Equestria: World War II (1939-1941)

by The Unseen

Chapter 51

-------------------------------------------------------------------OSLO, NORWAY----------------------------------------------------------------------
It was now 5:00pm in Norway, which meant it was 6:30pm in Equestria. It was a horrifying day for Private Thomas Olsen of the Norwegian Army. Germany had invaded Norway, and its neighboring country, Denmark, without any provocation, and already, they had taken the southern part of the country. The last he had heard, half of Denmark had been taken, just 5 hours into the invasion, which had begun at 12:00pm. As for Norway, the southern towns and cities, such as Kristiansand and Fredrikstad, had been taken, and German forces were closing in on Norway's capital city, Oslo. They were currently stationed on the outskirts of the city.

Plus, most of western Norway had already been taken, and German forces were taking the northern parts of the country as well, before coming in from all sides to take Oslo, and hence the whole country. Already, Oslo had been attacked twice by German aircraft. Of Olsen's platoon, which had originally consisted of 180 soldiers, only 120 were still alive, and only 95 were still able to fight. The Phoney War was now over. The real war had now began. Thankfully, the brave efforts of the Royal Norwegian Navy in the Drøbak Sound had given time for their military to prepare.

In the Sound, Birger Eriksen, the commander of Oscarsborg Fortress, which housed numerous naval and torpedo batteries, had successfully sunk the German battleship, Blücher. There had been no fatalities from the Norwegian side, and thankfully, at least 650 German sailors had died in the battle, and a thousand more had been taken prisoner by the Norwegians. This had given time for Haakon VII, the King of Norway, to escape Oslo.

However, the Germans were regrouping quickly, and soon, they had lost contact with Oscarsborg Fortress. Rumours had come that the Germans had used chemical weapons to their advantage in Denmark, and had done the same to the men in the fortress. They had prepared for this quickly, by grabbing all the protective gear they could find at various laboratories, hospitals, and other such places in the city, to protect them from such chemical weapons, if they were to be used here.

They weren't alone, though. The Norwegian Army Air Service was also there to try and protect them. However, of their 81 rather outdated aircraft, only 76 had been operational, and already, close to 50 aircraft had already been shot down, destroying majority of their aircraft. Thankfully, a few of their aircraft were still operational, which would help them out.

As the soldiers were relaxing, waiting for the enemy, they got an alert on the radio, in Norwegian. "All units, there are multiple Stuka bombers on their way, and they will reach Oslo in five minutes! Also, there are multiple units of Panzer IIIs and Panzer IVs on their way towards your position, be prepared, it's going to be a firefight down there!" said the commander of the Norwegian Army, over the radio.

"Roger that, Sir! We are ready to face them, and we will lay down our lives for our land." said Olsen's commander, signing off the radio. "Alright, my men, we will probably die in this battle, but we shall lay down our lives, knowing that we tried to protect our land. Charge, one last time!" said the commander to his men.

"Yes, Commander!" shouted the men, including Olsen, as they heard the rumble of the tanks coming in. As they took our positions, hiding to ambush the tanks, with each passing second, they could hear their rumble growing louder, and some of the soldiers placed the few anti-tank mines they had on the road, to give the tanks a rather warm and explosive welcome. As the tanks neared, they could see what type they were. These were Panzer IVs. There weren't too many, only around 25 of them, which was weird. Usually, a tank company consisted of at least 40 tanks.

As the tanks came near, the mines went off, and the first two tanks in the company were instantly destroyed. The crews of the remaining tanks seemed surprised. The Norwegian soldiers weren't surprised, as most soldiers had apparently instantly surrendered at their posts the second they saw the large tanks coming their way. As the tank operators were still surprised, the soldiers instantly came out of hiding, sprinting towards them, and firing. They also began throwing grenades at the tanks. This would be a suicide attack. Most of them would not make it back alive from this. However, they would go down fighting, until the very end.

Olsen and his friend jumped on one tank, quickly opened the hatch, and threw a grenade in. They closed the hatch, and quickly jumped off the tank, as the grenade went off in its cabin, killing whoever was inside, as a shell inside caught fire an exploded, destroying the once-mighty Panzer. The remaining tanks instantly began aiming at the soldiers, to try and kill them. However, they were just too scattered, and when one of the tanks fired, it only managed to kill two soldiers.

Soon, taken by surprise, the tanks lay destroyed, with 12 captured German soldiers, 63 dead German soldiers, and the unfortunate loss of 8 Norwegian soldiers. The soldiers rejoiced, having been able to stop their advance. However, they could see more German troops heading their way, a company of almost 400, so they weren't going down without a fight. As the soldiers neared, the Norwegians began firing at the Germans once more. Although hopelessly outnumbered, they continued fighting valiantly. As Germans began falling dead one by one, they called in air support. That was when Olsen felt something explode next to him. The explosion threw him off his feet, and onto one of the now useless tanks.

A German Stuka bomber had swooped out of the sky, and dropped a bomb on the remaining 87 Norwegian soldiers. The bomb had instantly killed 20 of the soldiers, and more were injured and wounded, including Olsen, who taken a piece of shrapnel in the thigh. Using a first aid kit in the tank, he quickly removed the shrapnel, and tied a tourniquet around his injured leg. However, he couldn't really run with his injured leg, and decide to fight the Germans from the tank, using its metal body as cover.

As he continued fighting, bullets kept pinging off against the tank's metal body, but none penetrated it, and more German soldiers continued to drop dead. However, soon, Olsen was running out of ammunition, and so were his fellow soldiers. They had taken some of the ammunition from their dead comrades, but they didn't have much left. Soon, they would run out, and Oslo would be taken by the Germans, as there were still around 300 of the German soldiers left. That was when Olsen had an idea, for a last charge.

There were some boxes of plastic explosive in the tank, and he began strapping some of the explosives to his body, underneath his bulletproof vest, and inserting the blasting caps, making the charges active. He also began tossing some to his fellow soldiers, who were also using the tanks for cover, and he used sign language to tell him his idea. Some didn't want to use it, but most of them were willing to go along with it.

As they began running out of ammunition, they began coming out towards the Germans with their hands in the air. The Germans began smiling sadistically, as they lowered their gardens, and began heading towards the surrendering soldiers. As the final soldier ran out of ammunition, and began coming towards the Germans, the plan was put into action. Olsen and his comrades, suddenly put their pockets in their hands, and all yelled at once, "Ære til Norge!" This slogan, meaning 'Glory to Norway!' would be their final words, as they activated the blasting caps, triggering the explosives.

Olsen smiled, looking at the Germans, as he triggered the explosives, and soon, he knew no more. With these simultaneous explosions, the Norwegians, despite ending their own lives in the process, took those of multiple German soldiers, killing close to 150 in one go. As their surviving friends started up one of the surviving tanks, and began to flee, they mourned their fallen comrades, as they headed towards the port, where a Norwegian ship would be waiting to transport them to safety.

That day, on the outskirts of Oslo, close to 400 men had died on both sides in this battle. However, despite their sacrifices, the surviving Norwegians knew, in their hearts, that this would only buy them time, and that it would be a while before they would see their home country again.

Comments

[shining paladin]

sweet chapter mate keep it up cant wait for the next chapter when noway surrender the Quisling government took over and Vidkun Quisling calls for Norwegian men to join the Norwegian Legion