Chapter 583 In order to allow more people to survive

Gamelin dropped the telegram and walked up to Charles, saying in a stiff tone: "Whatever you want to do, General, you should stop!"

Charles moved the newspaper away and glanced at Gamelin coldly: "You seem to have forgotten who you are, General, and who you are talking to."

Gan Molin was stunned, and then he realized that he was used to taking command and forgot that Charles was the commander of the army group.

But Gan Molin still refused to give in.

The command is in his hands. He is much older than Charles and is also the smartest general in France. He has the final say here.

"You know what I'm talking about, General." Gamelin naturally put himself in a commanding position. He said excitedly: "Our opponents are the Germans, not our own people. What you are doing is extremely irresponsible. It is a nightmare for the army!"

Charles seemed to be interrupted from reading the newspaper. He shook the newspaper, folded it twice and threw it on the desk.

"First of all, I don't know what you're talking about."

"Secondly, our opponents are the Germans, which I totally agree with."

"But when it comes to 'nightmare', I suppose nothing compares to the Somme? What do you think, General?"

Gan Molin was speechless.

Charles was telling him: if the troops were in the hands of idiots like you, tragedy like the Somme would happen again and again, and Charles was the one who would achieve victory at the lowest cost.

Therefore, from the perspective of casualties, victory and even national interests, Gamelin's practice of undermining Charles' power is what he called "irresponsible" and "a nightmare."

Charles smiled contemptuously. These bastards, how could they be called "irresponsible"?

Seeing that he could not convince Charles, Gamolin could only say bitterly: "I won't let you succeed."

Charles spread his hands indifferently, indicating that come on, he wanted to see if Gamolin had any way to break the situation.

As a result, Gamelin walked back to his desk and issued an order before he even sat down: "Order the troops to stop the attack!"

After saying this, Gamolin glanced at Charles with a hint of pride.

If these officers were killed by soldiers during the attack, there would be nothing you could do if you didn't attack!

Ciel kept smiling, with a hint of teasing on the corners of his mouth.

This idiot actually thought this could solve the problem.

About half an hour later, the secret fight came to an end.

The staff officer on the phone reported loudly to Gamelin: "General, the Germans attacked our defense line. They attacked the headquarters of our 72nd Infantry Division. The division commander, General Donadieu, was seriously injured, and two regimental commanders and seven staff officers were killed."

Gamelin's face turned pale in an instant. Only then did he realize that the French army's non-attack did not mean that the German army would not attack.

Once the German army launched an attack, the soldiers who implemented the "unspoken rules" would be able to wipe out all the officers hiding in the headquarters.

Of course, under the name of "Storm Troopers", this German force gave them a perfect excuse!

Gamlin looked at Charles in anger and shame, but he could do nothing about it.

Charles just smiled, as if mocking Gamelin's childishness and impracticality.

Once this kind of "unwritten rule" in the military starts, it is difficult to stop.

Because not only Christine's First Special Artillery Division, the entire Sixth Army will follow suit after hearing the news and will not stop until they achieve their goal.

They just wanted to survive and win, and the only one who could do that was Ciel.

But the officers who were inserted in the room stood between them and Charles, and wanted to lead the soldiers to death.

If the soldiers want to survive, they have to remove these "stumbling blocks" standing in their way!

…

In the 16th arrondissement of Paris, 74-year-old Clemenceau is spending Christmas Eve with his family in his villa.

This is a big family. More than twenty people gathered at the rectangular dining table, men and women, young and old. They were laughing and talking happily under the backdrop of the Christmas tree lights. The table was filled with exquisite food, and children were chasing and playing in the gaps.

Clemenceau sat in the main seat. His face was flushed after drinking a few glasses of wine, and he looked at everything with satisfaction in his slightly drunken eyes.

There is nothing more rewarding than keeping your family together during wartime.

And he firmly believed that he would be able to do this no matter how many years the war lasted.

At this time, the butler brought up a silver tray and placed it skillfully in front of Clemenceau. Clemenceau was stunned. It was a telegram from Belgium.

It read: "A large number of officers of the 6th Army died in the battle."

The butler came forward and whispered, "Master, Brigadier General Xavier died not long ago in Gembloux!"

Clemenceau's face changed again and again, and he glanced at his brother sitting on his right. Xavier was his youngest son.

While Clemenceau was still thinking about what to say, another servant came up in a hurry: "Sir, Prime Minister Briand wants you to go to the city hall!"

…

Briand has been staying at city hall. Without any family to worry about, it doesn't matter where he spends Christmas Eve. He plans to stay here and pay attention to the "Christmas Offensive" tonight.

(Note: Briand was an ascetic and never married)

At around eight o'clock in the evening, after dinner, Briand stood in front of the window with a glass of red wine, enjoying the night view of Paris and marveling at the greatness of this "City of Light".

When the bells of Notre Dame rang in the distance, Briand was about to summarize his work.

After reminiscing for a while, he felt that what he was most proud of was his recent success in removing Charles from the 6th Army.

"This is obviously a good thing." Briand looked into the void and muttered to himself: "Otherwise, France will groan under the control of a dictator again. I must guarantee her freedom!"

At this time, the secretary came in, his steps were very urgent: "Your Excellency the Prime Minister, General Gamolin called and said that a large number of officers died in the battle."

Briand turned his head suddenly as if he was pricked by a needle. He sensitively realized that this matter was not as simple as "dying in battle".

He took the telegram, read it for a while, and ordered: "Call Clemenceau."

"Yes, sir."

Before Clemenceau arrived, Briand asked Gamelin by telegram:

"Does this have anything to do with Ciel?"

"I'm not sure, Your Excellency. He doesn't appear to have done anything, and we have no evidence."

“How could they do that?”

"In fact, it can be said to be a tradition of the military."

"Tradition?"

"Yes." Gamelin explained:

"They call it 'the law of the jungle' or 'the law of nature'."

"In peacetime, they would lynch soldiers who were a burden to the troops."

"During the war, this kind of lynching became more radical. But most of them were directed at officers who would threaten the survival of the troops, with the aim of keeping more people alive."

The implication is: if the officers won't give them a way to survive, and the government and the law can't save them, they can only rely on themselves.

(End of this chapter)