Imperial Elite

Chapter 151 Henry! You forced me to do this!
1940 was definitely not a good year for Joe.

Although Old Joe knew that his kids were a bunch of very thoughtful young men, he never knew just how much more thoughtful they could become under his influence.

When Joe learned from his friend at Citibank that his kids had concocted a future weapons program, Joe was completely dumbfounded.

Although my modern weapons program has been shelved, what are you bunch of bastards trying to do with this future weapons program?
Do you want to show me that you will eventually surpass me and leave me stranded on the beach?

Although Old Joe had mixed feelings about his kids' behavior, now was clearly not the time to dwell on such trivial matters.

Just as those kids who went to Citibank were starting to work on future weapons programs, a small incident occurred in Gaul.

With the main force annihilated in the Low Countries.

The Gauls had to rebuild their defenses in the flat north, just as they had done in the last great war.

Gaul was defended with rivers, trenches, barbed wire, and the lives of those good lads.

However, the story clearly did not unfold as the Gauls had anticipated, just as the war itself did not develop the way they had envisioned from the very beginning.

After all, times have changed. During the last great war, Gaul and Buntania deployed 86 divisions here and left 200,000 corpses.

Now they have neither 86 divisions nor the resolve to leave another 200,000 corpses here.

The Teutonic armored forces broke through the defenses that had nearly drained the Teutons of their blood in the last great battle in just two days. With the collapse of the Somme and Aisne defenses, and seeing the return of the veteran general Henry, the Gauls believed that the next chapter would be the start of the Third Battle of Paris.

Because by this time the Teutons had already completed the perfect right hook that they had envisioned more than thirty years earlier.

By this time, the Teutonic vanguard had crossed Paris and begun to advance south. Next, they would head east, creating an even larger encirclement than before, trapping the remaining Gallo army forces in the narrow area between Paris and the border defenses.

At that time, Paris will be the last bastion of Gaul.

However, Marshal Henry did not think so.

With Gaul now fully under wartime conditions, Henry has become the undisputed dictator of Gaul. The last time Gaul had such a powerful figure was with the emperor's nephew.

However, just as the great emperor wouldn't hold out in Paris to the death, the veteran coach Henry also wasn't prepared to hold out in Paris to the death.

The main force has now been annihilated, and almost the entire north has fallen. The Buntanians have retreated to the island.

As the war turned against them, the local left-wing forces began to stir.

For Henry, defending against the left wing was just as important as defending against the Teutons. After all, even if the Teutons came to power, they would at most say goodbye to power, but if the left wing came to power, they might have to say goodbye to the world.

Moreover, although the Gallic army still boasts a million soldiers on paper, judging from the speed at which their defenses are being breached, these troops are no match for the Teutons. So, it would be better to surrender...

Charles, who had just returned to Paris, was shocked by the news of the planned surrender.

Although the 8th Panzer Division was almost completely annihilated, Charles was still recalled to Paris by his former commander-in-chief, who planned to rebuild the armored forces based on the experience of the last war and then defend Paris to the death.

Then, while Charles was still in the factory, telling the workers that he hoped they could work more efficiently in order to defend Gaul, he learned of this news.

Upon hearing this news, Charles was first stunned, then found it unbelievable, and then angrily denounced it as a rumor.

Who is Henry? He's the man who defended Paris twice!
Will he choose to negotiate with the Teutons?
impossible! Absolutely impossible!
Then when Charles rushed to the old coach, the old coach simply told him wearily, "It's over, everything is over?"

"It's over? It's all over? The Gallo Empire is finished too?"

Charles stared at the old man in disbelief.

Yes, it's all over.

Henry, the veteran coach, looked at Charles.

"We have failed..."

On the very day that Charles was shocked by Henry's decision, Henry gave a speech on national radio.

"Today, with a heavy heart, I tell you that we must stop fighting. Tonight I will negotiate with the enemy to see if they are willing to end this endless hostilities between our two armies."

The world was shocked by this request to surrender.

In just over a month, the two great villains of the Old World, Bonitania and Gaul, retreated to their homeland and Gaul surrendered. Had the Teutons become so powerful?

Just as Henry was pleading with the Teutons for negotiations on the national radio.

Realizing something was terribly wrong, Joe finally responded to the telegram from London.

"Now, let's talk."

The Gauls' surrender caught not only Joe off guard, but also Andrei.

After turning back from the border, Andrei was able to successfully rescue the commando unit that had been surrounded by the Teutons.

The reason that the commando unit was able to hold out for so long was that the Teutons wanted to use it as bait to see if Andrei would take the bait.

If Andrei takes the bait, then they have a hidden armored company nearby.

Although this armored company is not at full strength, fifteen Panzer IV tanks should be enough to handle some guerrillas, right?

Then, Andrei drove out the Panzer V tank that he had captured earlier.

The Teutons who had set up the ambush cursed the logistics team, calling them a bunch of scoundrels. They said they couldn't believe the guerrillas could capture even such a thing, and then they abandoned five burning tanks and the assault team that was now practically on its last legs and ran away.

After rescuing the commando team, Andrei realized that his original telegram, which he only intended to deceive the Teutons to gain some tactical advantage, had now failed to fool them.

But the Bunitarians were indeed fooled.

The commander of the commando unit, John Malcolm Somme, didn't blame Andrei for this. After all, it's the battlefield; trying to deceive the enemy only to end up deceiving your own people first is quite normal.

Look at them, after breaking out of the encirclement with a few people, they immediately assembled a team, and even brought out tanks.

Looking at myself, I led my team to parachute behind enemy lines and was surrounded by the enemy within two days. Not only did many of my brothers die, but how did I become the one who needed to be rescued?
This disparity made it impossible for John to bring up the idea of ​​taking Andre back to London.

They could only use their portable radios to contact London and report the situation.

Anyway, that's the situation. Let the gentlemen in London figure out what to do next!
While waiting for a reply from London, John began learning to hunt from Andrei.

As a native of Buntania, just like Andrei, John not only knew how to shoot arrows but also brought his bow and sword to the battlefield.

Andrei, seeing for the first time that someone had brought cold weapons to the battlefield, wondered why John would do such a thing.

John declared righteously, "A Bonitania officer who doesn't carry a sword is of questionable character. Look at Old Joe, doesn't he always have a sword given to him by the late emperor on him?"

After hearing what John said, Andrei felt that what he said made a lot of sense.

The next day, he drove a tank to raid the police station of a nearby town. After killing the local guard commander, Andrei requisitioned a longsword from the church to use as his personal sword.

John didn't put on any airs of an officer towards Andrei, who only had the rank of corporal. Like the other remnants of Andrei's army, John put on a green robe and started calling Andrei "boss".

John, who joined with the commando team, also solved a small problem that Andrei had been facing for a long time.

That means they only took in ordinary soldiers and low-ranking officers.

Under his command, these guys were able to put up a good fight.

But if they were left to carry out the missions on their own, no one knew how well they would go. Now, John's arrival solved one of Andrei's biggest headaches: his guerrillas couldn't operate separately.

As we all know, guerrilla warfare requires roaming around to launch attacks.

While a larger force is a good thing for guerrillas, it also increases their chances of being exposed.

Therefore, while reasonably controlling the size of the guerrilla force, increasing its numbers and launching attacks in more and wider areas is the most troublesome guerrilla tactic.

John's arrival now allows Andrei to begin employing more interesting tactics to reason with the Teutons.

However, at that very moment, Andrei heard on the radio that Gaul was preparing to surrender.

This news immediately prompted Andrei to change his plans.

All planned attacks were halted, and the troops and their heavy equipment now had to be hidden.

Because if the Gauls really surrender, then the million-strong Teutonic army released from the front lines could be found and hanged simply by passing through the forests.

Compared to Andrei, Gaul's sudden and silent surrender caught Old Joe off guard.

After all, although Gaul and Buntania are currently suffering heavy losses, they still have vast overseas territories. If they can hold out for another year or two, they can succeed.

The troops that Old Joe recruited from Citizens could return like lightning, and wouldn't it be wonderful to launch a pincer attack from the north and south and east and west?

But now, less than two months after the start of the war, Gaul surrendered, which not only disrupted Joe's plans but also put him in an extremely dangerous situation.

With the Western Front campaign nearing its end, the Teutonic forces on the Eastern Front visibly increased their resistance, and Old Joe had to withdraw to Bohemia before the Teutonic forces returned to the Eastern Front.

With the surrender of Gaul, the situation in the small countries surrounding Bohemia began to show signs of instability.

Originally, apart from Poland and Germany, the other countries were more inclined towards the Teutonic system in terms of ideology and stance. As for why this happened... well, it was naturally a habitual practice when the Bonitania formulated the Versailles system.

So once those countries decided to join the Teutonic Kingdom, Bohemia would almost immediately be besieged, and what was even more troublesome than the besieging itself was...

Previously, Bohemia was able to withstand the Teutons not only because Old Joe personally led the allied forces to fight the Teutons head-on.

The main advantage came from the unique terrain and fortified belt of the Sudetenland, coupled with the occasional airdrops of Wagner's paratroopers behind enemy lines to launch surprise attacks.

That's how they achieved an extremely impressive kill-to-death ratio.

However, once those countries joined the Teutonic Kingdom, a gap immediately appeared in this natural defensive line of the Sudetenland, located in the Morawa Gorge to the southeast.

Only by passing through here can one enter Bohemia without having to fight against fortresses and strongholds in the mountains. It has been a strategic location fought over by military strategists since ancient times.

Therefore, Joe not only has to disengage from the battle as soon as possible and lead his troops back to Bohemia, but also has to minimize casualties among his troops.

Joe now faces not only the impending siege of Bohemia, but also the need to defend the Morava Gorge. Meanwhile, with Gaul's imminent surrender, Poland's movements have become increasingly unpredictable.

They have closed the border under the pretext of military exercises, preventing transit goods from NATO direction from entering Bohemia.

Clearly, although Poland had not yet made up its mind, it had already begun to lean in one direction.

This bias made Old Joe extremely anxious.

So Old Joe had no choice but to back down and reply to the telegram from Paris.

Joe needs troops now, he needs a lot of troops.

The next day, when the Gauls announced that they had reached an agreement with the Teutons and would now lay down their arms to embrace peace.

To everyone's surprise, Gaul surrendered so smoothly that Old Joe, who was unwilling to hold out for even one more day, had no choice but to order the abandonment of the overly cumbersome equipment and supplies and the destruction of the damaged vehicles that could not be taken away.

They now have to get back to Bohemia as quickly as possible.

Meanwhile, in the Compiègne forest, the Führer, who had emerged from the carriage where the Teutonic representative had signed the armistice, spoke to his entourage after a long while, saying, "All shame has vanished; I am now reborn..."

After saying this, the leader looked at the carriage and then waved his hand.

"Blow it up."

The head of state then walked toward his car, surrounded by his entourage, putting on the gloves he had just taken off when he signed the armistice, or rather, the Gauls' surrender document.

"Move the troops eastward. It's time to fulfill our agreement with our allies, and..."

At this point, the head of state looked at the foreign minister who had come with him.

"What about Poland? Haven't they made up their minds yet?"

Facing the head of state's gaze, the Foreign Minister wiped the sweat from his brow.

"They are still hesitating."

The leader gave a soft hum.

"Give them one last twenty-four hours to think it over, to choose whether to become my friend or my enemy."

As the head of state spoke, a photographer captured a picture of him and his generals striding forward. At that moment, the morning sun painted the entire sky red, and in the shadows of the forest, the head of state and his generals looked as if they were emerging from the darkness, ready to burn the entire world.

Meanwhile, at the same time as the armistice was signed, under the orders of Marshal Henry, after the armistice...

That commando unit, originally formed to launch a surprise attack on Germania when the war broke out, served as the final reserve throughout the war, ready to fight the Teutons to the last drop of blood in Paris.

At this moment, they received a mission from Marshal Henry: they must immediately take control of the Gallic navy and air force.

Although the high command had almost tacitly approved the surrender, there were certainly some people in the middle and lower ranks who still couldn't understand why, even though they had chosen to surrender, they were saving Gaul.

To prevent these people from causing trouble, such as defecting to Bunitania with planes and warships, or forming a government-in-exile.

This commando team must control these guys to prevent them from doing anything drastic that could disrupt the peace talks.

From its inception to the outbreak of the war, this commando unit had undergone more than a decade of training, and its members were intimately familiar with the monthly updated map of Germania.

Under the guise of tourism, they had already explored every corner of Germania and were even more familiar with the terrain than some Germans. They could find their way around even with their eyes closed.

But they never expected that, more than a decade after their founding, their first mission would be to arrest and detain officers who refused to surrender.

This led many in the commando unit to refuse the order, and some even tore off their shoulder boards and medals in a fit of rage, declaring that the commander was an idiot.

But after these enraged men were locked in solitary confinement, the commando team was still dispatched.

According to the armistice agreement, Gaul was required to hand over almost all of its military equipment. If any damage occurred during this period, it would be considered a breach of the armistice, and the Teutons would have grounds to demand compensation from Gaul.

Meanwhile in London, although the surrender of Gaul was somewhat anticipated, Winston was still furious with Henry for not even giving his allies a final push before surrendering their navy.

As most people know, due to certain historical factors, the Gauls' navy was of some size, but it was only the fourth largest in the world and the second largest in the Old World.

The army of Bonitania has now suffered heavy losses, and the only thing it can rely on to defend its homeland is its air force and navy.

Therefore, we absolutely cannot let the Teutons obtain the Gallic navy. I didn't want things to develop to this point either; it's all Henry's fault for forcing me to do this!
After taking a puff of his cigar, Winston dialed the First Lord of the Navy.

"Hey, it's me, Winston. Let's begin Operation Ballista."

(End of this chapter)