Chapter one (Arthur Kirkland)
1st of September 1939, a war unseen.
The sound of the airstrikes was deafening, the light of the bombs and the explosions representing the new era of warfare. Something no one had ever encountered before, something no one had braced themselves for. The Blitz on Poland. And just like that, a country had to fall to its knees. Occupied by people driven by both misled ideology and ambition to please the Führer. Like animals they followed the commands that they had received. No regards for international law. No regards for human lives. Memories from just a few decades ago surged within the people of world. Memories from the worst war the world had yet seen. But this time, it was different.
This time, the enemy was different – for both the offender and the defender. There was no place for the other party, not in this world. One side had to perish for the war to end.
Arthur Kirkland. A young, barely 20 years old Corporal of the British Army. He had just been promoted a few months ago. He really didn't expect to be in active duty that fast. Unlike a huge part of the younger soldiers in the British Army, he had enlisted long before the Blitz. He made his way up the first ranks without ever being tested on the battlefield. Of course, he had heard stories: Stories of the ruthless, animalistic Germans from back then, in 1917. He enlisted in the army because of the devotion he felt for his nation – his people and their values. The values their fathers had defended with their flesh and blood. And now, he was there. The drafting of young soldiers had begun long before the actual declaration of war, but no one had expected war to be here so fast. By granting the German Reich to expand by allowing the 'Anschluss' of Austria and allowing the annexation of parts of Czechoslovakia, the UK government had hoped to stop another world war. A hope that was crushed violently on the first of September.
Arthur woke to a city on the streets. People running around, all fearfully reading the same headline over and over again. He couldn't read it from the distance, so he asked a gentleman next to him what they were all reading. "Haven't you seen it, son?" The old man asked, "Hitler invaded Poland – bombed those poor cities to hell!" "When did this happen?" Arthur asked, directly thinking what that meant for the British Empire – what that meant for the world. "It's still happening! I knew that this nation would bring evil to the world again! We should have eliminated them before they had the power to conduct war again!" The man growled angrily. "Was there any official response from our government?" Arthur asked. "Not yet. But it won't take long, I bet. Hitler needs to be stopped" the man replied. "Well, I won't argue there…" Arthur muttered and turned around: "Thanks for the help, Sir."
That his time on leave was over – that was apparent to Arthur. He knew that this was the time he had – in his heart – waited for. Not war, but the chance to defend his country. To be the good guy. It's a complicated relationship of needing war to be the protector and the undying desire for peace. However, now was not the time to doubt the choices he had made in joining the army. In the taxi, the driver approached Arthur: "So you're in the army, junior?" "Yes, sir, I am" Arthur nodded. "Well, I sure hope for you that you won't have to get into this one" the driver said. "Sir, if our nation is in danger, I will have to. However, this is his majesty's and Mr. Chamberlain's call to make" Arthur replied. "All I can say is that this Hitler is a madman and I don't want to see another war like the great war" the cab driver replied solemnly. "Neither do I. What we want, however, doesn't stop madness." On his way to the army base, Arthur thought of his mother and father. They had gone away to America as his father's job required him to meet new business partners. A part of him wished that they'd stay there. From what he knew, America's government – even more so the people – not about to join any war. Just like in the great war, they'd probably try to remain neutral. And for their safety, Arthur hoped that, once they heard the news, wouldn't return. There was something unusual about the Germans. More so the Wehrmacht. He had seen them on television: In their perfectly adjusted uniforms, all in an even row, all with the same clear devotion to the only one they trusted. The Führer. It was a set of mind Arthur couldn't understand. But they were united in their effort of fulfilling the Führer's ideological dreams and commands – that was their strength. Unbreakable devotion to the cause.
It didn't even take 24 hours for the government of the United Kingdom to declare war on Germany. So did France. America, as Arthur had suspected, didn't react.
On the 3rd of September, Australia joined the United Kingdom and declared war on Germany, too. Also New Zealand and Canada reassured the crown their support. Arthur was assigned to his division, the 3rd division, also known as the Iron Division that was part of the British Expeditionary Force that would most likely be used to support the French in case of an attack. Arthur knew that whatever lay ahead of him, it would be bloody. The only things that were reassuring in his eyes were the facts that he trusted the man who was his division's commander – Bernard Montgomery – and the fact that there was quite a distance and quite a few countries that separated Britain from Germany. But that's the thing about Blitzkrieg. You don't see it coming.