Chapter 1258: WW1: Collapse!
July 1708
"London Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down, London Bridge is falling down, my fair lady."
A group of well-equipped military men standing right outside a luxurious office room scratched their heads, not understanding why such a bizarre poem was being sung, but in the end, apart from the brief glances they gave each other, they did not do anything else and got back to duty
Within the office, an elderly man dressed in a regal military uniform casually hummed a tune as he sang the poem. Even though he had grey hair and a silver beard, he sat straight like a spear, with fine muscle lines still occasionally showing as the fabric curved along his body, completely unlike an old man.
The man was none other than Vijay Devaraya, the emperor of the Bharatiya Empire.
Vijay was in such a good mood because the report in front of him contained intelligence about the conquest of Lisbon, London, and several other important port cities and European naval bases.
For the last month or so, the amount of resistance put up by the Kingdom of Polish Lithuania had been greatly reduced, so he had guessed that the attack on the western front might have commenced. Now, looking at the proof right in front of him, he was overjoyed.
With all colonial resources cut off, communication between Europe and the rest of the world severed, and being attacked from two fronts, the European Union should be in a very desperate situation, exactly as he had envisioned.
Finally, many years of hard work and planning were culminating right before his eyes, and he could not help but express his jovial mood. In a way, he was successful in getting revenge for his motherland in his last life. He did not start the war for the sole purpose of revenge against the enemy of his previous life, but it was still satisfying that he was able to get his revenge.
However, the most dangerous thing is celebrating before the finish line, so even though he was happy, he did not let it cloud his judgment.
There is a good chance that the European Union would surrender if it encountered another defeat or faced more pressure, but in order to do that, it still had to work hard.
He got up and left the building, going straight to the locomotive line set up by the Polish Lithuanian Kingdom.
Over the last several months, the offensive on Polish Lithuania had not been reduced. If anything, with the gradual recovery of the Greeks, the empire’s army was able to increase the number of troops participating in the battle, as the Greeks took responsibility for transporting everything, even within the occupied territories, as well as taking over part of the job of guarding the hundreds and thousands of fortresses, bastions, and palaces that had been conquered so far.
Thanks to such a situation, the empire’s army had already reached Warsaw, the capital of the Polish Lithuanian kingdom.
Vijay got down from the locomotive after half a day of travel and went straight to the frontline barracks.
The barracks were built on top of a small hill over five kilometres from the Warsaw defence line.
However, thanks to the city being located at the heart of the Masovian plain, there was nothing blocking the view, so, despite the barracks being five kilometres away, using a high-powered telescope, the situation on the frontline could still be witnessed without a problem. Thanks to being able to see what was happening on the frontline from within the barracks, the transfer of information was instant as well, only a single arkha dristhi communication channel was enough.
Picking up the telescope and gazing into the distance, the sound of the artillery was very vague and could barely be heard, but the flashes produced by explosions were clearly visible. The Bharatiya military was doing quite a bit of damage to the enemy.
"How long do you think this will take?" he asked as he put down the telescope and looked at a middle-aged man next to him, wearing 7-star insignia on his shoulders and hat.
The man, none other than Commander Lavanga Sinha, considered for a moment as he stroked his chin in contemplation and responded, "I cannot be too sure, Your Majesty. We did send the Marines to infiltrate the city through the Vistula River with the hopes that we could use the method of breaking the defences from within, but so far, I have not received any response from the Marines."
"Did the enemy take any measures against the Marines?" Vijay asked.
Lavanga Sinha nodded. "They have put civilians to guard the river, every inch of it, Your Majesty. Although they cannot put up any resistance against the Marines, they are still capable of alerting the others, giving the Polish Lithuanians the opportunity to strangle the Marines before they could even cause damage."
’Then why did this guy still send the Marines?’ Vijay thought, his brows furrowing, but then they relaxed. Knowing that a commander would not be so foolish, he looked at Lavanga Sinha and asked, "What was your plan to counter the situation?"
"Well, it is to activate all the agents from the external Pragya within Warsaw. The idea is to have only our agents guarding a small section of the river so that the Marines get a safe passage." He paused, looked at the time on the wall with some hesitation, and then added, "However, this plan contains a risk. There is a possibility that our asset does not have any power in deciding who is allocated to which place. There is also a possibility that the Polish Lithuanians would discover our plan, go along with it, and lay an ambush."
Vijay nodded in understanding. "So it is still a gamble filled with uncertainty," he commented, but he did not look angry, since taking chances and risks were part of battle. But looking at how the expression on Lavanga Sinha’s face became darker by the minute, he realised that the gamble might have failed after all.
sigh
He let out a deep and turbulent breath. Putting the matter of the Marines aside, he proceeded to discuss what other options there were to breach the defence line as quickly as possible.
Usually, he stayed in Greece, handling logistics and the general direction of the battle, so he did not actually know the exact strategy being used by a certain commander. It was also the main reason why he was not aware that Marines were being used in this operation, but now that he was here, he had to participate in the planning.
Lavanga Sinha looked dejected, but he quickly recovered and started to consider what more could be done.
Their offence was very strong; every shot by the artillery was enough to put a hole in a wall, but the problem was that the Polish Lithuanians had turned the entire city into a concrete jungle, so no matter how many shells fell on the city, there were always defences for the Polish Lithuanians and their troops to hide behind.
If he relied on the same conventional attack method, it would take at least a week or more to breach the wall.
"Have you considered using the hot air balloons and letting the paratroopers take action?" Vijay asked, putting forward a suggestion.
Lavanga Sinha sighed and shook his head. "It would have been much easier with the paratroopers, but unfortunately, Your Majesty, the winds are too erratic at this time of the year. The people at the research and analytics wing provided me a detailed report about it, so since we could not be sure what direction the hot air balloon would sail, we had to abandon the plan."
Vijay was left thoughtful. Thinking back, it was right, ever since he set foot on the barracks, the wind direction had changed maybe four to five times. Although it was not strong, that was because he was at ground level. At 1000 feet in the sky, the winds would only be more unpredictable, not to mention operating a parachute in such a situation was not ideal either.
He began to think of other options, ranging from digging a tunnel, blasting poison gas throughout the city, contaminating the water source, and many other ruthless methods, but before he could make a decision about which strategy would be the best for the current situation, he was startled when Lavanga Sinha had a look as if he had seen the most beautiful thing in his life. His eyes became wide like saucers, and his face showed the widest smile he had ever seen, with all his teeth visible.
Vijay, confused, looked back. And the next moment, he let out a soft chuckle as well. The damn Marines actually did it, they really did somehow manage to breach the defences from within.
"I will take my leave, Your Majesty," Lavanga Sinha quickly bid farewell and immediately got on a Naya Samrat.
Vijay did not stop him and simply watched the jeep becoming smaller and smaller as it went farther.
What happened next was predictable: the Agni Ratha tanks, taking the opportunity when the opponent was caught off guard by the attack of the Marines at the rear, advanced all at once, ripping open a path amidst the concrete.
The heavy infantry and the sharpshooters immediately sprang into action and spread out, carrying out systematic bloodshed.
The Special Forces did not stay to support the army; instead, all three Special Forces units combined and made a breakthrough attack on their own, heading straight to the Marines who were under heavy firepower within the city.
While all this was happening, the Bharatiya External Pragya and Sainik Pragya were also applying pressure and doing everything in their means to bewitch and seduce the military officials to put down their defences and help the Bharatiya Empire, not only to save their lives but also to retain the wealth they had accumulated.
With the offensive coming from so many different sides, including psychological, the city of Warsaw, which should have been able to resist any attack for more than a week, fell in just a day.
It was yet another victory for the Bharatiya Empire, a crucial one.
