"Arise, hungry slaves! Arise, all the suffering people of the world! The blood is already boiling, and we must fight for the truth! The old world is falling, slaves get up, get up! Don't say we have nothing, we want to be the masters of the world......"

April 10, 1940, 1 a.m. The high-pitched sound of "The Internationale" surrounded the Palais Martingnon. Reynaud still hadn't slept, he had been harassed by the damn singing for most of the night, but there was nothing he could do. Because there are many members of Congress among those who are leading the protests, all of whom are members of various hated **** political parties. In the minds of these people, the interests of the political struggle have taken precedence over the interests of the French state!

Although Gammelin, Weygand and Darlan have issued a joint statement in support of Renault. But these **** parliamentarians are still ready to initiate a vote of no confidence in the National Assembly. However, several small center-right parties changed their minds to support Renault, and the Renault government was able to get through. So the left-Pai political forces launched a street protest, ignoring the fact that France was in the midst of a world war!

And Paul. Renault had no way to do anything about the left, and according to the constitution, he could not dissolve the National Assembly and hold a new election...... Unless a military coup d'état is staged to establish a fascist dictatorship in France!

However, Paul, a lawyer. How could Renault have such guts? I can only let them mess around.

Prime Minister Reynolds, who had been caught up in sleep by the protesters' singing, was sitting at his desk writing a letter to US President Roosevelt, asking him to intervene in relations with the Soviet Union -- France could compensate the Soviet Union for its losses, as long as the Soviet Union was willing to cut off German oil supplies.

If the Soviets were willing to do so, France could also support the Soviets in recovering the Baltics, Lithuania, Finland, and Russian Poland after Germany's defeat.

In addition, East Prussia, West Prussia, Silesia and the former Austrian Galicia could all be occupied by the Soviet Union, and the Soviet Red Army could even be stationed in Berlin, and the machinery in Germany could be dismantled to build socialism in the Soviet Union!

Writing a letter full of pies, Paul. Reynaud began to read letters from other people who were his good friend, Charles. Charles de Gaulle - General de Gaulle was actually a soldier who was very good at befriending big people, including Petain, Weygon, Reynolds, and Gammelin.

In the letter, de Gaulle first sued for a confession. It's not to sue a colleague, but to think that this class of French GIs is not good at all. They all came to the barracks to serve as soldiers with a strong sense of war weariness, and they didn't train well when they arrived in the army, so they knew that they were messing around. And these people are very afraid of death, and they don't have the spirit of sacrificing their lives for the country with a smile like their fathers.

It would have been a terrible disaster to command them to attack the Germans, so de Gaulle understood very well the conservative layout of Admiral Gammelin.

But he was still very worried that the Germans would attack through Belgium and that they would succeed as they had done in 1914. Because today's Belgium cannot be compared with the Belgium of 1914 - neither the Belgian people nor the king of this year!

There was no greater, more determined and slightly stupid Belgian king than Albert I. He led Belgium to plug the guns for the French, scorched half the country, and turned a war that could have ended in a month into a protracted world war.

Now this current king, Leopold III, was frightened by the Germans and only thought about how to calm the anger of Kaiser Wilhelm.

At the end of the letter, Charles. De Gaulle again bluntly asked Renault for an officer, and de Gaulle hoped to take command of the newly created 4th Reserve Panzer Division.

The so-called "reserve armored divisions" were not replacements for the "official armored divisions", but really powerful armored divisions, reserves directly under the control of the French high command. Each reserve armored division has one heavy tank and a half brigade (a "half brigade" is a unit of formation, and one tank and a half brigade has two tank battalions under its jurisdiction), one light tank and a half brigade, one motorized hunting battalion, one motorized artillery regiment, and a number of subordinate units.

At this time, the French armored forces had 3 light mechanized divisions in addition to 4 reserve armored divisions (the 4th light mechanized division was also being formed). Although they bear the name of "light mechanization", they are actually "heavy" in terms of establishment and equipment, including 2 light mechanized brigades (in fact, 1 tank brigade and 1 motorized rifle brigade), 1 reconnaissance regiment and 1 artillery regiment. In addition, the regiments to which these three light mechanized divisions belonged, except for the artillery regiment, all hung the names of "dragoon regiment" and "cuirassier regiment".

Paul. After reading de Gaulle's letter, Renault took out his letter and pen and began to write back. He promised to get the Fourth Panzer Division being formed for De Gaulle as soon as possible, and said that when Gan Molin's expansion plan was completed, he could make De Gaulle the commander of the Panzer Army. As for de Gaulle's concerns, he would once again remind Admiral Gammel to be vigilant......

Admiral Gammelin was not in Paris at this time, and his headquarters had moved to Vincennes, a few days earlier, on the outskirts of Paris. It was a quiet little town, and there was no French working class bent on defending the Soviet Union, and German planes would probably not be frequented. This allowed the admiral to concentrate on commanding his 108 divisions (several more than a while earlier).

De Gaulle's fears – the German breakthrough from Belgium – were in fact the concerns of Gammel and the rest of the British and French forces at the highest level. Tonight, a somewhat insomniaced Admiral Ganmalin stood in the quiet headquarters (now his headquarters could not hear the telephone ringing, and there was no loud noise, and the silence was a little strange), standing in front of a large electric sand table, looking at the wooden plaque on it symbolizing the divisional combat units of the British and French forces.

Seeing a large number of wooden plaques symbolizing the "division" piled up in the northeastern part of France, near Belgium, Admiral Gammelin frowned.

The Belgian and Luxembourg governments have been discussing the issue of "confirmation of neutrality" with the German government. The Netherlands, Italy, Sweden, Norway and Denmark are among the countries that actively mediate as if a deal could really be reached.

Therefore, the Belgian and Luxembourg governments, which had hopes for neutrality, were always unwilling to side with Britain and France and allowed the Anglo-French troops to enter the country, which caused great difficulties for the Anglo-French forces to defend Belgium.

For political reasons and the British position (Britain would not allow Germany to take control of Belgium, as that would put the British mainland, the English Channel, and even part of the Atlantic west of the British Isles under the threat of German shore-based aircraft), the coalition forces that were now not allowed to enter Belgium could not consider abandoning Belgium and deploying in France. Rather, it is necessary to be ready to drive a considerable part of the main force into Belgium.

Therefore, in the "Dale River" plan formulated in March and the "Secret Instruction No. 9" issued on March 20 (revising the "Dale River" plan), the French High Command regarded the aid to Belgium as the same center of gravity as the "Maginot line" line.

According to the plan, by Joseph. The 1st Army Group under the command of Admiral George on the Northeast Front (the entire Anglo-French army was divided into two fronts, the Northeast and the Southwest), was specially designed to carry out Belgian combat missions. The army group consisted of the 1st, 2nd, 7th, and 9th armies of the French army and the British Expeditionary Force, totaling 41 divisions. Among them, the French army has 32 divisions, including 3 powerful light mechanized divisions, 7 motorized divisions and 4 light cavalry divisions (in fact, the semi-motorized cavalry is composed of 1 cavalry brigade and 1 motorized cavalry brigade), and the British army has 8 motorized infantry divisions and the 1st Panzer Corps group (division level) composed of the 2nd, 4th and 22nd tank brigades.

That is, of the 41 divisions that Army Group 1 has, there are 4 armored / light mechanized divisions (6 tank brigades, so it can also be considered 6 armored divisions), 15 motorized infantry divisions, 4 semi-motorized cavalry divisions, for a total of 23 mechanized / motorized divisions (the British Expeditionary Force is highly motorized). This army group can be regarded as a sharp sword in the hands of the British and French forces that can pierce the Belgian battlefield at any time!

In addition to the sword, Gammelin also has a "Maginot Shield" that can withstand any attack. The 50 divisions of the 2nd Army Group and the 3rd Army Group were now stationed in the "Maginot Line", which was theoretically impossible to break through with a strong line and a large number of artillery (the Anglo-French army had 1 times more artillery than the Germans).

In addition to these 91 divisions, Admiral Gammelin also has a strong reserve of 17 divisions, including 4 strong reserve armored divisions (the 4th reserve armored division is being formed).

If you count these 4 reserve panzer divisions and 1 light cavalry division (semi-motorized) attached to the 3rd Army (garrisoning the "Maginot Line"), the number of mechanized/motorized units owned by the Anglo-French army will be as many as 28 divisions, of which 8 are armored divisions (including light mechanized divisions), which is already on par with the Germans in terms of numbers!

In addition, the French High Command deployed 10 divisions in the southeast and southwest to defend the borders with Italy, Spain, and Switzerland, and they could also fight north if the northeastern front was tight.

In addition to these units, which have completed training and organization, France has many servicemen who are participating in training. Immediately after the outbreak of the world war, France implemented a general mobilization, bringing the French army to more than 6 million (more than Germany's current 5.8 million), and now less than 3 million have completed their full training (with 22 divisions still being formed). The rest will be fully trained in 1941, when Admiral Gambler's forces will be greatly increased.

"At that time, the opportunity to attack to the east and destroy Germany will come!" Thinking of this, Admiral Gammelin let out a long breath and said to himself, "If our blockade still does not lead to a revolution in Germany!" (To be continued.) )