In the Operations Staff Room of the Wehrmacht Headquarters, a group of generals were looking at a huge sand table map, on which many strongholds were clearly marked, and from the German side, the French border seemed to be a huge fortress.

"The French are building on the border, we have kindly exported 200,000 tons of cement to them, and now the Maginot Line is beginning to take shape, and it is arguably the strongest permanent fortification to date. A combat staff officer pointed to the French border with a long whip and said.

"The French built large fortifications from Longillon to Belfort, about 390 kilometers long. These include the Metz fortification area, the Saar floodplain area, the Lauter fortification area, the Lower Rhine fortification area, and the Belfort fortification area. The staff officer said as he pointed with his long whip, and Accardo on the side looked a little absent-minded.

"According to the information from our intelligence officers, the entire defense line consists of a support zone with a depth of 4~14 kilometers and a main defense zone with a depth of 6~8 kilometers. The French spent billions of francs for this line of defense. The two strongest fortified areas are Metz and Lauter. The Saar floodplain is made up of natural river barriers and marshland, and the fortifications have only begun this year, and the fortifications are the weakest. Gascoll pointed to the sand table, and several generals around him nodded frequently with their hands on their chins.

This line of defense was built by the French with great painstaking investment, and it can be said to be the pinnacle of drawing on the experience of positional warfare in the First World War. The French government and the army wanted to use this line of defense to warn the Germans that if Germany attacked France, it would be mired in endless war.

The Lower Rhine fortified territory is protected by the Rhine, Rhône and Caiin canals, and is supported by permanent firing fortifications along the Rhine. In the most important areas of the Metz and Lauter fortifications, a complex of fortifications suitable for ring defense was constructed with a combination of surface and underground parts.

The ground part is armored or reinforced concrete machine gun fortifications and artillery fortifications, and the underground part has several floors, including command posts, personnel lounges, food storage rooms, ammunition depots, ambulance stations, power stations, filtration and ventilation rooms, etc. There are passages between the fortifications and electric vehicles.

The weapons in the firing fortifications were specially designed and installed. A total of about 5,800 permanent fortifications for various purposes were constructed along the entire defensive line, with a density of 15 fortifications per kilometer of frontage. The roof and walls of the strongest reinforced concrete fortifications were up to 3 thick. 5 meters, the armor of the armored tower was 300 mm thick, and both were resistant to direct hits from two 420-mm mortar shells.

The anti-tank obstacles in the defensive line mainly include anti-tank trenches, cliffs, cliffs, and metal and concrete piles, reinforced with minefields. Anti-infantry obstacles are generally metal piles or wooden piles barbed wire, and some sections are also set up with electrified barbed wire.

The German Army is now armed with a measly 150 mm of the largest caliber of artillery, and even counting the battleships of the Navy that are still in the drawings, the largest caliber of the Wehrmacht artillery is only 280 mm.

So on the positive side, the Wehrmacht was completely unable to break through this line of defense, and if it was forced to attack, the staff officers estimated that Germany would lose at least 100,000 men within five days of the attack. This is obviously not the result that the military wants to see, because it has always pursued a policy of elite soldiers, so no one wants to take 100,000 elite Wehrmacht to fill this big hole.

Since the news of the French building a defensive line, such meetings have been held no less than three times, and almost every time they have ended in desperation. Accardo was specially allowed to participate in such military meetings as a special advisor, but he had his own little calculations in mind, so naturally he would not come up with a killer idea to share so early, so he simply wandered out of the world. Everyone was reluctant to fight on two fronts during World War I, so they were reluctant to fall into the trench warfare that the French were good at.

Bypassing this line of defense and having to invade the Netherlands, Belgium and other countries is tantamount to declaring war with the whole world, and the German * side and the government are not ready for this, so this plan has also been temporarily rejected.

At this stage, the strategic focus is on Austria and Czechoslovakia, which means that Germany is trying to confuse Britain and France by moving eastward, but does not want to go too far and annoy the Soviet behemoth.

"General Brauchitsch. Accardo walked over to his henchman and let out a soft cry, and the two of them came to a corner where there were relatively few people.

Accardo didn't go around in circles and asked directly, "How are the preparations on the Eastern Front?"

"Now there are eight divisions of troops being prepared, and we have enough ammunition and fuel to attack at any time. However, I am afraid that we will be dragged by the Czechs, and France will fall into the ground. ”

"In your name, put forward a bill to build a line of defense on the border called 'Siegfried' to confuse the French. Accardo thought for a moment and said, "But I'm not going to spend too much money on this line of defense, do you know what I mean?"

"I see, but what can I do?" asked Brauchitsch after a moment's thought.

"If the armor plate is insufficient, replace it with cement, if the cement is insufficient, replace it with wooden planks, the machine gun bunker does not need people to go in, just have a fake shooting hole, I want a big project that saves money and looks majestic. Glancing at the German-French border, Accardo said, "I'm going to make the French really think that we are not going to attack, but to fight a trench defense with them." ”

Anna pushed open the door of the conference room, looked up for a moment, then walked to Accardo's side, whispered in his ear: "Mr. Prime Minister, General Tukhachevsky landed at the Berlin airfield an hour ago, and is now waiting for you in the reception room on the other side of the corridor. ”

"Let's go, go and ask our friends* why they didn't fulfill their contract. Accardo smiled and nodded to General Brauchitsch and said, "I'm sorry, I have important things to deal with now. As soon as you talk to General Hamestain for me, you'll say I'm sorry to leave halfway. ”

General Hamestin certainly did not mind Accardo's departure, and Brauchitsch personally delivered Accardo to the door of the conference room, and politely said goodbye to Miss Anna, the chancellor's secretary.

Soon after, Accardo met General Tukhachevsky in the reception room, and the two long-lost old friends hugged warmly, then laughed and parted.

"Congratulations on becoming Chancellor of Germany! Accardo! You always surprise me. Before he could let go of his hug, Tukhachevsky shouted congratulations.

"Thank you. Accardo smiled and thanked him.

Tukhachevsky did not give Accardo a chance to speak first, and immediately said: "I have come this time for the arson case, and I deeply regret it. ”

"General Tukhachevsky, my friend, this time you have gone too far! The USSR could not develop on the territory of Germany*, it was our agreement. Accardo sat down on the couch, took a cup of coffee from Anna, and complained with some annoyance.

Tukhachevsky spread his hands and had an innocent expression on his face: "This arson criminal is indeed a member of the *, but he is an Austrian citizen, so you can't arbitrarily shift the responsibility to the Soviets." ”

"You know the twists and turns. Accardo said, narrowing his eyes.

"You must know the twists and turns. Tukhachevsky replied with his chin raised.

"Well, let's not talk about these unpleasant things. Let me start by congratulating you on the launching of the battleship USS Soviet. Accardo gestured as he picked up his coffee cup.

Tukhachevsky raised his eyebrows, and noticed that the young man named Accardor opposite was going around in circles and becoming more and more perfect: "Thank you! You have made a great contribution to the rise of the Soviet Navy, so this time I bring you a medal of victory, which Comrade Stalin personally awarded." ”

"Does this medal change the attitude of the Soviet Union on Austria and Czechoslovakia?" asked Accardo, taking a sip of his coffee, seemingly casually.

"The Soviet Government does not want to see any claims from Germany to the eastern territories! Tukhachevsky replied: "Comrade Stalin hopes that Germany will not play with fire on the Austrian and Czechoslovak issues. ”

"It's too late. Accardo raised the corners of his mouth and smiled: "Britain and France supported Germany's eastward expansion, and the territorial issue of Austria and Czechoslovakia was their bargaining chip. So this time I'm determined to win. ”

"It's easy to provoke conflict. Tukhachevsky frowned and said: "I believe my friend, you don't want to be a lackey of the British and French, do you? The deterioration of relations with the Soviet government does not benefit Germany in any way." ”

"I will suppress the arson case in my own country and will not affect the activities of the Bolsheviks in Eastern Europe. Accardo threw out another bargaining chip: "In addition, we can provide another $500 million to the Soviet Union to buy oil." ”

"Comrade Stalin wants your school in the USSR. A school that teaches soldiers how to use tanks in combat! We must first send people in to study and then take over smoothly after a year. Tukhachevsky quickly prescribed Soviet conditions.

He thought for a moment and added, "Also, except this time, you have to make sure that there will be no more territorial claims to the east." The USSR wanted to have friends, not a villain who stretched out his hands everywhere. ”

"Reasonable!" Accardo stood up, "Dinner together in the evening? ”

"No! I'm going to rush back to the Soviet Union as fast as I can. Tukhachevsky waved his hand and said, "I hope I don't have to rush to Berlin in such a hurry." ”

Accardo nodded: "I agree, next time I invite you to Berlin as a guest!