Imperial Elite

Chapter 25 Joe! You did a great job! Joe!
It must be said that after running out of ammunition, even after reconnecting with the trench reconnaissance team, the tanks seemed to move much faster.

After leaving the combat zone, the flag given to Joe proved to be quite helpful. When they encountered the Gallic troops advancing towards the front, it was hard to say whether the Gallic people were amazed by the tank that seemed to sail like a boat on dry land, or that Joe had managed to get lost so far to reach their defense zone.

However, these Gauls were still very enthusiastic in blessing Joe and his party, and then pointed out to Joe which direction they should drive in order to return to the Bunitania's territory.

Of course, these Gauls still took plenty of photos with the Lucky Bella, and it's unclear where they got so many cameras.

However, none of the Gauls heading to the front lines recognized Joe, so the photo session didn't last long.

As the fog cleared, Joe was finally able to use his binoculars and map to pinpoint his location.

On the way back, Joe thankfully didn't get lost again.

This made Joe, who had already gotten lost on the battlefield several times, secretly breathe a sigh of relief. After being lost for a whole day, Joe thought he had some kind of strange constitution that made him feel like he could catch a blade without even looking at it.

After struggling in the mud for a while, the Lucky Bella left the Gauls' territory and breathed a sigh of relief when it encountered a group of Bonitania cavalry on patrol.

After asking the cavalrymen, who were looking at him with suspicion as they saw the Gallic flags hanging on the chariots, and confirming that he was heading in the right direction, Joe pulled out the bottle of sparkling wine that had been tossed to him.

"Regardless, guys, this is a victory for us."

Joe popped the cork off the bottle of sparkling wine with a "ping". Although it looked like a big bottle, it was empty after pouring a little for the trench reconnaissance team and the vehicle crew.

"For victory!"

After everyone sipped the sweet sparkling wine and declared it the best sparkling wine they had ever tasted, Joe quietly tore off the label from the bottle, intending to buy this kind of sparkling wine again if needed.

As expected of the Gauls, they have an extraordinary taste when it comes to choosing wine.

Meanwhile, the other crew members and trench reconnaissance team began to wonder how much such delicious wine would cost per bottle, and they wanted to take a few bottles back with them when the war ended.

The sergeant in the trench reconnaissance team even said that this wine was worthy of his wedding. He said that after the war, he would go back to his hometown to get married, and he would use this wine at his wedding.

Upon hearing what the sergeant said, the crew members became curious about what the sergeant's fiancée looked like and whether he had any photos to show them.

As the sergeant pulled out the photo, the crew members started to cheer, saying that the sergeant was really lucky and that they were willing to create a suitable and decent wound for him so that he could go back to London to get married ahead of time.

When the sergeant received the crew's "kind" advice, he used an exaggerated expression to remind them, "Shh, there's another officer here."

For a moment, the Lucky Bella was filled with a joyful atmosphere.

In the end, in this brief moment that felt less like the front lines and more like a group of old friends chatting in a bar, the Lucky Bella, just as Joe had initially predicted, ran out of fuel as it approached the departure point and broke down completely some distance away.

So Joe's crew and the trench reconnaissance team parted ways here. The trench reconnaissance team, along with the general's adjutant and two captains, prepared to walk back to the front lines and rejoin their unit.

After saying goodbye to each member of the trench reconnaissance team, and telling them that when they were rotated to the rear for rest next time, they would go to a bar for a drink.

Joe pulled out a handful of bullets and a spent cartridge case and had the crew draw lots. The unlucky guy who drew the spent cartridge case would have to walk back to the camp and have the logistics guys drive over with fuel to rescue the vehicle.

After all, they had already returned to the rear. If they abandoned the car here, it was hard to say how much the kind-hearted French people would leave them when they returned.

After the draw, Herbert became the unlucky guy who had to walk back to call for help.

After Herbert left, Joe and the crew left the tank to get some fresh air, and even the prisoners were let out to get some fresh air.

Although they had already opened the hatches after leaving the front lines and while marching in the rear.

However, the smell and temperature inside the tank were never ideal, and now that they were able to leave the tank, everyone felt like they had been reborn.

Even the Teutonic prisoners, whose faces had been stern, seemed to relax a bit.

Because the waiting time was getting rather boring, the gunner in the side turret quickly pulled out a deck of cards from his pocket and started playing the dealer with his cigarette ration for the day to pass the time.

Soon a crowd gathered there. Since Joe allowed the prisoners to keep their personal belongings, a rather bold major gestured and asked if he could join the card game, and was then allowed to.

All the Teutonic prisoners except the general surrounded him.

At this moment, Joe, sitting on top of the tank, looked at the people sitting around the deck of cards. It seemed that apart from their clothes, they were no different from each other.

The card game didn't last long before Joe heard the sound of engines nearby.

Joe looked in the direction of the engine noise and was stunned to see a huge line of cars heading in his direction.

I just ran out of gasoline, do I really need so many cars?
Why is the car in front still the regimental commander's? What's the regimental commander doing here just to fill up with gas?
Wait, why is the regimental commander driving?
Why don't I recognize the person sitting in the passenger seat of the regimental commander?

And who is this important figure from?

Seeing such a large group approaching rapidly, Joe, who had been lying on the roof of the car, immediately jumped down and shouted to the group who were engrossed in playing cards.

"Stop the fucking playing cards! Put the cards away right now! People are coming!"

After kicking and shoving the crew and prisoners who were engrossed in their card game to give up, Joe and the crew, though not fluent in Teutonic, gestured for the prisoners to line up next to the Lucky Bella.

Just as they were lined up, the regimental commander's vehicle came to a screeching halt next to the tanks. Before the vehicle had even come to a complete stop, Colonel Els, the regimental commander, jumped out of the vehicle.

Looking at the crew members lined up next to the Lucky Bella, along with the Teutonic General and a group of officers and lieutenants, Colonel Els's expression was as excited as if he had just learned that His Majesty would award him a one-ton medal.

"Joe! You did a great job, Joe!"

But when Colonel Els noticed Cecil wasn't among the people standing at the front of the line, his smile froze. "Joe, where's Cecil?"

"He was injured and we put him in the tank."

Upon hearing that Cecil was still alive, Colonel Els breathed a sigh of relief, then immediately turned to the men who got out of his car and said, "What are you waiting for?! Get him to the hospital right away! Use my car!"

As those guys scurried into the tank like dogs that had been kicked in the ass, Colonel Els patted Joe on the shoulder, saying, "Tell me what the hell happened."

After saying that, Colonel Els waved his hand again, indicating that there was no time and that he should go back and write a report immediately, as he needed to submit it.

Upon hearing that he had to write another report, Joe's relaxed expression immediately tensed up. Remembering his previous experience, Joe asked Colonel Els tremblingly, "Can I not write it?"

Colonel Els shook his head. "No, the entire regiment's tanks are missing your report. Cecil is unconscious again, so only you can write this report."

Looking at Colonel Els's resolute expression, Joe felt he could still struggle a little longer.

When is this report needed?

Colonel Els raised his hand and looked at the watch on his wrist.

"The higher-ups are pushing me hard, and I have to write mine after you guys finish, so... I'll give you an hour, is that enough?"

Upon hearing this, Joe felt a wave of dizziness. Writing a report in an hour was worse than charging into the Teutonic lines!

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Marshal Haig was not in a good mood today; in fact, he had not been in a good mood since the start of the Somme campaign.

Before the campaign began, everyone thought that the expeditionary force would be composed of highly motivated and elite troops, while the Teutons would only have a weary army that had been fighting for two years in a row left on the Somme.

Pre-war reconnaissance and espionage also determined that the Teutons had fewer than 800 cannons in this direction, while the expeditionary force had 2,400 cannons.

Even though these new recruits are less experienced than the Teutonic veterans, the overall strength of the battle force is 500,000 to 120,000, so the advantage is on our side!
However, after the battle began, Marshal Haig, who had been full of confidence, felt as if he had run into a brick wall.

The battle lasted two months before the Teutonic first line of defense was partially breached. If things continued like this, no amount of praise for war heroes could convince the people that they had made progress on the battlefield and that they could win the war.

If the public doesn't support the war, they won't buy bonds; if they don't buy bonds, they won't have money; and if they don't have money, the war really can't continue.

In order to make progress as quickly as possible, Marshal Haig even deployed the newly formed armored forces.

Although these armored units made good progress on the front lines, they broke through a distance in just one day that the previous two months combined could not match.

However, these advances still fall short of the initial command plan to tear a huge gap in the Teutonic defenses.

Especially after deploying two divisions, they failed to capture a single Teutonic village from the Teutons under the cover of armored forces.

Marshal Haig couldn't understand it at all. Was this guy a superman? How could he not even be afraid of tanks? No, have the heavy machine gun regiment submit their report!
I want to see what's going on here.

Soon, before Marshal Haig's patience ran out, the heavy machine gun regiment's report was delivered to Marshal Haig, along with a Teutonic general, several Teutonic field officers, and a dozen Teutonic lieutenants.

Although the war had been going on for two years and the expeditionary force had captured many Teutons, the highest-ranking officer among them was only a colonel, and this was the first time a general had been captured.

Since the Teutonic and Bonitania military leadership had communicated before the war, Marshal Haig found the Teutonic general before him familiar. After a moment's thought, Marshal Haig smiled and said, "Isn't this General Carl von Boning? Best regards."

After exchanging a few pleasantries with Major General Karl and learning that he had received treatment befitting his rank along the way, Haig Yuanhuai immediately said, "My command post is rather simple and not suitable for entertaining people from the Feng family like you. I'll send you to London now and hope you have a good time there."

After seeing off Major General Karl, Marshal Haig immediately began to review the heavy machine gun regiment's report, trying to figure out what exactly was going on.

After all, capturing a Teutonic general was a significant event.

The people in the rear may not know the difficult place names on the front line, nor do they know the price the soldiers had to pay to advance the front line by 100 meters.

These things were meaningless to them, but for a genuine Teutonic general, they were different.

If we can capture a Teutonic general today, we can capture a Teutonic marshal tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow it will be the Teutonic emperor's turn. Wouldn't that mean we've won the war?!
After quickly reviewing the heavy machine gun regiment's report, Marshal Haig was left with only one thought: "Huh?!"

What does it mean to get lost in the fog, accidentally stumble upon the Teutonic command post, and then capture a Teutonic general?

Wanting to return and rejoin the troops, they got lost again and ended up in the Gallic-controlled area. After breaking through a section of the Teutonic trenches with them, they helped them hold the trenches.

If you're so good at fighting, why don't you get lost and go to Germania and capture the Teutonic Emperor?

It's normal to exaggerate in battle reports, but this is going too far!
It was the deputy commander who did it after the conductor fell unconscious. Oh... Joe Harrison, that's you...

After seeing this name, all the previous inconsistencies seemed to make sense again.

Looking at the names on the report, Marshal Haig scratched his head.

This makes things a bit tricky.

Joe's medal was sent from London to the front more than a month ago, but Field Marshal Haig felt that frequent awarding of medals was not a good thing and that it would be better to wait until the end of the battle before distributing them all at once.

After all, he received both a promotion and an award, and Qiao shouldn't get all the good things by himself, otherwise others would have some complaints.

But this kid has now captured a Teutonic general, and since the heavy machine gun regiment is so useful, it will definitely need to be expanded back to the mainland. His Majesty will definitely summon this kid then, and if His Majesty finds out that I didn't issue the medal he personally approved, this will definitely not be acceptable.

Or... should I go to the front lines myself?
(End of this chapter)