Chapter 238: The Army Planes “Confiscated”?
Charles had been away from the front line for less than half an hour when, miraculously, the front line was restored to its full combat status, and the entire defensive line was in action again.
Gallieni was still uneasy. He ordered the infantry military police to follow the plan and patrol the front line.
However, the report from the military police captain was: "They are fighting seriously, General. We can confirm this. The battle is intense, and there are gunshots and artillery fire everywhere!"
Gallieni was stunned. This didn’t make much sense.
The military police then asked, "General, should we still implement the ‘purge order’?"
Gallieni fell silent upon receiving the telegram, as though he were undecided.
Cannes, standing nearby, advised, "General, they have chosen to obey orders. If obeying orders and disobeying orders lead to the same outcome—facing the purge order—then the purge order will lose its deterrent effect!"
Gallieni thought for a moment and agreed. When the troops had already chosen to obey orders, issuing the purge order would not only be ineffective but might even backfire.
With that thought, Gallieni nodded. "Remove the officers who led the resistance and demote them to soldiers holding rifles!"
His plan was that the casualty rate on the battlefield was so high that these officers, who showed tendencies to "disobey military orders," would soon either become casualties or appear on the death list, which effectively "dealt with" them.
"Yes, General!" Cannes responded, relieved.
...
By the time Charles returned to the headquarters, it was already past ten o'clock.
Gallieni did not ask many questions. He seemed to have guessed what method Charles had used, but kept his thoughts to himself.
He simply told Charles to eat something and rest in his dormitory, saying that someone would call him if there was any important news.
This was exactly what Charles wanted. After a whole night of travel, even though he had slept on the train, he still felt exhausted.
However, things did not go as smoothly as he hoped. As soon as Charles returned from the officers' mess, he was stopped by Lieutenant Colonel Fernand.
"Colonel!" Lieutenant Colonel Fernand handed Charles a telegram. "The Germans' machine-gun airplanes have appeared. They shot down three of our reconnaissance planes."
Charles was startled and asked, "What model?"
"The specific model is unclear," Lieutenant Colonel Fernand replied. "But it is clearly a two-seater!"
Charles nodded.
At this time, only two-seaters had enough payload capacity to carry machine guns into the air; otherwise, just two machine guns would make a single-seater too heavy or unbalanced.
This confirmed his guess that the Germans had not yet produced dedicated fighter planes.
Fernand continued with his report, "We believe the Germans are trying to use machine-gun planes to restore combat operations between the two armies."
Charles stopped in his tracks and immediately understood.
The front line had entered a ceasefire, and like France, Germany was anxious. Their solution was to use aircraft to disrupt the ceasefire agreement: by diving and randomly firing at the French defense line, they would create enough chaos.
French soldiers who suffered losses would think the Germans had violated the ceasefire and would naturally return fire.
German soldiers would be at a loss for words; although they were not directly involved, it was the German planes that caused the incident. Helpless, they would have to retaliate.
Soon, the flames of war would spread across the entire front, making the ceasefire agreement meaningless.
What the Germans did not expect was that the front line had already resumed hostilities before they could carry out their plan.
With nothing else to do, the German pilots took out their frustration by shooting down French reconnaissance planes. Hence, the incident of three reconnaissance planes being shot down.
Otherwise, the German machine-gun planes might have remained dormant for a while longer.
As soon as Charles entered the command room, Gallieni waved him over.
When Charles approached, Gallieni pointed to the map on the office wall and said, "We plan to set up several more airfields along the front line and send pilots to engage in combat. Do you think these locations are suitable?"
Charles glanced at the map and gave a negative answer. "At least fifty kilometers from the front line."
Gallieni looked puzzled. "Fifty kilometers means the planes would take half an hour to reach the front. Colonel, I believe the airfields should be as close to the front as possible so our planes can be deployed quickly and efficiently."
"So, you want the airfields to be only ten kilometers from the front line?" Charles asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Is there a problem?" Gallieni looked at Charles, confused. "This would be out of enemy artillery range."
It was not Gallieni's fault. He was unaware of the future situation of air combat and its development. He had already grown accustomed to France having absolute air superiority.
"General!" Charles pointed to the enemy's direction on the map. "We should consider one thing: the enemy also has planes. We cannot always maintain air superiority. If we place the airfields only ten kilometers from the front, the Germans will easily spot them, and their planes will target our airfields for attack..."
Gallieni made a sound of realization and nodded slightly.
Ten kilometers away.
When front-line soldiers see German planes approaching, they won't even know whether the planes are targeting artillery, infantry, or airfields. So they won't be able to provide early warning for the airfields.
Even if there is an early warning, the pilots will only have about 10 minutes to prepare, which is far too short.
On the other hand, placing the airfields 50 kilometers away would solve these issues perfectly.
With the airfields separated from the front-line troops, when the enemy planes pass over the front without making a move, it will be clear they are targeting the rear airfields.
At the same time, the 50 kilometers provides a half-hour window for preparation, giving the airfield time to organize its planes.
After thinking this over, Gallieni nodded in agreement. "Do it your way, Colonel. Move all the airfields back!"
"Even the ones already built?" Charles insisted. "Otherwise, we won't be able to protect those airfields!"
After a pause, Charles added, "It would be best to incorporate all planes into the aviation corps for unified command."
Charles was referring to the planes under the army’s control.
At this point, the French military's air organization was quite disordered. Some planes were under army units, others under divisions, and there were varying types of planes, each with different tactics.
Gallieni looked puzzled. "Incorporating all army planes into the aviation corps? How will the army get the planes it needs?"
Without hesitation, Charles replied, "Contact the aviation brigade, and have them dispatch planes for the designated tasks."
Gallieni stared at the map for a while, seemingly understanding the benefits of this approach: it would reduce the command pressure on various departments, minimize confusion, and maximize the use of planes, airfields, pilots, and ground crew resources.
However...
Gallieni smiled. "What you’re suggesting might be right, but do you know what Gallieni will think?"
Charles nodded. Gallieni would likely think that Charles was trying to undermine his power.
After all, this meant confiscating all the army’s planes, airfields, and pilots, and placing them directly under Charles' command!