Chapter 864 French Group
The car arrived at the Brittany Peninsula in the early morning of the next day... The Allies usually do not bomb at night.
On the one hand, this may be due to the fear of accidental injuries. After all, this is France. No one can guarantee where the bombs will fall at night.
On the other hand, it is to save ammunition to a certain extent... You must know that the main targets of bombing are roads, railways and bridges, and these things are difficult to find at night. To achieve the same strategic goal, several times the amount of ammunition must be invested, which is completely unnecessary for the Allies.
So, the car drove continuously all night. The funny thing is that the car was stopped and questioned several times by German soldiers... But when they got on the car and saw in the flashlight that there was a marshal leaning on a chair to rest in the car, they were so scared that the flashlight fell to the ground.
"They did the right thing!" Rommel explained to Qin Chuan and Colonel Slaine: "This is my order. There may be many spies bribed by the British and Americans among the French laborers!"
Rommel was telling the truth, and this matter was also very funny... The British and Americans cultivated their own different forces in France.
The British cultivated the de Gaulle regime, and the Americans cultivated the Giraud regime. The two did not recognize each other, hoping to seize the rule of France after the Allies liberated France.
The more embarrassing thing is that... de Gaulle regarded himself as the leader of France before the attack was launched, so a series of things that made the United States and even Britain embarrassed appeared, such as de Gaulle protested against Britain and the United States excluding him from "Operation Overlord", and Washington refused to recognize the "Provisional Government of the French Republic" led by him, and opposed the Allies to circulate "forged notes" in France.
(Note: The so-called "forged notes" are the banknotes that the Allies planned to use in France after liberating France)
In de Gaulle's view, this is the power of the "Provisional Government of the French Republic", so the national sovereignty has been violated by the Allies. Even during the German occupation, France has not suffered such humiliation.
Finally, even Churchill angrily threatened de Gaulle: "If necessary, he will be sent back to the cell!"
These are of course none of Qin Chuan's business, but Qin Chuan thought that at least Britain and the United States are not a monolithic entity, and they still have their own interests.
Just as Qin Chuan was half asleep and half awake thinking about these issues, the car stopped with a "chi".
"We're here!" Rommel said, straightened his uniform, put on his military cap, and took the lead to get out of the car.
A slightly chilly sea breeze blew, immediately blowing away the chaotic thoughts in Qin Chuan's head. He looked up and looked down the road, and saw densely packed workers busy on the beach several kilometers below... Some were engineers in military uniforms, and some were obviously French civilians. On the sea, people were rowing famous wooden boats to put something into the sea.
Rommel introduced: "I divide the defense line into four lines: the outermost is the minefield, then the anti-landing obstacles on the beach, then the bunkers and field fortifications on the defense line, and finally the infantry and armored divisions ready to participate in the anti-landing operations. I plan to deploy them in mobile positions 6 to 8 kilometers from the beach. They will launch a counterattack against the enemy's landing forces!"
6 to 8 kilometers, which is what I said before about deploying armored forces on the front line... This distance is within the range of the Allied naval guns, so there is no doubt that camouflage is needed.
"On the second one, which is the anti-landing obstacle!" Rommel paced and raised his head towards the beach: "In addition to what you see, there are also spikes and artificial reefs in the sea. In addition to anti-tank trenches and obstacles on the beach, I plan to lay mines on a large scale. I asked them to send 10 million mines every month, but they can send less than one-tenth of this number..."
This number made Qin Chuan and Colonel Slaine smack their lips, but it didn't seem surprising. Rommel liked to use mines for defense when he was in Africa, such as the famous "Devil's Paradise".
The staff officer was very considerate and handed Qin Chuan a telescope.
Qin Chuan took the telescope and looked at the beach. He recognized several obstacles called "Czech chevaux de frise" and "Belgian cowshed gates", one row after another, one layer after another, almost filling the beach.
If you don't understand the strength of the Allied forces and just see these German arrangements, it will give people an illusion... No matter how powerful the army is, it can't cross these obstacles.
Qin Chuan could almost imagine the scene: groups of American soldiers rushed onto the beach, but were stopped by mines and obstacles, and were killed and wounded by machine guns and artillery fire from the German defense line.
But the truth is likely to be another situation... Most of these obstacles would be blown up by Allied planes and artillery before the war, and then the US tank landing ships would directly transport the tanks to the beach for landing, and the ones in the front were the paving tanks.
Speaking of paving tanks... Qin Chuan actually borrowed the Americans' method, because that was a thing they invented in Normandy because they were worried that the tanks would get stuck in the beach.
Even the Americans prepared two artificial docks, "Mulberry 1" and "Mulberry 2", which belonged to the US and British armies respectively.
These two docks would be towed to Normandy, and then a large number of modern equipment and troops would quickly land and deploy on the docks.
"Lieutenant Colonel!" Rommel, who was walking in front, shouted to Qin Chuan: "At one o'clock in your direction, it's the French regiment!"
Qinchuan raised his telescope and looked in the direction indicated by Rommel, and sure enough he saw the flag of the French battalion... It was a red background with a shield printed with a simplified diagram of the Gabes defense line, to commemorate the French battalion's victory in Excellent performance on the defensive line from Gabes.
"Your Majesty Marshal..." Qin Chuan turned his attention to Rommel.
"Of course!" Rommel nodded and said without waiting for Qin Chuan's request: "Go and see your old subordinates. I think this may be of some help to them in defense!"
Then Qin Chuan understood that this was also one of Rommel's methods to boost the morale of the French regiment.
Qin Chuan saluted Rommel and then walked in the direction of the French regiment.
There are many new faces in the French regiment, but this does not seem surprising, because when Qin Chuan established the French battalion, there were only 500 people, and now it has developed into a regiment.
When the soldiers in the French battalion saw a lieutenant colonel wearing a German uniform approaching, they quickly stopped what they were doing and saluted Qin Chuan.
"Sergeant!" Qin Chuan walked for a while and saw an acquaintance. Then he randomly grabbed a soldier and asked, "What is the name of your regiment leader?"
At this time, Qin Chuan heard someone scream: "It's the 'Legendary Sergeant', our instructor, he's back..."