Imperial Elite

Chapter 175 Sneak attack!

As the frost-prone period in the east was about to end, intelligence from the Bonitania Overseas Intelligence Office and the People's Revolutionary Union, as well as reports from the front-line troops, flooded into Old Joe's command post like a tidal wave.

Clearly, after a peaceful and tranquil 1940, the Teutons, having met with setbacks in the north, were preparing for a major offensive in the east.

Faced with the dual pressure from the Teutonic and Lucia military governments, the People's Revolutionary Union, while strengthening its defenses, also hoped that Old Joe could send some troops to cover their flanks so that they could shorten their defensive lines.

Old Joe naturally refused the request without hesitation.

After the bloody Sudetenland campaign, Old Joe became wary of such brutal positional warfare.

The battle that reminded Old Joe of the Somme was one he would never want to experience again if he could.

However, as an informal ally, Old Joe also assured that he would not stand idly by and watch the People's Revolutionary Alliance be attacked.

In 1941, Old Joe would try his best to open up the southern front in the Balkans to divert the pressure from the People's Revolutionary League.

Meanwhile, regarding the defense of the Polish region, Old Joe also stated that if necessary, he would take over a portion of the canal defenses there to reduce the pressure on the People's Revolutionary League.

The People's Revolutionary Alliance was dissatisfied with Old Joe's proposal that they could "eat the bones and get the benefits," but they had no choice but to accept it. It was already good enough that Old Joe didn't stab them in the back for such a forced alliance.

With the impending great battle looming, Old Joe immediately began inquiring about the progress of the Charles and when he would be able to intervene in the situation on the Northern Dark Continent.

At the same time, Old Joe also asked Andrei if it was possible to offer the Führer a large sum of money in Gaul or Teutonic, and to attract some Teutonic troops.

While gathering troops, Old Joe was also preparing to make a big splash in the Balkans.

In the past, Old Joe's focus had always been on the Teutons because they were the biggest threat that was close at hand.

Old Joe must focus his main efforts on this primary enemy.

However, now that the People's Revolutionary Alliance has helped relieve some of the pressure on Old Joe, he has discovered that among the Teutonic allies, apart from Italy being an easy target, the Lushan military government does not seem to be very stable either.

Since that's the case, shouldn't I start by picking the easy targets? After all, both the Balkans and Italy are mountainous and densely forested, which are very suitable for infantry warfare.

As the frost-prone period gradually ended and the ground began to recover from its muddy state, all parties began to prepare for war.

Andrei was the first to respond. Because Andrei was so outstanding, Buntania provided a lot of support to Andrei's guerrillas. Winston even tried to boost morale and improve the situation where, at this time, there wasn't even a Harrison in the country.

When Winston airdropped telegraph operators and equipment to Andrei's partisans, he also airdropped photographers and camera equipment.

This photographer was driving Andrei crazy. If it weren't for the fact that the photographer was quite beautiful, Andrei would have packed her up with the things Winston needed, like the guard flags, so that the Britannians would feel like they were still winning something, and sent them back together.

The photographer's photos surprised the Britannians. They exclaimed, "Holy crap, what era are we living in? There are actually people wearing cloaks and accessories going to the battlefield! What are these people thinking... Oh... Jack's there too... Never mind then."

Then, because Andrei's partisans wore cloaks and carried swords, and some even carried longbows in the photos, Andrei earned the title of a modern Robin Hood in Buntania, and his partisans were also known as the Green Robe Army, simply because some of the cloaked men carried bows.

Therefore, the people of Buntania subconsciously assumed that such a distinctive style must belong to Old Joe's son.

However, when this nickname reached Andrei's ears, he could only look silently at the photographer and Jack, who had now become his friend.

What a ridiculous thing it is to bring a bow and arrow to the battlefield! It was clearly Jack who did it, so how did I end up being blamed?

So, to prove that he wasn't just a comedian who went to battle with a bow and arrow, and after casually taking a lot of prisoners from the POW camp, Andrei, now a strong and capable man who was used to leading his troops through the forests of Teutonic territory, decided to take a big one this time.

While giving the Teutons a little surprise, Andrei also hoped that the photographer could capture their faces this time. Even if he couldn't, he hoped the photographer could at least label the photo, saying that the third one from the left with a bow was Jack, and the fourth one with a sword was Andrei. He wouldn't bring a bow and arrow to the battlefield unless absolutely necessary.

Andrei planned to take over a large area, which was naturally a Teutonic prisoner-of-war camp, specifically a camp where the Teutons imprisoned high-ranking officers.

Andrei had learned from a Gallic prisoner-of-war officer he had picked up by the roadside that there was a prisoner-of-war camp in the heart of Gaul called Cortitz, which was specifically for imprisoning officers, and he planned to go there and extract about a hundred officers and pilots in one go.

However, on the way, the overseas intelligence agency sent a message that they had discovered a prisoner-of-war camp specifically for high-ranking military officers.

It goes without saying which is more valuable, a regular officer or a high-ranking officer.

Moreover, compared to ordinary officers, those high-ranking officers who are still imprisoned by the Teutons are absolutely die-hards.

So Andrei changed his target.

However, after a winter, as the Teutons began to mobilize, the difficulty of operating within Teutonic territory increased significantly.

More people began to be mobilized to join the army for training, or to form local militia organizations.

Andrei could certainly defeat these troops, but they were like toads crawling on his feet—they didn't bite, but they were annoying.

Moreover, once entangled, the surrounding troops will arrive at the first sign of trouble, making escape difficult.

Fortunately, Andrei and his Green Coats had already adapted to the Teutonic changes. The more experienced Andrei followed the narrow paths in the woods that were probably only used by hunters, and soon reached their target.

What happened next was quite simple.

Although the outfit was rather retro, retro has its advantages. While Jack was calling out the names of the guards on the watchtower one by one with his bow and arrow, Andrei led the guerrillas who were armed with daggers and short swords, skillfully sneaking up to the patrol team and taking them down.

It wasn't until they had infiltrated the prison that these guerrillas were discovered by a guard who got up to use the toilet at night.

As the guard screamed, Andrei, who had initially wanted to resolve the issue relatively peacefully, had no choice but to resort to a more violent method.

So the guerrillas who had infiltrated laid down their melee weapons and pulled out assault rifles and grenades from under their robes.

Faced with overwhelming firepower from the guerrillas, the bewildered camp guards quickly surrendered.

After all, although there was information blockade and control within the Teutonic Army, rumors spread very quickly within the army, much like in university dormitories.

For these camp guards, who hadn't been sent to the front lines even under these circumstances, they were already a third-line unit among third-line troops. Now that the enemy's tactics were so skillful and their firepower so fierce, there was no doubt that Old Joe's paratroopers had arrived.

Those guys are more than even the Führer's armed guards could beat. What do we have that we don't? Let's just surrender.

After all, while Old Joe was a bad man, he wasn't that evil; he wouldn't torture prisoners. However, after they surrendered, they learned that it wasn't Old Joe who came, but his son.

But for them, it's all Harrison anyway, so it's pretty much the same.

Andrei was also startled when he was rescuing prisoners from the camp.

"Holy crap? Uncle Rang, what are you doing here?"

Jean-Pierre stared at André, who was wearing a cloak, holding a pistol in his left hand and a longsword in his right, in his cell for a long while before rubbing his head.

"Fine, nothing Harrison does is surprising."

Seeing Jean-Pierre's speechless expression, Andrei could only give an awkward smile. As for his father's friend, the very guy who had held him when he was a child, Andrei could only awkwardly change the subject.

"Uncle, let's leave here first, and then I'll contact London or Prague as soon as possible to have them come and pick you up."

However, to André's surprise, Jean-Pierre waved his hand.

"No, what's the point of going to those places?"

After saying that, Jean-Pierre looked at André and asked.

"Andrei, do you want to finish off the tanks?"

When Jean-Pierre asked the question, his tone was reminiscent of when he asked André as a child, "Little boy, do you want some candy?" leaving André somewhat at a loss for words.

Soon news of another prison being captured and prisoners being released reached Germania, but the Führer no longer had the strength or energy to be angry about such things.

He didn't even call Holtz and others in charge of domestic security useless people who only knew how to eat with a knife and fork.

On the one hand, the Führer was already exhausted from maintaining the balance of power across the four battlefields with the Supreme Command.

On the other hand, it was because two small things happened in the world at that time.

One of the minor incidents was that, after the military had made a great fuss, they selected one of their fellow countrymen, a burly Habsburg man named Otto, to organize the troops to invite the late emperor to Teutonic City.

Because this burly man was over 1.9 meters tall, and his face, which had been damaged in the Battle of Warsaw, made him look like a ruthless villain at first glance, the Führer gave him the highest authority to organize troops to bring the late Emperor back.

Logically speaking, someone who is recognized by both the National Defense Force and the Guard, and who is also cooperating with the Air Force paratroopers, shouldn't be able to cause any surprises, right?

Then, unsurprisingly, things went wrong. Nobody knew what that damn Thursday was, but Otto chose to act on that Thursday night.

The group of about a hundred people crossed the border in batches through normal means. After they were assembled, the air force airdropped weapons to them. At the same time, four unmarked gliders transported several armored vehicles for assault purposes to them.

After they finished arming themselves, they should politely invite the emperor to come with them.

Of course, in order to shift the blame, the armored vehicles and weapons were not Teutonic models, but NATO and Buntanian models captured from the battlefield.

In order to take the emperor away, the air force also prepared two light reconnaissance aircraft to pick up the emperor and his important relatives.

The rest of the group destroyed and abandoned their equipment on the spot, then disguised themselves as ordinary tourists and took the train back home.

No matter how you look at it, this is a perfect plan, a plan that won't go wrong.

Otto, the Führer, the Red Knight, and Holtz all thought the same thing.

And then, unsurprisingly, the plan went awry.

Just as Otto and his group received the equipment airdropped by the Air Force as planned, and even the armored vehicles transported by the transport plane were driven on board.

As they began their attack on the emperor's estate, Otto suddenly realized, "Holy crap! Something's not right!"

Wasn't my entire army supposed to be the only ones going to invite the emperor back to the country?

What?! A fight has already broken out there?!
And why does that gunshot sound so familiar? It sounds like Teutonic equipment?
Are there other troops besides us?

Then, when Otto arrived at the manor, before the armored vehicle even got close, it was hit head-on by a rocket.

There's no need to think about it now; the opposing force is definitely NATO-affiliated.

As he ordered his troops to disperse and launch a coordinated attack, Otto thought to himself, "Damn, that old Joe is too wicked! He actually had his men disguise themselves as Teutons to kidnap the emperor."

With Otto joining the battle, what was originally a fast-paced special operation quickly turned into a chaotic melee.

The good news is that Otto managed to seize the former emperor during the chaos.

The bad news was that the late emperor had already been shot in the shoulder.

At this point, Otto didn't care about anything else and hurriedly withdrew from the battlefield with the wounded late emperor.

After twelve hours of intensive care by doctors in Teutonic China, the good news was that the late emperor had been saved and was still alive. Even better news was that, due to excessive blood loss and his advanced age, the late emperor was now in a vegetative state and could no longer speak.

Logically, this should have been a good thing, but because Otto retreated too decisively, the commando team sent by Old Joe successfully took the princess away.

Then things started to get complicated, with the Führer and Old Joe accusing each other of being bad guys for attacking the late Emperor.

While Old Joe and the Führer were exchanging words in the newspapers, the people of Shengyang pulled off another big stunt.

This has made the whole world aware of what the word "sneak attack" means.

The combined fleet of the Rising Suns launched a surprise attack on the American Pacific Fleet base at Pearl Harbor, with battleship formations even approaching the port and bombarding the port facilities.

In this surprise attack, the US Pacific Fleet was almost completely wiped out. Apart from the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, all the warships in the port either sank or ran aground on the beach.

(End of this chapter)