Imperial Elite

Chapter 164 Close the Door
Since the formation of the Seventh Truck Transport Company, Old Joe felt that special operations were exhilarating, and the more he fought, the more exhilarating it was.

Although these well-trained soldiers in the 7th Truck Transport Company are still a long way from being superhuman and cannot rampage across the battlefield like Space Marines or humanoid tanks.

However, when it comes to carrying out tasks like sneaky thievery or guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines, well, whoever uses it knows what I mean.

Ever since Old Joe led his troops on a stroll around the Teutonic territory, the 7th Truck Transport Company had been secretly carrying out sneak attacks, using methods that would make the Teutonic commanders' heads explode in every sense of the word.

Furthermore, during the special operation in Germania, the 7th Truck Transport Company had the highest rate of shooting among all the infiltration units.

The photos of them planting the flag on the Capitol Building were taken by them.

As anyone with a map would know, there are only twelve bridges connecting the two banks of the Vistula River in Warsaw.

If these bridges are blown up, land-based communication between the east and west banks of Warsaw will be cut off.

While conquering the entire city of Warsaw would be challenging for Joe and Constantine at their current level, taking control of only the eastern part of Warsaw would be much easier.

After all, the Teutons were not in good condition after yesterday's fierce battle, so if they were not out of their minds, their defense plan would definitely be to use the urban warfare environment in the eastern part of Warsaw to wear down the Allied forces.

The real ironclad defense line has to be the Vistula River defense line.

So Joe thought that given the current situation, since everyone was too exhausted to fight, it would be fine for them to stand on opposite sides of the Vistula River. The Teutons would sit comfortably in the city while we enjoyed ourselves in the countryside.

With this in mind, Joe sent all the members of his 7th Truck Transport Company last night to infiltrate Warsaw, planning to blow up the bridges over the Vistula River at noon today.

Once the bridge is destroyed, Joe will lead his troops directly north to seize the eastern part of Warsaw.

Logically speaking, it would be difficult for a company-level unit to infiltrate a city that has already been fortified, and to blow up a bridge that is certainly heavily guarded at this time.

Logically speaking, this is almost an impossible task.

However, for the Seventh Truck Transport Company, the task was not as difficult as it seemed.

Because as the most well-trained elite force under Old Joe's command, the officers of the 7th Truck Transport Company had a skill that ordinary infantry units would not usually be trained in: diving.

Although the Teutons had heavily fortified every entrance to Warsaw, the streets and alleys of the city were filled with Teutonic troops on the march, especially due to the daytime fighting.

This makes infiltration unusually difficult.

However, the Teutons did not have much defense over the Vistula River, although they had deployed searchlights and cannons on the side where the Vistula flows into Warsaw.

Any ship wishing to enter the city along the river had to first receive a warm greeting from the cannons.

However, the Teutonic searchlights could not only see the surface of the river. In order to cover the infiltration of the 7th Truck Transport Company, Joe ordered his troops to throw a lot of garbage, including wooden stakes and rubber boats, into the Vistula River after nightfall, which could be used to build a pontoon bridge.

At first, when the Teutons saw this garbage, they would nervously fire machine guns at the river.

However, after several hours of this garbage continued to float down from upstream, the Teutonic garrison stopped paying attention to it.

This choice was fatal, because what was floating down from upstream was not only construction debris, but also officers from the 7th Truck Transport Company carrying explosives.

After the officers of the 7th Truck Transport Company infiltrated Warsaw from among the floating debris, they began attempting to plant bombs on the bridge.

The idea of ​​planting bombs on a bridge with Teutonic soldiers marching on it, Teutonic guard posts on both sides, and searchlights sounds complicated, but it was actually quite complex.

In this mission, avoiding the Teutonic sentries was actually the easiest part of the entire mission.

Because they entered Warsaw by diving, they had a limited amount of explosives to carry, and they had to set up the detonation points precisely, otherwise there was a high possibility that after the explosion, the entire bridge would be filled with smoke but no damage.

Then, because the radio was not yet stable, after planting the bomb, they had to continue to set the detonation cord behind the Teutonic sentries and ensure that they would not be discovered by the Teutonics in the next few hours.

However, although this was not an easy task, it was just one of many tasks that the Seventh Truck Transport Company had accomplished that were considered impossible.

As noon approached, Erich in Warsaw gradually relaxed.

Although the attacks by the People's Revolutionary Alliance forces did not stop after dawn.

Meanwhile, the People's Revolutionary Union's forces also launched a large-scale artillery bombardment of Warsaw.

However, compared to yesterday's large-scale armored warfare, this attack seemed so ordinary and unremarkable.

Furthermore, with the railway continuously sending fresh troops to Warsaw, Erich felt that although theoretically he had lost the battle outside Warsaw, he had still achieved his campaign objectives.

Forget about the extent of the armored losses, just tell me whether Warsaw was even held!

Then, just as Erich relaxed, the phone in Erich's command post suddenly rang.

Ten seconds later, Erich's face darkened.

Just as Erich's face darkened, Old Joe lowered his left hand, poked his upper body out of the turret, and waved.

"Armor! Advance!"

Although after a night, Old Joe's armored forces were not many, perhaps even fewer than the Teutonic armored forces in Warsaw's eastern district.

However, in urban warfare, having tanks is certainly advantageous, but not having them doesn't preclude fighting.

In particular, NATO-affiliated forces had two minor advantages over the Teutonic forces.

First and foremost, each soldier was equipped with an assault rifle. This overwhelming firepower at close to medium range was enough to crush a Teutonic infantry force of similar size.

In particular, the intermediate-power rounds that were studied in advance were more powerful than submachine guns that used pistol rounds and fired faster than semi-automatic rifles that used full-power rounds. In addition, most of the old buildings in Warsaw at that time were brick and stone structures, and many walls even had plaster partitions.

This wall structure is impenetrable to pistol bullets, but for intermediate-power rounds, while it's not exactly easy to break through with a single puncture, it generally only requires a couple more punctures. Furthermore, Wagner had already learned an irrefutable truth from past battles: in urban warfare, it's better to use explosives to clear a path than to probe the enemy's defenses with your face.

Sensing someone in a room, I threw a grenade.

The enemy blocked the room entrance with submachine guns and threw grenades.

If all else fails, you can simply blow up the wall and bypass the door, passing through it directly.

Moreover, the troops working with the People's Revolutionary Alliance discovered that those anti-tank rifles seemed to be able to hit anything in urban warfare, and the rocket launchers that were widely equipped by NATO forces were even more effective at hitting whatever they were not looking for.

From tank bunkers to tank formations, they basically attacked anything they could get their hands on.

Meanwhile, given that urban warfare is an environment that severely tests firepower, these NATO-affiliated troops did something that made the Teutons curse them out in order to enhance firepower.

Some ingenious mechanized infantrymen removed the recoilless rifles that were originally mounted on the back of the Indomitable SUV and moved them into an apartment building for direct fire.

Originally, based on their experience in Paris, the Teutonic garrison paid special attention to setting up anti-tank fortifications at intersections when constructing urban defenses, using concrete blocks and trenches to block the advance of tanks and armored vehicles.

Except for the roads reserved for their vehicles, all other roads were blocked off, and anti-tank guns were placed behind these fortifications, just waiting for the tanks to come to them.

Instead of NATO tanks, NATO infantry set up recoilless rifles on the apartment building.

As the saying goes, "high ground to attack low ground, attack XX," and soon the Teutonic defensive forces were so overwhelmed by the flexible firepower of the NATO forces that they began to doubt their own abilities.

At this point, according to general tactical procedures, the Teutonic defensive forces should have called for armored support.

Let the armored forces launch a counterattack, so that the front line can continue.

Rocket launchers and recoilless rifles are usually at a disadvantage in firefights with tanks.

Then, just as these troops were calling for backup, they discovered that something was slightly wrong.

That's the bridge over the Vistula River; it's all been blown up. Forget about reinforcements; they can't even get back now.

For the defenders on the east bank of the Vistula, there were now only four options left: either jump into the river and try to swim to the west bank, break out to the north and find a place to cross the river, or fight to the death in the eastern part of Warsaw.

And hold the line, waiting for the West Bank troops to build a bridge across the Vistula River so they can cross and retreat or for reinforcements to arrive.

However, Erich and the East Coast garrison soon discovered that they had no choice, because although Joe led his troops to charge northward.

But just like before, Joe didn't lead his troops directly northward; instead, he advanced northward along the riverbank.

Before nightfall, Joe had almost captured the entire east bank of the Vistula River.

Although the Teutonic air force was still strong at this time, and the heavy losses suffered by the People's Revolutionary League's air force led the Teutons to almost seize air superiority over the Warsaw region.

Therefore, the only option left for the defenders on the east bank of the Teutonic River was to abandon their defenses and heavy equipment and break out eastward under cover of darkness.

This seems like a good option, since by doing so, only a portion of the troops need to hold firm in the eastern part of Warsaw, while the rest of the troops will have a chance to run back under the cover of night.

After all, in the north, the Upper Silesia group of the People's Revolutionary League and the Free Gauls' forces had not yet been able to fully control the eastern bank of the Vistula River.

You can still escape if you run now.

After discovering that Old Joe was plotting against him, Erich silently admired Old Joe's many tricks, saying that he could never learn them all. At the same time, he ordered the troops on the east bank who were about to be surrounded to break out to the north.

They'll run however they want, as long as they can get back to the west bank.

However, with the war having progressed to this point, Old Joe, who had started by cutting off the bridges over the Vistula River, clearly did not want to abandon these troops who were about to be surrounded.

The only reason they didn't completely cut off their escape route to the north was that, although NATO forces, with their superior equipment, were able to overwhelm the Teutons in urban warfare.

However, urban warfare is still a very brutal form of combat. Even with the advantage of equipment, Joe's troops still paid a considerable price when they launched an assault along the river.

So how can we minimize troop losses?

Let the Teutons leave the city.

So for the entire night, as the Teutons abandoned their heavy equipment and began to retreat north, Old Joe did not hesitate to send out troops to collect tolls from the Teutons along with the People's Revolutionary Union's artillery.

After daybreak, they even dispatched paratroopers in off-road vehicles to chase after the Teutons like hunting dogs.

Having already marched all night, the Teutonic troops faced a very difficult situation in fighting the pursuing NATO paratroopers. Fortunately, they were already some distance from Warsaw, so they chose to accelerate their northward advance.

Then, these Teutonic troops ran headlong into the Free Gauls who had been waiting there for a long time.

While devising a plan to drive the Teutonic troops out of the east of Warsaw, Joe sent a telegram to Charles, informing him that a large wave of Teutonic troops would soon flee north. These troops would be exhausted and lack heavy weapons by the time they reached the north, and their organization might even be in disarray. How many Teutons remained would depend on Charles's discretion.

Seeing such a good thing, not only Charles, but almost all the Free Gallic troops involved in the battle went crazy.

As unfortunate souls who were driven to Buntania by the Teutons in northern Gaul, they had no shortage of personal grudges against the Teutons, in addition to national hatred.

Upon learning that a large wave of Teutonic troops was about to arrive, the Free Gauls marched for an entire night, ultimately closing the door to the Teutonic troops' retreat in the north.

Ultimately, less than one-tenth of the Teutonic troops who attempted to break out to the north were captured by the Free Gauls.

Upon learning the outcome of the battle, the leader of the Führer, far away in Germania, was furious.

(End of this chapter)