I Became a Plutocrat in World War I: Starting with Saving France
Chapter 185: The Onslaught of Mortars

Chapter 185: Chapter 185: The Onslaught of Mortars

Then, Shire did not directly talk about artillery, but instead asked the officers a question: "Gentlemen, what do you think of hand grenades? Give me some feedback!"

The officers replied one after another:

"That’s a great invention, Major!"

"This invention fills our gap!"

"A significant number of my soldiers no longer believe in their rifles; they prefer to focus on practicing throwing hand grenades."

...

These words once again brought out laughter, many officers agreed with this.

At this moment, the frontline was shifting to trench warfare, where rifles could not threaten enemies hiding in trenches, but hand grenades could.

Thus, many soldiers favored hand grenades over rifles, believing that with enough hand grenades, they could blow up the entire enemy trench.

"But hand grenades undoubtedly have some issues," Shire continued, appearing to reflect on his invention.

"For example, if the enemy trench is too far, we have to risk exposing ourselves to enemy gunfire by climbing out of our trench to throw them into the enemy’s trench."

The officers resonated deeply:

"Exactly!"

"That’s right!"

"So we often do it at night, when it’s safer."

...

Shire stepped aside and pointed to the mortar on the podium, saying, "Gentlemen, if you don’t see it as artillery but as a tool to throw hand grenades, you’ll understand how to use it!"

The officers suddenly realized and after a burst of exclamations, applause erupted in the conference room, with someone shouting:

"Does this mean we don’t need to climb out of our trench to bomb the Germans?"

"Yes, the Germans can’t bomb us, yet we can hit them in their trenches!"

"The 75 cannon can’t do this; it can’t ’throw’ shells into the enemy trench."

...

Colonel Kristin seemed to have anticipated the use of this artillery. He waited for the applause to subside slightly and then asked indifferently, "Major, can you tell us its maximum range?"

"Seven hundred meters!" Shire answered.

The officers gasped again, this range could almost hit all enemy trenches.

Shire added another sentence: "It can fire up to 25 shells per minute!"

The officers were stunned upon hearing this, especially the artillerymen.

They knew the highest firing rate of the 75 cannon was 30 rounds.

However, the 75 cannon usually could only fire at a rate of 15 rounds per minute, otherwise, the barrel would overheat and have to stop.

But this thing looked no more than a bamboo tube, how could it fire 25 rounds per minute?

What concept is 25 rounds per minute?

It means being able to throw 25 hand grenades at the enemy trench in one minute, while the enemy doesn’t have this kind of equipment – that almost means suppressing the enemy throughout the whole process!

No one would dislike this feeling, especially the officers and soldiers on the front line who constantly face life and death.

Colonel Kristin sat quietly in his seat, his face uncertain.

He had come with a special mission.

The day before departure, Deputy Commander Kanes found Colonel Kristin, he said to him meaningfully:

"We’ve heard that Shire is gathering various forces to train on using a new artillery."

"No artillery can surpass the 75 cannon, understand? If there is, it was not developed by Shire!"

Colonel Kristin responded crisply: "Understood, General!"

He indeed understood the situation, Xia Fei and Schneider maintained a certain tacit understanding, and Schneider, being a capitalist producing artillery, would not allow anyone to step into the artillery industry – it was a blatant provocation.

Colonel Kristin had no intention of dabbling in this struggle belonging to the capitalists or the power battle, but he fully agreed with General Kanes’ statement: "No artillery can surpass the 75 cannon."

Just now, before Shire brought the mortar onto the podium, Colonel Kristin thought Shire was overestimating himself.

Artillery is not as simple as he thought, the patent of the hydraulic recoil recuperator was held by Schneider, what else could Shire do?

Unexpectedly, Shire really could do something...

When the mortar was brought into the conference room, Colonel Kristin immediately saw its function; it was a piece of artillery competing on a different level than the 75 cannon.

Colonel Kristin glanced at Colonel Deni who was sitting not far from his left, he was whispering with several officers.

Colonel Kristin knew they were also shocked by Shire.

Different from Colonel Kristin, Colonel Deni was a staunch supporter of the "advancing theory."

Before coming here, they believed only the 75 cannon could provide a basis for their advancing theory, thus they held little hope for Shire’s new artillery, even with resistance.

And sitting at the rear was Colonel Honore, who was Petain’s subordinate, they were supporters of the "Defense Theory," and believed the French Army should completely replace the 75 cannon with the longer-range 105MM artillery.

Before the meeting, he even made a bold statement: "Unless Shire can bring out ’Big Bertha,’ else we’ll throw it in the trash without hesitation!"

But now Colonel Honore was also silent.

Colonel Kristin felt some irony, in this small conference room with only eighty-eight officers, different views and opinions could be distinguished, with each having their ideas.

If there was any common point, it was that everyone was dismissive of Shire’s new artillery.

This was the true reason why the officers were making fun of the instructor.

However, when Shire put the mortar on the podium and listed the data casually as if chatting, the embedded combat concept, like a wave, fiercely overwhelmed all differences and all varied thoughts.

The officers all thought the same sentence: This artillery can save many lives, among them possibly their own!

Persist in rejecting?

That would be playing with the lives of oneself and subordinates!

Moreover, this wave was unstoppable.

Sooner or later, the mortar would become widespread across the army, becoming a popular piece of equipment like hand grenades.

If anyone persisted in rejecting, shortly, he would be hated, maligned, or even "removed" by his own subordinates.

Such things were too common on the front line, if you block the way of your subordinates, they would, of course, take desperate measures to remove this stumbling block.

Thinking of this, Colonel Kristin no longer hesitated. He stood up and said to Shire, "Major, I hope we can go to the shooting range to try this artillery, what do you think?"

"Of course!" Shire nodded towards the instructor on the podium.

The instructor understood, excitedly waved his hand and shouted: "Follow me, gentlemen! But note, every step must follow my instructions!"