It is 1946. The German territories in Europe are under Allied occupation.

In one last bid for survival, known as Operation:Untergang, Hitler, the Nazi Party, 45% of the German Wehrmacht and all transferable industrial utilities are moved to Argentina, who has so far been harboring Nazi German research bases within its jungles.

Hearing of the development, newly-promoted Four-star General of the Marine Corps, Chesty Puller, alongside Generals Patton and MacAuliffe, are recalled to the US in preparation for counter-ops within the South-American nation. Within months, the Marines are deployed headfirst into combat and storm the beaches, while Patton's tank army and MacAuliffe's Airborne breach through from allied Brazil. In one fell swoop, the US Armed Forces enter the country... But meet little resistance.

Deep within the jungles, however, a German secret older than even the German nation itself awaited. A gate... One that lead to a new world.

New challenges, new allies, old enemies. Time to seize the day again.

Welcome to...

Iron Front:The Gallian-Imperial War

Chapter 1:Marines and Airborne deploy. Operation "Blue Dawn"

A dense forest appeared ahead of the Marines of the 3rd Platoon, First Regiment. As the disorientation from transfer first passed, the oak trees ahead cleared into distinct shapes, as did the shrubs and bushes. Sergeant Brandon Hiller, of the USMC, regarded his fellow troopers as they shook off the shock of travelling through what felt like a sci-fi Stargate. The man gazed back, to see the massive construct. A blue half-circle with symbols and a spiral motif. IT was made of a material unknown to anyone back home. Whatever it was, it got the Eggheads all in a twist. And it was lit up like a Christmas tree.

Out from it, Hiller saw several more boys appear. These ones wore the uniform of the 101st Airborne. The Screaming Eagles. Leading them was Sergeant Michael Jones. Mike, for short. The Marine Sergeant grinned. He'd known Mike since he first arrived in the USA. They met back in New York and joined together after a long while. They were brothers for life ever since Mike backed him up in an argument between him and a dishonorably discharged Marine.

"You and your boys seem to be taking what feels like interdimensional travel well, pal." Hiller whispered. Mike nodded, then showed his boys to take a knee before walking up to and shaking Hiller's hand, then taking a knee beside his brother and saying "Well, we're airborne. What'd you expect? We're used to nausea and heights." with a grin. Mike had that odd, eastern-european accent. Brandon knew why a little too well. For some reason, Mike had entrusted him with a secret that could be the difference between life and death for the young Airborne member.

No time to focus on that, now. The two looked to their respective soldiers and gave hand signals. Spread out, cover the flanks and slowly creep forward. The gunfire echoing in the distance didn't bother the guys none. Both saw action. One in Japan and the other in Europe. The more raw recruits, however, got twitchy the further the teams crept along. Mike gripped his M1 Carbine tightly.

Meanwhile, Hiller carried an M1919 Browning with an extended barrel and a retractable bipod, akin to those on Nazi MG42s. The Texan grinned as he moved forward on one knee. Mike looked back to one of his comrades, then said "What do you see?" to which the man nodded and answered "Clearing up ahead, sir. I think it's the edge of the treeline. Smoke's rising from the other side."

"Probably a village, sir." Another trooper suggested. The Sergeants nodded, then gave the signal for a slow advance. As they crept up around the trees, the Snipers of the teams were the first to reach the treeline, followed by the Sergeants and the rest of the combined platoon. A village aflame lay ahead. Soldiers marched into it, clad in strange uniforms and with even stranger armor on top.

They were shooting at unarmed civilians...

"Christ..." Hiller said, in a low growl.

"Guess that's the bad guys here." Mike hummed. He checked his Thompson and then looked to his men, before showing them to scatter around the treeline. Hiller looked at his wristwatch and said "It's 10 in the evening back home... Has to be..." He paused as whistling sounded off overhead, eyes wide. He looked to Mike and both then called out "MORTAR!" as they jumped out of the way. A mortar round struck the ground, sending two Marines and a Paratrooper flying sky high, limbs missing. Machine Gun fire roared overhead and rounds from rifles impacted the treeline. Hiller looked down to see enemy troopers advancing from down the Hill. What fired at them was a tank-mounted 75mm Mortar apparently. He saw the strange Char-1B Tank copy rolling toward them.

"WHERE IN THE HELL DID THAT TANK COME FROM!?" the Marine Sergeant barked, setting up his MG and opening fire as the soldiers ahead advanced by their tank. Two men fell, gunned down by the weapon's .30 cal rounds. Mike's Thompson burped as he swept ahead of the treeline. Rounds scratched the trees, impacted off bark and even hit one of his men right next to him in the shoulder.

"BASTARDS, IN THE OPEN!" Called out Mike, gritting his teeth as his men shifted fire with their Garand rifles. One soldier's rifle clinked as the main clip ejected. He racked the bolt and swiftly slammed another clip in, locking it into place, before aiming and firing. His helmet was flung off after his second shot and he fell backward, his skull punctured by a semi-automatic rifle's round.

The tank fired again, this time from the snub-nosed 45mm in its turret. A shell launched a Paratrooper into a tree, with broken bones across his entire body. Mike gritted his teeth, then yelled to his men "GET OUR GOD DAMN BAZOOKA UP!" before ducking into cover as SMG fire poured in on'em. The soldiers kept up the fire, but their casualties were mounting. The enemy's were too.

Hiller's LMG barked continuously. He looked to Mike and yelled "COME AND HELP ME FEED THIS FUCKING THING!"

The Trooper jumped out of cover and ran beside his friend, firing the Thompson blindly. Two more of the knight-like bastards fell, gunned down. The soldier dropped to his stomach and crawled to his friend, before calling to his men "KEEP UP THE FIRE! DON'T SLACK IT OFF!" as another shell exploded wide into the treeline, sending shards of wood flying. The boy took a belt from around Brandon's body, unclipped one of the sides and reloaded the MG, holding the .30 belt up with one hand while firing with his Thompson using the other.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me..." Hiller gritted his teeth, firing his LMG at the advancing enemy unit in a sweeping motion. They heard a shell scream overhead and the tank's forward gun exploded into a blaze of fire, whilst its turret was flung clean off and whoever was inside was carbonized by ammo exploding. Two soldiers beside the tank died immediately due to the shrapnel.

"THE FUCK WAS THAT?!" One of the Marines called, then looked back to see them. Thick, olive-drab silhouettes with rounded armor and the American Army's white star painted onto their turrets. They had short-barrel 75mm Cannons and on top of them, crewmen manned 50 caliber MGs. Mike looked back, then grinned and called out joyfully "SHERMANS!" and the two boys laughed, as did the rest of the platoon while the medium tanks advanced.

"ABOUT FUCKING TIME, BOYS!" Hiller yelled as he saw Army GIs advancing beside the tanks. One of them jumped into the ditch with'em and said "29th Infantry and 5th Armored, to the rescue!" grinning.

"Took your sweet time!" Mike returned, tapping the guy on the shoulder. "Good to see you!"

"General Patton ordered a direct deployment! General Puller's orders were about the same for the Marines!" The Infantryman explained "We figured that if your Radio worked, we got a chance!"

"You called us?!" The two boys asked and looked to the radiomen of their platoons. who nodded back to them. The soldiers smirked, then Hiller ordered "Alright, boys! Good job to the Radio men! The rest of you, follow us! Advance! Watch out for other tanks!"

Bruhl Gate

Alicia Melchiott, captain of the town watch, ducked under a wave of assault weapon fire as rounds slammed into and around the sandbag wall at the front of the gate. She heard armored vehicles move out, among which a light tank of the Empire's. She gritted her teeth as she dragged one of her friends into cover, then looked to the wounded blonde and asked "Susie, you okay?!"

The Watch Girl gripped her bleeding shoulder and said "I'll be fine..." through tears. Alicia looked back as she heard a gargle of blood and saw one of her fellow Watchmen fall, gunned down. She gritted her teeth, then fired blindly over the lip of the sandbag wall. She yelped as gunfire came closer, more accurate, then looked to Susie and said "We'll make it, Sue. Don't worry!" before looking over the top and watching as the heavily-armored Imperial soldiers advance...

One of them exploded... His chest eviscerated by a massive bullet...

She heard rattling gunfire from a heavy machine gun and gasped, looking back to see something incredible. Soldiers clad in green uniforms, wearing steel helmets, advanced toward them, down the road. With a gasp, she saw the soldiers advancing quickly, leapfrogging from cover to cover while massive, rounded hulls of medium tanks moved, their tracks grinding against the stone pavement.

The riflemen carried semi-automatic long rifles covered by dark wood stocks. She saw one of them hauling an LMG on his shoulder, with several belts strapped to his person. Then gasped as she saw the Imperial light tank swing about, turning its turret to engage the treading medium tanks. A shot punched clean through side armor and the tank's ammunition caught fire, then exploded, leaving a twisted metallic wreck in the road while the Riflemen advanced under a hail of bullets. Two riflemen jumped into the trench beside the girls, having appeared from out of a side road, followed by what seemed to be a medic, a red cross on his shoulder and helmet.

The soldier leading them was one with a Submachine Gun that had a drum magazine... The man was handsome, brown-haired and with blue eyes. He took Alicia's hand and asked her "What's your name? What do you do here?" to which she shook her head, snapping out of her stupor, then answered "I... I'm Alicia Melchiott, captain of the Bruhl Town Watch! And not to sound ungrateful, but... WHO THE HELL ARE YOU GUYS!?"

The soldier grinned, then said "We're the US Armed Forces, Captain Melchiott! Marines and Army!"

"US?!" The girl barked.

"United States, lass!" Said the guy with the LMG as he jumped into the trench too, whilst the tanks cleared out the last of the enemy advance. "So, Mike, got who she is?"

"Captain Alicia Melchiott. Bruhl Town Watch." Mike answered, smiling, then said "Well, Captain Melchiott, we must introduce ourselves too. I'm Sergeant Michael Jones, US Airborne 101st. This is my friend, Sergeant Brandon Hiller of the United States Marine Corps!"

"Hoo'rah, Capt'n!" Hiller smirked. "The boys following us are 101st, Marines and 29th Infantry Div, as well as 5th Armored." before he looked to Alicia's teammate, Susie, who was now under care of a US Medic of the 29th ID. "Listen, who are those assholes?" the Marine then asked, pointing to the dead Imps on the floor. Alicia's eyes widened and she asked "You don't know who the Imperials are?"

"All we know is they shot first at us." Mike responded, sitting down on the edge of the wall.

"Well, they-"

"PANTHER! FUCKING PANTHER INCOMING!" Cried one of the Marines. The soldiers' eyes widened and all of them jumped to their feet. The tanks they had struggled and turned around, to greet the incoming tank... Alicia saw a faint tint of blue, then said "WAIT!" as the troopers prepared to fire. She jumped over the trench and showed the tanks to stop, then said "WAIT! THAT'S ONE OF OURS! IT'S A GALLIAN TANK!"

"Gallian?" Hiller and Mike asked in unison. She smirked, then said "That's the country you guys are in. Gallia."

"Huh... Fun." Hiller chuckled, leaning his Browning on his shoulder. He watched as, out of the top of the tank, appeared a young man with platinum-blonde hair. He had a Tank Commander's Radio set on his neck and earbuds on his ears. And he stared with eyes wide at the tanks and infantry ahead. Almost 50 soldiers and then some, with the strange tanks.

"Welkin, you guys have a tank!?" Alicia asked with a smile.

"Hey... Alicia... Who're your friends?" The boy asked, dumbfound.

Alicia looked to them, then showed them to introduce themselves. Mike stepped up first, then said "Sergeant Michael Jones, 101st Airborne." then Hiller "Sergeant Brandon Hiller, Marines. Who're ya, lad?"

"I'm Welkin Gunther. A University student." The boy nodded to them.

"With a motherfuckin' tank. He's a-okay in my book, Sarge." One of the Marines said gleefully. Hiller nodded and said "Aye. Agreed on that, Beaks." he then looked to Welkin and said "We're gathering up. The rest of our Army Group is about to arrive here and help keep these... Did you say they were Imperials?" He turned to Alicia and received a nod, before turning back "These Imperial sons-a-bitches outta your fine lil' nation by the grace of the Almighty Lord."

Welkin looked to Hiller, then said "The Imperials will be back with a bigger Army, knowing full well the rest of it was routed out of here by you... I'd suggest we head for Randgriz and regroup there."

"Mhm... Hey, Mike, say..." Hiller said, scratching his chin.

"Yeah?" The quiet Drop Trooper asked, eyebrow raised.

"This tank don't much look like a Panther to me..." the bubbly Marine smirked as he looked over the Gallian vehicle. "More like some kinda merge between one of our mighty fine Pershings and a King Tiger." and he heard the other troopers of their force laugh. Mike smiled, then nodded and said "I'll say. It's a good-looking tank. It got a name?" he turned to Welkin.

"Yeah. Edelweiss." The young man returned. Mike smiled, then said "A fine name for a tank that has its namesake flower on the turret." and he pointed at the Noble White drawing on the side of the gun mantlet. "Well, mister Gunther, I must ask... Would you lead us to this 'Randgriz'? We're not from around the bend here in Gallia and the roads are probably gonna mess with our heads."

Hiller looked to Mike with a smile, then ordered a radioman "Contact HQ! Tell'em to ready up to move! We'll have the Locals leading us to the meeting point near one'a'their Major cities!" and he heard an immediate response as the man went to work. The group turned to see Susie being loaded onto the front of a Sherman to be carried out of the place safely, with several more of the wounded.

"Alright, boys! Let's load'em up! We're moving in to RV with the rest of our Expeditionary Forces, then we're leaving for Randgriz!" Hiller ordered. Mike followed suit and called to his boys "Mount up and get comfortable, lads!" before turning to Welkin and asking "Mind if some of our boys ride Shotgun with you?" to which the boy shook his head and said "Not at all." smiling.

The Marines, Airborne and GIs mounted and as the sun set, whilst they drove, Alicia looked back to Bruhl with sadness from aboard the Edelweiss. She felt a hand placed on her shoulder, then heard Welkin say "We'll come back to it." as they drove toward a meeting point. Alicia looked to him, then sighed deeply and said "Yeah... I hope we have what to come back to..."

"We'll help with that, girl!" One of the Airborne said, grinning. Alicia heard skin and bone hit a metal helmet and then Mike's voice say "Don't be a dick, Rico." monotonely. As the sound of engines overlapped with the soldiers' voices, the squad came upon the main road... Where they saw them. Dozens of tanks, transports and Halftracks moved through. A Convoy of transport vehicles and combat vics. Mike looked back, to see two of the tanks hauling the strange, round blue gate on a trailer, covered by a tarp... And soon, he heard his fellow Airborne start singing.

"Gory, gory, what a helluva way to die! Gory, Gory, what a HELLUVA way to die! He ain't gunna jump no more!" They all sang merrily... Mike chuckled, then joined and started singing too, calmly, as their tanks joined the Convoy, with the Edelweiss moving at the forefront of it all. Alicia looked over to the Airborne, a hint of worry in her gaze, then asked "What the hell are they singing?"

"I... Don't think we wanna know." Welkin mused. He then jumped back under the hatch, while Alicia watched dusk turn into night, the orange sky fading into inky blackness and the image of white stars appearing. The singing was rather soothing, save for the brutal lyrics... She drifted off, asleep on top of the tank. The soldiers aboard let her be as they sang a merry tune.

The risers wrapped around his neck, connectors cracked his dome,

The lines were snarled and tied in knots around his skinny bones;

The canopy became the shroud; he hurtled to the ground.

And he ain't gonna jump no more!

Gory, Gory what a Helluva way to die!

Gory, gory, what a helluva way to die!

Gory, Gory, what a HELLUVA way to die!

He ain't gunna jump no more!