WesWorld

...and here we go!

Oh boy.

Looks like the LoN task force gets to earn it's keep today!

Hope my boys don't shoot at the good guys, and have good aim for the baddies!

General Hansen is REALLY pondering placing a call to the Luftwaffe in East Prussia for AT LEAST some photographs...... (Not to mention wishing that he had a company of the new Sturmgeshutz.)

It's a good day in WW. War in South America, war in Lithuania (or at least shooting), war brewing in Asia, war brewing in Europe (Yugoslavia), and Assasinations in Mexico!

Not only oil prices, but also popcorn prices are going through the roof!

Wait another hour, Foxy, and you'll have an air battle to discuss!

Yes some exciting days in WW.

And here Vukolad was saying the sim was slowing down not too long ago.

Romania, is quite glad now that they didn't decide to ally with the Persians. And we get to have the conference in Bucharest, and have contracted the Germans to do the dirty work (pats self on back).

Poland however is quite concerned, about event unfolding in Wilno, enough to quadruple the guard on General Sikorski, who the government feels could be in danger, following his very anti-Letowska post Lithuanian crisis stance.

Poland would like to know if events go sour in Wilno, whether the LoN WTF has a contingency plan in case they become cut off. Would they like us or the Russians or both of us to rescue them. Poland is probably closer, but we understand there may be some hesitancy in wanting our troops in Lithuania again. We are just wondering, because the single motorized brigade we have on the Wilno/Polish border would be likely have to be reinforced.

October 11th, 1935:

The township of Vaskes has become the scene of much confusion for all sides concerned and increasingly bitter and heavy fighting, often at close-quarters. Marshal Aleksy Letowska is fighting for both his political life but also his very physical life - his attackers of the previous day are now positively identified - as supporters of Lieutenant-General Tadeusz Waclaw attempt to overthrow his government in an unexpected armed revolt.

Early estimates place the strength of the Waclawist force at perhaps some two-thousand men and women, in and around Vaskes, and the surrounding countryside. Violent clashes have been recorded to have occured with increasing regularity in the area around the provisional Wilno capital, between the adherents of General Waclaw, and the supporters of Marshal Letowska, the members of the Wilno National Self-Defense Battalion.

Waclawist troops managed to secure Radio Wilno, early this morning, for a few minutes before being ejected by counter-attacking WNSD troops. This was however long enough for the Waclawists to broadcast a public appeal to the people of the Wilno Republic.

"Lieutenant-General Waclaw, calls on the people of Wilno to rise up and remove, Aleksy Letowska, a man not worthy to be the president of the Republic of Wilno. A man who has by his very actions and presumptious arrogance endangered the very survival of the Wilno Republic. As of this day, October 11th, 1935, we declare President Letowska, deposed! No more will his autocratic and undemocratic policies govern the Wilno Republic!"

Reports indicate that the Letowska loyalist and Waclaw rebels have fought themselves to a standstill within the city, heavy damage has been inflicted on the fabric of the town, while equally heavy casualties have been endured by both side, with a terrified civil population caught in the middle of the fighting.

The Roumanian and British Red Cross personel of the League of Nations Wilno Task Force, 2nd "Vaskes" Field Hospital, have spent the last twenty-four hours making heroic efforts - all too frequently under heavy fire - to rescue and attend civilian wounded and displaced families, as the fighting rages on.

League of Nations military troops while not yet known to have engaged in the fighting between Letowska and Waclaw troops, have made frenzied efforts to contain it. Troops in outlaying districts have gone on alert and mobilized to protect nearby civilian life and property, a League of Nations relief force under the command of General de Brigade Gerard, who's various troops have been recalled from routine duties and concentrated for emergency deployments, is reported to be racing toward Vaskes with all dispatch.

Reports on the conduct of the Wilno Army, interned in its own fortified camps is still unclear, there is reason to believe that some elements of the Army of the Northeast and the Army of the South - in and around Amantas and Adomas have re-armed themselves in a limited fashion - but have yet to make any move.

Bulgaria volunteers to immediately send elements of the 1st Strike Aviation Brigade to support the Wilno League task force. Units could include fighters, line or dive bombers, and army cooperation aircraft.

Boy, I stop paying attention for a couple of days and two wars break out.

Good Stuff Agent !

Unlike the Bulgarians, I don't think either the Dutch or Belgian governments will volunteer aircraft unless General Orbay mentions something. However, Lithuania is in range for G.1A jachtkruisers, which would be quite good in a strike role.

After two frustrating days of confusion, apprehension and frantic improvision, things were lookijng distinctly more organized for the League of Nations troops. General Orbay however still wasn't happy with the situation in which he and his troops found themselves.

The fighting while still largely confined to what could be termed the "government" district of Vaskes, threatened to spellover into the rest of the town at any moment. The pro-Letowska and pro-Waclaw forces were becoming increasingly less discriminating in what they fired at as the battle went on. So far neither of the combatants had show signs of fielding any appreciable artillery, but plenty of improvised explosive and incendiary devices had been in evidence.

On the positive side, the troops inside Vaskes, mostly Turkish, Bulgarian and Germans, were ready to go: they just needed to know who to shoot at. Which of course was proving problematic as their commanding general and his staff, hadn't the slightest idea of what to do at the moment, Orbay thought sardonically.

The Red Cross volunteers from Roumania and Britain had been less indecisive then their military comrades, Orbay had observed and the minute the shooting had started, rushed to help as best they could. They had preformed feat after feat of compassion and downright heroism as they moved through the town, rescuing and treating wounded, often on the spot and under fire and making efforts organize an effective evacuation of the towns folk. Some of his soldiers had joined in small numbers, to help fight the fires that wer begining to threaten the town, help carry wounded civilians or prevent any widespread looting of property left abandoned.

General Gerard had appraised him, that his troops in two converging columns would be in Vaskes in a day or two. Gerard, warned however that the Wilno Army seemed to be stirring in its encampments, and that did not bode well, but he had no current information from any LoN outposts as to what they might be doing. Orbay looked down at the map of the countryside on the table before him, he needed more information before he could get to grips with the situation.

Orbay looked up, when General Hansen appeared beside him, a sour angry expression on his face. He'd spent the last hour in what seemed to have been a halted and at times frustrating conversation, with the HQ of the German 5th Corps in Koenigsberg. Hansen had observed to Orbay, while he'd been waiting for the telephonist to connect him to Koenigsberg, that it might be possible to get some long-range air reconnaissance out of the Luffwaffe units stationed in East Prussia. The line with the Lithuanian Defense Ministry or the Antanas Line Headquarters seem to have been cut, possiblely by the fighting or by deliberate design. The Staff was still trying to re-establish radio contact, but that was proving troublesome and time consuming.

"Any luck, Erik?" Orbay observed, as he scanned a new field report from his detachments in the city. It didn't make pleasant reading. Several Red Cross personel had been wounded and at least half-a-dozen killed, worse, the fighting was threatening to engulf the cluster of building the Red Cross were using for the Field Hospital. Orbay, scribbled a quick order to the troop commander in the area of the hospital.

General Hansen nodded, the sour expression still fixed on his face. He began pointing out details on the map, as he spoke.
"I got through to 5th Korps, they are making arrangements with the Luftwaffe, for a recon flight to try and over fly, the Wilno area, with an emphasis on the Adomas, Amantas and Vaskes areas - but some idiot at the Foreign Office found out about it - there is trouble getting the whole thing organized, some are saying this is a political matter, the German government must make such a decision about the flight, not the Military. The Lithuanians have not been consulted - somebody's terrified that the Lithuanian Aviation Service might shoot the recon planes down if they fly through their air space without their premission!"

"They have a point, Erik. Although I think they may be over reacting, the Lithuanians don't like our presence here true and they've been understandably touchy about their territorial sovereignty of late, but they have been nothing less then helpful to our needs, at all times and worked hard at being cordial in our relations." Orbay observed wryly. Hansen looked mulish, but nodded curtly in reluctant agreement.
"I realize this has a complicated political dimension, but we need that information, we need to know what the Wilno Army is doing, otherwise some of our troops may get killed, but all the damned politicans can seem to think about is why they can't do it!" Hansen snapped.
"My, apologies, General Orbay..." Hansen muttered after a moment. Orbay laid a reassuring hand on the German general officer's shoulder. He turned Hansen's attention back to the map, handing him the tersely written report he'd just been reading.

"You've done what you can, but I think you will be needed in the field very shortly. Gerard is moving to our assistance but it may be a while before he gets here. We've stood on the defensive, but I think we will have to go into the attack very shortly, the fighting is going to spill into our compounds perhaps very shortly."

"And we have word from the Civil Watch Corps, that more troops, possiblely both pro-Letowska and pro-Waclaw, are imbound."

Quoted

Originally posted by Agent148
"I got through to 5th Korps, they are making arrangements with the Luftwaffe, for a recon flight to try and over fly, the Wilno area, with an emphasis on the Adomas, Amantas and Vaskes areas - but some idiot at the Foreign Office found out about - there is trouble getting the whole thing organized, some are saying this is a political matter, the German government must make such a decision about the flight, not the Military. The Lithuanians have not been consulted - somebody's terrified that the Lithuanian Aviation Service might shoot the recon planes down if they fly through their air space without their premission!"

Heh I can *so* see that happening. Getting Lithuanian permission would be a stumbling block for most Nations. For that matter, except for Russo/Polish/German planes, most folks would need somewhere to refuel, Dutch G.1s with cameras could make Wilno in one hop, but no way home without more fuel. For that matter no where to develop. Need those Germans to come through.

Oh, the Belgians are going to be miffed - having to take German aid.

The good thing is that II Fliegerkorps in East Prussia has been modifying a couple of it's Fw-187As to replace the MG-151s with cameras, and there's not much flying over Lithuania that's going to catch a Falke. Of course, assuming von Richtofen (II Fleigerkorps commander) gets permission to fly them, there's still problems: once the pictures are taken, the Falkes have to return to East Prussia to have their pictures developed, and then the pictures either have to be gotten (somehow) to the right eyes at the LoN force or they have to be examined and their contents transmitted to the LoN force.

If General Orbay were to route a request for a photo recon flight or two to both Germany and Lithuania that might get better results than General Hansen trying to cut the corner and speed things along.

Consider it done!

Doctor Sir Robert Brooke, British Red Cross Corps, looked up from his improvised operating table, a door torn from its hinges and laid atop of two up rights. his dead patient was rapidly wisked away to make room for another - living - individual who still might be helped. The operating theater seemed to a scene from bedlam, gunfire and explosions crashed in the background, screams and cries echoed everywhere, shouts for equipment, bandages or just plain assistance merged into a loud, mad cacphony. Brooke noticed it all but let it slide off him, he'd seen far worse in the trenches, hospitals and battlefields of the Great War.

Sir Robert Brooke, struggled out of the blood slicked rubber gloves, as a nurse helped him fit another pair. He worked on a dozen patients so far, in the space of an hour, and it was getting worse. Most were just civilians, caught in the wrong place at the wrong time when a bullet or thrown bomb happened to come flying at them. A few were combatants, either Letowska's Self-Defense men, or the Waclaw Rebels. It didn't matter though, they were all wounded and all needed assistance and that is what he and his fellow Red Cross volunteers were here to do.

"Doctor! Got time for another patient?" A voice said urgently beside him. Brooke turned, and nodded to the Bulgarian officer who had suddenly appeared at his side. The man, wearing the insignia of a full colonel, with the shoulder cords of an adjutant somehow managed to appear neat and soldierly, dispite the fact he's face and much of his uniform were stained with gun and cordite smoke, what wasn't was stained messily with blood. His whole left sleeve was soaked in blood, as was his left shoulder and upper chest. More blood had been dashed across his face, and had been spattered upon his cap, but the man seemed to take no notice.

Nerves of steel, that one, Brooke observed as he helped lay his new patient out on the hastily cleaned table. Sir Rober Brooke, froze for a moment, the new patient was a young girl, probably not older then ten, her right leg had been shattered by a bullet. He exchanged a grieving look with the Bulgarian officer, then set to work to try and save the girl's life. If they were both lucky, the child just might keep her leg.

"What happened?" Sir Robert, asked working quickly to examine the wound and reached for a shalpel to begin his bloody work, a nurse began to administer a sentative to steel the girl against the pain that would be shortly following.

"Sniper, the child was running across a street, with a woman, her mother I assume. Just trying to get out of the line of fire, I imagine. There are getting trigger happy out there, they shot at anything that moves. The damned idiots, didn't even wait to see what they're shooting at. Three shots, the woman went down, dead - shot through the head and neck, the girl caught the third round in the leg. I managed to reach her before anything else could happen and drag her into cover."

The Bulgarian colonel looked absolutely murderous for a blazing moment, then the mask of calm and collected detachment settled over his features again.
Sir Robert Brooke, nodded as he worked, the colonel had only told half the story, he must have had to race through yet more gun fire to rescue the girl, then carry her back through multiple dangers just to get her to the aid station.

"Well if it's any consolation, you've save at least one little girl's life." Sir Robert Brooke said over his shoulder. The colonel nodded, gave the young girl's shoulder a gentle squeeze, then turned in puzzlement when he heard someone call his name. Actually he realized they had called it three times.

"Colonel Zhechev! Colonel Zhechev!" a breathless pause. "Colonel Zhechev! Come quickly!"

Aha! So the Tsar's aide-de-camp is still in the thick of things! Glad he's being useful!

Meanwhile, the Tsar himself is on the phone trying to help solve the situation. The Bulgarians won't have anything to offer that the Germans can't provide better... but they want to see their LoN task force come home successful and also alive.

Field Marshal Pranas Tamassaulo frowned down at the maps spread before him on the conference table. The information from varioius sources wasn't good, Vaskes was in near total uproar as two Wilno factions battled for control, and the League of Nations task force was caught square in the middle of it! So far, they'd seemed to have keep out of the general fighing, but it was only a matter of time before they were dragged into it.

Tamassaulo had received a request form the German government and the German Luftwaffe to over fly the area for reconnaissance purposes. The German ambassador had been rather nervous making that request, but noted that it had the urgent request of General Orbay, and his field commanders behind it.

President Grinys had empathetically asked Tamassaulo to turn any information he had on the situation over to the ambassador, and make arrangements for the Luftwaffe's safe passage over Lithuanian territory. Tamassaulo and his service collegues had only consented to that, part of the order - if the German recon flights had a Lithuanian Aviation Service escort the whole time they were in the air over Lithuania and followed strictly detemined routes.

Tamassualo was still waiting for the German ambassador's answer to that condition, but he expected it with in a few hours, if not a further day or two. General Papieliushko had equally urgently requested instructions on what he was to do. Lithuanian recon flights had revealed that the Wilno Army in the Amantas and Adomas Lines was definitely up to something and most definitely on the move. Which did not bode well for the continued stabliity of the situation in Vaskes, or Wilno in general.

From what Tamassaulo and Papieliushko had been able to gather, a column of troops had pushed out from each encampment, probably brushing aside any Civil Watch Corps or LoN observation patrols left to keep an eye on them, and begun very slowly moving towards Vaskes. Both the Army of the South column seemed to be moving faster then the column from the Army of the Northeast. That suggested that they may have been appraised of Waclaw's revolt in advance, they had certainly started out nearly a day in advance of the Army of the Northeast. Which in turn suggested that the Army of the Northeast had been summoned in support of Marshal Letowska's regime. Papieliushko had pointed out when that suggestion had been mullled over that, both Wilno armies could be marching at the insigation of their respective commanders, rather then Letowska or Waclaw, that for reasons of their own, the were heading to Vaskes to install one of their own in power if in the event Letowska was successfully toppled form his hold on the Wilno Government.

Field Marshal Tamassaulo, feeling that his Kaunas office chained him too far away from the area of action, had in order to speed up the decision making and reporting process, ordered the Ministry of National Defense to set up an emergency headquarters along side, General Paplieliushko's Antanas Line HQ. Things had gotten rather crowded in the last few hours as the the various heads or representatives of the civilian defense ministry and the three military and two public security services had arrived and gotten settled under the direction of his own staff.

Still, Tamassaulo thought, they were here and in a position to do something. That said, the Ceasefire and Stockholm Protocal still tied the Lithuanian Armed Forces hands to some extent. They were forbidden to cross the Antanas Line, not without specific request to do so, by the LoN Task Force and President Grinys, which wasn't likely to happen - at least not if General Orbay felt he could get the situation back in hand, which was looking doubtful at the moment.

On the other hand, it was possible to provide the League of Nations troops with some sort of air support via reconnaissance flights, or air supply mission if necessary or even allow strike missions by Dutch, Russian or German air units, although the suggestion that Polish air units be allowed to assist had been greeted with anger, disbelief and out right distrust or suspision. The smashing attacks delievered in the Polish Intervention, in the insurrection, were all too fresh in many Lithuanian minds.

Still to be fair, to General Sikorski, he had been strict about keeping Poland out of the whole affair, and even made moves to try and contain or halt it, Tamassaulo allowed. Tamassaulo reviewed the suggested plan by new Army Chief-of-Staff, Major-General Teodoras Daukantas. General Daukantas argued for a swift three pronged strike into Wilno if and when it became necessary. The I and II Cavalry Corps would make a rapid advance on the Amantas and Adomas Lines respectively and over run them taking out the Armies of the Northeast and the South as quickly as possible. Further the Army Tanks Corps supported by the Army Reserve Corps and XI Field Corps would drive to Vaskes, in order to relieve the LoN Wilno Task Force.

The I, II Army Corps along with the I and II Rifle Corps would be held in reserve and be deployed as the need arose. While the I, II, III Line Corps would remain in position in the Antanas Line as a security fall-back. The majority of the military accepted this plan, although reservations had been expressed by some of the civilian advisors, which didn't bother Tamassaulo, the gentlemen in question were after all just doing their job and pointing out the political thicket they were ensnared in.

General Orbay was well and absolutely fed up with the situation in which he found himself. Still awaiting fresh outside news, of the circumstances outside Vaskes he decided to talk some action on what developments he did know about, it was well past time to start pushing back, whether it was against the Waclaw Rebels or Letowska Self-Defense Battlionists. General Orbay briefly considered what was at his immediate disposal and at other points within Lithuania. Orbay's staff had drawn up the following appreciation, which he checked against the situations maps before him.

In Vaskes were the following units or elements thereof:

I Battalion/8th Turkish Infantry Regiment
III Battalion/39th German Infantry Regiment
1 ad hoc 'battery' sized detachment of artillery/II Battalion/17th German Field Artillery Regiment
99th Royal Bulgarian Infantry Battalion
4th Turkish Armoured Car Company
a Dutch Engineering Company
a Dutch Air Support Company
2nd LoN TF Field Hospital
18th Royal Bulgarian Supply Battalion
elements of 3 Belgian Motorized Transport Company

additionally the majority of his senior sector commanders where present in Vaskes with their respective staffs, Colonel Todor Lazov Krstev, Eastern Sector; General Erik Hansen, Western & Central Sector; Lieutenant-général Raoul Daufresne de la Chevalerie, Southern Sector, only Colonel Irfan Cayir Pasha, Northern Sector, had been unable to made the meeting at appointed time but had sent his deputy Lt.Colonel Halil Gurdal to represent him.

Outside Vaskes the following units were deployed:

Northern Wilno Sector: Colonel Irfan Cayir Pasha
II, III Battalions/8th Turkish Infantry Regiment
6th Turkish Armoured Car Company

Western and Central Wilno Sector: Colonel Erich von Eisen
I, II Battalions/39th German Infantry Regiment
11th Atlantean Armoured Car Company

Eastern Wilno Sector: Lt-Colonel Kiril Zhulin-Koulin
97th Royal Bulgarian Infantry Battalion
3rd, 4th, 6th Royal Bulgarian Cavalry Battalions
1st Royal Bulgarian Motorized Battalion

Southern Wilno Sector: Colonel André Bogaerts
I, II Battalions/5th Ardeense Jagers Regiment

Throughout the Wilno Republic was deployed as various security, police and fire-base support detachments the remaining units:

II Battation/17th German Field Artillery Regiment
1 Company of Mounted Belgian Military Police
2 Companies of Belgian Military Police
1 Company of Italian Carabinieri Military Police
1 Royal Canadian Mounted Police Company
1 Atlantean Military Police Company
14 battalions/Wilno Civil Watch Corps

Deployed in Vilnius, Lithuania were the following units:

2nd Royal Dutch Guards Dragoon Regiment
1st LoN Task Force Field Hospital

And finally the Task Force Mobile Brigade, which much was hoped for, but was still partially in the process of pulling itself together from it's various patrol duties.

Wilno Task Force Mobile Brigade: Général de Brigade Yvanne Louis Gérard
2nd Jagers te paard regiment
2/1st Belgian Lancers Cavalry Regiment
4th, 5th German Reconnaissance Battalions
1st Atlantean Reconnaissance Battalion

"All right gentlemen." Orbay began without preamble. "Here are your orders."

"General Hansen, I would very much prefer you outside Vaskes's iimmediate environs commanding your sector, but I need you to handle the defense of Vaskes's airport, our supply depot, the task force field headquarters and our primary artillery position. To that end I am assigning you the I Battalion/8th Turkish, and the III Battalion/39th German regiments, as well as the 18th Bulgarian Supply Battalion. I am ordering the Dutch air support company to be armed and placed at your disposal as well. Any relief force will likely come from that direction, so hold out as long as possible."

"Colonel Krstev, you will take command of our defense of the field hospital, the confiscated armaments depot, and our primary troop barracks. You will have the 99th Bulgarian battalion, the Dutch engineering company, and the elements of the three Belgian Motor transport companies, which amount to about a bit more then a full company, to use as you see fit. The various staff units here in Vaskes will be formed into ad hoc platoons and companies and will also be placed at your disposal."

"Lieutenant-Général Raoul Daufresne de la Chevalerie. I have a equally difficult assignment for you, I want you to take command of a small detachment of the Turkish 4th Armoured Car Company, and break out of the town. The bulk of the 4th will be staying here in Vaskes as our tactical reserve. Make the best of your way with all dispatch to your Sector Headquarters, or any Sector HQ for that matter and rally any troops -either League of Nations or Civil Watch Corps - you can get a hold of and get back here as quickly as possible."

"Understood, General Orbay. Do you want me to make a special effort to contact the Mobile Brigade?" Lieutenant-Général Daufresne de la Chevalerie asked making sure of his exact assignment. Orbay nodded.
"Yes, absolutely, appraise Général de Brigade Gérard,
of the situation here, if the situation warrents it have him march here as quickly as he can."
"What of the Wilno Armies?" Daufresne de la Chevalerie asked.
"If they are marching on Vaskes, stop them, General Daufresne de la Chevalerie, stop them any way you can, even if it means temporarily commendering the Mobile Brigade to do it." Orbay finished.

It might perhaps be worth noting that the Bulgarian LoN contingent got the first deliveries of both the new K31 rifles, the Solothurn Mp34 SMGs, AND the FN Hi-Powers, in addition to the standard MG-30 light machine guns the Bulgarians already had in service. Following one or two Lithuanian suggestions, the Bulgarians have doubled the amount of SMGs in each squad. Grenades will be stick grenades like the Germans use, and the K31s can share ammo with the German Mausers (8x57mm). In terms of small arms, the Bulgarian contingent isn't hurting. Battalion artillery will also be decent. Now, if we start talking big artillery and vehicles... we're on more shaky terrain, there. (Though the Bulgarians once made a name for themselves as the masters of artillery in the Balkans, I didn't think of sending anything of that nature along...)

Ok Desertfox, get yer popcorn ready, your about to get your wish for more conflict.

Quoted

Originally posted by Brockpaine
It might perhaps be worth noting that the Bulgarian LoN contingent got the first deliveries of both the new K31 rifles, the Solothurn Mp34 SMGs, AND the FN Hi-Powers, in addition to the standard MG-30 light machine guns the Bulgarians already had in service. Following one or two Lithuanian suggestions, the Bulgarians have doubled the amount of SMGs in each squad. Grenades will be stick grenades like the Germans use, and the K31s can share ammo with the German Mausers (8x57mm). In terms of small arms, the Bulgarian contingent isn't hurting. Battalion artillery will also be decent. Now, if we start talking big artillery and vehicles... we're on more shaky terrain, there. (Though the Bulgarians once made a name for themselves as the masters of artillery in the Balkans, I didn't think of sending anything of that nature along...)

Actually, the German forces in Lithuania are equipped with the new Mauser Karabiner 31 rifles, in 7mm x 40, so ammunition commonality is as difficult as ever. The good news is that German forces have their full complement of 7.92mm x 57 MG-33s, mortars, 75mm infantry guns, 20mm AA cannon, etc, and though we hope they won't need them, taper bore AT rifles.