Chapter 212: Psychological warfare

It may still be too late. The third chapter will be published later. It takes me more than two hours to write a chapter, so I often can't make it. Sorry!

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Tijani's eyes jumped over the observation hole and looked at Christine's troops outside the anti-artillery cave. His eyes were full of envy: "I would rather bring more people back, General Christine!"

Tijani's troops were surrounded and killed by the German army in the Samok Straight Road. There were artillery fire and crossfire from both sides, and at least 5,000 people were lost.

More importantly, his troops were beaten to the point of losing morale and almost surrendered, while Christine's First Special Artillery Division still maintained its morale.

Christian had a bitter smile on his lips: "We were also rescued by Charles!"

Tijani looked back in astonishment, his eyes full of surprise: "You too?"

He originally thought that Charles' troops were a single-wing interspersed, and only the Second Special Artillery Division could be rescued. Unexpectedly, Christine's troops seemed to be rescued by Charles.

Christine nodded, her eyes were quite complicated, and she was a little unwilling in her words: "Charles pointed out the direction of the breakout for us through the plane, which played a key role!"

Tijani said "Oh": "The plane can detect the enemy situation, and they can see much more than us!"

"Not just this." Christine shook her head gently: "Can you think of breaking out from the Trem River?"

"The Trem River?" Tijani participated in this combat plan, of course he knew this river, it was a small river west of the quarry.

Christine nodded heavily and described the whole process concisely: "Charles asked us to abandon all heavy equipment and break out from the Trem River. The Germans thought it was impossible for us to break out from this direction because the troops deployed in this direction were the least. Our army used mortars to suppress the firepower on the opposite bank, and then used grenades to fight close combat after wading..."

Tijani understood that this was not just a matter of aircraft reconnaissance, but also Charles' tactical guidance to Christine.

Christian is an experienced veteran, while Charles is only 17 years old, a major who has never been on the battlefield, but he guided Christian and won the victory...

No wonder Christian looked a little embarrassed, he seemed to blame himself for not thinking of this method.

What Tijani didn't know was that Christian was thinking more than that.

Before the war, he equipped a batch of mortars despite Joffre's opposition and pressure. If he hadn't done so, would half of his troops have to be killed or injured to break through here?

Why is everything related to Charles?

Tactics, mortars, grenades...

At this time, a soldier shouted: "Enemy situation, east!"

Everyone was nervous, and Christian hurriedly got out of the anti-artillery hole to command the troops to turn their guns to the east.

This is the embarrassment of being surrounded in the enemy-controlled area. They can't even be sure from which direction the enemy will appear.

Then someone exclaimed: "Tanks, German tanks!"

"Battle preparation!" Christian shouted, raising the telescope to look in the direction indicated by the sentry.

Sure enough, at the other end of the road a few kilometers away, the silhouettes of several tanks vaguely appeared in the aperture of the telescope. It was obviously not the "Mark I", but the German tanks.

"General Tijani!" Christine looked back at Tijani who had caught up with him and asked, "Do you mind letting me command your tanks?"

"Of course, I have no objection!" Tijani agreed.

He had long lost confidence due to the torture of the battlefield, and now his mind was blank and he didn't know what to do!

Christine was about to give an order, but a plane flew over his head and dropped an intelligence bottle with a whistle.

Soon, someone shouted excitedly: "That's our people, Charles' troops, and Charles' new tanks!"

The crowd instantly burst into cheers, and Christine and Tijani breathed a sigh of relief at the same time.

Christine was still a little worried, and he continued to observe the approaching team with a telescope until he saw a team of sidecars in front of him wearing bright red military pants, and then he ordered to lift the alert.

He hesitated for a moment, then turned to Tijani and said, "We should be prepared to break out, Major General Tijani."

"Break out? Now?" Tijani looked surprised.

Christine nodded affirmatively. The faster the breakout, the better. Charles should think so too.

His only worry was that the tanks seemed a little small. Could they lead the troops to break out smoothly?

...

It turned out that Christine's worry was unnecessary. The performance of the "Charles A1" tank in the breakout could be described as "magnificent".

Its front armor was 25MM, which was the armor-piercing thickness of the German anti-tank rifle at a distance of 200 meters.

This still seemed dangerous, but the mortar had a range of 700 meters. Once the mortar operator observed a big gun in the trench, he would immediately "pay special attention" to it.

Then, like the previous tank tactics, the tank approached with the infantry, threw grenades into the trench, and the infantry rushed up to tear a hole in the German defense line.

Before the war, many people were worried about whether a small tank like the "Charr A1" could successfully cross the trenches.

But actual combat convinced everyone of the design of this tank: the "Charr A1" had a tail hook at the rear, so crossing the trenches was not as easy as walking on flat ground, but it was just a bump, and the driver could not even feel the process of crossing the trenches.

(The above picture shows a Renault tank crossing a trench without a tail hook)

(The above picture shows the crossing of the trench with the tail hook of Renault. When the tank passes through the trench, the tail hook plays the role of supporting and maintaining the balance of the body)

When Major General Tijani saw these tanks crossing the trench one after another, he seemed to regain his vitality from his original depressed face. While commanding the troops to break through, he excitedly shouted: "This is a tank, a real tank, a tank that can fight!"

At that moment, he made a decision in his heart that his idol was no longer Napoleon, but Charles.

Because Napoleon could not make such equipment, it was simply born for war, it was battlefield art, and it was the most advanced and wonderful invention in the world...

The soldiers did not think so much like Tijani. They only knew to follow the tank brigade to break through the defense line, and then expand the results of the battle on the hole torn by the tank brigade.

...

At the General Staff in Berlin, Falkenhayn only sighed when he received the intelligence that the reverse defense line of Cape Town was broken.

Although this was expected, when this moment really came, he was still unwilling.

Looking back now, he could have won this battle. As long as he held on to Cape Town, no matter which direction Charles broke out, his flank would be exposed to the 4th Reserve Army.

However, he made a series of wrong troop movements because he was too worried about Charles's tactics, which gave Charles an opportunity to take advantage.

Otherwise, only 9 tanks, even if they were Charles' new tanks, would not be enough to break through the defense line.

Charles, fighting is not just about tactics and equipment, but also about psychology!

He has figured out the opponent's psychology!