Re: Blood and Iron

The war at the Italian border continued to push in the favor of the central powers. All the while fights were being had on the western front as the allies began attacking positions other than the border with Germany shared with the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.

Elsass-Lothringen seeing the first major action since the initial outbreak of the war was hit hard and fast by allied armor. All the while Southern Belgium came under a similar onslaught. But the defenses were solid, in the case of the German fortifications they had spent practically a decade reinforcing their lines of defense. Discover stories at empire

While the Belgians had been undergoing an extensive process over the course of the last year. Even so, after two years of repeated Allied charges, the most terrifying aspect of the German defenses, the S-Mines embedded within no-man's-land had become close to depleted.

Bodies after bodies had activated these mines over the course of the last two years, and by now it was a far more rare occurrence for the explosive fondly nicknamed the "bouncing betty" by Americans during Bruno's past life to actually propel itself into the air and detonate when the French and British launched an assault

Even so, it was not so rare that it was entirely unheard of. Thousands, if not tens of thousands of mines, were still dug beneath the soil of every ten kilometers worth of borderlands. And because of this, Allied forces who were what one might call willing participants of a charge were few and far between.

Perhaps it was naivety, on the part of the Allies, or maybe overconfidence. But when their troops became too frightened to advance among the repeated detonations of anti-personnel minds the commander in charge of the Army advanced towards Elsass-Lothringen gave the order to move forward with tanks.

A strategy, which while good on paper, failed to take into account one critical piece of information that the allies were missing. And that was the fact that the Germans had long since prepared for such an eventuality when building their defenses.

Especially over the course of the last year, when the introduction of allied armored vehicles became a very real concern to counter. Because of this, as the Mk II tanks advanced over the landmine and barbed wire riddled no-man's-land they encountered an undesirable surprise waiting in store for them.

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A gunner aimed down the sights of the PaK 38 Anti-tank gun. The loader had already made sure that a fresh 5cm Panzergranate 39 shell was loaded in the chamber, when the roar of the allied tank's engines became apparent.

The efficiency of German production lines truly shocked Bruno, as his arms corporations had produced more barrels for 5cm anti-tank guns than he had tank chassis to strap them on.

As a result, he had ensured that the German fortifications on the western front were well equipped with the wheeled variant of the weapon that was more of a static weapon emplacement than the version mounted as the primary weapon on his Panzer Is.

And this gun was one of many within the border of Elsass-Lothringen. Which was perhaps overly fortified as a giant middle finger to the French. Yet as the gunner took aim at the oncoming tanks, without the slightest dread or anxiety on his face, he noticed something exceptional happen.

The first tank to cross over the boundaries of the minefield that lied between the borders of Germany and France immediately self destructed. Causing mass panic among the lines of French tanks. Not that any of them had radios within their vehicles and were thus not able to effectively communicate with one another.

In fact, it was not only the tanks that were panicking as they continued to randomly combust as they pushed forward as a column, but the infantry behind them as well. Why were their tanks suddenly exploding when not a single shell appeared to impact upon their armored plating?

The answer to this was truly sinister. Because beneath the surface of the earth, buried along with the many S-Mines that the myriad of infantry had already triggered were also as many anti-tank mines of the Teller mine 43 variety.

You see an anti-tank mine needed a certain poundage of pressure to activate, one which a mere man could not detonate by his lonesome. And the Allied soldiers who had marched through tens of thousands of S-Mines, using their lives to clear them in the process, had also unwittingly stepped on these anti-tank mines.

Which were simply waiting day after day, week after week, month after month, and year after year for something extremely heavy like an Allied Tank to step on them. And when they did. *Boom* It was a rather terrifying thing for the allied troops to witness, as they thought that these armored vehicles would be the shield of their advance.

Only for them to suddenly explode, the shrapnel and cookoff of rounds causing far more damage to the infantry behind them than the enemy was capable of doing. Not to say that the German defenders had not done substantial damage on their own.

The introduction of the 7.92x57mm Fedorov Avtomat Rifle, and the extensive amount of lead it was able to send down range had most definitely enhanced the capabilities of the German Infantry and the degree of bodies they could stack with it.

At the same time, the PaK 38s embedded in the trenches began to understand what was happening, and opened fire among the chaos. Their armor piercing 50mm shells flying down range, and penetrating the thin riveted steel hulls of the Allied Mk II tanks, exploding only after they had entered the vehicle's interior, and killing the crew in the process.

They also managed to ignite the fuel and ammunition contained within the tanks, prompting them to explode horrifically as they did so. The most unlucky of Mk II saw their turrets fly sky high into the air, as if one were tossing a frisbee to God in heaven above.

Needless to say, as the battle waged on, Germany continued to hold Elsass-Lothringen with little challenge to their rightful claim over the region. And as the French tried desperately to fight for their own misguided ambitions, thousands of their men died for what ultimately resulted in a horrific tactical defeat.