30 - Out With a Bang
On the 23rd of December a nuclear weapon was detonated in the Irish town of Galway; but it had not been dropped by the British. The bomb was dropped, it was assumed, by the French. Before it was known who had actually dropped the weapon, Limerick was also leveled by an atomic bomb on the 25th. The day after that it became apparent that it was, indeed, the French who had decided, unilaterally, to use atomic bombs. The Foreign Secretary was furious; Britain had not been notified of any intention whatever to drop a nuclear bomb, let alone two, on nearby Ireland. The fact that Adrian Carton de Wiart, the Foreign Secretary, was half-Irish did not help in the slightest.
The Royal Marines easily defeated the Irish at the Battle of Dublin, and captured the city on Boxing Day. The Irish government, under nuclear bombardment and alone in the Atlantic, decided that discretion was the better part of valour and surrendered to reduce the civilian cost on the 27th.
A Centurion AVRE rumbles down a street in a suburb of Dublin
Following the New Year and the beginning of 1960, a joint Anglo-Canadian offensive into the Oregon Territory was commenced. The American forces were numerous and staunch, yet lacked substantial reserves of equipment or enough men to reinforce. On the 17th of January Seattle fell to Canadian infantry.
Meanwhile, a second British force had arrived in Canada, and in March 1960 an offensive to liberate occupied Canadian land north of the border was started.
On the 14th of March it appeared that the French were going rogue, as another atomic bomb was detonated on troop concentrations in Wyoming. The Foreign Secretary could only watch as France rampaged over America. Apparently that move to autocracy had not gone well for France.
And again, the next day, this time on Great Falls. The British watched with a mixture of awe and disgust.
While the offensive in Oregon had generally ground to a halt in the face of an evenly-matched enemy force in the mountains, British armoured forces broke through onto the Great Plains; the perfect terrain for mobile warfare.
Troops of the Gordon Highlanders operate a new recoilless rifle during fighting near the Canadian border
The French went ahead and dropped another bomb in Wyoming, this time on troop concentrations dangerously close to the British lines, on the 22nd of March.
On the 8th of April 1960 British troops marched into Denver, the capital of the United States. It seemed that the North Atlantic gamble had not paid off for the Americans.
Following the loss of a major supply centre, American resistance began to crumble, and British tanks and infantry poured into the interior and the foothills of the Rockies.
A Hawker Hunter of 17 Squadron flies at low level over the Rocky Mountains
A Centurion tank crosses a shallow river during the advance onto the Great Plains
By the 28th of June Entente troops were on the West Coast, and threatened the major cities there. The situation was dire for America.
During a lull in fighting, an Edmonton of 94 Squadron makes a daring low level pass over an advance airfield near the California coast; it is not known who the pilot was, or if he was court martialled for his troubles
At the end of the month British units were engaged in fierce fighting for Los Angeles. The U.S.' resistance was breaking quickly, and it seemed that victory was imminent.
Los Angeles fell, inevitably, the next day; the British had taken 361 casualties, as well as the loss of eight Centurion tanks. The Americans lost just over 1300 men before abandoning the city.
That proved to be the straw that broke the Camel's back; the United States surrendered on the 1st of July 1960. The subsequent Treaty of Seattle returned Baja California to Mexican control, and the United States ceded the northern Oregon Territory and Alaska to Canada. A vote was held on independence tor the PSA, but the people still wanted to side with the failed state that the United States obviously was by this point; the experiment had failed, and yet they still clung foolishly to the dream. Still, vox populi vox dei, as they say. However, the New Englanders were more pragmatic, and voted for their independence once more, under the protection of the Entente. The Irish Republic was allowed to go free; the British government certainly didn't want that problem all over again, and besides, Ulster was quite enough worry for one island.
Tanks and troops of the Royal Tank Regiment on parade at a barracks near Vancouver following the Treaty of Seattle, prior to an inspection by the Duke of Gloucester
On the 21st of July, however, the short life of the Ulster Free State was ended brutally; men of the Royal Ulster Regiment began operations to reestablish British rule, and marched from Belfast to Londonderry, arresting and, in some cases, executing, IRA, or, for that matter, any, terrorists on the way.
By the end of July 1960 British rule had been restored to Ulster, and the people of Ulster liberated.
However, the peace settlement of the Treaty of Seattle didn't last long; in August 1960 the United States accepted an offer from Canada, which traded Washington State for Entente membership; the best way to reign in the Americans was to make them an ally of Britain's. Peace in North America, finally; perhaps.
American Vice President Adlai Stevenson shortly before negotiations on the United States' accession to the Entente
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!
On the 23rd of December a nuclear weapon was detonated in the Irish town of Galway; but it had not been dropped by the British. The bomb was dropped, it was assumed, by the French. Before it was known who had actually dropped the weapon, Limerick was also leveled by an atomic bomb on the 25th. The day after that it became apparent that it was, indeed, the French who had decided, unilaterally, to use atomic bombs. The Foreign Secretary was furious; Britain had not been notified of any intention whatever to drop a nuclear bomb, let alone two, on nearby Ireland. The fact that Adrian Carton de Wiart, the Foreign Secretary, was half-Irish did not help in the slightest.
A Centurion AVRE rumbles down a street in a suburb of Dublin
Troops of the Gordon Highlanders operate a new recoilless rifle during fighting near the Canadian border
A Hawker Hunter of 17 Squadron flies at low level over the Rocky Mountains
A Centurion tank crosses a shallow river during the advance onto the Great Plains
During a lull in fighting, an Edmonton of 94 Squadron makes a daring low level pass over an advance airfield near the California coast; it is not known who the pilot was, or if he was court martialled for his troubles
Tanks and troops of the Royal Tank Regiment on parade at a barracks near Vancouver following the Treaty of Seattle, prior to an inspection by the Duke of Gloucester
American Vice President Adlai Stevenson shortly before negotiations on the United States' accession to the Entente
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!
~ THE END ~
---GOD SAVE THE KING---
---GOD SAVE THE KING---
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