Tu felix Austria... (Interwar Austria)

[Viribus Unitis]

Spoiler

I had something else planned today, but was busier than expected. So have something out of my buffer.

Interesting note: Nothing here is outright ASB. Provided financing and interest, everything could have been done OTL. Of course, the point will come where the Austrian oilfields just can't keep up with demand, but OTL there was a short while in the 1960s where Austria provided enough oil for it's own transportation needs.

Gruber, Francesca (2001): Boom and Bust. A history of the Austrian oil Cartel, Innsbruck: University Press

Austria's first oil refinery was the Raffinerie Floridsdorf, founded in 1864. At first it was supplied primarily with oil from Galicia, and then later as the rail network expanded also from Romania. During the Great War the company was considered vital for the war efforts and produced mostly fuel for the existing motorised vehicles.

After the war however, the usual sources for oil were cut off.

It had been speculated for a long time that oil was available under the Viennese basin. First exploitative drill took place in 1918, confirming this. Regular oil production started in 1919 at Zistersdorf.

In the wake of this, a second refinery was founded in Vösendorf by the Dabubia Mineralöl GesmbH.

While this early success allowed for limited production, negotiations were still underway with both Poland and Romania for renewed access to the traditional suppliers. By 1923 Czechoslovak aid allowed for a breakthrough and in cooperation with Royal Dutch Shell, and oil from Ploesti once again flowed to Vienna. It appeared that it was Shell's plan to buy out the refinery at Floridsdorf and with it large parts of the Austrian oil market, but these plans were halted by the continued profitability of it as well as Austrian efforts to organise it's oil producing and refining companies into a cartel, the OMV.

Aside from Romanian oil, effort were also made to regain access to the oil fields at Drohobycz, but the Polish government proved reluctant, especially of plans to expand production in cooperation with OMV and the transportation through Czechoslovakia.

Another partner Austria looked to was oversees. OMV had started oil exploration and exploitation in Venezuela. While some of it's oil was exported into Austria, most was sold elsewhere. The fact that Austria was landlocked at the time and the associated tariffs made it unprofitable.

Still, the exploitation of the domestic Marchfeld oil found backers both economical and political. By 1929 and the Austro-Italian war, domestic oil production was enough for transportation and heating needs, but not for the petrochemical industry as well.

While already in use in the US, natural gas will still a novelty in Europe. However in several Austrian cities lighting, heating and cooking gas was provided from coal gas since before the Great War. It was then in 1924 that in cooperation with the Gaswerk Simmering natural gas was captured during oil extraction. This gas was then mixed with the existing town gas. It allowed the company easier competition with the expanding electrical supply, but also led to several disasters. The most notable incident was in Linz, 27 people were killed in a gas explosion in 1928, after natural gas was started to be added to existing coal gas. It was concluded that the addition caused hemp-based seals to dry out, allowing gas to escape the gas line. This lead to new regulations not just concerning seals but safety overall, massively decreasing the incidents of gas explosions. Despite early problems, natural gas had been very successful. Even when it's use for lighting had gone out of favour, most cities in Austria are still primarily heated by gas.

Spoiler

And once again I'm dangerously mixing OTL and ATL, giving ATL reasons for things that happened OTL... But then again, writing history is in the end writing a narrative.

 

[Viribus Unitis]

Tales from the Homefront, Story 1, Part 2

21.4.1929​

"Fräulein Nowak. Don't tell my wife I said this, but this is more important work than you did for us before. Now you won't have to care for three unruly children, but hundreds." Major Thaler told her.

As he led her through the busy hallways of one of the Arsenal buildings further back. Still in the same red brick, but obviously newer than the buildings they passed to the front.

"Our job is to get the gear our soldiers need to them in time they need it. Food, ammunition, medical supplies, fuel, spare parts and thousand of other things. The current chaos is down to several factors. Everything here suddenly went to high gear with actual combat deployments. Additionally the army is about to expand explosively, both causing more work and at the same time meaning that two thirds of the men, half of the workers, of my little department here will be used as cadre for the new units." he monologued at her, with her feeling overwhelmed. She wasn't too sure any more that this was the right decision.

"You've told me you learned to type?" he suddenly asked her, shaking her from her thoughts.

"Eh, yes, that and Steno." she answered.

"Good, good. Both ZSET* and 1/N** already cleared you after your engagement so I can put you somewhere sensitive. We'll probably put you with one of the new positions. Let's you carve out your own niche if you want." he told her, finally leading down a stairways.

A corridors led to the left and the front, giving the impression that those ran around the cellar rooms.

"You should never need any of those rooms." Thaler told her, pointing to the left, "in fact, unless you have a specialist with you, don't enter them at all."

As the walked down the corridors in front, he stopped at the second door, knocked and called in: "Oberleutnant Breitenstein, I've got someone who'll enter the new data for you." he called in.

Expecting another man, she was surprised to see a woman, maybe five years older than her, wearing a conservative dress, but with a red-white armband on her right arm. She was also carrying a big box.

"That her?" she asked, as she handed her the box, before returning to the room.

"Yes, Susanna Nowak, freshly recruited. We'll figure out later just how she fits in. Fräulein Nowak, this is Oberleutnant Elisabeth Breitenstein, she's received a curtsy commission just as I did. She's one of the specialists I mentioned, keeping our infernal machines working."

Breitenstein returned with another box: "For now she'll just have to figure out what buttons not to press, and she'll be ahead of most other Rekruten."

They walked down further, ten more doors, before they stopped and entered. It was a surprisingly small room, maybe one and a half meter by two meter.

Breitenstein pointed out: "That's your phone. 0 gets you to the exchange, that's about all you need to know for the moment. 00 gets you to the city exchange, you shouldn't need that. If you need to call a number outside the military talk to me first. That however, is you terminal."

It was a keyboard as she was familiar from the typing machine she learned on, but it lacked the paper feed. Above it was a small glass window.

Breitenstein set her box down besides it, and then turned to Thaler: "Anything else you need to say?"

He thought for a second, before answering: "With the current situation, we expect people to work a seven day week. There's a catholic service tomorrow at eight, if that is your thing, otherwise be here at least at half past. Though I know that many offices won't empty even during the night at the moment."

He then smiled at Breitenstein: "She's all yours."

The woman nodded and ignored him as he left: "These are reports on foreign volunteers joining the fight. Their slapdash, their incomplete, and they'll cause us trouble. Just the first ten such reports I received contained information of at least three different rifle cartridges that they fire. It's gonna play hell with logistics. Your job is to add those to the central database, so that we can have a better overview of what's needed where."

By then the window had taken a green glow, text and rectangles having appeared.

"See, it's easy. What do we have here. Name, Schweizer Friedrich, date of birth 5.4.1908, unit, Freicorps Passau, and so on and forth. Try not to make typos, they cause exponentiation trouble. Through correcting them is easier here than on paper." she started teaching Susanna. "We did some last minute modifications to allow for more than regular army formations, so there might be a hiccup here and there. If you find a problem, please tell me."

"Otherwise, if information is incomplete, just phone where you think they are. You'll get the run around, people will have more important things to do, but if they suddenly find themselves in the field with bullets they can't shoot and the enemy charging, we'll be at fault."

*Zentrale Evidenzstelle, the civilian/police foreign intelligence service
** Abteilung 1/N, the military intelligence service
(Missing: Staatspolizei, the civilian/police internal intelligence service)

Spoiler

Not yet entirely sure just how to number the "Homefront" snippets. Might change later.
And so we get the reveal of one of the big secrets of success: a primitive computer database. It's centralised, depends on phones, telegraphs and even snail mail to get the data, very limited in application, but the mere fact that they can produce daily consumption reports to a reasonable accuracy is godsend. I might post a short piece on just how difficult to keep logistics straight at a later date just looking at infantry weapons.
Intelligence and a couple other organisations of course have their own computers.
And something that might stand out to people who don't know the type or the time: Thaler and the catholic mass. He's not mentioning that because he's particularly religious, but because to him status is everything. And for him to rise further on the path he envisions he needs to be seen at mass.

 

[Viribus Unitis]

Spoiler

So I'm normally not a gun nut. At all. But I've got sucked down some odd corners of the Internet after I went hunting for some odd side note writing this. This is the result of about 6 weeks of youtube videos about guns playing in the background every now and again...
Threw this together after announcing it in the last update, just so you can see part of why it's so important that Susanna collects information. As said there, soldiers need at least the right calibre bullet when the enemy charges... And this should give you some idea just how difficult that is. But feel free to ignore this, if guns aren't your thing.

Also I've posted an unfinished version of a post peace treaty map elsewhere - if you stumble upon it, please spoiler references to it in this thread.

Böhler, Fabian (2004): The Austrian Army in the Austro-Italian War. 75 Years of Retroperspective, in: Österreichische Zeitgeschichte, Year 52, Nr. 2


As war started the Austrian standard rifle was the M95/25 Stutzen. These were rifles that had been converted from their Great War versions to the new 8x56mmR Spitzer bullets. About 200.000 of them were issued or in stocks when the war started, in defiance to treaties that limited the Austrian military to far less. Yet it was far from enough to equip all Austrian soldiers, let alone volunteer forces coming in.

A first stopgap was drawing on existing unconverted guns from the Great War. Those had survived in some stockpiles, but also as hunting weapon and in use by paramilitary forces. Since the Treaty of St-Germain stated that hunting weapons weren't allowed to fire the same cartridge as military weapons all these still fired the old 8x50mmR Mannlicher with it's round nose, adding significant logistic strain. At first plans were to deploy these rifles to back areas, but their wide spread use by South Tyrolean Schützen together with scarcity of rifles overall quickly changed those plans.

Another measure taken was purchasing the Czechslovak Puška vz. 24. While there had been a short moment when it looked like they'd be produced with a Mauser cartridge, the decision had been made to produce that rifle in the then brand new 8x56mmR. Large Austrian commitments to purchases this calibre for training their Shadow Army most likely made the difference.

Yet even that was far from enough. Additional weapons were purchased from Swiss stockpiles, G11 and K11 in their Schmidt-Rubin cartridge.

As the war went on backline units, mostly two-week conscripts were equipped with captured Italian Carcanos. This was done to free up other rifles for the front, while at the same time minimising the chance of friendly fire due to mistaken identification, the many different uniforms causing enough problems already.

These different guns alone would have been hell on logistics, even with some effort to keep some concentration of certain cartridges to certain fronts. Then one had to add three quarters of a million volunteers, some that came with their own rifles in various calibres, others were equipped by Austria. While the largest group of volunteer supplied gun was the German Gewehr 98 and it's variants, and many additional ones were equipped with these same guns, others were also in use. Be they British Lee-Enfields in .303, French Lebel's in 8x50mmR Lebel, Russian Mosin-Nagant's in 7,62x54mmR or any of several dozen less common guns and cartridges.

The fact that the Armed Forces not just kept on fighting, but often did so in a rapid manoeuvrer warfare had in the past been described as 'pure black magic'. As it is the logistics had often been studied in detail, but even then there are several moving parts that still hadn't been fully understood.

Making all those effort more difficult, rifles weren't the only only weapons that had to be kept supplied.

While the M24, or Steyr-Solothurn machine gun was the primary machine gun, with every additional produced in Austria and Switzerland pressed into use as soon as possible, there were several others in use as well. The Czech ZB-26 again fired the same cartridge, allowing easy integration, but old stocks of unconverted Schwarzlose as well as German 08/15 were in common use as well.

Additionally 20mm Oerlikons served as heavy machine guns, with over 40kg empty they weren't loved by anyone who had to carry them, but they were devastatingly effective against a lot of cover and the Italian tanks. Truck mounted dual Oerlikons officially were designated anti-aircraft guns, but saw a lot of ground use as well, though they were never in enough supply.

Submachine gun were also in common use. Especially in close quarters they were well loved by their users. The primary submachine gun was the Steyr MP26, but as the war went on it was outproduced by the emergency "Ersatz-Gewehr", the MP29.

A novelty infantry weapons were the Austrian 5cm man portable mortars, seeing several imitators after the war as other nations analysed Austrian performance.

Austrian Army Regular formations often carried additional personalised or uncommon support weapons. Many of them didn't see much use, or were even abandoned, due to an inability to get more ammunition for them.

 

[Viribus Unitis]

Moss (1944), Franzerl des Panzerl
Part 12

15.5.1929​

After three weeks the lustre of the ancient city had somewhat wore off, though the woman still held some interest. Thankfully I was the American daredevil journalist, not an Austrian occupier. Though I noticed that at least some girls weren't so disinterested as they pretended. There had also been some locals proposing the return of the name "Welsch-Bern" for the city, to the surprise of the Austrians. They didn't seem to interested however.

Sepperl managed to find me one early morning as I was eating breakfast with Julia. He's obviously been taught some operational security, since he only told me that Michael wanted to talk to me. When I found them at the motorpool, Michael obviously assumed that Sepperl had already spilled the beans, just telling me to hitch a ride with them. As we left Verona their mission was explained to me, and to be honest if I'd known in advance I don't know if I would have come. While an older and wiser me wouldn't, a younger me, not quite knowing what to expect might still have gone.

We left Verona at high speed, a column of at least fifty trucks. We then passed through Villafranca, a city while not officially occupied, de-facto was. I would later learn, that there had been some Italian troops still camped out there, keeping their radios busy. The Austrians knew of course, and used that. So as we passed out of view from the city, we turned right to the north-west, though other trucks moved in different directions. Though I noticed non moved straight on towards Mantua. After half an hour we dismounted the trucks and then went onwards on foot.

It was just infantry moving, nothing heavier than a Steyr-Solothurn or one of their 5cm mortars amongst us. I've been told that the radios were prepared, and we'd have first call on air support, but I still felt exposed. I've seen what happens to unsupported infantry several times the last few weeks, and I'd rather not be on the receiving side.

The area we moved through was by no means empty. The closest larger settlement was supposedly Solferino. It was all agricultural land, and small farms dotted the land. Still, we kept to the hedges that grew between fields and hoped for the best. It was nearly midday as we settled down, in a freshly tiled field on the top of a small hill, overlooking a road that at first glance was just one of many carriage paths. It was slightly more than that however, but not much.

The Schützen had brought blankets with them and buried themselves under them and a layer of soil. They told me that a good hunter should avoid spooking the animals, telling me a bit more of their mentality than I was entirely happy with. Still, spread out over several hundred meters we waited what felt like hours. It didn't really help that they'd placed me away from everyone else, to avoid me accidentally getting shot. Then finally there was noise, a two-stroke-motor slowly moving towards us. Shortly afterwards I could hear hoof beats. Having the luxury of riding trucks nearly everywhere with the Austrian Army, one was quick to forget how much the Italians still relied on horses. And so it was, a small car, carrying the commanding officer, preceded a column of sixteen teams of horses and their carts.

I waited and waited, and nothing seemed to happen. The carriages passed below us, and at what seemed to be the last second a single shot rang out. The cars motor revved and it turned sharply to the left, dropping down into the ditch.

Then more shots were fired. Most of the man driving the carriages dropped in the first salvo, and then the men who had caught a ride started to drop as well, as they fumbled for their guns. And just like that it was over. Most of the Italians were down, bleeding, with only a few having dropped their guns and their hands in the air.

Michael came over towards me and told me: "I hope you got some good pictures. We've recaptured ourselves some good Skoda guns as it is."

I was a bit confused at this declaration, not having heard of any Austrian guns lost, let alone ones rigged for horse transport, but it turned out those were guns captured or handed over after the Great War.

Spoiler

Proactive defence of Verona shown here. Small formation against small formation. Because large Italian formations get hammered from the air before they reach artillery range. Villafranca should be more accurately described as no mans land between fronts, but Moss isn't always reliable.

Also: The Schützen acquire some guns. They will not be as happy with them when they get them back to Verona as Michael is right now.

And really English language? Horse-and-cart? Team of horses? Can't even get a proper compound word at least... I mean it's simply "Pferdegespann" in German. (kinda /s since English usually acquires some foreign word for any gap, but according to my dictionary that's what it is in this case)

Solferino of course was where a Battle between the Kingdom of Sardinia (not yet Italy) and Austria (not yet Austria-Hungary) happened in 1859, and was then credited directly with leading to the creation of the International Red Cross is 1863 (well it only carries the name Red Cross since 1876, but the organisation was founded then)

 

[Viribus Unitis]

Meierhofer, Gebhard (1979): Militia and Volunteer Fighters in the Austro-Italian War, Vienna: Amalthea

US Volunteers

While there was great interest amongst the German-American, Austrian-American and Italian-American communities to participate in the war, few actually managed to do so. When the war ended most were still scrambling to arrange for equipment and passage, while some were underway or in the process of being integrated into the Armed Forces when the Italians surrendered.

Most volunteer that actually fought were individuals that were already in Europe at the time and arrived as individuals or small groups directly in Austria and Italy or with volunteer groups from other countries and not as an identifiable US volunteer formation. A small minority was already serving in the Italian or Austrian armed forces when the war started as well.

The one group that both arrived as a team and gained attention as such both in Europe and America, were the Flying Seven. The group was lead by Austrian born Johann Eberle, an emigrant and self made man. Amongst many other business interests, he had followed his passion and serviced several airmail routes in the northern US. The others in the group were all of similar backgrounds, either Austrian born or their parents were, and were newly wealthy in the US. Most had made their fortune in the boom years after the Great War ended, were active in German-American social circles in Cleveland and were part of the local aircraft and glider club.

When the headlines of the Italian attack went around the world, Eberle decided to do something. He immediately modified his AR.1 passenger aircraft for a long range flight, sacrificing most of it's transport capabilities for fuel, and recruited several of his pilot friends. They made the Atlantic crossing from New York to Cork, and from there to Salzburg on the 18th of April to much fanfare in the German language media in the US. While their intention had been to ship fighter aircraft from the US, when they arrived as trained pilots they were quickly recruited into the Austrian Air Force and retrained on F-S 28 fighters.

Eberle understood media, and especially the US media. He arranged for his own reports to be sent back, as well as pictures and in one case even video footage of the seven operating out of Innsbruck airport. However he also took care to coach his men in how to deal with journalists and made certain that unlike the Air Force pilots who were secluded from the public, that he and his men were approachable for journalists, especially international ones. Eberle was also known to have constantly tinkered with cameras and attempting to document his flights, producing stunning photos. While they were not the highest scoring pilots in the conflict, Eberle's 17 kills were widely reported, more so in English language media than German, making him one of the most recognised names of the conflict in the Anglosphere. The Flying Seven all together were credited with 55 kills, all of them considered an ace with at least 5 kills.

According to Austrian records just shy of 800 US citizens were active combatants on their side of the conflict. It is assumed that maybe five time that number was in transit or training when the war ended. Italian records were far less complete, but here it is assumed that roughly 200 US citizens fought with the Italian Army. This is largely down to the fact that unlike Austria, Italy did not actively recruit volunteer formations. There seems to be some indication however, that amongst the earliest Italian-Americans who returned after the war to rebuild their home country, were some that had travelled in order to participate in the fighting.

Added to this were an unknown number of people, both from German-American and Italian-American communities, who participated in the war, that had never attained US citizenship, but still returned from there to fight. While they do not show up in the statistics, they can be traced through individual biographies.

Spoiler

Not exactly what I had planned for today, but then again, I'm currently struggling a bit with the pieces I had planed to slot in right there... So have something different that I just had to polish up a bit.

 

[LuxEterna]

nice though i wonder if it came to blows between italo and austro americans inside the US

 

[Viribus Unitis]

nice though i wonder if it came to blows between italo and austro americans inside the US

Click to shrink...

Yeah, incidents happen. But it's confined to small scale events. Back alley fist fights? Sure. Bar Brawls? Yep. Hyped Boxing Grudge Match? Of course. Open firefights in New York harbour? Nope. Organised crime getting in on it? Not as wide spread as one might expect in the prohibition era US.

One element to prevent large scale events is that Austrian-American isn't really a category people think in even in TTL 1929. It changes a bit in the half-century until an TTL academic writes this (well it's obviously me, but you get the idea). He's used to the category, US society in the first half of the 20th century isn't his speciality... It slips in. TTL 1929 most Austrian born people are perceived as German-American. This to some extent helps them slip by without incident. Unless someone is just out for a fight telling him you are Bavarian might be enough for him to hesitate. (Or it might not, if he knows just how many German volunteers are in Italy.)

Another element is that the Italian-American community wasn't as fascist as the home country. Yes, the Fascist League of North America existed, but they only had a loose connection to the Fascist party in Italy until the early thirties. However the Italian Socialist groups were about as strong, if not stronger. Italian American communities were also skewed towards Southern Italians. While there were areas in Southern Italy where the Fascists did well, more of it wasn't too happy with them. So it doesn't reach the critical mass needed to unify into singular Italian-American support for the war.

The same is actually true for Austrian-Americans, but there the deck is a bit more stacked, both media wise and community influence wise, to affect the perception.

Then there is another element. Simple demographics. Unfortunately I do not have accurate absolute numbers for the era, but precent wise? Italian-Americans tend to cluster to the coast far more than Austrian-Americans (and of course the German-American communities they vanished into OTL). You'll more likely find an Austrian than an Italian in the rural Midwest, while it's more likely to find an Italian than an Austrian in New England. There's also numbers... It's difficult to nail down specifics. I'd have to dig into journals and get JSTOR access again to nail down specifics... But going with rough estimates? There's about ten times as many Italian-Americans as Austrian-Americans. However the Austrian-Americans can hide in about three times the Italian-American German-Americans. Makes sense?
Just pulling numbers out of a hat here - off hand I only have vague memories of 1914 NY demographics - but you'd get something like 400.000 German-Americans, 175.000 Italian-Americans and 12.000 Austrian-Americans in New York.

Also of course, because I as the author didn't think larger scale conflict in the immigrant nations would fit in with the story I want to tell. I'm also basing this on the WWI experience where to the best of my knowledge, despite patriotic outbursts in favour of the "home country" large scale violent incidents didn't happen. I'm willing to be corrected on that.
(Of course an early version would have included a large scale Austrian-Bavaria-Czech criminal enterprise focused on brewing and distributing beer during the prohibition era... I decided against it, because I think profit margins wouldn't have been sufficient on beer, and thematically something other wouldn't have fit. It would have added a bit of conflict with certain Italian interest groups.)

 

[Viribus Unitis]

Dear Susanna,

21.5.1929​

Today we invaded another country. By accident that is. And we are pretty certain that nobody noticed. When we had settled down in the early afternoon in the foothills of the Apennine Mountains, Samuel obsessively studied the maps, and kept on studying our surrounding with his binoculars and the compass. It was in the early evening, shortly after most of the workers had left the fields and we were preparing for the next leg of our journey, that he announced that we had passed into San Marino on accident. Unless we were very unlucky however, nobody should have seen us doing that.

At least I hope so. Over the last few weeks our activities had been noticed every now and again, we had been seen passing through at times. Since rumours spread and soon after our presence was seen as a precursor of an attack by the Italians. So it came that we had been sent further afield. With the Italian counter-attack a week ago and heavy fighting ongoing around Treviso, we were ordered south to cause disruptions. We had cut the rail line between Padua and Bologna in three locations, causing at least two derailments, and had dropped one road bridge over the Po river. We had then directed the bombardment of the rail yard in Bologna by bomber aircraft and similarly directed ground attack aircraft into the harbour of Ravenna just yesterday.

We had hid out in the pine forests outside of the city for three days, observing the coming and going of cargo ships, observing what they carried. Samuel and Harald had then taken the risk and snuck into the port wearing labourers cloth that we had acquired. They managed to place three radio beacons and a number of flares on a timer. We had placed additional ones outside of the harbour itself, and then waited and settled down.

Right on time, an hour after nightfall some Libellen had appeared outside the port, but it seemed some timers of the radio beacons had failed to properly activate them. So we did what we could, directing them in via radio, taking special care to direct them towards what we highly suspected was a ship carrying ammunition. It certainly blew up even more spectacularly than the battleships last month.

While the Italians unsuccessfully tried to shoot down the attack planes, not helped by the fact that we had sabotaged several of their searchlights, they had gotten wise to some of our other tactics. For once we were at the receiving end of radio direction finding, and without one very observant gunner on a Libelle we might not have noticed several platoons closing in on us soon enough. So we were once again forced to flee, even as the Libellen emptied the last ammunition they were willing to spare into our perusers. Thankfully our horses had been well rested when we started to flee inland, then south bypassing Ravenna and fleeing over fields all night. It was only in the early morning that we had arrived in the questionable safety of the hills, and even then they were farmed quite intensely, not the wooded foothills we had almost grown accustomed to. It must have been then that According to Samuel we had then passed east of Chisanuova, a village belonging to the strange city state of San Marino. That is if one can trust Samuel, I more and more wonder just who he had bribed to pass his cartography course at university. I myself had been half asleep by that time, the horses thankfully still wiling to move forwards, even if their rider wasn't paying too much attention to anything. So who knows what really happened.

We are being run ragged down here. I understand how we contribute to the bigger picture, drawing attention, drawing resources, drawing troops away from where the Italians will really need them. But at this time I'd rather sleep for a week straight, instead of days of riding, days of frantic activity, interspersed by days of nothing to do, but still being high strung enough that every noise might be an enemy approaching, not getting you any real rest.

I would give everything for a quite afternoon with you, lazing around in the garden, no enemy anywhere within hundred kilometres that might shoot me at any moment.


Hope to see you soon,

Alois

Spoiler

The "Homefront" piece I was working on still doesn't want to work out. So we'll go forwards chronologically again... Unless I somehow get the knot in my mind undone, the next "story" snips will be a Trenches and a Mercenary one, that take place chronological roughly at the same time, just after this. If I can figure out how to, I might reorder Threadmarks, so that the last "Dear Susanna" letter slots in at the right place chronologically, at least for those using reader mode.

There are some (crappy) maps I might post later or the next few days. In addition to the one following here. Those would show the front at certain different dates. I'm investing far more time into the peace treaty maps however. Though at current pace, those likely won't be added here until next year... (Notes currently show 14 "story" pieces before the Armistice, some already written, though unpolished. And then however many "Homefront" ones I can get out, that will fit in in a non-chronological order).

Map of "Dear Susanna" Action:

Spoiler: Map

Made quick and dirt. Base map is a modern Italy... Blue lines where borders would have been both TTL and OTL 1.1.1929. That is unless I missed something. Well, Lago di Lei isn't shown, but it's too small a change to include. Ignore the internal divisions of what back then would have been Yugoslavia as well. Other national borders stayed surprisingly stable.

 

[Viribus Unitis]

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


With Bozen taken by Austrian forces, and the following breakthrough at Franzensfeste, the railway connection through the Eisacktal was under control of the Austrian Army. This cut off five Italian Divisons that had been deployed through the Pustertal into Austria from their primary supply line. With initial success in Lienz, Italian command had decided to reinforce success driving towards Spittal and Villach, instead of defeat at Innsbruck.

While the Italians had taken also Arnoldstein and the length of the Gailtal, the number of supplies that could be brought in on that route was limited. Even more so since the railway station there was still in range of Austrian artillery. That left the Dolomite Railway, a narrow gauge railway built by the Austrian army during the Great War. While it had been recently electrified, it could not cope with the demands so many fighting man produced. The Alpine roads had little more capacity. Mostly built predating the motorised transport they were still affected by snow, limiting capacity further. More so, some of the passes, especially those leading over the border from Italy into the Austrian Gailtal hadn't been repaired from damage sustained during the Great War.

Then, on the 19th ​ of April Austrian special forces destroyed a railway bridge in the lower Kanaltal, disrupting supply even further. When the Austrian 3rd​ Division halted their push at Vernoa, Riva and Bassano del Grappa, only mopping up some smaller formations in side valleys, and the 2nd​ fixed the besiegers of Villach in place, 1st​ and 4th ​Division of the Austrian Army regulars started to push the trapped divisions. Many surrendered quickly. Some did so immediately, others after token resistance. Yet again others escaped south over the mountains, leaving their heavy gear behind. Especially the Blackshirt division however, earmarked for pacification duty, fought a costly last stand. Once again, in a cold calculus, the Austrian generals reinforced those engagements with paramilitary formations, preserving their best trained troops to fight another day.

From there Austrian Forces pushed down the Kanaltal. In an ambitious combined arms attack on the 30th​ of April, advanced formations were deployed via parachute and gliders to take strategic strong points along the Torre and Tagliamento river. Meanwhile the bulk of troops raced south, cutting off surprised Italian troops and often forcing a surrender. Only Undine resisted for six more days, becoming the site of desperate urban combat.

Afterwards, 1st​ Division pushed on towards the east and the Yugoslav border. Only Pola, Fiume and Adelsberg provided significant resistance to this move, though some small Italians formations would fight on in the hills and mountains or the islands of the area for the rest of the war.

Their backs relative secure, garrisoned by volunteers and the first combat ready conscript formations, a large scale offensive across the Veneto followed. The Italian army wasn't entirely unprepared for this, but their internal communication problems, and strategic strikes both by special forces as well as aircraft disrupted the response enough that the Austrians could exploit gaps, and use manoeuvrer warfare to again and again gain overwhelming local superiority. Especially the Austrian and Czechoslovak tank battalions excelled in these engagements.

Yet it was during that push, that the Italians noticed a sudden absence of the Austrian 4th​ Division. It was replaced by several formations that were at the time identified by the Italians as fresh conscripts, but were in fact three divisions of the Shadow Army. Italo Balbo himself ordered a quick counter attack, but this was badly planned, especially since it was supposed to happen under radio silence. Several advances were made, but just as many attacks failed, leaving this counter-attack on the Livenza a costly defat for the Italians.

Even several sorties by the Italian Navy didn't change the situation. After an attack on battleships in Pola harbour, those had been withdrawn to Taranto, leaving the most powerful units more than half a day from their bombardment positions. This gave plenty of warning whenever they sortied, the increase of Yugoslav Royal Navy radio traffic monitoring their passing alone would be a perfect indicator. Yet even against lighter units the Austrians had little that could effectively damage them. This meant that shore bombardments were undertaken quite regularly. Fear of friendly fire as well as bad coordination between the Regia Marina and the Regio Esercito allowed Austrian troops to often simply not be where naval shells fell. The Austrian Air Force flew some strike missions against ships, but lacked the training to do so effectively.

The Battle of Treviso stood out amongst the engagements in the Veneto as the bloodiest. Since in this case the civilian population hadn't been evacuated, they paid a similar toll.

Treviso was also where most of the remaining Italian tank forces were deployed. They hadn't shown much success in earlier engagements, while the Czech Skoda/29 had show itself useful several times. A nearly pure tank on tank engagement happened to the south of the city, leaving the Italian Fiat 3000s and CV-28 off for the worse. Tanks were also deployed in the city, mostly as mobile machine gun nests.

It was then that the missing 4th​ Division turned up again, leading a multi prong attack along the Swiss border towards Milano, Bergamo and Brescia. This caused a diversion of several Italian formations that had been earmarked for fighting in the Veneto. There they would be missed, leading to the final defeat in Treviso and Austrian advance to the line Vicenza-Padua-Chioggia.

Spoiler

Because there needed to be a high level overview. Maps unfortunally not ready yet. If I can find the time, they'll be up before tomorrows piece. Though that might be literally just before.

 

[Viribus Unitis]

As you can see those are slightly higher effort than the "Dear Susanna" map. Not a lot, but slightly. If there are any errors in there or if anything is unclear, please tell me.

Spoiler: April 13

This is the greatest extent of the Italian attack into North Tyrol. The one into Carinthia and East Tyrol is more successful as you'll see in the next ones.

Spoiler: April 17

This is just before the events at Meran, that are covered in "Franzerl" - Austrian troops have pushed back the Italian attack towards Franzensfeste, and moved into the Passeiertal and over the Reschen into the upper Etschtal.

Spoiler: April 19

After the attack on Bozen, though Franzensfeste is still stalled. Also nearly the greatest extent of the Italian attack into Carinthia. As mentioned in the post yesterday, Bozen cuts an important railway line, causing follow on problems.

Spoiler: April 24

The main valleys of South Tyrol are "liberated" down to Vernona and not just yet Bassano del Grappa. The counter attack on Carinthia starts at an unexpected place, through the Pustertal.

Spoiler: April 30

Austrian territory liberated, Fascists refuse to negotiate. Now holding most territories of the old County of Tyrol. Some villages along Lake Garda still hold on due to simple geography. A push down the Kanaltal is in progress, set up for the attacks down the Friaul, that will happen the next day preceded by glider assault.

And apparently there's a limit for embedded media...

 

[Viribus Unitis]

...so I'll continue here.

Spoiler: May 4

Taking care of border garrisons towards Yugoslavia. King Alexander still hesitates, trying to get international guarantees for participating in the war. With Austrians on his border, it gets more complicated.

Spoiler: May 11

The hasty Italian counterattack on the Livenzo

Spoiler: May 23

And now we are caught up chronological to the this evening's upcoming "story" piece.

 

[gralrj]

I assume Venice has fallen? The Austrians are doing better than they did in WWI. Granted, this time they're facing only one enemy.

 

[Viribus Unitis]

I assume Venice has fallen? The Austrians are doing better than they did in WWI. Granted, this time they're facing only one enemy.

Click to shrink...

Ill refer to the last textbook post - last paragraph: Chioggia is on the south end of the Venetian lagoon. So yes, Austria got further than they did WWI by now. Arguably since they took Verona - that was the main Italian supply centre for the mountain war of Tyrol during WWI. And still had most of the pre-Italian unification Austrian forts at the time. Though yes, the Friaul and Veneto were the larger battlefields and were only taken recently TTL.

And you can't put this as straight up "only facing one enemy". If you put up OTL 1929 or even 1938 Austria against OTL 1929 Italy, they'd have lost. Austria is too different from the Habsburg Monarchy to put them as equivalent.

There are a lot of elements that play into this TTL, and I made a point to point some out obviously and some a bit more hidden, that allow Austria to succeed. One that I haven't spelled out explicitly yet is, that Italy didn't take Austria serious until they invaded the Friaul. And by then they'd lost the initiative and a lot of possible momentum.

 

[Viribus Unitis]

Gygax, Josef: Mercenary. Part 2

14-24.5.1929​

Even in late April the situation in the mountain was still dire, especially on a mountain as high as the Ortler with his nearly 4000 meters. While I have to admire the sheer death defiance of the Tyroleans who had weeks earlier cleared and rebuilt the old positions on the mountain, including dragging new guns all the way to the mountain top, I thankfully didn't have to join them. Still, we were deployed high enough up that we kept a wary eye on the weather, not wanting to be frozen in a snowstorm or buried in an avalanche.

To be honest I had expected to stay up here for the rest of the war. While the Italian positions on the mountains around us were hardly as well staffed or supplied as the Austrian ones, I assumed the Austrians were too deeply committed to their other attacks to spare any more troops and supplies for one more. So I was quite surprised when we got a movement warning still dug in on the glacier.

They replaced us with boys, conscripts that had hardly qualified as soldiers with their short training and old men. I heard one of their NCO's grumbling about retaking a position he had gladly abandoned a decade earlier.

We on the other hand were handed shovels and were assigned to clear the pass. To much grumbling my men were only assigned half as many shifts clearing snow, mostly because despite our mercenary nature we were better trained then the conscripts otherwise assigned to this duty. Having us stand guard for an attack that never came made some sense. I didn't understand it at that moment, but I soon learned that we were only assigned to clear snow at all to prevent even more extreme reactions to our presence.

It was three weeks after we had arrived in the area when we were done with clearing not just the pass, but quite a bit beyond. Snow and ice was starting to thin, and according to rumours the first Italian positions were just past the next snow bank. Another round of artillery bombardment had happened earlier the night, preparing for the push. Added to that, once again aircraft passed over our heads. It wasn't unusual, they had bombed positions around us before, or passed over to bomb targets further west, but this time it was different. While even the mountaintops were still dark, the aircraft were illuminated and the chutes of the man that fell out of them glowed red, before they too passed into the dark of the late night.

Even if the officers hadn't ordered us to double down, we would have put in double shifts to clear the last snow. We knew that down there in the valley our brothers in arms were fighting, while we were the only ones that could clear a supply line to them.

On the mountains overhead every now and again short firefights happened. We couldn't really see too much, but as I had assumed them they mostly went in the Austrian's favour. We meanwhile were still working on clearing streets. The way downhill just as, if not more so treacherous as up the Tyrolean side. Every now and then we arrived at small strong points, all put one of them held by the paratroopers.

It was late afternoon when we arrived at Bormio, fighting still ongoing in the city. We added our own skills and the conscripts sheer weight of numbers to the fight, quickly finishing it after a very long day. To be honest, having seen the fortifications afterwards, I was surprised the those insane bastards that had jumped straight into the city hadn't been wiped out long before any support could even get into visual range. It made them people I should learn from, and in our drive westwards learn I did.

It was clear that the Italians hadn't expected the attack, or at least not one that would break through those defences as quickly as we did. The first few days after Bormio we faced little resistance, and those Italian units that were in place clearly were there for the off chance that the Eidgenossen would fully commit, not just economical. As it turned out we were leapfrogging. Mostly the tip of the spear was some element of the 4th​ Austrian, the Liechtensteiners or us. It was telling that the Austrian, as well trained as the 4th​ was, could not commit more of their well trained troops to this front, relying on mercenaries, that mostly were barely regulars. Yet it worked out.

It was my men that took Tirano, in some ways fortunate. Having the railway station in our control several of my contacts could reach us. I had made sent some requests to them earlier, and they delivered. While the Austrians and other volunteers remember the feast of Swiss specialities we created that day, our own people were even happier about the additional supplies we received from surplus stocks back home. Even if the Austrian's logistics were better than I'd have expected, the high operational tempo still left us short several nice to have items.

I can't tell for certain, but most days I assume the Austrians placed us right up on the border on purpose, crafty bastards that they are. Other days I just think that they were the luckiest bastards around, having the chips always fall in their favour. Those days I pray and thank god that some of that luck had rubbed off on me.

Spoiler

So this is the other attack on the map, the one that wasn't really commented on yet. Gygax continues his journey, and it's a learning experience.

Currently considering posting two pieces tomorrow, buffer looks good at the moment.

 

[Arentrir]

The war is progressing nicely. I have to wonder though, when will the Italians realize they cannot stabilize the front and either go full Luigi Cadorna on desperate never-ending counterattacks in hope of taking advantage of supposed Austrian overextension, or try for a peace deal.
Now by that I mean attempt to enter an armistice and by as much time to prepare and remobilize their efforts and generally stall. Though looking at it, I doubt the Italians currently are organized enough to attempt such a maneouvre.
Another point of interest is how much do the Austrians intend to go with their advancement (or is it left to as long as its successful and doesn't cost too many lives and materials we push on). And of course how much they intend to integrate into their country. Also expecting some semi-humorous threats of the sort "If we take Milan, don't expect it back when peace arrives".
Also fully expecting in the aftermath of the war for Yugoslavia to just take Zara and maybe some islands, whether that is part of any negotiation or not, along with Greece or Turkey claiming Rhodes (hell maybe even Britain "Until a time in which circumstances favour a plebiscite to determine the islands true place in Europe" or with some other flowery assurance).
Also historically this early on I believe there was still no small amount of unrest and let's say "problems" in their colonies, so looking forward to how that situation unveils.

Good work though, not sure if it's just me, but I think the chapters are getting better.

 

[Cybandeath]

If things keep going on like this the Sicilian mafia is gonna declare an independent Sicily or two Sicilies at this rate.

 

[Viribus Unitis]

The war is progressing nicely. I have to wonder though, when will the Italians realize they cannot stabilize the front and either go full Luigi Cadorna on desperate never-ending counterattacks in hope of taking advantage of supposed Austrian overextension, or try for a peace deal.
Now by that I mean attempt to enter an armistice and by as much time to prepare and remobilize their efforts and generally stall. Though looking at it, I doubt the Italians currently are organized enough to attempt such a maneouvre.
Another point of interest is how much do the Austrians intend to go with their advancement (or is it left to as long as its successful and doesn't cost too many lives and materials we push on). And of course how much they intend to integrate into their country. Also expecting some semi-humorous threats of the sort "If we take Milan, don't expect it back when peace arrives".
Also fully expecting in the aftermath of the war for Yugoslavia to just take Zara and maybe some islands, whether that is part of any negotiation or not, along with Greece or Turkey claiming Rhodes (hell maybe even Britain "Until a time in which circumstances favour a plebiscite to determine the islands true place in Europe" or with some other flowery assurance).
Also historically this early on I believe there was still no small amount of unrest and let's say "problems" in their colonies, so looking forward to how that situation unveils.

Good work though, not sure if it's just me, but I think the chapters are getting better.

Click to shrink...

Spoilers ahead but if you read carefully there are hints and even confirmation of an armistice and peace negations "soon". Though Italy isn't fully out of the game - yet. Expect the return of a newspaper snippet soon. And I mean soon on that one

I don't think I've clearly stated it yet, but offers for peace negotiations have been made, but as of yet there are those in Italy who think they can turn this around. And by those I mean a good number amongst the leading Fascist Party members.

Further on, serious spoiler territory.

Of course I've planned out some (not yet all details, and if I wasn't a map-head - though still a newb at making them - I'd probably leave more things vague) of the post war changes. But even then I have to admit that Milan is a step too far - it's got offhand just shy of 900.000 (edit: more like 950.000 it turns out) inhabitants at the time. To make that a somewhat coherent territory you're quickly at 3 million. Though right through the Vetlin might work with less? There will be some people calling for the return of Lombardo-Venetia, but that'd lead the Italians to outnumber the Austrians/Germans (identity is in flux at the time, should probably get to write that sometimes, but I'd probably fit in nicer post war with all the other minority questions coming up; and I know I haven't been careful enough about that, got to clean up some earlier posts probably) 2 to 1. Unless you screw with the election rules so hard you can't call it democracy anymore, that'd be basically an Italian province afterwards, not Austrian. In fact, I'll have to look it up again, but there was an AH story where the Netherlands gave full voting rights to the Dutch East Indies... Not sure how much of that discussion was OTL, but similar outcome.
Good calls otherwise so far, and especially on Rhodes.... I have plans for Rhodes.
The colonies - well this is at least in theory in an LoN framework though stretched as it is - that should give a clue.


And now the post that just came in...

If things keep going on like this the Sicilian mafia is gonna declare an independent Sicily or two Sicilies at this rate.

Click to shrink...

Uh. No comment.

Spoiler

I mean it, this time.

Spoiler

Damn, am I that transparent? Get out of my notes! I'm half tempted to send you that snip per PM just to show that I don't crib ideas from comments. In this instance at least.

 

[LuxEterna]

Now by that I mean attempt to enter an armistice and by as much time to prepare and remobilize their efforts and generally stall. Though looking at it, I doubt the Italians currently are organized enough to attempt such a maneouvre.

Click to shrink...

the problem with that is that the austrians wont trust an italian armistice since they just recently got burned by one (at the end of wwi an armistice was called and for the then current frontlines to be the new border only the italians used that time between the calling and the comming of the observers to march on and add even further territory gains for themselves...)
and since the austrian military is still salty about that nowadays you can imagine how it might be seen far closer to the 'betrayal'

 

[Cybandeath]

*snip*

Click to shrink...

the problem with that is that the austrians wont trust an italian armistice since they just recently got burned by one (at the end of wwi an armistice was called and for the then current frontlines to be the new border only the italians used that time between the calling and the comming of the observers to march on and add even further territory gains for themselves...)
and since the austrian military is still salty about that nowadays you can imagine how it might be seen far closer to the 'betrayal'

Click to shrink...

I have to agree with this, the military , the people, and politicians are gonna be pushing tooth and nail for at the very LEAST a return to the originally agreed borders while some push for a return of all foremr territory if not more regardless of the population issues. Agreements and ties with the mafia can help keep the populace of the two areas in line. Further, the whole Lombardy Venetia issue can be solved by pushing on strong regional identity and resistance against Mussolini alongside a general push for equal representation in the government.

 

[Viribus Unitis]

the problem with that is that the austrians wont trust an italian armistice since they just recently got burned by one (at the end of wwi an armistice was called and for the then current frontlines to be the new border only the italians used that time between the calling and the comming of the observers to march on and add even further territory gains for themselves...)
and since the austrian military is still salty about that nowadays you can imagine how it might be seen far closer to the 'betrayal'

Click to shrink...

I have to agree with this, the military , the people, and politicians are gonna be pushing tooth and nail for at the very LEAST a return to the originally agreed borders while some push for a return of all foremr territory if not more regardless of the population issues. Agreements and ties with the mafia can help keep the populace of the two areas in line. Further, the whole Lombardy Venetia issue can be solved by pushing on strong regional identity and resistance against Mussolini alongside a general push for equal representation in the government.

Click to shrink...

Two different things there. LuxEterna is referring to what IIRC some Italians call the Miracle of Vittorio Veneto. An Armistice is singed at the 3rd of November 1918, to go into effect on 4th 15:00. Borders till negotiations are complete are to be armistice borders. At the time Austria is pretty much where I placed the counterattack: roughly near the Livenza river. Austrian troops settle down, some even go home. Italy meanwhile called for a general offensive after the armistice is signed, but before it went into effect. While Italy claims the armistice borders are the Brenner and the Isonzo IIRC, I'm pretty certain that they hadn't reached there by the 4th. IIRC they reached the Brenner on the 6th, with little to no resistance remaining. By the 11th they had occupied Innsbruck. I'd have to look up dates to be certain, but well... (Going entirely from memory there - I probably mixed some things up? Pretty certain on the date of the occupation of Innsbruck, I looked that up recently.)

Therefore be careful with armistices offered to Italy. Terms offered by Austria are harsh (but are offered). That might have something to do with the fact why they are seen as unacceptable?

Meanwhile Cybandeath mixes a few things... Regional identities, the Mafia, post war reality... Those'll come up again.

But no, by no realistic measurement would returning Lombary-Venetia to Austria be seen as a good idea by anyone actually involved for in peace negotiations for Austria. It's the fringe extremists who call for that. Remember those were lost some 62 years ago, while the Habsburg monarchy still existed. It's an entirely different game now. (For fun throw in an Austrian claim on Sardinia. IIRC they were de jure owner of that one in the early 18th century).

Also Mussolini is dead and the fascists will have a difficult stand after the War. After all someone will need to be responsible for losing it and losing territory, and that will not play well with a lot of the fascist core supporters. So call it an anti-fascist stance as one of the unifying post war elements of Italian politics (even if for some it will only be a new paintjob, nothing else).

 

[Arentrir]

the problem with that is that the austrians wont trust an italian armistice since they just recently got burned by one

Click to shrink...

Well that much is true. The main problem being that they want to keep a good international relationship and continue being seen as honourable and reasonable so outright denying it would be tricky and with Britain and France most likely wanting the war to end as swiftly as possible, sooner or later they will have to go to the peace table. Though by the looks of it we are nearly upon that prospect.

Meanwhile Cybandeath mixes a few things... Regional identities, the Mafia, post war reality... Those'll come up again.

But no, by no realistic measurement would returning Lombary-Venetia to Austria be seen as a good idea by anyone actually involved for in peace negotiations for Austria. It's the fringe extremists who call for that. Remember those were lost some 62 years ago, while the Habsburg monarchy still existed. It's an entirely different game now. (For fun throw in an Austrian claim on Sardinia. IIRC they were de jure owner of that one in the early 18th century).

Also Mussolini is dead and the fascists will have a difficult stand after the War. After all someone will need to be responsible for losing it and losing territory, and that will not play well with a lot of the fascist core supporters. So call it an anti-fascist stance as one of the unifying post war elements of Italian politics (even if for some it will only be a new paintjob, nothing else).

Click to shrink...

It is indeed going to be a rather interesting aftermath, though one thing I know for certain is that Italy would most likely not be in any shape to participate in WW2, were it to occur as in otl. Or if they do join it would be symbolically at the end of it, unless their instability leads to a coup of some different or similar group of political extremists or militarists that pursue revanchism. But that last bit would most likely lead to a follow-up national catastrophe.
Also digging the Italian mafia putting the country to rights after these younguns made fools of themselves and their nation alike. Honestly I see a rather conservative and non-interventionist attitude that will arise and they will most likely not be too keen on the colonies or most fringe territories that are likely to bring further conflict and/turmoil.

The only question is what will happen to the King, and do the people still love him or does he share the blame for this disaster and we have one less monarchy in Europe.
Also on the topic of me doing the propaganda joke about Milan, it was meant to come off as more of a threat to make the Italians sober up and accept the reality of their situation.
And taking Venice is also going to be more trouble than it is likely worth. Having Italians make up more than 20-25% of the population will bring a lot of issues and generally stagnate the country, which would be against the wishes of the iotl political leaders of Austria.
I was more wondering if they will carve outa few minor states in reminiscence of the Region before the Italian Unification, and have them under their influence and dependence. That was what I was thinking would happen to Venice and possible some other regions on the North-East if the war went on for a few more months.
It is a tried and true strategy, and Austria has first-hand experience with it's effects and aftermath, considering WW1is in recent memory.

 

[Cybandeath]

*snip*

Click to shrink...

If Austria pushes for the balkanization method their opinion on if the monarchy would be a dividing or uniting figure could be a major impact though that depends how large there influence over Italy will be in regards to a peace treaty by the wars end and how much instability and pressure italy is under.

If Italy remains a nation however in regards to colonies I feel all of them except Eritrea would break away but Eritrea should be able to be kept by whatever government Italy ends up haveing.

 

[Arentrir]

*snip*

Click to shrink...

Well I meant this effort to split off small near puppet states to be directed to part of the territories they've occupied, mainly Venice though. Because Austria has managed to press into a lot more of Italy than they will annex, and will have more than enough sway to break away part of the occupied territories, simply because it will benefit them a lot. Not as much as taking the land and fully integrating it were the population amenable and Austrian, but considering that is far from the case the break away territories will bring them much wealth, produce and severely weaken Italy and make any future war even further away (if more fierce were it to come to it).
Just a rather ruthless avenue I consider will be more than present in the mind of the Austrian politicians as a means to increase their power, while securing weakness and division in their enemies.

 

[LuxEterna]

though one thing I know for certain is that Italy would most likely not be in any shape to participate in WW2

Click to shrink...

to be cynical would it actually matter in any way?
its not like they ever truly achieved anything beyond backstabbing their supposed allies and profiting from it...

 

[Viribus Unitis]

So do I wait if the discussion continues? Nah, let's post a snip - there's going to be another one late this evening (local time for me that is).

To follow on with the discussion...

Spoiler: Two hints

On WW2 - It think I've been pretty consistent on how I refer to WW1. Doesn't mean there will not be war or conflict, but unless my sketched out roadmap changes significantly - no WW2 direct equivalent.

And on Balkanization: Italy lacks the nationalist centrifugal force that most other examples showed. Also the Italian Unification was within living memory. Constant pressure would need to be applied to prevent reunification - see the German one in 1990.

Aus dem Schützengraben zu den Sternen, Part 4

23.5.1929​

Felix once again surveyed his Zug. They were perched together a bit too closely on the back of a military truck, but they'd lost their other one truck to an Italian bridge that was a bit too old for modern traffic. Not sabotage, simply never planned to take that much weight. They hadn't yet received a replacement, since fighting to the north in Treviso seemed to consume man and supplies both at an ever accelerating rate.

Most of the man were napping, as military men were wont to do. It was then that Jiri sat up, headphones on his head.

"Trouble." he announced.

Felix noted that several other man were suddenly sitting straighter as well as he asked: "What's it this time?"

"Italian counter-attack on Venice." Jiri told him, still listening in to some report only he could hear.

For second he was baffled and asked: "Aren't we the ones supposed to scout Venice in the first place?"

"Turns out that a few volunteers got a bit lost and the mayor decided to hand over the city." Jiri answered.

Felix cursed, they were still an hour out best he could tell. There might also be Italians between them and the city.

Jiri then added: "Karl also said he could drive twice our current speed."

"In these road conditions?" Felix replied aghast. With the roads back home they were travelling positively sedate. Horse carriages could keep up with them, but then again the roads here seemed to be only give consideration to those. Karl however was crazy. He had applied for leave to participate in the second Großglocknerrennen this summer and was using most of his free time to tinker on his car.

Jiri then added: "It's a volunteer formation and from what confused reports they give they might just be facing a full Italian regiment."

Cursing Felix started hammering at the wall to the drivers cabin, and the truck slowed to a stop. He then quickly dismounted and swung himself onto the bench in the cabin, deliberately not noting that Severin had once again been hanging around Karl.

"Hendl," he addressed Karl while signalling Severin to go into the back, "you heard the news?"

"Not really." Karl answered, even as Jiri was dragging his radio equipment to the front.

"Some volunteers got themselves into trouble. Took Venice and now they have to hold it." Felix told him and Karl started to grin.

"Best speed?" he only asked.

"Best speed." Felix confirmed reluctantly.

Felix check behind himself that the other vehicles were keeping up. Even if Schwarz hadn't caught some shrapnel at that dump called Stretti, he'd have needed to make sure they could keep up. As it was, burden of command rested on him.

At least they had finally gotten some of that Czech body armour right after that incident. It wasn't perfect, from what he was told it could only take one shot reliably, and it didn't do anything to protect arms, legs or neck, but it should help survivability a lot.

They sped along the dirt tracks at reckless speed, flashing past small agricultural fields. Thanks to the dry weather of the last week they'd probably be visible from Triest with the dust they threw up. Occasionally he could see hints of the Venician lagoon to his left over the flat landscape. However that didn't keep his attention, he was far more busy trying to find landmarks he had on his map.

Finally having navigated the bridges over the confusing mess of rivers, canals and irrigation ditches, they saw Mestre before them and Venice out in the lagoon. At a quick flag signal out the window, their attacked gun batteries slowed down and veered off into the fields on both sides of the road they were on.

"I'm getting short range radio chatter," Jiri then informed him, "Seems that at least one of our guns is in the fight."

Glancing at the map in Felix hands he informed them: "Seems as if they are targeting the new harbour that is under construction."

"Right, so we know where to go." Felix answered, checking the map, if he had to give Karl any new directions.

As they sped into the city Jiri then added that it appeared their guns had an artillery observer out in the old town in the lagoon itself.

Felix could see the old Fortress, that protected mainland Venice when it was last Austrian, though the roads to his left when he heard gun fire. He wasn't the only one, since Karl skidded the truck around the next corner and came to a halt. They hadn't fully stopped yet, when Felix heard the thumps of several men jumping of the back of the truck.

In front of them he could see several men, looking like something that might have stopped out of the last war. They were wearing the old grey Landwehr uniforms of the Great War, some firing their M95 rifles around the corner and through one window, while two others were leaning over a third, blood covering his stomach and the others hands.

Felix had to wait for a second for Jiri to get out of the cabin before he ran over towards the enemy. Both of them had their machine pistols ready, map and radio left behind in the truck. The man were faster, Rudolf carrying his modified semi-automatic carabineer at the front.

"Grenades" he shouted to remind his troops, but saw that at least Lukas already had one ready.

Rudolf's rifle chattered away at the corner as he placed himself at the window, the volunteer easily giving space and imminently started reloading his rifle. Good instincts if nothing else.

At the window he saw that they hadn't shot inside, but out again through another window. Dust was still floating in the street beyond, and the only thing moving he could make out was the tip of an Italian Adrian helmet. Felix swung himself through the window, crossed the kitchen and then looked out the other window. Seeing several Italians that had stayed out of the previous possible angles he fired the entire magazine at them, hitting two of them. As he ducked back to reload rifle fire answered, passing through the walls and showering splinters of the kitchen cabinet all over him. Then Jiri fired several controlled burst out the window, and Felix saw that several other man had followed him into the kitchen.

These Italians however didn't break, like many others before had under the assault of automatic fire and liberally used grenades. These were here to fight and that would get ugly fast.