"What on earth does the general want us to do in Kaiserslautern?"
After leaving the headquarters, Kesselin couldn't help but ask Manstein.
Manstein had a little clue in his mind, but he was not very sure about his guess, so he planned to go to the field to investigate and visit. He would make a judgment later, so he shook his head and said:
"I don't know either. Anyway, let's take the troops there first and then talk about it!"
Kesselring had no other choice but to put his troops on the train and take the train south from the north to the southwest of the empire, an industrial city in the middle of the forest.
After arriving here, Kesselring Immediately sent people to the west to detect the intelligence of the French army, and at the same time began to receive the equipment that was sent. Major General Mainz did not lie to him. He really transferred enough equipment to arm
100,000 people for the third division.
With this mountain of equipment, Kesselring fell into happy troubles.
The army of various countries has always been worried about the lack of equipment. I have never seen anyone like them worried about too much equipment…
Just in Kesselring.
When he was worried about the equipment of 100,000 people, Major Manstein changed into civilian clothes and quietly entered the area controlled by the French army in the west with a few guards – the Saar coal mining area.
Coal areas like Alsace and Lorraine, which were robbed by the Germans during the Franco-Prussian War, have very rich coal reserves.
The reason why Prussia was able to quickly become a country in just a few decades after defeating Gaul The largest industrial country in Europe.
The main reason is that these three places have a large amount of coal and iron ore, which are important raw materials needed for industrial development.
At this time, Alsace and Lorraine have been taken back by the Gauls. Even the Saar coal mining area was occupied by them.
The French army dispatched a division of troops to control this place, and also dispatched tens of thousands of workers from the country to mine coal from here day and night, and continued to flow into the country. In the Treaty of Versailles
, the Gauls specifically requested that the mining rights of the Saar coal mining area be assigned to them, allowing them to mine coal here for free for fifteen years, and after the fifteen years, the local residents were allowed to hold their own Vote to decide the ownership of the Saar region.
If the local residents vote to stay in Gaul, then the Gauls will turn this area into Gaul territory and will not return it to the Gauls!
The abacus was very good.
The Saar region is a mining area and the population here is not large.
At this time, the population here is only about 600,000.
After the Gauls took control of this place, on the one hand, they could mine coal mines for free and plunder Hans.
On the other hand, they can immigrate from the country to enrich the area.
As long as they immigrate 600,000 people from the country within fifteen years, so that the number of Gauls in the Saar area exceeds that of the Hans. Then when the Saar region holds a referendum fifteen years later, they will be able to completely annex the Saar region as they wish!
Moreover, during this period, they can also suppress the Hans here and force them to move away. In order to reduce the population of Hans here and further ensure that they can successfully devour this place, in order to ensure the success of this plan and to ensure their power to mine coal here, the French army attaches great importance to this place and sent troops here. A full division…
Since Saar itself is the territory of Hans, the local population is mainly Hans, and there are not many people who have migrated from Gauls. Even if there are, they are mainly new immigrants from
Manstein. The entry of Yin and others did not arouse the suspicion of the French army, but he noticed that at the main intersections in the Saar area, the French army began to strengthen the police, set up some roadblocks, and began to check pedestrians. In some places, they even A checkpoint was set up, and a circle of sandbags was placed around the checkpoint. Some French soldiers were carrying heavy machine guns to the sandbags. It looked like they were preparing for war!
Manstein was not surprised by the French army's reaction. A German division moved south to Kaiserslautern. This kind of thing must not be hidden from the eyes and ears of the Gauls.
Therefore, after learning that the German army was coming, the French army was bound to take some measures. After all, the relationship between the two countries was not very good at this time. After the French army had actively invaded the Ruhr area, it was entirely possible for the German army to attack the French army from other places. Launch a counterattack.
After ignoring the French soldiers, Manstein visited the city of Saarland.
He noticed that the Hansi people in the city seemed to be living a pretty bad life.
After the German army was defeated and surrendered, the French soldiers were not polite to these hostile countries at all. What's more, their policy included a plan to expel the Hans from the Saar region, so the French army was almost everywhere in the Saar region. They are suppressing the local Hansi people.
After some visits, he found that the local Hans people had long been intolerable to the atrocities of the French army. If they had not had weapons in their hands and no one from above had come forward to organize them, they would have risen up to resist the French army!
This discovery made Manstein suddenly enlightened!
He understood the purpose of Major General Mainz placing them here!
"So that's it!"
Manstein was so excited that he thought for a moment and sent a soldier back to deliver a message to Kesselring. Then he stayed back and prepared to contact the local Hans here!
Manstein had already made up his mind. , he wanted to be a nail, firmly nailed into the Saar region, and completely disrupt the French rule here!
Kesselin was so scared that he broke out in a cold sweat after receiving the report from the soldiers!
This guy Manstein is so courageous! Big!
He went to the enemy-occupied area to carry out sabotage alone. If he was discovered by the French army, he would be dead!
After receiving the notice from Manstein, Kesselin's first reaction was It is necessary to recall Manstein. Manstein is not only a staff officer from the General Staff, but also the brother of Major General Mainz. Even if he does not have these status concerns, Kesselring cannot sit back and watch his robes be owed. Regardless of the danger!
However, after calming down and thinking carefully for a while, Kesselin gave up the idea.
He knew that although Manstein's decision was risky, the benefits were also huge.
Moreover, Major General Mainz. We specially gave them weapons for 100,000 people. Do we expect them to put these weapons in the warehouse to rust?
Of course not, these weapons must be used!
And the total size of the German army is only 100,000. The German army must not be able to use them all. If the German army cannot use them, can they be used by others?
Thinking of this, Kesselin began to understand what Major General Mainz meant, so he immediately sent someone. They responded to Manstein, prepared several radio stations for him, and provided him with a batch of weapons to facilitate his operation there!
Of course, the French army did not know about the German army's secret operations. After all, their current focus was still concentrated. With the German troops in Kaiserslautern!
After receiving Kesselin's support, Manstein immediately secretly distributed the weapons he received to the miners who had vowed to resist the French army!
These miners had weapons! Equipment, immediately began to take action. They overturned the control of the French army in the mining area, led a large number of workers to launch an uprising, and then broke into pieces under the guidance of Manstein. They began to take advantage of their familiarity with the local terrain and elusive Begins to attack French positions in the Saar.
For a while, a fire broke out in the backyard of the French army, but there was a strong enemy in front of them.
This made the French army not dare to easily dispatch troops to suppress the workers' uprising.
As a result, the workers' uprising became more intense.
By September, the workers' troops in the Saarland area had already Among the 100,000 people, the order that the Gauls had worked so hard to establish in the Saar region completely collapsed under the impact of 100,000 workers armed to the teeth!