November 19th, 2022. Saint-Paul-Sur-Briance.
The morning of this fall Saturday is but one among many others in this end of year. In France, the public eye is focused on the rise of energy prices, the war in Ukraine or the start of the controversial football world cup in Qatar. Nobody is paying any mind to the village of Saint-Paul-Sur-Briance, in the south of the Haute-Vienne department. A church, a town hall, a world wars memorial, a few small shops… Nothing separates Saint-Paul and its thousand inhabitants from the other similar towns that surround it.
At six in the morning, the night shift is about to end at the village's Gendarmerie brigade station. Apart from a noise complaint call in the early evening, the night had been calm for the few men on duty. But as they wait for the arrival of the next shift, the phone rings. On the other side of the line, the voice of a panicked woman explains that she has hit someone on foot with her car on the road linking the village to the highway. The victim does not move and does not seem to be breathing anymore.
The plan for this kind of road accident is triggered. A pair of gendarmes is sent to the site of the crash to secure the road and give first aid while waiting for the fire brigade of Magnac-Bourg to arrive. A dozen minutes are needed for two men to arrive on the scene. And as one of them reassures and helps the driver, the other goes to take care of the victim.
It is a man, young, dressed in a mediaeval costume along with a short sword strapped to his belt. He looks like an extra right off the set of an historical movie. But despite the simple iron helmet, the hit between his head and the bitumen has been fatal. In conclusion, apart from the dead man's strange getup, nothing is different from any other collision between a pedestrian and a car. This kind of spectacle is sadly all too common. So, the gendarmes follow standard procedure.
The rest of the scene is described anonymously by one of the two soldiers a year later in an interview to local newspaper Le Populaire du Centre.
"It was cold, so my colleague had asked the driver to get in the back of our car while I secured the site of the accident. It's at this moment that a silhouette jumped from behind the trees at the side of the road. It was another man, dressed like the victim. I didn't have the time to ask him anything that he reached for his sword and charged me. I had to make use of my service weapon to defend myself."
This new assailant is hit by five rounds and falls down on the asphalt as well. But the gendarmes do not have the time to properly analyse the situation that other men appear, themselves also wearing the same types of clothes. They are all armed and overtly hostile, having just beared witness to the death of two of their comrades. The gendarmes and the driver have no choice but to flee back towards the brigade in Saint-Paul, arrows stuck in the rear tires of the squad car.
Nobody knows it yet, but the battle of Saint-Paul has just begun.
The report of a dangerous group of armed thugs roaming the countryside goes up to the local Departmental Gendarmerie Headquarters which sends the Surveillance and Intervention Platoon team - known as the PSIG Sabre. These reinforcements quickly link up with the Saint-Paul brigade, and a better equipped team goes back to the site of the crash. But as they arrive at sunrise, they can only find the trashed carcass of the car and only a few tracks that quickly disappear back into the forest. To help with the search, the Gendarmerie helicopter based at Limoges Bellegarde airport takes off soon after.
The gendarme interviewed by Le Populaire du Centre tells what follows.
"It's around this time that we started receiving more and more calls from people living in houses at the outer edge of town. Some were saying that burglars were trying to get inside their homes, others that there was a threatening group roaming the streets… So the colleagues from the PSIG quickly went to intercept them while we told people to stay inside and to not worry… Because we had no more info, the atmosphere was tense at the station. We figured they had split up and that we would have to wait for the arrival of the chopper to get an idea. But we never could have imagined what we heard on the radio."
Indeed, when the Ecureuil helicopter arrives over the hills that surround Saint-Paul, it does not find a small group of hostels but an entire army. Thousands of men, horses and other unidentified creatures spread around a large stone structure placed at the top of a hill. Some are busy building defensive elements with trees cut nearby. But others are manoeuvring in tight formations, banners held high, towards dwellings.
78 years later, war has come back to limousin soil.
But let's go back a few hours.
Many priests and priestesses had foretold the upcoming opening of the Holy Gate of Alnus. This portal leading to another world, and the promise of new lands rich in resources, had convinced the Emperor of Sadera to send his best legions to conquer them in his name. When, as predicted, the gate opened, scouts were first sent in order to determine the dangers linked to crossing the space that separates dimensions. A few hours later, they came back for their report. In the new world, the terrain is hilly and agricultural. There is a village located nearby, but it does not appear to have any defences. However, two scouts have been killed in a clash with the inhabitants of this land, and accounts on the circumstances of these deaths are confused.
Despite the casualties, the man tasked with leading this expeditionary force, General Faram Em Lanti, is satisfied by this news. While planning this operation, he had feared having to conquer an enemy stronghold to secure a beachhead, or worse, that the portal would lead directly to the core of an urban centre. Thus, with a better idea of what terrain is waiting for him on the other side, he orders the vanguard to march forth.
These first troops are led by a young officer named Lucius Co Palesti. In the finely decorated armour that denotes his rank, he leads a contingent of elite soldiers with a simple objective : secure the area surrounding the beach head, wait for reinforcement then march towards the village to take control. He would later express his feelings within his prisoner of war diary, published two years later under the title Confessions.
"The void splitting the worlds was of an absolute black. If the lights of our torches and lanterns allowed us to see each other, they did not go further. All around us, there were only shadows. Only a glimmer, far ahead, guided us. With each step, it grew larger, brighter up to the point where it became a well defined rectangle that indicated the end of our crossing. And when the hooves of my horse dug in the earth, I found myself wrapped by the cold."
In just a few minutes, soldiers under his command spread out all around the structure, watching over the hills of this unknown territory to keep the magical gate under their control. As indicated by the scouts, the area seems to be covered by fields and small groups of trees while in the distance, the lights of a village stand out against the dark background.
Those lights are the things that strike Lucius as witnesses of being in a new world, as he writes down in his journal.
"I was expecting to see a few torches hanging to a few important buildings. But instead, I saw an endless amount of shining dots coming from every home and even along the roads. I did not know how to process what seemed at the time like strange sorcery, and this first sign of doubt should have warned me that the rest of this manoeuvre was about to lead us towards more dramatic surprises."
As planned, more and more men arrive from the other side of the Gate. Most are human legionaries that take positions around the hilltop in an orderly fashion. They are followed by non-human auxiliaries tasked with constructing the first fortifications. The advantage given by the darkness of night will not last longer than a few hours, meaning it is essential to secure the beachhead against counter attacks as much as possible.
Following his orders, Lucius gathers the legionaries under his command and starts to progress through the forest towards the village. In these long marching minutes, the sky above their heads slowly changes colour. This new light helps the soldiers in their progression, and Lucius cannot help but observe everything around them. Trees, hills, cattle, fields… He can identify what surrounds him, but it all feels foreign and different. He knows he is in a new world, that he is there as a conqueror and that he must focus on doing his sacred duty, but this duality only increases his worries.
Day has fully risen when the troops reach the first dwellings. And what Lucius sees there reinforces his feelings. The roads are covered by a dark stone that claps under his horse's hooves, and all the houses are larger and sturdier than the huts of simple peasants. And then, there are the carriages stopped in front of many of these houses. He describes the rest of the scene in his journal, Confessions.
"I immediately ordered my men to get into position in order to secure all the paths that led to those dwellings. As for me, it was my responsibility as an officer to make contact with the local inhabitants not only to tell them about her conquest, but also to learn as much information about this unknown land. But deep inside me, I was terrified. Nothing was assuring me that the people I was about to meet would be human. And as much as I hit on doors and yelled with all my breath, nobody was answering. There were only silhouettes hiding behind the windows of each house."
However, these contact attempts are interrupted by one of Lucius' subordinates indicating that an unknown vehicle is getting close to their first line. The officer decides to go see by himself in order to handle this first interaction.
As described, a vehicle is stopped about fifty metres from the line of shields. Even at this distance, Lucius can clearly observe the group of around half a dozen men on both of its sides. And even though he is reassured by the fact that they are humans just like him, he also notices their equipment. With their black armour, dark blue helmets and transparent shields, it is clear that they are soldiers. And that a fight is now unavoidable.
Yells are exchanged between the two sides, but neither is capable of understanding the other. And with each second that goes by, tensions only rise, waiting for the spark that will lit it all.
Even today, it is impossible to tell what was this spark. But its consequences are well known. A volley of arrows from one side, tear gas grenades from the other. In the confusion created by the irritating gases, Lucius orders a charge that forces the gendarmes to retreat in their van. When the smoke finally dissipates, the conclusions of this first fight are not good. He might not have suffered any casualties, but neither has the enemy. And by letting them run away, he does not doubt that they will return with reinforcements equipped with weapons more terrible than this magic gas.
This intuition is correct, because information immediately starts to circulate by radio and by phone along command chains. And not only up to the prefecture in Limoges, but also up to the ministry of the interior and the presidency. An anti-terror emergency plan is triggered, even though the nature of the enemy force remains blurry. The CRS 20 and the Gendarmerie Mobile's IV/2 group, along with all the local gendarmerie brigades, are mobilised in order to help with the evacuation of Saint-Paul, to cut all roads including the A20 motorway and contain the enemy force as much as possible.
Yes, contain. Because from the images provided by the helicopter circling the area, one thing is clear. These hostile groups cannot be anything else than an invasion force, and only a proper military force can hope to drive them back to the mysterious stone structure. At half past nine in the morning, the air force orders a complete air space closure over Limousin, quickly followed by the arrival of helicopters and fighter jets coming from the air bases of Mont-de-Marsan and Cazaux. If their mission is so far limited to observation and evacuations, some of these aircrafts are armed and ready to strike.
Captain Pascal, Caracal pilot during the battle of Saint-Paul, tells the following to Le Populaire du Centre.
"When we took off, everybody thought it was a surprise training exercise. We got briefed in flight and given the objective of observing an hostile force and assisting with the evacuation of the local population. It was a classic scenario, so nobody thought anything of it. Everyone was focused just like in any other sortie. But when we arrived in the area of operations and we saw the first clouds of smoke, we immediately understood that we had something completely different on our hands. There were thousands of armed men, they were pillaging houses, they were burning down cars, they fired on us with arrows when we landed to exfil the injured… And we had to make use of our weapons. When we came back to base due to our lack of fuel, it was only then that we started to understand what was going on… A war had just taken us by surprise…"
This feeling quickly spreads outside the Limousin borders. If blurry images and pictures had been drowning in the sea that is social media since the start of the day, official communications asking for people to avoid the area around Saint-Paul act like a magnifying glass for the content algorithms. Visual horror starts to appear on screens all around France and the world. And with more and more journalists pouring in, the entire planet is able to follow the battle live in its most gruesome details.
So, billions of eyes witness the arrival of soldiers of the one hundred twenty sixth infantry regiment from Brive-La-Gaillarde in long convoys of armoured Griffon vehicles. They witness the counter offensive launched in the early afternoon to take back control of the village and force the enemy back to the hill, mortar batteries launching explosive shells to dislodge the cohorts trying to hide in the woods, groups of confused and terrified prisoners…
But mainly, death.
As for Lucius, he tries as much as he can to keep defensive positions around the empty house he had transformed into a command post. But few of his orders are applied. The enemy is too powerful, too fast, too efficient. In the cases where the messengers are not outright killed, those that reached their destination cannot do much but observe entire groups falling down in deafening thunder without being able to fight back. As for the young officer, he is captured in the early evening half unconscious, his lungs filled with the tear gas from the numerous grenades launched in the assault on his position.
Fighting continues up until nightfall, with the sounds of gunshots, explosions and helicopter engines ringing in the growing darkness. But more and more, silence starts to take back its place. At nine in the evening, a press conference is organised in a field next to the A twenty motorway where all journalists had been gathered by the army outside of the combat zone. In front of a crowd of cameras and microphones from all over the world, the Nouvelle-Aquitaine prefect states the following.
"We can confirm that since twenty hundred hours, the majority of the enemy force has retreated through the unknown structure located north of Saint-Paul-Sur-Briance. The joint operation between the Army, the Air Force, the Gendarmerie and various police units can be called a success. However, groups of disorganised runaways are still present in the surrounding area. They are considered to be armed and extremely dangerous. For this reason, we call upon all inhabitants of Haute-Vienne, Creuse and Corrèze to remain at home and signal any suspicious individuals or groups."
On the morning of the 20th, France wakes up with a hangover. Few people can really believe that all that was said really happened. And while support messages pour in from international organisations to average people, many questions start getting asked.
What is this structure that magically appeared right in the heart of the country? Who are those men in armour that have emerged from it, weapons in hand? What does this golden dragon on a purple background on their banner symbolise? And how many victims has there been in total?
The first answers to these questions arrive only a few days later. Among the few hundred prisoners taken during the assault, none speak French, English or any known language. However, their clothing and gear being similar to the Later Roman Empire, experts in Latin are brought on board in order to establish the first proper communications with those identified as being high officers. The scene is described by Lucius Co Palesti in his journal.
"I was brought by force in a tent away from the rest of the prisoner camp. The only pieces of furniture were a table and two chairs, and on one of them there was a woman that gave me a very large smile when I was forced to sit in front of her. The guards barely had the time to anchor my restraints that she started asking questions in an unknown language that still seemed familiar. She spoke like a priest reciting a prayer in our ancestor's ancient tongue, but it was enough for me to understand a few words. Of course, she wanted to know who we were, but I was taken aback by the question that followed.
Why?"
Work by the first linguist teams allow for the set up of the first rudimentary translation efforts, and thus to put names on some key elements. Then, step by step, detail by detail, communications become clearer and information shared become more complex. The Sadera Empire led by Emperor Molt Sol Augustus, the Holy Gate on Alnus Hill, General Faram Em Lanti tasked with crossing it, forces still present on the other side that had not tried to cross… Information that allow military intelligence to paint a rough image of an unknown world.
Because even though soldiers of the one twenty sixth infantry have taken positions around the stone structure to prevent any new attack, it is impossible for them to see completely through. The opening only seems to lead to an infinite abyss. This time, it is researchers of CNRS and DGA that observe and try to understand something unknown yet quite real. The first radiological, chemical and bacteriological analyses give out negative results, and the structure itself is considered to be safe. But science is a long process while political reactions do not wait.
Messages of support and solidarity are published in press releases and speeches coming from all over the world, with some promising various resources in order to assist with search and rescue efforts while others worry about the fate of their citizens living in the area of the battle. Likewise, all of the domestic political forces go with their own comments, saluting the quick response from security forces and criticising both the lack of official numbers and the lack of strong measures taken by the executive branch since the battle.
The president would go on to answer to that pressure two days later in a televised address from which the following extract had been taken from.
"It is with great sadness that I must announce that today, the state is able to confirm that thirty five of our fellow citizens have been killed during the fighting, three gendarmes and two army soldiers among them. Moreover, a still unknown number of people are still missing, and there is a high likelihood that some of them have been taken as hostages and carried by force through to the other side of this structure. [...]
This nation that we do not know is guilty of war crimes by attacking with such violence, and their leaders must be brought in front of international justice. Therefore, in order to capture the decision makers, to liberate French citizens and to prevent any further attacks, French representatives at the UN will submit a proposal to the Security Council for a resolution authorising a military operation with those objectives."
And so, it is a diplomatic period that begins in what the media is already calling the Gate War. The majority of western countries, and mainly NATO members, position themselves in favour of an intervention. On the other side, Russia and China accuse France of wishing to put in place a neocolonial policy. In the end, the Security Council would vote in favour of the French resolution authorising the deployment of troops on the other side.
The page of the battle of Saint-Paul turns, and the one of Opération Bélier begins.