UNK News 1916

[Carthaginian]

Mid march   
R.M.S. Mercury, Dover.

The huge liner, lightly loaded on coal, but overloaded on troops. The plimsol mark far below the acceptable level. Troops stacked on every surface. A lot of them enduring the late winter chill on the open deck.

The muttering and grumbling even overstems the noises of the big ship.

Rade of Dunkerque, France
By the dark of night, two divisions of His Majesty's troops disembark with the aid of a venerable fleet of Peniches from the superliner Mercury. All the jungle equipment they were issued is collected at the Place de Dr Calmette in Grand Fort Philipe  and a bag of French Army cold weather gear is passed over to them. Wagons stand by, manned by French troops, to collect the jungle gear for reasons unknown.

An hour march brings the troops to a well lightned area, a brand new- but minimal- facilities French army field base neatly awaiting the UNK troops
Little can be made out in the half-light of dawn, but the troops realize one thing... this is definately not Kolkata.
The dark bulk of the abandoned fortress at Gravelines is pointed out by the French army careatakers of the field base.


(small detail changed by by Maddox)

[maddox]

Nverse historical data.

The abandoned Fortress of Gravelines.
A part of the Norman PreCarré defences, and ultimately rebuilded into a Vauban fortress in 1699.
During the hectic years after the French Revolution and the conquest of Normandy, this proud fortress was one of the last Norman strongholds, the siege of Gravelines took so long, that most of the Norman nobles could escape to the British islands.

1 French Benefit, as we could call it, The Normandian pirates and privateers operating from Dunkerque lost their main base and had to move too.  The Dutch and Spanish weren't unpleased with that development.

The Franco-Prussian wars never reached to this spot, and the troops stationed in the fortress of Gravelines marched up to relief the siege of Paris.  After the Prussian wars, the fortress already abandoned except a total inadequate maintenance crew was left for what it was. 



http://www.fortified-places.com/gravelines/
For a closer view, use Google maps, and search for Gravelines or Grevelingen.

[Carthaginian]

March 13th
Madalena, Azores
1400 local

The Majestic is preparing for sea, her escort having arrived yesterday. When the Baltimore- a new Cleveland class light cruiser- and a trio of A-class destroyers arrived, the people of Madalena wondered what, exactly, was going on. The Azores, though, are a small place- no mouse can sneeze without all the cats on the islands saying 'God bless you'- and so what little news that leaks doesn't have far to travel.

By daybreak, crowds had already begun to gather on the hilltop overlooking the harbor mouth. Several carried bundles, many carried picnic baskets, and all carried a fierce sense of pride.

As the ships began making steam at roughly 1000, the population was enjoying a light brunch in open air while sailors loaded the old but still powerful armored cruiser with her final supplies. By noon, when the ships were getting nudged towards the channel by a contingent of side-wheel tugs, the population of the islands had practically closed up shop to see them off. At 1210, as the destroyers made their way out of harbor lead by Baltimore, the crowd began erecting giant signs- bedsheets with wishes of "Godspeed, Majestic" and "Give 'em 'ell, Boys" painted on them. As Majestic plodded out of harbor, some enterprising soul secured a powder charge for one of her 6" guns. A resounding *BOOM* shook the scene, sending young children racing for their mothers' skirts and shouts of encouragement from boys and men alike.