Black Eagle

[Desertfox]

All Newspapers, November 5th

NOTICE!

DKB New Guinea is as of November 5th under an Official Blockade. Any vessels attempting to reach port are subject to inspection and any vessels carrying Contraband are subject to seizure.


Phoenix Daily Star, same day

VICTORY!

News have come of a decisive victory over the Germans. A sortie by the German Fleet at Rabaul was crushed with a battleship and five destroyers sunk and a cruiser heavily damaged. All for two destroyers sunk and a cruiser slightly damaged. It wont be long before all of New Guinea falls to the mighty Swiss Army!

Again we ask, Where is the vaunted 'High' Seas Fleet? That it may join its siblings in Davy Jones' Fleet!

[Desertfox]

November 11th

New Switzerland - 2, Austria - 0. Once again the Austrians lose, this time a battleship. The Sankt Slava was taken out by Swiss destroyers near the Admirality Islands in a perfectly executed strike. No ships where lost in taking out this Austrian warship.


November 13th

Alotau falls. The German town of Alotau was taken today by the 51st Australian Brigade. Around 600 survivors where taken prisioners.


November 20th

Wewak falls!!! Nearly 8,000 German where taken prisioners when the town fell today. German troops in New Guinea are on the run and they know it! Before long Lae shall be ours!

[swamphen]

4-8 November:

The "Tigre" Mountain Division of I Jungle Corps raises merry havoc among Swiss villages in Swiss New Guinea. Mendi is especially hard hit. Then the specialist troopers, who know Neue Guinea's jungles better than the backs of their hands, turn south-east...

late October-13 November
The Swiss attack the garrison of I/3rd Division at Alotau before it can attack them. They pay dearly for their victory as Brandenburgian soldiers use the town as a giant sniper haven. Very few Germans make it out in the end, but the Swiss timetable has been sent pear-shaped.


5-6 November:
The men of I/2nd Dision at Vaimo are attacked by a superior force, but counterattack, mauling the Swiss 1st Marine Brigade.


7-11 November
After wiping out the garrison at Maprik, The Swiss attack on Wewak bumbles badly. Brandenburgian artillerymen utterly destroy their Swiss counterparts, stalling the offensive until replacements can be brought up.


12-17 November
The Tigre Division has crossed the mountains and sacks the town of Kerima, escaping before the Swiss can reply.

South of Wewak on the River Sepik, Swiss Jungle troopers encounter a DKB patrol, touching off heavy fighting that goes badly for the Swiss. They finally break through and establish a position north of Mount Wilhelm.

Swiss troops to the south-west of Wewak are driven back by a German counterattack, which reaches Maprik, destroying the Swiss supply depot there before being driven off, causing a delay in the seige.

XI Corps/1st Division is rushed into active service and divided between Wewak and Vaimo, which has devolved into a stalemate.


18-30 November
Swiss forces enter Wewak on the 18th and have taken the city by nightfall on the 20th. German survivors retreat west to Aitape where they join up with the local garrison. Garrisons Angoram, Awar and Madang find themselves on the front line...

The Swiss break the Vaimo stalemate and take the city on the 30th. The remaining Heer troops fall back to Aitape and begin planning a counterattack.

[Desertfox]

November 12th

If you fish long enough, evetually the fish, or in this case the HSF, will bite. And bite they did, hooked nice and hard, the location of the HSF has finnaly been found, more precisly under the sea! Two battleships sunk another heavily damaged. No longer is the German HSF a threat for they have been eliminated. With the fish hooked the bait is no longer needed, the troops of Rabaul have begun evacuating the beachhead.

[swamphen]

With the fish hooked the bait is no longer needed, the troops of Rabaul have begun evacuating the beachhead.

So they're "advancing in reverse", right?  :D

[Desertfox]

Exacly! ;D

[Desertfox]

From, War in the Pacific: The New Guinea Campaign

Chapter 2, Siege of Vanimo

...The 54th Marines was not your regular Marines Battalion, for one it was the first all Chinese unit in the Marines. Chinese had served before, gallantly in fact in the defences of Singapore and Hong Kong, and there where several mostly Chinese Brigades in the islands of Taiwan and Hainan. But the 54th Marines was the first Official All Chinese unit ever deployed outside of Taiwan and Hainan. As such it met considerable racism and animosity from those who blamed the Chinese for the 1st Asian War. While white units, despite the bravery displayed by the Chinese in the sieges of Hong Kong and Shangai, saw them as fit only for second line duties. However the Battle of Vanimo would change all that.

The 54th first saw action at the begining of the siege, succesfully defeating a German counter attack. However their claim to fame would come a few days later. With the main attack stalled on the outskirts of Vanimo the decision was taken to launch an attack along the beach supported by naval fire support. The beach, some 500 yards wide provided the only clear area between the ocean and the jungles inland, as such the attack depended on an effective bombardment by the naval forces, but on this day it was not to be.

The blue clothed soldiers of the 54th where selected to lead the assault. As the sun set on the 5th of November the 54th advanced towards the ramparts of vanimo, two further battalions behind it. One thousand men charged with fixed bayonets, and despite the fierce resistance by the German defenders the 54th would gain the ramparts. Its commanding officer, Colonel Shaw, fell crying the inmortal words "Foward! Fifty-fourth!". Three hundred soldiers of the 54th would fall in battle with another hundred and thirty wounded. A counter attack by German troops in the early hours of the day and the failure of reinforcements to arrive, forced the 54th to retreat.   

The siege would go on for anther 25 days before Vanimo finally fell, but the valor of the Chinese soldiers of the 54th would never again be in doubt.

[Desertfox]

December 11th

Where is the High Seas Fleet? Ask Davy Jones, for another German Battleship has joined the fishes. That is what, 3 Battlships sunk in 2 months. As for Swiss losses, a couple destroyers sunk and a couple of cruisers damaged. We take our hats of to the Germans, as unfortunately they just don't have any ships left to fight with.

[Desertfox]

Febuary 29th

Rabaul destroyed! In a daring raid, several cruiser penetrated the heavily defended port and raised havoc, wiping out all major facilities, rendering the important German base of Rabaul...useless.

Lae was also struck, this time by battleships who bombaded the port, heavily damaging the 'Haunted Battleship'.


March 7th

The Battlecruisers Alliance and Constitution arrived today in Sidney. The NSN has not released any information but both ships appear heavily damaged. Alliance was listing badly, the rumor being that she struck a mine of Sidney, while Constitution seemed in very bad shape, evidence of fires visible all along her hull. Hopefully both ships can be repaired in time.

[Borys]

The public in Habsburg lands is clamouring for more details!

[Desertfox]

But you should have seen the other guy!

Unfortunately the NSN is not releasing any information so that's about all you'll get since the ships are under heavy security at the moment.

[Korpen]

The Battlecruisers Alliance and Constitution arrived today in Sidney. The NSN has not released any information but both ships appear heavily damaged. Alliance was listing badly, the rumor being that she struck a mine of Sidney, while Constitution seemed in very bad shape, evidence of fires visible all along her hull. Hopefully both ships can be repaired in time.

OOC: Ouch, that is trubble considering you do not have a DD large enogh for them in australia.

[Borys]

Naval Infrastructure as of January 1906


Type 3 port Phoenix:
2 Type 2 Slips
2 Type 2 Docks
1 Type 1 Slip
1 Type 1 Dock
1 Type 0 Slip

Type 3 port Pearl Harbor:
2 Type 2 Slips
2 Type 2 Docks
1 Type 1 Slip
1 Type 1 Dock
1 Type 0 Slip

Type 2 port Sydney:
2 Type 1 Slips
2 Type 1 Docks
1 Type 0 slip

Type 2 port Olympia:
1 Type 2 Slip
1 Type 2 Dock
1 Type 1 Slip
1 Type 1 Dock

Type 2 port Taipei:
1 Type 1 Slip
1 Type 1 Dock
1 Type 0 Slip
1 Type 0 dock

Type 1 port Melbourne:
1 Type 1 Slip
1 Type 1 Dock
1 Type 0 Slip

Type 1 port New Amsterdam:
1 Type 1 Slip
1 Type 1 Dock
1 Type 0 Slip

Type 1 port Anchorage:
1 Type 1 Dock
1 Type 0 Slip
1 Type 0 dock

Type 1 port Port Moresby:
1 Type 0 Slip
1 Type 0 Dock

Type 1 port Haikou:
1 Type 0 Slip
1 Type 0 Dock

Type 0 ports (no slips/docks):
Saipan
Adelaide
Cairns

Type 2 port Geneva (Great Lakes):
1 Type 1 Slip
1 Type 1 Dock
1 Type 0 Slip
2 Type 0 Dock

I bolded the DD that can repair hull damage of Swiss battleships.
What is "Olympia"? I remember it being also called "Kobe" - isn't that in Japan?
Borys

[Ithekro]

Well you can't repair something in a slip, so that's 5 docks that can handle the larger warships plus friendly/allied ports if any.

[Borys]

Ahoj!
Underwater/waterline damage, scrap(p)ing bottoms - if it's longer than 390 feet - it has to go to the Swiss Home Islands or Hawaii.

Borys