The Third Reich in Desperation

"Since it is doomed to fail, then we should face all this calmly." Lukaku raised his head and said seriously: "Send a report to the Army Command, saying that the 13th Division has run out of ammunition and food and is unable to resist It is not easy to be able to persist until today. Now, as the military chief of the 13th century, Major General Lukaku has no choice but to lead the troops to hand over weapons to the German army to protect the lives of his subordinates and avoid unnecessary sacrifices.”

In fact, after saying the decision to surrender, Lukaku himself was relieved.He has been in fear for too long, and these days he seems to have the feeling that he is about to lose his life at any time.Especially after he abandoned the 3rd Division of the British Expeditionary Force, withdrew his troops without authorization, and even escaped without authorization, he became even more worried.

Even if the alliance wins in the end, a military commander like him who deserts his post and abandons friendly troops will probably end up with nothing good.

Since winning won't end well, it might as well......

A shameless thought suddenly appeared in Lukaku's mind, and it was out of control.Anyway, his AWOL has already betrayed the Allied Forces, so it would be better to further contribute to the defeat of the Allied Forces.When all the Allied forces are defeated, as one of the hundreds of officers who surrendered, Lukaku will not be too miserable.

"Yes, sir." In fact, his adjutant had long since lost his fighting spirit and had the idea of ​​surrendering: "I'll send the report right away."

"Wait!" When the adjutant turned to leave, Lukaku's voice suddenly sounded again: "Remember to prepare the white flag immediately and find a high place to hang it..."

With the surrender of the 13th led by Lukaku, the Belgian army lost its last backbone, and the defense line suddenly became precarious and faced collapse at any time.

Immediately afterwards, King Leopold III of Belgium held a showdown meeting including the prime minister and foreign minister to discuss the future of the Kingdom of Belgium.

At the end of the meeting, Leopold III believed that the victory of the Triple Alliance was hopeless. In order not to surrender helplessly after a complete defeat, he decided to surrender first to the allies, just to win a little favor from the Germans.

Chapter 354 You can get out

At 5:27 noon on May 12th, King Leopold III of Belgium, behind the backs of Britain and France, sued for peace with the Third Reich alone, and quickly accepted Reinhardt's request for "unconditional surrender".

The surrender of Belgium caused a 20-mile-wide gap in the defense line of the Three-National Allied Forces.This section of the defense line, which was originally in charge of the Belgian army, created a dangerous vacuum because of the unified disarmament of the Belgian Army.In other words, the German armored forces could drive straight into any position in this 20-mile wide undefended area at any time.

In desperation, the British Admiralty decisively ordered the implementation of the "Generator Project".

But the situation at this time is already a hundred times more dangerous than when they first made the plan.Of the three French ports to be used in the "Dynamo Project", only Dunkirk is now available.In addition, the two ports of Boulogne and Calais were occupied by German troops on the 23rd and the day of Belgium's surrender respectively.

This means that the only way out for more than 30 British and French troops is Dunkirk and its 40 kilometers of coastline.

As the last escape channel of the coalition forces, Dunkirk was actually developed from an ancient castle with a long history.It has been an important port in northern France since the 9th century AD, and was listed as the third largest port in France in terms of throughput in last year's statistics. It has 7 deep-water berths for large ships, 4 docks and long 8 km to the marina.At the same time, the channel of Dunkirk port has been dredged very well, and large ships can enter and exit freely. The perfect breakwater and convex wharf can also effectively withstand the strong winds and waves of the English Channel. If these port facilities can be fully utilized, more than 30 The British and French allied forces could safely board the ship with all their equipment in just a few days.

However, since two weeks ago, Dunkirk, which has not yet shown great value, has been bombarded by the German army inexplicably, causing all four of its docks to be destroyed, and the 4-kilometer-long pier was also blown into one piece. The ruins, and even most of Dunkirk's urban area were razed to the ground in the air strikes.

When the German army focused on bombing and destroying the port of Dunkirk, the commander-in-chief of the coalition forces, Admiral Gan Molin, was still baffled and wondered why the Germans had to spend their time in this ghost port.But now it seems... I have to say that the Germans' strategic predictions are too accurate, so accurate to the point of frightening!

As far back as the beginning of the war, the two sides were still fighting, and the outcome was still unpredictable.The Germans dared to conclude that Dunkirk would play such an important role and significance two weeks later.

From Gan Molin's point of view, this has reached an unbelievable, unbelievable, unreasonable level!

What kind of commander can be used for this kind of predictive talent that is close to God's perspective.Gan Molin even began to doubt, could it be that the head of state of Germany is really a gift from God to Germany, a genius who is born once in ten thousand years? !

But it’s too late to say anything now. Of the three major ports mentioned in the "Dynamo Project", only Dunkirk remains, and it is still incomplete.The only thing there that can be moored by boats is the east embankment less than 1200 meters long, and it is also temporarily erected with wooden piles and planks.Moreover, there is only one concrete pillar on the side near the sea, and there is a lighthouse, and there are some small wooden piles around the embankment. Although ships can be moored in an emergency, the current is relatively fast, and it will be very dangerous for ships to dock.

On the coastline near this last channel, there are no port facilities or breakwaters, and there is a deep water channel parallel to the shore not far from the coast. It is densely covered and sailing is quite dangerous.

Gan Molin silently picked up the phone, ready to contact Lord Gott of the British Expeditionary Force to discuss countermeasures.In his opinion, the war of encirclement and annihilation of the Germans has reached the last and most important moment. This is true for the Germans, it is the same for the British, and it is also true for the French!

However, the moment his hand reached out to the phone and touched it, he was stunned.

"I almost forgot, I am no longer the commander-in-chief of the French army." Gan Molin smiled self-deprecatingly.

Since Prime Minister Renault reshuffled the French cabinet a week ago, pro-defense minister, and recalled Marshal Pétain, who was pushed out by Gan Molin as the Spanish ambassador, as the deputy prime minister of the cabinet, Gan Molin's situation of monopolizing the French army has been broken. up.

He can still clearly remember how the major general named Berente led a team of guards to escort him away from the meeting room when he was holding a combat meeting a week ago.At that time, the major general didn't spare himself any sympathy.

"Marshal Pétain is back, get out of here immediately!" These were Berante's original words.

Gan Molin knew how much that major general hated him.To be honest, he has always disliked the major general who used to work under Petain.

However, the current situation is that under the new commander-in-chief of the French land, sea, and air forces, Wei Gang, Berente was immediately reused, promoted to lieutenant general when he was in danger, and directly participated in the planning of all future combat operations.

And he, Gan Molin...was exempted from all real power, and was thrown into the office of the logistics department, sitting in the office where Berente was a week ago!

Feng Shui turns around!

I heard that Weigand is planning to implement the "Generator Project" with the British.Staying in the empty office, Gan Molin sighed lonely: "Although I hate everything now, and you people, but... I hope you can succeed."

Withdrawing his hand resting on the phone, Gan Molin said silently in his heart: "Pétain and Wei Gang were both famous generals in the last World War, and they are both famous for fighting bad battles in crises. Maybe, the two of them can really reproduce the miracle in Verdun."

God bless France!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

In fact, it is neither their Marshal Petain nor their General Weygand who is protecting France now, but a British major general named Montgomery.

Originally, Montgomery's 3rd Division of the British Expeditionary Force had been left behind the coalition forces because it lost the support of the Belgian 13th Division under Major General Lukaku's command.The collective surrender of the Belgian Army allowed the Germans to rush straight to Dunkirk from the Belgian defense zone. By the way, it cut Montgomery's British 3rd Division outside the Belgian defense zone, cutting off their access to Dunkirk. the way.

However, Montgomery, the British teenager, got the first chance to show his talent.

He issued the most risky order in his life, and this decision was more adventurous and daring than any order he would make in the future!

Text Chapter 355 German and Norwegian Combined Fleet

On the day the Belgian Army announced its surrender, the 3rd Infantry Division of the British Expeditionary Force, under the command of Major General Montgomery, quickly outflanked and intercepted more than a dozen Belgian transport troops that were preparing to surrender, and seized nearly a transport vehicle.

Then, Montgomery assembled these 200 military vehicles and 400 military vehicles from his own division for retreat operations.

He ordered that the speed reducers of all military vehicles be painted with a layer of reflective paint and illuminated by small lights hidden under the rear fenders. The driver of the rear car used this light to follow the previous car closely. The entire convoy turned off its headlights, implemented strict blackout control, and quietly withdrew in the dark.

In order to prevent accidents, he also ordered traffic pickets to be set up at intersections and corners where it is easy to get lost to direct the convoy to move forward.

That night, Montgomery's 3rd Division marched overnight, advancing silently and covertly.Sneak in towards the inside of the German encirclement.

When passing through a small road next to the village of Salz, on another large road less than ten miles away from them, a mighty infantry regiment of the German Army Group A, which is the large force of the 13th Infantry Division , is also rushing to the inside of the encirclement.

Both sides were traveling overnight, and both were speeding up their marches, and both generals and soldiers were kept in the dark.However, Montgomery's British 3rd Division had more vehicles, so it was faster than the German 13th Infantry Division.

This also allowed the 3rd Division of the British Expedition to march 60 kilometers at night, successfully jumped into the German encirclement, and rushed to the front of the German infantry in the early morning of the 28th, organized a temporary defense line to cover the large troops to Dunkirk to evacuate by sea and land .

"The commander of this British unit seems to be a little level." In the conference room of the German High Command, Manstein pointed to the map on the wall with a telescopic pole and said: "According to the 13th Division at 10:27 a.m. The telegram distributed on the 3th stated that a British division appeared in front of them. According to the information we obtained before, the troops that can appear here can only be the troops of the [-]rd Division of the British Army."

Regarding the British "Generator Project", Reinhardt had long arranged for Manstein to formulate a dismantling plan called "Power Cutoff Plan" tit for tat.Now, everything is exactly as Manstein predicted.Nearly 40 British and French allied forces were besieged in a small area in northern France, leaving only Dunkirk, a small port with only [-] residents, as a sea retreat.The German armored forces that had just stagnated have also resumed full horsepower, and they are attacking in the direction of Dunkirk.

The only thing that was a bit unexpected was that the British Third Division, which was supposed to be outside the first encirclement, actually jumped into this encirclement.

However, it doesn't matter, it's just a little more effort.

The navy has dispatched all available fleets to cooperate with the implementation of the "Blackout Plan".They sent all the warships available in the High Seas Fleet over.In this fleet, there are almost all German-made warships, as well as a large number of second-rate warships captured and received in Poland, Denmark, Belgium and other countries.There are aircraft carriers, battleships, cruisers, destroyers, torpedo ships, frigates, and even submarines.

In addition, it is worth mentioning that at the request of Germany, under the auspices of its new Prime Minister Quisling, the Kingdom of Norway quickly and secretly dispatched a main fleet including 2 King Goldilocks Harald-class coastal defense ships (In the eyes of Germany, it is just a small fleet), go to the port of Denmark, participate in the "Blackout Plan", and accept the coordinated command of German Admiral Raeder.

The current situation is very different from when Manstein formulated the "Sickle Harvest Plan" under Reinhardt's instructions.

First of all, after experiencing the naval battle in Narvik, Norway, the German Navy defeated the mighty Royal Navy of the British Empire for the first time.Although it was only a squadron of the British, it was also a victory, an unprecedented victory, and a victory that was enough to boost morale.

With the encouragement of the victory in the Norwegian naval battle, now the commander of the Imperial Navy, Raeder, is a little more courageous.As the saying goes, wine is strong and courageous.And the record of easily defeating the British Royal Navy Squadron in Norway has become a strong drink for Raeder, who likes to commit suicide.