Chapter 793 The Time for Acquisition Has Come

Half of the reason why the British army fled so quickly was Charles' warning.

Charles accurately predicted the German army's actions, but the British commander-in-chief Haig ignored it. Therefore, when the German attack became a reality, the British officers and soldiers' only remaining trust and hope in the commander-in-chief were gone.

If you don't trust your commander and his command ability, you will certainly have no morale to fight.

This put the British Expeditionary Force in an almost one-sided position in the subsequent defensive battle, and the German army beat it like a herd of sheep.

The other half of the reason is that the German army launched the K-Wagen super heavy tank at the right time.

This tank actually only looks scary. It has no advantage in tank battles and its maximum speed is only 7.5 kilometers per hour.

This speed is only slightly faster than walking.

The actual speed is much slower than human walking, because its weight and huge body cause it to always have problems along the way. It needs constant maintenance along the way, and even the tracks need to be replaced every other day, otherwise they will break along the way.

However, its majestic appearance when it appeared in the British army's sight and broke into their ranks frightened the British army.

It is like a mobile powder depot when dealing with infantry, with 4 77MM infantry guns and 7 Maxim machine guns.

The powerful firepower was like a hurricane on the battlefield. Bullets were fired crazily around and artillery shells were chasing the fleeing British tanks all the way, as if to say whoever stands in my way will die.

The British army had never seen this kind of "war machine". Out of fear of unknown equipment and self-protection, they exaggerated its firepower and power to their friendly forces after retreating. As a result, a chain reaction caused the British troops in the rear to panic.

As a result, before the German army even reached the city, a large number of British soldiers had already deserted.

…

Bizossi training base.

Charles is discussing the reconnaissance method of the "truck gun" with Tijani.

All other problems with the "truck gun" have been solved, but the reconnaissance method is giving Tijani a headache.

"The characteristic of the 'truck gun' is that it can be quickly attacked and quickly withdrawn." Tijani held the exercise data in one hand and a pencil in the other, and explained as he marked: "We have tried it and it can be withdrawn to a safe area in about 5 minutes at the fastest. This means that this gun is almost invincible."

It takes at least five minutes for the enemy to detect the target, calculate all the parameters, and finally fire the shells into the target area.

(Note: It takes more than 10 minutes for ordinary artillery to evacuate. In extreme cases, the enemy's shells often come before the position is evacuated. In principle, the truck artillery only needs to put away the spade to complete the transition from combat to marching, which only takes one minute.)

"But the problem is." Tijani drew a horizontal line on the diagram with a pencil: "Its range is more than ten kilometers, which means that its target is often enemy artillery more than ten kilometers away, and our artillery observers deployed in the front are usually unable to observe these long-range targets."

Ciel understood what Tijani meant.

The enemy's firepower layout from front to back is usually: no-man's land, enemy defense line, 77MM infantry gun, and then the long-range 105MM howitzer.

Even if the artillery deploys a large number of artillery observers in the front, they are usually seven or eight kilometers away from the enemy's 105MM howitzer positions.

More importantly, enemy artillery positions are often very hidden and sometimes in blind spots, making it difficult to find and calculate their elements.

Without these elements, it will be useless even if the "truck gun" can attack and retreat quickly.

"The planes can find the location of the enemy's artillery positions," said Charles, "as long as the enemy artillery fires."

Firing a cannon will release a large amount of smoke, which can be easily observed from the air.

Tijani shook his head helplessly. "It's useless to observe it, General. The aircraft needs to transmit its position through a 'message bottle'. This method takes a long time and the communication is not smooth. It is also impossible to guide the artillery fire accurately into the target area."

Ciel thought for a moment and said, "I'll take care of it. Leave it to me."

"Can you solve it?" Tijani didn't believe it. How could there be any solution?

"We just need to bring the radio aboard, Major General," Charles replied. "We have bombers and we have air superiority."

The only problem was that the radio was prone to malfunction due to the vibration of flight, so the bomber was required to maintain a stable flight throughout the entire process.

Tijani was so shocked by what Charles said that he was speechless: "Bringing a radio on the plane? Is it really possible to do that?"

"Of course." Charles nodded affirmatively.

At this time, it is definitely unrealistic to move the radio to a fighter jet for communication between aircraft because of its large size and prone to malfunction.

But this does not mean that it cannot be moved to bombers for air-to-ground communications.

Of course, this requires fighter escort to ensure its safety, otherwise the bomber that "maintains low speed and stable flight" is extremely vulnerable to attack by enemy aircraft.

"Great, General." Tijani shook Charles' shoulder excitedly. "Do you know what this means? Our 'truck guns' will completely suppress the German artillery, even if we only have two artillery regiments with 80 guns."

Tijani is right.

Although Charles' "truck gun" uses the German army's 105MM howitzer, its performance is the same as that of the German army.

But in a contest between long-range artillery, the key is which side can grasp the enemy's position faster and more accurately, and evacuate quickly after firing the shells.

If Charles could coordinate aerial reconnaissance with the "truck gun", then the artillery battles of this era would be like turning on a cheat, making him almost invincible.

And this is just the beginning. In the future, aerial reconnaissance aircraft can also provide data for other infantry artillery. This will be a qualitative leap for the overall combat effectiveness of the artillery, even if the French artillery is not as good as the German artillery.

At this time, the staff officer handed over a telegram. Tijani took it and glanced at it, then looked at Charles with admiration: "You guessed right again. The Germans launched a counterattack this morning, and the British army has retreated across the board!"

Charles took the telegram and read it. He was more interested in the Germans investing in a super-heavy tank?

K-Wagen?

Good thing.

It just confirmed what Charles mentioned in parliament not long ago: "The Germans are developing a 150-ton super-heavy tank."

Some lawmakers still don't believe it.

Now that the facts are before their eyes, they have no choice but to believe it.

At the same time, the emergence of this super-heavy tank of the German Army and the failure of the British Army will further intensify the panic of domestic capitalists:

The development of the war situation was exactly as Charles had estimated. The Germans were using super-heavy tanks and Paris artillery to launch a dual attack, and the British army of more than 500,000 was easily defeated.

Therefore, it is still unknown who will win, and Paris may fall again.

As a result, asset and land prices will hit rock bottom.

Charles said nothing. He calmly returned to his lounge and sent a telegram to Djokovic and Armand using his private radio: "The time for acquisition has come."

(End of this chapter)