At this moment, in a conference room in Paris, France, another group of people were also discussing.
"The Germans are delaying in paying us the arrears of reparations. This is a disguised resistance to the Treaty of Versailles! As a major member of the victorious countries, France needs to use stronger means to claim our own interests. It is time to unite
Belgium sent troops to occupy the Ruhr Industrial Zone in Germany and taught the Germans a lesson." A major general from the French Prime Minister Poincaré's faction was promoting his radical theory.
As the Prime Minister of France, Poincaré's life has not been easy recently. The Parliament passed a large-scale defense construction plan some time ago - building a defense line that can never be broken, the Maginot Line.
As a line of defense with high hopes, the Maginot Line can be said to be the most advanced combination of fortifications in this era.
The ground part is armored or reinforced concrete machine gun fortifications and artillery fortifications, and the underground part has several floors, including command posts, personnel lounges, food storage rooms, ammunition depots, rescue shelters, power stations, filtration and ventilation rooms, etc. There are facilities between the fortifications.
It is connected by channels and connected by electric vehicles. The weapons in the shooting fortifications are specially designed and installed.
Anti-tank obstacles within the defense line mainly include anti-tank trenches, cliffs, cliffs, and metal and concrete piles, which are reinforced with minefields. Anti-infantry obstacles are generally metal piles or wooden piles and barbed wire, and some areas are also equipped with electrified barbed wire.
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Some people say that the French nation has never produced a military genius since Napoleon. Although this statement is biased, it also illustrates the fact that France lacks good generals!
The disastrous defeat in the Franco-Prussian War gave the French an opportunity to reorganize their military theories and ideas. After bearing the heavy cross of national humiliation, the French devoted themselves to revenge and regarded the concept of "large-scale attack" as a classic military thought.
The facts of World War I proved that French generals were not good at applying this concept. On the contrary, France's old enemy, Germany, used large-scale offensive techniques very smoothly.
After paying the price of hundreds of thousands of lives in World War I, the French finally became more pragmatic and abandoned those ridiculous ideas. In the end, with the help of their British allies, they defeated their old enemy with difficulty through trench warfare.
Germany.
The victory brought by trench warfare caused the French military thinking to jump from one extreme to the other - from "complete offense" to "complete defense."
To this day, the French still regard the Battle of Verdun as the pride of the First World War. They believe that this battle is a symbol of the French national spirit of bravely sacrificing themselves in the face of a powerful enemy and persevering to the end to win.
However, no matter how nice it is, problems will continue to arise when it is implemented. The most intuitive problem is that the cost of building the Maginot Line is too expensive! To build this defense line, the initial investment requires 1 billion enamel, and additional investment will be required later.
No less than 4 billion enamels.
As the Prime Minister of France, Poincaré naturally has the task of raising money. However, the current economic environment in France is not good. Domestic funds are difficult to mobilize, so where can we raise money? The only way out seems to be
Squeeze from Germany.
Anyway, Germany owes France reparations, and the result of drawing blood from Germany is nothing more than offending Germany. It is better to offend the Germans than the French. Poincare easily made this multiple-choice question. Unfortunately, this
The Judge Chancellor has forgotten that politics is not a simple multiple-choice question, and Germany will not let others manipulate it.
Colonel de Gaulle, who belonged to Marshal Foch's faction, interrupted Poincaré's thoughts and said: "We have already suppressed Germany very deeply. Once we continue to increase our intensity and trigger resistance from the Germans, the consequences will be disastrous!"
Unimaginable? Regarding Colonel de Gaulle's worries, Poincare retorted naturally: "Germany now only has a total of 100,000 army troops, and the 4 divisions we can provide for this operation, plus the 3 divisions joined by Belgium, we
We have nearly 100,000 troops to carry out this mission. How can Germany resist it and send out all its troops? Then we might as well send out another 100,000 troops to destroy Germany and dominate Europe."
Prime Minister Poincaré's words aroused echoing laughter from the generals. De Gaulle frowned and suppressed the urge to continue arguing with Poincaré and others.
This mentality is so normal that not even Marshal Foch could change it, let alone De Gaulle.
Moreover, de Gaulle never thought about reversing all this. The French are the armed forces of France. As the country with the largest army in Europe, it is impossible not to be domineering and cautious in everything. Besides, this does not affect
The combat effectiveness of French soldiers. I am the best in the world. If you are not convinced by anyone, that is the momentum that a soldier should have.
But the current French leadership is filled with blind self-confidence. In their view, the Germans have been forced into a desperate situation and will have no resistance in the short term. But de Gaulle understands that this incomplete desperate situation often breeds
Explosive power.
Poincaré, who was eager to interrupt de Gaulle's opposition to his theory, set out to act as prime minister: "It's decided that troops will be sent to occupy the Ruhr Industrial Zone within half a month to improve the domestic economic environment. Colonel de Gaulle, since you are so worried,
Then you will serve as the leader of the observation group and observe the entire occupation operation."
With a gesture, he stopped De Gaulle who wanted to say something. Poincaré announced without explanation, "The relevant personnel will stay and assign tasks. Others, adjourn the meeting!"
Soon, the invasion of Germany's Ruhr Industrial Zone was approved. French regiments were transferred to the German-French border one after another, and relevant departments also hurriedly transferred the assigned fuel and ammunition to the border.
At the same time, the German parliament passed a completely opposite bill to withdraw a pitifully small security group from the Ruhr industrial area. On the border of Germany's Ruhr line, checkpoints nervously watched the movements of the French army.
After receiving the order, the checkpoints were temporarily cancelled, and all personnel were withdrawn together with the security team.
On the other hand, the SS, which responded quickly, under Steve's personal leadership, selected 20,000 of the most elite SS soldiers and sent them to the Ruhr Industrial Zone in advance. The other 20,000 were still being assembled.
The SS troops will enter the Ruhr Industrial Area in four batches in the next ten days. A proposal signed by Sickert is submitted to the parliament. The media under the control of the Gestapo are ready to attack and are ready for the SS.
The military builds momentum.
On the road 15 kilometers away from the Ruhr Industrial Area, the withdrawn security regiment met the SS troops marching in the opposite direction.
"Who are you? Why are you holding weapons? Why are you driving towards our rear?" Looking at Steve and his party, who were wearing black SS uniforms and carrying a large number of small weapons, the leader of the security group nervously asked.
A series of questions. After all, a team of 20,000 people was considered a very conspicuous force in Germany at the time, but the uniforms of this group of people obviously did not belong to the Wehrmacht. The security group behind him also quickly responded with warning, and immediately
Collectively raise your guns and aim this way.
However, there was obviously no hostility on the SS side. Steve waved his hand to signal to the SS men not to be nervous. After several SS soldiers who tried to confront them with their guns put down their guns, Steve politely treated this man
The head of the security group replied: "We are the SS affiliated to the National Socialist German Workers' Party. We take up weapons to protect Germany's national borders. Please pay attention to your words. Your rear is our front line. The SS
The army will go and defend Germany’s national borders with their lives!”
Hearing this, everyone in the security group wanted to find a hole to crawl into. The guns raised by the security group quickly put down their guns. Facing these people who called themselves SS and were preparing to defend their homes and country, they were embarrassed to retreat.
Question the other party again. What is a soldier? This is what a soldier is! In contrast, the soldiers in the security group wearing the uniforms of the National Defense Forces gave up their duties and retreated in large steps in front of the enemy.
The leader of the security team immediately put on a smile and explained to the leader Steve: "Brother, our group of people don't have much knowledge. You were offended just now, so don't be as knowledgeable as us. In fact, we all want to go up with you."
On the battlefield, whoever is afraid is the grandson. Unfortunately, the higher-ups ordered that we must evacuate." At this point, a look of helplessness flashed in the eyes of everyone in the security team.
"Don't worry about it. I believe that after this time, everyone will know our SS. You retreat first. Germany will definitely need you in the future." Steve comforted everyone in the security group thoughtfully.
Then he casually asked, "By the way, what's your name? I can recommend you to our Colonel Reinhardt when you get back."
"God, you are actually Colonel Reinhardt's troops. He is our idol." The head of the security group replied in surprise: "By the way, my name is Model. Please help me give Colonel Reinhardt a message in the future."
Say it, I am very willing to join your glorious group."
"Model, okay, I remember." Steve smiled heartily, and then continued to lead the 20,000 SS troops on their way.
After getting out of the way, Model looked at the endless stream of SS troops and said to his adjutant with envy: "Look at their black uniforms, they are so handsome!"
