(one of these but with a Swastika on the front and a German flag dangling off it as well)
-------------------------------------------------------------------JASTRDANSK---------------------------------------------------------------------------
It was almost 11:00am in Geneva, which shared the same time as Warsaw. Jastrdansk, a small town on the Germany-Poland border was having a very quiet day. Most people had been tuned to their radios or televisions watching the Equestrians' visit to the League of Nations. The town was small, with a population of only around 7,500. It mainly made its income from farming, and the export of iron ore. There was an iron ore mine three kilometers from the town, where around two thousand of its inhabitants worked in various capacities. Since they were so close to Germany, the Polish Army had a base a kilometer away, containing multiple soldier platoons, and an armored division as well.
Arthur Kowalski was working in his potato field, his tractor parked outside. He had just been listening to the Equestrians' League of Nations visit on the radio, and had heard the awful shootout live. To get his mind off that, he had gone back to work harvesting his potato field. He was busy loading harvested potatoes into the trailer attached to his tractor, when he heard the distant rumbling sound of an engine. At first, he thought it was probably his neighbor's truck.
However, as the noise got louder, he realized it was not from an engine, it was from multiple engines. And it was too quiet to be his neighbor's truck, which had a broken muffler. That was when he saw the vehicles making the noise in the distance. They were not trucks, cars, or even tractors. These were military tanks. That was odd, he thought. The Polish Army would never conduct any exercises this close to a residential area. That was when he saw the flags. These tanks did not fly the Polish flag, but the Nazi Swastika. The Germans had violated their ceasefire and had begun the invasion of Poland!
Kowalski instantly dropped the potatoes hanging from his hand, ran into his tractor, started up the engine, and drove towards Jastrdansk at high speed, to warn the people about the invasion. By his count, they had less than half an hour before the tanks entered the town and began blowing everyone up, so they better get into hiding. Unfortunately, most people were at their homes, but Kowalski had managed to get into town and activate the air raid sirens, since he was a member of the town council. The Polish Army had also been called.
As the tanks began rumbling into Jastrdansk, the townspeople could hear the roar of aircraft engines, as flights of German planes flew over, on the way to Warsaw. Meanwhile, on the surface, the shooting was about to begin. 22 year old Private First Class Walter Weber and his troop contingent were driving into town on troop carriers. No one could believe that the Germans had breached their ceasefire just like that. They were ready to drive the Germans out. They had ordered all the residents to get underground, or hide inside their homes.
As they arrived at the town gate, they faced the German tanks, which continued faster on seeing them. One of them turned its turret, and fired at one of the Polish troop carriers, killing all twenty soldiers on it. This sprang the remaining soldiers into action. They all hopped off their troop carriers, and began firing at the German tanks, as they took up defensive positions. Multiple German soldiers escorting the tanks began firing back as well. The Polish soldiers fought back bravely, especially Weber. He was able to take out around twelve German soldiers, and even managed to destroy a tank by throwing a grenade into its open hatch.
However, the Germans eventually gained the upper hand, and within twenty minutes, of the initial platoon of two hundred men that had been dispatched, only 34 remained alive, but not before taking down over sixty German soldiers, and twelve tanks. Sadly, it had not been without civilian casualties, as close to ninety civilians in nearby houses had already died. Although they had called for backup, it was still ten minutes out, and they were almost out of ammunition. That was when Weber had a brainwave. He noticed an intact German Panzer III tank parked empty. If he and another soldier could get to it, then they would have an advantage against the German tanks. However, there were still multiple bullets flying, and a stray bullet in the right place would easily kill him.
(one of these but with a Swastika on the front and a German flag dangling off it as well)
Thankfully, Weber noticed some body armor plates in a case carried by one of his dead comrades. He grabbed the plates, and put three on, to give himself some protection. He noticed his colleague, Private First Class Artur Pashkov, fighting nearby. He told Pashkov his plan in sign language, and slid him the case with the armor plates. Pashkov instantly put the last three of the plates on, and sign language, said, "Weber, you are nuts, but right now, we have no choice."
"It is a crazy plan, but, are you ready?" asked Weber, still in sign language.
"Yeah, I am ready." replied Pashkov.
"Alright, LET'S GO!" shouted Weber, as he and Pashkov began a mad dash to the tank. They both ran like bats out of Hell, trying as hard as they could to dodge bullets. They successfully got in the Panzer, despite getting hit by four or five bullets, which were thankfully deflected by the body armor. Despite having no tank training, they were able to start it up, Weber as the driver, and Pashkov as the gunner.
Despite some difficulties with the controls of the tank at first, they were able to use it to pull some of their comrades out of hairy situations. The radio was still functioning, so they were able to use it to determine where German reinforcements were coming from. However, morale dropped among them when they smoke coming from the directions of both the military base where they started, and the iron ore mines. The base probably had survivors, who had probably been taken prisoner by the Germans by now. But the smoke coming from the iron ore mines was thick. If anyone was there when it had been attacked, they would probably have died by now.
They then heard on the radio that more German reinforcements were coming. That was when a loud explosion made the whole tank shake and their ears ring. A Luftwaffe Junkers Ju 87 Stuka bomber had tried to kill them by dropping a bomb, which had missed, but landed behind their tank, causing that explosion. Weber then realized that the big Panzer kept wanting to turn right. One of the tracks must have been damaged by shrapnel from that bomb. From his position, Pashkov could see the Luftwaffe bomber coming back for another attempt to bomb them. Pashkov instantly aimed the turret, and right before the bomber entered his sights, he fired the turret. It landed a direct shot in the Stuka's bomb bay, causing the bomber to explode mid-air, leaving no chance for the crew.
Both of them celebrated, having destroyed the German bomber. That was when another explosion, this one larger than before, rocked the tank. A Nazi soldier in hiding had fired a Panzerbüchse 39 at the Panzer, landing a hit. One Weber looked up, he noticed that the tank had stopped moving, and the turret was gone, along with Pashkov. He realized that Pashkov had probably died when the turret had been blown off. Weber realized he had no ammunition left in his guns, and he was about to be killed.
Knowing that the end was near, Weber poked his head outside the tank, looking at the Sun one last time, before a bullet entered his neck, severing his carotid artery. Weber fell back inside the tank, as blood gushed out of his neck. Knowing that he would bleed out in less than three minutes, Weber closed his eyes for the final time, remembering all the good times from his life, from the day he was born 22 years earlier, the day he joined the Polish Army, and what not. He hoped that one day, the Nazis would be beaten, and Poland would be freed from their grasp, as life began to leave his body.
That day, in Jastrdansk, over seven hundred people were killed. The main fatalites were around 140 civilians killed during the battle, along with eighty Nazi soldiers, and around 180 Polish soldiers. 300 people had also been killed at the iron ore mines, when one of the mining tunnels had collapsed during the incessant bombing. However, more people would die today, as the Nazi war machine continued the annexation of Poland.
-----------------------------------------------------------OKECIE AIRPORT, WARSAW--------------------------------------------------------------
It was now 12:30pm in Warsaw. Private Kasper Paul was in his PZL P.11 fighter, taxiing to the runway at Warsaw Okecie Airport. They had received multiple reports of German fighters and bombers flying towards Warsaw, which meant that the Germans had violated the ceasefire and began their invasion of Poland. They knew their P.11s would be outmatched against the Luftwaffe planes, but they were the best equipment the Polish Air Force had.
The squadron of thirty P.11s got onto the runway, took off, and climbed to 10,000 feet, as more lined up behind them. The air raid sirens were going off in the city below, and majority of people had gone underground. The P.11s had been flying around Warsaw, and Paul was wondering how long it would be until the Germans showed up, when a message crackled on his radio. "Tigershark Squadron, be advised, a large flight of German bombers, escorted by multiple Messerschmitt Bf109 fighters, has been seen twenty kilometers east of Warsaw. There seem to be twenty Stuka bombers escorted by around forty fighters. They are heading for the industrial areas of the city, and will be there in ten minutes. Destroy as many of them as you can."
The leader of the squadron then replied, "Control, this is Tigershark 1. Roger that, over." He then gave the remaining pilots orders. "Alright, everyone. We will be reaching the target area in four minutes. This means we have just six minutes to stop our industry from being decimated. Despite us being outgunned by the Bf109s and Stukas, we must make use of our P.11s as possible. You get hurt, you hurt them back. You get killed, walk it off. Got it?"
"This is Tigershark 3. Copy that." came the voice of one of Paul's fellow pilots.
"Tigershark 8 here, copy that."
"Tigershark 11 here, copy that." said Paul. As the messages kept flowing, Paul could already see the German planes in the distance, and behind him, he could see thick smoke billowing from parts of Warsaw. The ground forces had already arrived, and this meant that tank battles and what not were raging through the streets of Warsaw. He hoped they could repel the Germans. Paul then focused himself on the task, as they neared the location of the enemy aircraft. He could already see some Bf109s heading towards their planes. Paul switched off the safeties of his P.11's two machine guns, and got ready to fire.
(basically imagine forty of the first and twenty of the second with a few of the first coming in hot)
He began firing as the first Bf109 started flying towards him, guns blazing. Unfortunately, he was unable to hit it, and the German fighter instantly changed course, with Paul in hot pursuit, despite his plane being much slower. He struggled extremely hard to take the Bf109 out, despite another one on his tail. That was when he got a lucky shot, and turned the tail of the first Bf109 into Swiss cheese. The stricken Bf109 instantly began spiralling to the ground. Now, he had to deal with the second Bf109, which was chasing him.
Paul instantly pulled a barrel roll, despite it being a slow one, and now, he was the one chasing. This time, the Bf109 pilot wasn't as good as the previous one, and Paul easily took out part of the Bf109's wing, causing the fighter to burst into flames, and spiral to the ground in an inferno. Paul then realized that some of his squadron mates weren't doing so well. Of the original forty Bf109s, only twelve had been shot down, and of the Stukas, of the twenty that had been there, eight still remained. That was still enough to destroy part of Warsaw's industrial area.
Plus, of the thirty P.11s, only seventeen were left. Paul instantly flew towards the Stukas, dodging multiple Bf109s along the way. Unfortunately, due to his plane being pretty slow, he couldn't reach in time, before the first two Stukas dropped their payloads, destroying a large food factory. However, since the Stukas had to pull up after dropping their bombs, they were slowed down, enabling Paul to take some potshots at the Stukas. One of the Stukas took a direct hit to the engine, and began descending in flames, while the other, despite taking some hits on its tail and fuselage, continued flying, albeit at a more slower pace, to prevent more damage.
Paul then took some hits from a Bf109 chasing him, putting bullet holes in his fuselage. He was able to shake off the Bf109, which was when a message crackled in his radio. "All Polish aircraft, retreat from Warsaw immediately and head west! The city is about to fall to the Germans! More reinforcements are coming, and we do not have enough forces to repel them! I repeat, all Polish aircraft, retreat now and head west!"
Paul was extremely shocked at this statement. They were ordering them to abandon Warsaw! How could they do such a thing? He instantly sent a reply, "Control, this is Tigershark 11 here. We can't just abandon our capital like this!"
"Don't worry, it's only temporary. We'll head west towards our ally, Russia, regroup, and one day, come back stronger than ever, and take back Poland!"
Despite Paul feeling like that day would never come, he felt it would be wise to obey orders. "Fine. Control, this is Tigershark 11, heading west now." replied Paul, to control, as he began his turn. The eleven remaining P.11s of Tigershark Squadron had also turned west, and so had every Polish Air Force aircraft in the area. That day, over 20,000 people had died in Warsaw, most of them civilians. Despite the Polish losing over 200 aircraft that day, they had still managed to shoot down close to 130 Luftwaffe aircraft.
However, this was just the beginning of the war. It would be sometime before Paul and all the other Polish military members who were still alive would see Warsaw again.