CHAPTER 208: REVISED: CHAPTER 208 PLAYING PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE

Still might not make it in time, Chapter 3 will come a bit later, it takes me over two hours to write one Chapter, so I often can’t make it, sorry!

——————————

Tijani’s gaze leapt through the observation slit, scrutinizing Kristen’s troops outside the anti-artillery hole, his eyes full of envy: "I wish I could have brought more men back, General Kristen!"

Tijani’s troops were surrounded by the German Army in the narrow path of Samok, facing artillery fire and crossfire from both sides, with at least over five thousand casualties.

More importantly, his troops had been beaten to the point of losing all morale, almost ready to surrender, whereas Kristen’s First Specialized Artillery Division still maintained their spirit.

Kristen had a slight, bitter smile on his lips: "We were rescued by Shire too!"

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

He had thought Shire’s troops were making a single-wing thrust and could only save the Second Specialized Artillery Division, not expecting that Kristen’s troops were also saved by Shire.

Kristen nodded, his expression somewhat complicated, and a bit unwilling: "Shire directed our breakout with planes, which was crucial!"

"Oh," Tijani responded, "Planes can scout enemy situations, they can see much more than we do!"

"It’s not just that." Kristen shook his head gently: "Could you have thought of breaking out from the Trem River?"

"The Trem River?" Tijani was involved in this operational planning, of course, he knew this river, it was a small river to the west of the quarry.

Kristen nodded heavily, concisely describing the whole process: "Shire had us abandon all heavy equipment and break out from the direction of the Trem River. The Germans thought it impossible for us to break out in that direction because it had the least forces deployed. Our troops suppressed the enemy fire on the other side with mortars, crossed the river, and then used grenades for close combat..."

Tijani understood, it wasn’t just a matter of plane reconnaissance, it was also Shire’s tactical guidance to Kristen.

Kristen was a seasoned veteran, yet Shire was only 17, a young major who had never been to battle, but he guided Kristen to victory...

No wonder Kristen’s expression was a bit awkward, he seemed to be blaming himself for not thinking of this method.

What Tijani didn’t know was that Kristen was thinking about more than just this.

Before the battle, he ignored Xia Fei’s opposition and equipped a batch of mortars under great pressure. If he hadn’t done this, would half his troops have to be sacrificed to break out to here now?

Why is everything tied to Shire?

Tactics, mortars, grenades...

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

Everyone tensed up, Kristen quickly crawled out of the anti-artillery hole to command the troops to turn their guns towards the east.

It was the awkwardness of being surrounded in enemy-controlled territory; they couldn’t even be sure from which direction the enemy would appear.

Then someone exclaimed: "Tanks, German tanks!"

"Combat ready!" Kristen shouted, raising the binoculars 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 could be faintly seen through the binoculars’ aperture, and they were clearly not "Mark I" tanks, but German tanks.

"General Tijani!" Kristen turned to the approaching Tijani and asked, "Do you mind if I command your tanks?"

"Of course, I have no objections!" Tijani readily agreed.

He had already been tortured by the battlefield to the point of losing confidence, his mind blank, not knowing what to do!

Just as Kristen was about to give orders, a plane swept overhead, dropping a message bottle with a whistle.

Soon, someone shouted excitedly: "It’s our people, it’s Shire’s troops with Shire’s new tanks!"

The crowd instantly burst into cheers, Kristen and Tijani both breathed a sigh of relief simultaneously.

Kristen was still a bit worried, continuing to observe the approaching troops with his binoculars until he saw a team with sidecars and bright red military trousers at the front, then he ordered to stand down.

He hesitated for a moment and then turned to Tijani: "We should prepare to break out, Major General Tijani."

"Breakout? Now?" Tijani looked surprised.

Kristen nodded affirmatively. The quicker the breakout, the better. Shire likely thought the same.

The only concern was those tanks seemed small; could they lead the troops to successfully break out?

...

In fact, Kristen’s worry proved unnecessary. The "Shire A1" tanks’ performance in the breakout battle could only be described as "extremely impressive."

The front armor was 25MM, the penetration thickness of a German anti-tank rifle at 200 meters.

This still seemed dangerous, but the mortar range was 700 meters. Once the mortar operators spotted a large rifle in the trench, they would immediately give it "special attention."

Then, just like the previous tank tactics, the tanks advanced with infantry close behind, grenades were thrown into the trenches, and the infantry rushed up to break a hole in the German defense.

Before the battle, many were worried about whether such small tanks as the "Shire A1" could smoothly cross trenches.

But the actual combat convinced everyone of the tank’s design: the "Shire A1" had a rear tail hook. It wasn’t as if crossing trenches was like walking on flat ground, but it was just a slight bump, with the driver hardly feeling the process.

(Above image shows the situation of Renault tanks without tail hooks crossing trenches)

(Above image shows the situation of Renault tanks with tail hooks crossing trenches, where the tail hooks play a role in supporting and keeping the vehicle stable when crossing trenches)

When Major General Tijani saw these tanks crossing the trenches one after another, his previously dejected face seemed to recover its vitality. He excitedly shouted while commanding the troops to break out: "This is a tank, a real tank, one that can fight!"

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

Because Napoleon couldn’t create such equipment, it was born for war, it was battlefield art, the most advanced, most wonderful invention in the world...

Unlike Tijani, the soldiers didn’t think that much, they only knew to follow the tank brigade to breach the lines, then expand the gains on the breach created by the tank brigade.

...

Berlin Staff Headquarter, when Fajin Han received the report that the reverse lines of Cape Town were breached, he only sighed softly.

Although it was anticipated, when the moment actually came, he still felt unwilling.

Looking back now, he could have originally won this battle as long as he stuck to Cape Town, regardless of which direction Shire chose to break through, its flanks would be exposed to the 4th reserve army.

However, out of excessive concern over Shire’s tactics, he made a series of wrong troop movements, giving Shire the opportunity.

Otherwise, just nine tanks, even if they were Shire’s new tanks, would not have been enough to break through the defenses.

Shire wasn’t just fighting in tactics, not just in equipment, but also in psychology!

He had figured out his opponent’s psychology!