The noon wind brought the fragrance of azaleas, Shire walked alone on the path in the rear garden of the fortress command, looking somewhat despondent.
The sudden appearance of the third "Big Bertha" shattered everyone’s illusions, victory was like a beautiful soap bubble, suddenly burst with a light poke, disappearing without a trace.
Additionally, Shire also learned why the German Army launched such a fierce attack.
This was told to Shire by General Gis during the morning meeting.
General Gis, disregarding the objections of Albert I, stared at Shire and said, "The Germans’ target is you, as long as you surrender, you can save all of our lives!"
Shire understood General Gis’ intention, he hoped Shire would voluntarily surrender to the Germans to save Antwerp.
Shire sneered at this, he countered General Gis, "Next time, if the Germans demand you hand over the king, what would you do?"
General Gis was left speechless, after all, the Germans frequently broke their promises, if they adhered to their promises, they wouldn’t have attacked neutral Belgium.
The problem still needed to be solved, the sound of "Big Bertha" artillery was becoming increasingly frequent, although Wavre Fortress had the protection of smoke, continuing , its complete destruction was only a matter of time.
Is there any way to deal with it?
Shire thought of airplanes, airplanes were a three-dimensional combat equipment, they could approach and strike the target from the air, avoiding the issue of "insufficient range."
However, at this moment, the airplanes were weaponless.
If there were any weapons, it would be bricks, fishing nets, tail hooks, even flying needles...
Load explosives onto the airplane?
European grenades were undeveloped, they still used spherical explosives, loading these onto airplanes for deployment presented many issues:
If the height was too high, the explosives would explode mid-air, failing to harm the target.
If the height was too low, the explosives would shatter upon hitting the ground, losing their power, even if by chance they landed on soft ground and didn’t shatter, the enemy would have time to pick them up and throw them away or directly remove the fuse.
This didn’t even consider the issue of hitting the target!
A standard aerial bomb must at least possess:
A hard shell that doesn’t easily shatter upon impact.
A tail to ensure stable flight posture, otherwise being blown by the wind and randomly tumbling mid-air would lack precision.
Lastly, a reliable fuse.
These couldn’t be made in a short time, Antwerp lacked such conditions, Shire had to find another way.
As Shire was worrying about this, a squad of soldiers hurriedly passed by the gate, carrying a bundle of long rods.
Shire, curious, casually asked, "What are these weapons?"
The soldiers recognized Shire, out of respect, they stopped, one captain stepped forward and answered, "These are Congreve rockets, Lieutenant!"
Although his rank was higher than Shire, whether it be Shire’s reputation or the Kingdom Crown Medal hanging on Shire’s chest, it was enough to make the captain respectful towards Shire.
"Rocket?" Shire curiously approached to observe.
After watching for a while, he understood what it was, originating from China, improved by a British artilleryman named Congreve during the Napoleonic era, hence called "Congreve rocket."
Developed into the infamous "Katyusha" during WWII, but at this time it was almost completely obsolete.
"The King ordered us to make final preparations, Lieutenant!" The captain explained, "We need to arm everyone, although the rockets are no longer suitable, they’re better than nothing!"
Shire nodded, thinking if it weren’t for "arming everyone," they probably wouldn’t have taken these things out from the warehouse.
"How many rockets do we have?" Shire asked.
"I’m not sure, Lieutenant!" The captain hesitated and reported a number, "Approximately two hundred, some might have been dampened, uncertain if they can be used!"
"Keep them all!" Shire no longer hesitated, "Not one can be sent out!"
"Yes, Lieutenant!" The captain nodded.
But his face was still full of confusion, what use were these primitive weapons? To destroy "Big Bertha" with them?
Shire walked a few steps, then turned back to add an order, "You are responsible for them, you must protect these rockets, no accidents allowed!"
"Yes, Lieutenant!" the captain answered.
Shire hurried back to the operations office, where two generals and Albert I were discussing something over a map.
Seeing Shire return, they said:
"We are discussing a possibility, Shire, considering the Germans have only one ’Big Bertha’ left, we think we should go on the offensive or dispatch troops for a night raid!"
"If planned well, we might succeed, once we destroy this ’Big Bertha,’ we’ll be safe, at least for a while!"
"This requires your participation..."
Before they finished, Shire interrupted:
"It won’t work, the Germans surely have precautions! Any dispatched troops will be a one-way trip!"
This was their only one left, the Germans would naturally be doubly cautious.
Not waiting for a rebuttal, Shire turned his gaze to Albert I:
"Your Majesty, I need to go to the airport, can you provide me with a carriage? Also, there’s a squad of soldiers downstairs guarding a batch of rockets, I hope you can send more men to help transport the rockets to the airport!"
"Of course!" Albert I agreed straightforwardly, "The carriage is parked downstairs!"
Shire turned and left, remembering something at the door, he turned back to ask General Gis, "General, how many airplanes do we have left?"
General Gis was confused, he didn’t know the answer either.
"I’ll make a call to ask!" General Gis said, whatever airplanes did not affect the battle, why bother with them?
"No need!" Shire said, "Do you mind temporarily handing over command of the airport to me?"
"Of course!" General Gis agreed readily.
Currently, there was no reconnaissance need, even if there was, balloons could solve it, airplanes were originally dispensable for Antwerp’s defense.
Without saying more, Shire hurriedly turned downstairs, he had to launch an attack before nightfall, otherwise Wavre Fortress might not hold.
The few in the operations office looked at each other, clueless about Shire’s intentions.
"He might be trying to break out of Antwerp and return to Paris!" General Winter guessed.
General Gis paused and then agreed, "He’s probably deploying all airplanes to confuse German pilots, covering his own plane to escape. This, can be considered fleeing..."
"No!" Albert I interrupted General Gis expressionlessly, his tone firm, "Shire wouldn’t do that, he’s different from you, General!"
General Gis felt awkward, also a bit angry, he considered more about the country’s interests, that didn’t mean he was a coward!