Wake, Germany!

Wake, Russia! Sonereal's First Finished AAR
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The Grapple
With Shield and Sword: Part I/II
Give Peace a Chance
Marching Through Germania
Sleep Forever



Sonereal, Emperor or the German Reich, along with the rest of the council, helped rebuild Germany in Scandinavia. The first years were tough, as first years tend to be, but German engineers struck oil. Throughout the 1920s, 30s, 40s, and 50s, Germany had to worry about something not as immediate as enough food (for which there was) and warmth in the winters (for it was good). What Germany, and Sonereal, worried about most was the Aztec Empire to the east.
***
January, 1967



During the first part of January, the Aztec First Army, consisting of only two infantry divisions, invade Germany from the northeast through a heavily wooded area. The Aztecs will push through the underdeveloped area before being stopped by a combination of winter and fierce resistance. The line stabilizes two squares (unit of measurement) from Berlin. The city is safe.

For the next few weeks, German airships are a common sight in the skies of Atzlan. Aerial reconnaissance would prove to be a useful tool in the war.

• The Aztec Empire lacks oil and coal. Because of this, they lack armor and railroads.
• The Aztec Empire lacks anything to challenge the airships in the sky.
• The Aztec Empire's armed forces is larger overall compared to Germany's. However, it is spread out across three major regions. The Aztecs devoted nearly 25% of their total strength to the invasion. Anymore than that would've resulted in their interior regions being woefully undefended.

The German start moving five Panzer divisions to the southeast wildlands. An armored division, a marine division, and hundreds of thousands of heavy machine guns are left behind to protect the line. Meanwhile, the Aztecs reinforce their line with two more infantry divisions. Without concentrated armor support on both sides, the war devolves into a trench-building contest.



The Aztec Empire, however, is in for a nasty surprise. The German Second Army, consisting of a full five armored divisions, strike at the Texcoco region, aiming for Texcoco. Unlike the Northern Front, the Southern Front has no time for trenches. In short order, Texcoco is captured and razed to the ground. Nothing stands between the Armored Second Army and the capital of the Aztec Empire. Tenochititlan is defended by only two divisions but the brutal street-by-street combat coupled with heavy resistance turns the battle into a meatgrinder for the Germans. Two divisions are destroyed and the remaining divisions are mangled. The city is razed.



At this point, the Second Army is surrounded by partisan fighters and is greatly weakened. German High Command, after bitter disagreement amongst the General Staff, agree to a peace treaty.



Today, the treaty is seen by the populace in a bad light. The most common complaint is that the treaty did little to crush the Aztec Empire's ability to be a threat twenty-five years down the line. Others say that the Second Army could have easily pushed north through the partisan territory and take the new capital, the region from where the original Aztec invasion sprung from. All of this, however, doesn't take into reality on the ground.

The Second Army, at the time, was the most powerful force in the region but because of its nature, it couldn't hold down territory. Because it couldn't hold down territory, supply lines became problematic. The second problem is that supply lines themselves were iffy. If the Aztecs had a serious force on the Southern Front, the German Second Army would've been repulse across the undeveloped neutral regions and back into the underdeveloped German southeast region.

Another problem is that the Second Army wasn't just powerful and new, it had also been expensive and came at the cost of develop which is why decades after the founding of Berlin in 1918, a lot of the German countryside remained undeveloped. After the lightning fast war, the troops in the Second Army were probably the roughest veterans in the region but being the best doesn't mean lack of supply and reinforcements is possible to live on forever. The potential of losing the Second Army to the massive partisan attacks is what pushed the Germans to the negotiating table.

With Shield and Sword
Part I​

It quickly became clear throughout the 70s and 80s that Germany was looking down the barrel of another war. After the war, a city had been built east trenches of the Northern Front to act as a floodgate for the next war. The General Staff flagellated themselves for days when they came to the conclusion that maybe the destruction of half the cities of Atzlan in the first war just wasn't enough. After the war, the Aztecs moved their capital to Teotihuacan which, go figure, is within four squares of Frankfurt.

The second problem is that the Aztecs, like the Germans, were building up and foregoing domestic expansion. The Aztec First Army is now larger than the original German Second Army. However, the German First Army is also much larger and is based in Frankfurt. However, with both sides massing on the border, German High Command had to think of how to defeat the Aztecs quickly. German production didn't greatly outstrip the Aztecs meaning that some plans which called for a four-prong attacks supported by heavy guided missile support had to be scrapped.

In 1988, a technology deal gave Germany the radio, which opened up for discussion of guided missiles in the first place. Continued German airship recon revealed a new Aztec weapon (which proved once and for all to the Germans that the Aztecs can train more than just infantry and marines). Anti-tank rifles. Anti-tank rockets. All of which are a problem. Another problem is that, surprisingly, the Aztecs had more artillery pieces than Germany throughout the 1980s and 90s.

To give you an idea just how preoccupied the German General Staff preoccupied itself with the planning of the war against Atzlan, there had been several dozen plans passed up to the Kaiser over the past three decades. Some plans called for a preemptive, ground strike against Teotihuacan. These plans were slapped down often for being expensive because of the amount of armor it would take to make up for the lack of immediate artillery support. There was the aforementioned four-prong strike plans as well and the "Southern Plan" which called for just a push up from the south.

In the early 90s, one aspiring major mentioned using a Greek city as a Renaissance base against the then out-of-range eastern Aztec territory. What turned up didn't amount for much but it revealed that the Aztecs had more weight to throw around behind the Northern Front, but not a whole lot more.

The final plan was decided in 1995.

The German Second Army, smaller but far more trained and experience than the old Second Army, would invade Aztlan through Carthaginian territory. She will target Zhou and then continue moving north until she takes her second objective which will cut the Empire in half.

From Corinth, the airships there will provide cordinates for guided missiles so they can destroy the Atzlan aluminum mines. While the Aztecs lack anything in terms of a space race or advanced aircraft, the Germans wanted to be careful.

Finally, on the main front, the Northern Front, the invasion will open up by a a full day's worth of guided rocket fire against Teotihuacan and the Atzlan First Army. The plan hoped that German Panzers of the First Army would take the city quickly but, failing that, the Atzlan First Army should be too battered to launch a proper counterattack which will allow the infantry portions and artillery of the First Army to catch up and prepare to take the city.

If the plan is successful, Germany will have captured or destroyed 60% of the Empire of Aztec's manufacturing before the end of the first campaign season.

subbed looks good

With Shield and Sword
Part II​

April 20th, 1998. The first thing that lets the Aztecs know something is wrong is when two guided missile barrages wipe out an aluminum mine in their eastern territory. Fear of a Grussian invasion are quickly dispelled when the German Second Army starts moving against Zhou. Move against? No. They took it.



Within an hour of the start of the war.

The Atzlan First Army rush to the fortifications along the border when the massive guided missile barrage begins. The border fortification defenders are overwhelmed quickly and fighting reaches the outskirts of the city as several panzer groups attempt to dislodge the rallying defenders. The massive attack doesn't succeed in completely dislodging the defenders but fighting is now being measure in city blocks and the Germans hold the northwest part of the city and are pushing hard every chance they get.



While the fighting for Teotihuacan is reaching its third day, the Second Army is regrouping for a second push. Refugees are preventing troops from the Tlaxcana from reaching the fighting and the occasional bombing raid by German airships is making logistics painful.



On the fourth day, four divisions reinforce the Aztec First Army. The next day, the Germans launch another attack and decimate the Aztec First Army. Taking the city also destroyed the only airships the Empire had. With Zhou destroyed and the latest Aztec capital taken, the Aztecs are in complete disarray and the Germans are building up for a second push. The Aztecs attempt to regroup and rally are disrupted by daytime bombing runs by German airships. Refugees are now heading east in panic. While the eastern Aztec territories haven't seen war yet, they are seeing the effects. Maimed civilians and deserters are roaming the east and banditry is on the rise.



Tlaxcana is captured and razed by the German Second Army in the first week May but with heavy losses. The Second Army links up with the First in Teotihuacan. By May 18th, the First Army is heading northeast toward Calixtlahuaca. The Aztec Second Army, which would've been a small force even in the First German-Aztec War, suffers a high number of mutinies. On May 20th, 1998, the Empire of Atzlan surrenders unconditionally. The German High Court trials the leadership of the Empire, including the King himself, and founds them guilty of crimes against peace and humanity. They are summarily executed and a puppet government installed in its place.

Essen was founded on the ruins of Zhou immediately following the conclusion of the war. The German First Army, bolstered with the Second Army and fresh recruits, is based in Essen to act as a defense against possible Grussian Invasion (which, as of writing 2025) has yet happened. The Aztlan Reich takes the barbarian city of Scythian, which slides over under German control. Once the city is secured, the German Reich enters a period of optimistic economic expansion that lasts from 1998 to 2008, when German factories immediately began planning for a new war.

To the south, in Central and Southern Europe, is Carthage. To the immediate east is the Atzlan Reich. To the southeast is Grussia, a political union of Russia and Greece. Germany, wanting to become the global hegemon, therefore sets sights on Carthage. Carthage had several things the Aztecs did not have.

• Coal and Oil
• Railroads connecting their territory in Eastern Gaul to Eastern Europe
• Armor
• A colony in Canada and another one in South America

It became apparent quickly that the South American colony was an important piece in the puzzle. South American oil powered Carthaginian tanks, of course. The German General Staff's kneejerk reaction (or plan as they called it) would be to land marines across the strait, an armored push on Utica, marines in the Balkans, marines in the South American colonies, marines marine marines. There were several problems with these plans.

Germany lacked a real navy. They have a transport, a few battleships, and a destroyer at most. The plans called for nearly forty marine divisions (Germany didn't even have five in 2008), twelve battleships, ten panzer divisions, infantry, artillery, bombers, FOUR carriers, and overall the entire plan would be expensive, though it would certainly in the war in a week if it succeeded.

Guided Missiles didn't even factor into planning anymore. Bombers and Fighters were the new craze among the General Staff along with marines. If it was one thing the Germans had plenty of during the war, it was bombers. Fighters were a different story as most of them went on the two carriers that were planned to go to South America along with two battleships and eight marine divisions.

In the end, three entire armies and two fleets had to be made out of scratch. The First Army couldn't spare a thing. The military expansion became the focus of Germany for the next twelve years. During the later parts of the 2010s, Grussia and the Korean Puppet State invaded India and Persia. The mood in the German High Command, at first to support India, who they thought had the most powerful military on the planet.

That was until Bombay fell in a week. Dehli fell the next month. Over the next year, Grussia rampaged across Asia and pushed the Persians and Indians off the continent and installed puppet governments in their overseas colonies, including India. The timetable for the invasion of Carthage was pushed up.

October 9th, 2024, Carthage High Command in Carthage started receiving reports from South America of air raids....

Sub post

The two German aircraft carriers catapulted dive bombers and fighters of their decks. The fighters and dive bombers, along with two battleships in the neighborhood, provided air support and shore bombardment for the marines landing in Sicca and Thapsus, regions of the Carthaginian Empire. The defenders of Carthage South America are caught fully unprepared. In Sicca, the only enemy forces in the neighborhood were gunships.



The landings at Thapsus are met with fierce resistance. Both sides fought with assault rifles and once again, advancements were measured in city blocks after the defenders were pushed off the beaches. Off the coast of Thapsus, a German destroyer is hit by a cruise missile while a carrier is attacked by an attack submarine (the ship fended off the submarine and went into the newly captured harbor of Thapsus.



In Europe, a major offensive is underway. Several German battleships supported by dozens of German fighter and bomber squadrons are laying waste to Hadrumetum and Utica. German air power had enough power to target secondary objectives such as troop movements and railroads. Marines landed against a dazed, but capable enemy armed with semi-automatic rifles, automatic rifles, and mobile artillery. By the end of the first few days of the war, Hadrumetum, Thapsus, and Sicca have fallen and Utica is under the gun. The Germans commit their few gunships to an unsuccessful border raid from the northeast through Essen.



Before an armor push against Utica, the Germans had been softening up the defenses of the city. However, a few days before the big push that would make Utica fall, three Carthage fighter squadrons fly onto the scene to the surprise of the German High Staff, whose bad or outdated intelligence resulted in the loss of a bomber wing.



The Battle for Utica is the first armor on armor battle the Germans or Carthaginians ever fought in but superior design and massive air support shifted the balance in favor of Germany. Utica fell in the second week of the war. The fall of Utica began the second phase of the war and allowed German planes forward bases to hit targets all across the rest of Carthaginian territory.



In South America, the occupation of Sicca and Thaspus has taken Carthage's source of oil, along with cutting their South American colony in half with both ends being too weak to launch a counteroffensive. The Germans lack bombers but the colony lacks air power altogether thanks to the losses in the skies over Utica. Carthage has two armored divisions trapped in a region east of Sicca.

As the war reaches the third week, the Germans launch another attack with the Hadrumetum marines moving south toward Kerkouane and German armor moving south towards the capital, Carthage. Aztec Reich marines are supporting the armored push. The Carthage High Command immediately see the implications. If the Germans reach the Mediterranean, Carthagian Europe will be cut and half and unable to muster resistance.

Carthage's attempts to build up for a counterattack resulted in bombing. Vehicles on the road, whether refugee or military, were shot up. The German armored column reached the first ring of fortifications around Carthage at the end of the third week, the end of October. The defenders are wary and undersupplied and, despite losses, the Germans take Carthage, cutting the empire in half. Now, nearly all the air power Germany has to muster is focused on the city of Kerkouane.



In South America, the marines take Thaenae and now control most of the colony.



Near the end of the first week of November, the German marines take Kerkouane. Like Atzlan, the government is dismantled and the Carthage Reich is created.



With Germany almost the master of Europe, there lies only one problem...in West Gaul and Iberia.

Interesting. I usually don't get to the modern and future era combats, which is unfortunate since the units are so much better on the story.

The German soldier opened his eyes. The earth beneath him muddy but when he tried to flip himself over, he heard a scream far away. So, he looked up to the orange sky. He heard crying a great distance away to his right. The soldier lift his head (a monumental task) and looked to that direction and saw his squad leader grasping his eyes, thrashing around. The soldier tried to crawl over to him but heard the scream again and felt his body go limp. He reached to his stomach with his hand and pulled it back, holding it over his eyes. He had a stomach wound from shrapnel

that was a bomb?

His hand fell to the muddy earth beneath him and darkness rose up to meet him.
***
January 19th, 2036
Berlin, Entertainment District

"...Germany will fight to the last man. It will fight for our survival as an Empire. We are rallying for a counterattack as we speak and....

The owner of the coffee shop, a young single German woman in her early 20s, wanted to turn off the TV. By the look on the faces of her patrons, they wanted to even more than she did. Even military officers sat and drank tight-lipped, always pouring extra kick into their coffee before gulping the awful-tasting stuff. The South American colonies, both of the Carthage Reich and German Reich, were under seemingly unbreakable blockade by Grussia.

The news outlets talked about nothing but the war and the German government makes sure they don't sound defeatist. Because of this, the patrons ignored the television and the rather optimistic pessimism of the reports until an intern handed Germany's most trusted anchor a paper. The most trusted anchor in the German Reich read the paper and was silenced. The silence caught attention where endless babble couldn't. The coffee shop watched, waiting. The news anchor aged years in their eyes and when he spoke, he spoke his mind.

"People of Germany. I have just received word that I should not have received. It was delivered to me by a high-ranking insider who wishes to remain anonymous and has been verified by military officers who to wish for the same blessing of wearing a mask with a question mark for they are free to speak their minds without worrying of being taken of the air.

Essen will fall. Teotihuacan will fall. The capital of the Aztec Reich has already fallen. South America is cut off. The only front where we were holding the line was in Hippo, the eastern parts of the Carthage Reich."

The patrons of the shop sat on the edge of their seats. The world seem to stop and contract and when shouting, gunshots, and breaking glass popped out of the TV, some of the patrons yelped. No one looked down on them for that.

"I am sorry for that. Berlin may not have seen bombs dropped on her head yet, but the military is now firing. We will hold them out for as long as we can. I just received word that the entire Hippo front has gone silent. Mind you, this doesn't mean no radio contact. It doesn't mean I'm not receiving news from Hippo. No, I mean it had gone silent. It went silent...then it made some noise. Our entire army in Hippo is pulling back but they will not make it to Essen. According to my sources, the army will not be combat ready for the rest of the war."

More gunshots. More breaking glass. There were automatic gunshots and the tiny pistol gunshots in between them and the occasional loud report of a revolver returning fire.

"With the Hippo front collapsing, we are no longer holding the line anywhere from Finland to the Balkans. We have no magical bag to pull equipment and troops from. Our air force has been decimated. Hippo has, quietly, fell under Grussian control and with Hippo fallen, all our gains in the last war are lost. We can not hold Central Europe or Western Gaul....and according to this report, we will not hold Finland."

Gunshots. The anchor reflexively ducks. The station goes dark.
***

essen has fallen
teotihuacan has fallen
hippo has fallen
central europe will fall
the grussians bombed our uranium enrichment facilities
we can no longer win
tactical nuclear weapon signature was detected near hippo
front goes quiet
we are in full retreat
the emperor has fled
but we will win
frankfurt will be grussias downfall
***

frankfurt no longer exists
there is no german first army
nor second
nor third, fourth, of fifth
we are starving
berlin is in bombing range
utica is holding
berlin will hold
***

utica is holding
berlin is holding
no more oil is coming from south america
no more oil is coming from scandinavia
the grussians have reached the rhine
but berlin will hold
***

our people our starving
carthage south america is in revolt
they are marching on german south america
the carthage reich is dead
babylon has declared war on us
utica is holding
berlin is holding
utica and berlin will hold
***

berlin and utica are no more