Chapter 357

Today's British Empire is a new year for old ladies, and it's getting worse every year. The first World War wiped out the blood and bone of this late hero, and this time acardo went to war again, the whole British community discovered a terrible fact - they didn't even have enough money to fight again.

This time, the British Royal Navy pieced together almost all of their family resources. Originally, they wanted to compete with the German Navy, but they found that it seemed that the German Navy's overall strength had made the British Navy fear three points.

Just one day and two nights after the start of the generator project, the Royal Navy felt that it was unable to do what it wanted. Although a large number of British civilian ships took part in the rescue of British soldiers, the terrible loss report really made the British government have a headache. Within 36 hours, Britain lost one cruiser, eight destroyers and 27 large transport ships, not including all kinds of civilian ships with temporary statistical difficulties. It is conservatively estimated that at least 100 ships were sunk by Germany, with tonnage ranging from 270 tons to 4000 tons.

But such a huge loss only made Britain rush back less than 7000 soldiers. According to a preliminary estimate, if 7000 people are rushed back, at least 150000 tons of ships will be lost. And it's going to be extended to four days - that's about the limit the defence around Dunkirk can hold on to. In other words, Britain's generator plan this time can only rush 15000 soldiers back home.

As a result, the day after Montgomery left Dunkirk, Britain organized a fleet of 221 ships in the hope of expanding the number of people to more than 20000. However, the operation became futile under the cooperation of the German air force and the German Navy. After 43 civilian ships and two destroyers were lost, The British navy was forced to completely stop the foolishness of daytime operations.

At present, there are 310000 French troops and 137000 British troops remaining in Dunkirk. These troops are stuck in the position, lack of medicine and supplies. What's more desperate is that they have to face the elite infantry that the German army has not played much, and there are thousands of cannons that have just been pushed to the front by the Germans.

Because the fighting time was advanced by one year, and because the German army launched the war against Britain, France, Belgium and other countries more quickly at the instigation of akkado, the number and proportion of troops in the Dunkirk siege changed this time. This time, the number of British Expeditionary soldiers was a little less. The total strength was only a little more than 170000, including those who were dressed and killed. Now there are only about 150000 people, while France's strength is much more than its original strength. A total of about 310000 people were surrounded. Of course, because of Belgium's surrender, there were not a large number of Belgian troops in the encirclement.

What's fatal is that akado is not as easy to cheat as Hitler, and Catherine, the commander of the air force, did not have the incomparable influence in front of the head of state like Goering. Therefore, more troops were mobilized in this air battle, and the ground battle did not stop. Of course, the German Navy was stronger than ever, and these factors together affected the battle of Dunkirk.

On this day, another disastrous fact was put in front of the British and French allied forces. Two 400 mm caliber railguns captured by Germany in France and four 280 mm caliber railguns were transported to Dunkirk together. These six cannons were arranged in effective shooting positions to cover the port area of Dunkirk, That night, two 400mm heavy guns fired for the first time, killing almost half of the hundreds of British officers and soldiers on the dock who were ready to retreat.

A shell hit the concrete wharf and directly blasted out a 30 meter diameter pit. A battalion of British troops waiting to retreat on it, including the battalion commander, killed more than 170 people. Of course, the second gun was not so lucky, only hit the nearby beach, because the soft beach unloaded most of the strength of the shell, which weighed more than one ton, so it only caused dozens of casualties.

The 280 mm cannon followed suit, shelling the entire Dunkirk area. Just into the middle of the night, German bombers poured out. More than 300 bombers of various types came to visit the positions of the British and French allied forces, dropping more than 1200 tons of bombs at one go, making Dunkirk a sea of fire. In addition to the crazy attack of German submarines, the British navy and civilian ships lost 31 ships of different sizes on that night, and then more than 1900 people were transported back.

"No more death! No matter how many naval and civilian vessels there are, they can't afford to be consumed like this! " A Navy General patted the table and complained loudly.

Another general nodded and said with approval: "we have lost too many troops. We are simply adding to the German record! The German bombing and shelling at night are more and more accurate, and the loss at night is almost equal to that in the daytime! If it goes on like this, our navy will sacrifice for the army in the English Channel! "

"You think our army is better?" Montgomery sat on one side and did not speak, but another army general slapped the table and got angry: "we have 32000 people on board and retreated, only 9000 people in Britain! More soldiers sank with the ship at sea than died in battle! Is this gathering to deliver food to the Germans? "

Winston Churchill, the prime minister sitting on the throne, also had a lot to suffer. He didn't want to see such a retreat. The loss of such huge human and material resources and the waste of so much combat power of the Navy only rescued less than one tenth of the troops, and the number of people who were killed when they fled at sea was more than the loss in front battlefield. Such an action was a failure to the extreme for him, so he immediately ordered the emergency meeting to discuss the next thing. If in peacetime, the competition between the Navy and the army seems to be a favorite thing, at least the orderly competition between them can be guaranteed. But this internal friction was no longer allowed to interfere with the operation, so Churchill decided to stop the quarrel in the conference room“ okay! Everybody! Don't make any noise! Now the navy has come up with two plans to deal with this crisis. " Churchill coughed twice and said, "instead of arguing here, let's see what to do next."“ The navy has drawn up two sets of operational plans. The first is to stop the operation of emergency personnel and ensure the safety of the Imperial Maritime transport line. " "This plan can temporarily save some naval forces and allow the naval fleet with too much loss time to rest," a navy general said“ Give up? Give up the remaining 100000 troops in Dunkirk? Easy to say. If the German team lands, what can we do to fight back? With boy scouts? " An army general gave a cold hum“ So, general Montgomery. I want to know if it is possible for us to hold on to the British mainland now if our expeditionary forces are completely destroyed in Dunkirk. " Churchill looked at Montgomery, the new commander of the third army, and asked“ Now we have about 80000 soldiers who can fight in the first World War, including 10000 people who have retreated back, about 90000 of us can fight immediately, but they lack heavy weapons and equipment. " Montgomery told the truth: "we are mobilizing troops. In a month, about 100000 troops will be trained, but the combat effectiveness of these troops is hard to say."“ 200000 troops? 200000 troops? Half a million troops were defeated by the Germans. What's the role of 200000 people? " A general of the British Army sighed helplessly and said, "it's hard to say how much effect even 300000 people can play."“ We estimate that Germany will be able to raise about 100 transport ships. If Germany plans to use armored forces on the three British Islands, the first wave of landing troops will not exceed 40000. Even so, we don't have a local advantage. " Montgomery said: "Germany in the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark and Norway have a lot of use of airborne troops, which gives us a lot of trouble in the deployment of defense. If we disperse our forces in defense, even if we have twice as many forces, we will not be able to guarantee the absolute security of the southern region. " He didn't finish all of this, and he continued to attack Churchill's fragile heart: "our A13 Mark 2 tank and Matilda 2 tank are not as good as the German Leopard tank, so if we want to drive the armored forces of the German landing forces out of the sea, we need to equip at least more than 1000 tanks."“ 1000? " Churchill was also shocked by Montgomery's statement, but he knew that there were still a few pounds in Britain. The navy is crazy waiting for the launch of the new ship, and the documents from the air force urging the production of Hurricane fighters are about to bury him. Now the army is also going to collect debts. Will this let him live? Thinking of this, he had to look at the old subordinates of the Navy and said with difficulty, "or, let's discuss the second plan? After all, this first plan is too expensive for the army. "“ The second plan was proposed by the captain of the hood, Col. Cole, and the fleet commander, lieutenant general Holland. This plan is to dispatch the main fleet of the Royal Navy to annihilate the German high seas fleet in the English Channel. " Said one of the admirals. Next to him, lieutenant general Holland got up and said, "as long as we can kill the German high seas fleet in one fell swoop, then the generator project can be carried out in the daytime and the surrounded army forces can be saved."“ Lieutenant general Holland! I hope you can understand that we don't have a good way to deal with the German fleet on the high seas. If we attack rashly, we will only take the fleet of the Shanghai army. " Churchill frowned and said that he knew that if the naval fleet attacked rashly, it would be suicide“ I am sure to wipe out the German high seas fleet! Because, they have a biggest weakness! " General Holland said that he was determined to win.