In the headquarters of Algeria's capital, General Alphonse Ryan, who came from Morocco, was standing respectfully behind Berante.
Although the middle-aged general in front of him is five or six years younger than himself, when it comes to commanding the battle situation, Berlant gives people the impression that he is a natural-born general and a decisive commander.
, making everyone around him in awe of him.
Admiral Alphonse and Berante were actually of the same rank. One of them was the governor of French Morocco and the other was the governor of French Algeria. In terms of age, Alphonse was older.
In terms of military experience, during World War I, Alphonse was already a member of the French military delegation stationed in the U.S. Army. At that time, Bélante was just a little-known little-known staff officer under Pétain.
For Berante, a colleague who was temporarily promoted to general just a few months ago, Alphonse is not afraid of him. However, they are all grasshoppers on the same rope. The Algerian Army under Berante's command,
It is also countless times more powerful than Alphonse's Moroccan Legion, which is a great help for his self-protection. It is better to be as respectful as possible.
"Governor Berante, since you have determined that the British will definitely take action, why don't you mention the layout and deploy the cannon fodder of the gathered Italian army on the front line to buy buffer time?" Although Alphonse probably knew the reason for this, but
He still couldn't help but want to ask, because he wanted to get confirmation.
The British would send troops to Algeria. This was Berlant's speculation when he first took office as governor of Algeria.
If these were still speculations before, then after the British sneak attack on Oran Port and blatantly betrayed the French navy, everything has become an indisputable fact!
The British can betray France once for profit, but they can betray it a second or third time. A French fleet that has not yet been used by the Germans is not tolerated by the British. A French oil field that has been a blood transfusion for the German war machine,
How could it be ignored by the UK?
"I know the combat effectiveness of the Italian army better than you do. When they fought for themselves, they couldn't beat the British, and when they fought for us, they couldn't fight better." Because he had seen it in the Alps in southern France.
Due to the sluggish combat effectiveness of the Italian army, Berante sounded extremely calm at the moment.
"But wouldn't it be more beneficial to us even if we use them to buy some time and consume the British offensive troops?" Admiral Alphonse asked in confusion.
This was his inner thought. If he were in command, he would never leave the Italian cannon fodder unused. Even if the Italian army did not go to the front line to delay the British army, he would not be like Berante now.
In this way, some of the valuable French troops will be used to garrison the border.
Although the troops Berante arranged for the border areas were all colonial troops recruited from Algeria, after all, they belonged to the French armed forces and were their own people. How could there be any reason to leave outsiders unused and let our own people die?
Berante looked at Alphonse and sighed silently. His colleague still couldn't get rid of the narrow French self-preservation thinking. This is a weakness that most French people have, but this weakness is too hidden.
It is deep, and it seems to have some truth, so that few people can find it.
As early as 17 years ago, when the French army invaded the Ruhr area of Germany, de Gaulle, who was still a colonel at the time, made this kind of mistake. He led the battle with the Belgian army with low combat effectiveness, which resulted in defeat in the first battle and a great loss of morale.
Now, Alphonse, who has reached the rank of general, has made exactly the same choice as de Gaulle.
Berante tried to put what Pétain had said to himself about de Gaulle's cleverness into the current situation, and relayed it to Alphonse: "Although we have slightly more troops than the British army, about tens of thousands of people,
But these are colonial armed forces. No matter the training level or weapons and equipment, they are not as good as the British troops. The only real core forces of ours are the three French divisions in my hand and the French infantry regiment in your hand. As for
My newly expanded 120,000 Algerian colonial troops and your 30,000 Moroccan colonial troops may together not be able to defeat a British division."
"Strength is not the key point, and we don't need the Italians to help us save that little force." Berante analyzed lightly: "The key to this war is whether we can use the only main force to destroy the British army.
core weapons to destroy their offensive strength!"
"Yes, I know what you are saying. However, no matter how strong the British army's combat effectiveness is, or how weak the Italian army's combat effectiveness is, as long as they are arranged to exchange fire at the border, they will definitely cause losses to both sides. After all, once the guns are fired, there will be no death.
What about human beings? As long as it can kill the British troops for us, no matter how small it is, it will be more beneficial to our follow-up operations, won't it?" Alphonse was still unwilling to let these Italian troops go.
In his opinion, the reason why Pétain ordered them to take in Italy's broken troops was probably to make these broken troops serve as cannon fodder for the benefit of France. Make the best use of everything and there is no reason to let it go!
Berante just raised the corners of his mouth and smiled slightly: "Governor Alphonse, can I ask you two questions?"
Nodding, Alphonse said politely: "Please tell me."
Berante asked his staff to pour him twice as much coffee, then motioned Alphonse to sit down, and said calmly: "Don't be too nervous. After all, we are still on the same level. We can just communicate with each other if we have any opinions. I just want to
I would like to take this opportunity to ask you, how do you think the situation in our country compares with the situation in the British Army?"
Alphonse was stunned. He did not expect that Berante would bring up this issue that had nothing to do with military matters. After thinking for a while, he decisively replied: "No!"
According to his inner view, Alphonse said truthfully: "Although Britain faced successive bombings by the Germans and suffered heavy losses, they still had the English Channel to protect themselves. Every time they were bombed, they still had time to rebuild and provide disaster relief.
But in our country, we have consumed too much support on the Maginot Line over the years, but have not received corresponding returns. With the failure of the previous war with Germany, the economy and politics have reached their limit."
Alphonse paused, raised his head and looked into Berante's eyes and said sternly: "The colonies in Africa, especially the Algerian oil fields in our hands, can be said to be the hope of France's revival and are vital to our country in the next 30 years.
As long as this place is still in our hands, the production of the oil fields can alleviate the domestic economic pressure, and Germany will also use the oil purchased from us to offset the heavy war reparations. If this place is also controlled by the British
Destroy France, and there may really be no way out!"
