Before even opening the book, I was a big fan of the title. The double meaning establishes a note of world-weary irony that prepares the reader well for what's inside.
What we have here is almost a board game with roleplaying elements, though the roleplaying is foregrounded and there's no real "win condition" (poetic!) You've created a really interesting structure on top of the Havoc ruleset, and the concept you're pushing toward of a GM-less game with two "teams" of players interacting is even more fascinating. I think it works well to communicate the encounter between the human interiority and social connections of the soldier on the ground and the almost gamified nature of modern warfare. It's complex, but I think condensing all of the information onto cards does a lot to help make the rules more legible and the modularity of the squads and objectives more manageable, as does the excellent extended play example provided. The orders deck does a good job of reifying the nonsensical and contradictory orders given by out-of-touch generals far from the front, and the fog of war mechanic piece by piece revealing hazards and the true objective is really cool and unique. The "trench gong" promotions are also an excellent flavour inclusion. I think players will have to be in a very particular mood to be interested in an experience where the game ends in mass slaughter and your soldiers just straight-up die if you roll a one, but I'm certain there's tables for that and I admire your commitment to unflinching honesty. It's similar to what I was trying to do with my game, though mine is a bit more amped-up action movie rather than All Quiet on the Western Front: The Game.
I'm not experienced with VTTs so I haven't got around to looking at that part. I can imagine a lot of players would find it a relief, but I'm old-school enough to still prefer playing with physical cards and I could see a full boxed release of this game making a real splash on the table. I'm impressed!