Dark Earth Timeline Discussion

[Simon Darkshade]

November 1975
November 1: Kaiser Wilhelm V signs an act which authorises the Kriegsministrie to raise four further regular divisions of the Imperial German Army, bringing it to a strength of 40. Additionally, the establishment of a number of intermediate formations, provisionally designated as kampfgruppe, is authorised by separate provisions, allowing for coordination and deployment of further field forces without exceeding peacetime levels agreed upon at Stockholm in 1961. The Reserveheer, Landwehr and Heimwehr are to remain at their currently appointed levels, whilst the Ersatzheer is to continue to not organise units above regimental strength.
November 2: A 22 year old student attempts to throw a fire bomb through the window of the Royal Pavilion at Brighton sees his would-be arson attack rebound upon himself through the arcane defences of the now-standard repulsion spells placed on royal residences and special government properties across Britain; a mistake in the casting ritual had resulted in such protection being applied to past as well as present royal palaces. A quick thinking constable hurls the unfortunate fellow into the reflecting pool, putting him out before placing him under arrest for the attempted blaze, which does not seem to have any immediate political motives. Despite some initial consideration of charging the man under the Treachery Act, he is tried for attempted arson and sentenced to 20 years hard labour.
November 3: Formation of Telecom and Australia Post as separate telecommunications and postal Commonwealth corporations under the auspices and control of the Postmaster General’s Department in Australia. The move comes as the first phase of the Hawke Government’s modernisation of Australia’s communications networks.
November 4: Young logger, Travis Walton, 22, disappears from a worksite in the Turkey Springs area of the Apache Sitgreaves National Forest in the vicinity of Snowflake, Arizona, apparently without a trace, after climbing out of a truck to investigate a strange light hovering above the ground. After initially fleeing in fear, his workmates report the incident to the local sheriff, and a large scale search begins over the next four days. On the fifth day, Walton places a collect call to his sister from a phonebox in Heber, outside the Hotel California. Subsequent medical tests indicate the presence of some form of intravenous injections, but no sign of known medicines or chemicals in his bloodstream, whilst an FBI wizard detects unknown strands in his aura, leading to the investigative team concluding that this was simply a case of spontaneous atmospheric drunkeness caused by the accidental release of lifting gases from a fallen weather balloon.
November 5: Italian food, beverage and consumer goods conglomerate Bertorelli S.p.A. purchases the Pizza Hut fast food restaurant chain from the Carney brothers for $200 million, as part of patriarch Maresciallo d'Italia Alberto Bertorelli’s ongoing quest to obtain a controlling interest in the global pizza market. This successful drive, which has seen the acquisition of a number of restaurant chains and food production groups, has been motivated by Bertorelli’s dismay upon sampling an American pizza whilst in Washington for a NATO conference a decade ago.
November 6: A policy meeting at the Conservative and Unionist Central Office at Smith Square, chaired by Party Chairman and Shadow Home Secretary William Whitelaw and consisting of Leader of the Opposition and Conservative Party Leader Sir Enoch Powell, the 28 members of his Shadow Cabinet and Opposition Chief Whip Sir Francis Urquhart, fixes upon the Party’s strategy for next year’s general election, consisting of a move to outmatch Labour on defence and national security; to formulate and advocate a distinct economic policy based around reduction in personal and corporate taxation, simplification of individual tax brackets and investment in key infrastructure; providing more efficient support for and boosted investment in British industry, be it publicly or privately owned; extending the successful Labour policy on pensions; exploring reform to welfare and health care, such as direct channelling of National Insurance; supercharging resource production and investing the proceeds of the burgeoning North Sea oil and gas sector; and majorly increasing investment in space and high technology.
November 7: A disastrous malfunction of a naphtha cracker at the DSM oil refinery in Geleen threatens to set off a major explosion, but disaster is averted thanks to the intervention of an orange costumed flying figure, who hurtles into the plant to disable the leak and disperse the threatening petroleum vapour cloud with a superhuman exhalation of water vapour. The plant and surrounding areas of the town are quickly evacuated whilst further safety measures are put in place to remove the potential for any conflagration, whilst the costumed man disappears amid the tumult and hubbub.
November 8: The Italian Comando Supremo authorises a detailed paper on modernising reforms to the structure of the Regio Escercito, including the formation of a pair of new armoured divisions, the reactivation of the 3ª Armata and the fielding of new modern mechanised cavalry units. A proposal for the removal of the regimental level of organisation has been rejected, with it to be maintained in conjunction with the existing brigade structure, as well as in the new legione formations.
November 9: The crew Storozhevoy, a Krivak class guardship or frigate of the Red Navy, mutiny against their captain and the Soviet system, slipping out of Riga shortly after midnight and making for Gotland with the intent to claim asylum in the West. Operating without radar and with a brief headstart over the pursuing Baltic Fleet, Storozhevoy manages to make it tantalisingly close to the Swedish border before being hit with airstrikes from Yak-28s and seemingly left almost dead in the water. As pursuing Soviet destroyers fire warning shots over her bow in preparation for an attempt to land commandos by helicopter, their triumph is interrupted by flights of Royal Swedish Air Force Saab JA 37 Viggens and Saab J 42 Vikings making their presence felt, followed by Royal Swedish Navy Buccaneers taking up positions in adjacent Swedish airspace. The Soviet vessels are hailed by the incoming Royal Swedish Navy battleship Småland and informed that they are in Swedish territorial waters and airspace, with the resultant heated disputation over the radio allowing the stricken Storozhevoy to continue to drift ever closer to actual Swedish waters. The Soviet Baltic Fleet initially orders that the cruiser Sverdlov move up to resolve the situation, but a report by a Tu-126 Moss airborne radar plane that the Swedish battleship Tre Kronor and the aircraft carrier Ornen are inbound at flank speed results in the cancellation of the plan; the subsequent detection of an unknown submarine travelling at over 30 knots towards the scene of the standoff, indicating either one of the Swedish Aran class SSNs or even a British or American nuclear submarine leads to further perturbation in Kronstadt. As an order for a boarding of the rebel frigate by Soviet naval commandos using inflatable boats from Sverdlov is issued, the Swedes announce that the Storezhevoy was now possibly within Swedish waters, and that they have been ordered to hold their border, at all costs; long range coastal artillery and missile batteries on Gotland are ordered to prepare to give covering fire. This gives the Soviets further scope for pause, during which time the mutinous officer ringleaders are offered humanitarian assistance and taken off by RSwN frogmen to a waiting submarine, leaving the rest of the crew, the ship itself, and the captain and loyal officers still tied in the hold, to be nudged arcanely back into international waters for the Soviets to repossess. The incident leads to an immediate protest by the Soviet ambassador to Sweden, which is received coolly and correctly.
November 10: The Great Lakes freighter SS Edmund Fitzgerald, loaded with 26,000 tons of iron ore from a mill in Wisconsin intended for a steelworks near Detroit, runs into a freakish November storm on Lake Superior and is severely pressed to avoid foundering before it can make the comparative safe waters of Whitefish Bay. The wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald is averted by a seemingly inexplicable event, whereby amid the contrary winds and being tossed by the waves, a strange music is heard through the ship's wireless, exhorting the crew to 'Rise again, rise again', and a glowing light is seen off the port bow in the image of a man walking away from the near-stricken vessel, light of foot across the waves themselves. Captain McSorley turns his ship towards the figure in a moment of decision, and despite the odds, manages to somehow successfully ground the ship on the sands of the beach just east of Whitefish Point Lighthouse. Subsequent Coast Guard investigations conclude that it must have been the lighthouse's beacon through the storm, with the notion of some form of magnetic music and miraculous figures being dismissed after thorough cross-referencing with the Federal Department of Superhuman Affairs, who confirm that none of their rostered costumed members was active on the Great Lakes that night; the disparity between the thrice-minutely flash of the lighthouse and the continuing glow is dismissed as a stress reaction. SS Edmund Fitzgerald is later refloated with the aid of tugs, maritime sorcerers and Jalicharde Räelye, the venerable Great Wyrm of the Lakes, and towed into Sault Ste. Marie for proper repairs, with her cargo having been extracted by a specialist firm of giants.
November 11: KGB officers conduct the largest series of mass arrests since the 1950s in a coordinated operation in cities across the Russian SFSR in the early hours of the morning, with over 15,000 rounded up and sent to sorting camps in the Urals. No clear pattern to the dissidents or other criminals can be deduced from these targeted, sending a profound chilling effect through Soviet society.
November 12: The Australian Army carries out tests of new very long range strategic artillery pieces in the remote deserts of Northern Australia under the auspices of the extremely ambitious Commonwealth Strategic Long Range Gun programme, which, under the direction of Dr. Gerald Bull, aims to develop two variants of a mobile ultraheavy strategic artillery piece capable of ranges out to 1250 miles, utilising ballistic data from existing strategic weapons in the mountains of Wales and Scotland and the guns of Dover and Singapore. It is envisaged that a nominally mobile weapon could provide significant additional capacity in a number of theatres; critics of the programme point at the difficult of actually achieving significant mobility for any such piece, as well as the sheer mechanics of transporting sufficient ammunition when the shells in question are the height of a hill giant.
November 13: Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court William Douglas announces his intention to retire from the court, leaving President Reagan with his first vacancy to fill to join Chief Justice Nixon, Lewis Powell, William Rehnquist, Potter Stewart, Byron White, Warren Burger, Thurgood Marshall and Herbert Brownell. The leading candidates are considered to be Edwin Meese, Solicitor-General Robert Bork, Archibald Cox and John Paul Stevens, with the selection having the potential to alter the balance of power on the Nixon Court, where the Chief Justice and Justices Burger and Rehnquist represent the conservative wing, Justices Brownell, Powell and Stewart sit around the centre (in that order) and Kennedy appointees Justices White and Marshall are firm liberals. Some observers consider that the selection of a moderate Republican such as Stevens would be the most in keeping with the traditional spirit of the court, which has been emphasised under Chief Justice Nixon.
November 14: ODESSA security officials are both horrified and baffled by the overnight deaths of 26 high ranking former Nazis living in hiding in Paraguay, Aranguay and Bolivia, with all having been apparently killed in their beds by an intruder or intruders unknown. Some seem to have been physically beaten or even torn apart, whilst others appear to have been exsanguinated. A strange sigil painted in blood of some sort of bestial smiling face causes immediate consternation and a rash of urgent telephone calls and telexes.
November 15: Royal assent is given to the Natural Environment and Wildlife (Protection) Act, providing for the protection of native plants and animal species across Britain, both within the realm's national parks and on private and public land. It provides for a number of schedules classifying the relative protection of different species, plants and trees, ranging from absolute protection to complete freedom to deal with as appropriate, within the scope of other laws on animal cruelty, land clearance and planning regulations, whilst not impinging upon traditional rights and freedoms.
November 16: President Reagan gives the opening address to the PATO Conference in Manila, highlighting the successful recovery of South Vietnam from the ravages of war, the value of collective security and a firm defence of freedom, and the indefatigable strength of the alliance bloc. Although it has perhaps lacked the same direct and identifiable threat as NATO, the Pacific Treaty Organisation is seen as a successful model for multilateral security arrangements moving into the second half of the 1970s and beyond, with joint exercises and deployments contributing to the stability and security of the wider region.
November 17: Opening of a special folk music festival held in conjunction with a national meeting the Society of Creative Anachronism with SCA at Great Brook Farm State Park in Massachusetts, which includes a temporarily erected 'castle' wrought of wood and sorcerously-reinforced cloth. Despite the increasingly cold temperatures of the season, over 40,000 people will attend over the three days of the festival, attracted by the mixture of music, culture, food, family-friendly frolics and fine frivolities.
November 18: South African and Portuguese officials begin discussions in Cape Town on the long term prospects of the seemingly intractable Portuguese Colonial Wars in Angola and Mozambique, which are naturally of vital importance to the South Africans, given their strategic position. The general view of the Portuguese is that there is slightly more scope for optimism in Mozambique, given that only her northern border with Azania presents any real scope for even a potential threat, whereas Angola's border with the Congo makes for an exceptionally broad challenge.
November 19: The Soviet Poliburo authorises the raising of a new Combined Arms Army and a Rifle Army for assignment to the Murmansk Military District in a move thought to be at least partially motivated by the recent Storozhevoy Incident. The deployment of further Soviet forces to the High North is bound to lead to some measure of response by NATO.
November 20: Decommissioning of USS Montana, the lead ship of the last remaining class of Second World War battleships in service with the United States Navy; her sister ships Kansas, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Louisiana and Georgia are the last such USN warships remaining on active duty, with the last wartime cruiser decommissioned in 1974, the final warbuilt Gearing class destroyer in 1972 and the last Essex class anti-submarine warfare aircraft carrier, USS Oriskany, being paid off in August. The Reagan Administration is currently considering the utility of proposals for conventionally powered supercarrier and submarine designs to augment its currently projected construction programme.
November 21: Audience enthusiasm for The Star Wars does not seem like substantially abating even some five months after the film’s release, with daily screenings at picture houses in America, Canada, England, Australia and Western Europe still attracting close to full houses, with both adults and children alike thrilling at the daring adventures of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Moore Cawbelle. George Lucas's picture has reportedly grossed over $100 million in North American theatres alone since July, putting on track to potentially become one of the highest grossing films of all time, sitting as it does significantly behind the most recent box office 'blockbuster', The Return of the King, which is currently second behind Gone With the Wind and ahead of Ben Hur, The Sound of Music, The Ten Commandments.
November 22: Des Moines class guided missile cruiser USS Oregon City collides with the aircraft carrier Coral Sea off the coast of Malta, sheering off 40ft of the cruiser's bow and causing several spotfires which are extinguished by the automatic fire suppression runes emplaced upon her. Five sailors are killed and dozens are injured in the accident, which will lead to an extensive investigation and an eventual court martial of the cruiser's skipper, which results in his acquittal. After emergency repairs in Malta, Oregon City is subsequently judged as not having sufficient remaining service life to justify a full repair, and is decommissioned in April 1976.
November 23: An incident occurs at Hawkins National Laboratory in Hawkins, Indiana, with some scurrilous rumours - no doubt created out of thin air by drunks, communists or drunk communists - contending that a woman attempted to force her way into the high security location, whilst official accounts state simply that a number of personnel and soldiers were injured in an exercise. Whatever the cause, a US Army medical support team and quick reaction force is rushed from Fort Benjamin Harrison by Vertibird, and secures the secret joint Department of Energy and Department of Magic facility. A terse Army press statement announces that all personnel are expected to make a full recovery and that no strange things were going on.
November 24: Launch of the Japanese spaceship Akenomyōsei from the orbit of Minerva on a voyage of exploration to the asteroid belt and Jovian system. Commanded by Captain Akira Kobayashi and with a crew of 90, Akenomyōsei's mission is scheduled to last four years, and is hailed by Japanese newspapers and politicians alike as a sign of the waxing power of the reborn Empire of the Rising Sun.
November 25: Missing American former Secretary of Magic Harry Houdini appears at a press conference in New York City, announcing that, in concert with Miss Nancy Drew and noted private detective Sam Chandler, and in correspondence with Mr. Nero Wolfe, he has successfully apprehended the infamous international criminal Carmen Sandiego and her partner in crime, Waldo. The pair have been wanted for a variety of nefarious crimes, including the theft of the baton used to conduct the Vienna Boy’s Choir, the finest rug in the Presidential Palace of Caracas and the original steps to the tango.
November 26: A Home Office report states that just over 2400 migrants from the New Commonwealth have taken part in the voluntary repatriation programme over the last five months, signifying that the markedly increased financial incentives of £500 per person have proved more attractive than the standing provisions of Section 29 of the Immigration Act of 1970, which had seen an annual average of 670 persons take advantage of previous arrangements administered by the International Social Service of Great Britain in the intervening four years. The annualised level of the current trend, should it continue, would equate to approximately a third of the annual natural growth in this particular population group, indicating that the current programme, although nominally notable, does not seem to be ultimately efficacious in its particular aim.
November 27: The Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium releases an upgraded version of their successful educational computer game The Oregon Trail, now featuring graphics, sound and extended gameplay options, all whilst fitting on a 5.25” floppy disk school microcomputers. Arrangements for a copy of the educational programme to be purchased for for each of the 125,948 elementary schools and the 62,435 high schools across the United States by the Wayne Foundation.
November 28: Maiden long range flight of the Fairey Delta III strategic fighter from Barton Aerodrome to RAF Akureyri in Iceland, with the 1632 mile jaunt taking 36 minutes on account of civilian air traffic over the Inner Seas. The Delta III is powered by two new Rolls Royce Severn Mk II turbofans and has a combat radius of 1350 nautical miles, a combat ceiling of over 80,000ft and a top speed of well over Mach 3.2.
November 29: New Zealand Prime Minister Jack Marshall is returned to power in the New Zealand general election with an increased majority of 54-42, despite Labour making inroads in newly established electorates around Wellington, Auckland and Christchurch. Marshall's pragmatic, calm, understated and gentlemanly style of leadership has struck a chord with the New Zealand public throughout his time in office, representing a steady hand on the tiller of the ship of state.
November 30: A group of American mercenary fighters contracted to suppress a rebel group in inland Urungu, which had been opposing construction of a new dam, and with the local army garrison ostensibly unable to act on account of the press, discovers that their employers were in the wrong on the issue. The local governor had been seeking to exterminate innocent villagers in order to profit unjustly from their land, leading the outraged mercenaries to break their contract, turn on the villain and wipe out his forces in defence of the villagers; they subsequently lodge extensive evidence with the Mercenaries Guild of the United States to avoid being blackballed for their violent volte-face.

[jemhouston]

Storozhevoy ended about the best way possible.

Dead former Nazis, so sad.

I would have liked to have seen Montana at sea.

Mercenaries Guild of the United States, a group I would not want to get on the wrong side of.

[Simon Darkshade]

Jem,

The mutiny was a difficult circle to square, but the Soviets get the ship and the bulk of the crew back, whilst the ring leaders 'jumped overboard in shame'. That is the official line that both sides are sticking to, for now.

A dreadful, dreadful shame. The little drawing should indicate a possible suspect.

As it happens, most of the world has seen her in one newsreel or the other from WW2, Korea and Vietnam. Quite the famous ship.

The Guild are one of the more ...vigorous... industry groups/trade unions out there, that is for sure.

Simon

[Simon Darkshade]

Shadow Cabinet referred to in November:


Leader of the Opposition Sir Enoch Powell
Shadow Chancellor Sir Ian Macleod
Shadow Foreign Secretary Lord Wooster
Shadow Lord Chancellor Lord Hailsham
Shadow Commonwealth Secretary Sir John Profumo
Shadow Minister of Defence Sir Charles Ratcliffe
Shadow Secretary of State for War Lord Carrington
Shadow First Lord of the Admiralty Lord Jellicoe
Shadow Secretary of State for Air The Duke of Wellington
Shadow Colonial Secretary Sir Julian Amery
Shadow Secretary of State for India Sir John Biggs-Davison
Shadow Minister of Health, Pensions and Social Welfare Sir Norman Fowler
Shadow Minister of Trade, Business and Industry Sir Anthony Barber
Shadow Minister of Education, Science and Technology Margaret Thatcher
Shadow Minister of Mines, Power and Energy Sir Geoffrey Howe
Shadow Minister of Transport, Aviation and Supply Sir Rhodes Boyson
Shadow Minister of Space Sir Duncan Sandys
Shadow Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Sir Patrick Woolton
Shadow Minister of Information and Home Security Sir Peter Thorneycroft
Shadow Postmaster General and Minister of Communications Sir John Eden
Shadow Minister for Employment, Labour and National Service Sir Keith Joseph
Shadow Secretary of State for Ireland Sir Airey Neave
Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland Sir Edward Taylor
Shadow Secretary of State for Wales Nicholas Edwards
Shadow Secretary of State for Lyonesse Henry Danby
Shadow Minister of Housing, Works and Local Government Sir Randolph Churchill,
Shadow Minister of the Arts, Culture and Sport Sir Francis Pym
Shadow Minister for Administrative Affairs Norman Tebbit
Shadow Minister for the Environment Michael Samuels
Opposition Chief Whip Sir Francis Urquhart

[Simon Darkshade]

November 1975 Notes

- Ze Germans are looking to maximise their force structure whilst working within a cap of 40. Note their structure of Reserveheer, Landwehr/the old Territorialheer and a newer homeland defence/home guard force similar in some respects to the recent Heimatschutz units and some Cold War formations. The Ersatzheer, on the other hand, is made up of further reservists still in the active age range who are not required for field units or formations, and thus form an additional level akin to its WW1 and WW2 role
- The Royal Pavilion isn’t damaged by fire, due to a bureaucratic mistake in the wording of a fire prevention spell. Of interest to probably no one is the little hidden fact of arson remaining a distinct crime and is not folded into the broader offence of criminal damage, as occurred historically in 1971
- Telecom and Australia Post don’t replace the PMG Department here, but act as autonomous subsidiaries of it. Now, this might seem remarkably arcane even for Dark Earth, but it serves as a bit of deeply hidden Easter egg should any other Australians of a certain vintage read this; consider the circumstances of Australian politics in our November 1975, then contrast it with a November where the biggest Australian political news is to do with the Post Office
- The Travis Walton UFO abduction case has nothing to see here. Move along, move along; this was just a weather balloon
- Field Marshal Alberto Bertorelli turns into the saviour of pizza from some of the more rubbishy American degenerations. In this instance, not a mistake-a to make-a
- The Conservative strategy for 1976 and beyond is an attempt to try and establish enough distance from Labour to engineer a return to power after 12 years in opposition. Astute readers will note that the platform is distinctly not that adopted by Mrs. Thatcher in opposition, on account of the in turn distinctly different economic, political and social circumstances of Britain in the last 30 years, the 20th century and the last two hundred winters in general. The Friedman Doctrine would be a non-starter here on national security grounds
- Intervention by a Dutch superchap prevents the Geleen oil refinery explosion from being quite the same local catastrophe
- Italy adopts some very different military reforms as of 1975 to OTL
- The Storozhevoy mutiny is resolved in perhaps the least worst fashion for all involved
- No wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, with the full details to play out in time and perhaps another tale, with some flow on effects from its lack of on-flow
- The Soviet crackdown is related to the mutiny of the 9th, but that is more of a proximate cause than the sole or even primary one. This was a long time coming and in part, is intended to ensure that some of the more creative, scientific and the centrist/leftist dissident fringe
- Gerald Bull is in charge of a very long range artillery programme, but this time is figuratively located inside the Western tent
- A US Supreme Court vacancy presents the chance to alter its balance, but the importance of this is somewhat diminished by there not having been a particularly activist court in the 1950s and 60s, comparatively speaking. If I had my druthers, I’d work in something about the Lemon Test, as the Establishment Clause is an area I’ve written on in the past, but DE features a different evolution of the Incorporation Doctrine, so that the key case law is absent
- The bloody sigil found at the scene of the Nazi murders, which we would recognise as the vampiric version of the iconic innocent smiley face that in DE was created by Count Dracula in 1947
- Environmental protection legislation is phrased a bit differently, and will result in some interesting outcomes
- PATO is a long-lived alliance, outlasting OTL SEATO
- A musical festival being mentioned is a rare occurrence here, and indicates some different priorities and futures. The Yasgur farm at Woodstock is an unknown dairy farm, whilst Glastonbury is best known for its abbey and the pathway to Avalon
- Portugal isn’t quite getting wobbly yet, but it is starting to look at the costs
- Reinforcing the Soviet High North will beget a response
- Montana retires, but a new Montana will come again
- Oregon City’s accident is in place of Bellknap
- Stranger things are to come for Hawkins…
- It takes Harry Houdini, Nancy Drew, Nero Wolfe and Sam Chandler to work out where in the world was Carmen Sandiego
- Voluntary repatriation starts to get more of an uptake when serious money is put on the line
- The number of school deaths from dysentery across the USA is going to spike
- The Fairey Delta III represents the next layer of possible future British air defences, out from the Super Lightning, Spitfire and Hurricanes, and the HS Hawks and Folland Waspd flitting around inside them. It is something of a cross between the OTL Delta III (OR F.155), the Dassault Mirage 4000 and the Mig-31
- NZ’s election has a similar result, but from a different basis. The scope for Muldoon and Lange- esque governments in the future is minimal
- November 30 is based on the plot of 1988’s Mercenary Fighters, starring Peter Fonda, Ron O’Neal, James Mitchum and the great Reb Brown, who delivers one of his trademark screams in battle: https://youtube.com/shorts/IaRgOSUyDG4? ... 21T6O-u-4N

[Belushi TD]

There's a bunch of stuff packed into the November 4 entry, isn't there?

It looks like there's a blatant Eagles Hotel California reference, with a slightly more subtle Men in Black reference, and I get that Travis Walton is supposed to be a reference, but I can't place it. At first I thought it was related to Wal-Mart, but apparently not.

The Italians are interested in a fairly major military increase, yes? Two armored divisions and another fleet? Or is that more of a paper fleet related to a reorganization?

A very nifty "suppression" of the soviet mutiny on the Storozhenoy. The Swedes have at least two battleships? Is the difference between those ships and the battleships run by the RN and the USN similar to the difference in OTL , where the RN and USN battleships are major blue ocean fleet units, and the Swedish BBs were coast defense ships?

ODESSA appears to have pissed off the supernatural. Vampires and werewolves?

No strange things going on? How disappointing.

The November 26 entry delves far further into officialese than my eyes are capable of reading at one sitting without a painful crossing.

Belushi TD

[Simon Darkshade]

Belushi,

1.) There is indeed! You are correct with the Hotel California and MIB bit, but Travis Walton was the actual bloke involved in the historical UFO abduction case in November '75, so his name isn't a reference to anything. The other bits in the event are the weather balloon excuse, which goes way back, and the detail about the aura.

2.) The Italians are making a moderate increase of 2 divisions and reactivation of their 3rd Army to cover their reserve/rear zone role. Historically, in 1975, they dumped their regiments in favour of new brigades, cut 87 battalions and 45,000 personnel and reduced conscription time from 15 to 12 months, all to try and save money to fund more mobility and general mechanisation of their forces. Later on, in 1986, they dumped the division level altogether.

What is occurring here is that they are raising their active duty army from 30 to 32 divisions, with 12 divisions assigned to the Italian First Army (one corps forward deployed in AH and the other two in Venice and Milan), 12 to the Italian Second Army (one corps forward deployed to Yugoslavia and the other two in Bologna and Florence), and two corps in Rome and Naples under the Third Army. What may occur from here is either a stabilisation around this force level; a reduction to ~ 24 divisions if tensions go down.

3.) The Storozhevoy is a situation that inspired Tom Clancy's novel about a Scotsman commanding a Soviet boomer, so it was a matter of threading the needle. The Swedes couldn't get the ship without causing an incident that no one was interested in, whilst the mutineers would be dead if captured. Now, they are just unofficially dead.

The Swedish battleships are not baby or coastal battleships, but the real deal, as mentioned in their orbat - Sverige, Gota Lejon, Tre Kronor, Fadnerslandet, built in the late 1930s and early 1940s out of the incredible concern at what the Germans and Soviets were up to. Their size, and particularly their draft of 37-38ft, is their Achilles heel, as they are limited in what bases they can operate from as compared to lighter warships, and even those up to the size of destroyers. Their replacement has been debated since 1960, and they are long in the tooth, and part of their oceangoing role has disappeared with the independence of the Swedish Congo.

What you might have missed in the deliberate key jangling distraction of battleships is mention of the Swedish Aran class nuclear attack submarine.

4.) ODESSA seems to have got on the wrong side of Dracula. That isn't a great plan.

5.) It is the standard response of the government to any inquiries about secret facilities.

6.) Believe me, I can get into a lot more officialese than that; the numbers of the 1971-1975 rate of take up are based on historical stats researched from Hansard.

Simon

[jemhouston]

4.) ODESSA seems to have got on the wrong side of Dracula. That isn't a great plan.



Simon

I don't know, I think it's a great plan for Dracula. He does need a hobby.

[Bernard Woolley]

I would like to have seen Montana.

[Simon Darkshade]

4.) ODESSA seems to have got on the wrong side of Dracula. That isn't a great plan.



Simon

I don't know, I think it's a great plan for Dracula. He does need a hobby.

He does have quite a few, including playing the organ, playing the Great Game, and trolling.

[Simon Darkshade]

I would like to have seen Montana.

If this is another repetition of the line from THFRO, rest easy that the counterparts to Sam Neill will see said state.

If it refers to the ship, there are the other five Montanas still in service. Once the decommissioning process is complete, there have been proposals to sorcerously fly the battleship all the way inland to her namesake state, where she would be put on display in an artificial lake in the state capital, Hannah, MT.

[jemhouston]

The only problem with taking USS Montana to Montana I'm not sure you'll have enough people to maintain it.

[Simon Darkshade]

With 60,000 in the city, and an eccentric oil millionaire looking to bankroll the project, there would seem to be sufficient folk on a nominal level. The larger question would potentially be the long term viability, given that there isn't exactly a booming tourist trade in Hannah. Yet.

[Simon Darkshade]

1975 World GDPs

1.) USA: $14,772,227,260,191
2.) USSR: $7,032,464,761,252
3.) Japan: $6,621,135,581,041
4.) Germany: $6,504,775,765,953
5.) Britain: $6,175,048,927,011
6.) France: $3,224,078,376,606
7.) Canada: $2,741,095,972,888
8.) India: $2,696,626,026,869
9.) China: $2,447,402,519,296
10.) Italy: $2,163,482,966,619

11.) Brazil: $1,822,407,073,251
12.) Austria-Hungary: $1,728,424,614,001
13.) Benelux: $1,417,877,243,090 (Belgium: 652.54, Netherlands: 723.477, Luxembourg: 42.931)
14.) Spain: $1,279,065,231,426
15.) Australia: $1,234,980,875,750
16.) Argentina: $1,205,254,854,089
17.) Mexico: $1,129,975,813,794
18.) South Africa: $860,037,235,902
19.) Sweden: $855,808,157,113
20.) Ottoman Turkey: $846,380,787,678

21.) Persia: 802.467
22.) Poland: 793.254
23.) Indonesia: 771.493
24.) Korea: 644.675
25.) Byzantine Greece: 612.132
26.) New Avalon 563.584
27.) Switzerland 509.992
28.) Venezuela 501.362
29.) Yugoslavia: 488.571
30.) Philippines 460.054

31.) Chile 433.269
32.) Colombia 425.111
33.) Thailand 411.069
34.) Peru 370.123
35.) Arabia 367.985
36.) Nigeria 366.442
37.) Romania 345.853
38.) Taiwan 336.291
39.) Rhodesia 329.235
40.) Denmark 324.344

41.) GDR: 321.767
42.) Iraq 319.256
43.) West Indies 298.97
44.) Portugal 295.847
45.) Israel 287.328
46.) New Zealand 271.23
47.) Egypt 268.854
48.) Norway 251.448
49.) Finland 215.812
50.) Malaya 206.597

51.) Bulgaria 200.365
52.) Newfoundland 192.453
53.) Ethiopia 156.942
54.) Morocco 151.368
55.) South Vietnam 148.932
56.) Prydain 138.555
57.) Ruritania 129.137
58.) Ceylon 124.947
59.) Hong Kong: 124.253
60.) North Vietnam 120.875

61.) Libya 111.279
62.) Ashante Federation (GC + IC): 105.482
63.) Portuguese West Africa/Angola: 100.236
64.) Congo 97.239
65.) French Algeria: 95.108
66.) Portuguese East Africa/Mozambique: 84.998
67.) Moldavian PDR: 72.452
68.) Bolivia 70.182
69.) Galician PDR: 67.369
70.) Kenya 69.244

71.) Ecuador 65.957
72.) Ruthenian PDR: 65.201
73.) Tunisia 60.578
74.) Uruguay 54.396
75.) Mongolia 52.712
76.) Sinkiang: 48.111
77.) Sudan 45.213
78.) Cambodia 44.06
79.) Uganda: 42.355
80.) Bensalem 42.26

81.) Jordan 41.872
82.) Guatemala 40.398
83.) Tanganyika: 39.421
84.) Paraguay 39.159
85.) Senegambia 38.963
86.) Cameroon 36.26
87.) Afghanistan 35.448
88.) Kuwait: 33.563
89.) El Salvador 32.562
90.) Singapore: 32.574

91.) Porto Rico: 30.922
92.) Dominican Republic 29.695
93.) Panama: 29.325
94.) Macau: 29.117
95.) Mali Federation 28.532 (Mali and Upper Volta)
96.) Albania 27.994
97.) Costa Rica 26.571
98.) Trucial States: 25.634
99.) Madagascar 24.926
100.) Aranguay 24.864

101.) Nicaragua 24.399
102.) Somalia 22.975
103.) Tibet 21.757
104.) Yucatan 21.229
105.) Lebanon: 20.941
106.) Los Altos 19.625
107.) Rwanda-Burundi 19.453
108.) Niger 18.941
109.) Honduras 18.369
110.) Liberia 18.298

111.) Orungu 17.925
112.) Sierra Leone: 17.553
113.) Togoland 17.147
114.) Yemen 16.423
115.) Equatoria 16.324
116.) Haiti 16.275
117.) Dutch West Indies: 16.199
118.) North Laos 15.498
119.) Dutch Guiana: 15.265
120.) South Laos 14.254

121.) Chad 14.132
122.) British South Pacific Federation: 13.972
123.) Iceland 12.486
124.) Guinea 12.345
125.) Dahomey 12.191
126.) British Brunei 11.279
127.) Iceland 10.464
128.) Oman: 9.857
129.) Ubangi-Shari 9.579
130.) Azania 8.926

131.) Cyprus 8.831
132.) Zangaro 8.743
133.) Zamunda: 8.444
134.) Burunda 7.912
135.) Malta: 6.482
136.) Zanzibar: 6.255
137.) Mauritius: 5.797
138.) Mandale 5.256
139.) British Sarawak: 5.013
140.) Dutch East Indies: 4.994

141.) West Papua: 3.079
142.) Channel Islands: 2.546
143.) Mauritania: 2.186
144.) Bangalla: 2.077
145.) Bermuda: 1.984
146.) Monaco 1.872
147.) Bahrain: 1.628
148.) French Guiana: 1.531
149.) Isle of Man: 1.278
150.) Greenland: 0.994

151.) French Somaliland: 0.802
152.) British North Borneo: 0.795
153.) Falkland Islands 0.714
154.) French Polynesia: 0.625
155.) Swedish Guiana: 0.619
156.) Gibraltar: 0.595
157.) Zimbali: 0.577
158.) Spanish West Indies: 0.512
159.) Spanish Guinea: 0.466
160.) Reunion: 0.457

161.) Maldives: 0.428
162.) American Samoa: 0.379
163.) Seychelles 0.354
163.) Guam: 0.336
164.) Portuguese Cape Verde Islands: 0.261
165.) United States Pacific Islands: 0.258
166.) Liechtenstein: 0.237
167.) Graustark: 0.21
168.) San Marino: 0.141
169.) Poictesme: 0.136
170.) Galapagos Islands: 0.125

171.) Spanish Sahara: 0.123
172.) Andorra: 0.102
173.) Swedish West Indies: 0.096
174.) Portuguese Sao Tome and Principe: 0.091
175.) Northern Mariana Islands: 0.084
176.) Saint Helena: 0.08
177.) Grand Fenwick: 0.072
178.) Easter Island: 0.069
179.) Vatican: 0.058
180.) Ascension: 0.042

181.) Tristan da Cunha: 0.026
182.) Pitcairn Island: 0.015

[Belushi TD]

I would like to have seen Montana.

If this is another repetition of the line from THFRO, rest easy that the counterparts to Sam Neill will see said state.

If it refers to the ship, there are the other five Montanas still in service. Once the decommissioning process is complete, there have been proposals to sorcerously fly the battleship all the way inland to her namesake state, where she would be put on display in an artificial lake in the state capital, Hannah, MT.

BOOO!!!!! HISS!!!!!!!


Aside from the atrocious joke, I am interested in seeing how they adapt the magery used to drop the battleship on Hanoi to more peaceful means. Operation sorcerous plowshare?

Belushi TD

[Simon Darkshade]

Not a fan of the capital's namesake, I see.

[Rocket J Squrriel]

Not a fan of the capital's namesake, I see.

You almost owed me a new screen when I read the name!

[Simon Darkshade]

I’m glad that there was no accident, as I can barely afford petrol, let alone a computer screen in America!

Belushi, it would be the same principle, just without the same drop at the end, but rather a gentler descent. Think of it as the difference between gently lowering someone from a tree, and a tweenage daredevil in crocs taking a kamikaze dive off a branch - same process, but with care substituted for speed.

[Simon Darkshade]

Coming in December 1975:

​- A different Australian federal election
- Elvis captures the Hamburglar
- Some criminal events, and a British police inspector becomes the first to be awarded two George Crosses
- A breakthrough on religious relations
- Naval developments, including USN nomenclature, DLs and DEs, a parallel to the OHPs, plans for the next (and larger CVW) and how allied forces fit into US naval planning
- A Joint Intelligence Committee summary on the Red Army and Soviet airpower
- The global financial outlook, including the spectre of deflation in some quarters
- Some new individual equipment developments and a bit of a drill down into the BAOR
​- OPEC has a meeting
​- Formation of a little folk band named Iron Maiden
- Overhaul of some emergency powers legislation and the War Book
- A new Filipino strongman takes over
- A supertanker goes missing in the Pacific
​- A look at the world aviation market
​- Nobel prizes, Supreme Court justices, annexations, birth of a future Emperor and military adapted Harley Davidsons

[Simon Darkshade]

British Budget 1975

GDP: £343,058,273,556

Defence: £34,305,827,356 (10%)
Education, Science and Technology: £17,152,913,678 (5%)
Health: £15,437,622,310 (4.5%)
Pensions: £9,434,102,523 (2.75%)
Welfare: £9,434,102,523 (2.75%)
Transport, Power and Energy: £6,861,165,471 (2%)
Trade, Industry and Labour: £4,288,228,419 (1.25%)
Space: £4,288,228,419 (1.25%)

Housing, Works and Local Government: £1,715,291,367 (0.5%)
Agriculture, Fisheries and Food: £1,715,291,367(0.5%)
Home Office: £1,715,291,367 (0.5%)
Foreign Office: £1,715,291,367 (0.5%)
Colonial Office: £857,645,683 (0.25%)
Commonwealth Office: £857,645,683 (0.25%)
Foreign Aid: £857,645,683 (0.25%)
Other: £857,645,683(0.25%)

Total: 32.5% of GDP

Defence: A slight increase on 1974 has been caused by increasing costs of new weapons systems and ET. New pay increases have also started to add up, so that intended reduction back to 9% have been pushed out to 1978. R&D and Procurement costs continue to rise compared to 1960s equipment and systems

Health: There has been a gradual fall from the 5% level of 1964-1972 to 4.5%, as the NHS was functioning at a high level of efficiency and further funds were seen as not necessary at this time.

Education: With schools now funded at a very comfortable level, new spending increases from 1972-1975 have been focused on higher education and Science and Technology, particularly in the forms of grants, R&D funding and investment in electronics and computing.

Pensions: With the use of the Imperial Sovereign Wealth Fund, amounting to £7,500,000,000 in 1975, the 24 million aged pensioners receive £625 or £12/week, or just under 30% of GDP/capita (compared to ~ 27.8% in OTL 2025)

Welfare: Unemployment has fallen back to ~ 250,000, with the Unemployment Benefit of £526 costing £131.5 million. National Assistance for 2.9 million invalids, 6.2 million widows and 4.2 million poor totals £6,995.8 million, whilst Family Allowance of £2358 million covers the bulk of remaining expenditure, with the rest spent on training, miscellaneous benefits and special grants. Neither National Assistance nor the OAP are means tested.

As mentioned in 1972, benefits and pensions stack on each other, so that a widow can obtain a widow's pension and an ordinary aged pension; war veterans can obtain military pensions of £15/week plus the aged pension, plus the Royal Victory Gift of 7/ per week or £30 per year paid at Christmas; and those who classify as poor can receive National Assistance of just over £10/week. This has the effect of allowing the aged and invalid to afford a quite reasonable living

Historically, Housing Benefit was first paid in 1982, Mobility Allowance in 1979 and Working Tax Credits under Brown ; Attendance Allowance was historically paid in 1970, but hasn't eventuated here, due to the role being covered by families, charities, the Church and the monasteries, and Family Income Supplement, historically introduced in 1970, simply wasn't seen as necessary in DE Britain.

Transport, Power and Energy: This is set to rise over the next decade, with further capital programmes, particularly in atomic fusion, being expensive.

Trade, Industry and Labour: As in 1972, the majority of spending here goes towards investment, specific loans, R&D support and such indirect payments, rather than direct subsidies towards industries or payments for nationalised industries

Space: The Ministry of Space's budget covers operational costs for the scientific research and exploration programme, terrestrial rocket launches, space station operations and that part of the operating costs of the Royal Space Force near Earth. Deep space operations, and operations around Mars, Venus and Vulcan are funded from British Mars. Expenditure on the very long term starship research, development and construction project represents a growing part of the overall budget

Housing, Works and Local Government: Housing has seen somewhat less capital investment after the 1930s-1960s slum clearance and New Towns programmes have been successfully completed. A steady rate of 100,000 public/council houses will be maintained on current plans to keep the stock of new desirable homes strong. The Department of Works is engaged in construction of an entire new city in the Midlands, and other locations have been earmarked.

Agriculture, Fisheries and Food: As in 1972, spending here does take the form of more direct subsidies than many other ministries, as well as the purchase of large supplies for national stockpiles, operation of British Restaurants and purchases of foodstuffs for a variety of state institutions.

Home Office and Foreign Office: As well as funding some of the key intelligence services, the former does provide for funding for 'public protection', as well as general day to day operations of two major parts of HM Government

Colonial Office and Commonwealth Office: The majority of most funding is channeled into development aid, investment projects, infrastructure construction and mechanisms for social and political development. There will always be a distinct Colonial Office as long as there are colonies, but it has to cover relatively fewer holdings.

Foreign Aid: British foreign aid is very much a targeted tool of national and Imperial strategic interests, rather than a softer humanitarian touch. In 1972, this chiefly took the form of 100 million to South Vietnam, 100 million to Egypt, 100 million to Portugal, 75 million to Thailand, 75 million to Ruritania, 50 million to Iceland, 50 million to Ethiopia, 50 million to Yugoslavia, 50 million to Bulgaria, 50 million to Persia, with other, smaller payments going to other groups and nations

Other: This area includes funding for the Ministry of Information (£100 million), Ministry of Magic (£125 million), the Ministry for Administrative Affairs (£50 million), the BBC (£75 million), General Government (£250 million) and the Civil List (£125 million). The last, combined with the Privy Purse of £125 million, Sovereign's Tribute from the non-human subjects of the Crown and annual gifts from Indian and Oriental rulers makes the British monarchy easily the wealthiest individuals in the world.