As a world-renowned art capital, Paris has so many excellent attractions to visit, and at Sylvia's suggestion, Fang Yan chose the Champ de Mars in the center of the city as the first stop. Not only is there a beautiful ribbon park, but also the Eiffel Tower, a landmark of Paris, that almost every visitor to Paris will not overlook. Two days earlier, Hitler had come to the Champ de Mars and had taken a triumphant photo with the top military generals, and now the picture has spread all over the world and is the best manifestation of the glory of the Reich.

Green lawns are clustered around the square fountain. Looking forward from the wide and straight road, a towering and magnificent gray-white iron tower pierces the clouds, and against the backdrop of the clear blue sky, it is even more magnificent and extraordinary. It resembles the pyramid in shape, but is far more slender and elegant, and the four corners of the base serve as a fulcrum to hold the majestic structure more than 300 meters high and with a total weight of nearly 10,000 tons.

"Wow!" Before Fang Yan could carefully observe the difference between the tower and the video photo, little Alice had already jumped towards the target as if she was happy, he smiled bitterly and glanced at Sylvia, and hurriedly followed behind. At present, it is the most suitable season for tourism in Paris, and the square and the surrounding lawn are full of people gathering in pairs for sightseeing and resting.

As little Alice ran happily all the way around the square, Fang Yan gradually noticed that a considerable number of the tourists around him were German soldiers, and they were full of excitement and pointed at the iron tower and the swastika flag fluttering on the top, and the excitement and ecstasy were overflowing. Seeing this, Fang Yan's sense of vigilance relaxed slightly, and under the noses of these conqueror soldiers, any potential insecurity would be nipped in the bud.

Approaching the bottom of the tower, Alice, who was as active as a fawn, finally stopped. The entrance staircase to the tower is guarded by soldiers, and the little guy inquires and learns that if you want to get to the top of the tower, you not only need to buy a ticket, but also have to wait in line, because the Eiffel Tower can only accommodate a small number of people to enter the top floor. Alice flattened her mouth helplessly, so she had to turn around and ask her parents for help, and when Fang Yan followed, he suddenly found a rough face behind the queue at the staircase.

"General Guderian?" Fang Yan was surprised, although the person in front of him was wearing civilian clothes, his face was quite familiar, it was the director of the army armored corps who had a good relationship with him. Guderian turned around abruptly, and was also surprised when he saw Fang Yan. With a smile on his face, he said, "You've also brought your family to visit Paris." There are quite a few people who have come to Paris these days, and now there are seven or eight of the Wehrmacht generals in this queue. ”

Fang Yan followed Guderian's direction, and sure enough, he found a few more familiar figures in the queue. Kruger, Lister, and Bushi, the three army generals all nodded to Fang Yan, and the other two Fang Yan didn't know each other, but judging from their age and mental bearing, they must be high-ranking generals. They all brought their families and children, and their ordinary regular clothes also showed that they were on vacation, and Fang Yan was suddenly embarrassed to find that his proud status as a rear admiral had become completely inadequate when he arrived in the enemy's capital.

Guderian looked at the young man in front of him, his pale blue eyes suddenly rolled, and the eldest son Heinz Jr., who was standing beside him, immediately became alert and realized that his father had something else planned. A moment later, Guderian warmly invited Fang Yan to join him in the tower, and his attitude was so friendly and positive that even Rundstedt, who had always placed great trust in him, could not experience it. Fang Yan didn't suspect him at first, but after climbing to the first floor of the tower, he noticed that something was wrong: Guderian was dragging himself on the platform 60 meters above the ground and not going up, while everyone else had already seen the scenery on this level and was ready to go to the next level.

"Your Excellency, is there anything you want to tell me?" Seeing that there were no more people within ten meters of him, Fang Yan raised his eyebrows slightly and said to Guderian. The latter looked at the eldest son, who had consciously gone to the corner to study the rivets, and then at Silvia and little Alice who were glued to Fang Yan's side, Fang Yan shrugged his shoulders helplessly, turned to his wife and daughter, and asked them to go to the other side of the platform to enjoy the Seine River first.

"General Brom, I do have something I want your help with today." Guderian breathed slowly, and the way he expressed his attitude was as simple and direct as Fang Yan's impression. Fang Yan's eyes were slightly condensed, and a little curiosity appeared in his expression. He knew that the hot-tempered general in front of him would rarely say such pleading words, even if he asked his boss to do something, it was with a sense of arrogance. If it weren't for that, he wouldn't be so unpleasant with Kleist.

But now I don't seem to have any place that Guderian desperately needs. Fang Yan and Guderian's professional intersection is limited to the development of combat vehicles, while the Snow Wolf tank performed well in the French campaign, and the current armored forces should not have the urgent need to introduce new tanks at all!

"Uh, are you going to borrow money from me? However, the Führer only gave the generals an additional victory reward three days ago, and as the first contributor to the victory on the Western Front, this fee should be extremely generous......" Fang Yan opened his mouth with a strange look, a little confused about the routine on the other side. Guderian shook his head and said, "I would like to ask you, to be exact, His Excellency Värtert, to help solve the problem of tank capture in the Western Front." ”

"During these six weeks of war, our army captured countless weapons and equipment through several major encirclements, including a huge number of tanks." A look of pride appeared on Guderian's face, full of honor and pride in the brilliant achievements he had achieved with his own hands. After a pause, he continued: "According to statistics, a total of 161 Shire B1S, 297 Soma, 35,550 Hatch Chase 35, and 843 Renault 35 were captured by us. This number has exceeded two-thirds of the total number of French tanks at the beginning of the war, and it is also more than 60% of all tanks of our army. They are in good condition and can be re-entered with only a few minor maintenance modifications. ”

Fang Yan said happily: "This is a good thing! The addition of so many French tanks is bound to make a big leap forward in the strength of the armored forces, and we will ...... it at that time" Speaking of this, Fang Yan suddenly realized something. His voice stopped abruptly, and the smile on his face quickly faded, replaced by a look of solemnity.

Guderian said slowly: "It seems that you have realized the key to this, and I don't need to explain too much. The performance indicators of these tanks do not match the existing combat system of our army at all, and I simply cannot integrate them into any armored unit. To me, these iron snails are a mass of moving waste, but there are so many of them that I can't think of any way to properly place them. ”

Fang Yan nodded silently. These French tanks are the product of the Wrong Tech Tree, and their mobility is completely incomparable to that of the German tanks: even the fastest Soma 35 has less than 10 hp/t, and its poor suspension design and tracks have dragged down its already inadequate engine, further reducing its overall off-road ability. As for Charles Renault and his ilk, it is even slower, and can only run at a considerable speed on roads with excellent road conditions, and once it enters the field, it is not much faster than two legs, and it is impossible to implement a quick breakthrough interspersed with blitzkrieg!

"Realizing this, I prepared to make a personal appeal to the Army Command and distribute most of the captured tanks to the infantry, leaving only a small part of the armored corps for training. But they didn't even want to take these guys. In addition to the incompatibility of the equipment system and the need to readjust logistics, maintenance, combat and other aspects, the more important reason is that the combat effectiveness of these tanks is too low - one commander needs to take on the work of 3 to 4 crew members, and this poor ergonomics is enough to make their battlefield cost-effective to an unacceptable degree. ”

Guderian smiled wryly, unable to tell whether to rejoice or be annoyed. As enemies, these poorly designed French tanks were unable to stop their whirlwind attack, but now that it was their turn to take over, they were at a loss again.

If only one or two hundred tanks were captured, the German Army would simply scrap them without frowning. But now it is a steel flood of more than 1,800 tanks, and it would be too exaggerated and wasteful to dismantle them all and return them to the furnace, and both Brauchitsch and Halder have made it clear that they are against it. They instructed Guderian that since you are the commander and authority of the armored forces, you should be in charge of the use of these captured tanks, and you must find a way to fully exploit their potential effectiveness.

Fang Yan sighed and said, "If it's just these, it's nothing, the most important thing is that these tanks are still difficult to modify all kinds of deformed vehicles with chassis like the No. 1 tank and the Bobcat." The French cost-saving design of the single-person turret is not only an ergonomic crime, but also exhausts the vehicle's conversion potential - the turret cannot be removed to save much weight and space, and when it is ready to be converted into an assault gun or self-propelled gun, firstly, the hull suspension is difficult to withstand the drastic increase in load, and secondly, there is not enough space inside to place the corresponding equipment. Therefore, instead of spending time on this, it is better to produce an orthodox Bobcat shape-shifting vehicle. ”

Guderian glanced at Fang Yan with a gloriated look in his eyes, nodded and said, "That's true. Hatch Chase and Renault, in particular, made it impossible for me to make any attempt to exploit their chassis. Although the Shire has some modification potential, its mechanical reliability is poor, and the fuel consumption is amazing, and the overall cost performance is still far inferior to that of the modified Bobcat. So after thinking about it, I had to look beyond the military to deal with this waste. ”