Chapter 496: The Price of Loyalty
The moment the King of Hungary gave the signal, he had his forces march into Croatia. Where the Royal Hungarian Army had marched into Zagreb in under twelve hours, waving the banners of Saint Stephen over its highest peak and greatest cathedral.
Such an overwhelming victory proved once again, without a shadow of a doubt, the difference between a nation that fought with armor at its forefront and those without it.
The soldiers wore a patchwork of old Austro-Hungarian uniforms and wielded rifles from every corner of the world; a sign of how the current Royal Hungarian Army was doing its best with the little it had.
Years of warfare had bled the best of their weaponry left over from the Great War, not that they inherited the pinnacle of what the Austro-Hungarian Army had been working with. No, when the Habsburgs joined with Germany, they brought their most capable gear with them.
And while Bruno’s investment had flooded the country, helping Hungary jumpstart its industry. The ongoing war in the Balkans, born from the Austro-Hungarian collapse, waited for no man. Hungary had no choice but to mobilize now, not later.
Troops deployed atop domestically produced tanks and armored cars, firing as they advanced. Infantry leapt from the backs of these mechanical beasts, rifles in hand, as 5cm cannons blasted fortifications into rubble. Within hours, the Croatian resistance was surrounded, assaulted, and crushed.
Back in Budapest, the King of Hungary and his generals gathered in triumph.
"Less than twelve hours! That is all it took for those Croatian dogs to kneel and remember who their master is! Well done, all of you! We’ve dealt a swift and brutal blow to the savages who dared murder the Governor of Zagreb!" the king bellowed, his voice soaked in satisfaction.
"This is what they get for rigging their so-called referendum, and taking up arms when the truth came out! Outrageous!"
The generals toasted.