In 1936, the Nazi's have rose to power. Europe is in a fragile state, the fears of another great war, equal or greater than the "War to end all wars" is hanging heavily around the world. All it takes to ignite the final spark, is an over zealous government and a fast paced invasion. In this alternate word war story, we see what would happen if Germany had managed to stay out of war with the Soviet Union and invaded Britian. We see what would have happened if the US had decided not to embargo the Japanese oil. In the newest enterprise of Offensive Bias':
The Fragile World
Prologue: Czechoslovakia
The army marched into Czechoslovakia in the Summer. It was a warm day, barely a cloud in the sky. The sound of marching feet echoed down every street corner and public park. The Germans were here. There were many who celebrated, Czech Germans who were delighted to see their people the overlords of this nation. But, there were those few who looked on at the marching hordes, looks of disgust, contempt...
Hate. Branded on their pale faces. There was a huge chance of a fight developing. There were a few riots at the smaller demonstrations. But the riots were just a small picture of what was to come. In a few weeks, a depot would be raided by a small band of men, and this small action would start an uprising which will tear the country to pieces.
Hans had his K98 rifle slung over his shoulder, his grey uniform worn proudly, displaying the Swastika on a red armband. Hans had never felt so euphoric. His nation, oppressed for years, humiliated after the end of the great war, now had its former holds back, and now its glorious army was forging a new German empire, one to last through the ages. In the camp, the sun spread its rays among the laughing men as though to congratulate them. The smell of roast beef drifted to him, and as he walked with purpose to the Commanders tent, he felt another wave of happiness wash over him.
Hans swatted aside the flap of the tent, and entered inside. Radio equipment was propped up against the rightmost wall, and in a small wooden chair, the Commander sat, reading through a report that had come through earlier that day. Hans coughed to announce himself. The Commander looked up partially from the paper. “Ah, a new message I believe?” Hans nodded his head.
“Yes Sir, it just arrived for you now. It came from General Gudarian himself.” Hans handed the letter over and stood still. Waiting to see the reaction of the Commander. As his mouth moved silently, tracing the words, his expression changed to a frown.
“You may go now Private.”
“Sir, is there someth-”
“GO!” Hans gave a little jump and walked quickly back through the tent flap. From inside, he heard the Commander shouting orders into the radio. Something was wrong... Hans had a feeling he would find out what it was soon enough.
It was nightfall, and a large series of half tracks had arrived to drive the soldiers off to a depot somewhere North of the camp. Hans heard the roar of another engine, and the light from the vehicle bathed the soldiers waiting for it to stop, shadows danced across the empty tents as they swayed in the breeze. The half track stopped in front of Hans, he still had his rifle slung over his shoulder. He lifted his helmet up and placed it on his head, and began walking to the truck. He climbed inside and sat on the seat closes to the gunner. They exchanged quick, curious glances and turned away from each other, the gunner returning to his night vigil, and Hans looking at the metal flooring. Boots clanged as the truck filled up. When it was completely full, it gave a little jump, and was roaring off after its brethren, towards a depot the soldiers knew nothing about.
Chapter One: The Depot
The men were quiet, the only sounds being the occasional cough, which could barely be heard anyway among the roaring of multiple engines. Hans looked out over the side of the vehicle. He couldn't discern where they were, it was dark, there were no lights, the dark shapes of bushes and trees were the only things he could recognise as they zoomed past. He heard the radio in the drivers cabin crackle, a voice came through, there was no telling what it was saying, but the half track suddenly began to slow. The others around them did the same. The vehicle turned to the left sharply, jostling the soldiers around. It gave a small whine and came to a complete stop, the engine still purring. Hans looked out into the darkness again. This time, he saw a small clearing, with a lot of people moving around in it. There were some figures who lay on the floor unmoving. A chill ran down Hans' spine. “Everyone out!” The order was bellowed by the driver. All the men marched outside, and into the clearing. The men were lined up, and all of them had the same confused, tired, cautious look Hans wore as a high ranking soldier approached them. He inspected every one of them, a glance at them as he walked past. Eventually he stopped.
“This is all that sorry dog can send me? You will do for now. There was an attack here around three hours ago. We tried to hold them off, but everyone was killed apart from the three who sealed themselves in the bunker. They stole things precious to us. Over 70 crates of weapons, ammunition, grenades. Five half tracks, three loading trucks and a new Panzer II tank. This is a big thing now, we have rebels roaming the country, with a tank! And no one can find them. You are here to spearhead our initial assault at what is thought to be their headquarters. Get some rest, there are beds inside the bunker, and be ready to move out by dawn. Dismissed!” The soldier turned and walked away from them. Hans followed the others down towards the bunker. As they passed the area of the fighting, they saw the body of a young German, maybe 17- 18, sat against the wall, his head drooped and blood lay in a pool around him. In one hand, he held an MP38, in his other, he held a bloodstained photograph. Hans turned away from the sight, and walked just a little faster.
Hans had slept badly in the night, his dreams disturbed by the face of the dead soldier, the face changed to his own, blood spattered across one cheek, then the face changed to his wife's and then his mothers. The photo was of his family, taken in the Spring of 32. The dream then changed to a battlefield, the stolen Panzer loomed before him. Men were screaming, dismembered body parts lay everywhere, the Panzer fired and his world turned black. The darkness changed back to the battlefield and the Panzer firing at him and killing him, repeated itself again and again and again, until he awoke with a start at dawn.
The world seemed darker after his nightmare. The men filing into half tracks had an almost sinister feel to it. As though they were going to commit a great evil. The weight of his K98 was like paper to him, his feeling of complete dread was heavier than all of his gear combined. Once he was sat in the half track, he stared at the wall, thinking about everything he had ever done in his life. Somehow, the concern of an approaching firefight wasn't much of a concern to him. The soldier next to him had an MP38, he was yawning as the sun rose over the trees. He turned to Hans with an interested gaze. “We should be back at the camp enjoying our victory shouldn't we Private? Better than driving around at the early hours of morning on a wild goose chase.” Hans nodded and grunted in reply. “A silent type eh? I was only trying to have someone to talk to for the journey.” The Corporal leaned back in his seat and sighed. He yawned again. Hans spoke suddenly.
“Fine, we'll talk.” A grin spread across the Corporals face.
“So, you have a girl back home Private?”
“Yes. My wife.”
“Ooh, leaving a wife behind? What made you join up?”
“The adventure, the glory... The propaganda. Same as everyone else I guess.”
“So, what can I call you instead of Private, Private?”
“I'm Hans. You?”
“Joseph.” Joseph held out a hand. Hans shook it and they smiled. Then the half track jostled violently, throwing the inhabitants onto the floor. The deafening sound of the half track MG42 firing filled the air around Hans. He was still squeezing the hand of Joseph. The tangle of bodies struggled to stand and get out of the vehicle. Hans let go of the hand he had been holding, and pushed a soldier off him. He pushed himself up, and still the clatter of the MG42 was sounding, but it was answered by pings and bangs as bullets hit the armoured car. Hans unslung his rifle and looked over the top of the half track. The gunner was firing towards a group of armed men. Some had rifles, and many had machine guns. Hans steadied his rifle on the edge of the vehicle and fired. He didn't know if he had hit one, as most were falling through the gunners deadly volleys. The other soldiers had by now, managed to sort themselves out, and some had run out of the half track to take cover in the surrounding terrain. Three soldiers attempted to reach the cover of a nearby boulder, but were torn apart by heavy machine gun fire. Their lifeless corpses were the first German casualties. Hans fired again, and this time he saw his bullet had struck one of the rebels in the hip. The rebel dropped to the ground, writhing in agony. A bullet pinged off the armour plating of the vehicle just below Hans' wrist. This was real war.
Chapter Two: The Panzer
Hans fired another round, the rifle recoil comforting him somehow. His bullet missed, and as he went to draw the bolt back, a hail of bullets pinged off the armoured hull an inch away from his elbow, and he had to duck. He looked up at the gunner, he was still firing and was yelling as he did so. The back of his head suddenly exploded outwards, bits of brain and skin flying everywhere. He crumpled to the floor. Hans covered his face with his hands, his heart was racing. A second ago, it had been adrenaline, now it was pure fear. He heard German shouts, the other Half tracks were still around and were unloading their troops at the fight. This ambush was probably to try and get some of the half tracks. “Fall back to the main road!”
“We can't hold them!”
“Get to cover, they are everywhere!”
“It's the fu**ing tank!” Hans' insides froze. He risked a peek over the edge of the vehicle, the crackle of gunfire all around him. He saw the behemoth. The newest tank produced by the Germans, the Panzer was heavily armed, and heavily protected. Men were sat on the back of it, firing their rifles and machine guns. A soldier was mounting the MG42 positioned on the rear, and its crew manned machine gun was firing away at the men hidden by the trees. Hans didn't want to see, he felt exposed with just the tip of his nose showing over the edge, and yet he couldn't look away. The turret turned, with a great mechanical whirring. His stomach clenched as he knew what would happen next. His eyes widened, and he covered his ears, just as the tank bellowed forth with a loud BANG! A shell. There was a huge explosion, and the whole battle ceased. There were no more sounds, the tank was silent, and it seemed all stared in awe at the first ever firing of this grand tank. Then, in a split second, a single rifle shot, turned into another full scale battle.
Joseph quickly stood back up from his prone position, and fired his MP38 at a charging rebel. He took the brunt of the bullets in his chest, releasing a cloud of blood. His face creased in pain and he fell backwards, dead. Joseph heard his men screaming about something. He looked over the mass of half tracks blocking the road, and saw the armoured hulk of a Panzer II. A second of awe, shock and fear washed over him all at once. The turret turned, and as soon as the behemoth started moving, the spell on Joseph was broken. He cleared his head and called out to the eight or so soldiers near the edge of a forest.
“COME BACK! IT'S FIRING! MOVE BACK! IT'S GONNA SHOOT!” It seemed to work, as all but three of the men ran back to where Joseph and the majority of men were fighting. The remaining three turned around, wondering where the others had gone, when there came a mighty boom. They were in the act of turning their heads, when dust, smoke and dirt enshrouded them. The bang was terrible, and the ground shook. Joseph watched in horror, as the smog cleared. There was nothing left of them. No blood, no bodies, no limbs... It was as if they never existed. A single thought appeared in his head. Retreat! He shook his head and fired a last burst, causing a rebel to duck down behind a tree trunk, and blindfire his machine gun over the top. Joseph ran back, without a thought, he just ran, determined to get as far away from the tank as possible.
Hans, even though he was crouched down in the half track, where no one could possibly see him, dared not to move. The Panzer was driving straight past his position. The ground shook slightly, and the whirring sound of the turret moving overhead made him open his eyes. The turret was hovering overhead, slowly moving forwards and towards the frontline. Hans heard gunfire suddenly rage all around his half track, the rebels were moving forward. He heard shouts in Czech, and then the half track suddenly rumbled to life.
Chapter three: Stolen
Hans was struck dumb by the sudden motion. The roar of the engine and the truck beginning to drive away from the battle. After a few seconds, the situation sank in. He saw the Panzer behind the moving half track, as he drove away; it fired another round, the explosion a muffled boom in the distance. Hans had to get off the half track, it was heading back to the rebel base most likely and he didn’t want to be caught on it when they arrived. He took up his rifle, and aimed it through the small slit that looked into the driver’s compartment. He took a careful aim at the driver, and delivered a single, lethal shot. Blood painted the window, and the driver slumped onto the wheel heavily, causing it to veer sharply to the left, the vehicle did the same. Hans was thrown into the armour plated side, knocking the breath from him; he collapsed to the floor wheezing. There was a deafening crash, a slight moment of weightlessness and then total darkness.
He awoke at night. He was out for hours; he had been unconscious through the day. He could taste blood, and there was a murderous pain across his forehead and lower back. He was lying on grass; wet with what he hoped was water and not blood. He blinked several times to clear the haze, and tried to sit up. As soon as he tilted his head up, a sickening dizziness came over him. He was caught unaware by the sudden effect, and let his head fall a little too quickly. He smacked it hard on the cold earth. “Ah! Sh*t!” He decided to lie and let his body prepare itself. He dared not look around, the pain was already too much to bear, and any more would probably make him black out. The stars were out in force that night, lighting up the sky like a thousand burning fires. He took in their otherworldly beauty, and decided to try and sit up again. This time, he did it slow. Besides a little aching in his neck, he managed to get upright this time. He exhaled a huge breath, and examined the surroundings.
The half track was in complete ruin. Its remains charred, the fire had extinguished hours ago, ashes lay in heaps around it, the ground blackened. The metal was twisted in most places, and the driver compartment was completely smashed inward, if the driver had been alive at the crash, the metal would have crushed him like someone stepping on a bug. To his right was a small copse, which housed the tree the half track had veered into. The only scar the tree bore was a large chunk of wood missing from the impact point. To his left, was the road, and after it lay the forest that stretched on into the distance, eventually coming to an end five miles from where Han was sat. He wondered how the battle had gone, and what happened to the Panzer. He looked back at the road. Above it, the moon was beaming down. He watched it for a while, when there was another closer, much brighter light. He saw a flare falling down from the sky into the forest. It was followed by another flare, right at the edge of the forest. Distant, shouting voices drifted to him. He couldn’t make out the language, but he had a sinking feeling it wasn’t German…
He could see silhouettes on the road now. He squirmed as he tried to shakily stand. When he got up, he swayed a little but managed to stay on his feet. He exhaled and took a step forward. As soon as his foot touched the floor, pain shot up it like fire. Despite the need for silence, he gave a yelp. He collapsed to the ground, which probably saved his life, as gunfire opened up behind him, and bullets filled the space he had occupied just a second before. He rolled onto his belly and put his hands on his head.
“Please! Don’t shoot! I surrender, I surrender!” He shouted at them in German. There was an answering voice, using his language.
“It’s okay! We won’t shoot. Stand up!” Hans shouted back.
“I can’t… I’m hurt.” There was the sound of murmured conversation and five men appeared out of the darkness, their shadows making the night seem just that extra bit darker. Two grabbed an arm each and he was aware of the rest standing above him. The slight *** of metal and the drawing back of a bolt told him they were training their guns on him in case it was an ambush. The two men grunted and he was on his feet. His legs were shaking furiously, and one of the men had to support him. The German speaking one was asking him questions as they slowly moved next to the forest at the edge of the road.
“How did you end up all the way back here?”
“I was hiding inside one of the half tracks you took. I…” He hesitated, thinking it better not to tell them he had killed the driver. “I was wondering how I could get out, when the driver crashed. I was knocked unconscious, didn’t wake up until just now.”
“Well, if you want to know how the battle went, you lost. We took heavy damage to the Panzer. The Germans who didn’t retreat put up a hell of a fight towards it. They hurled themselves and grenades at it. We were stunned to say the least.”
“Where are you taking me..? OW!” Hans fell to the floor, dragging the man supporting him too. Hans had his sore ribs pressed against as the rebel pushed himself up on Hans. He gave a small groan of pain, and curled up. Hands tried to get him back up, while two rebels chatted angrily towards each other. “What are they talking about?” Hans asked the translator.
“They want to kill you and leave you here.” Hans felt a chill creep up his entire body. “But I won’t let them do that to you German.” Hans felt a little better at his words. The translator began speaking calmly in Czech to the other two. The two guarding him stared on in mild interest. After ten minutes, the argument was broken up by the flash of lights, and the roar of a motor coming down the road. Hans stared at the lights, as they drew closer he saw them to be the lights of a half track. The Czech all ran to hide in the forest, leaving Hans to stand there. As he expected, the half track pulled up next to him and drew to a stop. The men in the back were Czech; it was a captured half track.
When they saw his uniform, every rifle of the 15 men in the back were pointed at him. The soldiers in the forest came out and shouted to the driver. There was a brief exchange of words, and the translator told him what was happening.
“Okay, they are going to take you to a small prisoner camp they set up after the battle. They will not harm you, I promise.” Hans took his word for it, and had help clambering awkwardly into the vehicle. He was placed with care next to an angry looking Czech rebel. Hans felt the vehicle start up, and he was off into the night.
SPQR! An ambitious historical project, coming soon. Check the Library for early version test writes. Recommended for anyone with a love of history.