Chapter 368 This Is Politics

The problem of the speed of tanks and infantry being out of sync unexpectedly developed in two directions after World War I:

Although Britain was the country that invented the tank, it did not really understand the advantages of the tank and the tactics it should have. It chose to slow down the tank to keep pace with the infantry, so there were so-called "infantry tanks", such as the "Matilda".

After the war, Germany emphasized blitzkrieg, which focused on attack and speed. It wanted the infantry to speed up and keep up with the tanks, so it developed half-track armored vehicles, sidecars, etc. to coordinate infantry and tanks.

Charles knew the correct answer, and of course he would not hesitate on this issue. He immediately equipped the troops with armored vehicles, and they were armored vehicles with troop transport capabilities.

(Note: Armored vehicles had already appeared during this period, but most of them did not have the ability to transport troops. They were used to cooperate with infantry rather than tanks. For example, the picture below shows a Rolls-Royce armored vehicle equipped by the British Army at the end of 1914)

After arranging the tank brigade, Charles went to the flying club again. The pilots actively trained the "Eight Rules of Air Combat" under Carter's command, and Charles had nothing to worry about.

At noon, Charles returned to the police training base. As soon as he entered the headquarters, Dominic followed him. He was obviously waiting for Charles.

"General." Dominic hurriedly handed Charles a newspaper and pointed to one of the articles and said, "You should probably take a look at this."

It was a news article about the Gallipoli War, which said that the two armies were in a stalemate on both land and sea, and the Allied offensive had made no progress.

Charles was a little confused and looked up and asked, "When did you start to care about the Gallipoli War?"

"No." Dominic came up and pointed to a line of words and said, "This is it."

Charles took a closer look and found that in the inconspicuous corner of the article it was written: "The soldiers complained about the 'Chauchat' machine gun. They said that this machine gun had never fired 200 rounds of bullets in a row without malfunctioning, and even rifles could do this."

Charles just glanced through it hastily and didn't see this sentence.

"Are you concerned about the actual combat situation of the 'Chauchat' machine gun?" Charles asked.

"Yes." Dominic replied: "It has been equipped on the battlefield for three weeks. The soldiers have a great response to it. Some troops even refused to accept it because they think that this kind of gun will only waste the organization and take time to maintain."

Charles was not surprised by this. The "Chauchat" originally had a lot of problems. Now it is serving in a high-salt and high-humidity environment. It would be strange if there were no problems.

Then Dominic asked carefully: "General, should we send the "Saint-Etienne 2" machine gun?"

This is Dominic's real intention. He continued to pay attention to the war in Gallipoli not to watch the "Chauchat" machine gun, nor for the "Saint-Etienne 2" machine gun to sell well, but to hope that the "Saint-Etienne 2" machine gun would be equipped to the Allies as soon as possible to save a few lives.

This soft-hearted guy, Charles cursed in his heart, how can he inherit Steed's career in the future!

After thinking for a while, Charles nodded and replied: "It's about time."

Dominic's expression relaxed, and he couldn't wait to say: "I'll do it right away."

"Wait." Charles stopped Dominic who was about to leave and told him: "Temporarily equip the 29th Division of the British Army and the 5th Light Cavalry Regiment of Australia."

Dominic was stunned: "Why not equip the French army first?"

We are arms dealers of France. Shouldn't we put our own interests first?

Charles had long guessed that Dominic would have this reaction. He shook his head slightly. A qualified capitalist should not put the interests of the "country" first, but the interests of "me" first.

Charles reminded: "This is an opportunity for the 'Saint Etienne' Arsenal, Dominic, a great advertising opportunity, it can expand the influence of 'Saint Etienne'."

"Advertising opportunity?" Dominic didn't understand. What's the difference between equipping the British army and equipping the French army? Isn't battlefield performance the best advertisement?

Charles asked back: "Most of the 'Chauchat' machine guns are equipped with the French army, right?"

"Yes." Dominic nodded. Although the "Chauchat" is from the "Puteau" Arsenal, it is also a French machine gun, so of course it is equipped with the French army first.

Then Dominic seemed to have figured it out: "You mean, let the 'Chauchat' machine gun and the 'Saint-Etienne 2' machine gun appear on the battlefield at the same time to form a sharp contrast?"

"You can say that." Charles motioned Dominic to sit down on the chair in front of him: "But there are other reasons, what can you think of?"

Dominic looked at Charles, his eyes revealing confusion.

Charles gave the answer slowly: "People will think that this is Schneider and Joffre's trick, thinking that they are suppressing 'Saint-Etienne', and people will be angry and voice their condemnation, especially the soldiers who have suffered greatly from it."

Dominic was stunned: "But they didn't do that."

"I know." Charles spread his hands: "But it doesn't matter!"

Dominic understood: "You are deliberately misleading people!"

Charles did not deny it.

Before this, Schneider had joined forces with Joffre to suppress Charles and the Saint-Etienne Arsenal many times.

Now, if the shoddy Chauchat machine gun is equipped to the French army, while the Saint-Etienne 2 machine gun, which is also produced by a French arsenal but has excellent performance, is only equipped to the British army, what will people's reaction be?

They will take it for granted:

"They are all French equipment, why should the French army be equipped with the worse one?"

"Shouldn't we keep the good ones for ourselves? This will affect the lives of the soldiers!"

"This must be the work of Joffre and Schneider. They have squeezed out the better equipment again."

...

"But this is a lie." Dominic's face was full of opposition.

"This is politics and business." Charles retorted: "Besides, we didn't do anything. People think so themselves."

"But they have their own newspapers. They will clarify the matter."

Charles smiled: "Do you think people will believe it? Once people are convinced, they will regard this "clarification" as an attempt to cover up the truth."

At the same time, if Charles and "Saint-Etienne" remain silent, people will think that they are under some kind of pressure and dare not speak out.

Even if the truth comes out one day, nothing can be changed at that time.

Dominic shook his head: "We can't do this, General."

Charles only replied: "This will make the 'Saint-Etienne 2' machine gun faster and more widely used, which means more people can be saved. It's honesty and morality, or the lives of soldiers, you choose one!"

Dominic was stunned, and finally nodded helplessly: "You are right, I know what to do."