Chapter 472 Everything Was Arranged by Charles

In the morning, Charles was awakened by the noise of the "Camel" fighter taking off as usual.

Every day, as soon as the sky gets light, six planes will be divided into three groups and fly to three different directions for patrol. This is one of the means to prevent the German army from spying on our army's deployment.

Charles put on his military uniform and washed casually, yawning as he walked towards the headquarters.

As soon as he sat on the chair, the orderly brought breakfast: mashed potatoes, a piece of bread and a little jam, and a small piece of chocolate.

This is the credit of Albert I. He believed that the heroes who liberated Belgium should not be treated unfairly, so he mobilized the Belgians to improve the food for the French army, only for Charles' troops!

"The Battle of Verdun has begun." Tijani, who had been bending over and staring at the map and writing and drawing on it, said without raising his head: "You won again, Brigadier General."

Charles, who was chewing bread, suddenly looked up at Tijani. He was startled. Did this guy know that all this was a trap he deliberately laid?

Tijani's next words made Charles breathe a sigh of relief. He took a document and threw it on Charles' desk: "The Germans used your tactics, almost exactly the same as you used to fight Antwerp."

Charles said "Oh", so that's what happened.

He smiled lightly, continued to eat, and opened the document with his other hand.

As Tijani said, the Germans first prepared artillery fire, and then the infantry followed the tanks to charge. They even used Molotov cocktails to guide the tanks in the direction of attack.

If there is any difference, it is that the Germans' artillery preparation lasted for 5 hours, from nine o'clock to two o'clock in the morning of the next day.

Charles complained: "They should pay some copyright fees."

"Oh, yes." Tijani was amused. He turned his head and looked at Charles with an incredible look in his eyes: "It would be better to hire you as an instructor, right?"

"Forget it!" Charles replied: "I will be drowned by the saliva of the French."

Tijani shook his head with a wry smile, stepped forward and pushed Charles's plate away a little, and spread out the map on the empty table.

"The first line of defense in Verdun was easily broken. At this time, they are attacking Fort Douaumont."

"Fort Douaumont is very important. If it falls, Verdun will be in danger!"

(The above picture is a map of Verdun. Most of the places with place names are fortresses, large and small. The red arrow is the direction of the German attack. Its main force passed between the two circular fortresses and went straight to Fort Douaumont in the center.)

Charles nodded in agreement.

Fort Douaumont is the center of the Verdun fortress group. Many trenches are connected to it. It is an important support point.

Once it was captured by the Germans, the French defense line would be divided into two sections, and the other fortresses would be in a state of fighting on their own because they could not get in touch.

"What did Joffre do?" Charles asked casually.

"He insisted that this was a feint attack by the Germans." Tijani spread his hands helplessly: "Although everyone thinks that this is not the case."

This is common sense. It is impossible for a feint to bomb continuously for 5 hours and send tanks and a large number of troops. Otherwise, the cost of this feint would be too high.

Charles just smiled and said nothing.

He knew that Joffre was holding on, and it seemed that he had only one way to hold on.

In fact, Charles blocked Joffre's retreat. Charles arranged for Armand to bet with Joffre in parliament.

On the surface, this seems to be a quick talk.

In reality, once Joffre admitted that the German army was mainly attacking in the direction of Verdun to withdraw its troops, it meant that Armand won, and the parliament had a legitimate reason to discuss the issue of whether Joffre, the commander-in-chief, should stay or go.

This was a great shame and humiliation for Joffre, especially since the person he was betting against was Armand, who knew nothing about military affairs and was on the right wing.

…

In the foggy Paris Chamber of Deputies, groups of three or five members hurried into the meeting room and sat down.

This was a special meeting called for the outbreak of the Battle of Verdun. They also called Gallieni, who had just returned from the hospital, to participate in the questioning.

Because Gallieni was one of the few authoritative military experts in Paris.

At the beginning of the meeting, someone immediately asked the question that everyone wanted to know: "General Gallieni, based on your military experience, do you think the German attack on Verdun was a feint?"

General Gallieni's face was still pale, but his voice was loud and powerful: "I don't think so, because no feint could reach such a scale. If it weren't for the heroic fighting of the officers and soldiers on the front line, Verdun might have fallen into the hands of the Germans!"

The members were in an uproar.

Then someone asked curiously: "Who stopped the Germans at the front line?"

"It was Colonel De Leon." Gallieni replied: "As far as I know, he only has about 750 soldiers, and so far, they have suffered more than 300 casualties."

There was another exclamation in the meeting room.

"We should send reinforcements immediately."

"No." Gallieni replied: "The German artillery fire was too fierce, and most of our reinforcements were killed on the road."

The artillery in the fortress was transferred away, which directly led to the absolute advantage of the German artillery. Any suspicious troops appearing in the open ground outside the fortress would be blown up.

"Then what should we do? Just wait like this?"

Galieni replied: "We can wait until night, then there will be a chance for reinforcement, and darkness will be the best cover."

"But Colonel De Leon is the head of the infantry regiment, why does he only have more than 700 people?" Some members of parliament expressed confusion.

"You know that." Gallieni answered truthfully: "Joffre has withdrawn artillery and artillery."

The fortress troops are a mixture of infantry and artillery in the fortress. If all the artillery is transferred away, there are only a pitiful 700 people left.

So, everyone naturally thought of Joffre. All this was caused by him. Colonel De Leon has repeatedly warned, but he is stubborn!

But the parliamentarians did not say it, and some people cast their eyes on Armand.

Perhaps feeling this, Armand stood up leisurely:

"No, I will not say anything that is not good for the war, gentlemen."

"Now is not the time to pursue responsibility, the battle has already started."

"Although I don't understand military affairs, I know that changing generals on the battlefield is a taboo. Now we should consider how to solve the crisis in front of us!"

His words surprised everyone. The parliamentarians did not expect that Armand, who has always been unreasonable, would say such far-sighted and considerate words.

Only Gallieni sighed in his heart:

Everything was arranged by Charles, and so was Armand.

Armand was not speaking well of Joffre, but wanted Joffre to expose greater weaknesses and make more mistakes, until all the parliamentarians could no longer tolerate this commander-in-chief.

But the price paid was the failure of Verdun and the lives of the soldiers!

Armand smiled gently at Gallieni on the stage.

He did not expect that one day he would become Gallieni's "comrade-in-arms".