"Major General Berante? What, are you interested in him?" Gamelin, who returned to the office, happened to hear Churchill asking about Berante.
Realizing that the protagonist he was looking for today had arrived, Churchill immediately stepped forward to greet him: "Commander Gamelin, you have finally arrived. I have something very important to discuss with you now."
"It's about occupying Norway." Gamelin waved his hand impatiently, bypassed Churchill and returned to the seat behind his desk: "Didn't we send people to communicate with each other a few days ago?
Why are you talking about this again?"
Sure enough, most French people are arrogant. People who understand as much as Major General Berante just now are just an exception after all.
Gamelin was too arrogant. He held the huge force in his hands and looked down upon any foreign troops. In addition, the British Army has always been the object of ridicule by European countries. This French leader who leads the first army in Europe
The admiral will naturally not take a fancy to you.
If you look down on the British Expeditionary Force, you will naturally have little awe for a British envoy like Churchill, who has the rank of minister.
"Also, you'd better have less contact with Major General Berante." Gamelin said to Churchill in a bad tone.
Obviously, the reason why he didn't respect Churchill just now was necessarily related to Churchill's mention of Berlant. Churchill understood after a moment's thought that the other party was probably angry with him because of this. This was related to his initial relationship with Chamberlain.
It's quite similar to the way Berante was angry at someone's displeasure.
After an awkward silence, Gamelin finally chose to speak: "Forget it, it's your fault for not understanding. The Major General Berante who received you just now is actually not a very popular soldier."
Churchill did not answer, but his eyes met Gamelin's, indicating that he was listening carefully.
"In April 1917, it was the last world war. At that time, Germany's Hindenburg and Ludendorff led the army to defeat our main force, and the morale of the army plummeted. Tens of thousands of people fled like a tide, and even worse,
They actually took advantage of the crisis and provoked a rebellion before the battle began."
Churchill didn't understand why Gamelin wanted to be involved in the story of World War I, but he knew that once the other party mentioned it, he would definitely tell the reasons later.
Sure enough, Gamelin soon got to the key part: "That was the darkest moment that the French army experienced in World War I. The objective reason for this consequence was that he was still a soldier at that time.
Berante, a low-level staff officer, led a group of subordinate officers to launch a rebellion!"
Berante launched a rebellion?! Churchill couldn't believe his ears. If so, it's incredible that this major general is still in the French army and is a general!
"No need to guess." Gamelin seemed to have seen through Churchill's psychological activities, waving his hand and saying: "He later led the rebel troops back to the French army under Pétain's comfort, and participated in the subsequent Battle of Verdun.
The battle redeemed his merits. In addition, Pétain was very optimistic about his military talents and recruited Berante into his staff to work as a staff officer again. This way Berante's future was saved."
After swallowing, Churchill glanced at Gamelin's eyes calmly.
From what he just said, Churchill not only learned about Berlant's past, but also discovered some unusual "French internal secrets."
Gamelin's title to Marshal Pétain just now obviously deliberately avoided the word "marshal". Combined with Gamelin's current rank of general, it is not difficult to infer that this person is somewhat jealous of Pétain. And Ganmolin is somewhat jealous of Pétain.
In the end, Mo Lin called the respected Marshal Pétain "this guy", which was an obvious derogation. From this, it seems that his jealousy towards Pétain already had an element of hatred in it. In the words of later generations, this
It is envy, jealousy and hatred.
Thinking about it this way, it is not difficult to deduce why Gamelin hates Major General Berante who has already redeemed his merits and made military exploits. This is more or less related to the intimacy between Berante and Pétain.
There is an inseparable relationship.
However, Gamelin did not guess Churchill's psychological activities this time, and just said to himself: "I am telling you this as a kind of compensation for my rude behavior just now. I heard you mention Bertrand, who once treason.
Major General, I couldn't help but be angry, so my attitude was a bit excessive. Please forgive me."
"It's okay, I understand." Churchill replied to Gamelin with a smile on his face, but he had already repeatedly scolded this sanctimonious villain in his heart.
Holding on to the mistakes that Berlante made when he was young, he turned a blind eye to his contributions over the years. Even if Berlante risked his life alone and went to Poland to successfully buy France two months of war preparation time, he would not let go of it.
Still, they continued to suppress this outstanding major general who left a good impression on Churchill and showed no mercy.
On another point, Churchill noticed that Gamelin clearly added the suffix "major general" when he addressed Berlant, who had a lower military rank than him. In other words, he did not have the habit of not addressing others by military rank. This also further confirms that he deliberately did not address others by their military rank.
Jealousy for the title of Marshal Pétain.
Such a hypocrite turned out to be the commander-in-chief of the French Army, the British Empire Expeditionary Force, and the Belgian Army! Churchill was very worried about future cooperation among the three countries.
In fact, the gap between Gamelin and Petain is far more than just the gap in military rank. All of this, Gamelin, can't be erased no matter how much he deliberately conceals and avoids it.
In terms of background, Pétain, who joined the army as a civilian class, had a much lower starting point than Gamelin. If it had not been for the advent of World War I, Pétain would have retired as a colonel at most, becoming one of many retired soldiers.
Ordinary old man.
But as the war broke out, Pétain was promoted to brigade commander, brigadier general, and general star due to his outstanding leadership skills.
In the subsequent Battle of the Marne, Pétain was promoted to major general again due to his good command, and was appointed commander of the Sixth Division. A month later, Pétain naturally took over as commander of the 33rd Army.
During the Alsace Offensive, he led his headquarters to break through the German army's iron-clad defenses. This battle directly sent him to the position of commander of the Second Army!
Later, there was a story about Pétain stabilizing the Verdun front externally and quickly pacifying the Berlant rebellion internally. This created a turning point in the First World War and made him the "savior of France".
France's first general, famous all over the world!
In comparison, Gan Molin's military career was nothing to mention.
Contrary to Pétain's legendary record, Gamelin's days in the army were really lackluster.
He doesn't have as exciting a story as other famous generals, and his career as a teacher seems to be mediocre and lacks courage.
His luck was that he participated in the formulation of the French army's tactics in the Battle of the Marne. Although Joffre had already determined the French army's combat thinking at that time, Gamelin seized the opportunity to use his only ability in formulating the details.
Three advantages: meticulous, thorough and precise.
Speaking of which, he still managed to achieve a miracle on the Marne River thanks to the blessings of Pétain and other generals.
Because of this merit, as a staff officer, he was promoted two levels in a row until he was appointed as division commander.
In the wars that followed, Gan Molin's behavior was unsurprisingly ordinary, just like any ordinary general.
However, his excellent "staff officer" level has left an impression on the top brass of the French army. In 1925, an armed rebellion broke out in French Syria, and Gamelin, a "meticulous general", was appointed as the commander of the French army in Syria and as the exclusive commissioner for Syria.
During this period, he used iron-blooded methods with no technical content to brutally and brutally suppress the uprising.
Three more years later, because there was no war in Syria, Gamelin was once again transferred back to the French Army Headquarters. But this time his identity had changed to Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army, Lieutenant General Gamelin!
Gan Molin used his own personal experience to prove one thing - how important it is to leave a good impression on the colleagues around you!
If it had been anyone else, even if it was Pétain, he might not have been promoted so quickly after making such two modest contributions.
But Gamelin did it! Based on the perfect image he left for everyone, he was promoted again three years later in 1933 and became the Chief of General Staff of the French Army. Two years later, in 1935, he was appointed the Supreme Military Council of France.
The chairman also serves as the commander of the army.
With good luck and superficial skills, others may not be able to complete the road in decades or even a lifetime. Gamelin reached the end in just 7 years!
But the more superficial a person is, the more afraid he is of meeting someone with real qualities. When he encounters Marshal Pétain, or even an outstanding general like Berante, Gamelin will suppress him mercilessly with all his strength.
Because with these people, his generals only need a simple comparison to immediately discover his incompetence!