Tyranny of Steel

In less than three months, the Borneo theatre had collapsed around the Japanese. Currently, the Imperial Japanese Army was trapped in the bay of Brunei with no way out. Since the Kriegsmarine had begun patrolling the South China Sea, there had been no opportunity for the Imperial Japanese Navy to rescue their soldiers from certain death.

After fighting bitterly to the last man in every battle so far, what remained of the Japanese forces in the region had completely fallen back to the last available territory they could occupy. They had fortified the bay of Brunei in every conceivable position, watching and waiting for the German-Majapahit coalition's attack. 

Captain Herman von Habsburg sat on top of a Panther tank with his rifle in hand. He, along with his entire squad, would be riding these machines of war to the edge of the battlefield, where they would then deploy alongside their Majapahit allies to assault the enemy's position. 

This was the final battle in the Bornean theatre, and for the last three days, the Kriegsmarine along with the Luftwaffe had bombarded the coast of Brunei with everything they had. Despite this, Herman was quite convinced that the Japanese defenses were, in fact, well intact, and thus he was expecting a bloody battle to unfold. 

Just as he was prepared to say his prayers, the roar of the Panther's engine echoed in the air as the tank's crewmen activated the machine. With this, Herman and his men would be deploying to the front lines of war.  Not long after, the Armored Division reached the edges of the battlefield where German and Majapahit soldiers deployed from the tops of thanks, and the interiors of infantry fighting vehicles. 

While the German armor bulldozed through the Japanese defenses without the slightest hesitation, the infantry stayed back and opened fire on the enemy soldiers. Herman hid behind the cover of sandbags as he fired his assault rifle down range and towards the Japanese defenses. 

He aligned the rear and front sights with one another, onto the torso of a Japanese rifleman, who fired wildly towards the coalition forces. It was immediately apparent that the man was a conscript who had been rushed into service, as his shots widely missed anything they were remotely aimed towards. If they had been properly aimed at all.

With the squeeze of the trigger, a single shot flew down range, and into the man's chest, as it tore through his insides, and buried itself in the soldier's heart. Because the Germans were not facing enemies with body armor, they had been issued ammunition that would have been banned in the use of war during Berengar's past life. 

Hollow-point bullets were designed to pierce the flesh, and expand rapidly upon impact, creating a much larger body cavity. They were especially deadly to soft targets. However, the one fault with these rounds was the shape of the bullet, which was lacking in precision at longer ranges. 

As a result, the German army had manufactured 8x57mm ammunition and 8x33mm ammunition with polymer tips that gave the bullet the proper Spitzer shape, which allowed it to excel at long ranges. While still having the same performance as a standard hollow point round once it had penetrated the flesh of its target. 

In Berengar's past life, these projectiles were used primarily in hunting, as hollow points of any kind were prohibited in combat by international rules of war. However, in this world, the only rules regarding warfare were designed by Berengar to protect civilians and prisoners of war. Despite this, he had explicitly insured that no prohibitions were made on the types of weapons and munitions that were permitted in combat. Thus, these specialty hollow-point munitions were fair game. 

After firing a single shot into the chest of the Japanese soldier, Herman aimed down his sights, and fired a controlled burst towards another target, at least two of the four bullets hit their mark, as the man howled in pain and fell to the floor, if he was not dead already than he would be soon. 

Herman continued to fire his shots, as did the men of his company, as well as their Majapahit allies. After using up one magazine, Herman hit the release on his rifle and swiftly swapped out the magazine for a fresh one, where he pulled back on the charging handle and released it just as he was aiming down his sights at another target. 

By now, the German armor had broken through Brunei's defenses, and had paved a way for Herman and his men to advance forward, thus with the blow of a whistle, he signalled to all his troops to charge the enemy defenses. Which he led by example. 

Holding his assault rifle in his hands, Herman rushed through rifle and machine gun fire alike as he charged towards the gap in the enemy's defences. Once inside he aimed down the bore of his weapon and fired a shot into the bodies of the enemy at extremely close range.

The selective fire capability of the Germans' weapons proved themselves invaluable in close quarters combat, as they just needed to point the muzzle of their weapon towards the torsos of the enemy and hold down the trigger. 

This could not be said for the Japanese who were primarily armed with long, semiautomatic rifles. Which could only fire as fast as one could pull the trigger. In fact, the confusion between automatic and semi-automatic function had led to some seriously stupid government restrictions on a wide variety of firearms and accessories within certain states of America during Berengar's past life. 

Without mercy, Herman and his unit rushed through the fray, and fired controlled bursts towards the torsos of the enemy, who tried their best to stem the rising tide of German and Majapahit soldiers who charged through the gaps in their defences. 

Try as they might, the firepower in the hands of the Germans, as well as the overwhelming number of Majapahit soldiers, had quickly overrun the Japanese defences, forcing them further and further back towards the coastline, until finally they had nowhere left to run.

The last remaining Japanese soldiers, realizing their imminent deaths, had chosen to fix their bayonets and charge at the coalition forces in one last attempt to kill the enemy. Unfortunately for them, they were completely surrounded by armor and infantry alike, who unloaded their weapons onto the Japanese troops without a single hint of mercy. 

Ask for no mercy and expect none. That was the motto that the Imperial Japanese Soldiers were drilled with by their officers, who were mostly Samurai from an era now passed. The Japanese Army did not even think to surrender, instead they died with swords and rifles in hand, with their honor intact. 

With this victory, the battle for Borneo was finally completed. With the aid of their German Allies, the Royal Majapahit Army had reclaimed the island for their Empire, and annihilated the last remnant of their enemy who had dared to invade in the first place. 

Though Itami would grieve the loss of her soldiers, and lament the fact that she could not evacuate them from the island, ultimately she would double her efforts to remain in control of the southern half of the Joseon Peninsula, while reinforcing her position in the Philippines which she was certain would be the next area to be invaded by her enemies. 

---

If you enjoy the novel and want to support my work, please consider donating at https://ko-fi.com/zentmeister