Imperial Elite

Chapter 166 Old Joe's Little Plan
For Old Joe, the victory in the Battle of Warsaw completely reversed his strategic decline. Although a counter-offensive was still some distance away, Bohemia was at least saved from the brink of destruction.

The consequences of the Teutons losing a large number of advanced weapons in Warsaw not only prevented them from launching a large-scale offensive on the Eastern Front, but also slowed down their offensive pace in the Sudetenland.

As the Teutons began to reduce their offensive intensity, the pressure on the Morawa Gorge, which was originally the weakest point on the defensive line and was besieged by those small eastern countries, has been greatly reduced.

However, along with the many good news items came a piece of bad news.

The Warsaw battle, which ended in such a stalemate, was clearly not what Moscow had expected.

In the days following the end of the battle, the Teutonic Air Force's repeated bombing of abandoned technical equipment on the battlefield led to another air battle in the eastern part of Warsaw after the ground operations had ended.

Another battle broke out between the People's Revolutionary Army Air Force, which was being supported from the rear, and the Teutonic Air Force, which was trying to destroy the technological weapons abandoned on the battlefield.

Ultimately, after both sides lost a significant number of aircraft, the battle ended with the Teutonic Air Force withdrawing from the battlefield after destroying most of the abandoned technical weapons.

This outcome—a victory, but not a complete one, with extremely heavy losses—led Moscow to prepare to recall Constantine for an investigation.

Of course, this recall was not directly under the guise of review, but rather because although the higher-ups were not entirely satisfied with the battle, this could not overshadow the valiant fighting of the rank-and-file soldiers.

It was like taking off three times in one day, destroying seven tanks and six artillery pieces. When the plane returned to the airport after the last operation, it was almost just a skeleton. The ground crew counted nearly three hundred bullet holes on the plane.

There were also tank crews who, after their tanks were hit by Teutonic artillery and their engines were destroyed, could only pretend to be destroyed and launch surprise attacks from behind the Teutons. They didn't return to their units until the Teutons retreated and the troops began to pursue them.

As an artillery scout, he was active on the front lines from the very beginning of the campaign, guiding the artillery in nearly a hundred attacks, and eliminating at least one Teutonic armored battalion and countless infantry scouts.

These people will all return to Moscow to receive commendations, and perhaps even a red flag or a gold star.

It's perfectly normal for Constantine, as the battle commander, to go back as well.

With Constantine gone, someone naturally had to take over his work.

The person who came didn't get along with Old Joe, or rather, this person didn't like Old Joe.

As a film director, millionaire, and military strategist, Joe's influence is undeniable. In fact, due to the practical nature of Joe's films, the People's Revolutionary Alliance introduced almost all of Joe's films along with his strategy games.

Naturally, they wouldn't miss out on films like the "Governors of the Planet" series.

Of course, just as the Rising Sun critically introduced the "Governors of the Planet" film series, the Human Revolutionary Alliance also adopted a critical attitude towards its introduction of the "Governors of the Planet" film series.

You can learn from the battle and tactics parts, but you should strongly criticize the capitalist parts and realize that the future of feudal and capitalist societies at their end is the future depicted in the film.

Of course, although it was criticism, it didn't stop many young officers from thinking that Old Joe was incredibly cool and a genius.

Some people like Steve Jobs, while others dislike him.

Constantinovic, whose name is similar to Constantine's, disliked old Joe very much.

At this time, like Constantine, Constantinovich, who had become the commander of the army group, disliked Old Joe, mainly for two reasons.

The primary reason is that, like Joe, Konstantinovich came from a working-class family and was a propertyless person. However, Konstantinovich's early life was even more miserable than Joe's. As both his parents had died, Konstantinovich was raised by his grandfather, who was a factory worker.

After obtaining his primary school degree, he first worked as an apprentice in a leatherworker's workshop, and then joined the cavalry of the Lucia Empire after the outbreak of the last war.

Then, after fighting as bravely as Old Joe, he joined the left-wing forces and fought all the way from St. Petersburg to Volgograd, participating in almost all of the important battles of the People's Revolutionary Union.

It means, in the literal sense, that someone has been through countless battles.

However, in terms of reputation and other aspects, he is an order of magnitude behind Old Joe.

Up to this point, he didn't have much dissatisfaction with Old Joe, until the Human Revolutionary Alliance started introducing the "Governors of the Planet" movie, at which point things began to change a little.

As a serious soldier, Konstantinovich criticized some of the military-related scenes in the movie "Governors of the Planet of the Sea".

Normally, this wouldn't be a big deal, but because Joe's movies are so good, he has a huge following even within the People's Revolutionary League. Regarding Konstantinovich's criticism, these fans say that anyone looking for realism in a fictional story must have a problem.

Then, in some realistic parts, these fans will praise, "As expected of Joe, look at how reality is, that's how Joe filmed it."

This integrated offensive and defensive defense disgusted Konstantinovich, and then Old Joe became a victim of fan behavior escalating to the point of targeting the idol.

Besides Konstantinovich hating the unfortunate movie "The Governor of the Planet" and consequently disliking Joe, another incident occurred that made Konstantinovich not want to deal with Joe after arriving at the Western Front.

Due to the Teutonic Knights' astonishing victories on the western front, Rising Sun, one of the Teutonic Knights' little brothers, also began to stir with the mentality that we couldn't miss this last chance.

The Rising Sun military also started to stir up trouble.

However, although the military was preparing to cause trouble, those who knew the Rising Sun knew that, unlike the armies of other countries, the Rising Sun had some minor internal problems.

That is, there is a small conflict between their navy and army, and sometimes there are even minor frictions.

So, just when everyone was trying to catch this train, a small disagreement arose between the army and navy of Shengyang: the army felt they should head north.

Now the People's Revolutionary League faces the Teutonic Knights in the west and the Lucian military government in the south. If we launch another attack from the east, how should the People's Revolutionary League respond?

The Navy felt that the Army's ideas were somewhat flawed. Yes, you are very familiar with the rotten forests of Siberia, but have you ever thought about a small problem: even if we take Siberia, what will we get?
Only country bumpkins like you who've never seen the world would want that rotten land. We should go south and seize the rich colonies of Buntania and the Low Countries. Those are the real fertile lands!
Although this naval and land battle would not yield results in the short term, Konstantinovich, then commander of the Far Eastern Front, was aware of the troop movements of the Rising Sun Army.

Therefore, in order to give the Rising Sun Army a big surprise, Konstantinovich had already made preparations in advance.

If the Rising Sun Army dares to make a move, Konstantinovich will give them a big one.

Then, at this critical juncture, the Battle of Warsaw was over, and Constantine was about to return to Moscow. Constantineovich, who was eager to give the Rising Sun Army a good thrashing in the Far East, had to rush to build a defensive line before he could even deliver a blow to the Rising Sun.

This made Konstantinovich very unhappy.

So, in this state of discontent, the first thing Konstantinovich did after taking command of the Western Front was to order his troops to take over the defensive lines from NATO forces. "Do you understand how to defend this? Defend right here! This is land we, the People's Revolutionary League, fought and bled to liberate."

Even Konstantinovich, the eastern part of Warsaw, has sent troops to prepare for takeover.

Old Joe's attitude towards Konstantinovich's behavior was one of wholehearted welcome.

Although their performance on the battlefield was quite impressive, in general, the NATO forces were still a coalition of several small countries.

Countless lessons in history have shown that an army without sufficient manpower may perform very well at the beginning, but its combat effectiveness will begin to decline rapidly as manpower becomes scarce.

So now that he saw Konstantinovich was willing to take over the front, Old Joe said without hesitation that he would give him everything he wanted, as long as the People's Revolutionary League allowed their logistics personnel to continue to use the roads safely. He would have no objection to handing over the towns of Poland that had been captured in the previous battles to the People's Revolutionary League.

This way, Old Joe can actually save his troops.

Old Joe was conserving his troops because he was preparing for something big.

Although the Lucia military government has not officially turned against Russia yet, judging from the current situation, it is simply waiting for a better opportunity.

From a strategic perspective, the oil controlled by the Luscan military government was the source of the Teutonic war machine's ability to rampage at will.

Since the last war, they have been bombed by the Teutonic air force, and they are still being bombed by the Teutonic air force in this war.

It's impossible to say that Old Joe had no objections at all.

However, starting to prepare for the Air Force from scratch now is indeed a bit difficult.

So, when the Battle of Warsaw was about to end, Old Joe, who was furious from being bombed by the Teutonic Air Force, came up with a brilliant idea.

To be precise, it was a slightly crazy plan.

Judging from the current situation, there is a slight difference in fighting strength between Teuton and his friends.

The fighting capacity of the Lucia military government remains shrouded in mystery.

So Old Joe figured that after accumulating some troops, he should launch an attack to the south.

Although he had previously led his troops to wander aimlessly in Teutonic territory, he had also given the Teutons a good beating in the Battle of Warsaw.

But Old Joe knew very well that the Teutonic armored forces were still very formidable.

In a direct confrontation, if those emergency tanks can achieve a two-for-one or three-for-one exchange, it would already be considered an exceptional performance by the crew.

Add to that the Teutonic air force's insane capabilities, and fighting against their armored formations without prior fortifications would be a somewhat insane endeavor.

However, since the start of the war, Old Joe has been able to lead the Teutons by the nose, which is naturally due to his own strengths.

NATO-affiliated infantry had an overwhelming advantage over their Teutonic counterparts.

So Old Joe thought that since he no longer had the armored advantage he had in the last war, he should make use of his infantry advantage.

First, they moved south to sever the land link between the Teutons and the Lucia military government.

Even if it can't be completely cut off, the impact on the Teutonics' fuel transport efficiency would be enough to give them a hard time.

After all, the Teutons had already merged with the Habsburgs by this time, and the vast majority of the remaining Habsburg territories were located in the Alps.

Mountainous terrain... that's naturally a good place for infantry to demonstrate their combat effectiveness.

Once they've amassed a small force, a single charge into the Alps would be enough to disgust the Teutons to death.

Just as Old Joe was preparing to head south into the Alps to cause trouble for the Teutons.

A minor incident also occurred in Paris.

Because the resistance forces have been so active during this period, the capital sent the national leader of the armed guard to Paris to confront these rebels. As a result, the local repressive agencies, including the Gestapo, have become active.

There's no way around it; we can't afford to be inactive. The national leaders have all come, so there's bound to be accountability. But right now, there aren't many people who can take the blame, so to prevent the national leaders from pulling the chair out of their seats...

The Paris garrison command, along with the Gestapo and the remaining guards, began to mobilize.

You don't necessarily have to know how to do the test, but the sound of turning the pages must be loud. Don't worry about whether you can catch the person or whether you've caught the wrong person. Fill the prison first and show us our attitude towards certification work.

Even if we don't have made any great contributions, we still deserve some credit for our hard work. Even if the national leaders saw this, they wouldn't be too harsh on us, right?
With this mindset, the Teutonic repressive agencies, including the Gestapo, mobilized all their forces to arrest people throughout Paris.

However, this all-out effort led to a small problem: with everyone out there making arrests, the Gestapo headquarters' defenses were left somewhat vulnerable.

This gave Andrei, who had long wanted to give the Gestapo a little shock before making his escape, an excellent opportunity.

Since none of you are at headquarters, I'm going in now.

So one afternoon, without provoking or offending anyone, two trucks crashed into the Gestapo headquarters building.

A group of men in black robes jumped out of the vehicle and opened fire on the Gestapo officers with machine guns.

By the time the patrolling troops arrived, the men in black robes had vanished without a trace, and then, just as they were about to enter the Gestapo building...

With a loud "boom!", the two trucks turned into two huge fireballs.

(End of this chapter)