The Co-Prosperity Sphere

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Chapter 801: Teutonic Order Division Number Four: Terra Mariana (Medieval Latin for "Land of Mary")

The division was formed in 1939 out of part of the former Ordnungspolizei or Orpo (uniformed national police). While all German police organizations were controlled by Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler in his capacity as Chief of German Police in the Interior Ministry, after the 1938 military Coup against the Nazi's they had not at this time considered to be part of the SS, nor was the Polizei Division on par with the other Waffen-SS divisions. Therefore this Teutonic Order Division under the Generalleutnant der Polizei (Major-General) Eduard Strauch, Karl Pfeffer-Wildenbruch and Arthur Mülverstadt was mostly made up by members of the German Police. This status was reflected in the quality of the equipment they were issued and their retention of police insignia and rank structure. The division was transferred to the Teutonic Order in 1940 and was upgraded to a Panzergrenadier division and tasked with training the Baltic Landwehr or Baltische Landeswehr ("Baltic Territorial Army") as well as the Baltic Police forces of the new United Baltic Duchy. The division itself was formed when thousands of members of the Ordnungspolizei were drafted and placed together with artillery and signals units transferred from the army. These men were never enrolled in the SS and remained policemen, retaining their Orpo rank structure and insignia. They did not have to meet the racial requirements imposed for the SS. The Germans purpose in forming the division was twofold: in a period of heated bureaucratic infighting and competition for manpower, it permitted them to get around the recruitment caps the Wehrmacht had, but it also provided a means for his policemen to satisfy their military obligation and avoid army conscription. The first commander was Generalleutnant der Polizei (Major-General) Karl Pfeffer-Wildenbruch, a career police commander who had been a general staff officer during the First Great War; simultaneous with his appointment he was also commissioned as an SS-Gruppenführer. The division was equipped largely with outdated Polish and Baltic materiel and underwent military training in the Baltic Forest combined with periods on internal security duties in the Baltic Duchy. The division, at this time an infantry formation with horse-drawn transport, was held in reserve during the Finnish-Soviet War, were it was heavily involved in the fighting's at Sortavala and the river retread of Vartsila, fighting the Red Army. Because of this experience they not only helped build up the Finnish Police and later the White Ruthenian Police like they had helped build up the Baltic Police as well, but were send to the Eastern Front to partake in the Eastern Crusade. Part of Army Group North and Army Group Center it fought heavily in Leningrad (St. Petersburg) were the division lost over 2,000 soldiers, including their initial commander. Fighting in swampy, wooden and frozen terrain. Because of this losses it would accepted catholic and protestant Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Finnish and partly even White Ruthenian Police members to reinforce their ranks, but no orthodox White Ruthenians or Russians at all.

Their heavy fighting against the Soviet 2nd Shock Army lead to increasing losses as the Red Army attempt to recapture St. Petersburg and Tsar Vladimir, resulting in the Land of Mary Division to be upgraded to a Panzergrenadier Division in 1943. Parts of the division were now transported behind the frontlines in the northern and central part of the Eastern Front, were they would partake in anti-partisan operations. On orders of the German General Staff and their own nationalistic Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Finnish and White Ruthenian elements they would participate in the often forceful displacement of Russian ethnic minorities from the United Baltic Duchy, Finnland and partly White Ruthenia to even further decrease the Russian ethnic, religious orthodox and overall cultural influence in these Eastern European territories after the Second Great War, so that the Russian Empire would not be able to take them back so easily. When the White Russian State and the local Military and Police opposed the removal of it's citizens east, even if they were of Russian ethnicity, the local Police and White Russian Army got in a firefight with the Land of Mary Division, resulting in the so called Vitebsk Massacre. The Vitebsk massacre saw the killing of around 2,635 Russians in Vitebsk and supported by nationalist Baltic, Finnish and White Russian elements would result in the killing or forceful removing of around 134,000 ethnic Russians from the United Baltic Duchy, Finland and partly even White Russia. According to survivors, the Teutonic Order Division Land of Mary and their local ethnic militia and police helpers, bayoneted babies in their cribs, stabbed pregnant women, and beheaded the man, while the village priests were burned at the stake. Elements of this division later participated in Operation Red Cross (referring to the Crusaders, not the international humanitarian movement) (5–31 August 1944), an attempt to eradicate partisans in the Dnieper and Duna region, killing even more civilians and destroying whole (mostly Russian) villages and cities. This often lead to them opposing local partisans, militia, police and military, sometimes even those fighting on German side and in a few circumstances even lead to elements of the division alongside Baltic, Finish and White Ruthenian elements opposing, or outright fighting elements of the Imperial German Army, or the Imperial Russian Army, who tried to stop their forced displacements or massacres. During and after the Second Great War, the Divisions atrocities soured the relations between White Russia and the Teutonic Order/ the United Baltic Duchy/ Finland, as well as between Russia and the Teutonic Order/ the United Baltic Duchy/ Finland to a more or less open hostility.

 

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Chapter 802: Ecuador in Battle

In Equator the time of the Second Great War is remembered for having initiated a protracted confrontation with the United States-based South American Development Company over the terms of its Ecuadorian concession and the wages it paid its Ecuadorian employees. The company refused to comply with the Ecuadorian Governments entreaty that more of the profits from its mining operations stay in Ecuador, and it won the support of the United States Department of State. The Ecuadorian government continued its demands despite United States pressure. In 1940 the United States, hoping to obtain Ecuadorian cooperation in its anticipated war effort, ended its support for the mining firm. Ecuadorian President Carlos Alberto Arroyo del Río, in turn, proved generous in his cooperation with the Allies, allowing the United States to build a naval base on the Galápagos Islands and an air base at Salinas on the Ecuadorian mainland. In addition to being a genuine friend and admirer of the United States, Arroyo del Río was the leader of the PLR and a representative of the Guayaquil-based "plutocracy." He came to power constitutionally in November 1939 upon the death of his predecessor, but he continued in office in January 1940 through fraudulent elections that were universally believed to have been won by Velasco, and continued in power later, through repression. Despite such antipopular methods of ruling, he managed to remain in office for almost four years, thanks to economic support by the United States and the recuperation of Ecuador's export markets as worldwide economic depression gave way to recovery during the Second Great War. Arroyo del Río's undoing was the disastrous 1941 Ecuadorian–Peruvian War. Although the prior sequence of events, the breakdown of talks aimed at resolving the boundary issues in 1938, followed by repeated border skirmishes, had given ample warning of a possible outbreak of large-scale hostilities, Ecuador was unprepared to meet the July 5 Peruvian invasion. Furthermore, the president's fear of being left unprotected from his opponents led him to keep the nation's best fighting forces in Quito while Peruvian troops continuously attacked the nation's southern and eastern provinces until a ceasefire went into effect on July 31.

Peru's occupation ended only after January 1942, when the two nations signed the Protocol of Peace, Friendship, and Boundaries while attending the Third Conference of Foreign Ministers of the American Republics in Rio de Janeiro. Under the terms of the Rio Protocol, the informal name of the agreement, Ecuador renounced its claim to some 200,000 square kilometers of territory. Shortly afterward, the Rio Protocol was ratified by a bare plurality of the Ecuadorian legislature. The Ecuadorian government quickly regretted having become a party to the Rio Protocol. The protocol became the focus of a surge of Ecuadorian national pride and concomitant opposition to Arroyo in a new coalition, the Democratic Alliance. The coalition brought together a wide array of Ecuadorian politicians dedicated to replacing the president who had been unable to defend the national honor. Arroyo's rejoinder that he would remain in office the full four years, neither one day more nor one day less and his being prominently hailed in Washington as "the Apostle of Pan-Americanism " only increased his political isolation. A persistent inflation that whittled away at the purchasing power of salaried workers was a further cause of popular resentment against Arroyo. In May 1944, following an uprising in Guayaquil that pitted the military and civilian supporters of José María Velasco Ibarra against Arroyo's police, the president finally resigned. The military handed power to the Democratic Alliance, which in turn named Velasco, whose electoral candidacy had recently been vetoed by Arroyo, as the popularly acclaimed president of the republic. The populist master returned triumphantly from exile in Colombia, greeted by throngs of enthusiasts during a three-day journey to Quito, to assume the presidency for the second time Ecuador would allow the Untied States to use a naval base in the Baltra Island. In a political alliance between the Conservative Party (Spanish: Partido Conservador (PC) and the fascist royalist Alianza Revolucionaria Nacionalista Ecuatoriana (ARNE) in 1948 the populist Velasco would become a Ecuadorian dictator and reestablish political and trade relations with the Empire of Japan and the Co-Prosperity Sphere in 1948-1954.

 

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Chapter 803: The Hundred Days War

With the Fascist Royalist French Empire and the Allied Democratic British Empire fighting and bombing one another, both sides drew propaganda and inspiration from conflicts they had before, including the Hundred Years War or the Normannic Invasion of the British Isles. The French would start using fighters and bombers against the British that had originally been build to fight the Germans or Italians with. One of these fighters, the VG.33 had been suthorized for production in late 1941 under German authorities and was used as a complementary for the similarly performing D.520. The majority of VG.33s (87 vs 126 total produced), based in Algeria at the time of Operation Torch, combated the FAA/USN's F4F-4 Wildcat/Sea Hurricanes and the RAF/USAAF's P-40E/Spitfire Mk. IX. Superior to the F4F-4 and the Sea Hurricane Mk. IIc, the former due of it's speed and the latter due of the Merlin's float controlled carburettor, which basically seized up the engine while in a dive. It was inferior to the Mk. IX in speed and armament and the P-40E in armament, but other than that it was superior to the three. During the Battle for Britain and the defense of French airspace and cities around 42 of the VG.33s were lost to enemy aircraft, anti-air guns, and accidents in exchange for 64 victories against allied, mainly American and British fighters. Around 39 ended in the hands of the Free French and fought against the Fascist French and other Axis Central Powers in Britain, France and North Africa. The bombing of mainland French infrastructure, factories and overall cities led to a run of volunteers in Fascist French to become fighter and bomber pilots, let alone crews for their anti-airplane and radar installations. Most of these however were installed in Northern and Eastern France not with the intent to secure mainland France, but nearby Germany from Allied bombings. Some of these French fighters were also sold to Bulgaria, Romania and the Hellenic Kingdoms were they would help equip the local air forces with better fighters to secure their own nations against allied air scouting and bombing raids alike.

Another major French airplane was the Fascist French Imperial taken over Fw-200 Condor that was authorized by the German authorities, the SNCASE began production of the militarized variant of the civilian SE-161 with a B.7 designation. Changes made included a glazed nose with a pair of 7.5mm MAC-1934 machine guns in the nose-tip/ventral position, a 20mm HS.404 cannon in the dorsal turret, and a 13.2mm M1929 Hotchkiss heavy machine-gun in the tail. Bomb payload was a maximum of 3,725kg in a internal bomb-bay, with provisions for external hardpoints such as torpedo's, depth charges, or mines. First flight of the modified SE-161 was in 7 February 1941. Most of the SE-161s produced were based in Algeria and Morocco as maritime patrol bombers, keeping eyes on British forces, especially in Gibraltar were they would help the Spanish Nationalists and Germans conquer the city. When the Americans came to northern Marocco with Operation Torch, several Fw-200 bombed allied ships and many of them were destroyed in the air, or on the ground by fighters, and some were even seized by the Allies, who proceeded to hand most of the fighters and bombers captured to the Free French, who used them as transports and cargo planes, but also to fight in southern and eastern Fascist French controlled French West Africa. Around 39 of them therefore would see service in Action after entered the Allied service this way and were involved in operations against Axis Central Powers supply shipping, positions and enemy forces, seeing some victories by sinking Axis Central Powered supply ships full of vehicles, including tanks and planes, as well as destroying Axis Central Powers vehicles along the frontlines when encountering them. Soon feared by the already limited supplied Axis Central Powers, both French Factions increasingly started to see the other as traitors to the French nation, people and way of life, often shooting their fellow French brothers when they and not the Allies or Axis Central Powers found them.

 

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Chapter 804: Operation I-Go

Operation I-Go (い号作戦, I-Go sakusen) was an aerial counter-offensive launched by Imperial Japanese forces against Allied forces during the Solomon Islands and New Guinea Campaigns in the Pacific Theater of the Second Great War. Taking place from 1–18 March 1943, during the operation, Japanese aircraft from Imperial Japanese Army and Navy units alike, under the command of Admirals Isoroku Yamamoto and Jinichi Kusaka, attacked Allied ships, aircraft, and land installations in the Solomon Islands, New Guinea and the Solomon Sea. The goal of the operation was to halt the Allied offensives in New Guinea and the Solomons and to give Japan time to prepare a new set of counter-offensives to finally cut of Australia from Allied supply lines in response to recent Allied operation in New Guinea and the Bismarck Sea. The operation consisted of several massed aerial attacks by Japanese bomber and fighter aircraft, based mainly at Rabaul, Bougainville, and the Shortland Islands, against Allied targets on and around New Guinea and the Solomons. Although the Japanese sank many Allied transports and warships, the attack failed to inflict the serious, crippling damage on Allied forces the Imperial Japanese High Command had hoped for. Based on inaccurate and unintentionally exaggerated reports from the involved aircrews, Yamamoto halted the attacks on 18 March, believing the operation to be a huge success. The operation, however, did not significantly cripple the Allied preparations for further defenses and planned offensives in the South Pacific area. Following the s set backs at New Guinea, the Japanese sought to delay the Allied advance in the central Pacific while they strengthened their southern flank in the Pacific. In early March, the Japanese suffered medium losses at the hands of Allied aircraft during the Battle of the Bismarck Sea. In light of this, the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy decided to change their strategy in the region and bring in reinforcements for their air assets in the region. On 15 February 1943, the Japanese high command in Tokyo issued orders for a new defensive strategy in the central Pacific, based upon building a strong perimeter around their base at Rabaul and extending their outer Defense Perimeter.

The offensive campaign in the Solomons would be placed under the Imperial Japanese Navy, while the main focus of the Imperial Japanese Army operations focused on New Guinea. In order to set the conditions for this strategy, the Japanese planned a short air offensive in the Solomon Islands and New Guinea focused upon four key locations: Guadalcanal, Oro Bay, Port Moresby and Milne Bay. The Japanese designated this Operation 'A', or Operation I Go Sakusen. Allied forces in the Pacific at the time were commanded by General Douglas MacArthur (South-West Pacific) and Admiral William Halsey (South Pacific). Responsibility for the operation was given to the air fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Throughout February, Admirals Isoroku Yamamoto and Jinichi Kusaka established their headquarters in Rabaul and began planning the offensive. Preliminary planning determined that the offensive would be undertaken in two phases, with the first effort concentrating on the Solomon Islands. They subsequently began building up air power around Rabaul, concentrating aircraft from the land-based aircraft of the 11th and 12th Air Fleets along with aircraft from the Imperial Japanese Navy's remaining aircraft carriers. The carrier-based aviation units contributed over 320 aircraft, including 182 fighters, while the 11th and 12th Air Fleet provided 172 fighters, as well as 144 medium bombers, 54 dive bombers and a 36 torpedo bombers. After initially concentrating around Rabaul these aircraft were dispersed to several fields around Buka and Kahili, on Bougainville, and at Ballale in the Shortland Islands. By briefly boosting the Japanese air force at Rabaul with naval carrier aircraft, Yamamoto gathered a little over 500 planes together to achieve formidable striking power with the intention of countering Allied air power and defenses over a number of days at various critical locations. Overall, it was to become their most substantial aerial assault undertaken in the area. Due to operational losses the Imperial Japanese Navy had over the preceding months, many of the Japanese crews were inexperienced. Allied air defenses in the area were predominately provided by U.S. fighter squadrons, reinforced by several Australian units. In April, a New Zealand fighter squadron, No. 15 Squadron RNZAF, was also deployed to New Guinea, Renell Island and Vanatu Island, reinforcing the New Zealand bomber/reconnaissance squadron that had deployed to the area in late 1942.

Allied reconnaissance aircraft detected increased Japanese air activity around the upper Solomons on 1 March 1943. That day, as a preliminary part of the operation a fighter sweep of 116 Mitsubishi A6M3 Zeros was dispatched to draw out Allied fighters defending the area and destroy them ahead of the main aerial assault. The Japanese fighter sweep was met by 41 Allied fighters, consisting of a variety of types including Wildcats, Corsairs and Lightnings from Rear Admiral Charles P. Mason's AirSols command. The Japanese aircraft were intercepted over the Russell Islands while they were en route to San Christobal. The aerial battle that followed claimed 14 Zeros at the cost of 12 Allied aircraft. In the days that followed the carrier-based aircraft began arriving at Rabaul from Truk in preparation to begin the air strikes of the offensive. Some elements were delayed by low cloud, and a few of the Japanese aircraft did not arrive at Ballale until early on 7 March. The first attack of the Japanese offensive was launched on 7 March against Renell Islands and New Guinea. This was the largest raid of the operation, and consisted of 124 Aichi D3A2 "Val" dive bombers escorted by 220 Zeros and was met by 76 Allied fighters. The raiding aircraft were organized into twelve elements: four fighter sweeps preceded eight waves of dive bombers. The first fighter sweep, consisting of aircraft from the 253rd Kokutai, departed around midday under the command of Saburo Saito. It was followed by the second sweep consisting of aircraft from the 204th Kokutai. The waves of dive bombers were drawn from the carriers Zuikaku, Suiho, Hiyo and Junyo. 19 Japanese aircraft were lost; the Allies lost 14. The raid resulted in the sinking of two US destroyers, a New Zealandian corvette and cruiser, and three Allied tankers, as well as in the destruction of two Allied airfields and one harbor. Nevertheless, the Allies were able to evacuate their bombers from some of the airfields so that they escaped damage thanks to their radar. The main Allied air assets scrambled came from the US Thirteenth Air Force and included a variety of aircraft including Wildcats, Lightnings and Airacobras. Australian aircraft from No. 77 Squadron RAAF, based out of Gurney Field at Milne Bay, took part in the Allied response. Flying Kittyhawk fighters, one of their pilots, Flying Officer John Hodgkinson, was responsible for downing one of the Japanese fighters. One US Marine Corps pilot, Lieutenant James E. Swett, was later awarded the Medal of Honor after shooting down five Japanese aircraft.

A three-day lull followed before the Japanese launched their second strike. On 11 March, a force of 44 "Vals" and 144 Zeros attacked shipping at Oro Bay, near Buna. A total of 50 Allied fighters scrambled from Dobodura and intercepted the force, shooting down four Japanese aircraft while loosing two themselves. The Allied squadrons committed to the fight included the 7th, 8th and 9th Fighter Squadrons flying Lightnings and Warhawks. These aircraft were controlled by an Allied radar station, which attempted to guide the defending fighters into position, but initially misdirected some of them to Cape Sudest. Anti-aircraft fire from ships in the bay also contributed to the defense and ultimately only limited damage was inflicted on one Allied merchantman. An attack on Port Moresby took place on 12 March. A force of 264 Zeros of the 253rd Kōkūtai and air groups of the carriers and 86 Mitsubishi G4M2 "Betty" medium bombers of the 751st and 705th Kōkūtai were assigned to the airstrike. Their targets were the Allied aircraft dispersed at the five airfields located around the town and the transports in the harbor. The raid was detected by the U.S. radar station at Paga Hill 38 minutes prior to their arrival, allowing the Allies time to scramble their fighters. Opposed by 44 Allied fighters, mainly from the US 39th, 40th and 41st Fighter Squadrons, the attack resulted in four Allied and five Japanese aircraft lost. The Japanese bombers were able to penetrate the Allied fighter screen which was outnumbered by their Japanese rivals, and they were able damage a medium number of ships in the harbor. They also damaged or destroyed several Allied aircraft on the Port Moresby airfields. Losses on the ground included six U.S. Mitchell medium bombers and two Australian Beaufort. Luckily for the Allies, no large Allied ships were damaged in the attack.

On 14 March 1943, the Japanese air offensive was nearing its conclusion when they launched an attack against Milne Bay, where six Allied troop transports were anchored, having been re-routed there from Port Moresby due to the earlier raid. After receiving advanced warning of the attack, the Australian harbor master, Commander Geoffrey Branson, ordered the vessels to disperse. The raid involved 276 aircraft from the 705th and 751st Kokutais as well as the carriers. Eight Lightnings from the U.S. 9th Fighter Squadron scrambled from Dobodura, resulting in three Japanese and six U.S. aircraft being shot down. In addition, between 24 and 36 Royal Australian Air Force Kittyhawks from No. 75 and 77 Squadrons also intercepted the attacking force. The Milne Bay area had a low cloud base for most of the year and the nearby mountains could make flying a dangerous proposition. The experiences of one Australian pilot during the raid highlight these dangers and were captured in an official report in the National Archives of Australia. Just after midday, Pilot Officer Norman Houghton was flying as part of a flight of five aircraft, inbound towards Samarai. He observed a close formation of about 60 Japanese bombers slightly right of his heading. The Japanese escort consisted of four elements, two of seven fighters above and behind bombers, the other two of between seven and eight fighters, which were about 2,000 feet (610 m) above them to the north. As the Australian fighter aircraft attempted to engage, Norman turned too tight at 150 miles (240 km) per hour and his aircraft went into a spin. After recovering, he experienced engine trouble and eventually he crash landed on a reef on Sideia Island near the village of Gotai. The Japanese bombers attacked in several waves. Initially, high level bombers dropped at least one hundred bombs on the anchorage. These were followed half an hour later by dive bombers. As a result of the raid on Milne Bay, three ships were beached after being hit by several bombs, which set it ablaze. Another cargo ship was also bombed and set on fire, before the blazes were extinguished. Near misses damaged three other ships and four Australian minesweepers. Eight Allied servicemen and 24 merchant seamen were killed in the air raid, while 136 were injured. Meanwhile, overhead, a significant air battle took place, during which both Australian squadrons shot down four enemy aircraft each. This represented the highest number of aerial victories for the RAAF in a single day in the Pacific. The U.S. Lightning pilots also shot down two Japanese aircraft.

The Japanese commander, Yamamoto, concluded the operation on 16 March. At the time, he believed that Allied losses were much heavier than they actually were and that the operation had been successful in completely crippling the remaining Allied forces in New Guinea and the Solomones Island area, therefore the Japanese carrier-based aircraft subsequently returned to their ships. Japanese claims amounted to 250 aircraft shot down, as well as 56 ships sunk, including two cruiser and four destroyers. In reality, total Allied losses during the operation only amounted to twenty ships of various types and up to 50 aircraft. The Japanese lost 45 aircraft in total. In the wake of the operation, Yamamoto decided to travel to the Solomons to congratulate his aircrews. While the Allies would have loved to knew that information to kill him, the new codes and frequencies used by parts of the Imperial Japanese Navy prevented this information from getting into their hands before the Admirals visit had already happened. The Japanese operation did significantly delay Allied preparations for further offensives in the South Pacific area and U.S. operations in the Solomons were set back about 20 additional days with bombing and mine laying sorties being postponed as well to hold back aircraft to respond if further Japanese air strikes were launched. After the raids in March Japanese air activity in New Guinea tapered off, even if a few raids continued in the area until 30 Jule when the Allies planned to launch their own counter-offensive in the Solomon Islands and New Guinea. This action was designated Operation Vengeance and was focused on the Solomon Islands; it formed part of the wider Operation Cartwheel. While the Japanese showed problems in faulty intelligence, dispersal of effort and failure to follow up these attacks as many fighters and bombers were redirected across the Pacific, the Japanese operation would be no total failure, as it delayed American plans and reinforcements and lead to the Japanese Imperial Army offensive in New Guinea that would catch the Allied front-line and entrenched bunker positions unprepared, leading to massive Allied troop losses and their overall evacuation from New Guinea later on to save at least a few of the Allied Forces there that had survived to secure Australia with them.

 

[CountofDooku]

Chapter 805: Hitler's former Cabinet – A tale of Rudolf Hess

Rudolf Walter Richard Hess (Heß in German; born 26 April 1894) was a German politician and a leading member of the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. Appointed Deputy Führer to Adolf Hitler in 1933, Hess served in that position until the German Military Coup of 1938. He would later become famous once again, when he flew solo to Scotland in an attempt to negotiate peace with the United Kingdom during the Second Great War. He was taken prisoner and eventually convicted of crimes against peace, serving a life sentence until his suicide in 1987. His military career began, when Hess enlisted as an infantryman at the outbreak of the First Great War. He was wounded several times over the course of the war and was awarded the Iron Cross, 2nd Class in 1915. Shortly before the war ended, Hess enrolled to train as an aviator, but he saw no action in that role. He left the armed forces in December 1918 with the rank of Leutnant der Reserve. In 1919 Hess enrolled in the University of Munich, where he studied geopolitics under Karl Haushofer, a proponent of the concept of Lebensraum ("living space"), which became one of the pillars of Nazi ideology. Hess joined the Nazi Party on 1 July 1920 and was at Hitler's side on 8 November 1923 for the Beer Hall Putsch, a failed Nazi attempt to seize control of the government of Bavaria. While serving time in jail for this attempted coup, he assisted Hitler with Mein Kampf, which became a foundation of the political platform of the Nazi Party. After Hitler became Chancellor in January 1933, Hess was appointed Deputy Führer of the Nazi Party in April. He was elected to the Reichstag in the March elections, was made a Reichsleiter of the Nazi Party in June and in December 1933 he became Minister without Portfolio in Hitler's cabinet. He was also appointed in 1938 to the Cabinet Council and planend to be transferred to the Council of Ministers for Defense of the Reich, when the German Military Coup happened against the Nazi's. Chancellor Hitler decreed later in 1940 that Hermann Göring would be his official successor within the NSDAP should any coup or attempt on his life happen again and named Hess as next in line. In addition to appearing on Hitler's behalf at speaking engagements and rallies, Hess had before signed into law much of the government's legislation, including the Nuremberg Laws of 1935, which stripped the Jews of Germany of their rights as German citizens and would be reversed after the military coup of 1938. Because of this he did not hold any higher office again after the military coup of 1938.

On 10 April 1941, Hess made a solo flight to Scotland, where he hoped to arrange peace talks with the Duke of Hamilton, whom he believed to be a prominent opponent of the British government's war policy. The British authorities arrested Hess immediately on his arrival and held him in custody until the end of the Second Great War, when he was returned to Germany in a prisoner exchange and had to stand trialfor treason against the German Empire like many Nazi's again after the DNVP had taken over the government control from the NSDAP for good during the Balkan Campaign, so Hess was trialed for treason against the government of the German Empire, treason against the German people and major war-criminals in 1946. During much of the trial, he claimed to be suffering from amnesia, but he later admitted this was a ruse. The Court convicted him of crimes against peace and of conspiracy with other German Nazi leaders to commit crimes against the German Reich and the German people, including. He served a life sentence in Spandau Prison. Where the German Military, German Aristrocrats, German Conservatives and German Liberals alike, either together, or seperate from one another blocked repeated attempts by family members and prominent politicians to archive his early release. While still in custody in Spandau, he died by hanging himself in 1987 at the age of 93. After his death, the prison, even more do then many other sides were former Nazi leaders had been killed, died or outright commited suicide like him, became a shrine for becoming a post-Nazi shrine. To many Hess even more so then other Nazi's sometimes even more then Hitler the peacefull unifyer of the German Reich represented the innosence of National Socialism in harsh contrast to the German Military and Aristrocratic Coup that after 1938 had reestablished the German Reich and lead to the Second Great War in the eyes of many post-Nazi's. Post Nazi's, or after Nazi's were Fascists and National Socialists opposing Fascist Royalism and National Monarchism alike in spirit of the old racist, populist and authoritarian rule of the Nazi's between 1932 and 1938, opposing the democratic and parliamend democratic German Reich that had formed after 1938.

 

[CountofDooku]

Chapter 806: Fiji Fighting

Because Fiji was a British colony during the Second Great War, the Fiji Defence Force served with New Zealand Army formations, under the Allied Pacific Ocean Areas command. The Fiji Infantry Regiment fought in the Solomon Islands Campaign against the Japanese, Taikoku and Koreans of the Co-Prosperity Sphere. Fiji also constructed many facilities such as airfields for Allied bombing runs, barracks and training grounds. When the Second Great War broke out many Fijians volunteered for military service with the Fiji Military Forces which was commanded by a New Zealand Army officer under a 1936 agreement with the British that New Zealand assume responsibility for the defence of Fiji. Two Fiji infantry battalions and commando units saw service with US Army units in Guadalcanal and Bougainville. After the beginning of the Pacific War, Fiji people volunteered to fight alongside the Allies. Japanese submarines launched seaplanes that flew over Fiji; Japanese submarine I-25 on 17 February 1942 and Japanese submarine I-10 on 30 October 1941. Because of its central location, Fiji was selected as a training base for the Allies. An airstrip was built at Nadi, the later base of the international airport, and gun emplacements studded the coast. Fijians gained a reputation for bravery in the Solomon Islands and New Guinea campaign, with one war correspondent describing their ambush tactics as "death with velvet gloves." Corporal Sefanaia Sukanaivalu, of Yucata, was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross, as a result of his bravery in the Battle of Bougainville. Indo-Fijians, however, generally refused to enlist, after their demand for equal treatment to Europeans was refused, giving ideal fuel for later Imperial Japanese and Coprospist Propaganda. The Fijians disbanded a platoon they had organized, and contributed nothing more than one officer and 70 enlisted men in a reserve transport section, on condition that they not be sent overseas. The refusal of Fijians to play an active role in the war efforts become part of the ideological construction employed by Fijian ethno-nationalists to justify interethnic tensions and opposition against the British rule of the islands.

Those Fijians that had already been send to the Solomone Islands and New Guinea would not hear of this insurgency on Fiji, as the Allies limited news going to New Guinea nearly as much as news coming from the entrenched hell of New Guinea, as they knew this would undermine their war support on the homefront. The few Fijians that were captured by the Japanese during their commando raids operations behind enemy lines, or during the regular foghting on the shifting front on New Guinea would unlike captured American and Eruopean forces not be forced to build roads and railways trough the jungles of New Guinea under harsh, deadly conditions for the Japanese. Seen as fellow Asians, like all Oceanians and American Indians were in the racial theories and ideology of the Coprospist, pan-Asian view of the Co-Prosperity Sphere, they were isntead treated relatievly good and equal to other captured fellow Asian Forces in Alleid service. Later when New Guinea was liberated by the Co-Prosperity Sphere army on the island, the Fijians like Burmese, Malayan, Javan, Chinese or Idnians before were attempted to get enlisted inside the Imperial Japanese and Co-Prosperity Sphere army forces. When the Imperial Japanese Navy later would reach their highest extent in the Pacific during the Second Great War, some of those Fijians that had switched sides to them would serve as a early collaborational government, as well as a early Fijian police and militia to recruit more forces to help the Japanese conquer the islands from Allied control and establish Fijian independence on them. Some Fijians would support this collaborational government in hopes that the Japanese would threat them more equal and just then the Americans, British and overall the Allies had done before. A hope that would not be completely fulfilled by the Imperial Japanese navy who would remain a strong presence on Fiji, using it as a major naval and air base for the South Pacific, like Rabaul before. Still udner the Japanese the Fijians had nearly complete internal independence and could finaly govern themselves directly, even if their trade, defences and outer diplomacy completely relied on the Co-Prosperity Sphere they became a part of udner their new, independent government.

 

[CountofDooku]

Chapter 807: Teutonic Order Division Number Five: Nordic Cross

The 5th SS Teutonic Order Division "Nordic cross" (German: 5. TO-Panzerdivision „Nordisches Kreuz“ or „Nordic Knights of the Cross“) was a Panzer division among the Teutonic Order. It was recruited from Imperial Germans as well as mainly from foreign volunteers in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, United Baltic Duchy (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) and the United Netherlands under the command of German officers. During the course of the Second Great War, the division served on the Eastern Front in the Eastern Crusade. It had been formed by the Teutonic Order after the German Invasion and securing of Scandinavia in 1940, when the Teutonic Order opened up to foreign volunteers as well, even those not yet under direct control of the German Empire and the Axis Central Powers, for the „crusade against Bolshevism”, the “Liberation of Christian Tsarists Russia”. The enrollment began in April 1940 with the creation of two regiments: the Teutonic Order Regiment Nordland (for Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish, as well as a few Finnish volunteers), and the Teutonic Order Regiment Westland (for Dutch and Flemish volunteers). The Nordic formation, originally organized as the Nordische Division, was to be made up of Nordic volunteers mixed with ethnic German Teutonic Order personnel. The SS Infantry Regiment Germania of the Teutonic Order Division, which was formed mostly from ethnic Germans, was transferred to help form the nucleus of a new division in late 1940. In December 1940, the new Teutonic Order motorized formation was to be designated as Teutonic Order Division Germania, but after its formative period, the name was changed, to Teutonic Order Regiment Germania in January 1941. The division was formed around three motorized infantry regiments: Germania, Westland, and Nordland; with the addition of an artillery regiment. Command of the newly formed division was given to Felix Steiner, the former commander of the Verfügungstruppe SS Regiment Deutschland. After formation, the division was sent to Rostock in Germany for training; by March 1941, it was ready for combat. The division was ordered east in mid-April, to take part with Army Group Centers advance into White Ruthenia during the Crusade-like invasion of the Soviet Union. In May 1941, the Finnish Volunteer Battalion of the Teutonic Order was formed from volunteers from that country. This unit was attached to the Teutonic Order Regiment Nordland of the division. About 860 Finns who fought in the Winter War alongside German Army and Teutonic Order volunteers served within the Teutonic Order Division Nordic Cross in the Eastern Crusade since the beginning of the Liberation of Tsarists Russia. Most Finns however directly joined their own armed forces to conquer Karelia. During that same timeframe, parts of the previous Regiments were removed to help form the core of the growing, new Teutonic Order Division. They were replaced by other Scandinavian and Baltic Volunteers. The division took part in the invasion of the Soviet Union, advancing through White Ruthenia onward to Moscow. In May the division fought for the bridgehead at Orsha across the Dvina River. Later, the division took part in the heavy fighting for Smolensk before retreating to Dvina River line in October to wait for regular German, Baltic and Russian Army reinforcements.

In the summer of 1942, the unit took part Army Group Center's offensive, aimed at capturing Moscow. In late August 1942, Nordic Cross participated in the operation aimed to capture the city of Kalnn, alongside a German Panzer Division. The division captured Kalnn on 6 September, but the objective of surrounding Moscow and taking the Russian Capital was not achieved during the First Battle of Moscow. The division took part in the attempt to seize Kalomna soon after. The Soviet winter counter-offensice, the encirclement of the some Axis Central Powers Armies, brought any further advances against Moscow to an hold for now. Nordic Cross was among many forces that would be saved by the Polish Hussars that held of the majority of this Red Army counter-attack. Send north again to help with preparations for capturing Moscow in another battle once the winter was over, Nordic Cross then was send back behind the Frontlines to help with increasing insurgencies and partisan activities in between White Ruthenia and Moscow. With the Axis Central Powers Front stabilized the Nordic Cross Division participated in the Second Battle of Moscow, when parts of it were removed from within the Division to help with the creation of additional Teutonic Order Forces. The remnant of Nordic Cross would once again be used behind the Frontlines to fight Soviet and Communist Partisans, hunt down former Commissaries and other political and military leaders or sympathizers of the Soviet Union that tried to hide in Axis Central Powers occupied territory. Following the shooting death of Hilmar Wäckerle, one of the division’s officers, in the city of Smolensk, Russian who opposed to the Tsarist Government in the area were rounded up by members of the division’s logistics units led by Obersturmführer Braunnagel and Untersturmführer Kochalty as supposedly Communist Saboteurs and Agents. A gauntlet was then formed by two rows of soldiers. Most of these soldiers were from the Nordic Cross's logistics units, but some were members of the German, Baltic and Finnish Battallions Division. The supposedly Russian Communists were then forced to run down this path while being struck by rifle butts and bayonets. At the end of this path stood a number of Teutonic Order and army officers who shot the Russians as soon as they entered a bomb crater being used as a mass grave. About 1,500 or 1,600 innocent civilian Russians of Smolensk were killed in this manner. Because of this the Nordic Cross division was send northwards to hep German, Russian and Finnish forces push onto Arkhangelsk, while their anti-partisan duties in the area were taken over by a Jewish Division of White Ruthenia formed out of volunteer Jewish militia in Eastern White Ruthenia (the Mogilew Jewish Militia), the former Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic.

 

[CountofDooku]

Chapter 808: The Kachin Independence Army

The Kachin Independence Army group in Burma was supplied by the British with air drops and had been trained alongside the Chindits who had invaded this parts of Burma before. Some Chindits who did not retread stayed back and helped either directly lead or pose as tactical and strategical advisers for the Kachin people in northeast Burma. The Kachin originally cam from Jingpo ancestors that lived on the Tibetan plateau and migrated gradually towards the south. At their arrival to the present province of Yunnan, the later Yikoku, where the Jingpo were referred to as Xunchuanman. The Jingpo are likely related to the neighboring Qiang and Miao people. During the 15th and 16th centuries the Jingpo continued migrating to their present territory. They have received diverse names along the centuries: Echang, Zhexie, and Yeren, the latter name which was used in China from the Yuan dynasty to the formation of the Imperial National Han Chinese Republic. During the British colonial period, some tribes were well integrated into the state while others operated with a large degree of autonomy. After the Qing-Konbaung war, the Chinese exercised a degree of control over the present-day northeastern Kachin State. During the British colonization of Burma, the Kachin Hills tribes autonomy was accepted by the British government. British forces carried out two expeditions against the Kachin in 1892 and 1896. In 1910, the British occupied Hpimaw (Chinese characters: 片马, pinyin: Piànmǎ) in the Pianma Incident. Kachin people, including those organized as the Kachin Levies provided assistance to British units fighting the Japanese and Burmese Armies during the Second Great War in Burma. The deceleration of Burma as a ethnic Burmese national state, increased the long standing ethnic conflicts between frontier peoples such as the Kachin people and the Burman-dominated central government resurfaced. This lead to the first Kachin uprising of 1942. The uprisings escalated following the declaration of Burmese Theravada (or Southern) Buddhism (which is not practiced by the Kachin people) as a national Burmese State religion in 1943. However, Kachin people fought both for and against the government during most of the ethnic conflicts. Kachin soldiers once formed a core part of the Burmese armed forces during the initial Japanese Invasion and some stayed loyal after the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) with its military wing, the Kachin Independent Army (KIA) was formed in 1941, still hoping the Japanese would accept a independent Kachin State in the Co-Prosperity Sphere.

With growing Burmeseation of the Burmese Army however, Kachin and other ethnic minorities were no longer welcome in the Burmese Forces during 1943 and 1944. Kachin resistance grew and much of Kachin State outside of the cities and larger towns was for many years KIO administered, one of the reasons the Japanese, Burmese and Yikoku Armies had so poor supply lines in the area and would chose to attack into Benghal and not Assam during their later push deeper into British Raj (India). At this time the alliances with other ethnic groups resisting the Burmese occupation, and later despite its non-communist stance even allied with the Communist Party of Burma (CPB) and other opposition groups to the Coprospist, royal and national Burmese government. The young Burmese national government under Ba Maw tried to reach a Agreement with the Shan, Kachin, and Chin peoples several times during the Second great War, but some of these attempts were stopped by the Japanese themselves, who were unsure if they wished to give these minorities independence or integrate them into the bigger Burmese, Siamese/ Thai and Yikoku nation states nearby that were already part of the Co-Prosperity Sphere. Amogn the Kachin tribes, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA; Kachin: ShangLawt Hpyen), a non-state armed group and the military wing of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), a political group of ethnic Kachins formed as the coalition of six tribes whose homeland encompasses territory in Yikoku, Assam in India and Kachin State in Burma. The Kachin Independence Army is funded by the KIO, which raises money through regional taxes and trade in jade, timber and gold. It's rifles were are a combination of leftover British Commonwealth and Japanese captured equipment, as well as some mortars and artillery. The Kachin Independence Army and Organization headquarters were near the British Raj and Yikoku border in easily dependable mountain terrain. Around 4,000 militia “soldiers” served actively in the KIA, growing to around 8,000 till the End of the Second Great War, with around 10,000 reservists and 10,000 additional support forces for supplies and equipment. Most members of the KIA were militias rather then regular soldiers and all were viewed as terrorists by the Burmese State, the Japanese and the Co-Prosperity Sphere, while seen as Freedom Fighters by most Allies (except the Burmese government in Exile and the Chinese warlords). This was mainly because the Kachin soon retreated into Yikoku as well and with the around 8,5% of all Kachin living in Yikoku, a local Yikoku Kachin branch of the KIO and KIA was formed to, soon rising to 1,800 and later 15,000 forces and support personal on that side of the border.

 

[CountofDooku]

Chapter 809: Egypt besieged and divided

The situation of Egypt in the Second Great War was a delicate one, as the Axis Central Powers had taken Alexandria and headed towards Cairo. Despite this King Farouk I resisted British pressure to declare war on the German Empire and it's Allies until of the Second Great War was over, harboring sympathies for the Axis Central Powers, much like large parts of the Egyptian population. Because of this the British overthrew him in favor of his son Fuad II. Since his sister, Princess Fawzia Fuad was the wife of the Shah of Ppersia/ Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Farouk represented a strong influence in the Middle East and would later be part of the Mohammedan States opposing the Second Ottoman Empire/ Ottoman Caliphate's influence in the area after the Second Great War. Egypt had long been viewed by the British as strategic link to India. Napoleon's invasion of Egypt in 1798 badly destabilized the local Mameluke dynasty and the Ottoman Turks invited the British to play a more direct role in Egypt. In 1875, the British government purchased the local Egyptian government's remaining shares of the Suez Canal. In 1882 Ahmed Urabi led a revolt of Egyptian military officers and commoners against European and Ottoman domination of Egypt. A British expeditionary force crushed this revolt. While this was meant to be a temporary intervention, British troops stayed in Egypt, marking the beginning of British occupation and the inclusion of Egypt within the British Empire, nominally as a kingdom ruled by the Muhammad Ali dynasty. In deference to growing nationalism after World War I, the UK unilaterally declared Egypt independent in 1922. British influence, however, continued to dominate Egypt's political life and fostered fiscal, administrative, military and governmental reforms. The British therefore would however still station troops in Egypt to protect the Suez Canal Zone, so that full Egyptian self-rule was not yet realized.

During the hardships of the war, criticism was leveled at Farouk for his lavish lifestyle. His decision to keep all the lights burning at his palace in Alexandria, during a time when the city was under blackout in fear of an Axis Central Power bombing, particularly angered some. The royal Italian servants of Farouk were not interned and there is an unconfirmed story that Farouk had told British Ambassador, Sir Miles Lampson, "I'll get rid of my Italians, when you get rid of yours." This remark was a reference to the ambassador's Italian wife. Egypt had severed relations with the Axis Central Powers soon after the outbreak of the war but remained technically neutral until near the war's end. Following a ministerial crisis in February 1942, the British government, through its Ambassador, Sir Miles Lampson, pressed Farouk to have a Wafd or Wafd-coalition government replace Hussein Serry Pasha's partly pro-Axis Central Power government. On the night of 4 February 1942, British troops and tanks surrounded Abdeen Palace in Cairo and Lampson presented Farouk with an ultimatum. Farouk capitulated, and Mostafa El-Nahas formed a government shortly thereafter. After the war, King Farouk brought large numbers of German former military and intelligence personnel and high ranking ex-Nazis as well as German Imperials to Egypt as "advisors". This move infuriated the British, who had been training and assisting the Egyptian Army since the creation of the Kingdom of Egypt in 1922. The Italian invasion of Egypt, began as a limited tactical operation towards Mersa Matruh, rather than for the strategic objectives sketched in Rome, due to the chronic lack of transport, fuel and wireless equipment, even with transfers from the 5th Army. Musaid was subjected to a "spectacular" artillery bombardment at dawn and occupied. The British withdrew past Buq Buq but continued to harass the Italian advance. The British continued to fall back, going to Alam Hamid and Alam el Dab. An Italian force of fifty tanks attempted a flanking move, which led the British rearguard to retire east of Sidi Barrani, Graziani halted the advance. Despite prodding from Mussolini, the Italians dug in around Sidi Barrani and Sofafi, about 80 mi (130 km) west of the British defenses at Mersa Matruh. The British anticipated that the Italian advance would stop at Sidi Barrani and Sofafi and began to observe the positions. British naval and air operations continued to harass the Italian army as the 7th Armored Division prepared to confront an advance on Matruh.

Selby Force guarded the eastern approaches to Sidi Barrani, as the rest of the WDF attacked the fortified camps further inland. The 4th Armoured Brigade, which had been screening the attackers from a possible Italian counter-attack from the west, advanced northwards, cut the coast road between Sidi Barrani and Buq Buq and sent armoured car patrols westwards. The 7th Armored Brigade remained in reserve and the 7th Support Group blocked an approach from Rabia and Sofafi to the south. The 16th Brigade, supported by a squadron of Matilda II tanks, RAF aircraft, Royal Navy ships and artillery fire, started its advance at 9:00 a.m.. The fighting continued for many hours, without substantial gains, until 1:30 p.m, when the Blackshirts holding two strongholds on the western side suddenly surrendered. The brigade continued advancing with the last of the Infantry tanks, an extra infantry battalion and support from the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment. The second attack began just after 4:00 p.m.. Italian artillery opened fire on the infantry as they were dismounting. The last ten Matildas drove into the western face of the Sidi Barrani defences, and although they were met by Italian artillery, it was ineffective. At 6 p.m., approximately 2,000 Blackshirts surrendered. In two hours the first objectives had been captured, only a sector 2 mi (4 km) east of the harbor, held by a Blackshirt legion and the remains of the 1st Libyan Division, was still resisting. The British continued advancing until they reached Mersa Brega by January, 1941. Because of this German Chancellor Adolf Hitler and the German Emperor Wilhelm II sent their army to North Africa starting in January 1941. Germany's General Erwin Rommel's Deutsches Afrikakorps coming from victories at Tobruk in Libya, and in a classic blitzkrieg, comprehensively outfought British forces. Within weeks the British had been pushed back into Egypt, while additional Italian and Austria-Hungarian Forces slowly arrived as well. Rommel's offensive was for a while stopped at the small railway halt of El Alamein, just 150 miles from Cairo. In July 1942 the First Battle of El Alamein was lost by Rommel because he was suffering from the eternal curse of the desert war, and long supply lines. The British, with their backs against the wall, were very close to their supplies and had fresh troops on hand. In early September 1942 Rommel tried again to break through the British lines during the Battle of Alam el Halfa. He was decisively stopped by the newly arrived British commander, Lieutenant General Bernard Montgomery. With British forces cut off after the Axis Central Powers conquest of Gibralta and Malta and the Axis Central Powers interdicting the Allies supplies at sea, the massive distances to Egypt began to shift in favor of the Axis Central Powers.

Because of this Rommel initiated the Second Battle of El Alamein, to defeat the Alliec and forcing them to retreat eastwards towards Alexandria and Cairo. The loss of the United Kingdom's General Bernard Montgomery at the Second Battle of El Alamein, or the Battle of Alamein, marked a significant turning point of Second Great War in Northern Africa and while no major victory by the Axis Central Powers against a British Commonwealth Army still was significant. The Eighth Army from Claude Auchinleck had retreated to Alexandria, but much like El Alemain now feared to be surrounded by Rommel there who bypassed them in the South once again. With the Axis Central Powers now controlling nearly all of the Mediterranean Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean Sea heavily contested thanks to Axis Central Power air-forces and ships, the Allied retreated further wast. Although Egypt was part of the British Military Operations zone and British forces were stationed there, many Egyptian Army units also fought alongside them. Some units like 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th Infantry Regiments, 16th and 12th Cavalry Regiments, 17th Horse Artillery Regiment and 22nd King's Own Artillery Regiment, besides a few others. Beside these units, the Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiments all over Egypt played a vital role in destroying Axis Central Powers air attacks on Alexandria, Cairo, Suez and the Northern Delta. In their occupied regions of Egypt, the Axis Central Powers began to recruit Egyptian volunteers and promised them the liberation of Egypt and all other Mohammedan lands by their combined anti-Allied forces. Despite his victories meanwhile, Rommel knew the British still had strong reserves in Egypt, a situation that only worsened for the Axis Central Powers, as more and more American forces rushed into Africa and the Middle East.

With 186,000 Allied forces, 500-700 tanks, 780 to 800 artillery guns and 600 to 650 aircraft the British still had a force to be reckoned with in Egypt. Especially if considered that Marshal of Italy (Maresciallo d'Italia) Ettore Bastico and General Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, the Axis Central Power leading military members in Egypt had only 85,000 soldiers, 314 tanks, 192 armored cars, 298 artillery guns, 657 anti-tank guns and 686 to 816 aircraft. Rommel however had a plan and a certain advantage on his hands, himself. The Allies by now knew how much Rommel loved to bypass them trough the desert to surround and annihilate them in smaller forces, meaning to prevent such things from happening in Egypt again, as they had in Libya, while Rommel at the same time could keep his invading forces much more concentrated and together, compared to his Allied opponents. He could threaten the Egyptian Delta in the North, including Port Said, Cairo in the East and Al Fayyum in the South all at once, while the British and Allied had the superiority of controlling the main Egyptian railways and supply routes, but that had never stopped Rommel before. Montgomery knew this as well fearing that Rommel could chose the northern route to cut of the Suez Canal, the eastern route to threaten Cairo, or chose the southern route to bypass the main Allied forces, maybe even surround some of them and then turn eastwards or push deeper into Sudan, towards former Italian East Africa that was now under Allied occupation. The Allies tried to deceive the Germans into believing they still had a massive superiority in ground and air forces, hoping to stall Rommel long enough until the fake number of this forces would become reality and crush the Axis Central Powers invading forces. Rommel tried to do the same, trick the Allies into believing he had more forces send from mainland by making a huge fuss by sending forces up and down the frontlines to cause a huge commotion and to make the Allies believe he had received much more reinforcements and additional reserves then he truly had. Both the Axis Central Powers entrenched themselves, while also hoping to continue their mobile warfare as quick as possible and not fall into French Trench Warfare like in the First Great War.

Skirmishes and artillery barrages probed each other defensive lines, but only a few kilometers/ miles could be won by both sides for now, partly also because none of the two sides wished to repeat the horrors of trench warfare, but none of them had any intentions to get their main forces and spearheads encircled by a skilled enemy tactician and strategist either. A major problem for the Axis Central Powers arose when Rommel was on sick leave to Bavaria leaving General Stumme under command, who would die from a heart-attack while under direct enemy artillery fire, leaving the Axis Central Powers in Africa under command of the Marshal of Italy Bastico. After a period of confusion while Stumme's body was missing, General Ritter von Thoma took command of the German forces, but Bastico would remain the supreme commander of all Axis Central Power forces. The German Emperor Wilhelm III instructed Rommel to remain at home and continue his convalescence but then became alarmed at the deteriorating situation and rising Allied attacks in Egypt, leading to him to ask Rommel to return to Africa if he felt able. Rommel left at once and arrived on as fast as he could. The Allies quickly abandoned their attacks and Rommel began counter-attacks, but with limited success. The Allies had lost 6,200 men against Axis Central Power losses of 2,500, but while Rommel had with fresh reinforces only 410 tanks fit for action Montgomery with some reinforces as well, now still had over 700. Montgomery however knew that the offensive was losing momentum and decided to regroup. There were a number of small actions but the Axis Central Powers defensive line was still intact. Montgomery was still confident and prepared his forces for Operation Desert Sun. The endless small operations and the attrition by the Allied air force had by then reduced Rommel's effective tank strength to only 502, leading to him requesting further reinforces from Europe's Axis Central Powers, when he suddenly was ordered away from Egypt. Now he was ordered to take command of the German tank, motorized and mechanized forces in Syria and Iraq to repeat his initial success in Libya and Egypt by bypassing, surrounding and kicking the Allies out of the Middle East. Doing so would free Axis Central Powers for Russia and to cut of the last supply line to the Soviet Union in Persia/ Iran. Further more German and Ottoman forces in Syria could rush to Jerusalem and push towards Sinau to cut of the Suez Canal from the other side and threaten all of northern Egypt, as well as Saudi Arabia, cutting of nearly all Allied oil supplies in Africa and Asia still left till now. At the same time the Americans landed forces in Morocco and West Africa under Operation Torch, pressuring the Axis Central Powers, leading to some reinforcements meant for the Egyptian Front or Rommel to be redirected Westwards. Beside some harbors bombed by Axis Central Powers air forces and the attempt to sink further British Navy ships before they all could retread trough the Suez Canal into the Red Sea, German, Spanish, Fascist French, Italian, Austrian-Hungarian, as well as some Hellenic and Turkish/ Ottoman naval ships and submarines managed to sink 28 Egyptian ships, damaging a Allied battleship, four Allied cruisers, three Allied Destroyers and some smaller escort ships like coastal patrols. Egyptians pressed into militia brigades and regiments by both sides now began to fill in the armies of both the Allies and the Axis Central Powers, similar to how they did in the nearby Middle East, leading to brothers and causing shooting each other and increasing resistance and opposition to both factions in this Arab and Mohammedan lands.

 

[CountofDooku]

Chapter 810: Mongolian Madness

Outer Mongolia, better known as the Mongolian People's Republic outside of China and the Co-Prosperity Sphere was ruled by the communist government of Khorloogiin Choibalsan and was closely linked to the Soviet Union. Mongolia was considered a breakaway province of the Republic of China by most nations. Soviet–Mongolian relations were governed by a "gentlemen's agreement" from 27 November 1934, which was formalised in a mutual assistance pact on 12 March 1936. This treaty created a mutual defensive military alliance, and also pledged both parties to remove troops from the territory of the other when the need for military assistance had passed. These agreements were directed at Japan, which had occupied Manchuria and advanced into Inner Mongolia (Mengjiang) and had as their object the protection of the Soviet Trans-Siberian Railway. On 13 August 1937, as part of their effort to support China in its war with Japan, the Soviets decided to station troops along Mongolia's southern and southeastern frontiers. To obtain the Mongolian government's consent, elaborate Japanese invasion plans were forged. On 24 August the Soviet deputy minister of defense, Pyotr Smirnov, and a small staff arrived in Mongolia to oversee the transfer of the Soviet 17th Army. The arrival of the Soviet army coincided, as planned, with a series of intensified terrors and purges (the "Great Terror"). In his address to the Third Session of the Supreme Soviet on 31 May 1939, Foreign Commissar Vyacheslav Molotov declared that "we shall defend the frontiers of the Mongolian People's Republic just as resolutely as our own border." The Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact of 13 April 1941 recognized the neutrality of Mongolia and its place with the Soviet sphere of influence. Its geographical situation made it a buffer state between Japanese forces and the Soviet Union. In addition to keeping around 10% of the population under arms, Mongolia provided supplies and raw materials to the Soviet military and financed several units, and half million military trained horses. Mongolian troops took part in the Battle of Khalkhin Gol in the summer of 1939 and in the Mongolian-Soviet defense of Manchuria, Mongolia and Siberia, both times as small part in majorly Soviet-led operations.

During the defensive campaign, the Mongolian troops were attached to the Soviet–Mongolian Cavalry Mechanized Group under Colonel General I. A. Pliev. The Mongolian units were the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th Mongolian Cavalry Divisions, the 7th Motorized Armored Brigade, the Armored Car Brigade and the 3rd Artillery Regiment. They would fight against the Mengjiang Armies and their Japanese and Manchruian allies, having experienced them during the Soviet-Japanese border conflicts, most notably the four-month-long Battle of Khalkhin Gol (May–September 1939) before. Most of these happened along Mongolia's eastern borders and are often seen as an important prelude to the Second Great War. Throughout the war with Germany, the Mongolian country provided the Soviet Union with economic support, such as livestock, raw materials, money, food and military clothing, violating Mongolian neutrality in favor of the Comintern and the Allies. Mongolia was one of two Soviet satellites not generally recognized as sovereign nations at the time, the other being the Tuvan People's Republic, both of which participated in the Second Great War. For Mongolia, the most important result of the Second Great War was the recognition of its independence by the Chinese Communists and the Nationalist Kuomintang, both in form of their United Chiese Front accepting the Mongolian's People's Republic as a sovereign Mongolian nations state. The United States of America's as well as the British Empire and Commonwealth Nations consent to accept the Mongolian's People's Republic as well would be given with the Tehran Conference and in the Tehran Agreement. The Japanese Empire and the Co-Prosperity Sphere however did not acknowledge the Mongolian's People's Republic and saw it as a illegitimate communist rebel government, opposing the true Mongolian (Mengjiang) state, as well as Mongolian culture, customs and religion (Vajrayana or Northern Buddhism as it was practiced in Tibet, Mengjiang, Xinjiang, Tuva and Kalmykia). Because of that to the Mengjiang and the Co-prosperity Sphere the Mongolian Communists were the true traitors and in the same way Soviet and Red Army support crumbled in Siberia, Mongolia and Central Asia, because of Soviet union losses against the Axis Central Powers in Europe, Japanese support and the strength of the Mengjiang Khanate grew that continued to push deeper into Mongolia and Tuva to annex these former Mongolian lands into a true Greater Mongolian Nation State once again.

 

[CountofDooku]

Chapter 811: The French Empire fights on

Propaganda and allied attacks on the French Fleet and Mainland France had driven many French into the arms of the Axis Central Powers. The fact that Germany gave back the French many of their territories after Napolein IV became French King and later Emperor and stationed only a few forces in Frances Atlantic coast, while allowing Imperial France to annex parts of Belgium with the United Netherlands, helped to paint France as a collaborative power and ally of Germany, in the eyes of the Allies, the Axis Central Powers and the Comintern alike. The fight against the Resistance thereby was more of a civil war with liberal, socialist and communist French resisting German occupation of Alsace-Lorraine (German: Elsass-Lothringen) or German forces stationed along the Atlantic Coast. They also resisted Spanish and Italian occupation of former French colonies in North Africa, as well as the territory annexed by Italy in Southeast France. Original the Royal/ Imperial French Metropolitan Army had just been allowed 3,768 officers, 15,072 non-commissioned officers, 75,360 men, as well as a Gendarmerie of 60,000 men plus an anti-aircraft force of 10,000 men, all had to be made up by volunteers, thus the Fascist French at fist had to recall the conscripts of the class of 1939, giving them 30,000 additional forces but still not enough to fill their forces. With French public opinion however switching, the Germans opened up for conscription once again. Therefore the Germans even allowed some pf the captured 1,8 million French Prisoners of War to return home, to make up the new Imperial French Army, when in return French Civilians (often their family members) came to Germany. They then had to work in the fields and mines there instead of the former French Prisoners of War, to compensate for the Germans who had done so before, but now fought all over Europe. The Imperial French Government at first lacked tanks, other armored vehicles and was desperately short of motorized transport, a particular problem for cavalry units. Fascist French therefore stress the opportunities for athletic activities, including horsemanship, reflecting both the general emphasis placed by the new Royal/ Imperial French government on rural virtues and outdoor activities and the realities of service in a small and technologically backward military force.

Traditional features characteristic of the pre-1940 French Army, such as kepis and heavy capotes (buttoned-back greatcoats) were replaced by berets and simplified uniforms, more in style with that of the other Axis Central Powers, while Free French kept their old uniforms. As the Resistance was seen as traitors who helped the Allies locate and bomb cities and industrial areas of already hardened French new realities of life, the Fascist French militia and army was deployed against these terrorists, this enemies of the state and the French people, further giving the implication that all of mainland France collaborated with the Axis Central Powers. The colonial Forces Royal to the Fascist Royal/ National Imperial French Government outraged by Allied air attacks, attacks on the French fleet and the Allied invasion of Madagascar and Gabon rallied behind the Axis Central Powers for this backstabbing against the French. The Indochina Army Corps had quickly been overthrown by the Japanese Imperial Army and the Co-Prosperity Sphere forces in the area, giving birth to the new Co-Prosperity Sphere member nation states of Campuchea, Laos and Vietnam, forcing the French administration, police and army there to work for them now until 1942-1944 when slowly local Cambodians, Laotians, Vietnamese and Japanese officers and administrators would fully take over their positions and equipment. The French civilians and soldiers then ended up like most Europeans in internment and prisoners of war camps, for their Colonial Crimes against the native populations of Asia. The Army of the Levant (Armée du Levant) in Lebanon and Syria with ti's 40,000 French soldiers experienced the same process by the New/ Second Ottoman Empire that took over Lebanon and Syria from their French “allies”. However when the British and later the incoming Americans opposed Ottoman Turkish Imperial Ambitions, the German send in forces and quickly even rearmed the Army of the Levant now under Imperial French Officers joined them in their fight against the Allies. In north Africa meanwhile the Army of Africa at a strength of 100,000, plus 20,000 military workers joined in on the Axis Central Power sides as well, sending a few forces even east to help out in Egypt. The Fascist Imperial French forces in North Africa rose to 145,000, plus additional 26,000 Goumiers and 44,000 Tirailleurs, as well as a new artillery group a cavalry regiment and further logistic units send to North Africa to fight the Allied Invasion there.

 

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Chapter 812: The Wa National Army

The Wa National Army (Burmese: ဝအမျိုးသားတပ်မတော်; abbreviated WNA) as an insurgent group that operated in Shan State, Burma found itself right at the new border with Siam/ Thailand at the Salween River, meaning they were suddenly subjects of the Siamese/ Thai Empire. As the Siamese/ Thai had already expelled Burmese/ Burman from east and south of the Salween River up north and west to help with the building of a new Burmese National State, they instead had taken in a few Burmese ethnic minorities in a population exchange, but just like their ethnic minorities at the border to Campuchea and Laos, or in the now Siamese/ Thai Peninsula (the former Malayan Peninsula) some of this groups outright resisted the Bangkok government either because of distance and poor infrastructure and therefore control of this outer provinces, or simply because they dislike the way the Siamese/ Thai treated them. For the Wa ethnic group that now formed the Wa National Organization (WNO) the situation was worsened as they saw themselves closer linked to Burma overall. Created from around 50 smaller Wa groups like the Ka Kwe Ye, the WNO and WNA financed themselves with Opium and allied themselves with remnant Chinese Untied Front Kuomintang forces that had fled nearby Yikoku. A Alliance with the nearby rebelling Shan State Army (SSA) and Kachin Independence Army (KIA) would later serve as the foundation of a unified resistance in the area against Burmese and Siamese/ Thai Coprospist control and dominance over ethnic minority groups. This ties however would not last all that long, as infighting over command positions and territorial disputes, some supported secretly by the Japanese would lead to the breakup of their initial unified struggle. For some time the WNO and WNA would even attempt to form a alliance with the Communist Party of Burma and the Communist Party of Siam/ Thailand, both underground guerrilla movements by now as well, that were cracked down hard by the Coprospists.

The rule of Communist Guerillias in nearby mountains also meant that the affiliation with the Communist whose rule did outright alienate many of the native tribes and local farmers and hunters, as the Communiste tried to implement their ideal of a perfect state and society upon this natives that often did not factor in how they had worked traditionally and in general. Because of this the WNO and WNA quickly stopped working with the Communist rebels and instead opted to join the National Democratic Front (NDF) put together by the Allies as a unified, democratic opposition of the Burmese Coprospist National State of the Co-Prosperity Sphere. Their main goal was the independence and liberty of Burma, meaning they also fought not only against the Japanese led Co-Prosperity Sphere, but also for the complete independence of the Burmese State, as promised by the Allies (mainly the British Empire) in exchange for their contribution towards helping the Allies. Some of these local ethnic groups even tried to negotiate complete independence for themselves not just the Burmese, either as a independent state of Burma itself, or even as their own independent nation states in some chases. This infighting of various ethnic rebel groups however seriously hurt the Allied war effort to use this insurgency and guerrilla rebel groups in Burma and Southeast Asia to sabotage and weaken the Japanese and overall Co-Prosperity Sphere supply lines, forcing them to station much more garrison forces in the areas of Asia they had liberated from American and European colonial rule. This helped the Allies greatly, as it forces the Co-Prosperity Sphere to hold back many forces they otherwise could have used directly on the frontlines of Asia or in the Pacific directly against them. Often this lead to the Japanese and other Co-Prosperity Sphere members to use their own police, militia and army, as well as special local forces made up by other ethnic groups who often were either promised more independence, or good payments like head bounties, sometimes even only trying to settle old scores with neighboring enemy groups.

 

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Chapter 813: Teutonic Order Division Number Six: Northern Crusaders

The sixth Teutonic Order Division, named the Baltic Crusaders, later the Northern Crusaders was originally part of the Teutonic Order Kampfgruppe Nord (Battle Group North) during the Finnish-Soviet Winter War. They would remain in the area of the Arctic Circle to continue fighting in the Kola Peninsula and Karelia against the Soviet Union's Red Army and would remain the only Teutonic Order Division to remain in the area for the whole duration of the Second Great War. It had originally been formed out of Teutonic Order police and concentration camp guard groups in the newly formed United Baltic Duchy that had fought Socialist and Communist influence in the new nation, before being send north to Norway, Sweden and later Finland to do the same. During the Finnish-Soviet Winter War they were send to northern and central Finland under command of General Nikolaus von Falkenhorst to directly fight the Bolsheviks there. Originally recruited from Germans, Austrians, Hungarians and Romanians, these early volunteers soon were transferred south to form the Gothic Order, while new volunteers, mainly Germans, Norwegians, Swedish and Finns filled in their ranks. One Austrian and one Hungarian regiment as well as a number of Swiss (later called Burgundian Germans) however would remain with them until 1944 when their part of the Northern Crusaders were transferred to the Gothic Order or the Burgundian Order as well. Before the invasion of the Soviet Union, the Great Eastern Crusade, a Gebirgsjäger (Mountain) Artillery Regiment was added and the Northern Crusades expanded into a full Division. The new division, partly as a result of inadequate training and poor leadership, soon became notorious for twice breaking in the face of enemy forces. When it took part in Operation Northern Lights, more than half of its infantry units broke and retreated in disarray. In September 1941 the division was attached to the Finnish III Corps under General Hjalmar Siilasvuo, and took up defensive positions at Kiestinki (Kestenga) in the Loukhsky District. The division broke for a second time, after a panic took hold among personnel, who came to believe that they were facing a major attack by Soviet armored forces.

By the end of 1941, it had lost a significant proportion of its fighting personnel, from both combat and non-combat related causes. Over the winter of 1941–42 it received replacements from the general pool of Teutonic Order Elite recruits. Remaining at the Kola Peninsula and Karelia were they would fight as a Mountain Division and help the Finnish to conquer their claimed lands of Greater Finland. The separate armistice, peace treaty and border agreement between the Finnish Kingdom and the reborn Russian Empire would ensure that these southern and eastern annexed territories. A Norwegian Ski-Battalion, a Swedish Ski-Battalion would join the Teutonic Order Division Northern Crusaders as a police and security force in the newly conquered territories, helping local Finish police, militia and army unit's to ensure no socialist, communist or Russian partisans rose up. Made up in 50% of Germans, the Rest of the Unit by now was made up by Finnish, Swedes, Norwegians, Danish and Baltic (German, Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanians). The main task was at first to fight rebels and partisans in the region, suffering up to 2,000 causalities, including some armored vehicles, tanks, howitzers and assault guns, but managed to secure communication, reinforcement and supply transport lines alike while doing so. Later they participated in expelling and forcing all non-Finnish ethnic groups out of the conquered region, especially Russians, who were transferred to Saint Petersburg the new, old Russian Imperial capital, that some Finnish nationalist extremists wished to annex as well (together with some Norwegian, Swedish, Estonian and even Latvian territories). For their service the Northern Crusaders Division members were allowed to colonize and settle in the newly conquered Greater Finnish Kingdom territories alongside ethnic Finnish people. This not only included the Germans, but all members of the Northern Crusaders, except Russian or Orthodox members of the unit.

 

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Chapter 814: Conquest of the D'Entrecasteaux Island Group

The fight for the D'Entrecasteaux Island Group, mainly the Goodenough Island, Fergusson Island and Normanby Island northeast of New Guinea were the second attempt of the Japanese Empire to take these islands. Their first attempt was on 25 August 1942, when a Japanese convoy of seven motorized landing craft (MLC) with 353 marines of 5th Sasebo Special Naval Landing Force stopped to rest at the south end of Goodenough Island. They were led by Commander Tsukioka and were bound for Taupota and participation in the Battle of Milne Bay. They became stranded when their MLCs were destroyed by No. 75 Squadron RAAF Kittyhawks. On 22 October 1942 the Australian warships HMAS Stuart and HMAS Arunta disembarked 640 soldiers consisting of the Australian 2/12th Battalion, of the 18th Brigade from Milne Bay. They landed on both sides of the island's southern tip during the night. Intense fighting occurred during 23 October and during the night a successful rescue mission evacuated about 250 Japanese soldiers by submarine to Fergusson Island, where they were taken by cruiser to Rabaul. The remaining Japanese defenders were mopped up and the island declared secured by 27 October. The occupation force remained on the island until 28 December 1942. During that time they used deception and camouflage to make the Japanese believe that a brigade sized force was occupying the island. They fabricated a 'ghost force' of dummy structures, including a hospital, anti-aircraft guns constructed of logs pointed at the sky, and barricades of jungle vines which looked like barbed wire. They also lit fires to appear as cooking fires for large numbers of soldiers, and sent messages consistent with what a brigade of soldiers would be expected to send. During that time an American airfield engineer reported that a temporary airfield could be constructed for emergency use on the site of an existing mission airstrip on the northeastern plain near Vivigani. He also recommended that a permanent 6,000-foot-long (1,800 m) airstrip be constructed. The Fifth Air Force directed the RAAF's No. 9 Group to attack enemy bases in New Britain. To facilitate this, General Headquarters Operations Instructions No.31, dated 11 March 1943, set out that Goodenough Island, which was garrisoned by an Australian infantry battalion group with attached service groups and two Radar stations, was to be reinforced and prepared as an air force operating base with two landing strips, initially suitable for fighters, but with one being upgraded to handle heavy bombers. The fighter strip was available on 15 June, despite heavy Japanese bombings from nearby islands. By the end of July, there were 3,614 RAAF personnel on the island, when the Imperial Japanese SNLF Force Regiment of the South Seas Detachment attacked the Island with 2,400 soldiers. Together with Japanese air and naval superiority for the time being, they managed to establish a foothold on the island and capture it during August, completing a air strip for their own bombers to harass Allies supplies east and southeast of new Guinea, while fortifying the island.

Nerby Fergusson Island, the largest island of the D'Entrecasteaux Islands, had an area of just over 500 square miles (1,437 km2), and mostly consists of mountainous regions, covered by rain forests. There were also three large volcanoes on the island. Fergusson Island is situated 3 km across the Dawson Strait from Normanby Island and 4 km from Goodenough Island across Moresby Strait. The highest peak at 6,801 feet (2,073 metres) near Wadalei in the north-east of Fergusson Island was an extinct volcano. Seymour Bay is located on the west coast, Sebutuia Bay on the east, and Hughes Bay on the north. The principal settlements, Salamo and Mapamoiwa, were on the southern coast. Later Nui Gui/ Papua would find gold reserves here, increasing the settlers towards the island, that had been named by Captain John Moresby after Sir James Fergusson, who was Governor-General of New Zealand from 1873 to 1874. On June 30, 1942, during the Second Great War, a United States Navy PT-Boat base was established on the island and an Alamo Scouts Training Center was planned at Kalo Kalo later in 1943, when the Imperial Japanese Navy showed up, aiding a SNLF Force Battalion of the South Seas Detachment attacked and occupied the island as their own and installed artillery and gun emplacements to secure the nearby other two main islands, as well as secure many of the nearby straits and crossings for their securing of the eastern coast of New Guinea.

The third, Normanby Island was a volcanic 1,000-square-kilometre (390 sq mi), L-shaped island, the southern most island in the D'Entrecasteaux Islands group. Normanby Island is 16 km (10 mi) north-east of East Cape, on the island of New Guinea, separated by Goschen Strait, and is separated by the Dawson Strait (Dobu Passage) from Fergusson Island. The island rises to 1,158 m (3,799 ft) in the Prevost Range in the southeast. The terrain includes low coastal plains and swamplands, high mountains and steep coastal slopes. In 1873, the island was visited by British Captain John Moresby, commanding HMS Basilisk, who named it after the Marquess of Normanby, George Augustus Constantine Phipps, a governor of Queensland, Australia. Sewa Bay provides shelter on the west coast and Awaiara (Sewataitai) Bay on the east coast, were the SNLF Force Battalion of the South Seas Detachment would land in 1943. The would start to fortify the island as best as they could and regularly keep up with the nearby Japanese forces in the other two main islands, Woodlark Island and Kiriwina Island of the Trobriand Islands around 50 to 100 miles further north and east, as well as with their main headquarters in Nui Gui/ Papua's Capital of Rabaul 300 miles further north then that. Later the state of Papua/ Nui Gui would export gold, copra and timber from the island, but for now it helped stop, intercept and monitor all Allied supply transports towards the East Coast of New Guinea.

 

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Chapter 815: The Austrian Order and it's Division Number One: Habsburg

After the German Military Coup against the Nazi Government, the recreation of Austria-Hungary and the founding of the Teutonic Order, Ernst Kaltenbrunner (born 4 October 1903) the leader of the Austrian SS and a Himmlerist, tried everything to keep close ties and links to the reborn German Reich, in hopes that a reunification with Germany could still happen. Trying to get influence in the Austrian Police, Security and Intelligence as well, Kaltenbrunner used his contacts to form the Austrian version of the Teutonic Order, the Austrian (or Österreichische/ Ostland, meaning Eastern Territory) Order. In a alliance with other former SS and Nazi members they created a pan-Germanic ideology that had two main goals, that were in parts contradicting themselves. One goal was to unify all German Lands under the German Empire again, but with their growing ties to the Archbishop of Austria-Hungary, Bishop Alois Hudal, a Catholic Clerical-Fascist, or Catholic Clerical-Fascist-Monarchism of the new Austrian Church this goals changed. Now partly trying to unify the Austrian-Hungarian Empire with Catholicism as a State Religion, they had a strict anti-Communist stance, opposing liberalism, trying to get the Balkan Peninsula under direct or indirect German or German-Austrian control one way or another. The First Austrian Order Division was therefore named Hapsburg (or Habsburg) and lead by Artur Gustav Martin Phleps (born 29 November 188) an Austro-Hungarian, Romanian and German army officer who held the rank of General des Österreichischen Order Waffen-SS (lieutenant general) in the Austrian Order during the Second Great Was. He had been a Austro-Hungarian Army officer before and during the First Great War, where he specialized in mountain warfare and logistics, and had been promoted to Oberstleutnant (lieutenant colonel) by the end of the war. During the interwar period he joined the Romanian Army, reaching the rank of General (major general), and also became an adviser to King Carol. After he spoke out against the government, he asked to be dismissed from the army after being sidelined.

In 1941 he left Romania and joined the Austrian Order as an Colonel under his mother's maiden name of Stolz. Made Commander of the Austrian Order Division Number One Hapsburg (or Habsburg) that would be send to former, now annexed Kingdom of Yugoslavia as a Gebirgsjäger (Mountain Division) that also raised Hungarian and Croatian volunteers to fight against partisans in former Yugoslavia or Siebenbürgen (Transylvania) and the Banat in the Hungarian territorial part of Austria-Hungary. They were tasked with helping a growing German settler and colonists numbers of this Balkan Ostsiedlung while expelling or exterminating the native ethnic groups living there. Serving in Croatia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria, most former parts of Yugoslavia outright annexed were under military government. Following the 1941 Invasion of Yugoslavia, the First Austrian Order Division Habsburg was formed out of Germans living in Austria-Hungary, mostly the local Selbstschutz or Militia in autonomous regions, including German-Austrians, German-Bohemians and German-Moravians (Sudeten-Germans), Carpatian-Germans, Galizia-Germans, West-Hungarian-Germans, Donau-Germans, Siebenbprgen-Saxons, Buchenland-Germans, Bessarabia-Germans, Dobrudscha-Germans and Bulgarian-Germans alike. Under August Meyszner, a Police General who would train and organize this First Austrian Order Division, these Volksdeutsche (ethnic Germans in opposition to Reichsdeutsche, or Reich Germans) were used as volunteers, but did not initially reach division size. With growing local uprisings and rebellions by Mohammedans (Bosnian) and Serbian, this voluntary enlistment was discarded in favor of a mandatory military obligation and a overall conscription. Like the overall Austrian-Hungarian Empire and the later United States of Austria, this system of conscription or volunteers varied widely from one state/ province to the next to please the local ethnic groups dominating there. Soon the Austrian Order Division reached around 5,000 members, stressing that more Germans, Hungarians and Croatian should join to secure their ethnic territories against local rebelling groups hostile to them. Most ethnic Germans in the areas therefore could not oppose the conscription into the Austrian Order without being seen as traitors and face severe problems within the new state they were now a part of.

To boost their numbers, local Germans soon even included these of ethnic Germans that even had mixed ancestry, meaning some of them not even any longer spoke German or were raised in a German culture at all. Seen as traitors to their Germaness by the Austrian Order Officers, this Germans were often threatened badly by their superiors. Soon Croatians and Hungarians joined into their ranks as well, many of whom had served in the Croatian Home Guard before. The unit itself was equipped with much modern equipment from the new Czech Protectorate, including Czech machine guns like the ZB-53 and French light tanks, as well as Austrian and German mountain artillery like the 10.5 cm Gebirgshaubitze 40 howitzer and 7.5 cm Gebirgsgeschütz 36 mountain gun, making them into a well equipped anti-Partisan mountain division. Leading a Austria-Hungarian-Bulgarian anti-guerliia offensive against Chetniks to destroy the Rasina Corps of the Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland, commanded by Major Dragutin Keserović and in the process of clearing the territory, committed war crimes in the territory. The Chetniks were a threat to the Axis Central Powers because they were able to break the German road communications and interfere with the movement of war materiel intended for Axis Central Powers forces in Africa, coming through the Morava−Vardar valley. Losses were inflicted on Keserovićev's detachments and the local population by the constantly pursuing enemy forces. The Austrian Order, Austrian-Hungarians and Bulgarians, worried about a potential attack on the Trepča mine near Kosovska Mitrovica, from which they pulled significant amounts of lead and zinc, decided in the spring of 1942 to launch an attack involving some 20,000 soldiers. In early October 1942 the division was deployed in southwestern Serbia, in Kraljevo, Užice, Ivanjica, Čačak, Raška, Kosovska Mitrovica, and Novi Pazar. Elements of the 9th Bulgarian Infantry Division were also assigned to the attack. The Rasina Corps at that time had about 1,500 fighters under arms. On 5 October 1942 Phleps ordered the Austrian and Bulgarian forces to destroy the Chetnik forces. A comprehensive attack was planned: 20,000 well-armed and fully trained German troops would encircle the Serbians from four directions using a precisely defined plan of fire.

Because of the perceived importance of this operation and to observe the first military operations of the newly established Austrian Order Division, Ernst Kaltenbrunner traveled to Kraljevo in the occupation zone, where he toured the division. Austrian-Hungarian, Austrian Order and Bulgarian forces began their attack on the Chetnik territory at dawn on 12 October 1942. As planned, the attack proceeded from four directions. Austrian Order combat group "North" marched to the top of Željin, and a secondary group to the top of Kavalj. Combat group "South" conducted a comprehensive movement in the area around Gobelja, located 17 km northwest of Raška. Combat group "West" concentrated its forces in the valley 5 km from Banje. Combat group "East" took a position west of Brus. Austrians, Austrian Order members and Bulgarians made a ring around the Chetnik territory and forced the peasants into hiding. Axis Central Power combat groups "North", "West", and "South" proceeded along a front through the Chetnik territory in the direction of combat group "East", which was assigned the role of forming a wall to stop the Chetniks. However, Keserović had intelligence about the preparations and the movement of large German forces for an attack, and did not consider it useful to meet the Axis Central Power forces on a wide front. He ordered his units to regroup into smaller squads for easy maneuvering and penetration of the enemy lines. His tactic meant the Chetnik Rasina Corps was able to escape from the ring of enemy soldiers. The Austrian-Hungarians, Austrian Order and Bulgarians committed reprisals against the civilian population and burned several villages. The village of Kriva Reka, the location of Keserović's headquarters, suffered the most: 120 civilians were locked in the village church and burned to death by members of the Austrian Order Division Hapsburg. In other villages in Kopaonik 300 civilians were killed; in the villages on Mount Goč 250 civilians were executed. The Habsburg Division killed a total of 670 civilians during this operation alone. The division's next action was in the Serbian-Montenegro border in the mountains east of the Ibar River and afterwards it took part in the Fourth anti-Partisan Offensive in the Zagreb-Karlovac area, where together with Bulgarian and Italian forces attempted to defeat the Partisans commanded by Josip Broz Tito, the operation failed and most of the Partisans managed to evade the main attack.

The Austrian Order Division Number One advanced from Karlovac area against NOVJ units resistance and on January 29 captured informal partisan capital Bihać. It forced its way from western Bosnia to Mostar area in Hercegovina and also deployed units northwest of Sarajevo. In May the Division took part in operation against Chetniks. The Operation was successful and Draža Mihailović was forced to retreat to Serbia with his headquarters. From 15 May – 15 June, the division took a part in the Fifth anti-Partisan Offensive aiming to pin Tito's main force of about 20,000 Partisans against the Zelengora mountain, in southeastern Bosnia. Durng the battle, the division received a task to move through the Italian zone in order to block the possible advance of Partisans towards the Adriatic sea and Albania, to close the south-east part of the encirclement and then advance north over mountainous terrain to crush the Partisan forces. In 11-day fightings from May 20 division captured Šavnik. For this success major Dietsche as well as commander Phleps received first two Knight's Crosses for the division. In the following days the focal point of the battle shifted westward. After the main group of the Partisans headed by 1st Proletarian Division broke out of the encirclement, two battalions of the division that were moved to cover the left bank of the Sutjeska river and block the Partisan's escape route were surprised by the attack of three battalions of 1st Dalmatian and one from 5th Montenegro Brigade at Tjentište pushing them back. They recovered their positions during a night battle and decimated most Partisan units. In the operation Schwartz the division suffered total losses of 613 men. In August 1943, the First Austrian Order Division's Mountain Corps and was sent to the Croatia again, to fight again the Sevenths anti-Partisan Offensive, together with 92nd Motorized Regiment, pushed back NOVJ units and on September 29 reoccupied Split. In October, division participated in Operation Landsturm, another anti-Partisan operation in Omiš, Ploče and Biokovo. In battles for Split and Biokovo coastline, division suffered losses of 1582 killed, wounded and missing in action.

The division was reorganized on 22 October 1943 and in 1944 tasked with killing or capturing Tito, and the operation was spearheaded by Austrian Order Fallschirmjäger Batallion (Paratrooper Batallion). By now many other ethnic groups joined the division, such as ethnic Croats, Hungarians, and over 1000 ethnic (Catholic, or reconverted former Orthodox and now Catholic) Serbs who volunteered for the division at General Phelps' office, most of whom were either ideologically or otherwise motivated to fight against the Partisans. Further anti-partisan operations took place in May, June and July in western Serbia. They suffered some causalities, but also defeated some partisan groups and freed some partisan held territories. Fighting in Bosnia and Croatia against the local rebel groups that often switched sides to fight with the Austrians and Axis Central Powers against one another. During their operations in the Second Great War they would kill or deport around 15,000 civilian inhabitants from some of this areas, helping with the overall resettlement of ethnic groups and the settling of German-Austrians, Southern Germans from the German Reich as well as Hunagrians. In this operations, parts of the Austrian Order Division Number One: Habsburg also operated concentration camps and deportation camps alike to help in this settlements of German and Hungarians into this regions, while deporting Bosnian Mohammedans and Serbians southeast into Serbia and the border regions to Bulgaria and Albania, including the expelling of Albanian ethnic groups into Albania to eliminate all territorial claims of a Greater Albania against Austria-Hungary. Instead Austrian-Hungarian claims even included Albania ad a Kingdom, Province or State of theirs once Italian influence over it would crumble. To this mean the Austrian Order even supplied Albanian rebel groups against Italian hegemony and control over their country, so that Austria itself could replace their rule.

 

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Chapter 816: Indian Industries and Independence

The Indian Empire was part of the British Empire, thereby India was covered by Britain's declaration of war. Two and a half million Indian soldiers fought under British command with the Indian Army, Royal Indian Air Force, and Royal Indian Navy, forming the largest army raised by voluntary enlistment during the Second Great War on the sides of the Allies. Around 287,000 Indian members of the armed forces were killed in action, and another 264,000 were wounded. Many Indian personnel received awards for gallantry, including 30 Victoria Crosses during the 1940s. During the Second Great War, India was controlled by the United Kingdom, with the British holding territories in India including over six hundred autonomous Princely States; British-occupied India officially declared war on the German Reich alongside the British and later the Japanese as well. The British Raj, as part of the Allied Nations, sent over two and a half million soldiers to fight under British command against the Axis Central Powers and the Co-Prosperity Sphere. The British government borrowed billions of pounds to help finance the war. India also provided the base for American operations in support of the Chinese United Front in the China Burma India Theater. Indians fought with distinction throughout the world, including in the European theatre against Germany, in North Africa against Germany and Italy, in the South Asian region defending India against the Japanese and fighting the Japanese in Burma, Assam and Bengal. Indians also aided in liberating Axis Central Powers and Co-Prosperity Sphere held regions in Africa and Asia. Over 87,000 Indian soldiers would die in the Second Great War. Field Marshal Sir Claude Auchinleck, Commander-in-Chief, India, asserted the British "would have lost the Second Great War, if they hadn't had the Indian Army." The Mohammedan League supported the British war effort; Mohammedan soldiers accounted for up to 40% of the British Indian Army during the war, in hopes for their own independent state (Pakistan) apart from the Hindi/ Hindu majority of Raj/ India, a hope that would not be fulfilled. The largest and most influential political party existing in India at the time, the Indian National Congress, demanded independence before it would help Britain. London refused, and when Congress announced a "Quit India" campaign in August 1942, tens of thousands of its leaders were imprisoned by the British for the duration. Meanwhile, under the leadership of Indian leader Subhash Chandra Bose, Japan set up an army of Indian POWs known as the Indian National Army, which fought against the British and established their own independent Government in Assam. The Province of Bengal suffered the Bengal famine of 1943. An estimated 2.1–3 million, out of a population of 60.3 million, died of starvation, malaria and other diseases aggravated by malnutrition, population displacement, unsanitary conditions and lack of health care. Historians have frequently characterized the famine as "man-made", asserting that wartime colonial policies created and then exacerbated the crisis.

The labour of millions more Indians contributed to the Allied war effort. Poor working conditions and accidents such as the 1944 Bombay explosion claimed many lives. Strategically, India provided the base for American operations in support of China in the China Burma India Theater. Supplies flowed from India to China overland along the Ledo Road and by air over the Hump. Cities on India's eastern coast were menaced by Japanese air raids; Calcutta, for instance, was bombed several times. Indian participation in the Allied campaign remained strong. The financial, industrial and military assistance of India formed a crucial component of the British campaign against Germany's Axis Central Powers and the Japanese Co-Prosperity Sphere. India's strategic location at the tip of the Indian Ocean, its large production of armaments, and its huge armed forces played a decisive role in halting the progress of Imperial Japan in the South-East Asian theatre. The Indian Army during Second Great War was one of the largest Allied forces contingents which took part in the North African Campaign, East African Campaign, Middle East Campaign as well as during the D-Day in Western Europe and France. When the Azad Hind/ Indian National Army forces of Bose under the Provisional Government of Assam and Bengal invaded India in 1943 to 1944, conquering the Assam and Bengal provinces, forcing many Indian soldiers into their ranks or labor camps, as well as recruiting from the overall population. However feeding the starved province citizens overextended the Co-Prosperity Sphere supply lines and would lead to them being unable to conquer more, or even all of India. Still the combined Indian, Japanese, Burmese, Yikoku and Tibetan invasion of Assam and Bengal reaching the Brahmaputra River thanks t a offensive over Chittagong and trapping half of the Allied Armies east in Assam under heavy fighting, while they pushed forward to capture Parbatipur, Santahar, Abdutpur and Calcutta itself, their last major conquests in India. Despite these losses, after the end of the war, India had risen to be one of the world's largest industrial power and its increased political, economic and military influence paved the way for its growing independence from the United Kingdom afterwards. Britan and Japan however tried to get all of the former Indian Raj under their control and control East Asia that way, mainly by splitting up the Indian Princely states and British Imperial Dominions by putting them against one another.

 

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Chapter 817: Free French Resistance

In the French Colonies controlled by Free French Forces (FFF) of the French Committee of National Liberation (CFLN), a London-based exile group led by Charles de Gaulle, had been formed in 1940 to maintain the French commitment to the Allies and liberate French territory occupied by Germany. Together with the French Resistance, they played a part in the African and Mediterranean Theatre and the D-Day Invasion of Western Europe, including their homeland of France in 1943. While Free France controlled some territories, it had no war industry and remaining dependent on American and British aid. It's FFF numbered 62,985 soldiers by the beginning of 1943, while the French Resistance in the Mainland contributed around 31,450 guerrilla fighters, or as D. E. Eisenhower put it, they played a role equal to 15 fighting divisions. The French Committee of National Liberation (French: Comité français de Libération nationale) under de Gaulle challenged the legitimacy of the Fascist French Government, Kingdom and later Empire as a whole, calling them Axis Central Powers collaborators. Acting as a provisional government it had a joint leadership, as elections and normal political processes were nearly impossible during the Second Great War. With the Liberation of parts of Imperial France's Colonial Empire, Free French attempted to grow. The French Resistance (called Maquis in rural areas) meanwhile opened up for man and woman alike, starting a guerrilla warfare and sabotage acts, published underground newspapers and maintained a intelligence network for the Allies, even helping Allied soldiers behind enemy lines. The men and women of the Resistance came from all economic levels and political leanings of French society, including émigrés, academics, students, aristocrats, conservative Roman Catholics (including priests and nuns), liberals, anarchists and communists. Around 26,4% of it's fighters were between 15 to 20 years old, 51,2% were between 21 and 30 years old, 16% were between 31 and 40 years old while 6,4% were over 41 years old. 7,2% of them had only finished elementary school, 20,2% of them had finished grade or primary school, 13,2% of them had finished secondary or junior high school, 8% had been in high school, 15,2% had mastered their final secondary-school examinations, 17,7% of them had visited a University and 18,%% of them had visited a elite university.

95,6% of the resistance fighters were male, 3,5% female. 74,9% were Catholic, 5% Protestant, 4,4% Jewish and 15,7% Atheists. 33,9% of the fighters were former soldiers, 37,2% were students or public officials, 4,3% had been self-employed, 10,8% had been employee, 10% had been workers, 2% had been farmers and 0,9% had been unemployed. 12,7% were Communists, 16,86% Socialists, 18,4% Left-wing radicals, 4,5% Middle-Right and the rest centrists or undecided, a strong contrast to the 7,9% Right-wing Nationalists, 16% Right-Liberals, 3,1% Christ-Democrats, 21,7% Middle-Right, 55% Centrists, 7,3% former Left-wing Radicals, 4,8% former Socialists, and 1,4% former Communists who formed the Imperial French government opposition to them. While most FFF forces came from Africa, or French who had fled out of Axis Central Power Controlled Europe, the French Empire recruited many Mainland French, Corsican's, Algerians (French Colonists and native Algerians alike), as well as a few Tunisians and Moroccans. Unlike Free French, the Imperial French had much fewer political differences and infighting, mainly because most opposition was outlawed or suppressed in their controlled areas. While Free French Forces would grew up to 100,000 forces at the End of the Second Great War, the French Empire would field up to 1,2 million man once again by then, making it the fourth largest army in not only the Axis Central Powers, but all of Europe after the German, Russian, Austrian-Hungarian and before the Italian, Spanish and other Axis Central Power ones. Because of the nature of Free France and their provisional government not only many white French Colonists, but local natives as well as mixed Creole became a major part of the Free French government, military structure and armed forces alike. Once American and British supply for Free French would fade after the Second Great War and their own economical collapse many of this native government and military unit's would try to form their own independent local native nations in Africa, while the French Empire, the German Empire, the French Kingdom and the Italian Kingdom/ Roman Empire tried to reinstall or grow their own colonial empires there once again.

 

[CountofDooku]

Chapter 818: Shan State Groups and Armies

In the east of the Co-Prosperity Sphere Nation State of Burma, or in the North of Siam/ Thailand, the territories of the Shan State Province. There local Shan and other ethnic groups had risen up against the Coprospist Burmese and Japanese, supported by the Allies, as well as by the Soviet Union and the Chinese Communists and the overall Chinese United Front. The Shan State Communist Party (SSP) was a branch of the overall Communist Party of Burma (CPB) that split to better serve the local means and needs of the Shan people when the larger CPB committee refused to do so. Led by Bo Min Tha as Chairman, Bo Hla Myn and Bo Mo Hen as the politburo members, Saw Lin as regional committee members. Originally fielding only 287 communist guerrillas and militia members as well as around roughly 180 other members of the party that formed a provisional government in the tribal, farmland and mountain area under their direct control. Mismanagement and a clear opposition of traditional lifestyles and ways of living of the Shan State people meant that soon the supply and food situation became a chaos in the regions controlled by the Communists, while at the same time also upsetting and antagonizing many of the local tribes under their control or nearby, leading to them soon fighting not only the Burmese, Siamese/ Thai and Japanese, but also other ethnic and political groups alike. Because of this chaos the Southern, more Nationalist Shan State Army began to oppose the Communist northern faction. They formed their own local government, the Council of the Shan State (CSS) and would become one of the largest insurgency groups at the Burmese-Siamese/ Burmese-Thai border, as well as in Burma and Siam/ Thailand overall, even if some Southeast Asian rebel and insurgency groups in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam would ultimately become even stronger then them. The Council of the Shan State actually formed out of various smaller Shan tribal and local rebel groups, forming a unified political front to talk to the Allies and Chinese United Front as nearby supporters of their uprising.

This Shan State forces would later split further once again, when some of the Shan State Commanders reached a agreement with the the Siamese/ Thai Government in Bangkok. Their National Shan State Army (NSSA) would oppose the Shan State Council Army (SSCA) that in return formed a alliance with nearby Chin, Kachin, Karen, Pa, Tai, Karenni and Wa rebel groups to stand a chance against the local Burmese and Siamese/ Thai governments and armed forces. To this coalition the Shan State would supply 10,000 to 15,000 forces and allow local townships to govern themselves. These local town governments would even allow resettling of their former militia members in any town under their protection they wanted. In return this township helped to feed and otherwise supply the local rebels. The various rebel groups in the area even negotiated which areas would be controlled by whom of them to decrease conflicts among them, a process overseen by American, British and Chinese United Front representatives. All groups also had to inform the others in advance if one of them entered the other's territory with weapons to decrease accidental firefights and conflicts among one another. Their local governments and political parties also exchanged liaison officers to coordinate their strategies and attack as suggested by the Allies. Businesses and companies within their controlled regions had to be approved by the rebel group ruling them and the locals had to supply food, ammunition and weapons whenever tasked to do so. Some other aid and technology needed however had to be dropped per parachute, after being required from their Allies in Central China or Eastern India. This agreement also was intended to make them cooperate in regional development and governing. However while the Allies also demanded to battle the opium plantations and drug trafficking alike, something not all local rebel groups would agree to and even those who did would not always enforce it. After all most of their overall operations during and after the Second Great War were solely financed by opium trade as their rebel controlled areas had not much else of value that they could otherwise trade.

 

[CountofDooku]

Chapter 819: Guatemalan Guarding Central America

In 1931, the dictator general Jorge Ubico came to power, backed by the United States, and initiated one of the most brutally repressive governments in Central American history. Just as Estrada Cabrera had done during his government, Ubico created a widespread network of spies and informants and had large numbers of political opponents tortured and put to death. A wealthy aristocrat (with an estimated income of $215,000 per year in 1930s dollars) and a staunch anti-communist, he consistently sided with the United Fruit Company, Guatemalan landowners and urban elites in disputes with peasants. After the crash of the New York Stock Exchange in 1929, the peasant system established by Barrios in 1875 to jump start coffee production in the country was not good enough anymore, and Ubico was forced to implement a system of debt slavery and forced labor to make sure that there was enough labor available for the coffee plantations and that the UFCO workers were readily available. Allegedly, he passed laws allowing landowners to execute workers as a "disciplinary" measure. He also openly identified as a fascist; he admired Mussolini, Franco, and Hitler, saying at one point: "I am like Hitler. I execute first and ask questions later." Ubico was disdainful of the indigenous population, calling them "animal-like", and stated that to become "civilized" they needed mandatory military training, comparing it to "domesticating donkeys." He gave away hundreds of thousands of hectares to the United Fruit Company (UFCO), exempted them from taxes in Tiquisate, and allowed the U.S. military to establish bases in Guatemala. Ubico considered himself to be "another Napoleon". He dressed ostentatiously and surrounded himself with statues and paintings of the emperor, regularly commenting on the similarities between their appearances. He militarized numerous political and social institutions, including the post office, schools, and symphony orchestras, and placed military officers in charge of many government posts. He frequently traveled around the country performing "inspections" in dress uniform, followed by a military escort, a mobile radio station, an official biographer, and cabinet members.

Ubico was also an efficient administrator. His new decrees, although unfair to the majority of the indigenous population, proved good for the Guatemalan economy during the Great Depression era, as they increased coffee production across the country. He cut the bureaucrats' salaries by almost half, forcing inflation to recede. One of his last administrative decision was to pay the English Debt, which he inherited and was originally generated when president José María Reyna Barrios tried to promote his inter-oceanic railway in 1897 through a major Central American fair, which failed miserably when the railway was not finished on time: at that time, the Panama Canal had not been built yet, and the inter-oceanic railways would have been a major investor attraction for Guatemala. Since the fair failed, the Guatemalan government was left with a large debt with the British bankers and the new president, Manuel Estrada Cabrera feared that those bankers would use the British Navy to invade Guatemala to force it to pay the debt. He kept the peace and order in Guatemala City, by effectively fighting its crime. Under Ubico, Guatemala initially stayed out of the Second Great War, with President Jorge Ubico declaring the country's neutrality on 4 September 1941. This pronouncement was reinforced five days later with another declaration. Ubico implemented strong prohibitions on Nazi propaganda in Guatemala, which had one of Latin America's largest German immigrant populations. Later, Guatemala moved into the Allied camp in 1941, it declared war on the Japanese Empire and the Co-Prosperity Sphere, and three days later, it declared war on the German Empire and the Axis Central Powers. Despite this declarations however, true Guatemalan involvement in the war, weather this meant army, navy or air forces remained rather limited and concentrated upon Guatemalan territory and surrounding waters in the the Eastern Pacific and the Caribbean Sea near Central America. Unrest in Guatemala grew during the war years, culminating in the outbreak of the Guatemalan Revolution in June 1944. Ubico resigned in June following a general strike, and the junta that replaced him fell to a military coup in October.

 

[CountofDooku]

Chapter 820: Maldive Marauders

During the Second Great War, in the Maldives the Sultan's powers were taken over by the Chief Minister during the British Period, much to the chagrin of the British Governor-General who continued to deal with the ineffectual Sultan. Consequently, Britain encouraged the development of a constitutional monarchy, and the first Constitution was proclaimed in 1932. However, the new arrangements favored neither the aging Sultan nor the wily Chief Minister, but rather a young crop of British-educated reformists. As a result, angry mobs were instigated against the Constitution which was publicly torn up. During the Second Great War, the Maldives were a British protected state ruled by a succession of sultans. The islands were only lightly affected by the war. Britain built RAF Gan on Addu Atoll at the southern end of the country, which was later redeveloped as Gan International Airport. The Action of 27 February 1941 occurred near the Maldives. The Italian auxiliary cruiser Ramb I had escaped the destruction of the Red Sea Flotilla and sailed for Japanese-controlled territory. HMNZS Leander engaged and sank Ramb I; most of the crew were rescued and taken to Gan. The Maledives were also the target of many Japanese ambushes and raids, either by carrier based aircraft, submarines, cruisers, destroyers or battleships, similarly to the majority of Ceylon and the Eastern Indian Coast. This also included some Japanese landing forces that entered the islands to sabotage allied radar, fuel and supply depots to limit Allied operations from the Maldives with limited success. They also brought Coprospist Propaganda with them, as well as some older, outdated weapons and equipment in hopes of starting a local resistance against the British protectorate status of the nation and lead them to a either neutral, or hopefully Coprospist, pro-Co-Prosperity Sphere, maybe even Axis Central Power uprising against the Allies. Sure the easy cut off of any supplies and reinforcements most likely meant that the Maldives would be unable to be resupplied by the Axis Central Powers and the Co-Prosperity Sphere even when they had naval access to the area trough the Suez Canal, the Red Sea and the Eastern Indian Ocean.

While this plan followed by the Co-Prosperity Sphere and the Axis Central Powers separately never picked up completely in the Maldives, it helped grow the Maldive National Movement as well as the Maldive Independence Movement alike. The Sultanists among these wished to give the Sultan back his full powers after Independence, but the Republicans and Democrats meanwhile hoped that the parliament and others institutions would held the real political power, maybe even a division of power. This meant that despite common goals and outside support some of these independence groups and parties often only worked together on the surface and argued, as well as sometimes even opposed each other political with internal infighting. This limited their overall power and unified numbers and influence they could push against the British protectorate rule over their Maldive nation state. Because of this and the limited supply in weapons, ammunition and other goods, many of the Maldivian Independence Fighters and their groups rather specialized in all kinds of sabotage to oppose the British in a attempt to make their protectorate over the Maldives as costly as possible so they would give it up rather sooner then later. This meant that their resistance also included coming late for work, working as little as possible and thereby sabotaging the British in their own way without risking to much direct opposition and without risking their freedom and lives while doing so as well. Therefore many not as brave and courage enough to give their life for their liberty chose to do this as well. With the rise of the German Empire and the Japanese Empire after the Second Great War, the Axis Central Power (especially Italian and Second Ottoman), as well as Co-Prosperity Sphere influence (especially the Siamese/ Thai, Burmese, Sumatra, Malayan and Javan) in trade and politics on the Maldives grew as much as the British and American was shrinking and declining.