Chapter 232: Pride is the Root of All Evil
Chapter 232 Pride is the Root of All Evil
Erich found himself in his new unit and was quite comfortable with the arrangement. In the Great War of Bruno's past life, "Stormtroopers" were a development much later in the conflict. They were especially small units who specialized in trench raiding. With the ultimate objective of infiltrating the enemy fortifications and forcing an entry for the regular infantry to break through.
Development of such tactics led to significant gains by the German Army in the months that followed. Or at least relatively so, when 300,000 men died for six miles of land, and a million more were wounded in some capacity, then even a few yards of ground gained was "significant" in such a brutal war of attrition.
The Somme was among the bloodiest battles in Bruno's past life, one that answered the question once and for all. "What is the price of a mile?" Well, according to figures reported from the end of the battle, 50,000 lives is what a mile of ground was worth in the eyes of the commanders in charge on both sides.
Bruno believed that lives of his men were worth far more than a mere mile or two. 50,000 lives for a mile? Only a monster could justify such a price for so little gain. It was the reason he only engaged in battles he knew he could win and without such wasteful expenditure of humanity.
If the cost of victory was so great that it would ultimately lead to ruin, then retreat was the most advisable course of action. Pyrrhic victories were not something Bruno ever sought to be known for. Luckily, Bruno had the numerical and technological advantage in the Balkans.
And because of this, the majority of his men marched into Montenegro to take the small Balkan kingdom out of commission once and for all, while his own troops supported the Russian and Austro-Hungarian advance into southern Serbia which was currently the last bastion of the Serbian Provisional Army.
Bruno had to admit, the King of Greece, or at least those advising him, knew the opportune moment to enter the war on behalf of the Imperial Powers. While the combined might of German, Austro-Hungarian, and Russian forces converged on what remained of Serbia from the North, the Hellenic Army advanced from the South. In doing so, the Serbian Provisional Army had no path of retreat. They could not even march west into Montenegro, or Albania, seeking to stall the war with a guerrilla campaign like they had more or less done in Bruno's past life, as half a million or more German soldiers were rapidly seizing the two Balkan nations, and taking them out of the war early.
Serbia's time has come. They had started this war and dragged the world into their demise. Those responsible may be dead, but yet Serbia did not recognize it's wrong dealing and kneel before their victims asking for penance.
They sought to resist until the end, and if that was the case, then Bruno was happy to oblige them. One way or another, their choice to continue fighting a war of futility would be the end of their nation and culture, unless someone stepped forward and flew the white flag of peace.