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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 31 By Vincent Longobardi
March 15th 1958 Colonial and Greek army positions are overrun as the Unification Day offensive continues to sweep through Greece. The Comando Supremo orders all Italian forces in the surrounding colonies to prepare for immediate deployment. March 16th 1958 King Constantine II is killed by traitorous members of his own guard in his attempt to flee Athens. As his motorcade attempted to make its way to the airport the lead vehicles came to a halt blocking the street and the soldiers opened fire on the royal limo with machine guns. The last member of the Greek royal family is now dead. There is contention on whether the rebels or Fascist agents killed the king. Some suspect that his assassination was ordered by Italy to put a wedge between communist partisans and those supporting the restoration of the monarchy or that Italy wanted to eliminate anyone who may eventually lead a popular independence movement. March 18th 1958 The Agusta helicopter company has the maiden flight of its first military helicopter the A105 "Hummingbird." If testing goes well for the Hummingbird it is expected to enter into service by 1960. *Note: The A105 would be comparable to the American UH-1 Huey.* March 20th 1958 The first Italian relief troops arrive in Greece and begin conducting operations against rebel strongholds. March 22nd 1958 Greek partisans capture the city of Lamia and declare it "The Free City of Lamia." Over 500 ethnically Turkish soldiers who are captured in the city are executed by the partisans. March 23rd 1958 The government of the Free City of Lamia starts executing those civilians who had collaborated with the Fascist government. April 1st 1958 The Greek offensive slows down as the partisans become too dispersed in their operations and as Imperial forces apply more pressure. No solid gains have been made other than the capture of Lamia. April 5th 1958 Over 30,000 Italian troops are once again in Greece pushing the rebels out of their hard fought gains. The Comando Supremo is planning to deploy an additional 20,000 soldiers to Greece and organize a final offensive designed once and for all to wipe out the partisan threat. April 7th 1958 In a joint venture between Israel and France the Gazelle Assault Rifle is introduced. April 10th 1958 Spain and Morocco sign the Treaty of Rome putting an official end to the war and a return to the status quo. April 15th 1958 Imperial forces start their assault against the entrenched defenders of Lamia. April 19th 1958 Peace is restored in Athens as the last partisans in the city are eliminated. April 20th 1958 Palestinians slam a truck laden down with explosives through the front doors of Yad Vashem, Jerusalem’s Holocaust Musuem. The explosives detonate prematurely seconds after the truck hits the reception desk. The explosion kills 227 people including the 5 Palestinians aboard making them the world’s first suicide bombers through faulty wiring. The original ODESSA plan for the operation was that the Palestinians would drive through the front gates, they would disembark the truck shooting anyone who attempted to stop them as they placed explosives throughout the building. They would then escape the building by foot(where they would probably be killed by the Israeli military, not that it mattered to ODESSA) with the bombs detonating a few minutes later. April 21st 1958 The world offers its sympathies to Israel and the Israeli people and most nations of the world offer to help bring to justice those who responsible for this heinous attack. April 23rd 1958 Mussolini sends a letter to ODESSA Chief Himmler demanding that this shadow war between Israel and the organization come to an immediate end. He has his revenge for the death of Mengele and there shall be no more operations or he will personally see that Himmler is removed from the organization. April 29th 1958 The partisans are pushed out of Lamia. May 1st 1958 Freshly covered mass graves of executed Turkish soldiers and Greek officials are found on the outskirts of Lamia. It is believed that over 3,000 people were massacred by the rebels. May 5th 1958 The R-2 Diane ballistic missile is set to enter into production by August. The Diane is a heavily modified R-1(which is the Italian verison of the V2.) It has a range of approximately 1,000 miles and is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. The R-2 will be deployed from mobile launches positioned throughout Northern Italy. May 10th 1958 The New Roman Empire launches its own counteroffensive against the Greek insurgency. Over 50,000 Italian soldiers are committed to the operation with an additional 40,000 colonial troops. The suspect Greek Army is not given any role in the operation. May 15th 1958 The Grand Council approves a measure that incorporates the title King of Greece within the title Emperor of Constantinople. Their justification is that since the late Constantine declared his allegiance to the Emperor without any heirs his throne passed on to Emperor Umberto II. May 17th 1958 If there is any increase in violence over the takeover of the throne by the Emperor it goes unnoticed in the continuing violence that wracks Greece. May 20th 1958 Wealthy industrialist and Blackshirt Salvatore Medici is appointed Viceroy of Greece. While he is only supposed to serve as the voice of the Emperor to the still nominally free Hellenic Council he possesses broad veto powers. Medici is one of the younger Fascists in the party. He comes from a wealthy family and served in a Blackshirt division during the Balkans war and the occupation following it. Before his appointment he was serving as a high ranking official in the Ministry of Industry. May 25th 1958 Viceroy Medici issues his first decree in his role as Viceroy and completely oversteps the bounds of his station. He orders that all former lands and property owned by the now defunct Greek royal family be transferred to the Imperial Crown as the new royal authority in the region and to pay off the crippling war debts owed to the Empire. When the Hellenic Council protests the action as illegal Medici replies with a snide "Any claims of illegal abuse of the law by Italians should be reported to the office of the Viceroy to be dealt with." June 1st 1958 Charles de Gaulle is made Prime Minister of France. June 3rd 1958 The final ship in the Imperator line, the Julius Caesar begins its sea trials. The Caesar will replace the Sparviero as an active duty ship. The Sparviero will be removed from active service and refitted to serve as a designated training ship for carrier crews. June 5th 1958 Ireland officially recognizes the New Roman Empire. The Irish government states the pointlessness of continuing to ignore the government of Rome, the New Roman Empire is a fixture in the world and should be recognized, and traded with. June 7th 1958 Switzerland officially recognizes the New Roman Empire. The Swiss government announces that this is merely an official statement of recognition for the defacto recognition that has existed since both before and after World War II. June 15th 1958 The Hellenic Council is forced to drastically reduce the size of the Greek military to pay for the Italian war effort. June 29th 1958 The office of the Viceroy of Greece issues its plans for the industrialization and rebuilding of Greece. The plan calls for a massive industrialization campaign in the cities to draw more of the population away from the rebellion prone rural areas. The Hellenic Council approves of the plan in theory but has serious reservations about the dependency on Italian loans and Italian corporations. But realizing they have no choice in the matter they agree. Hopefully the plan will prove prosperous and they will be able to pay off their debts. July 14th 1958 The monarchy in Iraq is overthrown by Arab nationalists. King Faisal II is killed and the rest of royal family sent into exile. July 15th 1958 Italian soldiers are deployed to Lebanon by the request of the government to prevent a similar coup. July 17th 1958 A contingent of Italian soldiers are also deployed to Jordan. July 20th 1958 The new Iraqi government rejects all foreign occupation and influences. The government under Abdul Karim Qassim declares that the nation is no longer bound to the Lira Block and rejects Italian domination of the Mideast. July 23rd 1958 The New Roman Empire opens up talks with both the exiled Iraqi monarchists and the Iraqi Ba’th Party trying to orchestrate the reinstatement of a friendly regime. July 27th 1958 Greece is deemed officially pacified. Four months after the start of the Unification Day offensive the Greek Partisans are broken. Over 50,000 Greeks have been killed in the past months and their strongholds raided. For now, they can no longer be considered a threat. End of Part 31.
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