The Great Martian War 1913 - 1917 Page #6

and he's scared.

I know he's scared of me

And then the police come

racing through on their horses

and we're all forced

back on the bridge.

The mounted

police clear the crowds

and escort the living alien as

it is rushed to Roundway Down.

But within minutes

of its arrival,

the Martian pilot is dead

Any initial disappointment

vanishes during the post-mortem,

because here Roundway Dow

make their key discovery

of the entire war,

and it's immediately

classified "Most Secret"

The autopsy

reveals the alien died

from infection by an animal

virus called glanders.

It was caught through contact

with the police horses.

Now at Roundway Down,

the race is on to

replicate the virus

and create a super weapon

The code name of the

weapon is Trojan Horse.

It couldn't come soon enough.

After three

years of crippling war,

the Allies have found a

virus lethal to the aliens.

But the Martian attacks are

intensifying on land and sea.

The troops at the front cannot

hold them off much longer.

They seemed indestructible.

I remember one of them -

There was this guy next to you,

and then this foot comes

down and crushes this guy

like leaves on the sole

of your boots.

I mean, how do you fight

something like that?

We needed something,

and we needed it fast.

As the line continues to fray,

the Aerial

Reconnaissance Division

sights large numbers of

alien machines moving west.

There is no time to lose

In January 1917,

a solemn report is delivered

to the Allied leadership.

It is wit

the heaviest of hearts

we must conclude within

the next six months

the total breakdown

of our defensive line

on the Martian Front

is a certainty.

Just nine days

after this statement

predicts the fall of Europe,

three American naval

destroyers returning to New York

are sunk off

the gulf of Mexico.

You do know there

weren't any actual

sightings of alien machines -

just distress signals

and garbled messages

about coming under attack

Allied U-boats did have

a range of 5,000 miles -

more than enough

to be in those waters.

Look, I'm not saying the

were in those waters.

All I'm saying is that

they could have been

in those waters.

Aliens or Allies,

the debate still simmers as to

who was behind the attacks.

What is certain is hysteria

took hold on American streets.

Roosevelt's pro-war supporters

besieged the White House.

Wilson has become

the lamest of

presidential ducks.

This can come to

only one conclusion,

and it's an unprecedented one.

Woodrow Wilson resigns,

Roosevelt is sworn

in as US president,

and on the 17th

of February 1917,

America finally enters th

war against the Martians

Within months,

the volunteer "Frontiersmen",

now hardened veterans,

see their conscripted American

countrymen arriving in France,

at the rate of

12,000 men a day...

That was a good thing.

They were finally coming

Yeah, nice to see them.

Mazel tov!

What took you so long?

You know,

I'm serious -

I mean, what took them so long?

We'd been in this thing

for three years already.

With this massive injection

of troops from the States

Allied command prepares

for the end game.

The Allies are

playing all their cards here.

This is it now.

This is all or nothing.

Immediately after

the Westminster alien's

death from infection,

Roundway Down begins

mass-producing

the glanders virus.

They must now deliver

the weapon to the enemy.

The risks to humans

are uncertain,

but for High Command,

there is no alternative

to biological warfare

on the Martian Front.

In the summer of 1917,

rumours of an Allied secret

weapon are spreading fast,

infecting the men with hope.

It hardly seems possible

but I feel it like

a fire inside me.

After four years of losses -

four years of blood, of agony,

of endless murder -

we can win.

They had developed

a secret weapon.

So you know, alright -

bring it on.

We're ready to go.

No one knew what it was,

but we believed that

it could help us win.

The days tick by,

and the alien army

continues to reinforce.

Roundway Down are struggling

to mass-produce the virus.

With no sign of a new weapon

at the Front, hope fades.

Each day there were a million

Spiders creeping closer,

and then every day we're saying,

"Okay, where's the weapon?"

They were only

50, 40, 30 miles away,

and still nothing.

And then we were told

that we were going into

battle in three days,

and now there was

no feeling at all,

'cause we knew nothing's

coming to save us.

Nothing.

It was a terrible realization.

There was no answer -

just disillusionment.

That's all -

utter disillusionment.

Desertions were occurring

up and down the Allied Front,

as well as several mutinies

which had to be

forcibly put down.

I had it. I left.

I knew this was my last time,

I would not survive.

I had this feeling

that my time was up.

I was a soldier for four years,

and yet from now and forever,

I'll be a deserter.

Only the elite few know

Operation Trojan Horse

is finally ready,

but its success is dependent

on a mass assault.

It's vital the

troops are rallied.

Field marshal Sir Douglas Haig

issues a

special order of the day

Many amongst us are tired.

To those, I say hold firm.

Ultimate victory is

within our grasp.

With our backs to the wall,

and believing in the justice

of our cause,

each one of us must

fight on to the end.

The safety of our homes and

the freedom of mankind alike

depend upon the conduct

of each one of us

at this critical moment.

Haig's words hit the mark

The line rallied.

Order seemed to restore itself -

even though very few

remained in any doubt

as to their probable fate

The night

before the last offensive

William Payne leaves his

diary in a field hospital

The final entry is addressed

to the young nurse

he had long admired.

You bestow a million kindnesses

upon men you know not

and never see again.

Perform one more for another -

keep this safe

as if it were my heart.

At 7:
00 AM

the following day,

the largest military offensive

in human history begins.

The secret weapon is ready,

and the means to

carry the infection

to the aliens is in place

Great herds of glanders-infected

horses are waiting,

massed in vast pens

along a 50-mile line.

These unwitting weapons

of mass destruction

are tended by

volunteer wardens...

like Hughie Logan.

I'd never seen so many

horses all together -

nobody had.

And that was just our station.

Success requires an

attack to draw the Martians in,

followed by a surprise retreat,

which will lure the alien

towards the horse pens.

The entire attack is focused

on one 50-mile section.

This is the greatest

concentration

of troops ever seen.

The entire army is throw

against the alien legion

The results are predictable.

The Allies take

horrendous casualties,

barely holding the line.

Then the order goes up

to pull the trigger

on the secret weapon.

They suddenly turn

and begin a full retreat

The Martians give chase,

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