"Shock soldiers from the sky? Bo Cheng, are you talking about using paratroopers?" Bai Chongxi pondered for a while, turned his head to look at Yang Xianyi. The Chinese National Defense Forces have been using virtue as their division over the years, and the construction of paratroopers has naturally also copied Germany, so it is under the name of the Air Force Command.

Yang Xianyi smacked his lips and replied: "Jianshuai, the air force paratroopers have been in charge for more than three years. Now there are less than 20,000 people in three brigades, all of which are elite troops trained by German military advisers. Of course, there is no problem in fighting a war. However... the paratroopers have advanced and retreated. If the Soviet army has deployed heavy troops in the Fergana Basin, these elite troops will go and go! Otherwise, we will carefully investigate the situation in the basin? The military strategy says: Know yourself and your enemy, and you will be defeated in a hundred battles."

Bai Chongxi looked at Yang Xianyi and thought to himself: "It's okay to be a close friend, but it's so easy to know the enemy? The Soviets have been treating anti-espionage work as a top priority for more than ten years. Zhang Guotao racked his brains and couldn't infiltrate the spies into their key departments... But this battle has to be fought!" So he said with a wry smile: "Brother Tie'an, the things written in the art of war are ideal, and there are not so many good things on the battlefield! Trotsky's People's Committee for Internal Affairs is not transparent, how can we let everything know?"

"But you can't throw 20,000 brothers into the basin with your eyes closed! What if it's a fire pit?"

Bai Chongxi smiled and said, "There are only two most common states in war, either to fight the lives of soldiers or to gamble with the lives of soldiers!" He paused and emphasized, "And now, I can't fight anymore. Because the situation in Europe has changed, the Soviet Union is likely to launch a large increase in troops to Central Asia! So I can only gamble! Brother Tie'an, I will propose to the General Staff to mobilize three paratrooper brigades of the Air Force for the Fergana Basin Campaign. I hope the Air Force will be prepared for cooperation as soon as possible!"

...

By the end of May 1934, the battlefield of the World War was almost turned into a casino. In the Pacific Ocean, Takeda Yuki and Yamamoto Iroku were betting on Japan's national destiny. In Central Asia, Bai Chongxi planned to gamble with the lives of 20,000 airborne troops. In Western Europe, Hitler was bound to gamble on the Western Front.

Starting from late April, the most elite armored troops on the Eastern Front, mechanized infantry and air force, began to secretly transfer westward. The entire mobilization was very secretive, and a large number of infantry troops were transferred to the Eastern Front in a swagger to create the illusion that the German army would launch an attack on the Eastern Front to confuse France. At the same time, the battle to attack the Polish capital Warsaw was deliberately delayed, and it looked like the Polish army was vowed to resist to the death. The German heavy troops were restrained from the city of Warsaw.

After France and Germany declared war, the border between Germany and France and Belgium was tightly blocked. Whether it was France, Belgium's reconnaissance aircraft, their agents or infantry crossing the border, in most cases, there were no return. Hundreds of armored grenadier divisions and armored divisions from the Eastern Front battlefields also quickly deployed along the border between Germany, France and Belgium.

The mechanized units of these hundreds of divisions, plus the hundreds of motorized infantry divisions that were originally deployed on the German-France-Bern border, have been the three major battle clusters of the German army commander A, B and C. Among them, the A Army Group is located near the German western border city A, B Army Group, B Army Group, B Army Group, and B Army Group. The B Army Group is located in the area of ​​Trier and Bitburg at the junction of Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg, while the C Army Group is deployed on the French-German border.

Opposite these more than 3 million fully armed Germans are 1.8 million troops from France and Belgium. The historical Maginot line of defense did not exist in this time and space, but the French and Belgians still have a line of defense called "The Second Line of Defense".

In fact, the length of this defense line is more than twice that of the Maginot Line, not only including the French-German border area, but also extends to Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands. However, this extended version of the Maginot Line is far from reaching the level of impeccableness. The reason is that the large-depth assault tactics and the emergence of the hunter tank destroyer made the French, Belgian and the Dutch army realize that they want to develop armored forces. Therefore, they cannot spend all their limited military expenditure on building the defense line.

Moreover, when building the "second line of defense", the French imaginary enemy was not Germany but the Soviet Union. At that time, the French army was divided into two factions. One faction advocated defending the enemy and within Germany, and believed that the French army should focus on developing armored troops and resist the invading Soviet Red Army with the Germans. The other faction advocated defending the enemy and the country's borders and demanded the construction of a solid line of defense to block the Soviet Red Army from French territory.

As a result, the French government's choice was to mix with each other. They listened to the opinions at both ends, but they didn't listen to them all. They divided the money into two parts, one fortifications and one for tanks... In the end, the French Army had a not-so-solid "No. 2 line of defense", with 15 armored divisions and 15 mechanized infantry divisions and more than 100 motorized infantry divisions. In addition, the French commander General Morris Gustav Ganmolin had more than 2,000 combat aircraft in his hand, more than 2 million new recruits who had just been summoned to the army were still training in marching, and a French navy, second only to the British Royal Navy in Europe.

Regarding how to use this relatively powerful national defense force, since the beginning of the war between France and Germany, the quarrels in the meeting room on the second floor of the French Ministry of Defense Building on St. Dominic in Paris, France have not stopped.

"Everyone, everyone! Quiet! Please be quiet!" A loud voice rang in this not-so-spacious room. The one who made the sound was French Prime Minister Daraday. Due to his "error policy", the war between France and Germany was started. His Prime Minister had a difficult life in recent days, and he became a thorn in the eyes of the French people who love peace and French MPs. Shortly after Germany declared war on France, he had to dissolve the parliament because of the distrust case of parliament and prepare for a new general election. However, before the voting results for the re-election came out, he still had to preside over military affairs as the Prime Minister of the caretaker government.

Sure enough, after hearing Daraday's voice, the main offensive and defending factions who were quarreling no longer spoke. They turned their eyes to Prime Minister Daraday, who was sitting in the middle of the conference table, who was about to step down soon. Seeing that everyone was still selling their face, Daraday couldn't help but sort out his suit and tie. Then he spoke slowly: "I believe you already know the situation facing France at present. Our old enemy, the Germans, colluded with the Italians to provoke war again! Although our army was not fully prepared, victory would eventually belong to France. Although our enemies were very powerful, they were facing the dilemma of going to war on the two fronts, just like in the last World War. And this time the Germans faced not a weak Tsarist Russia on the Eastern Front, but a powerful Soviet Union! In addition, we are negotiating with Britain and the United States. Please give us assistance.

Of course, the biggest problem before us now is how to win the land war with Germany and Italy, or at least to make this war a war of attrition like that in 1914. I think we need to make a decision on the strategic and tactical issues that will be adopted in the first phase of the war as soon as possible. I hope you can reach a consensus at today's meeting." At this point, Daraday glanced at the generals present. And after hearing his words, all the French generals present began to discuss again.

"Everyone! Please be quiet!" Seeing that the venue order was in chaos again, Daraday knocked on the table. Then he turned his head to look at Gan Molin, the chief of the French General Staff and commander-in-chief of the Fabi coalition: "General. I want to hear your opinions."

"Ah, okay, then I'll say a few words." Gan Molin was silent for a moment, and then spoke slowly: "I believe you have fully understood that what France is facing at present is not a small-scale armed conflict with Germany and Italy, but a world war that determines the ownership of European hegemony! The current situation is indeed very similar to 1914, but it is not exactly the same. First of all, Britain is no longer our ally!" After sighing softly, Gan Molin continued: "Secondly, Germany's power is stronger, stronger than us! This is something that must be admitted

In fact, according to the intelligence provided by the British, the number of the German Wehrmacht is currently as many as 7 million to 8 million! The core forces are 20 armored divisions and 100 armored grenadier divisions! In addition, there are about 10,000 combat aircraft of various types! In contrast, if we don’t count the newly enlisted recruits, our army has only about 2 million, 15 armored divisions and 15 mechanized infantry divisions, and the Air Force has less than 2,500 aircraft that can be used for combat. Our ally Belgium has 30 infantry divisions and less than 500 aircraft...

Fortunately, our Russian friends are also very powerful. Now most of the German armored troops and aircraft are deployed in Poland and Romania to fight against the Soviet Red Army. On the Western Front, there are only about 120 German infantry divisions and less than 2,000 aircraft. In addition, in a telegram to me, Tukhachevsky, the chief of the General Staff of the Soviet Red Army, claimed that the Soviet Red Army had assembled 43 armies and 27 tank troops in Ukraine, Lithuania and Belarus, and more than 3,500 aircraft, and could be put into counterattack at any time, as long as we make a request.

So there are two options in front of us now. One is to rely on Line 2 for defense until the newly expanded troops are fully prepared to attack again; the other is to immediately start an attack, concentrate on using our armored troops and motorized troops to launch an assault on the Ruhr Industrial Zone in Germany, and the Russians will launch another attack in the east to cooperate with our operations."

The Ruhr Industrial Zone is Germany and the area with the most concentrated factories in the world. It is located in the Greater North Rhine Westphalia in western Germany. It covers an area of ​​only more than 4,500 square kilometers, but its industrial output value accounts for more than 40% of the entire Germany, and heavy industry accounts for more than 60%! If the Ruhr Industrial Zone is occupied or destroyed by France and Belgian troops, Germany will no longer have the material basis for maintaining the world war!

"Mr. General, I want to hear your opinion. Do you agree with the defensive or launch an attack?" Daraday asked with a frown. During this period, Gan Molin, the chief of staff of the French army, has been swaying between the offensive and defensive factions. It can be said that half of the quarrels within the French army are caused by his indecision.

Gan Molin frowned. It was not that he was unsure of his mind, but that the route adopted by the French army was half offensive and half defense. To put it nicely, it was balanced on offense and defense, and to put it badly, it was weak on offense and defense.

Their No. 2 defense line is still strong by the standards of World War I, but it is much worse than the Trotsky defense line built by the Soviet Union in Poland. The Trotsky defense line did not withstand the German attack. Therefore, the French No. 2 defense line was even more unreliable. As for the strength of the French mechanized troops, it was not weak, but it was nothing in front of the huge lineup of 120 armored divisions and armored grenadier divisions in Germany. Moreover, the German armored troops have been tested in actual combat and are all elites. However, the French armored troops have no practical experience. General Gan Molin, who has been a soldier for his whole life and participated in many wars, certainly knows how big the gap between veterans and new soldiers will be on the battlefield.

Of course, it is not to say that France has no chance of winning at all and can only wait for failure, because the Germans started war on two fronts, and because of the hasty battle, their armored troops seemed to be restrained on the eastern front. Therefore, many French generals proposed to take advantage of the German main force's opportunity in Poland and Romania to attack and enter the Ruhr area to destroy it. As long as Germany's heavy industrial foundation is destroyed, the Germans will definitely be defeated! But the question is, does Germany really have only 120 infantry divisions on the western front? They have so many armored divisions and armored grenade divisions, so they will not put 10 or 8 in the Ruhr area? It seems that the German General Staff does not lack this wisdom, right?

In addition, there is another opinion that the Germans learned the original method of the Germans on Hitler's defense line. They were engaged in elastic defense. They pushed the infantry division and the Belgians in front, and the armored division and mechanized divisions and some motorized infantry divisions were pressed. After the German armored troops came, they went up to plug the loopholes. At the same time, they dispatched the air force to bomb the Ruhr area and destroy the German industrial center from the air. This idea is also good. However, the Luftwaffe is stronger than the French Air Force. If the French Air Force dared to secretly throw bombs at Ruhr at night (it would definitely not be possible during the day), the German planes would definitely come to Paris in broad daylight.

Therefore, both offense and defense seem to be unsure of victory at this time, and Gan Molin is even more embarrassed and is even silent when he hears Daraday's question.

"Hiss Prime Minister, Chief of Staff, I have something to say!" Just when the scene was awkward, the brigadier generals of the army, who were a bit outrageously tall, stood up.

"Oh, it's Brigadier General De Gaulle." Seeing this height, Gan Molin knew that the other party was De Gaulle. A very talented guy who was not liked by the upper class of the army. If he hadn't had a strong relationship with Secretary of Defense Paul Renault, he would have been swept to the reserve service long ago. However, now the other party can come out to rescue him, so he should always give encouragement, so he looked at the other party with a smile. "What suggestions do you have? Just ask."

"I think we have lost the best time to attack the Ruhr area at present. Don't ignore this fact. Although on the surface, Germany was passively involved in the war because we agreed to the conflict between Italy, if Germany is unwilling to declare war, what will Italy and Mussolini do? So the truth of the fact is that after being instructed by Germany, Italy took the initiative to provoke trouble in Spain to create an opposition with France, and finally started a war with France, so that the German government could get an excuse to start a war against France!"

"Brother General, what do you want to say?" After hearing De Gaulle's words, Gan Molin was slightly stunned, and then said in silence: "Can I understand this way that the war between France and Germany was not caused by coincidences and emergencies, but a deliberately planned conspiracy, a conspiracy of the German Hitler authorities?"

"Yes, this is a conspiracy!" Charles de Gaulle said with certainty: "Now the German armored troops have been assembled on the border between France, Germany and Derby, and large-scale armored assaults may begin at any time!"

"This, this actual combat is too imaginative!" Gan Molin suddenly laughed: "Brother General, I think you should know that the German General Staff has always been most afraid of going to war on two fronts, right?"

"But they have been preparing for a war on both sides!" Charles de Gaulle took a deep breath and shouted: "Only by defeating us can Germany truly avoid a war on both sides!"

"Defeat us? That's not an easy task!" Gan Molin looked slightly angry.

"I'm afraid it's not as difficult as I imagined!" Charles de Gaulle frowned and his face was heavy: "Mr. General, when I visited the Soviet Union, I learned a lot about the combat effectiveness of the German army. They were far stronger than we thought! And their most powerful force was not armored troops, but air force! Under the threat of German air force, the Soviet troops on the Polish and Balkan battlefields did not dare to mobilize during the day when the weather was good, because the result of doing so would the Germans severely damage these troops from the air. If we adopt a flexible defense arrangement, then the mechanized troops behind the second line of defense would probably face the same problem."

"What should we do? Surrender to the Germans?" Gan Molin asked with a calm face.

Charles de Gaulle shook his head and said word by word: "France can only show the greatest determination and courage to fight against Germany! We should fight in Belgium, we should fight on the second line of defense, we should fight on the Marne and the Somme, we should fight in Paris! If Paris falls, we should continue to fight in other places in France. If France falls, we will go to the overseas colonies of France and lead the troops and people there to fight against Germany to the end! Only in this way can we win the war, defeat the German invaders, and defend the honor of France!

Mr. Prime Minister, Mr. Chief of Staff, and generals of the French Army, Air Force and Navy. I think you all know how powerful Germany is and how difficult it is to defeat it! It’s just that France’s pride makes you unwilling to face such a reality. The power of the German Empire is far stronger than ours! This is also the reason why Adolf Hitler and Rudendolf dared to go to war with us while fighting against the Soviet Union.

France is facing a more severe situation now than in 1914, so we should no longer have any fantasies that we can win at a slight price! So please forget the idea of ​​raiding the Ruhr area or relying on the second line of defense to defend the enemy outside the national gate. Let us formulate some more feasible strategies and tactics!"

After listening to De Gaulle's high speech, everyone in the conference room was speechless. Because they knew that De Gaulle's words were facts. Although the generals here could not be very clever, they still had at least common sense. But have the French people really prepared to give everything for victory?

Just when the venue was deadlocked, the door was suddenly pushed open. Then a consultant rushed in in panic: "Mr. Prime Minister, Mr. General. We have just received information. With the mediation of the Dutch partner Prince Hendrick, King Leopold III of Belgium has reached a secret agreement with Germany, and it is likely to lead Belgium to Germany!" (To be continued...)
Chapter completed!