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The Imperial Falcon Rises; Austria expands into the Balkans
Topic Started: Sep 9 2014, 04:42 PM (1,270 Views)
NRE
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Map Tsar and Southern Gentleman

OOC: Lets see if we can move this along and maybe put it to rest in the next few posts :lol:

IC:

The group's conversation continued on over the subject of the "sights" they would be seeing during their stay in Croatia. Following an evening night cap enjoyed by all parties, each retired to the rooms provided to them and got some rest. Each had traveled such a distance to get to Croatia and they would need their rest if they were to conduct their investigation in the morning, both refreshed and renewed. The next morning the parties meet from breakfast, enjoying some of the finest breakfast cuisine the Croatian hotel had to offer them. Afterwards the were met at the hotel's front entrance by their convoy, a mixture of civilian vehicles and that of the Austrian military, for their protection of course.

When everyone was loaded, the convoy raced off, traveling several hours outside the Croatian capital to the town of Kutina, a small town far enough from Nova Gradiska to remain relatively safe but close enough to get good information. Once in town the various parties split up, each taking a section of town in which to conduct their various interviews and to gather their evidence.
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Whal
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"Life is too short to be wasted on bad scotch"
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Kutina, Croatia..

The ICON mission's first stop was the small town of Kutina, a sleepy picturesque settlement which had stood for more than six centuries. Home to approximately three hundred inhabitants, Kutina was a traditionally "Serb" area and had been the ancestral home of many immigrants and settlers from the neighboring Serbian speaking countries since the early middle ages. In fact, the town had famously and often held off the Turks in their many failed assaults on a mostly Austrian dominated Croatia in the 17th century. It was therefore always afforded respect from the neighboring villages in the form of a benign neglect and allowed to coexist with the mostly Catholic Croatian population - a trend continued for centuries; that is, until the contemporary civil war.

The first thing the ICON team would notice was that the town was currently mostly uninhabited - a strange occurrence so close to Zagreb, even in a country town. Many of the old stone houses were abandoned or simply left vacant and multiple gardens were left to grow unkempt and unruly over the fences and through windowsills. Upon closer examination however, the team could easily see signs of former occupancy and seemingly the presence of a once much larger community - one that was most certainly unlike the people who currently inhabited the grounds. In many of the few modern houses across the village there was a spattering of young couples dressed in modern clothing which was unapologetically bizarre for such a traditionally country town. Even the people themselves acted and sounded foreign to the locale, as their Croatian accents and language seemed peculiarly out of place in a once proud Serbian zone. One last and rather disturbing clue to the town's recent past was the presence of shattered glass windows and scorch marks that still littered some of the buildings.

The Austrian solders stationed with the team scratched their heads or swatted at flying insects rather than take in the sights. They truthfully didn't seem to pay the locales any mind and when they did the interactions were friendly. If one was observant enough it would be unavoidable to recognize a sense of familiarity among the locals with the presence of the Austrian occupiers.
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NRE
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Nikolai Fyodorov took in a deep breathe when he first left the confines of the vehicle. The absence of people was very apparent within the first few minutes before the convoy stopped near the center of town. The air wasn't necessarily fresh but it wasn't necessarily stale either, which he'd half-expected it to be with the absence of people. The party split up to cover more ground, though at least two Austrian "protectors" were assigned to each delegate at they walked around the town. Fyodorov did not particularly mind this but decided to keep his thought to himself, and tried when possible not to talk out loud though he was more accustom to doing this. The town was old, that much was very apparent, but it was quite odd that the few people he did come in contact with did not seem to relate to the age of the town. No one seemed over the age of 40 and no one seemed particularly accustom to the history that such a town as this should invoke in its citizenry.

The crunch of glass beneath his shoes was also somewhat disturbing, as was the marks along the was of the some of the houses. There were even some boot prints in the dried mud of the gardens, though the brush had almost completely covered them up. what happened here was all the Russian could thing of as he gather was very few clues there seemed to be. Of the few people he did interview, there was nothing particularly interesting of them. Their youth and accents seemed off for a place as old as Kutina but otherwise they should a familiarity with the town of someone who'd been there for a while. Perhaps not all their lives, but enough to say they'd been living there for the past few weeks if not months. When asked why so many were not in the town, the local's general response seemed to be that many of the older citizens that had seen war before, believed the conflict would spread to Kutina and out of fear, left for the more urban areas such as Zagreb. Nikolai found this odd as generally, the elderly were the most obstinate when it came to leaving their homes.

He spent the better part of a day gather information, both on his own and through talks with the locals. He wrote everything down in on his tablet, which he kept close to him at all times. Within a few hours the Russian felt he'd seen and heard enough, there was nothing more he left he could learn from Kutina and soon went back to the convoy to wait for the others. He wondered if the other areas they would see before the day was over would be as equally odd as Kutina.
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Italizio
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Leonard Belinzky looked outside the window of the government building, giving a sigh. What was he to do, his military force would never be able to directly face the Austrians. There was a fear through the Italizian people that Austria planned an invasion of Italy, after it was done with the Balkans. Being the closest Communist country, and given that Austrian hatred of Communism was high, they didn't know what would happen. The government had heard also of Austrian hatred for Slavs, which made the nation an even greater target for the Imperial Falcon's efforts. In the council chamber, Communist Party officials met, including the Supreme Leader Belinzky.
They sent out messengers, which posted fliers everywhere of the Council verdict, which read:


A VERDICT ON THE AUSTRO-BALKAN WAR
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Italizio has seen the aggression of the Austrians towards the Balkans, and it has been discovered that they also target Communists and Slavs in their ruthless quest for genocide. As a result, Italizio has made preparations to move the 3rd Army to the border between the two nations, in Venetia. A Declaration of War is not yet sent, but the government has made a condemnation on the acts of violence.
On another note, Italizio is offering an open sanctuary to any and all Communist refugees who are currently stuck or captive within Austrian borders.

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Whal
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Austro-Serb Border..

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The war in the Balkans had seen the Austrian military machine trample everything in its wake. From their initial preemptive invasion of Croatia almost a year previous, Austrian armies and its drafted indigenous allies had pushed back the shadow of the terrorist entity of Translava from Slovenia, Croatia, and Hungary. With the help of the Romans in the south, Translava last remaining combat forces were sent reeling back to the last vestige of freedom - the Vojvodina region in Serbia. From their once strong position of relative strength to comparable groups in the region, Translava's grasp over the various Slavic groups was quickly fading away; and in its wake would come a very different yet equally authoritarian and terroristic power. The Austrians had proven to the world their commitment to expand their empire and crush any vestige of opposition.

Back home in Austria, the Balkan Wars were seen as an inevitable and absolutely necessary campaign to secure the prosperous lifestyle the Archduke had promised his nation. Austria's booming economy, expanding population, and rapid militarization were all pushing harder and harder for more space. Likewise, the Archduke's promise to make Austria great once again coupled with a shifting opinion of nationalism had begun convincing more and more Austrians that their destiny was to rule over the backwards and envious peoples of the east and south. In the wake of a fanatical opposition to terrorism and distrust and hatred of their Slavic neighbors, the Austrian state declared that Translava's last days were approaching and that general quarter would hardly be offered in the face of any lasting resistance.

While the war was all but finished, one last prize eluded the Austrians - the Vojvodina. The Roman Army had pushed any lasting terrorist forces into the tiny northern Serbian region; alongside them, the all-but-beaten Serbian government's forces were reluctantly planning for a joint last stand. Abandoned by their Marslavan allies in their time of need, the Serbs were preparing for their final standoff with the Reichswehr. Possessing hardly enough equipment, tanks, planes, and moral to defeat an Austrian invasion, the Serbian military and its de facto Translava ally hopelessly dug in around the cities preparing for the inevitable onslaught which was certain to come.

The Austrians had been gathering a force to end all resistance along every possible inch of their border with the fledgling Serbian state. Two full armies, over 400,000 men, 500 Tanks and armored vehicles, and over 300 aircraft were amassing at crossroads and border points all along the border. All they needed was the order to attack. Over one-hundred thousand guns waited for their chance to swallow up the tiny Serbian state with fire, but in an act of supposed pity, the Austrians offered an ultimatum to the defenders: Surrender or face annihilation. It took all of two minutes for the Serbs and the Translava leadership to reply with a single and defiant "no!".

The Austrian answered this act of defiance with their largest artillery and aerial bombardment to date. Almost 700 guns and rocket batteries opened up on Serbian positions and cities all across the border for a staggering four hours. While their comrades on the ground battered the Serbs with artillery, the Luftwaffe organized one hundred sorties inland to attack and isolate the Serbs few open supply lines and working railroads. Once the Austrian infantry and tanks eventually brushed past their border points, many reached villages completely devoid of resistance and encountered only stoic, shell shocked civilians. Their soldiers had fled, leaving behind wounded and tones of military equipment. Because of this fateful resistance, the Austrians pushed almost 20 miles inland in the first day of the invasion! While some areas fought bravely and feverishly to the last man, many simply threw down their arms and surrendered to the Austrian forward units. While many were treated fairly (if they were Serbian army soldiers) by the advanced troops, many were brutalized by the rear-echelon units, Croatian auxiliaries, or members of the RSD. Especially brutal in their conduct were the members of the newly formed elite infantry units of the Kampfen RSD who were ideologically trained to treat their Slavic enemies as "lesser men" and "unfit" for easy treatment or mercy.

Despite only a few recorded cases of violence and abuse towards the POWS, many Serbian units retreated or surrendered without a fight to the Reichswehr in the hopes of being sparred capture or combat with their ideological compatriots in the RSD. Save for Translava insurgents however, who saw surrender as just a cowardly resignation to death and continued to fight fanatically in some places to the very last man. In accordance with such tactics, the Reichswehr many times would resort to overly heavy tactics to eliminate the enemy at a lesser danger to their men; using tactics such as bombing a building to rubble or using flamethrowers to burn it down rather than send in fighting troops. It was in precisely this manner, that the last battle on the 4th day of the invasion was fought - the battle for the capital city of Novi Sad.

As the Austrians raced towards the capital of the region, the city's Serbian defenders were largely unprepared and their hastily constructed defenses could do little more than halt the Austrians for mere minutes at times. Before the main thrust of the offensive was launched, the Luftwaffe attacked from the air with ground attack aircraft and attack helicopters. Most of the Serbian armor stockpiled for the defense was knocked out without even firing a shot and many of the city's core defenses were damaged beyond repair. Following the savage air assault came the armor and then the infantry of the Austrian war machine. The grenadiers and their panzergrenadier compatriots were to lead much of the main assault, but a few regiments of the elite 2nd Royal Uhlan Division were to lead the vanguard. Much like in the previous days, the main host of the beleaguered Serbian forces simply melted away in the maelstrom of battle, but a storied few units resisted sacrificing themselves valiantly in the struggle for places such as the city hall, museum district, and the police station. In the last few hours of the struggle, the Austrians obliterated the largest units for the city's defense around the city center, yet small sporadic engagements with hold-out pockets of Serbian troops would continue into the early morning hours. At approximately 6:00 AM, on the 5th day of the invasion, the leading Serbian commander ordered a formal surrender of his forces to the Austrians.

For the Serbian government the war was over - another government lost to the crushing power of the Austrian boot heel. Translava's leadership was also rocked to the breaking point and their fighting forces were shattered beyond repair. Additionally, their ideological pull on the people of the Balkans was also eradicated as their various sects broke apart into separate nationalistic partisan groups. Gone were the days of the pan-Slavic alliance, a remnant of a bygone era where greater cooperation and communication was made easier by mostly inept regional governments. Under the central authority of the Austrian Empire backed by an all pervasive police force and a military trained in counter-insurgency tactics, national partisan groups were forced to operate independently and virtually on a very small scale. In many respects, the Balkans were more stable now under the Austrian and Roman yokes than they had been in decades.

With war finally concluded in the Balkan theater, many in Europe began questioning where the Austrians would turn too next. Time would be needed to organize the newly conquered territories and refit the Austrian military, but no one was convinced that the Austrians would be satisfied with their holdings, not for long at least. For the Austrians, there was work to be done in the incorporated territories. Almost 300,000,0000 people were to be added and processed to the empire and time was needed to sort through the allies and the traitors. For those who now found themselves under the Austrian flag, life would soon become very difficult as important decisions were required on exactly how one could survive in a German controlled world.
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Rhadamanthus
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As Friedrich von Berg and his investigators explored the town of Kutina, he was pleased to find that a number of the local Slavs knew some German and could conduct conversations with him. His Slavic interpreters were not the most skilled men, so he this allowed him more direct contact with the inhabitants. Of course, Berg and most of those with him did not know the difference between a Slav and a Croat, and it did not occur to him that the Slovenes and Croats in the Austrian Empire were far more likely to understand German than a Serb would.

Karl von Stamm was a different story. Once he and his War Council colleague had regrouped, he muttered that "The Austrians are not making this easy."

"What do you mean?" Berg pondered.

Shaking his head, Stamm said "There are three major dialects in the Serbo-Croatian dialect system: the shtokavian, the chakavian, the kajkavian. The Serbs, the Mohammedans and many Croats speak shtokavian dialects. Some Croats speak chakvian and kajkavian dialects. The Slavs in this town were clearly speaking kajkavian despite this region having been a supposedly Serb town and probably shtokavian speaking since before the Serbs migrated here, fleeing the Turkish terror."

Stamm shrugged as he finished, "Guess this makes our job more difficult."
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Rhadamanthus
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The inspectors visited several other towns in the area, and eventually came to a comprehensive picture of the situation. As the expedition came to a close, they gathered again in order to discuss their findings.


"-seems that there is something off about the villagers in the region. I am not sure they are really natives," Fyorodrov, the Russian ambassador was saying when Berg interjected.

"Are you certain?" said Berg, "They seemed quite friendly to me, but I also had some suspicions that they did not seem entirely familiar with the area. But being a German, I was not quite familiar with the intricacies of Slavic speech until my friend Stamm informed me. That said, the Austrians are Germans too, and I find it unlikely that they could distinguish between the Serbs and the Croats."

Stamm smiled wryly. It was not that difficult to understand the differences between the Slavic dialects - Berg's real problem was that he lacked the curiosity to learn how to distinguish. Berg was rather provincial regarding matters that were outside of the German lands. To him, all non-Germanics might as well speak one great, strange language. Stamm knew that it was perfectly likely that some Austrians may concern themselves with learning the languages of their Slavic neighbors, though the rise of the fascist regime would probably make Slavic studies less popular in Austria. That was fine with Stamm - others' ignorance was always his advantage."

"It is my opinion," Stamm stated, "that war crimes were committed in the theater by Croatian forces, and that they have replaced Serbian villagers with Croatian transplants. This is in line with historical Croatian behavior during World War II and the Yugoslav Wars, so it should not be any great surprise. I think that, in line with what my colleague stated, it is very unlikely that the Austrians understood what was happening here. The languages of the Serbs and the Croats are difficult for a German ear to distinguish and the Croats knew the local lands better than the Austrians. The Austrians seem to be generally quite hospitable, and eager to show themselves to be honorable allies to the Croats. That might be their greatest sin - these wily Croats took advantage of their trust to settle local scores. The fear of Translava terrorism probably encouraged the Austrians to support their Croatian allies without understanding the real nature of the crimes."

"Indeed," Berg responded, "It has always been the weakness of the German that his frank nature cannot fathom the tribalistic nature of peoples in the Balkans or other such places."

Stamm responded, "I suggest that we recommend to the ICON that occupied areas under Croatian jurisdiction be transferred to direct Austrian jurisdiction in order to discipline the renegade Croatian officers and bring order to the region. Ideally, an ICON mandate would allow the Austrians to occupy the territory in a safe and lawful manner, without having to rely on unreliable auxiliaries to fight terrorism."
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NRE
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Fyodorov was not as convinced as his German counterparts that it was the Croats and not the Austrians to blame for what their group had seen. Though he acknowledged Stamm's theory had merit and indeed was supported by historical instances of the same, what he questioned was the motives of the Croats to do what he was suggesting. Yes the Croats were fighting a losing war for their homeland and yes there were historical differences between the Serbs and Croats. Still, why would the Croats choose a policy that could so easily be traced back to them, aiding the Austrians that were in truth taking their land? If history taught anything, it also stated that in times of crisis only enemies could become allies when faced with a greater danger. It made more sense to Fyodorov that the Croats would aide the Serbs, not alienate themselves from them in a war against Austria.

No Fyodorov believed in the Austrians were ultimately behind everything, that they wanted the investigators to believe it was the Croats in order the hide whatever their true agenda was. Still, he was not ready to share such things with his German counterparts and instead only further entertain the Baltic German's theory. "Yes I believe we should submit a report to ICON immediately indeed to end this matter. Certainly the Balkans deserve peace in our time and I believe we get give them just that. Undoubtedly gentlemen your government is just as eager to hear from you as mine is. I will be leaving for Saint Petersburg in the morning but would like to say it has been a pleasure working with you." The group exchanged various pleasantries before each retired for the night. The next morning their respective planes left in the same fashion as they had arrived a week or so before.

A few days later, after having submitted his official report to the Foreign Ministry, Nikolai Fyodorov was called to Minister Viktor Larionov's office. He been in the Foreign Minister's office many times before, though generally it was to go over the final language of a treaty. This time he was going over an official report of high diplomatic importance....a first for him. Though he'd worked under a few Foreign Ministers in his time, he generally liked Larionov for his sincerity and general good disposition. The two men shook hands and the Foreign Minister offered Nikolai something to drink before sitting down with him.

"Nikolai you did good work in Croatia" the Foreign Minister stated almost immediately. "His majesty is very pleased with your work, there are even rumors you could win a civil servant medal for this."

"Thank you Minister and please express my gratitude to serve the empire to his Imperial Majesty."

"Of course, I will be submitting our formal declaration to our ICON Ambassador this evening. I would just like you to formally sign your report before doing so, so I can add it to the other papers I will be sending to Toledo."

"Of course Minister" Nikolai stated has he procured a pen from his breast pocket. The Foreign Minister handed over a small file to which Nikolai opened and began to sign. It was an old habit of his to let his eyes wonder when signing anything, usual to make sure the wording of his work was just write. Doing so this time however, cause Nikolai to stop mid-signature.

"Nikolai, is something wrong?"

"With all do respect Foreign Minister" he said with an confused and worried look, "this is not the report I submitted to your office. Why am I being asked to sign it?"

The Foreign Minister sighed slightly as he shook his head. "You are being asked to sign your report Nikolai, of this I assure you."

"No Minister, again with the utmost respect, this is not my report. This states that I blame the Croats completely for the problem in the Balkans. My original report stated that while I gave merit to such a theory, I also found evidence to suggest Austrian involvement and overreaching Austrian orchestration of such a theory."

The Foreign Minister sighed a bit longer this time, it was clear he wasn't convincing Nikolai.

"Yes Nikolai I read your report and indeed, given your evidence, such things are possible. Unfortunately, Russia cannot and will not support such a report at this time. In your absence, his Imperial Majesty has met with the Austrian Archduke and an agreement has been made. Russia cannot afford to allow Austria to be blamed for such things at this time, not while threats from nations like Porcu are posed against our great Empire. So your report has been seal and put away, replaced by this report which we have gone to great lengths to authenticate. Russia will side with the Baltic Germans in blaming the Croats completely, in return we will secure an alliance with the Austrians and a new era of European politics will emerge and Russia will get the respect it has so long deserved. You did a service to your people in Croatia and by signing that report, you will do so again."

Nikolai stared at the report for several minutes before finishing his signature. He did not like the position he'd been placed in nor did he like the fact that his official report would never see the light of day. In the end however, he was a faithful servant of the Russian Empire, to the Russian people. If this report helped safeguard the empire from aggression by building a bond with the Austrians then so be it. Perhaps in the end, Russian could use its influence with the Austrians to end the slav's suffering there. This was perhaps the only thought that gave him comfort from this single act.
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