Rise of the Reds Update: Operation Charlemagne news

"Good morning. This is General Willem van der Meer, acting supreme commander of the European Continental Army, calling all citizens and soldiers of Europe. In less than an hour, the combined armies of the ECA and the American expeditionary forces will embark on what may very well go down in history as the single largest engagement of this entire war: As part of Operation Charlemagne, our forces in western Germany and Austria will go on the offensive along a frontline that measures over a thousand kilometres. The primary objective is to liberate Berlin by the middle of April. To that end, we are going in with absolutely everything we've got: The remnants of the French and German armies will spearhead the assault through the south while the Dutch and Belgian contingents will do battle alongside the British, the Irish, the Americans and the Canadians in the northern plain. New experimental weapon systems have been made available and I have assigned all of our remaining ECA battlegroups to this decisive battle. Time is of the essence as we cannot allow the Russian armies to fortify their positions and drive us back once they mobilise the full extent of their reserves, or worse, their strategic nuclear arsenal."

"Our nations have sacrificed much to regain the upper hand in this war: Remember the valiant armies of Finland and Poland who were the first to meet the invaders and kept up their fierce resistance even to this day. Remember the brave mountain troops of Austria and Italy who fought to the last man and bullet in order to keep the evacuation routes to the Alpine redoubt clear for civilian refugees. Remember the Commonwealth armies who defied the invasion of England, then took the fight across the Channel and to the enemy. The people of France have arguably paid the highest price of all by detonating nuclear weapons on their own soil in a desperate move that, thankfully, stopped the Russian advance and allowed our forces to seize the initiative. All of these events and many more have culminated in this critical moment and the battle that is now about to erupt in the very heart of central Europe will determine whether peace and order will return to our continent or whether our sacrifices were in vain. Future generations will either remember this as the day our common civilisation burned out in a last blaze of glory - or as the day when all of Europe, from the northern fjords to the southern sea, emerged victorious from the first war in which we all stood united."

"Operation Charlemagne is imminent. This goes out to the soldiers of Europe: Fight on, but do not let your humanity be consumed by bloody vengeance, for that will make the difference between whether this war will end in a lasting peace, a temporary armistice or the end of the world as we know it. This goes out to our citizens in the occupied territories: Do not despair, your liberation is at hand. Stay vigilant and look after your families, but please, do not risk your lives with any foolhardy heroics at this time, for those who can help us in this struggle have already made their choice long ago. But my final word goes out to any Russian servicemen and -women that might be hearing this: We are human beings, just like you. We want this war to end and return to our loved ones just as much as you do and it is within your power to make that a reality: Do not throw your lives away just because General Aleksandr orders it! Don't give yourselves to him and his murderous brutes, these machine-men with machine-minds and machine-hearts who look down upon you, who despise you, who treat you as cannon fodder - they are unworthy of your sacrifice! Don't fight for their hatred and their insanity! You are human beings - you do not hate and you're not insane! Fight against them for your freedom, for the future of your children! Believe me when I say that Aleksandr would like to goose-step them into the meat grinder as well but as long as your President is unable to stop him, it is up to you to put an end to this war here and now! Liberate yourselves from this monster of a man who expects you to suffer, to kill and to die for him! Soldiers of the Russian Federation, let us liberate Berlin together!"

Whilst the United States make extensive use of lasers as point defense and anti-aircraft weapons, the nations of Europe have concentrated their research efforts on the civilian utilities of the technology. One of their most promising discoveries was the possibility of using special frequency lasers to slow the motion of atoms to a near standstill, resulting in a focused freezing effect. Ideally, the technology could be used as a more eco-friendly alternative to bulky cooling machinery and aggressive chemicals. A team of Scandinavian scientists even explored the idea of using this remarkable technology to revert the effects of global warming by restoring the Arctic ice. Unfortunately, these so-called 'cryo lasers' also presented a considerable destructive potential which was exploited during the final phase of the Russo-European War: Named after a monstrous wolf from Norse mythology, the Fenris is an elaborate modification of a conventional Lynx APC which has been outfitted with a freezing laser that proved extremely lethal against enemy infantry and even vehicles which not only take damage but also end up immobilised due to deformed machinery and severly reduced crew performance after prolonged cooling. The Fenris can also fire a high energy shot which freezes the vehicle to the point where parts of its armour become so brittle that even its own idle engine vibrations or weapon recoil are enough to shatter it open, thus directly exposing the crew to the freezing ray, killing them instantly and leaving the vehicle empty for recovery. Unlike the dreaded Pandora cannon, the Fenris can be deployed in numbers upon choosing the eponymous protocol, but commanders are advised to treat their expensive and fragile technology with utmost care.

The ECA has set itself a policy of restricting the use of unmanned vehicles to a bare minimum, arguing that the large-scale use of such weapons in combat detaches operators and politicians from the brutality and human cost of real warfare. As such, unmanned vehicles only serve in functions where human soldiers would simply be impractical to begin with. The prime example is the Anvil Bot, an autonomous armoured support vehicle of British design that is purely intended to shield nearby friendlies from enemy attacks. Similar to the ECA's legendary Manticore tank, the Anvil surrounds itself with a swarm of nano-scale particles manipulated by an artificial intelligence inside the parent vehicle. Unlike the Manticore, which uses these 'nano bots' to refill holes and cracks in its armour, the Anvil uses them to generate a finely calibrated field of electromagnetic interferences which confuse enemy rangefinders and targeting systems, effectively making it impossible to aim precisely at the units within the Anvil's area of effect. This comes with a major tradeoff in that the Anvil itself produces a very distinct electromagnetic signature which makes it a very easy target, an issue that has been partly remedied via the installation of nano shock panels to increase its protection. It should also be noted that the Anvil has to move at a much slower pace while maintaining its protective shield. Ever since its introduction in early 2049, the Anvil has served its own part in protecting Europe's ever dwindling arsenal of combat vehicles from attrition. Unlike the Manticore tank, Anvil Bots can be deployed in numbers upon choosing the eponymous protocol.