Chapter 300 Let the Enemy Defeat Us

As soon as Charles's two pictures came out, the atmosphere in the conference room immediately changed.

Most of the military officers had not supported the landing at Borlayel, but now they were full of confidence in it.

General Winter looked at the documents in his hand excitedly and sighed: "God, they are simply designed for this battle."

He turned to Charles and asked: "Colonel, you haven't thought of landing at Borlayel for a long time, have you?"

Tijani asked with a half-smile: "What do you think, General?"

The officers were silent for a while, then burst into laughter.

General Winter realized that he had asked a stupid question: Charles had already built them and brought them here, and of course he had thought of using them in the landing battle when he was in France.

But the laughter soon stopped strangely.

The officers noticed that General Hamilton was sitting there quietly, looking at the two drawings in front of him expressionlessly, saying nothing.

"Do you have any objections, General Hamilton?" General Winter asked.

Hamilton said "Yeah", he threw the drawing on the table, looked up at Charles, and said coldly:

"I admire your whimsy, Colonel."

"I won't talk about the many uncertainties involved, even if you can successfully log in..."

Hamilton paused, glanced at both sides, and emphasized his tone:

"Attention, Shire is preparing to land before dawn."

"This means that there is not much time left for the Shire to land. These twenty landing craft plus twenty landing boats may require three to four round trips to transport 3,000 people ashore."

Hamilton tapped his finger on the table, making it make a rhythmic "clucking" sound:

"So, how can you use these 3,000 people to defeat a division of the Ottoman Empire with tens of thousands of people?"

"And the Ottoman Empire will have a steady stream of reinforcements."

"But for us, it is difficult to increase our troops because the landing site may be blocked by enemy artillery fire at dawn!"

The officers were all stunned. They did not consider this issue.

The Ottomans had built complete fortifications and deployed a division in Bolayel. Even if Shire's 3,000 men could land, they would probably not be able to occupy Bolayel and cut off the supply line.

Charles acted very calmly and said in an unhurried tone: "We don't need to defeat this division, nor do we need to defeat their continuous reinforcements."

Hamilton looked at Charles in confusion. If he didn't defeat the enemy, how could he cut off Bolayel?

Ciel added: "We will let the enemy defeat us!"

The others were confused, but Hamilton understood. He looked at Charles with a shocked expression, a trace of surprise and caution flashed in his eyes.

General Winter still didn't understand. He asked curiously: "Let the enemy defeat us? What is the difference between this and us defeating the enemy?"

"Of course there is a difference, General." Charles replied: "We defeated the enemy because our army attacked the enemy's defense line. So 3,000 men are indeed far from enough to capture an enemy division, let alone the enemy's subsequent reinforcements."

General Winter said "Oh": "Let the enemy defeat us, just because we build fortifications and wait for the enemy to attack?"

Thinking about General Winter, it makes sense.

During the trench warfare period, especially since the Ottoman Empire did not have tanks, 3,000 men were more than enough to defend against an attack by more than 10,000 people, as long as these 3,000 men were equipped with enough machine guns and ensured a supply of ammunition.

But General Winter frowned again: "But why did the enemy jump out of their trenches and attack our defense line? Why can't they stay on the defense line?"

Most of the other officers also had this question. They were from the navy who were not familiar with land warfare and thought that blockade could only be achieved by occupying with troops.

At this time General Hamilton spoke: "Artillery blockade."

The officers were stunned for a moment, and then they understood Ciel's intention.

Hamilton looked a little depressed, looking like a defeated rooster, but he still pointed to the map and analyzed:

"The throat of Bolayel is only 6 kilometers wide."

"The road in the middle is less than 3 kilometers away from the coast, but our 75-gun has a range of 8 kilometers."

"In other words, as soon as we land, we can block the road with artillery fire and wait for the enemy to attack."

This is explained by a Chinese idiom, which is to use defense instead of attack.

Only then did General Winter and the officers fully understand.

At that time, the Ottoman army had to attack, because only by attacking and defeating the 3,000 men of the Shire could the supply line of the Gallipoli Peninsula be prevented from being blocked by artillery fire.

Charles nodded slightly: "Almost!"

"What does it mean?" Hamilton said with a trace of unwillingness on his face.

Charles Ran replied: "You have forgotten one thing, General. The terrain within a few kilometers of Borlayel is flat, but there are highlands on both sides. The Ottomans have deployed 105MM howitzers reinforced by the Germans on those highlands. Range 12 kilometers.”

Hamilton's expression froze: "This means that the enemy's artillery can hit us, but we cannot hit the enemy!"

"Yes!" Charles replied: "So, if we use 75-guns to block the highway, there will be only a dead end. No matter how many 75-guns we transport to land, there will no doubt be bombed into the sky by the enemy."

"Then what do you mean..."

Charles pointed to a line of defense in front of Bolaye's ear and said:

"Bolayel is too sensitive to the enemy. Once our army successfully lands, the enemy will immediately dispatch a large number of troops to try to drive us into the sea."

"Therefore, we don't even have time to build fortifications."

"All we can do is take this line of defense and use it..."

The officers focused their attention on the line of defense that Charles pointed to.

That was a line of defense built by the Ottomans to prevent the Allies from landing. It was in an arc facing the landing angle.

Once Charles could occupy this line of defense, he could immediately use it to turn it into his own position.

(The red line in the above picture is the line of defense that Charles wanted to fight for)

Charles continued:

"The advantage of occupying this line of defense is that it can create space for the landing of our follow-up troops. In the future, landing troops and supplies can land every night to strengthen the blockade of Bolayel."

"Second, it is only 600 meters away from the salient of the road, while our mortars have a range of 700 meters."

The officers in the conference room suddenly realized that Charles was going to use mortars to block the road.

General Winter smiled and nodded.

It was a good idea. In a local area where artillery fire was at a disadvantage, the survivability of the mortar was obviously much stronger than that of the 75mm gun, and it was also more convenient to transport.

Hamilton looked thoughtful. He was stunned for a long time before sighing softly. His originally confident face unconsciously became a little more haggard.