- Aviso: spoilers de Battlefield 1
Any time is a good time to return to Battlefield 1. It turned eight years old on October 21, so obviously I’ve relived some of the stories from its company mode. I’ve come back for much less. Mud and Blood, Avanti Savoia and The Messenger. It has not been a random choice. They are those that have made me cry on more than one occasion.
I admit that I struggled very hard to contain my emotion in Mud and Blood and The Messenger, but Avanti Savoia is superior to me. I cannot conceive that anyone who has a brother (cousin or friend as such) finishes this mission without feeling at least a knot in their chest. It is a heartbreaking story and its power increases when you are aware that our history hides many like it.
Next Savoia de Battlefield 1: absolute desperation
“It’s time you knew what happened to him,” says the protagonist of the story to his daughter. “It was during our last battle together… Just a couple of days after my 21st birthday. My brother’s battalion had orders to capture a fort in enemy territory,” he continues to introduce the story.
“I wasn’t going with him. I was part of a special unit with a different mission. We were ordered to support Matteo’s battalion. We were a proud unit. We were decisive for Italy. The Arditi,” the young woman tells while the main theme of Battlefield 1 and watch his past self don metal armor and carry a heavy machine gun.
The mission is claustrophobic and agonizing from minute one. You advance through the base of Mount Grappa with armor and a machine gun whose accuracy is not the best. The first assault takes place in a church and is only the introduction of the ordeal that is to come: ascending the mountain. You are at a total disadvantage: you are slow, heavy and imprecise, and on top of that you are at a total disadvantage due to height.
Going up is imperative, as there is an artillery cannon that threatens Matteo’s battalion and the possible conquered fort. The fighting on the mountain roads is intense and the German flamethrowers do not help in the least. Because you can withstand quite a few bullets, but the fire destroys you in a few seconds. And of course, enemies always have the advantage of terrain. Not to mention when you meet them in the trenches.
Reaching the summit bunkers is a relief, but things only get worse. The enemies are well fortified. Luckily the armor goes from being a drawback to an advantage when you enter the bunker that houses the artillery and all the ammunition. Exploding it is a joy, but it is only the first step: now it is time for the anti-aircraft positions. Therein lies the real headache.
It was me against a squadron of enemy bombers, I had to shoot them down. We didn’t have reinforcements. If those men died, our advance would be completely stopped. And I would have lost Matteo.
Getting to the anti-aircraft guns and eliminating the enemies is not the challenge, but rather using these guns to shoot down the dozens of fighters and bombers that threaten the fort that Matteo’s battalion is attacking. You have to defend both positions alone. The enemies are no fools and soon the fighters turn your position into hell on earth.
After the first demolitions, they began to target me. But I had to defend Matteo. I had to hold on. […] Then the planes turned sharply.
The enemy planes get tired of being shot down and bomb one of the slopes to cause a titanic collapse. There is no anti-aircraft gun that can combat that. And to make matters worse, a plane crashes in my position and its explosion destroys everything, including an armor that has been receiving projectiles from planes for a long time.
When I woke up… I thought I had died and was in hell. They blew up the mountain. They buried us. And they buried themselves. I had to find it [a Matteo]. So I went down to that hell.
As soon as you empathize with the character, the mission becomes even more overwhelming. You could say that going down to the fortress was easy, but not even close… especially without armor, alone and in a fog. Enemies and allies fighting each other, while the desperate screams of their buried comrades serve as a background for the noise of gunshots.
The chaos of the mission is monumental. There is no clear front. Any direction is good to find an ally or enemy. The battlefield has become a potato field from hell due to collapse and bombing, and the fighting inside is no consolation. The bunkers are full of survivors, soldiers who have taken refuge to kill each other with the few bullets they have left, bayonets or anything blunt to kill.
Getting to the fort is a nightmare, but nothing compared to what awaits inside. Hallways and small rooms are firing squads for anyone with an automatic weapon. I manage to get one and I don’t skimp on bullets. I also get a shotgun. The combat in the main courtyard is bloodthirsty and inhuman. Dead allies and enemies lying everywhere, like rag dolls scattered after a toy truck derailed. Plastic soldiers fallen in an absurd war.
I keep remembering what I saw… Every day. I was about to give up searching… wishing Matteo had escaped, and then… He never grew up. And here I am, still. Who decides those things? Buon compleanno, Matteo.
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