Starting with the smashing of Dunkirk

Chapter 204 Anti-Tank Pioneer Model

General Edmund Allenby was held back for two whole days by Model's resolute defenses at the Isthmus of Delphi, with Athens just 100 kilometers to the southeast, yet he could not break through.

From December 6th to 8th, Allenby finally upgraded his tactics and began a full-scale attack at all costs.

Every morning, the artillery bombarded Parnassus Hill fiercely, continuously suppressing the German artillery and firing positions on the mountain. At the same time, the infantry organized multiple waves of mountain assaults, braving the overhead bombardment of mortars and grenade launchers, closing the distance with the enemy and fighting a bloody battle.

Finally, a portion of the troops were diverted to launch a positional attack on the enemy's trench network in the valley while friendly forces were engaged in a fierce battle with the enemy on the mountaintop.

As a result, the Demacian artillery was basically tied down by the Burghers attacking the mountains. The Demacians only had a few cannons, and they couldn't spare any firepower to bombard the Burghers advancing along the valley.

Meanwhile, Bu's army took full advantage of its superior numbers, launching a full-scale offensive that overwhelmed the enemy.

However, this tactic of disregarding casualties meant that while the Bu army was capturing positions, it would suffer extremely heavy casualties.

Those troops attacking the mountain suffered heavy casualties while passing through the mortar-covered area, and after reaching the summit and wrestling with the Demacians, they still had to pay three or four times the exchange rate.

All things considered, to capture the summit of Mount Parnassus and wrestle with the Demacians, it would take an average of more than a dozen lives of the Burmese army to exchange for one Demacian life.

Or at least three or five Britannian soldiers' lives were needed to save one Greek life, which seemed like a huge loss no matter how you looked at it.

The battle in the valley didn't have such a bad exchange ratio, but the Demacians' defense was also formidable.

Model did not make the same mistake as Ma Su; he divided his forces to "camp along the road" while guarding the mountain. He left one elite mountain battalion and one Greek regiment to guard the valley.

Model feared that if the enemy quickly broke through the valley, a portion of the enemy forces would rush in and sneak across, then encircle and surround Mount Parnassus from both sides.

However, the defenders in the valley had no artillery support and could only rely on the trench network and communication trenches to resist step by step, with little defensive flexibility.

Faced with the advancing enemy, they had done their best to use their well-placed light machine guns and grenade launchers to inflict heavy casualties, killing and wounding thousands of people before they had no choice but to retreat along the trenches.

After a morning of fighting on December 8, the German-Hillary coalition lost three trenches in the valley. The Britannian offensive only gradually weakened after they were out of range of the Britannian heavy artillery. It was the same old problem: the artillery of this era was too slow to deploy and had a short range.

If the enemy retreats a few kilometers and the artillery can no longer reach them, it takes a day or two to move the artillery positions forward and redeploy them before they can be used again.

Without self-propelled artillery or truck-mounted artillery, the speed at which artillery can keep up with rapid advance forces has always been a major problem.

Seeing that the enemy had temporarily retreated, the artillery commander in charge of preparing the firepower thought that General Allenby should request that the ground offensive for the day be ended, and that the attack should continue the next morning after the artillery was moved forward and redeployed that night.

But this suggestion was immediately rejected by General Allenby.

"No! We can't stop now! That German general on the other side is an expert! I heard that two months ago during the Crimean campaign, the reason why the Demanians were able to quickly break through the natural barriers of the Russo-Caliphate Peninsula in Crimea and the Trojc Peninsula to the north was because the Russo-Caliphate army was reluctant to cut off its own railway, so it left gaps when digging trenches."

The railway from Larissa to Athens now passes through this valley, but several trenches along the first few kilometers completely destroyed and severed the railway, which is why I couldn't use armored vehicles to launch an assault at the beginning.

But I saw through the artillery scope yesterday that the enemy didn't dig all the subsequent trenches so thoroughly. It seemed that only the first few trenches cut off the railway completely, leaving no blind spots. The later trenches stopped a few dozen meters from the railway embankment. Perhaps they were too slow in their construction and didn't want to dig such a hard embankment, or perhaps they were reluctant to do so and felt that there was no need to dig so many layers for the time being.

But regardless of the enemy's intentions, this is a golden opportunity! Immediately send our armored vehicle formation through this opening! Infantry, follow behind the armored vehicles and continue the attack!

Upon hearing the general's insightful observation, the two infantry division commanders and the army group's artillery chief immediately became respectful.

"Commander, you are brilliant! You seized such a fleeting opportunity! Indeed, we absolutely cannot delay now. If we give the enemy another night, they will definitely dig out all the remaining sections of the makeshift trenches along the railway, leaving no blind spots."

The main generals of the Bu army were all in agreement, feeling that this was a rare opportunity, and continued their vigorous attack.

Although the artillery was no longer long enough to cover the enemy positions further back, it didn't matter, because the Bu army had armored vehicles!
I've heard that in the past month or two, Demacian tanks and armored vehicles have frequently been doing this kind of rapid advance on the Eastern Front.

In the initial phase of their attack, within the first ten kilometers, they relied on artillery fire support to cripple the enemy before the infantry charged. However, once the infantry was out of artillery range, they would break away from the artillery and continue their advance into the heart of the enemy territory, supported by tanks and armored vehicles.

With the cover of tanks, it wouldn't be a big problem even if artillery wasn't available; combined arms operations could still break through the enemy's defenses.

Now that the Demacians have demonstrated this new tactic, it would be a waste for the Britannian army not to follow suit and copy the enemy's correct answer!

Dozens of Rolls-Royce armored vehicles quickly escorted several regiments of Burma infantry as they continued their valiant advance along the valley.

Several "dead-end" trenches soon appeared in front of them, all of which were only half dug and did not cut off the roadbed of the railway that ran through the middle of the valley.

In the very center of the valley, there is a trenchless area at least 100 meters wide, through which a Rolls-Royce armored vehicle can drive directly.

We'll learn from our Demacian armored counterparts and drive our armored vehicles to the end of the trench, then rotate the vehicle or use the onboard machine gun to sweep and clear a no-man's-land along the side of the trench.

Then, by providing cover for the Burgh infantry to enter the ends of these trenches and sweeping them away horizontally along the trenches, wouldn't the German-Hillary coalition's garrison in the valley collapse?
The Demanian army did the same thing several times on the Kievan Rus' plains a month ago!

General Britannia was also capable of learning from the enemy's advanced experience; today's situation can only be described as "using their own methods against them."

……

The Britannians carried out their planned tactics, indulging in their fantasies.

The first dozen or so armored vehicles quickly and arrogantly charged forward for at least 2 kilometers, braving the machine gun fire and grenade launcher indirect fire, and forcefully drove along the railway embankment to the end of the Demanian headless trench.

"Rat-a-tat-tat~" The Britannian vehicle-mounted machine gun fired wildly at the trench, and indeed killed several unsuspecting Demanian light machine gunners and several rows of Greek soldiers.

The remaining Demacian soldiers quickly retreated to both sides along the Z-shaped trench. Once they had retreated past the first two corners of the trench, the machine guns on the armored vehicles would no longer be able to hit them.

However, the Burgundian infantry following the armored vehicles immediately seized the opportunity when the German-Hillary forces abandoned the end of the trench and rushed into the trench. They then carried Italian-made submachine guns and Lee-Enfield rifles and searched and killed their way along both sides of the trench.

A fierce close-quarters battle broke out between the two sides, with MP15 and Italian submachine guns firing incessantly in the trenches, killing hordes of soldiers from both sides.

Later, there were even close-quarters battles where grenades were thrown at each other at the corners of the trenches, and even hand-to-hand combat with bayonets and entrenching tools.

When the Bu army officers saw that this tactic was effective and the breakthrough was indeed fast, they became even more relaxed and hurriedly ordered the armored convoy to continue advancing without delay.

"Armored vehicles, keep advancing! Don't stop! Try to break through the fortified area of ​​the entire valley before nightfall! Don't give the enemy a chance to dig more trenches!"

Not all of the Rolls-Royce armored vehicles in the Burkina Faso army were equipped with onboard radios; only the command vehicles had them. Therefore, after receiving orders from the rear via radio, the command vehicles had to relay these on-the-spot commands by shouting.

A captain adjutant next to the commander of an armored regiment in the command vehicle leaned out and shouted wildly at the tank next to him, gesturing wildly to give instructions.

The message had only been half-transmitted when a burst of MG15 light machine gun bullets swept in their direction. The regimental adjutant was immediately shot in the neck and collapsed back into the vehicle.

"Damn it! From now on, every vehicle must be equipped with a radio!" The regimental commander in the command vehicle watched as his adjutant's carotid artery gushed blood, spraying it all over the vehicle, and he soon stopped breathing. He was filled with rage and deeply resented the capitalists in the rear who had cut corners.

I heard that all the Demacians' armored vehicles and tanks are equipped with radios. How come the electrical companies in Burkina Faso don't have the integrity and cost-cutting spirit of Siemens? They're even taking advantage of the war to make a fortune by selling radios at such high prices!

But he had no time to grieve for his adjutant; he had to immediately command all 30-plus armored vehicles to form a cluster and rush forward to attack the enemy's next makeshift trench, which was only 700-800 meters ahead.

He channeled all the anger he felt from his adjutant's death into his immediate target.

……

"Those armored vehicles in the valley were even more impatient than I expected. They didn't even know the basic common sense that Commander Lelouch had repeatedly told me in private: 'When using armored forces, pay attention to infantry-tank coordination; when fighting against enemy armored forces, pay attention to disrupting the enemy's infantry-tank coordination.'"

In a concealed observation post on the eastern slope of Parnassus, Lieutenant Colonel Model was observing the attack of the Burkina Faso armored vehicle group using a periscope-like artillery telescope.

Seeing that the enemy infantry was hampered by clearing the first few trenches while the armored vehicles continued to advance, he finally couldn't help but smile.

"Was this also part of your plan? You knew they would lose their infantry-tank coordination? That's terrifying! If you could really foresee this, then you're at least half as cunning as Commander Lelouch." Another mountain infantry lieutenant colonel, Dieter, couldn't help but retort. Dieter had come to Greece with Model, but he could only temporarily serve as the deputy regimental commander.

Both of them currently hold the rank of lieutenant colonel. However, Model's lieutenant colonel rank is nearing completion, just one step away from promotion, while Dieter has only recently been promoted to lieutenant colonel.

In the past two days of operations, Model was responsible for overall coordination, while Dieter focused on the specific tactical command of the battle for Mount Parnassus; the division of labor was very clear.

At this moment, while Dieter was still meticulously directing his troops on how to cleverly defend the mountaintop, Model was keeping a close eye on the battle in the valley.

Model threw the roll of paper in his hand to the ground and stomped it out: "Of course I couldn't have foreseen so much, nor could I have imagined that the enemy would be so stupid as to abandon infantry-tank coordination."

However, the trenches within 3 kilometers of the front line were deliberately dug to be continuous without any blind spots, while the trenches in the later sections were left with gaps on both sides of the railway embankment to form dead ends. That was a strategy I had specially designed.

With such a layout, the enemy could easily conclude that "our defense was rushed, and we didn't have time to break through every section of the trench that was the hardest and most difficult to dig through the railway embankment, so we only broke through the outermost few layers."

Or perhaps they think that we simply can't bear to damage the railway too much, and that damaging it enough is sufficient.

Regardless of their speculations about our reasons, once they break through the outermost few kilometers, they will face the predicament of their artillery being unable to keep up and bombard our deeper positions. And since they have armored vehicles at their disposal, and the subsequent lines of defense appear to be breachable by armored vehicles, they will decisively use armored vehicles to charge.

The anti-tank weapons that Commander Lelouch hastily taught us to use are powerful enough; their biggest problem is their short range. If we don't allow the enemy to advance isolated and risk separating their infantry and tanks, how will our warriors using throwing weapons ever have a chance to fight?

Anyone with even a little military experience from later generations knows that anti-tank weapons like the Panzerfaust, Molotov cocktails, sticky bombs, and plate-mounted spiking mines are powerful enough, but their weakness lies in their range.

These things can hit targets at a range of over 100 meters, with some only reaching 20 or 30 meters, and some can even be used for close-quarters combat.

If the machine guns on armored vehicles have flexible firing angles, or if they are closely followed and protected by a large group of infantry, these weapons will have no chance to fire, or even if they do fire, they will be killed immediately, resulting in mutual destruction.

But now, the Burkina Faso army had only recently launched a large-scale assault using armored vehicles, and they lacked experience in anti-tank warfare, thus falling into Model's trap.

A group of armored vehicles drove swaggeringly toward the trenches where the Greek coalition forces were stationed.

There were originally several Demania MG15 light machine gun teams firing here, but as the enemy vehicles approached, many of the machine gun teams fell silent and fled to other locations.

Further back in a trench, some MG15 light machine guns began firing in succession, drawing the attention of the armored vehicles and rattling the steel plates, while also suppressing the observation windows of the Bujang armored vehicles.

The Burkina MG15 light machine gun teams responded with their own machine guns, while the Burkina MG15 light machine gun teams moved flexibly. Wherever the Burkina MG15s were aimed, the German machine guns would stop firing, lie down, and crawl to move, allowing other untargeted comrades to fire and draw the fire away.

In this intense exchange of fire, although not a single armored vehicle was penetrated, seemingly a waste of bullets, it completely drew the attention of the Burkina Faso armored troops. The Burkina Faso tanks couldn't even get a view through the observation windows, and some observers were even killed by stray bullets that flew in through the windows.

The first few armored vehicles of the Burkina Faso army have already approached within 50 meters of the trench.

Just then, several carefully selected, very strong Demanian grenadiers bravely threw out 2-kilogram sticky bombs. After flying a distance of thirty or forty meters, two of the bombs missed their mark, but one of them hit the front side steel plate of an armored vehicle.

To ensure sufficient explosive charge, this sticky bomb is heavier than a regular hand grenade. Its 2-kilogram weight means it can't be thrown as far as a regular hand grenade.

For those who don't have a good grasp of this number, you can compare it to the fact that a standard shot put weighs 4 kilograms, and the Olympic record for shot put in later generations is only 23 meters, and it would have been even closer in 1915.

The sticky bomb must have landed at an insufficient speed and angle, grazing the side skirt of the armor and shattering the inner bladder, but the outer shell failed to stick, and it rolled to the ground before exploding.

Fortunately, this type of sticky bomb has excellent shock absorption; even if it doesn't stick, it will only slide off and won't bounce away. So it exploded near the wheel of the armored vehicle, directly destroying one of the wheels.

The armored vehicle was immediately blown off course, and the soldiers inside were thrown about.

"What happened?" Captain Bu asked anxiously.

"The Demacians must be desperate and throwing grenades at us!"

"Those bastards are really lucky. Could it be that a grenade went under the car and hit the wheel?"

It's not uncommon for hand grenades to damage wheels or the transmission structure under a vehicle.

Two months earlier, on the battlefield of the Nogay Steppe on the south bank of the Dnieper River, the Lusha Cossack Cavalry Division had fearlessly charged through the enemy's armored reconnaissance company with cavalry and grenades, and with this tactic, they actually destroyed the wheels and transmissions of several German armored vehicles.

The first reaction of the Burj Khalifa's armored troops was naturally the same.

Upon hearing that it was an accident, the tank commander did not pay much attention to it, nor did he give any additional warnings to friendly forces. He simply instructed the machine gunner on the vehicle to continue firing to provide covering fire for his comrades and to make the most of his remaining strength.

The other tanks ignored the broken-down vehicle and continued advancing.

……

"Damn it! How did we only damage one wheel! Let it go a few meters further before dropping it! Try to make the trajectory as flat as possible, don't throw it too high, or if you're so good at throwing high-angle shells, throw it on the roof of the vehicle, not on the side armor!"

A second lieutenant platoon leader of a Demacian grenadier squad, seeing that his men's first grenade attack was not going well, quickly gave them tactical instructions.

Fortunately, the enemy had never seen this weapon before and had no additional tactical countermeasures, giving him a chance to throw a few more rounds.

Soon, more sticky bombs and large glass bottles filled with thickened explosive mixtures began flying toward the armored vehicles closest to the trench.

With practical throwing experience this time, and at a closer distance, everyone threw with increasing accuracy.

With a series of cracking sounds, the glass liner and glass bottle shattered, and clumps of nitroglycerin smeared onto the armor surface. Then, a violent explosion occurred, instantly knocking down three armored vehicles that were charging at the front: two on the left and one on the right.

All the armored vehicles appeared to be in good condition, but the explosives detonated close to the outer armor wall, shattering the inner armor wall and sending out many high-speed flying fragments that killed the crew inside.

This is a typical principle of armor-piercing projectiles.

"What's going on? Could the enemy have used field artillery for direct fire? We haven't spotted any field artillery ahead!"

"Damn it! They're attacking again! It's confirmed to be enemy grenadiers! Counterattack!"

As the Demacian grenadiers unleashed their third volley of bombs, the Burghers' armored forces finally snapped out of their initial panic at the unknown and identified the source of the attack.

In that short period of time, a total of five armored vehicles were destroyed.

The Bu Jun armored assault regiment was the apple of the entire army's eye, with only about 30 Rolls-Royce armored vehicles. Five of them were destroyed in just a few encounters. How could they possibly fight back?
"Charge over there and fight those grenadiers! Sweep them to death!"

"No! They're using projectile weapons that can't go far. The key now is to create distance and retreat out of their range!"

Lacking unified command on the spot, the first few armored vehicles chose to continue their charge, reaching the edge of the trench, turning around and unleashing a fierce barrage of fire on the grenadiers inside.

These valiant tanks did indeed take advantage of the gaps in the grenadiers' attacks to rush through, and indeed killed dozens of brave grenadiers, but they were also blown to smithereens by the bombs that were being dropped at extremely close range.

The remaining armored vehicles chose to retreat and create distance.

In the chaos, the colonel commanding the armored regiment realized the situation was dire. Disregarding his own safety, he climbed out of the command vehicle and shouted orders for all armored vehicles to temporarily retreat and maintain distance from any suspected enemy bunkers.

But at that moment, several more MG15 light machine gun bullets swept in from both sides, blowing the head off the Bu army armored colonel. His head was smashed to pieces, and he died on the spot, just like the adjutant from before.

The regimental commander was killed on the spot, and the remaining armored vehicles panicked and had no choice but to retreat and create distance.

Model seized the opportunity to launch a counterattack and regained control of the defensive line.

(End of this chapter)