Chapter 468 For the Benefit of Soldiers
Charles was trying to please Joffre.
He knew that Joffre would not be willing to abandon his already drawn-up battle plan: all countries would counterattack together, Romania would declare war, and then the Central Powers would be defeated in one fell swoop to end the war.
This plan would allow him to leave a significant mark in his record, the most brilliant and dazzling one, even surpassing Charles.
If this operational plan was to be implemented, the artillery would be useless if kept in the fortress of Verdun; they would have to be taken out and added to the troops for use in the attack.
Therefore, the moment Joffre set his sights on Verdun, he was already thinking about how to get the artillery out of the fortress.
All he needed was an excuse.
Christine gave him a perfect excuse: "The fort is outdated. The cannons placed in the fort will only become targets for 'Big Bertha'. They will be blown up one after another before they can play any role."
"That makes sense!" Xiafei was very pleased and transferred the artillery to the field troops.
…
The morning in the hospital was quiet and solemn, and the bells of Notre Dame de Paris were steady and powerful, announcing the arrival of a new day.
Gallieni leaned against the head of the bed and stared at the hanging infusion bottle, watching the clear liquid slowly injected into his wrist through the rubber tube. He was curious and seemed unable to believe that this would help his condition.
"Medicine has now advanced to this level," Gallieni murmured to himself.
(The picture above shows an infusion bottle from World War I, invented by British chemist Henry Dakin. It was called the Carle Dakin device at the time and was mainly used for disinfection and anti-inflammation)
Charles came in with a bunch of flowers. He looked at Gallieni and said as he replaced the flowers for him: "You look much better today, General."
"It's an old problem." Gallieni raised his eyebrows. "It will be fine after two days of rest. I know that."
Gallieni then asked: "When will you return? Your absence in Belgium will worry everyone, including Albert I, Brigadier General."
This is a question of the stability of military and civilian morale. Although Charles can rush back at any time, the military and civilians will be worried about it.
"In the afternoon," answered Charles, pulling up a chair and sitting down beside Gallieni's bed.
"Yeah." Gallieni nodded, then said seriously: "There is something I have to say. I don't want you to do anything wrong because of me."
"What?" Charles pretended to be confused.
"You can't fool me, Brigadier General." Gallieni stared at Charles and lowered his voice: "I'm not doing this for Joffre, I'm doing this for the French soldiers. If you take Joffre, you might hurt others."
Charles understood what Gallieni meant.
For example, if they set a trap for Joffre in Verdun and made him lose the battle, Joffre's reputation would be damaged and many French soldiers would be injured or even killed.
But Charles calmly replied: "I don't think so, General. I am doing this precisely for the benefit of the soldiers."
"What?" Gallieni did not understand what Charles was saying.
Charles picked up an apple from the side and peeled it while answering: "Have you ever thought about how many French soldiers would be killed if Joffre stayed in the position of commander-in-chief for a longer time, or really launched the so-called 'encirclement operation plan'?"
Gallieni was silent.
Charles was right, it was a simple math problem, everyone knew that Joffre would kill more people, so he should have been driven out earlier.
However……
Gallieni shook his head and sighed slightly, deciding to give up trying to persuade Charles.
…
That afternoon, Charles flew back to Antwerp Airport.
Before leaving, he instructed Lieutenant Colonel Fernand to strengthen the guard of Gallieni and not to let Joffre meet Gallieni at any time.
Lieutenant Colonel Fernando was somewhat embarrassed when he heard the order.
"But Joffre is the commander-in-chief, General," said Colonel Fernand. "If he wants to see General Gallieni, I have no right to prevent him."
"Then beat him so that he can't meet anyone." Charles said firmly, "I gave the order. You can blame everything on me."
"Yes, General." Lieutenant Colonel Fernand seemed to understand. He stepped forward and replied, "I will make sure that Joffre can no longer irritate General Gallieni."
Although the Shire was at the headquarters, his mind was on Verdun.
"Joffre has ordered the guns to be brought out from the fort, along with the artillery."
"He intends to incorporate the artillery into the Seventh Army, which is near Verdun. Although it is being transferred out, it can be replenished in Verdun at any time."
"The 1st Special Artillery Division is equipped with the 'Charter A1' tank, as well as the 'Saint-Samond'."
"Joffre hopes that the 1st Special Artillery Division will play as decisive a role in his plans as yours."
…
These are the telegrams from Christine.
To be exact, Christine forwarded it through the "Lady in White" to avoid suspicion.
After all, if he contacted Charles too frequently, it would soon arouse Joffre's suspicion.
After seeing the information, Charles nodded secretly. Xiafei had no doubt that all this was tailor-made for him.
It is conceivable that in the near future Joffre will suffer another defeat, and a crushing one at that.
When the Germans attacked, not only was he unprepared, he also redeployed his artillery and troops simply to cooperate with the German attack, just as he had concentrated his main forces to attack Alsace and Lorraine a year ago, putting Paris in danger.
But Charles knew that this was not enough to bring disgrace upon Joffre.
After all, this was not the first time that France was defeated under Joffre's command, nor was it the first time that Joffre made mistakes in command, and he was able to shirk them with high-sounding excuses every time.
"Brigadier General, Brigadier General?" Tijani waved his hand in front of Charles.
Ciel, who was lost in thought, suddenly woke up: "What?"
Tijani handed a list of supplies to Charles: "The Saint-Etienne Arsenal sent a batch of shotguns and something called submachine guns. They said this is what you want."
"Oh, yes." Charles took the list and looked at it. There were two hundred shotguns and one hundred submachine guns.
"What do we need these things for?" Tijani asked.
Especially the shotgun, he could never have imagined that the army would use this kind of thing that civilians use for hunting.
"Training," Charles replied, handing the list back to Tijani. "Distribute these guns. For the time being, each infantry squad will have a shotgunner, and the squad leader will use a submachine gun."
"But these guns..."
"Trench warfare, General." Charles explained, "As I said before, the infantry will move forward to clear the obstacles."
Tijani said "Oh" as he suddenly realized, and soon his expression changed from confusion to surprise.
God, they may be equipment for killing enemy troops in large numbers at close range, helping troops to capture trenches quickly and effectively.
(End of this chapter)
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