Afrikakrieg: January 1915

[The Rock Doctor]

2 January:

Italy declares war on New Zion.  Italian land units are assumed to be in place to execute orders.  Italian naval units deploy to activate blockades; those on defensive taskings are assumed to be executing their orders effective immediately.

2 January

New Zion declares exclusion zone off its coast, applying to Italy, Iberia, Hapsburges, and DKB.  All active naval and land units assumed to be in position and executing orders at this point.

2 January:  Burundi/Ugandan Frontier

Italian troops begin crossing the border at several points, probing the depth of Zionite defences.  No Zionite troops are encountered, but evidence of their recent presence is noted.  

2 January:  Eritrean/Ethiopian Frontier

Italian troops of the 8th and 11th Legions and 1st Armored Car Regiment cross into New Zion.  8th Legion, attempting to envelop Eilat via mountain passes to the west, encounter strong resistence from the Zionite 2nd Division.  The other Italian forces, striking along the narrow coastal plain, find that the Zionite 3rd Division has had time to prepare some troublesome defensive works.  

Over the coming week, the Italians will attempt multiple assaults on the Zionites but fail to breach their positions, losing about ten thousand dead and wounded to perhaps half that for the Zionites.

3 January:  Tel Aviv

Scattered and ineffectual anti-aircraft fire greets the first Italian photo-recce flight of the war.  The photos (of somewhat poor quality) and the flight crew's sighting reports are partially contradictory, but point to the presence of two battleships and a number of smaller warships in the harbour.

3 January:  Burundi/Ugandan Frontier

Italian troops and armored cars cross in force into New Zion.  The armored cars are of little use initially, as there are few roads, of poor quality, in the region.  Some break down.  

Over the next few days, it becomes evident that Zionite troops of the 1st Division are not going to fight a conventional battle but will instead attempt an irregular assault on Italian supply lines and rear-echelon, using the rough, jungle-covered terrain to their advantage.  Numerous small-scale skirmishes and ambushes ensue, with the Italian armored cars proving their worth as escorts to supply trains.

Entrusting security of the area to the 5th Legion, the Italian theatre commander drives sixty miles into Uganda, pushing his troops hard to reach the town of Masaka near Lake Victoria.

Italian patrols near the lake bring word that Zionite gunboats are patrolling the shores, but no engagements are reported.

4 January:  Rift Sea

Italian, New Zionite, and other vessels are now at sea, undertaking their assigned patrol/blockade missions.

5 January:  Rift Sea, South of Tel Aviv

New Zionite patrol assets have a tense but ultimately peaceful encounter with what turns out to be a pair of DKB torpedo-boats undertaking their own patrol in international waters.  

5 January:  Rift Sea:  East of Burundi

Italian warships on blockade duty sight multiple sources of smoke approaching from the south.  This proves to be four Orange frigates, screening a fast passenger ship and a battleship.  The liner's deck is covered with cargo draped in tarpaulins.  The battleship is tentatively identified as Taiwan Straits.

The Italian ships converging in the area include two torpedo-boats and a Numidicas type cruiser.  The cruiser uses lights and wireless to advise the Orange ships of the blockade and ask them to turn around.  

The Orange battleship signals back that they do not recognize the blockade and are proceeding north.  The Italian ships maintain their distance and one destroyer follows the Orangers north for several hours before returning to its assigned patrol area.

No shots are fired in this incident.

6 January:  The Northern Rift Sea, Est off Eilat

Zionite and Italian warships engage in a brief skirmish east of Eilat.  As it is the middle of the night, the gunfire is not especially accurate and there is no evidence of ships damaged, let alone sunk, when the sun rises.

8 January:  Tel Aviv

An Italian recce flight detects what looks like the Orange convoy in Tel Aviv.  

9 January:  The Rift Sea

At this point, the sea has largely emptied of neutral traffic, other than those of nations with actual coastlines on the Rift Sea.  The last outsider vessel to exit the Rift Sea is a Maorian freighter, steering east.  

9 January

Maoria declares war on New Zion.

[The Rock Doctor]

I anticipate no change to the land war in January as a result of the Maorian declaration of war.

Belligerents have 24 hrs to advise the Mods of any substantial change in naval orders stemming from the Maorian declaration.

Neutrals have 24 hours to advise the Mods of any orders stemming from the Maorian declaration.  This includes Maoria.

In the absence of any such orders, I will sim and post the rest of January in one chunk, later this weekend.

[The Rock Doctor]

The following item includes some information that will only be known to players from an out-of-character perspective.  It is included for the benefit of all readers, and to save me having to type out additional versions of the same incidents. 

Note:  I am not including routine patrols, movements, and defensive operations - players may assume they are happening, more or less as intended unless advised otherwise.

10 January

Orange declares war on Italia and Maoria.

New Zion does not declare war on Maoria, asking the Maorians to instead withdraw their own declaration.

11 January:  Tel Aviv

The daily Italian overflight is turned back early when the aircraft's observer is seriously injured by fire from an intercepting fighter.  The bomber returns safely to its base.

12 January: The Rift Sea, East of Burundi

After two days of sporadic overflights by one or more airships, the Italian Southern Blockade force is not surprised to see smoke on the northern horizon.  As his Jane's claims that the Orange battleship is faster than his cruiser, the commander of the Africanus has positioned himself south of a wide picket of four destroyers, which have made the initial spotting report.  It is his hope that he can avoid action while the destroyers keep out of range of the Orange frigates.

Unfortunately, this does not work out well, for the Orangers are accompanied by a large portion of the New Zionite navy, sweeping down the Rift Sea in a broad scouting line.  Africanus realizes she'll be spotted and reported back to the Orange battleship, so elects to steer at flank speed for the possible safety of Burundi.

The Italian D-27, furthest east, turns south and attempts to run down the DKB coast towards the possible safety of Mogadishu.  She is successful, and drops anchor off a small fishing down on the west side of Somalia that evening.

D-30, next to the west, attempts the same, but must first fend off the NZ destroyer Lahav.  After twenty-five minutes of pursuit, D-30 manages to land a hit forward that causes heavy casualties to the Zionite's poorly protected gunners.  Lahav breaks off to tend to its wounded, and D-30 escapes.

D-29, further west, fights a running battle with the Zionite destroyers Eilat and later also Romah.  She is struck twice by Eilat's five inch guns, and once by Romah's smaller four inch guns, failing to inflict any significant damage in return.  She only escapes due to nightfall.

D-32, furthest west, avoids detection by the Zionites and steams for the Gulf of Tanganyika.

By late afternoon, the Africanus is being shadowed by two Zionite destroyers and an Orange frigate.  Gunfire is traded, and the Orange frigate takes splinter damage from a straddle, but is otherwise using its margin of speed to remain on the outer edge of the Italian cruiser's gunnery range.

Just after 18:00, Africanus sees capital ship control tops to the north, and soon identifies the Taiwan Straits closing at flank speed, another NZ destroyer to one side.  With sunset not so far off, the Oranger orders the Zionite destroyers and the frigate to attempt a torpedo attack that might slow the Italian cruiser.  The Zionite destroyer Sufa is struck by two five-inch shells and seriously damaged, while the Orange frigate is struck twice by ten-inch shells, causing havoc amongst her forward battery.  However, Africanus is struck amidships by a torpedo and loses speed as her starboard boiler room floods.

At 18:46, Taiwan Straits fires her first half-salvo, and has reduced the Italian cruiser to wreckage within half an hour.  Taiwan Straits has taken a number of hits in return, but most have been rejected by her heavily armored sides; "B" turret is temporarily jammed, however, and another hit into the casemate gallery has caused damage to her port-side secondary battery.

Africanus sinks at 19:34.  One hundred and eighteen Italian sailors are plucked from the water before darkness falls. 

12 January:  Ethiopian/Eritrean Frontier

A planned attack on a Zionite position along the coastal road is suspended as Italian troops are advised of a ceasefire declared by Rome.  Additional effort is put towards burying and evacuating the two thousand or so men who have fallen over the past three days.

On the other side of the front-line, Zionite troops are not advised of the ceasefire, but take cautious advantage of the lack of incoming fire to bring up additional supplies and ammunition to their forward positions. 

After receiving a request from the Zionite 2nd Division, the commander of the Italian 8th Legion allows two Zionite chaplains to cross the lines and collect (under Italian supervision) human remains from two observation posts previously overrun by the Italians.  These will be added to the four hundred Zionite dead buried in the last three days.

13 January:  Gulf of Tanganyika

Orange and New Zion forces are steaming into the narrow Gulf of Tanganyika to continue their destruction of the Italian South Blockade.  Remaining Italian forces are attempting to exit the Gulf under cover of darkness, hoping to make a high-speed run to Somalia. 

The two forces collide around 02:00, the Italian cruiser Numidicus and five destroyers (including D-32) encountering the main body of the advancing Orange/NZ squadron.  The Allied battleships and the Italian cruiser take evasive action as light and medium caliber guns blaze and torpedoes hit the water.  Within minutes, the Zionite battleship Tel Aviv is hit forward, taking on water through a large hole on her port side.  An Orange frigate is also struck and begins settling, her survival in doubt. 

On the Italian side, D-21 has succumbed to six-inch fire from a frigate, D-18 has broken in two after a torpedo hit, and Numidicus has also been struck.  Slowed, and lower in the water, she and the three remaining destroyers manage to break contact and escape back to Kigali while the Orange/New Zion squadron reforms itself.

As Tel Aviv can not proceed further, the Orange commander opts to cancel the operation at this point rather than divide his forces and risk an encounter between the Zionite pre-dreadnoughts and the Italian cruiser. The Allied squadron reverses course and exits the Gulf; the Orange ships head for Beira, the Zionites steam north for Tel Aviv at Tel Aviv's top speed of nine knots.  The seriously damaged Orange frigate is sent along with a single Zionite destroyer to Normantown, on the south coast of the Gulf, to begin patching herself up. 

13 January:  Burundi

Word of the Italian ceasefire is slow to reach the dispersed troops of the 5th Legion and the scattered Zionite troops contesting their lines of supply.  Although the advance on Kambala is paused, sporadic and at times ferocious small-unit combat continues to take place through out the jungle.

13 January:  The Rift Sea, East of Burundi

The New Zionite cruiser TAG is spotted by Italian aircraft, steaming south.  The information is transmitted to the Southern Blockade force, which is in no condition to contest the passage.

[Walter]

So Africanus sinks on January 12, yet manages to escape on January 13??

[The Rock Doctor]

The Italians are a crafty lot.

Thanks for the catch.