17 Chapter 17: The Western Campaign

Lequan Boulouard Memories:

May 10, 1940: We did it. The war has been won, at least we believe it. We will easily defeat the Germans. We created a Maginot line on the border with Germany, where we made a fortress there. Can this be our victory against the Germans? Nothing happened to us all day.

May 11, 1940: We were mistaken. They were coming as a north when a man from our battalion woke up screaming. We were the last obstacle before the Germans conquered Paris. Yesterday, the Germans quickly attacked Luxenburg, the Netherlands and Belgium at the same time. We were the ones who could stop them. "Colonel Lieutenant Boulouard! We expect their orders," my driver said. "Get ready! Loads the ACPT hard bullets! We're leaving!" The second officer ran off. I dressed up, looked at the little gold chain, which was a black and white picture of my fiancée, for the last time. I didn't want this war. We didn't want to get married this year. How I miss her. I fight for them. I don't want her to die in my arms. I will return to you Stéphanié Lounard. Her beaming smile as I missed it. It can disappear forever. I kissed the picture before I got dressed and went out safely. My Ascension Command began when I called my crew of three. They laughed, talked to each other. "We are ready to go," said one of the men. "Attention," I ordered when they stood still. I looked her in the eye. "The enemy is getting closer and wants to take Paris. We have to protect it at all costs!" I said stubbornly. Her eyes looked at me hopelessly. I knew what I could say. "Entrez!" I also ordered, quickly getting into the tank. The second officer in front. The other two at the back of the ammunition. I was in control of the bullet. Above me, a weapon was mounted inclusively that was ready. We drove through as a bunch of Matildas. The English, how proud they were to drive such a magnificent piece. And we? We had the outdated B1 models. Not only was the Matildas' visibility better, but the reload time didn't last long. Opposite, our tank was a useless one. We stood side by side on the battlefield. I looked at where I came in front of us 220 meters the very first leopard. We shot one after the other. Again and again I heard the bursting of the towers. One Matilda and others the French battalion failed until the Matilda stood next to us. She was on fire, and she burst like the others. Only then did the others come after. Not only were the leopards fast, but they fired each shot so precisely that it was easy to kill a hundred bears with a charge. We were history. "No, it can't be," I said to myself. We couldn't go back because our chains were destroyed. We were alone. I still shot down all the last ammunition. "Second officer?" I asked. He could go back, but instead, he was killed by one or two shots. He lay dead. I got angry: "Bullets," I ordered the two men behind me. I looked behind me that one had a lot of blood and the other was unconscious, but by that. I cannot accept defeat. I was the only one who was still alive. Luckily, there was still a gun above that I could shoot with. I went outside where I started shooting. I could still see when suddenly a Pz. IV D came. He shot twice. The first time I slipped backwards. The second shot hit us again, with a leopard coming in from the left.

He rammed us. I hurt my hip. I could barely feel my left leg. I will fight to the last breath. I couldn't reach my gun. I pulled myself up with difficulty being able to run. I was running to the gun when someone behind me fired a shot. It was a pistol. The shot pierced through my leg. I heard a German voice speaking something. War is hate. You kill someone without knowing if that family or a lover had. I looked back hated at this person who was shooting. "Well, don't worry," he asked me in German. "Je ne m'agenouille jamais devant toi, Cochin. (*I will never kneel before you, you pig!)» I spit down on his shoe. I didn't know if he would understand. He looked backwards for a moment. He spoke again to someone I couldn't see. He grabbed me up, putting his finger in my open wound. It hurt hell, but I laughed. I didn't know why or how. "Why are you laughing," he asked me further in German. He hit me over the head, which I didn't know what it was.

The next time I woke up, I was in a hospital. A nurse dressed in white and with a red cross on her shirt and forehead cap brought me to this idea of where I was. In France? She looked at me. "Where am I?" I asked in French. "In Paris," she told me. "Won?" I asked her. "No, lost. Only you survive," she looked at me with red eyes in her face. "What a date we have today," I continued. Unsure, she said. May 15, 1940. France capitulated. I looked at her. I couldn't move. She kept looking at me, waiting for my reaction. I wanted to get up, but I couldn't. I was in handcuffs. I got angry again, fidgeting around. "Where is the pig? I'm going to kill you. I swear! I'm going to do it!" I screamed. The nurse howled, holding her hand in front of her mouth. She walked a few steps back when a doctor came back and gave me something. Was it opium? Suddenly I was sleepy.

May 15, 1940: The next time I opened my eyes, it was night. I saw the same nurse who had seen the stars at the window. "Excuse me?" I interrupted her. She turned around where I could see her beautiful face. She quickly became unsettled and apologized. She wanted to leave because she was embarrassed. "Are the stars in heaven beautiful?" I asked. I needed someone to talk to. She was, like me, a Frenchwoman and not an enemy, as on the battlefield. I also knew that women were good listeners. They were better than men, I knew this from my fiancénathélié. "Yes, there they are," she replied to me, turning to it. I asked her if I could like it. She was amazed why I would ask her. "I'm not allowed. I am afraid of the Germans if I should free them." "They should not free me, they should just push me to the window so that I can also look at the stars." She looked at me and thought until she agreed. Slowly she pushed my bed forward. I looked up into the sky at the window where she was sitting next to me as she broke down in tears. It hurt me when I saw a woman who was suffering. "What's going on?" I asked her with a gentle vote. "I remember my brother who died in the war. When we were children, we watched the starry sky together every night." I was comforted, but my arms are still in handcuffs, which makes me really angry. I also told her that most of my family probably died. Lequan had a house on the border with Germany.

In this lived my family, which consisted of a brother, father, mother as well as the grandparents. My father and brother belonged to the first battalion, which as a member belonged to an armored division. She looked at him, her eyes red. No one could disturb that night. They looked at each other. They later laughed together as they talked to each other about their fond memories. They cried together as they talked about feelings she had to endure. They felt timeless, as if time didn't exist. It was just before three when she looked at her watch. She had to go. She pushed the bed backwards, so I asked why she did it. "I have to go," she said. She ran to the door where I could ask her another question. "What is your name?" She looked back: "Stéphanie Lounard." It was dark. He was alone in the room and had to think about her all the time until he fell asleep.

May 16, 1940: "Heil Hitler", someone shouted from the door. The shouting made me wake up. I looked exhausted at the officer who was in front of me. A black cross had, which means that he comes from Germany. "What do they want?" I asked annoyed. He had blond hair, blue eye and an elongated face. He held keys in his hands, with which he opened my handcuffs. "Who are they?" I wanted to know. "I am commander Phillipp Wolfsburg and you are now working for the Bundeswehr." I looked confused: "For the Bundeswehr?" "Either that or they go to the Auschwitz concentration camp. I had no choice. My fiancée was waiting for him. So I got up and asked what he was going to do. "They will fight with me against the rest of the French." To fight against his own people. He got up and together they went outside, where a German tank stood. "You've never seen a tank like this?" I shook my head. I've never actually seen anything like it. Then he introduced: "This is Leopard, who fires three shots within five seconds of charging time. It is flexible and fast. Get in!"" I climbed and got in. He, too, stepped in. "You are responsible for loading the cannons. Normally we need three to four men for this tank," he told me. "Why me?" I asked him. "You French are all the same. You eat your croissants and don't do anything. You would be a waste if we didn't have a commander known for tactical action in our hands." I sat in the back until he told me to control the tank. I went forward where I did what he asked for. "Go somewhere you want to go," he told me. There was an idea in my mind. I drove off. After a quarter of an hour, I stopped in front of an apartment. That was Nathélié's apartment. "What are we doing here?" "Be quick." I got out and ran into one of the colorful apartments. I came inside at the door. "Nathélié," I said as I entered. No one contacted me. I was walking through the whole apartment when I was standing in front of a closed door. I heard something from inside. I opened the door. Inside I saw her bed and there she was when I was icy. She was naked in bed and beside her, under the blanket was someone who came out right away. Was he an officer or just a soldier. He looked dangerous. She paused when she got up. "Lequan!" I said to her. She approached me, but I didn't. I wanted to get away from her. I didn't know her anymore. It seemed surreal. I turned around running away, through the whole house, until she held me by the hand. I looked at her. "I'm sorry! I didn't know you were still alive," she told me. My heart was broken, what did I deserve. Cheated by her own fiancé, who didn't know I was going to survive. "Whether I'm still alive? If I was dead, you would have married him." "It's not the way you think. I'm sorry!"" "What else?" I asked angrily. "No? Then I go," I ripped my hand away from her, and she just said to me, "What do you want to hear? What am I supposed to do, that you forget it." My last glances wandered towards her. "I will cancel the engagement and will never see you again." She fell to the ground when she started crying. I didn't care what happened to her. I was angry with her. I ran back to Philip in the tank. "Difficult times," he looked at me. "I know only one thing." He went downstairs so I could sit on the gun. I was surprised. We stopped in front of a pub. "Nothing better than drinking," he said proudly. We went to the pub, where the Germans gathered. They looked at me weirdly. Because I wasn't wearing a uniform? I was unsettled, because this could be my death. I sat at a round table with Phillip. It wasn't long before we got company. A group of Germans came to us. "Let yourself be intoxicated while I'm away. I pay," he told me. He left and I was left alone. The waitress came to me and asked what I wanted to take. "Beer and put the bill on him," I pointed the finger. She didn't ask any more, but got a big beer. I got drunk, took my time. One glass after another. I left the time. The boys there sang and danced. I lost control and could barely think. Eventually I decided to leave the pub. It was bad for me, so I went outside. I was on the floor. I walked a few steps further where I fell to the ground. All I saw was black shoes standing in front of me. And then I closed my eyes.

May 17, 1940: I woke up in a bed. I didn't know where. I looked around where I heard a gig. That came behind the door, which was still open. They were girls looking in. I could hear loud steps approaching. The girls ran away, and they continued to giggle. A woman came in. On closer inspection I saw Stéphanie. I looked at her in amazement, holding a tablet in her hand. On this was eating. She put it in front of me as I was sitting. Soup, salad and bread were on it. How I was hungry. She was sitting next to me. After the first sip, I saw again the children who looked at me. "Il a un l'allmand?" asked a girl's voice. "Je pense," said a boy. The girl asks again in French if I will kill her, where I then swallow. I held my neck. Stéphanie looked at me all the time. She patted me on the back while coughing. She got up and went to the door, which she locked. She apologized. "Were these your children." "These were orphans whose parents will die or die for France." I looked at her oppressed and she looked at me. But then she asked me how I was doing. "Good." "We saw you on our street at three o'clock in the morning. Knowing you, I brought you to me.» I was amazed. "How much watch do we have now?" "Half five." So I slept almost all day. "What are you doing in a pub?" she asked me. "I belong to the German occupation." "Why?" she looked at me in horror. "Either the concentration camp or the concentration camp." She looked at me because she probably understood how I felt. "I want there to be another world where I can live in peace." "There's something like that," she says. For a while it was quiet before I laughed: "as if." I kept assing. She looked at me: "And now? What are you doing now?"» I swallowed the chewing down. "I go to war and fight against the Allies or the Russians. If I die, stop. Everyone has to die at some point," I said pessimistically. She looked at me sadly. I was done with the food, so I took the tablet and put it next to me. I got up and had the same clothes from yesterday. My French blue uniform, did not stand badly to me. Stéphanie ran in front of me as I ran after me holding the tablet in my hands. In the kitchen I stood. I opened the faucet, for which I cleaned the tablet with the plate. It doesn't take long. I turned around and told her I was going to leave. She then gave me a kiss.

May 18th, 1940

"Die Briten kommen! Aufstehen! Aufstehen!" someone shouted early in the morning. Disorientated I got up, dressed, without having breakfast or brushing my teeth, everyone, including me, ran to the tanks. Phillipp, of course, came after him. Another crew member stood by us. An officer stood in front of us, who only told us that we were needed on the West Coast. You can see the English and the Americans who come to us in ships. His order was to go there. We got in, of course in front. The unknown man was at the ammunition. Phillipp also sat in his usual place. We drove off and followed our colleagues. On the way, it was quiet. Suddenly Phillipp began to speak: "How I would like to fight against the British and Americans in the open." The unknown man laughed. I stayed still and didn't understand what was so funny about it. It got serious again when Phillipp asked me for a favor. He wanted me to kill myself when he dies. I should promise it, which I did. Through the hatch that was open in front of me, I saw fliers and soldiers in the sky, which for me meant that we almost arrived on the west coast. It didn't take long, and I look to heaven again. Something bright came up to us. Phillip could see it, too, but he too was unsettled. I gasped, but then the rocket hit the ground behind us. What an explosion. We were on fire and on fire. Worst of all, we had high-explosive cartridges. I stopped because there was nothing we could do. "Get out!" I screamed. Through the front hatch I was able to free myself. Phillipp, who only opened the upper hatch, stood there and he knew what was going to happen. The tank exploded through the flames. I was there alone, I thought everyone on my crew was dead. I'm running, somewhere, where I don't know. I fell to the ground like a drunk. I crawled around on the ground and gave up. Was that my end? I didn't know. I turned on my back where I could see a face. It was, amazingly, Stéphanié. "What are you doing here," I tried to say, but before I could finish my sentence, she slapped me on the head with her shoes. You know the rest. I wake up somewhere and this time I was in the magic world, which Stéphanié had talked about. A new life began for me.

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Preview Chapter 18/19/20

Lequan knows where he was and what he wanted and that's what scared him. His mission will be to save Anestelia. What they don't know is that the blue royal blood dominates over a lot of power that the dark magicians need for their experiments.

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Chapter 18 upload: May 24, 2020 9 p.m

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