Zwei Sonnen: The 20th Century (Part I - The Great War)

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I. Sitting On Our Arses

August 4, 1914
South of Aachen, Germany

"We are sitting on our arses while the damned generals bicker and argue" Gustav thought to himself as he busied himself, cleaning his Luger. Europe had exploded like a powder keg around him, and being an infantry officer in the III Army Corps, Oberleutnant Reimer found himself on the border of Belgium about to strike the first blow for the Kaiser. Gustav had been given preliminary instructions that he and his troops would be pushing through Belgium on to France and that he'd be back home in Gelsenkirchen by Christmas.

A little after midnight Gustav finally allowed himself to nod off to try to catch a few hours of sleep, but as soon as his mind began to drift, he was woken by his aide. "Damn your eyes, Hirsch, what the hell could you possibly want?" he growled groggily.

"Sir, orders from Brigade, we're packing up and moving out."

"At this hour? Well at least the Belgians will be as tired as us."

"No Sir, we're heading South. The damned frogs just moved into Elsaß-Lothringen. We need to help our boys down there."

Oberleutnant Reimer packed his belongings back in his trunk, lit a cigarette, and cursed. "Belgium will have to wait for now."


--- I plan on editing this story and timeline as I receive feedback with a goal of compiling this into a full book. I'm open to all sorts of feedback whether it's on my writing, or history. Thanks! ---
 
II. Those Are Not Fishermen
August 5, 1914
Fårösund, Sweden

The rosy-cheeked young lads aboard the HSwMS Saga were scurrying about under the warm August sun, simulating a great naval battle they hoped would never come. The once glorious Saga was at one time one of the fastest corvettes on the seas, but was now used to train young cadets.

"Abramsson, come here!" barked Kommendör Steen, the senior officer in charge of training the cadets. Fänrik Knut Abramsson was a 19 year-old officer who only months ago was a trainee aboard the Saga. "Yes sir?" replied Abramsson. "What the hell is this about?" Kommendör Steen asked pointing to the ships appearing over the horizon. It was Fänrik Abramsson's job to coordinate with the local fishermen to simulate an enemy navy for a little money. The Swedish Kustflottan would obviously be engaging torpedo cruisers and battleships in a real battle, but fishing boats would do to train the young men.

"Those are not fishermen, Abramsson."

--

As far as the men aboard the Rurik knew, Sweden had already declared war on Russia. Admiral Nikolai von Essen, against his orders, wanted to strike the fist blow against the Swedish and spread this "news" to his men. Although his closest advisers on board had their suspicions about this new front, the men were excited at the opportunity to fight their long-time rivals. The Rurik with 2 cruisers, 8 torpedo boats, a troop ship and 2 U-boats steamed forward towards Fårösund.

--

Knut had just begun to answer the Kommendör when the first torpedo slammed into the side of the Saga. The men on board had no idea what was happening thinking that this was part of their training. Loaded with blanks, the Saga was impotent, like a floating duck in the water. The Claes Uggla and Psilander on the other hand, were Örnen-class torpedo cruisers, but most of their crew were ashore. If the Russians had attacked just two days earlier, they would have caught half of the Kustflottan, but today they would only encounter a skeleton crew.

Only seconds after the first torpedo hit the Saga, two more hit, and it became clear to the men on board that this was no training. This was their first taste of combat. Unarmed, the 188 cadets and staff of the Saga abandoned ship.

Growing up swimming in the lakes near his hometown of Nittsjö, Knut had always been a strong swimmer and was one of the first men to make it to shore. He looked back into the sound in time to see the explosions tearing apart the Claes Uggla and Psilander and the Russian Naval Infantry beginning to land about 300 yards south of the town. Knut's father had been a Soldier in the Swedish Army. Unlike his father he wasn't too interested in fighting, but wanted to see the world, so he joined the Navy. Despite this, he was about to fight for his life.
 
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Raunchel

Banned
I like how you show things from the common person's perspective, it really drags you into it all.
 
Oh this is good. I always wanted a TL base off this. The Allies are going to be so piss at Russia once they learn of what they done.
 
III. I Took Care Of Them
May 17, 1919
Leipzig, Germany

Court Transcript from the Leipzig Trials:

Defendant:
Henri Désiré Landru, aka Heinrik Landau, aka Monsieur Diard, aka Henri Dupont, aka The Butcher of Mülhausen, aka The Bluebeard of Gambais

Charges:
Murder - 36 Counts
Torture - 3 Counts
Maltreatment of a POW - 14 Counts
Sodomy - 1 Count
Embezzlement - 11 Counts


PROSECUTOR HEINZ GROHL - Henri Désiré Landru, are you aware of the charges against you?
HENRI LANDRU - Yes
P - And do you deny them?
H - No.
P - Please take us back to August 5, 1914, at the Battle of Mülhausen. You were there, correct?
H - (Chuckles) Yes, yes I was.
P - When your unit captured what remained of the 16th Bavarian Reserve Regiment, were you not charged with guarding the prisoners?
H - Yes, myself and Captain Giraud.
P - Captain Henri Giraud?
H - Yes.
P - And what happened to Captain Giraud?
H - I drove my bayonet in his fucking throat.
-court erupts noisily-
P - And why would you do that?
H - He would have exposed me, so I took care of him.
P - Exposed you how?
H - That night, Captain Giraud and I were to guard the fucking hun pigs. We had come under fire again so Captain Giraud ran to the battalion HQ for instructions leaving me in charge. The prisoners were starting to get out of control, so a made an example of one of them.
P - Make an example?
H - Yes, one Private Hitler. (Laughs to himself) He had been wounded during the battle, so he wouldn't put up much of a fight, especially after I poked him a bit. God was he a screamer. (Laughs again) So I had my way with him in front of the other prisoners before removing his head for him. He wasn't using it.
P - And did Captain Giraud catch you in the act?
H - Not exactly, but he did have some questions about the half-nude headless body. I didn't feel like answering them, so I took care of him too.
P - And the rest of the men?
H - I didn't have time for them. We were being attacked, so I took care of them as well.
P - Took care of them how?
H - They were all tied together so a couple grenades did the trick. Well, most of the way anyway. I had to finish a few of the men with my bayonet. Yes, I took care of them.
 
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For those of you keeping score, we've killed off Hitler and French WW2 leader Henri Giraud, the Germans aren't hitting Belgium, and the Swedes are at least a little irked at the Russians. Also, Henri Landru is worth a google! The dude's head is in a museum...
 
IV. Fires of Jahannam
August 5-17, 1914
Bijeljina, Bosnia, Austria-Hungary

We knew they were coming. We could see them before they could see us, and they weren't ready. They weren't ready at all. We, the famed Bosniaken Feldjägerbataillon were ready for anything. Our men had fought through both Balkan wars, and we were ready for anything the Serbs would throw at us. We had the Austro-Hungarian 5th and 6th Armies at our backs and Allah was with us.

I, Sergeant Šacir Baljić, saw these things myself. I saw an entire army brought low. I saw the very fires of Jahannam and how they consumed the Serbian Second Army as they tried to cross the Drina in their doomed offensive. It was my bullet that fell the infidel General Stepanović. It was my men that sabotaged and burned their camp.

It was my people, my men, the Bosniaken that chased them as they retreated. It was the Bosniaken Infantry Regiments that slaughtered the Užice and Sanjak as they dug their trench graves. My men, my people that crushed them all in only twelve days. We sent 190,000 Serbian infidels to Hell. We the Bosniaken did this.

I saw these things.

Then I saw the Austrians and Hungarians in their bright clean blue uniforms march right past us, the filthy, mud and blood-stained Bosniaken, and raise their flag over Šabac. Yes, they had lost their fair share, 70,000 in all, but for every 5 Bosniaken that rose on the morning of the 5th, 2 went to sleep on the night of the 17th. We had won these battles for them, but they would not raise the Bosnian flag. We were pawns in this game. Nobody remembers the pawns.
 
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