Reich Marshal of the Belkan Reich

RM Vol 4: War – Interlude: Trap Card

"The Polanians are a race of proud people! The Winged Hussars had ridden across Europe and left behind profound impacts that last till the modern day. Our soldiers, carrying with them an indomitable will, shall trace the footsteps of our forefathers. No matter the adversity, our armies will make Polania great again!"

"Oh, come the fuck on! Turn that bloody thing off!" Sitting in a diner while waiting for his meal, a gruff Polanian hunter complains to the establishment's owner. "The day is already bad enough without hearing all that yapping!"

Shrugging his shoulders, the owner flips the cut of venison, something the hunter provided, before moving his hands to change the channel on the radio instead of shutting down the thing. There are some statics at first, but then the new channel starts running a playlist of the radio station. To this, the hunter harrumps.

"Not what I said, but at least this is way better than the last channel."

Nearby, a group of Polanian soldiers, most of them young and energetic, react quite disfavorably with the aged hunter's dismissive attitude.

One of them speaks up before their more experienced Lieutenant can stop him.

"Oi! What's wrong with the Chairman's broadcast, old man? It's important to pay attention to what our leader has to say!"

Leveling an annoyed glare at the young soldier, the hunter snaps back.

"Do I look like I give a fuck to whatever that damn Public Service Announcement was? My time is better spent in the woods to feed this shithole of a village instead of listening to that bastard running his mouth off on air! That fool climbed up there, talking all big to the rest of the world, and for what? To try and compensate for the fact he doesn't have the biggest meat stick around and to make our lives harder than it already is?"

"You take back what you said about our Honored Chairman!" The same soldier sports a livid expression, with a couple of his peers sharing the same look.

The hunter scoffs, one of his hands reaching for the hunting rifle he lays by the dining table.

"Why don't you make me, you pussies."

Slamming their hands onto the table in misguided rage, the hotheaded Polanian soldiers stand up for a fight.

"That's enough from all of you!" They, however, are stopped by their Lieutenant who has a good head on his shoulders. "Stand down!"

"But, sir! He disrespected our glorious-" One of the soldiers snaps back, seemingly confused as to why the more experienced Lieutenant stopped them.

"Did I not make myself clear?" The Lieutenant stands from his seat, leveling an admonishing glare at the group of unruly soldiers. He eyes the rifles in the soldiers' hands. "Or do you want to turn your guns on the very citizens you vow to protect?"

"We are not...!" The soldier struggles to find an excuse for the fact they have brandished their weapons in public. "That old man must have been influenced by the propaganda of our rivals! It's-"

"It's none of our fucking business, that's what!" The Lieutenant cuts in once more, harshly rebuking his subordinates. "Everybody is entitled to their opinion! Affixing your own views onto someone else is the height of foolishness! Pulling your guns out on the very people we are meant to protect is the height of mad tyranny! Now report back to the camp for disciplinary action! If I see you do this stunt again, I will shoot you myself!"

The sheer intensity of their leader cowers the hotheaded soldiers, putting them back on the ground once more. With hasty steps, they leave the diner with their heads hanging low, but not before sparing the smirking hunter a withering glare. On his part, the hunter just gives them the middle finger, mouthing the words 'Pussies'. The soldiers are incensed, of course. However, they dare not do anything else when the commotion attracts enough spectators.

The diner is in a small border town with good road access to pretty much everywhere West of Polania. Words can spread fast in this town, and if they acted on their impulsiveness, it would implicate the rest of their Regiment when words reached the big cities. The Polanian soldiers were technically correct in trying to discipline a dissident, but the citizens would still see them as evil-doers the moment lethal force was involved. All the hunter did was speak his mind, not warranting an immediate beat down or execution. The Polanian Lieutenant's decision to stop things until they escalate to the point of no return has been a correct one. Given the already shaky reputation of the Polanian Revolutionary Command Council and its Chairman in these fringe territories, the last thing anyone needs is for the people to start opposing the Polanian military's presence. That said, it's not like the Polanians in the border regions don't already have a beef with the military. To fully understand this, one must dial back the timeline to the time after the Reich Marshal bombed Warsaw to rescue her soldiers.

After the fiasco, the Belkan Reich and the Rusviet Union enforced embargoes and punitive measures on top of shoring up their military presence on the borders adjacent to Polania. The two superpowers also kick off a propaganda war, showering nearly every single part of Polania about the misdeeds and corruptions running among the ruling party of Polania. All of this, of course, happens when small nations like Polania are still feeling the aftermath of the Cataclysm. Misguided as the majority of the Polanian civilians may be, they all wake up to reality when the price of bread skyrocketed with leaflets and hijacked radio broadcasts revealing the true state of Polania. It takes the declaration of martial law and a state of emergency that the Revolutionary Command Council manages to prevent total chaos. However, the damage is already done, and the people's trust in the ruling government is nowhere near the height it used to be. Even with their own propaganda effort, Chairman Jankowski and his Revolutionary Command Council can only influence the easily impressed young generation of Polania. It's a stark contrast to when their very words are revered as the truth by the working class of the country.

To restore the people's faith in the government, the Chairman and his wealthy sponsors need a big win. It's why they gamble on raising border friction with both Belka and Rusviet. It may sound stupid to try and incite a war with two nations when your country is in unrest, but it's the only choice the Council can make without biting into their coffers. As long as the Polanian military can achieve some success in conflicts with Belka and Rusviet, then the Council can paint a beautiful narrative to seize back the hearts and minds of the people. Hence, instead of dedicating their funds solely to stabilizing Polania's economy, the Council signs an Act to further bolster their military.

Long story short, the Council conscripts and beguiles young men into the military, throwing them into backing ovens to shoddily train them as 'the embodiments of the Winged Hussars'. The high-ranking command staff that the Reich Marshal bombed into the graves are also replaced by those loyal to the Chairman and the Council, regardless of talent and experience. For some time, the Council sourced new weapons to outfit their inflated military, predominantly using shady black markets with high selling prices and questionable quality. Ultimately, the new Polanian military goes from an adequate fighting force into a melting pot of ineptitude, zealotry, naivety, and obsoleteness. The state of the Polanian military is so bad that even the Erusea Territorials or the Ustian Loyalist Conscripts are leagues ahead in terms of effectiveness. Even if the Polanian Army now has a remarkable quantity to it, it hilariously pales in comparison to the millions in service of both the Belkan Reich and the Rusviet Union. The remaining old guards of Polania have been trying to restore a semblance of normalcy to the current Polanian military. Yet, so far, their efforts only render some marginal improvement to the current deplorable state of the Polanian military. Ironically, if the actual Winged Hussars of old were to have a match with their existing descendants, it's doubtful whether or not the latter would even survive the confrontation.

As flawed as they are, Chairman Jankowski and the Council understand very well that the Polanian military is not even qualified to be a Paper Tiger. To even have the chance of prevailing against the Rusviet Union, much less the Belkan Reich, they will have to become unashamedly dirty. It's why the Revolutionary Command Council is hoping to wait for the chance when the Belkan Reich is weakened and distracted by the war with the Allied forces to stage a campaign of their own. It will be nothing short of an unscrupulous surprise attack, but it will be one with the best chance of earning some success against the enigmatic Reich. Strained by the war on the Western Front, the Belkan Reich should be amendable to a ceasefire agreement with Polania after losing some territories, right? The morale booster from that alone will give them more than enough confidence to fight off their true enemy, the Rusviet Union. The Council thinks that defeating these two superpowers militarily will once again validate their rightful place as the ruler of Polania and even beyond.

By stationing Armies by the borders and siphoning resources to reinforce them, the Council has inadvertently caused a rift between the populace and the military. The rift is especially visible in the border regions where the Council's presence is severely diminished by Belkan and Rusviet propaganda. If the people of Central Polania at least come to see off their children on their supposed path to glory, then the citizens elsewhere openly display their total disregard for the military that has been driven into a ditch by their government. Much like the old hunter, no Polanians near the borders can find it in their heart to respect the Council and the military anymore, not when the two have been acting like brainless parasites in the eyes of the people.

At first, Chairman Jankowski thought that he could still salvage the situation and continued on with his dream of a Greater Polania. However, he severely underestimated the difficulty of running a nation besieged by all sides. One moment, there's a protest. In another, there's a revolt. Right after that, someone affiliated with the Council is being mugged and killed off the street. Nowadays, Chairman Jankowski spends nearly every day either running propaganda campaigns or busy putting fire outside of Warsaw. This leaves the nation solely run by the inept Council, and as one may expect, further worsens the situation for Jankowski. Jankowski is in no position to remedy the problem at its core, so he can only bite the bullet and continue to slave his way through, hoping that his effort is just barely enough to keep his dream alive.

To put it directly, Jankowski has laid on the wrong bed and it's too late for regret.

And of course, the ruinous cycle that runs within Polania is orchestrated by none other than the joint effort of Belka and Rusviet. The Reich Marshal and Stalin laugh at how Polania is breaking apart at the seam for their transgression with each passing day. Being the masterminds behind everything, the two superpowers understand how misplaced the Revolutionary Command Council's hope is. Belka is not even sweating when they bitch-slap Erusea and Loyalists all at once, so how could they lose to an enemy that is not even worth their time. As for the Rusviet Union, Stalin is mighty confident that he can push to Warsaw in a week with his supremely powerful military. The Polanians' plan for a surprise attack on two countries at once has been noticed all along. When the time comes, the Reich and the Union will teach the Council the height of their foolishness. In fact, the Council is only deepening their grave if they truly attack without declaring war on the two superpowers. In that case, not a single nation will be willing to admonish the two countries if they wipe Polania off the map.

Ah, Polania, you have fallen for their trap card~!