I was a tycoon in World War I: Starting to save France - Chapter 639

City Defense Headquarters, Gallieni’s Lounge.

Although the headquarters had been reorganized and kicked out of some of the informants planted by capitalists and congressmen, because it was a reserve army group with much less “war danger”, many officers who were dawdling had been gradually infiltrated after Charles left.

Gallieni had no choice. He sat at the desk and took the coffee that Charles brewed for him, and said helplessly: “This cannot be solved by one or two people. Many times I don’t even have a reason to remove them. “

Ciel nodded to express his understanding that this was a system issue.

Unless they can form an internal circulation in battle and isolate themselves from the outside world like Charles’s troops, most of the officers who graduated from the military academy are the children of nobles and parliamentarians. Where can they find those with clean wealth?

Gallieni took a sip of coffee, looked up at Charles, and asked curiously: “What do you mean by business?”

“Planes, General,” Charles replied. “We need more planes.”

Gallieni said “Oh” and asked: “How many are needed?”

Charles paused for a moment and replied: “Currently, at least three military airports need to be built. Each airport has a fighter squadron and a bomber squadron, about 200 aircraft, at least 200 aircraft.”

“200?” Gallieni looked at Charles in shock: “But I heard that our aviation is enough to suppress the Germans.”

The implication is that the military has no need to purchase additional aircraft at this stage, let alone so many aircraft.

Charles expressed his understanding of this. France is now in a period of material shortage. If air control is no problem, the military will naturally have no need.

However……

Charles placed a map in front of Gallieni and said to himself: “I plan to build military airports in these three locations, Brest, Caen and Dunkirk.”

(The red circles in the picture above are the locations of the Brest Shipyard, Caen and Dunkirk respectively. The straight-line distance from each other is about 200 kilometers)

Gallieni took out his glasses and put them on, frowning as he looked at the three positions pointed out by Charles on the map: “I thought you were buying more planes to open up airports to put them on the front line.”

If it is excusable to be placed on the front line, it will be good for the war. After all, the additional aircraft purchased are used to fight the Germans.

But now it takes so much effort and so much money to put them behind, which is difficult for Gallieni to understand.

Charles replied calmly: “This is to cooperate with the British Royal Navy in blocking the Strait of La Manche, General.”

“Blocking the Strait of La Manche?” Gallieni laughed: “With the British fleet here, we don’t need to worry about this at all.”

Charles didn’t speak, just looked at Gallieni quietly.

Gallieni was puzzled by Charles’s expression. He looked at the map again, and then suddenly realized: “You are not doing this to deal with the Germans, but…”

Gallieni shut up just in time.

Walls have ears, so “dealing with the British” can be left unsaid as long as each other understands it.

Charles nodded slightly and replied: “The Strait of La Manche is one of the busiest sea lanes in the world and a battleground for military strategists. Whoever has control of the Strait of La Manche can control shipping and supplies, and even It is the initiative in war and the right to speak in politics.”

This is not an exaggeration at all. Once Britain loses the Strait of La Manche, it will be over.

The reason is the theory of “offense is greater than defense”.

If Britain wanted to prevent the French landing on land, it would have to put up forts, fortifications, barbed wire, coastal defense guns, infantry guns, trenches, etc. at every point along the 560 kilometers of the Channel.

These funds are enough to build several fleets.

And even if this is impossible, the French army can still concentrate its efforts to break through from one point.

Gallieni was so shocked by Charles’s grand plan that he could not speak for a long time. He looked at the map and then at Charles, feeling secretly shocked.

This little guy has just turned 19 and has such a big appetite.

What he was thinking about was not to block the Germans or defeat them, but to compete with the world’s most powerful country. The imaginary enemy was the British Royal Navy, which was looked up to by the whole world.

You must know that this is something that France has not been able to do for decades with all the strength of the country. He launched the challenge without knowing the heights and heights!

After thinking for a while, Gallieni shook his head: “Airplanes don’t play a big role in naval battles, Lieutenant General. At most, they only play a reconnaissance role…”

Charles didn’t say anything. He took out a sketch from the inner pocket of his windbreaker and handed it over.

It was a casual drawing he drew while discussing details with Eric at the aircraft factory. It was a Caproni bomber with a torpedo mounted on its belly.

Gallieni took it and looked at it, and was immediately stunned and speechless.

Although he doesn’t know much about naval warfare, he knows about torpedoes.

At the same time, he also knew that those battleships that looked like powerful armored hedgehogs could be sunk with only one torpedo in actual combat.

At this time, I saw that the bomber could actually carry torpedoes, and I immediately understood what was going on.

After a while, Gallieni exclaimed: “God, is this true? Can you really use a bomber to do this?”

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Ciel nodded firmly:

“Mounting is not difficult. The main difficulty is that the torpedo itself cannot withstand the impact when it enters the sea and may malfunction.”

“We need time to strengthen the torpedo components.”

“In addition, there may be requirements for the speed, altitude and posture of the bomber when it is dropped, but these are all within an acceptable range.”

Galiene stood up tremblingly, holding the sketch in his hand and said excitedly: “Great, little guy! Unbelievable, do you know what this means? Our navy will become the world’s number one, we will own the whole world, Charles, you are simply a genius!”

This is not an exaggeration at all.

If the bomber with torpedoes can destroy battleships, and its projection radius is 300 kilometers, it can be used to block most of the waterways, making it difficult for the powerful British Royal Navy to move.

For example, the Strait of Gibraltar.

Charles pointed at Dunkirk on the map and said, “The airport here should be the focus, General. I think we should have twice as many fighters and bombers here.”

Galieni glanced at the map and nodded repeatedly, “That’s right, double or even triple, or add another airport in Boulogne-sur-Mer or Calais.”

(The red circle in the above picture is the Strait of Dover, which is called the Strait of Calais in France. It is the narrowest part of the English Channel and is only 34 kilometers long. Placing fighters and bombers in Dunkirk can block the Strait of Calais and directly bomb London to threaten it)

Finally, Charles asked Galieni if ​​there was any problem. Gallieni: “General, do you think we should buy these 200 more planes?”

Galieni cleared his throat and put away his smile, and answered seriously:

“All signs indicate that the German fleet may break out from the English Channel.”

“As a member of the Allied Powers, I think we have a responsibility to prepare for this potential danger in advance.”

“Although airplanes can’t play a big role in naval battles, we are happy to add airports and deploy airplanes to provide intelligence to our allies.”

“This is what we should do, you’re welcome!”

Charles, who was holding a cup of coffee to his mouth, almost spit it out…