Imperial Elite

Chapter 143 The Last Blow from Gaul

This wasn't Winston's first time in Paris, but it was definitely his most memorable one.

Less than two weeks have passed since the Teutonic declaration of war, and the main forces of Gaul and Buntania are almost completely surrounded in the Low Countries.

When Winston asked the Gauls if they had any solutions, the Gauls replied that they had none at the moment.

Okay, if there's no other way, then there's no other way. So, is there a reserve force that can fill the gaps on the front lines and stabilize the situation?

The Gauls' answer remained the same: no, we don't have a single reserve team now.

Upon hearing the Gauls' words, Winston was momentarily at a loss for words.

According to the intelligence he received before setting off that morning, the Teutonic vanguard was only twenty kilometers away from the Strait of Bonitania. If nothing unexpected happened, the Teutonic vanguard would have already reached the Strait of Bonitania while he was talking to the Gauls.

This closed the door of hope behind the main Gallic force and the Bonitania expeditionary force.

It's too late now.

Just as Winston was shocked and desperate about the situation, an idea suddenly flashed through his mind: Joe, he had to go find Joe, Joe always had a way.

Just as this thought flashed through Winston's mind, the Gaul spoke up, seeing Winston's shocked expression.

Although they said there was no other way, they weren't entirely without a plan.

In this desperate moment, the Gauls had one last, albeit desperate, solution.

After Army Group A bypassed the 7th Panzer Division, Jean-Pierre commanded the 7th Panzer Division to launch an attack to the south. The entire division, like a millstone, slowly and relentlessly assaulted the Teutonic defenses.

Among the surrounded troops, those armored divisions still retained a large number of super-heavy tanks.

The Teutonic tanks were difficult to destroy head-on; most of their losses came from air raids and barrages from Teutonic large-caliber artillery.

Therefore, the Gauls wanted to launch a surprise attack before the besieged troops ran out of ammunition and supplies, allowing the besieged armored divisions to launch an attack to the south.

Meanwhile, the Gauls' last reserve force, which they had even emptied of the Paris garrison and cobbled together with the last mobile forces they could muster in the fortress area, the 8th Armored Division, which had also defended Paris in the last major war, had arrived in the north.

The Gauls planned a massive armored assault to break through the gate closed by Army Group A.

If the plan succeeds, not only will the northern troops be able to escape.

At the same time, they will be able to encircle the two most elite armored divisions of Army Group A by the sea, which will completely reverse the situation.

Although launching a relief assault with a hastily assembled armored division sounds like a small force, in reality, it is indeed not much.

As the Teutons marched madly toward the sea, the Gauls' already stretched forces were stretched thinner and thinner in order to maintain the front line.

The good news is that the Teutonic forces have also been significantly weakened by this offensive.

Furthermore, since the Teutons were flanked by Gauls on both the north and south, their single-line pressure was theoretically even greater than that of the Gauls.

Those who frequently command armored assaults know that when mechanized units undertake long-distance raids, even the most elite units will suffer significant non-combat casualties. Inevitable mechanical failures will greatly reduce the number of vehicles they can deploy.

In addition, it was during the period of frost heave, a time when even a medieval lord would not choose to wage war. The muddy ground must have caused considerable trouble for the Teutonic armored forces.

Therefore, launching a counterattack at this time is the most likely to succeed.

The only problem was that for most of the time after the war began, the Teutons ruled the Teutonic skies.

Even just one day before Winston arrived, the Teutonic Air Force had organized a thousand-plane bombing raid on Paris.

It caused considerable damage to the aircraft manufacturing plant in Paris.

Therefore, if the army wanted to break out, they could not allow the Teutonic Air Force to freely defecate and urinate on the army's breakout forces.

We must provide an unbreakable air defense umbrella for ground troops.

The implication is that Winston, you don't want the entire Bonitania Expeditionary Force to be wiped out, do you...?

The Gauls wanted Winston to send more air squadrons to Gaul.

This was a difficult choice for Winston.

In the previous phase of support, Buntania had already deployed a significant number of air squadrons to Gaul, which had now suffered heavy losses under intense combat conditions.

Although the Brittany Air Force still had some fighter units at this time, and even some of the newest and most advanced fighter units transferred from neighboring countries, these were Winston's last reserves besides the Royal Navy.

If these troops were deployed to Gaul, and something went wrong, Winston would face the same predicament as the Gauls today: he would be out of troops.

Thinking of this, Winston suddenly remembered something else. He leaned over to his secretary and asked, "Any progress with Polande? Haven't we been able to contact Old Joe yet?"

Meanwhile, on the riverbank in Flanders, Andrei was lying in a bush like a hamster, gnawing on a piece of bread that had hardened enough to be used as a hammer.

As someone who received training at Wagner's training camp, he was a tough guy who could walk around the Arctic Circle with a hunting rifle when he was six years old.

After joining the Bunitania army, thanks to his outstanding performance in recruit training, the Bunitania army was able to have a rare moment of peace and normalcy.

With your energy, you should serve in the Imperial Guard. You should join the Imperial Guard Armored Training Regiment!
Andrei was naturally willing to serve in the Guards Panzer Training Regiment.

After all, the Guards Armored Training Regiment is a legendary unit built by his own father. It is known as the most powerful armored unit on Earth. Serving in this unit makes Andrei, who wants to follow in his father's footsteps, feel that he should also be able to write a legendary experience like his father.

Then, after Andrei joined the Guards Panzer Training Corps, he discovered that something seemed a little off.

Putting aside the mess of heavy equipment in the Guards Armored Training Regiment, how could the infantry unit coordinate with tank operations? A squad could only muster two light machine guns, and they didn't even have submachine guns.

Moreover, the tactics felt very strange.

Although Wagner's armored forces had long been disbanded by the time Andrei could remember.

The remaining tanks were mostly disarmed and used as props for filming.

However, having been exposed to it from a young age, even when playing chess, Andrei felt that tank tactics shouldn't be like this. But out of respect for his father's old unit, Andrei felt that perhaps his thinking was flawed.

After all, the Guards Armored Training Regiment is the most capable armored force on Earth, so it would definitely be incredibly useful and powerful in battle.

Moreover, what can a corporal in a mechanized infantry battalion like myself say if I feel there's a problem?

However, when the Teutonic tanks emerged from the woods, Andrei discovered that the situation was not at all what he had expected.

Although the comrades in the group acted very bravely, that was basically all that remained of them.

If it weren't for his past training at Wagner's training camp, which allowed Andrei to immediately gather his remaining men and find a way to escape the battlefield after discovering the collapse of his troops, he wouldn't have been able to escape.

Andrei was certain that he would die in that forest.

Even after escaping that hellish battlefield, Andrei was not safe.

After retreating a short distance, a Gaul with a strange accent stopped them, saying that their retreat was over and that for victory they had to join their ranks. From now on, they were members of the 7th Special Armored Division!

However, after joining the Gauls' army, Andrei finally began to understand why Old Joe, as the most notorious villain in Bonitania and the most dangerous man in the Old World, never allowed his children to enter the Wagner, even though he possessed it.

Because real war is completely different from what he saw in movies.

If the defeat of the Guards Panzer Training Regiment in the forest was a swift, one-shot kill, ending before Andrei could even react, then...

So, the battles after joining the 7th Special Armored Division were basically like being slowly sliced ​​to death.

From the second day after joining the 7th Special Armored Division, Andrei continued to interact amicably with the Teutons, doing things like digging traps and launching sneak attacks.

Then, naturally, the Teutons began to retaliate in various ways.

Soon, the soldiers of the Guards Panzer Training Regiment who had survived the escape from the woods with Andrei disappeared into the Gallic plains like tears in the rain.

At first, Andrei remembered the private first class from East London who had two children and died from the shelling of a Teutonic tank.

Then, as more and more people died, Andrei began to gradually lose track of how and when they died.

Only when the daily battles ended and the survivors counted off, with each increasingly smaller number letting Andrei know that he had lost a few more friends that day.

And corresponding to fewer and fewer friends is increasingly worse food.

When Andrei was dragged into the 7th Special Armored Division, he was still able to eat hot stew.

Although it certainly can't compare to the taste of home cooking, being able to enjoy hot stew and freshly baked bread is a pleasure I wouldn't trade for a plate of foie gras.

However, as time went on, the quality of food that Andrei received each day began to decline steadily, until now they were given a basket of cold, hard, dry bread with dried bloodstains on it.

Even as a mere soldier on the front lines, Andrei could sense that the battle situation seemed to be gradually deteriorating.

This puzzled Andrei somewhat, since, according to history books, movies, and even his mother's words, they had always been on the battlefield, winning one victory after another.

It was as if victory were as easy as catching a fox in the snow.

Perhaps it was because of the reputation of the Guards Panzer Training Regiment, or perhaps it was because the squad commanded by Andrei had performed too well these past few days.

Soon, as Andrei finished eating the dry bread in his hand, the orders from above finally made him understand the current situation.

Almost all of Gaul's elite field troops and the main force of the Bunitania expeditionary force were surrounded in a small, narrow strip of land.

However, the Teutons, after venturing into the sea, also became very vulnerable.

Therefore, if a successful counterattack is launched now, it will be able to break through the center and encircle the armored forces of Army Group A of Teutonic Army, thereby reversing the course of the war.

The 7th Panzer Division will be the spearhead of this counterattack, and the legendary commander Jean-Pierre has entrusted the task of clearing the way for the main force to Andrei's squad.

Their mission was to clear out the Teutonic garrison on the opposite bank after crossing the river tonight, and then work with the engineering corps to build a pontoon bridge.

If the Teutons spotted them, they held their bridgehead until the armored forces arrived.

Such a simple task should be easy to solve.

Of course, the division commander also considered the possibility of unexpected situations, so he reinforced his guards to cooperate with you in the operation. You can rest assured.

Later that day, Andrei saw the reinforced guards.

Upon first meeting them, Andrei recognized a familiar scent from these men, who were no longer young and whose hair was even turning gray. It was the scent that Andrei had only ever smelled on the veterans of Wagner, the unique scent of those battle-hardened soldiers.

With the arrival of these veterans, Andrei soon discovered that although the mission stated he was in the main force, in practice he had become a subordinate.

If it were the old Andrei, he might have said something about this, but now Andrei simply silently followed the instructions of the veterans.

As it approached 2 a.m., the first batch of troops began to cross the river in kayaks.

The remaining troops also began preparations on the riverbank.

In the south, Charles anxiously looked at the map in front of him in his command vehicle, planning the route of his troops one last time.

The success or failure of this operation will directly affect the development of the subsequent battle, and at this time, Charles only has a hastily assembled armored division, which even uses the stockpile from the last major war.

This left Charles feeling extremely uncertain.

Meanwhile, the generals in Paris were holding their breath, waiting for news from the front lines.

Just then, the phone rang. The general who was closest to the phone answered it and heard news that struck him like a bolt from the blue.

Three minutes ago, Italy announced its support for the Iron Pact, declaring war on Gaul.

(End of this chapter)