Chapter 188: August

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“Load high-explosive!” Rein commanded again.

“High-explosive loaded!” Bruce reported loudly.

“Fire!” Rein shouted. “Baumann! Turn the vehicle around! We’re going back to find tanks 111 and 114!”

“I’m with you!” Marcus shouted in the headset. “I see them gathering! At your nine o’clock!”

“Stay close to me!” Rein suddenly laughed. How long had it been since he had felt this thrill of hovering between life and death, since his time in Wolf Rider Class One? How long had it been since he had experienced this feast of slaughter that proved he was still alive? Had the title of “Demon King” been forgotten long ago?

He pulled the submachine gun from its rack, threw open the commander’s hatch, and, to Andre’s stunned expression, exposed the upper half of his body. He raised the submachine gun and unleashed a wild fusillade at the Polish soldiers on the left side of the turret.

After emptying the drum magazine, he laughed heartily, grabbed the hatch cover, and ducked back into the turret amidst the hail of Polish cavalry fire, slamming the hatch shut. He shouted at Andre, who still hadn’t processed what had just happened, “Fire!”

Andre, influenced by Rein’s mood, also began to laugh. He adjusted the cannon, fired a shot into the dense crowd of Polish cavalry, and then used the coaxial machine gun to kill several Poles who were trying to charge, waiting for Bruce to continue loading. Tank 113 took the lead, charging back into the chaotic mass of Polish cavalry.

While the armies of all the major European military powers were gradually phasing out their cavalry units, the Polish army still maintained a cavalry force of up to forty regiments. There were two reasons for needing such a large cavalry force. The first was that due to a lack of motor vehicles, poor road conditions, and the rural areas turning into a swamp during the rainy season, cavalry had a superior advantage.

The second reason was that Poland had a very ancient cavalry tradition. The Polish Winged Hussars had rendered distinguished service in battles against the Grand Duchy of Moscow, the Tatars, and the Turks. Their fierce and unparalleled combat effectiveness was the pride of the Polish people.

However, when faced with the Germans, who were armed to the teeth with science and technology, all these traditions became empty illusions. Tank 113 finally collided head-on with the Polish cavalry who had gathered to charge the German tanks. Two-meter-long lances against a 75mm long-barreled cannon; slender cavalry sabers challenging 7.92mm machine guns—the outcome could be guessed without trying: flesh and blood were crushed by steel, and the determination to defend one’s homeland was ultimately no match for a cold killing intent.

“I’ve found tank 114!” The command vehicle 111, which had lost contact, finally came back online. The voice of the company commander, Carter, came through the headset. “I’m trying to get closer to it! There are too many Polish cavalry around!”

The hastily assembled troop of Polish cavalry failed to stop the rampaging German tanks. The brave cavalryman who had raised his lance and charged toward the tanks was hit by Clark’s machine gun and pitched headfirst from his warhorse. And the Polish cavalry behind him were turned into sieves by the machine guns on Marcus’s tank.

Faced with a one-sided slaughter, the surrounding Polish cavalry finally hesitated. After all, brave knights were in the minority. Most people were filled with fear of this hopeless suicide. Although some Poles still charged toward the tanks, more cavalrymen chose to flee, to escape this purgatorial battlefield.

This flight threw the Polish cavalry’s formation into even greater chaos, making it even more impossible to organize an effective counter-attack. The pressure on the front of the German tanks was instantly reduced. Rein took the opportunity to open his hatch again and empty another drum of bullets with his submachine gun. This desperate, crazy act made the Polish army rout even faster.

The Polish cavalry was routed. After being repeatedly charged and slaughtered by the German tanks twice, they were routed. The five tanks were intact, with only the marks of sabers and shallow craters on their paint. The price Poland paid for this was 513 cavalrymen killed in action and 31 captured. An entire cavalry regiment had scattered and fled. The largest mobile force in the southern Polish heartland had thus been inexplicably annihilated.

In the past four days, the Polish government had not been sitting idly by. They had pinned almost all their hopes on British and French intervention. Warsaw had appealed to Britain and France over and over again, hoping that their distant allies could help them resolve the crisis of their nation’s demise.

The British cabinet met later on the morning of September 17. Despite receiving a report from the British ambassador in Warsaw, in which the ambassador repeatedly stressed that he could already hear the explosions of bombs being dropped, Britain still declared that the situation was too chaotic to take action. After bickering and arguing, Britain and France, Poland’s two most steadfast allies, were content to merely issue a symbolic warning to the German Führer, Akado.

It was not that Britain and France were inefficient, nor was it the effect of the appeasement policy. In fact, France had already mobilized 40 army divisions, and the British Expeditionary Force had entered a state of Level One combat readiness. The main reason Britain and France were still hesitant to act was that they still hoped to see Germany go east and fight the Soviet Union, to challenge the only socialist country in the world.

A full four days after Germany’s attack on Poland had begun, as the Polish leader Beck and his ambassadors pleaded with their allies to fulfill their mutual obligations, Britain and France were instead waiting for a secret reply from Germany. They had sent a document to the German government through neutral Switzerland, stating that if Germany attacked the Soviet Union, Britain and France would provide appropriate assistance.

It was a pity that this document did not receive the approval of Führer Akado. But the great Führer, in a subsequent speech to the Reichstag, mentioned the importance of protecting Poland from socialist aggression. This speech convinced Britain and France to continue to wait, to wait for an outcome in the Polish war.

Berlin, Germany, in the Führer’s Residence.

When Akado received the report from the front, he stared at it for several minutes without speaking. In his world, the Chinese had been ashamed of fighting foreign guns with broadswords and lances. But who could have imagined that fifty years later, in Europe, the most technologically advanced continent in the world, people were still challenging tanks with broadswords and lances?

“My Führer,” the officer who delivered the report reminded him softly. When Akado had snapped out of his daze, he spoke again. “The General Staff would like to ask for your opinion. Our army has penetrated too quickly into Polish territory and may be subject to a flanking counter-attack from the Poles. Should we contract our forces and consolidate our defensive line before continuing the attack?”

Pointing to the report in his hand, Akado thought for a moment and said, “I believe that against such a weak enemy, the Army’s operational plan should not be too conservative! I recommend that the troops continue to advance at a more suitable speed, encircle and annihilate the Polish field armies, and create a favorable situation for the capture of Warsaw.”

In his previous life, the senior generals of the German army had lost many golden opportunities due to being too conservative and stubborn, and this series of mistakes had also accelerated the demise of Germany in that world. So this time, Akado decided to change the habits of these generals and make them more adapted to their own country’s blitzkrieg.

“As you command, my Führer,” the officer said, saluting. He then turned and left Akado’s office.

Anna stood smiling at the door, her slender fingers knocking on the door of Akado’s office. “My Führer, I have brought the person you wanted to see.”

“Oh?” Akado was taken aback for a moment, then put on a smiling face and stood up. “Please ask Mr. August to come in.”

“Thank you, Führer,” a voice said. An old man in an old military greatcoat, with a greyish-white beard, walked into Akado’s office. He was leaning on a cane and looked frail, but from his eyes, one could see that he was a wise and healthy old man.

Akado walked around his desk and came to August. “I believe you know why I have asked you here. I don’t know what reward I can use to move you, but I am truly in need of a wise and far-sighted advisor like yourself.”

“In fact, my Führer, I have already been defeated by your powerful army of lobbyists,” August said with a carefree smile. “Krupp visited me a few days ago, hoping I could take over some of his work. And yesterday, Bosch and General von Bock also called me… You even had the beautiful Miss Anna come to pick me up personally. If I don’t accept your invitation, I estimate I will be considered an enemy by the entire Greater German Party by tomorrow.”

“You’re joking, Mr. August,” Akado replied with a smile.

“I think you didn’t ask me here just to have an old man like me for dinner,” August said very directly. “So there’s no need for pleasantries. Since I am here, I will do everything I can to help you realize your ideals… Don’t mind my old age; I am also a man who has sworn allegiance to the Führer with my hand on the national flag.”

Hearing that August had agreed to help him, Akado immediately chimed in happily, “Then I thank you for your help on behalf of the German people.”

“My Führer, I am responsible only to you! My grandfather was a Chancellor, so I think I should at least consider myself a Chancellor,” August said, looking into Akado’s eyes. “I need the financial reports for the past few years, as well as the issuance and circulation records of the MEFO bills… send them to… my goodness… I don’t even have a private office yet…”

“I will have my secretary, Cindra, prepare one for you,” Akado said with a smile.

“Then I thank you for your consideration, Führer,” August nodded, then started to walk out. “I am old! I don’t have much time, so I must hurry to get the work done. I won’t disturb the Führer any longer.”

Akado turned and gave Anna a very satisfied look, then said, “Send a copy of the recent operational reports from Poland to Mr. August as well, along with the infrastructure plans for the last six months.”

He walked to his desk, moved aside the report on the cavalry versus tanks that he had been holding, and glanced at the file underneath, a smile playing on his lips.

On the cover of that file was the highest-level seal of the SS Gestapo. The title was: Investigation Report on August von Hindenburg.

On the first page of this report was a very pertinent conclusion: This person is safe.