CHAPTER 417: CHAPTER 417: KNOWING TOO MUCH

On a starry night, the German Army in Antwerp was still busy.

Worried about guerrilla infiltration, the German Army didn’t even dare to "hire" Belgians to build fortifications. They organized all the people they deemed trustworthy to construct fortifications, including logistics personnel, signalers, and even officers.

A series of forts and trenches surrounded the center, which was Antwerp City.

Inside the city, the estate villa that originally belonged to Albert I was brightly lit, and the staff were bustling about trying to gather more information through phone calls and telegrams.

Telegrams were handed over one by one to Major General Marcus, but his frown deepened.

Finally, he could no longer hold back and stood up with a "thump", angrily throwing the telegram onto the table, and harshly questioned, "I just want to know the position of the French Army, can anyone tell me where their main force is? I need a location, an exact location!"

No one answered, because no one knew.

The staff, tense, avoided Marcus’s gaze, each one bowing their head like a child who had done something wrong.

All German intelligence units were at the front line or even inside France, but there were none in Belgium.

Especially around Brussels, which they had once considered a very safe rear area.

As a result, once the phone line to Brussels was cut, it became a true "unknown area", and no one knew what was happening there.

One officer, holding a document, cautiously reported, "General, we believe the French Army will not attack tonight, the earliest would be before dawn tomorrow."

"How can you be sure?" Marcus retorted.

The officer handed over a document along with the sorted telegrams, saying, "We’ve contacted Major General Nicholas, the commander of the 1st Tank Division."

Marcus took the document and glanced at it; it contained Nicholas’s analysis of the limitations of tank warfare. His conclusion was: Tanks are not suitable for night operations, in the dark, they are as good as blind.

Major General Marcus hummed in acknowledgment, his expression slightly easing, as the staff finally showed some usefulness.

The officer continued reporting, "Also, we have received a suggestion from Captain Erwin, who has considerable experience in tank defense. He believes that excavating wider trenches can effectively stop tanks from passing."

The officer handed over a diagram, which illustrated the principle of how tanks would be trapped by wide trenches.

Major General Marcus took one look and understood, immediately ordering, "Then what are you waiting for? Order the troops to start digging wider trenches right away."

The officer, however, replied awkwardly, "But General, we have too many trenches and severe manpower shortages, we can’t finish even half by dawn."

Marcus paced back and forth behind the desk for a few steps and asked, "When will the 192nd Infantry Regiment arrive?"

"Probably in two hours. The 87th Reserve Division will arrive before dawn," the officer replied.

No need to spell it out, these reinforcements wouldn’t suffice to solve the fortification problem.

Suddenly, Marcus paused, turned back to the map, and stared at the deployment map of Antwerp, after a while, he said slowly, "Perhaps we don’t need to widen all the trenches."

The officer looked puzzled at Marcus. How would they stop the tanks without widening the trenches...

"We just need to modify one trench," Marcus pointed at the foremost line on the defense map, "Widen the first trench to four meters, ensuring the enemy tanks can’t pass."

The officer understood Major General Marcus’s point with an "ah."

If the first trench could block the enemy tanks, there would be no need to widen the others.

Moreover, the artillery within the fort could target these trenches. Once the enemy tanks were halted in front of the trenches, they would receive devastating attacks.

"I’ll give the order right away," the officer replied.

"No." Marcus took down his military cap from the wall, put it on, grabbed the whip on the table, and ordered as he walked out the door, "I will supervise the construction of this trench personally, mobilize all available manpower immediately."

He seemed proud of his quick thinking, even believing it was key to blocking the French Army’s attack tomorrow, even if it was Shire’s troops.

...

The front line of Antwerp, the first line of defense was about 500 meters in front of the fort circle.

In the two-layer defense line fort circle of Antwerp, there were close, medium, and long-range artillery pieces, including 77mm field guns in close range, with four in each fort.

The theoretical range of the 77mm field gun is 5 kilometers, but in practice it was mostly used for direct fire at about 500 meters.

(Note: This is the result of being suppressed by the French 75mm gun, which has high accuracy, fast firing speed, and long range. If the German 77mm gun doesn’t engage closely to seek a hit, it would be crushed by the 75mm gun)

The first line of defense was set up to coordinate with the 77mm field guns in the forts.

Marcus was very satisfied with this distance; he believed that once the enemy tanks were blocked in front of this trench, they would become targets for the 77mm guns in the fort.

"Here it is!" Major General Marcus confidently shouted to the people following him from the rear, "Widen this line of defense to four meters, with a depth of two meters. It must be completed before dawn."

"Yes, General."

Soldiers jumped into the trenches one by one, waving their shovels.

Not long after, someone shouted:

"General, can we light torches?"

"Good idea, the enemy isn’t here anyway."

"Lighting torches makes it more efficient!"

...

Major General Marcus looked towards the darkness in the direction of Brussels to the south, and nodded, "No problem, as long as you finish before dawn, each will get an extra pack of cigarettes tomorrow!"

The soldiers cheered loudly.

Soon, torches were lit up one after another, the German Army even used long poles to hold the torches high, to spread the light over a wider area.

German soldiers were working hard in the firelight, digging, transporting soil, measuring, commanding, busy as ever.

...

At the same time, Shire and Tijani were lying in the bushes two miles away watching the Germans’ bizarre actions.

"What are they doing?" Tijani put away his binoculars, his voice full of confusion, "They are clearly exposing their defense line to us."

Initially, the French Army had no clue about the location of the enemy’s trenches, but now it was crystal clear.

Shire smiled and replied, "It’s because they know too much."

"Know too much?" Tijani was even more baffled, how does knowing too much relate to exposing trench positions?

Shire hummed in affirmation, "They know tanks are not suitable for night operations."

Tijani paused for a moment and suddenly understood: Because they knew that tanks are not suitable for night operations, they thought the French Army would not attack at night, so they confidently lit torches to build fortifications.

Tijani laughed, "They must be thinking, once they hear the engines of the enemy tanks, they will have time to extinguish the torches!"