Ordeal of Fire 1

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PRESENT DAY, LONDINIUM

I always get depressed this time of year.

Good evening, everyone.

This is WTN Special Correspondent Andrew.

…Today, we won’t be bringing you the usual documentary.

We’ll still be looking back on what happened during the war, but today we’ll be doing it with a prayer. This will be a memorial broadcast.

First, let’s talk about the disturbance in the Arene-Roygen region. The video you’re all seeing right now is invaluable archival footage of residents of the occupied area revolting against the Imperial Army… This program contains numerous violent scenes. What happened during that time? Because our aim is to confront the truth, we’ve been granted permission under the ethics code to broadcast this material, but viewer discretion is advised.

Now then, are you still with us? What you see in the upper right-hand corner of your screen is Karelian Cathedral. It was also the scene of a tragedy we’ll discuss later on.

All right, we’ll keep the prefatory remarks to a minimum, as we’re connected to the venue of the memorial ceremony now. Here is video of the commemoration of the victims of the suppression. This year, we can finally see ambassadors from each country in attendance.

The controversy goes on, but we should be glad the reconciliation process has reached the point where the two nations are having a joint memorial.

After all, this is a day to remember: They’re unveiling the new Karelian Cathedral, raised out of the wreckage by the citizens’ own hands.

The city of Arene burned. This is the story of how its people overcame their suffering and rebuilt.

Tonight, we discuss this wartime tragedy with an eye on those who are thinking of the future.

Here is Arene in the immediate aftermath, ruined.

This was recorded in secret by a newscaster from the Waldstätte Confederacy, which was one of the few neutral countries.

Can you tell that the partially collapsed building in the foreground is the famous white cathedral Karelian?

This all started when a hunt for partisans turned into a military clash. Arene had always been staunchly anti-Empire. It didn’t even take a day for skirmishes to develop into a full-on uprising. We’re told that the Imperial Army was shocked upon receiving the report that anti-Empire riots were spreading and that they no longer had control over the city.

“This could cause the collapse of supply lines servicing the Great Army on the front.”

Having made this judgment, the army feared the collapse of the front, where it had dedicated its bodies and souls, and it responded without mercy.

Upon receiving word that anti-Empire riots had broken out in Arene, Major General (at the time) von Zettour proposed a swift, ruthless way to “cope.” Major General von Rudersdorf of the Operations Division immediately called an emergency meeting of the Imperial Army General Staff and got the operation approved as a joint proposal from the Service Corps and Operations. With that, the army had permission to send military forces into the city.

One of the main points of controversy, even today, is that the Imperial Army unhesitatingly chose to gain control of the city with not police power but the army.

From that decision, it is generally believed that the Empire regarded the uprising as irregular warfare, and people speculate that the mission given to the Imperial Army units envisioned not suppression of the partisans but elimination.

On that point, the Empire argued at the time that partisan activities or the support of them was to forfeit the protection of the law of war.

And so the flames engulfed Arene terribly quickly.

We have here testimony from citizens of Arene who just barely escaped. They’ve told us that they weren’t revolting but that their protests had simply intensified.

…Of course, history tells us that no matter how things started, the Empire’s reaction was fierce.

Due to some documents being lost and others remaining classified, we don’t know the details, but a battalion-size, possibly larger group of mages was the first to attack.

After receiving what barely counted as a warning, the citizens were beset by a storm of mages.

“They gunned people down like they were so many targets in a firing exercise.”

“They got ‘points’ for shooting people.”

“People had blocked themselves in, so they used heavy-explosion formulas to bombard whole districts.”

These are all painful memories of the tragedy being shared today.

Even counting only the confirmed deaths, the city of Arene lost half its population that day. The worst incident occurred at the Karelian Cathedral I mentioned earlier.

The swift, disproportionate mage assault they witnessed was only the vanguard. Once a train brought in a multitude of reserve units to sweep through and gain complete control of the city, the residents were left with few places to hide.

To protect themselves and their families, the only options remaining to the men and women who took up arms were to put up a hopeless resistance within the city or risk a desperate escape through enemy forces.

But with no other way to do battle, the sad reality is that the citizens were forced to barricade themselves in. The great majority of them took refuge in and around Karelian Cathedral.

The actions the Empire took in response to this are still debated today, and they have many critics. At the same time, you can’t help but notice a strange discrepancy between the complicated laws and common sense.

After all, legal scholars agree that the massacre wasn’t in violation of any laws of war. To you viewers at home, that fact must come as a shock.

It’s not as though citizens participating in the armed uprising were wearing military uniforms. They were irregular combatants. In other words, international law didn’t even guarantee them the rights of prisoners.

Perhaps that’s why the Imperial Army surrounded them and gave a word of warning.

“Release unaffiliated members of the general population immediately. We can’t allow your slaughter to continue. We demand the release of imperial citizens according to article 26, paragraph 3, of the Rules of War on Land.”

Records of what the citizens did are sparse, due to the chaos. But we do know that a small number of pro-Empire people attempted to escape and were shot in full view of the Imperial Army.

Now, why did this tragedy occur?

It recent years, scholars have pointed to the possibility that it was an unforeseen result of Republican propaganda. They had been expressing their intent to dispatch a rescue to take the city back.

Some Republican soldiers were even prepared to fight the Empire.

A number of historians say that atmosphere spread to the populace of Arene. More than a few suggest that the arrival of Republican Army mages led the citizens to make the wrong decision.

And in fact, many of the survivors report a prevailing attitude that they could hold out until the Republic saved them.

Then the Empire issued its last warning.

“This is a warning for the irregular combatants of the armed revolt. In accordance with article 8, paragraph 5, of the Rules of War on Land, I demand someone meet with our representative to discuss the subjects of the Empire you so unjustly imprison.”

In response, the city of Arene said, “We are the citizens of Arene. There are no prisoners. We are just people asking to be free.”

And so, according to the Rules of War on Land, since there were no prisoners and no imperial citizens among the irregular combatants occupying the city, the Empire carried out an operation to capture it.

In order to avoid the heavy responsibility for each soldier that would result if they went into the city and had to visually confirm their targets, they aimed to cause widespread fires via artillery bombardment from positions surrounding the city.

A portion of the documents shows that they had chosen targets that were likely to spread the flames as proof-of-concept for a firestorm.

This notorious atrocity perpetrated by the Imperial Army is commonly known as the Arene Massacre.

We have with us Professor Walter Halbom of Londinium University. Professor Halbom, we’ll jump right into it. Why did the Imperial Army take such drastic military action with no hesitation?

“Well, you have to understand how the imperial soldiers were thinking. Their paradigm tended to have military leanings. To put it another way, they wanted to apply that logic to everything.

“In other words, they were thinking in terms of strategy and whatnot.

“You can probably understand the significance of riots behind the Western District Army’s front for guys with that mind-set.

“Let’s take this step-by-step. First, the Empire’s Arene-Roygen region has always contained sparks of partisan resistance. The Imperial Army hypothesizes that someone is inciting the area’s anti-Empire faction.

“I think the real problem was that that possibility couldn’t be completely denied.

“And if you consider that the uprising cut off the western Imperial Army rear areas from the front, the rest is simple.

“What the Imperial Army General Staff feared first and foremost at the time was the western army getting pinned down before they could scrape together the troops for a unit to suppress the revolt. Most of the Empire’s forces were committed on the Rhine lines, so an attack from the militia while the troops were pinned down by the Republican Army might have been enough to cost the Empire the western industrial district.

“The second possibility was that the revolt would stay contained within the Arene-Roygen region. In that case, they would be able to protect the industrial region, but…Arene was a major city on the supply rail line. I think that played a major role.

“Because, you know, if there is pressure on the supply lines, the troops won’t be able to fight for very long no matter how tough they are.

“The potential was there for the Empire’s worst-case scenario to come to pass—at least, it wouldn’t have been an unexpected line of reasoning for the imperial side.

“We can see that the anti-Empire movement uprising gave the Empire a tremendous shock in terms of strategy.

“I myself can declare, from my experience serving, that the mere notion of the communication lines to the rear becoming paralyzed is terrifying for anyone.

“So I think the Imperial Army was imagining the Republican Army Command would throw their weight around. If that happened, the imperial forces would be requested to urgently eliminate the resistance, but they would have to worry about Republican mages joining and strengthening it.

“At that point, the army was already short on troops for the front, so stabilizing the rear at the same time was a practically impossible demand.

“With these two difficult problems, the Empire now faced a major dilemma. The only good thing—or perhaps, the disastrous thing—was that they had an intercepting mage unit as reinforcements.

“The mage units Command kept on hand as reserves for the army had a measure of firepower. That gave them the option to suppress the separatist independent movement.

“Of course, if they mobilized them here, they wouldn’t be able to use them to resist an invasion.

“Naturally, that led to worries that the main battlefront could collapse. Additionally, in a battle to capture a city, the mage units would really only be good for intimidation and diversions.

“But on the front lines, they could wipe out or repel enemy units.

“Should they prioritize fending off attacking Republicans? If they did that, with the rear devoid of soldiers, the revolt was liable to spread. If that happened, it could have a markedly negative effect on the supply lines, causing enormous losses in a battle of attrition. On the front lines, where they were already fighting close-pitched battles, it was hard to imagine they would be able to take such losses.

“So should they put down the revolt first? But spending the time of their only reserves to suppress the revolt could prove fatal. If the reserves got tied up and lost time and the Republican Army broke through, the invasion could result in an immeasurable increase in casualties. All the lives lost countering the sneak attack and pushing the enemy back would have been lost for nothing, and that would not be acceptable.

“For the Republican Army, on the other hand, success was guaranteed. No matter which objective the Imperial Army chose, the Republicans would achieve something in the end.

“It is here that the Imperial Army commits an obviously atrocious deed, leaving a mark on history no country should make.

“Who ordered it is unclear. We don’t even really have a record of who carried it out. These were truly soldiers who had to be left out of the records.

“While they were soldiers of the finest caliber who pulled off a miraculous defensive battle, they were also the lowest of the low who deeply stained the Empire’s honor.

“Now in the postwar period, many soldiers criticize them. Personally, though, I defend the people who were put in that difficult position. Under the circumstances, they had no alternative options, and additionally, it came down as an order.

“What is certain is that someone saved the Empire’s battle lines, although I have to say, the method is not one I personally agree with.”

Thank you, Professor Walter Halbom.

Now, take a look at this next video… Professor Halbom offers this internal document from the Imperial Army General Staff.

She might call it “an extreme form of ‘practicality.’”

Command has removed her restraints. Wisely, to achieve victory, they took away her limits. These are the orders of the army, of the Empire, and as a soldier, I am forced to obey. The impulses that were successfully suppressed with logic will be unchained for this great cause. Or perhaps it’s that the cause she had to hesitate will disappear.

Whose responsibility is it when a beast bites into a meal thrown in front of it? I believe those responsible are none other than the ones who threw the sacrifice to the starving animal.

*A scribbled note discovered in a wastebasket at the Imperial Army General Staff Headquarters