East Timor ISOT to 1937

Updated Sunday 15 May, 2011 12:18 PM

East Timor ISOT to 1937

Or…

How Australia Won The War Wank

An ASB by David Atwell

No one could explain it. Everyone who was in East Timor, at the time, all of a sudden woke up the next morning and their world had drastically changed. It was no longer 2008, but 1937. The world had not suffered the Second World War, yet, nor had the Soviet Union arisen to become a Superpower facing off against the United States throughout the Cold War. Instead all that was still to come. Or would it?

Upon realising what had happened, regardless of the impossibility involved, various agencies began to act at once in East Timor. They were not, however, all acting in concert. In fact it was, more often than not, the reverse. The local East Timor government wanted to consolidate and ensure it was not in danger of the Portuguese government, of 1937, from re-establishing authority over the place. The large Australian military presence, meanwhile, cared little about the Portuguese and wanted to quickly get back to Australia with information as to what was coming in international affairs. And lastly the United Nations personnel had, as usual, no idea what to do about anything.

The Australians, though, wasted little time in getting everyone offside. Not only did the Australians declare martial law throughout East Timor, without referring to the East Timorese government, but they completely ignored the objections coming from the UN officials. Yet, as the senior Australian commanders explained to the government, drastic actions had to be done now in order to ensure the safety of East Timor and the world in general.

However, as it turned out, it was easier to convince the East Timorese of this issue than it was the Australian government of 1937. At first none of the radios, which the Australians had in East Timor, were compatible with anything the Australians had in 1937. Eventually, though, several obsolete radio transmitters were found, scattered around the country, and these were successfully used to contact Australia.

Needless to say, the 1937 Australian authorities first scoffed at the radio messages coming from East Timor. Either writing them off as drunkard pranks by bored citizens of Darwin, or even worse as some prelude to invasion by some imaginary enemy, the Australians in Canberra refused to listen. Consequentially, the Australians in East Timor decided it was time to get to Darwin and introduce themselves to their great grandfathers.

Thus, some two weeks after the initial attempts at radio contact, the Australians from East Timor arrived in Darwin by both sea and air. Although a handful of Australian units where left behind, some 700 infantry, 120 SAS troops, as well as numerous aircrews and sailors were involved with the operation. All up, some 1 500 Australian personnel were involved along with about 500 East Timorese soldiers. And even though the 2008 Australians tried to ensure that their intention was announced, prior to their arrival, it came as a surprise nevertheless to the 1937 Australians in Darwin.

Hence, when the 1937 Australians saw the oncoming landings, the Army personnel immediately believed it to be a Japanese invasion, grabbed all the transport they could find, and took off down the dusty highway heading for Adelaide. The 1937 RAAF personnel, meanwhile, simply looked on in awe as four Blackhawk helicopters landed on the front lawn of the small Darwin RAAF terminal building, whilst two Hercules C-130 transport planes landed on the dusty airstrip. Finally the 1937 RAN personnel decided to fight it out with the invaders, whoever they were, and fired off a few warning shots across the bows of the two 2008 RAN Armidale class patrol boats, and the single ANZAC class frigate, which were escorting three transport ships filled with Australian and East Timorese troops. The 1937 RAN personnel soon, however, heard an voice booming back, thanks to a loud howler on the frigate, which had more words beginning with the letter F than any other word. The 1937 RAN personnel immediately realised they were Australians and ceased fire as a result.

It did not take long for the introductions to commence, although the commander of the 1937 Army took a day to be found to the south of Darwin whilst still on the run. Nevertheless, even though the 1937 Australians could still not believe the situation, they immediately sent word to Canberra of their "discovery". Not long afterwards the two C-130s, filed with a few computers, other military equipment, various text books, and selected personnel, were soon flying south towards Canberra not quite knowing what to expect. Needless to say, it was a similar situation for those people in Canberra awaiting their arrival.

Some time later the two Hercules touched down at Canberra’s very primitive airport after a couple of hours of flight. The welcoming committee was a small one and, it was soon realised, that several more trucks would be needed to ferry all the equipment and personnel from the airport. Nevertheless the debriefing of the 2008 Australians soon began, although it soon turned into a PhD history course for the 1937 Australians. All were fascinated by the future Australia, and the world of 2008, but when stories of the coming Second World War was gotten into detail, especially talk of the Holocaust and Japan’s threat of invasion of Australia, the mood of the room darkened to say the least. Yet when mention was made of the atomic bomb, the soon to be Prime Minister Robert Menzies gave it his full attention. It was later said that it looked like Menzies was drooling.

The Australian Cabinet immediately met. The discussion was furious. There were a lot of claims and counter claims. But in the end, considering the potential of great power that Australia could gain, this grand opportunity meant secrecy was paramount. That was easier said than done, because one of the conditions set by the 2008 Australians was for the security and safety of East Timor. Not only did that mean military and economic assistance, but also Australian statehood, as it was viewed back in Dili if East Timor gained Australian statehood, Portugal would not dare to re-assert its sovereignty over the place. This was reluctantly agreed to, thanks to great pressure from Menzies against the then Australian Prime Minister, Joseph Lyons, who henceforth immediately resigned as Prime Minister in a principled protest. Menzies, nevertheless, was henceforth sworn in as the new Australian Prime Minister the next week, whilst East Timor officially became the seventh state of Australia a month later. Importantly Menzies would get his nukes.

In the meantime, whilst all this was taking place, first the Portuguese, and then the British, realised something fantastic had taken place on the other side of the planet involving both their empires. Portuguese government officials thus soon arrived in East Timor to discover a very different place from previously. Flying the Australian flag, along with the East Timor flag (which now represented their Australian statehood), the Portuguese were quickly told to take a hike. This ensured that Portugal made a vigorous protest to the British which, in turn, got an angry letter from the British demanding Australia withdraw from East Timor or suffer the consequences. Prime Minister Menzies tried to be very diplomatic, about the whole affair, but in the end refused Britain’s demands. He did, however, make a much more interesting counteroffer, provided the British supported Australia’s annexation of East Timor, and included a list of items which were on offer. The list, though, did not include nuclear technology.

Thus Menzies soon flew all the way to London, in one of the C-130s, bearing gifts. This included Steyr semi-automatic rifles, M-16s, digital radios, computers, various technical manuals, and a couple of history books about the coming Second World War, albeit any mention of the atomic bomb and the war against Japan had been conveniently edited out. And if the landing of the C-130 did not gain the attention of the British government, everything else Menzies brought with him certainly did. Soon the British had dropped all protests about the annexation of East Timor, and sided with Australia, letting the Portuguese know that they could get on the best way they could. East Timor would remain part of their Dominion of Australia.

Yet, even though the British now had all this modern equipment, and the knowledge to build most of it, getting it made was another matter altogether. It was not simply a matter of copying everything exactly, as much of the technology was beyond the designers, scientists, and factories of the period. However, after two years of effort, Britain had begun churning out modern rifles by the truckload. Likewise the RAF soon discovered that orders for their precious Spitfires had been cancelled and instead they were getting fighters and bombers powered by jet engines. Although it meant a whole lot of retraining for air and ground crews, by September 1939, enough numbers, in both equipment and personnel, had been achieved ensuring a superiority in planes, weapons, and personnel. Or so they thought.

Back in Australia, meanwhile, not only were the Australian factories likewise churning out modern day weapons, whether they be rifles, aircraft, ships, and the like, but the Australian Nuclear Weapons Commission was quietly conducting its research and development programs. Thanks to the information brought back from 2008, and even though much trial and error was required, by the time Germany kicked off World War II, by still invading Poland in late 1939, Australia had just tested its first atomic bomb in the middle of the South Australian desert.

At first, though, it appeared that World War II may repeat itself as Poland was soon gobbled up by both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. Similarly, even though the British knew exactly what was coming next, trying to convince their allies the French to conduct their battle plans differently, proved to be a failure. This, though, was not at all helped by the fact that the British would not share any of their newly "discovered" weapon systems with the French. In this respect the British were, thus, partly to blame when Germany overran northern France, Belgium, and Holland akin to the OTL.

The British, though, in northern Europe gave one Hell of a fight against the Germans, which made them think that the new British weapons where not just propaganda but extremely lethal. Alas for the British, in turning back the German tide, they faced two fundamental problems. The first was they simply did not have enough, yet, of the modern weapons to finish off the job against the Germans. And secondly, after the French and Belgium armies had been forced into headlong retreat, in fact Belgium was soon to surrender, the British found themselves back at Dunkirk seeking evacuation. This time, however, the evacuation was conducted without the constant threat of German air attacks, as the RAF had enough jet aircraft to keep the Luftwaffe away, whilst the land based weapons of the British Army ensured that the German armies remained at a respectable distance.

Still, by June 1940, everything seemed to be repeating itself. That was until a new RAAF jet bomber squadron arrived in England along with one of the C-130 Hercules transport aircraft. The British gleefully welcomed the timely arrival of the Australians, but wondered why there were so few of them. When told that ten bombers were more than enough to win the war, the British simply laughed. Furthermore several strange looking bombs came off the Hercules aircraft which only gained even more laughter. The Australians, meanwhile, politely smiled back knowing that they were more the wiser. This, in turn, caught the attention of some of the British who were expecting the usual colonial banter.

Nevertheless, even with the arrival of this special RAAF squadron, the war went on. France was now on its last legs, and within days of surrender, or so it seemed to everyone in Britain and Germany. The RAAF squadron, though, soon had their first battle plan ready just in time for the second RAAF C-130 Hercules plane to arrive in Britain. Although it did not carry any more strange looking bombs, it did carry Prime Minister Menzies and several other Australian dignitaries. Then, later the same evening, four of the Australian jet bombers flew off for their first mission.

The RAF observers, some had to be present as it was their air force base after all, noted that only one of the RAAF aircraft carried the strange looking bomb. Two of the other RAAF planes had been fitted out with air-to-air missiles, which had only just gone into service, whilst the fourth carried cameras and other sensor gear. It would take about two hours for the four aircraft to reach their primary target…

Adolf Hitler seemed to be enjoying himself at the Berlin Opera on this particular evening. There was a performance of Wagner’s Die Walküre taking place, which was considered one of the best ever produced. Hitler wanted to see it, in order to take a break from the war, before heading off to Paris for victory celebrations which were certain to take place not too long into the future. No one, not even Hitler, dreamt that there would be any danger from Allied bombs falling on Berlin. It was Verboten!

Nevertheless, just after 9.30PM, whilst the performance was still ongoing, elsewhere in Berlin, a noise could be heard coming from the skies above. It did not sound like a propeller driven aircraft, but it was nevertheless recognised that the sound was coming from an aircraft all the same. Yet, even before the alarm could be sounded, and the searchlights begin their scan of the sky above, a huge flash exploded two blocks away from the Opera House and Wagner’s Die Walküre

The destruction of Berlin was total. Little of it remained intact. Everything was in ruins. Adolf Hitler was never seen again and much of the senior German military staff, not to mention many senior Nazi government members, were either dead or seriously wounded. Similarly thousands of Berliners were either dead, dying, or again seriously wounded. And then came a message from Britain. Although Winston Churchill, who had only recently become British Prime Minister, while not informed about this super weapon that the Australians had, was not at all annoyed when Berlin had been obliterated with Hitler along with it. What really annoyed Churchill, though, was Menzies getting on the radio demanding Germany’s unconditional surrender or face more of Australia’s atomic bombs. This, in Churchill’s mind, should have been something he, Winston, should have done. Needless to say words were exchanged, behind closed doors, at Number 10 the next morning. No one knows, to this day, what was actually said, but later on, until Germany’s surrender one week later, all announcements and demands were conducted equally and on equal terms by both Prime Ministers.

Churchill was still to have his atomic day, however, as Germany refused to surrender after the first atomic bomb destroyed Berlin along with its high command. This maybe put down to the fact that the Nazi government was in utter chaos, having lost its senior leadership, but that did not stop Churchill and Menzies authorising a second atomic bomb mission. Considering Munich was were Hitler first rose to notoriety, it was considered the next obvious target. Sure enough, within 12 hours of this decision, Munich fell victim to the second Australian atomic bomb. The next day Germany surrendered unconditionally. Fascist Italy, meanwhile, was saved from nuclear devastation, thanks to the destruction of Berlin taking place a mere two days prior to Mussolini coming to the decision of entering the war on the side of Germany. Needless to say, he changed his mind really fast without making any declaration of war to the contrary.

World War II was henceforth over before it really got started. The world had drastically changed. The lives of tens of millions of people had been saved. Meanwhile, nations like Italy, Spain, the USSR, and Japan, were put on notice or otherwise face the same fate as Nazi Germany. And although other powers, such as the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union, would soon gain their own atomic bombs, now that the first two Australian bombs had shown the way, Australia nevertheless had emerged as the world’s first nuclear Superpower with much grander things to come…

My thanks to RKO General @ AH.Com who sparked off my interest in such a timeline.

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