I Became a Plutocrat in World War I: Starting with Saving France-Chapter 763 Crossing the River

East Bank of the Meuse River, German defense line.

Captain Madiao inspected the defensive situation in the drizzle, advancing while gnawing on dry bread.

Captain Madiao was originally an accountant, living a very regular life every day, even his shaving time was fixed.

At that time, Captain Madiao wanted to change, as he found this kind of life too dull and boring.

It wasn't until the day he eagerly stepped onto the battlefield that he realized the other meaning of "dull and boring" was "happiness".

Captain Madiao shoved the last bite of bread into his mouth, lowered his head, and crawled into the semi-buried bunker to check the maintenance status of the 77 infantry artillery as usual.

The artillery observer leaned over to report: "Captain, the French made some moves last night."

"Hmm." Captain Madiao fiddled with the infantry artillery indifferently, asking: "What did they do?"

"I'm not sure." The artillery observer replied: "They set up a platform upstream."

"Platform?" Captain Madiao stopped his actions and turned to look at the artillery observer.

When something unusual happens, there's always a reason, especially when facing Shire's troops.

"You'll see when you look." The artillery observer motioned outside with a nod.

After walking out of the fortifications, the artillery observer pointed a direction for Captain Madiao.

Captain Madiao raised the binoculars, carefully peering out, and indeed saw the wooden platform extending to the riverbank through the rain.

There were not just one, but many upstream, though farther ones were difficult to discern.

Captain Madiao retracted his head, hearing the discussions around him:

"Why are they setting up such platforms?"

"Do the French intend to build a wooden bridge? They must think we can't see it."

"Our artillery will blow them to smithereens!"

The artillery observer asked: "Captain, should we destroy it?"

"No." Captain Madiao shook his head: "Maybe that's what they want, once the artillery fires, our position will be exposed."

The subordinates all agreed:

"Those wooden platforms pose no threat to us."

"If we are to destroy them, we should wait until they are halfway across the river, make them waste more effort."

"I don't think they can reach the middle of the river, it's a foolish idea."

While discussing, a sudden, terrifying "whizzing" sound came from the air.

Having seen French rockets before, Captain Madiao shouted hurriedly: "Artillery attack!"

While speaking, he hit the ground and rolled into the trench amid the violent shaking and flying dust.

Intense rocket fire hammered nearby like a giant wielding an iron hammer against the ground.

Following the rocket barrage, howitzer shells continued for a while without stopping.

Captain Madiao felt strange, was the French preparing firepower for a river crossing?

There's no bridge here, is it really wise to force a crossing?

"Captain!" The artillery observer drilled into the trench, shouting in panic under the dim light: "The enemy is attacking, they're crossing the river!"

Captain Madiao froze for a moment, quickly ordered: "Prepare for combat, repel them!"

With a piercing whistle, German soldiers crawled to the top of the trenches and raised their guns.

Teams of French soldiers rushed over from the opposite bank in speedboats, and some in rubber boats.

With Captain Madiao's command, rifles, machine guns, and various weapons fired a barrage of bullets, causing splashes on the river surface, capsizing speedboats, the surrounding river water turning a shocking red.

However, Captain Madiao felt something was off.

This intensity of attack couldn't threaten the defense line, it might be a distraction.

Suddenly, he thought of the wooden platforms, hurriedly raised his binoculars in that direction.

Sure enough, vehicles were moving backward on the platforms, throwing something into the river from their rear compartments.

As Captain Madiao wondered, the objects spread in the river to form a "large bed," which French soldiers used speedboats to connect, creating something resembling a bridge in no time.

"Pontoon bridge, that's a pontoon bridge!" Madiao shouted, ordering toward the 77 artillery direction: "Aim at the pontoon bridge, destroy them!"

However, the 77 artillery was suppressed by French howitzers, making it difficult to hit the pontoon bridge floating on the water. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

Even if hit, it wouldn't matter, the pontoon bridge had multiple watertight compartments, even a large hole wouldn't stop it from floating and forming part of the bridge.

Minutes later, a pontoon bridge appeared before the German officers and soldiers, its rapid construction astonishing everyone.

Then, a tank they had never seen before appeared.

This tank had two gun barrels, a small turret cannon, and a 75mm cannon within its chassis, the dark muzzle aimed at the German positions, accompanied by many French soldiers, all armed and murderous.

The Germans were terrified:

"It's Shire, that's Shire's troops, they're not in Nancy."

"That's Shire's invention, and his new tank."

"We are outnumbered, Captain, we can't stop them!"

…

Captain Madiao knew what the soldiers said was true.

This wasn't a key defensive area, there was only an infantry battalion of less than a thousand men nearby.

But the enemy across the river was a vast black mass, at least tens of thousands, they could quickly build pontoon bridges and had new tanks.

Captain Madiao gritted his teeth, intending to order the soldiers to continue defending.

There was still hope, as long as they held out until reinforcements arrived, they might stop the enemy's advance.

However, seeing the French build another pontoon bridge upstream, along with batches of amphibious boats carrying French soldiers into the water, Captain Madiao was completely despairing.

"Retreat!" Captain Madiao ordered.

This wasn't something human power could stop, staying would mean death or surrender.

…

Shire stood on an armored car on the opposite bank, watching the Germans abandon their trenches and flee, feeling satisfied.

With overwhelming artillery, pontoon bridges, tanks, and a thousand amphibious landing boats attacking, they could scare the Germans to death.

From a strategic perspective, Shire shouldn't crush the Germans too badly, this would cause troubles for himself.

But Metz was different.

Metz's geographic location was too important.

If it's in German hands, the Germans would continually threaten the Western Front against France.

But if it's in French, especially Shire's hands, it would basically stop any German attack thoughts.

With Metz under control, any German attack would risk having their supply lines cut.

Therefore, Shire was determined to obtain it.

Tijani sighed beside him:

"You cracked the egg shell again, General."

"The Germans were unprepared, from here all the way to Metz, it's a German unguarded area."

"Even if there are forces, they would be some hastily assembled scattered troops!"