Father of France

Chapter 68 All-out Attack
Admiral Dragon chewed on the sausage in his mouth, and after a long while, he swallowed it, saying, "I'm leaving for the front-line command tomorrow. We'll begin covering Saar with fire on the 7th. The British and Americans will also officially begin their offensive on the 7th. There's a lot to do."

As soon as Admiral Dragon finished speaking, Coman was somewhat better off, but his brother Como and Adile both paused, their eyes filled with emotion as they looked at the head of the family.

"When will our Youth Division depart?" Koman didn't waste his emotions. Since the decision had already been made and couldn't be changed by a few words from his family, he might as well ask something practical.

"Just follow orders when the time comes, and don't ask questions you shouldn't ask." General Dragon paused slightly and then added, "General Duval will inform you when your troops are ready to depart."

Koeman nodded, no longer dwelling on the question of when to depart. Instead of directly wishing for a resounding victory, he said, "We will personally bring this war to a perfect close for France. The struggle between France and Germany over the ownership of the Saar can even be traced back to the time when the Holy Roman Empire still existed. No matter what the future European landscape is, we will not yield to either side."

Coal will remain a very important energy source for at least the next twenty years. Unfortunately, while France has the best agricultural conditions in Europe, its resource reserves outside of agriculture are typical of this already barren continent.

Therefore, in the struggle for coal resources, several wars broke out with Germany.

No other major country is in such a dire situation as France; it's practically Latin America on the world's coal map.

However, energy is not insurmountable. The reason for occupying the Saar was simply to occupy the Saar. There was no particular reason; whether it was an outburst of obsession or not, France had to take a piece of land from Germany this time, or else its ambitions would not be fulfilled.

Koeman was absolutely not worried about losing. The Allied forces on the Western Front numbered over four million, while the German forces numbered seven hundred thousand. If you included the German-mobilized Volkssturm, the number of German troops exceeded one million. This opponent, whose quality was questionable and whose size was at a significant disadvantage, was definitely beyond their capabilities to defend the 1,500-kilometer-long western border.

The French offensive force centered on the Saar region numbered almost as many as the residents of the Saar district. Surely the Germans couldn't possibly concentrate all their combat troops in the Saar region and abandon other areas?

General Dragon had already left early the next morning, leaving only the Coman brothers, Adile and her daughter, and their hired nanny, Mary, at breakfast.

Breakfast was very simple. Whenever he saw a baguette, Coman would think of his glorious years in Marseille. Although it could be used as a baton when it got hard, it tasted pretty good when it was fresh out of the oven.

"Como, I'll be living in the barracks starting today. You need to be obedient at home, study hard, don't cause trouble, and respect Mrs. Adile," Coman mumbled, his head bowed.

“I’ll definitely listen to you.” Como put on a serious face, hesitated for a moment, and then said with concern, “Brother, be careful. I’ll be waiting for you to come back.”

"Alright, I got it." Koman waved his hand impatiently. "If you want the days to pass quickly and don't have time to think about these messy things, I can talk to your teacher before we leave and give you a little more homework."

Koman stepped out of his house. The weather was clear and cloudless, a beautiful day that invigorated him. He headed straight for the Youth Division's garrison. The driver, with a distinctly Russian accent, was an active-duty soldier, judging from Koman's uniform. "The Youth Division's garrison? Does your unit also participate in combat?" "What kind of question is that? There's such a thing as patriotism in this world." Koman was in a good mood and didn't mind the driver's skepticism. "Otherwise, why would the Youth Division hire Russian translators? Isn't it to prepare for potential encounters with the Soviet army? And this gentleman's accent... is he of Russian descent?"

The Slavic accent was still quite noticeable. A large proportion of taxi drivers in Paris were of Russian descent. When Corman asked him a question, the driver fell silent, probably afraid of being conscripted.

Upon arriving at the Youth Division's military camp, Koeman told Martin and Alan about this, saying, "Immigrants from some countries exhibit different characteristics. For example, immigrants from former powerful countries that have declined for some reason have a kind of convert fanaticism when they go to another country during this period."

“This mentality is not surprising.” Christians in the Middle East are already in the midst of hostility from the mainstream faith, so they are no strangers to this mentality, and the two understood it immediately.

"So Russian immigrants are different from the residents of the Soviet Union itself." Koeman reminded the two not to apply this perception of exiled Russians in Paris to the Soviet army on the battlefield.

Stalin once commented that these White Russians in exile had lost their national self-confidence and were not comparable to the residents of the Soviet Union. It was a huge mistake to apply the impressions of the White Russian exiles to the Soviet people.

At dawn on March 7, along a 1,500-kilometer front stretching from the North Sea in the north to Switzerland in the south, the U.S. Twelfth Army Group, the British Twenty-first Army Group, and the French First and Second Armies, comprising a total of 84 divisions and 3.1 million troops, launched a full-scale offensive.

At the Lorraine artillery positions, 4,500 cannons of various types roared deafeningly. The moment a shell left its barrel, the artillerymen felt the earth tremble inside them. In the distance, orange-red fireballs exploded above German fortifications, like the gates of hell flickering in the fog.

The artillery commander's lips were moving, but the sound of cannon fire drowned out all words.

"Ten rapid-fire rounds..." The artillery officers could only shout at the roaring cannons, ordering the artillerymen to repeat the firing procedure they had just heard.

The 155mm long-range artillery positions were unleashing the fruits of the French working class's hard work upon the town of Saar. Not only Saar, but all settlements within range were covered by this barrage.

In the sky, five hundred Leore Olivier medium bombers, under the cover of British Spitfire fighters, launched an air raid on the Saar region.

A two-hundred-kilogram aerial bomb was dropped, appearing directly in the eyes of the residents of Sal City, bringing with it an ever-growing sense of impending death.

On other fronts, General Patton's Third Army launched a swift raid, taking the lead and penetrating deep into German territory. Montgomery ordered the British 21st Army Group to advance while simultaneously ordering the British 6th Airborne Division and the US 17th Airborne Division to conduct airborne operations. Perhaps to save face for Operation Market Garden, General Eisenhower did not object after learning about it.

　I'm bad at writing these kinds of chapters, but I can't just not write them, especially since World War II is almost over.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)