Chapter 562
British headquarters on the north bank of the Somme.
Haig sat in his chair in a daze, his ears filled with cheers from the south bank: "Long live France! We have won!"
"Ding-ling-ling", the phone on the desk rang.
But Heiger felt nothing, as if everything had nothing to do with him. He only had one question in his mind: why did this happen? What magic did Charles have?
The staff officer hurried forward to answer the phone, and after a while he carefully handed the microphone to Haig: "General, it's the marshal!"
Heg hastily gathered himself and coughed to clear his throat, but he still felt powerless after taking the microphone: "It's me, Heg."
Kitchener's incredulous voice came from the microphone: "Are they telling the truth? Charles won the counterattack?"
"Yes, Your Excellency Marshal." Haig answered with difficulty. Although he couldn't believe it, it was the fact.
"How did he do it?" Kitchener asked again.
Haig unbuttoned his collar irritably and said awkwardly: "I, I'm not quite sure at the moment, Your Excellency Marshal."
Everything happened too fast.
If it had not happened right under his nose, if he had not seen the German army's retreat with his own eyes, if he had not heard the cheers from the French army, Haig would have almost thought that this was a play staged by the Germans and Charles.
"God, Douglas!" Kitchener said with dissatisfaction in his tone: "The battle is happening next to you, and you don't know how he defeated the Germans?"
This was not what really made Kitchener unhappy.
The British army suffered hundreds of thousands of casualties and took more than 20 days to advance only 1 kilometer, while Charles advanced 5 kilometers in just a few hours, and the number of casualties was probably less than a fraction of that of the British army.
The same cannot be said for Kitchener.
Because all of Haig's battle plans were approved by Kitchener. In other words, Charles defeated not only Haig, but also Kitchener.
"Yes." Haig said frustratedly, "I'm very sorry, Your Excellency Marshal. I will investigate it immediately and report to you then!"
Kitchener didn't say anything, just said "hmm" and hung up the phone.
The staff officer was very tactful. Without waiting for Haig to ask, he stepped forward to report the situation:
"Information I received from the French, General."
"Charles is infiltrating the German rear along the Somme..."
Haig couldn't believe what he heard: "The Somme?"
The staff officer nodded:
"Yes, General."
"He has secretly brought in a number of landing craft and amphibious landing ships. You know, the Charles invented these during the attack on the Dardanelles."
"They've obviously been upgraded so that the landing craft can carry tanks and rocket launchers, and then the amphibious landing ships can carry soldiers and ammunition."
The staff officer then searched the map for a while, pointed to a spot and said, "They landed here, near the village of Bugava, and directly attacked the German artillery positions..."
Haig interrupted the staff officer impatiently: "But how did they deceive the Germans? The Germans actually turned a blind eye to the movement on the river?"
"The darkness, General," the staff officer explained, "and the sound of artillery and the flash of fire from the exploding shells provided them with good cover."
Haig was stunned for a while, and finally heaved a long sigh. Stupid Germans, they cooperated perfectly with Charles's battle plan!
Haig took a few minutes to sort out the whole process and called Kitchener to report the whole thing to him.
Kitchener also fell silent after hearing this.
Soon Kitchener said slowly and earnestly, "Perhaps you have overlooked one thing, Douglas."
"What?" Haig felt that he had not missed anything.
"Cannon fire," Kitchener warned. "Charles knew the Germans would attack, and he was ready for that moment."
Haig suddenly realized that, yes, as soon as the Germans opened fire, Charles' troops took advantage of this opportunity to infiltrate along the Somme River.
This was no coincidence; Charles had guessed that the Germans would attack.
But how did he guess that the Germans would attack?
The French army had been under martial law and they tried hard not to let the Germans know about the mutiny.
Kitchener reminded on the microphone: "He knows what you're going to do."
Haig was shocked beyond words: "You mean... No, this is impossible."
There was no response from the other end of the phone. It was obvious that Kitchener was certain of this answer.
Haig still refused to admit it, but it seemed that this was the only explanation.
In other words, he thought that the unknown practice was actually part of Charles's plan.
Finally, Kitchener asked in a warning tone: "Now, do you still think that Shire's victory was due to luck?"
Haig was speechless and couldn't even utter the word of denial.
…
That afternoon, Le Merit reported in full detail Charles's battle on the Somme.
This was the result of a busy day for Kobdo. As soon as he heard the news, he immediately flew to the Somme River front, spent several hours interviewing the necessary materials and taking photos, and then rushed back to Paris to edit and print.
This time, the Meritorious Newspaper was no longer so-called "neutral" as before. It generously gave Charles all the compliments it could:
"Many people say that Charles does not have the ability to command a large army, and lacks experience in frontal combat and positional warfare with the enemy."
"It turns out that was a lie."
"Char is the one who holds the key to the war. He is a true genius who is proficient in all tactics."
"Just like what Ciel always emphasizes, 'adapt to circumstances.'"
"Hasn't anyone realized yet that another meaning of 'adaptable' is 'being adaptable'?"
…
Although the newspapers reported more about how Charles used the Somme River to infiltrate the German rear and the course of the battle, people actually cared more about and were more willing to read these contents.
Paris was once again in an uproar over this battle, and people naturally compared it with the previous one:
"Is this true? The Shire suffered only a thousand casualties in this battle?"
"It's unbelievable. They only advanced five kilometers at the cost of more than a thousand people. The British and French forces lost at least hundreds of thousands of lives on this land!"
"That's true. Some of the wounded have been sent to Paris. They say it was hardly an attack. The Germans were retreating at the beginning. They were chasing the Germans."
…
This is indeed true.
The situation on the battlefield was that a team suddenly appeared in the rear and defeated three German artillery regiments in succession, which frightened the German troops on the front line who were preparing to attack.
They thought they were surrounded by the enemy and turned around and fled.
The French soldiers followed the German army and shot at them all the way, and if they ran slowly they would not be able to catch up.
This made the citizens of Paris very proud, not only because they defeated the Germans, but also because they defeated the British on the same battlefield!
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
