I Became a Tycoon During World War I - Chapter 158

Chapter 158: The Three-Three System

Colonel Estigny’s forces, after breaking through the defensive line, pressed on southward without hesitation.

On the other side, Colonel Browning, stationed at Tamon, also broke through the German lines, advancing north along the road.

With one moving south and the other north, it was clearly a pincer attack on Lafauces.

Colonel Browning also fought a brilliant battle. He didn’t understand the strategy behind it, but he knew that Charles' tactics had once again been victorious. With excitement, he climbed onto a tank and shouted to the soldiers below, “A salute to Charles!”

While speaking, he raised his revolver and fired two shots into the air.

The soldiers cheered loudly and imitated him by firing their rifles into the sky.

...

After breaking through Andelussy, Colonel Estigny did not display such exaggerated behavior. Sitting in the sidecar of a motorcycle, he watched the cheering soldiers, the tanks carrying soldiers driving onto the road, and the prisoners being escorted back. His heart was filled with mixed emotions.

There were at least two thousand prisoners, more than the number of soldiers in his own force!

A sense of pride, unlike any he had ever felt before, welled up inside him.

He had won battles before, but never had a victory come so easily, so completely as today.

The once-imposing German army, who had invaded Paris and plunged France into decades of humiliation, was now ruthlessly crushed beneath his feet!

However, what impressed Estigny the most was Charles' tactics, which perfectly coordinated the infantry and tanks, and even the tanks themselves.

Those tank soldiers were all beginners. They had only been trained for two days before being unceremoniously thrown into those tanks—those moving coffins. Initially, they would vomit uncontrollably when they first entered the tanks. But two weeks later, they had won a battle with great success.

This was the charm of the "Three-Three System," Estigny thought, recalling Charles' "teachings" in his mind.

“We should use the Three-Three System!” Charles had said.

“The Three-Three System?” Estigny had speculated. “You mean, each group consists of three tanks?”

“Yes!” Charles had nodded. “A platoon of 3 tanks, a company of three platoons, plus the company headquarters—12 tanks in total.”

Estigny had asked in confusion, “Why three tanks? Not two, four, or five?”

He didn’t see the difference.

“Because the tank soldiers are all beginners, Colonel!” Charles had answered calmly. “And the tanks don’t have communication devices, making coordination difficult!”

Estigny was bewildered by Charles' seemingly illogical response—how did this relate to the Three-Three system?

Charles, as though reading Estigny’s thoughts, smiled slightly and nonchalantly picked up several small flags representing tanks, arranging them on the table to form a triangle while explaining:

“The formation of three tanks can be arranged in a triangle. We can place the best tank commander at the front!”

Estigny had exclaimed, “Ah, so the two tanks in the rear don’t need to think or communicate. They just need to follow the front tank!”

“Exactly!” Charles had replied. “The front tank is responsible for attacking and breaking through. The left wing provides cover, while the right wing offers reinforcement!”

Estigny had realized: “Their tasks were clearly defined before the battle and rehearsed repeatedly during training. This allows them to know exactly what to do on the battlefield, even if no one gives them orders!”

“Yes!” Charles had added. “Even if we need to give orders, we only need to issue them to the leading tank, which simplifies the process immensely!”

Without communication equipment, the necessity of communication was minimized—this was the advantage of the Three-Three System.

Another advantage was the speed with which combat capability could be formed: new soldiers didn’t need to know how or why to fight; they just needed to follow the platoon leader and do their own part.

It might seem rigid, but it was far better than charging forward blindly, confused and shooting indiscriminately.

As long as the enemy didn’t figure out the tactic, new soldiers would fight just as effectively as veterans, displaying the same combat power!

Colonel Estigny was in awe of Charles’ system of organization and training.

History proved that Charles was right: the tanks advanced in a well-ordered, cooperative manner, and the command was smooth and efficient. Apart from one tank suffering a broken track while crossing a trench, there were no casualties.

Estigny could hardly believe that these were tank soldiers who had only been trained for two weeks. He marveled, “Charles is not just a genius in tank production and equipment, but he can also build armies—he can create the strongest army in the world! He was born for war!”

Then, Estigny thought of something: this tank force, once it matured into a seasoned veteran army on the battlefield, would follow the Three-Three System and immediately split into three: an “old soldier” leading two “new soldiers,” transforming into three separate tank units.

These units could then be thrown back into battle to learn, and soon they would become stronger and more numerous without end!

My God, would anyone still be his opponent in the future?

If the French army were commanded by Charles, it would not only look down upon Germany but the entire world!

...

Lafauces, the small town of Fervaux.

General Joffre’s command post was in chaos. The officers were shouting into the phones, the intelligence flying back and forth between the signal officers and Joffre’s desk. But all the information seemed to boil down to two key points:

“They’ve broken through the Andelussy defense line, and the German army is in full retreat!”

“They’ve broken through the Tamon defense line, and over three thousand German soldiers have surrendered!”

Aside from some casualty and prisoner data.

However, these numbers were shocking enough. Carnes looked at the documents in disbelief. “Have they made a mistake? A force of just over a thousand men captured over three thousand Germans?”

Carnes was convinced that either the attacking force was missing a zero, or the number of prisoners had an extra zero. More reasonably, both were wrong.

Joffre didn’t care about that. He glanced at the empty map and urgently asked, “I need to know their exact position now. Is our reconnaissance capability so poor that we don’t even know where our own forces are?”

An officer stepped forward and explained helplessly, “General, Charles’ two forces have already infiltrated behind enemy lines and are moving very quickly. We can’t even keep up, let alone get more information!”

“Send up the planes! Send up the planes!” Joffre ordered loudly, in a panic.

But Carnes stopped him. “General, General Gallieni warned us that once the battle begins, Charles’ aircraft will shoot down all planes taking off from Lafauces and nearby areas. Our planes won’t be an exception!”

Joffre froze, his mouth half-open in disbelief. He realized that, despite being the commander-in-chief of France with control over an army of a million, he was unable to interfere in this small section of the battlefield controlled by Charles!

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