A World at War

so sad about valerious. I hope the romans catch up with the malinese. Keep going! :bowdown::whipped:[party] :bump: :run: :rockon:
 
hey im new to this story but i just caught up.
keep it going i love it!
 
Great job man
 
Last couple days of the semester...Once I finish them and after a brief reprieve, I shall continue the story.
 
Why would you want that?

The people want more of this story!;)
 
- Siege of Gao -
1919​

June 12, 1919
Africa – Near Gao

Lucius stopped in his tracks and held up a fist as he knelt down to one knee. The rest of his platoon followed suit. Lucius strained his ears to find that rumbling sound again. It had been a rumbling sound some four years ago that had meant massive devastation to the Roman 1st Army in and around Kumbi Saleh. That battle had affected Lucius in many ways.

Lucius had lost his long time friend and comrade-in-arms Valerius. The two of them had devised a sort of satchel charge to use against attacking Malinese tanks-the name that Roman High Command had learned and passed on down the ranks of the military. Valerius had charged at the tank but was shot. Though Valerius was killed, with his dying breaths, he threw the satchel charge under the treads and blew the tank up.

It was during that battle that Lucius himself had been caught in the blast of one of the explosives the tank fired right at him. Quick reflexes had saved his life. He was pulled off the frontlines to recuperate in Timbuktu for the better part of a year. Following that, Lucius was promoted to Sergeant and given light duty briefly in Timbuktu before being shipped back to Kumbi Saleh.

Lucius was bewildered by the life that had come to Kumbi Saleh since he had been gone. The city now held more civilians than infantry and nearly all debris had been cleaned up. Though shocked by the change, Lucius had little time to consider it as he was given command of his own platoon that was being sent with remnants of the 1st Army to take out the new Malinese capital of Gao. Now, after months of trudging across the desert, his platoon, with others, found themselves approaching Gao.

“What is it, Sarge?” whispered the trooper right behind him, Rufus was his name.

“Thought I heard something,” replied Lucius. After straining for a moment, Lucius directed his men to find cover while he, Rufus and another trooper scouted around to find the rumbling sound Lucius had heard.

They crept forward slowly while bent over at the waist to stay low in case someone decided to open fire. They paused at a ridge and fell down to prone to gaze over the top. Lucius pulled out his binoculars and scanned the horizon.

“There it is, Gao,” he said. “I can’t see anything but a few troopers moving around in there. No indication of the rumble I heard.”

One of the Roman soldiers crawled up behind the scouting party. “Sergeant Lucius, General Claudius on the horn. He says all troops are to converge on the city and hit it.”

Lucius took the phone from the trooper and put it to his ear. “Sergeant Lucius here, General. Over.”

“Sergeant, the army has surrounded the city and I am giving the final order to move in and engage all hostiles in and around it. Over.”

“General, do we know if there is an armored presence in Gao? I think we heard some rumbling. Over.”

“Negative, Sergeant. Intelligence assures me that the first and last armor the Malinese had was launched against Kumbi Saleh. Now move in! Over.”

Lucius only shook his head as he handed the phone back to the radioman. “Alright, establish mortars behind this hill and put two of our MGs on top, everyone else to move in on the city.”

The radioman and the other troopers with Lucius fell back from the hill to the rest of the platoon to forward his orders. Lucius himself remained on the bluff and directed his binoculars toward the city once more. Now even the troopers he’d seen before had disappeared.

A sudden sound caught his attention and he switched the binoculars toward it. Several Roman units had opened up on the city to cover advancing troopers. Lucius’s own men just finished establishing themselves on the hill and the rest had crouched down just behind him. Lucius waved his arm forward and got up to advance on the city.

Behind him, the motar crews opened up and began to lob explosives at the city perimeter that Lucius and the rest of his men were advancing on. Just as they reached the bottom of the hill, the rumbling poured into Lucius’s ears. From out of several hiding spots emerged several tanks. They moved forward only a short distance before stopping and firing a massive round against the Roman troops. After that, they charged forward again while their crews reloaded before stopping and firing again.

Lucius gave hand signals for his men to scatter and find cover. “Find cover!” he screamed to add more emphasis. The tanks hadn’t opened up on his own platoon yet, but that could change at any second.

Lucius jumped down into a little natural crater only to find it was a mostly dried pool. Below the top layer of the sand was mud. Well, better to be dirty than dead. You can clean up later, but you only get one life.

It was then that a Malinese machine gun zeroed in on Lucius’s position and opened up with everything it had. Sand was being thrown everywhere as Lucius attempted to push himself deeper into the hole. Around him, several of his men opened up with their rifles on Gao. The MGs back on the hill added in their own firepower which eventually pulled the Malinese machine gun off of Lucius.

Lucius took advantage of that fact and popped up briefly to see what was going on. Already several Roman troopers were retreating from their advances on the city and back toward their original positions.

The radioman dove into Lucius’s hole and handed him the handset. “Captain Ro, Sergeant!”

Lucius took the set. “Sergeant Lucius, go ahead! Over.”

“Sergeant, all Roman forces are to pull back immediately to original positions!”

Lucius gave a confirmation before throwing the handset back to the radioman. “First Platoon! Fall back behind the hill!” Lucius jumped up repeating the orders and waving toward the hill. His men came out of hiding and began running back over the hill.

As it turned out, Roman intelligence had been badly mistaken about the Malinese position within the walls of Gao. The Malinese not only had numerous infantry, but had managed to bring in additional tanks to defend the city.

With heavy losses sustained by the Roman 1st Army, RMC saw fit to withdrawal just outside of the city and lay siege. The Malinese city saw near daily artillery barrages while the Romans awaited reinforcements.

In India, the Roman 2nd Army was given to the Indians who quickly nationalized it and sent it out to defend the Indian homefront. Hopefully RMC could get some reinforcements to help, but with things up in the air in Africa, it would be unlikely.
 
Excellent! Keep it up.

Congrats to Lucius...he deserved the promotion. He's pretty smart.
 
- Gao Falls, Part 1 -
1920​

As 1919 gave way to a new year, things at Roman High Command were becoming tense. The Indians continued to pressure the Romans into sending everything they had against the Chinese in their homeland. This in turn led to the leadership in the Roman High Command to begin squabbling over how best to deal with the situations, both in sending the aide the Indians requested and how to best finish off the Malinese in Africa.

General Claudius, commander of Rome’s 1st Army, demanded that his troops lead the attack on the city of Gao and General Vitus’s reinforcements merely support them. As most knew, the Malinese were approaching defeat. They hadn’t launched any counter-attacks in a few years and their air raids had also ceased. These two generals were down to arguments over who should be allowed to deliver the assured death blow to the foe that Rome had been fighting for over 15 years.

As no agreement could be reached, General Claudius made his own and sent out a dispatch to his forces in the field to assault the city once more without the reinforcements and secure it before Vitus’s troops could arrive.


February 23, 1920
Africa – Outside Gao

Another nearby barrage shook Lucius out of his sleep. For the better part of a year, Romans and Malinese had been lobbing artillery shells at one another. Though the Romans were hit on occasion, the real damage was to the city of Gao. How many Malinese remained alive among the debris was unknown, but the city was in ruins.

Not a single building over two stories stood any more, or had been reduced to less than that. Mighty temples and other great monuments that had watched over the city were now nothing more than piles of rubble. How Rome was going to pacify the people of the Mali lands after the war was anyone’s guess.

Lucius got all fours and crawled to the vision slit on his foxhole. He peered out with binoculars toward Gao to see what damage Roman guns would cause this time. Before he could learn much though, another trooper popped into his foxhole.

“Good evening, Sergeant Lucius,” said the trooper.

Lucius did not recognize the man but such was not necessary as soon as he realized the man wore captain’s bars. He threw him a salute, “Sorry that I don’t offer proper attention, sir, but this foxhole doesn’t have the highest ceiling.”

“Quite alright,” he replied and returned Lucius’s salute. “I’ve been ordered to take a small squad with me on a special mission. It was strongly suggested to me by your superiors that you and some of your men would be the ones for the job.”

“What sort of ‘special mission’, sir?”

“I cannot say unless you agree to participate in the mission. It is a need-to-know-only kind of mission and unless you sign on, you do not need to know. Anyway, I do not need your services right this minute, 1st Army does in taking out this city. Follow through with that and think about it. It will draw away from this front and the majority of your men. When you see me next, you will need to give me your answer.”

With that, the captain saluted and disappeared leaving Lucius to wonder if what had just happened had actually occurred. It was indeed a strange proposition and from someone he knew nothing of. Perhaps he should have asked the man’s name. Unfortunately, Lucius heard his name being called. He ran out and found his immediate superior, Lieutenant Silvanus.

“Sir?”

“Welcome Sergeant Lucius,” replied the Lieutenant. “Saddle up your men, we’re moving in on Gao again.”

“Without the reinforcements, Lieutenant?”

Silvanus shook his head and held up a hand. “Orders directly from General Claudius himself. 1st Army is to up from their positions and move on the city. He believes our bombardment has been enough to weaken for the final blow.”

Lucius nodded and saluted before disappearing to gather up his men.
 
Good writing so far. I am still interested in this story. WTG! :D
 
Nice story and one of those rare that tells about modern warfare. If only you could have maps it would be even better. the timescale is also a bit unrealistic but thats just civ :)
 
a ripping good yarn old boy!

Looking forward to any future updates, will the war in the east be turned?
 
This story is great! The use of overall historical facts with personal in game stories makes every paragraph worth reading. Good drama, and even some tearjerkers. Please update when you have the chance.
 
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