Chapter 839: Bomber with Radio
This is also where the German artillery was confused.

How did the French artillery locate its targets so accurately?

No matter how the German artillery changed their positions, reduced the amount of artillery fire or increased the transfer distance, they could not escape the bombardment of the French artillery.

The German artillery deployed on the west bank of the Meuse River had 6 artillery battalions instead of 4 as the US military believed.

The reason was that Hutier believed it was necessary to keep the U.S. troops east of the Meuse River.

In previous battles, Hutier was deeply surprised by the combat effectiveness shown by the US military, especially since this was the first time the US military participated in the war.

If they can fight successfully in the first battle, does it mean that they will become more and more tenacious as they fight more?

More importantly, Hutier received intelligence that Charles’ troops might also cross the river with the US troops to launch a counterattack, so he could not let them pass as they wished.

Or, even if you can survive, you still have to peel off a layer of skin.

For these reasons, despite the heavy casualties among the artillerymen, Hutier still put together six artillery battalions and placed them on the Meuse River line.

The commander was Major General of Artillery Matteo, who had commanded an artillery regiment in the Battle of Tannenberg on the Eastern Front and successfully suppressed two Russian artillery divisions.

Admittedly, this was related to the low morale of the Russian army, but it still took courage for an artillery regiment to face two artillery divisions in an artillery battle.

Because even if the enemy fired randomly in the direction of the artillery fire, they would be able to blow all of them and their artillery into the sky.

Major General Mateo had made full preparations for the battle ahead.

He deployed artillery observers along the Meuse River like scattering beans, and each group of artillery observers was connected to a telephone.

It also launched three hot air balloons.

This was a dangerous move because he had just learned that Charles had developed a new fighter and the French army once again had air superiority.

But Mateo said to his men: “It’s raining now, so it’s not easy for fighter planes to launch rockets to destroy our balloons.”

It is true that rockets can easily become ineffective due to moisture.

However, it is still risky to pin your hopes on the enemy’s ammunition getting damp.

But Mateo thought the risk was worth it: it would help the artillery hold off Charles’s troops and 30 American troops.

After arranging all this, Matteo felt half relieved.

The current situation is that the German artillery can grasp the enemy’s coordinates, but the enemy artillery cannot.

In other words, “I can see the enemy, but the enemy cannot see me.”

There is no reason to lose in such an artillery battle.

Major General Mateo couldn’t imagine how the enemy could counterattack.

“They can only stay on the east coast.” Major General Matteo said to his subordinates confidently: “If they take one step forward, even a small step, we will blow them to pieces!”

however……

After rounds of artillery fire, everything came to nothing.

Major General Mateo, whose face was blackened by the smoke, looked in disbelief at the wreckage of artillery pieces around him, as well as the corpses of horses lying on the ground for dragging. Some of them were not yet dead and were struggling and uttering mournful cries.

Three hot air balloons hung in the sky like giant tents, but they were useless and the enemy didn’t even bother to destroy them.

The enemy’s artillery shells continued to whistle through the rain and hit the nearby area accurately, no matter how the artillerymen tried to dodge.

“How did all this happen?” Major General Matteo gasped and muttered to himself:

“No, that’s impossible.”

“I can see them, but they can’t see me.”

“But why do their shells keep following us?”

A shell whizzed towards him, but Major General Matteo was completely unaware and just stood there in a daze.

He felt that everything had lost its meaning, including his own life. He only wanted to figure out one thing: what kind of magic did Charles use to do this! “Boom!” The shell exploded more than ten meters away.

At the critical moment, the staff officer rushed over and knocked Major General Matteo to the ground.

Mud and water fell from the sky like raindrops. Major General Matteo pushed away the body of his staff officer and sat up numbly.

At this time, a “Caproni” bomber flying in the sky caught his attention.

He suddenly understood.

It was the radio. Charles must have moved the radio onto the bomber, making it the eyes of the artillery.

Matteo was stunned for a long moment, then let out a nervous, miserable laugh from his throat.

How can Germany defeat that lunatic?

wishful thinking!

Everyone was being manipulated by him, but the funny thing was that they actually thought they could occupy Reims and surround him?

Matteo staggered to his feet, and amid the shouts of the guards, he walked step by step towards the bombing area where flames were exploding.

……

Charles’s troops crossed the Meuse River without any danger, passing over the stone bridge with almost no artillery fire.

The German artillery had been bombed to the point where some had fled or died, and even the more than 10,000 infantry garrisoned were retreating.

It was wise for the German infantry to retreat, as their greatest reliance was on artillery. If the artillery failed, they would only die if they stayed.

The Germans didn’t deserve to lose.

This was their first time to experience the air-ground coordination of “moving the radio onto an airplane”.

In the Germans’ impression, even if the aircraft saw the enemy’s artillery positions, it would not be able to transmit information back.

This is one of the reasons why artillery still retains hot air balloons.

The hot air balloon was more useful to the artillery because after seeing the smoke and flames of the enemy’s artillery fire, it could wave flags to signal the artillery below.

However, “moving the radio station onto the plane” completely put an end to this primitive way of observation.

Charles stood on the armored vehicle and looked into the distance with a telescope.

Around him, mechanized and motorized troops, including both American and French troops, surged across the stone bridge like a tide.

Pershing, whose armored car was parked nearby, said with some regret: “The Germans have guessed that we moved the radios to the bombers.”

“Oh?” Charles put away the telescope.

Charles has kept this secret all along, with only a limited number of people knowing about it, all in the hope that he could play a greater role on the battlefield.

“Yes.” Pershing nodded:
“We captured a few artillery prisoners and asked them what they guessed.”

“They replied: ‘The problem was with the bomber, wasn’t it? We failed because of it!’.”

“Although we didn’t give an answer, but…”

Pershing spread his hands.

If ordinary artillerymen can guess it, let alone others.

“It doesn’t matter.” Charles smiled softly: “They can’t solve this problem as long as we have air superiority.”

Only with air superiority can bombers fly freely and steadily over enemy-controlled areas and transmit the coordinates back.

What Charles didn’t notice was that Patton and Williams, who were passing by in an armored vehicle on the road, looked at him in disbelief.

They interrogated the captives, eager to know what had happened.

They never expected that the answer was a bomber, a bomber equipped with a radio!
(End of this chapter)