Re: Blood and Iron

From the northernmost tip where Belgium and France met, to the most southern end where France aligned with German, a singular push began from all ends. In what could easily be considered the largest military offensive in human history, millions of Germans, Austro-Hungarian, and Russian troops rushed over the wire and to the positions here France had tried their best to invade their enemies’ lands from over the course of the last two years.

This overwhelming volume of infantry larger equipped with Federov Avtomat battle rifles, and mg-34 general purpose machine guns were supported by large-scale artillery operations conducted by 75mm, 105mm, 152mm, 172mm, and 211mm variants which proceeded their attacks.

At critical areas, these infantry charges were shielded by thousands of armored cars, halftracks, and light tanks. With the two combined armed armies pushing though from Luxembourg and Ypres,

The hopes were that these armies would simultaneously strike at Paris from the north and the east and combine together to form a perimeter where they would maintain a siege over the French capital until further reinforcements arrived to seize it, and in doing so hopefully end the war immediately.

Typically, throughout history, a war ended when a belligerent nation’s capital was seized by its enemy. And the reason for this was self-explanatory. If one’s political center was captured and their leaders with it, it was very easy to force them to surrender.

Exceptions to this general rule of thumb in the history of warfare were rare but generally pertained to incidents where a nation’s governing body escaped the capture of its capital in a sufficient enough capacity to command forces while in exile.

Perhaps in anticipation of such an event, Bruno had used his influence to task the combined naval might of the Central Powers and the nations within it to impose a blockade over all ports of the French mainland the moment the armistice with Great Britain had been declared.

Months had passed, strangling the trade between France and the rest of the world, as its only neighbors being Spain and Italy were either under direct treaty not to provide aid to France, or were heavily pressured by the nations of the Central Powers to do so.

This, of course, crippled France in many ways as the months passed in anticipation of this offensive. The lack of raw materials necessary for producing weapons, munitions, and just about everything that was critical to the war effort became apparent quite quickly.

As did fuel shortages for maintaining France’s energy grid, following this were the fields of medicine and agriculture. To put it simply, by the beginning of the Autumn Offensive of 1916, France’s economy had been strangled into submission, despite the government’s refusal to surrender.

And this had only compounded revolutionary activity across the countryside as bands of political extremists of all sides, brigands, and deserters wreaked havoc within the war torn nation.

Lawlessness prevailed, and whatever hopes the French had in throwing bodies at the wave of steel coming over their border in the east, broke when the desertion crisis outweighed the number of new conscripts 3:1.

Especially as the violence engulfed the French front lines, killing or capturing hundreds of thousands of starving, and disease riddled French soldiers who were aghast to find their comrades who had been imprisoned for the last two years in German POW camps being treated as if they were on a vacation.

From proper housing with central heating, fresh rations, and routine access to luxuries such as swimming pools, and medica care, the French Pows had been given first class treatment not only as a strategic move to ensure no additional hatred was fostered to Germany during their confinement.

But also to break whatever will of defiance the French Army had left as they realized that Germany as a nation was so economically unphased by the war, that they could provide better treatment to their POWs than even the wealthiest of Frenchman could currently buy for themselves.

Charles de Gaulle could barely believe his eyes after being processed, cleaned, and given a nice hot meal, as he saw the men he had fought beside in the past, currently chatting up with the German guards, and smoking cigarettes with them while talking about the ongoing state of the war as if neither were enemies, but rather friends,

He had personally fought so hard to escape this exact prison camp, and in doing so had returned to the front lines to suffer for so long expecting violent reprisals to have taken place because of his actions, this anger towards the Germans who he believed executed his former comrades as retaliation had fueled him to continue the war even when there was obviously no sign of victory.

But those very men were still alive, well fed, and groomed, chatting in German with the prisoner of war camp’s guards as if they were not soldiers of the Republic captured by a hated enemy, but were instead members of the German Army themselves!

A look of pity appeared in the French POWs eyes as he looked over at the newest recruits and shook his head while sharing a cigarette with the German guard, speaking in perfect German which he had been encouraged to learn over the last two years, and had even been given lessons in by his captors.

“It’s a pity, isn’t it… The state of the latest crop of POWs has deteriorated even worse than the last batch… I fear for what is happening in my homeland if our soldiers are disheveled and emaciated to such a degree….

How many of my people have starved to death? How many have been killed for a loaf of bread? All because our politicians can never forget what happened in Versailles all those years ago… I pray to God that when I return home, there is still a home to be had…”

The German guard who wore a hat with the cockade of Bavaria finished off the cigarette before reaching into his coat pocket and pulling out a rosary, handing it to the French Prisoner, as if to help the man with his prayers.

“The rosaries they provide to prisoners here are of subpar quality in my opinion. I know it’s not the intent of our superiors, but such materials are needed for the war effort, so they genuinely make do with whatever scrap remains behind.

Take this, it was given to me by my mother when I was conscripted into the army. Luckily for me, I was sent to Feldgendarmerie, so it would appear you need this more than I do. I will keep your family in my prayers, and I hope they are well and safe once all this madness is over….

The French POW was thankful to the guard who had given him such a valuable gift and was quick to show his appreciation with a proper handshake.

“You’re a good man, Hans, and I will remember the kindness you have all shown me here during my stay… I’m sure when the time comes for us all to return home, we will do our best to rebuild and correct any falsehoods our people may have of our neighbors to the east. Now I think I am going to go to the chapel and say my prayers… Have a good rest of your shift!”

With this said, both men quickly and cordially went their separate ways, but not before giving a respectful salute to one another. Though Charles who had witnessed the whole thing had no idea what was said between them, he had seen the friendliness in their mannerisms and the gift exchanged between them.

This made him bitter and resentful. At himself, at his comrades, at his commanders, at the republic, at Germany and its people. How could any of this have happened? For even French soldiers to treat the German soldiers this way? What next? Were they going to throw a parade when the Germans marched into Paris?

Perhaps these men would let the German invaders fuck their wives and daughters as well? Maybe even clean up afterward! What kind of sick joke was this? Germany had treated its prisoners of war well beyond what they were required to by international convention, and it was for two primary purposes.

Firstly, it was to break the will of the French army’s resolve to fight, as previously mentioned, and second, it was to help ensure a potential second world war did not occur in this timeline by having French POWs return home and counter any propaganda made against Germany and the Central Powers for their victory in this Great War.

But whether or not either of those things happened had yet to be seen. At the very least, the French POWs who had been under German captivity up until this point were extremely thankful for the way they had been treated. Find more chapters on My Virtual Library Empire

And this could either be the start of a new era of peace, or a catalyst for one of strife. As Soldiers like Charles de Gaulle could potentially see them as traitors during the interwar period and let their petty jealousy and bitterness drive them to a position of civil war.

For now, the Autumn Offensive had been started with a massive scale of violence, bloodshed, and death that history had yet to really see up to this point.