"It seems that we need to think about the worst-case scenario. The British surrendered at Dunkirk without a fight, allowing the Germans to liberate an elite Panzer Corps, which was the 19th Panzer Corps, which had broken through the ten main divisions of Belgium in half a day. ”

After Wei Gang was silent in the command headquarters for a while, the silence was broken by the newly promoted lieutenant general Bironte, the commander who had just taken over the command of an army from the Maginot Line, sighed, pointed to the large-scale map by the wall, and said: "As we all know, the commander of the German 19th Panzer Army is Guderian. Judging by this man's command style, he may soon lead his troops south to assault. ”

With a telescopic pole, Berente pointed to the line of the Songmu, Oise and Aisne rivers on the map, and said to everyone: "You can see that the last line of defense that our army can rely on at the moment can only be the area set by General Wei Gang. Obviously, the Germans could also detect this, and Guderian, the commander, had always been vigorous and good at rushing operations, so he would definitely attack when our army was not firmly established. ”

Although he was only a lieutenant general, he was a subordinate of General Petain at the time of Berente, and he was well acquainted with his experience, so Wei Gang's use of Berente was much more important than that of ordinary army commanders. Now, the situation analyzed by Belant has actually been indicated by Admiral Wei Gang's nod.

"From Dunkirk to the Som, Oise and Aisne rivers, we don't have enough strategic depth. And considering the rapid rush of the German armored forces, we even lack time to prepare. The telescopic rod in Berante's hand moved on the map to the sign where Dunkirk was located. Since you only need to move slightly around the map, this distance is unusually short.

Belant's telescopic pole finally stopped at Dunkirk, which was marked in blue: "Here, nearly 100,000 troops of our army surrendered one after another under the influence of the British Expeditionary Force, resulting in the sudden disappearance of our existing containment force in the north." Originally, our 100,000 men plus nearly 200,000 British troops could completely stop the German 19th Panzer Army. Blocking the German Panzer forces in the north, it would be relatively easy to deal with the few Panzer Divisions left by the Germans in front of our line. Now, however, it seems that our new line of defense will have to contend head-on with all the German panzer divisions. ”

"The staff officers of the headquarters have already deduced in detail with a sand table." Belante glanced at Wei Gang, and after receiving a nod from the other party, he continued: "The Germans have too many armored forces, which are completely enough to support them to launch a multi-pronged offensive from the Somm River to the south. To put it bluntly, their tanks alone can almost crush the defensive line we have worked so hard to build. There were too many places on this long line of defense that could be broken by the Germans. Moreover, the German motorized rifle divisions were able to quickly reach the front line as follow-up forces to support their offensive......"

Belante's words aroused an exclamation from the generals and schools present. Although the staff officers of the headquarters have made deductions, they have also watched them. With the 61 poorly equipped third-rate divisions left in the French army, even if the 8 second-rate divisions withdrawn from the Maginot Line are added, they can only slightly resist the German army for a while at most.

After all, neither those third-rate garrisons that remained on the second line, nor the second-rate fortress divisions in the Maginot Line, which lacked mobile weapons, did not have sufficient anti-tank weapons. When it came to the German tanks, they were almost defenseless.

Perhaps, the 8 divisions of the Maginot Line relied on the strong fortifications and large-caliber fortress guns on the defense line, and they could easily resist the German armored forces.

But without the Maginot Line, there were only 8 "pure" infantry divisions, and pure armored vehicles, transporters, and artillery were scarce and scarce. After all, they were originally only fortress troops, and did not need to be equipped with armored vehicles, transporters, and other equipment of field troops. As for the artillery, with the fortress guns fixed on the defensive line, what else do they need to be equipped with?

But even so, Wei Gang drew these 8 divisions into a new line of defense.

The reason is very simple, even these 8 fortress divisions, their training level and combat ability, are much stronger than the 61 third-rate divisions in his hands. Wei Gang needed these 8 divisions to come back as the main force and pillar of the new defensive line. Stabilize the overall situation.

It sounds a bit sad and pitiful that the poorly equipped second-rate division is used as the main force, but this is the current situation of the French Army, and it is the situation that this French army, which was known as the "world's first army" more than a month ago, is facing at this moment.

"That's the imperative we face!" Belant said in a serious voice: "The enemy we are about to face is not only not a new armed force as everyone thought before the war, but on the contrary, they are very strong, even stronger than us now!" ”

"Still, we're not out of the cracks." Belant frowned, and then quickly said, "At least for now, our army is under the command of the experienced General Wei Gang, not by a layman like Gammelin. The hundreds of thousands of troops of the dignified French Third Republic, as long as they can be commanded, relying on the geographical advantages of the Som, Oise and Aisne rivers, if they want to stop the German army, it is completely feasible! ”

Speaking of which, since the establishment of the French Third Republic, it has been full of disasters and difficulties.

It has experienced successive crises over the past 70 years, from the fall of a government to the appointment of a mentally ill president. Moreover, he also caught up with the world war twice, and was also beaten by Germany.

It's just that in the last world war, with the help of the British and American troops, they barely repelled Kaiser Wilhelm's army. And this time, the United States has not yet entered the war by protecting itself across the Atlantic. The British had already suffered a great defeat in the North Sea, and the expeditionary force had surrendered completely. The allies who could help France no longer existed.

Oh, and what about the Belgian allies?

However, their presence this time was too low, and they lost their main force on the first day of the war, and then paddled all the way until they officially surrendered four days ago. The 22 divisions of the Belgian Army, almost the whole time, did not play any role, as if they did not exist like air.

Yes, there are no allies to rely on anyway, so at this time you can only ask for more blessings. The officers present could also figure this out, so they did not interrupt Bronte's policy of dealing with the enemy alone.

Of course, at this time, the French army could only respond to the enemy alone.

"Relying on the river to settle troops, even at the expense of blowing up bridges, in short, we must first arrange a defensive line as soon as possible." At the end of the meeting, Wei Gang, as the commander-in-chief, opened his mouth and concluded: "Lieutenant General Belant has made it very clear that taking advantage of the geographical advantage and rational command is our only strategy, and it is also an absolutely feasible strategy!" ”

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PS: Before I knew it, the desperate situation was actually written to 400 chapters. At this juncture when millions of words are about to be written, Feiyu quietly begged for votes and rewards. Perhaps, the fifth watch will become the tenth watch at the end of the month.