3:10 PM.
Soissons City Hall, 2nd Corps operations room.
"This is absurd! Utterly absurd!"
Lieutenant General Henri de Dubois brought his command pointer down on the operations map. The map was already a mess, covered in countless X-marks and red arrows.
Chaos reigned inside the room like a marketplace. Phones rang without pause, and pale-faced staff officers dashed about, shouting at the top of their lungs.
"We've lost communications! Checkpoint Seven isn't responding!"
"According to the mayor of Loehr, tanks plowed through the sunflower fields and vineyards as they passed!"
Henri pressed his temple hard. The headache felt as if his skull were splitting apart.
With every report, the enemy's position drew incomprehensibly closer.
2:15 PM, highway entry.
2:30 PM, passed the supply depot.
2:50 PM, broke through Loehr village.
This was not a military operation. It was the speed of someone racing down an expressway in a sports car on the weekend.
"What about the reserve armored company! We sent Renault tanks! They should have blocked the chokepoint!"
When Henri barked, the Chief of Staff turned around, face drained of color, and set down the receiver.
"Y-Your Excellency..."
"Speak! Did they make contact? Did they pin them down?"
"They were... annihilated, sir."
Henri's eyes twitched.
"Annihilated? There wasn't even a report of engagement?"
"The moment they made contact... they were swept away. No survivors. Only burning wreckage remains along the road...."
"..."
Henri bit his lip. But the title of Corps Commander was not one he held for show. He immediately regained his composure.
"What about Suar Bridge! I ordered the bridge on the highway approach destroyed!"
Henri shouted, veins bulging on his forehead. It was the most reliable means of stopping them. If the bridge was down, no matter how fast their tanks moved, they would be stalled.
But the engineer officer gripping the receiver reported as if screaming.
"I-it failed! The demolition team was overrun before they could even light the fuse!"
"What? The engineers were in position! What do you mean!"
"Their lead tank didn't ram the barricade, but swerved around and struck the engineer position from behind! They seemed to know exactly where the charges were set!"
"Damn it!"
Henri forced himself to think calmly. He still had cards left to play.
"Artillery! What about the artillery? I called in coordinates earlier!"
"W-well, about that..."
This time, the artillery officer shook his head with a tearful expression.
"They already passed us. The coordinates are long since..."
"Why is nothing working!"
Henri slammed both hands on the desk and roared.
"The armored company is annihilated, the bridge demolition failed, and the artillery is firing at empty air! Is this a regular army? How can they move as if they are reading our every move!"
He gasped for breath and glared at his staff. His rage was entirely justified. By any measure of common sense, what were the odds that every single defensive measure would be breached without a moment's delay, as if they were all cheating at cards together?
"This...! This makes no sense! How can tanks know all that without any reconnaissance!"
Henri's anger reached its peak, and he sneered.
"Are you saying the enemy are ghosts?"
But the staff officer nodded with a serious expression.
"They may truly be ghosts."
......
Silence fell over the room.
Not a single man could properly refute such absurd words. Though the room was filled with officers of extensive careers, none had ever had an experience like this.
It was closer to an urban legend than a battle. The kind of ghost story where an invisible monster leaps from the fog and devours everything in its path as it approaches.
*BANG!*
Then, the conference room door burst open.
The staff officers flinched and turned toward the door.
Fortunately, it was not a ghost who entered, but a messenger. A military police officer covered in dust, his helmet still in place as if he had ridden a motorcycle here.
Henri suppressed the chill running down his spine and asked the messenger.
"Have you confirmed it...?"
"Hah... hah... Y-Your Excellency..."
"What kind of madmen are they! I am asking if you have confirmed who is charging toward me at this insane speed, without supply lines, without support!"
At Henri's roar, the MP officer tore off his helmet.
"I s-saw them. I confirmed... their name."
"Then who, damn it!"
The officer finally opened his mouth.
"Jaeger...."
"What?"
"The Jaeger Combat Group."
"Jaeger... Combat Group?"
Henri furrowed his brow. It was the first time he had heard the name.
"Not Falkenheim? The 1st Armored Division commander didn't come personally?"
"No...! Intelligence says Falkenheim's main force is still bogged down in the forest! Those mad dogs are a detached unit moving independently of the main force!"
Henri staggered and gripped the desk.
He knew Falkenheim. The Empire's fiercest general. But he was still a soldier. A man who knew common sense and honor. He was not a man who would carry out such a suicidal attack.
Then who was this "Jaeger"?
Who could have dragged 88mm anti-aircraft guns here to blast bunkers level, turned Renault tanks into scrap in an instant, and found paths not on any map to make it this far?
No, that was not what mattered now.
"Their size is at most regimental level. Their firepower is tremendous, but they have no staying power. In other words, their goal isn't occupation, but a strike. Their only path to victory is to take my head and paralyze the chain of command."
The officer gulped. The Corps Commander was a completely different man from the one who had been shouting moments ago. Cold reason had returned in this extreme crisis.
"Then the answer is simple."
Henri drew a circle around the city hall with his command pointer.
"We draw them into the city. Drown them in the quagmire of urban warfare, kill their mobility, and hold out until they wither from severed supplies. All reserves are to abandon outer defenses and concentrate on the City Hall defensive line."
"Y-Your Excellency. But there are civilians in the city...."
"It does not matter! Collapse buildings if you must and form barricades! Block the roads so their tanks cannot maneuver!"
There was no hesitation in Henri's voice. He was competent. He had grasped the enemy's intent and devised the most efficient countermeasure in an instant.
"Time is on our side. If we hold, they will collapse on their own."
Henri gripped his command pointer tightly. He was certain. Just thirty minutes. If he could buy thirty minutes to reconstitute the defensive line, he could win.
"The most important thing is the enemy's current position."
He raised his head and fixed his gaze on the MP officer.
"Where is their vanguard? Since they passed Loehr village, are they near the outer checkpoint? Or the Highway 4 intersection?"
Henri was already calculating the interception point in his head. He envisioned where to form the kill zone before they entered the city.
"Give me exact coordinates. That is the only way to direct artillery and prepare an ambush—"
But.
"..."
Despite the dire situation, no one answered.
"Why is no one answering! I asked where they are!"
"...Your Excellency."
Finally, the Chief of Staff raised his hand with a sob. His finger was not pointing at the map.
The large window of the conference room. Beyond that glass overlooking the city of Soissons.
"I-I can see them."
*
4:00 PM. The exit of the Ash-gray Forest, Bern River.
Imperial Army 1st Armored Division main force.
Major General Falkenheim stood on the riverbank, watching his main-force tanks disappear down the highway in clouds of dust after completing the river crossing.
"What of Lieutenant Colonel Jaeger's combat group?"
"We've received word that they have already entered the city of Soissons. Monitoring Republican Army communications shows their command is completely paralyzed."
At the Chief of Staff's report, a deep smile spread across Falkenheim's face.
"The madman actually did it."
The audacious declaration of Operation Reap, vowing to break through the Ash-gray Forest and harvest the Republican Army.
Max Jaeger did not make empty boasts. He truly severed communications with the division main force and, without follow-up support, charged into Soissons and drove in the wedge.
What remained was to put strength into the hand gripping that knife hilt and tear the wound wide open. That was the main force's role.
"Division Commander. Shall we also advance on Soissons?"
The Chief of Staff asked. It was the natural course. Since the vanguard had struck the enemy command, the main force should join them to fully occupy and secure the city.
But Falkenheim shook his head.
"No."
He unfolded a map.
"Jaeger is the hammer. He struck Soissons, the enemy's head, and gave it a concussion. Then what happens to the body?"
"It will stagger."
"Exactly. The three main Republican divisions on the front line. They are now trembling in fear that their supplies are cut and their retreat is blocked. They have only one choice."
Falkenheim's finger traced Highway 4 connecting Soissons and Rosenheim, and the surrounding wilderness.
"They will turn around and try to retreat to friendly lines."
"Then..."
"We block that path."
Falkenheim explained.
"Since Jaeger stabbed the enemy's heart, we will cut their breath. All forces are to spread out widely behind Rosenheim and form an encirclement. Do not let a single returning rat survive."
Encirclement and annihilation.
The image of the enemy caught between hammer and anvil, being reaped by the great scythe that is the 1st Armored Division.
"The tank battalions will seize the highway, and the mechanized infantry will block the key intersections. Contact the air force and prepare for bombing."
Falkenheim climbed into his command vehicle and shouted.
"We will deliver the finale of Operation Reap!"
*
The same time. The Rosenheim front.
The city that had become ruins during the previous defensive battle was still desolate, but the air of the battlefield was altogether different.
The 7th Brigade no longer hid like rats. They poked their heads out of the trenches, occasionally firing provocative shots to goad the enemy nerves. A thorough deception operation.
"Brigade Commander! The enemy... the enemy is retreating!"
Major Helga shouted from within the trench, binoculars in hand. Brigade Commander Dietrich pressed his face to the observation slit of the bunker.
"Retreating? Not regrouping?"
"No! They've turned their backs! They're abandoning heavy equipment and cramming troops into trucks! Over there, three o'clock on the ridge! Even the tanks have reversed their guns!"
In that instant, Dietrich's eyes flashed. The instinct of an old fox whispered to him. Jaeger, that bastard had finally done it.
Far to the north, black smoke rose from the direction of Soissons. And the chaotic movements in the Republican lines. Every circumstance pointed to one thing. The enemy command had been raided.
"Kchch... Uwahahaha!"
Dietrich burst into mad laughter.
"This is our chance! A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!"
He immediately grabbed the receiver.
"All units! The enemy is running with their tails between their legs! Launch the counterattack immediately!"
[Brigade Commander, are you certain? It could be a trap!]
"A trap my ass! Look at them! They're squirming like dogs who need to shit! Lieutenant Colonel Jaeger has cut their supply line!"
Dietrich drew his pistol and made a show of rushing out of the bunker. Of course, it was pure performance; he had no intention of actually leading the charge.
"All forces charge! Plant bullets in their backs!"
"Waaaah—!!!"
The 7th Brigade troops defending the ruins of Rosenheim surged out.
"Kill them! Kill them all!"
"Chase down the Republican bastards!"
As if venting the rage of the defensive battle, the 7th Infantry Brigade's counterattack began.
*
Meanwhile, in the Republican lines, Highway 4.
If hell existed, it was here.
"Move! Move aside, you idiots!"
"The truck broke down! The engine won't start!"
The road was pandemonium.
The infantry division ordered to retreat from the front line at Rosenheim. The armored brigade trying to rush to support upon hearing Soissons was under attack.
The two forces tangled on the narrow highway. Neither could advance nor retreat. The road had become a parking lot.
"What's command doing! Can't you reach Corps Headquarters?!"
"We can't! Soissons is dead! No one is responding!"
The signalman shrieked. Every soldier's face was pale.
Then.
*Weeeeeeeng—!*
A hair-raising, metallic siren that seemed to tear through the sky.
"Th-that!"
A soldier pointed at the sky.
Through the clouds, aircraft painted with black crosses were plunging like hawks. Imperial dive bombers.
"H-hit the dirt!"
*KWAAAANG—!*
Bombs slammed into the middle of the road. Trucks bounced into the air like toys.
Soldiers trying to flee were swept away by the blast. Flames shot upward, and black smoke enveloped the road.
"Enemy tanks! Enemy tanks appearing on both flanks!"
From the forests and hills on both sides of the road, dark gray Imperial tanks appeared. It was Falkenheim's main force.
"Fire! Blow them away!"
*KWANG! KWANG! KWANG!*
It was one-sided slaughter.
The Republican Army trapped on the road was nothing more than moving targets.
The tanks did not even need to come onto the road. From the hills, from the forest edges, they poured shells onto the jammed highway as if on a firing range.
"Uwaack! Save me!"
"We surrender! We surrender!"
The Republican main force on the western front was being erased from the map.