Chapter 197: Completely Unchangeable

Falkenhayn immediately issued a series of targeted orders to the front line.

He handed over frontline command to Major General Justin, who was stationed on the Cape defense line. He was the commander of the 4th Reserve Corps and commanded the four Cape Divisions and two other cavalry regiments.

Falkenhayn believed that Major General Justin was more familiar with the nearby terrain and more suitable for direct command of the overall situation.

…

At that time, Major General Justin was standing at the entrance of the command post, using a telescope to observe the "Avros" whizzing past in the sky.

His headquarters is hidden on a high ground five kilometers away from the front line. It is surrounded by trees and hills. Not far away is a well-camouflaged 105MM howitzer position.

This is not that Major General Justin shares the joys and sorrows with the soldiers, but that Major General Justin knows that if he sets his headquarters in a nearby town, his position will soon be exposed.

After all, this is France, and although French capitalists always do stupid things, her civilians are always brave.

More importantly, Major General Justin knew that Charles had proposed a "special operations" tactic, which specifically launched sneak attacks against deep German headquarters.

For the sake of his life, he had to find a safe place near the front line and live like a savage.

When Charles' plane appeared in the sky, Major General Justin was secretly glad that he was right.

If you live in a certain house or villa in the town, you may now be fired upon by machine guns and planes!

Major General Justin stared at the "Avro" flying overhead in the aperture of the telescope until they disappeared. He seemed to want to see how the machine gun was installed or where it was installed. Unfortunately, he did not Can do what you want.

When putting away the telescope, a communications soldier came forward and reported: "General, the General Staff ordered us to strengthen four infantry divisions, and there will also be two basic ammunition and strengthen an artillery regiment!"

Major General Justin felt doubtful in his heart, but he did not show it on his face. He asked coldly: "So, they made a mistake? Is it still Charles who is directing this attack?"

"No, general!" the signal soldier replied: "It is confirmed that Joffre is commanding. However, the General Staff believes that Joffre may copy Charles's tactics at La Fox!"

Major General Justin was stunned for a moment, then he couldn't help laughing, and said sarcastically: "Interesting, would Xiafei do this?"

…

Xiafei didn't want to do this either.

A villa located in the northwest of the town of Cape Town. The wealthy owner had fled to the south because of the war in this area. It happened to be used by Joffre as a headquarters.

The headquarters is as busy as ever. After all, this is the nerve center of France's million-strong army. Military information from all directions will eventually converge here, and they will be sent back to the next order after appropriate processing.

Xiafei was sitting at the table staring blankly at the map. The desk lamp next to him was emitting orange light, which flickered occasionally due to poor contact.

But Xiafei didn't notice it at all, his eyes were empty and lifeless, and his mind was already jumping in another dimension.

Xiafei was a little depressed during this period. He has been trying hard to make his troops fight in an "orderly" manner. He believed that as long as he was orderly and step-by-step, it would be the enemy who panicked, and victory would eventually belong to him.

This is one of the reasons why he always goes to bed on time.

However, the appearance of Ciel broke all the rules. He played cards completely unconventionally. He has almost never used the same tactics since the beginning of the war.

The Battle of the Marne was a frontal breakthrough with tanks, taking advantage of the enemy's fear of new equipment;

Antwerp used deception tactics and rocket planes to bomb the enemy's key "Big Bertha" and airships;

In Ypres, machine gun aircraft appeared to control the air, and they perfectly cooperated with artillery to implement defense;

Lafox surprisingly mixed tanks, infantry and aircraft into a ball and carried out an interspersed encirclement!

God, which tactic is the right one? Xiafei felt a little dizzy.

If you don’t understand, just copy it directly…

No, it cannot be copied!

If a headline appeared in the newspaper the next day, "The French commander-in-chief used exactly the same tactics as Charles to achieve victory," how would he lose face?

Therefore, even if it is copied, there must be some changes, so that he can answer confidently: "No, they only look similar on the surface, but they are actually two completely different tactics!".

Citizens don't understand tactics. If they compare and find that there are indeed differences, they will believe what Xiafei says.

However……

Xiafei collapsed and found that he couldn't change at all, not at all!

Skip the plane and ignore air superiority?

No, once the German planes fly into the sky for reconnaissance, the Germans will detect them in advance when the intersecting troops are gathering on the flanks. Without the suddenness of interpenetration, they cannot break through quickly.

What's more, it is necessary to use "machine gun aircraft" to block and suppress the German artillery.

The First Flying Group is essential!

Attack directly from the front?

No, although the "Saint Chamoun" and CA-1 have been improved, they still have difficulty crossing trenches in tests.

In actual combat, sandbags are still needed to fill trenches to allow them to pass, and "sandbag trenching" was also invented by Charles.

So, can we change the "simultaneous insertion of two wings" and implement "single wing insertion"?

The answer is still no!

The two wings are interspersed at the same time, which means that each side only needs to travel half the way. This not only shortens the reaction time of the enemy, but also only half the distance of the tank.

The latter is very important, because with the current maintenance status of tanks, it is basically impossible to cover the entire distance with a single wing and continuous tracks.

"God!" Xiafei fell into deep distress: "This is actually a tactic thought up by a seventeen-year-old boy. It is intricate and closely connected, and every step is essential. How did he come up with it?"

In the end, Xiafei compromised and decided to copy the original work without changing anything.

As long as the victory is achieved, the media can solve it and let Schneider contribute.

But inevitably, when Xiafei conveyed the battle plan, the atmosphere at the headquarters became weird.

The staff didn't say anything, but the expressions on their faces seemed to have stolen something. They couldn't help but think: If they can win this way, why is it that Joffre is in command instead of Charles?

Deputy Commander Kanais understood this expression. He didn't know how to explain it, so he could only shout to break the embarrassment: "Cheer up, boys, our goal is to surround the enemy's 4th Reserve Army!"

Then Kanais added: "This time, what we want to surround is an army! It's completely different from La Fox last time!"

The staff members responded sparsely:

"Yes, General!"

"It's much more difficult this time!"

"This was perhaps the largest siege ever fought."

…