I Became a Plutocrat in World War I: Starting with Saving France-Chapter 964: New Model Tank

After knowing Shire flew to Belgium, Hindenburg hesitated instead.

"Liege Fortress." Hindenburg located it on the map: "Once Shire breaches Liege Fortress, they can directly threaten the Ruhr Industrial District and form a pincer movement with the French Army in Saarbrücken to encircle our forces!"

Fear shone in Hindenburg’s eyes, for if this were the case, Germany would completely lose the ability to fight against the French Army, leaving only surrender as an option.

(The above image shows the offensive route Hindenburg assumed for Shire’s troops, attacking Germany’s most vital industrial area, Ruhr, from two directions while encircling the German forces between the fronts)

William II was much more composed than Hindenburg.

"I heard we have repaired the Liege Fortress," William II asked, "and strengthened its defenses, right?"

"You could say that," Hindenburg replied.

Meanwhile, he felt a shiver in his heart, knowing that William II asked this because he believed Shire couldn’t breach the Liege Fortress.

Sure enough, William II continued:

"Remember, Marshal, how difficult it was for us to capture the Liege Fortress back then."

"We had to bring in ’Big Bertha’ to occupy it, and at that time, it was merely defended by the poorly equipped Belgian Army."

"Now, it’s our men who are stationed there!"

Hindenburg retorted, "But the force attacking the Liege Fortress now isn’t the German Army of the past, it’s Shire’s troops!"

William II maintained his stance:

"If it were Shire’s First Armored Army at the direction of Liege Fortress, then I believe you are right, and we should immediately reinforce Liege."

"But it’s not; the Sixth French Army is the one stationed in Belgium."

"I remember that was a ’mutinous’ army, correct?"

Saying this, William II turned his gaze to his trusted adjutant officer.

The adjutant officer hurriedly replied, "Yes, Your Majesty, it is now led by Major General Kristin."

William II spread his hands towards Hindenburg:

"This is what I’m saying, wherever the First Armored Army is, that’s where Shire’s main attack direction is, this is obvious!"

"Make a decision, Marshal, do not hesitate anymore."

"Shire’s objective is merely to force our forces to split and defend, thereby alleviating the pressure on Saarbrücken."

Hindenburg hesitated for a moment, shook his head, and said:

"No, Your Majesty, I don’t think Shire is bluffing."

"There is no need for him to do so, we haven’t even surrounded Saarbrücken, Shire’s First Armored Army can retreat to the defensive line at any time."

"Before retreating, they could also destroy all of Saarbrücken’s factories."

William II asked back, "Then why doesn’t he do it?"

"Because Shire is confident in defeating us," Hindenburg pointed to several locations on the map:

"The First Armored is in Saarbrücken, the Second Armored Army is at the Liege Fortress, and the Third Armored Army is on the east bank of the Rhine River!"

"The combat power of each unit cannot be underestimated, we cannot focus solely on the First Armored Army!"

"Shire has enough strength to crush us, yet we think we can defeat him!"

William II stared at Hindenburg for a moment, suddenly laughed, his voice carrying a hint of mockery: "You are frightened by Shire, Marshal, the enemy is not as terrible as you think."

Hindenburg was left speechless.

Not because he believed William II’s words, but because he saw hesitation, doubt, and disappointment in the eyes of the staff members towards Hindenburg.

In the face of war, people are more able to accept that kind of exciting, inspiring, never-say-die spirit.

This seems to be correct, indeed, such should be the propaganda for the soldiers.

But at the command level, it would result in a misjudgment of the enemy’s strength and display unrealistic "bravery," leading to a mistaken attack when a defensive approach should have been taken.

This would cause strategic directional errors, with a large number of soldiers paying the price for the commander’s impulsive "spirit."

Hindenburg knew this, yet found himself powerless to stop William II.

Everyone was unable to extricate themselves from the series of recent victories achieved by William II, habitually thinking that following William II this time would still lead to victory.

William II looked at the eager eyes of the staff, nodded with satisfaction.

The reason he firmly chose to fully attack Saarbrücken was not due to underestimating Shire, but he understood one point:

In the direction of Saarbrücken, neither the British nor the US Army would support the French Army, the French Army was an isolated force.

...

Under the orders of William II, the German Army launched the recovery battle for Saarbrücken.

There was no large-scale artillery preparation because Saarbrücken was a German city, the German Army had to consider the citizens trapped in the city.

From the beginning, the German Army planned to use infantry to enter the city and engage the French Army in street battles.

They were not unprepared.

For some time, the German Army had continuously sent people to infiltrate Saarbrücken and secretly transported weapons into the city.

Once the battle began, the citizens inside the city would cooperate with the attacking troops to rise up, and the French Army garrisoned inside the city would then be besieged from both sides.

But they were quickly disappointed.

The citizens had been evacuated by the French Army in advance, all gathered near the city hall in the city center, strictly monitored, and thoroughly searched; they were controlled under the gloomy muzzles of guns, and couldn’t cause disturbances.

The German Army, upon entering the city, found themselves surrounded.

Every building in the city had become a fire point, machine guns violently swept downwards, blocking street entrances.

Then, French Army tanks rumbled through from within the buildings, leading squads of French Army soldiers to counterattack the German Army.

The German soldiers saw the tanks and cried out in surprise, "New tanks, Shire’s new tanks!"

What appeared before them were indeed new tanks.

The dedicated tank gun had been successfully developed, Shire upgraded the "Shire B2" tanks by eliminating the 75 gun inside the vehicle and the 37 gun on the turret, integrating them into a single 75MM dedicated gun.

The freed-up space allowed for the installation of a hull machine gun and a coaxial machine gun respectively on the hull and turret.

This setup was most in line with modern tank configuration, the coordination between tank crew members became tighter and simpler, unlike before when the driver also had to coordinate with the 75 gun.

More importantly, the two machine guns on the tank were highly lethal to enemy infantry, emerging from Saarbrücken and mercilessly sweeping through the densely packed German Army.

Bullets rained down like a storm into the ranks of the attacking German Army, mowing them down in rows.

In moments, the no man’s land outside the city became littered with German corpses, some of whom were still alive clutching their wounds, dragging blood trails, trying to flee from the French Army’s fire.

However, the tanks rumbled after them, crushing over the bodies with tracks, bursting them like blood-filled pouches, staining the entire tank armor a startlingly vivid red.

Wounded men screamed and struggled to escape, some even cried out in surrender.

Yet the tracks of the tanks rolled over them amidst their lamentations...