Chapter 666 Arden Forest
"I know," Gallieni replied, "but I said that we can't just sit there and watch the British Expeditionary Force collapse. We have to reinforce it."
Charles didn't say anything. He pointed his finger at Charleroi in Belgium on the map.
(The above picture shows the location of Charleroi, Belgium. The blue area is the Ardennes Highlands and forests. The terrain is rugged and complex, which is not easy to use for mobile warfare. It roughly divides the battlefield into two parts that are not connected to each other. At that time, it was generally believed that armored forces could not pass through. During World War II, the German army passed through this forest to bypass the Maginot Line and enter France)
Gallieni looked puzzled: "Are you planning to attack Charleroi?"
"Yes," Charles replied, "This is the nail that must be removed before attacking the Liege Fortress. It is backed by the mountains and forests and can be attacked or defended, forming a mutual reinforcement with Liege."
Gallieni nodded his assent.
Prior to this, Charles's battles in Belgium had been in the north, with little involvement in the complex terrain of the south.
If Belgium is to be completely liberated, moving south is the inevitable choice.
"But," Gallieni asked doubtfully, "what does this have to do with reinforcements for the Somme?"
"Aircraft, General," Charles answered. "Once we capture Charleroi, our bombers can use it as a base to attack the German supply lines."
Gallieni thought for a moment and shook his head slightly:
"That does help, Admiral."
"But we all know that bombers lack accuracy and are not very effective in damaging enemy facilities."
"Secondly, the Germans have learned how to avoid our bombings and have even strengthened their air defenses."
This is the fact that the battle has been going on till now.
"Caproni" is not a dive bomber. It is okay to bomb large targets such as German airports or warehouses, but bombing small targets such as railways and bridges depends more on luck.
At the same time, the Germans learned to release smoke to obscure their vision and used Becker machine guns for air defense, forcing the "Caproni" not to bomb at low altitudes, which further reduced the effectiveness of the bombing.
Charles was forced to speak his true thoughts: "I intend to go through the Ardennes, General."
Gallieni didn't understand what Charles meant at this time. He replied disapprovingly: "This is not a good idea, Charles. Even if your army can pass through the Ardennes Mountains, it has no heavy weapons and insufficient ammunition. Not only can it not pose a threat to the German army, but it may be surrounded and annihilated by the German army."
Military combat is not just about putting troops into place.
If the logistics cannot deliver ammunition and supplies to the troops across the mountains and forests, these troops that infiltrate the mountains will soon be in desperate situations due to lack of ammunition.
But Charles answered easily: "I'm talking about the armored forces, the First Armored Army!"
Gallieni looked up at Charles in astonishment. After a long while, he said, "That's impossible. There's no road there. Even cars can't pass through. Yet you want tanks to pass through."
But Charles knew it was possible.
The Germans traveled much further through this mountainous region during World War II.
The key point is to carry out thorough intelligence work before the war, and send people to carefully inquire about every passable mountain road, as well as which places can quickly build bridges and roads, and which locations need to be widened or reinforced.
The "Charr A1" weighs only 7 tons, which is more than one ton heavier than the German "Phase I" tank during World War II. As long as scouts and engineers are sent to conduct on-site surveys, there will be no major problems.
(Note: The "Panzer I" tank weighs 5.4 tons.)
Gallieni still couldn't believe it. He looked at the map and then at Charles: "Are you sure you want to do this? This is harder than you think. How do you guarantee supplies? Armored forces mean more fuel and spare parts."
"Sidecar, General." Charles said firmly, "If we can build a road in the forest that can accommodate the 'Char A1', we can certainly build a road that can accommodate sidecars."
"But it's not enough," Gallieni replied. "Not at all!"
It was indeed not enough. Once a war broke out, a huge amount of ammunition would be needed. The bullets of the French and German armies were not compatible, and even if the German ammunition was captured, it could not be used.
But Charles had thought about this problem a long time ago: "So, I am training the armored troops to use German rifles, including machine guns used on tanks."
These equipments are not difficult to obtain. The Belgian army is equipped with German weapons, which can be produced by the "FN" company.
Then Charles added: "Also, I'm trying to use the Caproni to airdrop supplies."
"Airdrop supplies?" Gallieni was stunned by Charles' words. Could an airplane do such a thing?
"Why not?" Charles replied, "Airdropping weapons and ammunition may be difficult, as they are likely to break when they hit the ground, but airdropping food is not a problem. Bread and flour will not break when they fall, they just need to be well packaged and waterproofed."
This is to take into account the possibility that it may be dropped into the water and get wet or break into pieces and scatter all over the ground.
But these are not technically difficult.
Gallieni nodded slightly and looked at Charles doubtfully: "It seems that you have thought about doing this a long time ago."
"Yes." Charles admitted straightforwardly.
Ever since he had captured Hasselt and was facing the fortress of Liege, Charles had thought about going around it through the Ardennes Forest.
The only purpose at that time was to bypass the Liege fortress instead of attacking the German Somme River defense line from the rear.
There was one more thing which Charles had not told Gallieni.
With Charles' current strength, after his troops pass through the Ardennes Forest and occupy an area to develop an airport or occupy an airport, "Caproni" can immediately transport supplies there, and fighter jets can also enter the airport and join the battle.
Ciel didn't think it necessary to say too much.
At this time, Gallieni still found it difficult to understand this combat mode, nor did he know the benefits of this combat mode.
Gallieni was already shocked enough, with armored troops moving through the mountains and forests, sidecars providing supplies, and bombers dropping supplies.
He felt that Charles's troops had evolved to another level, far beyond the level of this world.
"However, this is still risky, Charles." Gallieni reminded him, "I wonder if you have ever thought about what will happen if your troops fail to successfully cross the mountains, or fail to win after crossing them?"
"I know, General," Charles answered. "The British have suffered heavy casualties."
This is a "risk" that Charles welcomes.
However, Charles did not say so. He added: "But high risk also means high rewards. Once we succeed..."
Gallieni turned his eyes to the map, looked at it for a while and finally nodded in agreement with the plan.
As Charles said, the risk was that the British army would suffer heavy casualties, but if successful, it would mean a decisive victory in the Battle of the Somme, and the defense line would advance dozens of kilometers in one go.
More importantly, it would be possible to encircle all the German troops on the Somme River.
It was another great encirclement. Gallieni sighed in his heart, thinking that the Germans might be in great danger!
(End of this chapter)
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