The Kingfish (A HOI4 Kaiserreich American AAR) - Part 3: Operation Razorback

Welcome back to The Kingfish! When last we spoke, the Union State had made several successful advances into enemy territory, taking Kentucky, Maryland, and the grand old city of Philadelphia.

By mid-April, the Brandenburg Division had pushed all the way to the Jersey Shore. While it would, of course, be months until the Syndicalists holding the largest city in America hostage would surrender, it was determined that the defenders of the city would not risk abandoning their defenses.

Europe, as it stood in 1937, was a rapidly shifting continent. The Second Russian Civil War raged on, with the Reds still holding their ground against the Whites. As part of the Augleich negotiations, Hungary had recently been awarded Illyria. Spain appeared headed for Civil War, and the Ottoman Empire was soon to be carved up by its neighbors.

"To the east, my friends, we can see what will happen if we do not crush the Reds quickly. The Soviets may even win in Russia! Only the Germans stand between freedom and total socialism in Europe."

- Huey Long, radio speech

Back at home, the Ohio River Front continued to make steady gains against both the Feds and the Reds. An expedition was planned by Patton to secure further territory along the Mississippi.

Union troops pushed into Carbondale while another division headed up the west bank, with the goal of taking Saint Louis.

Meanwhile, on the Pennsylvania Front, the Brandenburg division swept south through the Pine Barrens of New Jersey and Lancaster, Pennsylvania was captured. The Syndies in charge of defending Pennsylvania thus far had largely failed to slow the Union in the slightest.

Unpleasant news reached Atlanta on April 23rd: The Pacific States government agreed to rejoin the United States. Sadly, the burgeoning technology field in California went with them.

In the heart of Appalachia, the French Expeditionary Force attempted another offensive against Union positions. Basing themselves in the town of Wheeling, the French marched south, raiding the rural towns of northern West Virginia. Aided by local citizens, Union troops held off the offensive.

The push northward by the South was weakly defended at best by the Syndicalist military. Towns in Southern Ohio were taken with almost no fight as the fight moved north of the Ohio River.

Taking Pennsylvania, however, was another thing entirely. Hodge's plan was to push all the way to the New York border, taking Amish Country and the Poconos, before then sweeping westward and capturing the Pennsylvania Wilds and Pittsburgh.

In Arkansas, Federals continued to push against Union militias. While the Ozarks and the Ouachitas gave the defenders a natural advantage, they would not hold forever.

The offensive in Northern West Virginia was relentless, with more French troops pouring into the mountains. Despite this, few Union positions were lost. Appalachia was a rugged and independent place; these people would not peacefully accept French occupation.

In Ohio, General Patton decided on a big gamble. The interior of Ohio was lightly defended and largely rural, so Patton planned on encircling a division of Syndie troops that had set up camp just across the Ohio River and had been periodically shelling Huntington, West Virginia.

Hodges authorized advances into rural Pennsylvania and northern New Jersey, meeting scattered opposition.

The Federal offensive in the Ozarks was proving too much for the lightly trained militias that held the mountains. It would only be a matter of time before these positions would have to be abandoned.

In the famous Battle of Savannah, the Syndicalist fleet was crushed in a scuffle with the Union State Navy. While 19 Union ships were lost in the fight, the Syndies had lost 39.

The Syndicalist forces in New Jersey attempted a desperate breakout in early May. Union troops quickly put an end to the effort, and the "Hackettstown pocket" was sealed, trapping these soldiers behind enemy lines.

The Second International Congress was not kind to the Union war effort. The CSA sent Ernest Hemingway to the convention, where his impassioned argument won him the support of Britain, who sent volunteers to America.

MacArthur began "Operation Razorback" in earnest by early May. Weak Union defenses were unable to hold against the professional Federal troops.

The "Huntington pocket" snaps shut on May 8th, trapping another Syndie division.

The Federals saw massive breakthroughs in the Ouachitas, and Douglas MacArthur pressed the opportunity to invade Louisiana as well. While Huey Long was loath to lose his home state, he believed in the plan of Generals Patton and Ramey. He authorized a possible fallback to the Mississippi if current positions were untenable.

In addition to this, the Reds began to put the pressure on in Pennsylvania. Lancaster was retaken on May 10th, and the Hackettstown pocket opened back up.

Thanks to tactical failures in Pennsylvania, Arkansas, and Louisiana, public confidence in Huey Long and the Union State was beginning to wane. In order to recapture the people, Huey planned a massive new executive order.

Long, against the advice of Henry Ford and his corporatist cronies, announced a massive expansion of state-run industry. "The First Step," as he called it, would help to develop rural areas of the South and nationalized bigger businesses across the state. He also announced a raised minimum wage, a guaranteed pension for older people, and more rights for workers. "Every man a king" was slowly starting to become a reality.

The Hackettstown pocket closes once more.

In addition to the First Step, President Long made war bonds available for purchase to his people. While wealthy Union State businessmen were upset with Long over his economic policy, many of them bought bonds, believing that a Federal or Red victory would lead to their arrests (or possible deaths).

"And in Spain, we see the anarchist threat too. The little fight between the two kings isn't important, America; what is important is that the Syndicalists in Europe are contained. That's why we're rubbing elbows with Germany."

- Huey Long, radio address

After months of assault, the French gave up on their thrust into West Virginia.

In the west, MacArthur continued to make significant gains. Fayetteville, Arkansas was captured by the Federals, as was the Louisiana city of Shreveport.

With Syndicalist troops in the area moving to eastern Pennsylvania, Hodges ordered the Italian volunteers to raid rural parts of Pennsylvania near Pittsburgh. These Italian fighters often wore crosses and called themselves crusaders, taking special delight in slaughtering the godless Reds.

After a few weeks of brave resistance, the entrapped Syndicalists surrendered to General Hodges on May 25th. They were swiftly rounded up and taken prisoner.

"The American general had assured us that there would be no resistance along the Monongahela River, but just a day into a raid we found ourselves under attack by some ragtag gang of factory workers or miners or something similarly laughable.

"We fight for God, for America's right to love Him. The Reds fight for minimum wage and chain-breaking; material things that won't matter when they're dead. I don't think it'll take much longer until they collapse."

- Danilo Taranto, Papal volunteer

A Federal offensive across the Mississippi into CSA territory had met initial successes. It was clear by the summer that the Red military was useless in stopping the push of Long and MacArthur.

On May 31st, the Italians occupied Pittsburgh, meeting fierce resistance from the local citizens. As militia divisions began to assault the city, further maneuvers into southern Pennsylvania were attempted with middling success.

With the capture of Pittsburgh diverting Syndicalist resources from the east, the Union forces there were free to fully take the Poconos and spread out into the Pennsylvania Wilds.

The situation in the west grew more desperate by the hour. Federal offensives had pushed the Union front line all the way to Little Rock. At the insistence of Huey Long, General Ramey pulled more militias from Kentucky to where they were more desperately needed.

The Milanese Mountainers holing up in the Ouachitas developed a reputation for being impossible to break. They represented hope for the Union cause in the west.

With the massive shift of troops to the west, Much of the Kentucky front remained wide open.

A division of Reds found themselves trapped in between Canadian-occupied New York, Union State militias, and the Susquehanna River. They would inevitably break.

The Italian position in Pittsburgh was in jeopardy just a week after they took it. With four enemy divisions bearing down on the man, a last-second reinforcement was attempted by Hodges.

Back in Ohio, General Patton continued his assault on the Huntington pocket. The encircled Syndicalist army refused to give in despite dwindling resources and manpower.

The Federals finally took advantage of the massive gap in Union State lines. A division of militia was rushed to contend the expedition across the Mississippi, but it would be too late to seriously contain the breach.

That very same day, the Italians surrendered in Pittsburgh and broke, dashing back to friendly territory. The occupation of Pittsburgh was no longer.

In a short amount of time, the once unstoppable tide of the Union State Military had worn away into nothing. However, the strategy did not change. Sweeping north and taking out the Syndicalists was the top priority.

[Thank you for doing nothing, Germans and Turks.]

Despite the strategic blunder in Pittsburgh, the Union State continued their offensive across the rest of Pennsylvania. By the middle of June, most of the state was under Union control.

Syndicalist resources were being diverted from Pennsylvania to Wisconsin, where the Federals were attempting to break the western defenses of the CSA and march on Chicago.

For the first time since the Feds were pushed out of the state early on, MacArthur's troops crossed the Mississippi and back into Kentucky. While militiamen attempted to pressure them into abandoning their positions, the highly-trained US soldiers would not fall to a single division of hicks with rifles.

A few months after the war began, a Military Studies Commission was created in Atlanta, headed by several Long family members. Casualty estimates from the fight against the Reds were rather optimistic, with just 2,000 dead Union men in exchange for 23,000 dead or captured Syndies.

Studies were not conducted for the fight against the Federals, and definitely not because the Feds were kicking ass in Arkansas.

The Huntington pocket collapses, and a new Union offensive began in June with the goal of taking Cincinnati from the Reds.

The highly-planned and professional Federal attack on Little Rock was defended by a loosely-organized militia, with the results being about as positive as you'd expect for the Union State.

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Horrible news reached Atlanta from the Ozarks on the summer solstice. Two militia divisions which had been hiding out in the Ozarks were trapped behind Federal lines, and a desperate attempt to break out was not bearing fruit. With next to no supplies and superior Federal firepower, they were sure to surrender.

In desperation, Huey Long transferred two battle-hardened divisions from the command of Hodges to the command of Ramey in the west. More Louisiana towns were falling to the Federals, and Huey would not see his people brutalized on his watch.

By dumb luck, the Reds managed to encircle a Federal division. Whether or not they'd manage to put the bastards down was not yet clear to AUS high command.

State of the (American) Union (State), June 30th, 1937.

On July 3rd, the last Union resistance in the Ozarks crumbled. Howard Knox Ramey decided to shake things up.

On the 5th of July, he ordered a general retreat to the Mississippi. All of Arkansas was considered forfeit, as well as most of Louisiana.

Despite this order, many Union militias refused to willingly give an inch, as did the Milanese Mountaineers, still fighting like madmen in the Ouachitas.

Despite the dire position in the west, General Hodges continued to smash through Red forces in Pennsylvania and Ohio. By July, almost all of Pennsylvania and half of Ohio were under his occupation. Long's loyal police force, the Minutemen, were sent to ensure that there was no insurrection.

After weeks of preparation and waiting, General Patton decided to attack Indiana. Crossing the Ohio River, he planned a small campaign aimed at taking Indianapolis.

The Red Front, July 8th, 1937

The Union boys took Columbus from the Reds on July 10th, and real Syndicalist resistance in the east was on the verge of collapse.

Operation Indian began on the very next day. Hodges, hoping to hurry the fall of the CSA, planned a brutal drive north towards Cleveland. In order to destroy Red morale, he had his men burn and destroy whatever they came across, whether it be enemy fighters, sympathetic civilians, or Red industry. "Hodges' March to Lake Erie" was seen as figurative retribution by the Southern militias for the atrocities of William Tecumseh Sherman more than seventy years ago.

While Southern militias properly fell back from the fighting in Arkansas, stubborn resistance was common in Louisiana and the Ouachita Mountains.

Patton successfully crossed the Ohio River on July 11th and continued his offensive northward.

Despite general ineptitude in the Red military, one thing had eluded Hodges for weeks: Pittsburgh. With the general personally leading the push towards Cleveland, his lower officers had trouble taking the industrial center from the Syndies...

However, the Red military officers saw the writing on the wall. Divisions were sent to halt the march towards Cleveland with little success.

"To the men and women of Arkansas: I hold myself personally responsible for what has become of your state. For every inch of Southern ground we lose and every drop of Southern blood that is spilled, I will make that bastard Douglas MacArthur pay for it ten times.

"Once we take care of that son of a bitch Jack Reed, we can give the Federals trying to take our land a proper Southern welcome."

- Huey Long, radio address