Fields of Verdun
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"The Battle of Verdun...nearly an entire year of fighting, and hundreds of thousands of lives lost, all to gain the city of the same name." Kurfürst's once happy and jovial demeanor, thanks to the previous talk of the Christmas Truce, fell quickly to sorrow and guilt. "We threw men by the thousands at impossible odds, hoping that they would be the ones to make a difference..."

She looked down to her lap, keeping her gaze away as her hands slowly wound into fists. "I tried...I tried to change things, I tried to see things change so we could end this ceaseless bloodshed and send more men home then we hoped, yet...not only did the majority of the Cabinet reject my proposal, even the Prince was on their side, and so I wasn't able to convince them to stop."
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At first, the battle was going surprisingly well, thanks to the excellent plan by the Chief of General staff Falkenhayn. We had captured the largest and highest fort in Verdun, Fort Douaumont, and started holding out while Artillery rained on the French.

The relentless cannon fire made it hard to hear across the Fort, but communications were still underway as Kurfürst and her men held strong against the French adversity. Many of their faces were covered in grime and soot, but there was a hint of pride in them too, as this offensive was meant to be a notably good one.

After all, if they succeed here and capture Verdun, it could completely change the tide of the war, and Germany may very well win this entire war here.

Kurfürst herself was on a battlement, standing proudly in the line of fire as she helped call out bombardment positions to the Artillery crews. Every time her calls went through, a position would be shelled and, if they were lucky, anyone within that range was now a mess of limbs and flesh.

"...Aim 96°, last shelling missed but was proper height."

The last shelling hit the point where, if the coordinates were correct, the French would be paste. But since she told them a few degrees to the left too far, it missed and alerted them that they were being fired on.

The next salvo soon screamed overhead, and the men were hit dead on, their lives sniffed out just as quick as they were to arrive to this horrendous battle. She sighed and looked around, noting that a large portion of the soldiers were gathering near the gates, something that wouldn't ever truly happen unless they were getting ready to advance.

She gave the binoculars and compass back to the original scouter, hopping down to see who's division this was and what they were thinking of doing without her explicit command. In a war such as this, you must stick to the plan and make it all count, less you cause casualties that may have been prevented or outright stopped.

Though exceptions do exist, in this tight knit war zone, she wasn't accepting that easily.

She got to the front of the line, and her eyes nearly popped out of her head as she saw none other than the Crown Prince there, leading the soldiers as he prepared to open the gates.

"Wilhelm! What on Earth is this?!"

He turned around at her voice, smiling at her. "General Kurfürst, we're planning on taking this to the French and chasing them out of the city. We have wounded them enough that a run will flatten them easily and win us more territory within Verdun's other forts."

The Crown Prince was put as a leader of a division of troops, that much everyone knew, but the idea of running out there when they were already winning was something no one though of, for good reason. She stepped up to him, the young man flinching back as his Senior in all but political position stepped into his face, rage in her eyes.

"Need I remind you that, while you are the crown prince of our nation, you were only allowed out here because I was assigned to assist you in command? This battle is important for us, and I will not stand for this while those cannons roar out there! These men aren't needed outside the walls where they'll fall in the hundreds, they're needed in here to protect the fort and hold the French until we break them completely!"

While he was initially somewhat scared of her advance, he recovered quickly and fought back with a glare of his own. Wilhelm wasn't a young man anymore, now in his thirties, but inexperienced as a leader for a war of this scale, and unfortunately, eager to prove himself.

"Kurfürst, many men have died on their side within these few short days, if there ever were a chance to attack, that would be now, lest we lose this chance for Heaven knows how long."

"That's not the point Wilhelm, the point is that you're going to deprive us of Manpower needed to man this fort and keep this ground! We need you and your men here, not out there to join the already dead men!"

There was but a short moment of silence, before he turned back around and signaled his men to open the doors. Kurfürst nearly snapped on him then and there, but he raised his hand, silencing her.

"General, I respect you without end I assure you, but this is a moment we can't lose. I would be inclined to listen, but with this golden opportunity available, who am I to deny it?"

"Wilhelm, you step out of those gates, it will be a bloodbath!"

He turned back to her, his face blank and cold as he spoke. "And when has this war been any different?"
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"Those words struck deep into me, hearing them from the man I've known since he was born. It was as if he had slapped me, showing what we all had become in this horrid war."

Kurfürst looked back up to everyone present, raising a hand in front of her face. "In that moment, when he and his men left the fort, I began reflecting on what he had said, and how it blew backwards onto me. What happened to Wilhelm that made him say that? What happened to me to not react any harsher than I did?"

...

"After a long time, I realized that it was because of the war that changed him, so too had I been altered. Before the Great War, I viewed all life as worthy of protection, as something we had a sworn duty to uphold, and when the shells started flying...when men fell with more in a day than you could blink...I became numb to it all."

She went quiet then, the entire room stilling for a minute before she felt something tap her leg. She looked down to see what it was, feeling a smile creep onto her face as she saw the tiny Bishamaru patting her leg.

"How'd you get in here?" She picked up the Meowfficer, sitting her on her lap as the catbot did her best to help soothe her after the talks.

"Miss Kurfürst?" She looked back to the crowd, seeing a hand up from Fletcher. "How did the rest of the battle go? Was it any different to how we know it?"

"Hmm...no, not that I can think of. Shortly after Wilhelm did his own charge, I was called back from the frontlines as they needed me back home for the time being. I would miss out the rest of the battle then onwards, but the repercussions would still hit hard once it all ended in a French victory."
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After such a long battle, with so many of our own dead, the crush of defeat ruined us from the core. The morale of our troops was at an all time low, and all eyes turned towards the one deemed responsible for our loss, Wilhelm.

"Dammit Wilhelm! What on Earth were you thinking?! Were you even doing that?!"

In a conference room, the Generals and Chief of Staff of Germany were gathered together, all glaring holes into the Crown Prince of their country, grilling him for his actions during the battle of Verdun. His eyes never strayed from them all, but he never dared look Kurfürst in the eyes.

Said woman was silent the entire time, her gaze unreadable while the others chewed Wilhelm out for his actions. She had known him for many years, and hell, she helped raise him, so they both knew what she was thinking.

Wilhelm didn't dare say it, but she was much like a second mother to him, thus making his loss feel more stabbing while her eyes were set on him.

"You had a simple order given to you, as to all of the men there. All you had to do was hold out and force that feint attack, then the French might have thrown more men into the grinder for a victory, and yet you disobeyed the order and launched a full scale attack!"

The Chief of General Staff, Erich von Falkenhayn, was rightfully furious, as not only was this a massive bow to their armies on the western front, it was also meant to be decisive blow that could have thrown France from the war had it succeeded. Now that it failed, the French army, however crippled they were, would be resupplied and rearmed by the Americans in no time flat, no matter how many American vessels they sunk to limit the supplies.

Kurfürst knew what this conference would be about, and after hearing enough of the yelling, she stood from her chair and gained the attention of the men in the room. "I've heard enough of all this gentlemen."

"What? Have you decided on something?" Falkenhayn had his eyes affirmed on her, as did every other man in the room.

No matter what their positions may say, her words were nearly law in this room, as her expertise in battle and the efforts she puts in personally on the battlefield have earned her the respect of all soldiers she meets. Though, as of now, she was completely silent, stepping away from her chair and down past the crown Prince.

"I have little time to be listening to all this, especially as I already gave him a piece of my mind earlier. Much had to be done in little time, so I will take my leave." She left the room behind, leaving the rest inside to talk it out.

I had enough of those men screaming their heads off, as many more things had to be taken into consideration now. Our armies were routed, their morale crushed, and so I had to get back into the battles and fight with my men on the frontlines.
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"Frankly, even though I don't have much to say about this battle, it was devastating and grueling, as I'm sure you all know. My lack of effort was rooted in political reasonings, so I couldn't be there enough to help change the tides."

"Huh...that's kind of anticlimactic." Washington had known a bunch about the battle, but was sincerely hoping that Kurfürst might have done some sort of badass one woman army stand or something.

"Things happen in war that way, but with hindsight, I'm thankful I wasn't there for that long. Such a massive loss of life would have been...terrible to see, and not very good on my Shellshock."

With that all said and done, she shared looks between those gathered, seeing many somewhat dissatisfied on the vagueness of her story. She smiled as another one came to light pretty quickly, which she clapped her hands to get their full attention once more.

"Let's move beyond that shall we? I have another story to tell, and this one is far more interesting."

She leaned back in her chair, smiling as she recalls the memory. "This term is so uniform and known now, but you might be curious as to know the origins of it."

"What is it?"

She gave Washington a glance, clearing her throat as she readied to tell more. "Landships, or as most know them as, Tanks."