Chapter 700 Fatal Weakness

At Paris City Hall, smoke filled the Prime Minister's office.

Briand and Clemenceau, holding cigars between their fingers, flipped through the newspapers that had just been delivered.

Charles's actions in Mézières were not reported to Paris, and even if they were reported, they were reported with a delay, sometimes a few hours and sometimes a few days.

Therefore, they even had to read the newspapers to learn about the latest war situation.

"What a irony." Clemenceau thought this was an insult to the parliament and the government: "Don't the military know that they need to fight with the consent of the parliament and the government? But now we don't even know what is happening on the front line!"

"It's wartime, Mr. Commissioner." Briand replied helplessly: "If we still need the approval of Parliament and the government to make decisions during wartime, all we can get is failure, and complete failure."

This was not said by Briand, but was a suggestion made by Gallieni, Pétain, Foch and others who were on the same front.

The latest is Gallieni's proposal:

"You know what Parliament is like, Mr. Prime Minister. It is full of spies from all countries, including German spies."

"The battle plans we discuss in parliament today will be known to the Germans tomorrow."

"Do you think we can still win the war like this?"

Pétain telegraphed his support for Gallieni:

"The parliamentarians are a group of people who don't understand military affairs or how to fight a war. It's hard to imagine that we actually need their consent before we can formulate a combat plan."

"If you must do this, I have a good suggestion."

"We can let the congressmen go to the battlefield for training. If every congressman can be like Colonel De Leon, I have no objection at all!"

(Note: Colonel De Leon was a member of parliament. After the outbreak of the war, he volunteered to join the army and died in the Battle of Verdun)

Foch rushed back to Paris from the Somme front to persuade Briand:

"This is a critical moment, Your Excellency the Prime Minister."

“If we were fighting trench warfare and defensive warfare, we could probably keep the military operations under parliamentary control as before, because it wouldn’t change much.”

"But now we are fighting a war of movement and penetration, and Charles is attacking the Germans."

"If we need the consent of Parliament, it would be like tying Charles' hands and feet and forcing him to fight the Germans!"

Briand would have liked to tie Charles's hands and make him fight the Germans.

However……

Gallieni was the Minister of War, Pétain was the backbone of defending Verdun, and Foch was the commander-in-chief of the French and Allied forces.

The attitudes of these three people, together with Charles, almost represent the entire military.

Even as Prime Minister Briand did not dare to confront them openly.

And Briand had no reason to resist, because any fool knew that the military should be given enough freedom in an emergency, unless he did not want the French army to win.

So, the end result was that Briand and Clemenceau found themselves seemingly sidelined, and they were losing control of the military and the war.

Clemenceau was a little annoyed. He threw the newspaper on the table and said angrily, "Foch, Pétain, and Gamelin, who is known as the smartest man in France, what are they doing? Except for Charles, is there no one who can win a battle?"

No matter who he is, as long as he wins a battle, parliament and capitalists will praise him to the sky.

Because this way, they could support another force in the military to compete with Charles.

But unfortunately, almost all the victories were won by Charles. Even if the contributions of all other people were added together, they would still be insignificant compared to Charles.

Briand placed the newspaper in front of Clemenceau and pointed to a report. "Can these people you are talking about come up with such a plan and such equipment?"

Clemenceau glanced at the newspaper. It was Le Merit, which published a photo of an "amphibious tank" modified from the "Charles A1".

It was slowly entering the water, with two soldiers on top operating it.

(The picture above shows the "Sherman DD" being launched)

Briand's eyes were filled with despair:

"It only took him one night, I mean, Ciel."

"To be exact, he only had 10 hours. He came up with this idea temporarily, modified it urgently, and then drove more than 100 tanks across the Meuse River!"

"Without bridges, pontoons or any other aids, they crossed the Meuse and broke through the German lines."

Briand became more and more excited as he spoke: "Can you imagine? The Germans were defeated like this! And Gamelin is called the smartest man in France, what a irony!"

In front of Charles, no one is worthy of being called "smart", otherwise it would be an insult to "intelligence".

Clemenceau leaned back on the sofa and spread out his hands.

Meaning: I agree, but what can we do now? No one can handle the Ciel!

Briand was silent for a moment, then he picked up the phone and said to his secretary, "Ask Lieutenant Colonel Duras to come to my office."

When he hung up the phone, Briand explained to Clemenceau: "We need someone who understands military affairs."

Clemenceau nodded in agreement.

Lieutenant Colonel Dura is the head of the Second Bureau of the General Staff. Although he is in charge of intelligence work, he is a graduate of a military academy and has participated in actual combat and performed well.

Soon, Lieutenant Colonel Duras stood before Briand.

Briand asked Lieutenant Colonel Duras in a very obscure way:

"Lieutenant Colonel, I believe you already know about the victory that Charles has achieved on the front line."

"It was a brilliant victory and the whole country was excited by it."

"But out of concern, I want to know your opinion. For example, what are the weaknesses of Ciel's plan this time? Or do you know any more detailed information?"

In fact, Lieutenant Colonel Dura was well aware that Briand and his people wanted to overthrow Charles.

This cannot be considered treason, it's just that the parliament and the government don't want to see a figure like Charles rise up and get out of control.

Lieutenant Colonel Dura certainly didn't dare to point it out. He put on a worried look:

"Yes, Your Excellency the Prime Minister."

"I have been analyzing Ciel's battle, or should I say studying it."

"I noticed that this time, Ciel's penetration was different from the previous ones. This could very well become a fatal weakness."

Clemenceau's eyes lit up and he sat up straight involuntarily: "Fatal weakness?"

"Yes, Mr. Commissioner." Lieutenant Colonel Dura replied calmly:

"In every previous penetration, Charles' First Armored Army had a large number of infantry to cooperate with it."

"For example, Foch's troops followed up in Antwerp, and Albert I's troops followed up in Hasselt."

"These infantrymen can follow the First Armored Corps to take over and hold the trenches and cities recaptured by the Shire."

"But this time..."

Briand and Clemenceau looked at each other with delight:

"He had no infantry to follow up this time."

"In order to successfully cross the Ardennes Mountains, Charles only brought the First Armored Army!"

(End of this chapter)