NOVEL NEXT RM Vol 4: War – Prologue: Just hold the line! – Edited by Yovis
It's a rainy night on the Maginot Line, drenching the unfortunately fatigued Anti-Belkan Allied forces under a curtain of buffeting chill. To counteract the poor visibility, the frontline searchlights of Maginot are powered on, illuminating the hazy No Man's Land. This No Man's Land is a long stretch of contested territory that separates the Maginot Line from Belkan domain. Unlike the No Man's Land of WW1 where nature perished beneath the wake of artillery and chemical weapons, this modern-day No Man's Land sees little to no artificial intervention. Demons and Zombies roam this land now, at least until the Months of Demons come to an end. No sane army will march until the last of these Demonic entities have died out. Or at least, this was what the Allied officers thought would be the case.
Belkans, with their many, many enigmatic means, are ramping up a constant harassment campaign against the Maginot defenders. Since a couple of months ago, the Belkans and their Ustian Reformist ally have been conducting a variety of feint attacks and propaganda warfare. These maneuvers occur at random intervals with unpredictable patterns. The Belkans will raise a fleet of mobile vehicles, only to conduct a drive-by on the Maginot Line in the morning before scurrying away. When night arrives, instead of a ground assault, the Belkans then pull out Stuka dive bombers to blast their sirens all over the Maginot Line. Over and over again the Belkans and the Reformists conduct these daring disruptions on the Maginot defenders. When these disturbances repeat themselves every single day and night, it's understandable that the Maginot defenders will be both annoyed and tired out by the constant state of alert. After all, a feint can be an actual attack, and one can never be too careful in the state of war. Yet, soldiers can not stand guard permanently, and when their time to eat and sleep is shaved off by these disruptions, their performance takes a sharp nose-dive.
To counteract these bold maneuvers from their nemesis, the Allies try their very best to set up a more flexible security shift for their frontline troops and to increase aerial patrols. For some time, things seem to be working out nicely with the Belkans and Reformists ceasing their activities. However, all of that changes when a new week arrives, and a fighter squadron that takes off never returns. Then another, and another, until the entire Maginot Line is bereft of any pilot who is brave enough to fly into the sky of No Man's Land. The chilling thing is that these squadrons never manage to report anything of note before disappearing for good. Thus leaving many scared and wondering about the fate of these fighter pilots. When the Allied Air Force requests the Allied Army to send out search and rescue parties, the request is promptly shut down. The Army does not want to venture into the unknown, not when no evidence suggests these Air Force pilots are either alive or dead. More than that, the Army even uses this chance to pose the hypothesis that these pilots may be deserters, thus making members of the Air Force livid.
It takes almost no time at all before a major rift is formed between the Allied Air Force and the Allied Army stationed on the Maginot Line. The Army criticizes the Air Force for its lacking professionalism while the Air Force berates the Army for being completely inept at preventing the disruptions caused before by the Belkans and Reformists. Ultimately, the matter is blown out of proportion when a bar fight between members of the Allied Army and Air Force somehow results in the death of an Allied Navy officer... The situation understandably becomes a big deal, forcing the leadership of Erusea and Ustio Loyalists to step in and put their feet down. However, the effectiveness of this is minimal, with the Army and the Air Force blaming each other for the death of that Navy Captain who was on shore leave. Worst yet, this Captain is an Erusean, and the Erusean Kingdom is now facing a new wave of headaches due to his untimely death.
When Bismarck sank the Home Fleet, she also captured a lot of Erusean Prisoners of War. The thing is, even after a few years have passed, the Erusean Kingdom still hasn't been able to perform a prisoner exchange. This is mostly because of their arrogant attitude and their refusal to admit the loss they suffered. As such, families of these POWs have been petitioning and boycotting the Erusean government and Admiralty for years. The matter even evolved into a public protest for a while, silenced only by the Catclysm that sank the Erusean city of Farbanti. Yet now, the death of this Navy Captain has given these families the incentive they need to start another wave of discrediting the honor of the Erusean Crown. To calm down the dissent among their citizens, the Erusean Kingdom must serve justice, but to whom in this case?
Investigation denotes that the incident was kickstarted, ironically enough, by a member of the Erusean Air Force. In response, the Ustian Army soldiers snapped and started a brawl then and there. In the ensuing brawl, two Erusean and Ustian fighters slammed into each other with jagged glass bottles before falling onto the spectating Navy Captain. The man is killed instantly when the sharp edges of the glass bottles stabbed his heart and ripped his throat. In this situation, on which party should the Erusean Kingdom deliver its retribution? Because no matter how Erusea carries out its justice, it will stand to offend a significant portion of the Allied forces. Inaction also won't save the Erusean Kingdom because doing nothing will offend the Admiralty and their citizens who are, quite honestly, incensed.
It's surprising, isn't it? To think just some clever feints, subtle manipulation, and surgical elimination of priority targets can cast a curtain of confusion, anger, and anarchy onto the previously united Allied forces. Already, the battle of intrigue is won by the Belkan Reich and its close ally. Prior to the ultimate reignition of a war that will span over half of Europe, the weak links in the Allied forces have been identified and will no doubt be used against them to a devastating effect. This is the downside of using a multinational military force, the troops themselves bring along their national borders with them. One wrong move then poof, you will be dishonoring the soldiers from a nation that's supposed to be your ally, thus tearing down the already weak cohesion of your diverse military unit.
While the Allied military forces are still reeling from its internal strife and pan-national politics, the Belkan Reich and Ustian Reformists take the chance to add even more fuel to the fire. Already, reports have come to the Allied forces about the return of disruption attacks. This time, the disruptions even go as far as shooting out the searchlights of the Maginot Line every single night, with no actual attack in sight. As if falling on deaf ears, Allied HQ hasn't been able to muster up any formal response to the Belkans' daring action. The best the low-ranking officers and grunts can get is this:
"Just hold the line!"