Imperial Elite

Chapter 50 Waiting for Dawn
Theoretically speaking, an officer of Joe's rank would not be qualified to argue or even quarrel with an army commander like Henry.

However, Job's position as commander of the Paris task force of the Nittania Expeditionary Force compensated for this.

In fact, there was no conflict between Joe and Henry at the beginning. After all, one was the commander-in-chief of the two million-strong Gallic army, and the other was a fire brigade specially dispatched by the Emperor of Bonitania.

Both sides had the goal of defending Paris, and both sides had some minor grievances against the Teutons. Logically speaking, the two sides should not have any conflicts and could have united to defend Paris.

But the reality is not like that.

After Henry poured Joe a glass of wine, Henry was very eager to know how many men Joe had brought to the Paris task force. After all, no mature officer would send all his forces to the battlefield without understanding the situation.

Moreover, Joe said he only led his troops to rescue Henry after hearing that the Teutons were attacking the Invalides, so Joe must have had reserves!

Joe did not hide anything from Henry's question, stating directly that his Paris task force had forty tanks and two companies of troops as support.

It would be a lie to say Henry wasn't disappointed to hear that Joe had only brought so few men, but at this point, even a small favor is still a favor.

So after expressing his gratitude to Joe for the timely help from the Buntania, Henry said that Joe's two Guards Grenadier companies could remain in place for the time being, but the tanks should be dispersed and deployed to the defensive line to enhance the defenders' defensive capabilities.

The main force defending Paris is now the Paris National Guard, composed of a group of largely untrained citizens, retired sergeants, young officers who have not yet completed their training, and some police officers, gendarmes, and firefighters.

Although they were called the Janissaries, their combat effectiveness was... well, being able to crouch in the trenches and fire at the Teutons was the best they could do under the influence of their patriotism and sense of social responsibility.

Making any demands on them other than having them stay in the trenches and fire is something even a turtle in a wishing well wouldn't dare to dream of.

This ragtag army, which was only good at fighting, was somewhat overconfident in trying to fight against the well-trained Teutonic veterans who had been engaged in the war for three years.

Therefore, Henry felt that the tanks Joe brought should be dispersed among the infantry units, as long as these infantry units could hold out for a period of time, even if the Teutons occupied part of the city.

Once the mutiny is quelled, he will be able to mobilize those veterans to defend Paris, and then Paris will be safe.

Henry thought the idea was sound, while Joe thought it was pure nonsense.

There are 10,000 ways to use tanks in the world, but the second most foolish way is to distribute tanks among infantry units, second only to digging holes and burying tanks in the ground to serve as fixed turrets.

Tanks are offensive weapons, especially the Imperial Fist MK-3, MK-5 and Hound, which Joe helped design. They sacrificed some firepower to enhance mobility, emphasizing that tanks must be able to move.

However, considering that tanks are still a novelty in this world, Henry may not fully understand how to use them correctly. Therefore, Joe suggested that they should not disperse the tanks among the infantry units, but rather concentrate them for use.

Joe then explained the concept of resilient defense to Henry.

The Paris National Guard couldn't hold their positions? If they couldn't, they wouldn't. Paris was big enough; they could build multiple lines of defense and retreat when they couldn't hold out any longer. That's when the armored forces would begin their counterattack.

After the infantry withdrew, the armored forces launched a counterattack to retake the position. Then the infantry returned to their positions to defend. The armored forces, having completed their counterattack mission, went to other defensive lines to carry out counter-attack missions.

The infantry do not need to hold every position. As long as they can buy enough time for the armored forces, the armored forces will send the attacking Teutons to their deaths.

Henry completely disagreed with Joe's concept of flexible defense. Offense? Counterattack, do you know what you're talking about?

Yes, I know what you did on the Somme, but can you guarantee that every attack you launch will be as successful as it was on the Somme?
Offense is a risky undertaking, as General Nevel's failure has demonstrated. The Teutons destroyed 132 tanks in that operation, so what's another 40?
Tanks must be distributed among the infantry units, and the infantry must hold every trench; only in this way can Paris be defended.

While we still have time to disperse and deploy these tanks before the main Teutonic force arrives, it will be too late once the main Teutonic force arrives.

In response to Henry's insistence, Joe immediately declared that this was a chaotic order and that he would not obey.

With things having reached this point, the amicable attempts to ease tensions have come to an end.

Henry pulled out his titles as Commander-in-Chief of the Gallic Army and Commander of the Paris Garrison, trying to force Joe to obey orders.

When faced with Henry, who was five ranks higher and wanted to crush him, Joe patted the marshal's sword at his waist and said, "Don't give me that. I am the commander personally appointed by His Majesty George, and I am only responsible to His Majesty and the Bunitania cabinet."

If you want to force me to go to London to see His Majesty, then go ahead!

From then on, Joe and Henry parted on bad terms.

Despite the argument, the mission still had to be accomplished. So, after leaving Henry's office, Joe returned to the tank and found that the platoon of guards grenadiers had also arrived at the Invalides.

However, Joe, upon arriving at the tank, did not jump onto it and leave. Instead, after lighting a cigarette, he walked over to a hound tank driven by the men's servants.

After knocking on the pilot's hatch, he told the servants that he had just had a minor altercation with General Henry, so he needed them to go to the Gauls' command post to find out what was going on and where the Teutons had launched their attack.

As he spoke, Joe pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and handed it to the servant.

Be generous, I'll cover any expenses.

Just as Joe was sending his servants to inquire about the situation at the Gauls' command post, Henry, who was furious with Joe, saw him smoking at the window and not leaving, and then summoned his adjutant.

"Go, find a few clever officers and find out where the Buntanians are now. And subtly let them know that the Teutons are launching an attack in the direction of La Villette Park to the northeast, understand? Subtly! La Villette Park!"

So, after some time, when Joe, pretending nothing had happened, lit his second cigarette, the male servants, who had gone to the infirmary under the pretext of going to the toilet, returned.

"Sir, we've learned that the Teutons have only launched a small-scale attack in the La Villette Park, northeast of Paris."

"it is good."

Joe threw the cigarette he had just lit on the ground and stomped it out. Then he returned to his tank, knocked on the turret armor plates, and shouted to the grenadiers and tank crews who had just arrived.

"Start the engine! Let's go!"

Just as the Buntanians outside the Invalides started their tanks with the crank and prepared to leave, Henry's adjutant inside the Invalides knocked on the door and entered Henry's office.

"General."

"Ok?"

"A few tank crewmen just came in to use the restroom, and the officers pretended to chat while telling them all the intelligence."

"it is good!"

General Henry gritted his teeth as he looked out the window at the roaring tanks.

It's just a tank, what's so great about it? If I just hold on a little longer, new tanks will be in service soon!
As Joe's tank disappeared into the Parisian night, General Henry turned to look at his adjutant.

“Since the Teutons didn’t launch a large-scale attack tonight, let the First Colonial Division go out into the streets to maintain order. Those people have really gone too far!” Joe was unaware that General Henry had previously stood behind the window watching him in an unsettling manner. On the way back to Gare du Nord after the tanks started, Joe was pondering a question.

That is, he had just had a fight with the commander of the Paris garrison, and now he definitely couldn't ask the Gauls to cooperate with him openly, otherwise where would their commander-in-chief's face be?

However, given your current situation, Henry won't openly kick you out, so you'll be in a very free state from now on.

The only problem is that it's too free.

Although he knew that the Teutons were coming from the northeast and were currently attacking La Villette Park, Joe had no idea why they were attacking there or what the situation of the garrison was like.

The thought of almost being hit by large-caliber artillery from the Gauls, coupled with the unprofessional nature of the Parisian garrison, made him feel uneasy.

So Joe decided that after returning to Gare du Nord, he would rest for one night and then take a few small teams to Park La Villette the next morning after the sun came up to see what he could do.

After all, even on the Somme, night fighting was an option that most units, except for specialized units like trench reconnaissance teams, would try to avoid.

The main reason Joe dared to speed all the way to Les Invalides was that, as a city of some size, Paris had streetlights, so he didn't have to drive in the dark.

The secondary reason was that Joe felt the Teutons had rushed so fast that they definitely hadn't had time to deliver heavy equipment like tanks and artillery, so the Teutons' rifles, hey, they couldn't hurt me!
However, if Joe were to approach the now clearly alarmed Gauls' defensive line, he couldn't be sure whether the Gauls had placed some large, black, and thick objects behind it.

If he managed to get a few scratches after going in and out of the Teutonic defenses, and then got accidentally shot while on his way to support friendly forces, that would be really unfair.

Moreover, Park La Villette doesn't sound like a place with streetlights, and our tank doesn't have headlights either. For safety's sake, we should wait until dawn.

As for minor matters such as General Henry not arranging a base for his Paris task force, Joe didn't care at all. The Gare du Nord station was large enough to accommodate a task force.

Moreover, by setting up the base here, supplies brought from the rear can be unloaded and stored immediately, saving the logistics department a lot of trouble transporting them.

Picking up the Royal Fist MK-5 squad, who were originally prepared to fight a bloody battle with the Teutonic infantry to cover the retreat, Joe discovered a group of disheveled people in addition to the members of the task force when they returned to the Gare du Nord in Paris.

Before Joe could ask, the company commander of the guards grenadier company who was left behind found Joe and said that these people had just escaped here. They had already questioned them, and the people claimed to be soldiers of the Paris National Guard who had escaped from the Park de la Villette not far to the north.

Although he knew that the La Villette Park was under attack by the Teutons, the fact that the soldiers who were supposed to be guarding it had now all fled to Gare du Nord made Joe think that the situation might be worse than he had imagined.

Joe, after getting off the tank, told the crew to quickly refuel and rest. At the same time, Joe ordered the Guards Grenadier Company to send scouts towards the La Villette Park defense line to check what was going on in that direction.

Joe summoned a translator provided by the cabinet and began questioning the soldiers about what had happened in La Villette Park.

Then Joe discovered that he couldn't get anything out of these defeated soldiers.

All the questions I asked were just empty promises.

"How many Teutons attacked you?"

"I don't know, I was too busy running."

"You must know what kind of equipment they have, right? You should be able to distinguish between gunshots and artillery fire, right?"

"I don't know, I was too busy running."

"You know nothing! Did you even suffer an attack from the Teutons?!"

"I don't know, I was too busy running."

Faced with these routed soldiers who couldn't get anything out of him, Joe felt weak and tired. Let it be destroyed. If the Paris National Guard is this bad, then what's the point of defending Paris?
Meanwhile, after the initial panic subsided, the soldiers of the 1st Battalion of the 19th arrondissement of Paris, led by Jean-Pierre, realized that it was not so dangerous to cower in the trenches and exchange fire with the Teutons.

These hastily mobilized soldiers have gradually adapted to the way they fight by huddling in trenches and exchanging fire with the Teutons. Some soldiers have even dared to throw grenades out of the trenches.

However, this behavior was immediately reprimanded by the sergeants.

"You spendthrift! Nobody even saw you fire your gun, and you threw grenades! After that, the Teutons charged in. What were you planning to use to fight them?! Bayonets?!"

Jean-Pierre breathed a sigh of relief as his men gradually adapted to the fighting.

At the beginning, Jean-Pierre gathered his old comrades, ready to lead them in a counterattack if any of the new recruits in a trench couldn't hold out.

This time, however, the Teutons were different from before. They only fired from a distance and had no intention of launching an attack, which meant that Jean-Pierre didn't have to engage the Teutons in bayonet combat.

Most people might have just breathed a sigh of relief, but Jean-Pierre felt that these Teutons were definitely up to no good!

However, due to the poor quality of his troops, Jean-Pierre was unable to send out trench scouts to check what the Teutons were doing, as he had done in the past on the Somme.

Since the Paris National Guard did not have an artillery unit, Jean-Pierre was unable to call in artillery to fire a volley at the Teutons.

Therefore, Jean-Pierre could only order his troops to begin resting in shifts and strengthening their defensive fortifications.

Jean-Pierre had a feeling that this situation wouldn't last long, and that the Teutons would definitely do something after daybreak.

Just as Jean-Pierre had predicted, after discovering that the 1st Battalion of the 19th arrondissement of Paris had not collapsed, Prince Joachim led a large force around the 1st Battalion's position and drove the routed soldiers to attack other Gallic defenses.

Only a dozen or so cavalrymen were left behind to fire at the positions of the 1st Battalion of the 19th arrondissement of Paris from a distance, drawing their attention away from the cavalry units that were circling around them.

After Prince Joachim had cleared the surrounding Gallic fortifications, he realized that he had too few hussars. With only a hundred or so cavalrymen against a city of two million people, they were indeed at a slight disadvantage in terms of combat strength.

Prince Joachim then led his hussars to control the positions around the 1st Battalion of the 19th arrondissement of Paris, awaiting the arrival of follow-up troops.

As for why they didn't directly attack the defenses of the 1st Battalion in the 19th arrondissement of Paris...

Those brave cavalrymen who dared to charge the trenches head-on are now about two years old.

Soon, just as Prince Joachim was getting impatient, several carriages arrived at the position controlled by the hussars.

"Sir! Sergeant Holtz, 3rd Platoon, 2nd Company, 6th Assault Battalion, reporting for duty!"

Behind these carriages, the rumble of hooves, the sound of wheels rolling over stones, and even the sound of orderly footsteps came from the north.

　Mom, I know I was wrong. I'll write these kinds of plot points faster in the future.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)