Major General Oxter raised an eyebrow, then nodded.

He had been transferred from France, and of course knew that after the Toulon fleet was captured by the Germans, the French government of Petain would be like a frightened bird.

At the same time, France could be said to have little defense in front of Germany, since according to the armistice, the French army disarmed its air and land forces to 100,000 men.

After a pause, Major General Oxter asked again: "Why don't we just occupy France?" We all know that the French will fall to the Allies at any time, and one day...... When they surrender to the Allies, our supply lines will be under great threat! ”

"General!" Qin Chuan replied: "I don't think it will do us much good to occupy France at this time, because the French will try their best to sabotage our railways and highways, and the guerrillas will even attack them!" ”

When Major General Oxter heard this, he stopped talking.

Qin Chuan was right, at this time the German-occupied northern France was facing this situation.

"So!" Qin Chuan continued: "If we occupy France and establish a supply line, we will need quite a lot of troops to defend, and even if we do, we will not get good results, and we don't have that many troops!" ”

There is no doubt about this, the German army is attacking the Soviet Union in an all-out way, and there are still so many occupied areas that need to be garrisoned, and the most lacking thing at this time is soldiers.

"What's more important is ......" Qin Chuan said: "We use the French to help us transport, such as French trains, cars, and even transport ships, they still belong to Vichy France, and the British will not be able to bomb them unscrupulously, if we do this, it will only further deepen the hatred of the French against the British and push France to our side!" ”

Major General Oxter looked at Qin Chuan in a daze, he couldn't believe that an ensign would have such a bold idea.

Colonel Slein agreed, and asked Major General Oxter: "General, if you have no opinion, I will convey the idea of the second lieutenant to General Rommel!" ”

Major General Oxter nodded in agreement.

After Colonel Slein left, Major General Oxter asked: "Ensign, I would like to know your plans in Algiers, I mean, we only have two infantry divisions plus one paratrooper division, how can we block a possible Allied attack!" ”

Major General Oxter's words are to the point.

The 36th Infantry Division and the 155th Infantry Division were stationed in Tunisia and now into Algeria because of the possibility that the Allies would land in Algeria and threaten the rear of the Afrika Korps.

However, the two infantry divisions were still too small to defend the long coastline from Morocco to Algeria to Tunisia, which was one of the reasons why Major General Oxter was dissatisfied with the mission, which he considered simply impossible to complete.

After a pause, Major General Oxter added: "I have to emphasize that we have no extra troops to reinforce North Africa!" ”

"We still have the Zoaf Corps!" Qin Chuan said: "They have more than 100,000 people! ”

"You mean the French colonial troops?" A disdainful smile tugged at the corner of Major General Oxter's mouth: "We can't expect anything from them, let alone ...... You've given them freedom, i.e. we can't command them, can't you? ”

"No, General!" Qin Chuan replied: "We can command them, in a sense, they want us to command them!" ”

"Maybe!" Major General Oxter understood what Qin Chuan meant, the Zoaf Corps had been under the command of French officers for a long time, and when it was suddenly freed, it would be in a state of no command...... True, they can promote their own officers, but the problem is that these officers are generally untrained and do not know how to command troops in battle.

In addition, the Zoaf Corps needed to defend Algeria, so the Zoaf Corps would have hoped for help from the Germans.

Major General Ochster knew that Qin Chuan had this ability, but if it was him, he would not deal with these inferior people and pin his hopes on them.

"Of course!" Qin Chuan said: "We can't pin our hopes on them for the time being, they need time to train and eventually form combat effectiveness!" But we have a navy, and as soon as the French supply lines are rebuilt, our crews and sailors will soon come in droves, they are experienced veterans, quite a few of them have fought in war, all they need is to familiarize themselves with the French warships! ”

"Uh-huh!" "I don't deny that, but don't forget, even if we have a fleet, we have to deal with the British Home Fleet and the Mediterranean Fleet, and the British even have aircraft carriers and we have nothing, and besides that, the American fleet may join them in the battle, do you think our new fleet can defeat them?" ”

"That's right, General!" Qin Chuan replied: "Their strength is much stronger than ours, and I haven't thought about defeating them, I just hope to block their attack!" ”

"That's the point, second lieutenant!" Major General Oxter said: "How can you stop their attack!" ”

"Look at this, General!" Qin Chuan pointed to the map and said: "Our location is the western part of the Mediterranean, with the Strait of Gibraltar on the left, and its narrowest point is only 13 kilometers, and long-range artillery can blockade it!" We just need to deploy the 155th Infantry Division in Morocco, then add a couple of artillery units and assign a couple more submarines in the direction of the Strait of Gibraltar...... While completely blocking the British route, it will also block the British attack from the west! ”

Rear Admiral Oxter nodded, the Strait of Gibraltar is not as simple as 13 kilometers or 22 kilometers in the middle of the strait, there are reefs and shoals in between, and warships can sometimes only go from a fixed route, and the Germans only need to concentrate their fire on these routes to block it, and if necessary, they can also lay mines.

Of course, the disadvantage of laying mines is that the Germans' own ships and submarines cannot enter and exit, so they will not do this easily.

"And what about the east?" Major General Oxter asked.

"The east side is mainly based on surface warships and air forces!" Qin Chuan pointed to the area between Tunisia and Sicily on the map and said: "This is the Tunis Strait, the narrowest point is 148 kilometers, as long as we deploy enough air forces in Tunisia and Sicily, any fleet that enters the strait will be ruthlessly attacked by them, plus our surface fleet and laying mines...... The enemy's fleet could not even enter the western seas, let alone a landing operation! ”