[Name: Lin Feng (Friedrich Wilhelm Victor August Ernst)] [Status: Crown Prince of the German Empire (Country fallen)] [Age: 21 (36)] [Skill: Natural Orator (Your speeches possess powerful infectiousness and incitement, capable of easily guiding the audience’s emotions in the direction you desire)] [Military Merit Points: 25328 ↑ (Can be exchanged for supplies and equipment)] After repelling two attacks by the US Army, William immediately opened the system panel to check his Military Merit points.
He didn’t know until he looked, and he was shocked when he did.
Thanks to the stubbornness of the Americans, they had delivered a big haul.
In the two rounds of fighting just now, the German Army had killed over 22,000 American soldiers.
There were still many American soldiers on the battlefield who were severely wounded and not yet dead; as they succumbed to their injuries, the Military Merit points on William’s system panel kept rising.
Twenty-five thousand points were enough for him to carry out the operational plan he had in mind.
To maximize the results of the night raid, he had to equip his soldiers with the best equipment for night combat—night vision goggles!
Night vision equipment was first developed and put into combat by the German Army during World War II.
In the later stages of the war, some German tanks, such as the Panther and King Tiger tanks, were equipped with infrared night vision and other detection devices to help them spot and strike enemies at night.
Elite tank crews equipped with these devices achieved impressive results in night battles, but unfortunately, the Third Reich was subjected to large-scale strategic bombing by the Allied Powers in the later stages of the war, and the country’s industrial capacity plummeted.
Coupled with the lack of manpower and various supplies, the German Army did not have time to promote and apply this equipment on a large scale in the military; instead, it benefited the Americans later on, allowing them to carry forward this equipment and turn it into a major weapon in their hands.
Thinking of this, William opened the system store without hesitation and quickly locked onto the items he wanted to buy among the long list of supplies.
Looking at the price, the military night vision goggles in the system store cost between 3 to 10 points.
As a military enthusiast in his previous life, Lin Feng understood the market for this.
The price of standard military night vision goggles was around 30,000 to 100,000, which meant that the purchasing power of the Military Merit points on his system panel was such that 1 point was roughly equivalent to 10,000 RMB.
25,000 points was equivalent to a purchasing power of 250 million in later generations.
For an individual, this was a huge number, but for a country, this money was simply not enough.
So he had to continue killing the enemy and ruthlessly “grind for gold”!
It was a pity that the war was about to end, and he didn’t know how he would increase his Military Merit points after the armistice.
He would worry about future matters later; William did not let this problem bother him, and decisively placed an order for 8,000 night vision goggles.
The quantity was a bit small, not enough to equip all the German Army.
But he didn’t need to deploy that many people; too many people would easily expose his intentions.
For this battle, William only intended to deploy the most elite Stormtroopers, letting these’special forces’ of the World War I era carry out this type of special operation.
Sporadic fighting lasted for several hours until night fell, and both sides could no longer see each other’s targets, so they ceased fire and stopped fighting.
The Americans, having suffered heavy casualties, were curled up in their positions, licking their wounds.
The German Army, on the other hand, was busy transporting ammunition, reinforcing positions, and under the cover of night, sending soldiers to crawl out of the trenches to clean up the battlefield and collect the supplies and ammunition left behind by the enemy.
After the German Army took action, the American side also sent some people out to rescue the wounded.
The soldiers of both sides met outside the trenches, and they both pretended not to see each other, each busy with their own tasks, tacitly choosing not to fire.
But beneath the calm surface, undercurrents were often surging.
In a place where the Americans could not see, an elite, heavily armed German unit had already prepared for the attack.
The time for the night raid was set for the second half of the night, to strike after the enemy relaxed their vigilance!
William inspected this elite unit and personally handed the brand-new night vision goggles into their hands: “This is the latest special combat equipment developed by the Imperial Royal Academy of Sciences.
With it, you will have eyes as sharp as night hawks at night, and you will be able to easily discover the enemy and eliminate them!” Hearing the Crown Prince’s words, the soldiers received the night vision goggles with extreme sanctity, holding them carefully in their palms, afraid of breaking them.
Many soldiers even secretly made up their minds that even if they had to sacrifice their own lives, they would protect this equipment well.
This was a weapon personally gifted by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!
“Remember, no matter how precious weapons and equipment are, they are not as precious as your lives.
I hope every one of you can return safely.
I wish you a triumphant return!” The soldiers straightened their chests, clicked their heels hard, and saluted their most respected Crown Prince in unison.
…
Meanwhile, on the American position, hearing reports from all parts of the front line, General Pershing’s face was extremely ugly!
After the first day of fighting ended, the US Army had only advanced less than 300 meters on a 25-kilometer-wide front.
Except for capturing a few strongholds where the defenders were weak, the offensive in other directions had made almost no progress.
The tank units, on which high hopes were pinned, had also suffered heavy losses, with more than 80 tanks destroyed or damaged—almost half of the total number of tanks possessed by the US Army!
Although the US Army’s results were bleak, their casualties were high!
In addition to the heavy losses of the tank units, the casualties of the American infantry participating in the attack were equally considerable, totaling 40,000!
Although this number could not catch up with the heaven-defying record created by the British in the Battle of the Somme, for the US Army itself, this was the day with the heaviest casualties since they participated in World War I.
Among them, the First Army, which General Pershing regarded as his treasure, suffered the heaviest casualties.
Under the chaotic command of General Liggett, their casualties were nearly 30,000, and several ace divisions were crippled.
Receiving the battle report from the front line, General Pershing was too shocked to speak.
Wasn’t it said that the German Army was demoralized and had no combat effectiveness?
Then why did the German Army in front of them still have such powerful combat effectiveness, capable of inflicting such heavy casualties on them?
“Contact the Allied Forces High Command on the Western Front for me.
Didn’t they say the German Army opposite was about to surrender?
Is this how they surrender?” General Pershing was very angry.
If he hadn’t received intelligence from his allies that the German Army was about to withdraw from the battle, he would not have invested so many troops to launch this attack.
But when they actually launched the attack, they found that things were completely different from what they had imagined.
At this moment, General Pershing had a feeling of being cheated.
He seriously suspected that the British and French had dug a hole for them and were deliberately setting them up!
Receiving the telegram from the Americans, Marshal Foch, Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces on the Western Front, was also very confused.
According to the intelligence he received, the Kaiser had indeed abdicated, and Hindenburg, the commander-in-chief of the German Army on the Western Front, had also issued an order to withdraw from the front line on the morning of the 9th.
The intelligence was correct, but what was going on with the German Army in front of the Americans?
He decided to personally send a telegram to Hindenburg to question him about this matter.