Qaran Rebellion 1937-1939

On 17th July 1937, a rebellion broke out in the small desert nation of Qara, which is surrounded by Wardie land's Western Colonies, the rebellion was led by the communist FLQ (Spanish: Frente para la Liberación de Qará, English: Front for the Liberation of Qara). FLQ wanted the end of the Wardie land-Qaran Alliance, which they saw as an imperialist alliance, making Qara a dependency of Wardie land, and to dissolve the First Qaran Republic, which the FLQ believed was being sycophantic to Wardie land. The government requested Wardie land support in defeating the rebels, under the alliance, Wardie land sent forces to Qara, under the guise of the "Qaran Volunteer Force" (Spanish: Fuerza Voluntaria de Qará - FVQ) whilst the QVF did contain pro-Wardie land volunteers, it was mostly a cover for the Wardie land Imperial forces being deployed to Qara. The rebellion was a Republican-Wardie land victory, the First Qaran Republic was saved, and the Wardie land-Qaran Alliance stayed in force.

Sowing the seeds - 1890-1937

Spanish Qara achieved independence from Spain in 1891, becoming the "First Qaran Republic" (Spanish: Primera República de Qará).

Almost as soon as the new republic had been founded, Wardie land sent delegates to it from Qara's easterly neighbour, Saqa, a colony of Wardie land, Wardie land and Qara signed the Wardie land-Qaran Alliance, which pleased the Qaran President, Miguel Bemo, since it meant his young, weak country was safe under the protection of powerful Wardie land. The Alliance declared that one member of the alliance would help the other in case of attack or other emergency should the member request the other for help, it also provided Qara with money and arms, training for the Qaran Army, Navy and the Fuerza Pública, as well as improved infrastructure such as the railway, for Wardie land the alliance meant Wardie land had a supply of foreign soldiers.

Under the terms of the alliance, Wardie land provided weaponry to Qara, ships to build up the tiny Qaran Navy, training of Army, Navy and Fuerza Pública personnel, money and the building of railways and other such infrastructure, under Wardie land's guidance the new Qara flourished. Before Wardie land built ships for Qara, the Qaran Navy consisted of only 3 ships.

However, whilst the majority of Qarans celebrated the staggering flourishment of their country, and their great ally, Wardie land, not all Qarans believed the "Jolly Times" their country was going through were good, these few believed the good times came at a cost, the cost of potentially losing their independence to Wardie land, which was the cause behind almost all of Qara's recent successes, one of these Qarans was Capitan Jorge Tongi of the Qaran Navy, who began to feel a rebellion was the best course of action, and was necessary, in 1914 he decided to mutiny and took over his cruiser, Katangi.

After setting the crew adrift because they refused to follow him, Tongi intended to execute his carefully-laid plan of attacking the Qaran Navy at its primary base at Puerto Azul, as he set sail for Puerto Azul he sent a message to Qaran naval HQ at the port, declaring his political views, and why he was doing what he was planning to do, the reason he sent the message is unknown, but it's believed he did it as a political statement, which was the whole purpose of the mutiny and attack all along, and that he never intended to attack the port in the first place, only to frighten the commander of the navy, Almirate de la Flota Roberto Jimenez, to cause him to order all Qaran ships to attack the Katangi, and make Tongi a martyr to his cause. Tongi had anticipated the reaction of his commander correctly, frightened by the treasonable actions of one of his captains, Jimenez ordered all ships to attack Katangi, a Wardie land battlecruiser fleet was conducting manoeuvres in the area and Jimenez asked them to intercept the Katangi, which they did.

Tongi hadn't anticipated this, as his old 1890s-era cruiser was pummelled by two Invincible-class battlecruisers of the Wardie land Imperial Navy 25th Battlecruiser Squadron he sent a message to Jimenez, declaring himself a martyr, the burning hulk of the Katangi was pummelled by Wardie land's battlecruisers and the Qaran ships which had joined the engagement, Katangi was sunk by a torpedo from A-class submarine HMIWS A-9, which had only just arrived after picking up Jimenez's message for all Wardie land ships in the area to intercept the Katangi.

Katangi, a Pearl-class cruiser supplied to Qara by Wardie land as part of the improvement and strengthening of the Qaran Navy under the Wardie land-Qaran Alliance.

HMIWS A1, the lead ship of the A-class submarine, the class to which HMIWS A9 belonged.

After the Katangi Incident rebellious thoughts continued to spread, despite the fact most Qarans considered Tongi to be a traitor, and rejected his methods as being "for the good of Qara". Some Qarans believed the Qaran Republic and Wardie land were trying to stifle any protest to government policies, and that the Katangi Incident was "Wardie land aggression", despite the fact that Wardie land ships were specifically requested in an emergency message by the commander of the Qaran Navy to intercept and attack the Katangi.

During the 1920s the rebellious thoughts subsided as people were enjoying the prosperity the 1920s boom was bringing, and the Qaran government thought they had finally managed to overcome the dangerous rebellious feelings some had, as Qara was booming after Wardie land was buying Qaran exports to sell on to collectors, Qara was also undergoing a mining boom, Qara was rich in copper and other metals, which Wardie land was buying much of.

However this boom wasn't to last, as during the Great Depression the mining industry was the only industry not hit hard by the Depression, because Qara's mines were able to produce enough to supply Wardie land's demand, therefore keeping them afloat, other industries, such as the rug and collectible businesses, one of Qara's biggest industries, were not as fortunate as the mining industry, as many people in Wardie land were also suffering economic difficulties they were unable to buy the extravagant luxuries they could in the 1920s, such as Qaran rugs, meaning Wardie land was forced to cut down exports from Qara, since there wasn't as much demand for the products because they were too expensive for much of the population during the depression years.

As Qarans began suffering from loss of economic prospects, jobs and other such things rebellious feelings began to resurface, by 1937 a sizeable number of people believed in rebellion, the FLQ was founded on 1st March 1937, and began to get ready for rebellion, the Qaran government began expressing concern over what they considered "unusual behaviour" amongst some of their citizens, and attempted hunting down rebels and arresting or killing them, however Qara had no idea how many new rebels there were.

Rebellion - July 1937-1939

On the 17th July 1937 the rebellion began, about a quarter of Qara's population began to rebel, however most of them didn't have guns, which put them at a big disadvantage to the guns, armoured vehicles and tanks the Qaran Army had, they also didn't have many aircraft or AA guns, they only received a small number of antiquated aircraft through defectors, and they were strafed and bombed by the Qaran Air Force with no real resistance, the rebels did have some warships, after some of the Qaran Navy defected, however these ships were few in number and old, they stood little chance to the newer ships Qara had received from Wardie land.

At the start of the rebellion the Qaran Army's primary service rifle was the Lee-Metford, but also had sizeable numbers of Mauser Model 1889s, which was the standard rifle of the Fuerza Pública. Qara's primary machine gun was the Maxim, both the Lee-Metford and the Maxim were chambered in .303 British, the standard cartridge used by Wardie land, which allowed them to receive supplies from neighbouring Wardie land, tanks used included the Panzer I, the Vickers Medium Mk I and II and the Vickers 6-ton, and used other armoured vehicles such as the Carden-Loyd Tankette. The Qaran Air Force (Spanish: Fuerza Aérea de Qaraña - FAQ) consisted of 5 fighter squadrons, 7 bomber squadrons, 15 recon squadrons and 3 transport squadrons, many of the aircraft used by which were of 1910s/1920s vintage, Wardie land would provide a lot of assistance to the growth and modernisation fo the QAF. The Qaran Navy (Spanish: Armada de Qaraña) consisted of 1 battlecruiser, 5 cruisers, 8 WWI-era destroyers, a seaplane carrier, 3 submarines and 10 river boats.

Two Fuerza Pública soldiers with their Mauser rifles, the Fuerza Pública would play quite a big role in the rebellion

Fuerza Pública soldiers in Southern Qara, believed to have been taken not far from the Karasi-Qara Border, the border between southern Qara and Wardie Karasi to the south, a rebel force did invade Wardie Karasi in November 1937

The first battle was the First Battle of Shaal-al-Kesim, in which the rebels managed to win control of the village from the small outpost stationed there, and managed to take over a Qaran Air Force airbase there, deeply concerned about the availability of new aircraft to the rebels, the Qaran government quickly won back the village in the Second Battle of Shaal-al-Kesim, in order to take back control of the airbase.

Qara requested Wardie land to help defeat the rebels, whilst the Imperial Parliament discussed and argued what to do for a short time it was decided to send forces to Qara, mostly to honour the Wardie land-Qaran Alliance. In order to hide what could possibly been seen to the world as an invasion Wardie land disguised the military forces as the "Qaran Volunteer Force", however there were volunteers in the QVF as well as enlisted soldiers. However in November 1937 Wardie land decided to lift the veil of secrecy over the QVF, which the world was already suspecting was a Wardie land smoke-screen, and declare that the Qaran Volunteer Force was actually mostly made up of imperial military forces, and then declared they were there to "restore stability and peace to the region".

With Wardie land military and technological support, Qara was able to quickly go on the offensive and defeat the rebels in several key battles, such as the Battle of Yaswa Oasis, killing a member of the rebel leadership. Qara received the latest military technologies from Wardland and anti-Communist German supporters, such as the Me 109A, He 111A, He 111P (in 1939), Gloster Gladiator, Hawker Hurricane, the Handley Page Harrow, Bristol Blenheim Mk I, Panzer II, Light Tank Mk VI and the Cruiser Mk I (in 1938), the few ships of the young rebel navy, the "Armada de FLQ" didn't stand a chance against the combined Wardie land Imperial Navy-Qaran Navy forces, they were outnumbered, outgunned and technologically inferior to the ships of Wardie land and the Qaran government forces.

Most of the Armada de FLQ fleet was destroyed in the Battle of Isla del Oeste, on the 18th September 1937, against a vastly superior Wardie land-Qaran Fleet, which was supported by torpedo bomber planes of the Aviación Naval de Qaraña (ANQ) flying from ANQ Isla del Oeste, there were three flagships at this battle, the HMIWS Intimidator, which was the flagship of the pro-Republic forces and WardiAN forces, the NAQ (Navío de Armada Qaraña; Qaran Navy Ship) República, the flagship of Qaran Navy forces, and the Revolución, the flagship of the rebel Armada de FLQ and JER commander, Almirante Libre Shaka Yimbo. As the Wardian and Qaran Navy ships steamed towards the rebel fleet near Isla del Oeste (West Island), the rebel commander, Shaka Yimbo ordered his ships to head straight for them, which would prove to be a fatal mistake, the Wardie land and Qaran fleets split into two and surrounded the rebel fleet from both sides, pummelling them from both sides, Yimbo realised the mistake he had made and tried to push through to the other side of the gauntlet, however a flotilla of Wardie land York-class heavy cruisers "crossed his T", boxing his fleet in and broadsiding him whilst he was only able to retaliate with his forward guns.

Even though it was only heavy cruisers crossing his T, and he was in a battlecruiser, his old battlecruiser stood little chance to the modern heavy cruisers of Wardie land, coupled with the fact he had other battlecruisers, cruisers and destroyers pounding him from each side, as well as torpedo destroyers torpedoing his ships and torpedo bombing runs against his ships from torpedo planes, he knew he stood little chance, he gave the order to abandon ship only 20 minutes after the battle began.

The battle was a disaster, the majority of the rebel navy had been sunk, only a few old destroyers and river gunboats remained, and an obsolete submarine from the 1900s, the FLQ would be unable to mount any serious attacks against Wardie land-Qaran naval forces from then on, the pro-Republic forces could travel the seas surrounding Qara with no real resistance from the rebel navy, only the Aviación Naval de FLQ was any sort of threat to pro-government forces, however Wardie land had brought up aircraft carriers, which protected every major fleet and convoy, there were also Wardie land and Qaran land-based fighters stationed along the western coast of Qara, which could patrol the airspace around friendly shipping, still the ANFLQ wasn't even much of threat, since the ANFLQ flew mostly highly obsolete and outdated bomber and fighter aircraft, with very few modern aircraft, easy prey for modern Wardie land and Qaran fighters.

HMIWS Intimidator, flagship of Wardie land naval forces at the Battle of Isla del Oeste

NAQ República (pennant number A-4), flagship of Qaran naval forces at the Battle of Isla del Oeste, sold to Qara by Wardie land in 1927

Revolución (pennant number A-2), flagship of the rebel navy, sold to Qara by Wardie land in 1924, placed under command of Shaka Yimbo in 1935, he and his crew mutinied and took control of the ship, becoming the flagship of the Armada de FLQ

On 31st December 1937 the Armada de FLQ was hit further still, as it lost its only submarine, the Lobo, during an attack on a Wardie land flotilla. The Lobo was sunk in a depth charge attack by a Wardie land Clemson-class destroyer, HMIWS Crocodile.

The Lobo (Wolf), gifted to Qara by Wardie land in 1918, part of the Flota de Submarinos del Norte (FSN) (Northern Submarine Fleet) 1918-1937, taken over in a mutiny and fled to makeshift rebel naval base at Bahía de Libertad, spent several months at the bay before being sent out at the end of December, sunk at 2:18 PM 31st December 1937 by Clemson-class destroyer HMIWS Crocodile

HMIWS Crocodile launching torpedoes during combat manoeuvres, note the Ocean Camoflague (Tropical) Type 1942 camo she is wearing, ca. 1943