Imperial Elite

Chapter 78 The Final Blow on the Western Front

When the order for Marshal Haig to authorize Joe to launch a counterattack to support the troops in the encirclement, and then to retreat, reached Joe, it was already past midnight.

Although it was a little later than Joe had hoped, he had already mobilized his troops in advance, so it didn't take up too much of his time. At dawn, Joe ordered a counterattack.

The Teutons were somewhat surprised that Joe was still able to launch a counterattack.

With the support of the eastern front forces, the Teutons indeed committed hundreds of thousands of troops to this direction and launched a fierce attack on Amiens.

The attacks over the past few days, while not resulting in a favorable exchange ratio, have indeed cost Joe dearly.

Surprised as they were, the Teutons were not about to let go of this rare opportunity on the western front to encircle and systematically annihilate the Bunitanias.

So near Albert, Joe engaged in a fierce battle with the Teutons.

Although this battle cannot be ranked among the major battles that frequently involve large-scale warfare in terms of scale, and because Joe lost a lot of tanks in previous battles, it cannot be ranked among the top tank battles in terms of the number of tanks.

However, this did not affect the fact that before sunset, Joe pushed the contact line with the Teutons eight kilometers north from Albert, further widening the encirclement that the Teutons were about to close.

Due to Jo's fierce attack during the day, although the Teutons had prepared a large number of cannonballs for this attack, the excessive consumption resulted in the Teutonic artillery lacking enough cannonballs to attack the road after dark, thus slowing down the retreat of Bunitania from the encirclement.

At this point, Joe's tactical objectives had been largely achieved. Under the cover of night, Joe began to order the evacuation of heavy equipment that was not easy to leave, such as self-propelled artillery, towards Amiens.

However, just as Joe began organizing his troops to prepare for a retreat, he also received bad news: that he was launching a fierce attack on the Teutons that very day.

A Teutonic armored force launched a surprise attack on Amiens, though their attack was not particularly successful; they failed to destroy the railway station, the ammunition depot, or even penetrate much into Amiens.

But they killed the cook, kicked over the pots, and overturned the car.

So Joe will have to make do with dry bread for the night.

Just as Joe's final blow to Albert broke through the Teutonic encirclement, Joe managed to close it off a little further.

The Second Battle of Paris also lasted a whole day. Not long after the First Battle of Paris, the Teutons were quite familiar with how to attack Paris.

However, what the Teutons did not expect was that not only were they familiar with how to attack Paris, but the garrison in Paris was also very familiar with how to defend the city.

Especially after the Teutons entered the city, Jean-Pierre began to direct this armored battalion to cause trouble for the Teutons everywhere.

As a seasoned commander, Jean-Pierre, now all alone after the devastating defeat in the first Battle of Paris, had come to his senses.

Although he also commanded armored forces and learned from Joe to coordinate tanks with infantry to form battle groups for combat.

However, unlike Charles, who was full of energy and led his armored forces to ram twice into the Teutonic super-heavy tanks, Jean-Pierre thought that only fools would go head-to-head, and that real men should pick on the weak.

Then Jean-Pierre commanded his battle group to specifically target the Teutonic infantry, who lacked armored cover.

According to Jean-Pierre, "The only way to stop the war now is for either us or the Teutons to die first, so why not let the Teutons die?"

Although war is about belligerent parties trying to eliminate each other, Jean-Pierre's statement still made many Gauls feel that he was being a bit too extreme.

And that's why those who managed to stay in Jean-Pierre's army all shared Jean-Pierre's personal feelings toward the Teutons.

Therefore, in the street fighting, Jean-Pierre's armored battalion inflicted considerable losses on the Teutons by flanking and attacking from the sides.

Although Jean-Pierre performed exceptionally well this time, both the Gallic government and General Henri, the commander-in-chief of the Gallic army, are now in a state of panic.

During the last Battle of Paris, the Teutons spared no expense in having their air force cover their skies, creating a fog of war that led General Henry to seriously misjudge the size of the Teutonic forces.

However, although the Teutons launched a large-scale air raid as usual, this time they did not focus on battlefield concealment to keep the Gauls from knowing how many troops they had sent. Instead, they launched a large-scale air offensive.

This large-scale offensive caused considerable trouble for the Gauls, and also made General Henry aware of the scale of the Teutonic campaign.

If the Teutons pretended to have 600,000 people last time, this time they really do have 600,000 outside Paris, and possibly even more.

Faced with such immense pressure, General Henry, in addition to using the railway to draw troops from various places to reinforce Paris, naturally also turned his attention to the largest force on the battlefield.

The expeditionary force of the United States of America.

By this time, 400,000 American troops had arrived in Gaul and Bonitania. Although the combat effectiveness and experience of these troops were still questionable, the morale and enthusiasm of these soldiers reminded everyone who saw them of the hopeful year of 1914.

Theoretically speaking, both Amiens, which was defended by Bonitania, and Paris, which was under attack, needed the help of the United States Expeditionary Force at this time. In such a critical moment, the Expeditionary Force had to go regardless of whether it was ready or not.

However, they actually encountered a small problem: even the Bunitas and Gauls, who had been fighting together since 1914, were arguing about the same issue.

That is joint command. Both sides know that as the most powerful forces in the Old World, if the Gallic Army and the Bonitania Army can fight together, the combat power they can unleash will be much more than just one plus one.

Therefore, in this critical moment, we unite!

Then, the proposal for joint operations between the two sides got stuck here, and the reason for the blockage was very simple.

Who will take command?

If both sides want to fight together, there must be a joint commander to give unified command; otherwise, a joint army without a commander is like a king without a head.

However, the Bunitas and Gauls engaged in a long-standing debate over who should take command.

The Gauls thought, "You know the Emperor, right? The one in the Invalides, a Gaul, do I even need to explain his prestige? Besides, we have the best army in the Old World, how could there be any problem with us commanding him?"

The Buntanians, however, argued that if you say it that way, then you can't say it that way. Before you talk about the great emperor's achievements, shouldn't we talk about how he was exiled twice?
The conversation naturally stalled there, so although both sides knew that joint operations would be more efficient, they still opted for the most traditional regional operations because both sides had some reservations about the position of commander-in-chief of the coalition forces.

Both sides are defending a section of the front line; whoever fails to hold it is the loser.

Things were going along like this, with both sides putting on a show of a coalition, but in reality they were still fighting their own battles. The so-called coalition headquarters was basically no different from an empty conference room.

But when the Citizens arrived, things changed.

Before entering the war, the United States of America had only a little over 20,000 professional soldiers. So, in the eyes of these monsters in the Old World whose standing armies started at six figures, the United States of America could basically only sit at the table of children.

If it were just a matter of having few people, that would be one thing, but the key issue is that the US military is also incompetent.

In this era of rapid advancements in military technology, the last time the United States had real combat experience, the weapons of both sides in the conflict were generally still muzzle-loading.

When they came to fight in the Old World, they arrived without any equipment and even needed the help of the Gauls and Buntanians to train them.

The Gauls felt that since they provided the equipment and assisted with the training, shouldn't they also have some say in command? After all, not to mention the soldiers, the officers were also a group of novices with almost no experience.

Why don't you give us command first, and let us teach you how to fight?

The Americans were naturally unwilling to accept the Gauls' proposal. They argued that the Gauls were there to save the Old World and that the Americans should be grateful for their presence. While they admitted to being unprepared, they questioned why the Americans wanted command of the Gauls.

We are no longer the militia that couldn't fight during the War of Independence!

And you say joint command is so great, why don't you and Buntania join forces first?

Thus, during the period when the American troops continued to arrive in the Old World, the commander-in-chief of the American Expeditionary Force was constantly arguing with the Gauls and Bunitas about the issue of command, determined to preserve the independence of the American Expeditionary Force.

With the Teutons once again at the gates of Paris, Admiral Henry no longer worried about the issue of command.

Forget about whether you can command the Americans, get them over here to help defend Paris.

With General Henry relinquishing his claim to command the American troops, the commander-in-chief of the American Expeditionary Force finally relented and agreed to send troops to support Paris.

However, the commander-in-chief of the American Expeditionary Force remained cautious, stating that participation was possible, but only if we, like the Bunitania, retained our independence and, when defending Paris, we would be entitled to a separate war zone.

General Henry naturally wouldn't refuse the Citizens' request. After all, Joe, who had participated in the last joint operation, although he retained his independence, didn't care about any specific war zone. He just ran around Paris like a street urchin with his tanks.

I have no idea where this guy is or what he's doing. Now that the Americans want to define the defense zone, that's a good thing!
Henry did not hesitate to designate two districts for the Caucasians to defend, so that he could further concentrate his troops for combat.

After General Henry backed down, the commander-in-chief of the American Expeditionary Force, when assembling his troops, naturally did not forget Joe, who became famous in the First Battle of Paris, for racing tanks in the city.

So when the troops were being assembled, the commander-in-chief of the American Expeditionary Force did not hesitate to call on George, who was in charge of the tank brigade.

The entire Citizens Expeditionary Force was extremely excited about the opportunity to go to Paris. On the one hand, Paris, as the romantic capital of the Old World, had long been established as a tourist destination.

For these country bumpkins from the New World, romantic Paris was a place only wealthy capitalists could afford to visit.

Now I can get it for free, this is awesome!

In addition to Parisian tourism brands, Citibank Expeditionary Force is also very interested in those Parisian roses.

So everyone set off for Paris with the joyful feeling of "We're going to Paris!" as if the picnic destination were the streets where sex workers lived.

Then these American expeditionary soldiers, who knew nothing of war, learned what hell was.

Having learned from their previous experience, the Teutons did not hesitate to use poison gas and flamethrowers extensively when launching the Second Battle of Paris.

In particular, as a key part of the campaign, the Teutons committed the most stormtroopers to Paris.

These Teutonic supermen, who used submachine guns and grenades to clear a path, instantly showed the Americans what cruelty truly meant.

However, the Citibanks were not entirely without a chance to fight back.

As a free land, these expeditionary forces did not bring any military weapons when they arrived in the Old World, but some of them did bring civilian weapons such as semi-automatic pistols or shotguns.

Furthermore, many soldiers were born in rural Midwest China, where there was little entertainment, leading them to prefer shooting and generally possess good marksmanship. Relying on a fierce courage from the New World, and after paying a heavy price, the American Expeditionary Force managed to hold its ground in Paris, preventing a complete rout.

In this kind of urban warfare, George, as the commander of the Citizens' armored forces, also began to think about what kind of tank is a good tank.

Due to encountering the Teutonic super-heavy tanks in the street fighting, although the tanks seemed to have malfunctioned during the battle and became immobile barricades halfway through the fighting.

But the combat power and imposing presence displayed by this super-heavy tank made George feel that this thing was what a tank should be!

Looking at his Hound Tank again, George showed some disdain.

Meanwhile, Joe was unaware that George, after seeing the Teutonic's super-heavy tanks, had begun to dislike the Hound tanks.

Joe is currently struggling to stay afloat in Amiens.

Even after retreating into Amiens, Joe's pressure did not lessen much.

Faced with the Teutonic army's fierce attack, Joe had to launch a counterattack from time to time to reduce the pressure on his allies.

Although the situation in Amiens was not as hopeless as in Paris, it still became a blood-soaked mill that devoured everything as the Teutonic army launched its fierce attack.

Although Joe's armored forces achieved a very impressive exchange ratio in the previous phase of the battle, the Teutons also began to gradually master how to deal with tanks.

Especially after breaking through the outer defenses of Amiens and bringing the war into the city, the Teutons quickly discovered just how vulnerable tanks were without infantry cover.

How to eliminate the infantry next to the tank is a question with almost endless possibilities.

Therefore, Joe's battle group was still able to act as a fire brigade, putting out fires in various parts of Amiens and driving the Teutons out of the battle lines.

However, outside Amiens, while the Teutons were wreaking havoc inside the city, they also began to attack the defenders on both flanks of Amiens, attempting to bypass or directly surround the city.

This forced Joe to further expand the scope of operations, and in order to stabilize the front line, Joe personally led his regiment out of the city to launch counterattacks several times.

Push the Teutons who broke through the lines of defense away from the lines they had just captured.

At the most dangerous moment, Joe's regimental headquarters was left with only two tanks, and Joe even ran out of bullets in the two pistols he was carrying.

However, thanks to railway transport, the Bunitania Expeditionary Force was able to continuously send reinforcements to Amiens, and even tanks were constantly being replenished.

Although there were quite a few Royal Fist tanks among them, at this point, they were all good to have, and Joe couldn't be too picky. He could only redistribute the crews and then stuff these "brand new" crews into the battle group to put out fires everywhere.

Due to repeated artillery bombardment from both sides, as well as the small contribution made by the air force, Amiens was completely reduced to ruins under the ravages of war.

There were almost no intact buildings in the city, and almost every building contained the bodies of soldiers from both sides.

No soldier dared to approach the basement or the sheltered area, just like in Paris. In order to break through the defenses, the Teutons once again used a large number of poison gas bombs.

Amiens was transformed into a silent city where no sound could be heard except for the sounds of gunfire and explosions.

Even Joe, who was here, had gotten used to it. Every morning, he would get up, use the tank engine to make coffee and heat up scones, while being ready to evade Teutonic air raids at any time.

Seemingly out of disgust for Joe's armored forces, starting from the morning after the start of the Battle of Amiens, the Teutons would send their ace pilots to launch surprise attacks on Joe's armored forces every day at dawn, attempting to eliminate the crews before Joe and his men could even get into their tanks.

However, this attack did not achieve any effect.

According to Joe's manual, tank crew members should stay near their tank during combat and should not stray far from their tank unless absolutely necessary.

Therefore, when the Teutons launched an air raid, the crew members only needed to crawl inside the tank or hide under it to avoid the attack.

As for why they stayed near the tank instead of inside it.

The main reason is due to technological limitations, which makes the interior of modern tanks unsuitable for human habitation.

Although the engine was isolated outside the cabin and a firewall was added, the heat from the engine still transferred into the cabin, and several large men were crammed into such a small space.

The smell here is naturally not very pleasant.

Besides the smell, these tanks, which have been on the battlefield for a long time, naturally attract some bedbugs and fleas that are native to trenches to nest in the truck beds.

Even though the crew members repeatedly sprayed insecticide powder, they were unable to completely get rid of these annoying little things.

In addition to these minor issues, during combat, if they need to resolve some personal problems...

Unlike those unfortunate infantrymen, they didn't have to worry about being shot in the back while expressing themselves.

However, even though they were very careful in placing the shell casings, some of the disgusting contents would still spill out from time to time before they had a chance to throw them away, making the smell in the carriage even more unbearable.

Therefore, the crew members would not be too happy to stay in such a smelly place if they could.

However, one morning, as Joe was using the engine heat to make coffee and cracking an egg onto the toast in his pan, the Teutons did not arrive.

By the time Joe finished his coffee and the egg toast, the Teutonic air raid still hadn't come.

This surprised Joe greatly.

After all, the Teutons had a very strong sense of time. Every morning when Joe was attacked, he would drink coffee and check his watch. The time when the Teutons launched their attacks each day would not deviate by more than five minutes.

Those five minutes basically depend on how much trouble the Bunitania and the Citizen pilots can cause them that day.

But I've already made and eaten breakfast today, and none of those Teutonic planes have shown up. Is it that the Teutons have changed their ways, or did we bring out our trump card and bring down those arrogant Teutonic aces?
During this time, Joe focused all his energy on how to defend Amiens.

So Joe was unaware that the siege of Paris had now returned to the state it was in before the Teutonic retreat, under the onslaught of cannons, poison gas, and stormtroopers.

The Teutons have regained control of the northern Paris region on the north bank of the Seneca River, and now even Stormtroopers' mortars can be thrown onto the roof of Les Invalides.

However, the Teutons also paid a heavy price due to the resolute resistance of the Gauls and the Caucasians.

The last three super-heavy tanks had also been completely destroyed, and the Storm Commando had suffered heavy losses.

The Teutonic General Staff, working from both sides, found that even after five years of war, the threat on the Eastern Front had been reduced.

However, their strength had weakened to a dangerous point, and they were no longer able to launch two battles simultaneously.

The question is whether to continue the offensive on Amiens or commit the last reserves to Paris.

This is almost a no-brainer.

Even if they captured Amiens, they would still have to continue attacking Paris, and if they captured Paris, the war would be almost over.

However, the situation in Paris at that time was not much better.

With the intervention of the United States of America, the Teutons not only had to face the challenge of the American army on the ground, but also a large number of American pilots in the air.

Although these Citizens pilots lacked the experience and skill of seasoned Teutonic aces, their numbers were simply too great.

Faced with overwhelming numbers, even the ace pilots began to face challenges. After all, not every ace can be like that top ace, calmly counterattacking when facing attacks from multiple enemy aircraft.

There have been instances of ace pilots being shot down by American rookies, so the Teutonic General Staff is preparing to concentrate its last elite forces to launch a large-scale offensive in Paris, aiming to end the war by capturing the city.

Even if the Gauls do not withdraw from the war after occupying Paris, they will at least have some advantages in subsequent negotiations.

Due to the dire situation in 1917 and the fact that the Lucia had effectively withdrawn from the war, Teutonic spies in Bunitania and Gaul sent back reports.

Apart from the newly arrived American citizens, the Bonan and Gallic societies were already weary of the war, and even a rebellion broke out on the Emerald Isle of Bonania in 1916.

Clearly, they are nearing their breaking point.

Having just conquered the East, although the resources acquired were limited, the two incursions into Paris and the supplies from the East quelled most of the anti-war sentiment.

If they can hold out longer than the Bonitania and Gauls, they will inevitably cease hostilities to prevent domestic unrest.

By then, even if the empire abandons its gains in Gaul, the land acquired in the East will be enough to compensate for the losses it suffered in this war. In particular, the disintegration of the Lucian Empire has freed the empire from the predicament of fighting on two fronts and permanently changed the empire's strategic environment. This is simply a huge victory.

Therefore, in order to end the war as soon as possible, it is now necessary to intensify the offensive in Paris. Just one victory would force the Gauls and Buntanians to the negotiating table.

Apart from the last strategic reserve, the Teutons even transferred troops from the eastern front to besiege St. Petersburg, leaving the task of maintaining the eastern defenses to the newly formed Cossack Republic's defense forces and a small number of troops left behind.

All other mobile forces, including the air force, began to assemble in Paris.

The Teutonic General Staff believed that this would be the Empire's final blow on the Western Front, and that victory was within reach; they only needed to reach out one more hand to touch that imminent triumph.

For this reason, the Teutonic Emperor even prepared to go to the front lines in Paris to inspect the troops and award medals to soldiers and officers who performed well in the Battle of Paris.

As the Teutonic General Staff began to concentrate its main forces in Paris, Joe, who was stationed in Amiens, also began to feel that the pressure on him had been greatly reduced.

Not only did the frequency of Teutonic air force appearances decrease, but even the frequency of Teutonic artillery fire decreased. The poison gas bombs that were previously thrown around indiscriminately were now completely absent.

Is this considered a successful defense?

With the Teutonic offensive slowing down, both Joe and General Rawlinson, who was in charge of the defense of Amiens, breathed a sigh of relief.

Now I can finally take a break.

(End of this chapter)