Tyranny of Steel

Captain Herman von Habsburg sat silently in the interior of his squad's infantry fighting vehicle. Days had passed since the hostilities between the Reich and the Empire of Japan had begun. At the moment, several divisions' worth of German Marines were being deployed to the island of Borneo in their attempts to liberate the region from its Japanese Occupiers.

While the rest of his unit were saying prayers, while their armored vehicle sat on board a large landing craft, Herman was instead gazing at the interior lining of his Stahlhelm. There was a photograph embedded within the liner of a rather gorgeous woman. In the eyes of many, this woman was considered to be the most beautiful woman in the world. 

Since his father's execution, Herman had a conflicted relationship with his elder sister, who was now one of the two kaiserins of the Reich. Linde had, in his eyes, betrayed their family, and for the longest time he had deemed her unworthy of forgiveness. 

However, after battling natives across the colonies of the New World for most of his military career, and witnessing the expansion of the German Reich into the world's foremost superpower. Herman had come to terms with his sister's betrayal, and now had a photograph of her tucked safely away within his helmet's lining. One which he had clipped from a popular fashion magazine that Linde commonly modelled for in her spare time. 

Despite being in his twenties, Herman was still unmarried. He would rather not leave behind a wife and several children without a father in the likely event of his death. Thus, he had been a bachelor for many years. 

However, there was a common tradition among the Reich's soldiers to keep photographs of their loved ones with their helmets. It was considered by many to be a good luck charm. Naturally, the only woman who was remotely a part of Herman's life was his elder sister, and thus, he had rather shamelessly used Linde's photo without her knowledge. 

Of course, he was not the only one in the ranks of Germany's armed forces who had done such a thing. Many of the Linde's admirer who had no sweethearts of their own took her public photographs and used them as good luck charms. 

With this in mind, Herman scoffed before stuffing the photograph back into his helmet's lining. He was not so foolish as to kiss it for extra luck, like so many men in his unit did to the photos of their loves ones. After placing his helmet upon his head, Herman racked the charging handle of his assault rifle to make sure that his weapon was loaded. 

Any minute now, the landing craft would be hitting the shores of southern Borneo along with about a hundred others, which by now, the coastline would be heavily fortified by the Imperial Japanese Army. It was ironic, the fortifications which Germany had built for the Majapahit Empire to deter the Japanese from invading were now being used by those same invaders to prevent a German assault. 

In order to account for this, a group of outdated German battleships and battlecruisers had sat off the coastline for the last three days, during which they had bombarded the coastline with everything they had. It not looked like a barren hellscape devoid of all life. 

However, for good measure, the Luftwaffe, who had gained Air Superiority of the island, had begun a campaign of strategic bombing, any and all positions which remotely displayed signs of life were carpet bombed by the Germans in preparations for their invasion. 

After such a fierce campaign of bombardment, it was assumed by many of the enlisted troops that there would be nothing left to fight when they finally landed on the shores of Borneo. However, Herman knew better. In fact, with the defenses that the Germans had made, and the Japanese now occupied, it was entirely likely that their enemies had just hid underground, and were now waiting for the German assault. 

Herman could not count the number of times he had taken part in military exercises specifically designed to replicate opposed landings. And if there was one thing he had learned from these mock battles, it was that the assaulters were always left with high casualties. 

Sure enough, the landing craft had hit the beach, and opened its gates for the Panther Tanks and Marder IFVs to assault the shores. Unfortunately, as Herman had expected, they immediately came to a stop, as not far in front of them were a sereis of tank traps, and other obstacles designed to prevent the tanks from advancing forward. 

All the while machine gun fire, and explosions echoed in the air. Sending chills down the spines of those less veteran soldiers. It would appear that the coastal bombardment, which had lasted for three days and three nights, had done nothing to stamp out the Imperial Japanese Army, who now made use of the Majapahit Anti-Tank guns which were left behind during their evacuation. 

Eventually, the rear hatch opened, and Herman gave the command to deploy, which as the Captain of the company, he was the first to step into battle. In doing so he narrowly avoided his death, as the moment he stepped foot onto the beach, an 8.8cm anti tank round hit his IFV and blasted it apart, killing the other nine men who were stationed in the rear of the vehicle along with the crew.

Herman was sent flying face first into the sand from the explosive blast. It took him a few moments to look up and see that the men in his squad were all dead. Rather than lament their loss, he racked the charging handle of his Stg 32 assault rifle, and rushed through the enemy machine gun fire towards the Japanese occupied bunker complex. 

While running through the labyrinth of tank traps and barbed wire that littered the beach, Herman noticed his fellow soldiers falling left and right. Yet he did not pay attention to this, his attention was distracted by the sounds of German battle cries resounding in the air, and echoing alongside the side of machine gun fire. 

"God with us!"

"For Kaiser and Fatherland!"

"Hail Victory!"

Herman squeezed the trigger and held it down for a second, allowing a controlled burst of four rounds to fire towards the entrenched enemy. After doing this, he charged again, before repeating his actions over and over again. 

Every few bursts his bullet would hit its mark, and claim the life of a Japanese soldier. However, when he was roughly 30 meters out from the trench, a bullet hit him square in the chest, which knocked the air out of his lungs. 

An intense pain erupted from Herman's torso, but this was not the sharp pain of being pierced by a bullet, rather, this was the agony one received from the blunt force trauma of an airborne projectile which smashed itself to bits against a ceramic composite plate. 

Rather than stay in one spot for too long and risk getting shot again, Herman mustered his strength and rushed into the trenches, where he sprayed down a line of Japanese soldiers who had fixed their bayonets in anticipation of his arrival. 

After changing his magazine, Herman began stalking through the trench, ruthlessly gunning down any Japanese Soldier he could get in his sights. The enemy was completely unaware that one man had entered their trench with an automatic weapon, and that he was wreaking havoc on their forces. 

One soldier became two, two became five, five became twenty. The more Japanese blood that Herman spilled, the more of his men could enter the trench line and begin to seize the shores of Borneo. By the time the surviving members of his company had caught up with him, Herman was covered in the blood of his enemies, his uniform stained beyond recognition. 

When they entered the trench and witnessed one man standing alone among dozens of corpses, they could hardly believe their eyes. Yet Herman did not look the slightest bit remorseful. No, there was a look on his face, as if what he had just done was completely normal.  After all, he had spent most of his military career within the colonies, purging savages, and claiming their lands for the Reich. He had no remorse left in him for those he deemed to be enemies.

Once the front bunker complex was taken, the German soldiers began to mount their machine guns towards the Japanese rear lines, and began to open fire on the enemy. With the overwhelming rate of fire which the MG-27 produced, the Imperial Japanese Army was effectively pinned down in their own trenches, while Herman, and the rest of the German Marines scaled over the walls of their recently captured bunker complex, and charged towards the Japanese with reckless abandon. 

By the time the sun had set, the Germans had secured the southern coastline of Borneo for their own landing operations. Nearly ten thousand Japanese lie dead in their bunkers, while the German casualties amounted to less than half that. Perhaps the Germans would have suffered far more deaths if not for their advanced body armor, which, for the most part, limited their casualties. 

As for Herman himself, he washed the blood off his body the best he could manage before regrouping with his company and giving them commands. 

"Alright boys, I know we suffered some losses. However, the objective is clear. The Kaiser wants this war ended as swiftly as possible, thus there will be no reprieve. I want your magazines loaded, and your methamphetamines digested. Because from here on out, we are storming Borneo in full force.

Now that the tanks have cleared through the obstructions, we will be able to rely more on our armor for protection. Make no mistake, the landing was bound to be the most dangerous part of our mission here in Borneo, but that does not mean any of you can relax. Keep your heads on a swivel and shoot anything you think looks hostile." 

Herman was right, of course. Opposed landings, while rare throughout history, always made for some of the bloodiest battles. The fact that they had lost only a few thousand men in this assault was actually rather mild, considering how well defended the southern beaches of Borneo were.

After loading his own magazines from the supplies which made its way to the shores of Borneo after the assault had finished, Herman replaced his fractured front plate with a new one, as did many of the men in the army. 

Soon enough, Herman would find himself once more the spearhead of the invasion of Borneo. One which he hoped would be far less bloody than the Japanese conquest of the island, which occurred just months ago. Luckily, so far, casualties appeared to be low, but he began to wonder for just how long they would remain so. 

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