Imperial Elite

Chapter 49 is not right, there's something wrong here.

Joe originally thought that once he arrived in Paris, his magical journey, which was repeatedly bombed and even caused traffic jams on the train lines, would come to an end.

But Joe didn't expect that this was not only not the end, but not even the beginning of the end, but the end of the beginning.

They received news as soon as they got off the train that Paris might not hold out and that the Teutons would take Paris that night.

Joe's first thought was that he had to find a way to get out of there immediately.

Although the cabinet's order was that José must defend Paris at all costs, as a large city with two million people, if the Gauls themselves did not want to defend Paris, then even if they were made of iron, how many nails could they hammer?

Of course, running away directly was not an option. Before he set off, His Majesty George left the Imperial Guard in London to guard the palace, entrusting him with the last remaining Imperial Guard to represent the face of the royal family, and even giving him his marshal's sword.

Joe felt that if he did nothing and just ran away, it would be unreasonable.

After all, His Majesty George values ​​him so much, if he doesn't fire a couple of shots into the air, he would definitely be letting down the salary His Majesty has given him.

So, just as the problem lies in the problem itself, Joe began to ponder how he should fire those two shots in a way that would be worthy of the salary given to him by His Majesty.

In less than a second, Joe figured out what he should do.

Didn't the liaison just say that the Teutons have entered the city and that General Henry, the commander-in-chief of the Gallic army, is organizing the final resistance in the Invalides?

If I take the Commander-in-Chief of the Gallic Army with me, then there shouldn't be any objections from above.

It's not that our army isn't trying hard enough, it's just that the Gallic army is too useless and we can't carry them!

Now that the excuse for running away has been figured out, all that's left is how to carry it out.

Fortunately, as a semi-tourist city, Gare du Nord not only has maps of Paris posted on the walls of the platforms, but also sells maps of Paris in the shops.

Joe summoned the two Guards Grenadier company commanders and the captains of his tank squads. Around the map, Joe said that the situation was bad and Paris seemed about to fall.

But Joe felt they could still struggle a little longer; after all the hard work they'd put in to get to Paris, they couldn't just slink back like that.

However, they could not simply let the Teutons cut off their escape route.

Therefore, Joe decided to leave most of the Guards grenadiers, along with eight of the twelve temporarily expanded tank squads, to guard Gare du Nord and urge the remaining workers at the station to complete the train repairs as soon as possible.

Then Joe will personally lead the company equipped with Hound tanks, a squad missing one Hound tank, three other squads equipped with Imperial Fist MK-5 tanks, and two Guards grenadier platoons traveling in trucks and tanks toward the Veterans' Home.

At this moment, the liaison officer, who looked like he had finally found his people, reminded Joe that Paris actually has a metro system. Although the metro is no longer in operation, there is a metro connection from Gare du Nord to Les Invalides.

The surface of Paris is in a bit of chaos right now, but it should be relatively safe underground.

Upon hearing what the liaison officer said, Joe felt that what he said made a lot of sense.

So Joe assigned a liaison officer to lead a platoon of guards grenadiers through the subway to the Invalides. If they arrived first, he was to set up defenses nearby and, if the opportunity arose, to enter the Invalides to protect General Henry.

Regardless of who arrives first, they must remove the "M" from the subway entrance sign so that they can tell each other whether they have arrived by looking at the sign.

Before setting off, Joe told the troops remaining at the platform that, given the current situation, he didn't know how long Paris could hold out. If he hadn't returned by dawn, they should take the train and leave first, so that everyone wouldn't be lost here.

Even though he had prepared for the worst, Joe still had some doubts as he boarded his Hound Tank, painted with the number 101, and set off: according to the map, his train was heading into Paris from the northwest.

Despite the chaos along the way, Joe did not see any Teutonic troops, not even a single Teutonic soldier.

So how did the Teutons besiege General Henry, who was directing the resistance from the Invalides southwest of the Gare du Nord in Paris?
Although it seemed strange, Paris was a large city with two million people, so Joe could only assume for the time being that the Teutons came from the east.

Meanwhile, due to the speed difference between the Hound Tank and the Royal Fist MK-5, Joe had the three squads equipped with Royal Fist MK-5s follow behind him. Their mission was to block the Paris Opera, Place de la Concorde, and the Pont Alexandre III next to the Palais Royal and the Grand Palais, ensuring Joe's escape route remained clear.

Joe will lead another squad, forming a five-vehicle assault team with a small number of infantry, to rush into the Invalides for a quick rescue mission.

However, just as Joe hadn't expected Paris to fall so quickly, he also hadn't anticipated what would happen when he left Gare du Nord in a tank and drove through the streets of Paris.

The chaotic crowd on the street screamed even louder when they saw their own vehicles, then scurried into the dark corners of the city like cockroaches caught in the light.

However, the screaming escape of these people brought Joe an unexpected benefit: Joe no longer had to worry about who these people on the street were, and he could let Herbert floor the accelerator and drive the tank along the wide road.

In any case, neither those seemingly abandoned barricades nor the abandoned vehicles blocking the road could stop the tanks' rolling tracks.

Meanwhile, General Henri, who had established the Paris city defense command in Les Invalides, also began to receive messages from the messengers from various defense zones.

Following the initial riots, most of the defense zones confirmed that the earlier shootings were due to the shock reaction of completely untrained recruits upon hearing gunfire, and that their targets were not Teutons.

Most of them were stray cats and dogs, some shadows of trees, and some unlucky guys who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Only the 19th district in the northeast was confirmed to have been attacked by the Teutons.

However, it is still unclear how much progress the Teutons have made there, or whether the outer defenses have withstood their attacks.

Meanwhile, in Paris, a small number of police officers and gendarmes attempting to maintain order reported seeing a small number of Teutonic cavalrymen dressed in black and bearing skull insignia, resembling the Grim Reaper, on the streets.

However, after confirming that most of the previous reports of attacks by the Teutons were false, General Henry believed that these so-called Teutonic cavalrymen were nothing more than erroneous reports from the gendarmes and police, and were most likely some robbers dressed in black clothes of unknown origin, preparing to rob people on the street.

Until a messenger who looked like he was about to die rushed into the veterans' home.

"Tanks! Teutonic tanks! They're charging straight at the Invalides from Lafitte Street!"

The news brought back by the messenger struck General Henry like a thunderbolt, but it also instantly made many things clear. I mean, why did the Champagne province fall so quickly? Turns out the Teutons had tanks!

Luckily, I was one step ahead. I didn't send the First and Second Colonial Divisions to rashly support the outer positions. Instead, I brought their artillery battalions over! I don't believe that with cannons blocking the bridge, the Teutonic tanks can still break through.

At the same time, General Henry also ordered a reconnaissance team to be sent to see where these Teutonic tanks came from and how they had reached Rue de la Fayette without making a sound.

Meanwhile, Joe, who was running frantically down Lafitte Street to save General Henry, also noticed that something seemed amiss.

Wasn't it said that the Teutons were besieging the Invalides? How come there isn't a single gunshot from the direction of the Invalides? Even if they came to play, they wouldn't be this late.

With this question in mind, Joe arrived at Place de la Concorde in his tank. Just as Joe was looking at the golden-tipped obelisk in the square, a grenadier sitting on the side of the tank suddenly pointed into the distance and shouted, "Look, the Teutonic flag!"

Joe looked in the direction the soldier was pointing, and in the night sky, between the two iron towers that were being lit up, a flag was fluttering at the top of one of the towers.

Oh no, I'm too late.

Looking at the noodles, Joe felt like everything was doomed.

Even the Eiffel Tower has been adorned with Teutonic flags, so Paris must have fallen.

By this point, Joe had figured everything out. Why were there no gunshots now? Because the battle was over, so naturally there were no gunshots. Why hadn't he encountered any Teutons along the way? Because the Teutons had been besieging the Invalides, so naturally he hadn't seen them.

If it weren't for the fact that there was still a Guards grenadier platoon on their way to Les Invalides by subway, Joe would have ordered his troops to turn back and retreat to Gare du Nord the moment he saw the Teutonic flag flying over the Eiffel Tower.

But as a responsible officer, Joe could only tell Herbert to slow down and then carefully drive the car to the bank of the Seine to use binoculars to see what was happening on the other side.

If possible, Joe still wanted to carry out the previous quick-in-quick-out raid plan, but this time Joe did not intend to rescue General Henry. Instead, he would pick up the guards grenadiers coming out of the subway station and then run away quickly.

Then, observing Joe across the river through binoculars, he realized something was wrong...

The uniforms of the people on the other side of the river didn't look like the Teutonic uniforms I'd seen before, and why were there black people among them?

Were there any Black soldiers in the Teutonic Army?
And why did they deploy the artillery to the north? Are there any enemies in that area?

This veterans' home doesn't look like it's just been through a battle. What the hell is going on here?

Joe felt that the situation might be a little different from what he had expected.

So Joe decided to observe a little longer.

Just as Joe was secretly observing the opposite bank of the river with his binoculars, a reconnaissance team composed of Gallic officers also quietly crossed the Seine River and approached the Place de la Concorde.

Based on previous reports, whenever these Teutons travel from Lafitte Street to the Invalides, they will inevitably pass by Place de la Concorde.

Before setting off, the officer reconnaissance team had already confirmed the order: as soon as they spotted the Teutonic tanks in Concorde Square, they should immediately fire three red signal flares into the sky.

Then the artillery would bombard the Place de la Concorde with a dense barrage of bullets, enough to dismantle even a tank into pieces.

Soon, the officers' reconnaissance team discovered the tank parked in the square. Without a doubt, at this time and place, the presence of the tank could be anything other than that of the Teutons.

So the two officers took out their signal pistols and prepared to fire signal flares to call for artillery fire.

Then, just as they were loading flares into the signal guns, one of the officers suddenly stopped them.

"Wait, something's not right. Why are these people wearing Britannian uniforms?"

Upon hearing this, the officers who were preparing to fire signal flares all stopped.

A few minutes later, Joe drove across the Alexander III Bridge, guided by the officers.

Looking at the 75mm guns hidden in the shadows of the buildings on the opposite bank, Joe broke out in a cold sweat.

Fortunately, I took a cautious approach and didn't rush straight to the Veterans' Home after realizing the situation was not right; otherwise, I probably wouldn't even be able to fight my way back now.

As Joe parked the tank in front of the Invalides, he soon met General Henry inside the Invalides.

General Henry warmly greeted Joe, who had come with armored troops to provide support, shaking hands and exchanging pleasantries. He inquired whether Joe had encountered any problems on his journey and remarked that Joe must have had a long and arduous trip, and that he must not have had a good meal. He then instructed the kitchen to prepare some dinner for Joe and his men.

The atmosphere between the two sides couldn't be described as entirely harmonious, but it was certainly a pleasant experience for both host and guests.

Then, less than five minutes after General Henry poured Joe a glass of brandy, Joe and General Henry started arguing.

They argued so fiercely that the guards outside the room and Joe's men, who were waiting for their meal, looked at each other in bewilderment, wondering what had happened between the two who had just acted as if they were old friends and bosom buddies.

--------

Joe is an arrogant bastard.

—From *The War Memoirs: Henry*

Henry is a fool who pretends to be a smart man.

—Armored Tactics (Volume 1): by Joe Harrison

(End of this chapter)