WesWorld

Mauser Werke will, of course, be happy to receive any possible customers and if their desire is for a single-shot instead of a repeater, that's easy to accommodate.

Have to admit, though, OOC, the FAR standard rifle looks pretty decent if the caliber is acceptable. (Or is it AR standard, if the French don't adopt it?)

Colombia will most likely be adopting the rifle, so at the very least it will be a CAR standard

Of course, the thing to be aware of is that this news post was for the spring of 1936, so before the FAR-standard rifle was announced.... So this could easily be a preview to France adopting a rifle that was NOT homegrown.

If France does adopt the new FAR standard rifle as it's front-line rifle, Mauser will be happy to produce a bolt-action rifle for France in that caliber if France should care to place an order for police use.

March 27th, 1936:

Marshal Petain, Ambassador to the Kingdom of Iberia, has announced today that the Franco-Iberian Delegatations at the Franco-Iberian Political Conference undeway since March 1st in the neutral nation of Andorra, have reached a binding agreement regarding the future of the Iberian enclaves of Ceuta and Medilla in French Morocco.

The agreement is to be signed and ratified in Algiers, the French administrative capital of Morocco, by special envoys from both countries, before the end of March. Various previously provisional agreements worked out during the course of the conference form the practical basis for this Franco-Iberian pact.

Iberian concerns over Ceuta and Medilla are said to have been accomodated in full, by French authorities with reportedly only limited political or military security conditions attached.

Iberia has been granted full use of French lines-of-communication in Morocco, be they land, air and sea routes to guarantee Ceuta and Medilla an adequate level of logistical support, the only requirement being a courtesy French Gendarmerie escort for any Iberian supply convoys that are organized.

Further, French officals have announced that Iberia will be allowed to fortify (and otherwise develop) the enclaves to a level consistant with their strategic importance, and their established and future economic value to Iberian interests in Northwestern Africa.

March 28th, 1936:

The French steam schooner SS Commandant de Rose, (built 1918, 3,500 tons, speed 10 knots) was reported to have run aground on an island in the western part of the Paracels Islands. The crew were rescued from the firmly grounded ship by the Iberian cargo vessel SS Cunene (built 1911, 8,825 tons, 12 knots) which was travelling nearby and responded with commendable distpatch to the Commandant de Rose's frantic radio distress calls, despite atrocious weather and sea conditions.

According to perliminary reports the Commandant de Rose was enroute from Saigon to Shanghai with a cargo of mixed goods, with an estimated worth of around 800,000 Francs , when a combination of severe local weather and a suspected compass failure, put the schooner aground. Five members of the ship's crew are listed as missing, they are currently presumed to have been washed overboard when the schooner ran aground. A further fifteen members of the crew suffered various injuries when the impact caused various fitting and several of the masts to break loose. A search by the crew of the Cunene has yet to find the missing men, and hope for their survival and well being is rapidly dwindling.

The captain and crew have reported that an jarring impact with a submerged object was felt throughout the ship just before they ran aground, opinion is divided as to what this portends - the consenus of the majority, is that the schooner struck a previously uncharted rock, which riped off one of the ship's twin screws (the portside one) and damaged the rudder. The actual impact with the island, caused the ship to be holed in several places forward on the starboard side, and a considerable amount of water has entered the ship's main cargo and machinery spaces.

An investigation into the matter is reported to be in hand, By the owners and the Ministry of the Marine, for purposes of insurance. It is not yet clear if the Commandant de Rose is salvageable. From reports of both the ship captains on site, the schooner is firmly wedged in place, but subject to a considerable pounding by local island wave action. It is possible the schooner might break up or slip off during the night and sink.

All chinese vessels were instructed to watch after "over bord washed persons" in this area. Also two rescue aircrafts (seaplanes) from the chinese naval rescue airforce are send in this area.

March 30th, 1936:

The French Naval Ministry has begun soliciting new designs from several French aviation companies to developed a new multi-role aircraft fit for coastal patrol and reconnaissance and light transport or communications duties. The Dorand Aviation Corporation has expressed considerable interest in this, and offered to develop a prototype aircraft that will fill all the requirements. The Naval Ministry has expressed skepticism at this, but as the Dorand company has offered to do the developmental work at their own expense, the decision to let them proceed has been approved.

Further designs are being considered for carrier borne aircraft, and land or seaport based torpedo and bomber duties. The Dewoitine, Loire, Loire-et-Olivier, Loire-Nieuport, Nieuport-Delage, Potez, Latecoere and Levasseur aviation companies have all responded with potential designs, which the Naval Ministry is busily evalutating.

Officals within the French Navy have expressed consern in recent years that the Aeronavale - the Naval Air Service - is inadequately served in terms of aircraft - particularly, for its carrier and coastal protection arms.