I Became a Plutocrat in World War I: Starting with Saving France

Chapter 704: Incendiary Bullet

Today there will be only one update, I will make up for it tomorrow, sorry!

...

Truk Forest, Major General Erwin was hiding in the bushes, cautiously observing the French Army troops with binoculars. A spider slowly crawled on his face, but he remained still like a statue.

French tanks rumbled forward, even though they were still hundreds of meters away, Major General Erwin could feel an inexplicable pressure.

It wasn’t just because of the performance gap between the tanks of the two sides, but also because of the determination, confidence, and killing intent on the faces of the French soldiers, as if declaring to their enemies that this was a well-trained and experienced force.

No wonder it’s the elite trained by Shire, Major General Erwin thought, but now, this force is about to become his achievement.

Although the German Army’s tanks and quality were not as good as the French Army’s, and their forces were evenly matched, the German Army had the advantage of being prepared against the unprepared, and the French Army was already exhausted from their long journey.

Therefore, even Shire could not change anything; this would be his first defeat.

Major General Erwin also hoped to capture Shire alive, but if not, he should be killed.

Because Shire was too dangerous, he was a "threat that should be destroyed if unattainable," principles and treaties were useless.

At this moment, Shire’s troops suddenly stopped, Major General Erwin’s heart jumped into his throat.

Could it be that Shire had discovered something?

Impossible, Erwin had personally checked, he had flattened every tank track mark with engineers and even covered them with old soil, the town was also carefully camouflaged, and suspicious discarded items were cleared. Erwin believed he hadn’t left any flaws.

After waiting for a while with no movement, the adjutant lying beside him was getting restless. He carefully turned his head to look at Erwin, seeking instructions with his eyes: Attack, General, we might have been discovered.

But Erwin gently shook his head, signaling the adjutant not to act rashly.

Shire hadn’t discovered anything.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t just stop there; they would have already deployed the "Saint-Chaumont" and fired a series of shells towards the forest.

Erwin was very patient. Shire’s troops had been resting there for over half an hour, and he waited for over half an hour.

Finally, Shire’s troops began to move.

The first batch was the standard reconnaissance unit of the French armored forces: each tank was followed by two armored cars, and the tanks were all equipped with 37MM short-barreled guns.

This was a characteristic of Shire’s armored forces.

Ever since large numbers of M1 armored cars were equipped, the weapons of the "Shire A1" tanks were almost all changed to 37 guns.

Shire believed that machine gun fire could be provided by the armored cars, and equipping the tanks with machine guns would be a waste. They should be equipped with 37 guns that could target fortifications, infantry, and counteract tanks.

Erwin quietly waited, planning to let the French vanguard pass by and then attack their vulnerable midsection.

However, at that moment, there was a rumbling sound of engines in the sky.

Erwin abruptly looked up, but his view was obscured by the canopy.

French reconnaissance planes?

Or planes passing by on another mission?

The rumbling grew louder and louder.

Erwin’s heart sank, feeling bad; the aircraft seemed to be heading directly for this forest.

Turning to look at the French on the road, Erwin was stunned to find the tanks and armored cars had stopped and were now pointing their guns at the forest.

"Damn it, they found us!" Erwin shouted, "Attack, attack now, get out of here!"

However...

The bombs descended with a whistling sound from the sky.

Erwin immediately lay down, prepared for the upcoming explosion and shockwave, but the blast was followed by a wave of heat and howling.

Looking up, Erwin exclaimed, "God, it’s gasoline bombs, they’ve loaded gasoline bombs on the planes!"

...

The gasoline bomb was developed by the "Saint-Étienne" Armory after Shire’s insertion into Antwerp.

It wasn’t very technically challenging, so Shire didn’t interfere much.

The incendiary material was gasoline with added white phosphorus, which would ignite upon contact with air, eliminating the need for ignition.

The front end of the shell still had a fuse, but unlike a regular bomb, it had only a small amount of explosive, designed to break open the shell and disperse the incendiary liquid, causing a secondary explosion.

Shire had only given Steed a reminder:

"Using gasoline directly might not be very effective, we all know it doesn’t adhere well to people or targets after splashing."

"To solve this problem, we can try to make it viscous."

"For example, by adding natural rubber to the gasoline in a certain proportion."

(Note: Before the invention of napalm, gasoline bombs with added natural rubber were used, which had similar effects to napalm. They were then called "jellied gasoline bombs." The downside was that natural rubber was expensive and later replaced by cheaper palmitic acid and naphthalene.)

Steed was overjoyed after trying it out. He excitedly told Shire in a telegram:

"This is another exciting invention, General!"

"Its damage effect is much better than gasoline, it can fly farther, and its burning time is multiplied!"

"It just has one downside, natural rubber isn’t cheap, this incendiary bomb costs three to five times more than a regular bomb."

"Do you really think it’s practical on the battlefield?"

Steed was considering the cost-effectiveness issue.

He was puzzled: if an incendiary bomb’s price was three to five times that of a regular bomb, why not just use three to five regular bombs to destroy the target, isn’t using incendiary bombs redundant?

Shire gave a definite answer reassuring him to continue production.

What Steed didn’t know was that in certain specific environments, the destructiveness and lethality of a single incendiary bomb far exceeded three or even five regular bombs.

For example now, the German tank division hiding in the forest would not be significantly affected by regular bombs or artillery shells.

Incendiary bombs were completely different.

They exploded one by one in the forest, erupting in red-black flames like the tongues of poisonous snakes or the fangs of devils, tearing fiery red wounds in the green forest.

The trees were ignited like torches, one by one being consumed.

The flames leaped like they were celebrating a carnival, the air itself seemed to be burning, the air filled with the sound of whistling wind and soldiers’ desperate cries and pleas for help.

Tanks rushed out of the inferno with flames, trying to escape this purgatory and gain a moment of respite.

But before they could react, they were hit by shells that pierced their armor, turning them into piles of scrap metal.

Soon, the clearing was littered with tank wreckage, their armor burning, some belching black smoke from overheated engines.

Behind them, other tanks attempted to escape but were blocked by the wreckage ahead.