Chapter 212: Psychological Warfare

It may still be too late. The third chapter will be released later. It takes me more than two hours to write a chapter, so I am often too late. Sorry!

——————————

Tijani looked through the observation hole at Christine's troops outside the anti-gun cave, his eyes full of envy: "I would rather bring back more people, General Christine!"

Tijani's troops were surrounded by the Germans in the Samok Straight, and due to artillery fire and crossfire from both sides, they lost at least 5,000 people.

More importantly, his troops were demoralized and almost surrendered, while Christian's 1st Special Artillery Division still maintained its morale.

Christine had a bitter smile on her face: "We were also rescued by Ciel!"

Tijani turned around in astonishment, his eyes full of surprise: "You too?"

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

Christine nodded, her eyes were rather complicated, and she was a little unwilling to speak: "Charles showed us the direction of the breakout through the plane, which played a key role!"

Tijani said, "Oh!" "Plane can detect the enemy. They can see much more than us!"

"It's not just this." Christine shook her head slightly: "Can you think of breaking out from the Trem River?"

"The Trem River?" Tijani was involved in this battle plan and of course 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 direction of the Trem River. The Germans thought it was impossible for us to break out from this direction because the least troops were deployed in this direction. Our army used mortars to suppress the firepower on the opposite bank, and then used grenades to fight in close combat after wading through the water..."

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

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

No wonder Christine looked a little embarrassed, he seemed to be blaming himself for not thinking of this method.

What Tijani didn't know was that Christine was thinking about more than just that.

Before the war, he ignored Joffre's opposition and under pressure to equip a batch of mortars. If he had not done so, would half of the troops have been killed or injured before they could break through to here?

Why does everything have to do with the Shire?

Tactics, mortars, grenades...

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

Everyone became nervous. Christine hurriedly got out of the anti-artillery hole and commanded the troops to turn their guns towards the east.

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

Then someone exclaimed: "Tanks, German tanks!"

"Prepare for battle!" Christine shouted, raising her telescope and looking in the direction indicated by the sentry.

Sure enough, a few kilometers away on the other side of the road, the silhouettes of several tanks vaguely appeared in the aperture of the telescope. They were obviously not "Mark I", but German tanks without a doubt.

"General Tijani!" Christine turned around and looked at Tijani who had caught up with her, and asked, "Do you mind letting me command your tank?"

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

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

Just as Christine was about to give an order, a plane flew overhead and dropped an intelligence bottle with a whistling sound.

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

The crowd immediately erupted in cheers, and both Christine and Tijani breathed a sigh of relief.

Christian was still a little worried, so he continued to observe the approaching team through a telescope until he saw a team of people on sidecars wearing bright red military pants in front of him. Only then did he order the troops 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 through? Now?" Tijani looked surprised.

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

His only worry was that those tanks seemed a little small. Could they carry the troops through successfully?

…

It turned out that Christine's worries were unnecessary. The performance of the "Charter A1" tank in the breakout battle could only be described as "majestic".

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

This still seems dangerous, but the mortar has a range of 700 meters. Once the mortar operator observes a large gun in the trench, he will immediately pay "special attention" to that place.

Then, just like the previous tank tactics, the tanks approached with infantry, grenades were thrown into the trenches, and the infantry rushed forward to tear a hole in the German defense line.

Before the war, many people were concerned about whether a small tank like the Char A1 could successfully cross the trenches.

But actual combat made everyone convinced of the design of this tank: The "Charr A1" has a tail hook at the rear, so crossing the trenches cannot be said to be as easy as walking on flat ground, but it is just a bump and the driver cannot even feel the process of crossing the trench.

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

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

When Major General Tijani saw these tanks crossing the trenches one after another, he seemed to regain his energy from his originally depressed look. While commanding his troops to break through, he shouted excitedly: "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 couldn't make such equipment. It was born for war. It was a battlefield art, the most advanced and wonderful invention in the world...

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

…

At the Berlin General Staff, Falkenhayn only sighed when he received the information that the Cape Town reverse defense line had been breached.

Although this was expected, when the moment really came, he still felt 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, because he was too worried about Charles's methods, he made a series of wrong troop movements, which gave Charles an opportunity to take advantage.

Otherwise, just nine 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 understands his opponent's psychology!

(End of this chapter)