Hag Graef harbour – Quay

Paul Müller left the CH53 helicopter at a run taking position behind a piece of fallen masonry. Quickly counting his men the freshly baked "Feldwebel" ordered them to advance by squad to their assigned post - the mouth of the causeway leading from the City to the harbor. He was assigned a spot for this squad by the Lt., thought it to be actually good and directed his men to improve it. A shell had left a convenient crater and one wall of a former guardhouse was still substantial enough to use. The Lt. asked him to take care of the special party they brought along as his position offered the best cover the German company occupied. He greeted the huge flame-haired mage and some less flamboyant mages which were here to make sure the Dark Elves played fair on the magic front.
" Good evening, Veldweibel. We will be your guests tonight if I understand correctly?"

"Yes sir. Can you please position yourself over there behind that wall? It should give good cover and you can still observe."
"Sounds reasonable young man. Now we try to emulate good visitors and brought you a little gift."
One of the helpers unrolled a cloth at the end of a pole. When completely unfolded it showed a fair, if flamboyant rendering of his Unit`s colors. He was about to comment on the uselessness of such a flag in modern warfare when he realized that something was different about that banner. For one thing it seemed to glow slightly and unseen things nearly showed themselves in his peripheral vision. It should have been unsettling but for some reasons was not.

"This, Veldweibel, eh, Feldwebel, is a mage-breaker, a flag that will keep your men safe from enemy spells. Take care of this flag and it will take care of you. Not that we will not do our utmost to undo what the accursed "Spitzohren" will try to do to us. Please try to keep our precious hides in one piece while we do that."
Paul Müller rather liked the self-depreciating mage, he was not what he had expected but seemed rather competent.
"Ok sir, this is the company's position, we are at the left flank as you can see. Because of the quay behind us we have no real rally point. That means when the enemy comes this way we have to hold them here and there is no other way the enemy may come."

"There will be quite a lot of them and quite few of us."
"Yes, there will be the problem to bury them all." Like so many soldiers and civilians in Germany, Paul too had seen the barbarism of the Dark Elves. Time for payback.

The sound of a small diesel engine and a lot of rattling of metal on stone stopped their conversation.
"Ha, they startled me again, and I have seen them before. Compared to some other machines you have they seem quite small."
"Believe me Herr Flammbach, they are potent enough for what we have in mind tonight. And if they are not enough we can always call our big brother at sea."

As if brought upon by the conversation the freight train rumble in the Sky indicating another salvo into the City reminded them to take their positions.

Slave pens

The Keeper of Slaves was livid. Only once before an invading army had entered Naggaroth and it had to be here and now of all places. He had been awakened by sounds he could not identify and quickly alarmed the Guards. Most of them he assigned to watch the slaves, it would not pay for them to get any ideas. Best to break some heads early on, then the rest would keep quiet.
He then ventured outside of the Gate building to be greeted by a sight he simply could not place: Big Things which looked a little bit like Dwarf Gyrocopters grown to enormous proportions were landing not far from his Gatehouse and from the back of them Soldiers and strange horseless chariots emerged.
He was still trying to decide whether to retreat or attack when a 30 mm fusillade from a Tiger helicopter wiped out half of his guards. That made the decision easy, he was too far from the Gate already to get back to safety so he could only assault.
He did not get far before he was something like a blinking light in the door of one of the "Gyrocopters" and felt a hammer blow to his chest. How he came to lie on his back looking at the sky whose clouds reflected the red flickering glare he could not explain and then it was far too late for any explanations.

Gatehouse to the Slave Pens

Ralf Winkler watched the preparations of the assault on the Salve Pens Gate with interest, obviously the assault would go through soon. A voice close to his ear startled him and served as a reminder that he should better look at his surroundings more - even if they were less entertaining they might be more dangerous if ignored. Still too much a civilian at heart obviously.
The voice belonged to Aoelus, the aide to Master Ilthies who looked around it seeming wonderment. "A question if I am allowed?"

Ralf nodded and answered,"If it is when they start the assault - soon, more I do not know myself."

"No it is not that. I saw you carrying a different "rifle" from the others in your unit. Are you one of these snipers I heard about?"

"No, quite to the contrary, I am just a medic. Until a few days ago I was supposed to stay at the ships, but we had an accident where we lost some medics and here I am. I am supposed to help with the drop-off point for the injured and slaves-the same place you and your master will be. Unfortunately nobody had the time to check me out on the MP7 that the medics of this outfit carry, so I still have my G3K from my old unit. A bit heavy and quite a handful when you fire it, but whatever you hit with it will know it has been kissed."

He was about to ask the Elf for the reason behind his question when he saw his face more closely. Obviously he was not the only nervous being here and also idle conversation seemed to help both Elf an Man.
A series of explosions and a lot of screaming and shooting from the Gate signaled the beginning of the assault and ended their conversation.

Inside the slave pens

The Commander of the Druchii Guard detachment still cursed the stupid keeper of Slaves. What did this idiot think? Gallivanting outside with a third of his Elves, he could have made much better use in here where he knew the area and where he could make the enemy pay for every meter taken.
He had heard a lot of explosions and surmised that the enemy might use them to wreck the Gate so he retreated about 50 meters back into the main way between the cells. His caution paid off when a series of explosions turned the strong Gate into a lot of wooden shrapnel which would have mowed down his Guards.
Now for the counterattack, when the enemy was still trying to push soldiers through the gap and tried to get an idea of the surroundings. He led his unit into a strong charge right into the dust cloud that took the place of the gates.
Nothing could have surprised him more than the 2 horseless carriages which emerged from the cloud. Not much higher than him they did not seem so dangerous until they opened fire. The effects of a 20 mm autocannon and a machine gun from each was just horrific, it wiped out his Guards in seconds. Because of his better armor he was still alive to feel how the chains of one of these vehicles crushed his chest.

Wiesel Tank, inside the Slave pens

Ulrich Stoiber told his driver to follow the Paratrooper who guided them through the remains of the second set of Gates into the subterranean thoroughfare that connected all the underground slave pens.
As the Harbour needed lots of slaves for ships and logistics and slaves were a much traded commodity the Elves had established a huge underground complex for holding these slaves which went quite a way back from the entrance close to the mole.
The extend of the complex and the fact that it was chiseled from stone by hand told Ulrich a lot about how many slaves had been in here for how long, things he did not want to dwell upon presently.
Fortunately the surviving slaves that had been saved from the Druchii Galleys had been correct and there was more than enough space in the main ways of the Pens to maneuver his tank(ette). This was unusual in many ways: Normally tanks should not enter such confined spaces and his tank, for the first time he could remember, was the toughest and best armed vehicle around.

The Wiesel (Weasel) is a very strange tank in that it is smaller and lighter than an US Hummvee, but better armored and armed with a 20mm Cannon and a machine gun. He was the King of the Hill in here!
Two of these tankettes can be carried in a single CH53 helcopter and the Germans had landed several in support of the operations.
As soon as the infantry assigned to his tank was there he started his way deeper into the pens. There was no real resistance for the first couple of 100 meters, and then a group of overseers tried to ambush them when they had just passed another cell entrance. The tank that drove a little to the back and side of him got about half of them, the rest were divided between the accompanying infantry and his tank which gut a couple when his driver engaged the reverse gear of a couple of meters. After that it was mostly smooth going until they approached the main guard shack deep inside the pens. The Guards had erected a barrier from carts and bales across the thoroughfare and were pelting his tank with Crossbow bolts.
A couple of 3 round bursts from their autocannon showed the Druchii how flimsy their cover was for real and the machine guns took care of those who wanted to flee.
He drove carefully forward and aimed his cannon through the door leading into the Guards quarters. Squeezing off some more rounds he made sure that the first meters would be easier for the infantry to storm.
A new group of infantry attached themselves to his tank and then they advanced to the end of the cells-from here there was only a long tunnel into Hag Graef and as long as he and his fellow tank driver was parked here nothing would come into the slaves pens.
He just hoped the Druchii would be stupid enough to try-he had seen only very little of what went on in these pens-but that was already too much.

Seeadler, CIC

Admiral Lerbs saw the collapse of a copula which was said to be a part of the temple of Khaine with satisfaction: God of murder indeed. He checked with his staff about progress.
"Sir, all targets on our List have been hit. The demolition team is just withdrawing from the tunnel entrance. We will switch the arty now to support and start with the evacuation of the slaves."
He acknowledged and promptly started to worry, so far everything has gone to plan. This was not a natural state of affairs in his experience. Murphy and the enemy were to make their entrance soon, it was just important to catch them in time.

Protestant Kindergarten, Landstuhl, Germany

Andrea Holm waited, together with some other parents, for her younger daughter to leave the Kindergarten. One of the other parents waiting was reading the Bild newspaper, leaning against the wall. His position enabled the attractive 30-somethings mom to read the frontpage with ease.
The main headline this day was rather humourous. The Nipponese and Empire "Invasions" were rolling over Germany, two events, one could for a change be glad about!

Andrea, like some other persons reading this, chuckled. It was a true statement. The number of peaceful first contacts with the other nations on this world was depressingly low. The only bright light on that front was, that among those few were a great number of nations nobody had had any hope for in this context. Who would have thought that for example the Hung, dangerous steppe nomads, were actually eager for basic trade, based on the available descriptions?
Before the Weltensprung, Andrea had been interested, but not overly so, in politics. Now, every German worth his/her salt was really interested. This world was full of variable dangers and anything positive was a reason to celebrate.
"Here in the Old World, the Empire and the Nipponese are the only ones who really accept us. Okay, Kislev, some border principalities and several of the Norse tribes are on that way as well now, but beside that...
While we have good relations to some of the Tilean regional states, it is not with the whole nation. Estalia cares only for trade with us, not cool, but acceptable. And the Bretons... after all these battles and skirmishes in the west, you do not have to be a brainmonster to know what that means. God, it is only a few weeks since Bild published the first ideas for a new version of Wacht am Rhein, the Wacht am Reik (Watch on the Reik), to the shrill countervoices of the opposition!"

The changes on all levels of society were very easy to see. Being totally cut off from the cultural life on Earth, Germany had not only to reinvent several things, but new external sources came into play, hence the Invasion headline by the Bild.
Andrea´s second daughter was 5, but even at her young age, the changes were profound. Her Kindergarten was one of those where children were taught some basics of foreign languages. In the past, this had been English and or French. In the new Now, English was confined to Albion, which itself was a rather closed society. So the need for English simply had vanished. French, despite some differences between Breton and modern French, retained some use due to Bretonnia just sitting in the West, but relations were icy.
With Landstuhl being located in the Southwest of Germany, relatively close to the Nipponese, the Kindergarten had decided half a year earlier to now teach the children the main dialect of Reikspiel and Nipponese. Reikspiel as a variant of German was easy for the kids, but Nipponese was a bit more difficult.

Galley "Wesir Salagud", close to the Lustrian Coast

Boom-Boom-Boom...
That was the rhythem Hamid lived after for months now. He was filthy, but with very musculous arms. His back was free of whip scars, but that was mainly because of the magic tattoo on his tongue.
"If your God is so almighty as you make him to be, he will come to your rescue. Butto make your blasphemy more interesting, we will give you a magic sign on your tongue before sending you to the oars. The least you can do for your try to sedition is working for this city - until your body gives out.
But I am sure you want to know about the tattoo. Whipping you will make you a matyr and we know about your taboos. Anytime you now open that worthless guzzle of yours in praise of your god or so, you will additionally make a pass at the holders around. I am sure you will be very popular with the crew...less with your fellow slaves, but that is life!
If I read your gaze correctly, you want to know about your comrades, yes? Good, the tall one with that prominent nose is now in Eunuch training for a prominent citizen of Al Ahak. And the one with those verses tattoed on his amrs was a main participant in the last temple service. I have to say, for some guys so boastful of their god, he broke pathetically in the face of Khaine´s power. But as a sacrifice he worked well.

To this day Hamid could hear the voice of the Vizir, but it did not matter to him so much any longer. The first two weeks on the ship broke something inside him. So he was not overly interested when the crow´s nest called down to the captain. "Ship on intercept course! Ulthuan colours. They want to parley!"

Hag Graef, Causeway to City

Over open ground infantry cannot storm machine guns. It does not matter how many soldiers you bring, as long as the other side has a number of working machine guns it simply does not work.
During the first battle of the Somme the British artillery fired 1.5 million shells within 7 days AND detonated mines under the German lines. Still they suffered 10000 losses within one hour and in no place reached the target of their plans.
The Dark Elves had no arty preparation, no machine guns of their own and no rifles. The result of the first two assaults was therefore never in question-they were wiped out with close to 90% losses.
It was time to try something else. Some of the city's best Mages tried to put a spell on the German troops. So far this had not worked well as there was resistance, but a combined effort should do the trick.
Also they wanted to try something new. Even before the Germans had entered the scene Musket fire from Human regiments or High Elven longbows had a nasty tendency to slay the Druchii warriors before they ever could engage in hand-to-hand combat.
So the beastmasters of Hag Graef had bred a new, tough species of War Hydra. Their legendary toughness had been enhanced by Iron Plates fixed to their torsos, making them slower, but even harder to kill.
The sir above the German position was a fireworks of sparks and other effects when spell and counterspell raged for supremacy.

Suddenly something gave and the end of the causeway disappeared in what seemed to be a local winter storm, effectively breaking the line of sight and making it very hard for the Germans to open fire effectively. Still a lot of bullets came from that side, but their effectiveness was far lower than before.
In the back of the huge Hydras the Hag Graef`s guards advanced, feverishly hoping that they could take revenge on their earlier losses.
Inside the artificial Ice Hell the wireless operator tried for the 3rd time to make his hands perform the necessary keystrokes to call in artillery fire, but failed again due to the cold which had so suddenly come.

Assault Boat leaving Hag Graef Harbour

The 3 Assault Boats sped out of the harbour, seeking a rendezvous with their mother ship when the first boats all of the sudden flipped up as if it had hit a underwater ski jump. While it did not flounder upon landing the engines stalled, either because of damage to them or a stunned operator.
The two other boats drove in a circle to loose speed and close with their stricken sister when they saw an enormous tentacle rising from the sea and wrapping itself around the boat. It started rocking the boat violently so that some crewmembers were thrown overboard.
Because there were still others on board the gunners of the fellow boats could only helplessly watch the destruction.
Only when a equally enormous head broke the water the gunners had something to apply their anger to as it was far enough from the stricken sailors. Some of the autocannon shells hit the target, but the result was that the head disappeared and with it the majority of the boat.
While the boat with the sappers quickly rescued the few sailors which were ditched into the frigid water the remaining gun boat kept a nervous watch. Looking around the gunner of the machine gun position of the other side saw a lot of other shapes which started to appear on the waters.

Seeadler

Admiral Lerbs looked at the rapidly evolving threat board which showed lots of new contacts in the water. Both sonar and infrared revealed Sea Monsters which had not be seen before. Weather they had stayed on seabed or were hidden in some fold of the rugged coast line was a question for the postmortem, solving this problem came first.
He also became aware that the Company blocking the causeway seemed to have problems and was incommunicado-another issue to apply his limited resources to.
Ordering his bombardment squadron to put a protective fire mission in the middle of the causeway he started to order his ships around to counter the newly revealed maritime threat.

"Bremen", close to Hag Graef

The Captain of the Frigate Bremen had already started to change course and speed when the Admiral`s staff relayed his new orders-his escort mission gave him that much leeway.
The Dark Elves offered him two kinds of targets: Sea Snakes which attacked above the water and were herded by a rider and some kind of overgrown calamari which mostly stayed submerged.
He ordered his Sea Lynx helicopter to take care of the Tentacle beast and set a course for the nearest group of Sea Snakes.
In the background he heard how the Crew of the Sonar guided the helicopter close to the first targets and then saw the huge water fountains which were caused by the depth charges that were used to kill the Sea Monsters.
Bremen had experience there, a couple of months before they had to hunt some monsters which had attacked Trawlers fishing in the Sea of Claws. The much more modern lightweight torpedoes normally employed for hunting submarines had proven unsuitable as they did not accept the "Critters" as a viable target. Therefore the depth charge had been reintroduced into the German navy.

By now "Bremen" had shortened the range to the Sea Snakes sufficiently that she could open fire on them without endangering any other German ships. While her 76mm gun was much smaller than the 155mm ones on the bombardment squadron, the rate of more than 1 shot per second was quite impressive. The 27 mm autocannons also opened fire.
While the 76 mm gun killed the Sea Serpents outright the autocannon just wounded them enough to disobey the commands of their beastmasters, in many cases simply diving and leaving the Battlefield, which did not please their riders at all. Not that they survived long enough to really care, but still…
The Kraken were a different matter. While the first strikes with depth charges were successful in killing their intended targets the waters in the areas effected were nearly opaque to Sonar after the explosions for a while. This allowed the Kraken not immediately effected to close with their targets. The Sonar Crews found that they could "drive" their targets by blasting them with high-power active sonar, but that was only a temporary solution.

Especially the Kraken which had attacked the assault boats proved to be persistent and obviously wanted another bite.
The Captain of the Bremen had recalled his Helicopter already for a rearmament and planned an assault on the Kraken when he was called off by the Admiral`s staff on "Seeadler".
He was about to protest when his sonar called a new high-speed contact. It took the "Seahake" torpedo little time to close the distance to target at 50 knots. It was controlled by glass fire from U32 who got the data from their active sonar. The rules for submarine warfare got severely rewritten that night as stealth became a lesser issue during combat. The aftermath of the Battle would see to the installation of high-power sonar on all ships.
Some of the the "monsters" on sea could even be killed by blasting them with sonar.
The explosion caused by the torpedo was spectacular enough; 260 kg of modern explosives tend to do that. While the sonar environment was sufficiently muddied that nobody could check the issue was never in doubt. The scavengers would eat well the next weeks.

"Sachsen" Wardroom

Fräulein Meikle readjusted the "Magic Indicator" to weather magic upon the urgent request by the German sailors. It seemed that some of their forces had come under magical attack. She did not like the short name that the Germans had given her creation, but it was to be expected. Still she was pleased that the indicator finally did what she had aimed at for so long: It indicated the strongest source of a specific magical activity. It would be interesting to explore what other things might be possible with the help of the Germans.
She watched with baited breath as the indicator started to move quickly into one direction. The speed with which it settled on a bearing and stayed there showed the strength of the magic employed-obviously great.
"I do not think the indicator will get any better" she instructed the rating besides her. Taking a look at the display below the "indicator" the rating picked up a phone and called "we have a bearing of 271, seems to be a strong one sir"
A short call to "Hessen" gave another bearing, which was enough to give an area of search.

Seeadler

Admiral Lerbs watched with his staff the pictures send by the drone hovering close to the coordinates provided by the new sensors. A Crystal dome covered the top of a slender tower which was so ubiquitous in Hag Graef.
The picture from the drone was not so clear that individuals could be recognized, but that some ritual was taking place there was obvious. Checking the available resources he had detailed some Tigers to take care of this.
All of a sudden the picture showed the crystal dome shattering and the ritual going down in flames when the two attack helicopters used their cannons to make sure nobody would do any magicking any longer.
Kicking himself for paying attention to small details when he was in charge of the whole battle he turned his back to the screens and tried to regain an overview.