Liberation of Paris

A step aside

When the Allied counter-offensive start with the Normandy Landings and the Allied troops pushed further into the French mainland, sooner or later one very important question occurred: "How do we liberate Paris?" Paris has been made into a Soviet fortress, with the civilian population taken hostage by the corps Defenders of St. Owen's Dock. Battle-hardened veteran troops, not the puny Conscripts found at each and every corner of the modern battlefield.

Strategically, Paris had an immense value alone, many of France's factories were centralised here, and the Soviets made heavy use of them to churn out their battalions of Hammer and Apocalypse tanks as well as Sickles and Bullfrogs. Paris was of ideal value as well, liberating it would motivate the troops to march onward while giving the Soviet intruders a major dampener in their morals.

But despite these facts, the Allied high command had a different plan. Instead of sacrificing the troops which already barely survived the Normandy, they faxed a message to the minor German city Wernigerode hidden somewhere in the Harz mountain range. German Allied reservists and rebels had a system of mountain bases directly under Soviet watch without being noticed, and among them was General Dietrich von Choltitz. Choltitz was a veteran from World War II, having fought alongside the Allied troops and having survived more than one occupation by the Soviets. His tactics to liberate Paris would be of immediate value later.

So instead of heading directly for Paris, the Allies had a different scheme on how to confuse the Soviets. The region around Paris was mainly bare farm land, patrolled by Sickles and ill-equipped Conscripts with Vodka bottles. On the other hand, the elite of the Defenders were in three main camps in the south-east, south-west and the north-east of Paris.

A triplet of Spies was send ahead. Unsuspecting soldiers would mistake a well disguised Spy with some of their comrades, especially if they happen to have some strong alcohol at hand. Going with this, the spies made sure than the entire non-elite of the Defenders would stand still the next days, so the Allied could start a large air show. The bulk of nearly 40,000 Soviet soldiers would not see that coming until it was too late.

Paris at Night

As expected, the three spies did their jobs very well. With money, calculation and enough charm were they able to hold the leading commanders until the night broke in. In a major surprise bombardment, 33 Century Bombers took out the three camps with according to statistics 3,001 men losing their lives, and by taking out most infrastructure the remaining forces were immobilized due to their inability to receive their commands.

The elite in Paris was shortly after alarmed. Sirens with high-pitched speakers roared around the whole city, and the surviving troops were readied to fight off any Allied intruders. The streets were fortified with walls, steel hedgehogs, bunkers and all kinds of barricades, Soviet sharpshooters sat in all windows and Flak Troopers manned their guns pointing upward to pull any blue-painted plain out of the sky.

But the Allies expected that - and were prepared. The night was pitch-black, unlike any other night in Paris no stars were visible and the lights... were out. Paris as a whole was completely without power, even the Soviet searchlights did not work. Panic made its round, when the first Allied airplanes swooped in. Centuries and Vindicators delivered bombs, destroying a large margin of the south-eastern fortification and dropped Air Rangers, Missile Troopers and K-9 units quickly searching safety in the civilian houses. Flak fire enlightened the night, but only two Centuries were downed.

Meanwhile, the 82th Panzer Corps under the real-time leadership of Choltitz drove across the border in the rather undefended region of North-west Paris. Little resistance came up. German Predator and British Guardian tanks made short work of the puny stronghold the Soviets erected, while Nightingale Carryalls transported an MCV in. Quickly building up a small outpost, the Allies took over a facility and a museum - and readied 5 World War II Char Battle Tanks.

While the Rangers slowly took over from the South-east and the Allied tanks from the North-west, the dawn came. Out of 89 Guardian Tanks, 11 fought their last battle in this night.

Dance of Witches

With the dawn coming faster than anyone expected, the result was already frightening. The Soviets had lost over 3,000 men in a single night and the Allied pushed ahead. It seemed like the Allies had gained both the upper hand on land and air, and self-sure the French generals Philippe Leclerc and Jacques Chaban-Delmas went further with their plan. On board of a Falcon Command Helicopter, they wanted to see the damage done to Paris themselves, which was a major mistake.

The Soviet 53rd Fighter Regiment, fresh from being rearmed, went into Paris' airspace and downed half a dozen Apollo Fighters on the first run. The Falcon was hit as well, with Leclerc being wounded by a piece of shrapnel, and while Chaban-Delmas tried to land the Falcon, it crashed instead into the ground near the Louvre. An ill-received transmission containing the words "French" and "idiots" in garbled Russian was all that was heard about the two until their bodies were found.

The remaining Apollos strafed above Paris and challenged the MiG's to a series of pretty duels, because of MiG's always having female pilots and the Apollo fleet being piloted by only females as well, this part of the battle was later dubbed the Dance of Witches. Nearly all MiG's were taken down sooner or later, with the casualty rate of the Apollos being much smaller. 5 Kirov's however made their way over Paris and destroyed anything they could find, and while one was shot down, it crashed onto the "Arc de Triomphe", taking it down in the flames. The remaining ones suffered heavy damage and tried to leave.

In the north-west of Paris, the squad of Guardians and Predators, accompanied by their rusty cousins the Chars, somehow managed to counter a group of Apocalypse tanks, not without casualties however. Myeches and V-4 Launchers landed some hits into the tank column, taking out a few Allied vehicles. Twinblade helicopters meanwhile swooped over the city and incinerated civilian structures occupied by the Allied paratroopers, leading to the death of over 400 soldiers.

Lunacy

All this took until late noon. When the sun stood high, the sound mostly audible was that of machine-guns and tank bullets swooping in the air or afterburners and sonic booms from high above. General Yuri Michalowitz sometime around 13:00 lost his patience. Not only had the Allies taken over a large margin in record time, but they had killed so many of his soldiers he wanted to explode in anger. Taking a group of his personal trusties, he manned a specially modified Apocalypse tank and rolled out into battle himself. He was too dead to regret this decision 20 minutes later, as his command tank exploded when a bomb pierced the ammunition compartment and ignited it, after taking heavy fire from several companies of Guardian tanks and over a dozen bombs from Vindicator airstrikes.

General Gregor Kudrjawzew was not as dumb as his fellow comrade. Instead of leading the battling troops himself, he waited until his secret weapon would be ready. With data from General Leonidov, he had two Super Reactors wired to the Eiffel Tower. With the correct input, Leonidov promised he would be astonished to see his newest idea - but he should take cover in a bunker safe from electricity.

Kudrjawzew trusted Leonidov' idea. Upon his order, the reactors pumped electricity into the wires, into the tower and into his spike - making the Eiffel Tower into a giant Tesla Coil. This later dubbed Eiffel Coil fired an annihilating beam of electricity through the air, incinerating anything that crossed its path. Any and every structure, vehicle and soldier or civilian around the tower was reduced to ash by its sheer force. The Allies were devastated for a short time. How were they supposed to destroy a weapon of this size and power?

The answer came in two parts. For one, the Allies quickly contacted the spies to get going and take the reactors out for a minute. Out of the three spies, Agent Amington and Agent Norton were the only two still alive, because Agent Drake fell victim to a War Bear. Amington and Norton went through the sewer system and would stand ready to deactivate the reactors upon command.

The other part of the plan included Choltitz' command, a helicopter, a team of technicians and lots and lots of rubber. The helicopter was outfitted with wires and rubber to survive the annihilating blasts of the still active Tesla Tower. Given the command, Amington and Norton went into the Super Reactors, overwrote the commands and shut them down, while the Carryall locked onto the Eiffel Tower. Killing off a few Tesla Troopers enjoying baguettes at the top, they quickly went to work and cut all the cables connecting the tower with the reactors, just in due time before the power plants went back online.

The team took off quickly since they were else unarmed, only to see the Eiffel Tower exploding behind them. The Soviets had set remote bombs at the foot of the tower to destroy it should the Allies manage to cut it off. On the other hand, the agents planted bombs in the Super Reactors as well, and after fleeing destroyed them. The explosions were less harmful than usual since they were mostly shut down.

At the end of the day, Paris was nearly freed and the surviving Soviet troops surrendered.

Phoenix in ashes

As a result of the battle, the Allies gained the upper hand in France and were able to push the Soviets back to the German border. However, due to the influence of the giant Tesla Coil, Paris lay mostly in ruins afterwards, and more than 165,000 civilians lost their lives in this tragic battle. The Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe remained ruins to remind people of the madness of war for a long time.

Years later, the Japanese would lead a helping hand to Paris, just as they did to London before, but restoring Paris to how it formerly was remained impossible.