CHAPTER 408: CHAPTER 408 MOBILE DEFENSE

The First German Tank Division was rushing at full speed along the highway to Vallo Town.

The "Upper Silesia" tank’s normal cruising speed was 12 kilometers per hour. Although it was designed to reach a top speed of 16 kilometers per hour, that was only to be used in combat in emergencies.

Otherwise, the engine would overheat and break down within fifteen minutes, potentially causing accidents.

Even at normal speeds, 11 tanks had to be abandoned on the journey due to malfunctions.

The 30-kilometer journey took over two hours, and the drivers hadn’t rested at all, by the time they neared Vallo Town, they were about to collapse from exhaustion.

Tanks of this era had no power assistance, driving a tank was a purely physical task, and the crew had to endure the noise and suffocating air within the tank compartments.

Erwin was all the way in Major General Nicholas’s car, slowly following the tanks and drafting battle plans while looking at the map.

"The highway bridge is built over a ravine a little over seven meters deep and a dozen meters wide," Erwin said. "When I was a battalion commander in the mountain battalion, we targeted it, so I am familiar with the terrain there."

Major General Nicholas stared at the map, seemingly finding the end of the ravine.

"It’s actually not long," Erwin traced a line roughly on the map with his finger and explained, "It’s just over two hundred meters, it’s not marked on the map, its ends connect to mountains impassable to tanks, if you don’t pass through here, you have to detour over a hundred kilometers through Charleroi."

Major General Nicholas was relieved: "This is a great opportunity, our tanks can hide on the other side of the bridge and open fire when the enemy crosses..."

"General," Erwin interrupted Major General Nicholas, "I think this tactic might be ineffective against Shire’s forces."

Major General Nicholas looked at Erwin in confusion: "The highway bridge can only allow one tank to pass at a time, Captain. No matter how powerful the ’Shire A1’ is, it can’t possibly withstand an assault by dozens of our tanks. Also, if a tank is destroyed on the bridge, their advance will be blocked."

It seemed like an almost perfect battle plan to Major General Nicholas.

Erwin still shook his head.

"I used to think so too," Erwin said calmly and helplessly, "That’s what I did on the defense line."

Major General Nicholas was suddenly enlightened, realizing that the trenches Erwin had widened were equivalent to the ravine, and the enemy’s sandbags filling the trenches were like the highway bridge. They would suffer from Erwin’s tank battalion’s concentrated attacks.

However, Erwin had suffered a miserable defeat.

Major General Nicholas curiously asked, "How did they manage that?"

Erwin’s answer was succinct: "Artillery. Their artillery seemed to have eyes, accurately pinpointing our tank positions from several kilometers away. I think they had numerous artillery observers on the front line, enabling coordination between infantry and artillery."

Erwin’s specialty was artillery, serving in the 49th Field Artillery Regiment before becoming the mountain battalion commander, giving him deep insights into this matter.

Major General Nicholas was silent for a while, then thoughtfully said, "So, our tanks would be destroyed one by one by their artillery, and then their tanks would cross the bridge."

"Yes," Erwin sighed softly, "Previously, I always thought our gap with Shire was in equipment, but I now realize that was not the case."

"What do you mean?" Major General Nicholas asked.

"They function as a whole, General," Erwin answered, "Air Force suppressing our 105 howitzers, artillery suppressing our tanks, infantry coordinating with tanks for attack, each branch plays to its strengths to make up for the weaknesses of others. And we..."

"Are acting on our own?" Major General Nicholas completed Erwin’s words.

Erwin uttered an "Mm," feeling a sense of powerlessness.

What truly made him desperate was not Shire’s bombers or tanks, nor the recent defeat, but the coordination among the branches of the French Army.

How did Shire know these tactics and train their troops to function as such a cohesive unit?

Such an army is invincible!

If there’s one division, there would be two, and then more and more.

The entrenching German forces were no match, this war was doomed to be lost!

Major General Nicholas seemed to see through Erwin’s thoughts and said with a blank expression: "You’re thinking too far ahead, Captain, winning this battle in front of us is what we need to focus on."

Then he changed to a serious tone: "If that’s the case, blowing up the bridge is our only choice!"

However, blowing up the bridge was not the optimal option. The German Army had a large number of cars, sidecars, and artillery, and blowing up the bridge would mean only soldiers could cross, leaving the rest behind on the other side of the ravine.

Erwin thought for a moment and answered, "We might have another option."

He pointed to Vallo Town on the map a mile away: "We might be able to hide our tanks here."

Nicholas immediately understood Erwin’s intention. Hiding the tanks inside Vallo Town, not only would they be hidden from the French Army, but the French Army would also be deterred from randomly bombing the town because many Belgian civilians lived there.

However...

"What’s the use of that?" Nicholas asked, "We wouldn’t be able to penetrate the ’Shire A1’ from this distance, we’d just watch them cross the bridge."

"No, General," Erwin replied, "When the dozen or so ’Shire A1’ cross the bridge, we will launch a sudden counterattack!"

Nicholas stared at Erwin in astonishment. Was this guy crazy?

Counterattack? Engage the ’Shire A1’ in close combat?

But thinking it over, Major General Nicholas felt this might be the only feasible tactic.

Once the ’Upper Silesia’ tanks and the ’Shire A1’ got mixed up, the enemy’s artillery would be useless.

At that point, the German tanks could use their numbers to their advantage, even using their top speed of 16 kilometers per hour to circle around to the rear of the ’Shire A1,’ where either the tank gun or the K shell could penetrate the ’Shire A1.’

Winning just one battle would clog the highway bridge with ’Shire A1’ tank wrecks, immobilizing the enemy.

Major General Nicholas decided to adopt this bold battle plan.

"I’ll assign other tanks to your tank battalion," Major General Nicholas said, "You command the tanks, I’ll command the infantry, and if possible, we’ll get some artillery support!"

"Yes, General," Erwin replied.

He realized he had made a mistake before. On the defense line, he should have used mobile defense instead of positioning the tanks in cover.

Tanks had tracks and engines, they were meant to be mobile, not just gun turrets!

However, to Erwin’s surprise, he never got a chance to verify this tactic.