Chapter 846 This is the "Infiltration War"
A light breeze blew the morning mist across the Reims defense line where the 5th Bavarian Division of the LI Corps was stationed.
(Note: LI is a Roman numeral, L stands for 50, I on the right stands for "plus 1", and the LI Corps is the 51st Bavarian Corps of the 18th Army)
The Reims Line of Defense was two miles outside the city. It was temporarily built by the French army when Reims was in danger in order to prevent the war from spreading into the city and endangering the citizens.
At this time, Lance had been devastated by the war.
Soon after the war broke out, the French and German armies engaged in a fierce battle here. After all, it was a strategic location stuck between two rivers. They fought for it several times. Nearly half of the houses were destroyed in the war, and the original population of 120,000 was reduced to 70,000.
Today, Reims is once again changing hands between the French and German armies.
But for some reason, Reims seems to be more densely populated than expected.
Major Wolfgang strode along the trench, shouting to the panicked soldiers on both sides: "Pick up your rifles. Instead of worrying about whether there are explosives under your buttocks, you should worry about Charles' tanks, which will appear in front of you soon."
A soldier objected: "But Major, if there were explosives under our feet, we wouldn't be able to see Charles' tanks at all."
"You idiot!" Major Wolfgang yelled.
"Do you really believe that there is dynamite under your feet? This is what Ciel wants you to believe that you are sitting on dynamite and have no intention of fighting."
"Use your brains to think about it!"
"If we want to bury explosives along the entire defense line, how much explosives will we need? Just to kill us little soldiers?"
The soldiers thought about it and felt that it made sense.
Even without mentioning the issue of whether there were enough explosives, Charles' armored forces could easily break through the defense line where they didn't even have time to dig anti-tank trenches. So why bury explosives?
Thinking of this, the soldiers gradually calmed down and began to busy themselves with the tasks at hand and organize defense.
Major Wolfgang looked at these disappointing subordinates and shook his head as he walked.
Although "rumors stop at the wise", most soldiers were already in a state of panic about the war and could be easily misled at the slightest sign of trouble. Charles took advantage of this.
Even if Wolfgang could convince a small number of soldiers to wake up, the entire army had already become panic-stricken and had no desire to fight.
"Have a cigarette, Major." A young captain came towards them, holding a pack of Overstolz in his hand and waved it at Major Wolfgang.
(The picture above shows the German native cigarette "Overstolz", a well-known brand in Cologne during World War I. A small number of them were supplied to the front line. Compared with the "Uno" cigarettes used exclusively by the army, they were a luxury product)
It was a local cigarette that was very popular on the front lines. With the taste of his hometown, Wolfgang stopped unconsciously.
The captain must have just been transferred here, Wolfgang thought, because although he looked unfamiliar, he spoke authentic German.
The captain generously took out two cigarettes and handed them to the major, then pulled him into the tunnel next to the major to avoid the wind, and then diligently lit a cigarette for the major.
"It's troublesome, isn't it?" asked the captain.
"Yes." The young master exhaled a puff of smoke and looked at the light outside the tunnel with worry. "Although I don't want to say this, our opponent is Charles. The guy from the East obviously underestimated his ability."
The major was referring to Hutier and the group of Eastern Front generals he brought with him, who were the ones who put the 18th Army in its current danger.
"You are right, Major." The captain sneered, "But it's not just them who underestimated Charles, but you as well."
"What?" The major didn't quite understand and turned to look at the captain.
Then he was shocked to see that the captain had a gun in his hand.
"Bang"
“Bang!”
…
Wolfgang's body swayed a few times and he sat down weakly against the wall of the tunnel. He didn't understand what was going on.
Then he heard the captain rush out of the tunnel and shout outside: "It's the guerrillas, the guerrillas have sneaked in, they killed the major!"
Then there was a burst of gunfire outside the trench, and it was obvious that the "captain" had other accomplices.
On his deathbed, Wolfgang finally realized that what the "Captain" said was right and that Wolfgang had underestimated Charles.
But it's too late!
…
Those were the troops Charles had transferred from Belgium.
The 9th Reconnaissance Brigade of the 1st Special Reconnaissance Army of Belgium has a strength of more than 5,000 people. Charles only deployed a battalion of about 1,000 people in Reims.
Given that Belgians bordering Germany have been speaking German since childhood, Charles thought, why not gather these German-speaking soldiers together for training?
This reconnaissance group had been lurking in Reims for a long time. They were citizens of Reims and held authentic French identity certificates issued to them by Charles.
It is not surprising that some of them only know German and do not speak French. After Lorraine and Alsace were occupied by Germany, German was popularized and French was banned. Many young French people in these areas were "forced" not to speak French.
When the time was right, they would take out the German soldiers' uniforms and equipment that had been prepared long ago from the cellar or secret compartment and blend into the German army.
They received rigorous training, and the training manual was based on the living habits and details of the German army learned from German prisoners of war, including the way they cursed.
Only Charles knew that this was an upgraded version of the "Hutier Tactics", the "Brandenburg Forces" that played an important role in World War II, and a real "infiltration war".
…
Hutier was stunned for a moment. His headquarters was attacked, and the attackers were actually "German soldiers."
Everyone was wearing German military uniforms, speaking pure German, holding Mauser rifles and using German offensive tactics.
The systems they claim to have are real:
"We are the 162nd Infantry Regiment of the 52nd Infantry Division. Which unit are you from?"
"This is the army headquarters. Stop the attack immediately."
"No, you are spies, and the headquarters is in the City Hall!"
Then rifles, machine guns, and mortars were fired at the headquarters, and they even called in real German troops for help.
In the end, even the headquarters could not tell whether they were facing the "German Army" or the German Army.
The situation of other troops was not much better. Their headquarters were attacked and in chaos, while the attackers shouted:
"The guerrillas have infiltrated, and they are pretending to be us."
"It's them. They attacked the headquarters. They are spies!"
“Bang, bang.”
“Da da da da…”
Everyone in the city of Reims is in danger. No one can guarantee whether the person next to him is a comrade or an enemy. The person you think is your comrade may suddenly point a gun at your back and pull the trigger when you turn around.
The entire city of Reims was in chaos, with gunshots and explosions everywhere, and burning houses burning in the wind. German soldiers were running around in a state of complete disorganization and commandlessness.
Hutier looked at this scene and exclaimed in horror: "God, this is an infiltration war. How naive I was to think that my infiltration war could beat Charles!"
(End of this chapter)
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