Chapter 505 Belgian Interests
Albert I knew that Vice Admiral Ives was not interested in aircraft.
so……
He carefully took Lieutenant General Elvis to visit the entire airport, from the maintenance, inspection and repair of fighter jets to the loading of bombs, refueling and final take-off and landing. He visited every place and even visited some staff members.
It took more than an hour in total.
Lieutenant General Ives was almost driven crazy, but Albert I was not done yet.
"I know what the British Army is like, Lieutenant General." Albert I walked slowly along the edge of the airport, looking at the fighter planes preparing to take off on the runway. "You even think machine guns are redundant, and that war only requires rifles and charges, with cannons and war horses at most, right?"
Lieutenant General Ives did not deny it. He proudly replied: "This is why we have so many colonies, Your Majesty. That is why Britain is called the 'Empire on which the Sun Never Sets'. We have always done so, and the facts have proved that it is correct."
Albert I smiled softly, his eyes still fixed on the plane on the runway. "Times have changed, Lieutenant General. Just as your rifles and cannons have replaced the bows and spears of the natives, Charles' invention will surely replace all of your equipment, including the Germans."
Lieutenant General Elvis was extremely shocked by these words.
This was the first time he heard such a statement. More importantly, it seemed to make sense. The development of history has always been about the advanced eliminating the backward tactics and equipment. What they have in their hands may be backward equipment and the tactics they use may be backward, but they have not realized it yet.
Albert I turned around and looked at Lieutenant General Ives, and behind him a fighter plane took off into the blue sky with a roar.
"Do you know where it's going?" Albert I asked, "or what it's going to do?"
Lieutenant General Ives shook his head blankly.
"Protect Belgian airspace, Lieutenant General." Albert I replied calmly:
"You may have no idea about this."
"But if they hadn't been flying in the air to block the German fighters and bombers, it would have been our transportation lines that would have been bombed."
"Highways, railways, warehouses, train stations, etc. will all become targets of bombing."
"We have guerrillas in every corner of Belgium, if you want to get a feel for what this is like, I'd be happy to help!"
As Albert I said this, his eyes were fixed on Lieutenant General Avis, and he made no secret of his hostility towards him.
Lieutenant General Ives hurriedly explained: "No, no, Your Majesty, you misunderstood. We are allies, and we are here to help you fight the Germans..."
Albert I laughed: "You talk as if you can defeat the Germans!"
Lieutenant General Avis was speechless. The British army had deployed hundreds of thousands of troops on the Western Front but had almost no achievements. They were badly defeated by the Ottoman Empire in the Battle of the Dardanelles. They had recently withdrawn their troops in batches and had completely failed.
But Lieutenant General Avis was still unwilling to give up: "Maybe we didn't win a brilliant victory, but without us, Belgium would definitely fail!"
"Really?" Albert I asked back, "The British had nothing to do with the complete victory of the Antwerp defense line!"
Then Albert I said, "Oh," and said, "Yes, you blocked the Germans in the encirclement in Ypres and prevented them from escaping from the other end."
Lieutenant General Elvis suddenly felt ashamed. Compared with Charles's record, this was almost negligible.
Then Albert I came closer and said to Lieutenant General Avis word by word:
"I know what you want to do, Lieutenant General. You can't fool me."
"I am sure of one thing: Charles is the only one who can defeat the Germans and bring freedom to Belgium."
"If anyone wants to harm Charles, they are my enemy and Belgium's enemy. Do you understand?"
Lieutenant General Ives swallowed hard and said, "I understand, Your Majesty. It's not what you think..."
"Very good!" Albert I did not give Lieutenant General Ivis a chance to explain. He turned and walked towards the headquarters: "Now, we can go see Major General Charles."
After walking a few steps, Albert I turned back and said, "Remember what I just said. It's best to convey it to General Haig."
"I will." Lieutenant General Ives responded helplessly.
He believed Albert I could do it because it was in Belgium's national interest.
However, General Haig and everyone else seemed to have overlooked this point: when Charles' ability reached a certain level and could determine the life and death of Belgium, Belgium would protect Charles' interests at all costs, even at the cost of offending Britain.
But British politicians and generals took it for granted that Belgium would be grateful if Britain could send troops to fight on Belgian soil.
They didn't expect that Belgium didn't welcome the British at all. To be more precise, Belgium didn't welcome the British who wanted to suppress and weaken Charles.
…
Airport Command Center.
Charles didn't even know that Lieutenant General Elvis had arrived. He was eating breakfast while discussing the defense of the Antwerp line with Tijani on the map.
Tijani was puzzled by this:
"Shouldn't we be considering attacking?"
"Germany concentrated its forces and artillery in the direction of Verdun, leaving other positions empty."
"I think this is our chance to attack, Major General. The enemy doesn't have the extra forces to counterattack."
Charles replied casually: "If it was the Northern Army Group cooperating with us, the attack might be no problem, but now it is the British."
Tijani spread his hands, he didn't understand what the difference was.
"General," Charles explained, "the British cannot put armored and mechanized forces in the main attack position because it will steal their limelight."
Tijani looked at Charles doubtfully: "You mean, they might not be using the armored and mechanized troops?"
"No." Charles shook his head. "They may order us to attack a fortress. The British army will be responsible for the frontal breakthrough, which will reflect their dominant position."
Tijani was speechless for a moment. This was putting the cart before the horse.
Armored and mechanized forces should be placed in positions that are easy to break through to quickly open gaps and penetrate quickly, rather than using them as mobile artillery to overcome difficulties.
"No, they won't do that." Tijani shook his head.
Charles didn't answer.
From a general perspective, the British will do so, but if the British have the idea of "considering the overall situation" and hope to win a battle, they should give the French army enough freedom.
At this time, Albert I came in with several British officers.
When Charles saw the rank of the leading officer, he was almost shocked.
Lieutenant General?
The Lieutenant General Elvis mentioned in the telegram?
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
