I wanted to write this for a while, however I wanted to be on the right mood for such a narrative, something I only got it now, so let's go.
December 28, 1937
Warrant Officer Oliver Stone looked forward, trying to believe on what his eyes saw. A few moments passed as he watched something that he had feared for weeks, maybe even months, but now seemed to relieve himself.
"It is over...?" tough him, as he tried to identify something inside the smoke coming from Columbus town hall.
"These have been terrible years..." tough him, as on a rare moment of carelessness, he took a cigarette from his pocket and lighted it, then proceeded to return to his cover as he breathed the smoke.
These really have been terrible years.
Oliver Stone was just 15 when the american depression exploded, his family managed their money at the best and could withstand the first months of the depression, but soon the layoffs turned him, his father, his grandfather and his younger brother jobless and the money stopped coming in, and then the hunger began to take part on their lives. A few months into the depression he joined the IWW, was lectured on syndicalism, took part on social actions, gave his family scant money reserves as donations for his local trade union, being repaid with bread and butter bought and distributed by the IWW, the depression was harsh, but they managed to pass it through.
Then, the black monday happened. Economical chaos, further layoffs, deflation and a new major problem that had been present before, but radicalized incredibly on the following years after the american crash: The political radicalization. Clashes began to happen between the IWW and the Share Your Wealth clubs, two organizations that should be helping the population to endure as the central government ignored the pleas of their own people, now were fighting, a fight ordered by their two leaders, two very popular figures of immense following who preached war against each other. Oliver was not a ideologue, he was not a radical, he couldn't understand why so much hatred if both groups wanted to help the people, he had childhood friends that had joined the share your wealth society, but some even had cut contact with him as he told them that he was at the IWW. Horrible times, Harsh times, but not worse than what was to come.
The second american civil war began. Columbus was taken on a state of hysteria, but not a hysteria of fear, instead people were taking over the streets with the american and the IWW flags to preach their words of revolution, of power, of unity and struggle against capitalism. Oliver was there, after being invited by his friend, but he couldn't appreciate what was coming for him, his grandfather passed away two weeks prior, and now potentially millions of people were happily going to march for the end of their lifes, to kill other americans, to stick a bayonet on someone stomach over and over again until their body stopped resisting and their eyes stopped reacting. Political violence was everywhere at that moment, he could see people being dragged outside a house where SYW meetings used to take place. "Hunger, unemployment and now violence". Oliver knew how unemployment would end, he would be drafted, along other millions of men and also women and be sent to the carnage. Even tough many held their will to serve on their hearts, in truth they had say on being drafted or not, every single able bodied men should serve the army for three years of his life.
Soon, the dreams of a one march from Columbus, Ohio, to New Orleans crashed into a wall of river fortifications, trenches and endless air and artillery attacks. The elected President, Huey Pierce Long from Louisiana managed to use his resources on a more efficient way than the other pretenders. The War Powers Comitted was created and the industrialists flocked for his banner. The Chieff of the armed forces, Field Marshall George Patton proposed a strategy of encirclements and fast marches to take over as much strategically relevant targets as possible. On the first months all kentucky apart from a small portion on the east was captured by the AUS army. The central plains were efficiently seized, occupying everything from South Dakota to Arizona before the Pacific States could take such territories. The main AUS army marched through virginia encircling and crushing the USA army divisions and militias, until capturing Washington, and thus ending the first part of the war.
Without the MacArthurite junta, the capitalists, the conservatives and the populist sympatizers from the USA remnants went mostly for the AUS, while a minority joined the PSA. Filled with new reinforcements, supplies and renegades from the USA army, Patton pressed even further north and broke the CSA defenses through west pennysilvania and west Ohio, soon pushing through a hole on the CSA lines following the superior river until reaching Buffalo in New York, cutting the possibility of reinforcements from the west reaching the CSA troops who had just recently occupied all New England. A force large enought to stall the CSA there was left and the bulk of Patton's army corps moved to the ohio frontline, and then rammed into it while a second spearhead came from Kentucky into Indiana, breaching the CSA large, but militia trained, force, even reaching Michigan before Patton had captured all of Ohio, thus trapping one and a half CSA army inside a huge pocket.
His brother was somewhere in New York, Stone knew this since his unit retreated to the New Englander front after Patton reached the superior lake and he received reports of their divisions, including a list of alive members that included his brother. The three following weeks proved to be the worst part of the combat for Oliver Stone, regardless of what he had seen on the indiana front, things had been turning into hell in Ohio.
Columbus Pre war was a beatifull city, even tough it was falling in disrepair the personal touch of the city was kept: many large streets, a few major buildings and many, many cars driving through the streets. Through september, october and november the city got mauled by the superior Unionist air force, especially after the stocks of oil began to deplete after the supply line from new england was cut, making it harder for the eastern syndicate air command to use their air force efficiently, thankfully the forces in new england still had access from oil being imported from the french commune and the union of Britain, so the situation was safer, but still difficult, for their air command.
The pocket proved to be the worst part, as contact was also lost with Chicago, all the forces inside needed the resources from Ohio to be kept fighting. First Cleveland was encircled and captured, taking a sizeable force with it. Then the never ending unionist offensive drove all forces closer and closer to Columbus, while the CSA counter offensives from Illinois failed to break into Indiana. At this time Oliver began to be punished, sometimes phisically for his undisciplinate behavior and his defeatist attitude. It was clear that the continental army won't be able to save them and they were stripping the food from their homes, melting their own forks and knifes to make more bullets and taking their own blankets from their families at home to cover themselves at the front, there was no way to escape or to be saved, so the army should have surrendered!
But they didn't. The war continued, more divisions were encircled and destroyed, some by the terrible and brutal Silver Legionaries, under control of General Pedro Del Vale, Del Vale was a frustrated white supremacist, as he was a latino and many of his "comrades" didn't considered him as a "true" white. He pushed his frustration on the battlefield using his legionaries on the most brutal way possible against the enemy, so until they surrender the syndicate soldiers, many of them being afroamericans, would be subject to rentless bombardments and artillery fire. Day after day his troops marched close to Columbus, and Oliver being a mestizo himself was afraid of his future, and also of his black father who was also fighting but on the northern front of the pocket.
Finally the city was reached on decemberg and the attack would begin. The starved and low on ammunition defenders would suffer under the artillery and close air support bombardements falling on their heads, especially because the civilians couldn't be properly evacuated, thus a few comissars were selected to move them inside pre made zones on the cities from the frontline to "less dangerous" areas of the city. As they ran out of places to retreat , his units were allowed to surrender to prevent the deaths of the civilians. For weeks both sides fought valiantly, some times even ferocious as entire buildings had to be cleared, just to be counter attacked by the opposite site and losing even more manpower in the process. Long was advised a few days before about the battle that was to start, so he ordered Del Vale to use the minimun amount of violence possible to prevent as much civilian deaths inside the city, and also to hand over the surrendered soldiers and the captured civilians to the normal army units for they to take care of them. Any case of misstreatment of a citizen or a surrendered soldier by a member of the silver legion would result on the perpetrator sent to be court martialed.
The fighting remained intense, the bombings and the artillery too, even tough the defenders were broken on pockets and entire places were cleared. Oliver killed, fled, spared and retreated with his dwillingly unit, until he ended on a building a few squares away from the combat and was put on guard on a window that allowed him to see the town hall. He had been there for two days, taking only 3 hours of sleep every night, to check any enemy advance in the area.
Oliver sucked all the remaneing smoke from his cigarette, before dropping it on the ground. The AUS flag as on the Town Hall, the battle was over. He went into the middle of the room on the third floor and shouted for everyone inside to hear:
— The Unionist flag is planted on the Town Hall, the battle is over, everyone.
Lieutnant Mark Reinold face turned into red, as he pushed the table where the radiowoman was receiving orders.
— It is only over when we receive the final order of surrender, of when we are all killed. — babbled the comissar, keeping his hand close toOl his gun on his hip.
— The city fell. — said Oliver on his negative tone — Every death after now it is useless, they have the city.
Mark pushed him back, making him fall into the ground and began to threaten him.
— I can kill you now, you f*cking traitor, this would save a bullet for the enemy, what do you think?
Oliver punched the officer on the stomach, as everyone in the room moved to stop the fight.
— I think that the only person who should be killed is you, Mark! You have been leading us through hell and until now we all have been following your orders... but it is over, and you want us to die for absolutely nothing? The reinforcements are not coming, there is nothing we can do.
Mark face was red on anger, but he knew something he could use to switch the morale of the others in his favour.
— One of the units present in our area is formed by integralists, a entire infantry division. They are fighting on the stores at just 200 meters from here. If you want you can try to surrender to this Natpops, or even better, you can try to surrender to the silver legion, look at your skin colour, they would love to receive you, you just need to ask politely!
Desobeying the hierarchy, Oliver shouted to the radio man:
— Did you heard any order to surrender?
The radiowoman dropped her papers in shock, but then recomposed herself and replied:
— G-general Cannon asked all units with spare ammo to try to break their siege and to bring ammo for his headquarters on downtown... — Her face went blank after this — You said that the Town Hall was captured... — She then turned angry — The town hall is very close to his HQ! He might be dying right now! He d-didn't sent any order to surrender or to continue fighting!
Oliver dropped his gun, as everyone looked at him.
— Someone shoot this motherf**ker, now! It is a order! A order passed by your comissar! — barked Mark.
— Shut the f**k up! — shouted another soldier — It is over, you are no higher than anyone here.
Oliver asked for help, and after restraining the comissar and getting some white blankets from beds on that building, they could display the surrender message for everyone close to the building, and soon every single other building on the area began to copy the move, even the ones still on gunfights with the enemy, using their very last rounds.
The battle ended on the following day. Some troops kept their positions until their total destruction to the last man. Others surrendered after running out of ammo or during the enemy assault. General Cannon asked for a ceasefire and received a delegation from both General Mascarenhas de Moraes of Brazil and General Del Vale, and surrendered at the 21 hours of december 28 of 1937.
After eaving the building, Oliver was ready for what could come: He could be arrested, tortured, sent into a prisioner camp, maybe even killed by those damned natpops, harsh times were coming for him, but as he tough, if he survived, there would be peace at the end.
— Mister? — asked a soldier that he didn't noticed. This soldier was annotating the names and tags of the surrendered soldiers, he spoke a good, but accented english.
— Oliver Stone. — replied Oliver and then got surprised: The officer was black, and his uniform cleary was neither silver legionary nor the normal AUS one, he probably is a brazilian.
— Follow in line, please, you will take the 55th truck to the prisioner camp achilles, in Kentucky.
— Yes sir. — replied him.
Oliver walked into the truck, and left for his destiny.
The end.
