WesWorld

Quoted

Originally posted by Commodore Green

Quoted

Originally posted by Brockpaine
Yes, I had a bit of the same problem when I was writing it. It was at once a very easy and impossibly hard post to write.

And beautifully done, but I hope you never have to do it in the real world.........

I can agree with that!

Quoted

Over the next three days, the thirty-four aircraft based at Zabol flew six hundred eighteen sorties; dropped nine hundred bombs and six thousand 2kg bomblets; expended a hundred and fifty thousand rounds of ammunition; and used 375,000 liters (82,400 imp. gal) of aviation fuel.

These figures work out to approximately six sorties per day per aircraft - an extremely grueling pace of operations by any stretch. The amount of wear-and-tear on the aircraft from this and other intensive operations is why the majority of aircraft the Irish brought to Afghanistan will not be brought back after the deployment - many shan't be worth returning to service.

Quoted

Originally posted by Brockpaine
That's naughty. I'd best take care of them before they try that against a Lysander or a Focke-Wulf...

Quoted

Originally posted by Commodore Green

Quoted

Originally posted by Brockpaine
That's naughty. I'd best take care of them before they try that against a Lysander or a Focke-Wulf...

Pilot of normal aircraft: "Ack, they're SHOOTING at my PLANE! STOP SHOOTING AT MY PLANE!"
Pilot of Hs129: "Hum. Did you hear that? Oh, look, they're shooting at my plane! Ha ha ha. What a giggle!"

I really appreciate the balance you have given the story - and this is a good example. It is too bad that Parwiz will have to be destroyed.

Quoted

Originally posted by BruceDuncan
I really appreciate the balance you have given the story - and this is a good example. It is too bad that Parwiz will have to be destroyed.

Thanks; it is a bit unfortunate. As I've said before, I've always been more attracted to the idea of a "villain" who, in his own manner, is just as honourable, just as courageous, and just as well-respected by their followers as the "good guys." I think it's easy to depict a sniveling, psychopathic, no-good-at-all, enemy... but people aren't like that in real life.

Ah, a nice bit of tank action. This war has everything...
"pass me another bag of Pretzels!"

Quoted

Originally posted by Hood
Ah, a nice bit of tank action. This war has everything...
"pass me another bag of Pretzels!"

Unfortunately, it's also the only real tank-vs-tank action we're likely to see in this war, as the Persian Nationalists just ran out of tanks...

Also, if people are paying attention to the numbers, the Irish brought 32 tanks to Afghanistan with them: twenty-four Crusaders, one Matilda, and seven Valentines. At the end of the Battle of Lash-e Joveyn, thirteen Crusaders remain in action. The Irish have lost only one tank irreparably damaged; three more have been knocked out of action but recovered and repaired (including two in this battle). All the other tanks have fallen out due to mechanical issues, usually terrain-induced. A bit of distressing circumstances for the Irish. Granted, those tanks are still recoverable and will be returned to service after maintenance.

The Afghan Fairey Battles make their appearance today.

Ah. Good to see that the Afghans have regained their composure. If they can stick together with the LONAFF forces in the field Maqsoodi might escape but not as well equipped as he thinks.

Unfortunately, it will be necessary to chase the rebels back to their hole in Farah; and that will be costly.

Nice. Looks like Maqsoodi may need some new underpants soon.

Quoted

As the League troops advanced, they discovered the grim evidence of the effectiveness of their own airpower. Bodies lay amidst burned-out vehicles in the road. Wounded soldiers crawled to the edge of the highway to wait for capture or death. The Irish found a field ambulance abandoned on the side of the road, with six wounded left in side; the driver had fled into the desert, leaving the wounded to their own fate. Many soldiers of the rear-guard, as they were overtaken by their mechanized pursuers, stacked their arms in the road and waited to surrender, calling "water, water" or "doctor, doctor". In one case, an Irish soldier taken as a prisoner on October 16th, and marched along with the retreating army, found himself brought before the officers of a Persian Nationalist infantry company. The officers pushed a rifle into his hands, and then promptly surrendered, followed immediately by nearly a hundred men of the company.

The mental images remind one of the "Highway of Death" of the first Gulf war; it is probably a good thing that there are few, if any, embedded news reporters and no live television feeds.

While Parwiz might be able to extract some of his forces the morale of the survivors will be shattered for some time. That does not mean that they will not fight if they are cornered, but they will know that they cannot win.

It will also be interesting to see if the rift between Parwiz and Maqsoodi continues to grow.

Quoted

Originally posted by BruceDuncan
The mental images remind one of the "Highway of Death" of the first Gulf war; it is probably a good thing that there are few, if any, embedded news reporters and no live television feeds.

Very true. It's definitely not a pretty sight to contemplate, all things considered.

The headlines will probably run "League planes defeat fleeing enemy; [our] casualties low."

Excellent piece Brock!

You really captured the sense of tension in aerial combat.

Quoted

Originally posted by BruceDuncan
Excellent piece Brock!

You really captured the sense of tension in aerial combat.

Thank you! I tried.

In case folks are keeping track of Flood's score, he's downed four Persian fighters, in the process shooting Yezdanian down on two separate days:
- October 14th: Lieutenant Fereydoon Zandi (12 kills)
- October 14th: Captain Reza Yezdanian (25 kills)
- October 14th: Lieutenant Kazim Ahmasi (5 kills)
- October 19th: Captain Reza Yezdanian (26 kills)

This means that Captain Flood, who is not an ace, has shot down nothing but certified aces.

One wonders whether there are enough Persian/rebel Afghan aircraft left to give him a shot at becoming an ace.

Quoted

Originally posted by BruceDuncan
One wonders whether there are enough Persian/rebel Afghan aircraft left to give him a shot at becoming an ace.

Yes and no. The Persian Nationalists had, when the League entered Afghanistan:
- 10x Macchi MC.200 fighters
- 2x Fairey Battles
- 5x Nanchan N1-D1-A1P dive bombers
- 4x Tachikawa Ki-9 trainers
- 1x Bristol Bermuda

Though I didn't say it in this post, none of the Macchis escaped this dogfight, bringing total losses to seven of the ten planes; however, the remaining three planes are not in flying condition. Some of the other planes are similarly unserviceable.

It's worth noting that the Persians actually have a fairly considerable number of aircraft - fewer than the Irish, but not by an indecent amount, particularly given that the Irish did not know there was going to be any aerial opposition at all. However, while their numbers look good, the Persian Nationalists simply can't compete due to their supply situation. They have ground-attack aircraft, but very few bombs or ammunition. Their fuel reserves are almost nonexistent. They can only put planes in the air by scavenging parts from other planes. Though planes remain in their inventory, and they still have pilots to fly them, this fight is probably the last gasp of their air efforts.

The Rebel Afghans had the airfield at Farah, but they'd not received any new aircraft after the Indians beat the stink out of Afghanistan in 1936. Most of the aircraft remaining in Afghan service were in the Kabul region. Of course, in 1940 the Indians winked as the Afghans re-armed with Hurricane MkIIDs, Fairey Battles, and new trainers, so the Afghan National Air Force is in modest shape now.

Hmm. With winter coming on campaigning in Farah will not be easy. But if the Afghans are able to shoulder an increasing part of the effort, perhaps by spring the Field Force will have accomplished their mission.

Gentlemen!

It seems that I've been away for this a bit too long, courtesy of reaching the end of the chapter for the Chakhansur Campaign, and promptly taking a vacation. I am thus (belatedly) returning to this project after a few weeks hiatus, and I'm branching off into two different pieces of storyline, which I will be posting concurrently.

The first storyline, of which I've just posted Part 1, is called the "Ghosts of Ghowr" and it shall be a mite unusual due to the particularly small scope of the action. The second storyline, which will begin shortly (aka when I've written it) will be called "Honor Mountain - the Farah Campaign"; it will be the continuation of the main storyline.

As is always the case, comments encourage me to write more.

Old MacDonald had a son, and Aiden was his name O'. Nice start...should be a fun read.