Board Thread:Fun and Games/@comment-39133133-20200423205640/@comment-35614398-20200428184850

UK 1916 Jan-Apr

- Prime Minister Herbert Asquith is replaced by Conservative rival Lloyd-George following a general election. In his first speech (written by the War Minister Winston Churchill), Lloyd-George vows that Britain will never surrender to tyranny. He states boldly that even if the British Isles fall, the war will continue in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Oceania, until the day when Britain's oppressors have been overthrown.

- The first tanks come off the assembly line, and are immediately deployed onto the Western Front, with mixed successes. Whilst numerous tanks break down, many more plough through German and Axis lines, and British forces begin a push to relief the Dutch pocket. Elsewhere on the front tank-on-tank combat takes place, and battles become even bloodier.

- At Thessaloniki, the British fight for every house. A contingent of tanks decimate Ottoman forces near the city centre, before being put out of action by shells. In Macedonia, Greek forces retake the city of Bitola before losing it again to Jagdkommandos. British and Greek forces advance up the Adriatic coast and threaten the city of Tirana.

- The Royal Navy initiates a blockade of the Adriatic, whilst doubling down on its blockade of Germany, with the intention of depriving the Axis of any American aid.

- The British evacuate Cyprus, viewing it as unsustainable to defend. Kuwait is basically gone anyway.

- In the Middle East, Haifa and Amman both fall after heavy fighting. British losses climb, but so do the Ottoman ones. No sooner as Haifa fallen however than the British are held up again, this  time at Siddon just short of Beirut, where near-fanatical Ottoman nationalists fight to the last man. In Arabia, Umluj in the north and Al Lith in the south fall to advancing Colonial troops. However, now the British have reached the main Ottoman forces of the region. A British assault on Yanbu sees 20,000 casualties in February through to April. Omani and Indian forces begin the battle for Jeddah and Mecca, where massive losses are suffered on both sides. After two failed assaults on Jeddah, the Royal Navy opts to just bomb the city into submission, and unload several hundred tonnes of explosives onto the city between March and April, reducing entire blocks to rubble. Yet the Ottomans, motivated by nationalism and religion, cling on.

- The regional garrisons in Canada go into a general retreat, knowing full-well that a defence of all of Canada would be unsustainable. Instead, whilst an evacuation of Canadian civilians to the British Isles begins, the Canadian garrison retreats to the island of Newfoundland, blowing up the bridge connecting the island to the mainland. Trenches are then hastily dug and fortifications erected, in preparation for a drawn-out defence and, should it come to it, a last stand.

- Britain offers that if Japan joins the Allies, Britain will stay entirely out of Japanese affairs save those which directly interfere with British ones (like invading India or something). Japan can also have North Guinea I guess.

- Explosives are rigged along the Suez Canal, with the orders being to destroy the whole thing should an attempt to take it look successful. At Gibraltar, large fortifications and extensive tunnels are built, as well as major artillery pieces.

- British industry continues to crank out ships and guns and etcetera.