Imperial Elite

Chapter 148 Germania Special Check-in Operation
1939 was not a good year for Gaul, as the Teutons launched an attack on them in that year.

Although they had partially guessed the way the Teutons attacked them—they attacked them from the Low Countries, just like in the last war—they had guessed the beginning but not what happened next.

With Army Group A suddenly emerging from the forest, the Gallic and Buntanian expeditionary forces were encircled in the largest dumpling formation in history, with a full million men surrounded on the border between the Low Countries and Gaul.

In order to rescue this main force of Gaul, the Gauls were forced to launch a breakout operation, which quickly developed into the largest tank battle in history.

At this moment, the Gallic armored forces and air force also began to fight desperately. Although their breakout attempt on the first day was thwarted, they managed to break through under the cover of darkness at night.

The last batch of tanks that were still operational had arrived at the front line. As dawn broke, the Gallic air force took the lead and bombed the Teutonic positions.

Then, under the cover of artillery and infantry, the Gallic tank forces launched their final assault.

Just like the cuirassiers who charged into battle under the Emperor's command, the Gallic tanks also stepped onto the battlefield with an unwavering spirit, just as their predecessors had done a century ago.

The power of a super-heavy tank launching a mass charge is astonishing.

Under the cover of the air force, the two Gallic armored forces came within five kilometers of each other at their closest point.

This distance was so great that the two Gallic armored units could even hear each other firing at the Teutons.

It seemed that if they put in just a little more effort, they would be able to break through the Teutonic encirclement.

But just when they were only five kilometers apart, the Teutonic battle reserve, Holz, led four armored divisions of the Armed Guard to the battlefield, bringing the battle to a complete end.

Four fully equipped and elite armored divisions completely crushed the last resistance of the Gauls and shut the door of hope for the Gallic army.

As the commander of the reinforcements, Charles was practically forced off the battlefield by his staff, who practically pinned him to a chair in the command vehicle.

Jean-Pierre, who was fighting in the tank, was not so lucky. A bomb dropped by a dive bomber killed most of the crew in his tank and knocked him unconscious.

When he woke up, Jean-Pierre found good news and bad news. The bad news was that he had been put into a Teutonic prisoner-of-war camp, and for him, the war was temporarily over.

The good news is that although the bomb knocked him unconscious, Jean-Pierre was unharmed!
With the complete failure of the breakout attempt, the Gallic government was deeply shaken, and the shadow of Sedan once again loomed over the hearts of every Gaul.

Why did we fail? The Gauls demanded an answer from the government.

Faced with this strong public sentiment, the Gallic government was completely helpless.

Because if possible, the Gallic government did not want the breakout operation to fail; not only did it not want the breakout operation to fail, it even hoped that the troops could advance all the way to Germania.

However, the real world will not change because of their ideas, especially as the breakout attempt failed and public sentiment began to surge, with both the left and the right preparing to join forces.

The Gallic government made the same choice as during the last war: when in doubt, they changed commanders. Now, the Battle of Paris is almost upon them.

Then let's bring on the hero who defended Paris twice, Henry! Let's lead the brothers and charge one more time!

Meanwhile, after a brief period of celebration, the leader faced a troubling problem.

Although they thwarted the Gauls' breakout attempt, their two armored armies also suffered heavy losses in the past two weeks of continuous fighting.

These two armored divisions, which had been responsible for the vast majority of combat missions, had lost more than half of their vehicles. All the soldiers and officers were extremely exhausted and were now only holding on by sheer willpower and the small pills provided by the Imperial medical system.

The generals suggested that it would be best to withdraw the two armored armies for rest and reorganization, even if it was only for a week. They believed that the two armored armies would be able to recover at least 80% of their combat effectiveness and continue the Southern Campaign.

Heading to Paris, the city they had entered twice during the last war, but had never been able to capture.

However, the Führer hesitated greatly regarding this seemingly reasonable proposal.

Because there are just too many troops in this encirclement.

The leader felt that if this force could not be eliminated as soon as possible, the situation might change.

At the same time, the Führer was also worried. Although Old Joe himself was now causing trouble for himself on the Eastern Front, and was only twenty kilometers away from Germania, the troops defending Germania had already begun to mobilize.

Those highly motivated youth members have now received their weapons and begun to deploy with the garrison troops along the main road to Germania.

But this is Old Joe. Back then, when everyone thought he was causing trouble in the Near East, he took Wagner to the Far East to meet up with the Bohemian Legion.

At the same time, amphibious landing operations were one of Old Joe's specialties.

Meanwhile, the number of intercepted telegrams from London to Bohemia increased significantly during this period.

The Führer worried that if Joe reached a settlement with London, who knew what kind of trouble he might cause?

After some hesitation, the leader chose a more moderate solution.

The units in the two army groups that were in poor condition withdrew one after another for rest and reorganization, while the units in better condition, such as the armored divisions of the Armed Guard that had just crushed the Gauls’ breakout attempt, continued to attack the besieged Gaul and Bunitania expeditionary forces, striving to annihilate them on the beach as soon as possible.

With armored forces to be deployed in reduced numbers, the air force will play a major role in this campaign.

Not only did they need to clear the way for ground troops, but they also needed to destroy the coastal dock facilities to prevent the Bunitania Expeditionary Force from evacuating through the ports.

After all, the Bonitania navy is quite powerful.

After arranging the simple and easy strategy for the western front, the Führer frowned and began preparing for the eastern front.

The Führer already knew that the Lucia military government wanted to destroy the People's Revolutionary Alliance, and he strongly supported this plan.

The only issue is that both sides have some reservations about the natural boundary between the Teutons and Lucia after the destruction of the Human Revolutionary Union, but it's not a big problem.

Because the Russian military government controlled the Baku oil field, a refueling station that supplied Teutonic tanks.

In addition, given the deep military cooperation between the Teutonic and Lucia military governments, the head of state was not concerned about making a small concession on the territorial issue.

After all, Lucia had expressed her understanding of the leader's desire to take over the entire northern region.

However, just as the People's Revolutionary Union and NATO countries disliked Poland and Germany but were powerless to do anything about it, the Führer is now also having a major headache about how to deal with the Poland-Germany issue.

Although the leader's attitude towards credibility was, "What is this? Can you eat it?"
It has become the norm for heads of state to sign treaties yesterday and then think about how to break them tomorrow.

But that was when dealing with Gaul and Buntania. For those two bastards, no other country had much to say about how he broke his promise.

So far, Poland has maintained strict neutrality, and whichever side it favors will gain an advantage in the East. The Führer really doesn't have a good solution for the time being.

Given the current situation, although Poland claims to remain neutral, its neutrality is actually benefiting the Teutonics.

If we were to take action against Poland at this time, it could very likely cause our allies to have some bad thoughts, such as, if the Führer can take action against Poland today, will he take action against us tomorrow?

Therefore, the Führer thought that as long as Poland and Germany did not cause trouble before the Gallic Wars ended, he would let them be.

After the Gallic Wars, the Führer prepared to give Poland one last chance: either remain "neutral" or join him, becoming the final piece of the puzzle for the thousand-year-old empire in the East.

The thought that, barring any unforeseen circumstances, he would be able to conquer Gaul in six weeks at most, followed by the defenseless Buntania, and then the entire world.

The leader was in a very good mood, so he turned on the phonograph and began to enjoy the opera.

While the Führer was in high spirits, London was shrouded in gloom and despair.

If the Gauls' breakout attempt failed, the expeditionary force was completely surrounded, and Old Joe seemed to have disappeared without replying to telegrams, the gentlemen in London were already starting to worry that the Führer's tanks might roll over the land of Bonitania.

To make matters worse, when they asked Citibank for help, Citibank's attitude towards them was not so much indifferent as it was scrutinizing, as if it were a business negotiation.

Citibank's stance on London is: we understand your reasoning, and we are willing to provide military and economic support, but we want to see victory, so it would be great if you could let Joe lead the team.

If it's Old Joe, then issuing bonds or persuading those congressmen and the public to support the war won't be a problem.

Oh, by the way, you know Wagner has now set up several training camps here and started military cooperation with us. You certainly don't mind that, do you?

Winston was furious at Citibank's statement, wishing he could strangle the congressmen who had previously pursued a policy of appeasement.

But things had already progressed to this point, and facing a clearly angry Joe, Winston could only continue to lower his stance, saying that the country had wronged him before, but now, in this critical spring of life and death, the Empire needed his help. He asked what he wanted, what his price was, and that they would do their best to meet his needs.

At the same time, Winston was also trying to find a way to show his sincerity.

Although the main force of the expeditionary force was surrounded by the Teutons, even a broken ship has three thousand nails, and Winston could still squeeze out some elite troops and the Overseas Intelligence Service to carry out a high-risk mission. Although he didn't know why Joe's eldest son was in Gaul, after receiving the telegram, Winston still prepared to send an elite squad, under the cover of the air force, to infiltrate behind the Teutons' lines and rescue Andrei.

While lowering his stance in hopes that Joe would at least talk to him, Winston was also preparing a desperate plan.

Buntania cannot be left unguarded; he must find a way to get the expeditionary force's young men home.

Even if this plan comes at a significant cost to the Royal Navy and Air Force.

Meanwhile, what was Old Joe doing, whom Winston was trying to get even a telegram back from him?

I'm pondering how I should deal with Germania.

As the last of the Gauls' armored forces were wiped out on the battlefield, Joe had already arrived at a place less than thirty kilometers away from Germania.

Theoretically speaking, this area can basically be considered part of the Germania metropolitan area. To round it off, Joe can also be considered to have entered Germania.

Before the Teutons even reached Paris, Joe had already made his way to the outskirts of Germania. In a way, this time Joe had won.

However, after learning that the Gauls' breakout attempt had failed, Joe knew that, militarily speaking, his attack on Germania was now pointless.

The Führer made it clear that he was ignoring the Eastern Front and was desperately stirring up trouble on the Western Front.

After two weeks of frantic advances, Joe's offensive has reached its limit.

The Bohemian armored forces had only a quarter of their tanks still operational, while the mechanized infantry were in slightly better shape, with nearly half of their vehicles still operational.

However, the soldiers were already exhausted. Although the Teutonic guerrillas had achieved little, they had put enormous psychological pressure on them.

After all, no one knows if, while they were huddled next to the vehicle eating bread, there was some reckless kid holding a rifle older than himself, aiming at them with the mindset that taking one down wouldn't be a loss, and taking down two would be a bonus.

Or perhaps the flour used to bake this bread was poisoned by the Teutons.

Due to the devastation caused by the Teutonic Air Force, although theoretically the troops' food should have been sent from Bohemia, the situation was dire.

However, in reality, food was often prioritized over ammunition and fuel, and the army's cookhouses had to source food from local Teutonic farms or markets to satisfy the soldiers' almost perpetually hungry stomachs.

This led many Teutons to poison food that might be taken away.

In short, despite the significant results, Joe knew that this was his last strike, and after Germania, he would have to start thinking about how to retreat.

Although it has no military significance, gaining access to Germania has immense political value.

First, this would be a slap in the face to the Führer. After entering Germania, regardless of what victories the Führer achieved on the Western Front, Joe's entry into Germania, even without occupying it, would win him a propaganda victory and garner more support for him.

After the outbreak of the war, due to ideological and factional issues, Wagner did not gain many new recruits in the Old World outside of NATO countries.

However, in the New World, Wagner gained a large number of new recruits.

Although the troops that followed Joe to the New World next to Germania were still just the American battalion, which now only had one company left, Wagner had already recruited enough troops to form three divisions in the New World.

At the same time, the fervent war sentiment also brought Wagner a considerable amount of donations.

Some of these donations came from the studios that worked with Joe, but the majority came from Joe's fan base.

When Joe led his troops to Germania, those Americans who wished they could personally follow Joe in kicking the Führer's ass took the most sensible action to show their support: they sent money to Wagner.

Some financial institutions even approached Wagner's head in New World, asking if Wagner needed financial services, whether it was loans or issuing bonds on his behalf; they said they could do anything and offer Wagner very favorable terms.

And this craze isn't limited to Citibank.

In other countries of the New World, and even in the colonies of Bonitania, there were people who wanted to join Wagner.

In this scenario, if Joe could gain access to Germania, he would be able to obtain more aid from Citizens and elsewhere.

Therefore, Joe was very clear that this attack on Germania was not from a military perspective, but rather a special political maneuver.

Since this is a special check-in operation, the operational logic is definitely different from that of regular military operations.

Looking at the brightly lit Germania in the distance, and the defensive lines that blocked the roads.

Joe sighed. He had fought wars and made movies his whole life, but this was the first time he had fought a war directly for the purpose of making a movie.

Fortunately, ever since they went to the Far East to rescue the Bohemian Legion, Joe's cameramen have been filming in all sorts of strange places and under all sorts of strange requests.

Even this time, Joe's plan was to lead the main force to launch a feint attack from the front to attract the attention of the defending troops.

Then, using the 7th Truck Transport Company and paratrooper units, troops skilled in infiltration and assault, they would find a way to bring photographers and videographers into Germanic landmarks such as the Brandenburg Gate and the Parliament Building to take some photos and videos before withdrawing.

Although this task sounds very unreliable.

Infiltrating Germania was not an easy task to begin with, and bringing along a cameraman and photographer made it even more difficult.

However, the reality is not like that.

Because Joe's cameramen and photographers were not ordinary photographers, but rather photographers and videographers from Wagner.

These people not only participated in the last war, but also performed remarkably well in it.

Although they are getting on in years and may not be as physically fit as those young men in their twenties, these old guys who have spent their lives handling guns and fighting wars are still capable of easily beating those young men in a real fight.

So Joe's plan was very simple: after a night's rest, he would launch an attack at dawn.

These infiltration teams then had a full day to complete their mission in Germania.

After dark, Joe would begin to retreat, leading the young men home.

Just as Joe was preparing for his special Germania trip, Andrei, who had been resting in the hunter's cabin for a day, also left the cabin, bringing with him four Gallic soldiers and a nurse, ready to do something.

As someone who received a strict education from a young age, Andrei was very clear that although he seemed to be doing well now and appeared to be a strong and well-equipped man, he was still in a precarious situation.

But in reality, I am now too weak and ineffective, what can I use to fight the Teutons?

There were only 15 people in total. Even if these people were all Wagner's elite soldiers, as long as the Teutons were determined to search the mountains, they only needed a platoon-sized combat force to chase them all over the place.

So how can we prevent this from happening?

Let's recruit some new soldiers.

Although the residents of the Low Countries here, like those few nurses, were unhappy with the Teutons who invaded their homes.

However, after recruiting them, training these residents from scratch took too long, making it impossible to simply and directly improve the troops' combat effectiveness.

Therefore, Andrei planned to recruit some trained soldiers with combat experience to join his ranks.

So where can we find trained, combat-experienced soldiers who are willing to engage in friendly interactions with the Teutons?
Prisoner-of-war camps and bars, of course.

With the surrender of the Low Countries, the Teutons demanded that the Low Countries' troops lay down their arms immediately. The frontline troops were then gathered in grasslands, schools, and football fields, roughly grouped according to the "Flemish-Wallon" group, and began a long march that lasted several days, with their destination being the Teutonic prisoner-of-war camps on the other side of the Rhine.

During the march, the Teutons continuously "selected" people: anyone who could produce a "Flemish identity card" or a windmill accent was given a release certificate on the spot and sent back; while the Gaulish-speaking soldiers continued to escort them to Teutons.

This young nurse was originally a field nurse from a Low Countries. She was selected by the Teutons on her way to Teutonic and sent directly to the front lines.

In addition, since the nurse was a local, Andrei planned to try recruiting some brave young men from among the hundreds of thousands who had laid down their arms, men who still dared to bare their teeth at the Teutons.

Although they surrendered, it was an order from above, and Andrei didn't believe that among hundreds of thousands of people, there weren't a few brave enough to cause trouble for the Teutons.

Of course, even if we can't recruit too many people, it's not a problem.

After learning from a BBC broadcast that his father was preparing to attack Germania, Andrei decided to make a name for himself by going towards the Teutonic direction.

This gave the Teutons the illusion that they were heading east to meet their father.

(End of this chapter)