Relying on a radar warning system covering the eastern and southern coasts of the border, after the British night bombardment, the Irish royal family returned from the underground fortifications to the "Forest Palace", where everyone could spend the first night in their familiar beds. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 infoAs the war continues, no one knows whether tiny Ireland can retain such calmness and calmness -- don't look at the fact that this war began with a direct attack by the German-Irish coalition against Britain, the terrible industrial monster of the United States has not yet been fully launched, and the uncertainty of the position of Soviet Russia makes it difficult to predict the overall trend of the war.

The soft moonlight shone into the room through the windowsill, and Natsuki looked at his sleeping wife with a loving gaze, and the ruthless years still left traces on this delicate and handsome face. The clear crow's feet, the rounded jawline, and even the faint sadness between the eyebrows have turned into a strong and calm endurance.

More than ten years after the war, the Kingdom of Ireland has undergone earth-shaking changes, and the Irish royal family has also changed from a summer tree to a prosperous person, and the successive arrival of three daughters has added a happy dream color to the "Forest Palace". The eldest princess Angel is 14 years old, and she is a cold temperament beauty like her mother; The second princess, Susie, is 10 years old, a cheerful and lively little chubby girl with freckles; The little princess Sarah is 4 years old and is a charming little angel.

Gently removed Charlotte's white and tender arms from him, and tiptoed out of bed. Their bedrooms are simple and generously furnished, and the air is filled with the delicate fragrance of lilies

After standing in front of the window for a while, he walked out of the room with his pajamas.

Outside the door, the guards still maintained a javelin-like upright posture.

The royal chamberlain's duty room was around the corner of the hallway, the door ajar and glowing with bright yellow light.

The corridor was covered with cashmere carpets from the Ottoman Empire, and as long as you didn't deliberately stomp your feet, you could hardly hear footsteps when you walked by, so it wasn't until Natsuki walked to the door of the duty room and coughed lightly that the attendant officer on duty hurriedly greeted him.

"Are the generals still there?" He asked.

"Yes, Your Majesty. Except for Marshal Perev, who has already returned, the rest are still there. They are full of emotions and feel very energetic without drinking coffee. ”

The squire had followed Natsuki for years and knew when to be serious and when to be a little more relaxed.

The corners of Xia Shu's mouth twitched, these professional soldiers are good at everything, but sometimes they think too much about making contributions, but it affects the overall situation that they should have.

When the king said this, the attendants thought that he was worried about the war, and said, "Your Majesty, rest at ease!" If there is a special emergency, I will report it to you as soon as possible. ”

Natsuki shrugged: "It seems that I can't sleep yet, instead of lying on the bed with my eyes open, just come out for a walk." ”

The attendant officer then intimately asked: "Then do you want to go to the joint command center, or arrange for a car to go around the city?" Or inform which general will accompany you for a walk. ”

The generals who remained in the joint command center were now very excited, and they wanted to give them a chance, and there was no point in talking about it all night, and the loss of the city of Limerick in the British bombardment was not large, and the garrison was rushing overnight to repair damaged roads, strengthen anti-aircraft shelters, and systematically evacuate the overcrowded population of the city center.

"No, just go to the salon and have a drink or two."

Natsuki explained his whereabouts, and prepared to go to the small living room used to entertain guests and chat, and drink some sweet wine. It's not his habit of life, and he only drinks alone at night when he has troubles or occasional insomnia.

Just then, the phone in the duty room rang. The ringing is small, but it is particularly harsh on this particular night.

The attendant officer hurriedly picked up the phone, listened to what the other party said, and said, "Wait a moment", covered the microphone with his hand, and looked up to report to Natsuki: "It was General Brandt's adjutant who called from the command center, and he just received a battle report from the North Wales front, the Bergman defense line on the Coen Peninsula has been broken by the British army, and the coalition forces on the defense line are retreating to the landing area, and General Gelk has ordered the assembled troops of the 3rd Tank Regiment to enter the counterattack. ”

As a royal chamberlain, a flexible mind and clear logic are necessary, and this chamberlain's report is very coherent, and the superfluous words and sentences have been filtered out, so that people can quickly capture the key information in it.

Natsuki nodded in understanding, but didn't give any instructions. The commander-in-chief of the front of the landing force on the Coen Peninsula was Gerk, a lieutenant general of the German Army. The front-line troops on the Isle of Man and the Coen Peninsula were dominated by German troops, so according to the prior agreement between Germany and Ireland, the German general was the commander-in-chief of both battles, and the Irish officers were only the third or fourth deputies. Under these circumstances, it was difficult for the will of the King of Ireland to directly change the deployment of the coalition forces on the front, and he did not know as much about the actual situation at the front as the front-line commanders.

After all, the chamberlain officer is not a roundworm in the king's stomach, and he knows what he is thinking at the moment. Seeing that he didn't give any orders and had no intention of leaving, he continued to hold the microphone and asked, "Do you need to contact the front-line command through the command center?" Or give the command center some instructions? ”

Natsuki thought for a moment, the German front-line tank units were usually a mix of combat vehicles and armored personnel carriers. Taking the 3rd Tank Regiment of Greater Germany as an example, the standard establishment of its combat vehicles is 126 medium and heavy tanks, 132 armored troop carriers, tank repair and fire support vehicles, 30-ton heavy tank "Teutonic Knights" and 8-ton half-track armored vehicles "Heavy Cavalry" are the two main equipment of the regiment, and the German infantry who are put into the battlefield on half-track armored vehicles can not only keep up with the pace of advance of the tank troops, but also not be blocked by dense bullets and shrapnel, and are mechanized troops that conform to the trend of war. It has strong independent combat capability in a field environment. Of course, the formation and maintenance of such a new type of mechanized force required a high investment, and even the wealthy Second German Reich had only 16 tank regiments at the outbreak of war in 1933, of which the Kingdom of Prussia contributed 12 of them, half of which belonged to the Royal Guard, half of which were awarded the title of "Greater Germany", and the other 4 tank regiments belonged to Bavaria (2), Württemberg and Saxony, all of which were organized according to the standards of the German General Staff. However, the vehicles and armoured vehicles used were basically models with lower production and maintenance costs, and the Bavarian 2nd Tank Regiment was equipped with Irish-made "Celtic Warriors".

At present, the coalition forces that landed on the Cohen Peninsula have encountered a heavy setback, and taking advantage of the fact that the British counterattack force has not yet gained a foothold in a counter-assault, it is possible to lay the foundation of tonight's battle in one fell swoop, but it is also possible to hit a hard nail, you must know that the island of Great Britain is such a big palm, there is an extremely developed railway system, and the garrisons can be transferred to North Wales in a very short time, and it is unrealistic to find out the enemy's situation and then make a move, and it is risky to counterattack or not.

Seeing Xia Shu shaking his head, the attendant officer let go of the hand holding the microphone: "Captain, I have written down the military situation you just said, please report any new situation in time, there is nothing else." Ok bye! ”

The attendant hung up the phone, and Natsuki left without saying a word.

On this night, the Joint Command Centre, set up near the Royal Palace of Ireland, was probably the liveliest place in the whole of Limerick, it was brightly lit and bustling, and the German and Irish generals and staff officers were sometimes discussing the situation of the war, sometimes arguing about tactical countermeasures, and the turbulent front line on the Coen Peninsula was undoubtedly the focus of the conversation.

"I'm willing to bet that the sortie of the 3rd Tank Regiment of Greater Germany will definitely turn the tide of the war." An unbearded German colonel had a small voice, but it immediately attracted the attention of those around him.

The man standing before him, dressed in the uniform of the Irish Army, wearing the colonel's epaulette, looked several years younger than the German colonel, and wore a glittering golden shamrock on his chest, an honor that only those who had made significant contributions on the battlefield were to be deserved.

Under the gaze of everyone, the Irish colonel spoke a standard pronunciation and a slow pace of German: "To be able to break through the defensive positions of our landing force, the British army has invested at least two corps, and has a large number of tanks and artillery, although the 3rd Tank Regiment is the most elite marine unit at present, but it is only a regiment after all, and it is more appropriate to set the combat goal as containing the enemy's offensive and covering the retreating troops, and I think it is impossible to regain the lost position." ”

"Is it impossible?" The German colonel sneered, "Then let's make a bet." ”

The Irish colonel said calmly and decently: "I very much hope that the 3rd Tank Regiment can recapture its position, but I feel that one regiment is too small in strength, and if we can organize a whole division, with two tank regiments as the main force, and one or two large warships to provide fire support, I may be able to use the opportunity of the night battle to achieve a reversal." ”

"It was precisely because of the night battle that the enemy could not figure out how many troops we had invested, and suddenly the 3rd Tank Regiment was violently attacked, and it was likely that he would be in a panic and retreat. Although it was not mentioned in the briefing, I think General Gerk would definitely send a lot of infantry to support the 3rd Tank Regiment. How's it going, Colonel Murphy, let's take a bet and see whose prediction is more accurate? What are the bets...... How about betting on the watch we have in our hands? ”

With a watch at stake, the symbolism is much greater than the substance. The Irish colonel glanced at everyone and chuckled, "Okay, you might as well take a gamble." ”

"Honestly, I'd rather Colonel Murphy lose."

The words came from behind the crowd, and immediately caused the officers to turn around. The speaker was an Irish general with almost white hair and beard, but with a straight posture and piercing eyes, who was fluent in German and had a pronounced Low German accent.

"In less than a day, we have landed more than 70,000 troops on the Cohen Peninsula, which is a super-large landing operation that has not been seen in any previous war, and if we can recapture the first line of defense in the middle of the peninsula, we will have a strategic advantage in the next battle. It's just ......," said the general in a low tone, "that the British chariots are more difficult to deal with than we think, and so far they have not used their long-range and powerful train guns, presumably waiting for the damaged railway facilities to be repaired." ”

The officers were dumbfounded. The man in front of them was no ordinary Irish general, but one of the four giants of the Irish army, General Brandt, the commander-in-chief of the army. He was born in Germany, in the Irish War of Independence was still an unknown little person, more than ten years after the war, he devoted himself to officer education, for the Irish Army to train a large number of middle and high-level officers, with the lesson plan as the material of the compilation of the military book "Modern Warfare" made him famous, and then by the King of Ireland hand-picked back to the army department, it took only four years from the colonel to sit in the position of commander-in-chief of the army, which shows his ability.

(End of chapter)