Chapter 602 The Real Crisis
Erwin carefully observed the fortress's defense line and found that it was a defense system combining multiple firepower.
The fort's artillery ensured their invincibility in artillery battles: the fort could easily destroy the German artillery, while the German artillery's return fire could only make a white dot on the fort.
If "Big Belsa" is brought out as before, it will be easily destroyed by Charles' fighter planes.
So this is a dead end, unless the German army can always maintain absolute air superiority, but this is impossible.
On this basis, the fortress defense line also had barbed wire, anti-tank trenches, minefields, and later there were "Saint Samon" and fortress guns...it was simply impregnable.
Therefore, Colonel Erwin changed his attack plan without hesitation, from attacking Antwerp to infiltrating the British hinterland, encircling Antwerp while heading straight for the Belgian city of Ghent.
…
Dunkirk, British Expeditionary Force Headquarters.
Kitchener and his staff were busy, with telephone and telegram calls ringing one after another.
Haig was in charge of commanding the Battle of the Somme, and Lieutenant General Aves was unable to control the situation in Antwerp, which forced Kitchener, the Secretary of State for War, to stay in the headquarters and preside over the overall situation.
A telegram was delivered to Kitchener: "Your Excellency, Antwerp has blocked the German attack."
Kitchener felt relieved. This was rare good news.
All the staff officers in the command center breathed a sigh of relief, their tense movements slowed down, and several staff officers even cheered.
Kitchener asked in a deep voice: "Who blocked it?"
This is very important and concerns the prestige of the British Army.
The staff officer was a little embarrassed, and his voice was obviously much lower: "It was the Belgian army, Your Excellency Marshal, their fortress defense line worked!"
The atmosphere in the headquarters suddenly became strange, somewhat depressing, somewhat awkward, and somewhat embarrassing.
The British army entered Belgium as victors, liberators and protectors.
When Lieutenant General Avis led his elite troops from Dunkirk, his slogan was to let the French see what a real war is, teach Charles how to fight, and let the Belgians know which army is truly worth relying on.
As a result, they not only failed to defeat the French army, but they even failed to defeat the Belgian army.
Not to mention competing, they even need the protection of the Belgian army!
It was supposed to protect the Belgian army, but now it is surviving under the protection of the Belgian army.
Kitchener forced himself to remain calm and hummed, changing the subject: "Order Lieutenant General Avis to immediately organize the troops and prepare for a counterattack!"
"Yes, Your Excellency Marshal."
Kitchener never believed that the British army was inferior to the Belgian army.
He believed that the British army collapsed because it was caught off guard by the German army.
As long as the British army gains a foothold and launches an organized and planned counterattack, it will definitely teach the Germans a severe lesson.
At this time, another telegram was delivered to Kitchener: "Your Excellency Marshal, the German army bypassed Antwerp and attacked our army's hinterland!"
"What?" Kitchener's face instantly lost color. He suddenly raised his head and looked at the staff officer, and asked nervously: "Route, where is their target of attack?"
The staff officer looked at the telegram for a while and pointed out a route on the map: "The enemy is advancing westward along the road, and the target should be Ghent."
Kitchener sat in his chair for a long time without saying a word.
After a long pause, he murmured, "Damn it! The Germans learned Charles' tactics and used them on us!"
The characteristic of trench warfare is the egg-shaped defense. The outer shell looks hard, but once you pierce through it, you will find that the inside is completely hollow.
The same is true for the British Army.
Although the British Expeditionary Force had nearly one million troops at this time, most of them were concentrated on the Somme River. A total of more than 300,000 people in Belgium were defeated and had no time to withdraw, and were left far behind by the rapidly advancing German army.
(Note: The British Army deployed 54 divisions with more than one million troops in the Somme River direction, and the casualties alone reached 420,000.)
"Marshal," the staff officer said worriedly while looking at the map, "Once the German army occupies Ghent, it will not only be a problem of the collapse of the Antwerp defense line, but the entire Belgium will lose its supplies, and even Ypres and Dunkirk will be threatened!"
Ypres was also undefended, and Dunkirk had only two infantry regiments with less than 10,000 men.
These are not the key points. What is important is that once Ghent is lost, the German Air Force can block almost all Belgian roads and railways using Ghent Airport as its base.
Coupled with the blockade of sea routes by German submarines, the entire Western Front will be in a state of lack of supplies.
By then, no matter how powerful Charles' aviation regiment is, how good the performance of its aircraft is, or how powerful its armored forces are, it will face a situation where its fuel supply will become less and less and it will eventually have to withdraw from the battlefield.
Only then did Kitchener understand what the real danger was and see the real crisis.
After a moment's silence, Kitchener said weakly, "We should ask Charles for help."
"But Marshal," the staff officer said doubtfully, "We have already asked Charles for help."
Kitchener shook his head slowly:
"Not just planes, we need his tanks, his troops, everything he has."
"Now, it is possible that he is the only one who can save us!"
The staff officer was stunned for a moment, then understood: "I will convey your meaning to Lieutenant General Ives."
Kitchener was an army marshal, and asking him to bow to the Charles would be beneath the dignity of the British Empire.
Kitchener nodded slightly, his eyes fixed on the map, still struggling internally.
He knew what the price of asking Charles for help would be. The British army would be trampled under Charles' feet and would never be able to raise its head again on the land of Belgium and France, and would not be able to look the other way in the eyes of all the soldiers, including the colonial army.
Therefore, he was still considering a possibility in his heart: Is the British army capable of reversing the situation?
After a while, the staff officer came back:
"Your Excellency Marshal, Lieutenant General Ives called back. He hopes you can give him a chance to attack."
"He believed that the main force of the German army was attacking Ghent, and its rear would be empty."
"If our army sends out cavalry units to launch a counterattack and cut off the German supply lines, they will not be able to penetrate our hinterland, let alone Ghent."
Kitchener laughed. "Cavalry? He thinks cavalry can cut off the German supply lines?"
This stupid guy, isn’t the lesson of the Somme enough?
But then Kitchener thought again, if Lieutenant General Ives was not allowed to try, he and other commanders such as Haig would always have some illusions about the cavalry, always thinking that they failed to play a role because their superiors did not allow it, so the cavalry would never be eliminated.
Thinking of this, Kitchener nodded expressionlessly: "Call back: do what you want, you are fully responsible for it, no need to go through me!"
(End of this chapter)
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