Chapter 346 The Honor of Victory

The French people experienced a process of turning from sadness to joy.

Charles's battle plan was strictly kept secret, and even the city defense headquarters did not know about it, including Gallieni.

Therefore, when the 43rd Division fled in the gas, everyone thought Charles had failed.

At first, some people speculated that it was "mobile defense": "Charles' plan was originally like this. He would retreat when the enemy released the gas and launch a counterattack when the gas dissipated, so this was not a failure."

But soon someone refuted: "That was not a "mobile defense", it was a problem of wind speed. Today, the high wind speed caused the gas to spread quickly to the preset defense position, which was 3 kilometers away. Everyone was retreating, including the 105th Infantry Regiment."

So people were silent.

They knew one thing: even Charles and his elite troops could not survive under the gas, so this battle should have been a failure.

Some people found excuses for Charles:

"Charles has tried his best, it was an accident."

"Yes, it was poison gas, no one can deal with it, at least Charles tried."

"His behavior is still brave."

...

However, people still couldn't hide the disappointment and fear on their faces.

They couldn't help thinking: If Charles couldn't deal with the poison gas, France seemed to have no choice but to surrender.

...

In the small town of Darvaise, Camille was arguing with Deyoka at this time.

"Are you sure Charles is in the city defense headquarters instead of on the front line?" Camille asked.

She heard that Charles' 105th Infantry Regiment was defeated in the process of resisting the poison gas war and disappeared.

"Of course!" Deyoka answered with certainty: "He is in the city defense headquarters and was interviewed by reporters there this morning."

As he said that, Deyoka handed Camille the "Meritorious Newspaper", which had a photo of Charles in the city defense headquarters, and the date was today.

Camille took the newspaper and looked at it, and secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

But then he flipped through the newspaper again, looked up at Deyoka warily: "How do I know if this newspaper is "privately printed" by you? Just like last time!"

Deyoka was stunned and explained helplessly: "This is true, Camille, the neighbors all know it. They said that fortunately Charles was not on the battlefield, and the 105th Infantry Regiment might have been wiped out."

The 105th Infantry Regiment did not retreat with the 43rd Division. The fleeing French soldiers thought they had been poisoned to death in the position.

Some people speculated that the 105th Infantry Regiment did this to cover the retreat of the main force.

"This is a heroic act. They protected our safety." They expressed their gratitude, and their eyes were still filled with fear of poison gas. Some people even couldn't help trembling.

Camille secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

She knew it was not worth being happy about. The destruction of the 105th Infantry Regiment was also a tragedy, but at least Charles was safe, which was better than anything else.

However, the news soon turned around, and someone shouted outside:

"The 105th Infantry Regiment won, they defeated the Germans and recovered the lost territory!"

"Charles was on the battlefield, he personally led the 105th Infantry Regiment to counterattack the enemy in the face of poison gas."

"That's not 'mobile defense', they are not afraid of poison gas, and they counterattack under the threat of death!"

...

Camille was frightened and turned pale in an instant, staring at Deyoka with full eyes, full of anger.

Deyoka was so shocked that he half opened his mouth and looked back at Camille with an innocent face. This time, everything he said was true!

…

France was in an uproar. The real intelligence had not yet been released. Everyone was speculating on how Charles and the 105th Infantry Regiment won the victory:

“I think it was Charles’ magic. He personally went to the defense line to boost the morale of the troops, which led to this victory.”

“But even if their morale was boosted, they could not resist the poison gas.”

“Perhaps, they launched the attack at the moment when Germany released the poison gas. At that time, there was not much poison gas, and it would take some time to take effect.”

…

There are many different opinions and everyone has different ideas.

The same thing is that everyone admired Charles's heroic act of personally going into battle to turn the tide, and they were also worried about Charles and his troops:

"He saved France and us again."

"God, that was poison gas, it's hard to imagine them charging at the enemy in the gas."

"Will they not have sequelae from this? I heard that many people became blind because of this!"

...

People spontaneously gathered downstairs at the city defense headquarters. They knew that this was the headquarters that was most closely connected to Charles, and they hoped that Gallieni could give them a definite statement to let them know that Charles was safe.

Gallieni didn't intend to say much, this was for military confidentiality considerations, after all, the war was not over yet.

But people kept standing downstairs, gathering more and more, and they were reluctant to disperse for a long time even at lunch time.

At this time, Foch called.

"Congratulations, General." Foch said: "The battle is over, they won."

But Gallieni didn't care about this.

"Charles is safe, right?" Gallieni asked cautiously.

Although Gallieni knew about the gas masks, he was still worried about Charles' safety, after all, they were fighting deep in enemy-controlled areas.

"Yes," Foch replied, "It is confirmed that Charles is safe. He led the troops to attack in the poisonous gas, which is very brave and a role model for us to learn from!"

Foch deliberately emphasized the word "attack".

This victory is in line with his "offensive theory". To praise Charles is to praise himself.

Then Foch added:

"The two German infantry regiments had to choose to surrender to our army after trying to break through to no avail."

"They had about two thousand casualties, most of which were caused by their own poisonous gas."

These two infantry regiments were following the German troops attacking after the poison gas. Charles' troops suddenly appeared in the rear to occupy the defense line, leaving them with only the ammunition they carried.

As a last resort, they could only consider using ammunition discarded by the French army in the trenches.

However, that trench was filled with poisonous gas, and their crude anti-gas cotton cloth quickly became ineffective, with the result that many people fell to their own poisonous gas.

"The information blockade can be lifted." Foch said in a respectful tone: "I think this honor should be given to you, General, to tell the French people this good news!"

So Gallieni walked to the balcony and proudly shouted to the people waiting anxiously below:

"That's true. Charles was on the battlefield. He personally led the 105th Infantry Regiment to launch a counterattack amid poison gas and achieved victory."

"He's okay, Ciel is safe."

"Because, Charles invented a gas mask that can effectively resist poisonous gas!"

"With it, we no longer need to worry about the enemy's poisonous gas!"

People were stunned, and then suddenly burst into cheers. Some people showed happy smiles, some hugged each other in celebration, and some were so excited that their eyes filled with tears!