Chapter 195 Charles's Student
Paris City Defense Headquarters, Gallieni woke up before eight o'clock as usual.
He didn't rush to the office as usual. He was wearing military uniform while looking at the pouring rain outside. The wind was strong outside the window, accompanied by thunder, and the dense raindrops were washing the ground.
Gallieni sighed slightly, wishing that the rain could concentrate on the House of Representatives and wash it away.
Yesterday, Gallieni thought he should make a last-ditch effort for Charles' tanks because it meant victory and the lives of soldiers.
So he came to the House of Representatives uninvited and requested a speech:
"Char's tanks and his tactics have been proven in actual combat. During this period, the 1st Tank Brigade has been training around Charles' tanks and it has been quite effective."
"We already have a complete set of infantry-tank coordination tactics. I believe this tank can defeat the enemy!"
“Shouldn’t we be using tanks that have proven to work and buying a bunch of products that have proven to be failures?”
…
Before he finished speaking, there was a commotion below:
"They have been improved and are no longer a failed product!"
"The enemy knows what is going on with the Shire tanks. They have developed better tanks specifically to deal with the Shire tanks."
"The lack of artillery is the biggest weakness of the 'Mark I', and the enemy tanks have artillery. How can we defeat the artillery with machine guns?"
…
The final result is self-evident. Charles's tanks failed to win follow-up orders. Instead, "Saint Chamoun" and CA-1 each added 200 units.
The congressman's words may sound reasonable, but they still cannot hide a ridiculous fact: the failed tanks received orders, but the victorious tanks did not.
Unbelievable, absolutely ridiculous!
Gallieni gathered his thoughts, turned around, opened the door and walked to the office.
As he passed Charles's desk, Gallieni called softly: "Come on, Major!"
"Yes, General!" Charles stopped what he was doing and followed Gallieni to the desk.
Gallieni sat down, opened the drawer and took out a document and handed it to Charles. He said expressionlessly: "This is the improved CA-1 tank and 'Saint Chamoun', which have received more orders." . I wonder if they still have problems.”
Charles opened the file and looked at it: "CA-1 has upgraded its engine and thickened its armor, increasing its speed to 8 kilometers per hour!"
"Yes!" Gallieni explained: "They think that this speed can avoid the bombing of long-range artillery in time. As you said before, tanks need a certain degree of mobility."
Charles said "Yeah" and kept staring at the data on the file: "That's true, but simply changing the 11MM frontal armor to 17MM is not enough!"
"What do you mean?" Gallieni looked at Charles in confusion: "Your 'Mark I' tank has only 17mm of frontal armor. I believe they are learning from your tank."
"I know!" Charles looked up at Gallieni: "But General, when the armor of our tanks was 11MM thick, the Germans invented the K-bomb that can penetrate 13MM steel plates. Now the armor of our tanks is 17MM... …”
Gallieni understood instantly: "They will invent equipment with stronger penetrating power!"
"Yes!" Charles nodded: "Although I don't know what it is, but as they said, the Germans will make every effort to target my tanks."
That wasn't true, he knew the Germans probably had anti-tank rifles out there.
Gallieni sighed secretly, he could only hope that the Germans wanted to use artillery to penetrate the 17MM armor and not anything else!
After frowning and thinking for a while, Gallieni asked again: "So, where is 'Saint Chamoun'?"
"'Saint Chamoun' has many improvements." Charles continued to flip through the documents: "In addition to upgrading the engine to reduce weight, the track was also lengthened, the roof was modified, and several more hatches were added."
The lengthened track is to enhance passability.
The roof was changed from flat to sloping because German grenades would be thrown onto the roof.
There are more hatches because it was discovered in actual combat last time that when the "Saint Chamon" was stuck in a bomb crater, the side-opening hatch would be blocked and unable to open, preventing the crew from escaping in time.
Gallieni added: “They also added little wheels on the protruding front and rear!”
It goes without saying what the purpose of adding small wheels is, of course, to prevent the elongated body from getting stuck in bomb craters or trenches.
Charles raised the document in his hand and asked, "But is this useful? Has it passed military testing?"
Gallieni asked expressionlessly: "If the previous version of 'Saint Chamoun' could pass the military test, why can't this improved version?"
Charles understood that the so-called "military test" was not worth mentioning at all. This was a project supported by Xiafei and the Automotive Technical Service Department. Wouldn't it be a joke if it failed to pass the "military test"?
Charles finally made this comment: "It's okay to increase orders, but it's best not to send them to the battlefield."
Gallieni remained silent, with a look of helplessness on his face.
Charles understood the meaning of Gallieni's expression: "They are already planning to send them to the battlefield?"
Gallieni nodded slowly: "You should know how they feel. Your tank succeeded but they failed. They can't wait to prove themselves and hope to compare with your tank."
Then Gallieni added: "At least part of their confidence comes from you, Major!"
"What do you mean?" Charles didn't understand.
"They not only learned your tanks!" Gallieni said with a hint of disdain: "The same is true for tactics. I believe they copied your combat experience in La Fox."
Charles laughed dumbly. Does this mean that they learned Charles' tactics and beat him?
It's fine if they don't pay the tuition, but they immediately want to drive the teacher off the stage after stealing the teacher's skills. The key point is that they only learned half of it!
"In addition!" Gallieni added in a cold voice: "They plan to transfer the First Flying Brigade to participate in the battle."
Charles' face changed instantly: "No, they can't do that!"
"They can!" Gallieni replied with a hint of anger in his eyes: "This is the order of the French Commander-in-Chief. If necessary, they can even transfer the First Tank Brigade. The reason they didn't do this is just because they want to defeat the First Tank Brigade to prove it to everyone!"
Charles suddenly thought that they must have thought that the reason why Charles' tank troops could easily win in La Faux was largely due to the First Flying Brigade.
Therefore, this battle must have a flying brigade, even if this flying brigade was formed by Charles!
(The above two pictures are the comparison before and after the improvement of Saint-Chamond. The most obvious is that the flat roof was changed to a roof that tilted from the middle to the two flat roofs, which may prevent grenades from being thrown and staying on the roof and exploding)
