- "Mein Reichsführer, we have experienced a rather dramatic development here in Leningrad. I will go into detail when next we meet. In brief: some artifacts we collected have yielded rather tangible results. I have experienced them personally. Suffice to say, I am a changed man. I must now take immediate action on behalf of the Reich. Be advised we are deploying immediately... to Stalingrad. I would wait for permission, but our situation is precarious and there is not a moment to lose. You know my devotion to the Reich is complete and unshakable. I do not take this action lightly. But I am now in possession of a military asset so radical in nature it will turn the tide of the entire war. Again, details to come when the time is right. Until then, keep faith in me. Tell the Führer this is no cause for alarm -- but rather for celebration. The Third Reich shall endure!"
- — Wolfram Von List, in a letter to Heinrich Himmler.
Kampfgruppe Die Wahrheit (German: The Truth) is a faction in Call of Duty: Vanguard Zombies that is part of the Schutzstaffel. Led by SS-Oberführer Wolfram Von List, it was responsible for plundering various artifacts across the world. It is an antagonistic faction in Vanguard Zombies, and was first mentioned in Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War in intel for Outbreak.
History[]
Formation[]
At the wake of the NSDAP's rise to power in Germany, much of their leadership became dedicated to discovering evidence of the mythological Aryan race in an attempt to legitimize their power. Heinrich Himmler, the head of the Schutzstaffel, created many institutions and battalions to discover such evidence - with one of them being Kampfgruppe Die Wahrheit. Under the command of the cold and efficient SS-Oberführer Wolfram Von List, they would become infamous for raiding antiquities across the globe.
Aethereal Antiquities[]
- "Do I have your attention now, herr Professor?"
- — Von List, after killing Franz.
In 1939, Von List would meet Professor Gabriel Krafft, a demonologist at the University of Leipzig. While he and his assistant were translating an ancient Sumerian scroll, Von List requested that Krafft leave his work at Leipzig to join Die Wahrheit as an advisor. Krafft initially refused, stating he had no desire in helping Heinrich Himmler twist history for his own agenda. However, things took a swift and dark turn when Von List murdered Krafft's assistant and calmly asked if he had the Professor's attention now. Von List then had Krafft dragged out of the University and brought to an SS prison camp with other explorers, historians and archaeologists. There, Von List tasked them all with Die Wahrheit's mission to discover antiquities of the world that would prove the existence of the Aryan race, giving the Holy Grail, Mjolnir, Atlantis and Shangri-La as examples. Most obeyed, while a handful refused to cooperate - including Krafft, but after the SS arrested Krafft's wife Sasha, Krafft was left with no choice but to fully cooperate with Von List. Secretly, Krafft swore to himself that if he found anything of use he would use it against Von List and his "Nazi thugs".
Krafft would first be tasked with deciphering various documents seized at the Société Occulte's old headquarters, the Hotel Royal. Noticing that there were hastily written notes on the pages, Krafft came to recognize the handwriting of the notes - linking them back to a fellow demonologist who was a patron at the University of Leipzig. Von List would have this man arrested and tortured. During this, the man revealed that he was a member of the Société Occulte, a centuries-old secret society who were responsible for compiling a spell-book of Dark Aether rune magic known as the Tome of Rituals. As it turns out, the pages discovered by Die Wahrheit were merely lost pages of this Tome. The man was responsible for safeguarding the locations of these pages, a task he would soon fail as he revealed the locations of many of the missing pages, and those who might possess them. Die Wahrheit would soon travel the globe in search of these pages, with Krafft deducing the locations of five artifacts using the Tome. These would lead to archaeological expeditions to Yucatán, Japan, Iceland, Greece, and the Egyptian Eastern Desert where a temple to "Osiris" was discovered. These artifacts, while appearing anachronistic, had no use in advancing the Nazis' racial agenda. Regardless, Von List kept them in his possession.
Unbeknownst to Die Wahrheit, these artifacts each belonged to a powerful entity of the Dark Aether namely Bellekar the Warlock's Mask, Saraxis the Shadow's Dragon, Norticus the Conqueror's Horn, Inviktor the Destroyer's Sword, and Kortifex the Deathless' Scepter.
Battle of Stalingrad[]
- "I led an SS rescue mission here. We... we all knew we could not afford to lose those men. The death toll was already horrific by the time we arrived. I spent the rest of that brutal winter adding to the Russian casualties. We tried to resupply our men. We tried to break the seige. All in vain. At the end General Paulus surrendered. Most of his men were never seen again. I had witnessed a deathblow against the Wehrmacht. I could see the war was lost. But when I made my way back to headquarters, no one wanted to hear my report, or face the awful truth."
- — Von List
Die Wahrheit would be present at the Battle of Stalingrad in November 1942, where the German 6th army was encircled by Soviet forces. Von List led an SS rescue operation to resupply the encircled troops and break the siege. Unfortunately for Von List, on January 31st, 1943, General Friedrich Paulus would surrender to the Soviets - an event which would have a profound impact on Von List.
Alliance with Kortifex[]
The Beginning[]
Die Wahrheit was deployed to Leningrad sometime in March 1944 to support Army Group North. Meanwhile, on March 7th, Uranveiren research group Projekt Endstation performed a test of their cyclotron at Morasko which caused a malfunction, accidentally breaching the Dimensional Membrane between their world and the Dark Aether - unknowingly re-establishing a link between these two worlds. This event would re-activate the artifacts in Von List's possession. One such artifact was the Scepter of Kortifex, which Von List became drawn to. Kortifex would then bond with Von List, giving him the power to raise the undead. After reporting to Himmler regarding the situation, Von List would re-deploy Die Wahrheit to Stalingrad, bringing Krafft along with him.
Von List would lock Krafft in his room, ordering him to both study their findings for anything that could boost Kortifex's power - as well as giving him a blank notebook to document Von List's initial raising of the dead. As Von List went outside and resurrected a pile of dead Soviet and German corpses, Krafft picked a lock containing the other four Dark Aether artifacts. Briefly communing with Bellekar, she and Krafft would soon devise a plan to grant the other entities within the artifacts hosts - as well as giving them a fighting chance against Die Wahrheit and their new unholy allies. Krafft would seal himself in his room with the Tome of Rituals and contact Allied Special Forces in a distress call. When they arrived, Krafft personally gave them access to the four artifacts - with each entity bonding with a Special Forces operator. Learning of this, Kortifex trapped them in a containment spell with seemingly no way out. This containment spell spread at the site of Stalingrad, as well as containment spells being placed at Merville, the Hotel Royal, and an Imperial Japanese army camp known to the locals as Shi No Numa - the Swamp of Death.
As the Allied operatives travelled across these containment spells, completing objectives and battling Von List's army of revenants, Kortifex and Von List would observe (Von List himself sending the Allied operatives a warning to either stop assisting Krafft or die and become a part of his army) and speak amongst themselves. Von List would send a message to all Die Wahrheit personnel, informing them he was altering their timetable by reducing the time allotted by half. Die Wahrheit would be deployed at all the sites of these containment spells, as well as returning to the Eastern Desert where Kortifex's Scepter was first discovered. Kortifex would also place a page of the Tome of Rituals in a void spell - a page which contained information that could be used to separate Von List from Kortifex.
Temple of Osiris[]
Die Wahrheit personnel at the Eastern Desert attempted to detonate charges within the Temple as to prevent Krafft from discovering the circumstances of Kortifex's imprisonment. However, upon detonation, the entire area would explode - killing all personnel present and slightly corrupting the area. Von List would send a message to all his personnel detailing the event, bringing up the possibility someone outside of Krafft's influence was working against them as all of Krafft's efforts were currently being focused at Stalingrad. Meanwhile, Special Forces were re-inforced by the arrival of Vercanna the Last and her Wand of the Wilds. Vercanna would transport the Allied operatives to Die Wahrheit's outpost in Egypt, as well as transporting the shield of the Decimator to assist them. There, they would undertake a mission to awaken the Decimator and use his shield to break Kortifex's void spell used on the Tome page. To assist, Kortifex would deploy his personal assassin, Zaballa the Deceiver, a member of the Sisters of Agony.
While Zaballa and Die Wahrheit's undead forces battled Special Forces, Von List would angrily confront Kortifex regarding their deal - accusing Kortifex that he had done little to uphold his promise of an army of millions. Warning Von List to mind his tone, he claimed that such a task was proving more difficult than first thought, and that Kortifex was doing everything he could to help. Von List then noted much of the Dark Aether was spilling into his world, and that he wouldn't need to send him back home as it would already be there on Earth. Kortifex re-assures Von List he would "take it all with [him]" when the time came to reclaim his throne, and that he was leaving Von List's "ball of dust" to him alone. Afterwards, Von List would observe as the Special Forces broke the void spell and retrieved the lost page.
Reconsolidation[]
- Kortifex: "I am not your servant. Nor are you mine. We simply have mutual interests. And if Krafft still lives, it is because you have failed to kill him. Now if you wish to end our alliance, I'll take my power to raise the dead and return to my scepter. You can carry on with... your handful of surviving soldiers."
- Von List: "Nein.... Nein, Kortifex. We still need each other -- as you so bluntly point out."
- Kortifex: "Then tell me, Wolfram, do you think I wanted them to get that page?"
- Von List: "No, Kortifex. That.... would not make any sense. Would it...?"
- — Von List and Kortifex
After the page of the Tome was lost to the Allies, Von List once again confronted Kortifex, this time regarding the page as Kortifex had promised Von List that the page was safe. Kortifex would simply dismiss Von List's concerns as insignificant, threatening to withdraw his support. After, he would ask Von List if he "wanted them to get that page" - confusing Von List. In a conversation with Zaballa, who was growing impatient with Die Wahrheit's repeated failures, Kortifex revealed that everything had supposedly been going according to plan.
Von List would then order all Die Wahrheit personnel across the globe to consolidate their forces back to the Eastern Desert - personally sending operatives in Shi No Numa a message stating he was disappointed in their efforts to find the Relic Mirror referenced in the Tome page. The personnel stationed in Japan would obey, but also leave behind their radio equipment, Tesla coil, traps, and the experimental Wunderwaffe DG-2 built by Ulrich Vogel. Special Forces would soon arrive at the site, seeking to restore the Relic Mirror and restore Saraxis' memories, as she had previously been separated from a human host at the site centuries ago using the Mirror. They would succeed in doing so, whilst Kortifex and Von List observed. Saraxis, when her memories were restored, would warn her allies of Kortifex's ultimate goal: seizing control of the Construct within the Dark Aether, which would make everyone and everything Von List and Kortifex's "playthings".
Destruction[]
Sometime after the Relic Mirror was re-assembled in Japan, the Allied Special Forces returned to Die Wahrheit's outpost in Egypt. To hinder their progress, Kortifex unleashed a spell that seperated the pieces of the Pack-a-Punch Machine. This has the unintended side-effect of killing the rest of Die Wahrheit's personnel, much to the displeasure of Von List who comes to regret ever having bonded with Kortifex.
After Kortifex is separated from Von List using the Relic Mirror, Kortifex appears physically to the Special Forces and reveals that they had merely played into his hands, freeing him from his imprisonment and promising to destroy their realm. Von List would ask what his fate would be, to which Kortifex coldly responded that he "never mattered" in the grand scheme of things, before teleporting him to Gabriel Krafft's room. Krafft would then hold Von List at gunpoint with the intent to shoot, but not before Von List convinced him to spare his life in exchange for assisting in thwarting Kortifex and the completion of the Trials of the Construct.
After the Trials are completed, Krafft demanded that Von List tell him where his spouse had been kept. Von List then admitted the truth - Sasha was killed months ago, and Von List was the one writing love letters to Krafft under Sasha's name to keep him obedient. In anger, Krafft shot Von List, killing the sole survivor of Die Wahrheit.
Legacy[]
- "Some doors are closed for a reason, Colonel. Do not open this one."
- — Jager warns Kravchenko after being reminded of Von List.
Decades after Die Wahrheit's destruction, Von List would be remembered by his great nephew, Doctor Hugo Jager as well as Omega Group leader Colonel Lev Kravchenko. During a conversation between the two, Kravchenko discussed Die Wahrheit and their alliance with Kortifex - notably discomforting Jager who warned him to keep that particular "door" closed.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Die Wahrheit are derogatorily called "The Ghost Chasers" by Projekt Endstation who considered the battalion as rivals.
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