Chapter 226 The Stupid Way
Charles was silent for a while. He knew that Britain would eventually choose to land in the Dardanelles.
This was not entirely due to the First Lord of the Admiralty or British strategy.
Historically, the North and South factions argued for months and could not make a decision. Finally, Russia asked Britain for help because its air routes were blocked, and Britain finally agreed to the plan to land from the south.
Therefore, the decisive factor was the crisis of Russia, which was related to the victory or defeat of the entire Eastern Front and even the Allied Powers.
Charles confronted General Winter: "You guessed right, General, I do not support landing on either side. But if we must land, I think the North can minimize the possible losses and casualties."
"What?" General Winter thought he had heard it wrong: "North? That's the main force of the German army, and our landing troops must be careful to avoid the German High Seas Fleet. There won't be such troubles in the south!"
Ciel shook his head slightly.
Do you think the south is easy? That is the Dardanelles, 61 kilometers long and only 1.2 kilometers at its narrowest point. The Ottoman Empire doesn't have to do anything. It only needs to drop mines into it and it will be enough to deal a heavy blow to you. What's more, there are artillery of various calibers on the shore to bombard the warships.
Charles did not explain further. He continued, "My plan is this: the landing in the north is real, and the landing in the south is just a feint. The purpose is to attract the Germans' limited supplies and reinforcements to the south, so that they will not be able to deal with the landing of our main force in the north..."
"That's unrealistic, Colonel!" General Winter interrupted Charles. "Although the Germans do have problems with supplies under the British blockade, the north is the German mainland or a location very close to the mainland. There is a mature transportation network in that area."
Charles ignored General Winter and continued, "Then, including the series of landing activities carried out by our army in the south, they were actually a cover-up to attract German reinforcements and attention to the south, including tempting the German fleet to break through..."
General Winter seemed to understand something: "You mean, to encircle and annihilate the German fleet?"
But on second thought, he felt that something was not right. If Charles's goal was to encircle and annihilate the German fleet, he should not have said it directly.
Charles said nothing.
General Winter thought for a while, then suddenly woke up: "South, your goal is always the south!"
Charles concentrated on drinking his coffee and didn't even look up.
General Winter thought more and more that this was right, and soon he became excited: "Yes, if the Germans always think that we are going to attack the north and the south is all feints, they will not give the Ottoman Empire too many reinforcements, including artillery, mines, and troops, even if... Great, even if our people really landed in the south, the Germans might still think it was a feint!"
General Winter stepped forward and excitedly shook Charles' shoulder, completely ignoring the coffee that almost fell out of Charles' hand: "Great, Colonel, you are a genius! This will greatly help our attack. By the time the Germans realize this, it may be too late!"
Charles replied calmly: "I have to remind you, General, the south is not as simple as you think. You should have enough understanding and attention to this!"
"No problem, Colonel!" General Winter nodded. "I will pass your warning to the Minister of the Navy!"
Then General Winter hesitated again, leaned forward and asked in a low voice: "How can we pass the information of 'attack the north' to the Germans without any loopholes?"
Charles answered simply, "I agree with Albert I's idea of attacking the north, but I'll add a feint plan, and then do what needs to be done."
"Nothing else needs to be done?" General Winter asked in surprise.
Those who knew about the plan and participated in the discussion were all senior military officials, people who were completely trustworthy and would not have any problems. What if a trap was set and the Germans knew nothing about it?
Charles added: "The truth can only be known by British officers, and as little as possible. Do you understand?"
General Winter immediately understood that there was something wrong with the French officers, and they would perfectly pass the "fake plan" to the Germans.
After realizing this, General Winter looked at Charles with a half-smile on his face.
This time it was Charles' turn to be embarrassed, this was France's Achilles' heel.
Britain may be declining in other areas, but it has always been tight in military intelligence.
The National Security Agency (MI5) is responsible for internal intelligence work, while the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) is responsible for external intelligence. The two work together to develop a relatively mature intelligence network and summarize a set of effective means.
But in France, Charles had only heard of the "Second Bureau" counterintelligence agency, and nothing else.
…
At Schneider Arsenal, snowflakes were filling the air outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, and the atmosphere in the office was somewhat depressing.
Paulina handed James a document with a frustrated look on her face. "Sir, this is the tank order that the military has placed with the Charles Tractor Factory. It costs 30,000 francs per tank, and the first batch is 500. In addition, many other countries have heard the news and placed orders!"
James was signing other documents in his hands. During the break, he took the order statistics and threw them aside. He said "hmm" and continued to sign the documents.
Paulina sighed softly. James' reaction seemed to indicate that he had given up competing with Charles.
The development of Charles' tanks was so rapid and so perfect that it was unbelievable.
The battle of "Char A1" in Cape Town shocked almost everyone. The small tank of only eight tons could easily destroy the opponent weighing dozens of tons, and it crushed the opponent from all directions.
Pauline had studied that battle and she couldn't help but pit Saint-Chamond against Charles A1, hoping that Saint-Chamond would win.
But the results disappointed Paulina again and again: "Charles A1" only needed to use the same tactics to fight a mobile war with "Saint-Chamond" and it would always be invincible.
Seeing that James didn't say anything, Paulina thought that the matter was over and turned away dejectedly.
"You've given up completely, haven't you?" James stopped what he was doing.
"What else can we do?" Paulina turned back, a hint of doubt in her eyes.
"You did a great job!" James nodded: "Keep going!"
Paulina had a strange expression on her face. She didn't understand. What was the point of continuing like this?
James seemed to understand Paulina's idea. He smiled and said in a relaxed tone, "We can use a stupid method to slow down Charles, and at the same time learn Charles' tactics and design concepts. It is not impossible to surpass him in the future."
"A stupid way?" Paulina didn't understand at first, but then she figured it out and nodded in agreement.
(End of this chapter)
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