Father of France

Chapter 81 The Winterthurheim Factory
General Duval ordered the Youth Division not to enter the Stuttgart city area, but to take over the Mercedes-Benz Winterthurheim factory first, and this order was executed perfectly.

“We always have to give our brother units a day, otherwise we’d feel bad if we went into town and found our comrades committing crimes,” Martin said, embracing his collectivist spirit. “A day is enough for them to handle it.”

As a youth division of the gendarmerie, if they went into the city and saw French officers and soldiers robbing and raping, wouldn't that damage their camaraderie?
The Antioch Regiment immediately assembled and rushed to the Winterthurheim factory, which was also attacked by artillery. Some of the factory buildings were in ruins, and the smell of rust and machine oil filled the air.

Take a deep breath; it's the quintessential smell of an industrialized nation, one you'd never find in countries like Niger or Côte d'Ivoire.

A gentle breeze rustled the factory's dilapidated roof, creating an irregular rhythm that seemed like a final lament for this defeated industrial behemoth. Soldiers from the Youth Division, carrying MAS-36 rifles, cast long shadows in the dimly lit factory as their boots trod across the oil-soaked floor.

"This is the Winterthurheim factory," a German engineer said, pushing open a rusty iron door, his flashlight beam sweeping across rows of silent machine tools. "The heart of the German armored forces."

The air was thick with the smell of machine oil and metal. Several German workers huddled in a corner, their eyes filled with a mixture of fear and hostility.

A gray-haired technician slowly stood up and said in heavily accented Swabian French, "This place hasn't been open for a month."

Koeman's fingers traced the chassis of a destroyed Panther tank, his fingertips smeared with black oil. Alan and Koeman looked on with curiosity.

What haven't the two seen? But they've never seen a steel cradle before; in any case, there's nothing like that in Syria.

"The accompanying pilots came in to take a look. Excavation work has begun on the collapsed factory buildings. Let's see what else we can find." Koman knew he wasn't an expert; whether a machine was usable and how useful it was could only be judged by a true expert.

Winterthurheim was instantly transformed into an archaeological site, where Antioch soldiers, including Koman, wielded shovels and worked up a sweat digging.

Not a single person complained. Compared to soldiers who risked their lives on combat missions, they were already very lucky to be only sweating a little.

The technical team that arrived after being notified began to take inventory of the equipment. Since the late 19th century, French industry had been no match for Germany, which was the birthplace of the Second Industrial Revolution.

“These transmission systems are at least five years more advanced than ours,” exclaimed Vincent, a pilot, in front of a precision milling machine. “Look at these tolerance controls.”

“Look at this,” his German assistant—a former Mercedes technician named Schmidt—pointed to a special mold, “This is specifically for machining the road wheels of the Tiger tank.”

Koman followed the two in, intending to broaden his horizons, but ultimately had to admit that he resembled a gorilla standing next to two scholars.

Soon another discovery was made. Deep inside another collapsed factory, the digging soldiers found the most precious trophy: three complete Maybach HL230 engines, carefully hidden in a dark room disguised as a junkyard.

This discovery immediately caught the attention of Vincent and Schmidt; clearly, the discovery of the engine was far more important than any mold.

Koman, who no longer wanted to be a gorilla, asked directly, "No need for too much explanation, just tell me if this factory can be moved to France."

"Sir, I still suggest we don't do that yet. Let's repair the production line first, bring all the workers back, and make sure there's no unseen damage before considering moving it."

After listening, the German Schmidt explained, "Otherwise, many problems might not have been discovered through the current inspection alone."

Inside the factory, the captured worker, Muller, nodded stiffly and handed over a bunch of keys. His hoarse voice said, "These machines...they require special maintenance."

Knowing that these technological achievements of Germany over the years would ultimately benefit France, Müller was in low spirits. People's joys and sorrows are not shared, but this did not diminish the joy of the French soldiers and technicians around him.

"Mr. Muller thinks that we French can't learn it?" Coleman laughed after hearing the translator's words. "That's alright, you can teach us."

A complex emotion flashed in Muller's eyes: "This will take time."

“We have plenty of time, and it shouldn’t just be us,” Martin lit a cigarette and exhaled a smoke ring. “And you, you have the most abundant resource right now—time.” This answer bluntly told the Germans that France not only wanted the production line, but even the workers in this factory had been conscripted and could only cooperate with France’s actions.

Looking at this middle-aged worker who still fantasized about preserving the precious crystallization of German industry, Koeman had a wicked idea. He blurted out, "The Allies have decided that Germany will undergo complete deindustrialization. There will be no trace of industry left in the country. The knowledge and work experience you have learned will be useless to the future of Germany."

He wasn't lying; it was thanks to Germany's ability to launch two world wars in less than thirty years, and to demonstrate its formidable fighting power in both.

How to tame this beast became the focus of discussion among the Allied powers, and various plans were proposed.

The United States has studied that completely disarming Germany would require not only disarming the German army, but also completely eliminating all raw materials that could be used to manufacture weapons from the German civilian population. In other words, it would require the complete destruction of Germany's arms industry and any other industries that might be related to weapons.

As for the Ruhr region, the plan is to demolish its industrial facilities on a large scale so that it will not become an industrial area in the foreseeable future.

If the Ruhr region were deindustrialized, then the whole of Germany would be ineligible to become an industrial nation. The core supporter of this plan in the United States was President Roosevelt.

The plan was not fully implemented due to Roosevelt's death, but in the first few years after the war, the United States still imposed very strict penalties, such as stipulating that the living standards of Germans could not exceed those of 1932.

In 1932, Germany was at the lowest point of its living standards following the global economic crisis and the Great Depression. It was precisely because Germans could not tolerate that standard of living that the Nazi Party came to power.

While other countries were developing, Germany was forced to deindustrialize. The rebuilt German armed forces could only use weapons provided by other countries. So even if France gave Germany a break, its tank production, which is currently in the first tier, would stagnate due to deindustrialization.

Müller, whose face was still smeared with oil, paled slightly upon hearing this. Koeman smiled and said, "If you don't want to farm in the future, you'll have to go work in France. This time, the Allies aren't forcing Germany to hand over many trains or artillery pieces; they can produce those. The goal is to deprive Germany of its production capacity at the source."

The production line can remain stationary for now, but the engines must be transported immediately for testing by domestic engineers. Preliminary preparations for the imitation work can begin immediately.

The current task is to quickly restore power to the factory so that a full inspection can be carried out. Koman was also glad that after crossing the Rhine, he originally wanted to blow up all the power equipment, fill in the wells, and breach the dikes to allow the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse to appear in Germany. Fortunately, he only thought about it and did not put it into practice.

Otherwise, there is now another problem. If possible, he would certainly hope that Germany would follow the agricultural empire route that the Confederate States of America had tried, but he also knows that this possibility is unlikely.

Koeman jumped into a military vehicle to report. In order to become a colonel as soon as possible, he could only accumulate as many military merits as possible. He was also afraid of death, so he had no other choice but to find a way to plunder Germany.

After reporting his findings at the Winterthurheim factory, General Duval was quite moved. The German armored forces had almost become synonymous with the German army and a symbol of this war. Finding the latest German tank production line was certainly great news.

"The provisional government is very concerned about this matter," General Duval muttered to himself. France was most concerned about Germany's tank production base and aviation industry center. As for antiques, artifacts, and works of art, they might be a great fortune for an individual, but they didn't have such high value in the eyes of the nation.

Koeman believed the interim government was genuinely concerned about the news, as the first generation of French tanks after the war had a strong German lineage.

However, France went astray. Perhaps France was terrified of the mobility of German tanks in 1940, because the tanks they produced after the war were all heavily armored and had almost no protection.

The Young Division officially entered the city one day after Stuttgart was occupied. At this time, after emergency repairs, the factory's power was restored for the first time. Under the dim light, French and German technicians gathered around a drawing board for a heated discussion.

Later, Charles de Gaulle, far away in Paris, also learned that the French army had successfully captured the Winterthurheim factory, the cradle of the Tiger and Panther tanks.

De Gaulle took this news very seriously. Back then, De Gaulle advocated for the establishment of an army centered on armored forces. His initial intention for establishing such an army differed from that of Germany. De Gaulle saw that France's population potential was far less than that of Germany, and if it did not have a leading position in quality, it would be impossible to compete with Germany.

Ultimately, however, France fell to Germany's blitzkrieg, which was centered on armored forces. It can be said that de Gaulle also had his own wartime response, namely tanks.

While protectively occupying the Winterthurheim factory, most of the French troops crossed Stuttgart and continued their advance into southern Germany.

(End of this chapter)