"Everything is under control!" Gan Molin said calmly in the headquarters of the British and French coalition forces.
In just half a day, ten main reorganized divisions from central Belgium were lost. Such a defeat was nothing short of painful.
It can be said that all the troops that the Kingdom of Belgium can fight have been sent to the middle line of defense. And now, they have collectively become prisoners in German prisoner-of-war camps.
Among the remaining 12 divisions of the Belgian army... there is not a single one who can fight.
"No! The gaffe has begun to spiral out of control." Even though he was sitting at the end of the French generals attending the meeting, Major General Berante couldn't help but stand up and retort.
"Major General Berante..." Gamelin snorted coldly and said to Berante in an indifferent tone: "On this occasion, you should listen more to the opinions of senior generals instead of expressing your opinions on your own.
Stupid personal opinion.”
From Gamelin's words, anyone who is not an idiot with a negative IQ can hear his disgust for Major General Berante.
This kind of disgust is not just because Berlante exposed his lie that "everything is under control". It is a long-standing accumulated grudge.
However, Berlant did not seem to obey Gamelin, the commander-in-chief of the coalition forces, who asked him to shut up. Instead, he raised his voice and continued: "Originally, I didn't want to speak, but now I have to remind you a few words!"
"You don't need to remind me!" Gan Molin roared loudly.
Obviously, what Berante did made the already narrow-minded admiral feel humiliated and very angry.
"General Gamelin!" Berlant moved towards Gamelin in the center of the conference room with emotion, and punched the conference table hard: "We can no longer deceive ourselves, everyone must admit that the German army's combat effectiveness is far beyond our imagination.
"
In Poland, the German army once used one division to resist the attack of a Polish group army.
In Norway, a German infantry division wiped out twice as many British divisions, along with a French infantry regiment.
As for the current Belgian center front, three German armored divisions took just one morning to defeat ten main Belgian divisions that occupied fortifications and relied on the geographical location to fight.
All of this tells time and again how powerful the German army is.
It's just that Berante had a clear understanding of this after experiencing the battle in Poland. But Gamelin, until today's defeat of Belgium, still turns a blind eye to the superior combat effectiveness of the German army.
Gan Molin must be awakened. He is the commander-in-chief of the Three Kingdoms Allied Forces and there must be no room for failure!
Berante swallowed his saliva and continued bravely: "When the German armored forces showed that they could easily defeat 10 main Belgian divisions, the steps of our original plan were disrupted. What is certain is that
, the final direction of this battle will definitely not be as beautiful as the coalition command previously expected."
Yes, the fact that the German army broke through the Belgian border defense line in half a day has exceeded Gamelin's previous expectation that the Belgian army would resist for at least three days.
The dispatch plan has become tense due to the speed of the German army's blitzkrieg. The number of planned transportation trains has been more than doubled. The coalition forces have gradually become confused, because the gaffe is no longer within their control...
Gamelin had a sullen face and looked coldly at Berante, who had embarrassed him.
"Even if the headquarters' previous estimate of the Belgian troops' ability to hold on was biased, this does not prevent us from executing our subsequent counterattack plan."
Although he is not aggressive enough, Gamelin can still be regarded as a famous contemporary French general. How could he let Berante, a small major general, steal the limelight?
What's more, what Gamelin was really wary of was not Berante, but the man behind the scenes who guided Berante - French Marshal Pétain!
He must implement his original plan with a strong attitude, which is related to his future status of Gamelin in the French army!
"The D-word counterattack plan originally didn't care when the German army broke through the Belgian army's defense zone." Gamelin looked around, raised his right fist and waved: "The counterattack force of more than 400,000 is like an extremely hard iron fist. Now
, the mission of this Iron Fist is to hit the main force of the German army with all its strength. As long as it is not a fundamental error in judgment, any detailed differences from the original expectations can be ignored!"
As long as they can fight an encounter with the main force of the German army, the Three Kingdoms Allied Forces can once again pull Germany into the trenches.
When two large forces clash, the Germans will be unable to carry out the blitzkrieg they are proud of. As long as the coalition counterattack forces are dense enough to prevent the Germans from breaking through quickly, the war will shift to positional warfare.
Positional warfare is the only specialty that General Gan Molin is good at.
"But..." Berante also wanted Quan Gamolin to be more cautious.
"There is nothing good about it!" Gan Molin frowned slightly and interrupted forcefully: "The main force of the Germans has appeared. This is in line with the previously captured German combat plan and the conclusions of the high command.
.In the big picture, we control everything!”
Gamelin stubbornly believed that he had discovered the location and target of the main force of the German army, and he could not tolerate any more insistent words from Berante.
"The highly mobile British Expeditionary Force has already moved to the second line of defense. Our French army is also on the way." Gamelin half-squinted his glasses and asked Berlant in a sarcastic tone: "Is it possible?
Do you think all this will end because of the opposition of a major general like you?"
Although everyone knew that Berante was thinking of the overall situation before giving the warning, and they all knew that Gamelin's ridicule of Berlant was indeed a bit excessive. However, no one said a fair word to Berlant.
The French generals present had a very clear idea of Gamelin's thoughts. Rather than saying that Gamelin was embarrassing Berante, it would be better to say that Gamelin was suppressing Berante, like
Berante's old boss, Marshal Pétain, demonstrated.
Gamelin hated that the army, besides himself, also believed in Marshal Pétain, an idler who had retreated to the second line.
This makes him feel uncomfortable!
Therefore, Gamelin has been suppressing all generals who had a close relationship with Pétain, including Bérant.
Now, any French general who speaks good words for Berante will be regarded by Gamelin as a member of the "Pétain faction". In that case, the future of this general will not be easy...
The French generals did not dare to say anything, let alone the Belgian generals. They still expected Gamelin to send troops to guard the defense line for the motherland. How could they dare to offend?
Lord Gort of the British Expeditionary Force was a very similar French major general of the same period who dared to speak and act. Moreover, he also heard from Admiral Churchill that there was a major general in France named Berlant, who left a good impression on Churchill.
He is a good general.
However, Gott's troops had already entered Belgium under Gamelin's command. At this time, if the French army followed Berlant's cautious suggestion and stood still, wouldn't the British army have to face the German army alone?!
For the benefit of the British Expeditionary Force, Gott didn't say much. He just watched quietly as the disappointed Berlant was "invited" to leave the conference room alone.