One thing that must be made clear is that a country's war potential is closely related to the country's population.

Before the outbreak of the world war, Britain had 54.65 million people, France about 40 million, Germany 67 million, and the Russian Empire was 170 million.

If you add the colonies, then the population of Britain will become 500 million, and the population of France will become 100 million, so if the war goes on for too long, it will be very disadvantageous to Germany.

Of course, more than half of Britain's 500 million are Indians, which is almost negligible considering India's strength.

Relatively speaking, the United States, with a population of 98 million, is very important, and if the United States enters the war ahead of schedule, then the world war in this time and space may end in another time and space.

After Woodrow Johnson issued the mobilization order, the United States mobilized 1.2 million people in the first phase, and it will continue to increase after that, and about half a year later, American GIs will arrive in the European battlefield.

Regardless of what the U.S. government and the Entente said, after coming to France, Roque's biggest task was to stabilize the defensive line, at this time the Battle of the Somme was in a stalemate, the Battle of Verdun was also in a stalemate, the Eastern Front was also a stalemate, Italy was still in a stalemate, and all fronts could not make a breakthrough in a short time.

In order to avoid unnecessary trouble, Roque did not even meet with Haig, and after meeting Xia Fei in Paris, Luo Ke immediately made it clear to Xia Fei that the British Expeditionary Force would stop the Battle of the Somme, and the British Expeditionary Force would not continue to attack the German army until Roque saw it appropriate.

"Field Marshal Locke, the need for the entire front when attacking the Germans cannot be stopped at will, and if the Germans make a breakthrough at Verdun, then the entire front will collapse, and this is a consequence that we cannot afford." Xia Fei categorically disagreed with the end of the Battle of the Somme, which had been going on for twenty days until now.

In these 20 days, the British expeditionary force suffered 170,000 casualties, of which nearly 60,000 were killed, and the French troops suffered 40,000 casualties, of which nearly 10,000 were killed.

Roque didn't know why Haig was able to fight like this, the Fourth Army had less than 150,000 men in total, which was equivalent to the loss of an entire army group by the British Expeditionary Force in twenty days.

Here, by the way, the commander-in-chief of the Fourth Army, Henry Rawlinson, has also been sent back to England by Roarke, and it is said that only Henry Rawlinson's wife and daughter went to pick him up, and now Henry Rawlinson is a sinner in Britain, and his military career is over.

"If it's just to contain the Germans, it's easy to do." Roque would certainly not let the Germans break through to Verdun, but Roque had a smarter way to contain the Germans.

"What do you want to do?" Xia Fei didn't know what medicine Luo Ke bought in his gourd, his mind only had attack, attack, attack again, and he couldn't tolerate other words.

"I need time to adjust, you know, the British Empire has just had a new Prime Minister, the Expeditionary Force has a new Commander-in-Chief, and both me and my troops need time to get acquainted with each other." Roque won't show all his hole cards, Xia Fei should be about to end class, and the French can't tolerate the loss of French troops.

"This does not conflict with the offensive of the troops." Xia Fei didn't want to give Roque too much time, the Battle of Verdun had reached the most critical juncture, and if the British Expeditionary Force stopped attacking at this time, then Verdun might be lost.

Roque's decision will not change because of Xia Fei's attitude, although the Western Front is dominated by French troops, but the British Expeditionary Force is not a vassal of the French army.

From the British standpoint, it was in the best interests of Britain to lose both France and Germany, and as when Frenzi came to France, Kitchener had a long talk with Roque when he left London.

Roque's attitude was basically the same as that of Kitchener, and if he could, Roque would resolutely hold his troops and preserve the strength of the British Expeditionary Force as much as possible.

Back at the headquarters of the British Expeditionary Force, Roque immediately made a series of adjustments.

The Fourth Army has now been crippled, withdrawn to the second line to regain strength, and will not be able to return to the battlefield for three months.

Now attacking the German army is the Canadian Corps and the Anzac Corps, the Canadian Corps is relatively small, only about 120,000 people, although the Anzac Corps has a large number of troops, but after a series of battles heavy losses, the officers and men are more resistant to the attack.

Roque first transferred the First Army that was still in Flanders to the Somme, and then transferred the Anzac Corps to Flanders to fill the line of the First Army.

They are also colonial servants, the Southern African Expeditionary Force, the Anzac Corps, and the Canadian Corps fought bloodily, but the Indian Legion spent a leisurely life on the second line, where are so many good things.

However, the combat effectiveness of the Indian Legion was worrisome, and Roque had not yet established absolute authority within the British Expeditionary Force, and Chief of Staff Henry Wilson questioned Roque's decision.

Henry Wilson was not too smart to openly question Roque's decision at a military meeting.

"The Battle of the Somme is over, it is impossible for us to launch an offensive against the Germans in the short term, the Indian Corps is to bring up the Indian Corps in order to put continuous pressure on the German army, and if Falkingham dares to transfer his troops to Verdun, then the First Army will attack." Roque will not send troops to die, there are many ways to contain the German army, as long as there are enough troops on the Somme, even if Roque does not attack, Falkingham will not dare to transfer the troops.

"Your Excellency Marshal, it is not enough to put constant pressure on the German army, we must gradually deplete the strength of the German army, so that the Germans can be feared." Henry Wilson and Hague are just as good as Halger, and Roque really misses spending time with Ian Hamilton.

After Roque was transferred to the post of Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force, Ian Hamilton was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, and it was now impossible for Roque to continue as Chief of Staff.

After all, Roark has to improve, and Ian Hamilton has to improve.

"We have suffered 170,000 casualties in 20 days, are the Germans afraid?" Roque had no unrealistic illusions, and if, as Henry Wilson had said, the Germans had not yet feared, and the British Expeditionary Force would have rebelled.

"The German casualties were also more than 100,000." Henry Wilson was not convinced, killing 800 enemies and losing 1,000 himself, what is there to be proud of.

Roque didn't talk nonsense, and sent Henry Wilson to Paris that night to be responsible for coordinating with the French army, and he moved his headquarters to Ya Luo, which was closer to the front line.

The chief of staff was important to Roque, but not indispensable, without Henry Wilson, Roque also had Paul Cocker by his side, and a staff officer of more than three hundred, who were more important and competent than Henry Wilson.

The key is to be more obedient.

At the same time as the troops were mobilized, Roch ordered the troops on the second line to begin building more complete permanent fortifications.

The scale of the fortifications is built according to the standard of the Maginot Line, the battle line that the British Expeditionary Force is responsible for is about 120 miles long, and now the total strength of the British Expeditionary Force is about 1 million people, it is not easy to be responsible for such a long front, Roque is very dissatisfied with the fortifications before the British Expeditionary Force, compared with the Germans who are good at learning, the fortifications built by the British Expeditionary Force are far worse.

"How many troops do we have in Flanders?" Roque will not blindly defend, offense is the best defense, but it is definitely wrong to choose the Somme as a breakthrough, Xia Fei is out of the interests of France, so he advocated the Battle of the Somme, in this regard, Roque agreed with Haig's opinion, the British expeditionary force should open the situation from the coastal area.

Before the Battle of the Somme, Haig's original intention was to attack from the Belgian coast and take the port cities along the Belgian coast, so as to better disperse the German forces.

If it was fought from the Belgian coast, then the British Expeditionary Force could get help from the Royal Navy, and it was easier to get supplies, although Haig was a butcher, but it was not useless, but unfortunately in the face of Xia Fei, Haig was not strong enough, so the British Expeditionary Force was forced to launch the Battle of the Somme.

Roque doesn't quarrel with Xia Fei either, a person who can't be the commander-in-chief for a few days, Roque can't be in a hurry, Roque has his own offensive rhythm, and he won't easily change his decision because of Xia Fei.

"Flanders has the Fifth Army, and if we add the Anzac, our total strength is more than 400,000 men - as for our enemy, Germany has less than six divisions in Flanders-" Paul Cocker was taken aback, such a disparity in strength, could it be that Xia Fei and Haig could not see it?

The answer is that it can be seen, but it is useless to see it, think about the autumn offensive last year, the French army had 27 divisions at Champagany at that time, and the German army only had 7 divisions, and the offensive still ended in failure.

Artois, where the disparity in strength was even greater, Foch was commanding 17 divisions at that time, and the Germans only had two divisions, and Foch was still at no point, which could no longer be described as incompetent, it was simply a dereliction of duty.

"Order the General Staff to come up with a plan, I am going to attack the Germans in Flanders, and then regain the ports off the coast of Belgium - send a telegram to Field Marshal Jericot, the expeditionary force needs the help of the Royal Navy." Roque didn't mind having a bigger advantage, and if he could crush Germany with an absolute superiority of forces, Roque would be happy to see it.

"Yes Lord—" Paul Cocker was full of energy, Paul Cocker was directly marginalized when Haig was Commander-in-Chief of the Expeditionary Force, and now that Roque is Commander-in-Chief of the Expeditionary Force, Paul Cocker sees hope again.

Don't look at Roque's toughness in front of Xia Fei, the new official has three fires, if there is a chance, Roque is of course willing to take the initiative to attack.

Think of it as a gift to Winston.

(The third watch sent, how many red envelopes did the brothers send 520 - it's really strange, why are they all sent by men to women, and female compatriots can't be generous-)