How exactly did Bruno find himself in this situation, despite holding the rank of Generalmajor? Well, if he had to reflect on his actions that led to this point. He would say that he made an error when calculating human nature versus the societal conditioning.
For years in his past life, he had learned that the Empire of Japan and its soldiers were fanatically loyal to their Emperor, so much so that they were willing to charge through machine gun fire with swords in hands in order to achieve victory.
And while that may be true for the individual soldiers that are composed of the Army. The same level of zeal and bravery evidently could not be found in the Japanese leadership who were not compelled by Bruno’s challenge and instead used him as a scapegoat to mask their repeated failures.
There was just one problem with this scheme…. Bruno emerged victorious in his charge up 203 Meter Hill and somehow managed to survive the conflict completely unscathed. Currently Bruno was standing within a trench line, having secured the entire hill, he was covered in blood. Just as the blade of his bayonet was.
But it was not his blood. No, it was the blood of the many Russians he had killed, either by shooting them in close quarters, or by stabbing them through their vitals with his bayonet. In fact, Bruno wasn’t just covered in blood, but mud as well.
After all, trench warfare was incredibly dirty business, and he had slipped and fallen on his ass during one of his melee encounters. How he managed to survive, well perhaps the Lord God almighty really existed and had sent a guardian angel to protect him.
Even now Bruno struggled to comprehend how he managed to escape from a dangerous position, and instead kill the man who had tried to take his life. Heinrich and Erich had boldly followed Bruno into the field. They were no doubt pissed at the man for so recklessly charging through machine gun fire.
But even so, they followed after him, and survived somehow or another. Albeit, they weren’t nearly as lucky as Bruno was. Heinrich had a glancing blow from a bayonet to his forearm. While Erich had been shot in the calf by a Nagant Revolver.
Neither of which was anything more than flesh wounds. Which were currently being treated by the Japanese medics, along with all the others who had been wounded in the fighting. At the same time, the two men were speaking to Bruno. What exactly they were saying, Bruno didn’t know. He was, after all out of sorts, so to speak.
Instead, after his focus shifted from the sea of corpses which laid lifeless in the trenches to that of his subordinates, Bruno could finally hear what they were saying.
“As we speak the 11 pound guns are being moved up the hill into position to attack the Russian Fleet. Despite losing this battle, the Russians have made no attempts to move their ships.
No doubt afraid of trying to break through the Japanese Blockade. Within the hour, we can expect the Russian Fleet to be lying at the bottom of the harbor. As crazy as this day has been, I think we just won the war….”
Heinrich wasn’t exactly wrong with this assessment of the situation. Without Port Arthur, and the Russian Fleet within it, the Russian Army would be forced to withdraw, where if all went as planned, their army would be surrounded and eliminated at Mukden.
In his past life, this was the bloodiest battle of the war, and was the largest land battle of the early 20th century prior to the outbreak of the Great War in 1914. But Bruno planned to mitigate casualties on the Japanese side, while ensuring the entire force of 292,000 Russians was wiped out to the last man. Forcing the Tsar to surrender much earlier than expected.
It was not until the artillery was in position and fired on the ships in the harbor where Bruno’s mind fully reconnected to reality. As exhausted as he was after doing something so suicidal. Bruno’s lips curled into a malevolent smirk as he turned and faced his subordinates.
His back was faced with the destruction being wrought in Port Arthur below, all while he made a bold announcement.
“You are indeed correct, Heinrich. Today marks the beginning of the end of the war. By now, the Russians will have learned of their defeat here. Their reaction, no doubt will be to pull the relief force which is marching this way back to Mukden. Where we shall follow them, encircle them, and decimate them in a single decisive battle.
For now, however, we should return to those bastards who sent us here to die. I am quite certain they will have to rethink how to deal with us after the victory we have achieved on this day…”
Bruno did not wait for either of his friends to follow him. He simply walked off down the hills. He had led an army up and towards the Japanese Generals who waited in the siege camp below.
The Japanese Generals were astonished. Bruno had successfully led the Third Army in an assault on 203 Meter Hill. Gaining control of the highest vantage point above Port Arthur, and using it to sink the Russian Fleet in Asia.
It was a major victory for the Japanese in this war, one that, if handled correctly could very well end the war much earlier than expected. In addition to this, none of them had the right to claim credit for this victory. As they had tasked Bruno with leading the third army, expecting him to fail spectacularly and perhaps even die in the process.
In doing so they planned to blame their repeated failures on him. However, with this victory, everything they had done would certainly come to light. Bruno would be rewarded for his efforts by the Emperor, despite being a foreigner. Meanwhile, the Generals who had been in charge of the siege up until this point would be thoroughly reprimanded for their failures.
It was an almost unbelievable situation to be in. And this disbelief was even more compounded when Bruno entered the military camp, covered in blood and mud, all the while the Japanese soldiers saluted him and voiced their utmost respect.
Bruno had earned the respect of the men he commanded into battle. It was, after all not every day that a general led his own troops into battle. Let alone a foreign general who was tasked with leading them.
Even so, Bruno had claimed a body count of well over two dozen in this battle. And the Japanese soldiers respected him not only as a commander, but as a warrior as well. By now, the officers beneath the Japanese general command had already reported the situation back to the Japanese mainland.
And because of this, the Japanese generals could not try to hide what really happened here on this day. As for Bruno, he approached the Japanese generals, seemingly without any indignation towards them. As he saluted the men and reported his success.
“Victory is ours. Today, September 1st 1904, Port Arthur has fallen. If I may be so bold, now is not the time to celebrate. Rather, we should gather all our forces in the region and march on Mukden where the Russian relief army is no doubt falling back to at this moment.
If we defeat the Russians at Mukden, the Tsar will be forced to surrender. And the war will officially be over. Now, would you gentlemen like the pleasure of properly leading your forces, or are you going to insist that I, your foreign advisor do so again?”
The Japanese generals looked at each other and instantly began clamoring amongst themselves for the right to lead their forces at Mukden. As for Bruno, he began making the proper preparations on behalf of whoever ended up in charge.
He did not know it yet, but the Japanese Emperor would have the battle of 203 Meter Hill properly investigated. And upon finding out that the rumors were true, that the German Military Advisor had taken command of the Third Army and led them to victory at Port Arthur, would reward Bruno with one of the highest honors the Emperor of Japan could bestow
upon military officers, whether domestic or foreign.
But that was a story for another time. For the rest of the evening, after making his preparations Bruno spent it properly cleaning himself up. After all, it was not exactly befitting of a German General to be covered in mud and blood.
Because of this, he would have a long and silent time to reflect on what happened today, and how in the future he could prevent such another dangerous scenario from occurring. Either way, Bruno had tasted real trench warfare. And though it might not be the same as what existed during the Great War.
His experience at 203 Meter Hill would stick with him for the rest of his life. No doubt, the next generation would have an extremely difficult time engaging in such battles across the
Western Front.
But that was not his concern as by then he would likely have risen to the highest rank in the German Army and would never need to personally step foot in the Trenches. Or so he hoped.