Re: Blood and Iron

Chapter 737: Der Falke

Erika stood behind the countertop, helping her grandmother-in-law, her mother-in-law, and her sisters-in-law prepare dinner along with the kitchen staff.

Her shoulders trembled, her hands twitching as she clumsily whisked the sauce.

Heidi looked over at the young woman who had married her grandson and forced a smile.

“You’re doing well; take your time if need be. Nobody is in a hurry to eat tonight….”

Heidi’s hand hovered for a moment; old reflexes told her to command, not comfort.

But when she saw the girl’s trembling shoulders, her tone softened, and she touched her gently.

The woman reacted with a stiff jolt before turning over and hugging her grandmother-in-law while crying profusely.

Heidi could only gaze at the woman with sympathy in her sky-blue eyes.

The war had been raging for nearly a year now.

It first started with the March to Paris and then continued with the bombing of England.

It continued across the Atlantic, with clandestine operations in Latin America, and overt attacks on Canadian naval bases in the Atlantic and Pacific.

From there, the Americans deployed to North Africa, where they had spent much of the year building a staging post to launch an invasion across the Mediterranean into Europe.

All while asserting dominance over the region and its locals. A region contested by ghosts in the sands, and the zeal of a faith left unbowed.

But for much of the Reich, the idea of worrying about their beloved husbands, fathers, and sons who had marched off to war in its defense had been a distant fear at best.

One not truly seen since the opening stages of the war.

Today, however, was different. Erika had received a phone call from her husband just a few hours prior informing her that he and his battalion were part of an operation being sent to the east.

He couldn’t explain much, only that there was a new front of the war opening up. And his men were to act as the spearhead.

By now, he and his men were already en route to Bangkok.

And Erika could not help but weep.

She had lost her father at the end of the previous war. And now she feared she would lose her husband too.

A fear she could not help but express to Heidi’s lament.

“I know I shouldn’t say this… He is your husband after all… But he took my father from me all those years ago, and now he threatens to take my husband, his own grandson, too…. What kind of heartless bastard throws his own flesh and blood into the jaws of death?”

Heidi did not react as sternly or viciously as she normally would have should a woman slander her husband’s good name in such a manner.

And the reason was simple; Erika was her own daughter by marriage. And she was expressing a lifetime of grief that kept compounding here and now.

Heidi also knew that her husband was indeed responsible for the death of the woman’s father. A death that had occurred before she was even born.

Erika had never known her father, and now the only man she had ever loved was being asked to risk his life by the same man who sent her father to an early grave.

Because of this, when Heidi raised her hand, it was not to claw or strike. But rather to wipe the tears streaming down Erika’s face and away from her gem-like eyes.

“I understand why you would think that way. But you have to understand. It’s not that my husband doesn’t have a heart. It’s that his heart weighs too heavy with the love for a million sons. He cannot be asked to favor one over the other. Erich has been called upon to do his duty because he is part of an elite unit that is most capable of performing the task. Nothing more, and nothing less.”

There was much truth in what Heidi had said. Not only in regard to Bruno’s paternal mentality towards the chain of command. But also Erich’s position.

After single-handedly seizing Dunkirk from the French Army and Naval forces stationed there, Erich’s battalion was given a great honor.

They were certified as an Imperial Guards Battalion. It was a unit-wide citation that signified their elite and legendary status.

From as early as the Austro-Prussian War in 1866, Prussia had a similar concept. It was a unit known as the Guards Corps.

An elite corps-level unit that was considered the highest honor to serve in.

However, after the Great War, Bruno had largely overhauled the Imperial German Military, taking the best of doctrine, ranks, organization, that both this world’s history, and the previous one he had come from had given birth to.

As a result, a system similar to that of the Russian Empire, Soviet Union, and Soviet Successor states was born.

Giving the “Guards Badge” to units that had achieved exceptional feats in the field of battle. And distinguishing them as a step above others of the same type.

Erich’s unit, the 3rd Imperial Guards Airborne Armored Infantry Battalion “Der Falke” named after Erich’s own nickname that he had earned as an exceptionally brilliant airborne commander, was one of several within the March to Paris that had distinguished themselves in such a regard.

And it was the only Airborne unit to do so.

Because of this, the brigade that his battalion served within was specifically chosen to be the airborne detachment to the invasion of the Philippines.

And while Heidi understood that her husband was thinking in terms of tactical pragmatism, and not paternal favoritism.

To Erika, who could only see her husband being sent off to risk his life on a dangerous operation by his own grandfather, she simply believed it to be the act of a heartless monster.

Thus, when Heidi said that it was not malice or callousness, but Erich’s own merit that had selected him and his men for this mission.

Erika could not help but cry more, and voice her dismay over and over again.

“Why… Why did that foolish bastard have to go and make himself so valuable….”

Heidi could only say and hug the woman tightly, hoping she would overcome the dread that consumed her.

But she could never criticize Erika, because she too had stayed up on long nights alone, crying in her bed while gazing out the window wondering whether Bruno would ever come home again.

It was a fear that every wife and mother knew in a world that had only known war.

—

Erich and his men touched down at an airstrip outside Bangkok. It was a base filled with soldiers, planes, and armored vehicles.

Flak guns were located at every corner, but surface-to-air missiles were entirely absent.

Largely because it was a base owned and operated by the Royal Thai Air Force, and only temporarily given full military access to German personnel.

They did not immediately set out for combat, despite bombing runs already underway across the Pacific.

The Philippines and its defenses were being tested by the Royal Thai Air Force and its German detachments.

However, Erich had no time to take in the sights, learn about the history of the ancient Kingdom of Siam, or mingle with the locals.

He and his men were immediately tasked with swapping out their European cold weather gear, for their new tropical uniforms.

Lighter weight airborne helmets, designed with a smaller silhouette.

They granted the same level of protection but with less coverage in order to save weight and increase comfort.

In addition to this, their body armor was swapped out from the heavier Defender-2 style body armor to a lighter weight design that was form-fitting to the torso.

It was a simplified body armor, with internal plate pockets. One that removed the groin and neck portions of the armor and focused solely on protecting the vitals.

In doing so, they increased breathability, comfort, and lightened the weight significantly to about 4-5 lbs without the hard plates. While still maintaining the IIIA protection rating of the soft armor within.

Finally, the uniforms were swapped from the Blumentarn BDU pattern that was suitable for the battlefields of Europe, to a lighter weight “Lizard Pattern” Jungle uniform.

Its cut was trimmer and designed with the heat of the jungle in mind, while its pattern was based on the Lizard Pattern of Bruno’s past life, but its colors optimized for the tropical jungles of Southeast Asia.

The last major change was the boots themselves. A new synthetic design, made in the same feldgrau color as their body armor and load-bearing harness.

These boots were optimized for highly wet environments and paired with undergarments such as socks to match.

Boots designed to prevent the moisture and bacteria of the environment from rotting the men’s feet, while still providing enough stability, support, and traction to scale the environment and perform combat operations.

When Erich adorned the new uniforms, and inspected the equipment. He could not help but think just how long his grandfather had been preparing for this war.

To invent an entirely new uniform, perfectly suited to the Pacific environment, likely to have been tested by Werwolf units embedded in Southeast Asia and the Amazon for years in advance.

He suddenly found himself pitying the enemy. For they knew not the depth of the mind that had engineered the war machine they were now fighting against.