According to Zhou Bu's idea, all the exclusive flags of each unit should be displayed, so as to show the momentum of the expeditionary force.
Even if you think about it, it is impossible to actually implement it. The British Empire Army cannot be named "Royal", but each battalion or each regiment has a unique name and its own flag. Let's call it the Southern African Expeditionary Force.
It is said that there are three brigades and nine regiments in a division, each regiment has its own "regimental flag", and some battalions even have their own "battalion flag", so it is simply unrealistic to display all the flags.
The final plan was to use only the British flag on site, which in turn aroused the dissatisfaction of Charles Mangin, commander-in-chief of the French Third Army. Mangin believed that it was inappropriate to only use the British flag, and at least half of the flags should be replaced with French flags.
So the question arises, if half the flag is replaced by the French flag, should we add a few more American flags? What about the Kingdom of Belgium? What about the Kingdom of Italy? What about the Kingdom of Romania?
Forget about the Kingdom of Romania, the flag is really hard to find.
This kind of trivial matter does not require Roque's intervention. Paul Coker, commander-in-chief of the Ninth Army, has a solution. Since Mangin requires more French flags, let Mangin do it. There is no French flag here at all in the 16th Division.
Croy is in France. There are many French flags, but it takes time to send them to Croy. Otto von Bülow and Hutier have already set off from Soissons. At this time, they will bring the French flags.
They must be late for the trip, so both Mangin and Foch, who arrived at Croy later, looked unhappy.
Pétain is still on the road and will probably arrive at Croy at noon.
Roque would not postpone his meeting with Otto von Bilochutil for Pétain's sake.
When Otto von Bülow and Hutier's cars arrived in Kruy, the military band began to play music, salutes were fired at the same time, a phalanx of tanks and armored vehicles were waiting, and a red carpet was laid on the ground leading to the tent.
Lining up next to them were carefully selected honor guards. These honor guards were all about 1.8 meters tall, with an error of not more than two centimeters. They were all wearing the newly issued 1917 military uniforms, and the Lee Enfield bayonets in their hands were sharp.
What Baiyun said: The gongs and drums are noisy, the firecrackers are blaring, and the red flag is waving in the crowds of people——
That's pretty much what it means.
Not to mention Otto von Bülow and Hutier, even Mangin and Foch had never seen such a battle. It was probably this level of grandness for British King George V to receive foreign heads of state.
Roque and Foch greeted Otto von Bülow and Hutier at the entrance of the tent together. Otto von Bülow and Hutier walked very fast. They came to Foch and Roque and saluted at the same time.
, although Foch stood closer to the center, the eyes of Otto von Bülow and Hutier fell on Roque.
"General Bülow, General Hutier, welcome to your arrival -" Rock returned the greeting with a smile, respecting both Otto von Bülow and Hutil.
This is really not the Virgin or hypocrisy. As opponents, Otto von Bülow and Hutier are both worthy of respect. I believe that if Roque surrendered to Otto von Bülow and Hutil, Otto von
·Billo and Hutier will also give Roark the respect he deserves——
Bah, bah, bah——
I, Big Rock, will never be a slave!
Walking into the tent, there is a small long table in the center with two chairs on each side. There are many people in the tent. On one side are the entourage of Otto von Bülow and Hutier, and on the other side are the British and French allied forces.
Of the generals, only Fochrock, Otto von Bulow and Hutier could sit down, and everyone else had to stand aside.
As the commander-in-chief of the coalition forces, Foch took the initiative and forcefully demanded that all the German troops in Soissons lay down their weapons and surrender unconditionally. Foch, on behalf of the British and French coalition forces, promised that the surrendering German troops would receive treatment commensurate with their status.
This promise is not just talk. Since it must be fulfilled, treatment that matches their status means that Otto von Bülow and Hutier can still retain the treatment of generals after they surrender, and they can keep their sabers.
You can even have adjutants and guards. Of course, the adjutants and guards at this time must be arranged by the British and French forces.
"We have only one request. If we are going to enter a prisoner-of-war camp, I hope that the managers will be sent by the British Expeditionary Force, not appointed by the French government-" Otto von Bülow did not want to fall into the hands of the French, and the German and French
The hatred cannot be resolved. Relatively speaking, Britain is much better. At least, the King of England and the Emperor of Germany are cousins, and they are somewhat in love with each other.
"Okay -" Foch agreed simply. Although there was hatred between Foch and the Germans, Foch would not make mistakes on major issues of right and wrong.
Rock didn't speak and looked at Otto von Bülow and Hutier. Rock was wondering whether he should kidnap more Germans to southern Africa.
The white people in southern Africa are mainly British and Boer. If Germans are added to the mix, the divisions within the white people will be more serious, which will make the status of the Chinese even more unshakable.
Southwest Africa and Tanganyika, which were annexed by Southern Africa, were taken from the Germans. In the short term, the Germans have no ability to resist, and in the long term, it is not conducive to maintaining the relationship between Germany and Southern Africa. But if there are a large number of people in Southern Africa,
German immigration, then, leaves considerable room for relaxation.
Compared with the British Boers, Rock indeed preferred the strict and old-fashioned Germans, at least the Germans had fewer personnel.
Otto von Bülow and Hutier were both neat and tidy people. After receiving Foch's promise, they both took off their sabers and placed them on the table without bowing or signing, just so neat and tidy.
handed over command of the troops.
From the time Otto von Bülow and Hutier entered the house to the time they handed over their sabers, it only took ten minutes.
This is called efficiency.
Petain finally arrived at noon. Although he failed to catch up with Otto von Bulow and Hutier to surrender, Petain was still very happy.
Otto von Bülow and Hutier also expressed considerable respect for this French commander-in-chief who had twice turned the tide. The luncheon was held in the big tent. After three drinks, the atmosphere gradually became warm.
"We lost the world war from the beginning - after the failure of the Schlieffen Plan, we realized that we had underestimated the poor little British army, or in other words, we had ignored the variable of the Southern African Expeditionary Force, which was originally in our
It is expected that the British troops will not be fully mobilized until one and a half years after the war broke out. By then we had already captured Paris and forced France to withdraw from the war." Hutier is usually taciturn, but he becomes talkative after drinking too much.
In the presence of Foch, Petain, Mangin and other generals, Hutier also spoke frankly.
"You chose the wrong teammates, the wrong opponent, and started the wrong war at the wrong time. You were doomed to fail from the beginning of this war and had nothing to do with a certain army." Rock noted.
The French generals' expressions were a little ugly, so they simply changed the topic to ease the conflict.
"We had a chance to win the war. When the World War just broke out, if our frontline commanders hadn't made a mistake and left Paris alone without fighting, and lost the opportunity to pursue and annihilate the French troops, we would have completed the occupation of Paris much earlier.
, then the war will take a completely different direction." Hutier insisted that when the World War broke out, Hutier served in the German Second Army, and his superior at that time happened to be Otto von Bülow.
Brother Fritz von Bülow.
The "mistaken" commander Hutier mentioned was Crook. At that time, the First Army commanded by Crook resolutely pursued the French Fifth Army commanded by Lanrezac, thereby fighting against the German Second Army commanded by Bulow.
The army group was getting further and further away, and only then did Xiafei seize the opportunity.
The victory of the first Battle of the Marne was also thanks to the deceased Galieni. If Gallieni had not discovered the fighter plane and continuously reminded Joffre, Joffre might not have been able to hold Paris.
"Come on, you didn't have any chance from the beginning to the end. The temporary victory can only make you go further and further down the wrong road." Manjing finally couldn't help but interject, this guy is a weirdo, sometimes his performance is amazing,
Sometimes it behaves like a mess.
Pétain gave Manking enough trust that he only had one army group and participated in the siege of the German army on the Marne.
Mangin deserves Pétain's trust. If he were still under Joffre and Nievelle, Mangin would never be able to achieve his current achievements.
"Charles, Germany does have a chance. I was still in Southern Africa when the first Battle of the Marne broke out. To be honest, the Southern African Staff conducted many reviews later, and each time it ended with the German army occupying Paris.
This cup allows us to pay tribute to those soldiers who sacrificed their lives in the war-" Roque did not give Manking and Hutier a chance to quarrel, and wanted to wait until the world war is over to slowly quarrel.
These battles that took place during the World War will definitely be studied repeatedly by the armies of various countries in the future. It is normal for the staff officers in southern Africa to judge that the French army failed every time. Talking about war on paper is not reality after all.
Almost everyone here has relatives and friends who died in the world war. When Rock said this, everyone raised their glasses to pay tribute to those soldiers who died in the war.
This has nothing to do with whether it is justice or not.
"Our failure was actually due to logistics. The Allies had Southern Africa, and Germany only had Southwest Africa and Tanganyika, but it was occupied by Southern Africa at the beginning of the world war. If Germany had an overseas territory similar to Southern Africa, then
It is still unclear who will win and who will lose." Otto von Bülow hit the mark when he said that the role played by southern Africa in the world war was indeed unparalleled.
"I'm really curious about this, Locke, how did you do it in southern Africa?" Foch was also curious about southern Africa. France also had overseas colonies, but during the World War, France's overseas colonies were not French mainland.