The Rise of the Third Reich

On September 6, 1939, Colonel Charles de Gaulle, commander-in-chief of the tank force of the newly formed French 5th Army, and his immediate superior, Lieutenant General Putrella, were in the Haguenault salient (located in Alsace and The junction of Germany, the frontier viewing position bordering Germany on both northwest sides.

This is the key defense area of ​​the Maginot Line. Whether it is the part facing Germany across the Rhine River in the west or the flat area in the north (the border runs northwest-southeast), they are all protected by the strongest defense line in the world.

Colonel de Gaulle and Lieutenant General Putrella were not here to inspect the Maginot Line today. They were here to observe the German Siegfried Line on the opposite side.

The front line is very quiet - hundreds of thousands of German and French troops are facing each other on two lines of defense. This is naturally the real front line, but there is no smell of gunpowder smoke or the sound of guns.

"Your Excellency General, Mr. Colonel, since the war started for a week, we have not had a single casualty, nor have we fired a single shot at the enemy. Of course, they have not fired a single shot at us..."

An older major stood next to a reinforced concrete fortress, pointing to the silent German defense line in the distance, and reported the situation on the front line in a very satisfied tone.

No firing, no casualties, no war, very satisfying indeed!

"You didn't conduct fire reconnaissance?" Colonel de Gaulle asked with some dissatisfaction.

"Why fire reconnaissance?" This "old major" who had participated in the First World War and endured German artillery bombardment in the trenches looked at de Gaulle with a surprised and disgusted look.

"That's letting the children die! It makes no sense!" he said. "I don't need reconnaissance to know how strong the defense line on the opposite side is, because I watched the Germans build the defense line... They came with a lot of people, There are endless lines of Opel trucks transporting cement and steel bars on the road, and the construction has been going on for several years, and the amount of completed work will definitely not be less than that of the Maginot Line!”

"There must be some weak spot!" de Gaulle said.

"No! There is no weak spot! Absolutely not..."

The elderly major seemed to have guessed de Gaulle's thoughts, and immediately shouted, looking at de Gaulle and the silent Lieutenant General Putrera next to him with pleading eyes. "Okay, okay, don't let the children die... Our generation has died enough! Why should we let our children be killed by the Germans again? This is too cruel!"

The old major was so anxious that he almost burst into tears. He knew how cruel war was! He lost two younger brothers in the last war, and now he was unwilling to lose another son.

"Major, how can you talk like this!" De Gaulle looked back at Lieutenant General Putrera, seeming to ask the Lieutenant General to punish this coward.

"Colonel! What I said is the truth!" The major seemed not to care that de Gaulle had a higher military rank than him. Instead, he said plausibly, "It is easy to give the order to attack. Let the children crawl out of the safe defense line and attack the German positions. Launch a charge and watch them all get killed by German machine guns!

If you think this makes sense, then please issue a formal order! "

This was an ugly thing to say, but Lieutenant General Putrera had no intention of getting angry. Instead, he gave the "old major" a few words of good words and left the front line with de Gaulle.

"Lieutenant General!" De Gaulle said dissatisfiedly in the car returning to the headquarters. "The morale of the troops is low and no one wants to fight. How can we launch an attack like this?"

It turned out that Putrella and de Gaulle went to the front line to formulate an attack plan. At the strong request of the British, French Prime Minister Daladier asked the French Army Commander-in-Chief General Gamelin to study the issue of a large-scale attack on the Siegfried Line.

Therefore, the commanders of several French armies stationed behind the Maginot Line went to the front line to inspect and see if it was possible to break through the German defense line.

Putrera also took de Gaulle around the Haguenault front for a few days, and what he saw was a peaceful sit-in battle scene.

Although they were on the battlefield, no one wanted to attack, and not many were ready to die for their country. Battalion commanders and regimental commanders on the front line were reluctant when they heard the word "offensive".

"So Charles," Lieutenant General Putrera asked, "is it possible to break through the Siegfried Line with your tank troops?"

Use armored troops to break through fortified areas? This time, de Gaulle was like the "old major", shaking his head repeatedly: "Lieutenant General, this is impossible...The German Siegfried Line has anti-tank trenches and dragon's tooth systems, as well as a large number of reinforced concrete artillery forts. They are all used to deal with tanks. If we use tank troops to attack, the losses will be very heavy!"

De Gaulle did not know the specific situation of the Siegfried Line. But the German propaganda department spent a lot of time bragging about the "anti-tank trenches" and "dragon's teeth" there - these two obstacles can block the advancement of tanks, and at the same time, the anti-tank guns placed in the reinforced concrete fortresses at the rear will Destroy French tanks.

If the French want to concentrate their tank groups to break through the defense line, the losses will be unbearable!

"Then, who should go?" Lieutenant General Putrera frowned and looked at De Gaulle.

"Use infantry divisions!" De Gaulle said, "Concentrate a large number of infantry and artillery on the Haguenault salient, launch a strong attack under the cover of infantry tanks, and strive to break through the Siegfried Line within a month. Then you can invest tank troops and The motorized troops attacked all the way to Berlin."

The Siegfried Line was originally an anti-tank fortification area. Unlike the Polish-German border, it was impossible to use armored troops to break through a bloody road. We can only use the tactics left over from World War I - tanks to cover the infantry, and with the support of artillery, we can fight steadily and spend enough time and artillery shells to tear open the defense line. Only after tearing apart the defense line can we invest in armored troops and motorized troops...

Of course, there are shortcuts!

"Or..." De Gaulle paused, "pass through Belgium and the Netherlands!"

The Siegfried Line starts from Klervaux in Germany near the Dutch border, and extends along the borders with Belgium, Luxembourg, and France to Basel, Switzerland, with a total length of 630 kilometers. There is no defense line further north on the German-Dutch border. .

"What?" Lieutenant General Putrera was startled by de Gaulle's suggestion, "undermining the neutrality of Belgium and the Netherlands?"

"If we don't want millions of people to fall in front of the Siegfried Line!" De Gaulle said in a serious tone, "passing through the Netherlands is the best way!"

…

Chopin's "Polonaise" once again sounded from a Siemens radio. Representative Natalie Lesinskaya, who was having lunch, knew that the nonsense midday news was about to start again - the Polish news was ridiculous It was outrageous. Since September 1st, there had been news of victory, but the front line was getting closer and closer to Warsaw.

By the night of September 5, news that the Polish government was about to move out of Warsaw had spread throughout the city. And this morning (September 6), the government indeed left. Now the largest in Warsaw is the Polish military headquarters led by Rez Himigwi. After Natalie Lesinskaya learned that the Polish government had left Warsaw, she immediately wrote to Rez-Chimigwi and asked to meet.

"Madam Congressman," her secretary John Liebelski walked in at this time, "Rez-Chimigwi's adjutant just called the embassy and said that the Polish Marshal agreed to meet with you."

Leszinskaya now lives in the Italian embassy in Warsaw - she is publicly identified as a member of the Polish National Socialist Party (Cesin constituency), but Polish intelligence knows who she is. So as soon as the war started, Natalie hid in the Italian embassy. She has a good personal relationship with the Italian ambassador, so she can happily take refuge here.

However, Natalie does not intend to hide in the Italian embassy until the end of the war. She still has the mission assigned by Hersman to complete - to act as a traitor!

Natalie has no psychological burden about becoming a "Polish traitor" because she is only Polish (in fact, she also has a lot of German ancestry), and she had never obtained Polish nationality before returning to Poland with Czechin. She was first a Russian national, then a Soviet national, and then a German national. Until now, she has not given up her German nationality - she is white, can speak fluent German, and has part of German ancestry, so she is also an honorary Aryan.

But the German Empire is not her motherland to which she is loyal. In fact, she will not be loyal to any country. She only does things for General Hessmann personally. In her opinion, since Hersman is not her man, he is her "boss." Since Hessman gave her protection and enough wealth for her to squander, she should do the work for Hessman.

"Okay," Natalie put down her knife and fork, then smiled and said to John Liebelski, "bring the poison."

"It's here."

A small white box was placed in front of Natalie. Natalie opened the box. Inside was a denture - a denture that could be bitten hard and contained poison.

Natalie picked up the dentures and was about to put them into her mouth.

John Liebelski said: "Ma'am, you don't have to do this..."

Natalie shook her head with a smile and said with a smile: "Everyone has to pay for what they get, and I am no exception... Since he doesn't want my body, then I am ready to give my life for him! That's the only way , so that I can continue to have everything I have now!”

As she spoke, she put the poison-filled denture into her mouth - the possibility of biting it into pieces was actually extremely low, Rez Himigwe was not such a dishonest person. But putting poison in your mouth is an attitude. Hersman will know this attitude and continue to treat Natalie as a confidant.