Tyranny of Steel
chapter-1115

While Itami was in the act of visiting Little Kyoto so that she may speak with some of her exiled citizens, and help them overcome their difficulties. Shiba was facing a full scale rebellion in the southernmost region of the Japanese Mainland.

General Tsugaru Akihiko was currently in the act of leading a guerilla force composed of old veterans from the Imperial Japanese Army and the Japanese Imperial Guard. For the sake of food and medicine, he had taken up arms on behalf of Empress Itami Riyo in an attempt to overthrow the Shiba Shogunate and reclaim the throne for the exiled Empress.

Tsugaru kneeled in the middle of the woods, with a Panzerfaust 250 in his hands. He aimed down the top of the high explosive anti-tank missile as he waited for the Type 4 Chi-To medium tank, which was at the head of the Shogunate convoy to cross his path.

Five hundred meters became four hundred meters until finally the tank was effectively two hundred and fifty meters away from Tsugaru and his men. Yet, they did not open fire. Instead, they waited for the armored column to continue down the road until the final vehicle was within firing distance.

Once the rear tank crossed the two hundred and fifty meter mark, Tsugaru gave the command to attack. He quickly looked behind him to make sure nobody was within the range of his backblast before pulling the trigger on his Panzerfaust.

"Open fire!"

The roar of missiles echoed in the air as the explosive projectiles collided with their targets. Each of the one hundred men beneath Tsugaru's command was equipped with either a Panzerfaust or a Fliegerfaust, which they made use of to target the enemy armor, hoping to annihilate the Japanese troops embedded inside the APCs before they could deploy to counter attack.

Explosions rocked the strip of road where the Armored column was located, causing massive damage to all vehicles present. Immediately, the front and rear tanks were taken out of commission, while their crew scurried out from beneath the flaming wreckage.

These tankers were quickly gunned down by the semi-automatic rifles and light machine guns, which the Itami Loyalists wielded with excellent efficiency. As for the two dozen armored personnel carriers trapped in between the two flaming wreckages, most of them were struck by at least one HEAT missile. Which left the armored vehicles either wholly destroyed or incapable of operating any longer.

What remained of the Shogunate's infantry emerged from their destroyed vehicles and immediately began to open fire on the tree line, where Tsugaru and his men hid behind thick trees while engaging the enemy.

Despite the damage dealt to the Shogunate's armored column, the Itami Loyalists were still vastly outnumbered, not to mention there were still a few tanks and armored personnel carriers whose primary weapons were still functional. The moment the Type 4 tanks unleashed their 75mm guns onto the treeline, Tsugaru ordered his men to withdraw.

It was unknown how many had already perished during the attack, but judging by the numbers of bodies he saw on the ground, his men had at least killed twice as many Shogunate soldiers as they had altogether.

After reloading his rifle's magazine, Tsugaru fled further through the woods, seeking to shake off his pursuers. However, the enemy were like a swarm of angry bees as they chased after the Itami loyalists and wantonly fired their weapons into the woods.

As the pursuit continued, Tsugaru overheard the engines of planes in the sky, and knew that the Shiba Shogunate had deployed what remained of their air forces to intercept him and his men. Knowing that he could not outrun the DH.98 Mosquitos, Tsugaru accepted his fate and ordered his men to hunker down for a counter attack.

"Get behind some cover. We will make our last stand here!"

The men knew in this moment, their only hope was to repel the air attack with their fliegerfausts, and to stand their ground against the oncoming infantry. Thus, the riflemen and machine gunners took cover behind thick trees and rocks, while those with MANPADs aimed their weapons into the air, while preparing for the oncoming planes.

Bullets flew through the air, and the echoes of gunfire surrounded the woodlands. Where Tsugaru and his men made their last stand. With each passing second, the Itami Loyalists lost more men, but not without killing three or more of the enemy beforehand.

Finally, the bombs began to drop around them, as the mosquitos got in close. Without regard for their own safety, the anti-air soldiers aimed their fliegerfausts towards the sky, and fired a torrent of 20mm rocket propelled shells.

This was something that the Mosquito pilots were not expecting, and thus they were incapable of getting out of the way, as dozens of rocket propelled shells detonated across their planes. Because the Mosquitos were primarily made of wood, they were quickly ignited by the fliegerfaust's projectiles and crash landed into the mountainside.

However, despite killing the first wave of Mosquitos, the joy that the Itami Loyalists felt did not last long. Their position was rapidly being overrun by the soldiers of the Shogunate, and they were forced to withdraw further into the woods.

Before long, Tsugaru had run out of Ammo, which he cursed about the moment he realized this had occurred.

"Fuck fuck fuck, I'm out!"

Another voice resounded in the air, which Tsugaru recognized to be from one of his men, and then another, and another.

"Me too!"

"I'm dry!"

Things were looking grim for the Itami Loyalists, and just when they thought things couldn't get worse, a familiar sound echoed in the distance. The Shogunate had deployed another round of mosquitos, who were rapidly closing on their position.

Knowing that his death was near, Tsugaru took off his helmet, and pulled his Katana out of its sheath, prepared to fight to the bitter end. He kissed the cold steel blade before giving a command to the nearest radio operator.

"Send a message to the Luftwaffe, Broken Arrow..."

The radio operated did not hesitate to fulfill his orders, and quickly contacted the Luftwaffe, who were providing air support to the Itami Loyalists.

"We're being overrun, requesting air support! Broken Arrow on my coordinates!"

After saying this, the radio operator gave his coordinates, before sitting back against a large rock while watching the sky above, hoping for immediate air support. Finally, a voice erupted on the other end of the radio after several moments of static.

"We hear you loud and clear, Broken Arrow, ETA two minutes..."

As for the rest of Tsugaru's men, those who still had ammo continued to fire their weapons towards the pursuing enemies until they ran dry. Once they were finished, they equipped their bayonets or unsheathed their swords. Waiting for the close quarters combat to begin.

Just when the mosquitos were about to unleash another payload of bombs, the sound of jet engines resounded across the sky. In the lead of a wing of Ta 183/III fighters was one that was painted red, whose nose was checkered in black and white. This fighter immediately fired a missile towards the bombers, who they rapidly approached from behind. After this attack, the rest of the Jet Fighters followed suit.

Before the mosquitos could even react to the sudden arrival of the Luftwaffe, they were already detonated in the skies above the battlefield. Once the Shogunate's planes had been defeated, Hans looked down at the battlefield below, and grinned, before dropping a bomb from the bottom of his fighter.

The bomb fell from the sky and landed directly on top of the tree line where the Shogunate's infantry were advancing towards the Itami Loyalists. When it detonated, a wide streak of flames ignited towards the sky, as the screams of those affected resounded in the air.

Each fighter jet dropped their own napalm bombs on the enemy before flying back towards the nearest carrier. They had done their job, now all that was left was for these guerillas to finish off what remained of the enemy.

Tsugaru gazed in disbelief at the woods no more than a hundred meters in front of him, which were consumed by hellish flames. The sword in his hand fell from his grasp, as he himself dropped to his knees in astonishment. In a single attack, the Shogunate's forces had been nearly obliterated in the worst way possible.

Those who remained alive were currently suffering a fate worse than death. The fact that the Itami loyalists put these men out of their misery with their remaining bullets was truly a mercy. The battle was won, even if Tsugaru had lost nearly half of his men. And yet, for whatever reason, the guerilla general felt as if he was lying at the bottom of the abyss.