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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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Immediately after the operation was activated by Luthers Edan, the legendary war hero and member of the Eagle’s Nest, the vanguard of the rebel forces was the 33rd Mechanized Infantry Brigade led by Brigadier General Erwin Staufen.
A mechanized infantry brigade stuck in the far eastern corner, armed with equipment withdrawn from the front lines.
Their equipment was outdated compared to the military-grade exoskeletons of the Capital Defense Command or the Empire’s next-generation main battle tanks equipped with 70mm hyperelectronic cannons.
That was why President Mikhail had handed over the position of “Mechanized Infantry Brigade Commander” to Erwin.
He thought it wouldn’t pose much of a threat anyway, but that was only in terms of armored unit versus armored unit.
For ordinary infantry, both cutting-edge and obsolete equipment were equally nightmarish.
And for the soldiers themselves, older equipment was often more familiar than new models.
Coincidentally, most of the soldiers assigned to the 33rd Mechanized Infantry Brigade were waiting for discharge.
They were the main actors of the war who had been through hell on the front lines and were desperately waiting to return to their families’ arms.
The “grand conspiracy” that President Mikhail Bismarck was planning had already been conveyed to the rank-and-file soldiers through Erwin Staufen, and they naturally became united in anger against the President.
‘Why did he cast us aside saying we weren’t needed, and now he wants to start another war and call us back?’
‘Territory? What territory? The Empire’s population has been halved since the Great War, and he wants to start another war?’
‘He’s a warmonger. That damn bastard is trying to destroy the peace we achieved with the corpses and blood of our comrades!’
Even before this, their opinion of the capital’s politicians and administrators was already at rock bottom.
Weren’t they the ones who engaged in armchair theories without properly understanding the situation on the front lines?
It was a well-known fact that while young people were dying trembling in trenches, those old power brokers in the capital were living comfortably and well-fed.
Luthers Edan and the generals of the Eagle’s Nest successfully managed to raise the discontent of the soldiers and lower-ranking officers.
The spotlight excessively focused on the President also played a part.
How long had it been since the names of the heroes who fought alongside them had appeared in the mass media right after the war ended?
The news consistently extolled only the greatness of the President, while all content about the military was uniformly negative.
Public opinion was manipulated to the extreme to control the military, so naturally, there would be backlash.
Erwin Staufen’s mechanized infantry brigade raced non-stop along the empty highways as the year-end approached.
Considering that the speed of typical armored vehicles was less than half that of commercial vehicles, covering 300km in just 4 hours was an insane pace.
They completely disregarded the reporting system and remained silent to friendly communications.
As it happened to be just before the year-end holidays, while local units without orders from above were in disarray, the 33rd Brigade passed through their initial target point without any losses.
Of course, they couldn’t engage in a 1:1 battle with the Capital Defense Command with just about 2,000 personnel.
So Erwin Staufen’s role was thorough “friendly force disruption.”
It was a meticulously planned blitzkrieg from start to finish.
If they could just reach the capital, they could amplify the confusion of friendly forces with a sudden rebellion.
If an unidentified armored unit was roaming within the capital, the President’s forces, unable to grasp the detailed situation, would fall into great confusion.
“Administer stimulants to the soldiers. We just need to hold out for today. It might be better to never wake up than to doze off for an hour!”
The rebellion had already begun.
Once started, there was no turning back, so Erwin and his staff officers whipped the frontline commanders and soldiers.
Stimulants and caffeine were stockpiled for this very day.
They advanced facing the bitterly cold winter dawn air head-on.
Was this truly a unit confident enough to take the vanguard?
The 33rd Mechanized Infantry Brigade didn’t slow down even after covering 300km from their base to near the capital.
Of course, the fact that Brigade Commander Erwin Staufen was accompanying them had a strong influence.
He had just demonstrated in person that he was different from the high-ranking commanders who were comfortably situated in the rear.
Who could slack off when their brigade commander was leading from the front?
However, the momentum of the 33rd Mechanized Infantry Brigade, which had been advancing like an unstoppable force, encountered its first obstacle.
Just 85km from the capital Hoenbaren.
But to reach there, they had to pass through the control area of the 57th Guard Regiment, which controlled the area near the River “Kassel” that cut across the eastern and central regions.
Given its characteristic of controlling the entire route from the east to the capital, it was a unit they inevitably had to encounter in some form.
“It was the 57th Guard Regiment, right?”
“The commander is Colonel Julia Anke, who was newly appointed a few months ago. She’s one of the few commanders who made quite an impact on the eastern front.”
“Tch… So it’s still a bottleneck after all.”
It would have been better if they were a bunch of misfits, but hearing from his intelligence staff, she wasn’t someone to be taken lightly.
“2nd Battalion! Switch positions with the 1st Battalion currently at the front!”
The current composition of Erwin’s 33rd Mechanized Infantry Brigade consisted of 2 tank battalions, 3 mechanized infantry battalions, and 1 motorized reconnaissance battalion.
Erwin pulled back the mechanized infantry battalion at the very front of the column and put a tank battalion in the lead.
Their mobility would decrease, but the impact would be twice as strong as a mechanized infantry brigade composed of ordinary armored vehicles.
“Prepare for our first battle. If it doesn’t work out, we’ll just run them over!”
The thought of turning their guns on friendly forces didn’t feel good.
But what could they do?
If they thought they could attempt a coup against the President with such immense power without shedding anyone’s blood, that would be greed and arrogance.
Great causes came with great responsibilities.
However, what the spearhead of the mechanized infantry brigade, gritting their teeth as they charged forward, encountered was—
“This is Colonel Julia Anke, commander of the 57th Guard Regiment. Would the commander of the unidentified unit please identify yourself? We have no intention of hostility towards you!”
It was the forces of the Guard Regiment, waving white flags with all roads open.
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“Good heavens… This is…”
The battalion commanders of the Guard Regiment, who had rushed in for an emergency assembly in the middle of the night, couldn’t hide their shock at the video being displayed on the large screen.
An unidentified research facility and Titans filling the experimental tubes in that space, wasn’t the intention all too clear?
“Colonel, where did you get this data?”
To the fearful gazes of the battalion commanders, Julia could only utter one sentence.
“Someone I trust gave it to me.”
“…Is there no possibility it could be fabricated?”
“3rd Battalion Commander, I, as the intelligence staff officer, can guarantee. This is absolutely not fabricated.”
“Then does this really mean that so many Titans are sleeping under the Armaments Bureau? That… that’s even a queen specimen.”
Their reactions were varied.
It was then that the regimental logistics staff officer, who had been silent throughout, opened his mouth.
“I thought something was strange. Charlotte Evergreen wouldn’t commit such an atrocious act.”
The logistics staff officer had known Charlotte since they were lieutenants at the branch school, and they had also taken the captain’s command staff course and the general’s command staff course together.
The shock when his close classmate was suddenly assigned the highest bounty in history was indescribable.
“Colonel Charlotte… She was definitely from the Graveyard Fortress.”
“Yes.”
Again, it was that Graveyard.
However, as it was a fortress directly related to Lea Gilliard, the possibility that her sudden disappearance and the Titans under the Armaments Bureau were connected couldn’t be completely ruled out.
“The last news was that she was entering as a project team leader level in the Technical Research Institute.”
“So there’s definitely a connection.”
“And… I’ve been thinking, isn’t the composition of the Holy Cross Brigade that just deployed a bit suspicious?”
One of the battalion commanders added in a heavy voice.
“His Excellency the President clearly said it was a relief force. But when you look closely, wasn’t the support unit mainly responsible for relief just one engineering battalion and one medical company? To station a specially composed combat brigade in a foreign country just to provide that much manpower—”
Julia Anke immediately realized what he was trying to say.
A hydrogen bomb stolen from the Imperial Armaments Bureau had exploded in the capital city of the Republic of Bostania.
If she was truly such a heinous criminal, why specifically the Republic of Bostania?
If she had detonated it in the capital Hoenbaren, she could have burned the President and his entire faction.
Questions that everyone had harbored but dismissed as insignificant began to amplify.
“Then are you saying His Excellency the President deliberately released those Titans in the Republic of Bostania?”
“It doesn’t necessarily have to be His Excellency the President. There’s also the possibility that the President of the Republic unofficially requested it, considering their domestic situation…”
“Enough.”
Julia Anke seized the moment to dismiss the rumors coming from here and there in one breath.
“Let’s discuss the details after we meet them.”
The opponent was an armored unit after all.
It was obvious that a guard regiment composed of only light infantry would be mercilessly crushed no matter how they fought.
Rather than sacrificing soldiers’ lives for a meaningless cause, it would be the right choice to stand aside.
Moreover, if all of these suspicions were true.
Julia’s gun barrel would be aimed not at these suspicious people entering the capital, but at that snake-like President.
The real hydrogen bomb was not elsewhere, but right under their feet.
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[This is what i imagine is happening when i play HOI4 lol real g’s will get it]
