WesWorld

January 1
"Releasing tow cable," the glider pilot reported. He yanked on the release handle and the Captain Adrian Munroe felt the difference immediately as the Atlantean-built Vanquish bomber climbed away from the release point, and the Chilean-built Valdivia VEP-11 took up it's business of... well, not falling out of the sky. Munroe glanced out the window at the horizon. Though the morning was cloudy and gray, it was light enough and the weather calm enough to ensure the assault landing went smoothly.

"Everything all right?" Munroe asked the pilot.

"Yes Sir," the pilot replied, tapping his spartan control board. "On time, on target, on a good bit of air."

Munroe nodded. Teniente Coronel Aurelio Salazar had given him the opportunity to take his Number Three Company and "prove" to the General Staff that their money was being invested wisely. The General Staff always questioned the wisdom of the Batallón de Paracaidistas; Salazar had determined to show them what they could do.

Of course, if Monroe or his men screwed up, they'd look rather idiotic in front of an imposing collective of Army brass.

"Three minutes," the glider pilot finally reported. "Beginning approach."

Munroe turned back to the men in the back of the glider. "All right lads, we're coming in. Check your weapons and brace yourselves for landing." Munroe fitted words to action and checked over his own gun, an Atlantean Azeas M1931 SMG, and his m1911 pistol.

The pilot signaled and brought the VEP-11's nose up for landing. The glider crashed through some bushes and then mushed down, skidding to a stop in the brush. Munroe jerked in the restraints as they landed - entirely too rough, he decided - and then unstrapped.

"Everyone okay?" he demanded. "Right, let's go!"

Munroe was the first out the door, and went to a crouched fire-covering position, bringing the Azeas-45 up to his shoulder. "No targets!" he announced.

The rest of the squad spilled out of the glider even as the trailing three VEP-11s skidded to a halt, perfectly on target. Munroe and the command squad spread out and then, once all four squads leaders signaled their readiness, Munroe waved them forward.

Their target was a small hacienda with several outbuildings, a horse paddock, and three staff cars parked by the porch. The Paracaidistas broke into a sprint as they crossed the lawn, the first alarm shout reached their ears. On the picket post, two sleepy MPs stumbled out of their chairs as forty well-armed paras in green-brown face paint, stahlhelms, and Andes-pattern camouflage jackets overran their position. Munroe himself charged up the front steps of the hacienda, three men on his heels, bellowing "Boinas Azules, viva the Blue Berets!" at the top of his lungs.

A dozen generals of the Ejercito GHQ were still sitting around the breakfast table when Munroe dashed inside. "Sirs!" he shouted out. "The hacienda is mine, you are the prisoners of the Blue Berets!"

General Enrique Fernaldo, the commander of the Army of Valparaíso, laughed and broke the spell. "Coronel Salazar!" he roared. "You dog! You ordered them in an hour early!"

The short teniente coronel appeared from amid the ranks of the paras. "I'm afraid so, General. I believe you were looking for a demonstration of the capabilities of my men and techniques? This is my demonstration, Sir. Surprise, speed, shock! Arrive before they're expected, with the firepower to win and the shock to clear the way! You can imagine what they could do if they actually wanted to cause damage."

"If they wanted to cause damage?" General Esteban growled. "What about the damage to my pants?! Jesus, Mary and Joseph, I thought for a moment it was a bloody coup!" The other generals roared with laughter, and Munroe restrained a grin: it was a coup of sorts.

"With the generals' permissions, I'll be seeing to my men."

"We'll be around to inspect them in a few minutes, Capitan," General Matias-Martin said. "Damn fine work, boy, damn fine work."

January 2
The Scouting Force raised anchor today in Valparaiso harbor, and got underway for their three-month North Pacific cruise. The force of cruisers will stop first to visit the Pacific base of the Columbian Navy before voyaging to make port calls in San Diego (US), Los Angeles (US), San Francisco (US), and Portland. After Portland, the squadron will divide, with O'Higgins and Volcan Osorno visiting the Canadian city of Vancouver, and Capitan Oyama and Nevado Ojos del Salado visiting the American cities of Seattle and Tacoma.

January 4
The Armada de Chile Arma Aérea has approved the construction of several new naval air stations. A new base for flying boats and airships will be built at Puerto Varas on Lago Llanquihue, and an Airship Station at Caldera on the Pacific Coast. Both bases will have the facilities for both rigid and nonrigid dirigibles. Additionally, a 10,000-foot asphalt runway will be constructed on Easter Island, and facilities for two airships will be added there. Finally, the Armada approved the purchase of six nonrigid airships from Atlantis, to be named the Galvarino class, and a single metalclad rigid airship to be named the Capitan Prat. Delivery is scheduled for 1938, awaiting the construction of maintenance facilities. Until then, completed ships will remain in Atlantis on training maneuvers. The decision follows LAN Airline's announcement of starting an airship route flying out of Valparaiso.

Ok, you've peaked my curiousity, what design is the Valdivia VEP-11 based on?

Quoted

Originally posted by thesmilingassassin
Ok, you've peaked my curiousity, what design is the Valdivia VEP-11 based on?

Well, since I never have written stats it's very ahistoric...

If it's based on anything it would probably be something like the Russian Grokhovski G-63 from 1932. The G-63 featured a 16-passenger load but was never accepted by Soviet service, and was merely a trials craft. Alternately, the ten-passenger (ten men including pilot) complement would put it in the same class as the German DFS 230 glider.

I'm extremely hard-pressed to find a decent picture of the Grokhovski glider; the DFS-230 is much closer in looks to what I expect the VEP-11 looks like.

VEP stands for Valdivia Ejercito Planeador or Valdivia army glider, if my translation works somewhat correctly; the 11 designation comes from the overly-ambitious goal of hoping to cram eleven men into a ten-man glider.

There are only six VEP-11 gliders built at present, and the Paras just used four of them in their demonstration. However, as the demonstration went well, there will be an order for more, sufficient to move perhaps two companies. The rest of the Batallón de Paracaidistas is proper parachute infantry, though they don't have any transport planes. In general they are not intended to be deployed with the full battalion strength, but at this point are merely air-mobile scouts. The glider troops are still in concept, so to speak, but I'll be mentioning it extensively in 1937.

These are the only pictures I could find.

http://mkmagazin.almanacwhf.ru/avia/g_11.htm

http://www.airwar.ru/enc/glider/g29.html

Actually, the first one isn't th G-63, thought it is a Gribovsky: that's the G11 glider the Russians built in 1941 after seeing the German Eben Emael assault in action.

This appears to be the 1932 G63 glider... yes, it IS a terrible picture, but it's the only one I've found.

Hmmm, I'm sure the Argentine General Staff will take note of such excercises. Even so it would take alot to persuade them this is not some kind of stunt. They would point to the AA protection Argentine HQs have (even if only MGs) in wartime. Of course at night such a raid would be more deadly/stealthy.

One of the lessons Bharat got from the Hammer Exercise is that while an interesting concept right now is not worth the effort. You need air superiority to get the troopers to a location, they lack the necessary heavy equipment to resist any concentrated enemy counterattack supported by armored vehicles and the training spent in this elite troops could be better expended in units that could give a better buck for their cost. ( Armored cavalry troopers, naval infantry and pilots for example)

In short, Bharat will learn to protect possible airborne targets against that contingency but will not pursue any units of their own for now.

Quoted

Originally posted by perdedor99
One of the lessons Bharat got from the Hammer Exercise is that while an interesting concept right now is not worth the effort. You need air superiority to get the troopers to a location, they lack the necessary heavy equipment to resist any concentrated enemy counterattack supported by armored vehicles and the training spent in this elite troops could be better expended in units that could give a better buck for their cost. ( Armored cavalry troopers, naval infantry and pilots for example)

Well, the Chileans aren't going to be ignoring Armoured units either...

Atlantis will certainly take note of these exercizes as it has its own glider design in the works.

January 5
The Intendant of Potosi, General Francisco D'Alarch, held on tightly to his cap as the prop wash from the Ripon's engines slowly subsided. The Bolivian who had come to meet him didn't wear a cap, and being bald, had no hair to be disturbed by either the prop wash or the steady Montaigne wind. D'Alarch had been losing enough hair over the past few years that he wanted to keep what remained, and thus held his hat down tightly as he greeted the Bolivian generalissimo.

"President Stiles," D'Alarch said.

"Intendent D'Alarch," the Bolivian president replied, shaking the Chilean's hand firmly: all muscle, firm grip, no contest to see who could break the other's hand. Businesslike, D'Alarch concluded.

The Bolivians had a staff car waiting for them, and D'Alarch's aides and bodyguards trooped along as they drove to the hacienda just down the street from the airfield. "It looks as if recovery is going well here," D'Alarch commented.

"Sucre was not heavily damaged by the earthquake," Stiles replied. "We are still getting food and supplies out into the smaller towns and villages. We barely even know the full extent of the damage."

Once the two government men had established themselves in the conference room, the discussion started in earnest. Stiles leaned forward and began without even glancing at his notes. "I presume you know why I asked for this discussion, Intendant. My government is faced with a serious situation on the Peruvian border."

"I'm aware of the generalities situation, but not many specifics," D'Alarch said. "We've had a few difficulties talking with the Peruvians after the Santiago Agreement was passed. Could you expound on the problem for me?"

Stiles nodded. "The problem comes down to the Bolivian People's Communes the Peruvian Army set up in the regions they moved into - La Paz, Cochabamba, Oruro, and such. The People's Communes have not accepted the primacy of my government, and are starting to draw military formations with Peruvian help."

"Diaz and the Peruvian expansionists at work?" D'Alarch asked.

"It seems likely to me," Stiles said. "The Bolivian People's Communes and their associated Bolivian People's Brigades are irregulars at best, organized more for anti-bandit work than anything else, but there are some core units that my informants say are Peruvian regulars in People's Brigade uniforms. Unfortunately, the People's Brigades troops are loose cannons, from what I can ascertain. The Bolivian Colorados Regulares under my command - my former regiment - I have kept them in line and maintaining order with a minimum of incidents. In the regions around La Paz, the People's Brigades only keep order in the loosest sense of the word. I have received numerous accounts that they are not reliable in distributing foreign aid to the populace, and that would be the most tame of the charges I've heard. The rest - looting and pillaging, rapes and murders, the like. The Peruvian soldiers have not actively moved to stop it, and in many instances have engaged in the same activity."

Stiles paused for a drink of water, then resumed speaking. "Quite simply, though the Peruvian government has indicated compliance with your Santiago Agreement, their troops are not moving, and have seen fit to fortify certain districts of La Paz alongside the People's Brigades. In short, western Bolivia is evolving from anarchy into something of a feudal warlord society; nominally loyal to the concept of Bolivia as a nation, but not acknowledging my government's attempts to assert national law and order."

"What steps have you taken?"

"Mostly political," Stiles replied. "Messages to the Peruvian government have gone unanswered; proclamations to the People's Communes and Brigades have been ignored. On two occasions, some of my commanders attempted to call People's Brigades into the ranks of my Regulares, and both were shot, one fatally. Of course, if you speak to the People's Brigades, you will receive an alternate tale."

D'Alarch nodded. "Of course. And you feel much of the problem originates in Peru's continued support for the People's Communes?"

"Absolutely," Stiles said. "Not just support, though. The People's Communes generally meet under the oversight of the Peruvian Army, and anything the Peruvian commanders disagree with is vetoed and censored. Of course their actions must generally be favorable to the Peruvians: the Peruvian Army is the one force in western Bolivia which is actually managing to distribute foreign aid without stealing most of it for themselves. My problem is not chiefly with the People's Communes per se, as they've given me figureheads to negotiate with; it's the actions of the People's Brigades which are truly worrisome to me. If the situation was normal, I'd be preparing the Colorados for campaigning against the People's Brigades, but I don't have enough forces to take action against the People's Brigades while still maintaining order in Sucre and the associated regions, and distributing foreign aid."

D'Alarch nodded and leaned back in his chair. It was as I feared, he thought. We recognized Stiles as the one man who had the possible authority to lead Bolivia, and the one most palatable to us; and now he cannot assert control. If we force the Peruvians out of western Bolivia, we give Stiles control... but eliminate the force which is getting more done in that sector.

"Ideally, then, your government is seeking a diplomatic solution with Peru to have them withdraw their support for the People's Communes and People's Brigades, while retaining their humanitarian aid troops while you put back the infrastructure to maintain law and order," D'Alarch summarized.

"Yes, at the base of it all," Stiles said. "Unfortunately, Peru has never recognized me as the legitimate president of Bolivia - in truth that will have to wait for the April elections in order to be constitutional. Which is why I had to come to you; I hope the Chilean government can bring me to the table with the Peruvian leaders and the People's Communes so that my nation does not splinter. If the League of Nations cannot administer elections to all of Bolivia, then my country's political processes will be useless. If you seek a democratic Bolivia, this is the time for you to act."

"We will do all we can," D'Alarch replied. Well, it's not all bad. I figured he was intending to ask for Chilean troops. That will be a day to freeze Hell...

January 19
Representatives of the Chilean government will be meeting in La Paz in mid-February to broker discussions between the Bolivian government of Felix Stiles. Commentators have noted that managing the meeting was a major victory for Chilean diplomats, as Peruvian government officials have refrained from acknowledging General Stiles' government, and communications between Chile and Peru have been heavily strained following the Santiago Agreement.

February 10
The Chilean Foreign Minister has arrived in La Paz, Bolivia to broker meetings between acting-President Felix Stiles of Bolivia, and Peruvian ambassadors.

February 11
Drama in La Paz!

This morning, Chilean, Bolivian and Peruvian diplomats met to discuss issues of security to the Bolivian government, particularly relating to the People's Communes and People's Brigades operating in Peruvian-administered regions of Bolivia. No agreements were reached in the first day. "The Chilean government feels a strong and vested interest in the stability and peacefulness of Bolivia, and feels action is necessary to ensure this," the Chilean Foreign Minstry said.

Acting-President Stiles of Bolivia, following the morning discussions, traveled to northern La Paz to meet with leaders of the El Alto La Paz People's Commune. The meeting reportedly progressed well for President Stiles until shortly before 4:00 PM, when armed People's Brigade troops entered the meeting building and arrested Stiles for "treason against the Bolivian People". The Bolivian president's whereabouts are currently unknown, but he is believed to still be alive, albeit in People's Brigade custody.

The Chilean Foreign Minister and his aides immediately returned to Potosi, fearing for their safety. The Peruvian delegates also reportedly fled to a Peruvian Army compound.

February 12
The La Paz 2nd People's Brigade, under Colonel Alfredo Munoz, has proclaimed that they were responsible for the arrest of Acting-President Stiles. Colonel Munoz has, prior to this point, been one of the most popular and powerful candidates for the April 7th Bolivian presidential election, running against Acting-President Stiles, who Colonel Munoz has called "a Foreign Monkey-Slave".

With President Stiles' arrest, the Bolivian government is in turmoil, with no strong leader to take control of the nascent Bolivian government.

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OOC: Story in progress, working with Tanthalas; please nobody take any precipitous action until the story is complete! Everything shall be resolved satisfactorily.

February 14
The Chilean Army Chiefs of Staff immediately got down to business. "We're here to discuss the situation in Bolivia," General Esteban said. "General Arrau, the floor is yours."

The chief of the Army's War Plans Department already had his notes out, and launched into conversation. "Agencia Nacional de Inteligencia has just provided me at 1600 hours the known locations of La Paz 2nd People's Brigade headquarters, camps, and associated unit locations. They've also provided me information from an ANI agent inside the People's Brigade." He glanced towards a map. "Major Velasco, if you please. ANI's agent has informed us that President Stiles is being held at a ski resort northwest of La Paz, a place near Huayna Potosi and Chacataya. We have air recon and ground photographs here. Altitude is over four thousand meters in most places, with the summit of Huayna Potosi being over six thousand.

"Here is the building where Stiles is being held," Arrau continued. "It's accessible by a single-lane road and a ski-lift which rises approximately four hundred meters from the base of the mountain. The building itself is built like a luxury hotel; twenty suites on two floors. There are three covered machine-gun posts outside. Our agent estimated twenty People's Brigade guards directly in the building, with another forty-odd men in the outside guard posts, and a hundred men in various positions on the road and guarding the lower end of the ski-lift."

"Is ANI's agent trustworthy?" General Esteban asked.

"He'd better be; he's actually a Chilean mole," Arrau replied.

"What are our options?" Esteban said.

"The obvious alternative is to send in the Army of Potosi and the Army of Antofagasta," General Fernaldo said. "Or elements of them, at least. With the poor state of the Bolivian militia and only a few light Peruvian support units, we could seize La Paz and-"

"Both political and military realities prevent that course," Arrau said. "The state of transportation in western Bolivia prevents the large-scale deployment of troops, which is precisely what the Peruvians have had issues with in distributing aid. A flying column like the Peruvians tried in the Andean War won't work; it would be bogged down in the terrain and cut apart by attrition."

"What about the political ramifications of intervention, here?" General Fernaldo pressed.

Arrau sipped a glass of water before continuing. "We need to keep Bolivia together or we'll end up with a disaster sitting on our northern borders. Stiles' government has agreed to abide by the Treaty of Bogota, but Colonel Munoz, who is responsible for this problem, is one of Bolivia's chief irredentists and has pushed even before the earthquake for the Treaty to be repudiated. Having him as the leader of Bolivia - and he seems poised to take that position with Stiles out of his way - would be a political disaster for us."

General Matias-Martin interrupted. "Chile and Brazil recognized General Stiles's government back in November for several very sound reasons, in my opinion. First, he's a war hero - he commanded the invasion of Antofagasta, after all. He had solid democratic and popular credentials with the Bolivian people, and the movement to make him acting president was an internal Bolivian movement. He's not "our man in La Paz" as some like to call him - quite frankly, the man gives me a headache - but he's committed to stability and democracy in Bolivia and he's our best chance for maintaining that peace."

"And if we intervene too spectacularly in his behalf," General Arrau said, "He loses much of his formidable reputation in the eyes of the average Bolivian citizen; he just becomes the Chilean patsy. Which is precisely why we can't send the Army into Bolivia to pull him out."

"We have one option that hasn't been considered yet," General Esteban said. "Excuse me, gentlemen; I need to place a telephone call."

Just something to note: the province of Tacna was returned to Peru by the Treaty of Savannah in 1932, so it's not part of Chile any longer. See these threads: http://wesworld.jk-clan.de/thread.php?threadid=4361&sid= and http://wesworld.jk-clan.de/thread.php?th…304&sid=&page=2

Quoted

Originally posted by Hrolf Hakonson
Just something to note: the province of Tacna was returned to Peru by the Treaty of Savannah in 1932, so it's not part of Chile any longer. See these threads: http://wesworld.jk-clan.de/thread.php?threadid=4361&sid= and http://wesworld.jk-clan.de/thread.php?th…304&sid=&page=2

Yes, I know? I'm not really certain what that has to do with anything... I didn't even mention Tacna, did I?

I mentioned it here because I saw it on your post for the history of Chile and it appeared to me that it was still being listed as a Chilean province. If I'm wrong, I'll delete my post....

Quoted

Originally posted by Hrolf Hakonson
I mentioned it here because I saw it on your post for the history of Chile and it appeared to me that it was still being listed as a Chilean province. If I'm wrong, I'll delete my post....

Ah, you probably missed the text between the two images, which says:

Quoted

Since the Andes War from 1932 - 1934 Chile has expanded its borders into Bolivia and the Gran Chaco. They however lost the Providence of Tacna to Peru for help in the war against the aggressive Bolivia.

The text up top was originally written by Ithekro and I haven't written anything new up for it.

February 16
[SIZE=1]0606 Hours, 16°21'S by 67°56'W[/SIZE]

High above the Bolivian mountains the towing aircraft, another Spartan Vanquish-IIM, dropped the tow cable and Captain Munroe listened to the whisper of air over the glider's wings. "Turning west," Pilot Officer Agosin muttered quietly under his breath.

Munroe glanced out the window. The waxing moon had set the previous night and wouldn't rise until 1100 hours, but the sky was clear and the stars shone. The sun was not yet up, but was starting to light the eastern horizon in gray half-light.

"Four minutes," Agosin said, glancing at the lights on the ground.

"Can you see if the other gliders are with us?" Munroe asked anxiously.

"If you don't mind, sir, I'm concentrating on not flying us into the mountain, so please shut up," Agosin said. "You can bust me on the ground."

Munroe snorted, but said nothing in response. The glider abruptly shivvered as it hit a blast of wind from the mountains, and the pilot grunted as he wrestled with the control stick. "You can also start praying," the pilot snapped. "No go-arounds here..."

Munroe gripped his wood-slat seat as the turbulence bounced them around. Munroe could fly the glider - it was why he was sitting in the front, after all - and he had known to expect the turbulence, which was why he insisted upon only four gliders in the assault force, and handpicked the best glider pilots. Of course Teniente Coronel Salazar had insisted upon commanding the bare-bones platoon of volunteers Munroe had chosen.

"There's the glacier," the pilot said. "Too high, too fast. Flaps."

Munroe hauled on the flaps while the pilot pushed the stick forward; the VEP-11 nosed towards the ground and Agosin frantically worked the few controls the VEP-11 boasted. The glider cleared an rocky arête and Munroe got his first good look at the target zone. The glacial valley, with the road running along it to the ski lodge, was snow-covered and probably the flattest bit of earth close by. The lights in the lodge had been turned on, casting the only good illumination on the landing zone.

"Brace for landing!" Munroe roared, and five seconds later the VEP-11's wooden keel crunched into the snow. The tiller jerked out of Agosin's hands and smacked him in the chest, and the glider slid wildly until coming to a stop.

"Door," Munroe ordered, unbuckling his retraints and picking up his rifle. The Blue Berets had just received a shipment of Tokarev rifles the day before, and even two of the rifles equipped with three-power sniper scopes. Munroe had his reservations about deploying with a new rifle which had never seen active service, but had accepted for his part a carbine-length Tokarev.

The paras piled out into the ankle-deep snow, with the command squad's machine-gunner instinctively hitting the ground and unfolding the bipod on his BAR. All that greeted them was silence.

"Where's the rest of us?" someone whispered.

"No idea," Munroe replied. "Let's move away from the glider before somebody sees us and sounds the alarm."

Munroe's squad quickly fanned out. They were less than a hundred yards from the lodge - Surely someone heard us?

A quiet cough suddenly broke the silence, close by to Munroe's right. "Carlos, is that you?" a man asked loudly. "What are you... Halt! Who goes-" The crack of a Tokarev rifle rang across the glacier, echoing loudly from the mountains, fading into the choked cry of the wounded Bolivian sentry.

"Oh sh!$, where are the other gliders?" Munroe growled. Several Bolivian guards at the machine-gun post on his right flank were already slewing their Colt 1895 around to deal with the shocking appearance of enemies, even if they didn't understand who was attacking them.

Munroe's squad opened fire even as they hit the dirt, only Munroe staying on his feet as the Potato Digger rattled a short burst out, one round snapping through his jacket and leaving a neat hole. But the machine-gun fire drowned out the hiss of a second glider sliding in the snow, and a second VEP-11 materialized out of the growing light and crashed straight through the Bolivian machine-gun post, silencing the gun and scattering the surviving crew, who had not a clue as to what in the world had hit them - but they wanted none of it.

"Get up, men, and follow me!" Munroe shouted. The paras immediately followed, and converged on the front entrance to the ski resort. The door opened before they even got to it, and a bleary-eyed Bolivian People's Brigade soldier looked out. Seeing gleaming bayonets and the greased faces of the Paras, he tossed his rifle in the air and fled as fast as his feet could carry him.

Munroe knew from his briefing that Stiles was imprisoned in an upstairs room. Hoping he had not been too slow, he and two men ran up the central staircase, taking the steps two at a time, and ran headlong into a man in a Bolivian colonel's uniform, who made the mistake of wielding a pocket pistol in the paras' faces. Munroe simply brought up the butt of his rifle into the Bolivian colonel's stomach, and as the colonel folded up like a wet newspaper, Munroe shoved him aside and moved down the hall to one of the grand suites. The People's Brigade sentry - a frightened-looking youth who's knees were visibly knocking - squeaked "Who are you?"

"Old enough to be your daddy," Munroe snarled. "Drop your gun!"

The kid squeaked in fright and immediately did as he was ordered; Munroe stepped into the suite and found the Bolivian president blinking sleep from his eyes. "What in the world..."

"Boinas Azules, Ejercito de Chile. I am Capitan Munroe, Mr. President. We are here to rescue you."

Stiles sighed in relief. "Thank God, Capitan."

"Get dressed," Munroe said. "We have to get down the mountain to the lake. Are you capable of a short march?"

Stiles looked offended. "I may be an old man, Capitan, but I'm perfectly capable of-"

"I'll take that as a 'yes' then, Sir," Munroe replied, grinning to show his mood. "Private Encina, please help the Presidente with whatever he needs."

Munroe hurried back out into the ski resort's main room, coming face to face with Teniente Coronel Salazar. "Report," the lieutenant colonel barked.

"The President is safe and will soon be ready to go," Munroe reported.

"Good," Salazar said. "The grounds are secure; these People's Brigade soldiers would rather run away than shoot at us. But that could change. Who's that?" he demanded, looking off to one side where one of Munroe's squad runners was sitting on the Bolivian colonel. "My God, is that Munoz?" Salazar said.

Stiles, just entering the room in the borrowed jacket of a Chilean para, heard and replied to the comment. "Yes, that is Colonel Munoz, head of the La Paz People's Brigade!"

"You Chilean dogs!" Munoz spat. "My men will regroup and avenge me for the everlasting glory of Boliv-" Munoz was abruptly silenced as one of the paras planted his rifle-butt in the Bolivian colonel's teeth, leaving him with several fewer than when he started talking.

"Enough of this," Salazar said. "Presidente Stiles, if you're ready, we need to move out at once. Our rides are here ten minutes after dawn. Corporal, bind Colonel Munoz's hands and bring him with us: if he resists, shoot him."

The Blue Berets quickly moved out into the pale pink morning light. A few paras set the wooden gliders alight, and the wood-and-fabric craft went up like kindling. The road ran downhill towards another flat space; this one was longer than the glacial valley the gliders used for landing. A few shots rang out from the surrounding ridges: untrained People's Brigade riflemen, who had scattered and fled with barely a fight, taking potshots at anything which startled them. The Chileans occasionally fired back if the range was right or if the riflemen were shooting too close, but there were no obvious casualties on either side.

Precisely on time, a buzz was heard to the west and a quartet of Valdivia Twin Condors, painted white and equipped with skis, swept down to land on the snow-covered field. Munroe knew from his briefing that the field had occasionally been used before for just this purpose. Overhead a flight of twin-engine Cutlass fighter-bombers prowled, ready to bounce any fighters which dared intervene, or strafe any ground targets that might oppose the Paras, but they were out of work for this day.

The Twin Condors left their engines idling and the loadmaster threw open the siding side doors. The Blue Berets retained their professional deployment even as they ran to get aboard the planes; move, cover, move, cover, repeat.

As the Blue Berets piled into their rides home, Munroe did a quick head count, giving a quick caper of glee when he found all of his men accounted for. Teniente Coronel Salazar was the last man to board, and the Condor pilots advanced their throttles.

As the Twin Condors clawed for altitude, Munroe turned to the men in his plane. "Good job, men!" he shouted in the exhilaration of success. "Viva the Blue Berets!"

-------------------------------------------------------------

February 16
This news just in! Bolivian acting-president Stiles was snatched to safety this morning from the custody of Bolivian People's Brigade troops. A dawn assault by unknown forces [Note 1], presumed to be Bolivian Colorados Regulares loyal to Stiles, assaulted the ski chalet of Huayna Potosi where the President was being held. Several People's Brigade commanders admitted that Stiles had escaped but insisted the attackers had lost "nearly two hundred men" in the assault, with only two dozen Bolivian dead and wounded. [Note 2]

In related news, Colonel Alfredo Munoz has apparently disappeared.

[Note 1] The Chilean government never admitted its role in the Huayna Potosi assault until 1949, after the retirement of President Stiles from Bolivian politics. However, it was widely acknowledged within weeks of the operation's end that the Chilean army, and not the Bolivian Army, had carried off the operation. When interviewed in 1950 about the assault and its success, then-Colonel Munroe simply commented "What can I say? The stars aligned."
[Note 2] For once, the Bolivians got accurate casualty figures for their own side. Upon later reconstruction of the events of Huayna Potosi, it was determined that at the sound of the assault, between forty and fifty Bolivian People's Brigade troops bolted without firing a shot. One machine-gunner was killed when he was run over by a Chilean assault glider, and three more men were wounded by rifle fire; the rest of the casualties occurred nearly two hours later due to a friendly-fire accident when the BPB troops returned to the ski resort, and two different parties fired on each other for over an hour.

Hmmm, was Colonel Alfredo Munoz too much trouble to bring along or did he simply defect rather than be disgraced by this operations resounding success?

Atlantis secretly sends its congradulations for a well executed raid and the successfull rescue of Presidente Stiles.

Hmm, FAR installing a puppet how surprising...Ah, well since the neighbors dont mind

Could be worse, we could carve up the country's territory and share it with Peru ala Pakistan, alas we're just not that greedy.