Chapter 198 Victory on the front line?

Joffre's attack on Cape Town entered its fifth day.

Everything was going on in an orderly manner. Five infantry divisions had been assembled on the Cape Town front, and the soldiers charged at the enemy's defense line day and night.

Prepare artillery fire, charge, prepare artillery fire again, charge again...

During the day, fighter planes were also sent into battle to suppress the enemy's artillery, but the effect was not obvious.

The reason was that the Germans had realized the threat of air superiority to artillery. They deployed artillery in a basin surrounded by hills, and then planned to deploy Maxim machine guns on the peaks of the surrounding highlands to hide them.

Once an aircraft lowered its altitude to bomb or strafe the artillery positions, these hidden machine guns would instantly shoot down the aircraft with a dense rain of bullets.

After Carter realized this, he strictly ordered all machine gun fighters not to enter the hilly area to attack enemy artillery. He was worried that if the machine gun fighters were shot down and crashed, the secret of the "machine gun firing coordinator" would be exposed.

Nothing is more important than this, Carter thought, even if the Germans offer the entire Cape Town with both hands!

…

This day was Charles's holiday. He was sitting in the car returning to Darvaz. It was raining at first, and then it suddenly turned into hail. It hit the canvas on the roof of the car, making a "tapping" sound, and some fell on the car glass and hood, making a crisp "crackling" sound.

Charles couldn't help but stretch out his hands to catch some of them, but even though they hit his hands, they were always able to jump away flexibly, or they had already melted into small droplets before Charles wanted to take a closer look.

Major Laurent drove with one hand and turned the windshield wiper with the other. He turned back and smiled and reminded: "You don't want to taste it, including the snowflakes you see in the future."

"Why?" Charles asked in confusion.

Laurent smiled bitterly and replied: "You may not understand since you live in Darwaise, but this is Paris. Whatever you smell in the air, that's what's in the hail!"

Charles said "Oh".

In this era of rapid industrial development, no country can avoid pollution.

European countries just took the lead. They polluted the earth as much as they could. After completing their industrial upgrading, they were worried that latecomers would surpass them, so they vigorously promoted and publicized environmental protection.

The double standards and ugliness of capitalists are actually everywhere, but they are good at using propaganda tools to package themselves beautifully.

…

After returning home, Charles felt that the atmosphere was a bit strange while eating breakfast.

Normally at this time, Djokovic should be talking endlessly about the situation in the factory over the past two days so that Charles can get into his new job in the factory more quickly.

Camille was supposed to be in the kitchen cleaning up the utensils. She was always the last one to sit down at the table, but today she was having dinner with Djokovic and Charles.

"What happened?" Charles asked curiously, with pizza in his mouth, "Is the factory not doing well?"

"No!" Dejoka replied: "Everything went well. They even produced ten prototypes, and they will start mass production after testing."

The Renault tank progressed quickly, thanks to Charles' foresight, and it solved almost all problems during the design stage.

Therefore, there is no need to go through a series of complex and time-consuming cycles of design, prototype, testing, redesign, and re-production of prototypes for testing.

"Is it because of the hail today?" Charles looked out the window.

"No, Charles." Djoka put down his fork. He ignored Camille's warning eyes and said angrily, "They took away your flying squadron, didn't they?"

Charles then understood why, and Djokovic stood up for him.

"Where did you hear this?" Charles asked in surprise.

"Everyone knows," Deyoka replied. "They recognize Carter's plane, as well as Cornelius's and Luchini's!"

Charles suddenly realized that the planes of these three people were easy to recognize:

Carter flew a "machine gun plane" with a middle finger raised as the paint job, earning him the nickname "Middle Finger Carter".

Cornelus was the guy who went hungry for two months because he couldn't afford to repair his plane. His plane was painted with a shark with a bloody mouth, so he was called "Shark Cornelus".

Luchini was a rocket fighter pilot who blew up German artillery positions during the Battle of Ypres. He was famous for his fast dive speed. He used to paint the wings of his planes the French military blue, and was known as the "Blue Face Hurricane".

As soon as the three of them appeared in the sky, everyone knew that it was Charles' First Flying Squadron.

But Charles was on vacation at home, which meant that the First Flying Squadron was taken away by someone else.

"They said it was Joffre who did it!" Dejoka said in a sullen voice, "His behavior is totally inconsistent with his status as commander-in-chief. This is a shameful act..."

"This is a normal mobilization of the army, father." Charles replied calmly: "The army should not belong to anyone. They are used for fighting."

"Even so, why are you the only captain not transferred?" Deyoka asked back: "Who is more qualified than you to command the flying squadron? This is obviously to exclude you from the military merits..."

Camille interrupted Djoka: "You actually want them to transfer Charles? This seems reasonable to me. They abide by the decision of the parliament!"

In Camille's opinion, as long as Charles doesn't have to go to the battlefield, it is reasonable and a good thing.

She couldn't understand Charles' feelings. She had spent all her efforts to train a flying squadron, but when they were about to become combat-ready, they were transferred away with a transfer order.

Although it was not stated explicitly, Djokovic's words were clearly more in line with Charles' psychological expectations.

However, Charles still acted as if nothing had happened: "They said they would return the flying squadron. This time it was just an emergency call."

Djokovic sighed: "I hope so."

But everyone knows that this is most likely an excuse. Once they fully realize the value of the flying squadron, they will find various excuses to keep the flying squadron.

What will Charles do then?

There was silence at the table for a moment, everyone was thinking about their own things.

At this time, Laurent's car drove quickly to the Dejoka gate and braked suddenly.

Charles looked out the window in confusion. Normally Laurent would not come to his house at this time. If he did, it would mean there was an emergency.

Sure enough, Major Laurent jumped out of the car and ran forward without stopping.

Deyoka opened the door in time, and Major Laurent hurried in and said to Charles: "Major, General Gallieni asked you to return to the headquarters immediately. They have won the victory at the front."

Charles was stunned. Joffre won the victory at the front? This was good news. Why should he be in a hurry?

The next second Charles reacted: If Xiafei's tanks could win, there was only one possibility, the enemy let them in intentionally!

(End of this chapter)