Dutch-Siamese War

[Desertfox]

December 17th

New Switzerland announces that all of its forces have been placed on high alert...


December 27th

USNSS Inflexible returns early from sea trials, heightened yard work spotted on her.

[Logi]

December 18, 1916

From the Republic

The RRC has given no propaganda. Aiding an ally requires no reason. However, betraying your allies is a different thing. We speak the truth and only the truth. We believe that honesty and honor will prevail. We are the honorable dragon, not the lying snake that you are.

We have no intention of holding the land we free of European tyranny, but that is if we EVEN do such a thing. What is the point of freeing imperialism from lands if they are just to suffer under another imperialist?

We are not seizing land, we are conducting war operations. You can not fight a land war by remaining on your own soil. When the war is concluded, ANY territory covered by the RRC in this campaign will be liberated. They will have the option of setting up their own government or remaining under the RRC protection. This is a point you must know well, until a week ago, you too were under the RRC protection.

Besides you fail to understand. There is no EUROPEAN tyranny, only IMPERIALIST tyranny. An imperialist nation does not have to belong to Europe. Imperialist nations are spread through the world and we have nothing against Europeans, only those that choose to be imperialist and infringe upon the rights of native citizens.

We find the thought that Independent Indochina will raise up and rally to defend your Asian BROTHERS RIDICULOUS. Independent Indochina is mostly FOREIGNERS. You are no brother, not even the SAME RACE, as Asians. We would encourage you to stop spreading such baseless propaganda. It reflects poorly of your nation.

It is PREPOSTEROUS that China will lay down its arms against a traitor. A traitor and deserter will be SHOT, not the brave soldiers who remain fighting. We DEMAND YOU to lay down your arms and return to your god-forsaken hole, only then will our soldiers return to their homes and the Republic be at peace one more.

Make no mistake, in war, you who chose to betray the VIRTUOUS and WORD-HONORING Chinese will be the one to bled. The blood that will be split is YOURS alone. We honor our words and do not lie, quite unlike your untrustworthy government. God will smite YOU, the corrupt, and make sure that EVIL like yours is wiped from the face of the Earth. You may run whenever you like, but you will find no solace. You who would plot against others deserves no respect.

If you ever wisen up and decide to atone for your sin, surrender to the Republic. Your government will be cleaned of corruption like you and then reestablished as a free-state. You are lucky that the dragon is also forgiving of sinners.

President Chiang Kai-Shek

[The Rock Doctor]

Aren't the Swiss already on high alert so as to fight each other?

[Desertfox]

No yet. As of the 17th the only action has been the Massacre at Phoenix. No real action occurs until the 27th and even then it is minimal. The only fighting so far is down in Sydney and that is on the 30th and all land. 

[The Rock Doctor]

JANUARY 1917

Atlantic

Troop mobilization and movement is reported from Bavaria. Its modest fleet is seen to be more actively patrolling in the Med, but no effort is made to actively engage Hapsburger or Romanian warships or shipping.

On December 27, French and Norman aircraft operating out of Gravelines had spotted a Dutch convoy, including two battleships, steaming into the North Sea from Rotterdam.  The Normans track the progress of the convoy with aircraft and cruisers until it has reached Scotland.  Word creeps back to Vienna of this sortie, and four Hapsburger battleships and several kleiner kreuzers sortie from Malta on 3 January.  The Dutch convoy's location is now unknown, but the Hapsburgers doubt they are going to the Caribbean and make a course for Madiera, cruisers arrayed widely in front of the battleships.    

The Dutch convoy arrives at Flyssen on 18 January to refuel.  On 19 January, they receive word that the war is over.  On 20 January, a Hapsburger kleiner kreuzer is sighted to the north of the base at Flyssen.  On 21 January, while the Hapsburgers are refueling at Bom Liete, the Dutch depart again, setting a course for Europe.   

Reports arrive that an ESC squadron, including battleships, has transited the Suez Canal. These ships are subsequently found to be at the ESC colony of Gujurat.

A convoy of Romanian troop-carrying ships - essentially the entire ocean-worthy Romanian merchant marine - and a modest Romanian/Hapsburger escort transit Suez mid-month.

Western Africa

From 1 January onward, patrolling Orange and Italian ships in the Rift Sea monitor the progress of a small squadron of Dutch gunboats, minesweepers, and other vessels, steaming for the southern end of the sea.  Orange notes that once into the Indian Ocean, they look to be heading for McDonald and Herd Islands, a minor Dutch possession in the southern Indian Ocean.

Indochinas and Northern Siam

Neither side is inclined to take risks with a peace conference poised to begin. By and large, the front is static. While raids and artillery bombardment continue, there are no major battles.

Netherlands East Indies & Siam

Dutch frigates are out in force on the first of January; three older units arrive off the eastern Kra Isthmus and shell railway and road infrastructure.  Coastal batteries are engaged as they are detected, and while several are destroyed, it does cost the Dutch a torpedo-boat jager.

January 3 sees a renewed push by Siamese forces on the western Kra Isthmus.  The King's Guards, Legion Kondor, and Siamese 1 Infantry push as far as two miles into Malaysia, sustaining about four thousand casualties.  The front commander is satisifed with this progress and, given, the ongoing the most recent disruption to supply lines on the isthmus, calls for the troops to consolidate on the 4th.  The two Dutch divisions at this end of the line suffer two thousand casualties, but remain in good order.

Neutral shipping reports encountering heavy Dutch traffic between Borneo and Java around January 5.  It turns out that the Dutch are moving a division of troops from Borneo to Kuala Terengganu.

A Dutch submarine is depth-charged and sunk on the 6th while approaching Padangbai.

On January 7, the frigate Antwerpen, in the company of other Dutch frigates, is torpedoed by a DKB u-boat north of Surabaya, and limps down to the port. After surviving the attention of Dutch escorts for two hours, the u-boat surfaces and reports by wireless. DKB capital units race from southern Java to meet this force in the Bali Sea. However, the Dutch squadron does not appear around Bali.

On 8 January, the Dutch surprise the DKB with a counter-attack against the western part of the Brandenburger beachhead.  Though the numerical advantage is limited, the Dutch troops are of better quality, and the Brandenburgers are encountering supply difficulties due to the lack of available ports and the loss of several supply vessels to renewed submarine attacks.  The Brandenburgers are pushed back between five and fifteen miles, with the loss of about three thousand men on each side.

On 10 January, however, the Dutch are unable to prevent the two DKB corps from linking their respective beachheads.  The Dutch brigade in this area withdraws to Probolinggo, on the coast of the Selat Madura.

At sea, sporadic signal intercepts suggest the Dutch capital units are now operating in the Banda Sea. A DKB supply convoy - three cargo ships escorted by a fisheries patrol boat - reports itself under attack on Jan. 13, and is not heard from again.

DKB operates note unusually heavy Dutch wireless traffic from the vicinity of Timor on the night of January 14-15. DKB capital units remain at Padangbai while pickets are deployed to watch for Dutch movements. U-boats are deployed to the approaches to Surabaya.

Post-war, it will be learned that the frigate Tromp spontaneously exploded while anchored at Dili on January 14.  A fast oiler was set ablaze by debris and later sank, while the port facilities and several other vessels suffered minor damage.

While the military believes unstable cordite to have been the cause of the blast, rumors of sabotage circulate in the Hague. Panic grips some members of parliament: a string of diplomatic failures - betrayal by the Indochinese, wavering by the RRC, entry by the Hapsburgers (with, one rumor goes, the Iberians poised to jump in as well) has now been compounded by disaster at sea. Ignoring the Prime Minister's observations that the DKB troops on Java are ill-supplied and that the attritional campaign at sea is succeeding, these Parliamentarians demand a negotiated settlement - casting away some peripheral part of the NEI if that is what is required - in order to secure peace. Otherwise, they'll resign from the government and sit in opposition - which would lead to the govenrment's quick downfall in a confidence vote.

The Prime Minister, leery of being brought down, agrees to put forward a more generous peace offer to the Brandenburgers, despite the military's conviction that it is still winning the war.  On 18 January, the DKB and Netherlands agree to terms for a peace and orders for a ceasefire are transmitted.

[TexanCowboy]

Question. Am I still at war?

[The Rock Doctor]

If you're feeling particularly confident, maybe.  Otherwise, you may wish to withdraw your declaration of war.

[TexanCowboy]

Withdrawed. I'm not insane.