Chapter 505: Belgium's Interests

Albert I knew that Lieutenant General Ivis was not interested in airplanes.

So...

He took Lieutenant General Ivis to visit the entire airport very seriously, from the maintenance, inspection and maintenance of fighter jets to bomb loading, refueling and finally take-off and landing. He visited every place and even visited some staff members.

It took more than an hour in total.

Lieutenant General Ivis was almost driven crazy, but Albert I was not done yet.

"I know what the British Army is like, Lieutenant General." Albert I walked slowly along the edge of the airport, looking at the fighter planes preparing to take off on the runway: "You even think that machine guns are redundant, and that war only requires rifles and charges, with cannons and war horses at most, right?"

Lieutenant General Ivis did not deny it, and he proudly replied: "This is why we have so many colonies, Your Majesty, and that's why Britain is called the 'Empire on which the Sun Never Sets'. We have always done this, and the facts have proved its correctness."

Albert I smiled lightly, his eyes always looking at the plane on the runway: "Times are different, Lieutenant General. Just as you eliminated the bows and spears of the natives with rifles and cannons, Charles' invention will eliminate your equipment, all of it, including the Germans."

Lieutenant General Ivis was shocked beyond measure by these words.

This was the first time he heard such a statement, and more importantly, it seemed to make sense. The development of history has always been to eliminate backward tactics and equipment with advanced ones, and they may have backward equipment in their hands and use backward tactics, but they have not yet realized it.

Albert I turned his head and looked at Lieutenant General Ives. Behind him, the fighter plane took off with a whistling sound and headed for the blue sky.

"Do you know where it is going?" Albert I asked, "Or what it is going to do?"

Lieutenant General Ives shook his head blankly.

"Protect the Belgian airspace, Lieutenant General." Albert I replied leisurely:

"You may not have any idea about this."

"But if they were not flying in the air to block the German fighters and bombers, it would be our transportation lines that would be bombed."

"Including roads, railways, warehouses, train stations, etc., will become targets of bombing."

"Our guerrillas are all over Belgium. If you want to experience this situation, I am happy to help!"

When Albert I said this, his eyes were fixed on Lieutenant General Ives, and he did not hide his hostility towards him.

Lieutenant General Avis hurriedly explained: "No, no, Your Majesty, you misunderstood. We are allies, we are here to help you fight the Germans..."

Albert I laughed: "You said it as if you could defeat the Germans!"

Lieutenant General Avis was speechless. The British army had invested hundreds of thousands of troops on the Western Front but had almost no record. The Battle of the Dardanelles was also beaten by the Ottoman Empire. Recently, the troops have been withdrawn in batches and completely declared failure.

But Lieutenant General Avis was still unwilling: "Maybe we didn't win a dazzling victory, but without us, Belgium would definitely fail!"

"Really?" Albert I asked back: "The British had nothing to do with the complete victory of the Antwerp defense line!"

Then Albert I said "Oh": "Yes, you blocked the Germans in the encirclement in Ypres to prevent them from "escaping" from the other end."

Lieutenant General Avis suddenly felt ashamed, which was almost negligible compared to Charles's record.

Then Albert I came closer, and he said to Lieutenant General Ivis word by word:

"I know what you want to do, Lieutenant General, you can't fool me."

"I am sure of one thing: Charles is the only one who can defeat the German army and bring freedom to Belgium."

"If anyone wants to harm Charles, he is my enemy and Belgium's enemy, understand?"

Lieutenant General Ivis swallowed hard: "I understand, Your Majesty, it's not what you think..."

"Very good!" Albert I did not give Lieutenant General Ivis a chance to explain, he turned and walked towards the command center: "Now, we can go to see Major General Charles."

After walking a few steps, Albert I turned back and said: "Remember what I said just now, it's best to convey it to General Haig."

"I will." Lieutenant General Ivis responded helplessly.

He believed that Albert I could do it because it was in the national interest of Belgium.

General Haig and everyone else seemed to have overlooked this point: when Charles' ability reached a certain level and could determine Belgium's life and death, Belgium would do everything it could to protect Charles' interests, even at the cost of offending Britain.

But British politicians and generals took it for granted that Belgium would be grateful if Britain could send troops to station and fight on Belgian soil.

They didn't expect that Belgium did not welcome the British at all, or more precisely, did not welcome the British who wanted to suppress and weaken Charles.

...

Airport Command.

Charles didn't even know that Lieutenant General Avis was coming. He was discussing the defense of the Antwerp Line with Tijani on the map while eating breakfast.

Tijani was puzzled:

"Shouldn't we consider attacking?"

"Germany concentrated its forces and artillery in the direction of Verdun, and the forces in other positions must be empty."

"I think this is our chance to attack, Major General. The enemy has no extra forces to counterattack."

Charles replied casually: "If it was the Northern Army Group cooperating with us, the attack might be fine, but now it's the British."

Tijani spread his hands, he didn't understand what the difference was.

"General." Charles explained: "The British can't put the armored and mechanized forces in the main attack position, because that would steal their limelight."

Tijani looked at Charles half-doubtfully: "You mean, they might leave the armored and mechanized forces unused?"

"No." Charles shook his head: "They might order us to attack a fortress. The frontal breakthrough is the responsibility of the British army, which can reflect their dominant position."

Tijani was speechless for a moment, this is putting the cart before the horse.

Armored and mechanized forces should be placed in a position that is easy to break through to quickly open a gap and quickly insert, rather than attacking and using it as a mobile artillery.

"No, they won't do that." Tijani shook his head.

Charles didn't answer.

From a general perspective, the British will do this, but if the British have a little "overall consideration" idea and want to win a battle, they should give the French army enough freedom.

At this time, Albert I came in with several British officers.

Charles was almost shocked when he saw the rank of the leading officer.

Lieutenant General?

The Lieutenant General Ives mentioned in the telegram?