The Philadelphia Conflict

*"No Rest for the Treasonous Troublemakers: How the True Patriots Dealt with those Unruly Un-American Usurpers"*

- Patriot Patrol article
The Philadelphia Conflict is the ongoing struggle between the Allied Nations and Unionist civil defense forces to contain the Continental militia movement active withing the city of Philadelphia. Though the Unionists have claimed victory, the Continental militia has yet to be fully pacified.

## Background

Philadelphia was one of the first major cities on the eastern seaboard to break out with Continental sympathies after the arrest of Pres. Hoffhassle. Despite the presence of one of the four master chronospheres in the Allied Nations in the Philadelphia Naval Yard and the presence of a permanent Peacekeeper garrison in the city, many Philadelphians became outspoken opponents of Allied policies, eventually leading to the formation of the underground militia movement loyal to the Continental goals of removing the Allied-backed government. The most vocal of these was a local electronic shop owner, Austin Edgars, nicknamed "Whiz" for his skills in repair and maintenance of electronic devices.

For the Allied nations, the threat of losing the master chronosphere in Philadelphia was enough of a threat to station part of the 3rd Peacekeeper Marines in the city, under the command of Lt. Col. Franklin Cawley. Cawley, commander of the unit through the Third World War and the occupation of the Japanese mainland, was given the mission of pacifying the city's militia and ensuring permanent control over the chrono-facility. Known as a fair and impartial figure, it was hoped Cawley would be able to reign in the more violent Continentals without escalating the situation.

Regionally, the local Unionist forces had typically enjoyed steady if plateaued recruitment. Even after the attacks on New York and Los Angeles, the regional Unionist command had not appeared willing to increase recruitment despite the rapidly growing Continental movement until militia activity was confirmed in the city. Even when confirmed, the local unionist garrison still made no offensive movements until the Peacekeepers requested so.

## "Liberty Ringing"

The initial stages of the conflict started innocuously; a shooting of Patrick Huxley, an Allied engineer in South Philadelphia on June 17th, 1969. At first, the Allies were loathe to associate it with the Continentals, instead preferring to leave the matter to local authorities as though it were a hold-up gone wrong. The forensic results dashed these hopes. The victim had been shot in the back of the head at close range, on a well-lit and traveled street. In response, the Allies requested that the Philadelphia Police turn the case over to the FBI. This was the first sign of a larger problem, as the files and crime scene information brought to the Bureau were woefully incomplete, along with missing ballistics information from the scene. Gathering what they could, the FBI canvassed the area to find few people willing to talk with the investigators, and fewer still willing to surrender any more information than, "Don't expect me to cry for him."

Realizing that the situation in Philadelphia was not as stable as had been presumed, the Allies immediately transferred 2nd Battalion to the city, with explicit orders to not leave their garrison in the Naval Yard unless requested by city authorities. Lt. Col. Cawley held to the orders by the letter, only sending his men out when required in the course of their duties. The local national guard were deemed a non-issue, as many were also members of the Unionists' local civil defense branch. The greater threat were the local police, who clearly had Continental sympathies due to their handling of the investigation, though nothing could be proven. Determining that the most likely target of the rebels was the master chronosphere, Cawley ordered a round-the-clock guard along with increased security measures; no one who was not accompanied by a lieutenant or higher without proper identification could not even enter the Navy Yard.

This seemed to only change targets for the militia, who instead decided to target local unionist facilities. A firebomb destroyed a Unionist recruiting center on June 28th, followed by the ambush of a Unionist neighborhood foot patrol the following day. With seventeen members dead, the local unionist garrison alerted Cawley that they would be stepping up their own operations in the area, and would be grateful for any support the Allies would lend. Cawley returned that he supported their actions, but that only the local officials would be able to activate the garrison on a citywide scale. Col. Sanders accepted the answer, but also increased foot patrols in the region and started utilizing armored vehicles during patrols.

## "Red Glare"

By the week of July 4th, tensions in the city were understandably high between the Allies, Unionists, and local population. Trying to remain as far away from offending the population as possible, the Allies did little to halt local 4th fo July celebrations. The high point of the celebration was to be a massive fireworks display on the river, organized by Sander's unionists. Despite the efforts, all attention was drawn south to Washington DC, and the rapidly approaching convoy of armor moving to the city. Knowing that there would be some form of attack, Lt. Col. Cawley ordered the base on full lockdown until July 5th.

Despite the dangers, the local unionists observed almost no change from their routines aside from the addition of armored vehicles. Where the peacekeepers were clearly becoming ragged from the constant watch, Unionist GIs seemed almost placid as they went about their duties. Even as Continental graffiti appeared with alarming frequency across the city, the unionists simply painted over it and moved back on patrol with a smile and whistle. These actions did little to endear the unionists to the locals, who repeatedly noted the behavior to the unionist commanders in the area as, "Unnatural, like they're machines waiting to get their order to finally let loose."

Unionist commanders did little to respond to the community concerns, and by July 4th the temper in the city had reached the inevitable climax. With the Navy Yard locked down completely, the Unionist garrison was left patrolling a city filled with threats at each corner.

Caught in a heat wave since June, the local population did their best to either remain indoors or cool off outside. The streets were nearly deserted as mothers kept their children inside with promises of everything from ice cream to new toys to prevent them from being outside when the fighting would start. The only force outside at the time were Unionist patrols and local police. By 11:10 AM, the city was reaching the metaphorical boiling point.

The first shots came from the neighborhood of Olney in North Philadelphia. A Unionist foot patrol had been ambushed, their armored car taken out by an improvised bomb left in a trashcan. Before Unionist command could respond, another attack was reported in West Philadelphia, near the University of Pennsylvania. By 11:38, no less than nine separate attacks were reported by Unionist patrols, with local police nowhere to be found. By noon, a set of rough borders had been carved through the city. The Continentals held West Philadelphia and just to the border of the Northeast Philadelphia Airport, but were unable to seize the National Guard armory held by the Unionists.

By now the Continentals were willing to reveal the extent of their preparations; smuggled Weasel tankettes and small Ranger patrols roved the city hunting down Unionist survivors as the militia set up their defenses. The local International Inc warehouse was quickly taken as well, stolen Scorpion tanks and Leopard LAVs pressed into service along with stolen SPAM defenses. Satisfied that North and West Philly were secured, the Continentals advanced on Center City. On the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers, Continental small boats patrolled for enemy boats and threats to the forces on land.

It soon became obvious the Continentals were trying to link with their forces in South Philadelphia in the hopes of focusing all available forces on the Philadelphia master chronosphere. Knowing that time was needed to allow reinforcements to arrive, Cawley ordered any and all available amphibious craft to start clearing the rivers as the battalion defended the master chronosphere. This quickly became a massive battle in the middle of the Delaware river, as Riptides and Torpedo boats attempted to support the fighting with mines and weapons jamming.

The Continentals also took the devastating step of destroying the Ben Franklin and Walt Whitman bridges, in the desperate attempt to deny the Unionists reinforcements from neighboring Camden, NJ. Now officially fearful of a Continental Pyrrhic victory over his forces, Cawley contacted Unionist commanders at the National Guard armory and formally requested their aid in stopping the Continentals.

## Street Sweeping

The situation was difficult at best. To start, the Continentals had a massive and relatively untapped force waiting in West Philadelphia coupled with the threat that the convoy would seize DC and cut off all central command elements in the nation. More immediately, the Continentals lack of command structure was offset by their intimate knowledge of the neighborhoods and support of their families and neighbors. Center City had essentially become a lead-filled death trap, squads of Unionists fighting from the office buildings as Continental cells skirted from street to street. The Continentals had even taken the time to set up their own radio broadcast, transcribed below.

- *Ooooooh, children rise from your slumber and hear the people fight! This is the Voice of Liberty coming to you loud and proud from the place it all started from! That's right, Philadelphia is saying enough to the Allies and their Unionist lackies kids. Right now we've got North, West, and South Philly. All that's left is the Navy Yard and Center City. Don't wait for your freedom people, take up the cause today!*
Simultaneously, a broadcast was sent out over all civilian radio channels warning of the danger.

- *The following is a civil defense warning. The greater Philadelphia area is currently in a state of minor civil unrest. All citizens are advised to barricade their homes and secure their loved ones until the disturbance is contained. Continue to monitor this frequency for all further broadcasts.*
For Sanders and his regiment, the first objective was to relieve the beleaguered forces in Center City. Massing forces at the armory, Sanders first moved to secure the Northeast Airport and with it the Unionist's helicopter patrol forces. The Continentals, realizing this, quickly positioned themselves to defend the airport by 12:28. During the fighting it was noted that several militia members captured outside the airport were using police sidearms, but Sanders reported nothing on it. Instead, he ordered his forces to press on to the airport and secure the tower. Though the airport was eventually secured, the regiment discovered that the helicopters and few aircraft available to the Unionists had been scorched by the Continentals to prevent their being used. Undaunted, Sanders simply ordered his pilots into infantry positions and pressed on.

The Continentals quickly organized obstacles against the Unionist advance through the north. Cells organized Weasel ambushes, Ranger drive-by shootings, and in one bizarre situation utilized the city's eponymous cheesesteak to beat three Unionists unconscious near Geno's King of Steaks. Though the Continentals pushed back, the Unionists slowly marched closer to Center City. Along the Schuylkill, there was some difficulty due to the Continentals using the river as a natural funnel to force the Unionists along into ambushes, until DUKWs were brought in to secure the banks on the west side of the river.

North Philadelphia soon resembled Europe during WWII and WWIII; Continental militia sheltered behind brick apartments as the unionists pressed ever forward. Gunfire rang out in Kensington and Fishtown, as the unionists fought with Continental boat operators to secure docks on the Delaware River. From 12:37 to 1:43 PM, the Continentals continued to hold Sander's forces just north of Center City, roughly north of the Reading Terminal Market.

In the south, Cawley's forces had been forced to declare a rough perimeter around the Navy Yard a no-go zone; *anyone* seen moving through it was to be treated as an enemy combatant. This did little to stop the Continentals, who had managed to secure both handheld mortars and Spiral hand-drills from other Continental cells. At 1:51 PM, a surprise force of Continentals erupted from the Navy Yard barracks into the facility, attempting to fight towards the master chronosphere. In fierce fighting, 2nd Battalion ordered that all available forces converge on the tunnel and bury it in rubble; everything from destroyed vehicles to high explosives were used in combination to seal the tunnel and ensure no more Continentals could stream through.

By 2 PM, it was clear that the Continentals had made no plans for a long-term battle. It was revealed during interrogation of Continental prisoners that the local population was expected to rise with the militia and take the fight to the Navy Yard. While it was seen that local citizens did much for the Continentals, from securing medical supplies to acting as runners during the battle, few actually rose with the Continentals. Meanwhile, Unionist small boats had joined the battle on the Delaware, rapidly outnumbering the few Continental boats. Losing control of the river was a dangerous blow, as it now meant that Unionist reinforcements from Camden could be taken across to the neighborhoods on the Philadelphia banks secured by Sanders. Tellingly, the Voice of Freedom quickly made another broadcast.

- *The game's not done yet boys and girls, but the people's armies need your help and fast! The Allies' gray lapdogs are closing in across the river, and we can't hold much longer without you! See it in the sky kids, rise up for your freedom and country! Don't let them take what they've taken from Europe in our backyard!*
Despite these pleas, the militia were essentially isolated during the fighting. At 2:28, the majority of militia north of Center City were either captured, dead, or underground again. It was at this point that the Unionists confirmed that the Philadelphia Police Department were involved in the Continental movement. Captured officers had been taken during fighting in Eastern State Penitentiary, still in uniform. Using this as a justification, Sanders immediately had every available officer of the department taken prisoner and held for further questioning. This was not the case in Center City, where multiple stations were found with all officers dead. Officially, the Unionists claim that the officers were unwilling to surrender and chose to fight to the last. The Continentals contend that since they were still under pressure from West Philadelphia, the Unionists in Center City chose to quickly eliminate any and all opposition, take no prisoners.

## Strike the Colors

By 3:14 PM, the Continental cells were running out of every available supply. Gasoline, ammunition, even food for the wounded. By contrast, the Unionists were streaming in from Camden and more reinforcements were on the way from the Trenton HQ. The West Philadelphia militia forces had still been unable to break the Center City positions, and in South Philly the militia was bloodied to a standstill by the Allied defenses. Realizing that the battle was at this point lost, the Voice of Freedom made a final broadcast.

- *One lost battle doesn't lose a war, and my fellow Americans, I promise you that the war for our nation's soul isn't over yet. If you are militia, hide your guns and whatever uniform you were using. Save it for later, wait until we can strike again. Keep up the fight and don't lose hope. This is our founding city, and we'll find victory soon enough, I promise. For now, this is the Voice of Freedom signing off.*
At 3:57, Unionist forces finally arrived at the Navy Yard to link up with 2nd Battalion. Cawley quickly ordered two companies out into the city to aid in policing the region now that the local police had been revealed as Continental sympathizers. Any and all Continental symbols, banners, and uniforms were quickly burned as far from local eyes as possible. While Sanders wanted to move on the area hospitals and find any Continental wounded, Cawley quickly declared the hospitals off-limits to the Unionists, officially to prevent Continental ambushes. Rumors persist that Cawley did not want a repeat of what had happened to police in Center City.

By dusk, Philadelphia was settling into an uneasy sleep. The reality of the Unionists essentially annihilating Continental positions and ambushes during the battle by essentially walking through them highlighted the danger posed by the group to the Continentals in America. Simultaneously, the revelation that the police were essentially an extension of the militia shook the core of Allied control in the region. Officers were either captured and sentence to prison, cryo-prison, or went deep into hiding.

While in many cases this would have been the end of the situation in Philadelphia, it only turned out to be a dangerous new era for the city. On July 16th, there was another ambush on the new Unionist-backed police force. Three days later, a shootout occurred between miltia cells in Packer Park that also killed two responding Peacekeepers. Fearful of another potential uprising, ACIN agents quickly put out feelers only to come back with a frightening reality. While the battle had indeed broken the Continentals as a whole, the small fragments remaining had begun to try and seek dominance over the others, fighting the Allies as well as each other for weapons, money, and recruits.

Currently, Philadelphia is technically not under martial law. Despite this, the Unionists now act as the local police of the area. The Allies determined that Cawley did nothing to antagonize the situation in the city, and that all actions performed that day were proper in not creating further reason for the Continentals to continue. Locally, many citizens are calling for charges to be filed against Sanders for the evidence of the massacre of local police, but none have yet been filed. Indeed, evidence has been found that some officers in Center City committed suicide rather than being killed by the Unionists.

Although the fighting for Washington DC eventually proved moot to both the Allies and Continentals in Philadelphia, the reality of the Continentals infiltration of normal life was a frightening eye-opener, both to the Allies and Unionists. At present, none of the leaders of the uprising have been identified or taken into custody.