An Army Marches on it's Stomach

[aimway921]

Sonya Petlyura, having been assigned Chief of the Army just before the war in UST began, was busy collecting and comparing numerous reports and information. The conclusion she came to was that unless proper logistics lines are established, Ashinara and Franerre will lose this war. She has dispatched an urgent letter to the Ashinaran embassy in the Franerri capital, which was received by ambassador Sarafim Tevpenko. He, in turn, immediately requested to schedule a meeting with the Franerri representatives for Ministries of War and Infrastructure.

[callmedelta]

Marshal Zelgius, the head of the Franerri Royal Army, was managing the war out of Saint Parsson, and so sent General Ranulf, his right-hand man in his stead. Jacques Valerie, the head of the Rail and Port Administration, was eager to meet with the Ashinarans. Ranulf and Valerie would meet with the Ashinarans in Saint Parsson as soon as possible.

[aimway921]

Tevpenko has caught the fastest train he could to Saint Parsson, hitching a ride with one of the military convoys headed for Tafatu. It was not long until he reached Ranulf's office. Entering, he greeted his hosts, and plopped down his leather briefcase that was so overstuffed with documents, he couldn't even fasten the latch. "Gentlemen, it is good to see you," he said in Franerri with a very heavy accent, having picked up the language a little bit since his arrival in the nation. He began pulling documents and maps out of his briefcase.

"My superiors back at home have reviewed numerous reports that have flowed in since the start of the war." As he was explaining, he began organizing the papers into somewhat neat piles, probably soring them by what topic they addressed. A glance at the papers would reveal that for convenience's sake, they were all written in Commons. "They have come to the conclusion that should the war continue as it does right now, both our armies shall use up over 80% of their supplies within 4 months, while the logistics chain will be overwhelmed within just 2. As we funnel in more troops to South, those time estimates will only shrink. We simply cannot function like that."

"Which is why they propose a plan. We should construct a new railway line from Saint Parsson, connecting it to the Franerri network, and have connect it to Le Troi. After that, as out troops move across Tafatu and liberate cities, continue this rail line towards the rest of Tafatu cities. Other greatly improve our logistical situation, it will also boost the Tafatu economy after the war ends, which, in turn, will fast-track their rebuilding, making them less dependent on our support economically, and open them up to trade with us on normal conditions."

As he was telling all that, he was handing Ranulf and Valerie papers from one of the piles, one of them being a map indicating a proposed new branch of railway going across Franerre's southern border. Now he reached for the second pile.

"The main financial concern for this undertaking would be for the material to build the rail line. As for the workforce - a large number of Tafatu civilians unable to fight has been displaced by the UST's barbarism, loosing their livelihoods. This project can give them an opportunity both to gain employment in this hard time for their nation, and contribute to the war effort even if they can't pick up a rifle and fight on the frontlines with our soldiers. As a war-time measure, we can offer to pay them in special bonds that they would be able to exchange for silver in the future. The silver can come from either one of our nations, however our economists propose that after the war is over and independence of Tafatu is secured, they eventually repay us. Furthermore, we can supplement the labor force by Unionite POWs - we won't need to pay them, and they can do the harder aspects of the work."

Tevpenko now moved his hand to the third pile, which was considerably smaller.

"Finally, unrelated to the previous topic, we need to improve communication between our countries. There is only as much we can accomplish by sending letters back and forth on transport ships, and the delay that causes, our experts predict will become detrimental in the future. Which is why we are proposing to connect Kyograd and Parau directly with an undersea telegraph cable, establishing a quick, and perhaps more importantly - secure - line of communication between our governments."

[callmedelta]

“While I disagree with some of your overall assessments,” General Ranulf said, “I do agree with your conclusion. A rail line down to Le Troi and a telegraph line to Kyograd would be immensely valuable in prosecuting this war.”

“But,” Valerie sighed, “to build a new railway, especially done quickly, I would need more money from Pareau. Most of the RPA’s budget is devoted to maintenance, and the National Chamber have been waiting to see the results of this initial incursion before they make any moves. The King can declare war, but he needs the Chamber to declare a general mobilization.”

“When we began this war,” General Ranulf picked up, “Both Franerre and Ashinara vastly underestimated the manpower the Union could bring to bear. Yet with our victory at Le Troi, hopefully we have proven to the National Chamber that Franerre’s soldiers beat the Union’s on quality, but to win this war we need quantity as well.”

”in addition,” Ranulf continued, “The navy is planning on a naval blockade of the Union, to prevent any foreign arms purchases coming into the country. We’ve sent word to the embassy in in Gaelia to use their naval bases for basing and resupply, but I don’t know how that agreement will go. I don’t know any about Ashinara’s naval capabilities, but perhaps you could provide additional ships or marines.”

[aimway921]

"We are just as interested in winning this war as you are. And our High Command believes that unless we undertake these steps, a disaster will be inevitable. I'm confident that Kyograd will be willing to pitch in significantly into the initial monetary investment. While the Le Troi victory will bolster morale and war support, the logistical collapse will have directly the opposite effect."

"And as I said. We can use cheap labor from Tafatu and UST POWs. While probably not the most ethical thing to do, beggars cannot be choosers."

"I can send an inquiry about what the Royal Navy is planning, if they are planning anything at all. If they are, I will fill you in with what information they give me. If not - well, surely that means they will have the ships and Marines to spare for an operation down South."

[callmedelta]

"With Kyograd willing to shoulder part of the cost, I'm sure the National Chamber will agree to it that much quicker," Valerie said, "But I don't know if your idea for cheap labor is necessarily the best. Unless the Union has all of the supplies necessary for building a rail line in Le Troi, it will need to start in Saint Parsson. It makes no logistical sense to ship Tafatu workers north to Saint Parsson, not to mention that POWs could sabotage the rail lines, making the whole endeavor take that much longer and be that more expensive."

"As far as the navy is concerned," Ranulf said, "I can put you in contact with our Admiralty, as it would be much more his area of expertise."

"One point I would like to circle back around to would be the telegraph cable," Valerie said. "Do you know what kind of effort monetarily, logistically, and technologically that would take? This isn't a criticism, it's a legitimate question. While the benefits of such a cable are plain to sea, Franerre has never laid an undersea cable like that before, I don't even know if we know how to do such a thing. We may need to contract a foreign firm, unless the Ashinarans can make up for our lack of experience in this field."

[aimway921]

"Perhaps we can have the Tafatu workers join in the effort as we get over the border, or close to Le Troi. In any case, we're doing it for them, for Gods sake, and they should repay us."

"I shall do the same, request someone from the Royal Navy to come meet your Admiralty."

"While we certainly have never undertaken a project of such a scale, we do have experience in laying undersea telegraph cables. Ashinara in a nation consisting of several islands, remember, and we had to connect them - at least all the more important ones. I personally do not know what kind of effort it would take - I'm a diplomat, not an engineer - but the fact that we did it before on a small scale already makes me confident we can do it again on a bigger scale."

[callmedelta]

"In that case," Valerie said, "How about Ashinara handles the burden of building the undersea telegram cable while Franerre simply provides her part of the funding, while Franerre builds the railway to Saint Parsson while Ashinara simply provides their part of the funding? It makes the most logical sense to me."

[aimway921]

"Very well," Tevpenko said. "I'll make the arrangements."

Around 2 weeks later, the gears have been set in motion. Using Franerri resources and workforce, paid for, in the most part, by Ashinara's silver, a rail line would start construction from Saint Parsson to Le Troi.

Meanwhile, funded mostly by Franerri silver, several factories in Ashinara began fabricating a telegraph cable long enough to connect Ashinara and Franerre, with several transport ships being re-equipped to lay said cable once it's complete.

[aimway921]

Railroad from the Franerri rail network to Le Troi has been completed, with a rudimentary wooden platform at the Tafatu city to load and unload trains, with plans laid to build a proper station after the war.

Now it was time to continue this rail line towards Tarafan, bringing both development to the Tafatu and an improvement of logistics for the Coalition army fighting against the UST.

A new batch of payment in silver has been sent to Franerre to begin the construction - once again emphasizing on offering the jobs on the railroad construction to the people of Tafatu to help them get back on their feet in this time of crisis in their nation.

[aimway921]

As the line to Tarafan has been completed, construction would begin on building the railroad to the war torn city of Ferville. This would greatly improve the logistics, as the trains would be able to get as close as a few miles from the current frontlines, as well as greatly help the rebuilding efforts for the city that now lay in ruins.