Starting with the smashing of Dunkirk

Chapter 205 The arrow is at its last gasp; it's my turn.
The Britannian army had no idea that the consequences of losing combined arms transport would be so severe.
In addition, the colonel commander of the armored regiment was killed by machine gun fire in the melee because he was eager to command his troops, and the troops inevitably fell into a brief period of chaos during the retreat.

Nearly thirty armored vehicles made a hasty retreat, attempting to create distance first.

But the Demacian army on the other side had no intention of letting them go, and Model immediately used radio to direct the front-line troops to launch a counterattack.

Especially in the first trench that was just breached by the Burgh army using a combined infantry and tank strategy, the German-Hillary forces were still fighting; they had not yet been completely wiped out by the Burgh infantry.

As the German-German coalition launched its counter-offensive, these troops unleashed astonishing fighting power with overwhelming momentum, using MP15 submachine guns and a large number of grenades to fight their way back along the trenches.

The opposing Burmese infantry was actually several times larger and no less powerful. However, the setbacks suffered by their armored units at the front had greatly shaken the morale of these Burmese infantrymen who were unaware of the situation.

Many Burma soldiers, seeing the armored vehicle formation retreating, assumed their side had been defeated.

Once their morale was broken, thousands of Burgundian soldiers were actually overwhelmed by only a few hundred German soldiers and a little over a thousand Greek soldiers.

Large numbers of the Bu army soldiers were like headless flies, only thinking about retreating and fleeing, and had no will to fight anymore.

Instead, during their panicked escape, they were mowed down by MG15 light machine guns sweeping from behind, dying needlessly in the chaos.

When the German-Hillary forces recaptured the trench, the Burgundian armored vehicle group had not yet withdrawn from the trench they had breached just twenty minutes earlier.

Under the improvisational command of the frontline officers, the Demacian grenadiers immediately rushed to the end of the trench, near the railway, carrying large quantities of sticky bombs and large glass bottles filled with thickening explosives.

The hard roadbed on both sides of the railway, which is not dug with trenches, is less than 100 meters wide. Therefore, whether you throw sticky bombs or Molotov cocktails from the end of the trench on the northeast or southwest side of the railway, you can always hit one side.

The width of this pocket position was carefully designed by Model, not because "the hard embankments on both sides of the railway were just that wide and couldn't be dug."

The Britannians, however, didn't understand when they rushed in and misunderstood the situation. Only now, having completely fallen into the trap, did they realize how meticulously the enemy's tactics were designed.

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh~" Sticky bombs flew out of the trenches and flew toward the armored vehicle group that had become separated from the infantry and tanks and was fleeing in panic.

Model's first wave of attacks only took away 8 armored vehicles, but the situation is completely different in the second wave.

The first wave of attack had to be launched hastily just as the Burkina Faso armored vehicle group approached the dangerous trenches. After several Burkina Faso armored vehicles were stunned and destroyed, they immediately began to retreat and create distance.

But the second wave is now a trap that has already been set up. The military vehicle group has no choice but to bite the bullet and break through, and can no longer retreat and widen the distance if they are injured.

The dense barrage of bombs quickly resulted in far greater damage than the first wave, with more than a dozen armored vehicles destroyed under the intense barrage.

"Damn it! I should have just charged straight through the valley instead of retreating!"

"Those despicable Demacians! They're so vicious, they even ambushed grenadiers on the retreat route!"

Countless military vehicle crews cursed the enemy with the most vicious language, but they could not stop clumps of explosives from sticking to the vehicle's armor. The subsequent explosions shattered the interior walls of the vehicles, sending countless shrapnel flying through the cabins and piercing through human bodies.

Many armored soldiers lay dead inside the vehicle, covered in blood and gore, and never spoke again.

In the end, less than 10 armored vehicles managed to break through the encirclement amidst the chaos.

Model did not go too far. Seeing the retreating troops in the distance through the artillery telescope, he quickly used the radio to instruct the troops at the front not to linger and to regroup.

The day's battle ended in this chaotic state.

Upon hearing the news that the armored vehicle unit had been severely damaged, General Allenby dared not continue the attack on the mountain and immediately ordered the troops attacking the mountain to withdraw.

"Damn it! Who is the Demacian commander on the other side? I have a familiar yet ominous feeling about this. The tenacity of their defense is terrifying! How can someone let a cluster of armored vehicles into their position and then turn the tables and attack back? I need to know who the commander on the other side is!"

"I heard they only sent some mid-level officers as advisors? The Empire has blockaded sea routes and northern Greece; it's impossible for the enemy to send a large force into Greece."

General Allenby was driven to madness by waves of impotent rage. There was no one to blame but himself, so he blamed his own intelligence department for its inadequate work, for underestimating the enemy and failing to ascertain their situation.

His accusations, after being sent back to the rear via radio, were taken seriously. Later, someone actually called him back, revealing the identity of the German-German coalition advisor that the Burkina Faso intelligence department had discovered.

Upon receiving the telegram, General Allenby's adjutant immediately had it translated and presented to the general.

"Commander, you guessed right. The other side's advisor is indeed not a high-ranking general, but just a lieutenant colonel... However, our army should be quite familiar with him."

This man was named Walter Model. He had parachuted into the Malorleban battery in Dunkirk the previous year and held out until he repelled the Royal Navy's Channel Fleet that came to Dunkirk's aid.

For the next six months, he was sent to the Isonzo River front as a mountain warfare advisor, where he held off hundreds of thousands of Italian troops for more than six months. "I heard he was parachuted here after our army invaded Greece..."

General Allenby was jolted awake, as if recalling some unpleasant memory, and his whole body tensed up.

"So it was him... just a lieutenant colonel. It's really not easy for Demanians to get promoted. Even with such bloody battles and meritorious service, he's only a lieutenant colonel. If Model is such a talented general, how terrifying must Lelouch, who organized and planned the Dunkirk airdrop, be? Marshal French was captured by that guy..."

……

Meanwhile, that same evening, at the German-German allied defense command post on Mount Parnassus.

Lieutenant Colonel Model has also received the report on the battle results from the blocking and defending force in the valley.

Today's battle saw a staggering 23 enemy armored vehicles destroyed! It was an epic victory. Eight of them were destroyed during the first wave of the Burmese troops' charge, and another 15 were destroyed during their retreat when they were intercepted.

After all, the Demacians had been using armored vehicles and tanks in combat for almost three months, and in their most successful single battle, the Russa destroyed a dozen or so armored vehicles. The Russa, on the other hand, had to pay the price of at least several thousand Cossack cavalrymen to achieve those small victories.

Of course, the German-German coalition forces also suffered heavy casualties today. Nearly a hundred grenadier warriors were killed by machine gun fire when they rushed up to throw grenades. On average, it took four to five grenadiers to destroy one armored vehicle.

Anti-tank weapons with a maximum range of only 50 meters are inherently dangerous to use. The power is sufficient, but lives must be sacrificed to get close enough to deliver the bomb.

This is under the condition that an ambush position was pre-planned, greatly reducing the engagement distance. Without a pre-planned position, even if dozens of grenadiers were killed, they might not be able to get close to an armored vehicle.

What surprised Model the most was that when the troops guarding the valley were cleaning up the battlefield, they opened the hatches of the bombed armored vehicles and found that there were still 6 vehicles that could be driven perfectly!

In other words, those vehicles were only hit by sticky bombs based on the principle of armor-piercing projectiles, and the fragments of the inner armor shattered and killed the crew members, but the vehicle structure and power system remained intact.

If you replace a few people with driving skills, they can still get the car moving.

Of the other 17 damaged cars, some were in relatively good condition, with only the operating system, steering wheel, and dashboard damaged, but the engine was intact and could be driven after minor repairs.

In the end, Model selected some soldiers who could drive and had them learn to drive the six good vehicles away. He also used tow ropes to tow back six vehicles that were worth repairing, recovering a total of 12 vehicles. Only the last 11 completely destroyed vehicles were left at the scene as wreckage. Even with those 11 completely destroyed vehicles, Model had the 22 water-cooled Vickers heavy machine guns on board removed, and the machine gun ammunition packed up and taken away to serve as supplementary firepower for the defending positions.

They even siphoned the remaining gasoline from the abandoned car's fuel tank into oil drums and transported it away, leaving it as clean as a bison skeleton after a vulture had gnawed on it.

After completing all this, Model did not forget to continue repairing the forward trenches in the isthmus valley, digging them all up, and organizing a deeper defense further back. In this way, they could delay the inevitable until dawn tomorrow.

……

The details of the battles that took place in the Isthmus of Delphi in the following days are too numerous to recount.

In short, under Model's meticulous and tenacious defense, General Allenby of the Burgundy army suffered repeated setbacks, and many of his previously planned offensive tactics were thwarted.

The armored vehicle regiment lost 70% of its strength and was severely weakened, making it impossible for them to launch a breakthrough.

Allenby originally planned to definitely reach Athens by December 10th, but by the 10th, he hadn't even broken through the Isthmus of Delphi.

On the 10th, Allenby, in desperation, tried to gamble again.

It is unknown where he obtained a full six genuine "Little Willie" tanks, which, together with his remaining ten armored vehicles, launched another armored assault.

Perhaps he felt that the previous failures were because his side only had armored vehicles and no tanks, had poor obstacle-crossing capabilities and limited attack routes, so he was targeted by the enemy's vicious scheme.

When the Greek campaign began at the end of November, the Burkina Faso army only delivered five prototype "Little Willy" tanks. However, as the war had been going on for almost half a month, factories in Burkina Faso were working overtime to continuously test-produce new prototypes based on feedback from the front.

Basically, 5 or 10 vehicles constitute a batch, with each batch undergoing minor optimizations and iterations. Moreover, several vehicles were built and then transported by ship via the Mediterranean to the Greek front, effectively deploying the entire empire's armored production capacity to the battlefield in southeastern Europe.

So as of December 10, the Burkina Faso army had only about 20 tanks in the entire Greek-Ottoman theater, which was enough to spare 6 precious tanks for the Greek side, Allenby, to try again.

Unfortunately, Allenby thought that the anti-tank tactics Model used that day were all he had to offer, and that his opponent must have run out of tricks.

In reality, Model's tactical repertoire, honed through learning armored defense tactics from Lelouch and occasional guidance from Lelouch's superior through letters, far surpasses the depth of Eren's current understanding.

So Allenby's final, unwilling attempt only resulted in further losses, with six valuable tanks and five armored vehicles being destroyed in the valley, serving as a lesson learned for the early trial and error of armored vehicle use by the Burma Army.

All attempts at various technologies failed, leaving the army with no choice but to rely on sheer numbers, advance artillery positions by kilometers each day, and storm each and every fortified position.

The Britannians ultimately possessed a continuous numerical advantage, and by sheer numbers, they could eventually overwhelm them, albeit with more lives and time wasted.

Of the three thousand Demacian soldiers under Model's command, only a little over a thousand remained. Not all of the remaining thousand-plus were killed in battle, but at least several hundred were seriously wounded and lying in rear hospitals.

The casualties of the two Greek divisions also exceeded 20-30%. The morale of the Greeks was really low. They couldn't withstand 20% losses and began to waver.

Most critically, according to aerial reconnaissance by the Demanian army, after December 10th, the Bretonnians, having failed to capture the Delphi Isthmus after a prolonged siege, actually came up with the idea of ​​opening a second front, seemingly intending to land again at the port of Piraeus near Athens and take the city of Athens directly.

With his forces severely stretched thin, Model was forced to personally return to defend Piraeus, taking with him a portion of the troops from the Isthmus of Delphi. Finally, on December 15th, he repelled the enemy's landing attempt at Piraeus, annihilating thousands of enemy soldiers on the beachhead.

However, Model's preoccupation with multiple tasks led to the eventual breach of the Isthmus of Delphi on December 16th. Lieutenant Colonel Edward Dieter, who remained to defend Mount Parnassus, did his utmost, but Mount Parnassus ultimately fell to the Burgh forces.

Dieter's ability to retreat in an orderly manner, continuing to fight and advance southeastward without immediately collapsing the front line, was already a testament to his remarkable tenacity.

"It's alright. It's already quite good that we've made it this far. We've held out for at least ten days longer than expected, and the enemy's forces are ten times our size, plus they're attacking us from both the land and sea."

After learning of the fall of the isthmus and Parnassus via radio, Model did not blame Dieter, but instead telegraphed back instructing him to retreat in an orderly manner to the southeast.

After the army crossed the Isthmus of Delphi, there were no defensible terrains along the road to Athens. Defending Athens to the death would be pointless and would only lead to the destruction of this ancient city with thousands of years of history.

On the 17th, Model consulted with King Constantine of Greece and his sister, the Queen, requesting that the royal family and the General Staff be moved to the mountains of the Peloponnese.

King Constantine did not immediately agree, but privately asked a question: "Will Marshal Rupprecht send reinforcements to our aid in time? Why are they still fighting a bitter battle with the Lussa army in Kiev?"

"Didn't I hear they'd already surrounded the Lussars several days ago? I only mustered the courage to resist the Britannian army because I believed Emperor William's promise to send troops to our aid immediately! You wouldn't betray your allies, would you?"

Model wasn't authorized to say much, and besides, there were many things he didn't know himself. He could only bite the bullet and answer, "Your Majesty, please rest assured, His Majesty William will not abandon his own sister."

The Empire's army will definitely come to our aid, but currently we lack the transport capacity to directly transport troops to Greece by sea. We can only slowly advance from the north. The Britannians' naval power in the Mediterranean is too strong, and we have no way to deal with them. If we only compare land forces, even if the Britannians had ten times the strength, they might not be our match!

"I have already held off the army of over 100,000 from the Kingdom of Burma with my 6,000 men, plus your 20,000 to 30,000. As long as Your Majesty retreats to Mount Cylindrica on the Peloponnese, I guarantee we can hold out until the end of the year!"

King Constantine had already gone this far and had no choice but to grit his teeth and continue to trust Model.

The royal family and the General Staff immediately began their evacuation, crossing the Isthmus of Corinth westward to the Peloponnese peninsula that same day, and reaching Mount Kirlini on December 18.

The councilors had nothing to move, as many of them were henchmen of the rebel Venizelos and were waiting to stay in Athens to welcome him into the city.

After the orderly withdrawal of the Greek forces, the troops on the Delphi front entered the Attica region on December 18 and officially entered the undefended city of Athens on the 19th.

The rebel leader and former Prime Minister Venizelos, as the "tyrant overthrower," sat proudly in a Rolls-Royce with a sunroof sponsored by the people of Burkina Faso. He leaned out of the sunroof and walked along Athena Avenue into Athens, waving to the people on both sides of the avenue.

"The people will surely defeat the tyrant!" Venizelos shouted, waving his hand, while the crowd gathered around him, organized to cheer him on, joined in the chant.

Venizelos was cleaning up the mess in Athens, but the Peloponnesian army had no time to deal with him. The next day, they continued their westward march, intending to enter the Peloponnese peninsula.

Unfortunately, Model's defense was very resolute, and this time he blocked the Burkina Faso army for at least several days in the narrow Corinthian Isthmus, killing and wounding a lot of Burkina Faso's manpower.

From the 20th to the 23rd, they held off over 3 Burmese troops for three days. Only then, exhausted, did they retreat to the Kirini Mountains.

Model's actions tied down hundreds of thousands of Burkina Faso troops and wiped out more than half of the Burkina Faso armored forces that were originally deployed to the Greek-Ottoman front. This weakened the Burkina Faso's offensive in Bulgaria and the Ottoman front, and it failed to reach the outskirts of Istanbul by Christmas.

Finally, on Christmas Eve, the Burma army only reached a small town called Silivri on the eastern front. It was still more than 30 kilometers away from Istanbul and more than 70 kilometers away from the Bosphorus Strait (the European part of Istanbul is 40 kilometers wide because it was the Ottoman capital and a metropolis with thousands of years of history).

Moreover, Model's actions greatly attracted the attention and reconnaissance capabilities of the Burkina Faso army.

Meanwhile, the Demacians were cautiously amassing troops on the northern front, preparing for a major counter-offensive on Christmas Eve.

The deeper Bu Jun gets mired in the quagmire, the harder it will be for him to extricate himself.

(End of this chapter)