Chapter One Thousand Eight Hundred Sixty-Seven
7th August 1968
Mitte, Berlin
By now Louis Ferdinand figured he ought to be used to the feeling by now, of wanting to be proud of his children and wanting to strangle them at the same time. Friedrich had decided that the Reserve Pioneer Battalion he commanded being at loose ends made it perfect for going into the field as soon as the proper mission presented itself and one had. As it had turned out that Friedrich had suborned his security detail, convincing them that he had an important role to play in Poland and that he actually needed their help if he was going to be successful in playing it. This was unfortunately in keeping with the tendency of the royal children to either ditch their details in a variety of clever ways or in the most extreme case, Kristina telling them to leave her alone and being shockingly persistent.
The obvious issue was Louis’ brother Wilhelm, who had died in Spain. Since then, Louis had discovered that forbidding his children from putting themselves into the dangerous situations was often a losing battle. All four of his oldest had opted for military service of one sort or another. Friedrich had joined the Pioneers, an unorthodox choice that had taken him to Vietnam where he had done great things, during peacetime though. Michael, Kristina, and Louis Junior had all served in Korea. Michael had led a Panzer Company and had distinguished himself, gaining credibility with the Bohemian Army in the process. Louis Junior had volunteered to pilot a landing craft, bringing several Platoons of Marine Infantry ashore. Both of their experiences paled in comparison to that of Kristina, who had been in the FSR, the Jager Corps of the Medical Service as much of a contradiction as that seemed to be. She had done more than anyone should have, and Louis had found himself with the unenviable task of keeping his daughter from further destroying herself in the years since. Friedrich had apparently wanted to prove himself in the same manner his younger siblings had.
The first thought that Louis had when he learned where Friedrich had gone was to get Dietrich “Tilo” Schultz to load him onto the first available transport back to Berlin. The Marine General had a slightly different idea of what to do though. Tilo had Friedrich aboard the barge he was using as a mobile command post far from any actual fighting, with a dozen men in addition to his security detail who didn’t care who he was to make sure it stayed that way.
Płock, Poland
The barges were moving up the river again as the sections of bridge that had been blocking traffic had been removed. Freddy had given the orders to have it done only to have General Schultz assign him to his staff. It was expected that the next opportunity for that sort of sabotage would happen in Mazowiecki. It was here that Freddy had been introduced to Marine Feldwebel Knut Leichenberg, who was possibly the most appropriately named man alive. He had said to Freddy that he had already shot so many Poles in this campaign that he had earned a Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross and that he was now Freddy’s bodyguard so that someone else could have a turn. He also said that he thought it was about time that Freddy had shown that he had the balls to do what he had.
Earning the respect of a complete psychopath like Leichenberg was not what he’d had in mind when he had left Berlin. There was also the looming prospect of having to face his father, or worse Suga, in the near future and having to explain his actions.
Near Grójec, Poland
The Squad was advancing through the lines of fruit trees that provided some cover until they reached the creek whose banks were overgrown. For the previous minutes, they had been picking their way forward on foot after hearing the sounds of enemy armor to the north. The drivers had stayed back with the vehicles which were parked behind some hedges back at the other end of the orchard that made them impossible to see from the road. The rest of them had gone to investigate. Einar and Rolf were not thrilled about how heavy the equipment they were carrying was. The radio set, the Panzerfaust 400, and the spare rockets in particular. Christian didn’t want to hear it though. If either a target of opportunity presented itself, or else they found themselves under attack by enemy armor, he wanted to have it with him.
Looking across the open field, in addition to the Panzerfaust, the Squad had two Vz.60’s in addition to their own G44 rifles. Everyone started to set up a defensive position as Christian started to try to get a read on the enemy positions across the fallow field. He was having Rolf relay the information back to headquarters when two Polish soldiers came walking down the opposite bank. They paused when they saw Christian’s Squad, as if they were unsure as to what they were looking at. If only they had done the smart thing and had run back the way they had come, things would have turned out better for everyone. Unfortunately, people generally fail to do the smart thing when surprised.
For Christian, he saw the potential disaster in the making as one of the soldiers unslung his rifle and tried to raise it. Only to get himself and his friend cut down by a burst of fire from one of the Vz.60s. Everyone would have heard that for kilometers around.
