Imperial Elite

Chapter 161 Revealing the Hidden Cards
Although large-scale battles often do not end in a single day, the first day of a battle is usually the period in which both sides commit the most troops and suffer the highest casualties.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, Erich and Constantine were anxiously looking at the map in their command post, watching their staff push the dominoes representing each unit to new positions on the map, or remove the dominoes from the map, based on reports from the front.

It was the height of summer, and there were still at least five hours until nightfall. Just two hours earlier, they had all unanimously committed their last reserves to the task.

At the same time, more air support was called in. Under this logic of using the big stick when encountering difficulties, and the difficulties becoming more severe, the big stick became even stronger. At this time, the front line had become a sea of ​​explosions.

The flames and shockwaves will roll like the waves of the Vistula River.

When Michel returned to the battlefield, he found that he had only gone back to the rear to replenish his ammunition and fuel. When he returned to the front line, he found that the battlefield had become a different place than he had ever seen.

When Michel withdrew from the battlefield before noon due to nearly running out of ammunition, the fighting was fierce, but the two sides were still fighting in a way that humans could understand.

But when Michel returned to the battlefield, the two sides had now mixed up not only armored forces but also infantry. While tanks were firing armor-piercing shells at each other from hundreds of meters apart, the infantry had begun to use bayonets or entrenching tools to fight for a foxhole that could only accommodate one person.

At this moment, what was burning on the battlefield was not only the steel graveyards of armored soldiers, but also the wreckage of fighter jets and bombers.

The fierce aerial battle had been going on since morning and had not stopped at all.

After the Red Knight personally went to the fighter squadron to berate them, the fighter squadrons, seeing an opportunity to increase their kill count, rushed forward like madmen, slightly improving the situation where they abandoned their original mission plans.

This enabled the Teutonic Air Force's bomber force to successfully organize two carpet bombing runs starting at noon.

When Michel returned to the battlefield, he saw the bomber force organizing the third carpet bombing. Looking at the dense explosions in the distance, Michel doubted whether anyone could survive a bombing of that scale.

But now was clearly not the time to think. Michel crawled back into the turret, lowered the hatch, and he had just discovered a People's Revolutionary Army heavy tank that was parked behind a destroyed Panzer V, either pretending to be damaged or having its running gear genuinely broken. He destroyed a Panzer IV with a single shell.

That unfortunate Panzer IV, like them, had clearly only recently arrived on the battlefield, and its hull was full of ammunition.

After being hit, it first stopped advancing, and then a huge fireball rose from the vehicle, even throwing the turret off the vehicle.

"At one o'clock, eight hundred meters away, behind the burning Panzer V, a heavy tank, armor-piercing shell."

Looking at the People's Revolutionary Party heavy tank whose turret was still slowly turning, Michel gave the order.

However, just as the turret was rotating, Michel saw that not far from the People's Revolutionary Army heavy tank, there seemed to be three Teutonic soldiers who were unable to do anything.

From Michelle's vantage point, the heavy tank should not have been able to see the three soldiers huddled behind the half-destroyed wreckage of the fighter jet.

"Don't do anything foolish..."

But the next second, two of the three soldiers popped their heads out of the bunker and began firing wildly at the tank with their guns, while the other soldier, carrying something, rushed out from the other end of the bunker and charged toward the heavy tank that had now turned its turret around and was firing at his two comrades.

Looking at the three infantrymen, Michelle realized for the first time how slowly the turret of the Panzer V tank rotated.

"Boss, I don't see the target."

"It's no longer needed..."

After seeing that the heavy tank had its attention drawn to the two infantrymen, Michelle tore the two infantrymen apart with the vehicle's machine gun before being destroyed by soldiers who crawled under the tank with bombs.

"Let's move on and find our next target."

Michelle, expressionless, began searching for another prey on the battlefield.

A moment later, Michelle had to tell the driver to slow down so that the mechanized infantry supporting them could keep up.

Just two hundred meters ahead, it was just like what Michel had seen: Teutonic soldiers carrying bombs to destroy the tanks of the People's Revolutionary Union.

Within a mere two hundred meters, three soldiers from the People's Revolutionary Alliance, carrying grenades that were clearly not intended for anti-infantry use, attempted to approach their vehicle from the side.

If it weren't for a few armored grenadiers watching their flanks, Michelle felt her fight might have ended there.

Through the phone outside the vehicle, Michel learned that these armored grenadiers were not members of the Armed Guard, but belonged to the combat order of the National Defense Force.

An hour after they joined the battle, their company was now down to just a few men. Their mission was to break through the first line of defense, capture a hilltop, and establish a position there to await reinforcements.

After looking at the map from inside the turret, Michelle said that if nothing unexpected happened, he should be the reinforcement they were waiting for, and they were currently about a kilometer away from the hilltop.

After cursing, the commander of the armored grenadiers said that the bad news was that they now had less than ten men left, but the good news was that they had no wounded, had no shortage of ammunition, and were able to cooperate with them to reach the hilltop.

So, on this sweltering afternoon, Michel's crew and the armored grenadiers continued their eastward advance.

A few minutes later, Erich, who was in Warsaw, received good news.

After three rounds of intense bombing by the air force, the air force successfully tore a hole in the People's Revolutionary Alliance's front.

The 7th Armored Division, which was deployed to the battlefield as a reserve force, has now begun to break through the People's Revolutionary Alliance's lines.

However, the resistance from the People's Revolutionary Alliance forces was exceptionally fierce, and they would need more support to achieve a breakthrough.

Meanwhile, the Air Force liaison officer stated that due to the recent heavy bombing, nearby air wing units had exhausted all available sorties, and even if preparations for the next bombing were to begin now, it would take the Air Force at least an hour to organize a bombing of the same scale as the previous one.

And during this period, they must reduce the frequency of tactical bombing.

By now, almost all air force pilots have taken to the skies at least twice, especially the dive bomber pilots, who have been conducting high-intensity bombing missions since morning. The People's Revolutionary Party's insane anti-aircraft firepower has caused heavy losses to the dive bomber wing. If the frequency of tactical bombing is not reduced, the air force will find it difficult to muster enough aircraft to carry out such large-scale carpet bombing again.

Faced with the Air Force's request, Erich hesitated.

The current battle situation has shown that the People's Revolutionary Alliance not only has a numerical advantage, but also an advantage in certain technical weapons, such as self-propelled anti-aircraft artillery and mortar vehicles.

While these things don't pose much of a threat to heavy tanks, they are a nightmare for mechanized and motorized infantry fighting alongside tanks.

If the air force's relentless bombing hadn't inflicted massive losses on the Revolutionary Alliance's ground forces at the very beginning of the battle, and if the fighter squadrons hadn't also secured air superiority, the battle would clearly not have unfolded as it is now.

Even before the battle began, Erich had already noticed Old Joe, who had circled around to the flank, presumably to cut off the connection between Roots and Warsaw.

After the battle began, the air force bombing obviously slowed down the movement of Old Joe's troops. Even so, reconnaissance showed that Old Joe's troops were turning towards Warsaw, seemingly preparing to abandon cutting off the supply lines and instead join the Warsaw battlefield directly.

If we reduce the intensity of the air strikes at this point, what if Old Joe actually gets to the battlefield?
After all, there were still more than three hours until dark, and he had almost no reserves left.

After the 7th Panzer Division requested reinforcements, Erich had already committed his last mobile forces, all the reliable Teutonic Divisions, to the battlefield.

The only troops that can be mobilized now are the three Polish divisions and the 25th Panzer Regiment, which just arrived by train. Two of these Polish divisions are composed of remnants of previously defeated troops, while the other is a reserve division that was formed after Poland chose to join the Teutonic Army.

Using three divisions and a regiment to stop Old Joe is somewhat unrealistic.

However, after hesitating for five minutes, Erich made a decision to temporarily reduce the frequency of tactical bombing by the air force, in order to prepare for another large-scale carpet bombing to allow ground troops to completely break through the People's Revolutionary Union's front.

At the same time, Erich turned his attention to the armored general who had just arrived in Warsaw with the 25th Armored Regiment.

“Otto, we can’t repeat the mistakes we made in the last war, so I’ve committed all my forces to the east. Now, with just a little more effort, we can break through the People’s Revolutionary Alliance’s lines and force them to retreat. But before that, I need you to help me hold off Joe in the south. I know this is a big request, but only you can do this right now.”

After Otto removed his monocle, wiped it, and put it back on, he asked Erich, "How many troops do I have?"

Erich said with a wry smile, "Besides the armored regiment you brought, there are only three Polish-German divisions."

Otto nodded and continued, "How long do I need to hold out?"

Erich glanced at the map.

"At least hold on until this time tomorrow."

Otto nodded.

"Okay, I'll try my best to hold on until then."

Meanwhile, Joe, who was looking at the map inside the turret, scratched his head and discovered a problem.

That is, although rushing straight to Warsaw from where they are now is fast, the Teutons are not stupid. Their repeated bombing of them must mean they know their movements.

If we try to rush through here, we'll definitely run headfirst into a metal plate.

Although judging from the intensity of the attacks Constantine suffered, the iron plate might not be that tough unless the Teutons conjured soldiers from thin air, it would still take time to break through the cardboard.

So after thinking it over, Old Joe realized that sometimes slow is fast, and he couldn't just rush straight ahead; he had to change his route slightly.

Fortunately, the troops Joe brought this time were either long-time Wagners or firefighters who had followed Joe around during the previous Sudetenland and Germanic campaigns.

Other skills may be lacking, but the ability to regroup while on the move has been honed through countless journeys.

So Old Joe decided to have the two previous combat groups maintain their marching routes and continue advancing towards Warsaw from there.

However, their mission was not to break through the defenses, but to launch a feint attack to make the Teutons believe that they would still follow this route to support the Battle of Warsaw.

Old Joe, on the other hand, planned to lead the other troops on a large detour.

Although the emergency tanks were fast enough, they were clearly unable to keep up with such a long, circuitous march.

Therefore, Old Joe only planned to take a small number of tank units on the move, while the majority of the troops would travel in six-wheeled and eight-wheeled armored vehicles and off-road vehicles.

Old Joe's plan was to bypass the areas the Teutons might have fortified, head east, cross the Vistula River first, and then head north along the river to directly attack the Teutons from their flank.

Although the impact may be insufficient due to the lack of armor, it should be enough to provide flank control.

Just then, the Teutonic Air Force began to reduce its air strike intensity, so under Old Joe's command, NATO forces began to quickly regroup on the southern front, preparing to do something to the Teutons' soft flank.

Just as NATO forces, under Old Joe's command, were reorganizing their battle groups on the move.

Constantine also played his last card. Originally, Constantine did not want to release his last reserve force on the first day of the battle, but the Teutons tore a gap in the front line with three fierce air raids.

If Constantine did not want to retreat, then he would have no choice but to send troops to push back the Teutons who had rushed in.

Constantine then revealed his trump card, deploying 50,000 men and 500 tanks from the Third Army, which included the 1st Guards Tank Brigade (the first tank brigade to earn the Guards designation in low-intensity warfare) and the 1st Guards Infantry Division.

After sending out the last reserves, besides calling on the air force to provide as much support as possible for the counterattack forces and to set up anti-aircraft umbrellas, Constantine could only hope that Old Joe could draw as much of the Teutons' attention as possible on the flanks.

(End of this chapter)