A Better Rifle at Halloween

[diesal]

14th October 1914, Hawaii

He was angry an angry young man, his father had been a noble and an important official in the household of Queen Lili’uokalani, but with the coming of the Americans his family had fallen on hard times. His father robbed of his dignity and dismissed from his sinecure, had died penniless, the young man had grown up poor. He had ended up working for the one of the American fruit companies, slaving away in the fields of his own land for the usurper of his birth rights. His encounters with the law had grown worse with time, eventually resulting in a 3-year prison sentence, the Judge staring down at him with contempt in his eyes as he sent him away. For the young man, the degradation in an American prison was the final straw, changing his attitudes and hardening his heart. Prison had been brutal, but not without its own code and lessons to be learnt, he responded, picking up skills not usually gained by young noblemen.

He knew the judge would walk the short distance from his home to the District Court building, he always went the same way at the same time, the streets would be busy but not so busy as to make flight impossible. The judge was ambling along without a care in the world, he didn’t seem to be burdened by his role in dispossessing so many Hawaiian people, displacing their culture and allowing parasites from America to grow fat on the lands and people of his Home.

The young man walked up behind the judge, the contrast between the frail old man and the strong young native was stark. The knife, concealed until the last instant was a fisherman’s, thin of blade but stiff and with a razor-sharp edge. The young man was experienced in its use, his contact with the judge lasted mere seconds, the knife flashing out, punching three narrow but deep holes into the old man’s back. The knifeman didn’t hesitate or pause, simply pushing on past and disappeared into a side street.

The old man crumpled to the pavement, the first person to respond thought the judge had had a heart attack, she tried to make the judge comfortable as he writhed in pain. Unable to speak through the agony of a perforated spleen, and a punctured lung. It wasn’t until nearly a minute later that another good Samaritan, attempting to assist the judge reached under his coat and recoiled in horror at the blood. The police were called, and an ambulance had already been summoned, but it was all for nothing. The judge was dead by the time the ambulance arrived, drowned his own blood on the pavement, his torment, the young man’s revenge had lasted a mere quarter of an hour.

The news spread round the island quickly, some were shocked and horrified, others thought the act that of a patriot of the old ways and wished him well. For the young man it was nothing at all, he simply dumped the knife in the sea and went back to work that afternoon. For Washington the problem was more significant, a federal judge and former governor had been killed, the assailant had not been identified but his race had been.

 

[diesal]

15th October 1914, Gosport.



Sir Alfred Yarrow was back from a meeting at Gosport, the meeting was attended by Percy Ludgate, Admiral Scott, Eustace Tennyson d’Eyencourt and Lord Rayleigh. They had been visiting the Admiralty Experimental Works at Haslar, whilst he was there, to discuss the new Ludgate devices that were to be installed. Lord Rayleigh was to chair a new committee which was to investigate the use of the Ludgate Machine to enable successive approximations of partial differential equations, this would enable both faster and better calculations for a variety of engineering problems.

The first Ludgate device was going to go into the offices at No 1 Ship Tank. This would device was to be used to speed hull design calculations, with the intention of improving the speed, seakeeping and efficiency of new hulls. The engineers and operators who would use this system were being trained in its operation and it was intended to have it fully operational by the end of November.

The second machine would be installed in the Admiralty Fuel Experimental Station, this machine would be used much like the hydrodynamics machine, in that it would be used to speed various boiler design calculations. In addition to these two machines a third machine would be used to develop better mathematical solutions for both Hydrodynamics and for thermodynamics, this machine would be controlled by the Admiralty and report to Lord Rayleigh’s committee.

Sir Alfred was fascinated by Lugate’s design, he had been made aware of the Ludgate device in August, with several devices promised to his various businesses, Yarrow realised that faster calculations would completely revolutionise engineering allowing for designers who embraced the new methods to eschew the previous rules of thumb needed to ensure safety. He was absolutely determined that his own companies would be at the forefront of this new field. He would summon his son down from the shipyards in Glasgow tomorrow, they would plot a course to develop their own device, rather than simply depend on Ludgate for further innovation and supply.

Sir Alfred had also taken the opportunity to champion the newest Yarrow Small tube boilers, he had spoken to both Admiral Scott and the Tennyson d’Eyencourt about them. Stating that he was going to deliver a new prototype for testing that would give a higher operating pressure with the speed and efficiency improvements that would entail. He went on to discuss how these higher-pressure boilers would have a smaller footprint that the current boilers, with higher power output and higher efficiency.

The Admiralty had suspended the construction of new large vessels, with materials and personnel reallocated to other work, d’Eyencourt was taking advantage of this delay to reconsider certain design elements of ships under construction. It was rumoured and he did nothing to dispel it that the two R class battlecruisers might be scrapped on the stocks. Events at Thornton Bank having weakened the Admiralties faith in the Battlecruiser concept, even Admiral Fisher was rethinking his previous support. The crushing of the East Asia Squadron by a Japanese squadron was also sending shock waves through the Admiralty, Japan was a valued ally, but they had just defeated another European navy in an even more one-sided manner, than that suffered by the Russians.

Looking into the future it was obvious that the Royal Navy would have greater obligations in the Pacific as trade and rivalries grew. Their ships would need the range and speed to operate in those vast waters so distant from support and Yarrow would build those ships if he could. Sir Alfred was confident that his yards and factories would be busy after this war, but his company was renowned for building fast ships and he wanted to use every technological edge he could to maintain that reputation. Civilian ship building would also demand improved range and speed as markets in Asia developed further.

Other than in specialised ships engineering, the other area in which Yarrow could see a real role for these devices was in general business operations, and he would ensure that his development team consider these applications in their design work. The biggest barrier to general operation of the machines, that he could see was in entering information into them. They were equipped with a punch card system for both data recording and reading, this was a complexity which slowed down their use and would restrict the spread of the devices into the mundane non-engineering world. They would need to be easier to use if they were to gain widespread acceptance.

Sir Alfred would summon his son down from Scotland in the morning, he would need to be aware of his plans and he would have his own opinions on what could and should be done to capitalise on this opportunity.

 

[diesal]

15th October 1914, New York
Luigi Galleani, was planning, he had been sitting outside the Hotel Astor watching a stream of businessmen from the New York Merchants Association leaving a luncheon. Galleani stood and followed two of these plutocrats who were speaking loudly “he was right of course” said the first, a cadaverous figure in a pinstripe suit, “yes, we have a great opportunity here, with the British, French and Germans all busy slaughtering each other our exports will have no competition” replied the second, a piggish man, his jowls were flapping with delight. “Yes, I thought what he said about the Federal Reserve allowing discounts on foreign bills was interesting as well”, “Banking isn’t my thing as you know but all the big banks are all for it, yes they are busy buying bonds from Paris and Moscow” “the South Americans will be screaming for capital, with London disrupted this is America’s chance”. Galleani was sickened all he heard with this esoteric talk of bonds and debt was the capitalist class plotting how to enslave more people into their debt driven schemes.

These meetings of the Merchants Association were an ideal target, they always met at lunchtime and with a membership roll in the thousands, nearly a thousand members should be expected to attend each meeting. The Association was to have an extra meeting in two weeks’ time, this one was to discuss the uptick in labor disputes, and so people from the State government and representatives of both the Pinkerton Agency and Baldwin Felts were expected to be there.

Galleani had a number of ideas on how he might strike this target, he would need to source more explosives, but he had contacts with miners and quarrymen, so that shouldn’t be an issue. Getting the explosives into the building would be a bit more of a challenge but again the plutocratic system never considered the vulnerability inherent in their system of systematic exploitation. There would be an exploited member of the proletariat happy to assist with another blow at his oppressors. With only two weeks to carry out the plan, Galleani would need to move quickly, but since the success in Montana, he and his team were ready to stage another spectacular blow against the booted foot of oppression.

The manhunt hadn’t died down in Montana, police, BOI agents, Secret Service and various Pinkertons were swarming all over the state. Their actions were proving to be completely counterproductive; their ineptitude and heavy-handedness was going to be highly effective recruiting sergeant for the revolution. Mass arrests had taken place of various union members and the interrogations had been brutal even by the standards of frontier justice. Galleani wanted his campaign to carry on, he wouldn’t be able to remain a sword of workers if he was strapped into an electric chair. Therefore he would need to would try to make sure that this strike didn’t look anything like the last one, no truck bombs this time, he would have to pick a different method.

 

[diesal]

15th October 1914, South Pacific.

The South Sea Squadron had finished coaling and making the minor repairs necessitated by the recent battle, Admiral Yamaya had ordered Karuma and Tsukuba to coal first whilst the Asuma patrolled to the north of the island. Once Karuma finished coaling she took over patrol duties while Asuma filled her bunkers. As well as coaling, expedient boiler cleaning and rapid repairs the crews of the three Japanese ships had been dealing with the various prisoners taken. Among the Germans, few of the officers who survived were unwounded, Vice Admiral Graf von Spee had gone down with Scharnhorst. although both of von Spee’s sons had survived, one aboard the Gneisenau when she surrendered and the other plucked from the sea after the sinking of Nurnberg. Nurnberg’s survivors numbered fewer than 100, with another 240 rescued from SMS Scharnhorst. The bulk of the 793 prisoners came from Gneisenau, though many were wounded. The higher seas and the nature of the battle between Asuma and Dresden had resulted in a mere 46 men surviving her sinking.

The German prisoners would be sorted by rank with the sailors to be put aboard the colliers, which were to be returned to Japan under the command of prize crews. The officers, midshipmen and petty officers would all be kept aboard the Japanese ships to prevent them leading any attempts at resistance. After the battle the wrecked hulk of Gneisenau had been stripped of all that was useful, and she would be towed out to sea and scuttled.

Since the battle of Easter Island several distant radio broadcasts had been received, the first two were in a code scheme that corresponded to those of the German Navy, and which were therefore unreadable whilst the third and fourth were in the code of the German Merchant Marine. Yamaya had not captured any books for the Naval codes but the colliers who had wisely surrendered after the battle had disgorged more than just coal into his ships. His signals officer had recovered two copies of the German Merchant marine code, using them he managed to read the message from the distant ship. The message was relatively long, but it stated that SMS Leipzig had received two disrupted radio messages, both stated the ships were under attack before transmission ceased, the message from Dresden was slightly longer and identified her nemesis as a Japanese Cruiser.

The message went on to state, that none of Leipzig’s messages had received a reply from the East Asia Squadron and that the attack warnings were followed later by transmissions in Japanese code. Based on this information Frigate Captain Huan assumed that the Japanese Navy had engaged the East Asia Squadron at their rendezvous, destroying them in the process. Relying on this assessment, Leipzig would instead proceed south, coaling at a neutral port prior to running the straits of Magellan and attempting to return to Germany.

The South Seas Squadron was not in a position to easily intercept the Leipzig if she proceeded south at full speed, however Admiral Craddock’s squadron would certainly be able to intervene. Yamaya had received an update on the locations of Royal Navy detachments from Tokyo and knew that at least part of Craddock’s squadron was in Punta Arenas searching for German Commerce Raiders. Yamaya was aware that the British squadron was weaker than this own, though it had been recently reinforced by HMS Defence.

Admiral Yamaya ordered his signals officer to send another report to the Japanese Admiralty providing detail on the radio intercepts, with a specific request that it be passed onto the British Admiralty as quickly as possible. Yamaya continued to think about his options, it was possible that Leipzig might head north, or slip past the British ships. Yamaya lacked a copy of any British Naval codes, so he was unable to signal to Admiral Craddock directly, likewise he could not send the British a signal in clear as that might be read by the German Ship. All his ships were coaled and ready to sail, he would add to his report that his squadron was going to continue the pursuit of Leipzig, thereby finishing what he had done at Easter Island. He would sail for South America to add his force to the search for this last German light cruiser.

Admiral Yamaya was not strictly motivated solely by military necessity, he was also aware of the importance of politics, both within the Empire and without. The Navy was locked in a struggle for primacy with the Army, both services sought to maximise their support within the Court and Diet but also amongst the Japanese people. The crushing victory at Easter Island would justify the spending increases of the 6-6 law, but following the victory up by dispatching a powerful force to the America’s would show Japan’s global reach. The Empire would never be the plaything of other powers but would take her place at the top table when decisions were to be made.

 

[diesal]

17th October 1914, Dilbeek.

The siege of Brussels had begun in earnest, the German Garrison had withdrawn entirely inside the built-up areas, no longer making any attempt to contest the open ground where the disparity in artillery support was at its worst. Instead, they had chosen to take advantage of the defensive positions offered by a large city. Brussels was a city of brick and wood; high explosives readily demolished the buildings leaving mounds of rubble which both blocked the narrow streets and provided a chaotic topography which favoured the defender. This was the only real advantage possessed by the defenders and they would use it ruthlessly, their limited stocks of artillery and machine guns were being used carefully. As much as possible the Machine guns were not being hazarded directly on the front line rather, they were being positioned in buildings back from the fighting line, those with sufficient elevation to enable them to engage the attackers from relative safety.

Edward, The Prince of Wales had got his wish, he was about to go into action with the Grenadier Guards, the battalion had suffered casualties in the fighting, numbers had been somewhat made up by men called back from the special reserve, but the battalion was not at full strength. He had been given command of 9 platoon in C Company, its previous commander having been severely wounded only days before. Unusually the platoon was at full strength, it had been made up with transfers from other platoons. Edward was displeased that the battalion commander had felt this necessary, but he was also pragmatic enough to not fight it. He knew he was being protected, but he would fight, if he was to rule he must also serve, he had been raised on the stories of the Duke of Cumberland at Culloden and George the Second at Dettinghem, this war demanded so much of the men who were called to fight. Not just of the professionals for whom it was a job of work, but also the territorials pulled from factory and farm to defend Britain’s interests and even more importantly those men who were volunteering in a flood, joining the colours in the Empire’s hour of peril. Men from every corner of the empire, from the Lewis to Kent and from Banff to Dunedin. He had been impressed by the massed ranks of Indian Army troops that he had inspected; he would earn their respect in Belgium.

The company commander, Captain the Viscount Gort, had been blunt, “I do not want you here Your Highness, but now that you are here we must make the best of it, you are not properly trained for what we are doing” carrying on in the same view he then said “Your time at Dartmouth is all well and good, but with the greatest of respect to the Senior Service, that hasn’t really prepared you fully for the fighting here in Belgium”

He then mellowed somewhat as he realised that the prince knew he wasn’t ready but was determined to do what he saw as his duty anyway. “Sergeant Barrett is fine man, he has been with the battalion since South Africa and knows his business, you would be well served by listening to his advice” his voice rose slightly as if to emphasis his point he stated “Do not engage in cheap heroics, I don’t want to have to do for you what I did for your grandfather”, realising he was in danger of pomposity Lord Gort cut himself off, finishing by saying “The Regiment was with George the 2nd at Dettinghan, discipline and leadership won the day then and it will win the day now”

The Prince of Wales was then dismissed, saluting sharply he turned on his heel and marched out of the room that his Company commander was using, he collected the Sergeant who had been waiting patiently outside. The Sergeant at 6’ 4” tall towered over the prince, he looked every inch the experienced long service Guards NCO, his father had been a Guardsman and as had his grandfather before him. The surfeit of nobility within the regiment had somewhat inured him to royalty, the Prince of Wales was only just 20 years old and very inexperienced, and the Sergeant had been dealing with green Subalterns for years. Prince Edward had trained with enthusiasm since joining the battalion in June but had been left out of battle in a staff billet since the fighting began.

The Sergeant was unsure as to how best to deal with the challenge he had been presented with the Prince of Wales was determined to fight, but his inexperience in what was some of the most dangerous fighting there was, would put him at risk. He decided to be completely frank, better to run the risk of offending the prince than a misunderstanding leading to his death. “Sir, as Lord Gort would have told you we are trying to winkle the Hun out of the city” he stated as something of a preamble, “fighting in a city is hard, half the time it is just a single section brawling in some basement or attic. We are going in with fixed bayonets and pistols or revolvers for those who have them. I see you have a side arm, but ditch your sword sir, that is next to useless in a fight in some Belgians kitchen. Take a rifle sir, I know you can shoot with it, we have all seen you training.” The Prince weighed up the Sergeants advice “Sergeant I have another Pistol in my baggage, it was a gift from my father so that will give me two, I will use a rifle if we are in the open, but I think I will keep the sword, I have been training with them since I was a boy at Osborne, then Dartmouth and aboard Hindustan”

Both the sergeant and the Prince were slightly surprised by this, the Prince was frustrated that he was being treated like an amateur, he was willing to listen and take orders but he would not be treated like a puppy. The sergeant was pleased that the prince would be an active participant in the platoon, he had been concerned that he was going to have to carry him, now it seemed more likely that he would have to restrain him.

The Sergeant continued “Sir, we are going to have some practice today and tomorrow, we will be working on how to fight in built up areas before we go back into the line. There is no sign these Huns are going to surrender so we will just have to go in and kill them all”

 

[diesal]

17th September 1914, Vienna

The old man was slipping away, the doctors had been and said they could do no more, the rattle and rasp of days before had become pneumonia. He had seemed to rally a few days ago but now he was in Cheyne-Stokes, the doctors were summoned along with the Archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Fredrich Gustav Piffl, who had given the dying Emperor Extreme Unction. The Emperor’s heir Charles was present, his face a mask of piety and sorrow, sentiments magnified by the daunting task that would soon befall him.

 

[diesal]

17th October 1914, Dillbeek

The Prince of Wales was exhausted, he had been run ragged as the Battalion was going to go back into the line in two days. He was with the armourer sergeant working on an idea he had had; he had come to agree with sergeant Barret that carrying the 1897 pattern sword was going to be a problem. His cousin who was commanding a platoon in B company had been commanding the opposition force that C company was training against. He had taken the prince up into an observation post and shown him how much carrying a sword marked him out compared to the other ranks.

Whilst the 1897 was a fine fighting sword it was an obvious telegraph of rank, what he really wanted was a dirk, shorter and handier than a full sword but something he could carry in his left hand whilst he used his pistol in his right. He had been issued a dirk at Osborne and carried one at Dartmouth, but that was back at the palace, what he did have was no concern about was cutting his sword down to something more like what he wanted. The Armourer was horrified, his sword was as fine a weapon as the sword cutlers of Britain could make, his orders were to cut it back to the fuller then grind it to give it a double edged point for the first 3 inches. It was ugly work, but nothing like what he did to the hilt, there he cut the hand guard back almost to nothing, leaving little more than a disk below the ricasso, he then had what remained of the gilding on the pommel and guard covered in black lacquer. When he finished the blade was only twenty inches long, the whole thing much handier and more unobtrusive, it didn’t look anything like an officer’s sword now, it was much more like a slightly longer sword bayonet. Satisfied that he would have a useful fighting weapon, he returned to his billet to enjoy a few hours of sleep before starting the training all over again.

 

[diesal]

17th September 1914, New York.
The Italian anarchist Errico Malatesta was travelling to America, the situation in London had grown untenable since the Siege of Sidney Street, the war was making things even more difficult, his political activism had drawn the attention of the British Police, and he was in danger of being expelled and sent back to Italy. He had, thanks to sympathisers been able to board a ship for New York, he had travelled under an assumed name and with forged papers. This was nothing new to him, he had chosen this mode of travel for years, visiting many of the capitals of Europe in this manner.
The ship he was travelling on had sailed from Liverpool and was bound for New York, there were fewer sailings than had been the norm in the years before the war. With so many of her sisters taken up from trade to serve as armed merchant cruisers and troopers, RMS Lusitania was busy enough. The first- and second-class cabins were all fully occupied, Errico was unsurprised by this, a war for and by international capital would demand its minions scurry all over the planet like cockroaches.
From his distant and drab third class berth the businessmen and officials travelling onboard might as well have been on another planet, there was no contact between the passengers in those cabins and the ordinary people travelling in third class. Errico had spoken extensively to one of the stewards, he was a native of his own Capua and like Errico had fled the Authoritarianism of the Kingdom of Italy, it was a pleasure to hear his own accent, idiom and politics, they agreed to meet up once the ship had reached New York. Where the Steward was going to introduce Malatesta to some fellow Italian Anarchists who shared his belief in the propaganda of the deed.
The recent increase in industrial action which had resulted from the Butte Murders and the increase in capitalist violence which had followed the necessary and legitimate reprisals of the people in the face of tyrannical oppression was likely to produce fertile ground for revolutionary anarcho-communism. It was obvious that whatever fissures and fractures had existed in the United States between the International Workers Union and the Socialist Party of America were being actively patched up in the face of the escalating turmoil.
Even Samuel Gompers a virtual tool of capital and no friend of internationalism had attacked the response of various state governments and major industrial concerns. He still contended that the IWW and the socialists were more concerned by overthrowing capitalism, than improving the lot of the working man. But his recent comments about the use of violent strike breakers as a means of restoring production at a coal mine in West Virginia. Where he described it as being driven by a desire to enslave the miners to enrich the plutocrats was as incendiary as anything he had ever argued and would earn him the enmity of the monied classes.