The decisive battle against the Third Reich

Rommel looked at the map and fell into silence.

It has long been proven that mountains can weaken the enemy's advantage to the greatest extent, and Rommel himself experienced this personally in Africa.

On the one hand, this is because the defenders can use the reverse slope of the mountain to build fortifications, so tanks and artillery are basically useless in an instant.

As for the enemy's aircraft, it may seem that it is not restricted by mountains, because it flies in the sky and can see and attack any corner.

The problem is...

The slope of the mountain will cause a phenomenon. A straight meter of distance in the sky is a difference of ten meters, tens of meters or even a vast distance in the mountain.

Therefore, the error of bombing bombs on mountain slopes will be magnified several times, ten times or even dozens of times.

What's more important is that the German army can also build fortifications, just like the Gabes Line of Defense, building fortifications on the reverse slope.

Such a defense line cannot be simply piled up with ammunition. It must rely on military strength to capture and compete for the hills one by one, and this is the advantage of the German army... Although the German army has insufficient manpower, it has fighting spirit and will. But it is much stronger than the Allies, and it came from the African battlefield and the Eastern Front.

On the other hand, the Allied forces, especially the US military, were mostly rookies who had never fought in a war. In order to have enough troops to participate in the war, they even conscripted criminals in prison to perform military service in exchange for their sentences.

As a result, the battle front is likely to fall into a stalemate again.

"But..." Rommel looked at France: "This means that we have to give up large areas of northern France!"

"We just gave up the place we couldn't hold!" Qin Chuan replied.

These words hit the nail on the head. The plains of northern France are indeed undefendable. Holding on to them and refusing to let them go will only be a pointless waste of precious German troops and resources.

Therefore, war must have the courage of a strong man to cut off his wrist.

What's more, taking the initiative to withdraw and being kicked out are completely different things... Taking the initiative to withdraw can transfer many important things, such as wealth, machines, talents, etc.

Of course Rommel knew this. After thinking for a while, he nodded, but then quickly shook his head and said, "The head of state will not agree to this defense strategy. We can't convince him!"

Rommel was right. Anyone who knew Hitler would know that he would definitely not agree to this plan to abandon large areas of northern France and retreat to the Maginot Line.

In fact, Hitler would not be willing to give up any piece of land. This can be seen from Hitler's remote control command on the Eastern Front... Even though he knew that the 6th Army would be surrounded, Hitler still refused to give up Stalingrad.

So now, France at least still has the Atlantic Wall and hundreds of thousands of troops. In addition, France is a chicken that can lay golden eggs...how could Hitler give up so easily.

"Yes!" Qin Chuan nodded: "So I had no intention of convincing him from the beginning!"

"You mean..." Rommel looked at Qin Chuan in shock, then quickly shook his head and said, "No, Lieutenant Colonel, you are crazy. This is not Africa, and I cannot disobey the orders of the head of state and do my own thing!"

Of course Qin Chuan understood this, otherwise Rommel would have done this long ago.

"You misunderstood, Your Excellency Marshal!" Qin Chuan replied: "I don't mean disobeying the orders of the head of state!"

"What is that? How can you implement your defense strategy without disobeying the orders of the head of state?"

"We can use the Allied forces to convince the head of state!" Qinchuan replied: "Withdraw supplies from France in a planned way, and retreat in a planned way until we retreat to the Maginot Line!"

"That is to say...the battle that needs to be fought must still be fought!"

"Yes!" Qin Chuan said: "Not only that, the difficulty is much greater than coastal defense and defense in depth!"

Rommel nodded in agreement.

Coastal defense only requires the deployment of troops along the coast, and defense in depth only requires the deployment of troops on the second line.

However, Qinchuan's defense strategy is to block and retreat in an orderly manner while being able to confront the US military... Everyone knows that this is the most difficult, both in terms of battle situation and psychology. If you are not careful, the entire line will collapse. Become a rout.

"What are your plans?" Rommel asked.

"First!" Qin Chuan said: "We must block the first wave of Allied attacks, otherwise we will have no time and space to retreat!"

This was due to the disagreement between the Führer and the officers on the Western Front.

Without knowing the strength of the Allied forces, some officers thought that the Atlantic Barrier could be used to block the Allied attack. The most typical example of this was Rommel.

Some officers favored defense in depth, thinking that they could use armored forces to counterattack to drive the landing Allied troops into the sea in batches, and then repeat this action, and the Allied troops would never reach the shore.

Hitler stood between the two factions. He neither agreed with the former nor the latter, and took a wait-and-see attitude in the middle... This is why he asked Rommel to continue to strengthen the Atlantic Wall along the coast while deploying elite troops on the second line. reason.

With such interference and constant debate among various factions, it is almost impossible to unswervingly implement a certain strategy.

Only after the First World War, when everyone can clearly see the gap between the enemy and ourselves, can it be possible to unify our thoughts.

This is what Qin Chuan meant by "using allies to convince the head of state."

Therefore, the first wave of attacks must be blocked, otherwise it will be a rout rather than a retreat.

"The problem is how we can stop it!" Rommel said distressedly: "The defenses of the Brittany Peninsula are the weakest, and the fortifications in that area are less than half completed. There are actually 8 coastal defense divisions among the 14 divisions. But I can’t mobilize a single soldier here!”

"Is there any problem with the coastal defense division?" Colonel Slain couldn't help but ask.

"Oh, yes!" Rommel said: "Coastal Defense Division, what a good name, it sounds like it can defend the entire sea..."

After a pause, Rommel changed the topic and shook his head and said: "They think that the Coast Defense Division only needs to be able to pull the trigger in the fortifications. Therefore, all the people who were eliminated in the recruit training were thrown into the Coast Defense Division. These The average age of the troops is 36 years old, and they are full of wounded soldiers who are unable to fight, patients with severe gastric ulcers or lung disease. Do you know what they say about the Coastal Defense Division? These troops cannot move without car transportation? division!"

Hearing this, Qin Chuan and Colonel Slain couldn't help but look at each other.

But that's not all.

"There are worse things!" Rommel said: "There is a volunteer division among these eight coastal defense divisions. They are composed of Soviets, French, Belgians, etc., and there are even prisoners among them. Can you believe it? ? Let the prisoners join the army to resist the Allied attack!"

"French?" Qin Chuan asked.

"Yes, French!" Rommel said: "French regiment transferred from Algeria!"