I Was Mistaken as a Great War Commander-Chapter 153

Daniel, stationed in the rear of the formation, was not unaware that an Allied bombing squadron had arrived.

Boom! KWAANG—

Explosions shook the ground, sounding not far from his position.

The moment he recognized it as an enemy bombing raid, urgent voices began flooding through the radio, one after another.

“—It’s an attack by an Allied bombing squadron! Bombs are being dropped from high altitude! Damn it!”

“—We’re in danger! A unit that appears to be enemy armored forces is simultaneously infiltrating from both left and right flanks!”

“—At a point 5km to the north, we've detected enemy tanks—around thirty of them—along with armored vehicles and infantry support units!”

“—Same for the south! Enemy armored forces are approaching from 4km out!”

“—At their current rate of advance, we have ten minutes until engagement!”

The barrage of radio chatter pounded at his head.

‘What the hell? It really was a trap?’

Though Daniel had asked for the advance to be reconsidered, he hadn’t truly believed the enemy would set a trap and launch a surprise assault. Now he was simply stunned.

And for good reason. If they were planning a surprise attack of this scale, it should have been caught by aerial reconnaissance.

If the Allied forces had abandoned their base and moved elsewhere, there was no way it could’ve gone unnoticed.

And yet, the Empire’s forces had received no such intel.

There could only be one reason for that.

‘Those goddamn bastards at the Intelligence Bureau...!’

For some reason or another, the Intelligence Bureau had fed false information to the 7th Armored Division.

He couldn’t make sense of it now, but there was no time to dwell on why.

KWWAAAH—

A bomb dropped from high altitude exploded nearby, kicking up a massive plume of dirt.

Instinctively ducking down, Daniel quickly grabbed the radio.

Regardless of how things were turning out, he had no intention of letting his troops die like dogs.

“Mortar unit, respond immediately! Begin suppression fire along the enemy advance route! Concentrate bombardment on the predicted movement paths of their armored vehicles! We must buy time so our forward troops can retreat!”

Thanks to Daniel’s prior orders to have the mortars pre-positioned and on standby, the mortar unit deployed rapidly.

When exposed to a surprise enemy attack, every minute saved was a massive advantage.

The longer it took to deploy, the fewer opportunities they’d have to strike back.

“Target distance: 4km! High angle: 45 degrees, shell type: high-explosive!”

“Loading!”

“Ready to fire!”

Orders were given to the mortar unit, which had completed preparations in an instant.

BOOM!

At the same time the order rang out, a high-explosive shell soared into the sky and struck the enemy formation.

Even with the naked eye, one could see the fire erupting from the explosions.

The enemy armored unit, startled by the immediate response, began to slow their advance.

Seeing the impacts, the mortar unit intensified their barrage.

As the thunder of the mortars echoed in succession, Daniel continued issuing commands over the radio.

“Machine gun positions, prepare to intercept enemy infantry! Anti-tank teams, take cover in the trenches and stand by! Do not engage until the enemy enters effective range!”

Issuing orders one by one, Daniel walked toward the temporary trench where Imperial soldiers had gathered.

He could have fled to a safer location and hidden himself, but Daniel chose not to.

Because even if he escaped now and survived, once the unit was defeated, he was as good as dead.

From the Allied perspective, Daniel Steiner was the worst kind of enemy—someone they had no reason to let live.

He knew that if captured, he would die after enduring unspeakable torture. That’s why he decided to remain with the soldiers—to slightly raise the odds of retreat.

In short, Daniel was simply acting in the direction most favorable to his own survival.

Of course, the soldiers—who had no idea what he was truly thinking—saw only the noble image of a Chief of Staff who had chosen to fight alongside them.

“Chief of Staff?”

“You must evacuate to a safe location...”

“We’ll hold the line here.”

Soldiers who had always respected Daniel Steiner tried to stop him, but he refused to back down.

“No! I will fight here with you! What meaning is there in fleeing to save my own life? Can that even be called living? Let me say this clearly—turning your back on the battlefield and fleeing is no different from death!”

He meant every word.

Unlike the soldiers, Daniel knew that the moment he was caught by the Allies, he was dead.

And not just dead—he was guaranteed to die under brutal torture.

That was why he stayed, to fight alongside them.

“My comrades! We are the vanguard and cutting edge of the Empire! So what if those Allied rats have launched a surprise attack? We, the sharpest sword of the Empire—do you think we can be broken?!”

Cries of “No!” echoed from all sides.

As a brief silence settled, Daniel looked over the soldiers’ faces and gave a firm nod.

BOOM!

An explosion near the trench left a ringing in his ears.

As the dirt blasted into the sky began to fall like rain, the soldiers held their positions and opened fire at the approaching enemy.

Gunfire and explosions roared around them. Daniel crouched behind the trench wall.

Leaning against the dirt embankment, he exhaled slowly.

‘Damn it. When the hell is our main force arriving?’

Daniel was holding this retreat path because he had to buy time for the Imperial forces deep in enemy territory to pull back.

The main force had pushed in, and unless they were extracted, the retreat would be a massacre.

From the Allied perspective, they had to block that route if they wanted to complete the encirclement—but Daniel was obstructing it, creating a major problem for them.

‘I don’t know how much longer we can hold.’

They were doing their best, but it was only a matter of time before the enemy pushed through and cut off the escape route.

‘If only Lucy or Freyen were nearby...’

But he had sent them toward the enemy headquarters to track the division commander’s movements—he couldn’t rely on them now.

While that anxiety gnawed at him, a soldier manning the machine gun had his head explode with a sickening splat.

Another soldier immediately grabbed the gun—only to be shot through the head and collapse backward.

Daniel, watching the scene with confusion, suddenly heard a transmission.

“—Sniper! Fuck! There’s a sniper in the northwest watchtower!”

Daniel closed his eyes with a grim murmur.

‘When did they get up there? Or... were they there from the start?’

He couldn’t say for sure. But if they left that sniper unchecked, the enemy’s advance would speed up even further.

Daniel opened his eyes, knowing the sniper had to be eliminated—and turned his head to the side.

A young man who appeared to be a radio operator was clutching his helmet, trembling uncontrollably.

“Ch-Chief of Staff... at this rate, we’re all going to die...”

“I don’t plan on dying. At least not right now.”

Saying that, Daniel grabbed the radio operator’s rifle, which had been propped against the trench wall, and stood up.

Whether the sniper had spotted him or not, the muzzle began # Nоvеlight # to turn in his direction.

At that moment, Daniel activated his neural acceleration and shouldered the rifle.

He calmed his breathing, gauged the distance to the sniper, and recalled the wind direction.

‘About five hundred meters...?’

It was far, but just barely within effective range.

In a world where everything moved in slow motion, Daniel focused all his attention and pulled the trigger.

TANG—

The bullet shot out of the muzzle, and the neural acceleration disengaged at the same moment.

The bullet, infused with Daniel’s mana, exploded forward and pierced the sniper’s head.

As the sniper collapsed with a spray of blood, cheers erupted among the soldiers who witnessed it.

“That sniper bastard’s dead! Grab the machine gun again!”

“The Chief of Staff took out the sniper! He’s fighting with us!”

“Hell yeah! Let’s give it to these sons of bitches!”

Confirming that the troops’ morale had been revived, Daniel ducked back into the trench.

As he steadied his breathing, the radio operator blinked in disbelief.

Daniel, who had taken down an enemy sniper with just a rifle, looked nothing short of awe-inspiring.

Of course, Daniel felt the same way.

‘I didn’t think I’d actually hit...’

Still, he was grateful that he managed to take out the sniper.

KWAANG!

The roar of a tank cannon boomed nearby.

At first, Daniel thought an enemy tank had already reached the trench line—but when he realized the sound had come from deeper within the retreat route, his expression brightened.

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‘They’re finally here!’

The armored units that had been isolated deep inside the enemy command zone had begun to link up.

Now they just needed to withdraw.

Daniel grabbed the radio and shouted:

“The main force has joined up! Conduct one final fire projection, then prepare to retreat! I repeat! The main force has joined! After a final volley, retreat with the main force!”

Believing that the retreat path had been successfully held, Daniel lowered the radio and let out a sigh of relief.

The radio operator was looking at Daniel with reverent eyes, as if staring at a god.

“...Didn’t I tell you?”

Turning to meet the gaze, Daniel offered the radio operator a faint smile.

“That I wasn’t planning to die here today.”

****

Thanks to Daniel holding the retreat path, the 7th Armored Division was able to withdraw safely to friendly lines.

Despite being bombed and caught in a surprise assault, they had suffered only minimal losses.

As a result, even though they had technically been defeated, the morale of the troops remained relatively intact.

At the center of that morale was Daniel Steiner—because not only had he predicted the enemy’s surprise attack, he had also fought to the end alongside the soldiers.

Of course, Daniel himself wasn’t particularly interested in any of that.

Relieved simply to have survived, Daniel was on his way to the command tent to check the status of survivors and organize the situation—when he suddenly stopped.

He had run into the division’s intelligence officer, Phelp, along the path.

Looking utterly exhausted, Phelp hurried over as soon as he saw Daniel.

“Chief of Staff.”

Bowing his head in greeting, Phelp began to speak as though burdened with guilt.

“I’m sorry. If I had known things would turn out this way, I should’ve spoken up in the strategy meeting instead of staying silent...”

“What’s done is done. What matters now is stabilizing the military, not seeking forgiveness. Where is the Division Commander?”

Phelp fell silent.

Daniel tilted his head, puzzled, and Phelp quietly opened his mouth.

“Unfortunately... the Division Commander was caught in the bombing and has been killed in action.”

What? Daniel didn’t even have time to react before Phelp continued.

“Therefore, in accordance with the chain of command...”

Phelp lifted his head, and his eyes held a grave weight.

“Effective immediately, Chief of Staff—you are the acting Division Commander of the 7th Armored Division.”