[i]Brit Roll: 2 (Asia/India) -6 (Intensity) -9 (Posts until next roll)[/i]

[sup][url=https://youtu.be/G-53V3025xA]A thematic musical offering since it's been so long since we have had an action tiem[/url][/sup]

[h1]Daring Offensive By Bengali Elements Against Colcotta[/h1]
[h3][i]Reported by The Times, Sept, 1, 1955 by Eric Arthur Blair[/i][/h3]

	MUMBAI – Raj government officials in the State of India report that as of last weekend a major Bengali offensive concluded in the city of Calcutta, forcing British forces west of Hooghly River. While having not forced Raj forces from the city of Calcuta completely, British commander Sir William MacMahnon said of the offensive, “It was a strong fight but we came out in a clutch at the end, but I do not think we will be able to mount an offensive to retake the rest of Calcutta anytime soon.”

	In the morning of last Saturday, there around 1AM an explosion was heard from the area of the Sovabazar Rajbari, the 19th century palace of the loyalist Shobhabazar family. The local forces guarding the site issuing an alert that they were under attack by unidentified forces. Events escalating from this point, Raj forces mounted a counter-attack against the Army of Young Bengal, which had been to this point occupying the outskirts of the city. The fighting there to displace the army was fierce and lasted eight hours before Raj forces began to loose ground and were forced back into the city. By late Sunday morning a second explosion occurred at the Howrah Train Station and Bengali forces moved to occupy the suburb of South Dumdum. On Tuesday the Young Bengals issued a statement that a third sabotage attempt had been made against the Dumdum airfield. They initially sought to pin the blame on British forces until later that Tuesday when a statement reached Bengali radio from a third group.

	The third group, identifying itself as the Bengal Muslim League announced it had been responsible for the two explosions over the weekend, and had moved to detonate a  third in the airfield. The attack they said was to disparage the British forces, and as protest against the Young Bengal movement for encroachment on the Muslim majority East Bengal, of which they ascribe solidarity with the people of Pakistan.

	“We will hold the line here.” Sir William MacMahnon said, “We control several key bridges to west Calcutta. Should the enemy seek to cross, they will need to by boat or go far out of their way.”

	Since the end of the offensive, fighting has not stopped as skirmishes break out across the river between opposing security forces and the Bengal Muslim League mounts continuous raids in the countryside. When asked for a comment on the attacks, Prime Minister Winston Churchill said of the episode: “It further confirms the corrosive culture and beastly actions of a most beastly people”. The comment sparked protest in parliament or elsewhere, but no serious sanction has been raised against the Prime Minister. The matter is again expected to be raised at the next convention of the Imperial Federation.

	The Young Bengali movement can trace its origins to the turn of the century among Calcutta Hindu intellectuals and secular leaders advocating for independence from British rule, and further independence for a united multi-faith Bengal. The movement itself split from the original intellectual tradition of the Young Bengal movement at the formation of the Imperial Federation and its merger with the Republican Party of India (RPI) as its position moved simply towards autonomy of the region. However in the breakup of the RPI into its current factions and parties claiming its legacy the Young Bengal movement re-emerged as an army for self-determination of the Bengali people as was Burma from India. Their initiative to break from India and the Imperial Federation was met with resistance and protest and has culminated in the now lengthy civil war in East India, one of several across the sub-continent.

	In contrast, the Bengali Muslim League emerged as a movement of Muslims in East Bengal, announcing solidarity with the Pakistani people and an adherence for separation between the Muslim and Hindu people of Bengal as separate nations. The Bengali Muslim League has gained considerable traction among radical clerics of East Bengal and certain sects of the intellectual elite of Dhaka. However it's emerged as a minority force between the British and the Young Bengal movement. Alone in the region except for the Rohingya of Burma, and the newest of factions in an evolving political turmoil their impact over the struggle is not yet fully understood.

	As curio to the battle: there are rumors as of yet unconfirmed a group of Young Bengalis arrived by elephant.