Storm Over Europe: The Battle for Europe 1939-1941
By Peter Von Luck Hartmann Lufftwaffe (Ret.)
Copyright, 1954, Albatross Books
...
For My brothers...all of the men i fought with, for my father and for my wife i write this for them...
...
Foreword
It has been said that the First Neuroi War was "The War to End All Wars", a savage campaign in Europe and other places around the globe, that lasted almost five years, fighting in Africa, Orussia and the Middle East among other areas, conflict that saw everything from battles on the high sea's waves, to fighting in flat desert lowlands, the Great War saw it all...
The Pocket of Neuroi resistance between Karlsland, Gallia, Ostmark and Romagna would see almost five years of hell, ending in the Spring offensive of 1919, men and women from almost a dozen nations, from Liberion to Orussia would fight against a single foe, some side by side, shoulder to shoulder in the hell of the trenches, others alone with their own nations, some even at home, working to keep them supplied, a alliance of all mankind against a foe of unthinkable strength that would throw down petty rivialry for common survival, something that sadly wouldn't last till the next war, but the conflict saw both the best of us, and the worst of us brought to the surface.
But despite earning her nickname, she was not the last chapter in conflict on that scale, she was merely the preview to a war, twenty years latter, that would crush Europe worse then the last...
-Major Hans Von Luck, Karlsland 7th Panzer Division "Gespensterdivision" (Ret.)
...
Chapter 1: The Calm before the Storm
As a young man, i learned to love my nation. Karlsland über alles is one of my earliest memories, learning the anthem of my homeland at the young age of three years, my father, a military man himself, like his father before him wanted to instill a sense of nationalism in my brother and i. We both learned the history of not only Karlsland, but our grandfathers, from Grampa Otto, a sailor who died in Jutland in 1916, to our great grandfather, who served under Fredrick the Great (1) during the Seven Years War.
I think this, and my own service in the war, allows me to judge the events that took place from the Fall of 1939, to the Summer of 1941.
The year 1939 would bring forth unto the world, a war it had never before seen, the last war's scale being almost moot in comparison, but well today we may blame "No One" and say "It would have no matter what" that isn't true. In 1937, the Fusoan Army began battling Neuroi forces in Greater Mongolia, these battles were somewhat small in scale, but the use by both sides, of heavy Artillery and Air Power left civilians dead in almost every battle.
The signs of a Neuroi resurgence were all there, but when allied leaders met in 1938, they payed little heed to this idea, only minimum preparation was given to their armed forces, and this is likely more due to petty bickering between them then the impending threat of the Neuroi.
The Munich Confrence of 1938 shows this all too well, Kasier Willhelm the IV, Prime Minister of Britannia Neville Chamberlain, Ostmark Chancellor Wilhelm Miklas, and Gallian Prime Minister Édouard Daladie seemed to have other agendas in mind. Both Karlsland and Gallia wanted the other to limit his military forces, their shared border and twenty years since fighting side by side, causing tension to rise between them like a balloon. Ostmark similar, wanted Romagna to keep it's warship out of it's own waters, their ships often finding themselves in standoffs with the Ostmark Kriegsmarine.
And these misgivings were not set at the confrence alone either, in the North, a three way argument between Baltland, Suomus and Orussia was brewing in the waters of the Baltic Sea over fishing rights, that seemed to be leading to a Naval War between the three powers. These issues came to the forefront in Munich. The issue that should have been at hand, the Neuroi and what was clearly a resurgence, was barely mentioned at all by any deligate or leader.
In his 1949 autobiography. (2) Kasier Wilhelm the IV says "...We had no way at the time of course, of realizing that the black devil loomed over Europe..."
Other leaders made similar assumptions, the idea of a second Neuroi War brewing, and more over having to prepare for it, pay for new military training and raising taxs to pay for it all, well also drafting millions of men and women wasn't the way you won favor with the public, one only need to look to Liberian President Woodrom Willson, during the First Neuroi War, he refused to enter the war, believing that the Neuroi would leave no combatant Nations alone, despite the sinking of dozens of ships, some even bearing the stars and stripes of his nation, it took the Neuroi's 1917 sinking spree, in which almost 40 ships, cargo and passenger from almost a dozen nations, some even from the United States, were lost, to bring Liberion "Over There" to the allies aid.
The real reason no one believed the Neruoi would return is simple.
They didn't want to, despite evidence of build up in smaller expanding pockets in Asia, and of strange weather patterns over the skies of Europe, they ignored them for a sense of blissful ignorance...
And that left Europe at the Neuroi's mercy when the war began...
...
(1) In more then one dispatch dating to the 1740s, Fredrick make's mention of a "Captain Von luck" under his command
(2) Mein Reise Auf den Thron *My Rise to the Throne*