Chapter 146 Special Training
Charles also considered this possibility: Could Colonel Estiny be a spy sent by Grevy?
If so, it was undoubtedly a good move by Grevi. Estiny would learn the design direction of tanks and even advanced combat theories from Charles.
But Charles believed that Colonel Estiny was not a spy.
If he was, Grevi should have learned from Estiny the shortcomings of the CA-1 and prevented it from entering the battlefield.
Grevy is not short of money. All he does is to increase the influence of the right wing on the military. Losing a battle and making a fool of himself is obviously contrary to this goal.
More importantly, Colonel Estiny was a celebrity in history. He was called the "Father of French Armor". He not only developed the CA-1 tank, but also developed a heavy tank "Char B1".
When the German army invaded France in World War II, one "Charler B1" encountered 13 German tanks. As a result, all 13 German tanks were blown up while the "Charler B1" remained intact. Therefore, this tank was called the "Battlefield Giant" by the French.
Someone like Colonel Estiny, a tank designer and developer obsessed with tank combat theory, was incompatible and even opposed to those on the right who opposed industrialization.
If Grevi really put Estiny next to Charles as a spy, the most likely thing is that once he is released, he will never be able to take him back. Someone as smart as Grevi would never do that.
"No other conditions?" asked Gallieni.
"No more!" Ciel replied, "But it may take two to three weeks of training!"
"Two weeks!" Gallieni's tone left no room for doubt.
"General..."
Gallieni interrupted Charles: "Colonel Browne and his troops have training and combat experience, two weeks should be enough!"
Charles knew why Gallieni was so anxious. Joffre would continue to attack on the front line with the two failed tanks. If this tactic didn't work, he would try another one until it succeeded, and then he could use the media to publicize it.
Therefore, if Charles' tanks were to arrive on the battlefield one day later and win, the troops on the front line would suffer more casualties.
Gallieni didn't want to see this happen, so he could only ask Charles to speed up the process.
Charles didn't answer, which was considered as acceptance. He said, "Perhaps you should be more concerned about how much my tank sells for, General!"
These words hit Gallieni's sore spot. At that time, the military was not only short of money but also in serious deficit.
But Gallieni hesitated for a moment, then snorted: "If they can spend more than 13 million francs on a bunch of useless garbage, they should also have the money to buy your tanks!"
"No loan?" Charles was a little surprised.
"No loan!" Gallieni replied firmly: "But your price must be within a reasonable range!"
Charles hesitated for a moment and gave a price: "Ten thousand francs..."
"It's a deal!" Gallieni agreed before Charles could finish his words.
Charles was shocked. The "Mark I" he produced directly used ready-made blueprints and engines, and modified and assembled them with tractor tracks, so the research and development costs were very low and the cost was not high. Each tank only cost less than 3,000 francs.
According to previous business with the military, doubling it to 5,000 or 6,000 francs would be enough, which is already a 100% profit.
But considering Gallieni's stingy character, Charles deliberately set a higher price to let him bargain, but he didn't expect that he would agree to it so readily.
What Charles didn't know was that Gallieni had another idea in mind:
The CA-1 tank cost 12,000 francs and the Saint-Chamond tank cost 21,000 francs, but they were both vulnerable on the battlefield.
By this calculation, the tank in Charles's hand that can win the battle will cost at least 20,000 francs!
Who would have thought that Charles’ opening price would be 10,000... Charles is indeed a capitalist with a conscience, let’s make the deal quickly!
So I agreed on the spot without thinking too much!
Gallieni added: "Is it okay to order 100 vehicles in the first batch?"
He was a little worried that the order quantity was too small. After all, the two types of tanks that had been defeated in the battle were ordered 400 each at once!
"No problem!" Charles swallowed his saliva. It was another business worth 1 million francs.
The point is that his "Mark I" was originally a transitional product, and the production plan was only about 100 vehicles. There would be no use having more, and it would be eliminated soon.
Charles felt a little regretful. He should have offered a higher price earlier!
…
At the time, Estiny was on vacation with his family in Provence, more than 700 kilometers away. It took them a full day and a half by train and car to reach their destination.
I thought I could relax for a few days in this place far away from the battlefield and the smoke of gunpowder, but I woke up this morning and bought a newspaper, only to see the headline on the front page saying "CA-1 tank and 'Saint-Chamon' have a bad start, suspected design problems."
Estinis was not angry but happy. He threw the newspaper away, changed his clothes and said to his wife who was still in bed: "You and the children stay here, dear! I will leave the money to you. I have to go back!"
His wife was still asleep. She groaned and fell asleep again. Suddenly she came to her senses and opened her eyes, only to find that Estinius had left.
…
The 5th Army was stationed in the Lecar area near the Somme River. As the defense line gradually became more solid, Colonel Browne and his tricycle troops could no longer carry out harassment and special operations as before.
General Gade decided to make good use of this tricycle unit and have them transport supplies and wounded soldiers to and from the rear.
Colonel Brownie was reluctant about this kind of mission. He thought that transporting supplies did not require soldiers like them, but he was worried that once he said so, all the sidecars would be confiscated.
"You won't need them anyway! Why don't you assign them to the logistics troops and return to the infantry!"
Therefore, Colonel Browne could only appear very active and command the troops to run back and forth.
That night, when everyone returned to the camp to rest after a busy day, Colonel Browne received a call from General Gard: "Congratulations, Colonel. General Gallieni plans to transfer you to Paris to participate in the special training organized by Charles!"
"Really? Great!" Colonel Brownie exclaimed, "Thank you, General, thank you very much!"
"But your sidecar is the Fifth Army's supplies, you should leave it behind..."
"What? I can't hear you!"
"I say, you must leave the sidecar behind!"
"Sorry, General! The signal is too bad, I can't hear clearly..."
"Leave the sidecar behind!"
"Okay, General! I'll report right away. I'll go now. I won't be late!"
After saying that, Brownie hung up the phone with a bang, waved to his subordinates and shouted, "Did you hear that? This is a special training organized by Ciel! Get ready to go!"
The soldiers cheered!
(The above picture shows the Char B1 heavy tank, with two guns on the upper and lower sides)
(End of this chapter)
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