Imperial Elite

Chapter 167 Prisoners of War
Theoretically speaking, although the Gestapo headquarters in Paris was bombed, the damage caused was not actually that great.

Two trucks need to carry both people and goods, and the military explosives are not so easy to obtain.

So most of the fireballs the patrol team saw actually came from the gasoline loaded on the trucks.

This resulted in the explosion being surprisingly powerful, but in reality, it didn't cause any damage. The building didn't even collapse, and members in the higher floors of the Gestapo headquarters in Paris only had their clothes slightly soiled.

Although the physical damage was minimal, the explosion dealt a severe blow to the spirits of the Teutons.

The troops sent to suppress resistance were suppressed themselves. How could the Teutons maintain their standing after that got out?

Especially since this incident happened so close to the Battle of Warsaw, it's hard not to wonder if it was a premeditated, planned attack, just waiting to expose the Teutonic Knights.

So before Holz, who was leading a large army to Paris, even arrived in Paris, the Führer made a phone call to Holz.

Damn it! What are you dawdling for?! They've already blown up the Gestapo building in Paris!
After giving Holz a good scolding, the Führer looked at the map and began to think about what he should do next.

As the Teutonic Grand Master, he was very clear about one thing: his ability to gain support and become the Teutonic Grand Master was based on two fundamental conditions.

First, they were able to lead the Teutonic Knights to victory.

Since the advance into the Rhine, although there were some minor setbacks along the way, the Teutons have generally been on a winning streak. However, now that the Battle of Warsaw has turned out this way, Paris has been thwarted.

This touched the most vulnerable spot in the heart of the Teutonic leader.

That is the question that no Teutonic will say but that they all have deep in their souls since the last great war: Is the Teutonic Order really up to par?

The second question is much more realistic.

That is, as the Teutonic leader, he greatly improved the lives of the Teutons after taking office, giving them hope for life after they had been numbed by two economic crises.

If the Teutonic leader could put bread and steak on the Teutonic table, the Teutons would dare to follow their leader into war against the world.

To maintain these two points, Gaul alone is certainly not enough.

After all, Gaul was able to maintain a high standard of living not only because of its homeland, but also because of its vast overseas colonies.

In the armistice, one of the conditions in which they handed over their navy was that the Teutons would not deprive them of their overseas colonies.

Of course, although they said they would not deprive them of their overseas colonies, the Teutons had captured millions of Gallic soldiers at this time and sent them back to the country. They used these captured Gallic soldiers as leverage to demand various supplies from Gaul.

Fortunately, after the war began, living conditions in the country not only did not decline, but actually improved considerably.

This made everyone realize that the Teutonic people are different now than they were in the past.

In the past, the great war against the Teutons ended in war and bankruptcy, but now, we have won without even starting a general mobilization. We Teutons are truly invincible!

But we definitely can't continue like this now.

Both the economy and the military industry should begin to mobilize to make up for the losses on the front lines.

At the same time, the People's Revolutionary Alliance was indeed not the dilapidated house that would collapse with a single kick, as initially imagined.

With this group of guys plus Old Joe, they're definitely not going to come up with anything good.

Given this, the leader, looking at the map, decided to implement a starvation tactic against NATO countries and the People's Revolutionary Union.

Because NATO countries are small and sparsely populated, barring any unforeseen circumstances, if Old Joe wants to get support, he'll have to rely on North Sea transport.

In theory, with the navy of the Free Gauls, maintaining the shipping lanes in the North Sea should not be a problem.

But if he were to directly seize the northern countries in the fjord region, set up heavy artillery in that area, and deploy air force, how would Old Joe respond?

It just so happens that although the armored forces need rest and recuperation, there are still many infantry divisions, and the terrain in the north is not suitable for armored forces to operate.

It's time for those generals to devise a plan on how to deal with the northern countries.

Once the northern countries are dealt with, the armored forces should be almost fully recovered. At that time, it will be time to launch a large-scale offensive on the southern front and defeat the People's Revolutionary Alliance.

Of course, while preparing to invade the northern fjord countries, the Teutonic Grand Master also gave Holz a death order: the guy who was causing trouble in Paris must be captured! I will put this guy on public trial in Germania!

The President's orders are absolute. Now that he had the President's orders, Holtz, who was furious, entered Paris and began to order the armored units to go out into the streets. They had the right to search anyone they found suspicious, and if they encountered anyone who did not cooperate, they could open fire first and then question them.

Of course, despite his tough stance, Holz was slightly intimidated by the sight of Paris, where the streets and alleys were now filled with corpses.

Although Holz was used to seeing corpses and skeletons, the problem was that there were now far too many skeletons in Paris.

Furthermore, according to current street rumors, those who attacked the Gestapo were not resistance organizations at all. With a million troops already surrendered, what resistance organization could there be? These were all spirits of the dead crawling out of the catacombs seeking revenge.

Holtz, of course, completely disbelieved these street rumors. If these skeletons were truly useful, what were they doing during the Second Battle of Paris?

But leaving it unattended is not an option either.

This thing doesn't bite, but it's annoying.

So after thinking it over, Holz felt that burning these things would be a waste of fuel, and digging holes and burying them would be too much work, probably taking one or two years to solve.

Then let's just throw them into the river and let the river carry these bones into the sea!
After ordering the disposal of these broken skeletons, Holtz became ready for action, waiting for the resistance led by Andrei to launch an attack so that he could arrest the resistance members on the spot.

And then... nothing happened.

After attacking the Gestapo's Paris headquarters, knowing that the Teutons would definitely launch a large-scale retaliatory attack, Andrei did not hesitate to flee.

While Andrei took away some who were willing to fight guerrilla warfare with him around the world, he also told those who remained that the Teutons would definitely raise their guard and launch a fierce retaliation.

Therefore, it would be best for them to keep a low profile for a while, and wait until they have made a splash elsewhere to attract the Teutons' attention before causing trouble in Paris.

Now that Andrei has assembled another team, where is he planning to cause trouble...?

It is naturally the homeland of Teutonic.

Andrei's decision to go to Teutonic territory to wage guerrilla warfare was not a spur-of-the-moment decision, but rather a premeditated one.

After leading the troops a few times, Andrei noticed something: the civilians who had joined the armed forces later in life were still slightly less capable of fighting than the veterans who had received training.

Therefore, Andrei felt that if he wanted to do something big, he would need some trained soldiers.

So where are the most trained soldiers now?

It was a Teutonic prisoner-of-war camp...

While Andrei was eyeing the Teutonic prisoner-of-war camps, another person was also eyeing them. That person was Andrei's father, Old Joe.

Although the situation is no longer as dire as it was at the beginning of the war, Old Joe still faces a painful problem.

That is insufficient manpower.

Even though Old Joe had been very careful in using his power, the Teutons were not to be trifled with. They had fought their way from the Sudetenland to the outskirts of Warsaw, and NATO forces were now filling the front lines with conscripts.

So while Joe was transferring volunteers back from Citizenship to form troops and beginning to move troops from Buntania to NATO towards Bohemia, he also set his sights on the Teutonic prisoner-of-war camps.

After all, the Teutons captured over a million people in one fell swoop, and a single large prisoner-of-war camp could hold tens of thousands of people.

Based on Old Joe's understanding of the Teutons, these prisoners of war certainly didn't have a good impression of them. If given a chance, they would definitely be willing to have some friendly interactions with the Teutons.

Therefore, if we could bring back some prisoners from the Teutonic homeland, we could fill the current shortage of troops on the front lines.

At the same time, it would also give the Free Gauls, the Charles, some face.

Although the Gauls' performance in this war was somewhat disappointing.

However, Old Joe was very satisfied with the performance of the Free Gallic Gates during the Battle of Warsaw.

Although I have some skepticism about the Free Gauls's report that the Teutons were extremely tenacious in their fighting spirit and had a particularly resolute fighting style, with almost no one willing to surrender.

However, the Gauls' fighting spirit and skill in annihilating the Teutonic forces in direct combat are still trustworthy.

Since they are reliable allies, Old Joe naturally wouldn't mind helping out with Rachel.

They could extract some troops from prisoner-of-war camps to bolster the Free Gallic forces.

Then let Charles send some men to seize the colonies of Gaul, cutting off Gaul's supply to the Teutons while also strengthening his own forces.

Although Old Joe is short-handed right now, he's not so short-handed that he can't function without the Free Gauls.

Since Old Joe had already begun planning Operation Vulture to cut off the land fuel transport route between the Teutonic and Luscan military governments, Charles met Old Joe in Bohemia.

Because Joe had been very busy, this was the first time Charles had seen him in twenty years since the last great war.

When Charles met Old Joe again, he found it hard to connect the current Old Joe with the Britannian officer he remembered from back then.

If Old Joe looked like a college student who had wandered into the wrong place back then, and you couldn't tell he was a military officer at all...

Now, Old Joe looks exactly like a standard general. Even though he's not wearing his famous general's hat, he's wearing a field jacket without rank insignia.

But that kind of aura made Charles feel an urge to salute Old Joe.

"You're here. Please make yourself at home and wait a moment."

Standing at the map table, Old Joe saw Charles and his adjutant enter his command post, nodded to him, pointed a few times on the map, and spoke to the man in the Air Force uniform beside him.

"Strengthen combat patrols in this area. I need to know the deployment of the Teutonic troops here, but tell the air force lads to be alert, not to get carried away, and to come back alive."

After speaking to the man in the Air Force uniform, Old Joe beckoned to Charles, gesturing for him to come to the map table.

“How long has it been since we last met? I remember the last time we saw each other was in Paris…”

"It was during the Versailles Conference, when you were sleeping in the conference room."

"Yes."

Old Joe nodded.

Time flies, we've all grown old.

Old Joe looked at Charles.

"How is it? Can you still hit it?"

Upon hearing Old Joe's words, Charles, who was a head taller than Old Joe, instinctively straightened up.

"For Gaul, I have no fear."

"Relax."

Old Joe patted Charles on the arm.

"Haven't we already taught the Teutons a lesson?"

As Old Joe spoke, he picked up a stick and began pointing at the map.

"I called you here because there's a plan that requires your cooperation... Look here, and here, and here too. These are reports from the overseas intelligence office about the prisoner-of-war camps where Gallic prisoners of war are being held."

After pointing at the map a few times with his stick, Old Joe turned to look at Charles standing beside him.

"I want to plan a raid to rescue the prisoners of war in these POW camps and allow them to return to the battlefield, but I need your help."

Charles looked at Old Joe with some surprise.

"I thought you sent me here to prepare for an attack on the Teutonic homeland and to spread the war there."

Old Joe waved his hand.

"That's pointless. We don't have enough troops. Even if we break in, we can't hold it. We'll just be wasting our young men's lives."

As he said this, Old Joe's gaze drifted somewhat as he looked at the map.

"I've done this stupid thing once, and I won't do it again."

Upon hearing Old Joe's words, Charles was momentarily speechless. After all, when they first heard that Old Joe had rushed all the way to Germania, even the most pessimistic Gauls hadn't imagined that the war would turn out this way.

So Charles could only cough and then ask Old Joe.

"How do you plan to implement this plan?"

“I need your best lads, and pilots. This will be a large-scale operation with great risks.”

(End of this chapter)