Chapter 282: How is the leader?
It was past noon and Camille was sitting in front of the fire, knitting a sweater.
Perhaps because she was upset, she kept inserting the wrong needle with her hands, and made mistakes again when returning the needle. Soon the sweater was tied into a knot. She simply threw the sweater aside, sat on the chair, and stared at the flames.
Camille has been having trouble sleeping and eating lately.
Every time she went out to buy groceries or chat with neighbors, she would always hear words like "Only Charles can save the Dardanelles" and "There will be no problem if Charles is in command."
The neighbors might have thought this was a compliment and an acknowledgement of Charles' abilities, but Camille knew that this idea could potentially push Charles onto the battlefield.
So she always acts excited:
"No, Charles has never been to the sea. He knows nothing about the navy and certainly cannot lead the battle of the Dardanelles!"
"He has never even been on a warship. I am sure he can only command on land."
…
Once, the easy-going Camille had an argument with Aunt Kara.
At that time, Aunt Kara said: "God, thousands of people are killed and injured every day. If Charles was there, this would definitely not happen!"
Camille suddenly broke down. She yelled at Aunt Kara: "This is not Charles' fault. Why does everyone think that Charles can do anything?"
Camille thinks that it might be a good thing if Charles didn't have these abilities, so he wouldn't be facing the situation he is in now.
But on second thought, Camille felt something was wrong. Without these skills, he might have already gone to the battlefield as an infantryman, which seemed more dangerous.
At this time, Camille heard cheers coming from outside. Confused, Camille stood up and looked out the window, only to see the neighbors talking excitedly, as if they were celebrating something.
Camille was delighted. Did he win the battle?
This was indeed cause for celebration; if they could win the war, the Shire wouldn't have to fight.
However……
Neighbor Emma ran over and saw Camille standing at the window, and she unconsciously slowed down her pace.
"Mrs. Bernard." Emma looked a little strange, and she asked hesitantly, "Have you heard?"
"What did you hear?" Camille asked.
"I'm not sure if it's true." Emma seemed a little regretful, but she still answered: "I heard that Charles volunteered to go to the battlefield, and General Gallieni announced the news in Parliament."
"No, this is impossible!" Camille's face turned pale instantly.
After a moment's pause, she turned around and ran to the phone to call the tractor factory.
Just as she asked, Dejoka appeared at the door with a helpless look on his face.
Camille seemed to have grasped at straws and turned to Djokovic, saying, "This is not true. Charles would not make such a stupid decision."
Djokovic didn't say anything, so Camille knew the answer.
Camille looked ashen as death. She grabbed her hat and scarf from the hanger and walked out the door.
"Wait." Djokovic chased after him: "Where are you going?"
"I'll go find Charles." Camille said firmly, "There must be a reason. He must have been deceived..."
"He may be studying how to fight this battle." Djoka advised: "It seems that it is not the right time for you to go now!"
Camille was stunned and didn't move for a long time, looking at Paris from afar like a statue.
…
Charles actually had a vacation, Gallieni gave him three days off.
But Ciel refused: "It makes no sense, General."
Gallieni nodded and replied: "Just ignore me."
He thought Charles needed more time to prepare, but in fact Charles didn't know how to explain it to Camille and Djokovic.
Charles could only devote himself to the upcoming war, after all, it was related to his own life.
Just as Charles had thought, the landing operation went difficultly.
The vast majority of the participating troops were colonial troops and the British Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, and only the 29th Division was a local army.
So far, all of France's African Corps have departed from Port Said, Egypt.
Everyone thought that the British home army should fight better than the colonial army because they had better equipment, more naval gun cover, and better training.
However, the reality is quite the opposite.
The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps fought resolutely, and although they suffered heavy casualties, they eventually landed successfully and held off the Ottoman counterattack.
As for the British 29th Division, they were responsible for landing on the five beaches, but either they were slow in action and missed the opportunity, or they failed to land successfully after suffering heavy casualties.
In the battle of V Beach, the British Army's 1st Royal Dublin Fusiliers even tended to be defeated and collapsed, and the commander of the 88th Brigade personally took part in the battle but was killed during the second landing.
Their opponents, the Ottomans stationed on the coastline, had only one infantry company of 400 to 500 people.
Gallieni placed these two battle examples in front of Charles and asked, "Do you have anything to say?"
Charles looked at Gallieni in confusion. He didn't quite understand what Gallieni meant.
"In terms of landing warfare, perhaps the French offensive theory is correct." Gallieni pointed to the document and explained: "The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps has a tenacious fighting spirit. After they successfully landed, they immediately expanded the battlefield and launched an attack on the enemy, which won landing space for their subsequent landing troops."
Then he pointed to the combat documents of the British 29th Division: "On the contrary, the British were timid and did not dare to attack even after successfully landing. Although all conditions were better than those of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps and they faced far fewer enemies, their performance was disappointing."
Charles smiled and said nothing.
Gallieni was worried that he would fall into a trap because he had never commanded a landing operation.
On the other hand, Charles has always defeated his opponents by relying on his equipment advantage, at least on the surface.
Then Charles' command style would be more like that of a well-equipped British army.
What Gallieni didn't know was that the British were indeed better equipped than the Anzacs, but they were still using the wrong equipment.
The Shire's was something else entirely.
At this time, Tijani ran down the stairs into the Operations Department, looking exhausted. He stood in front of Charles and asked breathlessly, "Colonel, I heard that you are going to reinforce the Dardanelles?"
Ciel said "hmm" and continued to look at the document in his hand.
"Take me with you!" Tijani's eyes were full of expectation: "I can do anything. I can be a battalion commander or a company commander..."
Charles glanced at Tijani's rank and said, "It doesn't seem appropriate to have a major general as a battalion commander."
"Don't worry about it." Tijani smiled apologetically: "Why don't you let me be your advisor?"
"I am just a counselor." Charles refused bluntly: "It seems that the counselor does not need a counselor."
"Then..." Tijani said with a bitter face: "Let me command the logistics, or the ships. I know something about this."
Charles turned to Tijani and said, "If you need me, how about the captain?"
"Captain...Captain?" Tijani was stunned.
(End of this chapter)
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