The Wrath of Uctkrieg:- Breaching the Maginot Line( Based on an Original Idea by SovietLUT)
Posted: Tue Sep 26, 2023 9:09 am
This is the start of a new series based on a collaboration between my dearest friend and fellow writer SovietLUT and myself on Discord. Set in an alternate history WW2, the small but proud fascist principality of Uctkrieg seeks to right the wrongs of the War of Transgression. In 1921 through to 1923, the French invaded and seized vast areas of Uctkrieg including the ancient Uctkriegian city of Müllheim in the fall of 1922. What followed was a fascist rising which ousted the old Duke and the ruling noble council, installing Captain Uwe Langsdorf as the world's first and only fascist female chancellor. Her mandate to restore Uctkriegian national pride, to take back what is rightly theirs resonating with both the people and the military. What followed was a massive rearmament program, with innovative new weaponry designed by genius gunsmith Maxim Dressler, to prepare Uctkrieg for its day of reckoning with France. Now with France and her allies thrown into chaos following the German Invasion through the Ardennes, Uctkrieg stands ready to invade France but one thing stands in their way. Three redoubts of the Maginot Line. But Uctkrieg as a bold and cunning plan to ensure victory, and needs capable soldiers like Soldaten Liesel Dressler and the women of Squad C of the 25th Infantry Regiment, the fabled Black Boars. This is their story...
Uctkriegian Landswehr Forward Operation Base, near the Maginot Line. May 10th 1940 08:00am
She felt the truck hit another rock, as she wrote a letter to her father, but it didn't phase Soldaten Liesel Dressler as she erased the gash left by the pencil and continued to write. " Who's that for? Your sweetheart? You know they are going to censor that, anyway." Asked a young female soldier next to her, Liesel paused in her writing and appraised her. She was a pretty little thing, no older than Liesel with short ash blonde hair done under the grey black feathered cap, with a single brass U pinned in the centre. They both wore the uniforms of the Uctkrieg Landswehr, matching grey battledress with the symbol of the fascist party on their left breasts, a stylised winged U which matched their caps, the symbol of the Black Boar of the fabled 25th Infantry Regiment, rearing proudly on their left shoulders. Black jackboots on their feet. Belted at the waist with black combat webbing, that housed their field canteens, bayonet and ammo pouches for their new Dressler Gewehr 38 Armburst semi automatic rifles, with side mounted 10 round box magazines. One of a collection of arms made by her father, the armourer of the nation. Liesel herself had a modified sniper variant, with a ×8 scope and a prototype iron sight mounted at a 90 degree angle, she had designed herself. Liesel flashed a smile at the young soldier. "I'am not that blessed. It's for my father, Maxim. I'am Liesel Dresser." The young soldiers eyes widened in surprise, as the other young men and women let out low whistles.
" Wow! It looks like we have a celebrity amongst us!" Cried an older woman, a Sergeant as indicated by her three inverted chevrons on her right sleeve, as she stood up holding onto the roof of the truck to stabilise herself, holding her Dressler Model 1937 Submachine gun, with its distinctive long magazine and select fire mechanism, another innovation of her father's. "The Armourer of the Nation!" Yelled one excited soldier. "With these weapons, we will make the French shit their pants." Replied the Sergeant. "Gute blut lügt nicht! Everybody cried the party chant, holding one fist in the air. The young soldier held out her hand. "Eva Bachmann, from Lentz." Liesel took the girl's hand, shaking it before returning to her letter. At 21, Liesel was a looker with sculptured cheekbones heart shaped features, and almond shaped turquoise eyes. Framed by shoulder length auburn hair, tied back into a curled ponytail. A sudden jolt of the truck stopping brought Liesel back into the present. " Alright, meine Daimer und Heeren. Shake your legs and fall out, on the double." The Sergeant ordered, as Liesel secreted the letter into her tunic pocket, shouldered her rifle and as soon as the tailgate opened, leapt out of the truck into the light.
As Liesel leapt from the truck, she heard the squelch of mud on her pristine black jackboots. She steadied herself as she turned to see young Eva leapt tentatively from the truck, stumbling hard as she hit the soft wet mud hard, Liesel rushed to her side to hold her to keep her from falling face first into the morass. "Stupid little Jew girl, can't keep an even footing. Useless!" Sniggered one passing soldier to his friend. The other man laughed back, fixing Eva with a sneer. "Our Keine Hauptmann should just round them up, like Herr Hitler does." Liesel turned to him, shooting him a digusted look. "She is every bit as Uctkriegian as you and I, bastards. Show some respect!" The two men simply shook their heads, as they walked away. Although Liesel could have sworn she heard them call her a "Jew lover." Eva smiled at Liesel as she straightened herself up. " Thank you, Liesel. I wouldn't have expected that from you, it's much appreciated." Liesel still held her gently as she looked into the pretty soldiers deep blue eyes. " Your welcome Eva, we are all Uctkriegians first. United by blood, even if some arschloche forget that." She said raising her voice to the direction of the two men. "Alright, arses and elbows troopers! Fall in for inspection and assignment! On the double! " Came the cry of the Sergeant as she called them to order. Eva smiled warmly to Liesel, as she patted the Jewish soldiers shoulder, before they both turned falling into parade line.
Liesel heard the rumble of Czech Panzer 38t tanks in the distance as she stood at parade rest, catching sight of the flags of Uctkrieg fluttering above the Forward Operating Base. The flag of the fascist party, a stylised winged U in black over a white circle in a red background, flew proudly next to the old purple and white cheque flag of the old duchy. Liesel felt pride well in her breasts as she saw both flags fly proudly in the distance. " Alright, never have I seen such a display of Uctkriegian youth! The French should be quaking in their perfumed boots!" The Sergeant's joke drew in a collective laughter from the assembled throng as the Sergeant continued her speech. "You see that in the distance!" The Sergeant pointed to the three redoubts of the Maginot Line, the imposing concrete fortification that spanned the length of the German Border to the north and the Uctkriegian to the south. " The French believe it impregnable, they mean to keep us from the land of our forebears. Let's prove them wrong. Remember Müllheim! Gute blut lügt nicht!." The assembled platoon echoed the cry, Liesel especially as she remembered her mother, a brave Corporal who died in the now infamous Langsdorf Rear Guard, those of the 25th Regiment who died defending Müllheim to the last. The Sergeant held her arms out to quiet the throng. " All right, simmer down. I have your assignments. Well I have a note here, Bachmann, Dressler! Report to Leutnant Helga Volkner of Squad C, Scout Recon for further orders. You can find her by the tunnel entrance, near the Command Post." Liesel shared a look of surprise with Eva as they fell into step besides each other. "Scout Recon? I have never heard of them." Said Eva as they walked out of the line towards the command post. " I have heard they are a new formation. Their leaders are handpicked by Chancellor herself. I wonder what this is about?" Replied Liesel as they walked away from their platoon, the Sergeant's booming voice receding into the distance.
" So is the tunnel secure? Is the operation ready to proceed?" Asked Colonel Naimer as they stood opposite the tunnel, watching the men and women of the 352nd Field Engineers coming out of the tunnel pickaxes resting on their shoulders. "Yes, Colonel! I'am just waiting on the last two members of the strike team, then I will be ready to proceed." Saluted Leutnant Helga Volkner as she glanced over to the other two women, Trudl Zuckerberg and Madga Zimmer who made up her strike force. The middle aged Colonel returned the salute. " Very good, Helga. Soon we shall banish the ghosts of Müllheim, and take back what the French stole from us." Naimer laid a fatherly hand of Helga's shoulder. "Remember at exactly 09:00am, I will lead the 25th, 101st Infantry and 1st Armoured Corps in a diversionary assault on the Line. That should buy you enough time to attack from below, and breach the line." Helga nodded as Naimer repeated the plan General Langsdorf had put in motion, so very long ago. A plan the troops had called "Langsdorf's Revenge". The Colonel released his hand from her shoulder, saluted again and left her to her thoughts. At 40 years old, Helga Volkner was a career soldier she had served in the Ducal forces in the 25th Infantry Regiment, during the First Frano-Uctkreigian War, or more commonly known as the War of Transgression. She was one of the few who had retreated from Müllheim, on the dark day of the 15th October 1922, whilst Langsdorf held the line with a quarter of the Regiment. Helga had lost many dear friends that day, not least amongst them her best friend Freida Dressler. She could still picture the tearful goodbye, she gave her husband Maxim and the oath she made to Freida, to watch over her daughter Liesel. "Enschuldidung, Frau Leutnant Volkner?" A familiar sounding voice snapped her back to her present, as she saw two young soldiers approach her, one blonde the other with short auburn hair. Helga did a double take, when she saw Liesel Dressler, she was a spitting image of her mother. Taking a deep breathe, Helga turned to greet the new arrivals as they each flashed her a salute. "Privates Liesel Dressler and Eva Bachmann reporting for duty, ma'am."
"At ease." Both soldiers stood at ease as Leutnant Volkner appraised them. She was a beautiful woman, who hadn't lost her youthful good looks despite her age, with high cheekbones rounded features and cunning brown eyes. Her raven coloured hair tied into a bun under her feathered cap. Liesel noted the Dressler Sturm revolver, a six cylinder revolver with a unique shotgun under barrel, holstered at her hip. This was standard issue for many Uctkrieg NCO's and officers. "So I ask for two more additions for my tunnel strike team and they send me two riflemen." She shook her head in disbelief. "Where is the sense, in that?" Liesel turned her attention to the tunnel entrance to their right. "We are going to attack the Maginot Line, from underground. Where they would least expect it." She said impressed, as Helga nodded in agreement. "We will strike at the heart at what makes them French, their pride. You two catch on quick, walk with me and meet your fellow infiltrators." For a second, Liesel thought she saw a knowing look in the eyes of the Leutnant as they fell into step, beside her. " Welcome to Operation Langsdorf's Revenge."
"What the hell am I going to do with a rifle, inside a tunnel?" Shrugged Trudl Zuckerberg as she put down a Gewehr 38 rifle, back onto the rack. She raised an eyebrow at her best friend, the pretty Magda Zimmer who was holding a M1937 submachine gun. "What? It's going to be close quarters." Replied the short chestnut haired soldier, flashing a wan smile. Shaking her head, Trudl picked up a M1927 Sledgehammer Triple Barrelled shotgun. "Exactly!" She said brandishing the weapon under her face. "Put that down, Sergeant! This operation calls for stealth, and speed. We don't want to bring the entire French Army down on our heads!" The honey blonde sergeant hurriedly replaced the shotgun on the table, as she heard the voice of Leutnant Volkner who came into view with two other female soldiers, one an ash blonde the other an auburn haired girl with a heavily modified Gewehr 38 sniper slung on her shoulder. "Meet your final two team members. Soldaten Eva Bachmann..." Volkner gestured first to the blonde, who nodded nervously then to the redhead "...and Liesel Dressler." Madga's mouth opened as she did a double take. " Mein Gott, your her! The heir to the Dressler name, I'am such a fan of your father's work!" She said, approaching Liesel holding out her hand, as Trudl rolled her eyes smiling. " Thanks, I will be sure to pass on your regards." Liesel flashed her a surprised smile, as she shook her hand. "Alright, you can get her autograph later corporal. Right now we need to gear up, we are wheels up in 45 minutes." Volkner picked up her prototype MKar automatic rifle, a uniquely designed weapon with its magazine behind the trigger, loading a magazine and sighting the weapon as to emphasise her point.
30 minutes later
Now fully equipped and ready, the strike force proceeded into the tunnel to cheers of the soldiers around them some of them clapped them on the shoulders as they passed. There were also cries of "Good luck!" and "Give them hell!" from the engineers as they neared the breach point, Volkner exchanged a nod with the two engineers who hefted two pickaxes waiting for the order. "Frau Leutnant." The leftmost engineer, a young woman her face blackened with soot and dark brown hair saluted her. " We have reached the outermost wall of the bunker, the concrete here is thin and should be easy to breach with our picks alone." She whispered, being careful not to betray their presence. Volkner returned the salute, as she nodded in reply. "What can we expect on the other side?" The young engineer wiped off some sweat from her brow, before she answered. "We have heard female voices from the other side of the wall, I think you will emerge in the womens barracks." Volkner smiled as the engineer gave her report. " Very good, corporal. Proceed with the breach, we will keep you covered. Once my team is through, board it up behind us. We cannot risk the enemy discovering our entrance and outflanking us." The two engineers flashed quick salutes as they got to work. Volkner turned back to her team. "Remember, either use your hands or knives to the throat or headshots if you are a good shot. We need the uniforms clean and relatively unbloodied, understood?" The rest of the team nodded their affirmatives, as Volkner turned to Zuckerberg. "Trudl, you and I are the only ones that speak French, we will take point. Between that and the uniforms, we should get to the central magazine and blow this place sky high." Trudl flashed her quick smile, as the team covered the breach point as the engineers forced the breach. After a tense eight minutes, the team stacked up, with Volkner leading the team into the barracks beyond.
Corporal Anaïs Rousseau, rose from her bunk disturbed by what she thought was the sound of knocking from the wall. Of course such a thing was highly unlikely, the Maginot Line was a symbol of French Superiority over her enemies, particularly Germany and Uctkrieg. Nobody would dare to attack them here. Anaïs sighed, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to check. Better safe than sorry. shaking her head, trying to shake off the feeling of Paranoia, Anaïs glanced at the four other women of her section. Privates Chloe Renaud, Francine Dubois, Camille Desjardins and Marie Valois, deciding not to rouse them. They had all come off a long night of sentry duty, and we're all dog tired. They were all dressed in typical french army uniform which consisted of a blue field tunic, belted at the waist with black combat webbing, red trousers and black jackboots. With matching tasseled side caps perched on their heads. Yawning widely, Anaïs walked towards the sound. At 23, Anaïs had been stationed at the Maginot Line for nearly 8 months. She was a looker with slender cheekbones rounded features and pale blue eyes, her dark brown hair done up in bunches under her side cap. As she walked to the source of the mysterious knocking, Anaïs blinked to see two young women dressed in white under vests and Uctkriegian grey field trousers, patching up a hole in the wall. They froze as soon as they saw her, fixing her with an iron stare. But as she opened her mouth to alert the others, Anaïs felt a hand clamp over her mouth from behind her and suddenly wrenching her head to the side. The French corporals neck snapped with an audible crack, that failed to rouse her sleeping section. As she slumped into her attackers arms, the last thought that crossed Anaïs' mind before her death was how wrong she was.
Helga lowered the dead french soldier to the ground, as she turned to the rest of the strike force. "This one as rank and she is my size. Split up two by two, eliminate the others before they wake and take their uniforms. We must be swift, the attack will begin in 15 minutes. Move out." She whispered as the rest of the strike team, nodded separating into as they followed her orders. Helga stripped off her uniform as she knelt by the dead woman, and begun to undress her. She removed the dead woman's hat, boots and webbing before she started to unbutton the woman's tunic, slipping the garment from her shoulders revealing a white cotton slip covering a pair of C-cup breasts. Helga unfastened the dead soldiers trousers, working them off her hips peeling them down her legs. Standing over the dead woman, clad only in her short white slip and high waisted briefs, Helga dressed in her stolen uniform as she heard four muffled crump's from around the corner.
Liesel along with Eva took the two french soldiers closest to the left hand wall as Trudl and Madga, who was shouldering a bag full of TNT, went to the the right hand side. As Liesel readied her rifle, she noticed Eva pause slightly as they stood over the young french soldier, a pretty blonde girl with gentle features, sleeping soundly in her bed. "She is young, not much older than us." She whispered as caressed the pillow underneath the soldiers head. Liesel laid an hand on Eva's shoulder, looking into her soft brown eyes. "They are the enemy, Eva. She wouldn't hesitate if it were us. Remember Müllheim. Gute blut lügt nicht." The sound of a muffled gunshot from behind them seemed to emphasised her point, as Eva took a deep breathe steeling herself. She nodded as she quickly shoved the pillow over the soldiers face, before Liesel took her rifle firing a single shot into it. The soldier slumped in her bunk dead, as Eva removed the pillow. Without seeing their handiwork, they moved onto the next soldier this one a beautiful short haired brunette executing her in the same manner. One final muffled crump from behind them signalled the death of the last soldier. "Alright, pick one and strip her then regroup with the Leutnant. Make it quick, we are on a schedule." Said Sergeant Trudl Zuckerberg, as she shouldered her M1937 SMG, dragging one of the women off her bunk and onto the floor. Liesel had picked the first soldier she and Eva had executed pulling the woman from her bed. After she stripped off her uniform, Liesel quickly undressed the dead soldier putting on the woman's uniform. Within five minutes, the four members of the strike team stood over the scantily clad bodies of the dead french soldiers, fully dressed in their stolen uniforms as Leutnant Volkner rounded the corner, dressed in the corporals uniform. " Well done, we are 5 minutes ahead of schedule." Volkner said as she consulted her watch. "Get these bodies stashed in their bunks, and grab some French weapons. We will need them to sell these disguises. Let's go, on the double!" Without standing on ceremony, the strike team concealed the stripped corpses in their bunks, cocooning them inside their sheets. When they were finished, the team helped themselves to french MAS 38 rifles and donned french Adrian helmets before they gathered around Volkner, who had also helped herself to a blue greatcoat. "Now we look the part. Remember let me and Trudl do the talking, and be ready. We now need transportation then it's on to the redoubts magazine. The attack should be.." Suddenly the sound of a siren reverberated throughout the room, Volkner nodded her head. "... Well that's our cue, let's go. Gute blut lügt nicht!." The team echoed the party mantra, as they left the barracks behind.
The underground tunnel was an hive of activity, as the group now disguised walked towards a checkpoint pausing only to let an underground railcar, laden with french soldiers, shoot past towards the front lines. The diversionary attack was well underway. At the check point where two french soldiers, one male the other female, who both turned when they saw the group approaching. " You there! Corporal! Get your section to the line, now! The Uctkriegians have finally mustered the courage to attack." Ordered the soldier to the left, a sergeant who shot Magda a quizzical look. " What's in the bag, soldier? Take it off and show me." He said as the female soldier tensed, brought her rifle up cycling the blot. Volkner flashed the sergeant a quick salute. " You see sergeant, in that bag is Langsdorf's Revenge." Before the two confused soldiers could react, Volkner drew her Sturm revolver gunning both soldiers down in quick succession with practiced shots to the head. "Get the bodies out of sight, we are getting ourselves some transportation." Volkner holstered her revolver, as Liesel and Eva dragged the corpses out of sight into the shadows. With the corpses hidden, the group manned the checkpoint waiting for an underground railcar. After five minutes headlamps pierced the gloom of the tunnel, a railway carriage approached the checkpoint. Liesel could make out 4 soldiers sat in the carriage, 2 men and 2 women the car shuddered to a halt as Volkner walked out in front holding up a hand. "What seems to be the problem, corporal? We are on our way to the line, the Uctkriegians are making a push." Called out the soldier manning the control column, a young female corporal, as Volkner and Trudl approached the carriage taking up positions on either side. "We have had reports of infiltrators in the tunnels, our orders are to search anybody on their way to the front lines." The corporal shot a nervous glance to her fellow soldiers, before she turned to back to Volkner. "Infiltrators, here?! I assure you Sergeant, we are all loyal soldiers here." The corporal saluted Volkner, as the lieutenant flashed her one back. "The thing is, corporal, it's us we're the infiltrators." Before the young corporal and her squad could react, Volkner quickly drew her revolver shooting the young corporal through her head as Trudl opened fire on the male soldier next to her, killing him with a single shot. Within seconds, Liesel and Eva had also picked off the last two soldiers in the rear of the tram with their stolen MAS rifles, Liesel displaying unerring accuracy despite the gloom of the tunnel. "Good work strike team. Now let's get to the magazine, we don't know if anyone else heard those shots and our troops are counting on us." Volkner said clapping her hands together, as the strike team pulled the corpses of the French soldiers out of the tram concealing their bodies in the shadows. Once they were finished, the team got into the tram as Liesel got behind the control column of the tram. "Punch it, Dressler. Let's get this done." Liesel nodded as she pulled the control lever, the tram lurched forwards deeper into the tunnels underneath the Maginot Line.
A mile above the surface, the Maginot Line. The French-Uctkregian Border 08:30am
Tank commander Frida Wulff cringed in horror in the cramped confines of her Panzer 38t "Lone Wolf", as she heard another scream over her radio the sound of another tank in her platoon destroyed by the guns of the Maginot Line. More son's or daughter's of Uctkrieg silenced, it was the third of her tanks in the last 10 minutes scrapped. Their initial thrust, a combined force for armour and infantry, served only as a diversion to buy the strike team time to breach the Maginot Line from within. Frida wished they would hurry up about it, she thought as she adjusted her headset. "Wulff, to wolf pack over. Let's fall back onto the ridge and provide the infantry with covering fire. Let's see if we can't thin out these machine guns, while we stay out of range of the main guns, copy?" A chain of affirmatives rang out in her ear, as Frida glanced to her friend and driver Holmann. "Get us to the ridge, Dagna. Out of the range of those guns." Dagna nodded as she gunned the engine. "With respect, Frida. What if the strike team as been taken out?" Her gunner/loader Kleiner, a young girl of 19, also shot her a nervous look. Frida shot them determined glances as she rallied her crew. "We must keep faith with the plan. We will recover what the French stole from us, and the strike team will become heroes of the nation. Steel yourselves, sisters! Glut blut lügt nicht!" The party chant, appeared to calm their nerves as the tank drove towards the ridge. Subconsciously, Frieda reached for the cross that hung around her neck praying for the success of the strike team.
Magazine 05, the Uctkrieg border redoubt. The same moment
It took the strike team 10 minutes to reach their target, the sounds of the battle on the surface echoing above them. They encountered few soldiers on the way there, the diversionary attack having succeeded in drawing them away. As the team dismounted from the tram, they observed a couple of french soldiers loading a tram with shells facing the other way towards the line. Volkner turned to her team. " Dressler, Trudl. Take them out quickly and quietly. Use your disguises and your knives." Liesel and Eva slung their rifles to their shoulders, as they approached the young french soldiers women with dirt covered faces. Liesel flashed her mark, a girl with dark black hair and green eyes, a smile. "Salut. Pourquoi n'es-tu pas devant?" A look of confusion washed over the soldiers face, as Liesel simply shook her head as she placed herself behind the soldier, as Eva did the same with her mark. Then before the two soldiers could react, Liesel and Trudl clamped their hands over the soldiers mouths as they stabbed them with their bayonets. Liesel could see the look in the eyes of her victim, a mixture of confusion and betrayal as she lowered the dying girl to the floor. Looking over to Trudl, who had already begun to drag her soldier into the shadows, Liesel picked up the brunettes corpse dragging it close behind. When they were finished, Volkner approached them. "Well done, Madga..." She said turning to the young corporal, who was shouldering the TNT. "...wait here with Bachmann. The rest of us, will clear out the remaining troops. Then you will have all the privacy you need to set the explosives." Madga hefted the bag, over her shoulder as she managed an ungainly salute. "Thank you, Frau Leutnant. This getting a little a heavy." The group chuckled as the team, minus Eva proceeded into the magazine. As she passed Madga, Liesel could have sworn the young corporal had flashed her a wink.
Magazine 05, which served the three redoubts that guarded the Frano-Uctkreigian border, was a large hanger sized room lined with large 37mm shells that served the guns that pointed into Uctkrieg. It was currently staffed by four troops from the 42nd Infantry Regiment. Private Marcel Deschamps, had only been serving on the Maginot Line for six months and like many of the soldiers stationed there, believed in the superiority of the Maginot Line. He was unaware that was an illusion. And as wiped the sweat from his brow, placing another shell on the trolley, Marcel was caught completely unaware as a slender hand clamped around his mouth wrenching his head to the right. His neck broke with an audible crack, as Sergeant Trudl Zuckerberg dragged his corpse into a darkened alcove. This noise drew the attention of Sophie Villeneuve, who was on loading duty on the opposite side of the magazine. Instead of calling for her superiors, the young blonde soldier went looking for her friend. "Marcel? Where are you? You cannot go slacking off, we are on alert." She received no answer from her friend, only a hand clamping around her mouth to muffle her cries, as she felt a sharp pain in the side of her neck. The final thing she heard in her life, was the sound of a blade penetrating her neck, as she slumped into the arms of her attacker. Liesel dragged the dead soldier behind a shelf of 37mm shells, as she withdrew her bayonet from the girl's throat. The two remaining soldiers, Sergeant Camille Fonteroy and Corporal Jean Luc Gaspard had no idea that they were in any danger, as they stood in the centre of the magazine reviewing their inventory. "Infiltrators! We have been breached!" Came the voice of a middle aged blonde corporal as she walked towards them, who caused the two soldiers to look up in surprise." What is the meaning of this corporal! Why are you not at your po-ugh!" Distracted by both the stolen uniform and her sudden appearance, both soldiers were gunned down by two precise gunshots from the revolver, of Leutnant Helga Volkner. As the bodies of the two soldiers crumpled to the ground, Helga turned to the 3 members of her strike team. " All clear, call in Zimmer and Bachmann, let's blow this place sky high and take back what is ours." She said to Liesel, as Volkner holstered her revolver. Liesel flashed her Leutnant a quick salute as she disappeared from view. "Trudl. You and Bachmann stand watch, make sure we are not disturbed." Trudl nodded in understanding, as Helga turned to take in the entirety of the magazine. Taking a deep breath, as she felt the rush of anticipation at the thought of fulfilling a plan that was almost two decades in the making.
Within a minute, Madga the demolitions expert had set down her bag of timed TNT charges and had begun to hand them out. " I have ten charges, place them all liberally around the magazine and out of sight. Set the charges to ten minutes, that should give us enough time to get clear of the blast radius and escape through the tunnel." Volkner and Liesel nodded as they took the charges, planting them around the magazine amongst the shells in order to maximise the damage as much as possible. It took them five minutes to place all the charges as Magda had instructed, Volkner set her watch to ten minutes as she walked out of the magazine, with her strike team in tow. "Alright, everyone! Let's get out of here, if we are quick enough we may get to see our handiwork, move out!" With that the team jumped on the armaments tram, and went back the way they came.
1 mile above on the surface on the Maginot Line. The Frano-Uctkreigian border 10 minutes later
"Load 37mm, take out that machine gun to the left of the turret. That's it, firing!" Frieda Wulff commanded to her crew as she saw the shell impact the emplacement, sending the mangled gun and broken French corpses high into the air. "Leutnant! We are running low on 37mm ammo. If the strike team doesn't blow the line soon..." Her loader, Kleiner trailed off not willing to contemplate the obvious. " They will get it done, keep the fa-" suddenly the sound of a loud crump ahead cut her off, as Freida heard a cacophony of excited voices over her headset. She quickly popped her hatch, as she came out to see a large column of mud, masonry and broken blue bodies rise into the air before falling gracefully to the earth. A large section where the Maginot Line, once an impenetrable barrier, was now reduced to a large crater. Frieda whooped in joy. "All units, this is Lone Wolf. They have done it, the line as been breached!" The voice that answered was that of Colonel Naimer. "All units advance! Pour it on, let them have it! Gute blut lügt nicht!" Not standing on ceremony, Freida cocked her pintle mounted MG37 pan magazine machine gun, called the "woodpecker" by the troops. "You heard the man! All units advance!" She yelled into her headset, as her tank lurched forward followed by 200 cheering troops. Frieda sighted a troop of three shellshocked French soldiers, cutting them down with a burst of her machine gun, a cry of triumph on her lips.
One hour later.
Now redressed in her Uctkriegian uniform, her customised rifle resting against a broken wall, Liesel sat upon the broken wall of the Maginot Line. She looked up briefly to observe a line of French prisoners marching past, over the pontoon bridge erected by the combat engineers. Looks of shock etched on their faces, as they were shepherded back towards Uctkrieg by triumphant soldiers, convoys of trucks and armoured vehicle's pouring into France. Liesel smiled as she returned to her letter, hearing the traditional marching song The Purple and White, Flies True! in the distance. "It's been a strange day, Liesel." The voice of Eva Bachmann caused her to look up, she flashed the young blonde soldier a warm smile. "A strange but glorious day, Eva. We are finally taking back what's ours." Eva sat down next to her, taking a deep breath. "I still see their faces, the woman that we killed and stripped. They were only our age." Before she could reply, the sound of crunching feet drew the attention of both soldiers. "It gets easier, Bachmann. Once you realise they are your enemy and they would sooner she you dead." Leutnant Helga Volkner said as both women rose to salute her, which she returned. "At ease. We move out in the morning, our next target is Müllheim itself." Eva and Liesel swapped glances of apprehension as Volkner continued. "Get some rest and a hot meal. You have both earned it. Heroines of the Party. Liesel..." Liesel turned to the Leutnant, for a second seeing a slight curve to her lips. "...good work in there. You are everybit your mother's daughter. I look forward to serving with you." With that she saluted them both, turned on her heel and walked back down the slope. Feeling perplexed, Liesel tucked in her unfinished letter looped her rifle over her shoulder and fell into step next to Eva as they followed the Leutnant down the slope. Liesel and Eva swapped smiles, knowing that this was only one battle their war had only just begun.
Uctkriegian Landswehr Forward Operation Base, near the Maginot Line. May 10th 1940 08:00am
She felt the truck hit another rock, as she wrote a letter to her father, but it didn't phase Soldaten Liesel Dressler as she erased the gash left by the pencil and continued to write. " Who's that for? Your sweetheart? You know they are going to censor that, anyway." Asked a young female soldier next to her, Liesel paused in her writing and appraised her. She was a pretty little thing, no older than Liesel with short ash blonde hair done under the grey black feathered cap, with a single brass U pinned in the centre. They both wore the uniforms of the Uctkrieg Landswehr, matching grey battledress with the symbol of the fascist party on their left breasts, a stylised winged U which matched their caps, the symbol of the Black Boar of the fabled 25th Infantry Regiment, rearing proudly on their left shoulders. Black jackboots on their feet. Belted at the waist with black combat webbing, that housed their field canteens, bayonet and ammo pouches for their new Dressler Gewehr 38 Armburst semi automatic rifles, with side mounted 10 round box magazines. One of a collection of arms made by her father, the armourer of the nation. Liesel herself had a modified sniper variant, with a ×8 scope and a prototype iron sight mounted at a 90 degree angle, she had designed herself. Liesel flashed a smile at the young soldier. "I'am not that blessed. It's for my father, Maxim. I'am Liesel Dresser." The young soldiers eyes widened in surprise, as the other young men and women let out low whistles.
" Wow! It looks like we have a celebrity amongst us!" Cried an older woman, a Sergeant as indicated by her three inverted chevrons on her right sleeve, as she stood up holding onto the roof of the truck to stabilise herself, holding her Dressler Model 1937 Submachine gun, with its distinctive long magazine and select fire mechanism, another innovation of her father's. "The Armourer of the Nation!" Yelled one excited soldier. "With these weapons, we will make the French shit their pants." Replied the Sergeant. "Gute blut lügt nicht! Everybody cried the party chant, holding one fist in the air. The young soldier held out her hand. "Eva Bachmann, from Lentz." Liesel took the girl's hand, shaking it before returning to her letter. At 21, Liesel was a looker with sculptured cheekbones heart shaped features, and almond shaped turquoise eyes. Framed by shoulder length auburn hair, tied back into a curled ponytail. A sudden jolt of the truck stopping brought Liesel back into the present. " Alright, meine Daimer und Heeren. Shake your legs and fall out, on the double." The Sergeant ordered, as Liesel secreted the letter into her tunic pocket, shouldered her rifle and as soon as the tailgate opened, leapt out of the truck into the light.
As Liesel leapt from the truck, she heard the squelch of mud on her pristine black jackboots. She steadied herself as she turned to see young Eva leapt tentatively from the truck, stumbling hard as she hit the soft wet mud hard, Liesel rushed to her side to hold her to keep her from falling face first into the morass. "Stupid little Jew girl, can't keep an even footing. Useless!" Sniggered one passing soldier to his friend. The other man laughed back, fixing Eva with a sneer. "Our Keine Hauptmann should just round them up, like Herr Hitler does." Liesel turned to him, shooting him a digusted look. "She is every bit as Uctkriegian as you and I, bastards. Show some respect!" The two men simply shook their heads, as they walked away. Although Liesel could have sworn she heard them call her a "Jew lover." Eva smiled at Liesel as she straightened herself up. " Thank you, Liesel. I wouldn't have expected that from you, it's much appreciated." Liesel still held her gently as she looked into the pretty soldiers deep blue eyes. " Your welcome Eva, we are all Uctkriegians first. United by blood, even if some arschloche forget that." She said raising her voice to the direction of the two men. "Alright, arses and elbows troopers! Fall in for inspection and assignment! On the double! " Came the cry of the Sergeant as she called them to order. Eva smiled warmly to Liesel, as she patted the Jewish soldiers shoulder, before they both turned falling into parade line.
Liesel heard the rumble of Czech Panzer 38t tanks in the distance as she stood at parade rest, catching sight of the flags of Uctkrieg fluttering above the Forward Operating Base. The flag of the fascist party, a stylised winged U in black over a white circle in a red background, flew proudly next to the old purple and white cheque flag of the old duchy. Liesel felt pride well in her breasts as she saw both flags fly proudly in the distance. " Alright, never have I seen such a display of Uctkriegian youth! The French should be quaking in their perfumed boots!" The Sergeant's joke drew in a collective laughter from the assembled throng as the Sergeant continued her speech. "You see that in the distance!" The Sergeant pointed to the three redoubts of the Maginot Line, the imposing concrete fortification that spanned the length of the German Border to the north and the Uctkriegian to the south. " The French believe it impregnable, they mean to keep us from the land of our forebears. Let's prove them wrong. Remember Müllheim! Gute blut lügt nicht!." The assembled platoon echoed the cry, Liesel especially as she remembered her mother, a brave Corporal who died in the now infamous Langsdorf Rear Guard, those of the 25th Regiment who died defending Müllheim to the last. The Sergeant held her arms out to quiet the throng. " All right, simmer down. I have your assignments. Well I have a note here, Bachmann, Dressler! Report to Leutnant Helga Volkner of Squad C, Scout Recon for further orders. You can find her by the tunnel entrance, near the Command Post." Liesel shared a look of surprise with Eva as they fell into step besides each other. "Scout Recon? I have never heard of them." Said Eva as they walked out of the line towards the command post. " I have heard they are a new formation. Their leaders are handpicked by Chancellor herself. I wonder what this is about?" Replied Liesel as they walked away from their platoon, the Sergeant's booming voice receding into the distance.
" So is the tunnel secure? Is the operation ready to proceed?" Asked Colonel Naimer as they stood opposite the tunnel, watching the men and women of the 352nd Field Engineers coming out of the tunnel pickaxes resting on their shoulders. "Yes, Colonel! I'am just waiting on the last two members of the strike team, then I will be ready to proceed." Saluted Leutnant Helga Volkner as she glanced over to the other two women, Trudl Zuckerberg and Madga Zimmer who made up her strike force. The middle aged Colonel returned the salute. " Very good, Helga. Soon we shall banish the ghosts of Müllheim, and take back what the French stole from us." Naimer laid a fatherly hand of Helga's shoulder. "Remember at exactly 09:00am, I will lead the 25th, 101st Infantry and 1st Armoured Corps in a diversionary assault on the Line. That should buy you enough time to attack from below, and breach the line." Helga nodded as Naimer repeated the plan General Langsdorf had put in motion, so very long ago. A plan the troops had called "Langsdorf's Revenge". The Colonel released his hand from her shoulder, saluted again and left her to her thoughts. At 40 years old, Helga Volkner was a career soldier she had served in the Ducal forces in the 25th Infantry Regiment, during the First Frano-Uctkreigian War, or more commonly known as the War of Transgression. She was one of the few who had retreated from Müllheim, on the dark day of the 15th October 1922, whilst Langsdorf held the line with a quarter of the Regiment. Helga had lost many dear friends that day, not least amongst them her best friend Freida Dressler. She could still picture the tearful goodbye, she gave her husband Maxim and the oath she made to Freida, to watch over her daughter Liesel. "Enschuldidung, Frau Leutnant Volkner?" A familiar sounding voice snapped her back to her present, as she saw two young soldiers approach her, one blonde the other with short auburn hair. Helga did a double take, when she saw Liesel Dressler, she was a spitting image of her mother. Taking a deep breathe, Helga turned to greet the new arrivals as they each flashed her a salute. "Privates Liesel Dressler and Eva Bachmann reporting for duty, ma'am."
"At ease." Both soldiers stood at ease as Leutnant Volkner appraised them. She was a beautiful woman, who hadn't lost her youthful good looks despite her age, with high cheekbones rounded features and cunning brown eyes. Her raven coloured hair tied into a bun under her feathered cap. Liesel noted the Dressler Sturm revolver, a six cylinder revolver with a unique shotgun under barrel, holstered at her hip. This was standard issue for many Uctkrieg NCO's and officers. "So I ask for two more additions for my tunnel strike team and they send me two riflemen." She shook her head in disbelief. "Where is the sense, in that?" Liesel turned her attention to the tunnel entrance to their right. "We are going to attack the Maginot Line, from underground. Where they would least expect it." She said impressed, as Helga nodded in agreement. "We will strike at the heart at what makes them French, their pride. You two catch on quick, walk with me and meet your fellow infiltrators." For a second, Liesel thought she saw a knowing look in the eyes of the Leutnant as they fell into step, beside her. " Welcome to Operation Langsdorf's Revenge."
"What the hell am I going to do with a rifle, inside a tunnel?" Shrugged Trudl Zuckerberg as she put down a Gewehr 38 rifle, back onto the rack. She raised an eyebrow at her best friend, the pretty Magda Zimmer who was holding a M1937 submachine gun. "What? It's going to be close quarters." Replied the short chestnut haired soldier, flashing a wan smile. Shaking her head, Trudl picked up a M1927 Sledgehammer Triple Barrelled shotgun. "Exactly!" She said brandishing the weapon under her face. "Put that down, Sergeant! This operation calls for stealth, and speed. We don't want to bring the entire French Army down on our heads!" The honey blonde sergeant hurriedly replaced the shotgun on the table, as she heard the voice of Leutnant Volkner who came into view with two other female soldiers, one an ash blonde the other an auburn haired girl with a heavily modified Gewehr 38 sniper slung on her shoulder. "Meet your final two team members. Soldaten Eva Bachmann..." Volkner gestured first to the blonde, who nodded nervously then to the redhead "...and Liesel Dressler." Madga's mouth opened as she did a double take. " Mein Gott, your her! The heir to the Dressler name, I'am such a fan of your father's work!" She said, approaching Liesel holding out her hand, as Trudl rolled her eyes smiling. " Thanks, I will be sure to pass on your regards." Liesel flashed her a surprised smile, as she shook her hand. "Alright, you can get her autograph later corporal. Right now we need to gear up, we are wheels up in 45 minutes." Volkner picked up her prototype MKar automatic rifle, a uniquely designed weapon with its magazine behind the trigger, loading a magazine and sighting the weapon as to emphasise her point.
30 minutes later
Now fully equipped and ready, the strike force proceeded into the tunnel to cheers of the soldiers around them some of them clapped them on the shoulders as they passed. There were also cries of "Good luck!" and "Give them hell!" from the engineers as they neared the breach point, Volkner exchanged a nod with the two engineers who hefted two pickaxes waiting for the order. "Frau Leutnant." The leftmost engineer, a young woman her face blackened with soot and dark brown hair saluted her. " We have reached the outermost wall of the bunker, the concrete here is thin and should be easy to breach with our picks alone." She whispered, being careful not to betray their presence. Volkner returned the salute, as she nodded in reply. "What can we expect on the other side?" The young engineer wiped off some sweat from her brow, before she answered. "We have heard female voices from the other side of the wall, I think you will emerge in the womens barracks." Volkner smiled as the engineer gave her report. " Very good, corporal. Proceed with the breach, we will keep you covered. Once my team is through, board it up behind us. We cannot risk the enemy discovering our entrance and outflanking us." The two engineers flashed quick salutes as they got to work. Volkner turned back to her team. "Remember, either use your hands or knives to the throat or headshots if you are a good shot. We need the uniforms clean and relatively unbloodied, understood?" The rest of the team nodded their affirmatives, as Volkner turned to Zuckerberg. "Trudl, you and I are the only ones that speak French, we will take point. Between that and the uniforms, we should get to the central magazine and blow this place sky high." Trudl flashed her quick smile, as the team covered the breach point as the engineers forced the breach. After a tense eight minutes, the team stacked up, with Volkner leading the team into the barracks beyond.
Corporal Anaïs Rousseau, rose from her bunk disturbed by what she thought was the sound of knocking from the wall. Of course such a thing was highly unlikely, the Maginot Line was a symbol of French Superiority over her enemies, particularly Germany and Uctkrieg. Nobody would dare to attack them here. Anaïs sighed, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to check. Better safe than sorry. shaking her head, trying to shake off the feeling of Paranoia, Anaïs glanced at the four other women of her section. Privates Chloe Renaud, Francine Dubois, Camille Desjardins and Marie Valois, deciding not to rouse them. They had all come off a long night of sentry duty, and we're all dog tired. They were all dressed in typical french army uniform which consisted of a blue field tunic, belted at the waist with black combat webbing, red trousers and black jackboots. With matching tasseled side caps perched on their heads. Yawning widely, Anaïs walked towards the sound. At 23, Anaïs had been stationed at the Maginot Line for nearly 8 months. She was a looker with slender cheekbones rounded features and pale blue eyes, her dark brown hair done up in bunches under her side cap. As she walked to the source of the mysterious knocking, Anaïs blinked to see two young women dressed in white under vests and Uctkriegian grey field trousers, patching up a hole in the wall. They froze as soon as they saw her, fixing her with an iron stare. But as she opened her mouth to alert the others, Anaïs felt a hand clamp over her mouth from behind her and suddenly wrenching her head to the side. The French corporals neck snapped with an audible crack, that failed to rouse her sleeping section. As she slumped into her attackers arms, the last thought that crossed Anaïs' mind before her death was how wrong she was.
Helga lowered the dead french soldier to the ground, as she turned to the rest of the strike force. "This one as rank and she is my size. Split up two by two, eliminate the others before they wake and take their uniforms. We must be swift, the attack will begin in 15 minutes. Move out." She whispered as the rest of the strike team, nodded separating into as they followed her orders. Helga stripped off her uniform as she knelt by the dead woman, and begun to undress her. She removed the dead woman's hat, boots and webbing before she started to unbutton the woman's tunic, slipping the garment from her shoulders revealing a white cotton slip covering a pair of C-cup breasts. Helga unfastened the dead soldiers trousers, working them off her hips peeling them down her legs. Standing over the dead woman, clad only in her short white slip and high waisted briefs, Helga dressed in her stolen uniform as she heard four muffled crump's from around the corner.
Liesel along with Eva took the two french soldiers closest to the left hand wall as Trudl and Madga, who was shouldering a bag full of TNT, went to the the right hand side. As Liesel readied her rifle, she noticed Eva pause slightly as they stood over the young french soldier, a pretty blonde girl with gentle features, sleeping soundly in her bed. "She is young, not much older than us." She whispered as caressed the pillow underneath the soldiers head. Liesel laid an hand on Eva's shoulder, looking into her soft brown eyes. "They are the enemy, Eva. She wouldn't hesitate if it were us. Remember Müllheim. Gute blut lügt nicht." The sound of a muffled gunshot from behind them seemed to emphasised her point, as Eva took a deep breathe steeling herself. She nodded as she quickly shoved the pillow over the soldiers face, before Liesel took her rifle firing a single shot into it. The soldier slumped in her bunk dead, as Eva removed the pillow. Without seeing their handiwork, they moved onto the next soldier this one a beautiful short haired brunette executing her in the same manner. One final muffled crump from behind them signalled the death of the last soldier. "Alright, pick one and strip her then regroup with the Leutnant. Make it quick, we are on a schedule." Said Sergeant Trudl Zuckerberg, as she shouldered her M1937 SMG, dragging one of the women off her bunk and onto the floor. Liesel had picked the first soldier she and Eva had executed pulling the woman from her bed. After she stripped off her uniform, Liesel quickly undressed the dead soldier putting on the woman's uniform. Within five minutes, the four members of the strike team stood over the scantily clad bodies of the dead french soldiers, fully dressed in their stolen uniforms as Leutnant Volkner rounded the corner, dressed in the corporals uniform. " Well done, we are 5 minutes ahead of schedule." Volkner said as she consulted her watch. "Get these bodies stashed in their bunks, and grab some French weapons. We will need them to sell these disguises. Let's go, on the double!" Without standing on ceremony, the strike team concealed the stripped corpses in their bunks, cocooning them inside their sheets. When they were finished, the team helped themselves to french MAS 38 rifles and donned french Adrian helmets before they gathered around Volkner, who had also helped herself to a blue greatcoat. "Now we look the part. Remember let me and Trudl do the talking, and be ready. We now need transportation then it's on to the redoubts magazine. The attack should be.." Suddenly the sound of a siren reverberated throughout the room, Volkner nodded her head. "... Well that's our cue, let's go. Gute blut lügt nicht!." The team echoed the party mantra, as they left the barracks behind.
The underground tunnel was an hive of activity, as the group now disguised walked towards a checkpoint pausing only to let an underground railcar, laden with french soldiers, shoot past towards the front lines. The diversionary attack was well underway. At the check point where two french soldiers, one male the other female, who both turned when they saw the group approaching. " You there! Corporal! Get your section to the line, now! The Uctkriegians have finally mustered the courage to attack." Ordered the soldier to the left, a sergeant who shot Magda a quizzical look. " What's in the bag, soldier? Take it off and show me." He said as the female soldier tensed, brought her rifle up cycling the blot. Volkner flashed the sergeant a quick salute. " You see sergeant, in that bag is Langsdorf's Revenge." Before the two confused soldiers could react, Volkner drew her Sturm revolver gunning both soldiers down in quick succession with practiced shots to the head. "Get the bodies out of sight, we are getting ourselves some transportation." Volkner holstered her revolver, as Liesel and Eva dragged the corpses out of sight into the shadows. With the corpses hidden, the group manned the checkpoint waiting for an underground railcar. After five minutes headlamps pierced the gloom of the tunnel, a railway carriage approached the checkpoint. Liesel could make out 4 soldiers sat in the carriage, 2 men and 2 women the car shuddered to a halt as Volkner walked out in front holding up a hand. "What seems to be the problem, corporal? We are on our way to the line, the Uctkriegians are making a push." Called out the soldier manning the control column, a young female corporal, as Volkner and Trudl approached the carriage taking up positions on either side. "We have had reports of infiltrators in the tunnels, our orders are to search anybody on their way to the front lines." The corporal shot a nervous glance to her fellow soldiers, before she turned to back to Volkner. "Infiltrators, here?! I assure you Sergeant, we are all loyal soldiers here." The corporal saluted Volkner, as the lieutenant flashed her one back. "The thing is, corporal, it's us we're the infiltrators." Before the young corporal and her squad could react, Volkner quickly drew her revolver shooting the young corporal through her head as Trudl opened fire on the male soldier next to her, killing him with a single shot. Within seconds, Liesel and Eva had also picked off the last two soldiers in the rear of the tram with their stolen MAS rifles, Liesel displaying unerring accuracy despite the gloom of the tunnel. "Good work strike team. Now let's get to the magazine, we don't know if anyone else heard those shots and our troops are counting on us." Volkner said clapping her hands together, as the strike team pulled the corpses of the French soldiers out of the tram concealing their bodies in the shadows. Once they were finished, the team got into the tram as Liesel got behind the control column of the tram. "Punch it, Dressler. Let's get this done." Liesel nodded as she pulled the control lever, the tram lurched forwards deeper into the tunnels underneath the Maginot Line.
A mile above the surface, the Maginot Line. The French-Uctkregian Border 08:30am
Tank commander Frida Wulff cringed in horror in the cramped confines of her Panzer 38t "Lone Wolf", as she heard another scream over her radio the sound of another tank in her platoon destroyed by the guns of the Maginot Line. More son's or daughter's of Uctkrieg silenced, it was the third of her tanks in the last 10 minutes scrapped. Their initial thrust, a combined force for armour and infantry, served only as a diversion to buy the strike team time to breach the Maginot Line from within. Frida wished they would hurry up about it, she thought as she adjusted her headset. "Wulff, to wolf pack over. Let's fall back onto the ridge and provide the infantry with covering fire. Let's see if we can't thin out these machine guns, while we stay out of range of the main guns, copy?" A chain of affirmatives rang out in her ear, as Frida glanced to her friend and driver Holmann. "Get us to the ridge, Dagna. Out of the range of those guns." Dagna nodded as she gunned the engine. "With respect, Frida. What if the strike team as been taken out?" Her gunner/loader Kleiner, a young girl of 19, also shot her a nervous look. Frida shot them determined glances as she rallied her crew. "We must keep faith with the plan. We will recover what the French stole from us, and the strike team will become heroes of the nation. Steel yourselves, sisters! Glut blut lügt nicht!" The party chant, appeared to calm their nerves as the tank drove towards the ridge. Subconsciously, Frieda reached for the cross that hung around her neck praying for the success of the strike team.
Magazine 05, the Uctkrieg border redoubt. The same moment
It took the strike team 10 minutes to reach their target, the sounds of the battle on the surface echoing above them. They encountered few soldiers on the way there, the diversionary attack having succeeded in drawing them away. As the team dismounted from the tram, they observed a couple of french soldiers loading a tram with shells facing the other way towards the line. Volkner turned to her team. " Dressler, Trudl. Take them out quickly and quietly. Use your disguises and your knives." Liesel and Eva slung their rifles to their shoulders, as they approached the young french soldiers women with dirt covered faces. Liesel flashed her mark, a girl with dark black hair and green eyes, a smile. "Salut. Pourquoi n'es-tu pas devant?" A look of confusion washed over the soldiers face, as Liesel simply shook her head as she placed herself behind the soldier, as Eva did the same with her mark. Then before the two soldiers could react, Liesel and Trudl clamped their hands over the soldiers mouths as they stabbed them with their bayonets. Liesel could see the look in the eyes of her victim, a mixture of confusion and betrayal as she lowered the dying girl to the floor. Looking over to Trudl, who had already begun to drag her soldier into the shadows, Liesel picked up the brunettes corpse dragging it close behind. When they were finished, Volkner approached them. "Well done, Madga..." She said turning to the young corporal, who was shouldering the TNT. "...wait here with Bachmann. The rest of us, will clear out the remaining troops. Then you will have all the privacy you need to set the explosives." Madga hefted the bag, over her shoulder as she managed an ungainly salute. "Thank you, Frau Leutnant. This getting a little a heavy." The group chuckled as the team, minus Eva proceeded into the magazine. As she passed Madga, Liesel could have sworn the young corporal had flashed her a wink.
Magazine 05, which served the three redoubts that guarded the Frano-Uctkreigian border, was a large hanger sized room lined with large 37mm shells that served the guns that pointed into Uctkrieg. It was currently staffed by four troops from the 42nd Infantry Regiment. Private Marcel Deschamps, had only been serving on the Maginot Line for six months and like many of the soldiers stationed there, believed in the superiority of the Maginot Line. He was unaware that was an illusion. And as wiped the sweat from his brow, placing another shell on the trolley, Marcel was caught completely unaware as a slender hand clamped around his mouth wrenching his head to the right. His neck broke with an audible crack, as Sergeant Trudl Zuckerberg dragged his corpse into a darkened alcove. This noise drew the attention of Sophie Villeneuve, who was on loading duty on the opposite side of the magazine. Instead of calling for her superiors, the young blonde soldier went looking for her friend. "Marcel? Where are you? You cannot go slacking off, we are on alert." She received no answer from her friend, only a hand clamping around her mouth to muffle her cries, as she felt a sharp pain in the side of her neck. The final thing she heard in her life, was the sound of a blade penetrating her neck, as she slumped into the arms of her attacker. Liesel dragged the dead soldier behind a shelf of 37mm shells, as she withdrew her bayonet from the girl's throat. The two remaining soldiers, Sergeant Camille Fonteroy and Corporal Jean Luc Gaspard had no idea that they were in any danger, as they stood in the centre of the magazine reviewing their inventory. "Infiltrators! We have been breached!" Came the voice of a middle aged blonde corporal as she walked towards them, who caused the two soldiers to look up in surprise." What is the meaning of this corporal! Why are you not at your po-ugh!" Distracted by both the stolen uniform and her sudden appearance, both soldiers were gunned down by two precise gunshots from the revolver, of Leutnant Helga Volkner. As the bodies of the two soldiers crumpled to the ground, Helga turned to the 3 members of her strike team. " All clear, call in Zimmer and Bachmann, let's blow this place sky high and take back what is ours." She said to Liesel, as Volkner holstered her revolver. Liesel flashed her Leutnant a quick salute as she disappeared from view. "Trudl. You and Bachmann stand watch, make sure we are not disturbed." Trudl nodded in understanding, as Helga turned to take in the entirety of the magazine. Taking a deep breath, as she felt the rush of anticipation at the thought of fulfilling a plan that was almost two decades in the making.
Within a minute, Madga the demolitions expert had set down her bag of timed TNT charges and had begun to hand them out. " I have ten charges, place them all liberally around the magazine and out of sight. Set the charges to ten minutes, that should give us enough time to get clear of the blast radius and escape through the tunnel." Volkner and Liesel nodded as they took the charges, planting them around the magazine amongst the shells in order to maximise the damage as much as possible. It took them five minutes to place all the charges as Magda had instructed, Volkner set her watch to ten minutes as she walked out of the magazine, with her strike team in tow. "Alright, everyone! Let's get out of here, if we are quick enough we may get to see our handiwork, move out!" With that the team jumped on the armaments tram, and went back the way they came.
1 mile above on the surface on the Maginot Line. The Frano-Uctkreigian border 10 minutes later
"Load 37mm, take out that machine gun to the left of the turret. That's it, firing!" Frieda Wulff commanded to her crew as she saw the shell impact the emplacement, sending the mangled gun and broken French corpses high into the air. "Leutnant! We are running low on 37mm ammo. If the strike team doesn't blow the line soon..." Her loader, Kleiner trailed off not willing to contemplate the obvious. " They will get it done, keep the fa-" suddenly the sound of a loud crump ahead cut her off, as Freida heard a cacophony of excited voices over her headset. She quickly popped her hatch, as she came out to see a large column of mud, masonry and broken blue bodies rise into the air before falling gracefully to the earth. A large section where the Maginot Line, once an impenetrable barrier, was now reduced to a large crater. Frieda whooped in joy. "All units, this is Lone Wolf. They have done it, the line as been breached!" The voice that answered was that of Colonel Naimer. "All units advance! Pour it on, let them have it! Gute blut lügt nicht!" Not standing on ceremony, Freida cocked her pintle mounted MG37 pan magazine machine gun, called the "woodpecker" by the troops. "You heard the man! All units advance!" She yelled into her headset, as her tank lurched forward followed by 200 cheering troops. Frieda sighted a troop of three shellshocked French soldiers, cutting them down with a burst of her machine gun, a cry of triumph on her lips.
One hour later.
Now redressed in her Uctkriegian uniform, her customised rifle resting against a broken wall, Liesel sat upon the broken wall of the Maginot Line. She looked up briefly to observe a line of French prisoners marching past, over the pontoon bridge erected by the combat engineers. Looks of shock etched on their faces, as they were shepherded back towards Uctkrieg by triumphant soldiers, convoys of trucks and armoured vehicle's pouring into France. Liesel smiled as she returned to her letter, hearing the traditional marching song The Purple and White, Flies True! in the distance. "It's been a strange day, Liesel." The voice of Eva Bachmann caused her to look up, she flashed the young blonde soldier a warm smile. "A strange but glorious day, Eva. We are finally taking back what's ours." Eva sat down next to her, taking a deep breath. "I still see their faces, the woman that we killed and stripped. They were only our age." Before she could reply, the sound of crunching feet drew the attention of both soldiers. "It gets easier, Bachmann. Once you realise they are your enemy and they would sooner she you dead." Leutnant Helga Volkner said as both women rose to salute her, which she returned. "At ease. We move out in the morning, our next target is Müllheim itself." Eva and Liesel swapped glances of apprehension as Volkner continued. "Get some rest and a hot meal. You have both earned it. Heroines of the Party. Liesel..." Liesel turned to the Leutnant, for a second seeing a slight curve to her lips. "...good work in there. You are everybit your mother's daughter. I look forward to serving with you." With that she saluted them both, turned on her heel and walked back down the slope. Feeling perplexed, Liesel tucked in her unfinished letter looped her rifle over her shoulder and fell into step next to Eva as they followed the Leutnant down the slope. Liesel and Eva swapped smiles, knowing that this was only one battle their war had only just begun.
