Gran Colombian Catch-Up: 1904/05 News Items

[The Rock Doctor]

Note:  some disturbing content at the bottom of the post.  You were warned.

From the Journal of General Geolog, commanding the Army of the Amazon

18 November 1904

After a month of waiting, the French are here.  A battalion of them, anyway.  They came into Manaus this afternoon on a couple of steamers and started unloading their kit without so much as a "how do you do". 

Upon hearing of this, I went down to the harbour front and had a chat with their CO.  Turns out they're sporting a full General named Cartier as CO, figuring that the rest of their force will be getting here eventually.  Not if I can help it.  I informed General Cartier that he was a guest on Gran Colombian soil, bought and paid for with the blood of tens of thousands of my men – and that if he so much as looked at me funny, I'd f*****g lock his whole crew up in a stockade.  But I did it diplomatically, or so my aides tell me. 

Anyway, they're setting out for El Dorado tomorrow, with a battalion of the Ninety-Fifth to "escort" them.  CO of the 95th is carrying a letter for General Pavano, telling him how to deal with the French.

28 November 1904

Wireless is a great thing.  Running this theatre would be a hell of a lot more difficult without it. 

The French are in the line now.  Sounds like the march up there took some of the piss and starch out of them – which is good, because nobody else around here appreciates the whole, "Glorious France" thing.  Glorious France caused this damned mess.

Pavano's shelling the last Anahuac line outside the city itself.  Lot of probing attacks, too, as the men are in love with those grenades the Austrians donated recently.  Good thing they sent a quarter million of them, because they're being used in droves.

The Eighty-Seventh took Objective Foxtrot yesterday.  Few casualties – divisional arty gassed the defenders rather effectively.  Runners from the Eighty-Seventh are reporting that Foxtrot looks to be a gold mine, and that it looks nearly intact. 

Objective Tango is next.  Spooks figure it's an iron mine on account of its larger size, so we'll see.  We're moving gas stocks there to support that op.  It's the best use for it, really, since we want Tango intact but could care less whether we flatten some shacks in El Dorado.  No sense in revealing too much to the French either.

9 December 1904

The boys have breached the Anahuac lines.  They've pushed into the western half of the city.  Not a lot of Anahuac left, but those that survive have a lot of fight in them still.  The Thirty-Second got chewed up badly in the assault and it sounds like the Sixtieth didn't fare much better.  More patriots' blood under the tree of liberty.

Good thing we planned for civilians, because the boys are sending back a number of them from the city.  Sounds like they're a pretty emaciated group of wretches thus far, but that's not really a surprise.  The Armada cut them off months ago and one of Batista's people told me that they were resorting to cannibalism in there.

Anyway, we've got some internment camps set up for the civvies so we'll see what can be done with them.

14 December 1904

And we're into the eastern half of the city now.  Good progress on the west end, with the Anahuac getting boxed in short of the bridge/dam. 

Pavano tells me that Cartier's been pushing him for a chance to negotiate with the Anahuac, but when Pavano relented and let him try, the stupid fool almost got shot for his troubles.  He hasn't quite figured out that the Anahuac aren't going to parley.

I'm setting out for the front tomorrow.  Things are under control here, and it'd be good to see what's happening in person.

16 December 1904

It astonishes me that the Anahuac insisted on relying on human porters to haul their supplies up from Urucana.  Considering the scale of El Dorado it seems grossly inefficient.  I'd have built a bloody railroad.

Should be at the front tomorrow.  Terrain's rugged, but my faithful steed is barely fazed by it.

17 December 1904.

Arrived late in the afternoon to learn that we've secured the west half of the city.  Considering how few buildings have been left intact, there's an awful lot of civilians in custody.  The camps are guessing close to forty thousand so far, a mix of natives and Brazilians.  No Frenchmen – apparently, they've all been eaten.  I wonder if that includes Palpatine.

19 December 1904

It couldn't be helped, we had to use gas on the city today.  The objective was the dam/bridge linking the two halves of the city, and there were still a least a couple hundred warriors holed up there.  Arty was considered unwise, so the engineers placed a couple hundred bottles upwind of the dam and opened the taps up. 

The French saw the whole thing, of course, but Cartier's protests were pretty muted.  Tough to argue when your own country's used the stuff on a less dishonorable enemy. 

The boys went in and took the dam as the clouds dissipated.  Quite a few cases of heat stroke from the protective gear, but they'll live.  Better than being shot or speared.  It looks like the Anahuac were in the process of wiring the dam for demolition but hadn't gotten the job done just yet.  Should keep the engineers entertained for a few days.

26 December 1904

After a lull yesterday for the Navidad, back to the unpleasantries in full force today.  Navano's eliminated resistance except around the temple complex.  They're fighting us hard there, looks like they've been preparing some positions in expectation of falling back there.  That's fine.  They're not going anywhere, and we'll reduce the positions as we have to.

31 December 1904

It's over.  They went out with a bang, though.

We hit the temple with two regiments and Cartier's Frenchies.  I was up in the Sixteenth's command post watching, so was pretty much right behind the fighting the whole time.  Heard a few ricochets and impacts, even.

We breached the perimeter around noon, started rolling up their lines after that.  About one-thirty or so, there's a commotion atop the temple.  I borrow some field glasses and look up, and there's the Anahuac emperor himself, all decked up in his finest kit.  Some priestly types are with him, and some warriors dragging somebody.  After a moment, I realize it's the French premier – Palpate himself.

By this time, Cartier's watching as well, and most of his boys have stopped to do the same (our lads are too busy slaying heathens).  The Anahuac lay out Palpate on a slab of stone and the Emperor starts barking away in his native tongue; hell of an orator, I could hear him despite all the gunfire, grenade explosions, and screaming. 

Then he sticks Palpate with a black knife; cuts; and pulls out what I assume is his heart.  The emperor barks away some more, then starts into French.  He says, "His heart is mine, his blood is mine, his spirit is mine, his power is mine.  Hail your new emperor, France, and prepare as I change the world forever!"

He was going to continue, I think, but at that point somebody winged him on the right shoulder and he took off.  Didn't do him much good – the Sixtieth caught him and his crew heading for a tunnel entrance and took him prisoner.

The city's ours.  Tomorrow we make it official.

1 January 1905

If it were up to me, I'd just put the Emperor against a wall and have him shot.  No muss, no fuss.  But Cartagena's got different ideas.  The President's old man fell to an Anahuac assassin, so he wants an example made of him.  The orders are the most distasteful that I have ever uttered, but after months of dealing with Anahuac savagery, the guard detail is disturbingly quick to obey. 

The emperor gets himself an old-school Conquistador-style execution.  Off with his clothes, then a thorough scourging from a sergeant of the Fifteenth.  The emperor's only half-conscious when that's finished. 

After that, four men from the Eighty-Fifth drag him up to the top of the temple where Palpatine died yesterday.  Sitting on the ground is a large wooden stake, with a wickedly sharp tip; four beams lashed at its base keep it upright.  The Emperor is carried over to it, held upright above it, and then pulled down onto it. 

As I write this evening, he's still screaming.  It's going to be a long night.

4 January 1905

I wouldn't have believed it possible, but the Anahuac Emperor didn't expire until this morning (then again, the instructions from Cartagena said he might do just that).

He was pulled off the stake and then I issued the rest of those awful orders.  His head was removed and packed in a crate for shipment to Cartagena; it's already been dispatched to Manaus with a cavalry troop.  His body was tossed down the temple steps, where I expect the local fauna will deal with it if the ex-slaves don't beat them to it.

7 January 1905

Not one of my men was attacked today.  None.  Have we exterminated the Anahuac warriors at last?

18 January 1905

I'm heading back to Manaus tomorrow.  Colonel Marcos has been handling the riverine campaign long enough.

It's time to start demobilizing.  We don't need to have this many men in-theatre now that the siege is done.  Nor do we want them here, it's a logistical nightmare and expensive as hell.  We'll send most of them home as soon as we can, keep perhaps a corps around.  There are still a few raiders out there to be dealt with.

I have some ideas to discuss with the governor regarding cantonments, we'll see if he bites.  Might speed up the settlement of this place some. 

I've heard from Cartagena that they've received their...parcel...and are pleased.  That was bloody fast.  Must have had a ship going balls-out to get it there.  Anyway, the government's dispatching a survey team to look over the city and see what's to be done with it.  If they're smart, they'll plan a gradual reconstruction – the infrastructure isn't there to support a massive influx of people, as the Anahuac have learned.  But we've taken the mines intact, so if some of the factories can be salvaged, this could turn into a useful part of the world.

The other issue for now is the ex-slaves we freed from the city.  There are around seventy thousand in camps around the city, many of them malnourished, injured, and/or sick.  The Field Hospitals are doing what they can, but they're going to lose a few thousand of the worst.  The rest...we'll see.  Maybe some will stick around and try to start over.  Maybe not.

Enough writing for now...

[Borys]

Ooooo!
Nice!
Glad the pineapples turned out handy.

Borys

[The Rock Doctor]

Pineapples:  The Offical Fruit of the 1904 Ejercito de Gran Colombia.

[maddox]

And at last France can elect a new Premier.

For now, Minister Paixhans of Defence, who did made a good case against Premier Palpaté is dully appointed by parliament to carry the office of Premier.

1905 will be a pivotal year for France

[The Rock Doctor]

Maddox, you can assume that Palpate's remains are turned over to General Cartier for...verification and disposal...

[The Rock Doctor]

To: President Rey Alizandro
Re: Annual Report from Amazonas

Dear Sir,

It is with great pleasure that I provide you with the enclosed comprehensive report on the status of the Gran Colombian state of Amazonas del Sur [ex-Brazilian Amazonas], as of 31 December 1905.  For your convenience, I have taken the liberty of writing this letter as a form of executive summary of the report.

Amazonas del Sur is now in the opening stage of what may be a great boom period.  The destruction of the Anahuac menace has lifted a great weight from the hearts and minds of all your subjects in this vast state.  It has also allowed our respective administrations to open up this frontier to settlement and points to promises of future prosperity.

Destruction of the Anahuac

The removal of the Anahuac as a threat came in January of this year, although the rural areas between Manaus and the settlements of Boa Vista and Urucara were troubled by occasional raids from small bands of Anahuac until May.  With the war now won, much of the military presence has been removed from the state.  Only one corps of troops remain "in theatre", with two others now having returned to garrison towns such as Miti.  The naval presence is also much diminished, with three gunboats and two small transports remaining from the substantial squadron deployed here during 1904.

Demographics

You will recall from the previous year's annual report that the estimated population of the state - discounting the Anahuac and their minions as well as the brave Gran Colombian soldiers facing them - was sixty-one thousand.  Of these, approximately forty thousand were natives, the remainder primarily pre-Amalgamation Brazilians now holding Gran Colombian citizenship.  Our current population estimate is almost one hundred eighty thousand, a three-fold increase, assuming again that we discount the military garrison. 

It should be noted that a large portion of this figure derives from persons not previously counted against our population levels: the residents of El Dorado.  Of the estimated seventy-two thousand ex-slaves rescued by our valiant men there, just under a third have now left the state, mostly heading east to their original homes.  Those that remain are a mixed group, with many scattering into the wilderness to form new communities, while about twenty-five thousand have remained in the vicinity of El Dorado.  This includes a number of former industrial workers who, having converted to the Church under Padre Batista's guidance, are now instrumental in our efforts to rebuild the city.

Around twenty-five thousand natives, who had spent the past two to three years outside the state as refugees, have since returned to our northern lands.  We expect this trend to continue into 1906 as word of our great victory disseminates through the wilderness.  Many of these individuals continue to maintain their traditional lifestyle, and though residents and the subject of the appropriate missionary programs, will not likely contribute to the wage economy in the foreseeable future.

The other source of the population is of course the "Southern Frontier Development Program" announced by yourself in March.  About thirty thousand pioneers have made their way up the Amazon to Manaus and the smaller settlements, drawn by the promise of free land and a fresh start in life.  Many of these individuals now inhabit the camps abandoned by General Geolog's army earlier in the year, but a minority have already established rudimentary homes on their plots and are now working to clear the land.

General Geolog's innovative cantonment program has also paid off.  Presented with an offer to convert what remained of their military service obligations (in some cases, up to four years) into ten year obligations to live in Amazonas as civilians, over four thousand men so accepted.  In numerous cases, new settlements are arising as comrades-in-arms from a single unit choose to establish their own community.  Those with families elsewhere in the nation are starting to bring in their dependents, although nearly half are bachelors and present a bit of a problem in terms of finding spouses locally.  We are examining options such as a Patriotic Match-Making Society and understand that the Church is contemplating programs such as re-locating former orphanage residents and young unwed mothers.

Economy

Our initial fears of a recession due to the military withdrawal have proven unfounded as a result of the immigration boom. 

General Geolog again deserves much credit for this.  He had the foresight to surplus a considerable amount of equipment and material that the Army would otherwise have to had to remove by sea or land at great expense and trouble.  The list of goods is varied but includes shovels, tents, blankets, cots, medical equipment, carts, and beasts of burden.  We have been able to provide these goods to immigrants as they arrive, giving them a leg up in establishing themselves.  This in turn has encouraged further immigration of former lower-class city dwellers short on material possessions but long on tenacity and determination: just the kind of people we need.

Much of the economy is naturally oriented towards the development of regional infrastructure and rehabilitation of El Dorado.  However, a service sector is growing in significance as settlers arrive.  The timber and rubber industries are being to return to their pre-Anahuac production levels and bode well for prosperity of the western and southern extents of the state.

Infrastructure

As you are aware, many of our communities rely on the river system for transportation.  Goods have typically come up-river to Manaus and are then reloaded on to smaller craft for distribution to smaller settlements.  Military supplies were also coming down-river from the west, and along the Pimichin route, but little civilian usage has been made of these routes before or since, though the Pimichin Canal Project will change this.

We are currently working to upgrade the harbour facilities in Manaus.  Additional berths are being added, as are warehouses and office space.  The Armada is building a small drydock to allow its gunboats to be serviced.

Two cart tracks had been established to El Dorado, from Manaus and from Urucara.  These are turning into well-used roads on account of El Dorado's lack of river access, and secondary tracks are now being hacked out of the rain forest by settlers.

The planned railway system is our biggest goal for the coming years.  We have finished surveying the initial route from Manaus to El Dorado, and will be starting construction from Manaus shortly.  In time, the railway will swing west and link up with the line being built eastward from Miti; however, we are at least several years away from accomplishing this task, as the distance from El Dorado to Miti is about twelve hundred kilometres.

Reconstruction

Our efforts in the vicinity of El Dorado are currently focussed on three tasks: debris clearance and salvage; re-construction of damaged facilities; and re-opening of intact facilities. 

The salvage teams are not only clearing wreckage and human remains, they are also demolishing the blatantly Anahuac works that remain standing.  The Anahuac temple, for example, has already been razed, with much of the stone now being hauled southwest to help build the railroad's right-of-way.  The gold idols manufactured in vast quantity by the Anahuac are being reclaimed and melted down for sale abroad, with the resulting gold sales accounting for a great deal of our income.

Re-construction is currently focussed on the north-east portion of the city, which suffered least in the fighting.  Sufficient housing survived to address the needs of half of those locals remaining behind (the others currently living in tent cities).  These people are now building additional housing, civic infrastructure such as sewers, and fixing several small industrial sites that will be useful in supplying textiles, ceramics, and iron goods.

I am pleased to report that three significant industrial sites have now re-oped.  The Foxtrot Gold Mine made its first pour of dore in early November, while the Sergeant Sanchez Memorial Quarry is turning out building stone and fill for construction.  The Balbina Sawmill is providing a considerable amount of cut lumber for construction use as well.  Re-opening of the Tango iron mine will have to wait until we have additional infrastructure in place to service it.

Closing Thoughts

As the very name "El Dorado" conjures the image of blood-thirsty murderers and decadent excess, we have sponsored a contest of sorts to come up with alternate names for the city.  The three most popular entries are listed below, and we would be honoured if you would select one for us:

1.  Ciudad Enrico Alizandro, commemorating your father;
2.  San Sylvestre, named for the saint we celebrate on 31 December, the day the city fell
3.  Ciudad Amazonas

I remain your entrusted governor, etc., etc....

[swamphen]

Very good...

It will be interesting to see what France does with the Other Brazilian Protectivly Occupied Areas. ;)

[The Rock Doctor]

Thankee, young Swamphen.

It'll definitely be interesting to see how France gets on with its various neighbours in the post-Palpate era.  Quite a few nations were less than enamoured with French conduct in the Americas, as I recall...

[maddox]

I do like this story line. It ties up knots.

Now, what to do with Brazil, Invaded or not. what gave France a bloody nose.   ;D