Chapter 458 Romania

Charles has not been idle during this period, although he does not need to worry about the land defense line. This is the matter of Foch's 9th Army.

But fighters and bombers need to be dispatched by Shire.

Antwerp, Brussels, and Mons each allocate an aviation group with about 20 of the most advanced "Camel" fighter planes. Ghent opened another airport and allocated two bombing groups to consolidate the Belgian defense line.

Seeing Charles heaving a sigh of relief, Tijani was a little puzzled: "Brigadier General, you seem to have more confidence in aircraft rather than trenches?"

"Airplanes are everything, General," Charles replied.

It is a multiplier of the army's combat effectiveness. At the same time, it can suppress the enemy's artillery, logistics, ammunition depots, etc., making it much easier to fight a war.

Tijani raised his eyebrows and did not take Ciel's words seriously.

Charles didn't explain much. People of this era have not fully realized the importance of air control, so it is difficult to explain clearly.

At this time, the guard came in and reported: "General, General Gallieni is here, he is outside the door."

"General Gallieni?" Charles thought he heard wrongly. He should be in Paris.

However, as soon as his eyes changed, Charles saw Gallieni appearing at the entrance of the command post, accompanied by two guards.

Gallieni walked into the headquarters with his head held high, looked at the dazed Charles and asked with a smile: "Is everything okay, Brigadier?"

"Yes, General." Charles reacted suddenly, quickly made room for Gallieni to sit down, and then asked the orderly to make coffee.

As soon as the orderly left, Charles suddenly remembered something and shouted after him: "Two candies, add more water."

"Yes, General," the orderly responded.

There was a hint of relief in Gallieni's eyes behind the lenses. This guy still remembered his habits.

"We came to see the situation on the defense line." Gallieni explained: "They intend to let the reserve army group take over the areas that Belgium has recovered."

Charles said "Oh" and sat down in front of Gallieni: "They plan to launch an attack on the German army?"

It is not difficult to guess that when the reserve army group is pushed forward, the three army groups in the north, center, and east, which are the main forces in the front, will be free to attack the enemy.

Gallieni said nothing, only turned slightly and glanced at both sides.

Charles understood and brought Galieni into the conference room.

At this time, the coffee was delivered. Gallieni took a taste and waited for the orderly to go out and open the door. Then he said: "They think this war may be over. This is not a small-scale attack, but a general attack. A comprehensive attack." attack."

Charles was shocked. His first reaction was that this was wrong. It was only 1915. Although progress was going smoothly, the war was far from over. It was obvious that launching a general offensive at this time would not lead to victory.

"Xia Fei's battle plan?" Charles asked.

Gallieni nodded slightly: "Currently only the commander of the Army Group knows about this plan."

This explains why Ciel was not involved.

But this was actually just an excuse made by Gallieni for Charles. Most people, including Foch, wanted Charles to participate.

Foch was blunt at the meeting: "Charles knows how to defeat the Germans, and I think he should be the one who makes the battle plan."

But Kanais denied this statement on behalf of Xiafei: "Sorry, General Foch, this combat plan is more of a strategic direction. It is the offensive plan of the entire army. We will arrange Charles and his troops at a suitable location." "In attacking position."

The implication is that Ciel's current military rank and qualifications are not yet high enough to command the entire army in combat.

Foch complained in a low voice: "It's unbelievable that we have a Mars and put him aside!"

Gallieni simply said nothing. He knew that Joffre was trying to use this "all-out battle" to gain more dazzling military exploits than Charles, taking advantage of the fact that Charles had just defeated the German army and captured hundreds of thousands of people.

Therefore, it was impossible for Joffre to involve Charles.

Otherwise, this would be Charles's battle plan and Charles' victory, which would be meaningless to Xiafei.

Ciel didn't care about this. He frowned and said, "Now may not be the time."

"They don't think so," Gallieni said, sipping his coffee.

"Your victory has greatly boosted the morale of the Allied soldiers and civilians. Many people even thought that we could completely drive the Germans out of France within two months."

"The Germans, on the other hand, were demoralized by the defeat in Belgium."

"More importantly..."

Gallieni put down his coffee cup and looked up at Charles: "Romania is going to join the Allies."

"What?" Charles was surprised again: "Romania? Join the Allies?"

Gallieni nodded:

"This is after your victory in Antwerp."

"My guess is that they had the same mindset as Italy, that we were on the way to victory and that if we didn't join the Allies now we would miss the opportunity."

"The British played a role in negotiating with the Romanians."

"The conditions for the Romanians are simple, just recognize the ownership of Transylvania."

Charles frowned. He remembered that Romania would only choose to join next year, but now it seems to be ahead of schedule.

(Note: Romania joined the Allied Powers in August 1916 and declared war on Austria-Hungary.)

Then Ciel understood what was going on:

The crossing from Cambrai to Antwerp does not exist in history, and this victory seems to be the French army's crushing of the German army in terms of strength: in one day, it broke through its defense lines and surrounded 200,000 people, and finally forced 10 of them to The remaining 10,000 people surrendered.

This made everyone optimistic about the war.

As a result, the countries that were originally in a state of vacillation could no longer hold back. They hoped to join the Allies before the end of the war to get some benefits.

"Romania, and Italy." Gallieni turned and looked at the map on the wall behind him: "There are also British, French, and Russian coalition forces launching attacks from several directions at the same time. Joffre believes that this is enough to defeat Germany, 'As long as If we don’t hesitate and are determined to attack, then victory is right in front of us’!”

Gallieni kept looking at the map and said calmly: "You don't seem to agree with this plan?"

"It's not that I don't agree with this plan, General." Charles replied: "I don't agree with Romania joining the Allies."

Gallieni never expected that Charles would answer like this. He suddenly turned around and looked at Charles in confusion: "Isn't it a good thing to have one more ally? You may not know that Romania is the main source of oil for the Germans."

Then Gallieni added: "Romania can still organize an army of more than 500,000 people."

"Exactly." Charles replied word for word: "I don't think Romania should join, at least not now."