------------------------------------------------------NEAR THE POLAND-GERMANY BORDER-------------------------------------------------
It was now 11:55pm here, which meant it was around 10:25pm in Equestria. Flight Lieutenant Douglas MacArthur and his Spitfire squadron were flying just a few minutes away from the Poland-Germany border. The ceasefire was almost up, which meant, in five minutes, they would go up guns blazing against some Luftwaffe Bf109s. "Panther 3, how are you doing over there?" came the voice of MacArthur's squadron commander through the radio.
"All good here, Panther 1." replied MacArthur.
"Good, because, we're going to go weapons hot in five minutes, so get ready." replied Panther 1, as all forty Spitfires from both Panther and Aardvark Squadrons began doing final checks, before the dogfight. Thankfully, the Spitfires were just as and more capable than the Bf109s, so they stood a good chance against them.
At exactly 12:00am, the ceasefire expired, and the forty pilots watched as gunfire lit up the border. The war had begun. Below them was the town of Leglin. Earlier, 50,000 people had lived here, but now it was a ghost town, as the whole town had been evacuated. A large battle was underway, as a large Royal Army regiment was battling a regiment of the German Army. It was guns blazing, and already, twelve German soldiers had died.
On the ground, Commander William Weber's regiment was doing very well. Already, they had taken out multiple enemy soldiers, and three German armored cars, yet they had not lost one of their own. That was when a bomb landed in a house nearby, where a few of his soldiers were. He instantly pulled out his radio. "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Mark! Albert! Everyone in the red house! Can you hear me?" shouted Weber.
"Commander, this is Albert here. I'm alright... " coughed the soldier, over the radio. "Albert is alive, but he's injured. Took a piece of bomb shrapnel to the leg. Everyone else... " paused the soldier. Weber let that sink in. He had just lost four of his soldiers. That was when he heard a siren, which he recognized as the sound of a German Stuka. Then another explosion, and all he could now hear over the radio was static. He looked through his binoculars and realized that everyone in that house was gone, as it was now burning, and the roof had collapsed. He could see more explosions, and realized that the German aerial bombing was becoming more frequent. More of his soldiers were reporting losses, and within ten minutes, his unit had lost close to seventeen soldiers. That was when he called in air support.
"Panther Squadron! We are getting bombed here! We've already lost multiple soldiers! Multiple Stuka bombers are dropping their payloads on us! We need air support down here!" shouted Weber over the radio.
"This is Panther 1 here, we see the Stukas, on our way." came the reply from Panther 1, who was flying 5,000 feet above him with his squadron. "Alright, guys, ready to smash some Stukas?" asked Panther 1 to his squadron.
"All ready here, Panther 3." replied MacArthur.
"Same here, Panther 6." replied another pilot, and similar replies came from every other pilot in Panther Squadron.
"Good, let's go. Descend, and kill those Stukas." replied Panther 1, as the whole squadron began descending. At around 2,000 feet, they began encountering Stukas and Bf109s. "Shit, everyone, put higher priority on the Stukas, as they are bombing our men on the ground, but try and destroy the Bf109s as well." said Panther 1. Guns began blazing in the air, as the dogfights began. Within a minute, two Stukas had been shot down, and so had a Bf109.
"Another one bites the dust, another one bites the dust." hummed MacArthur, shooting down another Stuka. As Weber and his soldiers watched, more Bf109s and Stukas began falling out of the sky in flames. However, more Stukas and Bf109s kept coming in. "Oh, shit, I'm almost out of ammunition!" shouted MacArthur, looking at the amount of ammunition he had.
"So am I!" said Panther 6, and half of the squadron, which somehow, had only lost one plane.
"Roger that, Panther Squadron, return to base. We've done our job for today." ordered Panther 1. The squadron began ascending back into the sky, as more Stukas and Bf109s began arriving at the scene. Weber watched as the Spitfires flew away, shooting down enemy planes, before disappearing into the night.
He looked through his binoculars and saw the devastation that had been wrought upon his regiment. Bodies littered the ground, and buildings were destroyed. He knew that this was only the beginning of a long and brutal war, but he also knew that he had the support of the Royal Army and the help of the brave pilots of Panther Squadron.
As he took one last look at the destruction, he thought to himself, "We will fight, and we will win. For our country, for our freedom." And with that, he turned and began issuing orders to his remaining soldiers, preparing to face whatever else the war had in store for them. It was now around 12:50am.
In the town of Leglin, 150 people, mainly Germans, had died that day. However, 60 of the casualties were also British. Yet, with their sacrifices, they were able to keep the Germans from taking part of unannexed Poland.
---------------------------------------------GRIGORIONARI, THE GERMANY-POLAND BORDER-------------------------------------------
The normally peaceful town of Grigorionari had never experienced a conflict, not even during the Great War. Today, that was changing. It was now 1:20am. The town, of around 1,300 people, was now a warzone. Although most of the buildings were still standing, they were all pockmarked with bullet holes, or fire damaged. A ground battle was taking place. Two British regiments were fighting against a German regiment.
Private First Class Charles Haynes was having a hard time. Half of his unit had already been killed by German soldiers, who had ambushed them, and they were taking heavy fire from enemy positions. Bullets were flying everywhere, and Charles had to duck behind a wall whenever he heard gunfire. He looked around and saw his Sergeant, Robert Davis, shouting orders to his unit, trying to coordinate their attack.
Haynes had been deployed to Poland only a week ago, and already, he had seen more death and destruction than he had ever seen before in his entire life. He missed his family back in Manchester, and he wondered if he would ever make it back home.
All of a sudden, he heard a loud explosion, and he saw a tank on the German side firing at them. The impact caused debris to fly around, and Haynes was thrown off his feet. He managed to get up, but he felt a sharp pain in his leg. He had been hit by a piece of shrapnel, which had torn into his leg. He quickly got back up, and despite the pain, was able to limp out of sight of the Germans.
Haynes then realized that he had lost his gun in the explosion. He needed one, or else he would not be able to survive against the Germans. That was when he noticed the bodies of one his comrades, probably killed in the explosion. His gun, a Lee-Enfield rifle, was still clutched in his hands. Haynes carefully took the gun, and checked to make sure it was still loaded. He also took the ammunition his comrade had left as well.
He also was able to bandage himself up with a nearby crate of medical supplies, but he would still be limping. Haynes then limped over to the church, and took up a position in the spire window, where he met up with one of his comrades, Robert Ball. "Hey, Bob, how's it going?" asked Haynes.
"Pretty good, Charlie." replied Ball. "I've got a pretty good defense position. I've got my sniper rifle, my rifle, and pistol, all fully loaded, so I can last pretty decently, until one of those German Panzers sends a shell into here. Saw anyone else on your way over?"
"Not too many. Half the unit is gone. Sergeant Davis is still out there, coordinating the attack, but I don't know how much longer we can hold out. I got hit by shrapnel, but I was able to bandage myself up and found this rifle on one of our fallen."
"Well, we gotta keep fighting, Charlie. We can't let the Germans take this town." said Ball, as he looked through his sniper scope and took a shot at a German soldier. The soldier fell to the ground, dead. "One down, a hundred more to go."
Haynes nodded, and looked out the window. He saw Sergeant Davis and the rest of their unit charging towards the German positions. Bullets were flying everywhere, and Haynes could see their comrades falling to the ground. He knew that they had to help, or else it would be a massacre. "We have to do something, Bob. We can't just sit here and watch while our comrades are dying out there."
"I know. I have an idea. Follow me." said Ball, as he climbed down the spire and ran towards a nearby building. Haynes followed him, and they both climbed to the rooftop of the building. Ball pointed to a nearby water tower. "We're going to climb up there, and take out as many Germans as we can."
Haynes nodded, and they both began climbing up the water tower. They reached the top, and Ball set up his sniper rifle. He took aim, and shot at a group of German soldiers, who were about to ambush their unit. The soldiers fell to the ground, and their ambush had been foiled. That was when Haynes noticed noticed movement in one house. "Bob, can you hand me your binoculars?" asked Haynes.
"Sure thing, Charlie." replied Ball, handing Haynes his binoculars. Haynes took a good look at the house, and realized there were civilians inside. He then noticed more movement, and saw civilians inside quite a few of the other houses, and Germans were rapidly advancing on those buildings.
"Shit, Bob, we have a big problem."
"What is it, Charlie?" asked a concerned Ball.
"We got civilians in some of those houses, and the Germans are rapidly advancing on them."
"What? Civilians? I thought this town had been evacuated!"
"Looks like some people either didn't want to leave, or just got left behind during the evacuation. Either way, we can't let the Germans kill civilians."
"Agreed, we have to do something. We can't let them die." said Ball, as he took out his radio. "This is Private First Class Robert Ball, we have civilians in danger at the southeast end of town. We need backup and evacuation immediately."
"Roger that, Private Ball. We are sending backup and an extraction team as soon as possible. A couple of RAF Hurricanes are also on their way." came the voice of their commanding officer.
"Alright, we gotta hold out until backup arrives. You ready to kill some German pricks?" asked Ball.
"Thought you'd never ask." said Haynes, getting his gun reloaded, and ready for action. As the Germans started nearing the houses, the two began firing. Multiple Germans instantly dropped to the ground, with bullet holes in their bodies. They fought valiantly, until they began running low on ammunition.
"Shit, I'm almost out!" shouted Haynes.
"Here's my last rifle mag!" replied Ball, throwing Haynes the magazine. They continued firing, but within seconds, both of them were on their last few bullets. They began losing hope, as a couple of German Panzer III tanks had also showed up.
"We don't have the firepower to take on those tanks! Where is our backup?!" shouted Ball over the radio.
"Sorry, guys, majority of our units are bogged down. You're on your own for a while." replied their commanding officer, over the radio. The two soldiers began losing hope. They were out of ammunition, and the tanks were almost on them. They felt, though, even if the end was near, they would go out in a blaze, fighting till the end. That was when they heard two explosions, throwing them to the ground. When they looked up, they saw that all the Panzers were on fire. They heard the drone of an engine, and saw two RAF Hurricane fighters flying above them, guns blazing.
"This is Mage 1 here, don't worry, we have your backs." came a voice, one of the Hurricane pilots, through the radios. To the two soldiers on the ground, hearing this brought back their hopes. Now they had air support, and most of the German ground units had been destroyed.
That day, in Grigorionari, close to 200 people, all British and German soldiers were killed. Yet, they were able to prevent the town from falling with their actions. However, although they had won the battle, they had not yet won the war.