Chapter 78 Who is Charles?

In Antwerp in the evening, the originally dark sky became brighter because of a ray of sunset shining through the clouds.

Twenty-five kilometers east of the fortress, in a basin composed of hills, Von Bessler, commander of the Third Reserve Army of the German First Army, was standing on a high place holding a telescope and looking quietly ahead.

"Boom!" There was a loud noise.

In a cloud of stormy smoke, the entire earth trembled, as if an earthquake had occurred.

When the cannon was ejected from the chamber, it almost sucked out the air on the ground. It caused a gust of wind, and everyone habitually bent down and covered their ears.

That is the roar of the 420MM heavy artillery "Big Bertha". Its range can reach 14 kilometers. The shells alone weigh 1,000 kilograms. It requires 200 people to operate it, and it can only fire two shells per hour.

General Besler did not move. He held his telescope in the fluctuating air and stood as steadily as a sculpture. A minute later, a cloud of radiating smoke and dust suddenly rose in the gray-black air in the distance, with a There was a flash of light and the shell exploded.

General Besler frowned, and he shouted dissatisfied to the staff officer beside him: "Tell Frekes that he wasted another shell, and this time it missed at least one kilometer!"

"Yes, general!" the staff officer responded and went to deliver the order.

"These bastards!" General Besler turned around, walked a few steps to the shell box, stared at the map with military spurs on it, and complained: "As an artilleryman, they should not be ashamed of such a waste. Is that so? We should have stood at the gates of Antwerp to accept Guise’s surrender!”

General Besler and Gieslao knew each other. Before the war, Germany and Belgium also maintained good relations. Most of Belgium's weapons and equipment were purchased from Germany, including rifles for the Belgian army and artillery in the fortress.

It's a travesty that Belgium is fighting Germany using German weapons.

Besler and Gies had the kind of relationship where they would get together to drink and play chess after the serious talk. They were not close friends, but they could be considered friends.

But now they had to meet each other at war, and Besler didn't know whether he should hope to see him sooner or never.

"General!" At this time, a staff officer came forward to report: "We heard that Charles is in Antwerp!"

Besler said "Yeah", his eyes still staring at the target on the map - Wavre Castle, thinking in his mind that as long as this fortress is blown up, the water supply system to Antwerp can be cut off, and then Antwerp will be lost. Source of fresh water.

"General!" the staff reminded again: "Charles may be in Antwerp!"

Besler, whose thoughts were interrupted, raised his head angrily: "Who is so important in Antwerp? Do you want to read everyone's name in Antwerp in front of me..."

Before he finished speaking, Besler suddenly realized something: "Who did you say was there? Charles?"

"Yes, General!"

"Charles from France? The guy who invented tanks and tricycles?" Besler asked again.

At this time, the terms "tank" and "tricycle" had spread throughout the German army, including the case of Shire, and Bessler had also heard about it.

"Yes, General!" The staff officer nodded.

Besler narrowed his eyes: "Are you sure? Where did you get the information?"

The staff officer became cautious. After following Besler for many years, he knew that it was Besler's habit to squint his eyes. He would only do this when he encountered something big that could not make a mistake.

"I'm not sure, General!" The staff officer was a little nervous: "We got the news from a Belgian businessman. He just returned to Belgium from France. He heard something about Charles flying to Antwerp this morning!"

Besler was stunned for a moment, and then immediately issued a series of orders:

"Send someone to verify whether there is a plane entering Antwerp in the morning. If there is, I want to know what model it is!"

The model is very important, it can tell whether it is a single seater or a two-seater. If it is a single seater, it proves that the news is false, because it is unlikely that the little guy in Charles can fly a plane.

"Move one division...no, send two divisions over immediately. We may have to completely surround Antwerp!"

He couldn't wait for verification before deploying troops. What if it was true?

"Add ten more planes and we will surround Antwerp from the air!"

The staff officer asked doubtfully while writing down notes in a small notebook: "But general, calling in planes can't stop the enemy's planes..."

"Knock them down even if you hit them!" Besler roared: "Go right away and do as I say!"

"Yes, general!" the staff officer ran to give the order as if he was running away.

"These guys!" Besler cursed: "They never know how important this is!"

Then he set his sights on Antwerp and murmured to himself: "Is that guy really going to be there? Who sent him here? These idiots!"

After thinking about it for a while, Besler still felt uneasy, turned his head and shouted to the side: "Luka!"

A guard came in response, a rifle slung over his shoulder.

"You are responsible for delivering a letter!" Besler raised his head in the direction of Antwerp: "Send it to the Belgians and let them hand it over to General Guise!"

"Yes, General!"

…

In the Antwerp operations office, the fiery red light illuminated the room like daylight. General Giese and General Winter were discussing the deployment of the army in front of the map.

General Winter said thoughtfully: "I think deploying troops to the front line at night is a good choice. We can dig a trench before the enemy discovers it. Otherwise, we may be attacked when digging the trench." to enemy bombardment!”

General Gies agreed: "What we need to strengthen the most is the Wavre Fortress. Once it is breached, the Germans will follow the gap into the Vandemuende area, where our fresh water supply system is. The whole city will lose its fresh water supply!”

General Winter's expression became cautious. He knew what it meant for a coastal city to lose its fresh water supply.

"Don't worry, General!" General Winter said: "We will organize defense there. Even if the Wavre Fortress is captured, the Germans will face our steel defense line!"

General Winter was very confident in his army. The British troops were equipped with Enfield rifles, which were the fastest-firing rifles and even more useful than French machine guns. With them in the trenches, it was impossible for the Germans to break through their defenses.

Just as the two were further discussing the direction of the trenches, a staff officer knocked on the door and handed a letter to General Giese: "General, this is from the Germans. They said it was a letter from General Besler to you! "

General Gies glanced at the envelope and recognized Besler's handwriting.

"They must have persuaded them to surrender!" General Guise smiled, opened the fire seal and took out the letter. After looking at it for a while, he asked doubtfully: "Who is the Shire? They said that as long as the Shire is handed over to them, they will promise not to attack again. Antwerp, too!"

"Char?" General Winter looked confused: "Is he here?"