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

Chapter 995 Seizing the Mediterranean

"Two options," the Minister of Munitions stated eloquently.

"First, we must completely break ties with Charles."

"This allows us to quickly seize the initiative in the war, including the army."

"We can launch a surprise attack while the French are unprepared, quickly seize coastal cities such as Dunkirk, and prepare for a full-scale invasion of France!"

The staff officer then projected a picture onto the wall, marking the location of Dunkirk in the light and shadow. It was a suitable location for the British army to cross the Channel, and a complete transport chain had been established in recent years to ensure the delivery of supplies.

The Minister of War, holding a baton, explained the map:

"Dunkirk will be our forward base for this plan."

"We will protect its safety with at least five battleships, and we can add more if necessary."

"With battleships providing cover, it will become an impregnable city, even for the Charr forces."

This is a rehearsal of a combined land and sea tactic by the Minister of Munitions.

It used the large-caliber guns of battleships to unleash a barrage of bullets outside the Dunkirk defense perimeter.

He believed that no matter how many tanks the Charles had, anyone who dared to approach the city would be blown to pieces by naval guns.

But General Winter did not think so.

“That is not the case, Your Excellency.” General Winter frowned.
"As we all know, the accuracy of artillery is very limited at night, especially naval guns. If the Charles chooses to attack at night, we will be at a great disadvantage."

"If our army fails to hold Dunkirk, our army will collapse completely, which will undoubtedly be a disaster."

"We can't afford to fail like this anymore!"

Dunkirk was easy to defend because it was surrounded by canals, but its biggest weakness was that it had no way to retreat. Once the defenses were breached by the Charles, the only option was to surrender.

Prime Minister George also expressed his concerns:
"While I agree with going to war with France, it would be unwise to be so radical from the outset."

“We need some reason, rather than launching a sudden attack on our allies.”

"This will put us in an extremely passive position politically and diplomatically."

Balfour agreed with the Prime Minister's words:
"Yes, if we do that, even the United States might not be on our side."

"No country will dare to be Britain's ally in the future."

"Because they would worry that Britain might launch a similar 'surprise attack' at any time!"

The Minister of Munitions was speechless for a moment.

What he really wanted to do was this kind of unannounced "sudden attack".

They wouldn't understand, the Secretary of War thought. If such a "sudden attack" could destroy or severely damage France, then why should Britain care what other countries thought?
The only country that could possibly compete with Britain was France. If we crushed it with overwhelming force, no one would be able to challenge Britain's position, and no one would dare to speak a word of justice. They would continue to be subservient to Britain's powerful military force as before.

However, the Minister of Munitions also understood that with everyone opposing him, it was impossible for him to push through this risky plan.

“Alright,” he replied, “then let’s look at another plan.”

He drew a circle around the location of the British Expeditionary Force with his baton: "Another plan requires us to withdraw the Expeditionary Force and abandon all land offensives."

Everyone gasped in surprise:

"Abandon all land offensives?"

Does that mean we've given up?

"If we withdraw our troops now, we will have no forces that can threaten Germany, and they will be even less likely to agree to reparations!"

……

The Minister of Munitions replied:

“I am saving their lives, gentlemen.”

“You know what Charles is good at. There’s no place that borders France by land that he can’t conquer.” “Therefore, if we don’t choose to fight a full-scale war with him, we can only withdraw our troops to ensure the safety of the expeditionary force.”

George asked, "Then what about the German reparations?"

The Minister of Munitions replied decisively: "I don't think that's a problem, Your Excellency. As long as we defeat France, the Germans won't be able to refuse no matter how much money we make them pay!"

After calming down and thinking it over, the political figures realized that the Minister of Military Supplies made sense.

The power of discourse always lies in the hands of the strong, so the most important thing is to defeat the Charles. If that is done, the world will still belong to Britain.

"So, what are your plans?" Balfour asked.

The Quartermaster General's headquarters pointed to several oceans on the map:
“Abandoning land would allow us to concentrate our war and resources at sea.”

"That way we can forget about the Charles's terrifying tactics, equipment, and speed."

“But naval battles require tonnage, technology, and tradition, which are precisely what the Charles lack.”

General Winter was puzzled: "But if that's the case, how can we defeat the Charles?"

The Minister of War's lips curled into a sly smile:
"Supplies blockade, Winter."

"We believed that the Germans were transporting goods from France, so we had to control the goods being shipped to France."

"Although we are unwilling to do this, it is in the interests of the Allied Powers."

George suddenly realized that the "control" the Minister of Munitions referred to was actually a blockade:
"Yes, France wants to replace us."

"But if we use war as a pretext to blockade or restrict its trade from the sea, it will suffer another setback as it has just recovered from the war."

"If this continues, it will never be able to surpass us and become number one in the world."

Balfour nodded and said, "Blocking the Mediterranean is not difficult either. We can blockade the Suez Canal with Egypt as our backing."

The Minister of Munitions shook his head and smiled:

"Blocking the Suez Canal is far from enough."

"France can also trade with its African colonies, which is enough for them."

"Therefore, what we need to control is the entire Mediterranean!"

Everyone gasped in surprise:

"Controlling the Mediterranean? Is it even possible?"

“Charles had already made preparations there in advance; they even built an airport in Malta.”

"The main force of the French Navy is also in the Mediterranean, which means we are very likely to engage in naval warfare with them!"

……

The Minister of Munitions nodded:

"Yes, gentlemen."

“You’re right, we could very well be vying with the French Navy for control of the Mediterranean.”

"That's why we need to withdraw the army."

"This is also a war with France, but we are avoiding the strengths of the French army and using the navy to blockade them."

Prime Minister George nodded slightly: "This plan looks much better than the previous one."

“Yes,” Balfour agreed. “It gave us a good excuse, and we didn’t even do anything drastic at first.”

Only General Winter remained worried: "Do you really think we can defeat the Charles? Even in a naval battle?"

Balfour replied, his tone tinged with helplessness, "If we can't even defeat the Charles at sea, then there's no hope at all!"

(End of this chapter)