Reich Marshal of the Belkan Reich

RM Vol 4: War – Chapter 36: Case Yellow (Day 12 – The Barrel)

"So let me get this straight." Army General Belladonna leans in, her wolf ears twitching in response to what she just heard. "You want my boys and girls to box in the enemy even more, basically keeping them all holed up in their buildings and the beach?"

Grand Admiral Donitz nods through the video feed. The dim background and monitoring instruments behind him indicate that Donitz is standing inside a U-boat. Given the timetable of this meeting, Belladonna is sure that the man just boarded it recently. The man probably flew by an Osprey to jump down on a U-boat somewhere in the Atlantic.

"That's correct."

Belladonna then adds. "You intend to give the enemy little to no room for maneuvering, packed them like a bunch of sardines, just so you can shell them five feet under?"

"That's also correct."

"And after you're done pounding their mothers, you intend to bring in the Marines to finish the job alongside my Army?" Belladonna poses another question, it's one that Donitz also replies succinctly.

"Basically, yeah."

Belladonna looks at the Grand Admiral through the screen before massaging her temple exasperatedly. "Donitz, my man, you could have just simplified everything in three fucking sentences instead of giving me thirty pages of battle plans that are, quite frankly, needlessly over-complicated than it should be."

Donitz shrugs through the screen. "I tried to be thorough."

"Or you're just pulling my leg in front of the Marshal." Belladonna directs a look to another screen shown in the large MFD table that's a part of her center of operations.

Donitz shamelessly replies with a smirk. "Guilty as charge."n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

The Reich Marshal, joining their call from Brussels, chuckles at their banter. "Hey, I can leave the call just so you two can hit it up with each other?"

"Oh, hell no!" "Ain't no way!" Come the immediate replies, with the two then sharing some colorful jabs at the other's expense.

The Belkan Marshal smiles at their inter-branch byplay before ultimately interrupting it by saying. "While I appreciate you two showing off your very cooperative spirits, let's make sure that we got everything straight, shall we?"

At the gentle reminder, both Donitz and Belladonna shed their prior demeanor for cold and calculating facades. The wolfkin General with a mane of long black hair reports while her golden eyes shine dangerously through the screen.

"Army Group B has all but replaced Army Group A in containing the EEF and their allies at Dunkirk. The city by now is literally crawling with Eruseans trying to set up chokepoints and fighting positions both in and outside the city walls. Other than that, a major part of their manpower is dedicated to the construction of makeshift piers for their naval vessels to dock with. Analysis indicates that the Allied forces will leave behind a portion of their Army to cover the evacuation effort. Those that leave will be leaving behind their armaments and munitions for the stranded units to use in a last-ditch breakthrough effort to Southeast Ustio. They're hoping that the stay-behind units can join up with the Ustian Loyalists who are struggling against the Marshal's Army Group A."

"Well, we all know how it will end for that brave plan of theirs." Donitz comments, earning the nods from both Belladonna and the Marshal.

The Grand Admiral then says his piece. "To reiterate once more, the overall plan is to give the Allied forces false hope that they can evacuate out of Dunkirk. Due to this, the first phase of the plan is just us, the Reichsmarine waiting in ambush. When the Royal Navy loads up a significant portion of the EEF, the High Sea Fleet will perform a coordinated attack with our Air Force, thus intercepting all enemy vessels before they can evacuate halfway through the Channel. The attack will be a synchronized assault, linked and timed by our battle net. It will involve the use of missiles, torpedoes, and guided bombs, targeting all enemy vessels at once. We have also allowed the leeway of overkilling on enemy capital ships as none of us want to take chances when the High Sea Fleet makes the final approach to Dunkirk. That said, things would be much swifter if we clear the use of Orkan torpedoes or Minibreve missiles."

The Marshal shakes her head exasperatedly at Donitz. "You and I both know that we can't escalate without a good reason, Admiral. Using an Orkan or a Minibreve willy-nilly will set a precedent, one that will pave a treacherous path for us to walk on. I don't want our proud nation to be the first to bear that particular stigma when there's another that will love to jump at it, given the chance."

Both Belladonna and Donitz nod. They don't say it, but the two high-ranking officers know just what country the Reich Marshal was referring to.

Donitz then moves on to say. "Understood, Marshal. I will make sure to hammer your words down in the rest of my ranks. Now, as for after the Royal Navy is made no-factor... The High Sea Fleet will approach to deploy an intense bombardment on Dunkirk. This will be followed by the deployment of Marine Regiments via the use of VTOLs and hovercrafts. They will then be covered by CAS and precision strike provided by both the Air Force and the High Sea Fleet."

Belladonna also chimes in. "And let's not forget our Hummels and armored trains. I have engineering units work day and night to set up firebases and lay the rails for our war trains around Dunkirk. Other than that, the rails can also be expanded to connect with frontline territories if needed."

Donitz nods before asking. "Trains? Don't you Army people have that infamous train crew that tends to land themselves in trouble?"

"You mean Thomas the Train?" Belladonna asks back, earning another nod from the Grand Admiral. "Yeah, and I can assure you their tales are the dumb-down version of what actually happened in real life. In fact, the crew got transferred from aiding Army Group C down South. They're now aiding in the laying down of new tracks for other trains in the region. Come morning, Thomas and the other trains can pitch in the opening salvos through their cars of Exoscar missiles and heavy artillery. Thanks to modern technologies, they can fire pretty much everywhere in this small theater of ours."

The Reich Marshal pitches in. "Seeing that Army Group C led by Princess Bonaparte is making impressive stride on her own in the last few days, I think it's prudent to reassign the trains to this point of conflict as additional firepower. The Reformist Princess and her cohorts can steadily makes their way to the South of Paris without much handholding now.

The Marshal then adds. "Our Air Force will also be bringing out their big guns. Some B-40 bombers from K-town will join the fun with their bomb bays loaded with Exoscars of their own. Jurgen pitched in to say that they may even seize all of the kills if you're not being careful, Donitz."

Donitz snickers. "Hah! As if he has enough bombers for this occasion! This will be our show tomorrow!

"Like a fish in the barrel, I can't think of any better quote than this." Belladonna comments. "The Allies will be engaged from everywhere but underground. A contemporary Army may take days to siege Dunkirk, but we will take only a day or two at worst. The obscene amount of firepower we can output at any given time is just too absurd for any normal military power to bear."

Donitz adds. "Once we're done, I wonder just how many Eruseans and Loyalists will be left standing."

The Reich Marshal further it by saying. "Hell, we will be left wondering if there's even a Dunkirk left. Our 432 mm explosives are no jokes, as evidenced by our run-in with the Royal Navy some time back."

Belladonna perks her wolf ears up. "Say, do the rest of the world still think that our dreadnoughts are still running with 380 mm guns, or gods forbid 283 mm?"

The Marshal laughs. "But of course! It's why the Royal Navy has the false confidence that their ships, equipped with 381 mm and some 406 mm guns, are more than enough of a match for our Bismarck-class. They totally leave aspects like crew training and detection equipment out of sight, out of mind, with how dedicated they are to keep pumping out one ship after another. So yes, they have pure numerical superiority, but they lack any true semblance of quality. They are, funnily enough, even less advanced than the Long Dynasty naval fleet or the United States Navy these days, and both countries either started off with nothing or got hit by a recent Calamity, by the way."

"Jeez." Belladonna rolls her eyes while looking at Donitz. "You guys be eating good and racking up easy kills nowadays, huh? Me and my guys and gals have to make do with shifting through trenches and muds these past few days."

"Need I remind you that we will literally go to shit if we make even one mistep over hear, General?" Donitz lays out his hands. "Billions Reichsmarks and thousands of lives will vanish in a singular instance if any of us in the Reichsmarine fail."

The Reich Marshal smiles before interject. "Alright, alright, settle down you two. We all have responsibilities to each of our region, so if there's nothing else, let's end the call on this note. I still have to oversee the transition of Darscen from a country to a province of Belkan on my end. Let me tell you this, it's annoying as Hell trying to hammer the meaning of defeat into some Darscen shakers and movers over here. Yggdrasil knows how bad it will be when we storm Paris in a few days. Now if only we can make the stupid Loyalist nobility a no-factor then, somehow, it would be much easier on my brain to not deal with snobby political bullshits."