Chapter 892 This is a trap

British Expeditionary Force Headquarters.

The signalmen, guards, and staff officers all had the joy and relief of victory on their faces. Some of them were drinking coffee while busy with their work. It was hard to tell that this was a command post in a state of war.

"It seemed that the outcome was decided. The Germans offered no resistance. Saarbrücken was just around the corner."

"Not just Saarbrücken, but the Hindenburg Line, the entire Hindenburg Line."

"That's right. The loss of Saarbrücken will be a fatal blow to the Germans. The entire defense line will be short of ammunition, and we will obviously not give them any breathing space."

Haig stood proudly in front of the sand table, coffee in his hand, looking down confidently at Saarbrücken with the German flag.

He enjoyed the process very much, moving towards success step by step and reaping the fruits of victory.

As for Charles, he still does not support this plan. Yesterday he published an article in the Meritorious Newspaper:

"I don't think this risk is appropriate. Although the Anglo-American coalition is making rapid progress, the risk is too great."

"This is most likely a German trap. This kind of terrain can easily lead to an enemy encirclement."

"As an ally, I feel obligated to remind Lieutenant General Haig: Please handle this with caution!"

…

Haig smiled.

trap?

Surrounded?

Respond with caution?

In every attack of Charles, there was no one who did not fall into the enemy's trap or encirclement.

But each time they were able to encircle and annihilate large numbers of Germans and win.

What is the difference between this attack and the Shire's penetration?

Of course, Haig would only say the last sentence in his heart. He was unwilling to admit to the public that he had learned Charles's infiltration tactics.

…

Charles saw it.

At least Haig's operation this time looked very much like a "penetration tactic" on the surface:

The highly mobile and highly combat-capable armored and mechanized forces concentrated on a breakthrough point and penetrated into key areas behind enemy lines regardless of the enemy's encirclement.

Once Saarbrücken was captured by the British and American forces, the German Hindenburg Line would be in trouble.

Tijani teased Charles: "You have another apprentice, and he is a lieutenant general, but I believe he will not admit it."

Ciel didn't care: "It would be fine if he really learned it, but the problem is that he only learned half of it."

"What's the difference?" Tijani was a little curious, he couldn't quite tell the difference.

"The difference lies in whether the Germans are prepared." Charles replied: "If the Germans had guessed that Haig would do this or even deliberately guided him to do this..."

Tijani suddenly realized: "That's not an 'interlude', but a real 'trap'."

Ciel nodded.

"Interspersing" is unexpected, and there are other routes that can be flexibly changed. If this route is blocked, you can switch to another one.

However, Haig's "Post-Snow Offensive" had only one offensive route, and its strategic intention was very obvious, which was fundamentally different from "interpenetration".

…

Haig didn't know this.

What he was thinking was:

When Charles was infiltrated, there was only one armored corps, and before the mechanized forces were formed, there was even only one armored division.

However, our own infiltration had an armored division and a mechanized division of the US Army with more than 50,000 people, and two tank brigades and three mechanized divisions of the British Army with more than 60,000 people. In addition, there were a large number of artillery and infantry following up, and the logistics supply lines were also heavily guarded. What problems could there be?

However.

Suddenly, a panicked voice came from the telecommunications room: "General, the 7th Air Squadron was blocked by the Germans, and only two of their fighter planes returned."

(Note: During World War I, the British air squadron had about 20 aircraft. The number of aircraft in each country was slightly different according to their own conditions. For example, Charles was very confident in his aircraft and could have 6 aircraft in a squadron to improve the utilization rate of aircraft.)

There was an instant of dead silence in the command center, and everyone turned their eyes to the staff officer who had raised the alarm.

Haig's expression changed slightly: "A German triplane?"

"Yes." The staff officer replied.

Haig said "hmm" and pretended to be calm: "Don't pay any attention to it, attack as planned."

"Yes, General."

In fact, Haig was a little panicked.

It was not because the German planes had the upper hand. He always believed that those "toys" in the air could not affect the war situation, and those few machine guns could not stop the advance of hundreds of thousands of people and hundreds of tanks.

The reason why Haig was "a little panicked" was that the German Air Force had been hiding until this time before attacking, which would verify Charles's "trap" theory, and the Germans would close the net at this time.

After hesitating for a while, Haig solemnly gave two additional orders to the staff officer:

"The armored forces advance at full speed and capture Saarbrücken in the shortest possible time."

"The 21st Army is ready for battle. The Germans are likely to launch a counterattack. We must hold our positions and ensure the safety of our supply lines!"

The staff officers immediately became busy, some sending telegrams, some checking information, and even the guards looked cautious.

Haig's first order was to achieve a quick victory and to prevent any unexpected events.

The second order was to ensure their own retreat, in case this was a trap as Charles said, the British and American forces could still escape unscathed.

However, Haig did not realize that he was still stuck in the one-dimensional tactical thinking of trench warfare, thinking that if the enemy wanted to cut off the supply line, he would have to use infantry counterattack and completely occupy it.

The feedback was soon delivered to Haig:

"General," the signalman reported, "The Germans blocked our supply lines with artillery fire, and the supply convoys suffered heavy losses."

"Artillery fire?" Hegeqi asked, "Where did the artillery fire come from?"

"They have deployed artillery in the forest," the signalman replied. "Their artillery has calculated all the parameters in advance and can accurately block every road."

The staff officer guarding the radio station added: "In addition, they may have achieved air-ground coordination, and the German aircraft were able to observe the location of our supply convoy at the right time."

Haig was so shocked that he was speechless for a long time.

This was Charles's tactic, installing a radio on the bomber to communicate with the artillery in real time.

Therefore, blocking the supply line does not require a counterattack at all, only artillery shells are needed.

If the British and American forces wanted to stop all this, they had to attack the forest and destroy their artillery positions.

In an instant, the enemy and I changed our offense and defense!

God, attack the forest?

The Germans built complete defensive fortifications there, even bunkers, with countless machine guns waiting for the British and American forces to enter.

Before Haig could figure out how to solve the problem, another staff officer reported: "General, the armored forces' offensive has been blocked!"

Haig looked up at his staff in astonishment. What could stop the armored forces?

The staff officer explained:

"The Germans had a hidden line of defense in front of Saarbrücken, which had no anti-tank trenches or barbed wire and was therefore not easily discovered."

“But they laid a lot of mines.”

"And anti-tank guns and anti-tank guns."

Haig's wrinkled face suddenly lost all color.

Charles was right, this was a trap, a trap targeting the main armored forces of Britain and the United States!

(End of this chapter)