Chronicles of Toria: Setting the Stage (Vol. 0)

(Act 1) Chapter 4 - The death of a nightmare

The months right after the Allied grand offensive in Northeastern France would be met with minimal action on the new contact line, with only occasional small gains by limited attacks from the Trident Alliance meant to probe the German lines for weaknesses. During this lull period in the winter of 1942, both sides would make use of this inaction to build up their defenses.

The French, still traumatized by the German offensive through the Ardennes just two years ago, began fortifying their northwestern region to blunt any chance of a second German breakthrough from the region again. Meanwhile, the Germans also began to increase the defenses of r own Siegsfried Line and across much of Belgium and the River Rhine.

While on land, both sides made no major moves, the skies above Germany would start to burn red from flames as the Allied war production intensified. Their bombing campaign over Germany also began to intensify through the introduction of new and better Allied bombers and fighters. Alongside a vast amount of manpower and resources from their colonial empires, the Allied air force was slowly chipping away the Luftwaffe's combat capabilities through attrition and disruption of their supply lines. To the point that even Berlin became the target of the Allied bombings with the help of Norwegian bases, much to the chagrin of Herman Meyer.

On the seas, the Germans continued their attempts to defy the Allied naval supremacy. However, with their prized surface fleet still sunk in port, all that the Kriegsmarine could do was intensify their U-boat campaign against Britain. This included the return of their unrestricted submarine warfare ever since the aftermath of the Allied attack on Wilhelmshaven harbor. They hoped to repeat the successes from World War 1, but just like in the previous war, that decision would bring the opposite result.

Months would pass, and the year 1943 would greet the participants. Tensions across the Balkans were growing, unrest inside the Romanian government was quickly getting out of control, the suspected Allied offensive was coming ever closer, and on the seas, American blood was being spilled.

As the Germans continued to intensify their convoy raiding campaign across the Atlantic in a desperate attempt to force at least the British out of the war, they began targeting every manner of merchant ships, including American ships. The sinking of those American ships, alongside the death of American sailors, would be used by Franklin D. Roosevelt to sway public and congressional support for joining the war to stop the German aggression against the US.

The voting inside the Congress was highly contested, as many Senators and Representatives still held fast to American isolationism. After a tense counting of the votes, the results showed that, by a small margin, the congress had voted for war against Germany, and mere days after that, on the 2nd of April, the results were broadcasted around the world.

For the members of the Trident Alliance, the news was a welcomed one, but at the same time, the members also criticized the late entry of the US into the war, especially as the news came just a few weeks before their next offensive was about to begin. For the rest of the world, the news of the American entry only made it even more obvious which side was going to win.

Then a few days after the American declaration of war, the nations of Yugoslavia and Bulgaria also declared war on Germany and on its allies of Hungary and Romania. However, the two nations hadn't joined because of the US, but because during their talks with the alliance, they had agreed to join the war during this time. After the US and the two Balkan nations joined, many other nations also began to join the war against Hitler. With the sudden entrance of Yugoslavia and Bulgaria on the side of the allies, King Michael I of Romania launched his coup and successfully ousted the Legionary government from power.

With the pro-axis government out of the picture, the new Romanian government declared a unilateral ceasefire with the Allies before re-joining the war on the side of the Trident Alliance. And as if just to increase the German misfortune, the Soviet Union also broke off any relations it had with the Nazi regime and cut all trade it had with them, effectively cutting Germany off from natural resources it now desperately needed especially oil.