Chapter 144 The Most Powerful War Machine
"They can help us block all attacks!" Xiafei pointed at the armor of the CA-1 tank and introduced it enthusiastically: "They are made of riveted steel plates on the front and sides, with a thickness of 11MM. Do you know why it is 11MM?"
Xiafei waved to the reporters. He believed that interacting with reporters could liven up the atmosphere.
A reporter raised his hand. Xiafei remembered him: Kobdo from the Morning Post, a reporter who was good at writing military articles.
Joffre raised his hand and motioned for him to answer.
Kobdo stood up and pushed his glasses: "I think it's because the German Mauser rifle can only penetrate 10MM steel plate, General!"
Joffre nodded in satisfaction: "Yes, the enemy's bullets can only penetrate 10mm, and they set the armor thickness at 11mm, not a point more or less. Do you think the Germans will be anxious about this?"
There was a chorus of mocking laughter from the reporters in the reception room, and someone echoed: "I think they will be so angry that they will shoot themselves, General!"
This caused another round of laughter.
Joffre spread his hands and pretended to be innocent: "I'm sorry about this, but I really hope so!"
The laughter in the venue got louder.
…
With fear in his eyes, Christine commanded the infantry to continue advancing slowly around the tank.
The tanks occasionally fired in the direction of the enemy, but Christian thought it was useless. He noticed that the shells sometimes exploded several kilometers away from the enemy's defense line, while others were so close that they almost hit their own people.
If Christine knew the situation inside the tank, she would be even more devastated: every time a shell was fired, the toxic gas produced would instantly fill the tank compartment and could not be discharged. This not only nearly suffocated the tank crew, but also blurred their vision, making it impossible for the driver to see the infantry lying on the ground to avoid the shells...
The screams of the infantry continued to ring out, and the soldier whose leg was broken by the track cursed madly, but the tanks still moved forward along the route. They could neither see nor hear, and could only rely on luck to rush around on the battlefield.
"Follow the tank!" Colonel Christian ordered loudly.
The officer immediately passed his orders down one by one.
At least they can block bullets, Colonel Christian thought, and it might be safer to follow behind.
However, what made Christian collapse was that he soon heard a crisp "clang" sound coming from nearby, and then several CA-1 tanks stopped moving.
It's a rifle!
Christine reacted immediately and saw that the enemy had penetrated the CA-1 tank with a rifle from the front!
What happened?!
The next second Christine realized that the Germans must have improved the ammunition to increase its penetration.
Just as he had thought before, the Germans were not fools, they would also think about how to deal with tanks!
Christine was stunned for a moment, and soon thought of the "Saint-Chamon", whose armor thickness reached 17 mm, and they should be adjusted up.
But when he turned around, he found that the huge figures of "Saint Shamon" behind him were standing there motionless, as if they were watching the battle from behind!
"What cowards!" Christine cursed. He thought the tank soldiers driving the Saint-Chamond were afraid of fighting.
…
"This is just our vanguard!" Xiafei raised his hand to signal his assistant to change the slide, and instantly a huge monster appeared on the wall.
The reporters exclaimed in amazement and envy.
"Now!" Joffre's voice gradually became excited: "Allow me to solemnly introduce to you the 'Saint-Chamond' tank developed by Schneider, the most powerful weapon of France!"
Xia Fei glanced at the reporters below with pride and said proudly: "It has 12MM armor on the front and 17MM armor on the sides. So far, no bullet has been able to penetrate it!"
"It uses the most advanced electric drive engine and is a unique war machine. Perhaps we should call it art!"
(Note: In the early days of the Saint-Chamond, there were indeed models with thicker side armor than front armor. This was because the designers believed that the side armor had a larger exposed area and was more vulnerable to attack, so thicker armor was needed.)
The reporters were talking and nodding frequently, and some even looked at the steel monsters on the wall with admiration, imagining them sweeping across the battlefield.
Joffre seemed to understand the reporters' thoughts. He smiled, straightened his chest, and said with ease and confidence: "Don't worry, gentlemen. They are cooperating with our brave soldiers to rush towards the enemy's position. Let us wait and see and witness the miracle together!"
There was applause in the venue, and reporters cheered:
"For France!"
"VivelaFrance!"
Others also shouted "Vivela", and the atmosphere became extremely heated.
At this time, Kanais walked in, looking pale and embarrassed. He whispered something in Xiafei's ear. Xiafei looked at Kanais in shock, with an incredible questioning look in his eyes, as if waiting for Kanais to give another answer.
However, Kanais shook his head helplessly, indicating that he was not joking and this was the final result.
Xia Fei was stunned for a moment, and when he reacted, he immediately turned to the reporters: "Sorry, gentlemen! I need to continue directing the battle. The press conference ends here. Please go back and wait for news of our victory!"
After saying that, he left with Kanais without looking back.
The reporters behind him were talking:
"Didn't you tell us to wait here for victory? Why are you suddenly asking us to go back?"
"That's the end of it. How's the progress on the battlefield?"
"How many enemy lines of defense have we breached?"
…
Suddenly a voice popped up: "Did the battlefield change? We didn't win this battle!"
The venue fell silent instantly.
Although reporters couldn't believe that such a powerful tank would lose, it seemed that this was the only reasonable guess.
Otherwise, it’s time to move on to interviewing the soldiers who have returned triumphantly!
The reporter from Le Figaro winked at his assistant, who understood, stood up and walked out of the meeting.
…
The news soon reached Grevi's villa. He said "hmm", put down the phone, slowly sat on the sofa and lit a cigar.
Although this was expected, he still didn't understand why Charles could guess so accurately that they would lose this battle.
Is it a problem with the artillery? Or is there some other reason?
Grevi was not interested in these things. He only knew that if things continued to develop, Charles and his tanks would win.
This is Ciel's plan!
…
Gallieni had been following the battle at La Faux and received the intelligence a few minutes later than Grevi.
The reason was that Joffre tried to block the news and conceal military intelligence as he had done before, but Gallieni had already made arrangements and the information was still passed on to the city defense headquarters.
Gallieni's face was gloomy. After hanging up the phone, he immediately ordered: "Call Charles back immediately! Now!"
(End of this chapter)
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