Chapter 577 This is the war between the Ciel and the Parliament
The light snow fluttered in the air like cotton balls carried by the wind. They fell along different trajectories and finally disappeared on the muddy ground.
Gembloux, a small town between Brussels and Namur, welcomed its first snow of the year.
It took the 6th Army several days to move here from the Somme River. The soldiers were somewhat relieved when looking at the snowy scene, because they preferred snow to uncontrollable rain, which at least would not pour into the trenches unknowingly while they were sleeping.
However, they soon discovered that their joy was premature.
Christian was immediately relieved of his acting command of the 6th Army. He returned to being the commander of the 1st Special Artillery Division. The entire army maintained radio silence and was not allowed to contact the outside world.
Then, a large number of officers they did not know took over the 6th Army. Almost all officers at the regimental level and above were replaced, leaving only a few staff officers who were familiar with the situation of the troops.
Then the training began.
The soldiers thought it was just ordinary training, but what terrified them was that all the officers and soldiers who had "performed" or taken the lead in the mutiny were called in for questioning. Some of them never came back after going there, and were said to have been put in solitary confinement for disobeying orders.
The soldiers were in panic:
“We are quarantined and they are disciplining the deputies, what should we do?”
"Where's General Charles? Where is he?"
“He probably had no idea what was going on, he was on vacation and it could have been intentional!”
"God, someone help us!"
…
Charles arrived in Gembloux in time for noon.
He came by plane and didn't care about the rain, snow and cold, so much so that he was still shivering when the car drove into the military camp, and his military uniform was still wet.
The soldiers were training in the square according to the officers' orders. When they saw Charles, they felt relieved.
"Great! The general is back."
"He will definitely protect us."
"These arrogant officers (referring to the officers who took over the 6th Army) were not seen during the war, so why are they dictating to us now?"
There was even riot in the army, and the officers had to shout and scold for a long time before they regained control of the situation.
…
Charles was a little confused when he walked into the command center. He thought he had come to the wrong place because he didn't recognize any of the officers coming and going.
After asking, we confirmed that this was the 6th Army.
Those officers all knew Charles. They stood up and saluted him one by one, their eyes full of surprise and surprise, as if they did not expect Charles to come back at this time.
A few others turned around and ran towards the headquarters.
Charles knew that they must have gone to "snitch" and inform their superiors that Charles had returned.
Soon, a group of senior officers came out. Charles took a quick look and only recognized Wei Gang.
The leader was a middle-aged general, who held the same rank of major general as Charles. He came forward expressionlessly and shook hands with Charles, acting like a host welcoming a guest: "Welcome, Commander, I am your chief of staff, my name is Gustave Gamelin!"
(The picture above shows Gamelin, Joffre's think tank, known as the smartest general in France, but actually a fool. He used the tactics of World War I to fight World War II, which directly led to the rapid surrender of the French army and became a joke. Even in World War II, he still stubbornly believed that airplanes and tanks were useless, and that wars should be based on infantry and cavalry)
"Well." Charles looked at Gamelin and said with a double meaning, "Nice to meet you, General. This is the first time I have met my chief of staff in this way."
Of course, Gamelin heard the hidden meaning in Charles's words, but he remained calm and replied indifferently: "Sorry, Commander, this is the arrangement of our superiors, we are just following orders."
Ciel smiled softly, "Well, would you mind showing me around my headquarters?"
Gan Molin stepped aside and made a "please" gesture.
As he walked toward the headquarters, Gamelin explained calmly, "The superiors believe that you have troops stationed in Belgium and that you have performed very well there, so they transferred the 6th Army here to be under your unified command. You don't mind, do you?"
"Of course not." Charles answered very gentlemanly: "My superiors have considered it very carefully."
You've already been transferred here, how can I have any objection? And this is not the point.
Gamelin seemed to see through Charles's thoughts: "As for why I didn't inform you, it's because you were on vacation, and the radio silence was for confidentiality. You know, the enemy must not be informed of the troop rotation."
"Yes, of course." Ciel nodded: "You did a great job."
Charles deliberately used "you", which included the parliament.
The command center is a two-story building. After going up the stairs and turning a corner along the corridor, you will reach the operations room.
What’s embarrassing is that there is no desk for the commander in the command center.
Several staff officers temporarily moved a table to the main seat, added a chair, and hastily placed a desk lamp on the corner of the table.
When Charles and his group came in, the staff officer was still busy wiping the dust off the tables and chairs. When he saw Charles, he hurriedly stopped what he was doing and stood at attention.
Gan Molin remained calm: "We just arrived not long ago, and everything has just been set up."
Ciel nodded with a smile: "You are very thoughtful. I have no complaints."
Gamolin bowed gracefully: "I am willing to serve you, Your Excellency the Commander!"
Charles sat in the commander's position. The staff officers were all busy with their own things and the command center was operating normally. Only the commander Charles was doing nothing, as if he was redundant.
The desk was empty, with no documents on it, and occasionally a few telegrams were delivered, but they contained irrelevant information.
Charles understood that this was a result of being sidelined by the parliament.
The parliament did not need Charles to command the 6th Army. They only needed Charles to be the commander of the 6th Army to appease the soldiers of the 6th Army and even the entire French army.
Even if they did something bad, such as ordering the liquidation of mutinous representatives, they could put the blame on Charles.
It can suppress the soldiers and weaken Charles' influence at the same time, killing two birds with one stone. It can be said to be vicious.
During this period, Charles and Wei Gang had eye contact. Wei Gang shook his head slightly, and then worked with others calmly.
This is where the play performed by Charles and Foch came into play.
The parliament believed that Foch was Charles' enemy, so it was relieved to let Foch place Weygand in the 6th Army.
What to do now?
The simplest thing is to abandon the 6th Army and go directly back to your own mechanized forces.
However, Ciel knew he couldn't do that.
Failure to protect the mutinous representatives, such as Jérémie and Darlan, would be a fatal blow to Charles.
The soldiers will know that the Charles cannot protect them, and they must obey the Council or die.
On the other hand, if the Charles could protect them, they would defy the Council and follow the Charles.
So, this is a war between the Charles and the Parliament, he cannot bow his head!
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
