Chapter 536: Ghosts on the Rivers
As Germany’s technological capabilities improved with each passing year, so too did the training and doctrine it began to implement.
New ideas for warfare, and the machines behind them, were first field-tested with the Werwolf Group, whose numbers had by now grown into a full-fledged division.
Currently, along an unnamed jungle river deep in the Philippine interior, German mercenaries sat silently beneath the deck of a patrol craft.
Although, to call this vessel a mere patrol boat was a misnomer. In reality, it was an experimental fast-attack landing craft.
Seventeen meters in length, constructed from advanced composite materials, it boasted armor capable of deflecting small arms fire while remaining light enough to skim across the water at speeds exceeding 40 knots.
It was a weapon designed specifically for coastal and riverine asymmetric warfare.
Its very existence was inspired by the longships of ancient Norse raiders; engineered from conception for speed, for terror, and for disappearing without a trace.
The same way the Vikings had struck fear into the hearts of greater armies a thousand years prior.
The men aboard were no different: trained in land, sea, and airborne operations. They were the sharpened edge of a new kind of warfare.
A template for the future, unleashed early in the year 1930.
For now, however, they sat in one of two staging areas, waiting. Above them, the sudden burst of automatic gunfire shattered the silence.
The unit’s radio operator quickly tuned to the local frequency, head cocked, brow furrowed. Moments later, he sighed in relief.