Author Notes:
Welp, as of this moment, Case Yellow is soon to be done or already is done. I can't wait to get onto other, more oddly detailed developments in the rest of the RM's world because, for Heaven's sake, I can't ever write anything that is simple hahaha.
I shall take this time to say something that I haven't said in a while:
Hail Marshal!
For when Case Yellow's done, it means that this long, long Volume is nearly finished. That eventual moment shall be yet another turning point for this story, and hopefully for the better as well.
Now, without further ado, do enjoy this new RM chapter, and do check out the links below if you want to support me and my humble two-person family!
https://www.patreon.com/Heartbreak117
For my fics:
https://discord.gg/cVZxJ29ruh
https://www.webnovel.com/book/reich-marshal-of-the-belkan-reich_23809095505377305
https://www.webnovel.com/book/in-the-grimdark-sector-with-a-system_31596105108346205
https://www.webnovel.com/book/my-soul.-occupied-body---please-the-other-me...!_35377211308783905
https://www.scribblehub.com/series/2271569/reich-marshal-of-the-belkan-reich/
https://photos.app.goo.gl/waZgkRa3UQhqKQBi9
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"Glory to the Revolutionary Command Council! Glory to Pola-!"
BOOM
The large speaker system, installed on an electricity pole in one of Kraków's many ancient roads, is blasted apart by a stray 76 mm High-explosive Fragmentation shell. The speaker, alongside the pole and the neighboring power station, is turned into deadly projectiles that shower the nearby civilian neighborhood. Large chunks of steel and whatnot punctured the thin, fabricated walls already weakened by countless fragments from earlier shelling, causing some hapless abodes to finally collapse under their own weight. The collapsed structures would have crushed some families taking shelter beneath them if there were still any of them left.
No, families as a concept have no place here on the battlements and in the trenches of Kraków. There are only soldiers, warriors, and martyrs who uphold and defend the values that made the Polanian people so great and vaunted in the annals of history... Or at least, that's what the broadcast, spoken by Chairman Jankowski himself, has been going on about until it was interrupted near the end by an artillery shell.
Ever since the brave counterattack of the last armed and experienced Polanian Divisions alongside eager hired grunts, things barely seemed brighter for the Polanians of Kraków for a tad bit before they're plunged back headfirst into Hell. The Rusviet's Army Divisions, at first, were startled by the counteroffensive that brought with it a never-before-seen ferocity, ingenuity, and resiliency. For a brief moment in time, a day at most, Rusviet's forces were forced to halt and even lost much of their gained footing on nearly all areas of the Southern Polanian front.
Morale was high indeed for the Polanians.
Their joy and hope proved to be short-lived when the victorious momentum fell down a slippery slope due to a deadly lack of mechanization. The few trucks the Polanian Divisions have, horses, and the human bodies can only pull so much weight of those precious heavy artillery pieces, antiquated as they may be, and AA guns before breaking down due to sheer war fatigue. To beat back the heavily armored and mobile Rusviet Army, the Polanians have also expended nearly, if not their entire stock of artillery munitions, using an overwhelming amount of artillery indirect and direct fire to mission-kill or destroy the lumbering T-28 and T-35 series of multi-turreted tanks. Even the Rusviet's famed 3rd Guard Division suffered moderate losses of heavy vehicles due to the Polanian Army risking it all to kill a few more tanks.
The courage displayed by these veteran Polanian Divisions had been outstanding until the very end.
But then, what fate befell the mercenaries that accompanied these Polanian Divisions?
It's actually hard to quantify the effectiveness of these mercenary companies. Generally speaking, in the Kraków counterattack, the mercenaries could be divided into two camps: those who were more experienced and daring, and those without either of them. The latter, honoring the contract to the best of their ability, participated in nearly all pivotal moments in the counterattacks, racking up both losses and hard currency hand in hand. The former, however, also did all of that, but only to a certain extent. Throughout the entirety of the counteroffensive, this camp of smart and shameless mercenaries limited their engagement periods as much as possible. Instead, they dedicated their efforts to "patrolling recaptured territory and protecting the backline logistics". This is another way of saying they're hanging back to compete for the derelict loot from both Rusviet and Polanian alike. Loots that are more often than not very lucrative to the point that people from both the mercenary companies and Polanian Army perished in fighting over the salvage rights.
Short-lived as the counterattack was, it was very colorful and hyperactive in its entire duration.
Understandably, when the Rusviets regrouped and brought their full force down on the Polanian Divisions and the hired guns, the counteroffensive broke. Subsequently, the few remnants of the veteran Polanian Divisions retreated back to Kraków while being chased by tanks and harassed by bombing attacks. The mercenaries, too, were routed even faster than the Polanians, lacking any dying wish to die for a land that wasn't theirs. This preserved the mercenaries' number, with a bit more than half of them rushing back to the Revolutionary Command Council, asking for one last paycheck so they could high-tailed outta here with a heavier pocket to cover their losses. However, given how furious the Rusviets were, those mercenaries still stuck arguing over money in Kraków were the biggest fools of them all. The smarter of the hired gun companies had ditched Kraków entirely and rushed for an escape either Southward or Westward.
Some of the smarter mercs groups were even hauling detracked, but still quite operational examples of T-35 tanks in their convoys.
While it's gonna be an effort and a half from these mercenary companies to get these Rusviet wonder weapons working reliably in the future, nothing is impossible if you're willing to pay the right money on the black market. But that's neither here nor there.
In the present day, the Southern Polanian front has been reduced to just Kraków and Katowice as major territories of the Polanian regime. However, Kraków is the Revolutionary Command Council's seat of power, whereas Katowice is nothing more than a logistical base. With Kraków actively fighting in siege warfare, if the ancient city falls, so will the Revolutionary Command Council and the entire nation. Knowing this, the last burning ember of the Polanian Army and its desperate pool of conscripts must hold the city at all costs, for it's their leaders and families behind them.
Right?
Well, it's half-correct. The families of the soldiers and conscripts surely exist. They're also joined by groups of mercenaries who now suddenly find themselves trapped in a city besieged due to their greed. Some of them have no choice but to join the Polanian defenders in resisting the Red Tide, either because they suddenly feel compassion for the city and its inhabitants, or because they will be executed if captured by the Rusviets for perceived crimes against soldiers of the Union. Still, there is no physical trace of the Polanian leadership that is supposedly staying in the command bunker. They're long, long gone in the first 24 hours since the news of the first series of successes against the Rusviet Army arrived, using the chaos to slip away. What's left behind are nothing more than well-paid actors, doppelgangers, and loyalists who are willing to die on behalf of the Polanian Revolutionary Command Council.
The voice of Jankowski being transmitted on and on throughout the city's broadcast system? It's nothing more than someone faking Jankowski's voice while reading the scripts he brainstormed under a time crunch. It may not be Jankowski's finest scripts ever, but it gets the job done when people don't even have the leeway to question the quality of the supposedly legit broadcast.
Overall, it's quite a clever series of subterfuge. When the curtain falls over Kraków at last, and the defeated Polanian people finally accept their fates, imagine their surprise when they themselves will be the ones signing the surrender parchment while their leaders are sipping Tequila in Turkey. That blow will finally shatter any illusion of Polanian supremacy as a people, a nation...
A race.
Given the Polanian Revolutionary Command Council's track record, however, you may be wondering how they could even come up with such a devious plan, sacrificing an entire nation to save themselves, and even have the financial leeway to pull it off. The answer can be found in three letters:
ONI
Although Belka and Rusviet have signed a pact, and Belka intends to honor its constraints to the best of its capability for the time being, the contract never fully stipulates what both signatories will be able to do if they manage to capture members of the Revolutionary Command Council. To avoid the unfortunate event where the Rusviets can squeeze a total surrender agreement of Polania to the Union from the Council, and give the Red Bear justification on all of Polania - a process not dissimilar to what Belka just did with the Kingdom of Erusea - ONI has to make the Polanian leadership a non-factor.
ONI finally achieves the idea after presenting the Polanian Revolutionary Command Council, all thirsting for personal gains and survival first and foremost, things like money, black market contacts, and even capable aides,... They all conveniently came to the Council when they were needed the most. And the Council bought them all up with glee and desperation. Circumstances mean they weren't allowed the leeway of second-guessing where the resources and manpower truly came from. Jankowski, being nothing but a representative with little true power, hadn't even noticed the suspicious movements until they got thrown at him in the face a few days ago. By then, it's too late to make any changes, and he found himself compelled by his human vulnerabilities to follow through with the Council's plan.
By now, Jankowski and the surviving councilmen are swiftly approaching the Polanian-Southern European DMZ borders. It's there that the Polanian runaways, under escort from the mercs of Garm Company, will make a proper transition from a war-torn region into an ideal, peaceful park. There, they will board a tourist course straight to Istanbul, Turkey.
They all deserve some leisure time after working hard for their country, don't you think?
While the Polanian Revolutionary Command Council is none the wiser of the fact they're being puppeted, at least the Rusviet side of things finally realizes that something's wrong in this situation. However, the cause is what you may not have expected or have forgotten. Having been so entrenched in the idea that, while heavily fortified, Kraków is nothing more than a fortress that is poised to reinforce an even more protected capital of Polania, Warsaw, in its time of need. Yet, the previous intense counterattack, its desperation, and the human intelligence gathered,... All have pointed out a very humiliating picture.
Warsaw has been emptied of all Polanian military presence for a good part of this entire war.
There are still, or were, small outposts and garrisons around it, sure, but all core military units were pulled southward ages ago. The Rusviets have been fools for advancing on Warsaw too cautiously, too slowly, without a single serious probing attack on the defenseless capital city. The Rusviets could have earned a political and propaganda victory days ago, if not for their playing it safe, thinking that they could eliminate the Southern Polish force first for a pincer attack on Warsaw.
Understandably, Stalin is absolutely livid and orders a simultaneous capture of Warsaw and Kraków. A raze order is given specifically to Kraków, and that any high-ranking Polanian officers or governmental staff who were captured will be sent for sham trials to save some face. The majority of the Rusviet military's focus is now given to the Southern Polanian front. General Rokossovsky is made Commander of the Theater, owing to his achieving greater success in repelling the Polanian counteroffensive and routing many mercenary companies.
Stalin has decided to place more trust and power in the man, but General Rokossovsky isn't too keen on following through the raze order to the letter. That's a dead trap, and Rokossovsky knows it full well that should a blood bath be discovered, Stalin can wash his hands clean before throwing Rokossovsky out to the dogs. So, Rokossovsky has to get creative with both his orders and force deployments. Razing is inferred by Rokossovsky into propaganda broadcast and evacuation notice to Polanian civilians. The Rusviet General also makes attempts at a negotiation of surrender and even invites international reporters to cover the war effort in the South. General Rokossovsky is aligning the court of public opinion on his side in advance, making himself a staunch, honorable individual, which he kinda is, but also a loyal officer to the Union. Hopefully, this will stop attempts at foul play, or at least keep them at bay for a while.
When he has exhausted all diplomatic means, however, and Stalin is on the edge of losing his patience, General Rokossovsky commits to initiating intense artillery shelling and bombing runs, day and night, nonstop, on city blocks that stand adjacent to Kraków's towering walls. The raze order is indeed followed, but only carried out on areas where the Polanian military is most likely concentrated. Civilian casualties will still occur, but General Rokossovsky can only offer his condolences and hold the hope that the numbers that evacuated stand higher than the numbers that don't.
Such is war...