Decision at Tarentum

[unscratchedfoot]

The Project

"Mom, when are they going to let daddy go? He never did anything bad to anyone." Six-year-old Suzy had never understood why her dad left home 2 years ago. The italians, hopelessly behind in technology, had hired americans to join their secret research teams. Mussolini had spared no expense, spending 60% of the GNP on the underground labs. None of the scientists were allowed to leave the labs or talk to their families until the project was finished. In return they were promised lives of luxury for them and their families after completion.

"He'll come home anytime now, hon. Today we can see what he made!" Suzy's mom sounded re-assuring but her voice wavered with anxiety. Infront of them were the massive elevator doors which would emit the creation of many years of toil. The crowds were held back by thick walls of bullet-proof glass. Infront of the elevators was a hulk from a destroyed american sherman tank.

The crowd waited in nervous anticipation as security guards watched over. Cheerleaders handed out balloons to children. Then the elevator doors hummed as they slowly opened. The crowd went silent. Everyone gasped as the Mech Legionary walked out, shaking the ground with each step. Each arm contained a huge chain cannon. Some of the audience started to panic. Movies like Robocop gave robots a bad image. The announcer, a popular news announcer, assured everyone the robot had a human operator inside and the walls could stop bullets.

The mech was about 15 meters high and weighed 340 tons. It's mixed-alloy armour could stop any tank or infantry munitions. Equipped with 2x50mm chain cannons with 2000/4000/overload 8000 rpm fire selector speeds. It carried both uranium-depleted and jacketed munition types. It emitted a buzzing sound as the chain cannons targeted the sherman tank. It only fired for 2 or 3 seconds but the damage was horrific. The cacophony of ripping metal could be heard miles away. The tank was shredded and transformed into a jagged caricature. Ricochets took chunks out of the glass protecting the audience setting off a panic.


The Face-Off

"Kleist, tell us your plans for the deployment." Hitler sat rigid in his chair and the mood in the room was tense for everyone knew what would happen if Hitler didn't like Kleist's plan to invade Italy.

Just yesterday, Manstein, the most brilliant strategist in the german staff, the mastermind who planned the blitz's through England and the the arab nations, had his career cut short for being "defeatist". Manstein had planned for attacks all along the long border with the army's strength spread between all the attacks. It was to be coupled with an amphibious assault on 2 Italian harbours. His theory was that the germans up until then had always used concentrated armour attacks called "schwerpunkt" to crush their foes so now the italians were surely preparing to defend against such an attack. This new attack style would throw the inexperienced and obsolete italian army into confusion. The german divisions out-numbered the italians by a factor of 5 to 1 so the multiple attack points would drain the defenders of strength. Hitler exploded with rage saying there must be a schwerpunkt. It was the "proven way to win".

Kleist began, "My plan is to have 3 army groups. Army Group A under Heitz will attack in the east with 10 regiments of stormtroopers. Army Group B under Halder with 4 tiger tank and 6 stormtrooper regiments will attact in the center. Army Group C, the schwerpunkt, under Hube, Jodl, Haase, Raus and Paulus will attack in the west with 100 stormtrooper and 50 heavy armour regiments including elite tigers and all of the new tiger II's. The italians have only 20 obsolete tank and 3 cavalry regiments in reserve to face all this with."

Hitler looked intrigued and uncharacteristically quiet. Kleist continued, "My logic is, the italians will commit all of their limited reserves into stopping groups A and B. In the west the terrain has not been developed since we exterminated the english so the slower group C will get there just after groups A and B have already engaged the enemy. Under the fog of war they will never see us coming. Our special ops teams will make sure no one is in the area."

"What about the air force?"

"Stukas will bomb all transportation routes infront of groups A and B to contribute to tying-up the italian reserves. Me-262's will fly recon. The few italian fighters are so old the few serviceable ones will likely be too weak to take out a stuka."

Hitler responded, "Excellent. Initiate that plan immediately."

The farming people of Aurelianorum and Tarentum had no idea of the storm gathering just north of them.


In Rome, Mussolini gathered his generals in his war room. The room was splendidly decorated with legionary statues and pictures of Caesar. This display gave no justice to the sad shape of the obsolete army, neglected for decades. More appropriate would have been a room filled with dust and rusting antiques.

"Place all the tanks, mechanized infantry and calvalry on the border ready to invade Germany." Mussolini, obese from a life of luxury and corruption, pompously gave orders which baffled his generals.
His heart was set on re-establishing the roman empire as the prime super-power of the world. The mech legionary was his trump card.

"Supreme Lord, our reserves would be destroyed by the enemy's bombers and V-1 rockets. It would be better to keep them in a safe area. We have railroads leading everywhere to move them as necessary." Indus was the only experienced general in the war room who had fought in the coalition against the treacherous english.

"Why didn't you use a tiger tank hulk for the mech demonstration? It would have inspired the people to see it torn apart."

Indus answered,"Too few tigers were destroyed in the coalition's war against the english. Apparently the american sherman was much easier for the english to destroy. We only found 2 tiger hulks left on the battlefield and several dozen sherman hulks. The tiger hulks were already used during testing."

Mussolini didn't notice the subtle lesson contained in Indus's answer. "Hmmm. What is your plan for the mech legionaries?"

"Supreme Lord, they are necessary for defence but we don't have enough to put one in each city. They require much time and resources to build. The cities in the west will only be defended by grunts as an attack is not expected there. The enemy has vast numbers of elite heavy armour units. They are expected to mass their armour against one target area. Even the mech's may not be enough."

"Do I employ you as my advisor to tell me we will lose the impending war with Germany?" Mussolini's arrogance did little to help the advisors. "We will meet again tomorrow. You had better come up with a stategy other than to lose!"

But tomorrow would come too late.

 

[unscratchedfoot]

Thanks for taking time to read my story. I have plenty of game saves to post screen shots of each part of the story. I just need someone to tell me how to post a screen shot as I've never done it before. I want to show how big the german Army Group C actually is with all the leaders in it. Also, I edited the mech stats since the first writing so you might want to check them again.

 

[unscratchedfoot]

Cold War

They would surely come tonight again. The german special ops teams always came when there was no moon and often during heavy overcast when the moon was blocked from view. They had the advantage over the italian grunts not in only from their exceptionary training but mostly from the infrared scopes attached to their sniper rifles. The italians had no such technology and suffered dearly for it. The germans special forces had never left a single weapon behind, depriving the italians of the chance to reverse-engineer their technology.

Vanni was commander of the grunt platoons who were responsible for defending Italy's one and only rubber plantation. As luck would have it, the plantation was located exactly on the border with Germany in heavy jungle. Special ops teams could come over the border at night, hit the facilities and transportation network, kill anyone found and leave without being identified. Numerous workers had been killed by germans blowing-up their living quarters and from sniping.

The war, expected by all, had not started yet, but Germany was softening-up Italy with these unofficial attacks. The nazi regime denied any knowledge of these teams and described them as "unsettled guerilla terrorists left over from the arab nations".

Vanni's platoons had become hardened veterans from defending against numerous attacks. They had memorized the terrain and re-studied it daily. They knew how to hide from the infrared scopes by using water from nearby swamps to form muddy pools to hide in at night. All the approaches to the plantation facilities through the steamy jungle were booby-trapped. Engineers used electric circuits inside manequins from department stores which made a warm infrared target to fool the snipers into firing and giving away their positions.

Rome sent commandos equipped with image-enhancing goggles to help defend and despite their intense training they didn't have Vanni's platoons experience and scored few kills. They were inferior to the german special forces and lost many fire-fights. But Vanni's people never failed to defend the plantation and kept Italy's industry alive.

"Vanni, since we're going to be at war soon, why did Germany teach us the secret of longevity and how to cure cancer?" Antonio had worked on a farm before joining the army and knew little of modern politics.

"It was part of the deal to get our uranium. The germans also pay 250 international gold units a month to keep us supplying that uranium. Their using it to power their Krupp nuclear plants to make all their heavy tanks to steamroll us with." Vanni was replacing the foilage copiously covering his uniform making him look like a little tree.

"So how were they able to beat the americans, the tech leaders of the world, with those projects?"

"Well, do you know why Germany invaded the arab nations? They needed human ginea pigs. They experimented on the muslim prisoners they herded into their labs by the hundreds of thousands. That's why they only burnt down half their cities unlike the english whom they virtually made extinct."

Antonio cursed in disbelief as he attached the wire from a grenade to a palm tree.

"That's why when you see those germans coming through the wire you don't hesitate to light 'em up. You don't want your friends and family to go the same way. Just make sure you don't attach any o' them booby traps to a rubber tree or the foul-tempered plantation boss'll have some words for ya."


The London Scene

A thousand years before, the english had invaded a nearly defenseless Italy. The romans didn't have enough infantry regiments to put one in each city. The english burned down 3 cities and captured a fourth - Neopolis sparking a hatred of them which would never end. Then their worst nightmare began.

Caesar was quickly promoted to general commander of the armed forces. He pushed for the army to develop heavy armour and large shields coupled with a short stabbing sword. The legionary was far superior to the english swordsmen. Caesar backed them up with catapults and the combination was the optimal city-buster.

Caesar waited until a sizeable army of legionaries, archers and catapults had been recruited and trained before launching his campaign. Once prepared, the powerful army marched to Nottingham and after a preliminary catapult bombardment the legionaries easily captured the city. Caesar forbade his troops to enter the city after killing the defenders. He knew they would massacre the citizens in their lust for battle and revenge. Instead, he recruited a garrison, sent 300 hostages to Rome and then his army continued onto the capital, London.

At London, the scene was repeated. The legionaries spared no mercy for the evil english who had burned 3 roman cities and their innocent inhabitants. Some of their friends and family members had perished in those terrible fires. But Caesar again spared the citizens. Rome was a small country and needed the new cities. Also, London had 4 famous wineries which exported all over the globe and would boost Rome's weak economy. The english counter-attacked the city repeatedly but only managed to impale themselves on the impregnable roman defenses. One english general, leading a charge against the walls of London, was hit by a large ballista projectile which pinned him to his horse. The roman archers on top of the wall pouring arrows down on the doomed english swordsmen, cheered wildly at the heart-warming sight.

However, Italy's golden age soon ended. Caesar was over-whelmingly popular for being a tactical genius and superb leader. He fell victim to the jealousy of the muslims who longed to take over Italy which had blocked their expansion. They planned a war against Italy and knew Caesar was too strong a leader to oppose. They assassinated him by bribing a roman senator to do the dirty work. To make matters worse, the assassin not only survived, but was supported by many other senators who envied Caesar's rising power.

The arab nations' plans to invade Italy were cut short. The terrorism and threats the muslims carried out on their neighbours aroused the anger of the world and a coalition was formed to punish it. The long war which followed ended in annihilation for the muslims. Millions of muslims were butchered without mercy.

Meanwhile many romans had moved to London to work in the wineries. All the english workers were displaced. The english were only allowed to do hard labour while the romans did the high-pay white collar jobs. Roman and english citizens were segregated and not allowed to fraternize with each other. The new fascist regime which came about much later had an law enforcement militia known as the blackshirts. They copied the german brownshirt militia idea. The blackshirts patrolled the streets of London by walking in a row which extended across the street. Everyone had to get out of their way. English not working hard enough were beaten like rented mules. The english responded with a look-out system where one would watch from on top of a building and use hand signals to warn workers below of the coming blackshirts. The english were doomed to a hard life as a result of their ancestors' crimes.

 

[unscratchedfoot]

2 Bone-crushing battles coming up!!

Stay tuned for the vicious Battle of Lugdunam where german Army Group B slugs it out with the desperate italians. There will be another episode about a fire-fight in the rubber plantation where the crack german special forces take on Vanni's well-prepared, battle-hardened grunts in the jungle. Two match-up's you don't want to miss!

 

[das]

A screenshot?

 

[unscratchedfoot]

Originally posted by das
A screenshot?

Das,

Yes, I have saves to provide screenshots, but could you please give me some advise on how to post screenshots here.

 

[unscratchedfoot]

Before going on to the bloody Battle of Lugdunum, I should let you know the parameters I used to change the game into the story.

First off, I'm using a heavily modified version of civ3 to optimize the modern warfare aspect. I added scores of new units and changed the leaders of most countries. If any readers are interested I can provide sources. Many thanks to the brilliant creators in the unit graphics forum. I will provide a list of credits at the end of the story. Please note that some units are lacking, especially modern tanks so consider the tiger II, for example, to have modern upgrades like laser range-finders, etc.

Standard size map, big islands, 9 civs (8 ai + me), humid, conquest victory condition, patch 1.21f, monarchy difficulty setting.

Next is the unit conversion. The numbers of soldiers and tanks in my story are based on the following conversions:

1 foot soldier unit = 1500 soldiers
1 tank unit = 32 tanks (8 platoons)
1 plane/helicopter unit = a squadron of planes

For example, the italians have 20 tank units so this equals 640 tanks in the story. A tank unit with 6 hit points, damaged down to 3 has lost 16 tanks.

Humor content: low Mood: gravely serious
Gore: high (reader discretion advised)
Realism: high Language filter

The author has tried to write from neutral viewpoint, not favoring any type of government or war-time practices. If anyone wants screenshots I need someone to tell me the procedure, or you will miss out on seeing all the cool units and german armies.

 

[unscratchedfoot]

Calm Before the Storm

Halder observed his panzer's pre-battle preparation. Crews and mechanics swarmed like ants over their precious tanks checking every system knowing that a break-down during battle would make them an easy target. The troops cleaned their beloved MP-40s, and being new recruits, felt both the excitement and uneasy fear so typical before battle.

The battle was set to begin at 4:00 pm. This would add to the surprise because usually major attacks were conducted early in the morning when armies are on highest alert. Plus with darkness coming in a few hours, the hidden Army Group C in the west would be further protected from view while the italians ferried in reserves to Lugdunam all night. Manstein, several months before, had set up a system where the raw recruits would practice manoeuvers in the northern area of German territory where the italians had an incense colony. The "snivelling italians" had set it up after Germany had burned down all the muslim cities in the area - stealing what was rightfully german property. The italians perceived this as a military parade to try to "culture-flip" the people living there into joining the germans. They were fooled into thinking most of the german panzer divisions were stationed there - safely away from Italy.

In Berlin, Krupp factory workers were let off early to go see the battle on the pay-per-view channels. Most of them headed to the nearest pub to see it on the big screen. People packed into the pubs so the last ones had to stand on the sidewalk peering through the windows to catch a glimpse of the screen. Not a single car or pedestrian could be seen on the downtown streets. Such was the anticipation. Bets were made in the bars and pubs on whether the germans would actually take the metropolis of Lugdunum, one of the italian core cities, or retreat. The odds favoured the germans. The people trusted their great army.

In Lugdunum it was business as usual. There was no indication that anyone knew about the situation developing in the north.

"Faaaaaall in line!!" Back in the grasslands, just north of the strip of jungle which ran along the german-italian border, Sergeant Major Heinz organized the men and gave them the usual pre-battle prep speech. The speech out-lined their objectives and contingency plans as well as the procedures to be followed once Lugdunum had been taken. Halder listened, knowing he had the luxurious option to fall back if his division took too many casualties. He wondered what his chance was of taking Lugdunum. For this was only a diversionary attack, but if the city fell he would certainly be promoted and receive the Reich's favor. He was to ride in one of the leading tigers in the german tradition.

 

[unscratchedfoot]

The Battle of Lugdunum

The troops and tigers of Army Group B formed up and began crossing the grasslands leading to the jungle strip. Their total strength included 9000 troops and 128 tiger tanks - only a small representation of the powerful german armed corps, but it was all they could spare from the main attack. They had to go along the edge of jungle and then cross another field of grass to reach Lugdunum. The time was 1:00pm. With luck they could get past the jungle without being observed by the enemy who seldom bothered to patrol.

As they moved through the field the sun seemed to dim as if a cloud had covered it. Overhead, hundreds of stuka dive-bombers went to bomb the train tracks around Lugdunum to slow down the expected italian reinforcements. Anything of military value, including soldiers and tanks, was considered a target of opportunity. A handfull of shabby old italian fighters rose to meet them, but they brought down few stukas and lost many of their own. The ample air cover eased Halder's sense of foreboding somewhat.

Hitler, just as the stukas were passing into italian territory, declared war on the americans. He didn't even bother to inform the italians who must have realized it by that time on their own. The american president's answer to the ambassador was simple, "Well since there isn't anything more to discuss, we'll be getting down to business."

Then Halder's blood ran cold as he stood up in the hatch of his tiger. Over the growling of the tiger's engine came the sound, "thump, thump, thump..." The italians had gunships! What next would the slavish italians sponge off of the americans? But these attack choppers looked different from the apache. Perhaps they were an italian design.

The german tigers were halfway across the field when the gunships arrived to greet them. They fired american-designed hellfire missles into the weaker side armour of the tigers. The missles, upon impacting, punctured the metal and injected a pressurized thermol mix into the tanks which instantly baked the crew. The tanks then became like mini-volcanoes as they erupted and the turrets blew off.

After expending their missiles, the choppers moved on to the troops. The troopers fired back with their sub-machine guns. The few rounds which connected were easily deflected by the gunships' armour. Exposed and slow-moving, the soldiers made easy targets for the 20mm gatling guns. The big slugs lifted the soldiers off the ground where they jerked spasmodically as the rounds blasted through them leaving gaping holes in their trench coats. They then flopped back down on the ground like rag dolls - the finely uniformed stormtroopers reduced to piles of mangled flesh.

The gunships' moment of glory soon came to an end as Me-262 jet fighters swooped in and pumped long bursts of cannon fire into the relatively motionless choppers. The choppers exploded into flames and fell among the soldiers of whom many were beheaded or sliced apart by the rotors.

Back in Rome an emergency meeting in the war room was underway. "Hitler betrayed us! We were his closest ally!" Mussolini bellowed in despair. "Indus, send all the mech legionaries and reserve tanks to Lugdunum. This must be the schwerpunkt. This is our chance to crush his army." His eyes were wide with excitement and fear.

"Supreme Lord, we must be careful not to leave any cities undefended." Indus imagined that if he followed that order it would be like putting a big sign infront of their cities "Come and kill us" and having all the citizens wear t-shirts with bullseye designs on them. For the focus of the shwerpunkt had not yet been determined. This could just be a probing attack. After a sharp argument the generals managed to persuade Mussolini of a wiser defence.

Undeterred, the well-trained Wehrmacht troops continued on into the blessed cover of the jungle. Meanwhile the italian reinforcements allocated by Indus arrived by train, coming as close to the area as the they could given that the tracks were pocked-marked with bomb craters. Engineers worked furiously to do make-shift repairs on the tracks while stukas still rained bombs down and strafed them relentlessly. As the soldiers poured out of the trains, the stukas began their strafing runs. The specially designed whistles in their bent wings screamed like a siren. This, coupled with the sound of bullets zipping through the air and connecting on soft tissue, caused the green recruits to panic. Whole lines of them dropped as the storm of bullets cut them down. Finally the stukas left, leaving the area looking like a slaughterhouse. The attack lowered the soldiers' morale to near mutiny.

The transportation network now a smoking ruin, the italian troops and tanks made their way into the grassland north of Lugdunum to meet the german attack.

Halder and the tigers, having shaken off the gunship attacks, prepared to engage the italian forces. The time was 4:00 pm. The diligent planning had paid off for they were right on schedule despite the unexpected appearance of the gunships. The stormtroopers found cover in the edge of jungle over-looking the field. The tigers got in formation as they had practiced so often in training.

The italians formed-up on the field. They could muster 18,000 men and 320 tanks. The tanks made a long rectangle which allowed them a wide field of fire and the soldiers were behind the tanks also in a rectangular-like formation. They out-numbered the germans 2 to 1 in men and almost 3 to 1 in tanks, but one must appreciate the higher quality of the german units and significant expense that went into training and equipping these forces.

Nearly 30,000 men and 450 tanks faced each other on the battlefield. The tiger tanks started to charge up to the long line of italian tanks. Both sides opened fire in a crescendo of cannonfire. Halder, still standing-up in his hatch to inspire bravery among his men, noticed with disappointment how the tigers stopped in order to shoot. This was different from the elite tiger crews in divisions like Dietrich's legendary Leibstandarte who could fire and accurately hit targets while moving and maneuvering at the same time which resulted in astonishingly high kill ratios. Nevertheless, it seemed as if a wild fire went tearing down the line of italian tanks as they were each hit by the 88mm shells. The tiger shells easily punched through the weak armour and mushroomed inside the tanks. The chunks of red-hot, jagged metal cut through the crew members like a tomato in a blender, to finish-up by detonating the tanks' own ammunition in a fiery explosion sending the turrets into a series of sumersaults high in the air.

The italians returned fire furiously. However, their small calibre rounds didn't have enough hitting power to penetrate the tigers' thick hides. Their shells smashed against the front of the tigers jolting the metal beasts back on their suspensions and dazing the crews inside. A few of the inexperienced members suffered from such extreme shell-shock that they became incapacitated for the rest of the fight.

One such shell happened to pass just over-top of one of the leading tigers. The brave, but unfortunate Halder took the 75mm round full in the face. His head exploded like an egg being thrown against a reinforced concrete wall by a professional baseball pitcher. He was the first Wehrmacht general to die in combat.

As the two tank armies approached each other the range decreased and some of the german tanks began to sucumb to the enemy fire. Despite their inferiority in numbers, the germans held their ground and the burning hulks of italian tanks could be seen all over the field. The smoke of battle formed a haze over the field reducing visibility and giving both sides the chance to withdraw and lick their wounds.

The italian battalian leaders took advantage of the smoke screen to make an infantry attack against the germans on the edge of the jungle. The germans lay in wait in the wild grass among the palm trees with the their trusty MP-40s held cocked and ready. As the italians came out of the smoke screen towards the german position, caught out in the open field they were greeted with such a hail of machine-gun fire that all the men in the first 2 lines seemed to drop at the same moment. Seeing their comrades go down in scores the remaining italians were seized with fear and many dropped their weapons and tried to escape. A few of them kept their heads and dropped to one knee to try and put some rounds into the german position.

A german reporter crouched in the grass alongside the frontline stormtroopers. He was one of the cameramen whose job was to videotape the action for the pay-per-view TV stations back in Germany. The teams' videos were being shown live in the many pubs all across the country. Back in the bars the people screamed with delight as the hapless italians were gunned down in heaps. The cameraman swung the view along the german front line to see the troops reloading and firing as fast as they could. At that moment, the soldier nearest the cameraman took a bullet in the forehead and blood gushed out of the hole in his helmet as he went slump, temporarily hushing the cheering going on back in the bars.

As the surviving italians raced back to their lines, the MP-40s' fire became ineffective so troopers with modern rifles set their selectors to 3-shot bursts and continued shooting the escapees in the backs. It was a turkey shoot.

Then the massed artillery fire from the italians opened-up. Twelve batteries, having just detrained and deployed, rained heavy steel down on the gloating germans. Explosions turned the german position into a fiery nightmare and body parts could be seen flying through the air. Sergeant Major Heinz, satisfied with the damage dished-out on the enemy, took-over command and ordered a general withdrawal. The battle had lasted for 2 hours. Thus ended the first battle of the german invasion of Italy.

A pack of vultures circled over the battlefield waiting for the smoke to lift.

 

[spiky82]

Great story there! keep it up!!

btw, are you using BlueO gundam or powerarmor for the mech lengionary unit you mentioned?

 

[unscratchedfoot]

Spiky82,

Glad to hear you like the story. The mech legionary is actually the "Gatling Mecha" made by Kinboat. You can have a look at it in the unit graphics forum.


To all you gracious readers:

Next up will be America's response to Germany's armed aggression including a lovely boot camp scene. It'll be something worth waiting for! Have a great day y'all!

 

[unscratchedfoot]

Hello everyone. Cook-up some pop-corn, pull up a plush chair and pour yourself your favorite drink. Here's the latest episode in the Tarentum series for your enjoyment.


America was lucky to have an entire continent to itself. The round island was once shared with the japanese and russians, but despite America's peaceful stance it was forced to defend itself against its neighbors. Centuries before, Germany forged an alliance with America for the purpose of "mutual defense" as was originally intended by the american ambassadors, but Germany only wanted to get it's greedy hands on their technology, for America had always led the world in technology.

Germany organized a coalition first to eliminate the muslim terrorists and then to eradicate the henious english who had committed unspeakable atrocities upon the indian people which included such things as using child slave labor in construction to outright torture. America saw the justice in this crusade and provided military support along with Japan and Russia. The three countries had to transport their troops across the endless ocean to reach the huge round continent of Europe shared by the germans, italians, english and muslims.

The combined power of the coalition including Germany, America, Japan, Russia and Italy quickly snuffed out the two rogue nations but then a terrible darkness descended over the land. Germany, controlling far more territory than any other country, apparently had no interest in world peace, only wanting to eliminate anything interferring with their control over the sprawling continent. As soon as Coventry, the last bastion of the heathen english, had fallen, the powerful german armies fell upon the coalition forces. American, japanese, and russian troops were butchered to the last man by the battle-hardened, powerful new tiger divisions. Only the italians were spared mainly because 10% of their GNP was going to Germany disguised as an alliance but actually to keep Germany from wiping-out Italy on a whim.

The russian and american holdings, taken from the defeated nations, were over-run and all the inhabitants were sent off to the dreaded death camps. America tried to counter-attack by landing an army of sherman tanks led by the famous General Bradley. They had hardly rolled out of the transports onto the beach when a welcoming committee of ultra-elite tiger tanks led by Colonel Meyer quickly turned the lot of them into smoldering wrecks. Disgraced and helpless to avenge their comrades still rotting in the death camps, America agreed to peace with Germany after agreeing to remove the burnt-out sherman hulks left after Bradley's disasterous landing which were said to be "polluting valuable german beachfront property".

Meanwhile the russians, led by the carnivorous Stalin, became frustrated with their limited territory and sought more "living space". They deliberately provoked America, then totally unprepared for war, into a fight to impose Stalin's will across the land. An american border patrol was ambushed and forced to surrender to a battalian of russian infantry. The luckless yanks were tied by ropes to jeeps and dragged through the streets of Moscow until they died. The scene was broadcasted on russian TV channels to a cheering nation, setting off a "We love the dictator" celebration. The US embassy there quickly sent videos of the footage to President Bush.

After the sorrowful news was announced in all cities and the video clips featured on NBC nightly news, the once peaceful americans rose up in united rage. The draft was imposed and an army of marines and grunts was quickly recruited. The americans had the advantage in technology while the russians had the numbers advantage.

The war stalemated for many years as Japan provided technological assistance to Russia to even the odds. Bush politely requested the japanese to stop supporting russia, which infuriated Hirohito and sparked the beginning of the Japan-USA war. After Hirohito declared war, Bush made the forever beloved speech declaring, "We make no distinction between russians and those who support the russians. We're gonna kill them all."

The americans at first had trouble fighting the japanese imperial marines who excelled in jungle warfare. They could fight like guerillas using hit-and-run tactics neutralizing the enemy's advantage in modern bombers like the sophisticated Stealth Bomber and the deadly Apache gunship. The USA, masters of adaptation, focussed their research on this and came out with the agent orange solution. This chemical was dropped by bombers over the jungle to kill all the vegitation. Although this sparked endless environmental demonstrations infront of the White House complete with rock-throwing and teargas, it effectively reduced Japan's defensive capability.

After finishing taking-over all the japanese cities it became obvious that agent orange caused adverse reactions in all the soldiers from both sides who were in the affected areas. The US scientists, ever ready for weapon advancement, took advantage of this news and decided to modify the agent orange to kill people (as well as vegetation or anything else for that matter). Russian and japanese POWs were experimented on to perfect this new weapon. The chemical was loaded onto ICBM's replacing the nuclear warheads. The logic was the nuclear missiles did too much structural damage to cities, which coupled with radiation, made them worthless to take-over but the AO ICBM's left buildings virtually unscathed with an effective kill.

These new missiles were used against the as yet undefeated russians with chilling effect. Millions of "evil communists" as they were often referred to as, fell in an agony of gagging, screaming and burning flesh. The americans then moved-in on their cities meeting very little resistance. The marines planned for a little jeep towing game of their own, but Stalin and his cronies apparently had fallen victim to the "orange death" (the russian term for it).

The orange sludge formed a thick coating all around the russian cities which took many years of russian labour to clean-up. By the time the cities were finally made livable again, the americans had pretty much forgotten the war and lived in harmony with the both the japanese and russians citizens many of whom even volunteered to join the US army. They were allowed to become US citizens and Congress provided much funding to build up their cities and lands.

Now again, Germany had forced America to end its era of peace and abundant growth and join in the making of war. The draft was passed by Congress and tens of thousands of young yanks reluctantly headed to the local recruitment offices. The memories of Bradley's landing still burning in their minds.


Boot Camp

America had always stood up for the freedom and rights of the individual. Countless laws which could only be reasonably well understood by lawyers and judges were passed to help protect those rights. Every morning school children across the continent pledged allegiance to the flag which was dedicated to upholding the individual right to live as they wanted.

Unfortunately not everyone in America was so well respected.

"YOU MAGGOTY HEAP OF DOG TURD!!" The Sergeant Major, known as "Bulldog" behind his back, screamed an inch away from Jay's face spraying it copiously with spit. It was roll call and Bulldog was inspecting everyone's uniform. His massive lower jaw and hulking physique had earned him is nick-name. He would become enraged with the slightest defect in the new recruits uniforms - a wrinkle in a shirt or stub of a hair missed while shaving was enough to set him off. Jay for some reason could never get it right and suffered terribly for it every morning.

Craig, waiting next in line, silently wondered about the army sergeants' infatuation with maggots and dog turd. When the draft was instituted he practiced jogging and spent long hours standing at attention and saluting in a mirror before signing up for recruitment. However it never prepared him for the Bulldog experience. He was just thinking of a comedy routine to make about this when Bulldog's scowling face suddenly appeared just a few centimetres infront of his.

Bulldog had finished beating Jay and was looking over Craig's uniform with an expression of pure disgust. Despite waves of fear flowing through him, Craig was confident he had done an excellent job of preparing his uniform today and stood looking straight forward as expected.

Then Bulldog's bloodshot, glowering, sadistics eyes looked straight into Craig's. "You know you got cotton on yer uniform, soldier?" Craig's face went white with raw terror. It was spring and the cottonwood trees outside were blooming - sending little tufts of white cotton floating through the air. One such tuft must have attached itself onto Craig's impeccable uniform while he was walking over from the mess hall.

"Sir, no sir!"

"Are you calling me a liar, soldier?"

"Sir, no sir!" Craig was starting to tremble.

"You mangy little beast. You've been #%$@ing sheep again haven't you?"

'Again?' thought Craig, 'how did he know about...' There was no time to think now. "Sir, no sir!"

On the other side of the room in the row facing across from the doomed Craig stood Paul Falvo. Paul had worked as airport security officer, and with the extermination of the muslims and english, he had had an easy time as almost no terrorism was going on anymore. The draft had come at a bad time for him. Listening to Bulldog's sheep joke, he could barely keep from exploding with laughter at the absurdity of someone so fowl and bitter making a funny joke. Holding in the fit of laughter with Bulldog's back to him, he accidentally emitted a tiny squeak/grunt in his personal little struggle to keep quiet.

Bulldog spun around with the look of a predator. A jolt of fear went surging through Paul as if he had stuck a fork into an electrical outlet. The natural urge to laugh had instantaneously been transformed into indescribable horror.

"Private Falvo, GET OVER HERE!!!"

Paul sprinted up to Bulldog and Craig at a speed that would have made Ben Johnson jealous.

"Private Falvo you will punish this disgusting, little, mangy sheep @&$%er!!"

Paul's eyes were wide with every negative emotion available to a human being. He didn't want to hit Craig who he had just become friends with in the last few days. He punched Craig in the stomach at half strength hoping Craig wouldn't hold it against him later.

Although Craig's face indicated it wasn't the nicest sensation he'd ever felt, especially compared to his favorite hobby of having hefty woman in high heels walk over his back, Bulldog was not impressed. "WHAT WAS THAT? A LOVE TAP!?! My mother hits me harder than that when she's trying to make me burp!"

Paul hauled back and pounded Craig in the face, snapping his head back, making a loud, sickening smack. Bulldog, finally satisfied, continued on to terrorize the other recruits.

Meanwhile the rest of America braced themselves for the coming war. Italy was not expected to hold out for long and then the full weight of Germany would fall on the US. Sooner, rather than later, America had to take a stand against the powerful Wehrmacht.

 

[unscratchedfoot]

Year 1792
This picture shows the german parade which tried to coerce the italian northern incense "colony" (such a tiny town) into joining Germany. Notice the 2 infantry, Italy's finest, hoping to deter the masses of germans. This demonstrates Italy's obsolete tech. If you have a look at the world map you can see the situation just after the purge of the muslims by the coalition. The settlements in this picture were established in the wake of the purge. Soon after this, the coalition wiped-out the english.

America green
Germany dark blue
Italy grey
Russia red
Japan mustard yellow
English light brown

 

[unscratchedfoot]

Here is the last stand of the english against the coalition at Canterbury. You can see the german tigers and tiger IIs on the left and in the middle are some american mech inf's and a heavily damaged sherman tank. Canterbury is on the far right. The small map shows the devastation of england's territory which was subsequently settled mostly by the italians.

 

[unscratchedfoot]

This is the monstrous Army Group C which suddenly appeared out of the fog in the virtually undefended western italian sector. The 2 tiger IIs which are damaged got hit by air strikes. You can see the mech legionaries over to the right defending core cities. There weren't enough of them to go around for defence so the western towns have only 1 or 2 grunts in each. Not too good'a odds for their survival. The italians hope to stop that horde at Tarentum which will soon be turned into Italy's strongest fort and result in the biggest battle in history.

Meanwhile, if you look at the mini-map, you can see that America has finished off the russians and are left with their own little continent.

 

[unscratchedfoot]

It's time to remove this transcript from my desk as it doesn't seem to be sparking much interest. I'll finish the game off myself (let me tell you that you are going to miss out on some really cool action). If anyone sees this would you mind leaving a note about how I can make my next story better. For example, which parts of this story were ok and which wouldn't be fit even to use as toilet paper in a campground outhouse. If you leave me useful comments I can cook-up a good story to entertain you with.

 

[das]

Wow! Exellent story! Exeleltn Screenshots!

 

[spiky82]

man, unscratchedfoot, you gotta finish it man...take comfort from number of people who views the story...not all people who like the story like me post...they just view the story, think that it's a very nice one, then they view another one...

 

[das]

Continue please!

 

[unscratchedfoot]

Sliding into the Rubber

Vanni and Antonio were on guard in Italy's one and only rubber plantation the night of the initial German invasion. The wounded from the freshly fought Battle of Lugdunum were still lying moaning on the battlefield when the next drama of the war got into gear... or more appropriately... got in the rubber.

The rubber had been fully 'lubricated' as Vanni liked to quip, which was his way of saying the rubber plantation was set up to look like easy pickings for the German special ops attackers, but in truth, it held an insidious venereal disease within it. That disease would infect anyone who slid into the plantation with copious varieties of booby traps, ambush positions, and deceptions.

"Hey dude, quit slapping the yam and get it together. I think something's going down out on the permeter."

Vanni and Antonio were on guard that night when the first booby trap went off, followed by screams from the stricken intruders. Machinegun fired went into full effect as the Roman commandos defending the perimeter opened up on the invading German special ops. The firing continued for about an hour. Then it suddenly stopped. This was usual and Vanni knew exactly what was going on. The infrared-equipped Germans had finished snuffing out the inferior Roman commandos position by position and were sliding into the middle of the rubber. Like doing it unprotected with a Thai whore, the Germans would now be terrified cause they didn't know what they were getting into. This was no ordinary firefight; the very core of their manhood was exposed and vulnerable. What kind of horrors awaited them in the slimy darkness of the swamp?