1890 King of Southeast Asia

"Sir, congratulations on your promotion to company commander." Hans looked at Alvin's commission with envy.

"Acting company commander, I'm just the acting company commander." Alvin couldn't hold back the smile.

Although he was the acting company commander, his rank was only the acting officer rank, and it was not promoted. Everything was temporary.

However, the acting officer rank was generally only a platoon leader or deputy platoon leader. Unless the company was completely crippled and there was no officer left, he could serve as the acting company commander.

Now, he could serve as the acting company commander with the rank of acting officer, and there was a great possibility that he would be promoted to an officer, although he was only a low-level officer and had no future.

But you have to know that before the outbreak of the war, this was almost impossible, especially since he was almost 30 years old, not young.

Before the war, the only way for a soldier to become an officer was to enter a military academy, whether he passed the exam or was recommended by the chief officer.

As for why he could become the acting company commander, this matter had to start with their commander.

...

Last night, Edmund, commander of the 4th Reserve Army, summarized the intelligence and found that the situation was not optimistic.

The deployment of German armored vehicles did not bring about a fundamental change in the situation. By the end of the day's battle, two-thirds of the artillery armored vehicles were lost, leaving only 6 vehicles in motion.

Although the overall front line has not been broken, the British have already rushed up, and the positions of both sides are intertwined.

The German infantry has not found suitable anti-tank weapons, and the British still have more than 40 tanks that can operate normally. When the day comes, the situation of the Germans may not be good.

"I need to bombard the front line to stop the British." Edmund looked at the map with a headache.

"I don't recommend doing this. We lost 14 field guns in today's artillery battle, and the British army concentrated at least 200 field guns to accompany the attack."

"The British have been waiting for us to use field guns to deal with armored vehicles, thereby exposing the artillery positions. If we lose the artillery, even if we solve the armored vehicles, we will still fail."

The army chief of staff opposed using field guns to attack the British tank troops.

Although the 4th Reserve Army is a reserve army in name, it is not a reserve force, but the first batch of mobilized troops after the war began.

Its subordinate are two infantry divisions, the 7th Reserve Infantry Division and the 22nd Reserve Infantry Division.

The equipment level is the normal German infantry division equipment, each division is equipped with 12 1895/1905 105mm howitzers and 54 77mm field guns.

In addition to the 12 150mm howitzers and 36 105mm field guns of the military artillery brigade, the combat effectiveness of the 4th Reserve Army is still good, at least stronger than the British and French units of the same level.

But that was a one-on-one situation in the field. Now it is the Battle of Verdun. Both sides have concentrated a large number of artillery here. The Verdun Fortress originally stored a large number of heavy artillery that was inconvenient to move.

In the morning battle, the German army did not use field artillery to attack British tanks, or it was the original plan of the German army to use field artillery to attack British tanks. The tanks were just to attract firepower.

The bombardment achieved certain results, but the German army had just finished two rounds of artillery bombardment when the British artillery counterattack arrived.

The British also used tanks as bait. As long as the German army exposed the location of the artillery position, they would immediately face the British retaliation.

The artillery is the king of the six wars. Without artillery, the German army could not attack even if it destroyed all the Mark 1 tanks, and would even continue to retreat.

"The latest intelligence, we have a battalion and a tank near the village of Minat, and they have advanced 17 kilometers in today's battle." The intelligence staff hurried over.

"17 kilometers? Where is that village?" Edmund said immediately.

107 kilometers, how come they are behind the front line, but behind the British front line.

"Here, where we were a few days ago." The intelligence staff pointed on the map.

"1 battalion, how did they break through? Can we contact them? Can supplies be sent up?" Edmund asked in surprise.

"This is the specific battle report. The British are blocking consciously, but the 4th Reserve Chasseur Battalion of the 202nd Reserve Infantry Division has crossed the British blockade." The intelligence staff handed the battle report to Edmund.

"So that's how it is, this is how the tank is used." Edmund read the battle report carefully, and the battle report kept praising the role of the tank.

The tank mentioned as a vanguard, attacking the enemy's firepower point to attract firepower, or the tank as a fulcrum, flanking and outflanking tactics, etc., gave Edmund a lot of inspiration.

But now he is most happy not about this, but the 4th Reserve Chasseur Battalion mentioned by the intelligence staff.

The chasseur is one of the six special arms of the modern army. It is usually light infantry or light cavalry. It is a unit specially established for rapid movement and belongs to the elite unit.

Later, in the Second World War, the chasseur was renamed mountain infantry.

"That is to say, we have two infantry battalions behind the British, one of which is a chasseur battalion." Edmund looked at the battle report and made up his mind.

"The reserve troops began to assemble and entered the battle in the early morning. All troops launched a counterattack from the early morning."

"The artillery unit prepared artillery fire for the British troops on the front line before dawn, and after dawn, the British artillery force was tied down."

"Wait a minute to concentrate the artillery force to open a gap on the front line. The remaining five tanks of the tank unit will go to the village of Minat to form a tank company, and Alvin will be the company commander."

"After daybreak, the two battalions and tank companies in the rear will take action. Do not attack the solid positions, but mainly attack the transportation lines, material transfer stations, telephone lines, and enemy command institutions."

"Their mission is not to achieve many results, but to disturb the enemy's rear. Their existence is the best victory."

"Send this plan to the army headquarters and ask for cooperation from friendly forces."

Edmund excitedly hammered the table. He did not believe that the British could maintain the offensive on the front line if there was a mess in the rear.

Tomorrow is a full-line attack. As long as the British make a mistake, Edmund's chance will come.

But if the British hold on, the casualties of the 4th Reserve Army will be terrible. Maybe the 4th Reserve Army will have to retreat to the mainland to rest, and Edmund will not have a good end.

Edmund is gambling. He bets that the British do not have such a strong command ability, and he does not know the specific number of German troops in the rear.

Two battalions plus a tank company are enough to form a fist to punch the British and make them lose their way.

...

So, after a burst of artillery fire, the five artillery armored vehicles successfully broke through an unimportant defense line, successfully arrived at Minat, and brought orders.

The moon gradually got lower and lower, and the cannons began to sound.

The dense explosions produced by the exchange of hundreds of cannons shook the sky and the earth, so much so that Alvin, who was more than ten kilometers away, could hear them clearly.

"Sir, the battalion commander asked me to report to you that the action will start at 5 o'clock." The messenger of the infantry battalion ran over.

"I know." Alvin nodded.

The infantry battalion will set off with the tank company and move south, and the hunting battalion will follow them two kilometers behind.

Rumble...

As the engine sounded, the artillery armored vehicles slowly moved, moving south along the road.

"In the early morning, I found that there was a flash of fire in the southeast direction. There should be a British artillery position there. Attack in the southeast direction." Alvin used a compass to identify the direction.

He picked up this compass on the roadside. It should be an item lost by a low-ranking British officer.

Because he was advancing with the infantry, Alvin's speed was not fast, about 5 kilometers per hour.

After advancing for an hour, they encountered the first enemy of the day - a British cavalry company.

This was a coincidence. The British advanced so far at one time, and there were many scattered German troops in the rear. Keeping them was a threat to the logistics supply line, so they used cavalry to clean up.

As the war progressed, the breakthrough effect of the cavalry was suppressed by machine guns, and its importance became lower and lower. This cavalry company was sent to clean up the rear for this reason.

Yesterday, they captured more than 300 German prisoners of war and rested here for a night. When they woke up early in the morning, they saw the tank company rushing towards them.

"Enemy attack!!"

In the shrill shouts of the British cavalry, the British cavalry left more than 20 people and ran away.

In a short-distance outbreak, the tanks could not keep up with the cavalry, so Alvin could only watch them escape.

However, this attack added another company and a half of combat power to the German army - the prisoners were reorganized into a reinforced company.

After driving for another half an hour, Alvin encountered a blocking force - 9 Mark 1 heavy tanks and a colonial infantry brigade.

"Disperse, disperse!" Hans opened the door and held out a small blue flag.

This was the tactic they had discussed. Blue means dispersed attack, red means concentrated attack, and yellow means retreat.

There are only so many. If there are more, the tank soldiers can't learn.

"Distance 950, 1 round loading." The gunner operated the gun mirror to aim - there was no suitable sight, so he used the gun mirror instead.

"Stop!"

Boom!

With the gunner's shout, flames spewed out of the muzzle of the 37mm gun, and the shells flew out and exploded next to the Mark 1 tank.

"Load!" Hans stuffed the second shell in.

"Stop!"

Boom!

The second round hit the tank directly, and the tank stopped with black smoke.

"Next one, turn left." Alvin steered the tank to aim.

Their car had no turret, so the firing range was limited, and they needed to adjust the direction of the car body to roughly aim.

boo!

A 76mm shell exploded not far from them, and more 37mm shells exploded around them, stirring up clouds of dust.

"It's time to speed up!" Alvin felt the pressure and stepped on the accelerator.

Rumble...

The Daimler engine roared, but the speed did not increase much. Alvin felt abnormal vibrations and the sound of mechanical collisions.

Clang clang clang, a very dense sound.

"Stop!" the gunner shouted.

Creak~~

What happened!

The car made a loud noise.

Boom!

The 37mm gun spewed out fire snakes, and soon, the Mark 1 tank in front stopped moving and emitted black smoke.

"Damn! This car is scrapped." Alvin tried to start it, but no matter how the engine roared, the car just didn't move.

Boom!

At this time, the gunner fired another round and achieved another victory.

Of the nine British Mark 1 tanks that had just been repaired and were about to go to the front line, seven had been destroyed. The Germans, relying on their mobility and armor, only had two tanks down.

Under tremendous pressure, the British soldiers on the remaining two tanks climbed out, abandoned their tanks and fled.

"Fire a signal flare and let the chasseur battalion move west to see if we can keep some of the British. Charge!" The infantry battalion commander gave an order, and several thousand soldiers charged quickly.

The British watched the tanks being destroyed one by one, while the tanks on the opposite side were still coming. Many colonial soldiers turned around and ran. The remaining officers could not stop them at all, and finally ran after them.

It didn't matter if they ran, their artillery position was exposed.

A German battalion has 4 companies, a standard infantry company is between 245 and 265 people, a battalion has more than 1,000 people, and just recruited more than 300 prisoners of war, now there are almost 1,400 people.

1,400 people attacking an artillery position right in front of them is basically a flying dragon riding on the face.

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