AN: Credits to PervySageChuck, gdstriker, Rainbowappleslice and Sunny for revisions and feedback.
Original Chapter 11 is at the bottom of this chapter.
1944, March 18th, Nanjing:
"We have that many prisoners of war in our possession? Mostly Aegyptians?" Zhang frowned as Peng stood at attention after delivering his brief. "I didn't think the Albish would send garbage at us and try to beat us at our own numbers game."
"Chairman, the prisoners are a drain on our resources. We need to do something about them." Peng briefly shifted his eyes towards Kang and then back at Zhang.
"We will take care of them," Zhang pounded on his podium. "Use them as bargaining for compensation for the death and destruction the foreign invaders have cursed upon our people. And if they refuse to take back the prisoners, we let the prisoners know their capitalist masters have betrayed them, but we are superior and thus will take care of them. Then we thoroughly re-educate them and eventually send them back home so they overthrow their ungrateful masters."
"Or we could execute them now to send a message to the rest of the invaders," Peng retorted. "They will think twice about stepping foot on our soil when they know they will be spared no mercy."
"No!" A furious Zhang bellowed as Kang with a poker face quietly made a note of Zhang's decision.
Just as Peng was about to take a step back, Zhang then cleared his throat. "Defense Minister Peng, could you explain what happened in Shanghai?"
"Luo Ronghuan, the disgraced Marshal of the Army, has failed yet again." Peng stood at attention again. "I will be finding a more capable replacement."
Zhang frowned as he muttered under his breath, "Predictable."
He snapped his fingers and a mage barged into the meeting room from a side door and briskly walked over to the table to set down an orb.
"What is this?..." Kang was cut off when the mage played the orb audio recording.
'The enemy's invasion of Joseon has to be a feint. And even if it wasn't, we can easily hold the mountains to stop them from advancing any further north. Our mainland cities are far more important to our war effort than Joseon, and far more vulnerable.' Luo's voice crackled in the recording.
'I will not allow the Albish to gain a foothold anywhere in east Asia!' Peng's voice roared.
"Where did you get that recording?" Peng stared in disbelief at the orb as the audio recordings continued
"Luo appeared to be more aware of his surroundings than you were," Zhang coldly stared. "He had a mage hidden in his office in every meeting with you."
The next audio recording played.
'We need to call off the Shanghai counteroffensive. My infiltrators in the city reported the Albish coalition knows we're attacking soon and how we will be attacking. The enemy is perfectly prepared to stop our counterattack. Coincidentally, the rest of their fleet is making aggressive progress through the Yangtze River and avoiding all of the navigation hazards and mines. I think we have moles in our ranks that are feeding information to the invaders. I also want to reiterate the counterattack should have been delayed anyway to allow for our railway artillery guns to arrive and for the hundreds of augmented C-tier mages to be available from the mage augmentation project.
'Launch the attack.' Peng could be heard banging his fist onto the table.
"Peng Dehuai," Zhang glared at a confused and horrified Peng. "You are dismissed. Thank you for your long service to our people."
Peng was about to say something, then drooped his shoulders and somberly walked out of the room through the main door, while Kang hopelessly watched in silent horror.
Luo confidently walked in from the same side door the mage earlier used, while Zhang remained in his stiff composure. "Good morning comrades, I am here to present a plan that will trap and crush the foreign invaders while they're racing towards our capital."
Luo then unfolded his large paper map onto the table for everyone to see. "The first issue is the Albish coalition and Akinese bombers crippled our railways leading to Shanghai, Nanjing and everywhere in between. The railway artillery guns are our only assets that can guarantee sinking their battleships and heavy cruisers that are arrogantly sailing our Yangtze River, which proved their lethality when they smashed our doomed Shanghai counteroffensive yesterday. But we don't need the railways and trains to move our artillery."
Li perked up at the last part. "I see where this is going… How many human laborers and draft animals are you going to need?"
"At minimum, 200,000 human laborers and 20,000 draft animals," Luo then traced with his finger the path of where the railway artillery guns would be pulled through. "The artillery will only be moved at night and camouflaged during the day. Vegetation, rice paddies, boulders and other large geographic features that are in the path of the artillery movement will be temporarily removed, and then carefully put back in place and maintained after the artillery has been pushed through. I will need experienced gardening personnel from around the country to help ensure there is no difference between the original and restored geography. This is to avoid detection from enemy aerial reconnaissance until our artillery is perfectly in place. In the meantime, we will still rebuild the bombed out railway infrastructure to make it appear as if we are relying on the railways for the artillery guns. As long as the Albish coalition focuses on continuing to bomb our rebuilt railways, they won't think of looking too deeply into our actual artillery movements."
Luo unfolded the next paper while Li frantically performed calculations. "The other key element in our massive ambush is the C-tier augmented mages. The medical staff finally achieved breakthroughs in safely implementing the implants. Although due to the still high risks with the medical procedures and the upcoming ambush would result in high casualties, I will be having regular people who had the slightest hint of magic potential to be the first ones to go through the procedures. Maybe in the far future we can have our actual mages be improved, but we don't have time right now."
"I do want to report that our Type 97 production has started and we will be able to equip 100 A-tier mages within the week for them to begin training with the new orbs." Li glanced at his notes. "If your planned ambush will take place in a few weeks, would that be enough time?"
"It will be a very compressed schedule for the Type 97 orb training, but it is still far better than our old orbs. I will find a non-suicidal use for them."
Zhang rubbed his chin. "I don't have any objections to this plan, but I do have a question. What about this city we are sitting in?"
"You want me to defend this city at all cost, in the event the artillery movement and the mages take longer than expected?" Luo looked up at Zhang.
"The Shun Dynasty repeatedly lost their capital city to foreigners in multiple wars. I will not share the same fate." Zhang leaned forward. "Do you understand?"
"I will make preparations for Nanjing's defense," Luo stood back and bowed.
"Do you have anything to suggest?" Zhang turned to a distracted Kang that was startled from his thoughts.
"Nothing I can think of," Kang deflected.
"Actually, there is something I need to ask for assistance for." Luo shifted his focus to Kang. "I need Frankish naval advisors that have experience with the Germanian mages' boarding actions, preferably those who hate the Albish, and also ex-pirates who could give some advice on dealing with uncooperative ships? I need to build up an instructor staff to teach the mages."
Luo then turned to Li. "I will need some ships so I can convert them into training platforms. The Francois Republic's destroyer will also be turned into a training ship. I'm assuming the destroyer's layout will share some similarities with the Albish destroyers, and maybe the Frankish naval advisors would also have an idea of what the Albish destroyers look like on the inside."
"Mage boarding of the ships?" Zhang blinked his eyes.
"The Germanians have demonstrated that it is possible, as long as the enemy fleet is distracted and other attacks are followed up. The reason why I mentioned we will have high mage casualties is because I intend on having the augmented mages and regular soldiers utilize rowboats to swarm the Albish fleet after our railway artillery guns open fire with magic enhanced armor piercing shells. The motorboats will carry heavier equipment, such as cutting torches to break through barricaded hatches. When the Albish mages are distracted by the surface threats, our underwater mage teams will place explosives on the hulls of the ships. Many will die in the river or on the decks of the Albish ships. The Albish fleet will struggle to return accurate fire back at our artillery from the chaos of the multi-prong attacks."
"And the railway artillery will still keep firing and the underwater teams will detonate the mines even with the soldiers and augmented mages onboard the ships?" Kang was mentally recalculating what he had previously assumed about Luo, while maintaining a poker face.
"We can easily replace regular soldiers and what are essentially D-tier mages that otherwise would eventually die from the rushed experimental surgeries. It is a sacrifice I am willing to make." Luo nonchalantly shrugged. "The Albish are completely reliant on their naval bombardments to keep our superior numbers from swarming their small invasion force. Are there any remaining questions?"
'He is more capable than what I had initially believed…" Kang quietly observed before speaking again. "And what about the enemy air superiority when our artillery guns reveal themselves?"
Luo pondered for a moment. "I will need a large allotment of anti-aircraft cannons that will also be stealthily moved into place. Some of the soldiers and C-tier mages will be utilized for storming the enemy airfields, which will pressure their pilots to choose between attacking well defended artillery guns or protecting their own airfields. The losses don't matter as long as the enemy air force is unable to concentrate on our artillery guns. As for the carriers out at sea, a large number of our anti-aircraft guns will need to be stationed along the coastline as we have no means of threatening them."
"We could send out fishing boats and cargo ships to…" Li was then cut off by Luo's knife hand.
"That won't accomplish anything except needless waste of our people's lives for minimal or no benefit."
After a moment of silence, Zhang tapped on the table.
"Good. Does anyone else have something to discuss?" Zhang looked around the room, and saw no one offering anything. "This concludes the council meeting. Proletarians and oppressed peoples of the world, unite!"
The rest of the council members all belted out in unison, "Proletarians and oppressed peoples of the world, unite!"
Meanwhile in Tientsin harbor area:
"How many did we lose in this senseless slaughter?" Salem slumped into his chair as their transport ship pulled away from the harbor, while the Albish fleet bombarded the rest of the burning city to halt the Chinese hordes.
"Our country sent in about 10 divisions," Anwar stared off into the distance while also seated. "In just one month, we're the only ones who pulled out, with a barely organized mob that is comparable to the size of about 2 divisions. That's not including the men lost in Joseon. We went into a meatgrinder, while our king and the Albish turned the crank."
"Do you think we'll ever make it back home?" Nasser took a drink of his tea, his hands shaking.
"We won't find relief at home either," Anwar balled up his hands into fists. "General Amer intends on court martialing Mohieddin, and will find the justifications for the court martial after the trial. He's trying to pick us off one at a time. I had to make a deal with General Clarke for us to join him in their redeployment to the Shanghai theatre, in return for Mohieddin's protection from the Aegyptian government and military. I don't want General Amer to drag Mohieddin out of the hospital.
"Let me guess, General Amer blamed us for the loss of his divisions and theft of the remaining men?" Nasser rolled his eyes.
"One of my colleagues sent me a copy of the report that General Amer mailed back home. It squarely blamed the destruction of the Aegyptian expeditionary army on my order to retreat our division after running out of ammunition." Anwar laughed with a deep sense of anger at the absurdity of the situation. "Prison might await us when we return home."
"...What if we return home secretly to avoid their handcuffs?" Salem asked in a hushed tone.
"And then what? Be hunted for the rest of our lives as outlaws?" Anwar's eyes twitched.
"We take whatever men we can after this Shanghai operation is over, head back to Aegyptus and stage a rebellion. It's unlikely to succeed, but I'd rather take my chances over a guaranteed prison for the crime of having General Amer's and his subordinates' incompetence blamed on us."
"Absolute madness. Don't ever talk about that fantasy." Anwar slowly got up from his chair as Nasser quietly contemplated the dilemmas.
"You're willing to just walk into prison?" Salem jumped out of his chair and jabbed his finger at Anwar.
"We saved lives," Anwar slapped away Salem's hand. "The soldiers and junior officers know what happened, and if the king wants to silence us, he also has to silence all of them. I wish him luck in trying to jail them all. And if he is mad enough to try, then at least it wouldn't be us that instigated a rebellion."
(AN: The Chinese perspective of this battle is in the original Chapter 11)
1944, March 20th, northwest of Delhi over North Bharatian territory:
Millicent Caldwell eagerly snapped photos of the high view over the land, and the surrounding aircraft flying alongside them.
"Is this what President Degurechaff envisioned in replacing aerial mages with… what was this called again?!" Caldwell shouted over the roaring of the rotor as she turned her head to the two pilots.
"Helicopter!" Erwin Hrabak shouted back. "And I'm sure she will find other uses for mages."
"Hey, we're still here!" one of the four South Bharatian mages seated in the back called out.
"You should thank us for giving you a free ride of over 50 kilometers and not having to give away your magic signatures to enemy mages."
"Enemy logistics camp is almost here." Gerhard Seiler looked up from his map.
"I can see that, and there is the Chinese mage battalion that is enforcing a no fly zone and their supporting anti-aircraft guns below. Where are the fighter jets to clean out the place?" Hrabak peered forward, only to have his question immediately answered as jets after jets screamed overhead.
Caldwell slightly leaned out of the helicopter to try to get the best film recordings of the flights, only to be soon interrupted by Hrabak laughter. "Miss Caldwell, I suggest you focus your attention towards the enemy mages that are about to get a front row seat to a fireworks show."
She turned her film camera facing forward, just as the fighter jets unleashed a massive volley of rockets at the Chinese mages, and watched in awe as the mage battalion's aerial heavy machine gun crews struggled to shoot down the numerous inbound rockets before they disappeared in a cloud of explosions.
The propeller driven fighters lagging behind the jets also flew over the helicopters, and half of them proceeded to launch the second salvo of rockets at the remaining enemy mages, while the rest dove towards the anti-aircraft guns for their strafing runs and dive bombing.
"That's our signal, everyone out!" A South Bharatian mage called out while pulling Caldwell back into the helicopter. "Sorry, need you out of the way of the doorway."
The six mages jumped out of the helicopter and took flight, joining the mages who were riding in the other helicopters.
"What are the rest of the helicopters doing?" Caldwell pointed out in the distance.
"Gunships, they strapped rockets and machine guns to them to join the mages in surgically picking off the targets in the enemy's rear logistics camp that survived the earlier dive bombing runs. Extra firepower is always useful. Never know when the enemy tries something unexpected." Seiler then scribbled in his map. "As for us, we're done here, but we can stick around for a bit for your photos."
"Can they also engage mages?" Caldwell then pointed at a distance mage formation.
Rus mages inbound! Gunships, focus fire on them!
"We're about to watch the world's first helicopter to mage engagement," Hrabak had a sense of bemusement in his voice. "Although those Rus are also going up against jets, propeller aircraft and the mages we just dropped off, all at the same time. This is going to be a beautiful chaos. I hope you still have plenty of film left."
1944, March 22nd, somewhere in the CSR, at a hospital:
"I'm sorry, but I believe you were mistaken. When I went through the magic amplitude test, I was quickly dismissed halfway through. There was no reason for me to be suddenly pulled from my unit while marching south from Tientsin." Chen Shusheng stared in confusion at the man sitting at the desk.
"The test showed you created a flicker of magic," the man stamped Shusheng's paperwork and pushed it back to him. "Good enough. NEXT!"
Shusheng absentmindedly walked over to the crowded courtyard, and after several minutes of unsuccessfully searching for someone he recognized, he took notice of a man laying down and enjoying the sunlight.
"Do you know why we've been brought here?" He stopped in front of the man.
"No idea. I thought initially it was for punishment, but everyone is confused over the reason why we are here other than showing a small hint of magic in their test when they first joined the military. And the groups of people they grab never come back to this courtyard." The man got up. "My name is Huang Peilun. What about you?"
"Chen Shusheng," he offered a handshake. "And what do you mean by punishment?"
"Ran away from the battle outside of Shanghai after watching my entire platoon be reduced to flying body parts from a big shell thrown by an Albish warship. And those shells kept coming." Peilun scoffed. "Then punched and knocked out an officer who tried ordering me back into slaughter."
"Huh," Shusheng rubbed his chin. "I randomly got pulled out of marching formation and told I was going somewhere else. I completely forgot I even had a faint magic potential until today."
"Same here," Peilun stretched out his arms as he sat back down onto the ground.
"You seem pretty relaxed about all of this."
"What difference does it make being angry or nervous?"
Then an officer with a megaphone flanked by his guards marched into the courtyard, and pointed in the general direction of Shusheng, Peilun and others. "You there! With me!"
1944, March 23rd, Berun:
As I awaited our honored guest to arrive, I turned to Elya.
"With how short notice this visit is, and based on the recent events over in Asia, I am fairly certain he is going to ask if both his country and OZEV could dogpile onto the CSR with how the Albish coalition is pushing towards the Chinese capital. What is your opinion on that operation?"
Elya showed a tinge of fear while trying her best to maintain a facade of professionalism. "What the Akinese intelligence shared with us over the past few weeks indicates the CSR's internal propaganda has kicked into overdrive and they are mobilizing all eligible adult males. The CSR no longer sees this as a limited conflict, and is now preparing for a long war."
I leaned back into my chair and looked up at the ceiling. "It's a foregone conclusion that stepping anywhere on their homeland would provoke the hornet's nest. The question is if they would also send their hordes to South Bharat after they mop up the Albish coalition, or worse, across the Trans-Sibyrian railways and then march directly to OZEV's eastern doorstep?"
"If they somehow neutralize the Albish naval assets to stop future landing operations, then I don't see what would stop them. Our deep undercover agents in the Himalayas mountains have been observing the breakneck Chinese road and railway construction paces to directly link North Bharat with the CSR and Russy Confederation, with complete disregard to the high casualty rate of the workers."
Foreign Minister Dertinge opened the door slightly. "The Akinese ambassador, Chiune Sugihara, will be here momentarily."
"Thank you," I breathlessly said without looking at him.
After Dertinge closed the door, I sat back upright again, this time looking at Defense Minister Lergen. "If you had a few million Chinese soldiers crash into our South Bharatian positions with their completed direct road and railway links to the CSR, or worse, into OZEV's eastern protectorates that border the Rus, what would you do?"
Lergen grimaced. "In Bharat, a long fighting retreat is our only option to avoid a collapse of our fronts, until the Chinese exhaust themselves or all of Europe and the Unified States go into total war economy and fight yet another world war. As for eastern Europe, Livonia, Lithuania, Belarusia, Kieva, Crimea, Caucasia, and Kazakh would all be eventually lost with OZEV forces falling back to the upgraded defensive line our allies previously named after you, until the CSR ceases throwing bodies at us. Then we would have to begin a long counteroffensive. All of that could be shortened with the atomi-"
"Using the atomic bombs will open a Pandora box of unintended consequences," I dismissively waved my hands. "We would have to pursue a total capitulation of the Rus and Chinese, or else if they ever obtained their own atomic bombs, they will utilize them at the first opportunity for revenge."
The door then opened again before Lergen could say something, this time with Foreign Minister Dertinge escorting Ambassador Sugihara into our room.
I got up from my chair and briskly walked towards Sugihara and did a slight bow, catching him off guard before he also bowed.
As we straightened our backs, Sugihara remarked, "I am honored to be your guest."
"Please, we are friends here." I smiled as I gestured towards an empty seat for him, while Visha set teacups and a tray of her mochi snacks, before stepping off to the side.
Sugihara cleared his throat. "The Privy Council believes now is the time for the Akitsushima Dominion to retake their former Joseon colony while the CSR is distracted with defending their capital from the ever victorious Albish coalition. They were previously divided on invading the CSR when we last spoke last December, but are now unanimous on their recommendation to the Emperor."
Sugihara then took a bite of a mochi piece and was surprised. "This is good…"
Ah, the Privy Council. A council of old men who try to utilize the Emperor as a puppet for their own benefit. And what better outcome for their personal wealth to regain Joseon, even if it risks putting them on a collision course with an awakened red dragon of the communists?
"The Albish already whipped the Chinese into an angry frenzy, and has their full attention." I sighed as Visha blushed at Sugihara's complement. "The last thing I want is for them to then shift their focus onto us in South Bharat, or worse, take train rides all the way to eastern Europe to directly threaten the OZEV."
"So what will the OZEV be doing if the Albish coalition fails?"
"It will fail," I nonchalantly shrugged as if it was a foregone conclusion. "And when it does, we lock down our gains in South Bharat with solid fortifications and offer peace to the CSR. A rebuilt South Bharat will be a crucial defense and trade partner for both of us. A strong South Bharat will forever keep the CSR's attention divided, unable to decisively focus on your country or us. They will have to keep the rump state of North Bharat protected, lest it also falls and then directly expose their borders to South Bharat."
"And if they refuse your peace offer?"
"We make them bleed for every kilometer taken in South Bharat and Eastern Europe when they have already sacrificed much to expel the Albish, until their rage has subsided and exhaustion sets in. Meanwhile your country will maintain the threat of invasion to force them to heavily garrison their coastline, your navy will choke off their access to the ocean and bombard coastal settlements, and your airforce will bomb their interior infrastructure and industrial capacity around the clock. Eventually their patience will run out, when my peace offer only affects the Bharatian subcontinent."
"Hmmm. I see." Sugihara frowned. "The council will be disappointed by your answer, but I doubt the Emperor will make any moves on Joseon or the CSR without your support. I do have another question now that you brought up our airforce. The purchase of your jet aircraft."
"Oh?" I raised an eyebrow.
"Our air force has become increasingly vocal about the need for jet aircraft after their observers in South Bharat reported on how the communist mages and propeller aircraft struggled against the high speed aircraft."
I leaned over to Lergen. "Are our next generation jet aircraft models on track for production this year?"
"By the end of summer, I expect a full production run." Lergen smiled, while Sugihara quietly but out loud muttered, "Next generation?..."
"The previous war ended before our current jet aircraft were readily available for combat usage, but the communists were dumb enough to start another war for us to finally put hundreds of them to good use." I nonchalantly shrugged. "I can arrange to have the training for both pilots and mechanics to start by next month, and then we will deliver the combat tested jets as our newer ones replace them."
"Interesting…" Sugihara rubbed his chin. "When my colleague in Londinium reached out to the Albish government, they were initially unwilling to export their own jets, but changed their mind after seeing your jets in the Bharatian subcontinent."
"What was their timeline and capabilities?" I impatiently tapped one of my fingers onto the chair's armrest, while Elya quietly slid a note to me.
"At least another year, as their production runs are to fulfill their own domestic military needs first before exporting to us. They still haven't given us the opportunity to conduct evaluation tests of their jets or presented finalized prices."
I looked up from glancing at Elya's note.
She has tabs on the Americans developing their own jets as well, although they are likely to be one or two years behind the Albish. That could also be an opportunity to sell our older jets to them. No point in trying to keep our jet technology a secret when the Albish and Americans are right behind us, and the extra money is always helpful, especially with this damn war dragging on.
"I am confident we can beat the Albish in terms of timelines and prices, and leave open the option for purchasing our newer jets in the future." I got up from my chair to offer a handshake to Sugihara. "Foreign Minister Dertinge and Defense Minister Lergen can work out the specifics of the deal with your military counterparts."
Sugihara grasped my hand. "You have been a great assistance to my country."
Then he looked at the now empty plate. "Who made the mochi? I would like to thank them for perfectly replicating our delicacy."
That was when Visha's face turned bright red.
"Ah, it was you?" Sugihara chuckled.
1944, March 24th, somewhere in the CSR, at a military hospital:
'This was unexpected. I never asked to become a mage.'
Chen Shusheng rubbed the fresh bandages all over on his neck and back, before forcing himself to stop.
"Do you have a sense of lightheadeness? Fatigue? Extreme pain preventing you from moving?" A doctor suddenly barked, startling Shusheng from his thoughts.
"Uh. no?" Shusheng stuttered as a nurse quickly examined him, feeling the bandages.
"He's fine," the nurse pulled away.
"Out of your bed, make room for the next patient." The doctor grunted. "Head down the right hallway to the front office for your outprocessing."
Shusheng's head dazed as he clumsily put on his uniform. The impatient nurse shoved his belongings into a burlap sack and handed it to him as he was buttoning up his shirt.
When he finished limping over to the front desk and presented his papers, the secretary stamped it and gestured out the door, at the crowd of people milling about. "The next bus will be here soon."
"Oh, you made it!" An excited Peilun suddenly emerged from the crowd.
"Why so worried?" Shusheng tilted his head in confusion.
"You're not very observant are you?" Peilun nervously chuckled. "About half of the people make it out of that patient ward on a cart, their corpse covered with a bedsheet."
"So where are we headed next?"
"Nobody knows, and there's no point in asking. I've accepted my fate, so should you."
1944, March 28th, somewhere next to the Bohai Sea:
"We are moving too fast with the training," Jean Guingoun put down his binoculars as he watched the boarding exercise on the modified Frankish destroyer be stopped for on-the-spot training by Frankish naval advisors.
"I don't have time! The enemy is quickly approaching Nanjing! We paid your team enough for a comfortable retirement for a reason!" Luo snarled in rough Frankish as he threw his binoculars in a fit of rage while his aide scrambled to retrieve another one. "The pirates I scrounge together need to quickly adapt from boarding a helpless civilian ship to a warship where its armed crew will be bolting shut their doors and hatches. Because they will be the ones who will be teaching soldiers and mages, many who have been on a vessel larger than a small river boat!"
"They will need more machine guns to provide covering fire for those who are climbing up the ships' hulls. More cutting torches, and bigger ones, to quickly defeat barricaded hatches."
"I can't allocate more machine guns from the rest of my army. The boarders have to make do with their rifles. And the cutting torches are all we have… Maybe we could try whatever that burning powder the railroad construction crews use."
"You mean thermite? Iron oxide powder?" Jean Guingoun blinked his eyes in shock. "Those would make quite a mess and risk melting things that shouldn't be in contact with high temperatures. We're talking about fires or outright explosions!"
"I can request iron oxides and sticky resins in the tons from the interior minister," Luo grabbed a new binocular as the training event restarted. "I don't care about the risks as long as my boarders can quickly penetrate inside those ships. If a ship explodes from burning thermite coming in contact with explosives or fuel, I will consider it a victory."
"An interesting perspective…"
"Didn't the old Empire used to say 'iron and blood' for their ultimate diplomacy tool when talks failed?" Luo scoffed as he observed the boarding crew force open one of the hatches. "We lack the iron, so we will drown the enemy in plentiful and easily replaceable blood."
"Perhaps I misunderstood earlier," Jean Guingoun had a horrified look on his face as it dawned upon him of the impending mass deaths. "I had assumed you were seeking to board the Albish vessels with minimal losses."
"Many will die, but it is my responsibility to ensure that their sacrifices are not wasted. And when the alternative is allowing the Albish to control all of the river and the adjacent cities, this mass boarding operation is the only option I have."
"A personal question… Where did you learn to speak Frankish?"
"Like some of my colleagues, I was a university student in the Francois Republic until the great war happened."
"Hmm, I remember one of my friends running a communist student organization that attracted students from the colonies, until he was arrested and then executed."
"Was it Jacques Francon?"
"Indeed."
"What a shame. He was a great man."
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the CSR:
"Is it a snug fit?" Peilun asked as he connected the heavy backpack's pump to Shusheng's neck implant using a tube.
"It's tight enough," Shusheng grunted as he finished adjusting his shoulder straps and then moved onto strapping a wired panel onto his wrist.
"You're good to go to power up the pump," Peilun tapped on Shusheng's shoulder.
Shusheng opened his wrist panel and flipped one of the switches for low liquid flow. As soon as the liquid began to course through his body, he felt a sickening surge of power. He focused his mind and struggled to cast a shield spell.
Peilun proceeded to throw a large, heavy ball at him, which his shield flickered as the ball bounced off of it.
"I felt nothing," Shusheng shrugged his shoulders.
"My turn," Peilun called out as he also powered on his pump.
"My eyes are hurting from watching your shield attempt," Shusheng blinked at Peilun's rapidly flickering shield. "If it was anymore intense, it would be quite disorienting for enemy mages looking at you."
"It's fine…" Peilun coped as Shusheng sighed and threw the ball back to Peilun.
Yang Huimin walked in on them as Peilun's shield shattered with sparks of raw magic energy and he staggered backwards from the impact.
"Your math is off, you need to study mathematics more." Huimin tsked at Peilun before turning to Shusheng. "Your shield is a good first attempt. I would suggest helping your partner with his math work as I am stretched thin from the number of students."
"Could I help with teaching with other students?" Shusheng's heart pounded in his chest.
Huimin looked around at other struggling students, with one falling to the ground and convulsing while their partner mocked them for using the high flow setting.
"I'll take any help I can."
1944, April 9th, north bank of the Yangtze River, north of the recently captured Zhenjiang:
"We're not stopping for a few days to reorganize?" Salem despondently tossed the papers back onto the command tent's desk.
"General Clarke was reassigned elsewhere, so we report to General Law now." An exhausted Anwar sipped his weak tea while sitting on a foldable stool. "And Law wants us to attack Yangzhou immediately. He wants his flanks quickly secured before he orders a closer airfield to be constructed and siege on Nanjing. While we will continue to receive Aegyptian reinforcements, the other coalition forces won't be assisting us as they are busy clearing out the remaining holdouts in Zhenjiang or preparing for the siege of Nanjing."
Anwar then reached for the papers Salem had tossed, flipped through them, and pointed his finger at one section. "Do you remember the Chinese commander that surprised us at night and mauled us in Joseon? Han Xianchu? The Albish reported he's in the city along with his Sibyrian Army forces. We're about to fight a rematch against them, and they have an entire city to hide in."
"General Law can't just expect a colonel and two majors to be thrusted into managing what is essentially four enlarged divisions!" Salem pounded the desk with one fist in frustration. "And our divisions will be continuously diluted with raw recruits arriving directly from Aegyptus!"
"Tell me something that I didn't know," Anwar finished his tea. "At least Law has revoked General Amer's oversight of the expeditionary Aegyptian forces in the Shanghai and Nanjing theatre, and thus transferred all current Aegyptian forces in the CSR to our command. It appears he would rather trust us with handling this operation than Amer's bootlickers."
"We're going to at least have some naval fire support," Nasser shrugged his shoulders.
"The Chinese know," Salem glared at him. "My scouts reported their city walls are mostly unmanned, which means they intend on fighting within the city. On the streets and in the sewers. Building to building, room to room. At this distance from the river, the naval fire support will be indirect only. Anywhere within a kilometer of the targeted coordinates is a danger zone. And our enemy would know to only engage us in close quarters to force us to call artillery fire on our own heads."
"Now I'm thinking about it, they may shell our men in the process, because that's how they know where the enemy soldiers are dug into, and they likely don't have the time or ammunition to simply level the whole city." Nasser sardonically chuckled at their situation. "Our losses don't matter to them as long as they push the enemy out of the area."
"That's why I am counting on both of you to make the best of this situation," Anwar got up from his stool. "Once we're done with this Nanjing business and the communists surrender, King Ismail will find himself in a tough spot of what to do with war heroes who won't die, accompanied by armed men who can vouch for us."
Nasser suddenly stiffened. "Wait, you mentioned the Sibyrian Army from Joseon is already here? And the Albish still wants to keep pushing inland?"
"I warned them and General Law told me to not worry about matters beyond what I've been ordered to handle." Anwar began to walk away, his shoulders drooped. "Once we take Yangzhou, we will need to prepare for our long marathon back to Shanghai, or anywhere else we can be rescued from."
"Do you smell that?" Salem sniffed the air, his face soon turning to disgust.
"What is that?…" Nasser coughed.
Then a soldier came running up to Anwar with an opened can that had a fish label on it. "Sir! The Legadonians sent us rotten food! The men are vomiting from just trying to open them!"
"Those fish cans?!" Anwar heaved while motioning the soldier to stay away. "The Albish directed those to us when I asked for something other than pork?!"
"That explains why I saw the Kanatians stack those bulging cans on top of the mines they were laying around the airfield's perimeter." Nasser covered his nose with a piece of cloth.
1944, April 12th, late at night, somewhere in the CSR:
"What are you doing this late?" Yang Huimin poked her head into the dimly lit classroom while Shusheng tumbled from mid-air and crashed onto the floor.
"Practicing how to fly," Shusheng groaned as he got himself back up.
"What you're doing is beyond the curriculum," Huimin rolled her eyes. "The class is expected to be able to perform an enhanced jump, and no more than that. You know the side effects of using too much of the energy liquid. It's dangerous."
"I'm feeling less and less of the effects," Shusheng cracked a smile. "From being bedridden to just a headache."
"You should get some rest anyways."
"Yet you push hard on us, despite you being our only ray of sunlight in this inhumane ordeal. Something is bothering you."
Huimin looked around as she closed the classroom door, then walked up to him with a hushed tone. "Almost everyone involved with the upcoming naval boarding training will die when they are sent into combat. I could just tell from how short the magic training is for your class, when regular magic training takes at least a few months to be combat proficient. It's suicide to just charge head-on at the world's largest navy with nothing to keep the enemy ships from blasting away with their large cannons, like what happened in Shanghai."
"We faced suffering and death before together in the winter of Joseon."
"This is different. There will be many deaths, even among A-tier mages with the newest computation orbs. But all of that is necessary to stop the foreigners from pillaging and burning Nanjing."
Shusheng was silent for a moment as he contemplated his fate. Then he took her hands and grasped them. "If it's likely that one or both may die, I would like to join you as an instructor assistant and go out on a date."
Huimin blushed, and leaned forward to kiss him. Then whispered in his ear. "I'll talk with the headmaster about delaying your upcoming naval boarding training to help us teach the next class. And as for the date, we meet tomorrow in the marketplace for dinner."
Next night:
"It's awfully empty here," Shusheng remarked as he and Huimin strolled through a quiet marketplace, with many of the stalls, shops and restaurants closed.
'And while the dinner was lovely, it also ate two week's worth of pay. I hope she doesn't ask for another restaurant meal!'
"It's an all out war," Huimin sighed. "Nanjing is about to be attacked. Even my parents who are cloth weavers were conscripted and told not to discuss what work they are doing. Just like how we're not allowed to write back home about what we are doing."
"At least we'll be together for a little bit," Shusheng briefly rubbed the side of his head against hers.
"I hope your friend didn't mind you staying behind while he continued on with the naval boarding training."
"He joked about looking forward to our marriage," Shusheng scoffed while Huimin stifled her laughter.
"Although I am confused of what the government is doing with the marriage regulations. Initially I didn't think much of it, until Peilun brought up the topic."
Huimin paused for a few seconds. "With the government now playing a role in deciding marriage couple selections for mages, it's going to be interesting. If the government doesn't approve of us being together, I'd expect pressure from both of our families because the government approved mage marriages come with many benefits. My mother has implied she'll approve any marriage if the benefits are guaranteed and the man meets her minimum requirements."
"Oh? Minimum requirements?" Shusheng raised an eyebrow. "A bit vague. Let me guess, it's still pretty high isn't it?"
Huimin rolled her eyes in response.
"I'm not surprised." Shusheng said. "I wasn't the best at school, and I decided to follow in my father's footsteps of volunteering for the military."
"What did your mother say to his naughty son?" Huimin teased while pinching one of his cheeks.
"She eventually gave up on me and hounded my siblings instead." Shusheng shrugged his shoulders.
"I originally wanted to go into mage sports," Huimin softly said with a twinkle in her eyes. I remember reading the news article about the World Cup in Europe, and aerial lacrosse seemed like a lot of fun. "Unfortunately, if they're using mass surgeries for C-tier mages to fight for short durations, it's pretty hard for a B or A tier mage to avoid military service."
"Maybe after this war you can try for the mage sports again."
"Something I am looking forward to. Anyways, should we meet again tomorrow morning? I heard about a great breakfast place, and then we can head to a theater for a play performance. Assuming the theater hasn't been closed. Or if the breakfast place is even still running."
"Of course! Of course!" Shusheng nodded and smiled, 'Well, there goes another one of my weekly paychecks.' He privately thought to himself.
Meanwhile, in the captured city of Changzhou:
Shi paced around in his room.
'This is where I make my final move… But who do I throw my lot with?'
He looked again at the copied drawings of Luo's artillery ambush locations which stretched all the way from Nanjing to Shanghai, and their predicted lines of fire at anchored Albish ships. The drawings of the new naval minefields to be laid in the river by motorboats during the suicidal boat assaults, and the hidden artillery guns who would only open fire when the Albish ships try to navigate through the mines. The drawings of the weak Albish coalition defenses at Nantong and Shanghai. At the corner of one of the drawings was the timetable of the arriving main Sibyrian Army and the separate conscript armies that were rapidly marching towards Nantong and Shanghai to cut off the Albish coalition's only resupply and escape route. Another timetable detailed the deployment of diversion forces towards Nanjing to fool the Albish.
The clock ticked in the empty room, in sync with Shi's heavy breathing. Rainwater dripped from the ruined roof and onto the torn up carpet, a consequence of the prior naval bombardment and the subsequent storming of the city by the Kanatians.
'I already warned General Law of Colonel Han Xianchu and his vanguard Sibyrian Army units entering Yangzhou to reinforce its garrison. If I warn of what else was coming for him, that could terrify him into immediately retreating from Nanjing. And as long as the Chairman is still sitting in Nanjing, he and his council will remain securely in power and thus continue the war. Could I even trust the Albish to uphold their end of the deal if they lose patience and withdraw from the CSR entirely? They would have no need for me. And then I would be facing a vengeful country when they discover what I've done, alone.
Shi heard loud Kanatians voices, followed by a volley of gunfire. He winced, knowing they just conducted another round of executions.
'If I am to avoid consequences from Kang for feeding information to the Albish and from the Albish for turning on them, my move will have to look convincing to both. The Albish has to think they can trust me until it is too late, while Kang has to be deceived into believing I initially fed good information to the enemy to win their trust in order to later lead them to their destruction.
Shi sat down at his desk to begin fabricating a series of documents to General Law. There would be no mentions of the railway artillery guns, and the arriving main Sibyrian Army was obviously going to rescue Nanjing while the attacks on Nantong and Shanghai were mere diversions.
Two days later, outside of Nanjing:
"The city walls are almost down, splendid work from the navy." General Law smiled as he watched another naval bombardment barrage demolish more sections of the walls. "We rule the sea, and their own river."
"Do you think your counterpart's concerns are valid?" General Arthur cleared his throat. "We've been winning battles consistently, but every battle is taking more effort and our casualties continue to grow, even with the naval and air support."
"Of course General Clarke wants more garrison forces around Nantong, Shanghai and the dozen captured or constructed airfields, and construction equipment to build heavy defenses around those locations, as the appointed rearguard commander." Law put down his binoculars. "But I need those same men and vehicles to quickly take Nanjing, and the construction vehicles to repair the infrastructure needed for sustaining our logistics. The sooner we get the Chinese to surrender, the sooner we leave with less casualties. They're just throwing more at us in desperation."
"And you trust the traitor?" General Poulin dismissively snorted. "I know he has consistently given us useful intelligence, but he could turn on us at any time. Just like what he did to the communists after joining them."
"He confirmed what we are already seeing," Law confidently smiled as the naval bombardments ceased. "The Chinese Sibyrian Army is marching to Nanjing, and have already made their vanguard presence known by attacking the Aegyptians in Yangzhou and opening themselves to our naval bombardments. The rest of the Chinese army will also be coming here to save their capital city. As long as we make good progress, it would be foolish for our little helper to try to run back to the losing side."
Then Law gestured towards the east. "General Clarke in contrast has no evidence of any major Chinese force buildup around Nantong and Shanghai. Minimal mage activity, which suggests to me that most of them were allocated for the Bharatian front or here. Aggressive partisan activities is not evidence, and the Kanatians that replaced the inflexible Aegyptians have proven to be quite efficient at putting them down anyways. It appears the Kanatians found their warrior spirit after their initial thrashing by the Chinese in Joseon."
"Wait, do you hear that?…" Arthur peered towards Nanjing as the noise from it steadily rose.
"They're playing their national anthem, and it sounds like it's an actual orchestra!" A bewildered translator exclaimed. "How many loudspeakers did they set up in their city?!"
The music suddenly stopped, and a loud voice echoed from the city. The translator's eyes widened as he provided the translation.
"I, Chairman Zhang, swore to protect the people when I took responsibility for leading this country. I will not be leaving this city to the foreigners to pillage and burn. We will fight at the ruined walls. In our cratered streets. In our destroyed homes. And at the gates to the palace and in the courtyards, a legacy our ancestors built over a thousand years ago to establish a shining beacon of civilization against the dark forces of raging barbarians. We will endure even when our ammunition and food runs out. We will never falter. We will never surrender."
Then the orchestra music resumed playing.
"He's willing to stay and sign a peace treaty for an unconditional surrender. How honorable. At least I won't have to worry about chasing him through the countryside. In the meantime, I want our reconnaissance aircraft to find their orchestra so our battleships can silence them." Law then turned to Arthur, Poulin, and the various subordinate officers in attendance. "The die is cast, and if there are fifty enemy divisions in the city, I will go through them!"
AN:
China's first golf courses were built by purely human labor and shovels, which inspired the "remove and replant the vegetation to hide the dragging of the artillery guns".
https/sections/parallels/2017/06/23/534052842/chinas-government-tightens-its-grip-on-golf-shuts-down-courses
His Chinese contact in Beijing was confused. He asked Jones what, exactly, he needed. "I said, 'I need a bulldozer,' " remembers Jones. "He went silent for a while. When I arrived, they were literally moving the earth by hand. Someone would take a shovel and they would shovel it into a sort of satchel and they would carry it. And they had a camp of maybe 20,000 people in and around the site."
The Chinese, remembers Jones, had a bulldozer, but it was a Japanese knockoff and it was missing an engine.
The construction of the Shanghai Country Club was a milestone in China's complicated history with golf, a sign the sport was about to be reincarnated by Deng, 30 years after it was declared a sport of the rich.
Inspiration for dragging artillery guns: https/en./wiki/Noble_train_of_artillery
Knox went to Ticonderoga in November 1775 and moved 60 tons[1] of cannon and other armaments over the course of three winter months by boat, horse, ox-drawn sledges, and manpower along poor-quality roads, across two semi-frozen rivers, and through the forests and swamps of the lightly inhabited Berkshiresto the Boston area[2[3] covering approximately 300 miles (500 km).
https/en./wiki/Egyptian_pyramid_construction_techniques#Transport_of_stone_blocks
The Twelfth Dynasty tomb of Djehutihotep has an illustration of 172 men pulling an alabaster statue of him on a sledge. The statue is estimated to weigh 60 tons and Denys Stocks estimated that 45 workers would be required to start moving a 16,300 kg (35,900 lb; 16.3 t) lubricated block, or eight workers to move a 2,750 kg (6,060 lb; 2.75 t) block.[18]
https/en.m./wiki/Hannibal_crossing_of_the_Alps
CSR's movement tactics were based on real life PRC's Korean War movements: https/en./wiki/Korean_War#China_intervenes_(October_1950)
UN aerial reconnaissance had difficulty sighting PVA units in daytime, because their march and bivouac discipline minimized aerial detection.[227] The PVA marched "dark-to-dark" (19:00–03:00), and aerial camouflage (concealing soldiers, pack animals, and equipment) was deployed by 05:30. Meanwhile, daylight advance parties scouted for the next bivouac site. During daylight activity or marching, soldiers were to remain motionless if an aircraft appeared, until it flew away;[227] PVA officers were under order to shoot security violators. Such battlefield discipline allowed a three-division army to march the 460 km (286 mi) from An-tung, Manchuria, to the combat zone in some 19 days. Another division night-marched a circuitous mountain route, averaging 29 km (18 mi) daily for 18 days.[82]
The CSR's massive deception operation was inspired by the Soviet deception efforts in Operation Bagration and Allies deception efforts in Operation Overlord, both which completely took the German high command and Hitler by surprise.
https/en./wiki/Operation_Bagration#Strategic_aims_and_deception
https/watch?v=20ZpI_JK06c
https/en./wiki/Operation_Overlord#Deception
Regarding the usage of suicide soldiers/mages for the boarding of ships: https/en./wiki/National_Revolutionary_Army#Dare_to_Die_Corps
A "dare to die corps" was effectively used against Japanese units at the Battle of Taierzhuang.[19[20[21[22[23[24] They used swords.[25[26]
Suicide bombing was also used against the Japanese.[27[28] A Chinese soldier detonated a grenade vest and killed 20 Japanese soldiers at Sihang Warehouse. Chinese troops strapped explosives like grenade packs or dynamite to their bodies and threw themselves under Japanese tanks to blow them up.[29] This tactic was used during the Battle of Shanghai, where a Chinese suicide bomber stopped a Japanese tank column by exploding himself beneath the lead tank[30] and at the Battle of Taierzhuang where dynamite and grenades were strapped on by Chinese troops who rushed at Japanese tanks and blew themselves up.[31[32[33[34] In one incident at Taierzhuang, Chinese suicide bombers obliterated four Japanese tanks with grenade bundles.[35[36]
French communists reference:
https/en./wiki/Georges_Guingouin
https/en./wiki/Beno_Frachon
Binocular throwing reference: https/en./wiki/Zinovy_Rozhestvensky#Russo-Japanese_War
Rozhestvensky was fully aware that he had a new untrained fleet under his command and that re-coaling stations would not be available during the journey, due to Britain's alliance with Japan; and that both the shakedown testing of the new battleships and the gunnery practice/training would have to occur during the voyage. Also, re-coaling would have to be done at sea, instead of in port as with most other navies. As a consequence of these circumstances, the mission-minded commander would sometimes fire service ammunition (live gunfire) across the bows of an errant warship, and in a fiery moment fling his binoculars from the bridge into the sea.[10] When his battleship fleet set sail in 1904, Rozhestvensky's staff ensured that his flagship, Knyaz Suvorov, had a good supply of binoculars on board.[11]
Pork ban reference: https/en./wiki/Religious_restrictions_on_the_consumption_of_pork
Reference to the Surströmming cans: https/en./wiki/Surstr#International_opinion
German food critic and author Wolfgang Fassbender wrote that "the biggest challenge when eating surströmming is to vomit only after the first bite, as opposed to before".[24]
…
In 1981, a German landlord evicted a tenant without notice after the tenant spread surströmming brine in the apartment building's stairwell. When the landlord was taken to court, the court ruled that the termination was justified after the landlord's party demonstrated their case by opening a can inside the courtroom. The court concluded that it "had convinced itself that the disgusting smell of the fish brine far exceeded the degree that fellow-tenants in the building could be expected to tolerate".[27]
Reference to Nanjing palace: https/en./wiki/Ming_Palace
The Ming Palace (Chinese: 明故宫; pinyin: Míng Gùgōng; lit. 'Ming Former Palace'), also known as the "Forbidden City of Nanjing", was the 14th-century imperial palace of the early Ming dynasty, when Nanjing was the capital of China.
Reference to orchestra playing in a besieged city: https/en./wiki/Leningrad_premi_of_Shostakovich_Symphony_No._7
Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 7 had its Leningrad première on 9 August 1942 during the Second World War, while the city was under siege by the Nazi German forces.
Reference to the "the die is cast" speech, Epic History's "Nelson's Battles in 3D: Cape St. Vincent" video: https/watch?v=03mCCwemhBA =647s
OLD CHAPTER 11, IGNORE THE BELOW WRITING IF YOU ARE NOT INTERESTED IN SEEING WHAT MY WRITING BACK IN 2021 LOOKS LIKE
AN: Edited by Gremlin Jack, perfect_shade, and Nla Eid.
The story post on the spacebattles forum has the maps showing the movements and positions of forces.
1944, January 16th, somewhere in the Germanian countryside:
Klaus Vogel was working on clearing the pavement of snow when he heard the crunch of snow from someone's footsteps behind him. He doubted it could be the Chancellor's unofficial henchmen that had disappeared the communists as he had been out of politics for years after realizing there was no point in going up against her, but he could never be fully sure.
He turned around. It wasn't just one person.
It was Johan Dressler and Andreas Becker.
He blinked his eyes in confusion.
"Klaus, I know you have some questions, but the long story short is that we are going to discuss the future of Germania." Andreas Becker said with a grin. "Did you hear about what happened yesterday?"
"No, I haven't been keeping up with the news." Klaus shrugged. "There's not much I could do even if I disliked what the Chancellor was doing."
Andreas continued. "The queer nightclub that the Chancellor and her deputy lover had been at had caught on fire overnight. The investigation is still ongoing. A pro-queer protest kicked off claiming that the nightclub fire was an act of arson, a counter protest started in response, and it didn't take long for a riot to occur between the two groups. When was the last time you heard about a riot in Germania?"
"I know what you're thinking. It's unprecedented under the Chancellor's rule." Klaus responded. "People who had been opposed to the Chancellor are coming back out into the streets. Anyways, what about the anti-queer protestors?"
"A suspected ringleader was arrested, but a contact within the München police force mentioned that there is a good possibility that they may let her go, due to a combination of those that support her crusade against queers, the difficulty with linking her to the actual cause of the riot, and there are others that strongly suspect she would use the trial as a way to raise publicity. We're still confirming her name, but she could be useful in our campaign against the Chancellor."
Dressler cleared his throat. "The Germanian Workers' Party might have been corrupted by the Chancellor, but we can start with a new political party and pick up those that believe she is losing her mind. A friend within the party had gotten a hold of the membership roster archive and identified those that had left the party over the years. Some of my associates are also identifying dissenters within the Germanian Democratic Union party as Conrad Adenaue and Georg Dertinge are stuck between either breaking away from the Chancellor or risk having unrest within their political party."
Andreas smiled. "We could help the GDU turn against the Chancellor, with or without Conrad Adenaue and Georg Dertinge. Or at least cause a split to cripple a major pro-Chancellor party and maybe pull some of their members away from them. I think the future for us is bright."
1944, January 17th, at Thatta:
Colonel Clark Puller knew the situation at Thatta was bad. He had no idea how desperate it was until seeing the destruction and dead bodies everywhere.
He was about to salute as he saw Brigadier Thomas Brodie walk up to his tank when the brigadier barked, "Stop that lad. We already have enough problems with mage snipers with their bloody anti-tank rifles. Do you want to also get blown to bits?"
"Are you in command here?" He asked as he got off the tank.
"Yes, or what's left of the 29th Infantry Brigade. And you?"
He thought to himself, 'How many men did he lose holding this town?...'
"A collection of whatever forces that could rally to Hyderabad before our retreat. A little over 7,000 men. What do you mean by having a fraction of your brigade?"
"The 29th Infantry Brigade's two depleted regiments were merged with the depleted Gloucestershire Regiment."
"And how many men do you have left?"
"Less than 800, out of the entire brigade."
He felt his heart sink. An entire brigade effectively sacrificed themselves so he could retreat from Hyderabad.
"When I asked how bad it was over the radio before arriving here, you said, 'A bit sticky, things are pretty sticky here'."
"Well yes, things are a bit sticky down here."
He sighed before saying, "We're ready to continue west to Gharo."
"I'm afraid that's not possible." Brigadier Brodie responded. "The rescue column from Gharo was stalled, and then was forced back to Gharo. They reported a massive number of CSR infantry had taken up positions next to the road, and I'm not sure if we have the ammunition to just shoot our way through."
"We have tanks. We can run them down like what we did earlier to get here."
"That's what they want you to do, and then their mages that are pretending to be some regular infantry will open fire with armor piercing magic bullets at your side armor, turret rings, tracks and barrels. They have shot through the bulletproof glass in vision slots as well. Then they run off while the rest of their infantry swarm your disabled tanks. Or if you get close enough, they can penetrate your frontal armor using magic ammunition with their anti-tank rifles."
"Then what do we do?"
"Sit tight and wait for an opportunity to escape. We have some air drops of supplies and equipment coming in about half an hour from Karachi's airfield. Maybe they included some tea and coffee this time. Bloody yanks dropped crates of 'Tootsie Roll' candies when we asked for mortar rounds the other day. At least we were able to repair the broken fuel lines in a few of our vehicles with those melted candies and get them moved to more defensible locations."
"Oh, that's actually good. We were running a bit low on food."
"Your lads should get settled in soon. It'll be night time soon, and that is when most of the fighting happens."
1944, January 18th, south of Sukkur, high up in the sky:
Yang Huimin was manning the aerial DShK heavy machine gun with the rest of her three crew members holding up the tripod legs. One crew member would provide a target tracking display for the gunner to use so they could focus on casting a small timed explosive spell on each bullet. While they could stay afloat with the weapon by themselves, they would have to sacrifice their rate of fire with magic ammunition to avoid overloading their single core orbs. To try to perform any high speed maneuvers while firing the heavy weapons was out of the question. It was her turn after loading in a new belt of ammunition, while the previous gunner was scarfing down hardtack. They had learned to use body reinforcement spells for them to actually consume the hardtacks without needing to soften it first, as otherwise their teeth and jaws would have shattered.
Normally they would have never been in such a dense formation with multiple mage battalions, especially with them being relatively static, but it was determined to be the most efficient way of denying airspace to enemy aircraft.
She watched one formation of planes launch their rockets from a long distance. The enemy mage battalion had been holding their position just outside of the 14.5 millimeter anti-tank rifle crews' effective range, but they still didn't move.
The company commander called out using voice spells, "Timed explosive spells, 8 o'clock!"
The DShK crews opened fire and explosions dotted the sky, knocking the rockets out one by one with the help of the target tracking mages communicating which targets their gunners were assigned to. A few remaining rockets were finished off by the light machine gun crews. Meanwhile the anti-tank rifle crews opened up on another formation of planes that dared to try to launch their rockets at a closer range.
"Does anyone hear that?" Another crew called in. "That's not a propeller sound."
The three other men in her crew activated their optical spell to try to search for the source of the new noise.
The previous gunner spat out a chunk of the hardtack and screamed, "From behind and above us! 5 o'clock!"
She spun the gun around and looked up into the sky to see a large formation of planes that were diving down.
"Is it me, or are those moving very fast?" She asked out loud, but soon got her answer.
When the planes launched their rockets, the rockets were also moving much faster, and in a greater volume than what the propeller plane formations had launched. It seemed as if they had designed the new planes specifically to carry large amounts of rockets. Once again the machine gun crews opened up, but this time a few rockets got through and some of the mages came falling out of the sky from the explosions.
It didn't take long for an argument to break out via the voice spells. Some mages were arguing that they needed to spread out, and others insisted on staying in the dense formations as the looser formations would make it harder for them to concentrate fire on incoming rockets. The anti-tank rifle crews also reported greater difficulty in engaging the faster targets as they couldn't fire as many rounds before the fast-moving planes had flown out of range.
Another formation of the fast moving planes appeared in the sky, along with two formations of the propeller planes. That was when the enemy mage battalion moved in as well.
"All crew members not manning the weapons, split up and use your personal arms to engage! Lower your altitudes to stay with the gunners!" the company commander ordered as the planes approached.
As soon as the three men let go of the tripod to switch to their semi-automatic rifles and submachine guns, she and other gunners rapidly fell through the sky. She ignored the falling sensation and held down on the trigger to try to knock down as many rockets as possible without the other mage's target tracking assistance, but quickly had to switch to engage the incoming enemy mages. The rest of her crew were also preoccupied with other threats, but two other gunners propelled over using bursts of flight spells to form up with her. One enemy mage was hit with a few heavy rounds and disintegrated, but the rest scattered to perform evasive actions and throw decoys while circling around them.
She stopped using mana for the bullets, poured it into reflex and target tracking spells, and then laid down bursts of suppressive fire to keep them at bay. Even without using magic, the 12.7 millimeter rounds can still wear down magic shields. Occasionally she would briefly activate flight spells to dodge the enemy mages' fire or cast a lone magic bullet to remind the enemy mages that even a single hit could be dangerous. The enemy mages eventually gave up pursuing them and climbed altitude to engage other targets.
Upon seeing the ground rapidly approaching, she poured her last remaining mana into her flight spell to slow her fall and landed on the ground. The two other gunners that were with her had to abandon their weapons in order to slow their fall to avoid running out of mana.
That was when dead mages, pieces of weapons and occasionally a downed aircraft came raining down around them. And most of those falling mages they could recognize were their comrades.
East of Sukkur:
Miss Caldwell never expected the reversal to happen so suddenly, and it was obvious that many people around her were equally shocked.
She looked back at the direction of Sukkur and watched dark smoke rise in the air. Their originally planned retreat down south was cancelled when news came in reporting that Hyderabad had been surrounded, and there was fear of the city falling long before they could reach it. Especially after the initial counterattack of retaking Sehwān had failed and those forces ran west instead of trying again.
She was there when the coalition forces scuttled their boats and barges before retreating, such as hydrolocking the engines by dumping water into the intakes and destroying whatever weapons they couldn't take with them before sinking the vessels. One commander had their vessels set out for a last stand against the communists to buy time for the rest of the army to retreat. It was a sobering sight for everyone. During her filming, she picked up someone loudly joking "Well they never specified which Christmas we'll be home by."
The only good news that helped prevent total panic was that air support was still continuing with its routine bombing and supply drops as Karachi was still holding along with its airfield, and if they could get far enough west, they would be in range of the eastern Rajasthan airfields.
There was a sudden crack and a magic anti-tank rifle round flew by in front of her, and struck a tank in the side armor. She dove for cover as the tank burst into flames with its burning crew members bailing out.
Another tank rotated and fired a purple smoke round at a shrub line as a second anti-tank rifle round came in, this time leaving a large dent in its frontal turret armor. Soon, a bomb fell out of the sky and exploded over the marked position with the usual bright burning droplets. She could see a shield light up in the inferno, which revealed the enemy mage's exact position to the tank for it to fire directly at the mage, thus ending the skirmish.
"Where's the relief army to help us escape?!" she heard someone yell.
Pithoragarh, directly west of Nepal, about 500 kilometers northeast of Delhi:
General Poulin nervously looked through his binoculars, with the same sinking feeling he had when the Germanians turned the table on him in that disastrous invasion of Germania. Just about a week ago, he had been chasing down routing CSR and North Bharati forces, and only paused when the last of them scurried into "neutral" Nepal or somewhere further north.
Now he was watching Rus tanks emerge in the mountain valley from Nepal to run down his forces. Normally an armored assault through the mountains was a bad idea, but he had very few anti-tank options, limited time to build any anti-tank barricades, and there were many CSR infantry screening ahead of the tanks or riding on them. The few tanks he did have didn't have much anti-tank ammunition. He wasn't sure if the CSR army was intentionally having so much infantry around the Rus tanks that any anti-tank rounds would have to go through multiple bodies first. Ground attack and dive bomber planes couldn't get anywhere close after the heavy weapons CSR mages fortified on top of the mountains to provide anti-air defense instead of fighting in the air. There were also reports of skirmishes in his rear area. The photographs from the jet planes fitted with photography equipment had shown that what he was looking at was just the tip of the communists' spear.
"Major Drake, where are our anti-tank rockets?"
"They'll be here next week." Major Drake looked up from reading a telegram.
"They were supposed to be here today!" General Poulin yelled as one of the Rus tanks fired a shell. Some of the coalition soldiers were already beginning to run.
"Rus planes shot down the cargo plane carrying those weapons and ammunition before fleeing back to their mountain valleys."
"Wasn't there supposed to be more than one cargo plane?"
"The telegram I'm reading reported that two were shot down by what appeared to be 23 millimeter anti-aircraft cannons on top of mountains. The remaining cargo planes had turned back. Our only option is to use trucks to get the anti-tank weapons and ammo in, or we clear out the anti-aircraft guns."
"How did they avoid our magic detectors? And those guns are in our rear area?"
"Magic detectors can't see through mountains." The major tsks in sheathed frustration as he realizes the implications of that fact, "I think there are a lot more communists in our rear area than what we had expected if they're dragging anti-air cannons behind our lines."
In Ludhiana, northwest of Delhi:
Han Xianchu smiled to himself as he read the reports. The replacement general that took Hong Xuezhi's spot for handling the Indus River Valley counteroffensive said that the coalition forces were on a full retreat to Karachi, eastern Rajasthan or Delhi. And the ones retreating to Karachi can't break through his forces to get into the city. Now he could focus his full attention on the battles raging across the Himalaya front..
An aide slid him a new report. "Our tanks have overran Pithoragarh. The infantry's night time flanking around and into their rear prompted a full rout once they revealed themselves. Most of the coalition forces escaped the trap, but they did abandon large quantities of material and some vehicles. The mages that were operating the 23 millimeter anti-aircraft guns requested magic ammunition to improve their lethality against jet fighters and high altitude bombers."
"That's acceptable, we'll just use their abandoned inventory against them. As for the magic anti-aircraft shells, forward the report to the high command. Minister of National Defense Peng Dehuai will finally have an answer to the coalition's impunity with their bombing operations. I can't wait to see what the KS-19 100 millimeter air defense guns are capable of when the mages are operating them. Also, what's the status of the airfield at Pithoragarh?"
"Mostly intact. They set some of the fuel on fire and got all of their planes out, but the runways are usable."
"If the runways are intact, then that's good. We can have the converted Rus transport planes fly in." Han Xianchu said. "Running the modern divisions through the mountains consumed more fuel and replacement parts than I had expected."
He looked at the map again and then frowned.
"Were there any reports of the Germanian ground force or their Bharati army moving?" he asked.
"None at all."
"But the rest of the coalition have been moving their reserves north to counter us?"
"Yes, we're expecting to run into their tanks in a few days."
"What are the Germanians and their local soldiers up to?..."
1944, January 30th, on board USS Texas:
"Captain, we have finished flooding the starboard torpedo blister and ballast tanks." an officer called out.
"Not enough listing. Our shells will still fall short." Captain Charle Baker responded.
"Sir, I'm not sure what else we can do."
"Flood some of our starboard compartments then. Find which ones we don't need and use those."
"Sir…"
"Did I stutter?"
Another officer entered the bridge. "Admiral Cunningham of the Royal Navy asked us if we're sinking."
"Tell him that Rear Admiral Bryan of the US Bharati fleet lost a bet over if I can find a solution to support the boys trapped at Thatta." The captain answered with just a hit of smugness, "And if he doesn't want to flood his compartments to deliver the shells onto the unsuspecting communists, I'll do it myself. Oh, and give Thatta and Gharo a heads up about the incoming fire support."
1944, January 31st, at Thatta:
Clark Puller was told to have his forces ready for a breakout to get to Gharo. The message never mentioned how that would be accomplished with so many CSR infantry blocking his way. He had gotten used to sleeping during the day, and then being awake at night for the usual communists' night time infiltration attempts. The attacks significantly decreased after an airdrop delivered crates full of flares and flamethrowers to his forces which did an excellent job of lighting up the night sky, and the communists. Now the communists were busy building trenches and other fortifications for an extended siege.
He was suddenly awoken by the ground shaking. Confused, he stepped out of his dugout and saw the CSR's positions being pulverized by the naval bombardment and the massive clouds of dust that followed. And the masses of the CSR infantry running around when they realized their trenches meant to withstand tank fire, mortar shelling and aerial bombing were completely useless against sustained naval fire. He could have sworn seeing some of those communists go flying in the air from the blasts.
Brigadier Thomas Brodie walked up to him. "Beautiful isn't it? I thought it was impossible for them to get the shells all the way out here, but it looks like we can finally go home. I was just told that the garrison at Gharo is driving towards us right now as the enemy forces around them are in full rout."
In Berun:
I had just come back to my office after an extended lunch with Visha and some shopping in the local market when I saw General Lergen waiting for me next to my door with an envelope.
Strange, we had just met this morning to discuss the upgrade of our jet fighters with new engines and other improvements. What could he be here for this time?
"Good afternoon General, I wasn't expecting you."
"We need to have a talk about General Romel, and the situation in Bharat." he responded.
When we stepped into my office, I put up my privacy spell and said, "What's the matter? I thought the enemy was still far away from the fortification constructions?"
"That's exactly the problem, Chancellor. General Romel requested authorization for him to conduct a counter offensive to rescue the retreating coalition forces. There is a mass rout of coalition forces all along the Himalayas and the border areas with Nepal and Bhutan, and we weren't told by the coalition command of how severe the routing was until after our morning meeting. The coalition command is torn between either making a stand at Lucknow or leaving it for the communists to take it. The coalition forces retreating east from Sukkur are still being constantly harassed."
I listened to the General as I sat behind the table in the room, "Didn't the coalition send their reserves up north?" I asked after he's done.
Lergen nodded, "They have the tanks but are short on anti-tank ammunition and anti-tank infantry weapons. This is the first time we're seeing Rus tanks appear. It would be entirely dependent on our air power to deal with them."
"Once they're out of the mountains, the Rus aircraft won't have the mountain valleys to retreat through to bait our planes into their anti-air kill zones."
General Lergen pulled two photographs from the envelope and showed it to me. It was a plane parked at an airfield in the mountain valley with a heavy anti-air gun on the mountain top overlooking the airfield. The other photo showed a few anti-air or howitzer guns being towed by tanks. "This was from our jet fighters that were converted into photo reconnaissance planes. It appears the Rus have started using their bombers as transport planes to airlift supplies over the mountains. Our analysts determined that the CSR now has a few Rus M1938 76 millimeter or M1939 85 millimeter air defense guns to protect their Pithoragarh airfield and tanks. It seems that they are using their tanks that aren't in combat to tow the anti-air guns instead of using their trucks. We know they have been using mages as human calculators because of the greatly increased accuracy compared to when the Rus were using those anti-air guns in the Second Europan War. The heavy weapon mages have also been seen on the mountain tops, likely for short range anti-air protection."
"Has the CSR been using any aerial combat mages?"
"Not after our jet fighters showed up."
"If they're using mages for anti-air guns, that means they're trying to make every shell count and have given up on offensive aerial mage combat. You've seen the CSR's mountain road networks, how much can those and the captured mountain airfields support their modernized divisions?"
"Anti-air guns use a lot of ammunition, so that will force them to decide how to allocate their trucks, pack animals and human porters. Which means less fuel, ammunition and replacement parts for their tanks. They can't sustain their offensive for very long."
"I want our air force to force them to decide where to allocate their anti-air guns and their ammunition. They can't protect all of their forces at the same time, not unless they somehow get a railroad through the mountains to drastically increase their logistics capability. And I think it's time we accelerate the prototyping of high altitude jet bombers to get them out to Bharat as soon as possible. Also, what about General Romel? He knows he has orders to stay put."
"We have been exchanging telegram messages and it's getting increasingly heated. He's especially upset with us not doing anything about the coalition forces retreating eastward from Sukkur. He has threatened to resign in protest if you won't allow him to push forward."
...Great, a warmonger trying to play the hero. If I let General Romel have his way, General Lergen and other bloodhounds will also start disobeying me to unleash their aspirations of conquest. I had generals and admirals resign for not accepting the civilian government's ultimate authority over military matters, and to go back on my policy would paint me as a weak hypocrite. I need to deal with this problem before it escalates. But, he's also been doing a very good job with the defensive works constructions, and that was after leading the amphibious assaults in the early stage of the war. This might be a situation where I need to make a subordinate feel his opinion is valued, even as I order him to do the exact opposite.
"What were General Romel's plans? I would like to see what he planned."
General Lergen pulled a set of maps from the envelope and smoothed them out on the table. "While the map information is about two days out of date, his plan was to send in rescue columns to link up with the retreating forces that are still combat effective, and then push to rescue the ones that had lagged behind and were encircled."
I looked at the maps placed onto the table. It had annotations on enemy positions, but not really that much detail. "What do the CSR forces look like and how fast are they moving?"
"Aerial reconnaissance had trouble determining the exact number, but one of the reports described it as 'ants pouring out of a disturbed anthill.'" General Lergen sighed. "They're mainly going on foot, but the retreating coalition forces also have a shortage of vehicles as they had previously relied on the boats and barges for transportation, and it's very clear that the CSR forces can cover more distance than the coalition forces in a given day. The CSR infantry don't have to win every engagement, they just have to bog down the slower coalition infantry, and then encircle them."
I wasn't surprised at all. They did get plenty of hiking practice in Sibyria and Afghanistan, and are probably using supplies from captured coalition supply depots to help them keep marching instead of pausing to wait for their logistics to catch up. "How is General Romel going to break through? If he just charges in with tanks, we all know the CSR infantry will swarm them or have their mages snipe them with anti-tank rifles."
"He was told by the Americans that they recently received a large shipment of prototype mines that can be quickly planted in large numbers, and other shipments of conventional mines including those that date back to the first Europan War. He intends on using those mines to create a barrier on both sides of his columns so their firepower can be mainly focused forward."
"Where did the Unified States get all of those mines?"
"General Romel said they were originally intended to be used in the mountainous area after they crush North Bharat so the CSR won't try to come over." He shrugged his shoulders. "Clearly that intended use isn't going to be happening for a long time."
Damn, those mines would be useful for our defensive lines though. I think on their other applications for a moment before my brows furrow as I remember post-war minefields being a major issue in my first life. Vietnam, Cambodia, Afghanistan and other countries were stuck with acres of unusable land after their wars because of the mines that would maim or kill any farmers or their children that wandered into the uncleared area. I wouldn't want this war to be remembered ten years in the future because a bunch of children played on the wrong open field… but perhaps I could use that to our advantage?
"Did the Americans mention anything about warning the communists of where the landmines will be located?"
"Not at all." he shook his head.
"If they are going to be using massive minefields, they will also have to drop flyers showing a map of the mined area and plant warning indicators so that civilians know to avoid the landmines, and for them to later remove the landmines when the war is over. And they better not be the tamper resistant mines."
It's not the best solution, but the alternative is letting the coalition forces be wiped out and General Romel holding a grudge against me, or we take far greater casualties from trying to rescue them.
Genera Lergen looks surprised at my suggestion, probably not seeing the wisdom of why we should tell our enemies where our landmines are, and so I smiled at him before continuing on: "General Lergen, tell General Romel that his rescue operation will also need to have the dual purpose of slowing down the CSR forces so we have more time to build the defensive fortifications, such as having the mines laid in a way where the CSR would have to clear many of them in order keep advancing or operate their logistics. Make sure that they are visibly marked." Lergen nods as he listens to my words, but then I see his eyes widen minutely in realization as he sees my ideas and already plans are being formulated in his head.
Ah, well, better to feed him devious but helpful ideas than allowing him to formulate his own. We all benefit in the long-run anyway. "He will also be primarily using the volunteer South Bharati army for the rescue operations so that I'm not sending more coffins back to Germania and our OZEV members." I say, and that snaps him out of his thoughts, "And remind him to not overextend his forces to avoid being encircled as well. Can't save someone if you're also in trouble."
A few days later, in Ludhiana, northwest of Delhi:
Han Xianchu threw his cup of tea at the ground upon receiving the latest reports. The divisions that were blocking the coalition forces at Thatta had ceased to exist from the surprise naval bombardment and would need to be completely rebuilt. The coalition forces had even captured some prisoners in their retreat to Karachi. The replacement general was killed when a stray shrapnel struck him while he was in a moving vehicle, it just had to be the day he had decided to visit the Karachi encirclement in person to congratulate a local commander. Perhaps he should look into the possibility of intel being leaked...
Elsewhere, rescue columns being sent towards the north and west from South Bharat's main positions have been making a mess of his encirclements of the retreating coalition forces. The South Bharatian army was taking heavy casualties, but so was his army, and that could allow many of the trapped coalition forces to escape. He was already getting reports of the trapped forces' resolve being hardened now that they knew rescue was coming, which was further complicating his encirclements.
Then there were the damn landmines that his men on the field had yet to figure out how to safely disarm them. And while he was willing to look the other way with how North Bharat's military used South Bharatian civilians for "manual mine field clearing", he was not going to allow his army to use North Bhartian civilians as disposable tools. That would be the definition of "winning the battle and losing the war" if North Bharat's own citizens launch an anti-communist revolution.
Speaking of the coalition air forces, now his scarce anti-air guns and equally scarce ammunition in the Himalayas front were being stretched thin by the coalition air forces concentrating their bombing attacks to overwhelm local anti-air defenses, especially as his forces began to break out of the mountains where the Rus aircraft would take increased attrition. If he tried to protect his tanks, they would bomb the bridges. If he protected his bridges, they would bomb his supply depots or exposed infantry. If he tried to protect them all equally, they would just destroy his anti-air guns and leave his forces completely exposed. Instead of continuing to improve the infrastructure to keep the war machine fed, now his construction crews would have to rebuild as fast as things are being bombed.
"Should we continue holding the encirclement around Karachi?" an officer who is looking at the maps with him asked.
He shakes his head, "There's no point. They got their men out of Thatta, already started their evacuation of Karachi, and the retreating coalition forces west of Sukkur are likely too far away to be supported by Karachi's airfield. Begin redeploying forces to march east towards Gujarat and Rajasthan provinces."
A few weeks later, in Rajasthan, at the outskirts of Jodhpur:
Yang Huimin and the rest of the reconnaissance mages had their binoculars out, staring in confusion at the Luni River. "I think we figured out what the Germanians have been doing the whole time when the coalition was trying to push up the Indus River." she said. "They want us to fight on their terms, trench warfare style."
"That's a lot of fortifications…" a North Bharatian mage spoke with just a hint of awe and fear as he takes in the bristling fortifications. "...They were trading South Bharatian lives to have more time to build their fortifications and to rescue many of the encircled coalition forces." He then points at the running water that is yet another obstacle to the advance . "That river turns dry during the summer, but that wouldn't do us any good as they would probably already know that."
"We have no artillery other than the ones that we captured from the retreating coalition forces." another mage said. "How are we supposed to punch through that defensive line with only light infantry?"
They've heard of how the Great War went, even if it's only scraps and pieces. They know that that's the war Germania fought it, was beaten in, but it doesn't change the fact that they're now facing the possibility of fighting the enemy on their own familiar terms.
They could only hope that their superiors have a plan to overcome this.
AN:
wiki/USS_Texas_(BB-35)#D-Day
By 15 June, the troops had advanced to the edge of Texas's gun range; her last fire support mission was so far inland that to get the needed range, the starboard torpedo blister was flooded with water to provide a list of two degrees which gave the guns enough elevation to complete the fire mission. With combat operations beyond the range of her guns on 16 June, Texas left Normandy for England on 18 June.[47][54]
As for the CSR's "rebuild ASAP strategy, there is a photo from the Korean War that showed six bridges in the same area, and the photo had the description: "Superfortresses bomb bridges across the Chongchon River north of Pyongyang in October 1952. The communists built multiple spans hoping to keep at least one open. (U.S. Air Force photo)"