14. No Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice for Us!
May 14th, 1940Essen, Germany
The setting sun caught Günther Sehcks in his most awake state: completely and totally awake. He has been such since the early morning, and it would suit his habit to have remained awake into the evening, soon to retire for a good night’s sleep. There were obstacles in his way, however. Work didn’t wait for convenient moments to pop up, and at present, he was waiting for Drexler to complete the latest strategic map- one that would outline progress in the first two weeks of war in western Europe. As he waited, it became apparent that the map would not be ready for a couple minutes, and so he began inspecting previous documents.
The various climatic battles in France and the Benelux.
Xenomorph army did an excellent job of rampaging into central France, and 3 days ago were undergoing preparations for the siege of Paris. This would not be easy, given that they were all tank and motorized troops, attacking a city over a river. However, French defences could be accurately summed up as nonexistent, and they likely fled at the first sign of advance from Lutz’s corps. The other major battle was the advance on Ghent, where 15 enemy divisions with varying levels or strength and organization were gathering. The attack was ordered earlier than the pocket was complete to keep the enemy off balance. Pedo Army wasn’t doing very well in the Netherlands, but letting the enemy reorganize would be an unforgivable loss of momentum. At once all armies in Belgium, and von Manstein’s Xenomorph corps began pushing them against the sea.
The one battle Sehcks was honestly worried for was Eindhoven.
We need soldiers like these.
Von Kressenstein began his attack on the 3rd, and by the 11th nothing had changed. Both sides were completely exhausted, but the Dutch simply refused to give up, fighting for every field and building, which was commendable. When presented with this information, Regenbogen ordered the rest of Pedo Army into the battle, which resulted only in more stalemate. The enemy kept cycling fresh troops into the province, and defeated ones out, which meant that this could go on for a very long time. With the air force dedicated entirely to reducing the large stacks in west Belgium, the Netherlands front may become problematic very soon.
“It’s done.”
Sehcks turned his head to the main map table, where Drexler’s latest masterpiece was actively emitting an aura of freshness.
A winner is us!
“Good!”
Sehcks glanced over his shoulder to find an attentive Zug present.
“Yes, they are retreating from Ghent. Northward, unfortunately, though this might prove to be a good thing. Von Manstein could get rid of the little pocket down south and be on his way with the rest of Xenomorph. Meanwhile we’d have two HQs dedicated to the pocket.”
“Netherlands aren’t going so well it seems. Any word on why that is? I’ve only gotten casualty reports and supply manifests.”
“No, but I’ll be sure to get to the bottom of it. Either way, “Minus Two” is there and ready to help. Once the one battle at Eindhoven is finished, the rest should happen very quickly.”
“Aye. Are we going to put a heavy force in Ghent and push them inland? Or just squeeze against the sea?”
“Some number of troops in Ghent is probably a wise policy as they’d have to support attack Dunkerque, but the HQ can stay where it is. We’ve done well in two weeks. Paris is occupied, the French army is split into a quickly deteriorating pocket in Belgium, and their mountain stronghold at the Maginot Line. Our tanks have virtually nothing standing between them and great conquest. Nails in the Curious Box was a great success.”
“With the slight exception of the Netherlands front.”
“Yes. We’ll have to clean that up. Either way, well done everyone. Hopefully we can keep Regenbogen just as distracted by other affairs as we have until now in the future.”
The men ended the evening by playing rock-paper-scissors to decide who gets the honor of reporting this information to the general.
