Father of France

Chapter 71 The French did it on purpose
On the train from Paris to Lorraine, the soldiers in the carriages were all exhausted, resting with their eyes closed, some even snoring softly.

The soldiers, who had not rested, were in poor spirits, their bodies swaying constantly with the gaps in the rails. Near the corner by the train door, the Damascus Iron Triangle, along with two translators, whispered among themselves.

"The division commander really put us through the wringer," Martin said, lighting a cigarette and puffing out smoke, seemingly pleased with his masculine charm.

"The air quality is already bad, can't you be more mindful of the occasion?" Alan waved his hand irritably, his tone full of annoyance. "I stood at the Eiffel Tower for an hour, and after finally getting on the train, I still have to smell your big chimney. If you like smoking so much, why don't you smoke the German-made version?"

Early in the morning, the Youth Division was taken by General Duval to the Eiffel Tower for a mobilization rally.

Koeman could understand; the Eiffel Tower has a large crowd, which would let more Parisians know that the Young Division was leaving Paris to join the war, and this could be considered part of the whitewashing.

Twenty thousand young officers and soldiers filled the streets around the Eiffel Tower, shouting slogans of revenge and retribution, which was truly awe-inspiring.

But after standing for an hour and performing a play, he was indeed exhausted. Then he walked to the train station to catch the train, which led to the current scene.

"Alan, take a break. It's over 200 kilometers from Lorraine, and there are still several hours to go," Koman advised Alan, urging him to conserve his energy, otherwise he might miss his chance.

After speaking, Koman changed his sitting position, rested his forehead against the window, closed his eyes to rest, and his body swayed with the movement of the train.

At the headquarters of the French First Army, General Dracon was explaining the progress of the Saar offensive to the Allied command. A few minutes later, after hanging up the phone, he sneered at the officers in the command post, "Accusing us of massive shelling of the Saar city? The Saar shelling is our responsibility, then whose responsibility is the bombing of Dresden?"

"Hehe..." A burst of ambiguous laughter suddenly erupted from the army group headquarters, mocking the Allied Command's dissatisfaction with the shelling.

Saar was 25 kilometers from the Franco-German border, and some settlements were less than 5 kilometers away. Facing the bombardment of more than 4,000 cannons, it was far more efficient than the bombardment of Dresden.

Even General Dracon didn't know how many casualties the three days of shelling had caused in the Saar region, but no matter how many casualties there were, the number he could accept was only two thousand. Anything more than that would be a problem for the Germans themselves.

Whether it's infighting or a famine, it has nothing to do with France.

"Alright, orders: using Saar as the starting point, the 1st Panzer Division and the 22nd Panzer Division will separate. The 1st Panzer Division and the 3rd, 4th, 5th... nine divisions will form the Southern Group, with the final target being Vienna, the capital of Austria. The remaining troops will form the Eastern Group."

Earlier, the Saar district had been captured by the First Army. The entire German garrison in the Saar district numbered only 30,000. After three days of intense fire and being assaulted by more than a thousand tanks from two armored divisions, control of the Saar district had changed hands. If things hadn't progressed smoothly and the Saar district hadn't been under control, he wouldn't have ordered the Youth Division to set out.

"General Eisenhower, General Dracon has responded to the civilian casualties in the Saar region, stating that the artillery provided incorrect coordinates and it was an accidental bombing." The French representative at Allied Command relayed the First French Army's response to the Saar shelling. Eisenhower glanced at the French representative for a moment, then nodded and replied, "Understood. Inform General Dracon that Allied Command understands this mistake, but as a professional army, we must reduce such errors, as they might embolden the Germans' resolve to resist."

After the French representative saluted and left, Chief of Staff Volker, who had been silent, finally spoke up, "Eck, the French did it on purpose. The Saar district is only 25 kilometers from the border, so the reason for the accidental bombing is invalid."

“I know.” As a politician and general, Eisenhower could not help but smile helplessly. “The French could have resumed production now and stopped sending a large number of troops to participate in the battle to invade Germany. But the de Gaulle government did not do so. I originally thought that the French wanted to prove their fighting spirit, but now it seems that they had other purposes.”

"President Roosevelt already had reservations about de Gaulle, but unfortunately, General Giraud's abilities are limited." General Volker, knowing that Eisenhower had already made his own judgment, could only mutter in dissatisfaction, "Why don't we issue a diplomatic note domestically demanding an explanation from de Gaulle?"

"No, it seems that the French Communist Party, the largest party in France, has a very high approval rating right now." Eisenhower shook his head and said that the pro-Soviet parties in some European countries are not a matter of united front value, but rather that their value is so high that the United States has to pay attention to them. It is true that the United States does not like de Gaulle, but it dislikes the French Communist Party even more.

It was still wartime, and with the added influence of the French Communist Party, Eisenhower couldn't really comment on France's current actions. He was a politician-general, that's true, but in wartime, he was first and foremost a general. Before Germany was completely defeated, the United States couldn't hold onto everything.

After a 24-hour march, the Youth Division finally arrived at the Saar district, Saarbrücken.

The youth division took six hours to reach Lorraine, but more than ten hours to reach Saarbrücken, even though Saarbrücken is very close to the border.

But once they crossed the border, the Youth Division's march slowed to a snail's pace. Constantly on guard against sniper fire and landmines, they finally reached Saarbrücken. The last time Koeman had seen such devastation was in Gaza. Saarbrücken now resembled Gaza in his memory.

General Duval's first order upon arriving in Saarbrücken was to bury the bodies to prevent a disease outbreak.

Koman and his comrades walked along streets riddled with bomb craters. Alan relayed the latest information they had gathered: "Everything except a primary school was bombed. Only one church remains, and the library burned down. Of the hundreds of thousands of residents, only about 30,000 have fled. The rest..."

“We can definitely dig out the rest.” Koman knew what “the rest” meant, and sighed, “The artillery left us a mess. Let me think, let’s take in the orphans first. Children are always innocent. If the rest don’t run away, we have no legal reason to kill them. But there’s always a way.”

What if the remaining Germans in the Saarland still hold a referendum to remain in Germany in the future? Koeman felt he had already come up with a solution.

The commander of the French Youth Division issued a second order: "Block all roads connecting the Saar region to Germany and begin reconstruction of the Saar region."

The reconstruction was a ruse; the main part of the order was to block the roads connecting Germany, not to prevent the remaining Germans in the Saarland from escaping, but to prevent those who had already fled from returning.

(End of this chapter)