Imperial Elite

Chapter 172: Offense as Defense, Solving the Dilemma.

As winter approached, although Old Joe had already pushed the battle lines to the outskirts of Oslo, with just a little more effort, he could have pushed the Teutons into the sea.

However, instead of continuing the attack to push the Teutons into the sea, Old Joe chose to stop and engage in a war of attrition and special operations with the Teutons.

For example, they could organize a commando team to go to the Teutonic-controlled area, bomb ships to block the port, or bomb one or two oil depots.

The secondary reason why Old Joe chose to halt the attack at this time was that his logistics mainly relied on the northern land transport routes, and the northern roads were not originally built to provide logistical support for the army.

Although the engineering corps worked tirelessly to maintain these roads, the already poor road conditions in the north became even worse with the arrival of winter. The danger of the logistics troops transporting military supplies in the heavy snow was no less than that of combat troops attacking the Teutonic positions with assault rifles.

The main reason was that Old Joe discovered that because he had pushed the Teutons back to the vicinity of Oslo, the Teutons chose to reinforce their troops in the north.

Because NATO forces had an advantage in surface ships, it was still profitable to attack the Teutonic transport fleet with mines, even though the Teutonic transport route was short.

At the same time, the Teutonics' total military strength was limited. Since the Teutonics had increased their investment in the north, they had to reduce their investment in other directions, such as the northern Dark Continent region.

On the Dark Continent, with the arrival of winter, the Teutons launched a massive offensive.

This was an unexpected choice, since anyone with even a slight understanding of the climate of the Northern Dark Continent knows that, as a Mediterranean climate region, its winters are theoretically mild and rainy.

However, the desert terrain results in extreme temperature differences between day and night, with daytime temperatures in the twenties and nighttime temperatures dropping to around zero degrees Celsius, making it unsuitable for human habitation. Furthermore, the arrival of winter rains and sudden downpours can instantly turn the hard desert ground into impassable mud. Tanks, trucks, and supply convoys can become stuck in the mud, unable to move, potentially disrupting logistical supply lines.

Therefore, while increased visibility in the desert during winter is beneficial for air force reconnaissance and support, as well as observation and maneuver of ground troops, wear and tear on mechanical equipment is also relatively reduced.

Furthermore, the lower temperature is also conducive to the operation of mechanical equipment. The cool weather can even make the engine feel like it has dozens more horsepower, and there is no need to worry about the overheating risk that is usually a concern when fighting in a desert environment.

Overall, however, cool temperatures are a huge advantage when the weather is dry. But once it rains, the entire battlefield environment deteriorates drastically, and operations may be forced to a halt. Therefore, winter warfare presents both risks and opportunities, making it more like a gamble.

The Teutonic commander was clearly a gambler.

After a year of attacks by the Bunitania army, and with the Bunitania army ceasing operations due to the onset of winter, the Teutonic general launched a massive counterattack.

This operation took everyone by surprise. In particular, although the Teutons had already demonstrated their speed and breakthrough capabilities, the Dark Continent garrison of Buntania was still unable to withstand the offensive when the Teutons began their performance again.

Faced with the Teutonic forces' large-scale infiltration and encirclement, as well as their superior armored units, the Bunitania forces nearly collapsed catastrophically, even though the Teutonic Dark Continent Legion had fewer air units this time.

However, the Red Knight generously handed over a group of his best pilots to the Dark Continent Legion, including several Teutonic Air Force ace pilots who were contenders for the title of best aerial combat pilot.

Since the start of the war, the Teutonic Navy has achieved nothing, and the Army has been both praised and criticized due to Old Joe's counterattack. However, the Air Force is undoubtedly excellent, and almost all of the world's air force pilots with the most kills are Teutonic.

These elite pilots, just as they had done on the Old World, shot down every enemy aircraft they could see.

In just one week and two days, the Teutons reclaimed the territory that the Bunitaians had occupied for the entire previous summer.

This forced the remaining Bunitas forces to retreat to Tobruk for defense, while the Teutonic air force and advance scouts even reached the vicinity of Alexandria.

This greatly alarmed the Bunitaians, who knew that once Alexandria fell, the Teutons would soon be close to the Suez Canal.

Even if the Teutons couldn't capture the Suez Canal, just reaching its vicinity and setting up a few cannons there would be enough to put a noose around the necks of the Bunitanias.

This is something that the people of Bonitania absolutely cannot accept.

The only good news was that, although the battles on land were not going well, control of the Mediterranean remained in the hands of the Bunitas.

So although Tobruk was surrounded by the Teutons, cutting off all land communication.

However, thanks to their control of the sea, the Buntanians were still able to provide supplies and support to the defenders of Tobruk, including food and ammunition, and even magazines donated by Americans and packages shipped from the country.

The fact that Tobruk is stuck in the supply lines of the Teutonic Dark Continent Legion means that the Teutons are unlikely to risk continuing their eastward advance for the time being.

But no one knew how long this stalemate would last. Due to this unexpected attack, more than 20,000 Buntanian troops were captured. Some Teutonic tank crews even shouted at the surrendering Buntanian troops on the roadside as they advanced, "Get off the road! Move aside! We don't have time to capture you!"

Since Old Joe took the lead in filming short videos of the battlefield, the Führer, who was leading the Teutons to victory, naturally followed suit and stationed some cameramen in the troops. This scene was naturally captured by the cameramen.

When the film was brought back to Teutonic, it was immediately publicized by the Teutons as a great victory.

Putting aside military victories, Old Joe had also rebuked the Teutons in the same way when he led the Bunitas into the Teutons during the last great war.

This scene was even made into a stamp by the Teutons to disgust Old Joe and the Bunitans.

So while Buntania was working to rebuild the Dark Continent forces, Buntania also demanded that Old Joe do something about the situation on the Dark Continent.

It would be best for him to personally go to the Dark Continent to deal with those Teutons. Anyway, the situation in the north has stabilized now, and they can assemble a formidable force for Old Joe within a few months, just like the troops he commanded in the last great war, as long as Old Joe can go to the Northern Dark Continent and solve their problems.

Although the terms offered by Bunitania were very good, Old Joe was actually unable to leave at all.

Although the situation in the north appears stable, as the Teutonic armored forces begin to recover their strength, the Teutons will definitely launch a large-scale offensive next spring. If Old Joe is not here, the situation will be extremely bad if things change.

Meanwhile, the special prisoner-of-war rescue operation of Free Gaul is now also encountering problems.

Although at the beginning, by using the method of surprise attacks by air express, they captured ten prisoner-of-war camps within a week and rescued tens of thousands of Gallic prisoners of war who were full of enthusiasm for the Teutons.

However, as time went on, these special prisoner-of-war rescue operations began to encounter obstacles. On the one hand, such large-scale deployments greatly consumed the motor hours of the transport fleet, especially since these transport aircraft needed to take off and land in the field, either on grasslands or roads.

Although the ability to take off and land in the field was the main design feature of these transport aircraft, the high-intensity operation and frequent take-offs and landings in rough terrain inevitably led to mechanical failures.

While the transport fleet's capacity is being reduced, there is something even more critical.

After Holz intervened, he quickly discovered that all the POW camps that had been attacked were those holding several thousand to ten thousand POWs.

So Holtz quickly began to adjust the POW camps, closing down the medium-sized camps with only a few thousand to ten thousand people and cramming the vast majority of prisoners into the expanded large POW camps.

These prisoner-of-war camps were crammed with tens of thousands of people.

When prisoner-of-war camps reach this size, it becomes a problem that can no longer be solved by raids, special operations, or air transport.

While reorganizing the prisoner-of-war camps, Holtz also reorganized the labor teams simultaneously.

Since these prisoners of war were a valuable source of labor, the Teutons would never allow such a fine workforce to waste their time eating bread at exorbitant prices in prisoner-of-war camps.

Therefore, POW camps would organize prisoners of war who were not too rebellious into groups of dozens to over a hundred people, send them to work in factories or farms during the day under the guard of guards, and send them back at night.

But now, apart from those prisoners of war who went to the farm, the rest of the prisoners of war who were originally going to the factory no longer go out, but instead work directly in the prisoner-of-war camp.

This change greatly increased the difficulty for Charles in rescuing prisoners of war.

They definitely couldn't take down the POW camp.

After all, the prisoner-of-war camps holding tens of thousands of people were already heavily guarded, and even if they took over the camps, they wouldn't be able to move so many people in a short time, and those who remained would have to be wary of retaliation from the Teutons.

The labor teams that go to the farms only have a few dozen or a hundred people, and it's not worthwhile to mobilize them for a single trip.

So now the situation is stuck in this awkward state.

However, it wasn't completely awkward. During the operation, the commando team came into contact with the partisans led by Andrei. Although they almost came to blows at first, Andrei, who grew up in Wagner, quickly found his footing.

After confirming the identities of their own men, the commando team provided the guerrillas who were cooperating with them with a lot of equipment and medicine in subsequent operations, and left some guys who couldn't wait to kick the Teutonics in the ass with the guerrillas.

Although the work of rescuing prisoners of war has been suspended, equipment is still being airdropped to Andrei's partisans from time to time.

Old Joe finally understood what his son was up to.

When Old Joe learned that Andrei had already built up a force in Gaul and was even causing trouble in Teutonic territory, he could only sigh and say that if there was an opportunity, he would send the brat more equipment and ammunition.

Old Joe selected ten experienced officers from the 7th Truck Transport Company and sent them to Andrei.

Then, while the battle raged in the north, Old Joe took over the southern front again.

The situation on the southern front was not as good as on the northern front. Although it was also mountainous terrain, the local Teutons were clearly not very welcoming to these outsiders.

Furthermore, the Teutons were essentially fighting on the inside lines here.

So although George I almost succeeded in capturing Vienna at first, just like his previous special operation in Germania, NATO forces withdrew from Vienna as the Teutonic armored forces began to counterattack.

Although they were unable to capture major cities like Vienna, the raid still achieved the minimum requirements set forth by Old Joe when he initially devised the plan.

These infantry units occupied considerable areas of control in the mountains and began collecting tolls from passing Teutonic troops within these areas.

Relying on the organization and firepower of the regular army, the Teutons suffered greatly from the guerrilla tactics employed.

In particular, these troops differ from ordinary guerrillas in that ordinary guerrillas usually have no choice but to run away when faced with encirclement and suppression, because their strength is too weak.

Their strength is more than enough to rival any unit below the level of a Teutonic Division.

If too many Teutons come and there are no friendly forces around, then start retreating into the mountains and wait until the Teutons are dispersed before causing trouble.

Meanwhile, Old Joe's troops discovered something else: although the Teutons disliked them, when they reached the border of the Luscan military government, the residents of the lands controlled by the Luscan military government welcomed them very much, and some even wanted to join them to drive out the Luscans.

This made Old Joe feel that he could perhaps add another push here.

After all, the Teutonic forces were limited. As long as the Führer refused to give up the North, and as long as Old Joe continued to exert his influence in the North, the Führer would have to increase his investment in the North.

With increased investment in the north, the support that the Teutonic Dark Continent Legion can receive will decrease. In this way, Old Joe is indirectly supporting the battlefield in the northern Dark Continent.

Meanwhile, if they further intensify the pressure on the southern front, how much strength will Thoton be able to spare to support their Dark Continent Legion?

By taking the offensive instead of the defensive, the dilemma is resolved.

Moreover, during this operation, Old Joe discovered that Italy was indeed an easy target.

(End of this chapter)