Chapter 458 Romania
Charles has been busy during this period, although he does not need to worry about the land defense line, which is the responsibility of Foch's 9th Army.
But fighter planes and bombers need to be dispatched by Charles.
Antwerp, Brussels and Mons were each allocated an aviation brigade with about 20 of the most advanced "Camel" fighters, and Ghent opened an airport and assigned two bombing brigade, which consolidated the Belgian defense line.
Seeing Xia Ersong's breath, Tijani was puzzled: "Brigadier General, you seem to have more confidence in the planes than the trenches?"
"Plane is everything, General," Charles replied.
It is a multiplier of the army's combat effectiveness, and at the same time it can suppress the enemy's artillery, logistics, ammunition depots, etc., making it much easier to fight a war.
Tijani raised an eyebrow, not taking Charles' words seriously.
Charles didn't explain much. People of that era had not yet fully realized the importance of air superiority, so it was difficult to explain clearly.
At this time, the guard came in and reported: "General, General Gallieni is here, he is outside the door."
"General Gallieni?" Charles thought he had misheard and that he should be in Paris.
However, when Charles turned his eyes, he saw Gallieni appear at the door of the command office with two guards.
Gallieni walked into the headquarters with his head held high, looked at the dazed Charles and asked with a smile: "Is everything okay, Brigadier General?"
"Yes, General." Charles suddenly reacted, quickly made room for Gallieni to sit down, and then asked the orderly to make coffee.
As the orderly left, Charles suddenly remembered something and shouted after him, "Two candies, add more water."
"Yes, General," the orderly responded.
There was a hint of relief in Gallieni's eyes behind his lenses. This guy still remembered his habits.
"We are here to check out the defenses," Gallieni explained. "They plan to have the Reserve Army Group take over the recaptured areas in Belgium."
Charles said "Oh" and sat down in front of Gallieni: "Are they going to attack the Germans?"
It is not difficult to guess that only when the reserve army group pushes forward can the three main army groups in the front, namely the North, Central and East, be free to launch attacks on the enemy.
Gallieni said nothing, but turned slightly to glance to both sides.
Charles understood and brought Gallieni into the conference room.
The coffee was served, and Gallieni took a sip and waited for the orderly to close the door before he said, "They think this war may be over. This is not a small-scale offensive, but a general offensive, a full-scale offensive."
Charles was shocked. His first reaction was that this was not right. It was only 1915. Although progress was going well, the war was far from over. Launching a general offensive at this time would obviously not lead to victory.
"Joffre's plan of action?" asked Charles.
Gallieni nodded slightly: "Currently, only the commander of the army group knows about this plan."
This explains why Ciel didn't participate.
But this was actually just an excuse Gallieni made for Charles. Most people, including Foch, wanted Charles to participate.
Foch said bluntly at the meeting: "Charles knows how to defeat the Germans. I think he should be the one to make the battle plan."
But Canais denied this statement on behalf of Joffre: "I'm sorry, General Foch, this battle plan is more of a strategic direction, an offensive plan for the entire army. We will place Charles and his troops in the appropriate offensive position."
What this means is that Charles' current rank and qualifications are not enough to command the entire army in combat.
Foch grumbled quietly: "It's unbelievable that we have a Mars and we put him aside!"
Gallieni simply said nothing. He knew that Joffre was trying to use this "total war" to gain more brilliant military exploits than Charles, taking advantage of the fact that Charles had just defeated the German army and captured more than 100,000 people.
Therefore, it was impossible for Joffre to allow Charles to participate.
Otherwise, this would be Charles's battle plan again and Charles would win, which would be meaningless to Joffre.
Ciel didn't care about this. He frowned and said, "Maybe it's not the right time yet."
"They don't think so," Gallieni said, sipping his coffee.
"Your victory has greatly boosted the morale of the Allied forces and civilians. Many people even thought that we could completely drive the Germans out of France within two months."
"The Germans, on the other hand, were demoralized by the defeat in Belgium."
"More importantly..."
Gallieni put down his coffee cup and looked up at Charles: "Romania is joining the Allies."
"What?" Charles was surprised again: "Romania? Join the Allies?"
Gallieni nodded:
"That was after your victory in Antwerp."
"I guess they had the same mentality as Italy, that we were on our way to victory and if we didn't join the Entente now we would miss our chance."
"The British played a role in this, they were the ones who negotiated with the Romanians."
"The Romanians' conditions are simple: they just need to recognize the ownership of Transylvania."
Charles frowned. He remembered that Romania would choose to join next year, but now it seemed to be ahead of schedule.
(Note: Romania joined the Allies in declaring war on Austria-Hungary in August 1916.)
Then Charles understood what was going on:
The passage from Cambrai to Antwerp did not exist in history, and this victory seemed to be a crushing of the German army by the French army in terms of strength: within one day, they broke through their defense lines and surrounded 200,000 people, eventually forcing more than 100,000 of them to surrender.
This made everyone optimistic about the war.
As a result, the countries that were originally in a state of wavering could no longer hold back. They hoped to join the Allied Powers before the end of the war in order to get some benefits.
"Romania and Italy." Gallieni turned and cast his eyes on the map on the wall behind him. "There are also the British, French and Russian coalition forces, attacking from several directions at the same time. Joffre believes that this is enough to defeat Germany. 'As long as we don't hesitate and strengthen our offensive steps, then victory is in sight'!"
Gallieni kept his eyes on the map and said calmly, "You don't seem to agree with this plan?"
"It's not that I disagree with the plan, General," Charles replied. "It's that I disagree with Romania joining the Entente."
Gallieni never expected Charles to answer like this. He turned around and looked at Charles in confusion: "Isn't it a good thing to have another ally? You may not know that Romania is the main source of oil for the Germans."
Gallieni then added: "Romania can also organize an army of more than 500,000 people."
"That's exactly it." Charles answered word by word. "That's why I think Romania shouldn't join, at least not now."
(End of this chapter)
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