Kolkata War 1916

[maddox]

Back ingame for me.   The Sub chase and seeming succes needs more .

March 27th 1916
Paris, premier Galpoux's office.

Monsieur Berliner ², let me congratulate you with your succes.

Premier, I would like to know what succes I got? As I don't have a clue.

Monsieur Berliner, can I call you Emile? Your subaquatic listening devices made it possible to locate a submerged enemy vessel, and the subsequent attack sunk the sous-marine .

Oh, that succes. Yes premier, you can call me Emile. But can I get a report? I would like to analyse the situation.

Mes oui Emile, it should be on your desk as we speak.
In short, the Bharat navy has submarines, and one tried to attack a taskforce. Tried is the right word. Spotted by airship, followed by ships equipped with your detection device. And sunk with pressure sensitive charges.
But I have a request.

Yes premier?

As Admiral Gironde explained it, the ships using the subaquatic sonic detectors have to stop the screws and even then the device can only be used at very low speeds, making those very vurnable to attacks. I want you to concentrate on solving that issue. ^*2
But, what about the new ERADe project? ^*1
We got the 3500 yard detection range in the 25 ton sets in production for the navy^*. But the 5000 yard dual monodirectional paralax setup will take lots of refinement and tests. I cannot let that project run wild Premier, that would cause a serious setback. Maybe even losing years of research.^*1
Dear Emile. France has more than 1 arrow to shoot. We aquired the plans of the Huelsmeyer Spark gap electromagnetic reflection impedance detection device.  It has simular capacities as the ERADe's, but with the difference that it uses  smaller adjustable antennas, and not the directional disk cupola's we're mounting on our ships.^*

Premier, you astonish me, you're talking the most advanced technologies on earth and you don't even stumble over the words, nor does it sounds that you just are talking but not understanding.

Being premier doesn't mean I'm only good in being elected. But thanks for the compliment.
Rest assured, your laboratory will be well funded for the years to come.


^*1905: Advanced (+1): Early Huelsmeyer-type "radar", listening dishes, War tuba's.
^*1 1915: Cutting Edge (+3): refined Huelsmeyer-type "radar"
^*2 1916: hydrophones, depth charge throwers.

² The Nverse character is based on this irl man, but only based.

[maddox]

March 31 Brest.   
HMS Mercury , almost loaded to the brim with French troops leaves the large port at  5 pm.

April second, midnight, The Superliner passes the Gibraltar strait @22kts.   Diplomats have brought that to Iberia's attention during the day.

April 6 th 7 pm, HMS Mercury tied up to the quays in Taranto Italia, almost recoaled.
Eskadrille Garibaldi du Nice is at the site, and the commanding officers are overlooking the loading of the 20 crates filled with the 10 brand new Italian build Hanriots. The pilots and support crews walking up the walkways in their brandnew, glittering dress uniforms.

April 12th, the great ship is again recoaling and restocking ,but now at Djibouti isle.

April 18th, noon, The next restoring and recoaling at Tricomalee. A suitable escort is gathered and is awaiting the sailing of this great ship.

April 21st  The troops unload at Haldia. 

[Guinness]

OOC:

Hopefully I made that clear enough for Confederate ships in this post: http://www.navalism.org/index.php?topic=3676.msg39809#msg39809

As far as who's at war with whom, it is (confidential for now) Confederate policy that Bharati commerce raiding in the South Atlantic beside being an act by a nation we see as an aggressor against our ally, is a threat to Confederate well being and must be dealt with harshly. We resist for now making public pronouncements of war against Bharat out of an abundance of respect toward our French friends (ie so that we don't cause them to lose face), and also because the Confederate public can't be expected to support the CSA heading off to war in South Asia. It's an election year in the Confederacy after all.

[Carthaginian]

From: Office of the First Lord
To: Captains of the Antipiracy Patrol
Re: SOP for Antipiracy Patrol

Trail any suspected raider at a distance that is not at all in accordance with good sea manners- generally far enough away to prevent collision, but close enough to be able to tell if the inside walls of the bridge need a fresh coat of paint. In poor weather, close to whatever distance is necessary to maintain contact while avoiding collision... unless it is determined that the collision will result in the sinking or severe damaging of the raider while leaving your vessel's flotation intact, in that case, collisions are not to be avoided if the only way to maintain contact is to make contact.

You will transmit position reports via Marconi on any discovered raiders constantly and in the clear. You will also, after making contact, display signal flags warning all merchant traffic to avoid the vessel you are trailing- these flags will be of double size for extra visibility.

You are required to, by the terms of the Nassau Treaty, come to the aid of embattled French or other Allied vessels; thus, if the raider opens fire on one of these vessels, your vessel is under orders to 'prosecute to kill'. Should the raider attack a neutral vessel, your ship will immediately interpose itself between the raider and it's target and 'prosecute to drive off' in order to preserve the sanctity of Neutrality- each individual captain is to determine the necessary level of force to prevent harm from coming to Neutrals, but no man shall be faulted if his concern for his fellow man is only outweighed by the cost of the munitions he expends expressing this concern.

Display courtesy and chivalry at all times, to friend, foe, and those who might become one or the other. Should nations with whom we have tensions appear in the area, treat them as professionals and gentlemen as long as they behave as such- deal with any breaches in behavior as the situation demands, though preferably without depleting your magazines.

G.L. & G.H.
G.S.T.K.

[ledeper]

26/3 1916
Signal from Navy Staff Myrwik Flensborg
To C.O. Isnebel.

DO NOT repeat DO NOT pursue unknown warship, after recoiling resume to ordinary triangular patrol pattern (Bermuda-Chuvosa-Guinea),if unknown warship is spotted, interfere only if neutral shipping is attacked, await further orders

[maddox]

March 29th.  5 am.

Captain Lemetre , the gangways are stored, the hull secure and the crew is standing by for cast off. The 4 harbor tugs are at our beck and call, and the Hooghly pilot, captain Singh is awaiting the go ahead.

Thank you, how are our escorts doing?

Pegasse and Crotalus Primus are ready. We got the go ahead of Governer Duré.

How are the passengers? 
Eager captain. They want to go to more hospitable enviroments. It seems they can cope with the cramped quarters we have in our troop carrying capacity.


07 20 am.  7nm exact east of the village of Dublat.

On Pegasse the alarm bells are ringing.

Periscope sighted Captain, 3 o'clock 1200 yards.

Signal Le Magnificent, "steer  course 225°, get to full speed asap. "
Helm, full turn , new heading 75°, tertiaries, open fire on target periscope.

10  70mm QF guns are manned and ready, so after the directions arrive, these guns start cranking out their full anger, 12 shells each minute untill the ready munition is gone.

The splashes hide the periscope V-tail, but also the 2 bubbling trails of torpedo's lashing out.
The Bharat captain has done his job well, and these 2 steel sharks speed towards the Great Liner Le Magnificent. The huge ship  belching smoke to make speed, the screws slowely gathering rpm, the seawater angerly frothing and the ponderous turn.

Maybe if the warning came 20 seconds earlier, or the ship would be a bit smaller the 2 torpedos could be avoided.


Le Magnificent.

WHAM,crump   WHAM, cronk

Alarms wistlening, horns belowing, signal lights flashing. 
The 2 torpedos have hit amidships. The middle smokestack emitting a huge plume of  white smoke.

Enginering, damage report.

Sorry captain, but we don't know after 10 seconds. All the starboard engine indicators went dead on the board, and the primary pump station doesn't respond.
Wait,  message from boilerroom 3. Heavy Flooding , the fires are already out. Water is spouting in trough the coal bunker shutes. Crew evacuating
Turbo alternator room 1, message, water rapidly rising , alternators decoupled before they shorted. Crew evacuating, watertight doors to motor room 1 won't close entirely.
Motor room 1, slow flooding, pumps can't handle the influx of water.
Forward cargo hold 5, rapidly flooding, crew has iolated that hold.
Main pump station still no responce. Auxilary pump station 2, can't handle the inflow.

Captain, we can't hold this, we'll need stabilisation messures.  I recomend flooding bunkers 2 to 8, but that will shut down boilers room 2 and 4.

Chief, we can't do that, we need the steam for the engines, on 1 boiler we can barely crawl.

Captain, it's simple. If we don't, a breeze or a wave can capsize us.

Concur. Get your men out, but keep me steam as long as possible.

Helm, steer us to the sandbar we can see at 11 o'clock.

Warn everybody, brace for impact. Our 50 000 tons of  steel will meet soft mud.

[Korpen]

As Admiral Gironde explained it, the ships using the subaquatic sonic detectors have to stop the screws and even then the device can only be used at very low speeds, making those very vurnable to attacks. I want you to concentrate on solving that issue. *2

^*2 1916: hydrophones, depth charge throwers.

I think overcoming those limitation is further down the tech tree...
Even the best ww1 hydrophones were useless if the ship went faster then 10-15kts.

[miketr]

April 1st The second division of the 10th Metrople Corps has assembled and begins to move north to from Calcutta to join the other division. 

A movement of 15km has brought the French 2nd Kolkata Corps and Hapsburgs to a village called Sheakhala and it is 10 km outside of the vast defensive ring the 4th and 5th Kolkata corps have been digging.  There is no time to setup defenses so instead French and Hapsburgs will continue their withdrawal towards Kolkata and enter the prepared defenses.

April 2nd Its 50km east from Chandannagar to the Bengal border but within 30km the ground turns in maze of streams, swamps and stagnant river bends cut off from the main flow of water.  As the Bharat 21st Corps attempts to get around the eastern edge of the French defenses the line causes the line to be extended but thinned out.  The Bharat commander gives up on the attempt as the ground is getting worse and begins to concentrate his men in an attempt to knock the French out of their trenches. 

April 3rd SS Charles Plumier a 3,500 ton freighter to arrive in Japan from Central America is MIA

Bharat Submarine SS-2 in the Bay of Bengal torpedoes MN Chardon Jean which quickly sinks with most of her crew lost.

2nd Kolkata and Hapsburg enter the trench works to the west of Kolkata.  The problem is the French have to cover a front of nearly 50 km with 53,000 men another 15,000 counting the H, I and J Brigades to the west along the Damodar River.  The front is far too long to attempt to hold so the 4th and 5th Kolkata despite lacking their full set of artillery and not being fully trained are put into the trenches.  This will give the defenders 168,000 defenders and very soon some special artillery support will arrive.

Bharat 2nd and 21st corps launch an attack on the French trench line at mid day following a one hour bombardment.  4,500 French troops are lost while Bharat looses 6,750 but the defenses hold and the Bharat formations need time to recover. 

April 4th MN Mirabeau and MN Diderot arrive at Calcutta the battleships are anchored in place to be used as floating batteries for the defense of the city.

Bharat scouts arrive outside the massive defensive works that lay to the North West of Kolkata.  The Bharat 1st, 3rd 7th and 17th Corps follow the scouts and begin to study the defensive line.

April 5th SS Colombie a 4,000 ton freighter to arrive at Saigon is MIA

Bharat 2nd and 21st Corps have reorganized and attempt another attack on the French lines.  The attack makes little headway and costs Bharat 4,250 men while the French loose 5,312 men as vicious counter attacks are launched to hold the trench lines.   

April 6th Once again the Bharat 2nd and 21st corps attempt to break the French defenses but the attack bogs down almost at once with both sides loosing approximately 2,800 men.  Bharat will have to spend a few days preparing for the next attack.

In the far south near Haldia the Bharat 8th, 9th and 22nd corps prepares to attack the defensive line of the French 5th Corp.  The local commander is extremely wary about attacking at all but has no choice but to take the location so that the Hoogly river can be blocked and to cut French communications from Calcutta to the Sea.  Just over 100,000 Bharat troops attack 38,000 French.

The attack leaves 4,750 Bharat troops as casualties in exchange for 2,850 French troops and no change at all in territory held.  A number of Bharat marked aircraft have been flying over the battlefield but they have limited themselves to artillery spotting and scouting so far.

April 7th The Bharat 1st, 3rd, 7th and 17th are fully in place including their artillery outside the defenses.  Bharat has 158,000 men available in the four corps compared to the 168,000 of the defenders.  Of course many of the Bharat troops are elite formations and none are like the half trained and equipped troops of the French 4th and 5th Kolkata which make up well over half the French force.

Despite efforts of the French command to shield the 4th and 5th Kolkata the two corps are hit hard. A number of battalions from the two corps just break when attacked, throwing down their weapons and fleeing to the rear.  This causes in more than one case for the neighboring battalion to break even though they were not even engaged themselves.  At the end of the day the French have suffered 21,000 losses to casualties and desertions.  With 16,000 of the losses concentrated in the two ill trained formations.  With massive gaps in the trenches and the defenders thoroughly disorganized the French abandon the outer defenses and retreat towards Calcutta. 

The breakthrough has cost Bharat a mere 3,360 men.   

The first division of the 1st Ceylon Corps has arrived in Calcutta and is forced marched to the battle. 
           
April 8th North West of Calcutta the battle continues as Bharat moves to attack the inner trench line the problem is it will take time for Bharat to get their artillery across the captured defenses and setup.

An Iberian Freighter arrives in Manila reports possible encounter with T.A.G. east of New Guinea on the 5th.  Since Balkan Wars all Iberian ships have standing orders to report any sighting of the famous Corsair.  Iberian Pacific Fleet passes the sighting onto Brandenburg and sorties, orders of Iberian Fleet are simple capture T.A.G. if possible otherwise destroy her.  The following Iberian ships make up the searchers; Pilipinas, Pizarro, Balboa, Davao and Barcelona.   Signal sent in code to Iberian Merchant Marine to report any sightings of T.A.G. at once; a weak reply is received of a possible sighting of the T.A.G. on the 7th.  Updated location information is sent to Brandenburg and Iberian taskforce.

April 9th   As the Bharat troops move to attack the French lines back in Calcutta itself MN Mirabeau and MN Diderot open fire.  Soon clouds of poison gas form over the Bharat positions but the Bharat troops continue the attack in particular the 1st and 17th Corps.  Over the rest of the day Bharat looses over 21,000 troops, many to the gas attack while the French loose another 13,000 troops.  Half of the French losses are concentrated in the 4th and 5th Kolkata which once again suffer heavily from desertions.     

April 10th In the south Bharat resumes the attack.  This time a number of Bharat aircraft attempt to bomb the French Cruiser tied up near Tamluk but the 25 lb and 50 lb weapons miss wildly.  The ground offensive goes better for Bharat in that the loss ratio favors them but the French continue to hold their lines.  2,625 French are casualties verse 1,750 for Bharat. 

BNS Kukri meets CSS Vicksburg in the South Atlantic and is destroyed; no damage to Vicksburg.

Machine shops on Ceylon have been taking 140mm shells and boring them out to convert them into bombs.  At the same time bomb racks have been improvised on the three airships based at Tricomalee naval base.  The airships set off and had been scheduled to arrive over the target, Cochin, together at 3:00 pm.  Navigation errors caused one airship to arrive an hour late while the other two arrived at 2:25 pm.  Each of the first two airships carried 4,000 lbs of bombs and incendiaries. The pair came in from the ocean to west and headed towards the town and naval port at an altitude of 8,500 feet.  The airships had a number of targets, the naval docks, coast defense batteries, army garrison, what factory district the city had and the city gas works.  The hundred pound bombs in some cases landed on or fairly close to target, in other cases the bombs landed far afield; very far afield.  The three airships killed 125 people and wounded twice that.  The most serve damage was done to the gas works which suffered a near hit and fires raged feed by stocks of coal and gas from the gasification process.           

April 11th The Battle continues the next day near Haldia with another Bharat attack on the French lines.  The result is an orgy of violence as the French refuse to give way and immediately counter attack whenever any losses do occur.   5,000 troops are killed on both sides for nothing to show for it and a both sides troops are tired and in need of reorganization.

The French Indian Ocean Fleet heads out to raid the Bharat Naval port of Vizagapatam.  The French fleet arrives at the port and finds the harbor largely empty of shipping and no sign of the Bharat Navy.  The French fleet spends an hour methodically shelling the port and its defenses.  The Bharat shore battery achieves two hits with their 240mm guns on Danton.  A large secondary explosion and fire was noted near the center of town as something exploded.  As it was not near the coast defense batteries or land forts its unclear what exactly was set off.   

April 12th In the South Atlantic SS El Djezair sends the following message, "S.O.S. SS El Djezair Being followed by unknown warship at 40S 10W near Gough Island" Message repeats several times and then "SS El Djezair unknown warship headed West at 17 knots"

The 82,000 men of the Bharat 2nd and 21st corps prepare to attack 59,000 men the French have as the 10th Corps 2nd division arrived several days ago and is now fully in place.  Also with the time since the last attack defenses have been improved.  The result is a bloody defeat for Bharat as while 4,500 defenders are casualties over 9,000 over the attackers are lost and once again the Bharat formations are disrupted.       

As the French fleet moves to reenter Tricomalee the Bharat Western Fleet attempts a night time surface attack on the French fleet.  The result is a mad melee just after night fall while the French are re-entering port.  Its clear from the number of shooters and the size of the shell splashes that Bharat has at least one of its coast defense battleships here.  The French commander is sorely tempted to make use of his Star shells and night fight tactics but his screen is light and a number of ships have been detached for use as floating batteries.  So the French fleet instead focusing on getting back into port and behind the mines and anti submarine nets.  Beyond the indignity of having Bharat blindly lob some 10" shells into the harbor nothing comes of the battle for either side.   

April 13th With four days to reorganize Bharat will attempt a more limited attack focusing on positions held by the clearly inferior French 4th and 5th Corps.  A three Brigade attack of Gurkha Rifles, 9,000 troops, attack the 8th Brigade of the 5th Corps, 4,000 defenders.  The attack is opened with only a 15 minute preparation bombardment to give the French as little warning as possible.   In what has become the normal pattern the ill trained troops crumple under the pressure of the Bharat attack and the section of trench line is taken with 500 French losses and 300 for Bharat.  The nearby Hapsburg troops are forced to close the breach.       

HMS Minotaur responding to the SOS from El Djezair has steamed through the night to the location and begins a search in the pre-dawn gloom.  Minotaur spots a ship in the pale moon light and early morning rays then issues a challenge.  The reply is, Republic of Orange Naval Ship Pretoria.  Gun crews already at action stations on the Minotaur wait for the word to be given; but instead a stand down order is given once Pretoria's identity is confirmed.  The Orange Ship reports she is part of a training exercise and when asked confirms they encountered a freighter yesterday. 

April 14th Looking to repeat the success of yesterday a larger attack is conducted.   Raids during the night identified positions held by the Sixth and Eight Brigades of the French 4th Corps.  This time three Brigades of Gurkha's, three more of the Martha Infantry and a Brigade from the 3rd Corps attack.  The day's battle will see 20,000 Bharat troops attacking in two locations vs. 8,000 French defenders. Again the ill trained troops of the 4th Corps show they can't hold a defensive position under any type of pressure.  The losses are 1,400 French troops and 800 Bharat troops. 

Second Division of the 1st Ceylon Corps has arrived in Calcutta and marched North West to join the battle.

With losses mounting in the Calcutta Campaign the 6th Corps is ordered to the Front while the 19th Corps on duty as garrison in Western Calcutta ordered to assemble and join the fighting.  The 15th Cavalry Corps will assume Garrison duty in the 19th place.

April 15th SS El Kantara a 6,000 ton freighter due into the Philippines from French Canal is MIA.

The French commander for the Central Front is tired of the grinding attacks of the last few days and believes that he has to do something to regain the initiative.  Especially as the Governor points out that all estimates show he has a large advantage in manpower.  France will for the first time in the war conduct a ground offensive.  The objective is to drive Bharat back to the outer defensive lines and away from the city itself.  Despite extreme reservations of the French commander nothing is held back, the remaining stock of chemical weapons will be used and even the 4th and 5th Corps are ordered to take part.  The French commander believes the attack is too large in scope and suggested a more limited attack to restore the losses of the last two days.  The governor makes a number of pointed comments about the moral and fighting worth of the General who at last accepts the order but under formal protest and requiring that the Governor sign the order himself.

At dawn 182,100 French and Hapsburg Troops attack 131,500 Bharat troops before the later can continue their own more limited offensive.  The result is mess for the French; most battalions of the 4th and 5th Calcutta have taken 20% losses in the past week and refuse to attack or attack and quickly fall back requesting help.  The worst incident is Sixth Brigade of the 4th Corps hit yesterday apparently mutinies outright.  These incidents suck more 60,000 troops out of the battle almost as soon as it starts.  France looses 12,000 troops by the end of the day for little gain while Bharat suffers 8,000 losses.     
     
April 16th BNS Katar meets MN Quebec in South Atlantic.  Katar draws first blood and scores several hits with her 105mm guns including knocking out one of Quebec's 165mm guns and radio.  Quebec then uses her better speed to hold open the range and smashes Katar into a floating wreck.  Of her crew of 224, 100 are killed out right and another 44 are wounded on Katar.  Quebec 90%

Worried about the start of the rainy season orders have come down that the French defenses have to be broken as soon as possible.  So despite the reservation of the local commander the Bharat 2nd and 21st Corps are ordered to renew their attacks.  The result is an even bigger fiasco than occurred on the 12th.   9,600 Bharat troops are casualties while 5,400 Frenchmen are lost.  Sitting massive losses that have reduced the two corps to little more than 60% effectiveness in the last two weeks the Bharat commander orders a halt to all future attacks till reinforced. 

April 17th Near Haldia and throughout southern Calcutta the mornings see light rains signaling that the summer Monsoon season is near.  Today sees a rain of steel added to mother natures own weather as Bharat once again attempts to take the city of Haldia and its defense.  The three Bharat corps attack; while the three are little more than at 60% strength the French are much worse off and closer to 50%.  At last the French defenses begin to break and two large sections of French trench line are taken.  3,500 French troops are lost while Bharat losses are closer to 2,000 men.  The French 5th Corps is in danger of collapse the days losses were over 12% of the corps remaining strength and drives it well bellow the 50% mark.     

April 18th SS Djenné a 6,000 ton freighter out of Saigon sends a distress signal "S.O.S. SS Djenné Under Attack by Bharat Cruiser.  Two days out of Saigon.  S.O.S..." 

Heavy rains turn both sides trenches in to morass of mud and preventing additional attacks by either side.

April 19th In Saigon French flagged ships refuse to leave port and demand protection as insurers yank coverage for ships intending to cross the South China Sea.

April 20th SS Jägermond an Austrian Freighter is stopped by a Bharat Warship BNS Poona in South China Sea and crews of SS Mont-Blanc, SS Djenné and SS Colombie handed over.  SS Jägermond is released. 

A break in bad weather allows Bharat Submarine SS-4 restored from her near death last month near Madras to attempt to even the score.  MN Chanzy and two Chardon's are escorting transports and supply ships towards Calcutta.  In particular elements of the 9th Metropole Corps.  The Bharat submarine fires two torpedo's at the convoy.  The civilian ships under escort are missed but MN Chanzy isn't so lucky as one torpedo strikes well aft and wrecks one of her shafts and flooding forces a reduction in speed.  The commodore on Chanzy orders the Chardon's to get the convoy out of the area.  Three minutes later two more torpedo's are launched and one strikes the ship midships.  The old cruiser is soon listing badly to port and the order is given to abandon ship.  Ten minutes later as the cruiser rolls over she explodes.

April 21st The first division of the 9th Metropole Corps arrives in Calcutta. 

[The Rock Doctor]

Interesting to see the use of chemical weapons - did I miss them in previous installments?

[miketr]

first time chemical weapons used... 

[The Rock Doctor]

So...another ~84,000 casualties to France, including a number of desertions.  Presumeably higher losses for Bharat too.

[Carthaginian]

Osborne House
Isle of Wright
15APR16 2345 local

*For such a dignified place, the sound of running feet is generally out of place; not since the doctor summoned to attend the dying King Micheal* has an adult been witnessed displaying such behavior. Nonetheless, the page we see before us is running full tilt across the yard from his auto... though he does decrease his pace to a less-than-dignified quick-time as he enters the house.

For the second time in his life, King Alfred II is awakened from a sound sleep with news of State... only time will tell if this news influences his life as much as the last bit.*

"Your Highness... your Highness... MY LORD!"
*The page is desperately shaking the young man; trying to waken a man who served in the artillery can be difficult.
His Majesty awakens with a start, saying something he obviously learned from one of his noncoms. Upon gaining his bearings, he responds."
"So, what news do you bring?"
"My Lord... we have been informed that our French allies in Kolkata have used gas against the Bharanians."
"Would that they had not have done so... no matter, what is done is done. From now on, we will all be fighting a new type of war. Fear of mass death from impersonal gas will now supersede fear of a bullet.

Relay Our continued support to the French, and ensure that they know that Our commitment to their forces remains the same."



*King Micheal died of food poisoning in 1915, during the OoC change of leadership.

[miketr]

Total Body Count

Bharat
1st   21.14
2nd   19.2
3rd   17.04
7th   15.84
8th   21.5
9th   17.5
17th   22.44
21st   20.7
22nd   21.5
Total   176.86

French & Hapsburg
1C   6.5
1K   29 (split into brigades)
2K   21.5
4K   14.4
5K   13.5
5F   25.98
10F   15
1AF   9
Total    135.38

The French 4th and 5th Corps haven't finished trainning or received their full TOE as a result they have taken much higher losses and many of their losses are actually desertions.

[Desertfox]

An Iberian Freighter arrives in Manila reports possible encounter with T.A.G. east of New Guinea on the 5th.  Since Balkan Wars all Iberian ships have standing orders to report any sighting of the famous Corsair.  Iberian Pacific Fleet passes the sighting onto Brandenburg and sorties, orders of Iberian Fleet are simple capture T.A.G. if possible otherwise destroy her.  The following Iberian ships make up the searchers; Pilipinas, Pizarro, Balboa, Davao and Barcelona.   Signal sent in code to Iberian Merchant Marine to report any sightings of T.A.G. at once; a weak reply is received of a possible sighting of the T.A.G. on the 7th.  Updated location information is sent to Brandenburg and Iberian taskforce.

Considering that T.A.G. is operating under Letters of Marque, she is techniclly a Baharat warship, so attacking her would techniclly be an Iberian Decleration of War. It would also open Iberian shipping to attacks by Baharat raiders.


Interestingly the moonson arrives just as the French are about to break...

[miketr]

There were three fronts in Calcutta.. North Central and Southern.  The northern front had become quiet, central was in flux while the southern was showing a clear advantage to Bharat.  At the same time another 25,000 French troops had arrived ad they would no doubt have gone there.

As to T.A.G.  I don't think Iberia is much worried about Bharat.  We will see what if ANYTHING comes of T.A.G.

Michael