Chapter 442: Chapter 442: If Anyone Disagrees, Then Let’s Have a Battle
General Winter was speechless.
Because Shire was right. Secretly intercepting fuel to create difficulties and uncertainties in the war clearly did not align with Britain’s interests.
In the end, General Winter sighed and answered helplessly:
"Actually, this isn’t entirely the ’Minister of the Navy’s’ idea, Brigadier. I also hope you can return to the Dardanelles Strait to lead the overall situation."
"Because..."
"There are people losing their lives there every day, hundreds and thousands."
There was an unspoken sadness in General Winter’s eyes. He often saw these numbers and felt deeply affected by them.
"You should say that to the ’Minister of the Navy’," Shire replied.
"What?" General Winter didn’t understand Shire’s point.
Shire responded with a question instead, "Have you forgotten the purpose of the attack on the Dardanelles Strait?"
"Of course not," General Winter defended, "It was to open a new front and break the stalemate."
Shire spread his hands and looked around.
General Winter suddenly realized that the stalemate of the front line had already been broken by Shire’s armored units. Therefore, the Dardanelles campaign had strategically lost its significance.
"The battle in Gelibolu has already developed into trench warfare and fallen into another stalemate," Shire continued, "The way to break it is already in front of you."
General Winter stared blankly at Shire and soon realized, "You mean the armored divisions?"
"Yes," Shire nodded. "Use armored divisions to break through the trenches. But have you considered the difficulties of deploying armored divisions in Gelibolu?"
General Winter shook his head slightly. As a navy man, he had no concept of it.
Shire analyzed:
"First, you need to transport the armored divisions to Gelibolu."
"Second, you have to ensure their fuel, parts, and maintenance in the high-salinity, high-humidity area."
"Finally, you need to order troops to level the mountains in Gelibolu, because they are unsuitable for armored warfare!"
General Winter was left with his mouth half-open; this was impossible.
At the same time, it was unnecessary. Instead of exerting all efforts to achieve victory in Gelibolu, it would be much easier to achieve a greater victory on the front lines.
No one would do such a foolish thing!
"This is the ’Minister of the Navy’s’ insistence, understand?" Shire spoke plainly, "The battle in Gelibolu has long since lost its necessity, but the ’Minister of the Navy’ refuses to admit it for personal gains. So, you should go to him and tell him these casualty numbers."
"But he wouldn’t care about that..." General Winter’s face went pale.
He knew the ’Minister of the Navy’, to whom front-line soldiers were no different from ants.
"But others would," Shire reminded him.
General Winter understood; Shire meant to use the power of the public to push the ’Minister of the Navy’ out of the command system, including the ’Dardanelles Strait Commission’.
Shire stressed at last:
"This has nothing to do with me. How to proceed is your matter."
"I just hope you don’t try to drag me to the Dardanelles Strait to turn the tide again."
"I wouldn’t do such a foolish thing!"
General Winter acquiesced to Shire’s statement.
It was indeed foolish, like forcing Shire to abandon the watermelon in front of him to pick a sesame seed far away in the Dardanelles Strait, and not even sure to get it.
But this simple truth was something he only now understood.
Just then, a cheer erupted from the telegraph room as a signalman ran excitedly to Shire to report: "General, the German Army has sent staff to negotiate with our troops; they wish to surrender to us!"
Shire spread his hands towards General Winter, meaning this was what he needed to do.
General Winter nodded, "I know what to do."
...
The news of the German Army’s readiness to surrender instantly spread throughout Antwerp, and everyone was cheering.
The Belgians flooded the streets to celebrate, with many playing instruments and dancing in the streets.
Soldiers climbed out of forts and trenches to hug each other, as if the war was already over.
All the phones and telegraphs, both military and civilian, were busy as people tried by all means to relay this victory to anyone they could notify.
Shortly, the news reached Paris, and Parisians also erupted in excitement.
Although the victory was already inevitable, its arrival still thrilled people, who praised Shire with lavish words:
"Shire is the best; France is fortunate to have another Napoleon!"
"I think not even Napoleon achieved such feats; he practically changed the world single-handedly."
"Yes, he shattered the myth of undefeated trench warfare. Everyone thought future wars would be stuck in trenches, but he created a miracle!"
...
Lucia’s eyes were filled with tears; after much effort, she received news of her family’s safety and now heard of the German surrender, which meant no ’last frenzy’, allowing her to finally feel at ease.
...
Camille cried with joy amid her neighbors’ blessings. She finally believed Shire could make a French soldier defeat several Germans.
She felt immense pride that Shire had such magic power. Not long ago, those Germans had the Anglo-French forces retreating step by step, even approaching Paris, but they lost to Shire!
Dejoka, who knew something about military matters, sighed inwardly:
Who had Shire inherited this talent from?
Camille, or me?
Clearly, it was neither; it was his own.
But this talent seemed exaggeratedly frightening!
...
However, at this moment, some discordant notes surfaced.
The newly appointed British ’Minister of the Navy’, Belfort, made a solemn statement:
"We acknowledge Shire’s outstanding performance in this battle."
"But this victory is inseparable from the perseverance of the Anglo-French forces on the front line. They fought bravely for nearly a year, sacrificing tens of thousands."
"Therefore, I believe the person who should go to accept the surrender is the commander-in-chief of the Allied forces."
At this time, the Allied commander-in-chief was Xia Fei.
Britain’s intention was very clear; they knew there was a discord between Xia Fei and Shire and tried to use this opportunity to create friction or even a spark between the two.
Xia Fei’s side did not respond, seemingly acquiescing.
Just like when Gallieni won the Battle of Paris, and when asked by reporters about the credit, he answered, "I don’t know whose credit it is, I only know if we had lost, it would have been seen as my responsibility."
He cleverly tied responsibility and credit together and thus stole Gallieni’s victory.
Shire also remained silent; he was unsuited to speak, or he would deny the contribution of the front-line soldiers, though the French people felt indignation for Shire.
At this moment, German Vice Admiral Byrd spoke: "We surrender only to Shire. If anyone disagrees, let’s settle it with a battle!"