Greetings Comrades in Japan

Fall of Capital

Are you fighting for honour? And we are fighting for our freedom, which means that everyone fights for what he lacks. - Bolesław Wieniawa-Dlugoszowski to the tsarist officers when asked what the Polish Legions were fighting for in Austria during the First World War.

The Empire of Parpaldia
20 March 1640 C.C.Y./ 1975 P.C

Esthirant

16th Infantry Regiment 3rd Division Capital Defence Force

Once again plaster was sprinkled on the soldiers in the basement. Some tried to clean the dust from their hair, but not the captain who commanded the regiment, or rather what was left of it since the battle began.

And there was very little left, barely a company from what was once one of the best regiments of the elite Parpaldian Infantry. Once they were the pinnacle and they were the force that everyone feared. Today they are like rats hiding from a big and hungry cat. Only a few days ago, to get among them, one had to undergo a grueling training that made the volunteers sweat, and the rejection scale exceeded half of the applicants.

Now, anyone who could fight was taken, what could be seen from the uniforms in which one could find conscripts taken under arms to protect the capital and soldiers from already broken regiments of line infantry or cavalry.

But worst of all was the loss of most officers so that command fell to Captain Julius Gais. He was the longest serving surviving officer of the regiment. He was fortunate in that his position was hit by the smallest attack force and he was out of his command post at the time of the first assault. This was not a sign of his sixth sense or extraordinary skill.

No, he was a painfully ordinary regimental officer, better than his counterpart in an ordinary regiment, but he did not stand out among the elite of the Parpadian army. He was simply lucky to be in a different location and avoid the destruction of his company's command section.

His new command section located in this basement, the building above it was partially destroyed but they managed to safely clear the passage to the basement, was composed of survivors from other units defending the capital.

The problem is that the others are inferior to him and know little about commanding a larger unit than a team in the field. As a result, they act only as helpers and followers of Julius' orders.

Julius was forced to make his own assessment of the situation and the advice of the others was contradictory and to the best of his knowledge wrong, but he could not blame them if he himself was not much better against their enemy and their steel machines. Especially one of them which made a characteristic rattling sound when it moved. It was taller and narrower than another similar machine which like it had a strange stick in front which soon turned out to be a cannon.

Both these machines supported Polish infantry, easily blowing up every point of resistance that they established in the city. Trying to even scratch these machines proved impossible for Parpaldia's guns. The bullets simply bounced off with a loud sound when they hit.

Apart from them there were smaller ones which shot faster than them but did not blow their targets into nothing but rather to pieces with their cannons. These could be damaged, but each such action cost them dearly because they were very rarely without infantry covering them.

Fortunately all these machines had problems with moving through the streets of Esthirant, which were sometimes too narrow for more than one machine. And in the old part of the city it is said that there are hardly any of their machines at all.

But although dangerous, they are not the worst. The worst enemy for them are the flying machines, which are able to hover in the air like their wiverns, but their firepower and range are much better.