Conquer Europe from the West

Chapter 152 Fertilize our land with the blood of our enemies!

Just as Raine's troops were about to arrive at the front and begin preparing his mobile artillery for the upcoming battle, on the southern front, dozens of kilometers away...

Von Morgan stood behind a hill less than thirty meters high, observing the Imperial Fourth Army's front line in the distance through his binoculars.

The Fourth Army's front line had reached its current position a week ago, but they did not spend a lot of time repairing their trenches during that week. Instead, like the Twenty-Seventh Army before them, they used a large area of ​​shallow trenches less than 1.5 meters deep and rarely used wooden planks to reinforce the walls on both sides.

Although the two sides have not yet reached the point where the war truly requires a trench standoff, Von Morgan, like Renn, is well aware that an army's ability to dig trenches is positively correlated with its morale and fighting spirit.

An excellent military unit should build beautiful, standardized, and impenetrable trenches.

Such excellent trenches could also provide soldiers with sufficient protection, ensuring that they could withstand artillery bombardment and hold out safely until they could hear the enemy's voice, see the enemy's figure, and begin to fight back.

"Is this all the trenches we have?"

Before he knew it, von Morgan began to feel that he had been a complete fool not long ago when he had chosen to personally go to the front lines to command the battle because he was worried about the morale of the troops.

Beside him, his adjutant frowned and said, "It's more like a roadside ditch than a trench."

Their position was significantly higher than the surrounding terrain, allowing them to clearly see the entire layout of the three trenches on the front line.

Von Morgan's tone became somewhat annoyed at this: "I should have brought more troops with me."

"Forget it then."

The young adjutant immediately understood that his general wanted to capture the entire flank of the Imperial Army.

But this is obviously impossible.

The 3rd Reserve Infantry Division was understaffed and faced an enemy several times its size. Even if it captured a position, it would be unable to hold it, not to mention that the Imperial 17th Army was stationed just five or six kilometers to the north.

The two army groups combined could easily muster more than 30,000 mobile troops, which would be enough to give the 3rd Reserve Infantry Division a lot of trouble.

Von Morgan and his adjutant were clearly aware of this, so they didn't waste any more time on the matter. After making a final check of the Imperial Army's position, they immediately left the high ground and began preparing for the upcoming general offensive.

They will launch an attack in conjunction with the cavalry when the third wave of artillery fire is halfway through.

The two forces will move one after the other, like sharks, to bite off a large piece of flesh from the Imperial Fourth Army.

At the same time, on the other side of the battlefield.

Unlike before, Ryan did not drive to the front lines.

He handed over the car left by François to the communications officer responsible for contacting the various units, and then rode on horseback with the truck corps.

Like him, Brinkman and his companion jogged along the dirt road at a slightly faster pace than the truck and successfully arrived at their destination before the train stopped.

By the time the last truck unloaded the soldiers from its bed, gray smoke was already rising from behind the Imperial Army's positions.

"Don't they feel any sense of urgency at all?"

Brinkman sat on horseback, his gaze fixed on the rising plumes of gray smoke: "Was the Eighth Army being chased and beaten by this kind of force before?"

"There's nothing we can do if supplies aren't enough, right?"

Raine, unusually, didn't smoke, but he was still chewing gum. His gaze fell on the last six vehicles in the convoy—self-propelled artillery trucks and ammunition transporters.

The artillery squads had shown signs of starting to work together during this period, but Rein hadn't paid much attention to it.

He was more concerned about whether his three 77mm guns could fire at critical moments.

He only learned this morning that some of the shells from the last operation failed to fire due to dampness caused by the rain.

Even though only two days had passed between the battle and the incident, Rein was still thinking about it.

But the artillery problem is not the most important one.

Most importantly, the Imperial First Army's position appears to be much more comprehensive than that of the Twenty-Seventh Army.

"The commander of the First Army seems to have participated in the Russo-Japanese War."

Brinkman put down his binoculars, gripped the reins with one hand, and looked at the Imperial Army positions in the distance.

Raine didn't think much about this matter. The Empire here was different from Tsarist Russia on Earth. Their Russo-Japanese War was a naval battle in the Asian Inland Sea, and then a land war in Siberia.

Such experience of defeat is of no use to the empire.

Not to mention that their soldiers are not of good quality.

"That's not the problem. It seems that the cavalry units from before haven't withdrawn from the front lines; they've just been mixed up with the First Army."

As Renn gazed at the Imperial Army's positions, a map of the entire battlefield began to light up before his eyes.

From south to north, along the Imperial Army's front line in a () shape, one can clearly see the 17th Army under continuous artillery bombardment, the 27th Army with its small numbers huddled in underground bunkers, and the 4th Army already surrounded.

The cavalry of the 1st Cavalry Division have successfully outflanked the 4th Army, less than four kilometers away, and are gathering in the dense forest in preparation for the upcoming charge.

The entire 3rd Reserve Division had also set up makeshift artillery positions. The shells from the 77mm and 105mm guns could accurately cover the entire battlefield. Even though there were only twelve guns in total, it was enough to cover the entire battlefield with a layer of white fog with smoke bombs before the infantry arrived at the front line.

Brinkman glanced at his watch: "Colonel, twenty minutes left."

The shelling began on the hour and ended at 45 minutes past the hour.

This is the third round of shelling; it will end in five minutes.

According to the plan, they will launch the attack at 9:10.

Upon hearing Brinkman's voice, Ryan subconsciously turned around and glanced at the assault company and the second battalion soldiers who had already lined up.

The unit, consisting of more than a thousand soldiers, was crammed together in groups of three, while further back, more soldiers from the Ninth Army were disembarking from the train carriages.

These soldiers, totaling three regiments, will be the core force in this operation.

Just then, Renn saw on the map that a dozen or so cannons were being dragged off the railway tracks by horses and were beginning to move towards the front line along the road beside the railway. He subconsciously said, "The 105mm howitzers have reached the front line. How fast!"

"Huh?" Brinkman was taken aback by Ryan's words: "Can we see them from here?"

"No, perhaps it's just my imagination."

Ryan waved his hand, and then a motorcycle jumped out from behind the horizon.

That was the communications soldier responsible for delivering the message of the artillery being in position to the front lines.

"Looks like we've arrived."

Brinkman tugged on the reins, slightly tightening the horse's flanks to urge it forward: "I'll go inform the troops; the attack will begin in twenty minutes."

"Ah."

Renn nodded and watched Brinkman ride away.

The communications soldier happened to stop in front of Ryan on a motorcycle that looked almost like a bicycle: "Report, the reinforcements from the Ninth Army have all arrived at the front. Mobile artillery is setting up artillery along the railway line, and the four infantry regiments that are supporting us are expected to be in their positions within fifteen minutes at the earliest!"

Rein: "Good. Have them proceed according to the plan. The operation will begin in twenty minutes. Also, the train should still be running. Go and borrow their phone. Have the artillery use large-caliber guns to slowly and continuously fire smoke bombs from the Imperial Twentieth Army's position toward the Imperial Seventeenth Army's location in twenty minutes to obscure their vision."

"Yes!"

The communications soldier didn't salute. Knowing the rules of the Reyn troops, the young man twisted the accelerator twice, kicking up a large cloud of mud with the rear wheels, and then turned around and sped off in the direction he came from.

Rein sighed, thinking, "I can only hope that this will make those fools in the Empire really think we're going to attack the Fourth Army."

The success of the last operation was partly due to strength, but luck played a major role.

The Imperial Twenty-Seventh Army was utterly routed, mainly because their repeated victories led their commanders to misjudge the strength gap between their own troops and the Imperial forces.

After all, even if the troops were composed of serfs and tenant farmers, they would certainly dig trenches and build battle lines properly as long as they received orders from their superiors.

This can be seen from the fact that the 27th Army repaired and further reinforced its trenches less than two days after being attacked.

But the Empire obviously wouldn't attack the same unit twice in a row.

Therefore, the target was changed to the First Army this time.

Immediately, as time passed, soon, accompanied by the sound of cannonballs streaking across the distant sky and the distinctive insect-like shadows of heavy cannonballs flying through the air, Brinkman finally returned to Rein's side.

"The troops are ready, Colonel."

The binoculars hanging around her neck had been put away, replaced by an MP-14 submachine gun and a Mauser pistol hanging on the side of the saddle.

"good."

Rein rode forward and circled the assembly positions of the assault company and the second battalion.

He didn't speak, he just quietly watched the soldiers.

The last battle cost him several experienced soldiers, and this time no one could guarantee that no one would die in battle, let alone that they would come back alive.

But the battle will not be canceled because of this.

He looked at the soldiers in front of him, the reins in his hand tightening.

The horse raised its head high, its nostrils exhaling a misty heat.

Several military horses emerged from behind the truck, carrying several company commanders from the Second Battalion and Kenneth from the assault company.

The only difference is that today they all carry a set of Honor Communications transmitting equipment.

Unlike previous operations, this operation requires commanding more troops and coordinating more units.

In order to ensure that the troops could successfully locate their combat targets, the original plan to have all communications officers serve as beacons was canceled. Instead, a tactic of using companies as guiding units was adopted.

As the company commanders and the second battalion commander rode up to their units, Brinkman immediately shouted, "Attention! The colonel is speaking!"

Ryan raised his hand to stop Brinkman, nudged the horse's belly with his heel, and took two steps forward.

he said.

"This war was a meaningless war initiated and led by the Allied Powers, headed by Farland."

"In the Vosges Mountains, we destroyed the headquarters of the First Army of Farland in a night raid, protecting the Empire's Alsace and Lorraine."

"At Verdun, we used an unprecedented feint attack to surround the headquarters of the Third Army of Farland, ensuring that the northern border of the Empire would never again be threatened by Farland's heavy artillery."

"And today."

"We are facing the Tsar's army, and what we need to protect is the entire eastern territory of the empire."

"You don't need to be afraid, because we just defeated their 27th Army two days ago, rendering them completely incapable of fighting."

"But I still hope you remember that it was not a battle that could determine the outcome of the entire campaign."

"Because at that time we obviously did not have enough strength to completely annihilate an entire army, let alone an entire group army."

"We are the same now."

"Some might ask, if that's the case, then why are we standing here, carrying out an operation that can't bring a decisive victory?"

"My answer to this is very simple."

"We must use the blood of our enemies to fertilize the land beneath our feet!"

(End of this chapter)