Imperial Elite

Chapter 62 The Most Dangerous Man in the Old World

Joe noticed his vision starting to blur as the Paris task force blocked Strasbourg Boulevard.

When the Paris task force advanced into the Louvre and made contact with the guards, Joe discovered that his eyesight was deteriorating rapidly.

In fact, not only Joe, but also Herbert and the gunners found that their eyesight began to decline to varying degrees, which was obviously one of the many aftereffects of exposure to poison gas.

"Boss, have we gone blind?"

Despite being quite flustered himself, Joe maintained a remarkably calm demeanor in the face of the somewhat panicked Herbert and the gunner.

"Don't panic! Stay calm. If the problem is serious, you can retreat to Calais to rest when the next supply train arrives."

After saying that, Joe realized that if his crew had developed these symptoms, then the other three crews that participated in the raid and the dozen or so Guards grenadiers probably had the same symptoms as well.

So Joe said to the gunner as he climbed out of the tank.

"Quietly ask the other three hound crews, and the grenadiers who went to Bourges with us, how they are doing. If they have encountered the same situation, tell them to stay calm, not to panic or make a fuss. They will be among the last to withdraw and rest."

After saying this, Joe, who felt his vision was starting to blur beyond 20 meters and he could no longer distinguish between people and animals, jumped out of the car and prepared to meet the Gallic commander guarding the Louvre.

Meanwhile, Jean-Pierre, who was the highest-ranking surviving officer in the Louvre and had temporarily taken command, was coming out of the Louvre with several reporters to thank Joe in person for saving them from the brink of destruction.

The reason there were reporters wasn't that Jean-Pierre was planning a big story, but rather that some reporters happened to be interviewing soldiers on the nearby contact line and taking some photos before the Teutons launched their raid.

Meanwhile, several journalists were also in the Louvre, preparing to take some photos of the Louvre during the war.

Then, as the Teutons broke through the defenses, the journalists, in the chaos, followed the fleeing soldiers all the way to the Louvre, fortunately, although they were frantically taking pictures along the way.

However, they were dressed in civilian clothes and carried no weapons but cameras, which allowed these journalists to escape becoming targets of the Teutons' attack.

Indeed, there was a daring American Teutonic female journalist who took many photos while Teutons and Gauls were fighting in the corridors of the Louvre. She was even nearly stabbed by a Teuton in a fit of rage.

If she hadn't happened to know some Teutonic and hadn't raised her hands and shouted "I'm a journalist, a Teuton from America!" as the Teutonic soldiers approached, she would certainly have suffered the same fate as the veterans of the territorial army and the soldiers of the Paris National Guard in her series of photos of 'Guardians of Gaul'.

These photos, taken on the brink of death, brought her fame and nearly made her the first Pulitzer Prize winner.

Driven by a "I'd be willing to die to capture such a spectacular scene" mentality, these journalists, who were constantly teetering on the edge of death, took a lot of photos.

Even when Joe's tanks attacked the Teutons from behind, some reporters who heard the cannon fire outside their windows dared to risk being mistaken for snipers and take photos of Joe's tanks rushing through the Arc de Triomphe Caruso in pursuit of the Teutonic soldiers.

While the Teutons were attacking the Louvre, these journalists seized the opportunity to take photos, and once the battle was over, they certainly wouldn't let this good opportunity slip by.

When Joe, wearing a dirty coat with burn marks and bloodstains but a medal hanging on his chest, his eyes bloodshot and skin swollen, looking as if he had crawled out of hell, shook hands with Jean-Pierre, who was also covered in blood, wearing an eye patch and bandages, in the hall of the Louvre.

The reporters frantically took photos of the scene because it was so photogenic.

This scene inspired several classic photographs, including one taken from Jean-Pierre's perspective, showing Joe and the armored grenadiers from behind, and another of the Territorial Army and the Paris National Guard, titled "The Defenders of Paris."

There are also photos taken from the side of Joe shaking hands with Pierre, as well as "The Victor" in the Louvre's devastated halls, and the most famous photo in this series that won the first Pulitzer Prize.

A photograph taken from behind Pierre, showing a blood-soaked Joe, supported by a marshal's sword, walking towards Pierre among a group of grenadiers who also looked as if they had just emerged from hell. Titled "The Most Dangerous Man of the Old World."

Because the lighting was just right when the photo was taken, sunlight streamed in through the shattered glass and open doors of the Louvre, creating what is known in photography as 'Hallelujah light'. This light gave Joe a touch of divinity in the photo, while the gray-haired, exhausted-looking territorial soldiers in the foreground made Joe appear even more menacing.

At that moment, Joe had no idea that soon, a photo of him shaking hands with Pierre would spread all over the world. In fact, neither Joe nor Jean-Pierre were in good condition when they met.

Because of the friendly fire incident and the gas attack, Joe is now only holding on because of the mental pressure that if he can't hold the line, everyone will die.

Jean-Pierre, who was also injured in hand-to-hand combat, with wounds to his arms, thighs, and even ribs, could only lean on me. As the commander, I cannot fall down, otherwise it will affect morale and I will hold on to my death.

So, contrary to the serious and earnest demeanor in the photo, as if the two were about to start discussing how to eliminate the Teutons in Paris, Joe and Jean-Pierre, with the help of a translator, said something quite different when they shook hands.

"Why the hell did you take so long to get here? I thought I was going to die here."

"You're still alive, aren't you? Is there anything to eat here? I'm hungry, I want to eat something."

Although the Louvre's name includes the word "palace," the Louvre as a museum today has no connection to palaces; it exists simply as a museum.

Naturally, there was no proper food in the museum, and in order to protect the collection, the Louvre was used as a warehouse to store food and weapons even after the Teutons had entered Paris.

Only in the gardens outside the Louvre were many vegetables planted to prevent food supply problems in the city when the Teutons last approached Paris.

Looking at the vegetables Jean-Pierre was gesturing towards outside the door, Joe sighed and then asked, "How many people do you have left? We might be facing a fierce Teutonic attack soon."

Upon hearing Joe's words, Jean-Pierre smiled slightly.

"A frenzied attack? Could it be even more frenzied than this attack?"

Just as Joe warned Jean-Pierre, the three Teutonic elite divisions that had stormed into the western part of Paris also realized that something was wrong.

Upon realizing they were surrounded, the commanders of the three divisions ordered a halt to the attack.

Their orders were quickly carried out, but what they didn't know was that just as they ordered a halt to the attack, Holtz's Storm Commando had already occupied the Popon Palace, located next to the Invalides and the seat of the National Assembly. The commando had begun preparing to attack the Invalides as previously instructed.

Holtz, clad in armor, had already led a small squad to reconnoiter the Gallic defenses within the Invalides and was preparing to launch an attack once supplies were obtained.

The fighting in Paris over the past few days has given Holtz and his commando team a wealth of experience in urban warfare.

From the idea that it's better to use bombs to penetrate walls than to breach doors, to the idea that submachine guns and grenades are invaluable, Holtz had even planned how his troops should advance after the order to attack would be given, so that they could reach the veterans' home as quickly as possible.

Holtz, who was already prepared, felt an incredulous sense of disbelief when he heard that the attack had been canceled and the troops would temporarily switch to on-site defense. It was as if the Teutonic Emperor had suddenly announced his abdication because the war could not continue.

One more step and we'd be at the Invalides; victory was within our grasp! Why did we stop?
Just as Holz was wondering, the air battle in Paris had temporarily come to an end as night fell.

The massive air battle that lasted for seven hours left Paris littered with fallen aircraft, and even the Eiffel Tower was adorned with the burning wreckage of a plane.

In front of the Invalides, in the long garden that is now filled with moats, there is also the wreckage of a Gallic bomber that dropped bombs, lying there in an embrace of the earth.

Due to the strong resistance from the Teutonic Air Force, many bomber squadrons from Gaul and Buntania had no aircraft return after taking off.

Even many fighter squadrons only managed to get a handful of their aircraft back to the airport, and these aircraft were badly damaged.

To achieve this, the Teutons paid a heavy price. The Teutonic ace pilots, known as the "Red Devils" or "Red Knights" by the Gauls and Bunitas pilots, suffered heavy losses as the Teutonic Air Force's proud First Fighter Wing was the pride of the Teutonic Air Force.

Of the 41 fighter jets that took off, only 27 returned to the airport after a full day of fighting.

In addition to losing a third of their aircraft in the air battle, three Teutonic ace pilots disappeared in the skies over Paris, and Manfred, the squadron commander and the undisputed top ace in the air, was also wounded in the battle.

In the chaos of the battlefield, Manfred was shot in the left arm; the bullet nearly severed his left hand.

According to the team's doctor, it would be difficult for Manfred to save his left hand. Even if he did, he might not be able to return to the skies for at least a year, or even ever.

No one knows who the pilot who almost accomplished the feat of killing a god was. In the chaotic air battle over Paris, more than half of the pilots from the Bunitania and Gauls who participated in the battle did not make it back to the airport.

Meanwhile, the bomber force's near-suicidal attacks, which involved charging with live ammunition, failed to achieve any significant results due to the complex terrain of Paris.

However, despite achieving a complete victory in the air battle, the Teutonic attack and bomber forces were also unable to complete their mission.

Gallic and Buntanian pilots, who were at a disadvantage in the air battle, would go berserk and try to stop the Teutonic bombers and attack aircraft from striking the ground troops once they spotted the Teutonic bombers and attack squadrons approaching.

In particular, the Gallic pilots would not hesitate to use ramming tactics against the large Teutonic bombers, a suicidal method to prevent them from completing their missions.

The air battle was too chaotic, and the ground troops were also fighting hard.

In this largest air battle since the outbreak of the war, no one was able to accurately count the results of the air battle.

That evening, the Teutonic newspapers announced that they had won a complete victory in the air battle, and that Manfred, the Reich's top ace, had shot down 34 aircraft that day, becoming the first ace in human history to surpass three digits in kills.

Meanwhile, more than fifty pilots also crossed the threshold to become ace pilots, and the Teutonic ace pilots had already dominated the skies over Paris.

Compared to the Teutons who proudly announced their aerial victory, the Buntanians and Gauls were in a more embarrassing position. Although the Buntanian Expeditionary Force headquarters announced after tallying the results that they also had a super ace who shot down 11 Teutonic aircraft in a single day and brought their total number of kills to 35, he was undoubtedly the pride of Buntania.

However, both the Bunitania Expeditionary Force and the Gallic Air Force remained silent regarding the situation in the Paris airspace.

Only those pilots who survived by sheer luck called this day "Killing Day" or "Bloody Day".

However, what they didn't expect was that this brutal aerial battle was just the beginning.

That evening, despite harboring immense resentment towards Joe, he learned that Joe had destroyed the Teutonic logistics center, annihilated the Teutonic armored forces and an armored train that were about to be sent to Paris, and, after returning to Paris, launched an offensive to control Strasbourg Boulevard, encircling a portion of the Teutonic troops in western Paris.

After a long silence, General Henry muttered under his breath, "Well, at least he did something good."

For the rest of the day, aside from a small portion of the time spent firing his rifle at the Teutons, General Henry spent most of his time drawing up available troops from various places to try to hold off the Teutonic attack at the front line, reinforcing the Strasbourg Avenue with three battalions of the newly arrived Territorial Army.

Although General Henry, who advocated defense, was an absolute outlier among the offensive-minded Gallic army that wanted to wage mobile warfare during the Great War, he would certainly not refuse the opportunity to encircle and annihilate the Teutonic forces if given the chance.

However, General Henry, who was well aware of the true extent of his troop strength, did not expect his troops to launch an offensive to eliminate the besieged Teutonic forces.

Instead, he ordered his troops to continue reinforcing the line of contact to prevent the Teutons from launching a counterattack.

In any case, the Teutonic troops had limited ammunition supplies when they attacked, and they had already used up a lot of them in previous battles. As long as they waited for them to run out of supplies, they could eliminate or capture these Teutons at minimal cost.

While General Henry was reorganizing the defensive line under cover of darkness, Joe finally received support from the expeditionary force.

A battalion of the Coldstream Guards was deployed to Paris by rail. As one of the five regiments that made up the Brittany Guards Division, the Coldstream Guards, like the Guards Grenadiers, were granted the right to wear bearskin hats in the battle that defeated the Emperor.

Joe, whose vision had become so blurred that he couldn't distinguish between humans and animals ten meters away, felt that Marshal Haig had finally pulled out some of the good stuff he had been hiding in his crotch.

Since Joe didn't know much about infantry warfare, he only instructed the lieutenant colonel battalion commander to assign his best company to his armored unit, forming a combat group with the guards grenadiers to cooperate with tank operations.

The remaining troops were positioned at key points such as the Louvre and the subway station near the crossroads, serving as anchor points for the defensive line. Then, as the train unloaded its ammunition and returned, Joe had Herbert and the other crew members and guards grenadiers, who had also suffered from the gas attack and were now suffering from swollen skin and blurred vision, ride back to Calais to rest.

Although being able to return to Calais for rest was a good thing, when the crew members and grenadiers learned that Joe would not leave Paris but would stay and continue to hold the line, they all said that Joe should go with them. They argued that Joe was now just like them, unable to distinguish between humans and animals from ten meters away, so what could he do if he stayed in Paris?

In response to his subordinates' concern, Joe chose to kick the gunner in the butt.

"Go back and rest quickly, then rejoin the team as soon as possible. As for Paris... I can defend Paris even with my eyes closed."

Those men who had been rendered incapacitated by the gas attack left, and Joe's claim that he could defend Paris with his eyes closed began to circulate among the troops.

Because Joe and the others had poor eyesight, Joe thought he was secretly sending the group of people who had been attacked by poison gas onto the platform to return to Calais.

In reality, under the watchful eyes of the Gallic and Buntanian officers who had come to find Joe, these men were driven back to Calais.

Joe's impaired vision could have affected the morale of the troops, since no soldier would want to fight under the command of a blind officer.

But Joe was different. Due to his overwhelming reputation and the fact that the Paris battle group was doing a series of disastrous things to the Teutons under his leadership, even though they had just experienced a collapse of their defenses, Joe immediately reorganized them upon his return. This convinced the Paris battle group and even the Gallic troops that Joe had recruited.

If Joe says he can protect Paris with his eyes closed, then he certainly can.

Of course, it would be even better if Joe could open his eyes.

So when Joe was about to quietly solve the problem himself with baking soda and antibacterial agents as prescribed by the doctor.

The Gallic officers secretly contacted doctors to prepare treatment for Joe so that he could open his eyes and defend Paris.

At that very moment, news of the frontline troops' predicament reached the Teutonic General Staff.

The generals of the General Staff were baffled as to how the Paris battle group, which had been so close to capturing Paris, was now on the verge of annihilation.

Especially since they had just dispatched a newly formed armored unit and an armored train to the front lines, such a force would have caused quite a stir, even if it were placed in Verdun or the Somme.

Especially considering that large quantity of poison gas, if it could have been released in Paris, how could Paris have been taken? How come the troops were ambushed and wiped out by the Bunitania as soon as they arrived at the front lines?

Even if the Britannian armored forces are strong, they can't be this strong, right?

After a round of discussions, the generals in the General Staff reached a conclusion.

"A spy leaked the intelligence! Otherwise, the Bonitania couldn't have seized such a perfect opportunity to change the course of the war!"

Now that it has been determined that it was the work of a spy, in addition to preparing to launch a traditional campaign to find the mole, the General Staff also needs to solve a small problem.

The question is whether or not the Paris war will continue.

If we don't attack, the frontline troops report that their vanguard has already begun attacking the Invalides.

They were somewhat unwilling to give up such a perfect opportunity.

But let's fight... After the station was contaminated with poison gas, they really couldn't resupply the Paris battle group on a large scale anymore.

Furthermore, spies on the eastern front have reported that the Russians have begun large-scale mobilization and formation of new troops, and if nothing unexpected happens, they will launch a large-scale offensive on the eastern front.

If the reserves are mobilized again, and if the eastern front cannot hold out, then even if Paris is captured, the Gauls may stubbornly refuse to surrender.

Faced with this dilemma, the Teutonic General Staff decided to provide some support to the Paris battle group first, allowing the engineering corps to establish a temporary station north of Paris to transport supplies. Whether Paris could be captured was put aside for the time being; at least the three divisions needed to be rescued first.

But when the Teutonic General Staff chose to hold out a little longer, at least to rescue the surrounded troops.

The wartime cabinet in London was practically celebrating.

When they learned during the day that Paris was about to fall, the ministers of the wartime cabinet, like Marshal Haig, found it hard to believe.

They were holding on a few days ago, how come Paris is suddenly about to fall? Where's Joe? Where's Old Joe? Old Joe, please save us!

Then, with the outbreak of the air campaign, the only message the wartime cabinet received was that the Teutonic offensive was exceptionally fierce, and that our army was no match for them, whether in the air or on the ground.

Joe, on the other hand, seemed to have vanished without a trace.

This led the wartime cabinet to consider what the expeditionary force should do if Paris fell and the fall of northern Gaul was almost inevitable, whether the Gallic government might surrender, and how they should respond.

News came again from the front.

We held on! We held on!
Joe launched a counterattack, not only stabilizing the Paris defenses but also encircling several Teutonic divisions, while simultaneously destroying Teutonic armored units and armored trains north of Paris.

Upon hearing this news, the cabinet ministers were stunned. This rapid reversal of events made them wonder, "Could this be fake news? This news is too unbelievable; could someone have misread it?"

After confirming the authenticity of the news, the ministers of the wartime cabinet immediately began to cheer.

It's not easy. I thought we were going to lose the war, but I didn't expect that we could still hold on. You really deserve to be called Joe.

After their initial euphoria, the wartime cabinet began to ponder a question: if Joe could hold Paris with only this many troops, what could he accomplish if given more troops?

Then, just as the cabinet ministers were pondering this issue, they received another message.

During the battle, Joe and his troops were attacked with poison gas. Although Joe is still holding on in Paris, he may go blind.

This news shocked the cabinet ministers. Although at this stage of the war, let alone a temporary major, even regular majors who had been blinded by poison gas and killed in action could be counted in baskets.

But what if Joe went blind at this time and in this place, leading to the fall of Paris?!

No, we must save Major Joe's eyes!

Go and send the best...second best doctor in London to Paris, and make sure that doctor saves Joe's eyes!

At this moment, Joe was unaware that the gentlemen of London were preparing to send him a doctor. Joe, whose eyesight was deteriorating further, was still strengthening his defenses.

Although theoretically there are armored battle groups guarding this position, unless the Teutons suddenly pull out an armored train and more tanks from their crotches, it will be difficult for infantry to break through this defensive line.

However, after nearly being suffocated by the poison gas, Joe felt he shouldn't overestimate the Teutons' limits.

Who knows what these Teutons might do when pushed to the limit?

So before he could see completely, Joe, with bloodshot eyes, led the garage gang members to further strengthen their defenses.

Although even the logistics personnel at Gare du Nord had taken up rifles and gone to the battlefield when the canal defenses in Paris collapsed, the Garage Gang members were different from the others.

Unlike the other men with rifles, the garage gang, as the Teutonic troops rapidly approached, hastily made a bunch of handcarts from the remaining supplies in the station, mounted heavy machine guns on them, and pushed them around the front lines.

Because it was equipped with a gun shield, although it was quite heavy, the gunner and assistant gunner were able to push this little cart around.

These human-powered "armored vehicles" caused the Teutons considerable suffering.

After seeing the garage gang's little invention, Joe thought it was pretty good.

In other places, such as muddy trenches, this kind of thing would definitely not work, but in Paris with proper ground, this kind of thing that two people can push around is really good, so you can make more of it.

Of course, simply making some handcarts with machine guns by hand is definitely not enough.

Since the Teutons have entered Paris, they have been making constant attempts to break into the Paris Metro in the past few days.

Therefore, in order to prevent the Teutons from breaking through the subway, Joe, in addition to strengthening the subway station's defenses with machine guns and bunkers as usual, also had members of the Garage Gang and engineers of the Cold Creek Guard dig a tunnel from the subway to the water pipes, and planted bombs next to the water pipes, with the guidance of an officer of the Paris National Guard who worked in the Paris tax department.

If the subway station can't be defended, then Joe is prepared to blow up the water pipes and give the Teutons a taste of their own medicine.

However, this was the limit of what Joe could do. Although Joe was not a citizen of Paris, he still knew that if the Teutons really went mad, they still had a place where they could break through his encirclement.

That's the Paris sewer system.

As an ancient city that has undergone countless renovations, Paris has a complex and extensive sewer system that is even wide enough for small boats to navigate.

For most people, apart from professional staff, Paris's sewer system is practically an urban legend.

Everyone deals with this stuff every day, but very few people have actually seen a sewer system.

Just as Joe was doing his best to strengthen the defenses, the Teutons seemed to have regrouped their troops and launched a renewed attack along the entire contact line at 2 a.m.

It seems that because they were cut off from communication, the surrounded Teutonic troops did not launch an attack, and only the main Teutonic force in the east began to attempt to break through Joe's defenses.

In the past, the Teutons were able to pose a significant threat to the Gallic troops stationed on the defensive lines in night battles thanks to their more elite infantry.

But this time the situation has changed.

Since they no longer needed to put out fires across the entire front, and a battalion of the Cold Creek Guard had already arrived in Paris.

Therefore, in some places, the Teutonic troops who launched the attack found that something was wrong as soon as they began their assault.

Such precise shooting, and grenades that seem to have eyes, is something that armed civilians in Gallo Nasi could really do?

Many of the Teutonic troops that launched the attack were driven back by the defenders before they could even see what the defenders looked like, which made the Teutonic command think that the situation might have changed.

But even if the situation changed, the Teutons had no choice, since three of their divisions were surrounded to the west.

So even if we can't break through the defenses, it's good if we can make the defenders feel tired.

So the Teutonic forces launched small-scale attacks along the line of contact for the entire night.

As the sun rose above the horizon and engines roared through the Parisian sky, the Teutons began shelling the Strasbourg Boulevard.

(End of this chapter)