Chapter 40: War Again

“Men grow tired of sleep, love, singing, and dancing sooner than war.” – Homer.

Kingston, Jamaica. December 1075

Captain Morwenna considered herself a fortunate woman. She escaped the oppressive heat of the Caribbean summer and the cold, wet British winter. As Christmas rolled around, Morwenna was stretched out nude on a towel, soaking up rays on the beach. When she had been in Britain last, Luke told her many people in his time loved going to the beach to soak in the sun or to swim. He hadn’t gone much since he lived in Alaska, but when his work took him near a warm coastline, he found time to lay on the beach and eye the local ladies.

Also, by December, the rest of the natives had been driven from the island, and Kingston had recovered from the summer’s hurricane. With the supplies and manpower Morwenna brought in her latest convoy, they could begin building an alumina processing plant and export terminal. The sludge from the bauxite refining would be concentrated so other minerals could be removed. Once everything economically viable had been removed, the remains were used in concrete.

After reviewing all the options, it was decided to place the export terminal in Kingston Bay and link it to the mines by rail. There were a couple of reasons for this: it kept the British from defending or building multiple ports. It was decided that until Jamaica became fully settled, all the large ship traffic would use Kingston Bay.

With Jamaica secure and a brigade of the 4^th division stationed there to keep it that way, Captain Morwenna wondered where she would be sent next. She knew there were many other islands in the region to explore, and many of them were sure to have valuable resources. The trick was to tap the resources without angering the native population. She had lucked out in Jamaica when the natives attacked without warning, thus giving her a casus belli to take the island.

Before she left, Luke and she had discussed that point. They had been lucky this time but couldn’t rely on the natives attacking them every time. As Morwenna lay on the beach, she wondered what adventures lay beyond the horizon.

It would take several months to construct the mining and export facilities, and during that time, Morwenna would stay in Jamaica. Once the facilities were built, the first load of alumina could be shipped to Iceland. By that time, the processing facilities would be operational. It would still take several more months before the finished product would arrive in Britain.

Morwenna would transport the first load back before stopping in Britain to pick up more supplies and new orders. She hoped to return to the new world, but that would depend on the geopolitical situation when she returned home.

Rome, Papal States. December 1075

Pope Gregory read about the British raid that freed several Britons who were being held as slaves. If he ever doubted his future action against Great Britain, that raid put them to rest. Gregory sent out orders stating there would be no interference with British trade unless they could prove the British merchants were engaging in unfair trade.

With his British problem hopefully solved, Gregory could turn his attention to northern Italy, where things were still a mess. Officially, the land belonged to the Holy Roman Empire. Realistically, it was a patchwork of semi-independent city-states vying for power. In Florance, Matilda and Beatrice were still pulling in opposite directions, and to put additional pressure on Matilda, Gregory would only grant Matilda the divorce she wanted if Florance officially joined the Papal States. Gregory realized that having Florance join now would be to his benefit. Beatrice didn’t want to risk the wrath of Henry IV, although she stated that if the threat from Henry were neutralized, she would support the pope’s plan.

While Florance might have flirted with joining the Papal States, the other Italian States wanted nothing to do with joining the pope. Under the Holy Roman Empire, they had been given a significant degree of independence, and the men in power preferred things that way.

When Pope Gregory gave Christmas Mass, he couldn’t help but notice that many people looked healthier than before. There were also no riots leading up to Christmas, which hadn’t happened in several years. Many of his advisers thought things were too quiet, but quiet was how Gregory liked them. He prayed for many peaceful years ahead.

Frankfort, Holy Roman Empire. December 1075

Brunhild’s cursing at Henry got much worse in October. The buns were done, and they decided it was time for them to make their appearance in the world. Brunhild had another difficult labor but, in the end, gave birth to Gertrude and Rudolf. Although Henry wasn’t in the room with her, he was close enough to learn more of Brunhild’s colorful vocabulary. His guards smiled, hearing her; they had some new swear words for the next time they had to train recruits.

Both children came out healthy and quickly latched onto a nipple, but Brunhild would need a couple of wetnurses to keep up with the feeding. Henry was kept out until the children were being fed. When he walked through the door, the look on Brunhild’s face could have melted a glacier; it completely melted his heart. Her eyes were so full of love that Henry felt tears stream down his face.

An hour later, Henry was back in his office. Brunhild was tired, and the children were sleeping. Henry worked through several railroad proposals. They were good proposals, but he didn’t have the finances to work on them simultaneously, and the British didn’t have that many rails for sale, so he would have to prioritize.

On the Eastern Front, the Polish storm erupted in early December, with surprise attacks from the Baltic to the Danube. Zima had bribed the Prussian tribes to attack along the coast while the Polish and Kyivan Rus attacked to the south. These attacks surprised the Germans as nobody, except the British, launched a major offensive during the winter. Minor actions are one thing, but this was a major offensive.

The first settlement to fall was Danzig. The Prussian tribes hit the defenses like a whirlwind and were in the city after only one hour of hard fighting. Once the Prussians were inside the city, all hell broke loose. Many Prussians were furious since the Germans had slowly expanded into their territory.

It was time for revenge as the Prussian tribesmen ran amok through the town. Soon, the screams of women and children could be heard over the sounds of wood breaking. If the horrors of battle weren’t enough the events after the battle were worse. The tribesman looted and raped any female they found while the males were tortured and killed; this went on for three days before the Prussians were exhausted. There wasn’t one female who hadn’t been raped or one male who hadn’t been tortured when the Prussians were done. All civilians who survived were sold into slavery, so there was nothing left of the city. When the Prussians moved on, the city was burned to the ground.

After Danzig fell, the Prussians failed to advance further west, to the disgust of some of the chiefs. They had done what they wanted, and many tribesmen left and went home with their loot.

To the south, the Polish didn’t find their operations as easy. The frontier garrisons Henry had established stopped many of the Polish advances. Every time the Polish advanced, the German cannons and rifled muskets drove them back. Only in the area of Breslau did the Polish break through the line of frontier forts, thus allowing the Kyivan Rus cavalry to pour through.

General Roon happened to be in Breslau when the offensive began and quickly organized what troops he had at hand. Once he had about 10,000 men organized, he didn’t rush to the front since the Poles had broken through. Instead, General Roon set up defensive works before Breslau and waited.

The German defenders didn’t have long to wait as the Kyivan Rus arrived soon after the breakthrough but found attacking men with rifled muskets in prepared defensive works to be suicide. Many times, the cavalry attacked, and each time, they were thrown back. After each attack, the survivors became angrier.

Every time the Rus fell back, General Roon held his cavalry back; he wanted the enemy to exhaust themselves first. He knew what to watch for, and the moment was getting closer with every attack.

After six failed charges, General Roon saw what he was looking for and released his cavalry. They hit the Rus like a sledgehammer and shattered them. Unfortunately for the Rus, the German cavalry hit them from the rear and drove them toward Breslau. This put them between two forces, and General Roon took full advantage. He ordered his infantry to fix bayonets and charge.

By the time the smoke cleared, the Rus had been destroyed. General Roon didn’t allow more than a day to bury the dead before he led the army forward. With speed not seen with most other armies, General Roon burst forward to catch the Poles off guard.

Unlike the Rus, the Poles knew about German tricks and were ready. General Roon only had one attack repulsed before he pulled back. He didn’t have the troops to waste in pointless repeated assaults. The two sides quickly fell into an uneasy stalemate as the weather turned and the snow started.

By the time the snow ended, there was half a meter on the ground, ending any military operations. By unspoken mutual agreement, both sides settled down for the winter.

Further north, a German column reoccupied Danzig and began to bury the dead as best they could by using pics to break up the frozen earth. It took a week to bury the dead, although, with the freezing temperatures, the bodies didn’t decompose.

Back in Frankfort, the Polish attack jarred Henry out of his complacency. His intelligence section hadn’t given any indications of the coming attack. What was worse was the Prussian attack in the north since Danzig blocked the Polish route to the sea. Without Danzig to stand guard, the Polish could reach the sea and expand their trade.

If the Eastern Front wasn’t enough, the northern Italian states were rapidly becoming more independent, with Florance leaning toward joining the Papal States. The only area where Henry didn’t have problems was to his west, but Philip had his own issues.

Paris, France. December 1075

Philip didn’t have foreign problems as much as he had money problems; his treasury was empty once more. The economy was a wreck, although most peasants had the food to last through the winter. The military was only rebuilt to a quarter of its former strength, and many men lacked proper kit.

It was infuriating for Philip to learn the Polish had attacked Henry, and he couldn’t do anything about it. His army wasn’t ready to begin another war; they would have had difficulty defeating any spirited rebellion. Fortunately, the people were tired of war and only wanted to be left alone.

The French people were not the only people who wanted to be left alone. Bertha also wanted to be left alone. She was carrying a child for a husband who didn’t appreciate her. Many days, Bertha wished to have a man like the ones who married Marion or Brunhild. Before she met Marion, Bertha believed this was how life should be lived; she would raise the children while the men would do whatever they did.