Battle of the Third Reich

May 26, 1940, at seven in the morning. Port of Dunkerque, France.

Supreme Commander of the British Expeditionary Force w. h. e. Admiral Gott was standing on the outfield field airport and watched a British red stork medium passenger aircraft slowly land on the runway.

In the air, five Air Force hurricane fighters circled the fine ring. After the passenger plane slowly stopped taxiing on the runway, Gott took his men and greeted the plane.

The hatch opened and a smiling middle-aged English gentleman dressed in a tall general's uniform appeared in front of Gott.

"Ah? Why are you?" Gott cried in surprise.

Half an hour later, in an unassuming three-storey building beside Dunkerque Port.

"Are you sure this is a formal plan?" Gott frowned at a document in his hand.

"Of course it is official. This plan was made by the committee of chiefs of staff of various services. The prime minister reviewed the plan himself, and the war cabinet agreed to implement it throughout the war. Do you have any questions?" The admiral sat comfortably On the side sofa, a cup of black tea was in his hand.

"Oh, no doubt." Gott answered quickly. "Of course I fully believe the judgement of the chiefs of staff."

"Oh, how were the Prime Minister's orders executed yesterday afternoon? Lord Gott?"

"I have issued the order. But it will take time to return those troops who are retreating to their original positions."

"We don't have much time." The general put the black tea in his hand elegantly on the tea machine.

"Gott, you already know our current situation. I hope that you will immediately start preparing for the implementation of this plan. We have negotiated with the French Command, and they will cooperate with our actions. The specific circumstances are in the plan. Now You still have one day to prepare, only one day. This time tomorrow, this plan must start. Do you understand?"

"Follow the orders, Your Chief of Staff."

"Haha, that's good. I'm going to Paris immediately to discuss the details of the French cooperation with General Wei Gang. I hope to see you in Paris in two days." Admiral Ionside, Chief of Staff of the British Empire Stand up with a smile.

"Are you going to leave?"

"Yes, the plane is still waiting for me."

"Then I will take you to the airport."

"No, you can read this plan carefully now to see what else is wrong. If you have trouble implementing this plan, you must report it to London immediately. Do you understand?"

"Yes, I see."

After sending away the Chief of Staff, Gott returned to his office and froze at the plan.

How did I send that Ironside to send the plan, everyone knows that he is the strongest one in the whole staff to support the breakthrough plan to the south. The last Wei Gang plan was also handed over by him. As a result, he raised a little doubt and was scolded by him as timid and cowardly, and lost the fighting determination of the British officials. And from the perspective of London, this time the plan is imperative. Even if they have opinions, they will not listen.

It’s a joke, the day before yesterday I agreed to let the troops move to the beach. Yesterday afternoon, I ordered the troops to return to their original positions. As a result, at least six divisions are now exhausted on the road, and mobilizing the troops back and forth has caused morale to the soldiers. Had a great impact. Moreover, many of these troops no longer have much ammunition and supplies. The supply ship that London promised yesterday afternoon has not yet reached Dunkelco.

In fact, he had already lost his determination to continue fighting before the **** battle of Arras, and it was also his earliest proposal to retreat in the direction of Dunkel. Because there are only four days left to provide troops, and ammunition is only enough for a large-scale battle, if London does not ship ammunition and supplies, the consequences will be unimaginable.

It seems that London has already given up its plan to retreat at sea, and then he has only one way to break through from the land. If the information in this plan is true, it is really an opportunity to save yourself and this unit.

Gott looked at the plan carefully. There should be no problem with the breakthrough, the key is whether this is a trap for the Germans. But those chiefs of staff should also think of this, it seems that they have analyzed various possibilities, so they don’t have to think about it. Then the remaining question is. . . .

"Ding"

Gott rang the bell leading to the next room. After a while, his lieutenant opened the door and walked in.

"General, what did you tell me?"

"Has the navy's transport ship arrived? Have you ever contacted?"

The adjutant answered loudly.

"Not yet, General. I should have arrived last night. I contacted the Navy last night. They seem to be investigating the reasons why the three transport ships have not arrived. I heard that they are in trouble."

"Is it sunk in the strait? Impossible, the German submarine did not break through our anti-submarine blockade so easily." Gott was puzzled.

"No matter what he does, you can contact London again and ask them to send a few more ships in my name immediately. We need supplies very much now."

"Follow the order, general."

"Also, to order the troops on the Western Front to speed up their operations, they must return to their original positions tonight. Their ammunition supplies will be delivered to their hands as soon as the ship arrives, reassuring them and letting the commander To maintain the morale of the troops, they were ready to fight as soon as they arrived at the position. The troops on the northern line also immediately handed over the defense to the Belgian troops and ordered them to immediately begin to gather in the direction of Arras.

We must concentrate all the troops to open this breakthrough. The Fifth Division and the Fiftyth Division plus the Third Division will serve as vanguards, allowing them to rush to the Alas defense line as soon as possible. Tonight, let them make a tentative attack first. "

"Observe, General, I will immediately give you your order, but if the three troops are used, will we not have a reserve team?"

"You don't have to worry about it. I have my idea. Go ahead."

"Understood, General." The adjutant opened the door and went out.

While Gott was preparing for the plan, the British Admiralty in London was in a mess.

Admiral Beckhausen, the admiral of the Navy, was yelling at some of his men.

"Why didn't you inform me earlier, you know what this means? Why didn't you report it to me that day, you are serious malfeasance, and I want to send you all to the military court." The Navy Secretary waved a A document, the spitting saliva was almost on the faces of the officers.

"We are very sorry for our actions, but in fact it is not that we do not have an immediate report, but that we want to obtain real intelligence..." A naval lieutenant stood up to defend, but he hadn't waited until he finished. Interrupted by an angry admiral.

"What! You dare to come with me! Three fully loaded arms supply ships, 12,000 tons of equipment, ammunition and supplies, two regiments of infantry, two **** destroyers, four anti-submarine trawlers, In a minesweeper, we lost so many ships and equipment in just two days. How can you explain this to me? You are now going to explain these things to me in detail."

The lieutenant colonel answered quickly.

"General. The anti-submarine trawler we patrolled in the Dover Strait the night before suddenly disappeared. As a result, we received a report from their squadron commander at noon yesterday. We thought it was a German submarine, so At the same time as the search force was dispatched, the anti-submarine patrol of the Strait was strengthened.

However, they did not find any wreckage and survivors on the patrol route of the missing fishing boat, not even the corpse, and no signs of German submarine activity in the strait. We ordered the anti-submarine trawler to expand the range of search and patrol.

At this time, it was already nine o'clock in the evening, and the fleet supplying Dunkelko had already opened. At that time, we sent an anti-submarine report to that fleet and sent two **** destroyers patrolling the midline of the strait to protect them. At 10.14pm, the radio suddenly received two emergency call signals from anti-submarine trawlers. Because the signal was disturbed, we could not figure out what happened to them. So we immediately ordered another anti-submarine trawler nearby to rescue and investigate. As a result, the ship also sent a distress call at 10.42, and they claimed to have been attacked by a German submarine torpedo. And the nearest one near them was Dunker Carved Supply Fleet. So we ordered them to go to the rescue and ordered the two destroyers to prepare for anti-submarine operations.

As a result, they sent a telegram back. When they arrived there was nothing on the sea. I believe that the anti-submarine fishing boats had sunk with their crew. Because we were afraid that the German submarines were still active there, we ordered them to return to their original routes, and we plan to deploy other ships to continue searching for survivors there.

Ten minutes later, the three transport ships and the two destroyers received the thundering death signals almost at the same time. At this time, we realized that the Germans actually installed mines in the Dover Strait. We immediately dispatched two minesweeper ships to rescue them. Only after we discovered that the area of ​​the German minefield was much larger than ours. And they are mixed mines. In the minefield, there are not only floating mines but also a large number of anchor mines and their magnetic mines. As a result, one minesweeper was blown down by magnetic mines and the other was wounded, and finally escaped the minefield. This is how things go. "

"Have you investigated the distribution and location of German mines now?"

"We dispatched all minesweeper ships to investigate at dawn. Now we find that their mines are distributed along the French coast and the Belgian coast. They are divided into three huge minefields and are connected to our minefields, at least There are thousands of mines, and now their mines have completely blocked the coast between Calais and the port of Ostend in Belgium. We can no longer supply Dunkel carved in a short time."

"Then there is no way to sweep out a route?"

"It is not possible in the near future. At least for now, we have no way to deal with German magnetic mines. We can't allow minesweeper ships to enter the minefield until the Naval Research Institute has worked out countermeasures, otherwise they will sacrifice nothing."

"So can't we sweep a path in our minefield?"

"We think the same way, but we need time, and there are a lot of mines in our minefields. If we just clear a fairway where a small vessel can sail, it will take about three to four days. If we want to pass other vessels, then It takes more than five days. What we still don’t understand is how they entered the Strait Mine. How did their mine submarines pass through such a tight blockade by us, and how could they be deployed in just one night There are many mines. If they use a large number of Air Force aircraft to mine, they can do this, but the radar has not found any aircraft in the past two days.

The Secretary of the Navy frowned and thought for a moment, then stood up.

"I must report the matter to the Prime Minister immediately. You must write a detailed report first. When I come back, I hope to see your report on my desk."

Then he stuffed the document into a briefcase, carried the briefcase without leaving his head, and left the office, leaving a room of anxious navy officers.

In the prime minister's office at 10 Downing Street, Churchill was surprised to hear Beckhausen's report, and he quickly asked the Secretary of the Navy.

"Beckhausen, how long will it take for you to clear a route and restore maritime contact with Dunkerque."

"Now we need three to four days to clear a fairway without being disturbed by German aircraft, and we can only pass small ships. If we want to pass large ones, we have to wait another two days."

"Then we can't get close to Dunkirk Port from the sea now."

"Yes prime minister."

Churchill stood up and frowned, staring at the map on the wall. He lit a cigar, and then twirled the cigar around the office while meditating. Suddenly Churchill seemed to figure out something.

"I understand, hahahaha, this just proves that the Germans have indeed reached the end of the crossbow, they have no ability to continue to attack. And they are afraid that we will counterattack the troops after they are supplied in the siege circle. So they think they are smart. The mine was laid in Dunkirk Port to stop our support for the expeditionary forces. They thought it could trap us.

They did not expect that we had discovered their weaknesses long ago, and already had plans to counterattack. It seems that our breakout plan will definitely succeed. Let them blockade. I would like to see Hitler's expression when he learns that we have broken through his encirclement. Hahahaha. Churchill laughed proudly in the office.

"Then Prime Minister, are we not in a hurry to clear the mines."

"No, no, we still have to clear mines and pretend to be very anxious. Then the Germans will think they really trapped our expeditionary army. They will relax because of it, and our breakout plan will be More secure." Churchill replied with a smile.

"But the supplies requested by General Gott..."

"This is indeed a problem. Fortunately, the Germans in front of him are only a few weak infantry regiments. They should not be able to consume his ammunition in a short period of time. When he breaks through the encirclement circle, he will be able to contact the French main force immediately. At that time, he will have everything. You go to the telegraph to reply to him, and explain the situation here, so that he must follow the planned steps.

Let the Air Force drop some supplies to comfort him, and you can also encourage morale a little. Tell him that if this operation is successful, I will personally go to France to honor soldiers and officers who have made contributions. ";