Chapter 174 The lethality of the media

(The picture above shows Count von Spee)

Kobdo should be the busiest person in the headquarters. He even outshone Gallieni who was looking at the map while eating bread.

Kobdo works at the city defense headquarters during the day.

This is because the city defense headquarters is the place where he can get the most accurate, fastest and most information. Whenever there is a war or any information, Kobdo receives it immediately and immediately calls the newspaper office to send reporters.

Sometimes there is no need to send a reporter. Lieutenant Colonel Fernand orders the relevant troops to take a few photos and send them together with maps and other documents. They are both military intelligence and military newspaper material, killing two birds with one stone.

When it gets dark, Cobdo, the editor-in-chief, has to report to the agency to organize typesetting and printing. Sometimes he is busy all night, and when he is tired and sleepy, he lies on his desk and takes a nap.

Charles was a little worried that Kobedo wouldn't be able to endure it, but Kobedo was very confident:

"Don't worry, Lieutenant. It's been the same before. I always interview during the day and write articles at night. I'm used to it!"

"Part of the reason for this is that the group of people I recruited are all novices. They don't know what to do. After they get used to it for a while and get on the right track, I will be able to relax!"

"It won't always be like this!"

Charles thought about it and thought it was right. Everything is difficult at the beginning. In the era of great industrial development, no industry is easy, especially during wars. It is not just the soldiers on the front line who are risking their lives.

At this time Cobdo answered a phone call, and he suddenly exclaimed: "Something happened, Coronel, a naval battle!"

Everyone stopped what they were doing and cast doubtful eyes on Khovd.

After a few days of getting along, they learned that Kobdo was not a simple reporter. He had formed some kind of "exchange agreement" with foreign reporters to maintain a certain degree of information sharing.

This allowed Khovd to occasionally obtain more objective, comprehensive and timely information than the City Defense Headquarters.

"Coronel?" Gallieni looked at Kobdo in confusion, and then turned his gaze to Lieutenant Colonel Fernand. This was a completely unfamiliar place name.

Lieutenant Colonel Fernand also shook his head in confusion, saying that he did not know that he had not received any relevant information at the same time.

Kobdo held the phone and listened for a while, then put down the phone and explained:

"Coronel is a port in Chile, General."

"The battle occurred yesterday afternoon. The British Royal Navy encountered a small German fleet near Coronel and two cruisers were sunk."

"It is said that it was the 'Cape of Good Hope' and the 'Monmouth'. The Royal Navy lost more than a thousand people."

There was an uproar in the headquarters, and many people's expressions changed instantly.

The British Royal Navy can be said to be invincible, but it was beaten 2-0 by the German Navy in the first battle. They naturally thought: Do the Germans create miracles at sea like they do on land?

Charles, however, was busy sorting out the documents in his hands. He never cared about the affairs at sea from beginning to end, because he knew that the Germans failed to succeed.

Naval warfare is not like land warfare. In land warfare, you can win more with less by improving the quality of soldiers, the abilities of officers, and more flexible tactics. Naval battles are basically about stacking warships, experience, and industrial capabilities.

In this regard, it is basically impossible for Germany to catch up with Britain.

Gallieni was a little anxious. He frowned and ordered Lieutenant Colonel Fernand: "Ask the British for confirmation!"

Soon, a telegram from the British army came, and it turned out to be true.

They were the warships of the German Navy stationed in overseas colonies. There were 8 of them in total. The ones that appeared in Coronel this time were 4 of them led by the German Count Spee.

While the staff of the command headquarters were discussing, Charles did not even raise his head and said in a nonchalant manner: "Don't worry, the German fleet will eventually die in the hands of Khovd!"

The staff members laughed in unison, and Cobdo was a little embarrassed by the praise. Everyone thought that Charles was joking.

Gallieni thought this was the case at first. He thought that this little guy might think so because he was psychologically affected by being surrounded by reporters and admirers recently.

But when I thought about it carefully, I felt that Ciel's words had a profound meaning.

Gallieni was right, Charles knew what would happen in the future.

The reason why the German Navy was able to succeed this time was because they had always tried to keep a low profile and conceal their whereabouts. Even if they entered the ports of neutral countries, they would supply supplies in batches on a single ship without attracting the attention of others.

In this era without radar, underdeveloped aircraft, and not yet popularized radio, it was very difficult to know the location of a fleet on the vast sea.

However……

This victory broke this environment. Everyone thought that Count Spee was a rising star in naval warfare, and the global media were speculating and tracking his location.

This made it impossible to trace the whereabouts of the Spey fleet. The British only needed to open a newspaper to roughly know its location. In the end, the fleet was annihilated under the pursuit of British battlecruisers. Spey and several of his troops His son sank to the bottom of the sea with his ship Scharnhorst.

Charles sighed inwardly. This may be the first fleet in history to die at the hands of the media. Count Spey is definitely the one who least wants to become famous.

Charles even felt sad about the death of a rabbit and a fox, and he suffered deeply from it. He had to battle wits with reporters and admirers every day. Maybe one day he would be like Count Spee...

Phew, good luck!

…

Although it was still drizzling the next day, Charles decided to go to the flying club.

The pilots have changed into military uniforms, just as the contract said, all of them are second lieutenants. They also changed their way of addressing Charles, no longer calling him by his name as before but by his rank, but their tone is still uninhibited:

"Hey, Lieutenant, I heard you won another battle!"

"We saw it in the sky, the tank troops look great!"

"Someday let us drive tanks, they look much stronger than airplanes!"

...

This is a group of people who like adventure, and they have not received formal training, so they are always a little disrespectful.

But Charles doesn't mind, as long as they obey orders and can win battles, what else can he ask of them?

When Charles found Carter, he was preparing to receive a batch of new aircraft.

Seeing Charles, Carter immediately put down what he was doing and saluted: "Lieutenant, nice to see you!"

Charles asked: "How is the airport?"

"Everything is going well, Lieutenant!" Carter turned his eyes to the busy pilots and ground crew, and said with emotion: "We have never had so many planes and personnel. Now, I plan to replace all models with 'Avro', even reconnaissance planes, and all other models will be used for training."

Charles nodded. This will obviously make the battle more efficient. Carter's management is indeed reassuring.

However, Charles still reminded: "Have you ever thought that you need more preparation?"

Carter asked puzzledly: "What do you mean, Lieutenant? We are either patrolling or blowing up enemy balloons now. It seems that we don't need any preparation!"

(The picture above is the Scharnhorst)

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