Re: Blood and Iron

Paris, Élysée Palace

Charles de Gaulle stood rigid, shoulders squared and chin lifted in defiance, as he stared at the sprawling map pinned to the wall of his war room.

Pins and colored strings radiated outward from Paris, crisscrossing Europe, Africa, and stretching as far as Southeast Asia.

Red markers clustered thickly around Catalonia and the Basque Country in Spain, a web of insurgency and revolution rapidly spiraling out of Madrid’s control.

To his right stood General Giraud, stiff and proper in his uniform, fingers tapping restlessly on a table cluttered with dossiers and blueprints.

On his left, Prime Minister Léon Blum shifted uneasily, clearly uncomfortable amid the stark military urgency.

“Our agents confirm the Spanish army struggles to maintain loyalty,” Giraud reported. “Many officers lean republican, and our agents in Catalonia and Navarre have begun funneling arms to the revolutionaries. The unrest escalates by the hour.”

De Gaulle nodded grimly, his eyes tracing the line of the Pyrenees.

“They must be given enough arms to fight effectively but remain dependent upon us. If we flood them now, they might feel emboldened enough to act independently.”

Giraud slid a dossier across the table.

“Here are the latest reports on German equipment seen in Catalonia. Advanced automatic carbines, chemical agents of unprecedented lethality, and tanks of a new design…”

His words lingered for a moment, clearly hestitant to announce the details until de Gaulle glared at him.

“They are calling the new model the Panzer I Ausf C. In essence it is the same design we saw in the Great War, but improved with new armor of an unknown alloy, and a larger 75mm main gun.”

De Gaulle sighed and shook his head upon hearing this. All the while another officer intervened with more information.

“We suspect the ammo has been improved for increased lethality against enemy armor as well due to the tanks we have sent being reduced to scrap with a single shot at their thickest plate.”

He too choked on his words before finally forcing them out.

“To put it simply, with these light tanks in support of the Medium Tank model, we have heard rumors of dating back to the early 1920s in full service. Our armor is yet sufficient to deal with that the Germans are fielding.”

De Gaulle took the file, flipping slowly through grainy reconnaissance photographs of angular German armored vehicles, rows of masked paramilitary troops, and sleek fighters with unmistakably German profiles.

“We can no longer pretend otherwise,” De Gaulle said quietly, voice hardening. “The Germans have outpaced us in nearly every aspect of war. If we do not bridge this gap, Paris itself will face these steel beasts in the near future.”

Blum leaned forward, anxiety evident in his voice. “Our alliance with Britain and America is the only solution. Alone, our industry can scarcely produce rifles, let alone these mechanical horrors. The Civil war sent our industrial economy back fifty years.”

“Agreed,” De Gaulle replied, eyes still locked onto the photograph of a German E-25, its sloped armor gleaming menacingly. “We must pool our resources now, combine our engineers, and build a response worthy of challenging these vehicles on equal ground.”

Our joint Anglo-French-American design team has completed preliminary trials of the new AMC-32. A tank directly inspired by hard lessons gleaned from recent intelligence on German armor.”

He traced a finger thoughtfully along the sharply angled hull on the drawing.

“Its sloped armor and enlarged 75 mm main gun represent our best effort to counter the threat posed by Germany’s E-series tanks. Admittedly, it remains crude compared to what Berlin fields today, but combat evaluations in Spain will show us precisely which refinements are necessary to close the gap.”

De Gaulle’s eyes brightened slightly at the mention. “And the fighters?”

“We’ve rushed the Arsenal VG-33 into limited production and started field testing with British and American engines to achieve parity with the German Bf 109 variants. It is a desperate move, but it is essential.”

Blum shook his head gravely. “Desperation indeed. Yet Spain is our crucible, and if we fail there, we invite disaster upon France herself.”

De Gaulle straightened, his posture becoming even more rigid.

“Spain will either be the forge where our new military doctrine and hardware prove their worth, or it will be our tombstone. The future of our alliance and the survival of our republic depend on this gamble.”

Giraud nodded solemnly.

“Our shipments to the anarchists in Barcelona continue tonight, hidden among grain and medicine. They’ll test our new rifles, our grenades, our first tentative armored vehicles, and we shall learn from their successes or their destruction.”

De Gaulle glanced once more at the map, eyes lingering on the clusters of pins and the looming specter of German might.

His jaw tightened, lines deepening as he traced a finger slowly across Catalonia and Navarre.

“Speaking of tests,” he said, voice cold and deliberate, “what truth is there to these reports of the Werwolf Brigade operating among the Nationalist paramilitaries?”

A tense silence fell over the room. Generals exchanged uneasy glances, each hesitant to speak first. Finally, General Giraud stepped forward cautiously.

“Our sources are… credible, General,” he began. “Our proxies claim their units are being hunted at night by soldiers with distinctly German weapons. As I mentioned before they tend to utilize advanced automatic carbines, and a disturbingly lethal chemical agent.”

De Gaulle narrowed his gaze. “Chemical agents? Are we certain of this?”

Giraud nodded grimly. “Medical examiners found no bullet wounds, no knife marks. Just corpses frozen in agony, their lungs scorched from the inside out. If this is true—”

“If it’s true,” de Gaulle interrupted sharply, “then Berlin is testing more than armor. They’re demonstrating what they’re willing to unleash against us.”

His gaze swept across the assembled officers, heavy with unspoken warning.

“Gentlemen, we must not merely test our machines. We must steel ourselves for a war unlike any we’ve faced. If we falter now, Germany will not give us a second chance to rise.”