The Rise Of Australasia-Chapter 1316 - 957 The New Version of the Normandy
Chapter 1316: Chapter 957: The New Version of the Normandy Landings_2
Chapter 1316 -957: The New Version of the Normandy Landings_2
After all, a portion of the German army ultimately chose to surrender. Although the number of German prisoners was not one-fifth as many as the Italian prisoners, there were still tens of thousands of them.
As for Italy sending troops on its own to rescue the prisoners, Mussolini dared not even think about it.
In the North African region, more than half of the several hundred thousand Italian troops had become prisoners of war. Sending just a few hundred thousand soldiers would be nothing more than delivering another batch of prisoners to the British, French, and Australians.
If Italy had a military force of millions, even several millions to mobilize, wouldn’t it be preferable to use these troops to attack France and achieve the ultimate victory in the war?
After all, traveling from Italy to North Africa requires crossing the Mediterranean Sea, and should the fleet of Britain, France, and Australia discover them, it is very possible that the troops sent to rescue the prisoners in North Africa would not even see the land there but instead be lost in this not-so-large Mediterranean Sea.
At this time in Germany, the Prime Minister’s Office was also in complete disarray.
The German Chancellor’s mindset was about to explode; he simply could not believe that more than half of the elite 300,000-strong German Army had been decimated in Tunisia.
On the current North African battlefield, only the Spanish Army and a small portion of the German-Italian troops remained, and these forces were simply incapable of causing any significant turbulence.
If the British and French stabilized the North African battlefield and then turned their attention to the French battlefield, could the German soldiers stationed in France hold their ground?
“Reinforcements! We must send reinforcements!” the German Chancellor shouted angrily in his office!
“Yes, Prime Minister!” the guard at the door promptly replied, but after taking a few steps, he sensed something was amiss. Turning back, he inquired, “Where do we need to send reinforcements, Your Excellency?”
“France!” The German Chancellor answered through gritted teeth, clearly having no intention of rescuing the disadvantaged North African front.
“Yes!” The guard was decisive and without any further questions, he hurried off to carry out the order.
On January 8th, 1938, the smoke of the French battlefield once again enveloped Northern France.
Millions of French troops moved out magnificently from the Maginot Line, charging undauntedly toward the German positions across the river.
In the most crucial offense from Tours to Orleans, the Frenchmen organized a powerful armored cluster, aimed at breaking through the German defensive line and quickly flanking to Orleans and possibly even Paris.
At this time, the Germans indeed could not muster an equivalent armored cluster to respond.
The Germans did not lack tanks and armored vehicles, but the issue was that most of these tanks had been deployed to the Eastern European Battlefield, where two armored clusters had made their formidable reputation.
However, on the French battlefield, Germany’s remaining armored force only constituted two tank divisions, which were also dispersedly deployed in Tours and Orleans.
Expecting these two tank divisions to resist the armored cluster built by the Frenchmen was asking too much of them.
Nevertheless, the Germans were not completely without means of resistance. Though at a disadvantage in terms of armor, the Germans had repaired a considerable number of military airfields in Northern France, deploying numerous planes and bombers to defend their positions.
As the French counter-offensive kicked off, thousands of German planes took to the skies in formation, heading toward their respective targets.
On the Britain-France-Australia side, even more planes took off from airfields in the rear of France, from Britain, and from aircraft carriers in the Atlantic Ocean, all similarly heading toward the German frontline positions.
The offensive aspect of World War II was relatively straightforward, a competition of each country’s potential, that is, the quantity of airplanes and tanks.
If the Germans were not fighting on two fronts, perhaps their military industrial production capacity, along with Italy’s support, could barely compete with the Britain-France-Australia Three Nations.
After all, at this time, France was in a weakened state; the only ones with strong military industrial capacity were Britain and Australasia.
Unfortunately, just like in history, the Germans were blindly overconfident, opting for a two-front war and firmly believing they could handle the enemy on the Eastern Front.
Was the enemy on the Eastern Front so easy to handle? Let’s not even talk about the Germany of that time; even now, Australasia, which is basically among the top two superpowers in the world, wouldn’t dare claim they could achieve total victory over Russia in a war of annihilation.
Perhaps Australasia could take advantage of their various advanced military technologies to gain an upper hand in the war, but to completely obliterate a country whose territory and population both rank among the world’s largest, even number one among the Powers’ native lands, is somewhat far-fetched.
When the German Chancellor announced reinforcements, the French counter-attack had already been underway for three days.
In these three days, the French Army had successfully crossed the Loire River and destroyed several German military airfields in Northern France.
During these three days of air battles, the German air force had lost more than they had won.
This was an inevitable situation, after all, how could Germany possibly gain air superiority on two fronts while engaged in a two-front war?
Moreover, in this history, Britain-France-Australia had partitioned some of the United States’ land. The industrial production capacity of the United States naturally goes without saying, although the most vital Great Lakes Industrial Area had become independent, the East and West Coasts still had a certain scale of industry.
With these regions’ support, added to the fact that France hadn’t fallen early, the Germans were not as powerful as they were in our history.
On January 17th, 1938, after meticulous preparation, over 500,000 elite soldiers from Britain-France-Australia, escorted by warships of the three nations, crossed the English Channel towards Normandy in Northern France.
Although the world and the course of history were not the same, the importance of Normandy, whether in history or in this world, remained very high.
The reason is simple: Normandy is located in the central region of Northern France and close to France’s capital, Paris.
Furthermore, Normandy is right across from England, allowing the British air force and navy to rapidly support Normandy.
Add to this that to the south of Normandy lies the temporary French capital of Tours and the defense lines constructed by the Germans, making it a perfect location for a flanking maneuver.
If they were to land in Normandy, whether to march southeast towards Paris along the railway or to head south down the highway and encircle the German Army, either option would be very appropriate.
Once the Normandy landings succeeded, it would directly cut off German influence in Brittany. The German garrison in Brittany would be trapped on a peninsula surrounded by the sea on three sides, much like in Tunisia.
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The fate of the German forces in Tunisia could serve as a prediction that if the Normandy landings were successful, the German forces in Brittany would also inevitably be eradicated.
To realize the entire landing operation, the 500,000 invasion troops were all elite main forces from the three countries. More importantly, behind these 500,000 main troops awaited over a million more soldiers ready to land.
If these 500,000 troops could tear a hole on the beaches of Normandy, millions of additional troops would swarm in, striving to expand that narrow breach into a wide avenue of sunlight.
Of course, it’s easier said than done.
Especially with amphibious landings, where casualties are definitely going to be high. Although in history, the casualties at the Normandy landings weren’t as exaggerated as one might imagine, that occurred in the latter part of the war.
At that time, the number of Allied forces along the entire front had far surpassed that of the German Army.
But now it was different. Although the troops of the Britain-France-Australia nations still had the advantage in numbers, the German Army was not yet at the end of its rope.
Although Australasia would also suffer casualties, those of the British and French would clearly be greater.
Moreover, such a battle could turn Normandy into a battlefield akin to the meat grinder of Verdun, fiercely depleting the manpower of both the British and French and the Germans.
This was also why Arthur had not rejected the idea of the Normandy landings; although a success would defeat Germany more quickly, any increase in British and French losses in this war was something Arthur would naturally welcome.
As for the risk of Russians taking advantage of the Britain-France-Australia offensive, Arthur was not overly concerned either.
First off, reports from the front had already indicated that Germany was planning a new offensive against Russia, which, when looked at historically, was likely to be the so-called Battle of Stalingrad.
Furthermore, it was impossible for Germany to withdraw its main forces from Eastern Europe at this point. For each step the German troops retreated, it meant the Russians would advance one step further.
If Germany did not want to abandon the vast territories of Poland and Russia that they had occupied, their military would need to remain stationed on that land, waiting for new recruits to arrive from training within the country.
The Russians themselves would actively engage the German Army, and the wars between them would only continue incessantly. Under such circumstances, no country involved in the war in Europe would escape unscathed; they would all have to endure more and more casualties in the upcoming battles.
