Conquer Europe from the West

Chapter 59: Offense is the best defense
On the Vosges Mountains.

With the arrival of the last batch of ammunition, Ryan's tense heart finally relaxed.

After briefly instructing his subordinates not to fire at will, Ryan took Brinkman, who had rested well, and several soldiers, and climbed to the highest ridge, dragging the telephone line all the way.

Having a map and being able to see the enemy's deployment and position is naturally a good thing, but Ryan still feels uneasy.

Because the information you can see on the map is very different from the information in reality.

Ryan couldn't expect his subordinates to be able to find the positions of all enemies quickly without considering environmental factors like he did.

At this time, they had built a simple hidden reconnaissance post and began to confirm the situation in Balfour from the ridge.

The time is now one in the morning, and there are still six hours until sunrise.

But the lights in Belfort were still on.

At a farther distance - about ten kilometers away from Belfort, some sparse lights can be seen.

Those were where the remaining troops of the First Army were located.

Currently, Ryan cannot see their movements on the map, which is why he wants to know whether the Farlans have changed their commander.

Suddenly, just as Ryan was thinking, Brinkman's voice came into his ears: "The Farlans should launch the next offensive soon."

Ryan asked back, "How do you say that?"

Brinkmann: "The commander of the First Flemish Army is General Louis Bonnot, a stale conservative. Even before the coup, he was a renowned advocate of decisive line battles. His favorite thing was to demand continuous attacks in front of his men. Therefore, whenever you face him, you must be prepared to fight against a tide of troops."

She made it clear, so Ryan immediately gasped: "There are still such idiots in this day and age? Our luck is too damn good...huh?"

Ryan paused: "Aren't you afraid of a mutiny in the army?"

Brinkman rolled his eyes at him. "The troops under his command were built up during the time of the Emperor of the Farlan Empire. Wasn't that mentioned in the previous briefing?"

"I did not see."

Ryan returned.

But now he understood one thing.

The enemy's purchase of black cloth was indeed preparation for launching an attack.

This shows that Louis Bonneau's order at least gave some people in the First Farland Army a certain say - probably because they had to do so in order to complete the order.

However, Ryan did not forget that many people in Farlan suffered from night blindness.

Let a group of blind men move around at night wearing black clothes.

He found it funny just thinking about it.

No matter how funny it is, we still have to do our work.

He nodded to the signalman who was setting up the telephone line, indicating that he wanted to talk to the staff headquarters in the rear.

The call was quickly connected, and the person who answered was a major staff officer of the 17th Army of the Seventh Army Group.

Ryan: "I'm Captain Ryan Flig. My troops have established an observation post in the Vosges Mountains. We've confirmed that the Farlanes are planning a counterattack. Hasn't the intelligence department confirmed the identity of their commander for this operation?"

A muffled voice came from the other end of the phone, probably because someone was covering the microphone. Ryan could only hear a few unclear words.

He waited for a long time before he finally heard the voice of the major staff officer.

"That's right," the major staff officer said, "We did receive the intelligence, but we're still verifying its authenticity, so we haven't provided it to your unit yet."

"You speak first." Ryan was speechless by this group of people in the staff department, but he immediately remembered that Brian was not responsible for the command at night, so he did not blame them.

The distinctive scraping sound of paper could be heard from the other end of the line, and then the other party read: "The latest intelligence indicates that Louis Bonneau, commander-in-chief of the French First Army, ordered his Eighth Army, the division that had previously launched the attack, to complete the capture of Mulhouse by noon yesterday... Damn, this order is too stupid..."

The major couldn't hold it in any longer before he finished reading, but Ryan was furious with him.

He almost yelled, "Why didn't you tell me about such an important matter earlier?"

These damn bastards.

Ryan was furious.

Fortunately, I asked an extra question, otherwise I would have to wait until the battle was over to find out about this.

Then the major staff officer said something that made him even angrier.

"We're still trying to verify its authenticity! Besides, how could a division of them capture Mulhouse in just one night?"

The words were filled with accusation, as if Ryan was making a big deal out of nothing. Speaking of forgetting, the major added, "Furthermore, your mission is to protect the Empire's borders and repel the enemy. You simply need to be prepared to engage them at any time."

His words made Ryan so angry that he couldn't say anything.

In anger, Ryan hung up the phone, thinking that he would go to Brian tomorrow to report these idiots in the Seventh Army. At the same time, he turned his attention back to Belfort, which was still brightly lit even in the middle of the night.

"What did the headquarters say?" Brinkman leaned close to Ryan and asked in a low voice.

Ryan replied angrily: "That idiot named Louis Bonnot ordered one of his corps to capture Mulhouse before noon today."

"really?"

"Sometimes an order that sounds stupid may be correct." Ryan said expressionlessly.

The previous attack was launched by troops from a division under the Second Army of the First Army.

The standard of the Farlan army is that one group has four to five armies under it, one army has three divisions under it, and one division has about 15,000 people.

In the previous battle, Ryan and his men cooperated with the artillery to defeat three Farlan infantry regiments, totaling about 10,000 troops.

Although Wolfe said that the guy named Pierre said that their troops were all from the same division, Ryan felt that he could not believe everything that guy said.

But this information is exactly the same as what that idiot from the General Staff just said, which is very important.

I took another look at the map.

A large number of red dots have now gathered in the city of Belfort.

Ryan couldn't see the number, but judging from the density, it should be a regiment, about two to three thousand people.

Considering what he had seen of the Farlanes buying black cloth, Ryan thought they were making preparations for the attack.

Considering that the commander of this group of Farlans was most likely not the same idiot as the previous three regiments, Ryan suddenly had a bad premonition.

Then, he discovered something very fatal.

These Farlanes actually divided their troops into groups of three, with ten groups forming a batch, and sent a group of people into the Vosges Mountains every once in a while!
Exit from the map immediately.

Ryan picked up the telescope and looked in the direction of Balfour.

Soon, he saw a group of Farlans leading the group.

Even standing in the light, they were still covered in darkness.

There is no red at all.

"Damn it, the Farlans are attacking."

He let out a low growl in his throat, then picked up the phone and dialed the number of the artilleryman that General Schubert had lent him.

"The Farlans have launched an attack, start bombarding immediately!"

Thirty seconds later.

Accompanied by two earth-shaking noises.

Two 150mm grenades fell into the city of Belfort.

But Ryan was not happy.

The Farlanes, who had already begun to explore the tactic of dispersing their formations and attacking forward, would not be defeated by two or three cannons.

Not to mention that the other side has an army of troops at its disposal.

On the ridge, Ryan looked coldly at the burning Balfour and gave orders to his adjutant Brinkman.

"Contact all troops."

"The 4th Battalion begins bombarding Belfort with artillery. Use up all the ammunition."

"The Second Battalion and the Assault Company should only retain enough personnel to maintain the machine gun fire points. The rest of the personnel should assemble."

"What are we going to do?" Brinkman demanded.

Ryan didn't look at her.

His eyes were still fixed on Belfort.

"Capture Belfort before sunrise."

(End of this chapter)