When Roch arrived in Ypres, the coalition forces were talking about the combat effectiveness of the 2nd Cavalry Division.

The combat effectiveness of the 2nd Cavalry Division is indeed strong, in the previous battles, the 2nd Cavalry Division eliminated at least 5,000 German troops, and its own casualties were less than 500, and all of them were caused by German artillery units.

At the same time, the 2nd Cavalry Division was also very dependent on logistics, and when it came to Flanders, the logistics supplies carried by the 2nd Cavalry Division had been exhausted in the previous battles, so the 2nd Cavalry Division was now unable to launch an attack, and needed more logistics to arrive at Ypres, so that the 2nd Cavalry Division could exert its full strength.

"Congratulations to you, Lord, your children have done a great job on the battlefield, and they have achieved the greatest victory with the least losses." Haig's words are sour, I don't know why these generals like to use "children" to refer to soldiers, probably meaning that they love soldiers like children.

Just now, Haig was promoted to general and his status in the expeditionary force was further raised.

Roque also did not know why Haig was promoted to general, the Second Army commanded by Haig did not perform very well in either the Battle of Marne or the Battle of Ypres, and compared to Smith Dohring, Haig was not a qualified commander.

"Lord Nyasaland, it's a pleasure to meet you, your 2nd Cavalry Division has inspired me a lot, and I hope we can have a good chat sometime." Ferdinand Foch was a real soldier, he was an excellent artillery commander, a member of the Paris Artillery Committee, a good staff officer, an excellent strategist, Foch stayed on after graduating from the École Militaire in 1991 to teach strategy.

Foch was a cavalryman, but he was not pedantic, not superstitious about the role of cavalry, and in contrast to someone.

After the outbreak of the World War, Foch's Second and First Armies formed the right flank of the French army, and when defending Nancy, Foch performed well, commanding his troops to launch a counteroffensive against the German army in extremely difficult circumstances.

The success of the counteroffensive made Foch famous, and he was transferred to the left flank as commander of the newly formed Ninth Army, and distinguished himself at the Battle of the Marne and the ongoing Battle of Ypres.

If there was now a French general who could gain the trust of the British Expeditionary Force, that man was undoubtedly Foch.

"General Foch, it's a pleasure to meet you, and your Ninth Army has also done a great job, they look like veterans, and it's a great honor to fight alongside you." Roque was enthusiastic about Foch, after all, he was the future commander-in-chief of the coalition forces and the British field marshal, and even without these reasons, Foch's age was respectable enough.

Foch was awarded the title of Marshal of England for his outstanding performance in the World War, and he was also awarded the title of Marshal by Poland.

As part of the coalition forces, the young Belgian King Albert I was also present, and the Treaty of London of 1839 confirmed the independence of Belgium while determining Belgium as a neutral country, which resulted in Belgium not being fully mobilized before the war and therefore very vulnerable in the face of German invasion.

Albert I's expression was as ugly as a fly when he saw Roque, Roque knew why, but he didn't take it to heart, if the Congo Free State was still in Belgian hands, then even if Belgium itself fell, the Belgian government could move to the Congo Free State.

Now Belgium has no way out, so it can only fight with Germany.

"Marshal Locke, what do you think of the battle in Flanders?" Frenzi did not greet Roque, the Anglo-French army in Flanders was very difficult, it had been raining in Flanders recently, and Albert I had opened the floodgates, Flanders was already a vast ocean.

Although the sea slowed down the speed of the German attack, but also caused the Anglo-French army to be difficult to advance, which was very unfavorable to the Anglo-French army, as time went by, the newly formed German troops were gradually maturing, once the German army completed the accumulation, then the German army will launch a new round of attack.

"The best thing to do is to withdraw to the Franco-Belgian border, build strong fortifications on the Franco-Belgian border, and prepare for a long battle with the Germans." Roque does not rush forward, the current situation in Flanders, even if the tanks are sent to the battlefield, it is useless, since it is impossible to defeat the German army in a short time, then sit up from the defense first.

Defense is the best offense, or offense is the best defense, there is no conflict between the two, the main thing is who has the initiative on the battlefield.

"No, we should attack the Germans at once—"

"We can't give up Flanders—"

Haig and Albert I objected at the same time.

Haig was against it, Albert I was against it, and Albert I was against it.

Even before the Battle of Ypres, Chauffy had sternly warned Albert I that he would lose his throne if all of Belgium fell.

The threat of Xia Fei is very important, and now France has such a great influence on Belgium.

"We really can't give up Flanders—" Ferdinand Foch also disagreed with Roque's suggestion, and his aim was clear: not to return to the Franco-Belgian border, in order to keep the war out of France.

"Then we'll have a good fight with the Germans." Roque is not stubborn, and since everyone else is against it, then Roque is a minority and obeys the majority.

Frenzi was not surprised by Roque's performance, Haig's face was full of joy, Albert I was gloomy, but Ferdinand Foch's eyes lit up.

Unlike most of the generals of his era, Roque was never stubborn, in contrast to the paranoid attacking Xia Fei, the cavalry insisted on victory, and the increasingly prejudiced French generals.

Such a Roque may seem to some people to be weak and bottomless, and to go with the flow, but for the current Anglo-French coalition forces, only by knowing how to be flexible can we promote the cooperation of the Anglo-French coalition forces.

"Our aircraft reconnaissance shows that the German army is continuing to increase its troops to Ghent, at least sixty trains arrive in Ghent every day, our troops are defending around Ypres, winter is coming, our troops need dry and warm cotton clothes, I went to inspect the position of the 2nd Cavalry Division yesterday, 90 percent of the soldiers on the position have no cotton clothes, many only have a blanket, so it is certainly impossible to persist in fighting in winter." In Frenzi's words was to accuse the 2nd Cavalry Division of inadequate preparation.

The defeat of the German army at the Marne had a lot to do with the lack of logistical supplies for the German army.

Now that the German General Staff has realized this, the logistics of the German army have become fluid again, and the tragedy on the Marne will not be repeated.

"The 2nd Cavalry Division is a temporary unit that was previously stationed in the Sinai Peninsula, and the Sinai Peninsula does not need warm clothing." Roque did not think that the 2nd Cavalry Division was not well prepared, at least the officers and men of the 2nd Cavalry Division had rifles with them when they came to France.

Originally, the French government was responsible for the supplies needed by the 2nd Cavalry Division when it came to France to fight.

"The defeat of the Germans is inseparable from the cooperation of the Royal Navy, which has to cut off the Isser River and stop the German reinforcements so that we can drive the Germans out of Flanders." Foch does not bother whether the soldiers have cotton clothes or not, he has no say in this matter, Paris is trying to organize the distribution of supplies, there are still two months before winter, and I hope it will be in time.

"The Royal Navy could not penetrate deep into the Isser River, otherwise it would have become a target for the Germans." Frenzi disagreed, as the Royal Navy had previously sent warships deep into the Isser River, but suffered heavy losses.

In the river, the warships had no room to maneuver, and could only be ravaged by the Germans like targets.

It is true that the German Navy cannot compete with the British Royal Navy at sea, but on land, the British Army is the younger brother.

"We still need more reinforcements, when the Scottish Second Highland Light Infantry Battalion withdrew from the battle, there were more than 30 soldiers left of more than 1,000 soldiers, even if we saw an opportunity, we did not have enough troops to enter the battle to win, and we still need at least 20 divisions to achieve the goal of occupying Brussels." Haig complained bitterly, his kind of command style, no amount of troops were enough to give him.

Speaking of troops, everyone looked at Roque, and everyone knew that Roque still had a reserve in his hands that had not been put into battle, and in southern Africa, Roque could recruit more troops.

"Before I came to France, both the Kingdom of Congo and the Congo Free State said that they could send troops to France—" Roque could indeed recruit more troops, but it depended on the attitude of Albert I.

"There is no Kingdom of Congo or Congo Free State at all, they are all traitors who should be sent to the gallows, as long as they dare to come to Europe, I will hang them all!" Albert I's attitude was really fierce, but Frenzi and Foch looked at Albert I with a stern look.

Roque didn't care, if the Kingdom of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo sent troops to support Europe, then after the war, the Kingdom of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo would be eligible to participate in the distribution of the fruits of victory after the war, which meant that Britain and France recognized the independence of the Kingdom of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo, which Albert I did not want to see.

But Roque's attitude was also very clear, if the Anglo-French forces wanted to get more troop aid, they had to recognize the independent status of the Kingdom of Congo and the Republic of Congo, otherwise southern Africa could stop sending reinforcements to Europe with any excuse.

"How much can the Kingdom of the Congo and the Congo Free State send?" Frenzi did not care about the opposition of Albert I, as long as he could get more troops, Frenzi did not care whether the interests of Belgium would be lost.

Anyway, the Congo Free State is not a British colony.

"At least 100,000!" The price given by Roque is very weighty, and the combined population of the Kingdom of Congo and the Republic of Congo at the time of independence was tens of millions, so it is not difficult to recruit 100,000 troops.

Of course, the cost of recruiting troops must have been paid for by the British and French forces.

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