Chapter 97: Cross of the Iron Division
The time eventually came for the German Reich to reward its soldiers who had participated in the Russian Civil War. In the streets of Berlin, a wide celebration was being had. Specifically, a military parade. It was not, however, a parade for the actual German Army, but for the roughly 25,000 German Soldiers who had gone off and volunteered to put down the Red Menace.
This event had several major purposes in mind. One was, of course, to show appreciation to the men who had boldly taken up arms against the enemy of all of humanity. But two was to gain support for the Right-Wing within German politics of the era.
Frankly speaking the left-wing political parties had been in a state of disaster since all forms of Marxist thought were basically outlawed within the Imperial Powers of Europe, and at the same time parties which represented such beliefs were disbanded, with their leading members jailed under political extremist laws enacted in response to the Bolshevik Revolution.
Incitement to revolution, and treason were generally added charges to these politicians. In the end, the Social Democrats who were a heavily Marxist party, and one which Bruno personally held responsible for both the fall of the German Reich, and the pitiful state of the German Nation during the Weimar Republic and the 21st Century that Bruno had ultimately died in as a result of its suicidal immigration policies.
If he was Chancellor, he would round up every social democrat and have them shot in the street. But because they had wisely distanced their "official stance" away from Socialism and Communism. They had survived to some extent, albeit heavily persecuted.
But Bruno was not Chancellor, and instead at the moment he was focused on his military career rather than any form of political notions. Hence, he stood in uniform, or more specifically, the uniform of the Iron Brigade as he and his men marched through the streets of Berlin as if they were heroes returning from a great conquest.
Eventually the entire division, or more specifically its members who had survived the war stood in formation outside a venue built specifically for the Kaiser to reward those officers who had personally led the Iron Division and its many units over the course of the year and a half duration of the war.
As for the NCOs and enlisted personnel, they would receive their medals in the mail within the coming months. The Kaiser, of course, had a grand speech prepared for the occasion. He was dressed in a heavily embellished uniform belonging to the cavalry of the German Army as he began to recite the words he had thought of in advance for today's celebration.
"Standing before me are the brave men of the German Reich who volunteered of their own volition to fight against an enemy, not just to the Russian people and their Tsar, but to the entirety of Europe and our way of life.
In fact, I think it would be fair to adequately describe the red menace, those devils who adhere to the teachings of Karl Marx as an enemy of all humanity. No matter what they may claim themselves to be, Marxist, Communist, Bolshevik, or even Socialist, after the crimes we witnessed them commit in Russia, and in France I can say that it is the greatest honor of any man in this world, especially men of conscience to go out and confront this evil wherever it may reveal itself.