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Chapter 1718 Chaotic Situation

The Maginot Line in western France, stretching from the Franco-Italian border on the Mediterranean coast in the south to the Franco-Belgian border on the North Sea coast in the north, is about 700 kilometers long and consists of groups of independent fortifications. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

The South China Military Observer Group, headed by General Yang Fei, deputy chief of the General Staff, arrived in Paris, France, in early February, and after being warmly received by both French and political circles, it visited the Maginot Line on 20 July, accompanied by Brigadier General de Gaulle, who had just been promoted to commander of the armored division.

As a direct beneficiary of the fact that the French armoured forces were beginning to equip their armoured forces on a large scale with tanks, armoured vehicles and trucks produced in South China for export, de Gaulle was more than happy to accompany guests from the East.

When the group stepped into the world-famous fortress, which was built 20 meters underground, and in some cases even 90 meters deep, General Deng Bin, deputy head of the observation group, said with emotion: "What a magnificent underground city, this is simply a miracle in the history of military engineering fortification!" ”

De Gaulle led the mermaids through the labyrinthine underground fortifications of the Maginot Line, came to the lookout hole, and introduced it in broken Chinese:

"As you have just seen, when the enemy forces cross the border, they will first be resisted by the defenders of the 'House Fortress'. The main task of these garrisons was to carry out the initial deterrent battle and transmit the alarm to the main defensive positions, and a kilometer or two back was the outpost position, the most advanced part of the main body of the defensive line, where bunkers were built, and units armed with machine guns and 47mm anti-tank guns were permanently stationed. Outposts are mined, and bunkers are covered by obstacles, such as barbed wire to prevent infantry assaults, anti-tank rails and trenches, and so on. The role of the outpost position is to continue to delay the enemy's attack, and the main defensive positions also support the battle of the outpost position with firepower. ”

Born in the northwestern French border city of Lille, de Gaulle graduated from the Saint-Cyr Military Academy and was favored by Commander Petain when he served as a second lieutenant officer in the 33rd Infantry Regiment in Aras. De Gaulle was wounded several times in the early stages of the last European war, and later died of a bullet while commanding a company in Duaumont in northeastern France, and later became a prisoner of the German army.

At the end of the European War, de Gaulle was drafted into Poland to fight against the Russian Red Army. In October 21, de Gaulle returned to China and served as a lecturer in the history of war at the Saint-Cyr Military Academy, at the School of Law and Affairs, as a battalion commander in the 19th Battalion of Chasseurs in Teller, and at the General Staff Headquarters of the Eastern Mediterranean Region and the General Secretariat of the Ministry of Defence. Because of Petain's care, he was promoted to colonel the year before last and served as the commander of the tank regiment, and last year France purchased a large number of tanks from South China, and the tank regiment was expanded, and he served as a division commander and was promoted to brigadier general.

De Gaulle was very gifted in languages, in addition to his native French, he could also speak German, Russian, and Latin, and after the invasion of French Annam, de Gaulle taught himself Chinese in order to study this mysterious army, and is now able to communicate in Chinese.

Lieutenant General Zhang Tianyi, the head of education at the Syrian Non-commissioned Officer School, asked, "May I ask the general, where is your main defensive position?" What does it do? ”

De Gaulle smiled and said: "Here it is, at your feet, honorable Lieutenant General." Behind the outpost, what we call the 'Resistance Position', it is built on the slopes of a low hill and consists mainly of pillboxes and large fortresses. Pillboxes are mainly vaulted buildings or vaulted chambers, divided into two floors, ground and underground, mainly used to configure artillery, annexation or storage of supplies. The guns here are designed outward through the firing holes in the gun chambers, rather than being pulled out of the turret to fire, and this is the bunker-style artillery of our Maginot Line.

"The large fortresses, on the other hand, consisted mainly of infantry cannon or artillery fortifications built on the ground and entrance fortifications in the rear, connected by tunnels, and fought with the support of underground barracks, ammunition depots, power stations, and command posts.

The delegation listened, walked and watched with relish. After walking for a while, "Huh!?" There's an armored chalk door there, what is it for? Lieutenant General Han Yaoxian, director of education at the Simao Army Command College, suddenly asked.

De Gaulle stepped forward and opened the door, only to see a deep ditch in front of the door, on which there was a movable springboard.

"This is for enemy tanks!" De Gaulle explained: "The firing chambers inside the fortress were covered by fire, and the enemy could only penetrate the main tunnels after overcoming all these obstacles, and the main tunnels were usually at the same level as the entrance fortifications, but there were also cases where they were lower than the entrance fortifications, and some large fortresses were accessed from the main tunnels by a gentle slope, while others reached the main tunnels by elevator. ”

Yang Fei nodded: "Very good...... I didn't expect that this place, like the fortress we built in Songhu, is also equipped with elevators. ”

De Gaulle smiled and did not speak, and led everyone along the main tunnel, which was six meters high and seven meters wide, and only when he reached the place did he say: "Everyone, please see, this is where the ammunition depot of this section of the fortification is located!" ”

The delegation looked closely and saw a number of small ammunition rooms arranged in a lattice pattern, forming a huge ammunition depot, each sealed by a fire door. Ammunition is stored in square metal ammunition boxes, ready to be transported to various combat fortifications via a network of railways in tunnels, and the internal locomotives are powered by overhead cables, and the wagons and locomotives are parked on railroad tracks close to the ammunition depots.

Major General Ye Ziquan, president of the Southern Yunnan Air Defense Forces Command College, was a little worried: "Once the enemy hits this place, or if there is an explosion inside the tunnel, your ammunition depot is tantamount to an incomparably powerful time bomb!" ”

"It's okay!"

De Gaulle pointed to the side: "Do you see this protective door?" It weighed seventeen tons, which separated the entire ammunition depot area from the rest of the fortress, and in the event of an explosion in the tunnel, the protective door closed itself. ”

Lieutenant General Wang Buyun, president of the Southwest Engineering Academy, asked: "Where is the living quarter?" With so many officers and soldiers stationed in this dark place for a long, long time, the living quarters must be designed to be very comfortable and comfortable, right? ”

"Please follow me!"

De Gaulle led the group to the personnel entrance of the large fortress: "The main barracks area is located in the tunnels, not far from this entrance. There are ample supplies and water stored there, there are also power generators and mechanical ventilation that can be operated manually in the basements, and air filters are installed in the barracks area to provide fresh air and remove toxic and foul exhaust gases. ”

Yang Fei and the others saw that the living conditions here were very bad, the dormitories of the lower officers and soldiers were equipped with three layers of iron beds, the highest floor was almost next to the smooth ceiling of the vaulted room, and the supreme commander of the fortress and the commanders of the fortifications in the fortress were treated better, enjoying a single room with a bed, a small cupboard, a chair and a table, all made of metal, and a washbasin. The officers' canteen in the fort did not have the luxury and comforts of the facilities, but the living quarters did have a dining hall, a commissary, a kitchen, and a hospital equipped with the necessary surgical instruments. De Gaulle said that whenever possible, it would be better for the wounded to be sent back to a rear hospital for surgery.

"Generals, do you have any questions?" De Gaulle asked politely.

Deng Bin thought for a while and said: "General, we want to know how to settle the dead, I learned from some newspapers that it is said that the corpses here will first be soaked in acidic liquid to reduce the volume, and then washed away through the drainage ditch, and there is also news that the corpses are buried in a large amount of quicklime, is there such a thing?" ”

"Where is the situation so terrible!" De Gaulle smiled: "Each of our forts has some metal-plated coffins and a morgue with proper equipment, so we don't have to worry about our future!" ”

The delegation then visited the cafes, small restaurants and bars that lined the rear of the Maginot Line. French and British soldiers can be seen everywhere, eating fried eggs and fried potato chips, drinking white wine and singing the song "We will dry our clothes on the Siegfried Line".

In a small river in the middle of the defense line, the delegation was even surprised to see that British, French, and German officers and soldiers were swimming and frolicking in the same river, secretly running to the other side's defense line to exchange food and drinks, and the German soldiers even cheered for the football match held by the British and French troops on the other side of the river.

On the way back to Paris, while the convoy was resting in a town, de Gaulle received a good news from the French High Command: the heroic French Air Force had attacked Baku in the Caucasus this morning, and had achieved great results.

After reading the message, de Gaulle's face became ugly.

Yang Fei didn't know what was going on, so he hurriedly asked. After De Gaulle explained, he lamented: "It's over, it's over, the enraged polar bear, don't declare war on us...... It is incomprehensible to me that our country is clearly at war with Germany, but our heads of government and army are more hostile to Stalin than to Hitler, and are not thinking about the strategy and tactics of resisting the German invasion, but they are too busy fighting Soviet Russia, which is far away in the world, whether it is supporting Finland in the past or bombing Baku today, they are far more busy fighting against Germany. There is no hope in France now......"

The French Air Force bombed Baku?

Yang Fei and Deng Bin glanced at each other, and they both felt extremely shocked from each other's eyes, but they were relieved when they thought about it, compared with Germany, a villain who has repeatedly broken his word, Soviet Russia does not seem to be much better.

At the end of November last year, the Soviet army's invasion of a weak and peaceful neighbor on the ground and for no reason aroused tremendous international outrage, and the Finns put up a heroic resistance, and although they were outnumbered in numbers, they still stubbornly held back the Soviet Red Army, and won the unanimous admiration and sympathy of Britain, France, the United States, and other countries.

In France, the war with Germany was forgotten for the time being, Stalin replaced Hitler as the great enemy of the Democratic Republic, the French newspapers and parliament, which had done little to Poland, soon urged the government to support Finland, and on December 13 last year, ships loaded with munitions began to sail to the besieged country, and on the 19th, at a meeting of the highest level of the Allies, Britain and France agreed to greatly increase the delivery of war materials to Finland.

At the beginning of this year, France began to discuss an expedition to the port of Happezamo in the Arctic, trying to defeat the Soviet and Russian attempts on Finland while capturing the ports and airfields of western Norway and expanding its military operations to the Swedish mines of Grivel, so that the Germans would not be able to obtain the iron ore needed to make munitions, and also open a new front to attract some German forces there, thus preventing the German attack on France in the spring.

However, due to the fierce offensive in Southeast Asia, Britain resolutely opposed the war with Germany and Japan, and then became enemies of the Soviet Union, but Britain also believed that it was necessary to use aid to Finland as a shield to occupy the neutral port area of western Norway, especially Narvik, which would make it impossible for Germany to obtain these ports and airports, and at the same time cut off the winter supply of Swedish ore on which Germany depended. In the summer, the ore can be transported by ship from Sweden via the Gulf of Bothnia, but in the winter the bay freezes and the ore is transported by train from northern Sweden to the Norwegian port of Narvik for loading.

However, the aggressive Soviet offensive in Persia caused the British to change their minds.

From the end of last year to the present, the Soviet army, which invaded Persia from Afghanistan, after occupying Mashhad and establishing the Workers' and Peasants' Soviets, went all the way north to the Caspian Sea, and was replenished by the equipment and troops that the Soviet Union had shipped from ports on the western coast of the Caspian Sea. At present, the Persian government is hoarding heavy troops in the Alborz Mountains to defend it to the death, and a major war is about to break out.

Stalin had his own considerations - now that Britain and France had expelled the Soviet ambassadors to the two countries, diplomatic relations were basically severed, and according to the feedback of intelligence officers in France, it was very likely that the French army would directly send troops north to aid Finland, which would disrupt the Soviet Union's plan to annex the Baltic states.

In order to divert attention, Afghanistan and Persia in the "Shengshi Talent Department" has become a very good object to use, the better they fight in Persia, the greater the help to the overall strategy of the Soviet Union, if they can take the oil field area in southwest Persia in one fell swoop, it will be a surprise, support a puppet government and then occupy the magpie's nest, Soviet Russia can not be more skillful.

But despite Stalin's repeated denials that the Persian and Afghan armies were related to him, the British, who were not fools, could not be deceived again and again? At present, the Japanese army is engaged in wind and rain in Southeast Asia, which has seriously threatened India's security, and after the Soviet army entered and occupied Afghanistan, India has fallen into the encirclement of the Japanese army and the Soviet army. Fortunately, the Anjia Army sent troops in time to contain the movement of the Soviet army in Afghanistan, which gave the British a breather.

Now, the Soviet army is marching towards Tehran, which directly threatens the security of Britain's oil fields in southwestern Persia, and the Soviet-British conflict has rapidly intensified.

On the 5th of this month, at the high-level meeting between Britain and France, France agreed to abandon its plan to expedition to the Arctic Sea, while Britain agreed to send a British and French expeditionary force of about 30,000 men to Finland, which they called the Volunteer Army. The force first went to the Norwegian port of Narvik, then to Sweden along the railway transporting ore, and finally to Finland to fight the Soviets. At the same time, the Mediterranean Fleet of the French Navy will send a detachment to the Black Sea to cut off oil shipments from the Caucasus to Germany, and at the same time cut off the transportation of German ships.

The Soviets, keenly aware of France's troop movements, immediately engaged their fleet in Black Ireland into a-for-tat confrontation, the most effective of which was to place mines in the southern Black Sea region.

Ten days ago, a French destroyer sank in the Black Sea in northern Turkey, driven by right-wing forces, the French parliament efficiently passed a resolution to launch a-for-tat retaliatory action against Soviet Russia, and the French Air Force officially borrowed British fighters from the airports of Mosul, Dahuk, and Erbil in northern Iraq, and the airports of Tabriz, Urmiyah, and Zamjan in Persia, preparing to teach the Soviet Union a profound lesson.

is trying to bring Edward. Daladier pulled down the Minister of Finance from the prime minister's throne Paul. Speaking in Parliament, Renault said:

"The decisive war operations that were about to take place in the Caspian Sea and the Caucasus were not only aimed at preventing the oil of Red Russia from reaching Germany, but also, primarily aimed at paralyzing the entire Russian economy before the Germans could reorganize it into their own interests. In other words, destroying the oil production capacity of Soviet Russia can make Germany's planes, tanks, and trucks lack enough fuel and can only become a pile of decorations! ”

Renault's words drew warm applause and gained widespread support in parliament and among the people.

Sensing the threat of Reynolds, Daladier quickly gave the order to bomb the Baku oil fields after receiving a report from the commander-in-chief of the French army, Admiral Ganmerin, to show that he was a staunch nation.

In his report, Ganmerin suggested that in order to eliminate the threat of Soviet Russia, it was necessary for France to concentrate its air power and bomb Baku on the Caspian Sea, both now and in the future. There are the main oil wells and oil refineries of Soviet Russia, which account for 75 percent of the Russian oil supply, and if this resource can be blown up, not only will Germany lose Soviet Russian oil, but Soviet Russia itself will be in a crisis situation because of the lack of oil, so that in a few months, Soviet Russia will face a complete collapse.

After a week of meticulous preparations, France dispatched more than 500 warplanes in one go to launch a surprise attack on the Caucasus region of the Soviet Union. Although the Soviets expected the possibility of French military action, they did not expect that France's determination was so great, and all the warplanes on the airfields in the Caucasus and Azerbaijan were wiped out on the runway before they could take off, Baku was devastated, oil wells and pipelines were blown up, oil refineries were ablaze, and ports, docks and cities were plunged into gunsmoke.

Deng Bin deliberately pretended to be puzzled and asked: "General de Gaulle, it seems that you are afraid of bombing Baku, but as far as I know, France does not share a border with the Soviet Union, and if it is bombed, it will be blown up. ”

"The problem shouldn't be seen that way!"

De Gaulle shook his head again and again: "Now that we have declared war with Germany, we should concentrate all our forces and defeat the Germans first before talking about anything else. Germany and the Soviet Union are not monolithic, Hitler's "Mein Kampf" is ** naked declaration of hatred for Soviet Russia, even if it can temporarily coexist peacefully, there will definitely be problems in the future, and now it is like this, isn't it the initiative to drag the Soviet Union into confrontation? We will also reduce one potential ally because of our willfulness! ”

Yang Fei comforted: "The general doesn't have to worry too much, now Soviet Russia is also fighting on multiple fronts, the Urals in the east and Finland in the west are not peaceful, and we have to guard against German counter-water at any time, constantly deploying heavy troops on the border, if we declare war on France and Britain again, it will really be a birthday boy hanging, and I think my life is long!" It seems to me that at least until the two great henchmen of Finland and the Far Eastern Republic are resolved, the USSR will definitely not declare war on France, at most using the Soviet troops in Persia for a diversion war! ”

De Gaulle thought that this was indeed the case, and his face looked much better: "I hope so! ”

That night, in a luxurious suite at the Hotel Morris next to the Louvre in Paris, the delegation and his entourage of generals were gathering together to discuss in whispers what they had seen during the day.

"Even an army that invests ten times the defenders will not be able to overcome the Maginot Line, this fortification is indeed a miracle in the history of human architecture!" Lieutenant General Wang Buyun, president of the Southwest Engineering Academy, who is a counterpart in his major, was sincerely impressed.

Yes, this was also an important reason why the French government and army did not want to make progress when Germany attacked Poland. If there are ready-made fortifications to use, why attack the strong Siegfried line and let your advantage go to waste? The whole of France is full of dependence on the Maginot Line! Zhang Tianyi said thoughtfully.

Han Yaoxian was dismissive of the conservatism of the French: "The fortress is dead, the people are alive, only the offense is the best defense, and the French concept is at least twenty years behind the times!" In my opinion, since they know that it is a hard bone, the Germans will definitely not touch the Maginot Line, and can only find a way from other aspects, and the Western Front and the Central Line are good choices! ”

Yang Fei took out a thick document from the briefcase he was carrying:

"Here is a document for you to tell you, in response to the possible German attack in the spring, the British and French high-level consensus has reached three points: first, the German army cannot attack the strong Maginot Line head-on; Second, the Ardennes mountain forests between Nangway and Namur were considered by the soldiers to be restricted from the movement of large armies, especially for armoured troops; Third, the German army's offensive plan could not go beyond the scope of the 'Schlieffen Plan' of the last European war, and it was very likely that it would follow the old path of the last world war, focusing the offensive on the right flank, first breaking through Belgium, reaching the coast, and then sweeping all the way through the Belgian plains to invade France.

Based on these three realizations, the French deployed only a few less combat-ready units in the Ardennes and focused their defense on the northern end of the front, the right flank of the German army. According to the experience of the last European war, the Allies paid special attention to the direction of Belgium north of the line of Liège and Namur, so they put forward three plans for maneuvering the Anglo-French forces to Belgium, and finally selected Plan D, that is, the Allied forces organized defense on the front line of Antwerp, the Dire River, Namur and Sedan, and when the German army launched an attack on Belgium, the Anglo-French forces used the Belgian army to delay the German attack, and with the coordination of the Belgian army, relying on the defensive positions there to crush the German attack.

"According to this plan, the coalition forces spread out three army groups on the northeastern border of France from Dunkirk to Switzerland, and also had twenty-three divisions of strategic reserves, in addition to the armies of Belgium, Luxembourg and other countries, with a total strength of up to four million! Overall, the plan is decent and doesn't have any bright spots. And always defending behind the battle line, waiting for the enemy to attack, is too passive and undesirable! ”

Zhang Tianyi smiled slightly: "Due to the turmoil between the Soviet Union and China, the guiding ideology of Britain and France is extremely chaotic now, and it is impossible to attack or defend, and the battle line extends from Southeast Asia all the way to Europe, how awkward it looks." In particular, it is absolutely not wise for France, under the threat of a strong German enemy, to provoke the Soviet Union, and I estimate that the situation will be even more chaotic in the future.

"The Soviets bombed Baku, can they eat this dumb loss? It will definitely increase the assistance to the Soviet army in Persia, eliminate the Persian government in one go, completely drive the British army into the sea, take possession of the oil fields in southwestern Persia, and then support a puppet government and establish a so-called absolute defense circle, and then it will be difficult for the British not to declare war with the Soviet Union! ”

Deng Bin laughed: "The more chaotic it is, the better it is for us, spring is coming soon, and the various fronts in Afghanistan will be relaunched next month, at most in a month or two, we can clean up the remnants of Sheng Shicai, and when we have Afghanistan, we can fish in troubled waters and find an outlet to the sea for Central Asia, and in the end, no matter who wins, it will be us who will benefit!" ”

Deng Bin's words caused a burst of laughter, and the bodyguards of the Central Security Bureau, who accompanied him, had already inspected the room with instruments, found six bugs, and confirmed that they were safe, so everyone had no scruples, and talked about many problems, and finally slowly dispersed.

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: The heart rate is finally controlled at about 100, although it occasionally jumps rapidly to 140 or 150, but the overall situation is relatively stable, but the concurrent asthma and cough are very uncomfortable, and when coughing, the lungs seem to cough out!

In any case, as long as the myocarditis is controlled, otherwise the feeling of imminent death is really desperate! In the future, we will continue to treat and recuperate, and the update will still not be fixed, so I will continue to apologize......