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Postwar Domination Military

Excerpts from:

Postwar Military Trends:
by Colonel B. Anderson
San Francisco Press, 1966

At the conclusion of the Eurasian War in 1946, the Alliance for Democracy and the Domination of the Draka were left as the only two military powers on earth. The Domination, occupying the whole of Africa, and continental Eurasia except for India and Indochina–Malaysia–Indonesia, was the supreme land power. The Alliance, its navies enormously expanded in the course of the long struggle with Japan, ruled all but the enclosed seas, the Western hemisphere, insular and peninsular Asia, with India as an associate member.

Domination

Demobilization of the Citizen Force from its wartime peak of 4,200,000 began immediately before the end of formal hostilities in 1946. By 1948, Citizen Force strength was down to about 1,150,000, normal peacetime level with a free population of 40,000,000. The Janissaries were kept at their war strength of 6,500,000 on an indefinite basis.

The Supreme General Staff defined the postwar military tasks of the Draka armed forces as follows:

  1. Pacification of the conquered territories and internal security.
  2. Deterrence of an Alliance attack.
  3. Preparation for the final war with the Alliance.

Pacification required a drastic switch in the "mix" of the ground forces. The armor-heavy mechanized Legions which had fought the open-country battles of the Eurasian war were as unsuited to guerilla warfare as a sledgehammer would be for swatting mosquitoes.

The Janissaries were, as had been the case after the Great War of 1914–1919, tasked with the primary responsibility for garrison and routine patrol/counterinsurgency work. For these purposes the motorized-rifle format was retained by most units, with an increase of the infantry component and some modification of equipment; e.g. a shift from gun-howitzer to more mobile rocket and mortar support weapons. Chemical weapons — mostly nerve gases — were given increased emphasis, as insurgents rarely had the capacity to retaliate in kind or use counter-measures. A number of Legions were converted to specialist mounted infantry, mountain or other configurations.

The standing units of the Citizen Force were also partially restructured. A core of armored formations was maintained; many others were converted to airmobile configurations. The perfection of transport helicopters (1940s) and tiltrotor VTOL transports (1950s) was given high priority, and they were used to form integrated "air-shock" legions. These were all-arms formations oriented to the speed and mobility of air transport, as the armored legions had been to the protection and cross-country capacity of the tank; they included organic helicopter-gunship and ground-attack aircraft units.

Areas of high-intensity counter-insurgency operations were under War Directorate control, although Security Directorate liaison and specialist units would also be present, particularly for intelligence, infiltration and interrogation work. Measures were based on intensive patrolling, reconcentration of civilian populations for easier control, relentless pursuit of organized guerilla units and in really difficult areas (e.g., Finland) creation of "death zones" by mass deportation and sterilization of the evacuated areas. Sterilization involved the destruction of all structures, removal of all food sources and roundup and slaughter of any groups or individuals who resisted relocation. Quieter areas, and those slated for immediate settlement, were under joint War and Security Directorate authority, tending towards the latter as conditions improved, pending inclusion in the Police Zone, the area of civil government. Security Directorate forces included:

Intervention Squads: cohort (battalion) sized rapid-deployment forces [Roughly analogous to our timeline's SAS]. Used for brushfire operations, suppression of terrorism and Alliance infiltration, etc. No fixed configuration; some are tasked for urban counterterrorist work, others for border-patrol, etc. All armed personnel are Citizen volunteers; serf auxiliaries for routine clerical, support functions. Total (Citizen) strength, c. 35,000.

Order Police: a militarized police force or gendarmerie, organized in units of up to merarchy (regimental) size. Serf personnel under Citizen officers and senior NCO's, recruited on the same basis as the Janissaries, equipped mainly as light infantry but including some heavy-weapons units for emergencies. Used for perimeter guard, patrol and general policing duties; units can be detached as labor-camp guards, for dealing with Compound unrest and so forth. Total strength c. 1,250,000.

Regular Police: the police proper; again, mostly serfs under Citizen direction, although there are some all-Citizen units — only a Citizen may arrest another Citizen. Armed with light weapons and organized regionally; has authority over private security forces such as Combine compound-guards, etc. Includes detective components, central record-keeping operations etc. and carries out a number of functions (for example, neck-tattooing and registering serfs). The Regulars handle ordinary maintenance of law and order and "civilian" crime.

Compound and Camp Guards: Much of the industrial work force of the Domination is "compounded," permanently enclosed in compounds, walled residential enclosures. These are usually owned by the industrial combines, or by government administrative directorates (e.g. Transportation or Land Settlement). Organizations which maintain compounds have their own internal police forces, usually not armed except for their Citizen directors; however, the Security Directorate provides training and performs a general supervisory function. (Ex-members of the Order Police are commonly "rented" as cadre for these organizations.) Policing measures can range from the quite formal (in the larger mining or factory compounds, which may have up to 10,000 inhabitants) to the makeshift (e.g., in a 20-man forestry "compound" in the Ituri).

Punitive deportation to labor-camps is a common measure in the Domination; prisoners of war, political suspects, hardened criminals, people found to be inconvenient, and anyone not quite troublesome enough to kill outright. Private owners may sell troublemaking serfs to the camps, or ordinary laborers may be levied/bought for special projects and housed in mobile camps — this is the common pattern for large-scale road/railway/irrigation works. Punitive camps are generally in remote areas, and the laborers are either worked under direct Security Directorate control or rented on a per-head basis to the relevant civilian organization, being delivered and picked up daily. Internal security in the camps is provided by "trustees," auxiliaries usually recruited from the criminal-prisoner elements and armed with truncheons and whips. Order Police units, or individuals on detached service, provide cadre and supervision, and guard perimeters. (Most camps are surrounded by razor wire and guard towers with automatic weapons.)

Krypteria: the secret police proper, and the "senior service" within the Security Directorate, entitled to commandeer and direct units from any other Security organization. Different divisions of the Krypteria are tasked with foreign and domestic intelligence (in cooperation with the War Directorate), covert operations abroad, countersubversion and counterespionage. Employs both Citizen and serf personnel, the latter especially as infiltrators, informers, etc. The Krypteria has absolute powers of arrest, torture and execution over all serfs not in Janissary uniform, and broad powers of arrest over Citizens as well (although arbitrary treatment of Citizens can result in political repercussions; however, evidence of genuine political disaffection — e.g., dissent over the serf issue — repeals all protection). Enforces censorship and handles disinformation campaigns. Agents of the Krypteria may be found anywhere; the diplomatic service is a Security Directorate "cover" and under Krypteria control.

Note: There is very little in the way of special "riot control" equipment or training. Any overt resistance is treated as rebellion, for which there is only one punishment — death. Truncheons, electroprods and whips are only used to enforce obedience and for minor punishment; rioting would be suppressed by indiscriminate use of automatic and heavy weapons. A "successful" revolt in a compound, mine or factory would usually be dealt with by gassing or napalming the area in question, and impaling any survivors. The ultimate example of this attitude was the city of Barcelona, where a revolt succeeded in temporarily overrunning the police HQ. All Citizens within reach were evacuated and the city destroyed with a nuclear weapon.


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