Tu felix Austria... (Interwar Austria)

[Viribus Unitis]

Aus dem Schützengraben zu den Sternen, Part 7

25.6.29, still morning​

A couple bullets whizzed down the hallway and embedded themselves into expensive looking wood panelling on the walls. Obviously after their actions down in the harbour, the defences were on high alert. Jiri responded by firing a burst of from his machine pistole the other way, not risking his head to aim, just forcing their head down. Peter took the opportunity and added another grenade to the mayhem. The plan was very offensive minded, in the vein of the French Elan, and far too many of the backup plans involved dangerously close naval artillery. So the order of the day was use it or lose it.

When no retaliation occurred, he risked a quick glance. Seeing one Blackshirt on the floor, obviously bleeding and nobody else, he motioned to his men to move again. The hallway was short, but it clearly showed to opulence the Fascist leaders lived in. While several of his men hurried down the hallway, where they expected a staircase to be to the best of their knowledge, Felix himself swept into one of the side rooms, only to be met with the terrified stare of a young woman, obviously some kind of domestic servant.

"Stay here." he ordered in Italian, after mustering her for a long moment. Jiri and Peter did a quick sweep through the room, before they jammed the door closed with his bayonet to the best of their ability, before moving on.

They knew De Vecchi had been in residence yesterday evening, so he had to be somewhere around here. Outside gunfire was a near constant, other parts of the Battalion assaulting the naval defences and the barracks. Inside it was more sporadic, as his men had fanned out to cover more ground, and make sure that De Veechi didn't escape.

Quickly they moved upwards to the second floor. As representative architecture went, the building thankfully wasn't too big. As they moved upstairs, someone up there opened fire.

"That's him." Sebastian exclaimed, even as he threw himself back onto the steps "Behind some wooden barrier. Two others are up there too."

"Good." Felix replied, even as he motioned Rudolf forwards. For some obstacles the modified rifle came in more hand than a mere machine pistole. Unless they had some backstop, the full powered rifle cartridge should do more damage to an obstacle than a mere pistole one.

The modified Mannlicher soon chattered away, spewing bullets down the hallway. Opposition continued, with a ricochet here, an impact there, but it was rapidly dwindling as his unit continued to serve Rudolf's modified weapons, feeding him the magazines they carried for just this purpose.

Then there was a pause.

"Vorwärts!" Sebastian exclaimed after the shortest of glances over the lip of the stairs. A small smile curled over Felix mouth. He was aware that promotions were more or less in all their immediate future. He didn't contradict his subordinate however, joining in in the rush.

Then he could see the hallway, the barricade, and someone rising behind it, rifle in hands.

His own twitched slightly, trying to get a bead on the target, but then Hubert was in the way and his finger fell off the trigger. A bang sounded, Hubert rushed further and then jumped forwards, tackling the figure to the ground. The hallway fell silent again, just the staccato of automatic and semi-automatic fire outside, interspersed by single shot cracks.

"You alright there, Koch?" Felix called out.

"Yeah. Yeah. Got the bastard. Alive even." Hubert replied starting to move again, obviously checking his gear "Might need a new vest however. They say one impact, right?"

Spoiler

So on proof reading this for the last time I realised that some of the 'bigger picture' stuff was missing from those three parts that I'd intended to show here. So earlier today I threw something together that should fill in a handful of missing information on Rhodes. And provide some hints to things to come at the same time. Unless I notice something wrong with that one on proof reading tomorrow, expect the next update soon.

Then it's the final stretch to the armistice. And then fun with peace conferences.

And hopefully if there is any Italian reader remaining, they'll forgive me for what I have planned for their nation.

(Not that it's smooth sailing for everyone, it is the 30s coming up after all. There will even be events that will take the ASB aware Austrians by surprise.)

 

[Viribus Unitis]

Hainburger, Anna: Isole italiane dell'Egeo. In: Schwarz, Herbert; Strasser, Josef; et al. (1961): Binnenkolonialismus, Triest: Rote-Fahne-Verlag.


On 25th​ of June 1929 Operation Poseidon took place on and around Rhodes. With tensions escalating between Turkey and Greece, most of the Nations involved in the League of Nations' Neutrality Patrols around Italy got together and decided that a further escalation of hostilities had to be avoided. The operation was led by France, the country that had in the meantime joined the war, however there were lesser contributions by several other nations.

Pre-operation intelligence indicated that the Italian colonial forces had been completely cut off by their government since the French entry into the war and had mostly retreated to Porotolago and Rhodes City. Additionally later confirmed reports showed that morale was very brittle among the 9th​ Infantry Regiment and Coastal Artillery units that had been long term occupation unit.

Theories that this retreat had happened as part of the general redeployment of forces towards the Po Defensive Line had recently been falsified. However tensions between Balbo and De Vecchi stemming out of their power struggle had seen the Military Command in the Dodecanese receive little support.

It had been planned that French troops, many of them veterans of the landings at Alhucemas, would land just south of the city, cutting off retreat further inland on the island, while a strong naval force centred on the battleship Paris would cut off the seaward side. This would ensure that the entire colonial government could be caught in one fell swoop and could then be used to create facts on the ground, not just in respect to the Italians, but the other two potential conflict parties too.

Early in the morning local resistance* took it upon themselves, with only loose coordination with incoming forces to launch their own attack. Coming into the city harbour with fishing boats, they managed to take out the naval guns that guarded the harbour of the city. This allowed a trio of French Destroyers, led by the brand-new Verdun, and a small flotilla of landing ships** to enter the harbour unopposed and ahead of schedule. Further troops landed unopposed according to the plans south of the city, showing that the French Army had learned some things from the landings half a decade earlier.

The locals meanwhile had been engaged by Italian para-military forces of the Blackshirt Divisions, who had been quartered in the barracks within the new government district under construction at the tip of the island.

It was only thanks to the newly landed reinforcements that a breakout could be prevented once it turned out that the Blackshirts had two armoured cars that they managed to get working even in the face of heavy use of explosives.

Pin point naval fire from the destroyers made short work of them and also destroyed several of the brutalist monstrosities built up by the Italian colonial government.

De Vecchi, the Italian governor, had been taken in by elite units and quickly cooperated and proclaimed his surrender. While some resistance remained on Rhodes and the lesser islands, most Italian troops, regular or paramilitary were quick to follow his orders and surrendered to the incoming French led League of Nations occupation force. Especially once rumours started to spread, that the local population had decided to take justice in their own hands in a couple cases.

The only location of concentrated of resistance remained Protolago on the island of Leros. After having successfully thrown a half-hearted landing by Turkish troops back into the sea, the garrison was quite a bit more motivated than the others. Even hearing De Vecchi himself order their surrender via radio didn't convince them at first. It was only after two days, and with Paris and a swarm of landing ships redirected to the island, that the garrison finally surrendered, but only after a display of warning shots.

In addition to the French led, multinational occupation force, a strong naval presence by both France and Britain remained in the area, often operating out of the very harbour built by the Italians at Protolago, until after the Treaty of Innsbruck to discourage further adventurism
Despite some events overtaking planning, Operation Poseidon succeeded in all it's goals. Occupying the Dodecanese Islands with relative little bloodshed, removing the threat of a continued Italian presence in the Eastern Mediterranean and preventing the islands from becoming the spark that would ignite the Third Greco-Turkish War.


*Note the Communist (fictional) publisher of the (obviously equally fictional) edited volume - this non-acknowledgement of Austrian involvement might or might not get ret-conned later on, if I ever manage to progress to the late 50s, early 60s
**I simply couldn't find if the French actually had ones. There were some used at the mentioned landing during the Rif-War, but those might have been Spanish as well. Found a few pictures that looked more improvised than purpose built, with wood ramps over the bow of the ships. If someone knows more, feel free to point me to resources, though it's not going to be important going forwards.

Spoiler

Run on sentences... I don't seem to get away from them.
And since we are on naval matters - any of those big ship enthusiasts here? I'd like someone to bounce some ideas off for a piece that is still some way down the line (but that I've recently worked on) - Though I can probably bullshit my way through in a way that people who actually know anything about ship design will immediately spot my ignorance. While most of the post war Navy will be sensible coastal defence small craft - there might be a white elephant or five in there...

Especially since me drawing attention to the publisher should reveal that Trieste (and it's shipyards and harbour) will be back in Austrian hands after the Peace Treaty is concluded.

 

[Legion0047]

I have some experience with naval matters, both as one of my projects required me to but also cause its just interresting.

 

[LuxEterna]

something interresting i recently learned was that aviation wasnt really regulated till 1944 when despite the ongoing war all nations send represantatives to a conference in chicago and managed to make a treaty about the basics of aviation (pretty much unique throughout history that all nations got together and agreed to one set of rules worldwide)

the cause was that there were often accidents by planes flying over the rockies due to no clear rules and everyone wanting to make the cheapest/lowest possible flights through the passes resulting in collisions between planes going into different directions

now since ist austria that pioneered the comercial flight and the alps are no less tricky than the rockys i wonder if this will be another butterfly?

 

[Viribus Unitis]

I have some experience with naval matters, both as one of my projects required me to but also cause its just interresting.

Click to shrink...

Nice. I'll send you a PM later the week. While I'll be keeping some things close to my chest, there will be spoilers. Let me know if you want it kept to a minimum. We are talking about a Navy in search of a mission here after all - and the considerations that brings to ships design.

something interresting i recently learned was that aviation wasnt really regulated till 1944 when despite the ongoing war all nations send represantatives to a conference in chicago and managed to make a treaty about the basics of aviation (pretty much unique throughout history that all nations got together and agreed to one set of rules worldwide)

the cause was that there were often accidents by planes flying over the rockies due to no clear rules and everyone wanting to make the cheapest/lowest possible flights through the passes resulting in collisions between planes going into different directions

now since ist austria that pioneered the comercial flight and the alps are no less tricky than the rockys i wonder if this will be another butterfly?

Click to shrink...

I haven't given it too much thought to be honest. And I might have to read up on OTL regulations too.

Some immediate thoughts: Austria isn't perceived as a real pioneer of international aviation. Most of the bigger powers in Europe, and some of the smaller ones too have their own programs going on, producing more or less useful aircraft. (Just offhand OTL: The big ones - Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Soviets; then the second stringers Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia; I want to say Sweden and Spain at least too - but google first page doesn't show anything, maybe that was just licence building, not domestic production; Switzerland is one of those arguably cases offhand OTL - German companies; not fully sure about the others, I might have missed someone.)

ATL we can add Austria and Switzerland to (fully domestic) producing countries. And add a boost to at least Czechoslovak and Yugoslav efforts too. And then there are the ripple effects. Yeah, the engines I sketched out would have been world beaters OTL as TTL - but the margin is lesser so TTL because they are engines sold on the open market. See for example TTL's Fiat CR.30. We are basically talking 1933 performance here when looking at that linage, having some 90 km/h advantage over OTL's then current CR.20, mostly due to a better engine. (270 km/h vs 360 km/h)

So even with the inclusion of the Swiss' Altenrhein aircraft (and it will be primarily seen as Swiss, even if first used by Austria in the bomber variant) in the civilian market, we will still see the others OTL competitors going around. Though some will have a few more troubles since additional competition eats in their market.

What I need to read up on in this situation is how much two (well several, but basically two relevant ones) additional international civilian air service providers would shake up that market. I know it worked somehow OTL as international connections were common. And yes, while flights were usually advertised as to 'location - country'. At the same time the shorter range must have forced the air lines to take more stops. So I should have researched how realistic the multi-national, multi-stop flights I outlined in the first Hussarenritt piece are. IIRC there was a convention that was signed in Paris in 1919, a side show from all those post war treaties - Sevres, Trianon, St. Germain, Versailles, and I'm certain I'm even missing even one of the main ones.

But that's movement and organising flight routes.

What you mention is more the technical aspect of navigation (aggravated by cutting margins razor thin). I know that the US had a ground based navigation set up for their air mail routes that might have contributed to things. I'm less sure about how it worked in Europe, or the Alpes specifically, seeing as they are multinational. Though I suspect that the higher population density might have made things like that less of a problem (or am I overthinking things and it should be the other way around). I might have to look into those things some more.

Then there is the technical aspect to it all. OTL the first radio beacons using radio direction finding were tested in the early 30s. We've already seen Radar (under the guise of 'Funkmeß Peilung) is a thing TTL. Then there is the tech I hinted on that is based on OTL's Knickebein. We also learned that radio technology and it's proliferation is nearly a decade ahead of what it was OTL in many respects. So there are technological aids that could help prevent collisions between aircraft.

Preventing hitting a mountain is harder. You might want to look into that civilian version Ju88 (IIRC) that crashed in the Swiss Alps only a couple years ago. It shows some of the perils of aviation in those days. Service ceilings were low, climb rate limited, instrumentation rudimentary. All that together can lead to serious problems, especially if there is bad weather involved - as in that mentioned case stalling due to changing winds. And non of those problems have been solved TTL yet either.

One has to remember that aviation was simply more prone to accidents in those days, causing crashes in numbers that would probably kill most airlines today.

So I'd expect things to go forwards in the framework of the Paris Convention, without the disruption that was OTL's WW2, but I'd have to look into things more.

 

[LuxEterna]

I haven't given it too much thought to be honest. And I might have to read up on OTL regulations too.

Some immediate thoughts: Austria isn't perceived as a real pioneer of international aviation. Most of the bigger powers in Europe, and some of the smaller ones too have their own programs going on, producing more or less useful aircraft. (Just offhand OTL: The big ones - Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Soviets; then the second stringers Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia; I want to say Sweden and Spain at least too - but google first page doesn't show anything, maybe that was just licence building, not domestic production; Switzerland is one of those arguably cases offhand OTL - German companies; not fully sure about the others, I might have missed someone.)

ATL we can add Austria and Switzerland to (fully domestic) producing countries. And add a boost to at least Czechoslovak and Yugoslav efforts too. And then there are the ripple effects. Yeah, the engines I sketched out would have been world beaters OTL as TTL - but the margin is lesser so TTL because they are engines sold on the open market. See for example TTL's Fiat CR.30. We are basically talking 1933 performance here when looking at that linage, having some 90 km/h advantage over OTL's then current CR.20, mostly due to a better engine. (270 km/h vs 360 km/h)

So even with the inclusion of the Swiss' Altenrhein aircraft (and it will be primarily seen as Swiss, even if first used by Austria in the bomber variant) in the civilian market, we will still see the others OTL competitors going around. Though some will have a few more troubles since additional competition eats in their market.

What I need to read up on in this situation is how much two (well several, but basically two relevant ones) additional international civilian air service providers would shake up that market. I know it worked somehow OTL as international connections were common. And yes, while flights were usually advertised as to 'location - country'. At the same time the shorter range must have forced the air lines to take more stops. So I should have researched how realistic the multi-national, multi-stop flights I outlined in the first Hussarenritt piece are. IIRC there was a convention that was signed in Paris in 1919, a side show from all those post war treaties - Sevres, Trianon, St. Germain, Versailles, and I'm certain I'm even missing even one of the main ones.

But that's movement and organising flight routes.

What you mention is more the technical aspect of navigation (aggravated by cutting margins razor thin). I know that the US had a ground based navigation set up for their air mail routes that might have contributed to things. I'm less sure about how it worked in Europe, or the Alpes specifically, seeing as they are multinational. Though I suspect that the higher population density might have made things like that less of a problem (or am I overthinking things and it should be the other way around). I might have to look into those things some more.

Then there is the technical aspect to it all. OTL the first radio beacons using radio direction finding were tested in the early 30s. We've already seen Radar (under the guise of 'Funkmeß Peilung) is a thing TTL. Then there is the tech I hinted on that is based on OTL's Knickebein. We also learned that radio technology and it's proliferation is nearly a decade ahead of what it was OTL in many respects. So there are technological aids that could help prevent collisions between aircraft.

Preventing hitting a mountain is harder. You might want to look into that civilian version Ju88 (IIRC) that crashed in the Swiss Alps only a couple years ago. It shows some of the perils of aviation in those days. Service ceilings were low, climb rate limited, instrumentation rudimentary. All that together can lead to serious problems, especially if there is bad weather involved - as in that mentioned case stalling due to changing winds. And non of those problems have been solved TTL yet either.

One has to remember that aviation was simply more prone to accidents in those days, causing crashes in numbers that would probably kill most airlines today.

So I'd expect things to go forwards in the framework of the Paris Convention, without the disruption that was OTL's WW2, but I'd have to look into things more.

Click to shrink...

actually its less the technical aspects to be able to prevent accident as the fact that no rules for air traffic were yet created so even if the technical equipment to manage an orderly traffic is already in existence its useless when there are no rules/protocols to follow (think modern cars with many security features but no StVO/rules of the road to follow)

also i believe Otl in europe aviation was mostly military use instead of commercial like it was in the US and the military is able to coordinate their own flights to have no problems compared to competing civilian companies that might not even be aware of each other till its to late

its also only in that treaty in 1944 that sovereignity of the airspace above a county was acknowledged and how to handle the crossing of borders for goods and passengers and who would be permited/responsible for the various parts that (fun fact 90%of the airports worldwide are state owned and non commercial and in the US its even a full 100%)

 

[Viribus Unitis]

actually its less the technical aspects to be able to prevent accident as the fact that no rules for air traffic were yet created so even if the technical equipment to manage an orderly traffic is already in existence its useless when there are no rules/protocols to follow (think modern cars with many security features but no StVO/rules of the road to follow)

also i believe Otl in europe aviation was mostly military use instead of commercial like it was in the US and the military is able to coordinate their own flights to have no problems compared to competing civilian companies that might not even be aware of each other till its to late

its also only in that treaty in 1944 that sovereignity of the airspace above a county was acknowledged and how to handle the crossing of borders for goods and passengers and who would be permited/responsible for the various parts that (fun fact 90%of the airports worldwide are state owned and non commercial and in the US its even a full 100%)

Click to shrink...

Okay, I did some very basic read (*cough*wikipedia*cough*) on the topic.

Several things you allude to - i.e. sovereignty of airspace - were actually regulated in the 1919 Paris Conference, and then expanded on in the 1932 one. Problem with those was that only 11 nations (didn't see an exhaustive list, but 10 'winner' nations + Persia - apparently there was language in there giving advantages to the large nations, so I expect France, Britain to be part of things, not however the US) adopted the 1919 convention, and while more did adopt the modified 1932 one, there were still several nations left out.

In comes the 1944 conference, that didn't happen in Paris because of that little war going on, and was hosted by the nation least interested in such treaties post WW1. (And was only attended by Allies and Neutrals, even if all the Axis powers have since adopted the treaty as well.)

Just skimming things - the actual treaty seems to build in large parts on the 1919 and 1932 conventions. Safety measures are expanded on in Article 29, but even that is incremental, not revolutionary. Interestingly Article 24 seems to be where that 'ban' on kerosene taxation comes from.

The interesting parts in regard to safety seem to be in the Annexes, specifically 2 (Rules of the Air), 8 (Airworthiness), 10 (Communications) and maybe most important 11 (Air Traffic Control). Maybe Annexes 3 (Meteorology), 4 (Charts), 6 (Operations of Aircraft) too, but I'd have to look into it some more.

Progress seemed to have been made in regards to international overflights and intercontinental flight, as well as in improvements/increase on safety regulation and licencing requirements. But the bigger thing seemed to have been bringing the US into the treaty framework.



Not sure about safety records in a US/Europe comparison. As far as I can tell small, private companies seemed to have been the norm in the beginning in most places. But in several European countries those seemed to have quickly fused into quasi national airlines we still know today. Germany on the other hand started out with Lufthansa in 1926 as soon as they were allowed. So possibly safety standards were higher in those quasi-national airlines that more often than not served as a reserve (and training corps) for their military counterparts, than in the US where private corporations continued to compete.

It might also be that sheer distances and a stronger focus on air mail (and therefore more flights than passenger only) compared to Europe contributed to more accidents in the US. If there were more at all.

Another factor might be that the US lacked that international convention lowest common denominator on regulations. Especially since so little of their air travel was international at all prior to WW2. While in Europe you can't fly for an hour without tripping over a border. So part, if the safety record was actually worse, might be down to national air traffic regulations.



As said, more research yet required. And then I'll see if a short (or longer) piece on the topic is desirable.
(Spoilers ahead)
Since the war and the upcoming peace conference are explicitly calling the Paris peace treaties into question(with 2/5 basically gone), there will be spillover effects on other treaties and organisations built up during that framework. With the OTL 1932 convention 'fixing' several parts of the 1919 convention, I can see a follow up slightly earlier TTL too. The US joining in will however not fit into current plans. (So it's basically at it's best Europe, Latin America, Ethiopia, Persia, Afghanistan, Nepal, Thailand, Japan, China and the colonial empires... - remember there aren't 193 and something nations, peak LoN was 58 members, with 74-ish states existing including microstates) And then from there organic, incremental progress - as it could have been OTL without the disruption of WW2 and alter the transfer of authority to the UN.

 

[LuxEterna]

Several things you allude to - i.e. sovereignty of airspace - were actually regulated in the 1919 Paris Conference, and then expanded on in the 1932 one. Problem with those was that only 11 nations (didn't see an exhaustive list, but 10 'winner' nations + Persia - apparently there was language in there giving advantages to the large nations, so I expect France, Britain to be part of things, not however the US) adopted the 1919 convention, and while more did adopt the modified 1932 one, there were still several nations left out.

Click to shrink...

*shrug* i can only repeat what my university professor told me
pretty much all the regulations started with the conference in chigaco 1944 and that its been the only conference that was attended by members of all nations (though its possible that the axis members didnt sign it right away but instead did so after the war and that the reason why the conference was called was that there were so many accident across the rockys that they needed to lay out laws for aviation to prevent more from happening

 

[Viribus Unitis]

*shrug* i can only repeat what my university professor told me
pretty much all the regulations started with the conference in chigaco 1944 and that its been the only conference that was attended by members of all nations (though its possible that the axis members didnt sign it right away but instead did so after the war and that the reason why the conference was called was that there were so many accident across the rockys that they needed to lay out laws for aviation to prevent more from happening

Click to shrink...

As far as I can tell one can argue that the current framework of international aviation and the associated rules and organisation has it's root in that Chicago Conference. But not that that was the first attempt to create such a framework. Or that prior attempts and organisations hadn't found a way of continuation in the Chicago conference and the ICAO. In fact, the first head of the International Commission for Air Navigation (the Paris Convention regulatory organisation) Albert Roper also became the first head of the ICAO. (Limited knowledge, limited research... I'd have to hear concrete arguments to the contrary.)

As to Axis involvement - I managed to dig up (thanks internet) a copy of apparently the original document. Now aside from several occupied countries where I haven't tried to match signatories to collaborator government or government-in-exile, I found that there was one signatory from a country that was part of the axis. And that one wasn't postdated as some other signatures.

Thailand.

Not who I expected to be honest.

But seems you might have been right on that point. (It is not in the correct alphabetical order however, so it might have been that it was tacked on together with Denmark.)

(Notably missing however seems to be the USSR. And the 'big three' axis powers.)

 

[Viribus Unitis]

Spoiler

Glimpses of a future - planned - piece on cinema and film where I'll once again twist real history... Just a hint - OTL for a short while Sascha Film was the biggest film company in Europe. (Just distracting from the dry account of a very heavy topic.)

Also this comes to you on December 8th - usually the main shopping holiday in Austria. It's not quite 'Black Friday' in the US, but a day to be avoided anyway. This year of course we have a lockdown, so even more reason take some time in the morning to get this ready for posting...

Wukitsch, Hedy: Film and the Austro-Italian War. In: Waldheim, Ewald; Heim, Franz; Ganahl, Johanna (1985): Lights and Illusions. The Austrian Film Industry. Vienna: Rauch Verlag.


News that many Austrians in South Tyrol had simply vanished into rail cars and were since missing had hit like a bomb, especially in Tyrol and the wider German speaking world, but also to a lesser extent further abroad with the general attention to reporting of the ongoing war.

The fate of minorities had been something of a large topic in Austrian public discussion in the second half of the 20s. This might have been a legacy of the no longer extant multi-national Empire, but one very real impetus had been the presence of Slovenes and Croats remaining within the borders of this new Austria.

While at first politicians had been happy to ignore them, as the decade went on, the very real plight of Austrians in some of the other successors of the Habsburg Empire had brought the topic to the forth again. In reaction to this many steps had been taken to improve the situation of minorities in Austria. Some barely noticed, but some of these measures had drawn strenuous protests. The matter of teaching and using their languages in schools and public offices especially had ignited the ire of some, especially of the German-National right, but among all parts of the political spectrum. It was probably however the increasing tensions in South Tyrol that had led to the topic being given more prominence, as parallels were drawn consciously and unconsciously by various medias.

Perhaps the earliest high profile examples of this were the monumental historical dramas "Boudicca" by Vita Film and "Massada" by it's rival Sascha Film, together dominating Austrian cinemas during large parts of 1926. This might have been down to the fact that they were some of the very first full length sound films, but even aside from that they were were well received critically.

A year later the book "Herero" drew sharp protests from the German Reich, including a ban in several of it's States, quickly leading to vastly increased sales number for what on the face of it was a niche non-fiction work. In it's wake came books like "Concentration Camp", a popular historical fiction dealing with the Boer War, that to this day still lacks an official English translation, but was mired in similar, if lesser diplomatic controversy.

There were also several newspapers joining forces with scholars and survivors to tell the story of the treatment of Ruthenes during the Great War. This caused serious disagreements, both in public, in the Austrian parliament, but especially within the Universities, showing some of the fracture lines that would later break open in the Second Academic Kulturkampf.

Of course these are only some examples, but the film with the biggest immediate impact might have been 1928's "Deir ez-Zor". On the face of it a romance in the vein of Romeo and Juliet, it was set to the background of the surprisingly accurately depicted Armenian genocide. It did well enough in the German language markets, drawing out some eye witnesses that had been in the areas during the Great War. The English, French and Czech synchronisation did decently as well. However in the face of the rapprochement between Italy and Turkey at the time, and the perceived incendiary message in respect to the Austrian, Slovene, French and Croat minorities within Italy, it wasn't allowed to be shown in Italy.

It was in this cultural context that one has to consider the reaction to the forceful relocations had to be seen. Italianization politics had been a burden on the Tyroleans and observed with trouble across the Austrian border. Equally critically was the policy by Mussolini's government of resettling Italians in South Tyrol, Bozen especially. The overriding fear was therefore that in a last ditch effort, the Italians wanted to remove the population in order to strengthen their territorial claims during peace negotiations.

At the same time, it was clear that the abductions had happened without long term planning and quite scattershot. The community mostly affected was from Bozen itself, where trains bringing in supplies and troops took civilians the other way. In some ways, this could have been even explained as removing them from an upcoming battlefield. Less so with the villages and scattered mountain farms in the side valleys. In a true scatter shot approach, mostly members of the Blackshirt Division had fanned out, kidnapping people here and there with no real rhyme or reason. In the higher mountain valleys especially they more often than not found nobody was home by the time they arrived at the isolated farmsteads.

It wasn't just people from South- and Welsch Tyrol – nominally Italian citizens – that found themselves abducted. There were also a couple hundred people from Carinthia, Arnoldstein and the Gailtal specifically, that found themselves among those abducted.

One point of communality was, that if forced to choose, healthy men of an age to be Great War veterans were picked first to be 'relocated', before moving on for young men of military age.

Among the general Austrian public and the advancing troops, the location of those abducted stayed unknown up to the end of the war, though there are indications that at least some general information was known to the upper levels of government and Army. Today it is known, that the prisoners were moved south again and again in several steps and often in relative small groups. There apparently was consideration to use them as forced labour to help prepare the defences on the Po river, but those were discarded as their final destination was finally decided. This was to be Asinara, a small island to the north-west of Sardinia.

The destination wasn't unknown to all of the people abducted. Asinara had served as a PoW camp during the Great War and had been known for it's bad conditions. During that war, more than a fifth of prisoners interred there had died.

The abductees faced similar conditions, though little can be put down to malice. Since their presence had not been planned for well beforehand, little organisation and a collapsing Italian government and military led to a lack of housing and resupply. In fact, the troops detailed to keep an eye on the prisoners, mostly freshly called up reservists, didn't receive any more supplies and soon started to sympathise with the Austrian prisoners, using their guns to hunt rabbits and wild donkey's to supplement their rations.

Soon after the French entrance into the war, on 15th​ of June, an unopposed naval landing first took Porto Torres, and then almost of in an afterthought, the island of Asinara too. The Austrian prisoners were then taken to Ajaccio on Corsica, where they were cared for by the locals. Strong ties were kept between Ajaccio and Bozen, not least by their respective tourism industries, ending in a twinning agreement signed in 1962.

 

[LuxEterna]

nice though i am suprised that there was no problem with the french and spanish from the movies since they too had homogenized their population and reeducated their minorities (though the french with more success than the italians and spanish

an possible change from all this could very well be more support for an idependant catalonia whom are even nowadays distantly fond of the habsburgos so they might even invite otto as their new king
i am also a bit suprised that there were no digs at the US who in europe happily helped minorities form their own states after WW1 but at home repressed pretty much anything that wasnt WASP

 

[Viribus Unitis]

nice though i am suprised that there was no problem with the french and spanish from the movies since they too had homogenized their population and reeducated their minorities (though the french with more success than the italians and spanish

an possible change from all this could very well be more support for an idependant catalonia whom are even nowadays distantly fond of the habsburgos so they might even invite otto as their new king
i am also a bit suprised that there were no digs at the US who in europe happily helped minorities form their own states after WW1 but at home repressed pretty much anything that wasnt WASP

Click to shrink...

Long rambling musings under the spoiler. (Written first, then cut, then added back in for those interested.)

Short answers: France and Spain (though no Spanish synchronisation mentioned (and thought off) by me, so even less reach, unless it exists anyway) have less reason to censor/ban a film, even if they have the same instruments that authoritarian Italy has. (Something I'm unsure off.) And for various reasons - not least it being a production of a country that does actively agitate your minorities - Italy feels they have far more to lose by allowing it's showing. Especially if Turkey, courted by them, makes even quiet diplomatic noise about it.

For a variety of reasons, minorities of various kinds will have their piece to play coming up. The Metropolitan French ones however are among those that are as mentioned more assimilated (and therefore less troublesome) than some others.

Catalonia - As of now no clear plans to an exact end result.. There will have to be some accounting for the Basques there too if we are talking Spain. And the last vestiges of their Colonial Empire.

US - to be honest, slipped my mind on the topic while writing this piece. And then didn't enter while reworking and proof reading. But there is potential there for trouble. And I've got at least some half-cocked plans there. Some of their hypocrisy will be call out soon in public, but not on the topic of self-determination specifically. (Though there is a lesser dose of that in the follow on that might or might not make it into writing.)

And then there are the nations not mentioned: There is a soft ban for Deir el-Zor in Belgium for example - technically shown, but in limited venues and bad time slots. And even more I hadn't thought about.

Spoiler

Official government problems from the movies mentioned...

Boudica and Massada - well, I was thinking more something along the lines of Braveheart crossed with the historical epic films that were produced at the time. They are part of a wider (orchestrated) movement to be honest, even as Austria was starting to support their brethren across the Italian border more and more.
You just know that Boudica will play well with the English audiences. The Boudica hype had been at it's height under Queen Victoria and lessened somewhat since, but the statue put up in 1902 right next to Westminster Bridge - across the street from the Houses of Parliament - is still there as a prominent reminder.
Massada is a bit more problematic, having a Jewish splinter group as their tragic heroes holding out again the Romans. Still, it had it's audience in Austria and abroad (and production value and especially novel sound-on-film) - a minor thread there is tackling anti-Semitism too. A double edged sword however in that respect, cutting both ways.

But by the time the much more pointed Deir el-Zor turns up, Italy clearly knows what is up. It's obviously on the face of it a romance, but well, the historical context is far more problematic for them. (There are allusions in there that parallel the Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Italy that no true fascist can miss.) Let's add this: The Armenian Juliet figure doesn't commit suicide - though her Turkish lover does faced what he and his men caused. (The pairing is something of a scandal in and of itself - in some areas for the religious aspect, in others more the racial, though both actors are very white.) As far as I know, the Italian government by 1928 had far more options to censor or even ban something than their French counterparts. (Not so sure about Spain)
The quiet request by the Turkish government (Where Attatürk himself more or less made denial the official government line.) was just a formal reason for the Italians, who at the time were courting them as allies. A bit ironic since they did the same at the same time with the Greeks, and the two wars Turkey and Italy fought in the decade before.

France however wants to see itself as a unified French nation. Those were all just dialects, and they were all good Frenchmen back then and now anyway. And offhand there were less colonial 'ethnic cleansings' than some of their peers. (Offhand, I am happy to be corrected if someone has coherent sources.) The ugly Algerian and Tunisian Independence wars is a thing of the future. So banning one of the films, Deir el-Zor especially, would be kind of admitting they did something wrong. (Though being set in the French mandate of Syria might cause some trouble, considering the positive portrayal of the towns people and their problem with French occupation.) Though in some areas of the nation, certain messages certainly are received. Not to mention certain events coming up for the Occitan and Franco-Provoncial areas...

Spain - haven't though about Spain in this context. Obviously I therefore didn't include a synchronisation. But there is a market for that language - not just Spain, but also the bulk of Middle- and South America, potentially the Philippines, migrating the risk a bit to run afoul of censors. Though successful rebellions might play better in at least some of those areas?
I'll have to think on that one some more. Obviously at least some of the elements leading to the Spanish Civil War are still in place - though others are missing. No Mussolini over the sea. Though there are some Germans who might have found a taste of going on some 'military expeditions'. So Basks and Catalans might or might not get their chance to break off.
I'll have to also weight the element of 'adhering to OTL too much' vs 'am I doing this just to be different'.
Though yes, if the films are shown, maybe the French version in the Catalan areas if no Spanish synchronisation exists, locals will draw parallels themselves. Though Spanish Morocco might be the even more critical area - the Rif wars just ended. And there is some surplus military equipment currently in Libya, a heated atmosphere all the way from Algeria to Palestine, and certainly no trouble whatsoever ahead.

For the Anglo world: Deir el-Zor for inexplicable reason proved very popular in Ireland. No idea why.
As mentioned, the Brits like some, less so other parts. The digs at the Ottomans are received quite well as are the (unfortunate) implications of 'good, Western Christians' against 'barbaric, Eastern Muslims'. Other elements are less so - few Brits like to be remembered that 'they' too might have been implicated in similar events. But as we know with movies, people can pick what kind of message they take from them.

And to be honest, during writing and revising the piece I didn't really think about the US. (Or certain events in Russia, or the Belgian Congo, or as mentioned the Spanish Empire, or...) Even if there is more than enough there too. Atrocities, ethnic cleansing, suppression of minorities - look for it and you will find. Everywhere. Even back to neolithic times where we can now see some population replacements via DNA analysis. (Though I'll be careful not to let myself be pinned down to anything specific there, because the evidence is obviously too limited to draw certain conclusions on matters of genocide or ethnic replacement.)

So the US... Yeah. Blacks, natives, Irish (and other Catholics),... - look and you'll find to a greater or lesser extent. I'm not sure where I'd start however if I wanted to take a crack at them. There are some considerations given to not offending potential allies. So 'Concentration Camp' came out of a less government directed corner. I wouldn't be surprised if the one or other academic in Austria at the time had good friends among the Boer. Therefore perceived attack on the US probably have happened, but not among the high profile films. More among the lines of academic and semi-academic written works, that to a high likelihood won't make it across the Atlantic.
That also means Karl May's Winnetou will (for now) remain the most common exposure of Austrians (and Germans) to Native Americans... (Actually there were several attempts to create movies based on that on in the 20s and 30s OTL - In Berlin, Vienna and Munich. Maybe add that to the rabbit hole, even if it's not fitting in with the other movies I mentioned in the last piece, because those books aren't really fitting by theme or historical accuracy.)
Though again, I have some idea upcoming that might or might not change some of that, altering the trajectory of the US civil rights movement. Not sure how realistic on a large scale, but well - low effort research TL and all that.

 

[Viribus Unitis]

Spoiler

Still not happy with that one - but I said I'd try to get to the armistice this year. So I just about made it (in my time zone) with half an hour to spare.

Moss (1944), Franzerl des Panzerl
Part 18

1.7.1929​

We approached Rome following the Tiber. While ambushes and traps still happened, they had become rarer, less organised and committed by smaller groups. Mostly by more or less militarised Blackshirts, not the regular Army. Fascist rule of Italy had been slipping quickly, and there had been places where we'd been celebrated as liberators. In others, we'd been received with stony faces, but also a resigned acceptance. Current newspapers had been rare on the ground, even the fascist ones produced mere miles away in Rome, so we got most of our broader information from the military pipeline or the occasional Austrian, French or neutral radio broadcast we managed to listen in. At the time it seemed that the only areas still strongly resisting were the 'fortress' Milan, and that turned out to be mostly true in hindsight. However if one was to believe the Italian government newspapers, Pisa and Livorno were fighting just as hard, and so was encircled Ancona. And of course the whole of the boot was supposed to be ready to fight on, ignoring the at the time already very real uprisings in Sicily, and basically everywhere south of Naples.

Probably the most difficult at the time to judge were stories about the colonies, where troops were supposedly readying to sail home to relive the Army fighting on. Though at the very least after Rhodes, those stories did ring as hollow as they turned out to be even for the average Italian.

Still, the fascist leader Italo Balbo and the then acting royal regent Emanuele Filiberto both had continuously refused even considering negotiations, unless Austria retreated behind their pre war borders first. They'd rebuffed offers to mediate not just by neutral nations, but also coming from the Pope himself. At least even demands that had been delivered via an armoured car under white flag to the Roman garrison had been rejected, so one couldn't claim they didn't know the extent of the Austrian advance.

However as we approached the city one the first of July things were a bit different. Explosions and gunfire had been heard from the city during the night, telling us that things had been exciting. What I didn't know at the time was that inofficial lines of communications had been open for days, and plans had been made.

As it happened that the Passeier Schützen, as a South Tyrolean paramilitary formation, were among the units chosen for the vanguard of the Austrian units approaching the city, myself included. As we approached the city limits, the guns on both sides stayed silent. A rather large party then left the city on foot, under a white flag.

They were an odd group. Tyrolean born Alcide de Gasperi, who'd only recently spent time in prison for his opposition to Mussolini's rule, was acting as an unlikely interim mayor of the city. With him were several commanders of the units garrisoning the city, most of them far too junior to have held such a positions regularly. Several were even sporting the signs of recent combat. The most senior, a Colonel of the 13th Artillery Regiment, notably wore a bandage around his head. As I later learned had lost an eye in a desperate struggle involving a ceremonial sword during the events of that night.

The group offered the surrender of the city straight out, under the condition that it was to stay intact. They also offered what help they could offer to establish a general armistice, but that had run into some problems. Italo Balbo was in hospital with serious wounds and Emanuele Filiberto had been killed in a raid that is still surrounded in mystic. While a later book and film cemented the attack as having been spearheaded by Holy See's Swiss Guard in popular perception, at the time rumours spoke of communists and monarchists teaming up.

King Victor Emmanuel however hadn't been found at the Villa Ada Savoia where he supposedly was recovering from a "medical problem". The exact details of his absence are however still subject of fierce disagreements depending on location and political affiliation in Italy. However it is well known that he turned up later the week, adding his own voice to reinforce the armistice, and to secure his place at the negotiation table.

And it turned out the highest ranking member of the fascist government that was in any way cooperative and healthy enough to make an announcement on radio was of all people the General of the militarised Blackshirt units, Ettore Muti. But with his shaky position in the greater fascist party leadership and even less clear position within the Italian government it was uncertain if his word was worth anything in this situation.

While many were worried at the time, it turned out over the following days and weeks, it was enough for all but a few scattered holdouts. Though of course, popular history has the armistice starting with the triumphal entrance of the victorious army into Rome.

Led by Franzerl, the little Renault tank of questionable origin, that had made it's way under it's own power from the very top of the Alps all the way to the Eternal City. And of course, his journey was documented with pictures and film, captured for eternity.

Outside of Italy however, the sharks were circling, waiting for their pound of flesh at the negotiation table.

Spoiler

Several things in there that may offer hints on other things going on. Several more that show that there are big holes in my planning. I do plan on backtracking to a few things, such as more 'Homefront' pieces in the work, but I'll have to see what I manage to put together.

I'll also open up speculations as to the shape of the upcoming Peace Treaty (the Treaty of Innsbruck, just to spoil one thing). I've got my ideas pretty much down, but I wouldn't mind speculation. Or seeing what you think the various nations involved in the war (Austria, Italy, France and Yugoslavia) or involved in the LoN neutrality patrols (or just smuggled themselves into the peace talks somehow) should/could/would push for. It might give me ideas - or just amuse me.

Since according to the forum software this also is Threadmark number 100, and we see the armistice, this is also a good point to look back. While motivation has waxed and waned over time, a great thanks to all the people who keep on posting or liking in this thread. Those are pretty much the only reason why this hasn't been abandoned a long time ago. It also got me writing other stuff again, so thanks for that too.

As it is, this has started with the idea of being 'low effort'. However that led to several points where I'm now looking back and am no longer satisfied what I wrote. However, while I have a file with 'improvements' to be made, as of yet I feel if I did start rewriting, it'd die soon after. So the flaws stay. For now. (Such as this last piece - I feel the tone of early 'Franzerl' pieces is far different from this one. Something I might have to look into one day.)

Since I'm assuming that by the time many people will read this, it'll be 2022, have a happy new year. May it be better than the one we leave behind.

 

[Legion0047]

It is still 2021 for me and I still say Austria should push for something akin to the 1850 Borders - at least in the initial discussion. Maybe some extraterritorial access through Italy as well to help with trade?

 

[LuxEterna]

well that was a nice end to this the last year and a happy new year to everyone else as well

as for post war plans for italy i imagine that the mafia will push for a republic (or whatever) of the two sicilies, austria is going to demand atleast the old borders restored with possibly some parts of venetia as well, with the rest of the north getting turned into another state (possibly under the control of vittorio emmanuele or would the southern part make more sense for that?)
something of a compromise solution to prevent the two italian states from clashing or simply invading each other might be some sort of recreation of a papal state with the pope the official head of state but otherwise functining like a constitutional monarchy
the various small islands are probably going under the official control of the greeks with maybe french/jugoslav oversight and the african colonies are probably going to be independant or under the oversight of the french/british, well jugoslavia might their hat into the ring there but i doubtt hat they would succeed at getting anything

not sure what the US would do or what would happen there

and i imagine that austria wont be forgotten in pop culture as some strange part of the german(prussian) empire that get only remembered for having produced hitler, making incest jokes about the habsburgs and how their miliatry is always useless and needed to be bailed out by the more successfully armies of their neighbors

 

[George Mathew]

Best wishes everyone!