Father of France

Chapter 80 Occupation of Stuttgart
Pulling back the bolt produced a pleasant click, and a golden cartridge case was ejected from the chamber. The gleaming metal casing tumbled and fell onto the granite-paved sidewalk, bouncing twice before rolling into the drainage ditch beside the road.

"Load! Cover me!" the sergeant shouted. He turned and shrank back into the corner. A shell flew from somewhere and hit a three-story building not far away. Bricks flew everywhere, and the collapsing wall kicked up a huge plume of smoke. Through the smoke, the German machine gunner lying on the corner of the opposite street fired two long bursts in succession.

Outside Stuttgart, the Lorraine Regiment, the most combat-effective unit of the Youth Division, drove American-supplied Sherman tanks and advanced into the city along the road leading into the city.

"If Stuttgart weren't home to Mercedes, who would waste their time here?" Koeman held a pair of binoculars that were practically just for show. He couldn't see the fierce battle inside the city, but he could still imagine how intense it was.

"The technology of the Mercedes-Benz Group is worth making some sacrifices for." Martin had just entered from outside the bunker when he heard Coman's anxious whisper.

A week has passed since the Rhine was crossed, and the crossing of several army groups must have wasted some time.

Following orders from the French command, the French troops crossing the river would not waste time on siege warfare. Given the current situation, Germany only had a few months left to live, and it was not worth wasting the lives of French soldiers on a country destined for destruction.

Therefore, General Dragon's decision to bypass the heavily defended German cities and besiege them without attacking was approved by the provisional government. In any case, the French army was not short of troops, and the British and American armies would arrive soon.

However, Stuttgart is different. It is the main production base of Mercedes-Benz. Many famous German companies were military enterprises during World War II. Mercedes-Benz was the main contractor for German tank engines and military trucks. Many German tank engines were made by Mercedes-Benz.

BMW Group, headquartered in Munich, was tasked with dealing with the German Air Force, a region where France was severely underdeveloped during the four years of occupation.

By 1945, the exploration of tank development was nearing its end. The leading countries were the Soviet Union and Germany, the main forces in the World War II. The Stalin tank was very close to the definition of a main battle tank, and Germany's Tiger and Panther tanks had already demonstrated their power on the battlefield.

The second tier consisted of Britain and the United States, but their understanding of tanks was clearly inferior to that of the Soviet Union and Germany. As for France, its tanks were only slightly better than the small Japanese Type 95 and Type 97 tanks.

World War II was the period of fastest tank development. Before the war, the tanks of various countries, whether Britain, France, Germany, or the United States, were incredibly diverse, with multi-turreted tanks and fully tracked tanks being all available.

Japan's tiny Type 95 tank wasn't considered outdated before the war, and the United States also had a bunch of similar tanks that were of dubious origin.

However, after the war began, within a few years, countries began to make their tanks increasingly powerful, with thicker armor and more powerful main guns.

The Type 95, a historical work stuck in the 1920s and 30s, suddenly went from being just another face in the crowd to standing out from the crowd in a way that was far behind.

After the fall of its homeland, France effectively withdrew from the war. During the crucial four years of the war, all of France's military industry remained at pre-war levels. The Mercedes-Benz Group in Stuttgart was the key for France to catch up after those four years of stagnation.

This was also the first real battle for the rebuilt French Third and Fourth Armies. Perhaps to prevent the two newly established armies from failing to get off to a good start, the Southern Group was also incorporated into this offensive.

Martin knew Koeman's anxiety, but he also knew his comrade's true nature—he couldn't help in a battle where everyone was risking their lives. "Six divisions of attacking troops, plus two divisions of reserves, are enough to capture Stuttgart. We don't need to worry about them. The main force is still heading to southern Germany. Headquarters has ordered us to set up an interception line in Austria."

"It has two purposes: to appear behind the Alps and encircle the German forces along the Alps line, and at the same time to intercept possible escape routes for the German high command."

Koeman immediately understood the purpose: "Germany has no control of the sea. Should we flee to the Soviet Union? Do you want to die? The Western Front is also in the midst of war and is very dangerous. Relatively speaking, running south is the most likely escape route to safety."

The Italian front served as a transit point for many German war criminals fleeing to South America. Koeman knew this, and so did General Dragon. The advance into southern Germany and Austria was also aimed at quickly establishing an interception network.

Koeman wasn't interested in preventing war criminals from escaping, but Munich and Austria possessed German jet fighter technology, which was essential to acquire.

"Then let's see how many works of art and antiques Vienna and Munich have preserved." Koeman seemed to have suddenly lost interest in the fighting in Stuttgart.

The museum stockpiles looted from the occupied territories so far are not particularly satisfactory, but we have found quite a few tobacco dealers along the way, which has depleted the tobacco stock of the French Youth Division. It is believed that as we go deeper, the Osaka Division route of the French Youth Division will become brighter.

Koman knew that the Osaka Division was not a cowardly division. As a Class A division, how could the Osaka Division have low combat power?

However, the Osaka Division always avoided the kind of battle where you would get nothing but death. It was similar to the Youth Division; although it didn't have any impressive combat experience, it was at least a unit that had undergone a year of rigorous training and was equipped with a large number of American-supplied Sherman tanks.

The main reason for scavenging art and antiques is that it fits the French style perfectly. France is good at selling worthless things at high prices, so it needs a lot of things to create a sense of prestige. As a patriotic person as Koeman, he naturally couldn't miss this opportunity to contribute to the country.

Germany, now a broken nation and a garbage dump, is just a temporary scavenger. All of this is to contribute to the preservation of European historical artifacts, and the German people should be grateful to him.

Stuttgart became yet another battlefield for centuries of grudges and conflicts, dating back to the French and Holy Roman Empires. Urban warfare has always been the most brutal form of combat, and no one knows what they will face next.

Often, the two sides were so close that there was no need to aim at all. The French soldiers would barely have time to raise their guns before being knocked down by a hail of bullets on the cobblestone streets.

The battle was brief and bloody; soldiers were shot one after another within seconds. It was more like an execution than a battle, given the ferocity of the German firepower.

The gunfire alerted a nearby French company, and German infantrymen quickly engaged in a fierce gun battle with the reinforcing French soldiers in the street.

Perhaps due to the lack of unified command, the German troops within the city showed no signs of assembling, but instead gradually joined the battle against the French, following their original platoon and squad units.

Stuttgart constructed some urban warfare fortifications, but for a long time the German army was on the road to attacking other countries, and its defense was not very professional compared to its attack. It lacked systematic planning and was more of a piecemeal, scattered approach, with many communities building simple barricades on their own.

However, it was precisely this chaotic barricade that caused the French army a great deal of trouble.

Against the Soviet army, these barricades would have been utterly useless, easily crushed into rubble by Stalin's battering ram. But against the French army, which had lacked combat experience for four years and was missing suitable weapons for urban warfare, these half-baked fortifications surprisingly proved effective.

The French attacking forces theoretically had enough firepower to suppress the German positions, but the problem was that the streets were narrow and the Germans had blocked the intersections, leaving no room for the machine gun teams to deploy.

Moreover, there are indications that the other side has one or two snipers, or perhaps just marksmen. But at a combat distance of less than seventy meters, what difference is there between the two? Both can kill with a single shot.

The attacking French infantry were unloading ammunition and supplies from the trucks, and medics were organizing two infantrymen to assemble a folding stretcher before transferring the seriously wounded soldier onto it.

Every so often, some wounded soldiers would be brought out of Stuttgart in military vehicles. As the soldiers returned with their pitiful cries, they also brought back news of a successful recovery.

The field hospital was filled with joys and sorrows, and the air was thick with the stench of blood. Even a whiff of it made Koman feel dizzy. Alan had just finished gathering the war orphans when he ran into Koman, who was lingering outside the field hospital.

He rarely saw Koeman with such a grim expression, so he couldn't help but try to comfort him, saying, "If it weren't for the nationwide blood bank program promoted by our unit, many wounded soldiers would not have been saved. You should feel gratified."

“You know how to comfort people.” Koeman nodded upon hearing this. Although many of the things he did seemed futile, they could be useful at certain times, like now. “It looks like Stuttgart won’t last much longer. If it weren’t for the Mercedes Group’s technology, we could have just adopted a siege tactic.”

Before the street fighting, the French army had tried to persuade the Germans to surrender, but the Germans in Stuttgart refused.

The refusal to surrender was not surprising. Stuttgart is a major German city, not a small town like Gersheim that is only remembered at certain times. The high-ranking officials in Stuttgart were definitely true supporters of the Nazi Party, and crimes such as the Final Solution to the Jewish question and forced labor were unavoidable.

The German army, which chose to resist, encountered the French army that came to plunder Mercedes-Benz's technology, leading to the current situation.

Before the US military moved south, France needed to acquire the technological expertise of the Mercedes-Benz Group.

The street fighting lasted for another twelve hours. By noon the next day, the main urban area of ​​Stuttgart had been occupied. With their cause lost, senior members of the Nazi Party chose to surrender. This famous German city was completely destroyed in the war.

(End of this chapter)