Chapter 426 Generation Gap
People gathered in front of Djoka's house, and neighbors rushed to tell Djoka and Camille everything they knew:
"I heard that Charles had already reached Brussels yesterday afternoon, but the military has kept it secret and has not announced it to the public."
"That's the capital of Belgium. I heard the news yesterday, but I thought it was a prank."
"Don't worry, Madame Bernard. Charles will be fine. It's his enemies that we need to worry about."
…
Camille nodded in hesitation. She knew nothing about military terms such as "encirclement", "cut off supplies" and "geographical advantage".
Therefore, no matter what others said, she never had any regrets. She didn't understand why Charles's small force could occupy Antwerp and surround more than 200,000 Germans without any ability to fight back.
She knew only one thing: there were more than 200,000 Germans, and Charles led less than 20,000 soldiers. That was more than ten times the number of troops. Which meant that everyone, including Charles, had to eliminate more than ten times the number of enemies?
Therefore, she was always worried and half-believing her neighbors' explanations, she asked, "Is this true? Is the war going to end?"
Neighbors who knew something about military affairs explained:
"No, Mrs. Bernard, the war is not over and the Germans have not surrendered."
"But soon, it won't take long. They will have no choice but to surrender."
"Charles is a military genius, Madam Bernard. He was born to win. You don't have to worry. No one can defeat him!"
…
The war was indeed not over, and Charles was organizing the defense of Antwerp.
The encirclement was still fragile at this time.
The reason was that Charles's troops penetrated too quickly, so quickly that Foch's infantry could not keep up in time.
The real reason was not this, but that after breaking through the German encirclement, the infantry did not believe that the battle would be so smooth, and they did not dare to follow up by train or car.
The representative figure was Lieutenant General Savinian, commander of the 9th Army, who was arranged by Foch to cooperate with Charles' attack.
"This is crazy." Lieutenant General Savinian reported to Foch: "I refuse to do this. The enemy can easily derail the train with just one bomb. It is also dangerous to take a car. It has no protection and is easy to be ambushed by the enemy and suffer heavy casualties."
Therefore, Lieutenant General Savinian insisted on walking.
Although Weygand did not give clear advice, he partially agreed with Lieutenant General Savinian's statement.
"Charles' troops have armored vehicles, General." Weygand opened the file and showed Foch a photo of the armored vehicle. "It makes sense to advance in this type of armored vehicle. It can at least block bullets from both sides, but we don't have it."
Seeing Foch hesitate, Weygand added: "Besides, how fast can Charles' troops be? They will be blocked by the enemy at the front. Although the infantry in the rear are walking, they do not need to fight the enemy, so it will not be a problem for them to keep up with Charles' troops."
Foch thought about it for a while and finally agreed to this seemingly less risky approach.
They don't understand two things:
The reason why Charles' troops needed to be equipped with armored vehicles was because his troops were at the front to fight against possible enemies, while the troops following behind did not need them much.
On the other hand, the German defense is like an egg. The outer shell is hard, but the inside is empty after it is penetrated. If the follow-up troops advance by train or car, and follow behind the armored and mechanized divisions, they are unlikely to be blocked by the enemy, let alone fall into the traps set by the enemy.
On the contrary, problems would arise if we were to follow behind timidly at a speed of 5 kilometers per hour.
This is indeed the case.
The main force of the fleeing German army gradually surpassed the 9th Army following in the rear, eventually leading to the situation they feared: "being blocked by the enemy at every level and unable to break through quickly."
This was also the main reason why Charles' army encountered fuel shortages when it infiltrated Mechelen, as the logistics supply line was interrupted.
Without the support of the Belgians, the operation would have been likely to fail, and Charles's troops would have been surrounded, not only failing to win but also having to break out.
…
In Antwerp, Charles set up the headquarters of the 1st Mechanized Division in a fortress in the inner defense circle.
It was not comfortable. The small space was filled with various shells. It was dark and damp, and the air was filled with a suffocating sour smell.
However, this is the safest place at the moment.
A rich kid like Tijani couldn't stand such an environment. He sat there listlessly, leaning weakly against the back of the chair, gasping for breath like a dying fish.
"Do we really have to stay here?" Tijani asked, looking around with a look of despair on his face.
"Do you have a better suggestion?" Charles asked.
Tijani was silent.
He knows what the situation is.
Although the main force of the German army in Antwerp surrendered, there were still many German stragglers in the city who were unwilling to surrender. Some of them hid in the woods, some in abandoned barns, and some even hid in manure pits.
It would take more than a day or two to clear out these scattered soldiers. No one could guarantee that a bullet would suddenly come from somewhere...
Tijani sighed helplessly and comforted himself that this was a battlefield and he had been to worse places before. At any rate, it was better than dying at the hands of the enemy.
But there was another voice in his heart saying: I would rather die under the enemy's gun, I can't breathe here!
Tijani weakly took out his pocket watch and looked at it, then began to complain about the 9th Army that was not following the plan: "They said they would join us at dawn, but they haven't reached Mons yet. If we don't leave a regiment in Brussels, the enemy will easily break through."
Charles said nothing.
He could understand the mistakes made by Foch and his team.
This was the era of trench warfare, and everyone thought that warfare would be like this in the future. They couldn't imagine what it meant to advance more than a hundred kilometers in a day. This was a generation gap.
In fact, let alone a hundred kilometers, in the real Battle of Cambrai in history, the British tanks advanced 8 kilometers, which was beyond everyone's expectations.
It was precisely because of the lack of psychological preparation that the British army failed to maintain the hard-earned results.
This 8-kilometer advance took place two years later.
At this time, a telegram was handed to Charles. It was sent by General Winter: "Congratulations, Brigadier General, you have won again and proved your ability. But I want to know if you can return to the Dardanelles battlefield to command? We are in trouble here!"
Charles smiled and replied to General Winter directly: "General, do you think I can leave France at this time? Besides, the Dardanelles does not need me, it needs a prescription that can defeat the plague!"
(End of this chapter)
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