African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 1704 French General Staff Second Bureau
Even someone as experienced and knowledgeable as Peter the Elder couldn't fathom the will of the state, which shows how successful Germany was in this regard. Amidst the mix of truth and deception, it was difficult for anyone to guess Germany's true intentions.

France is now caught between two conflicting answers: yes or no.

Such a large-scale military movement on the Franco-German border could not have been kept secret from French intelligence agencies, and even civilians on the French border could have noticed some clues.

But who can completely guarantee that Germany did this to guard against France, or to invade France?
Old Peter sighed helplessly, "I hope we are overthinking it! Peace is hard-won. More than a decade ago, I watched helplessly as many people sacrificed their lives in the flames of war."

"They are now just a string of numbers on Germany's books. Nearly twenty years have passed, and who remembers these people or the cruelty of war?"

Unlike young Germans, old Peter was clearly past his youthful idealism. He recalled that when he was young, he was just like young Germans today, with no real concept or experience of war.

But after witnessing the brutality of World War I firsthand, old Peter paid the price his generation had to pay for his ignorance.

He was relatively lucky; he was able to work in a relatively rear-area location, and the war created a great demand for railways, so he avoided the cost of going to the battlefield and survived by sheer luck.

But he could not forget that tragic era, where vibrant lives were lost in the flames of war, and the wounded soldiers retreating from the front lines, their crippled limbs telling the unbearable pain of an unjust war.

Those numb and bewildered eyes sent chills down one's spine and evoked a sense of sorrow. Not everyone can find a bright future after a war, thanks to a politician who spouts lies.

The inspirational story of Adolf, a low-ranking soldier who survived World War I and later ascended to the "throne" of Germany, was not much different from a myth for millions of Germans.

Many of the German soldiers who survived in the trenches of World War I have become relics of that era.

Old Peter remarked with emotion, "Time is the best medicine for healing wounds, but it also erases those insignificant vulnerabilities in history, causing society to always forget the painful costs of the past."

Clearly, some of the young people at the station didn't take Old Peter's melancholy seriously.

“Old Peter, you’re too stubborn. In my opinion, we should have taught the French a lesson long ago. France has been our enemy since ancient times.”

"Before Germany was unified, the French bullied us quite a bit."

"There is no possibility of peaceful coexistence between Germany and France; there is only a life-or-death racial conflict. On this land, being soft-hearted will only benefit those who have ill intentions towards Germany."

"Now that Germany has become strong through its own efforts, we should nip these unstable factors in the bud. Otherwise, when France rises again, they will certainly not let us off the hook."

What the young man said actually makes sense. If Germany doesn't take advantage of its strength and France's weakness to deal with France now, it's not impossible for France to rise again in the future.

After all, there are many historical examples of people who tried to kill a snake but ended up being harmed instead.

To take a recent example, when France was powerful, it failed to eliminate Prussia, which eventually led to Prussia becoming a major threat to France!
The man continued, "Moreover, Germany's development now requires external expansion. We have too many people and need more land and resources. Without breaking through these bottlenecks, it will be difficult for Germany to continue to develop."

"Look at the French today, even if they are lazy and inefficient, they can still live well thanks to the vast colonies built by their ancestors."

"We in Germany don't have such conditions."

Germans were indeed much more ambitious than the French in this era, while the French were known throughout Europe for their enjoyment of life.

Of course, the current social situation in France is also due to the severe damage that World War I inflicted on the confidence of the entire French nation.

Old Peter found it difficult to communicate with the young man who was spouting nonsense, since the two had different perspectives and considerations, so he simply stopped talking about the topic.

"Then let's wait and see! But in any case, we hope the war will end at the lowest possible cost, and not become like the last world war, which dragged on indefinitely."

While these railway workers were discussing it, a considerable amount of equipment and supplies had already been unloaded from the trains in the station yard.

A quartermaster officer of the German Wehrmacht, holding a pencil and a yellowed booklet, carefully counted and recorded the goods in the yard.

Then, under the command of other Wehrmacht officers, these supplies were transported to various military camps and warehouses in Metz.

In addition to being a railway hub in Lorraine, Metz was also a major military town in Germany, with twelve large military fortresses, forming an important defensive zone behind the Siegfried Line.

The Siegfried Line was a fortified defensive line built by Germany in the early stages of World War II on its western border to counter the French Maginot Line.

Its main purpose was to protect western German territory, while also serving as a garrison for troops advancing westward into France and a pre-positioned heavy artillery position to support the attack.

The Germans vividly refer to it as the "West Wall".

This defensive line stretches from Clervo in northern Germany, near the Dutch border, southward along the borders of Belgium, Luxembourg, and France, and finally extends to the Basel region of Switzerland, with a total length of more than 600 kilometers.

It consists of minefields, barbed wire, anti-tank trenches, and sturdy fortifications made of reinforced concrete.

Compared to the Maginot Line, the Siegfried Line was characterized by the fact that most of its fixed fortifications were small in scale and simple in structure, but the number of them was much greater, reaching tens of thousands, far exceeding the number of buildings on the French Maginot Line.

This resulted in the entire defensive line using nearly ten million tons of concrete, almost 2.5 times the amount used in the Maginot Line, and the total amount of steel used reached 350,000 tons, which is also about 2.3 times that of the Maginot Line.

Therefore, the western part of Germany has always been a key area of ​​German defense.

In contrast, in eastern Germany, although Germany constantly proclaimed the Soviet Union as its main enemy, Poland and western Ukraine served as a buffer zone between Germany and the Soviet Union, so the pressure to defend was not great.

The existence of Germany's "Western Wall" meant that Germany had deployed a massive number of troops along this defensive line, a practice that had continued since the end of World War I.

Therefore, even with the influx of large numbers of German personnel and supplies, it would be difficult to detect given the already massive military strength of the country.

After all, for the French, once the German forces around the Siegfried Line reached a certain threshold, increasing them further would not make much difference to France.

The presence of German military forces along the Siegfried Line alone had already given France a sense of despair.

The French did not have as many manpower as the Germans to deploy on the border and confront them head-on, especially after Germany annexed and assimilated the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

With a total population nearly three times that of France and numerous allies, a strategy of overwhelming force would be no match for Germany.

Worse still, the gap between France's industry and Germany's has left France feeling completely powerless. The only thing that gives France some sense of security is the Maginot Line, which has been built and maintained for over a decade.

France clearly placed far more emphasis on the construction and management of the Maginot Line than Germany did on the Ziegfeld Line, since the Maginot Line was now France's only hope.

On the German side, they focused more on proactive offense than defense, but it cannot be denied that the Siegfried Line was also a "Great Wall of Steel and Concrete" that was not much inferior to the Maginot Line.

Metz is a key military town located near the Siegfried Line, serving primarily as a rear support hub and a key node for in-depth defense.

If the Siegfried Line was Germany's Great Wall, then Metz was the armory and support base behind this wall, together forming the German army's defensive network on the western front.

Of course, Metz itself is highly defensive, a city that is essentially a fortress.

As early as the 19th century, after the Franco-Prussian War, there was a ring of fortresses built by the Germans here. Before the Siegfried Line was built, this was the forward city that Germany envisioned for its confrontation with France.

Currently, over 30% of Metz's population consists of members of the German Armed Forces, making it a true "city of soldiers."

That being said, Metz itself is also an important industrial city, after all, it belongs to the relatively industrialized Lorraine region of Germany and is an important part of the Saar industrial region.

Furthermore, it is the most important railway hub in Lorraine. Taking advantage of local resources and transportation, Metz has a relatively developed steel and machinery industry.

Compared to coal, iron ore is a relatively scarce major industrial development resource for Germany, and the Lorraine iron ore mine is one of the largest iron ore mines in Germany and even Europe.

The Saar industrial region, which developed based on the Lorraine iron ore mine, and the Ruhr industrial region of Germany together constitute Germany's largest "coal and steel community".

In addition, Luxembourg's iron ore is also an important source of iron ore for Germany, which is why Luxembourg's steel industry is so outstanding, and even in this era, it can completely rival the steel industries of many major industrial countries.

……

While Germany was reinforcing its military presence and supplies in Metz, French intelligence agents were also active in the city.

An unassuming house in Metz.

This is a hideout of the French intelligence agency, belonging to the "Second Directorate" under the French General Staff, also known as the French General Staff Second Directorate.

The Second Directorate was France's most important intelligence gathering agency, primarily responsible for collecting and analyzing military intelligence such as German troop strength, equipment, and deployment. It performed exceptionally well during World War I, but its capabilities have declined in recent years due to bureaucratic rigidity and budget cuts.

However, Metz, a sensitive area close to France and originally French territory, was clearly a key location for French intelligence operations.

France has always had a lingering attachment to the Lorraine region, which they consider to have originally been French territory.

Therefore, after the Franco-Prussian War, France attempted to mobilize the local population to oppose German rule and work towards the future return of the region to France. However, it is clear that in the face of an absolute disparity in strength, France's efforts had little effect.

Although the French did not stop the increasing "Germanization" of Lorraine, all their efforts ultimately enabled France to establish a relatively complete and covert intelligence system in the region.

“Terese, this is the intelligence we’ve gathered recently. All indications suggest that the Germans are now reinforcing their military presence in Metz.”

"The train station and military barracks in Metz have become noticeably more crowded, and the German authorities have recently tightened their control over the area."

“Our operations have been significantly hampered, and many places that we could normally access have now become sensitive areas.”

A Lorraine resident, speaking not-so-fluent French, was reporting to Terrell, the head of the French Second Bureau's intelligence team stationed in Metz.

The Lorraine region had been under French rule for a long time, so it's not uncommon to find people there who speak French.

However, under Germany's impetus in recent years, the Germanization of Lorraine has been continuously consolidated and strengthened, and the local intelligence personnel in Lorraine who are now developing in France have been affected.

Terrell was very satisfied with his discovery. He said, "Bodell, you've done a great job. Our other members have also recently discovered anomalies in Mays."

“Metz has now clearly become a distribution center for German troops and supplies. Troops are being transferred here from the rear of Germany in a relatively covert manner, and they are also being distributed to various forward positions in Germany through this city.”

At this point, Trey frowned and said with great concern, "These discoveries all confirm one thing: Germany may be plotting an unprecedented conspiracy, and they may once again provoke a war in Europe."

"And we in France might just be Germany's prey, but..."

Terry added with some skepticism, "Recently, Germany has been making an even bigger show of force in Eastern Europe, even conducting exercises and provocations on the Soviet border."

"I heard that the total number of participants in this exercise alone exceeded one million, and a large number of Axis troops and weapons were gathered outside the Soviet border."

"Even Adolf himself participated in this joint military exercise in Poland, which made me wonder what Germany's true strategic direction really was?"

"Without Germany's presence and actions in Eastern Europe, I would probably have believed that Germany was about to launch an attack on France."

Bodel dismissed his dilemma, saying, "Mr. Terrell, we shouldn't be led by the nose by the Germans now."

"It is now certain that Germany will launch a war in Europe, and the targets Germany chooses to fight are none other than us and the Soviet Union."

"Between France and the Soviet Union, Germany was clearly more hostile to the Soviet Union, and there were more contradictions between the two countries."

"But what does Germany's attitude toward the Soviet Union have to do with us?"

"We only need to pay attention to Germany's attitude towards France, and what is clear is that Germany is equally hostile towards us, France."

"Under these circumstances, Germany's increased military presence along the border between the two countries means we cannot be too cautious."

"Therefore, I think Mr. Trey, your report should clearly state the possibility of Germany launching a war against France."

"As long as we are well prepared, even if Germany suddenly launches a war against France, we can prepare in advance instead of gambling here on whether the Germans will do so."

(End of this chapter)