The Third Reich: The Return of the King

Chapter 336

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: 0.088s Scan: 0.064sMainz made such an inference because the French army did the same thing in the Gallic Campaign. They had more than one million troops deployed on the Maginot Line, and they were originally prepared to fight the invading German army head-on.

Unexpectedly, the German army made a feint and did not launch a strong attack from the Maginot Line. Instead, they passed through the Ardennes Forest and unexpectedly bypassed the Maginot Line from the Low Countries, catching Gaul off guard. The

Gauls, realizing that things were not going well, quickly launched a general mobilization in the country, gathered all the men who could hold weapons, and put together an army of up to six million people, ready to fight a decisive battle with Hans.

As a result, when they saw that Hans had taken the Meuse River and there was no barrier outside the Iron Tower to protect their safety, the Gallic government immediately raised the white flag and surrendered to the Third Reich.

In World War II, if we talk about which country surrendered most actively and quickly, the Gauls are naturally the ones with a name!

And in terms of the degree of shame of surrender, the Gauls also deserve to win the first place!

After all, the other surrendered countries are either small countries or weak countries. Only Hans is an old and powerful country with strong industrial and military strength. Moreover, before their main force flashes and the hope of war is completely lost, they chose to surrender. This is indeed very shameful!

“The existence of the Maginot Line is a kind of psychological comfort for the Gauls. It makes them think that they are under the protection of a solid line of defense and can sit back and relax without worrying about our attack. But in fact, this thing can’t protect them at all, it will only divert a large amount of their manpower, which is actually beneficial to our attack!”

Mainz thought the same as Guderian. He had no intention of pushing hard through the Maginot Line. The opposing line was so solidly built. If he still pushed hard under such circumstances, wouldn’t he be crazy?

The Germans clearly had a better way to deal with the Maginot Line in Gaul!

They only needed to leave a part of the army to deter and monitor the enemy, so that the millions of troops stationed on the Maginot Line would not dare to act rashly and could not participate in battles in other areas. This was enough.

Without the assistance of the millions of elite troops stationed here, the Gallic army in other areas would certainly not be able to stop the attack of the main German force, and the outcome of the battle would not be much different from that in history!

Of course, if the German army also encountered the fleeing British troops this time, Mainz would not let them retreat from Dunkirk again!

After listening to Mainz’s words, the generals nodded one after another and agreed with Mainz’s point of view. It would be enough to just hold back the French army here. There was no need to fight the French army to the death here.

“But, General, if we want to bypass the Maginot Line, where should we launch the attack from?”

This is what Guderian has been thinking about all the way, but he has not figured it out.

He knows that he has to open a breakthrough from the three low-lying countries of Benelux, but there is still a distance between these three countries and Gaul. If they launch an attack on these countries, even if the Gauls are fools, they will definitely realize that they are coming for them!

Therefore, when the German army began to attack the low-lying countries, the Gauls over there may have been preparing for war. By the time Hans defeated the three low-lying countries, the Gauls might have been ready, and the surprise attack might have become an offensive! Even if the Gauls no longer have the protection of the Maginot Line at this time, it is not easy to break through their defense line. The German army is likely to pay a heavy price in casualties!

“As the Art of War says, when you are strong, you should pretend to be strong, and when you are pretending to be strong, you can use the tactic of making a feint to the east and attacking in the west!”

Mainz glanced at Mansch and said to Guderian,”If you were a Gaul, in your plan, where do you think your enemy would attack from?”

Guderian thought about it. He felt that if he were a Gaul, then the best result for Gaul would be that the German army would attack from the front of the Maginot Line. In this way, they would have the least pressure on defense and the greatest chance of winning.

“Yes, the Gauls might think so, but we are not fools. Once we can’t gain any advantage on the Maginot Line, we will most likely change our strategy and launch an attack from other places. Where do you think our second battlefield is?”

Mainz patiently lured Guderian into his trap little by little, but Guderian didn’t notice it at all. He answered without thinking:”Do I need to ask this? Of course, we will launch an attack from the Belgian Division, just like the Schlieffen Plan during World War I. Attack the large coastal areas in northern Gaul from the Low Countries, cut off the British into Europe, and divide and disintegrate their military advantage!”

Hearing Guderian’s answer, Mainz laughed.

No wonder Guderian got stuck in a dead end, it turns out that this is what he thought!

“Manstein, what do you think?”

Mainz stopped asking Guderian and turned to look at Manstein on the side and asked him.

Manstein was stunned for a moment, as if he didn’t expect Mainz to point his finger at him.

He stared at the map for a while, then looked at Mainz and Guderian, and replied:”You two, if you follow your plan, then our armored forces may have to be equipped to attack the coastal area in northern Gaul. In this way, we will not be able to complete the attack on the heart of Gaul!”

Seeing that everyone was looking at him, Manstein sorted out his words a little and said firmly:

“Therefore, my suggestion is that we can concentrate most of our forces, launch a feint attack from the Low Countries, attract the main force of the Gallic army into the Low Countries, and at the same time launch an attack in the Maginot Line area to tie down the French troops on the Maginot Line and make the French army unclear about our intentions.

After all the French troops are mobilized and the reserve troops are exhausted, we only need a surprise force to pass through the Ardennes Forest as quickly as possible, bypass the Gaul front line, cross the Meuse River, and cut off the enemy’s retreat in the Low Countries, forming a situation of closing the door to fight the dog!

”

“At this time, we can not only destroy the main forces of the Low Countries of Gaul and the British Army, but also take advantage of the weak defense of the Gaul capital, Eiffel Tower, and go directly south to capture the Gauls’ capital!”

Hearing Manstein’s words, Mainz laughed!

Sure enough, Manstein’s tactical thinking is exactly the same as in history, without any change!

Historically, when the Third Reich launched the Gallic Campaign, the headquarters’ staff had formulated a battle plan that followed the Schlieffen Plan during World War I, attacking the northern part of Gaul and controlling the Low Countries, thereby gaining a strategic advantage, so that the British troops across the Channel could not threaten them from the flank of the German army, and could only land from the south and then come from the south of Gaul.

In this way, the German army only had to deal with the Allied forces coming from the south, and their pressure would be greatly reduced, so that they would have the energy to gradually advance southward and eventually defeat Gaul!

Schlieffen, who formulated this tactic, was not a conservative person. His plan was based on the comparison of strength between Gaul and Hans in the late nineteenth century!

According to the actual situation at the time, it was difficult for Hans to defeat and destroy a European power like Gaul on the battlefield, so the main purpose of the Schlieffen Plan was to invade Gaul, rather than quickly destroy it. to destroy Gaul.

However, even such a conservative plan still encountered a lot of problems during its implementation. The level of Moltke the Younger and the chaotic command of the German army on the front line made the Schlieffen Plan not fully implemented. After the Battle of the Marne, the Schlieffen Plan had already been declared bankrupt!

At this time, in the battle plan formulated by Guderian, his tactical thinking was actually not much different from Schlieffen decades ago.

He did not think that Hans could quickly destroy Gaul, even though he often looked down on the combat effectiveness of the Gallic army, but in Guderian’s heart, Gaul was, after all, a traditional power in Europe, a country with strong military and industrial strength. It was difficult to defeat such a country in one fell swoop!

Therefore, his tactics tended to be stable, and launching an attack from the Low Countries was not for a quick victory, but to open up the situation.