American Comic Dimensional Trading Device

The new equipment Josie mentioned was actually nothing more than some basic weapons and equipment from the Red Alert world that she had acquired through a deal with Yuri over the past two years.

比如什么FA-MAS自动步枪、AAT-52通用机枪、AMX-30主战坦克、SA330 PUMA美洲豹中型直升机、SA341/342小羚羊武装直升机、幻影3二代喷气式战机等等等等。

Do you feel like these weapons have never appeared in Red Alert before?

That's normal, because these are outdated products from the 50s and 60s, before the Red Alert war even started.

Josie wanted Austria to demonstrate its strength, which was not wrong, but it couldn't demonstrate too much strength, otherwise it would easily become the target of both the red and blue camps. After all, Austria's current economic situation is only slightly better than that of other European countries, and it is a small country with limited power.

So these equipment were all requested by Joss, with Yuri providing the technology, and Austria's existing industrial capacity made it relatively easy to mass-produce them in the early Cold War.

And these pieces of equipment also share a common characteristic.

These are all weapons and equipment that were originally developed by France in the 50s and 60s as the first generation of weapons and equipment after World War II.

Yes, Josie is persecuting the French again.

Alas, there's nothing we can do. As the ancients said, "A gentleman takes revenge from morning till night."

Josie was simply following the guidance of the sages.

What? Which sage? Um...maybe Lu Xun?

Chapter 143 The Fourth Transaction Partner

In the southeastern part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (Croatia), there is a small town called Valpovo.

Twenty kilometers south of this small town is another small town called Osijek, which belongs to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (hereinafter referred to as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia).

These two cities were once just insignificant little towns in Yugoslavia.

However, with the separation of the two countries, the border line runs right through the middle of the two small towns, and these two originally inconspicuous towns have become important border military strongholds for both sides.

Both sides have amassed a large number of troops here to guard against each other, resulting in a stalemate.

Of course, the troops stationed here are mainly the two Yugoslav armies... The reason why the Russians do not interfere in the region, in addition to private agreements, is that Austria and the United States do not directly interfere in the region.

So, in the past six months, although the two Yugoslavias were in a standoff, they were generally at peace.

However, on March 2, 1946, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia suddenly claimed that the Kingdom of Yugoslavia had crossed the border and launched a surprise attack, and immediately declared war on the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

At the time, King Peter II of the Kingdom of South was on a state visit to Austria in Vienna, and was immediately dumbfounded when he heard the news.

Although Valbovo was guarded by a large number of troops from the Southern Kingdom, it was clearly unable to react in time to this sudden war and fell in just one day.

The Yugoslav army then advanced rapidly, its forces threatening Zagreb, the capital of the Yugoslav Kingdom (now the capital of Croatia).

On March 3, in Vienna, King Peter II of the Southern Kingdom hurriedly arrived at the gardens of Schönbrunn Palace and found Josie playing golf.

This palace, once the residence of the Habsburg royal family, is now Josie's residence in Vienna.

"Leader!" Upon seeing Josie, Peter II calmly gave a military salute, but could not hide the anxiety on his face.

The reason why the young king called Josie the leader was simple: he had already secretly joined Ouroboros. Although Ouroboros was one of the names of Josie's European Hydra, joining Ouroboros did not mean joining Hydra.

There are still differences between the two.

"What? Still not at ease?" Josie hit a birdie, smiled with satisfaction, and then looked at Peter II.

"Yes!" Peter II did not deny it, and nodded readily.

"Don't worry, everything is going as we expected, isn't it? Let that Iron Emperor go deeper, and international opinion will be more favorable to us. There's no need to worry too much!" Josie handed the cue stick to the servant beside her and casually reassured him.

“…Leader, I want to go to the front lines!” Peter II hesitated slightly before speaking.

Josie was slightly surprised when she heard this, and looked at the young man who was only slightly less handsome than herself.

Peter II is indeed very young; born in September 1923, he is only 23 years old now.

He is actually five years older than Josie, but in terms of mental age, he is much older than Josie and is in the prime of his life.

Moreover, one should not underestimate the other party's abilities. Five years ago, when this young king had not yet come of age, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, under the control of his uncle, Prince Regent Paul, was pro-German and had joined the Axis.

But the very next day after Prince Paul announced his joining the Axis, the young king launched a coup, wiping out the pro-German forces, including Prince Paul.

Although this completely offended Germany, leading to the invasion and fall of the South, his choice was clearly correct in the end of World War II.

Peter II gained considerable prestige in Yugoslavia because of this choice.

The only regret is that he encountered an even more powerful Iron Emperor, so in the original timeline he could only be a passerby in history, exiled to the United States, and ultimately died unwillingly.

Overall, the young king is capable, which is why Josie recruited him.

But young people always yearn to make a name for themselves.

“Since you want to go, then go ahead. You’ll be appointed as the deputy chief of staff of the two-nation allied forces, with the rank of marshal!” Josie nodded, agreeing to Peter II’s request to go to the front lines. “However, everything will be arranged by Marshal Lister!”

Given his status as King Peter II, it was not unreasonable for him to hold the honorary title of Marshal; anything lower would be problematic.

The Marshal Lister mentioned by Josh is none other than Sigmund Wilhelm Lister, one of the most famous German generals.

This marshal may not be as famous as the so-called three great generals of the German army, namely Manstein, Rommel and Guderian.

However, in terms of ability, Lister is definitely not much worse than these three.

They achieved great success and military merit in various campaigns in Poland, France, the Balkans, and the Caucasus.

However, later in the war against the Soviet Union, he disagreed with Hitler and was dismissed from all his military posts.

However, this former German Field Marshal has now become the Commander-in-Chief of the Austrian Army, holding the rank of Field Marshal, and will be the commander-in-chief of the Austrian-Southern Allied Forces in this operation against the Yugoslav Federation.

The reason for this situation is quite simple: Lister was a Bavarian and one of the leaders of the Bavarian militia during the return to the Eagle's Nest. This marshal, who dared to oppose Hitler, was no fool. Hitler was unjust and dismissed him from his post, so he dared to rebel against Hitler.

And thus he was spared trial after the defeat of Germany and the Red Skull Army.

Furthermore, this same marshal was responsible for incorporating and training the Austrian legions when the German army occupied Austria.

Therefore, it is only natural that this former German field marshal, with his deep ties to Austria, has become a leading figure in the Austrian army.

As for the other field marshals in the German army, Josie was actually quite envious, but unfortunately, they were neither Bavarians nor Austrians, and Josie had no way or reason to let them escape war crimes trials and bring them under his command in the short term.

Peter II, on the other hand, felt a little strange about having to work with the renowned Marshal Lister.

The reason is simple: it was Marshal Lister who led the army to destroy the Southern Kingdom... It can only be said that fate is a truly mysterious thing.

On March 9, the Second Army of the Yugoslav Federal Republic captured Ivaničgor, which was less than 3 kilometers away from Zagreb, the capital of the Yugoslav Kingdom.

Meanwhile, the other three army groups of the Yugoslav Federation have also begun to conquer and seize territory throughout the southern part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, namely the Croatian region.

As a junior partner of the Soviet Union, the Southern Federation's army also adhered to the Soviet Union's ideology and received a lot of military resources from the Soviet Union in the early days, so it was quite adept at using its armored forces.

Furthermore, the Croatian region is located in the heart of the Pannonian Plain, making the entire area highly suitable for armored advances.

Therefore, the Yugoslavia fought very smoothly all the way, and the Iron Emperor, who was in the capital Belgrade in the rear, never stopped smiling during this period, so much so that he completely ignored the warnings issued by Austria.

Even the whole world believes that the Southern Kingdom is going to suffer a severe blow this time.

What no one could have guessed was that all of this was actually part of the calculations of the Austrian and Southern Kingdom's high-ranking officials.

On the morning of March 10, at an airfield in the rear of the Yugoslav Federation, a large number of bombers and fighter jets were taking off one by one, preparing to launch an air raid on Zagreb.

But just then, a series of muffled thunderclaps suddenly sounded in the sky.

Just as people inside the airport were filled with doubt, some sharp-eyed people had already spotted a group of small black dots in the low sky in the distance, rapidly magnifying in the sunlight.

"Air raid!!!!!" A shrill scream rang out in the camp, but it was too late.

The attacking force consisted of thirty Mirage 3 multi-role fighter jets, secretly acquired by the Austrian Air Force.

In an era of limited radar capabilities and a lack of effective precision-guided air-to-air weapons, the low-altitude penetration tactics of supersonic fighters like the Mirage 3 were virtually unsolvable.

Thirty fighter jets, with just one round of low-altitude strafing, destroyed a large number of the Southern Federation's fighter jets at the airport.

All the aerial bombs mounted on the aircraft were donated to the airport's fuel depots and hangars.

The Southern Federation's ground-based air defenses couldn't even touch the Mirage 3 fighters—they were too fast. The outdated air defense weapons of that era didn't even have time to turn around before the Mirage 3s had already whizzed past.

During this period, a few Southern Federation fighter jets successfully took off and attempted to retaliate, but they couldn't even touch the Mirage 3. Instead, they were blown up by the enemy's machine guns as soon as they turned around. Theoretically, the Mirage 3 should be equipped with air-to-air missiles. Josie was not without the technology of the first-generation air-to-air missile, but he did not use it.

Just kidding. The most advanced main fighter jets in the Yugoslav Federation right now are the La-5 and La-7 provided by the Soviet Union. These piston-engine fighters cost only around ten or twenty thousand US dollars each.

Even the first-generation Sidewinder air-to-air missile cost $40,000 to $50,000 per missile, and its purpose was to target jet aircraft, not piston-engine fighters.

Using disposable weapons worth 40,000 to 50,000 yuan to attack targets worth 10,000 to 20,000 yuan... Only a madman would do that.

A cannon is enough.

In any case, a piston fighter with a top speed of only 500 to 600 kilometers per hour cannot even touch the Mirage 3, which has a top speed of over Mach 2.

There have been instances of piston-engine fighters shooting down jet fighters, but these were limited to peak piston-engine fighters against early generations of jet aircraft.

The Mirage 3 is a top contender among second-generation jet fighters.

If any Mirage 3 pilot were shot down by a Southern Federation piston fighter, even if he survived, Josie would kill him.

After being ravaged by thirty Mirage 3s, this most important military airfield in the Southern Federation was quickly reduced to ruins.

With the aerial threat resolved, the rest was simple: Austria's bomber fleet began to appear.

Unlike fighter jets, due to Austria's limited industrial production capacity, Josie did not do anything unusual with bombers. Therefore, the Austrian Air Force's bomber fleet is mainly composed of the B-25 medium bomber provided by the United States.

However, the B-25 is sufficient when air superiority is achieved.

Without air support, the remaining air defense firepower of the Second Army of Yugoslavia was simply insufficient. Moreover, at the same time that the B-25s arrived at the main base of the Second Army of Yugoslavia, the Mirage IIIs, which had just completed the clearing of the Yugoslav frontline air force, completed their rest and took off again to support the bomber attack.

After a barrage of bombardments, the main force on the front lines of the Southern Federation was directly paralyzed.