A House of Cards (An alternative KR-MDS AAR)

[Kurt_Steiner]

25th April, 2005

Unexpectedly, Scotland rose against Beckett's government. Using the old flag, a group of officers took control of Edimburg and proclaimed the People's Republic of Scotland, to Urquhart's not real amusement. Clooney, not wishing to revive old images of Edward Longshanks invading Scotland again, suggested to the Canadian Prime Minister that the first wave of the invasion troops should be an all US force.

Urquhart, not wishing to quarrell with his ally, asked the general staff to move to plan "Alpha Bravo": landing in Arbedeen, albeit if he termed the plan in his mind as "StY" (Stuff the Yanks!).

Meanwhile, in Edimburgh, the cadre of desperate officers began to arrest those loyal to Beckett's government or to the late Tucker, capturing and putting under guard some of them or shotting others. By the morning of April 25th, the Scottish clique, leaded by Major General David McDowall, was basically masters of Scotland.

Meanwhile, in Paris, an urgent and historically significant meeting was being staged. Huppert, surrounded by the remants of the government and most of the top brass was preparing to give an speech when a voice comming from the grave asked in perfect English accent:

-WHAT THE FUC**NG FUC* DO YOU F**CKING THING ARE YOU **CKING DOING, YOU F*C*I*G CUNTS????​

​

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

25th April, 2005

A month after the beginning of the war Tianguo was on the verge of defeat. The RoC had thrown to the fight their secret weapon, the Airborne Army, made up by five airbone brigades equipped with the most advanced helicopters that Japan had sold them, as 40 Kawasaki OH-1, an scout helicopter, one hundred Kawasaki UH-1 (1) transport helicopter and more than one hundred Kawasaki AH-1 (2), an attack helicopter, which was less advanced than the AH-2 (3), of course, which was deemed by Tokio to valuable to be sold to the RoC.

Anyway, the Airborne Army wiped out the enemy forces that were on their way and, a month after the war began, as gunships and air cavalry continued to clear the path to the invaders, Xa'an, the enemy capital, was surrounded by the RoC forces.

It was then when the Qing empire declared war against Tianguo to take the remaining spoils of the country.

(1) Similar to the UH-60 Blackhawk.
(2) Similar to the UH-1S Cobra.
(3) Similar to the AH-64D Apache.

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

March - April, 2005 National France (1)

When people reflected about it later on, they all say that the electoral campaign was like an endless party. The Left partyies were the organizers of the most impressive popular meetings while Cremieux, controlling the television and the radio by means of the government, was able to dazzle the country with an incredible campaign. Furthermore, he refused to enter into any kind of debate with the other candidates, something that was slightly damaging for his popularity, as his rivals portraited him as arrogant, cold and sly. However, Cremieux was too charming and this mistake had no direct effects.

While Cremieux emerged as a charismatic figure, Jean Marie Le Pen was unable to cope with his Lioncourtist background. His own manners and his "particular" oral skills only helped to reinforce the popular idea of him as a remnant from the past and to alienate him from a big chunk of the National French society. In a moment when tjhe country wanted to change and to move forward, Le Pen was asking for doing nothing or going back in time.

Thus, while the National Front and Le Pen were going nowhere, while the PS fought a vicious war against his own ghosts and tried to look like a serious rival to Cremieux, the prime minister seemed to be far away (or above) from them, using the tools he had in his hands, charming everybody and enjoying the division and quarrels of his political rivals.

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

March - April, 2005 National France (2)

The elections were held oh April 16th, 2005 and they were the first since 1914. The turnout was 83% and voting was on the basis of universal suffrage in a secret ballot. The elections were held using closed list proportional representation in 52 electoral districts.

The results of the elections were a clear show that the country had chosen a moderate option, as the voters selected to support parties from the center-right and from the center-left.

The undisputed great winner was Adolphe Cremieux and his Centre des démocrates sociaux, (Centre of Social Democrats, CDS), with 7,503,677 votes (37.9% from the popular vote) and 177 seats, that was able to govern in a majority.

The great surprise was the PSF, as it became the second political force of the country with 3,900,327 votes (19.7%) and 84 seats. That way, it was the first party of the Opposition, and defeating the PCF for the leadership of the left. The PCF had to admit a hard defeat: 1,709,890 votes (9.33%) and 20 seats, short of its goal of 30 to 40 deputies. Le Pen's Union des Démocrates pour la République (Union of Democrats for the Republic - UDR) did not fare better: 1,504,771 votes (5,04%) and 16 seats.

Apparently, Cremieux was to be able to govern with too much problem. It was obvious that he was to need the support of some other party in the Parliament, were it on a permanent basis or just in some particular cuestions. Ironically, even if the PSF and the PCF had fell short of their expectations, the good results of the Socialist made worse the defeat of Le Pen. And, of course, there were some people that were terrified by having a socialist party in the Parliament.

 

[El Pip]

Le Pen did not fare better: 1,504,771 votes (8,211 5,04%)

I dunno, getting 82,115.04% of the vote sounds pretty impressive. He did get 820 votes for each actual voter so must have been really popular.

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

I dunno, getting 82,115.04% of the vote sounds pretty impressive. He did get 820 votes for each actual voter so must have been really popular.

My mistake... just 5.041%

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

May 1st, 2005

The batlle lines in Asia were quite blurred as the war has mixed alliances and interests creating a chaotic scenario. The so called "Gengish Khan III" was painfuly conscious that his bid for an empire was going nowhere. The Qing Beiyang Army group led by General Duan Qirui dominated the battlefield and, after two weeks of figthting, had forced the invading Mongol forces back to their side of the border and kept advacing towards Ulan-Bator. However, when the government discovered taht Duan had some secrets negotiaotins with Tokio for his own profit led to his dismisal and he was replaced by the influential General Zhang Xun, a hardliner follower of the Qing emperor and, thus, quite reliable. Howewer, the Qing armies faced some troubles to subdue the south, as the RoC General Feng Guozhang was more than capable to keep the enemy at bay while the bulk of his forces devoured the Shinquang Tianguo lands. The Qing campaign backfired, resulting in attrition, low morale and bitterness.

When the most capable Tianguo general Feng Guozhang died in battle at the end of April, Cao Kun replaced him, but the luck of the country did not changed and soon petty rivalries began to complicate matters even further. Thus, while Kun could thrown back th Qing forces, he was unable to stop the RoC armies and, by May 1st, the situation of Tinaguo was simply hopeless.

Then, while Japan began to worry about the situation seeing his Qing puppet becoming too ambitions, Russia began to look at the area with too much attention to anyone-.s else liking.

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

May 1st - 7th, 2005

With Tucker returned to life, Huppert had a backer for his plans and he ordered "Operation Jena". Since the crossing of the Rhine, the Syndicalist forces had been pushed back, returning to the Reichswald and the Roer river. Two French divisions had been surrounded at Cleves and were fighting there for the two last weeks, but Huppert was not too confident on being able to rescue them.

Huppert, moved to action by a very angered Tucker, sent a directive to Kluge ordering "an immediate counter-attack towards the Rhine" and sent some officers of his trust to the headquartes of the Rhine Army Group to ensure these orders were complied with. General Goutard suggested that there was no chance of success, and the French forces should retire to the Maas River, but Huppert categorically ordered the attack to be launched. He demanded that five Armoured Divisions were to be used in the attack, and that the Air Force was to commit its entire reserve to protect the offensive.

Although ordered to wait "until every tank, gun and plane was assembled", Goutard decided to attack as soon as possible, before the overall situation deteriorated further. The main striking force assigned was the LVII Armoured Corps, but, instead of four Armoured Divisions, only two could be relieved from their defensive tasks and assembled in time; they were supported by two Infantry Divisions and five battle groups formed from the remnants of the an armoured division and four battered infantry divisions. The attackw was to be mounted on the night of 6/7 May. To avoid alerting the enemy forces of the attack, there would be no preparatory artillery bombardments.

Had surprise been achieved, the attack might well have succeeded, but the Russo-German intelligence intercepted and decrypted the orders for Operation Jena by May 4.

 

[Asalto]

Kurt you better not get too intensive with your updates, you actually predicted Labour civil war IRL already, please consider not to get into something even hotter!

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

Did I? Oh my gosh...

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

May 7th, 2005

At 22:00 on 7 May, most of the troops for the attack were still not concentrated, and the commander of the 16th Armoured Division, who was very pessimistic about the operation, had not even ordered his tank units to take part and for that reason he was arrested and relieved from command. Worse was to come, as, while this unit attacked later than expected, the other forces did not wait and attacked, hitting the positions of the Russian 30th Infantry Division shortly after midnight. The surprised troops gave way and the front was briefly broken, but for one place, where a whole batallion resisted the enemy onslaught, even if it lost half of its soldiers during the fight.

To the north, the armoured attack managed to penetrate several miles into the enemy lines, before being stopped by the defenders. By then the Rusian and German airforces appeared over the battlefield, quickly achieving complete control of the airspace over front. In the open ground, the french tanks became exposed targets, and around one hundred tankjs were destroyed by the air attacks and the AT missiles.

The French counterattack had failed.

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

May 8th, 2005

Through 7 May, German troops had continued to pour to bolster the defenses, the French 26th Armoured Division was driven back. In the afternoon, forcing two of the other amoured untis to make renewed attacks,. However, the defenses resisted the desperate French attack. Meanwhile, General Aleksandr Roediger sent two armoured divisions against the French left flank. On 8 May, one of these divisions was attacking the rear of the French schwerpunkt.

Although fighting would continue around the center of the French attack for more days, there was no further prospect of any French success. Paris issued orders to go on to the defensive along the entire front, but poorly communicated orders resulted in this being impossible to achieve, with some French forces retreating, and others preparing to hold their ground.

As the Germans forces counter-attacked, part of t heir armoured force was advancing unchecked through the open country to the south of the French armies. To oppose them, Huppert ordered another armoured division, the 9th, to be transferred to the front to take part in the attack.

 

[Asalto]

French defense is totally futile at this point...

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

But they are going to keep trying, nevertheless....

 

[Asalto]

But they are going to keep trying, nevertheless....

Hmmm, maybe we can even expect some kind of repeat of 1871?

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

Maybe... or some rehearsal of ITaly in 1945... or some repeat of Spain in 1823.

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

May 9th, 2005

By May 9, the French Armoured divisions had lost half of their tanks. As they were ordered to hold their positions, the German and Russian forces began to swing north and south aiming at their rearguard, and, thus, the Seventh Army and the Arnoured Reserve of the French army were in danger of being encircled by the enemy. The problerm for the French commanders was that,between the full motorization of the enemy armies their overwhelming tactical air power, it was really difficult to pull off or even withdraw in the current circumstances, and large losses were liable to occur anyway. Thus the French commanders ordered a staged withdrawal, that created a problem, as the longer they delayed the enemy advance at a stage, the more time the RussoGermans had to improve their logistics and to gain strength in the forward units.That resulted in a greater difficulty at the next stage and increased odd of a catastrophic collapse there.

Then, on the morning of May 10, the Russian air force began to bombard the French positions.

 

[Asalto]

French army is really getting trashed. I almost feel sorry for those poor SyNdieZ...

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

Don't be so sentimental yet....

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

May 15th, 2005

After just 20 days in control of Scotland, the military clique leaded by Major General David McDowall had a rude awakening on May 15th when three US airbone divisions landed in Scotland and, in just a few hours, took the defenceless Inverness. As most of the Scottish army was on the border with a few reserves on Edimburgh, Scotland was ripe for invasion, something that Urquhart and Clooney knew thanks to the CIA and the MI6.

Soon McDowall reacted and moved troops to face the invasion, including a frew "British Syndicalist" units that had refused to acknwoldge the new government in London. The question was: who would be the quickest? The invaders to reinforce the beachehad or the defenders to organize a defensive line?