Teufelslied: Italia

Chapter 9: Meat-Grinding Slaughter

21st September, 1959: Montpelier, RSSR

       Montpellier was massive. Intimidating even. It was as close together as a Medieval city. Looking down at it, Anto's breath slowed to a near halt. The last fight he had been in that had occurred in a city of this size, it was Madrid. And he was severely outnumbered that time.
      "Anything, Leutnant?", one soldier said. "Yeah. A heavily fortified metropolis, crammed with foes."
"Artillery strike?", the soldier asked.
"Yes.", Anto said.
     
        The soldier walked over to his company. They loaded the howitzers with explosive shells, and fired, reloaded, and fired. After 4 salvos, the rocket artillery blazed to life, smashing Montpelier to smoking rubble. The Italian Airforce flew overhead, dropping bombs on the city, burning it to pieces so thoroughly, Anto was blinded for a moment. The fires outshone the grass, and turned the sky dark. The tanks came in for an assault. "CHAAAARGE!", Anto shouted.
           Trenches dug in the wheat fields blazed to life with gunfire, antitank fire,  and artillery, Italian men fell, tanks exploded, and limbs went flying. "DOWN!", Anto shouted, and fired on the wheat fields. Anto didn't like it, but he was firing blindly. A flare appeared in the sky, and set the wheat on fire. Anto fired at the enemies, his target clear, there's blurred, several fell. A Panther IV tank rolled near, and fired on the enemy defenses. It's round smashed into their entrenchments, blowing them to pieces. Anto jumped into the trench, and stabbed a Rebel soldier to death. As more Italians charged into the trench, the Socialists were forced out, the rebels were in the open, and were gunned down by MG fire. A second row of gunfire retaliated, their bullets piercing the helmets of the Italian defenders. The Panthers fired their cannons at the enemy line, and shrapnel killed 80 of the defending troops. "Über die Spitze!", Anto shouted, however, as they came out of their trench, the Communists fired cannons at the advancing tanks, and their machine guns pounded Anto and his men from buildings and bunkers. Sniper fire from the towers of Castries killed several Italian soldiers. Anto fired on the Communists, killing 3 more. He fired again, suppressing the enemy, and a bullet grazed his arm. Somewhere to the right of him, a MG60 had been mounted, as was firing like hell, cutting down enemy troops. A Konigstiger rolled from the  nearby buildings, and destroyed one of the Panthers. A sniper took out the man firing the MG60, and Anto rushed to replace him, his took a bullet in his calf trying to reload the gun, but was finally able to fire it again, killing the sniper, and scattering the enemy. He then threw a Molotov cocktail, and the trench was set ablaze. He made his way into the enemy trench, and put his gas mask on, before throwing mustard gas, and firing on the rebels. More Italian soldiers came into the trench, and more died, as the retreating rebels had 10 Königstigers firing like artillery, raining debris and machine gun fire upon the Italians. A Mondfleiger flew above, cutting down the tanks and advancing rebels. Volleys of sniper fire, all in quick succession, rained down on the trenches. "TAKE COVER!", Anto shouted, as the bullets rained down on him, and the man next to him fell down dead. They all ducked, and the second volley killed even more Italians. They were pigs to the slaughter.
          Then, as they were getting up, Anto threw more mustard gas as the direction of the volley, as it came down, it knocked off his helmet, and more of his kinsmen fell. "FIRE!", Anto shouted, and several bodies fell from the buildings.
       They climbed out of the trenches, one of the tank commanders behind Anto shouted "MINEFIELD!", Anto looked down, and moved back a few steps, as more Italian troops were blown to bits. They retreated to the trench under another machine gun barrage, and returned fire. The tanks went into the minefields, and...even they exploded. "ANTI-TANK MINES!", Anto shouted, as an artillery bombardment smashed into the ground, sending shrapnel flying everywhere. They fired on the advancing rebels, silencing another wave, which fell back to their trench.