A Gentleman’s War : The Middle-East Command
(HoI3 TFH - UK AAR)
Chapter Thirty-Nine : Welcome In The New Year - 1.1.1938
(HoI3 TFH - UK AAR)
Chapter Thirty-Nine : Welcome In The New Year - 1.1.1938
The 1st of January, a Saturday, was the perfect day for recovering from the activities of the night before.
The Officer’s Mess was full of men slowly recovering from welcoming in the New Year. The staff had set up a light continental breakfast, served buffet style, to allow the officers to pick and choose what they wished without making too much noise. Many officers were in no mood or condition to talk.
Blackadder and George were sitting together enjoying a small selection of croissants and muffins, with jams, sliced fruits, and, of course, tea.
“What a wonderful time we had last night,” remarked George, after downing his first cup of tea. “That New Year’s feast Lt. General Gowrie had for us was such a delight!”
“Yes,” replied Blackadder with a nod. “I have to be honest. I have rarely had such a series of dishes all in one meal. Mock turtle soup, roast sirloin of beef with horseradish, Brussels sprouts, cabinet puddings, and Stilton cheese with celery and pulled bread. And not to mention the wines, the cocktails, and the desserts.”
“It HAD been a long time since I have had Pineapple upside-down cake,” pointed out George with a nod of his head. “Jolly good time last night. Oh…guess what I saw in the newspaper this morning?”
“I am scared to guess,” replied Blackadder. “And having nothing but tea under my belt I fear I will not be prepared. Would it have to do with a certain Field Marshall?”
George nodded his head as he smeared jam onto a still warm muffin.
“Of course,” said Blackadder. “Well, go ahead and tell me.”
“Well,” started George after taking a bite of his muffin, “it said that Sir Melchett had promised to behave. He said he would no longer publicly celebrate religious holidays.”
“New Year’s celebrations are not religious,” slipped in Blackadder with a tired nod of his head.
“Now you see the loophole he used,” responded George with a smile. “He dressed up like the Old Year. But he needed a Baby New Year.”
“Oh Lord,” murmured Blackadder who wished he had something, anything, to add to his tea. “He didn’t break into an orphanage to kidnap babies did he?”
“Oh no,” said George with a shake of his head. “He said he had learned from his mistakes. He decided to grab a baby from some homeless family. He figured they would be happy to have one less mouth to feed.”
Blackadder just sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
“Of course it would not had been so bad if he hadn’t been armed with a scythe,” continued George. “The police were not happy about that. They thought he was threatening them. It also didn’t help that, when he realized they didn’t speak English, he just switched to shouting at them. You know the whole if-I-speak-louder-they-will-understand-me idea?”
Blackadder nodded and added, “So he was arrested?”
“Yes,” replied George. “And the courts don’t open till Monday….so he is spending the weekend behind bars.”
Blackadder perked up a tad and grabbed a croissant. “Well, at least the story has a happy ending. And his batman will have two days of peace. Please pass the jam, would you George?”
Of course welcoming the New Year was not just something done in the UK or in its territories. It was also celebrated in France.
The Baron of Hautvillers, also known as Lieutenant General S. Baldrick, had spent the night before with his wife and children. They had come to spend the Christmas and New Year’s holiday season with him.
His mistress had been upset but he had enjoyed it. Nothing like being around the ones you loved.
Now, of course, it was the morning of the 1st and he had taken a car ride to visit the 1eme Division Cuirassee de Reserve in Lille. The holidays were over and it was back to the business at hand. He was there, in his thick winter coat, to inspect the tanks of the division.
The first to receive his attention was the medium tank brigade. The crews in this brigade drove FCM-36s.
To be honest calling the FCM-36s medium tanks was something a mistake. They had been designed to be light infantry tanks. They had a crew of two and were armed with a long 37 mm main gun and a secondary 7.5 mm coaxial machine gun.
The Forges et Chantiers de la Mediterranee, located in Toulon, had some experience in tank design and made a tank with sloped armor and a diesel engine. Sadly the first versions proved to have issues and the tank had to be redesigned to be slightly lighter. This worried the military and parts of the tank had 10 mm armor plates welded onto it to toughen it up. Which meant the armor was 30 mm to 40 mm depending on where the incoming enemy fire hit.
In the end it was mass produced for the French army due to it being best of the designs available at the time AND gas proof. The French authorities were still worried about the Germans using poisonous gas attacks in the next conflict.
To Baldrick the tanks looked too small. Almost fragile. He gave the crews a wave and gestured to be shown the light tank brigade.
The next tanks he got to examine were the AMX R-40s of the light tank brigade. These tanks were strange beasts. Critics said they looked like ducks from the side.
This design was, funny enough, heavily influenced by British cruiser tanks. Or at least used the Christie suspension. Also both the main body and turret were slopped, with no straight angles, and had a crew of three.
Of course the tank could use its wheels without the tracks if needed. And had a diesel engine. Which meant less chance of fires.
The frontal armor was 58 mm, side armor was 30 mm to 50 mm, and rear armor was 40 mm. The main gun was a long 37 mm and the secondary armament the common 7.5 mm machine gun. The 7.5 mm gun was meant to be used as a anti-aircraft gun and, when not in use, folded away.
Baldrick knew both tank designs were unproven on the battlefield. But the German tanks they would be facing would also be unproven. So maybe they had a chance?
“A snowball’s chance in hell,” he murmured in English so the French crews would not understand him. He might have been born a uneducated lower class man of the soil. But he had come to understood the soldier’s mind and wasn’t about to damage their spirits.
So he smiled and waved and let his staff take him back to his heated car.
Of course there was another man in a winter coat inspecting his tanks. In the western border of the USSR Lieutenant General Dimitri Eurasia was stomping over the frozen ground as he examined the ranks of the 125th Tank Regiment.
The Tanks Regiment was part of the 202. Motorized Strekovaya Diviziya. The Germans would likely be shocked to realize just how much of the Soviet Red Army was modernized.
Before Dimitri’s eyes were row after row of BT-5 tanks. Like most “convertible tanks” the three person crew could remove the tracks and use the tank in “wheel mode”.
The BT-5, armed with a 45 mm main armament and having 13 mm armor, even had side armor. An improvement over some of the earlier models.
Dimitri nodded with pleasure. Fast and reliable they would be very useful when crushing the Capitalist nations of Europe.
Dimitri turned to stomp back to his HQ. He never walked. Nor did he run. He always seemed to stomp.
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Author’s Notes:
OOC : The AMX R-40 in real life never got beyond the blueprint stage of development and, for some reason, the design in game is different than the designs created in the original time line. The main gun in the blueprints was a 47 mm but in game it was replaced with a long 37 mm. Funny enough the game says the FCM-36s had long 37 mm guns also when, from what I can tell, the early models had short 37 mm guns. Maybe the game is slapping on the best guns the French have on all their models? Also that photo from a New Year's celebration is the stuff of nightmares. Who thought that mask was something they should wear?!?!
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