Chapter 426 Generation Gap

People gathered in front of Djoka's house, and the neighbors rushed to tell Djoka and Camille everything they knew:

"I heard that Shire had already reached Brussels yesterday afternoon, but the military kept it secret and did not announce it to the public."

"It's the capital of Belgium and I heard about it yesterday but I thought it was a prank."

"Don't worry, Mrs. Bernard. Charles will be fine. It's his enemies who need to worry."

…

Kamil Weiwei, she knew nothing about military terms such as "encirclement", "cutting off supplies" and "geographical advantage".

Therefore, no matter what others said, she never had the slightest idea. She didn't understand why a small force of Charles's troops who occupied Antwerp could surround more than 200,000 Germans without being able to fight back.

She only knows one thing: there are more than 200,000 Germans, and Charles leads less than 20,000 troops. That is more than ten times the number of troops. This means that everyone including Charles must be wiped out more than ten times. enemy?

Therefore, she was always worried, and when faced with the neighbors' explanations, she asked dubiously: "Is this really true? The war is about to end?"

Neighbors who knew something about military affairs explained:

"No, Mrs. Bernard, the war is not over yet, the Germans have not surrendered yet."

"But it's quick. It won't be long. They have no choice but to surrender."

"Char is simply a genius military strategist, Mrs. Bernard. He is simply born to win. You don't need to worry, no one can defeat him!"

…

The war was indeed not over, and Charles was organizing a defense in Antwerp.

The encirclement at this time is still fragile.

The reason was that Charles's troops moved through so quickly that Foch's infantry could not keep up in time.

The real reason was not this, but that the infantry did not believe that the battle would go so smoothly after breaking through the German encirclement. They did not dare to follow up by train or car.

The representative figure is Lieutenant General Savignan, the commander of the 9th Army arranged by Foch to cooperate with the Charles attack.

"This is crazy." Lieutenant General Savinian reported to Foch: "I refuse to do this. The enemy can easily derail the train with just one bomb. It is equally dangerous to move forward in a car. It has no protection and can easily derail. The enemy’s ambush resulted in heavy casualties.”

Therefore, Lieutenant General Savinian insisted on walking.

Although Wei Gang did not give clear suggestions, he partially agreed with Lieutenant General Savinian's statement.

"The Charles troops have armored vehicles, general." Wei Gang opened the file and showed the photo of the armored vehicle in front of Foch: "It is reasonable to move forward in this armored vehicle. It can at least block bullets fired from both sides, but we don't. "

Seeing Foch's hesitation, Wei Gang added: "How fast can Charles' troops be? Those in the front will be blocked by the enemy at all levels. Although the infantry in the rear are on foot, they do not need to fight the enemy. It’s not a big problem to keep up with Ciel’s troops.”

Foch thought for a while and finally agreed to this seemingly less risky approach.

They fail to understand two things:

The reason why Charles's troops are equipped with armored vehicles is because his troops are at the forefront to fight possible enemies, and the troops following behind are less necessary.

On the other hand, the German defense is like an egg. The outer shell is hard, and after being penetrated, it will be empty inside. If the follow-up troops advance by train or car, they will follow behind the armored divisions and mechanized divisions. , it is unlikely to be blocked by the enemy, let alone fall into the trap set by the enemy.

On the contrary, it would be a problem for people like them to be timid and follow up on foot at a speed of 5 kilometers per hour.

And indeed it is.

The main force of the German army's retreat gradually overtook the 9th Army that was following up from behind, and eventually formed the situation they were worried about being "blocked by layers of enemies and unable to break through quickly."

This is also the main reason why Charles's army will encounter fuel shortages when it crosses to Mechelen, and the logistics supply line is interrupted.

If it were not for the support of the Belgians, this battle would likely have failed. Charles's troops would have been trapped in a tight encirclement. Not only would they not be able to win, but they would have to break through.

…

In Antwerp, Charles established the headquarters of the 1st Mechanized Division in a fortress within the inner defensive perimeter.

It was not comfortable. The small space was filled with various artillery shells. It was dark and damp, and there was a suffocating sour smell in the air.

However, this is by far the safest place.

A kid from a rich family like Tijani couldn't stand such an environment. He sat sickly, leaning on the back of the chair weakly, breathing hard like a dying fish.

"Do we really want to stay here?" Tijani asked. He looked around with a look of despair.

"Do you have any better suggestions?" Charles asked.

Tijani was silent.

He knows what's going on now.

Although the main force of the German army in Antwerp surrendered, there were still many German skirmishers in the city who were unwilling to surrender. Some of them were hiding in the woods, some in abandoned barns, and some even hid in manure pits.

These stragglers cannot be cleared out in a day or two, and no one can guarantee that a round of bullets will suddenly come from somewhere...

Tijani sighed helplessly. He comforted himself that this was a battlefield, and he had been in worse places. No matter what, it was better than dying under the enemy's gun.

But there was another voice in his heart saying: I would rather die under the enemy's gun, I can't breathe here!

Tijani weakly took out his pocket watch and looked at it, and began to complain about the 9th Army that did not leave as planned: "They said they would join us at dawn, but they haven't reached Mons yet. If we hadn't stayed in Brussels If a regiment is stationed, the enemy will easily break out."

Charles said nothing.

He could understand the mistakes made by Foch and his party.

This was the era of trench warfare. Everyone thought that this was how war would end in the future. They couldn't imagine the concept of advancing more than a hundred kilometers a day. This was a generation gap.

In fact, let alone 100 kilometers, in the real Battle of Cambrai in history, the British tanks broke through for 8 kilometers, which was beyond everyone's expectation.

It was precisely because of the lack of psychological preparation that the British army was unable to maintain its hard-won victory.

And this 8-kilometer battle took place two years later.

At this time, a telegram was delivered to Charles, from General Winter: "Congratulations, Brigadier General, you have once again won a victory and proved your ability. But I want to know if you can return to Dardani." My battlefield command? We are in trouble here!"

Charles smiled, and he called back to General Winter simply: "General, do you think I can leave France at this time? What's more, the Dardanelles doesn't need me, it needs a prescription to defeat the plague!"