Chapter 479 No One Would Fight Like This!
Almost all the soldiers were cheering for Charles' arrival, but Major General Lacoste was in deep worry.
It was not that he did not believe in Charles's ability, but Joffre added a sentence after the telegram recognizing the command: "Charles can only stay at the front for one day, starting from the day he changes guard."
What can you do in a day?
Charles' arrival can indeed boost the morale of the soldiers on the front line, but if he leaves a day later, there will be an immediate backlash, and the soldiers will have no morale at all or even be worse than before, just like the powerlessness after the effect of stimulants wears off.
However, Major General Lacoste still tried to do his job well. He analyzed the current situation in Verdun to Charles on the map:
"We have nowhere to retreat. The Suville Line is our last effort."
"But this line of defense seems to be useless, because we are always attacking the enemy. People who don't know would think we are winning the battle..."
Charles interrupted Major-General Lacoste: "That was Joffre, not me, General. You don't have to worry about that."
"But." Major General Lacoste looked at Charles in confusion: "I heard that you only have one day."
Major General Lacoste lowered his voice when he said this, for he was worried that others might hear it.
"I do have only one day." Ciel nodded, "But that doesn't mean I will launch a counterattack."
Major General Lacoste still didn't understand: "If you don't launch a counterattack, how can you change the situation in one day?"
Charles's answer was simple: "I will let you hold the fort, make the attacking Germans pay the price, and if possible recapture some forts. Does this count as changing the situation of the war?"
Major General Lacoste was stunned for a moment, then he gave a bitter laugh: "You may not understand our current situation, Brigadier General."
Charles spread his hands to show that he was all ears.
Major General Lacoste pointed to the map and said: "The most serious thing is that our defense line is divided into two by the Marne River. The Germans concentrated their main force to attack the right bank, while our 30th Army deployed on the left bank could only stay where it was and could hardly play a role."
(The red circle in the picture above is the Fort Souville, which was the last line of defense of the French army against the German army at that time. Further south is the city of Verdun with a population of 10,000. The Marne River is on its left, flowing from south to north to Belgium)
Ciel stared at the map and asked, "How many of you have left?"
"There are still more than 7,000 people." Major General Lacoste replied with difficulty: "And many of them are wounded."
If Charles hadn't come, the 2nd Army would have completely collapsed because of the final attack tonight.
From this point of view, Major General Lacoste was still very grateful for Charles's arrival. He bought one day of life for the 2nd Army, although only one day.
"And the Germans?" Charles asked again.
"It's not certain yet, but it's estimated that there is at least an army group of more than 100,000 people." Major General Lacoste replied: "They don't seem to be in a hurry to attack, otherwise they would have entered Verdun long ago."
Ciel nodded slightly in agreement.
Major General Lacoste's feeling was correct. Falkenhayn's goal was not to occupy Verdun, but to use Verdun to consume the French army's manpower and treat it as a meat grinder.
In other words, they surrounded the point and attacked the reinforcements, waiting for more and more French reinforcements to arrive here, and then they were consumed.
Of course, this requires the cooperation of Xiafei's offensive tactics.
Major General Lacoste suddenly thought of something, and his eyes were suddenly full of hope: "You brought your armored troops?"
Ciel shook his head.
"That is... the aviation force. We will get aviation reinforcements."
Charles shook his head again.
The enthusiasm that Major General Lacoste had just ignited cooled down again. There was nothing left but Charles alone, and perhaps he could only bring a short-term morale boost!
"Tell me about the characteristics of the German attack." Charles brought the topic back to Verdun.
Major General Lacoste pointed at the map weakly and said:
"The Germans mostly bombarded our forts with heavy artillery during the day."
"Once it gets dark they're going to get active, and if we don't attack, they're going to attack."
"They first fired a few gas shells to force us to put on gas masks."
"Then their attack became much easier. Wearing gas masks, we could only vaguely see some human figures. Sometimes we didn't even notice the enemy rushing in front of us."
…
Having said that, Major General Lacoste turned his gaze to Charles.
He suddenly remembered that the gas mask was also invented by Charles. Could he improve the gas mask to give it better visibility?
However, he immediately rejected this idea. It was not very practical, and even if he could do it, he would not be able to deliver it in time.
"How is the artillery?" Charles asked again.
"The gap in artillery is even greater." Major General Lacoste said with a painful look on his face:
"We only have more than 200 guns now, and most of them are small-caliber 75mm guns, while the enemy has at least more than 2,000 guns of various calibers and ranges."
"But that's not the point. The point is that we can't even use them."
"If we move them into the fortress, they won't be able to be effective because of their inferior range. If we put them on high ground, the Germans will use them as targets and knock them down."
"Once it was night, the Germans would attack our artillery positions with poison gas bombs, and they would become scrap metal again."
Ciel nodded in understanding.
The 75mm gun is best at firing directly at the enemy at visual range, so that it can maximize its advantage of fast rate of fire.
However, during the day, the artillery was suppressed because its range was inferior to that of the enemy, and at night, the artillerymen were forced to wear gas masks and could only see targets within tens or even tens of meters. As a result, these guns became decorations.
This may also be the reason why more than 200 artillery pieces survived.
Without hesitation, Charles tapped the defense map and ordered, "Give up the position on the top of the mountain and move the defense line back."
Major General Lacoste was stunned: "Give up the position on the top of the mountain?"
"Yes."
"But where can we go after giving up the position on the top of the mountain? Retreat?" A trace of anger flashed in Major General Lacoste's eyes and his tone became excited.
He didn't expect that Charles would make such a stupid move right at the beginning, but all the soldiers regarded him as their savior.
"It's not a retreat, General." Charles ignored Major General Lacoste and drew a line about thirty meters behind the fortress: "Build a new line of defense here."
"But this, this is impossible!" Major General Lacoste looked at this so-called "new line of defense" in disbelief: "No one would do this, this is simply..."
"Seeking your own death?" Charles asked.
"Yes, yes." Major General Lacoste replied: "This is to give up our geographical advantage of being high above, Brigadier General!"
Major General Lacoste glanced at Klein behind him.
Colonel Klein was also confused. No one would fight like this, leaving the high ground to the enemy? !
(End of this chapter)
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