Re: Blood and Iron

Chapter 251: Shock and Awe Part I



The great thing about Bruno being deployed to the Balkans, particularly the City of Sarajevo, was that it shared the same time zone as Berlin. Because of this, he could call his wife that very afternoon, which was a mere few days after leaving her side, and ask for her aid in a matter related to his campaign.

Normally Bruno was not the type of man to share his work with his wife, after all one could consider that a major breach of security protocols. But Heidi's family ties to a Princely family largely involved with military and foreign intelligence allowed him to speak with the woman about such matters.

Even so, Bruno made sure all communications were encrypted before attempting to reach the woman. As a wealthy military family with noble status, Bruno's ability to wire his house in a way to receive and give out encrypted communications via a variety of means was easily established.

Especially when one considered that it was Bruno's defense manufacturing corporations that invented and created many of these different types of communication. Or at the very least, made them wildly available across the German Reich and its invested regions.

Because of this, Bruno was able to contact Heidi even while deployed to the Balkans. However, she was indeed surprised to see the man calling her so soon after he had left. The idea that her husband had immediately encountered some trouble that required use of her expertise upon arriving in the Balkans did not even cross the woman's mind as she playfully chastised the man for his abuse of power immediately after connecting with him.

"Honestly Bruno, I know the idea of being surrounded by men, and only men for the next nine months must be dreadful, especially after the brief but enjoyable time we recently spent together...

However, that does not mean that you can just call me at any time of the day to get your rocks off. I mean, seriously... I'm your wife, not some painted lady of the night you can call upon on a whim!"

Bruno would have laughed at his wife's joke if not for the fact that he was currently in desperate need of her help right now in order to create a proper casus belli against Albania. Because of this, there was a long pause. The only audible sound was the exhale of smoke from Bruno's lungs, which was naturally followed by a stern tone in his voice.

"Honestly, I know I established this private channel for us to communicate about matters in private while I am away from home, but dear, you and I both know that I never had such intentions in mind when I went through such great effort and expense.

So, allow me to be frank with you, as time is of the essence... I need a favor, and since I have no formal ties to your cousins in Sektion III b, I have to reach out to you to contact them on my behalf. I mean, you are still in contact with your cousins, right?"Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Immediately understanding that this was not a social call, Heidi quickly took this matter seriously, as she responded to Bruno's words with a far more formal tone in her voice.

"Yes, I do, as a matter of fact, maintain friendly ties with that side of my family. Since you're not putting in a formal request to Sektion IIIb, I have to presume this matter is in grave need of expediency, am I correct?"

After the misunderstanding was cleared up between the married couple, they quickly got down to business. Bruno explained what was happening in the Balkans, where he believed the problems were originating, and how he planned to deal with it.

He also outlined exactly why he needed the support of the German Army's foreign intelligence branch, which had yet to be extended towards domestic counter-intelligence. And likely wouldn't be with the expansion of the Kaiser's personal secret police into that role a decade prior.

Having heard everything that Bruno needed to say, and what precisely he was requesting of her and her relatives, Heidi assured him her husband that she would convey his message to her family. And after hanging up, she did exactly this.

Part of the privilege of being born into a princely family with extensive ties to the nation's military was that even now Heidi could call upon those family members for aid. It took all of three minutes for her to relay Bruno's thoughts to her cousin.

By now, the man who had once helped Heidi locate the true identity of her mother's killers, even though it came at great personal risk, was the deputy director of Sektion III b. His operational authority was second only to the General he answered to.

Doing a personal favor to Bruno, and cutting through the red tape in order to justify a military invasion of the Principality of Albania, was something that he knew would one day pay him back tenfold over.

Bruno technically outranked the Director of Sektion III b, but even so, the military and government were full of red tape. Different departments fell within a different chain of commands. Even if Bruno was a Generalfeldmarschall leading an entire theater of war, military intelligence fell outside his jurisdiction, and if he wanted things done, he would normally have to file an official request, and more or less wait until the intelligence department had the time, and means to support him.

But by being married to the cousin of the Deputy Director, Bruno more or less could do whatever he damn well pleased with German Foreign Intelligence, or at the very least, had a guarantee of being placed at the front of the line when it came to gaining their support. Because of this, what would have normally taken days, weeks, or even potentially months just to get a simple answer, was instead immediately responded to, and with a rather definitive response as an encrypted telegram came over the wire into Bruno's temporary office within the city of Sarajevo.

The telegram was incredibly informal, and was not marked by any branch of the German Military, nor was there a name signed to it, but Bruno knew who it came from, regardless. And after using his enigma machine to cypher the message, Bruno found that he had been given a proper answer in the most cryptic way possible.

"You will have what you desire in a fortnight at the latest."

After seeing this, Bruno burned the message to ash, not because it was wholly necessary, but rather because he simply did not wish to leave any trace behind in the conversation he had. Paranoia was ultimately what kept him alive, and it was best not to leave traces when going through unofficial channels to get what you wanted in life.

Having received the answer he more or less was expecting, Bruno returned to the staff room where the Generals of the four armies, their Adjutants, and any other assistants they may have with them in the Theater were busy scrambling around the office trying their best to put out the thousand fires that were lit around the Balkans.

He could more or less guess what the next two or so weeks of his life was going to be, and thus he calmly approached the Austro-Hungarian General who had more or less been in charge of Gendarme operations while Bruno himself had been away in Berlin.

After pouring himself another drink, Bruno conveyed the message he had received from

Heidi's cousin.

"Two weeks at the latest and we will have all the evidence we need to forge a proper justification for invading Albania. If I were you, I would begin preparing the men and our logistical network for the expedition, because we don't have much time.

And the sooner we get these damned religious fanatics under control, the better it will be for

everyone..."

Even if Bruno could subjugate the various factions fighting for control of Albania, and cut off the supply routes to the Islamic and Orthodox Militants fighting each other and the Imperial Powers within the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Bruno knew that ultimately his work would come undone at most a decade down the line.

Still, putting out this fire long enough to buy him time to win the Great War was his immediate concern, especially since he had at most six months to do so before the time to march upon the Turks and liberate Saint Constantine's holy city of Constantinople from the hands of those who had defiled its grace for far too long.

Thus, Bruno intended to enter Albania with a show of force and destruction that had once been labeled by the Americans in his past life under the term "Shock and Awe." It was a style of warfare that Bruno felt he was quite suited to, and would admittedly enjoy partaking in when he entered one of the last few holdouts of Islam within European lands.