Chapter 703: Charles Can Only Rely on Himself

At the Paris City Hall, Briand and Clemenceau did not rush home after get off work. Instead, they had dinner in the Prime Minister's office.

Briand called it "overtime" and for dinner he asked his secretary to go to the Chateaubriand restaurant to buy grilled steak and snails.

(The above picture shows the Chateau de Chateau, which was founded in 1903 and is still in operation today)

"The steak here is very good." Briand cut a piece of it and put it into his mouth leisurely, saying, "Although we should eat at a restaurant, but..."

“Yes.” Clemenceau nodded as he chewed. “This is the best I’ve ever tasted!”

"If there is a chance, we should ask Charles to try it together." Briand said expressionlessly.

Then, the two of them laughed knowingly.

If Charles had lost the battle, his expression at the dinner table would have been very enjoyable.

After a moment Briand asked: "Any news about Charles?"

Clemenceau shook his head and responded vaguely: "As usual, there is no news. Gallieni seems unwilling to reveal anything."

But Clemenceau added:

"Don't worry, I admit that Ciel is very powerful. No one knows the battlefield better than him."

"but……"

"If there are not enough troops at hand and the Germans know his weaknesses, I believe there will be no more surprises!"

Briand nodded, raised his glass and clinked it with Clemenceau's: "For Charles!"

"For Ciel!"

The two looked at each other and smiled.

At this time, the secretary hurried in and reported: "Mr. Prime Minister, Lieutenant Colonel Dura wants to see you!"

Briand glanced at the food on the table, feeling a little embarrassed.

It seemed inappropriate for him as prime minister to enjoy such a lavish dinner at a time when the country was under wartime rationing.

But he immediately thought of a solution. He picked up the napkin to wipe his mouth and raised his chin to Clemenceau: "Come on, we should go to the conference room to continue discussing this issue."

“Of course.” Clemenceau stood up, picked up the glass and drank it in one gulp.

…

In the conference room, Lieutenant Colonel Dura walked up to the two men and knew what was going on.

Even though Briand and Clemenceau pretended to be indifferent, the smell of alcohol and barbecue smoke on their bodies still exposed their inappropriate extravagance.

But Lieutenant Colonel Dura didn't say anything. This was not something he could control, and there were more important things to do now.

"Charles has successfully captured Bizangsi," said Lieutenant Colonel Dura.

"Buzenci?" Briand and Clemenceau looked confused; they had no idea where this place was.

Lieutenant Colonel Du La pulled out a map from his pocket and spread it out in front of the two men, pointing his finger at the location of Bizenci: "The information I received is that Charles is advancing along the Meuse River. I think he hopes to penetrate Verdun."

There was a gleam of delight in Briand's eyes.

Clemenceau smiled. "I thought he would stay in Mezières, but I didn't expect him to still plan to come here. He is indeed Charles."

This is what they want to see.

Charles has insufficient troops, so the best option is to hold out in Mezieres until the end.

This cannot be considered a failure but rather a victory, after all, we have recovered the important industrial city of Mézières.

However, what is the "best choice" for the Shire is not for them.

They hoped that Charles would continue to infiltrate, and then be surrounded due to insufficient troops, or at best, something would happen to Charles.

Now, as they wished, Charles still chose to infiltrate despite the lack of troops.

That means Charles is asking for trouble, don't blame them!

Who made him like to show off?

This ignorant fellow must have fought too many battles with favorable winds, and now he no longer takes the Germans seriously. He still risks infiltrating the enemy even though his troops are at an absolute disadvantage!

But of course, neither of them would say that on their faces.

"God," Clemenceau exclaimed softly, "Isn't this too radical? Charles has only more than 20,000 people, while the Germans around him are at least hundreds of thousands."

Du La nodded gently: "Preliminary estimates show that there are more than 300,000 people in the area north of Mezières."

Brian looked at Dura in surprise: "You mean, there are more than 300,000 enemies just in the north?"

"Yes, Mr. Prime Minister." Lieutenant Colonel Dura analyzed:

"In addition, there are more than 100,000 people in the direction of Verdun, and another 100,000 on the east bank of the Meuse River."

"Adding all these troops together, there are at least 600,000 people around Charles!"

If one really wanted to count how many enemies there were around Shire, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to include the more than one million on the entire Western Front.

But the reality is not that scary.

Because many enemies did not have time to reach Charles' position before the battle was over, those troops that failed to be deployed could not play a role and were equivalent to having no troops.

(Note: This is also one of the reasons why armored and motorized forces are important. Their mobility enables them to be deployed in one battlefield and then transferred to another battlefield. Multiple deployments are equivalent to using several times the number of troops.)

But Briand and Clemenceau did not understand this. They looked at Colonel Dura in astonishment, unable to believe it was true.

Twenty thousand men facing six hundred thousand enemies?

How could Charles have the courage to choose to infiltrate instead of defending?

After a while, Clemenceau hummed and said, "Is this possible?"

Then he seemed to realize that he was being too straightforward and quickly added: "I mean, should we suggest that Charles withdraw to Mezieres?"

Lieutenant Colonel Dura was silent for a while and analyzed:

"It is almost impossible for the Shire to win."

"He should attack Le Tellet, where Foch has concentrated an army group against the enemy's lines."

"If Charles fails to break through the German defenses, Foch's attack could still give Charles a chance to survive. He might be able to support Charles."

Then Lieutenant Colonel Dura changed the subject:

"But now Charles is attacking Verdun along the Meuse River..."

"I don't understand why he would choose this route, it's much longer than Le Taylor, almost twice as far."

"At the same time, the German defense line in Verdun is very strong. It is almost impossible for Petain to break through in a short period of time, and he will not choose to attack!"

Briand and Clemenceau exchanged glances and breathed a sigh of relief.

They understood.

An attack by Foch in the direction of Le Tell might have saved Charles.

But in the direction of Verdun, Pétain was a defensive person and it was basically impossible for him to attack!

Clemenceau was happy in his heart, but pretended to be anxious: "So, should we order Pétain to attack?"

Brian frowned and shook his head slightly.

"But we all know that Pétain is not good at attacking."

"Besides, Pétain's defense is already solid. If he starts a counterattack now, I'm afraid all his efforts will be wasted."

"This could put Verdun in danger!"

Clemenceau nodded heavily, and said in a heavy tone: "So, Charles can only rely on himself. I wish him good luck!"

(End of this chapter)