The Syndicalist Bulwark - a Union of Britain (KR) AAR, against a hostile world

[Battle bunny]

The First World War (1914-1921) revolutionised warfare in many aspects. What was initially seen as a war that would be over quickly and would solve all European conflicts escalated into a bloody, long war that would claim the lives of millions after millions for little gain, thanks to trench warfare which increased defensive power greatly. Many new tools of war made their appearance - gas, tanks, planes, submarines. It is little wonder, therefore, that after the end of the war and after the Peace with Honour, Europe was completely mangled. Revolutions sprung up in several countries on the losers' side - France, Britain, Italy, Russia. Indeed, of these four, only Russia's revolution was defeated. And while Germany was working on its little project Mitteleuropa, the workers of the other three rebuilt their countries at a great pace and by 1936, the Internationale was more than a match for the Germans and their satellites.
At this point it was inevitable, conflict would come once again to Europe and the rest of the world. From border frictions to international incidents, the Internationale (at this point officially consisting only of the Commune of France and the Socialist Republic of Italy, as the Union of Britain took a more isolationist path at this point) and Mitteleuropa employed all the diplomatic weapons at their disposal to foreshadow the coming conflict. Russia was once again engulfed by revolution and subsequently fell apart as the Soviets, the Japanese puppet Siberia and the Don-Kuban Union's Cossacks all sought to grab as much of White Russia as possible. In the end, Soviet Russia and the Don Cossacks emerged victorious, and after another showdown the Cossack state collapsed as Soviet Russian troops overran them. Another revolution occurred in America, where both the America First party and the Combined Syndicates of America rose up in armed revolt, but General MacArthur's junta struck down both.
World War II began, however, not between the Internationale and Mitteleuropa, but between the Union of Britain and the revanchist Entente. Iceland, which had seceded peacefully from Denmark before, was the casus belli; both Royalist Canada and Syndicalist Britain recognised the value of Iceland as an ally, and both sought to bring Iceland into their spheres of influence. However, as the Union of Britain blockaded the small island country to drive the Canadians away, Canada - influenced by the King and the British aristocrats, who effectively had the dominion in their grip - declared war on the 7th of December, 1938.
The Canadians had underestimated the Union of Britain, however. For more than a decade it had been an isolationist, peaceful country - but this all changed in 1937 with the election of Comrade Oswald Mosley as Chairman, who had managed to convince the Congress to "persecute reactionaries wherever we find them", to quote him. Britain began a major buildup; in particular, the Republican Fleet was modernised and expanded with state-of-the-art battleships. The Union of Britain occupied Iceland in a lightning campaign and turned the young nation into a satellite state for the Syndicalist country, then used it as a springboard to launch a great offensive on Canada and the Caribbean.
On July 5, 1939, the Internationale gained its second foe, Mitteleuropa. As the French finally saw fit to reclaim Alsace-Lorraine from their German rivals, armed conflict finally broke out. The Union of Britain finally joined the Internationale bloc to fight all reactionaries. By 1940, however, the war has progressed, and things have been going ill for the Internationale.

On the positive side, the British campaign against the Entente was a complete success. British infantry captured the island of Newfoundland and used it as a staging point from which they first conquered the Caribbean Federation, island by island - then invaded Canada proper. After a surprise invasion that resulted in 10 divisions being trapped in Nova Scotia and the nearby regions, Canadian defences were weakened and even in the winter of 1939, the Syndicalist offensive broke through and chased the royalists all the way back to Winnipeg, where Edward VIII surrendered to the Union of Britain on the 12th of July, 1940. Now, in October 1940, the situation is much the same as back then - the Socialist Republic of Canada and the Québec republic have been liberated to build socialism in North America and British troops control all important Caribbean islands (the rest have been occupied by Delhi's expeditionaries or partisans, but Britain is currently unable to do anything about this).

In Europe, however, the situation is completely different. While the Union of Britain was waging its own war against the Entente, the Commune mobilised to invade Germany. And although the offensive was a success initially, as Flanders-Wallonia was annexed into the Commune, the French were unable to make a breakthrough. Indeed, over the course of one year, the tables have turned - Germany gradually pushed the French soldiers back. By the time the Union of Britain sent any help it was already too little, too late. Paris fell on the 1st of September; the Commune of France followed suit on the 28th. The Germans acted quickly; based on a secret agreement they handed over all of mainland France to the state of National France (ruled by the recently crowned Louis Napoleon IV) which was only too eager to forsake the (now almost nonexistent) Entente and join Germany and Mitteleuropa in exchange. Soviet Russia, too, lay in shambles as the socialist state was soundly defeated on the 4th of March after it joined the Internationale in an attempt to pressure the German bloc from the east. The Union of Britain, as a desparate measure, launched an all-out invasion of Northern Germany. And although the British soldiers have taken much land, they have failed to overrun Berlin, and the Germans have recovered from the shock of the invasion... it is doubtful whether this invasion can last.
(OOC note: The two Ottoman-owned provinces in Western France have been edited back to the French as the opposite makes no sense.)

As for the rest of the world, it didn't stay out of the war entirely. A Republican Chinese revolt in the AlgOstAsien GmbH, the vast German corporate colony in China, chased von Falkenhausen out of China while the military was hunting the warlord of Yunnan; Bengal has overthrown the Princely Federation and is poised to take on Delhi; Brazil and Bolivia have defeated La Plata and Chile in the Platinean war and scored a small victory for socialism by taking some land off La Plata. However, the Internationale's position is still precarious; the Union of Britain is now the bulwark of the Syndicalist bloc, and all of Europe is ready to take them on. While naval superiority ensures the safety of the island for now, Mosley will need to find a way to save the socialist cause and bring back syndicalism to Europe.

---

And this is where I step in. My job is to crush that huge goliath of a Mitteleuropa. Not an easy task, but hopefully not impossible either. I hope this is an interesting world I've created!

 

[Battle bunny]

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter I - The gloomy situation of the Internationale

Chapter II - The Algerian offensive

Chapter III - Allies and enemies

Chapter IV - The liberation of Anarchist Spain - part one

Chapter V - The liberation of Anarchist Spain - part two

Chapter VI - The liberation of Anarchist Spain - part three

Chapter VII - The Pyrenees standoff and the second North African campaign

 

[Ivir Baggins]

To be honest, Mosley is porbably THE worst leader to have as UoB. Either you get Autocratic Charmer (-10% IC) or Ruthless Powermonger (-10 org). Did you go Con is the military question by any chance? That 50% MP bonus has to be grabbed.

 

[Battle bunny]

To be honest, Mosley is porbably THE worst leader to have as UoB. Either you get Autocratic Charmer (-10% IC) or Ruthless Powermonger (-10 org). Did you go Con is the military question by any chance? That 50% MP bonus has to be grabbed.

Yes, I did, it also seemed like the best choice for me at that point. The reason I chose Mosley was simply because I wanted a "hardliner" UoB that unapologetically battles the royalists and Mosley is perfect for this role. The HoG, William Gallacher, counterbalances his disadvantage with a 5% IC bonus, though.

 

[Asalto]

Bonapartist France returning to mainland? That's neat!

 

[Battle bunny]

Bonapartist France returning to mainland? That's neat!

It is indeed. Too bad this little vacation of theirs will have to end.

And now the first update.

---

Mosley and his Commissars certainly had a lot to deal with in October, 1940. First of all, there was the status of the army. It was, in one word, insufficient. Although the Union of Britain had lots of manpower and lots of industry, an excessive naval focus meant that the army itself was rather small. With the recent addition of Bengal to the Internationale, the syndicalists could finally claim that Germany does not, in fact, have more soldiers (according to British intelligence, about 105 divisions) than the whole Internationale combined:

Seen above is the production line of the Union in October 1940. Obviously this had to change. The production of all ships and the garrison units was halted, and a massive amount of infantry was commissioned instead, as Comrade Bill Alexander argued that the infantry core of the army needs to be built up. However, it was clear that the army would need to be expanded with armored and motorized divisions eventually, so research was conducted in these areas. Another critical point was the airforce, which used to be decent but got heavily mauled by German planes.

In October, the situation of the German front was as follows:

It was already clear that the invasion wouldn't last - Mitteleuropa's forces already outnumbered the Brits on the front, as the latter only had 27 infantry divisions and a HQ unit in the area. However, it was hoped that the troops would be able to hold their ground long enough to make a considerable impact on German industry. Therefore, the British transport fleet was ordered to ship 4 garrison divisions back to America, to guard Newfoundland and Alaska against royalist insurrection.

However, the Germans were already ready for an offensive and soon they struck. The first attack came against Leipzig; the high command had no choice but to order a retreat and to redeploy or move the bulk of British forces backwards to shorten the front.

After this the situation deteriorated rapidly. The German steamroller couldn't be stopped and all that the British forces could do was just hold out and wait for the transports to return from America for the evacuation.

As seen here, the British army tries to counterattack against Münster to buy time. The Germans are hit hard, but not evicted from the province, merely disorganised due to the powerful German armor and a delaying action from the German commander von Bock. Thus the offensive carries on.

Finally, as the transports (12 flotillas) arrived and evacuated the first 12 units from the front, the Germans have finally pushed back the British forces to Kolding for their last stand. The 12 divisions were transported to Dover and the fleet quickly returned to get more units out of the province.

And the fleet arrived just in the nick of time too, as the Germans were ready to destroy the trapped British units. 15 divisions and a HQ unit were left to defend against more than 20 divisions. The HQ and 11 more divisions were evacuated, but 4 infantry units were trapped in Kolding and destroyed. This was the price for the North German offensive.

Where would the Union of Britain attack next? There weren't many spots: as seen below, almost all of Europe was united against the Syndicalists.

It was decided that the most likely target at this point was Africa; Bonapartist France had left behind a lot of industry in Algiers and seizing this would help the war effort a lot. While Africa was similar to Europe in that almost all of it was at war with the Union of Britain, British naval superiority might be enough to ensure that reinforcements won't be coming to Africa - this was what the Commissars of the military figured. Meanwhile, the new member of the Internationale, Bengal, would launch an offensive against Delhi, while Britain would try to get the South American syndicalists, Brazil and Bolivia, into the alliance.

 

[Battle bunny]

Long update coming!

---

Algiers was the next target of the British syndicalists, and the high command certainly wasted no time in preparing the invasion. 12 divisions - one of them a HQ - were hurriedly packed onto transports and sent off to North Africa, escorted by the Grand Fleet of the Republican Navy. The fleet was very impressive indeed, and the few enemy fleets that tried to intercept the transports were soon sent to the bottom of the ocean.

By December, the troops were ready to disembark and attack. Although Algiers was well-defended the outlying regions weren't - there were no defences in Melilla. The infantry quickly flooded the shores of North Africa and immediately started moving out towards urban Algiers.

By the time the troops reached Algiers province the second wave of infantry arrived to help out and oust the National French from the city itself. The Bonapartists were in full retreat down towards the desert, where they were hoping to regroup and link up with their Libyan allies. The British didn't chase them for a while, advancing slowly and methodically instead. What gave more cause for concern was a German buildup in Casablanca.

Though Germany seemed content to just hold on to its own colony - the Wehrmacht didn't sprawl out into Morocco and beyond, instead just guarding Casablanca - it was obvious that these troops might strike any time. Therefore, the British redoubled their efforts to arm more infantrymen to send down to the North African front.

The fight against the French, however, went very well indeed. The disorganised French army was prone to make strategic errors and get encircled. The Union of Britain capitalised on this advantage. As seen here, French troops break through into Mostaganem in the earlier stages of the invasion, hoping to cut off one part of the British army from another. However, the British win this game in the end, encircling 10,000 of the French army in turn.

Later, another attack was attempted here - this resulted in the destruction of a division of French armor.
Even more important was the encirclement of Bone, Philippeville and Bougie. A second landing in Tunis provided an excellent opportunity for the Republican Army to encircle these provinces. As the French realised the threat, they, along with the Libyan expeditionaries sent by the Ottoman Sultan, tried to break the encirclement. A fierce battle erupted all across the front.

Although the French managed to evict the British troops from Constantine, they didn't manage to move in as all French were sent fleeing towards the south in the counterattack.

To prevent the French from breaking out, the British transport fleet, which was patrolling just off the coast, ferried more troops to help surround and annihilate the enemy. In the end, 40,000 Bonapartists died or surrendered here as the Grand Fleet watched over the coast, destroying any hope of evacuation.

Soon the British army advanced into the vast Saharan desert. Here, the troops were ordered to stop - there was no sense in chasing the Bonapartist army when all the important or relevant strategical goals - the capture of Algerian industry and Tunisian oil - have been achieved. In fact, the German airforce that was attempting to bomb the British soldiers would have made any more advance either costly or hard to protect. The one HQ division that Britain possessed was hit hard by German bombers and despite the arrival of the Republican air force it was destroyed. This was a major strategical blunder and a costly mistake. To make up for this another HQ division was ordered - and at the same time, the Commissar of the Army ordered the production of armored divisions as well, to be outfitted with self-propelled artillery brigades. (Although the British all-infantry armor was very powerful the eventual need for armored divisions was anticipated, and even land doctrine research was steered into this direction with the beginning of the design of the Operational Stages doctrine.)

The Army's attention was therefore focused on the German army of Morocco next. A coordinated offensive to surround the Germans in Casablanca was planned - the goal was to surround them before they have a chance to react, and with the help of shore bombardment, overpower them through sheer numbers. This offensive failed, however, as it turned out that German transports were ferrying more soldiers into Morocco and there were too many Germans in the region to be eliminated.

To avoid being overran, the British high command ordered all troops to be withdrawn towards the east. By April, the front looked like this:

It became painfully obvious that even if the Germans don't push the offensive, there is nothing more in North Africa that would be worth it. What would be the next strategical target of the British? As most troops were tied down in the Algeria region it would take some time for the Army to have enough troops for an offensive, even if all excess divisions from the North African front are withdrawn as well. Still, there were several plans for a new offensive. Some advocated an attack on Carlist Spain - as the Spanish anarchists were still holding out in Barcelona with its ~30 divisions, liberating Spain and handing it over to the CNT-FAI would result in a new ally appearing in mainland Europe, with the potential to tie down Mitteleuropan troops in the Pyrenees at worst - and, possibly, to send Emperor Bonaparte packing again at best. Another possibility was an attack on the Ottoman Empire to knock out one major ally of Germany; not being connected by land to the Germans and their allies, the Ottomans would be forced to rely on their own outdated army to defend
themselves, certainly no match for the British army. There were good points in both proposals and the Congress had a hard time making their decision...

Meanwhile, there was one other member of the Internationale who was working hard on spreading socialism. Bengal managed to overrun Delhi over the last half a year and with that, mainland India was united under the red flag.

 

[cloneof]

Hmm... I like the odds that you are facing in this AAR, makes it all more interesting.

I will be watching with anticipation .

 

[Asalto]

Wow, Bengal became a real monster!

 

[Battle bunny]

Thanks for the responses! Yeah, Bengal is powerful. Unfortunately, they're also far away from the action. I'm thinking whether it'd be a good idea to DoW Burma (in exchange for a dissent hit) and with that, make them able to overrun the German colonies as well.

Update coming sometime today.

 

[Battle bunny]

This is a shorter update, still, it should give you an idea of what I'm facing. I'm really not sure how I'm gonna do this, but hey, I'm the human here, not the AI. I can think of something, eh?

---

The intelligence reports on Carlist Spain and the Ottoman Empire were as follows:

The numbers weren't baseless, definitely. The Union of Britain had invested some money into its intelligence services; it could be assumed that the numbers are more or less accurate, +/- 5 divisions at most. However, in the case of Carlist Spain, there was one factor that made the number less fearsome: the 300,000 CNT-FAI militiamen holding out in Barcelona, drawing off half the Carlist army. Therefore, it was obvious that Xavier's Carlists do not have the strength to stop the British and the CNT-FAI at once. In fact, this belief was confirmed by the Grand Fleet - Grand Admiral Tovey reported that neither the northern nor the southern coast of Spain is defended:

Therefore, it was only a matter of mobilising enough infantry. Freshly trained infantry divisions were shipped off to Algiers, along with the Union's first armored division - the MK.VIII A23M Cromwell was a truly fearsome sight:

Meanwhile, the British intelligence service was also active in another country. This country was a member of Mitteleuropa as well - Ukraine. Ukraine's story was an interesting one: an agricultural giant, it had been dominated by landowners owning vast tracts of land, employing many people who were basically under serf-like conditions to get filthy rich in turn. However, due to the Black Monday, the stock market crash of Berlin that shook the economy of Mitteleuropa for a long time, the common folk of Ukraine suffered while King Vasily and the Rada watched helplessly as the landowners and their leader Skoropadsky pillaged the country with their oppressive government policies.
Realising that he needed to act fast, King Vasily made the decision to appoint a new governor. The man was Nikita Khruschev - a radical socialist. While Vasily didn't like this he knew that he had no other choice. Khruschev certainly didn't bide his time - he immediately ordered the huge lands of the landowners seized, to be distributed among the peasants. This proved to be his downfall. Skoropadsky struck back and arrested Khrushchev, restoring the Hetmanate after a short time while the weak King Vasily was forced to go with the flow.
Ravaged by war and once again under the oppression of the landowners, the peasants of Ukraine were almost out of hope when it turned out that Nikita Khrushchev had, in fact, escaped a long time ago and was planning a new revolution, together with his comrade Stepan Bandera who had been keeping the torch of revolution lit while Khrushchev was hiding. To further his agenda he contacted Chairman Mosley who was eager to slice Ukraine off the Mitteleuropean bloc. Bandera's and Khrushchev's band of revolutionaries, the Ukrainian Red Guard marched on Kiev and the enraged peasants lynched Skoropadsky and King Vasily, while British special forces helped the revolutionaries occupy the other great cities of Ukraine. While the landowners struck back again with their mercenaries, this time, due to the presence of disciplined British commandos the Ukrainian syndicalists secured the revolution. Khrushchev immediately made peace with the Internationale and although Ukraine was not to join the bloc yet, the country would prove to be an important asset to the socialist cause later on.*

The new cabinet of Ukraine:

Eventually, more than 30 divisions gathered on the coast of Algiers, ready to strike. This number was so big because of another discovery:

Germany's North African expeditionary force was growing way out of control. It was clear to everyone now: whenever this force strikes, the static defense line would not hold. Therefore, about half of this force was also redeployed, and the rest of the defending force was reorganised into a smaller, elastic defence force, suited not for holding off an enemy indefinitely but for delaying them to assist an evacuation. And this evacuation would be aimed straight at Spain. Since Germany now had half of its forces in Morocco, the British were ready to overrun Carlist Spain, link up with the CNT-FAI and conquer most of France before Mitteleuropa recovers. The brunt of the offensive would go southwards; if resistance is still scarce, British and Spanish troops would attack the Iberian Federation and conquer it for the Socialist Republic of Italy. Afterwards, the British would also attack the Suez canal:

According to an earlier report defences of the Canal were also weak. Capturing it would then proceed to seal off the Mediterranean to Mitteleuropa, isolating the Ottomans for good. Naturally this would only be possible after more troops became available.

While this great offensive was being planned, another event shook Europe:

Wilhelm II, the aging Kaiser of Germany died at the respectable age of 82. Wilhelm III became the new Kaiser; however, despite the war a great state funeral was still held in Berlin and the capitals of several other Mitteleuropean countries as well.

More importantly for the Union of Britain, a severe supply shortage developed during the spring of 1941. This was due to a combination of factors: supply production was barely sufficient to cover the needs of the Army anyways, and the German U-boats took a severe toll on the British merchant marine in spite of the U-boat patrol fleets. Indeed, in Long Island the army went without food for several days, and the famished soldiers turned to pillaging to sustain themselves, leading to an uprising on the island:

However, food shortages were also threatening to appear in other places, even on the mainland. To stave off the crisis, Commissar of Foreign Affairs Niclas y Glais hurriedly struck several deals with his allies - and the newest Syndicalist country, Ukraine, which was particularly helpful in this regard. This, combined with a temporary increase of industrial capacity diverted to supply production, meant that the threat of starvation was averted, but the near-crisis of June, 1941 would mark the beginning of a long period of supply deficiency which would only be solved with the total destruction of the U-Boats - or the country that hosts them...

*Okay, so to explain: I couped Ukraine. I normally don't coup nations unless it really makes sense since I consider it rather gamey. This time, though, it made sense, since Ukraine was ruled by Nikita Khrushchev. For some reason, Syndicalist Ukraine reentered Mitteleurope shortly after severing all ties with Germany. So I modified the story as seen above and executed the coup. I didn't cheat - I was lucky to get it done on the second try (the first, failed try was during the timeframe of the last update).

 

[Asalto]

German Afrika Korps is really impressive! Hopefully, you'll manage to stop them with elastic defense.

 

[Battle bunny]

Hopefully so, although I really just want to delay them if they attack.
Update coming today or tomorrow.

 

[unmerged(62971)]

A fun read thus far, the fortunes of war certainly have turned quickly in a relatively short time it seems. I have to ask though, why isn't the Republican Fleet blockading the coast of Morocco? With British naval supremacy it's hard to see how the Germans were able build up such an Afrika Korps. Or is this just one of those magical tricks the AI can seemingly pull off now and then?

 

[Battle bunny]

A fun read thus far, the fortunes of war certainly have turned quickly in a relatively short time it seems. I have to ask though, why isn't the Republican Fleet blockading the coast of Morocco? With British naval supremacy it's hard to see how the Germans were able build up such an Afrika Korps. Or is this just one of those magical tricks the AI can seemingly pull off now and then?

Well, for the most part my fleet was guarding the transports. I suppose I could have sent a CTF to try and blockade the coast, but I didn't think of this variant as the carriers are now hunting subs or guarding other areas (such as the coasts of Britain). As for the fortunes of war... my job is far from done.
Update time.

(Also, I'm adding a table of contents to make it easier to navigate. It's in the second post.)

---

Chairman Mosley and the Congress recognised that the Federación Anarquista Ibérica would be a great asset if Spain was to be liberated - as such, there was no question that the Iberian Peninsula would be the next target of the British forces. The Union of Britain officially extended an invitation to the CNT-FAI, who accepted eagerly, and thus the Carlists were at war with the whole Internationale. No sooner than the declaration of war happened, an all-out invasion was launched against the Spanish coast from Algeria. As a response, the Spanish closed the straits of Gibraltar to the Internationale - however, there were enough supplies in the North African British holdings to keep the soldiers supplied as they marched through southern Spain unopposed:

Soon Madrid was captured, just as the first reports of Carlist divisions arrived in Murcia, the headquarters of the British troops in Iberia. In fact, some of these troops were located near Almería; the Carlists carelessly sent trains full of soldiers straight towards the southern coast, while failing to secure their route of escape. A full division (10,000 soldiers) was eliminated there.

As seen from the maps, Gibraltar was also secured by the armored 'Hussars' division, which was necessary already as supplies were running low and there wasn't enough oil for the tanks to roll on anymore. Unfortunately, the occupation of Gibraltar was not to last as many divisions arrived in Seville and the province of Huelva:

This time, the Carlists were there in bigger numbers and they were supplied via convoys as well. The Union of Britain had insufficient forces in the region to prevent the Carlists from breaking out and securing the pass. To compensate, the bulk of British forces launched an offensive northwards, while 9 divisions landed in Barcelona, the besieged capital of the CNT-FAI, to reinforce the assault and keep the city secure. The Carlists fought hard, but the superior British infantry swept aside the Carlists defences, while a landing in Bilbao from the North served to finally seal the fate of Prince Xavier's soldiers. This was in due time, too, as the Germans were starting to deploy their own soldiers to the border on the Pyrenees:

To help relieve the pressure on the front, the Ukrainian Syndicalists agreed to enter the war on the Internationale's side. A foolhardy move, perhaps, but with its ~50 divisions, Ukraine would surely be able to overwhelm German Russia and perhaps White Ruthenia, and when the Germans finally arrive - well, as Commissar of the British Land Forces Bill Alexander stated: "hopefully it will be too late by then".

Seen here is the Spanish situation (a detailed map of the northern front and a map of Spain as a whole) in the end of August:

The British military command was certain that the northern front could be stabilised - the Carlist forces were destroyed and the Germans didn't have the numbers to break through and crush the Spanish revolution. The southern front was more uncertain; after the reconquest of Gibraltar by the Carlists, the royalists were able to gain some ground, but with the arrival of a few more divisions, they were eventually contained. Although there weren't enough British forces in southwest Spain to actually eliminate the Carlists, the arrival of CNT-FAI divisions and a redeployment of a few additional divisions made the situation look a bit more promising for the syndicalists.

 

[Battle bunny]

This war's getting tougher with every passing month. Don't miss this!

---

Germany was caught off guard by the declaration of war from Ukraine, even though they really had no reason not to expect this to happen eventually. To stabilise the situation, Wilhelm III had the United Baltic Duchy integrated into the Kaiserreich immediately. This enabled the Germans to have a direct link to their Russian territories; the move was not unpopular within the Duchy either as Wilhelm II had already settled the Baltics with so many Germans, the Duchy was almost as German as any other province of the Empire.

On the Spanish front, September started out well for the Syndicalists. To make the management of the front more efficient, the CNT-FAI agreed to merge its High Command with the Union of Britain's. This way, British and Spanish troops (as well as a small number of Brazilian expeditionaries) were directed together. As a result, a coordinated offensive helped destroy the last Carlist troops in the North:

Then it all went downhill really fast - not on land, but on water. The Republican Grand Fleet was stalking the northern coast of Britain when the German fleet struck. The British fleet was trapped and casualties were extreme even in the first four hours of battle. Even after managing to break out and flee from the German trap, the German battleships and battlecruisers pursued the damaged British ships. The fleet never reached the shores of England again.

This was a catastrophe for the Union. Not just because of the massive amount of battleships and destroyers that were now ruins on the bottom of the ocean - but since the Germans were quick to boast of the Kriegsmarine's total victory over the Republican Freet, the British civilians were severely demoralised as well. Up until this time, they had believed that they are safe and sound on the island, protected by the mighty battleships of the Republic. The British naval superiority disappeared overnight, however - only the carrier task forces remained, and these weren't nearly as deadly as the battleships. Immediately, new modern battleships of the Vanguard-class were commissioned, along with destroyers; in addition, destroyers and planes were purchased from Bengal (these deals were sealed in the next few weeks), for the Indian socialist state had no use for them at the moment.

The land forces of the Union of Britain were tested as well. A German offensive was directed at Saragossa, hoping to achieve a breakthrough. However, even if the British defence wasn't as well organised, the sheer numbers of the Republican Army carried the day.

With that, the Germans gave up on trying to break through and instead focused on occupying the Pyrenees before continuing their offensive. The Internationale sought, at first, to prevent this from happening, evicting Mitteleuropean forces from Huesca province. However, eventually the Germans moved in with a large force, making them impossible to push back anymore:

In the south, the situation was slightly different. Here, the British forces were superior to the Carlist loyalists. However, it was also clear that if the Carlists were all forced back into Seville, they would dig in and then would remain a threat until the complete conquest of Spain by Mitteleuropa - which would be inevitable. The Internationale realised that this front would have to be eliminated as soon as possible, and as a result, Syndicalist divisions were amassed at Jaén to attack Seville.
The Syndicalists were fighting against the odds, however. Attacking urban territory over a river meant that even the weak Carlist infantry and militia could hold them at bay.

To make matters worse, the closing of the Gibraltar Strait was taking its toll on the British forces in Algeria. While Germany's North African forces were gradually recalled in light of the new Spanish threat, Bonapartist France was there to realise the weakness of the British and started pushing back the out-of-supply divisions.

This meant that the capture of Gibraltar was now even more urgent than before. Freshly trained British divisions were sent to Southern Spain, along with a new HQ division. The trip was not as easy as before; a carrier task force had to escort the transports to La Coruna, from where the reinforcements had to reach the southern front by train. However, eventually they arrived and a new attack was ordered against Prince Xavier's troops in Seville on the 11th of October, with the goal of cutting the Carlist forces in two and then capturing Gibraltar.
25 divisions of the Internationale - mostly British, but also some Spanish; mostly infantry, but also one armored division from both the British and the Spanish. 8 divisions defended the city, under the skilled leadership of Field Marshal Mola Vidal. The Carlists fought like lions, but in the end, the well-organised Syndicalist assault was strong enough to gain the advantage. Xavier's loyalists finally attempted a counterattack, charging at the assault force recklessly, but this was not enough to stem the tide. On the 14th of October, at 8:54, the Carlists gave up the city and fled to the south.

The Internationale faced many challenges at this point. The Germans had scored a decisive victory on the sea, the African situation was collapsing and the Reichsheer was threating with a breakthrough in the Pyrenees. Still, the situation was hopeful; the Carlists were about to be destroyed completely and the liberation of Anarchist Spain did not seem like an impossible mission anymore.

Finally, on Ukraine's progress: the Eastern European Syndicalist state occupied large swathes of land in former Russia, reaching the city of Moscow. Mitteleuropa didn't ignore the Ukrainian threat, sending many troops to the western (and to an extent, northern) border of Ukraine to contain their advance; still, at this point Ukraine was still holding out very well.

 

[Battle bunny]

So, guys. It's really hard to coax any posts out of you, and the number of views doesn't seem to be increasing too much either. However, I really want to know how much continued interest there is in the AAR. I'm willing to continue if there are some loyal readers, but I don't want to waste my efforts for nothing. If you have suggestions for improvement, that's fine too.

 

[cloneof]

I as a matter of fact just finished reading your latest updates and this still seems as promising as ever.

I will keep watching if you keep making :3

 

[unmerged(142503)]

I may not post, but I'm definitely reading it.


So far it may not look good, but the addition of Ukraine in the Internationale may prove very valuable.

Still, I can't believe the numbers of Germany and it's allies, how many troops do this guys have?!

 

[Ahriman]

I'm enjoying this. Looks like you've got a real challenge on your hands here. With your navy destroyed look out for German landings in Britain!