I Became a Plutocrat in World War I: Starting with Saving France-Chapter 885: Offensive After the Snow

The first heavy snowfall in Freeman arrived belatedly.

The lead-gray sky pressed down on the battlefield like a heavy steel plate, with snowflakes swirling and drifting, starting sparsely, but soon as thick and pervasive as fluttering goose feathers.

Shell craters, footprints, bloodstains, and corpses were quickly covered by the snow, with fortifications and tank wrecks disguised into white mounds, faintly visible.

Pershing hid in the trench, cautiously holding a telescope to observe the German positions opposite, his shoulders already covered with a thick layer of white.

After a long time, he retracted his neck and hid back in the trench, sitting on a footstool, frowning silently.

According to Haig's idea, the British-American allied forces should have already launched an attack.

Haig seemed eager to prove his decisions were correct, restless like an agitated rabbit: "We should seize the time to attack early. We might not be fully prepared, but the Germans are the same. This is our chance to attack!"

"But this has far exceeded our original plan," Pershing retorted. "Our plan was for a multi-national coordinated attack, now only Italy has responded, and its response is insignificant because not only has it failed to help, but it also requires our reinforcement."

The Italian situation was in crisis at this moment.

Fajin Han's troops could not effectively break through the Romanian defenses, so some German troops were redirected to assist the Austrian Army's attack on Italy.

The result was a direct replication of the "Storm Assault Team" infiltration battle, causing the Italian forces to collapse entirely.

This was unexpected by both sides, as the German infiltration battle had been used many times, even cracked by Shire with a more brilliant and advanced infiltration combat in Reims.

However, Italy had no defenses against it.

In the Battle of Caporetto, the Italian General Staff Cadorna was at a loss on how to respond, leading to chaotic command resulting in 300,000 captures and 400,000 fleeing, with the Italian army constantly retreating 140 kilometers to the Piave River and steadying the defense line utilizing the terrain.

The Austro-German forces suffered about 70,000 casualties in the battle.

Pershing waved Haig's operational plan before him: "This operation plan was wrong from the start, and yet you still intend to proceed as planned. What kind of victory do you expect us to achieve?"

"Why not?" Haig countered. "We have advantages in all aspects, over 3,000 cannons, more than two million shells, over 500 tanks, and over a million soldiers. That's enough to flatten all of Germany!"

The British Expeditionary Force, to redeem itself, or to achieve a victory without Shire, had concentrated almost all its equipment and resources in the Lorraine Region.

Pershing quietly waited for Haig to finish: "I have only one request, Vice Admiral, wait a little longer."

"What are you waiting for?" Haig's eyes flashed with anger, his tone unintentionally raised, even tapping the table to show his protest: "What's the point of waiting like this? Can it change the battlefield?"

"Yes, Vice Admiral," Pershing answered, "I'm waiting for the battlefield to change."

"What?" Haig looked at Pershing incredulously, is this guy crazy?

Pershing explained word by word:

"I've investigated, Lorraine usually snows in December."

"The cold will freeze the ground, making it harder, which benefits our tanks, they won't get stuck in mud or shell craters."

"Furthermore, Freeman is wide open with almost no hiding spots, while the German defense line direction has highlands and forests; I believe the snow season benefits us more."

Haig had nothing to say; he hadn't expected Pershing to think of these things, it seemed he had learned something from Shire.

To conceal his embarrassment, Haig glanced at the calendar on the table:

"Alright, I'll wait another week."

"A week later, we should attack regardless of whether it snows or not."

"Otherwise, the Germans will fortify their works, Brigadier General."

...

Now, the heavy snow arrived as expected, and Pershing no longer had any reason to halt Haig's plan.

He pulled a pocket watch from his pocket, waiting quietly, watching the time tick to 8:00 AM.

"Boom boom boom!"

"Boom boom!"

...

Over a thousand artillery pieces roared almost simultaneously, and the German positions, just covered in white snow, were instantly unearthed.

Barbed wire was blasted into the sky, bunkers and machine-gun nests became deep craters.

The US Army made thorough preparations, artillery observers recorded every fire point and calculated the factors, able to blast them all skyward as soon as the war began.

After fifteen minutes of preparation, the artillery fire began advancing into the depths.

At Pershing's order, tanks moved out of cover, followed by squads of soldiers clutching rifles, transforming the once barren battlefield into a steel army.

The British forces on the right were no exception, each soldier donning a bowl-shaped helmet followed the tanks.

The US used "Shire A1", while the British had "Whippet" and "Independence".

At a glance, the two armies were like the outstretched pincers of a giant crab, encircling the German frontier hub of Saarbrücken from the left and right.

...

Saarbrücken Command.

Major General Erwin, promoted to 3rd Corps Commander for successfully leading his troops to break through, while his 1st Tank Division was handed over to Manstein.

But Major General Erwin did not see this as an honor. He knew his promotion was due to most of the 18th Army generals being captured at Reims, leaving the army in desperate need of officers with command skills and combat experience.

"A normal promotion should come from victory," Erwin said to Manstein, with a tone of dejection: "Not because of retreat, or as they call it, a 'successful withdrawal'."

"Don't worry, General," Manstein reassured Erwin, "It will be different, you should know that Shire has ceased the offensive and has decided to fortify at Metz, building an enormous 'super fortification'."

"Hmm," Erwin looked somewhat regretful.

Shire should attack; the German line would likely collapse under his assault.

"In other words," a slight sneer curled on Manstein's lips, "in the future, we'll be facing the British and American armies."

He then pointed to the map and said, "I guess their attack will focus here, Saarbrücken."

Erwin agreed.

Saarbrücken was one of Germany's key coal and steel industrial cities.

Under German control of Lorraine and Alsace, vast amounts of coal and iron ore were transported here, where factories produced firearms and ammunition, which were then continuously shipped to the frontlines.

Even now, it still supplies over one-fifth of the equipment and ammunition needs for the Hindenburg Line.

"Since we know their direction of attack," Manstein added, "why don't we set a trap and wait for them?"