Sometimes Morin really wanted to slap himself a couple of times. He had realized that his mouth was truly jinxed.
“Damn… why can’t I control this mouth of mine?”
But whether he slapped himself or not, it couldn’t change the established fact that Major Nicolai had brought “bad news.”
With things having developed to this point, Morin had no other choice but to brace himself and continue.
He first looked at his system map.
After Major Nicolai synced the information, the relevant targets also refreshed on the map. On the west side of the massive red area representing the negative energy pollution zone of Paris, a marker representing the “mission objective” was flashing in a green terrain area in the west.
[“Sentinel Project” Underground Research Institute (Unexplored)]
And the location of this marker was impressively the Bois de Boulogne on the west side of the Paris urban area.
This “famous” forest park is located between Neuilly and Boulogne-Billancourt along the Seine River, with an area of about 8.46 square kilometers. Its longest point north-to-south is 3.5 kilometers, and its widest point east-to-west is 2.6 kilometers.
As for the reasons for its fame, besides once serving as a royal garden and hosting a long-standing woodland horse racing event…
The main reason was that this place could be considered a “holy land” for clandestine lovers of all classes in Paris to have trysts.
Even in the world before Morin’s transmigration, this forest was famous for producing “free-range chickens” (slang for streetwalkers).
However, this information also made Morin somewhat unable to understand the brain circuits of the Gauls.
He couldn’t figure out for what reason the Gauls would build the underground research institute related to the “Sentinel Project” in a bustling city park.
After repeatedly confirming with Major Nicolai that the intelligence was correct, the latter also saw Morin’s doubts.
“It seems Lieutenant Colonel Morin believes this laboratory shouldn’t appear here?”
Hearing Major Nicolai’s words, Morin nodded.
“That’s right. I always thought this kind of highly classified research institute should be built in the uninhabited wilderness; only then can secrecy be maintained…”
“That is true, but if it were really built in the desolate wilderness, material supply would be a big problem… If a separate transportation route were built, it would actually be more conspicuous, wouldn’t it?”
Major Nicolai paused, then continued:
“Moreover, according to the situation we’ve grasped, and the information revealed by that guy Cavendish, there are areas of the Bois de Boulogne that are normally not open to the public, and there are also defensive measures from the Illusion School to prevent outsiders from accidentally trespassing…”
Listening to Major Nicolai’s words, Morin also gradually came to his senses. It seemed he really couldn’t directly apply past experiences in this world.
After all, the large-scale construction of railways by the Gauls was only a matter of recent years. If built in the desolate wilderness, relying solely on traditional animal-drawn transport was indeed not quite enough to look at.
Placed near a large city, it was indeed convenient for supplies in all aspects, but no matter how he thought about it, Morin still felt it was quite abstract…
And besides marking this mission location, the system map also marked red unit cards belonging to the enemy around it.
[Holy Britannia Empire – Coldstream Guards – 1st Task Force Company]
The blockade line of the Second Army Group, which was no different from a sieve, still leaked fish after all… And the one that leaked in was a small shark.
This company-sized elite unit of the Britannian Army, like a pack of dutiful hounds, was guarding the entrance to the research institute steadfastly.
Morin picked up the military operations map at hand—judging from the map number, it was still surveyed in 1885.
However, this was also a common failing of most foreign maps, because normally, it was very difficult to conduct surveying within another country’s borders… especially around the capital.
But fortunately, there weren’t that many massive construction projects in this era, so at least from the terrain, the changes in the target area shouldn’t be large.
Based on some information provided by Major Nicolai, Morin roughly marked the location of the underground research institute entrance on the map, and the area where the armored airship spotted traces of armed personnel from the air.
After completing the map work, Morin pointed at the map and analyzed for Major Nicolai:
“Since the Britannians haven’t evacuated yet, it means their operation isn’t over yet. We still have a chance… but we must hurry.”
Master Haber was also in the tent at this time. Hearing Morin’s words, he pushed up the gold-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose and leaned over to glance at the map.
Then, a rare trace of urgency appeared on the face of this Tier-4 mage:
“Lieutenant Colonel Morin is right, we cannot wait any longer! If we want to get valuable things from that research institute, we must act immediately! Before the Britannians pack up everything and take it away!”
“Master Haber is right.”
Morin nodded in agreement, “The commotion from the armored airship was so big, the other party couldn’t have missed it. They might take countermeasures… The longer we delay, the more variables there are!”
“So we must knock out this guard unit as fast as possible, and then charge in!”
Because Major Nicolai had promised previously that Morin would have the final say on all military-related aspects of this operation, the overall plan was hastily formed under his slightly forceful planning.
Due to the highly classified nature of this operation, the large forces of the Second Army Group could not directly intervene in the combat in the core area.
From the higher-ups down to the grunts, no one knew exactly what was happening. They only knew their mission was to establish a tighter blockade line on the periphery of the Bois de Boulogne.
This was also why Department III of the General Staff sought out the instruction unit and had Morin lead a single company-sized unit to deploy.
The “Odin” armored train would advance along a railway line the Gauls had just repaired before the war to the edge of the Bois de Boulogne park, ready to provide long-range artillery support at any time and cut off the Britannians’ possible land retreat route.
As for the L19 armored airship hovering in the sky, it was responsible for aerial reconnaissance and firepower suppression at necessary moments.
What remained was the most crucial assault mission.
“Tsk tsk tsk, this kind of old-fashioned Hollywood plot again…”
Morin silently complained in his heart. The large forces watching the show on the periphery for various reasons, while a lone squad goes deep into the dragon’s pool and tiger’s den, this flag was simply hanging high up.
If it were according to Morin’s style, without restrictive conditions, he wouldn’t form some elite squad at all. Wouldn’t it be nice to just A-move (attack-move in RTS games) the large forces over?
But right now, he also had to take the 1st Company of the instruction unit, equipped with trucks and having the strongest mobility, which naturally became this “lone squad.”
Their mission was only one—to dismantle the peripheral defenses of the Coldstream Task Force Company as fast as possible, and escort Master Haber and the personnel of Department III into the underground research institute.
“Major Nicolai! Please take these two sub-units to the ‘Odin’ armored train and the L19 armored airship, hand them over to their magitech technicians, and ensure I can communicate with them at any time!”
Morin stuffed two sub-units of the “Portable Magitech Communication Prototype” to Major Nicolai, and then roughly described the parameters and how to use them.
The latter’s eyes lit up upon learning the functions of this device, but half the light in his eyes disappeared upon hearing that it required someone with “magical affinity” to operate.
However, he still followed Morin’s instructions and left first with the two sub-units.
For Morin, this could also be considered being able to communicate directly with these two war behemoths, the armored train and armored airship, making it much more convenient to call for fire support.
After Major Nicolai left, Morin yelled outside the tent again.
“Kahn!”
“Here!” The 1st Company Commander, Kahn, immediately lifted the door curtain and ducked in.
“Take the 1st Platoon along with the flamethrower team and act with me. Split the heavy machine gun teams and mortar teams to the 2nd and 3rd Platoons, and distribute the remaining two communication sub-units to them as well!”
“You must ensure they can hear my orders in time and translate them into action! This time we are going to fight a battle with very high requirements for time coordination!”
“Yes, sir!”
Kahn also quickly left with the equipment, and the sound of the 1st Company soldiers assembling came from outside the tent.
Taking advantage of this time, Morin also looked at Master Haber and the five Section III operatives remaining in the tent—they were all professionals who would follow them into the underground research institute.
“Master Haber, and these gentlemen, please be sure to follow my command next, do not act without authorization…”
“If anyone obstructs the unit’s operation next, we will not hesitate to take coercive measures to control them, understood?”
At this moment, Morin put away his usual “harmless to humans and animals” amiable expression, replacing it with a seriousness that made people involuntarily tense their bodies.
And Master Haber and the five Section III operatives naturally had no objections either, nodding repeatedly like chicks pecking at rice to indicate they would obey orders.
Satisfied, Morin led everyone out of the tent, immediately followed by the roar of the 1st Company’s truck engines starting up again.
With Morin, Master Haber, and the several Section III operatives boarding the vehicles, the entire convoy also quickly sped towards the attack preparation area marked on the map.
No one spoke in the carriages; there was only the clattering sound of the vehicle bumping and the roar of the engine.
As the operation approached, the veterans silently checked their weapons and ammunition, ensuring everything was in a handy position.
Morin sat in the passenger seat of a truck, his eyes never leaving the system map for a moment.
Judging from the situation where the armored airship helped “clear the fog of war,” this Britannian Task Force Company had established a triangular defense position around the entrance to the underground research institute.
Three infantry platoons were deployed in three directions, forming a mutually supporting horn formation.
And the Coldstream Guards could also be considered “old friends” of the instruction unit.
In the previous trench warfare on the Buchy front line, the instruction unit hadn’t left few of these elite troops with a long history in Britannia in the trenches.
However, everyone’s evaluation of this unit was also very high. If it wasn’t for the instruction unit possessing a firepower advantage, the Coldstream Guards could be called evenly matched opponents.
For such a unit, which was also a task force company specially sent to infiltrate, Morin could anticipate that the opponent’s combat power would certainly not be bad.
“Fighting from high to low, and grasping the initiative to attack, the opponent also cannot shrink back and retreat… These are our advantages,” Morin muttered to himself.
Looking at the terrain, the entrance to the research institute was located in a depression, which meant the instruction unit could launch an attack from the surrounding gentle slopes, occupying a terrain advantage.
To be honest, if it wasn’t for worrying about the commotion being too big, or accidentally directly blowing up the entrance to the research institute…
Morin really wanted to have the armored airship in the sky and the “Odin” in the distance conduct a round of “saturation bombardment,” plowing that entire area over once.
But now he could only rely on the infantry, using a relatively traditional method, to gnaw on this tough bone.
And the speed couldn’t be too slow…
Just as Morin was writing and drawing on the combat map, the main magitech communication unit on him also rang.
“This is the L19 armored airship… Lieutenant Colonel Morin, can you hear me?”
“I can hear you, the sound is very clear!”
Morin picked up the main unit, then leaned out from the passenger seat and looked up toward the sky. Due to the obstruction of the trees, he couldn’t directly visually spot the armored airship.
“Lieutenant Colonel, this device of yours is quite easy to use…”
“Pay attention to communication discipline, now is not the time to talk about this.”
Morin directly interrupted the other party’s exclamation. He didn’t want the Saxon army to catch the bad habit of chatting on the radio like the Americans.
“Uh… sorry, Lieutenant Colonel! The armored airship will hover over the destination, ready for fire support at any time!”
“Received, stand by in the air, over.”
After saying that, Morin cut off the communication.
Not long after, the magitech technician from the “Odin” armored train also contacted Morin.
After a brief exchange of basic information and ending the call, the desire in Morin’s heart to make the instruction unit soldiers possess “magical affinity” reached its peak.
The two brief calls just now made him find the feeling of convenient communication from before his transmigration.
As everyone knows, it’s easy to go from frugality to luxury, but hard to go from luxury to frugality.
After coming to this world, Morin had always felt somewhat restricted in the command process due to the extremely inconvenient communication technology.
Now suddenly tasting the “sweetness” of instant communication again, the state he had finally adjusted to collapsed again.
“I hope I can gain something in this regard in the underground research institute this time…”
Not long after these thoughts flashed through his mind, the convoy also stopped on a road in the middle of the woods. They had already entered the Bois de Boulogne park here, and were only 1 kilometer away from the underground research institute entrance marked on the map.
“Everyone disembark! Move fast!”
The suppressed low roar of the 1st Company Commander, Kahn, sounded in the woods, and the veterans of the instruction unit filed out.
They all tightened the gear on their bodies while supporting the weapons they carried with their hands, their movements swift and silent.
The three platoon leaders and Kahn quickly came to Morin. The latter also had everyone take out the same set of combat maps, and instructed them to mark out some lines on the maps.
“1st Platoon, along with the flamethrower team and engineer detachment, act with me as the main attack!”
Morin said while gesturing on the map:
“2nd Platoon, 3rd Platoon, the heavy machine guns and mortars are reinforcing you. Deploy from the two flanks, wait for my signal, and attack in coordination!”
“You two platoons move to the two flanks of the target area, send out scouts to clear the way, hide as much as possible and don’t open fire to prevent exposing your whereabouts.”
“After arriving at the predetermined position, find suitable positions for your field of fire on your own, and set up the heavy machine guns… Um, inside the forest is indeed not suitable for mortars to perform, but still try to set up a mortar position, it can provide some support.”
“These two lines are ‘Line Romeo’ and ‘Line Juliet,’ representing the deployment line and the attack initiation line of the 1st Platoon respectively. When the 1st Platoon passes, I will inform you through the communication main unit, letting you simultaneously grasp the rhythm of the 1st Platoon, to facilitate coordinated attack.”
Morin rapidly issued a series of orders. The three platoon leaders also took out their respective notebooks to record the important information, and simultaneously worked on the maps.
This was also why Morin wanted to bring the 1st Company to execute the mission.
Not only because the 1st Company were all veterans, but more importantly, the 1st Company was also the unit that earliest received modern infantry tactical training.
Before new tactics and training content were promoted to the entire instruction unit, they would first be practiced in the 1st Company, and problems would be discovered and corrected from there.
It could be said that it wasn’t an exaggeration to consider the 1st Company of the 1st Battalion as the “Instruction Company” of the entire instruction unit.
The orders were swiftly passed down, and the 3 platoons also separated to act.
Morin hunched over, leading the soldiers of the 1st Platoon and the two flamethrower teams, blending into the withered yellow winter scenery of the Bois de Boulogne like ghosts.
A squad (2 sections, 20 people) lagged slightly behind, escorting Master Haber and the people from Section III approaching slowly.
The fallen leaves underfoot made slight cracking sounds, and the trees around were bare, simply unable to provide much effective cover.
The closer they got, the more nervous Morin’s mood began to become.
The Bois de Boulogne becoming a famous “free-range chicken” free-range area was not without reason.
The terrain of this forest park was more complex than he imagined. The undulating gentle slopes and crisscrossing ravines made long-range artillery support from the armored train and airship exceptionally difficult—shells could easily be blocked by the terrain and tall tree trunks, leading to premature detonation, and might even affect friendly troops.
This also meant this battle would head toward the worst choice, which was relying on these infantrymen in Morin’s hands to solve the enemies.
“1st Platoon has passed ‘Line Romeo’, over!”
After the unit card representing the 1st Platoon on the system map crossed “Line Romeo,” Morin transmitted information to the other two platoons through the main unit while ordering the 1st Platoon to deploy into combat formation with hand signals.
The veterans immediately skillfully spread out by squads, then with the light machine gun teams as the core, began to advance slowly.
Just before approaching “Line Juliet,” Morin raised his right hand into a fist, halting the troops temporarily.
Then he took the 1st Company Commander, Kahn, and carefully crossed the attack line, crawling up a small hill hidden by bushes.
From here, they could just take in the entire view of the depression below.
Morin raised his binoculars and began to scan the Coldstream Task Force Company’s position below the depression. On the system map, it also “lit up” like a light tank marking squads of enemies.
Several carefully camouflaged positions cleverly utilized the terrain, almost blending in with the surrounding environment.
If it weren’t for those conspicuous red markers on the system map, Morin also had to admit it would be extremely difficult to discover them with the naked eye alone.
Under Morin’s whispered instructions, Kahn also discovered these well-camouflaged positions.
“These guys… are hiding really deep.”
“Otherwise how could they be elites? Keep an eye on the surroundings more, I need to think about the attack plan.”
Morin whispered back, then completely focused his attention on the refreshing information on the system map.
The firepower configuration of this Coldstream Task Force Company was indeed incomparable to ordinary infantry units.
On his system map, besides a [Vickers Heavy Machine Gun Position] deployed at the rear of the position, located relatively centrally, there were also three [Lewis Light Machine Gun Team] unit cards flashing scattered at the three vertices of the triangular position.
This was also the first time Morin had seen the light machine guns equipped by the Britannians in such a long time.
According to the normal timeline, this famous light machine gun should only start to equip troops successively in the first half of 1915.
But looking at it now, this Coldstream Task Force Company had actually used this support weapon early at the end of 1914.
In Morin’s impression of the Great Brit… or rather Britannian armory, the Vickers heavy machine gun was known for its reliability and sustained firepower, while the Lewis light machine gun was relatively light and flexible, able to provide mobile fire support at any time.
One heavy machine gun team plus three light machine gun teams constructed a fire net combining far and near, and cross-covering.
Although in terms of fire density, it was not as good as an ordinary company of the instruction unit, for the infantry companies of other countries in this world, it was already a dimensionality reduction strike.
“Did you see them, Kahn.”
Morin lowered his binoculars, his voice kept extremely low.
“Eleven o’clock direction, under that crooked-neck tree, is a very well-hidden light machine gun position… Don’t ask me how I know that’s a light machine gun, if I say it is, it is!”
“One o’clock direction, behind that rock shaped like a turtle shell, there’s another one.”
“There are three sentries, all hiding using the bushes… Have the semi-automatic riflemen take them out in a bit.”
As Morin spoke, he was calculating in his mind.
“Can the mortars of the 2nd and 3rd Platoons knock out that Vickers?”
“Shouldn’t be a big problem, but it might take some time, sir.”
Kahn glanced at the map, then frowned again.
“Mainly the distance is slightly far, and the trees here are quite dense. Although our mortars are indirect fire, if we want to hit accurately, I’m afraid we’ll have to fire several rounds of spotting shots…”
Morin nodded; this was consistent with his judgment. Trying to have the mortar teams knock out the heavy machine gun position before the attack initiated might be unrealistic.
But the good news was, perhaps for concealment, or possibly lacking relevant tools and time, this task force company hadn’t constructed trenches.
Instead, they dispersed and directly utilized the terrain as defensive positions, which made the attack slightly easier.
He took a deep breath, the icy air rushing into his lungs, making his mind increasingly clear.
The plan rapidly formed in his mind.
“2nd Platoon, 3rd Platoon, attention, receive orders…”
“The enemy position triangle is temporarily named ‘Alpha’, ‘Beta’, ‘Gamma’.”
“Mortar teams prepare smoke shells, commence firing after the 1st Platoon passes ‘Line Juliet’!”
“Obscuration coordinates are XXX, XXX… Have the gun crews calculate firing data on their own based on the attack coordinates.”
“After completing smoke obscuration, the mortar teams carry out sustained suppression on the following coordinates…”
“The 1st Platoon will attack the ‘Alpha’ angle after smoke obscuration is complete. It is expected to attract the vast majority of enemy forces. The heavy machine gun teams will bound forward to optimal firing positions at any time to suppress exposed enemy forces with crossfire.”
“The 2nd Platoon and 3rd Platoon each detach a squad to approach XXX from the two flanks. This is the enemy’s heavy machine gun position… Approach concealed, take it out quickly!”
A series of orders were rapidly issued by Morin, and he and Kahn also returned to near the 1st Platoon’s formation.
Although the 2nd and 3rd Platoons could not reply at this time, when Morin saw these two platoons start moving on the system map, and simultaneously the status of the mortar teams changed to “Deploying,” Morin knew they had already started executing the orders.
Kahn also broke down the attack tasks for the 1st Platoon at this time. The 3 squads, totaling 60 soldiers, also bent their waists, carrying their guns, and approached “Line Juliet” utilizing the cover of the terrain.
At the same time, the three shooters equipped with experimental semi-automatic rifles also respectively relied on tree trunks or other supports, aiming at the three long-exposed Britannian sentries.
“1st Platoon has passed ‘Line Juliet’, attack begins, repeat, attack begins!”
“Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!”
Following several crisp “cannon sounds,” 75.8mm mortar smoke shells were sent out of the barrels. After drawing a high parabolic trajectory in the air, they fortunately fell into the woods below without encountering any obstacles.
The exploding smoke rapidly began to diffuse, while the mortar teams continued firing the last two rounds of smoke shells.
At the same time the smoke shells landed, the three Britannian sentries also realized they were under attack. They quickly raised their guns, trying to find the enemies in the surrounding woods.
But they didn’t even wait for the muzzles to be raised before they were knocked to the ground by “bang-bang” sounding double-taps.
The Coldstream Guards soldiers in the depression below entered combat state after the gunfire sounded, but the diffusing smoke completely obscured their vision, and the sentries outside failed to send back any effective information.
However, very soon, the soldiers on the peripheral positions noticed human figures seemingly flashing through the smoke.
Seeing this, the Lewis light machine gun teams immediately adjusted their firing directions and then swept a burst into the smoke.
But the next second, mortar shells landed and exploded near them, forcing them to stop shooting and lie flat on the ground.
And taking advantage of this opportunity, several instruction unit veterans also threw stick grenades from the smoke at the light machine gun teams that had exposed muzzle flashes, while other dispersed soldiers also shot at the enemies below utilizing the cover of the smoke.
Under Morin’s orders, not a single reckless brute charged out of the smoke; everyone was conducting attacks extremely cautiously.
As long as they heard the gunfire coming from ahead didn’t sound right, they would immediately stop shooting and dive to the ground.
The sudden attack of the 1st Platoon naturally alarmed the large forces of this task force company as well.
Realizing that a large number of troops were attacking fiercely from the front, the Coldstream Guards Major leading the team, while having the standby infantry platoons step up to support, also found several messengers to enter the underground research institute to notify the others.
Hearing this order, several messengers instantly became somewhat hesitant.
Because ever since those Highland Mages and the operation squad entered the underground research institute four days ago, they had completely lost contact, and they hadn’t withdrawn within the specified time.
So now no one knew what happened underground.