The battle of Diamondtown

Captain Staughler was sitting in the command dugout on the eastern stretch of the antitank trench when one of the soldiers from the western side came running, "Captain, I have an urgent message from Command!"

Captain Staughler walked over and grabbed the paper from the soldier and then shouted out, "Jones, send runners to all squad leaders, we are falling back to Diamondtown, full retreat. The Kreussians got behind the line!"

Captain Staughler walked over to a soldier with the warhorn and said, "Sound retreat, four blasts."

All along the antitank line warhorns started to sound and troops raced east along the line heading to the Diamondtown trench exit.

*****

Teslaimia sat in her office drinking a glass of tea as Grace shared the information they had gathered, "It seems your new bodyguard is interested in one of Emily's girls, Jamie. He brought her flowers yesterday afternoon and the two of them went out to dinner that night."

Teslaimia nodded and said, "Oh, that's good news. I was worried that Charles was going to die a virgin."

Grace laughed and said, "That's mean, Your Majesty." She gathered herself and then cleared her throat, "Those VIPs all snuck out the way the snuck in, I think we can expect that at least a couple of them will soon arrive for official visits. Two of them were very interested in some of the things they saw around town."

Teslaimia nodded and then asked, "Do we have any Kreussian news yet?"

Grace nodded, "Mhm, we know that the new Tsar is very young and very ambitious, but also his people are on the verge of total rebellion. In order to build these two large conquering armies, he has starved his people and overtaxed them beyond their means to pay. The Tsar himself went into the field with his army which has allowed his political rivals to build support for his removal from power should he fail to bring back any spoils of war."

Teslaimia nodded, "Mm, then if they take significant losses, the Tsar will be overthrown." She took a sip of her tea and then asked, "This young Tsar, does he have any personal weaknesses we could use to push him off the edge?"

Grace thought for a moment and then said, "He is known for his overindulgence in women and alcohol. Also, he has a very short temper when it comes to the subject of his father. There are many who believe he had his father murdered to take his throne."

Teslaimia nodded and then said, "Mm, that is useful, but not now."

A young attractive girl rushed into Teslaimia's office and curtsied, "Your Majesty, we've just received word, the army has been pushed back to Diamondtown, they might lose the city."

Teslaimia set her teacup down and frowned, "Is Emily at the Palace or at the Airship port?"

The young girl replied quickly, "Her Majesty, Emily is at the Airship port."

Teslaimia stood up and said, "Notify Sir Killington, we're heading to the Airship port."

*****

Nicolas was pacing around inside of the bunker as soldiers ran messages back and forth to Gorki. Gorki spoke up, "The first tank brigade is behind the enemy line and closing in on Diamondtown. Our airships have successfully lead the enemy airship away from the battle. I have just ordered our troops to capture Diamondtown, if we are lucky, we'll capture more of their weapons as well. The first few we have here are already enough to bring our army up another level."

Nicolas stopped and nearly shouted, "And my supplies? Those men up on the mountain have already cut off my best road into the area. How do I get fuel to my tanks, Gorki?"

Gorki smiled and said, "Don't worry, Nicolas, it's all in my planning. The airships will draw the enemy airship away just long enough for us to win this battle, we will overrun their defenses and cause them to retreat. Our supply line will be left unchallenged. We should be having a nice dinner tomorrow night at the palace at Diamondtown. That will be our new frontline fortification."

Nicolas shook his head and said, "Gorki, I am getting nervous, we aren't moving as fast as we planned and they are much better equipped than we imagined. These aren't men with bows and arrows. Carrying swords, they are using better weapons than we have. If this drags out much longer, I am afraid that we'll finally be caught by their airpower. We have already lost four airships and ten tanks. I don't want to lose the entire division."

Gorki nodded and said, "Once we establish a forward presence in Diamondtown, the entire war will change for us."

Nicolas shook his head, "How can you be sure?"

"I have already sent back the weapons and ammunition we captured on the battlefield. Soon our smiths will begin to send us copies or improved muskets based on their designs. As our weapons and ammunition improve, so will our ability to fight them. We are already seeing their best and we are making progress, what happens as our weapons improve, Your Majesty?" Gorki grinned at Nicolas. "Mm, and let's say, we stall for time by coming to a cease-fire with the Empress, that gives us even more time, right? Then once we have our weapons perfected, we make the next big push."

Nicolas nodded still looking worried, "Then everything comes down to Diamondtown."

*****

Jon, Andrew, Danny, Roger, and Emily stood over the map in Jon's office looking at the Dreadnaught being pulled out of position as it chased the smaller airships. Roger shook his head, "This is so obvious. They are clearly luring the William Smith away from the battlefield. The destroyers are here in the city loading supplies and we have the Theodore Jones chasing a decoy army on the eastern side. Your Majesty, why aren't you allowing me to bring the William Smith back into the battle?"

Emily shook her head and said, "You are underestimating our soldiers. Allow the Kreussians to get their hopes up on taking Diamondtown, that way we can hopefully capture some undamaged tanks. After this loss, they will turn around and head back to Kreussia. That will give us time to come up with a proper invasion plan along with major improvements to our forces."

Danny laughed and shook his head, "Emmy, Your Majesty, your military advisors are telling you no, and you are telling them they are wrong? Do you lose brain cells putting on the crown or what? It sounds like a plan that guy would make." He pointed at Andrew who frowned.

Emily took a step back and then looked at Roger, "I'm sorry, he's right. Tell me honestly, what is the best plan of action here."

Roger looked a little shocked and then gathered himself before pointing at the map of Diamondtown, "Your Majesty, if they take Diamondtown, I am afraid it won't be easy to get them out again. We can still win by going after their supply lines, but that will be costly. My best chance to soundly beat them is to bring everything to defend Diamondtown."

Emily nodded and said, "Jon. Signal the William Smith and the Theodore Jones. I want them both to head for Diamondtown at their best speed. Send the destroyers now as well."

Jon nodded and said, "The destroyers can be over the battle in eight hours. The Smith should be there in four and the Theodore Jones will be there in twelve hours."

Roger nodded and said, "My troops can hold Diamondtown for thirteen hours unassisted by air support, anything beyond that will be too costly."

"Send them everything," Emily stated emphatically.

*****

Staughler brought his men up onto the roof of a small shop at the edge of Diamontown giving them a great view of the approaching Kreussian soldiers and tanks. He said to one of the soldiers near him, "Those tanks seem impossible to beat from here, but they are slow. Even the soldiers walking next to them are passing them by. Let's let them get a little closer before firing at the soldiers. Pass the word, fire at three hundred."

The soldiers on the rooftops started to flash hand signals at each other until everyone was on the same page. It took nearly an hour for the approaching army to finally get to within three hundred meters. Once they did, the entire roofline along the western side of Diamond town looked like it was welcoming the Kreussians with firecrackers. The sounds of Hornets being fired sounded like thunder. The Kreussian soldiers who weren't fast enough to dive behind the tanks were quickly cut down without even a chance to see or fire at the one who killed him. The rolling line of tanks came to a stop and then BOOM! The sound of thirty tanks firing nearly at once filled the air even as the army of Connaissance still fired their hornets. The tanks had been aiming at the buildings the men from Connaissance were on top of so many of these buildings simply fell apart unable to deal with the heavy cannonballs that blasted through them.

Staughler noticed that most of his men were able to survive the bombardment so he signaled them to pull back as he brought his own men off their rooftop and into the streets. They used the ruble from the first line of destroyed buildings to take aim at any enemy soldiers that popped out. The line of tanks started to crawl forward once again. Anytime an enemy soldier walked in view of the Connaissance army they were shot by multiple hornets.

'BARANG!' Suddenly the tank on the northern edge of the tank line caught fire, a burning soldier screaming as he tried to jump out moments before being shot. A few moments later, 'BARANG! the next tank in the line caught fire this time no one escaped the fiery inferno. The line of tanks all turned toward the north and fired at different spots along the ridgeline with a loud, 'BOOM!'

Staughler pulled out his spyglass looking up along the ridgeline but saw nothing but smoke and dust after the tanks had fired. "I hope you are alive, Redman."

Once again the line of tanks came to a stop, the soldiers that had been hiding behind them climbed up on top and started to fire back at the Connaissance army soldiers. It was clear to see that the weapons the Kreussian soldiers used were not nearly as effective with only a couple of men taking a hit from the soldiers that started to fire.

The fight went on this way for hours, the tanks would slowly move forward allowing the Kreussian soldiers to fire a few times. Then the tanks would fire into the standing buildings at the edge of the city creating more places for the Connaissance army to hide and get shots at the Kreussian soldiers.

*****

Captain Alyen nervously tapped his fingers on the armrest for his chair. He called out, "Are we getting close? I can't see a damned thing with all this smoke in the air."

The observations officer called out, "Captain, we are above Diamond town, the front line should be visible shortly."

The Captain picked up his spyglass and then stood up suddenly, "There! Weapons! Take aim at those tanks. Clean them up!"

A few moments later the William Smith came barrelling out of a cloud of smoke with its weapons already firing causing even the soldiers from the Connaissance army to feel fear. The line of tanks went up in flames one after another as the tarantula hawk turrets sprayed their deadly attacks over the battlefield. Kreussian soldiers started to run away from the tanks only to be cut down by a combination of tarantula hawk fire and the hornets carried by the infantry. The William Smith didn't stop after ravaging the line of tanks, they continued down the antitank line and caught the reinforcements crossing behind the line, another thirty tanks and at least a thousand infantry took fire from the ship.

The weapons officer called out, "Captain, all guns report. Out of ammunition."

Captain Alyen nodded and then said, "Bring us back over the city, we'll circle the city until the destroyers get here. They don't know we can't fire at them."

A few hours later, the destroyers made it to the city. The antitank line already being rebuilt along the western edge of Diamond Town mainly by the soldiers from the Holy Chadtom Empire as the Connaissance army took the time to reload and resupply.