The Rise Of A Billionaire 1943-Chapter 159 - 171: Trump Card

How could this be?

When she saw Lautrey at the airport, Heidi was so shocked she was at a loss for words.

Why was she here?

After being apart for over a month, instead of the joy of reunion, all she felt was a sense of crisis!

Unlike Ava, that naïve beauty, from the very first time Lautrey appeared, Heidi had felt a strong sense of threat, despite Lautrey’s outward friendliness.

In Heidi’s eyes, Lautrey was not only beautiful, but her every gesture revealed the bearing of someone from a distinguished family—definitely not an ordinary girl. As the company’s liaison, she had plenty of opportunities to interact with Pierre.

Now that was a real threat!

Heidi knew she could only ever be Pierre’s lover, not his wife, but what she needed was a woman who could accept her and the others as Pierre’s wife—like a girl raised in this era, where, she’d heard, many wealthy men had several wives.

But Lautrey was different. She was religious and grew up in America. A girl like her would never accept Pierre having multiple wives or lovers.

Precisely because of this, Heidi had never dared let her guard down around Lautrey.

In fact, the reason she was heading to North Africa now was all because of Ava—Ava had volunteered to serve as a nurse in the army, and how could Heidi let her have Pierre’s favor all to herself? So she came along too.

However, she wasn’t going as a nurse. Her expertise in radio communications would be useful in the army.

Still, she never expected to run into Lautrey at the airport.

This woman was the real threat!

A threat to their happiness!

Even now, several hours after takeoff, Heidi kept glancing at Lautrey.

She seemed a bit unhappy, even though Ava kept chatting with her...

Her expression still looked somewhat unpleasant.

Lautrey was indeed very unhappy. She had thought she’d finally gotten rid of this guy, but unexpectedly, her father had pushed her right back to his side.

How could this happen?

It must be because he didn’t make things clear to her father. All her frustration was written plainly on her face, and when she looked at Pierre, there was nothing but dissatisfaction. She only responded to Ava’s words half-heartedly.

Unlike them, Ava looked quite happy, for one simple reason—she had never been abroad before.

This was Africa, after all!

The Sahara Desert, camels...

Here I come!

Pierre didn’t care what the three women were thinking—he wasn’t even the least bit interested. Right now, his mind was occupied with something else: how to minimize casualties as much as possible.

First, everyone must be equipped with tactical vests, and there should be at least one spare set of ballistic plates in reserve.

Second, firepower must be enhanced.

The Americans didn’t provide heavy artillery, but German equipment could be used instead. That wasn’t a problem, since the Allies had already broken through the Siegfried Line—on February 1st, Montgomery led his troops to attack the German forces stationed along the Rhine River. Soon, Montgomery’s army controlled a 100-kilometer stretch of the Rhine’s west bank, and the British were preparing to cross the river. Just yesterday, on March 1st, the US 12th Army Group had already reached the outskirts of Cologne.

Whether in the Ruhr industrial region or in the areas where the Siegfried Line had been breached, there was a huge amount of artillery and abandoned German weapons. Not only was there enough to equip tens of thousands of people, but even hundreds of thousands could be armed sufficiently.

If manpower is lacking, firepower must make up for it.

According to Pierre’s plan, the security forces would definitely use the SGT44 as their main weapon—after all, no one could ignore the formidable firepower of the STG44.

That was just small arms.

And then there were tanks!

Although the Americans had provided over a hundred M3 light tanks, heavier and more powerful tanks were still preferable.

"We need to take all the Panzer IVs and Panthers with us. That way, we can almost put together a full tank division."

Fortunately, over the past few months, personnel had been training in North Africa, including armored units. As for instructors, most of them were German POWs. Those German tank crews who had fought in North Africa for years were still highly skilled.

"But that alone still isn’t enough..."

During the flight, Pierre kept writing and sketching on paper. In the end, he wrote three characters:

"Killer Ace!"

Yes, the security forces needed their own trump card.

Whether it was assault rifles or heavy tanks and artillery, these were merely weapons to enhance combat effectiveness—they couldn’t fundamentally change the situation on the battlefield.

"The 37th Army, with a strength of 35,000 to 40,000 men..."

That was the opponent Pierre was facing. And unlike the Germans, those "little Japs" were all crazy—always going for "banzai" charges. Even though such charges were just throwing away lives in the face of overwhelming firepower, they still couldn’t be underestimated.

"The key is still to have a killer ace."

Why was a trump card necessary? Not because the Japanese were crazy, but to minimize casualties as much as possible.

Thus, throughout the entire journey, Pierre kept pondering this issue, completely ignoring the thoughts of the three women. When the plane landed in Morocco to refuel, the women went to Tunisia, while Pierre took another SM.73 to France.

Upon arriving in France, Pierre immediately drove to the front lines. Although the main force of the security team had already withdrawn to North Africa to prepare for the expedition, there were still more than 8,000 members of the task force combing the French front for equipment. The task force not only collected weapons but also interrogated German POWs for intelligence about the weapons.

"Our interrogations mainly focus on the locations of ammunition and weapons depots. The Germans set up a large number of ammunition depots within the Siegfried Line. Although they’re not fully stocked, the quantity is still considerable."

While reporting on the interrogation of prisoners, Cheng Peng’an suddenly lowered his voice.

"Sir, a few days ago during an interrogation, a German artillery lieutenant claimed that there is a large stockpile of chemical shells in an underground arsenal within the Siegfried Line!"

What!

"Chemical shells? Are you sure?"

Pierre’s heart raced with excitement.

"He was very certain. Worried that Allied bombing of the Farben factory would cause chemical shells to leak, two years ago the Germans moved about 500,000 chemical shells into the Siegfried Line’s underground arsenals. At that time, the Germans had already transferred most of the weapons from the line to the Atlantic Wall, so they stored the chemical shells in the empty depots."

After a brief explanation, Cheng Peng’an continued,

"Sir, 500,000 shells is quite a lot. Although transportation would be an issue, I think we should try to get our hands on this batch. Even if we can only move eighty or a hundred thousand shells, it’s still better than nothing!"

Unlike Cheng Peng’an, who thought "better than nothing," Pierre was actually excited by the prospect of chemical weapons.

Chemical weapons!

Now that’s a trump card!

500,000 chemical shells!

They were filled with either Tabun or Sarin—these nerve agents were unique to Germany. With hundreds of thousands of shells, even if they couldn’t poison the entire Japanese archipelago, it would certainly be enough to give those tens of thousands of Japanese troops in Borneo a taste of their own medicine.

"That army—"

"Where is the location of the munitions depot?"