The Third Reich in Desperation

Britain and the United States, two countries that also pursue the balance of power in Europe, at the same time choose to support a weak Germany and confront France, which is "the number one army in Europe".

"European army first", this French self-proclaimed empty title, in the end, it did not play any role except to arouse the vigilance of Britain and the United States.

Without compensation, the country's economy continues to decline.Gaul France, which has always been proud, can only condemn Germany for a few words, and let it go in vain.

There is no way for Dumegue to increase the military expenditure. He can only spend the limited military expenditure on the most critical places.Dumegue chose to boldly use the proposer of the Maginot Line - General Maginot.

This move further accelerated the construction of the Maginot Line. The French government proposed more than 50.00% of the limited military expenditure for the construction of the defense line.For this reason, many military exercises and weapons research and development projects of the French army have been put on hold due to tight military expenditures.

But it's all worth it!Both the French military and political circles agree with it, and they all believe that the construction of the Maginot Line is their pride. This is the largest engineering project in Europe, which has brought the fortification technology to the extreme!

Such a strong line of defense completely cut off the possibility of the enemy turning around from the flanks, and a breakthrough can only be achieved at a painful price.On the other hand, the French army can mobilize as many reserves as possible to attack the invading enemy while using a small amount of troops to defend the line of defense. This is almost a perfect military idea!

Although a colonel named de Gaulle suggested that money should be spent on mobile defense equipment, such as more and better aircraft and more armored divisions, instead of throwing money into the ground.

But the words of this loser in the Battle of the Ruhr naturally carry no weight.

In Dumegue's view, if they hadn't been humiliated by the Germans when they joined forces with Belgium to march on the Ruhr, the Belgian government would regain its fear of Germany.The current Belgian government will not strictly observe neutrality, and opposes the construction of the Maginot Line on the French-Belgian border.

But it's not all bad.The French government itself has insufficient funds to build the Maginot Line of Defense. It can save funds for the construction of a defense line of more than 60 kilometers on the French-Belgian border, and it will also make the French government much easier.

Furthermore, the Ardennes forest area on the border between France and Belgium was considered by the French General Staff to be a safe and reliable natural barrier.Moreover, the French staff believes that their ally Belgium itself is a good strategic buffer zone for France, which can buy at least eight days for France to organize its defense forces.

Of course, these conclusions are based on the infantry speed summarized in World War I.The French staff did not take into account the presence of mobile units.

In addition to this, the Eastern European hegemony established by France after World War I was also snatched away by passionate Italian leaders.The French brothers in the Balkans, such as Romania and Yugoslavia, all changed their families and mixed with Italy, which was supported by Britain.

France, a powerful country for a generation, was restrained everywhere by the ruthless former ally of the United Kingdom, and it seemed extremely sad for a while.

Fortunately, there is a traditional ally, Poland, which has stood in the same camp as France so far.Otherwise, France, the most powerful country in Europe, would be completely alone.

Fortunately, the Treaty of Versailles is getting looser day by day under the pressure of Britain.As a result, France didn't take much money, but the hatred between France and Germany was full.Once Germany rises, the first to retaliate must be France.

Attacking Germany is still a dream in the mirror. France, which is extremely sad, can only repair its own Maginot Line with peace of mind.

Of course, the tragedy is the tragedy. As the president, Dumegue still does his best to strive for a better strategic environment for France.

Therefore, Dumegue made the same choice as Zhang Chengtian, that is, to take the initiative to contact the dangerous Soviet Union.

Not to mention that Dumegue's contact with the Soviet Union was later than that of Zhang Chengtian. Even if he secretly established contact with the Soviet Union, it is impossible to reach any effective agreement.

Let the Soviet Union give up cooperation with Germany?What a joke!

First, the current Dumegue has no knowledge of the Soviet-German cooperation.

Second, it is impossible for the Soviet Union to give up the establishment of interest exchange cooperation with Germany.

The only way Dumegue can break through is to ask the Soviet Union to send troops to attack the German rear in the future when Germany and France are at war.

But this was a fantasy at the time, an impossible requirement.

Because there is one problem that cannot be avoided, Poland!

The Soviet Union did not border Germany, and there was Poland in the middle.For the Soviet Union to attack Germany, Poland must allow Soviet troops to pass through Polish territory.

And Poland and Russia have had a feud for more than 200 years, and it almost gritted its teeth against Russia.So there was the philosophical answer from Poland later: "If we get close to Germany, we will lose our freedom. If we get close to the Soviet Union, we will lose our soul."

It is obviously impossible for the French government to accept the sacrifice of Poland, its traditional ally, for the sake of an unreliable Soviet Union.

So, sadly, France finally chose to ignore it, and buried its head and concentrated on repairing its Maginot Line of Defense.

Text Chapter 69 The Unforgiving Sun Never Sets

The tragedy of France is inextricably linked with the heartlessness of Britain.At the beginning, the British tried every means to release water on the Treaty of Versailles to Germany, an old opponent, so that Germany established a powerful SS under the eyes of the League of Nations.When Germany's economy was in trouble, it provided loans to Germany in a timely manner, and the amount was even far greater than the amount of Germany's indemnity.

From what Britain was doing, it was hard to see that this was an ally that had fought alongside France.The French people couldn't even believe that the allies who were squatting in the same trench before could turn their faces in such a short period of time.

Call it selfish or shameless.As the British government, the first thing that comes to mind is the interests of its own country.

In the last war, Britain has paid enough!

Britain paid an exorbitant price for its victory in World War I.More than 110 million British and colonial people died, which is unprecedented in British history.This huge sacrifice prompted the whole of Britain to reflect on the value of the First World War.

Britain, which participated in World War I, changed from a pre-war creditor country to a post-war debtor country.The international financial center was transferred from London, England to New York, America, and the empire on which the sun never sets controlled its colonies was greatly reduced. The Indian turmoil that began in 1919 and the Irish independence movement in 1920 were even serious enough to interfere with the planning of British military strategy.

Another result of World War I was that while the British Empire was weakening, the United States became the number one power in the Americas, and France became the number one power in Europe.Lost soldiers and lost generals, and made dowry for others!This is the lingering regret of the British mind.

Huge casualties and memories of past glory prompted the British government to draw a specious conclusion: Britain had never been involved in European wars in such a large scale before, not even the Napoleonic Wars!However, Britain sat on the throne of the empire on which the sun never sets.

Therefore, they believe that the United Kingdom should return to the previous "continental balance of power" policy of relying on the strait and limited intervention, and adopt a more conservative security strategy.

As a result, Britain, which had just shared troubles with France, turned around and became a good friend of Germany.Sit back and watch Germany strengthen its armed forces on the road, watch the fiasco of the Ruhr in France, ignore or even condone the indemnity that Germany flickers to France.

Is Britain unfeeling?Such a description may not be accurate, at least the British government is very responsible to its own citizens.If you want to say unfeeling, you can only say that you are unfeeling towards France now.

At the moment, in a white building in London, England, a group of MPs are discussing ideas around a small health minister.

This seemingly low-ranking Minister of Health is actually Chamberlain, the leader of the Conservative Party of the British Empire!

"Mr. Chamberlain, France has recently shifted its military focus to the construction of the Maginot Line." A tall, chubby member of parliament greeted him and said, "This is a sign that the French government has given up its offensive thinking. France's covert repression."

"That's right, now it seems that France will not compete for European hegemony, and we don't need to feed the German hound." Smith, who is already the deputy minister of defense, also followed up to explain his views.

Then, the British senior officials present nodded in agreement.In their view, the purpose of the British government's strengthening of the German Army is to prevent France from becoming the hegemon of the European continent.Now that the French have built fortifications in peace, there is no need to relax the restraint on Germany.

However, Chamberlain, who was regarded as the leader by everyone, said indifferently: "No, the reins of Germany cannot be tightened."

Why! ?The eyes of almost every high-level person present were filled with disbelief.

Chamberlain did not keep many high-level officials waiting too long, and said with a slight smile: "The number of German troops, even including their so-called SS, will not exceed 30. This force is not even one-third of Poland's, let alone one third of Poland's. It is impossible to contain France."

After listening to Chamberlain's words, many congressmen nodded thoughtfully.Even if Germany has the idea of ​​attacking, they cannot show the corresponding strength.

Seeing that no one objected, Chamberlain went on to conclude: "Britain's foreign policy over the past 400 years has been to oppose the emergence of the largest, strongest and most domineering countries on the continent. Britain always joins the less powerful side and unites with them to defeat and Defeat the military overlord of the continent, whoever he is, whatever country he rules."

Make long distance and close attack, stay away from the strong and unite with the weak, support the weak and suppress the strong.There is no conflict of feelings, beliefs, or ideas.What the United Kingdom wants is to keep No.1 on the European continent in a situation of being suppressed forever.

"Gentlemen, helping Germany is not because of the friendship between the two countries, or even to win over an ally. Our goal is only to prevent the emergence of a dominance on the European continent. Even if the most powerful country is France, which has a traditional friendship with us, cannot tolerate it." Chamberlain clarified his position firmly without any hesitation.

This is Chamberlain, an honest statesman.He never hides his views and dares to say what many people think but dare not say.Even his political opponents had to admit that Chamberlain had the honesty that many other politicians possess.

In the end, the meeting ended with a sentence left by Chamberlain: "Are we heartless? It may be true for France. But please remember, this is British politics... This is British politicians! "

Until sending everyone away, Chamberlain, an honest politician, still had some thoughts that he did not confess to everyone.

Chamberlain did this not because of selfishness, but because once the idea was spoken out, it was likely to frighten everyone.Chamberlain was worried that someone would be overwhelmed and leak it.

That's right, this idea is called "causing water to the east".What is Germany, and what is France?Compared with that huge and terrifying country in the east, it is nothing but ants.