Conquer Europe from the West

Chapter 70: Destroy the Headquarters

More than thirty flares almost turned the entire hotel into an oven. Damon protected his eyes with his hands and sleeves, but he still inevitably inhaled several breaths of exhaust gas released by the burning flares.

This made him fall to the ground on the spot. He kept coughing with such force that his lungs were almost bursting, and he looked like he would die at any moment.

The people around him are not much better.

Officers and soldiers were lying or falling to the ground. A few unlucky ones were hit directly by flares. Although their blue tweed uniforms saved their lives, they could not prevent them from being engulfed by flames.

Louis Bonneau was completely panicked. The commander of the First Army didn't even have the strength to stand up. He just leaned against the wall of the headquarters. His pale face finally had some color, but the pair of eyes that seemed to want to eat Damon alive were hidden under his tightly closed eyelids, without even a crack.

Colonel Chuck tried to struggle, but he even had difficulty breathing, let alone fighting back.

The roar of the Imperial Army's attack could be heard outside the window. Amidst the sounds of "LOSLOSLOS", soldiers wearing gas masks and holding rifles rushed into the hotel.

"Leave the soldiers alone! Capture the officers!"

Ryan was also wearing a gas mask. Outside the yellow glass was a scene illuminated by flares, which looked like a welding workshop.

This forced him to raise his head slightly and be careful not to be blinded by the flares.

The rest of the soldiers followed his example, continuing to form teams of three and quickly occupying the entire hotel.

Sparse gunshots continued to ring out in the hotel, making everyone feel dizzy.

Just as Ryan was leading his men to deal with the Farlans on the second floor, McIver came running down from upstairs: "Captain, we've caught Louis Bono!!"

McIver's voice was so urgent that Ryan couldn't understand what he meant at first.

But soon Ryan remembered the name of Louis Noble: "The commander-in-chief of the First Army?"

"Yes!"

McIver nodded almost immediately, and the long nose of the gas mask hit Ryan's shoulder, causing Ryan to shrink his shoulders involuntarily.

However, Ryan did not give the order immediately.

the reason is simple.

He suddenly felt a little reluctant to catch this idiot and left.

It would be better for the Farlans to keep a few more idiots in their army so that the Empire's front line will not be under too much pressure.

But he immediately gave up the idea.

Because this man named Louis Bonnot obviously had no chance to continue to sit in the position of commander-in-chief of the First Army.

His command was terrible. He only ordered his men to attack without even thinking about the tactics.

In just one night, he lost almost ten thousand people, and the number is still increasing.

Even if he still wanted to sit in the position of commander-in-chief of the First Army, the generals under him would not accept it.

Looking back at past history, the commander of the French First Army was indeed replaced after two consecutive failures. It can be said that it was a rare combination of gods and men.

In that case, we might as well capture him and see what information we can get out of him.

If that information is still useful.

Ryan, having made up his mind, spoke up: "Send two squads to count all officers above the rank of colonel, and deal with the rest on the spot."

"Yes!"

McIver immediately turned and left.

Ryan hurriedly left the hotel and hid behind the machine gun position that had been captured and rebuilt to confirm Belfort's current situation.

Farlan's legion has now been completely driven down from the mountain. The commander seems to be a stubborn donkey, and keeps trying to command the troops to rush up the hillside and take down the second battalion.

But a small number of soldiers had already left the front line and were about to arrive at the next street.

"The machine gun team, don't stay here. Go to the intersection ahead and find a secluded place to set up your guns."

Ryan patted the machine gunner on the shoulder and gave orders to him and the two soldiers beside him.

Several soldiers immediately packed up their things and began to move in the direction Ryan pointed.

The rest of the soldiers, upon seeing the machine gunner move, followed suit, their rifles occasionally emitting red fire snakes, suppressing the Farlan soldiers still on their way. Two minutes later, a burst of intense gunfire suddenly rang out in the hotel.

Ryan looked towards the gate and found that seven or eight Farlanes wearing generals' uniforms and with cloth covering their heads were driven out by McIver and his men.

These Farlanes were almost stripped naked, leaving only their inner shirts and the white shorts issued by the army, so that Ryan couldn't tell who was who at first.

But it's too late to ask these questions now.

"Take them all away! Remember not to get caught up." Ryan pointed in the direction they came from, then looked at McIver: "Did you find any equipment like a radio station?"

"Have!"

McIver nodded vigorously: "But it won't work."

Ryan: "Fuck."

He reached out and scratched his head, feeling like he was holding his breath and couldn't let it out.

After thinking for about half a minute, Ryan finally made a decision.

He first pulled out a green flare from his belt, signaling mission accomplished, and fired it into the sky, saying, "There's nothing we can do. Smash it, and then we'll retreat."

A little earlier.

Mulhouse.

Brigadier General Brian always felt that the front line was a little too lively tonight.

The front line fired so many flares that there was no need to turn on the street lights in the whole of Mulhouse.

The sound of cannons continued, making it impossible for anyone to live in peace.

Brian was not originally in charge of the command that night, but just as he was about to leave the staff headquarters, he happened to receive a message from Ryan requesting supplies.

This was no problem, Brian approved it immediately.

After all, Ryan is in charge of the current front-line defense operations. The troops under his command only consist of two battalions and one company. It is obviously not an easy task to defend a battlefield that is six kilometers long.

Furthermore, Brian also heard the news that the Farlans were about to launch a second wave of attack, which made everyone in the staff and headquarters alert. More than a dozen battalions were almost immediately transferred from the rear to the front line in Mulhouse and began to deploy firepower according to the tactics proposed by Ryan before.

This was something that was already familiar, Brian thought.

But when he was ready to fight all night and waited at the staff headquarters until late at night, he still did not receive any news of the Farlans crossing the border.

Something is wrong.

Brian stared at the map and the newly developed aerial photographs, his eyes practically glued to them. "Didn't we agree to launch an attack? Why is it that until now, all we can hear is the sound of our own artillery?"

An adjutant stood beside him, but because there was still no news from the front, he had nothing to say: "It's not clear yet. We haven't received any battle reports from the front. We need to contact..."

"Why don't you give them a call and ask?" Brian nodded hesitantly.

He looked at his adjutant and thought that the artillery on the front line had been firing for several hours without stopping. Logically, after such a long time, some Farlans must have slipped through the fire network. How come there was no fighting yet?

On the side, the adjutant just happened to answer the phone call connecting to the Second Battalion’s base.

Almost at the same time, in the distance, above Belfort.

A green flare shot up into the sky.

The acting commander of the Second Battalion answered the phone.

"Captain Flig is there, I'm looking for him." Brian's adjutant's voice sounded.

"The captain has gone on an attack. You can't find him now." The acting battalion commander immediately recognized the adjutant's voice and looked up at the green light in the distance: "He's in Belfort now."

"Oh, you'll see him later."

On the other end of the phone, Brian's adjutant was confused by the acting battalion commander's voice: "What do you mean?"

"The captain just gave the signal, and they destroyed the Farlan headquarters."

(End of this chapter)