CHAPTER 558: AFTER MODIFICATION: CHAPTER 558

North bank of the River Somme, British Army Command.

Haig sat dazed in his chair, the cheers from the south bank echoed in his ears: "Long live France! We won!"

"Ring ring," the phone on the desk rang.

But Haig felt nothing, as if everything had nothing to do with him. His mind was occupied with one question: why did this happen? What kind of magic does Shire have?

The aide hurried forward to pick up the phone, and after a while carefully handed the receiver to Haig: "General, it’s the Marshal!"

Haig quickly composed himself, cleared his throat with a light cough, but still felt powerless when he took the receiver: "It’s me, Haig."

On the other end came Kitchener’s incredulous voice: "Is it true? Did Shire achieve victory during the counterattack?"

"Yes, Your Excellency," Haig replied with difficulty, even though he couldn’t believe it himself, it was indeed the truth.

"How did he do it?" Kitchener asked again.

Haig irritably unbuttoned his collar, speaking with embarrassment: "I, I am not quite sure at the moment, Your Excellency."

Everything happened too quickly.

If it hadn’t happened right under his nose, if he hadn’t seen the German Army retreat with his own eyes, if he hadn’t heard the cheers of the French Army, Haig would almost think it was a play orchestrated by the Germans and Shire.

"God, Douglas!" Kitchener’s voice was filled with indignation: "The battle happened right beside you, and you don’t know how he defeated the Germans?"

What truly displeased Kitchener was not this.

The British Army suffered tens of thousands of casualties and advanced only 1 kilometer in over twenty days, while Shire advanced 5 kilometers within hours, with casualties likely less than a fraction of the British Army’s.

But Kitchener couldn’t say that.

Because, all of Haig’s battle plans were approved by Kitchener, which meant that Shire defeated not just Haig, but Kitchener as well.

"Yes." Haig spoke dejectedly: "I am very sorry, Your Excellency. I will investigate thoroughly and report back to you!"

Kitchener said nothing, he just made a sound of agreement and hung up the phone.

The aide was perceptive, he stepped forward to report the situation before Haig could ask:

"I obtained information from the French, General."

"Shire inserted along the River Somme to the rear of the Germans..."

Haig couldn’t believe what he heard: "River Somme?"

The aide nodded:

"Yes, General."

"He secretly brought many landing craft and amphibious landing ships. You know, Shire invented these equipments during the Dardanelles Strait attack."

"They were apparently upgraded, the landing craft could carry tanks and rocket artillery, while amphibious landing ships carried soldiers and ammunition."

Then the aide searched the map for a while, pointed at a spot and said: "They landed here, near Bugawa Village, directly attacking the German artillery positions..."

Haig impatiently interrupted the aide: "But how did they fool the Germans? The Germans just ignored the movement on the river?"

"Night, General." The aide explained: "Also the artillery fire, and the flash of explosions served as perfect cover for them."

Haig was stunned for a while, finally letting out a long sigh, foolish Germans, they perfectly cooperated with Shire’s battle plan!

Haig took a few minutes to organize the entire process, dialed Kitchener’s number to report everything.

After listening, Kitchener also fell into silence.

After a short while, Kitchener spoke slowly and earnestly: "You might have overlooked something, Douglas."

"What?" Haig felt he hadn’t missed anything.

"The artillery fire." Kitchener reminded: "Shire knew the Germans would launch an attack, he was prepared for this moment."

Haig suddenly realized, yes, as soon as the Germans fired, Shire’s forces immediately used this opportunity to insert along the River Somme.

This wasn’t a coincidence, it was that Shire anticipated the German attack.

But how did he guess that the Germans would attack?

The French Army was always on high alert, they worked hard to prevent the Germans from knowing their movements.

Kitchener reminded through the receiver: "He knew what you would do."

Haig was stunned beyond measure: "You mean... no, that’s impossible."

There was no response from the other side, clearly, Kitchener was convinced of this answer.

Haig was unwilling to admit, yet it seemed the only explanation.

Which means, he thought those unknown tactics had long been calculated by Shire.

Finally, Kitchener asked in a warning tone: "Now, do you still think Shire won because of luck?"

Haig was speechless, he couldn’t even deny it.

...

That afternoon, the "Merit Newspaper" ran a full-page detailed report on Shire’s Battle of the River Somme.

This was the result of Kobudo’s busy day. As soon as he heard the news, he immediately flew to the Somme front line, spent a few hours interviewing and taking photos, then rushed back to Paris to edit and print.

This time, the "Merit Newspaper" no longer maintained the so-called "neutrality" it previously held, lavishly praising Shire with all available accolades:

"Many people say Shire lacks the ability to command large troops and the experience for frontline and positional battles."

"This is proven to be a lie."

"Shire is the one who grasped the lifeblood of the war, he is a true genius, he master all tactics."

"Just as Shire always emphasized ’adapting to the situation’."

"Doesn’t anyone realize that ’adapting to the situation’ also means capable of everything?"

...

Although the newspaper reported more on how Shire utilized the River Somme to insert behind the Germans and the battle process, people cared more and preferred reading these contents.

Paris was once again sensationalized because of this battle, they naturally compared it with the previous ones:

"Is it true? Shire only had over a thousand casualties in this battle?"

"Unbelievable, advancing 5 kilometers at the cost of over a thousand men, British-French Allies have sacrificed at least tens of thousands of people on this land!"

"This is a fact, some wounded have already been sent to Paris, they said it was hardly an attack, from the beginning the Germans were retreating, they were chasing the Germans."

...

Indeed, it was true.

The battlefield situation was a sudden appearance of a force at the rear continuously defeating three German artillery regiments, which frightened the Germans who were preparing to attack the front lines.

They thought they were surrounded by the enemy and fled hastily.

French soldiers followed behind the Germans shooting, even those who ran slower couldn’t catch up.

This filled Parisian citizens with pride, not just for defeating the Germans, but for outdoing the British, on the same battlefield!