Battle of the Third Reich Chapter 29: Countermeasures
May 27, 1940 at 3:10 in the afternoon. London. Ten Downing Street, the prime minister's residence.
Winston. Churchill stood with his hands on his back in front of the map of Europe hanging on the wall of his office, frowning and staring at the corner of France.
was holding a telegram in his hand, and the person who sent the telegram sat down on the sofa on one side, looking at Churchill without a word.
"Mr. Aiden, what else can you say now."
Churchill turned around and looked at the Secretary of the Army blankly.
"It is because you and General Ismay assured me that you have found the loopholes in the German army and promised to use them to save our expeditionary force, and I was persuaded by you to agree to this stupid plan. How do you look now? Your plan puts the expeditionary army into a more dangerous situation!"
Churchill walked slowly back to his desk and sat down.
"Prime Minister, this is not our fault. You have also seen the situation two days ago. The information is accurate, but it is wrong to calculate the time required for the German armored forces to repair. If Gott’s troops If we act faster, maybe we have succeeded." Ismay reasoned.
"What? Time? This alone is deadly enough. You were wrong for a whole day! Now because of your mistakes, our first, third, fifth, and fiftieth Infantry Division is at the breach of your choice Shanghai is surrounded by Germans! Do you still believe in this plan?"
Churchill stood up abruptly, finally unable to restrain his anger and said loudly.
"Don’t you see that all this is a trap of the Germans? The Germans may not have trimmed them at all, and they have no shortage of fuel. They are waiting for us to send the expedition to them foolishly. Got into the trap. Now the main force of Gott’s expeditionary force has smashed into the muzzle of the German Kleist armored cluster. Although they have blocked the Germans’ attack, they can’t last much longer. /
Now Gott is preparing to retreat. They don't have a solid defensive position, they don't have enough firepower, and there is no reason to continue in front of the German armored forces. This is the news I got this morning, and Gott reported his current situation in detail. Most of his supplies and ammunition have been consumed in this operation. Now they only have two days of supplies, and the ammunition is only enough for one attack. This time the German plan was so insidious and cunning, they finally fooled us all.
The only thing we are grateful for now is that they have not defeated the main force of the expeditionary force. But if we don't do something now, then their destruction will only be a matter of time. Now I hope you will come up with a proper plan, how should we face this disaster. "
"Your Excellency, do you have any ideas?" the Secretary of the Army asked, crying.
Churchill shouted in shock: "Did you not consider any backup plan in these two days?"
"It’s like this. We always thought that this plan would be successful, but the situation happened too suddenly. This morning we received the report from the expeditionary army, and then we knew that our plan was frustrated. . So we haven't had time to formulate a remedial plan." Ismay replied tremblingly, he couldn't even look at Churchill's angry eyes.
"Setback? It's a failure! Do you still want to keep the face of the Chief of Staff Committee?" Churchill roared.
"If the expeditionary force is eliminated by the Germans, our fate will be the same. At that time, not only the face, but the entire cabinet may fall because of this incident, and you will be kicked out of the army by the angry British people. .A total of 250,000 people in nine divisions, I dare not think about what would happen to our Britain if we lose these troops. We will not have the strength to guard our empire within half a year.
Although I have issued an order to transfer some elite troops from various colonies, it takes time, and the number of these troops is far from enough to make up for the loss of the expeditionary force to the army. Even if it is too late to recruit troops now, it will take at least six months to wait until the soldiers are trained. Before that, we had to rely on retired veterans and untrained rookies to protect our coastline. "
"Then what do you mean?" the Secretary of the Army asked.
"I mean? I don't mean anything, I just want to keep these troops." Churchill calmed down a little.
"The current situation is very serious and it is simply catastrophic. This stupid action has already cost us four elite infantry divisions. Although two of them were hit hard in the last battle, the other two One is a rare main force in the expeditionary army, and the two division commanders are also rare excellent officers. Now we have no power to rescue them from the encirclement, so we can only let them deal with their own problems.
There are only five complete infantry divisions left in our hands. We can no longer watch them also be wiped out, so I decided to restart the "Generator" project. We must withdraw them from France. "
"Prime Minister, did you really decide to restart the "Generator" program? But the time may not be too late. The Navy has not yet been able to clear a channel in the minefield for large ships to pass. Maybe. It will take two more days." Imes asked.
"Then increase the speed of mine clearance. First, sweep out a channel for small ships to pass. At least we must first open up the sea supply line. The ship can be used as large as the ship can be used to ship the supply. Now we We must do everything possible to support Gott to defend his line of defense. Whether airdropping or shipping, we must send the materials he needs most." Dent has finally recovered his ability to think.
Churchill said excitedly: "Yes, at the same time, we have to tighten the entire line of defense. Because we have lost the four infantry divisions, we can no longer maintain the long line of defense as before. We have to fight with the French First Army. Gather the troops together. Re-establish a suitable solid defense line. Block the German attack.
We also need to pay close attention to the Belgian defense line. I haven’t got any reports about it. I don’t know how the Belgians are fighting after the British troops are transferred there. The final report says that the Germans seem to be Strengthened the troops there.
If the Belgians are defeated, there will be a big hole in the defense of our expeditionary force. I think we should build a defense line behind the Belgians as soon as possible to prevent this from happening. If necessary, Take over the positions of the Belgians directly, and if they show signs of collapse, they will immediately transport their government and king to London by plane. They will have a great effect on our future battles. If they are unwilling to come, when it is critical We can also use force.
As long as our defense line can withstand the German attack for a week, we may withdraw the main force of the expeditionary force. We must complete this difficult task at all costs, and the Royal Navy and Air Force must do their best to support this plan.
Now I will notify the Secretary of the Navy and the Secretary of the Air Force to come over to discuss this plan. We must succeed, for our empire and for ourselves. Even if only one division was saved, no, even if only one regiment was saved, it was a victory. It's better than just sitting and watching their entire army wiped out. What's more, the current situation is also caused by our mistakes, and we have to take all the responsibilities. "
At this time, Imes reminded: "The most important thing is to supply. If there is no supply, everything else is empty talk. We not only supply our expeditionary force, but also supply the French First Army, they don’t have much supply. Now. If the French collapse first, then the end of our expeditionary force will not be far away.
Although the combat effectiveness of those French troops is not very good, now they can only rely on them to defend the defense in the middle. When we began to withdraw the expeditionary force back to the UK, we still needed them to break the queen.
It’s a hell. Originally, we contacted the French to let their main southern line attack on the other side of Arras, but they dragged on until this morning to start a probing attack, and they just put the Germans on the line of defense. The mechanized infantry division above was cut in the waist by the 41st German Armoured Corps.
Two of their divisions were hit hard, and now they have retracted behind their Wei Gang line of defense. We could have asked them to launch several attacks to relieve the pressure on the troops in the encirclement, but now it seems we can't count on them. "
"What the **** is Ironside doing? How did he contact the French. He was the general who supported the plan the most, that is, he strongly asked us to let the expeditionary force break through the southern front, so we can Falling to this point. I think if someone is to be responsible for the current situation, he should take the most responsibility." The Secretary of the Army said excitedly.
"Is the Chief of Staff of the Ironside Empire? I also remembered that many people raised questions when discussing this plan, but they were strongly rejected by him. It was his stupidity that made the expeditionary army fall into In the current crisis. I now ask your Excellency the Prime Minister to immediately hold the Chief of the Ironside Empire’s Chief of Staff to the responsibility of the failure.” Ismay also exclaimed excitedly, and he couldn’t help but throw himself into the ground that the Secretary of the Army admired , He found a scapegoat so quickly, and he was full of weight, enough to drag him and the Chief of Staff Committee into the quagmire.
Churchill also moved in his heart after hearing what the two said. He picked up the extinguished half of the cigar from the ashtray, picked up the lighter on the table to light it, and took a sharp breath. Then he began to frown and consider the feasibility of the proposal the two guys just made.
Churchill thought about it carefully and felt that this method was feasible. Someone must be responsible for the current situation. The position of the Chief of Staff of the Empire is very suitable for this scapegoat. In that way, even if the "Generator" operation fails and the expeditionary force is annihilated, it is still possible that he and his cabinet will continue to stay where they are.
"Mr. Dent, now call General Ironside back to the UK, and then detain him at the airport. You immediately form a committee to investigate General Ironside’s responsibilities in this plan. This is all up to you, and you also know what to do with the media." Churchill made up his mind, and the tragic fate of the Chief of the Imperial General Staff was set between two sentences.
The Secretary of the Army and the representatives of the Chiefs of Staff Committee were happy from heart, but on the surface they were still serious. They looked at Churchill and nodded repeatedly to express their understanding.
Then the office door rang. Churchill called out quickly.
"Come in!"
"Your Excellency Prime Minister, this is an urgent call from General Gott from the War Department just now!" Churchill's secretary came in with a telegram.
"Oh, give it to me." Churchill took the telegram and just wanted to read it, but he remembered something.
"Wait a minute." He called to the secretary who was about to leave.
"You immediately notify the Secretary of the Navy and Air Force and the chiefs of staff of all arms to come to me for a meeting immediately."
"Yes, Prime Minister, I will do it right away." The secretary went out and closed the door.
Churchill lowered his head and read the telegram carefully, but the more he saw the back, his face became uglier. He walked back to the desk and sat down slowly. His face turned pale, frowning and staring at the telegram tightly, sitting there without a word.
"Prime Minister, what did Gott's telegram say?" The Secretary of the Army asked nervously, and he could see from Churchill's face that the situation might have deteriorated again.
"The situation has changed, you can take it for yourself." Churchill picked up the telegram.
Dent hurriedly came over and took the telegram from Churchill and looked at it. Ismay on the side also hurried over. The two people were taken aback when they read the telegram.
"What? Calais lost? What can we do. Now we only have a harbor in Dunkirk. Guderian's panzers can follow the coast as long as they take Calais When he rushed to Dunkirk, even the flood defense line of the canal area could not stop him. He would kill him in Dunkirk within two days~IndoMTL.com~ We may not have time to implement the "generator" operation. "The Secretary of the Army exclaimed.
"God, have mercy on Britain." Ismay also lamented there.
"No, we must not lose our confidence before the last moment. Justice is on our side. As long as Dunkirk has not fallen, we will never give up. If there is still a glimmer of hope, we will continue to act. Those troops must be withdrawn."
Churchill stood up abruptly.
"We still have an air force and a powerful navy. We have to help the expeditionary force defend that city at all costs. As long as we can persist for a week, we can withdraw most of the army back to Britain. We pay for these troops Any price is worth it. Weapons can be made and bought, but trained elite troops cannot be made and bought right away. As long as we still have this army, we can defend our empire. I believe that the final victory will be Will belong to us."
Just as Churchill was speaking loudly and confidently, the office door was knocked again.
"Prime Minister, ministers and chiefs of staff are here, they are waiting for you in the living room."
"Oh, ask them to go to the meeting room first, I will come right away."
"Okay, Prime Minister."
The secretary retired. Churchill turned and said seriously.
"Gentlemen, let's discuss with the elites of the empire how to save our British empire. I hope they can come up with a better idea."