Reborn South Africa as a police officer

Chapter 968 Quirks

Although people don't want to admit it, but since the outbreak of the World War, the performance of the main commanders of the British and French coalition forces on the battlefield is extremely disproportionate to the strength possessed by Britain and France.

Joffre had a famous habit of sleeping until dawn after a big dinner, no one could disturb him, no matter how tense the battle at the front was, and this habit continued during the Battle of Verdun.

January NO.16, the German army launched an attack on Douvaumont, which was the last barrier between the German army and Paris. If Douvaumont was captured, the German army would have a flat river in front of it. This time, the German army will not make the mistakes made during the Battle of the Marne Therefore, as long as there is an opportunity, the German army will definitely launch a direct attack on Paris.

The attack was still in charge of the Fifth Army led by Crown Prince William. Falkenhayn mobilized 1500 artillery pieces to participate in the battle. Some of the newly added artillery pieces came from the German army's seizure of Verdun. Artillery, now these artillery have become the accomplices of the German army and were used by the German army to bombard Douvermont.

At this time, Duvalmont's defenders had been replaced by the French Second Army led by Pétain. The front-line commander, General Fernand de Cary, sent a telegram to Pétain requesting reinforcements, but Pétain was not at the command post.

Then Fernand sent a telegram to Joffre, who was having dinner at the time, and Noel Edward de Castelao, the chief of staff who served as the commander-in-chief of the army group, suggested that the troops withdraw to the Vavre plain and give up completely. All positions east of the Meuse.

Joffre agreed to Castelao's suggestion, ate his dinner leisurely, and answered with unusual calmness, which perfectly interpreted the origin of the nickname "General Dull".

At 11 o'clock in the evening, the German army did not rest, but attacked overnight. The front line was in a hurry again. Castelao came to Joffre again. Joffre's adjutant reminded Castelao that the commander-in-chief who was resting should not be disturbed, Cass Trau ignored Xiafei's adjutant and insisted on waking Xiafei who was sleeping.

After listening to Castelao's report, Joffre looked indifferent, thinking that the front line had not yet reached the point where reinforcements were necessary, so he gave Castelao an order to act freely, and then went back to sleep.

Castelao went to look for Pétain. Pétain had not yet returned to the headquarters, and no one knew where Pétain was. After Castelao rested, Pétain's adjutant, Bernard de Serre, drove overnight. To Paris, go directly to Gare du Nord Hotel.

The duty manager of the North Railway Station Hotel did not admit that Pétain was here. Sirius knew his officer well, and searched from room to room on the top floor of the hotel. There is a pair of beautiful ladies slippers.

Seri knocked on the door, and it was Petain in pajamas who opened the door. Seri gave Xiafei's order to Petain, and when Petain took the order, a woman's cry came from the room behind him.

Facing the crazy attack of the German army, Petain and Xia Fei were equally calm. He asked Seri to open a room in the hotel, and met Petain in the lobby at [-]:[-] in the morning. Four hours later, Petain and Seri returned together. Command.

When Pétain returned to the headquarters, his Second Army had already suffered more than one-third of its officers and soldiers casualties.

Compared with Joffre Pétain, who is (ma) calm (mu) cold (bu) quiet (ren), Haig is irritable, cold-blooded, withdrawn, stubborn, and likes to make small reports, which is also not much better.

After suppressing all dissenting voices, the British Expeditionary Force's offensive continued.

On the night of January NO.16, a huge cold wave hit Mons. Hundreds of wounded soldiers of the British Expeditionary Force who had not had time to be transported were frozen to death on stretchers. Their blood was frozen together with the ice and snow on the ground. Stretchers could not be moved, several soldiers in charge of collecting the corpses had emotional breakdowns, and a soldier shot himself in the corner of the cemetery.

At 17 o'clock in the morning on NO.[-], Koker received an order that the troops would bombard the German positions at [-] o'clock in the morning. This time the bombardment lasted only two hours.

During the first day of the offensive, the shelling lasted for 12 hours. Although the shelling effect was not bad, destroying the barbed wire and minefields in front of the German positions, and also destroying a section of trenches, Haig thought the shelling time was too long. The time left for the infantry to attack is seriously insufficient, which will give the Germans a chance to breathe and allow the Germans to calmly mobilize their forces in the dark, so Haig shortened the bombardment time and left more time for the infantry to attack.

Five points of shelling means at most three points, and the officers and soldiers of the artillery unit will get up.

Yesterday's attack didn't end until one o'clock in the morning. The officers and soldiers of the artillery division didn't even have the energy to eat before going to bed. Coker hoped that the officers and soldiers of the artillery division could have more rest time and start shelling the German positions at six o'clock in the morning.

The herald sent by Haig rejected Cocker's request, arguing with arrogance and contempt that the artillery's work was not dangerous and that the troops did not need too long a rest.

"Major, go back and tell your generals that the officers and soldiers of the artillery division are people, not damn machines, and they also have the right to a full rest." Coker was very angry, and it was nonsense that the work of the artillery unit was not dangerous.

Since the outbreak of the World War, more than half of the casualties have been caused by artillery. Before every battle is launched, it always starts with the shelling of artillery units.

In addition to shelling, the work of the artillery unit also has an important content to counter the enemy's artillery positions.

After the artillery position fired, the enemy's observers could infer the position of the artillery position from the trajectory of the shells, and then guide their own artillery to suppress the enemy's artillery.

In yesterday's battle, the three artillery divisions of the Southern African Expeditionary Force also suffered heavy casualties, with losses of more than 500 people. Although compared with the Anzac Army, the losses of the artillery units were insignificant, but it took a lot of hard work to train a qualified artillery Far beyond training a qualified infantryman, southern Africa began to consciously train artillery three years ago, and now it is only these three divisions.

"General, if the artillery needs to rest and affect the frontline attack, you must bear full responsibility." The major from the headquarters has a sense of superiority in front of the general of the servant army from southern Africa, and Coker even wonders if this is still the case. A well-known British army with distinct ranks.

"Shut your mouth and get out of my command post. I don't need you to teach me how to command the troops." Coker was not polite. Others might not dare to challenge the local officers, but Coker was not afraid, he Also native soldiers, but now serving in Southern Africa.

An hour later, Haig called Coker himself.

Coker's adjutant replied to Haig that General Coker was resting and asked Haig to call back in an hour.

It sounds a bit excessive, but looking at what Joffre and Pétain did, one can understand why Coker's "rest" is so important.

Haig did not come directly to Cocker, and the artillery unit was not ready to start shelling the Germans until six o'clock in the morning.

At 08:30, just after the shelling had ended, Cocker was ordered to be relieved of his duties.

"Release? Do you want to expel my chief of staff from the military? General Coker's rank of general was not conferred by the Expeditionary Forces Command, nor was his chief of staff appointed by the Department of War. Unless there is my order, he can be relieved." Coker's position, otherwise anyone's order will be invalid." It was already ten o'clock in the morning when Rock knew this, and Haig was too fussy, delaying the attack by one hour, and one hour earlier An hourly attack will not have a fatal impact on the battle on the front line.

"My lord, General Coker violated the military orders, and the nature is different." Ian Hamilton is also very helpless, Haig has not yet figured out his main job content.

Like Roque as the commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, Haig served as the Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force. As the commander-in-chief, it is impossible to defeat the Germans like defeating the Ottomans.

No matter how arrogant Haig is, on the French battlefield, the French army, the main force, and the British Expeditionary Force are in an auxiliary position. To use a futuristic saying, don't force yourself to play.

Haig is now forcing himself to play. Originally, the main target of the German army was not on the British expeditionary force. Falkenhayn launched the Battle of Verdun to attract all the main force of the French army to Verdun and give the French army Continuous killing, let the French troops continue to shed blood, and then force France to withdraw from the war.

Haig's forced attack, regardless of whether the tactical purpose can be achieved, will definitely further consume the strength of the British Expeditionary Force and intensify the divisions within the Expeditionary Force, which will have a fatal impact on the future Expeditionary Force.

"Ian, just wait and see, Douglas continues to act arbitrarily like this, and there will be more and more violations of military orders. In his eyes, soldiers are just consumables for scoring achievements, not living beings at all. The butcher will definitely be firmly nailed to the pillar of shame in history, no matter how the newspapers beautify them, the families of the officers and soldiers who died will remember everything they have done." Rock also knew that Coker violated the military order, if this matter is let go In southern Africa, Coker will also be punished, but now, Roque can only defend Coker unconditionally, even if it also violates Roque's principles.

At twelve noon, Roque sent telegrams to King George V, Prime Minister Asquith, Minister of War Kitchener, and Chief of the British Army William Robertson respectively, accusing Haig of disregarding human lives on the Western Front, ignoring the facts, and going his own way .

At the same time, Rock also instructed the media under his name to increase coverage on the Western Front, so that more people would know what happened on the Western Front.

Not only Haig can make small reports, if necessary, Rock can too, and he is better at it than Haig.

(The explanation about Haig is below, scroll down a little bit--)

　Looking at it now, Haig is unqualified as the commander-in-chief of the British Expeditionary Force, but in the original history, Haig continued to serve as the Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force until the end of the World War, although he won the reputation of "butcher".

　　Therefore, the status of Haig in this period cannot be shaken. Even if the protagonist performed well in the Mediterranean, the Mediterranean is also the second battlefield, which is completely different from the main battlefield.

　　Brothers, please be more patient. The protagonist also needs a back-to-back man. On the Western Front in this period, whoever goes is the butcher.

　　

　

(End of this chapter)