The Kalpian Republic-1900
Kalpian Logistical Overhaul
It had been a long time idea of the General Staff to smooth out logistics in Kalpia since they knew that this was an era of mass warfare when hundreds of thousands or even millions of soldiers would have to be sent to the front to fight for the republic. Yet, the greatest challenge didn't lie with defeating the enemy, discipline or morale, but rather the massive logistical burden on the national infrastructure. Even Kalpia the country with the most developed railway network knew that it could not feasibly maintain an offensive or move fast enough to make a decisive strike on the enemy and put an end to the war as soon as possible.
Yet, there were many ways in which the logistical process could be smoothed. One of which was the standardization of containers, each with a specific symbol. One container for food, one for rifle ammunition, one for artillery rounds, one for general equipment, etc. By standardizing the containers one could know how much could be transported in a single wagon and thus how much time it would take to supply an entire division or an entire army depending on the availability of horses, trains, weather, soldiers and the distance between the depot and the army.
This leads us to the next topic which is military depots, it was a known fact that depots were the places where all military supplies were stored, but the matter was where those depots where built, their distance to the frontline, the access to nearby source of transports and a number of stockpiled supplies in each depot. To allow for a single depot to not have inventory would be madness and for it to not be next to road or a railway even more. The Kalpian General Staff by whatever means necessary had to find a way to supply its army smoothly and efficiently. The idea was to build several minor and major depots around the country. The Major depots would be stockpiled with huge amount of supplies and be placed in the major hubs of railways in the country while the minor depots would be built near the borders and the countryside, each next to a road or a railway, the minor depots would have enough supply for two months of combat for each division stationed nearby. Thus depending on the situation the supplies from major depots could be transported to several minor depots instead of only one, this would allow for a fast change in concentration of forces on the front. Meaning that if one month the army was pushing north, the next month it could push the south with the same strength. As supplies could be easily transported to one specific area without putting too much stress on a single railway. This also involved plans to build even more railways both heavy and light to connect the depots with the National Kalpian Railway. Several lines would have to be built allow for trains to go to either point B, C, E or F from point A directly.
Another important overhaul was to be the expansion of the Republican Engineer Corps and the use of prefabricated light railways so that they could be easily transported and installed to expand the logistical reach of the army, thus allowing for the railway supply network to advance at the same time as the army even if not at the same pace. This also involved the introduction of field work training to the common soldier and reservist. So that they could be used to expand the railway supply network if needed with the guidance of the Engineer Corps.
One last important point was the quality and amount of military rations assigned to each soldier. This would help to both raise the morale and the fighting capabilities of the army, because thanks to lessons from the Kalpia-Zellonian conflict they knew that food was quite important and without it, the army fighting capability could fall below that of even rabble like the Radenan soldier or the Zellonian soldier. This food had to be in enough quantity and quality for the common soldier. Thus the Department of Army Logistics started to see and experiment with various components of rations, expecting to reach which one was the most effective at keeping the soldier healthy and being available enough to give to all soldiers.
The total investment for the overhaul would be of $20,000,000
Notes:
-The Army standardizes all military supply containers assigning a specific container for rifle ammunition, rifles, artillery rounds, spare parts, food, etc.
-The Army starts to build major and minor depots, major depots at the hubs of the Kalpian Railway Network and minor depots near the border and countryside. A major effort is put into connecting minor depots to the railway network.
-The Army starts to put a focus on the expansion of the logistic reach of the railway network as an army advances on enemy territory, by experimenting with the use of prefabricated light railways and the use of the army common soldier to help in its construction with the assistance of the Engineer Corps, along with an expansion of the engineer corps.
-Department of Logistics starts to seek the right balance between quality and quantity in military rations for the army. With the objective of having healthy soldiers with high morale.
Kalpian Navy Expansion
Knowing that Kalpia had lost many ships in the conflict with Zellonia the navy had requested a direct fund to cover those losses and increase the size of Kalpian Navy. The response was fast and asserting, mostly because of the support of the Fatherland Party that sought to strengthen the Kalpia military might. As such, the Kalpian government said that it would use all its naval capacity for said purpose. As such the state would cover the cost of construction of 30 new destroyers and 10 new light cruisers for the total price of $11,512,770
This was just the first stage of what the navy had proposed to do but it would do for now.
Kalpian Colonial Ventures
The ambition of Kalpia to have a colonial empire was but a recent idea brought to congress by the Fatherland's party, it wasn't publicized as proper colonies where the Metropolis sought to extract all kind of material wealth to process back on the mainland. No, the fatherland party told to the people and congress that there would only be territories under the protection and guidance of Kalpia, with the objective of civilizing the people living there. This was said to imply a clear difference between the democratic values that Kalpia stood for and those of nations with different values, more specifically imperialist monarchist values.
After several months of pushing forward the discussion of colonies and trying to persuade the President, it finally happened. The President announced that it would give exclusive charters to two companies, one with charters on Masilia and the other in Serranthia. Said charters gave the right to those two companies to establish protectorates in the name of the republic with the objective of bringing civilization to natives and making good use of their resources in order to provide a source of income for the company chosen for this endeavor. Or at least that was the justification.
The selection process would be rather simple, a company would have to form for the exclusive purpose of participating in the competition to become a chartered company, the company would have to give a detailed plan for the treatment of the natives, the area that would be claimed and possible further expansion, the security forces that would be used and the administration of the lands in general. The capital that the state would invest would be $20 Million per Company for a total of $40 Million. And thus it was done. Now it was time for the international corps of Kalpia to ensure that the claims were to be recognized by other powers on the continent.
Notes:
-The Charters in Question are: The Southern Massilian Chart and the Central Serranthian Chart
The Kalpian Experiment with the Kalpian D.B.-I
With the reccent acquired funds of the Kalpian Republic, it had been decided to start to experiment with the motorized vehicles designed by Leikarp Co. , the D.B-I tricycle . The cost of each one at the moment was of $187.5 so cheap enough for the Kalpia government to start investing in it. Thus a request was sent to Leikarp Co. to produce 2,000 of those D.B.-I at the cost of $375,000. It was a large enough to amount to outfit an entire brigade and that was the idea of the Kalpian General Staff. As they would test the usefulness of the vehicle on both logistics, speed and how it handled in different types of terrain.
The task was given to brigadier general Gotthard the veteran leader of the Kalpian-Zellonian conflict. Who because of his experience was expected to think ways on how to make use of the D.B-I as a military vehicle.
The Kalpian Car Enthusiasm
After seeing the popularity of the Model Yenson 31 rise through the ranks of the army and that of the masses, the Fatherland's party decided that it would be in their interest to make use of that popularity to rise the civilian acceptance of the military. After all, the people had to be proud of their army and what better way than to be proud of both your army and your favorite race car.
Thus by using their influence the army was given $630,000 to make the purchase of 200 Model Yenson to be assigned to generals and high ranking officers of the army. Mostly to be used in parades or in daily use for the high ranking officers to go their working place.
Total Cost: $72,517,770
