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Governor Dian van der Knaap has led the public ceremony in Hartstad remembering the great battle of the Blood Ridge, which has taken place seven years ago, in the latter half of the Great War, in the Eserian Republic, as the allied forces of Salen, Eiffelland and Petits Pays have broken through with the help of the Natalian Overseas Expeditionary Force as they were preparing to stage their invasion of Auraria. The battle itself, which took place on an up until then unnamed small ridge in Varlais, has seen the Natalian units meet head to head with some of the best soldiers of Eserland and Auraria, leading to a bloodbath, typical for so many of the battles of the Great War. While Natalian bravery had saved the day, in the grand scheme of things it offered the allied forces only the chance to advance a few hundred meters, this being the nature of trench warfare in the Gallian front.
Many Natalians have died in that battle, with estimated numbers going as far as 30,000 soldiers, more than a third of the total Natalian Expeditionary Force, and even now, there are more than a thousand that are still declared to be missing, seven years later. But the battle in itself changed something in the mentality of the Natalians, more than the psychological scars it left behind with such a great loss of life in such a short span of time. It was the first time the units of the Expeditionary Force, which normally were segregated with each colony bringing its own detachments, were forced to work together in makeshift units, creating a bond between the soldiers fighting under the Red Duster. For the first time in their history, the people, from Upper and Lower Natal, Langveld, but also the coloured and the askari from the Rozvi Kingdom and the Impi of the Loda Chiefdom, have fought together under the same banner, and have gone together through the fires of hell and managed to push through as brothers. That is when the Natalian identity has been born.
The ceremony has been presided by Governor Dian van der Knaap, the first governor born in Lower Natal, a member of the Country Party, which are popularly known as the Hippos, and has taken place at the Cenotaph, in front of the Administrative Palace in Hartstad. Besides the Coastal Riflemen, which act as the honour guard of the Colony of Lower Natal, units from the 1st Natalian Dragoons, from Upper Natal, the Veld Riflemen of Langveld but also Askari and Impi have participated, sent by the Rozvian King and the Loda Chief, to commemorate their participation in the Great War. Besides them about 10,000 people from the good society of Hartstad have paarticipated, laying flowers at the Cenotaph in remembrance to all the dead and disappeared during the war.
"Today, we have gathered here in rememberance of our brothers, sons, fathers, husbands and uncles, which have left for Gallo-Germania and have not returned. They have sacrificed themselves in the field of battle in the Great War, presenting us a lesson of how monstrous and inhumane modern war is and how lives, can be ended so easily in such a huge scale. I myself have lost a son, Captail Zayden van der Knaap, in the battle of Blood Ridge, and felt on my skin the tragedy of the war. But today, we all stand here, not as Lowe, Upper Natalians, Landvelders, Rozvians, Loda, Lozi or something else, but as Natalians. We needed seven years to come together only because their sacrifice has forces us to. They were visionaries as they saw in their comrades in arms a brother, a friend, a compatriot, rather than a citizen of a different community. Their blood has mixed up and soaked the fields of Eserland and we are here, remembering what great men they were. Let us make sure that their deaths were not in vain, and that we will look on that moment as the moment in which we were born as a nation. May God give them eternal peace and may he bless us all!" stated Governor Dian van der Knaap.
OTHER NEWS
Request for Responsible Government: A request for responsible government has been submitted to the Salian Authorities, with Natalianist politicians, which include the Hippos, the Hyenas and the Zebras are asking for an end of the current status quo in the Protectorate of Natal and the creation of an elected legislative. In the current system, elections are organised only at a local level, up to provincial governments, while the Governor and his cabinet are directly appointed by the government of the Serene Salian States.
Railway Commission took decision on gauge: The Governmental Railway Commission, which has met a month ago to discuss the future of the railway development in the Protectorate and colonies of Natal, have finally came to a decision regarding the gauge to be used in future constructions. Considering the environment of the Granietberge, the Granite Mountains and how hard it would be to cross them, the Commission has decided that the standard gauge would be too wide for the steep curves and the metre gauge must become the norm.