I Became a Tycoon During World War I - Chapter 150

Chapter 150: Charles' Tank is the Real Tank

Lafox, the German defensive line, was once again greeted by a gloomy evening.

The autumn wind, carrying icy rain, struck Colonel Jurgen Khalil's body as he trudged forward through the waterlogged ground, tightening his coat against the cold.

A group of German soldiers was working hard to scoop out water using their spiked helmets. Upon seeing Colonel Khalil approach, they hurriedly stopped to stand at attention.

"Don’t stop, boys!" Colonel Khalil said impassively. "Scooping out water is far more important than showing respect to me. This water might kill you; I won’t."

The soldiers burst out laughing.

Several rats, as large as cats, darted past. Over time, they had grown entirely unafraid of humans. Sometimes, when corpses couldn’t be cleared in time, the next morning, they would be found gnawed beyond recognition.

But there was nothing Colonel Khalil could do about them.

He muttered to himself, "I’d rather face an attack from the French than deal with these creatures!"

“Hey!” Colonel Khalil shouted at two soldiers slacking off under the machine gun nest. “If you don’t want to eat bullets, you’d better make your parapet thicker. The rain’s already washing it away!”

The exhausted soldiers replied and hurriedly grabbed engineer shovels, scrambling into the mud-filled trenches.

After issuing a few more warnings, Colonel Khalil turned into a communication trench and walked deeper until he reached the headquarters of the Second Infantry Regiment.

Soaked from head to toe, Colonel Khalil ducked inside but refrained from sitting down. He was worried about wetting the last dry spot, though he knew it was only a matter of time.

“Colonel!” Just as Khalil stood by the entrance, shaking the water off nervously, an aide cautiously handed him a document.

When Colonel Khalil accepted it, he realized it was a newspaper.

“What’s this?” Colonel Khalil asked, frowning at the aide.

The aide explained, “It’s a newspaper brought in by our intelligence officer from France. He thought it might be useful to you.”

Colonel Khalil set the paper aside, removed his rain cape and helmet, and dried his hands before picking up the newspaper again. Moving closer to the dim light, he started to read.

At a glance, Colonel Khalil’s eyes widened as he looked up at the aide in astonishment. “Charles’ tank?”

“Yes, Colonel,” the aide confirmed. “Our intelligence officer said that after Charles mentioned this, he realized he’d let something slip. He left the scene in a panic and was later reprimanded by Gallieni.”

Colonel Khalil nodded thoughtfully, returning his gaze to the newspaper. After reading for a moment, he chuckled. “He’s right. The tanks attacking us lately do have these issues. They stumble around like blind men, firing aimlessly without seeing their targets. Meanwhile, we can destroy them with ease.”

“That’s not the important part, Colonel,” the aide reminded him.

Colonel Khalil paused, then nodded with understanding. “You’re right, Wolf. If Charles knows these things, he wouldn’t make such mistakes. Therefore…”

The aide continued, “Therefore, his tanks must be faster. This would make it much harder for our artillery to hit them. They may also have stronger defenses, rendering even our K-shells incapable of penetrating them.”

Colonel Khalil grunted in agreement. “That means his tanks will charge right up to us, mowing us down with machine gun fire.”

“We should be thankful the French have a foolish parliament, Colonel!” the aide said. “They rejected Charles’ tanks and spent a fortune on two models that aren’t even real tanks. If not, we’d already be frozen corpses by now!”

“Well said, Wolf!” Colonel Khalil replied with a smile. “The French parliament has saved us. Too bad I can’t send them a thank-you letter!”

The aide and the other officers in the command room burst into laughter at the remark.

“Now!” Colonel Khalil raised the newspaper toward the officers. “What we need to consider is how to deal with this tank—Charles’ tank—the real tank!”

After a brief silence, Wolf was the first to speak. “We can increase our stockpile of K-shells, but it seems we can’t rely on them too much.”

“Exactly!” Colonel Khalil tapped his finger in the air. “Charles will likely reinforce the frontal armor. Our K-shells may not penetrate it. The sides might be vulnerable, but by the time we see the sides, the enemy infantry will already be upon us.”

Colonel Khalil signaled to the recorder. “Write this down, Koenig. We can’t afford to overlook any detail!”

The recorder promptly obeyed, scribbling down the key points.

“Then it’s up to the artillery,” the aide continued, analyzing further. “But if Charles’ tank also has speed…”

The room fell into silence again.

They had no idea how fast the tank could move. If its speed was inconsistent and it didn’t follow a straight path, artillery would find it nearly impossible to destroy such an erratic target.

After thinking for a while, Colonel Khalil suggested, “Perhaps we can employ a larger area of bombardment or segmented firing.”

Segmented firing was an artillery tactic similar to modern pre-set coordinates.

It involved assigning an artillery group to pre-calculate and test-fire so that their shells would fall within a designated area in front of the defensive line.

When the enemy entered or approached that zone, a simple command of “Fire!” over the phone would unleash a barrage, turning the area into a fiery hell.

This tactic minimized steps and significantly reduced firing time while improving accuracy.

Its downside was that the artillery group had to remain on standby at the pre-set coordinates, unable to fire elsewhere. Covering a wide battlefield required multiple artillery groups.

Colonel Khalil muttered, “We’ll need more artillery and a lot more shells.”

Someone voiced concern, “There’s a shortage of artillery and shells everywhere, Colonel! They won’t give them to us!”

The defensive line was already stabilized, and every inch of the hundreds of kilometers of the front was engaged in combat. With the rainy season complicating transport, scarce resources like artillery and shells weren’t easily acquired.

The aide silently picked up the newspaper from the table and waved it at the group. “Or we could report this intelligence to General Waldeck and see what he thinks.”

Colonel Khalil understood the aide’s implication. If General Waldeck realized Charles’ tank was about to attack the Lafox defensive line, he would undoubtedly deploy the artillery.

Table of content - Next Chapter >>>