Re: Blood and Iron

Chapter 238: Thunder Run



Engines roared, both among the 3.5 ton transport trucks which carried troops, supplies, and field guns. Along with those on board the armored scout cars. Scout cars, which were more or less assembled from an e-10 chassis that had been modified for use with 6x6 large off-road tires.

The initial Spähpanzer, as it was called was modeled on a design from the cold war of Bruno's past life. But as wartime demands increased, and assembly lines were put to their limit, it was revealed that simply modifying the e-10 chassis for a wheeled base was a more efficient use of resources.

The E-10 Standardpanzer, or simply the Panzer 1 as it was known in this life while having been in production for years, had yet to be see service and was instead being reserved for the final days of the war when the German army pushed into Paris.

However, necessity was the mother of innovation, and there was no better time for such a thing in regards to military technology than during an armed conflict. Much to Bruno's surprise engineers employed by his arms corporations came up with a way to make an armored scout car off of the E-10 chassis.

Until now the Light Tank Chassis, which made the foundation of this timeline's tank on the Panzer I housed both a 5cm semi-automatic turret, and a 7.92x57mm Mauser MG-34 machine gun. It was a traditional tank design, albeit with lessons having been learned during the brutal battlefields of the Second World War during Bruno's past life.

And Bruno had made this his basis for the Panzer in this life. If scaled up, it could produce even more powerful tank designs, as well as armored personnel carriers, self-propelled artillery and anti-aircraft, infantry fighting vehicles et cetera. All with the same production lines and resources.

As brilliant as Bruno was, which was compounded by his access to weapons technology from his past life which had occurred nearly a century in the future, he was not beyond his faults. He was, after all still a mortal man. And as a man, he was prone to biases, which were displayed with his initial creation of the Spähpanzer.

Even so, men in his employment who were of near equal brilliance were capable of looking past his biases, and instead producing an equally capable armored car, yet was far more cost productive and less wasteful.

This meant that after months of field testing in the war, the realization that the E-10 chassis could be modified to accept an 8x8 wheeled base, and a 2cm autocannon with limited alterations was a wake-up call to Bruno that sometimes an alternative perspective was needed to understand that just because something had been the best design in his past life, did not mean it was the most suitable design during this new timeline.

Because of this, the armored cars which advanced beyond the transport trucks acting as the spearhead of Bruno's blitzkrieg were a mixture of what Bruno called the Spähpanzer Ausf. A, and Ausf. B models.

Sitting on top of these vehicles were squads of German soldiers who were ready to jump off of their armored escorts and engage in combat at a moment's notice. Tactically speaking, Bruno's version of the "Blitzkrieg" was almost like a mixture of the German Blitzkrieg from his past life, and that of the Soviet Deep Battle doctrine.

And was more inspired by the so called "Thunder Run" into Baghdad during Operation Desert Storm than it was the German march into Paris.

Either way, with the armored vehicles leading the assault, Bruno's 300,000 soldiers swarmed across uncontested Serbian territory quicker than anyone could have anticipated. Meanwhile, the Austro-Hungarian and Russian Armies who were lagging behind acted more than an occupying force, dealing with whatever was left over after the Germans had pushed through Serbia.

The advance was so quick, even Bruno was surprised, let alone his enemies who were sweating bullets as they realized the dust in the distance was not some kind of unnatural sand storm in the Mediterranean but rather the rapid onslaught of the German Army who had caught up much quicker than they expected.

Deciding on doubling down, the Allied commanders insisted on a push into a Greek territory in a desperate gamble to break the lines of the Hellenic Army which had until now held firm. The result of which was unfortunately not as they expected it to be.

Greek soldiers held firm, with Stahlhelms supported by German industry, albeit painted in an appropriate earthly brown to match their uniforms, along with the Hellenic Army's coat of arms emblazoned on its center.

With a mixture of weapons in hands from previous conflicts, and various suppliers, the Greek soldiers desperately held the line, fighting with everything they had to repel the Serbian charge as well as their allies.

Their generals had assured them that so long as they held the border, their allies would soon arrive upon them. But munitions were running low, as were medical supplies and rations.

Yet the spirit of Greece's many legendary heroes stood firm in the wounded, battered, and emaciated soldiers' hearts as they conserved their shots by only firing when they knew their aim would strike true into the vitals of their enemies.

If Emperor Constantine XI could choose to die with his Empire, if Leonidas could choose to die with his men rather than submit to the Persians. Then why could each and every one of these soldiers not die here today, bringing down as many of their enemies with them? There were no circumstances where the line would not be held by these lions among men, by these descendants of legendary kings and mythical heroes. Especially when they knew help was on the way. The only way these defenses would falter was if there was not a single breath still being held among the men within them.

Machine guns chugged, rifles thundered, artillery raged on both sides. Men fell by the wayside, their blood and intestines hewn the otherwise beautiful landscape. And yet not a single order to retreat was given by the Greek Generals.

Surrounded, outnumbered, and stretched thin, the Hellenic Army continued to fight, continued to resist and bite of an enemy force over 5x their number. Losses were heavy on both sides, but far more for the allies who were relying on poorly trained conscripts armed with obsolete weapons and non standardized munitions.

When one man fell, a Serbian Conscript would pick up his weapon and use it himself, assuming he had run out of ammo himself. And that was also if he had not been shot by Greek rifle or machine gun fire during his charge.

A scent of blood, gunpowder, and smoke filled the air in the most gruesome and sickening way imaginable. As the screams of the wounded blended with the sounds of gunfire and artillery. Despite their repeated charges, it was the allies whose morale broke first. Especially after the dust began to form in the distance. Which was first presumed to be a storm of unnatural origin, but then the appearance of armored vehicles, and the men sitting upon their steel hulls became apparent.

And when that happened the Allies knew they had been caught between the heroic Greek Defenders, and the advance of an unspeakable evil, one so great even Hades would look away at the malevolent force of nature which was about to sweep over them.

Before the Allies could even surrender, the 20mm auto cannons opened fire as the armored cars came to a halt. Allowing the men on the backs of each to deploy into prone positions with their machine guns and semi-automatic rifles.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

The armored cars acted as shields for the transport trucks behind them, which allowed platoons worth of German soldiers to deploy from their rears.

More and more firepower was brought to bear on the Allied forces, as they struggled to both deal with the newly rallied Greeks in front of the, many of which waves makeshift banners of Saint Constantine's cross, while others flew the colours of Greece herself.

However, even the Greek defenders were surprised, when a man wearing the uniform of a German General stepped forward, waving a black banner, with a white Chi Rho, symbolizing his unity with the Greek Soldiers, shouting to his troops a command that would seal the fate of the allied forces within the Balkans.

"Do not stop firing until every last allied soldier lies dead! Only when our enemy has been obliterated can we unite with our Greek brothers in arms and drive the Turkish Menace from the lands of Europe and Christendom once and for all. In the coming year of 1915, Saint Constantine's Holy City shall be returned to its rightful rulers!"

Bruno had decided to fully radicalize his troops into obliterating the enemy, seizing what remained of Serbia, while his splinter forces took Montenegro, before working with Greek forces to advance into Constantinople and in doing so drive the Turks out of Europe once and

for all.

The campaign in the Balkans would only end once the allies in the region capitulated, and Greece regained control over its historical territory. There was no other solution now that Bruno had decided to embark on this path.