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THE ILLINOIS NATIONAL GUARD

10/14/2012

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Illinois National Guard


Newly elected Illinois Governor Henry Horner (the first Jewish Governor of Illinois) barely made it home to Chicago from Springfield at the start of the VACW. There he called out the Illinois National Guard, but only those units based in and around Chicago. The other Guard units were eventually called out by Supreme Commander General MacArthur. With two notable exceptions, the Guard units didn't completely show up. Many members decided they didn't want anything to do with the upcoming Civil War, for reasons ranging from not wanting to shoot their fellow Guardsmen to their unit being under control of someone they opposed. In most cases the Guard who didn't show up were allowed to stay home (most leaders didn't  want soldiers who weren't interested in fighting). As time passed, many of the Guard who sat out the early battles found themselves convinced to join up or in some cases were in drafted.


Governor Horner called out the following units.

33rd Division Headquarters (which since every National Guard Division was suppose to have a company of tanks, would have included a number of M1917 Tanks (30% strength)

131st Illinois National Guard Infantry Regiment (60% strength)

132nd Illinois National Guard Infantry Regiment (50% strength)

The 2nd Squadron of the 106th Cavalry, including the famous Chicago Black Horse Squadron (Troops E and F- 40% strength). 

The 122nd and 124th Field Artillery (75mm guns). They were combined together to give one full strength unit and an extra battery. 

Company A of the 108th Engineers (70% strength)

The 8th Illinois National Guard (it must have had a proper number but I couldn't find one in my resources). This was one of the few all negro National Guard units in the country and had served with the French Army in WWI. They were at 110% strength, as former members and combat veterans turned out in droves,  after refugees reported what the Black Legion had done in Detroit (while the Jews had been beaten and driven out, at least 100 Negros had been lynched in Detroit, their bodies left hanging for over a week). They are far more motivated than the average National Guard unit, and with so many combat veterans they are one of the best in the region (though white people, even those on their side, are loath to admit that).

108th Observation Squadron (equipped with PT-1 airplanes- 70% strength).

202d Coast Artillery (while I cannot prove it I believe they were an AA unit). 60% strength until the first bombing raid by Ford's Air Force, then 95% strength.

The 131st, the 132nd, the 106th Cavalry Squadron  and the Field Artillery (except for the extra battery that was left to protect Chicago from an attack from the east) moved toward Rock Island in order to seize the Arsenal there. On the way this force picked up scattered soldiers and two full companies from the 129th National Guard Infantry Regiment. Other units of the 129th that sought to stay out of the conflict were left to protect their home towns.

When this force (now known as the Western Chicago Army-WCA) reached Rock Island (which took the better part of two weeks) they found themselves up against some daunting defenses. Besides facing a 155mm battery, two 75mm batteries, and eight very assorted tanks (various prototypes that had been built at the Arsenal during the 20's) they found that the Arsenal soldiers had dug  a series of entrenchments containing more machineguns per yard than any place on the Western Front in WWI every had. The soldiers at the Arsenal had drug out and emplaced every automatic weapon they could find. There were Lewises, BARS, Brownings (.30 and .50 caliber), old Colt "Potato Digger" machineguns, pre-war Maxims chambered for .30-06, Benet-Mercie light machineguns, and some of the WCA soldiers even claimed they were fired upon by a Gatling. The first assault on this fortified line was thrown back with such heavy losses that WCA was forced to dig in, and form their own lines of trenches. This ended up being one of the few true cases of trench warfare in the whole of VACW. As time passed the Regular Army managed to feed a few more troops in from the west, while the Western Chicago Army was joined by Wisconsin Guard units as well as most of the tanks that had been initially left behind in Chicago.

I don't plan on doing this battle. It is too large for 28mm (except maybe as the occasional trench raid) and trench warfare doesn't appeal to me.

In addition to the one battery of 75mm Field Guns, the eastern approaches were defended by the Illinois 8th, and various independent armies. The units formed by the Unions (more on those in a later blog) were placed on the eastern approaches and intentionally kept away from the white National Guard Units (too much bad blood between them from the Guard having been used to bust  up strikes in the teens and twenties).  Since no one had ever used the Black Guard to bust up strikes, they were not seen as the enemy by the Union units.

The downstate units formed up (130th Infantry (50% strength) and 123rd Field Artillery (40% strength))  but  mainly stayed in company or battery sized units to deal with local problems. They found themselves battling local coal miner unions, which was made harder by the miners having successfully captured and looted the Mt. Vernon Armory. In the middle of the state the Union forces (who faced nothing more dangerous than the 130th Infantry Headquarter unit) took over Decatur and waged a sporadic battle with the various forces holding the state capital Springfield.
 


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ANOTHER VACW FACTION

10/6/2012

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THE JEWISH DEFENSE FORCE

After gaining the backing of Ford the Black Legion drove the Jews out of the Detroit area (much to Ford's dismay). There were beatings, the Temples were closed, property and money was seized (which helped fund the Black Legion as much as the money from Ford did). Some fled to Canada, others to Chicago. From these refugees and the Jewish population of Chicago the Jewish Defense Force was created. It was the creation of a group of respectable Jewish leaders, and some very un-respectable Jewish gangsters. Detroit had been the  home of the Purple Gang, a group of Jewish American gangsters who were involved in bootlegging, gambling, the protection racket, and other types of organized crime. When the Purple Gang showed up in Chicago Capone's outfit (which had  previously gotten along with the Purple Gang) grew concerned about them muscling in on their territory. To skim off the younger hotheads from the Purple Gang, Capone funded  and supplied arms to the newly formed JDF. Suddenly, guys who had been looked down on as hoodlums found themselves cheered as champions against anti-Semitism.



Unlike many other newly formed "armies" (such as the Unionmen or the Negro Defense Force) the JDF is well equipped with automatic weapons. Every "squad" has at least two Tommyguns and frequently a BAR. They were the first of the irregular "armies" in the region to carry grenades, and their grenades were regular issue ones (the other irregular armies of the region had to make do with homemade grenades and bombs that often didn't work right). They lacked much in the way of heavy weapons, but were well supplied with cars and trucks. This mobility caused them to be regularly used as a fire-brigade, to reinforce threatened positions. With so many of the members having suffered at the hands of the Black Legion they were very dedicated, if not all that well trained or competent.  No actual uniforms at first, just regular clothes  and armbands (the former members of the Purple Gang going in for fine suits when work clothes would have made more sense).



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REVISED TIMELINE OF EVENTS FOR VACW

10/3/2012

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After a poster on TMP pointed out to me that Cactus Jack Garner would have been sworn in as vicepresident causing Curtis to be unable to claim to be President, I made made a few changes to my initial timeline.

A VERY AMERICAN CIVIL WAR

FEBRUARY 15, 1933

PRESIDENT-ELECT FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT CRITICALLY WOUNDED BY ASSASSIN

MARCH 7, 1933
VICE PREIDENT ELECT CACTUS JACK GARNER DIES IN PLANE CRASH. WITNESSES REPORT THAT PLANE BLEW UP IN MIDAIR.
J. EDGAR HOOVER ORDERS THE FBI TO TAKE LEADING DEMOCRATS INTO PROTECTIVE CUSTODY.

 
MARCH 4, 1933
GARNER IS DEAD AND ROOSEVELT STILL IN A COMA
WHO IS THE PRESIDENT?
 
MARCH 8, 1933
HEBERT HOOVER RESIGNS AS PRESIDENT, CITES THE ENDING OF HIS TERM AS REASON 
 
MARCH 10, 1933
VICE-PRESIDENT CHARLES CURTIS SWORN  IN AS PRESIDENT QUOTE "THIS COUNTRY MUST 
HAVE A PRESIDENT TO COMBAT AN ANARCHIST AND COMMUNIST COUP"


MARCH 11,
1933

PRESIDENT CURTIS APPOINTS GENERAL DOUGLAS MACARTHUR AS SUPREME HEAD OF ALL THE UNITED STATES MILITARY

MARCH 15,  1933
PRESIDENT-ELECT ROOSEVELT AWAKENS IN NEW YORK CITY AND IS SWORN IN AS PRESIDENT

MARCH
20, 1933
ROOSEVELT SLIPS BACK INTO COMA, ROOSEVELT ADVISORS MEET WITH NAVY
ADMIRALS


MARCH 26,
1933

NAVY BACKS ROOSEVELT AS LEGITIMATE PRESIDENT, NATION IN TURMOIL

APRIL 1, 1933
AMERICAN ARMY TROOPS BATTLE US MARINES FOR CONTROL OF WHITE HOUSE
CONGRESS FLEES WASHINGTON
MARINE MAJOR GENERAL SMEDLEY BUTLER CLAIMS THAT A GROUP OF BUSINESSMEN APPROACHED HIM BEFORE THE ELECTION TO LEAD A COUP IF ROOSEVELT WON
IS THE COUNTRY IN A CIVIL WAR? 

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    Mysterious Bill

    I've been gaming since the 1970's and even wrote some RPG adventures in the 80's for the Judges Guild. It seems that I can only get in miniatures is gaming at cons, but I do regularly play boardgames and RPGs.

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