What Gisela said last night was going to be the words she would regret saying as Alexandra's five armies got ready for the offensive. She wanted to prove Gisela that she was dead wrong with what she had said and prepared to make the push.
As the sun began to rise, the five armies prepared to assault the enemy trenches from their saps they had dug overnight. All the objectives had been set and now the only thing to do now was push the offensive forward. Alexandra had brought a total of five hundred artillery guns and mortars. As the sun began to rise, the artillery guns began to fire away. Gisela and the groups looked up to see the artillery guns opening fire and when they fired, the crews dumped the empty casing out and loaded them up within seconds, firing again. Gisela and the others noticed the shells landing around them. Unlike Lake Naroch where the shells scattered unevenly, they landed in the trenches evenly or just outside of them. Gisela looked up to see the shells exploding all around her.
"Take cover!" Gisela shouted. She and the others began to run for the dugouts they had created as Alexandra wanted to destroy everything they had. The heavy artillery that the dual alliance had brought along was starting to get blown apart as they would prove to be an obstacle if the Dual Alliance decided to pull them back, set them back up and fire them on them. Alexandra had been pounding away against them for the past ten minutes before she looked at the crew.
"Stop." Alexandra told the crew to stop firing. The crew stopped firing as they looked ahead to see their damage, they had dealt some damage, but they hadn't dealt enough of it. Gisela and the crew rushed out thinking they were going to attack with their forces, and they began to countdown from ten and prepare to defend the trench, the seconds continued to tick down as the ten seconds counted down. When the ten seconds counted down and finished, Alexandra and the others didn't pop their heads out.
"This is weird, she stopped firing, but she isn't attacking, what is going on?" Gisela asked. Then Gisela looked up to see the artillery guns firing away once again. The shells began to land all around again and the shells began to explode. Gisela looked up to see the students were getting blown apart again. "Take cover again!" Gisela called out; the students scattered as they were going to hide from the attacker. Some of the artillery destroyed the machine gun positions that the Dual Alliance had, they had only stopped the attack to take aim again and pound their defenses away. The Dual Alliance students heard the explosions rip apart their defenses. For them there was no way out. Alexandra looked on as the ten minutes ticked down. They had focused more on the frontal defenses this time and ripped them apart.
"All stop." Alexandra ordered. The artillery guns went silent as Gisela and the others raced out from their dugouts to see what there was to defend. The ten seconds began to tick down again as they prepared for the attack. Some of them stood tense, ready to see if they could try to take down the students. Ten seconds passed by but again, there was no attack. This was wearing on Gisela's nerves.
"Okay this is getting ridiculous, I'm going to the rear to talk to my friends, I want to see what course of action we should take." Gisela told her friends as she decided to head off to the rear to see what decision she could make with Kirishima. Afterward, she left and left no one in command of the front. Alexandra was watching from her binoculars as their leader had left the trenches.
"Okay one more pounding would do it and then we go on the offensive." Alexandra ordered the artillery that one more attack would be necessary before she decided to go on the attack. The artillery began pounding at the enemy trench again while the students scattered back to their dugouts to hide. This was one last all out artillery attack before they went in on the offensive. For Alexandra this last attack was going to do it. The ten minutes continued to tick down as Alice and some of the Count High Schools students began to chat among themselves.
"You know what Alexandra's plan would be?" Ileana asked Alice while watching the battlefield from afar.
"She might be pounding the enemy defenses away before she launches the attack. Once she is satisfied with the results, she will attack." Baby Lee described the process of firing at the enemy. "I looked at these tactics before, Alexandra is trying to soften up the enemy trenches before she charges in."
"If that is what she plans on doing, we better know what she might do if we are to attack." Noemi told her friends while the minutes ticked down, while the artillery continued to fire, more machine guns and artillery were destroyed, Alexandra's plan was going into action while the guns fired away. As the ten minutes ticked down, Alexandra decided to give the order once the timer stopped.
"Okay and stop." Alexandra told the group. The artillery fired off the last of their rounds as Alexandra knew that she pounded the defenses away for long enough and now was the chance to attack. "We're going to get ready to attack so Alexei, you might as well launch your attack first. The June 4th, 1916 offensive will now begin."
"Okay I got you." Alexei told Alexandra. The saps in the trenches began to open up as the students of the 9th army attacked first. The remaining Dual Alliance students exited from their dugouts to see Alexei's forces coming to them. One of the students got on the Schwarzlose machine gun and began to spray away at the students that were charging at her position. The 7th army was under attack and the 9th army was on the move. A couple students were taken down while one fired her carbine away at the machine gun to draw its attention onto the student. The other students pulled out their grenades and pulled the pins, they tossed the multiple grenades into the trench where the machine gun was. The students scattered as the grenades exploded, taking out the machine gun. The attackers went first as the ones with the extra grenades crossed into the trench and began to chase them down. The second wave went ahead as they encountered no resistance as most of the enemy positions had been destroyed. The third and fourth waves went ahead as their advance was halted by the second line of defenses where those that decided to stand, and fight did so. The second wave charged up with the first wave as both groups decided to cover each other. The second group covered the first group with rifle fire while the first group chucked more grenades into the enemy trench. The enemies inside realized the trenches and scattered while the grenades exploded. The second trench had been taken as the group was forced back further.
"Alexandra, I've attacked, I got held up at the second line of defenses, but the second wave assisted the first wave, and we pushed the enemy back half a mile." Alexei told Alexandra about the attack, and they had broken through to take back a half a mile of ground. "We also took a few prisoners as we're preparing to launch the next attack."
"Good. I'm just about ready to go and now the breakthrough needs to be right there." Alexandra told Alexei. Alexandra was on her horse while she was going to observe her attack on the enemy as she was going to break through the enemy lines. She had Konstantina, Nelly and Nathalia with her as this was going to be the main attack she had intended. Nelly decided to lead the attack while the students advanced across to the enemy trench unopposed. The students didn't not leave their dugouts as they didn't know if they were going to be pounced on again by the artillery.
"I don't know if we should go out there?" One of the students asked. Her friend looked at her as she didn't know what was going to happen.
"We're better off safe here, I don't want to get pounced on again by the artillery." Another student told her friend. She wasn't willing to risk it. Their leader which was one that was leading them as she had her revolver.
"We should but you lazy bums don't want to go out there to face the enemy." She told them. The seconds ticked down while she heard rifle fire and grenades exploding in distant sectors of the front. Then the door opened with Nelly looking at the students looking at her.
"Which school do you belong to?" She asked them.
"Gregor High School, are you going to help us?" She asked while giving her school location to Nelly. Nelly nodded before shrugging her shoulders.
"Yes, if you decide to follow along peacefully." Nelly told them that she would guarantee their safety if they were going to follow along regarding her surrender.
"Okay we surrender. We just want to not be shot at." She told Nelly. Nelly nodded before she decided to speak.
"Okay war's over, come on." Nelly told the students. The Gregor students in the dugout began to walk out from the dugout as they had surrendered peacefully. Their leader remained as Nelly looked at her. "Are you coming?" She asked. She turned away to hear a gunshot before turning back, the leader had shot herself with a plastic pellet. Alexandra's attack had routed the Dual Alliance, she was advancing mostly unopposed as she had sunk her teeth deep into the enemy lines.
Gisela was chatting with Kirishima about the situation of the attacks when the radio buzzed. It was one of the commanders as she wanted to contact Gisela about the situation regarding their state.
"Gisela, this is the commander of the 4th army, and I got news from my commanders." She began.
"What is it?" Gisela asked her if she had any news regarding what the 4th army's state was.
"Gisela, the situation regarding the 4th army is dire, we learned that whole units are surrendering without fighting and many artillery pieces have been captured by the enemy. Our retreat has fallen apart into a rout as we have fallen back three miles." She told Gisela that their situation was crumbling, and they needed to do something to restore order and try holding Saunders.
"What, you've fallen all the way back to Lutsk. The enemy is upon us." Gisela told her group that the situation was falling apart for them, and they needed considerable reinforcements if they were going to hold the line.
"We don't know how long this rout will last. Get help." She told her Gisela to call their allies up if they were to force their enemy to be contained.
"Okay I'll see what I can do." Gisela told her commander. She hung up as the enemy was upon them. "The enemy has broken through and the situation for us is falling apart. I'm heading to Lutsk to try to stabilize the situation." Gisela told her to head off to the front if they were going to try to salvage the rout and stop the enemy in its tracks.
Alexandra's advance had ripped a large hole in Gisela's lines, and she was going to exploit it to her fullest advantage. She was going to oversee the taking of Lutsk herself. She had advanced deep behind Gisela's lines and was going to take them out.
"Alexandra." Konstantina called out. Alexandra looked at her friend as she trotted up on her horse.
"Oh, I'm about to give you your objective, Konstantina, you are to take the Styr River with Nelly as we are to try to rout Gisela's 4th army away and her rout will not be contained. I will be advancing to take Lutsk. Wish me luck." Alexandra told her friend. She rode off on her horse while Konstantina looked at her friend as she prepared to move out.
"Good luck." Konstantina told her friend. They moved out to try to take the fight to the enemy.
Alexandra's was assisting the Denikin Iron Division with the capture of Lutsk. The students were in the process of storming Lutsk while firing their carbines and rifles while Alexandra trotted up on her horse, several of their own had been shot down but the enemy was falling back from the city while Alexandra trotted into the city. She pulled out her revolver and rode up, firing the revolver on the enemy troops and encouraging her friends to fight onward. A single armored car drove in and began firing its machine gun away as it was going to help assist her friends to fight onward. Alexandra's horse trotted along as she had been satisfied, the enemy was forced out and they had captured the city of Lutsk. The 4th army had been damaged badly and its retreat was becoming unstoppable.
Naomi meanwhile was preparing to attack Kirishima's army with her 7th army. The artillery had damaged the field badly and she was ready to begin the advance. She pulled out her watch and after seeing the time on the clock count down, she blew the whistle. A small detachment of the second wave went first to gauge the strength of the Kuromorimine south army. Kirishima looked ahead to see the detachment of students approaching them.
"She's coming, be prepared to fight." Kirishima told her friends. She pulled out her Luger as she was ready to fight. The others pulled their rifles up and began to fire. Their only working machine gun began firing away as it was trying to compress the enemy. Kirishima and her friends did their best to fight as the students one by one were shot down. They had managed to consume up a good portion of their ammunition, but they managed to hold their positions.
"Okay we managed to contain this attack, how is everyone's energy level?" Kirishima asked if this defense was able to continue holding.
"We're exhausted from the fighting." A student from the Dual Alliance told Kirishima. Kirishima couldn't believe herself. They had managed to fire off a good chunk of their ammunition and they had been quickly tired out. Naomi had sent the first wave out as they quickly advanced on the exhausted students. Kirishima knew that the only logical conclusion was to begin pulling the army back.
"Okay all students begin retreating." Kirishima ordered. She began to pull back, but Naomi's students were faster than Kirishima. The students of the first attack wave pulled the pins to their grenades and tossed them into the trench and exploded, the students had been scattered and many had been taken out. Naomi and her second wave were upon them within moments they entered the trench and began to chase Kirishima down. They had entered the supporting trench but the students there either surrendered or fell back even further. The retreat continued as Naomi had pushed Kirishima up to the Strypa River.
"Alexandra this is Naomi, we're at the Strypa River and Kirishima is attempting to stabilize the front." Naomi told Alexandra that the Kuromorimine south Army had been shattered and they had advanced. Alexandra was happy with how this was going, and they were starting to make progress.
Konstantina meanwhile was preparing to cross the Styr River with Nelly as it was part of the advance. Nelly held her Fedorov rifle and ran forward with several students of her own all armed with Arisaka rifles. They were getting close to the only bridge across the river as taking this bridge will allow them to advance further.
"Okay we'll lay cover fire while you cross the bridge and take out the students that are trying to take out the bridge. We need to keep the pressure up." Nelly told Konstantina that the pressure needed to be strong if they were going to continue advancing.
"Right." Konstantina told Nelly that she was ready for the charge. Nelly pointed the Fedorov rifle and began firing at the Dual Alliance students trying to set fire to the bridge so that Saunders couldn't cross it. One of the students had been taken out as the students realized that they had fallen behind and the advance needed to be continued. Nelly and the others continued to fire as Konstantina prepared the cavalry charge to take the bridge. Nelly pulled out a grenade and threw it at the students on the other side of the bridge. The grenade exploded a moment later as the snort of horses was heard. Konstantina was charging in the wake of the grenade blast as the Dual Alliance students were forced back from the bridge. Konstantina swung the saber down and began to cut her way through the enemy's terrible defenses. She swung up as one of the Dual Alliance students was taken out and the rest were cut up by the cavalry. Nelly pulled out the radio and she began to speak to Alexandra.
"Alexandra, the Styr River has been crossed and the 8th army is continuing its advance." Nelly told Alexandra that they took the bridge, and the advance was going to continue. Alexandra nodded with approval as progress was being made.
"Good, we'll keep advancing until the time runs out." Alexandra told Nelly that she wanted to keep the push up, she was ready to swing south and take Przemyśl. She wanted to do this as quickly as she could as the Dual Alliance was having trouble reinforcing and it was going to take them a lot of force to stop Alexandra.
The 9th army was ready to attack again as the trench mortars had been firing away for the past few minutes. Alexei was ready to launch an attack to take another key objective laid out in the offensive's planning phase.
"Okay stop firing the mortars, we should have pulverized the enemy enough" Alexei told the middle schoolers to stop firing and prepare to advance. They stopped firing their mortars before getting ready to advance. Alexei's attack was just like the first one, using the first wave to blow holes in the enemy's defenses and using the remaining three waves to exploit the breakthroughs. The students hadn't had the time to sap their trenches to the enemy but that was okay, they had little to no opposition strong enough to hold them back. "Ready?" Alexei asked while getting out a Nagant revolver. He climbed out of the trench first and began to make an assault with the first wave. The first wave ran on ahead with the second wave following moments later. The third wave was firing away with their Maxim guns as they were busy trying to cover them. The Dual Alliance students meanwhile were in disarray, Alexandra's advance had drawn some of their strength away to try to contain the Lutsk bulge in her line. This left the area around the 9th army understaffed. Alexei was ready to exploit this decision.
Alexei had stopped as some of the students in the first wave pulled out what remaining grenades they had and tossed them over to the enemy trench. The Dual Alliance students attempted to scatter but the grenades exploded and took out several students. Alexei followed up as the cavalry were part of the last wave, they leaped over the trenches and helped to take the breach made in the line. Alexei followed along with the first wave as the cavalry pushed on and once, they reached the city ten minutes later, the remaining Dual Alliance students surrendered as they had no hope of winning against the enemy.
"Alexandra, this Alexei, we've captured Czernowitz, and the Dual Alliance is still falling back." Alexei reported that the enemy was still being pushed back and they had no proper way to counter the breaches made in the line.
"Good we're still advancing but not as fast as before but even on day one, we made tremendous progress, we had advanced up to five miles in a single day." Alexandra told Alexei if their advance was going by meters, it would now be going by miles. Alexei nodded as they were going to continue breaking through.
"Okay I got you." Alexei told Alexandra.
As the sun set on the first day of the offensive, Alexandra had reported the capture of thousands of Dual Alliance students, a couple dozen artillery pieces and about sixty machine guns. Gisela was panicking as Alexandra was ripping her student army apart.
"I need reinforcements and fast!" Gisela pleaded as this offensive was going to destroy her. She needed help now. Manami was listening on the other side, and she knew that she needed to get sufficient forces to help counter Alexandra and her advance was going to threaten her.
"We'll release four divisions from Verdun to help shore up the line to make sure that they could hold the line." Manami told Gisela that help was on the way. "You should also call off the Asiago advance and use some of those troops there and use them to patch the front together." Manami also suggested to Gisela. The latter knew that she needed to free up forces to help patch the front together.
"Okay patch the front together as we need to rally the students together to get them to fight again." Gisela told Manami that she was ready to break down from this one offensive Alexandra had launched.
Alexandra had scored a big victory for herself on the first day and was ripping Gisela to pieces. Unfortunately for her, she had also caught Kuromorimine's attention, and they were now sending reinforcements to help patch the front together. These reinforcements we're going to arrive tomorrow morning. Alexandra knew that a bigger challenge was ahead than she had hoped for.
[A/N]: Day 1 of the offensive has been completed and it's off to a spectacular start. Gisela is panicking and this is what Alexandra wants. She was able to advance and take the key objective and Alexei was also able to advance and together they captured two key objectives to the offensive. Now the next challenge is to keep the pressure of the offensive going in the hope they don't hit a roadblock.
We're also nearing 3.5k views. I want to keep this up like the offensive I've been writing and hopefully I will release daily updates as the offensive will progress. I'll see you later.