Chapter 438: Is all this part of Charles’ plan?

Foch has been extremely busy these days.

The troops he deployed were no longer just the 9th Army. He then added two more divisions. However, Mons was like a meat grinder. Just a few days after the troops were thrown in, they had to retreat due to heavy casualties.

After fighting for several days, not only did they fail to break through the German blockade, but they were driven out of Mons step by step.

On the other hand, the Germans also rebuilt a new line of defense around the 9th Army.

Foch stared at the map in a daze. After a long while, he blurted out, "Maybe Charles is right."

"What?" Weygand didn't understand what Foch was referring to, but he immediately thought of Charles' request for the 9th Army to follow up with cars and trains.

"No, General," Weygand replied, "that has nothing to do with that. We have already discussed that..."

"I know." Foch interrupted Wei Gang: "It is very dangerous to march like that. It is easy to be ambushed by the enemy."

Foch took a document and put it on the table, saying, "But no matter how dangerous it is, even if we are ambushed, will this be the result?"

Wei Gang was stunned.

That was the casualty report of the attack on Mons in the past few days. The 9th Army had paid the price of more than 20,000 people but had not made any progress. On the contrary, there was the danger of being surrounded by the German army because the 9th Army was alone and deep in the territory.

Without waiting for Weygand to answer, Foch added: "The point is that after so many casualties, there has been no progress. We have been blocked at Mons and unable to move. If we had used trains and cars to advance, we might have been able to take it in an hour."

Foch felt ashamed, he felt that he had ruined Charles' plan. Now the Germans were fleeing from Mons in an endless stream, and Charles' troops were in trouble due to lack of fuel and infantry.

Thinking of this, Foch laughed at himself, thinking that he was the founder of French military theory, but in Charles' plan, he was actually a person who could not accomplish anything but made things worse.

Just as he was blaming himself, the signalman came forward and reported: "General, Charles called."

Foch said "hmm" but did not reach out to take it.

Another question about the offensive, Foch thought.

Perhaps out of guilt or embarrassment, Foch was afraid to receive Charles' telegram, let alone face it.

The staff officer did not want to report, "Charles said they have occupied the village of Pville, and he hopes the general can send troops to take over the defense."

"Puville?" Foch looked puzzled.

Soon, he found the location of Pourville on the map. Foch exclaimed: "Charles actually occupied Pourville? The Germans have deployed a large number of troops there!"

Wei Gang couldn't believe it either. He asked the signalman, "Are you sure?"

"Yes," the signalman replied, "More than 20,000 German troops in the village of Pourville have surrendered. Charles also said that they will send armored forces to open a passage for our army."

Foch and Weygand were stunned. They were surprised that more than 20,000 German troops surrendered so easily. They would have to spend at least the same amount of troops to take it down in Mons.

Then the atmosphere turned awkward again.

They are the Northern Army Group, with hundreds of thousands of troops under their command, and they are the main force of the French army, but they actually need Charles to send armored troops to break through the passage and provide support!

This makes them feel like they are being "cared for" like children.

…

In the morning in Paris, people who are having a weekend off walk through the ancient streets, and the aroma of coffee and fresh croissants fills the air.

However, the people queuing to buy them seemed to have lost interest in them, and all they talked about was the Belgian battlefield and Charles' legendary achievements, even though they did not know each other.

"I heard that the Shire is in trouble and the Germans have blocked the sea oil pipeline with submarines."

"Don't worry, nothing can stop Charles. He has already called on the guerrillas to collect fuel."

"But civilian fuel is limited and unsustainable after all. If things continue like this, the war situation may not be very optimistic."

…

This analysis makes some sense.

The reason why the Germans did not completely blockade Belgium or plunder all the fuel in a "killing the chicken to get the eggs" manner was to use them to break the British blockade.

Now that it has come to this, fuel has become the key factor in determining the outcome of the battle, and the Germans will certainly have no scruples about killing it.

Therefore, the outcome is still unknown.

But at this moment, someone suddenly shouted: "Charles won, he successfully occupied Pourville and captured more than 20,000 Germans!"

"Is it true?" People were skeptical.

"It's true. The city defense headquarters has sent out a victory message. They are already printing more newspapers!"

The crowd was instantly in an uproar, with smiles and joy on every face, and eyes full of surprise and admiration:

"How did he do it? Was it a counterattack?"

"I heard that Charles' army only had more than 20,000 soldiers in total, but he was able to capture more German soldiers than them!"

"No, there were only 6,000 men attacking Pourville, and they captured several times that many Germans."

…

People were discussing heatedly.

Most people didn't know where Pville was or what its significance was. They were just amazed at the number of more than 20,000 German soldiers captured.

…

Falkenhayn, who was in the General Staff in Berlin, knew very well what the fall of Pville meant.

"Reinforcements, I need reinforcements." Falkenhayn: "I need two divisions, no, an army."

"General, we have no extra troops," said Colonel Moritz.

"Then we can draw troops from the defense line," Falkenhayn replied loudly, "or urgently recruit them. We can't let Pwyr fall at any cost."

Colonel Moritz did not answer, but just looked at Falkenhayn quietly.

Falkenhayn vented for a while, and finally sat back in his chair weakly.

They had to face the fact that Pwyr had been lost and could not be recaptured.

Charles's main armored force is there, and Pwyr is another area suitable for tank combat. No matter how many troops are sent in, they will be destroyed by Charles' troops.

It was like infantry marching in formation to charge an enemy trench.

Charles' tanks are mobile "trenches". Wherever they go, they create an impenetrable line of defense!

After a long while, Falkenhayn looked at Moritz with a painful expression: "We may have been fooled!"

"What?" Colonel Moritz didn't understand what this meant.

"Shire is actually short of fuel." Falkenhayn raised his head towards Pwyr on the map. "Have you ever considered that if Shire had obtained fuel from the British as we thought, he could just occupy Pwyr."

Colonel Moritz suddenly realized and his face turned pale in an instant: "In other words, everything we did was part of Charles's plan?"

Falkenhayn nodded weakly.

It was ridiculous that they actually thought they had seen through Charles's plan.

(End of this chapter)