I was a tycoon in World War I: Starting to save France

Chapter 1013 Finally, we managed to fool this guy.
The situation of the French Navy was not as optimistic as Charles had described.

The situation in the direction of the Greek port of Piraeus is not too problematic, as three aircraft carriers are docked there, while the French army leads the Greek military and civilians to "liberate Greece" within a few weeks.

Meanwhile, the aircraft carrier's fuel, bombs, and other supplies can be delivered by transport planes, and Greece can also provide some of these and other materials.

Egypt is also fine; the Charles has been laying the groundwork there for a long time, and the independence movement will take advantage of the situation to challenge the British colonial rule.

The British defenses at Port Said were perhaps quite strong; they deployed two infantry regiments, two artillery battalions, and an engineering corps, along with a naval support regiment, for a total strength of over 30,000 men.

(Note: The Naval Support Group is responsible for port defense for the Royal Navy. Port Said is directly related to the security of the Suez River, and the British military attaches great importance to it.)
However, Egypt launched a vigorous anti-colonial movement across the country, with guerrilla attacks and destruction everywhere. Warehouses were burned down today, factories were bombed tomorrow, and roads and railways were dug up, making it impossible to transport supplies into Port Said.

At this point, the French aircraft carrier will seize the opportunity to attack Port Said, and it will not take long to control it and blockade the Suez Canal.

The real problem is in Toulon.

The French main force in the Toulon direction consisted of only two dreadnoughts and six pre-dreadnoughts, while the rest of their battleships were deployed in Brest and blockaded by the British.

The British Mediterranean Fleet, however, still possessed strength with seven battleships.

Eight ships have an advantage in intercepting seven, but if the British are determined to fight to the death, the inexperienced French army is likely to suffer considerable casualties.

General Winter was unaware of these things.

Charles embellished the data as reasonably as possible:
"We have deployed 20 Jenny B bombers and 30 Caproni torpedo bombers in Malta."

"The number of aircraft deployed in Toulon Port is 10 and 50 respectively, in addition to various types of fighter jets, the latter of which can ensure that you cannot take off seaplanes."

"With the Toulon fleet added to the mix, do you think your fleet can break through the Straits of Tunisia and Gibraltar and escape back to Britain?"

Then Charles added:
"More importantly, we have refitted five aircraft carriers, Winter, and you are only facing three of them."

"You know where the other two are without me telling you, right?"

Boasting is free, and Charles intends to use this data to break down General Winter's psychological defenses and convince him that the French Navy has sealed them off in the Mediterranean.

General Winter was startled; cold sweat instantly broke out in his hand as he held the telegram.

He knew that France had five aircraft carriers undergoing refits, and that he was in charge of cooperating with France to improve the carriers, so he believed Charles's half-truths without a doubt.

"So," General Winter asked, "you didn't fall for it, did you?"

"What?" Charles didn't understand what General Winter meant.

General Winter replied with a few more words: "In the design of the aircraft carrier, you did not retain the rear half of the ship's guns."

Otherwise, the French bombers could not have taken off and landed so quickly, and three aircraft carriers could have kept more than 40 fighters and bombers in the air with such a low failure rate.

“Yes, of course,” Charles replied. “You can ask Captain Mael about the layout of our aircraft carrier if you want to know.”

Captain Mael was the one who stopped General Winter's guards; he was responsible for General Winter's "security."

General Winter waved the telegram at Captain Mael: "Charles said you know the layout of an aircraft carrier?"

"Layout?" Captain Mael looked confused. "What layout?"

General Winter explained, "It's mainly the aircraft carrier's runway; you also use a through-deck, right?"

Captain Mael exclaimed "Oh!" in realization.
“If that’s what you’re saying, then I do know.”

“I’m not sure if that counts as a straight deck, because one of the runways is angled.” General Winter was taken aback: “Angled?”

“Yes.” Captain Mael took General Winter’s telegram, glanced at it, exchanged a look with the communications officer, and only returned the telegram to General Winter after confirming that it was Charles’s order.

He then took two steps to the radio station, picked up the paper and pen used by the communications soldier for decoding, and sketched the aircraft carrier's deck in simple strokes, then used two straight lines to represent the runway's direction.

He turned and handed the sketch to General Winter: "That's about it. You can understand its purpose, right?"

If you can understand it, I don't need to explain it further.

General Winter glanced at the sketch and at first wondered why such an irregularly angled deck would be used.

But after a moment's thought, he understood. He looked at Captain Mael in shock: "It, you really use a deck of this shape?"

“Of course!” Captain Mael nodded, a proud smile on his face. “This was first created by Lieutenant General Charles. So your defeat wasn’t unjust, don’t you think?”

General Winter gritted his teeth and remained silent.

Even a guard can speak to him like that!
However, General Winter still conceded defeat, a complete and utter defeat, one he accepted with complete remorse.

France possesses five such aircraft carriers, which are equipped with new bombers and torpedo bombers.

What hope does the Royal Navy have left?
Not just the Mediterranean, but all the oceans in the world will belong to France.

At this point, as an island nation, Britain was no longer concerned with German reparations or defeating France, but rather with the security of the British Isles and its own safety!
If the Charles can surround Britain with aircraft carriers and warships, Britain will be completely blockaded and isolated from the world!

Just then, another telegram from Charles arrived: "Now do you know where the difference lies, Winter?"

General Winter replied listlessly, "Yes."

Even if the Argus and the Wraith were resurrected, they still could not defeat the French army.

It's hard to imagine that simply changing the direction of the second half of the track, turning it by a small angle, would bring so many benefits:
It allows two aircraft to take off simultaneously without interfering with each other's takeoffs and landings, and makes the takeoff and landing zones easier to manage...

General Winter sighed softly and shook his head slightly.

It would take the British military at least several years to build such an aircraft carrier; it's too late now.

"So," Charles said,

“I want you to understand one thing: I don’t want you to surrender, and I’m not trying to persuade you to surrender. I want to save their lives.”

"I don't want to see them die meaninglessly from bombs and torpedoes. The outcome is already decided, and the cost to the French Navy will be negligible."

"The same applies to you; you are saving their lives. The decision to save them or not is yours!"

General Winter considered it for a moment and finally nodded in agreement.

"What do you want me to do?" he asked.
"Give them orders? They probably won't listen to me."

"I mean, they don't know these things, so they won't easily choose to surrender. They'll just see me as a coward and a traitor!"

Charles was secretly pleased; he had finally managed to fool this guy.

(End of this chapter)