WesWorld

October 15th, 1935

In light of the recent "declaration of war" by Marshal Letowska against the League of Nations peacekeepers, the government of Bulgaria would like to condemn the Wilno leadership and Marshal Letowska in particular.

- Marshal Letowska has declared war against the common cause of peace and against the members of the League in whole;
- Letowska is preventing a trial of possible war-crimes violations, and thus should stand accused of aiding and abetting possible war criminals;
- Letowska's forces are breaking the previous ceasefire that placed LoN forces in southeastern Lithuania.

Therefore:
- Bulgaria demands that Marshal Alexi Letowska be charged with crimes against humanity, and tried by a proper and legal tribunal even if tried in absentia.
- Bulgaria calls for the League to address the situation of those left homeless by the fighting as winter approaches. Even if the offer of troops is not accepted, the Bulgarian Army will send field tents suitable for holding refugees.
- Bulgaria makes the offer of a full infantry division (four infantry regiments), with an attendant artillery regiment, the Bulgarian tank battalion, and an air spotting/support regiment, to reinforce the League of Nations Wilno Task Force. (That's nearly 9,000 men according to my ORBAT.)

If this proposal is not accepted, then Bulgaria will consider the job of the Task Force to be over, and will likewise view the ceasefire between the Lithuanian government and Wilno to be dead.

Atlantis supports the Bulgarian preposal and would also like to offer up forces for the region.

One Corsair Regiment, three infantry regiments and the 14th tank battalion can be offered imediately via Byzantium, Bulgaria, Romania and the Russian federation.

Japan supports the proposal as well.

Japan would like to send troops to help out with the situation, but fears that the arrival of foreign troops from yet another nation will just make the situation worse thus Japan will only send forces to help out should the League of Nations deem this to be necessary.

Like Bulgaria, Japan will send tents as well as field beds, blankets, food and medical supplies to help out the homeless as well as the League of Nation soldiers (if necessary).

Dutch Staatssecretaris of Foreign Affairs, Frank Reuter :
We agree with the Bulgarians that steps necessary to ensure the success of the League effort in Lithuania should be undertaken.

We applaud the Bulgarian readiness to send a large force to aid General Orbay, and we Dutch will happily surrender the distinction of supplying the largest force (1). Should General Orbay or the League request additional land or air forces, the Netherlands can be counted on.

Are Bulgarian colleague is of course correct as to the deprivations the poor civilian population has and will continue to suffer this coming winter. The Netherlands has already provided substantial aid with both material and skilled engineers. The primary barrier is time, and the ongoing conflict. The Netherlands will continue to make efforts to provide support for the people of Lithuania.

As for the call for trial (see OOC note) I am unsure of what is being sought here, and why the League's court, the Permanent Court of International Justice located in den Hague, would not be the appropriate venue for any action. The Permanent Court and the other tenants of the Peace Palace, the Hague Academy of International Law, Library of International Law, and Permanent Court of Arbitration would presumably have the expertise and authority to resolve any issues brought before them.

edit : items in italics

(1) A sloppy reference to the >4,000 Dutch troops officially there- Dragoon regiment, engineer battalions, services companies, etc.

OOC : Are "War Crimes" and "Crimes against Humanity" existing legal concepts? My understanding was the concept of something chargeable was WWII, and violating the laws of war before then just made you look bad. Looking at "War Crime" in Wiki it sounds like our version is a WWII creation.
So... Bulgaria is proposing a new role for the League and new categories of behavior?

Gaston François Marie, Viscount Eyskens, Belgian delegate :

The Belgian government welcomes the Bulgarian offer of troops and aid. We condemn the actions of the Marshall in shattering the Peace. Having suffered in recent memory the devastation of war(1), we sympathize with Lithuanian people. (2)

Baron Édouard de Blochausen, Luxembourgian delegate :
We agree with Belgium, and the people of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg feel that some form of League action is recommended.

(1)must...take...potshot...at...evil...huns...
(2)high sounding language, no actual action...diplomacy

On hearing the news King Carl Phillip frankly hit the roof.

after he had calmed down, all Nordish bomber groups in the South are put on alert, all leave is cancelled in the Baltic fleet, and the 1st Armoured Division is ordered to form up to full strength ready for immediate deployment with troopships, and rail ferries being positioned accordingly.

Quoted

Originally posted by Kaiser Kirk
So... Bulgaria is proposing a new role for the League and new categories of behavior?

...hrm, possibly. I might be ahead of the curve by calling for it. Perhaps a better non-WWII example, though, might be Napoleon Bonaparte following Waterloo, and being exiled to St. Helena.

My opinion OOC is that if your troops shoot prisoners and civilians, and a leader then protects said troops from trial and tries to cover up their crimes, then the leader is just as guilty of genocide as the troops. Since it appears Letowska is supporting and perhaps even ordering this genocide, and preventing war criminals from coming to trial, AND breaking the ceasefire, I figured it's a safe penumbra to call for his arrest.

Doing a bit of reading, we can use the case of Emil Muller from the Leipzig War Trials (1920) as the precedent which establishes "command responsibility" for charging Marshal Letowska for failing to take all the steps necessary to control his troops.

Upon further investigation we probably can attach the Wilno Major who started the siege of the Vaskes hospital to Letowska's command staff, which can establish a clear chain of command to charge him on at least one count. It'd probably be too weak to call for the death penalty, though.

Still. Someone stupid enough to call for military action against LoN peacekeeping troops really can't complain if the participants kick his sorry tail into a defendant's dock. Bulgaria is starting to see Marshal Letowska as the primary fountainhead of trouble in Lithuania/Wilno, the person who is holding up the peace: best to nip it in the bud.

Atlantis up untill this point has tried to refrain from sending any combat troops to the Wilno area, merely sending police forces to keep the peace. With Letowskas action against the Vaskes hospital, Atlantis no longer feels that restraint is nessassary.

Quoted

Originally posted by Earl822
On hearing the news King Carl Phillip frankly hit the roof.

after he had calmed down, all Nordish bomber groups in the South are put on alert, all leave is cancelled in the Baltic fleet, and the 1st Armoured Division is ordered to form up to full strength ready for immediate deployment with troopships, and rail ferries being positioned accordingly.

OOC: this is calmed down!?

*cough cough, Atlantis offers up the equivilent of an Infantry Division and not a peep cough*

Great Britain strongly detests Marshal Letowska's actions and agrees that the man should be arrested along with the Wilno leadership and imprisioned and put on trial at the Hague.

GB will not offer any troops so as not to inflame the situation but is standing by to ship aid and food supplies.

We feel that the LoN now has the justifcation to use all reasonable means to enforce peace and disarm the criminal Wilno forces.

Well, with three foreign divisions being prepared to rescue or avenge Vaskes...

Well for a man who spent almost a year on and off trying to get a peace settlement. I'd say thats calm.

Quoted

Originally posted by Brockpaine
Well, with three foreign divisions being prepared to rescue or avenge Vaskes...

OOC : I was thinking of offering the Dutch 3rd Marine Brigade, which is well structured for this type of work, but it looks a little redundant now.

Air support is likely more useful, given the Dutch ground troops, engineers and air services company present.

The offer of KDM Jutland standing off the coast still stands!!

Dutch Staatssecretaris of Foreign Affairs, Frank Reuter :

I am pleased to announce my Government will offer the following assistance to the current situation:

Two engineer battalions, and two air services companies and two transport companies, which shall depart by rail for Lithuania within 24 hours and will assist the Lithuanians with their airfields.

Four medical companies and a further two transport companies, as well as four motorized communication platoons to depart over the next week and to aid the displaced population.

Lastly, given the constraints on field capacity at Vilnus, sending combat aircraft seems pointless until the fields are repaired, however we will also release to the League a squadron (32) of Arend transports, with a 4 ton payload and mudstrip capability, all they need is a field or road and they can fly supplies to needed locations in Lithuania from our friends in Denmark or Germany.

Edit: Should the League commander desire more troops, or troops faster, We are prepared to ship a regiment of the 3rd Marine Brigade by those same Arend transports. The riflemen of the first battalion can be landing in seven hours if desired, but the transport of the entire regiment, artillery, and supplies will take several more days.

Romanian Foreign Affairs Minister Nicolae Titulescu:

Romania agrees with the Bulgarian postion on the matter of Marshal Letowska. We spent hours arguing for some form of negotiations, then this (blank) decides to muck everything up by declaring war on the League! We are quite upset with Mr. Letowska, especially considering that recent reports indicate that his troops are attacking a field hospital, where Romanian medics are working.

Therefore, we would like to offer 1 infantry battalion, 1 cavalry battalion, 2 light and heavy artillery battalions, 2 engineer battalions, and 8 railroad repair companies. 4 more medical teams would also be sent. It should be noted that there has been overwhelming support for what the Romanian medics are doing in Lithuania in Romania, and volunteers have come forward, enough to supply an additional 4 more teams should they be needed.

We would ask that the infantry and artillery battalions go to the immediate relief of the force guarding the Field Hospital, while the other forces would used at the discretion of General Orbay.

Atlantis is currently awaiting permission to send its troops through Romanian/Bulgarian territory to Lithuania then Wilno.

Nicolae Titulesce sends a note to Atlantean delegation.

Gentlemen, the request is of course granted. Just let us know when.

Bulgaria likewise okays Atlantean troops for passage, and offers - since troops in Byzantium are probably not winterized - to loan them winter coats and shooters' gloves. (Bulgarian mountain infantry would have a lot of this gear for fighting in the Stara Planina.)