Chapter 628: Offense is Greater than Defense
Someone opened a bottle of beer and handed it to Charles, the 1664, the best-selling beer in France.
(The picture above shows France 1664 Beer, which was founded in 1664 and is famous for its golden light beer and 5% alcohol content)
"Thank you." Charles nodded to the young major who handed him the wine.
The young major looked to be in his twenties, quite mature, and was looking at Charles eagerly, with a bit of heat in his eyes.
"You're welcome, General." The young major replied, "I've been waiting here for more than a month, and I just want to know the answers to these questions."
The officers around smiled knowingly. The reason they often came to this club was more or less to be able to talk to Charles like they were doing now and hope to learn something.
Charles was not in a hurry. He took a sip of beer. It was so cold that he couldn't help but shiver.
"Gentlemen." Charles put down the bottle and asked calmly, "First, we should consider a question. Do you think defense is more advantageous or offense is more advantageous in actual combat?"
This question stumped the officers. This was a question they had been arguing about for a long time, but they had never been able to come up with a satisfactory answer.
After a while, an officer answered:
"I think it is more advantageous to attack, General, because it can boost the morale of the soldiers."
"Yes, if there is artillery preparation and tanks, attacking is the real way to win."
"The Lieutenant General's penetration of Antwerp and Hasselt were actually attacks, which proves that attack is the right thing to do."
…
Although they cited the example of Charles's penetration, what they had in mind was Foch's "offensive theory". Some people even regarded Charles' victory as proof of the correctness of Foch's "offensive theory".
After all, Charles did win by attacking.
But this statement was immediately refuted by another group of officers:
"I think defense is more advantageous. For example, in the Battle of the Somme, the Germans caused 100,000 British casualties in one day."
"Yes, that's obvious. The defense has the advantage of terrain. As long as the firepower is properly deployed, it can inflict more casualties on the enemy, sometimes even several times or dozens of times."
"I think so too. After all, the defenders are hiding in the trenches and shooting, and the attackers are the targets. General Petain's victory in the Battle of Verdun proved this."
Most of these officers were from Pétain's faction.
At this time, many grassroots officers and soldiers are more willing to believe in the "defense theory" because it is more in line with the reality and their psychological state.
Otherwise, there would be no mutiny among the soldiers on the front line.
After the arguments among the officers calmed down, Charles analyzed: "In actual combat, the situation is more like 'defense is greater than offense'. The side that takes the initiative to attack often suffers higher casualties. Even at a great cost, they cannot push the defense line forward a single step."
The officers nodded in agreement.
This was the reality of trench warfare. The enemy and our side dug trenches to confront each other, and neither side could do anything to the other. Many attacks resulted in unnecessary casualties.
This is a fact that even the "offensive theory" cannot deny.
However, Charles changed the subject and said, "But this is only the situation at the tactical level. Gentlemen, what I want to say is that at the strategic level, 'attack is greater than defense'."
The officers looked at each other in bewilderment. They were somewhat confused by Charles's sudden reversal.
It is obvious that defense is more advantageous, so why do people say "attack is greater than defense"?
Charles took the knife and fork from the table and started chatting calmly, saying:
"This is the enemy's defense line, and this is our army's defense line."
"In order to defend against each other's attacks, both the enemy and us need to build a complete defense line without any loopholes."
"Otherwise the enemy will break through this loophole and expand their victory."
The officers nodded in agreement. This was the situation on the Western Front at the moment.
Charles went on to say:
"This line of defense is more than 700 kilometers long, and both the enemy and our side have deployed millions of troops to garrison it."
"But even so, the quality of the troops on the front line is still uneven. In many places, there are insufficient troops and insufficient preparations, but neither the enemy nor us have noticed it."
The officers nodded again. Many of them had returned from the front, some having been there more than once. They knew very well that what Charles said was true.
Finally, Charles concluded:
"This happens because the defense needs to guard every point."
"But it is basically impossible to defend every point along the 700-kilometer-long defense line. This is beyond human capabilities."
"On the contrary, the attacking side only needs to keep observing and find a loophole in the more than 700-kilometer-long defense line and then break through it to achieve victory."
"This is what I mean by 'offense is better than defense'."
The officers suddenly understood and nodded in agreement.
This is actually easy to explain using a Chinese idiom: "A wise man will make a mistake after a thousand considerations, and a fool will gain something after a thousand considerations."
The defender is the wise man who cannot afford to make a mistake, while the attacker is the foolish man who can win with just one right move.
Then an officer cheered: "The lieutenant general is right. 'Attack is greater than defense' means that General Foch is right. This is a supplement to the 'offensive theory'."
"No." The young major immediately objected:
"Lieutenant General Charles's statement that 'attack is greater than defense' is different from General Foch's 'theory of attack'."
"General Foch's 'theory of attack' unilaterally emphasizes the advantages of attack without considering other factors."
"And what Lieutenant General Charles said about 'attack is greater than defense' means that we will definitely be able to find a weakness in the enemy's defense line, break through it and expand the victory."
Charles secretly praised the major, thinking that he was quite knowledgeable. At least he did not simply divide the theory into two categories, "offense" and "defense", like other officers.
Then someone else asked curiously: "General, but what does the theory of 'attack is greater than defense' have to do with your interweaving in Antwerp and Hasselt?"
"Don't you understand, Field?" the young major replied:
"Antwerp and Hasselt were not originally planned, but were gaps that the lieutenant general found in the enemy's long defense line."
"Like the lieutenant general said, as long as the defense line is long, it is impossible to cover everything, and there will inevitably be some areas that are not well prepared."
"That's why the Germans were repeatedly caught off guard and easily defeated by the lieutenant general's concentrated elite troops."
The officers suddenly realized:
"So this is not luck or coincidence, but intentional, which shows that it is a tactic that can be replicated."
"It's really different from 'theory of attack.'"
"Great, we can also apply this tactic in battle!"
…
(End of this chapter)
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