Chapter 974: The Battle of Devagiri

Emperor Asha was dragged through the ruins of Devagiri by his own soldiers. Everywhere he turned, an armored vehicle, supported by the combined might of Anangpur and German Infantry had broken through his meagre defenses, and unleashed a killing spree upon his people.

Still in disbelief by the sudden, rapid onslaught, Asha gazed towards his war elephants in hopes that they could break through these hunks of steel and tear through the enemy lines. However, as he witnessed one of his men sitting on the back of these beasts, unleash the might of his Gatling gun upon a single Panther Tank, his heart immediately imploded.

The .45-70 bullets barely even scratched the paint job of the Panther tank, which responded to the attack by shifting its turret in the direction of the war elephant, and unleash a 7.5cm high explosive shell onto the target.

The war elephant's massive body burst apart, like a beached whale, as it fell over onto the ground lifeless in a pool of its own blood and guts. The sight of which had thoroughly destroyed whatever morale the Bengal Army had left in their hearts.

Perhaps it was because copious quantities of methamphetamines fueled them, but the Anangpur soldiers rushed through the battlefield, completely unafraid of the Bengal Army's attacks, gunning down their enemies and running them through with bayonets. The zealous manner in which their Indian allies attacked the Bengals shocked even the German soldiers.

As for the German infantry who had deployed from the interior of the IFVs, they were standing behind cover, and aiming their automatic rifles down upon the enemy, providing support to the Anangpur troops who boldly charged forward without a slightest care in the world.

It took all of five minutes for the Bengal Army's front lines to break, causing a massive upheaval of tens of thousands of troops who fled through the ruined city's various districts as if the grim reaper himself was chasing after them.

No matter what the enemy attempted, they could not damage the steel behemoths, which boldly pushed through the city's streets, using their twin mg-27 belt fed machine guns to gun down any hostile infantry who entered their vicinity.

The Bengal troops hid behind barricades, and attempted to fire their lever action rifles at the tanks, but to no avail. No matter how many bullets they fired at the heavily armored vehicles, they could not even dent them.

The Panther tanks protected the less armored Marder IFVs, whose main armament was a 20mm auto-cannon which fired fiercely upon the Bengal troops, shredding through their cover, and claiming their lives without mercy.

As the second line of defense crumbled even quicker than the first, Asha had practically fainted from shock. His men continued to drag him further, and further into the interior of the city, trying to avoid the enemy armor as best as possible.

In the end, the Bengal Emperor regrouped at the very rear of his formation, where the horses were located. One of the man's highest ranking generals approached him and asked just what the hell was going on. Being so far removed from the front lines, he did not even know the horrors which his troops were currently facing..

"Your Majesty, what is happening? Why are so many men fleeing towards the rear of our defenses?"

Asha had barely managed to recover his senses and was exhausted from the long sprint. He panted heavily, as if trying to recover his wits when responding in a relatively incoherent manner.

"No chance... We must retreat!"

The General was stunned to hear this, and did not entirely understand the circumstances that they were facing. He shook his Emperor with an intent to wake the man out of his crazed stupor, but the looks on the faces of the soldiers who had brought the man this far into the rear lines told him everything he needed to know. Something extraordinary had occurred, and the chances of the Bengal Army emerging victorious had dropped significantly.

The Bengal Emperor was in no condition to give orders, and thus, the General looked towards the nearest high-ranking officer who had seen the front lines. The man was ghostly pale, having witnessed the steel behemoths tear their war elephants apart as if they were made of butter. When he heard the General's shrill voice, he nearly shat himself in fear.

"Just what the hell is going on up there?"

After taking a moment to calm himself, the officer was quick to report what he had seen.

"I don't know. I've never seen anything like it. The Anangpur Army has advanced into the city, supported by some kind of massive steel beasts. These vehicles are completely impervious to our weapons, and can tear apart a war elephant with a single shot.

Most damning of all is the fact that no matter how much we fire upon the enemy infantry, they continue to advance forward, as if their wounds do not harm them in the slightest. It is utter madness. The Emperor is right; we have no chance of victory. We must withdraw from the city!"

The sound of gunfire, explosions, and the screams of dying men filled the air. So much so that they completely drowned out the noise of the tanks' engines. However, one thing was certain: with each second the Bengals spent arguing about what to do, their enemies gained more ground.

Bloodied and battered men rushed through the city, and towards the rear lines, only resting when they felt that they had gained safety in numbers. Many of them refused to believe that if they joined hands and fired upon the steel beasts all at once, that the enemy would remain unharmed.

However, Asha knew better. Whatever the Anangpur Army had used to attack them, it was not something they could face. Perhaps not even the Japanese, with all their advanced weapons, could resist such overwhelming might.

There was only one power in this world that the Bengal Emperor was aware of that could possibly create such machines of death. The German Empire had interfered in his conquests, but why they had done so, he did not know.

If Asha knew that Germany had a dozen armored and mechanized divisions at their disposal, similar to the one that was assaulting them right now, he might just jump onto his own sword. But he did not know this, and instead made the assumption that Germany had deployed its full might into the region.

However, one thing was certain: against such overwhelming might, their defenses would not last for much longer. It was impossible to know just how many men he had lost in this brief assault, but it was surely within the thousands, if not the tens of thousands.

With a hysteric voice, the Anangpur Empire cried out to all his soldiers, the command that would see the undoing of his army.

"Flee! Flee for your lives!"

After saying this, the man struggled to his feet, and grabbed the nearest horse, where he was quick to mount it, and ride off away from the battlefield. His cowardly actions had happened so suddenly, that his soldiers stood there in shock for several moments in awkward silence, before finally realizing that their Emperor had completely abandoned them to save his own skin.

After coming to this conclusion, the men who had witnessed this dropped their weapons and fled from the city. As for the thousands of poor souls who were holding onto their positions with everything they had, they were completely unaware that the bulk of their remaining forces had abandoned them. As a result, they were soon encircled by the combined might of the German and Anangpur Armies, and were thoroughly massacred.

The Battle of Devagiri would go down in history as an absolutely masterful display of the German Empire's brilliant means of adapting to their latest weapons with the most effective tactics. By the time Berengar returned home from his visit to the Black Forest, he would be met with news of the Bengal Army's total collapse.