CHAPTER 420: CHAPTER 420: JUST 1 DAY

Although the Molotov cocktail is quite primitive, it’s merely a bottle meant for throwing, but its effectiveness is no less than other equipment.

The key is its simplicity.

Other weapons may require considerations of design, gunpowder, and other technologies beyond the reach of ordinary people.

The Molotov cocktail is just a glass bottle, some gasoline, and a cloth stuffed in the bottle neck.

Shire took only a few minutes to craft a Molotov cocktail. He lit the cloth and hurled it far away. With a crisp sound, flames erupted instantly at the point of impact.

"This is a Molotov cocktail; it will make an excellent night battle equipment." Shire waved his hand towards the flames: "Infantry can throw it into enemy trenches, and tanks can thus know the layout of the trenches."

Colonel Estiny and Tijani, who stood watching the scene, were dumbfounded.

Such a simple combination could produce effects similar to or even better than a grenade, but only Shire could have thought of it.

After a while, Tijani sighed: "As I said, this is the charm of war. I’ve already started to sympathize with the enemies who will die by these Molotov cocktails!"

...

Tanks, with a "rumbling" sound, crossed the trenches filled with flames. They continued to pursue the retreating German Army, only minutes away from the collapse of the last German trench, never stopping for a second.

The artillery in the German fortress finally opened fire. They no longer cared if the shells would hit their allies, after all, they couldn’t just watch the fortress defenses get breached.

But that’s when they realized they had missed their only chance to destroy the enemy tanks.

meters was too close. The advancing speed of the target tanks exceeded the maximum rotation speed of the fortress turrets, causing the artillery to always lag behind.

The result of firing under these conditions not only missed the targets but also led to retaliatory bombardment from enemy artillery.

Although the fortress didn’t need to worry about the French Army’s 75 cannons, the explosions and smoke from the shells immediately obscured the already limited visibility, leaving them helpless inside the fortress.

Rolf had given up command. He realized the fall of Antwerp was inevitable, the German defenses crumbled before Shire’s forces.

Ironically, not long ago, he and General Marcus thought they could crush Shire’s plans and halt his advance.

Now it seems merely a fairytale!

With a heart full of despair, Rolf gave up on escape. He turned back to silently gaze at the approaching tanks, unresponsive to the guards’ anxious shouts.

The tanks drew closer and closer...

...

The battle ended within an hour.

The tanks, nearly at a speed of 6 kilometers per hour, pierced through two layers of defense and entered the core of Antwerp City in one thrust.

Now came the real trouble, a large number of German troops retreated into the city, trying to rely on urban structures for defense.

The Germans had reinforcements, potentially a lot of them, and more would come.

Coupled with the retreating units from the front, they formed a pincer attack on Shire’s forces inside and outside Antwerp City.

However, without unified command, the German forces ultimately failed to pose a significant threat.

As Shire was worrying about how to completely reclaim Antwerp and organize defenses before the German reinforcements arrived, the Germans sent representatives to surrender to the French Army.

Thus, the Battle of Antwerp ended in a cheer of triumph.

Shire not only reclaimed this solid "National Fortress" but also received all its facilities nearly intact, including fortresses, artillery positions, defensive lines, and twenty-three 105MM howitzers.

...

The next morning, the first thing Parisians did upon waking was discussing with their families at the breakfast table where Shire’s forces had advanced to.

They believed "victory" was without a doubt; Shire would never fail.

The focus was on how long Shire would take to achieve this victory.

Some guessed half a month, some guessed a month, while others thought it might take six months.

"After all, it’s a whole country." They said: "The Allies have dispatched hundreds of thousands of troops and powerful fleets at the Dardanelles Strait, and have made no progress. And Shire only has a tank brigade and an infantry regiment, dealing with the Germans!"

Soon, this view gradually became the consensus. People believed they should rationally view Shire’s offensive and not mythologize him, thinking he could win in just a month or even half a month.

"This will be a protracted battle, and undoubtedly many soldiers will sacrifice their lives!"

"But anyhow, we are advancing now, which is much better than the previous stalemate between the two armies."

"It’s Shire who changed this stalemate; we shouldn’t demand too much from him!"

...

Dejoka and Camille hadn’t slept all night.

Camille’s eyes were red and swollen as she made breakfast. She had tossed and turned last night, sighing countless times, with the newly bought radio persistently emitting static noise by the bedside. She got up now and then to fiddle with it, afraid of missing any information.

Seated at the dining table, Dejoka couldn’t help but console: "It’s only the first day, we can’t go on like this."

"I know." Camille replied expressionlessly: "But I can’t control myself."

Dejoka somewhat regretted buying that radio; he intended to ease Camille’s worries.

"They say this battle might last a long time?" Camille set down the bread for Dejoka but forgot the milk and didn’t slice the fruit.

Dejoka responded with an "uh-huh": "You know, Shire doesn’t have many troops under his command, and his enemies are very strong..."

Dejoka stopped himself in time, seeing the worry in Camille’s eyes.

"They should let Shire command more troops." Camille complained.

Dejoka was quite surprised at this statement, as Camille had never mentioned such matters before.

"I’ve come to realize something." Camille sat weakly opposite Dejoka: "Only by ending this war quickly can Shire be safe, don’t you agree?"

Dejoka nodded in agreement.

In times of war, no country would let a talent like Shire sit on the sidelines, and staying out of it was an unrealistic fantasy.

As they chewed on their bread, suddenly a cheer was heard outside: "Shire’s victorious, he’s achieved a decisive victory..."

Camille and Dejoka looked at each other abruptly and simultaneously dropped their bread to open the door:

"Noemi, is it true? Shire won?"

"Who did you hear this from!"

Noemi shouted back, her tone full of excitement and enthusiasm: "It’s true, Mr. Dejoka! It’s news from the military, it happened an hour ago, Shire took Antwerp in just one day, surrounding over 200,000 German troops. He’s incredible!"