[color=#996600]F[color=#995500]R[color=#994400]O[color=#993300]M [color=#992200]THE FRONT
FOR ALL COMRADES
Meine Freunde und Kameraden.
Soldaten of the one and truly free Rheinland.
Hessians, Unioners, Landwirters and loyal Mercenaries.
Today was but another day for us and for our Revolution, another day where our Krieg continued on multiple fronts, and it was a good day. A day both filled with victory and defeat, a day during which both our and our enemies' blood and tears were shed. Though I will say here that in our case those tears might have been mostly tears of joy, but let me not digress further.
It was a fine day that demonstrated once more that we will not be silenced, and that we will continue this war of ours on all fronts until we achieve our victory, or die standing. And it all began simple, it began quiet. It began only with a few of us, no more in number than three, not much unlike all revolutions as they begin with but a few rising up against the many, united and in defiance, and with an unbroken will.
The Kameraden of the RotFront, Phillip Schulze and Vladimir Ulianov, as well as I, we originally disembarked to assault targets of opportunity in the Corsairs' homesystem, the well-known Omicron Gamma. And so it came that just that was precisely what we did.
But one shall not underestimate the ferocious and dreaded Corsairs, even more so in these days than ever before. The sound of a Praefect's bursting hull echoing over the channels is like the cry of a weak calf, a calf that gets its body rent and its limbs torn apart by three lions with an insatiable hunger, eager to taste blood. It did not take much time for the whole herd to come after us, their heads low as they wanted to charge us three, impale us on their vicious horns, seeking revenge for those we had slain. And even though I say we should not now and not ever underestimate our sworn enemies from Crete, we have to always remember one thing.
The bull is a clumsy beast, a beast lacking finesse. A beast that fights with the whole herd, one that on its own can only barely protect itself from a lion's deadly fangs, and even less from the quick blows of its mighty paws.
And so it came that the fight turned into a long-winded back and forth, with the Corsairs' armada furiously, if not even desperately, trying to kill us - if we were lucky - or trying to get us into our pods so they could catch us, humiliate us, and even go as far as to follow their cannibalistic rites - if we were unlucky.
However if the calf can call for the herd and rely on that to come charging, so can we count on our friends, on our lions pride, to come to our aid when times are most dire.
As the fighting went on we few who had come to wage war on enemy soil quickly found ourselves outnumbered, even as our reinforcements poured in. Red Hessian Army, RotFront, the brave and honorable Mandalorian, we all stood united against the horde of Corsairs, and we fought relentlessly and without question.
But the Krieg against the Corsairs is by far our bloodiest one, and it knows no rules. It is a war where we cannot only win, a war where victories go hand in hand with defeat. With the horde of fighters, bombers, and a whole three battleships pushing further against us and advancing on Omega-11, we knew that this was it. We had done our best, and there was still more to be done. Lesser men, men without the hearts of lions, those would have given in to the voices of reason, and they would have stopped.
But not our Kameraden, our Brüder und Schwestern of the RotFront.
They defied those voices.
They gave up on reason.
They made their stand.
Without fanfare or choir to announce the upcoming display of courage, the RotFront brought their three carriers to bear against the Corsair tide, to show that they would get this far but no farther. No quarter would be given, no matter the cost.
And the cost truly was great, as neither the mighty Stakhanov, the venerable Conscience, nor the relentless Vladstadt could defeat the horde.
But this sacrifice was not in vain, the blood that had been shed on our side was not for naught. As all three carriers got crippled one after another, the remaining and damaged Corsair battleships retreated. Slowly at first, and then with due haste. Our message had been delivered, even if our Kameraden of the RotFront had to pay a high price, it had been delivered, and it had been heard.
All that was left was a Corsair gunboat and a flock of fighters with some stray bombers in-between, and they were our prey. Our clumsy bulls and defenseless calves. No match for our fangs and paws, disheartened themselves and standing against us few lions with fires burning in our hearts stronger than before when all this had started.
No more blood of our brothers and sisters was spilled in Omega-41 this night.
And as we fought back the remaining Corsairs, we knew that despite all sacrifices Omega-41 was ours this time. We had held against the unending tide, we had fought them back and demonstrated the superiority of our fighters, demonstrated our undying devotion. Men and women like you and I, with motivations as different as they can be, we all stood together against the horde and fought relentlessly. And of all those in fighters we only lost one, one that not even the Corsairs could claim for it was merely stationary defenses in Omicron Gamma that got his ship torn to shreds, rather than it being a bull impaling our Kamerad on its horns.
But meine Brüder und Schwestern, this is but one part of what occurred tonight, for our Krieg is not only waged in the Omegas and Omicrons, nein, it is also waged at home in Rheinland, against the Military. And so later on there was another fight in the middle of our beloved, and sadly war-torn Hamburg.
The ones to start their bloody work first were our Kameraden of the Arbeitergewerkschaft. What they had found was a number of Military craft, a fighter detachment led by none other than the Military's Vizeadmiral Hans Putzkammer. As I heard of it I raced my Odin towards Hamburg as fast as I could, closely followed by our Mandalorian friend, who was still not tired of battle and willing to help our friends against the Military's forces.
So it came that just as I was approaching and rushing to the scene as fast as my ship's engines allowed, I was intercepted by a Military fighter. And unfortunately before I could arrive, one of our Kameraden had fallen to the Military's might. It was at this time that I remembered another thing which we all should never forget, no matter what.
If the Corsairs are the bulls and we, meine Kameraden, are the lions, then our countrymen, our fellow Rheinlanders, the Soldaten of the Military, they are the wolves. Wolves with fangs keen as ours, hearts filled with courage, and souls more unbreakable than steel.
But there is one thing, meine Kameraden, one important thing worth more than a mere note on the side that has to be spoken out loud so everyone can hear.
Despite the war against Liberty, despite the Westfalen's recent fall into enemy hands, despite all criticism, all hatred, all doctrine and all odds, I want every single one of you to know that despite all that, tonight the Military's fighters fought not only bravely and ferociously, nein meine Kameraden, they did not only fight this way, but most important of all they fought with something that in one way or another we value. Not something we may value as Soldaten, not even as Rheinlanders. No, something we all value to a higher or lesser degree as the upstanding people who fight for our beliefs. Something that in these days is absent all across Sirius.
They fought with Honor. Mit Ehre.
Their own Vizeadmiral, Hans Putzkammer, might have seen this as an opportunity to train pilots. Ja, he might have seen it as just another day, just another time where he had to face off against us who we are deemed "unlawfuls" and "criminals" by the government, but regardless of that, it was still a fight. Another part of another war, a war in which he could have secured a victory by ordering a present Battleship to open fire.
And so we all did our best to make this an honorable fight, to keep the odds even, and to make it one of the fights that would stand out among the few others in this Krieg. Let me say here that I like to believe that we did not do what we did just as mere soldiers, nor as Military or AGSers or Hessians. Nein, I like to believe that we did so as people, as human beings.
Where I as a Hessian once thought that the Corsairs, known as noble, honorable and proud of those things being attributed to them, as well as proud of their traditions, where I once thought that they would be the ones whom we would fight fights like those against, I now know better. Where the Corsairs tonight acted as I would have expected the Military to do, the Military did the polar opposite.
For that, meine Freunde und Kameraden, as a soldier, as a Hessian, and as a human being, I salute the Rheinland Military.
Let us not forget that even though they may be on the other side, our fellow Soldaten are human beings as you and I, no matter how much we may demonize them in other times. And let us not forget either that even if their ways do not match ours, even if there may always be grudges too strong and wounds too deep, they are still our brothers and sisters, and just as we, they fight for the Vaterland.
[font=Palatino Linotype][color=#996600]F[color=#995500]O[color=#994400]R [color=#993300]A[color=#992200]LL BROTHERS AND SISTERS
[color=#996600]I[color=#995500]N [color=#994400]M[color=#993300]E[color=#992200]MORY OF THE FALLEN
![[Image: 2wns2t2.png]](http://i55.tinypic.com/2wns2t2.png)