Imperial Elite

Chapter 8 The Imperial Army Has Rules

Soon, accompanied by the sound of a whistle, Holtz and the others rushed out of the trench.

Seemingly because the previous attack had been effective, Holtz felt that the Bunitania's counterattacks had weakened considerably after they rushed out of the trenches this time.

At least the roar of the machine guns wasn't as fierce as before.

Perhaps the decision above was correct? Is this tactic of weakening the enemy's defenses and then calling in artillery fire to attack their reinforcements really feasible? As expected of a professionally trained officer, he's quite different from a non-commissioned officer.

Holtz, who had rushed twenty meters in an instant, unconsciously had this thought pop into his mind.

However, getting distracted on the battlefield can cause problems, and Holtz immediately learned his lesson when some random thoughts flashed through his mind during the charge.

Holtz, who wasn't paying attention, tripped over something while running and fell to the ground.

It was normal for people to fall on the battlefield, so those around Holtz simply bypassed him and continued charging forward.

Holtz, who was lying on the ground, took a while to realize that he had not been shot, but had just tripped.

This situation infuriated Holtz, but he was also somewhat afraid. He worried that someone around him would see him get up and discover that he hadn't been shot but had just tripped, which would make him lose face completely.

Fortunately, after looking around, Holtz realized that not only was no one paying attention to him, but almost everyone around him had run away. He immediately got up from the ground and continued to rush forward.

Because Holtz had just fallen and spent a lot of time lying on the ground checking if anyone was paying attention to him, he had fallen from the forefront of the attack to the back, creating a significant gap between himself and the people in front of him.

This further enraged Holtz, who was only interested in making a name for himself in the army, and he grabbed his rifle and ran forward.

However, the mud in the no-man's-land between the trenches was not suitable for running. Even if Holtz sprinted at full speed, he could only see his comrades who were ahead of him jumping into that section of the trench one by one.

If I don't go now, it will be too late!

Seeing that most of his comrades who were ahead of him had jumped into the trench, Holtz, anxious, put even more effort into running faster.

However, at that moment, accompanied by a loud bang, the trench in front of Holz erupted like a volcano, sending up a fireball.

Or perhaps this explosion can no longer be described as a fireball; calling it a wall of fire would be more accurate.

As the fireball rose, some dark figures were thrown into the air amidst the flames, before falling to the ground along with sand and gravel.

What's going on here?
Looking at the wall of fire rising from the trenches in front of him, Holtz was momentarily stunned, wondering what had happened.

For a fleeting moment, the once bustling battlefield seemed to be paused.

The next second, as the wall of fire dissipated, only the black smoke from the explosion and the heat wave rising from the ground remained in the air.

As the sand and other debris, just thrown into the air by the blast wave, fell like raindrops, the roar of machine guns rang out again from behind the trench.

The flash of the machine gun muzzle and the roar of the machine gun in front of him were like a wake-up call, bringing Holz back to his senses.

"hidden!"

Holtz lay down on the spot, picked up the whistle, and pulled a grenade from his belt.

As Holz blew his whistle, the brief silence was shattered, and the battlefield returned to normal.

"Damn it! These Teutons are all lunatics!"

Releasing the detonator from his hand, Joe muttered curses at the crazed Teutons while drawing his pistol from his waist, picking up the entrenching tool he had just stuck in the side, and blowing the whistle loudly from his mouth.

When Joe blew his whistle, the soldiers who had been hiding in makeshift foxholes behind the trenches immediately emerged and ran towards the trench where the explosion had just occurred.

Seemingly noticing Joe's movements, the Teutons who had just escaped the explosion also began to run towards the trenches.

Joe, who was running wildly with his pistol and entrenching tool in hand, couldn't help but feel a little regretful. He was too inexperienced and even a little too panicked. After seeing the Teutons enter the trench, he was worried that they would discover the explosives hidden in the drainage ditch under the floor and the fuses connecting them, and detonate the explosives prematurely.

At the time, I thought that if I sent all the Teutons who had entered the trenches to their deaths, the remaining Teutons would also collapse in morale and retreat, and then I would be able to retake the trenches.

After all this commotion, even if the reinforcements had to crawl, they should be able to arrive by now.

But Joe never expected that after he wiped out most of the Teutons with his explosion, the remaining Teutons would continue to attack.

What were the brains of these Teutons made of?!

If I had waited a little longer, until the Teutons had entered the trenches, and then detonated the explosives, wouldn't I have been able to wipe them out in one fell swoop?

With this in mind, Joe and the counterattacking soldiers rushed to the trenches almost simultaneously with the Teutons.

At this distance, where both sides could almost see each other clearly, the Bunitas machine gunners quickly emptied their magazines, while the Teutons responded with a barrage of grenades.

Everyone knew that in this situation, whoever occupied the trench first would have a huge advantage, so as soon as the exchange of greetings ended, both sides quickly rushed into the trench.

Thus, the same brutal hand-to-hand combat erupted once again in the trenches.

However, unlike before, this time Joe didn't just charge straight into the trench with an entrenching tool and a pistol.

Instead, he called over the nearest machine gunner, had him change to a new drum magazine, and then jumped into the trench with that machine gunner.

Only a fool would fight with bayonets; automatic weapons are the gods of trench warfare.

Only after entering the trench did Joe realize that there was a small difference between his expectations and reality: the trench was now crowded with people, and if he didn't want to kill his own men, he would have to be careful.

This machine gun is indeed not easy to use.

So Joe had to rely on the machine gunner for cover while he began to use the skills he had recently learned in the trenches.

If the Teutons in the battle didn't notice him, Joe would simply raise his pistol and shoot the Teuton in the head.

At this distance, even an elderly woman wouldn't miss.

If the Teuton notices you, then use your entrenching tool to parry his bayonet and then shoot him in the head.

The revolver was so handy in this environment, and the trenches were cleared so smoothly, that for a moment, Joe hesitated whether he should buy a few more pistols to carry with him after the troops rotated to the rear.

Just as this thought crossed Joe's mind, a Teutonic corporal who had just stabbed a soldier to death rushed toward Joe.

Facing the Teutonic corporal who was a few steps away, Joe instinctively raised his pistol. However, after pulling the trigger, Joe suddenly realized that the fight had been so smooth that he had forgotten that he only had six bullets in his pistol.

The clanging of the pistols seemed to mock Joe's foolishness.

Unable to reload in time, Joe could only raise his hand and smash the pistol at the Teutonic corporal.

As the Teutonic corporal instinctively raised his rifle to block the pistol flying toward his head, Joe strode forward and swung his entrenching tool at his head.

However, the Teutonic corporal turned his rifle around and used the butt of his rifle to block Joe's entrenching tool. Then, just as Joe was about to swing the entrenching tool again, the Teutonic corporal released his rifle, grabbed Joe's left hand that was holding the entrenching tool with his right hand, and awkwardly drew a dagger from his waist with his left hand.

As Joe noticed the Teutonic corporal draw his dagger, he also grabbed the corporal's left hand that was holding the dagger.

So Joe, holding the other's weapon-wielding hand, and the Teutonic corporal were briefly caught in an awkward silence. Then they began trying to ram each other's faces with their helmets or kick each other three feet below the navel. The two corporals were soon wrestling in the trench.

This greatly worried the machine gunner who was traveling with Joe. Seeing the two men wrestling, the machine gunner was unable to fire.

He could only wait until the Teutonic corporal gained the upper hand in hand-to-hand combat and pinned Joe down before rushing forward and taking him down with the butt of his rifle.

They finally managed to rescue Joe from this brutal hand-to-hand combat.

Just as Joe pushed aside the Teutonic corporal and was panting as he tried to thank the machine gunner, he heard what sounded like noises coming from outside the trench.

This commotion made Joe feel somewhat desperate. Even if the Teutons sent another platoon, he knew he would never be able to hold this trench.

However, just as Joe looked out of the trench, what appeared in the leaden sky outside the trench was a group of soldiers wearing khaki uniforms from the Bunitania military.

Seeing that reinforcements had arrived, President Qiao finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He let go of the entrenching tool in his hand and slumped down in the trench, on the wet ground.

With the arrival of reinforcements, the remaining Teutons in the trenches were quickly wiped out.

They also captured the Teutonic corporal whom Joe had almost lost in hand-to-hand combat.

However, more than capturing the corporal, what pleased Joe the most was that his superiors had finally shown some humanity, allowing him to retreat to the rear with the last two surviving brats and the two infantry companies that had been completely decimated.

Just like the inside tidbit the company commander revealed before we set off at noon.

As the dry biscuits were being brought up from the kitchen, an order was announced that the troops would hand over their duties to friendly forces that evening and retreat to the rear for rest and reorganization.

Upon hearing this news, Joe immediately breathed a long sigh of relief, but at the same time began to regret it.

Why didn't I let that Teutonic man stab me during our hand-to-hand combat? If I had, I would be lying in a field hospital ward now, and might even have been evacuated.

At that point, wasn't it already half the battle won if I wanted to escape the battlefield?

However, if we retreat now, I should be able to find other ways to escape from the army.

I wonder if I could leave the military if I found some enthusiastic Gallic women, contracted some unspeakable diseases, and then...

Just as Qiao was pondering this question, the deputy platoon leader found him again and said, "Qiao, why are you still sitting here like an idiot? Where's the report?"

"Report?"

Qiao looked at the deputy company commander with a blank expression.

"I'm just a corporal, not even a junior officer, why should I write a report?"

Seeing Qiao's bewildered expression, the deputy company commander patiently explained to him.

"Here's the thing, the highest-ranking survivor in those two infantry companies is only a private first class, and they're all saying you commanded the last wave of the Teutonic attack, so..."

The deputy company commander shrugged.

“The Imperial Army has a rule that all battles must be reported, so you have to write this report.”

Joe glanced at the deputy company commander, then at the dried biscuits in his hand, took a deep breath, and asked the deputy company commander with his last glimmer of hope.

"How long do I need to submit this report?"

Joe, who was thinking about deserting the army, now only hoped that this report wouldn't be requested in such a hurry, so that he wouldn't have to submit it after he ran away.

Seeing the pleading look on Qiao's face, the deputy company commander shook his head and sighed.

"Because this battle involves three companies, and the troops need to rest soon, we need to send reinforcements from the rear, so the sooner the better..."

The deputy company commander raised his hand and glanced at the watch on his wrist.

"There's still some time before the evacuation, so you can submit your report in two hours."

After speaking, the deputy company commander looked at Qiao with an apologetic expression on his face.

“I know your job doesn’t include writing reports, so I have a typewriter I can lend you.”

Seeing that the deputy company commander had gone to such lengths, Qiao had nothing more to say.

Although they were preparing to flee, there were still things they needed to do before they did, otherwise they would offend the deputy company commander and still want to run away.

With a biscuit in his mouth, Joe and the deputy company commander arrived at the company headquarters, brought out the typewriter, and began typing a report.

Meanwhile, somewhere on the front lines, Corporal Holtz, who had just donned the Britannian uniform, was rummaging through the bag that had been used to escort him, a private first class.

This private was clearly a rookie, daring to get so close to the prisoner. Corporal Holtz, having found the opportunity, knocked the unlucky fellow down with a single punch.

However, considering that this private had given him a cigarette earlier, Corporal Holtz did not kill the unfortunate private after knocking him unconscious.

Private Holtz quickly finished inspecting his baggage, which contained only some personal items.

Holz's interest was piqued by a newspaper in his bag.

Although Holtz didn't understand Buntanian, he clearly recognized the man in the newspaper as the Buntanian commander in that trench today, the guy he almost killed was a celebrity.
Holtz stuffed the newspaper into his clothes and turned to walk toward the Teutonic position.

Using the Brutanian uniform he was wearing as cover, Holtz quickly returned to the Teutonic trenches.

Holtz, after handing over the newspaper and recounting his experience after being captured, was soon sent back to the rear replenishment camp to await reassignment, just like the other surviving soldiers.

The newspaper Holz brought back, being very recent, was sent up as important intelligence.

After all, during wartime, newspapers are often a useful tool for figuring out what the other side is thinking. Even spies infiltrating Bonitania consider sending back newspapers to Bonitania an important task.

Soon, the newspaper was delivered to Chief of the General Staff Falkingham, who was directing the Battle of Verdun.

Falkenham, who was still racking his brains over how troublesome the Gauls were, exclaimed in surprise after seeing the newspaper.

Have the Buntanians gone mad? Sending these kinds of people to the front lines as engineers?!

Or is it that they have no one left to recruit and can't conscript any soldiers?!

Falkingham was shocked by the fact that the Bunitas were sending scientific researchers to the front lines as engineers and then brazenly publicizing it. He immediately sent the newspaper back to the top.

We are going to show the Emperor that the army's current actions are very effective. We have worn down the Bunitania to the point where we have to send scientific researchers to the battlefield!
Although he is now using Teutonic blood, the people without manpower are the Bunitans, and there seems to be some problem between the two. However, in these difficult times, winning is all that matters.

The emperor needs victory, the army needs victory, and the people need victory.

At this moment, Joe had no idea that his name would soon resound throughout the Old World. In fact, Joe, who had just finished submitting his report, was walking on the muddy road, chewing on dry biscuits, just like the other soldiers, complaining that the logistics department was a bunch of bitches who had embezzled all the money and were feeding them this kind of food that even dogs wouldn't eat.

(End of this chapter)