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

Chapter 945 Falling from the sky
Charles denied Pershing's claim:

"No, General, how could you think that?"

“You know, we’ve been trying to trick the Germans into diverting their troops to Saarbrücken.”

"The problem is that the Germans didn't do that; instead, they secretly amassed troops in the Offenburg direction."

Charles walked to his desk, took out documents from the drawer, and handed them to Pershing and Hague respectively.

In duplicate.

Pershing immediately realized that Charles was lying.

To lie openly, to lie as if afraid others won't know the truth.

He didn't need to prepare two identical sets of documents unless he had already planned this lie!

Haig realized this too. He sat up from the rocking chair with a dark face, numbly took the documents handed to him by Charles, but had no interest in even opening them.

"This is the intelligence we gathered in the direction of Offenburg," Charles said to himself.

"The Germans not only did not withdraw their troops from there, but they also secretly reinforced them."

"In the past few days, the number of troops along the Offenburg and Rhine lines has increased by 40."

"They even transferred a batch of anti-tank guns and mechanized units from Saarbrücken, as if they knew our battle plan and that we were going to attack Offenburg."

Charles glanced at Hague meaningfully.

Pershing immediately realized what Charles meant by his words and look, and he looked at Hague in shock.

“No, you didn’t do that, did you?” Pershing glared at him.

"I... of course I didn't." Hague slowly stood up, his face flushed.

“Of course you won’t admit it!” Pershing emphasized, his eyes red with anger. “I should have known. You wouldn’t want to see Charles win so easily; it’s not in Britain’s interest…”

Haig couldn't help but retort: ​​"This is also not in America's interest, Brigadier General!"

He then immediately realized that this was tantamount to admitting to leaking information.

"No, no, that's not what I meant!" he quickly denied. "Although it's not in our interest, we didn't do that!"

But no amount of explanation helped. Pershing stared blankly at Haggard with his mouth half open, as if he understood everything. Baker was also involved.

After a long while, Pershing sighed and turned to Charles, saying, "Lieutenant General, please believe me that I was not involved."

“Of course.” Charles nodded and stepped forward to shake hands with Pershing. “I am deeply grateful for this, General. You are our true ally.”

Pershing's expression was complex, a mixture of shame, gratitude, and embarrassment. After all, it was his own country, and he felt he couldn't escape responsibility either.

Haig looked completely innocent; he had indeed not revealed any intelligence to the Germans, they were just about to do so.

Could it be that Baker or someone else acted on their own initiative?
He vaguely realized that he had been tricked by Charles, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what went wrong.

Pershing ignored Haig and asked Charles, "Now, what should we do, Lieutenant General?"

“It’s simple,” Charles replied: “Attack Saarbrücken!”

“But what should we do?” Pershing asked. “There are landmines everywhere.”

“Landmines are a minor issue,” Charles replied calmly. “The main concern is the artillery positions behind the minefields, including 105mm cannons and 77mm infantry guns.”

……

Meanwhile, Parisian media and military commentators were in an uproar:
"The First Panzer Corps was halted at the German minefield. How can it possibly get through?"

"He must have a way to deal with the landmines that Charles invented!"

"Not necessarily. Those are landmines, tens of thousands of them. What can Charles do? Besides, there are German artillery behind the minefield!"

……

Gallieni stared at the map in the minister's office, looking at the small flag that Lieutenant Colonel Fernand had just planted to mark the position of the First Panzer Corps, and muttered to himself, "What can he do?"...

The once noisy meeting room of the League of Nations fell silent.

Clemenceau looked bewildered. Everyone thought he knew the answer, but he knew nothing at all.

He could only smile and pretend to know but not to reveal it, so that he could appear... to be a core member of the Ciel.

Yes, this is important!
The Belgian representatives were excited. They didn't know the answer, but they believed that Charles would definitely pass. No one could stop Charles, not even landmines.

The representatives from Romania and Italy looked tense, with a hint of worry in their expressions.

If Charlize cannot capture Saarbrücken through the minefield, Germany may not be deterred, and their country may still not be able to survive.

The Dutch representative was caught in a dilemma.

Although they joined the League of Nations, they were always divided into two factions, some pro-Germany and some pro-French.

This battle is the moment to determine which side is right.

……

Saarbrücken front.

Major General Bernhard stared intently at the tank formation outside the minefield, watching them spread out and form an attacking array along the front.

The soldiers whispered among themselves:
"What are they doing? Are they really going to launch a tank assault?"

"No, this is suicide!"

"But that's Ciel. Ciel isn't stupid. He'll always find a way!"

……

The last sentence also reflects Major General Bernhard's thoughts.

Unlike the British and Americans, if Charles knew how to attack, he was definitely not courting death.

But what could he do?
Just as he was wondering, the rumbling sound of an engine, like thunder, came from afar and grew louder.

Major General Bernhard raised the angle of his binoculars, and a dense array of aircraft immediately entered his field of view.

Unlike any aircraft I'd ever seen before, these monsters appeared enclosed, with three propellers supporting a somewhat clumsy fuselage.

There were at least 100 planes, and some Sandpiper fighters were flying around to escort them, their dark mass blocking out the sunlight.

"Bombers." Major General Bernhard's expression changed. "Charles' new bombers. He intends to flatten the minefield with bombs!"

The German soldiers stared in terror at the sky, some even putting away their rifles and preparing to flee back to their tunnels.

However, amidst the puzzled yet relieved looks of the crowd, the plane slowly passed overhead, without decreasing its altitude or dropping any aerial bombs.

Just as the soldiers breathed a sigh of relief, white, round parachutes appeared in their sight, becoming more and more numerous and dense, like bubbles exhaled by fish, or dandelions drifting and dancing in the air.

"What is that?" the soldiers exclaimed in surprise.

Major General Bernhard raised his binoculars and took a closer look, then was utterly shocked: "They're paratroopers! Charles actually... he actually used paratroopers to airdrop!"

No one has ever done this before; this is the first time.

The soldiers were dumbfounded. Could war really be fought like this?
Use airplanes to transport soldiers behind the defensive line, and then drop them from the sky!

Before this, if someone had mentioned such a tactic, they would have just laughed it off.

But now, it's actually right in front of me!
Then Major General Bernhard understood:

"Our artillery, their target is our artillery."

"Contact the artillery immediately and have them organize a defense!"

(End of this chapter)