Chapter 7 - WW2 in other dimensions
The Second World War. The largest conflict in the history of human warfare on our planet. The only time we used nuclear weapons against our brothers and sisters, and mass murder of civilians became an everyday occurrence. And now we have alternative versions of it. At least they weren't that murderous. Mostly.
Interview with Legionnaire, "Death Angle", 5 AW
=location: portal to an unknown dimension, 66 days after the invasion=
Portals to unknown dimensions have been opened many times before. Sometimes there were problems with this. And here it is again.
"The interdimensional connection is unstable! It's about to explode!" - shouted one of the Planeptun technicians observing the situation from the ship. Unfortunately, he was right and the explosion would consume a large part of the base.
"Losses?" - said the commanding general.
"Sir, approximately 5,000 personnel failed to evacuate from the blast zone. Including Major Dong Du and Heroic Spirit Arash."
"Um.. sir, it doesn't look like they died." - another officer chimed in - "According to the scans, this explosion sent these people to another dimension. The one we were just checking on him."
"Can we send help to them?"
"NO. But they have equipment on the other side, so the next attempt should work. As long as theirs works, which I can't guarantee."
"Shit. Send a message to the command. Maybe they can do something about it. Until the situation is resolved, I will label them all MIA."
=location: unknown dimension=
"Major, Major, please wake up." someone said, shaking Dong.
Major Dong Du finally woke up and looked at one of his officers.
"Major, good thing you're awake because we're in quite a mess here." - said the officer,
"Give me a minute. My head still hurts." - Dong said.
"Yes, you were close to the epicenter, so I'm not surprised, but we need a commanding officer."
"Okay. Explain the situations one by one. What happened after that interdimensional transporter exploded?"
"It sent us to this dimension. Relatively close to civilization, specifically a military base. We even managed to recognize our position as 15 kilometers south of Berlin thanks to their satellites. Unfortunately, our appearance somewhat... upset the military personnel."
"Define 'upset.'"
"We are currently surrounded by at least several thousand soldiers with armor, air, and probably artillery support. Arash has taken temporary command, but it would be better for you to lead us, given your experience with other dimensions."
"I see." - Dong said, standing up and looking around. Somewhere in the middle of fields, with a few houses within reach. And a tank battalion around them - "Give me the contact details of their commanding officer."
"Yes, sir." - replied the officer. A moment later, Dong somehow organized the people under his command, and the officer brought him a communicator with the commander.
"This is Major Dong Du from the United Earth Government. Who am I talking with?"
"Field Marshal Robert Bingham. Supreme Allied Commander. Whenever I heard that an army had teleported near Berlin, I thought it was the Soviets trying another attack in the back. We almost bombed you into oblivion."
"What attack in the back again?" - Dong asked.
"We had an alliance with the Russians against the Japanese, but not only did they leave us alone in the decisive battle, but they also mounted a massive attack with what they call nuclear weapons from a secret base in Cuba. So instead of rebuilding Asia and Europe, we must start fighting these traitors again and this time we will not stop until these bastards are completely annihilated. Apparently, they even caused this war because they were losing in the original timeline, so they had to use a time machine."
"I see." - Dong said almost mechanically.
"Now tell me who you are. Some future version of our planet?"
"No, Marshal. We are from another dimension."
"What?"
"We come from the planet Earth, but there has never been a war between the Allies and the Soviets. But demons attacked us and killed 4 billion people, half of the planet's population. After this, the remaining countries on the planet gave up their independence to the UEG. We joined forces with other dimensions that were also attacked by monsters and formed the Interdimensional Alliance to fight these monsters. We know they are guided by some higher intelligence, but that's it."
After a moment of silence, Marshal Bingham finally said - "Okay. I'll talk to the command about this. Until then..."
"Major!" - the Planeptun technician shouted, running into the tent - "We have a problem!"
"Now I'm talking to a representative of the local government." - Dong said - "It can wait."
"Can't." - the technician chimed in - "Recordings show that the situation in this dimension is like our Zero Dimension crisis."
"What crisis?" - Marshal Bingham asked.
"When the Zero Dimension started to approach our dimension, which could have destroyed both. It's currently happening here!" - said the technician.
"But how?" - Du asked.
"The only explanation I have is that the space-time line was damaged by some source from this dimension. Scanners indicate that it attracts and destabilizes interdimensional space. Although I don't know the reason. The scale of this would have to affect at least the entire planet."
"Does rewriting history overlap with such an 'impact'?" - Marshal Bingham asked.
"Yes." - said the engineer.
"Okay. How can this be stopped?"
"Last time we had to stop it from the side of the dimension that was coming at us, so we'll have to go there. We will activate the communicator with our superiors and inform them to prepare the equipment for this. But we can't take any more risks. Any time travel will further destabilize space-time."
"And these Soviets still have the Time Machine in the Kremlin and will probably use it if there is a problem."
"And what is the situation in the war?" - Major Du interjected.
"We totally dominate." - said Marshal Bingham - "Africa, Australia, and the Americas are under our control. In Asia, we are currently negotiating with China and other Asian countries to join the fight against the Soviets, but they are still recovering from the destruction that the Empire of the Rising Sun brought to their lands, and with pro-Soviet insurgent forces, although their activity has decreased significantly since our victory in Cuba. Although they should be tempted in exchange for regaining Korea and Manchuria. And our forces in this Region are completely focused on the occupation of Japan. Moreover, the fighting on the Iranian and Caucasian fronts is trench fighting. But their advance into Europe was stopped in the outskirts of Warsaw again. The Poles really pulled off the second Miracle on the Vistula there. We have been on the offensive since then. We managed to obtain support from local resistance groups, the largest being Stefan Bandera's Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists."
"Is this really a good idea? If I remember correctly, he had very Nazi views."
"What is Nazism?"
"How can you not know what Nazism is!"
"Sorry to come in." - said the technician - "But this is a different dimension. As far as we know, this 'Nazism' never existed here."
"You're right." - said Dong - "I'm sorry for my actions. It was inappropriate."
"Do not worry." - said Bingham - "Just patch up these dimensional holes when we destroy the time machine and take over Moscow."
=location: Einstein's Laboratory=
"Doctor, can't you do something about this?" - asked the panicked Allied commander.
"Unfortunately, I do not know." - Einstein replied - "Yuri's time travel and ours must have destabilized space-time in a much wider space. I don't know how we can stabilize this, or even where we will appear. Oh... it's stopped already."
"Wait what?! Wasn't it supposed to destroy our planet or something? How could it suddenly stop?"
"Maybe someone intercepted this event and stopped it from outside?"
"You mean, aliens?"
"It's definitely possible, but it's more likely that an alternate dimension did it. Or maybe some sort of gravitational distortion? Maybe the universe has some self-repairing or healing function? We will have to study this more."
"Sir!" - he shouted to the soldiers - "Someone used the Chronosphere and teleported right next to us. Affiliation unknown. Meetings with us rule. Plus there's something there, um, you have to see it for yourself."
Commander and Einstein quickly went outside the building and saw a small armored unit with a large number of soldiers waiting with 3 people at the front. One was clearly the commander, next to him was a scientist in a lab coat. The last one was Agent Tanya. Before his troops, there was also Agent Tanya.
"What's going on?" - Commander asked.
"I am Commander Maul[1]. We are from the neighboring planet Earth. You found yourself in our dimension after destabilizing something for you and our Soviets with their time machine. We've met some other dimensional travelers who have stabilized it, but now they need help in their war against dimension-murdering monsters controlled by some higher intelligence. And no, this is not a joke. I just saw them with my own eyes. Although I don't know how long it's been for you. Temporal stability has equalized our times, but our dimension was not long ago, while yours was very slow. That's it in a nutshell."
"I'm Commander Lime. I understand, I understood what you said and I will pass it on to the command. And then he'll drink my San Miguel. You want to join."
"I prefer tea, but it's good. I have enough pain on my mind with all this as it is."
=Location: Vale Capital, 69 days since the invasion=
"Ms. Astrid Barsness, latest report." - said a very young soldier, handing over one of the scrolls.
"Thanks." - Astrid said.
After the Battle of Vale, IA was allowed to open a hospital in Vale, which was joined by many volunteers from the kingdom. Further hospitals were also opened in Vacuo and negotiations were underway to open further hospitals in Mistral and Atlas. Astrid had the good fortune/misfortune of being appointed security commander at Vale Hospital.
While reviewing the report on the supply of weapons and soldiers, due to the increase in the number of wounded, she already had over 50 soldiers from various nations and dimensions under her control. In addition, the hospital staff includes about 300 different medics and other people in non-combat roles, and then there are twice as many volunteers and hundreds of injured people every day.
"Did you watch the Vytal Festival?" - asked the soldier.
"No." - Astrid replied - "I have too much work on my mind. Every time I finish one job, there's another one. I didn't know that guarding a hospital could be so much work."
"It is a pity. These Hunters are simply amazing. These magic shields and superpowers are amazing. I'd like one myself."
"First of all, calm down. Only people from this dimension can do that. Same with magic and other nonsense. We have to deal with standard weapons and that's it. Secondly, how old are you?"
"18." - the soldier replied quickly, and Astrid just stared at him for a moment before coming to a simple conclusion.
"You're lying. Tell the truth or I'll throw you into cleaning toilets for as long as possible."
"Okay, 15."
"But you're still a child! You shouldn't be in the army!"
"So what? I would end up working in a factory or doing construction work! And I want to fight!"
Astrid glared at the boy for shouting at a higher-up like that. But after a while, she stopped and said - "There's nothing you can do about it now anyway. You better get off your ass, grab a gun and come with me. I have to report to Beacon Academy in 20 minutes to meet some important woman from Atlas, Winter Schnee if I remember correctly."
"What about this meeting with the Menagerie leaders?" - asked the soldier.
"The diplomats solved it a few hours ago. They took the ship and quickly agreed on another medical facility and some refineries."
=location: unknown dimension, 72 days since the invasion=
The Kaga aircraft carrier from the Japanese Self-Defense Forces, accompanied by 4 destroyers, moved through the portal to another world. Unknown disturbances caused a squadron of ships that were available to this world to be summoned. Of course, it was equipped with the F-35B, one of the best and newest fighters in the world, which unfortunately was relegated to a secondary role in the fight against the demons. Their greatest advantage is stealth technology, which is almost completely useless in the fight against demons.
But relatively advanced radio signals were detected in this dimension in addition to spatial clutter, so they could finally show why they were supposed to be one of the best fighters in the pre-invasion world.
20 F-35s were launched from an aircraft carrier and flew into a pile of disruptions.
"Kaga, this is Alpha Leader, I have multiple readings of fighters and ships, do we have any new information?"
"Copy Alpha Leader, we managed to decode the radio signals. It appears that the Azur Lane and Crimson Axis forces have teamed up in the fight against the Sirens and their supership Orochi. Your orders are unchangeable. You are prohibited from joining the fight unless you are attacked first. We still don't know what's going on."
"Actually, sir, I have visual insight into what's going on." - said one of the pilots.
"Identify yourself." - said the controller from Kaga.
"Delta 3, sir. I got some magical telescope from one of the Planeptun soldiers and thanks to it I have vision for the battle. It looks like personifications of warships fighting a fleet of black ships. There are some black fighters in the air fighting against World War II fighters from several different navies."
"And the purple portals just opened." - said another pilot.
"So locals are fighting aliens?" - asked another pilot.
"Everyone, shut up!" - said the Alpha Leader - "Kaga, any changes in orders? "We have confirmation that our World War II counterparts are fighting a threat from another dimension."
"Then I grant permission. Kaga, out."
"This is Alpha Leader to all fighters. Get into attack formation. Wait for my order before you attack and watch out for the locals. Alpha in the middle, Delta on the left wing, Charlie on the right. Echo and Beta, you are the second wave. After firing the rockets, we give maximum acceleration and move away for another round."
"Alpha 2, confirmed."
"Alpha 3, confirmed."
"Alpha 4, confirmed."
"Beta reports readiness."
"Charlie reports readiness."
"Delta reports readiness."
"Echo reports readiness."
"Alpha reports readiness. We are starting operation."
F-35s commenced approach. From this distance, they were still invisible and undetectable to radars. As a result, when the missiles finally hit their targets and the order was given, the force of the black fighters, the Sirens, immediately dropped by 20. The next wave took out another 10. Only then did the Sirens begin counterattacks, but to no avail. Terran stealth technology made them impossible to track, and at faster-than-sonic speeds, they were unable to catch up with them.
Shortly after, the fighting ended and the fighters began to retreat to Kaga. But they did it slowly so that Azur Lane could track them and start more encounters.
=location: new dimension, city of Berlin, 75 days since the invasion=
Sigiwald Kleinpeter looked at Berlin from his seat in the IFV Puma. 75 days ago he had escaped, surrendering the city to the monster attack, but now it was different, although not entirely.
The IA sent forces through another island, but due to jamming they could not read the signal and were caught in the middle of the battle. Human armies from WW2 vs. aliens with laser cannons, made of some strange pieces of black stuff? Anyway, they attacked them and IA forces joined with the locals to defend Berlin. Sherman and Panther tanks, as well as Leopards and Leanbox mechs who joined when they were challenged. There were hundreds of fighters fighting in the sky around a fleet of Leanboxan ships and 2 Albion ships, which luckily had local shield generators from Lowee.
Also. And armies of demons joined the fights on the side of the aliens.
"Rein, new enemies on our second."
"I have them." - replied the weapons officer, Rein. The puma's turret quickly spun around and began firing 30mm rounds, quickly eliminating the advancing monsters and the space rover. Then a group of soldiers in German uniforms moved to secure the crossing with a Panzer III behind them. Among them, one Leanboxan could be seen with some kind of anti-tank weapon.
Suddenly the radio came to life - "Second platoon, you are to support the American, I mean, Liberion tanks that will break through the center to the outskirts of the city. We have permission to launch a nuclear weapon at the alien main base, Neuroi, so prepare for impact."
Sigiwald quickly saw where his commander was forming and joined the rest of the 2nd Platoon. One of the cars had burn marks, probably hit by some smaller alien. Glory to modern armor.
The group of 40 Shermans moved forward with the Pumas behind them, quickly eliminating anything in their path. Their MGs quickly massacred everything in their path, and their guns eliminated larger targets. The infantry followed them, securing every meter of the captured part of the city. After a few minutes, an explosion came from the sky, destroying the cluster of clouds in which the aliens' base was located and simultaneously eliminating the remaining aliens on the ground. Sigiwald saw the soldiers begin to celebrate the victory, but a rapid burst of 30mm from another Puma woke them up. They might have won this battle, but there were still huge amounts of monsters left to defeat in the city and surrounding areas.
=location: Fortress Shield, 78 days since the invasion=
"The final touches will be completed soon." - said the engineer - "The official building for the delegation and military command of the Interdimensional Alliance will be ready in 2 days."
"That's good." - said Histoire from Hyperdimension - "It should significantly improve our coordination and negotiations."
"They will still be pissed that there is an IA building next to our portal." - said Vakhtang - "And we will have to somehow convince these civilian and military leaders to send forces, equipment, and other things to fight the demons. This is going to be a political shitstorm. I don't even know how we're going to solve this."
"We'll manage somehow." - said Histoire - "GA and UEG standing together should be able to convince the other representatives not to shoot at each other at least."
"We have two different versions of the Allies after victories in alternative world wars, and we will need the equipment and infrastructure of the defeated countries. Then we have these aliens attacking the WW2-era world. Then there are those ancients of Falmart and Halkeginia, the historical heroes of Chaldea, the WW1 countries of the Titan dimension. Who knows what else will happen?"
"You forgot the KAN-SEN dimension."
They both sighed.
"It will be a Herculean task." - Vakhtang said. Suddenly a large man stood next to him. Vakhtang quickly corrected himself - "It's just a saying, Hercules, I didn't call you."
Then Hercules left, holding the two pillars in his hands as if they weighed nothing.
[1]The names of the commanders are not completely random. I wonder who will be the first to guess what they refer to. Such a little Challenge.