The Undead World in 1943

Part 1: The Beginning.
''11th December, 1942. Stalingrad.''

It was the dead of winter. The Battle Of Stalingrad was in full swing. Several corpses were in the medical tent at a Soviet camp about 2 miles outside the city. Three hours later, they were not there. Soon, German scouting parties were seen roaming the streets, covered in blood and scratch marks. Then, entire German camps were found with half-eaten corpses littering the snow covered ground. Subsequent scouting parties to the same areas found no corpses at all. Soon Soviet camps were overrun, and by the twentieth of December, Stalingrad was a dead zone, although no-one knew it. Then German bases in the Soviet Union began disappearing. Whole companies, whole battalions. When 1943 came, the dead numbered well over 250,000. Still, the war continued. It only ended, at least unofficially, when frantic radio broadcasts came in from somewhere near Kursk from a Soviet radio operator. The transmission consisted of panicked shouting in both Russian and German, moaning and screaming, and shooting. After 14 minutes, the transmission was transformed from this cacophony of mayhem into hundreds of thousands of moans. From then on, unofficial truces continued across the Russian front, although official hostilities continued. As the undead spread across the Russian front, the battle became more and more desperate. However, the Germans and Soviets had one, massive advantage: the ability to deliver supplies via airdrops. As the undead had no anti-aircraft capabilities, the militaries were able to carry out fire missions on the undead with absolutely no danger whatsoever. However, on the ground, the undead had the advantage. The army had the ranged capability, but it was no use when over three-quarters of the soldiers were not properly briefed on how to stop the undead human. The month of January in 1943 was marked by major defeat after major defeat: Smolensk, Moscow, and the worst of them all, Leningrad. The city was ready, but not for the great hordes that were further swelled by the humans killed in the previous defeats. It was 2,500,000 Soviet and German defenders versus over 5 million undead. The result was a horrific massacre, with just 120,000 people managing to escape, the rest transformed into ravenous, flesh-eating monsters. After this, the truce became official, with the remainder of the now unified Soviet and German armies retreating west. As February began, the undead then started to follow the army west. Then, the army made one last stand against the undead along the Polish border. The undead were expected to arrive around March. This gave the army time to prepare for what would surely decide the war against the undead. By now, the British and Americans had heard of this truce, and were considering sending troops to the Polish border to help the Soviets and Germans to fend off the enormous horde that was surely headed their way. By the time they had actually agreed to send troops, the horde was less than three days away, and it would take at least a week for the troops to arrive. Even so, they were sent to the front. When the horde hit, the casualty rate was high. Tens of thousands died within the first hours of the battle. However, now the army was more prepared for undead warfare. The soldiers, for the most part, had been briefed on how to dispatch the undead. But disaster was about to strike, and, sure enough, the army group at the north part of the border collapsed, with over 70% of the men in the group dead or undead, the remainder ran west, to the Fatherland. However, many of the retreating men were already bitten, unleashing the infection onto Poland...

Part 2: One przybwaja!
''19th April, 1943. Cracow.''

The undead plague had now spread all across Poland. The army that had consolidated itself along the Polish border was destroyed. Out of eleven million that the battle had started with, now it was just about half a million, and they were thinly spread across Poland. The good thing was that now Western Europe was fully aware of the outbreak, and was now sending troops to the German border to defend the rest of Europe from the shambling hordes. But the days of inefficient, rigid warfare that was still more geared towards fighting human opponents were long gone. Now the troops were in a steady retreat all the time when the undead were engaged, and they were now fully briefed and trained on how to effectively fight against the undead. Even with the complete overhaul of the tactics and fighting style of the militaries that would soon see the undead in all their terrifying might, the situation was still dire. No-one was heard from in Russia for weeks. Poland was all but overrun. Germany was suffering major riots and disturbances. Many people in the US and Canada greatly sympathized with the plight of Europe's citizens, and there were several organizations set up for donations to be sent to displaced refugees from Poland and even Russia, most of which had spent their entire journey running from their homes to become homeless in a land where they did not speak the language. Within a week, almost 20,000 US dollars had been raised for the people in Germany. This would be a large help to the refugees and people who had their homes destroyed in riots. early scouting reports by airships had reported great swarms of undead that were often millions strong. This was a significant morale drop to the army, but it was mostly made up for with the propaganda shown by the governments to the public and the soldiers, but the facts were often exaggerated or even totally fabricated by the governments. The battle began on the 30th of April, 1943...

Part 3: Kampf fur Europa.
30th April, 1943.

The swarm was on the horizon, less than an hour away. There were tens of millions, and the troops were forced to wear earplugs just to stifle the deafening collective moan of almost 100 million shambling undead. The moan could be heard almost 25 miles away. at 7:48 AM, the troops started firing. thousands of undead were felled within seconds. The horrible sounds could now be heard well over 35 miles away with the gunfire and shouting now. At 9:32 AM the first undead broke the line and the troops began retreating as one line. By 10:05 AM, almost a million undead had been dispatched. The balance had been tipped in the military's favour from the start, and was only set to tip further into it as the undead came through the great minefields set by the military. Although a large majority of undead were only crippled by the mines, it slowed down the swarm significantly as the undead that were not crippled stumbled over the ones that were. Now that the undead were slowed down, German Stuka dive-bombers came in at 10:37 AM. Even though the psychological aspect was totally ineffective on the undead, the machine guns and bombs tore the undead to shreds, but only around 12,000 undead were killed. Then the heavy artillery came in; it did the same job as the Stuka's, but it did it for longer. Whereas the Stuka's were limited to a few runs at a time, the artillery could keep going indefinitely, as long as the supply of ammunition held out, and that was only the heavy artillery. At 11:00 AM, the mortars opened up. It did not do the same as the heavy artillery, but it did it for just as long. Then at 11:22 AM the rocket launchers, based on the Soviet Katyusha rocket launcher design that had been scavenged by the Germans when they had pulled out of Russia, opened fire. The whooshes of the rockets could easily be heard even through the earplugs of the troops. At 11:42 AM, the undead swarm exited the minefield. Now the undead were reaching the soldiers in the southern reaches of the border, though only in limited numbers. Now the soldiers in the south were deserting. It was just a few at first, as the psychological strain of hearing the moans of the largest undead horde seen since the beginning of the war began to take its toll. Then more began to desert, three dozen at a time. Then, as the undead began to truly overrun the southern reaches, then it began to seem less and less hopeful. Even though over ten million undead were killed, the troops then began to desert all over the front. They then ran through the second minefield, and though there were clear zones the troops were supposed to go through, many did not bother to go through them, and as a result thousands had limbs blown off by the mines. The undead had now fully caught up with the main force, and were tearing into them with ferocity not seen on any human battlefield. Many soldiers were eaten alive, their screams being added to the sounds of moans, explosions and gunshots. By 12:00 PM, the undead now had the upper hand, and it was getting worse, with the true size of the horde growing as the soldiers went to the top of hills. There were now tens of millions in sight. Their moans were truly deafening. At 12:18 PM, the Stuka's went in for a second run. The machine guns tore through the swarm a second time, their bombs scattering groups of the undead. A section of the army deserted, all together, under the command of a charismatic Lieutenant, in an attempt to defend Dresden against the hordes that would surely attack. Another section deserted to defend Cottbus. These two sections made up almost half of the army. This prompted the entire army to run, many small squads simply hoping to defend their own interests. At 12:40 PM, the generals deployed large bombers to drop bombs on the swarm, hoping to thin the numbers out, or at least slow them down. This was a disaster; the strong western winds blew the bombs towards the deserting army, killing and maiming thousands. The battle was well and truly lost at 1:15 PM, when, in desperation, the leadership deployed mustard gas to stop them. This was the biggest mistake, possibly, in the entire war. Instead of killing the dead, it killed tens of thousands of soldiers. This was the beginning of the end for Western Europe...

Part 4: De Abwarts Spirale.
30th May, 1943.

A month after the battle that would decide the fate of Western Europe, Germany was under siege. Eastern Germany was a dead zone. On the 1st of June, five cities were lost, Leipzig, Dresden, Berlin, Oranienburg, and Chemnitz. With defenders and citizens included, 25 million people died that day. The German government had begun withdrawing west. They had set up defensive lines along the western bank of the river Rhine, letting the dead occupy Germany east of the Rhine. The army was slowly retreating west, back towards the Rhine. By the ninth of June, they had formed defensive positions along the western bank. It all looked like the dead would be stopped at the Rhine... until they waded into the river and resurfaced on the west bank, attacking the defenses. The defenses were overrun in seven hours, and then the dead advanced towards France and Aachen. They reached Aachen on the eleventh, and the city was sieged for nine days before finally falling. Everyone in the city was killed, including the entire German government. This was celebrated by the Jews in Europe when the news reached them, many of whom had escaped from concentration camps when most of the guards were sent off to Russia to fight the undead. Most now resided in safe compounds in Poland and Russia, and although they celebrated the German government's destruction, anyone was welcomed to a compound, as most people had forsaken any former bigotry for survival. Meanwhile, in Western Europe, the horde that had overrun Aachen was now attacking Liege in Belgium. They had it overrun by the 23rd. The undead then spread through the rest of Belgium, slowly but surely. The French took the opportunity of the Belgians occupying the dead temporarily to build on to the Maginot Line to cover Belgium's border. After freeing their country from the Germans in 1941, they weren't about to let the undead take over. The add-on was almost done when the original Maginot Line came under attack. It could easily hold on for months on its own, and that was without the supplies that came from the rest of France. The Maginot Line kept the majority of the undead in Europe busy, and it did it for long enough for the add on to be finished and for reinforcements to arrive. France seemed the best bet to thin the ranks of the undead. Meanwhile, in Southern Germany, Munich was under attack. It was not expected that the defenders would last long, as they were merely an impromptu guard to defend the city while the citizens evacuated to Switzerland, Austria or Italy, none of which were under any serious attack by the undead, but Austria's north-western defenses were on the brink of collapse due to lack of supplies. On the 27th, the militia abandoned the city, sick of being treated as expendable by the citizens, and deserted to Italy, hoping to warn them of the threat the undead can pose. The citizens, unaware the guards have deserted, continue at their slow pace and were eventually killed by the hordes of undead. Then, the dead arrived at Ravensburg, but the city was abandoned. It had been since the twentieth, when the citizens evacuated to Italy. In France, a particularly large swarm of undead has killed many men along the Maginot Line, and although they are easily replaced, morale in the army has been dropping steadily since the large hordes started to attack the Line. As the dead closed in on France, the pressure mounted and the stakes became higher as the Line began to have mechanical problems. The heavy rain that was plaguing Belgium and western Germany had now moved across the north-west and eastern France. The guns had become rusty, and the men could not leave their stations because of the constant presence of the undead. The rust had by now started to affect inside the barrels of the guns. On the thirtieth of June, reports of extremely heavy casualties along the Austrian border. The German swarms were now crossing into the three countries that were supposed to be safe, and where hundreds of thousands of German refugees had evacuated. Now the undead were in these three countries, overrunning the defenses in Austria in less than 4 hours. Soon, the Siebenstadterstrafe in Salzburg was choked with army vehicles and the undead. Within a day, the dead had overrun Salzburg. Meanwhile, in Switzerland, St. Gallen was being sieged by the dead. On the 2nd of July, St. Gallen was devoid of human activity. Hundreds of million of people were dead; most of these were undead. Russia, Poland and all of Eastern Europe, Germany, Belgium, and possibly Scandinavia were overrun. There were reports of chaos in China and the Middle East. There seemed to be no way of stopping the undead hordes.

It was the end of the world.

Part 5: Nostro Stand Finale.
18th July, 1943.

Switzerland, most of Austria, and northern Italy were overrun. The Maginot Line's defenses were in severe disrepair. No-one knew what would happen when the dead reached France's undefended south-eastern border. Britain and the US had not been heard from in weeks. It was assumed that they had abandoned Europe, condemning it to being overrun by the shambling hordes. Reports from China and the Middle East indicated the undead had reached further than first thought. In Italy, the undead had reached Modena, and were already overrunning the Parco Enzo Ferrari. It took until the twentieth for the dead to overrun the entire city, and they were at Bologna by the 21st. It took longer for them to overrun this city. It was the 27th before the Italian Army retreated. On the 1st of August, they were besieging Ravenna. The Italian Army had defensive positions set up along the Viale Europa, and they were prepared for the attack, but there were just too many. They were all killed. On the second of August, Ravenna was overrun. On the fifth, the dead attacked the port town of Ancona. The town was easily overrun. By the seventh, they were in the town of Perugia. It was overrun the next day. On the ninth, they were attacking the city of Terni. This city was only overrun on the 15th, but while it was under siege, the city of Viterbo was being overrun. On the 17th of August, the small town of Braccino was under attack. It was overrun in less than a day. By now the undead were getting closer and closer to Rome by the day. It was predicted, with the current rate of advance, the dead would reach Rome by the 22nd. On the eighteenth, the town of Formello was overrun. On the nineteenth, you could see the horde from Rome. On the 21st, the Cimitero Flaminio was swarming with the undead. And, just as predicted, the outskirts of Rome were being attacked by the undead on the 21st. It was estimated that if the battle was going to be lost, it was going to take at least 3 weeks to a month for the undead to totally overrun the city. The battle that was going to either save Italy or make it go the way of Germany, the Soviet Union, Poland, Switzerland and all the countries conquered by the living dead was about to begin...

Part 6: We Will Fight Them in The Streets...
18th September, 1943.

The Maginot Line fell on the 26th of August. The French enacted an evacuation plan after Paris was overrun on the fourteenth. They would evacuate to Ireland and Britain from the port towns of Le Havre and Cherbourg. It went off without a hitch... until it turned out some evacuees had been bitten. Ireland and Britain were now under attack from the living dead. The first place in Britain to be infected was Portsmouth, after a dozen infected French refugees died and reanimated while sleeping. They had infected almost a hundred homeless people within six hours, and they had all reanimated within six hours as well. Soon, Portsmouth was a town under siege. By the twentieth, two special divisions of the British Army, well equipped to deal with the undead, were sent in to deal with the living dead. The operation was mostly a success: out of about 2,500 undead spotted, over 2,450 were confirmed to be dispatched. the majority of the men were sent home, while a regiment would stay to get rid of any undead they found. meanwhile, in Limerick, Ireland where the French refugees had been sent, the undead were swarming, beyond hope of quarantine. The British and Irish worked together to rid the city of the undead menace. The result: 20,000 undead killed, 300 human casualties. The operations effectively wiped out the undead in the two countries. However, there was the ever present threat of the undead crossing the Channel and attacking from there. Because of this, the British built fortifications along the south coast, as did Ireland. These would prove useful when, if, they were finished, as reports of small groups of undead surfacing along the coasts of both countries were soon reported. The people in London soon began demanding the defenses being finished faster, and the government responded by sending thousands more to work on them. The citizens of Dublin did the same, as did the Irish government. The defenses in both countries were not expected to be done until March 1944, though that was with the current workforce, and they could speed up the construction time by a couple of months if they hired more workers. They hired anyone who wanted to work, and the construction was now due to be finished by late December. The dead were arriving on the coasts in increasing numbers, though, and they were starting to become a serious problem for the temporary defenders stationed there. By the 25th, the dead were on the brink of overrunning the defenders, and the fortifications were still almost two months away. To ease the burden somewhat, the two governments unified into one country, and while they would still be governed separately, there would be laws and acts that would apply to both countries. They had equal power in this union though, as many harsh lessons had been learned in the 1892 War of Independence in which the Irish rose up against the British, killing thousands of British soldiers. The true test of their new alliance was up ahead though, as on the 3rd of October, a large horde of the undead overran the defenses near Southampton, and the British were asking the Irish to send troops to assist. Taioseach Micheal Collins had a tough decision to make. He could send troops, and make this alliance permanent, or he could ignore the British plight as payback for the many centuries of suffering the British caused Ireland. In the end, it was decided that troops would be sent, although none of them were under any obligation to stay if the situation became too desperate. Luckily, it did not become that desperate and the undead were repelled on the tenth, although there were some desertions. These men were treated fairly, and were given a 4 month prison sentence, the same as any British soldier. The situation became worse in the second week of October for the British though, as on the fourteenth of October a swarm from Europe completely overran the defenses along most of the British South-East. In a decision that would shock the rest of the country, the British government declared the entire South-East a dead zone, even though it was only the coast that was overrun. Barricades were immediately erected as far west as Maidstone. Anyone who approached barricade was shot, human or undead. The area east of the barricade formed its own government, and unofficially seceded from the rest of Britain. They modeled themselves on old Celt tribes, and became tribals. They enslaved people, followed ancient Celt customs, and effectively became Celts. They named themselves after the Iceni, and immediately after forming they started eliminating the undead along the coasts. The "New Iceni" used low-tech weaponry, such as spears and bows and arrows. Firearms were reserved for elite troops. They fought the undead with unprecedented efficiency, killing hundreds, with their losses in the single digits. Soon, by the 18th, any contact with the remaining non-New Iceni compounds was lost. It was assumed that they were overrun by the undead, the New Iceni, or taken over by the New Iceni. Soon border guards were found dead, but there were never any sightings of New Iceni scouts past the barricade. By the twentieth, British and Irish blimps were flying over the New Iceni territory. They did not report any undead within ten miles of any Iceni settlement. Soon instead of British soldiers manning the barricade, it was Iceni troops manning it and reinforcing it. There was no contact between the two sides. On the 23rd, for the first time, twelve Iceni scouts were spotted outside Swanley. When a group of British soldiers engaged the scouts, they were killed in minutes. The scouts showed excellent orienteering skills, and easily defeated the British soldiers. These were clearly elite scouts, as they carried bolt-action rifles, and knew how to use them. They then ran into the town of Crockenhill, where they evicted the residents and set up defenses against the squads that would surely come. Four of them did, all at the same time. There were 44 soldiers, armed with Sten submachine guns. They were highly trained, but it wasn't enough. Twenty soldiers were killed, and the rest retreated back to their base. The scouts then retreated back to Iceni territory. The aim of this was not to take any territory, but to send a powerful message. These people no longer considered themselves to be British. As far as they were concerned, the British had abandoned them. Now it was time to fight back. It would take months, but the New Iceni would gradually become more and more violent, and eventually they would begin actively taking over British territory. But for now they would sit and wait for the British to come to them. The British sent 80 SAS troops into New Iceni territory, near the town of Sittingbourne on the 25th. They set up along Staplehurst Road, and waited for the New Iceni. After three hours, 200 New Iceni troops ambushed them from all sides. The battle was over in minutes. 34 Iceni troops were killed, while all 80 SAS soldiers were eliminated. When no-one returned on the dawn of the 26th, the British government knew that the undead were the least of their worries when they had over four million people in the New Iceni territory that were getting ready to launch a massive assault against the dangerously close London. If the New Iceni decided to stage a full-scale attack against London, Britain would fall apart, as the British knew they would not be able to fend off the armies of the Iceni. On the 27th, a British soldier scouting the areas surrounding Rochester heard gunfire coming from the city. When he investigated, an awful sight greeted his eyes: hundreds of Iceni troops running down the A2, with burning buildings and corpses all around them. Rochester was the site of an Iceni atrocity. Over 5,000 people were killed in the massacre. The British responded to this by sending over 20,000 soldiers across the border on the 29th. The battle between the Iceni and the British was now a full-scale war. The main area around which the war was fought was Maidstone, as many predicted. The war was horrific, with thousands dying in the first big push when the two sides were looking to get the advantage over the other. The worst of the fighting took place in and around the A229 and Mote Park. On the third of November, the British Army were pushed out of Maidstone entirely. Now the war started, it wouldn't stop. Within 4 days, the New Iceni had advanced 10 miles. They had taken over Croyden and now were advancing on London. On the eighth of November, the Iceni had taken over Wandsworth. The British Army had retreated to Lambeth to regroup. However, all the Army did by retreating was allow time for the Iceni to meet up with their reinforcements and become much stronger. On the 10th of November the Iceni attacked Lambert. The battle was over the next morning. Now the Iceni were storming Westminster Bridge, crossing it in minutes. It was then that the British retreated north, made Manchester their capital and fortified the border south of Sheffield. They had all of this done by the 21st of November, but the New Iceni were already busy taking over the rest of Britain. in Italy, the undead had been defeated in the Battle of Rome, but at an extremely heavy cost, as over 1,700,000 people had died in the battle, soldier and civilian. but the danger was not over. the German swarms were crossing into Italy, and the Italian Army was severely depleted. they could barely fend off the living dead in Rome, and they had no way of holding off the massive swarms that were coming their way, and they did not have the resources to evacuate. It seemed that the people of Italy, like hundreds of millions of others, were doomed to be engulfed by the shambling hordes.

Part 7: The Fightback.
2nd January, 1944.

when 1944 dawned, the world was at a standstill. in Europe alone, over 700 million were dead. in Asia, around 500 million were dead. many countries, including the once mighty Soviet Union and Germany were now desolate, lifeless wastelands, devoid of anything but dying plants, gray skies due to the heavy pollution caused by the massively increased war production and a few species of animals that had somehow escaped the grasp of the living dead. normal society all over the world had disappeared, being replaced by a civilization that was forever on guard, waiting for the next city to be overrun, for another army to be defeated, for another nation to be wiped out. most nations remaining on the planet were in a state of emergency. in the US, there were riots and protests in every state of the country almost everyday. these prevented the government from taking decisive action in how to deal with the undead threat. these were not exclusive to the US; most remaining countries on the Earth were in chaos much of time. China in particular suffered many riots, and some were thought to be the beginning of a civil war. China also suffered the heavy burden of having a large border to defend, and more often than not groups of undead would wander into a small town, or in some cases a city, and overrun it. one rather infamous case of this "infiltration", for lack of a better label, was in late January where 8 undead shambled into the city of Urumqi near the Mongolian border, infected a local doctor, and by the time the doctor had reanimated, over 30 people were infected. within 4 days, the city was totally overrun, with less than 1,000 people making it out of the city. this prompted the Chinese government to initiate an infection screening policy, one using trained doctors, many of whom were Russian refugees who managed to journey across Siberia, find their way to China and become doctors again. most of the time dogs were also used, as they could detect infected humans much better than human screeners. the program helped immensely, but even with that help, thousands of undead and infected refugees streamed into China through the course of the war, and they often remained undetected by hunters and travellers until it was too late. it would take years to totally eradicate the undead actually within China's borders, as all the pollution in the atmosphere had greatly lengthened the planet's winters, up to another 2.5-3 months in some parts of the globe. the long winters would make clearing the undead harder in many areas, and it would be over 10 years before the vast majority of the remaining undead were cleared out from Earth's drastically changed landscape. in Europe, several tribes had emerged and cleared out small areas in which they lived and farmed. most notable of these tribes was a German tribe that had settled on the island of Spiekeroog near Wilhelmshaven. they were around 2,000 strong, and were surviving rather comfortably. the dead did not bother them very much, in spite of the fact that the island was near a city. the only undead they saw were the ones that wandered onto or washed up on their shores and the ones they spotted shambling along the coast. the New Iceni were thriving in Britain, though they were suffering heavy attacks along the coast. the British were being attacked by Iceni raiding parties and the border patrols were struggling to keep them from breaching the barricade. in the US, there were plans to send 75,000 soldiers to Northern Britain to help the British to fight back against the New Iceni. Ireland too sent soldiers over, and all the troops had arrived by the 14th of January. the New Iceni were aware of this however, and just as the troops arrived in Liverpool the New Iceni launched an enormous assault on the border. the big mistake they made however, was pulling away many coast guards in order to strengthen their forces for the attack. a swarm from France shambled onto the beaches near Eastbourne and overran the defenders there. still, as the attack dragged on, the undead advanced further into Britain. by the end of the day, the attack had failed, 11,000 New Iceni troops were dead, and the undead were now infesting Eastbourne. it was another week before the news reached the New Iceni commanders, and by then the dead had attacked Crawley, Hastings, and were nearing Maidstone. it took another three days for the New Iceni to get substantial numbers of troops to the area, and by then they had overrun all three cities and were now approaching the outskirts of London. the situation was too far gone for the New Iceni to handle it by themselves. British recon planes had photographed the undead hordes, and this was enough for the British to initiate a carpet bombing of Southern Britain. over half of London was bombed to the ground, and Eastbourne was totally destroyed. these bombings had an adverse effect on the Iceni, but did not have much of an effect on the undead. by the 26th of January, the living dead had overrun the entire city of London. this was when the New Iceni collapsed as a government. millions of people attempted to reach the north, only to be stopped at the border. the dead were following the refugees, and their numbers were increasing as they went north. by the time they had reached Sheffield on the 7th of February, the entire swarm numbered almost 26 million, over 85% of the population of Britain south of Sheffield and around 75% of the total population of Britain. the border collapsed in hours, and the dead were soon free to infest Britain as the next day the government declared a plan to retreat to the mountains and inhabit them while the dead rotted away. the initial evacuation was a disaster: most people did not have radios through which the instructions on where to go and what to bring were broadcast. thousands died in riots or when bridges were destroyed by the army in order to stall the living dead's advance. more were abandoned or trapped when they were surrounded by the living dead, safe but unable to escape. as the ports became overrun, tens of thousands of infected refugees escaped to boats, but luckily they reanimated before they got to ports in other countries. these dead ships would remain on the seas for months, sometimes years, before either being beached on coasts or sinking due to rough seas. a few that crashed onto coasts still had undead in them, and this is thought to be how the Brazillian and Australian infections happened. as the army began to collapse, all of Britain became a zone of total chaos. there was hope for some, however. outside Leeds was a small town named Skipton with a population of around 3,000. the citizens were building a wall, and they had farms, they had enough food to last for months, and to top it off, a battalion of soldiers had deserted to the town. the wall was not finished, and the dead were starting to show up, but they had gotten the wall finished and up around the entire town by the 17th of February. the citizens survived for years until they felt it was safe for them to come out. similar cases of this popped up all over the world. the overall state of humanity, however, was steadily declining. the approximate death toll for an average day in late 1943-early 1944 was over 15,000. the death toll occasionally spiked if a large battle occured where the human army lost. in Britain, the US had started to withdraw their soldiers, as over 8,000 had already died. by the 21st of February, 40,000 of the 75,000 had gotten out, although the rest were trapped in sieged zones. many of these soldiers would stay safe with the survivors inside these sieged zones, and they would even stay in the country after most of the undead rotted away. these safe zones, havens for survivors all over the world, would become the basis of rebuilding civilization in the nations that had been overrun by the undead. meanwhile, in the US, German scientist Robert Oppenheimer had come up with a new invention to combat the undead: incendiary bullets. they would combust on impact, and if fired into any part of the head, it would eventually burn the head up. while it was generally believed that an ordinary bullet would do the same job as dispatching the undead and do it faster, the invention of the incendiary bullet would give automatic weapons a place on the battlefield again. the Browning M1919 was soon modified to be able to accept incendiary rounds and fire at a significantly slower rate in order to save ammunition, as incendiary ammunition was difficult and expensive to manufacture. it's place was in swarm attacks, when rapid fire was needed to dispatch as many living dead as possible. it took on average 11 minutes for an undead shot in the head without the bullet piercing the brain to burn to a point when it could no longer move, and around twice to 3 times that much if it was shot elsewhere. however, they almost always killed the undead, unless the living dead were shot in the foot or lower leg, in which case the undead would be immobillized due to the leg being almost totally destroyed. these designs were sent to China, which was under heavy attack by the undead. they were an immediate success, and the dead were beaten back in many areas across China, particularly Beijing, where only 82,000 people remained. soon, other weapons were being modified to accept incendiary bullets, such as the Japanese Type 99 and Type 100. there were many of these in China, as Eastern China had been occupied by the Japanese in 1934 and they were beginning to advance west when the undead pandemic reached north-eastern China. when Japanese troops and the living dead first clashed near Hohhot, the Japanese were routed, and over 80% of their forces involved in the battle died that day. from then on, the Japanese forces in China allowed the undead to conquer unabated, the only resistance they faced from the Chinese army. the Chinese population dropped from 500,000,000 to 250 million in less than 8 months. the only thing that saved China was the evacuation to the numerous safe zones across the country. when the time came to fight back against the undead, the incendiary weapons proved invaluable when swarms attacked. soon, people were beginning to actually advance into infested territory to clear it out. while many of these were successful endeavours, there were some that ended in disaster. when the army and bands of civilians attempted to retake the city of Chengdu on the 26th, they underestimated the undead's numbers, and were wiped out by the enormous hordes. it would take months for the Chinese military to retake the city after the debacle they suffered that day. there was at least a 3:1 ratio in victories to defeats, though. by March 20th, there were over 20 million undead killed throughout China. there were still over 300 million undead in the country and throughout Asia, but there were significant advances made in rebuilding the world.

Until cases were reported in the US.

Part 8: Europa in Ruinen.
18th April, 1944.

It is not known how the undead epidemic began in the United States. the most accepted theory is that the French refugees that arrived in Mexico had infected people among them, and that some of the French towns were overrun and that the undead wandered into the US. they were mainly reported in Texas, on the outskirts of Dallas. there were only a few dozen, they moved throughout the neighbourhoods, and infected many. the government's response was very quick, it sent three biohazard battalions to Dallas and ordered them to stay there until there no sightings of an undead for at least a week. they dispatched 21 undead throughout the city, but more and more were infected as the hours passed. soon, a group of undead wandered into the Southern Methodist University. 30 people were devoured, many more were bitten. the situation became much worse when riots broke as the army attempted to dispatch the people who were bitten, and their families attacked the soldiers, and others joined them. some of the bitten people died and reanimated during the riot, wounding and killing more people. then, as others began to reanimated across the city, 2 more biohazard battalions were sent into the city to deal with the threat. by now, almost 180 people were reanimated. the army's main problem was the rioting, as it prevented them from doing what needed to be done. 19 soldiers were killed in the riot, and all the while the undead were spreading across the city, and outside it. at 8:11AM, on the 19th, 8 battalions of the regular military arrived in the city, with the objective of wiping out the undead presence at any cost, whereas the biohazard divisions were designed for either wiping out a small to moderate attack, to cleaning up after a major one. they were not designed for wiping out an outbreak in such a sprawling urban area. the first major engagement in Dallas began at 12:34PM, in Frisco. a battalion of 450 soldiers began to clean up the suburb. there were at least 40 undead in the area, but their location was not known. within half an hour, 20 soldiers were ambushed in various locations in the suburb, killed, and reanimated, making the remaining soldiers' job more difficult. then, as the undead began to become drawn out, more and more civilians were killed. by the 20th, there were 30 undead confirmed dead throughout the city, but there were many more across the city, and they were spreading faster than the army could kill them. the US took a page out of the British Army's book, and commissioned a fleet of blimps to scout the city. what the blimps saw was not encouraging. they saw hundreds of undead across the city, all spreading, and all making their way out of the city. the army surrounded the city with 5,000 soldiers, and waited. eventually, they began to advance inwards, cleansing the city as they went. on the 22nd of April, there was a large confrontation between the undead and the army around Grapevine Lake. the soldiers were confident the undead could not overrun them, but they were mistaken. the dead killed over 200 of the soldiers, and if not for the arrival of another battalion of troops, the entire area would have been overrun. the undead were defeated, but at a cost of 250 soldiers. the dead were being cleansed from the city, thanks to the blimps for spotting them all, but there were a few undead that had eluded the army. these were hunted down, though, by a single person, in the space of a week. this man was named Harold Marshall and he was part of an emerging group of people known as "undead hunters". these men and women were devoted to hunting the undead. Marshall, Canadian, had moved to Europe and fought in Germany as the dead overran the country. he had at least 150 undead kills under his belt, and though he was largely inactive since he had moved back to Canada, his role in the cleanup operation in Dallas had caught the attention of the US Government. they hired him as an official undead hunter, and sent him to places where the dead had been overrun, but where compounds remained, such as Zadonsk, in the Soviet Union, where the dead had totally overrun, where a prison was now occupied by refugees who had fled from the nearby Tambov. Marshall was airdropped into the area to find it already cleared. he saw many corpses, all with bullet wound to the head, but he saw no-one who could have done this. he almost got a bullet in the head himself when the sniper inside the tower spotted him and thought he was an undead. Marshall identified himself as human, though, by waving his rifle above his head. he was allowed entrance into the prison and was introduced to the commander of the prison, Vasily Zaytsev. Zaytsev was also an undead hunter, as he had fought in several major battles in the beginning of the war, including the siege of Leningrad, the battle along the Soviet/Polish border, and the battle for Moscow. he had killed well over 1200 undead, and was getting more everyday as he either sniped the ones who came too near to the prison, or when he went on his undead hunting sprees, as well as the numerous undead he had killed in the battles he had fought in. he was one of the five undead hunters across the Soviet Union. the other four were Ivan Sidorenko, Roza Shanina, Fyodor Okhlopkov, and Tanya Baramzina. all had fought in major battles early in the war, and all had undead kill counts over 1000. these undead hunters were also in Germany: Sepp Allerberger and Erwin Konig were prominent German undead hunters. they were both still alive, and were both in major survivor compounds. Allerberger was in a compound in the Leipzig area, in a place named Lossen. Konig was in a compound at an area named Locknitz, near the Polish border. the two compounds were very secure and safe, and populous. something the hunters noticed were that there were not as many undead in the area that there should have been. decomposition had taken their toll on the dead, and many were now immobilized, or dead, due to the decomposition affecting their brains. Marshall, in the compound, reported that there were only 20% of the living dead throughout the area that the military had said there were. what was more of a problem, reported by many survivor compounds, was the total lack of supplies. in the chaos of the social collapse when the Battle of the German/Polish border was lost, many looters had loaded up with as much provisions as their group or vehicles could carry, and then they went through them much more quickly than they should have, and then were either killed by the living dead or died of starvation. so the only way for the survivor compounds scattered across Europe was to farm, and to be far, far away from any major population centers, most of which were now total dead zones, and where almost every room in every building had an undead lying in wait. in addition to the living dead, those who remained in Europe faced the problem of human bandits. even though Europe's population had dropped, by some people's estimates, 90%, there were still some renegade elements who had managed to survive. they were particularly common in Russia, where the extremely cold weather froze the undead, and all the renegades had to worry about was other renegades. in Western Europe, though they were less common, as the winters were, most of the time, not cold to actually freeze the living dead, only make them slower and less of a threat than they were in the spring and summer. the undead war's horrific effects were not limited to the living dead and humans; in addition to wiping out many European species, as with many African species, the war forced the remaining species to become far deadlier and far less friendly to humans. feral dogs in Southern Europe, for example, often travelled in very large packs to survived, and there are dozens, even hundreds, of these packs chasing down and killing humans. there were also reports of huge packs, some with over 500 dogs in them. while the 500-strong packs were incredibly rare, they definitely existed, as there are photos and footage of them. Cats also survived in Europe, though they lived alone, and moved from place to place often. Cows were totally extinct in both Europe and Africa, though they continued to survive in parts of Asia and most of the Americas. the undead hunters noted many differences between the pre-war Europe and the post-war Europe. the air was much dirtier than before the plague, as the many industrial accidents in the cities across Europe had released many toxic chemicals into the air, and it was the dirty air that caused the respiratory illnesses plaguing the remaining survivors in Europe. according to post-plague Europe death statistics, over 11,000 people died as a result of their respiratory disorders, and at least 7,000 died of poisoning from industrial toxins that they came into contact with as they cleaned up the cities. another thing the hunters noticed was that there hundreds and hundreds of rats. Cats, rats' main predator, were too scarce to keep the rat population in check, and so the rats had a population explosion throughout Europe. Rats also became more dangerous, as the long times they spent into filthy areas such as corpse-filled streets, polluted swamps, and destroyed industrial sites, their bites became more deadly, as the rats were much more dirty than they usually were. there are 832 confirmed fatalities from rat bites in The Undead War, and 2,891 confirmed hospitalizations. another prevalent problem was the state of much of post-war Europe. after the deaths of over 575 million people, and the vicious fighting that preceded this mass extinction, many once-famous European cities were now abandoned ruins. in Paris, the Eiffel Tower, had collapsed. much of Vienna had fallen into disrepair, and now Vienna's waterways were clogged with debris and half-destroyed gondolas. Berlin's once proud Brandenberg Gate was now simply a derelict ruin in a dead city. London's Big Ben was half-collapsed now, heavily damaged in the British's carpet bombing of the New Iceni. many buildings in the cities were destroyed too. it would take decades after Europe was cleared of the living dead to rebuild the cities, and even then the landmarks could never be replaced. there was also the problem of water pollution. most rivers no longer supported any fish, and they were lifeless, stagnant waterways, and they were also, in some cases, home to immobile undead. another major problem was with the newly changed seasons. Summers were significantly shorter, winters were longer, and all seasons were colder. the average temperature in 1944 in Europe was 3.7 Celsius in spring and summer, and -7.4 in autumn and winter. the wind often made the temperature colder, and it also snowed heavily throughout most of Eastern and Western Europe, with the exception of southern Spain. the weather also allowed the repopulation of Europe to be easier in a way. while the weather did make life difficult, it also froze or slowed down the dead, allowing easier clean-up operations. but it would have been years before Europe was even remotely safe to reinhabit, if it was not cleared out by the remaining human armies. but it was about to be cleared out. It was just a matter of time...

Part 9: Fonctionnement Sans Terre.
18th June, 1944.

Ever since the living dead had destroyed Europe, the human race was in a constant state of fear. but no longer, as over 1,000,000 American, Canadian, Irish, and African armies were readying themselves to retake Europe. the African infestation was largely under control, and they had begun to prepare their militaries to deal a huge blow to the undead. the plan was that the US and Canadian militaries were landing at several points along the French west coast, and they would advance inward, and then the Canadian 3rd Field Army would advance north to clear out Normandy and the surrounding areas. then, when France was reclaimed, the US 1st Field Army would head south, into Italy and clear out Italy with the help of the advancing African armies. then, the two militaries would head north to link up with the Canadian and other American armies and clear out Germany and Switzerland. while the other militaries were doing this, the Irish army would clear Scotland with the assistance of the remaining British armed forces, and then head south and clear out Britain. they would then travel to Normandy and advance west to help the other armies reclaim Eastern Europe and finally, Russia. then, if it was possible to travel across Asia, they would help China reclaim their country. that was the plan, and it was, in theory, fairly sound, but in practice, it was very costly in its later stages. on the 22nd of June, Operation Free Earth began, and it was, at first, a resounding success. the casualty rate was low, and there were many living dead dispatched in the initial landings. the soldiers also advanced at a rate that surprised the commanders. but soon they were bogged down in heavy fighting. Saint Nazaire, in particular, was rather difficult to reclaim,as the dead were often trapped under rubble which the troops stepped over, which led to the soldiers being bitten and infected. there were also instances where there were just too many undead, like at the Rue Jules Guesde, where there were hundreds of living dead which overran the troops guarding the road. soon, the American soldiers tasked with clearing the city were swamped, devoured by hordes of the living dead. Saint Nazaire, after 5 days of fighting, was once again a dead zone. on the 28th, the American/Canadian leadership tried to establish 4 beacheads, La Rochelle, Brest, Bordeaux, and Lorient. 20,000 US and Canadian troops landed in each, with the hope of giving the human forces a foothold in Europe. on the 2nd of July, La Rochelle was declared a safe zone. there were 1,800 human soldiers dead. on the 5th of July, Bordeaux was for the most part clear. 1,200 soldiers were killed, a small number compared to the commander's estimate of 3,500. then, on the 10th of July, Lorient was reclaimed, with 800 soldiers dead. finally, on the 14th of July, Brest was declared safe, with 2,100 human soldiers killed. the human militaries had a foothold in undead-infested Europe, but at a cost that preceded General Eisenhower's, the leader of the US and Canadian soldiers, estimate. he thought that 5,000 troops would be killed, but 5,900 soldiers were killed. however, the undead dispatched versus human dead ratio was 7:1, which meant that 41,300 living dead were confirmed to have been killed. the African forces then made landfall in Sicilly on the 16th, which had been largely unaffected by the undead hordes that had ravaged the rest of Italy, and established a base in Messina, and prepared to land in mainland Italy. on the 25th, 100,000 Libyan, Egyptian, and Algerian troops landed in Villa San Giovanni. immediately, thousands of living dead attacked their landing craft. though the casualty rate was low, the situation worsened as they entered the city. more undead awaited them, and hundreds of soldiers were killed in the scramble to secure the area. as more and more dead closed in on them, some troops attempted to desert and escape via the ships which deployed their landing craft. it was a disaster, as the numerous undead in the ocean killed anyone who tried to swim to the ships. though there were many casualties, the dead were eventually repulsed and, by the 27th, 3,700 troops were dead, but the Villa was secure. then, the soldiers moved to secure the rest of Reggio Calabria. the fighter was less intense in the rest of the area, as the majority of the living dead in Reggio Calabria were dispatched the fighting for the Villa Giovanni. by the 1st of August, all of Reggio was secure, and the soldiers then began to look for any survivors. they found 12. the survivors were sent to Sicily, and the soldiers advanced to reclaim the rest of the area. then, one of the Captains, had an excellent idea. he thought that if they built defenses around Reggio Calabria, and then made as much noise as possible, and waited for the living dead to come. the commanders decided to take up the strategy, and it was a great success. thousands of living dead were dispatched, and incredibly, not a single human soldier was killed in the battle. as soon as the dead had stopped showing up, the troops began to run to secure more ground. by the 10th of August, the whole west coast of the tip of the "boot" of Italy was secure. 80,000 undead were killed, and only 4,000 troops were killed. then, as the armor arrived, the African forces began to initate phase 2 of their part in Operation Free Earth. as this was happening, the Irish forces were landing in the Isle of Lewis, using Belfast as their set-off point. there were around 55,000 troops. the Irish Army had launched a recruitment drive to increase their numbers. on the 15th of August, the Irish troops linked up with the remnants of the British Army at Ullapool. they first encountered the dead at the Inverbroom Lodge, where a horde had followed some survivors up to the Scottish mountains. the engagement was relatively easy, and there were over 500 dead killed. however, to the south, much of Britain was still badly infested with the living dead. but, something that would take some of the load off was that the US and Canadians, when Normandy was totally secure, would land in Southern Britain and begin to advance north, to compensate for the small size of the Irish Army.