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

Chapter 26 Battle Plan
Major Browne hid in the trench and cautiously stuck his head out to look across the Marne River.

The 6th Army, under the command of Gallieni, launched an attack on the German flank... It could no longer be called the "German flank". When the 6th Army assembled, the German army had turned its defense direction towards them. The original flank had become the front, and the direction of the Marne River had become the flank.

The German army's approach was obviously correct.

The Marne River blocked the 5th Army's way, and there was only one Marne Bridge for passage. The German army only needed to send out a regiment of several thousand people to defend along the river, and the tens of thousands of people of the French 5th Army could only watch the fire from the other side of the river.

"This is the battle plan!" Major General Garde personally gave orders to Major Browne's troops: "General Gallieni will command the 6th Army to launch an attack on the enemy's flank. They will rush to the Marne Bridge to attack the northern bridgehead. Your tank troops will cross the Marne Bridge as quickly as possible to cooperate with their attack and flank the enemy. Do you understand?"

"General!" Major Browne immediately raised a question: "The enemy has dug trenches and laid machine guns across the bridge. Our tanks may be trapped in the trenches and unable to move!"

Major General Gard looked at Brownie with an incredible look: "Major, I didn't order you to drive the tanks into the trenches. You just need to stop in front of the trenches to block the German bullets, and our troops can pass through the bridgehead and kill the enemy continuously!"

"Yes, General!" Major Browne responded.

Although Major Brownie responded in this way, he had no confidence in this attack plan.

He nervously held up the telescope and carefully observed the enemy's fortifications. At the bridgehead on the north side of the Marne River, the Germans built a circular position and deployed at least ten Maxim machine guns.

This water-cooled machine gun is not like the French Saint-Etienne machine gun, which would either overheat the barrel or malfunction due to its complex structure after firing a hundred rounds.

The Maxim machine gun would fire bullets at the tank crazily at a rate of about 500 rounds per minute.

If the tanks crossed the bridgehead and stopped in front of the trench as Major General Gard said, they would face machine gun fire from all directions, and even the enemy's artillery might have targeted the bridgehead. The dense artillery shells would blow the tanks and subsequent troops into the sky!

Can the tank's 9MM steel plate withstand the continuous strafing of Maxim?
Can it withstand the bombardment of large-caliber artillery?

Therefore, this battle plan is obviously not feasible. Only Major General Gad, who is as stupid as a pig, would be so confident!

The 6th Army launched an attack on the enemy's defense line amidst the sound of artillery fire.

The old tactics were still used. The soldiers grabbed their rifles with bayonets fixed and charged towards the enemy lines in dense formations. Their bright red trousers were clearly visible even under the smoke of the artillery fire.

They wore caps to cover the red part of their caps, but it was of no use. The German machine guns and rifles fired bullets at them crazily, and rows of French soldiers were neatly knocked down in a pool of blood.

The soldiers were very brave. They charged forward one after another under the rain of bullets, stepped over the bodies of their comrades in the mud, and some soldiers even lay prone on the barbed wire to serve as a "bridge" for their comrades to advance.

But it was of no use, the bullets mercilessly took the lives of the soldiers, and there seemed to be an invisible wall in front of the enemy's defense line, blocking the 6th Army's offensive wave.

Before this, Major Brownie might have thought that there was nothing wrong with fighting like this. This was war, and there would inevitably be casualties and sacrifices in war. All of this was normal.

However, after working with Ciel, he couldn't help but doubt everything!
Does this really make sense?
If you can accomplish the same thing, or even win, by sacrificing fewer people, is it necessary to do so?

"Major!" Someone couldn't help but say beside Brownie, "Major General Gard's battle plan will kill us!"

"Yes!" Someone immediately echoed: "This may just be a command error for him, but for us it is..." Life, loss of life!
Everyone has only one life, it is extremely precious to soldiers, but generals don't care at all!
They were not even willing to spend more time thinking about the rationality of the battle plan, and only knew how to order the soldiers to advance, attack, and kill the enemy!
Major Brownie saw Major General Gard put away his telescope and he seemed to be about to order an attack!

"This idiot!" Major Brownie hurriedly crouched down and ran back along the communication trench.

Major General Gard noticed Major Browne's actions and shouted at him angrily, "Return to your post, Major. We are about to attack!"

Major Browne was the commander of the tank corps, and the attack could not be launched without him leading the charge.

Major Browne pretended not to hear. He crouched down and ran to Major General Gard and said, "General, now is not the time!"

Major General Gard's face darkened: "This is not a problem you need to consider!"

"General!" Major Browne explained, "Look across here. The Sixth Army's attack has been repelled. They are retreating and cannot form a pincer attack with us... We should wait for their next offensive!"

Major General Gade looked across and saw that this wave of charge had indeed come to an end. The battlefield was littered with the bodies of French soldiers and the screaming and wailing wounded. The surviving soldiers were risking their lives to crawl back under the machine gun bullets.

"Do what you have to do!" Major General Gard ordered with a straight face: "I know when to launch the attack!"

"Yes, General!"

Major Browne knew that Major General Gard had accepted the suggestion, but he just refused to admit it for the sake of face.

On the way back, Major Brownie did not return to the position. He turned a corner along the communication trench and ran quickly towards the town of Darvaz in the blind spot of Major General Gad's sight.

He ran faster and faster, and after getting out of the trench, he ran as fast as he could, almost running towards Charles' residence at the speed of a 100-meter sprint.

The door was ajar and not locked. Major Browne pushed it open and rushed in. There was no one inside, and his heart sank.

They must have left, Major Browne thought.

Just then, he heard a faint sound coming from the basement. He immediately understood what was going on and rushed down the stairs, knocking on the door and shouting:

"Ciel, this is Brownie and I need to talk to you! Please open the door!"

Deyoka was stunned when he heard the voice. He hesitated. Could it be that Major Brownie was here to ask Charles to go to the front line to command tank battles?
However, Deyoka still opened the door. After all, the major had a gun in his hand, so it was easy for him to open the door.

Major Browne pushed open the door and asked breathlessly, "Where's Charles? Is he here?"

Deyoka's eyes were wary: "I won't allow you to take him to the battlefield. He is only seventeen years old, Major!"

(End of this chapter)