At two o'clock in the afternoon of 13 May, in the town of Ctesy in the southeast of Reims, in the headquarters of the French Sixth Army, General Georges, commander-in-chief of the French Northeast Front, hurried from the Belgian front and rushed here to preside over the operational meeting as soon as he got off the plane.

Also present at the meeting were Lieutenant General Ducon, commander of the French Sixth Army, Colonel de Gaulle, commander of the Fourth Panzer Division, and Major General Montgomery, commander of the British Third Infantry Division, who had just arrived in Reims at noon.

After the greetings, General George looked at de Gaulle, who was still a cut above the others, and said: "Colonel de Gaulle, the Germans have realized your long-held opinions, and now the time has come for you to show your talents." ”

When de Gaulle saw General George say this, the expression on his face was calm and polite, but more nervous.

He knew that George's "long-held opinion" meant his long-standing advocacy of building an independent armored force, freeing tanks from their status as vassals of infantry divisions.

As early as 1934, he wrote a military book, "Building a Professional Army", in which he put forward the theory that it was necessary to build an armored division that combined mobility and destructive firepower to be able to attack on the initiative and win by surprise. According to this theory, an armored force of about 100,000 men should be formed to cooperate with the conventional army.

However, this idea did not receive enthusiastic support from anyone else, except for Paul Reynaud and Philippe Searle, who were still right-wing parliamentarians at the time.

It was not until the outbreak of the Polish Campaign in September 1939 that the German armored forces shined in the Polish Campaign, and the construction of armored divisions was paid attention to by the French side, and the plan to establish four armored divisions was put on the agenda one after another.

Thinking of the three defeated French armored divisions, de Gaulle sneered in his heart, even if the armored division was formed, what could it do? It's a waste to put it in the hands of people who can't use it. Panzer divisions are not omnipotent, and if they had commanded those three armoured divisions themselves, they would have been concentrated and stormed one of the landing sites of the Germans, instead of scattering and attacking the three landing fields of the Germans, as the laymen of the Supreme Command did, only to be broken by the Germans who had the numerical superiority.

De Gaulle complained in his heart, but he did not say a word, but nodded to General George, waiting for General George's next words.

"We can now be sure that the aim of the Germans was to move south to outflank the Maginot Line, and that Paris would be safe for the time being. However, we could not determine whether Reims was the target of the German attack, so we had to develop two battle plans. One plan is how we are going to defend Reims if the Germans attack Reims. This plan of operation was drawn up by General Dukong's Sixth Army Headquarters, with General Montgomery, you, and Colonel de Gaulle in coordination. ”

Montgomery nodded to General George, indicating that he would be in place, and then asked, "What will we do if the Germans don't attack Reims?" ”

"If they don't attack Reims, their right flank will pass east of Reims, and we will take the initiative to attack and harass their right flank and prevent them from advancing with peace of mind, and this plan will be completed by the 3rd Infantry Division under your command and the 4th Panzer Division under the command of Colonel de Gaulle." General George said.

"The 3rd Infantry Division is only an infantry division, and its offensive capability is not strong, if I want to attack, I hope that the 4th Armored Division can transfer me a tank battalion to support the infantry." Montgomery said.

"The 1st Armoured Brigade of the British Expeditionary Force will move to Reims, and they will provide you with tank support." General George replied.

"Oh, that's great." Montgomery said in surprise.

"There is also the question of whether Colonel de Gaulle and I went our separate ways when we attacked, or was there one person in charge of the unified command? If there is a unified command, who will command? Montgomery asked.

General George looked at Montgomery with his chin raised and his eyes blazing at him, and thought to himself how unreasonable this skinny monkey-like fellow should be thinking of fighting for power in such a moment of great urgency.

Montgomery was a major general and de Gaulle was a colonel, and if one of the two had to be the commander-in-chief of the attack, Montgomery would have won, even if he was not French.

Out of the corner of General George's eye, he saw that de Gaulle was also staring at him, and the meaning in De Gaulle's eyes could not be more obvious, he would not accept the command of this thin monkey.

"Of course, we can't go our separate ways, and Lieutenant General Dukong will be in charge of coordinating the attack." General George deliberately put the emphasis on the word lieutenant general, and the implication could not be more obvious.

Montgomery didn't seem to hear General George's reminder, and asked to himself, "I will accept General Ducon's leadership." How many planes will we be supported by in the event of an attack? ”

General Ducon said: "There is a Vauer airfield west of Reims, and all the planes at the airfield have been withdrawn because of the Luftwaffe bombing, and if we really want to attack, I will coordinate with the Air Force to reactivate this airfield and provide us with air support." ”

Montgomery was unimpressed by General Ducon's empty promise, he looked at no one, and said to himself: "The more air support we get, the greater the scale of the victory, and if the French air force wants us to achieve a large victory, please send more planes." ”

Despite his extreme disgust at Montgomery's nobody's attitude, de Gaulle resonated with Montgomery's words.

"I agree with General Montgomery's suggestion that in order to fully exploit the combat capability of the armored forces, it is necessary to have the support of the air force and, at the very least, to have enough fighters to protect us from the threat of German aerial bombs. In addition to the Air Force, I need anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft machine guns, the more the better, because the Air Force cannot be on call. ”

General George still attached great importance to de Gaulle's words.

"I will convey your intentions to General Gammelin, and I will definitely ask him to find a way to allocate more planes to you, as well as anti-aircraft guns, in short, you must hold off the Germans to the death, and not let them attack the Swiss border with confidence and boldness. Please, you're going to buy enough time for our troops to rebuild their positions in the Swiss border area. ”

"Don't worry, my purpose is not to hold them back, but to cut them off." Montgomery said.

"Cut off?" General George asked, confused.

"Yes, it's to cut off the waist, my plan is to avoid their tank forces, and after their tank forces move south from the east of Reims, we will attack the infantry divisions that are following the tank troops, and then hit the left bank of the Maas River in one go, cut off their troops, and cut off the rear of their armored forces."

De Gaulle was surprised to find that he had once again coincided with this skinny Montgomery, because he had the same idea.

"From Reims to the east, less than seventy kilometers from the Maas River, if we have enough troops, we can strike at the Maas River in one blow and cut off the German forces, I support General Montgomery's opinion." De Gaulle said.

General George looked carefully at the map hanging on the wall for a while and was overjoyed, "If your goal can be achieved, we can completely cut off the logistics line of the German armored forces and annihilate them, and then turn the tide of the war." I'll wait for you here, and you'll come up with a detailed plan at once, and I'll take it to General Gammelin and ask him to bring in more troops. ”

"I think before we make a plan, we should send a reconnaissance force to scout the movements of the Germans, in case they attack Reims directly?" General Dukong said.

"Yes, but you should make plans first, I can't stay here for too long." General George said.

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