Chapter 631 This is what we should do, you're welcome

City defense headquarters, Gallieni's lounge.

Although the headquarters had been reorganized and some of the spies planted by capitalists and parliamentarians had been kicked out, because this was a reserve army group with much less "war danger", many officers who were just trying to get by were gradually infiltrated after Charles left.

Gallieni had no choice. He sat at the desk and took the coffee that Charles brewed for him. He said helplessly: "This is not something that can be solved by one or two people. Many times I don't even have a reason to transfer them away."

Charles nodded to show that he understood, this was an institutional issue.

Unless they can form an internal circulation and isolate themselves from the outside world during battle like Charles' troops, most of the officers graduating from military academies are children of nobles and parliamentarians. Where can they find those with clean backgrounds?

Gallieni took a sip of coffee, looked up at Charles, and asked curiously, "What do you mean by business?"

"Plane, General," Charles replied. "We need more planes."

Gallieni said "Oh" and asked, "How much do you need?"

Charles paused for a moment and replied, "At present, we need to build at least three military airports, each with a fighter squadron and a bomber squadron, about 200 aircraft, at least 200 aircraft."

"200?" Gallieni looked at Charles in shock. "But I heard that our air force is enough to suppress the Germans."

What this means is that the military has no need to purchase additional aircraft at this stage, let alone so many aircraft.

Charles expressed his understanding. France was currently facing a shortage of supplies, and air superiority was no problem, so the military naturally had no demand for it.

However……

Charles placed a map in front of Gallieni and said to himself, "I plan to build military airports in these three locations: Brest, Caen and Dunkirk."

(The red circles in the above picture are the locations of Brest Shipyard, Caen and Dunkirk, which are about 200 kilometers away from each other)

Gallieni took his glasses and put them on, frowning as he looked at the three locations Charles had pointed out on the map. "I thought you were buying more planes and opening up airports to put them on the front lines."

If it is understandable to place them on the front line, it will be good for the war, after all, the additional aircraft purchased are used to fight the Germans.

But now it takes so much effort and so much money to put them in the back, which makes it difficult for Gallieni to understand.

Charles replied calmly: "This is to cooperate with the British Royal Navy to blockade the English Channel, General."

"Block the English Channel?" Gallieni laughed. "With the British fleet here, we don't need to worry about that at all."

Charles said nothing, but just looked at Gallieni quietly.

Gallieni was puzzled by Charles's expression, then he looked at the map and suddenly realized: "You are not doing this to deal with the Germans, but..."

Gallieni stopped talking in time.

Walls have ears. If you can avoid saying "deal with the British", then don't say it. It's okay as long as both parties understand it.

Charles nodded slightly and replied, "The English Channel is one of the busiest sea routes in the world and a battleground for military strategists. Whoever controls the English Channel can control shipping, control supplies, and even take the initiative in war and have a say in politics."

This is not an exaggeration at all. Once Britain loses the English Channel, it will be finished.

The reason is the theory of "attack is greater than defense".

If Britain wanted to prevent the French landing on land, it had to place fortresses, fortifications, barbed wire, coastal defense artillery, infantry guns, trenches, etc. at every point along the 560-kilometer coast of the Channel.

This money is enough to build several fleets.

And even if this cannot be prevented, the French army can still concentrate its forces to break through from one point.

Gallieni was so shocked by Charles's grand plan that he was speechless for a long time. He looked at the map and then at Charles, secretly shocked.

This little guy just turned 19 and he already has such a big appetite.

What he was thinking about was not stopping the Germans or defeating them, but competing with the world's most powerful country. His imaginary enemy was the British Royal Navy, which was admired by the whole world.

You have to know that this is something that France has not been able to accomplish in decades with the whole country's strength, and he is so ignorant of his own limitations to launch a challenge!

After thinking for a while, Gallieni shook his head: "Aircraft are not very useful in naval warfare, Lieutenant General. At most, they can only play a reconnaissance role..."

Charles didn't say anything. He took out a sketch from the inside pocket of his windbreaker and handed it over.

It was a casual sketch he had made while discussing the details with Eric at the aircraft factory: a Caproni bomber with a torpedo mounted on its belly.

Gallieni took it and looked at it, and was stunned and speechless.

Although he didn't know much about naval warfare, he knew about torpedoes.

At the same time, as someone who had paid attention to the Battle of the Dardanelles, he also knew that those battleships that looked as powerful as ironclad hedgehogs could often be sunk by just one torpedo in actual combat.

When I saw that the bomber could actually carry torpedoes, I immediately understood what was going on.

After a while, Gallieni exclaimed: "My God, is this true? Can you really use a bomber... to do this?"

Charles nodded affirmatively:

"It's not difficult to mount it. The main difficulty is that the torpedo itself cannot withstand the impact when it hits the sea and may malfunction."

"We need time to reinforce the torpedo components."

"In addition, there may be requirements for the speed, altitude and attitude of the bombers when they are dropped, but these are all within an acceptable range."

Gallieni stood up tremblingly, holding the sketch in his hand and said excitedly: "Great, little guy! Unbelievable, do you know what this means? Our navy will become the best in the world, and we will own the whole world, Charles, you are simply a genius!"

This is not an exaggeration at all.

If a bomber carrying a torpedo can destroy a battleship, and its projection radius is 300 kilometers, it can be used to block most shipping lanes, making it difficult for the powerful British Royal Navy to move forward.

For example, the Strait of Gibraltar.

Charles pointed at Dunkirk on the map and said, "The airport here should be the focus, General. I think we should have twice as many fighter planes and bombers here."

Gallieni glanced at the map and nodded repeatedly: "That's right, double or even triple it, or add another airport in Boulogne-sur-Mer or Calais."

(The red circle in the picture above is the Strait of Dover, which is called the Strait of Calais in France. It is the narrowest part of the English Channel and is only 34 kilometers long. Placing fighters and bombers in Dunkirk can not only block the Strait of Calais, but also directly bomb London to pose a threat to it.)

Finally, Charles asked Gallieni: "General, do you think we should buy these 200 more planes?"

Gallieni cleared his throat, put away his smile, and answered seriously:

"All signs indicate that the German fleet has the possibility of breaking out from the English Channel."

"As a member of the Allied Powers, I believe it is our responsibility to prepare for this potential danger in advance."

“Although aircraft can play little role in naval warfare, we are happy to add airfields and deploy aircraft to provide intelligence to our allies.”

"This is what we should do, you're welcome!"

Charles, who was about to put his coffee into his mouth, almost spit it out...

(End of this chapter)