Chapter 302: The True Meaning of Christmas
Despite the use of tanks on the Western Front in a bold push on Christmas day at the Belgian border. The attack was ultimately repulsed. With several dozen Allied tanks destroyed, and a few hundred men slain, one could easily tell that this was nothing more than an attempt to gauge the fortifications at the border and their ability to defeat armored vehicles.
Even so, it wasn’t treated as anything much by the German high command. Who were more focused on moving troops, supplies, and most importantly their own armor from the Balkans to the Alps. Rearmament, resupply, and reinforcing losses sustained during the theater of operations were paramount.
Russian, Austro-Hungarian, and Greek soldiers would all be marching west, with the easternmost front closed. Bringing millions men into play. Most would be sent to reinforce the Western Front, their objective the same as it had been for the last year.
Hold the line until the other theaters of war are closed within the European continent. At the same time, the Austro-Hungarian, Hellenic, and Russian Flotilla began to push to encircle and blockade the Italian peninsula.
Perhaps they could cut off material aid from Italy via the sea, but the region was connected to France in the West, and could thus easily gain troops and munitions from the border. This was not like Serbia, or the Ottoman Empire, which could only rely on its allies for aid via maritime trade.
Because of this, one could expect a free exchange of forces between the Alpine theater and the Western front. And if this were the case, this would be Bruno’s first real test against a major power. The Ottoman Empire could not truly qualify as one of the world’s great powers in 1914 when the war began.
And while Italy was the least of the Great Powers, Britain and France were not so easily outclassed. As remarkable as Bruno’s military achievements were, a cynical man, or an ideological opponent could claim he had thrown the weight of the German Army at lesser powers, and thus had merely bullied the weak with his conquests.
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But that was not a claim that could be made if he steamrolled across the Western Allies, and that was what the world was watching and waiting to see. The treaties which were necessary for concluding the war in the east had been signed. And the holiday season was coming to an end.
Because of this, Bruno suspected that come mid-January he and his men would be shipped off to war once again. But that was a worry for another time, because today, was Christmas day. Hours after, the assault on the Belgian border had been concluded.