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1917-August-16
''Due to multiple acts against German authority, in addition to attacks against the stability of the Ruthenian State, parliament is hereby dissolved and all representatives of said organization are placed under arrest for sedition'' I said through the megaphone while men from the Baltic Duchy and members of the Eighth Army surrounded the Minsk Rada.
Meanwhile, civilians began to scatter before the movement of armored vehicles and troops.
This was the perfect moment for a training exercise of the duchy's special forces, where I had brought almost all the future commandos for an exercise in positioning and civil occupation.
The situation in White Ruthenia with the Social Democratic Rada continued with its intention of expropriating without compensation to win the votes of the popular classes, and the nobles were not giving in, since they had armed militias with old weapons and revolvers they had probably managed to obtain from some police station, along with weapons they had not handed over when the massive confiscations of military equipment were carried out.
So it was time to intervene. The system of self-determination that had been left in place for the moment had failed, and we could no longer have such an unstable place, no matter how much Germany still had not chosen who would be king, since everything seemed to require endless discussion, and this was clearly harming the region because there was nobody to impose order in this place.
So it fell to me to be the figure who brought the stick down on the Ruthenians, since after dissolving parliament, we would have to hunt down the Ruthenian nobles who had armed militias with their peasants to oppose the government.
''All right, go in. Watch the flanks, but I do not think we will have to do much more. They did not expect us to act so quickly. Hell, I bet they did not even expect this to happen'' I said, looking at my men from the special forces.
Immediately, several troops entered the Rada and it did not take long before the political leaders began coming out with their hands raised and the barrel of a rifle against their backs.
For several minutes, the Rada was emptied of its occupants, removing all the politicians from the city.
''Well, this was easier than I expected it to be'' Ferdinand said, standing beside his men next to my armored vehicle while watching everything unfold.
''There was a lack of a firmer hand. This should not have come to pass. All that was missing was for you to make threats to stop this, that way we would not have to be arresting all these politicians'' I said, scratching my chin while remaining attentive, watching the work of emptying the parliament.
''Oh, believe me, I did, they simply did not care. They were determined that the only way to give stability to the country was to punish their nobles, expropriating everything from them and distributing their properties, since supposedly they could not build a country with a nobility that controlled almost everything. So my threats to dissolve the Rada fell on deaf ears, since they either did not care or thought they were a joke'' Ferdinand replied, turning his head to continue watching the operation.
''Well, here we are'' I said, stepping down from the armored vehicle while observing how hundreds of politicians came out of the Rada with their hands raised and forming lines.
I began walking through the place while watching how the troops continued guarding the streets and noticing how they began searching the buildings near the Rada to keep everything under control.
''Well, you group of idiots, you are officially removed from office. Your service to Germany has proven deficient, so your usefulness has ended. Therefore, while the problem you have created is resolved, the powers of the Rada will fall under the direct control of the occupation forces. So, if you would be so kind, begin walking to your cells'' I said, looking at the politicians. As soon as I finished, I turned toward Ferdinand.
''Now, send a message to Germany. Have a governor sent to these lands immediately. This matter of choosing a king cannot be delayed any longer. Let them choose someone or put in a damned military governor with all the powers necessary, but we cannot have this disorder. It is necessary for the harvest to fulfill its orders and be sent to the world to alleviate the hunger in Germany while the war continues consuming all resources'' I said while walking back to my vehicle as my men began pushing the politicians toward the city prisons.
''Do you want me to dress it up a little? This could look very bad if I send it exactly as you said it'' Ferdinand said while keeping pace with me.
''No. This is serious. This could easily have ended in a civil war between the government of Ruthenia and its nobles because neither wanted to reach a compromise. Besides, right now I am going to begin raising charges of sedition and treason against those nobles, since it is clear they have sabotaged this government's attempts to establish a stable State because, if these people managed to impose their policies, they would lose their control'' I said, opening the vehicle door while remaining there speaking with Ferdinand.
''All right… I understand. I will send the message to Germany, hoping this causes the eternal selection of a ruler to finally end. What do I do now in the meantime?'' Ferdinand said after giving the armor of the vehicle a few light taps.
''Manage the expropriations of land from the nobles known to have mobilized their militias to keep their lands, as well as those who refuse to hand over the harvest owed to the State as tax'' I said, lowering my head to enter the vehicle.
''Jawohl'' Ferdinand said.
I closed the vehicle door and it did not take us long to begin withdrawing from Minsk as quickly as we had arrived, since now came the most irritating task of hunting down the Ruthenian nobles.
Before leaving, I left orders for the men of the Eighth Army to hunt down the members of the Belarusian Socialist Hramada, who, although they were not members of the Rada, would surely be the ones to cause the most trouble once they learned they had been removed from power. They would not take long to create greater problems if their centers of power were not struck quickly.
So, with most of the duchy's special forces, we began moving toward the Ruthenian countryside. Moving by vehicle, we went house by house among the nobles to search for them and bring them to their courts, since with them we had to show a little more compassion. They could awaken certain reactions that nobody would like, such as an order arriving from Germany to stop this act because you had not given them a chance to defend themselves in court.
Normally I would be at the front, but considering that we had to fight a great deal and that this was the opportunity for my forces to gain their own combat experience and learn what it meant to stain their hands with someone else's blood after so much training, I simply dedicated myself to organizing and preparing the military actions.
Gathering information delivered to me by Abteilung IIIb about the nobles, where the cells of the noble militias were located and using the photographs taken by the spies, I created the plans the special forces were supposed to follow. Usually I moved through the area of operations in the armored vehicle, observing the advances and giving specific instructions to the military officers.
''There are shooters in the upper window of the building on the left. Have your men take positions by flanking from the right and use the hill in the area as a firing position to eliminate the rebels'' I said, looking at the officer of my army who was crouched down, taking cover behind a stone wall.
''And after that?'' he said, gripping his helmet while adjusting himself, still crouched.
''You provide cover for the group that will assault the position'' I replied while observing the area through the telescopic sight, changing magnification several times to keep watching the defenders of the noble we were attacking.
''Jawohl, Herr Oberst'' the officer said, and began moving quietly, using cover, taking his squad with him while following my orders.
''For fuck's sake, I need a damned shortwave radio. It is difficult to micromanage these attacks if anything that happens ruins the plan and I cannot be there to make the corrections'' I said while observing the movements of my men through the armored opening of the vehicle.
''But we still have the telegraph, Herr Oberst'' said the soldier driving the vehicle.
''Yes, but between the message being sent, the man who has to translate the signals doing his job, thinking of the response and sending the message back, several minutes have already passed. Not to mention that you need someone who knows how to communicate by telegraph and has to go to a specific place to send or receive the message. But a portable radio in some units would allow me to give specific orders in a short time. That is why I am trying to get some little genius who knows about wave transmission and engineering to make what I need'' I said, lowering the vehicle's periscope and beginning to observe through it while raising the vehicle's protection.
It was my main addition to the vehicle, since from inside it the vision was almost nonexistent because one could only see through small slits that only the driver had access to, but I had modified this vehicle so it would have a periscope with magnification and be as close as possible to observing outside with my telescopic sight.
I watched how the units coordinated, moving while taking advantage of cover, and it did not take long before I saw blood splashing across the windows and the rebel militiamen disappearing or falling from their firing positions.
After a short while, groups from the Eighth Army began moving as shock units, preparing to force their way into the noble mansion.
It did not take them long to approach through one of the areas controlled by the duchy's marksmen, and they arrived to throw grenades through the windows, the explosions being heard before they began entering the building, using the clearing tactics they had been trained in all this time to fight partisans.
Within minutes, armed subjects could be seen trying to flee, and they were quickly eliminated by our snipers, leaving them wounded or dead outside the mansion. A short while later, they brought out several men dressed in a rather elegant manner, dragging the noble of the area out of his home, followed by his family.
''Good, it seems this went well… let us go to the next point. I think the operation has not been launched yet, so hurry. Maybe we will arrive in time and can see if any modifications must be made to the plan I had prepared'' I said, showing the map to the driver, who nodded when he saw where we had to go.
Immediately, we moved to the area and began supervising the next strike.
This time it was something larger, since it was a great estate east of Minsk that had tens of thousands of peasants under its protection, and that was noticed immediately, since as soon as our presence was detected by the first strikes, the peasants began arming themselves while others simply fled.
There we noticed that many were taking up arms for the noble we had to capture.
I had to request help from more units, since I had not thought the local noble would have that level of support, and we had to surround the area while reinforcements from the Eighth Army and more special forces units arrived. A systematic siege began, where I had to give some orders to prevent crossfire within the encirclement we had created.
During the wait, two armored vehicles I had requested arrived, each with a machine gun welded onto the copilot's side and fitted with a periscopic sight, allowing them to fire and continue the siege against low-caliber ammunition.
Besides that, we focused on capturing the noble rather than simply killing armed peasants, who were not exactly a great danger either, since they barely knew how to shoot. But after several hours of operation, it ended with some of our men wounded, many peasants dead and the noble captured, who was sent to Minsk.
Without saying much more, we moved again, since operations like this were being carried out throughout the country and had to end as soon as possible before the nobles escaped us, trying to flee with their personal wealth and property titles.
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