"Retreat! Tell the artillery regiment to pack up the cannons and pull them back immediately!"
Seeing his forward-deployed artillery positions blanketed by enemy fire, Major General Degizel screamed out orders in a hoarse panic, but it was far too late.
The Belgin artillerymen were blown off their feet, reduced to a bloody mess. They didn't even have time to retract the artillery spades, let alone drag the cannons back.
Colonel Dejoka, commander of the 3rd Regiment of the Belgin 4th Division—who was directly responsible for this offensive—was currently leading his last few hundred men in person. They were huddled near the bombed-out artillery positions, taking cover within the ruined buildings at the northeast corner of the town.
He had a much closer view of their disastrous situation than his superior, Major General Degizel, and was naturally even more anxious.
Watching his artillerymen get slaughtered, he hastily adjusted his deployment, urging his soldiers to hold their ground. "All infantry, defend this position to the death! Buy the artillery time to retreat!"
Messengers braved the enemy's sweeping gunfire and flying shrapnel, darting through the ruins to urge the officers at all levels to execute the colonel's orders.
The Belgin infantrymen still had a bit of courage left. Relying on the foothold they had already secured in a corner of the town, they refused to fall back easily.
Just then, Colonel Dejoka noticed scattered German Army silhouettes emerging along the southern side of the streets in the twilight. They were advancing in loose formations. The enemy infantry had clearly seized the opportunity to launch a counter-charge.
"The German Army dares to counterattack so decisively? Are they not going to wear us down first like they did the last two times?"Seeing this, Dejoka's fighting spirit flared. He decided to hold his ground and strike back; no matter what, he was going to inflict severe casualties on the enemy's effective forces.
Even if the enemy excelled at elastic defense, this was absolutely not how an elastic defense was executed! The German Army was far too arrogant!
To blindly launch a full-scale counter-offensive before thoroughly exhausting the attackers—he would show them the true power of machine guns!
The handful of heavy machine guns the Belgin forces had just deployed inside the northernmost buildings immediately began spitting fire, locking down the streets with a rattling roar.
The German Army infantry charging north from the southern end of the street were indeed temporarily suppressed, scattering to find cover.
Although it was impossible to see exactly how many had been killed or wounded in the dark, the German Army's counter-charge had been significantly delayed.
Unfortunately, that success was short-lived. The Belgin heavy machine guns had only been firing for a few minutes when a flash of light burst from behind a broken wall in one of the opposing houses. A 77mm high-explosive shell flew straight toward a ruin hiding one of the heavy machine guns. With a deafening boom, it blew down half the wall, burying the Belgin machine gun inside.
Dejoka stared in shock, entirely unable to understand what had just happened.
He had learned the German Army had artillery a few minutes ago, but how could cannons possibly appear in a location like that?
Even if they were rapid-fire cannons using direct fire, shouldn't they be deployed in an open artillery position?
How could cannons be deployed inside ruined buildings? Did this world even have artillery that could be flexibly positioned indoors?
Barely seven or eight seconds later, another shot flashed from the same position. This time, the shell flew straight toward Dejoka's location. He was temporarily stationed inside the ruins of a church at the corner of the town; with messengers constantly running in and out, the enemy's hidden observation posts had long since realized this was a crucial spot.
Taking his unanswered questions to the grave, Colonel Dejoka was blown to pieces.
Having lost their commander, the 3rd Regiment of the 4th Division plunged into total chaos. The handful of German direct-fire cannons remained hidden within certain ruins on the southern side of the long street, firing every seven or eight seconds—or sometimes every few dozen seconds—picking off targets one by one. Every shot hit something of value.
Freed from the suppression of the Belgin heavy machine guns, the German Army infantry finally charged forward swiftly but in loose order. They maintained their tactical formations perfectly, avoiding mass casualties from concentrated enemy fire.
The remnants of the Belgin offensive forces, their morale completely broken, lost all control. They scrambled out of the town, fleeing wildly in a desperate retreat, and were relentlessly cut down from behind. This regiment had already suffered continuous attrition earlier; now, it was nearly wiped out.
"Hurry up! You men, bring the horses over and hitch up the caissons! Pick two Schneider rapid-fire cannons in good condition and haul them back! Don't leave them here to be blown up by Britannia's cruisers! No need to take too many! We don't have many shells! Too many cannons and we won't have the ammo to fire them! But take every 75mm shell you can find on the position!"
On the other side of the battlefield, Lieutenant Barack, the deputy commander of the German cavalry company, shouted, directing a large number of draft horses and even warhorses to pull the caissons. Just like that, they dragged away two relatively intact Belgin cannons.
He was strictly executing Colonel List's orders.
Before this wave of counterattacks, the colonel had already assigned their tasks:
The main force of the 16th Regiment's artillery company was responsible for counter-battering the enemy's forward-deployed artillery positions—the ones they had been tricked into moving up. However, two cannons were to be pulled out and deployed separately in the ruins on the southern side of the contested blocks. Placed in two spots with good fields of fire, they were meant for direct fire to eliminate enemy strongpoints during the counter-offensive.
The infantry of the 16th Regiment's 4th Battalion had previously been held back as a reserve. Now that they had rested enough, they were brought up to serve as the main charging force for the counterattack.
Meanwhile, the cavalry of the division's reconnaissance company contributed their horses to quickly sweep the battlefield and haul back the captured cannons abandoned by the enemy.
The cannons of the German and Belgin armies had a two-millimeter difference in caliber, meaning their shells were completely different. Therefore, the colonel knew that hauling back too many enemy cannons was pointless; two were enough.
The enemy's artillery positions only had so much ammunition in their temporary reserves anyway; with more cannons, there wouldn't be enough shells to go around.
Lieutenant Barack had never fought such a lucrative battle. His soldiers didn't even have to kill anyone; all they had to do was sweep the battlefield and haul away the cannons and shells.
The more jobs like this in the future, the better!
"Sir! My unit has flawlessly completed the mission! We brought back two 75mm rapid-fire cannons, along with three hundred shells, and captured over twenty artillerymen."
Returning to the command post, Lieutenant Barack reported this to the colonel with a beaming face.
The colonel nodded in satisfaction. "Well done. However, for this battle to be won so decisively, Lelouch, your idea deserves a lot of the credit as well—how did you think to forcefully dismantle the ballistic shields on our 77mm cannons on the fly and hide them indoors for deployment?"
Hearing this, Lieutenant Barack looked at Lelouch again, but this time, his eyes held nothing but sheer respect.
It turned out that just before the enemy's attack, Sergeant Major Lelouch had offered the colonel another small suggestion, and Lieutenant Barack had heard it with his own ears.
The German Army's 77mm field guns were originally not capable of being deployed indoors, because all cannons of this era had forward ballistic shields, and their sheer size got in the way.
A 77mm cannon couldn't even be pushed through the double doors of an ordinary house, so indoor deployment was completely out of the question—unless it was a professionally designed and constructed fortress battery.
But just before the operation, as Lelouch listened to the colonel discussing the plan to "lure the enemy deep, then counterattack and capture their cannons," he was struck by a moment of inspiration. To perfect the plan, he advised the colonel to simply pick two 77mm cannons and tear off their ballistic shields, drastically reducing their overall size and allowing for flexible deployment.
Now that the trick had clearly worked, Lelouch naturally took the opportunity to play Zhuge Liang in hindsight and show off his thought process:
"My thought process was actually quite simple. It occurred to me that our 77mm cannons have a much higher muzzle velocity than the Schneider 75mm, yet their maximum ranges are about the same. In reality, we lose out because the 77mm's maximum elevation angle is too small.
"Because the maximum elevation angle is small, the cannon body can be made lower, and the ballistic shield's area correspondingly reduced. This was originally an advantage for our army. But how could we push this advantage to its absolute limit? I figured we might as well strip off the ballistic shields completely. Then, utilizing the low profile of our gun carriages, we could push them straight into collapsed buildings, slotting them into whatever gaps we could find.
"This maximizes their concealment. Moreover, since it's an indoor battle, the outer walls already provide ballistic cover. If an attack can penetrate a brick wall, that thin sheet of iron at the end definitely wouldn't be able to stop it anyway. Since that's the case, why keep it around for no reason?"
As Lelouch eloquently explained his reasoning, Colonel List, Lieutenant Barack, and several other officers found it quite enlightening.
This line of thinking wasn't just useful for this battle; it could also serve as a reference for friendly forces in the future. It ought to be written into the artillery manual's summary of urban warfare experience.
At this thought, the colonel couldn't help but ask casually, "How is your writing? Can you draft an addendum for the artillery manual introducing this new tactical experience? This would be very beneficial for you grassroots officers—it's a fast way to build up your credentials."
For a university graduate, writing an article was naturally not difficult. As long as there was substance, they just needed a template to get it done.
Lelouch didn't even need to think about it and agreed without hesitation. "Rest assured, sir. I'm a university graduate as well."
However, there was no rush for this sort of thing; they could discuss it later.
Having just achieved a localized victory, the officers and soldiers needed to properly celebrate and grab some rest in shifts to prepare for the even crueler battles ahead.
Colonel List was also well-versed in the art of leading troops, so he immediately announced an extra meal for the men:
"Barack, when you occupied the town, did you check the captured inventory? Is there any liquor? This is our troops' first victory since arriving; if there's liquor, bring it all out to boost morale.
"It's completely dark now, and the 4th Division's artillery has been entirely wiped out and captured by us. After suffering such a crushing defeat, Degizel probably won't dare to strike again immediately, so we should have a peaceful first half of the night.
"However, we'll need to raise our guard for the second half of the night. Calculating the time, Victor's 6th Belgia Division will definitely reach the battlefield by then."
Lieutenant Barack quickly said, "Understood, I'll go prepare right away. That cellar we repurposed into a telegraph room was originally the wine cellar of an estate in town. There's some champagne and Cognac brandy inside.
"Also, the church where the enemy was temporarily stationed just now has a cellar storing communion wine."
This area was already the westernmost part of Belgin's territory, bordering Francia, so the local specialty liquors were all quite similar.
In theory, only the sparkling apple cider produced in the Picardy-Champagne region was qualified to be called champagne, but in practice, the sparkling wines from the surrounding provinces all piggybacked off the name.
Hearing there was champagne, the colonel's eyes lit up. "Excellent! Champagne is perfect for this sort of occasion, and its alcohol content isn't too high. Open them all! Save the Cognac brandy for later!"
The German Army of 1914 was of extremely high military quality, but they also had quite a few bad habits. The primary issue was that equality between officers and enlisted men fell far short of their enemies'.
Officers frequently inflicted corporal punishment on their soldiers. Military law was harsh, and the disparity in rations and treatment between officers and enlisted men was massive.
Although Colonel List was a skilled fighter, he wasn't exempt from this norm. When distributing the champagne to the soldiers, he only allotted one bottle per squad, letting the squad leaders portion it out themselves.
The men didn't even get one liang each. The soldiers caught the liquor in their iron mess tins, and it was gone in two gulps.
However, the platoon Lelouch was in received special treatment because of him, getting two bottles per squad.
After Lelouch received the liquor, he let his subordinate, Sergeant Klose, distribute it, instructing him, "Keep an eye on the other unconscious sergeants. If they wake up, call me, and save some liquor for them. I'm the acting platoon leader now, so I need to hurry up and familiarize myself with the team."
Klose readily agreed, declaring he absolutely wouldn't botch the job.
Taking advantage of the lull in the fighting earlier, Lelouch had also learned a bit about the situation from Klose. This mainly concerned events before he woke up at noon today, including why he had been poisoned by the enemy's tear gas and why the other non-commissioned officers had been gassed as well.
Klose held nothing back, telling him that in the morning, right after the communications platoon rushed into town, the enemy forces in town hadn't been fully cleared out yet. There were still Francian troops putting up scattered resistance.
Lelouch and several other NCOs had entered the local telegraph company's dispatch office (similar to those post and telecommunications offices in 1980s Huaxia where you could send telegrams) to inspect the equipment and wiring.
Who knew there were still remnant Francian resistance fighters nearby who tossed in a few gas grenades. Because it was a sealed room, the men had desperately tried to open the door and escape, but some had already choked until they stopped breathing.
However, tear gas was generally non-lethal, so those men should be waking up after being unconscious all afternoon.
After instructing Klose, Lelouch himself was given preferential treatment by the colonel, invited to dine with his trusted officers.
It was only one in the afternoon when he had transmigrated, and now it was seven or eight in the evening. Furthermore, considering he had been poisoned and unconscious for a while that morning, he hadn't actually eaten a single thing all day.
He watched the colonel, two friendly battalion commanders, the regimental staff officer, the confidential secretary, and Lieutenant Barack sit in a circle around a long table. Spread across the table was a relatively hearty feast—as best as could be managed—featuring stewed potatoes with cured meat and pan-fried sausages with cabbage.
Lelouch's rumbling, starving stomach finally couldn't take it anymore. He respectfully took the lowest seat and began eating.
Excluding one confidential secretary who was a second lieutenant, everyone else at the table was at least a first lieutenant; he was the only one who wasn't a commissioned officer yet.
But none of the officers in the 16th Regiment dared to look down on him, and they were all quite amiable toward him.
Perhaps it was because his telegraph warning had saved the entire regiment's officers and men from being drowned in the flood.
Lelouch greedily devoured three whole sections of sausage. He remembered something, but out of respect for table manners, he waited until the colonel had finished eating before asking:
"Sir, I heard that when you force-marched the whole regiment here, you also rescued a few hundred Belgin civilians along the way? Have those people eaten?"
The colonel paused. He clearly hadn't paid any attention to this issue, so he asked around on the spot. Finally, a regimental logistics officer who was handling the matter replied that they had only fed those people a few potatoes.
After all, this was wartime. The troops had only brought three days' worth of rations for themselves, and the meat they were eating now was captured right here in town. Where would they find surplus grain to distribute to refugees?
Lelouch's eyes gleamed as another scheme formed in his mind:
"Sir, I have a suggestion. Since we don't have extra military rations to give them, and they didn't have time to pack their own food when they fled, we might as well release a batch of Belgin civilians and let them go seek survival over at the Belgin army's positions."