Chapter 468 For the Benefit of Soldiers

Charles was trying to please Joffre.

He knew that Joffre would not be willing to give up the battle plan he had already drawn up: all countries counterattacked together, Romania declared war, and then defeated the Allies in one fell swoop to end the war.

This plan would allow him to leave a heavy mark in his record, and it was also the most brilliant and dazzling one, even surpassing Charles.

And if this battle plan was to be implemented, the artillery would be useless if placed in the fortress of Verdun, and they must be taken out to supplement the troops for attack.

Therefore, when Joffre set his eyes on Verdun, he was already thinking about how to take the artillery out of the fortress.

All he needed was an excuse.

Christine gave him a perfect excuse: "The fortress is outdated, and the artillery placed in the fortress will only become a target for "Big Bertha", and they will be blown up one by one before they can play a role."

"That makes sense!" Joffre was "very happy" and took the opportunity to transfer the artillery out and incorporated it into the field troops.

…

The morning in the hospital was quiet and solemn, and the bells of Notre Dame de Paris were steady and powerful, announcing the arrival of a new day.

Gallieni leaned against the bedside and stared at the hanging infusion bottle, watching the clear liquid slowly injected into his wrist from the rubber tube. He was curious and seemed to be unable to believe that this would help his condition.

"Now medicine has developed to this level." Gallieni murmured to himself.

(The above picture shows an infusion bottle during World War I, invented by British chemist Henry Dakin. It was called the Carrel Dakin device at the time and was mainly used for disinfection and anti-inflammation)

Charles came in with a bunch of flowers. He looked at Gallieni and said while changing the flowers for him: "You look much better today, General."

"It's an old problem." Gallieni raised his eyebrows: "It will be fine after two days of rest. I know this."

Then Gallieni asked: "When will you go back? If you are not in Belgium, everyone, including Albert I, will be worried about it, Brigadier General."

This is a problem of the stability of the military and civilians. Although Charles can go back at any time, the military and civilians will be worried about it.

"In the afternoon." Charles replied, dragging a chair and sitting down beside Gallieni's bed.

"Well." Gallieni nodded, and then said seriously: "There is something I have to say, I don't want you to do anything wrong because of me."

"What?" Charles pretended to be confused.

"You can't fool me, Brigadier General." Gallieni stared at Charles and lowered his voice: "I'm not doing this for Joffre, I'm doing this for the French soldiers. If you deal with Joffre, you may harm innocent people."

Charles understood what Gallieni meant.

For example, if Joffre was set up to lose the battle in Verdun, Joffre's reputation would be damaged and many French soldiers would be injured or even sacrificed.

But Charles calmly replied: "I don't think so, General. I did this precisely for the benefit of the soldiers."

"What?" Gallieni didn't understand what Charles said.

Charles picked up an apple from the side and answered while peeling it: "Have you ever thought about how many French soldiers would be killed if Joffre stayed in the position of commander-in-chief for a longer time, or if the so-called 'encirclement operation plan' was really launched?"

Galieni was silent.

Charles was right. This was a simple math problem. Everyone knew that Joffre would kill more people, so he should have been driven down earlier.

However...

Galieni shook his head and sighed. He decided to give up persuading Charles.

...

That afternoon, Charles flew back to Antwerp Airport.

Before leaving, he told Lieutenant Colonel Fernand to strengthen Gallieni's guard and not let Joffre meet Gallieni at any time.

Lieutenant Colonel Fernand was a little embarrassed when he heard the order.

"But Joffre is the commander-in-chief, General." Lieutenant Colonel Fernand said: "If he wants to see General Gallieni, I have no right to stop him."

"Then beat him so that he can't meet anyone." Charles said firmly: "I gave the order, you can put everything on me."

"Yes, General." Lieutenant Colonel Fernand seemed to understand, and he stepped forward to answer: "I will make sure that Joffre can't provoke General Gallieni again."

Although Charles was in the command center, his mind was all on Verdun.

"Joffre has ordered the artillery to be transferred from the fortress, along with the artillery."

"He intends to incorporate the artillery into the 7th Army, which is near Verdun. Although it is being transferred out, it can be added to Verdun at any time."

"The 1st Special Artillery Division is equipped with the 'Charles A1' tank and the 'Saint-Samond'."

"Joffre hopes that the 1st Special Artillery Division can play a decisive role in his plan like your troops."

...

These are telegrams sent by Christine.

To be precise, Christine forwarded it through the "Lady in White" to avoid suspicion.

After all, if he contacts Charles too frequently, it will soon arouse Joffre's suspicion.

After seeing the information, Charles nodded secretly, and Joffre did not doubt that all this was tailor-made for him.

It can be imagined that Joffre will usher in another defeat in the near future, and it will be a disastrous defeat.

When the Germans attacked, he was not only unprepared, but also deployed artillery and troops to cooperate with the Germans, just like he concentrated his main forces to attack Alsace and Lorraine a year ago, which put Paris in danger.

But Charles knew that this was not enough to ruin Joffre's reputation.

After all, this is not the first time that France has been defeated under Xiafei's command, and it is not the first time that Xiafei has made a command mistake. Every time, he can be dismissed with high-sounding excuses.

"Brigadier General, Brigadier General?" Tijani waved his hand in front of Charles.

Ciel, who was deep in thought, suddenly woke up: "What?"

Tijani handed a supply list to Charles: "The 'Saint-Etienne' Arsenal sent a batch of shotguns and a batch of things called submachine guns. They said this is what you want."

"Oh, yes." Charles took the list and looked at it. There were two hundred shotguns and one hundred submachine guns.

"What do we need these for?" Tijani asked.

Especially shotguns. He never imagined that the army would use such things that civilians use for hunting.

"Training." Charles replied, handing the list back to Tijani: "Distribute these guns, and temporarily decide to add a shotgunner to each infantry squad, and the squad leader will use a submachine gun."

"But these guns..."

"Trench warfare, General." Charles explained: "As I said before, the infantry goes out to clear obstacles."

Tijani said "Oh" and suddenly realized, and soon her expression changed from confusion to surprise.

God, they may be equipment that can kill enemy troops in batches at close range and help troops capture trenches quickly and effectively.