The Third Reich: The Return of the King

"What the hell is the general asking us to go to Kaiserslautern?"

Leaving the command, Kesselring couldn't help but ask Manstein.

Manstein had a little clue in his mind, but he was not very sure of his guess, so he planned to go to the field and make a judgment after some investigation, so he shook his head and said:

"I don't know, anyway, let's bring the troops over first!"

Kesselring had no other choice, so he took his troops on a train and traveled south from the north to the southwestern part of the empire, an industrial city in the middle of the forest.

Upon arrival, Kesselring immediately sent people to the west to reconnoiter the French army's intelligence, and at the same time began to receive the equipment that had been sent to him.

Major General Mainz did not lie to him, he really transferred enough equipment to the 3rd Division to arm 100,000 men.

Looking at the mountain of equipment, Kesselring fell into blissful troubles.

The armies of various countries have always been troubled by the lack of equipment in their armies, and they have never seen such a ...... because of too much equipment

Just when Kesselring was worried about the equipment of these 100,000 people, Major Manstein changed into civilian clothes and quietly entered the Saarland coal mining area in the west with a few guards!

The Saarland region is the same coal region as Alsace and Lorraine, which were originally looted by the Germans in the Franco-Prussian War, and it is very rich in coal reserves, which made Prussia the largest industrial country in Europe in just a few decades after defeating Gaul.

The main reason is that these three places have a large amount of coal and iron ore, which are important raw materials for industrial development.

By this time, Alsace and Lorraine had been taken back by the Gauls, and even the Saar coal mining area had been occupied by them.

The French army sent a division of troops to control the place, and also sent tens of thousands of workers from the country to mine coal from here day and night, and transported it to the country in a steady stream.

In the Treaty of Versailles, the Gauls specifically demanded that the Saar coal mining area be granted to them, that they be allowed to mine coal here for free for fifteen years, and that at the end of the fifteen years, the local inhabitants were allowed to vote on the ownership of the Saar region, and if the local inhabitants voted to remain in Gaul, then the Gauls would turn it into Gallic territory and would not return it to the Hanse state!

The Gauls have a good calculation, the Saar region is a mining area, the population here is not much, at this time the population here is only about 600,000, and after the Gauls take charge here, on the one hand, they can mine coal for free from here, plunder the resources of Hans, and on the other hand, they can also come from the interior to enrich here.

As long as they emigrated 600,000 people from their own country within fifteen years, and the Gauls outnumbered the Hans, then when the Saar region was held in a referendum fifteen years later, they would be able to completely annex the Saar as they wished!

Moreover, during this period, they can also suppress the Hanns here and force them to move out, so as to reduce the Hanns population here, and further ensure that they can eat this place smoothly.

In order to ensure the success of this plan, and to ensure their right to mine coal here, the French army attached so much importance to this place that they sent a full division here.

Since the Saar itself is the territory of the Hans, the local population is mainly Hanse, and there are not many people who have migrated from the Gauls, and if there are, they are mainly new immigrants.

The entry of Manstein and others did not arouse the suspicion of the French army, but he noticed that at the main junctions in the Saar area, the French army began to strengthen the security of some roadblocks, began to check pedestrians, and even set up checkpoints in some places, and a circle of sandbags was placed around the checkpoints, and some French soldiers were carrying heavy machine guns to the sandbags, which looked completely prepared for war!

Manstein was not surprised by the reaction of the French army, and the fact that a German division of troops had moved south to Kaiserslautern certainly could not be concealed from the eyes and ears of the Gauls.

Therefore, after learning that the German army is coming, the French army is bound to take some measures, after all, the relationship between the two countries is not very good at this time, and after the French army has taken the initiative to invade the Ruhr area, the German army may launch a counterattack against the French army from elsewhere.

Ignoring the French soldiers, Manstein made a visit to the city of Saarland.

He noticed that the Hans in the city seemed to be living quite badly.

After the defeat and surrender of the German army, the French soldiers were not polite to the people of these hostile countries at all, not to mention that their policy included a plan to expel the Hanns from the Saarland area, so the French army suppressed the local Hanns almost everywhere in the Saar area.

After some visits, he found that the local Hans had long been unable to bear the atrocities of the French army, and if it were not for the lack of weapons in their hands and no one from above to organize them, they would have risen up against the French army a long time ago!

This discovery opened Manstein's heart!

He understood the purpose of Major General Mainz to arrange them here!

"I see!"

Manstein was so excited that he thought for a moment and sent a soldier back to deliver a letter to Kesselring, and then stayed here to contact the local Hanns!

Manstein has already made up his mind, he will be a nail, firmly nailed in the Saarland region, and completely disrupt the rule of the French army here!

Kesselring broke out in a cold sweat after receiving the soldier's report!

Manstein, this guy is bold enough!

If he was discovered by the French army, he would be dead!

After receiving Manstein's notice, Kesselring's first reaction was to call Manstein back, Manstein was not only a staff officer from the General Staff, but also the brother of Major General Mainz.

However, after calming down and thinking about it for a while, Kesselring dismissed the idea again.

He knew that Manstein's decision was risky, but the benefits were just as great.

Moreover, Major General Mainz specially gave them weapons for 100,000 people, did he expect them to put these weapons in the warehouse and rust?

Of course not, these weapons must be taken out and used!

And the total size of the German army is only 100,000 people, and the German army itself will definitely not be able to use up these weapons.

Thinking of this, Kesselring also began to understand what Major General Mainz meant.

So, he immediately sent for 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 covert actions of the German army, after all, their current focus was still on this German unit in Kaiserslautern!

Manstein, with Kesselring's support, immediately secretly distributed the weapons he received to the miners who had sworn to rebel against the French!

As soon as the miners were armed and equipped, they overthrew the French control in the mines, led a large number of workers to revolt, and then, under the guidance of Manstein, began to take advantage of their familiarity with the local terrain and began to attack the French strongholds in the Saar.

For a time, the backyard of the French army caught fire, but they still had a strong enemy in front of them, which made the French army dare not easily dispatch troops to suppress the workers' uprising, and as a result, the workers' uprising intensified, and by September, the workers' troops in the Saarland area had reached 100,000 people, and the order that the Gauls had worked so hard to establish in the Saarland area also completely collapsed under the impact of 100,000 workers armed to the teeth!

_

Please see the ununderlined version of the novel