The Great Martian War 1913 - 1917 Page #3

it has fallen from the sky.

We must fall back.

The soldiers give these giant

fighting machines a name

Herons.

There were two component

to these machines

that became immediately

apparent to the Allies -

Firstly, they were entirely

protected by an energy shield.

This was the first

introduction that we had

had to the many uses of

dark energy particles.

The second was a slow firing,

immensely destructive

energy cannon.

It was used to

destroy defences,

to cause chaos,

but mainly to flush men

out into open view.

Each Heron is

shrouded in a toxic cloud

Combat troops are soon

issued with gas masks,

but civilians must make d

with crude,

home-made versions.

For frontline soldiers

like Jock Donnelly,

protection came at a price.

Well, you can't see a thing.

And you can't talk to anybody -

it's just you.

You're sitting

alongside 50 other guys,

but you're alone.

There's nobody.

At the feet

of the lumbering Herons

are battalions of

smaller machines -

their attack dogs.

They rampage the battlefield

by the thousands.

Fast and merciless

killing machines,

these bring death

at close quarters.

This was their

infantry division,

and they were quickly

named the Iron Spiders.

And they were wielding

a weapon from here -

you can see it reconstructed -

that was like nothing

that had ever been seen.

These were the

"ribbons of death".

They snare us, entwine us

stab us, skewer us,

strangle us,

tear us in half still alive.

The worst were the night raids.

The Spiders would sneak across

the no man's land

and hover over us,

and the ribbons would descend.

I knew we couldn't move,

because any movement

would be certain death

when the Spiders are around.

They were ripping

the Allies to pieces,

whole cavalry battalions

were tossed aside.

The very front itself was in

a chaotic fighting retreat

right across France.

On the 19th of August,

General Sir John French

wires Downing Street,

and he tells them that the

alien force cannot be stopped,

that Paris will fall,

the continent is lost,

and the only thing

Britain can do

is prepare for

imminent invasion.

That same day,

Europe is given one last hope.

An unexpected messenger

arrives at

Allied Field Headquarters

His news may be

the saving of Paris

and perhaps the entire war.

He is a corporal in the

army believed destroyed

in the first week of the war.

His communique states,

"Though the

Fatherland has fallen,

the German Army has not,

and we are on our way".

It is signed by

Count Paul von Hindenburg

So he issues an

absolutely unprecedented

Mobilization Order directed

at every living German,

telling them that they

must make their way

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