East Europan Army

"Forward we march. To conquer those who defile the graves of our fathers. For the everlasting glory of the Emperor, king of kings."

- Excerpt from the anthem of the East Europan Imperial Alliance A conglomerate of nations united under the rule of the Autocratic East Europan Emperor Imperial Alliance, commonly referred to as "The Empire".

The Industrial Revolution that occurred when ragnite was discovered as a useful energy source saw the nations of eastern Europa, pioneers in machine technology, rise to power. Already tightly bound by a network of marriages amongst their royalty, these nations now joined hands in a formal international alliance.

While not technically an autocracy, the emperor enjoys limitless authority within the alliance. The Empire retains customs and practices held over from medieval times, and its people are known to harbor conservative views including a strong hatred for the Darcsen race, who are often put into forced labor camps to provide labour and materials for the Empire.

Battle vs Wehrmacht (by SPARTAN 119
Wehrmacht:
 * Infantry: 2000
 * Panzer III: 400
 * Panzer IV: 200
 * Panther: 50
 * Tiger: 50
 * King Tiger: 25
 * Elefant: 25
 * JagdTiger: 25

Imperial Army
 * Infantry: 2000
 * Light Tank: 400
 * Medium Tank: 200
 * Heavy Tank: 200
 * Lupus Regnum: 25
 * Tank Destroyer: 50

First Contact, Day 1

The town of Eglise de Saint Jean Baptiste (apologies to any French speakers, as I have probably murdered your language!) was a (fictional) town in northern France of about 5000 people, centered around a the large church, the Catholic Church of St. John the Baptist, the namesake of the town. Now, however, it was quiet, the residents having fled in fear of a massive battle between two armies, one of them the forces of the Third Reich, and the second and an mysterious foe known only as the Imperial Alliance, who no one was clear as to where they had come from or how they got here, it was almost as though they had just appeared a few weeks ago, and had been rampaging across land ever since. One thing was clear: Whoever won, the town on Eglise de St. Jean Baptiste would lose.

General Rienhard Jager was the commander of the 28th Panzer Division and the accompanying Panzergrenadier units, a veteran of the Eastern Front, sent to engage the mysterious enemy force who had simply appeared in Northern France a few weeks ago, one thing was clear: whoever they were, they were not the allies.

Jager stood in the command cupola of his command variant of the King Tiger tank rolled forward- Jager liked to lead from the front line: his was literally at the spearhead of the formation.

Suddenly, Jager heard a thunderous roar as the Tiger next to him exploded into a ball of flames. Jager ducked down inside the turret of the tank, slamming down the hatch behind him.

As Jager looked through the commanders viewing ports, he could see a large force of about 200 tanks and tank destroyers of various models rolling out of the forest about 900 meters away. The tanks had a secondary cannon in the hull, similar to a American M3 Grant and Lee tanks. Iron coffins, as both sides called them, Jager thought as he smiled darkly- these tanks looked to be of an obsolete design compared to his King Tiger. Some of the enemy, however, looked more menacing, including a tank destroyers similar to the Jagdpanther and a few that looked a bit like pictures he had seen of the Panzer VII Maus.

Still, Jager was not intimidated as he barked his orders into the radio: Feuer Frei!

Immediately, the 88mm main gun of the Tiger II roared, firing an armor-piercing, ballistic cap round at a muzzle velocity of over 1100 meters per second. The round slammed into an Imperial Medium tank. Immediately, the vehicle went up in a flash of fire, a column of black smoke marking its funeral pyre.

Guns roared on both sides, and tanks erupted into flames on both sides. The Commander of the Imperials, in his Lupus Regnum tank- one of 25 produced after the success of the prototype- scored a hit on a King Tiger tank and sent it up in flames. A few feet further on, a Jagdtiger fell victim to mechanical problems, and was a sitting duck. The tank destroyer was hit by one of its Imperial counterparts.

However, for each kill the Imperial scored, they lost three more of their tanks. The high-velocity 75mm and 88mm main guns of the German heavy armor took its tool, knocking out Imperial armor left and right, while many of the Imperial guns, particularly the 45mm guns on the light tanks simply bounced off the front of the German tanks.

After five minutes of battle that seemed like an eternity, about 30 Imperial Heavies and Tank Destroyers held the line while the others turned and retreated. About 15 of the Imperial rear guard tanks were knocked out as their comrades retreated. The Imperial rear guard out about a dozen more German tanks before they turned tail themselves.

All told, the Imperials lost 73 tanks in the battle, while the Germans suffered 56 vehicles destroyed. It was a hard fought battle, but Jager maintained convinced of victory as he barked orders into his radio, sending another force of consisting of about 300 tanks and a large force of infantry around the town of Eglise de St. Jean Baptiste from the south, intended to cut off the Imperial retreat and trap them in the town.

Day 3, North side outskirts of Eglise de St. Jean Baptiste

A Jagdtiger rolled down the main street leading into the town square, where a large church stood on the south end, with a circle of buildings surrounding crossroads of two major roads. Along with the Jagdtiger was a Tiger, a Panthers, two Panzer IVs and two Panzer IIIs, as well as about a platoon of infantry.

The Jagdtiger rolled into the square, but, at about the center of the square, the vehicle suffered an engine failure. The commander of the German tank destroyer ordered one the co-driver to exit the vehicle and take a look at the engine. The crewman climbed on the back of the German war machine and opened one of the panels covering the engine. As he looked down into the engine, everything went black.

The co-driver never knew that a sniper round round had impacted the back of his head and come out the front, spraying a bloody mess that was his face seconds ago onto the engine of the stricken tank destroyer.

As soon as the sniper took the shot, Imperial infantry hiding the buildings on the south side of the square opened up, cutting down several Wehrmacht soldiers before the rest could get into cover. Down the main road to the south, an Imperial heavy tank advanced on the crippled Jagdtiger.

The tank destroyer was immobile, but it was still effectively a heavily armored bunker armed with a massive 128mm main gun. The Jagdtiger's cannon roared sending a shell through the frontal armor of the Imperial tank and into the rear shell storage. The tank was engulfed by an explosion which shook the ground and launched the turret into the air, landing about a dozen meters way.

Seconds later, however, the Jagdtiger met its fate- an Imperial solder on top of a building fired an anti-tank lance right into the still-exposed engine compartment. The fuel of the tank ignited and, seconds later, the ammunition exploded.

The 50mm gun of one of the Panzer IIIs retaliated, blowing away the upper front of the building the Imperial rocket gunner hid in as the German infantry exchanged fire with their Imperial counterparts. In the chaos, the church tower which hid the sniper was collapsed by 75mm shells from the Panther and Panzer IIIs, while an Imperial Light tank came in from a side street fired and struck a Panzer III on the side, destroying its German counterpart.

The Panzer III, however, was avenged by a Wehrmacht infantryman with a Panzershreck, which blew through the armor of the light Imperial vehicle effortlessly. In spite of the damage the Wehrmacht dealt, eventually, the Imperials, with their defensive positions managed to flank the Germans and knock out the second Panzer III and the Panther. The loss of half their armored support forced the infantry platoon into retreat... but that would be but the first German attack on the city. The Nazis would be back with more tanks and more men....

Day 4, Central town square

As usual, General Rienhard Jager insisted on leading from the front, at the command of his King Tiger tank. Yesterday, the Wehrmacht had met defeat at the hands of the Imperial forces holding the square.

Today would be different. After bombarding the city with artillery fire over night, Eglise de St. Jean Baptiste even more ruined then before. Furthermore, the Wehrmacht armor had encircled the city and was closing from all directions.

Jager barked orders to his gunner, who fired the 88mm main gun of the King Tiger, knocking out an Imperial heavy tank guarding the northern approach to the central square of the town.

A Panzer III rolled in beside him, only to be struck by an Imperial anti-tank lance fired from a two-story structure across the square. The Imperial soldier, however, had revealed his position when he fired.

The loader in Jager's tank loaded a high-explosive shell into the 88mm gun and fired, blowing away the frontal facade of the building and gutting the upper floor. A Jagdtiger, which had just rolled into the square, fired at a half-wrecked storefront which hid an Imperial infantry position. As more Panzers rolled into the square, their firepower blew apart the already heavily damaged buildings in the town square.

Several row houses bore the brunt of multiple 88mm and 75mm shells, and collapsed completely, sealing the fate of the Imperial infantry taking cover with. With most of the Imperial machine gun and anti-tank lance positions suppressed by tank and Panzershreck fire, Jager ordered his tanks forward, with the infantry advanced behind them, the tanks providing mobile cover and suppressing fire from their machine guns.

The infantry climbed over the rubble, rifles and MP40s in hand, and eliminated the Imperial soldiers that survived the tank shells. A few Imperials tried to resist, but were quickly overwhelmed by the superior numbers and firepower of the Germans.

"Brave, admirable, but futile", Jager thought.

Soon, the few battered Imperial survivors came up with their hands raised in surrender. A platoon of infantry were tasked with escorting the prisoners to the rear area.

Later that day, South square of town

The last remnants of the Imperial Army stood defiantly even with their backs against the wall of a block of two to three-story row houses. In the ruins of destroyed buildings or covered by makeshift walls of debris, Imperial tanks and machine guns blazed even as the Wehrmacht advanced in from the south.

Now, however, with the new that their comrades in the north square had fallen in battle, they were now divided between defending the block from the north and south.

The King Tiger tank commanded by General Jager was once again at the spearhead. At the moment, the vehicle had turned its turret down a back alleyway which provided a shot at the rear of an Imperial Heavy tank.

The 88 roar, and the shell impacted the rear magazine for the heavy mortar mounted to the rear of the tank. The Imperial heavy went up in a ball of flames, the blast collapsing the wall behind it.

Ahead of Jager, a Tiger tank plowed through the wall of a building, emerging on the other side... only to erupt into flames. In the middle of square was a Lupus Regnum tank with radio equipment marking it as a command vehicle.

"Focus fire on the command vehicle", Jager ordered through the radio as the Lupus scored another kill, knocking out a King Tiger. In doing so, however, the Lupus had turned its gun away from Jager's tank.

"That was your last mistake", Jager said as the 88 fired, striking the side armor of the Lupus with an armor piercing shell. The shell detonated the reserve ammo in the Imperial tanks, blowing the turret clean off.

The Imperial Army kept fighting in increasingly small pockets of resistance for the next two days, however, without their commander, their attacks became increasingly desperate and unorganized.

By the end of the Sixth day of battle, the last Imperial holdouts had surrendered to the Wehrmacht.

WINNER: Wehrmacht

Expert's Opinion
The Germans were able to defeat the Imperials because of a combination of greater combat experience, superior armor and weapons, as well as better overall leadership. One fatal flaw in armored warfare was the lack of a turret capable of rotating full 360 degrees on most Imperial tanks.

To see the original battle, weapons, and votes, click here.