platoon transferred to the new 1st Armored Calvary Division that I am creating. Over the course of the next week your group will be trained on these vehicles and then sent out into battle. You think you can do that for me?”
“Yes sir!”​


Now an break down on the armored trucks​

Picture of the White Armored Truck​

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Picture of the Emperor Armored Truck
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Picture of a british Standard Amrored Truck in North Dakota 1916​

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ITS BACKKKKKKKK!

Date:16th of April 1916
Location:Outside of Welland Ontario​









“Keep her steady Bailey.” Patton said holding onto the inside of the vehicle. Over the last week they had been trained on these vehicles. The Emperor Armored Truck did not have the smoothest cross-country-performance, but he smiled as he heard rifle shots bounce of the Truck's armor. It was still early morning when the whistle rang, and up and down the entire Niagara peninsular front the United States Second Army rose to attack.
This was by far the largest attack yet. Roughly 160,000 men of the Second Army was attacking a roughly 40km front. And Patton new that this was not the only United States Army attacking. General Pershing was in command of the Third and Fourth Armies that were pushing for the The St. Lawrence. The Second Army was under the command of Lieutenant General Fredrick Funston. The United States Sixth Army was out in Jefferson and had become bogged down in a very slow see-sawing front as the British aimed to try to take Vancouver and the United States tried to reach Memoriam(1). Neither had gotten close to their objectives. And the Fifth Army was scattered over the Northern Midwest, the Canadians having struck before they could completely organize.
Patton cursed as he was rocked back and forth in the Armored Truck. “I thought the General said that these roads were good enough to travel across.” Bailey said cursing, his knuckles white on the steering wheel.

“Yeah, well the Army has wildly varying definitions on 'good enough' and 'comfortable'.” Patton replied standing up. “Are we in range yet Sergeant?” He asked Bailey. The Sergeant nodded. Patton opened up a back panel that opened up to the air. “Atticus, keep that platoon directly behind our truck formation. Provide support!” He yelled over the whistling of mortar and artillery fire. The Armored Trucks were attacking in a V formation with Infantry following close behind them for protection.
Patton stood up and grabbed the Lewis Machine Gun. Bailey told Private Kowalski -a nineteen year old draftee that was the son of Polish immigrants- to make sure the machine gun had ammo. Patton ducked as a rifle bullet hit the armor plate in front of his hand, creating sparks. The trenches were in front of the city of Welland. They were roughly hundred and fifty yards away.
His Armored Truck was the lead truck, him firing the machine gun would be the cue for the other trucks to follow his lead. Pulling the trigger he fired a burst of bullets at the Canadian trench. The bullets lazily hit the ground in front of the trench, Patton raised the gun a bit as the other trucks opened fire. They created a crossfire of suppressing fire. There were eighteen trucks in the 'V'. The Infantrymen cheered as the fired shots from their Springfield 1903s, officers lead them on using their 1911 handguns as pointers.

The American artillery let up on schedule. Patton would miss the suppression effect they had. But he couldn't complain to much. If he died, he died. But he would prefer it be done by an enemy combatant, not his own side. Patton's heart rate increased when he saw an American armored truck exploded from a direct hit by artillery. He looked around and could just make out in the distance a Canadian artillery team.
The mainstay of the British artillery was the 18-Pounder. It was a solid piece of engineering and was a match for the American 105mm Dahlgren Howitzer. However the two sides had very different fighting styles. The Americans had adopted their German allies Howitzer method. Their Artillery would be far back behind the lines, and they would fire up into the air and come down and a steep trajectory. They weren't precise, but they were protected. The British on the other hand, had their artillery teams right up at the front. They were deadly accurate and knew were to strike. But they were also deadly exposed.
Patton, other armored trucks and even infantrymen, opened up of the artillery team. The artillery team fell, but still others remained. Patton searched for targets as they got within fifty yards of the Canadian trenches. He spotted a machine gun firing on the American infantry. Another Truck took care of those. However four of the trucks by this time had become bogged down. The road was only so wide and the land around it was little more than mud. Then another British artillery piece rolled up and fired, destroying one of Patton's trucks.

Multiple artillery pieces were firing directly at the trucks now. They had become the primary targets. Patton in turn, made them his primary targets. One of the bogged down trucks was hit directly by a artillery shell and destroyed. Patton cursed, he was losing trucks fast. As they got close to the trench he took more small arms fire. The truck ran of the barbed wire and infantrymen ran forward to cut the devil's fishing line(2). Some were shot, still others were able to successfully open up holes in the wire. The remaining trucks fired down at the trench as the infantry stormed past them and lept into the trenches bayonets ready. Patton fired past the trenches at any artillery pieces he could see.
He could hear the brutal fighting in the trenches, but the two sides were to close for him to safely fire into them. The artillerymen were getting the hint and starting to pull back. They had taken heavy casualties and their position was likely to be overrun in a few moments time. With the large attack and the supporting fire, most of the attacking infantry had actually made it to the opposing trench.
After about fifteen minuets of battle the infantry started to either continue down the trench or climb out of it to continue west. Army Engineers had come forward and were laying short wooded bridges across the trench line. Patton ordered Bailey to move across it.
“Onward to Toronto!” Patton yelled, pointing west.
“Well Bully.” Was Atticus Finch's reply.​



**********************​



“So General Cassidy it seems your division has advanced the farthest in the last week and a half.” Lieutenant General Fredrick Funston said to Butch Cassidy. He was staring over a map of the Niagara peninsula.
“It would seem that way sir.” General Butch Cassidy said beaming to the annoyance of the other Generals in the room.
“I would however like to asked why your forces are held up outside of Hamilton?” General Smith said coolly, though with a hint of joy in his voice.”
“Well General as you will discover when your division reaches Hamilton, they canucks have prepared yet another defensive line. To many of my armored trucks for put out of commissioned to launch a major attack. My division took high casualties not only in the clearing of the trenches outside of Welland, but also clearing the city itself.”
“For now Cassidy I would suggest that you consolidate your forces. Launch probing attacks and see if you can find a weak spot in their lines.” General Funston said holding up his hand to silence the other Generals.
“Sir with all do respect if we consolidate so do they! What I need is more Armored Trucks now! My division and first armored attacks quick and-”

“General Cassidy I must point out that while you did capture Welland and race the Canucks and Limeys all the way to the end of the Peninsula you lost almost all your Armored Trucks either to enemy fire or break downs. We have a very finite supply of those vehicles.”
“So let me use them were they'll be most effective sir!” Cassidy said pleadingly.
“You have your orders General. For now consolidate and launch probing attacks.”
“That will end up getting good men killed for no reason!” Cassidy said slamming his fist on the table.
“So will you rushing head long into battle with unreliable vehicles and tired troops that have had little sleep for the past week and a half.” General Funston paused and took a deep breath. “I know keeping the initiative is important. We all do. But you troops are tired. They need replacements to fill in the losses. You need to secure your very overstretched supply lines. You need to make sure all your soldiers under your command are well equipped. You need to repair your vehicles. Until then your division will likely fall apart.”
“I have faith in my men General.” Cassidy said shaking his head. “They're good men.”
“I know they are, and I know you do. But like you said. Lets not get good men killed for nothing.”​






(1)-The Oregon settlement after the Oregon War in this TL was and the 51st Lat. So British settlements changed accordingly. Memoriam is a city set up by the British as the Capital of British Columbia.​



(2)-Nickname that American soldiers give barb wire in TL.​
 
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