In 1940, two years after a brutal civil war that resulted in the return of Kaiser Wilhelm II, the revived German Empire emerged as the dominant military, economic, and technological power in most of Europe. The Central Powers had been reformed, and...
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City of Hindenburg
Sapphire Region, Reichskommissariat Arthursland
November 1st, 1940, two months after the signing of the Treaty of Empires
Oberstleutnant Werner von Goldberg stood outside the Freikorps training centre in the walled, outside rifle range, standing before an entire company of non-uniformed human recruits wearing the rags they brought themselves into the building with when they first signed up. The company was either too well trained or, realistically, was afraid of the commander as they stood straight in a tense fashion with sweat running down their faces. The commander, in his mind, wished that those who earned their uniforms maintained the same fear as they first turned up.
"This is the Kar98k, former service rifle of the German army before its replacement to the StG-40 at the start of our decade," said Werner, holding up the former service rifle of the Wehrmacht to the amazement of his native recruits. "We aren't even supposed to be granting you any weapons of any kind, but since you have signed up to my militia, you have been given the authority to wield these weapons and protection by the Kaiser himself, especially since we have no other use of them with our automatic rifles."
Every recruit almost broke out of line trying to get a good look at the weapon in Werner's hand. To the Germans, it was just a piece of wood fused with metal that shoots a solid metal at the enemy, but to the people of the Continent, it was close to a magic staff. The Germans took full advantage of this among recruits. Making them believe they were empowered working for them was imperative to keep them from fleeing.
Numbering at over twenty thousand, Werner was definitely proud to train his own army of auxiliaries. Most of the recruits were wearing the typical grey uniform of the regular Wehrmacht or camo field uniforms, similar to the ones the Waffen-SS used to wear, and all bore the arm patch bearing the skull and bones symbol.
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Officially, they were called the Freikorps, but in areas they controlled, they were nicknamed the "False Germans" by the local population they were assigned to guard. If Werner didn't know any better, he would say the people preferred professional Wehrmacht soldiers guarding them rather than auxiliaries. Their reputation was indeed that of a militia composed of mostly those the world rejected, but they were built up again through their teachings of German militarism. As long as quantity didn't outmatch their quality, it should be fine - or, so Werner hopes.
