I Became a Plutocrat in World War I: Starting with Saving France-Chapter 970: Changing the Battlefield Singlehandedly
Only at this moment did the airborne soldiers slowly descend to the ground.
Major General Friedrich was shocked to discover that some paratroopers were actually pulling the parachute cords to change their trajectory towards "Lonsin Castle".
"General, we should go back!" the staff officer reminded.
Major General Friedrich was unwilling, knowing that returning to the fortress in this situation almost meant waiting to die.
He even thought about pulling out soldiers from the fortress to organize a defense.
However, he knew it wouldn’t be of any use.
Most soldiers in the fortress were technical troops, responsible for operating artillery, transporting shells, learning how to shoot more accurately.
Except for the machine gunners, they had hardly handled rifles; pulling them out of the fortress to resist the elite French airborne troops was almost no different from seeking death.
In the end, Major General Friedrich followed the staff officer back into the fortress and closed the thick iron door.
The only hope now was to hold the fortress and delay time, waiting for reinforcements from Liège City to arrive.
But the terrifying events were just beginning.
The fortress was approached closely by the enemy, like a tiger with its claws bound.
German Army soldiers could only aim their guns and cannons at the paratroopers landing on the plains, but often, only a few shots were fired before suddenly a grenade was tossed through the firing slot.
Or the artillery inexplicably exploded.
It wasn’t actually a barrel burst, but the paratroopers outside the castle threw grenades into the artillery barrel.
If the cannon wasn’t loaded, it was fine; but if loaded with a shell ready to fire, it would cause a violent internal explosion, the gunner being blown out with the cannon body dozens of meters, even igniting the stacked ammunition at the back causing a humming noise throughout the interior.
These explosions frightened Friedrich into loudly ordering: "No firing, everyone stop firing, remove the shells!"
But it was already too late.
Just as the artillerymen were busy removing the shells, a column of fire surged in from outside the firing slot, like the deadly fire of a dragon, instantly burning the artillerymen into flaming figures.
Then, amid the soldiers’ screams and cries, more shells were detonated.
Fragments and concrete debris flew everywhere, the entire fortress shaking like an earthquake.
Major General Friedrich was blown several meters away by the shock wave, and after catching his breath, he struggled to stand up, realizing he couldn’t hear anything, just a buzzing sound, with liquid seemingly flowing down his cheeks.
Touching it, he realized it was blood seeping from his ear canal.
It wasn’t over yet.
When Major General Friedrich regained some clarity, he found the iron door of the fortress exploded again, blown open with explosives from outside by the enemy.
Immediately, grenades trailing green smoke were thrown inside the fortress.
Major General Friedrich sighed inwardly, thinking that if it had to end this way, he should have pulled the soldiers out to fight earlier; at least they could have resisted with more dignity.
...
The telegram reached Berlin Staff Headquarter.
Hindenburg took it and was stunned, only after a while did he turn his vacant gaze to William II: "Liege Fortress has been breached, Your Majesty."
The command center fell silent instantly, the ringing of telephones and the telegraph beeping stopped, even the staff officer delivering documents stood dazed, looking in this direction.
William II, who was organizing the First and Second Tank Divisions to intercept the French Army, raised his head in shock, paused for a moment then suddenly laughed: "This is impossible, Marshal, don’t joke."
Hindenburg shook his head and handed over the telegram: "This is not a joke, Your Majesty."
William II took the telegram and glanced at it, his smile froze, his eyes showing shock: "Airborne soldiers? And bombers? Bombers that can penetrate 3 meters of concrete?"
He slowly sat back in his chair, muttering to himself:
"God, how stupid I am, thinking I could defeat Shire!"
"No one can defeat him, no one!"
"This is wrong, I shouldn’t have trusted them..."
Hindenburg suddenly looked up at William II.
He had heard some rumors saying William II was circumventing France to reach some kind of agreement with England and America.
Could it be true?
By "them", was William II referring to England and America?
Ludendorff hadn’t noticed anything and stood up to suggest: "We still have a chance, the First and Second Tank Divisions have not yet engaged the enemy, we just need to redirect them to the Ruhr District..."
Hindenburg shook his head: "It’s too late, the French First Armored Army has already engaged them, even if they haven’t fought, they can’t withdraw smoothly from their positions!"
Ludendorff understood, Shire’s First Armored Army would chase after the First and Second Tank Divisions, by the time they withdrew to the Ruhr District, they would likely lose half their forces, unable to fight any longer.
...
Liege Fortress.
"Lonsin Castle" was the first breach made by the French Army, followed closely by the fortresses numbered 12 and 2 on its sides.
The German Army fought bravely, and the remaining fortresses persisted in resistance despite knowing they would die. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮
But Shire didn’t care about those.
He directed bombers to concentrate fire on the "Laudisse" fortress, while a batch of paratroopers descended to "Liélse", quickly capturing both locations.
Thus, Liege Fortress was breached, and Liège City was occupied by the advancing French Army.
The other seven fortresses, whether surrendered or not, had no impact on the French Army; the Second Armored Army of the 6th Army Group was continuously crossing this allegedly strongest fortress into German territory.
...
Albert I, accompanied by General Eden and the Belgian Army, marched triumphantly into Liège City to receive the citizens’ cheers.
He enthusiastically shouted to the citizens:
"Today is a memorable day, we have reclaimed all the land of Belgium."
"But, gentlemen, our fight is far from over, far from over!"
"Because we cannot be content with the liberation of Belgium; we must follow in Shire’s footsteps, fighting with him for world peace, for human freedom!"
The citizens excitedly raised their arms and cheered.
...
Paris, France.
People had just heard about Shire launching an attack on Liege Fortress, and their discussions were:
"How many days do you think it will take Shire to capture Liege?"
"Not days, I think it will take at least a few weeks, and probably at a heavy cost of casualties."
"Yes, Liege is not like any other fortress, without heavy artillery, one would be helpless."
...
However, before the speculation ended, the news arrived that Shire had successfully broken through Liege Fortress and advanced into Germany.
No one dared believe it was true:
"But now it’s only been a little over three hours since Shire started the attack, that’s the world’s most fortified fortress."
"It can’t be true; how could Shire destroy those fortresses? In just over three hours!"
"This must be a joke, is today April Fool’s Day? You can’t joke about something like this!"
...
Gallieni in the minister’s office chuckled foolishly holding the telegraph of victory: "A terrible fellow, single-handedly changing the entire battlefield, the era of fortresses is gone forever!"
