Imperial Elite

Chapter 61 What we need is action! Action!
While the fighting on the ground in Paris was raging like wildfire, the largest air battle since the start of the war also broke out in the skies above Paris.

To support the rapid advance of ground troops, the Teutonic frontline air force dispatched all available aircraft to attack the Gauls' ground forces and provide support for attack aircraft and bombers.

Although the Gauls were initially caught off guard by the Teutonic's sudden and powerful attack, they quickly realized that the Teutonic ground forces were preparing for a general offensive after the Teutonic ground forces launched a fierce offensive.

Soon, the Gallic flight squadrons stationed at various airfields began to take off urgently. Whether they were bombers or fighters, anything that could fly took off, and after a short formation, they headed to Paris.

Before takeoff, the squadron leaders of each fighter squadron were tasked with intercepting the Teutonic attack planes and bombers, preventing them from relieving themselves on the ground troops, and at the same time providing cover for the bomber squadrons to bomb the Teutons.

The bomber force received very simple orders: the Teutons had launched a general offensive, so they should drop bombs on the Teutons at all costs before being shot down.

In contrast, the orders received by the Teutonic fighter units were much simpler. They only needed to shoot down anything flying in the sky that wasn't painted with the Iron Cross, even if God himself was present, he would still have to fire a couple of shots first.

Meanwhile, the Bunitania expeditionary force also received an urgent plea for help from Gaul. Paris was about to fall, and they needed anything that could fly to Paris to slow down the Teutonic advance.

Marshal Haig was surprised that the reports he received just two days ago said that although the situation was difficult, they were still able to hold on. How could it have turned into Paris being on the verge of falling after only two days?
While ordering all squadrons near Paris to deploy immediately, Field Marshal Haig also tried to contact the Paris task force to find out what was going on in Paris.

However, after the call was connected, an unfamiliar voice came from the other end.

"Hello! This is the communications office of the Brittany Paris Task Force. Who are you looking for?"

"Get me Joe."

"Major Joe has already gone to the front lines; he's not here."

After thinking for a moment, Marshal Haig vaguely remembered the name of one of Joe's squad leaders.

Is William there?

"Lieutenant William? He went out this morning!"

Upon hearing this, Marshal Haig's forehead veins throbbed violently.

"Who else is in your Paris task force? Get him on the phone!"

"Report! They're all gone!"

"Then who are you?!"

“I am Private Jansen of the maintenance platoon. The Teutons have attacked, and I am now going to guard the station.”

After finishing speaking and hearing the busy tone on the other end of the phone, Marshal Haig stared at his phone in disbelief. For so many years, since he became a general, no one had dared to hang up on him like that. This private had guts!
And then, holy crap! What the hell is Henry, you old bastard, doing?! How can Paris fall in a single day?!
In the end, all my emotions boiled down to, "I should have listened to Joe. If I had given him more reinforcements, things wouldn't have turned out this way."

However, regret cannot solve any problems. All Marshal Haig can do now is to order the air force to take off and directly draw troops from the reserves to Paris.

However, due to limitations in train capacity, the maximum number of people a single military train could carry was only about 1500, and there were only two main transport routes to Paris.

So although a reserve force was dispatched, for Marshal Haig, it was somewhat like doing his best and leaving the rest to fate. It was like when the situation progressed to the fourth step of the standard bureaucratic procedure in Bonitania, "We say that perhaps we could have done something, but it's too late now," and he was just showing that he really regretted it.

With the addition of air squadrons to the Bunitania Expeditionary Force, the skies over Paris were now almost entirely occupied by aircraft from both sides.

The Gauls, in a frenzy, committed 700 of the 1,400 or so aircraft deployed on the Western Front that were still capable of taking off and fighting to Paris. Meanwhile, the Bonitania Expeditionary Force committed 400 of the 1,000 aircraft deployed on the Western Front that were able to reach Paris and participate in the battle.

As the Allied forces deployed over a thousand aircraft into the skies over Paris, the Teutons also dispatched all of their air force forces that had previously conducted air cover operations in the Champagne region, with all eight hundred of their takeoff aircraft entering the Paris airspace.

Although it is the third or second largest city in the Old World, Paris is undoubtedly a megacity, the kind of place where outsiders would cry and get lost.

However, for fighter jets, the airspace over Paris was still too narrow. When the pilots of both sides entered this airspace, these originally elegant aerial knights found themselves now forced to engage in a bloody and brutal battle, just like the infantry rolling in the mud.

All formations and deployments ceased to exist once they entered Paris airspace; all that remained was attack, evasion, and more attacks.

Fighter jets occasionally streaked across the sky like shooting stars, leaving trails of black smoke.

As noon approached, the pilots on both sides were already in a frenzy of fighting in this airspace. It's unclear which pilot started it, but now, after their planes were damaged, these pilots no longer tried to leave the battlefield. Instead, they would find the nearest target to crash into, taking someone down with them.

While the aerial battles had reached a fever pitch, the ground battles had also entered their most brutal tug-of-war phase.

Apart from a few strongholds like the Louvre, a small number of troops were still holding out on the north bank of the Seneca River.

The Teutons had almost completely destroyed the defenses on the north bank of the canal, occupied landmarks from Place de la Concorde to the Élysée Palace, and began to contest the bridges over the Seneca River with the defenders.

The problem is that there are twenty-two bridges across the Seine River to meet the city's transportation needs, and it would be virtually impossible to protect all of them.

In fact, when the battle for the Teutonics to cross the Seine had just begun, Hans Ilweg, who had been wandering around the center of Paris, found that Paris seemed unusually lively that day.

Because he lost contact with Prince Joachim during the evacuation from the Eiffel Tower, Hans had been leading his cavalrymen on a wandering tour of the center of Paris.

Today we raid the butcher shop, tomorrow we rob the department store, and we'll ambush the candy store.

Because the targets of these attacks were so difficult to associate with the Teutonic forces, even though Hans and his men had a cup of coffee and some croissants in the oldest café in Paris without paying a penny, the waiters and the gendarmes and police who arrived later thought they were just another group of opportunistic scoundrels pretending to be Teutons to escape legal punishment.

Furthermore, even during the war, Paris remained prosperous, so Hans, who had made a lot of money from the shops, now even had a place to sleep.

When the tech workers saw the banknotes in the hussars' hands, they simply thought these guys in black were just a bunch of bastards with a twisted sense of humor who wanted to play some role-playing games.

Out of patriotism, these tech workers initially wanted to refuse, but the amount offered was simply too much.

So although most of the hussars, and even Hans himself, did not understand Gaul, both sides were very satisfied with the performances of plays such as 'Teutonic Cavalry and the Gallic Princess' or 'Teutonic Cavalry and the Daughter of a Senator'.

Hans thoroughly enjoyed this lifestyle of sleeping during the day, robbing and looting at night, and then moving to another place to sleep.

Hans, exhausted after a long night's work, noticed the unusually loud gunfire and got out of bed to investigate, exclaiming, "Holy crap! When did the main force get to the riverbank?!"

Although Hans had been slacking off for the past few days, feeling like he was having a better time than a king, when the main force finally arrived, he felt like he had been slacking off at home all day on vacation, only to realize that his mother would be home in five minutes to check his homework.

Hans shouted and rushed into the other rooms, pulling and kicking the hussars who were still fast asleep from the pile of women.

It was only then that the tech workers realized that these men in black were not just some eccentric role-playing enthusiasts, but a genuine group of Teutons who ate children, and they trembled with fear.

Trembling, he pulled out the tip from last night, pleading, "Sir, please don't kill me." But facing the main force of the cavalry inspecting their work, he paid no heed to that and quickly put on his clothes and ran.

Only a very few guys who thoroughly enjoyed last night grabbed a piece of underwear belonging to a tech worker, left with the words "You'll be serving dishes for me from now on," and ran out of the apartment with the others.

The tech worker was left screaming, "That's a limited edition from Casa Cadet!"

Although most of the cavalrymen were dizzy and weak, and some were not even properly dressed, things had developed to this point, so they had to go in.

After a brief formation, Hans led his hussars in an attack.

In fact, while Hans and his hussars were not in good condition, the Gallic soldiers guarding the bridge were in even worse condition.

Besides being unprepared mentally, the soldiers guarding the bridge were also unprepared materially.

Although on the first day of the Battle of Paris, General Henry had already given the order to blow up all the bridges over the Seneca River if necessary to delay the Teutonic advance.

However, because the Teutons arrived so quickly, and the situation in Paris was so chaotic, the Teutonic flag was not noticed until a day and a night had passed on the Eiffel Tower.

Therefore, General Henry's order to plant bombs on all bridges was not strictly carried out, at least not on the bridge called 'Austritz'.

General Henry's orders were slightly off.

Following the general's orders, the National Guard troops, who were ordered to guard the bridge, received bombs, but no engineers came to help them plant them.

So the bombs, meant to be used to blow up the bridge when necessary, remained on the bridge until the defenders realized something was wrong—the Teutons had actually attacked!—and they had to blow up the bridge.

The defending soldiers, who had absolutely no experience in demolition, hurriedly began to plant bombs in a corner.

Lacking any experience, the defenders placed the bomb directly on the ground in the middle of the bridge. Not knowing how to use the detonator, they decided to evacuate everyone across the river first and then throw grenades at the bomb to detonate it.

If the Teutons dare to pursue, then use bombs to send them and the bridge flying into the sky!
In fact, after the defenders retreated across the bridge like they were being chased by dogs, the Teutonic troops initially intended to pursue them across the river.

However, once the Teutonic infantrymen at the front saw the obvious bomb on the bridge, no carbon-based creature would continue to pursue them.

Seeing that the Teutons did not continue their pursuit, the garrison, with a sigh of "You Teutons are smart enough to know what's good for you," threw a grenade at the bomb.

Although this method of detonating the bomb with a hand grenade was very unprofessional, the good news is that the bomb was detonated after the defenders threw several more grenades.

The bad news is that the bridge is intact.

The defenders were dumbfounded to see the bridge intact amidst the smoke and dust of the explosion. Such a large bomb had exploded, yet the bridge remained standing—this was illogical!
However, at that very moment, under the cover of the bomb explosions, Hans's hussars arrived.

The unprepared militia, without verifying their formation or firing their machine guns, were attacked from behind by elite light cavalry.

The fighting spirit of these defenders vanished in less than thirty seconds.

"We can't hold out! We can't hold out! Everyone, run for your lives!"

Thus, the Teutons captured the first bridge across the Sene River.

However, the Paris Botanical Garden is located next to the Austerlitz Bridge, and it is one of the few areas on the south bank of Paris where artillery positions can be set up.

Therefore, after crossing the river, the Teutonic troops immediately launched an attack on the Paris Botanical Garden.

Meanwhile, since Hans had circled around the center of Paris several times and was very familiar with the terrain and environment of Paris, the Teutonic colonel who crossed the Austerlitz Bridge ordered Hans to immediately report to the commander of the 2nd Guards Division, who was directing the southward breakthrough.

Although the two sides were not subordinate to each other, in accordance with the strictness of the Teutonic people, Hans accepted the order and led his hussars across the river to report to their commander.

However, not long after crossing the river, Hans, who was on his way to report to the division headquarters, got lost again.

However, Hans’s getting lost did not hinder the Teutons’ relentless advance through Paris.

By this time, the Teutons, who had already occupied the Élysée Palace, could see the Arc de Triomphe to the west and Les Invalides to the south through the straight Champs-Élysées.

This imminent victory greatly boosted the morale of the Teutonics, while the ace pilots of the aerial circus still dominated the skies over Paris.

Bourget, on the other hand, did not send any further reports after initially reporting the tank attack.

Therefore, the Teutonic command believed that at the latest, they would be able to occupy Paris before nightfall the next day.

They could even take over the entire northern part of Paris by simply removing the Gare du Nord, the stronghold with the most Bunitania tanks, thus cutting off Bunitania's support to Paris.

After losing support from Paris, the intensity of resistance in the Marne-Bend district began to decline.

The Teutonic command of the Paris battle group anticipated that Paris could hold out for a maximum of 48 hours, after which they would complete the full occupation of Paris.

For a moment, the Teutonic command post was filled with a cheerful atmosphere.

Meanwhile, a train from Saint-Tannine pulled into the platform of Gare du Nord.

Joe didn't feel good when he got off the train and the various train crews started unloading the tanks onto the platform.

It's unclear what the Teutons loaded onto that armored train, but Joe's skin is now covered in red spots and small blisters, and his eyes are constantly watering.

Upon boarding the train in Saint-Tempest, a passing medic indicated that Joe and the tank crew who had just participated in the attack needed urgent treatment. However, Joe stated that he could receive treatment now, but Paris certainly couldn't wait. Therefore, in the end, Joe and everyone else who had participated in the Battle of Bourgeois, except for Lady 'Rose' who remained in the Saint-Tempest hospital for treatment, simply washed themselves with soda water on the train and applied some supposedly antibacterial ointment.

However, compared to his own physical condition, Joe felt that the situation in Paris was even more critical.

Although Joe had considered the possibility that the Gauls might not be able to withstand the Teutonic offensive before he set off, he felt that he would only be away for a few hours at most. Even if the Gauls were weak, the troops guarding Paris, even if they were militia, should not be able to hold out for more than a few hours.

Then the gunfire that erupted outside the North Station proved that they really couldn't hold out any longer.

While the troops were unloading the trucks, Joe ordered the commanders of nearby units to come to his office immediately before returning to his temporary office to make phone calls.

Joe soon discovered that the situation was worse than he had anticipated; the entire canal defense line in Paris had almost completely collapsed, and the Teutonic troops had stormed into the very heart of Paris.

Now that the Élysée Palace and the Grand Palais in Paris have fallen, General Henry has personally taken up a rifle and begun to organize the defense of Les Invalides.

Upon hearing this news, Joe felt as if he had seen this script before. He thought that he should head straight for the Invalides, pick up General Henry, and run away.

But Joe knew that General Henry, that stubborn and inflexible fellow, would definitely not choose to run away. He was personally organizing the defense with his rifle, so this guy was probably already prepared to die there.

If I were to run now, setting aside the luxury of conscience, if Paris falls, the Gauls will definitely blame me.

and so……

Looking at the map in front of him, Joe thought for a moment and decided that since he had already taken the risks, he might as well go all out.

Just as this thought popped into Joe's head, there was a knock on the door of his office.

With the troop commander near the North Station reporting to Joe, Joe finally understood the current situation in Paris.

It wasn't just bad, it was extremely bad.

With the Teutons launching a full-scale offensive, the Paris detachment, tasked with acting as a fire brigade, was unable to launch counter-offensives in every location or assist the Gauls in holding their positions after losing a third of its mobile force.

Therefore, the entire defensive line was instantly torn apart by the Teutonic attack.

Of the special task force remaining in Paris, only one-third of the troops were able to retreat to the vicinity of the Gare du Nord, another third were trapped in the Marne-Bend area, and the rest lost contact.

Due to troop losses and the excessive length of the line of contact, it was no longer possible to continue using the previous method of breaking troops into battle groups to fight fires and maintain the front line.

Under the massive offensive of the Teutons, the northern station, guarded by the Paris detachment, became almost the most fortified stronghold north of Paris. As a result, many retreating Gallic troops also retreated to the northern station along with the Paris detachment.

They are currently guarding the area around Gare du Nord with the Paris task force.

Now that we have infantry, the task at hand is simple.

As a romantic city, Paris's urban planning is different from other places.

From the air, many roads in Paris look like a spider web, connecting the city center to the suburbs.

And on Strasbourg Boulevard in front of Paris Gare du Nord is such a road.

This road leads directly from the entrance of Gare du Nord to the banks of the Seine River, next to the Louvre and Notre Dame Cathedral.

Joe figured that since the Teutons loved Paris so much, they should stay once they were there.

You are advancing very quickly, but what if I directly occupy Strasbourg Avenue and cut off the connection between your eastern forces and the main force?
Although the Paris task force now has only about half of its peak strength, it is sufficient to maintain this blockade line.

Soon after Joe pointed to the map and expressed his thoughts, the officers of the Paris task force didn't react much, but the eyes of the Gallic officers began to gleam with a light called hope.

Then these Gallic officers began to speak to Jo in a language he couldn't understand, in a language he couldn't understand.

Fortunately, although nearly half of the troops had lost contact, there were still Gaulish translators available.

Soon, the translator told Joe that the officers indicated they would fight resolutely this time and would not retreat another step.

In response to the officers' statements, Joe instructed the translator to tell them, "This is not the time for words; what we need is action! Action! Understand?"

After the plan was finalized, the Paris contingent and the scattered Gallic troops quickly made preparations.

While it's called preparation, there's really nothing to prepare.

It was simply a matter of refueling the tanks and distributing the ammunition stored in the North Station to the infantry.

Then, with the roar of the last self-propelled gun, vehicle number 101, commanded by Joe, launched its assault along Strasbourg Boulevard.

It would be incorrect to say that the Teutons were completely unprepared for an attack on the road that could potentially cut off their forces.

After the infantry broke through and forced the Paris detachment back to the Gare du Nord, the Teutons immediately mobilized their artillery, which had already entered the city, to block the road in an attempt to trap the Bunitanias inside the Gare du Nord.

However, the rapid movement of the infantry and their need for roads forced the artillery to slow down their deployment, while also taking advantage of the lessons learned from Joe.

The Teutons gave almost all available trucks to their infantry units to increase their speed of advance.

Artillery could only rely on horses for mobility, and the air battle that broke out in the sky startled the horses, further reducing the speed at which the artillery could move.

So when Joe launched his attack on Strasbourg Boulevard from Gare du Nord in Paris.

The plan was to block the road with at least six artillery cannons from at least one artillery battery. In reality, only two cannons were in place. Moreover, due to the limited capacity of horse-drawn carriages, these two cannons used up most of their shells while supporting the infantry's attack on the Gare du Nord.

So when Joe rushed out of the Gare du Nord in Paris, the two cannons only had time to fire one round, destroying one Royal Fist MK-3 assault gun before being destroyed.

After these two cannons were destroyed, the Teutons had no more weapons near Strasbourg Road that could destroy the Bunitania tanks from the front.

As Joe sped along Strasbourg Avenue, the Teutonic troops nearby immediately noticed something amiss and attempted to launch a counterattack to prevent Joe from cutting off the road.

However, these attempts to retaliate all ended in failure under the attack of armored forces.

Soon Joe led his troops on a fierce charge to the north bank of the Seneca River. After driving out the Teutonic troops on the riverbank, Joe was surprised to find that even when most of northern Paris had fallen, the Gallic flag was still flying over the Louvre.

The Louvre is located not far from Strasbourg Boulevard, only one street away.

So Joe simply expanded the controlled area further, including the Louvre, which had been holding out, and completely cut off the Teutons' connection to the north bank of the Seneca River.

At this point, the Teutonic generals in the Paris battle group also realized something was wrong. After so much time, whether Bourges had been held or not, they should have sent a report by now.

There's still no news at all; this doesn't make sense.

After making a phone call and finding no one answering, the Teutonic Command immediately dispatched messengers and reconnaissance planes to check on the situation in Bourges.

Soon, reports came back from both the Air Force reconnaissance plane and the messenger in the car that there was no one alive in Bourges anymore, and there was a pungent smell in the air around Bourges.

In Le Bourget, large numbers of people lay prostrate on the road, their bodies bluish-purple, their faces contorted in a grotesque expression, their skin covered in blisters and ulcers, their eyelids swollen, and bloody secretions from their mouths and noses. Their clothes appeared to have been corroded by some substance, clearly a typical state of being attacked with poison gas.

Although the messenger who returned to report angrily denounced the Gauls and Buntanians as inhuman madmen for using poison gas on such a large scale in the city.

But the generals of the Paris battle group were speechless at this point.

The losses to the field regiment stationed in Le Bourget, as well as a large number of logistical units including the field hospital, were secondary.

This time, the poison gas sent from the rear included not only the common chlorine gas, but also phosgene and mustard gas.

Chlorine and phosgene are relatively harmless, as they will disappear after a few hours. However, mustard gas, a new concoction recently developed by the Empire, can remain on the ground and on the surfaces of all objects it comes into contact with for anywhere from a few hours to a few days.

The concentration of mustard gas in the station, the core of the leak, would certainly allow it to linger for several days.

As the logistics center of the Paris battle group, the ammunition stockpiled here for the Paris campaign, even if still existing, would certainly be contaminated and unusable without cleaning. The time and manpower required for cleaning would be incalculable.

Even cleaning the entire platform would take a considerable amount of time to restore the station's operation, not to mention dealing with the corpses...

The sheer scale of the task was enough to make the generals of the Paris battle group shudder.

We were only a little bit away from the Invalides and the Arc de Triomphe...

If they retreated at this point, no one would be willing to do so. However, their remaining supplies were only enough to supply the front-line troops for less than three days. After three days, they would have to leave their soldiers hungry and to face the Bunitarian tanks with bayonets.

As if fate wasn't pressuring the Teutonic generals enough, just as they were urgently discussing whether to have the engineering corps build a branch railway line or have the trains stop and unload before entering Bourges, then use wagons and trucks to deliver supplies to the front lines.

News came back from Paris that the Bunitania's Paris detachment had suddenly launched an attack from Gare du Nord, advancing along Strasbourg Boulevard and seizing control of the area surrounding it.

The three elite divisions that occupied the Élysée Palace and were attacking Les Invalides are now surrounded.

This news brought the command center, which had just been discussing how to transport supplies, to an instant silence, as if a pause button had been pressed.

Within just a few hours, these Teutonic generals experienced a dramatic reversal, from being on the verge of capturing Paris and becoming the 'Conquerors of Paris' to their troops being cut off from supplies and their main force being surrounded, making the battle likely to fail.

Their feelings can only be described as extremely...

"Request support from the General Staff!"

A moment later, the battle group commander issued the order.

"Tell the General Staff that we have now captured Place de la Concorde and the Élysée Palace, and the vanguard is already engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the Gauls at Les Invalides. If they still want Paris, give us more support!"

After the general gave the order, Ehrlich looked at the map in front of him. Although he knew it was not a good time to say this, as the chief of staff, Ehrlich still spoke cautiously.

"Sir, I believe our supplies and offensive have reached their limits. Should we increase our investment now..."

Before Erich could finish speaking, the general slammed his hand on the table.

"Paris is right in front of us! Once we take Paris, the Gauls will surrender, and we will win this war! I cannot stand by and watch victory slip through my fingers!"

Seeing the general's bloodshot eyes, Erich silently shut his mouth.

Meanwhile, General Henry, gripping his rifle, watched the Teutonic infantry retreat from the Alexander III Bridge in front of the Invalides. After spitting out a mouthful of saliva—completely unbecoming of a general—he led his adjutant to the front-line trenches to inspect and boost morale. In his heart, he cursed again, "That arrogant bastard Joe ruined Paris."

The next time I see this guy, I should shoot him! No amount of persuasion will change my mind! He has to be shot!

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Given the brutality of the Bourges incident, the use of asphyxiating, toxic, or other gases and all similar liquids, materials, or devices has been prohibited, and countries should strictly prohibit the manufacture and import of such items.

—Article 171 of the Treaty of Compiègne

The Teutons must compensate all those involved in the Bourges incident, otherwise the war should not end until the Teutons pay the appropriate price!
—The Times

"Oh my god! Death is chasing us!"

—Paris Rose

(End of this chapter)