Tyranny of Steel

By the dawn of the next day, the German invasion of the Japanese Mainland was fully underway. Major Herman von Habsburg, who had previously been promoted for his actions on the battlefield, sat on top of a panther tank with a cigarette in one hand as the armored vehicle strolled through the smouldering ruins of a Samurai clan's castle. 

The last of an ancient bloodline had holed themselves up in the most fortified part of the castle, and were refusing to surrender. As a result, Herman had ordered for a tank to enter the courtyard. The 7.5cm gun of the Panther tank was aimed right at the castles's entrance, while Herman continued to smoke his cigarette. 

After taking one last drag from his cigarette and stamping the device out, Herman grabbed hold of a bullhorn and began to speak in the Japanese language towards the Samurai family, which continued to resist the German Marines.

"I'm giving you one last chance to come out with your hands up and surrender. If you still refuse to do so after thirty seconds, I will bring your castle down upon you!"

After saying this, Herman looked at his watch, and waited for the hand to pass the thirty-second mark. When there was still no answer, he raised his hand, just about to signal the attack. However, before he could do so, the castle's entryway opened, and several small children younger than the age of twelve came out with their hands up while bawling their eyes out. 

Herman sighed, when he saw that none of the adults had chosen to surrender, and thus gave an order his troops closest to the door before continuing. 

"Secure the kids and then get the fuck out of the blast zone!"

The German Marines were strict professionals, and quickly picked up the children and led them away from the door. Where once they were safely out of range, Herman gave the command to attack.

"Open fire!"

A loud blast erupted in the vicinity as the 7.5cm main gun on the Panther tank fired a shot directly at the foundations of the castle. A large explosion occurred, dust and debris scattered into the wind, and pelted the cover which the German soldiers hid behind.

Without a proper foundation, the castle collapsed on itself, and buried the adults of the Samurai clan, who had completely and utterly refused to surrender. Herman could only sigh at the sight of such devastation, before giving the order to move out. There was no point surveying the wreckage, nothing could have possibly survived such a thing. 

---

All around Japan, similar scenes were taking place, as the Samurai of a bygone era, and the various Daimyos who all claimed to be the Emperor of Japan had their homes bombed and bombarded into oblivion. 

Without being contested in the air, the German pilots unleashed hell upon the large stone structures that had been used to house the Samurai and their families for countless generations. Hans was among the spearhead of fighter jets which soared through the sky and unleashed havoc on these ancient castles. 

Currently, outside the home of one of the Japanese Warlords, Hans was flying in low, with his crimson fighter, as he locked onto the target with his radar guided air-to-surface missile. On both of his sides were Haywire and Ghost, who were competing with the prince to see whose missile would collapse the "emperor's estate." 

The transonic jet fighters whipped past the building before circling around at such high speeds that the 2cm flak guns could not even catch the tail end of the planes. When Hans spotted this anti-aircraft weapon, which miraculously survived up until this point, he target it with his 30mm auto-cannon and sprayed the device with the explosive projectiles. A short brrt later, and both the flak gun and its crew were utterly annihilated. 

In the next moment, Hans heard the voice of Haywire over the radio as the man complained about the boy stealing his kill.

"You little bastard, you stole my kill!" 

Hans did not bother responding to such nonsense and instead aimed his radar onto the top of the Castle before firing an air-to-surface a missile at it. Naturally, the projectile made its way to the target and exploded upon impact, bringing down a large portion of the castle upon its inhabitants. 

In the next moment, Hans noticed that Haywire had fired all of his missiles at the castle, and in doing so, destroyed what remained. Whether the warlord and his family were inside when the place erupted in explosions or not did not truly matter. Even if they survived, it would only be a matter of time before they were routed out and destroyed. 

---

A Panzer Division rolled up through the southern half of the Japanese mainland, while supported by German marines and Itami loyalists. These Japanese soldiers were distinguishable from their warlord counterparts by the rising sun bands they wore over their arms and helmets.

After fighting for so long on their own, the men who still swore loyalty to the Empress were quite excited to see the massive wave of German steel roll through their countryside. General Tsugaru Akihiko's worst fears were realized when Shiba's generals turned against him. One enemy became thirteen, and the men who followed the warlords had all begun to fight among each other. 

For a brief period, chaos had erupted across Japan, and the Itami loyalists did not have the numbers to stem the tide. That was, until a hundred thousand German marines and tens of thousands of German fallschirmjägers deployed to the region. 

Rather than sit back and wait for the Germans to clean things up, General Tsugaru had rallied his forces to support their new allies, and were now riding on the backs of German tanks, and infantry fighting vehicles, while steamrolling through the ranks of the various warlords armies. 

Currently, Tsugaru was smoking a cigarette on the back of a Marder infantry fighting vehicle while conversing with a German officer. 

"It's about damn time you guys showed up. Here I thought you were going to let us fight this entire war ourselves..."

There was not the slightest bit of shame on the German officer's face when she smiled and chuckled before responding to the man's claims. 

"Oh, we fully intended to do so, however Shiba was so incompetent that the situation rapidly deteriorated into a state we could no longer sit by and watch."

After saying this, the German officer grabbed the cigarette from Tsugaru's hand and took a drag before handing it back to the man. Though he feigned offense, the Japanese general was more than happy to share his tobacco if it meant that he received German support. 

As the two men conversed and joked around as if they were long-time friends, the echo of gunfire crackled in the air. Just up ahead, a roadblock was made by what remained of one of the warlord's armies. In an act of desperation, they fired their machine guns and mortars towards the German armored vehicles, who retaliated by spraying the enemy position with their autocannons and 7.5cm main guns. 

The enemy broke ranks and scattered after receiving this heavy barrage of enemy fire, where the men sitting on top of the armored vehicles took pot shots at them with their rifles. It was not long until the entire Japanese force was wiped out.  When Tsugaru saw this, he shook his head and sighed before expressing his lament.

"It's a shame that so many of my people are so stupid. The moment the empress fled to the Reich there was only one way this war could have ended. To think that even now these morons are clinging on to whatever power they still hold... Utterly disgraceful." 

The German officer could not help but agree with the Japanese General's statement, which he was quick to voice as he posed another question to the man.

"It truly is astonishing. At this rate the war will be over in a matter of weeks, don't you think?"

Tsugaru took a look into the distance where the city of Heian-kyō lied, and pondered on this question for several moments before responding. 

"At most a month, but at the rate we're going, I'd say we have a fortnight before total victory is achieved. After that it is a matter of cleaning up whatever is left of our country and rebuilding...." 

Both the German officer, and Japanese General remained quiet after this, shortly there after they would walk into another ambush, and swiftly overcome it. Those Japanese warlords who remained alive after the first forty-eight hours of the German invasion, would flee to the mountains, and continue their resistance until they were no longer able to. 

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