Chapter 29 – Last Stand
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Next chapter will be an interlude about the elves!

I will also try to respond to new and past comments. 

Discord -->  https://discord.gg/mhjetEK

Read a chapter ahead -> https://www.patreon.com/user?u=33496388

https://youtu.be/iGtEH1i78sI Resist and Bite by Sabaton - A song about a unit of only 40 Belgian men of the Chasseurs Ardennais. They held off the German armies (including Erwin Rommel's "Ghost Divison") for 18 days and only surrendered when they ran out of ammo.

When the Belgians finally surrendered, the Germans asked.

"Where are the others?"

They simply laughed and answered, "There are no others, we are all!"

"They are not men, they are green wolves" - Erwin Rommel referring to the 40 Belgians who held off the German armies

 

Shoutout for AirsoftAL for reviewing this novel on youtube. Here's his youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/user/army64100

2308 March 27th, 2020 CE

0234 Start 58th, 196 AE

Western Region of the Verona River

A detachment from the First Army guarded one of the many major bridges on the western side of the Verona River. Sandbag positions, trenches, and tanks were all placed to cover anything that would come across the bridge. 

A soldier looking at the other side of the bridge noticed something through the morning mist.

“Enemy tanks on the other side of the river!!”

A large enemy tank got onto the bridge.

Their tank, an A1 tank, situated right on the exit of the bridge aimed towards the enemy tank on the other side. Before it could open fire with its 75mm gun, the enemy tank took it out in one hit to the front. 

The 3rd Blitzpanzer Division's Knight tank continued down the bridge after destroying the human’s puny metal box that could barely be called a tank. Machine gunfire from the human positions was completely futile as the Knight pushed aside the destroyed human tank blocking the way. It was met with many human’s puny metal boxes that tried to destroy it with their puny little guns.

The entire detachment was wiped out as tanks from the 3rd Blitzpanzer Division poured in. The Knights greatly outclassed the A1s. The shells fired by the A1s exploded on the Knights armor and did nothing. The Knights could destroy the A1s in a single shot to the front of it. The Stallions with their fast firing 20mm guns quickly overran any human infantry position.

0246 March 28th, 2020 CE

0423 Start 58th, 196 AE

First Army Headquarters

Colonel Donatus despaired at the news. Almost all the bridges on the east and west of the Verona River have been taken. The only reason the central bridges were holding was that the enemy had been held back by Lieutenant Colonel Primis. Military Advisor Caius had finally agreed to blow up the central bridges.

“We should have blown up all of them! What was the Military Advisor thinking!”

1040 March 29th, 2020 CE

0820 Start 29th, 196 AE

Abellinum

There were no further attacks for two days. However, this didn’t mean that they could just pull out. With the bridge blown up behind them, they had nowhere to retreat to. Leonid hoped that the 52nd Infantry Regiment was able to get across and blow the bridge up. There were no magrams in the city so he couldn’t contact them to make sure. Right now, the enemy was right outside the city ready to run them over the moment they saw the chance to. For Leonid, these two days were good rest for his men. This changed on the third day.

0550 March 30th, 2020 CE

0555 Start 30th, 196 AE

In addition to the 1st Blitzpanzer Corp, the 3rd Magipanzer Corps, 9th Infantry Corps, and 15th Infantry Corps were situated right out of Anbellium,

“Lieutenant Colonel Balra, Biphine, and Waesnon, I demand an explanation of why you are all still outside of the city.”

Ara speaks up.

“General Sarxina, human resistance is too stiff.”

“Too stiff?”

“Multiple tanks were lost in trying to breach the defenses of the city. I’m requesting an artillery bombardment of the city and then tanks supported by infantry to go in.”

General of the Panzers Sarxina sighed as he looked at the other two Lieutenant Colonels.

A few minutes later

After talking with the General of the Central Army, General of the Panzers Sarxina returned to them.

“Bombardment will begin within 30 minutes. Then Fortress and Knight tanks will be sent in along with infantry. Once we secure the city, we will reorganize and begin for a push past the river.”

“Yes sir!”

0650 March 30th, 2020 CE

0625 Start 30th, 196 AE

105mm light howitzers and 150mm heavy howitzers lined the grassy plains outside of Anbellium. They were all from the artillery regiments in the infantry and magipanzer corps. An officer beside one of the artillery flipped open his pocket watch.

“FIRE!”

 

Leonid was playing cards inside the tavern with his three captains when he heard a whistling noise.

“...ARTILLERY GET DOWN!”

The men in the tavern all hit the ground. The ground shook as multiple explosions occurred outside. A soldier came rushing in.

“Lieutenant Colonel! We are being bombarded by artillery!”

“It's quite obvious!”

“I’m asking what we should do?!”

“Get in cover! What else?!”

A shell landed nearby, collapsing a part of the tavern.

15 minutes later, silence filled the air as the explosions stopped. A couple of people were coughing from the dust gathered up by the collapse. Leonid got up and dusted himself.

“Is everyone fine?”

“Yes.”

“Minor scratches.”

“I think I broke my leg!”

“Medic!”

Leonid looked left to right at all of his men in the tavern. They looked back at him.

“This is it, men. It’s possible to expect an all-out assault. The main enemy army is probably here. This is where we make our last stand. FOR THE IMPERIUM!”

“FOR THE IMPERIUM!”

Leonid grabbed his officer pistol. He looked at his captains.

“Let’s go. I hope Lars is watching us.”

“He is. Let's show these invaders what it means to mess with us.”’

0720 March 30th, 2020 CE

0640 Start 30th, 196 AE

Fortress tanks with platoons of infantry crowded behind them entered through many of the entrances to the city. The already bombed city was further reduced to rubble by the artillery bombardments. They cleared any building that hadn't been reduced to rubble. The buildings on the outer part of the city were completely vacant. On one of the roads, the Fortress tank was coming up to its first intersection. It stopped and the infantry behind it advanced forward. They had learned from the earlier attempts made by the Blitzpanzer Corps that the humans liked to hide their anti-tank guns where intersections were in order to surprise any tanks that tried to go past. 

An infantryman looks over the corner to see the massive 155mm artillery cannon being operated by multiple humans. It seemed to have survived the earlier bombardment unscratched. The elven infantrymen rushed up and fired upon the artillery crew that was expecting another tank to come through. A firefight ensued as the panicked artillery crew fired back at the elven infantrymen. Elven submachine guns greatly outclassed the rifles that the humans had. Suffering only some casualties, the artillery was neutralized. Behind them, their tank proceeded forward. 

The Fortress rumbled forward as elves behind it followed. All of a sudden, rapid-firing could be heard and the elves behind the tank were struck and killed. It came from one of the closest intact buildings.

“Machine gun in that building!”

The elves peppered the building where the firing came from with their rifles and submachine guns. The Fortress slowly traversed its turret and raised its gun towards the building and destroyed the front portion of it with a high explosive shell. 

“Clear those buildings!”

A platoon commander motioned for his soldiers to spread out and look through the buildings for any possible humans. An elf kicked open a door to one of the buildings and was met with a hailstorm of bullets before dying. The other elves around him stuck to the side of the building to avoid the bullets. The elf closest to the door threw a grenade into the building. Seconds later, an explosion occurred. They rushed into the building to find the blown bits of some humans.

“Clear.”

In another building, an elf looked through the second floor. He opened a door and is met with a knife aimed straight at his throat. 

Hand to hand combat and gunfights ensued throughout the city in many of the buildings. Clearing the city took nearly an entire day. 

0844 March 30th, 2020 CE

0722 Start 30th, 196 AE

Leonid held tight on his pistol as he crouched behind a flipped over table in the room. A couple of other men were with him. Proclus, Aulus, and Agrippa were probably already dead but he would be joining them soon. He heard the door to the building being opened. He looked over the table

“Ready men?”

The soldiers around him nodded. Time seemingly slowed down as footsteps drew near to the door to the room he was in. He saw the doorknob slowly turn.

“Fire!”

Leonid and the soldiers around him shot multiple times at the door before stopping. Leonid saw something being thrown in. The object clinked on the ground.

“Grenade! Get down!”

Leonid ducked behind the table as the grenade exploded. Leonid’s vision shook and his ears rang. Firing broke out as his surviving men tried to kill those that were entering. Leonid once again looked up from his table and started shooting. He felt intense pain on his right arm and fell over. Another grenade went off in the room.

0900 March 30th, 2020 CE

0730 Start 30th, 196 AE

Elven infantry completely occupied the city. All the human defenders had fought to the last man. The General of the Central Army was sitting in his chair resting when a soldier came with a magiradio report. 

“General! The battle is finished! We have cleared the entire city.”

“Good. How did it go?”

“As of right now, we are estimated to have around a couple of hundred casualties.”

“A couple hundred?!”

“Sir, the humans fought to the end. There must have been a regiment sized force defending the city. Some humans might have escaped into the mountains but there shouldn't be much.”

“No matter. Did we receive the reports on how the Western and Eastern Armies are?”

“Yes, sir. We did. They took their side of the bridges less than two days ago. They captured many human soldiers and have disposed of them. The advanced landing grounds have also been set up behind us and are ready.”

“Well, it seems like we are behind. We should arrive at our bridge within two days if things go smoothly. Magiradio them that we are not ready yet.”

“Yes, sir!”

(Six days ago) 1346 March 24th, 2020 CE

Washington D.C.

In the White House, the elven invasion of the Magus had become a rather major problem. President Haye was discussing the current situation with his staff. More information about the elves had come in. He questioned Secretary of State Clifford about her meeting with the Magusian diplomats. 

“What does the diplomat from the Magus have to say?”

“When we questioned them, they said that they didn't know why the elves are invading them.”

“Have they requested our help?”

“None at all. They even said that they were doing fine when I asked if they needed assistance.”

President Haye looked over to Secretary of Defense Roberts.
“Cralson, what information do we have on these elves?”

“The images we have taken of the Elven Continents have confirmed that they are a World War 2 level nation. Their tanks and planes are eerily similar to the ones used by Nazi Germany.”

“Nazi Germany?”

“From the images, we have seen what seems to be Tiger Is and Stukas.”

“Any explanation for that similarity?”

“The only sensible thing that we could come up with is that the technological development of the elves coincidentally went on a similar path as Germany. All other ideas sound straight out of science fiction.”

“We got transported to another world. The science fiction ideas might be plausible at this point. Hell, fantasy is even plausible. These are elves we are talking about.”

“In addition, Mr. President, we did notice a difference between Nazi Germany and the elves. The navy of the elves is much more numerous than that of Nazi Germany. The elves seem to have a lot of World War 2 era aircraft carriers.”

“Makes sense seeing that they are an island nation like Japan.”

“The most concerning part comes from the drones that we sent to observe the battles.”

“What information did we get?”

“The elves are burning entire towns to the ground. They might be massacring humans. Here are some of the photos that were taken from the RQ-170.”

The RQ-170 was a stealth recon drone used by the United States. In order to avoid detection by possible elven radar, stealth was needed for observing the elves. Closing his eyes, the President sighed. 

“We are definitely going to need more units in the Mach. Diplomacy with the elves will be very dangerous. Our best option is to make contact with the elves on the sea and hope they won’t shoot at our ships.”

“Should we even try to make diplomatic contact? They will most likely open fire the moment we get close. They also seem just like the Nazis from our world. These actions are basically crimes against humanity.”

“We need to demand that they stop their actions right now. How about this, we send a carrier strike group to the nearest group of elven ships to try to establish contact. If they do something threatening, we shelve this diplomacy thing. That will give us justification for a war against the elves.”

Something AirsoftAL recommended that I do but I didn't. I still find it funny so I'm writing it down here. This is not an actual part of the novel.

In the White House, the elven invasion of the Magus had become a rather major problem. President Haye was discussing the current situation with his staff. 

"Mr. President, they are invading the Magus!"

"Don't care"

"B..but sir! People are being massacred."

"Meh."

"Sir, they are Nazis!"

<<<"Over there" starts playing">>>

https://youtu.be/nsGB98myVIw Over There Nightcore (Recommended to me by AirsoftAL)

Magus A1 tank

Saint-Chamond (tank) - Wikipedia

Picture From Wikipedia

 

Elven Fortress Tank'

Tiger I - Wikipedia

Picture From Wikipedia

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