Chapter 241: Kobdo's Trap

Westman is a town 30 kilometers southeast of Paris.

The town is roughly in the middle of the defense line. This unique geographical location allows it to communicate with the south and north defense lines of France as quickly as possible. In addition, the transportation is convenient, easy to defend and difficult to attack, so it was selected as the French General Headquarters.

The headquarters is located in a villa with a garden in the town. It has ample food, clean rooms and full living facilities. It even has a swimming pool, but it is a pity that it cannot be used in this winter.

Xiafei believes that only such an environment can allow him and the headquarters to carry out their work in an "orderly" manner.

Xiafei has always been in the habit of reading newspapers, but he hasn't touched them these days.

The newspapers were full of news he didn't want to see:

"The Army does not need aircraft, these tasks can be handed over to the flying brigade!"

"Even if the Army needs them, they can't guarantee the safety of these reconnaissance aircraft."

"The army's planes only increase the results for the Germans!"

…

"It's ridiculous!" Xiafei dismissed these discussions: "These bastards, they don't know what war is! War is about using limited resources to maximize combat effectiveness. Can't they see that our army's aircraft are doing this? Still fighting and functioning under difficult conditions is a victory in itself!”

Joffre is very good at sophistry.

In the months after the victory at the Battle of the Marne, people have been debating whether Gallieni or Joffre was responsible for saving Paris.

Joffre seemed to have only done one thing: to persuade the British Expeditionary Force to join the battle. Gallieni did everything else, including commanding the troops in battle.

But at this time Xiafei said something: "I don't really know, but I know who will be responsible for it if it is a defeat!"

What this means is that if this battle is defeated, Joffre, as the commander-in-chief of France, will be responsible for it. Now that the battle is victorious, of course the credit belongs to Joffre.

So, he used this weird logic to naturally take the credit from Gallieni.

It was the same at this time. He took it for granted that the chaos, simplicity, and disorder of the Army aircraft were replaced by hardship, persistence, and greatness.

If Xiafei is smart enough, he should choose to let go at this time.

But he was never a smart man, and he even had the nickname "General Slow".

Kanais saw the danger, he stepped forward and cautiously persuaded:

"General, if it were before, there might be no problem if we continue like this because we have absolute air superiority."

"But now, the Germans already have machine-gun aircraft, while the Army still only has reconnaissance aircraft."

"The Germans can easily shoot down all our reconnaissance planes!"

Joffre replied without thinking: "Then, why can't we put machine guns on these reconnaissance planes? They should fight the Germans!"

Kanais was stunned for a moment. He was responsible for commanding Charles' flying group during the Battle of Cape Town and knew something about machine guns and aircraft.

"Yes, General!" Kanais responded.

Then he leaned closer and replied softly: "Some reconnaissance aircraft are not suitable for mounting machine guns. The machine guns are too heavy for them."

These words cannot be heard by other staff officers, otherwise the commander-in-chief will be seen by them as a fool who does not understand airplanes or air combat but is yelling nonsense.

Then Kanais added: "Currently, only two-seater aircraft are suitable for conversion into machine gun aircraft, and our reconnaissance aircraft have many old models..."

Xiafei said "Yeah" without changing his expression: "Then order a batch of aircraft and let them fly into the sky to protect the safety of the reconnaissance aircraft."

"Yes, General!" Kanais responded, but did not leave.

Xiafei turned to look at Kanais in confusion.

"General!" Kanais replied: "The most suitable model at present may be the 'Avro', but this model is produced by Shire's factory..."

Xiafei interrupted Kanais's words simply: "If you use other models, you are responsible for it!"

"Yes, General."

Kanais felt a little helpless when he left. The formation of the aircraft force could not avoid Charles in any case. Even if the "Avro" was not used, the "Machine Gun Shooting Coordinator" must be used.

However, Kanais knew that it was best not to report this matter to Xiafei and just go through government procurement on his own.

At this time, Xiafei was not thinking about how to organize, how to train, or how to fight the enemy. He thought that he had inadvertently opened up another idea:

Everyone thinks that Army aircraft will be integrated into the unified command of Shire. Why can't each army be allowed to independently develop flying groups?

If there are seven armies... No, the two armies commanded by Gallieni should be weakened, and the five armies in his own hands should each develop a powerful flying group.

By then, what will the flying brigade in Charles's hands mean?

Thinking of this, Xiafei thought that he needed to talk to James and let him complete this matter.

…

Soon, two arguments emerged in public opinion:

The first is to support the incorporation of army fighters into unified command by Shire.

The second is that the Army should have its own flying group, so that the Army can respond better and faster and the Army will be stronger.

Xiafei is the representative of the latter. He urgently placed a batch of orders for 200 two-seat "Gaodron" and 100 two-seat "Newport 10", and recruited pilots from the society to form a flying brigade.

Galieni just smiled when he saw this information. Joffre was walking towards Kobdo's trap step by step.

The French commander-in-chief was deceived by a reporter. Is this a kind of irony?

Galieni raised the telegram to Charles, who was sitting a few meters away: "Are these two models useful to you?"

Charles knew what the models were and understood what Gallieni meant.

According to the development of this situation, these planes will eventually fall into Charles' hands. Everything Joffre did was to prepare for Charles' wedding, but he didn't know it yet.

Galieni asked this question because he was worried that these planes would be bought but useless, which would be a huge waste for the military.

"Any plane is useful." Charles replied: "If it doesn't work, they can be used as training planes for pilots. We need this!"

Charles actually valued the pilots trained by Joffre for him.

But of course, he didn't seem to have any hope for the pilots trained by Joffre.

"Okay!" Gallieni nodded calmly: "Then let him buy it. The rest is up to the Germans!"

If it were in the past, Gallieni might have tried his best to avoid this, because innocent pilots would inevitably lose their lives.

Now he seems to understand that these sacrifices are inevitable, and the sooner they come, the less they will be.

(The picture above is a two-seat "Gaudron" reconnaissance aircraft, which first flew in 1913)

(The picture above is a two-seat Newport reconnaissance aircraft, which first flew in late 1914)