Chapter 210: Saxon-Style Tachanka

After the Instruction Assault Battalion tore open the breach, the main force infantry of the ‘Assault Battle Group’ continuously poured through the gap.

Once the follow-up infantry completely stabilized the line, Morin did not hesitate. He led the newly regrouped 1st Company to continue the forward assault. He sent out several Dispatch Riders: some to notify the other three companies to converge on the 1st Company’s position, and others to inform the allied forces to keep pace and provide cover. The Instruction Assault Battalion, the sharpest dagger, was to continue stabbing directly toward the heart of the Expeditionary Force—the Arras urban area.

Pushing forward with the dagger of the Instruction Assault Battalion were not just the ensuing infantry, but also four uniquely designed carriages. These four carriages were an emergency creation that Morin had stayed up all night to build with Ludwig and his Magic Guided Technicians after arriving at the camp yesterday.

Their chassis was based on the heavy-duty four-wheeled carriage equipped by the Saxon Army, pulled by four sturdy draft horses. But the rear cargo bed was completely transformed. The back of the carriage was lined with piled-up sandbags, forming a makeshift fighting compartment. In the center of the compartment, an MG08 Heavy Machine Gun was conspicuously mounted on its tripod. To protect the gunner, the Magic Guided Technicians had temporarily installed a small steel gun shield on the MG08’s thick water-cooling jacket.

The sides of the carriage were also hung with several thin steel plates that glowed with a strange blue luster. This thing was the ‘Saxon-Style Tachanka’ Morin had been obsessed with.

“Morin, are you sure this thing works?” Ludwig looked at the four mismatched carriages with a skeptical expression. “What good is this broken carriage? It’s not as effective as one stomp from my Armored Knight.”

“You don’t understand. This is called a mobile fire platform,” Morin explained. “The number of Armored Knights is limited. We can’t rely solely on your charge, and you can’t follow the Assault Battalion forever once the line is breached.”

Ludwig raised an eyebrow, not because of the logic, but purely because he felt the pinch. The thin steel plates used as gun shields and hung on the carriage sides were not ordinary steel; they were specialized armor manufactured with Magic Guided Technology, typically used to repair damaged sections of Armored Knights. In Ludwig’s words, all the parts of the four broken carriages combined were not worth as much as those few steel plates. “Extravagant! Too extravagant!” Ludwig winced in pain at the time.

But now, as the four ‘Saxon-Style Tachankas’ followed the Assault Troops, rapidly maneuvering across the battlefield, everyone who saw them understood just how useful they were.

By the time Morin reached the city’s edge with the 1st Company and the four Tachankas, and realized the Britannian Expeditionary Force seemed to be attempting to slip away, he accelerated the attack. Judging by the railway lines and other transportation routes, the most suitable area for the Britannian Expeditionary Force to retreat to was Amiens. And this damned place, like Charleroi, was bisected by a small but well-known river—the Somme River. If the Britannians managed to retreat there, capturing it would not be easy. Morin also saw through his binoculars that trains were constantly pulling out of Arras City, the boxcars clearly military transports.

At the same time, the system map showed that the Britannians had dispatched two companies moving toward his position, having apparently noticed Morin’s rapidly advancing unit. Both the Expeditionary Force Command and the commander of this particular enemy battalion assumed Morin’s force was similar to Jäger or Dragoon light infantry—highly mobile, but certainly not numerous or heavily armed.

Morin, leading the unit toward the urban area, also spotted the enemy force. From the map, there was no way to detour, and doing so would waste precious time. If they didn’t defeat the enemy, he certainly wouldn’t be able to continue the advance. Since the other three companies hadn’t caught up yet, Morin refrained from rushing in. He led his unit toward a slightly undulating piece of terrain and, at the same time, ordered the four horse-drawn Machine Guns to flank the enemy from both sides.

The two Britannian infantry companies dispatched to delay them were commanded temporarily by a Captain Harrison. He had intended to destroy this Saxon Assault Unit and then immediately move to join the Fifth and Sixth Infantry Divisions. Observing the rapidly approaching Saxon force through his binoculars, Harrison lowered the glasses, a look of ease on his face.

“It looks like only one company, at most two hundred men.”

The Aide-de-Camp beside him nodded: “Yes, Captain. They have a few carriages following them, which must be their supply unit… It seems their commander is an idiot, bringing logistics so close to the front.”

Harrison’s mouth twitched, but he managed to suppress his smile, though his anxiety had considerably lessened. His headquarters had ordered them to delay this enemy force at all costs. He had expected a tough fight, only to encounter a small group of over-aggressive Saxon light infantry.

“Order the unit to deploy and prepare to engage. We need to be quick; we still have to catch up with the main force.” Harrison assessed the surrounding terrain and issued the command. In his view, using two companies to destroy one enemy company was a foregone conclusion.

The Britannian soldiers quickly deployed into skirmish lines across the field. They were long-serving professional soldiers, their tactical movements skilled and precise. Despite the messy battle and emergency withdrawal this morning, their morale was still decent.

“Hey, John, see that? The Saxon transport carriages are charging at the front. Are they rushing to deliver supplies to us?” A veteran leaned on the field embankment, checking his Lee-Enfield Rifle while joking with a comrade next to him.

“Who knows? Maybe they want to race us?” another soldier laughed in response. They looked at the four strangely shaped carriages in the distance as if they were a joke. In their experience, carriages belonged to the supply column in the rear, not charging on the front line.

However, what happened next completely shattered their perception. Just as they prepared to open fire, the four carriages suddenly skidded to a stop about three hundred meters away.

Then, a movement that left all Britannian soldiers dumbfounded occurred. The four carriages, under the skilled handling of the drivers, completed a perfect handbrake turn, lining up their rear ends directly toward the Britannian position.

“What are they doing? Did they realize their mistake and try to run?” Captain Harrison frowned, confused. His soldiers erupted in laughter.

“Haha, look! The cowards are trying to run!”

“Too late! You want to run now? Leave your lives behind!”

Just as the Britannian soldiers were laughing and raising their rifles, preparing to teach the ‘fleeing’ carriage drivers a lesson, they suddenly saw blinding muzzle flashes erupt from the rear of the carriages. The next second, the sound of dense Heavy Machine Gun fire filled the entire battlefield!

“Da-da-da-da-da——!”

Four MG08 Heavy Machine Guns opened fire simultaneously, instantly weaving a curtain of death. Countless bullets, tracing lethal trajectories like a whirlwind, savagely sprayed across the Britannian skirmish line.

The Britannian soldiers, just preparing to fire, were stunned. They couldn’t understand what was happening, only seeing their comrades fall in swathes, their bodies ripped open by high-velocity bullets. Screams and wails instantly replaced the previous laughter.

“Heavy Machine Guns! Get down! Get down quickly!” Captain Harrison instinctively dove to the ground, yelling hoarsely. He couldn’t comprehend how Heavy Machine Guns could be hidden behind those carriages! This defied all military logic!

The surviving Britannian soldiers frantically flattened themselves, trying to find cover, and began firing wildly in return. However, their counterattack was pitifully ineffective. Rifle bullets struck the thin steel plates on the sides of the carriages, making a dull clanging sound but failing to penetrate. The few bullets that luckily flew toward the gunners were safely blocked by the thick gun shields and the piled sandbags.

“Damn it! Their carriages have armor too!” one veteran shouted in despair. Now everyone panicked. The enemy was clearly prepared! These weren’t transport carriages; they were specially designed mobile Machine Gun positions!

“What the hell is this thing?!” Harrison lay prone, watching his men being mowed down in rows by the four Machine Guns and unable to raise their heads. His mind was blank, repeating the question unconsciously. He finally understood that he had run into a squad of Saxon devils, armed to the teeth, not some reckless fools!

Just as Captain Harrison and his two companies were stunned and thrown into complete disarray by the four ‘Saxon-Style Tachankas,’ Morin decisively seized the opportunity.

“1st Company! Charge with me!” He leaped up from behind the hillock, waving his arm and issuing the command to charge.

“Charge! Charge! Charge!” 1st Company NCOs immediately shouted the orders. Soldiers, armed with MP14 Submachine Guns and Gew.98 Rifles, charged toward the bewildered enemy. The company’s few Light Machine Gunners were even more aggressive. They advanced in pairs, using alternating cover, rapidly leaping forward. Whenever they found a suitable firing position, they would quickly set up their MG14 Light Machine Guns and fire a long burst at the enemy, providing covering fire for the charging infantry.

The battlefield erupted in a cacophony of gunfire. Faced with this multi-layered, dense firepower, Captain Harrison’s two infantry companies completely broke. They were already shattered by the sudden attack of the horse-drawn Machine Guns. Now, seeing over a hundred Saxon soldiers armed with automatic weapons charging at them, their psychological defense instantly collapsed.

“Retreat! Retreat quickly! We can’t hold them!” Captain Harrison watched his soldiers being cut down like wheat, his heart twisting with pain. He knew if they didn’t run now, both companies would be annihilated. He no longer cared about delaying the enemy; survival was paramount.

He scrambled up from the ground, commanding the surviving soldiers to cover each other as they fled toward Arras City.

(End of this Chapter)

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