I Became a Plutocrat in World War I: Starting with Saving France-Chapter 944: Mine Sweeping Tank

Richthofen lifted the nose of his aircraft to gain altitude. At 3900 meters, he was startled by the sight he saw—a sky filled with black dots of approaching planes.

They came from the east, west, and south, encircling like an army surrounding an enemy.

They were as dense as swarms of bees, counting at least three to four hundred aircraft, too far away to tell if they were "Camels" or "Snipes." 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Richthofen judged that both models were likely present, as the French Army didn’t have that many "Snipes."

The enemy planes were around 5000 meters high and using cloud cover, making them unseen by the German fighters.

Richthofen realized the seriousness of the situation and understood the enemy’s strategy.

The enemy encircled from three sides to compress the space of the German squadron, driving them into a corner with firepower.

Once successful, the German fighters would be crammed together, making even a minor evasive action risk a collision with their own aircraft.

The French fighters could then simply fire a burst into the "dense center" to easily hit one or even several planes.

Richthofen hesitated no more. He freed a hand to draw a signal gun from the storage compartment, skillfully loaded a cartridge, and fired it into the air.

A red flare slowly descended from the sky.

Other aircraft at around 2000 meters understood immediately and began climbing to engage.

(Note: During WWI, radios were not installed on planes, and communication relied on gestures and signal flares.)

However, Richthofen suddenly realized something was wrong. All the aircraft were desperately climbing higher, each hoping to gain altitude before the enemy arrived.

"Return!" Richthofen shouted and gestured frantically, "Lower your altitude!"

But no one listened. The aircraft rushed past him with a deafening roar.

Eventually, they reached 4500 meters and soon collided with the oncoming enemy formation.

The battle commenced, filling the sky with the roar of engines and the rattle of machine guns.

Then, plane after plane trailing black smoke hurtled toward the ground.

Richthofen sighed silently; the German squadron had forgotten that Fokker triplanes were unsuitable for combat above 4000 meters.

Indeed, altitude advantage is crucial in aerial combat.

But with hundreds of aircraft, maintaining the optimal combat altitude was more important than gaining altitude.

Otherwise, the triplanes would suffer the consequences of losing maneuverability.

Clearly, the French aviators knew this and successfully lured the German formation higher.

After a moment of hesitation, Richthofen gritted his teeth, raised his hand for a forward wave, and led his aircraft upward into the fray.

...

Planes crashed from the sky, some French, some German, but noticeably more German triplanes.

They fell like meteors with long trails, some bursting into fireballs mid-air, others exploding into fragments, debris raining down like a storm.

Below, Tijani stood atop an armored vehicle, observing the skies carefully, tracking the flight paths of the German triplanes.

After a long time, he lowered his binoculars.

"Once again, he got it right," Tijani murmured, "He never left the office, yet he knew the German fighters were unfit for high-altitude combat. What a peculiar fellow!"

He then turned his gaze to his troops and ordered coldly, "Advance!"

"Advance!"

"Advance!"

The order echoed down the line, and the ready tanks began to move, belching black smoke and rumbling towards the minefield.

...

In the trenches of the Saarbrücken defense line, German lookouts cried, "They’re attacking, they’re moving!"

"Prepare to fight!"

"Prepare to fight!"

Major General Bernhard shouted as he raised his binoculars, still not understanding how the French dared to charge through the minefield.

Even without artillery, even with their tanks, and those being "Char B2s."

No tank could crush mines without consequence; several explosions would break their tracks, leaving them as scrap metal.

Suddenly, a soldier shouted, "God, what is that?"

Following the soldier’s direction, Major General Bernhard adjusted his binoculars, catching sight of a strange tank.

It was likely a "Char B2," but a drum-like device protruded from the front, studded with chains. As the drum rotated, the chains continuously struck the ground.

(The above three photos are of WWII Sherman tanks modified into mine-clearing tanks)

Then...

"Boom, boom"

"Boom, boom, boom!"

...

Mines exploded continuously in front of Major General Bernhard and the German soldiers, sometimes popping up into bouncing mines, spraying steel balls in all directions, clattering like beans on the tank armor.

After a long moment, the soldiers shouted in alarm:

"Mine clearing, that’s a mine-clearing tank."

"That’s another of Char’s inventions; our minefield is nothing to it!"

"It can easily detonate our mines, even anti-tank mines are no exception."

...

Someone else looked to Major General Bernhard with a desperate cry, "What should we do, General?"

Bernhard understood what the cry meant—it essentially said, "Run, General, we can’t fight them. If we don’t flee now, it’ll be too late!"

Bernhard felt the same impulse, the urge to turn and run.

Shire was astounding, deploying such extraordinary equipment on the same battlefield, making what seemed an impregnable line, the result of months of effort by hundreds of thousands of German soldiers, seem trivial and even laughable!

What could withstand Shire?

However, Bernhard’s duty compelled him to suppress such thoughts!

"Stay calm!" he ordered loudly, encouraging the soldiers with words even he found hard to believe:

"We still have anti-tank guns, we still have the defense line, we still have our rifles."

"Reinforcements are on their way. They’ll be here in half an hour."

"Look, the gunfire at the rear has stopped. This means we have taken out enemy paratroopers. Soon, we’ll have artillery support."

Bernhard knew the gunfire hadn’t stopped; the tank engines and mine explosions masked the noise.

"Hold them back!" Bernhard shouted hysterically, "Victory is ours!"

The German soldiers shouted in response, "Victory is ours!"

Yet, even before the words faded, a barrage of mortar shells whistled in, leaving the German soldiers wailing as they fell.