Re: Blood and Iron

Albanian guerillas were smoking a cigarette while gazing upon the lands just east of them. These were Serbian lands, a nation that had come under occupation by the Austro-Hungarian Empire and was in the process of being fully annexed.

They had yet to hear of the Kaiser's declaration. How could they? These were a few men near the border with some old rifles. Radios, telegraphs? Modern communications equipment? They hadn't the slightest idea what those were, or how to use them.

Instead, they joked about the violence that had begun in the Balkans, violence which they were at least partially to blame for its escalation. These men had no idea that the German invasion had already begun.

While their coasts were bombarded by the Hellenic and Austro-Hungarian navies, the Germans had begun to march through the west. Albania, being a heavily mountainous region, thought nothing of this. Their natural landscape had been given to them by Allah to protect against the infidels.

Or so these men thought, but when the armored vehicles of the German 8th Army began to push forward through the mountain pass, and the roar of their engine's echoes throughout the ravines in between the granite spires, it was almost as if the end of times were upon them.

The Albanian Guerillas quickly ceased their recreational smoking, and their banter, instead, loading their rifles as they shouted at one another in their local tongue.

"Something is coming up the hill! Be prepared to engage!"

Something was indeed coming up the hill, and it was not anything these men could have ever expected. The Panzer I in this life was a Light Tank designed after the lessons learned from the Great War, the Interwar Period, and the entirety of the Second World War in Bruno's past life.

It was relatively lightweight, agile, but still packed an impressive punch, while also having armor designed to protect it from much greater firepower than these mountain guerillas were capable of bearing.

On top of all of this, it was equipped with its own radio systems, allowing it to maintain communications with the chain of command. To say that such a thing was never before seen by these goat herders armed with bolt action rifles that had been obsolete for more than 20 years was an understatement of the lifetime.

When a 25 ton steel machine of war comes barreling down at speeds greater than your fastest steed and begins aiming its main gun upon your location. That is indeed what one might call a moment worthy of soiling their pants.

But when ten of these same vehicles, and another thirty armored cars of a similar design, are right behind it, there is only one natural response a man should have. And that is to run away… But were the Germans willing to let these men run away?

No, the crackle of guns filled the air the moment they spotted the tanks coming up the hill. 150mm howitzers began to bombard their position from below. While the tanks and armored cars shifted their turrets upon the Guerillas who were running and screaming as if the devil himself was after their asses.

The leader in charge of this ragtag group of militants shouted fiercely at his men to try and hold their ground. After all, they were supposed to be protecting the border, and yet… They had begun to run for the hills as soon as they made contact with the enemy.

Fearlessly trying to rally his troops, the leader fired his rifle at the hull of the nearest tank, which did not even manage to scratch the paint job, let alone damage it. Thinking that at first perhaps he was merely seeing things, the guerilla tried to chamber another round, when the Panzer spotted him hiding behind the border fortifications.

The turret aimed down the barrel of its 50mm tank gun and fired a shot directly at the man. Turning him into a pile of meat paste, while also thoroughly destroying the trench he was standing in. When his men saw this, any of them who still had ideas of standing and resisting broke ranks and fled.

All the while, the 20mm auto-cannons on board the Spähpanzer, as well as the coaxially mounted 7.92x57mm mg-34 machine guns, began to spray the guerillas down from behind. Those who were not killed outright by the 20mm high explosives rounds, were either taken out by the artillery barrage which cut off their escape route, or by the machine guns.

Either way, there would be no survivors to tell the tale of what happened here on this day, nor would there be in any of the other areas which the German Army advanced through, using armored battalions such as these to lead the way.

The German army had begun its march to the shore, and they had done so exactly as the Kaiser promised, with the swiftness and the power of the haven's fury. And the Germans knew exactly who to hit, and where they were hiding, thanks to aerial reconnaissance.

Thus, Bruno sat in the rear of his massive invasion force, listening to radio chatter, and observing the ongoing front with his binoculars, as he commented to his friends about how lucky they were to witness combined arms warfare for the first time in military history.

"Gentlemen, today you witness what happens, when an armed force completely in command of the air, and equipped with modern armored vehicles, goes against a force armed solely with machine guns, bolt action rifles, and artillery. There is simply no hope for the Albanians to emerge victorious, no matter how much they may wish to do so.

Ultimately, at the end of the day, what wins wars is neither superstitions nor religious fervor, but the power of guns and steel. And we just so happened to come to these lands with ample amounts of both.

So, how about we enjoy ourselves? Because whether it is here in the Balkans, or outside the gates of Constantinople, or perhaps even on the Western Front marching to Paris. There is no force in this world currently capable of contending with the might of the German Reich. It is the dawn of a new era, and we shall be the ones leading it!"