RM Vol 4: War – Chapter 39: Case Yellow (Day 13 – Evac from Dunkirk)

    Combat rages around Dunkirk''s city walls. After the obliteration of the EEF''s outer perimeter by the Sunburst rocket strike, the Belkans are stopping shy of breaking through the EEF''s last bastion through sheer overwhelming force. In the time when the moon is soon ceding its place for the coming morning, the Belkans should have no trouble bringing down that wall in front of them. Yet, as if fortune has smiled at them at last, the Eruseans and Ustians on the walls find themselves suppressed, yes, but not immediately eliminated as they expected. The Belkans sling heavy firepower at the soldiers and emplacements on the walls of Dunkirk, though not nowhere near enough to overwhelm the defenders, weakened as they may be.

    Despite the movements of tanks and aircraft all over the scorched terrains, with gunfire aplenty, the Belkans always stayed 500 meters away from the walls. It''s as if the Belkan Army is being held back by an unseen hand. A thought that is true, in a way, although not wholly accurate if the Allied forces came to learn of the undercurrent.

    Regardless, even with the defenders still holding strong, the shadow of fear and doubt have again been cast on the hapless evacuees by Dunkirk''s expanded harbor. The looming terror of an early sun prior caused many inexperienced soldiers to freak out, thinking that the inner city areas of Dunkirk would be struck next. In their eyes, all the 25-pounder guns in the world won''t be able to conjure a light and commotion so bright that wakes up even the heaviest of sleepers in an underground bunker. When the devastating news that nearly all of the Territorials assigned to Dunkirk''s outer perimeters were gone, it took the Allied officers half an hour of spits flying everywhere to stop the ranks and files from descending into mania. Still, the circumstances have forced Lord Gort and other shot callers in Dunkirk to kickstart the plan early. The EEF can''t wait until daytime, not anymore with how the Belkans could bring forth such a level of firepower.

    Lord Gort ponders how could the Belkans conjure such a devastating weapon, or God forbids magic. He has no idea what the weapon''s capabilities are, nor does he know how long it will take to reload or if it can be fired again. The thing about fighting an unknown enemy is that you don''t know what to expect, and the Belkan Reich is the worst opponent one can face. What Lord Gort does know is that staying any bit longer will further the likelihood that something will go wrong. It''s almost a certainty that the Belkans still have many tricks up in their armory of tricks and magic. As such, flares and optical signals are used to communicate with off-short vessels to start the evacuation process. Lord Gort hopes that things will go well and that Frankforce on the walls can buy enough time to get at least half of the EEF out of Dunkirk. That said, he knows that things won''t be that simple.

    Unfortunately for them all, the makeshift pier the soldiers are running on hasn''t been built to withstand much of anything, really. Cobbled up using available scraps and materials scavenged in Dunkirk, the pier starts breaking when heavy footfalls keep battering it. The pier predictably collapses entirely into the sea, and along with it, the panicking Eruseans. Some are lucky enough to fall close to the short, needing only a short swim to escape the danger. Others, more unfortunate ones have to take a nosedive at the further end of the now-destroyed pier. The evacuation boat, having been tied to a counterweight of the pier, nearly got flipped when that counterweight fell to the bottom of the sea. Fortunately for everyone involved, a quickwitted soldier used his knife to cut the rope tying down the boat. The Catalina pilot also manages to rein in his unruly floatplane just in time. No direct casualties were caused by the Catalina, but of those that fell into the sea, some failed the landing checks and needed to be rescued by more able swimmers.

    This jumpscare incident, however, won''t be the last. There are many more accidents like a boat beaching itself or a yacht sinking by somebody''s mishandling of a grenade. The fog doesn''t help in preventing or resolving these mishaps either. Still, the fog should help conceal the evacuation effort from Belkan aircraft and vessels, right?