Imperial Elite

Chapter 65 Death! Sir! Only death!

Although the Teutonic offensive lasted all day, it was brought to an end at dusk by a full-scale counterattack ordered by Joe.

However, after nightfall, the Teutons, still unwilling to give up, launched one last attack in an attempt to open a path for the besieged troops.

Due to the unique nature of night battles, this time the only remaining Storm Assault Team led the charge, with a reinforced battalion attempting to weaken the Bunitanias' advantage in heavy weapons through close-quarters combat. However, they were once again repelled by the Coldstream Guards.

Immediately, just as when they broke through the defenses of the Champagne province, the Teutons retreated from Paris without hesitation.

By the time the Bunitas and Gauls realized something was wrong the next day, the Teutonic troops in the city had already left Paris.

However, neither the Gauls nor the Bunitas were able to pursue the retreating Teutonic main force.

On the one hand, although they were completely surrounded, the three Teutonic elite divisions inside the city still did not choose to surrender, but continued to fight in Paris with the Élysée Palace as the core.

Meanwhile, the Teutonic Air Force continued its large-scale operations that day, attempting to support the three divisions in continuing their fight through bombing and airdropping supplies.

This meant that even with the addition of a field division recently transferred from Verdun to the city's garrison, they had to first deal with the three Teutonic divisions besieged within the city before they could have the energy to pursue the retreating Teutons.

On the other hand, the Buritania ophthalmologist, who arrived in Paris that evening by military train, examined Joe's condition and said that although Joe's condition was a normal reaction to mustard gas exposure, people with mild exposure like Joe usually recover within a few days to two weeks.

However, there is still a very small chance that Joe will go blind or suffer permanent vision loss.

Upon learning the next day, after receiving confirmation that the main Teutonic force had withdrawn from Paris, London immediately declared that Joe should be sent back as quickly as possible! We absolutely cannot take any risks!
So before Joe could even receive his subordinates' report on the losses, the officers, at the doctor's behest, put him on a train.

Joe was the first to return to China, and he received the best treatment.

To prevent any accidents in the strait, the Navy dispatched a newly commissioned fast destroyer to pick up Joe from Calais and bring him to Dover.

An army colonel and a special train were already waiting for Joe here.

When the train arrived in London, Joe was greeted by heroes as he disembarked.

Although Joe's vision was still blurry and he couldn't see clearly what the people welcoming him on the platform were like, he could clearly hear the Prime Minister's voice saying "Welcome home, hero."

Then came the sound of camera shutters clicking like machine guns, along with thunderous applause and cheers, which almost made Joe instinctively lie down for cover.

The Prime Minister then pulled Joe to a platform or something similar and asked him to say a few words.

Joe was very concerned about the situation where he was sent back to London to recuperate, only to be asked to give a speech as soon as he got off the train, without any prior notice. Although he wanted to say something, he hesitated for a moment after thinking about it.

Joe reiterated, "I was able to accomplish all this thanks first and foremost to His Majesty, the Prime Minister, and the ministers in the wartime cabinet; the support of Marshal Haig, Commander-in-Chief of the Expeditionary Force; the logistical support from the Special Logistics Group in the Paris Task Force; the valiant fighting of the combat troops; and the united cooperation from the rear, especially the intelligence support from the 56th Air Squadron. Without any one of these elements, I could not have persevered. Therefore, this victory does not belong to me alone, but to all of Bonitania!"

These words were met with thunderous applause.

Then, when Joe was sent to what was supposedly the best hospital in London for his recovery, he noticed that the doctors and nurses there treated him differently; their attitude was almost... obsequious...

It's unclear whether this hospital truly has miraculous healing abilities, or if the effects of the mustard gas on Joe have already worn off.

Seven days after Joe was admitted to the hospital, he discovered that he could see things clearly again.

Then Joe was certain of one thing: whether this was the best hospital in London or not, Joe didn't know, but this was definitely the best ward in the hospital.

Putting aside the lavish palace-like decor, the nurses helping her change her dressings were truly beautiful! She was practically drooling over Joe; she was so happy she forgot all about Gaul.

Then Joe realized that he was still too naive, because the decoration of this hospital room was still a little different from that of a real palace.

After Joe's vision recovered somewhat, he was immediately summoned to the palace by His Majesty George. In a grand ceremony, His Majesty George awarded Joe the Victoria Cross, the highest military honor in the Empire of Bonitania.

Even though the war lasted for three years and many medals were not as valuable as before the war, the awarding of the Victoria Cross remained rigorous. In three years, less than two hundred were awarded, and a quarter of them were not awarded to living people.

At the same time, the "temporary" in Joe's temporary major rank was removed, and he was directly promoted three ranks to become a major.

Of course, the Britannian Empire has rules. For promotions like this, Joe would have to go to the officer training course for the next few months to receive training on how to do the job of a field officer.

Furthermore, due to the outstanding performance of the Panzer Training Company in the Battle of Paris, His Majesty announced that the Panzer Training Company would be expanded into a regiment, and awarded the title of Guards to the Panzer Training Company that defended Paris for the Empire in a time of crisis.

Joe is now the first commander of the Guards Armored Training Regiment.

Of course, as a regimental commander, Joe's rank of major was still a bit low, so when he was officially promoted to major, he was also given the title of temporary colonel.

As Joe was promoted, reports and photographs from war correspondents who had been taking pictures in Paris despite being under fire were being sent to the rear in batches.

As these photos and reports appeared in the newspapers, Joe immediately became the most famous person in Bonitania, almost a national hero. If Joe were dead now, he would certainly have a square named after him in London, as well as a full-length statue.

After all, Joe's performance this time was truly legendary.

Originally, after three years of war, although at the beginning of the war the whole country was filled with a fervent desire for war and wanted to kick the Teutonics in the ass.

However, the anti-war voices are gradually becoming uncontrollable, and peaceful demonstrations and anti-war sentiments are beginning to appear on the streets.

In particular, an uprising broke out on Emerald Island, right next to the main island of Bonitania, last year. Although the uprising was quickly suppressed, the signals it revealed made everyone more or less feel that the war could not continue like this.

Then the Teutons broke through the Gallic defenses, and their troops stormed into Paris, even reaching the city center.

The Gauls, on the other hand, had only two divisions and a group of armed citizens who were holding guns for the first time in their lives to defend Paris.

Any Buntanian with even a slight understanding of history would recognize this script.

Following historical precedent, the next step should be for Gaul to announce its surrender, withdraw from the war, cut off the sides of its flag, leaving only the middle section.

After all, the Bunitas were involved in two of the three most recent surrenders of Gaul, so they were quite familiar with the process.

If the Gauls surrender, then the young men of Buntania will have no choice but to return home to defend their homeland, making the war seem even more endless.

However, at this most dangerous moment, Joe stepped forward and, with only a hastily assembled force, defended Paris.

Even after being blinded by poison gas, they withstood the Teutonics' final attack, forcing the Teutons to abandon some of their besieged troops and retreat from Paris.

To single-handedly turn the tide in a crucial battle and secure victory for the Empire—what is this? This is the Superman of Britannia, the rebirth of a classic Britannian hero, the modern-day Nelson!

Although, after three years of war, the public had become quite tolerant of the wartime press service’s news of “we have won another victory today.”

However, regarding the news that Joe had held out in Paris, the general public expressed a desire for more details and further information.

Then, driven by the public's strong desire to gossip, the reporters on the front lines quickly uncovered the identity of Ms. 'Rose'.

It remains unclear whether the reporters found Ms. Rose or Ms. Rose approached the reporters.

But after seeing the photos and story of this tech worker who "defended" Paris, the public, while marveling at Joe's incredible feat—daring to take on forty tanks and an armored train with only six tanks and actually winning—felt that he was practically a Bonitania superman, also exclaimed upon seeing the photo of "Lady Rose," "Quick! What's the next episode?! Write another five-dollar one!"

Because of her outstanding appearance, some underage children full of fantasies even wanted to go to Paris to protect her.

As the country with the most journalists in the entire Old World, and also the country with the highest professional standards and the lowest professional ethics, the journalists of those third-rate tabloids in London began to ponder.

Look at this Ms. Rose, unemployed as a technician, and this Joe, quite dashing, so... could it be...?

Then these more flexible tabloid reporters were dealt a heavy blow by the wartime news service.

You dare spread rumors about His Majesty's favorites?! You all better behave yourselves!
Of course, the wartime press office could control the mainland of Bonitania, but not the United States across the ocean.

Those guys across the ocean who had almost no concept of war had no idea how good Joe was in the newspapers; he was just a Buntanian who had defeated the Teutons, nothing special.

However, regarding the fact that Joe, with the help of Lady Rose, stormed the Teutonic-controlled train station, the general public in the United States expressed that they were not interested in how Joe fought, but they would like to hear more details about Lady Rose.

After all, people in the United States really love stories like this: foreign officers with local girls.

The most popular Western novels these days are basically about gold prospectors who go to the West, get help from native girls, make a fortune, and then have a bunch of kids.

A retired officer from the Civil War went west, received help from a Native American girl, made a fortune, and then had a bunch of kids.

A cowboy with a story went to the West, received help from a native girl, made a fortune, and then had a bunch of kids.

Although the priests had some objections to Ms. Rose's identity, her appearance made up for it.

Seeing the picture of Lady 'Rose' in the newspaper, the young men of the United States, snorting with excitement, rushed into the recruitment office with their newspapers in hand, declaring that Gaul had been instrumental in the founding of the United States, and as gentlemen they must repay this kindness. They pleaded, "Let me go and save Gaul!"

This trend even led to theaters on Old Broadway and screenwriters in Hollywood starting to write scripts based on this subject.

While Bonitania and the United States across the sea were celebrating, Teutons were gripped by a sense of grief and indignation.

As the main force withdrew from Paris, the three besieged elite divisions, using the Élysée Palace as their base, held out in Paris for another three days before surrendering.

The last three thousand soldiers who surrendered were led by a major. The general in charge of these three divisions felt that he had lost the war when he was closest to winning it, and had also lost so many brave young men. He had no face to live on and chose to take his own life.

Besides these three generals, the Teutons also realized that Prince Joachim, whom they had always believed to be the first to enter Paris and plant the Teutonic flag on the Eiffel Tower while fighting as a guerrilla in the city, must have also died in battle in Paris.

The feeling of letting victory slip through their fingers, so close yet so close, was indescribable for the Teutons.

Because Gaul refused to return the bodies of the three generals and Prince Joachim, the Teutons held a state funeral for them in Germania.

The residents of Germania spontaneously came to Unter den Linden to pay their respects to the coffins of the three generals and Prince Joachim.

This battle, which ended in failure, and the prince's martyrdom, temporarily quelled the anti-war sentiment in the Teutonic Kingdom.

When those leftists say again, 'The emperor and generals send soldiers to their deaths while they hide in safety!' they are occasionally punched by some people, while simultaneously hearing, 'Prince Joachim died in Paris! We almost won! What are you talking about!'

At the same time, neither the Teutonic Emperor nor the General Staff had much time to dwell on grief or regret.

Although the Teutonic Emperor locked himself in his study for a whole day when news of Prince Joachim's death arrived, he seemed to have aged several years when he emerged from his study.

However, the war situation forced the Teutonic Emperor to brace himself for the threat from the East.

The Luscans' large-scale assault battalion, along with the all-female women's death squad, has arrived at the front lines. If nothing unexpected happens, the Luscans will soon launch an attack on the eastern front.

Regarding the impending attack by the Lucias, the Teutonic Emperor had only one attitude: "I want the Lucias dead!"

Although the emperor has made his stance clear, the current situation for the Teutonic Empire is not optimistic. During the bloody year of 1916, the Teutonic Empire depleted its stockpile of millions of artillery shells, even though its military factories are now operating at full capacity with three shifts running non-stop.

However, due to the shortage of supplies caused by the blockade of Bonitania and the depletion caused by the Battle of Paris, the Empire's ammunition reserves remained in a very dangerous state.

If it were just a simple shortage of supplies and ammunition, that would be one thing.

In the recently failed Battle of Paris, fewer than 80,000 people left Paris.

At the same time, the occupation of the Champagne province extended the Teutonic front, and this extended front, along with the losses in the Battle of Paris, almost drained the Teutonic Empire's mobile forces.

To continue fighting on two fronts, or even launch a large-scale offensive against the Lucias on the eastern front, the Teutons lacked the necessary manpower and ammunition reserves.

Meanwhile, a report from Erich, the chief of staff of the Paris battle group, also caught the attention of the General Staff.

In this report, Erich analyzed the armored tactics of the Bunitania and stated that the Empire was now completely behind the Bunitania in the field of armored warfare.

If we don't find a way to catch up in the field of armored vehicles, then the tragedy of the Bunitania's armored forces breaking through defenses wherever they went in Paris may be repeated across the front lines as Bunitania trains more armored units.

Therefore, in addition to needing new anti-tank equipment that would enable company-level units to effectively destroy Bunitania tanks, the Teutonic Empire also needs to learn from the Bunitanias how to form mobile forces composed of infantry, tanks, and artillery.

The Teutonic General Staff found the report to be very reasonable and valuable, but there was a serious problem: the scarcity of resources.

Does the Teutonic Empire currently possess sufficient resources to research and develop, and assemble, such an army?

Or, to put it another way, did they have enough time before the United States of America fully intervened in the war?

In order to sustain the war and strive for the victory that seemed to be on the horizon, the Teutonic General Staff had to do everything possible, almost like magic, to squeeze out enough men and ammunition to maintain both the eastern and western fronts.

1917 was destined to be a difficult year for the Teutonic Empire, even more so than the bloody year of 1916.

If the Teutons, who were defeated but still felt victorious, found the Battle of Paris so difficult, then for the Gauls, who had fought so hard to hold onto Paris, the Battle of Paris was nothing short of a disaster.

On the longest day in Paris, the Teutonic Commandos even stormed General Henry's command post, although only a few members of the Teutonic Commandos remained when they stormed it.

However, General Henry was seriously wounded in the raid. As a 61-year-old man, he was hit by the shockwave of a grenade at close range and ingested several pieces of shrapnel.

General Henry regained consciousness the day after the main Teutonic force withdrew from Paris and began to manage the final stages of the battle from his sickbed.

Coordinate relations between the troops withdrawing from Verdun and the mobilization forces in Paris who were dissatisfied with these field troops.

While continuing the siege of the Teutons inside the city, troops began to recapture the defensive lines abandoned by the Teutons outside the city, and reconnoited the Teutons' movements to rebuild the defensive lines and prevent the Teutons from attacking Paris again.

The workload was so heavy that General Henry complained privately that the grenade would have been better used to kill him.

General Henry, the commander-in-chief, was wounded in the raid, and the losses of the rest of the troops were naturally even more severe.

Of the twenty legions of the Paris National Guard that were hastily mobilized, four legions were completely annihilated, eleven legions lost more than half their strength, and the remaining five legions lost at least one-third of their troops.

Among the veterans of the territorial army mobilized from across the country, more than a dozen battalions were completely wiped out.

The two colonial divisions that had been defending Paris since the start of the battle had also been almost completely rendered ineffective.

Of the 48 company commanders in the two divisions, only 7 are still alive, all 24 battalion commanders have been killed in action, only one of the eight regimental commanders remains, and only two of the four brigade commanders remain. Even the division headquarters is now being maintained by staff officers.

What pained the senior officers, including General Henry, even more was that the companies organized by the military academy officers mobilized around Paris, although they managed to hold the Invalides and block most of the three Teutonic Divisions on the north bank of the Seneca River.

However, only one in ten of the survivors from these companies survived, and many of those who did survive may face retirement due to disabilities.

This almost certainly means that the Gallic Army will face a severe shortage of officers in the next ten or even twenty years, which will seriously affect the Gallic Army's combat effectiveness.

The losses of the Army Air Forces were equally heavy. After several days of air battles, the Gallic Air Forces lost more than 500 aircraft and pilots. Now, in some areas of the front, there is no air power to stop the Teutonic reconnaissance aircraft from scouting everywhere.

Besides the military, the civilian casualties are even more incalculable.

The number of civilians who were unable to evacuate from Paris during the fierce street fighting and bombing has been tallied since the end of the Battle of Paris. Even by the most conservative estimate, the number of civilian casualties in Paris alone exceeded six figures.

As the Teutons retreated in large numbers, the troops who had taken over the previous defensive lines discovered the tragedy at Bourges.

The city, destroyed by poison gas, has now become a silent dead city. There are no birds, no insects, nothing alive. The city, as quiet as a cemetery, contains only corpses and death.

In order to prevent the spread of the epidemic, General Henri had to give the National Guard of Paris one last task before disbanding them: to clean up Le Bourget and bury the corpses in the city.

Almost everyone who has been to Le Bourget refuses to talk about what they saw there. Even the few who are persistently questioned will only say, "Death! Sir! All I saw in Le Bourget was death!"

Faced with such heavy losses, although Paris was saved, General Henry, lying in his sickbed, could only lament that it was a Pyrrhic victory, a victory in which the victors had nothing.

Although this victory came at a great cost, it was still a win.

Therefore, as the victors, the Gallic army still had to reward those who had contributed.

Joe Harrison, the commander of the first Brittany Paris task force to arrive in support of Paris, was naturally among them.

Despite General Henry's strong opposition, his objections were ineffective. At the Gallic Embassy in London, on behalf of the Gallic government, Joe was awarded the Legion of Honour, the highest military honor in Gaul. Almost everyone in the Paris task force also received the medal.

At Joe's suggestion, the lieutenant who ultimately destroyed the armored train and the crew of car number 102 who destroyed the Teutonic warehouse were posthumously awarded the Legion of Honour by the Gauls in recognition of their contributions during the Battle of Paris.

In addition to the Paris task force, Jean-Pierre fought his way from the cavalry blocking battle in the Champagne province all the way to the final charge into Les Invalides with the battle group sent by Joe. As the only officer who fought the entire Paris campaign, Jean-Pierre was also awarded the Legion of Honour.

But looking at the medal, Jean-Pierre didn't feel particularly happy.

In the Louvre, the last of his old comrades who had fought alongside him in Alsace-Lorraine to Paris at the start of the war also fell there; the cavalry company that once numbered over a hundred men was now reduced to just Jean-Pierre.

Even the infantry battalion that Jean-Pierre temporarily took command of during the Battle of Paris, after repeated reorganizations, no longer had a single familiar face.

After the awarding of medals, Jean-Pierre came to the Invalides, which was now half destroyed and looked like ruins. He silently looked at this building that carried the military honor of Gaul for a long time.

Unlike the lonely Jean-Pierre, even while recuperating in the hospital, Georges personally awarded Joe a medal.

Joe's hospital room began to become very popular.

There's no way around it; Bonitania has its own rules, and whether it's officer promotion or troop expansion, there are procedures to follow.

As the supreme commander of the Bunitania in the Battle of Paris, it is normal and understandable that you did not have time to write reports during the battle. But now that the battle is over, shouldn't you have completed the necessary procedures and submitted the required reports?

Qiao had to catch up on these reports and procedures, because they were not only related to himself, but also to his subordinates.

If I don't write reports, those brave soldiers won't receive the medals and battlefield allowances they earned; if I don't write reports, the families of fallen soldiers won't receive compensation.

So what else can Joe do?
He could only ask the nurses for a typewriter and began writing reports in his ward.

Of course, Joe hadn't forgotten what he'd promised the lieutenant. In fact, because of the Dorn incident, Joe called the lawyer he'd worked with before and asked him to help him with the adoption process for the lieutenant's orphan.

Joe also gave the lawyer a list of his fallen men, asking him to hire a private investigator to check on the situation of the orphans in these families.

If you encounter another jerk like the one last time, you know what to do.

The lawyer patted his chest and said that it was his duty to uphold social order and good morals. To thank Qiao for his contributions to society, he would give Qiao a 20% discount on his legal fees.

After dismissing the lawyer, Joe plunged into an endless sea of ​​reports.

Because there were so many reports to write and procedures to follow, even though the nurses looked at Joe with longing, they would hint at playing cards with him every time they came to change his dressings or make rounds. They hoped to soothe the wounded body and soul of Joe, a war hero, after the battle.

But playing poker takes time, and Joe did have a lot of reports to write, so he could only tell the nurses to go away each time.

When the nurses were first kicked out, they thought it was because Joe didn't like long-legged, dark-haired women. But after all the nurses had been kicked out, they thought Joe might have some issues with his sexual orientation.

But when a caregiver tumbled out of Joe's room and then drifted off to the stairwell, Joe, gripping a pistol and roaring menacingly, stormed out of the room. The nurses exclaimed that Joe was a saint, a holy knight born in the wrong era.

As for Joe's behavior of not forgetting to write reports while recuperating in the ward, Winston, as the Minister of Munitions, greatly appreciated it.

After all, as the chief armored officer, Joe had sent out all sorts of strange blueprints and requests to the rear while commanding the Battle of Paris.

If someone else had thrown these strange blueprints at him, Winston, as the Minister of Munitions, could have passed them on to the committee for evaluation. But the blueprints Joe threw at him required Winston to take them seriously personally.

Since Joe is now a recognized expert in armored warfare and the number one tank expert in Brittany, he is now considered the best in the country.

The first question other tank units asked before receiving their equipment was, "Has Old Joe used this thing? What was his opinion? Are there any tutorials or manuals?"

If any of the above answers are no, then these tank units would rather continue using their old tanks, which are patched up with patches by logistics, than receive new equipment.

However, unlike other inventors who would throw over one design at a time, Joe would throw over several at once, which gave Winston, the Minister of War, a real headache.

After all, Joe's conflict with the Land Battleship Committee has been going on for quite some time.

Handing these matters over to the Land Warships Committee will definitely cause some more unpleasantness.

Anything related to motorized equipment has two common characteristics: firstly, these things are very complex, and secondly, they are expensive.

Therefore, Winston thought that since Joe was already able to write reports, it meant that Joe was already able to work. And since Joe was already able to work, did that mean that Joe was already able to handle some more complex matters?

For example, he served as chairman of the newly established Mechanized Warfare Committee, responsible for overseeing and promoting the development of tanks and mechanized forces, and coordinating related technical research and testing.

Anyway, no one in all of Britannia knows more about tanks than Joe, so this job definitely has to be done by Joe.

Faced with Winston's actions of adding insult to injury, kicking someone when they're down, and adding fuel to the fire, Joe looked at the increased reporting and procedural requirements he now faced due to the establishment of the Mechanized Warfare Committee.

Joe wanted nothing more than to strangle Winston.

Damn it! Didn't you tell me to go back to London to recuperate?! You call this recuperation?!
Just when Joe was overwhelmed by endless documents and felt that he might as well go to the Somme to fill in trenches instead of staying in London to write reports.

The appearance of one person saved Joe from this endless hell of documents.

　The author is a veteran writer, having previously written "The Chronicles of Abnormal Monsters," a complete masterpiece of three million words. Those interested can check it out.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)