Chapter 791 Inspection
After contacting Colonel Paul, things went much more smoothly than before... At least Qin Chuan and others got a few accurate Maginot Line defense maps. The disadvantage is that the text on these defense maps is in French, so Qin Chuan had to ask Paul to find a Frenchman to translate it.
Obviously, these defense maps were seized from the French when the German army occupied the Maginot Line. They are much more accurate than the randomly drawn maps by the German army... When the German army occupied the Maginot Line, they had a contempt, ridicule, or even a superior mentality. They thought that the French had worked hard to build the Maginot Line for more than ten years, invested countless manpower and material resources, but in the end they did not fire a single shot and were completely useless before being broken through by the German army. This was a complete joke.
In addition, the German army had been on the offensive for a short time and even occupied the whole of France, so they took it for granted that the Maginot Line was a waste, and they did not need to care about the defense of the Maginot Line at all, because there would never be an enemy here.
So, as Colonel Paul said, the German army mainly used this place as a training base for new recruits, so of course they would not bother to draw any maps. There were only a few partial sketches, and it was difficult to piece together these sketches full of errors into a complete map. On the contrary, the map seized from the French was much more complete.
From the map, the Maginot Line runs from Longuillon to Belfort, with a total length of 390 kilometers, connecting the Metz Fortress area, the Saar area, the Lauter Fortress area, the Lower Rhine Fortress area and all the way to the Belfort area in northeastern France.
Colonel Slain and Qin Chuan visited the Metz Fortress area under the leadership of Colonel Paul.
"Objectively speaking!" Colonel Paul introduced while walking with the two in the spacious passage of the underground fortifications: "This French defense line should be called art. They always have a bit of romance, right? Just like French women!"
At this point, Colonel Paul couldn't help laughing a few times, then looked at the map and continued: "In front is the command post, lounge, storage room, ammunition depot, first aid station, power station, ventilation room, etc. Did you know? They even built an electric train in the fortifications, and troops and ammunition can be easily transported to any point of the defense line through it!"
In fact, this does not need Colonel Paul to introduce it at all. Qin Chuan and Colonel Slaine also have a map in their hands. They can clearly see the various facilities and specific data in the fortifications.
"God!" Colonel Slaine exclaimed, "The French are crazy. They almost built towns underground!"
"You are right, Colonel!" Paul replied, "They are underground towns. These towns have independent underground power supply equipment and fuel reserves. They have kitchens, wine cellars and even dental equipment, from prisons to morgues. Everything on the ground can be found here. We have calculated that these towns can survive independently for three months when they are cut off from the outside world. Then these towns are connected to each other and become a city! But now they can't last that long!"
"Why?" Colonel Slaine asked.
"Because the reserves here have been basically consumed by us!" Paul spread his hands, "You know, the recruit training base, they all need food and supplies, especially the fuel for power generation... It has been requisitioned and distributed to the armored forces from the beginning!"
Qin Chuan was somewhat shocked by everything in front of him.
What Qin Chuan saw was not what Colonel Paul saw. Qin Chuan observed more about its defense system... The underground fortifications were combined with the ground fortifications, and the ground fortifications were combined with the surrounding environment such as swamps and highlands. Each highland and each bunker were built on the defense focus, and most of these bunkers had 3.5 meters thick reinforced concrete, and some were even 300MM thick steel plates.
The disadvantage of reinforced concrete fortifications is that if they are bombarded by artillery fire, they will be cut off piece by piece by shells. If the shells are enough and strong enough, it is still possible to destroy the fortifications in the end.
But the 300MM thick steel plate... and the outside is still inclined, and the shells will bounce off when they hit it. Even if they don't bounce off, because of the plasticity and strength of the steel plate, it can withstand more shells.
More importantly, these steel plates are called "armored towers", which can also rotate like tanks, which means that it does not need to be modified at all, and the turret can be turned directly towards France.
It can be imagined that when the French designed this "tower fort", their purpose was to solve the problem of blind spots in the bunker's sight and firepower, but they did not expect that it could be used by the enemy to turn to France.
If the Chinese Volunteer Army used tunnel warfare to block the attack of the US military in the Korean War, then this Maginot Line... is undoubtedly a luxurious version of the tunnel.
Therefore, a piece of equipment or a line of defense itself cannot be said to be wrong or the reason for failure.
For example, the Germans also have rocket launchers, but the method and direction of use are wrong, and they cannot fully exert the power of the Soviet "Katyusha" rocket launcher on the battlefield.
Similarly, the French have a luxurious version of tunnel fortifications, but the method of using it is "absolute defense", unlike the combination of offense and defense like the Volunteer Army's tunnel warfare... The Volunteer Army often has its surface positions occupied by the enemy, but there are still Volunteer Army garrisoned in the tunnel, and then cooperate with the ground forces to attack the enemy outside the tunnel from inside and outside, forming a mobile defense.
What’s worse is that the French neglected training because of the Maginot Line, and turned themselves into an army that can only defend but not fight, so there is no other result except destruction.
“The first thing we have to do is to replenish the supplies here, including fuel, food, ammunition, etc.” Qin Chuan said: “In addition, we need a lot of maintenance workers to make all the facilities here, such as power stations, ventilation systems, and of course electric trains, all of which are running!”
“Of course!” Colonel Paul replied, but hesitated, and said embarrassedly: “But…”
Colonel Slaine and Qin Chuan knew what Colonel Paul was embarrassed about. Lieutenant General Rumanlin was in the position of commander. If you want to start such a large-scale maintenance and supply plan, it will not work without his cooperation.
In other words, this requires the full cooperation of Lieutenant General Rumanlin. If Lieutenant General Rumanlin pretends to be perfunctory and sends a few troops to perfunctory, it will be almost impossible to make the Maginot Line enter normal operation in a short time.