Conquer Europe from the West

Chapter 113 Our war beasts have been deployed!
That day, late at night.

Ryan's troops failed to launch the attack at the scheduled time.

Because the covering attack of Commander Constantine of the Fifth Army was seen by the Farlanders as a symbol of low proficiency, the Farlanders in Fort Douaumont could no longer sit still.

They sent soldiers out of the safety of the fortress and lit two smoke bombs on the platform at the top of the fortress, as if to tell the people of the Fifth Army - you missed the target, hit the target!

Commander Constantine didn't want to pay any attention to those stupid Farlans, but his 40th Army couldn't stand it anymore.

After enduring more than a dozen smoke bombs from the Farlanes, they suddenly saw the Farlanes lighting a bonfire above Fort Douaumont.

The artillery commander of the 40th Army, who was so angry that his lungs were about to explode, climbed up the observation tower on the spot, then rode his horse to the position, kicked away the artilleryman closest to him, adjusted the artillery parameters himself, and without even a test shot, blew the bonfire and several Farlans who were laughing at them beside the bonfire into ashes with just one shot.

But it's not over.

The sharpshooter felt unsatisfied after firing one shot, so he asked the loader to bring a dozen 150mm armor-piercing warheads. He wrote a lot of heartfelt words on the shells, sprinkled a lot of water on them, and then fired a full twelve enchanted shells at the location where the bonfire was lit.

Relieving qi is really relieving qi.

But this action directly disrupted Ryan's initial plan, but fortunately it was not serious.

Because Ryan can lead the team to attack at any time, but the Farlans can't.

At this time, it was already eleven o'clock that night.

Three hours had passed since sunset.

Airship Z331 is currently flying about ten kilometers south of Versailles.

During the day, due to the influence of lighting and various environmental factors, Ryan could not see the scene on the ground clearly, but it was different at night.

In this era before wartime blackouts, although Verdun was on the front line, it was still brightly lit.

There is no feeling of a big battle at all.

Then Ryan found the location of the Farlans' ammunition depot because of this.

Don't ask, the answer is that in order to ensure the safety of ammunition, the Farlanes cut off all the surrounding electricity and turned off all the lights.

The huge black hole in the middle of the city is not only conspicuous, but at least it makes people feel very confused.

But there is actually a problem with this.

Because the Farlanes sent airships to patrol over Verdant.

Two Republic-class airships lowered their anchors to the ground and floated at an altitude of more than 300 meters, monitoring the entire battlefield.

Ryan was somewhat glad that Joffre was timid.

After all, anyone with a brain knows that the higher the airship flies, the better the view.

But obviously, after losing four airships, Joffre and his Farlan General Staff have been in a state of high tension.

They were afraid that their already small fleet of airships would continue to be shot down, so they did not dare to send them out for reconnaissance missions. Also, the front-line troops lacked the intelligence advantage brought by aerial reconnaissance and were unable to successfully organize a large-scale offensive.

Apart from the first few days of the war, the largest offensive carried out by the Farlans so far was the first offensive launched at Belfort.

As a result, the Farlans now have lost their ability to attack and are helpless against the Empire's attacks.

But their command system did not collapse.

Taking the headquarters of the Third Army as an example, their commander Maurice Sarayi chose to send a certain number of reconnaissance planes to assist in the battle, and successfully commanded the battles of various fortresses through telephone lines and radio.

At the same time, he also coordinated with the soldiers of the Ninth and Fourth Armies to try to form a force of 100,000 people and deploy it to the front line west of Verdun.

Because Sarayi believed that the Empire would never be able to break through the fortress line on the east side of Verdun, the west side without the protection of the fortress line became the battle line that determined the life and death of Verdun.

I have to say that Sarai's judgment was very correct.

But he also had a lot of faults.

First of all, his judgment on the direction of the Empire's attack was correct, but since they discovered that the Empire's target was Verdun, his judgment lost its effect.

Because in Sarayi's eyes, he believed that the Empire would send all the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Armies to the vicinity of Verdun in order to complete the occupation of Verdun.

But the empire would not actually do this, so Sarai was essentially placing an army of 100,000 on a front where an offensive was almost impossible.

Secondly, Sarai knew that the Empire had forced the Kingdom of Perij to surrender by launching a blitzkrieg on Ostend.

But he didn't know how the Empire did it, he just thought that the Empire had a very mobile army.

To this end, he chose to place his headquarters at the southernmost end of the Farland Front, rather than in Verdun, or closer to the main forces of other army groups, in the form of a joint command.

And this is exactly Sarayi's biggest mistake this time.

Because, just as he was busy mobilizing his 100,000 troops to the north-south front west of Verdun and preparing to start building simple positions.

Two Zeppelin-class airships had quietly locked onto his ammunition depot at Verdun.

The three fleets led by Z332, Z333 and Z334 have also brought their own air liaison boats, plus the Zeppelin-class airships assigned to their own fleets, and have locked onto the three key areas of Fort Douaumont, Fort Vaux and Saint-Mihiel on the east side of Verdun.

Inside the crew cabin of Z331
After completing the task handover, Ryan looked at the operator beside him, nodded to him, and signaled him to open the hatch.

Beside him, Brinkman, who was already fully armed, looked at the slowly falling hatch in front of him with dissatisfaction.

Thanks to the massive bombardment during the day, the area around Verdun was now covered in a gray haze, and there was even a light rain.

This made visibility at night extremely low, and the moonlight that was expected to be there could not be visually confirmed at all.

Outside the hatch.

An air liaison boat had already stuffed its airbag into the groove above the 331 cargo hold, and opened its side door at the same time, bringing the boarding bridge to Ryan.

The platoon leader of the assault company was watching Ryan from inside.

Holding the submachine gun he had just been issued, he stepped on the pedal outside and reached out to Ryan.

Ryan looked at this scene and said almost subconsciously: "Give me the pistol first."

"Huh?" The platoon leader was stunned for a moment, then he turned sideways: "I don't have a pistol, sir!"

"Oh, that's okay."

Ryan touched his head, pushed Brinkman onto the corridor bridge first, and then followed him onto the airship.

The external hatch was immediately closed and the jet bridge was retracted.

The platoon leader made a gesture to the operator of 331, and within a few seconds, the two airships exited the docking state and quickly separated.

Inside the air liaison chamber, Ryan leaned on an air-blast bomb converted from an oil drum and looked out the front window through the uncovered cabin: "How are the troops?"

The platoon leader immediately said, "We completed the deployment of personnel half an hour ago. They are currently on standby in the field three kilometers east of Leruville."

Ryan nodded in satisfaction. As he opened the system map, he asked, "How are the people in the first, second, and third battalions?"

According to the previously determined plan, the three battalions of the infantry regiment will carry out offensive operations against Fort Douaumont, Fort Vaud and Saint-Mihiel respectively.

However, due to changes in plans, the first and second battalions now do not have suitable landing conditions.

This also resulted in Ryan only being able to see on the map that more than 200 people from the Third Battalion had completed their assembly work behind enemy lines, and the remaining people were slowly approaching.

But the people in the first and second camps were still hiding in the cabin of the Zeppelin-class ship and did not take any action.

Taking into account their altitude and the efficiency of the air liaison boats, Ryan judged that it would take at least twelve round trips for each air liaison boat to get all of these 2,000 people to the ground.

It was already late, and he had previously instructed Z331's first mate Clementon to immediately send an order to the Fifth Army Headquarters in Montmedy to launch a general offensive once it was twelve o'clock.

Therefore, no matter what, Ryan had to ensure that all these people would fall to the ground before half past eleven.

The platoon leader said: "There are currently about 100 people in the rd Battalion waiting in the Zeppelin, and the rest are gathering on the ground."

"The commanders of the first and second battalions sent a telegram earlier, stating that after the troops have completed the bombing, they will immediately request the Zeppelin to lower its altitude and descend to the battlefield via rappel."

"Isn't it a bit dangerous?"

Ryan leaned over to the porthole and looked out at Fort Douaumont and Fort Vaux in the distance. The two pentagonal concrete fortresses were now spewing forth huge bursts of red flames, while Imperial shells rained down from the sky like they were free. They landed on top of the fortresses, or around them, kicking up countless clouds of dirt.

Because there was no moonlight tonight and it was drizzling, all the fortresses and artillery positions looked unusually conspicuous - whether they were from the Empire or Farlan.

"For now, that's the case."

The platoon leader recalled what Second Lieutenant Perris, who was in charge of directing the 1st Battalion's landing operations, had said: "The wind is quite strong tonight, and it's easy for the airship to lose its position on the ground..."

Ryan glanced at him, and then he heard the platoon leader say, "But this isn't a problem for the troops, because today's artillery bombardment by the Fifth Army successfully plowed the ground behind the two forts. As long as you're not unlucky enough to fall on rocks, even a fool can land safely."

"That's good."

Ryan nodded. He believed in Lieutenant Perris's judgment. After all, the other party had actually received military training in parachuting and rappelling, which was completely different from himself who was a half-baked person who only knew the concepts.

It was at this time that several aerial communication boats that had completed the deployment of the last batch of soldiers from the Third Battalion appeared in Ryan's sight.

They first flew about 20 meters away from Saint-Mihiel, and after circling a large circle, they quickly left the ground at a climbing speed of meters per second and disappeared from everyone's sight.

Their actions were so fast that it almost made Ryan drop his jaw in shock.

Then Ryan saw that several pilots around him had a glittering golden badge hanging on their clothes.

One of the pilots noticed Ryan's surprise, but he smacked his lips and said, "Two of the people in Team Four haven't won the European Speed ​​Race Championship. If it were us, we'd have to run at least 100 meters in one second."

"Forget it then."

Ryan immediately patted the other person's shoulder and said, "Change course, let's circle around Leruville."

"Yes."

The pilot responded immediately and pushed the throttle.

A humming sound came from the back of the airship, and the scene in front of Ryan began to change.

He stood in front of the porthole on one side, looking at the scenery on the ground, constantly comparing the lights and houses according to the regional data.

The scene was similar to what he had confirmed before.

The headquarters of the Farlan Third Army was placed around the train station, with a company of troops guarding the front, back, left and right, but the total number of troops was less than a battalion.

And to the west of Leruville there was a dense cluster of red dots. Ryan couldn't see the number of people, but the system indicated that there were at least two regiments.

The two regiments were stationed about fifteen kilometers from Lerouville, facing Bar-le-Duc, with their backs to a very narrow dirt road and no trucks.

This made Ryan feel a lot more at ease.

Because they were obviously guarding against the right wing of the Fifth Army in the direction of Bar-le-Duc, and even the artillery positions were facing the direction of Bar-le-Duc.

Then he muttered to himself, "What a bunch of idiots!", towards the airship depot behind the Third Army headquarters.

The pilot next to him: "What idiot?"

Ryan was stunned for a moment, then pointed to the airship warehouse not far away on the ground: "Over there, do you see it?"

The pilot was also stunned for a moment. After searching for a while, he found that Ryan was pointing at an airship warehouse: "Oh my god, how did you find it?"

Ryan scratched his head: "I don't need to fly an airship."

After saying that, he returned to the rear passenger compartment.

The platoon leader also looked at the ground because he heard what he and the pilot said, but obviously he couldn't see anything.

Ryan ignored him and walked straight to Brinkman. "We've confirmed the location of the enemy headquarters. It's 300 meters southwest of the train station."

Brinkman immediately pulled out the cut-up map and flipped through it, finding the train station. "That's where the three rows of landings are, less than 500 meters away as the crow flies."

Ryan frowned and looked at the two maps: "Then there's no way to use bombs to help them clear the ground."

"We can use ground-based searchlights to guide them," Brinkman said, tapping the headquarters' position. "The first and second platoons are now due west and north, respectively. We can have them attack from the northwest and simultaneously bomb the Farlan forces guarding Baredic. This will disrupt the enemy's command system."

"How long can this confusion last?" Ryan asked.

Brinkman bit his lower lip, his eyes rolling around. "Ten minutes. If Sarai reacts quickly, maybe five?"

Ryan: "That's enough. Get the troops ready, pilot!"

"Yes!" the captain responded immediately.

"Go due west. There are two Farlan infantry regiment camps fifteen kilometers away. Call three small boats and we will send them to see their king!"

The Farlanes killed their king a few years ago, Ryan read about it in a book some time ago.

His words immediately amused everyone in the airship. The bombardier responsible for dropping the bomb knocked hard on the aluminum alloy seat under his buttocks with his hands. The pilot in front laughed so hard that he even loosened the control stick. The platoon leaders did not dare to laugh, but also covered their mouths and banged their heads against the cabin wall.

After waiting for half a minute, the airship was back on track, and the captain finally replied, "Yes, sir!"

at the same time.

The three air liaison boats that received the order immediately flew out from the Zeppelin above Saint-Mihiel and reunited with the one where Ryan was at the fastest speed. One of them was left stationed above Lerouville to provide intelligence support to the three platoons below.

But Ryan was not prepared to let them wait for long. After all, he was planning to personally lead the troops to carry out the attack on the headquarters.

Ryan was still a little worried about letting the assault company personally carry out the attack on the headquarters.

Because his goal was to capture the commander of the Farlan Third Army and seize Farlan's intelligence documents, such as the telegraph code book.

The boys and girls in the assault company (there are quite a few female officers in the assault company, accounting for one-third) are good at fighting, but they are too young and easily get carried away.

Fortunately, the air liaison boat is very fast, about 150 kilometers per hour.

This gave Ryan the confidence to rush to the front line from the rear before their attack was over.

A few minutes later.

The three small boats were already parked steadily two kilometers above the two infantry regiments.

The soldier in charge of dropping the bombs was busy for a while, then he said, "Lieutenant Colonel, the calibration is complete."

Ryan looked out the porthole and found that the other two boats also sent out light signals.

"Wait a minute."

He reached out to stop the bombardier, walked to the radio next to him, and asked the operator to call the Fifth Army Headquarters in Montmedy.

Current wireless communications cannot be encrypted, so Ryan is now speaking on the public frequency.

The next moment, the urgent voice of the communicator came from the receiver. The person on the other end was well aware that their communication was being eavesdropped: "This is Florence, go ahead."

But Ryan didn't speak immediately.

He first said "This is Blue Star", using his call sign to force the other party not to cut off the communication.

After waiting for more than ten seconds, a noise suddenly appeared in the receiver.

Hooked!
Ryan's mouth corners curled up slightly.

But Constantine's subtle curse came from the other end of the line: "We're being tapped, hang up!"

But the correspondent was smart enough to write a note to Constantine.

Constantine's voice disappeared immediately, and Ryan finally ended his silence and gave a thumbs up to the bombardier waiting on the side.

Mouth and say.

"Blue Star Notice to the Entire Fifth and Sixth Armies."

"Final Offensive!"

"Our behemoths have been deployed!"

"The whole army attacks!"

(End of this chapter)