Imperial Elite

Chapter 75 They're here to deceive, to launch a sneak attack!

Theoretically speaking, it is virtually impossible to plug the gap left by the collapse of three divisions with just one regiment.

After all, the difference in troop size resulted in a huge difference in the controllable range on the front line. It's like eight pot lids trying hard enough to cover ten pots, and with good skills, even six pot lids could be used.

But if there's only one pot lid, it's basically time to give up on treatment.

However, Joe happens to have a friend who is always thrown into battles that are theoretically impossible to win.

When faced with the problem of covering ten pots with one lid, Joe's old friend had a wealth of experience and a well-established methodology.

Simply put, it's all about rushing in and getting it done.

As long as we withstand the enemy's offensive and fight our way through, even if there is an overwhelming disparity in the area we can control on the battle line.

In order to eliminate such a force that is advancing deep into enemy territory, the enemy will inevitably have to slow down and try to encircle it.

This would slow their pace of progress, and give them the opportunity to break into the enemy's territory and seize some high-value targets, thus gaining greater benefits.

Although when he was talking with his old friend, Qiao felt that the method his old friend had summarized was somewhat serious, and that one could not come up with such a solution without ten years of cerebral thrombosis.

After learning that the vanguard had already clashed with the Teutons, Joe was left with only one option in this situation where he had to cover ten pots with one lid.

"Armored advance! Let's crush them!"

The Teutons, who were advancing very smoothly, were quickly pushed back by Joe during the night battle.

However, this attack did not go as smoothly as in the past. During the night battle, the Guards Panzer Training Regiment encountered some Teutonic soldiers riding in half-track troop carriers.

These Teutonic soldiers were highly skilled in combat, and their mobile half-tracks and 37mm anti-tank guns caused the Guards Panzer Training Regiment a great deal of trouble.

However, half-tracks are not tanks. Although they are mobile and fast, their protection is not satisfactory.

Once firing exposes their position, the tank commander's machine gun is sufficient to suppress the half-track and surrounding infantry before the tank cannon hits.

The poor visibility at night further increased the chaos of the battle.

After a chaotic night, as the sun rose as usual the next day, Joe began to gather his troops and started studying the map to see where he was.

The Teutonic General Staff also received news that the troops attacking in the direction of Amiens had encountered the Bunitania Guards Armored Training Regiment, and that Joe's No. 101 tank had been sighted.

This is sufficient proof that the breakthrough achieved in the Somme direction has successfully threatened Amiens and forced the Bunitanias to send their reserves to fight the fire.

In response to Joe's anticipated counterattack, the Teutonic General Staff revised the combat objectives of Army Group 1 in the Somme direction.

While it's unlikely that an armored regiment would force them to abandon their offensive, the slow progress in the Somme region was a foreseeable outcome.

However, this is acceptable, since whether it was a breakthrough at the Somme or the capture of Amiens to cut off the connection between the Bunitania expeditionary force and Paris, the ultimate goal was to occupy Paris and force Gaul to withdraw from the war.

If that's the case, why not just attack Paris directly?
Therefore, they adjusted their operational plan for the entire Somme region, giving the frontline troops more time to deal with Joe, this tough nut to crack.

The Teutonic Chief of Staff also issued the order: "The first step of the plan has been successful. Now it is time to win victory for the Reich. Let them take Paris!"

As soon as the General Staff issued the order to attack, the Teutonic troops in the Champagne direction launched a massive artillery bombardment of the Gauls' positions at sunrise.

However, the Gauls stationed near Paris at this time were no longer the weak Paris National Guard and Territorial Army from the previous Battle of Paris, but rather the Gallic Field Army that had been trained in Verdun.

This routine of Verdun did not have much impact on the defenders. Even when the Teutons started firing poison gas shells at the Gauls' positions after the initial conventional artillery and airburst shells, the Gauls simply put on gas masks and prepared to leave the anti-tank trenches to fight the Teutons in the forward trenches after the Teutonic bombardment had completely ended.

At the same time, the Gauls' artillery also launched a massive bombardment of the Teutons, targeting all possible troop assembly points on the Teutonic defensive line in an attempt to disrupt the Teutonic offensive rhythm.

While both sides' artillerymen were throwing explosives at each other as a gesture of goodwill, the flames of war once again spread into the air.

Both sides' reconnaissance aircraft were trying to locate the enemy's artillery positions so that their own artillery could gain an advantage in counter-battery operations.

Meanwhile, bombers were trying to drop bombs on the enemy, while fighters were trying to shoot down all enemy aircraft.

After only one peaceful winter, the skies of the Old World once again became a cruel battlefield.

However, this time was different from the last. With the United States entering the war, although the US ground forces had not yet entered the battlefield on a large scale, the US Army Air Forces became the first units in the US military to officially participate in the war.

These young men from across the ocean may lack experience, but they have plenty of courage and enthusiasm.

They even dared to challenge Teutonic pilots who painted their planes red, but this almost reckless courage did not bring these young men any good luck.

This day became one of the darkest in the history of the Citizens Army Air Corps, as this brave, almost reckless, attack resulted in heavy losses for them.

As the aerial battle intensified, and the shelling ended, the Storm Assault Teams, who had already infiltrated the no-man's-land, rushed to the front lines before the Gauls, who were huddled in their anti-artillery trenches, could return to their trenches and set up defenses.

They captured the trenches and then began to suppress the Gauls who were trying to retake them.

The Gauls were well-prepared for this tactic by the Teutons, as it wasn't the first time they had done something like this; they had already met with these Teutonic stormtroopers at Verdun.

So the frontline troops began to organize their light machine guns in preparation for a counterattack.

Meanwhile, quick-thinking commanders have already picked up the phone or dispatched their messengers to call for support from the nearest armored units.

Although during the Battle of Paris, Joe demonstrated to the Gauls the advantage of concentrated tank warfare.

However, considering the heavy losses suffered in the Battle of Paris, the infantry faction led by General Henry resolutely dispersed the tanks among the frontline infantry units.

Theoretically, if these soldiers could hold out for another fifteen minutes or so, and if the tanks assigned to them were not destroyed in the recent large-scale artillery bombardment, they would be able to receive tank support.

However, a few minutes later, the Gauls, who were preparing to retake the trenches, heard the rumble of engines on the battlefield. But the engines weren't coming from behind them; they were coming from the direction of the trenches the Teutons had captured.

Then some enormous, mobile fortress-like behemoths, painted with the Iron Cross emblem, appeared on the battlefield.

When the first line of defense outside Paris was breached, news that the Teutons had deployed some kind of super-heavy tanks reached General Henry's command.

Although General Henry was prepared for the possibility of the defensive line being breached—after all, even the Fort Doumont, which had been built at great expense for decades, had fallen—it was not surprising that the Teutons had breached the trenches that had only been built for a few months.

However, General Henry was still surprised that the Teutons had deployed super-heavy tanks, since the Teutonic tanks they had captured last year were even inferior to the Royal Fist MK-1 tank.

How did these Teutons suddenly pull out super-heavy tanks "like mobile fortresses" from their crotches?

However, after a brief moment of surprise, General Henry made a judgment: Tanks? I have those too!

General Henry picked up the phone. "Hello, Charles, it's me. Assemble your troops. It's your turn to go in."

Although General Henry ordered Charles to regroup his troops, the dispersed deployment of tanks earlier caused Charles to spend considerable time regrouping his forces.

In fact, because the troops were too scattered, Sharl spent too much time regrouping the originally dispersed troops.

In order to reduce the assembly time, Jean-Pierre, who was not allowed to assemble troops, lent Charles three platoons so that Charles could gather enough troops for a counterattack.

Charles then took command of the tank battalion, providing cover for the infantry to launch a counterattack and recapture the defensive line that had been breached by the Teutons.

Because his height was almost the same as the FT tank, Sharl was not comfortable in the already cramped FT tank. Except during combat, Sharl would always open the hatch on the top of the tank and stick his body out of the tank to make himself feel more comfortable.

With their bodies already outside the tank, Charles naturally didn't forget to use his binoculars to observe the surrounding environment.

This also made Xia Er the first person among everyone to discover those steel behemoths on the battlefield.

This thing is huge. I think I won't feel so suffocated inside it.
This was Charles's first thought upon seeing the thing, and then the instinctive fear that humans feel when facing a colossal object surfaced in Charles's mind.

However, after his experience at Verdun, this fear didn't lead Charles to act irrationally; instead, it put him into a state of focused concentration. Simultaneously, he activated the light control system he had learned from the Bunitania, and through the in-vehicle communication system—also patented and purchased from Bunitania—instructed the driver to accelerate and prepare for the charge.

Then, the overly tall Charles laboriously pulled the command flag from the tank and began to direct his tank battalion, accelerating preparations for battle.

Faced with such a massive Teutonic battle fortress, Charles's idea was very simple.

This thing looks huge, so based on the principle that a big banana peel is also big, its armor must be very thick.

It would be very difficult to penetrate the armor of this tank from a distance.

Since it's difficult to destroy this thing's armor from a distance, I'll advance close enough before launching an attack.

This thing doesn't look very agile; it probably can't keep up with the FT tank's speed.

As Charles had predicted, these massive super-heavy tanks moved extremely slowly, crawling across the battlefield at a pace that could be described as inching forward, even after they saw the FT tanks charging past the infantry.

These massive battle fortresses simply came to a halt.

After they came to a stop, the turrets of these super-heavy tanks began to rotate slowly.

Although at this point all the FT tank drivers had already pressed the accelerator into the gearbox.

However, the speed of a tank's movement is obviously slower than the speed of its turret rotation.

As the muzzles of those super-heavy tanks flashed, the two charging FT tanks stopped as if they had crashed into an invisible wall, flames shooting out from every hatch of the two FT tanks.

Meanwhile, another FT tank had its tracks broken by a near miss, and the tank came to a stop sideways.

After stopping, the crew of the FT tank did not choose to abandon the vehicle, but instead rotated the turret to try to target one of the super-heavy tanks.

However, these super-heavy tanks equipped with two main guns did not give the FT tank a chance to aim and fire, and destroyed the FT tank in another shelling.

Then came another round of shelling.

This shelling was clearly not as accurate as the last one; in this shelling, only one FT tank had its tracks destroyed by a near miss.

This FT tank was clearly much luckier than the previous one. Before the Teutonic super-heavy tanks could finish reloading, this FT tank kept firing at one of the super-heavy tanks.

Before being destroyed, the FT tank fired at least six shells at the super-heavy tank, but these shells were deflected by the super-heavy tank, causing no real damage except for slightly scratching its black paint.

In this armored shell confrontation, the Teutons gained a complete advantage.

Twenty minutes later, as Charles was carried away from the battlefield by his driver and the commander of another vehicle, the Teutonic super-heavy tank started up again and began its slow but unstoppable advance toward Paris.

Only the wreckage of dozens of FT tanks burning on the battlefield testifies to what had just happened here.

Just as the Gallic armored forces' counterattack failed, Joe's troops also found themselves in a fierce battle.

There were three main routes for the Teutons to reach Amiens.

Therefore, in order to block the Teutons as much as possible, Joe chose to have three tank battalions launch a counterattack along these three roads.

Naturally, Joe ran headlong into the main force of the Teutons.

At night, due to poor visibility and communication, Joe was still able to rely on his strong fighting ability on his bicycle to overpower the Teutonics.

In one night, the front line was pushed back several kilometers.

But things were different after daybreak.

Since tanks were difficult to destroy in direct combat, the Teutons began to try to destroy them by surprise attacks.

The newly equipped 37mm anti-tank guns were hidden in the woods by their gun crews, who attempted to ambush passing tanks.

In particular, those armored vehicles equipped with 37mm anti-tank guns relied on their passability and mobility, which were comparable to tanks, to wage guerrilla warfare around Joe's troops.

As for air raids and large-scale artillery bombardments, they were carried out round after round.

In order to stop Joe's offensive, the Teutons not only fired 37mm anti-tank guns, but also used 77mm field guns.

They used artillery of different calibers to form a barrage to attack Qiao.

Because Joe had dispersed his troops across three roads and lacked sufficient striking power, and because Joe's objective was to delay the Teutonic offensive rather than force a breakthrough in the Teutonic lines, this attack effectively hampered Joe's advance.

As the offensive stalled, Joe began to feel anxious.

Joe knew that he was able to delay the Teutonic offensive entirely because the offensive had disrupted the Teutonics' plans.

To keep the Teutons from knowing how many of them there were and where they were, they had to slow down their advance to deal with the situation.

However, if he slowed down, the Teutons would figure out his size and location, and they would be able to use their numerical advantage to hold him back, then flank him and surround him.

Those damned 37mm anti-tank guns could ambush you from any bush by the roadside, and those agile armored vehicles were also a real pain to deal with.

With his efforts stretched thin, he feared he couldn't buy Amiens much time.

After looking at the map, Joe decided to take a very risky tactic to deal with the current situation where he couldn't run or sprint.

As we all know, there was once a great man who, when he was about to be surrounded by a red river, relied on his brilliant tactical judgment to repeatedly cross the river and pull the enemy, eventually managing to escape the encirclement by running away with the surrounding troops like dogs.

Joe felt that although he didn't have such artistic command skills, he might be able to tear these Teutons apart in another way.

Since you have to pull your fist back first to hit someone, if you can't break through the Teutons now, then you might as well retreat.

When the Teutons begin to advance, we will launch a surprise attack and eliminate them through mobile warfare.

As Joe began to change tactics, the Teutonic frontline commander was completely bewildered by Joe's lack of martial ethics, his attempt to deceive and ambush, and he was a fifty-year-old veteran officer.

The front line reported that Joe's troops had retreated, so naturally he had to pursue them. However, as soon as his troops left the position, Joe's tanks would come back aggressively and launch a fierce attack on their troops before the artillery could be deployed.

Although the armored vehicles of those few armored hussar companies did not turn the battle into a one-sided massacre, their resistance was largely symbolic.

This completely new tactic left the old general momentarily at a loss, unsure how to break through Joe's offensive defense.

Massive artillery barrage?
The moment the shells landed, they ran away.

Infantry charge?
What the others were waiting for was for the infantry to leave the positions covered by artillery.

The lessons of Verdun had taught these generals that simply throwing away lives would not win a war.

On the contrary, giving away too many kills will only bring you closer to failure.

However, how to deal with the enemy's armored units in offensive operations is a completely new and unknown challenge.

However, just when the old general was disgusted by Joe's style of play, something happened that saved him from this embarrassing situation.

As the battle lines advanced, the Teutons also made a breakthrough in the direction of Saint-Quentin.

Now they have a completely new route to reach Amiens and cut off the railway between the Bunitania Expeditionary Force and Paris.

(End of this chapter)