Re: Blood and Iron

Japanese Pilots flew their Ki-27s towards the Bismarck Sea. They were hyper focused, most likely stimulated on some form of pharmaceutical substance. Their eyes dilated and locked in.

These men were confident, almost super humanly so. The Emperor had guaranteed them that the Japanese Army was the greatest and most advanced in the world. And his word was divine truth.

It didn’t hurt that this was partially true. Outside of Germany and Russia, Japan did have weaponry that was a decade ahead of the competition.

Meanwhile, their training was elite. Lessons learned from the Great War showed the importance of aviation on the modern battlefield.

And as the wing of Ki-27s approached their target, they saw explosions erupting from below. But these explosions were not an uncontested domination of their naval landing forces.

Rather, the opposite. The wing ahead of them was torn to shreds by flak. The airburst ammunition exploding once achieving critical proximity, tearing the fighters to shreds like paper planes. And felling the pilots with them.

Meanwhile, coastal artillery batteries fired upon Japanese Naval vessels such as landing craft, and their destroyer escorts. The heavy, 17cm and 21cm artillery ravaged the ships in a way that had been entirely unexpected.

Despite Bruno making a similar move at Port Arthur on behalf of the Imperial Japanese nearly 25 years prior. And yet, the Japanese pilots did not waver nor falter in their charge. Shouting over the wire in unison as they ran straight through the kill zone over the island.

“Tennoheika Banzai!”

And then they came, not from above, but from below… Blending into the tropical brush which littered the hillsides, a squadron of Bf-109s sprinted into a climb at a rate that Japanese were not expecting.

The jungle canopy erupted like a volcano, green leaves blasted aside as German fighters screamed skyward; ambush in reverse.

They fired from a seemingly disadvantaged angle; but their superior range turned that weakness into a deadly trap. Shredding the enemy upon first contact, all while zipping by the surviving Ki-27s while still having yet to reach terminal velocity at a climb.

The Imperial Japanese pilots were absolutely stunned by what they had witnessed. They had not managed to score a single kill in the initial pass, all while the German fighters circled around with superior turning radius.

Firing another barrage on the midsection of their fuselage as the Ki-27s still tried to turn their nose into firing position, igniting another half dozen of their fighters with their 20mm and 30mm guns, and the airburst munitions within them.

The development of advanced turboprop engines over the last twelve years had given the Germans a supreme advantage even in their current piston technology.

These Bf-109s were no longer the planes Bruno once knew; they now roared with engines that rivaled the P-51 Mustang, leaving their enemies in the dust.

In fact, this had become standard among fighter planes over the course of the last six years. Including the colonial aerial attaches.

The leader of the Wing, which had been reduced by nearly a quarter of its size in two strafing runs upon making contact with the enemy, burst out into panic over his radio, connecting with high command.

“The enemy planes are too swift! They outpace us while climbing even when we are diving! Not to mention the –”

And then the channel went static as the wing commander’s plane was shot out of the sky, not by an enemy pilot, but by a well placed 37mm dual flak gun mounted on an e-25 coelian turret from below.

It had become a slaughter of the worst kind for the Imperial Japanese Aerial Forces, and the Naval landing wasn’t faring much better.

Marching straight into tank traps which blocked the transfer of the type 97 medium tanks, Japanese infantry were forced to advance on foot, straight into machine gun fire.

The Germans had spent years providing coastal defenses and fortifications across their island territories, especially in the Pacific.

The moment Japan revealed its hand as a potential adversary they had made this preparation.

While the ultimate objective was decolonization over the course of the next century in a way that built a stable foundation for the natives to operate as “independent” nations.

The transition of power was designed to be peaceful, and this did not mean that the colonies were up for grabs by other imperial powers.

Germany was now acting as the “regents” reigning supreme over these regions until the local “King” came of proper age to govern themselves. And thus, it was their moral and legal obligation to protect these lands.

And protect them they did, as the Japanese infantry found that marching against mounted machine guns contained within reinforced concrete bunkers systems that were elevated above them for advantageous positioning, along with the men by their sides armed with assault rifles, was a death trap of the highest order.

No matter how unyielding the spirit of the Imperial Japanese Military was, its attempt to land on Buka Island was not only repelled but utterly annihilated.

Because one’s will was secondary to the overwhelming might of the opposition they faced.

And on this day, the Germans proved once again to have prepared for the next war, not by looking towards the past, but the future. And that mindset in a world that often did the opposite was truly visionary.

By the time the sun rose over the reef, there were no survivors to surrender. Only blackened craters, shattered hulls, and driftwood bodies caught on rusted tank traps.

Those who would observe the Battle of the Buka Shore would learn a very valuable lesson. How not to approach an amphibious landing in the 20th century.

As the entirety of the expeditionary force that Japan sent to the island while their main fleet was dispatched to engage, the Japanese in the Bismarck Sea were annihilated to the last man.

While the German Colonial forces had achieved significant tactical victory during the opening stages of the war. The Russians were likewise making vast gains in the Korean Peninsula and the surrounding areas.

Seizing territories lost during the Russo-Japanese war, as well as marching past the borders of Japanese Chōsen with the intent of liberating Pyongyang on their march to the southern coasts.

All across the Reich’s eastern colonies, the message was clear; Bruno von Zehntner had prepared for this moment not in arrogance, but in prophecy.

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