10: San Giorgio 2
Franco felt his ears ringing, an explosive had detonated near his position, causing him to lose balance and his vision to start distorting. It wasn't the first time something like this had happened to him, but it could be the last.
With difficulty, he crawled, trying to reach a nearby partially collapsed wall to lean on it for support.
He heard something, like a voice calling out to him, but he couldn't tell where it was coming from. Then a hand grabbed his shoulder, and Franco tried to turn quickly with his weapon ready to fire.
Fortunately, he couldn't even hold his weapon properly, or he would have blown Carlo's brains out. The man helped him move, and soon both reached a safer position. Franco shook his head, his sense of hearing slowly returning.
"-Something's wrong," Carlo's words finally reached him, and only now did Franco notice the fear in his gaze and the beads of sweat on his face, his eyes clearly panicked, seeking direction.
Franco swallowed his pain, discomfort, and fear and quickly inquired about the situation.
"What's happening?" But Carlo didn't have time to answer because before he could speak, the place lit up with a bright blue light, there was a roar, and the ground shook. The sound of a massive metal machine crushing everything in its path was clear.
Franco crawled to get a clearer view. What greeted him was the strangest metal beast he had ever seen. Its design was huge and heavy, clearly extremely armored, the blue light inside the main cannon intensified, and all of Franco's instincts screamed, like an old soldier who had been in battle after battle since the war began, he had developed enough perception to know when death was near.
His eyes turned to a group of his men who were relentlessly attacking the enemy tank. He wanted to shout, to warn them, to retreat, to hide, but his voice was drowned out by the tank's shot, not a projectile but pure unknown energy that turned everything in its path into dust.
There was no deafening roar, no explosion; suddenly, the whole group of partisan resistance soldiers and the place where they stood were reduced to ashes.
Franco was momentarily paralyzed, but only for a brief moment. weapons never seen before, that's what the defeated soldiers of the Allied army had said when they were forced to retreat many days ago, weapons capable of reducing a man to ashes instantly.
No one had believed it, no one could believe it without seeing it for themselves, but now that Franco was witnessing it, he knew that this battle would be much more difficult than he thought. Still, they knew this could happen; John had warned them.
He glanced at his watch. They had a schedule; they just needed to keep resisting for another 15 minutes.
He looked at Carlo and quickly gave his orders.
"Initiate Plan B!" Even if their weapons were terrifying, even if a single shot from them meant death, at the end of the day, they were all wielded by men.
"Remember, you have to disarm them, those weapons no matter what, you can't let them exploit their power," recalling John's words, Franco began to move to a better location. Carlo looked at his back, gritted his teeth, and began to move in another direction as well.
He carefully took out a flare hidden inside his uniform and without hesitation, fired it into the sky.
Unlike more conventional armies, the resistance lacked many things. Their weapons, for the most part, were stolen, as was their equipment. Getting radios was difficult, so their communication during conflicts tended to suffer as a result.. Still, there were clear signals that everyone could understand if they discussed them carefully.
In the sky above San Giorgio, two flares flew through the air, sending a clear signal. The resistance soldiers quickly picked up the message and began to change their tactics.
They stopped focusing on advancing and began to become a nuisance. Even if many of them had not been soldiers in the past, those who had been and had belonged to the army were the ones who taught them how to fight against those who were stronger and better equipped, and how to counter their tactics.
And so, more than a thousand men began to split into small teams of five, using their familiarity with the Italian lands and its architecture. They started to attack the German army as if their numbers outnumbered them 5 to 1, even though it wasn't the case.
They had begun a guerrilla warfare.
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Villa Santa Caterina.
Raven soared through the sky, flapping her black wings as she fixed her gaze on her target. At first, it was strange, seeing through the eyes of a bird was very different from doing so with human eyes. The colors, sharpness, and depth, everything changed in ways a human brain couldn't imagine.
Still, thanks to her power, Raven was able to adapt. No, not just adapt, it was more like she had always been a bird. Every movement, every action, no one could see through her disguise unless she allowed it.
She dove through the air, landing softly on a high wall. She raised her wing and began to "scratch" with her beak, mimicking bird behavior effortlessly.
A German soldier, scanning beyond the wall with binoculars, frowned at the bird landing not far from him. He gripped his weapon, considering whether to shoot.
In the end, he simply picked up a nearby stone and, with a slight smile, threw it at the bird. The raven seemed to anticipate the stone and cawed, flying back into the sky above his head.
The soldier laughed, truly getting bored. Guarding the road to San Giorgio was anything but exciting.
"What's all the fuss about?" his superior officer approached, and the soldier stopped laughing.
"Just a silly bird, Sir. Still no signs of any intruders," Hans responded somewhat nervously. The officer glanced at him before nodding.
"They're attacking from the front. If there are no sightings in 3 hours, we'll return and provide assistance." Hans blinked but quickly nodded.
"Yes, sir!"
A team of 50 men was stationed at this "base." The new major who had arrived from Villa Ottone (Uttenheim) believed that their enemies might attack from their flank and had stationed men here preventively.
So far, no enemy had shown up, so for Hans, all of this was just a waste of time. They should be in San Giorgio where the real battle was taking place.
He was eager to fight, to prove his worth, and bring honor to the Reich.
He watched his superior walk away, and once he was sure he was far enough, he turned his gaze back to the sky. It seemed the bird had gone.
With some disappointment, he took his binoculars, hoping his shift would end soon.
Before Hans could react, a shadow fell upon him from the sky. His eyes widened as he felt a boot press against his neck, but he couldn't do anything. The unknown weight struck with such force and speed that his neck snapped instantly. His twisted body fell to the ground, his dead eyes staring into the void in confusion.
He couldn't even scream.
"Tch!"
Raven scoffed, looking at Hans's lifeless body and quickly grabbing his weapon, and looting any other useful items she could find. She had made sure that no one paid attention to this place, so it was easy for her to dispose of the body by tossing it over the other side of the wall. Everything was done swiftly and without causing any commotion; no one noticed a thing.
Then her figure changed, and "Hans" smiled, adjusting his weapon on his back and holding his binoculars.
He looked through them to a specific location. No one realized her series of previous actions, no one except John. Through the binoculars, their eyes met, and a tacit understanding passed between them. They both nodded in unison.
Raven took out one of the chewing gums that Hans had brought with him and started chewing on it while examining the gun in her hands, making sure it was loaded. Then she entered the base with light steps.
It was time to fulfill her mission.
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"What are we waiting for, sir?" Angelo asked nervously.
John smiled beside him.
"A signal." He and 15 other men waited hidden not far from the German base in Villa Santa Catarina.
"Listen to the captain, lad! He's got a plan," an older man with gray beard named Mario said as he smoked a cigarette. He was an ex-Italian soldier who had left the army when Italy joined forces with Germany.
"Patience is a virtue. Things will happen when they have to happen," Sergio, a not-too-old baker whose house was rumored to have been burned in a German attack, chimed in.
Angelo blushed as he felt their gaze. Now, he felt stupid for asking.
"Don't worry, lad. There are no dumb questions, only fools who don't ask. Your curiosity isn't a bad thing," John said, placing his hand on the boy's shoulder.
Angelo smiled and nodded, feeling less down than before.
"Listen up, soon our signal will come. We must be swift; the fighting in San Giorgio must have already begun."
The 15 men under his command nodded, all ready.
With a bit more courage than before, thanks to John's words, Angelo couldn't help but ask another question, this time in a low voice.
"Captain, why don't we just go in directly? I mean, with you here..."
Angelo's doubt was normal; everyone present knew what he was capable of. If he wanted, he could charge straight into the base's wall, and no one would be surprised if he simply knocked it down.
So, why wait?
John looked toward the base and responded calmly. "I can't be the only one shining in this war, lad."
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Angelo blinked in confusion but was quick to recall something. "Are you referring to that woman? Raven? I thought she was just going for reconnaissance."
John smiled. "She's not just a woman, lad, remember that. And don't underestimate her for it. Women are dangerous, and not getting on their bad side will save you a lot of future trouble."
As he finished his words, a roaring and thunderous explosion shook the entire area. Fire and smoke billowed up, engulfing more than half of the enemy base in seconds.
"And that's our signal! Let's go! Move!" John pushed Angelo, who looked at the smoke and fire rising in the distance with disbelief.
Had that woman done this?!
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Otto Wilhelm coughed, feeling his face burning in pain; the fire had scorched his skin. He crawled on the ground, barely keeping his consciousness afloat.
'What happened?' he tried to remember, but his mind was chaos. He was the Leutnant of this base; everything had been going perfectly, with no enemies or attacks in sight. They would soon be able to return to aid their comrades in the real battle.
So why? Why could he hear his men screaming in agony?
He looked up and saw one of his men approaching slowly; it was Hans, the soldier in charge of guarding the wall. Otto tried to speak, to get his attention so that he would come to help him.
"Hmm?" Hans didn't notice him and approached. Otto smiled with hope blossoming in his chest; perhaps he wouldn't have to die here.
"H-Hans, I need you to—"
Otto fell silent. The reason? The dozen grenade pins in Hans' hands. He looked in the direction from which the soldier was coming; wasn't that where the ammunition was stored?
"Hans, you...!"
"You know, I can't understand you at all. I suppose my power has some limits in that regard. Well, you can't have it all. Still, I can read your body language, which makes it easier to deduce what you're thinking," Hans spoke, kneeling in front of him and looking at him coldly.
But that wasn't Hans' voice...
"I know you're scared now. I'm sorry; I don't like making people feel that way, but it's necessary. This is the mission he gave me, and I have to show him what I'm capable of. I can't afford to fail. In the end, we are enemies, so you shouldn't hold a grudge for this, okay? I'll make it quick," Hans drew the knife from his hip, and Otto's eyes widened in panic. He didn't need to speak the same language as this "imposter" to know what he was about to do.
He tried to crawl away, to escape, but with his legs broken from the explosion, he couldn't even move a few inches before the knife struck him directly in the chest.
"I-I," he looked at "Hans" in the eyes, feeling his life slipping away.
"I'm sorry..." "Hans" said.
That word was one of the few English words the dying Leutnant knew. Otto couldn't help but laugh as he spat blood and, in broken English, uttered his last words.
"N-no, you're not."
His body fell lifeless, and Raven furrowed her brows. She stood up, removing the knife from Otto's chest, and looked at him for a few moments with unknown thoughts. But she quickly forgot the encounter upon hearing the gunfire starting to arrive.
Without hesitation, she changed her appearance, returning to her disguise. She didn't want her allies to shoot her by accident, after all.
Soon, she joined the fray. Raven's initial strike had killed or injured more than half of the men stationed at the base, and those who remained were in a state of confusion and without guidance. They stood no chance against John's team.
Raven fired her last bullet, watching as the German soldier fell to the ground. She was quite good with weapons, even if she barely knew anything about them.
John approached her side as the other members of his team cleared the base.
"You did an excellent job," he said, causing her to turn and smile from ear to ear.
From the beginning to the end, John had used the attack on Villa Santa Caterina to test Raven.
He wanted to see her true capabilities, how far she would go, if she could follow his orders.
"I told you I could do it," she boasted, and John smiled, reaching out to pat her head.
"You did more than just do well. I've already decided—you'll come with me to Salzburg." Raven's eyes widened with amazement, and she almost let out a squeal of excitement. She knew Salzburg was John's final destination; even the partisan resistance would be left behind. John had told her she should stay and help them, which had been bothering her because she didn't want to. But now it seemed he had changed his mind.
She couldn't help the pride that swelled within her. She had done it! She had proven she could stand by his side.
John then lowered his hand and handed her the weapon, the first one she had obtained.
"Come on, it's time to go to San Giorgio." Raven nodded, fixing her hair, which had been tousled by John, and followed him with excitement. This war was just beginning for her, and she was already looking forward to what would come next.
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Major Reinhard Maier surveyed the situation on the battlefield with furrowed brows. What was the resistance trying to accomplish?
It was as if the roles of both sides had abruptly reversed. It was the German army advancing while the partisan resistance concentrated on maintaining their "defense" with a large-scale guerrilla war throughout San Giorgio. It was annoying; they couldn't effectively use their new weapons against them in this manner.
However, this wouldn't last long. It made no sense to engage in a war of "attrition" since behind them, thousands of other German troops were ready to sweep through the northern Italy...
It made no sense to fight in this way. The major furrowed his brow as he listened to the reports.
"Sir! It's an emergency!" A soldier entered the command room, causing the foreboding feeling that had been brewing within Reinhard to intensify.
"What's happening?" he asked quickly.
"We lost one of the new Hydra tanks, sir. The resistance ambushed the team escorting it in the north!" Panic was evident in the soldier's voice. One thing was to have those tanks on their side, but to have them against them?
"Damn peasants! They're trying to steal our weapons!"
He needed to fix this quickly. He couldn't let the Generalmajor in Sand in Taufers find out about this, or his entire military career would go down the drain. He had worked too hard to get some of the new Hydra armaments. He could excuse himself if he lost one of the portable weapons, but losing one of the new Uber tanks was not permissible.
"Quickly! Send a platoon of 50 men to-"
His words were interrupted by an explosion that rocked the entire place.
Reinhard watched as the entire left wall of the command center disappeared. He looked with incredulous eyes as flames engulfed the entire place within seconds. His men shouted, raising their weapons, but before they could fire, something attacked first.
Faster than any man could react, a metal shield flew through the air, steel piercing through bodies without any difficulty, easily cleaving dozens of men in half before slamming into a wall and embedding deeply into it, the metal bent and deformed due to the strong impact.
Major Reinhard looked at the soldier who had brought the news of the Uber tank loss, or at least the remaining half of the man's body. He watched as the legs fell, splashing blood onto the floor, and with trembling body, took only a few steps back before a voice caught his attention.
"I don't know if you're stupid or just too confident, sending only 50 men to protect the road to Villa Santa Caterina? Seriously? Or perhaps because you thought these 'weapons' would be enough to kill me?" Captain America said as he threw one of Hydra's heavy assault rifles to the ground, the metal of the weapon warped, and the blue light inside seemed unstable.
"In any case, I'll accept your surrender, or you can die. Whichever path you choose doesn't matter too much because you've already lost," confidence rang in his voice. Reinhard clenched his teeth. This arrogant man... how dare he?!
"You foolish Amerikaner, you think you've won? You think you alone can stop what's coming? You're nothing but a stupid clown wearing a colorful suit and carrying a stupid symbol. Hydra will never fall to you!" Reinhard retrieved one of the "little" toys he had kept for himself.
Without hesitation, he released the safety of the silver grenade, which shimmered with blue colors. His arm moved swiftly, preparing to throw the grenade in John's direction. But before the grenade could even leave his hand, a precise shot from a weapon struck it.
Reinhard's eyes widened in disbelief as he saw the explosive begin to detonate prematurely.
"Oh fu-!"
The blue light flooded the area, and everything within a three-cubic-meter radius was engulfed in a dome of energy. The ground shook, and as quickly as it came, the light vanished, leaving behind a completely clean crater.
John approached the smoking crater holding the gun, which he had stolen from a Nazi soldier, in his right hand, the barrel still smoking.
"It seems I've won this duel," he said, inhaling the smoke from the barrel before twirling the weapon in his hand, completing a full rotation, and then smoothly holstering it at his hip.
He had always wanted to do that.
He glanced at the destroyed base for a moment before rushing back to the battlefield. He needed to take care of these new "weapons" after all.
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The flares sailed through the air, and when the partisan resistance army saw them lighting up the sky, they cheered with excitement and began to regroup.
Captain America had arrived!
The German army had lost its command center and its commanding officer; the radios stopped working when the base from where orders were given was destroyed, and their calls went unanswered, causing panic to ensue.
The Hydra Uber tank fired at a two-story building; its walls offered no resistance, and the resistance members hiding within died instantly.
"Let's go! Haha!" Inside the tank, a Nazi soldier shouted with excitement as he looked through the periscope viewer. The Uber tank was immense, with different cabins to control various sections. The main turret couldn't rotate like in other tanks, so it was the duty of a smaller secondary turret to do so, and this turret was special.
Whether reloading, aiming, firing, or maneuvering, it could all be done by a single man.
Müller never imagined he would be chosen to handle such a weapon. With every shot, he couldn't help but feel invincible. As long as he operated this weapon and was inside this impenetrable mobile fortress, he felt he could vanquish any enemy.
His radio buzzed. Müller reached out to answer the call, but a jolt in the cabin made him look with confusion toward the door separating him from his team members.
Why was it shaking?
That question was soon answered. There was a screech, and the cabin door was easily ripped off, casting the shadow of an imposing figure over the Nazi soldier.
Müller looked in disbelief as a hand stretched out and grabbed him by the neck, dragging him out of the cabin. Before he could react, he found himself being thrown out of the Uber tank's main hatch and plummeting to the ground from over three meters high. His head hit the ground upon impact, killing him instantly.
"Let's go!" John shouted, and a group of resistance soldiers quickly joined him.
One of them entered the main cabin, while the others explored all the secondary cabins.
"What's happening?" John asked, arriving next to the soldier and seeing him studying the controls with confusion.
"It's different from any tank I've been in. Give me a moment," the soldier said, pressing some buttons and clumsily familiarizing himself with the controls. Then the metal beast roared again and began to move.
"I think I've got it!"
John nodded and exited the cabin to the main hatch.
He could have destroyed the tanks, but he had a better idea: steal them and let the resistance use them. Fighting fire with fire. Of course, Hydra still had the Tesseract, so they couldn't recharge their weapons or the tanks' energy. Still, as long as they had power, they could still use them, and that's exactly what they would do.
The tank turned, its main cannon aiming directly at the German army, and then it began to fire. A Panzer tank that had been attacking the resistance army turned into scrap metal instantly.
John didn't stay idle; with Raven's help, acting as his eyes in the sky, he could get an idea of the battlefield distribution and go where it was most needed.
Within minutes, he completely hijacked all 15 Hydra tanks from the enemy. The partisan resistance began guiding the Ubers to destroy the remaining 40+ Panzer tanks.
Their large size and heavy armor made it impossible for the Panzers to destroy them without being destroyed first. No matter how well-armored the Panzers were, a shot of blue energy was enough to penetrate their armor completely.
Seeing the situation, the German soldiers began abandoning the iron coffins and fighting on foot, trying to steal the Ubers back into their hands.
It was entirely futile; even with Hydra's special weapons, they couldn't get close before being intercepted by John and his group of men.
John dealt personally and especially with all those with energy weapons in their hands.
In a short time, the Nazi army was cornered near the Ahr River, almost at the end of San Giorgio.
The Nazi army ran towards the bridge used to cross the river, their only escape route in this situation.
They needed to regroup and return to Uttenheim. But before they could do so, dozens of small explosions began to envelop the group of over 200 soldiers.
"What's happening!?" Rolf, the Captain (Hauptmann) who had been forced to take command of the soldiers still alive, couldn't help but shout in confusion as explosions seemingly came out of nowhere to engulf them.
He threw himself to the ground, trying to take cover, and watched as the partisan resistance assaulted his men, taking advantage of the chaos. He tried to aim to shoot, but a hand held the barrel of his weapon and bent its metal as if it were clay; his pupils contracted, and he turned to meet a pair of blue eyes looking at him with amusement.
"Now, I'll accept your surrender on my terms, or everyone here will die. I hope you can make a better decision than your Major," Rolf swallowed, sweat dripping from his forehead, nodded, and quickly dropped his weapon.
"I surrender!" he shouted so that the men near him could hear.
"We surrender!" he shouted again, and the German soldiers understood, starting to lower their weapons and shout the same words so that more and more of them would hear. Soon, the words of surrender began to spread throughout the battlefield.
John smiled and looked up at the sky, winking at Raven, who in her crow form had been the one to release dozens of grenades from the sky onto the German army, a homemade bombardment like no other.
Raven cawed and began to descend to the ground; her mission had been a success once again.
The resistance started gathering the German soldiers while cheering; they had won and taken San Giorgio in less than a day, and although several had died, they still had over a thousand men alive.
It was a completely successful battle.
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Note:
What do you think? Do you think I'm dragging out the battles too much? Should I hurry things along or take the time to develop the events of World War II? I don't want to go too fast, but I also don't want it to be slow and tedious.
This is just the beginning, so there's still plenty of room to maneuver. The world's story will change in unknown ways, and so will the course of World War II. I have some surprises in store that I think will be very exciting.
Don't forget to leave your likes, (power stones if they are on webnovel or kudos if you are on Ao3) I appreciate all the support ;D
Anyway, tell me what you think; as always, I take into account any comments and read them all.
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