According to Zhou Bu's idea, all the exclusive flags of each unit should be displayed, so as to show the momentum of the expeditionary force.

Even if you think about it, it is impossible to really implement it, the British Imperial Army cannot be crowned with the title of "royal", but each battalion or regiment has a unique name, as well as its own flag, in the case of the Southern African Expeditionary Force, a division, three brigades, nine regiments, each regiment has its own "regimental flag", and some battalions even have their own "battalion flag", so it is simply unrealistic to play all the flags.

In the end, only the British flag was used, which drew the displeasure of Charles Mantin, the commander-in-chief of the French Third Army, who thought that it was inappropriate to use only the British flag and that at least half of the flag should be replaced with the French flag.

So the question arises, to replace half of the flag with the French flag, so should we add a few more American flags? What about the Kingdom of Belgium? What about the Kingdom of Italy? What about the Kingdom of Romania?

Forget about the Kingdom of Romania, it's really hard to find the flag.

This kind of trivial matter does not need to be solved by Roque, the commander-in-chief of the Ninth Army, Paul Coker, has a way, since Mangin asked for an increase in the French flag, then let Mangin get it, the 16th Division does not have a French flag here at all.

Cruy is in France, there are a lot of French flags, but it will take time to deliver them to Cruy, and Otto von Billot and Huttier have already set off from Soissons, so it will definitely not be possible to transfer the French flag at this time, so Mangin and Foch, who arrived in Cruy later, do not look good.

Pétain was still on his way, and it was estimated that he would arrive at Kruy by noon.

Roque would not postpone his meeting with Otto von Billow and Hurtier for the sake of Petain.

When Otto von Billow and Huthier's car arrived in Kruy, the military band began to play, the gun salute was fired at the same time, the tank and armored car phalanx were in full formation, and a red carpet was laid on the ground leading to the tent, and next to the carpet were carefully selected honor guards, all of whom were about 1.8 meters tall and no more than two centimeters up and down, all wearing freshly issued 1917 military uniforms, and the bayonets of Lee Enfield in their hands were shining.

What did the white clouds say: gongs and drums are noisy, firecrackers are ringing, red flags are displayed, and people are crowded——

That's pretty much it.

Not to mention Otto von Billow and Hurtier, even Manking and Foch have never seen such a battle, and the reception of foreign heads of state by King George V of England is estimated to be of this level of grandeur.

Roque and Foch greeted Otto von Billow and Huttier at the door of the tent together, Otto von Billow and Huttier walked quickly, and both of them came to Foch and Roque to salute at the same time, although Foch was standing closer to the center, but Otto von Billow and Hurtier's eyes fell on Roque.

"General Billo, General Hurtir, welcome to you—" Roque smiled back, treating both Otto von Beatlow and Huttier with respect.

This is really not a virgin or hypocrisy, as opponents, Otto von Billow and Hurtier are worthy of respect, I believe that if Roque surrenders to Otto von Billow and Hutier, Otto von Billow and Hurtier will also give Roque the respect he deserves-

Phew, Bah, Bah –

I, Great Locke, will never be a slave!

Walking into the tent, the center was a small long table, two chairs on each side, and there were many people in the tent, on one side were the entourage of Otto von Pillo and Huttier, and on the other side were the generals of the Anglo-French army, only Foch, Roque, Otto von Billow and Huttier could sit down, and everyone else had to stand aside.

As the commander-in-chief of the coalition forces, Foch took the initiative to speak, and as soon as he came up, he strongly demanded that all the German troops in Soissons lay down their arms and surrender unconditionally.

This promise is not just talk, since it is said to be done, the treatment that matches the status means that after Otto von Pilllow and Huthier surrender, they can still retain the treatment of generals, they can keep their swords, and even have adjutants and guards, of course, the adjutants and guards at this time must have been arranged by the British and French forces.

"We have only one request, if we are going to enter the prisoner of war camps, I want the administrators to be sent by the British Expeditionary Force, not by the French government-" Otto von Bylot did not want to fall into the hands of the French, the hatred between Germany and France could not be resolved, relatively speaking, Britain was much better, at least, the British king and the German emperor were cousins, and there was a little bit of incense.

"Yes—" Foch agreed very simply, although there was a national enmity between Foch and the Germans, Foch would not make mistakes on major issues of right and wrong.

Roque did not speak, but looked at Otto von Billow and Huttier, and Roque wondered if he should take more Germans to southern Africa.

The whites of southern Africa are mainly British and Boer, and if the Germans are added, then the internal division of the white people should be more serious, so that the status of the Chinese will be more unshakable.

The annexation of South-West Africa and Tanganyika by Southern Africa was taken from the Germans, and in the short term the Germans were incapable of resisting, and in the long term it was not conducive to maintaining relations between Germany and Southern Africa, but if there were a large number of German immigrants in Southern Africa, then there was considerable room for détente.

Compared with the British and Boers, Roque also did prefer the strict and old-fashioned Germans, at least the Germans had fewer personnel.

Otto von Billow and Huttier were also neat men, and after receiving Foch's promise, they both unsheathed their sabers and placed them on the table at the same time, without bowing or signing, and simply handed over the command of the troops.

From the time Otto von Billow and Hurtier entered the door to the time they handed over their sabers, it was only ten minutes before and after.

That's called efficiency.

At noon Petain finally arrived, and although he could not make it in time for Otto von Billow and Huttier to surrender, Petain was still happy.

Otto von Billow and Huttier also showed considerable respect to the two commanders-in-chief of the French army, Otto von Billow and Huttier, and the luncheon was held in a large tent, and after three rounds of wine, the atmosphere gradually became warmer.

"The world war, we lost from the beginning - it was only after the failure of the Schlieffen plan that we realized that we underestimated the poor little British army, or rather, we ignored the variable of the Southern African Expeditionary Force, which we had expected to be fully mobilized a year and a half after the outbreak of the war, when we had already captured Paris and forced France out of the war." Huthier is usually taciturn, and if he drinks too much, he is a chatterbox, even in front of Foch, Petain, Mangin and other generals, Huthier is also outspoken.

"You chose the wrong teammate, you chose the wrong opponent, you started the wrong war at the wrong time, you were doomed from the beginning of this war, and you had nothing to do with a certain army." Roque noticed that the expressions of the French generals were a little ugly, so he simply pulled the topic away and eased the contradiction.

"We had a chance to win the war, but when the world war broke out, if it weren't for the mistake of our commanders on the front line, leaving Paris alone and losing the pursuit of the French troops, we would have completed the occupation of Paris earlier, and the war would have gone in a completely different direction." At the outbreak of the World War, Huttier served in the German Second Army, and his superior at that time happened to be Fritz von Billow, Otto von Billow's brother.

The commander Hurtier referred to as "making a mistake" was Crook, and the First Army commanded by Crook at that time resolutely pursued the French Fifth Army commanded by Langlezak, thus moving farther and farther away from the German Second Army commanded by Billow, which allowed Xia Fei to seize the opportunity.

The victory of the first Battle of the Marne is also thanks to the deceased Gallieni, if it were not for Galileni's discovery of the fighter plane and continuous reminders of Xia Fei, Xia Fei may not be able to hold Paris.

"Come on, you don't have any chance from start to finish, and temporary victory will only take you further and further down the wrong path." Manjing finally couldn't help but interject, this guy is a strange guy, sometimes he performs amazingly well, and sometimes he acts like a mess.

Petain gave Manking enough trust to participate in the siege of the German army on the Marne.

Manking was worthy of Petain's trust, and if he had been under Chauffeur and Nivelle, Manking would never have achieved what he has achieved now.

"Charles, Germany does have a chance, I was still in southern Africa when the first Battle of the Marne broke out, to be honest, the Southern African General Staff has conducted many reviews later, each time it ended with the German occupation of Paris, this cup makes us pay tribute to those soldiers who died in the war-" Roque did not give Manking and Huttier a chance to quarrel, but to quarrel slowly after the end of the world war.

These battles that took place during the world war will certainly be studied repeatedly by the armies of various countries in the future, and it is normal for the staff officers in southern Africa to judge the defeat of the French army every time, and it is not a reality on paper after all.

Almost everyone in the audience had relatives and friends who died in the world war, and when Roque said this, everyone raised their glasses to pay tribute to the soldiers who died in the war.

It has nothing to do with justice or not.

"Our defeat was actually a logistical defeat, the Entente had southern Africa, Germany only had South-West Africa and Tanganyika, but it was occupied by southern Africa at the beginning of the world war, and if Germany also had an overseas territory similar to southern Africa, then it was not yet known who would win and who would lose." In the words of Otto von Billow, the role played by southern Africa in the world war was truly unparalleled.

"I'm curious about this, Locke, how did you do that in Southern Africa?" Foch was also curious about southern Africa, and France also had overseas colonies, but during the World War, France's overseas colonies did not play much of a role for France itself.

That's a really hard question to answer.

(End of chapter)