Chapter 734 Ploiesti Oil Field
History's evaluation of Admiral Evert is rather ambiguous, describing his non-cooperation as "lack of confidence in victory."
In fact, Admiral Evert did this mostly out of selfish motives.
For many years, Russia's war on the Eastern Front had been commanded by General Evert, and all of them were failures.
He combined the failures of the war on the Western Front and finally concluded: "Defense is the only correct tactic."
This seems to be from Pétain's faction, but it is more of a lack of confidence in the Russian army, because the Russian army is always running away, and it is difficult to control them in the front line for defense, let alone attack.
Therefore, when Brusilov proposed a counterattack, he strongly opposed it, thinking it was an absurd idea. Especially after hearing that Brusilov wanted to modify the carriage and install Maxim, he strongly opposed it:
"This is no way to win, believe me, it has no hope."
"We will suffer heavy casualties, just as the British suffered 100,000 casualties a day on the Somme battlefield."
"It's hard to imagine that with such clear evidence before us, someone would still blindly launch an attack, using a carriage."
"Have you forgotten? The British also used cavalry!"
…
Admiral Evert completely failed to take into account the differences between Russia and the Somme:
Russia's terrain is complex and covered with ice and snow. When the ice and snow melt in spring and summer, the land becomes muddy and even turns into a swamp. It is difficult for the German and Austrian armies to build complete underground fortifications dozens of meters deep like the Somme River.
Secondly, the tactics of using Maxim mounted on a chariot are different from those of using cavalry.
Although the cavalry was fast, they had almost no firepower. They could not hit anyone by shooting at them while they were running horses. They mostly fought in close combat with sabers.
The horse-drawn Maxim can, however, deliver damage at long distances beyond the range of rifles, and more importantly, it can also operate in a mobile manner.
As a result, everyone knows that Brusilov won, and it was an unprecedented victory.
Evert was supposed to lead the main force of the Russian army to launch a fierce attack on the German army to prevent it from reinforcing the Austro-Hungarian Corps, and then send troops to outflank the German defense line through the gap created by Brusilov.
If this happens, it will not only be the Austro-Hungarian army that collapses, but the Allied forces will collapse across the board.
But Evert deliberately delayed. He launched a feeble feint attack on the front and did not send any reinforcements to the flanks.
It was not until more than a month later, when Brusilov's offensive had been blocked, that he pretended to send reinforcements, but by then it was too late.
It is obvious that if Evert cooperates with Brusilov to expand the victory at this time, wouldn't that be helping Brusilov to slap himself in the face?
Charles knew all this, so he was well aware that the current "good" situation was only a flash in the pan and the Allies were far from completely collapsing.
At this time, the phone on the desk rang. Djokovic picked up the phone and it was Camille calling.
"There's a guest at home." Camille's voice was a little nervous: "It's a woman. She's here to see Charles."
"Woman?" Djoka looked at Charles in confusion.
"Yes," Camille replied, "She said her name was Marie, and it seemed that her relationship with Charles was..."
Deyoka turned to Charles and asked, "Do you know someone named Mary?"
"No." Charles answered simply.
Then he suddenly remembered that the queen's name was Mary, and he quickly changed his words: "Yes, what's the matter?"
Deyoka was speechless. He glared at Charles fiercely and scolded him in his voice: "She came to the door, go and solve this trouble!"
"No, father," Charles protested, "it's not what you think..."
"I understand." Djoka interrupted Charles: "She is waiting for you at home. If you can solve it, there will be no problem."
Then he lowered his voice and added: "Don't let Lucia know, hurry up."
Ciel: ...
…
Because Deyoka had some things on hand and couldn't leave for the time being, Charles went home alone in Lieutenant Colonel Laurent's car.
When he got home, he found Camille entertaining Queen Marie in the living room.
Camille seemed to have the same misunderstanding as Dejoka, and her expression was a little embarrassed. On the contrary, Queen Marie heard something and laughed so hard that she fell backwards.
When Queen Marie saw Charles coming back, she asked, "Is that true? You shot Harriet? Almost killed her?"
Charles looked at Camille in astonishment, not understanding why Camille said this to Marie.
Queen Marie came to Camille's rescue: "No, I asked. I just wanted to know more about your romantic affairs, but I didn't expect to hear this."
After saying that, he winked at Charles.
Charles understood that the source was Queen Marie. She deliberately made Camille misunderstand, which made it difficult for him to explain himself.
"I have something else to do." Camille, feeling relieved, picked up the basket and made an inappropriate excuse: "I forgot my appointment with my neighbor."
Before leaving, he gave Charles a fierce look, as if to say, "Think about Lucia, you bastard!"
Charles could only respond with an aggrieved expression.
"Is there anything wrong, Queen?" Charles turned to Marie after Camille left. "I think I have made it very clear in the telegram that I can't help you."
Mary didn't answer, but took the shoulder bag from the chair, took out a document and gently placed it on the table, with a confident smile on her face: "How about you take a look at this contract first?"
Then he joked: "I believe you won't treat me the same way you treated Harry."
Charles was furious. He took the document and flipped it open. Then he looked at Queen Marie in surprise: "50% of the shares of the Ploiesti oil field?"
Queen Mary nodded slightly.
The Ploiesti oil field is the largest oil field in Romania.
At that time, the annual oil production of Romania as a whole was about 2 million tons, and the Ploiesti oil field produced more than 1 million tons, accounting for more than half of the country.
Queen Marie waved her hand and gave half of its shares to Charles.
(Note: During World War I, the demand for oil was not high, so oil production was not high. During World War II, it had increased several times.)
"Do you know what this means?" Charles raised the document in his hand.
Charles had heard of the Ploiesti oil field in modern times. He had heard of it before, and the US military had bombed it heavily during World War II because it supplied 50% of Germany's oil needs.
This oil field now produces more than 1 million tons of oil, but it had expanded to 10 million tons during World War II and was the lifeline of the German army.
If I can hold half of its shares, does it mean that the assets will at least increase tenfold?
"Of course I know." Queen Mary picked up the coffee in front of her and took a sip. Her behavior was elegant and calm, completely different from her previous panic.
Putting down the coffee cup, she looked at Charles with a playful look, as if she was playing a game: "I want to know, if you sign this contract, will you still sit back and watch the Germans rush into Romania and take away the oil fields?"
It was a good deal, Queen Marie thought, oil in exchange for Romania's security.
And if we don’t pay these, we may very likely have nothing!
(The picture above shows the US military's massive bombing of the Ploiesti oil field during World War II)
(End of this chapter)
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