WesWorld

General Orbay and Colonel Zhechev both turned in surprise when the office door burst open. Orbay looked in astonishment as Captains Bayran Coskun of his own Turkish contingent, and Oberleutnant Werner Insenhoffer of the German contingent walked into the crowded office. Both men were on detached duties from their parent units, having been posted as volunteer commanders of Civil Watch Corps battalions.

"6th and 8th Battalions, reporting for duty, General Orbay." Captain Coskun remarked as he and Insenhoffer snapped to attention in front of him and Zhechev. Orbay blinked for a moment, then shook each man's hand in welcome.

"How did you get here?" Orbay asked. Coskun grinned laconically, at his general.

"General Daufresne de la Chevalerie, Sir. He's set up a tempory headquarters and has begun to rally the troops, General. Lieuenant-Colonel Wilhelm Berlin as acting commander of the Civil Watch Corps authorized any battalions near Vaskes to march to your assistance if it was deemed practical. So here we are - our Wilnos were surprisingly keen to try and reach you, when we got the word of what was happening."

"Why?"

"Papa Kazim, needed help, thats how they put it to us." Insenhoffer remarked quietly. Orbay's astonishment returned stronger then ever.

"They think very highly of you, Sir. So here we are - 1,600 Civil Watchmen, what are your orders, General Orbay?"

Colonel Zhechev, suddenly cleared his throat. He saluted General Orbay, who promptly returned it.

"I'd best be on my way, General Orbay - General Daufresne de la Chevalerie is going to need my report."

Zhechev dashed out of Orbay's office without a further word, Zhechev heard Orbay already begin to explain the situation to the two new arrivals. Another of Orbay's aides lead him quickly to a small knot of German troops who would escort him to HQ of the III Battalion/39th German Infantry Regiment. The next part of the journey went quickly as they made their way from the Field Headquarters across the town to the nearby airfield, German soldiers and equipment seemed to be everywhere, dug in and sited for maximum defensive and offensive effect.

An unpleasant drizzel had begun, a precursor of another down pour. The window for take off was closing, Zhechev thought as he ran. The IIIrd Battalion's CO, Oberstleutnant Hans Jordan met him on the airfield, the plane, an ANBO's engine was already powered up and running.

"Good luck, Colonel. Bring us help, we're going to need it I am afraid." Zhechev nodded, and the two briefly shook hands. Then Zhechev quickly hopped into the observer's seat behind the pilot, an infantry Unterfeldwebel named Detlef Ebenroth. Ebenroth, gave Zhechev a sharp nodded and a wave from the front seat. Zhechev returned it and strapped himself in. Ebenroth reved the engine, the drizzel was begining to turn into another miserable down pour as expected.

Suddenly a column of mud, geysered up near the end of the increasingly rain slicked tarmac runway. It took Zhechev a moment to realize what it was, suddenly another geyser, mixed with flame and black smoke lifted itself from the wet ground. Artillery fire, the Self-Defense troops were begining their attack, as Orbay had warned, Zhechev realized in some shock. Ebenroth sent the plane hurtling down the runway, shells began to explode around them as they bounced along. Somehow Ebenroth, pulled the protesting plane up off the ground and into the air, flying at dangerous tree top level, the plane fled Vaskes, shrouded by the rain. Lightning back light the darkening nighttime sky.

Zhechev took time to study a map, they could make Vilnius in a few hours if they were lucky. Zhechev spared a worried glance behind them, Vaskes was a dark hulk behind them lite by gunflashes and burning buildings.

Quoted

Originally posted by Agent148

Zhechev took time to study a map, they could make Vilnius in a few hours if they were lucky. Zhechev spared a worried glance behind them, Vaskes was a dark hulk behind them lite by gunflashes and burning buildings.

Excellent

What's the LoN troop count in Vaskes, and in Lithuania as a whole? In the excitement I rather lost track.

I think I've got about a regiment's worth of troops scattered about, but I'm not even really certain on that one...

Leutnant von Kalben surveyed the outpost, it was a shambles - and the pouring rain wasn't helping much improve the situation - although he and his detachment had worked hard to make it both habitable and even more defensible. Three MG-33 now occupied heavily sandbagged and debris revetted bunkers, coils of barbed wire, that had been found now encircled the buildings that formed what was now being dubbed by the men of the 39th Regiment as Festung Kessel.

Of Leutnant von Kalben's original detachment one MG team and twenty rifle men: only six men remained, the rest had been killed or wounded in the fighting. Battalion HQ had sent up reinforcements however, a dozen infantry pioneers and the two additional MG teams, and enough riflemen - fifty in total - to hold the building and several slit trenches hacked into the ground around it. The pioneers had used explosives to knock down several of the surrounding houses to clear lanes of fire, and provide them with material to construct bunkers and bomb proofs and shore up the sides of the trenchs.

Battalion had also assigned a signals team and an artillery observer to his outpost. Festung Kessel was taller then most of the structures around it, and the lay of the land was mostly flat in this part of Vaskes, which made it an ideal artillery spotting position for the LoN Artillery pieces - fire could be directed over most of the town from this point.

Von Kalben was of mixed opinions about the MG-33s, while machinegun support was always invaluable, the MG-33s the IIIrd Battalion had been issued with had proven remarkeably trouble prone. The rain which often froze into frost over night, these past days had caused problems with the machineguns lubrication oils, fortunately that problem had been easily solved by the advise of some Civil Watch Corps troops assigned to the 39th. Well experienced with their country's weather, they had replaced the German troops's lubricating stock with sunflower oil, which didn't freeze.

The other problem encountered with the MG-33s had proved more insidious and rather more difficult to solve: its persistent tendency to jam in action. The machineguns had gone through extensive and demanding trials before being issued to the German Army, so the guns shouldn't have been suffering from any problems, but they were. The Ordance officers and ncos of the battalion had been baffled by this problem - the guns worked when fired, but at certain moments would suddenly fail to operate, typically at the height of combat.

According to what Leutnant von Kalben had heard from other officers, one of the battalion ordance staff had finially figured the problem out and Oberstleutnant Jordan had reportedly hit the roof, when it was explained to him. Several jammed weapons had been repaired, examined and test fired to see what was causing the problem. To the ordance men's surprise, the MG-33 always malfunctioned when it went to sustained fire, but never when firing short bursts.

The problem, they then discovered to their fury, and everyone else who learned of it was the MG-33's firing pin. The ones the IIIrd Battalion had been issued with were defective! When fired at high rates of fire, such as produced by sustained fire - the damned firing pins, became brittle and suddenly either broke or warped, jamming the weapon. Jordan had by all reports screamed blue murder when he found out. Von Kalben imagined a rather terse report was going to hit the desk of the Generalstab of the Army, when the 39th got back to Germany. The ordance officers had made it clear, that the firing pins, were constructed to a very marked substandard, and there had been no way that either the manufacturer or Army inspectors had not known this. Evidently it was agreed that some money had exchanged hands somewhere along the line.

Oberstleutnant Jordan had ordered the defective pins recalled and new ones improvised by the Battalion technical staff from various sources. Most of them had been replaced within the units, and those that still had them were warned to use the weapons fitted with them with some caution.

Von Kalben hobbled down through his positions checking with his men, see to lanes of fire, discussing tactics with squad leaders and seeing that everyone had an adequate stock of ammo, and some hot food to see them through the night. Von Kalben nearly stumbled several times during his inspection, the wicked bayonet slash across his knee was making it increasingly difficult to walk. The wounds in his shoulder and arm weren't helping much either. He slowly made his way back to his command post, shouldering his rifle painfully to accept a offered cup of coffee from Feldwebel Pohl.

As he sat to drink, Leutnant von Kalben felt fatigue wash over him, he really hadn't slept or properly eaten in days - it seemed that he had always been fighting or directing his troops, eveything else was a blur. Von Kalben could hear the artillery observer talking into his field telephone relaying reports to the gunners of the LoN troops. The rain and a heavy mist that blanketted Vaskes was no doubt making the artillery's job harder, it wouldn't do much for infantry spotters either.

Everyone was startled when artillery fire begain to rain down on Festung Kessel. Shock was quickly replaced with action as men dived for their weapons and quickly began scanning their assigned sectors. Von Kalben tossed the cup aside, rose unsteadily to his feet and moved to survey the surrounding area from a sandbagged obersvation post. His binoculars swept the surrounding buildings, if an attack was coming he'd soon see signs of it. More shells began to bracket, Festung Kessel, shaking dust from the rafters.

Feldwebel Pohl's voice lifted over the sound of falling shells.

"Here they come!"

Von Kalben tensed, and saw the mass of troops pouring between two ruined buildings, at least a company, though it was hard to tell in the dark and falling rain. Von Kalben dropped his field glasses and unshouldered his rifle, he would need it soon. Pohl dashed into the command post breathless.

"Two more columns of troops to our right and left flanks as well as the one to our front. Full scale battalion level assault this time, Leutnant!" Pohl gasped, then ran back out of the command post to direct his troops.

"Oh hell." Von Kalben mumured to himself, surprised at his own calm, or perhaps it was just exhausted acceptance, it was hard to tell at this stage.

Leutnant von Kalben, reached for his field telephone linking his outpost to the IIIrd Battalion HQ.

Quoted

Originally posted by Brockpaine
What's the LoN troop count in Vaskes, and in Lithuania as a whole? In the excitement I rather lost track.

I think I've got about a regiment's worth of troops scattered about, but I'm not even really certain on that one...

Suffering the same problem myself. Anyhow, there is a nice OOB on page 2 of this thread.

The Belgians were originally the largest, but others have passed them up. With 1 Cav Regiment and 3 more Cav battalions, 2 inf batt, and ~7 support type companies they should have about 6,800+.

Dutch are in for at least 1 regiment- the 2nd Royal Guard Dragoons, sent an Engineer Company and Air Support company on Sept 7th. As Dutch regiments, supporting arms, run ~3000, there should be ~4,000 in country for the League as is.

On Sept 8th I mentioned arrangements for 2 Engineer battalions...which are now likely the ones currently being volunteered. The support units volunteered at the LON come to ~3,600. The 31st Marine Regiment, if requested is another 3,000 odd.

Luxembourg has sent *nobody* Of course their army is about 400 people.

Hm. Looks like I sent six battalions:
- 2 infantry
- 1 supply
- 2 cavalry
- 1 motorized.

So that's about a regiment and a half. A Bulgarian regiment would seem to run about 1,500 men in four battalions; call it 300 men apiece plus the usual regimental staff... 1,800 to 2,000 Bulgarians here, but only two battalions in Vaskes proper.

In the old days of Bulgarian glory, they had larger battalions: a Bulgarian division was generally equivalent in manpower to a corps in other foreign armies. Post-Great War, that was ended by treaty: the Bulgarians were forced to turn every regiment into a battalion, every regiment into a battalion, etc...

Hm. For the division coming north, let's make it the 5th Infantry Division, commanded by Theodosi Petrov Daskalov; and the addition of the 1st Artillery Regiment, under Colonel Petr Iliev Ilinov; and the 1st and 3rd Divisionary Recon Yatos (24 aircraft, Fw44 biplanes) and the 1st Transport//Recon/Bomber Yato (12 Kaproni-Bulgarski KB 6/KB 309 Papagal).

Vilnius airfield will do fine: main thing to start with is to land a couple of Iron Annies with Luftwaffe air-support teams so they can call in the Stukas on the RIGHT targets. After that, if they're fairly secure, Vilnius airfield would work nicely as a base for Hs-123 battle planes.

President Kazys Grinys looked through the window of his office in Vilnius. The city was a mass of ruins, but already much was being restored or at least being returned to a workable order, a virtual army of workers and engineers seemed to be everywhere within the Vilnius city limits. President had come to review that work, and see just how much an effect that government and international efforts were having on the refugee and displaced persons problem, which had reached epic proportions - at least by Lithuanian standards - nothing this bad had been seen within Lithuania's borders for decades, certainly not since the Great War and the Wars of Independence.

President Grinys turned back to the two men seated before his desk, Field Marshal Pranas Tamassaulo, and General Klemes Papieliushko. Both men looked back at him grim faced and silent, the news from Vaskes or rather the lack of it was not good. The only piece of good news to come their way was that the League of Nations Wilno Task Force still had a working command structure, General Daufresne de la Chevaliere had managed to fight his way out and set up a headquarters at Ladyga. The Belgian general had begun issuing orders left right and center, getting in contact with the Lithuanian government, the League of Nations, and his own scattered troops as quickly as possible.

Both Tamassaulo and Papieliushko expected Daufresne de la Chevalerie to begin asking for more troops to put down the Letowska regime's Wilno National Self-Defense Battalion. Lithuanian popular opinion had exploded, there were increasing demands that the Government do something - anything to help the LoN troops trapped in Vaskes. Unfortunately there wasn't a lot the Lithuanian Government could do - at least not that would only stir up more trouble. The key issue was Lithuanians continued abidance of the Stockholm Ceasefire Agreement. The Lithuanian Government could not and would not break it if there was a chance to salvage this situation peacefully. Grinys for himself doubted that was possible, but the majority of his government clung to the idea, that was it. The result was a political impasse, within his own regime.

"Mr. President we have to do somthing soon, the League is offering more troops and refugee support, I know the government is leary of allowing still more foreign troops on to what is essentially Lithuanian soil but if we don't move to assist the LoN troops at Vaskes, we're going to have to let someone else do it." Tamassaulo remarked quietly.

Grinys nodded tiredly and sat down. General Papieliushko said nothing, there wasn't much for him to say, all he could do is watch the Antanas Line and stop the Wilno from crossing it if they were mad enough to try that. Which seemed likely at the moment, intelligence reports had placed the so-called Wilno National Self-Defense Battalion at a strength of about 8-10,000 armed troops. It looked like Marshal Aleksy Letowska had managed to cobble together another army to prop up his flagging regime at least for the present anyway.

"Pranas, I just don't see a viable way to break the ceasefire agreement, and deploy our military units to Vaskes, and the Stockholm Protocal doesnt help us much at the moment either." Grinys said, Tamassaulo made a face in shared recognition of their problem.

"Actually, Mr. President, I think the Stockholm does offer us a means of intervening." General Papieliushko suddenly remarked. Both Grinys and Tamassaulo stared at the general, Grinys made a gesture for him to continue.

"The Stockholm Protocal was accepted by both our and the Wilno Insurrectionists governments. Marshal Letowska may have tried to over rid it, but he failled to formally do so - he's just moved to ignore it, but the fact remains it was essentially ratified by both of governments." Papieliushko continued.

"Yes, but I fail to see how this helps." Grinys returned.

"The Protocal, places the Civil Watch Corps under the direction of the Lithuanian Ministry of Interior Affairs, and a designated commissioner from the League of Nations. By default, Lieutenant-General Raoul Daufresne de la Chevalerie is that commissioner, and I think it is time, that Lithuania asserted it's responsiblilites for helping maintain law and order in the Wilno region, along side the Civil Watch Corps."

Grinys and Tamassaulo blinked in surprise.

"Oh my God..." Grinys whispered to himself, not realizing he had spoken aloud. Tamassaulo strangled a curse at he turned the idea over in his mind, it could work - if the League of Nations accepted that interpretation of the Stockholm Protocal, which they might given the circumstances.

"I recommend we deploy, the XI Field Corps, as our main tactical unit, it's largely composed of Security or Security Auxiliary Troops at the moment, which fall under Interior Affairs."

"Yes, but the rest of the XI Field Corps, is made up of those foreign volunteers isn't?" Grinys said, thoughtfully. "The Dutch, Legion Oranje, isn't it?"

"Yes." Tamassaulo responded, but he could see where Papieliushko was heading with this conversation. "However, the Legion Oranje could revert to Dutch national control in light of the emergency situation at Vaskes. The XI Field Corps under Brigadier-Generaal Jakob Snellensoon could be then dispatched to join the LoN HQ at Ladyga, to join any relief effort."

"I hear hairs splitting, gentlemen." Grinys remarked wryly, his face serious. "That said it is a great better then doing nothing."

"I'd better alert the cabinet and the Seimas, to this--" Grinys began. Tamassaulo suddenly shook his head in the negative. Grinys stopped talking and waited to hear what his top military advisor had to say.

"Don't alert the government, tell the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister by all means - they need to know so they can act on their parts for this. Leave the rest of the government and the Seimas out of this for the time being, they will only slow things down by demanding to debate the merits of the issue, the League of Nations people in Vaskes, don't have that time. Just request a meeting with the Ambassadors for Bulgaria, Nordmark and Germany, they are offering the most immediate aid at the moment, and we need to co-ordinate with them. And of course the Dutch ambassador, we need his assistance where the Legion Oranje is concerned, as well as any reinforcements that they may send."

Grinys frowned deeply, the suggestion had merit but went against his political experience, but that said even though taking such action would quite possibly break up his coalition government, President Grinys knew he would act on Field Marshal Tamassaulo's advice, it was the right thing to do. It was as simple and as complex as that.

"Very well, Gentlemen, lets get things rolling. Let's hope that history, or at least the lives of the LoN troops in Vaskes, justify our actions." Grinys remarked with surprising calm.

Bulgaria would support the Legion Oranje "switching" to Dutch control to reinforce the LoN Task Force.

That said, my division is still coming north. Even if the troops are pulled out of the fire, there's no assurances that more fires might be started that require a swift boot to the head.

Quoted

"The Protocal, places the Civil Watch Corps under the direction of the Lithuanian Ministry of Interior Affairs, and a designated commissioner from the League of Nations. By default, Lieutenant-General Raoul Daufresne de la Chevalerie is that commissioner, and I think it is time, that Lithuania asserted it's responsiblilites for helping maintain law and order in the Wilno region, along side the Civil Watch Corps."

Skating on thin ice there The details of the law can oddly have little impact on perception of what is 'right'.

Legion Oranje is a sticky business. They are currently Dual-Dutch Lithuanian citizens on furlough from the Dutch military and serving in the Lithuanian forces- thus not "foriegn".

To be "legit" they would have be released from Lithuanian obligations, be reinstated in the Dutch military, and then immediately be seconded to the League. It is possible, if the Lithuanians and League agree that this is desirable.

Edit: As for the matter of more troops, I'm firmly in the camp that believes in having more troops than you think you will need, worse case you have bored troops. Best case, any fires get stomped fast, less casualties long run.

Sargeant Samuel Jenkins of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, wondered not for the first time just how Captain Clifton Arkwright had talked him into this particular escapade. Then again, how had the Captain talked Major Mackenzie into this one was another mystery. Of course, anyone who had seen the handy work of Colonel Sobiestian Kuratowska, Inspector of Prisons and Security Detention Camps, would have been motivated to hunt the man down. Kuratowska was the man responsible for the mass graves at Edykes, and elsewhere in the Wilno Republic. Troops under his orders and command had murdered people - civilians, soldiers, and police men - then tried to hide their work in the soil.

Captain Arkwright had made it something of a personal crusade to bring Kuratowska to justice, and the orders recalling the RCMP contingent to the League of Nations Wilno Task Force, were not going to stop him. Jenkins and his troop figured, Major MacKenzie had judiciously given the orders a blind eye to buy, Arkwight some time.

Jenkins waved silently to his team of three other RCMP constables, as they slipped quietly throught the deserted village, Jenkins didn't even know the places name. It looked quite derelict, so perhaps it had been abandoned before the Polish Insurrection had occurred. Truth be told he didn't care but his mind liked to occupy itself with trivil details at times like this to keep the fear and unease at bay.

Constable William Dubois, moved in a hunter's crouch a few feet to his left, just as Jenkins did, while Constables Gilbert Thorpe and Wayne Moffat stood motionless several paces to his right - their rifles at the ready - in a covering position. The village road they followed was old and worn, lined with scrub and weeds. Jenkins looked ahead at the patch of forest, a cabin could just be made out amid the trees. Jenkins's saw no lights, and slide to a halt, signalling Thorpe and Moffat to leap frog forward to a low wall that meandered amid the trees and partially surrounded the cabin.

Sargeant Jenkins's checked his watch, the moonlight gave him just enough light to see by. Captain Arkwright, and Sargeant Willard Duncan and Constables Victor Duroy, Karl Muller, and Tom Strachan should have gotten into position on the otherside of the road, that lead to the cabin, by now. Jenkins saw that Thorpe and Moffat had reached the low wall, he slipped forward gesturing to Dubois to follow. In a few minutes, the Captain would give the signal and they would storm the cabin from both the front and behind.

I'm sure Shin-Ra will be tickled that the Mounties "always get their man"...presuming they do. Of course if they get their say ...Wilno battalion HQ they may be in deep ...um...trouble.

The mass graves at Edykes is one of the factors that drove international opinion solidly against. Its nice to see how that has played out.

The mounties always get their man but it is also true that the Mounties get there, man.

Colonel Sobiestian Kuratowska paced the interior of the small, single room cabin, paced it like a caged animal - which indeed he was in many ways. Kuratowska, fretted and fumed, as he moved back and forth across the floor. He'd been the virtual second-in-command of the Security Secretariat by virtue of his control of the Prisons and Special Security Detention Camp system set up to take care of the domestic criminal and political dissdents of the Wilno Republic.

Kuratowksa prided himself that he'd done a good job of it - and he still would have been if not for the turn of events, that had forced him into hidding for the last few weeks, and forced him to pass from hidding spot to hidding spot. The League of Nations, had no sense of prespective about his activities - they seemed to have taken a vindictive attitude to his work and had hunted him with a determination bordering on fanaticism. The worst had been the Canadians - the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, or Mounties as they were called. Their pursuit of him, had been the most single-minded, and of all the LoN contingents they had come the closest to capturing him on several hair-raising occassions.

Things however had turned, Marshal Letowska had sent word that he needed his prison and detention specialist once more, a detachment of mounted and motorized troops had been dispatched to escort him to Vaskes to once more resume his work against the Rebel suppporters of General Waclaw, and quite possibly elements of the League of Nations task force. That thought made Colonel Kuratowska smile, he glanced at his watch only a quarter of an hour, perhaps no more then a half an hour and his escort would be here. Til then all he and his three guards needed to do was sit tight and remain hidden. Not that that was difficult in this hide away in the middle of no where.

Colonel Sobiestian Kuratowska whirled as the door of the cabin crashed open - he gapped open mouthed in shock as two men in red RCMP uniforms flung themselves into the room, rifles leveled. Kuratowska fumbled for his pistol.

Quoted

Originally posted by Agent148
Kuratowska fumbled for his pistol.

I think I know how this one ends.......

BLAMO!

Quoted

Originally posted by thesmilingassassin

Quoted

Originally posted by Agent148
Kuratowska fumbled for his pistol.

I think I know how this one ends.......

BLAMO!

"Excuse me, can I have your attention please? Thank you. Anyone carrying illegal weapons if you would place them on the bar. You are under arrest. "

"You realize I'm going to have to confiscate that?"

Due South Classic.

You'd think being an oddball American running Canada, surely I'd get to make dueSouth cracks more often...

Well, you need the proper picture for that bit, Shinra.

I was looking for that, but didn't have much luck. I'm suprised you didn't pick up on the set up I left you in the last post, tho...

; Don't call me Shirley!