I Became a Plutocrat in World War I: Starting with Saving France
Chapter 199 Shire A1

Chapter 199: Chapter 199 Shire A1

Gallieni put down the receiver with satisfaction and looked at Shire: "They will convene the council immediately!"

Shire looked at Gallieni with dissatisfaction: "Minor? Throwing a tantrum?"

"It’s a good excuse," Gallieni replied, glancing at the map, "Besides, you should be thinking about how to rescue them instead of continuing to throw a tantrum just because I figured you out!"

Shire was speechless.

Anyway, being a minor is the original sin. As long as there is any discontent, it’s all "throwing a tantrum"!

"Xia Fei’s decision is obviously wrong!" Shire pointed to the map and analyzed, "If the Germans knew from the beginning that Xia Fei was going to intersperse, they would of course think that he intended to break through from the middle."

Gallieni responded noncommittally, "But what could they do? They can’t deploy more troops in this salient; they have only five divisions here. We also have five divisions concentrated on the front in the Cape Town Region, and we are increasing. If an army attacks from the rear, even just one, it is possible to break through!"

This was undeniable; all the German defenses were oriented westward and had no defenses to the east, which would be easily broken through.

Shire answered unhurriedly, "What if the Germans establish a reverse defense line in the Cape Town Region?"

Gallieni’s face changed: "A reverse defense line? Surrounding and protecting themselves with trenches?"

"That’s my guess," Shire replied, "If it were me, that’s what I would do. Trenches can ensure safety with fewer troops, and with enough machine guns, artillery, and ammunition, we can’t break through the middle even with attacks from both sides!"

Gallieni stared at the map for a long while before slowly nodding:

"Before interspersing, Xia Fei spent five days feigning an attack on Cape Town. He foolishly thought he could fool the Germans. But the Germans had long seen through his plan."

"During his feint, the Germans built a reverse defense line in Cape Town."

"This defense line is likely near Lorca Town, at the locations planned for Xia Fei’s two Specialized Artillery divisions!"

Shire agreed: "Because such a defense line would be as short as possible. Lorca Town is directly behind Cape Town, only about twenty kilometers in length."

"Yes!" Gallieni said worriedly, "The Germans just need to redeploy one division from the frontline, and two divisions from the rear to turn it into another trap. Xia Fei’s so-called double envelopment is actually an attack into a trap!"

Gallieni then looked up at Shire: "So, from which direction do you plan to break through?"

Before Shire could answer, the phone rang.

Wells was on the other end: "General, the council will start in half an hour. I think you should be present to respond to inquiries, or our agenda may be rejected."

"Alright, sir, I’ll come immediately!"

After hanging up the phone, Gallieni said helplessly to Shire: "They think we are not preparing for war, so..."

Gallieni stood up, took his infantry coat from the wall, and put it on, his tone light: "I’ll leave this to you, Major! My battlefield is the House of Representatives. I find that battling wits with those old men may be a good choice."

"But General, what about here?" Shire looked around.

Gallieni headed straight for the stairs without looking back: "If you have any issues, give me a call. I believe you can handle it!"

Major Fernan and the others were all stunned. Could the command post

coordinate and rescue the encircled allies without Gallieni?

Shire hesitated only for a moment.

He took some time to organize his thoughts and found that it was manageable since he didn’t need other units to participate.

Then he called the tractor factory and contacted Colonel Estiny.

"Prepare for battle!" Shire said.

"What?" Colonel Estiny was startled, then stood straight and replied, "Yes, sir, I’ll return to the tank base immediately..."

"No, you will organize the transport at the tractor factory," Shire interrupted, "I need you to bring all the tanks, including fuel, ammunition, and mechanical engineers."

Colonel Estiny became tense immediately: "Sir, I don’t understand. I have only new model tanks, and they are not ready for the battlefield..."

"Are the 37 cannons installed?" Shire interrupted Estiny.

Ten test new model tanks had four equipped with machine guns and six with newly produced 37 cannons.

"Yes!" Colonel Estiny replied, "But they are still being tested. We want to know their armor-piercing capabilities..."

"Test them on the battlefield. That’s the standard answer," Shire replied.

There was silence on the other end of the line before a reply came: "Alright, I understand!"

The tone was full of helplessness; if the tests failed, they would have to reproduce the prototypes and retest.

...

The tractor factory quickly became busy. Under Estiny’s command, the tanks returned to the warehouse one by one, where they would be loaded into freight cars and transported by train.

Matthew, who participated in the tests, limped forward and asked suspiciously: "What’s going on, Colonel? Where are you taking them?"

Estiny said nothing, just shook his head slightly.

Matthew quickly understood, looking incredulous: "But the drivers have just learned how to operate them!"

Estiny hummed and looked at the tanks: "We haven’t even given them decent names."

The new model tanks had always been referred to by the code: Model A1.

Matthew took a step forward on his crutch, musing: "I think it could be called the Shire A1 model, what do you think?"

Estiny turned and looked at Matthew in surprise, nodding: "You have a gift for naming, Matthew!"

...

Shire then called the tank base: "Rally the troops, there is a combat mission!"

"Yes, sir!" Brownie seemed to have anticipated this. He asked: "Is it Cape Town?"

It wasn’t hard to guess. Only Shire could resolve the Cape Town dilemma.

"Yes!" Shire did not evade the question. There was no need to conceal from Brownie’s unit. He emphasized: "Bring all the tanks and two sets of ammunition."

"So, which unit will cooperate with us?" Brownie asked casually.

The First Tank Brigade was a tank unit. The infantry were trained to professionally cooperate with tanks, so they couldn’t be used to set up defenses along the way, thus needing infantry cooperation.

Unexpectedly, Shire replied: "No other units, just us!"

Brownie’s heart sank. Just us?

Does that mean... only interspersing without regard for the rear?

Interesting!

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.