I Became a Plutocrat in World War I: Starting with Saving France-Chapter 234: The Army’s Plane "Confiscated"?

Shire left the frontline less than half an hour ago, and miraculously, the front line returned to its proper combat state. The entire defense line was the same.

Xia Fei was still not at ease, and he ordered the infantry police to go to the frontline for inspection according to the plan.

However, the report from the police captain was: "They are fighting very seriously, General, we confirmed this, and the battle is very intense, with gunfire everywhere!"

Xia Fei was stunned, it seemed somewhat unreasonable.

Then, the police asked: "General, do we still need to implement the execution order?"

When Xia Fei received the telegram, he fell into silence, seemingly undecided.

Kanes advised beside him: "General, they chose to follow orders. If the result of obeying orders and disobeying orders is the same, all facing execution order, the execution order will lose its deterrent significance!"

Xia Fei thought it was reasonable too. When the troops have already chosen to obey orders, implementing the execution order will not only be ineffective but might even backfire.

Thinking of this, Xia Fei nodded and said: "Dismiss the leading officer and investigate him. Let him carry a rifle and become a soldier."

His idea was that with such high casualty rates on the battlefield, dismissing officers who had a tendency to disobey military orders and making them soldiers, soon they will either be injured or appear on the death list, equivalent to "dealing" with them.

"Yes, General!" Kanes responded, secretly relieved.

...

When Shire returned to the command center, it was already after ten o’clock.

Gallieni did not ask much, he seemed to have guessed what method Shire used but chose not to reveal it.

He simply asked Shire to eat something and go to the dormitory to rest, promising to send someone to call Shire if needed.

This was exactly what Shire wanted, as he had been busy all night, and although he slept on the train, he still felt tired.

However, things didn’t go as planned, as Shire had just returned from the officers’ dining hall when he was stopped by Major Fernan.

"Colonel!" Major Fernan handed a telegram to Shire: "German airplanes with machine guns have appeared, they shot down three of our reconnaissance aircraft."

Shire was taken aback and asked: "What model?"

"The specific model is unclear!" Major Fernan replied: "But it’s obviously a two-seater plane!"

Shire responded with an "Hmm."

During this period, only two-seater planes had enough load capacity to carry machine guns into the sky; otherwise, just two machine guns could overload or imbalance the single-seater planes.

This indicated that his estimate was correct, the German Army had not yet had time to produce specialized fighter aircraft.

Fernan continued to report: "We estimate that the Germans are trying to use machine gun airplanes to restore the combat state between the two armies."

Shire paused for a moment before understanding.

The frontline truce made both Germany and France anxious, and they thought the way to break the truce agreement was by using airplanes: with airplanes diving to randomly attack the French defenses, enough chaos could be created.

The French soldiers who suffered losses would think that the Germans had broken the agreement, and naturally, would raise their guns to fight back.

The German soldiers would then be at a loss, unable to argue that it wasn’t them but the German airplanes, and could only retaliate.

Soon, the fire of war would spread across the entire front line, making the truce agreement redundant.

What the Germans did not expect was that even before they could play their role, the front line had already resumed fighting.

Having nothing to do, the German pilots vented their anger by shooting down French reconnaissance planes, hence the incident of shooting down three reconnaissance aircraft.

Otherwise, the German machine gun airplanes might have remained dormant for a while.

Shire had just stepped into the command center when Gallieni waved at him.

When Shire approached, Gallieni pointed at the map on the office table and said: "We plan to set up a few more airfields on the frontline and send pilots to the frontline to fight. Look at these positions, are they suitable?"

Shire glanced at the map and gave a negative answer: "At least 50 kilometers from the front line."

Gallieni’s face showed confusion: "50 kilometers means it takes half an hour for a plane to reach the front line, Colonel, I think airfields should be as close to the front line as possible so our planes can be faster and more timely in entering the battlefield!"

"So, the airfield is only ten kilometers from the front line?" Shire countered.

"What’s the problem?" Gallieni looked at Shire in confusion: "This is already outside the range of enemy artillery."

It’s not Gallieni’s fault; he didn’t know the future air combat situation, nor did he understand the future development of aerial warfare. He was even used to France having absolute air superiority.

"General!" Shire pointed at the enemy’s direction on the map and said: "We should consider this: the enemy also has airplanes, and we can’t always maintain air superiority. If we set the airfield ten kilometers from the front line, the Germans will easily spot it, and then their planes will target our airfield for attacks..."

Gallieni sighed, nodding slightly.

Ten kilometers distance.

When frontline soldiers saw German airplanes, they wouldn’t even know if the planes were targeting artillery, infantry, or the airfield, thus unable to provide early warning for the airfield.

Even if early warning was provided, the preparation time for pilots to take off would only be about 10 minutes. This time was too short to allow them to prepare adequately.

Whereas, the "50 kilometers" proposed by Shire could avoid these issues nicely.

With the airfield separated from frontline troops, if enemy aircraft flew over frontline targets without action, it would indicate that their target was the rear airfield.

Simultaneously, 50 kilometers would provide half an hour of preparation time, enough to allow airfield warplanes to take off and form groups.

Thinking of this, Gallieni nodded and agreed to the plan: "Follow your suggestion, Colonel, relocate all airfields!"

"Even the already constructed airfields need to be relocated." Shire emphasized: "Or else we can’t provide cover for those airfields!"

After pausing, Shire added: "It’s best to consolidate all airplanes into the aviation team for unified command."

Shire was referring to the army’s airplane.

At this time, the French Army’s airplane organization was very chaotic; some were part of army units, some were part of divisional units, some had them, some didn’t, models were diverse, and tactics varied widely.

Gallieni was puzzled by this: "If we integrate all the army airplanes into the aviation team, how will the army solve their need for aircraft?"

Shire didn’t hesitate at all: "By contacting the aviation team, the aviation team will dispatch airplanes to complete specified tasks."

Gallieni thought for a while against the map, seemingly understanding the benefits of doing so: it could reduce command pressure on various units, minimize the possibility of chaos, and maximize the use of resources like airplanes, airfields, pilots, and ground personnel.

However...

Gallieni laughed: "Perhaps what you’re proposing is right, but do you know what Xia Fei would think?"

Shire nodded, knowing that Xia Fei would think Shire was undermining his power.

After all, this meant "nationalizing" all the army’s airplanes, airfields, and pilots into Shire’s control!

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