September 8, 1936, near the town of Sernos
Carl woke up on his bunk and groaned. His eyes fell on that radio that had been delivered about three days ago. He would have to go out to the trenches soon, but he would spend the time he had listening to broadcasts from home. It tended to help with morale.
He turned on the radio, finding, much to his annoyance, that the radio was tuned to some frequency without a station and there was only white noise. He started trying to find a station when he found General Telegraph Co. (which would be renamed Air Threnorn when its broadcasting became more profitable than maintaining telegraph lines), which had just started broadcasting radio, and were able to use the money they generated laying and maintaining telegraph wires to use the new technology.
He turned off the radio after the time he had was almost up, and started to get ready to go out to the trenches.
[hr]
That afternoon
Carl was standing in the trenches when a mortar shell landed nearby, killing the soldier next to him, and injuring Carl in multiple places from the resulting shrapnel. If it weren’t for his helmet, he would not have survived the shrapnel. But now he was badly wounded.
The medical units, though already rather overloaded with injured soldiers, came to bring medical attention to everyone injured in the blast. Carl was put on a stretcher and was carried to the field hospital. He was transferred to a hospital further back from the front lines a few days later.
[hr]
September 10, 1936
Sertanburg Command
Generalleutnant Hartmann G. Keil looked at a map of the trenches. Unsurprisingly, there was almost no progress on either side. That would have to change.
The commander of the section of the trenches near Sernos, Oberst Fiete Schultheiß, walked in. “Herr, ich glaube, du wolltest mich sehen?” (“Sir, I believe you wanted to see me?”) (OOC: This is what I get for using Google Translate to translate things into other languages.
“Ja,” Keil replied. (“Yes.”)
Schultheiß then asked, “Hast du auch nicht gesagt, dass du einen Plan hast?” (“Didn’t you also say that you had a plan?”)
“Ja.” Keil looked up at Schultheiß. “Das ist unser Plan.” (“Yes. This is our plan.”)
He started drawing on the map and telling Schultheiß his plan. (OOC: If you’re wondering, “Oberst” is his rank.)
[hr]
The afternoon of September 15, 1936, in the trenches near Sernos
Sergeant Anthony Brown was loading a magazine into his rifle when he heard an annoying rattling sound.
The gas rattle.
He looked up, and saw a cloud of phosgene gas drifting towards the trenches. Cursing, he got his gas mask and put it on.
He hated the gas mask. If he wasn’t careful, he would fog up the glass panes that were over the eyes, reducing visibility. But at least it was better than the alternativea very slow, painful death.
He got ready for what would come next.
[hr]
When the artillery units that were just behind the front lines found out that there was a gas attack, after donning their gas masks, started to point their artillery at the Sertanburg trenches. (They had been busy trying to destroy the enemy’s artillery.)
The mortars were first, and the men rushed to load and fire shells until the larger and more powerful howitzers were able to drop larger explosive payloads onto the enemy.
The Sertanburg soldiers were getting ready for an offensive. They, already knowing of the attack, were already wearing their gas masks and were about to go over the top when mortar shells started to land on their trenches. Shrapnel cut down nearby soldiers. In the chaos, some of the soldiers ran over the top, thinking that it would be better to climb out of the trenches and risk mines or the machine gun instead of getting killed. Others stayed behind. By the time the larger howitzer shells were in action, Sertanburg troops were scrambling through their trenches, stepping over dead bodies. The medical corps were overloaded.
[hr]
Shortly later
A very battered and apprehensive Oberst Schultheiß knocked on the door of Sertanburg Command. “Komm herein!” shouted Generalleutnant Keil.
Schultheiß walked in to find Keil looking at the map of the lines. Keil asked, “Ist es so schlimm, wie ich es gehört habe?” (“Is it going as bad as I heard it was?”)
Schultheiß sighed. “Ja.” (“Yes.”)
“Scheiße!” (“Sh*t!”) Keil glared at Schultheiß, clearly angry. “Holen Sie sich Ihre Handlung zusammen, verdammt!” (“Get your act together, dammit!”)
[hr]
Thankfully for the Sertanburg war effort, they did get the act together. Their artillery started firing upon their enemies’ trenches.
Both sides took heavy casualties, but Sertanburg had more casualties than both of their enemies. That day, September 15, would be remembered as one of the bloodiest days of the war.