Reich Marshal of the Belkan Reich

"MARK!"

The signal, given by AWACS and stratostation Okonkwo, arrives in batches as not all Belkan units will employ the same weapons. For example, aircraft carrying JSOW glide bombs or GBU guided bombs will drop their payloads first.

"Knight Squadron. Pickle. Pickle."

"Voidling Squadron. Bombs away!"

The bombs either unfurl their wings and glide from high altitude or dive straight down at the lumbering Royal Navy capital ships and cruisers.

Then there are Karl Donitz's U-Boats. These U-boats are among the first Reichsmarine warships to unleash their weapons, starting with their torpedoes.

"Open tubes 1 to 6. Fire everything!"

With little to no discernible torpedo launching sound, nearly a hundred 533 mm fishes come bubbling their way to the unsuspecting Erusean surface ships and submarines.

Following the early releases of slower weapon systems, faster and arguably more powerful weapons are in quick succession. The three Bismarck-class dreadnoughts, Tirpitz, Agir, and Bismarck herself, align their 432 mm main guns for a full broadside that shakes and lights up the pre-dawn night curtain. Even though the shells, after leaving the barrels of the dreadnoughts, are nowhere near the airspace above the Grand Fleet's head, the Erusean sailors can somehow feel the looming shadows they cast instinctively. Not stopping there, multiple VLS cells on all Reichsmarine ships, submersible or not, start opening up. A blink of an eye later, numerous Exoscar missiles are cold-launched and even some VL-ASROC are mixed in the alpha strike salvo. For a brief moment, the entirety of the Reichsmarine High Sea Fleet is shrouded in a screen of smoke plumes left behind by missile boosters activating.

Accompanying the missiles launched by the High Sea Fleet are those from the submersed U-boats, Belkan Army, and Air Forces. More Exoscars, multiple Iryses, and even some Fenixes are launched, thus creating a scene of the Grand Fleet being targeted by ordinances from all bearings. The B-40 Polar Bears, in particular, also open up their bomb bays and deploy their payloads, which come out unusually. To facilitate the fast deployment of multiple cruise missiles, the Exoscars are packed onto large rocket-powered revolving drums. Each bomber carries four such drums while each drum houses seven Exoscars. When deploying their weapons, the B-40s jettison these eight revolving drums, letting their rocket boosters kick in. The boosters are activated for a short distance before they're shut off automatically and the drums start spinning. The protective walls around the drums are detached, thus revealing extendable pylons carrying the cruise missiles. The Exoscars are then flung away by the spinning drums, gliding at first before their rocket motors kick in. Like a flock of migrating birds, these 58 B-40 launched missiles join the formation of aerial jet-powered seagulls. From an omniscient point of view, trails of smoke and fire painted an encroaching circular pattern on the Grand Fleet while artillery shells and torpedoes traveled nearly undetected visually.

Though one can gaze upward to see the missile trails, the Eruseans seem to have a hard time spotting them due to the low-hanging fog and tunnel vision while performing the evacuation efforts. The only ones that manage to react in time are the Erusean soldiers in Dunkirk and the Royal Navy's destroyer screening force. The former is due to the lower flying altitude of the land-launched Exoscar missiles, zooming above Dunkirk. While the latter manages to acquire some very weird reading through their hydrophones and sonars. Many sonar operators think these readings are nothing but environmental audio tricks, created by the nearly countless vessels operating in this span of the Erusean Channel. Still, even if any Erusean can accurately infer the truth, they don't even have the time to alert the rest of their compatriots.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Being the person with the best view of the situation, Okonkwo can track in real-time the movement and ETA of the ordinance unleashed by all Battlegroups. The harpy Commander first sees a near-perfect circle of white stripes, signifying live munitions, being formed before that very circle starts to get smaller, and smaller, until...

Right... This would have been more interesting if there were some audible explosions or something. Instead, Okonkwo has to make do with the constant single-tone beeping of an enemy unit being hit. That and the fact that their holographic projections and designations are changing from green to yellow. Like a bunch of dominoes falling in rapid succession, enemy markers, both air and sea in all designated Sectors, have their status changed to that of damaged and possibly mission-killed. The projections and markers for most Erusean aircraft, however, outright turned red and disappeared from the holotable without much fanfare.

Okonkwo can't really see it, but she can imagine just how devastating the effect their Alpha Strike had on the Eruseans down low.

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HMS Vanguard, the lead ship of her class and perhaps the most modern vessel of the Erusean Royal Navy to date. Though armed with the smaller 381 mm guns, unlike the HMS Nelson and her two sisters that are recently pressed into service, Vanguard is equipped with the best possible fire control system and detection equipment money can buy. This, in turn, makes Vanguard and her two sister ships the pride of the Grand Fleet. However, underneath the veneer of arguable modernity and prowess lies the crippling trouble of subpar officers, crews, and sailors. To quickly fill the bulk of the Grand Fleet, the Royal Navy opts for a half-half approach in manning the fleet's vessels, old and new alike.

What this means is a vessel will be crewed by a group of sailors with varying degrees of skill and experience. Half of the crew is professional sailors while the remaining half is comprised of greenhorn recruits. This allows the Royal Navy to quickly send a vessel out into the ocean. Though it's an understandable decision to make, given the pressing need for serviceable warships the Royal Navy has, it's troubled by the fact that the new vessels also employed untested and novel equipment in day-to-day operation. This further complicated the training and servicing of the newer vessels, leading to a starkly reduced performance that only put these new vessels barely more efficient than the older King George V-class battleship, if one needs a direct example. Nevertheless, it doesn't change the fact that the new warships are a force to be reckoned with. Morale is high with them around and surely the inefficient crew can be offset by modern instruments, provided they all work properly.

So, moments before disaster, the crew of HMS Vanguard can be seen overwatching the proceeding evacuation of Dunkirk. Despite their overall alertness, one can see the clear haughtiness and arrogance in the ways they conduct themselves on sentry or patrol duties. Such baseless vanity is detrimental to any military force. Though he tries to reign in that behavior, Admiral Percy Addison must admit that there's a certain pride to be had when hoisting his command flag over the Vanguard. So unless the sailors start spouting bullshit about underestimating their foes, Addison lets it slide as he doesn't have the needed time to straighten out the Grand Fleet, at least not yet.

While peering through the fog to gaze at the bustling evacuation beach, Addison silently hopes that tonight will be an eventless night. Unlike many of his peers, Admiral Addison doesn't believe in the false superiority, given to them by unbaptized crew and warships. Quantity and arguable quality aside, Addison hates dealing with an unknown enemy the most. Belka is literally on the top of his 'Don't fuck around and find out' list these days. Yet, unfortunately for the man, he's picked to be in charge of the Grand Fleet and this whole Dunkirk hot potato. It's an order from the Royal Family themselves so he couldn't exactly refuse it without losing his entire career built on blood, sweat, and tears.

So, here is Addison right now, standing on the conning tower of the Grand Fleet's flagship, the HMS Vanguard. A ship which is suddenly beset with faint whistling sounds from above.

"Bloody He-" Addison can't even finish his sentence before he's forced to duck down when something punches through the armored roof of Vanguard's A-turret.