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This Day in Alternate History Blog
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Italy 1936 - An alternate Italian history of World War II Part 26 By Vincent Longobardi
June 27th 1954 Rioters overtake the remaining guards at the Athenian Royal Palace and proceed to loot and destroy the complex. Communist rebels seize the national radio station and broadcast the formation of the Republic of Greece and "...the removal of Fascists and Monarchists." Minor infighting amongst the various groups breaks out as some of those revolting are still loyal to the monarchy. Hours after the announcement Lupine bombers from the carrier Falco pound the radio station with precision bombing. June 28th 1954 The captured P.40's ambush an Italian column headed towards Athens. Mistaking them for friendly forces they are allowed to get within point blank range before opening fire and destroy two P. 46 tanks and several trucks before being destroyed in turn. The Imperial Embassy in Athens is besieged. If the relief column doesn’t arrive soon emergency action will have to be taken to rescue the staff. Fighting throughout the rest of Greece spikes. June 30th 1954 Italian forces arrive at the outskirts of Athens and using overwhelming firepower force their way into the city. In a rehash of the 1949 revolt many Greeks flee at the first sign of an Italian presence. July 2nd 1954 Harsh street to street fighting continues in Athens even as the city is declared "secured and subdued" by the Italian press. In a last ditch effort rebels rush the embassy before being badly repulsed. July 8th 1954 Over 75% of Athens is retaken as flighting slowly starts to die down. The more organized (and more intelligent) groups withdraw from the city withdrawing to hide in the countryside knowing they are fighting a losing battle. July 11th 1954 With Athens firmly in Italian hands the revolt is declared subdued. Sporadic fighting continues throughout the rest of Greece but most rebel groups have been eliminated or dispersed. *Note: A large portion of the Greek rebels have retreated into the mountains or to small towns supporting the cause. They know they can’t defeat Italy in a stand up battle and need time to organize and get weapons from the west or the Soviets. Their supply situation is very tricky. The position of Greece surrounded by Italian land and islands prevents large scale smuggling forcing other nations to rely on small quick boats that can evade or outrun Italian patrols. The western allies have a slight advantage here since they can base their operations out of Turkey which is close enough to have "fishing boats" get close to Greece and drop or supplies or meet rebel "fishing boats" out at sea.* July 15th 1954 The Hellenic Council returns to Athens but is forced to accept Italian changes to the government before being allowed to rule again. 1.Greece must cede Crete and the Ionian islands to the New Roman Empire as payment for the intervention. 2. Greece must also implement a less strict version of the Italianization laws. 3. The New Roman Empire is given broad judicial and policing power throughout Greece to deal with those responsible for the rebellion. 4. Greece loses administrative control of Constantinople and it reverts to Italian hands. July 17th 1954 Even the most diehard Greek Fascist are irked by the decrees set down by Rome. There is rumbling that in a few years Greece will no longer exist as a country. July 20th 1954 Tens of thousands of Greeks are rounded up and interned by Blackshirts. Nighttime raids become common as the Roman policy set down is one of exiling those who supported the revolt. August 10th 1954 Over 100 thousand Greeks are exiled to the African colonies. Another 100 thousand are expected to be deported in the coming months. August 15th 1954 Anti-Italian sentiments rise as Turkish regiments are brought into Greece to assist in peacekeeping. September 5th 1954 Israeli agents kill a German-Italian businessman in Lebanon. The man was a former Nazi and believed to be a member of ODESSA. September 12th 1954 An excavation crew accidently discovers oil in Libya. This marks the Empire’s first large domestic supply of the resource. *Note: Italy does have other sources of oil both in Italy and throughout the Empire but those fields are either small, currently undiscovered or both. The Libyan fields once working at full capacity will be able to make Italy completely self reliant in regards to oil.* September 30th 1954 The world’s first nuclear powered submarine the USS Nautilus is commissioned. October 5th 1954 The Fiat G. 60 "Eagle" jet fighter finishes its testing stage and will officially enter into production in the new year, this includes a naval version. The Eagle is set to replace all propeller driven fighters theocratically by 1957. It is much more likely that this process will take at least until 1958 if not 1959. *Note: Since Italy doesn’t have the resources available for research and development that the U.S. or USSR have Italy can not develop a broad range of specialized aircraft. Instead Italy will concentrate on developing a few high quality aircraft which can perform multiple roles. Also with the higher costs of jet aircraft compared to propeller craft the size of the air force will be downsized to more manageable numbers. This will most likely result in a cut of 25% but these cuts will also serve to eliminate the least skilled pilots and crews.* October 17th 1954 Drilling operations begin slowly in Libya as Italian contractors not use to drilling for oil in the desert cope with a myriad of problems. October 31st 1954 The Algerian National Liberation Front begins revolting against France. November 5th 1954 While taking delight in the rebellion against France the Grand Council and Mussolini decide against aiding the rebellion. Supporting any rebellion would be counter productive to Imperial goals in Africa even if it is a French colony. Nor do they want to antagonize the west so soon after the Border War. November 28th 1954 Count Enrico Fermi passes away at the age of 53 from stomach cancer. He is described by the Italian press as man who devoted his life to the Empire. Before his death he was working with a small team at the University of Rome researching peaceful uses for nuclear reactors. December 5th 1954 The Imperial Air Force allows for a small exploratory committee to investigate the possibilities of creating a rocket capable of carrying a nuclear payload. They will report their findings in May of 1955. Italy already has a small stock of knock off V1 and V2 rockets which may potentially be suitable for use with a miniaturized nuclear weapon. December 15th 1954 The University of Rome’s Center for Nuclear Physics is renamed "Count Enrico Fermi’s Center for Nuclear Physics." January 3rd 1955 Greek rebels attack and destroy a supply column of Turkish-Colonial soldiers marking the first large outbreak of violence since September. January 5th 1955 The Italianization program is not advancing as quickly as planned. In many of the newly acquired colonies there has been considerable resistance to total Italianization. Therefore the goals of the program has changed in light of this new event, while the ultimate goal is eventually have a majority of the population Italianized the short term goals are being slashed from 20-25% down to 5-10% by 1960. This core group with additional non-Italianized collaborators should be more than sufficient in keeping the colonies running and loyal. January 7th 1955 ODESSA retaliates against Israel by killing an Israeli businessman in Switzerland.. January 20th 1955 The civil war in Vietnam continues to escalate. Across the world in Greece attacks continue to pick up against the foreign occupying forces. So far the attacks have been confined to the colonial forces assigned to the region with many Greek rebels avoiding the more experienced Italian units. February 12th 1955 President Dwight D. Eisenhower sends the first U.S. advisors to South Vietnam.
End of Part 26.
Please visit my forum for discussion and access to new parts as they become available. http://z11.invisionfree.com/LongVinsWritingDen/index.php?
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