Conquer Europe from the West

Chapter 35 Four Hours Before the Battle

There is a huge threshold between the rank of second lieutenant and first lieutenant in the empire.

Although both lieutenants and second lieutenants can serve as unit commanders from squad to company level, the real difference is that lieutenants are senior officers who have undergone general officer education courses.

This means that lieutenants and higher-ranking officers often have stronger tactical and strategic thinking abilities than second lieutenants, and naturally, they also have a high say in decision-making.

Or perhaps, this is actually the result of the different division of labor between second lieutenants and lieutenants.

As students graduating from the non-commissioned officer school, warrant officers naturally become second lieutenants after passing the army's assessment, but what they learn is ultimately prepared for commanding a team.

This led to Brinkman subconsciously ignoring the overall movements of the imperial army when thinking about the empire's strategy and tactics, and only considering the problems in his own war zone.

The difference is that Lieutenant Schneider is a second lieutenant who is already qualified enough to command the company's operations. He has already been exposed to some technical knowledge related to lieutenant. The fact that he asked for leave to go home even though the war had already started was his correct judgment of the current battlefield.

That is, the Empire's total forces will always be continuously deployed to the Northern Front in accordance with the requirements of the Schlieffen Plan, while the Southern Front only needs to hold on for a period of time, and wait until the friendly forces on the Northern Front break through Farland, and then cooperate with them to attack the Farland army that is blocked on the border.

But Ryan didn't want to waste time on talking nonsense with Brinkman just yet.

This girl will definitely complete the general officer course in the future, not to mention that her name contains the word "Feng".

After simply sending away the little girl who was still thinking about the empire's future strategic intentions, Ryan stood up, took out his wallet, and gave the cashier ten marks.

"General, please use this to pay your bill next time you come."

The waiter seemed to be accustomed to this kind of thing, so he didn't say much, just took the money silently, and then turned back to the counter.

This is how our first night in Strasbourg passed.

What happened the next day was just as Brian and General Hellingen had said.

The head of rear services of the Fifth Military Region, along with the owners of several metal processing plants and a bicycle factory, found Ryan, who was waiting for Schneider's assault company in Strasbourg, and quickly finalized the production plan for the Esco explosion-proof wall.

After all, this is just an iron fence made of two pieces of one square meter wire mesh, four pieces of half a square meter wire mesh, and cloth or linen (the polypropylene technology tree has not yet been pointed out, and it will be too late to use it if it is pointed out).

The production price was not high. Not long after the accounting guy in the logistics department bargained, he successfully lowered the price of a basic unit from five marks to half a mark.

Ryan was actually a little dissatisfied with the accountant in logistics, because he felt that if this thing was made of iron wire that was not rust-proofed at all, it would not be worth more than 20 pfennigs at most. However, the accountant felt that the price should be lowered at least after the production volume increased, and the money for the initial fixture production and drawing design should not be reduced.

Ryan was actually still a little unhappy.

But the accountant then said that Ryan would receive a patent fee of ten pfennigs for each unit produced.

Now everyone is happy again.

On the third day, when the first batch of 200 handmade Esco explosion-proof walls were almost completed, Schneider's troops, the Morris Assault Company, also successfully arrived in Strasbourg by train.

Arriving with them were Brian, who had taken the time to skip work, a carriage full of Esco explosion-proof walls, and ten new cable-type excavators that the Fifth Military Region had urgently dispatched from the rear.

When these people and supplies arrived at the front line with Ryan, it was already the fourth day since Ryan arrived in Strasbourg.

Just a few hours before their departure, the reconnaissance squadron of the Seventh Army and the scouts of the loaned airship fleet confirmed the large-scale assembly of the Farlans in Belfort during routine reconnaissance.

But Ryan actually knew about this two days ago.

At that time, he received a call from Major Ludendorff from the front line in Liege, thanking Ryan for reminding him to bring more smoke bombs.

However, most other radio stations were overloaded. Upon inquiry, Ryan learned that the Farlanes might have blocked the channel. Considering that the radio waves that could currently interfere with Strasbourg could only come from Belfort, Ryan immediately concluded that the Farlanes were about to launch a large-scale offensive.

But Ryan did not choose to report this information immediately because doing so probably would not alert people.

So he chose a compromise.

First, he let McIver squat at the door of the headquarters for a long time. After seeing General Hellingen go out for dinner, he immediately took Brigadier General Bryan to the same restaurant, and intentionally or unintentionally told him about the wireless communication explosion when Hellingen came in.

It’s a pity that Hellingen didn’t understand this, but fortunately his adjutant did.

As a result, the next day, when Ryan was about to lead his troops to the front line to fight, the two infantry battalions that Hellingen had promised to allocate to him also arrived.

And the time he set off was exactly four o'clock in the morning on August 8th.

At this time, the simple railway station on the Mulhouse front.

"Everyone, immediately pull the garrison supplies off the train. Wolfe, you're a non-commissioned officer now! Don't fucking compete with privates for work! Come here and drive the loader off the rear panel truck!"

Brinkman's distinctive female voice pierced through the sound of the train's steam engine. She held a microphone rolled up with iron sheets and kept shouting orders to direct the troops' actions beside the platform. Her voice was so loud that even the engineers who were busy digging trenches half a mile away could hear it.

It had been twenty years since Brian last visited the front line, but in his opinion, the changes on the Empire's front line over the past twenty years were not that great.

The only difference is that a large part of the trenches that previously required manpower to dig can now be handled by machines.

This change gave him a long-lost sense of novelty, but when he thought about what he was going to do next, he became more and more aware that he was already somewhat behind the times.

Ryan stood aside, looking at the railway that was built all the way from Strasbourg and could lead directly to the front-line trenches, as well as the dense crowds around it, with a look similar to Brian's.

This reminded him of the Spring Festival travel rush when he was a child, when everyone carried bags of all sizes, and their belongings were food.

Just as he was about to find a motorcycle so that he could drive to the front line to confirm the location of his camp, a warrant officer from the communications company came up to him.

"Excuse me, Captain Ryan Fleagle of the Fifth Army?"

"I'm."

Ryan turned around and looked at the warrant officer: "What's going on?"

"Yes!" The young warrant officer saluted immediately and handed a telegram to Ryan.

Ryan thought it was some garrison news from the rear, but after just one look, his face immediately darkened.

"what happens?"

Brian asked.

Ryan glanced at him and handed him the telegram.

The mouth speaks.

"The Farlan Army will launch the first wave of attack within four hours."

"We don't have much time left."

(End of this chapter)