Reinforcements had arrived halfway through the second month of the war. Bruno had spent the previous two weeks clearing the minefields he had set around the city of Belgrade and the trenches dug outside its perimeter.
How does one efficiently clear a minefield? Well, Bruno already had the answer to this. Introducing the Minenräumwagen, as Bruno called it-stealing the name from his past life- was about the only thing inspired by its previous iteration.
The vehicle was more or less a Panzer chassis based on the E-10 paper tank designs from Bruno’s past life, but with a mine flail attached to it. However, there was one other thing this armored vehicle had in common with its predecessor: the fact that it was remotely operated via radio signature.
Bruno had invested in a number of the world’s greatest geniuses over the years, allowing for this tracked mine-clearing armored vehicle to exist without risking life and injury to a crew that would otherwise have to pilot it.
And it was because of this that he could send these mine-sweeping vehicles into the minefield with no regard for their well-being and, in doing so, whip every single mine into detonation with the attached mine flail.
Sure, it took a considerable amount of time and, most importantly, resources, but it was well worth the expenditure. Bruno had meticulously mapped out the exact placement of each mine during the construction of the city’s defenses, and thus he had a precise ability to locate and destroy the devices that, if left alone, could render the area uninhabitable for God knows how many decades.
By the time the Austro-Hungarian and Russian troops finally arrived to reinforce Bruno and his men, they were surprised to see how the German forces were covered in grime. Despite the current state of the German soldiers, they were far from exhausted. After all, much of the
heavy lifting had been done by the mine clearers.
Even so, gazing upon the once-thriving metropolis that was the capital of Serbia, now turned into a ghost town at Bruno’s command, forced a sense of melancholy on the Austro- Hungarian and Russian generals.
Especially since the fog had not truly cleared since the massacre unfolded. With it being autumn, and the weather quite dreadful at the moment, it all compounded into a haunting atmosphere. One which the German army had endured throughout the weeks since they gassed the city into submission.
Bruno appeared to be the only one unaffected in the slightest by the ghastly ambiance. The same could not be said for the soldiers under his command, who were slowly but surely unraveling at the seams. Rumors of ghostly wails being heard during the heaviest storms and at the devil’s hour did not help the dreadful morale afflicting Bruno’s troops.
Hence why the Austro-Hungarian general was quick to comment on the current state of affairs while Bruno smoked in the rain in front of him.
“Your men seem unnerved. Have the battles you fought already begun to affect them so?” Bruno shook his head, quickly answering the man with a grim statement before narrowing his eyes and interrogating the Austro-Hungarian general for his tardiness.
“Not in the slightest. When the gunfire begins, their hands are as steady as finely tempered steel. Rather, it’s the spirits of the dead that cause them to lose sleep. No matter how much I try to tell them, the ghosts of the departed have no earthly power to harm them. Some of the more superstitious men swear they have seen things in the mist and heard voices at ungodly hours of the night.
It’s all nonsense. Such things do not exist in this world, but after what we did to this city and the people in it, I don’t blame some of the men for breaking down. Hence why I’m glad you’re here… A change of scenery would do them some good.
Speaking of which… Why are you so late? We took care of the Serbians that you routed and expected you to arrive at any given moment, yet here you all are, two weeks after the battle.”
The Austro-Hungarian general instantly averted his gaze with a guilty expression on his face, causing Bruno to more or less guess what had happened, which the Russian general was quick to admit.
“Apologies, sir. They were waiting on our arrival to join forces and march into Belgrade together. After the losses they sustained in their conflict with the forces of the Serbian Provisional Army, they felt it would be safer to travel with greater numbers.
Had we known the state your men were in, and the fact that this dreadful environment was affecting them to such a degree, we would have hastened our approach and been far less cautious in our advance. Please forgive me for wasting so much of your time.”
Bruno scoffed after exhaling the last plume of smoke his cigarette could offer. He then discarded the device before stomping on it. Not that, with the current torrential downpour, it was remotely capable of lighting a wildfire ablaze.
He simply did this to vent his frustration silently rather than verbally lash out at his allies. The man was forcing himself to remain calm despite the circumstances he found himself in. Losing his emotions, especially now when his troops were in a state of borderline despair, was the last thing he needed to do.
Instead, Bruno pointed out just how costly the Austro-Hungarian and Russian cautious march had been.
“Simply put, by now the British and French have docked in the Balkans, either in Montenegro, Albania, or Greece, and carried some much-needed weapons and munitions to their Serbian allies, creating a much larger problem for us than we would have faced had you not taken two whole weeks to reinforce us.
In fact, I would not be surprised if the Allies have sent aid in the form of troops to Serbia as well. Now we are going to have a much tougher fight on our hands. And if Serbia’s neighbors throw their lot in with the Allies, this theater could last an entire year rather than a mere three months as I had anticipated it would.
Luckily for me and my men, who have done the majority of the fighting up until this point, you have both volunteered your forces to fight in the vanguard within the next major battle we come across. So… on behalf of the German Army, I humbly accept your apologies.”
Rejecting Bruno’s assertion that they make up for their lack of haste and determination by sending their men into the front lines of the next assault was not exactly a wise decision. For starters, Bruno had been granted operational authority over the Balkan theater after being promoted to the highest rank in the German Army.
Sure, the Austro-Hungarian and Russian generals might also be of a similar rank and status, but Bruno was, at the end of the day, the man with sole authority over everything the Imperial Powers did in this campaign.
Hence, all they could really do was accept responsibility for their failures and agree to send their own troops into the first wave of the next major battle.