I Became a Plutocrat in World War I: Starting with Saving France

Chapter 624: Offense is Greater Than Defense

Someone opened a bottle of beer and handed it to Shire, the number one selling French beer, 1664.

(The above image is French 1664 beer, established in 1664, known for its golden lager and 5% alcohol content)

"Thank you." Shire nodded to the young major who handed him the beer.

The young major looked to be in his twenties, with a rather mature demeanor. At this moment, he was looking at Shire with a face full of eagerness and a few traces of fervor in his eyes.

"You’re welcome, General." The young major replied, "I’ve been waiting here for over a month, just to know the answers to these questions."

The surrounding officers smiled knowingly. The reason they frequented this club was more or less to have conversations with Shire like this and hopefully learn something.

Shire wasn’t in a hurry. He took a sip of beer; the coldness made him shiver uncontrollably.

"Gentlemen." Shire put down the beer bottle, and asked unhurriedly, "First, we should consider a question—is defense more advantageous in actual combat, or is offense more advantageous?"

This question stumped the officers; it was also an issue they had been debating but had never reached a satisfactory answer.

After a while, an officer answered:

"I think offense is more advantageous, General, because it can boost soldiers’ morale."

"Yes, if there’s artillery preparation and tanks, offense is truly the way to win."

"The vice admiral’s maneuvers in Antwerp and Hasselt were actually offensives, which proves that offense is correct."

...

Although they cited Shire’s example of maneuvers, they were thinking of Fuxu’s "offense theory," with some even taking Shire’s victories as evidence of the correctness of Fuxu’s "offense theory."

After all, Shire indeed achieved victory through offense.

But this immediately drew rebuttals from another group of officers:

"I think defense is more advantageous, like in the Battle of the River Somme, where the Germans caused 100,000 casualties to the British Army in one day."

"Yes, it’s very clear. Defense occupies favorable terrain. As long as firepower is appropriately configured, it can inflict greater casualties on the enemy, sometimes even several times or dozens of times more."

"I also believe this. After all, the defenders are shooting from trenches while the attackers are just targets. General Petain’s victory in the Battle of Verdun proves this."

This group of officers mostly belonged to Petain’s faction.

At this moment, many grassroots soldiers were more inclined to believe in "Defense Theory," as it fits reality and their mental state better.

Otherwise, there wouldn’t have been mutinies among frontline soldiers.

After the debate among the officers calmed down, Shire analyzed: "In actual combat, the reality is more ’defense outweighs offense.’ The side initiating the offensive often incurs higher losses and sometimes can’t even push the front line forward at a great cost."

The officers nodded in agreement.

This is the reality of trench warfare, with both sides digging trenches facing each other, unable to deal with each other. Many attacks merely increased casualties.

This is a fact even the "offense theory" cannot deny.

However, Shire changed his tone and said: "But this is only at the tactical level. Gentlemen, what I want to say is that at the strategic level, it’s ’offense outweighs defense.’"

The officers looked at each other in confusion, bewildered by Shire’s sudden reversal.

It was clearly more advantageous to defend, so why say "offense outweighs defense"?

Shire calmly picked up the knife and fork on the table and set up a scene, explaining as he did:

"This is the enemy’s frontline, and this is our frontline."

"For both sides to fend off the other’s attacks, they need to build a complete defense line without any gaps."

"Otherwise, the enemy will break through from the gap and expand the results."

The officers nodded in agreement. This was the situation on the Western Front.

Shire continued:

"This defense line is over 700 kilometers long, with both sides deploying millions of troops to defend."

"Even so, the quality of soldiers at the frontline varies widely, with many places lacking sufficient preparation or soldiers, only unnoticed by both sides."

The officers nodded again. Many of them had returned from the front lines, some not just once. They were well aware of the truth in Shire’s words.

Finally, Shire summarized:

"The reason this happens is that the defensive side needs to hold every point well."

"It is essentially impossible to hold every point on a 700-kilometer-long line. It exceeds human capability."

"Conversely, the offensive side only needs to constantly observe, find a gap in this 700-kilometer-long line and then break through to achieve victory."

"This is what I mean by ’offense outweighs defense.’"

The officers suddenly understood and nodded in agreement.

This is easily explained using an ancient Huaxia idiom: "A wise man may miss, but a fool may gain." The defensive side is the "wise man who cannot miss," while the offensive side is the "fool who only needs to gain once" to win.

Then some officers cheered: "The vice admiral is right, ’offense outweighs defense’ proves General Fuxu’s correctness, it’s a supplement to the ’offense theory.’

"No." The young major immediately rejected:

"Vice Admiral Shire’s ’offense outweighs defense’ and General Fuxu’s ’offense theory’ are two different things."

"General Fuxu’s ’offense theory’ emphasizes the advantages of offense without considering other factors."

"While Vice Admiral Shire’s ’offense outweighs defense’ means we can find the enemy’s weak point in their defense line, break through from that point, and expand the results."

Shire secretly praised the young major for his insights; at least he didn’t simply classify theories into ’offense’ and ’defense’ like other officers.

Then someone curiously asked: "General, what relation does the ’offense outweighs defense’ theory have with your maneuvers in Antwerp and Hasselt?"

"Didn’t you understand, Field?" The young major replied:

"Antwerp and Hasselt weren’t part of the original plan, but the vice admiral found weak points in the enemy’s long defense line."

"Just as the vice admiral said, it’s impossible to be thorough along a long defense line, so there are bound to be places less prepared."

"That’s why the Germans’ defenses were broken repeatedly by the vice admiral concentrating elite forces."

The officers suddenly realized:

"So this isn’t luck or coincidence, but deliberate action, which proves it’s a replicable tactic."

"It’s indeed different from the ’offense theory.’

"Great, we can also use this tactic in battle!"

...