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Chapter 1438 European Version of a Secret Maneuver

“Bernie…” Tropp’s expression changed quite a bit ever since Bernhard said he would relay Cohen’s words. First, he frowned as if he was thinking about something, then he blurted out the nickname, but then hesitated.

His old friend's behavior at this moment truly surprised him, and at the same time disgusted him.

Revealing the private conversation with Cohen, ostensibly, was to provide commanders with more information to better understand the Ming army and facilitate the formulation of the next course of action. However, it also served a more subtle purpose: to find a scapegoat for post-war accountability.

He heard everything Cohen and Bernhard said, and it was because Bernhard was there that Cohen opened up to them, since both of them were his friends.

However, these are private conversations and should not be made public without the consent of the individuals involved. In this sensitive period, it's not just a matter of privacy, but also prone to ambiguity.

For example, Cohen reiterated his stance that the war should not have started and suggested retreat. This wouldn't be a problem in a friendly conversation, but it takes on a different meaning when discussed at a coalition operations meeting.

Bernhard wasn't a reckless fool; he couldn't possibly be unaware of these things. Nor could those present be political novices, much less unaware of them. But the fact that one wanted to speak up, while the others remained silent and didn't listen, is quite intriguing.

This might be what they call tacit understanding. Seeing the unfavorable situation, the allied commanders had already begun laying the groundwork for the post-war period. None of them wanted to bear the responsibility for the defeat, but as commanders, they couldn't find any reason to shirk it.

Can't find a reason? For a competent politician, there's no such thing as not finding a reason. Even if there isn't one, they can fabricate one out of thin air. The truth doesn't matter; as long as the majority of the public believes it, that's enough.

It's obvious that Cohen, a shrewd businessman with exceptional business acumen, has become the target of their blame-shifting. And his close friend, Commander Bernhard, is the mastermind behind this conspiracy!
However, Cohen was also a good friend, so should he stand up for him? Tropp glanced around, suppressing the intense pressure in his chest and swallowing back the words that were about to come out.

In their eyes, Tropp saw hypocrisy, cunning, and malice. If he stood up for Cohen and opposed Bernhard's proposal, his own name might be added to the list of those who would die for this damned war, in addition to Cohen.

Faced with a choice between friends and his life, Tropp reluctantly chose the latter. However, his old friend Cohen didn't die in vain; he used his honor and life to remind himself that Bernhard was a scoundrel, a hypocritical politician who would sacrifice anyone for his own benefit—it was best to keep one's distance!
Just as the Allied leaders were racking their brains to glean information from every word Bernhard relayed from Cohen, gunfire erupted again from the positions on the west bank of the Ennbird River.

The fog wasn't too thick this evening, but the allied forces still launched their attack. They still couldn't escape the entanglement of fishing lines and hooks, accidentally detonating grenades again, and then the battle entered its nth boring phase.

The defenders would throw out bombs every now and then that could burn for a long time, creating a fiery backdrop in front of the defensive line, making it impossible for the coalition soldiers to completely conceal themselves with the fog.

The attackers lay motionless on the beach, crawling forward whenever the firelight dimmed, and rushing towards the firing positions they had observed during the day if the opportunity arose, hoping to get into hand-to-hand combat with the enemy. "Hurry up, hurry up, everyone keep up, don't make any splashing!" Compared to the dull, bloody, and brutal battle on the west bank, the night on the east bank of the Enbird River was not as quiet as it seemed.

Many Allied soldiers lay prone on the beach, all lightly armed and without weapons or armor. Under the direction of several squatting officers, every now and then a group of them would rise up, hold hands, and walk into the sea in an orderly and silent manner.

On the distant sea, the outlines of two large sailboats were defined by lights, serving as a backdrop. From the beach, the shadows between them could be clearly seen.

Those were two sloops, anchored in the waves a few hundred meters from the beach. The Allied soldiers would hold hands and go into the water, where they would find two ropes. They could swim along the ropes to get onto the boats.

This was the allied forces' secret plan: during the day, their navy pretended to fight desperately and entangled with the Ming navy, while at night, under the cover of darkness, they secretly sent troops from the shore onto ships.

On the first day, they used small boats for ferrying, but the speed was too slow and the rowing was too noisy. In order to avoid being discovered by the Ming army, they changed tactics on the second day and brought in several single-masted sailing ships, one of which was anchored to serve as a dock and connected to the beach with ropes.

This way, even if the soldiers weren't strong swimmers, they could hold onto the ropes and swim several hundred meters without being easily swept away by the waves. After arriving at the sailboat dock, several other sloops would take turns picking up and transferring the army soldiers to other cargo ships.

Compared to lifeboats that can only carry a dozen or so people at a time, sloops with a displacement of tens of tons are obviously much more efficient. The lights of the large sailboats in the distance and the anchor ropes perfectly solved the problems of positioning and not being able to get close to the beach, instantly increasing the boarding speed several times over.

If all goes well, and this operation continues as long as there are no major storms, over 800 people can board each night. If a few more boarding points are set up, several thousand people a night is not a problem, as there is no shortage of sloops and rope fleets.

However, this approach presents an insurmountable obstacle: as the number of soldiers on shore dwindles, it will inevitably alert the defenders. A small-scale counterattack launched during the day would immediately expose the weakness, leaving the Allied forces stranded on shore without evacuation, isolated and likely forced to surrender or be killed in action.

The question of how many troops should be reduced to a critical point, and who should be evacuated first and who should stay behind, are decisions that the coalition high command needs to consider and make. This decision is not easy to make; staying behind clearly means death, and no one would be happy to agree to it!
"Add two more evacuation points tomorrow night, and expedite the boarding of the French King's Guard, Piedmont Regiment, Flanders Legion, Hazfield Regiment, Bavarian Elector's Guard, and Croatian Light Infantry Regiment!"

However, Bernhard once again perfectly solved this problem with his personal abilities; he never intended to announce the retreat in the first place. The explanation given to the landing troops was rotation, because reinforcements from Europe had arrived, and therefore they needed to be rotated in shifts.

This not only effectively concealed the truth but also boosted morale and alleviated the war-weariness of the frontline soldiers. Most importantly, leaving behind a group of unsuspecting cannon fodder minimized the risk of the plan being exposed prematurely—a triple win.

(End of this chapter)