BUDAPEST, EUROPEAN FEDERATION, 2034
Varga Janos struggles to get up the stairs as I follow him to his rooftop. The city, which had been the headquarters of the Central European command forces seemed empty compared to how it was during war time.
“You couldn’t find one bed between Vienna and Belgrade. Refugees from Poland, Germany and Czechia kept pouring in. And when all of them got settled you couldn’t find one loaf of bread or a bottle of beer. I’m glad I wasn’t there to see it, you’d have to ask my cousin he owned apartments and thought he made a killing until he realized the money he was being paid in rent was worth less that cigarette paper to roll.”
Varga and I settled into our seats around the table. As the sun dipped below the city skyline, painting the sky with hues of orange and pink, he offered me a cigarette. His eyes lingered on the horizon, reflecting the warmth and tranquility of the evening.
“We must have climbed for an hour, with snow finding its way into every part of our bodies. By the time we reached the top of the mountain, we were soaked. And yet, it wasn't even the highest peak in the Carpathians.”
“The Carpathians was our gift from God. Some, the more religious believed it to be a gift for our piousness. I was in the army before the war, we saw how pious our people were. Be it in the football stands or at political rallies. Be it now or before, that holier than the enemy rhetoric always grinded my gears. Whatever it was, those mountains protected us from the crabs for the entire war. That’s all I know. The mountain passes, they’re still digging up bodies over there after all those years. That’s how bloody it was for them. The Carpathian Mountains create a sweeping, protective arc that encircles the Transylvanian Plateau, providing a natural fortress for the regions within its embrace. The arms of Mother Europa we ended up calling it, with us being cradled by them. This unique shape saved us before in history and it served us then as well. It’s a shame the Romanians lost half their country and their capital, but they were smart enough to cut their losses and fall back to the western side of the mountain after they evacuated the country. The Carpathians, the Balkan mountains and the alps saved most of southern Europe from being overrun the first months. Every mountain pass had machine gun nest after machine gun nest. Recon and snipers at the entrances to radio movement. artillery and attack aircraft on standby during the entirety of the war. It was the place to be stationed in. Hell, they’d send people who fought to the teeth on the other fronts there as some unofficial r&r. If a company commander saw how broken you were after countless battles, and if you were on his good side they’d put in your papers so that you would be rotated there.
After a month they had nearly all of the Bulgarian, Serbian, Greek and between the Balkan mountains and the black sea. Us, Slovakians, Austrians and the Croats held Vienna and Bratislava right between the Alps and the Carpathians. Must have had ¾ of our army there while the rest watched the mountain passes. The Turks split their army in half and sent them both places.
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I remember clearly how it was, I sat on a rock, my cigarette in one hand and the radio on the other. I had but one message to send. I was anticipating the moment I’d see those crabs arrive. Through the snowfall, I gave no mind to the cold and the wind. I just kept my eyes on that road despite all the whining from my teammates. By the time my cigarette burned to its filter, I ignored the burning against my fingers as I saw those mobs make their way across the highway in the pass. Like everywhere else, you had hundreds of crabs followed by their beetles. I took out my notebooks with my radio communication written on it. Here I still have it, too good of a memory to just throw it away.
“Burkut 6 this is CCT 1, Fire mission over”
After a few minutes of static, the Turkish F4 phantoms above us answered.
“CCT1 this Is Burkut6,, send fire mission over.”
“Burkut 6, my position marked by IR strobe. Target location bearing 10, range 2 clicks. Grid 49.220024, 23.315528. At my command.”
“CCT1 this is Burkut 6, ready for fire.”
“Burkut 6 this is CCT1, send ordonnance over.”
I lit up another cigarette as the sound of the f4 phantoms losing altitude came closer.
It lined up on the highway, flew right at above our height.
As it flew nearly at our altitude, I saw it drop 18 MK.82 freefall bombs. They hit right on mark. They carpet bombed the highway. I felt the shockwave hit us and I held on to everything I could. Those bombs didn’t take out all of them. Some like the beetles resisted. But that’s where the second part of the plan came in. As the next crabs made their way up the road and the beetles got back their bearing the mountain gave in.
Must have been a trickle at first. A few snowdrops must have fallen from a tree near the top or something. Suddenly, a deep rumble echoed through the valley, and the snow started to shift and crack.
Within moments, a massive wall of snow broke loose from the mountainside. The avalanche gained speed rapidly, turning into a roaring, unstoppable force. As it rushed down, it swept up more snow, rocks, and debris, creating a massive, churning cloud.
The avalanche barrelled into the mountain pass, obliterating everything in its path. Trees snapped like toothpicks, and any structures or vehicles in the way were buried or swept away. The landscape was now a mix of snow and debris, leaving behind a path of destruction. The tiring hike up that mountain wasn’t for nothing. We saw those crabs gets swept by a wall of snow. Must have hit them like a truck. Even the beetles couldn’t resist the first hit. We saw all of them being swept by the avalanche and disappearing under the snow to die of asphyxiation or the cold.
In just a few minutes, the avalanche passed, leaving an eerie silence. The mountain pass, once a safe route, was now a treacherous and impassable snow-covered expanse.
It would help us hold the line for the rest of the war. As more countries poured in we had enough men, vehicles and ammunition to hold the passes even during the summer. Sure, Czechia and part of Austria resembled Verdun but we wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the Carpathians.
I met a Turkish soldier once, we talked about it. Turns out he was Kurdish and they had a saying for this; No friends but the mountains