I Became a Plutocrat in World War I: Starting with Saving France-Chapter 762 Belt-Type Pontoon Bridge

Shire stood up to make himself a cup of coffee, while busy with his hands, he said to Tijani, "You seem to have forgotten the principle of 'attack outweighs defense'.

"No, I haven't forgotten." Tijani felt wronged, he waved heavily toward the map: "But this is different, General, what's in front of us is the Meuse River, the Meuse River! It's an insurmountable barrier."

Cross the river using amphibious landing boats?

That might be one way, but even if the landing boats get across, the tanks still can't.

The infantry that crosses might be utterly annihilated by the German Army's counterattack!

Shire didn't rush to answer. He held the coffee and sat down at his desk, took a sip before replying, "Floating bridge, Major General."

"Floating bridge?" Tijani looked at Shire incredulously: "Are you joking? It would take us at least a dozen hours to build a floating bridge, and it needs to support tanks while the enemy can blow it up within minutes."

This was the most ridiculous idea he had ever heard, Tijani thought, Shire sometimes could be incredibly foolish.

However, Shire persisted: "What if we could build a floating bridge capable of bearing tanks in ten minutes or so?"

"That's still impossible..." Tijani responded, but he froze the next second, staring at Shire in shock:

"What did you say? Ten minutes? Did I hear that right?"

"Build a floating bridge that can support tanks?"

"No, that can't be done, no one can achieve that."

Shire didn't answer, he held his coffee in one hand and opened his briefcase with the other, pulling out a document and handed it to Tijani.

Tijani took the document puzzled, flipped through it for a while without understanding, raised his head to ask Shire: "What is this?"

"Ribbon pontoon bridge, Major General." Shire's tone was calm: "Simply put, it's a foldable prefabricated pontoon bridge. Once deployed in the water, they connect like building blocks, quickly forming a floating bridge."

(The picture above shows a ribbon pontoon bridge in its folded state, being placed into the river from a truck.)

(The picture above shows the ribbon pontoon bridge being deployed and linked in the river.)

(The picture above shows a segment of the floating bridge being propelled by a speedboat.)

Tijani reread the diagrams on the document after combining Shire's explanation, finally understanding.

He asked skeptically: "This, can really be assembled quickly? I mean, forming a bridge across the Meuse River within ten minutes?"

Shire raised his eyebrows: "Ten minutes is actually a long time. If well-trained, it can be completed in ten minutes."

Modern army pontoon bridge units can complete a 500-meter pontoon bridge within 15 minutes, while the Meuse River's width is only about 100 meters.

Of course, French Army's pontoon bridge units are newly established and not proficient, needing over ten minutes is understandable.

But this is sufficient.

"Do we have something like this?" Tijani asked excitedly.

"Of course." Shire nodded: "Since the risky river crossing using 'amphibious tanks' at Mezieres, I thought of these ribbon pontoon bridges, and they're now produced at the Charles Shipyard." 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

This is thanks to the Meuse River being only about 100 meters wide, reducing the workload.

"Do you want to go see it yourself?" Shire asked.

"No, no." Tijani happily flipped through the document:

"Oh my God, building a floating bridge in ten minutes, I understand your point."

"This means we can land at any point on the Meuse River, and the Germans simply won't have time to intercept, right?"

"After all, it only takes ten minutes!"

Shire smiled and shook his head:

"I think you still haven't grasped it fully, Major General."

"We may need ten minutes to assemble it."

"But it doesn't mean the enemy has ten minutes to prepare."

Tijani froze, then understood:

"Yes, we can assemble it upstream, then float downstream."

"Oh my God, so this floating bridge would suddenly appear before the enemy."

"Then the troops and tanks would rush towards the enemy lines along with it, while the enemy is completely unprepared!"

Shire nodded: "Yes, that about covers it. Now, would you still want to seize the bridges?"

Tijani held the document like a treasure, laughing: "No, General, only fools would think of seizing bridges."

...

What Tijani didn't know was the other purpose Shire had for creating these ribbon pontoon bridges, aside from crossing the Meuse River: Metz.

Metz's geographical location is extremely important; it's the lever that can move both Lorraine and Alsace.

Once Metz is captured, Lorraine would be defenseless, and Alsace's weak flank exposed to his troops.

However, Metz, surrounded by rivers and filled with fortresses, is easy to defend and hard to attack, making the ribbon pontoon bridges useful.

(Note: Metz became a crucial point in the Maginot Line during WWII, even being called its "ancestor", because since 1500, Metz had always been a military stronghold, with France continuously reinforcing its fortifications into a fortress, aiming to guard the traffic and fend off foreign attacks.)

Shire pointed on the map to Metz and asked Tijani: "If the German 1st Tank Division is stationed in Metz, it would be extremely difficult for us to take this fortress, even if possible, it would come at great cost."

Tijani immediately guessed Shire's intent: "So we should lure the 1st Tank Division out of the fortress by using Ganmelin's 2nd Specialized Artillery Division as bait?"

Shire looked up at Tijani: "I remember you were once the commander of that artillery division. Would this affect you?"

"Come on, General." Tijani spread his hands generously: "Most officers in that unit are noble sons, I'm different from them."

Shire found the statement somewhat ironic.

Aren't you yourself a noble son? The son of shipbuilding tycoon Wells!

However, Tijani now seemed less and less like a "noble son"; he had grown into a competent commander through battles.

Shire pointed to the railway between Metz and Nancy:

"This is the main bombing target for our air force."

"Once the German 1st Tank Division is drawn out of the city to the frontline, our bombers should make sure they can't return!"

...

This was precisely the dilemma Erwin faced.

Nancy is only 60 kilometers from Metz, it took over an hour for his troops on the train to arrive, but when trying to return, they found the railway cut off and the highways bombed and cratered by the French Army.

Erwin ordered Manstein: "Lead the mobile units back to Metz immediately, I'll follow shortly!"

Then he added: "Stop Shire from occupying Metz at all costs!"

"Yes, General." Manstein responded.

Shire might have succeeded strategically, Manstein thought, but he surely didn't expect our anti-tank guns!