Chapter 438 Is This All Part of Charles’ Plan?

Foch has been very busy these days.

The troops he has deployed are not just the 9th Army, but two more divisions. However, Mons is like a meat grinder. After a few days of fighting, the troops had to retreat due to heavy casualties.

After a few days of fighting, not only did they fail to break through the German blockade, but they were driven out of Mons step by step.

On the other hand, the Germans also rebuilt a new line of defense around the 9th Army.

Foch stared at the map in a daze. After a long time, he blurted out: "Maybe Charles is right."

"What?" Weygand didn't understand what Foch meant, but immediately thought of Charles' request for the 9th Army to follow up with cars and trains.

"No, General." Weygand replied: "This has nothing to do with that. We have discussed it..."

"I know." Foch interrupted Weygand: "It is very dangerous to march like that and it is easy to be ambushed by the enemy."

Foch took a document and put it on the table, saying: "But no matter how dangerous it is, even if it is ambushed, will it be this result?"

Weygand was stunned.

That was the casualty report of the attack on Mons in the past few days. The 9th Army had paid the price of more than 20,000 people but had not made any progress. On the contrary, there was a danger of being surrounded by the German army because the 9th Army was alone and deep in the enemy's territory.

Without waiting for Wei Gang to answer, Foch added: "The point is that there was no progress after so many casualties. We were always blocked at the Mons line and could not move. If we had used trains and cars to advance, we might have taken it in an hour."

Foch felt ashamed. He felt that he had ruined Charles' plan. Now the Germans were fleeing from Mons in an endless stream, and Charles' troops were in trouble because of lack of fuel and infantry.

Thinking about it, Foch laughed at himself. He was the founder of French military theory, but in Charles' plan, he was a person who could not do anything but failed.

Just as he was blaming himself, the signalman came forward and reported: "General, Charles called."

Foch said "um" and did not reach out to answer.

Another question about the offensive, Foch thought.

Perhaps out of guilt or embarrassment, Foch was afraid to receive Charles' telegram, let alone face it.

The staff officer reported: "Charles said they have occupied the village of Pourville, and hoped that the general would send troops to defend it."

"Pourville?" Foch looked puzzled.

Soon, he found the location of Pourville on the map, and Foch exclaimed: "Charles actually occupied the village of Pourville? The Germans have deployed heavy troops there!"

Wei Gang couldn't believe it either, and he asked the signalman: "Are you sure?"

"Yes." The signalman replied: "More than 20,000 German troops in the village of Pourville have surrendered, and Charles also said that they will send armored troops to break through the passage for our army."

Foch and Wey Gang were stunned. They were surprised that more than 20,000 German troops surrendered so easily. They had to spend at least the same amount of troops in Mons to gnaw it down.

Then the atmosphere turned awkward again.

They were the Northern Army Group, with hundreds of thousands of troops and the main force of the French army, and they actually needed Charles to send armored troops to break through the passage to support!

This made them feel like they were being "taken care of" like children.

…

In the morning in Paris, people who were resting on Sundays walked through the ancient streets, and the aroma of coffee and fresh croissants filled the air.

However, the people queuing to buy them seemed to have lost interest in them. They talked about the Belgian battlefield and Charles' legendary achievements, even though they didn't know each other.

"I heard that Charles was in trouble and the Germans blocked the sea oil pipeline with submarines."

"Don't worry, nothing can stop Charles. He has called on the guerrillas to collect fuel."

"But civilian fuel is limited after all, and it is unsustainable. If this continues, the war situation may not be very optimistic."

…

This analysis makes some sense.

The reason why the Germans did not completely blockade Belgium or "kill the chicken to get the eggs" to plunder all the fuel was to use it to break the British blockade.

Now that it has come to this point, fuel has become a key factor in determining the outcome of the battle. Of course, the Germans will kill it without hesitation.

Therefore, the outcome is still unknown.

But at this moment, someone suddenly shouted: "Charles won, he successfully occupied Pourville and captured more than 20,000 Germans!"

"Is it true?" People were skeptical.

"It's true, the victory report from the city defense headquarters, they are already printing more newspapers!"

The crowd was instantly excited, smiles and joy were shown on every face, and their eyes were full of surprise and admiration:

"How did he do it? Was it a counterattack?"

"I heard that Charles' army had only more than 20,000 people in total, and he was able to capture more Germans than them!"

"No, there were only more than 6,000 people attacking Pourville, and they captured several times more Germans."

...

People were discussing fiercely.

Most people didn't know where Pourville was, nor did they know what it meant. They were just amazed at the number of more than 20,000 Germans captured.

...

Falkenhayn, who was in the General Staff in Berlin, knew very well what the loss of Pourville meant.

"Reinforcements, I need reinforcements." Falkenhayn: "I need two divisions, no, an army."

"General, we have no extra troops." Colonel Moritz said.

"Then draw troops from the defense line." Falkenhayn replied loudly: "Or urgently call them up. We can't let Pville fall no matter what."

Colonel Moritz didn't answer, but just looked at Falkenhayn quietly.

Falkenhayn vented for a while, and finally sat back in his chair powerlessly.

Pville has been lost and cannot be recaptured. This is the fact they have to face.

Charles' main armored force is there. Pville is another area suitable for tank operations. No matter how many troops are filled in, they will be destroyed by Charles' troops.

This is like infantry lining up to charge the enemy's trenches.

Charles' tanks are mobile "trenches". Wherever they go, there is an impenetrable line of defense!

After a long time, Falkenhayn looked at Moritz with a painful face: "We may have been fooled!"

"What?" Colonel Moritz didn't understand what this meant.

"Charles is actually short of fuel." Falkenhayn raised his head towards Pourville on the map: "Have you ever considered that if Charles had obtained fuel from the British as we thought, he would only need to occupy Pourville."

Colonel Moritz suddenly realized and his face turned pale in an instant: "In other words, everything we did was within Charles's calculations?"

Falkenhayn nodded weakly.

It was ridiculous that they actually thought they had seen through Charles's plan.