I Became a Plutocrat in World War I: Starting with Saving France

The battle escalated into intense combat as soon as it began.

Under the cover of tank and field artillery fire, German Army soldiers madly charged at the French Army's defense line, and machine gunners advanced in layers, attempting to get close enough to shoot.

But the French Army had resolved to fight with absolute bravery.

Before the battle, Kristen gathered his subordinates for a short meeting, during which he asked, "Did you see the enemy tanks we've captured? Which tanks do you think are superior, ours or theirs?"

His subordinates burst into laughter and replied one after another:

"Of course, it's the Germans' tanks, General."

"Compared with theirs, ours are simply toys."

"I wouldn't even call ours tanks; Schneider is better suited for producing artillery."

...

"I completely agree," Kristen responded, then asked, "But that's not what I meant. Have you ever thought about what this means for us?"

His subordinates glanced at each other, not understanding Kristen's point.

"Imagine this," Kristen gestured towards the defense line, "If our defense line is breached by the enemy, and they also have those tanks, what will happen?"

His subordinates were silent for a moment, and then they understood:

"We cannot retreat, General. Because the Germans' tanks will follow us all the way."

"Yes, just like the units previously defeated by the Germans. They couldn't outrun the Germans' tanks, ending up either captured or killed, with less than one-tenth escaping."

"Although we have tanks, they are not strong enough. We won't fare much better than infantry!"

...

Kristen nodded, "So, we have no retreat, gentlemen. Either we hold the line, or we die. Understand?"

"Yes, General."

"Understood!"

...

Kristen cleverly turned his own disadvantage into courage for his soldiers.

Knowing they had no retreat, the French soldiers fought more valiantly.

Riflemen fell in front of the trenches, and immediately, someone would drag the body down and take their place.

Machine gunners fell at their positions, soon followed by someone racing up to grab the gun and continue firing at the enemy.

Even Kristen joined the battle, shouting hoarsely to inspire his soldiers to keep fighting while firing bullets at the enemy with his rifle.

German tactics remained the same; after tanks breached the trenches and defense lines, they turned back to assist infantry in seizing the trench fortifications.

However, Kristen's defense was precisely targeted at this tactic.

He set up the "Saint Chamond M21" on the second line of defense and cleverly designed the tank shelters in two layers:

The first layer was deeper, allowing the tank to be entirely below the horizon to avoid heavy losses under enemy artillery fire.

The second layer was shallower, with only machine guns or 37 cannons exposed when the tank moved up the slope to this layer.

Thus, the Germans could only see a small part of the French tank's firepower, while the larger part of the chassis remained hidden in the shelter.

Consequently, even though the Germans had an absolute firepower advantage, several "Upper Silesia" tanks managed to break through the French lines but were destroyed one after another by the French army.

The battle continued for over an hour, with both sides suffering losses and remaining deadlocked.

However, the reinforced German Army still gained an advantage in manpower and firepower, and victory gradually leaned towards the Germans.

Finally, the German Army rushed into the French trenches, engaging in hand-to-hand combat, creating a very dangerous situation.

At this time, the sound of engines roaring came from the sky; it was the French aircraft, Caproni Bombers, with at least fifty of them in a dark formation.

The ground infantry, engaged in fierce combat, ignored the situation in the air, continuing to fight with bayonets, shovels, and stones in the trenches.

They naturally assumed that bombers wouldn't target infantry, believing the bombers' targets should be high-value artillery, convoy, or warehouses.

However, they soon realized they were wrong.

The bombers quickly lowered altitude, noses diving towards the ground, with their wide wings almost grazing the soldiers' heads as they passed over the Kemmel Line.

Then, rows of bombs dropped from the wings and fuselage.

"Boom boom!"

"Boom boom boom!"

...

Hundreds of bombs spread across the ground like a carpet, exploding the entire German side into flames, instantly engulfing all subsequent units, including tanks, in smoke.

Everyone was stunned.

The German soldiers hadn't expected the bombers to have such deadly power, swallowing an entire swath of soldiers in the blink of an eye and completely changing the outcome of the battle.

The French soldiers were a bit bewildered; weren't those Shire's bombers? Why would he tirelessly assist the opposing First Specialized Artillery Division? Even if ordered to bomb, he could have just made a show of it!

But they didn't have time to think much, cheering and launching a counterattack against the Germans.

Kristen knew what was going on, and with blood-stained clothing, he gratefully looked up at the departing bombers in the sky, thinking Shire had saved him again!

Following Shire was different; he knew when help was needed most and how to win this battle!

...

On the other hand, Major General Nicholas, commander of the First German Tank Division, could no longer remain calm and composed.

He angrily shouted at the staff officer, "Where are our fighters? Why are we allowing enemy bombers to bombard us indiscriminately? If this continues, how can we take the enemy's positions?"

The staff officer replied, "General, our fighters are currently stationed at Humesen Airport."

Major General Nicholas then remembered that this was his instruction, to keep the aviation corps "low profile" so as not to expose the new fighter jets prematurely.

Major General Nicholas realized that Shire had given him another difficult problem:

If he continued to keep a low profile without deploying the new fighter jets, the French bombers would continue bombing, undoubtedly leading to the German Army's defeat.

But if he sent the new fighter jets to the battlefield, they might be caught off guard by Shire's new fighter jets.

To deploy or not to deploy?

Worse yet, the reinforcements from Shire were reportedly on the way, it was crucial to defeat the First Specialized Artillery Division before the reinforcements arrived!

After considering for a while, Major General Nicholas gritted his teeth and ordered, "Deploy the First Storm Assault Battalion."

"But General," the staff officer replied, "they have only just been formed..."

Major General Nicholas cast a cold glance at the staff officer, who swallowed the rest of the words and only replied, "Yes, sir."

(The image above depicts the German Storm Assault Team formed in 1915, typically designated as certain Storm Assault Battalions. Each army corps had one assault battalion, initially equipped with iron armor for bullet protection and close combat, later realizing mobility was more important and removing the iron armor.)