Hello guys I am back with another chapter, I want to thank all the reviewers, people who put my story in Fav and follow list. Now I took some help from my English dept guys for my grammar errors, and also this is my biggest chapter I ever wrote and will try my best to keep it up as big as possible.
now to the story.
CH- 3 Battle of the Three Armies.
Special region, UN FOB, Endurance
( two weeks after the counterattack )
It took 6 days after the counterattack for the UN forces to complete the construction of the FOB. This base was a temporary set up for securing this side of the gate. Construction of Barracks for the troops, A motor pool for the maintenance of the vehicles, An armoury and a Command centre . The base still lacked in proper medical facilities except a medical tent constructed for the wounded and sick personnel of the base, severe cases had to be transported to the other side of the gate . Helicopters and planes were still to arrive at the base as the hangers were yet to be constructed. Barbwire fences surrounded the base's outer perimeter. Some 10 feet apart UN forces had constructed a string of trenches with machine gun emplacements and mortar pits. Tanks dug in hull down position. other APCs an IFVs also dug in for better protection. At the last line there were the SPGs , MRLSs Towed artillery pieces and Anti aircraft emplacements, these included AA guns and surface-to-air missiles. The defence strategy was divided into three lines of defence. The first line was the artillery barrage that will open fire when the enemy units comes into range. Second line consisted of Tanks, MGs emplacements and mortars. If the enemy crosses the first line it will meet the combined fire from heavy machine guns, mortars and tanks' fire. The last line consisted of infantry units. Anyone lucky enough to cross the first two lines will meet the relentless fire from the infantry units from the trenches. AA guns and SAM sites provided air cover from incoming enemy Air assets. The defences of the base were made to face massed frontal charges that were prevalent during the middle and renaissance ages.
If someone will have a chance to have an aerial view of the defences it will look like World war 1 trench system with modern elements added in it. If any how enemy breaks through the defences ( which is impossible for a medieval army ) A QRF will be ready to support and drive them back and plug the hole created by them. Daily recon was conducted by UAVs around 10 miles radius from the base for possible enemy army movement. Command knew the possibility of empire military preparing for a counterattack. US Military ScanEagles drones were used for recon operations.
( UNTF, FOB Endurance, Gate )
General Hazama and Lt. General O'Brien were waiting near the mouth of the gate for the arrival of Russian ground Forces that had been sent by the Russian Federation to strengthen the UN Forces on the special region side of the gate. Russian military had a presence on Endurance FOB as artillery and Logistics support. Recently Russian govt decided to increase its support for the UN expedition into special region. They were sending a mechanized regiment and a Tank Battalion.
Rumbling could be heard from inside the gate, Russian made T-90AM tanks came out of the gate followed by BTR-80s and a couple of BTR-90s. They were followed by KamAZ trucks and GAZ-2975 infantry mobility vehicles. From the rows of Russian vehicles coming into FOB Endurance a GAZ came out from the row and stopped right in front of Hazama and O'Brien. A man in Russian BDU with the rank of colonel came out from the vehicle.
"Colonel Romanov Orlovsky, Welcome to FOB Endurance " Hazama says to the colonel extending his hand thereby shaking Romanov's.
" good to have you here Colonel, Looking forward to work together "congratulation
" It's been a while general, ohh and congratulations for your promotion. Sorry for so being late to congratulate you. " Romanov replies.
" No problem colonel " O'Brien said.
" If you excuse me gentlemen I have to see to my men" Romanov states and goes back into his vehicle and follows the convoy towards its destination.
After Col. Romanov leaves Hazama asks " You know him "
" Yes, during the UN peacekeeping deployment in Somalia in 2018 he commanded the Russian contingent to support peace keeping operations after the outbreak of 2nd Somali civil war. I was there in command of the US forces there. " O'Brien replies.
He continues " Both the US and Russian Forces were asked to share the same base. It was to grow cooperation and better understanding among the two militaries after years of animosities against each other. I met him there, We shared the command of the whole base and also operations coembarks by our joint military operations. "
Both of them embark into their HMV waiting for them to take them back to the Command centre.
Drone Controller, Chief Warrant Officer Vance Sawyer POV.
Today was my turn for piloting the drone for recon. It had been two weeks I had arrived at FOB Endurance. At first when I crossed through the gate I was excited to know that I was not on Earth anymore but on another world. After our initial push through the gate. We decimated the enemy troops guarding their part of the gate. After clearing the areas of dead bodies we set up our base for further advance into enemy territory. With the construction of the FOB on full swing we were ordered to Recon the area for possible enemy troops movement.
I with my drone found few village level settlements in the 10 mile radius from the base, but no enemy troops movement were seen there or anywhere else in the area.
It became a routine for us to have a drone on patrol in the area 24 hours a day to have constant surveillance of our surrounding. Slowly the mission was becoming boring for us. We would recon the same area every day and find nothing except the villagers who were going on their daily chores. Only interesting thing happened with me was when Force Recon went for their own recon through the forest and I was ordered to keep an eye on them for the duration of their mission.
Today as usual my UAV was catapulted to the air from the launch platform and I took control of it and flew it towards my pre planned path. My UAV camera was scanning through the area when my eyes fell upon a large formation of enemy troops marching towards our base. They even had very large cannons with them. Another thing that amazed me were the Airships ,those ships looked like they were from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, man-o-war ships and those were flying and they had wings. I called my commanding officer and informed him what I had just found out. He himself looked into my drone control screen and was himself amazed by those ships.
I thought to myself " How the hell these ships were flying ?"
He ordered me to keep a constant surveillance of their movement and went on to inform the command about the impending attack.
After nearly 4 hours of trailing their movement my drone's battery was at its limit so I had to bring it back. Another drone operator took over my post with another drone to keep track of our enemy's movement. Today was not that boring patrol I had thought it would be.
( Command center )
The Command center was the first solid constructed building in the whole base. The construction of this solid structure was one of first steps in making FOB Endurance to be a more permanent base. The building was constructed as three storied building and enough space was being provided to shelter the whole Command center of the UNTF special region. On the First storey of the building there was the largest room which served as the briefing and war room for the UNTF command.
The room was filled with different commanders from the participating countries. A big white screen was there where the aerial photo of the direct vicinity of the hill and the adjoining area was projected. General Hazama was standing on a small stage installed in front of the screen. Beside him was Ltr General O'Brien who waited for the discussion to start.
" Gentlemen please pay attention" he said,
All discussion between different commanders stopped and they paid attention towards Hazama.
"This he said while pointing towards the photo is our base of operation in the special region. The surrounding geography is still unknown to us. If I imply we only know the geography of the area. We also have well fortified this base for any further attack. Funds directly from the UN is for making a more permanent base here. Still without any knowledge of the lay of the land except geography I propose sending recon units to meet the civilian population out there and en..." his sentence was cut short by a knock at the door.
" Come in " he said.
A US Marine entered the room, He saluted all the commanders in the room and said" Sir we have visual conformation from our drone units that a large enemy army is coming towards our base." he continues " Sir if you permit then I can provide latest images came from the Drone."
O'Brien said " Go on marine show us what you've got"
The Marine went towards the projector and inserted a pen drive into its USB port. A new image projects on the screen. It shows a large army marching in column formation. Next image shows very large cannons being towed by several horses. There were cavalry units and many more infantry columns. The last image was the most astonishing for the command. It was a Man-o-War battleship from the 16th and 17th centuries with small wings on either side of the hull and it was flying in the sky. The ship was also surrounded by Dragon riders forming some like a fighter screen for the ship. There were 10 total number of ships in their army. One ship from the fleet was larger than others.
There was a brief silence in the room. It was broken by Col. Raj Singh who said.
" How are those ships flying in the air. theydon't even have balloons or any large gas bags to aid them in the air."
" The only logical answer is that they are being powered by magic." Col. Romanov said.
" Have you seen any weapon emplacements on the ship" Gen. Hazama asked the marine.
" No sir our drone was unable to take a clear picture of those ships due to their dragon riders screen." The marine replied.
O'Brien says " Thank you for your timely information marine you can go now."
He salutes and goes outside the room.
" Those ships' designs and the available technology these imperials have I suggest they are all armed with cannons. The larger one must have to be their flagship and from the looks of the photo this ship also might be working as an aircraft carrier for their fleet. well just replace it with dragons. " Commander Sabatier said.
" Those other ships must be their escort vessels, Like our modern carrier battle group. With an aircraft carrier being the flagship and other escort and support vessels." Brigadier John smith said.
" Still they are useless against our Missiles, look it yourself they are all wooden ships. Even our AA guns can shred them to pieces. "Col. Minoso said.
" We still have to make preparations for their attack. " O'Brien said.
" Agreed " Romanov said.
" Col. Minoso I want your marines to join JSDF soldiers at the center of the trench. Col. Raj Singh men will be joined by Half of the Russian infantry to the left. Combined French, British and Canadian Infantry will hold to the right. British, American, Japanese and French tanks are dug in, in the second line and Combined artillery and AA support in the third." Lt Gen. O'Brien said.
He continued " Col. Romanov I want your other half of the Infantry and tanks join the QRF in the rear with the Indian, German, Canadian tanks and Italian infantry. You are in command of the QRF "
Col. Romanov replies " It will be done Lt General. "
" Maj. General Dietrich you have the command of the artillery forces in the 3rd Line. Brigadier Smith you have the command of our infantry in the trenches, Col. Raj Singh will be your second in command. Commandant Sabatier you have the command of our second line comprising of tanks and IFVs ." O'Brien said.
"Oui General " Sabatier said.
"General Hazama and I will have the overall command of all the UN ground forces in the special region. Are we all clear ? " O'Brien
" Sir yes sir " was the unanimous response
" Ok gentlemen we have a battle to fight may god be with us all" Hazama stated
All the generals and officers exited the room heading towards their designated posts for the preparation of the upcoming battle.
Halkeginia, Germanian Empire, Arnus hill. Allied army base camp.
Same day, 4:00 PM
( Command tent )
General Hanczel, General Phillips and other high ranking officers of the both Germanian army and the Gallian army were discussing their battle plan and strategy to attack the enemy forces on the hill.
" Sire we can lead a mass attack towards the hill and overwhelm them with our sheer numbers. Our scouts from the dragon knights have informed us that on the hill there must be more or less 20,000 enemy soldiers." A Noble officer said.
" They even do not have any air units to counter Gallian navy airships and our combined dragon knight corps. We can just move in shell their half finished fortress with our Siege cannons and send our infantry and cavalry supported by Gallian airships and dragon knights and destroy them. " Another noble officer said.
General Hanczel turned towards Gen. Phillip and asked.
" what do you suggest Gen. Phillip ?" he continued " Is this a sound strategy in attacking those out worlders with all of our forces at once. "
Gen Phillip replied " I recommend against sending all our forces at once we do not know anything of our enemy's capabilities. "
" hmmm you might be right we have to test their capabilities "Hanczel said.
One of his officers countered " Sire with all due respect I do not think they pose any serious threat, they are just 20,000 men we have an army of 100'000 infantry with large number of artillery pieces 2000 Dragon Knights, not counting auxiliary infantry consisting orcs and trolls. That in the Germanian army alone. We have the support of 10 Gallian airships and 300 dragon knights and 5000 infantry and 50 artillery pieces. Outworlders might be able to kill 2000 or more of our Infantry but our sheer number will overwhelm them. "
Hanczel thought for a while about which strategy to finalize for tomorrow's attack.
After decided mentally he spoke " Maj. general Nikolaus and Ehrhart I want both of you prepare your Legions for tomorrow's advance towards the hill to drive the enemy back towards their part of the gate. Your Legions will be followed by 6th and 8th Legion as your reinforcements. Gen. Phillip i want your ships to be prepared but do not attack until I say so. 4th Legion and Gallian army will be in the reserve. If needed they will march into battle to support your advance. ''
Hanczel continued " I want our dragon Knights on standby. When ordered they will fly into the battle to support our advance. "
Every other Officer including nodded in approval of this battle strategy.
" Your are all dismissed "Hanczel stated.
" You all go back to your tents and have rest today we all are going to have a long day tommorrow. " He added
Everyone except Hanczel left the tent. Gen. Phillip went back to his ship that was hovering just above the command tent. Hanczel prayed to Brimir for a victorious battle tomorrow and went back to his personal tent to rest for tonight and prepare for the long battle tommorrow.
( Next day )
General Hanczel came out of his tent donned in his armour. He saw his commanders were waiting for him outside his tent. They all were all around a small table with a map of the Arnus hill before the invaders took control of it. Gen. Phillip was also with them. When they all sawHanczel they greeted him. He joined them at the table and said.
" Good morning gentlemen, I see you all are eager for the upcoming battle. Are all preparations for the attack is complete ? "
Maj. general Nikolaus said " Yes my lord my legion is ready to advance and meet the enemy in battle. "
Maj. general Ehrhart followed " My legion is also ready my lord. Just give the word and we will begin our march to victory and destruction of our enemy. "
" Our legions are ready to support 5th and 11th legion advance to the hill. " one of the commanders from the support legion said.
Hanczel turned his face towards Phillip and said " Is Gallian army and navy ready for the battle ? "
Phillip replied " Yes general Hanczel when you give the word my ships will join the attack. "
" Very well Maj. general Nikolaus and Ehrhart go back to legions and begin the attack. "Hanczel said.
" As you command my lord " Both men said simultaneously and departed from the table towards their legions.
( 30 minutes later )
General Hanczel rode his towards the 6th Legion commander Adelind who was on the edge of the camp waiting for his troops to be fully prepared to support the forward legions when called for reinforcements.
Adelind was gazing towards the hill and was lost in his own thoughts. He didn't saw Hanczel coming and stopping besides him. He noticed Adelind was in his thoughts.
" What are you thinking Adelind ? "Hanczel asked
Adelind came back to his senses and replied
" Sire I didn't saw you coming my apologies for ignoring you. " He said in a apologetic tone.
" No problem Adelind, but you didn't answer my question. What were you thinking before I came here. "Hanczel said .
" Sire I was thinking about the enemy."Adelind answered.
He continued " I was thinking how were they going to fight such a large army we have brought to defeat them? If I was their commander I would have surrendered, for the well being of my men. A good general knows when to fight and when to surrender. I also think that fighting an enemy head- on without any knowledge of their true capabilities is also a bad decision. "
Hanczel raised his eyebrow and said " You do not like my battle plan Adelind. "
" No sire it is not like that it is just, I don't feel right fighting someone without any knowledge about them, but our enemy on the hill knows our full capability and how we fight our battles against them."Adelind said.
" I also do not like to fight an unknown enemy Adelind but what choice do we have. If we do not stop them here they might advance into our lands and pillage it to the ground. Adelind you must understand we attacked them first. We drew their blood first. They are here for revenge and if we don't counter them now and drive them back to their lands they might indulge ththemselves in what we have done to them. They are pointing towards the hill now weak. They haven't even set up their base permanently, which gives us the opportunity we need to strike them. "Hanczel explained
" You are right sir we need to strike them now without any further delay."Adelind said.
The sound of horns being played signalling the advance of the forward legions could be heard. 5th and 11th legion begin their march towards the hill.
" It has begun "Hanczel stated.
Maj. general Ehrhart POV.
After the signal of advance was given I ordered my legion to follow the 5th. We marched out of our camp and straight towards the hill. My legion like the others were full of confidence that we will definitely defeat and rout the enemy. The 11th was reformed after the Invasion of Albion, Where half of the legion perished . I was given the command of the legion after the reform. My Legion consisted of the veterans from the Albion campaign and also new recruits from the commoner class.
We marched on towards the hill where I saw a wooden white coloured sign board. It had unknown glyphs written on it and below those unknown glyphs I presume to be our enemy's language was the alphabets of germanus. It said
" Keep out in red This is a hazard zone, entry beyond this point is prohibited - UNTF Special region. "
One of my officers commented " Ha so they are warning us not to enter their territory which is actually our land. They think they can scare us all with only by these words." He turned to one of the soldiers near him " Bring it down. "
As ordered that soldier with the help of some other men brought the board down.
We were nearly 6 leagues away from our enemy camp. In a hour or two our cannons will be in firing range and we will rain hell down upon their meagre fortifications and charge into their camp and slaughter them.
( UN Lines )
Col. Minoso looked through his binoculars and monitored the enemy advance. He looked down to his map and then looked back towards the enemy formations. One of the artillery spotters with him said.
" Sir they have crossed the 1st phase line. "
" Good, let more of them come in. "Minoso said.
Though having a longer range artillery units were instructed to fire inside the 6 miles or 10 km for Brits radius from the base. It was done to hide the true capabilities of our artillery against their armies. It was unnecessary what Minoso thought but the Japanese general insisted it. So less life would be lost and the enemy army would run away without a stomach to fight.
If it was up him he would have bombarded their camp when they first arrived and set up their base nearly 7 miles away from their lines.
After nearly 10 minutes his spotter said. " Sir they have more or less two division to corp strength inside the 1st phase line. "
Minoso gets his radio from the operator and starts speaking to it.
Overlord this is foxtrot center, Fish is in the barrel, I repeat fish is in the barrel
copy that foxtrot center bringing in the rain
Minoso looked back towards the unsuspecting advancing enemy and had a small grin on his face. He said to himself " These bastards will never know what hit them. "
( Back at Imperial lines )
Ehrhart was advancing with his legion. they were still far away from the enemy defences and he hoped still out of their cannons range of fire. Suddenly he heard a whistling sound. The sound grew louder and louder and then in front of his eyes whole of the 5th Legion was engulfed in flames. He was shocked and horrified to see this. Then out of sudden his own legion was ripped apart my massive explosions all around them. He shouted " my men " before being hit by a blast that threw him over from his horse.
He fell on the ground surrounded by the remains of his soldiers and shouted at the top of his voice " This is not a battle this is a bloody massacre" before being consumed by another blast.
(Allied army base camp)
General Hanczel saw everything from the edge of his camp. He along with Adelind and his guards rode towards the place where his two legions were marching towards the enemy camp. What he saw there shocked him. He saw the remains of 11th legion running past him. They were the lucky ones being rear of their formation they survived the blast. Others were not that fortunate. He saw the ground littered with dismembered bodies and body parts everywhere. The land was filled with large craters in the ground. Adelind threw up on the battlefield having never witnessed this kind of slaughter.
He said out loud " what happened, How this could happen no magical attack can reach this far. It is impossible for any mage may he might be a void mage like the Gallian king to hit this far."
Then it clicked inside his head " This must be power of those off worlders artillery. This must be their artillery, it is impossible to hit someone with magic this far." He said to himself.
He ordered one of his guards " Go back to the camp and call for a immediate meeting among the commanders. ". The guard spurred his horse and rode away towards the camp in full speed. "
He turned towards another soldier and commanded " Get some men down there and search for survivors. "
The soldier bowed his head and ordered his men to enter into the site of the slaughter to search for any survivors among the dead there.
Gen. Hanczel turned his horse and rode towards the camp closely followed by Adelind.
When he reached the command tent all the commanders from the Germanian army and Gallian army had already gathered and were waiting for him.
There were discussing and arguing among themselves how could they advance towards the camp. Gen. Phillip was sitting silently on his seat and was waiting for Hanczel to come.
Hanczel entered the tent and every one inside became silent. They all stood up as Hanczel goes and takes his place. He says " settle down gentle men settle down. "
All the commanders in the tent took their seats.
" Sire what could have caused that large explosion that destroyed our two legions. " One of the commanders said.
" It cannot be a magical attack. Our magical attacks do not have that kind of range. " another commander said.
Gen Phillip asked " General Hanczel are there were any survivors from the attack ?. "
Hanczel spoke " Some of the rear legionaries from the 11th Legion survived." He looks down and continues " 5th Legion is wiped out to the last man."
All the commanders including Phillip had a shocked look on their faces.
Hanczel continues "I was there at the edge of the camp when their attack struck our two legions. I am absolutely certain this attack was done by their artillery. "
" But sire it is impossible our largest cannons only range up to 2 leagues at maximum, that too by sacrificing cannons accuracy. "Adelind said.
" Their cannons must have greater range, they must have used magic to do that. "Hanczel said.
" What should we do next sire the morale in the camp is dropping rapidly after they saw and heard about the annihilation of two of our best and veteran legions even before they could see the enemy."Adelind said.
" We must attack to avenge them " One of the commanders said.
Many commanders nodded in approval.
" We must change our strategy to attack their camp." Phillip said.
" And we will "Hanczel replied.
( a couple of hours later )
"Maj .General Adelind your legion will advance from the center, Maj . general Inqbert you with your legion will advance from the left. Gallian army under the command of Gen. Phillip will advance from the right. I will be at the rear to reinforce any advance that asks for assistance. The Gallian ships will also join the battle, they will be providing support by shelling the enemy camp with their cannons from the sky . Whole of the Dragon knights will also provide air cover for our advance. Our three pronged attack will divide their artillery giving us the gap we need to exploit. Point to be noted they do not have the control of the air which gives us a chance to directly hit their main base camp with the help from those airships. "Hanczel explained
He continues
" I want all legions attack in loose column formation, Our soldiers will face less casualties against their cannons. Pikemen are to leave their pikes and to be armed with swords and shields, those pikes are useless in loose column. Cavalry will attack the front that is weakened enough by our infantry, ships and cannon fire and we will be having a decisive victory against our enemy. I will signal the beginning of the attack by the firing of two cannons consecutively "
[ A soldier enters the tent and bows ]
" My lord we have found no survivors from the 5th legion, Sire no remains of Nikolaus is found either."
Hanczel asks " Have you found anything of Ehrhart ? "
" Yes my lord " The soldier then brings a half roasted and broken helmet from his bag and places it on the table.
" Sire we were only able to find his helmet and nothing else "
Hanczel looks towards the helmet sadly and turns towards the officers in the tent.
" Gentlemen we will avenge our comrades and annihilate those outworlders from the face of imperial land, tomorrow we will begin our final attack and by the grace of Brimir we shall be victorious. "
" Long live the Germanian empire "Hanczel shouts
" Long live the Germanian empire " His officers followed suit, except the Gallian general who nodded in approval.
( Next day )
The whole army was preparing for their major assault on to the enemy camp on the top of Arnus hill. As planned before the army divided into three parts, Adelind's legion marched towards the center, Inqbert legion from the left and the Gallian contingent from the right under the command of Gen. Phillip second in command. The Gallian ships were also dived accordingly, The left and right flanks have three ships each to support them while the middle have four including Gen. Phillip's flag ship. The whole of dragon knight corps was spread out to support the whole army on all the fronts.
Gen. Hanczel was in the rear of the army with his legion to support any front that is able to break through the enemy defences.
He was confident in his strategy, he was convinced that his army and gen. Phillip ships would be able to use their advantage in numbers and air power to decimate the outworlder forces at the gate.
( 30 minutes later )
A messenger arrives and says " My lord all the fronts are ready to advance they are just waiting for your command. "
" Very good " He replies
He then signals the artillery officer to fire two cannons as a sign for the army to begin their attack.
Unknown to him a drone flew over him which kept a constant surveillance of his army from the day he arrived at the front.
( UN Lines, Command tent )
Gen. Hazama along with the whole of UN command staff were watching the live footage provided from the drone directly into the command tent. They saw the enemy divide their army into three parts and converge with towards the UN lines supported by countless dragons and ten enemy airships flying towards them.
" I thought they would run away after we decimated their first two division strength units yesterday. " Hazama said.
" They still have the numerical advantage and their air assets still available to them and by the looks of it they are going to use them against us today. " O'Brien said.
" Judging by the way they have divided their forces and their soldiers are marching in loose column formation they have learned from their mistakes they committed yesterday. There must be an attempt to divide our artillery support to our lines giving them a opening in our barrage to be exploit by their forces. They might be having a good commanding officer amongst them. " Brigadier John smith commented.
" They tactic might have worked against those cannons used during the 16th and 17th century, our guns can still decimate them without breaking a sweat. " Commandant Sabatier said.
" What should be our course of action today ? " Col Raj Singh asked
" We should let them come closer " Maj. Gen Dietrich
" Why should we ? " Col. Romanov asked
" I think may have a plan in his mind " Hazama said
" By the way I have " Dietrich said.
He continues " We should let the enemy troops think that their plans are working against us and let them come closer. We will minimize our artillery fire against their formations on the three flanks they are advancing from . Fire against their ships will be withheld until those ships but ourairships will shoot down any dragon that threaten our lines. When those airshipswill be right on top of their advancing troops, then we will open fire with our Surface to air missiles and destroy them. Those ships will directly fall on top of their troops which will cause panic in their ranks and then only we will open fire with all fire power we have against their ground forces in the battlefield. After their forces retreated back to their camps we will use the QRF to launch an immediate counterattack against their camp and destroy their army today."
" What if their ships attack us before their infantry is in position ? " Smith asks.
" Brigadier see their forces pointing towards the screen are maintaining their formation under those ships, they haven't moved an inch from their camp. If they had wanted their ships would have advanced against our position. But from the looks of it they are preparing for a combined arms assault against our defences. " Dietrich replied
" According to me I think this strategy will work" Romanov stated
" Even if this fails we will just blow their ships up out of the sky and begin our counterattack any way, we have advantage the advantage in fire power. " Col Raj Singh stated.
" Ok then we will go with this plan." O'Brien said.
" General they are advancing " Brigadier said after seeing the enemy army is beginning to advance towards the hill on the screen.
" No one except the artillery will open fire on them, Wait until the command of Dietrich and then obliterate them from the face of earth." O'Brien said in a stern voice.
" Yes Sir " was the unanimous answer.
" Dismissed " Hazama stated.
All the officers in the room saluted and went back to their designated posts.
( Imperial lines )
Adelind along with his legion marched towards the enemy camp, his legion was half way on to the hill when outworlders artillery began raining down on his soldiers. Unlike yesterday their cannons weren't that accurate though losses were inflicted upon his troops.
He thought that due to their 3 pronged attack their artillery had been divided on multiple fronts making their barrage ineffective though it was still destructive for his troops.
Adelind motivated his troops by shouting " Come on men don't stop we will reach the hill in no time' disregard the losses we've incurred, victory will be in our grasp, Keep moving do not stop"
His troops motivated by their commander pressed on and though the hill was still far away their morale was high, they believed the battle will be over today and they would return home to their families.
A large screeching sound came from the sky, Adelind looked up and saw their dragon Knights along with Gallia ships were heading straight towards enemy defences.
One of his soldier shouts " Go get them "
Another one yells " For Germania press on "
Enemy explosive cannon balls kept on falling on top of them but they kept up their advance towards the hill.
Suddenly a cannon ball fell near hill throwing him from his horse. He got back up and kept on moving towards the hill on foot. Adelind hoped other flanks would be advancing as his front was advancing.
( UN Lines )
Maj. Gen Dietrich was near the AA emplacements. He saw a large group of dragons heading towards the center, both left and right flanks were also reporting the arrival and advance of enemy air units those were advancing very fast towards the trenches.
He held AA guns fire for the final confirmation of the arrival of those airships. After a few moments he got what the info what from the troops on the trenches he needed. All the ships were right on top of their ground troops. He gave the order.
" Fire all AA batteries and bring down those dragons and ships."
His radio operator who stood beside him relayed the order to the AA detachment and in a few seconds all the AA guns [Type-87 SPAAG, 2K22 Tunguska] open fired at the oncoming dragon knights. Medium to short range SAMs fired their missiles against the dragons.
By the relentless fire from the AA batteries the Dragons stared falling from the sky like flies, not even one was able to breach the AA defences of the base. US Military provided four MIM-104 Patriot SAM systems which fired at the Airships outright destroying them. Some even broke into two pieces and started to plummet towards the ground. After the ships were hit whole of the UN defences opened up on the enemy which was in total disarray.
He saw the burning wreck of those ships fall on the enemy troops those were trying to advance or retreat back to their camp. They were crushed by their own ships which were meant to support them.
Tanks, APC,IFVs, SPGs and Infantry gunfire destroyed the remaining enemy troops those survived from being crushed by their ships. Their lines on all the fronts and they ran back to their camp. The ground was littered with bodies of men, orcs, trolls, dragons and horses, it was absolutely horrifying to see so many corpses. This battle was to go down in history as being one of the extremest one sided battles ever fought. But the battle was not over yet. Col. Romanovs Tanks and armoured vehicles moved out of the FOB to lead an immediate counterattack against the enemy base camp and conclude the battle today.
[ 10 minutes earlier, Imperial lines ]
(Gallia flagship)
Gen. Phillip was on his flagship ' De Grasse ', this ship was one of the largest and well armed ships Gallia had, the reason of sending this ship was to scare the enemy into submission by its might. He also hoped that with their numbers and also with his fleet of ships would be enough to finish the invaders off.
When he arrived at Arnus hill with his army, he thought the battle would be over in a day by the might of the Germanian legions alone. His ships and soldiers wouldn't be needed at all. But during the first day of the battle he was completely wrong, Nearly 40'000 men were slaughtered by those outworlders cannons. Not only did their artillery had long range but they also hit with unbelievable accuracy.
He could see everything from his ship as the battle unfolded. The three pronged attack strategy to divide the enemy artillery capabilities had worked. Their fire was divided in all the three fronts. But one thing was really odd about, as he saw that in enemy lines, there were no walls protecting their camp against an attack , instead there were a string of trenches surrounding their whole camp.
The combined wing of dragon knights began their attack run against the enemy camp to soften their defences for their infantry. The number of dragon knights flying towards the enemy was really a sight to behold. Captain of this ship comes to him and said
" My lord we will be in firing range in about 10 minutes, though sire I had to confess we still be stretching our cannons' capabilities and I reckon our shots will be inaccurate."
" It's ok captain but if we delay our fire at their camp we will lose lot more soldiers to their cannon fire, If we fire now we might be able to inflict some damage to their defences of their camp. Our main objective here is that until we reach our preferable firing range we will be firing cannon balls in to their camp." Phillip replied.
The captain saluted him and started giving commands to his sailors to prepare the cannons for firing. Suddenly Phillip saw strange lights that started to shoot down the dragon knights from the sky. He ran towards to the edge of his ship and saw this lights were coming directly from the enemy camps and the dragons knights were falling left and right. If it wasn't strange enough, rods flew from the enemy camps and hit the dragon knights with unbelievable accuracy. The greatest concentration of dragon squadrons ever assembled in the history of Halkeginia was being decimated by these outworlders and their unknown magic ability. Some of those strange lights even hit his ships damaging the sails and even inflicting casualties among his men but Phillip didn't move from the place he was standing. He saw one of those magical rods fly towards a ship on his right, The rod hit on the ship's portside and broke the ship into 2 halves. Another ship on his right was hit and it plunged towards the ground. To his absolute horror one of these magical weapons flew directly towards his ship.
He shouted " Brace for impact " as the rod hit the flagship of his small fleet. Due to the shockwave from the explosion he flew from the ship towards the ground to his demise.
(6th Imperial legion)
Adelind was shocked by the sight of the dragon knights being shot down in drove. The once mighty dragon corps of the empire were no match to the magic lights and magical rods fired upon them, which were extremely accurate and not even a single dragon knight survived that onslaught.
Some of his soldiers began to slowly halt their advance and witness the show of force by the outworlders. Some even tried to retreat only to be stopped by their officers. Before his own eyes the 6th Legion, one of the veteran legions from the invasion of Albion was beginning to panic.
Adelind quickly caught hold of a retreating standard bearer, he took the regimental flag from him and began to shout " Soldiers of the Germanian empire do not falter by the magic used by our enemy. We are the 6th Legion, the mighty 6th that took on 60'000 Albion soldiers and annihilated them, These mere outsiders and their puny magic is useless against the might of the empire, against the might of the emperor, and against the might of the Germanian nation, we will win or we die trying."
Hearing his speech the soldiers again began to reform their formation and advanced forward towards the outworlders lines.
Adelind lead his troops from the front holding the standard of the 6th himself, But like Brimir had put a curse on them one of the magical rods which by the looks of it was larger than the ones that hit the dragons before flew right into one of the Gallian ships flying over them. A Large explosion was heard as the rod hit the ship, The ship was on fire, As it started to descend upon them it broke in to two halves. This was one of the final nails in the coffins of the 6th legion discipline as the whole legion descend upon panic to get away from the falling ships. One by one all the ships were hit by those rods and they all began their fall upon them. Many poor souls were crushed under those ships that were meant to crush their enemy with might.
As if it wasn't enough the whole enemy line began to fire their artillery upon them along with those strange lights being fired upon them. Adelind was speechless, he couldn't move even a single muscle in fear, he stood there holding the standard as his men were being cut down to pieces. Suddenly he felt immense pain on his right shoulder and fell down hard on the ground, He saw his right hand being completely severed from his body. He could hear the sound like 'pop pop pop'coming from the enemy lines it was like thousands of muskets were being fired upon them. As Adelind began to lose consciousness due to loss of blood he saw his mighty legion being shredded to bits by outworlders' magical muskets. As he slowly closed his eyes he cursed everyone of his commanders including the emperor for opening this damn gate before embracing eternal darkness.
( Empire Base camp )
Gen. Hanczel saw the failure and destruction of his grand strategy to surround and overwhelm the outworlders defences by use of the large army and navy at his disposal. His forces weren't even able to reach halfway across the battlefield when they are all massacred.
All the Gallian ships were lost during the battle without even being able to fire even one of their cannons, The dragon corps was wiped out to the last man along with their Gallian allies, none of the noble officers survived the attack and the commoner soldiers were running back towards the camp.
Hanczel wanted to stop them from deserting their posts but more pressing matters were at his hand, the enemy was gearing for a counterattack on his base now which he was informed from one of the stranglers those had decided to stand and fight along with his general rather than desert their positions.
Hanczel got down from his horse and called a meeting among the remaining officers in his army.
"How many did we lost during our assault on their camp ? " he asked.
"Sire" one of the Noble officer from his legion said "Adelind's legion is in shambles, his soldiers have already deserted the camp with the remaining soldiers from the Gallia soldiers. Inqbert's legions surviving soldiers have joined our ranks.
" What do we expect from our enemy when they launch their counterattack against us ? "Hanczel asked
" Sire we have little to no information about their infantry capabilities except this that their artillery is extremely accurate and they have a very different magical element in their weapons. Like their magical rods that struck down the whole of the Gallian ships sent on our aid. " One Noble officer answered.
Suddenly a soldier barges in on the meet by saying " I beg your apology my lord for barging into your meet but one of the survivors from the 8th Legion had witnessed the enemy forces forming outside of their defences."
" Bring him in I want to know what he saw there. "Hanczel commanded
" It will be done my Lord " the soldier answered before back to his comrade outside the tent waiting for the permission to enter. After permission was granted he entered into the room and saluted all the officers and General in the room. The soldier was more or less a 16 or 17 year boy who was in his half torn and dusty armour and uniform.
" Soldier what is the important matter you want to share with us?" One Noble asked.
" My lord I saw the enemy formation preparing for an attack upon our base, they are just gathering their forces just outside their wall. " He replied with little nervousness which was visible in his face.
" Tell us something that we do not know about. "Hanczel commented
" Sire I sa.. saw several Iron elephants with their large snouts just outside their camp, and by the looks of their construct they look quite menacing to my eye."
" Are you drunk soldier " a noble said in a sarcastic tone.
" No my lord it is... " before he finishes his sentence another soldier comes in
" Sire I have brought news from the scouts, enemy forces are advancing towards our camp "
" meetings over gentlemen now we prepare for battle. "Hanczel said as he puts on his helmet and moves out of the tent to command.
He quickly gets on his horse and rides to the front where his men were waiting for their general's arrival.
( UN Lines )
Col. Romanov was the commanding officer of the QRF detachment in the special region meant for plugging holes in the defence lines of the FOB . He is an experienced commander with combat experience during the UN intervention into second Somalian civil war fought between the warlords aligned with the remnants of ISIS after their defeat in Iraq against the government. Hailing from Volgograd he led his troops to total victory in the final battle of Mogadishu against the warlords. He is a proud but humble person who takes great pride in his nation's history and military. He personally selected the officers for deployment in the special region and earned the respect of his multinational subordinates very quickly.
Romanov was in his BMP-3K command IFV and relayed orders to his tankers and soldiers. The tanks immediately formed up into a column and left the base followed by IFVs and APCs towards the front.
With another command the tanks formed a line formation. They were divided into 3 lines. First were the tanks followed by IFVs and the APCs.
Romanov waited for his detachment to form up and then gave the command to advance and take the enemy camp.
( Outside the imperial base camp )
Hanczel looked in awe towards the oncoming armoured steel beasts in an unimaginable speed towards his camp. He quickly gave the command to his soldiers to form their battle formation and prepared for the oncoming assault. He had placed all the cannons he had in front of his infantry and the remainder of the cavalry were at the left.
" Sire they are in our firing range " Commander of the artillery wing said.
" Open fire " He commanded
All the cannons opened upon the oncoming iron behemoths rushing towards his lines. Due to their speed the cannon's inaccurate fire was ineffective. Some rounds that were lucky enough to land on them were deflected by its heavy armour much to the despair of the imperials. As those things closed in musketeers and archers fired upon them with no effect. After their first volley the beasts retaliated by destroying their cannons on the left flank also taking part of the cavalry with them.
With no choice left except to fight and die or surrender ,Hanczel drew his sword and ordered " CHARGEEE" as he spurred his horse and charged directly towards the oncoming enemy iron elephants. His men followed him with a war cry as they charged head on towards the enemy. As they neared them the iron beasts spat fire and death among his men, they ran over his soldiers and were unfazed by the magical attacks of the nobles. Hanczel even sent a series of lightning bolts on the iron elephants which kept moving on as if it was nothing. His cavalry also faced the same fate. Hanczel was himself cut down by machine gun fire from one of the tanks. Tanks cannon fire and machine gun fire virtually destroyed the imperial soldiers that charged them. Soldiers disembarked from the APCs and IFVs and joined the tanks in the final destruction of the Imperial army sent to destroy them.
The only damage the tanks took were scratches and marks that were done by swords, spears, cannons and magical attacks that impacted on them. It was a crushing defeat for the imperial forces as 93 % of soldiers sent for the counterattack were either captured, dead or missing, rest retreated or deserted the army during rout of the remaining soldiers.
( Next day )
The stench of the dead was becoming unbearable for Itami as he checked the bodies along with his Platoon after yesterday's battle. Though the work for disposing the bodies of the deceased combatants was moving in full swing the amount of dead was too much for the common soldiers to bear.
" How many did they send to fight us ? "Kurata asked
" According to the records recovered from the enemy camp nearly 105,000 soldiers not counting their dragons and other non-humans were sent to dislodge us from this hill "Itami answered. " We still do not have an exact number of dead during this battle. "
As both of them continued to have a little chat among themselves, Excavators and other heavy duty construction vehicles arrived at the FOB to finish its transformation to a more permanent base of operation. Some of the excavators and bulldozers were also reassigned to dig up mass graves to bury the bodies of the dead.
It was estimated that nearly 80 to 90 thousand died during the second battle for Arnus hill and up to 2000 were captured after the battle and were sent to the Prison Islands provided by Japan. None of the UN military personnel lost their lives during the battle.
Germania, Vindobona, Imperial Palace ( 5 days after the battle )
Gen. Gramont entered the throne room of the imperial palace followed by his second in command Captain Napoleon, today an important letter arrived from Tristain about the rise in the lawlessness and public discontent about the economy problems faced by the kingdom. The fragile economy of Tristain was barely holding after the bloody invasion of Albion and also the maintenance of troops on both Albion and Germania was too much for this small kingdom. It was reason why her Highness had asked Gramont that if the deployment of troops was not needed anymore then he is to return back to the kingdom at once.
Gramont saw that the deployment was going nowhere, his troops were confined to their camp outside the capital for nearly two whole weeks, with no chance of getting a chance to attain glory was also disheartening for the noble officers in the army, roughly 3 days ago Miss Kirche and Miss Tabitha arrived at the camp along with supplies sent directly from the Academy of magic to support the troops.
Today Gramont had decided to seek permission from the emperor to return back to his kingdom along with his army as he knew the news of victory will be arriving at any time from the hill.
Gramont along with Napoleon bowed before the emperor in show to respect to him.
" Rise General " Said emperor Albert " what brings you here today. "
" Your Majesty I am here to seek permission for the return of our troops back to our kingdom. "Gramont said.
" Well " placing his hand on his chin " You may return but not before the victory parade which I want you also to join when my victorious army returns from Arnus hill. Though your army had not fought in the battle but still Queen Henrietta has shown courage and responsibility as a true noble to send you and your army when the call to arms was sent to all the kingdoms despite being your kingdom economy was not in the position to support this campaign "
" Your Majes... "Gramont sentence was cut short when another person entered the room. He looked back to see the person was in Germanian army officers uniform but his uniform was in a very bad shape along with the man who had his head being bandaged and dried blood could still be seen in his uniform.
The same person comes beside Gramont and bows before the emperor and then he spoke.
" Your majesty I am captain Dezen of the 8th legion sent to Arnus hill to fight the outworlders and I have brought grave news from the front. "
" What is the news you have brought from the front captain ? " Emperor asked speculating the reply he is going to get from the man.
" You majesty " he said in a said tone " Our forces were defeated by the outworlders army . "
" What " Emperor said still shocked by the news " What happened to Gen. Hanczel and to the Gallian ships sent to support you, what happened to our dragon corps? "
" General Hanczel is dead your majesty, Gallian ships along with whole of the dragon knight corps is wiped out to the last man. "
" Emperor was shocked to his very core he had lost nearly 60 percent of the military strength of the empire along with half of the dragon knights his empire possessed. He sat down on his throne with his head faced down. Whole of the throne room had also gone silent by the news.
Gramont himself was shocked, the mighty legions of the empire were defeated by the outworlders, he now thought to himself that his deployment has been extended. he decided to send this news of defeat and extension of the deployment to her highness as quickly as possible after he reached his camp.
His confidence about the quick victory was shattered after this grave news. Gramont now knew that his expected short war had just escalated into a large scale conflict.
AFTER ACTION REPORT :
strength - 10,000 + troops
losses - none
Imperial strength - 100,000 infantry, cavalry, and dragon knights [ auxiliary and non- humans not included ]
losses - 80,000 + infantry, cavalry and dragon knights[ wiped out]
army strength - 5000 infantry, 10 airships and 300 dragon knights.
losses - 4500 infantry, all airships, whole dragon knight corp.
note- Nearly 2000 imperial soldiers returned back to the capital with others decided to desert or even turn to banditry. It was also due to the death of most of the high command authority during the battle. This attack also speed up the construction for a more permanent base of operation for the UNTF.
END
CODEX
Imperial army formation.
Legion- 20,000 men including cavalry and artillery ( auxiliary orcs and trolls not included )
under command of a Maj. General.
Army - 2 legions combined form a army, sometimes even 3 Legions are used but it is rare, Commanded by a General.
Next chapter might take a while to be published as you all can see I have decided to make bigger chapters so more time is needed for writing and also to think what to put in the next chapter so that it will fit into Foz world setting. If any of you have any ideas for the next chapter just put it in the review section or PM me I will see to it.
until next time
Peacekeeper out
stay tuned for next chapter Ch- Imperial decree and third Recon