Everyone frowned and discussed intensely. The French's tortoise tactic was indeed very unsolvable in their eyes. At least for a country like Dé, which was famous for building elite troops and could not afford to fight a war of attrition, it was very useful.
Seeing that they were not interested in discussing Rudolph and were even about to yawn, he simply waved back. "All officers above the rank of general, stay behind! The rest of you, go out and do your work!"
Originally, Rudolph had only explained the theory of the Blitzkrieg to Hindeburg, but now that Hindeburg's health was deteriorating, it was obvious that he didn't have much time left. He couldn't participate in such a military conference.
"Yes, sir! General!"
After hearing Rudolph's words, the others quieted down and saluted him.
Those who weren't of a high enough rank turned around and left the command room, leaving behind less than ten generals.
"The French have spent a lot of money to build this line of defense. There is no need for us to fight a trench war with them on the border.”
Rudolph said after everyone sat down.
"But General! If we don't set out from here, we'll have to go through either Italy or Italy to attack France. This will offend too many countries. Although our relationship with Italy is still okay, they might not agree to our actions. Moreover, the terrain of the French-Italian border is not suitable for rapid advancement.”
The defense minister, Marshal Blumberg, said worriedly,
" Our goal now is not the Western Front. It would not do us any good to fall out with the French or the Germans. Moreover, the current strength of the country does not allow us to develop to the Western Front. We need to be more fully prepared. First, we will target Austria and the Soviet Slovakia. First, we will strengthen our own strength and launch an attack within two years.”
"On the Western Front, we have to confuse the French and the Ying people, making them think that we are going east to the Soviet Union.”
"Once we start a war against France, it will be a thunderous blow, no matter who our opponent is! How much is it?"
Rudolph nodded to indicate that he understood what he meant." Don't be in a hurry to think about France." His last sentence was unusually firm.
At this point, most of the people present understood in their hearts that the war against France would be the same as the previous war, which meant that half of Europe would be at war. They were indeed not prepared.
"General! If we do this, will we offend the Soviets? They don't want us to develop too much in the Eastern Front.”
Keitel seemed a little worried. The behemoth Soviet Union was not to be trifled with. The combat effectiveness of an army built on faith was much higher than that of the Russian Empire.
" Don't worry about that. Just know your limits. Even if there are some twists and turns in the beginning, Britain and France will eventually support our plan, and the Soviet Union will not fall out with us for Austria and the Soviet Union. The most important thing now is to make Britain and France believe that we will not advance westward, or even that we will not recognize the benefits in the process of our eastward advance.”
Rudolph knew better than anyone else where the bottom line of Britain, France, and Russia was, so he was very confident when he said this.
"General, we are already very careful with only four divisions of less than 80,000 troops on the border with France. If we reduce our troops any further, it will cause problems for our defense.”
Chief of Staff Keitel seemed a little helpless. Rudolph's question was not just a military question, so it was difficult to answer.
"No, I can't! This was far from reassuring the French! Declining our forces will put us in danger.”
Rudolph shook his head and said. His right index finger kept tapping on the left side, making a crisp sound, as if he was thinking.
"How about this? Marshal Blenburg! You will submit a report in the name of the Minister of Defense. Build a Siegfried line of defense on our border with the French. The line of defense will start from Clervaux near the Dutch border, and extend along the borders with belgium, luxemburg, and France to Basel, Switzerland. The total length will be about 600 kilometers.”
Suddenly, he raised his head and looked at everyone.
"But Mr. Prime Minister, this will cost a lot of money. If you want to build half of the Maginot Line, it will cost more than three billion US dollars. After all, it is too long.”
Brenburg felt his scalp tingle. He knew what Rudolph meant, but he felt bad spending the money. It was enough to equip dozens of infantry divisions.
"No, I can't! I need a project that looks grand but is very cost-effective! The most conspicuous parts were made of steel plates, and the rest were replaced with wooden planks. The cement was of the lowest quality, and the machine gun bunker and cannon seat were as simple as they could be. Its purpose was only to confuse the enemy and conceal the army. Counterfeiting must not exceed 300 million US dollars.”
Rudolph glanced at Blumberg and said.
In history, hitler did create such a defense line to confuse the French and invested a lot of manpower and material resources. However, although he played a role in confusing the enemy, the allied counterattack in the later stages of the war was seriously delayed and did not play his defensive role at all.
Therefore, Rudolph learned his lesson and decided to do a jerry-built project that he often experienced in his later life, killing two birds with one stone.
"I understand now. It's to let the French think that we won't attack them and will only fight a defensive battle with them. However, General, the belgians will definitely oppose our plan. The French Maginot defense line was originally going to be built at the border with France, but they gave up because of their opposition.”Blumberg immediately agreed to this idea. This strategy was simply too good, but it raised another concern.
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