Disclaimer: Mass Effect does not belong to me. It belongs to it's respective owners, namely Bioware.
British trenches near Havrincourt, France, Europe, Earth, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way.
21st March, 1918 CE.
It was now 0500 hours and already, visibility was poor, due to a heavy morning fog that had set all across both sides of no man's land when dawn broke.
The combination of the fog and the smoke from the ongoing artillery bombardment resulted in visibility being cut to a limit of around 10 yards in some areas.
And soon, Sturmtruppen companies began their advance ahead of the main German infantry, slipping in between British defences (helped by the fog and the smoke from the bombardment) and heading towards their own select targets.
Armed with MP18 submachine guns, an extra set of Stielhandgranates (more than the regular German infantryman would normally carry) and flamethrowers (both Kleinflammenwerfer and Wechselapparat), they attacked command headquarters, artillery positions, and supply depots, aided by the maps of their targets sown right into their uniforms.
The attack behind British defensive positions was causing considerable amount of chaos amongst the British lines.
Then, by around 0940 hours, the German infantry began their advance, as they left their trenches and marched over No Man's Land towards the British lines.
Vallulart Camp, Ytres, France, Europe, Earth, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way.
21st March, 1918 CE.
After the continuous bombardment of artillery fire, the base was entirely in somewhat of a panic, Trileena observed.
"STAND TO ARMS! STAND TO ARMS!"
Soldiers were running to and from places, shouting to one another.
It had all the symptoms of a surprise attack, troops in a panic as a result of an attack that was sudden and unexpected.
But then, Trileena's thoughts were interrupted, when the lock on the door to her current 'residence', unlocked with a click.
The door was immediately pushed wide open and two soldiers went over to her, followed by one of the officers who interrogated her.
With the translator at full function, Trileena asked, "What's going on?"
The officer didn't respond to her, but instead said to the soldiers, "Keep her in your sight at all times. We'll need to move at a moment's notice".
Road leading to Barastre, France, Europe, Earth, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way.
22nd March, 1918 CE.
The men of the 2nd Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry had indeed moved from Vallulart Camp, commencing their march at around 4:30 in the morning, via Lechelle and Bus, heading towards the Barastre-Haplincourt area.
However, the journey was easier said than done, as Trileena (wearing a cloak, a helmet and a mask that was given to her, in order to hide her appearance) soon found out when she was walking alongside the two soldiers who had been assigned as her guards.
Troops, in misshapen, dirty uniforms, were moving in the opposite direction, looking quite demoralised and shaken, evidence that whatever was happening, a military disaster had happened.
Trileena had seen it before whenever the Rachni had successfully invaded a planet and broken through the defences before the defenders could counter them.
But one sight that caught her eye, was a long line of soldiers, who were walking in one single file, hands on shoulders, bandages wrapped around their very faces, and groaning in severe pain as they walked very slowly.
And Trileena did not miss the way that everyone who so much as glimpsed at them, grimaced as they turned their heads away and did not look at them again.
British lines around Bertincourt, France, Europe, Earth, Sol System, Local Cluster, Milky Way.
23rd March, 1918 CE.
The men of the 2nd Ox and Bucks had reached billets in Barastre on the 22nd, and managed to get some accommodation after some initial trouble.
But later, they received orders to move at 2pm, to support a brigade of the 17th Division, which was under heavy attack, holding a line in front of Hermies-Havrincourt.
The 2nd Oxs and Bucks marched around the south side of Bertincourt, without casualties, to a position on the west of the Bertincourt-Hermies road at around 6:15pm, where to their left, was the 2nd Battalion, the Highland Light Infantry, and to their right, was A Battalion of the 63rd (Royal Naval) Division.
The next day, on the 23rd, the 2nd Oxs and Bucks started to settle themselves into the lines, with B Company, D Company, A Company and C Company in that respective order.
Trileena, still under guard, was with the 4th Platoon, of A Company, and she witnessed as everyone started digging in and getting ready for an enemy attack, digging up the ground with spades, picks and shovels to form foxholes and other defensive positions (that was as it seemed to her, even though instinct forged over years of war against the Rachni was screaming at her that digging into the ground was a bad idea, given her experiences with Rachni that were masters of burrowing under the ground and launching attacks from there).
Even though every instinct in her was screaming to help out, or at least do something rather than just observe the proceedings out in front of her, Trileena also knew that it was not exactly a good idea considering that some of the soldiers, and some officers, were exchanging curious glances at her disguise, no doubt wondering who it was underneaf that disguise, and then some soldiers and officers who Trileena recognised, as being present when she arrived on this planet, and therefore, knew exactly who and what she was.
Thus Trileena reckoned that it was best for her to just stay out of way and not get involved in this war anymore than she already had done.
Plus, she was still in handcuffs and she knew that to break out of them now was to cause potential problems, so she indeed decided to only break out of them, if her life was in any imminent danger.
Upon hearing the gunfire coming closer to them, Trileena idly wondered if that moment might be sooner rather than later.
Well, I was initially planning for Trileena and Albert to be getting action in this trailer, but the buildup to it wasn't working, so I settled for just them getting into the defensive lines and starting to dig in, then having a bit of a time skip before we get around to some action.
Next chapter, will definitely include some action, that much is certain. And we'll also be seeing what's been happening up in Earth's orbit...
By 1918 standards, Operation Michael did achieve a substantial advance, but in actual fact, was nothing more than a pyyhric victory, as the ground that they had captured, was a shell-ridden wasteland, courtesy of the Battle of the Somme in 1916, and the German's own scorched Earth policy during their retreat to the Hindenburg Line in 1917. The land was not easily defendable, and the advance meant an overextension of the German lines (German lines, which could not be supplied easily and regularly due to the destroyed land).
Also, while the Allies sustained casualties and lost tanks and equipment, it was replaceable compared to the Germans, who lost valuable, trained men that they would ill-afford to lose (especially since a million more men were still stationed as occupation forces from Poland to the Caspian Sea, as a result of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. And these occupation troops had to contend with revolts, guerrilla warfare and an attempted Bolshevik uprising in Finland (which had gained independence from Russia in 1917, and was in the midst of a Civil War), the last one which made Ludendorff so paranoid of propaganda being spread to his troops from Moscow, that he was reluctant to transfer these men over to the Western Front).
Anyways, don't forget to leave a review whenever you can, and see you next time!
