NationStates Jolt Archive

This is an over-view of the armed forces defending the Igovian Soviet Commonwealth of Beth Gellert, possibly the world's most successful communist collective. It does not reference the unrelated Beth Gellert that is played within the AMW RPing group, but the primary NS account that exists in the big-wide multiverse on no specific earth or anything of that sort.

There will be several posts to follow, and they all shall be expanded over time. In the meanwhile, feel free to read/tag/comment/query.

HERE (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=408104&page=1&pp=15) is a link to Beth Gellert's main factbook should you wish to understand more about the society that these forces protect

HERE (http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?p=9692328#post9692328) is a link to a defence factbook dealing with the technologies and systems used by the Commonwealth's defence forces.

Note: Data refering to equipment and personnel totals -being per billion head of population- relates to a status quo to be achieved following a current background/RP where in the Igovian Soviet Commonwealth is to unite with the Kingdom of the Geletians.


The Commonwealth Guard

These are the elements of the Commonwealth Guard, including the Commonwealth Militia; Commonwealth Air Guard; and the Commonwealth Oceanic Guard, itself including the Commonwealth Marine Division.

The Soviet Commune is comprised of elected Guardsmen and women (voted for by their comrades in arms and subject to referenda-enabled recall at any time), who act as the Guard's headquarters' staff and direct such matters as military procurement and strategy. The term is loosely applied to the whole military, as all servicemen and women are members of Soviets and expect to have their will represented by their elected members within the Commune-proper. The Soviet Commune has liason officers connected to the Commonwealth Professional Civil Service, and sends delegates to the Final Senate in order that military funding and operations be directly tied to the will of the masses.

All able comrades within the Igovian Soviet Commonwealth were enrolled in the Commonwealth Guard following the disbanding of the national Army at Commonwealth Unification. The Oceanic Guard and even more importantly the Air Guard of course require intensive and specialised training that makes them less universal than the Militia, since any one of sound mind and body can be easily taught to fire a rifle or throw a petrol bomb, while the operation of a fighter jet requires professional dedication. With this in mind, the AG and OG enroll part-time servicemen and women in great numbers, and these comrades continue to work reduced hours at their home Phalansteries, retaining direct involvement in civilian life and continuing to contribute to the economy while supporting the full-time military core and providing a large pool of semi-trained military recruits that can be brought quickly up to professional standard in the event of a crisis. The Soviet Commune incorporates also the less expert part-time fliers and such, who out-weigh militant special interest groups in the full-time formations, and as such can vote-down unrepresentative hawks in the Soviet Commune.

Throughout the Commonwealth Guard since the reunification of mainland and the Estonian islands and the associated disbanding of the army, it has been standard practice for Sovietists to elect their officers. All Experts receive extensive general and some specialist training in the universities, and their records are made available within the Soviet Commune so that their comrades can take it into consideration when nominating tactical leadership. Once elected to the officer corps, Guards usually receive modified on-going training geared towards their new role specifically, while previous training will have prepared them to some basic degree.

Each of the three main Guard branches has a core of professionals as mentioned above, and these are called Expert Corps, while the mass bodies are Auxiliaries.

THE COMMONWEALTH MILITIA is gigantic. It is the people of the Igovian Soviet Commonwealth, resolute in the defence of a society for so long undermined and outright assaulted by authoritarians from east and west, and born through the violence of revolution and betrayal in Russia and of concurrent world war.

Being as far over two billion comrades are enrolled in the Militia, it is not surprising to learn that this is primarily a straight-leg force meant for defence on local and regional fronts and throughout the Commonwealth, rather than as an army with strategic mobility.

Tactical flexibility is maintained and the most iconic representatation of this is by the large numbers of ski troops operating in the north and during winter months. Each state (especially those on the mainland) bases significant mechanised forces, with modern cores crewed by Commonwealth Militia Experts.

A massive quantity of Militia equipment is only semi-active, used for part-time training and kept in serviceable condition.

The CM consists of the CMA, and of the CMEC.

The CMA (Commonwealth Militia Auxiliary) officially enroles all citizens of able mind and body who are not members of the CMEC, CAG, or COG, though in fact the CMA's service expectations are especially relaxed for those involved in primary military production. This generally means that something like forty percent of the Commonwealth's population has access to military-grade equipment and training facilities. Personal weapons are usually looked-after in peacetime by elected quartermasters and men-at-arms living in each community, and Phalanstery garages are likely to contain some light military transport. Heavier vehicles and equipment more often are concentrated in university cities around which communes are dispersed, and these hubs contain regional Soviets and some of the advanced training facilities available.

CMA troops are supposed to have ex-service arms and old uniforms including those taken from the disbanded national army. In practice, keeping such a massive force fully supplied is not fully realistic when it is usually close to inactive in a large part, so some uniforms are less than, well, uniform, and a major component of its weaponry -such as factory-standard Molotov Cocktails and low-tech explosives and mortars- is manufactured by widespread cottage industry.

Personal Weapons

-L-35 LAHTI AUTOMATIC PISTOL (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v148/Chivtv/NS1/l35lahti.jpg)

First appearing shortly before the second world war, the L-35 continues in Auxiliary service because it is a reliable weapon with a bolt that has sufficient energy to shrug off the hardships of dirt and cold. 9x19mm ammunition may remain popular elsewhere in the world, but the Soviet Commune is coming to see it as dated, which, with the fact of L-35's small eight-shot magazine, has resulted in the weapon's eventual withdrawal from front-line service after more than half a century. Large stockpiles of the common old ammunition, good reliability, and decades of familiarity make it a useful second-line weapon.

-SUOMI SUB-MACHINEGUN (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v148/Chivtv/NS1/suomitst2.jpg)

Even older than the L-35, but likewise reliable and accurate, the Suomi has been criticised for substantial cost. Fed from 36 or 50 shot boxes or from a 70 shot drum (that probably inspired the Russian adoption of a drum in the PPSh following the Russo-Beddgelen conflicts) and supposed to be effective out to at least 200metres, the weapon is still deadly. That it features a quick-change barrel enables operators to be even more aggressive in taking advantage of the high magazine capacity during intense combat. Pictured is an unusually dedicated and well-equipped militia auxiliary fighter in peace-time, such as in war-time invaders would face by the million.

-RK-62 ASSAULT RIFLE (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v148/Chivtv/NS1/rk62.jpg)

A modified AK-47 design first adopted in the 1960s, and chambered for 7.62x39mm. It is similar to the original AK in the use of a milled receiver, but has different handguards and a tubular metal buttstock. It has a very limited night-fighting capacity thanks to folding night-sights with white dots. All in all, a reliable tool for the Militia.

-RK-76 ASSAULT RIFLE (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v148/Chivtv/NS1/RK76.jpg)

This modification adopts the lightweight stamped receiver, and is perhaps less popular than the other rifles. However, it is cheaper and as such very common in militia lockers. It exists in several versions with different buttstocks: P version has a fixed plastic arrangement, T a fixed tubular example like the RK-62, and TP a side-folding buttstock for use by mobile fighters.

-RK-95 ASSAULT RIFLE (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v148/Chivtv/NS1/rk95.jpg)

This is the weapon being currently switched from Expert to Auxiliary service. It returns to the heavier milled receiver, and has a folding buttstock. It has other features such as a new flash-hider; new handguards; and the enlarged trigger guard carried over to the RK-100-7, which allows shooting in winter gloves. It can also mount a sound suppressor, and can fire rifle-grenades. In the short-term it will continue to be widely used by the Experts in gradually decreasing numbers.

-KvKK-62 LIGHT MACHINEGUN (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v148/Chivtv/NS1/kvkk.jpg)

A 7.62x39mm weapon fed by a 100 shot belt, this weighs a substantial 8.3kg empty. It has a high rate of fire above 1,000rpm, and is accurate out to long ranges, making it very formidable. It does, however, require careful attention to avoid fouling, making it arguably less than perfect for Auxiliary use. Still, modest recoil helps with accuracy in less than well trained hands, which combines with rate of fire to make it a grave obstacle, and one with some slight anti-aircraft utility on the proper mounting.

-Factory-Standard MOLOTOV Cocktail (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v148/Chivtv/NS1/molotovs.jpg)

Pictured are a very basic weapon (left), a slightly improved design (centre), and the factory-standard weapon produced at countless communal workshops (right).


The CMEC (Commonwealth Militia Expert Corps) is maintained at roughly three quarters of a million active personnel per billion head of population (0.075% of the population). CMEC soldiers receive good year-round training, and are well supplied with modern equipment including good winter uniforms, body armour, and so on. Large-scale exercises are carried out every year, and some elements involve other branches of the Commonwealth Guard.

Uniform Kit

-Based on layered clothing and providing NBC and ballistic protection and carriage of equipment
-Includes underwear, T-shirt, insulating layer of shirt and trousers, camouflage suit including pockets for insertion of elbow and knee pads and with other pockets positioned to allow access when wearing armour, snow suit, trench coat and winter trousers, winter and summer caps, boot socks, removable felt lining, half-boots, rubber boots and winter boots, leather gloves and knitted mittens, shrapnel vest, composite helmet, active-carbon midlayer and protective mask, rucksack and equipment bag, battle belt.

Personal Weapons

-RK-100 ASSAULT RIFLE (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v148/Chivtv/NS1/RK100.jpg)

Presently being phased in to service, the RK-100-7 is something of a revolution, with twice the first-shot hit probability of its contemporaries, and flexibility, reliability, and accuracy of truly world-beating standard thanks to features explained below. It is still possible to see the Kalashnikov heritage in this weapon, which replaces the very AK-like RK-95 in front-line service with the CMEC and the CMD.

The RK-100-7 uses extensive machining, having a milled receiver rather than a cheaper stamped one. This implies a weight increase, and that, to a degree, has been countered by the use in parts of the rifle of new plastics perfected only recently after decades of experience in heavy fighting under extreme climactic conditions, and by the adoption of a relatively compact bullpup configuration. The solid, high quality construction and proven base mechanism of the rifle make for a supremely reliable and hard-wearing weapon. Fairly radical features do suggest the possibility for marginally reduced reliability, but this would only really be the case were the new rifle an improvisation cramming features into an old frame... in fact the Soviet Commune is fortunate to face no great pressures to rush its weapons into service, feeling secure in a land protected by the epic Commonwealth Guard with its three generations of conventional RK rifles: precise dimensions were easilly perfected during careful trials and prototype stages, with nothing in the new rifle's dimensions owed to older weapons.

Evolved in part from the AK-47-origin mechanism of the earlier RK rifles, the RK-100-7 uses new elements related to modern Russian developments. It is a gas operated rotating bolt gun, but -since the decision to significantly re-tool Igovian first-rate production lines had already been reached- the design incorporates a counter-balancing synchroniser. This means that while the bolt is carrying backwards during operation, a gas-driven piston drives a compensating mass in the opposite direction, with this reaching its end point just as the bolt does thus countering the impulse that otherwise contributes to a rifle's travelling off target during automatic fire. With marginally smaller parts -thanks in part to the calibre change- relative to previous RKs and this new balanced mechanism, functioning parts each travel slightly less distance, which results in a higher rate of fire.

The Commonwealth has finally begun with the RK-100-7 to replace the 7.62x39mm round-of-convenience, adopting a new 7x42mm cartridge with a bullet that sports an interior air pocket. The result is recoil marginally above that of rival 5.56 or 5.45mm rifles -though still below that of previous Beddgelen rifles- but a longer bullet that has a flatter trajectory and which, with greater velocity, increases hit probability and generally improves performance at longer ranges. The bullet's energy -it being bigger than many modern rounds- remains high, and so stopping power is still good at closer ranges, superior, in fact, to modern small-calibre weapons. The air pocket itself of course requires that the bullet be made as long as it is, and its advantage is that it allows this trajectory-improving shape to be achieved without excessive weight gain taxing performance over longer ranges.

The RK-100-7 is heavily influenced by other assault rifles from both home and abroad, as its creators in the Soviet Commune will admit, and this is partly owing to the relative youth of the modern Beddgelen state, which has enjoyed only limited opportunites to really forge its own path after such a short and brutal life thus far.

Features include much of the AK's mechanism and some of the sturdier construction methods, the intermediate cartridge similar in dimension to experimental models from the UK and elsewhere, and an airpocket within the bullet as seen more recently in the Russian 5.45x39mm round but -Igovians will insist- demonstrated much earlier and less famously by the British using a modified .303". From the RK-95 this rifle takes its enlarged trigger guard, meant to enable the wearing of thick winter gloves while operating the weapon.

The bayonet bears some similarities to modern British weapons, especially when combined with the sheath. As with bayonets for the L85/SA80 rifles, RK-100-7's bayonet and sheath combine to provide an effective wire-cutting tool, and the sheath can be used to sharpen the blade and also incorporates a handy bottle-opener. It differs from its British inspiration in being slightly longer (blade around 20cm/8") and of arguably better construction thanks to the nature of Igovian socialist industry. It is also mounted with a mind to the heat-related problems that have been seen to afflict the L85's bayonet if left attached during firing.

Another feature apparently inspired by the British assault rifle is its optical sights, comparable to the oft-admired SUSAT and produced after some extensive experimentation under harsh Beddgelen climactic conditions. A clear and simple x4 magnification sight, its use of tritium to provide a glowing pointer furnishes a limited night-fighting ability, but the whole piece can be quickly exchanged for a dedicated battery-powered UV night sight. With these sights (plus basic iron sights), a bullpup arrangement enabling a reasonably long barrel, a balanced bolt and fairly high rate of fire, and an unusually flat trajectory provided by the new bullet, the Igovian Soviets have a rifle that is as remarkable for its accuracy as for its before-mentioned reliability. It typically exhibits more than twice the accuracy of conventional competators in general, and notably a radically improved first shot hit probability as well as significantly better accuracy during full-automatic fire.

Another feature is the ability to fire rifle grenades, which have a maximum range of significantly more than 300m. There is also the option for a silencer attachment. Magazine capacity is 32 rounds, and modes of fire are semi and fully automatic, with fighters being trained to provide their own burst fire and many auxiliaries encouraged to use the semi-automatic function. Rate of fire is 800rpm.

The RK-100-7 is 815mm/32" long with a 500mm/19.75" barrel, and its empty weight is around 4kg/8.8lb.


-RK-101 LIGHT MACHINEGUN (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v148/Chivtv/NS1/RK101.jpg)

This is essentially a heavy-barrel version of the RK-100-7 assault rifle designed to provide sustained fire for infantry squads, and many of its components and performance characteristics are interchangable with the smaller weapon. It is fed usually from a small 48 round drum that fits into the magazine housing.

The RK-101 is 972mm/38.25" long with a 660mm/26" barrel, and weighs almost 5kg/11lb empty.

With optical sights, especially the available night sights; the exceptionally long, heavy barrel; forward-mounted bipod; rear hand-grip; balanced automatic mechanism; and intermediate flat-trajectory cartridge, the RK-101 is a deadly accurate weapon likely to cut-down whole squads of enemies daring to attack into the Beddgelen Commonwealth.

-TRG-42 SNIPER RIFLE (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v148/Chivtv/NS1/SakoTRG-42-22.jpg)

Famously accurate weapons, this series of bolt-action rifles exists in Militia Expert service in .338 Lapua (8.6x70mm) chambering. It has a 5 shot box magazine. The .338 Lapua round enables more reliably effective killing power and long-range accuracy, especially in difficult conditions, relative to more typical 7.62mm weapons, without being part of a ridiculously impractical package such as a 12.7mm sniper rifle.

TRG-42 is a powerful rifle weighing 5.1kg and having a 690mm/27.16" barrel.

[More pending]

CAG: THE COMMONWEALTH AIR GUARD is a very large organisation that includes pilots and support crews, operators of air-defence equipment on the ground, and soldiers dedicated to the defence of Air Guard facilities. The Commonwealth Guard over-all aims to field one aircraft for every fifty-thousand head of the Commonwealth's population, providing 20,000 aircraft of all types per billion Igovians, or a total of one hundred thousand military aircraft on the not so long ago passed population landmark of five billion comrades. Most of the total is accounted for by the ranks of the Air Guard Auxiliaries and consists partly of older aircraft meant to support the Expert Corps, while the remainder is made up of the CAGEC and aircraft flown by the Oceanic Guard and the Militia. It includes combat and none combat, fixed and rotary wing, manned and unmanned aircraft.

THE COG (COMMONWEALTH OCEANIC GUARD) operates naval combat, deployment, and support vessels along with shore-based anti-ship warfare and search-and-rescue aircraft, and anti-ship gun and missile batteries. It also incorporates the, "semi-elite" Commonwealth Marine Division.

Around a third of the Oceanic Guard are classed as Experts who operate the more difficult maritime defence equipment in service, but the rest share duty shifts with them and with one another, and man less complicated systems. These Oceanic Guard Auxiliaries, like the AGA, mean that the masses have much improved means for keeping the military in line with public sentiment and -though this seems unlikely to be of practical significance in the modern age- that the people are more able to resist the dangers of an armed coup by a mechanised military that would otherwise have the cutting-edge heavy weapons to overpower civilian milita forces: the auxiliaries have as much part in civilian life as they have access to military hardware, and thus the people become an army empowered by the full productive strength of the state they represent. Igovians remain greatly inspired by the legacy of the Kronstadt Soviets, many of whom fled to Finland after the Bolsheviks sent the Russian Red Army against them, and it is now a fact of life in the Commonwealth that the people are well able to seize warships and defence facilities should special interest groups attempt to gain power.

The COG is split into two fleet commands: the Northern Fleet, headquartered at Severomorsk and with an additional base at Gremikha; and the Baltic Fleet, headquartered at Muhu Island (in Victoria), and with bases at Turku (heart of Archipelago Sea operations), Soru (on the south of Hiiumaa in Victoria) Kronstadt (heart of Gulf of Finland operations, which, like others on the Gulf, is ice-bound from at least January to May save for channels kept more or less open by icebreakers), and Upinniemi (which supports Kronstadt in the Gulf). A somewhat autonomous Grand Fleet can be assembled from either or both commands under an elected Fleet Admiral whenever the need arises.

The OGA (Oceanic Guard Auxiliary) keeps around one and a half million part-time personnel in its ranks for each billion heads of population (0.15% of the population), of which some one hundred thousand are Marine Auxiliaries and the rest regular navy. They provide partial rotational crews to some Oceanic Guard vessels and weapons, and boost complements under wartime conditions. Most often their ranks will be found operating support services and crewing shore-based missiles and guns, or providing defensive naval infantry.

The COGEC (Commonwealth Oceanic Guard Expert Corps) target strength is usually three-quarters of a million personnel per billion heads of population (0.075% of the population), of which seven hundred thousand are regular navy personnel and the remaining fifty thousand are from the Marine Division.

[Last one, I tentatively promise!]

From: The Republic of Arabanistan

To: Beth Gellert

The Republic of Arabanistan would like to ask about the possibilities of a joint military training programme between Arabanistan and the Soviet Commenwealth of Beth Gellert.

Arabanistan is NOT a communist or socialist nation. Arabanistan's political system is that of a Arab revolutionary anti imperialist one, under the vanguard of the Ba'ath Arab Socialist Party (BASP).

However, Arabanistan does not wish for our different political systems to prevent us from helping each other build our nations respective military strength.

If your nation as Soviet design weapons for sale, we would be more than happy to buy such weapons from you.

President Hafez al Assad

The Soviet Commune dutifully passed al Assad's communiqué on to the Commonwealth Professional Civil Service, which attached it to current Senate summary documents with a skeptical bash of the stapler.

It was not terribly well-received wherever it went as Igovians muttered or else loudly stated fears of Bolshevist-influence. Needless to say, such a slight thing as the title, "President" or a passing reference to a political party was enough to turn-off most Beddgelens to any approach from the Arabanistan state. Beth Gellert, after all, wouldn't have come to be without the betrayal and butchery of the Russian Red Army and its political masters, and had been born to the sound of cries, "We stand for the power of the Soviets, not that of the parties!". One certainly couldn't have done worse than to -however innocently- imply that the Commonwealth had any sort of partnership with the old USSR, which was a -nay, the- blood enemy of the Beddgelen and indeed the world revolution.

The sort of authoritarianism (not to mention racism) that many perceived in the form of the Ba'ath Arab Socialist Party meant that co-operation with the partyless, leaderless Commonwealth was unlikely. In fact it was rather more likely that the Commonwealth would arm opponents of what appeared to be a pretty dastardly dictatorship.

(OOC)

Shit, I thought you were a Stalinist one party dictatorship.

I was hoping to have a NS version of the RL relationship between Ba'athist Syria and the USSR.

Your nation however is a REAL communist one, no gov. no state, no money. Just a collective of workers councils.

Do you know of any large powerful Stalinist states in NS that would be interested in forming an alliance with Arabanistan.

I tried to look for Soviet Lands, but his nation is now inactive.

(OOC: Heh, that's all right, one of the main problems that Beddgelens have is that their forefathers fought and died to save the Soviets from the Bolsheviks (the 1921 Kronstadt uprising is arguably the hour of conception for Beth Gellert) and though they partially succeeded, the world has forgotten that the USSR didn't corrupt/fail-at communism, it actively hunted down and destroyed it in Russia and its satellites.

I'm sure there are a lot of those nations you seek, but everybody seems to change government on a weekly basis, these days, so I can't keep up with who's what, right now, or I'd offer a suggestion. Well, good luck anyway, and if any false-communist powers are reading, there's a client state for you [points].)

Now click under-lined system-names for a line-drawing or photograph of the particular item. How exciting!

As ever, constructive suggestions on a... post.

For more information on the Igovian Revolution, follow the link in the signature below.

Hey BG, what types of aircraft do you use in regular NS? Are they the same as in AMW? Robotstan operates a few squadrons of very advanced air superiority fighters (Su-47-alikes) and countless Sea Harriers, Blue Vixen'd Hunters, Hawks, and even some Venoms.

(Well, that's coming up in the near future, LRR, as I'm still shuffling a few things around, but by and large the modern aircraft are the same basic designs seen in AMW, except that here BG can actually afford to fly more than a few pre-production variants. Other than that, before Igovian industry found its feet, it will become evident that -since we despised the USSR and didn't think much of the major 1st world powers, either- the Commonwealth looked to its immediate western neighbour and specifically to SAAB.)

Ok, just curious there. You know?

Things have been very quiet in AMW (given the rather complete disappearance of most of Europe save Estenlands and Russia, especially when its come time for another sucking up to England for armaments!), so I'm just sort of giving myself something to do. (i.e. disrupting your productive posts with pointless rambling).

:)

(Eh, don't worry about it, I'm not likely to be productive again for a bit, heh. Off to London over the weekend... stuff to sort out, tomorrow, so feel free to prattle on in the meanwhile ;) )

(Right... back... the south-east provided even more badly watered-down and over-priced beer than it normally does, and I can't remember where I'm up to with all this. Hm, finish the CG equipment lists or start the CAG's? Yes, the Air Guard, next. Okay, come on, people, billions of words, but there's pictures, too!
Pay attention to the vanguard of the world revolution! )