I was a tycoon in World War I: Starting to save France

Chapter 83: Smoke
General Guise commanded the troops at the front line.

It was more like acting, disguise, and setting up a trap than commanding the operation, using the plan that Charles mentioned of pretending that Fort Wavre was blown up.

This plan sounds simple, but its implementation is still somewhat difficult. Last night, several people including Albert I discussed it until eleven o'clock.

"How can we deceive the Germans?" General Giss frowned and said, "The Germans have three observation balloons. They have arranged observers to use telescopes to watch Wavre Castle. They know clearly whether Wavre Castle has been blown up!"

The observer's task is to observe the landing point of the artillery shell, if it is too left or right, or too close or too far, and then use signal flags to notify the artillery below to correct the trajectory so that the next shell has a chance to get closer to the target.

General Giss had some self-blame in his eyes when he said this. If the vegetation and trees around the fortress were still there, this might not be a problem. The enemy observers would not be able to see the fortress clearly and would certainly not be able to see through the camouflage.

"That's easy to fix!" Charles replied. "We can just put smoke around the fort!"

"Set off a fire?" General Gis looked up at Charles in surprise.

"Yes!" Charles nodded. "Set a few fires around and throw some rubber products or used tires into the fire. They will make the smoke thick and black and gather in the low altitude, which can block the sight of enemy observers. The disadvantage is that it smells a bit bad!"

General Giss was surprised and delighted. For the first time, he praised sincerely: "That's a good idea, Lieutenant!"

This is very good news for General Gis.

If smoke can solve this problem, then his mistake of having people clear vegetation and trees does not exist or cannot be considered a big mistake?!
The more General Gis thought about it, the more excited he became. The crime that had been pressing on his back and making him breathless suddenly disappeared. To Charles, this was just a sentence and a thought. How did this little guy do it!
General Winter and Albert were equally surprised by this. It was indeed feasible and even easy to do, but no one had ever thought of doing it.

Charles just smiled easily, this was commonplace in modern wars.

The air force is at a disadvantage, pull the smoke!
The logistics convoy wants to avoid enemy aircraft bombing, so it pulls smoke!
The firepower is not as good as the enemy's, so they hope to fight in close combat and hand-to-hand combat, and pull smoke!

The reason why people of this era didn't think of this may be because there was no air threat at all.

……

General Gis was the most active in this regard. He called on the whole city to collect rubber products overnight. No matter whether it was motorcycles or cars, all tires had to be removed and handed in, even military vehicles were no exception.

Some officers and soldiers protested: "General, what if we want to transport ammunition and supplies?"

General Giss asked loudly, "How many rounds have you fired?"

The officers and soldiers fell silent in an instant.

The Germans spent most of the time leisurely bombarding with heavy artillery outside the Belgian army's range, and many fortresses were destroyed without a single shot being fired.

What's more, the farthest point of Antwerp is only more than ten kilometers away, and transportation to the front line can be solved by horses or even manpower.

As soon as it got light, General Gis ordered his troops to light fires and burn rubber around the fortress. The effect was immediate, and the area around the fortress was instantly covered by black smoke.

The side effect is, as Shire said, "somewhat unpleasant".

This was a torture for the soldiers hiding in the fortress. The air in the fortress was already very turbid. The soldiers had hoped that the ventilation holes could bring in some fresh air, but what came in was "rubber air" with a burnt smell.

Immediately, soldiers from the fortress called the headquarters to protest, including Colonel Eden stationed at Fort Wavre. Colonel Eden complained while coughing: "General, if this continues, we will be choked to death by the smoke before the enemy can attack us!"

General Giss answered simply and succinctly: "You make the decision, Colonel! Continue to release smoke or expose the fort to enemy fire. Choose one!"

Colonel Eden didn't expect General Giss to pass the buck to him. After thinking for a while, he finally chose the former: "Keep setting off smoke. At least there's hope of survival!"

Compared to setting off smoke screens, the German bombing was even more terrifying, especially because the shells did not come all at once, but one every half hour. It was like waiting for the death penalty, and no one knew whether they could survive the next half hour.

After General Giss put down the phone, he complained: "These guys are always looking for excuses to complain!"

……

The German commander Bessler was in a very bad state.

As soon as it got light, he found that the target was shrouded in black smoke and he could not see anything clearly. He turned his eyes to the balloon in the sky, where the observers were waving signal flags frantically, indicating that they felt the same way.

"General!" The signalman came to relay the artillery's question: "Major Frakes said the artillery is ready. Shall we fire now?"

Besler hesitated. Firing in this situation would have almost no chance of hitting the target and would undoubtedly be a waste of shells.

but……

"Keep firing!" Bessler gritted his teeth and ordered, "Shoot at the center of the smoke!"

"Yes, General!"

If it were any other time, Bessler would definitely not order the firing, but now is an extraordinary period, Charles is right in front, and he needs to continue to put pressure on the Belgians to force them to hand over Charles.

Therefore, fire even if you can't hit the target!
Soon, there was a loud "boom" and the shells flew into the smoke with a whistling sound.

A moment before the shell hit the ground, the smoke sank like a flattened balloon, and then suddenly exploded with a loud bang, filling the sky with dust.

Besler found that the situation was even worse. The smoke from the exploding shells and the dust blown into the air mixed with the smoke from the enemy's burning. They tightly wrapped the fortress like a ball of gray-black cotton, and even the center could not be determined.

All the staff officers turned their heads to look at Bessler, as if asking, continue?
Bessler gritted his teeth, but still ordered: "Keep firing!"

As a result, my luck came. It should be the fifth shell that was fired. The explosion of this shell was obviously different from the previous ones. After a deafening bang, thick smoke and flames billowed in the direction of the fortress, and they did not stop for a long time.

The observer on the balloon signaled, and the staff excitedly translated the flag: "The surviving enemy is fleeing, and we have seen their wounded!"

The German officers and soldiers cheered, and Bessler was so excited that he couldn't control himself.

This is Wavre Fort. Blowing it up means that the German army can cut off Antwerp's fresh water supply, and it will only be a matter of time before the Belgians surrender.

What Bessler didn't know was that he thought the fire and smoke were the result of the explosion of Fort Wavre, but in fact it was General Guise who had the gasoline and gunpowder piled up and ignited...

(End of this chapter)