The Invasion (WW2 RP/IC)

[Marsisian]

June 6th, 1944
Omaha Beach
Norman Coast
4 minutes before landings

Brigadefuhrer Breitner was inspecting the brigade's tanks to make sure they would be on standby in case of an Allied invasion, which he knew was on the way. There had been immense buildup on the other side of the Channel and he wasn't sure where the landings would come, as was the entire High Command above him. The tanks he was looking at were not actually German. The tanks assigned to him by the Wehrmacht were taken away to the Italian Campaign and only a small number of Heer tanks remained.

What Breitner was looking at was a bunch of captured IS-2s from the Russian front with Balkenkreuz markings on them and across the tank grounds he saw the same thing with other Allied tanks. Going back to his room, Franz was saddened that the war was going horribly for Germany in the east. But he resolved to keep fighting on if that was what his superiors told him to do.

The Brigadefuhrer went to go look for Oberfuhrer Senft. However, he heard a deafening artillery barrage from the ships that thankfully largely missed and quickly ran inside the casemates. My God, there's an entire goddamned invasion force here! He went back outside and screamed. "Everybody, battle stations!! Get to your posts, stop this invasion in the name of your Reich!"

[Democratic Peoples republic of Kelvinsi]

June 6th 1944
Omaha Beach
Norman Coast
3 minutes before landings

Feldwebel Kleugensturg liked the new tank destroyer he was issued it had plenty of punch with its massive 8.8 cm Pak 43. The gun is more than enough to penetrate any allied armor including the Soviet IS-2, and will demolish any tin buckets that the Americans can field. The vehicle also was very fast for a vehicle carrying such a massive gun, and reasonably reliable. His tank destroyer was on of the few German vehicles on the beach. Kluegensturg did not like the fact that the jagdpanther has not been tested in combat util now making him the guinea pig.

His crew was arguably one of the finest on the beach. All men in the vehicle fought in the Soviet Union, and his crew was one of the first to finish their jagdpanther training. Normandy was quiet, and he got a terrible hangover last week from drinking two much French wine. He was bedridden for 3 days straight, and that caused him to forswear alcohol.

All was quiet until a deafening artillery barrage was heard. Fortunately his tank was far enough away from the beach to not be hit. Then he saw the invasion force over the horizion. "Come move out we are going to knock out any Yankee tank that is foolish enough to land on the beach" Then with a moan the jagdpanther was off.

[Australian Antarctica]

June 6th, 1944
Omaha Beach
Norman Coast
2 minutes before landings
Unterfeldwebel Dietrich Gerst had been sound asleep when he'd heard the orders to assume battlestations. Grunting he stood up and picked up his MG42, slung his rifle over his shoulder, holstered his C96, and ran to the bunkers. He stopped for a moment to nod at the crew manning a Flak. 88 before he resumed his mad dash into the concrete defensive position. With almost robotic precision ,he mounted the gun and watched as the first specks over the horizon became visible. When Dietrich had first woken up, he'd assumed it was another false alarm. Now he realized this was the real thing, and he would do anything to survive. He'd already watched his entire unit die twice, he wasn't going to have that happen a third time. If the dumbass officers were actually smart, they would have given the defenders far more troops. Hell, even a small attack would probably destroy them. Not to mention the large invasion that was clearly going to hit. Gerst counted almost 100, or so it seemed, headed straight for his position. He sighted in in the first craft, put his finger on the trigger, and waited to release his onslaught of lead on the invaders.

[New Tuva SSR]

June 6th 1944
Omaha Beach
Norman Coast
1 minute before landings

Oberfuhrer Senft is preparing watching some soldiers prepare and load an MG42 when he heard a loud noise overhead.He runs,looking for the Brigadefuhrer,when he looks out into the vast ocean.He sees a staggering amount of landing craft and directs the MG42 gunners to fire.He grabs his MP40,and can only watch as the ships near the beach.He runs over to the Brigadefuhrer,who is yelling orders.

[Empire of Donner land]

June 6th 1944
Omaha Beach
Norman Coast
3 minutes before landings

The young medic was going around the wounded in the makeshift medical base. Any and all wounded soldiers that were here, either by being wounded or being sick. Or even faking being. Were sent here. As he knelt over a wounded officer who was missing his lower half arm with only a stub of what was left and tried to feed the man water. As he was doing this he heard explosions in the distance and the ground shook. Instinctively he covered the patient in order to save him from any debris. 'There was no artillery training scheduled' he thought 'Oh, Shit' he then thought a second later.


He jumped up and ran outside the makeshift tent with the wounded inside and hitched a ride on a truck that was going towards the beach.

[Tracian Empire]

June 6th 1944
Omaha Beach
Norman Coast
1 minute before landings

Seeing the enemies and hearing the shouts of the Brigadeführer, Obersturmbannführer Julius von Hyre ordered the men und er bis command to be ready, mounting more machine guns. This was certainly the expected landing, but it wasn't in Calais, it was here. The Oberkommando was fooled so easily.

After his men were in position, Julius jumped in a trench. The battle was beginning.

[Marsisian]

Omaha Beach
Normandy Landings

As the landing craft came to a stop, the machine-gunners and Flak cannons were all trained on the craft's doors. Finally, they opened and massive amounts of lead were thrown at the American soldiers, massacring dozens in seconds. Entire platoons were killed on the beaches. Surprisingly, there were no tanks on the beach to support the infantry. But the Americans just kept coming and coming like there were thousands of them in the landing craft.

Finally, he found Oberfuhrer Senft, inside a machine gun bunker. Covering his ears because of the sound, Breitner tried to talk to Senft. "Oberfuhrer, we cannot hold this position for long! The Allies will overwhelm us eventually! Get Oberst Rosencrantz and the Obersturmbannfuhrers over to the barracks a couple of miles inland so we can talk strategy! Got it, Senft?"

[Einsiev]

June 6th, 1944
Omaha Beach

Obersturmbannfüher Schäfer peered out of his trench at the mass of Allied forces pouring in. 'So many landing crafts. God, this will be total chaos.' He thought to himself. He climbed from his trench, listening to the distant pops of MG fire. Gerd ran to three soldiers sitting by a Poplar tree and screamed for them to get in the trench. "Los geh! Auf!" He yelled. Gerd jogged to an adjacent trench where another Obersturmbannfüher, Julius was. Covering his head from stray rounds that could fly his way. "Julius, if we end up having to retreat, take all your men in this trench back to the farmhouse past the hedgerow over there!" Gerd yelled while pointing to a hedgerow about fifty yards behind them.

[New Tuva SSR]

Hilbert ran back into the bunker when an artillery shell came his way. He sees the Brigadefuhrer running towards him and listens to his directions, to get Obersturmbannfuhrers to lead a few miles inland. He runs to Oberst Rosencrantz and tells him to get his men so that they can develop a plan.

"Rosencrantz! I want you and the other Obersturmbannfuhrers to come with the Brigadefuhrer and I inland so we can discuss some strategy to fight off the invasion. Let's go!"

Hilbert calls for a Kubelwagen,and as he is waiting a bullet flies by his head. He realises he is out in the open and dashes behind a rock. He grabs his MP40 and begins to fire at the troops, while waiting for the Kubelwagen to come.

[Democratic Peoples republic of Kelvinsi]

Omaha Beach
Normandy Landings
As the Feldwebel saw the invasion fleet he was disappointed. There was not a single tank among the Americans, but no matter the infantry will make good targets as well. He told his gunner to fire the already pre loaded HE shell at a landing craft nearest to the jagdpanther. The gunner gladly complied, and shot the shell straight at the Americans. The shell found its mark well, and soon any men on the craft were either dead and/or dismembered.

"Reload!" Kleugensturg cried to his loader "HE! Fire at that landing craft straight ahead of us with the numbers 84!" The gunner quickly aimed the gun again, and after the loader finished loading he fired again. The shell fell well short of the intended target, and hit a group of Americans exiting it making there way up the beach. The one survivor suddenly turned, and saw all his buddies dead. "Keep up the fire, landing craft on the left! Load HE!" No matter how many he seemed to kill there always appeared to be more.

[Tracian Empire]

June 6th, 1944
Omaha Beach

Obersturmbannfüher Schäfer peered out of his trench at the mass of Allied forces pouring in. 'So many landing crafts. God, this will be total chaos.' He thought to himself. He climbed from his trench, listening to the distant pops of MG fire. Gerd ran to three soldiers sitting by a Poplar tree and screamed for them to get in the trench. "Los geh! Auf!" He yelled. Gerd jogged to an adjacent trench where another Obersturmbannfüher, Julius was. Covering his head from stray rounds that could fly his way. "Julius, if we end up having to retreat, take all your men in this trench back to the farmhouse past the hedgerow over there!" Gerd yelled while pointing to a hedgerow about fifty yards behind them.

"I understand!", shouted Julius back. He and his man were continuing to fire all their guns at the incoming enemies, but they were just coming and coming.
Right when the situation seemed to be lost, some tanks appeared, taking some of the pressure. Still, they were in great danger.
"We need reinforcements as soon as possible! We won't be able to resist for long!"

[Australian Antarctica]

Gerst fired his MG into the waves of enemy soldiers that continued to fill the beach. He'd already killed probably 50 troops, and he wasn't even aiming that much. There were so many of them all you needed to do was point and shoot. Reloading the gun for probably the sixth time, he pulled the trigger. Click! he pulled it again Click!. His gun wasn't working! Quickly he checked to make sure the gun wasn't jammed. It wasn't. Next he checked the ammo. In perfect working order. That left only one possibility, the firing pin was broken. He swore out loud, almost every word imaginable, which startled the other junior men in the bunker. Not missing a beat, he grabbed for his rifle and began picking off the attacking soldiers. From what the old sergeant could tell, they were Americans. He didn't hate the Americans actually, really, he didn't hate any of the enemy soldiers. Gerst actually respected them, and their officers for that matter, they actually cared for their troops. He only killed them because they were the enemy, no other reason. If Germany had been fighting Austria, he'd be fighting Germany.

[Marsisian]

Behind the fighting in the trenches, Breitner rushed to the Obersturmbannfuhrers' positions. "Men, we need to get out of here and inland to make plans for a counterattack! We can't do it here, there's too much commotion! Get in the car, let's go!" Franz got in a Kubelwagen his subordinate had called up. He then drove to find Rosencrantz, the commander of the brigade's armored contingent.

It was chaos all around the beaches and behind them too. Troops were hurrying back and forth to the beaches and trenches while tanks drove forward to meet the Allied invasion. Already on the radios be heard of light resistance from the defending forces on other beaches. Damn it, why aren't the other commanders fighting? Are we really the only ones going to resist the invasion?

[Zelent]

Omaha Beach
Gustaf was in his little emplacement just above the beach, he had ducked down into it during the shelling. The camo netting perhaps obscuring him from any direct fire. The barrages seemed to dive down and he heard gunfire, so with his Kar98k clenched up shakingly in his hands he saw the landing craft coming ashore, hundreds of soldiers running onto the beach. Gustaf knew what to do, lifting up his rifle and peering through the Austrian made scope the rifle had been issued with. He started scanning the beach for a easy target, seeing one soldier moving quickly up the beach and directing soldiers, Gustaf zoomed in on him. Leading just enough on the running target he squeezed off the trigger, the recoil made him loose sight of the target for a fraction of a second, before regaining focus and seeing the soldier clenching his shoulder, probably a non killing wound, a medic had came to the American sergeants side. Not wishing to kill a helpless soldier or a medic he scanned around again. An antenna caught his view, a radioman was squatting with his squard behind a anti tank fortification. Gustaf took a second to scan the target, waiting for the right moment. He rested the rifle against the trench wall and perfectly on the exhale squeezed the trigger off, he saw his target fall backwards lifelessly onto the sand from the bullet that had puncutred straight through his lung, and exting through the radio. His squad looked at the dead body, and one Amerikan came out into view from the squad for a slightest of moments, Gustaf fired once more and missed, but the soldier crawled back into cover. Gustaf decided it would be best to take a break and stop firing for a minute, as to not draw the Americans fire.

[Democratic Peoples republic of Kelvinsi]

Gunther's shots were devastating against the advancing Americans. The barrages were deafening, but otherwise mostly harmless. One brave American tried to put a magnetic mine on his jagdpanther only to find out that it does not work due to the anti magnetic mine coating, and was then cut down by the MG mounted on the jagdpanther. He decided to make the bold decision to advance against the Americans with support from the other tanks to prevent flanks. Gunther saw a wounded American soldiers clenching his shoulder being helped up by a medic, and quickly mowed both of them down with a quick burst with the jagdpanther's MG, and later proceeded to kill an entire squad with a HE shell as they were squatting down beside something. Seeing that the commander of the armored contingent on the beach due to the disorganized fashion that the tanks are attacking. Using his training as a radioman he radioed the 6 nearest tanks around him.
"Komrades who is commanding you?" After he found a safe(relatively) spot.
"Nobody I think." All the tankmen radioed back
"Good I will be your commander for now" Gunther replied
Seeing no protest he proceeded to give orders to his armored contingent made up of 1 Fiat M13/40, 1 M3 Lee(these were used by the Soviets and Americans), 1 T-34-76, 1 T-70, and finally a 1 SU-76 plus his own jagdpanther. A prefect combination for any enemy threat, albeit a bit ragtag. Fighting in the Eastern Front Gunther knew the strengths of all vehicles except the Fiat. First he decided to drive out the Americans that were perilously close to breaking into the in land. The Americans would have limited AT capabilites, and Gunther was eager to take advantage of that. He ordered a barrage from the SU-76, against the Americans close to breaking in supported by fire from the M3 Lee, and his own jagdpanther. He later ordered the remaining tanks on the offensive.

[TriStates]

---

Cross of Iron

---

30 Minutes Earlier
Surrain, Basse-Normandie, France
Forest Clearing, 5 Kilometers South-East of Omaha Beach

The soft light of the morning sun snuck under Oberst Siegfried Rosencrantz's eyelids, prying them open. He groaned, shook the lingering sleepyness from his head, getting slowly to his feet. Moving as if every joint in his body were rusty, he got in line for breakfast. More potato soup? He shrugged. It would keep him full at least.

"Any further fly-overs?" he asked Jakob Kreisau, who looked as tired as he felt. A steady increase of Allied planes combing the skies above his units position had caused the Colonel to demand instant notice about any enemy aerial activity. He didn't think that they had been spotted yet, covered as they were in the thick Normandy hedge rows, since they had yet to be bombed. Or even strafed. Still, it payed to play cautious.

"No, sir," the major answered. "I don't if I should have bothered you, since nothing else happened, except for that one "

"You did good," Rosencrantz replied, mentally adding, even if it did cost me another hour in my blanket. "I don't know what those Allied devils are up to, hanging out up there. But you can bet it isn't to keep us company."

"One of the Yankee's tricks? Make us keep our heads down and in position, maybe," Jakob suggested

"Maybe." But Siegfried didn't believe it. Something more was going on. The old soldier could feel it in his bones.

Like the rest of the tank men, he gulped down his soup. When everyone was fed, he reluctantly sent the field kitchen on its way. He hated to part with it, but it couldn't keep up with his rolling armor units. Aboard his command unit, his personal Panzer IV, one of his crewmen One after another, the Panzers in his company roared to life. Some were Wehrmacht general issue. Panzer IV's and III's. A few older Panzer II's had been grandfathered into the unit, with even a new Panther or two. More than most were captured Allied armor, however. Some Sherman's from Sicily and Crusaders taken in West Africa. T-34's and IS-2's from any number of battles from the East. All of them, though, were German now. Loaded with German shells, filled with German fuel, and crewed by German soldiers.

His Panzermen. His boys.

And the whole regiment let out a cheer as the 20th tank's, an elderly Panzer II, motor caught. A slue of black smoke flew out of the machines tail pipe, the engine settling into a happy growl after a backfire. Siegfried shouted, cheering along the grizzled-faced crew of the newly running Panzer II, just as loud as anybody. He didn't think they'd be facing anything more deadly than them today, but you never really knew in France. And if not today, then one similar day before long. He clambered up into the turret of the tank he personally commanded, radioed division headquarters to see if orders had changed from yesterday.

The strangest return came across the air waves. Garbled shouts, incoherent orders, all interrupted by intermittent burst of static.

What was that?

Then, a noise like the end of the world- the high grass clearing, and the scruffy hedgerows to either side of it, disappeared in a cloud of flying dirt, tree splinters, fire balls and explosive force. The lead Panzer disappeared from sight, engulfed in the hellish nightmare, only to come back into view on turret-less and on fire. But still rolling forward. A moving macabre of burning machinery that tracked its way right into a roadside ditch.

"Artillery!"

The warning came over the radio, the voice belonging to Major Kreisau, commander of the second lead tank.

"Where the fuck are they!?" shouted Niklas Vanderbilt. The command tank's gunner was looking through his view port, desperately searching for the source of the raining death. Maybe a group of Parisians had staked out an ambush. Anti-tank guns? Large-caliber mortars? Those cowardly Frenchmen and their dirty fighting!

"No way thats coming from ground pieces! Craters that size, your looking at naval guns!" shouted back Johann Lindermann, the command tank's driver, as he maneuvered the Panzer IV around said craters. The biggest pot holes Lindermann had ever seen, or felt, as the command tank's right track dipped a little too close to the still smoldering pit, causing it to bounce. Rattled already, the crew voiced their discontent to their drivers skill with a flurry of curses and well-aimed punches.

"HALT! All halt! Reverse your course!" Came another panic-stricken voice across the regimental radio channel.

"Negative!" bellowed back Oberst Rosencrantz, trying to regain control of the channel. "I repeat, belay that order! We've got to outrun their killzone, not backup into the next one! Give the girls all you've got, and keep moving forward! "

[New Tuva SSR]

Hilbert got in the back of the Kubelwagen driven by one of the Obersturmbannfuhrers, and gets on the mounted machine gun when he realizes he left his Panzerwurfmines at the rock he was hiding behind.

"Scheiße!" he yells, and tells the driver to turn around. When the driver refuses as they were already half way there, Hilbert got out of the car and decided to walk the rest of the way. He told the Brigadefuhrer that he would walk back and would see him in a few hours. He begins to run back to the rock,and feels saddened when he sees all the young lives being taken.

"Don't think about it,god dammit. You can do this,Hilbert!" he motivates himself.

[VolksImperium (Ancient)]

June 6th, 1944
Omaha Beach


Hauptmann Bann had been walking the trench line in his sector making sure all the men in his immediate area were in their trenches, and prepared for the impending landing when it all kicked off. It all happened so fast.
The Amerikan landing craft hit the beach, meanwhile mortars were incoming. Our trench line opened fire on the amerikans sending them scrambling on the beach looking for cover. Racing back to where he had set up in the trench, he slide into the trench, pulled his rifle off his shoulder and onto the trench wall to steady it, aiming down his scope he spotted several allied soldiers, he aimed for the one closest to himself, and pulled the trigger.
Adjusting from the recoil, he looked back to where he had just fired, and spotted the same soldier he had seen before laying in the sand with his hands on his neck blood spilling onto the sand. He found his next target and fired. The results were mixed sometimes he would have to fire upon the same soldier more than once, sometimes the first shot would strike the enemy dead, and sometimes another man somewhere along the trench line had hit the mark before he. When he was able to take a moment to look around him he noticed others in the trenches had become overwhelmed. Trying to keep as low as he could while running over to a man who was staring at his battle buddy who had been struck by an enemy round in horror, he grabbed the obviously shocked young man by his arm, pulling him back up to his feet, and slapped the back of his Stahlhelm.

"Get up lets go, get your head back into the fight, fire your weapon!"

He then checked the downed soldiers pulse, and hollered for a medic, while keeping pressure on the wound in the mans left shoulder.

[Zelent]

Omaha Beach, 6 June
Gustaf continued to scan the shore for both easy targets and high value targets, keeping tabs in his minds on the locations of people whom the footsoldiers seemed to be taking orders from. He reflected in himself about having killed someone that day, the radioman who fell over backwards as the rifle round had punctured that young soldiers chest and gone straight through his lung and heart, killing him instantly. Gustaf did'nt necesairly feel bad about the act its self, if the tables were reversed the soldier probably would have done the same to him, Gustaf was just doing his duty to protect Deutschland from the enemy, even if it meant taking away someones dad or brother or son. He brushed it off and tried to focus, he saw a seemingly high ranking officer, well dressed and giving orders speaking to a group of demoralized soldiers while pointing around and with several other somewhat less important people around him. This guy, had to be a jewel of the Americans, at least a Colonel. Gustaf lined up for his fourth shot that day, he took a while to prepare the shot and at a point of limited wind with proper droppage and taking account for other factors he squeezed off a shot, seeing clearly through the scope, the high ranking officer slumped over to the side, half of his forehead was missing, upon a quick closer inspection Gustaf could just barely make out the insignia of a one star General, GUSTAF HAD KILLED A GENERAL . An American tried to bring the fallen leader hopelessly behind cover, Gustaf was just barely able to pop off a round at the daring soldiers who were trying to retrieve their generals body, this soldier was shot in the knee and fell wheeling back wounded, Gustaf would have shot the wounded soldier, but he had to duck into his trench to reload the stripper clip. It was at this point that his entrenchment started to take heavy fire, he had been spotted and now was taking fire from several points, kicking up dirt around the position.




2 kills,2 woundings,one miss

[Einsiev]

Behind the fighting in the trenches, Breitner rushed to the Obersturmbannfuhrers' positions. "Men, we need to get out of here and inland to make plans for a counterattack! We can't do it here, there's too much commotion! Get in the car, let's go!" Franz got in a Kubelwagen his subordinate had called up. He then drove to find Rosencrantz, the commander of the brigade's armored contingent.

It was chaos all around the beaches and behind them too. Troops were hurrying back and forth to the beaches and trenches while tanks drove forward to meet the Allied invasion. Already on the radios be heard of light resistance from the defending forces on other beaches. Damn it, why aren't the other commanders fighting? Are we really the only ones going to resist the invasion?

"Julius, come on!" Gerd yelled while running for the Kubelwagen. He slung the small door open and jumped in the back. Suddenly, two almost symmetrical lines of dirt started popping upwards. Gerd quickly looked up towards the beach just in time to see a P-51 Mustang firing directly at them. "Go! Stomp the gas!" He screamed. The aircraft was getting closer every second. Gerd quickly took matters into his own hands and reached his foot up around the driver and while holding onto the back of the front seat, stomped the gas pedal of the Kubelwagen.

[New Tuva SSR]

Hilbert saw the rock where his backpack was, and runs over to it. He sighs with relief when he finds that the Panzerwurfmines are safe and sound. He was actually surprised that artillery had not blown them up,when a plane flew over head.

"It's not safe here, I must run!" he thinks,and grabs his MP40. He spots an incoming American DD Sherman Amphibious Tank coming up the beach. He opens his pack and takes out the Panzerwurfmines, and jumps out from cover. He is almost instantly shot at by American riflemen,but still throws the Panzerwurfmines. The explosion is huge,and knocks him back. He falls back into the sand, and calls for a medic.

[Australian Antarctica]

Dietrich fired and fired, almost an entire clip a minute. He'd probably dropped 100 enemy soldiers by now, but more just kept coming. The Americans appeared to be making headway. Reaching into his pouch for another clip, he came up empty. He was out of ammo, of course. Nodding to one of the other soldiers in the bunker, he ran outside to one of the crates of ammo. All the rifles and rifle ammo was gone, but almost all of the MP40s were left, with enough ammo to take on a small army. Dietrich slung the rifle over his shoulder and picked up one of the guns. He stuffed almost an entire crate of ammo in his pack, discarding his blanket and some food. While doing this he noticed a small hum, probably a truck picking up those damned lazy officers who were afraid to get their uniforms dirty. Pathetic.

[TriStates]

---

Your In The Wehrmacht Now

---

15 Minutes Earlier
3 Kilometers North of Surrain, Basse-Normandie, France
Sunken Road, 2 Kilometers South-East of Omaha Beach

2 Kilometers.

They had barely made it 2 kilometers from that artillery slaughterhouse when another surprise ran across their path. More accurately, a very well-armed, very lost, contingent of Allied soldiers. Paratroopers, from their obvious distance from any front-line. American 82nd Airborne division, from their red and blue shoulder patches. Of course, little of this factored in for the tankers of Oberst Rosencrantz's panzer regiment. They barely had enough time to take cover, before a flurry of automatic weapons fire raked the column of traveling tanks.

The pinging of small arms rounds could be heard clearly by all crew members. With just these, the Paratroopers might as well have been throwing spit balls. Little help this proved, however, when one of the German's number lit up suddenly, becoming an impressive fireworks display of exploding ammunition and burning gas. A neat, smoking hole on the Panzers side was clearly visible. These American's had bazookas! A flurry of rapid return fire was thrown at the enemy infantry, as the column began to disperse in all directions. Against hand-held tank killers like these, their only hope was to serpentine and fire while doing so. The barking of the lighter tanks 57mm guns mixed with the throaty roar of their larger cousins, the 75's and 88's. Great gouts of earth, grass and human body parts flew in all directions, as the Panzer barrage became less hasty and more coordinated. And yet, still more of their armored brethern fell. Silent and burning.

All around them, soldiers wearing both olive green and coal grey stood, fought and died by the numbers. What for? The Oberst could not say. All he could do was stand and fight with them. For he was only one of many Instruments of war, not its Composer. And could no more stop the slaughter, than he could part the tide.

---

The Present
3 Kilometers North of Surrain, Basse-Normandie, France
Hedgerow Cover, 2 Kilometers South-East of Omaha Beach

Even the smallest noise or flicker of motion drew Siegfried Rosencrantz complete and concerned attention. This time, it was just a sparrow flitting through the brush. Chirping cheerfully, blissfully ignorant of wars horrors, as it went. This time. He had 13 tanks with him now. The other 7? Either destroyed, or yet unaccounted for. Out of the 20 tanks, almost 100 crewmen, he had started out with this morning... The American's had a word for such a thing... SNAFU.

Situation Normal: All Fucked Up.

A charming little acronym, that perfectly described the past 30 minutes of Siegfried's life. And the way this war had taken a turn for the past 3 years.

Another motion across the hedgerow brush turned out to be another bird. Siegfried shook his head. He hadn't felt this jumpy since he first saw the elephant. Back in the far-flung year of 1914, when the whistle blew; meaning he and 1000's of other young, German boys clambered up and over the muddy top. Charging blindly through cordite smoke and falling shells into No Man's Land. Unconsciously, the veteran soldier raised a hand to his face, brushing a solid black patch where his right eye should have been.

He managed something halfway between a laugh and a cough, leaned down into the turret. "I wonder if the Ivans felt this naked after we smashed so many of their tanks on the ground in '41."

"If they did, they hid it damned well," his gunner, Niklas Vanderbilt, answered. Niklas worn the ribbon of a wound badge too. A piece of British shrapnel, the size of his Siegfried's middle finger, had wormed its way into the stomach of the then younger gunner during the Second Battle of El Alamein.

"So do we, I hope," Seigfried said. Opening the cupola, the Panzer Commander peered out from his tanks hiding place between a pair of hedge rows. After the initial attack, Siegfried was hesitant to call it an ambush since the enemy seemed to be just as surprised as they had been at finding one another, he and three other Panzer IV's had managed to worm their way into the opposite end of the road, hidden by the flames, smoke and heavy Normandy brush. A road now covered in burning tank hulks and dead bodies. Both German, and American.

On the opposite side, were the enemy paratroopers. Hidden by a small, heavily forested area, occasional shots had been traded by both sides over the past 15 minutes. But no major action or movement had happened. And so, a stalemate ensued. Neither side willing to give up, but neither show themselves from their defensive positions. Rosencrantz was many thinks, but no idiot. He knew that, while bullet for bullet he could take on the American's in a frontal assault, it would leave him with many casualties. Conversely, the Oberst wagered that the enemy soldiers had neither the men nor the explosives to take on his all his Panzers through their own counter-attack.

And so, a stalemate. Or so all thought...

Just as he was examining the paratroopers last known positions, the low growl of a auto engine reached the Oberst's ears. Moving his binoculars from the clearing to father down the road, a sight he had not expected came into view. A Wehrmacht Kubelwagen. The front window shattered and the sides filled with bullet holes. Flying the pendant of a General Staff vehicle.

And it was headed right for the sunken road. Right between the lines of his Panzers, and the American paratroopers...

Of all the times, in all of time, for the Generals too grow a pair and travel to the field...

[Tracian Empire]

Behind the fighting in the trenches, Breitner rushed to the Obersturmbannfuhrers' positions. "Men, we need to get out of here and inland to make plans for a counterattack! We can't do it here, there's too much commotion! Get in the car, let's go!" Franz got in a Kubelwagen his subordinate had called up. He then drove to find Rosencrantz, the commander of the brigade's armored contingent.

It was chaos all around the beaches and behind them too. Troops were hurrying back and forth to the beaches and trenches while tanks drove forward to meet the Allied invasion. Already on the radios be heard of light resistance from the defending forces on other beaches. Damn it, why aren't the other commanders fighting? Are we really the only ones going to resist the invasion?

"Julius, come on!" Gerd yelled while running for the Kubelwagen. He slung the small door open and jumped in the back. Suddenly, two almost symmetrical lines of dirt started popping upwards. Gerd quickly looked up towards the beach just in time to see a P-51 Mustang firing directly at them. "Go! Stomp the gas!" He screamed. The aircraft was getting closer every second. Gerd quickly took matters into his own hands and reached his foot up around the driver and while holding onto the back of the front seat, stomped the gas pedal of the Kubelwagen.

Julius followed Gerd, and quickly jumped in the Kubelwagen. The Mustang was getting closer and closer, firing bullets all around them. He somehow managed to reload his MP-43, opened the window and fire more salvos in the direction of the American plane.
Luckily for them, either one of the bullets or one of the nearby flaks managed to kill the American pilot, and the P-51 Mustang crashed on a nearby hill.
"Let's go, let's go!", said Julius.

[Australian Antarctica]

Dietrich had been given a ride behind the lines. Normally this would be good. But then again, nothing in this goddamned war was normal. Of all the things to happen today, he'd gotten picked up by the very people he loathed: Officers. For some hellish reason, they decided to pick Dietrich, a lowly Staff Sergeant, to guard them. Out of every single soldier on the lines, it had to be him, who hated officers more than anyone. But Dietrich was a soldier, and soldiers followed orders, no matter how shitty. With a curt nod, he squeezed in the back of the Kubelwagen, next to some officer or another. The whole drive he scanned the countryside, looking for any signs of enemy soldiers. His first indication of enemy activity were the sounds of a firefight not too far ahead on the road. He tapped the driver's shoulder "Pull over, I'll scout ahead"