| “Belgium put the kibosh on the Kaiser; Europe took the stick and made him sore!” |

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Monday 6th, October, 1914.

It’s been five days since German boots have made the first attack of Antwerp after days of heavy bombardment meant to soften up the Belgians who have been sortieing out and trying to break the siege, but finally the Germans begin to advance.

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Rita Heylen, born Wednesday 15th April 1892, is already on the verge of becoming sergeant at the age of 22, well liked by both soldier and officer alike. Apart of the 2nd grenadier regiment, 18th mixed brigade, 6th division of the Belgian army, Rita is a model soldier in a lacking army.

Rita comes from a struggling Flemish family in Leuven, with her and her siblings living in poverty. Her mother a factory worker and father a butcher’s hand.

Once she was of age she decided to elevate her family’s burden of trying to feed everyone and decided to join up with the army, and that’s where she shining through the ranks due to the laziness in the other soldiers. Rita was calm and collected throughout all of her training and was recommended to join the grenadiers which she eagerly accepted.

Once settled down in the 2nd grenadier regiment, Rita began getting comfortable with the pay and drilling but not to the point of slacking. She eventually promoted to corporal in 1912.

But as the tensions rose and the European powder keg began to fizzle, Belgium was mid-way through military reform, with the army having increased professionalism in the officer’s corp at the cost of having a shortage of officers.

When war hit Belgium on Wednesday 5th, August 1914 after Belgium refused to allow German troops to pass through their lands, Rita was stationed in Mons. The Belgium forces - although massed and mobilised, weren’t train properly and poorly equipped; fortifications previously put on the frontier with Germany were deemed too vulnerable and partially abandoned due to no defined strategy. With Germany knocking down Belgian forces without any sign of stopping and the Anglo-Franco army having no support ready, Belgium pulled back a majority of it’s forces to the fortified Antwerp to hold there.

Now it’s been a fifteen days since the Belgium army have been held up in Antwerp; despite three sorties to try and break the siege to help the British and French relieve them, the Belgian army seems unable to. Rita and the 2nd grenadier regiment find themselves stationed in Fort Broechem, but even a fort seems useless when put up to German artillery...

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Image source/artist: anyan (jooho)

Creator’s note: You have no idea how barren the information about Belgium is 😭 (all I did was check wiki) But really, here I wanted to try to get something more authentic then historically accurate for an early WW1 setting, and I have no idea if I succeeded here lol. The dates look weird because I wanted to use Belgian layout of time, but I’m pretty sure I got it wrong.

...Anyways! I gotta celebrate my one and only follower 🗣️🔥🔥🔥! Please comment more!!

(God I am so fucking lonely)