Chapter 577 This is the war between Charles and the Parliament

The flurries of snow were flying in the air like cotton balls carried by the wind. They fell along different trajectories and finally disappeared on the muddy ground.

Gembloux, a small town between Brussels and Namur, received its first snow of the year.

It took the 6th Army a few days to move here from the Somme River. The soldiers looked at the snow scene with some luck, because they liked the snow better than the uncontrollable rain. At least the latter would not know when they were sleeping. Unconsciously, he poured into the trench.

However, they soon discovered that they had rejoiced too soon.

Christian was immediately relieved of the acting command of the 6th Army. He returned as commander of the 1st Special Artillery Division. The entire army maintained radio silence and was not allowed to contact the outside world.

Then, a large number of officers whom they did not know took over the 6th Army. Almost all officers at the regiment commander and above were replaced, leaving only a few staff officers who were familiar with the army's situation.

Then the training began.

The soldiers thought it was just ordinary training, but what horrified them was that every officer and soldier who had "performed" or overdone the mutiny was called for questioning. Some of them never came back. It was said that they were arrested for disobeying orders. Closed.

The soldiers were terrified:

“We’re quarantined and they’re disciplining the deputies, what do we do?”

"Where is General Charles? Where is he?"

"He probably didn't know what was going on, he was on vacation and that was probably intentional!"

"God, someone help us!"

…

At noon, Charles arrived at Jean Bleu in time.

He came by plane and couldn't care less about the rain, snow and cold, so that when the car drove into the military camp, he was still shivering and his military uniform was still wet.

The soldiers were practicing in the square according to the officer's instructions. When they saw Charles' figure, their hearts were half relieved:

"Great, the general is back."

"He will definitely protect us."

"These arrogant and domineering officers (referring to the officers who took over the 6th Group Army) were not seen during the war. Why are they dictating to us now?"

There was even a riot in the army, and the officers yelled and cursed for a while before they regained control of the situation.

…

Charles was a little confused when he walked into the headquarters. He thought he was in the wrong place. He didn't know all the officers coming and going.

After asking, it was confirmed that this was the 6th Army.

And those officers all knew Charles, and they stood up and saluted him one by one. Their eyes were full of surprise and surprise, as if they didn't expect that Charles would come back at this time.

A few others turned around and ran towards the headquarters.

Ciel knew that they must have gone to "snitch" to inform their superiors that Ciel had returned.

Soon, a group of senior officers came out. Charles glanced at them and saw that Wei Gang was the only one he recognized.

The leader was a middle-aged general with the same rank of major general as Charles. He came up to him expressionlessly and shook hands with Charles, assuming the attitude of a host receiving a guest: "Welcome, Commander, I am your chief of staff. , my name is Gustave Gamelin!”

(The picture above shows Gamelin, Joffre’s think tank. He is called the smartest general in France, but in fact he is a fool. He used the tactics of World War I to fight World War II, which directly led to the rapid surrender of the French army and became a joke. He was still stubborn even in World War II. They believe that airplanes are useless, tanks are useless, and the war should be based on infantry and cavalry)

"Yes." Charles looked at Gamelin and made a pun: "Nice to meet you, general. This is the first time I have met my chief of staff in this way."

Of course, Gamelin heard the implication of Charles's words, but he did not change his expression and replied calmly: "I'm sorry, Your Excellency Commander, this is the arrangement of the superiors, we are just following orders."

Charles smiled softly: "Then, do you mind taking me to visit my headquarters?"

Gan Molin stepped aside and made a "please" gesture.

When walking to the headquarters, Gamelin explained calmly: "The superiors think that you have troops stationed in Belgium and you have performed well in Belgium, so you will have no objection to the 6th Army being transferred here and under your unified command. Bar?"

"Of course not." Charles replied very gentlemanly: "The superior has considered it very carefully."

You've already been transferred here, can I still have any objections? And that's not the point.

Gamelin seemed to see through Charles's thoughts: "As for not notifying you, it's because you are on vacation, and the radio silence is for confidentiality. You know, the enemy cannot know about the change of troops."

"Yes, of course." Charles nodded: "You did a good job."

Charles deliberately used "you", which included the parliament.

The headquarters is a two-story building. Go up the stairs and turn a corner along the passage to reach the war room.

What's embarrassing is that there is no commander's desk in the headquarters.

Several staff officers temporarily moved a table to the main seat, added chairs, and hurriedly placed a lamp on the corner of the table.

When Charles and his party came in, the staff officer was still busy wiping the dust on the tables and chairs. Seeing Charles, he hurriedly stopped what he was doing and stood upright.

Gamelin remained calm: "We have just arrived, and everything has just been arranged."

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Charles smiled and nodded: "You are very considerate, I have nothing to be dissatisfied with."

Gan Molin bowed down gracefully: "I am willing to serve you, Commander!"

Charles sat in the commander's position. The staff officers were busy with their own things. The headquarters was functioning normally, but Charles, the commander, was doing nothing, as if he was redundant.

The desk was empty and there were no documents. Occasionally, a few telegrams were handed over, but they were also irrelevant information.

Charles understood that he was being sidelined by the parliament.

The parliament did not need Charles to command the 6th Army. They only needed Charles to hold the title of the commander of the 6th Army to appease the soldiers of the 6th Army and even the entire French army.

Even if they did something bad, such as ordering the liquidation of mutinous representatives, they could put the blame on Charles.

While suppressing the soldiers, it could also weaken Charles' influence. It was a two-pronged approach, which was not bad.

During the period, Charles and Weygand had eye contact. Weygand shook his head slightly, and then worked with others calmly.

This was the play between Charles and Foch that worked.

The parliament believed that Foch was Charles' enemy, so it was very reassuring for Foch to place Weygand in the 6th Army.

What to do now?

The simplest thing is to abandon the 6th Army and go back to his mechanized forces.

However, Charles knew he couldn't do that.

If he couldn't protect the mutinous representatives, such as Jeremie and Darlan, it would be a fatal blow to Charles.

The soldiers would know that Charles couldn't protect them, and they had to listen to the parliament, otherwise they would die.

On the contrary, if Charles could protect them, they would despise the parliament and follow Charles' footsteps.

So, this is a war between Charles and the parliament, and he can't give in!