Italia News and Such 1918 - 19??

[ctwaterman]

HQ XVII Legion outside of Eilat New Zion July 1st 1919:

It had been a hectic few days since the Zionist attack using gas weapons.  The Anger in the Legion camps and trench lines was almost palatable.  The Commander of the Legion had prepared his defenses those facing in and those facing back in the off chance that the Zionist 4th and 5th Division should some how break through the XXII Legion guarding there back.

Special Ammo wagons had begun to appear in the Camp the day before and the Observers from the Republic of Orange, Netherlands, and the Kingdom of Egypt had recently been joined by an Observer from the Iberian Empire. 

As dusk began to settle over the camp the wind shifted so that it was coming directly down from the mountains to wards Eilat as the Legions Artillery pounded the Port while New Swiss ships were trying to dock and unload there troops.   The Observers could not a grim determination among the legions officers and men as the ammo from the special wagons was unload near the Legions 105 Howitzers carefully dug in behind the hills to shield them from the rifles of New Zion and New Swiss ships in the harbor.

As dark fell the wind quickened again out of the west down off the hills towards the harbor below.  Orders went out for everyone to check their gas masks.   As the Legion staff meet one last time in their command bunker not far from the bunker the foreign observers had been assigned three men hurried from the rear to the Staff bunker.   Surprisingly thee three men were the Legions highest ranking Priest, its Mullah and a Chaplin.  The approached the centurion guarding the bunker and were quickly let inside.

The Observers could here a brief conversation followed by the following screamed in a very loud voice.
"What the Hell there is no way in hell I am going to let those Zionist bastards get away with using gas on my men and not reply.   I have authorization from Asmara the conditions are perfect and even better the damned Swiss are crowding the harbor full of ships?  Conditions are Fucking Perfect"

A brief pause "Orders... what fucking orders"

At this the General Commanding the Legion comes storming out of the Bunker followed by his staff screaming at the top of his voice. "Call it off call of the attack damn it some one get on the phone to the batteries and call off the attack."  A small crumpled piece of paper slowly blows across the ground forgotten in the wake of the Officers running off the Communications bunker.

Commanding General Legion XVII[stop]Command Staff Asmara [Stop]Chemical Weapon attack justified but canceled[stop] under no circumstances will it proceed [stop] Humanitarian concerns [stop] Emperor Armedo Ferdinando Camilla[stop]

[ctwaterman]

Djibouti harbor aboard IMS Imperator July 31st 1919

Admiral Rene Delacroix III sat watching the hurried construction to finish installing the massive French 380mm batteries in their hugely armored barbettes overlook the harbor.   When finished they would dominate everything for miles around.   
But his mind turned back to the recent battle and the losses both sides had taken.   He had reports collected from the Survivors of the New Swiss Ships, surprising what some medicinal whisky or brandy could do to a body chilled from over a day in even the warm waters of the Indian Ocean.  He now had the information he need it was all there before him.  But it still did not add up to anything that made since.  He ticked off the inconsistencies in his mind.

1.   The New Swiss had apparently brought everything that could float, row, or bob on the ocean with them.  No sane navy left their own nation so unguarded even to help a close ally.   The Zionist ok they wanted to be a close ally but no treaties bound them?
2.   The Date of Arrival off the Gulf of Oman was too soon.   Unless the New Swiss had prepositioned a large part of the fleet far from its home water they had simply arrived too soon?
3.   Why fight a battle as bloody as the one just fought just to deliver a single division to a country currently holding on only by the strength of the terrain?
Well part of the Plan was plain the New Swiss had shot down the French Zeppelin to cover their approach to the Gulf of Aden.   They had refueled in a country that disliked France and anything Christian or Muslim.  And they forced a channel immediately adjacent to the major French base after being warned against such an action and after being told by the Empire that it would consider such an action as a unilateral declaration of war by New Switzerland?

Well they were here now Admiral Delacroix thought and no point in really wondering why they were acting so insane perhaps syphilis was endemic out in the Pacific.

Looking at his maps and strength estimates he came to a very weird conclusion they were as he had thought earlier truly in the bottle and his gathering fleet was the Cork.  But how did they intend to get out?  The Entire New Zion Port Infrastructure was insufficient to support the New Swiss fleet for more than a few days.  Conservative estimate put the New Swiss fleet at over 200,000 tons of Ships a vast majority of them Coal firing.

Well the Fleet would have to continue to gather and it would have to be prepared to act because the New Swiss might have planned to stay but reality was going to change that soon.   Admiral Delacroix checked his watch he had an hour before he was meeting with Admiral Geon his staff and the commanders of all the other ships currently gathered at Djibouti.

[ctwaterman]

August 10th 1919 Rome Times:

In a speech before the Senate Yesterday the Consul of Military Affairs Spurius Valerius Maximus discussed recent events in the Rift Sea.   Consul Maximus informed the Senate that a battle had taken place between elements of the New Swiss fleet and elements of the Deutscher Kaiserreich Brandenburg and the French Djibouti defense squadron supported by local elements of the Imperial Marina.  Losses to all sides were grave but that the New Swiss fleet fled the battle field leaving their cripples to be run down by elements of the Mogadishu Fleet that arrived shortly thereafter.

The brave sailors of France, Brandenburg and the Empire struggled to save their own ships, their own wounded and to rescue those New Swiss sailors cruelly left to their fate upon the sea by their comrades in arms.  A List of names of the 2341 Swiss Sailors pulled from the Sea have been forwarded to the Green Cross Headquarters and will be forwarded to the New Swiss Government in Phoenix.   These New Swiss sailors will be held as POW under the Vienna Convention on the Conduct of War.  The wounded of both sides require the compassion of the Empire and a call for Medical volunteers both doctors and nurses will be required immediately for deployment to the war zone.

In addition to the losses in what is being called the Battle of the Tadjoura straits the Empire is angered to announce the loss of 1 Cruiser and 2 Destroyers to an unannounced mine field laid in international waters South of Atlit New Zion.   The Scope and size of this minefield is currently undetermined and the 2nd Imperial Marina Destroyer was sunk apparently by submarine torpedo while picking up survivors from the mine infested waters.  The Empire is dispatching forces to clear this minefield even as it attempts to clear the one New Zion is laying in the North.  While the Empire does not expect to be warned when an enemy lays minefields in contested international waters it would expect that neutrals would have been warned before the Empire discovers such a minefield.

On Land the Empire announced that late last month the Defenders of the besieged city of Eilat accepted the offer of a cease fire to allow the evacuation of Civilians from the city.  Despite this offer that allowed the defenders ample time to dig in and conserve their supplies the Zionist forces inside the city waited until the Civilian were safely away before promptly launching an attack on the besieging Legion with Chemical Weapons.   The Empire has always had a very strict no first use policy with such weapons.  The Empire feels that the Ethical and Humanitarian costs of such weapons far exceed their military value.   In response to this attack the Empire will respond in kind Exactly Once.   If the government of New Zion refrains from the use of such weapons in the future the Empire will cease to use them as well.

[ctwaterman]

Late August 1917, Asmara Imperial Province of Eretria:

General Giulio Douhet stood in his war room tracking the movement of the Legions under his command.  Even as he stood contemplating his next move like a Chess Master analyzing his next move his well trained staff were moving the Legions in the South.   Ashrod had fallen and the Legions along with the Brandenburg Demi-Corp were in pursuit of the broken New Zion Corp.   He smiled when reports came in that the Southern Theater Commander General Enrico Caviglia had released his Armored Car Regiments to the pursuit to which they were best suited.

But in the North Events were more troubling the Zionist defenders of Eilat were stubborn and were insistently utilizing chemical attacks.   He had at least three requests from Brigade commanders and one from the XVII Legion commander to appeal the Emperors decision not to retaliate against Eilat' defenders with their own Chemical Weapons. But orders were clear despite the fact that continued resistance by the defenders of Eilat had caused the city to be reduced to a pile of rubble the Empire would not be goaded into utilizing chemical weapons on a city no matter how badly damaged.

North of Eilat the situation was slowly sorting itself out.   The New Zion commander was ambitious and daring he had attempted to cut off the Legions supply lines just as the IX Legion and the VIII Legion had done to the Zionist forces.  There attack towards Adi K'euth was well coordinated but unfortunately predictable and the reinforcements sent to prevent such an attack had arrived with plenty of time to dig in.   Reinforcements from North Africa and Italy had arrived and were slowly being deployed to the Front.

In the far west the railhead at Gonder was now in the possession of the IX Imperial Legion.   The plan to slowly strangle the New Zion forces in the North like a Python does a rat was slowly working.   Nearly the Entire New Zion army was deployed in the field.   The 12th Division at Ashrod was destroyed or Prisoners, the 13th and 14th Divisions were in full retreat being pursued by a Full Corp, 2 Armored Brigades and the Brandenburgers.  The next target in the South then was obviously the New Zion port of Atlit but in the North the North there where so many potential moves to make.

An Aid brought General Douhet a message from the Commander of the Cohort occupying Ashrod.  There was an outbreak of Cholera and Dysentery among the civilian refuges from the battles in the South.   The General thought for a Moment, these French River Barges he said to his aid, they do not have any use accept as costal supply ships and there are so very many of them.   Get a call out to the Green Cross and move some additional medical units sent to Ashrod they can stage across Lake Victoria now that the New Zion gun boats have been eliminated.   Restore the Port of Ashrod to usefulness that will be a priority both for logistical purposes and to get relief to the displaced Civilians.   In addition make it clear to the civilians that the Civilian populace of New Zion is not the enemy of the Empire.   I think it is also time to start delivering the Propaganda notices someone in Rome sent us....!!!!

[ctwaterman]

News from Across Italy

August 25th Rome
Today a large riot outside Chabad Monteverde Synagogue in Rome resulted in hundreds of arrests as the Rome Militia was called out to suppress the unrest.   Soon units of the 1st Praetorian were on the scene to back up the Rioters who were finally only quelled by a personal appeal by a local priest to restore order to the neighborhood.   By Nightfall Synagogue across the City of Rome were being protected by small contingents of the Rome Militia.

August 26th Genoa
Last night a Fire Broke out in a Synagogue on the outside of the city.   A Crowd of angry protesters had to be moved before the Genoa fire brigade could reach the scene of the Blaze.
 
August 26th Venice, Torino, Turin
Angry crowds stormed local places of worship for those of the Jewish faith attacking those found within and painting large crosses on the Buildings wall, and roofs.  Only after the local fire brigades turned their water hoses on the crowds at the insistence of the Local Authorities did the rioting and looting break up.

August 27th Rome
The Imperial Government has mobilized several reserve militia units to support local police and fire brigades in dealing with Anti-Jewish violence across Italy.  The Editor of the Roman Forum a known radical was arrested for attempting print a call to arms from the Zionist Government in Ethiopia.

August 28th Rome
Today a sullen quiet lay over the City's of the Empire.  Last night across Italy a Personal appeal for Peace, Forgiveness and Tolerance was read from the Pulpits by Priest all across the Italy.   The Plea was first read by Pope Gregory XVII from St. Peters Basilica where even as he read his appeal to gathered crowds workers were removing the vandalism from the iconic cultural and religious landmark.  The Popes appeal called for christian charity and forgiveness.   But with Fanatics attacking churches after Sunday Mass, throwing grenades into crowds and using chemical weapons in futile attacks charity is hard to find.

[ctwaterman]

Late August early September 1919:  Paris France

The observant diplomats of Paris will note quiet meetings being held between the Ambassador of New Zion to France and the Imperial Magistrate to the French Republic.  Also the Imperial Consulates of Rome and Brandenburg have been burning a lot of midnight oil, and sending and receiving a large number of obviously encrypted telegrams.

[ctwaterman]

Tuesday September 16th 1919 Rome Times:
[Head Line]
Dutch Liner Sinks Hundreds floating on the Ocean!
Dutch Liner KMM Piet Heim was lost Early hours of yesterday with nearly all hand and passengers in the shipping lanes south of the city of Nice.   Fishing vessels in the region report pulling hundreds of bodies from the water.  Evidently the KMM Piet Heim was lost while in a well traveled shipping lane due to presently unknown causes.  Imperial Marina dispatches survey vessel to aid in determining the cause of the loss while Citizens of the Empire search the ocean in hope of finding survivors.

[Below the Fold]
New Zion delegation in Paris rejects Peace Proposal!
Rumors from the Foreign Ministry yesterday that a joint proposal put forward by the Empire of Italia, Brandenburg and Austria was rejected out of hand by the representatives of the New Zion government.  A separate proposal to allow humanitarian relief to the besieged port of Eilat was evidently accepted earlier this month. 

[ctwaterman]

Wednesday, October 1st 1919:  Brandenburg Embassy in Rome.

Today Officials of the Empire of Italia Foreign Ministry and the Empire of Brandenburg Embassy in Rome announced the Proclamation of Rome.

The Empire of Italia, and the Kaiserreich of Brandenburg agree in principle to not seek a separate peace with the Kingdom of New Zion.

We, the duly appointed representatives of our respective governments, do hereby declare that we are resolute to see this current conflict though to the end, whatever that may be. Therefore, we do declare jointly that both the Kingdom of Italia and the Deutsch Reich agree in principle and proclaim that neither side shall seek nor accept a separate peace.

Signed this day by
Franz Herman von Boehm, for the Deutsch Reich
And
Sextus Aurelius Cotta, for the Empire of Italia

[ctwaterman]

Early October 1919 Massawa Eritrea

Renee Delcroix III Admiral Indian Ocean Fleet Commander sat before his staff going over reports from the recent battles fought in the Rift and Indian Oceans.
Officers and Gentlemen we have some problems and it all comes down to subs.  So can someone please tell me how the HELL New Zion subs are operating in the Red Sea under an umbrella of French Airships heavy destroyer escort convoys and still managed to sink what was it... *grabs a report* nearly 8000 tons of merchant shipping in the Red Sea Alone and what about all these ships in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.   The damn New Zion subs simply do not have the range to conduct a patrol of any duration in the Gulf of Aden, or along the Indian Ocean coast of Somalia and Ophir.

So Gentlemen you will find where these subs and raiders are operating from.  You will coordinate with the Imperial Merchant Marine you will get trained radio telegraphers and equipment on all our large shippers and you will vary and hide the shipping times of all convoys and sailings.   Next you will patrol off our harbors and any suspicious ships operating in our waters or even off our waters will be inspected.   The Enemy is finding our shipping far too easily. 

Next Item, the recent battles I can only say we did well we fought the New Swiss in a night battle and it hurt us night battles usually do our tactics and doctrine worked and with a little more luck we would have taken easily acceptable looses.   My Only criticism was the decision to tow the Germanicus back into the Rift.  A slight diversion to Mogadishu would have lessened the risk of Submarine intercept and there is a Dry Dock there that could have handled her repairs.   We learn from our mistakes there are Subs operating directly off our ports so find them and sink them.  Extend the air patrols report all sightings photograph all ships.

Now, we have a problem outside our area of responsibility we have had an attack by Zionist Terrorist on the Port of Brindisi.  Obviously Admiral Sulla will be needing some of the Fleet back to support operation against New Swiss raiders in the Mediterranean so let us get moving on coordinating those ship transfers  I need an accurate count from the rescued New Swiss and New Zion POW on what ships both nations have lost.

[ctwaterman]

OOC: The Following story is Private between the Ottoman and Italia governments it needed to be posted as a very good story and an example of good diplomacy.

IC:  The Foreign Officers in Rome will know that the Dutch and the Ottoman Consular officers were sumoned to the Imperial Foreign Ministry the Hapsburg Diplomats were latter invited to lunch.  The DKB had officials present as well.  If you want to know about this discussion please PM me an evil plan to get the information.  I reward roleplaying....

October 10th 1919 Imperial Foreign Ministry Rome:

The Ambassador to Rome for the Ottoman Empire has had his presence requested for a meeting with the Italia Foreign Ministry as the Ottoman Ambassador was arriving the Dutch Ambassador is seen to leaving.

The Ambassadors of the Deutsche Reich is flanking Sextus Aurelius Cotta the Imperial Consul of Foreign Affairs.

Seats are taken refreshment offered and accepted in a polite but very tense atmosphere.

Ambassador let me begin by saying that the Empire and my fellow representative from the Deutsche Reich are at this moment looking for an explanation for something that occurred recently off Aden.

Apparently one of your ships transmitted this message. "The Lion Waits" on September 7th.  Immediately after this transmittal New Swiss patrols and actions were curtailed as if preparing for a sortie.

Fourteen days later the same hand transmitted "The Elephant Charges" upon which point your task force along with the Dutch changed course and headed towards Aden.  Shortly thereafter from the Coast of New Zion comes "The Phoenix Rises" and the New Swiss fleet sorties on its break out attempt.

The Empire and Deutsche Reich would very much like an explanation for an event that resulted in an unfortunate misunderstanding just outside the territorial waters of the port of Aden and which caused a diversion of forces that resulted in not only the successful break out of a small number of New Swiss ships but the loss of life a very large number of Imperial and Deutsch Reich Sailors.

In addition Citizens of the Ottoman Empire Belonging to the Thessaloniki militia attacked and set fire to the Imperial Port City of Brindisi late last month, The Empire would like an explanation for these actions as well?

The Ottoman Ambassador, Fatin Yolga a man regarded as both old and wise, clinched his jaw for a moment. He'd been expecting this.

"Your Excellencies, first I must beg your forgiveness, as men in my position are usually not included in the distributions of military plans and briefings, I can only relay to you what my government has shared with me."

He takes a moment to collect the next thought. "I have no knowledge of any specific radio broadcasts made during recent operations of the Ottoman Navy in support of Dutch operations in the Arabian Gulf. I am not a sailor, but I was once, long ago, an Officer in His Majesty's Army, and I can relay from experience that any such transmissions are likely to be secret in nature, so I doubt I'd be allowed to comment on their specific nature even if I did have knowledge of them. I'm sure the Consul understands these things, no?"

Pausing for another moment, he sips some tea. "I can, however, assure you that I will convey with the utmost haste via cable your nations' concerns in this matter to Constantinople.

"Now, on the matter of Brindisi I have read very brief reports of this in the newspapers. If it is true that these men were members of the Thassalonian militia, it is true that they would be considered Ottoman citizens, but I'm sure you are familiar with the terms of the 1912 accord at Paris which state very clearly that Thessaloniki and all those living there are now under Hapsburg administration. Even if my government cared to give orders to the Thessalonians, it is quite impossible as a result of this agreement and the nature of our relationship with Vienna. Possibly you should inquire of the Habsburgers about this event?"

Sextus Aurelius Cotta *takes a sip from his tea as well*

"The Empire appreciates your frankness in this matter and will look forward to hearing the reply from Constantinople.   It would be unfortunate if another such incident occurred to mar the relationship between our two Empires!"

"As to the Thessaloniki affair we are simply trying to determine the status of the prisoners.   They are either legal combatants of some nation who has perpetrated an act of war upon the Empire.  Or they are Mercenaries' wearing uniforms to which they were not entitled while attacking the Empire while flying the flag of Greece.  The Empire takes a very dim view of Mercenaries'' committing acts of Piracy against the Empires shores.  Our inquiry into the matter is more of a legal inquiry and rest assured we will be inquiring of both New Jerusalem and Vienna on this matter as well!"

"Unless we have anything else to discuss I still have the Austrian Ambassador to see this afternoon as well?"

EDIT: I fixed some minor spacing issues, and this is my stamp of approval on this as well.

[Sachmle]

EDIT: I fixed some minor spacing issues, and this is my stamp of approval on this as well.

Shouldn't that be

"Hi, I'm Guinness and I approve this message."

With a picture of you smiling while holding a baby?who's candy you're about to steal

[Guinness]

Hey, one doesn't need to campaign for anything when one is already a member of the ruling oligarchy, no?  ;)

[ctwaterman]

September 30th 1919
Imperial Palace Rome:
Actors Emperor Armedo Ferdinando Camila and his Cousin Duke Augostino Luca Federicho of Tuscany.

The table was set for a private dinner for two outside security around the palace was tight.  The Duke poured brandy for his cousin while the steward a member of the Praetorian Guard set out the desert.

Emperor Armedo :  So Luca how goes the meetings with the Curia I understand we will be supporting Iberia' right to police the Straits of Hercules.  I am hearing quite a bit of noise out of some of the Senators recognizing another states rights to actually police an international strait that reverses nearly a hundred years of policy?

Duke Augostino:  It was a purely pragmatic decision necessary to protect shipping from whomever has been laying mines randomly in the Mediterranean!  Does Mario Decumius have any information on who is doing the mining?

Emperor Armedo:   No, actually Mario is very suspicious of many third parties the Zionists just do not have enough subs to be doing all these sinking's it is very suspicious but proof is going to take quite awhile to obtain.  He is looking forward to taking a look at some records he has not yet managed to obtain.

Duke Augostino:   Well the Iberian Proposal in the Curia is extremely interesting.  The DKB ambassador accepted it very quickly with very few restrictions.  We do however like those restrictions!  However both Iberia and Bavaria are likely to push us to accept a much more liberal interpretation on the borders of New Zion.!

Emperor Armedo:   How Liberal exactly?

Duke Augostino:  They appear to wish the Empire and DKB not to annex any New Zion territory at all!

Emperor Armedo:   That is a very dangerous proposition did not the Hapsburgs and the Iberian effectively annex Greece parts of the Balkans during their war with the Ottomans.  Do they honestly expect the Empire to do less when we have more cause?

Duke Augostino:   I know what we had to promise certain Senators to get them to agree to support this adventure.  So I know what we can and cannot give up in the negotiations.  I also know how sensitive the support of the Iberian declaration was with some of the other Senators as well.  But we are between conflicting needs and desires.  On one hand France, on the other our growing friendships with the Nations of the Curia.   And worst of all we are a beast with 4 hands because we are also caught between the greed of certain Senators and the good of the citizens of the Empire!

Emperor Armedo:   Ok Cousin let us see what we can work out here I can use Senator Cicero to help control the Francophiles he is firmly in Frances pocket anyway so we let him know we supported the Iberian declaration as a show of support for France.  He does not need to know how angry France made certain members of the Curia of Nations.

Duke Augostino:   That will buy us some time and I will take a look at the proposed people with the people over in Foreign Affairs.  And I will have to stop by and talk to Mario and your Father.   We need to know exactly what we want out of this little war and how we can achieve our goals at the lowest possible cost!

Emperor Armedo:  I do not really object to a Free Zionist state but we must make absolutely sure that it is disarmed and not involved in foreign entanglements especially with the New Swiss!  Now comes the hard question the Swiss have flown from the trap but we are still at war with them we need to have plans ready to implement our exit strategy with the New Swiss.   This war in Asia may prove useful but we will have to see!

[ctwaterman]

Engine test Facility Mount Blanc on the Italian French Border, November 1919.
A discussion between 2 Aircraft Engineers working on their latest test engine.

"Sir the new engine seems to be running at the full 250 HP and has been doing so for roughly an hour now.   I think we have solved the high altitude problem for the engines a small supercharger to feed compressed air into the combustion chamber seems to fix some but not all of the problems of loss of compression and horse power above 3000 meters."

"Excellent the engineers will be happy to hear that there latest proposal seems to work above 4000 meters.   But we really need a higher test facility but this is the best we could do in Europe.  Now we have fixed the problem with the engines we need to fix the problem for the pilots as well?   Do you think simply bringing the pilots up to this altitude and getting them acclimated would work or do we need a compressor for the pilots as well?"

"I really do not think that long term acclimation is going to work if the pilots continue to live and work close to sea level.   Perhaps we should consult the French I believe they have some medical staff working on the problem of altitude sickness among their Zeppelin crews above 5000 meters."

"That is really a good idea the point of getting engine performance to this level was to be able to intercept Zeppelins above 5000 meters if necessary so coordinating our efforts with the French medical staff might be a good idea as it will also give us a good look at what the newest Zeppelins are capable of achieving."

[ctwaterman]

Rome Times Monday October 27th 1919:

Yesterday Sunday October 26th the Bells of the Churches across Rome and the Empire rang out in celebration.  The War in East Africa is over and the forces of New Zion broken have surrendered.  Today, select members of the Imperial Government will brief the Senate of Rome on the plans for winning the peace.

The Cost of removing New Switzerland military forces from the Rift has been high and the blood of Empires allies both French and Brandenburg have been shed along with the blood of Legions.   But the Empire must stay the course, the goal of creating a stable government in New Zion one completely free of the New Swiss influence have just begun.

A reminder to all citizens that while the war in New Zion is coming to an end a state of war does still exist between the Republic of Switzerland and the Empire.