The Co-Prosperity Sphere

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Chaper 447: The African Campaign – Part 9: Second Battle of El Alamain:

General Field Marshall Erwin Rommel had learned from the Battle of Alam el Halfa, where he had tried to bypass the strong Allied (mainly British) defences in the south, only to be stopped by stron Allied positions on the Alam Halfa Ridge/ Alam-el-Halfa Ridge and a Allied counter-offensive from the Ruweisat Ridge. Still Rommel had learned from the Battle that the British defences in the South, were the Greek Brigade, the Free French and the British 44th and 50th Divisions alongside the 22nd and 23 Armored Brigade and the 7th Armored Divison were positioned, the Allied defences were at their weakest. Knowing from Axis Central Powers bombing raids from Crete, Rhodes and Cyprus on the northern British and Commonwealth positions directly in El Alamein, Rommel knew that the enemy was building up massive forces and could soon overwhealm him if this continued. This Allied Army build up was slowed down by pro-German, pro-Axis Central Powers and pro-Egypt independence, Egypt spies and saboteurs, who blew up parts of the Allied supply railways towards El Alamein and even startet some minor protests, strike as well as even local uprisings against British rule in Alexandria and Cairo. Axis Central Power bombers therefore targeted the roads and railwas from Cairo and Alexandria to El Alamein, now that Allied convoys from the west were impossible, with Gibraltar and Malta firm in Axis Central Power hands. Rommel knew that time was playing against him, but luckily thanks to the recent victories in Russia and the Imperial German High Command and the German Emperor Wilhelms hope to start Mohammedan unrest from Egypt to India, he received fresh and new forces for Northern Africa, even if some of the German supplies and forces moved further west and south, the incoming Italians forces were joined by a few Austrian-Hungarian motorized and infantry division, while most Fascist French and Spanish forces together with some of the German reinforcemens moved west and south from North Africa, instead of east. Rommel knew that the Allied had massed their forces in the North, including the British 1st and 10th Armored Division, the British 51st Highlander Division, the 9h Ausralian Division, the 2nd New Zealand Division, the 4th Indian Division and he 1st South African Divison. They faced the Italian 102nd Trento, 25th Bologna and 7th Bersa Divisions and Brigades, while the Italian 101st Trieste, 133rd Littorio Divisions and the Austrian-Hungarian Infantry and Tank divisions, together with the German 90th Light Division defended the secondary defence line, should the Allies manage to break trought the first one and the Axis Central Power minefields and defensive positions.

In the South of the Frontline, where the 44th British Infantry Division and the 1st Free French Brigade massed forces for a faint assault, Rommel entrusted the Italian Divison 17th Pavia, 132nd Ariete and a Austria-Hungarian support Division of Infantry and Light Motorized to hold the frontline in support of their defences by the Axis Central Power minefields there. The Center however, where the Allies had the Greek Brigade, the British 50th Infantry Division and the British 7th Armored Division as reserves, General Field Marshall Rommel planned his major assault. The plan was to use mockup trucks and tanks in the north to convince the Allies that he had more troops then he truly had, while his main forces, consisting of the Italian 27th Brescia Division, the German 164th Light Division as well as the German 15th and 21st Tank Divisions together with some Austrian-Hungarian prepared their main push. When the Allies attacked in the North and South on September 23, 1942, after increasing German and Italian bombing runs on their positions, Rommel waited till their first assault was stopped by Axis Cnetral Powers reinforcements and reserves. The Allies then started to attack again, but weaker this time, the moment Rommel had waited for. With the bulk of his own forces, he penetraed the weak Allied center between the Ruweisat Ridge and the Munassib Depression, forcing the 7th (in the South) and 10th (in the North) British Armored Divisons to come to the resque. The Axis Central Powers northern front had given a little bit of terrain, but the Eight Army under Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery had fallen for Rommel's trick, mostly because the Allies could not believe after the Axis Central Powers heavy bombardment and scouting of their Northern position, that the main Battle could happen anywhere except there. Rommels main oush was brutal and quick and soon some British and Greek forces were wavering. Because the Ruweisat Ridge and the Munassib Depression hindered to quick Allied counters, his forces pushed quiet far east, rendering the southern Free French and British forces cut off from the northern and eastern rest of their army.

Taking Alam Nayil, Rommel used the Allied confusion to his advantage and pushed further east towards Alam el Halfa once again, knowing that if the Allied had massed so much of their forces north, for a offensive, that the remainign forces there would not be as heavy and well defendet then last time, and that this time they would also lack the support of the main Armroed British Divisions. Because of this decision, the rush eastwards to Alam el Halfa became a race between the Germans, Austrian-Hungarians and Italians on the offensive and the retreating British 50th Infantry Divisions, the Greek Brigade and the 7th british Armored Division, as well as the more southern Free French Brigade and the 44th British Infantry Division, who feared to be cut off from the rest of the Alleid forces and be annihilated by another one of Rommels quick advances. It was Rommel's own myth now that helped the Axis Central Powers main assault in the center and caused a Allied rout and panick in the south, with more and more Greek, French and British forces there falling back in fear of a encirclement and surrounding by Axis Central Power Forces. Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery on the other hand meanwhile realized that this Axis Central Powers breaktrought, his own fleeing southern forces (by now attacked by the following Italians and Austrian-Hungarians) and the retreating Allied center, combined with the southward curve of the great Qattara Depression meant, that the Axis Central Powers Army now had a good chance to break trought in the south, cut off his army in two there and defeat them too quick for his own reserves and reinforcements to arrive from the Northwest, where they were massed.

The Second Battle of El Alamain would be one of the true mysteries of history, later historicans would compare it to Cannae, a reversed Cannae of some kind that is, since Montgomery's Army still outmatched that of Rommel in numbers of all kind. But the German's daring push trought the weak Allied Center, away from their northern massed bulk of the Allied forces caused the southern Allied front to panic and a mass retread started. Montgomery ordered the Allied forces falling back to form a new souhern defence line along their prepared positiond along the Alam al Halfa Ridge, were parts of the 44th British Infantry Division, the British 50th Infantry Division, the British 7th Armored Division and the 1st Free French Brigade managed to form a new defensive line all the way east to the cities and towns of El Ruweusat and Hamman, to keep the Allied railways to the main defences and forces in El Alamain open. Rommel however had hoped for the Allies to move like this and used the last of his reserves and the remaining fuel (dropped by the German transport Airship Lettow-Vorbeck shortly before the Battle) to turn east, cross the undefendet desert and surround the still superior Allied Army in El Alemain, just like the Axis Central Powers had done in Tobruk before. Until October 11, 1942 the Axis Central Powers bombing on the remaining Allied positions increased and despite deadly dogfights over the area and scouting by each side, Rommel managed to convince Montgomery with his earlier victory and dummies, that he at least had a equal army compared to his, while in reality the Axis Central Powers still had fewer numbers and whould have crumbled under a massed Allied counter-offensive. So Montgomery orders his massed forces to break out of the surroundet position, eastwards. The majority of the Eight Army escaped eastwars to Alexandria, were a new defensive position was quickly build, but the damage was done. The Axis Central Power Forces now had the opportunity to advance further into Egypt, threaten Cairo, the Suez Canal, and the western flank of the Middle Eastern Front. Ever since the end of Operation Crusader, in late 1941 Allied forces had lost to that of the Axis Central Powers in northern Africa. Rommel immediately made plans for further operations to take Egypt after receiving more reinforcements to garrison and secure his now even more overstretched supply lines. The Axis Central Powers Offensive deeper into Egypt, was unwillingly supported by the Co-Prosperity Sphere and Japan, with their Invasion of Darwin in Australia on December 8, 1942 , leading to the uprising of Australian soldiers in Africa and the Middle East who wished to return home to defend their homeland from Invasion, instead of fighting for the British Empire on the other half of the world. This first Commonwealth Forces Crisis had a huge impact on Allied morale, when the Indian forces did something similar during the 1943 Japanese, Burmese, Yankoku, Tibetan and Indian National Army Invasion (Liberation Offensive) into Assam and Benghal as a reaction to a British and Allied Offensive into Burma earlier in 1943.

 

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Chapter 448: The Co-Prosperity Sphere Philippines:

In the 16th century, the United States of America aquired the Philippines from Spain after the war of 1898/99. 7083 islands in total, 2441 of those were inhabited. These Islands next to the Asian mainland have been expanded by the Americans into a advanced powerfull base, to secure their position inside the Pacific and combine this with the economic exploitation of the Islands. When the wave of independence and liberation movements in Asia, hit the Philippines as well, the United States allowed the Philippines their independence on March 24, 1943, with a new law and the promise to give them full independence in 1944. But this independence act however was not meant for the Philippine people, but rather for the agrarian circles inside the United States themselves, who were outraged because of the duty-free imports of Philippine trade goods (like sugar), to stop the cheap competition for the american agriculture. With the limitation of the duty-free imports, the Philippines were supposed to accustom themselves for the total end of a free american Market. If the Philippines would be able to survive economically without this support was unsure. Similar unsure was what new routes the then independent island nation might chose to take. That was the main problem and question for many Philippinos of the time.

The Japanese and the newly formed members of the Co-Prosperity Sphere (Chosen/ Korea and Manchukuo) as well as many other still independent Asian Nations however saw this as a farce, as the United States claimed rights and regulations for themselves and the Philippines, they outright refused to other nations in the world (like their forced free marked and non-intervention policy in China, while they themselves prohibited any other non-American nation to interfere in their own Sphere of Interest in North and South America). As a interim solution US President Roosevelt and Philippine President Quezon agreed in April 1938, that while the Philippines should get their authonomy in 1944, their true independence would first come in the year 1960. Until this day the Philippines would remain depending on the United States and in exchange be part of the economic area of the american block, remaining as a Philippine Protectorate of the United States of America. This meant that until then the foreign policy of the Philippines would remain under the control of the American government. At the same time the United States would maintain the right to maintain troop and fleet bases in the Philippine Islands. In other words, the Philippines would remain somewhat of a American Colony and base in the region, to limit the Japanese ambitions and expansions. The United States of America were resolute, to stop the Philippines from falling into the Japanese Sphere of Influence. This outraged many Philippine Independence Movement and led to the beginning close ties between the Ganap Party and some others with the Empire of Japan.

While many inside Japan and the Co-Prosperity Sphere saw the Philippine as a new member state and nation to join them and secure the path of their convoys and transports to the South-East Asia as their ressource region. Others however, saw it mainly as a future Japanese colony and settlement area for Japanese colonists, as the Philippines were only a little bit smaller then Japan, but only had one fifths of it's population. They saw the Japanese liberated Ganap Philippines as a part of the Co-Prosperity Sphere ressource region with their gold, iron ore, chopper, coal, lead, chrome, manganese, molybdenum and even some petroleum. The Japanese therefor tried to convince the Ganap Philippines, that had a strong democratic tradition and a new coalition government as a member state of the Co-Prosperity Sphere, to not only aim for totall independence, but to also become a willingly member of the Coprospist world and the Yen Block, securing the trade routes of the Co-Prosperity Sphere's northern industry and population centers towards the southern ressource area and profit from doing so in the process. While this process under the new Ganap Unity Government Coalition was willingly at the beginning, the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy, as well as other major Co-Prosperity nations and member states were not willing to let the Philippines fall into enemy hands. Therefore the Ganap Philippine Army and the Ganap Philippine Navy together with their own air forces were trained and equipped by the Empire of Japan and Japanese Officers and Commander even led parts of the mainly Phillipine forces directly at the beginning.

 

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Chapter 449: Giuseppe Bottai and the Italien Auxiliary Legions:

Giuseppe Bottai (born 3 September 1895 ) was an Italian journalist, and member of the National Fascist Party of Benito Mussolini. Born in Rome, Giuseppe was son of Luigi, a wine dealer with republican sympathies, and Elena Cortesia. He was graduated at Liceo Torquato Tasso, and attended to the Sapienza University of Rome until the 1915, when Italy declared war to the Central Powers, in the same year he left his studies to enlist himself in the Italian Royal Army. Wounded in battle, he obtained a Medal of Military Valor after the World War I. In 1919, Bottai met Benito Mussolini during a Futurist meeting, and contributed to establish the Fasci Italiani di Combattimento ("Italian Fasci of Combat"). In 1921, Bottai ended his studies at law faculty and became a freemason, member of the Gran Loggia d'Italia. At the same time he also started a journalist career in the Il Popolo d'Italia, newspaper of the recently-founded National Fascist Party. During the March on Rome, Bottai was along with Ulisse Igliori and Gino Calza-Bini, the head of the Roman squadrismo, supporting Blackshirts' political violence.

After 1921 election, Bottai was elected in the Chamber of Deputies for the National Blocs, but was removed for his young age. He returned to the Chamber in 1924, maintaining the office until his departure to the active military. In 1923, he became leader of the intransigent, national syndicalist and revolutionary faction of the Fascism. To support his ideas, Bottai founded Critica fascista ("Fascist Critic"), a cultural periodical, co-operating with other leftist fascists like Filippo De Pisis, Renato Guttuso and Mario Mafai. Bottai worked to the Ministry of Corporations, introducing the Labour Charter and planning a "Corporative Academic Pole" in Pisa, from 1926 to 1932, when he was excluded by Mussolini from the Ministry. In 1933, Bottai established and chaired the National Institute of the Social Security (Italian: Istituto nazionale della previdenza sociale, INPS). After, he was appointed Fascist Governor of Rome (1935–1936) but resigned to fight in the Second Italo-Ethiopian War with the rank of major. In 5 May 1936, Bottai and Pietro Badoglio entered in Addis Abeba, and Bottai was appointed as City Governor. After the war, Bottai returned in Rome to be Education Minister. During his ministry, Bottai proclaimed a law (the so-called "Bottai Law") on safeguarding public and cultural heritage and the preservation of natural beauties . He also co-worked with art critics Giulio Carlo Argan and Cesare Brandi to improve the Italian cultural life. In the late 1930s, Bottai became more radical and a Germanophile. In 1938 he expressed support to Radical Laws to increase the Fascist Royalist Movement, for wich he founded Monarchia ("Monarch"), a magazine that supported the Aristrocratic rule, Germanic supremacy and war interventionism. Bottai thought that the "Fascist Revolution" was incomplete, and only a return to the original fascism, pseudo-socialist and anti-bourgeois ideals, would save Europe.

To further support the Italian Empire, Bottai saw the Eastern Crusade as a disaster, because it caused the death or dispersion of approximately 77,000 soldiers, with more than 39,000 injured, and promised no compensations of territory or ressources in return. Drawing Inspriation by the French Foreign Legion, Bottai created the Legion Auxiliary (or Roman Legion Auxiliary, RLA) for the new Roman Empire, a Auxiliary and Foreign Forces Army to support the regular Italian Army, the reborn Roman Legions. Most of this forces fought in Africa and were made up by Libyans, Eritreans and Somalians, but some French, Germans, Albanians and Croatians. Fighting in Africa until 1944, Bottai and his Legion Auxiliary fought across all of Africa against anti-colonialist mocements and uprisings until he was shot and wounded in 1953. He afterwards started to write for various Fascist Italian/ Roman magazines and newspapers, including colonial ones. On January 9, 1959 he died in Rome, with various prominent Fascist Royalist Italian Leaders and National Monarchists from all over the Axis Central Powers and even the British Empire and South Africa attending his funeral.

 

[CountofDooku]

Chapter 450: The Chongqing Campaign/ Sichuan Campaign:

To end the stalemate in the Chinese Civil War, the Imperial Japanese Army and the Imperial Japanese High Command, together with it's National Han Chinese counterpart, planned the Invasion of Sichuan as their next campaign (known as the Chongqing/ Sichuan Invasion or Campaign. As the War in Asia against the Soviet Union and the British Empire and the War in the Pacific agaisnt Australia and America did not continue as easy and fast as originally planned and believed, the Japanese Government and some member states of the Co-Prosperity Sphere planned a change in their main operations. The main goal now was to quickly end the Chinese Civil War as the Japanese believed it to be the main chause of tensions between them and the Americans. So for them the logical conclusion was not only that a war-weary America might sue for peace durign this war, but that if they created precedents by winning the Chinese Civil War for the Wang Jingwei Government in Nangjing. Then they believed the Americans were unwilling to continue to fight a war over China and the Philippines, once the Japanese had already concluded their goals there for goos.

The basic plan was to make a multi-front breakthrough to Sichuan from southern Shanxi and Henan, central Hubei and central Hunan. Heavy aerial support and bombing of Chongqing and other major United Chinese Front cities supported the advance of the Japanese and Co-Prosperity Sphere Armies and collaborationist forces. Japanese Navy, National Han Chinese Navy and Taikoku Navy patrol boats from the Yangtze river provided further bombardment. For the whole operation 16 divisions and logistics support units from Japan and Co-Prosperity Sphere reserves (like Yankoku and Taikok) to reinforce the Japanese expeditionary forces in the central China area. Then they would prepare the principal force of ten divisions in south Shanshi and Henan, and other support group conformed by six Divisions in central Hubei and Hunan, for striking Sichuan and the occupation of Chinese United Front Capital of Chongqing in August 1942. The actual invasion then saw Japanese units first occupying Wanxian, from where the Japanese could advance to Chongqing-proper from all sides. To cut off the escape routes of Chinese refugees, the occupation of North Guizhou was planned, which could be used to stage an attack on Chengdu through Yibin. The north Japanese army division had the option to either advance towards south Shaanxi to capture Xi'an, or towards Hanzhong to take Chengdu directly. At the same time Japan utilized airborne forces to cut off Chinese escape routes and take the Chongqing metropolitan area directly. This way the Chinese United Fronts main remaining Forces, it's Capital and escape routes would be crippled or destroyed, if the Campaign was successful, Japan would win the Chinese Civil War for the Co-Prosperity Sphere.

Both Chiang Kai-shek and General Wego W.K. Chiang suspected that the intense bombing of Chongqing by the Japanese Navy and the Japanese Air Force was to support the diversionary Japanese operations against metropolitan Chongqing, as part of the invasion of Sichuan. It was also possible that the Japanese army hoped that a terror campaign against Chongqing would force the Chinese authorities to break from the Allies and make a separate peace with Japan, accepting the Wang Jingwei Regime as the sole sovereign over all of the claimed National Han Chinese territory. According to General Chiang Wei-kuo, if the invasion was successful, the Japanese could put the Wang Jingwei puppet regime, Mengjiang and the Tibetan Empire in charge of nearly all of the remaining free China. The Japanese then might also pressure Chiang Kai-shek to join Japan's Co-Prosperity Sphere as a subordinant of Wang Jingwei and to assist in a new Japanese offensive against the Soviet Union in Siberia and Central Asia. All of this possible outcomes were a nightmare for the Allies and the Soviet Union and so both started to once again send weapons, equipment and most importantly aircraft and volunteer pilots to stop the advancing Co-Prosperity Sphere Armies in Central China.

Thanks to the heavy opposition against Japan from Allied countries and the Soviet Union, the Sichuan Invasion was not carried out like planned. In particular, the British counter-offensive in Burma, the American-Australian counter-offensive in New Guinea and the Soviet Union counter-offensive in Siberia/ Greater Manchuria, while not gaining much ground, prevented further Japanese supplies and forces to go into the Sichuan Campaign directly. American counter-offensive in the Solomon Islands like Guadalcanal also diverted the Japanese attention and planning and the invasion for Sichuan was therefore not implemented directly. Still the Japanese continued to plan the Suchuan Invasion and switched out the planned participating forces, instead of battle-hardened, well trained and equipped Japanese Army Forces, the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters prpeared a new plan in wich the Japanese China Expeditionary Army would capture Sichuan with massive support by the National Han Chinese Army, as well as reserves from the Imperial Yankoku Army and the Imperial Taikoku Army. By then the United Front Chinese armies had gained the support of the "Flying Tigers" of the United States, which was commanded by General Claire Chennault.

In subsequent battles, the Co-Prosperity Sphere armies suffered defeats at the hands of the Nationalist Chinese armies. The more mounainous terrain with less infrastructure then the Chinese Coastal regions slowed down the Co-Prosperity Sphere Forces too. In light of these defeats, the Co-Prosperity Sphere forces were obliged to stop for months before a new offensive could be mounted. During this period the Chinese Army sent seven Army to attack Yikoku and to join the Allies in India to clear the China–Burma route. In fear these Chinese reinforcements might take the Burma route again from the Co-Prosperity Sphere and heavily attack the Empire of Yikoku and the Burmese Kingdom the Japanese Army and the Taikoku Army switched their attention to Yikoku to prevent future Chinese counter-offensives from that area. At the same time the bombing of Chongqing, the Chinese Unted Front Capital was expanded to Chinese United Front cities in all of central China and intensified, to bomb them in submission. Just like the Germans planned to do with England at the same time. This bombings would continue until the Co-Prosperity Sphere Armies would finally conquer the region during the Chinese Civil War.

As a result of the Chinese United Front relocating their capital from Nanjing to Hankou and later Chongqing, nearby inland provinces under Chiang Kai-shek who had which previously never had modern Western-style universities, industry or infrastructure began to be developed in this regard, as they suddenly had become the Chinese United Front's core region and heartland. The difficulty of accessing the region overland from the eastern part of China and the foggy climate hinderied the Co-Prosperity Sphere advancing, as well as the accuracy of Japanese and National Han Chinese increasing bombing of the Sichuan Basin, made the region the stronghold of Chiang Kai-shek's Chinese United Front government. As a reaction to that the Japanese Expeditionary Army in the Chinese Civil War, that by now had switched to support the defense of Yikoku from the Chinese United Front Forces that had started to attack southwards. In support of the Co-Prosperity Sphere Chongqing Campaign/ Sichuan Campaign in Central China, the Imperial Japanese Army and the Co-Prosperity Sphere Armies were supported by the Imperial Japanese Navy and the National Han Chinese Navy, who tried to use riverboads to supply and support the assault deeper into Central China, towards Chongqing, but for now the Co-Prosperity Sphere had to abandon their Campaign because of supply problems and the enemy being entranched in mountainous terrain.

 

[CountofDooku]

Chapter 451: The Australian Nation and Continent:

Seventy times more people live in the same space in Europe, then in the British Commonwealth of Australia. This circumstance dictates the politics of Australia in a immense proportion. Even if Australia is incapable to support even a fifths of the European population. Deserts and a shortage of fresh water dramatical limit the regions and space that can be inhabitated. Over a third of the Australian Continent is therefore not land to settle in, as limited rainfall and a quick dryout of the ground makes it inhabitable. Other estimates even conclude that less then a third of the whole continent allows for at least a limited amount of colonists to settle in it. However a huge amound of the remaining land can still be used for sheeps and cattle. And even if the capacity of Australia for new masses of colonists and settlers should not be overestimated, Australia still remains a continent without people and a true nation, at leasts in terms of population per square mile. The estimated population maximum for Australia is believed to be 30 Million people, roughtly more of four times the current population number. This unhealthy population distribution shows itself that today 64% of the citizens and inhabitants of Australia live in the big cities. 18% of all Australians live in Sydney (1,240,000 citizens), 47% in the seven major cities. All of the major and big cities are located at the coast, unlike the United States of America, Australia had never managed to settle its interior. Because of this Australia is a kind of unfinished Continent, only settled at his edge, but empty and undeveloped in it's core.

In the east Asian land's with their massive overpopulation and immense pressure to relieve this massive population by emigrating into new lands and territory, Australia must seem like a vacuum, not only attrackting these masses, but sucking them towards the empty continent like nothing else. The immense Australian space is especially tempting for the Japanese millions, who live cramped on tiny and cramped, small space. Therefore Australia played a massive role in the post-war plannings of the Japanese Empire and the Co-Prosperity Sphere. The Japanese Prioritised Australia into three Regions; First the West and East Coast with their firtile lands, were Japanese and Aboriginal settlers were to be massed in new colonial towns, Second the interior of the continent, were at least a few masses could find a home too and Third the southeast between Adelaide, Melbourne and Sidney (possible including Tasmania), were the European Settlers would then live in some kind of Reservation, like the Native Americans did in the United States at the time. A similar plan was made in New Zealand, were the Japanese and Māori would settle the North Island (Te Ika-a-Māui), and the majority of the South Island (Te Waipounamu) while the Europeans would be banned to southern tip of the south Island. One to two million Japanese Settlers would then migrate to Australia and New Zealand until the local population and ethnic landscape would be diverted into the Emperor's favor. To do so Australia and New Zealand would either become direct Japanese Colonies or Puppets after the Japanese had won the war, or pressed into opening their borders for Japanese settlers by economic and military pressure.

Naturally the Australians blocked any attempt to do so before the Second Great War, trying to remain a Continent of Whites, similar to how the United States blocked Japanese and Chinese Immigration at the same time. The pressure of immigraing masses that Australia had to face before the start of the Second Great War, had been determing the so called White-Australian Policy, with the goal to remain a White Nation. Clearly Australia wished for new settlers, but white ones, British at best, but until now all attempts to settle the Australian Continent fully with British settlers had been a failure. At the moment the dam to hold out the Asian Flood was working, but once the Japanese would win the war, or invade and occupy Australia, the dam would collaps. Instead of Millions of White settlers to strengthen the dam before it was too late, millions of Asians, mainly Japanese would then flood the continent. Australias policy of a White Australias only can win in the end, if Australia manages to open itself up for white Settlers from all of Europe and North America, without any restrictions, otherwise the Asian masses might no be able to withstand the temptation and some day fill the gap with their own settlers.

The future of Australia greatly depents on the fact, if the government manages to soak trought with settlers deep in it's continental core. More then half of the massive Continent is completely unpopulated. Only around 25,000 settlers live in the immense masses of the inner Continent, a territory nearly as big as the European Continental mass itself. In such a territory Neighbors are already those people who live between 200 to 300 km (124 miles to 186 miles) away from each others. Often travels from two to three days are a nessessarity to reach the outside world, something a Asian farmer could not even imagine. Then in the rainy season, when the tracls become impassable, the Farmers are often completely cut off from the rest of the world for weeks and months. This too is one of the reason why Australia remains a empty continent.

Yes Australia owns a railway system of 43,000 km (26,718 miles), but the majority of this network of trains (two third) is located in the eastern Australian States of Victoria, New-South-Wales and Queensland. The value of this network is further sinking, as the different tracks vary between five and two feet, so that no train can simply use the whole network. The railways from the eas coast into the inner center of the continent lead nowhere really, they were originally meant to support incoming waves of colonists and settle the core of Australia, but nothing came from this plans and finished build railway tracks.

Only the estabilishment of airlines had lead the railways into some sort of ordered planning. With the use or airplanes, Australia finally had found a way to increase it's ambitions of setling the whole continent. The core of this airlines in Australia before the Japanese Invasion lead from Darwin to Brisbaine, the last part of the great British Empire route that lead over Singapore, India, the Middle East onto the British Isles. In only seven to nine days this airline allowed to travel from England to Australia. Beside the airlines who directly follow the train tracks, the eastern States of Australia know airlines that connect the various points of the railway stations and the major towns and cities there. Perth can be reached from Adelaide in only nine hours. From Pearth another airline leads over the west coast of Australia leads to the mountains, that were until now not reached by the railways and trains. In Daly Waters the Round-Australia-Airway closes again, it's importance for Australia immense, even more so since a few years a new route had lead from Darwin to Adeliade, directly across the center of the Continent, following the railway along it's path. Over 32,000 km or nearly 20,000 miles are connected by airlines on a regular base in Australia. With the increasing expansion of this airline network, Australia managed to grow closer together, to unitize it's immense Continental Nation and to give live to the death and empty space in it's middle. The Japanese underesimated these facors during their Invasion of northern Australia (Darwin) and paid the price, when the Australians managed to bring more troops to the frontline in a much quicker pace, by train and airlines, then they were able to land and supply by ship.

 

[CountofDooku]

Chapter 452: Coprospism: Siamese/ Thai Phibunsongkhramism/ Chomphon Porism/ Phibunism or Pibulism

The Siamese/ Thai Coprospism that ruled the Empire from 1938 to 1944 was known as Phibunsongkhramism/ Chomphon Porism/ Phibunism or Pibulism, after Field Marshal Plaek Phibunsongkhram (Thai: แปลก พิบูลสงคราม) who was alternatively transcribed as Pibulsongkram or Pibulsonggram, locally known as Chomphon Por (Thai: จอมพล ป), contemporarily known as Phibun (Pibul) in the West, the Prime Minsiter of Siam/ Thailand. He had been one of the leaders of the militar branch of the People's Party (Khana Ratsadon) that staged a coup d'état and overthrew the absolute monarchy in 1932. One year later he crushed the Boworadet Rebellion, a royalist revolt led by Prince Boworadet, that forced King Prajadhipok to his abdication in 1935 abdication and he replacement by King Ananda Mahidol, a child that still studiet in Switzerland, so the parliament appointed Colonel Prince Anuwatjaturong, Lieutenant Commander Prince Aditya Dibabha, and Chao Phraya Yommaraj (Pun Sukhum) as his regents. Phibunsongkhram then replaced Prime Minister Phraya Phahol and became Commander of the Royal Siamese Army in 1938, and consolidated his position by rewarding several members of his own army clique with influential positions in his government. He then began to speed up the pace of modernising Siam/ Thailand and supported Fascist (Fascist Royalis) and Nationalist (National Royalist) ideas, building a leadership cult in 1938 with the help of the Minister of Propaganda, Luang Wichitwathakan. His own photographs were found everywhere, replacing that of the abdicated King, his quotes appearing in newspapers, plastered on billboards and repeated over the radio.

Impressed by Benito Mussolinis March on Rome, the Thai government Phibun was impressed and became a admirer of Italian fascism, implementing the same propaganda concepts and promoting the ideologies of nationalism and militarism, strengthening unity and harmony of the state, and also glorifying the policy of ruralisation in Italy and abroad. With the pro-fascist leanings of Thai political leaders, Italian propaganda films: newsreels, documentaries, short films, and full-length feature films, such as Istituto Luce Cinecittà, were shown in Thailand during the interwar period. Phibun adopted the Italian fascist salute, modeled on the Roman salute, and he used it during speeches, but the salute was not compulsory in Thailand. It was opposed by Luang Wichitwathakan and many cabinet members as they believed it inappropriate for Thai culture. Aiming to uplift the national spirit and moral code of the nation and instilling progressive tendencies and a newness into Thai life, a series of cultural mandates were issued by the government. These mandates encouraged all Thais to salute the flag in public places, know the new national anthem, and use the Thai language, not regional dialects. People were encouraged to adopt Western, as opposed to traditional, attire. Similarly, people were encouraged to eat with a fork and spoon, rather than with their hands as was customary. Phibun saw these policies as necessary, in the interest of progressivism, to change Thailand in the minds of foreigners from an undeveloped country into a civilised and modern one. Phibun's administration encouraged economic nationalism. Anti-Chinese policies were imposed, and the Thai people were to purchase as many Thai products as possible, thereby reducing Chinese economic power. In a speech in 1938, Luang Wichitwathakan, himself of Chinese ancestry, followed Rama VI's book Jews of the East in comparing the Chinese in Siam to the Jews in Germany, who at the time were harshly repressed.

In 1939, Phibun changed the country's name from Siam" to "Thailand. In 1941, in the midst of the Second Great War, he decreed 1 January as the official start of the new year instead of the traditional 13 April. Ardently pro-Japanese at the beginning, Phibun and his administration soon distanced themselves from Japan following the aftermath of the French-Thai War. This conflict lasted from October 1940 to May 1941. Following the peace talks, the Japanese gained the right to occupy French Indochina. Threatened with war, Phibun stated that the Japanese would be the transgressors. The administration also realised that Thailand would have to fend for itself when the Japanese invasion came, considering its deteriorating relationships with the major Western powers in the area. So Phibun took the opportunity and allied himself with the Japanese, joining the Co-Prosperity Sphere trying to gain long lost Siamese/ Thai territories from French Indochina (the then liberated new Co-Prosperity Sphere member States and Kingdoms of Laos and Cambodia). The Japanese were allowed to pass Siamese/ Thai territory to invade (alongside the Royla Siamese/ Thai Army) and liberate British Burma and Malaysia, allowing the Siamese/ Thai to annex the region of malaysia for themselves. Similary in Burma, the Siamese/ Thai gained the Nicobar Islands the Salween River as the new border between them and the newly liberated Co-Prosperity Sphere member State of the Kingdom of Burma. Siam/ Thailand had joined Japan and the Co-Prosperity Sphere in their war agaisnt the Allies and soon Great Britain, the United States, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand declared war on Siam/Thailand. Meanwhile Pridi Phanomyong was appointed acting regent for the absent King Ananda Mahidol. However many supporters of the King, like the prominent foreign minister and ambassador in Tokio Direk Jayanama, were not in favor of the pro-Japanese Alliance and the Siamese/ Thai membership in the Co-Prosperity Sphere. During this time he made two grandiose plans. One was to relocate the capital from Bangkok to a remote site in the jungle near Phetchabun in north central Thailand, far away from any possible Allied invasion or landing in the South. The other was to build a Buddhist city in Saraburi. Announced at a time of severe economic difficulty, these ideas turned many more government officers against him and when Phibuns six-year reign as the military commander-in-chief came to a end in 1944, the Japanese acted quickly. In a Co-Prosperity Sphare coup they elimitadet all government members who opposed the Alliance with Japan and the Co-Prosperity Sphere membership of Siam/ Thailand and with the help of the German Empire manged to get King Ananda Mahidol back from Switzerland. The Japanese declared that Phibun and his way to western modernisation had been influenced by Western/ Allied/ Colonial Imperialist spies, who had infiltrated the government and that Siamese/ Thai patriots with the help of their Japanese and Co-Prosperity Sphere brothers had eliminated and arrested these traitors, to give Siam/ Thailand back into the hands of it's rightfull King; Ananda Mahidol. Under Ananda Mahidol, the Siamese/ Thai Coprospism of Ananthamahidonism began in 1944, modernising and industrialising the Nation State further, while at the same time embracing Siamese/ Thai traditions, culture and religion.

 

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Chapter 453: The neutral Portuguese Empire (Império Português):

Portugal had been the first Colonial- and Seapower in resent Human history. Portuguese explorers and sailors had been the ones in the 15th an 16th Century wo carried the banner of their King around the World, from Africa, over Asia to America. With the conquest of the Arabian fortress of Ceuta under King John I and his sons, for the first time in History a European Power claimed another part of the World outside Europe. As one of their greatest colonial pioneers, the Portuguese worshipped his son Henry, who became a known as the sailor. Bartholomeo Diaz explored the Cape of Good Hope in 1486. Vasco da Gamas sailed the east coast of Africa upwards and reached Calicut, at the western coast of India, the sea route to India was discovered. In relative short time, the Portuguese managed to dominate the whole Indian Ocean and managed to reach China over Mecca. On his way to India, the Portuguese Alvares Cabral accidentally reached Brazil around 1500, that would later turn into one of the most pressious Portuguese Colonies.

The Power of the small Portuguese Nation however were to small to hold onto this immense Empire. In a few decades Porugal had annexed a territory that was a hundred times larger then the motherland. But even as the Portuguese had only managed to hold a tiny fraction of their once global Empire from the 16th Century, their colonial Empire still is 22 times as large as their motherland in Europe. Still the current Portuguese Colonial Empire was enhabitated by 8,8 million people, not much compared to the 6,8 million in the Portuguese Motherland itself. The majority of he rest of this population lived in the African regions of the Portuguese Empire, or the Islands on it's coast.

Since 1372, Portugal and England were connected by a Alliance, the oldest in he whole world. This Alliance was grounded in common strategic interests. After all the Portuguese Colonial Empire was imbedded in the British Empire. Along the easily vulnerable coast of Portugal, the major British Trade routes to the Rest of the British Empire and the British convoy and transport ships pass by. This includes the English life-line, the sea route to India and South Africa, the Suez route and the Cape route. Under no circumstances could England allow that the Portuguese Harbors and the strategic improtrant triangle Lissabon-Azores-Cape Verde would fall into enemy hands. The Alliance with England however wasn't the only possibility for the Portuguese Empire, as António de Oliveira Salazar had great plans for the Estado Novo (New State) as he called his corporatist, authoritarian government. For "Deus, Pátria e Familia" (meaning "God, Fatherland, and Family") as the regime encouraged his citizens, Salazar was one of the first Fascist Royalists, promoting Catholicism, but strongly opposed regular German Nazism, because of his pagan elements, that he considered repugnant. As a potential British Ally, he opposed democracy, sommunism, socialism, anarchism and liberalism, clearly closer to the Fascist Royalist and National Monarchist Governments and Regimes, then to any of the Allied Nations.

Salazar however also had another option, joining the victorious, much closer and much more alike Axis Central Powers during the Second Great War, a possibility that greatly concearned the Allies, especially the United Kingdom. A personal-union between Salazar and Franco, a Iberian Block, Iberian Union or unified Iberian Kingdom was possible as Austria and Hungary, two much more different States had proven once again a few years before. In a Alliance with the Axis Central Powers, the Portuguese Empire and António de Oliveira Salazar could possibly gain the claimed territory between their Angola and Mozambique Colonies from the British Empire. This way the Portuguese could finally archive their dream of a unified African Colonial Empire, that expandet into the center of the continent with all it's ressources and would in the future be connected by a Portuguese Central African Colonial Railway system. Not to mention the ambitious dream of regaining or reconquering their old Brazilian Colony, making the Portuguese Empire a global major power in the world once again by doing so.

 

[CountofDooku]

Chapter 454: Coprospism: Ba Mawism

The Kingdom of Burma was finally established in 1942 and lead by a Coprospism known as Ba Mawism, after the "Naingandaw Adipadi" (head of state) Ba Maw (Burmese: ဘမော), the Chairman of the Burma Independence Preparatory Committee. From the 1920s onwards Ba Maw practiced law and dabbled in colonial-era Burmese politics. He achieved prominence in 1931 when he defended the rebel leader, Saya San. Saya San had started a tax revolt in Burma in December 1930 which quickly grew into a more widespread rebellion against British rule. Saya San was captured, tried, convicted and hanged. Ba Maw was among the top lawyers who defended Saya San. One of the presiding judges that tried Saya San was another Burmese lawyer Ba U. Starting from the early 1930s Ba Maw became an outspoken advocate for Burmese self-rule. He at first opposed Burma's colonial separation from British India, but later supported it. After a period as education minister, he served as the first Chief Minister, or Premier of Burma (during the British colonial period) from 1937 to February 1939, after first being elected as a member of the Poor Man's Party to the Legislature. He opposed the participation of Great Britain, and by extension Burma, in the Second Great War. He resigned from the Legislature and was arrested for sedition on 6 August 1940. Ba Maw spent over a year in jail as a political prisoner. He was incarcerated for most of the time in Mogok jail, situated in a hill station in eastern Burma.

During the early stages of the Second Great War, from December 1941 to April 1942, the Imperial Japanese Army with the help of the Royal Siamese/ Thai Army and the Burma Independence Army (BIA) quickly overran Burma, and after the capture of Rangoon, freed Ba Maw from prison. During the Japanese liberation of Burma, Ba Maw was asked by the Japanese to head a provisional civilian administration to manage day-to-day administrative activities, this Burmese Executive Administration was established on 1 August 1942. As promised the Japanese government advanced in granting Burma complete Independence within the same year. This gave the Burmese a real stake in the Co-Prosperity Sphere victoryand increased military and economic support from Burma for the Japanese war and the Co-Prosperity Sphere, as Burma had joined the alliance and it promised to resist re-colonization by western powers. A Burma Independence Preparatory Committee chaired by Ba Maw was formed and the nominally independent State of Burma or Kingdom of Burma was proclaimed on with Ba Maw as "Naingandaw Adipadi" (head of state) as well as prime minister. The new state quickly declared war on the United Kingdom and the United States, as a member state of the Co-Prosperity Sphere and concluded a Treaty of Alliance and Friendship with the Empire of Japan. Head of State and Prime Minister Ba Maw attended the Co-Prosperity Sphere Conference in Tokyo in November 1943 at the second year of the Pacific War, where he made a speech speaking of how it was the call of Asiatic blood that drew them together into a new era of unity and peace. While there he was also awarded, the Order of the Rising Sun, order is awarded to those who have made distinguished achievements in international relations, promotion of Japanese culture, advancements in their field, development in welfare or preservation of the environment.

Back at home meanwhile Ba Maw had the daring task to form and unify a new government for the Burmese Kingdom. This meant he had to secure popular support or diplomatic recognition to strenghten the legitimacy of his new government. The second part was quiet easy, as all other Co-Prosperity Sphere governments recognized one another and each others borders, followed by most of the Axis Central Powers in a attempt to form a unified Front against the Western Allies and the Soviet Union/ Comintern. To do so, Ba Maw used remnants of the old Burmese People's Party (Burmese: ပြည်သူပြည်သားပါတီ), originally a merger of the Nationalist Party, the Home Rule Party and the Swaraj Party in 1926, whose three parties had won a combined 45 seats in the 1925 elections. However, by 1928 it had been reduced to 35 seats. Campaigning under the sloga "Burma for the Burmans", it continued with the platform of the Nationalist Party and the General Council of Burmese Associations. In the 1928 election, they won 40 seats, being the largest party and allying with the National Parliamentary Organisation (NPO) who herself held another five seats, thereby the Independent Party was able to form a government with the assistance of the ethnic members and members appointed by the Governor.Following the elections, the NPO merged into the People's Party. However, in the build-up to the 1932 elections the party began to disintegrate over the issue of separation from India; members in favour (largely former Nationalist Party members) left to join the Separation League whilst most of the others joined the Anti-Separation League. This initial party alliances would form the basis for Ba Maw's own coalition government, the Burma Independence Preparatory Committee. To do so Ba Maw's coalation government dopted ideas and goals from many of the minor parties participating in it, trying to please as much Bumese s posible. From the Poor Man's Party, led by himself, that took 16 of the 132 seats of the House of Representatives he was able to form a government, reaching agreement with other parties that required him to abandon much the party's manifesto. What remained was their goal to reduce the rents and taxes, now that Burmse ressouces and mone woul be used for Burma and the Burmese and their allies in th Co-Prosperity Sphere not the British in far away London anymore. In local villages, towns and city neightborhoods local heads and leaders would be allowed to be elected and the Burmese Kingdom would from now on provided credit for farmers and the oust (originally buy-back) of foreign-owned agricultural land and give it in Burmse hands. Fom the nationalist Dobama Asiayone (Burmese: တို့ဗမာအစည်းအရုံး, We Burmans Association, DAA), commonly known as the Thakhins (Burmese: သခင်) led by Ba Thaung, that brought together traditionalist Buddhist nationalist elements and fresh political ideals, it was significant in stirring up political consciousness in Burma, and drew most of its support base from students. The party's song, Burma Kaba Ma Kyei ("Till The End of the World, Burma") also became the country's first national song and later its national anthem. Composed by Saya Tin (later known as "Thakhin Tin"), the song was a national symbol since the Japanese liberation of Burma and was adopted as national anthem after the independence.

Under B Maw, the first Coalition Government, the Freedom Bloc formed as a merger of Dobama Asiayone (DAA), Ba Maw's Poor Man's Party, the All-Burma Students Association, and some minor parties. It was known as the "Htwet Yat Gain" (Burmese: ထွက်ရပ်ဂိုဏ်း, "Association of the Way Out"). It opposed cooperation with the British in any wa or form, now that Ba Ma and the Co-Prosperity Phere had gained and guranted Burma as a independent Kingdom. Under Ba Ma's Freedom Bloc, the Dobama Asiayone was renamed Dobama-Sinyetha Asiayone and dropped its anti-fascist and socialist outlook due to the Japanese presence. Ba Maw then became Head of State and leader of the renamed party. Nearly immediately the independent Burmese Kingdom was announced a Constitutional Monarchy under Queen Myat Paya Lat of the Konbuang dynasty, the last dynasty to rule Burma from 1752 to 1885 before it became a British Colony. While Buddhism was the dominating religion of the Burmese Population, some like the Bamar, Rakhine, Shan, Mon and Karen people, alongside Chinese ethnic groups practised other religions. Bamar people also practice the Burmese folk religion under the name of Buddhism and were thereby left alone. Other ethnic groups however, like the Chin, Kachin and Karen people were Christians, while others like Indians, Malays and some other minorities were Mohammedan or Hindu/ Hindi. Many of these ethnic, cultural an religious non-Burmese minorities of the 14,820,000 citizen counting Kingdom were supported by the British and Allies to openly rebell against the independent Burmese State, leading to growing hostilities between these groups. Still Ba Maw tried to unite, appease and unify as much of the citizens in Burma as possile. After the End of the Second Great War in Asia and the Pacific in 1944, Ba Maw who had finally archived his life-lon dream o Burmese Independence, resigned as "Naingandaw Adipadi" (head of state) and unified this position with that of the crown, making Queen Myat Paya Lat of the Konbuang dynasty the new head of state, while he himself remained prime minister. This ended Ba Mawism in Burma, even if Ba Maw continued to serve as Prime Minister whenever the Burmese State and Kingom needed him an dozend of occasions until his death at May 2, 1977.

 

[CountofDooku]

Chapter 455: Hitler's former Cabinet – A tale of Otto Meissner:

Otto Lebrecht Eduard Daniel Meissner (born 13 March 1880, Bischwiller, Alsace) was head of the Office of the President of Germany during the entire period of the Weimar Republic under Friedrich Ebert and Paul von Hindenburg, the beginning of the Nazi government under Adolf Hitler and finally under Alfred Hugenberg. As the son of a postal official, Meissner studied law in Straßburg from 1898 to 1903, where he also became a member of the Straßburg Student Youth Fraternity (Burschenschaft) Germania. Later he also studied in Berlin and earned his Doctor of Laws in 1908, at the age of 28, in Erlangen, Bavaria. Afterwards, he became a bureaucrat for the national railroad, the Reichsbahn, in Strasbourg.Between 1915 and 1917 he participated in the First Great War in an infantry regiment. Up to 1919 he was more active behind the front, first in Bucharest, Romania, then in Kiev, and finally as a German business agent for the Ukrainian government. Thanks to his good contacts, in 1919 Meissner became "Acting Advisor in the Bureau of the President" (who at that time was the social democrat Friedrich Ebert), and by 1920 rose to the position of "Ministerial Director and Head of the Bureau of the President." Ebert named Meissner to the post of State Secretary in 1923. He continued in that post under Ebert's successor Paul von Hindenburg.

When Hitler fused the functions of Head of State (here, the President) and the Head of Government (the Chancellery) in 1934, Meissner's office was renamed the "Presidential Chancellery" and restricted in its responsibilities to representative and formal matters. In 1937, Meissner was appointed to the newly created position of "State Minister of the Rank of a Federal Minister and Chief of the Presidential Chancellery of the Führer and Chancellor." After the Military Coup in Germany, Meissner was arrested by the new government and interrogated as a whitness for his role in the rise of Adolf Hitler. He was prosecuted himself and foung not guilty of any charges. He afterwards continued to serve under the new President Alfred Hugenberg, Meissner continued to serve in the transition of the new government that reestablished the German Empire. In the time of the rearment of the new German Empire, Meissner once again served the Reichsbahn and helped with the speed up of the massive rearment programm by doing so. He continued a bureaucrat's career and wrote his memoir in a book entitled State Secretary under Ebert, Hindenburg, Hitler and Hugenberg together with his son Hans-Otto Meissner shortly before he died on May 27, 1953 in Munich.

 

[CountofDooku]

Chapter 456: Sheng Shicai, the Warlord of Xianjiang:

The Chinese warlord Sheng Shicai had ruled over Xinjiang ever since 1933, after a coup d'état, when he was appointed the duban or Military Governor of the region/ province. He later started his own purge to coincide with Stalin's Great Purge to eliminate traitors, pan-Turkists, enemies of the people, nationalists and imperialist spies after a Mohammedan rebellion. His purges swept the entire Uyghur and Hui political elite. The NKVD provided much support during the purges, but in the later stages of the purge, Sheng turned against the "Trotskyites", mostly a group of Han Chinese sent to him by Moscow. In the group were Soviet General Consul Garegin Apresov, General Ma Hushan, Ma Shaowu, Mahmud Sijan, the official leader of the Xinjiang province Huang Han-chang, and Hoja-Niyaz. Xinjiang came under virtual Soviet control. During Sheng's purge between 50,000 and 100,000 people perished. At the same time Han Chinese, while only a small minority of 6 to 10% of the population of Xinjiang (roughly 400,000 people) of the population of Xinjiang. Simultaniously his relationship with the Xinjiang's non-Han populace, Sheng adopted the Soviet nationality policy. The non-Han nationalities were for the first time included in the provincial government. The first principle of his Declaration of Ten Guiding Principles stated that all nationalities enjoy equal rights in politics, economy and education. He also reorganized Xinjiang Daily, the only regional newspaper at the time, to be issued in Mandarin, Uyghur and Kazakh language. The educational programme encouraged the Han to learn Uyghur and Uyghurs to learn Mandarin, to form a unifiet society, culture and ethnic melting group for a stabile Xinjiang. Sheng's nationality policy also entailed the establishment of the Turkic languages schools, the revival of madrassas (Mohammedan schools), publication of the Turkic languages newspapers and the formation of the Uyghur Progress Union. With this Sheng initiated the idea of 14 separate nationalities in Xinjiang, these were Han Chinese, Uyghurs, Mongols, Kazakhs, Mohammedans or Dungan, Sibe, Solon, Manchu, Kyrgyz, White Russian, Taranchi, Tajiks, and Uzbeks. To foster this idea, he encouraged the establishment of cultural societies for each nationality. The description of Xinjiang as a home of 14 nationalities, both in Xinjiang, as well as in proper China, brought Sheng popularity. However, Sheng's policy was criticized by the Pan-Turkic Jadidists and East Turkestan Independence activists Muhammad Amin Bughra and Masud Sabri, who rejected the Sheng's imposition of the name Uyghur people upon the Turkic people of Xinjiang. They wanted instead the name "Turkic nationality" (Tujue zu in Chinese) to be applied to their people and relate more to pan-turkic movements. Sabri also viewed the Hui people as Mohammedan Han Chinese and separate from his own people Bughra accused Sheng for trying to sow disunion among the Turkic peoples. However, Sheng believed that such separation was necessary in order to guarantee success of the future union of Xinjiang.

With the military failures and setbacks of the Soviet Union, as well as the retread of the Red Army from Xinjiang, Sheng allowed the Kuomintang to establish a office in his territory and at the same time disbanded the People's Anti-Imperialist Association in March 1942. By doing so, Sheng was appointed head of the provincial Kuomintang. Both dubanship and civil governorship therefore remained in Sheng's hands. However, National Revolutionary Army troops weren't allowed to enter Xinjiang. The final months of 1942 then saw the most turbulent period in the Xinjiang-Soviet relations. In October 1942 Sheng demanded from the Soviet General Consul that all Soviet technical and military personnel had to be withdrawn from Xinjiang within three months. To the Soviets, who were engaged in their own counter-offensive in Moscow, and the caucasus, to regain their oil fields there. On 3 October 1942 Sheng issued a directive prohibiting organizations, groups, and private persons to engage in any trade activity involving foreign imports and exports. The aim of the directive was to end the Soviet trade monopoly in Xinjiang. The Soviets withdrew their military and civilian personnel in December 1942. Despite the Sheng's ultimatum, only in February–March 1943 did the Soviets notify Sheng and the Chinese government of their withdrawal. Quickly and gladly, Kuomintang personal of Chiang Kai-shek filled the void, but refused to do the same with the rest of the Chinese United Front, preventing any Chinese Communists under Mao Zedong from entering. Sheng was afrait the Communists might gain power and coup against him. Still he needed Chiang's Nationalists because the Co-Prosperity Sphere member stated of the Mengjiang Khanate and the Tibetan Empire were raiding his border regions with their forces, trying to annex it and the rest of his state. As a response, in June 1943, four divisions of the National Republic Army's New 2nd Army commanded by Zhu Shaoliang were transferred to Xinjiang from their garrison in Gansu. By August 1943, the Kuomintang effectively had removed all Soviet influence from Xinjiang. With the Soviets gone, in September Sheng ordered the arrest and execution of the Chinese communists. Among them was Mao Zemin, Mao Zedong's younger brother, who was among eighty-eight conspirators involved in the Soviet plot to overthrow Sheng, to reestablish their roule and influence. While the Chinese United Front needed Sheng's direct support of troops, as well as even more important more territory to retread to because of the newest Co-Prosperity Sphere advances in Central China. Like Mao had said to Chiang before, lost territory can be reconquered, lost soldiers however were gone for good.

 

[CountofDooku]

Chapter 457: Jacques Michel Gabriel Paul Benoist-Méchin, the French Empire-German Empire relations and the Arab/ Mohammedan World:

Jacques Michel Gabriel Paul Benoist-Méchin (born 1 July 1901) was a French fascist royalist politician and writer. He was born in Paris, where he would also die. Well known as a journalist and historian, he would later become prominent for his collaborationism and support for the new Fascist French Regime that established the new French Kingdom and later the French Empire. Benoist-Méchin was educated at leading schools in Switzerland and the United Kingdom as well as the Lycée Louis-le-Grand before attending the Sorbonne. He subsequently served in the French Army, spending the period from 1921 to 1923 as part of the forces involved in the occupation of the Rhineland. He then became a journalist, working for the International News Service from 1924 to 1927 and was appointed editor of L'Europe Nouvelle in 1930 by Louise Weiss. A critic of democracy Benoist-Méchin joined the French Popular Party in 1936. A noted Germanophile, he joined the Comité France-Allemagne, a group dedicated to fostering closer links between the two countries. Despite this his earlier military service meant that when war broke out between the two countries in 1939 he was mobilised and during the Battle of France he was captured and for a time held as a prisoner of war in Voves. He was quickly freed however and served as chief of the POWs diplomatic mission to Berlin, aimed at securing the release of those held in Germany. In the main time, the Germanophile Benoist-Méchin somewhat welcomed the German occupation of France during the Second Great War. He served as an undersecretary in the new Fascist French regime with the help of François Darlan and, along with Pierre Pucheu and Paul Marion, became part of the so-called young cyclists group of pro-German Fascist French loyalists. In 1941, he accompanied Darlan to Berlin in order to negotiate military facilities in Syria for Germany with the German Emperor Wilhelm.

This nagotiations not only helped to gain the independence of the Fascist French Kingdom, but also nagotiated it's rise to become a full Empire again, equal in legal terms to that of the Germans and Austrian-Hungarians. Because of this Benoist-Méchin was an enthusiastic collaborator who claimed that Fascist France was working with Germany rather than opposing Germany and risking further defeat or working only for Germany and thus becoming subservient. He was briefly the official ambassador for the collaborationist government in occupied Paris although early on this role passed to fellow Germanophile Fernand de Brinon. Under the new regime, he became a minister without portfolio in the Fascist French Kingdom and later the Fascist French Empire. Benoist-Méchin's influence grew when he, along with his allies Paul Marion and Joseph Darnand, was appointed to the controlling committee of the Légion des Volontaires Français in May 1942. In this position he suggested renaming the group Légion Tricolore and converting it into a professional military unit, an idea soon adopted by the Fascist French Empire. Because he was sidelined various other members of the new Imperial French Government, Benoist-Méchin was involved in plotting with Darnand and Jacques Doriot for the three men to form a pro-German Empire triumvirate to administer Fascist France themselves, but the plan came to nothing.

For his plottings, Benoist-Méchin was arrested in August 6, 1944 for his role as a conspirator and trial against him as a Democratic French and Allied Spy began immedietly before the Royal High Court of Justice. The trial showed a few whitnesses and these accused him to have collaborated with the enemy. So on September 9, 1944 Benoist-Méchin was sentenced to death for his treason against the Fascist French Empire and the French Nation State. The German Government interfeared, knowign that Benoist-Méchin had tried to establish a pro-German government, not a coup to overthrow the Fascist French in favor of the Allies. Thanks to that his death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, but the French Emperor released him on parole in August 24, 1948 from a high security prison, after looking in his chase again. Afterwards being free from Prison, Benoist-Méchin became a active fascist royalist writer again, advocating a strong and close relationship with between the French and German Empire. While travelling trought the remaining Imperial French Colonies in Africa, including French Algier, by then a mainly French inhabitated a official part of the French Motherland. During these travels from former French Morocoo all the way onto the remaining French Indian Colonies, Benoist-Méchin became a specialist of the Arab and Mohammedan world. He later wrote many books about the Fascist Royalist French State and Empire, as well as it's good relationship with the National Monarchist German Empire and even about both ideologies as a whole, as well as about the Arab and Mohammedan world until his deatch on February 24, 1983.

 

[CountofDooku]

Chapter 458: First Battle of Savo Island:

The Battle of Savo Island, also known as the First Battle of Savo Island and, in Japanese sources, as the First Battle of the Solomon Sea (第一次ソロモン海戦 Dai-ichi-ji Soromon Kaisen), and colloquially among Allied Guadalcanal veterans as The Battle of the Five Sitting Ducks, was a naval battle of the Pacific Campaign of the Second Great War between the Imperial Japanese Navy and Allied naval forces. The battle took place on July 8–9, 1942 and was the first major naval engagement of the Guadalcanal campaign, and the first of several naval battles in the straits near the island of Guadalcanal, Tulagi, Gavutu–Tanambogo and Florida. The Imperial Japanese Navy, in response to Allied amphibious landings in the eastern Solomon Islands, mobilized a task force of fourteen cruisers (ten heavy cruisers) and two destroyers under the command of Vice Admiral Gunichi Mikawa for a quick response, as air raids before had proven not very effective. The task forces sailed from Japanese bases in New Britain (Rabaul) and New Ireland down New Georgia Sound, known as the Slot, with the intention of interrupting the Allied landings by attacking the supporting amphibious fleet, its screening force and the transports itself. The Allied screen consisted of eight cruisers and fifteen destroyers under British Rear Admiral Victor Crutchley VC.

Departing on July 7 1942, Mikawa's force travelled trought the Solomon Island occupied by Japan and the Co-Prosperity Sphere member state of Niugini/Niu Gini (New Guinea) to cover their movements and secure their flanks. During this voyage, a Allied submarine spoted the group and by July 8, Allied scouting planes spotted them again. Mikawa feared his surprise attack was lost, not knowing that problems in the Allied command would delay the information long enough until the Battle was won by the Japanese. However Mikawa received reports from Japanese scout planes and land based spotters, that the American fleet was divided into three different groops, giving him hope to defeat them in detail, each group separately. He launched three scout planes ahead of his fleet to drop flairs on the american ships during the upcoming battle, giving the Japanese an advantage thanks to the finest night binoculars in the world on their ships.

Unknown to Mikawa, he would completely surprise the Allied fleet under the command of Admiral Richmond Kelly Turner (United States Navy) and Admiral Sir Victor Alexander Charles Crutchley (Royal Australian Navy). Their Fleet coul have put up a much better fight, but to cover the landings and transports at Guadalcanal in the South (two australian and one american cruiser under Crutchley) and Tulagi, Gavutu–Tanambogo and Florida in the North (three american cruisers under Turner), that directly defendet the right flank of the landing operations as well as the Eastern Group of two light Cruisers and 2 Destroyers, therefore the Allied forces had been devided in three. Turner heard reports of the Japanese approaching, but the spotters told him of a sea tender, making him believe they would try to build a airbase nearby and not head for his forces directly. Two single destroyers, the Blue and Ralp Talbot had been placed on patrol in the west, with a huge gap of 25 miles between them when they were at their furthest point apart. By pure luck Mikawa's fleet squesed trought at the right moment, undetected. Because Admiral Crutchley had been summoned for a conference, his Flagship the HMAS Australia left the battle eastwards, without informing the northern Allied forces, leaving them without proper command.

The tragic consequences were that Mikawa's fleet with the help of Japanese scout planes, dropping flairs, bombed and torpedoed the southern Allied fleet. In only seven minutes the Southern Force had been defeated and nearly annihilated, turning north Mikawa's fleet split up in two unintentionally. Because of this accident, they approached the northern Allied front from two sides, launching torpedoes and opening their main batteries. Lit up by the Japanese Fleet many Ameircans were still unaware of what had happened with the southern Allied Fleet and were still confused. Shot at from all sides, the only being light damaged in return. One of this hits however penetrated the Chokai's bridge, nearly killing Mikawa and destroying important maps to navigate in this battle zone. The Japanese proved their accuracy and precision during Night Battles. Now Mikawa turned east, aware, hoping at least that after Midway no American Carrier was left in the Area as they would most likely guard Hawaii in fear of a coming Japanese Invasion. Mikawa now planned to turn this tactical victory in a strategic one targeting the now vulnerable Allied transports unloading supplies and further Allied forces in the North at Tulagi, Gavutu–Tanambogo and Florida (5 transports) , as well as in the South at Guadalcanal (13 transports). With still 40% of his ammunition and 50% of his torpedoes left, Mikawa turned back, calculating the risks. In a daring move Mikawa took two hours to reassemble his forces and in early morning of July 9 continued his attack.

Mikawa returned east, splitting his forces up once again in a northern and southern group, that now shelled and bombarded the Allied transports and Marines ashore at the beachheads alike. In this confusion the third Allied Fleet, the eastern Force of two light Cruisers and 2 Destroyers, approached, trieing to defend the transports and landed forces. Mikawa's far superior fleet now dealt with them two from two sides, giving a decicive knock-out blow to the first American offensive in the Pacific and destroying all transports together with the supplies still on the ships. The battle later was seen as one of the worst defeats in the history of the United States Navy. Mikawa's attacks had forced the surviving, remaining Allied warships and the amphibious forces to withdraw, without being able to unload or save the majority of supplies and troops. This way Mikada had not only gained control of the Seas aroung Savo Island to the Imperial Japanese navy, but also given a huge suppor for the Japanese Forces that were now gathered to retake Tulagi, Gavutu–Tanambogo, Florida and Guadalcanal from enemy Allied hands.

Mikawa's daring raid had left the Allied ground forces (primarily United States Marines), which had landed on Guadalcanal and nearby islands only two days before, in a precarious situation, with limited supplies, equipment, and food to hold their beachhead. Without unloading all of the heavy equipment, provisions, and troops from the transports, although most of the divisional artillery was landed, consisting of thirty-two 75 mm and 105 mm howitzers the United States Marines were in a dangerous position, with only five days worth of rations landed and no transports for further rations, reinforcements or a evacuation left in the whole operation. The Marines ashore on Guadalcanal initially concentrated on forming a defense perimeter around the airfield, moving the few landed supplies within the perimeter, and finishing the airfield. Vandegrift placed his 11,000 troops on Guadalcanal in a loose perimeter around the Lunga Point area. In four days of intense effort, the few landed supplies were moved from the landing beach into dispersed dumps within the perimeter. While a few Japanese rations, from the Japanese forces who had flead further inland had been captured, there was only a few days of supplies left, but captured Japanese stock increased the total supply of food to 14 days worth. To conserve the limited food supplies, the Allied troops were limited to two meals per day, later one, dwarfing their ability to fight immensely. Because of this work began on the airfield begann nearly immediately after the Battle of Savo, mainly using captured Japanese equipment. On July 12, the airfield was named Henderson Field after Major Lofton Henderson, a Marine aviator who had been killed at the Battle of Midway. Meanwhile the Japanese reinforcements were already on their way.

With the Allied supply lines in the region crippled, Mikawa's fleet had heavily contributed to the Japanese ability to later recapture the island. At this early critical stage of the campaign, it prevented the weakened Allied forces to entrench and fortify themselves in a strong enough position to successfully defend the area around Henderson Field until additional Allied reinforcements arrived later in the year. The Battle of Savo Island would be the first of five costly, large scale sea and air-sea actions fought in support of the ground battles on Guadalcanal itself, during wich the Japanese managed to counter the American offensive in the Pacific and drive the Allies back again. These sea battles took place every few days, with increasing delays on each side to regroup and refit, until the Americans finally managed to preparing to evacuate their remaining land forces and withdraw from Florida and Guadalcanal months later. Out of their six heavy cruisers, the Allies lost five, with one heavily damaged and later scuttled, their two destroyers were damaged, but with some luck one of them managed to escape. On land and sea the Allies had lost 2,145 soldiers, while on side of the Japanese only five cruisers had been lightly damaged and 215 Japanese inside Mikawa's Fleet had been killed during the operation. Thanks to their dominance at Sea now, the Japanese also landed troops at Savo Island, together with artillary, howitzers and coastal guns to support their ships in the surrounding sea battles in future engagements. For his daring battle and immense victory Mikawa was awarded with the Order of the Rising Sun, from now on nicknamed the Shark of Solomon Sea by the Japanese and Nightmare or Wraith by the Americans, even if the Japanese also called him Yūrei of the Solomon Sea, a faint or dim soul, a nightly spirit or ghost.

 

[CountofDooku]

Chapter 459: Zoltán Böszörmény and the Hungarian Coup:

Zoltán Böszörmény (born 5 January 1893) was a leading exponent of Fascism in Hungary before the Second Great War. The son of a bankrupt landowner, he initially worked a series of odd jobs, ranging from a labourer to a porter. He first flirted with politics in 1919 when he became involved in activity against Béla Kun, albeit on a very minor scale. Whilst studying at the University of Budapest he became leader of the state student movement and a supporter of Gyula Gömbös. Whilst at University he also became a poet, writing largely patriotic verses published by two agents who would later become involved in the organisation of his political movement. He formed the National Socialist Party of Work in 1931, and a meeting with Adolf Hitler that same year convinced him further of the benefits of Nazism. The group followed Hitler's lead closely, adopting the brown shirt and swastika whilst publishing the newspaper National Socialist. As the Scythe Cross, Böszörmény's movement grew to have some 20,000 followers at its peak, although Gömbös, fearing the growing power of the movement, suppressed it. As lead of the movement Böszörmény insisted on the title vezér or 'great leader' in imitation of Hitler's Führer. A word-for-word translation of the Nazi Party's National Socialist Program served as the founding document for the Scythe Cross.

Despite government attention, Böszörmény managed to hold on to his power base in the Tisza, preaching a mixture of anti-Semitism and land reform. Böszörmény was certainly confident of his own abilities as a leader and thinker, writing in 1932 that "even among the giants of intellect I am a giant, a great Hungarian poet with a prophetic mission". Despite this supreme confidence Böszörmény was frustrated in his attempts to gain power, frequently attempting to contest by-elections but failing to gain the necessary recommendations for candidacy on all but one occasion (when he captured only a few hundred votes). Impressed by Mussolini's March on Rome and planned to launch a similar coup on Budapest. Dressing his followers in second-hand uniforms, Böszörmény attempted to launch a revolution on 1 May 1936 but it was quickly put down and Böszörmény, who pleaded insanity at his subsequent trial, was sentenced to two and a half years in prison. He escaped to Germany in 1938 but after the military coup in Germany, he was delivered to the Hungarian authorities, who inprisoned him. During prison, he tried to join the Hungarian Communist Party and was killed by a fellow Hungarian Fascist Royalist for doing so. His Coup showed the split between the Fascist Royalists and National Monarchists who preferred a strong, hegemonic and independent Hungarian Kingdom/ Empire and those wo were satisfied within the Austrian-Hungarian Empire.

 

[CountofDooku]

Chapter 460: Co-Prosperity Sphere Imperial Guards:

The Japanese Imperial Guard (近衛師団 Konoe Shidan) was dedicated to the protection of the Emperor of Japan and his family, palaces and other imperial properties. It was a quasi-independent branch of the Imperial Japanese Army and the Imperial Guard Headquarters (皇宮警察本部 Kōgū-Keisatsu Honbu), was also a civilian Imperial Guard formed as part of the National Police Agency of Japan. At the start of the Second Great War, it's Division consisted of the 1st and 2nd Guards Brigades. The 1st Guards Brigade, which contained the 1st and 2nd Guards Infantry Regiments, the cavalry regiment, and half of the support units, was transferred to the Wang Jingwei Shanghai/ Nanjing Government as part of the Japanese Expedition Army. There it became known as the Mixed Guards Brigade. In October 1940, it joined other Japanese units that liberated French Indochina into the Kingdoms of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. In April 1941 the Mixed Guards Brigade returned to Tokyo to rejoin the Imperial Guards Division. The 2nd Guards Brigade, which contained 3rd and 4th Guards Regiments, also went to China. In 1940, it went to Shanghai before being posted to Hainan Island. In May 1941, the 5th Guards Infantry Regiment joined the 2nd Guards Brigade becoming the Imperial Guard Division. It later saw action in the Battles of Malaya and Singapore with Tomoyuki Yamashita's 25th Army. Later all designated Imperial Guard units were renamed again. The Mixed Guards Brigade in Tokyo became the 1st Guards Division (which now consisted of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Guard Regiments) and the Imperial Guard Division became the 2nd Guards Division (with the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th Guard Regiments) The 3rd Guards Division, which never left Japan, was formed later in 1943. It consisted of the 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th Guards Regiments.

With the Creation of Japanese vasalls and puppe regimes inside the Co-Prosperity Sphere, the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy expanded their branches to these new member states supporting the build up of their own armies and navies with Japanese help. This included the Japanese Imperial Guard, who under the Emperors of Chosen and Manchukuo established the Chosen Imperial Guard and the Manchu Imperial Guard respectively. With the expansion of the Co-Prosperity Sphere, this system was expandet to all member states. In the Mangjiang Khanate (with the Kheshig devided into two groups; the day guard Kheshig and the night guard Khevtuul) as the Imperial Guard of the Khan, his family, palaces and other imperial properties. In the Empire of Yankoku they were known as the Yan Imperial Guard, in the State of National Han China, they were known as the National Han Imperial Guard and so on. Some newly liberated states like Manchukuo, Chosen, Mengjiang, Burma, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia revived their old guards, modernized and prepared them for a modern war. Others, like Siam/ Thailand or Brunei and those liberated out of the former Dutch East Indies and South East Asia would either recreate and renewe their own Imperial Guards, or even form their own versions for the firs time, since they themselves were only just liberated again, or even created for the first time in their existence, even if nearly all of them claimed some former kingdom, empire or dinasty of one region as their legitimation and ancestors. In some chases this meant that the Imperial Guards of several mamber states even fought alongside the regular armed forces of the Co-Prosperity Sphere against the United Chinese Front, the Western Allies and the Soviet Union during some campaigns and battles. Because they received the best and latest equipments, best weapons and training of most of the armed forces, they were often a elite force within, or alongside the regular army forces. This naturally only increased their legendary status, beside regular propaganda use of the Imperial Guards and further cemented their myth as elite, unbeatable superior forces, even if in reality, this wasn't always the chase.

 

[CountofDooku]

Chapter 461: Axis Central Powers Europakomission and Zollverein (Customs Union):

In their attempt to secure and direct the ressources and money of Europe and it's colonies. To do so the German Empire reintroduced a Idea known as the Zollverein, formerly a German Customs Union. The Imperial German High Command had established the Europakomission (Europe Comission) to direct the money and ressources, to unify the indipendent Axis Central Power States in a full economic union. Therefore the German Empire forced the Axis Central Powers under his direct controll and influence to join their German Mitteleuropa Zollverein (German Middle Europe Customs Union), also known as the Rhein Zollverein or German Zollverein. It included the German Empire, the Kingdom of the United Netherlands, the Kingdom of Denmark, the Kingdom of Norway, the Kingdom of Sweden, the Kingdom of Finnland, the United Baltic Duchy, the Kindom of Poland and the Kingdom of White Ruthenia. To do so the Imperial German Reichsmark was commanded as the unifying currency for all of them, while railroad tracks were unified for a common Customs Union and Trade Block.

However most of the major Axis Central Powers planned something similar for their own zones of influence, including the Austrian-Hungarian Empire that included the Balkan Peninsula. Therefore it was known as the Balkan Zollverein, even if it's official name was the Donau Zollverein (Danube Customs Union). Just like Germany with their ethnic German puppets and vassal states, the Austrian-Hungarians planned to turn this Custom Unions into a full federation, slowly turning the economic union into a political federation and later a full union. The Austrian-Hungarians Krone was the currency ordered to use in the Donau Zollverein. It included the Austrian-Hungarian Kingdom, the Greek Kingdom, the Bulgarian Kingdom, the Romanian Kingdom and the Kingdom of Ukrainia. Unknown to most however, it also included the Italian region of Albania, because of some political, economical, ideological reasons and rivalry between the new Roman Empire and the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. The Austrian-Hungarians hoped to once gain the whole Balkan and therefor forbit direct trade relations between each country, or even trought Austrian-Hungary, only allowing them under huge taxes and tarifs.

On the other hand the French Kingdom/ Empire tried to withsthand the German Zollverein with their own Customs Union, so did the Roman Empire and the Spanish Kingdom. However since they had no true weight in military and economic terms inside the Axis Central Powers Italy/ Rome and Spain quickly formed their own Customs Union to counter the German and Austrian-Hungarian ones, the Latin Block thereby grew from a internal Axis Central Powers alliance and cultural union to a true customs union, with plans to include Latin America in the future, no matter if as colonies or free Faro and Namo member states. The French Empire meanwhile became a observer member in the Latin Customs Union as well as the German Zollverein, unsure wich side to lean towards in 1942 and so the French partly joined both and had a huge economic benefitt from doing so. Quickly the German Empire realised that this internal rivalries, were roblematic for their war effort, trade, supplies and even the transport of ressources and troops. To counter this problem, the Axis Central Powers under leadership of Germany and therefore the Imperial German High Command's Europakomission established the Europarat (Council of Europe) as a plattform for debate and coordination of their various Custom Unions. It agreed to not limit or tax any ressources goods and movement of civilians and solidiers that were a) vital for continuing and winning the Second great War in economic and military terms, as well as b)vital to uplift the national unity, spirit and war support of the overall population of each member state of the Axis Central Powers. In the end this Axis Central Powers and the Fascist Royalist/ National Monarchist European Block formed their own ACP Supreme Custom Union that stood above the loose and local network of their various smaller ones. Only a few critics openly opposed this or the massive use of Prisoners of War and conquered people as slave labor and saw the dawning of a German Empire led and controlled Continent, as the Imperial German Reichsmark became the dominant and all across the Axis Central Powers accepted currency.

 

[CountofDooku]

Chapter 462: The Pa-O National Army:

Supported by British Officer Reginald Clark and located beween the southern Karen and northeastern Shan (Tai) region, right along the border between the Kingdom of Burma and the Kingdom of Siam/ Thailand, the so called Pa-O National Organisation (PNO), as their own political party aiming for independence. It's military wing was the Pa-O National Army, because the Burmese Kingdom under Ba Maw while allowing for minority political parties, did not grand them any form of internal authonomy or self-administered independence, as they feared this would undermine the central authority in Rangoon and later Mandalay. While the British Empire and the Commonwealth Dominion of the British Raj tried to parashoot further supplies and weapons as air drops, the majority for this guerrilla rebellion had to be smuggled trought the jungles of Burma. To pay for these smuggling and supplies, the Pa-O National Organisation and the Pa-O National Army allied itself with the Karenni Army and the Burmese Democratic Army (BDA), spreading drugs like Opium together and smuggling supplies and weapons for their united cause against the monarchic, central government in Rangoon. The main goal of the Pa-O National Organisation, that the Pa-O National Army was fighting for either true independence, or a self-administered zone, that included the townships of Hopong, Hsi Hseng and Pinlaung. To establish this goal, the Pa-O Nationalists trained under their British Officers and Instructors, between 400 to 800 armed guerrillas fought openly against the area against the Royal Burmese Army, the Imperial Japanese Army and the Royal Siamese/ Thai Army.

The overall situation changed however, when the Imperial Japanese Army convoy in the area was about to be raided by the rebels. The British Officer Reginald Clark was surprised when the Pa-O Nationalists brought Japanese soldiers along with them, prisoners as he thought first, until the Pa-O National rebells suddenly pointed their weapons towards him and the other British training there forces here.

“What is the meaning of this?” questioned Officer Clark with a unpleased look on his face, only now realizing that the Japanese soldiers all still had their weapons as well, unlike him, who was now disarmed.

“It is quiet easy, the Pa-O people prefer to survive and be a part of a brotherly Co-Prosperity Sphere.” said the Japanese Officer Yagami Okura. He had proposed the Idea to the Pa-O National Organisation, that their small ethnic group and their townships could better survive, if they remained a part of the bigger Co-Prosperity Sphere and the Kingdom of Burma. While not truly independent or authonomous, they were red the new constitution of Prime Minister Ba Maw, that allowed many towns, cities and to a extend even provinces to chose and elect their own regional leader any way they pleased. Not in total what the Pa-O National Organisation had been aiming for, but it was better then fighting a whole Imperial Japanese Army Division with their three small townships.

“I see.” declared the British Reginald disappointed, but this was nothing new for Allied and British Agents in the region. After all alliances and factions within Burma changed rapidly back and forth, since the Western Allies as well as the Japanese led Co-Prosperity Sphere and even Ba Maw's own Royal Burmese government tried their best to convince people to join their sides, with either promises, presents or threats, whatever worked best in the particilar situation at hand.

 

[CountofDooku]

Chapter 463: The Fascist French Empire's high-altitude medium bomber Breguet 480:

Originally ordered and specified during the prewar time, a four-engine, four-man bomber with a range of at least a 2500km radius was requested and Breguet replied with the 482. In December 1936 the French Air Ministry issued a specification for a four-seat, twin-engined medium bomber, with Breguet's initial design, the Breguet 480 (or Bre. 480) to be powered with the specified 1,225 hp (914 kW) Gnome et Rhône 14L radial engines, intended to carry 1,000 kg (2,200 lb) of bombs over a 2,500 km (1,600 mi) radius. Gnome et Rhône abandoned the 14L however, so, after considering a version powered by two Hispano-Suiza 12Y V12 engines, Breguet reworked the design as the Breguet 482, with four 1,350 hp (1007 kW) Hispano-Suiza 12Z engines, with an order for two prototypes placed by the French Air Ministry on 12 May 1938. The Breguet 482 was a mid-winged monoplane of all-metal construction, with a clean, low-drag, oval section monocoque fuselage, twin tails and a retractable tailwheel undercarriage. The planned defensive armament was a 20mm Hispano-Suiza HS.404 cannon in a power-operated dorsal position, with a 7.5mm machine gun in the nose and a further two machine guns in ventral mountings. Up to 2,500 kg (5,500 lb) of bombs could be carried.

Construction of the two prototypes was well progressed when Germany invaded France in 1940, and as they came closer, it was decided to evacuate the near complete prototypes from Villacoublay near Paris, with the first prototype being sent to Bône in Algeria and the second to the Breguet factory at Anglet, near Bayonne in the far south-west of France. With the establishment of the Fascist French State, leading to the Fascist French Kingdom and the later Fascist French Empire, the prototypes in southern France and Algieria were suddenly in Axis Central Power direct hands. Under the Fascist French they were completed by the new government after the Allies started to heavily bomb the French Mainland alongside Germany from Britain to cripple the Axis Central Powers war economy and industry. As a response the Axis Central Power of the French Empire further completed and tested the prototypes for the Hispano-Suiza 12Z-89 12-cylinder inline engine, which was ultimately unsuccessful at first. Defensive armament of the Breguet 482 was heavy; a single 20mm HS.404 cannon in a dorsal turret, a pair of 7.5mm MAC-1934 machine guns in a ventral position, and a 7.5mm nose gun. With some help of the German Empire (for military and propaganda purpose to further use the former Frensh Allies in a Axis Central Powers unified Europe, against a lonely British Empire) the Breguet 482 was completed during the End of 1942.

Once finished production began in southern France away from most Allied bombings of the time and once the first Breguet 480 were finished they joined Imperial German, Austrian-Hungarian, Roman and even Royal Spanish Air Force fighters and bombers, alongside their other, older Fascist French models from the time of the French Third Republic to join the Battle of Britain, getting revenge for the British and later American Bombings of Mainland France from there. While not the best bomber of the Axis Central Powers, the Bre. 480 was still ordered by minor members, like the Spanish Kingdom, the Italian Kingdom/ Roman Empire, the Kingdom of the United Netherlands, as well as the Kingdom of Norway, the Kingdom of Denmark, the Finnish Kingdom, the United Baltig Duchy and the Kingdoms of Bulgaria, Romania and Greece in limited numbers. Never the less, the Bre. 480 became a famous Fascist French Bomber, especially when the French Empire started to introduce their dark colored night bomber versions, as a result the British Royal Air Force and the US Air Force fighters managed to shoot down many Axis Central Powers bombers at day.

 

[CountofDooku]

Chapter 464: The Sichuan Clique under the Warlords Liu Wenhui, Liu Xiang, Yang Sen, Deng Xihou and Tian Songyao:

When parts of the Kuomintang rebelled against Chiang Kai-shek's alliance with Mao Zedong's Communists the Xikang (also Sikang or Hsikang) Army at the western border towards Tibet rebelled and declared their independence alongside the Hunan Clique in the East as well as five southern Warlords in Sichuan (formerly romanized Szechuan). These Warlords were Liu Wenhui, Liu Xiang, Yang Sen, Deng Xihou, and Tian Songyao, but none of them had enough power to take on all the others at once, so many small battles occurred, pitting one warlord against another. Large conflicts seldom developed, plotting and skirmishing characterized the Sichuanese political scene, and ephemeral coalitions and counter coalitions emerged and vanished with equal rapidity. One the Japanese, Taikoku and National Han Chinese Co-Prosperity Sphere Hubei-Hunan Campaign had managed to destroy and annex the eastern Hunan Clique, the warlords realized that they could be quickly overrun and annexed by the Japanese and their Co-Prosperity Sphere member states to the south and east, so the five warlords, despite much rivalry, plotting and skirmishing amongst each other formed the Sichuan Clique as a unified alliance and political entity of warlords in the Sichuan region. This meant that the former Sichuan-Xikang Defence Force now had not only separated itself from the Chinese United Front, but split into two Cliques of their own. The western Xikang/ Sikang/ Hsikang Clique also faced the problem, that the Co-Prosperity Sphere member state of the Tibetan Empire wanted to annex parts of their region, as it had a mixed population of Tibetans and Han Chinese. Even before in 1932 the Tbetans had tried to annex the region by force, but were stopped by the Hui (Mohammedan) Qinghai Warlord Ma Bufang, driving the Tibetans back west over theYangtze River and later even the Jinsha River and signed a ceasefire with them. The split-off however came not surprising for Chiang Kai-shek, ad his relationship with these warlords had always been as unstable as the provinces they governed. Still it was of great concern for Chiang and Mao as the Chinese United Front had already heavy internal problems. Not only had the Kuomintang been split between Chiang Kai-shek and Wang Jingwei, but even before a warlord, one of the Hui (Mohammedan) members of the Ma Clique had left Chiang, because of the growing influence of the Communists and their attitude towards religions and Chinese traditions of all kind.

Like most Cliques and warlords, the Sichuan Clique was self-preservation and self-enrichment like so many others, getting rich from opium trade and used their troops as little as possible to not pay to much for their forces. Still the warlords of Sichuan had even before realized that they needed a modern infrastructure to support their remote province. Until 1938 it's transport was primitive and it had no industry to speak of. Large projects such as the planned hydroelectric plant promised to bring the area into the modern world. The Sichuan Clique also promoted education as a way to improve their overall power base and general situation for all of the around 60 million people living in the area controlled and ruled by them. Before 1940 they had tiptoed around in alliances and tried not to arouse the full wrath of Chiang Kai-shek, and thereby continued to reap the benefits of wearing the Nationalist mantle. However with Chiang's losses against Wang Jingwei and the increasing Japanese led Co-Prosperity Sphere nearby conquests and bomber raids, the warlords half-hearted alignment with the Kuomintang ended, they feared the Chinese United Front attacking them if they too openly and quick allied with the Japanese, switching sides to the Co-Prosperity Sphere. Therefore they as well as the western Xikang (also Sikang or Hsikang) Army/ Clique remained open diplomatic relations with both major factions in the Chinese Civil War and focussed on their development and modernisation attempts. Their goal was to establish a modern province and gave the area solid basis for development. Triving cities and towns so they believed would prevent the Chinese Unied Front, as well as the Co-Prosperity Sphere from attacking and destroying their Clique and region, instead encouraging them to diplomatic talks of merging with either side on their own terms, instead of destroying Sichuan by conquest, at least that was what the Warlords hoped for.

 

[CountofDooku]

Chapter 465: Eugène Deloncle and the Fascist Royalist Social Revolutionary Movement:

Eugène Deloncle (born 20 June 1890, Brest) was a French engineer and Fascist leader. He had been a graduate of the École Polytechnique, Deloncle worked for the French Navy, and served as an artillery officer during the First Great War. Wounded on the Champagne frontline, he was awarded the Legion of Honor. Initially supportive of the integralist Action Française, he left the movement in 1935, in order to found his own group, the Comité Secret d'Action Révolutionnaire (CSAR), usually known as La Cagoule (a name given by the press). Cagoule kept the Orleanist and strongly anti-republican line of the Action Française, but added the rhetoric of Fascism. This later naturally blendet into the rising Fascist Monarchy that rose in Germany as well as Austria-Hungary and the rest of Europe between 1938 and 1942.

With the Second Great War and the Fall of France and the creation of a French Regime close to the German Empire state and ideology, gave rise to Deloncle's own group, when he created a movement backing the new Fascist Royalist French Regime, the Mouvement Royalist Social Révolutionnaire (MRSR, Royal Social Revolutionary Movement) and joined forces with others along the Rassemblement National Populaire (RNP). MRSR, a more radical form of the Cagoule, strongly supported the new Fascist French traditionalism, as well as the new political experiment engineered in Mainland France. Afterwards, he approached the National Monarchist Popular Rally (RMNP) of Marcel Déat, but conflicts with the latter got him expelled in April 1942, when he was succeeded as leader by Jean Fontenoy. Still advocating a close relationship between Germany and French and stressed how Britain only helped out France or other o keep them smaller for their own Empire to rise and stay dominant. Deloncle argued that from the times of Napolen to the Hundred Years War the British had done so troughtout all of France's history, including in the First Great War, when their true goal was not to defend France, but to stop Germany from surpassing them.

Because of this Deloncle and other Fascis French adopted their own anti-British Propaganda. They stated that France and Germany were ethnic and historical brothers, ever since the times on Kaiser/Emperor Karl/Charles/Charlemagne the Great. They claimed that Charlemagne's Twelve Paladins (often known in English, as the Twelve Peers) were the true ancestors of modern European (French, German, Ialian and partly even Spanish) Nations Knight Orders, Knighthood, Honor, Militarys as well as Fascist Royalist and National Monarchist Governments. That on the other hand meant, that the idea King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table as the archetypal heroes of medieval Europe was rejected as purely British and part of the Englich conspiracy and their Balance-of-Power politics that tried to play the continental European Powers against one another.

His close ties to the German Empire and the Imperial German Army, the German Military Intelligence and the German Police Intelligence however led to misstrust and an assassination attempt on Deloncle's life. As he and his son Louis had been shot and seriously wounded, the leadership of his party went to Jean Fontoney. Some of his enemies claimed that it had been the Germans themselves to misscredit his Fascist Royalist opponents in the Fascist Royalist French Empire itself, while most major authorities unwilling to compromise the French – German relations as well as the Imperial French internal union and stability, claimed socialist and communist Allied spies were responsible for the attempted assassination. As Deloncle and his son recovered, his party MRSR continued their pro-German stance and remained a stabil but important political movement and party inside the French Kingdom, even if the after the accident crippled and wheelchaired Deloncle lost some of his charisma and popularity. He would continue to lead his party until his healt problems worsened in 1958, with Deloncle dying a few years later in Januar 17, 1964 in the Imperial capital of Paris.

 

[CountofDooku]

Chapter 466: Dogfight in the Himalaya:

One of the most important missions of the American fighters, bombers and even transport planes in all of Asia was their mission betweem India and China. Their main mission from northeast India was to supply the nearby United Chinese Front under Chiang and Mao. To do so the Allied planes had to cross the Himalayan Mountains over enemy Co-Prosperity Sphere territory, like the Empire of Tibet in the North and the Kingdom of Yikoku in the East of British India/ Raj. With the ongoing Civil War in China and the British and American transports had their hands full sending as much supply as possible, but because Yikoku had cut off the Burma Road from Mandalay over Kunming to Chongking over land, the so called Burma Air Road starting in Myitkyina in northern Burma had been established (called the Hump Airlifts, because of the Eastern End of the Himalayan Mountains). Now years later, the Japanese and the Co-Prosperity Sphere had taken northern Burma and established the Burmese Kingdom in the former British Colony. Because of that the Hump Airlifts were relocated to northeast India. There they faced heavy Japanese and Co-Prosperity Sphere Bombings on their airfields and during the Hump Airlifts they were constantly in danger by the terrain, weather and enemy fighters attacking their transport airplanes. This growing losses during the much needed supply transports and airlifts for the Chinese United Front proved to be so deadly, that Allied fighters with adittional longe-range fueltanks had to cover their airroutes against mostly Japanese Fighers, as well as the airbases they started from, against mostly Japanese Bombers raids. This lead to growing dogfights over the Himalayan Mountains between the Allies and the Co-Prosperity Sphere and soon the Allied High Command faced serious problems.

To counter this problems, the Americans and British tried to distract the Co-Prosperity Sphere member states and the Japanese Air Force, the Allies decided to redirect some of their bomber squadrons to the Area. They then used the Japanese Propaganda of liberating and protecting the members of the Co-Prosperity Sphere against them, by targeting the member States capitals in the region amongs other big cities, including the Tibetan Empire's capital Lhasa, the Kingdom of Yikoku's capital of Kunming and the Kingdom of Burma's capital of Rangoon, alongside some bridges, roads, railways and even burmese oil fields. Even the British Carrier HMS Indomitable, that had returned to the Far East/ India from it's Operation in Madagascar was involved and started a bombing raid on Rangoon in Burma from the Bay of Bengal. In response the Japanese and Co-Prosperity Sphere fighters tried to intercept these Allied bombers primerely and in return bombed the Allied British Raj oil field of Digboi in Northeast India, that produced close to 7,000 barrels per day (1,100 m3/d) of crude oil at its peak, during the Second Great War. A move the Japanese ultimately regretted, when nearly a year later they would encircle and cut off a part of the Allied Indian Border Armies in the region. While the Allies could not greatly use the oilfield for their then encircled troop in the Assam pocked, during the Japanese push from Chittagong over Agarfala to Silchar and the Brahmaputra River later in 1943. River Barges, roads and even railways, with the exeption of the northen part of the Bengal and Assam line were then cut off by the Japanese and the Azad Hind Fauj (Indian National Army), that threatened to completely cut off this Assam pocked and threatened march westwards onto Calcutta. Luckily for the Allies the hills, rainforests, marshes and rivers of Bengal slowed down the Imperial Japanese and Indian National Armies, allowing the Allies to prepare the defences of Calcutta.