From memory the sound of the tanks was the first thing I remember about our stand at Southampton. I remember that steadily increasing sound of their engines getting louder and louder from behind the trees and rubble. They appeared through the tree line and our commander shouted ‘Fire!’ From then on, its all very blurry. I remember Emory firing only three bullets the entire battle, one at the start, one at an enemy soldier advancing, the next at himself. He shot himself in the foot, too scared to carry on. Eventually after several hours of being pushed back and advancing again and again we managed to hold them about half a mile from where we first started, although they’d technically won that battle, we celebrated it as if it were a major victory. Emory was taken up to Nottingham, where they put all the men with shellshock. I didn’t celebrate as one that day I lost both my friends in that war, one to a bullet the other to emotion.

That night I was told I was to become the new Captain and that Perry was dead. I was to be transferred to London, where the army had stationed most its men in a last ditch effort to stem the tide of the Federation advance. I don’t remember much about leaving or much about getting there, but I do remember that a storm broke that night. Lightening struck the sky and rain lashed against the world. Needless to say I wasn’t in London long either before being transferred back to what was left of Southampton. In the eight days I spent in London I realised something, something that deep down we all knew. We were going to lose the war. I began thinking about what the world would be like after. No-one knows what its like in occupied Germany or France as no news reaches us about those places and I’m sure any that does won’t filter down the chain of command to reach us lowly foot soldiers.

When I arrived back to Southampton they were dire. Most of the city was either uninhabitable or was held by the Federation, in actual fact there was nothing but a pile of rubble to defend now. I was put in command of a small group of infantry and vehicles. My advisors, Corporal James Knight and Captain Amelia Heart. I was put in command of Captain Heart because I had four days more experience, although she would constantly protest it was because she was a woman. Mr Knight however was rarely vocal and did little to help ‘advise’ anything, but it wasn’t to be a problem, two days after he went mad and was taken to Nottingham.

March 22nd 2027, the official retreat from Southampton was issued. The generals had all left two days prior which left Captain Heart, Major Jackson and myself to organise an orderly retreat with what we had left, which in fact wasn’t much. Our small contingent of the SCDF moved up north and six days after retreat found ourselves in Snowdonia. This would be a welcomed period of rest.