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Post by simon darkshade on Dec 24, 2021 12:30:07 GMT
Yes, he is. He previously featured in one of the 1947 stories 'Sharpe's Hunters'.
His middle name is a hat tip to Sean Bean's portrayal in the series, not an actual one.
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Post by simon darkshade on Jan 2, 2022 17:22:53 GMT
A snippet of Part 3:
“RAF Salisbury is the largest British airbase south of the Equator, yet even it seems dwarfed by today’s arrivals. Far to our left, we can see the mighty Avro Vulcans of Bomber Command and the Royal South African Air Force, alongside Rhodesia’s own Valiant bombers, the guardians of the Empire’s security in Central Africa. The main part of today’s affair is to our right.”
The camera slowly panned to the three skyships that sat on the reinforced landing ground, their ramps down and columns of men and equipment pouring out from the darkness of their giant holds into the piercing light of the African sun. As the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders were the first off R301, they had been lead by their pipers and their skirl rang out across the expanse of the aerodrome as they marched off, company by company northward to the railway station.
“As the men of the brigade march forth, many will see them and be struck by some of the differences from what we remember of the war, or even Korea. First of all, they are wearing their new tropical uniforms and helmets, quite unlike the old wartime jungle greens. Their rifles and machine guns, likewise, are all of the newer type and even the officers’ swords have been improved. Those troops of light horse following each battalion are not the old type of cavalry, but mounted infantry, which the Rhodesians and South Africans have used to such effect here.
Coming up now, we see the new Vickers Valiant battle tanks of 25 Royal Tank Regiment, followed by the Abbots and the L121 6” howitzers towed by Scammell Pioneers. 11th Infantry Division is deploying as a fully mobile formation, not like the lighter divisions in Malaya, South Vietnam and Australia, so they have their full complement of Saxons, along with the newer wheeled Centaur armoured carriers. Here come the Royalists of the Inniskilling Dragoons, fastest and most mobile of all the light tanks in the world, they say, followed by their lighter cousins, the Scorpion LCVRs and now a company of the Armstrong-Whitworth automatic mortars, drawn along by Land Rovers.
Last of the vehicles are the armoured cars, all painted in the new African camouflage scheme. Leading are AEC Sentinel LAVs and four of the old reliable Alvis Sabres, then the swift little Fox scout cars. The largest of them all though are the new Rolls-Royce Challenger Medium Armoured Vehicles, or MAVs. They don’t bear the same armour as a tank, but their heavy protection is obvious. Every one of those guns is the same L7 105mm that equipped our Centurions, so the men of the Royal Reconnaissance Corps have a truly powerful vehicle that will be a great challenger for any who come up against it in the Congo.”
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Post by simon darkshade on Jan 3, 2022 17:53:48 GMT
A few notes on the above snippet and it’s implications:
- There is something of a separation between the MBT equipped armoured regiments and those in the lighter armoured cavalry role. The latter are equipped with the Royalist light tank and Scimitar CVRTs, with some units fielding the smaller Scorpion LCVRs. The last are very much like their @ namesakes, apart from being equipped with a more powerful 75mm gun as compared to a 76mm. It is designed for colonial bushwhacking. - The Sentinel LAVs and Challenger MAVs are used by the Royal Reconnaissance Corps, which has no @ equivalent. It provides the lighter, outer screen for units in the field, which explains the continued use of 42mm armed Sabre armoured cars in mixed units with the Sentinels, where they provide overwatch. The Challengers are akin to the Centauro or Stryker MGS, but with rather heavier armour, both steel and composite, with further armour added once it is in theatre. This combination of elements of the tank with a wheeled platform make it powerful in certain roles and theatres. - The Fox scout cars are similar to the @ FV721, but with a hotter engine and a 25mm Maxim. They are replacing the Ferrets in their thousands. - In addition to the RRC/Recces, the Royal Machine Gun Corps has their own range of self propelled heavy weapons, mounted on light wheeled vehicles or tracked FV432s: a 25mm SP rotary autocannon on a tracked platform, a 40mm automatic grenade launcher, a 37mm autocannon and a long range flame thrower/projector, along with vehicle mounted twin .625” HMGs and triple .303” miniguns. - There are also experimental automated “robotic” turrets equipped with machine guns and automatic shotguns for static defence
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Post by simon darkshade on Jan 29, 2022 9:17:48 GMT
Return to Charlotteville Part 3
“RAF Salisbury is the largest British airbase south of the Equator, yet even it seems dwarfed by today’s arrivals. Far to our left, we can see the mighty Avro Vulcans of Bomber Command and the Royal South African Air Force, alongside Rhodesia’s own Valiant bombers, the guardians of the Empire’s security in Central Africa. The main part of today’s affair is to our right.”
The camera slowly panned to the three skyships that sat on the reinforced landing ground, their ramps down and columns of men and equipment pouring out from the darkness of their giant holds into the piercing light of the African sun. As the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders were the first off R301, they had been lead by their pipers and their skirl rang out across the expanse of the aerodrome as they marched off, company by company northward to the railway station.
“As the men of the brigade march forth, many will see them and be struck by some of the differences from what we remember of the war, or even Korea. First of all, they are wearing their new tropical uniforms and helmets, quite unlike the old wartime jungle greens. Their rifles and machine guns, likewise, are all of the newer type and even the officers’ swords have been improved. Those troops of light horse following each battalion are not the old type of cavalry, but mounted infantry, which the Rhodesians and South Africans have used to such effect here.
Coming up now, we see the new Vickers Valiant battle tanks of 25 Royal Tank Regiment, followed by the Abbots and the L121 6” howitzers towed by Scammell Pioneers. 11th Infantry Division is deploying as a fully mobile formation, not like the lighter divisions in Malaya, South Vietnam and Australia, so they have their full complement of Saxons, along with the newer wheeled Centaur armoured carriers. Here come the Royalists of the Inniskilling Dragoons, fastest and most mobile of all the light tanks in the world, they say, followed by their lighter cousins, the Scorpion LCVRs and now a company of the Armstrong-Whitworth automatic mortars, drawn along by Land Rovers.
Last of the vehicles are the armoured cars, all painted in the new African camouflage scheme. Leading are AEC Sentinel LAVs and four of the old reliable Alvis Sabres, then the swift little Fox scout cars. The largest of them all though are the new Rolls-Royce Challenger Medium Armoured Vehicles, or MAVs. They don’t bear the same armour as a tank, but their heavy protection is obvious. Every one of those guns is the same L7 105mm that equipped our Centurions, so the men of the Royal Reconnaissance Corps have a truly powerful vehicle that will be a great challenger for any who come up against it in the Congo.”
Now the view panned out again, rising up into the air soundlessly before turning to reveal that it was in a Rotodyne. Marwood sat by the wide glassteel window in the side of the aircraft, clad in a khaki safari suit and fixing the camera with an earnest expression as he gestured at the sprawling city below.
“Salisbury. Capital of Rhodesia and home to over a million people, it is here that our troops will entrain and set out for the border. It is a beautiful city, one of broad avenues and boulevards lined with jacaranda trees and the grand oaks of home. Her cricket ovals, the stately buildings of Lutyens in her centre and her bustling industry all seem to be from a a familiar England, not deep In the tropical heart of Africa.
Of all the Dominions, Rhodesia has always been thought of as the most distinctly ‘English’, perhaps as a means of asserting the ties of home in the midst of a faraway dark and mysterious continent. In less than a century, she has become the breadbasket of Africa, her fertile soil producing bountiful harvests of maize, wheat, sugar, tobacco, groundnuts and fruit and her herds of cattle topping ten millions last year. Her towering forests supply plentiful timber and her hills and mountains are flowing with the riches of every mineral known to man.
Here, we are far from the conflict that has been fought up on the border for the last decade. Men here call it the Bush War and whatever it’s name, it is among the most dangerous frontiers that the British Empire possesses on this planet. Every day, two or three of our boys will lose their lives up there in the rugged yet verdant hills that separate Katanga and Rhodesia. It is a hard land, even as it seems fair, beset by the confused troubles that have sadly been the lot of the Congo since it’s independence from Belgium. In the main, it is defended by the great border fence that has been put up over the last three years, but even that barrier strong enough to hold back a dinosaur has not been impervious to man. The border runs along the headwaters of the mightiest river in Central Africa itself; the soldiers of Rhodesia swear that they’ll keep the enemy north of the Congo until the river itself is running dry, but it is a hard fight.
And so it is that our boys are up there fighting, in defence of our freedom and the security of the men, women and children of Rhodesia and of Southern Africa. From Salisbury, it is a train journey of over a thousand miles to our railhead at Elizabethville and another three hundred miles to the border, or two days travel. With all of the vehicles and firepower we saw earlier, and they were just a fraction of the whole division, it will be the better part of a week before we cross over into the Congo.
Lieutenant-General Sir Colin Mitchell is well known across the Empire and the world for his firm and uncompromising command in the Aden operation and now he leads the 11th Division in Operation Tancred, the pacification of Katanga. General, many people are asking what our objective is in the Congo.”
“It is very simple. The Congolese government has invited us and we’re going to go in and restore order, very firmly. Simbas or rebels, bandits or Communists, they’re all the same - terrorists. We’re going to find them and stop them, by any means necessary. I have no compunction in saying that, if our men come across a chap who wants to snipe at us or throw grenades at civilians, then we shall kill him, and rightly so. Terrorism stops here.”
“A very plain statement of intent, General.”
“Oh, it’s not an intention. It is what we plan to do and what we will do. I should hope that they do try and stand up and fight. We’ve enough manpower and firepower this time, and the Royal Air Force chaps have their planes ready to support us at their airfields at Kolwezi and Jadotville and the big base at Kamina. If anyone starts any trouble, they’ll just get their head blown off.”
“You seem abundantly clear on the mission. What of the special personnel that will be accompanying you?”
“What of them?”
“Well, the presence of the heir to the throne would seem to make planning a tad more complicated, to begin.”
“Only a tad. I think it is very good for a future King to see battle alongside his soldiers. Gives him a sense of what the Empire is really based on and shows them that their leaders don’t shy away from the sharp end of the business, just like his grandfather did. In any event, this is Katanga, not Normandy.”
“Less dangerous, then.”
“No, just a different kind. There may not be German tanks, hordes of screaming Chinamen or Soviet atom bombs, but all war is dangerous. Here, though, the danger is rather greater for the other chap.”
The Rotodyne swooped down for a closing pan over the crowded Salisbury railyard, already packed with heavy equipment and vehicles, finishing with a lingering shot of four tracked vehicles with large missiles protruding from the boxy launcher on their backs.
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Jan 29, 2022 10:00:31 GMT
Return to Charlotteville Part 3“RAF Salisbury is the largest British airbase south of the Equator, yet even it seems dwarfed by today’s arrivals. Far to our left, we can see the mighty Avro Vulcans of Bomber Command and the Royal South African Air Force, alongside Rhodesia’s own Valiant bombers, the guardians of the Empire’s security in Central Africa. The main part of today’s affair is to our right.” Is RAF Salisbury a OTL base.
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Post by simon darkshade on Jan 29, 2022 11:16:19 GMT
No. Like @, it was built in the 1950s as Salisbury outgrew its old airport at Belvedere. Historically, the Salisbury cluster of airfields from WW2 consisted of Belvedere, Cranborne and Mount Hampden.
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Jan 29, 2022 11:18:08 GMT
No. Like @, it was built in the 1950s as Salisbury outgrew its old airport at Belvedere. Historically, the Salisbury cluster of airfields from WW2 consisted of Belvedere, Cranborne and Mount Hampden. During World War II, did the The Rhodesian Air Training Group 1940-1945 exist as well.
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Post by simon darkshade on Jan 29, 2022 11:34:47 GMT
In both situations, it was part of the broader British Commonwealth Air Training Plan/Empire Air Training Scheme; the only major difference in DE is a RRAF reflecting its Dominion status and the larger country (Central African Federation, Tete and most of Haut Katanga).
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Post by lordroel on Jan 29, 2022 11:57:40 GMT
Return to Charlotteville Part 3Last of the vehicles are the armoured cars, all painted in the new African camouflage scheme. Leading are AEC Sentinel LAVs and four of the old reliable Alvis Sabres, then the swift little Fox scout cars. The largest of them all though are the new Rolls-Royce Challenger Medium Armoured Vehicles, or MAVs. They don’t bear the same armour as a tank, but their heavy protection is obvious. Every one of those guns is the same L7 105mm that equipped our Centurions, so the men of the Royal Reconnaissance Corps have a truly powerful vehicle that will be a great challenger for any who come up against it in the Congo.” Does the RAF regiment also use these kind of vehicles.
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Post by simon darkshade on Jan 29, 2022 23:22:17 GMT
The edited version of RAF Regiment discussion from ANJ in 1964:
“Very good, Prime Minister. The last matter is the review of the RAF Regiment, where the broad preliminary recommendations by the field commanders present no surprises. Establishment of a special forces and mobile commando capacity, hardening the field forces to reflect the changing threat and modernising the Regiment’s holdings of AAA. Nothing too expensive or egregious.”
“I can see no issue with it.”
“In the first instance, we would select, form and train up an initial regiment sized force, preliminarily designated Paracommandos; the name is not set, but has a reflection on the Low Countries operating area. We’d secondly upgrade our general field transport and heavier armoured cars to the IMV and MAV respectively, procure more of the CVR (T) family of vehicles for the light armoured squadrons and introduced Saxons to appropriate roles alongside our tank squadrons. In terms of AA guns, the general request is for the Marksman and Sharpshooter, but also for an equivalent to the Vigilante. And Green Mace.”
“Well, they don’t propose to do things by halves, I’ll say that much.”
Therefore: - The RAF Regiment operates armoured squadrons equipped with Vickers Valiant MBTs and Saxon FV432 APCs in Germany and the Middle East as a result of interservice politics - Next in order of hardness are the light armoured squadrons: Scimitar CVR(T)s and Royalist light battle tanks - The larger amount of their forces are in the Field Squadrons, which are entirely motorised: Centaur IMVs escorted by Challenger MAVs, with Saracen Armoured Mobile Carriers carrying cargo/supplies - Air Defence Squadrons are making their big comeback, converting from many of the older Field Squadrons. As mentioned there, their ideal armament is a mixture of 25mm and 42mm SPAAGs, a new 37mm + Gatling cannon and automatic 5.25" guns, in addition to Sabre and Rapier. Each AD squadron would field two gun flights and two missile flights - The 1970s plan is for foreign airfields to have Field and Air Defence squadrons assigned, in addition to Light Armoured squadrons in support. The Armoured Squadrons are more of a function of the early 1960s rearmament frenzy, for want of a better term
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Post by simon darkshade on Mar 7, 2022 6:37:01 GMT
A preview of the first bit of Part 4:
"Nearly all of modern warfare is built around the train. They are the lifeblood of any military operation, be it in Europe, South East Asia or even here in Darkest Africa and that blood runs through the veins of the railway network. That of Central Africa is rather less developed than what we are accustomed to at home, but large fast modern lines are being built up to the Congolese border to be finished within six months. For now, our journey onwards from the thriving city of Elizabethville took place on the older local lines.
Here at the border town of Mitwaba, the line stretches back almost 300 miles to Jadotville. Over the last four years, the highway up to Charlotteville has been greatly improved and built with British money and now can take three lanes of traffic in either direction. You will see that the flow of lorries and cars northward from here all properly keep to the left rather than driving on the wrong side of the road as bequeathed by the former Belgian colonial overloards of the Congo, but there are consistent issues when local traffic makes mistakes and cause accidents. For now, they've been politely directed to use the local road network, leaving the main highway for the British troops who have come to help them."
Marwood paused as the camera panned out to show a pair RMP Land Rovers parked across the juncture of a dirt road leading onto the large bitumised highway that was carved into the landscape like a thick black scar dotted with diamonds. Their temporary roadblock was being turned into something more permanent with the addition of large concrete and steel bollards newly driven into the earth and two robotic machine gun turrets being emplaced on either side of the road. The unmanned turret had been one of the great advances of the British in Africa of the last five years, allowing enhanced protection and security of fortified camps and infrastructure alike with less commitment of manpower, he thought bitterly; the initial teething problems of the accidental firing upon livestock and worse had been swept under the carpet quite conveniently.
"We can't say how many convoys use this road per day, but from what we have seen in our day up here so far, traffic has been constant. Most of them are the good old Bedford RLs we are all familiar with, but an increasing number every day are the big new Fords and Macks from Canada, the so called 'New Canadian Military Pattern Trucks'. They haul up to 10 tons of supplies on a good road like this, all while being protected by armour, special tyres and their automatic machine guns. They feed and supply our boys up in Katanga and do it well. There are no exceptions to the strict timetable which governs this road, not even for the riders of the Royal Army Motorcyclist Corps who cruise up and back on their armoured bikes at speeds which would leave the lorries quite literally in their dust.
If the highway has been restricted to the supply of our troops in the field, and the main freight lines up to the mines are naturally not used for passengers, our way forward to Charlotteville is a lot smoother and swifter than either, although not quite as swift as the Huntsmans that we see streaking out to the forward air bases several times a day. However, the good old Fairey Rotodyne is the backbone of the Army and the Empire here as elsewhere and will get us up to our destination in a little under an hour in reasonable comfort."
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Post by simon darkshade on Mar 7, 2022 15:23:17 GMT
Whilst the main part of the logistical discussion will hopefully make sense in the context of the rest of the chapter, the interesting tidbit for me was the RAMC, a continuation of the WW1 Army Cyclist Corps with a touch of some of the more crazy looking motorbikes out there. They aren’t limited to the highways, but are most effective as road warriors.
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Post by simon darkshade on Mar 20, 2022 14:29:29 GMT
Return to Charlotteville Part 4
"Nearly all of modern warfare is built around the train. They are the lifeblood of any military operation, be it in Europe, South East Asia or even here in Darkest Africa and that blood runs through the veins of the railway network. That of Central Africa is rather less developed than what we are accustomed to at home, but large fast modern lines are being built up to the Congolese border to be finished within six months. For now, our journey onwards from the thriving city of Elizabethville took place on the older local lines.
Here at the border town of Mitwaba, the line stretches back almost 300 miles to Jadotville. Over the last four years, the highway up to Charlotteville has been greatly improved and built with British money and now can take three lanes of traffic in either direction. You will see that the flow of lorries and cars northward from here all properly keep to the left rather than driving on the wrong side of the road as bequeathed by the former Belgian colonial overloards of the Congo, but there are consistent issues when local traffic makes mistakes and cause accidents. For now, they've been politely directed to use the local road network, leaving the main highway for the British troops who have come to help them."
Marwood paused as the camera panned out to show a pair RMP Land Rovers parked across the juncture of a dirt road leading onto the large bitumised highway that was carved into the landscape like a thick black scar dotted with diamonds. Their temporary roadblock was being turned into something more permanent with the addition of large concrete and steel bollards newly driven into the earth and two robotic machine gun turrets being emplaced on either side of the road. The unmanned turret had been one of the great advances of the British in Africa of the last five years, allowing enhanced protection and security of fortified camps and infrastructure alike with less commitment of manpower, he thought bitterly; the initial teething problems of the accidental firing upon livestock and worse had been swept under the carpet quite conveniently.
"We can't say how many convoys use this road per day, but from what we have seen in our day up here so far, traffic has been constant. Most of them are the good old Bedford RLs we are all familiar with, but an increasing number every day are the big new Fords and Macks from Canada, the so called 'New Canadian Military Pattern Trucks'. They haul up to 10 tons of supplies on a good road like this, all while being protected by armour, special tyres and their automatic machine guns. They feed and supply our boys up in Katanga and do it well. There are no exceptions to the strict timetable which governs this road, not even for the riders of the Royal Army Motorcyclist Corps who cruise up and back on their armoured bikes at speeds which would leave the lorries quite literally in their dust.
If the highway has been restricted to the supply of our troops in the field, and the main freight lines up to the mines are naturally not used for passengers, our way forward to Charlotteville is a lot smoother and swifter than either, although not quite as swift as the Huntsmans that we see streaking out to the forward air bases several times a day. However, the good old Fairey Rotodyne is the backbone of the Army and the Empire here as elsewhere and will get us up to our destination in a little under an hour in reasonable comfort."
“Cut! That’s good for now.”
Hemmings wiped his brow with no small sense of relief. The weather here was bad enough, but being on the wrong side of the border was enough to make him antsy. It wasn’t that there was really a major threat; the patrols, frequency of traffic and the small matter of a reinforced division crossing over saw to that. Nor was even the more visceral issue than that - being cut off. Glancing back behind him, he saw the wall separating them from Mitwaba, a hulking thirty foot high blade wire fence with a cleared strip before it. Barely enough to stop an angry dinosaur; all that nonsense about them not being around these parts did not convince him. It was far simpler than that. The big story of Tancred was still back in Mitwaba, presumably. The presence of the Prince of Wales and the Tsarevich were what would put this programme straight to the forefront of public attention and acclaim.
"Mr. Hemmings?"
"Yes?" He looked up at the young lieutenant commanding their escort who was just putting his walkie-talkie back on his belt.
"The CO sends his compliments. The main body airlift is going to be starting soon and he wondered if you would care to take some footage of it lifting off. You'll be heading up on the third wave with Captain Dornan."
..................................................................................
"How high are we, Captain?"
"Oh, somewhere about 16,000 feet. Best altitude for cruising speed. We'd be doing things a tad differently if there was any real AA threat on the ground, mind you."
"Isn't there?"
"Our route has been very well sanitised and we have our friendly escorts yonder -" Dornan gestured at the quartet of Westland Tigers flying on the flank of the Rotodyne squadron "for a bit of extra security. In any event, the ANC have never even had any sort of anti-aircraft systems beyond heavy machine guns, so we’ve got no fear of Grails or Gaskins.”
Marwood looked at Hemmings and raised his eyebrow pointedly. There wasn’t any aerial filming this time around and they had been firmly briefed on what could and could not be discussed whilst en route to Charlotteville. One of those verboten topics, the second most important one after the Prince, had been any mention of Soviet arms in Katanga.
In any event, Captain Dornan either did not see their reaction or thought naught of it, so continued on his friendly talk.
“If you look down below, we’re actually going over one of our own heavy convoys now.”
They followed Dornan’s gesture to see a column of dozens of Antars carrying tanks, armoured personnel carriers and mobile guns, headed by a pair of the new Challengers. Even from this high, the BBC journalists could see their big turrets trained left and right.
“Isn’t it a bit risky to have to run everything on just one road?”
“Well, it’s not really our only option. Apart from the air, of course, there is the mine railway which we are using to bring up supplies and some of the local roads. It isn’t quite Arnhem.”
“They’re little more than narrow dirt tracks, though. Not something that could take a big convoy like that one.”
“Some are, but we’re widening and grading them every day. You're right, though. No professional commander worth his salt would simply pour his armour across a border on a single major road and hope to pot luck- that would be tailormade for disaster. No, we'll build more roads as well as modernising what these poor people have. Part of the hearts and minds campaign, you see, helping out the locals with their infrastructure, not just the big railway.”
“There has been a lot of emphasis on that idea of hearts and minds in Tancred.”
“Naturally. We did write the book on it in Malaya, quite literally! So far in this district, we’ve built over 50 new roads, dug dozens of new wells, established seven new hospitals and two dozen schools and started construction on two new local airfields and four cinemas. The RAMC has been running a vaccination programme for several months already. It is really at the heart of why we’re here - to help the Katangans and Congolese make their lives better and safer.”
“Very noble, Captain. Will you succeed?”
“Well, we’ve not failed at any challenge yet.”
’Yet’. Interesting…
“Five minutes until we land, sir.”
“Excellent. Make sure you’re strapped in, chaps. This last part is always a bit of fun.”
……………………………………..
"Bit of a change here, isn't it, Captain Dornan?"
"You're not wrong, sir."
Dornan looked out from the headquarters building alongside Lieutenant-Colonel Quinlan upon what had once been the nameless little hamlet where they had fought almost four years ago. The few dozen buildings, dilapidated garage and abandoned bar was now replaced by a modern, well-ordered fortified base at least five times larger with a chapel, a central keep, mess halls, an international radiotelephone exchange and expansive NAAFI and even a cinema. Where their little compound had been defended by the ad-hoc trenches, wire entanglements and sangars, the new base had a triple layered wall of steel reinforced concrete and bladewire; against Soviet heavy guns, it would have a life of minutes, but here in the savannah of Katanga, it was as indomitable a fortress as Krak des Chevaliers.
"We've got Brigade HQ coming up to here along with their own security detachment and the Independent Company as strategic reserve, so I'll be taking the battalion up to the new bridge at Goi-Ganga. Each of our companies will be spaced 15 miles apart for mutual fire support and reinforcement. As you know, you'll take 'A' Company up front to the north."
"Yes sir, all as planned."
"You'll be having some further reinforcements, as it were."
"I see. Guards Commando?"
"Yes, and a detachment of nice chaps from Hereford. The orders from Horse Guards are clear - give them a bit of a safe taste of life in the field and even a bit of action. If there is even a hint of risk, then use extreme force - a darn lot of it."
"Seems like a bit of a dance, sir."
"It is a dance, Captain, it all is. All the world's a stage, after all."
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Post by simon darkshade on Mar 21, 2022 10:17:55 GMT
A few little notes for Parts 3 and 4:
- Part 3 was partly inspired by the arrival of the Atreides’ forces on Dune in the picture released late last year - Salisbury is a tad different, being larger and having got a touch of the Lutyens treatment - Rhodesia’s white population being consciously “more English” is a way of not being subsumed into South Africa, which itself is fair bit more Anglo-South African to the point of being a majority of the white population - It is even more of a breadbasket than @, given it’s larger extent and this is one factor as to why the troops are there; the major one is the mines of Northern/Congolese Katanga - The border fence that can stop a dinosaur is a call back to James Bond fighting Nazi T-Rexes in the Congo in 1947 - Keeping the enemy ‘north of the Congo ‘til that river’s running dry’ doesn’t have the same ring to it as the Zambezi, but is a better proposition in terms of strategic defence - The sheer distances involved are rather deceptive until really mapped out and the consequences played out - Some of Colin Mitchell’s dialogue is lifted straight from media interviews he gave in @ in Aden in 1967 - The final paragraph (and shot) of Part 3 is of tracked Blue Water launchers. The Ministry of Information insisted on them being used in that sequence to increase the propaganda value of that episode
- The first section of Part 4 is very logistically focused. This may be tangentially related to other events currently going on, as was the comment on a professional military not simply charging over a border and then running out of fuel - A double track broad gauge line is being built up to Charlotteville along with the other “bases” (Kasaji and Kamina). This is being done both to facilitate the humanitarian aid operation, but also to tie in Katanga to Rhodesia in transport, economic activity and general support. The purpose of this secondary intent is hopefully obvious - A further example of this is shifting traffic to drive on the left hand side (as compared to the wrong side) of the road, which has a direct purpose and flow-on effects… - Further from that is the designation of the highway, built with British aid, as an Essential Military Service Route and sealing off side roads with barricades and more - Automated turrets are something inspired by some of the Fallout games, but done in such a manner to be realistic for the time. This entails a lot of teething problems, to put it mildly - The New Canadian Military Pattern lorries are Mack M125s and a Ford variant. The versions used here have a MG Mount, armour, anti-mine protection and run flat tyres. They come out of Commonwealth standardisation talks that will be featured in another tale - A brief mention is made of the Huntsman, or the Hawker P.1128 light transport jet. It is used for officers, VIPs and important documents/cargo - Bladewire is a much nastier version of razor wire - The airlift flies well above the altitude of any known threat, such as 12.7mm, 14.5mm or 23mm AAA, early model SA-7s and the like. Dornan mentioning SA-9 Gaskins in particular seems a bit off for the journalists, almost as if something else is going on. I wonder what it could be? - The hearts and minds campaign is really, really being pushed hard - I took elements of the description of Charlotteville directly from my opening chapters on the original story to emphasise a sense of symmetry
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Post by simon darkshade on May 10, 2022 16:26:26 GMT
Bit of a preview:
The late afternoon sun bore down upon Dornan with a relatively pleasant warmth, the humidity being blessedly less in the Congolese dry season. They’d chosen ‘A’ Company’s new home well and Camp Firefly was not without its comforts, but it’s primary role was still eminently plain. Fifteen miles north of the Luvua River, the forests cleared into a rough scar slashing from west to east as the land rose slightly. The location for the base had been planned and selected when they were still back in Blighty, the land cleared with a succession of blast bombs deployed by Valiants and shaped by heliborne combat wizards of the Royal Engineers.
Now there was a base better than they had defended last time around. The buildings were mainly Romney huts for the time being, but there was a landing ground for helicopters, a depot for their vehicles and, most importantly, gun positions for their mortars, artillery, tanks and rocket launchers. Beyond them was the infantry trenchline around the edge of the high ground, although the fieldworks had more of the nature of sangars to them due to their position, then the wire and open ground for a mile in every direction.
All up, in addition to the usual company weapons, Captain Dornan could count on the support of four 125mm Light Guns, two 4.5” and four 3.5” mortars, two Valiant and four Royalist tanks, eight carriers including the RMGC boys and a single Catapult multiple rocket launcher. It was understandable given their position as the forward company, not to mention their rather special guest officers, but he supposed that with great firepower came great responsibility. If anything major came up, then he could simply call upon the big 6” guns and the rest of the 125s back at Goi-Ganga, which were positioned so they could cover any of the companies in the field, whilst the brigade reserves back in Charlotteville were less than 20 minutes flying time away.
If anything, they had learnt the lessons of the past too well.
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