December 7th, 1913

11:25 A.M

Somewhere near Ternopil oBlast Ukraine (Russian Owned, German Occupied)

[Major Erika's POV]

So far we have pushed the Russians to Ternopil, which is a miracle in itself since it's winter… but we are having slight supply issues as of late, and I'm suspicious of someone deliberately rerouting our supplies to the other fronts. Most likely someone from high command doesn't like my exemplary performance in the battlefield and wants to stop me from advancing any further.

Well, if they think I'll stop here, they are solely wrong. But it is true that I have to stop here since it's snowing heavily and visibility is bad as of late, so I'll make Ternopil. Into a semi fortress of trench lines and give the Russians hell.

"Major, here's the latest Intel we have as of now." My adjutant Visha, handed over the clipboard detailing the latest movements of the Russians, and the overall situation inside the Kremlin itself.

"Thank you, Visha. You're helpful as always." I complimented Visha, while scanning through the reports as Visha saluted and waited. But not without saying "I'm glad to help you major." 

These reports are a bit troubling… The northern front is being pushed back by a fair margin, whilst the southern front is in a stalemate. They don't want Odessa to be occupied that badly huh. Understandable for the Russians at least, but thanks to Visha we have successfully established resistance cells mainly consisting of Ukrainians who want independence to end the cruelty of the Russian regime so they say. 

And I am going to take advantage of that and give the Ukrainians what they want, with a price of course, and we will cross that bridge when we get to it.

"How's the situation on the western front?" I inquired from Visha since I was pretty busy here and didn't had time digesting information on what's happening in the western front.

Visha sighed as she narrated what happened in the past few weeks.

"So far it's not doing as well as we hoped. From what I've heard, the Kaiser wasn't too happy at the western front being stalemated frequently. I even heard that the French along with the British has successfully defended and halted our advance."

"As expected…" I muttered, before I gestured for Visha to continue.

"There's also rumors circulating within the army that the Italians are stalling and looking to betray us in the near future, which to my assessment is likely since we stole the Turkish lands from under their nose"

I groaned at the overgoing problems that I made as I gestured for her to move on and give the report on the situation in the current front with the north and south of our position.

"They're holding as they say major but I wish they would send more supplies to us. This is clearly sabotage and bias which is not helping our cause at all. Why are we not doing anything?"

"Because my dear Visha, they want us to be indebted to them in some way in order to control us. To which I'm not letting it happen. Thank god we still have the society to secretly supply us." 

"I'm somewhat surprised, but most expected since it is you after all." She chuckled a bit as thuds of artillery rain down our side as the ground shakes and stopped for a moment to look at me as I nodded and quickly exited the temporary HQ that was set up on the newly made trench network as I navigated to where the current Frontlines are. 

Ignoring the screams of the soldiers that fills the air, along with the smell of dead rats, bodies and wood, I headed over the other sides of the trenches to see the overall situation, to which it wasn't good at first glance but manageable as the newly assigned soldiers that just arrived from the barracks have just experienced their first baptism of war, death, and artillery barrage.

I stopped for a brief moment as I watched the terrified men and women, who were being ordered to head to the trenches that badly needed manpower or more like bodies to hold off the Russian assault.

"Soldiers of the fatherland! You are embarking on a treacherous journey towards the heartland of mother Russia! Where you'll meet your enemies face on and face fierce combat! You will give them no mercy, for they will not grant you mercy. You will be baptized in the fires of war! You will face hardships, and trials, and more especially, the struggles to which you'll face against you! But fear not! For the Kaiser and the fatherland are with you! Für Deutschland! Gott Mit UNs!" 

"""Für Deutschland! Für the Kaiser!!!"""

They all screamed as they all headed to their respective positions in the trench. As for the others, they are headed to the affected areas where manpower is heavily needed.

I sighed as I approached the officer who gave the speech and spoke.

"Don't motivate them too much, Leutnant Fritz. They'll take it to heart and probably hate us in the long run."

Leutnant Fritz glanced back at me as I approached him as he lighted his cigarette and exhaled a puff of smoke.

"I can't help it Major, our soldiers need a morale boost and encouragement in order to face their enemies in the battlefield."

I sighed as I mulled over the overall situation we are in and replied. 

"So far, we are holding. Can't say for the western front though, last news I've heard that they've lost the momentum and failed to completely encircle the French and British forces around Chaumont."

"Leutnant Fritz puffed another smoke and groaned for a bit. "And they say the war will be over by Christmas. This will be a long war isn't it major?"

"Yes it will be." I replied, "and this war will test our strength, our faith, and our hopes and dreams."

"And all the bureaucratic shit within the Reich will be a lot shittier will it major?" He said, as we both watched men and women who just arrived here, scared out of their wits and shaking a bit.

"Yes, as you can see, the high command has sent us new conscripts. Which isn't ideal at all, but we'll have to make do with what we have, Leutnant Fritz. Now, distribute the warm food to our soldiers, as I'll be preparing to hand out winter clothes to our men and women."

I said, as I headed to another trench line with a rifle in hand, rushing past the soldiers as I went by.

"Will do, Major." Leutnant Fritz said, as he headed towards the Kitchen area to distribute warm porridge, potatoes, and soup.

Meanwhile, on the Western Front

December 10th, 1913

100 Km to east of Chaumont, France

Temporary HQ of the German Empire.

[General Erich Ludendorff's POV]

Seems like everyone's either tired, or pissed since the Frontline hasn't advanced even once. We are bogged down in Chaumont, and so are the other Frontlines such as Nancy, Metz. Although we have breached Metz, we are still encountering heavy resistance, to which we can't safely advance yet.

As I was thinking, General Hindenburg arrived and sat down, as well as the other staff officers, and waited in absolute silence as we stared at the war table in front of us. 

"The Frontline hasn't moved an inch since the last 2 weeks." General Hindenburg started as all of the staff officers, including me, stared at him, and at each other as one staff officer spoke up about the matter.

"Our plan failed to bear fruit generally as the French along with the British sent more additional reserves to halt our advance."

"But that shouldn't be enough to stop our advance. So why did it stop Staff Officer Stauss?" Hindenburg stared at Stauss, as if questioning him.

"We have encountered heavy resistance with the population, along with mines general. Not to mention that the weather wasn't helping as it rained." Staff Officer Stauss argued.

"Additionally, we have received reports that the Americans along with the Spanish are secretly helping them. Not to mention that the kingdom of Italy is being quiet as of lately, not choosing to help us and are staying neutral." Stauss argued another point, to which I agreed mostly since the latest report from our spies says that the Italians are negotiating a closed door deal with our damn enemy.

Not to mention that the American bankers are supporting the war effort for the entente, which brings even more bad news.

And adding to the nail to the coffin, the Spanish are helping them, to which god knows why, unless they're being threatened by the British. It also didn't help that the Norwegian King is getting fritzy with us.

And even though Belgium and Luxembourg fell quickly to our hands, we are struggling to produce more manpower to overwhelm the entire western front as we put half of our forces to the east, fighting the Russians.

Although the Russians capability to counter attack has been hampered by the Japanese, we still couldn't let our guard down and only hope that a swift victory within a year so we can reassign most of the eastern army to the west.

Thinking about it, it's giving me a headache since now that the enemy is revealing it's fangs, we may have to send additional reserves to the south of Austrian borders with Italy since although I believe Austro-hungary's capability to fight back their enemy, I can't trust them enough to not fully collapse.

We also have to deal with the blockade that the British have set up, and for that, we need to discuss with the navy to inevitably try to challenge the British navy and hope to have a breakthrough. But my hopes are low on that part since the British along with the French navy, drastically outnumber ours. And if you factor in the Italian navy, our navy would be a joke.

"I can already feel a lot of problems lying ahead of us in the far future…" I muttered to myself.

As the staff officers along with the general staff argued on what plans we must do, we have reached the conclusion to recruit more men and women into the army, and fully use our newly established airforce to the entire western front along with delaying the enemy as much as possible by minimizing the training required by 3 months at best, and if we're desperate enough, 6 weeks of training. We will also have to eventually recycle new uniforms from the dead soldiers in order to be used by new conscripts.

This kind of mindset was only possible thanks to the failed attempts in breaching the defenses of the combined arms of the French, British, and even the Spanish. Now we have to worry about the Americans as well. Which doesn't bode well with the public.

War propaganda and deceiving the enemies is a must priority since we don't want to lose morale any longer since it will be almost Christmas by now.

"God this is a mess…" I thought to myself as we were all dismissed and exited the meeting room to head to the army unit that I am commanding to organize a stable logistic line. 

"Major Erika was right, it's just a matter of how long will my men survive this slaughter." My last thoughts were as I entered my car designed for officer use and headed to the front lines once again.

December 13, 1913

100 KM West of Chaumont, France.

Headquarters of the French High Command

[3rd PoV]

After what seems like forever, Robert Nivelle arrived at the meeting room of the French chief of staff along with other high officers within the French army to discuss how to push back the Germans who are, thankfully, halted within Chaumont upto Somme. 

And all that Robert could think is that a major offensive can break through the German lines and end this war before it hits before next year. Which, considering how bad the casualty rates are on the Frontlines, would be a miracle in itself as no man's land is a meat grinder between all sides.

Just as he was about to light his cigar, General Chief of Staff Joseph Joffre arrived, and everyone stood to salute him, including Robert.

Joseph saluted back before telling everyone to sit down and started with the words: "well gentlemen, this war has caught the attention of other powers within Europe. And so far, we have only barely stopped the German army from advancing any further. And please someone tell me why the Germans are at the gates of Verdun already?" Joseph was understandably upset as every asset of the French army, whether strategic or political is valuable to him nonetheless.

Micheal Joseph spoke out his thoughts on the matter. "Regarding Verdun, we have reason to believe that the Germans are having trouble within the lands of Verdun due to us repeatedly.halting their advances. I have reason to believe that the value of Verdun strategically is important in completely halting the German advance. I suggest we launch a counter offensive to encircle the German army and cut off their retreat, then quickly advance to take Metz, and then Nancy."

Robert mentally nodded since logically, Verdun is the weak link and can be exploited to break the German lines and their morale with our special weapons and completely crush them and show the Germans that they aren't invincible and that we are superior in tactics than the Germans are.

Joseph Simok however spoke against this counter offensive idea.

"The counter-offensive is a mistake General Micheal. Since launching this counter offensive may put our logistics under pressure, and the risk of the Germans finding out our plans beforehand as well. Not to mention that our Frontline is stretched thin as it is, and only thanks to the British, and the Spanish that we are able to fill in the gaps."

"Isn't our recruitment propaganda working well? We should be able to surpass the Germans in number relatively soon" Micheal said, skeptical on why they should hunker down and wait when the Germans haven't completely set up complete defensive positions throughout the western front. Additionally, their Frontline is also large and they'll also face more logistical issues than us in the long run. 

"It maybe working now, but the French people won't accept such a low wage that couldn't feed their families back home. Joseph Simon retorted back.

"But aren't they fighting for the survival of our great country?" Robert said, "it shouldn't be hard to convince people that our very existence is being threatened by the Germans, our culture, our history, our language would be erased if the German barbarians would win this war. This is a good enough reason for our peopl- no our patriots to join willingly and volunteer and stop the German menace once and for all.

"And how many troops do you need to achieve this offensive?" Joseph Joffre asked Robert

"Around 450,000 give or take. Providing if the British cooperate well, we might end the war sooner or later."

Joseph scoffed, but Robert had a point, hence he spoke

"Do it. Just make sure you'll break through, or else demoting you will be the last thing you'll think of. As for everyone here, this counter -offensive will follow Roberts, and Michaels plan. Make sure to execute it well, and give the Germans hell. Dismissed."

Joffre said, standing up and saluting again before leaving to head to the Somme front.

As the General left, everyone got busy to prepare for the counter offensive that will begin after Christmas, since in Roberts and Micheals mind, they can punch through the German lines fairly easily if it's winter since the winter only favors the Russians and not the Germans.

But this mindset will soon be wrong as Major Erika's Prediction was taken albeit half seriously and the German army stationed at Chaumont to Verdun prepared their defenses, along with stockpiling a lot of ammunition, food, and men and women who can replenish the line should it ever breach.

It's just the question of how the French would break through in such winter conditions.

As for the British, they thought this was ridiculous in itself, but it had some merits and proceeded to assist the French by securing the much needed ammunition along with adding additional 100,000 troops in assisting the counter offensive.

Meanwhile, in Madrid, Spain.

[General Victoriano Huerta's POV]

"Is that what the French promised?" I asked to confirm for the 5th time.

"Yes, General. The French promised to give us Morocco along with small parts of their colony to us." My Adjutant said.

"All they want from us is to join the war against the Central Powers by providing troops, and the navy to further pressure them. Furthermore, it might also force the Italians to betray them as well."

I pondered for a moment, since owning more territory or colonies is tempting along with gaining more equipment that will be captured along the way.

Not to mention that it will restore the Spanish legacy in Europe once again by helping the entente destroy the central powers.

"How many troops can we dedicate towards the western front?"

"Around 150,000 General. That's the max limit we can aid the entente along with the promise of our officers gaining experience in the battlefield." My adjutant said

"Then formally send the French a letter, and tell them that we will declare war next year, but our aid towards them will increase as of now."

"Yes, General. What should we do about the people protesting once this news breaks out to the populace?"

"Keep the People in check. And if they break the law, make an example. They should be thankful that the military is protecting them at all and that crime is low."

I muttered before adding another order on top of it. "I also want to increase the army size. We will announce mandatory training to keep our troop numbers as high as possible. I want an additional 200,000."

But, General, that would for-"

"Do it, force the people if you have to. I don't take no for an answer." I stared at my adjutant, as he nodded Albeit reluctantly and replied

"As you ordered, General."

"You may now leave, I'm gonna prepare a new offensive against the Germans with the french."

My adjutant nodded, and left the room as I sighed, and lighted my cigarette and exhaled a puff of smoke.

Let's hope that the Intelligence we got from the French are accurate, or else we would completely suffer, or worse, a coup d'etat on me by the people.

But in reality, 2 years from now, the Spanish people with the covert aid of German Spies, General Victoriano was overthrown and executed by the people and formally declared to stay neutral in this war until the war ended. But that's in the coming future.