I Became a Plutocrat in World War I: Starting with Saving France
Chapter 154: Revised - 154 Tank Model 33

Chapter 154: Revised: Chapter 154 Tank Model 33

Colonel Estiny’s troops broke through the front line and quickly moved south.

On the other side, Colonel Brownie at Tamon also broke through the German Army’s line, advancing north along the highway.

One in the south and one in the north, this was clearly a pincer attack on Lafox.

Colonel Brownie also fought a beautiful battle, unaware of the underlying strategy. He only knew that Shire’s tactics had won once again. Excitedly, he climbed onto a tank and shouted to the soldiers below, "Salute to Shire!"

He then raised his revolver and fired two shots into the air.

The soldiers cheered loudly and fired shots into the air in imitation.

...

Colonel Estiny, who broke through Andrush, did not exhibit such extreme behavior. Seated in the sidecar of a tri-wheel vehicle, he watched the cheering soldiers, the tanks carrying soldiers onto the highway, and the teams of captives being escorted back. His heart was filled with emotion.

There were at least two thousand captives, a number that even exceeded his own troops!

An unprecedented sense of pride welled up in his heart.

He had won victories before but never had such an easy and complete triumph as today.

Those arrogant German troops, who had invaded Paris and sunk France into decades of humiliation, were now trampled beneath his feet!

However, what impressed Estiny most was Shire’s tactics, which perfectly integrated the coordination between infantry and tanks.

Even the tank crews were novices, trained for just two days before being thrown into the tanks, which were like moving coffins. Initially, they would vomit frantically when first riding the tanks, but after two weeks, they had achieved a flawless victory.

This was the charm of the "Three-Three System," Estiny thought, recalling Shire’s teachings.

"We should use the Three-Three System!" Shire said.

"Three-Three System?" Estiny speculated, "You mean, every three tanks form a group?"

"Yes!" Shire nodded, "One platoon has three tanks, a tank company has three platoons, plus the company headquarters, totaling twelve tanks."

Estiny asked in confusion, "Why three tanks? Why not two, four, or five?"

He didn’t see the difference.

"Because the tank crews are novices, Colonel!" Shire answered calmly, "Also, tanks lack communication equipment. It’s hard for them to coordinate!"

Estiny was puzzled by Shire’s seemingly irrelevant remark and wondered how this related to the Three-Three System.

Shire seemed to understand Estiny’s thoughts. He smiled gently and calmly took some flags representing tanks and placed them in a triangular formation on the table to explain:

"Three tanks can form a triangle. We can place the best commander at the forefront!"

Estiny exclaimed, "Oh! The rear two tanks don’t need to think or communicate; they just need to follow the front tank!"

"Correct!" Shire replied, "The front tank is responsible for attacking and breaking through, the left flank provides cover, and the right flank supports!"

Estiny suddenly understood, "Their tasks are clearly defined before battle and frequently practiced in training, so they know what to do on the battlefield, even without orders!"

"Exactly!" Shire added, "Even if it requires orders, we only need to direct the leading tank, making it much easier!"

Without communication equipment, Shire’s Three-Three System minimized the need for communication.

Another advantage of it was the rapid formation of combat effectiveness: new soldiers need only to know how to follow the platoon leader and do their job.

This might seem rigid, but it’s far better than disorganized and chaotic fighting.

As long as the enemy doesn’t understand this tactic, new soldiers can fight like veterans and exert veteran combat power!

Colonel Estiny greatly admired Shire’s organizational and training methods.

Facts proved Shire right: tanks advanced in coordinated steps, commanded seamlessly, while the battle resulted in no casualties except one tank’s track breaking while crossing trenches.

Estiny could hardly believe these were tank crews trained for only two weeks. He sighed, "Shire is not just a genius in manufacturing tanks and equipment; he can also build an army, the world’s strongest army! He was born for war!"

Moreover, Estiny realized one thing: this tank force, once experienced on the battlefield, could split into three according to the Three-Three System, with each "veteran" leading two "newbies," transforming into three tank units.

They would then be put into battle, learning and growing stronger, endlessly expanding and enhancing their combat power!

God, will anyone be his opponent in the future?

If the French Army were led by Shire, Germany would not be its only rival; it would challenge the whole world!

...

Lafox, Fairworth Town.

Xia Fei’s command post was in chaos, with staff shouting into telephones continuously, and intelligence swirling between the signalmen and Xia Fei’s desk. But all the information seemed to boil down to two key points:

"They broke through Andrush’s front line, the German Army is in defeat!"

"They broke through Tamon’s front line, about three thousand German soldiers have surrendered!"

Besides that were casualty ratios and prisoner data.

However, these figures were staggering enough. Kanes looked at the documents, incredulous: "Did they make a mistake? A force of about a thousand captured more than three thousand German soldiers?"

Kanes firmly believed either the attacking force was missing a zero, or the number of captives had an extra zero – more reasonably, both were true.

Xia Fei didn’t care about that. Glancing at the blank map, he asked anxiously, "I need to know their exact locations now. Are our reconnaissance capabilities so pathetic that we can’t even find out where our own troops are?"

A staff officer stepped forward to explain with helplessness in his tone, "General, Shire’s two forces have already advanced into the enemy’s rear, moving so fast that we can’t keep up or know more!"

"Planes, send planes up!" Xia Fei ordered loudly, fuming with anger.

But Kanes intervened, "General, General Gallieni warned us that once the battle starts, Shire’s fighters will shoot down all aircraft taking off from Lafox and nearby areas, including ours!"

Xia Fei stood half-open-mouthed, stunned. He realized that, despite being the Commander-in-Chief of France, commanding millions of troops, he had no control over a battlefield dominated by Shire!