Chapter 475 Parliamentary Questioning

At the Antwerp Airport Command Headquarters, Charles was sitting at his desk, enjoying afternoon tea and reading documents. He was quite satisfied with the current equipment status.

For more than a month, armored and mechanized troops were equipped with a shotgun per shift.

Submachine guns are currently only equipped with armored units due to insufficient production.

Tijani protested: "Mechanized troops are the ones that really fight enemy infantry. Why are armored troops equipped with submachine guns first?"

Charles's answer was simple: "If you are willing to rush to the front, I will ask them to give you submachine guns immediately."

Tijani immediately fell silent.

Armored troops are the troops that rush to the front to tear apart the enemy's defense line. Of course, they must give priority to equipping them with new weapons. In particular, the infantry must enter trenches and engage in close combat with the enemy.

It's not that Tijani doesn't know this truth, he just wants to see if he can take advantage.

At this time, the staff officer sent a telegram: "General, General Foch has been dismissed."

"What?"

Charles and Tijani exclaimed and looked at the staff officer in unison.

The Northern Army Group was the main force cooperating with the Shire operation. They had a tacit understanding in their previous cooperation, but Foch was dismissed at this time!

"It happened in the morning." The staff reported: "General Foch was transferred back to Paris as the 'Director of the Military Research Center.'"

Ciel was confused, he didn't know what this position was for.

Tijani explained: "Working in military theory can sometimes also serve as a combat advisor, which is a false position."

Charles suddenly realized that he was being ignored.

Then Charles asked: "Who will take over?"

This is very important for future operations and is related to the cooperation between the two armies.

"It's General Desprey," the staff officer replied.

This name was completely unfamiliar to Ciel.

Tijani raised his eyebrows helplessly: "In your eyes, everyone is the same. They can all be said to have no record."

Then Tijani added: "But this General Desprey is different. Before the war, he had been commanding the battle in Morocco."

(The picture above shows General Desprey, French Marshal, known as the "death-defying Frenchman" for his bravery in battle)

Ciel still had no idea, or maybe he didn't think he was a practical general.

The tactics of this era have changed too fast. The combat experience and command experience accumulated by General Desprey in the colonies may not be applicable to the current battlefield.

Later, Charles discovered that this idea was correct. General Desprey preferred to use heroic cavalry to attack the enemy on the battlefield.

Cavalry, at this time, when the Germans were generally equipped with heavy machine guns and large amounts of artillery.

"General." At this time, a signal soldier came forward to report: "Telegram from Paris, the parliament asked you to come to the House of Representatives before nine o'clock tomorrow morning to accept questions."

Ciel had a dark look on his face.

The army group commander has just been replaced and the morale of the army is unstable. Is it appropriate to recall him to accept parliamentary questioning?

But Charles immediately thought that this might be related to Joffre.

…

Charles's guess was correct, and Joffre sent Cannes to Paris to win the approval of parliament and the government.

The council believed that it should not just listen to Xiafei's words. At this time, there should be a villain to debate with Kanais.

Gallieni may be a good choice, but he has never participated in other battles except the defense of Paris, and his understanding of modern warfare is not deep enough.

So they decided to recall Charles back from Belgium.

No one understands modern warfare better than Ciel, and he will definitely be able to find Kanais's flaws.

…

This is the second time Shire has walked into the House of Representatives.

The last time it was about changing the military uniforms, many people were opposed to it, so they were full of hostility towards Ciel.

This time it was different. Charles received a round of applause as soon as he entered the House of Representatives.

The congressmen looked at Ciel with respect, envy and approval, regardless of whether they were in the same camp as Ciel, even James was no exception.

"He is a genius military strategist." James applauded and said to the people around him: "He is also a respectable and formidable opponent!"

It must be admitted that no one can turn the tide of the war and liberate a third of Belgium in one day.

Kanais was standing on the podium. He saw Charles walking to the first row and taking a seat calmly. Instantly, an invisible pressure rolled over him, and his high head lowered unconsciously.

Most congressmen don't understand war, so it's easy to deceive them, but this is not the case with Ciel!

The applause gradually stopped, and Kanais began his speech:

"Gentlemen, many people believe that the Battle of Verdun was a mistake and that General Joffre was responsible."

"But there are actually a lot of things we can't decide."

"For example, the Germans have taken the initiative to attack. If we had not transferred our troops to Belfort, the Germans would probably have launched an attack at Belfort."

"What I mean is that this lies in the decision of the Germans and cannot simply be attributed to a 'misjudgment'..."

Charles stood up and interrupted Kanais: "General, can you tell me how long the artillery preparations took before the Germans attacked?"

Kanais hesitated for a moment and answered with difficulty: "5, 5 hours, Brigadier."

Charles asked again: "Five hours of artillery preparation, calculated on thousands of artillery pieces, would require at least hundreds of thousands of artillery shells, right?"

Kanais nodded: "Yes, yes!"

Based on five or six shells per minute, 1,000 artillery pieces can fire 1.5 million shells in 5 hours. Even if all the time for rest and breakdown is deducted, it can easily reach hundreds of thousands of shells.

Charles stared at Kanais on the stage and slowed down his speech: "So, you still think that a place that can fire hundreds of thousands of shells in one breath will be a feint attack point? Can it be changed at will?"

Kanais was speechless.

The parliamentarians immediately echoed loudly:

"You are right, the Germans have far more than hundreds of thousands of shells, and they are still bombarding us."

"Their artillery fire has always been superior, which cannot be achieved by preparing for one or two days. They have been preparing for at least a month."

"And Joffre knew nothing about this, despite Colonel De Leon's repeated warnings!"

...

When Colonel De Leon was mentioned, another group of parliamentarians immediately shouted and criticized Canais:

"Joffre doesn't care about the voices from the front at all, he only conceives his own plans in his head."

"He is completely out of touch with reality and will not listen to any suggestions."

"He killed Colonel De Leon and many brave French soldiers!"

...

Canais was sweating profusely, but he still plucked up the courage to shout to the audience:

"No, gentlemen."

"That's not the case. It's not General Joffre's fault. We have British intelligence support."

"In addition, I believe that no one can do better under the same circumstances..."

The parliamentarians in the audience laughed out loud.

Armand said to Kanais in a frivolous tone: "General, you seem to have forgotten that Charles is sitting in front of you?"

The parliamentarians laughed again.