A murder of crows gathered at the heaps of bodies that had been dumped into pits. There were no signs of the enemy anywhere and the morning sun finally shone over and thawed the frost. All of the soldiers were now divided up into small corps and given special capsules that they swallowed. Then the command from headquarters came and it was time to carry out Operation Blue.
Erich had ordered his formation to be shaped like a spearhead with the strongest and fastest troops in the front. He ordered all of the people who knew how to wield loxes to line up and fire barrages of lox-infused attacks at the enemy. What he wanted to happen was to have a constant bombardment of the enemy line to force them into a defensive position. The front head of the spear would then pierce through a small gap in the enemy defenses and then break off into two divisions to completely encircle the enemy from behind.
The main army began marching towards enemy positions and that's when gunfire began but it was quickly stopped by the barrages of loxes and artillery that rained down upon them. The spearhead pierced through enemy defenses and continued marching while pressing the enemy from the side. Erich now ordered the artillery and lox users to move up and into the gap that had been created by the spearhead. He then ordered for it to rain down onto the defending forces. The smaller divisions that were once untrained and fearful charged without the fear of death to meet up with the split-up spearhead. And before they knew it they had completely surrounded two major divisions. For eight brutal days the enemy tried to break through the defensive positions they held while sieging the two divisions. But eventually one of them surrendered and 30 000 prisoners of war were taken.
"Generalleutnant!" Steiner called out while saluting.
"What is it, Lieutenant Steiner?"
"The enemy is flooding the frontline with civilians!"
"What?!"
Erich picked up a pair of binoculars and looked out into the horizon, seeing thousands of civilians running across the battlefield. Women and children were stumbling as artillery rained down upon them.
"Motherfuckers," Erich threw his binoculars onto the floor and stomped off.
He ordered the soldiers to not open fire onto the civilians who were running for their lives towards them. But then as a man from the other side reached one of the revolutionaries he begged them to save him. But before they could understand what he wanted to be saved from, a loud explosion could be heard. All of the generals immediately looked towards Erich who had to make a swift decision.
He held up his hand but hesitated for a split moment as he was looking at a small kid running towards him. His face contorted and he gritted his teeth and raised his arm.
"OPEN FIRE!"
Thousands of explosions could be heard across the field as the bombs strapped to the people detonated.
"Those fucking inhumane bastards." Erich punched the wall of his bunker and flipped over his table in utter rage.
Those were the same people he had sworn to free from the regime. He collapsed down in a corner and took out his half-drunk bottle of alcohol and finished it in one gulp. He then threw the bottle against the wall, shattering it into pieces.
That day he ordered for the complete annihilation of the enemy they were putting under siege. And under an hour they had been completely wiped out, this time only capturing 200 POWs. Without a break he ordered for the next offensive and this time into the capital of Wien where the regime was.
His generals were heavily against the idea of an immediate attack on the capital. The soldiers were completely exhausted from days of battling and they needed more supplies to continue towards the capital. They instead recommended the capture of two minor towns that were known for agriculture, wanting to wait until spring rolled around for them to begin their offensive again.
Erich slowly rose up from his seat and with a loud bang slammed down onto the table with his fists.
"DID YOU NOT SEE WHAT THEY DID TO OUR PEOPLE? THE ATROCITIES THEY ARE WILLING TO COMMIT JUST TO SLOW US DOWN? WE CAN'T LET THE PEOPLE OF WIEN CONTINUE BEING USED AS MEAT SHIELDS! WE MARCH TOWARDS WIEN!"
The generals stayed quiet and held their heads low.
"You all are disgraceful, abandoning the people you swore to defend. Steiner, Felix, Selina, everyone else dismissed."
All of them with their hands behind their backs walked out of the bunker with the sole exception of those three.
"How far can we march until we run out of supplies?" Erich asked, rubbing his red hands on his desk.
"Approximately 42 days, Generalleutnant."
Spring was still two months away.
"How long will it take to reach Wien with enemy resistance?"
"Three months, sir."
Erich slowly put down his glasses onto his table and put his hands over his face.
"People are dying…"
"Steiner."
"Yes, sir."
"Felix?"
"Yes, Generalleutnant."
"Selina."
"At your service, Erich von Stapel."
"Do you trust my judgment?"
All three of them unanimously said that they were willing to accept any order given.
"We will make four divisions. Three main ones, just like last time we will have a spearhead led by me. Steiner and Felix, you will capture the supply towns and ensure we can fully march towards Wien without any delay. Selina, you will be commanding your army in the back as a secondary spearhead."
He drew up four arrows on the map. They had fully conquered the city of Eishenberg and drew two arrows towards one town southwest of Wien and to the southeast. He then drew a big red arrow towards the capital with a smaller secondary arrow below. After securing the two towns, Steiner and Felix would regroup with Selina's group south of Erich von Stapel's army, where they would unite with the main army to prepare the final offensive on the capital.