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"The Holy Britannian Empire, that's the interesting name. The one who commands this army is Elizabeth Britannia, the princess of this empire."
"So fast? What's the news?"
"Some time ago, they attacked the Royal Navy near Rügen Island, and the crew of one of their bombers was captured by the gentlemen at sea. They were lucky, needless to say, and the pilot seemed pretty inexperienced; he confessed everything in no time. He also heard the broadcast and can confirm that everything is true."
"Well, looks like this is going to be troublesome." Ike rubbed his forehead. "The Nazis have only been gone for six months, and now a bunch of guys are here yelling about seizing our land?"
"The Russians are already more anxious than we are. Look, this telegram from Zhukov seems to carry a strong sense of apology. But let's put that aside for now. They're already trying to negotiate with us that the Royal Air Force can enter the former Soviet-occupied zone when the time is right."
"Alright, I don't know if the citizens of London have received these, but, Marshal, I've heard that things are already a bit..."
"The British don't care where the enemy comes from; we're only responsible for killing their will to cross the English Channel."
Montgomery smiled with even more confidence, stood up, and slowly extended his hand.
"Come on, General, perhaps we should ask the people in Washington, D.C., who are sitting in the White House. They should have a strong desire to unite against this strange man who so bluntly calls America a 'traitor'."
"Indeed, and of course the red bear to the east. I suppose the blood from the cut on its paw has calmed down and is talking to us now."
"Well, there's also General Tassini from France. Do they not want to betray us who lowered the Nazi flag in Paris?"
Ike stood up and placed his right palm in front of Monty's right hand.
On their epaulets, the British crown and the American white eagle were joined together again, running down their arms and through their tightly clasped hands.
Chapter 174, Section 237: Supplies First, Seizing the Wolf's Den
The meeting room in the Capitol was filled with discussion.
Who was there in the heart of Berlin? Naturally, it was the generals, those standing beneath the Britannian flag. Elizabeth and Kelly, the siblings, hadn't arrived yet; according to the princess, the generals were to discuss it amongst themselves first.
"That won't do... It's only a matter of time before the US and the Soviet Union formally declare war. If we don't seize the initiative and launch an offensive now, we'll just be waiting for them to come, and then we'll..."
"We can't be so reckless; we've already fallen behind in some areas."
“That’s right. When we were besieging Rügen Island, we didn’t even get our hands on a complete set of spare parts for Canterbury, let alone other supplies.”
A certain count looked at the girl who had just spoken and had been quite vocal earlier with displeasure—what was she doing here, with the rank of a second lieutenant on her shoulder? And why was her uniform and the details on it somewhat unusual?
"Don't think they're just here for the fun of it," the general whispered to the count. "They're representatives sent by the Knights of Agincourt, and they're talking about firsthand, real things."
"Ha, this blonde girl named Angelie? At least send someone taller."
The discussion continued, with everyone expressing their opinions and the topic being turned over and over again, but no one seemed to have the final say.
……
It was at this time that the siblings returned.
"Your Highness!"
“No need to get up, no need.” Elizabeth and her brother slowly sat down at the head of the table. “Gentlemen, after such a long discussion, do you have any thoughts?”
"Your Highness, our concerns are actually more about our current situation..."
"Should we attack or defend now?" Kelly cut him off first. "General Wood, what is the purpose of our attack? And what is the purpose of our defense?"
"The attack, of course, is to seize their territory, and then..."
“Kelly is asking about the present, sir,” Elizabeth emphasized. “Raising the Britannian flag over their ruined capital is our future goal. Now, what do we need to do?”
"According to Your Highness, are we here for..."
"The world is a vast dining table; we must be careful not to overeat, but also to avoid having our teeth chipped by bones. So far, all our offensive and defensive plans have revolved around Berlin, don't you agree?"
"So……"
"Berlin now has nothing to worry about except for the American bomber formations. Although the current occupied area is large enough to serve as a foundation for an expedition, it is far from enough to meet our future needs."
"Setting up new air defense early warning points, maintaining traffic, planning the establishment of new sub-teleportation gates, and even repairing these city buildings, replenishing the troops with new supplies, not to mention, if our army continues to maintain an open offensive posture, what pressure will it put on us? Speaking of which, why did so many as eight aircraft be destroyed when that Major Valar led armed transport planes on a bombing mission last time? The answer I received was that 'three of them encountered an accident on the runway during landing,' ha."
The generals fell silent.
“We’ve discussed with my brother the possibility of sending more army groups and legions here, from the mainland, Europe, and Siberia—more than seven or eight hundred thousand. And they’re not coming here to sleep in shell craters with us.” As she spoke, Kelly helped her sister place a booklet on the table. “Everything here—the manpower, the resources, the land—is something we’re going to take. So, at least before we get it, we need to make sure there are no bugs biting our fingers, and we need to see if our baggage is big enough.”
"So please don't forget our original purpose, and we need to work steadily towards that purpose." Elizabeth smiled. "Ha, of course, this does not conflict with our strategic policy."
The older sister stopped and listened to the generals express their opinions one by one, then nodded gently.
……
"It seems everyone has a good understanding of the priorities of the current issues. Indeed, District 45 is a very good place to eliminate waste. That's right, the geographical name and administrative divisions of District 45 are exactly the same as our world. There are so many countries on the European continent. We need to defeat them in batches. Even our ultimate goal in coming to District 45 has to become the least important task."
"Ah? Your Highness, what do you mean...?"
“'Stabilizing the current occupied territories to pave the way for future battles' and 'formulating the main strategic objectives needed to conquer the entire 45th district'—these two are not contradictory, are they?” Elizabeth smiled gently. “After all this time, you should be able to name our primary enemies, right?”
“Well, Germany is currently a completely defeated country, a stagnant pool.” Duke Sasler pondered. “To the east of Germany is Poland, to the southeast are Czechoslovakia and Austria, to the south are Italy and Switzerland, and to the west are Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and France.”
"As for the United States, the Soviet Union, and Great Britain, none of their territories border our current occupied areas. They only govern the lands in Germany, which are located to our southwest, south, and west, respectively. Of course, although the Soviet Union has lost most of its occupied territories, Poland has sided with it. Otherwise, there is no way to explain why there are still shells coming from the east bank of the Oder River."
"At least now the planes flying over are Soviet aircraft with red stars, not some Polish insignia."
"Then let's take a look at these leaders of the fight?" The generals' words were indeed to the point, and Kelly also chimed in, "The Soviet Union is probably self-explanatory, Britain has only just made direct contact with us, and the United States sent a bunch of bombers to join the fray before the army returned. As for France, we haven't made any moves yet, but as one of the major belligerents in their 'World War,' they must be quite formidable."
"Generals, my brother has put it this way, perhaps you shouldn't hold back anymore. Let's start with the second most important objective?"
"Well, Czechoslovakia and Belgium haven't been heard from yet, so they're probably the smallest hostile forces, and the last ones we'll have to deal with."
"Next level? That would be Poland. But Your Highness, what about Sweden and Norway, which lie across the Baltic Sea in Scandinavia? After all, I just heard from the representative of the Knights Agincourt that when they attacked the British and Soviet fleets, they may have spotted the Swedish fleet passing by."
“Since we’re separated by the sea, let’s wait until we’ve repaired the ports in northern Germany. Besides, you said the Knights of Favonius supposedly ‘discovered’ the Swedish navy, not that they were attacked by it.” Elizabeth waved her hand. “Let’s leave the other smaller countries for now. What about the four major powers?”
……
The generals started discussing it again.
"Well, France is the last one, after all. First, it doesn't border us; second, it hasn't deployed air power like the US military; and third, I guess France here is not much of a threat, just like the EU."
"I have no objection to what you said, but you should reconsider the third point. This is District 45, not those people who frequent nightclubs."
"Then the third one... I think the United States and the United Kingdom are on the same level, both second-tier targets. Although they appear to be allies, the United Kingdom is not as wealthy as the United States, and the United States is too far away on the other side of the Atlantic. I think it is quite appropriate to treat them as equal enemies."
"That's what we say, but we'll have to take down Britain first."
"Hey! Control yourself! You've already declared war, don't get into a fight with a bunch of guys who share the same name..."
"I have no emotional baggage. First, Britain has a large number of ground troops bordering our borders; second, it can send a fleet to approach our coastal areas; and third, it is probably a very useful springboard for the United States in Europe. Taking Britain would be equivalent to completely depleting the United States' influence in Europe. We just discussed this, how could you forget it so quickly?"
"Then take down America... cough..."
"Don't set your sights too high, gentlemen," Elizabeth cautioned. "We must recognize that it's perfectly fine to set Britain and the United States as our second major targets, but the goal should be 'to occupy the British mainland and cut off America's foothold in Europe,' not to defeat both countries in one fell swoop."
"Alright, it seems there's nothing left to discuss. Since there's no dispute about the order of the other three major powers, I'll state my primary objective myself." She stood up. "The Soviet Union. The Soviet Union is our most troublesome and challenging enemy. We were once so close to the Soviet army capturing Berlin, our landing ground. We absolutely cannot allow the Soviet Union to threaten Berlin again. Even if we can't destroy this great Eastern power, we must spare no effort to keep their troops out, far enough away from Berlin."
Elizabeth lowered her head, her hands trembling as she braced herself on the table, her face dark and frightening.
"Not a single Soviet soldier can be allowed near Berlin... Not a single Soviet tank can be allowed to see Berlin... Not a single Soviet artillery piece can be positioned to shell Berlin... Finally, Soviet planes must be made to think twice before flying over Berlin... I can no longer let that damned red flag fly before my eyes..."
……
The generals were not surprised.
"It seems that Her Highness the Princess is indeed..."
"It's not surprising. The Duke, Marendor, and General Windsor are all examples. Don't forget which country single-handedly caused us so much trouble and fear over the past two months in these tens of thousands of square kilometers. Sometimes, thinking about the current situation in Berlin, I don't know how we survived that period..."
……
"Meeting adjourned, generals...go do what you believe will make our land safer, and what will boost the morale of our soldiers..."
I'm truly sorry, dear readers. Recently, I've been juggling several things: organizing the compilation, planning a special declaration of war chapter, extracting various elements from the setting chapters, practicing skills, drawing character designs, and on top of that, a personal matter has just subsided. Therefore, the final chapter of this third volume will likely be released some time later. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Please forgive me.
[Just between you and me, this last chapter of Volume 3 isn't anything particularly important from the main story, so don't get too excited, haha.]
Chapter 238, Part Four: The Second Battle of Berlin - Part Two
In late November 1945, after losing the eastern salient of Berlin, which it had captured nearly twenty days earlier via airborne operations, Britannia once again began to defend the outskirts of Berlin. However, this time, some in the Britannian army noticed the weakness of the Soviet forces. The situation was no longer as dire as before, and it was time to fight with everything they had to overthrow everything.
Soon, the Britannian expeditionary force assembled its troops, deploying two recently defeated corps and a portion of an army group from within the city to the central battlefield. Two more army groups were then dispatched to the left and right flanks, launching an encirclement attack on the stalemated Soviet forces. The Soviet forces, due to insufficient maintenance of the recently recaptured salient, had four army groups whose defenses appeared strong but were riddled with weaknesses, making them unable to withstand the relentless, casualty-free offensive of more than four Britannian army groups and corps. [Chapters 128 & 129]
With positions on both flanks beginning to fall, and facing the immense risk of encirclement and annihilation of the four army groups, Marshal Zhukov was forced to order a retreat. Intending to mitigate some of the tensions with the West and alleviate air pressure on Soviet forces stationed in Germany, he decided to send envoys to discuss air support with the Western Allies. [Chapter 130]
Both Britain and the United States were well aware of the Soviet Union's intentions. However, Britain was unable to gain the Soviet Union's trust and could only send fighter jets that were limited by range and payload. Meanwhile, the United States, which had just stopped Operation Magic Carpet, had to reorganize its aircraft and pilots and seek approval for military operations from Washington, D.C. This resulted in the Soviet Union still being in a state of continuous retreat when the negotiations among the three countries were completed.
The Soviet retreat emboldened Britannia, leading them to recklessly mobilize all their forces to drive the Soviet troops away from Berlin. This resulted in the Soviet forces stationed in Germany being split into increasingly distant northern and southern factions. Reluctantly, to avoid further depletion of Soviet troops and to prevent the influx of Western powers, Marshal Zhukov ultimately decided to request Moscow to abandon Berlin and Germany, a request that was quickly approved. [Chapter 135]
The ensuing strategic retreat continued to worsen the situation for the Soviet forces. Britannia deployed three armies and three corps each in the north and south, totaling more than six armies, to continue pressuring the Soviets. In the south, the 5th Shock Army, the 8th Guards Army, and the 1st and 2nd Guards Tank Armies, totaling more than six armies, were able to stabilize the situation. However, in the north, only the 3rd Shock Army and scattered units, totaling no more than two armies, along with the communication lines previously disrupted by the Knights of the Round Table, further exacerbated the already dire situation of the retreating forces.
At this time, the United States brought Marshal Zhukov excellent news: the Eighth Air Force was nearing completion of its preparations and would soon be able to launch operations when the weather was good. So the Marshal formulated a battle plan and decided to launch a siege-and-rescue operation against the Soviet forces that were divided in the north.
On December 6, 1945, the same day that Elizabeth Britannia and Kelly Britannia, the eighth and tenth princesses of Britannia, officially arrived in Berlin to assume command of the expeditionary force, the U.S. Eighth Air Force, along with a large number of Army Air Forces stationed in Europe, guided by Soviet aircraft, launched a massive air campaign against Berlin and the Britannian-occupied territories south of Berlin. [Chapter 139]
This was only part of Marshal Zhukov's joint strike plan. Around the time the US air strikes began, Soviet troops stationed in the southern Soviet-occupied zone launched a large-scale offensive. The 1st Guards Tank Army, the 8th Guards Army, and the 5th Shock Army launched a massive offensive in the center of the front, creating a huge salient in the southern theater that threatened Berlin. At the same time, the 2nd Guards Tank Army and the 47th Army positioned themselves on the east and west flanks of the salient, creating a feint to give the enemy the illusion that a new offensive was imminent.
Britannia, having just escaped the ruthless attack by American bombers that shattered Berlin's security, was immediately met with another fierce Soviet assault. The salient widened further, reliable intelligence from elsewhere indicated that the reappearance of the Black Knights made it difficult for reinforcements from Area 11 to disengage, and finally, driven by the immense psychological trauma inflicted by the Soviet attack over the past month, Britannia hastily transferred the majority of its expeditionary force to the southern front, abandoning the weakened Soviet forces in the north, and desperately trying to prevent a Soviet advance on Berlin. [Chapters 140, 141, 143]
To expedite the withdrawal and ensure sufficient cover forces in case of inclement weather that might prevent future air operations, the Soviet Red Navy's Baltic Fleet did its utmost to provide the retreating Soviet troops stationed in Germany in the north with substantial land forces, naval artillery support, and air defense capabilities. [Chapters 142, 147, 155]
Meanwhile, under the covert encouragement of opposition leader Winston Churchill and the leadership of Grand Admiral Cunningham, Britain dispatched a fleet of cruisers and destroyers via Denmark to the Baltic Sea in an attempt to ascertain the Soviet situation in Germany. [Chapters 138, 147]
Meanwhile, in the southern part of the battlefield, the Soviet offensive gradually subsided, and the troops began to move away from Berlin. The Britannian army had by this time roughly confirmed the Soviet strategy, diverting most of its forces from the southern front. Some began to pursue the Soviet troops in the north again, while others explored the area west of Berlin, searching for potential new enemies. [Chapters 150, 151, 166]
As for the 3rd Shock Army in the north, the cover from the south, though brief, was sufficient. Despite the new Britannian attack, they continued to systematically withdraw Soviet troops in batches in different directions. Until the hammer and sickle flag was lowered at Stralsund across Rügen Island, Britannia had failed to encircle and annihilate a sufficient number of Soviet troops. [Chapter 165]
As the last Soviet troops in the north withdrew to Rügen Island to prepare for their journey to Poland and other destinations, the British Royal Navy's Baltic Task Force arrived in the waters near Rügen Island and began patrolling. Since they posed no excessive threat to the Soviet forces, and given the urgency of the evacuation mission, the Red Navy did not intervene excessively with the Royal Navy. [Chapter 167]
Subsequently, Britannia faced air strikes from both the US and the Soviet Union, attacking Soviet ground forces in several army groups in the southern part of the former Soviet-occupied zone [Chapter 168]. Simultaneously, it began artillery attacks on the defenses of Rügen Island, the Baltic Fleet, and evacuation convoys. When it attempted to launch another air attack after the weather improved, it unexpectedly discovered the Royal Navy fleet northwest of Rügen Island, mistaking it for Soviet naval reinforcements, and decisively attacked. [Chapters 169 & 170]
Following this, Britannian ground forces finally encountered British ground forces in British-occupied territory. As the two sides officially engaged in battle, news of Britain's presence spread throughout Britannia's upper and lower classes, shocking and infuriating the entire expeditionary force and even the Empire itself. [Chapters 171 & 172]
Ultimately, the Britannian leadership decided to begin a large-scale consolidation of its domestic forces and issue a declaration of war to the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain, and France, thus launching a war against these European nations on its own. Upon hearing the declaration, the United States, the Soviet Union, and Britain finally realized that the war was not caused by their own conspiracy, but by an unseen force disrupting the peace that a world fresh from a major war longed for. To protect their own interests, the three nations began formulating a joint operational plan, formally preparing to confront this uninvited guest who had arrived from the soil formerly belonging to Nazi Germany. [Chapter 173]
The Holy Britannian Empire has officially entered its countdown to collapse.
Chapter 175, Section 241: The Unreachable Future
It was getting dark, and when the sun set and rose again, it would be the last day of 1945 for this world.
Berlin remained quietly busy, as if the radio waves from Her Highness the Princess's speech had pierced the sky like a meteorite falling from the blue sky and landing on the hearts of distant enemies, making them wary of the city.
The living can recuperate and rest, and the dead can also enjoy peace.
……
North of the city center, near the riverbank, lies a plot of land that has been leveled from the chaos. The Britannian flag stands quietly to one side, facing the flat ground. Several neatly arranged "stones" and a sign stand nearby: "Let us forever remember those who made outstanding contributions to this new world. — Elizabeth Britannia."
Here, several high-ranking officers who sacrificed their lives in the attacks by the US and the Soviet Union lie quietly asleep. As for the ordinary soldiers who died in battle, their numbers were too large to count, so they had to be moved to a farmland on the outskirts of Berlin.