Chapter 941 The Emotion Value Has Been Maxed Out
Preparations for the campaign lasted until mid-April.
The reason was that the German army had been maintaining a "compromising" attitude in diplomacy. On the one hand, they partially withdrew their troops from Romania and Italy, and on the other hand, they kept calling the "League of Nations" through the Netherlands:
"We respect the decision of the League of Nations. Germany is not a belligerent country. We also hope to end this war."
"We are evacuating the area but it will take time because the roads are damaged."
"The Italians are still shelling us, and I think this is destroying our rapport!"
…
In fact, everyone could see that the Germans were just making a gesture, and the area they withdrew from was the central part of the defense line.
The retreat in the direction of the Pivea River in Italy could not even be considered a retreat. The German army simply concentrated its forces on both wings and gave up the central plain. Once the Italian army crossed the river to pursue, they would be surrounded and annihilated by the German army.
However, even if it was just a gesture, it would not be appropriate for Charles to order an attack, otherwise he might be accused of "disrupting the peace".
In fact, it was Charles who condoned the German army's delaying tactics.
If Charles was not happy, he only needed to find an excuse, such as the German army had no intention of retreating, and then he could launch an attack with the support of the international community.
The reason why Charles waited was because he received intelligence that the Germans were continuously transferring troops to the east bank of the Rhine.
The Germans did it very secretly. They did not make any moves during the day and only marched secretly at night. After reaching their destination, they hid in the trenches without showing their heads and maintained radio silence.
They tried to hide their military strength in this way.
What the Germans didn't expect was that the "Madam in White"'s reconnaissance method was for civilians to lean over the windows to count the number of military vehicles, or count the supplies transported by trains, or track wheel marks.
Often the simpler the reconnaissance method, the more difficult it is to guard against, or even impossible to guard against.
Charles was happy to see this happen, so he pretended to be fooled and waited quietly, while secretly increasing his troops on the west bank of the Rhine like the Germans.
In addition to Tasigny's Third Panzer Army, he also transferred Foch's Northern Army Group to prepare for the offensive.
The Germans knew that Foch was used for offense and he never defended, which was in line with the French strategy of attacking towards the Rhine!
Foch gave Charles a big hug when he saw him:
"Lieutenant General, we have finally waited for this day."
"I never thought we would be in this situation now. Not only have we recovered our lost territory, but we can also counterattack and enter the German mainland!"
"You know, this is the dream of all French people, including me. It's you who gave us this opportunity!"
…
Foch thought that Charles intended to leave the great honor of "invading Germany" to him, so he was grateful.
Charles answered modestly: "Commander-in-Chief, a battle of this scale certainly requires your command. My heavy armored army is better at concentrating on one point and carrying out penetration."
The implication is that he lacks the ability to command a large military group.
Foch was very pleased with these words. He smiled and shook Charles' hand: "This is the result of our joint efforts. Work hard, Lieutenant General. I believe our cooperation will go smoothly."
Foch knew clearly that it was Charles who always controlled the direction of the war, and sometimes he, the commander-in-chief, did not even know the specific battle plans.
The old combat thinking is outdated. Foch glanced at Charles and Tijani and sighed in his heart: The young are formidable. He can no longer keep up with the pace of today's young people.
Charles put Foch in charge of the Rhine River command. The Northern Army Group deployed its troops while secretly building docks and making preparations for crossing the river at multiple points.
This instantly gave the German army a headache, and they immediately made a conclusion: the French army could force a crossing from any point, Strasbourg was just the focus of the attack, and the one crossing the river here might only be Charles' First Armored Army.
…
After more than twenty days of preparation, the German army finally stopped pretending and launched a counterattack against Romania and Italy at the same time on April 16.
Towards Romania.
Because the German army's equipment and combat effectiveness were generally stronger than those of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Romania had lost the support of the Russian army, the German army broke through the Carpathian Mountain defense line and penetrated deep into its hinterland in the first place.
Italian direction.
Although the Italian army listened to Charles' advice and purchased a large number of rocket launchers to blow up the pontoon bridge built by the German army.
But as the saying goes, "The higher the virtue, the higher the evil." Any fixed and single tactic will be discovered by the opponent over time.
The German army used deception tactics to take advantage of the high ammunition consumption of rocket launchers.
They chose to cross the river at night, using wooden boats disguised as "belt pontoon bridges" to cross the river, and they were everywhere.
The nervous Italian army jumped into the pit when they saw it and used rocket launchers to bombard the so-called "floating bridge" desperately.
But in just over an hour, the rockets were exhausted.
Only then did the German army bring out the real "belt pontoon bridge" and use tanks to lead the infantry to cross the Pivea River.
The Italian army was in complete disarray and fled to the Po River to organize its defense.
The Po River is located in a flat plain with many crossing points and loopholes. The Italian army was instantly caught in the crisis of national destruction.
…
One urgent telegram after another was delivered to Charles' desk.
The Queen of Romania called:
"Dear Lieutenant General, the German army is retreating in name only but actually attacking. They have formed an 'Alpine Army' that will march 80 kilometers at high speed in the mountains within three days, penetrate behind our defense line and defeat the garrison stationed at the pass."
"At this point they were only 65 kilometers from Bucharest, and Romania was in imminent danger."
"This is a provocation to the League of Nations, and also to you. Please save us."
"Romania promised that we will give you more oil quotas..."
An urgent telegram came from Cadorna, Italy:
"Lieutenant General, please send reinforcements or give us more rockets, otherwise we will probably collapse."
"We are staunch supporters of the League of Nations. We have handed over the management of coal and steel. You will not sit idly by and watch us be occupied by the German army, right?"
…
The phone kept ringing, sometimes it was Clemenceau, sometimes it was the representative to the League of Nations.
The meeting room of the League of Nations was in turmoil. They made a decision as quickly as possible: "It's time to attack Germany and teach them a lesson."
All major newspapers rushed to publish additional editions to report the news of the German attack. Citizens all knew about it, and everyone believed that the attack was inevitable.
The emotional level has reached its maximum, and people turn their eyes to Charles to see what he will do.
The only person who did not urge Charles was Gallieni.
In the office of the Minister of City Hall, he stood in front of the map and looked at Charles's deployment of troops in Lorraine and Alsace, smiling slightly: "This guy has been prepared for a long time!"
Gallieni kept his eyes fixed on Saarbrücken.
He knew that this was Charles's goal, because the distance here was short and it was possible to gain the greatest benefit at the lowest cost.
But Gallieni didn't know how Charles would achieve it!
(End of this chapter)
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