Chapter 548: Who is Responsible for the Loan?
At Namur Castle, Charles was discussing the battle plan for Leuven with Tigani, as he studied the map.
Once Namur was captured, Leuven would be surrounded on three sides by the French army. Additionally, Charles had armored units, mechanized units, and air force support, alongside the cooperation of the Belgian First Special Reconnaissance Army. The capture of Leuven was imminent.
In fact, it wasn't a matter of whether they could capture Leuven; it was more a question of how many German prisoners they would capture in the process.
This was also one of the reasons why Charles, knowing that the terrain of Namur wasn't suitable for tank warfare, still chose to attack it rather than opting for an easier route.
In Go, this would be called "eating"—a highly efficient move.
If the German commander were smart, he should have proactively abandoned Leuven and retreated to shorten his defense line.
Tigani looked at the map and laughed, "Once we capture Leuven, the British will be relegated to second-tier status once again."
To the northeast of Antwerp lies the neutral country of the Netherlands.
If Leuven fell, Antwerp would essentially be in a corner where they wouldn't have to face the enemy.
Charles smiled faintly, "Is Leuven the only thing on your mind, General?"
"What do you mean?" Tigani asked, confused. He glanced at Charles, then returned his gaze to the map. "Apart from Leuven, are there other better directions for attack?"
He pondered for a moment, and his eyes widened in astonishment as they landed on the Belgian stronghold of Liège. "You don’t mean... you're thinking of attacking Liège directly, do you?"
"No," Charles shook his head. "The fortresses in Liège are everywhere, and the terrain is complex. It would be nearly impossible to take it in a short time."
The Germans had even repaired their fortresses there, and the large-caliber artillery inside posed a significant deterrent to any attacking units, including Charles’s armored forces.
"You mean..."
Charles pointed to a spot on the map, "Hasselt, General, we can bypass the Liège fortifications."
Tigani froze for a moment as he located the position on the map. "Hasselt? That doesn't allow for encirclement..."
But in the next second, he realized the plan and looked at Charles in shock. "You mean to use the Dutch border to encircle the Germans?"
Charles nodded.
At that moment, the German forces around Leuven were roughly located in a triangular area, with the French defense line running from Antwerp to Namur to the south, the Dutch border to the north, and only one exit to the east through the Liège fortifications.
Once the French army penetrated Hasselt, they could close off this exit and surround tens of thousands of German troops.
However, there was a flaw in this plan. To protect itself, the Netherlands might allow the surrounded German forces to pass through.
That issue needed to be resolved before they could proceed with the attack.
At this point, a messenger arrived with a telegram: "General, our forces have achieved a decisive victory on the Somme."
Tigani took the telegram and scoffed, handing it over to Charles with a look of disdain. "40,000 casualties for one kilometer of progress, still nothing but a deadlock, and they call this a 'decisive' victory?"
Charles, too, found the report difficult to understand. "What they probably mean is, since they won with this strategy the first time, they think doing the same thing again will bring the same results."
Tigani chuckled, "I thought the same thing."
"They always assume the Germans will keep using the same old tactics."
"40,000 men, 40,000 casualties in one day! And they call this a victory?"
He sighed deeply, clearly distressed.
Having been with Charles for so long, Tigani had mostly seen minor casualties—only during the Battle of Gallipoli, where thousands of men were lost in an encirclement by the enemy, did he experience significant losses.
Thus, it was hard for him to imagine what it would be like to lose 40,000 men in a single day.
At that moment, another intelligence report came in: "General, the Germans have proposed 'peace talks.'"
Tigani eagerly grabbed the telegram, and after reading it, his eyes lit up, his voice filled with excitement. "They're ready to talk, Major! The war is coming to an end!"
"Don't get your hopes up too high," Charles said with a hint of helplessness.
"I don’t think so," Tigani replied, excited. "As long as someone is willing to negotiate, reaching an agreement is just a matter of time. At the very least, the intensity of the war will decrease."
After all, knowing peace talks were underway meant that everyone would be hoping for an agreement, and fewer people would be risking their lives.
"You’re overestimating it," Charles leaned back in his chair, "You’ve overlooked the Americans."
"The Americans?" Tigani looked at Charles, puzzled. "What do the Americans have to do with this? They haven’t even joined the war!"
Charles shook his head slightly, picking up some documents to sign as he replied, "The Americans have provided the British with a lot of loans, General."
The British had secured all their supplies from the United States through a clever strategy: they took loans from the American government and then used the loaned money to purchase American goods, which included large quantities of bullets and artillery shells.
(Note: 40% of the munitions used by the Allied Forces in the war were produced in the United States, and the total loan amount exceeded 10 billion dollars.)
Yet, Tigani still didn't understand, looking at Charles with a confused expression.
Charles added, "Think about it, General. If peace is made now, who do you think will be responsible for these loans? The British? The Germans? Or the French?"
Tigani fell into deep thought.
The French certainly wouldn’t pay for the loan; it wasn’t their concern.
The Germans wouldn’t either; they hadn’t been defeated. They were the ones "negotiating peace" from a position of strength.
The British were the ones who should pay—the loan was theirs, and they were the ones who directly benefitted from it.
But the British, trapped by the Germans, were penniless and couldn’t possibly repay the loan.
What was more, the British were the world's number one power, and although they were in a weakened state, they still had influence and a vast colonial army. Even if they defaulted, what could the Americans do about it? Would they go to war with Britain?
Tigani suddenly understood:
"If peace were to be made now, no one would be held responsible for the loan. It would become a bad debt."
"That’s why the Americans want the war to continue."
"Only... only when Germany is finally defeated and they can extract huge reparations from them, will the loan have a chance of being repaid!"
Charles nodded.
"Exactly, General."
"So, the American financial groups will use their control over supplies to influence public opinion in both Britain and France to the fullest extent."
"They will make everyone believe that these 'peace talks' are just a German conspiracy, a stalling tactic."
Tigani felt as though his brief moment of hope had been extinguished in an instant.
Indeed, the Americans could do exactly what Charles had said—effortlessly.