Conquer Europe from the West

Chapter 65 Another fatal whistle

The sudden sound of artillery woke General Louis Bonneau.

He likes to be at the front line but does not directly intervene in the command. At this moment, he has changed into formal clothes and is sitting in the headquarters of the First Army.

He had just given a death order to the commander of the Eighth Army a few hours ago, requiring him to capture Mulhouse within 24 hours.

But judging from the current situation, this task is unlikely to be completed.

In the army headquarters, which was converted from a large hotel, Louis Bonneau listened to the sound of artillery fire and the unique sound of burning flames, and felt dissatisfied.

He was tired of hearing this sound during the war decades ago, and based on his own experience, he judged that the Empire's artillery did not have the ability to completely destroy the entire Belfort.

"How is the Eighth Army doing now?"

Standing in front of the window on the second floor, Louis Bono held a cup of coffee and asked the somewhat frightened adjutant beside him with some curiosity.

"Yes!"

The adjutant immediately took over. "Major General Damon is currently commanding his troops to attack the Vosges Mountains and has sent a regiment across the Rhine. He probably wants to first deal with the enemy ambushes on both sides of the battlefield before launching the attack on Mulhouse."

He had participated in the Eighth Army's combat meetings before, so he said some things that Louis Bonneau wanted to hear.

But he didn't say a word about adjusting the color of the military uniform.

Louis Bonneau was an extremely conservative person, and the adjutant didn't think that he would be able to resist "micro-managing" the troops of the Eighth Army after knowing Major General Damon's actions.

The development of the matter was indeed consistent with the adjutant's speculation.

After hearing his speech, Louis Bono nodded with satisfaction, then asked, "So how does he plan to deal with the current situation?"

"what?"

The adjutant's eyebrows twitched. He thought what Louis Bonnot said was a little strange. "General, what do you mean?"

"Do you need me to repeat it?"

Louis Bonneau raised one eyebrow and turned his bulging, deep-set eyes towards the young adjutant.

"Are they not going to protect Balfour?"

His adjutant was immediately puzzled by what he said. He thought that there were only tens of thousands of people left in the Eighth Army, and many of them were non-combat troops with no combat capability.

Now the troops are divided into two groups to carry out the battle, and there are not many troops left at all. Do you still want people to protect Balfour?
Are the other troops just there to eat and eat? Or do they no longer need to stay in Belfort and can go back?

Various thoughts flashed through the adjutant's mind, but he wasn't stupid enough to say them out loud. He simply said, "The Eighth Army has a heavy workload. Currently, the frontline staff believes it will be difficult for the Empire to launch an attack on Belfort."

"Is it?"

Louis Bono took a deep breath and did not ask any further questions.

This made the adjutant feel relieved, and he thought that he had to rush to the Eighth Army's front-line staff headquarters to check his statements with them.

To this end, he almost immediately added to Louis Bonnot: "I will go to the Eighth Army headquarters to confirm their next move."

"Go." As soon as the short sentence was finished, the adjutant immediately felt relieved.

He quickly put down the folder in his hand, picked up his hat, turned around and left the hotel, appearing on the street outside.

Because of the continuous bombardment by the Imperial Army, one-third of Belfort has now been damaged.

Fires raged in every street, and fire trucks and most of the troops not on combat missions were put into the work of extinguishing the fires.

After running through the streets of Belfort and tasting all kinds of smoke, the young adjutant finally arrived at the Eighth Army Headquarters on the outskirts of the city.

But before he could go in, he heard Damon yelling at his staff officers.

"You said the troops we sent to capture the mountain area are all gone? What the hell is going on?!"

"I told you to capture the Vosges Mountains! That was an order! Now all the men are gone? That's a whole regiment!"

The adjutant almost immediately thought of turning around and leaving, but before he could turn around, he met the eyes of Major General Damon in the gate.

Damon, who was so excited that he was about to explode, immediately calmed down. He did not continue to quarrel with his men. Instead, he walked out and looked at Louis Bono's adjutant: "Colonel Chuck, why are you here?"

"The General just asked me how you plan to deal with the defense of Belfort. I told him that the front-line staff believes that the Empire is unlikely to launch an attack on Belfort."

"Thank you." Damon's face darkened for a moment, then returned to normal.

He knew that the other party had come to contradict him, so he immediately gestured for him to come in and returned to the headquarters.

"I'm sure you've heard just now, Colonel Chuck. Our men are encountering resistance from the Imperial Army on the front lines, and the current situation is very unclear."

As he spoke, he took Chuck to the side of the sand table and asked a staff officer to explain the current situation to him.

"We sent two regiments to carry out the operation. One regiment went to the Vosges Mountains. Currently, about 500 people have entered the Vosges Mountains, but we have completely lost contact with them."

"Another regiment has already crossed the Rhine. They sent back intelligence ten minutes ago. They have confirmed the Imperial Army's forward artillery positions and are now making preparations for the attack."

As he spoke, he placed a chess piece representing a regiment of troops on the sand table on the other side of the Rhine.

Chak took another look toward the Vosges Mountains.

He saw more than a dozen chess pieces - just enough to make up two regiments of troops - placed at the foot of the Vosges Mountains. Two of them were placed on the mountain, but based on what was said just now, these people should have been killed.

How did the Imperial Army kill them? Chuck suddenly felt something was wrong, but he didn't say it directly. He just asked indirectly: "How do you want me to report to the general?"

Major General Damon said, "You can tell him that our troops are preparing to launch an attack from the east bank of the Rhine. Before sunrise, the main force will set out from the front battlefield, but we need artillery cover, and preferably smoke bombs."

"What do these two regiments in the Vosges say?" Chuck pressed on.

Damon's voice immediately dropped considerably. He said, "Their attack was disrupted by the bombardment. We believe we need to temporarily suspend our advance. Perhaps we can use it as a defense against Belfort."

"That's it." Chuck nodded immediately, then he subconsciously looked up at the Vosges Mountains in the distance: "Why is there a whistle?"

(End of this chapter)