Chapter 628: Offense is greater than defense

Someone opened a bottle of beer and handed it to Charles, 1664, the best-selling beer in France.

(The picture above shows 1664 beer in France, which was founded in 1664 and is famous for its golden light beer and 5% alcohol content)

"Thank you." Charles nodded to the young major who handed him the beer.

The young major looked to be in his twenties, quite mature, and was looking at Charles eagerly, with a bit of heat in his eyes.

"You're welcome, General." The young major replied: "I have been waiting here for more than a month, just to know the answers to these questions."

The officers around laughed knowingly. The reason they often came to this club was more or less to talk to Charles like now and hope to learn something.

Charles was not in a hurry. He took a sip of beer, which was so cold that he couldn't help shivering.

"Gentlemen." Charles put down the bottle and asked calmly: "First of all, we should consider a question. Do you think that defense is more advantageous or offense is more advantageous in actual combat?"

This question stumped the officers. This is also a question they have been arguing about, but they have never been able to come up with a satisfactory answer.

After a while, an officer answered:

"I think offense is more advantageous, General, because offense can inspire the morale of soldiers."

"Yes, if there are artillery preparations and tanks, offense is the real way to win."

"The Lieutenant General's penetration of Antwerp and Hasselt are actually offenses, which can prove that offense is correct."

...

Although they cited the example of Charles' penetration, what they thought of in their minds was Foch's "offensive theory". Some people even regarded Charles' victory as a proof of the correctness of Foch's "offensive theory".

After all, Charles did win in the offense.

But this was immediately refuted by another group of officers:

"I think defense has more advantages. For example, in the Battle of the Somme, the Germans caused 100,000 British casualties in one day."

"Yes, this is obvious. Defense occupies the advantage of terrain. As long as the firepower is properly configured, it can cause more casualties to the enemy, sometimes even several times or dozens of times."

"I think so too. After all, the defending side hides in the trenches and shoots, and the attacking side is the target. General Pétain's victory in the Battle of Verdun proved this point."

Most of these officers are from Pétain's faction.

At this time, many grassroots officers and soldiers are more willing to believe in the "defense theory" because it is more in line with the reality and their psychological state.

Otherwise, there will be no mutiny of front-line soldiers.

After the debate of officers such as Charles subsided, they analyzed: "The situation in actual combat is more 'defense is greater than offense'. The side that takes the initiative to attack often suffers higher losses, and they even pay a great price and cannot push the defense line forward one step."

The officers nodded in agreement.

This is the reality of trench warfare. The enemy and our side dug trenches to confront each other. Neither side could do anything to the other side, and many attacks only increased casualties.

This is a fact that even the "offensive theory" cannot deny.

However, Charles changed the subject and said, "But this is only a tactical situation. Gentlemen, what I want to say is that at the strategic level, 'attack is greater than defense'."

The officers looked at each other, and they were a little confused by Charles's sudden reversal.

Obviously, defense is more advantageous, so why would he say "attack is greater than defense"?

Charles took the knife and fork on the table and set up the dragon gate formation, saying as he set it up:

"This is the enemy's defense line, and this is our army's defense line."

"In order to defend against the other side's attack, both the enemy and our side need to build a complete defense line without any loopholes."

"Otherwise, the enemy will break through this loophole and expand the results of the battle."

The officers nodded in agreement. This was the situation on the Western Front at this time.

Charles continued:

"This line of defense is more than 700 kilometers long, and both the enemy and us have deployed millions of troops to garrison."

"But even so, the quality of the soldiers on the front line is still uneven. Many places are understaffed and underprepared, but neither the enemy nor us have discovered it."

The officers nodded again. Many of them had returned from the front line, and some had been there more than once. They knew very well that what Charles said was the truth.

Finally, Charles concluded:

"The reason for this situation is that the defending side needs to guard every point."

"But it is basically impossible to guard every point on the 700-kilometer-long line of defense. This is beyond the ability of humans."

"On the contrary, the attacking side only needs to keep observing and find a loophole in the 700-kilometer-long line of defense and then break through to win."

"This is what I mean by 'attack is greater than defense'."

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A group of officers suddenly realized and nodded in agreement.

This is actually easy to explain using a Chinese idiom: "A wise man will make a mistake even after a thousand considerations, and a fool will gain something even after a thousand considerations."

The defender is the wise man who "cannot make a mistake even after a thousand considerations", while the attacker is the fool who can win as long as he gains something after a thousand considerations.

Then an officer cheered: "The lieutenant general is right, 'attack is greater than defense' means that General Foch is right, which is a supplement to the 'offensive theory'."

"No." The young major immediately objected:

"Lieutenant General Charles's 'offense is greater than defense' is different from General Foch's 'offensive theory'."

"General Foch's 'offensive theory' unilaterally emphasizes the advantages of offense without considering other factors."

"And Lieutenant General Charles's 'offense is greater than defense' means that we must be able to find weaknesses in the enemy's defense line, break through this weakness as the center, and then expand the results of the battle."

Charles secretly praised that this major was quite knowledgeable. At least he would not simply divide the theory into two categories of "offense" and "defense" like other officers.

Then someone asked curiously: "General, but what does the theory of 'attack is greater than defense' have to do with your insertion in Antwerp and Hasselt?"

"Don't you understand, Field?" The young major replied:

"Antwerp and Hasselt were not the original plan, but the flaws that the lieutenant general found in the enemy's long defense line."

"As the lieutenant general said, as long as the defense line is long, it is impossible to cover everything, and there will inevitably be some places that are not well prepared."

"Therefore, it will appear again and again that the Germans are not well prepared and are easily defeated by the lieutenant general's concentrated elite troops."

The officers suddenly realized:

"So all this is not luck or coincidence, but intentional, which shows that it is a tactic that can be replicated."

"This is indeed different from the 'offensive theory'."

"Great, we can also apply this tactic to battle!"

...