The French Headquarters, Xia Fei is in his office, discussing the forthcoming offensive with several staff officers in front of the map, making notes as they talked.
"We need artillery." Xia Fei pointed his pencil towards the enemy direction: "105MM howitzers."
"But General." A staff officer raised his head in confusion: "We discussed this before, that specialized artillery units cannot have prolonged preparatory bombardment when attacking..."
"You fool!" Xia Fei interrupted the staff officer mercilessly: "It’s to prevent the enemy from having time to organize their artillery to target our tanks. The 105MM howitzer is needed to suppress enemy artillery, something the 75 cannon cannot do."
"Yes, General." The staff officer hurriedly responded.
Xia Fei glanced at the staff officer with dissatisfaction. It was because the command was filled with such fools that he had to take the risk of embarrassment by borrowing strategies and tactics from Shire.
What Xia Fei didn’t consider was, the staff officers became partly because of their long-term guidance under offensive theory, and the troops only had 75 cannons, making tactics monotonous and rigid, ultimately leading to a fixed mindset.
Then Xia Fei pointed to two points on their defense line, saying, "One 105 howitzer regiment on the left and one on the right, only thus can we effectively provide fire support for the offensive troops."
The staff officer hesitated, looking at Xia Fei: "General, we only have one 105MM howitzer regiment!"
"Then form another one immediately," Xia Fei impatiently ordered. "By any means necessary."
"Yes." The staff officer responded and turned to make the contact.
The 105MM howitzer was France’s M1913 model howitzer, developed by Schneider in 1913, but it was sidelined due to the excellence of the 75 cannon. Hence, at the start of the war, the entire army had only 3 units of it.
Meanwhile, Schneider lacked mechanical and personnel reserves. In emergency production, they managed to produce 31 units, which was barely enough for equipping one artillery regiment.
(Note: An artillery regiment usually has 36 cannons)
(The image above shows the French M1913 howitzer, with a range of 12,000 meters. It is not inferior to the German 105MM howitzer, but its production volume is too small to shift the disadvantage in artillery battles)
A while later, the staff officer returned, trembling as he informed Xia Fei: "General, Schneider’s response is that the only way is to import from Italy."
Italy had obtained the production rights from Schneider a year ago. They valued this howitzer highly and produced it in large quantities; it may currently be the country with the most units of this howitzer.
Xia Fei gritted his teeth, the French Army actually needed to import French artillery from another country, and from Italy, an Allied country!
As Xia Fei was contemplating whether to swallow his pride and have the diplomats contact Italy, Deputy Commander Kanes hurried into the office carrying a telegram. He glanced at the staff officers in the room and then gave Xia Fei a look.
Xia Fei understood and immediately ended the discussion, dismissing the communications officer as well.
What they were about to discuss wasn’t confidential, but Xia Fei’s secret consultations with Shire couldn’t be known by others.
Kanes cautiously shut the door, turned, and handed the intelligence to Xia Fei, lowering his voice: "Shire believes we shouldn’t develop anti-tank rifles; their biggest flaw is the excessive recoil, which makes them difficult to use. Once the enemy reinforces their tank armor, it will be rendered obsolete."
Xia Fei deliberated for a while, then nodded. He had to admit this analysis made sense. The anti-tank rifles captured from the German Army indeed had this flaw.
If we don’t develop anti-tank rifles, how can the French Army counter the German Army’s new tanks?
The combination of the heavy "Saint Chamond" and "Saint Chamond M21" was aimed at the German A7V tank.
But now, the Germans suddenly produced a new type of tank, and it’s a light tank!
At this moment, Kanes added: "Shire’s suggestion is to equip the infantry with 37 cannons for anti-tank purposes."
Xia Fei was momentarily stunned, then slightly nodded. The "Shire A1" used this small caliber gun, which could easily penetrate the A7V’s armor. Penetrating the light German tanks shouldn’t be a problem.
If such cannons were equipped in large quantities for the infantry, their anti-tank capability would see a qualitative leap.
However, thinking deeper, Xia Fei furrowed his brows in difficulty.
"This cannon belongs to Shire." Xia Fei said, "Buying this cannon means sending business his way."
Due to Xia Fei’s preference, the French frontline troops rarely equipped the 37 cannons, especially those under his direct command in the Central Army Group and the Eastern Army Group.
Kanes suggested: "We only need to equip a small batch, General. One or two hundred would be sufficient for the first specialized artillery division..."
Xia Fei gently shook his head: "The main point is we don’t know where the enemy’s tanks will appear, Kanes."
Kanes immediately understood.
He made a mistake, assuming that wherever the French Army attacked, the German Army would dispatch tank units to block it.
In real combat, this situation is hard to encounter. The French Army’s offensive will be launched under strict secrecy, with the Germans unaware of the French Army’s intentions and locations.
Unless a few days after the offensive starts, the German Army decides to use tanks to counter and encircle the French forces.
Xia Fei once again looked at the map on the table, saying thoughtfully: "If we breach the German defense line with tanks, while the Germans also breach our defense line with tanks, it’s not called a victory, understand?"
"Understood," Kanes responded.
The British wanted a "remarkable" victory. Only such a victory could draw Italy into the Allies.
Then Kanes understood the difficulty Xia Fei was facing: "To guard against possible German offensives, we need to fully equip with Shire’s 37 cannons?"
Xia Fei slightly nodded: "Only then can it be a ’remarkable’ victory."
Kanes thought for a moment, then sighed deeply. Fully equipping millions of troops would require at least ten thousand cannons, undoubtedly a huge business order.
More importantly, the large-scale equipping of mortars previously had already caused dissatisfaction from Schneider. Now it was the 37 cannon. How would Xia Fei explain to James?
"We have no other choice, General." Kanes cautiously said. "I believe Mr. James can understand."
Xia Fei chuckled lightly. Capitalists only care about profits; they never argue reasonably. Hoping that James would understand was wishful thinking.
Besides, mortars were unavoidable, and so were the 37 cannons. What if Shire produced more cannons in the future?
One unavoidable choice after another, could Schneider tolerate it?
If Schneider tolerated it, wouldn’t it mean he lost this competition?
Xia Fei slowly stood up, walked to the window with his hands behind his back, and cast a melancholic gaze toward the distant forest, pondering a discomforting possibility:
If this was just the beginning, would he be forced to stand by Shire’s side in the future?