Paris Temps

[maddox]

Professeur Haber Emigrated to France on a large scolarship grant- after the unexplained disaster around Lake Nyos, Cameroon in 1901.

Also, a tad of Nverse II history. Bavaria was up to 1905 a client state of France, but large scale riots in the turn over year of 1905 created the Bigger Bavaria we know now.

[Kaiser Kirk]

When I asked about such things, I hadn't been informed he was taken away, and I had spent some funds to subsidize BASF's construction of synthetic ammonia plants using the Haber-Bosch process.  Would that be available to do? Or should I slap some other German name on it?  Considering the utility in self sufficiency in both fertilizer and explosives, its of some import for a nearly land-locked nation.

I was aware of Bavaria's 40 year relationship with France, and have tried to keep it in a fairly natural arc proceeding forward.

[maddox]

No problem, Professeur Haber can still do work for Bavaria. It's not that he locked away somewere.

[maddox]

Paris, late november 1916,

Minister Lebrun, at last I could get here with the reports you asked for.

Colonel Galmar, report please.

I'll start with the worst case
During the Kolkattan war, the 8mm Chauchat machine guns did display a lot of glaring flaws. The open magazines are easely damaged, and worse, dust or mud can, and will jam munition.
The rather complex gas assisted recoil reloading mechanism fouls easely, causing even more jams.
The many bolts and screws used in the design will losen in prolonged firing. The cast aluminium heatsinks crack with the least impact.
The rifle bullet, the Lebel 8mm, doesn't have the power to puncture the armored cars used by the Bharati army.
But, the Chauchat, even with the many flaws had its good points, it's one of the few really portable machine guns today.

So, to put it bluntly, the Chauchat needs a work over ,and a bigger brother.

That's what we suggested, Minister Lebrun.

[Korpen]

Would say that the 8mm itself was the largest drawback with the gun, as the odd shaped of the rimmed ammo made it very difficult to feed in magazine weapons.

As for some reliability issues, to a fair degree they were due to the needs of huge wartime production, guns hade in peacetime would most likely have better quality in the materials and details. 

[maddox]

Pity that colonel Galmar is just a messenger, not an engineer, ain't it?

[miketr]

Also the French army is large so they are going to have big production runs no matter what.  So they need a weapon that can be built in large numbes and quickly.

[Kaiser Kirk]

The French could hold an MG competition, the Bergmann MG15nA is just reaching final form as Bavaria finishes specialist infantry tech. A little heavier but with far more punch. And none of that open magazine nonsense :)

[Walter]

Earlier, I was looking for at some MGs... quite a nice looking weapon.
*steals the plans of the Bergmann MG15nA* :D

[Kaiser Kirk]

Surely Japan is to honora *cough* abull to steal, especially when we'll merrily* sell them to you.

*degree of merriement dependent on amount of beer imbibed

[Walter]

I 'borrow' stuff (just as I do over at Wesworld) with all intentions to sell it back to the nation of origin. ;D

[maddox]

Mid december, Paris, offices of Minister Lebrun

Minister Lebrun, what is going on with the DD's of the Great Canal defense force.

Admiral Povoire, it's obvious, the fleet is going to recieve shortly 20 brandnew, large Torpedo Boat destroyers, and 3 escort cruisers, we do not see any use in the 10 small DD's of your command. So, profitable deals were made, and the 10 ships will be sold. The Pluches are ready for the last leg of the long trip, and waiting on the Romanian Crew.
And the Plumeau's, those will travel to west. Your crews will return end januari at last.   

West, for Romania?

Yes, west, officialy because Romania.

[maddox]

Minister Lebruns offices, the Romanian ambassador just left the building.

Minister Lebrun, I congratulate you with your acting skill

Monsieur Grange, I'm a politician, its a needed skill. But I didn't like it. I would gladly sell the Crotalus, it's the last of the old foreign ones. But alas.
Can you explain me now why we can't sell any of the requested ships to Romania?

Oh, just a few things. The Leopard is obvious, I'm still wondering why we didn't hear more of that. We blatantly copied the drawings of the hull, directly from the vault at the Feijenoord shipyard ,nearby Rotterdam, and then spread out that unique hull to a lot of other countries to get those ships build as soon as possible. In any case, with Romania accepting Dutch money, it would be a surprise if the Dutch wouldn't be rubbed in that fact.

And Crotalus?

She's the mother of the Demarce cruisers, our best ships. Would we give anybody the blueprints of those?

No, actualy a good point.



for a more complete understanding

[maddox]

Related to this posting.
somewere between december 1916 and februari 1917

Minister Lebrun, we have the results of the tests with the Chauchats. And the possible solutions.

What is the bad news?

The committée concluded that the Chauchat ain't the main problem, except the complexity.
The inability to use extended magazines in defensive roles and the lack of power to penetrate even the lightest armor used on vehicles all come to the munition. The 8mm Lebel bullet is obsolete. Invented in 1886, and except some shape changes in the bullet itself, it's still the same.

So, that means well have to trow away milions of rounds and guns? And what is the commitees proposal?

With the short time given by Ministrial directive 081016 v2bis, we have following solutions concerning the Lebel rifle, Chauchats and munition.
1) we start with with re-equipping the Metropolitan Corpes with a new rifle, using the much more powerfull and easier to use for automatics Italian 7.62mm rifle bullet. The old Lebels rifles and munition can go to our colonial corps.
2) The Chauchats can be modified, rechambred and tuned to a state of perfection, but that will cost almost as much as making a new light automatic rifle. Again we advice shipping the Chauchats to the colonial corps, or stockpile those at locations with dedicated armorers that can tune the weapons on a more leasurely,cheaper pace.

We replace the Chauchat with 2 totaly different machine guns.
1) 1 troop carriable platoon level 30 06 machine gun- meaning a gun and 250 rounds of munition-firable in  50 round long bursts , not heavier than 12 kg. This means large box or drum magazines, but a 20 round stick magazine should be optional, interchangable with the standard rifle.

2) A larger machine gun, carriable by 1 man and deployable by 2, also useable for defensive positions or on vehicles like the armored cars, blimps, airships and ships. We have a machine gun of a suitable size, but unfortunatly it's much to heavy. The 12.7mm machine guns on the UNK provided ships of the early 20the century. But that bullet isn't suitable for what we have in mind. With modern technology it's perfectly possible to develop a machine gun that weights less than 45kg, can be split in 2 parts, with the heaviest part not heavier than 25 kg. If the platoons have 2 dedicated heavy machine gunners, who don't carry a rifle, but just an automatic pistol as personal armament, and team up to deploy a 13mm heavy machine gun we believe we achive the ideal mix. .
We feel that linked belts are the best option and the ease of linking up 50 round belts can give such a HMG a serious punch on the modern battlefield.
By using 50 round belts that can be linked up, and assigning each soldier 1 belt, it's a hail of of heavy bullets towards the enemy.

It sounds logical.  But isn't it an option to split the difference, and have, for example , an 11mm automatic rifle for every soldier? Meaning a much more relaxed logicists train, as there is only 1 kind of munition needed for rifles and machine guns. Pity it isn't possible to fire that heavy a round with a pistol or revolver.

We did think about that. But the commitée did conclude that  a smaller bullet than the 13mm won't be as effective against mobile and armored targets. And an 11mm bullet would impare the amount of runds carried by the individual soldier. The Italian 30 06 is the smallest, mass produced round in the Nassau Treaty sphere we feel comforatble with. Some commitée members argued for a smaller round,  but the tests did conclude that a smaller round would have shorter range, less stopping power and less authority on the battlefield. The smallest we could have promoted it the never adapted ESC 6.5mm long bullet. But even those pragmatical people didn't field it. So, therefor the Italian 7.62mm bullet.

I see the reasoning.  So what guns and rifles do you propose?

For the troop level rifles, we would go for the same as the Italian sergeants rifle, ease of logistics.
Machine guns.
The 30 06 machine gun, as proposed and the prototypes fielded during or tests are a development of the 1909 entry-what failed to the already used Chauchat is the Benet-Mercie.
The 13mm machine gun, is a variantion on the, by engineer Browning proposed heavy machine gun.Who tried, unsuccesfully, to sell this advanced and heavy design to our nothern neighbors.

And, what would the cost be of a new corps, compared to a current corps?

A lot Minister, a huge lot, but then, the modern battlefield lays emphasis on material superiority and less on manpower.
What is beneficient to your voting base.

That is an agrument that weights a lot. Keep me informed, I'll keep your commitée funded for the next periode. Also, would you care for a plesant evening at a lesser known, but exquisite establisment "Chez Loulou?"

[maddox]

Paris 2 december, evening.

Premier Galpoux, did you work out the cryptic remarks from Schoenbrun, of the Habsburg emperor?
Was the answer of Ambassador Dardenne prompting the already aggressive emperor into rash actions that can damage the peace in Europe?

I don't understand why the Habsburgers come to ask/inform France about such endeavors, even their aid in Kolkatta was there before we knew about it. I
only can guess the new opponent could be a European power, and then the options are very limited. We only can hope that we can maintain the "French Promise". And ambassadeur Dardenne's answer is strictly in line with the French policy. So that ain't a problem. Thanks for asking.



Paris, 5 december

The cold grey city, the gas laterns and the electrical lights that make her the city of lights can't dispell the gloom. 
Sleet driven by hard winds make people stay indoor.
Patches of horse manure stained filty snow as leperous sores in the streets.

But in parliament, the heat is rising, angry voises accuse Premier Galpoux to be a warmonger, with undying hartred to the DKB.

"Why else would Independent Indochina attack DKB at this time? Not a year after the independence, just when we send new ships to cover the mistakes of President Sarrault."

I have no idea monsieur, I cannot understand such action.
Also, Independent Indochina is independent and does not have to ask France permissions for every decision made by their government. But France will issue a diplomatical statement. We will not aid warmongers. If we get answers to the questions proposed by members of parliament before midnight 10 december we will make decisions. We need those answers ,as the rumors provided by the newspapers and wired messages ain't official information. Glorious France cannot risk condemming a nation on rumors and/or lies. 
I have a meeting with Ambassador Takeda tomorrow morning, as well the . But please, remain calm, members of parliament.