Assault on the city

It only took two hours before the gliders reached the camp of the Brandenburg regiment.

Erika and Bauer came out of the crash-landed gliders and was greeted by the commander of the regiment.

They were physically unharmed, as were the gliders.

Soon, logistic troops loaded both of the gliders into carriages and sent them back.

Erika and Bauer went to the regiment command post.

The afternoon had already turned into evening and the sun was gradually moving down the western horizon.

Erika wanted to end things swiftly without getting bogged down in the narrow streets of the city.

She spoke with the senior officers inside the hastily built command post.

It was a small dugout covered with olive green clothes that really actually stood out from the surrounding fields.

"So how shall we proceed kommandant?" The commander asked.

Holding chin, Erika thought about a plan for a while.

Looking at the commander she finally spoke,

"Call the Grossdeutschland regiment and tell them to start bombarding the city walls." Erika ordered.

"they will work as diversions while we conduct the main thrust." She said.

"Tell them to advance slowly inside the city."

"Jawohl kommandant." the regiment commander said.

He immediately asked for the signal officer to relay the orders to the other regiment.

"Meanwhile, we shall prepare for our own offensive." Erika said.

Giving her a salute, everyone went into action.

The artillery was prepared was soon ready to bombard the city wall.

It took until sunset when both the grossdeutschland and the Brandenburg regiments were ready for action.

They had advanced to a place only a kilometer away from the city.

Leaving the artillery behind with small rear guard units to protect them.

And once Erika received the news, she ordered to open the artillery on the wall.

The GD regiment artillery opened first on the old city wall.

The deafening roar of the 75mm guns echoed through the open field tearing the calmness of the sunset.

When they heard the sound of the guns, Erika's Wehrmacht soldiers felt a new kind of emotion.

In one hand they felt happy that they were not on the receiving end of this thunder while they also felt sad for whoever will be crushed underneath.

The guards on the city wall also heard the faint sound coming from far away.

At first they couldn't realise what it was. Many soldiers thought it was thunder.

"Hey, where is the sound of thunder coming from?" Asked a guard on the wall.

"I don't know, I don't see any cloud on the horizon." Said another one.

The platoon commander for that section of the wall brought out his spyglass to see what was happening.

He could only notice, that a huge number of people wearing the same clothes out in the open far away.

Before he could make anything out of this, his legs trembled and very soon, he along with two guards near him fell down.

A deafening roar echoed as on shell after another hit the wall.

The blocks of stone and mud that made up the wall crumbled and broke apart.

Before the guards could do anything or take any action, there was now a huge gap in the wall.

Schorner along with Weilding's father rushed to the wall to see what had happened.

They saw that there was now a huge gap in the wall and an entire section was missing.

In the horizon they could see golden flashes that followed by a sound of thunder.

There was chaos in the wall. The city guards were panicking, many had already left the wall.

There was no commander left to control the troops.

The knight commander asked the terrified Schorner to get the troops back in the wall.

But Schorner didn't get the chance to do anything. 

He was traumatised to see the sturdiest wall he had even seen now collapsed.

And before he could even look at the commanders way, the portion they were standing in also collapsed as a high explosive artillery shell fell.

Inside the palace, Prince Theodore was afraid of this turn of event.

He almost fell down on the ground in shock when a messenger reported to him about what happened on the wall.

Fortunately Paul held him. Weilding was more enraged to know that his father was now dead.

He was burning for revenge. Looking towards the prince he bowed.

"Your highness allow me to take charge. I want to avenge my father." He said.

Theodore though was afraid himself tried to show some courage.

"As you wish. Go protect the city." Theodore said putting his trembling hands on Weilding's shoulder.

Weilding rushed outside. Paul went along with him.

Meanwhile, Theodore called for his attendant.

"Prepare the secret escape route that goes to the back gate of the city." He said to him.

 It was the same person that had went to the Raubenbraum duchy with him during the engagement meeting with Erika.

Meanwhile Theodore went to the king's bedroom where his mother was taking care of the king.

"Mother we must get out of the palace as fast as possible." He said.

The queen was surprised at the sudden news.

All this time, she remained by the king's side taking care of him. She didn't know what was going on in the kingdom.

"Why?! What happened Theodore?" She said looking at her son.

Theodore tried to persuade his mother without revealing too much.

Meanwhile, in the wall Weilding tried to control the situation.

He sent messengers to every section of the wall. While he ordered the knights and mercenaries to leave the wall.

Soon the messengers gave the city guards the news of what happened and had them evacuate the wall.

He already knew that the city wall was no longer defendable with the constant thunder attacks and the giant gap.

Though he was burning with rage and anger, as a knight he still managed to think straight.

Hundreds of city guards, knights and soldiers were dispersed inside the city.

They hid inside the houses and were told to take the medicine they were handed over and attack once they see the enemy approaching.

The ones that had crossbows and archers were told to stay on the roof of the houses and rain arrows on the enemy.

When Erika saw that all the troops from the walls were removed, she cancelled the artillery attack.

This attack was supposed to commence a few minutes later from the Brandenburg regiment artillery.

Rather she asked the panzerknackers to blow up the gate in front of them and move discreetly towards the palace as fast as possible.

She also warned the GD regiment that they would face the entire kingdom's military.

The barrage from the GD regiment's artillery stopped and the soldiers rushed inside the city.

Erika warned them previously about attacking civilians and help them as much as possible.

Since this regiment was not to advance towards the palace, they could wipe out the enemy one by one.

The three battalions from the GD regiment divided into three separate road and advanced slowly.

They were soon attacked by the kingdom's soldiers.

The drugged soldiers didn't fear anything and attacked wave after wave even though their comrades were mowed down by fire one after another.

As Erika's troops advanced slowly, they got swarmed by the enemy.

In the narrow street of the kingdom, things were getting difficult for them.

From every house, five or sometimes even more soldiers rushed out to charge.

The semi automatic Gewehr 43 only fired slowly and was having trouble containing the enemy.

Only the submachine guns and the machine guns saved the day.

However, many soldiers were injured when the archers and crossbowmen fired arrows on them from the roof.

Noticing the swarm of arrow coming from the housetops, the soldiers started to concentrate on them.

All the battalions that were advancing through the street faced this situation.

Sanitaters were running to the wounded troops to ease their pain and stop their blood from gushing out of the body.

However, they were wearing recognisable distinct clothes and were also attacked by the enemy.

"Stop the advance and conduct house to house search for the enemy." The regiment commander shouted over the telephone.

He was with the 1st battalion that took the center.

Soon the order was relayed to all the troops through runners who took the orders to the lowest level of leadership.

Soon, the soldiers started to check the houses one by one including their rooftops.

Groups of 10 soldiers gathered around their surrounding houses.

One kicked open the door while another lobbed grenades inside.

After that all the soldiers rushed inside and killed the enemy inside without harming the residents.

They looked from room to room until the roof of the building in this manner, getting rid of any and every enemy inside.

Weilding was very pleased at this development. He thought that the enemy was contained.

He even sent a messenger to the prince boasting his achievement.

The prince when heard that the enemy was now contained decided to remain back at the palace.