I Became a Tycoon During World War I - Chapter 214

Chapter 214: This Day Has Finally Come

After the victory in battle, most of what Charles received were blessings and good news.

The only thing that bothered him was that he had once again become the focus of attention among the citizens of Paris.

That evening, around seven o'clock, only half an hour after the successful breakthrough, the Parisians who had heard the news of the victory began to gather in large crowds outside the City Defense Command, cheering.

By this time, the sky had darkened, and snow was still falling. The cold weather failed to dampen the enthusiasm of the people of Paris, who shouted up to the floors above:

"Thank you, Charles, you saved my son!"

"I received word that André is safe, and he asked me to thank you!"

"You are the hero of France!"

...

The loudest cheers came from the families of soldiers.

Many of the soldiers in the First and Second Special Artillery Divisions were from Paris.

This wasn't intentional, but rather a result of how these two divisions were formed, with many noble or wealthy families using their connections to get their children into these units.

These privileged officers, often sons of the rich and powerful, brought their familiar soldiers along, which meant many Parisians, or people from the surrounding areas of Paris, found themselves in the ranks.

The families of these soldiers had been anxious when they heard their units were surrounded. They hoped Charles would take action but had no means of voicing their hopes. Now that they knew Charles had successfully led his forces to break out, they couldn't help but express their deep gratitude by spontaneously gathering there.

Charles sneaked a glance at the sea of people outside through the window. There were at least a hundred thousand people, surrounding the City Defense Command in the 4th district, forming layers upon layers. The police department had to deploy forces urgently to maintain order and manage traffic.

Under the streetlights, many people had snowflakes resting on their shoulders but still refused to leave.

"What do they want?" Charles asked, puzzled. Could this be how people of this era express their admiration for their idols?

Kobdo stepped forward to explain, "Some of the soldiers didn’t make it back. These are the families of those soldiers. They hope you can do something for them."

Charles fell silent.

Out of the more than forty thousand troops, only about thirty-two thousand managed to break out. Over ten thousand were either dead or missing.

But there was nothing Charles could do. All he could offer was what had been done.

Soon, Charles would realize that this wasn’t the only bad news...

"General!" Lieutenant Colonel Fernand, after receiving a phone call, nervously turned to Gallieni. "Captain Carter's calling—five aircraft are still unaccounted for, including one with machine guns!"

Gallieni froze, then immediately turned his gaze to Charles.

Charles shook his head slightly. This was beyond his control. Now, they could only hope that the machine gun plane had either crashed or landed in the French-controlled area. Otherwise, aerial combat would officially begin in the near future.

...

On Wilhelmstrasse in Berlin.

The General Staff’s phones rang non-stop, all inquiring about the situation or questioning whether there were any follow-up plans to turn the tide.

Falkenhayn had completely given up. He refused to answer any questions, leaving everything to Colonel Moritz while he remained alone in the lounge, sitting on the edge of the bed. He hunched forward, his head drooping, his hands weakly supporting his knees, resembling a defeated rooster.

Falkenhayn didn’t know how to report to Kaiser Wilhelm II. In his mind, he tried to come up with a few versions:

"Your Majesty, this is my command error. We were deceived by Charles!"

"Your Majesty, it’s because of intelligence failure. We didn’t know Charles had deployed new tanks."

"We don’t have air superiority. Although our army surrounded the enemy, the intelligence was always unequal. The enemy knew everything about us and could direct ground troops through aircraft, while we knew nothing about their movements!"

...

However, no matter which version, none could cover up the fact of their failure.

For a long time, Kaiser Wilhelm II had supported Falkenhayn’s strategy on the Western Front under immense pressure, but now it seemed that the strategic focus would have to shift to the Eastern Front.

At this moment, Colonel Moritz pushed the door open with force and called out, "General, you need to hear this phone call..."

"I told you!" Falkenhayn suddenly looked up, rudely interrupting Colonel Moritz. "I won’t take any calls, none of them!"

Colonel Moritz insisted, "No, General. This call is different. It's about Charles' aircraft. We've captured a plane with machine guns!"

Falkenhayn was utterly stunned. After a moment of frozen silence, he jumped up as if pricked by needles and ran toward the command center, shouting incoherently, "Make sure they protect it... where, which phone..."

An officer held the receiver high, and Falkenhayn rushed forward to snatch it. Without waiting for the other person to speak, he eagerly asked, "Are you sure it’s Charles' machine gun plane?"

"We’re not entirely sure, General," came the voice on the other end. "But the plane’s nose does indeed have two machine guns. It seems to be his!"

"How did you capture it?" Falkenhayn asked.

"It made an emergency landing because its fuel tank was leaking. The pilot seemed to try to destroy something but was stopped in time by us..."

Falkenhayn was overjoyed. This was nearly certain now. If the pilot had tried to destroy something, it meant he was trying to cover up a secret.

Falkenhayn almost shouted his order: "Protect it immediately. Mobilize all your forces, including the pilots. Don’t let anyone near it! No one!"

Then he added, "And don’t let anyone know, understand?"

"Understood!"

After hanging up, Falkenhayn looked up and ordered everyone, "Drop everything, and immediately organize the troops and vehicles to bring it back!"

The staff immediately sprang into action, some mobilizing troops, others contacting vehicles and personnel.

Unable to sit still, Falkenhayn paced a few steps and said to Colonel Moritz, "Get ready. We’re going to see it right away. I want to see it the moment it arrives!"

...

Charles, accompanied by Gallieni and a few staff members, arrived at the First Flying Squadron's headquarters. Gallieni hoped to use his resources to quickly find the missing machine gun plane.

When they met Carter, Gallieni shook his head and reported, "Still no news. It was one of the planes from the Second Squadron. At the time, it was covering the troops as they broke out. During the operation, it got separated from the others, and no one has heard from it since."

At this time, planes didn't have radios. Once a battle started, each plane operated independently.

Moreover, planes were fast. After a dive toward the target, a pilot would pull up only to realize a teammate was missing, and their position could only be guessed.

Headquarters couldn’t even receive any updates. All they could do was wait at the airfield.

It would only be after a while, once the plane hadn’t returned, that they would know something might have happened. Even then, it was still "possible," not certain.

Gallieni was unwilling to give up on any chance. He instructed his staff to call every area near where the plane had gone missing.

But Charles realized that this day had finally come.

Table of content - Next Chapter >>>