Chapter 300 Let the Enemy Defeat Us
As soon as Charles showed the two pictures, the atmosphere in the conference room changed immediately.
Most officers, who had originally been opposed to the landing at Bolayel, were now full of confidence in it.
General Winter looked at the documents in his hand excitedly and said with emotion: "God, they are simply designed for this battle."
He turned his eyes to Charles and asked: "Colonel, you have not thought of landing at Beaulaye for a long time, have you?"
Tijani asked back with a half-smile: "What do you think, General?"
The officers were silent for a while, and suddenly burst into laughter.
General Winter realized that he had asked a stupid question: Charles had already built them and brought them here, and of course he had thought of using them in a landing operation when he was in France.
But the laughter soon stopped strangely.
The officers noticed that General Hamilton sat there quietly, looking at the two drawings in front of him expressionlessly, without saying a word.
"Do you have any different opinions, General Hamilton?" General Winter asked.
Hamilton said "hmm", threw the blueprint on the table, looked up at Charles, and said coldly:
"I admire your creative ideas, Colonel."
"I won't mention the many uncertainties involved. Even if you can land successfully..."
Hamilton paused, glanced around, and emphasized his tone:
"Pay attention, Charles is planning to land between dawn and dawn."
"This means that there is not much time left for the Shire to land. These twenty landing craft and twenty landing ships may need to make three or four round trips to transport 3,000 people ashore."
Hamilton tapped his fingers on the tabletop, making it creak rhythmically:
"So, how can you defeat an Ottoman Empire division of more than 10,000 people with these 3,000 people?"
"And the Ottoman Empire will continue to receive reinforcements."
"But it is difficult for us to increase our forces because the landing site may be blocked by enemy artillery fire at dawn!"
The officers were all stunned. They indeed had not considered this issue.
The Ottomans had built complete fortifications in Bolayer and deployed a division. Even if Charles' 3,000 men could land, they would probably not be able to capture Bolayer and cut off the supply line.
Charles acted calmly, speaking in a steady tone: "We don't need to defeat this division, nor do we need to defeat their endless reinforcements."
Hamilton looked at Charles in confusion. How could he cut off Bolayel if he didn't defeat the enemy?
Ciel added: "We will let the enemy defeat us!"
The others were confused, but Hamilton understood. He looked at Charles in shock, with a hint of surprise and caution in his eyes.
General Winter still didn't understand. He asked curiously, "Let the enemy defeat us? How is this different from us defeating the enemy?"
"Of course there is a difference, General." Charles replied, "We defeated the enemy because our army attacked the enemy's defense line. So 3,000 people are indeed far from enough to take down an enemy division, not to mention the enemy's subsequent reinforcements."
General Winter said, "Oh!" "Let the enemy defeat us, which means we build fortifications and wait for the enemy to attack?"
After thinking about it, General Winter also felt that it made sense.
During the trench warfare period, especially when the Ottoman Empire had no tanks, 3,000 men were more than enough to defend against an attack by more than 10,000 men, as long as these 3,000 men were equipped with enough machine guns and had a guaranteed supply of ammunition.
But General Winter frowned again: "But why did the enemy jump out of their trenches and attack our defense line? Why can't they hold the line?"
Most of the other officers also had such doubts. They were navy officers who were unfamiliar with land warfare and thought that blockade could only be achieved by occupying with military force.
At this time General Hamilton spoke: "Artillery blockade."
The officers were stunned for a moment, then they understood Charles' intention.
Hamilton looked a little frustrated, like a defeated rooster, but he still pointed at the map and analyzed:
"This throat of Bolayel is only 6 kilometers wide."
"The road in the middle is less than 3 kilometers from the coast, but our 75mm guns have a range of 8 kilometers."
"In other words, once we land we can block the road with artillery fire and then wait for the enemy to attack."
To explain this using a Chinese idiom, it means to defend instead of attack.
General Winter and a group of officers finally understood everything.
The Ottoman army would then be forced to attack, because only by attacking and defeating Charles' 3,000 men would the supply lines of the Gallipoli Peninsula be prevented from being blocked by artillery fire.
Ciel nodded slightly: "Almost!"
"What does 'almost' mean?" Hamilton had a look of unwillingness on his face.
Xia Ershiran replied: "You forgot one thing, General. The terrain of Bolayer is flat for several kilometers, but there are high ground on both sides. The Ottomans have deployed the German reinforcements 105MM howitzers on those high ground. Its range is 12 kilometers."
Hamilton's expression froze: "This means that the enemy's artillery can hit us, but we can't hit the enemy!"
"Yes!" Charles replied, "So if we use 75mm guns to block the road, we will be doomed. No matter how many 75mm guns we bring to land, they will undoubtedly be blown up by the enemy."
"So what you mean is..."
Charles pointed to a line of defense in front of Bolaye's ear and said:
"Bolayel is too sensitive to the enemy. Once our troops successfully land, the enemy will immediately dispatch a large number of troops to try to drive us into the sea."
"So we didn't even have time to build fortifications."
"All we can do is take down this line of defense and make use of it..."
The officers focused their attention on the defense line that Charles pointed to.
It was a line of defense built by the Ottomans to prevent the Allied landing. It was in an arc shape facing the landing angle.
Once Charles is able to capture this line of defense, he can immediately use it as his own position.
(The red line in the above picture is the defense line that Charles wants to fight for)
Charles went on to say:
"The advantage of occupying this line of defense is that it can create space for the landing of our follow-up troops. From now on, we can have landing troops and supplies ashore every night to strengthen the blockade of Bolayel."
“Second, it was only 600 meters from the road salient, while our mortars had a range of 700 meters.”
The officers in the conference room suddenly realized that Charles was planning to block the road with mortars.
General Winter smiled and nodded.
It's a good idea. In local areas where artillery fire is at a disadvantage, the survivability of the mortar is obviously much stronger than that of the 75 gun, and it is also easier to transport.
Hamilton looked thoughtful. He was stunned for a long time before he sighed softly. His originally confident face unconsciously became a little more haggard.
(End of this chapter)
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