Chapter 687 - Lead the enemy to attack

Charles was wrong about this. The 6th Army failed to defend every point.

There was only one point Christine was prepared for, one of the three entrances to the Ardennes Mountains south of Charleroi.

Or rather, they were prepared.

This was Tasini's idea, and he led the troops himself. There was only one understaffed infantry regiment carrying only light equipment, with a total strength of more than 2,000 people.

When Christine received Charles' order to blockade the Ardennes Forest, his first reaction was to send a mechanized division to cut in south of Charleroi as quickly as possible to prevent its escape.

This has to do with the ambiguity of the Shire's orders.

Due to the high secrecy of the strategic intention of "penetrating the Ardennes Mountains", Charles's order to Christine could only be "send infantry into the Ardennes Mountains and do everything possible to prevent the German army from entering the mountains and escaping from here!"

Christine immediately thought of the 2nd Mechanized Division.

This division was formed based on the model of Charles' First Mechanized Division. Christine believed that this would allow them to better learn and implement Charles' tactics.

Christine's idea is that mechanized divisions are also infantry, just infantry on vehicles.

Now is the time for the mechanized division to play its role. It has fewer tanks and faster speed. If the tanks are abandoned, it can reach the target area in one day.

In addition, the mechanized division can use its mobility and combat effectiveness to blockade the German army.

Christine pointed to the map and said, "We can divide the Second Mechanized Division into two parts based on brigades. They will be stationed in the west and south to completely surround Charleroi. Two more infantry divisions will follow up to reinforce, and at the same time, the First Special Artillery Division will launch an attack from the front!"

This encirclement plan was luxurious. Two infantry divisions, one mechanized division and one armored division, a total of four divisions with nearly 70,000 troops, surrounded the 5,000 German troops in Charleroi.

From this we can see that Christian attaches great importance to the first combat mission given to him by Charles.

However, this plan has some shadows of the "offensive theory" of direct frontal warfare, the only difference is that mechanized and armored forces are used.

However, Tasini, who had just been promoted to lieutenant colonel staff officer, stopped Christine from doing so.

Tasini pondered over the map for a while, pointed at Charleroi on the map and analyzed:

"That might not be a good idea, General."

"I heard that the enemy at Charleroi had no intention of staying there. They were just waiting for the order to retreat."

"If we send out the Second Mechanic Division, it will likely expose our intention to encircle them immediately."

"If the enemy retreats into the Ardennes Mountains ahead of us, we will not be able to complete the mission assigned to us by the command."

But Christine didn't think so: "The Germans won't retreat so quickly, Lieutenant Colonel, you may not know that Charleroi is an industrial city and it is very important to the Germans."

Tasini stood by his point:

"General, if that's the case, why didn't the lieutenant general (referring to Charles) retake Charleroi himself?"

"We all know that the First Armored Corps is in Namur. The Lieutenant General can easily do this by just detaching the First Mechanized Division."

"He gave us this mission and specifically asked the 'infantry' to do it..."

With that, Tasini turned his gaze towards Christine and waited for his answer.

Christine was stunned and felt that what Tasini said made sense.

Why do we need our own mechanized division when Charles's mechanized division can accomplish the task?

Therefore, the focus of this mission was on "infantry" in order not to "alert the enemy" and prevent the German army from entering the Ardennes Mountains and escaping.

But then, Christine stared at the map and was in a dilemma: "If the Germans deploy spies for reconnaissance, even infantrymen will find it difficult to hide from the Germans."

There is a contradiction here: to block the 5,000 German troops, a certain number of troops are needed, and a certain number of troops, even if they are infantry, will find it difficult to avoid German reconnaissance if they march in formation.

"Unless we march with a small force and light equipment," Tasini replied.

"A small force?"

"Yes." Tasini nodded. "An infantry regiment, controlled within 2,000 people. Perhaps, we can also disguise ourselves as Belgian militia to confuse the Germans."

The Belgian militia also had a large number at this time, but the German army had never taken them seriously and automatically ignored them, except for the special First Reconnaissance Army that assisted Charles.

Christine thought for a while, frowned and shook his head, "Two thousand people, we can't block the entire south with this amount of troops. There are at least three locations that can enter the Ardennes Mountains."

Christine was referring to the mountain trail that leads into the Ardennes Mountains.

The German army had to advance along the mountain roads when retreating into the Ardennes Mountains. It was impossible for them to cut down trees and open a path right from the start.

"We don't need to defend every point," Tasini replied. "We only need to defend one point."

"Do you know which point the Germans will retreat from?" Christine didn't quite understand what Tasini meant, or was he just going to take a chance?

"No, General." Tasini shook his head. "I don't know, but we can deliberately guide the Germans to retreat from a certain point."

Christine looked confused, conscious guidance?

Tasini calmly pointed to the three intersections in the Ardennes Mountains on the map and explained:

"We deployed a small number of troops at each mountain pass and created the illusion of troop deployment."

"Then, leave a trace or a little noise at Junction 3 to attract German scouts."

"Finally, our troops will be defeated here by German scouts..."

Christine immediately understood the ingenuity of Tasini's plan.

The Germans would naturally assume that the French troops were already exhausted by the time they reached Entrance No. 3, and that they were defeated by their scouts, leaving a gap.

Now that they had won the battle and opened a gap in the encirclement, the Germans would of course choose to break out from here.

What they didn't expect was that this was the only entrance where an ambush was set.

"But there are more than 5,000 Germans, Lieutenant Colonel." Christine asked, "We only have 2,000 people, and they are lightly equipped. How can we stop them?"

"General," Tasini replied confidently, "the Germans are also lightly armed."

Christine was stunned, but then she understood.

The Germans wanted to retreat into the Ardennes Mountains to escape, so of course they couldn't take heavy equipment with them.

Both the enemy and us were lightly equipped. The French army was well prepared and had built fortifications to occupy advantageous terrain. The more than 5,000 German troops were probably unable to compete with the French army, even though the French army was less than half of the German army.

After a little thought, Christine made a decision:

"That's a good idea, Lieutenant Colonel. You personally lead a regiment to the Ardennes Mountains to set up an ambush."

"I'll have the mechanized divisions ready."

"Once the Germans are fooled or the time is right, I will immediately lead the mechanized division to reinforce you!"