Imperial Elite

Chapter 17 Tanks: Making Warfare Easier

September 15th, 1916 (Sacred Calendar), 5:50 AM.

As in countless years before, a fog several stories high enveloped the field.

Even the intense shelling hadn't dispelled the fog; after the shelling ended, the thick fog quickly returned, covering the entire open field once more.

However, it cannot be said that the intense shelling just now had no effect. The smoke-filled ground created eddies in the thick fog, and the smoke and dust kicked up by the explosion mixed into the fog, making the already poor visibility even worse.

This terrible environment led the soldiers of the Bavarian 5th Reserve Infantry Regiment, stationed in Fuller No. 1 trench, or what the infantry called the 'Wailer's Trench,' to prepare for the upcoming battle while grumbling about how the Bunitans had come to their deaths at such a poor time.

Artillery fire, poison gas, infantry charges, and flamethrowers—although the 5th Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment was a unit formed from reservists just one month after the outbreak of the war, these Bavarian veterans had already experienced far too much.

However, due to the universal conscription system implemented by the Teutonic Empire, all eligible male citizens were required to enter the army for service from the age of 18. After serving in the active duty force for two to three years, they would be transferred to the reserve force and continue to serve until they were nearly fifty years old, receiving at least 130 days of training and exercises each year.

So although this infantry regiment is labeled as a reserve force, its actual experience is like that of a recent graduate with thirty years of work experience.

Even though they were just one of the countless reserve units formed by the Teutonic Empire at the start of the war, the soldiers of the 5th Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment quickly proved their strength as the war progressed.

Starting in 1914, this regiment, mainly composed of Bavarian peasants and workers, fought in the Battle of Lorraine, the First Battle of Ypres, and the Battle of Altowa. With its tenacious fighting spirit, it repeatedly defeated the Bunitania Expeditionary Force and the Gallo Army, and was thus moved by the Teutonic High Command from a usable reserve force to a list of reliable elite troops.

With numerous intelligence reports indicating that the Bunitans would launch a large-scale offensive on the Somme, the 5th Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment, as a reliable force, was deployed there to defend the first line of defense and support the trenches.

It was a difficult task, but the Bavarian 5th Reserve Infantry Regiment remained as steadfast as ever on the front line, leaving the Bunitania Expeditionary Force with nothing but casualty lists after two months.

Without the officers and sergeants giving orders, the soldiers of the 5th Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment took their positions.

While the machine gunner was doing a final check on the machine gun's condition, the assistant gunner of the machine gun team pried open the ammunition box, took out the ammunition belts, and laid them on the sandbags next to the machine gun for easy access later.

The infantrymen unscrewed the caps on the wooden handles of the grenades and placed the grenades with their fuses strung up next to the firing ports in front of them.

The engineers used the last bit of time to repair the trenches that had just been damaged by the shelling, using everything they could find.

The officers and sergeants, tense but feigning composure, watched the thick fog outside the trenches, ready to snipe the Bunitarians who were about to launch an attack after the shelling.

The messengers sat in the muddy trenches, tightening their leggings and boots one last time, preparing for a frantic run through the trenches later.

The Bavarian veterans watched the thick fog silently, like hunters waiting for their prey to appear before them. Their hearts were as cold as the entrenching tools stuck in their trenches.

Soon, just like before, whistles, signal flares, and flashes of light came from the thick fog. But this time, unlike before, a deep engine sound also echoed through the fog.

The thick fog that obscured the battlefield made the Teutonic soldiers think that those Bunitania bastards had picked a good time. If it weren't for the fog, they could have given those islanders a surprise when they climbed out of the trenches.

The sergeants reassured the visibly nervous recruits, instructing them to fire only after seeing people, rather than firing indiscriminately to bolster their courage.

The officers, meanwhile, were anxious about what the deep engine sound they were hearing was.

At this time, the air force pilots would only take off to fight if they were out of their minds, and judging from the direction of the sound, it didn't seem to be coming from the air, but rather from the ground.

What exactly do those Buntanians want to do?!

Soon, accompanied by the deep rumble of engines and the sound of hurried footsteps, the Teutonic officers drew their pistols and stared nervously at the thick fog before them.

The sun, now risen above the horizon, illuminated the battlefield, allowing the Teutonics to see the enormous, shadowy figure approaching them through the thick fog.

As a mud-covered metal plate pierced through the thick fog, the Teutonics in the defensive line stared blankly at the strange iron object that appeared before them.

A strange silence fell over the battlefield at that moment, but the next second, no one knew who fired the first shot, and both the Teutons and the tanks that emerged from the thick fog began to unleash their firepower on each other.

Then the Teutons in the trenches realized that the battle was completely unwinnable.

The heavy machine guns that had once made the trenches impregnable were now completely ineffective against this steel behemoth; bullets hitting the armor plates of that iron contraption could only knock off the clods of dirt stuck to them.

As for that iron contraption, not to mention the several machine guns mounted on it, the cannons on it alone, which are thicker than a human head, could easily destroy everything in the trenches.

Soon after a round of firefights, the inexperienced new recruits who had just been added to the unit collapsed.

The other side is full of iron turtles! We can only tickle them with one shot.

If the enemy fires one shot, we'll be shattered into pieces. How can we fight a war like that?!

We've lost! We've lost! Our army has been defeated! Everyone, run for your lives!
As the new recruits began to desert, riots broke out immediately in the Teutonic trenches.

Some thought that if we couldn't win, we should retreat to the rear to regroup; some wanted to run away with the new recruits; and others felt that since the officers hadn't given the order, we should stay here firmly, because that's what a good Teutonic should do.

The officers were unsure what to do. Giving up the trenches was unacceptable, as they had held out there for two months. To surrender it with just one attack would make it difficult to retake it later.

But to hold this place, we need to deal with those iron turtles.

However, having never seen tanks before, they had no way to deal with these iron turtles.

In the midst of the chaos, a major decided to fight to the end. As a member of the Feng family, no one in his family had ever died from being shot in the back, so he grabbed a messenger next to him.

"Go! Immediately order the artillery to bombard this area! Let them fire everything they can get their hands on! If we can't hold out, they won't get away with it either!"

Seeing the major's ferocious expression, the messenger paused for a moment, then repeated the major's order before starting to run wildly along the trench.

Although the major was prepared to resist to the end.

However, the real world does not change according to individual will. As those steel monsters continued to advance, they practically fired cannons and machine guns right up to the trenches.

Even the veterans can't hold on any longer.

If it were Buntanian infantry coming, they wouldn't mind continuing to hold their positions in the trenches and fighting the Buntanian infantry to the bitter end. That's what real combat is—fighting against opponents you can kill.

Now we are facing these indestructible steel monsters; this is called slaughter.

When the veterans began to retreat, the fall of this trench was inevitable. But these steel behemoths did not stop there. Accompanied by the cheers of the Bunitan infantry, these steel behemoths crossed the trench and continued to advance into the depths of the Teutonic positions.

Seeing this scene, the retreating Teutonic veterans felt as if they were witnessing the end of the world.

Isn't there anyone who can stop these metal monsters of the Bunitans?!

Just as the Teutonic veterans were looking on in despair, a shrill whistle rang out from the sky.

They were all too familiar with that sound; it was the sound of artillery shells falling from the sky.

So these Teutonic veterans temporarily halted their retreat, hiding in trenches and shell craters, waiting for the artillery's might to destroy these steel behemoths.

Soon, accompanied by violent explosions and fireballs rising from the ground, the earth began to tremble as if the air was burning. Under the artillery fire, it was as if a living hell had descended upon the place.

After a terrifying bombardment, the Teutonic veterans peered out, looking in the direction from which they had just retreated from the trenches.

They prayed that the artillery would destroy those terrifying steel behemoths.

However, this time, the bombardment that had been enough to destroy everything in the past failed to destroy those steel behemoths.

These steel behemoths continued to advance even as they fired, closing the distance between them.

Only a small number of the steel behemoths stopped in place, but this did not stop them from continuing to fire in the direction the Teutonic veterans were retreating.

The steel behemoths that were still advancing, except for some that had lost their tops, those tower-like structures, seemed to have survived the shelling unscathed.

This ineffective shelling completely destroyed the morale of the troops, causing even the veterans who had originally intended to retreat, regroup, and launch a counterattack to abandon their plans and begin fleeing to the rear of the front lines.

These steel behemoths, like a slow and inevitable death, followed behind the fleeing Teutonic veterans.

Although it seems that the tank's first combat experience was a perfect success.

Compared to the hundreds or thousands of young men who had to be lost to capture a single trench before.

Apart from a few tanks in C Company that were unable to move forward due to mechanical failures or getting stuck in the mud while crossing no man's land, the rest of the tanks were basically safe and sound.

After the company commander hoisted the "Keep Moving" flag onto his vehicle and fired a signal flare to continue advancing, all the vehicles continued to move forward.

However, the reality is not like that.

At that moment, Joe was peeking out from the hole in the Lucky Bella's observation tower, which had been blown away by a shell, looking at the muddy road in front of the tank, and loudly giving orders to Herbert.

"Turn right! Turn right! Can't you see that huge crater up ahead?!"

"Left! Left! There's a huge muddy area ahead!"

Herbert, in the driver's seat, is also feeling aggrieved.

"The fog is too thick! I can't see anything at all! The shelling just now shattered the windows, I'm practically blind now!"

Faced with a driver who was practically blind, Joe would have jumped out of the car and run to the front to direct Herbert on which way to go, if he wasn't worried about being shot in the back by the Teutons.

Unlike before arriving at the front lines, when I hoped to get stuck in a vehicle.

After the Teutonic bombardment, Joe just wanted to get out of this hellhole as quickly as possible.

Although a tank's armor can withstand the damage from shrapnel from artillery shells, the shockwave from artillery fire can indeed penetrate into the vehicle.

The group of people who had just been hit by the Teutonic artillery were like people who had a bucket over their heads and were banging on the bucket. They were shaken senseless by the shockwave of the shell.

Perhaps the workers in the factory slacked off a little while manufacturing the tank, or perhaps the observation tower was flawed from the start; in any case, the tremor caused the observation tower on the Lucky Bella, which Joe had always found so objectionable, to collapse.

The collapse of the observation tower might have been a good thing for Joe.

On its way to the front lines, the Lucky Bella nearly capsized several times due to the increased center of gravity caused by the towering observation tower.

Now that the observation tower is gone, not only has the center of gravity been lowered, but the Lucky Bella also doesn't look like a target as much.

But Cecil was still on the tower when it collapsed.

This young nobleman, who had just come of age, was incredibly excited when he launched the attack, especially after discovering that the Teutonics' equipment was no match for the Lucky Bella.

Cecil felt like a fully armed ancient knight bullying an old farmer with only a pitchfork, arrogantly commanding the Lucky Bella to charge wherever there were crowds.

If it weren't for the fact that the Lucky Bella's engine didn't support this command...

Cecil even wanted to rush all the way to Germania.

Joe doesn't know if the Lucky Bella can reach Germania now.

But Cecil will definitely have to go back to London.

As Joe directed Herbert to charge out of the dense fog, Joe looked at the surrounding environment and suddenly realized something.

"Oh no! Where did I drive this car all this way?!"

Then Joe realized something else.

Since Cecil was the tank commander, the map and binoculars were on him. After that round of shelling, he didn't know where Cecil had landed, so he was in a worse situation than simply being lost. He didn't even know where he was.

Just as Joe peeked out from the large hole on top of the Lucky Bella, looking around to see if he could figure out where he was,

Joe suddenly noticed a group of figures appearing in the fog behind his vehicle.

(End of this chapter)