History of the Revolution
The First Winter (Early Weeks)
In the days following Pasty's flight into the deep reaches of the Barbudos Mountains in northern Austria, the rebel's first objective was to establish a central base, near to a constant water and food source. After almost a week of marching through torrential rains and winter snowstorms, they came across a small lake, thankfully unfrozen by the bitter American winter. They established a permanant base from which to coordinate attacks on soldiers in the area, named "Camp Libre'". It was in this period that the communists began to set up a network of peasant farmers and miners within the area. Winning over their favor with their promises if the revolution was indeed successful, the region's workers pledged their early support to the revolution, and pooled their stockpiles up to help feed the rebels through the winter.
All while this was happening, the regional military commander, General Taraup became aware of the rebel plot to overthrow the government and learned of Pasty's raid on the Castra Armory. He sent out an estimated 2,000 troops to search the area where they were last sighted and question the locals. It was at this time that the first airstrikes were ordered by Taraup to "wipe out the scum before they even got on their feet". In the assault that followed, 2 rebels were wounded when a bomb exploded after fallling through a peasant's roof, where they were staying. While the two farmers were killed, word of the event spread and many within the area turned to support Pasty and the rebels. And soon after, over a dozen new volunteers arrived at Camp Libre'. They were to be the first of many in the coming years...
The job of training the new recruits fell on the shoulders of Pasty's longtime friend, Daniel Ackersky. Ackersky was a well-known hunter in Castra, and being the only person with serious experience firing a weapon in the party, was ordered by Pasty to transform a bunch of peasants, intellectuals, and adventure-seekers into a formal army. With the ground assault by the Royal Army halted by the continuing winter, the rebels were given the time to undergo extensive weapons practice and physical conditioning. Daily hikes up the steep mountains hardened the rebels to the extreme conditions of the Barbudos, and they practiced shooting at birds flying in the sky and at wild deer which doubled as a meal for the hungry army.
The winter of 2047-48, however brutal it was, proved crucial in strengthing the revolutionaries, both in mental and physical resolve. And when the storms died and the snow melted in mid March, the blosoming rebel army was given it's first taste of combat in the field, as they squared off with the oncoming Royal Army for the first time...
Baptism of Fire
Only days after the last of the snow had melted away from the forested Barbudos Mountains, the rebels already found themselves faced with the formitable enemy in the form of the 2000 Austrian soldiers combing the area for them. Pasty and his closest advisors realised that sooner or later, they would have to meet them in combat. Together with scouts in the peasant network in the region, they gathered intellegence on the movements of the troops in the area.
On March 26th, 2048, Pasty's rebels received word that a small detachment of Royal soldiers were spotted 5km from Camp Libre'. It was comprised of 40 soldiers, and was commanded by a Colonel who would soon play a crucial role in the revolution, Whoopwhoopwhoop. Although being outnumbered 2-to-1, Pasty decided that it was now or never ands personally led his tiny army of 19 to a road on which the Royal Army will be passing through. They took ambush positions on either side, hidden behind the trees. At approximately 2:00pm, Whoop's detachment arrived just as predicted. To signal the start of the attack, Pasty was to fire the opening shot, and try and kill the commanding officer to panic the soldiers. Ducking out from behind a boulder, he aimed and pointed his PG-12 pistol at Whoop who was riding in a jeep near the front. He fired, and just missed his target. Alerted to the shot, the Austrians attempted to ready themselves, but soon came under fire from the guerrillas along the road. A fierce firefight insued, and the regiment soon fell, and the remaining men surrendered. After a 7 minute skirmish, 23 of the Austrians lay dead, another 5 were injured and taken prisoner, while Whoop and the other 12 were able to escape. The Guerrillas on the other hand suffered only one death, a young peasant boy who had joined the rebels only a week earlier. After burying their fallen comrade, the rebels and their 5 prisoners returned back to Camp Libre'. They had captured 13 weapons, grenades, and a RPG with two rounds, and a limited supply of ammunition. For the first time, the rebels had won a victory (albeit a small one) against the powerful Austrian Army, it was to be the first of many...
A Growing Force
In the weeks following the rebel's first victory at the ambush on March 26th, the revolutionary army and the Austrians fought on and off, usually when a group of rebels quickly attacked and retreated, living up to their guerrilla lifestyle. The size of the army soon began to increase as well as word of the freedom fighters spread across the countryside. By mid-spring 2048, over 60 new recruits had enlisted, significantly strengthening the fighting force in terms of size. But at the same time, Pasty and the other commanders realized that at the rate the army is expanding, they will become severely under-equipped to combat the Royal Army. Already, over 3 quarters of the men were un-armed and ammunition was seriously low. The time had come to make a bold strike against the Royal Army, this time at a Garrison. But for this, they needed help, and they got it in a very unlikely place...
On May 2nd, 2048, Comandante Pasty received a letter from an unknown source through the peasant network. The writer, requested to meet with Pasty and hoped to join the guerrilla fight against the Austrians, and said that he was in possession of crucial information regarding the Army's tactics and battleplans. Against the warnings of his advisors and despite the calculated risk, Pasty decided to meet with person. Leaving camp one night, armed with only an AK-203 assault rifle Pasty travelled 5km to a small town bar where the letter said to meet. The building was empty save for a single man wearing a military cap at a corner table. Pasty recognized him immediately as the Austrian military commander at the first skirmish over a month earlier, Whoopwhoopwhoop. After joining him at the table, Whoop preceded to tell him about his sympathy to the rebel cause, and his growing hatred towards the tyranny of Emperor Mktaisan. He wished to offer his services to the revolution, both as a soldier, and as an informative tool for future offensives against the Royal Army. Pasty decided to bring him back to Camp Libre' to meet with other top Revolutionary commanders. After an all day meeting with him, the rebels hatched a plan to attack the Royal Garrison in a small town called Galerius at the base of the Barbudos mountains. The garrison was a large one, with 150 soldiers and a weapons depot. It's commander was a Brigadier General, nicknamed "Schwartz Herz", well known for being a brutal military leader and anti-communist, and was notorious for the systematic massacre of local peasants on the grounds of rebellion. If the rebels are able to defeat the well-equipped garrison, it would be a tremendous victory for the cause, and give them international acclaim.
The attack on the Galerius Garrison was set for May 7th at 4am. The plan of attack was to split the rebels into two groups, one commanded by Pasty, the other by Whoop. Pasty's group would engage the enemy and signal the start of the attack with a shot from the bazooka acquired in the first skirmish. In the insuing chaos, the Royal Garrison will begin to fire on Pasty's position, while at the same time, Whoop's men will come around to the side and blast a hole in the cement wall surrounding the garrison with C4, allowing his men to storm the compound. Through the early hours of the night, the 36 rebel soldiers marched through the thick forests and arrived at the garrison. As the men took their positions, Captain Pastus Wilhelm was assigned the job of firing the bazooka shot. It only had two rounds of ammo, so the shot had to count. At precisely 4am, the shot was fired and scored a direct hit on the northern Sentry tower. The Royal troops were alerted to the attack and charged out of the barracks and were sitting ducks for Pasty's snipers hidden in the trees outside the fort. Meanwhile, Whoop's team set up the C4 charge on the eastern wall and blew a hole in the defences. His team stormed into the fort and opened the front gate, allowing Pasty's soldiers to walk right in.
After a long firefight, the remaining Austrians surrendered and the battle was won. However, the battle had been a costly one. Seven rebel soldiers were killed and another 2 wounded, including Pasty who was shot in the thigh. But when compared to the staggering losses suffered by the Austrians, it was indeed a victory. Of the 150 soldiers supposedly stationed at the Galerius Fort, 123 had died, 11 were injured, and 16, including the hated General were taken prisoner. As a show of good faith, Pasty allowed the injured soldiers to be treated by the rebel doctors and they were all given the opportunity to pledge their allegance to the Revolution to overthrow the Empire. If not, they will be free to go. Thirteen out of the 27 accepted the offer and joined the communist rebel army. The rest were set free at the base and fled into the countryside, all except for General Herz. At the urging of his advisors and top commanders, Pasty ordered the first Revolutionary Tribunal to punish the General for his horrific crimes against the local peasants and workers. After a 5 hour trial, Pasty informed the General that he will be sentenced to death for his crimes. He was executed later that day by Whoop himself.
In the aftermath of the Battle of Galerius, Comandante Pasty recognized the strength and dedication of Whoopwhoopwhoop. And after a brilliant tactical showing in the battle, Pasty granted him the title of Sub-Comandant, a position shared only with Ackersky himself. And due to his prior military experience and knowledge, he was put in charge of training the new recruits and instructing the rebels on guerrilla warfare. The battle had bestowed the rebels with a huge supply of new weapons and ammunition captured from the armory, and now every one of the 90 or so rebels had a weapon and a supply of ammo. The rebels were now a force to be reckonned with...
Royal Retaliation
The Battle of Galerius sent shockwaves around the PEEL Region. For the first time, the relatively unknown rebels gained international attention. Soon, dozens of international media journalists were clammering to interview the mysterious Comandante Nasty Pasty and his band of freedom fighting rebels. With recognition growing, recruitment for the Revolutionary Army was at it's peak with volunteers coming from all over the country to join the fight against the monarchy. In just a few short weeks, the number enlisted in the rebel army was over 150. With the number of rebels growing, Pasty and other top commanders realized that a more permanant base of operations was needed to house them all. In early June, Camp Libre was abandoned and the rebel army moved to the small city of Kretak. The town was previously a major rebel supporting base was almost unknown to the Royal Army.
When the rebels arrived, after the barracks were constructed, Pasty was determined to form Kretak in to the model of what he hoped Austria would become after the revolution. His engineers built the town's first school and hospitals in addition to the military installations of an armory, a airraid shelter, and training school. They also founded a rebel newspaper "Das Kapital" to help spread the word of the rebel cause across the area, and set up a radio transmitter called "Radio Rebel".
To help spread the word of the revolution to the rest of PEEL, Comandante Pasty sent a new member of the resistance, a lawyer from Vienna named Matthew Gregory on a trip around the region as the official spokesperson. Visiting major communist countries like Nurdbotia, Pyrexonia, and Strategoski, Gregory secured international support and funding for Pasty's communist party.
But all of this did not go un-noticed by the Austrian government. The Battle of Galerius was a wakeup call for the Emperor and vowed to crush the rebellion once and for all. He called on his major outside allies, The Empire of Slimmy and The Kingdom of Sargus to aid in defeating the communists. By late June preparations were being made for an all-out assault on the Barbudos region. Many estimated that a army of 100,000 would soon arrive at the base of the mountains. Spies within the Austrian government relayed this information to Pasty in the town of Kretak who immediately set out to prepare the army and community for battle. Many men from the city pledged their support in the defense of the rebels..
