"Don't worry, they can't escape. To get to Wallens, you have to walk more than 130 miles by boat, and you can only reach it after dark. It passed through 7 villages and 5 river ports, but there were no Norman troops stationed anymore...... Karen, you go and inform our people that there is our pilot on that small boat, let them intercept it, and make sure to protect our pilot. Seeing Stephen Zhou's sad face, Weiss gave him a "reassurance".

The guerrilla who received the order was a tall, thin young man who single-handedly ran down the river. There are no horses, and there are no motor vehicles, but that's not a problem. The speed of rowing alone is not as good as hiking unless someone opens the sluice gates to give them a boost, but that is not possible now.

After more than a quarter of an hour of fighting, the partisans had completely captured the dam, and the remaining Norman soldiers gave up resistance.

"Send a report to the command that we have taken control of the river dam and let them make arrangements as soon as possible." Weiss commanded the communications officer.

"Will our troops be airborne here?" Stephen Chow asked.

"I don't know." Wei replied, "But what is certain is that they will send someone to pick you up soon." ”

"I'd love to join you in your fight and see more of your amazing deeds." Stephen Chow responded.

"When you return to the unit, you'll definitely be taking part in the air operations against Lorraine, and maybe you'll be flying over the area again in a few hours. When the time comes, if you can, say hello to us, swing the wings, and we can see the signal. Weiss laughed.

Shortly after the telegram was sent, a non-combat seaplane flew in from the northeast and landed on the water upstream of the dam. It soon approached the dam, and after mutual confirmation between the two sides, the guerrillas informed the pilots, including Stephen Chow, to board the plane and leave.

During the docking of this seaplane, four fighters were hovering in the sky at all times, and it seemed that they were escorting them. fly

With a rather mixed feeling, Stephen Chow and his companions set out on their return journey. On the way back to their base, they were met with Union combat planes, and various Norman military installations on the ground were or were being attacked by the Union Army. Under such tremendous pressure, it was impossible for the Norman army to win the battle.

Back at his air base, Stephen Chow saw that the airfield was full of bombers and transport planes, and there were steel ships in the distance. Groups of army officers and men marched through the base, carrying bulky-looking combat backpacks, steel helmets, and weapons on their backs, apparently waiting to be boarded by plane or ship to the battlefield. Judging from this extraordinarily busy scene, the Union army is advancing a large-scale airborne operation, which must be able to greatly speed up the process of the battle and completely drive out the Norman army that has set foot in the Federation.

Stephen Chow and his companions regretted not to see a Union fast transport ship under the cover of a fleet of fighters arrive at the river dam that had just been recaptured from the Normans, and it landed straight on the river beach upstream, with hundreds of Marines carrying combat equipment to take over the area. The Normans had been operating in the area for a long time, and although many of the defenses had been destroyed by air raids, they could be reused for defense and vigilance with a little modification.

The Battle of Heba is a small microcosm of the turning point of the Battle of Lorraine. In other parts of Lorraine, with the support of guerrillas and resistance groups, the federal army sent more than 100,000 troops from six assault divisions to various battlefields in Lorraine through transport planes and transport ships. Then, the Union army resorted to various means of warfare, such as assault, siege, intimidation, or persuasion, which put the Normans' combat forces in the east and northeast in an embarrassing situation where it was difficult to balance the end of the war.

In Lorraine, the Normans were still strong on paper, even able to launch counterattacks on a significant portion of the battlefield, but having lost air supremacy, such offensives were often only carried out at night and in bad weather. As soon as the weather cleared, their ground operations were forcefully countered by federal forces. At this point, even if the Normans had divine help, it would be difficult to turn the tide. So, just two weeks after the battle began, the Normans changed their style and quickly withdrew their main force from Lorraine. In the period that followed, the Union's fast combat ships and long-range fighters spared no effort to fly to the Monamolin Mountains to intercept and attack the Norman flying ships, who were now withdrawing their combat forces from Lorraine to the rear day and night.

The Normans' military power in Lorraine was rapidly weakened, and the Confederate forces began to regain large swathes of territory in a devastating manner, towns and towns reraised the Confederate flag, and strongholds gave up resistance under the strong deterrence of the Confederate forces. Triumphant triumphant songs floated over Lorraine, partisans and resistance groups were able to operate in broad daylight, and the population was so excited that all the facilities left by the Normans were uprooted.

These happy and tense days soon came to an end, and the Norman army, alone in Wallens and Slane, became the last to evacuate. As the Battle of Lorraine drew to a close, the Union forces stationed in Lorraine began to plan and prepare for operations west of the Monamolin Mountains, and the aviation facilities that were still useful were quickly put to use.

After a period of transition and convergence, the Lorraine guerrillas and resistance were relieved of their wartime responsibilities, the brave fighters returned to the status of local security forces and reserves, and Weiss, as the most legendary resistance in the land, naturally returned to the role of Lorraine's administrator. As had been the case after the end of the previous war, the task before them was to rebuild and restore, and in both cases he had a fairly complete experience. In the most difficult years of the war, he looked forward to the early arrival of this day, had a plan in mind, and began his work with ease. This efficient approach has reassured the public and has been praised by the outside world.

Just when Weiss thought his war years were over, the military sent an "old acquaintance" - his headmaster at the Barston Military Academy, Van Lowe. Now, gray-haired, he is the third deputy secretary general of the Supreme Military Council of the Federation, and he did not come to help Lorraine rebuild after the war, but was commissioned by the Supreme Military Council to organize the study of guerrilla and counter-guerrilla warfare - the reason for this dramatic change was that the federal army quickly occupied the eastern part of the Norman Empire after invading the Norman mainland, but the Normans did not intend to give up resistance. In the Federalist-occupied areas, Norman soldiers and civilians also organized guerrilla warfare, and their efficiency and skill surprised the Union army.

In a face-to-face conversation with Van Lowe, Weiss got a clear signal: the military has been so resistant to "military-political integration" that it is unlikely that he will be appointed to a formal position unless he is willing to give up his political identity and rejoin the army.

Van Lowe explained that being discharged from the military is not a betrayal of the military, and that the generals of the army are not resistant to any one person, but rather that the way politics thinks and acts will create a culture that they hate. In his opinion, the status of the governor of Lorraine is not only the trust of the people of Lorraine, but also the recognition of his ability and prestige by the outside world.

The Federal Army was worried about being "polluted" by the atmosphere of the political circles, but their mechanism and system were not as "clear" as they claimed to be, and Weiss was naturally not moved by their conditions, so he specially thanked Van Lowe for his understanding, and said that he would help him study and analyze the Normans' guerrilla tactics in the best way he could, and explore the way to solve them.

Before learning the specifics of Norman-style guerrilla warfare, Weiss asked Van Lowe what the Confederate army was going to do after defeating the Normans—whether it would be a long-term occupation or a post-war withdrawal.

"I can't give you a definite answer because a lot of things haven't been finalized. From my point of view, it is possible that the Union army will maintain a military occupation in the Norman Empire, but not a full-scale occupation, but symbolically. The free spirit of the Confederation meant that we would not seek to seize the territory of other countries like the Normans, but we suffered from the three wars before and after, and we did not want the Normans to come back after 10, 20 or 30 years. We want to make sure that they accept the peace agreement and that it will be followed through for a long time, so we feel compelled to maintain an occupying force to monitor them. According to the preliminary assumptions, these occupying forces will choose a number of areas to be stationed, not necessarily in their capitals, but in their industrial areas, to directly observe and supervise their industrial production in order to prevent them from rearmament. ”

"If this is the case, my personal suggestion is to adopt a relatively moderate occupation posture, i.e., defeat the Norman army as quickly as possible on the frontal battlefield, and maintain a loose strategy in the occupied area, so as not to escalate relations with the Norman population. Based on what we know about the Norman Empire, many people only care about their own lives, and do not have a clear attitude towards national strategy and the outcome of wars. If the occupying forces do not have much influence on their normal lives, they should not have a strong sense of resistance. Of course, this is only my relatively one-sided understanding, and perhaps Normans in different regions will have different personalities and emotions. After all, in the last war, we only traveled to a region in the western part of the Norman Empire. In peacetime, we have been to their capitals, but also to the northern and eastern regions. If nothing else, I don't think the Normans, especially the common people, are as tyrannical as we think. ”

Van Luo thought for a moment: "You're right, but now, in the face of the occupying forces, they have a special feeling, which may have something to do with their experience before the modern era - they consider their territory sacrosanct. They can give up foreign expansion, or they can give up fighting and killing, but they don't want to endure being occupied by the enemy. So after the Norman army retreated, the resistance of the population was very strong, and there were even cases of attacks against us with rudimentary weapons, and it was not an isolated case. We can be vigilant against these attackers, and the real headache is the guerrillas who are well organized and supported by the Norman army. They are nimble and elusive. In some areas, we tried to change our strategy and shrink our forces to military positions in order to control the entire area, but this gave the Norman army more room for tactical maneuver. They can take on a frontal battlefield and project a small number of elite airborne troops to the rear. ”

Weiss summarized and analyzed the information transmitted by Van Luo and came to a conclusion: "It seems that the Normans have absorbed our experience in conducting guerrilla warfare, and used similar tactics to deal with similar opponents, which is really a headache to say." ”