14 November, 1930; The Tsingtao incident for Talia.
-In 1930, the Chinese civil war was already several years ongoing. Nestled in their base in Tsingtao, the Talian armed forces were watching the conflict with growing worry. Communist troops were fighting just outside the city, and they had made it clear that the Talians were not welcome. The garrison in Tsingtao consisted of just 600 men, armed mostly with reserve rifles and few heavy weapons. Of the heavy weapons they did have, there were 6 x 65-millimeter light field guns, and 12 heavy and 85 light machine guns. The engineer detachment in Tsingtao had made herculean efforts to fortify the city, reinforcing walls, digging ditches, and building barbed-wire barricades. There was a small airstrip in the city for operating 12 x light utility planes armed with small machine guns and light bombs. The purpose of these planes was to watch for alarming enemy movements, of which there were plenty. Naval forces in the area included 2 x patrol gunboats, 4 x destroyers, 2 x colonial avisos, a pair of submarines, and a supply group of 3 ships. All these forces were modern and well-trained, but compared to the nearly 2 and a half thousand communists outside the walls they seemed somewhat diminutive. Talian propaganda vilified the Chinese and their communist party, and used the surge of positive public opinion to enlarge the force in China. The authorized strength rose to 900 men, including 80 MVSN troops, who bring with them several heavy field guns (75-mm, 100-mm) and dozens of machine guns, mortars, and flamethrowers. Though the communists were supplied with ammunition and rifles from nearby leftist nations like the Marxist Commonwealth, they were ill-trained and not well equipped for attacking fortified positions. The Talians boasted that Tsingtao was impregnable, and the communists wouldn't launch an attack. They were wrong. On the 15 of November, the Communist forces launched a frontal assault on the city. Up to 600 men took part in the initial charge, but their lack of training and good equipment meant that they took heavy casualties before they even reached the initial lines of defense. The Chinese concentrated their attack on the left side of the city, but where repelled by heavy machine gun fire, flamethrowers, and determined resistance from the defenders. The Chinese assault was repelled by a determined Talian counter attack that left 24 dead and 48 wounded. The next day the Chinese launched an assault on the city's right flank, which was defended by 2 rifle battalions and a machine gun battalion with 12 heavy and over 125 light machine guns, 12 mortars, and a pair of 65-mm field guns. These troops were defending along a line of trenches supported by mine fields and barbed wire, and they were well dug-in. Despite running low on ammunition, it was estimated that there were enough supplies to last them for up to 8 hours. They resist two determined attempts by Chinese forces (supported by artillery) to breach their lines, and manage to win the day. The Talian army has been victorious, but at a cost. They have lost 16 dead and 38 wounded, as opposed to the Chinese 48 dead and 105 wounded. The Talians were aware that hey would not be able to hold out for another determined assault, and that the communists had probed the lines enough to know the weak points in the defenses. Thus said, the Talians signed a peace agreement with the Chinese communists not to intervene in the war and not to bother them whatsoever in exchange for recognition of the claim over Tsingtao. They reluctantly agreed, albeit under threat of trade sanctions and blockade. Peace was made, and Talia started a new program to build up it's strength across the Empire. This includes spending billions in repairing and expanding bases, building new fortifications, and developing weapons and equipment.
In other news, the navy has announced it's program to expand itself in order to keep up with other naval powers. The program is slated to kick off in 2-3 months, and will probably see the modernization of the old Great War-era dreadnoughts, as well as orders for other ships crucial to the Empire. Glory to the Empire! Viva l'Impero!
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.. Suvalla, like many other countries in the 1930's, joined a massive arms race, and therefore begins to stockpile munitions by order of His Majesty King Gollum the IV. This was the scene faced by Suvallan Government Rescue Personnel when a factory producing ammunition for their new battleships that were due to arrive from Antara and Cape Fear in a few months time suddenly exploded. It turns out that the caretaker watching over the munitions was drunk and knocked over a shelf of warheads, which detonated inside the warehouse they were stored in. Miraculously, the drunken caretaker was able to scramble out of the vicinity with 2nd degree burns before the entire stack exploded.
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