Dualing Shires - The War of the Dyes

[ChrisiusMaximus]

The Land Battles begin

Operations on land have commenced and our glorious armed forces have had several major successes !!

Here we see the Big Guns opening up and softening up the Salonica garrison............

[ChrisiusMaximus]

Istanbul Captured

A massive morale boost to our troops in the expeditionary force, having captured Istanbul very quickly!! Our landings were a complete surprise to the Turks and the first stage of our operations are a total success!!

[ChrisiusMaximus]

A New Hero

Young Jeremy Uxbridge son of the Earl of Leek watches as our Cavalry brigades storm into Salonica victoriously.

Young Captain Uxbridge wins a full commission and promotion for his stunning show of military tactics at Salonica and is to be given his own personal command !!

[ChrisiusMaximus]

When the decision had finally been made to commence operations against the Turks things had moved very swiftly. So swiftly that the initial good results had taken the establishment by surprise.

Why this sense of surprise so pervaded was anybodies guess really, as the armed forces had been on a state of preparedness for several years!! In deed many in the ranks were begining to lose their demeanour with regard to the endless delays.

However the time had finally arrived, and the coiled spring that was Staffordshire's Army had been released, and had sprung eagerly into action.

Lord Stafford and his Cabinet were just finishing off their meeting back at the Government houses in Stafford. It had been a long session in a smoky room, and a great deal of Brandy had been guzzled.

As the ministers were leaving Colonel Michael Rattan, the dashing young officer attached to the Staffordshire cabinet from York made his way to Lord Stafford.

"Sir if I may have a quiet word with you, please!"

"Of course Michael my dear boy, what can I do for you, I hope everything is in order!" he said. Lord Christopher of Stafford looked upon the man before him and sensed something in him that was quite not the norm for the usually confident young fellow, he seemed a little shaky nervous even!

"What is it Michael, what on earth is troubling you ?"

There was an awkward silence in which neither man spoke, this was unnerving Lord Stafford now. Was there some terrible problem that michael had not made known in the cabinet meeting ? was there perhaps disapproval from York regarding Staffords action against the Turk ? What was it ?

"Well come on man spit it out!!" said Stafford becoming a little frustrated now.

"Sir!!, please Sir!! I would like to ask your permission to wed your daughter Sophie!!" he blurted out, the tension almost causing him to expode.

Lord Stafford was lost for words but a huge smile that turned to gaping great grin like a Cheshire Cat formed upon his face, followed by a rush of relief "By God!! My lad you had me worried there, for a moment!" he said, "I would be honoured indeed to welcome you into the fold so to speak, oh this is the best news, come we must celebrate but first I dare say you would like to break the news of my blessing to my daughter, eh ?" said Lord Stafford whilst winking to the Colonel.

"Yes please my Lord, thank you!"

Lord Stafford was most pleased with this latest development, most pleased indeed.

[Paddy]

well done old chap well done indeed

[ChrisiusMaximus]

The war against the Turk had started very well, much better than Staffords government had expected. The initial landings and the swift capture of the Turkish capitol had been a resounding success.

This was not to continue so smoothly however, the tenacity of the Ottoman people soon became very obvious, fired by their hatred of the British invader and blinded by their bloodlust to recapture their once great citadel and capitol city Istanbul the Ottoman commanders sent wave after wave of forces to counter attack our beachheads!!

For some time the British presence on the Ottoman home island was looking very shaky, though able to fight defensively and with the benefit of superior troops and equipment the Turks seemed unstoppable as they poured over the mountains into the killing fields.

Many lives were lost defending our early gains, hundreds of brave souls lost to this war, but countless thousands upon thousands of Ottoman troops were felled daily. The situation was critical for a time, the freshly shipped in reinforcements simply were not enough to stem the flow of the fresh waves of Turks. many of the greener British troops were simply inadequate and unable to fight effectively in the face of this enraged enemy, as a consequence a great many of our young soldiers perished in the field, and countless others faced the firing squads for desertion, though this fact will never become common knowledge to the people back home!

Several times the British lines had to be pulled back ever closer to Istanbul's walls, if Jonny Turk had managed to place the city under siege then the invasion would most certainly have failed, and the Turks would have reclaimed their capitol. Staffordshire had naval supremacy in the waters off Istanbul so an evacuation would always have been possible, but it was not to be necessary.

Eventually the toll on the Ottoman armed forces bacame too great and their forrays into the occupied zone began to consist of far less numbers, these smaller forces were short work for the veteran troops of the expeditionary force and so a stalemate took root.

Three years on and the Ottoman incursions virtually dried up, at this time Staffordshire received a diplomatic message from the Ottomans asking for a end to hostilities, but whilst the Turks had been licking their wounds these past months Staffordshires Generals had been amassing a vast offensive column to once more take the fight to the Turk!!

Peace was of course unanimously rejected by Staffords Government and the order was given for the column to march into Ottoman territory to lay a siege on the city of Iznik.

[ChrisiusMaximus]

Offense and counter offense!

Our offensive column had moved into positions outside the Ottoman city of Iznik, Jonny Turk once again attempted to counter us and sent in large numbers of troops to attempt to siege Egrine!

[ChrisiusMaximus]

Overwhelming Force!

Unfortunately for our rivals the Staffordshire military planners had expected just such a move on their part and had left in place several massed gun batteries well dug in with infantry to protect them and a large garrison of Household cavalry stationed in Egrine itself!

needless to say the turk column was smashed into oblivion, none survived!


Here we see the entrenched guns outside of Iznik.

[ChrisiusMaximus]

FIRE!!

the great bombard guns dig in and prepare for their fire breath to begin spitting great white hot lumps of death onto the target of the day, Iznik!

[ChrisiusMaximus]

Lord Brock inspects the troops!

Field Marshall Lord brock inspects the troops and gives a rousing speech to the Elite and Veteran Lifeguard battallions, who are about to storm the walls of Iznik!


"Lads!! Brave Lads!! for their are none braver in all the world!, Lads today you will be VICTORIOUS!!!

A huge roar of cheers goes up around the encampment.

"Lads, I am priveleged to be among ones so noble! yes you lot!, now dont look so surprised, you truly are noble men, their are men of noble birth and their are noble men! and you fine brave lads are amongst the MOST NOBLE!!!"

Again a rousing cheer goes up around the camp, louder than the first.

Today lads we face a tenacious foe, but I tell you, do not fear! for we will be victorious!, Lads stop for nothing, when the trumpet sounds Lads, then you must do your duty! I want you to charge down their walls and put the fear of God into them lads, tear your foe apart and show no quarter! You know only too well the savagery of the Turk Lads!, take no prisoners, keep going and dont stop till you see the colours of Stafford flying from the town hall!"

Many of the men gathered here were veterans of this campaign and they did indeed know only too well the savagery of their enemy, any soul unfortunate enough to fall into their hands today would be slaughtered mercilessly by the Turks.

This time the men did not cheer, rather they all nodded there understanding with gesturing and quieted voices.

Field Marshall Lord Brock was a favourite with the rank and file of the army, a popular leader and these men would willingly go into hells fire for him. He knew this and though it made him very proud it also caused him much distress. Many of these men would not survive this day and he knew this, it was a huge burden for any man to bear, the responsibility for the lives of so many!

He cleared his throat and finished off his address........

"Brave lads know this, even if you do not see this day out you will have served your country, your sacrifice will bring forth much benefit to your loved ones back home and our victory will provide great wealth and luxuries for our nation! Today Lads you will write the history books and Staffordshire will forever be in your debt! Go now men and make your peace with God, write your letters home and make sure to hand them to the staff sargeants in your detachments! be sure you have made your wills! and Lads I wish you the best of BRITISH LUCK!!!"

Hurrah!! Hurrah!! Hurrah!! Cheered those gathered.

[ChrisiusMaximus]

Sweet Victory

The assault was a total success and fortunately the casualties were very light. This victory bought forth a massive boost to morale and secured a plentiful supply of those much sought after Dyes, which afterall was the entire reason for the war in the first place!

[ChrisiusMaximus]

The war had taken a turn now, a definite change was in the air and the scent of victory became intoxicating.

It was decided to press on with the campaign in order to secure at least one other source of dyes to make sure we could supply our long time allies and Brothers of Yorkshire with a secure supply of these luxuries too, after all this campaign would never have been possible were it not for their staunch support, thus it was only right that we should continue the fight till this goal was achieved.

[ChrisiusMaximus]

Official dispatch to york.

The council of Staffordshire had met and drawn up a dispatch for the government of York.....


Most honourable Lord of York,
Governers of the Yorkist Colonies,


Friends it is with great pleasure that we inform you of our succesful capture of the Ottoman city of Iznik.

This victory brings about a most fortunate turn of events as we now have aquired a secure source of dyes, as you know this was our goal and we are very pleased to inform you that we will continue to press the offensive and secure a second source for you our friends.

As requested by your envoy to our parliament on your governments behaf our naval assets in the Stafford Straits have made available a safe passage for your shiiping, if you study the attached chart you will clearly see a navigable gap in our blockade of the straits.

We hope this meets with your gracious approval, but would ask that you station a force of warships to secure the breach in the line to deter any other nations shipping seeking to run the blockade. It is afterall in place to ensure British, both Staffordian and Yorkist control over all international trade in these waters

Please furnish special envoy Michael Rattan with any requests or questions arising from this communique!

Best regards as ever,

Lord Christopher of Stafford.


PS I do look forward to seeing your Grace and the family next spring for our daughters wedding to young Michael

[Paddy]

a most excellent update

[unscratchedfoot]

Wonderful stuff.