Tu felix Austria... (Interwar Austria)

[Viribus Unitis]

Moss (1944), Franzerl des Panzerl
Part 10
20.4.1929

As we turned south the atmosphere was different. While obviously there had been a war going on, and during combat everyone was as professional as you could expect from a volunteer militia, the mood had been lighter. They were liberating their home and they were winning. There had been humours and lewd marching songs, joking around, good natured ribbing. As we marched south from Bozen that mood was gone.

While they still didn't march in the Stechschritt as some of the German volunteers, they moved with a purpose now. Looking back it was easy to see where everything changed. Before they were farmers and hunters, locals just fighting with what they had. Afterwards they became one of the legends of this conflict, tales of their marksmanship radiating back and forth trough history. Before the Austro-Italian war nobody thought that Tyrolean had shot Admiral Nelson, afterwards it suddenly turned into fact.

The Italian troops that had been south of Bozen were driven in front of quickly advancing Gebirgsjäger, and the various other formations were mostly following after them. We passed Salurn with little notice, aside from a quick comment about the traditional language border. Soon after we arrived outside of Trient. Some people were worried about the fortresses that surrounded the city, even if others with more local knowledge claimed that they were little use against an enemy coming from the north. Then the artillery opened up. Especially the heavy guns that had arrived with the tanks. An older Stahlhelm quickly stated that it reminded him of Verdun, and I'm still uncertain if he was joking.

It took nearly two hours of bombardment before we moved into the city. The are around the railway station had been flattered and while the old town behind it still stood, quite a bit of damage had been done there too. The defensive line that had been built at the entrance to the city was simply gone. The garrison troop had taken heavy casualties and were in little shape to resist. All around people were digging into the rubble, but those pulled out were dead more often than not. The division that had been on a fighting retreat all day hadn't stopped there, but continued to retreat.

When we were taking a break in front of the surprisingly intact cathedral I then heard a familiar sound and turned around. There he was, red eagle and all, Franzerl, though with a couple of additional scratches. Johann rode along on it, but quickly dismounted as he saw me. Johann was far more cheerful than the Schützen I had been traveling with. He then started to regal us about the story about how Franzerl had managed to take out the Fortress at Franzensfeste all on his own, trapping the Italian troops that had escaped Bozen south of Brixen and then quickly taking most of them prisoner.

Their icon turning up again seemed to lift the mood some, Michael and Ignaz behind us started mourning several old buildings, but especially a Gasthaus where they once got black out drunk. But while the mood had gotten better, there was still a bitter melancholy under it all.

Soon after we turned south again. In the evening we camped out in a small village just north of Rovereto. Here in Welsch-Tyrol people were noticeable more hostile than further north. While a handful of man had still joined up with the Schützen, insults had been more common. While there had been offers to stay in some of the houses, I still had the image of that Blackshirt in Thuins in front of my eyes, and the woman who threw him out the window. So I organised a place in one of the armies tents and settled down for the night, the rumbling of engines in the background, as they brought up munitions and supplies for the troops.

Spoiler

Moss is a bit more aware of the march of history in this that he should be... Eh, don't have the time to edit this more. The next bit of Franzerl would be a natural stopping point for this, but it will take quite a bit more editing. We'll see if I manage to get something together for tomorrow.

 

[Viribus Unitis]

Moss (1944), Franzerl des Panzerl
Part 11
21.4.-8.5.1929

The next few days flow together in my memory. Every time the retreating Italians stopped to make a stand, or to simply rest, the Austrian Army with a seemingly inexhaustible supply of shells would pound their positions to dust, before mopping up what didn't flee soon enough.

Finally we had fought out of the Etsch valley and had arrived in the wide open Po Plain. As the troops moved left along the rail line an Italian soldier waving a white flag approached. I hadn't been at front when he was first spotted, but was quickly shuffled forwards, as an available journalist from a neutral country. Even as the Austrians conferred first with the flag bearer, then with more officials, artillery started their usual behaviour of preparing firing positions.

Then quickly word got out. Verona had declared itself an open city, the garrison had surrendered. It was obvious that they had heard tales of the bombardment several settlements to the north had to endure. The ancient city of Romeo and Juliet wanted a different fate. A city official told me so much as he gave me a very detailed tour of the city. I was impressed with the old city. The Roman bridge and Amphitheatre had survived the centuries, and even the old town, the setting of Romeo and Juliet oozed history.

Rapid advancement stopped there. Additional troops were brought up, side valleys were occupied. The garrisons in the small villages around Lake Garda proved particularly resistant, more down to geography than sheer fighting spirit.

The open valley brought it's own difficulties. The Austrian forces were relatively small, this worked in the tight valleys of the Etsch and Eisack, but down here they would have to content with large enemy formations from every direction. To counter this threat, every so often mobile forces moved out of the city to disrupt counter attacks before they happened. While tanks, mechanised infantry and artillery played the largest role in this, Schützen were deployed occasionally as well. I had spoken to more than one prisoner of war who surrendered on the mere rumour that Schützen had been seen in the area they moved through. And to be fair, since Bozen they had shown themselves deadly marksman who didn't shy back from killing at all. Or offered mercy freely.

Verona airport had been taken over and fielded Austrian aircraft. I had been told that they mostly flew in support of the ground forces, and every now and then I could count them in and out in a relative short time, confirming that. The Italians had a small number of bombing missions actually got to the airport, but I had pretty open access and could confirm that the damage done was minimal. They quickly learned that small numbers of bombers would get shot down before they reached their target, so they flew some truly massive raids to achieve that little success.

Still, some days in Verona one could nearly forget that there was a war going on. The frantic pace had slowed down, but as news arrived we quickly learned that a different front had gone hot instead.

Spoiler

Not happy with this. But oh well, I can always rewrite it later...

 

[Viribus Unitis]

Martin Furlan (1954): The Austro-Italian War and the Wider World, Triest: University Press

Libya


When the eyes of the world turned to the Alps people had forgotten that Italy was still engaged in another conflict. But since Libya was just another colonial unrest, nobody had really noticed in the last decade. By 1929 resistance was waning, the rich coastal areas had been under Italian control for years, and even the desert tribes had been driven back. Air power, gas attacks and wanton slaughter of livestock and civilians was getting close to breaking the last resistance.

It was then, even at the time with suspicious timing, that Libyan resistance flared up again. While more than 100.000 Italian soldiers were deployed to the colony, usual engagements were with far smaller units. Desert tribes used their knowledge of the area to engage with local superiority and then faded away.

In late April things changed. Attacks increased once again, the tribesmen seemingly very well armed with surplus Italian carbines, as well as increasingly with machine guns, mortars and even mountain guns of Great War vintage. Italian governor Rodolfo Graziani attempted to deal with this by deploying additional troops into Fezzan, as well as redoubling on gas attacks. However this mostly just came to nothing. Even camps scouted out the day before often seemed to move overnight, evading gassing.

A call for additional troops, material and especially aircraft wasn't answered, as troops were engaged even in Italy itself. During one of the few successful attacks in early May Graziani's troops discovered an Austrian military radio amongst the gear of the rebels, giving a near certain idea as to who was the rebels new supporter. That make of radio after all was at the time near exclusively used by the Austrian army, the few existing export deals on hold for the duration of the war. How they had been smuggled into the Sahara desert during the weeks between the start of the Austro-Italian war and their find in the desert was unclear however.

As rebels made gains, more and more desert tribes once thought pacified rose up again. By mid May even in areas around Bengasi and Tripolis that had been considered safely held since 1921 isolated incidents started to occur.

Rumors quickly came out of the desert. The newcomers that helped the people of Libya against the Italians hadn't just brought equipment, but also a small amount of trainers and even a handful of people who could read the mind of the enemy. While there had been no confirmation until today, one has to assume that this refers to a group of intelligence officers, most likely engaged in radio signal interception.

Spoiler

A short view of what happens elsewhere in the world... And sadly a chapter that the OTL counterpart has mostly been forgotten. Gas attacks by aircraft were very much a thing. TTL the Libyans get more of a chance of fighting back.

 

[Viribus Unitis]

Spoiler

National holiday in Austria today... Of course the 26th of October won't be that TTL - there are no occupying soldiers leaving Austria after occupation in 1955.

Alpenländische Rundschau, Klagenfurt, 20th​ April 1929

Italians killed by Avalanche

Yesterday the Italian Army once again tried to cross the Glockner Hochalpenstrasse. Sources inside the Ministerium für Heereswesen inform us, that the Italians were convinced that the new pass road had already been cleared of snow, despite efforts having only started days before the war started. They had made an unsuccessful attempt to cross earlier this week, only to try to clear the road again yesterday. This was ended by an avalanche. Several hundred Italians are assumed to have been buried, and additional Alpini had been diverted to dig out survivors.

First class of conscript to start training

After the rushed muster of the first age cohorts, the first conscripts are to start their training by Monday. Conscript units are to be formed around a core of veterans of the Great War, mostly being armed with equipment remaining of that conflict. Considering the size of the Italian and Austrian armies, we will have a though fight ahead. Even conscripting all men, we could barely match Italian peace time army size. With tens of thousands stuck in key jobs unable to join the armed forces this will be even worse.

Woman enter the Workforce

In a repeat of the Great War, woman had been called up to fill the gaps that men have left in the work force when they were called up. For example yesterday seven young ladies have started their training as conductors and drivers of the trams in Klagenfurt. At the same time offers had been made to hire thousands of foreign workers as a stopgap measure. High one off payments had been offered to skilled tradesmen and those that had worked and been trained in Austria in the past, before returning to their homes.

New York Stock Exchange Crashes

After the US Federal Reserve had warned of excessive speculation less than a month ago, the Stock market experienced a significant drop yesterday. Already blame is placed on the war with Italy, causing US investors to panic sell investments all over Europe. It is far more likely that eternal prosperity wasn't going to happen, and the market had been overvalued for a while now.

Spoiler

Some of them will probably get a more in depth look later.

Gamper, Hans (1988): Introduction to Twentieth Century Austria, Bozen: Tyrolia Verlag


Railways


After the Great War Austria had to contend with it's new borders. Many rail and road connections now passing through foreign territory, once upon a time built with geography as a consideration, not language borders, were now more difficult to use. The most important of these lines were in the south. The Südbahn had been built with the goal to reach to Adriatic Sea, running via Maribor and Ljublijana, and only with spur lines towards Klagenfurt and Villach. Another identified weakness was in the west, where the route from Salzburg to Wörgl was far faster passing through Germany, instead of the Austrian line.

These and many other lines had the problem, that they were constrained by geography, making them slow and often single-track. With an increased importance of mining and logging these lines often reached the limits of their capacity.

It did not help, that while Vorarlberg and Tyrol had already been decently industrialised before the Great War, afterwards they took a further leap forwards, increasing strain on especially the Westbahn, but also on routes through Carinthia.

In that situation the Christian-Socialist party decided on a new all encompassing traffic concept. By some observers it was seen as revolutionary, while others derided it as backwards. Even internally it was heavily contested. Many supporters of the party saw it as pandering to the socialists, while the Social-Democratic party saw it as trying to entice some of their most loyal voters. The new concept placed a heavy emphasis on rail traffic. Bulk goods, aside from some running along the Danube river, were to be transported by rail, and only distributed locally by horse or motor vehicle. Meanwhile even passenger traffic was taken into account, not just by railway, but also by tram. Many of these more local concepts might seem near prescient in how they allow for expansion of both industrial, residential and mixed areas, but this can be explained by visionary land-use planning.

As this was planned out, Austria started to reinvest a significant part of their newfound mineral wealth into the expansion of their infrastructure. Focus was laid on the two track expansion of the rail around Leoben, the three lines leading from Schwarzach St. Veit to Salzburg, Wörgel and Villach, and the expansion of the Arlberg line. In many ways those weren't simple expansions but near total rebuild of existing tracks. New tunnels were built, curve radii were readjusted and gradients were smoothed out in massive built projects in small alpine valleys.

Meanwhile a large number of side and spur lines were added, cargo handling rail yards were planned out and built, not to mention additional rolling stock maintenance hubs. In the same turn a massive electrification program took palace, both to reduce dependency on foreign coal and to reduce smoke related troubles in the expanding number of tunnels.

Only in hindsight can one understand just how much future proofing went into those projects. Most rail lines were rebuild with an eye towards both higher performance locomotives as well as longer carriages, allowing a smooth transition as such became available. Additionally already the first 1922 concept included projects that were probably seen as completely out of reach, such as gigantic tunnels under the Semmering, Koralm and Arlberg, allowing even further reductions in travel time.

All this construction work came in handy during the Austro-Italian war. With so much material and a skilled workforce at hand, the Austrian Army and Air Force took it upon themselves to strategically and tactically disrupt the Italian rail network, knowing that if they needed those connections later they could be rebuild shockingly quick. Damage that the Italians had assessed to take more than a month to repair was in several cases rebuild within 72 hours.

Now while there average railwayman was still socialists, and the pacifist fringe amongst them called for a boycott of the war, few followed this call, even less so amongst railway construction workers, though there was some grumbling about the lower military pay, compared to the free market as civilians.

Spoiler

When I rechecked some things I was surprised that electrification was later than I had remembered. Steam engines in long tunnels, especially open cab ones, aren't good for anyone riding those trains. It started early, but lagged a bit longer OTL than here. Overall, the entire concept is abitious, Sememring and Koralm for example are currently being built, the Arlberg Basistunnel might never happen.

 

[Viribus Unitis]

Dear Susanna,

23.4.1929​

Once again fear and nerves had given way to mostly boredom. There had been a couple of situations where we had a scare, but mostly we've stayed out of people's way, and nothing happened.

I wrote you last time, that our primary weapon was our radio? Well I might have to reconsider, it might just have been the humble scissors. Most of what we've done was cutting phone and telegraph lines.

We've moved south from that bridge by Venzone, and after a train had passed, and presumably derailed, we've cut the telegraph. Then we've moved east, along the foothills overlooking the Torre. We had to be careful calling in, since we were unsure how good Italian radio direction finding was. I know we had kept an eye on several of their transmission, in order to avoid them. On the other hand, replies came a bit more detailed. Very detailed at times.

More than once we've been instructed to double back on our route, to dig a hole and cut some wires. Apparently we were supposed to create the impression that there might be some Yugoslavs preparing to attack some border posts. And who would blame them, emotions over Istria and Fiume and Zara are sill running high.

Still, mostly it had been long days on horseback, always with the same couple faces surrounding someone. It gives the mind time to wander, and wander into odd directions at time.

We've had to keep Samuel from wandering off and resume his begging Sicilian impression. Apparently he got a bit odd with the lack of contacts. Since then he's started to draw maps. And insist that our are off. I'm pretty sure their not, we've been using them to navigate for weeks now, and have until now not been misled by them. But who knows, he's supposedly studied that kind of stuff.

Franz and Alfons meanwhile tried to start up some gambling. Tried that is. Oh, we play some dice and card games, pretty much whenever we settle down to rest. What group of soldiers doesn't? But for something organised we are too few. On the other hand if we were more we'd be pretty easy to track down. Anyway, they started to keep track of our daily games, or so they claim. I'm pretty certain that they'll come out far better by the end of our tour than my calculations say.

When I signed up for this I knew I could be deployed. Since my initial training I knew just what kind of mission we would receive. I thought I knew what I was doing. We did some exercise where we would be out of contact, even by radio for weeks. This is different however. Even in uniform as we are, there is no guarantee that we will be treated by the laws of war, consider how far behind enemy lines we are.

I miss you. I miss going for walks. I miss being able to visit you. Hell, I even miss how your mother nags me that I should have already married you. How your father still doesn't think a soldier is good enough for you. How you siblings try for both of our attention when we are together.

I pray each night for this war to end soon.


Always yours,

Alois

 

[Viribus Unitis]

Hans Müller: Conscripts and Professionals, in: Walter Hellbock, Franz Wagner, Heinrich Starhemberg (1999): The Labour Movement and the Austro-Italian War, Wien: Arbeiterverlag

The four infantry divisions of the Austrian Army were the armoured fist that drove deep into Italy. At the time they were amongst the best trained infantry units in Europe. Constant field training and large amounts of life fire exercise helped obscure to an extent just how many weapons and ammunitions were stockpiled. They were trained with a wide variety of weapons and tactics. By the late twenties parachuting and glider operations were added, giving them additional surprising mobility. The infantry divisions had integrated truck in their units, though their drivers and mechanics were only officially conscripted after the Italians crossed the Brenner. At the same time truck mounted and truck towed heavy machine guns and artillery was moved from the fortress troops to the infantry formations.

This highly motivated and highly mobile force managed to take on numerically superior enemy formations several times, though standard operation procedure was to outmanoeuvre the enemy, more than once triggering mass surrender instead of costly fights.

The other regular offensive formation was the cavalry division. Despite many legends contrary to this, they did not fight as conventional cavalry, nor were they trained. Leading several remounts with them, they bypassed the front lines, and moved in the enemy rear. Their mission profile saw them scouting, sabotaging and distracting the enemy. Their most deadly weapon were their radios, not the scoped long rifles or sub-machine guns they carried.

Their exploits saw them serve as pattern for several other special operation units, though their own secrecy caused them to only pass on their own training and operational knowledge to very few of them.

Below this the quality of Austrian troops took a serious step down. Of course there was a large amount of veterans of the Great War remaining, but they were mostly used as cadre for conscript units, needing the retraining themselves.

However the more immediately useful troops were the so called "shadow army" that existed despite treaty obligations prohibiting it. A large cadre there was made up of people medically discharged from the high tempo army training. Injuries that were by no means crippling, but preventing participation in field exercise for several months led to medical discharge. They as well as volunteers often took part in weekend training exercise, allowing them to form coherent units of a decent quality right at the beginning of the war. While these Strumschärler and other, smaller formations, outnumbered the Austrian army, they still were far from enough troops to take on the Italian Army.

Below these were the various paramilitary formations. Heimwehr and Schutzbund, but also Schützen and a large number of foreign volunteers fall in this classification. While they mostly came with existing organisation, uniforms and weapons, they were with very few exceptions exclusively infantry, without support formations. And even while some of them were accomplished rifleman, often they were more used to street fighting than war fighting.

Since many of these were available immediately, they often saw fighting and took the grievous losses that were expected.

Later on ranks swelled with the arrival of conscript formations. During muster conscripts were already divided into several categories, leading them to a variety of training programs.

The anachronistically called "Klassenzimmer Battalions" - "Schoolclass battalions" were the least suited conscripts, receiving a mere two weeks training, designed according to one memo passed over Julius Deutsch's desk to "merely teach recruits not to look into a gun barrel". The unflattering name comes from the post war movie "Die Sudeten Front" where Great War veteran and schoolteacher Engelbert Pflanzer tries to keep his unit of young eager conscripts under control and prevent any significant incidents with the Czechoslovak customs officers. These units were mostly there to man positions abandoned by the regulars and serve as garrison troops.

Four week courses were considered a good balance, and the graduates of this program mostly served in second line positions, but due to the unfortunate nature of war saw combat often enough. They were mostly equipped with Great War surplus equipment, that had been phased out of use with the regulars over the preceding years. Lacking the integrated transports, they were less capable of the manoeuvrer warfare Austrian high command preferred, leading to them serving as the anvil in more than one occasion, taking significant losses.

The eight week program was at the time very contested, and often still is. Critics claim that it didn't provide enough additional value to justify the length. However by the time these conscripts arrived at the font, stiffening up increasingly tired regular formations, they certainly proved themselves.

Spoiler

Not entirely happy with that, but oh well.

 

[Viribus Unitis]

Dear Susanne,

26.4.1929​

Today I actually had the opportunity to send off my letters to you. In the end I decided against it, not so much out of fear of punishment or censors, but because I had sworn to myself that I would bring those letters back home to you in person.

We had received odd orders. We were to leave the foothills, to infiltrate the city of Triest. There we were to meet up with a local contact, and then politely escort a city politician out. When we heard the orders we all though we were kidnapping someone with important ties, for blackmail or continued good behaviour.

So we left our horses and most of our equipment behind and went to the city, disguised as seasonal agricultural labour. While it was early for planting, the fields were already prepared for it, drawing some workers in. It was thrilling, you know that my Italian is rudimentary, and most of the others understood it well enough, but would be immediately found out as not Italian if they tried to speak. Even pretending to be part of the Slovene population would have been dicey, and being identified as part of the German minority might have ended badly right there. While the media was still centrally controlled and spun a rosy picture of Italian war progress, rumours were going around and a siege mentality had already set in, making every single German word highly suspect. Not to mention that even here radio sets that could receive foreign broadcasts weren't unknown and both Yugoslav and Austrian ones had already reported that the push was quickly progressing down the Kanaltal.

Still, there were only sporadic controls, the local military garrison had been sent forward to fight, and the police had more troubles than men. We made do, and then Samuel and I went to a run down workers bar, among many others on the way to drink their problems away. We quickly identified our contact and got to talk to him. It was all going smoothly, unlike anything we had expected. We then left together and had a few scares. A curfew was in place, and just before it started the streets were quite a bit more lively than I expected. We then arrived at the edge of one of the better areas of the city. Since we had caught up with the others of our unit again since we left the bar, we must have looked like a gang up to no good. And in many ways we were, just not in the way most people would have suspected.

There we were expected by our kidnappee, quite obviously there out of his own free will. He was Italian, he had to be, and worked as a high up bureaucrat in the city government. He cheerfully followed us out of the city, giving us a couple of scares with his insistence that no police man would do anything about him being out and about.

As we then rode away from the city we learned more about what this was about. He cheerfully told us, that he had good contact in the Slovene and German community of the city, and that he already had a city council planned out for the occupation. Now with some goals expanding, apparently he was wanted back home, in order to plan out the occupation of all of Küstenland at the very least. We quickly arrived in the hills, and then outside of the famous Lippiza we set down some flares and waited for an approaching plane to land in the fields outside the village. We received supplies, to be honest, more than we need at the moment, but not more than we can carry, Mr. Cheerful got his ride to Austria proper and I could have sent on my letters to you.

I considered it for a long time. I really did. But I then though about how your parents would react to you receiving letters with the Feldpost from a strange airman they had never hear of before? Letters probably quite throughout littered with removed sections, considering just what my duties are? I considered it better for you to wait a bit longer for these, leaving me there as proof, that my adventures behind enemy lines hadn't taken me from you.

I look forward to sitting in your parents backyard, enjoying an early summer evening, with you reading my letters, and me just enjoying the evening.


Love you, always,

Alois

 

[Viribus Unitis]

Spoiler

Just something short today

Anna Maria Irmgard Starhemberg (born von Starhemberg) (*13.1.1903 in Vienna +27.4.1929 outside Verona) was an Austrian pilot. Born to a Viennese noble family in service of the Habsburgs, she grew up privileged. In the aftermath of the Great War her family left Vienna for Spain, before returning. She attended the University of Vienna, but never completed her study of medicine.

Her passion were gilders and aircraft. During a time of strong restriction concerning aviation in Austria, she had taken the opportunity to learn how to fly in Spain. When those restriction lifted in 1924 and the new Austrian state airline was desperate for pilots, she took the opportunity and quit her study to fly aircraft, against the wishes of her family. The airline, desperate for pilots, hired her despite her gender. When the Ministry for Defense started looking for pilots for their Shadow Army, they reputedly didn't check if there were any females amongst the pilots, and ended with her taking up the offer.

When the Austro-Italian war started, emergency legislation was introduced, legitimising both the Shadow Army and conscripting supporting civilian workers fully into the Army. While there had been language excluding several thousand woman working in secretarial and menial positions, it still brought several hundred women officially into the Armed Forces. Anna Starhemberg was at the time the only female pilot.

Starhemberg was assigned to ferry aircraft to their intended airfields. When ferrying an AR Drache from Hohenems to the forward airport in Verona as co-pilot, they was attacked by Italian fighter aircraft. An Austrian patrol and the rear gunner managed to shoot down both attackers with seemingly little damage. However on the landing gear failed when landing. The aircraft imminently caught fire when the wing was torn off. The pilot and Starhemberg died, the rear gunner survived.

There was an investigation, clearing Starhemberg of all accusations that had been made against her and her suitability as a pilot, and leading AR to change several components in their landing gears.

She was the first Austrian woman to die as a member of the Armed Forces during the Austro-Italian war.

 

[Viribus Unitis]

Spoiler

I wasn't feeling too well today. So you just get filler. The third combat aircraft that used by the Austrian Armed forces in this story. There might have been a more fitting space for this later on, but it's what's on hand, already written, and doesn't reach too far forward.

Avis Libelle


Role: Heavy Fighter

National Origin: Austria

Manufacturer: Avis

First Flight: April 13th​ 1929*


General characteristics

Crew: 2-3

Length: 11.70m

Wingspan: 16.96m

Height: 3.7m

Wing area: 36.4m2​

Empty weight: 3,250kg

Gross weight: 4,900kg

Max takeoff weight: 5,250kg

Fuel capacity: 1200l

Powerplant: 2x Rhomberg Lippizaner, radial engine, 480 kW (640hp)

Propellers: 3-bladed controllable-pitch propellers


Performance

Maximum speed: 410km/h

Range: 1,300km

Service ceiling: 9,000m

Rate of climb: 11.8m/s


Armament

4x 20mm Oerlikon FF in the nose

1x twin 20mm Oerlikon in rear turret

250 kg of bombs


*The Avis Prototype 178 had flown in 1928, it however lacked any provisions for armament and featured a lower powered version of the Lippizaner engine


While Avis had a successful business of motor vehicles, their forays into aviation were more limited. The Libelle was their first attempt at a military aircraft, but they were still held back by existing treaty obligations. A completely unarmed prototype flew at an unknown point of time in 1928. In heavy secrecy the redesign from a recon aircraft to a heavy fighter was ordered. It is probable that flights of these models actually took place during the winter, but there has been no confirmation of it. Two pre-production models existed, that according to official reports were armed on the 12th​ of April and had their first flights. The same day both aircraft were officially commissioned into the Air Force. First combat operations took place only four day later.

Large post war production numbers and common depiction in popular media of the distinct twin boom aircraft stands in opposition of actual use. Only 27 planes were in active service when the war ended and served largely in a ground support role. However pictures of the 1932 cult classic Babelsberg film "Rom Brennt" shows them escorting bombers are what remains the more common perception.

 

[Viribus Unitis]

Dear Susanna,

30.4.1929​

Yesterday was hair raising. We had received some specialist equipment with the last supply mission, equipment we had trained with, but not really expected to use. Mostly because training with it was patchwork. Most of it had taken place in Lake Constance, though you might also remember that supposed vacation I've been on to Greece last year. Some gear however, we couldn't try out there in real salt water, so there was some trepidation if it would all work out.

The mission itself ironically had a blueprint, something that had been done before. Not by us, but by the Italians, though we had far better gear than they had a mere decade ago.

We had travelled south from Triest, keeping to the hills of Istria for most of it, before we cut across the peninsula to the coast, though denser populated areas. It was two days ago that we arrived at the northern end of the bay of Pola, and discovered that there was a bigger price present than we had assumed. Both Conte di Cavour and Giulio Cesare were present, probably moved north as a precaution, as our comrades were encircling Udine.

Why they weren't based in Venice I can only speculate, but it certainly made things interesting.

During the evening we prepared ourself to cross the bay, using the new breathing gear and bringing with us limpet mines. We managed to cross unnoticed, but as we set the last mines to the bottom of Giulio Cesare someone must have noticed us. I suppose we shouldn't be too surprised that they were on the lookout, considering their operation had sunk Jugoslavija in this very harbour.

Unlike the unlucky Italians back then, we managed to escape. Diving along the bottom of the bay, with bullets hitting the surface all around me was a good motivator to swim faster than I had ever before. Alfons swam a bit too close to the surface, a bullet retaining enough energy to damage his oxygen tank. Bubbles from it attracted a lot of fire, but the tank held out long enough to get out of range of most of their guns, searchlights still flickering over the waves, trying to catch a glimpse of us.

Franz, who had stayed behind with the horses, would later tell us that about the time most fire ceased Italian divers had entered the harbour, far faster than any of us had expected. The Italian Navy and their associated units must have been far more alert than we had assumed or intelligence indicated.

We must have been swimming away from the ships for a quarter hour or so, ducking around the fortress island in the middle of the bay, always worried for Alfons, who by then had ditched the no longer useful tank, but was forced to stay at the surface far more often than we'd liked.

It was then when we felt the explosions, like a hammer blow through the water. One of the mines alone wasn't all that powerful, but the scientists back home had managed to synchronise their explosions, even when they went off early due to tampering. With five of them going off spread even at the bottom of both battleships they certainly will be out of the war for a good long time. Though run down, the naval facilities at Pola remain still those that once housed the fleet of the old Empire, so they should be able to make good if the ships can be in any way repaired, given enough time.

Even if the earlier ruckus hadn't woken everyone in the city, the explosion certain had. When we arrived back at the other side of the bay, we could already see search parties spreading out from the city. It certainly motivated us to move quickly, though I do regret riding in the wetsuit now. It isn't suited for that activity and the rashes that remain will remind me of that for a good long while.

By some miracle we managed to escape our pursuers, though their use of trucks with lights on during the night certainly helped. Thankfully the horses had been resting while we had pulled off our mission, so we could go for a while before we had to find shelter.

We aren't out of danger yet, if we ever will be as long we are behind enemy lines, but we probably have shaken any immediate pursuit. With the current situation limiting just how much locally available manpower the Italians can move around we might even make good of that.

While mission like that are hair raising terrifying, diving that might be something that you'd like to try one day. Somewhere during the day, with more light and something interesting to see, not to destroy ships, but I could see you liking some of the clearer water of Greece. Just you and me, away from the world and all it's worries.

Hope to see you gain soon,


Forever yours,

Alois

Spoiler

While Pola/Pula was the main Austro-Hungarian military harbour, for the Italians it was just one of many. Their main harbour this far into the Adriatic was Venice. Italiy has 5 Dreadnought and 2 Pre-Dreadnoughts in service TTL (4 Dreads, no Pre-Dreads OTL), three of them are in Venice as this plays out but will be rebased for obvious reason. The additional money, ironically, comes both from Austrian reparations and additional tariffs from Austrian goods. This raid is very much inspired by the frogmen/manned torpedo raid that sunk the Jugoslavija/Viribus Units. OTL the Italians were pretty much the only ones training combat swimmers at this time, though breathing apparatuses were only invented OTL in the 30s, so a bit of an surprise. This also allows me to minimise BB impact on ground combat, since they will mostly be operating out of Taranto after this, complicating logistics and allowing some warning before they turn up.