Chapter 407: Can This Fool the Germans?

On the road from Arras to Cambrai, Foch sat in a speeding car and looked at the document in his hand with interest. It was the equipment information of Charles's troops.

Cambrai belonged to Foch's Northern Army Group War Zone. The cooperation and most of the supplies needed by Charles in Cambrai were provided by the Northern Army Group. Foch needed to know the equipment situation.

"Interesting." Foch flipped through the document: "He armed all his troops with vehicles, either tanks or armored vehicles, or cars, even artillery."

Then Foch turned his head and looked at Weygand sitting next to him: "What do you think?"

Weygand was Foch's chief of staff and the most loyal supporter of Foch's "offensive theory". He was appreciated by Foch two years ago. After that, he served as the Chief of Staff of the 20th Army and the Chief of Staff of the 9th Army Group like a rocket. Now he is the Chief of Staff of the Northern Army Group.

(The above picture shows Maxime Weygand, who was Foch's chief of staff during World War I, and served as the commander-in-chief of the French army and the Minister of Defense of Vichy France during World War II)

"Excuse me, General." Weygand replied expressionlessly: "I don't think this is the right way to do it. It is very easy to be devastated by enemy artillery fire."

Foch nodded slightly in agreement. He had seen the data of those armored vehicles and artillery, and they seemed very fragile.

Especially the so-called truck gun, which is just a simple combination of trucks and artillery. If anything, it is to strengthen the chassis.

Foch's mind flashed the tragic scene of these vehicles being blown up one by one under enemy artillery fire.

"Besides," Weygand added: "I doubt the role these vehicles can play on the battlefield. The other troops are walking, and they can't keep up with Charles' troops. Does Charles want to defeat the Germans alone with these two troops totaling more than 10,000 people?"

Foch did not refute, he didn't know how to refute.

If there is no other troops to cooperate, another meaning of fast speed is to plunge into the enemy's encirclement and die faster!

"However." Foch said thoughtfully: "The fact is that he has been winning, Colonel, and has never lost."

"This may be because of our tactics." Weygand replied.

"Our tactics?" Foch looked at Weygand in surprise. Did he also doubt the "offensive theory"?

But Foch soon realized that he was wrong.

Weygand explained: "Our tactics are no longer a secret to the Germans. The Germans are also fighting us with the same tactics. We are familiar with each other because they know what we are going to do next."

Foch replied: "You mean, when the Germans have adapted to our military tactics, Charles suddenly adopted different tactics to fight, which made the Germans at a loss?"

"Yes." Weygand nodded affirmatively: "The same is true for Pétain's defensive tactics. It is also a tactic different from the 'offensive war'."

After a pause, Weygand asserted: "Once the Germans are used to their tactics, that is when they fail, the battle will eventually return to the starting point, and it can only be 'offensive'."

Foch was silent.

Although he summarized and launched the "offensive theory" and believed it before, he was shaken after talking with Charles several times, and now he no longer easily said which one was correct.

At this time, the car turned into a col, and several fully armed guards came forward, and the car slowly stopped for inspection.

...

Charles' habit was not to camp in the town. Although it was more comfortable and convenient, it would also create opportunities for the enemy to behead and bring danger to civilians.

Therefore, unless there were special circumstances, he always set up his headquarters in the forest.

At this time, Charles had just received the news that Grevy and Armand were arrested.

He sighed in his heart that Grevy's intelligence and caution far exceeded Charles's imagination.

Who would have thought that the book hidden in the safe was insignificant, it was a book "Peasants" written by Balzac, which was in line with Grevy's right-wing identity and his ideals.

But that was just to lead others to steal and warn Grevy.

Every time Grevy put it in the safe, he would carefully clip a few hairs. If someone touched it, he would know immediately, and then he would pretend that "Peasants" was a code book and send some insignificant telegrams.

The real code book was actually the diary he carried with him.

He would use the old diary pages to send new diaries, and let his confidants in Germany update the diaries simultaneously, so the codes were changed almost every day and there was no duplication.

But Grevy was careless and forgot the loophole of Armand.

With this loophole, everything came naturally: Harry got intelligence from Armand, and the "servant" who infiltrated Grevy's house took pictures of the diary pages, and Grevy had no secrets at all.

This was a major victory for Charles, and the right-wing forces would suffer a heavy blow.

The party leader actually colluded with the enemy?

And the target of the attack was Charles?

This was to drag the whole of France into the fire pit!

People would even reasonably imagine:

The right-wing forces hoped that external forces would intervene, or collude with external forces to achieve their goal of restoring the monarchy.

And it is very likely that not only Grevey, but the entire right-wing forces are suspected.

...

So, the right-wing parliamentarians will keep their tails between their legs, even if they don't know what Grevey did, and Schneider will cut ties with him for fear of being tainted by his bad taste.

Then, it was time for Charles to come forward...

Just thinking about it, the signalman pushed the door and reported: "Brigadier General, General Foch is here."

Before he finished speaking, Foch came in with a smile and bent over: "Is everything okay, Brigadier General? Long time no see!"

(Note: In 1910, the average height of the French was 166.8 cm, and Foch was 175 cm tall, which was considered tall at the time)

"Everything is fine, General." Charles stepped forward and shook hands with him.

Foch looked at the bunker curiously, and said with admiration: "You can share the joys and sorrows with the soldiers, which is better than most French generals."

"Not really, General." Charles said self-deprecatingly: "I'm just a bit timid, I don't dare to live in the town at the risk of being assassinated."

Foch laughed "Haha", of course he didn't believe that Charles was really for this reason.

Foch then turned the topic to the point: "You deliberately let everyone think that you and your troops will appear at the National Day parade, right?"

"Yes." Charles nodded.

"Can this fool the Germans?" Foch was a little skeptical.

"If it's just this, maybe not." Charles replied.

Foch heard the hidden meaning in Charles' words: "Anything else?"

Charles smiled: "Not only that, there are quite a few."

Charles made a lot of preparations for today's attack.