CHAPTER 554: CHAPTER 554: KNOWING THE ANSWER AT THE SMALLEST COST

The Berlin Wilhelm Street was pitch dark in the late night, with only the General Staff’s lights still on.

Since the Somme battle started, the lights at the General Staff have never been turned off. The staff are divided into two shifts, monitoring and directing the frontline battles day and night.

For Germany, the Somme battle was a victory, a well-deserved victory. They exchanged a few square kilometers of defense lines for the lives of hundreds of thousands of Allied soldiers, with their own casualties being less than half of the enemy’s.

Even the German Emperor William II sighed:

"We originally intended to drain the French blood at Verdun, but we did it at the Somme, including the British."

"Unbelievable, why did they attack our strongest defensive position at the Somme instead of elsewhere?"

"Is it just because we attacked Verdun?"

Verdun was France’s strongest defensive part, and the Allies seemed to be retaliating.

But the difference is, Verdun’s defenses were mostly withdrawn under Xia Fei’s orders, merely a façade, whereas the Germans were fully fortified at the Somme.

If it weren’t for Shire’s raid on Namur, making the situation for the German Army in Belgium increasingly severe, the German Army’s performance lately would be impeccable.

Fajin Han had been fighting sleeplessly for several days, and now he finally couldn’t hold on, lying down in the lounge and falling asleep.

However, it felt like he just closed his eyes when there was a gentle knock on the door outside.

Fajin Han was startled awake and sat up from the bed, dazed and his mind blank, unsure of what was happening.

At this moment, Colonel Moritz’s report came from outside the door: "General, intelligence from the frontline, it’s about Shire."

"Shire?" Fajin Han quickly got out of bed, hurriedly put on his boots, opened the door and anxiously asked before he even stepped out: "Has Shire launched an attack again?"

If there was anything to worry about, it was only Shire.

"No, General." Colonel Moritz replied: "Shire has been transferred to the Somme to assume command of the French 6th Army Group."

"What?" Fajin Han was stunned, then he quickened his pace towards the desk, glancing at the Somme on the desk map: "What about Belgium? I mean Shire’s troops, have they been transferred to the Somme as well?"

"Not sure." Colonel Moritz handed Fajin Han a telegram: "But I think you need to know this more."

Fajin Han took the telegram and glanced at it, with a face full of disbelief.

Soon, the weariness on his face vanished, replaced by wild joy: "Is this real? A massive mutiny in the French Army? Including the 6th Army Group at the Somme?"

"I believe it’s true." Colonel Moritz nodded: "I heard they have relieved Nivelle of his duties as Supreme Commander, and no new commander has been chosen yet. The French Army is in chaos."

"Yes." Fajin Han started pacing excitedly: "That’s why they transferred Shire to the Somme because only he can stabilize the defense line and the soldiers’ morale."

Then he cursed: "Damn, we should have acted earlier, he might already be there for days."

This was due to the lag of intelligence.

But the next second, Fajin Han hesitated, stood there, and stared at the map thoughtfully.

Colonel Moritz seemed to see through his thoughts and cautiously asked: "General, are you suspecting this is another trap set by Shire?"

Fajin Han nodded slowly:

"This seems too obvious."

"Could it be that Shire wants us to launch an attack?"

"You know, the Anglo-French forces suffered heavy losses in their attack on the Somme, while we maintained a defensive stance, leaving them no opportunity."

Colonel Moritz agreed: "Shire is too cunning; everything he shows us, everything we know, could be an illusion."

Previously, Colonel Moritz had been psychologically scarred by Shire due to the gasoline incident.

Fajin Han frowned, deeply troubled.

If the French Army’s massive mutiny was real, it was a golden opportunity for a counterattack, which could possibly defeat the French Army completely and end the entire Western Front battle.

But if it was a lie by Shire, a comprehensive counterattack by the German Army could suffer devastating casualties.

At this moment, due to multiple fronts, the German Army was critically short of troops, and further heavy casualties could lead to unfillable gaps and a total collapse of the front line.

Fajin Han sighed, falling into a dilemma; which option should he choose?

"General." Colonel Moritz suggested: "Why don’t we target the Somme?"

"Target the Somme?" Fajin Han looked at Moritz in confusion, then understood his meaning: "Launch a local attack targeting the Somme to find out the truth with minimal cost?"

"Yes." Colonel Moritz replied: "We can prepare for a counterattack in other directions; once we have the answers, we can make the correct choice."

Fajin Han nodded slightly, thought for a while, and then ordered: "Order General Beilo to prepare for a counterattack immediately!"

Note: The defense of Somme is held by the German 2nd Army Group, commanded by General von. Beilo.

...

It was five o’clock in the morning, an hour before dawn.

The Somme battlefield, previously in a state of major combat, appeared very calm today. The strong wind carrying rain swept across the battlefield, seemingly cleansing the corpses and blood left behind.

French soldiers stayed awake all night.

Their trenches were not as complete as the Germans’; the Germans had anticipated the rainy season and dug drainage ditches in advance, so even the underground fortifications, reaching several meters deep, rarely experienced back flooding.

The Anglo-French trenches weren’t so lucky; their fortifications often flooded, and sometimes heavy rain would submerge entire tunnels, occasionally causing soldiers to drown inside before they could escape.

French soldiers had spent the entire night scooping water.

Fortunately, they now used iron helmets instead of the previous red cloth caps, otherwise, they wouldn’t even have tools for scooping water.

Captain Jeremy was also among those scooping water.

He directed his soldiers while sighing and shaking his head: "These damn bastards, just for being lazy and not doing proper drainage, we suffered significant loss of precious supplies again."

All these materials were sent by Shire, purchased at a high price with his personal wealth.

Many of the items had just arrived a few days ago and were distributed to the soldiers only recently, before being submerged by water.

Flour, blankets, bread and winter clothes—all ruined!

Captain Jeremy looked towards the German position while enduring the rain. With weather like this, the Germans likely wouldn’t launch an attack!

However, as if to respond to him, several red signal flares suddenly rose into the sky.

Then, in Captain Jeremy’s horrified expression, deafening cannon fire erupted from the German side.

"Prepare for battle!" Captain Jeremy shouted, quickly putting the helmet onto his head.

This was the artillery preparation before the attack; Captain Jeremy felt something was very wrong. The Germans must have discovered something; they were about to launch an attack!